Jamie's Random Musings on Video IM
Having spent a good part of the last year struggling with a variety of video chat and IM programs, I have decided to write a few things down and see what other people have to say about them.
Wednesday 27 February 2008, 12:39 PM
Acronis True Image 11 Home
Acronis has been in the backup business for a long time - pretty much as long as I can remember being interested in backing up PCs. I've been using their products for quite a few years - at least since True Image version 5 or so. It has saved me, and several of my friends, from disaster a number of times over the years.
The latest version of Acronis True Image has a number of interesting variations on what "backup" means. You can make an "image backup", which is essentially a copy of your disk or partitions of your disk, that you can later use to recreate an exact copy of that drive or partition. You can also make a backup of "system state only", which copies the system files, folders, drivers and such, without copying your data. You can also make a variety of "data or application" backups, based on folders (everything under My Documents, for example), file types (all pictures, videos, music and such) or backup your email (including folders, attachments, and address book), and lots more. There is also the option of excluding certain types of files, such as hidden files/folders, system files/folders, or specific file type extensions.
You can make the backup on just about any kind of media that you can imagine - CD, DVD, USB/FireWire hard drives, Zip/Jaz drives, network shared disks, and even FTP servers. If the size of the backup is larger than the capacity of the target, True Image will automatically partition the backup to fit on multiple volumes. This is fairly obvious in the case of backup to CD/DVD drives, but it is a nice touch that they also recognize when the target is a FAT32 disk drive, and will stay within the maximum file size limitations by splitting the backup into multiple 4 GB files.
Once you have made a full backup, Acronis gives you the options of making either "incremental" or "differential" backups. The difference between the two is the amount of data that typically needs to be backed up and the amount of effort it takes to restore.
In addition to the obvious use of a backup archive - restoring it to a new computer or disk - Acronis also includes tools to let you explore an archive from within the True Image program, and to actually "mount" the image as if it were removable media, which you can then copy files and folders from with normal utilities - a very nice touch when what you need to do is recover just one file or folder.
True Image Home also includes backup scheduling capabilities, to run automatic unattended backups at specific times, days, intervals or based on system events such as log on / log off. Combined with large capacity backup media, such as USB disks or network storage, this makes it very easy to ensure that you are well prepared in case of accidental file loss or catastrophic failure. My own installation at home is a good example of this. I have a laptop computer and my partner has a desktop, and we are both connected to a Linksys WRT350N router with a shared 300 GB Iomega disk on its Storage Link USB port. Both PCs are backed up to the shared disk on the router. After making the initial full "disk image" backup, I set up a True Image scheduled task on each computer to make an incremental backup every night, and a differential backup once a week. There is one small "trick" here; if you are backing up to a network disk, and it has a FAT32 file system, Acronis has no way of knowing that, and therefore no way of knowing that it should split the archive into 4 GB pieces, so you have to specify that manually. I made several failed attempts at full backups before I realized why it was getting a write error after processing for quite a while.
Finally, True Image Home includes a number of very useful tools and utilities. There is a "disk clone" utility, which makes it easy to move to a new disk if you run out of space, and an "add disk" utility, which is a lot easier to find and use than the Windows Disk Management utility when all you need to do is format and partition a new drive. There are also tools for secure, complete deletion and cleanup of files, folders and entire partitions or disks, and for general Windows cleanup tasks such as cleaning out temporary files, remnants of past file and computer searches, and so on.
I strongly recommend Acronis True Image Home to my friends and family, and it is always one of the first things I install on a new computer, whether it be my own or one I am preparing for someone else. It is by far the best $50 investment you could ever make on your computer.
I'll close this with an example of how True Image "saved the day" recently. I prepared a new laptop for a friend, and used True Image to transfer all of his user data and then to clean up the old laptop so he could pass it on to someone else. A couple of weeks later I got a panic call - the new laptop had been stolen at an airport. Of course I had made a backup of his user data on a portable USB drive - but he had been carrying it in the same case with the laptop (BIG mistake!). However, when I had transferred the data, his USB drive had not been large enough to do everything at once, so I had used an extra drive that I had laying about, and then made a partial backup on his drive. I had not needed that drive for anything else since then, so the image of his laptop was still on it; I was able to restore the user files from it to DVD-R's, and then mail those to him.
If you aren't performing SOME kind of backup on a regular basis, you are headed for serious trouble, sooner or later. If you're using something other than Acronis True Image Home for backups, you're probably working too hard, so you should check it out.
Tuesday 26 February 2008, 9:49 AM
Vista to XP - A Forced Retreat
I'm almost embarrassed to write this, and I'm sure there are people who are tired of reading it. But I said that I would keep this blog up to date with my Vista/XP adventures, and I want others who may run into this situation to know they are not alone, and they are probably not at fault.
