Is it time to replace your UPS?

Let me ask you a few questions first:

• Has your UPS been in service more than 2 years?
• Have you replaced the computer since the UPS was installed?
• Have you upgraded the computer since the UPS was installed?
  
• Is your UPS missing an AVR circuit?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, then you probably should start looking looking for a replacement UPS.


What size do I get?

OK. This involves some simple addition. Gather all the power requirements for all the devices for which the UPS will be insuring continuos power. Generally, this would be you computer box and the monitor. If you would like to include your modem and router, you can. Specifically you need to get the Watt rating for each of the devices. Once this list is complete, add it up. Your target UPS should be able to handle more than the total. Do not round down!


What is AVR and why do I want it?

AVR stands for Automatic Voltage Regulator. The AVR circuit allows the UPS input voltage within a certain range and output a steady constant voltage without the use of the installed battery. In most cases acceptable input voltage ranges from 90 to 140 volts. When the voltage is less that optimal, the regulator uses the steps up the voltage at the cost of a few amps (don't worry you have plenty.) When the voltage is a little over optimal, the regulator steps the voltage down adding to the available amps. An AVR circuit is to power what the suspension system is to an automobile. What this means to you is the UPS can handle most power fluctuations without engaging the battery and this is very good.


Is AVR pricey?

Well, a UPS with AVR does usually cost more than a comparable UPS without. However, recently the price gap has closed somewhat. For instance, at the time of writing, a Tripp Lite 300 watt UPS without AVR is priced at $59.99 and a Tripp Lite 300 watt UPS with AVR is $69.99. For the $10 difference, take the unit with AVR!


Should I consider anything else?

Yes, if you like to leave your computer on 24 hours/day you need to get a unit with a data cable and software. This combination will allows the computer to shut itself down automatically during an extended power outage.


That's it! Go forth with this knowledge and protect your computer from bad power!

Word and Missing Fonts

A part of my current job is Microsoft Office support. In our organization, if there is a problem with Microsoft Office, be it user error or otherwise, I handle it. One of the first first things I did when I came on board was convert the office from Mac 9.x and Office 2004 to Windows XP and Office 2003. Let's face it, in the business world, Microsoft Office is the defacto standard and nothing is as compatible with it as, well, itself. The Mac version is not even fully compatible.

One of the problems that I ran into with the conversion was fonts. Some of the fonts in the Office files were not available on the PC. For most of the files this was not much of a problem. However, we have several Word Documents that are very large and use many fonts. Replacing a single font in a multi-font document is a problem, if you don't know how to deal with it.

The answer is surprisingly simple. Use the Search and Replace function. In Office 2003:

1. click Edit followed by Find. Select the Replace tab and click the more button.
2. click the Find what: field, then click the Format button at the bottom of the window
3. type in the name of the Font you wish to replace, as it appears in the document (in my case it is Palatino) and click OK
   
4. click the Replace with: field, then click the Format button at the bottom of the window
5. choose the Font you wish to use instead of the above Font and click the OK button (in my case it is Times New Roman)
   
6. go to Search: and select ALL
7. finally, click the Replace All button

That is all. Notice that no actual text is required in the Find what and Replace with fields. Also, in step 3 we actually type the name of the font rather than choosing it from the list. This is necessary because the font is not available on the system, so it won't be in the list. However, in step 5 we choose an available font from the list. Step 6 is also important, as it tells the Find and Replace function to ignore any selections and work on the entire document.

The instructions may look a little tough. However, give it a try and I think you'll find it both easy and incredibly useful!

Firewalls and the Internet

Last week I was contacted by a client who could not surf the web for more than 5 minutes after a booting up. The client is using Windows XP and the local cable provider for internet. The client had already contacted the provider and no solution was forth coming. This is a very interesting problem as networking problems go. No other networking issues were apparent, as the client only uses the network for sharing the internet.

Once on site, I experienced the problem for myself. The computer did, indeed, function with regards to internet web connectivity for a limited amount of time before failing. However, all other functions continued to work -- Ping, FTP, Telnet, DNS, etc. HTTP seemed to be the only internet service affected.

So, I broke out the poor man's monitor -- taskmgr.exe. After a few minutes, I saw something disturbing. There was a process that was appearing and disappearing. A reboot and quick search on Google told me that the process belonged to Zone Alarm. This was shocking, as there was no indication that Zone Alarm was loaded on the machine.

A trip to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs confirmed that Zone Alarm was installed on the machine and the appearing/disappearing act told me that is definitely was not functioning properly. So, I uninstalled Zone Alarm and suddenly IE and Firefox were surfing again. So, I verified that the Windows Firewall was active and the job was complete.

Now, I am a proponent of firewalls and Zone Alarm is a good product. However, Zone Alarm to my mind is overkill in a local network behind a NAT router. For the most part, the firewall built in to XP will work just fine when used with antivirus and passive protection.

So, if you are suffering do to internet lag or your machine is just plain slow, you might try uninstalling all unnecessary filter/protection software and go the minimalist approach:

1. Good AV program -- I prefer the free version of Antivir Antivirus
2. Good passive protection --Spybot Search & Destroy (without resident protection) and Spyware Blaster
3. Firewall -- Windows built-in Firewall

pyTivo, Tivo S2 AND HDTV

I have a Tivo. I love my Tivo. I have a computer with Windows XP and pyTivo. I love my pyTivo. Up until a little over a month ago, the lovefest in my house was all about the Tivo and the pyTivo. I could serve virtually any video content to my Series 2 Tivo and the Tivo just ate it up. I'm telling you, it was... well... Awesome!

Then my 26" RCA CRT Television died. That's right, it died. I was recovering from nose and throat surgery and it just died. My wife looked at me and said, "You are going to be in that chair for at least 3 weeks. I am going to buy a television." God bless her, she got in her van and I got on the internet. Later, she returned home with an inexpensive Visio 32" Plasma HDTV.

So, I love my Tivo. I love my pyTivo. I love my Plasma HDTV. But I don't love my pyTivo and Tivo interaction so much. Why? My pyTivo is serving up HD content to my Tivo with Letterboxing. That is what pyTivo is supposed to do when it is streaming to a non-HD Tivo. It thinks that it is doing right by me, after all it has no idea that my non-HD Tivo is connected to an HDTV. An HDTV that, by the way, is stretching the video to make it full screen, so the HD content looks stretched horizontally. What's a guy to do?!?

Well, here is what I did. As I am using the krkeegan branch of pyTivo, version 2008.05.02, I started by opening the web-based configuration console. Then I selected 'Global Server Settings' and clicked 'Edit Section'. Then I scrolled down to 'ffmpeg_tmpl' and inserted the following into the empty text field:

%(video_codec)s %(video_fps)s %(video_br)s %(max_video_br)s %(buff_size)s -aspect 4:3 -comment pyTivo.py %(audio_br)s %(audio_fr)s %(audio_ch)s %(audio_codec)s %(ffmpeg_pram)s %(format)s

I saved the changes and clicked 'Soft Reset pyTivo'. Now, it should be noted that although this worked for me it may not work for you. Your mileage may vary. That being said, I would like to point out that the above is the default with 1 minor change. I replaced "%(aspect_ratio)s" with "-aspect 4:3". That's it. Poof! It is now automagically converting the content on my PC to 4:3 regardless of the source aspect ratio and life is good again! No letterboxing! No borders! Just HD goodness.

Now you might think that the picture quality suffers. Well, if it does then I am just not seeing it.