Photoshop – Born Again

Here’s a reader question from Simona:

Hi, I just found your Geek Whisperer blog regarding updates, and how to keep your PC happy. I am always a bit fearful of updates, which explains why I’m constanly having issues with this damn machine. I wish I’d stumbled upon you earlier, but I promise I’ve learned the lesson!

I use Photoshop CS2 (PC, Windows XP Prof) and am having problems starting the program back up… invalid serial number or organisation … such and such… It is a few months since I last used the program, but it had been working fine.

In general, I could probably do with updating everything it’s been offering, and probably the whole of my CS2.

Basically, is there a way of retrieving the necessary updates to install? Recently, on closing down the PC, ‘Install updates and shut down’ was an option, but its gone now.

I have looked on the web for updates, but to be honest, I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing… I wouldn’t know if I was loading the relevant one or not, so I’d prefer to do the updates that pop up for my computer.

Sorry I’m so uniformed and clumsy in my geekspeak, but any help you could give me is appreciated!

Well Simona, I’m happy to hear that you are going to start keeping your software up-to-date. That will help you avoid many problems in the future… but let’s take a look at the problem that you have now.

With errors such as yours, the best thing to do is “Google the error.” Basically type the error message word for word into Google, in quotes (If that doesn’t work try without quotes).

Then read what other people did in a similar situation, or at least get an understanding about why it happened so that a techie (or a geek) can fix your issue.

Upon Googling your issue, I found http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/331/331741.html very informative, as it addresses exactly what your issue is, and comes straight from Adobe.

However, there is also the start from scratch method that works very well; you can resolve your issue without doing anything fancy. To start from scratch, basically means to completely remove Adobe Photoshop from your computer, and then to reinstall it (and make sure you restart in-between each and every step when you are promoted).

Reinstalling usually resolves problems like this for any program. To do this properly, I would suggest following the guide at http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/331/331405.html. That guide can also be located by typing “Photoshop CS2 complete uninstall” into Google.

Google really is a wonderful resource for troubleshooting these ultra detailed problems, application specific problems… “wisdom of the crowd” and all that.

Now, if these two solutions do not fix your issues, then please let us know here at The Geek Whisperer. Send us a screenshot of the error message and we would be happy to help you further investigate your issue.

Practice safe computing.

Big Files = Big Issues

Here’s a reader tech question from Robbyn:

Writing with a technical question, using my MacBook Pro I’ve been trying to copy a 4.93 GB .mov file to an external hard drive. Every time I try to do this I get an error message that reads: “Sorry, the operation could not be completed because an unexpected error occurred. (Error code 0)” I’ve tried zipping the file, but still have the same problem. I’m also not sure how to split up the file without having to convert it to another format which I’d rather not do since I’m sending it to someone to edit and I’d like to have it in the raw format so as not to lose any quality.

Well Robbyn, it sounds like an issue with the file system type on your external hard drive. Now I know you are wondering what that means so let me give you a quick overview:

Windows likes to format their partitions using one of their file systems, and Macs like to use their own. Unfortunately, they really don’t get along all that well. The only file system type that really works well on both Windows machines and Macs is FAT32. However, FAT32 has a bunch of issues including being pretty poor compared to other the newer formats, and more importantly, not supporting files over 4gb in size.

Unfortunately, you are trying to copy a big file, and big files not supported.. that’s probably the problem right there. Simple solution – check if it is formatted in FAT32 and reformat to HFS+ “non-case sensitive” because you that’s really unnecessary, and “non-journaled” because it tends to be more compatible, albeit slightly less secure in cases of drive failure. This will have some repercussions though, including all files will be deleted during the reformatting process and, as you might have guessed, HFS+ drives are not supported in Windows.

Now the other issue – the drive might be formatted using the NTFS file system, which is the one Microsoft currently employs for most Windows XP machines and all later operating systems.  And the issue with NTFS, it cannot inherently be written to by Macs.  Solution – same as above.  For big files, you need to use HFS+ for make your Mac fully support NTFS using some downloads from the Internet.  I would suggest, unless you need to be able to use your drive on both a Windows and a Mac, use HFS+.

In order to do all of this on a Mac, you can follow the following steps:

1. Open “Applications” in either your Finder, or on the Dock.
2. Find and click on the folder named “Utilities.”
3. In the “Utilities” folder you will find an application called “Disk Utility” – Open it.
4. You should see something like the image below.
5. Click on the drive you need to work on.
6. Change the file format using the “Volume Format” drop down in the center of the screen.

Please ask for clarification if you need any further guidance. Best of luck.

Getting 30 Lives on Facebook

*Editorial note from David:

This isn’t a post isn’t entirely about video games. If video games don’t interest you, this is still cool stuff.

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One code to rule them all

Remember using that back in the day? If not, then you don’t play enough video games.

This is the infamous Konami code. Used in more video games then I count, including games as old as Contra (The game that made the code famous – entering the code game you 30 lives. If you couldn’t beat the game with that many lives you probably weren’t intelligent to live past your 10th birthday), and as new as games as Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and the Dance Dance Revolution series. You can check out the entire list of games that use this code on Wikipedia if you care (I don’t, but you might).

“Why do I bring this up?”

I’m glad you asked.

When you can cheat at life, well then it’s cool.  Take for instance Facebook.  I bet you didn’t know that Facebook had a bunch of cheat codes!  (Or as programmers and computer geeks like to call them, Easter Eggs.)

