Amin Sadeghi's Blog

Direct what? or WhatX?

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:52:00 +0330

About a week ago I did huge modifications to my home PC and a few, but important, upgrades. I’ve stumbled upon many blue screens, caused by an encryption key module error, that are technically called BSODs that stand for Blue Screen of Death which doesn’t sound technical at all! But let’s not talk about that because only a few people might be interested in hearing that story.

The other problem I faced is a more general one that I would like to write about. It happened when I was trying to launch a video game. Sometimes when you’re launching a video game or a software that needs high-end graphical use, a d3dxxxx.dll file missing alert would appear on your screen. My highly recommended advice for you is that you never download and install the missing dll file to your operating system’s sys32 folder for it can probably cause severe damages to your hardware.

Fortunately, this was not my first acquaintance with such a problem and I had read about it before. The solution is very simple! You just need to update and get the latest version of Microsoft DirectX.

First of all, you need to take into account that Microsoft DirectX is a bundle of APIs and DLLs, platform independently, to help graphical software developers and graphic card creators to reach uniformity. In other words, the world has reached a point where there are thousands of graphic cards, and no team of programmers can write exclusive codes for each one of them. Moreover, the same accord applies to sound cards and DirectX disposes groundbreaking audio experience. Whenever your video or audio card lacks the adequate hardware solution for new technologies, several pre-programmed functions would allow a software simulation for user’s blessing.

Now what I’m approvingly recommending is to keep your DirectX always up to date. Firstly, although not necessarily, you can get to know and have more information about the current version of DirectX, video card resources and associated memory on your system by running DirectX Diagnostic Tool. To do so, click the start button and select Run in older versions of windows, or click Run from Start>All Programs>Accesories in Windows Vista and 7, or simply hold the windows key on your keyboard and hit ‘R.’ Type ‘dxdiag.exe’ and the DirectX Diagnostic Tool will be executed.

Here you check the current DirectX version running on your computer in the main ‘System’ tab. As of today, end of January 2010, the latest version is 11.

How to update your DirectX to the latest version:

Open the following page: DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer. Download the web installer and run it on your computer. Be aware the application will be granted to download up to 90MB of updates if your current version is too old, so please be advised to run it only when you’re sure the connection you’re using is fast enough.

After the installation has finished you may need to restart your computer. You can make sure of the update by running it again, and you will receive the following note if you’re running the latest version:

“DirectX setup has determined that a newer or equivalent version of DirectX has been installed already. No installation is necessary”.

Congratulations. You’re about to experience the latest technology now.

A decision that could change your life

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:44:00 +0330

Do you remember the days when you were back in school, thinking about your future? It’s probable that you had a family member whom you’d respect the most, and he/she was an architect. Watching how a house was designed and plotted on a computer brought sparkles to your eyes. Later when the house was actually been built, dreams were becoming true in real-life.

It’s funny how kids pursue the dream of becoming this person, subsequently thinking of the job as their own fancy job. But things can get ugly when in the forthcoming years you realise that you have had much better capabilities in some other field. So, what do you think is the best way to decipher your abilities and proceed with what is best for you?

Hopefully if you’re not living in a communist society (see communist education), I’ve found something that could help you decide what university programme to do. Read the description of the following groups and see which is in your interest the most:

Group A

You are interested in:

physical activity
working with machines
working with your hands
caring for the environment
working with plants
caring for animals
fixing things

Group B

You are interested in:

numbers and figures
running your own business
leading a group of people
selling products or services
planning and organising the activities of others
taking care of the welfare of people in the workplace

Group C

You are interested in:

reading
performing for an audience
speaking to or in front of a group of people
developing new or unusual ways of doing things
interacting with people (in groups or individually)
taking care of people
teaching others
helping people cope with their problems
learning about different cultures

Group D

You are interested in:

persuading people
influencing people
social justice
applying rules and regulations
solving difficult situations involving people
power
working with those who have lost direction

Group E

You are interested in:

mathematics and science
planning and problem-solving
working with computers
designing things
programming computers to perform tasks
knowing how things work

Which one did you choose? I’m sure this list doesn’t cover every academic university programme out there, but if you were lucky to fall into one of these categories press ‘read more’ to see the results.

Group A

Agricultural Management
Animal Health
Horticulture
Nature Conservation
Environmental Management
Consumer Science
Human Ecology
Hospitality
Geography

Group B

Accountancy
Administrative Management
Entrepreneurship
Human Resource Management
Safety Management
Tourism Management
Marketing Management
Commerce
Economics
Financial Management
Industrial and Organisational Psychology
Logistics
Law
Informatics
Banking
Internal Auditing
Operations Management
Quality Insurance
Business Leadership

Group C

Education specialisation in Early Childhood
Education specialisation in Foundation Phase
Education specialisation in Intermediate Phase
Education specialisation in Senior Phase
Visual Arts
Youth Development
Music
Communication Science
Multimedia Studies
Digital Visual Arts
Applied Psychology
Community and Health Psychology
International Relations and Diplomacy
Communication Facilitation
Political Leadership and Citizenship
Policy Studies
Musicology
Theology
Language and Literature
Anthropology
Archaeology
History
International Politics
Applied Linguistics
Translation Studies
Philosophy
Sociology
Politics

Group D

Criminology
Risk Management
Forensic Investigation
Penology
Banking Law
Commercial Law
Corporate Law
Correctional Servicing Management
Policing

Group E

Civil Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Mechantronics
Mine Surveying
Pulp and Paper Technology
Industrial Engineering
Applied Mathematics
Astronomy
Information Systems
Physics
Statistics
Data Mining
Information Technology
Computing

"Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams of fevered imaginations; reality is therefore..."

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:56:14 +0330

“Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams of fevered imaginations; reality is therefore abandoned.”

- Emile Durkheim