GeekwithEnvy

Richard Vincenti Jr

How To Optimize your SSD

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Moving from your old hard disk drive to a new solid state drive is a great way to upgrade your system. SSD’s (solid state drives) are extremely fast, quiet and efficient. However, there are a few differences between these two types of storage and SSDs require a bit of system tweaking to ensure your getting the most out of your new drive.

Drive Indexing

SSD3dimage

Indexing is used to speed up file queries and dosen’t really need to be used with a SSD considering their read performance is already fast.

Indexing can be disabled by clicking Start Menu>Right-Click Computer>Manage>Services and Applications>Services>Right-Click Windows Search>Properties. Locate Start Up Type>Select Disabled and then click OK.

Defragmentation

SSDs are fundamentally different when it comes to how they store data. SSDs do not need to be defragmented. Defragmenting a SSD will only shorten the lifespan of the drive by performing unnecessary read/write operations.

Windows will automatically defragment your drives unless you head into your settings and change the defaults. Here is how you can turn off defragment scheduling.

Click Start Menu> All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter. Then, click on the Configure Schedule button. Then simply uncheck the Run on a schedule check box and click OK.

You can also completely disable defragmenting through the Computer Management settings.

Start Menu> Right Click Computer>Manage>Services and Applications>Services. Locate “Disk Defragmenter” and right click on it, then change the “Start up type” to Disabled.

Page file

This option involves disabling the pagefile. Your pagefile is used as virtual memory and if you lack a decent amount of system RAM, you should consider asking Windows to use another drive besides your SSD to use for your pagefile rather then completely disabling it, as this could lead to performance issues.

Disabling your pagefile can be beneficial to your SSD as it reduces the amount of writes to the drive.

To disable your pagefile click Start Menu>Right-Click Computer>Properties>Advanced System Settings>Advanced Tab>Settings under “Performance”>Advanced Tab>Click Change under “Virtual Memory”> Uncheck “Automatically Manage Paging File Size for all Drives” then click “No Paging File> then click SET and OK. You should reboot your computer after this is done.

If you were considering just changing the drive that handles the pagefile instead follow the directions above up until you reach the, “Automatically Manage Paging File Size for all Drives” option and simply uncheck and choose a drive to manage your pagefile.

Temporary File Storage

Consider changing where your temporary files are being stored. Click>Start Menu>Right-Click Computer>and select Properties. Click Advanced System Settings and move to the advanced tab, then click Environment Variables. Change the folder and drive that your temporary files are saved to. This will reduce read/write operations to your SSD.

MAC

As for Mac users, the latest version of OS X supports the TRIM command which will handle what’s called “Garbage Collection”,  which it does independent of the firmware on the drive itself. TRIM will essentially increase OS performance by making sectors available when needed.

As you can see the main objective here is to do as few read/write operations as possible in order to extend the life of your SSD. As technology advances, we should see a better life expectancy for these drives and new support from operating systems that will optimize for SSD usage.

 

 

 

 

 

Diablo III and the Paragon System

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Blizzard has introduced a new Paragon system for Diablo players.Diablo3 Box Art Once you hit level 60 all of your experience gained goes toward Paragon levels. You will gain an over core stat increase each time you reach a new Paragon level, similar to normal leveling.

A new portrait system has been introduced that changes every ten levels just to let others know how awesome you are. There will be a Magic and Gold find cap of 300% and the amount of time investment needed to attain the final levels of the new Paragon system will be similar to the time needed to reach level 99 in Diablo II.

I am excited to see many of the other changes that have come along in patch 1.0.4 and I feel Blizzard is really making a good attempt to add more depth to the game. This recent patch has my imagination running again as I think of how Diablo III  is in many ways just getting started.

The latest patch for Diablo III is now live and all the details, including the Paragon system, can be found on the Diablo III community site here.

Wi-Fi or Data Plan?

