OK, at some point in the next couple of weeks, I’ll finally be installing the nice new 500Gb hard drive I got for Christmas. The plan is to use this one for the OS install and programs. The current boot drive will become a temporary drive for works in progress, such as video edits not yet completed. Anyway, what I want to know is can the Windows Updates I’ve already downloaded and installed be ported to the new install. Obviously this would save me time, but as I’m on a 10Gb limit with my ISP, it would also allow me to download more in that month. I’ve had a google around, and asked at a couple of forums, but not found anything yet. I was hoping there would be a folder (possibly within \Windows ?) I could just copy into the new install, and then when I visited Microsoft Update, it would automatically detect that the required files were already downloaded, and just install them.
Also, a similar(ish) question regarding WinAmp. When it comes to ratings for the MP3s, and also the times played info, where is this stored? I would like to port across this data to the new install, but don’t know where to begin. Any clues anyone?

One of the items on my To Do list is looking into Net Audio Ads a little closer. I looked at the system prior to Christmas, but until I have sorted out my new hosting account, I don’t want to get too distracted. The idea behind the venture is relatively simple - as a site owner/admin, you insert some code that will play a short audio clip each time a visitor arrives on one of your pages. Each time a clip is played, you earn some money from the advertisers concerned, via the company that runs Web Audio Ads.
The main difference between this income source and those like AdSense or Oxado is that every visitor counts, rather than only paying out when someone actually clicks on an advert or makes a purchase. To be honest, my first reaction when I read about this service last year was that adverts playing automatically would put off some visitors. HOWEVER, the company has obviously thought of this in advance, as all adverts are five seconds or less, and only played once per page. If you look after a website, and would like to find out about earning some (more) money, click on the link above, and if you do so in the next fortnight, you’ll find you can earn extra money through their 3-tier affiliate payout scheme.
If you are one of those publishers that are already using this scheme, please do feel free to leave a comment, and let other readers know how you found the experience.

Please excuse the lack of posting… We arrived fine, had Christmas, mum and John got married, the in-laws went back to Kazakhstan, and we’ve just had New Year.
Tomorrow we head to Dads, and see some friends around Cheltenham, moving onto Matt & Ira G’s place, finally returning mum’s car to Clydach, then trapsing down to Heathrow.
Will try and post more info later, depending on internet connection availability and my soberness…

I should have learnt from previous experiences buying hardware here in Kazakhstan, but I somehow just hoped that things would have improved.
Anyway, yesterday Ira, her Mum and I went to a couple of computer shops to order a new computer as an early Christmas present. I had got a copy of a PC spec that her work colleagues had designed for someone, made a few tweaks and improvements to some of the components, and then got a price for a complete system. Once we had all the details, I returned home to research some of the parts (if you’re intending to spend a fair whack on a large monitor, for example, you want to make sure that hundreds of people haven’t had serious issues with it.)
Eventually we had all the details, and returned to the one shop that had all parts in stock. Apparently. To cut a long story short, the suggested motherboard would only take DDR3 memory (which has a HUGE price premium, at least over here), not the DDR2 memory specced, the CPU wasn’t in stock, nor the case, nor the hard drives. All of this after starting our conversation with the (very nice) sales people by explaining we were hoping this shop wouldn’t muck us around, as Ucon had done last year. Anyway, after confirming we wanted a legal, licensed Windows XP installed, and that they could not source a specific A3 photo printer, we finally had an invoice printed (about the fourth or fifth version, after finding lots of parts were not in stock, despite being present on the stock/price list we were working from).
Anyway, I am getting picked up by my father-in-law’s new driver in a few hours, to go and check out the new PC, and make sure all is well with it. I wonder if I can suggest that they should swap their 24″ screen for my 19″ - purely for, ummm, hmmm, nope I can’t think of a valid reason. Life’s hard

Whilst checking which photos I had yet to post, I came across these recent snaps of Gwen (Mum and John’s puppie), and though friends might want to see them.
The first is a little difficult to fathom, as I’m not sure what the slightly forlorn look in her eyes is all about - perhaps just plain tiredness after running about chasing her master all day? Or has she just been told that the tasty smelling joint of meat is not for canine canines to chomp on? It could just be that she saw the camera, and decided to take a pose

Secondly, we have Mum holding Gwen, which is a good enough photo in its own right; when you consider Mum is smiling, obviously aware of the camera by the fact she is looking right into the lens, this photo is even more cool and unusual

Oh and Winamp just played a classic Christmas hit, and I started smiling. Must be soon now… Yep, less than a week to go

I have been bookmarking a few articles I found interesting recently, so please forgive my indulgence by skipping those that don’t interest you so much… as I’ll be in Britain soon, I want to try and post as many as I can before the time available for blogging is minimized (by travel, Christmas, Mum and John’s wedding, New Year, seeing Dad and some friends in Cheltenham etc.) Although I hope to make a few posts whilst in Britain, I’m not sure I’ll be as motivated TBH, and by the time I get back, I imagine a lot of these news stories will be too old to be of interest to most.
Thanks for your patience

With just over a fortnight until Christmas, I hereby officially concede defeat, and will no longer ban myself from posting Xmas-related links. The first that caught my eye was piece on how the new(ish) rules for the UK Top 40 music chart mean that Christmas hits from the past now stand a good chance of doing well this year. Because nearly all (legal) downloads are now counted in the official chart, music companies no longer need to officially relaunch a track with a real world CD for it to count. Check out the article here.
Secondly, we have news from the Philippines that carol singers are being banned from busy traffic intersections, in the hope that accidents can be reduced. I wouldn’t be overly surprised if they have some official delegation visiting as well, as poor, shoeless, hungry and dirty kids do not present a good image for your country. Lets just hope that they will be able to get their food from somewhere, otherwise ministers may not being getting a good nights sleep when they consider the turkey they’ll be carving on the big day…

Even earlier than we expected. As previously mentioned, we and her parents are already going to Britain just prior to Christmas. However Ira’s work have now decided to send her to a meeting in London, which means she will be on 8 different flights within 10 days. I hope her journey goes well, and that the meeting is not too draining. I have offered my services as her personal luggage handler, but she does not seem to think her company will pay for my ticket, as it is an ‘un-necessary expense’ or something LMAO

The rules are pretty simple - register with Overstock’s competition by the 7th December, and you could win a prize from their site. How could it be better? How about five of your friends winning a prize at the same time (up to a total value of $1000)? If you are really lucky and win the grand draw prize, then you and your five best friends (they will soon be your best buddies even if they weren’t before ) get a $5000 pot to spend on your prizes!
So, click the link for the “All I want for Christmas Giveaway“, watch the flash presentation and start thinking which of your friends would most appreciate the gift if you win. You can enter once per day, and your friends can also enter in their own right. (Please see the rules section for exact details).

Personally, I would go for some classy diamond earrings for Irina, and maybe a new digital camera for us. Anyway, ChrisD, AlexC, Oleg, NickM and Seb (who could share with Con :)) would be my 5 nominated friends, if we all lived over in America, rather than Europe. Taking a moment to look at overstock’s inventory, I feel I would probably have difficulty in keeping to the 1K or 5K total, but then again its Christmas, so I suppose I could always dip into the bank account to top up the total budget…