Month: April 2014

The new case.. I had a call from a client that the CD drawer wasn’t working, and it sounded easy enough to fix. On inspection, I noticed that the front of the case was being held on entirely by wires, notably the power switch and front panel headers. The plastic mounts had all decayed and there was no alignment with the optical drive. I also noticed that the case was very hot and generally not a good case, being over nine years old. I was asked to select a case, preferably below $50, and I picked the Coolermaster HAF912 . … Continue reading A new case and connecting to a wireless printer..

There are a few and one of them is this.. the Pre-update KB2919442. If you can’t see it in the update history, and you are running Windows 8, don’t wait around anymore. You will NOT get it until you have first upgraded to 8.1 via the Windows Store. If you can’t see it in the update history and you ARE running 8.1, download the appropriate bit version from the links below and install manually.. 32-bit.. =  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42135 64-bit.. = http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42162 You have a better chance of success if you have updates set to automatic, and that your computer is malware … Continue reading 8.1 update problems?

.. and if you choose to cancel it, you are also cancelling any other update in the future. It is no different to the Service Pack policy of old. Windows users who have slow broadband connections will have a longer wait while the download is in progress, but it is worth the wait because it contains GUI improvements which make life easier. The ‘update’ is being served up with a few smaller ones, and is not checked for download by default. Download and install the others first, reboot the machine, and then go back to Windows Update, check the big … Continue reading The Windows 8.1 ‘Update’ is mandatory..

I was brought two machines yesterday for appraisal, both running Windows XP Home. The question was simple enough. Did either or both have any life left in them? Computer #1, a Dell D610 Not particularly well specified, but quite a tough case, it is definitely NOT a candidate for upgrading to anything above XP in my opinion. With the demise of XP being only 36 hours away, the only chance for this machine was to have Linux installed. I took the original 40gb hard drive out and replaced it with a similar blank unit, and then tried Linux Mint 16 … Continue reading The end for two XP computers?

No dates yet but it is in the pipeline. Microsoft could have saved themselves a lot of bad press, but later is better than never. See here.. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247466/Microsoft_to_restore_Start_menu_to_Windows?source=rss_latest_content&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+computerworld%2Fnews%2Ffeed+%28Latest+from+Computerworld%29 Not too much that I can add really, except that I hope it doesn’t clash with Start8. It should silence the critics and those who don’t see why they should install a 3rd party Start Menu. Some will not be pleased  regardless

I was going to wait for the public release on April 8 because I wanted to see how it would all pan out for consumers, but patience is not a strong point, and I have an MSDN account.. Anyway, this is what happened. I located the update in MSDN which covers Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Update, and downloaded it to the hard drive. It comes down in zipped form and, once unzipped, presents you with six kb’s and a readme file. I printed off the readme such that I could keep a check on … Continue reading The Update – Part two – Installation..

This is by no means a full review, more a first impression. It looks just like 8.1 until you cast your eyes to the top right of the screenshot. Two of the complaints were: Lack of a search box Lack of an easy to find shutdown button Both of these points have been addressed in the most literal way that Microsoft could muster The second lot of points, again two, was: Lack of a means to minimize a window Lack of a means to terminate a window. Again, in literal style, Microsoft have addressed both issues. There is a new … Continue reading The ‘Update’..

.. starts in just a few days, seven at the time of writing. Your XP is going to be on its own as are you if you can’t or won’t let it go. Some anti-virus suites will still work for a while as will Malwarebytes and similar, but the authors will lose interest over time and you won’t even get basic protection. XP users have stated to me that they only go online to get email, but that is like the argument for the ‘five second’ rule relating to food dropped onto a less than clean surface. It takes just … Continue reading The post-XP world..