September 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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Is the PC really dead?

I was listening to a local radio show a couple of days ago where there was a discussion about the use of smart phones and tablets/iPads. Some didn’t know that email sources can be turned OFF, say from a work account such that they did not become a menace...

Published Sun, Sep 2 2012 17:19 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 7, Windows 8, PC
Toshiba L500.. R.I.P

It has been just two years and nine months since the Toshiba joined the home network. Apart from connection issues via the RealTek RTL8191 SE, it has performed well. There was no hint of what was to come even as it was powered down for the evening. Who...

Published Mon, Sep 24 2012 20:01 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware
Windows 8 – Start8 makes it all better..

Stardock’s Start8 menu for Windows 8 is getting better. You now have the ability to ‘pin to the Start menu’ just like Windows 7. All about the look and features here.. http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/features.asp And guess what? It is in beta...

Published Sat, Sep 29 2012 9:34 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 8, Start Menu
Cleaning Tablet screens.. or any screens..

Always, always use screen cleaner wipes on the screens of smart phones and tablets/iPads. http://www.amazon.com/Endust-Electronics-Plasma-Wipes-11506/dp/B002SBB0SU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346673120&sr=8-1&keywords=lcd+wipes The wipes above...

Published Mon, Sep 3 2012 8:04 by Mike Hall
Better cooling..

I have been running a non-PWM fan on my CPU heatsink ever since changing it from the standard fitting. PWM fans are easy to recognise as they have a four pin connector instead of the usual case fan three pin type. The fitted fan on the new heatsink was...

Published Sat, Sep 8 2012 20:49 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware
IE 10.. dodging the bullet..

So, IE 10’s Adobe Flash component has to be updated through Windows Update, does it? Oh dear. I don’t do other browsers because I don’t like either the browsers or the way that the parent companies operate. It seems that putting Windows 8 into Virtual...

Published Sat, Sep 8 2012 21:23 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 8, IE
This HP high end all-in-one Windows 8 PC

.. doesn’ t have touch capability. Mind you, I am not surprised really. Who would want to leave grubby paw prints over an IMac look-a-like.. It will be difficult enough keeping the keyboard and finger pad clean. Plus, and the distance that one normally...

Published Mon, Sep 10 2012 12:51 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Windows 8
The CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus..

What a magical piece of kit this is. A cheap CPU heatsink and fan assembly where the fans are painfully easy to remove for cleaning. There are three versions of the Hyper 212 and mine is the type with the clip-on fan assembly. Two small moulded clips...

Published Mon, Sep 10 2012 21:41 by Mike Hall
Live Platinum Security..

An exercise in total frustration for the user who has caught it, and also for the person asked to fix it. This rogue anti-virus will not let go. Everything that the user tries to do is intercepted. Any attempt to search for and download tools to thwart...

Published Thu, Sep 13 2012 9:33 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Scamware, Annoyances
Card readers

Windows 7 is reporting that my card reader unit is slowing down the process of coming out of sleep. I assume that it includes hibernation because I never use the sleep function. The 9 in 1 card reader is running on generic drivers, but it looks like they...

Published Sun, Sep 16 2012 22:16 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, compatibility, Windows 7
Mail clients.. setting up for a fall?

How do you receive email? An email client? Online? I get mine through an email client, Outlook 2010. If you don’t know, this is part of the Microsoft Office Professional Plus set which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Publisher....

Published Mon, Sep 17 2012 17:18 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Backup, email
Privacy on the Internet..

I can’t help but feel that computer users get the privacy they deserve. All kinds of junk, ridiculous statements and claims, photos etc. are uploaded to the likes of Facebook and other social networking sites, and people squawk because it is public? Isn...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2012 11:32 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Social Networking, Privacy

September 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

Is the PC really dead?

Toshiba L500.. R.I.P

Windows 8 – Start8 makes it all better..

Cleaning Tablet screens.. or any screens..

Better cooling..

IE 10.. dodging the bullet..

This HP high end all-in-one Windows 8 PC

The CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus..

Live Platinum Security..

Card readers

Mail clients.. setting up for a fall?

Privacy on the Internet..