AvantGo is no longer available

A while ago, I wrote about the free information service called AvantGo. I have some unfortunate news to report. As of July 1, 2009, AvantGo Mobile Internet Service is no longer be available. AvantGo worked like a web brower that supported a variety of PDAs and smartphones. There is a new service called Snac which is available for smartphones. However, there is no replacement service for Palm, and Pocket PC devices.

I guess that it was impossible for Sybase, AvantGo's owner, to continue to support a free service like AvantGo. Anyway, it is time for me to consider removing the AvantGo software from my PC and my Palm. Also, I also wanted to use this opportunity to give another plug for my favorite personal finance blog PFStock.

Toshiba Satellite Touchpad

In my post about Alps Touchpad Gestures, I said the touchpad on my notebook computer didn't work the same ever since I upgraded my web browser to Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). I specifically own a Toshiba Satellite 1415-S173. The hardware specification is for my computer is the same as Toshiba models 1410-S173, 1410-S174, and 1415-S174. The only differences among these different models are whether or not the operating system is Microsoft Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional, and whether or not Microsoft Works is installed.

In any case, these differences should not affect the touchpad. To review the problem that I've encountered, the Alps Touchpad supports a feature known as touchpad gestures. These gestures mimic the actions of the scrollbars and Back and Forward buttons in Internet Explorer 6. However, I have found that in both Firefox and IE7, the Back and Forward gestures don't work. I've checked on the Toshiba website, and there doesn't seem to be any update for this problem. In fact, its seems that Toshiba is no longer supporting these older notebook computers.

Since I never got a response to my original post, I thought I would ask again if anybody knows of a workaround for this touchpad problem? Thanks.

My First Comment

I have been writing for this blog for over two years now, and it looks like I finally received my first comment. The anonymous commenter was reading my post about Trend7, which is a stock picking service. My post was critical of Trend7 as being overpriced and unreliable. The reader appears to agree with my assessment and reminds me that I should cancel my membership to Trend7.

If you want more information about stock picking, I suggest visiting my favorite personal finance blog, PFStock.

New Blog

In this blog, Unrestricted In Efficiency, I started out by writing about the minutiae of my life. Later, the blog evolved such that I was mainly writing about two things: technology and investing. I have decided to create a new blog that focuses on computers and technology.

I am happy to announce the creation of a new blog called Unrestricted Technology. It will cover my thoughts on computers, technology, and gadgets. For more information on stocks, investing, and personal finance, I suggest that readers also visit the popular personal finance blog, PFStock.

Microsoft’s New Patch Is Causing Problems

The latest security update from Microsoft (KB925902) is an update to fix an "animated cursor threat," whatever that means. After downloading and installing the patch on my Compaq Presario SR2050NX, the computer reboot, and I got an error message that looks like this:

Rthdcpl.exe - Illegal System DLL Relocation: The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\Windows\System32\Hhctrl.ocx occupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL.

So, what the does all of this gibberish mean? Apparently this error is related to the Realtek HD Audio Control Panel which is loaded after boot up. The Compaq (HP) computer that I own uses Realtek HD Audio. In any case, I considered this to be unacceptable.

I first tried to do a System Restore, but for the first restore point that I selected, Windows couldn't restore to that point. Does anybody know why that often happens when using System Restore? I tried an earlier restore point, and this seemed to eliminate the problem until the next morning when Automatic Updates again downloaded the "fix" and reinstalled the problem.

Frustrated, I turned off automatic updates, and uninstalled the "fix". Now things appear to be back to normal... until the next time I need to update Windows. I am hoping that Microsoft comes up with a fix to their fix before that happens. Doesn't Microsoft test their patches before sending them out to the unsuspecting public?

Microsoft's Latest Security Update Broke My Computer

The latest security update from Microsoft (KB925902) is an update to fix an "animated cursor threat," whatever that means. After downloading and installing the fix on my Compaq Presario SR2050NX, the computer reboot, and I got an error message that looks like this:

Rthdcpl.exe - Illegal System DLL Relocation: The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\Windows\System32\Hhctrl.ocx occupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL.

So, what the does all of this gibberish mean? Apparently this error is related to the Realtek HD Audio Control Panel which is loaded after boot up. The Compaq (HP) computer that I own uses Realtek HD Audio. In any case, I considered this to be unacceptable.

I first tried to do a System Restore, but for the first restore point that I selected, Windows couldn't restore to that point. Does anybody know why that often happens when using System Restore? I tried an earlier restore point, and this seemed to eliminate the problem until the next morning when Automatic Updates again downloaded the "fix" and reinstalled the problem.

Frustrated, I turned off automatic updates, and uninstalled the "fix". Now things appear to be back to normal... until the next time I need to update Windows. I am hoping that Microsoft comes up with a fix to their fix before that happens. Doesn't Microsoft test their patches before sending them out to the unsuspecting public?

Vista!

I finally got my copy of Windows Vista from HP. Two DVD-ROMs came in the mail. The first DVD contained Windows Vista from Microsoft. The second DVD contained the Hewlett-Packard drivers and other stuff. (My computer is actually a Compaq brand that is manufactured by HP.) I spent the better part of a day installing MS Windows Vista. The installation of Vista from the Microsoft CD took about 2 hours. The HP part took another hour or so to install.

Reading through the HP FAQs on Vista, I found that there was a long list of 3rd party programs that had one issue or another when running under Vista. HP's solution to a few of these problems was to completely uninstall the software that didn't run, and hope that the manufacture would come up with a timely update.

Then for about a two week period, I struggled to get everything working right as I was frequently experiencing a problem with one application or another. To make a long story short, I finally gave up. I re-formatted the hard disk and restored Windows XP on my machine. I'm going to wait a few months and do a clean install (instead of upgrading XP). In the meanwhile, I will hope that they come up with Vista-compatible versions of the software I use.

Was installing MS Windows Vista frustrating? Well, I didn't know what I really expected, but the benefits are few. Microsoft has touted its Aero interface. It does look cool, but I am not sure what practical advantages it has over the XP interface. And, I'm not so sure that I like the Windows Vista search feature. I especially don't like the fact that it automatically searches through old Emails.

Anyway, I also wanted to give another shameless plug for my favorite personal finance blog PFStock.