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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

What To Do When Computer Boots Up Slow




Tech Tuesday this weeks will start my Windows Troubleshooting Tips series. For this week and the rest of the month of January I will be discussing common Windows errors/ issues and how to fix them. Most of the solutions that I will be presenting here are simple quick fixes. So with that said I will keep myself within simple errors and issues that most of us encounter everyday.

Let's start this series with one common source of annoyance, when Windows computer boots up slow. We are all familiar with that at some point I guess. So, you may ask, why does your computer boots up slow?

A slow Microsoft Windows boot up (it's when you turn on your computer) can be caused by a wide variety of issues. I will be discussing below some suggestions and tips that can address this issue and help speed up your computer at startup.

I have several computers and some of them tend to boot up slower than the others and the reason for that is those computers run startup programs. In which case, you may need to disable those startup programs.

What are startup programs? These are programs that are loading up as the computer starts up, these remain active in memory, and are often one of the main causes of a slow boot in Windows. Disabling programs you don't often use from automatically starting up each time the computer boots can increase the boot time. You can do this manually (I will make a separate post about this promise!) or you can opt to use a memory optimizer program, which can disable any program in any of the locations programs use to start themselves automatically.

Another thing you may want to check into is your hard disk drive space. You need to have at least 250MB of free available hard disk drive space in your computer or this will decrease your computer's boot time. So you may want to make you have at least 250MB disk space available.

Next would be make sure our computer has the latest drivers as well as any available Microsoft Windows updates! Most of the time, corrupt, incorrect, and/or out-of-date drivers can cause a number of different issues, so make sure to update them in a timely manner.

Adding more memory (RAM) to your computer can also increase the overall performance of your computer and the load times of your computer. Right now, most computers run a minimum of 1GB of memory, if your computer is running less than that, you may consider an upgrade!

How often do you Defrag and do Scandisk? Running Microsoft ScanDisk and Defrag and other similar disk utilities on the computer can help check if the hard disk drive has no errors, and at the same time make sure the data on the hard disk drive is organized in the most efficient method. I usually do this once in every few months. And if you are not doing this, you may start this one now. (I will make another post on this one too!)

You may try a registry cleaner. Though not really often recommended, in some cases this helps improve the computers overall performance including that of the Windows startup. (I will try to post more information on registry cleaners in the coming weeks.)

If all the above tips have been tried ans still your computer boots up slow, you may want to format and reinstall. Yikes! That means you need to erase everything and re-install Windows. This will clean your computer and make it like new. (I will also try to make another post on how to backup your files as you might need to do that before formatting your computer.)



Another alternative solution to this is to set your computer to hibernate mode rather than turning it off. This will also let you startup your computer faster.

I know you may have questions related to this post and please feel free to leave them in the comment section and I will try to address them come next Tuesday. I hope you learn something new today!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Mariposa's Christmas Decor

So glad to be back to Fun Monday before ending the year!




The lovely Gattina is hosting this week and her task for this week is --

Just take a picture of one Christmas ornament which you love the most, explain why, and if you don't have any explanations it's also OK. For those who haven't celebrated Christmas, just take a picture of something else you love as decoration.


This is quite easy to do and I have more than one. I remember doing a similar theme in my first year with Fun Monday, but of course I'm not posting that old photo. ;)

First off, here is my Christmas tree! This year I did not so many decors like I used to but I decided to bring the tree out the porch. This is a favorite decor as there was no Christmas without it. So here it is with its lights. I love them in evening...it feels nice listening to the lights sing those Christmas carols. 



Then under the tree is where my gifts are. (I know there are not decors but I love them and my Christmas tree is not complete without them!) I love wrapping gifts and moreso the fun of distributing them to friends and families. Here is my taking a short break with my wrapping of gifts adventure. Iwas not halfway then...but the IT Guy asked me to pose and so the obedient me did as he told me and you see there one harassed butterfly! LOL

 

 And my most favorite Christmas decor of all is the Nativity! And most especially this one as this was given by a friend 12 years ago. One of my most treasured decor. For 12 years I have kept it and I intend to keep it forever. By the way, here in my place we this Belen. We always display the Nativity in our living room every Christmas. It's not so big we can put it on top of a table, a low shelves, etc.

 

 So that's it. Let me go and visit the others now and see what they have. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010!

Hugs and Kisses,



Managing Bad Credit

Anyone ever applied for an auto loan? I guess most of us. But have you ever been denied due to a bad credit standing? This does not just happen to car loans, this even happen to credit card applications, right? Well anyway, this is awful. At some point people need into credit because all they can afford is financing but then they can’t because they have bad credit standing. And most of the time we need to put things into financing to manage our finances. Huh, another chicken and egg situation.

