Useful Little Things

I’ve finally ditched GoDaddy for shared hosting.

Yesterday, I got fed up with the slow response times and called them.  They’re reply was simple and to the point: We can’t do anything about it.  They actually tried to tell me that it normally takes a really long time to read content from a database and that 20-30 seconds to dynamically generate a page is normal!

So, I switched to a new provider for a 60 day trial.  I’ll let you know how it works out.  As it stands so far, response time has gone from 20-30 seconds to generate a page to sub-second response.  I’m cautiously optimistic.

Update: I haven’t found anything to complain about, so I’m making the switch to WebFaction permanent (yes, the link to WebFaction will get me a “kick back” if you sign up).

Since purchasing my X41 Tablet PC from Lenovo in 2006, I noticed a peculiar behaviour.  The mouse pointer will occasionally jump to the bottom of the screen.  This wouldn’t be too annoying if it didn’t move the focus with it.  This happens most often when I’m typing something.  And, since I don’t touch type, I don’t realize that I’m no longer putting anything on the screen until the next time I look up.

Of course, it’s my own fault this has never been fixed.  I let the warranty expire, knowing there was a problem.  In my own defense, it doesn’t happen all the time.  It’s somehow tied to the humidity, static, or temperature.  Whatever the cause, I haven’t figured it out.

So, today, I discovered a workaround.  I disabled the Tablet PC Input Service.  I can always reenable it later, if I need too.  Thanks to MalekTips for the clear instructions.

Now, the cursor (thankfully) is sitting right where I leave it, every time.