John Hendow

I had intended to post some content to this site yesterday, but my computer decided not to boot into Windows. This is the second time I’ve had similar trouble with my computer and I’m not certain exactly what is going on. Either it’s flakey hardware or I’ve gotten some horrid computer malady that has recurred. My immediate solution will be to repair my existing WinXP Pro installation, back up anything important, wipe the drive, and reinstall afresh. I may take the extra step of punting the hard drive since it is possible it’s the culprit, although I find it a bit odd it’s chosen to fail twice in much the same fashion.

I’m glad that I took the time to build a slipstreamed installer for WinXP with SP2. It’ll save me a little time on the reinstall, but I’m guessing I’ll still be rebooting two dozen times tonight before it’s all done…

I recently upgraded the wireless segment in our house from 802.11g to 802.11n (draft). The “n” standard is still not finalized, with the official specification expected some time in the next 18 months. Fortunately the current draft has been accepted as a core functional set, so the final version will extend it without rendering draft devices obsolete.

Even with all this swirl, I can’t resist being on the cutting edge of some of these things… so I replaced the old wireless router with a new one. Right away I can tell the overall signal is stronger and has improved coverage. Even throttled to 54 Mbit, it’s delivering a better wireless experience than the old router. It also has a number of improved security features, prioritization management for network traffic, and best of all… a blue LED. You gotta have a blue LED.