Some notes about our visit to Stony Ridge on 11/11/05 - http://stony-ridge.org/index.html

Sky too bright for deep sky work, and seeing not good enough for Mars or moon.

Reticle batteries dead - Energizer 357 Button Cell Battery ?

Clear, accurate moon data is at below site:
Sun and Moon Data, Stony Ridge - and synthetic image of the Moon ("on following day")
http://cleardarksky.com/cgi-bin/sunmoondata.py?id=SROCA&tz=-8.0


The Stony Ridge telescope was running about 10% slow Friday eve, seemed less severe late in the evening. Could be case of "GLUE GREASE", like I had two years ago, picture at: http://flickr.com/photos/edhiker/62552953/

Would be nice to find a lubricant that is longer lasting, maybe:

MOLYDUVAL Soraja C 402 Synthetic Oil (PAO) Based
Transparent grease for lubrication of bearings, valves and taps. Very tacky. Strong adhesiveness. MOLYDUVAL Soraja C402 is a long-life lubricant with excellent adhesive properties.
* for lubrication of sliding surfaces in food Industry
* for slow running bearings in food Industry
* for lubrication if extreme cleanness is desired
* for packing machinery in the food Industry
-35°C up to 160°C, shortly +200°C http://www.mos2.com/data/cat/doc/en/soraja.doc.
Soraja C 403 Same as Soraja C 402, but harder, NLGI 3

.... but a nice setup, sure nicer than being outdoors in the winter.

Geostationary Satellites - this photo from Los Angeles, five marked in red

Geostationary Satellites - this photo from Los Angeles, five marked in red
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Geostationary Satellites -
The invention of the geostationary satellite has revolutionised global communications. Geostationary satellites orbit at an altitude of 36000 km (22300 miles)

Some background on these satellites can be found at Arthur C. Clarke
The geostationary orbit is now sometimes known as the Clarke orbit in his honor.

I aimed for a group of satellites near 101° west for this first shot and got five in this 1/2 degree wide field.
The bright one could be seen with a small telescope.
The motor drive that normally follows the stars was turned off for these photos, causing the stars to leave trails, the stationary satellites to show as points. See a photo with motor turned on at: flickr.com/photos/edhiker/50627960/in/photostream/

For the mathamtically inclined, there are 700 pixels between the end red marks. Photo taken with 25 inch FL lens. Rebel has 3072 pixels, and an effective sensor size of 22.7 x 15.1mm Exposure: 91 sec
----------------
101.1W = DirecTV 4S
101.0W = GE 4
100.9W = AMSC 1
100.9W = Direct TV1
100.6W = DirecTV 2/DBS 2

GE-4, a hybrid C-/Ku-band satellite, will serve North and South America from its orbital location at 101 degrees west. Launch Weight 5,500 lbs

A series of five photographs were published on Flickr.....
IMG_4585CrSC_GeoSat_101W_Marked

Need for blink comparison software - Astronomical

I searched the web for such a program, but came up short. What is needed is the ability to take two images, taken on different nights maybe with different instruments. Orientations and scale might vary. It's quite labor intensive to resize and rotate the two images by hand. Below is what I came up with (see Related links, below)

S.B.I.G. CCDBLINK Software: Allows blink comparison with ST-4 images on PC - will it auto-rotate? $99.00
-------------
MaxIm DL allows blink comparison of two images of the same stellar field. Once the two images are aligned and the intensities are matched correctly, any new or changed object shows up as a blinking object when the two images are swapped rapidly. - What a big nothing!

-------------

Graphical Astronomy and Image Analysis Tool ( GAIA )

GAIA is a graphical image display and analysis tool, it provides the usual facilities of image display tools, plus more astronomically useful ones such as aperture photometry, arbitrary region analysis, celestial co-ordinate readout, calibration and modification, grid overlays, blink comparison, defect patching and the ability to query on-line (WWW) catalogues.

