Windows 7 Explorer error "Could Not Find This Item" when deleting a file...

Have you run into this little Windows 7 Explorer bugaboo yet?  When you try to delete a 0kb file you get an error window pop up that says "Could Not Find This Item".   I had 3 of these little gems hanging around my downloads folder, all of them without extensions, and I couldn't get rid of them...Delete didn't work, F5 to Refresh didn't work, trying to move them to a new folder didn't work, and DEL from the command prompt didn't work.  I thought about booting into SAFE MODE, but I found the correct solution first:

1.  Shift+Right Click on the directory where the offending file resides, and choose "Open command window here" from the menu.

2. Type command DIR /X   (this command will generate a listing slightly different than just DIR, in that you will not only see the "Windows" filenames, but the 8-letter DOS filenames as well, which is the one you want).  In the example, file V.A. cannot be deleted, but the DIR /X command gives me the DOS filename as  well:
[example]  11/10/2010  11:45 AM       0  VA2E96~1       V.A.

3. Type the DEL command, using the DOS filename from the listing: DEL [DOS-filename]   (so I typed DEL VA2E96~1)

...simple as that

Testing Firefox 4.0 BETA

I decided to test out the new Firefox 4.0 Beta.  I've been using the Firefox browser ever since 2004 when IE allowed my system to be mercilously infected with Adware, forcing me to reinstall from scratch.  I've loved using Firefox, but lately I've noticed that Chrome and Opera were much faster.  I was hoping that the new release of FF would do the trick, and based on my early (one day) impressions, it has.  I find it to be much more responsive than before.

What I like:
The built in tab view page
The see-thru (aero?) style of the top bar
Paste & Go right click menu option (finally)
The overall speed...big improvement!

What I don't like (yet):
The tabs being moved above the address bar (I just have to move my mouse further...yuk!)
The status items that used to be in the bottom right hand corner are now part of the navigation bar
When you hover over a link, the destination now appears in the address bar.
I'm used to looking at the bottom of the window for these last 2 items, so it's going to take getting used to looking at the top to see them.

All-in-all, it looks like a huge thumbs up on the FF 4.0.   Hopefully my add-on makers are on the ball so I don't have to wait too long for some of those functions (thankfully NoScript -- a requirement these days -- is already a go).

Overclocking my i7-920...an exercise in "good enough"

Back in January 2009 I built me a new desktop to upgrade from my seriously aged 2.8Ghz P4 system. After much deliberation I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and go with the latest and greatest that Intel had to offer....the brand new Core i7. The CPUs brought a premium price for sure, but with 4 cores and hyper-threading, I figured I'd be safe for a few years.

Fast forward 2 years and I decided it was time to see about upgrading my socket 1366 chip. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the 1366 did not have a desktop upgrade path. What? It wasn't THAT old?!? Was it? Intel only released one generation of processors for it, switching to the LGA1255 socket shortly thereafter. That SUCKS!

So since I have the low-end 920, it has plenty of head room, right? I read everywhere about OC'ers hitting 4Ghz on this chip...well, the d0 stepping anyway....and of course, because I was a very early adopter, I have the c0 version. More SUCKAGE!

I have the "more than adequate" Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R (rev 1.0) board, so I figured I'd hit a pretty good number, right? I researched several sites that outlined how to overclock that chip on that board, and I made all the recommended adjustments. I even upgraded the fan on my CoolerMaster Gemini II cooler to a 2600 RPM model.

I'd been monitoring the thermals on the system prior to any changes, and the core temp at "rest" was around 32 degrees C. Pretty good, so I figured I had plenty of room. However, following all the steps in the tutorials, I was only able to get a stable system at 21X multiplier and Bclk 160 @ 1.375 V, which comes out at 3.3Ghz. Any higher and it would eventually BSOD with a hal.dll error. Oh well, some is better than none, I guess. Running 8 cores full blast, the core temps top out at around 70 degrees C, which is still well below TJMax. I can live with that. I reenabled all of the "peformance" and "energy saving" settings in the BIOS that you disable to find a stable OC, so most of the time, the multiplier drops down to around 12X anyway.

Maybe this will hold me over for another couple of years.