In light of the color wheel failure in my HD70 I was forced to find a replacement.

I have to commend Optoma. Despite their somewhat snippy customer service rep, I am really impressed. I called them four days ago (Monday) after they had closed for the day (why answer the phone if you’re closed?) and ordered a replacement color wheel for my HD70, a projector they haven’t made for about four years. Not only did they have it in stock, and for a reasonable price, but they told me it would be 8 days to arrive and it arrived in less than four. Color me impressed.

After I opened the projector up, pulled all the glass shards out, blew the dust out of it, and installed the new wheel I buttoned it back up, sure enough it fired right up. The only note I can really give to others who attempt this is not to forget to unscrew your color wheel sensor (an optical sensor) from your original color wheel and attached it to the new one before installing it. If you have ever noticed “a dirty color wheel,” manifested by your screen flashing odd colors (usually green), you are actually dealing with dust interrupting the view of this sensor.

I have never been happier that I purchased an Optoma projector, and I won’t hesitate to buy another (when funds permit I’d like to get the HD80 or HD33). When this projector was new the retail price was around $1299, and it was widely thought of as a bargain for a best-in-class unit. I got mine all beat up and not working on eBay for $200. I added a lamp ($245 at the time) and did some cleaning and sealing of ducting and had a working projector. Thanks to Optoma for building us a durable workhorse  that we can repair ourselves!

From Ezra Moore

I was watching an old episode of Dexter the other day (I know, I’m late to the party) and my projector (an Optoma HD70) image became an off color for just a second, but most alarmingly started to make a terrible buzzing/whirring/grinding noise, almost like a bad computer fan.

There are a couple of high volume brushless DC (computer) fans inside there, so I knew it was possible that one had thrown a vane. Since the HD-70 is a DLP projector it uses a complex set of mirrors to reflect the image through a color wheel in order to get the correct colors displayed in the image. The color wheel in the HD70 is seven segments. I believe that it is ordered red, green blue, white, red, grean, blue. When I heard the noise I shut the projector down as quickly as I could, and the color shift that appeared along with the noise only lasted a split second. For this reason I think that my color wheel simply lost its white (or clear, if you prefer) segment. When I pick the projector up and move it around I can hear a piece of what sounds like glass moving around.

When I bought my projector it needed a new lamp and a thorough cleaning inside. I got a great deal on it, so that was no problem, and I ventured inside the box to get it all taken care of. I am completely comfortable opening the case and working on the internals. What concerned me was that no matter how hard I Googled I couldn’t find anyone selling a replacement color wheel. I even found the Optoma part number for it (70.85S22GR01, by the way), but even searching for that yielded few results. I have one hit from Alibaba, which has been an unreliable source for me in the past (and often requires that you order 10-100 of something you only need one of) and one for a website that I had never heard of that wanted $300 for the color wheel. If I was going to have to pay $300 I was planning to upgrade to a new 1080p projector (HD80/22/33, something along those lines). Sure, it would have cost a lot more, but this projector is outdated now, even though the image quality and reliability are both excellent.

My next resort was this thread (second page) on AVSForum, where someone had kindly posted a phone number and quote from Optoma. Sadly, that number didn’t work for me, disconnected. So as my last resort (before pinching pennies for a new/used machine) was to call Optoma. I’ve never had good luck getting companies to sell my internal non-user serviceable parts directly, nor have I had luck with ordering parts for out of warranty/support machines, but the projector gods were on my side today. Optoma sold me a new color wheel for $50 plus about $12 to ship it (FedEx Ground) to me. I tried just about every number on their contact us page, and finally got to a message that said ‘for out of warranty machines please call (888) 942-2929, and that is what I did. No lies, no weirdness (the lady wasn’t very nice, at all), and I got my part. Once it arrives I may post some instructions/pictures of the replacement process.

From Ezra Moore

Initially, I loved Boxee. It was the cat’s meow in terms of media management, and media playback. As someone who has ripped (and re-encoded) 200+ DVDs more than once, it was a welcome relief to have software to pull together album art, names, synopses, etc. I always found the interface less than desirable, and never understood the ‘social’ aspect of it (still don’t), but it made my life a lot easier.

Then came the whispers (and eventual announcement and release) of dedicated Boxee hardware; the Boxee box. That was when things started going wrong. Because of the semi-secretive development of the Boxee Box and its feature set, the PC version’s continued development suffered. Prior to the announcement/leak that there would be a Boxee Box, the developer had always had an excellent presence on the Boxee forums. After the announcement it became more and more difficult to get updates regarding the PC version. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that Boxee was (and will continue to be for a very short time) free software, and as such the end user cannot expect direct support from the developer, but it is fair to say that the community had become accustom to an open flow of information. The abrupt loss of this soured the experience terribly and spurred my move to PLEX.