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Just about anywhere you go these days there is a Wi-Fi connection somewhere nearby, and generally it offers great speed and reliability, not to mention most places offer Internet for free. So, why in the world would you need to use your data plan to check your mail or make a quick tweet? I understand that there are many places in which your data plan might be your only option, but unless you need to be constantly checking  your e-mail in the middle of nowhere, it just seems silly. I have many mobile devices that I use day to day and most of them operate full time on a Wi-Fi connection. I can refresh my inbox and download the latest updates for my news apps and just read them on the go. I guess at times you could say it’s a bit like filling up at the gas station and heading out on the road.4G speed tower connection illustration design over white

Let’s face it, data plans today suck. The price hardly justifies the usage and if you’re not on an unlimited plan, using your phones network to access anything could be a stressful task. Data over cellular just is not what it should be, our smart phones have clearly outgrown their networks. To look even deeper into this, think about how this could affect cellular providers.

Why use it at all? Some communities have Wi-Fi everywhere you go. Going into this even further, you realize that some companies  could end up competing with themselves. If only you could break off completely from your data plan in these areas, but wait you can’t. You can’t get that awesome phone with out a data plan and perhaps this is part of the reason why. Remember it’s all about the dollar, broadband prices would skyrocket if there was a universal adaptation to Wi-Fi.

There are many arguments to whether or not Wi-Fi is actually the better option and cellular data has come along way from what it was. Major issues can arise from using Wi-Fi networks especially unsecured networks. How do you know your data is safe? Did the business who is providing  your Wi-Fi connection properly set up security features to protect you ?  Is someone in the corner of the cafe just gobbling up all your good personal information? These are some of the potential drawbacks of using public Wi-Fi.

It would seem that for now a hybrid of both networks is still the best option but I definitely do not need to subscribe to a premium data service with all wireless broadband floating around out there.

Spotify, Something That Rocks

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spotify logoHave you heard of Spotify? If you haven’t you should definitely check this out. Spotify is a music collection that contains millions of songs that you can play live from just about any device including PC, Mac, and Mobile. There is no need to download tracks, you simply stream them live. Spotify also integrates into Facebook allowing you to see and hear what your friends are listening to.

Whats could make this better? Oh yeah, it’s Free! You only hear an occasional advertisement which is used to pay the artist. This is one of those applications that actually makes piracy less appealing. Piracy has been happening for years and even well before the days of the Internet, but with Napster and the Internet it turned into a major controversy.

Spotify has a user interface that will look familiar to iTunes users with the addition of a social area to see what your friends are listening to. Setting up a unique account that fits you is easy as you guide Spotify by letting it know what songs you like and don’t like. The more you let Spotify know about your music taste the better the overall experience becomes, so you should definitely put in your input to get the best out of Spotify. You can begin setting up a play-list or listen to one of the many radio stations that stream the music type of your choice. You can see what’s hot by checking out the top lists tab or add one of the many apps available for Spotify that integrate right into the interface allowing for an even better experience. Spotify also allows you to share your iTunes playlists as well as playlists from Windows Media Player. The application even has an offline mode to use when you can’t get connected.

Spotify was founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in the UK in 2006 and now has over 10 million registered users. Spotify is a free download and can be obtained here.

Using the Power of the Cloud For Your DVR

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Imagine being able to watch any episode of a current season or being able to watch your DVR content from any device you choose, from anywhere you want. These are just a few of the possibilities with a cloud based DVR. I imagine being able to queue up a movie, then I can notify my friends or family members that I am about to start watching a new movie or episode of my favorite series, they then receive a message asking them if they would like to join me. Imagine how powerful this could be, being able to connect like this and have a live discussion about what your watching together from anywhere in the world. There are many ways that this could be implemented and there is word that companies like Apple are getting involved in making all this happen.

Cloud computing
Cloud Computing

There are many other technologies available for your television that use a remote database to provide content already, but nothing quite like this. The Internet has so many rich video experiences now that it makes sense that providers would want to have some of these same features. We live in a world now that has two separate ways to watch your favorite content, online or on TV. I think that as we move forward we will see the lines blur more and more until they just become one.

With ever increasing Internet speeds around the world becoming the driving force behind doing what might have been  impossible only 10 years ago, we are seeing history change right before us. I personally can’t wait to see whats next,  it’s one thing to talk  about how it might work and another to see what actually comes out. I have mentioned the power of the cloud before in other posts and this is no different. I am sure will will see more ways to utilize the cloud in the future that we didn’t expect to see.