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How to fix audio issues and crashes on a Gigabyte motherboard

By on Aug 20, 2012 in Blog Posts, Hardware, Software | 3 comments

I’ve had problems with my Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 motherboard every since I built my custom system a year ago. It wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t use it – so I didn’t have to take drastic steps – it was just annoying and would crash once every few days.The blue screen errors were generic and generally pointed towards faulty memory. Since the memory was brand new, that seemed unlikely. I tested each stick thoroughly with Memtest86+ and found no issues. I tried different RAM slot combinations to no avail. I tested different combinations of RAM timings and clock speeds without any luck. Even Auto settings didn’t work.After weeks of useless back and forth with Gigabyte technical support, they mentioned that the memory controller is integrated into the CPU and perhaps that could be the cause of the issue. This didn’t feel right to me,...

Symantec’s Atrocious Support of a Terrible Product: Backup Exec 2012

By on Jul 13, 2012 in Blog Posts, Software | 19 comments

Update: For those looking for a replacement, I’ve reviewed two options here.   For years, the name Symantec has been synonymous with two areas; anti-virus software and enterprise backup systems. In 1990, Symantec purchased Norton and with it still holds the title as best-selling anti-virus software in the world, although it has long since lost its claim as the best product on the market. Though Symantec has lost its footing on the security side of its business, they have been able to cling on in the enterprise backup scene; at least for the time being. Their Backup Exec (BE) products (purchased from VERITAS in 2005) remain popular with small to medium sized businesses, but the recent decision by Symantec to require maintenance agreements and completely redesign the program have left many customers without a reason to remain loyal. Less than a year ago I could purchase a...

Diablo 3 Account Hacked – Blizzard Blames Me

By on May 28, 2012 in Blog Posts, Games | 0 comments

I’ve been a huge fan of the Diablo series since the first installment and was happily installing my copy of Diablo III the day after launch. Because I had my copy shipped and started playing the day after the official launch I didn’t face the login nightmares that many others did. I was able to play right away and spent about 30 hours engrossed in the D3 universe over the next week.On the 24th I logged in to find that all of the items in my stash were gone, along with my gold. I didn’t notice it at the time, but I also had a new friend in my Social panel. I thought that there must have been some kind of glitch with an update that Blizzard applied. No problem; I’d just open a ticket and they could restore my lost items. So I opened a support ticket and waited.A day went by and I didn’t hear anything from Blizzard. I logged into my account again and...

Why You Shouldn’t Buy Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

By on Apr 16, 2012 in Blog Posts, Games | 3 comments

Ever since I was a kid and I watched my first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I’ve always dreamed of a strategy game with large scale space combat. I got excited in 1999 when I heard about Alpha Centauri, but Civilization in space wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted hundreds – nay, thousands of ships going head to head. Intergalactic warfare, baby. That’s what I wanted.So the years went by and games came and went but nothing really came close to my vision and hopes were dashed again and again. Then in 2008 Sins of a Solar Empire came out of no where and after I decided to ignore the worst computer game name ever I found myself intrigued by the hype. RTS? Check. Space? Check. Thousands of ships? Check! Online multiplayer? Yes! I was happily on board and looking forward to finally having my dreams fulfilled.Alas, disappointment soon reared...

How to redirect images in WordPress

By on Feb 20, 2012 in Blog Posts, Internet | 0 comments

Today I had the pleasure of having one of my websites slammed with traffic. Normally this would be a wonderful thing, filling me with the joy of a thousand nerds meeting Jeri Ryan in person. I quickly determined that I wasn’t getting the kind of traffic I wanted. Some wanker had directly linked to an animated GIF on my website EnjoyTheRandom.com from Reddit rather than linking to the post it was on. This is generally considered awesome by Redditors and heinous by webmasters. We spend a ton of time combing the interwebs for content, so the least you can do is ignore the rest of the site while you get a chuckle out of the free content we’re providing.Normally I’d just let it slide, but this was a nearly 2MB animated GIF and the site was burning through over 5GB of bandwidth per hour. Since a moderately popular post on Reddit can generate that kind of traffic for a day...