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Turning to the dark side?

Well, this is quite intriguing. I am still puzzling of what had taken the better of me. To start off, I am practically grown up using Microsoft DOS and eventually, Windows 3.0 during my first job as software developer and like the old saying, the rest is history.

New generation of Intel Sandy Bridge laptops

Recent weeks have been bustling with new laptop launches. The primary focus is on new range of Intel-based laptop running on the new Sandy Bridge chipset. The new Intel chipset allows a laptop to run at least 7 hours on a single charge with WiFi turns in its standard 6-cells configuration. There are few models worth considering but again, this subjects to your personal preferences.

1. Toshiba Portege R835 – This model has launched in Malaysia.

2. Samsung Series 9 – One of the most talk-about model in recent launches due to its extreme thin profile (comparable to MacBook Air) & reasonably well equipped – almost RM5,000/unit selling price

3. Lenovo Thinkpad x220 – The old school design but never disappoints reliability & performance (approx. RM4,000 & less)

4. Lenovo Thinkpad T420s – This is the top of the range business notebook; recently launched with the new Intel chipset & processor. Was told to last 10 hours on full charge. It is thin & light but pricey at RM6-7k/unit; Can't find any full review on the net yet. Slim/low profile model has its model number ends with "s"

5. Apple MacBook Pro 13" (2011 model) - This is a worthy consideration. At just RM3.5k/unit, you get the best value for money. The Apple hardware is undeniably the best among those listed and only rivaled by Lenovo Thinkpad but again, minus the "feel-good" & "wow" factor. On top of that, in addition to Microsoft Windows 7 (sold separately), you have the option to use Mac OSX which is equally user-friendly and powerful.


Being a Windows user & developer since 3.0, I have been using it for the past 1 month and started to get the hang of it. Well, some (differences)/irregularities in terms of key placing but this is no show stopper. Mac OSX is not the best OS but again, the whole package blends well together. On top of that, I am able to run my MS-Windows applications & OS X applications side-by-side in OS X operating system seamlessly by using VMWare Fusion. So, for me, paying a reasonable sum for the great Apple hardware & get the option of using the apps of two great OS is priceless. How about you?

Outlook 2010 - storing .PST file in your preferred location

Close Outlook
Create a folder where you want to put the IMAP datafile
Copy the PST file with the name of your IMAP profile from C:\Users[Username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook to the desired location (eg the new created folder)
Afterwards, Click Start / Run and type "Regedit" (You'll need administrator rights for this)
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook
Add a REG_EXPAND_SZ (Expandable String Value) with the name: ForcePSTPath
Fill in your new folder
Start Outlook

Windows 7 Starter Edition

My hand was iching.... Can't resist the temptation to leave my daughter's Asus Eee 900 alone, running Windows XP. I really need to give it a shot and see how Windows 7 is performing on a Celeron 900 netbook (not even ATOM)

Let's look at the spec, nothing special.

Asus Eee 900

- Celeron 900 processor

- 1GB RAM

- 4GB SSD + 16GB SSD = 20GB SSD

- 10.1" LCD panel with 1.3Mp Web Cam

First up, I downloaded the Windows 7 Starter edition from MSDN ;)

I copied the ISO file into my DELL E6400 (Win7 x64) and load it up using MagicDisc; Daemon tool had lost my favour after it started to charge for the software and burried the FREE version deep down in the forum.

Next,... wait a minute. Great. I forgot to bring my USB DVD-ROM drive. Ok, need to switch to Plan-B. I will have to install the OS using a thumbdrive or a mobile hard disk. I have no done it before (via USB storage) but what the heck, I started googling and within seconds, voila, I found this site to be very helpful and started following the procedures after backing up those data in my mobile hard disk. Kudos to the writer, it was just barely 20 minutes and I am ready to rock & roll. My mobile hard disk is bootable and has all the Windows 7 CD contents in it.

Time to change the BIOS of the Asus Eee. I booted up the Asus Eee (make sure it is connected to power) and start playing with the BIOS configuration. I changed the boot up sequence to enable my USB mobile HDD as the primary device to boot up. Once that is done, I just need to save the settings and the netbook will reboot.