It has been exactly a week since I put the Vista Business disk back into my main laptops, a Fujitsu Lifebook S6510. This morning when I turned the system on, it said "unable to start Windows"... and went into the Vista startup recovery procedure. After a good 30 minutes of thrashing around, it finally told me that it couldn't fix the problem. It suggested that if I had recently connected any new hardware, I might try removing that and see if it solved the problem. Of course, I have not added, or removed, anything. There were no other suggestions as to what to do, or how to recover; I am left with the impression that the only option is to reload Vista from scratch.
Fortunately, I had the disk drive loaded with XP Pro for this laptop with me. So I swapped the disks, turned it on, and it came up just fine. It took about an hour to copy over all the things that had been changed in the past week - primarily email, and some application data - and now everything is back to "normal".
I don't have the vaguest idea in the world what caused this, or what could be done to fix it (or avoid it). I suppose what I will do is wait for Vista SP1 to come out, and then reload the Vista disk from scratch, install SP1, and then reload all my applications and utilities. Maybe. But perhaps I will just forget about Vista, because I am very irritated right now...
jw 26/2/2008
Monday 25 February 2008, 8:54 PM
eBay Names New Skype CEO
So, eBay has finally meandered their way around to naming a new CEO for Skype, many months after the original founders of Skype showed that they were smart enough to know when to take the money and run. This one comes on board with lots and lots of flowery statements about how honored he is to be joining a team that makes the best product in the world, and how important it is to understand that Skype's "beloved users" are the most important thing in the universe to them.
If he is actually interested in improving the currently hopeless situation at Skype, there are really only a few things that he needs to do:
- Get a Customer Service Department. Give them a phone number, and an email address through which they can be contacted. This is nothing short of absolutely disgraceful at the moment.
- STOP blocking paying customers accounts for no apparent reason, and with no explanation, ESPECIALLY when the amount of money in question in $10, which is a microscopic pittance to you, but being able to make a phone call to distant family and loved ones can make all the difference in the world to your customers.
- If you absolutely positively must block accounts on occasion, for good reason, then at least simply block the customer from adding more credit to their account, let them continue using the money you have already taken from them! When you block the account, let the customer know IMMEDIATELY that you have done so, and why. In the civilised world, taking money and then refusing to provide a service without explanation is called "stealing", and that is not something one does to "dear beloved friends".
- Stop putting all of your development effort into porting Skype to anything and everything, and concentrate on getting the versions that you are already distributing to work properly. I fully expect to wake up tomorrow and read about Skype being available on my coffee machine, and by next week it will probably be on my vacuum cleaner. Meanwhile, Skype for Windows doesn't like my graphic card, so it doesn't show incoming video, it disagrees with my webcam software, so every time I make a call my speakers get muted, it doesn't like my audio drivers so frequently when I start it I get a BSOD crash, and the "presence reporting" is worse than a joke, it is not even able to give me a reasonable hint as to whether my contacts are online or not.
That's not a long "action list", is it? Getting these points fixed would be a massive step forward - and nearly impossible, based on their actions over that past couple of years.
jw 25/2/2008
Thursday 21 February 2008, 11:13 AM
VoIP to PSTN Calling - Costs
Last week I wrote about the technical aspects of dial-out to PSTN phones, now I would like to take a look at the costs of such calls. Of course, these vary widely based on where you are calling to, and in some cases where you are calling from, so I will just use a few simple cases to get an idea of how the programs compare. Even such a simple comparison is not always easy or obvious, though, first because the companies often have "special programs" or "promotions" which reduce or eliminate the costs entirely. Also, ONE of the companies charges not only a per-minute fee, but also a "connect fee" on every call, so the actual per-minute cost depends on how long you talk. Care to guess who charges that way? Skype, of course.
I will eliminate ooVoo from this comparison first, because they are currently running a special promotion, all calls to the U.S. and Canada are free until March 1st (up to 120 minutes of total calls), regardless of where you are calling from. Unfortunately, calls to anywhere else in the world are currently not possible, and they have not announced what the prices will be for calls after March 1st. So I will have to come back to this after they announce the prices.
Gizmo also has a special program which allows you to call some numbers in the U.S. for free. To find out if the number you want to call qualifies, go to http://gizmo5.com/pc/backdoor. They also have a program called "All Calls Free", which has a rather complex set of requirements and qualifications. I have tried several times to read and understand them, and I have to say honestly that they still escape me. However, if you qualify you are then able to call your contact's registered home and cell phones at no charge.
Skype also has a special program, called SkypePro, which may eliminate the per-minute charge on some calls, depending on where you are calling from and to, and provided that you don't exceed some arbitrary total number of minutes per month, and may even eliminate the per-call connection fee, if you are calling from and to the U.S. and Canada. However, be very careful about that last point - even if you have subscribed to SkypePro, and are paying a monthly fee to get all calls within your country "free", if you are anywhere outside the U.S. and Canada, you are still subject to a per-call "connect fee"!