PLEX is a wonderful bit of software, based on the same original source as Boxee, XBMC. XBMC is a fairly mature project, one that started out providing an alternative (and media centric) dashboard for the original Xbox. The history section of their Wikipedia entry is an interesting read. PLEX started out as an custom OS X port of XBMC and has blossomed into a cross-platform media center/server combo with exclusive features.

Best of all, when I run into trouble with PLEX I can jump on Campfire and chat directly to the project leader and developers.

Bye Boxee, I won’t miss you one bit.

From Ezra Moore

I was running an outdated version of TimThumb with a known vulnerability for a while, I updated my install a while back but apparently some naughty code was left behind and recently became active. If Google caught you in a redirect and warned you that my site may contain malware, fear not! The problem is solved! Back to your regularly scheduled misgivings…

F.Y.I. This link helped me track things down and get the naughty code outtah there!

http://www.esotech.org/resources/cms/wordpress/wordpress-header-javascript-and-iframe-injection-problem-solution-and-analysis

From Ezra Moore

… is one smooth piece of software.

http://www.evernote.com/

From Ezra Moore

This is the display connector in the new 11″ MacBook Air. To remove the display clamshell this must be unplugged. Upon re-installation it is very important to note that the machine will not boot with connector installed upside down. There are no clear identifying markings on the connector to indication its orientation. If installed incorrectly the machine will start briefly, fans will spin momentarily, and the computer will return to an off state. I recommend a sharpie dot on the top side of the connector before you remove it, as to reinstall the battery and bottom case as necessary to test it per Apple protocol is quite time consuming. Do yourself a favor and mark it!

From Ezra Moore

The title says it all. If you are excited about Sparrow or even the new Sparrow Lite, wait until you get your hands on the Mail.app 5.0 from Lion, the upcoming update to OS X.

Sparrow has a deceptively familiar interface, after installing the Developer Preview of Lion. It is almost like they had some inside information regarding the changes in user interface. To me, however, their client doesn’t make sense. Its preview pane fills only to the right, it is not configurable. Sparrow lacks support for multiple mail accounts, and cannot interface with anything but Gmail and Google Apps accounts. For me, this is all well and good, as I use only Google Apps, but for customers who need to access more basic (or proprietary) email systems Sparrow isn’t an option.

Wait for Mail 5.0. It is worth it.

From Ezra Moore

I like the new Safari (5.0). It seems like a sturdy update to the application, and while I prefer Google Chrome (because it syncs with everything else I use) I have discovered quite a unique use for the Reader function of Safari 5. If you print the ‘Reader-ed’ page as a PDF to Evernote you lose all the ads and line-break garbage and just get a clean, nicely formatted page to read whenever you have more time.

www.apple.com/safari

www.evernote.com

From Ezra Moore

UPDATE:
When I wrote this the other morning I failed to identify the usefulness of the following procedure as it applies to the overall removal of the Antivirus XP, et al.

The instructions below deal specifically with the scenario in which the rogue software has disabled the launching of executable or .exe files. This is a common practice on the part of the rogue software developers, because it limits your ability as a user to initiate many countermeasures.

My preferred malware cleanup tool is MalwareBytes, though my complete procedure involves several applications, the exact combination of which varies from infection to infection.

For reference I prefer:

Sunbelt Software’s VIPRE – Paid General Antimalware
Grisoft’s AVG Free – Free General Antimalware

* I do believe there is a difference between paid and free antivirus protection. The main differences lie in the features of the application and the support available to a user if a problem arises. I feel there is no advantage to a paid solution from a definitions standpoint.

How to use the instructions below:
These instructions assume two things.
1. You have been infected with one of the Antivirus XP/Vista/7 variants.
2. You are unable to run executables as a result of the infection.

How to restore your ability to launch executables:
1. Start | Run| type ‘command.com’ to launch DOS command prompt.
N.B. This opens the old-fashioned command prompt, thus TAB does not auto-complete folder names, and the up arrow does not reenter the last command. Most importantly you must use eight character folder names. See step 2.
2. Run ‘dir /x’ to reveal 8 character folder names.
3. Open ‘notepad.exe’ from the command prompt.
4. Input:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\secfile] [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\secfile] [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\shell\open\command] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command] @="\"%1\" %*" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe] @="exefile" "Content Type"="application/x-msdownload"

5. Save the file as ‘registryfix.reg’ to the desktop.
6. Open the ‘registryfix.reg’ file from the desktop to merge these changes into the registry.
7. Load MalwareBytes from local source (flash drive, CDROM, Ext. HDD, etc.)
8. Run MalwareBytes per normal procedure.

From Ezra Moore

Use my referral link and get an extra 250 MB of storage free.

https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTE0MzIyMjQ5

There will be a forthcoming opinion on this software, but let me just give you a preview: it is a godsend!

From Ezra Moore