SSDs are moving more towards mainstream as their price point comes down and their size increases.

I've been keen on the technology from it's inception, but as yet, haven't laid out the cash.

Other people I know have and I'm posting these shots of their disk performance.

These are from non-lab-condition tests, so it's a range of OS, and I can't vouch for what was running in the background.

[below] 3.5" 250GB, 7.2K, WD desktop disk. A pretty standard set of specs for most computers. Win XP



[below] 3.5" 1.0TB, 7.2K, WD Caviar Green.  Running in RAID 1, mirroring. Win 7 x64



[below] 3.5" 1.5TB, 7.2K, WD Caviar Green. Win 7 x64



[below] 2.5" 150GB, 10K, Velociraptor, Win XP



[below] 2.5" 300GB, 10K, Velociraptor, Win 7 x64



[below]  2.5", 120GB, SSD, MLC, OCZ Vertex, Win 7 x64



[below] 2.5", 160GB, SSD, Intel X25G2 (pre firmware fiasco), Vista



So there you have it. Some reference points for getting an idea about what performance you MIGHT get.


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Disk Perf

So I got this error the other night.  I wondered why at first?
Plenty of room on my target machine's disk, 8GB of RAM, quad core proc, the works.
Then I remembered I'd been playing with the shares permissions.
So I INCREASED the number of simultaneous users and the error went away....



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Easy.  Just need to remember this one for next time

c:\windows\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe "& 'c:\my dir with spaces\pstest.ps1' 'arg' 'arg' 'arg' "

Remember to open/close with double quote and use single quotes.
If you need to supply the quotes, remember it's 3 to escape for a single one!

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PowerShell, scripts and spaces in paths

With Windows XP, Service Pack 2, came the Windows Firewall.  A pretty basic software firewall, but good enough for a simple end user who does a little bit of email and web browsing. No outbound rules capability, but basic inbound stuff with ability to add port exceptions. In XP, I couldn't find a way to do port-ranges and that always frustrated me.

Then, I upgraded to Vista (Ultimate) and in the Windows Control Panel list, was the usual Windows Firewall option, which showed the usual dialog if opened from Control Panel > Windows Firewall (as a list). It had its usual ON/OFF status and exception list.

That is till recently when Mauricio pointed out that there's an Advanced Firewall control area now, that allows you to configure your network profiles and both In & Outbound rules as well as ranges and a bunch more stuff.







I still use an Antivirus program, Avast, for memory resident and browsing detection/worm prevention.

It appears that this new Firewall feature is present in ALL editions of Vista.
Compare Editions and then show details of Vista Firewall

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Windows shortcut keys

I'm a big fan of shortcut key combinations, they save you time and make it appear as though you look like you know what you're doing ;-) Anyway, here's a few of my favourites

Windows Key (W) Shortcuts
W = Start Menu, use arrow keys and enter to navigate, Esc to close
Ctrl + Esc = W
W + [1 - 0] = Open corresponding number in quick launch icons, if first icon is IE, then IE opens
W + D = Show Desktop
W + E = Windows Explorer
W + F = Find something (File/Folder), use W + Ctrl + F to search for a Computer
W + L = Lock computer
W + M = Minimise all, usually brings up desktop, W + Shift + M, restore minimised
W + R = Open Run dialogue, usually followed my 'cmd' for me or \\< ip-address >\< share-name >\
W + T = Cycle through open applications on Taskbar, press Enter to select
W + U = Open XP (Windows Narrator), Vista (Ease of Access Center)
W + Pause = Show computer properties XP (System Properties > General), Vista (Control Panel > System)
Also, for HP notebooks, you will have to use the Fn (Function) key too when using these shortcuts (thanks to Terry for that tip).

Vista stuff
W + Tab = Cycle through apps using Flip 3D interface, Tab again for next, release to select
W + Ctrl + Tab = Start cycle using Flip 3D, use left/right arrow for previous/next and Enter to select
W + Space = Show Sidebar
W + G = Focus on sidebar, press G again to cycle through Gadgets

Generally handy stuff
F2 = Rename
F5 = Refresh view (handy in web browser), Ctrl + F5 to force request to server again (IE)
F6 = Cycle to next UI element in Windows Explorer
F11 = Toggle Full screen modes, application support required, IE/Windows Media Player
Ctrl + Shift + Esc = Start Task Manager
Backspace = Navigate back a folder level in Windows Explorer
Del, Ctrl + D = Delete (usually moves to the Recycle Bin)
Shift + Del = Delete, DO NOT move to Recycle Bin

There are plenty more, but I tend not to bother with those ones....

Official Vista Keyboard Shortcuts Help

'karthik' also sent through the info which is based on this support article, Keyboard shortcuts for Windows

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