Whew. Ok, with all those "special programs" aside, here are some typical per-minute costs, in U.S. Dollars and Cents, for calls TO the following countries:
U.S.A. - to all Land Line and Mobile Numbers
Gizmo: 1.9 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 2.0 cents/minute
Skype: 2.4 cents/minute PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
United Kingdom - Land Line
Gizmo: 2.0 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 2.0 cents/minute
Skype: 2.4 cents/mintue PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
United Kingdom - Mobile
Gizmo: 21 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 22 cents/minute
Skype: 29.1 cents/minute PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
France - Land Line
Gizmo: 2.0 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 3.0 cents/minute
Skype: 2.4 cents/minute PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
France - Mobile
Gizmo: 21.8 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 22-29 cents/minute
Skype: 23.3 cents/minute PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
Germany - Land Line
Gizmo: 2.0 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 2.0 cents/minute
Skype: 2.4 cents/minute PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
Germany - Mobile
Gizmo: 24.3 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 27-33 cents/minute
Skype: 28.3 cents/minute PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
Switzerland - Land Line
Gizmo: 2.0 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 2.0 cents/minute
Skype: 2.4 cents/minute PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
Switzerland - Mobile
Gizmo: 39.8 cents/minute
SightSpeed: 33 cents/minute
Skype: 42.2 cents/minute PLUS 4.5 cents connection fee
These rates are not only much, much better than what I have to pay for "roaming" calls if I use my mobile phone while I am traveling, or what hotels charge for calls, they are even lower than what I pay for international calls from my home phone in Switzerland.
Comparing the three programs, I think the pattern is clear. Skype is consistently the most expensive per minute, AND you have to add the "connection fee" to each call. You may be able to reduce your effective cost, depending on your specific calling habits, by signing up for the "SkypePro" program, but if you live outside the U.S. and Canada you still have to pay the "connection fee" on every call.
It will be interesting to see where ooVoo fits in this comparison. I will report as soon as they make their pricing information available.
jw 21/2/2008
Tuesday 19 February 2008, 2:02 PM
Windows Vista - Here I go again!
Well, I must be completely daft. But I've said it before - I want Vista to work. I want it to be better, faster, more secure, or whatever, than Windows XP - or at least as good. So, after reading all of the recent posts about Vista SP1 being available "Real Soon Now" (which made me aware that there are some Vista updates that must be installed before SP1 will install), and reading David Long's good article about ReadyBoost (which reminded me that I have 1 GB of Intel TurboMemory in this laptop which XP Pro isn't able to use)... I have now take the XP Professional disk out, and put the Vista disk back into this Lifebook S6510. Sigh. I really must be insane!
I've spent the morning getting it up to date again. First, installing the Vista updates which were released while I was running XP; then a couple of driver updates. Therein lies a typical story... The Marvell ethernet adapter drivers were updated, and I was able to install the update with no problem. The Intel Graphic Adapter drivers were updated, but when I tried to install them, it said that those drivers were not certified for my system, even though it was the correct chipset, so I should get driver updates from the system supplier. Laptop owners beware, this is quite common, and the laptop manufacturers all too often "abandon" their products (stop posting custom driver updates) long before the device manufacturers do. I checked Fujitsu's web page, and sure enough, no graphic driver updates there. Finally, there is supposed to be a Realtek audio driver update available, but Realtek seems to have some serious problems with their web page at the moment. Either I can't get the download page to load at all (something about a log file being full on their server), or I get error messages when I try to download the new drivers. I assume they will sort this out today sometime.
Once Windows and its device drivers were up to date (as much as possible), it was time to update the Video IM applications. First completely uninstall Gizmo, because of their "rebranding", and then install the latest version. No problem... Then update ooVoo, again no problem. Then Skype... hmmm. no, thanks, I'm much happier without that rubbish on my main laptop. My brother came online just after I was done with the updates, so I was able to test Gizmo and ooVoo with him, both worked just fine.
So, I'm going to be running Vista in this laptop for a while again. Bring on SP1, I'm ready!
One other note about Skype. Their "Presence Reporting" has been known to be "unreliable" (to be charitable) for a long time. With the latest release (3.6.0.248), it has gotten dramatically worse. Despite that, they tried to close an outstanding bug report on it, with the comment "This problem has been fixed in 3.6.0.248". This was met with a chorus of "No it certainly hasn't" replies. It appears that Skype "Development" might be going the same route as Skype "Support". Sigh. If you are still using Skype, do yourself a favor, have a look at one of the alternatives.
Previous