Go to your Facebook – yes I know you have one because everyone has one – and type in the above code (you can substitute ENTER for START since there isn’t a button on your keyboard that says START) (This doesn’t work on the brand new Safari 4 or Firefox 3.5b99 – yet).

WOW, right?  Bet you didn’t see that coming!  But wait there’s more.

Facebook is not the only website that does this.  There are tons of web pages that have hidden features that are activated by the Konami code. Here’s a list, but you need to know the code to see it.

Anything is possible – sometimes things are as obvious as Facebook’s, others are as small as adding a secret button that does something amazing to the web page.

Go cheat!  Enjoy the benefits of what thou hath not earned!

Update

What timing! The Konami code unlocks an app called the “Developer Mode Enabler” on the brand new Palm Pre.

Will the Real Bill Gates Please Stand Up

After months of speculation, the creator of Conficker has revealed himself.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, I’m talking about the announcement earlier that Bill Gates made at his press conference when he admitted to writing the Conficker virus to give himself control over everyone’s computer.

“I left the security hole in Windows to allow me to one day start all of this.”  When asked what it it is he was starting, he simply smiled.

Microsoft products are installed on more than 99% of all of the world’s computers.  If this is Bill Gates’s first step towards taking control of all these computers then we might very well be screwed.

The exact outcome of this virus, although still not unclear, is going to leave us living in fear of Bill Gate.

“I tried my hand at philanthropy for a while but it just didn’t feel right. I needed to return to my roots and take another pass at conquering the world!” Gates concluded with an uncomfortably long and maniacal cackle.

Disclaimer – all information above has been gathered from reliable sources and can be verified with the use of the Interweb.

How to Buy A Computer Without Looking Like An Ass – Part 1

In this multi-post “how to” guide I am going to go over everything from deciding between a desktop and a laptop to deciding between individual parts.

"Round One... Fight!"

For starters, we will begin with the easy question – desktop or laptop.  

Both have advantages – desktops are cheaper and much easier to upgrade. They are also generally more powerful. But laptops are good too – they are portable and compact. They take up less space and can be used on the go.

So the question remains – “Which one do I buy?”  

Well being in retail, or more specifically being a guy who sells computers, I can tell you that it really boils down to one question – Does the portability matter to you?  If it does, then you should obviously go with a laptop because no one wants to carry around a huge tower,  keyboard, mouse, monitor, and whatever cords you need to plug it in.  And if it doesn’t, then ask yourself, “would I be happy with a desktop?”

Now for those of you who think there is more to it, there isn’t.  The decision process is that simple.  

In my follow up post, we will be looking more closely into the different types of laptops and how to decide between them, so stay tuned!

Death by Facebook?!?!

Okay. I just want to say before I get started that Facebook is a toy. It’s great for staying in touch, keeping random people (and friends) informed about your life, and it’s a decent way to send messages, but at the end of the day we all have to remember that it is a toy. We use Facebook for fun. Hence, a toy – like a video game or an action figure or a board game.

Now with that out of the way, I’d like to turn your attention to the Mr. Crazy, who didn’t seem to embrace this concept (I think the headline says everything you need to know:

British man killed wife over ’single’ Facebook status. 

Are you kidding me???  

How insecure of a person do you have to be to kill your wife for changing her facebook status to single? I mean, let’s assume for a second that Facebook isn’t a toy and that it really was the definition of all that is real (and I know I personally continually joke that it is) – have you ever heard of a divorce??!? I guess something insane like this was inevitable. 

I can’t even fathom what’s next…

Microrant

Meet the Geek Whisperer’s latest contributor, Jason, and enjoy his first post:
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I don’t know how many of you out there have tried a Microsoft program in the past five years, but has anybody noticed that they are the opposite of user friendly.  Seriously, with the exception of Internet Explorer, which at this point is pretty much just an out of date and unsecured rip off of Firefox, Microsoft programs are getting clunky.

Let’s start with Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 (that’s the big suite that contains Word, Excel and Powerpoint).  These two programs are excellent. Easy to use interface and everything just seems to flow.  And then Microsoft releases this garbage:

 

For those of you who don’t recognize this picture, that’s Windows Vista and the annoying pop-up that says, “Hey you, Stop!  This might be bad for your computer or it might not be bad at all. I’m not sure even though you clicked OK ten times. So please click ‘Continue’ or ‘Cancel’ one more time.”  I mean really, does it need to be there?  The idea is great – Mac has been doing it for years.  But Microsoft couldn’t get it work correctly.

Then Microsoft decided to release Microsoft Office 2007, cherry on top of Windows Vista.

Let me just say that after ten years, when an industry has a standard file format that works with everything (.doc, .ppt, and .xls among others) – releasing something brand new (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx among others) that doesn’t work with anything before was a really bad idea.  The new file formats are not backwards compatible and are more of a pain in the butt than they are worth. And That’s the first big problem with Microsoft Office 2007 - the new interface is even worse.  Why – if the toolbar at the top of the screen that has been there since the very first version of Windows works and is the same toolbar that everyone has gotten used to over the past 20 years would you replace it?  And why would you replace it with some funky “ribbon” that is nothing like and in no way relates to what everyone is used to? Why completely change something that works just fine and replace it with something flashy and clunky? 

And lastly, and most importantly – why would you not keep the previous toolbar option available so users of previous versions can use them if they so choose?  I HAVE NO IDEA!  But I do have a suggestion for all of you out there – skip this Office, just like you should be skipping Windows Vista and deal with what you’ve got.

But wait – there’s more – there’s the new Windows 7 – but I’m going to save that for another day.