Desktop.. Everyone has one of these!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Since I had a complete wipe-out earlier this week, I am recovering stuff from whatever sources I can.  This is the first in a series of desktops showing various of my pets at various times in their lives.

This is Duffy (Heartscontent Fire and Ice), a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (Field Strain).  These guys were used in the Scottish Highlands to start grouse for the hunters.  This one, and most of them, was a love sponge.  R.I.P. (Oct. 2007 age 11)  In this photo he was about 7 years old.

[Duke87 1,070]

Next step in making my new computer my own... ditching the default backround and replacing it with this:

(click for fullsize)

I'm operating on some serious widescreen now (1366×768). Finding images that fit will be that much trickier...

[joshriddle 29]

I suspect you like Windows 7 better?

I'm still stuck with that bland old XP. I've shown it before. Same picture of the meadow.

Oh and serious widescreen? I have that LCD 1920x1080 in there that I will use with my new desktop once I build it. Right now I am stuck with this one... I think this one would be considered a netbook/notebook.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: joshriddle

I suspect you like Windows 7 better?quote>

I like the fact that my new computer has more RAM, more hard drive space, and a faster CPU better. On the OS itself... well, I can note no functional advantages, but I can note a few functional drawbacks:

- GIFs. Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 7 cannot properly display animated GIFs, which is annoying.

- Reverse compatibility. I have old software I can no longer run.

- Permissions. Microsoft, quit treating me like an idiot and let me access my system files without jumping through hoops every time.

Oh and serious widescreen? I have that LCD 1920x1080 in there that I will use with my new desktop once I build it.quote>

Well, serious in terms of aspect ratio, not size. Most "wallpaper" images out there (or artworks that could operate as such), have a traditional 4:3 (1.33) aspect ratio. My previous two laptops were 1280×768 (5:3,1.67) and 1280×800 (8:5,1.60). My new computer, at 1366×768, has a full widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio (1.78). Being more dissimilar to 4:3 than the others, it's trickier to find images that will fit it without being unduly stretched or squashed. The image I'm using currently actually has an even greater aspect ratio than 16:9 - but it has just a white background, so by setting it to fit rather than stretch and making the background color white, I've fooled it into looking like I have an image that properly fits my screen.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I am not sure I would like all those anime characters looking at me when I was working.  The dog is bad enough.

[Duke87 1,070]

Maybe this is just one of my quirks, but... I have never felt as though the subject of a picture is "looking at me". People in pictures and even in videos don't seem to actually "be there", they are just images. (side note: video chat kinda creeps me out)

Of course, it doesn't really matter anyway, as my desktop is only actually visible less than 0.1% of the time. I almost always have something maximized.

[joshriddle 29]

My dad was considering dual booting Windows XP on his W7 system. He was having issues getting some of his 32 bit programs running on 64 bit.

I don't really believe in having 2 operating systems. I feel if you can't get a program to run on one operating system, with some tweaking, it will work.

My new computer when I get it is going to work better. It will have 4-6 GB of RAM, and after jacking the swap space to 6-8 GB that makes it all the better.

On my XP system I am not going to bother trying to increase the swap space any higher then 2 GB. Mr Moose taught me a neat trick to increasing the swap to 4 GB, but I won't be using this one much longer, before I get my new system. It will probably be some time after the Holidays, which aren't far off. It will be running Windows 7, and then I will apply that trick, and then let it get used to turning up the swap 3 times higher, and maybe turn it up even higher yet.

I also intend to overclock, my processor is going to be an AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz, I am going to overclock to 3.6, if possible, maybe 3.8. I doubt 4.0 would work though.

Fast enough eh?

I changed my desktop.

This is the best image I have found so far. I will be keeping this one for awhile.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

If you overclock your cpu, you had better have a good reason than doing it just because you can.  The performance difference is slight, and what you will do is put yourself in danger of cooking it.

[Roger51 381]

Here is my current one, it is on a rotational background. Thought I would show this pic as it is used for my avatar as well. (spot it if you can )

Click for full size and all:

[joshriddle 29]

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

This is the next in my series of Pet desktops.  This is Geordie, a pure bred Gordon Setter.  I don't know his CKC name because we never got his papers before he passed away at age 4 of a congenital brain disease.  Signing that euthanasia order was one of the toughest things I have ever done.  I went outside and cried.

[jakehh 52]

Might as well share this; I try to keep my desktop more orgaised than anything else.