.... "Celestial co-ordinates readout." ... under "Image Analysis Capabilities"

GAIA v2.7-3 This is a major release of GAIA incorporating two new automated astrometry toolboxes, a major re-write of the blink comparison toolbox and many changes and fixes.
GAIA now offers two new toolboxes based on the Starlink AUTOASTROM program. These make it possible to provide a minimum of positional information (image centre and scale) and then fit an astrometric solution. They also make it possible, for the first time, to fit optical distortions.
The blink comparison toolbox has been substantially upgraded in this release. New features are options to alignment to NDF origins or FITS CRPIX values. This gives much better behaviour when comparing images of different dimensions. Better performance (less flickering artifacts). The ability to drag images and enter image coordinate offsets. All images can now be viewed together or one-by-one as before. Images should now always scroll and the "Refresh" button has been removed.
------------
A related subject: Determining coordinates - no easy way found, see http://groups.google.com/group/sci.astro.fits/browse_frm/thread/105fe7913d387aa5/c70cf7ece67e1a8a?lnk=st&q=%22determining+coordinates%22+astronomy&rnum=1&hl=en#c70cf7ece67e1a8a
-----
Related links - Guide to Minor Body Astrometry http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/info/Astrometry.html and http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/info/Astrometry.html#equip
Accuracy of reference catalogs - http://www.fitsblink.net/astrometry/astrometry.html
Image Processing Resources for Astronomy Teachers http://www.phy.duke.edu/%7Ekolena/imagepro.
Astrometrica is a interactive software tool - html#ipAstrometrica is a interactive software tool
-------------------
'CHARON' ASTROMETRIC SOFTWARE

With Charon, one must provide an image, specifying either the object or an approximate position in the sky. Charon will then examine the image you've taken, and will search through a star catalog (such as the GSC and Tycho databases on the Guide CD-ROM) for stars covering that area. It then will calculate the transformation between J2000 RA/dec and positions in the image.

Once it has done this, it has registered the image to the sky, and will show you the image with GSC stars superimposed as an overlay. You can move the cursor around and collect information concerning the RA, declination and magnitude of objects in the image. You can hit Tab to immediately zoom in on the target object; Charon will show both the computed, "expected" position of the target object, as well as its actual observed position in the image, and the difference (observed - computed, or "O-C", or "residual") between them. http://www.projectpluto.com/charon.htm#description

The Space Elevator - my question is how will it be assembled and erected. How does one get the "seed cable" stretched into space?

The Space Elevator will be anchored to an offshore sea platform near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, and to a small counterweight in space at 100,000 km. Mechanical lifters (robotic elevator cars) will move up and down the ribbon, carrying such items as satellites, solar power systems, and eventually people into space. LiftPort's plan is to take the concept from the research laboratory to commercial development. Countdown to Lift: April 12, 2018 How erected? - see http://liftport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242&highlight=erection WOW!

Russian scientist, Yuri Artsutanov, made a design in 1960.

"same studies estimate that the cost of sending payloads into space could be reduced from $20,000 per pound down to $400 per pound" http://liftport.com/faq.php

"Carbon nanotubes (CNT), discovered in 1991, are almost certainly strong enough. Theory says that they are 3-5 times as strong as we need them to be"

"We plan to build a second one immediately (using the first to make it much cheaper) and expect that the second will immediately be used to build a third, fourth, etc." http://liftport.com/faq1.php#basics2

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) objects can and will pose a serious problem. Active avoidance (moving the platform) can be used for objects that would cause damage. On average, an object would have to be avoided every 14 hours.

# How many climbers may be lifted at once?
With the current design, seven. One would lift off every day, with five tons of cargo. ... Then we stop everything, and then its all 'down'.

