Finally make RepliGo working AGAIN on my Palm Clie!

RepliGo (http://www.cerience.com/viewers/pc.php) is such important software on my Palm. It allows me to print whatever content that can be printed to be saved as a Palm document file, and with HotSync, I can bring those content with me and read on the street. That means I am save web page, e-Book pages, Excel, Word, or whatever files that I can print, and have those document with me while I am on the road.

RepliGo was working fine with me until like a few months ago. It stopped working, and back then I was so busy that I didn��t dare to spend time figuring out what��s wrong. Now that I have lot more time on hand, I went ahead to look into the problem. After doing the following things, the Repligo started working again.

- NOT to have multiple accounts logged in on the XP. Only one account (the active one) is running.

- Replace the Religo.prc file (on the Palm) with the latest one.

- Download the installation file from the web site and install it again. While installing, only one account is actively logged in.

- Avoid having the Repligo to stay on the Compaq Flash card, but instead have it on the memory stick.

So there I go. Again, I still don��t know which of the above 4 solved the problem, but I will sure following those 4 rules when I try to reinstall RepliGo again.

Man, McAfee VirusScan pissed me off! I have the ��NT On-Access Scanner service�� error (which rendered VirusScan into disable mode!) problem for a while. Totally, I finally figure out why by checking out the Event Viewer. It was because of VirusScan failed to handle some non-Unicode filename (like Chinese and Japanese). In fact, many other users complain about it while VirusScan still refuse to fix the problem:

http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=23347

http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=178860

So screw you McAfee. I am switching to other anti-virus software, like F-secure Internet Security. In fact, I am doing it now.

Hmmmm �K but then I tried both F-Secure 2004 and 2005. The serial checking prevented me from completing the installation. So I finally bowed down and installed the AVG Anti-virus free edition. So far, so good.

I found a strange 3D model of race queen here: http://hkjerry.idv.tw/rq.htm#3drq Really strange a thing to look at!

I was looking into the lightest notebook from Cnet again. The IBM X40 looks fine (with 2.4 lbs weight) but the price does not justify it (HK$17,000). The Toshiba Tablet XP, on the other hand, is too heavy and too hot as a Tablet PC. The new HP Tablet PC looks OK, but the HP quality �K.. sigh. Guess I��ll keep my Compaq running for a while I guess.

I spent, or should I say wasted, to figure out what Palm application I can install in order to improve my life and my Palm experience. It turned out that there are not that many, and even when there are, the trouble to make them work, including finding crack, keygen, freeing up the ultra limited memory on my Palm, and so on, was just not worth it. I knew it because, like I said, I already ��wasted�� enough time this morning :-< .

Here��s some finding, in order to justify that my time was not like totally wasted:

- The latest QuickOffice for Palm is still a mess. It doesn��t sync right and kind of messed up my Palm. Fortunately I did a full backup on the memory stick, and I was able to rewind back to the OS before I installed QuickOffice.

- The new TileDoc 6.4 caused my old 5.3 failed to run. And since I don��t have the code for TileDoc 6.4, I have to once again roll-back my OS so that TileDoc 5.3 can continue working.

- My search for a text editor that works with Chinese input is still going on, with not much advancement. SiEd is actually the best text Editor I found so far, but unfortunately it kept me from

- Decuma crashes ALL THE TIME on my current OS. Really don��t know why, but then I don��t use it, as it��s OK.

- I also have voice feature failed on my Clie when using HuangYing and YingHunag dictionary. Again, a feature that I rarely use. But I may look into this when I have spare time.

- I figured out that the HotSync cable USB charge won��t work if I have my HotSync plugged in a hub. I have to directly plug it to the motherboard.

The problem I had with Mcafee Antivirus (NT Host ,,, something something error) which rendered Antivirus to disable was sort of fixed. After I applied the registry modification and reboot, I need to reinstall Mcafee Antivirus once again, although this time it was very brief in time. So far I have Mcafee running OK. I��ll keep documenting the issue as time goes by.

One thing I really like Winamp as a video player is that I can pause, start and forward video by only one hand with arrow key only. This really enhances my experience and allows me to skip forward a video at ease.

Video playback is such a tricky thing these days. So many formats and standards! Just today I downloaded some anime video in .mkv format. I couldn��t open it so I search high and low, and finally found that I need to download a file called Real Alternative 1.28, and with it installed I can watch the given file. Isn��t it crazy?

I was suggested by some guy on palmstamp forum to try out EO Video as part of the workflow to convert video into Clie capable format. I tired and found EOVideo not as friendly a tool as I expected. I was particular not happy about the fact that there��s no simply mean to edit the playlist (the same list that will be used to carry out the conversion job). Maybe I��ll have better luck when I try spending more time on it.

My Compaq 1720US laptop was given me a ��blue screen of death�� every once in a while theses days, and was happening just a few minutes ago. Here��s what was shown on the screen:

KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR

Being annoyed by it, I checked the Net and found two sites that provide related information:

http://www.updatexp.com/stop-messages.html

http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=4192

Usually after a few reboot, boot partition will be rendered to death and I have to restore the partition.

Here��s the more detail description about the problem:

Stop 0x00000077 or KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR
This error can be caused by defective memory, a malfunctioning HD, an improperly configured disk controller or cable, corrupted data, or a virus infection when an attempt was made to read kernel data from virtual memory and failed to find the data at the memory address.

Given I know the fact that my hard disk has a lot of bad sector, I won��t be surprise that the problem is partly caused by the bad sector. But I am also a bit worry that it was something deeper than that, and being hesitate to spend any money to fix this old machine. On the top of that, I was always planning to by a Tablet PC, so that may be my best excuse to get the tablet PC dreamed of.

And then I found that I am not the only who has this problem on a Compaq Presario laptop!