I don’t know how I got into this conversation with the IT Guy. Maybe we were discussing about the economy and how bad it has been to most people. Then he told me something about people with bad credit standing still being able to get loan application approval. I was like, really? Then he said yes. All they need to do is just declare their financial standing and apply for bad credit loan. I never knew such a thing exist but then, I went ahead and check it online.

Bingo! I saw one offering bad credit auto loans. And while most people might shy away from this due to fear for a very high interest, I believe it’s just a matter of financial planning. One just need to know how much he or she can afford in a given time. Anyway just my morning thought, you might want to check it yourselves!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Christmas at CCMC Pediatrics

I promise to make a post about it so here goes. Trust me I had to struggle with this post as I just can't seem to find any strength to type anything. I'm more than happy to have shared few moments with the children at Cebu City Medical Center's Pediatrics...plus the fact that I'm still not so over with one event I saw while I was there.

First off I don't have any better photos to show as I did not go there ready to document the said activity. As most of you noticed I have stopped writing posts about my outreach programs. I don't really have any reasons for that though. Anyway, when we got home the IT Guy told me that in between his breaks (since he was helping out most of the time!) he was able to take some photos in some areas of the Pedia Ward.

Cebu City Medical Center, also known as CCMC is a public hospital run by the Cebu City Goverment. And like most state-owned hospitals, it's not really the nicest place to go to or stay with. So this Christmas I told the IT Guy that I wanted to go there and be with the children. It was a last minute thing I wanted so we did whatever we can with whatever we have. I have to thank several people too who made this project successful. I'd like to thank the man in black, Rene S. for helping me facilitate this visit as well as Dr. M. Go, the Chief of the Hospital. So many thanks to Agnes who shared some candies, juices and biscuits to the children, my sister in law Sheila for all the particular help, and of course the IT Guy who cooked the spaghetti himself. Did I mention before that the IT Guy is very good with pasta? Well he is! And we just wanted his best spaghetti to the children. :)

So here we are in action!





The Pedia Ward is located at the ground floor of the hospital and there were about 60 children there, that includes the Pedia ICU and they have an extension at the third floor where there were about 12 children.

This is the one on the third floor. Here is my SIL giving candies and biscuits to the children.



I had just to ask how come this child is alone...I was glad to know she's to check out and the parent was just checking with the nurses downstairs.

 

Here is Mariposa putting all her trash in one bag. Cleanliness is next to godliness so they say!

 

I met this baby when I went back downstairs. He just spent his Christmas at the hospital and I do hope he will be out there by New Year. (I didn't even notice the IT Guy was able to take a photo!)


 

The scene I left downstairs wasn't quite the same when I got back. The four month old baby who was in manual respirator (they call it bagging) was being pumped by the nurse. I could tell it wasn't good and I was standing there helpless seeing the baby go. I couldn't understand why we had to end the day with that. When I first stepped into the Pedia Ward the first thing I asked was what happened to her. The one who was doing the bagging told me that she had a cough. I had to ask the IT Guy how come she wasn't in normal oxygen, he just looked at me and said because she may not be capable to do it on her own. I know deep inside that once a patient is in respirator it means that patient is in critical condition, it just didn't dawn to me that, that child was in critical condition. I went to her Mom before going upstairs and told them I pray they can go home soon. It never occurred to me that they will go home sad. While I stand there looking at the nurses and the doctor trying to revive the baby, I kept asking people and myself what can I do. What do they need. Nothing. They needed the baby to respond first. I was standing there wishing one could share their lifetime with someone in an instance. I would gladly give some of my years to that child. It's just awful. I couldn't believe a child could die because of a cough. I couldn't believe how could parents wait for a simple cough to complicate before rushing them to the hospital. That baby I learned was just brought there on that day. Early that day another baby died because of the same illness. What in the world is going on?

I want to stop this post as I am just too overwhelmed with a lot of things. I know I can only do so much, and I always wish I can do more but every time I struggle to do more for people I see how helpless I am and it hurts. 

I pray for God's hand to rest on the shoulder of the family of that baby who's with the angels now. I also pray that the children there get better soon so they can spend New Year's eve at home. May God bless all the little children in world.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

The Little...

PhotoHunt: TWELVE



These are Sean's little twelve friends... Unfortunately the IT Guy can't make him join them in the line. LOL

Thanks to all who sent me eCards, eMails, and gifts. Also to those who gave me a ring, thanks so much! A bit late, but hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I had a big one with family and friends.  And this afternoon, I had the chance to spend Christmas with the children at Cebu City Medical Center Pediatrics Ward and I promise to write a post about it tomorrow. :)

Please visit PhotoHunt's HQ to see others' TWELVE !