# Will the ribbon produce an electrical current?
The last space shuttle-tether experiment, which unspooled about 19 km of cable, generated thousands of volts of electrical potential and kilowatts of power, burned through the insulation of the cable, and generated a tremendous explosive arc of electricity, that snapped the tether. ... long answer at http://liftport.com/faq2.php#science2b


Tthe below manuscript is the result of a six-month investigation conducted for NASA under the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. Even though this is the final report for that study, it is really just the beginning.
The study had the same simple title as this manuscript, The Space Elevator.
http://www.isr.us/Downloads/niac_pdf/chapter1.html

The initial "string" we deploy from orbit is actually a ribbon about 1 micron (0.00004 inches) thick, tapering from 5 cm (2 inches) at the Earth to 11.5 cm (4.5 inches) wide near the middle and has a total length of 55,000 miles (91,000 km). This ribbon cable and a couple large upper stage rockets will be loaded on to a handful of shuttles (7) and placed in low-Earth orbit. Once assembled in orbit the upper stage rockets will be used to take the cable up to geosynchronous orbit^B&D where it will be deployed. As the spacecraft deploys the cable downward the spacecraft will be moved outward to a higher orbit to keep it stationary above a point on Earth (a bit of physics we will explain later). Eventually the end of the cable will reach Earth where it will be retrieved and anchored to a movable platform. http://www.isr.us/Downloads/niac_pdf/chapter1.html

War in Space? ... or camera malfunction (double exposure)? This is IMG_4497, now look at next photo in my photostream, IMG_4498

War in Space? ... or camera malfunction (double exposure)? This is IMG_4497, now look at next photo in my photostream, IMG_4498
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Spent about two hours on this!
I took a series of pictures a few days ago and have been pondering one intently. It's at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edhiker/51350840

The answer is double exposure. I'm not sure how I did the double exposure with the Rebel, will have to ask the Canon people.

These cameras allow multiple exposures in-camera:
Fuji S3, Nikon D2X, Pentax *ist D
"One of the cool features of the D2X is that it allows the photographer to shoot multiple exposures and save it as a single image."

See corrected http://flickr.com/photos/edhiker/51350840
--------------
We are now seeing "all sky" coverage each month to about magnitude 19.0.
"All sky" amounts to something a bit over 10,000 square degrees. The
current surveys have a resolution of a few arcseconds, or about 10^6
resolution elements per square degree. That means "all sky" consists of
about 10^10 resolution elements. It turns out that we expect around one
asteroid per square degree in the sky to magnitude 19. Mostly these are
main belt, and of course the numbers peak up dramatically within 10 or so
degrees of the ecliptic, but averaged over the whole sky, one should expect
about 10,000 genuine asteroid detections per month. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mpml/message/15781


In the middle region of the belt the density of asteroids was 160 asteroids larger than 1 kilometre per square degree.

Picasa - new version 2.1 was tried out
"A free software download from Google. Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC."

The good:
1- Opens Canon RAW (CRW)very fast and transparently. What it does with 12 bit images is unknown(no control seen with conversion)
2- Scans all drives and makes quick view thumbnail images -fast.
3- If sevral copies exist, they are apperant.
4- Histogram and some EXIF data is seen.

The bad:
1- Can't find the "Save as", the closest thing is "Export", but can't figure out how to rename file in this step.
2- EXIF data is not saved. (from RAW or all?)
3- Max resize is 1024 (but can select "original size")
4- Weard nomanclature:
Refining = reading, processing
Highlights = contrast
Fill light = brightness?
Shadows = gamma?
Warmify = adds warm color
Natural Color Picker = gray card selection
Tuning = adjustments or enhance

5- No fine rotatoon, only 90°


Picasa


There is compitition - Microsoft® Codename Max lets you make lists of your photos and turn them into beautiful slide shows to share with your family and friends. other product. That's because it's not a product. - Windows® XP and 54MB install, 200 MB HD space.

-----------------

Vibration or seeing

1/30 sec star image exposure to test vibration vs seeing. 52 arc sec wide image
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Test to find out if soft pictures are vibration or seeing. Conclusion, it is seeing because 1/1000 sec (see other photos) gives not time for vibration cycle to occur.


