February 2012 - Mike's Window

Mike's Window

A commonly held 'view.. '

"Well, it worked in Windows 95!"

MVP Award years

2005 - 2006 - 2007

2008 - 2009 - 2010

2011 - 2012 - 2013

The original MVP logo

My Favourite Utilities

Speedfan is a great hardware monitor which can automatically control fan speeds, warn when temperatures are rising in the case, and do a SMART scan of your hard drives. A 'must have'.. http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Piriform Speccy tells you what is inside the box and with great accuracy.. http://www.piriform.com/speccy

Networx shows download/upload bandwidth used.. http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/

Piriform Recuva is probably the best file recovery utility around and is free too.. http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Treesize shows you what you have got, where it is, and how much space it is all using.. http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

Windows 8 alternative start menus.. Classic Shell.. http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Stardock Start8.. http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

EaseUS Partition Manager is the best free utility of its type.. http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm

YoWindow, a weather utility which appears to work with the Windows 8 desktop.. http://yowindow.com/

My Favourite Gadgets - Windows 7 and Vista only..

Gas Buddy.. http://www.londongasprices.com/VistaGadget.aspx

NetMeter.. http://addgadget.com/

Network Monitor.. http://samwtucker.com/

Asst'd gadgets.. http://gallery.djinngo.com/gallery/index.html

Weather fun.. http://yowindow.com/

Syndication

Blog Archive List

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The AMD System Monitor

. And yes, you do have to be running an AMD m’board. Novelty value = 5. because it is more fun than a defragmenter.. So, what can you see? if you click on ‘Details’ in each, you get even more info. The CPU section opens into a graph with a sliding bar...

Published Thu, Feb 23 2012 22:21 by Mike Hall

Filed under: software, Utility
Another LCD panel bites the dust..

This time, it is an LG W1934s (one of a pair), before this, an ACER 1916, and a very expensive 19” first generation LCD panels before the Acer. I have to admit that I am getting a little tired of LCD panels failing. Three in five years or so has gone...

Published Wed, Feb 22 2012 21:47 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware
Words do no justice..

.. well not printable words suitable for a public place anyway.. If you are a bit upset at the prospect of having no proper desktop, take some solace in the newly designed METRO styled Windows logo. Tada!! Nice eh.. some people are drooling over this...

Published Fri, Feb 24 2012 11:20 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows, My Opinion, Humour, Windows 8
Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor update..

I didn’t have much good to say about it in my last piece, and have even less to say that is good. Last night, I put my computer into hibernation, but waking it was a real job this morning. The gadget was experiencing severe difficulties, and when a Windows...

Published Thu, Feb 9 2012 7:56 by Mike Hall

Filed under: networks, Wi-Fi
The Wireless Toshiba..

The story so far: The wireless connection has never been too reliable, but it is getting worse. Regardless of settings changes, it has always dropped out even when in ‘full flight’ It is NOT affected by wired connections. Even if every computer here is...

Published Sat, Feb 18 2012 16:47 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Wireless
Gone wireless.. or do I mean wireless gone?

Well. both actually.. My desktop machine has officially gone wireless via a D-Link G132 which is apparently not even compatible with Windows 7 64-bit. I can assure D-Link that it is, no thanks to the complete lack of drivers on the D-Link...

Published Sun, Feb 12 2012 13:01 by Mike Hall
A case for Windows 8..

A desktop case, that is.. I was just looking through the latest edition of CPU User, and I came across an advert for the perfect Windows 8 desktop case. Like Windows 8, it lacks some of the more traditional elements that we have come to expect. What it...

Published Thu, Feb 2 2012 12:57 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Humour
Windows 8 Consumer Preview

My initial thoughts: It’s different. There is a button called ‘desktop, but it isn’t a Windows desktop. It is a screen view called desktop. Some of the ‘apps’ are interesting. I actually like the look of them.: The weather app opens up full screen and...

Published Wed, Feb 29 2012 19:43 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 7, Windows 8
Compatibility and security issues..

I knew a guy who always got lost whenever he ventured out in his car beyond his comfort zone. While his street hadn’t changed much, the road system beyond had and the 15 year old atlas map on the rear parcel shelf didn’t reflect the changes. Similarly...

Published Sat, Feb 25 2012 10:43 by Mike Hall

Filed under: software, compatibility
Down the snake..

I find this amazing.. re the ribbon in Windows 8 Explorer.. “Other tweaks Microsoft highlights in its blog include several to Windows Explorer. One sets the default to minimize the ribbon across the top of the window so if users want it, they have to...

Published Wed, Feb 1 2012 10:57 by Mike Hall
Wireless.. A dream come true or a nightmare in the making?

Wireless.. we used to dream about having wireless things. With wireless, the promise was that we could float like a butterfly, unfettered by annoying cables. The reality is that wireless can sting like a bee. Wireless keyboards and mice are a blessing...

Published Thu, Feb 16 2012 16:19 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Wireless
Wi-fi Interference..

I have a network where the main PC is connected via Cat5e to the DIR 628 router. There is a desktop machine connecting via a D-Link PCI G520 (yes, it works with Windows 7 64-bit, but only at 54mb) and a Toshiba laptop connecting via a Realtek RTL8191SE...

Published Wed, Feb 8 2012 23:30 by Mike Hall

Filed under: networks, Wi-Fi
37 into 18.5 = disaster

I am not coping too well with just one monitor. It’s like trying to walk with both feet in one shoe. Icons which once lived down the left side of monitor 2 are now in a folder just below the gadgets which have always been on the right side monitor 1....

Published Tue, Feb 28 2012 13:28 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Monitors

February 2012 - Mike's Window

A commonly held 'view.. '

MVP Award years

The original MVP logo

My Favourite Utilities

My Favourite Gadgets - Windows 7 and Vista only..

Links

Syndication

Recent Posts

Tags

Archives

Blog Archive List

The AMD System Monitor

Another LCD panel bites the dust..

Words do no justice..

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor update..

The Wireless Toshiba..

Gone wireless.. or do I mean wireless gone?

A case for Windows 8..

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Compatibility and security issues..

Down the snake..

Wireless.. A dream come true or a nightmare in the making?

Wi-fi Interference..

37 into 18.5 = disaster