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Q_21028965.html

This is a Compaq Presario laptop running XP Home edition. Safe mode stops on AGP440.SYS. I am on the road today and do not have any XP CD's etc... I did find a knowledge base article that says I can disable AGP440.SYS using recovery console and my XP CD.

Man, I have too many problems with this Compaq crap. Great, another brand to rule out when I buy a new laptop computer.

Here��s another big list of people having the same problem as mine:

http://www.newbie.org/help/messages/8409.html

No one seems to be able to find a simple way to diagnose the problem. This is really not good, because it simply means that there��s no way that I will do any important stuff that that laptop, knowing that ��I don��t know when�� or ��I don��t know how�� this machine will reboot on my without any particular reason at all.

I am now creating a partition for laptop away from the previous partition. Let��s see if it does a better job this time.

Because computer can get so messed up so easily, I think I should really think about getting a dedicated Portable Video Player instead of a Tablet PC being doubled as a video player.

Well, who am I kidding, the weight on my backpack in already getting to the ridiculous level. I think I really should reconsider my plan on getting a PVP�K..

And on the top of these mess, a construction is going on outside my home. Man, the noise drove me nuts.

And as if I don��t have enough problem, stupid error kept popping up, saying ��NT On-Access Scanner��.

Here��s the solution:

http://ecusthelp.mcafee.com/cgi-bin/ecust.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid
=Jy1lnpRg&p_lva=&p_faqid=1483&p_created=1033402872&%20p_sp=cF9ncmlkc29y
dD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTI0MCZwX3NlYXJja#PC-cillin

This article addresses the "NT On Access Scanner service" error message. It can appear after installing VirusScan Online and starting up your computer.

Do the following:

1. Uninstall PC-cillin.

2. If PC-cillin is not installed, edit the registry.

3. Reinstall VirusScan Online.

Edit the Registry

1. Click Start.

2. Click Run.

3. Type regedit

4. Click OK.

5. The Registry Editor appears. Click the + next to each of the following:

�E HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
�E Software
�E Network Associates
�E TVD
�E Shared Components

6. Right-click the On Access Scanner folder.

7. Click Delete.

8. Click Yes to the confirmation.

9. Restart the computer.

So much mess in PC world.

I was not aware of the shortcoming on the financial software I used on Palm called PocketMoney until today. I have a need to export the data from PocketMoney to Quicken, and found that the export was very lousy, or should I say NOT WOKRING! A lot of garbage was generated in the .qif file. As a result, I have to give up my plan on moving those date to my desktop. I was upset, but not the-end-of-the-world kind of upset. I am, though, happy that I realize the problem now, so that I can make the decision of switching to another Financial software called SplashMoney right away.

SplashMoney does a better job of exporting, but I was particularly impressed by the report feature the program itself provides. Hopefully I will stay with this program for a while.

Along the way, I found something that irritated my about Quicken: starting from Quicken 2005, most account in the program will NOT support QIF import, that��s a big blow for us user who rely on it to sync the Pocket Financial app with the Desktop Quicken. So I guess I have to stay with Quicken 2004 for a while until the Pocket apps finally catch up and implemented OFX support.

On the positive note, my development OS (on VMWare) was finally successfully upgrade to WinXP SP2. Previous it has problem even after I removed StyleXP. I finally resolved the issue by booting up the system under Safe mode. There I could successfully install WinXP SP2.

Another good thing: I found a patch that allows my machine to support Palm OS 5.2 Sound manager. That means many audio app that used to work on Palm branded OS 5 machine will also work on my NX70V. For instance, PocketTune now works with my Palm, this is very good because PocketTune can handle lower MP3 compression than my build in Sony Clie MP3 Player.

The good thing about Palm is that everytime I install new application in it, it��s like injecting new life in it. I suddenly feel like I have a brand new device when an install a new app on my Clie.

A mistake that cost me one dance lesson, HK$17.50 and 1.5 hours


By the time I was standing in front of a closed studio room at the 10th floor of the Yan Fook Church, I realized something was not right. It was supposed to be a praise band gathering for the band playing this Sunday morning during Sunday service, or so I thought. After looking at my PDA and took a moment to retrospect about what was going on, a realization suddenly popped up in my head like a pan slammed right at my forehead.

I made a mistake. A mistake that cost me 1.5 hours of commute time, HK$17.50 of bus fee and an opportunity to take a dance class.

As it turns out, there WILL be indeed a band practice on Wednesday, but it's on next Wednesday, not this Wednesday. I was simply mistakenly associated a band practice that will be held tomorrow (Thursday) as a last-minute-changed Wednesday practice. In fact, I even called the team leader Matthew and asked how come he's not here.

Damn. Stupid stupid mistake.

Frankly, everyone makes mistake once in a while. It's just that when I make mistake, I instantly trying to quantify it. I don't know if it's from my software engineer instinct, or simply because I am a typical miser.

Remember a while ago I was talking about some photo hosting web sites that I found? Well, I have a need to share some photos among friends, and found that NONE of the photo hosting sites I mentioned (http://www.imagestation.com, http://flickr.com, http://www.ofoto.com, http://www.shutterfly.com) allows my friends to download the full size of the photo!

Fortunately, after some reserach, I found a service called web-a-photo (http://www.web-a-photo.com) that allows me to share full size photo with friends.

Pretty sweet, and see how tough it is to make a dimme from me.

The good thing about watching pre-recorded TV programmes in form a computer file is that I can skip all those stupid commerical and boring moment by just a few click on the keyboard. Take the 56th Emmy Awards as an example. The was like 3+ hours long, but thanks to the kind persons who put the show on BitTorrent, and thanks to the easy fast forward feature of Winamp, I can finish the show within a hour. Modern technology changes the way people watching TV, and I am loving it.