1/30 sec star image exposure to test vibration vs seeing. 52 arc sec wide image

Crop = 50 pixels wide, camera array = 3072, 22.7mm. 3072/50=61.44 22.7/61.44 = 0.37mm.= Width of cropped image.
FL of scope = 57inch = 1447mm 1447/0.37= 3910 57.3/3910 = 0.0146 or 0.875 arc min wide
-----------------
22.7 = 0.89 in. Width of field of array= 0.89 degree for my 57 inch FL scope. 89/61=.0145 degree (0.87min) field for 50 pixel crop.


1/30 sec star image exposure to test vibration vs

Flickr Uploader and Set generator

Flickr Uploader and Set generator

How to do it in the most efficient way -
See my "Photo Methods" notebook, below steps are brief.
1- > five pictures, use uploader
2- put all pics in a folder in correct order
3- Drag into UPLOADER, copy any tags in case uploader fails.
4- Make sure that no duplicates and all wanted pics are in correct order.
5- To make SET, grab those just oploaded. Last pic uploaded winds up on bottom unless it is moved in organizer. Right hand pane shows grouping as they will appear.
6- Edit the set all at once, can be done later at left hand lower of SET page.

Lagoon - noise removed with NeatImage

Lagoon - noise removed with NeatImage
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Try out Flickr Blog, links to Blogger
---------
Service: Blogger
Username: edhiker
Password: Store your password?
Weblog: Edhiker's Activities (#6048056)
URL:
Label:

Flickr Backup to local computer

This morning I had the idea to try the great new Google Blog Search on "flickr backup" and http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/83327/ java backup was on top.

The reason I did this is that I have 1000 photos on Flickr and would like a LOCAL BACKUP.
I always keep a folder with uploaded images, BUT the edited title and description are not at this time backed up.

A tool that would save a person's complete Flicker site, with descriptions would be a godsend.

Example of a (mine)description www.flickr.com/photos/edhiker/14777784/in/set-354620/

What do you think.
------------------
More - "save a Web site" "your computer" gives CuteSITE Builder 3.0 You can save your Web site in 2 ways, either as a single file in its native TLX format, or as HTML on your computer.

There is an extension called Spiderzilla that can do it: http://spiderzilla.mozdev.org/
It is based on the HTTrack Website Copier.

SpiderZilla

SpiderZilla is intended to be a Netscape/Mozilla/Firebird extension for offline browsing. Basically, it is only a front-end for the opensource command line program HTTrack Website Copier . "It allows you to download a World Wide website from the Internet to a local directory,building recursively all structures, getting html, images, and other files from the server to your computer. Links are rebuiltrelatively so that you can freely browse to the local site (works with any browser). You can mirror several sites together so that you can jump from one to another. You can, also, update an existing mirror site, or resume an interrupted download"- HTTrack description . Run SpiderZilla by Tools > "Download this site" Spiderzilla for Windows 9x/Me/2k/XP

This version SpiderZilla has Httrack inside the package. SpiderZilla is installing to aplication directory (Administrator permissions required)

Install spiderzilla.xpi (848 kb)
Download spiderzilla.xpi (848 kb)
-------------------------
Spiderzilla is an easy to use website download utility. It uses an external Open Source program Httrack Webside Copier (embedded in the Windows version). It allows you to download whole websites from the internet to a local directory, recreating the directory structure, and retrieving all html files, images, etc.
Once installed it can be found under Tools > Download This Site

Version: 1.06 Released: 2003-11-13 Size: 849KB

---------

The problem - it ran for about 4 hours, I stopped it, it had downloading lots of pages not having prefix

" http://flickr.com/photos/edhiker/ " - why not? (after 4 hr, it had downloaded 159MB with 6878 files, but only about 1/3 of my flickr site)

What a super way to install a trojan, but I searched the web and http://spiderzilla.mozdev.org/ and http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/spiderzilla - everything looks ok, except it dosen't work as I had expected.