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Value of Time

I've been saying it's the busyness that has made me neglect this site, but I guess for the most part it's me not able to manage my time right. And what might ask, just where did I get that. Oh well. Nowhere really. It's just that for the days, weeks, months and years I realize how valuable time is. Over and beyond that saying time is gold. And I will tell you why and how.

When I got so many orders for my lengua de gato, I was literally counting how much sales I'm going to make and how much my net would be. Then I made a time and motion study on how many packs we can make in a day, thus how much money you can make in a day making lengua de gato. So that when I spend the money from that project, I'm actually spending the time spent on that project and not the money itself. Ha! What an analysis.

But seriously that is so true. You spend a day's earning to buy you a pair of shoes and there goes your 8-hours. You saving up for 3 years to get that car, well, there goes 3 years of life locked up to get a car. I'm not saying this is a bad realization, just that with this one, now I'm making priorities on where to spend my time (money)...and it all goes to the things that matter most.

So what about you? How do you spend time? By the way, I no longer consider that line to be a metaphor!


Wednesday, December 16, 2009

A Home Away From Home

The landscape of travel and hospitality industry has evolved and the new trend is travelers choosing self catering holiday cottages or other vacation houses for rent over the usual hotel accommodation. This gives most travelers more control as to how they plan their activities during vacation especially for family vacations plus the fact that this allows them to get more value out of their money. This recent trend also encourages more people to travel as this makes accommodation, which most of the time eats most of our travel budget, more affordable and manageable.

This is quite exciting as this allows travelers to have their own home away from home. Nothing is as exciting as having your own kitchen on your vacation and getting to try to cook and eat what you can find in the local market. Yes, that is possible with this type of accommodation as most of them are furnished and equipped. I can just remember the many times I got locked in a hotel room staring at my wall realizing how I missed my oven. This is also very economical especially if there are many of you because you can save on the food. Dining out can be quite expensive and I’d rather used some of my money for shopping. Ha!

Next time I go on vacation I am sure to get myself a good home away from home and it pays to get this service from some well-known providers such as Devon Cottages. Just like any cottages for rent, Self Catered Devon Cottages offers the comfort of home while being away from home. Their cottages are reasonably priced and are in good locations. You may want to check them out to see what options you have and start planning that vacation you’ve been wanting. I’m sure it will be something to look forward.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I Have Been To The Edge










It's Tuesday's Tales time once again and yes I am here. I made it! WOOT!

One of the many reasons why I got so busy the past weeks was my friend's visit to Cebu. We did a joint training on Project Management and Total Quality Management. But the tales here will not be about that, but rather the fun we had!

The first day was rather manic thus we decided to end it with a bang! So we went to Crown Regency to have dinner. But then it was not just dinner. I guess we wanted to get so hungry that we had to scare ourselves and tried the Edge Coaster.



I never thought I'd tried it as I've been telling my friends before I will never try it. Ha, never say never so they say...and now I know what they mean.

So what is an Edge Coaster. Will it is that! A ride at the edge of the hotel at the 37th floor mind you! A sure ride of a life. A hell of a ride for me. My friend kept saying it's controlled fear, to me, it's many things...it's when you get excited hovering the city seeing all the buildings and lights and at the same time having that cliff hanger feeling because you are in a seating position, tilted up to 55 degrees and at the edge of the building.

So here is how I look in my first few minutes...




Cameras are not allowed so only them can take photos and you have to pay to get your hard copy. I have to thank Jherlie for sending me this soft copy to post here. I have something more fun, but I still have to ask the IT Guy to scan it. IT Guy missed it by the way because he had some business cocktail to attend to. (Well he told me he will not try it anyway. LOL)

We had to take some poses after that nerve-wrecking experience to settle our senses or we could have ended up eating horses for dinner! Hehehe





Behind us is Cebu!

This was just Day 1. Next week I will share more photos of our Cebu escapade!

Happy Tuesday people!

Plants Are Good Gifts!

I'm still alive folks! I'm done all repainting projects, the kitchen, the living room and the exterior of the house. And I love the results...I think I did a good job with it. I will show photos this weekend.

I am here to do a quick shout out on how happy I am to receive Christmas gifts as early by now. And let me tell you how excited I am to find out that they are plants! Yes, I got them delivered right on my doorstep. They will look nice in my porch. Obviously the person who sent them to me knows me. She knows how I love nature and how I spend time in my garden. I am so ecstatic.

Now, I want to spread the virus and send these wonderful gifts to friends as well. I check online and saw a good list of plants to choose from. I love the poinsettia and the money tree. Hmm...I have to start making my list now with what to send to whom.

If you are still figuring out what to send to friends as gifts, you may think of sending them plants!