Perez Studios

Well, after all the reinstalls after reinstalls, I decided to go with Windows Vista Ultimate 32.  I tried running Vista Ultimate 64 but a lot of my programs didn’t like the 64bit environment.  I then tried going to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 and the same thing.  I then went down to Windows XP 64 and the same thing.  I thought this is great!  I have 8GB of RAM and wont be able to use it all because I am going to have to go to Windows Vista Ultimate 32.  So I took out 2 sticks of 2GB, bringing me down to 4GB and after installing iTunes and importing all my music the system kept crashing.  So I thought I should put the memory back in and see how it runs.  It ran a lot smoother after the whole 8GB of RAM was in there. 

I then began installing all of my programs again.  I am about 75% complete with installing all my programs.  I just finished the big Adobe programs and will begin the little ones later on tonight.  I am going to take my computer in to get it readjusted with the memory changes so that I can take out the 4GB and get it over clocked just a bit more.  I was burning a CD for my wife yesterday and I must say the thing flies.  I started playing the first song on the list of songs on the CD and before it finished playing the song it was finished burning the entire disc. 

The system is running on an Intel Core 2 6700 CPU @2.66GHz over clocked at 3.20GHz.  The 8GB of RAM is fast.  I am waiting to come up with some money to buy an add in card for the RAID.  I plan on running a RAID 5 with the (4) Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11 Drives.  The motherboard supports 6 SATA devices but Vista doesn’t support RAID in the OS. 

I would love to hear back from everyone to see what they think or if they have any advice on this computer technology subject.

I have come across a dilemma with the new computer build.  Turns out that Windows Vista does not support a RAID 5 setup in the OS.  I can go out and buy a RAID controller and use the (4) 1.5TB drives in a RAID 5 configuration to have redundancy on the drives or I can upgrade to Windows 7.  I am for sure that I don’t want to downgrade to Windows XP because I have been down that route and don’t want to go back.  I like all the features built into Windows Vista Ultimate and would love to have them.

I am thinking about purchasing the RAID controller card next month when I come across some more money but was thinking about just going to Windows 7 because it supports the RAID 5 in the OS.  I haven’t had much time to play with Windows 7 yet and wanted to get some feedback from you techies out there and see what you thought of Windows 7 Ultimate.

I have to have a 64 bit OS because I have 8GB of RAM.  If anyone else has other ideas I am all ears!

Thanks for reading!

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to share with you the new look of Perez Studios.  I was getting tired of the old look of the old site so I decided it was time for a new theme.  The good thing about a new theme is its super easy with the Word Press Engine running your site. 

I have been using Word Press for a couple of years now to manage my blog site and I must say that it makes things easy.  It allows me to choose from a bunch of layouts and themes and with the click of a button, I have a new theme and look without having to know too much coding. 

Above you see a screenshot of the old look which was Layers 1.1.1.  I liked it but the black on the screen and the words weren’t pleasing to the eye on the black background. 

Above you see a screenshot of the new look which is iNove 2.3.  I like it that it has a white background but still has the look of the black on top.  I had to do some research to figure out how to manipulate the width of the css because it was too narrow and when you viewed the upcoming events it would shrink the calendar and not display it all. 

I went to this site to view tips on how to manipulate the css. 

Let me know what you think of the new look and if you have any ideas.

If you are interested in setting up a Word Press site then visit their website for more tips.  If you would like me to build one for you then I can do that as well.  I created a couple for some organizations and it is quick and easy.  The Word Press engine runs on a SQL database which is very quick to setup and keeps your entire website organized and running smooth. 

Call me for a free quote on setting up a website utilizing Word Press for you or your organization.

Here are some websites I did that run Word Press.

Mendota Pentecostal Church of God

Mary Allen’s Country Colors

I am working on building a new PC and I must say it gets pricey when you want to add things like redundancy.  I have been purchasing most of the parts from New Egg which is really great with the prices.  In fact I think just about all of the parts came from New Egg except for the processor which I got from my friend.  Nothing fancy on the cpu but my friend is going to over clock it for me.  Here is what we have in it so far.