Ed
Link

Google's Blog Search

... From a Reference Librarian "Want to find a blog on a particular topic?"
http://pfitzblog.royaltylinks.com/archives/2005/09/15/googles-got-a-blog-search/

What is Blog Search?
Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. Google is a
strong believer in the self-publishing phenomenon represented by
blogging, and we hope Blog Search will help our users to explore the
blogging universe more effectively, and perhaps inspire many to join
the revolution themselves. Whether you're looking for Harry Potter
reviews, political commentary, summer salad recipes or anything else,
Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any
subject of your choice.

The Case for Blogging - Explore the next frontier of authorship and knowledge management... at
Great Article

Google's Blog Search help page http://www.google.com/help/about_blogsearch.html

Google's blog search works great with Flickr photos, searching for
items in the photo description and title, and more. Try it out, start
at:
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=edhiker&btnG=Search+Blogs&scoring=d
... then click "Sort by date" at the top, it turns up the item below
that I just posted on the web one hour ago!

Advanced features allow users to narrow searches by author, date and language. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/09/15/BUG8OENLE21.DTL&type=business

More about Blog Search from Google search at: (is this incest?)
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22blog+search%22&btnG=Search

The above blog was edited (hot linked) by Google email.

How to Setup a Blog and Insert Hot links in Blogger - from Robin

I have noticed that many of the blogs I have visited still have the Edit Me links in the side bar instead of links to other sites. I thought I would write some short instructions on how to edit Blogger links.

1. Log into your Blogger account and click your blog name to edit it
2. Click the Template tab - The code that is used to create your blog will display
3. Scroll down through the code until you see a section that looks like this:



4. You need to edit the the http: address first. Highlight the address starting just after the first / (the word help) and then type the web site address you want to link to. You want to be sure that you don’t delete the quotation marks around the address.
5. Highlight the words Edit-Me and type the name of the web site you want to link to.
6. Your final link should look something like this:



7. Click Save Template Changes at the bottom of the page and then click the Republish button

If you want to add more links, copy the last link from the <> through the < /li> and press CTRL+C to copy the code. Move your cursor to the just after the last < /li> in the link section and press enter. Press CTRL+V to paste the link. You can then edit the duplicated link.

Filed under: Photography — Robin at 8:31 pm on Saturday, June 18, 2005
-------------
More at Blogger's How to Page

ps - to get started with Blogger, go to Robin's tutorial

Adding Hot Links, edhiker method: Mozilla mail adds hot links to sent mail, so I just send a mail to me or some nobody (save to file no work). Then I copy the sent mail and paste the text into Blogger. BTW- Mozilla Composer makes no hot links automatically. See the blog "Photo Noise Filter Programs" below for example.

Edhiker 9/15/05 (a taxing day - $$$$)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Software Evaluation - Security and Photo Noise Reduction
Having a bit of spare time this week, I set about to investigate some software items. Many software offerings, the ones that want money tell you the good, not the bad. Don't want to bloat my registry (it only gets bigger, and dosen't recover when a program is removed), so I used a old spare hard drive in a plug-in tray.

The items checked out were:
1- Comcast sent a mailing offering FREE McAfee Firewall and Virus programs
http://www.comcast.net/security/

Spent a full day on this and I found:
McAfee Firewall uses too much system resources, maybe 15% (Sygate 4%) .
McAfee Firewall adds 132KB to the registry - Sygate adds 4KB
Seems to work ok, but too big of a hit on computer resources for me.
I had worked on this last June - http://edhiker.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_edhiker_archive.html#111930548761908565

There is still an issue with some versions of Sygate ( the "SMC" problem) - use V5.5b2710 http://forums.sygate.com/vb/showthread.php?s=238e233ebc6755ce154ae150c9dbe695&threadid=12573
.. NEWS August 16, 2005 - Symantec to Acquire Sygate Technologies http://www.sygate.com/news/JDS-letter-from-Sygate-CEO.htm ... and a plane English version at: http://www.symantec.com/press/2005/n050816a.html - April 1?

I looked at many reviews, few talk about computer speed / resource / bloatware issues - seems that I will stick with the free Sygate Firewall. Have12 bookmarks for Sygate.

