Rebooting your computer is the most common first-step remedy for most PC ailments. Rebooting returns all of your computer’s software (and hardware) to a known initial state, which in theory should eliminate fluctuating problems. The issue could be as simple as a software error or as complex as a motherboard or hard drive failure, but you [...]
Post Tagged with: "Windows XP"
Windows Trivia You Never Knew
Windows Vista has had an interesting reception by the technology community, to say the least. People either like it or they hate it, or they think it is O.K. The road to Vista was several years in the making, and there are lots of interesting stories and tidbits about the OS that most people don’t [...]
OCZ Rally2 Turbo 4GB Flash Drive Review
USB flash drives are almost standard issue amongst IT professionals, and are useful for students and pretty much anyone who uses more than one computer. The capacities of today’s flash drives allow us to carry many gigabytes of personal data, so the write performance must also increase to fill the drive in a timely manner. [...]
Fix Vista’s Wasteful Shadow Copy (VSS)
As storage has gotten more expansive, Microsoft has gotten very good at unnecessarily using up this extra space. One of the biggest storage hogs is System Restore, which was rather easy to modify in Windows XP. In Windows Vista, there is no easy way to change the amount of space that System Restore uses, so [...]
Clear IE7 Browsing History from the Command Line
There’s lots of little files accumulating on your computer… like bacteria. Every time you browse the interenet, little bits of data are saved onto your hard drive. There’s several reasons you need to clean these files out periodically. For one, there’s the privacy issue: do you really want your browsing history available to anyone who [...]
Just Say No To SuperFetch
If you’re using Windows Vista, then you’ve probably noticed the new memory requirements. In Windows XP you could get away with 1GB of memory, with 2GB making it run much smoother. To get the same smooth experience from Vista, you really need to double the memory, due in part to some of the new services that Vista [...]
Microsoft Media Center Keyboard Review
If you one of the many of people discovering the joys of a Home Theater PC, then you’ll want to get as much usefulness from it as you can. Microsoft makes a standard Media Center remote, which works just fine with their 10-foot interface experience, but makes searching for your media a little awkward. Other vendors have created Media Center remotes [...]
Space Ace HD Review (PC)
If you were a teenager in the 80s then you certainly have fond memories of Don Bluth’s laser-disc games like Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace. These games were simply amazing at the time and were so bleeding edge that you could sever an arm if you got too close to the cabinet. For those of [...]
Sony VAIO VGP-XL1B3 Media Changer
I have been looking for a cheap expandable storage method for Media Center for some time. After one of my recent rants about Media Center storage, one of the [OC]ModShop staff members turned me onto the Sony VAIO VGP-XL1B3 CD/DVD changer. This device attaches to any Media Center PC (including Vista) and adds additional storage [...]
Pinnacle PCTV HD PCI Capture Card
If you use a Home Theater PC, then you’re no doubt familiar with the many PVR and HDTV cards available. Although Windows Media Center supports 2 PVR cards plus an over-the-air HDTV card, it would be nice if there were a single card that integrated all of these technologies into a single card. Pinnacle has [...]
Convert Your VHS to DVD
Remember the holidays from three…five…ten years ago? Birthdays? Family outings? The great times you had with your parents, grandparents or great grandparents? Aren’t you glad you captured all of those special, precious moments on videotape? You’ve got dozens of taped memories stacked in a cabinet or tucked away on a shelf in closet. Disappearing Past The problem is consumer [...]
Removing Unnecessary Services in Windows 7
There are lots of little programs used by the Windows operating system that take up memory, waste disk space and CPU clock cycles. These programs are called “services” and include all kinds of things such as UPS support, Netmeeting, QoS packet scheduler, telnet, themes, and alot of other obscure things that the average user doesn’t [...]
How to Move the Windows Mail Storage Folder in Vista
Windows Vista comes with the new “Windows Mail”, which replaces Outlook Express (that comes bundled for free with Windows XP). Many people end up using this email client because it’s free and is robust enough for most people’s email needs, and who doesn’t use email these days? Windows Mail stores your email, folders, accounts, newsgroup [...]
Where did Vista’s Task Manager Go?
Some of us are old enough to remember when the old three-finger salute was used to reboot out computers: a specific key combination recognized at the hardware level of every PC to reboot. Microsoft thought it would be a swell idea to grab that key combination for the purposes of logging on to their new-fangled [...]
Associate a File Type with a Program in Windows
It always happens to us. You have your favorite media player, graphics editor, HTML editor or whatever, and you install the latest codec or optional tool. Then suddenly your world is thrown into chaos: MP3 files open with an audio editor, images are opened with a program that takes 5 minutes to load, the sky [...]
Vista: Return Icons to the Smaller Classic XP Size
Vista icons are much more realistic in appearance in comparison to the looser, illustrative style of Windows XP icons. The largest size included in the Vista icons resource is 256 x 256 pixels. This may sound quite large for our present 96 DPI displays, but it will be quite suitable for high-DPI displays being developed [...]
Setting Up a Home Theater with Windows Vista
Setting up a Home Theater PC used to be a huge ordeal. Before Windows Media Center (and other all-inclusive media software), configuring a HTPC was an ongoing project as there were no standard or tested methods on achieving stability or automation. Getting a PC to ran as simply and reliably as an appliance has always [...]
Take Ownership of Windows System Files
It always happens, even in Windows XP… you need to move or delete some files, but Windows gives you an error that you need permission or that the file is in use. When tweaking your Vista system, you will probably need to modify some system files, but Vista has this locked down tight.
Auto-login in Vista
Since your Media Center is set up to be an appliance, there’s no need to login every time it boots. Although it will automatically login if you leave your password blank, the default network policy will not map network drives with blank passwords. With Windows XP I used TweakUI to automatically login, but now Vista [...]
ECS Elitegroup KA3MVP Extreme AM2 Motherboard
Elite Computer Systems, or ECS, has a huge presence in the motherboard market place. They have been around for 20 years now, have had most of their business in the OEM sector, but in the past few years have begun making a name for themselves in the DIY community. Occasionally, their name has been a [...]
Latest Comments