Month: August 2012

Remember this? It is the Atari 2600 game console, and probably the first computer most families ever had. Remember the games? Addictive or what! Well, your Atari 2600 may have been sent for scrap many years ago, but the games live on, and are playable in IE 9 and 10. See here.. http://www.atari.com/arcade#!/arcade/superbreakout It ran on a 6507 processor which was a cut down 6502 as used in the Acorn BBC computers so graphics was never a strong point, but did we care? I never remember thinking that it sucked. It was the most exciting stuff to appear on the … Continue reading Atari arcade..

Until recently, I had MapPoint 2010 installed. The trouble is that it is now 2012 approaching 2013, and the accuracy of the maps can’t be guaranteed. There is an update service for road works etc. but not for revised maps. Make no mistake, Microsoft’s MapPoint is a very good business application, but it has a huge price tag too. So, what to do? For the common man, there is Streets and Trips 2013 priced at around $40.  For this. you do get some features. The ability to set up driving speeds and fuel costs Show places of Interest and restaurants … Continue reading Maps.. Don’t lose your way..

The trouble with water coolers.. I was wandering around my local TigerDirect store a while ago and came across a Thermaltake CPU water cooler. It was in the clearance section at a reasonable price, but I walked away from it. Reading through reviews, water coolers inevitably come out on top when it comes to cooling CPU’s, but what happens if the pump part decides to give up? Have you ever seen pump assemblies on sale as accessories? I haven’t. This is why I don’t have one on my PC. The sealed system water coolers render easy repairs impossible, and exchanging … Continue reading CPU coolers..

This is a very good piece on how to navigate Windows 8 if you are into using the keyboard more than the mouse.. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Windows8ProductivityWhoMovedMyCheeseOhThereItIs.aspx The guy also has a mega multi monitor setup too, so not everything will work for you as it does for him. However, it does show that Windows 8 can work for you, and can be fun. Since encapsulating Windows 8 in VirtualBox, I haven’t made too many sorties to it, but I will note some of what is in the article and give it a whirl. A while ago now, I wrote to the authors … Continue reading Windows 8 usability..

.. is to be able to basically run it in order to support it in Microsoft Answers. As long as I know how it works and where everything is, it doesn’t have to be the primary OS. So, I have the option of dual booting, a procedure I have never liked, or Windows 8 Mode. Windows 8 Mode? For sure, Windows 8 in Virtual Box. It works well. I gave it 2gb of RAM, 32mb video RAM,  and set the box to ‘dynamic’. It is not like I will be using it for gaming or anything serious, and so don’t … Continue reading Windows 8.. all I want or need..

Everything is back to normal, as in Windows 7 normal. I kept working with Windows 8 for some three hours after I posted the previous blog post, but I still couldn’t justify the losses and the awkwardness. They said that anything which would run in Windows 7 should run in Windows 8, but that is not true. It didn’t boot fast enough to be counted as a gain and the apps store, for all that was in it, left me cold. Unlike corporate employees and home users who have to take what is given to them, I don’t. I have … Continue reading Windows 8 – back on the shelf..

OK.. Stuff that still works.. All of the internal hardware Existing peripheral devices Networx Winpatrol Stuff that doesn’t work or is a pain All of my stress reducer games The traditional Windows games which are now only accessible via the UI formerly known as Metro (also used as stress reducers) My two favourite gadgets. Weather Network via Weather Center was the best, and a network monitor which showed which computers were online. VSL Lantoucher Network Chat Speedfan – It will not show in the notification area at boot up regardless of settings I am not a casual user of the … Continue reading Windows 8-balled?

It’s neat being able to install the latest Microsoft operating system before it becomes main stream. MSDN and TechNet account holders have been able to do it since August 15, but it is not all plain sailing. Microsoft’s infrastructure which will back up the operating system is not fully in place yet, and little things like the Windows 8 Update server are not online. This means that not only will Windows 8 updates not be piped through, and this applies to any Microsoft product updates which have traditionally been fed this way. So, if you are running Microsoft Office on … Continue reading Windows 8.. On our own for now..

Upgrading to Windows 8 would have gone without a hitch were it not for a defrag utility called RAXCO PERFECTDISK 12.5 Windows 8 reported it as incompatible and asked that it be removed. Easy to do? Not hardly.. It very quickly brought back memories of removing Perfectdisk a few years ago. The trouble was it wouldn’t fully uninstall enough back then, and NOTHING has changed. Will a RAXCO product ever find its way onto a computer of mine in the future? Not a chance.. What should have been an easy task ended up being a 90 minute attempt which FAILED … Continue reading Windows 8.. It’s on..

Microsoft have rolled out Windows 8 to a third of their workforce to demonstrate that it can be done. See here.. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mscio/archive/2012/08/07/deploying-windows-8-within-microsoft.aspx Great stuff, but everybody knows that it can be done, but it requires planning and retraining to a greater degree than the transition to Windows 7. This is the point raised by corporates, the cost and time implementing the help, and this is exactly what the blog is about. Microsoft have set up a reasonably elaborate help system which is what corporates want to avoid. In Mary Jo Foley’s article, one of the comments asks if the employees … Continue reading They had to do it..