Same results with McAfee Virus program - Too much bloat, will use on line virus scan for now. http://housecall60.trendmicro.com/en/start_corp.asp

More reading - http://www.governmentsecurity.org/archive/t1430.html and http://www.technologyevaluationcenters.com/Research/ResearchHighlights/Security/2005/06/research_notes/VN_ST_XBP_06_24_05_17.asp
and http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/AnchorDesk/4520-7297_16-5554923.html?tag=adss and http://personal-firewall-software-review.toptenreviews.com/?ttreng=1&ttrkey=outpost+firewall

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Copy-paste from sent Mozilla mail, adds hot linking in the below section).

2- Photo Noise Filter Programs
Picture cooler looses EXIF data - reject. The program does a good job on noise, but I need EXIF.
( They say the demo does all the paid version does, but adds green lines) - don't respond to emails.
Noise Ninja comes in two version. A Home Licence is available for U.S. $29 - EXIF?

Noiseware - free dumps EXIF
Searched reviews and boards on 9/13/05 - hard going for good answers.
Check NeatImage if U want to spend $60 http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/software/neatimage.shtml and http://www.photozo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5060
"I have Neat Image running in Paint Shop Pro 7 on our computers. The only problem is that PSP does not provide EXIF data fields to plug-ins (in general)". Preserving image EXIF data in processed files, all except demo.


The best one so far is Helicon Filter http://www.heliconfilter.com/pages/ it has several other functions including blue or purple fringing correction (only in the paid version). Reads Canon CRW raw files, but not the EXIF data from. 25day trial of all features, then reverts to free version. Adds 136KB to registry.
Free version outputs as 91% quality JPG with perfect EXIF.

More summery at http://www.michaelalmond.com/Articles/noise.htm and http://www.photozone.de/7Digital/noisenew.htm

Apricot - Blenheim (Semi Dwarf) -

Common Name: Blenheim Royal Apricot

Excellent quality canning apricot. Fruit is sweet and firm, top variety in California.Great as a pollinizer too.

Blenheim apricots are the most delicious apricots of all. All-purpose freestone, sweet, aromatic, flavorful. Long-time No.1 apricot in California. They are hard to find fresh because of their delicate nature so they are usually dried to preserve their distinctive sweet-tart flavor and intense color. Late June harvest.
..........

As the owner of a 3-y.o. fecund semi-dwarf Blenheim apricot,...
Our little tree produced, as of Friday, somewhat over 600 apricots,
which were small, juicy and incredibly sweet. Lost nary a one to
squirrels this year, as a neighbor doesn't bother to net her tree as we
do, which makes it much easier pickings for the local varmint....at
least this year.

The first year we had only a handfull of fruit; last year we had about
70, and this year almost a 10-fold increas over last year. What a joy to
go out before breakfast to pick fully ripe 'cots, just warmed by the
sun, to have with nice thick yogurt and a dash of home made passion
fruit syrup. Yummmm!

Ron
Van Nuys, CA

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iandoh says: check out edhiker's astrophoto set. big telescopes = fantastic photos. Posted 3 weeks ago. ( Permalink )