[Chptrk 86]

My latest addition to my desktops, along with N, my desktop buddy.

[antsel 841]

Here is my desktop, as you can see I prefer to keep it complete devoid of icons.

Currently running Windows 7, so I have a slideshow of pictures I've taken around Scotland. Of course I purposely took the screen shot when it changed to the Edinburgh Castle.

[Vahr 343]

Nothing fancy, just rather clean.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Looks rather like a Moebius strip or a Lissajou figure.  Very nice.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Hey, its another month.  Here is the best shot I have of my two red Irish Setters.  They are lying in the back yard at Alcona with my late wife.  It was shot sometime in the 1990's since everyone in this shot has gone to their rewards.  The setters are: left - Paddy (Windylane Whiskey's Paddy) and right - Casey (Fallowfield Wendover Impromptu).  Casey was our first dog, but after we got the house near Barrie, Ontario we felt he needed a companion.

How do you tell them apart:  Well, Paddy is cinnamon colour and Casey is mahogany.  Also Paddy is broader than Casey.

This is the next in my series of "Our pets desktops".

[Bepi-Nomdus 0]

Recently I whiped out my XP thanks to a stupid mistake. Luckily I have backups but I haven't really had enough time to sort everything out. This is what it looks like now...

[JakeMD 107]

Here's my current background..

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

For the holidays, I've changed to this one.  More doggies after the new year.  Merry Christmas everyone.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Happy New Year.  This is the next in my pet dogs series.

There are the first dogs I ever owned.  Irish Setters,  Left to right: Casey (Fallowfield Wendover Impromptu), Paddy (Windylane Whiskey's Paddy).  At this time, Paddy is somewhere between one and two years old.  He was evenutally bigger than Casey.  Both gone to the Rainbow Bridge.

Next month -- The Dogs at the Top of the Stairs.

[Sniper296 83]

Here is the current state of my desktop now that I am using a smaller CRT, What a mess!

I now have so many tabs open at a time that I have FF&Chrome open at the same time.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

A modest suggestion.  You have too many icons on your desktop.  I can't believe you use each of them all the time.  Why not consolidate some of the least used into an appropriate folder on the desktop.  Using the menu system in Windows, you can set them up to appear as additional menus.  All that stuff on the desktop would make me crosseyed.  Take a look at my desktop immediately before yours, and you'll see this folder idea in use.

[Sniper296 83]

Well It did look like this before my screen shattered

The change from 1440x900 to 1208x1024 messed up the icons and I can't be bothered to reorganise them untill I get a replacement screen, and I am using a folder method, the Games folder is where all games, modding tools and wip's go, and the Projects folder is a Documents replacement.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Much nicer.  I hope you get your new hardware soon.  That's a very nice background photo.

[Duke87 1,070]

So, yeah. I came across this hilarious picture today. It was immediately desktop'd.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Anime Firefox and Thunderbird icons.  Neat.  Going to use them?

[Duke87 1,070]

Well, that image was found as you see it, they aren't actually icons. I suppose I could make icons out of them, but that would break up the pair, seeing as I do not use Thunderbird (or any offline mail client).

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Interesting that you use the risky "mail services" provided by some sites.  I have always used my ISP's SMTP servers without a problem.  If you look back at my screenshots, you'll find both programs nestled up to each other on the top panel.  I used hot mail for a while long, long ago, and I wasn't impressed.  The mail service is included in your Internet charge whether you use it or not.  My ISP has a very good set of spam filters, but even at that some gets through, often flagged by them as doubtful.

I like the features of Thunderbird.  The Linux crowd want me to use a groupware program (Evolution) but I have not been impressed by it nor Novell's version of it either.  Last time I looked it wasn't ready for people.  All you really need to make Thunderbird totally useable is a virus checker (CLAMAV). and SpanAssassin, all of which just add on.  I use CLAMAV anyway, and all this stuff is free.

By the way, you can apparently use Thunderbird and still use something like gmail as a proxy.  This gives you full Thunderbird services along with any gmail (or whoever) services you need.

[Duke87 1,070]

Eh, I find it easier to just check my email online. A special program for it isn't necessary.

I don't see what the big deal is with that, vis-a-vis security. I'm not exactly forthcoming about giving out my email address, so I don't really ever get much spam. And if I don't recognize the sender of an email, I don't open it. Besides, would Thunderbird really provide any security that Norton and Firefox don't already?