The netbook automatically booted up from the mobile HDD and started the installation sequence. The installation was a breeze but again, hindered by the computing power and slow USB connectivity, it really take a long while (appox. 1 hours) to complete the installation. Nothing too fancy or surprise here, it's the same process as per Vista.

Upon completion of the installation, do remember to disconnect or reject the media (in my case, the mobile HDD) before the first restart. It took a couple of minutes before the netbook finally showing the configuration screen (asking for user name and password), once past that stage, you're at the desktop of Windows 7 starter.

I had a quick check and first thing came to my attention was the screen resolution. It is running at 800x600. Asus Eee 900 screen res should be 1024x600 and this requires a quick fix. I fired up the Windows Updates knowing most fixes and drivers shall be available online and as expected, just a moment later, the drivers are downloaded (Intel GM910) and installed, well, not after 2 reboots to get it all installed.

Windows 7 starter is running reasonably well on the Asus Eee 900 now. The CPU usage is constantly hovering around 9%-20% with one IE instance running with a download in progress. However, I had witnessed that the CPU utilization hits over 90% and stayed there when I am installing a driver. This should be normal since Celeron 900 is a single and rather old processor.

Of the 1GB memory that this unit is having, 512kb+ is being allocated as Cache while 640K is available with about 100K Free. I would say, this is rather sufficient for executing those run of the mill applications.

Windows 7 ... finally (part 2)

There are many changes made to Windows 7. It is like a reincarnation of Vista, just that, this time around, it is lighter, fitter and faster. Many key functions are easily available, well, may be one or two levels of menu down, but definitely not Vista that you will need an excavator to dig it out, burying those key functions deep down. In short, user ergonomic is a plus.

My usual applications like Firefox, Chrome, Office 2007 Professional, etc. even the Lotus Notes 8.5 survive in this migration effort. I would say that my experience so far being great and running the x64 version on this DELL E6400 hardware has been satisfying. Next up, I will be installing the Windows 7 starter edition into my daughter's Eee PC 900 running Celeron with 16GB + 4GB SSD and 1GB RAM.

Windows 7 ... finally

I was disappointed when I can't get the Lotus Notes running on the RC1 of Windows 7 as per my previous posting. Well, not anymore. I had been running Win7 with Lotus Notes 8.5 flawlessly for almost 4 weeks (August 13, 2009) since Win7 first available as RTM on MSDN. Lucky me :) have access to MSDN subscription!

I had changed from DELL D630 to a soup up E6400 with all the bells and whistles. Having 4GB RAM gives you the peace you need whenever you fire up multiple apps all the same time. Interestingly, it is not as resource hungry as its predecessor.

Nevertheless, I still face some challenges with the IE8. It keeps giving the application error whenever it feels like it and frankly, I have no clue at all of what causes these errors. But, I have to admit, MS had done a greater job this time. Although the error dialog box appears, it has never even once, closes the IE or a tab or restarting the app. This is a vast improvement from the past.

Symantec EndPoint 12, on the other hand, was barely working as it is not fully updated to support Win7. Win7 keeps alerting the status of SEP although it is working. I can't recall which messsage, but it was reported that ...

...cont'd

Lotus Notes 7.02 & 8.0 on Windows 7

I managed to get Windows 7 RC1 running successfully on my DELL D630. It recognized all the devices of the laptop with ease and I only need to perform a windows update to iron out the driver issues. It was up and running in less than 40 minutes (including time for me to grab a cup of coffeee, take a peek at the magazines, etc.).

However, I had my first stumbling block when I try to install Lotus Notes 7.02 (later 8.5) mail client. The installer just unable to complete the installation with an error message (will get that message again to share). I had tried almost all the tricks and tips that I can find on the internet but to no avail.

Finally, I had decided to download the Virtual PC and work on the XP mode. I was hoping that the issue only happens in a native Windows 7 environment, but, to my disappointment, it also takes place in the XP mode. Well, I assume that running the Lotus Notes installation in XP mode would shield me from whatever bugs/issues that I may have with Windows 7 since XP is being tested and proven working well with Lotus Notes.

I am still searching for an answer to that although I had read some postings on the internet that cited success attempts in getting Lotus Notes to run on Windows 7, I am suspecting that probably my copy (downloaded from MSDN) is not the same as those who had managed to get it up and running.

Anyway, I would appreciate if anyone can shed some lights on this and help me out!

Thanks a million.