This does not count all the taxes and shipping for all the different times I had to buy this and then realized I needed this.  That is always a pain.  I plan on installing Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit on the OS.  I also have a 120GB SATA drive that I plan on hosting my OS on and using the 4 – 1.5TB drives in a RAID 5 configuration and use it to store my music, photos and documents on.  I will have another 1.5TB drive that I plan on using for Backups which I know I will have to upgrade that soon to keep all the backups on.  Thankfully I use Storage Craft to do all my backups and I must say it is the coolest way for backups. 

If anyone has any feedback I would appreciate it.  I am hoping to have this system up and running by next Friday since I have a Photography Gig coming up.  Wish me luck folks!

While doing some research on the web on Adobe Lightroom, I came across a site from Adobe that is called Adobe TV.  The site actually has videos that show you how to use the Adobe programs.  I was amazed at all the helpful information that they have for viewers and what is even better is that it is all free.  I studied up on Adobe Lightroom and have been playing with the program to familiarize myself with the program.  I was amazed how Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop work hand in hand together to automate photos.  I even learned how catalogs work.  If you want to learn more or share your experience with Adobe TV then please do so.

I have been wondering where do you professional photographers store your photos after so many years?  I have a 1.5TB drive as my Main drive and another 1.5TB drive as my backup which I use Storage Craft’s Shadow Protect to backup but what do the pros use?  I use Adobe Lightroom 2.0 to keep track of all my photos but as I begin to run at about 300GB left on the 1.5TB Main Drive I am wondering should I archive them onto DVD and keep them in a safe or what? 

Anyone with any ideas I would appreciate the help!  

Over the years I have hated the fact that I didnt have the patience to go and touchup people’s faces in Adobe Photoshop.  I gave it up actually and fixed just the major issues with a charge of course.  That was until I came across Portrait Professional which is a very powerful program that allows you to draw the outline or major features of a face and it does all the touching up for you.  If you look at the photo above and look to the left you see a girl with a case of bad acne.  On the right you see the work that Portrait Professional does.  If you are into portraits and need to do a lot of touching up I highly recommend it. 

You can purchase Portrait Professional by going to http://www.portraitprofessional.com/ and paying $69.95 right now.  If you are interested in a free trial they offer that as well.

Have you ever had been at work and forgot to do something on your computer?  I have been listening to all the commercials about the ability to log into your computer from anywhere and remote to your computer.  The only problem with that is that they charge you a monthly service fee.  When I first started working at my current employer we came across a program called LogMeIn which is just as powerful as those other guys but its free.  They have some additional features for an additional price but the base package is free and comes with more than enough ability to take care of just about anything at home.  They even have plug-ins that allow you to work on a Blackberry or iPhone and remote into your guest computer.

I currently set this up for my clients so that when they have an issue I am able to check their computers remotely.  They even give you the ability to send email links for your clients so they can install it on their computer and then you have the ability to login from your home or office. 

If you haven’t seen this program go and check it out.  http://www.logmein.com.  If you have any questions or concerns about the software just let me know.  If you have had experiences with this or similar software I would love to hear about it.

Are you having trouble reading my posts? If you are then feel free to use the Global Translator on the bottom right of the page. It allows the viewer to actually translate the text on the page. I thought this was great because I seem to be getting a lot of visitors from countries overseas and I dont think my text is in their language and I want to be able to allow everyone to view my site.

I recently finished creating the site for Mary Allen.  She is happy and it looks great.  I love her work.  If anyone is interested in viewing more of her art please check out her site.  We are still working on perfecting it some more but we are close.  

I pretty much had her purchase the domain name and I installed WordPress 2.8 on her host and we were in business very quickly.  I did some customizing and it is almost done.  I went over to their home last week and was able to install Windows Live Writer for them.  I love how easy the program is for updating your blog.  I showed them the Dashboard and how to manage the site.  We still have some work to do but that the hard part is done.

I also want to mention that her husband Dink does some very beautiful custom framing on photos, paintings and anything that you want to put in a picture frame.  Check them out!