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what does Photoshop 7 do that 6 doesn't?
Several things, but most notable (to me) are:
Healing brush
Patch tool
(both great for removing blemishes without bluring detail. You have to see it in action to appreciate it.)
Crazy new brush settings. You can do all kinds of effects with the brush tool now.
Layers in the Liquify tool. Always sucked that only 1 layer at a time worked before.
Dockable UI. Not a huge benefit, but it can be a helpful.
Asset browser
Several new layer/tool blend modes (Pin Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light)
Tool Presets tab (At least I think that's new in 7)
Web transparency
Rollovers (Image Ready)
...................................
In which versions of Photoshop did each of these major features first appear?
* Adjustment Layers: Photoshop 4.0
* Tab palettes: Photoshop 3.0
* Paths: Photoshop 2.0
* Non-dialog based editable text: Photoshop 6.0
* Color Management: Photoshop 5.0
* Healing Brush: Photoshop 7.0 ( Elements lacks many of Photoshop's more powerful tools, such as the Healing brush and the automatic Shadow/ Highlight controls, but there are a few extra features designed to speed up your editing work.)
--------------------------------------------------------
I've just spent the better part of the evening reading posts on the Adobe Photoshop forum regarding the activation/reactivation process for CS. YIKES!!! :shock: (CS is version 8)
CS has - most processing functions also allowed in 16-bit mode
- Updated ACR
- a much improved file browser
- highlight/shadow adjustment function
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:InyFsyRKgUEJ:photography-on-the.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-47714.html+activation+%22photoshop+7%22+vs+%22photoshop+CS%22&hl=en
--------------------------------------------------------
FIREWALL THINGS
Zone Alarm v.s. Sygate Personal Firewall
I used to use Zone Alarm a few years ago and switched to Sygate which I am very happy with. Zone Alarm seemed to use more resources and hogged up memory. ... ZoneAlarm is more novice fireindly but sygate is easier on resources (and a little more technical). As far as protection, they are both basically equal. On my personal computers I usually use sygate, but when it's for someone else I usually use zonealarm....
Sygate is my preference......... it is user friendly, your non pingable... and the advanced rules for networking and IP blocking are super simple .. MORE at http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/archive/index.php/t-17409.html
.............
Also locate the folder named "Prefetch" in the windows directory. Delete everything in it (windows will rebuild the contents as you use programs). I had the same annoying problem and found that deleting the contents worked for me. - NOT FOUND by Ed
.............
I do Internet Security Programming for a living and I see so many suggestions mentioning pop up killers,Antivirus Programs,Spyware Killers etc. I have worked with computers since windows 3.1 was new and still have to find a combo better than the following,
panicware.com free pop up blocker,
Spyware Blaster,
Spyware Guard,
Zone Alarm Firewall
Ad-Aware se free for home,and
Grisoft Anti Virus(AVG) http://forums.plentyoffish.com/563687datingPostpage3.aspx
..................................
Your system has achieved a perfect "TruStealth" rating. Not a single packet - solicited or otherwise - was received from your system as a result of our security probing tests. Your system ignored and refused to reply to repeated Pings (ICMP Echo Requests). From the standpoint of the passing probes of any hacker, this machine does not exist on the Internet. Some questionable personal security systems expose their users by attempting to "counter-probe the prober", thus revealing themselves. But your system wisely remained silent in every way. Very nice. http://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2
80 HTTP
Stealth There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

110 POP3
Stealth There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!
...Etc Etc..............................................
We have determined that your IP address is 24.127.148.215
This is the public IP address that is visible to the internet.
Note: this may not be your IP address if you are connecting through a router, proxy or firewall.

Trying to gather information from your web browser...
Operating System = Windows Windows 98
Browser = Netscape Navigator 5.0
Trying to find out your computer name... Unable to determine your computer name!
Trying to find out what services you are running... Unable to detect any running services!
We have determined that you have a firewall blocking UDP ports!
We are unable to scan any more UDP ports on IP: 24.127.148.215 . . .
You have blocked all of our probes! http://scan.sygate.com/probe.html
.....................
SMC(not responding) Sygate Firewall
You can roll back the version to 5.5 2710 if you like. http://207.33.111.31/spf/spf5.5b2710.exe
http://forums.sygate.com/vb/showthread.php?s=1f860db86e0ae172dc1c92a20b9fa52c

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25 free song plays each and every month - Rhapsody - READ VERY CAREFULLY the fine print.
1- Can't download the music, just listen while online - each time counts as one song
2- Must cludder up ones computer with another RealPlayer software - Beware! -
3- I remember when I downloaded their RealPlayer application, new from their site and got notices right off that I had to upgrade to new versions - they can't seem to get it right.
Read the news at Google -
http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&gl=us&ncl=http://www.time.com/time/gadget/20050427/
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Focuser - new "Very Low Profile Focuser" - 0.07" insertion length was made yesterday. Precise and repeatable.





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