November 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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8 balled.. It isn’t getting any better for some..

Microsoft tell us that 40 million copies have been sold already. With respect to the sales figures, had Windows 7 been sold as cheaply as Windows 8 is being offered, Windows 7 sales figures would have been much harder to catch. At $15 if you bought a...

Published Thu, Nov 29 2012 21:08 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 8, Features
Windows 8 refresh..

This is not my own work but I think that it is important enough to put out.. What Windows 8 refresh does.. When you refresh the computer here is what it does. a) Your files and personalization settings won't change. b) Your PC settings will be changed...

Published Sun, Nov 25 2012 4:01 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Utilities, Windows 8
Black Friday for Rogers Internet customers..

And no, none of us had to queue up for hours.. http://www.connectedmagazine.ca/news/rogers-hi-speed-internet-delivers/ This is the kind of event that I like. I now get 25mb download, a rise of 7mb, and upload rises from 512k to 2mb.. I suppose that I...

Published Fri, Nov 23 2012 10:32 by Mike Hall

Filed under: General, ISP
Microsoft Partners..

I wish that I was a software author. I would be able to see how easy it is to get a Microsoft Partner logo. I am talking about this.. Put this on your website and you could get a lot of business from it. The logo suggests that Microsoft is endorsing your...

Published Thu, Nov 22 2012 10:32 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Spyware, Windows, My Opinion, Scamware
So you don’t like the Windows 8 start menu..

Boo hoo hoo. Neither do i, for the record. You don’t have to go to the trouble of reverting back to Windows 7. That takes a lot of work All you have to do is add a 3rd party start menu. What? You don’t like to add 3rd party stuff? What do you think Adobe...

Published Wed, Nov 21 2012 10:34 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 8, Start Menus
Tying up loose ends..

Both are related to the computer either becoming unresponsive and/or having to shutdown. 1. The Ultra power supply When the computer started to shut down, I knew that it was an issue with the supply itself. That removing the power cord and re-inserting...

Published Tue, Nov 20 2012 14:42 by Mike Hall

Filed under: drivers, Hardware
Hurricane Sandy..

It battered parts of the US East coast, leaving many people without power and, in the worst cases, without homes. It also battered business and infrastructure. Guess what is included in ‘infrastructure’? How about ‘Internet servers and routers’? The Internet...

Published Mon, Nov 19 2012 10:08 by Mike Hall

Filed under: networks
Windows 8 Email

A simple task:: To create a user folder and move email into it This has always been a simple task. Place the cursor on the mail account name in the left hand list Right click and select ‘New folder’ Name the folder. Drag the mail into it The above works...

Published Sun, Nov 18 2012 6:26 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 8, email
Somebody has left the building..

Steve Sinofsky is no longer an employee of Microsoft. Apart from being there for two decades, his greatest claim to fame was Windows 7 which was delivered on time and working. Take up was huge, and it has been an unmitigated success. Until recently, it...

Published Fri, Nov 16 2012 19:02 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 7, Windows 8
A new member..

.. and hopefully less intransigent than the Toshiba was. The new laptop is a July 2012 Lenovo T71 G780, Windows 7, Core i3 2370 (Sandy Bridge), 4gb, and a 17.3” display. Specifications are better than the Toshiba by virtue of the fact that the Lenovo...

Published Fri, Nov 16 2012 9:41 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, My Opinion
Too many fails - whoa up..

I dip into the Microsoft Community Windows 8 forum and what do I see? Fail, fail, fail. This morning, an OP is asking if an XP machine he bought from hiss company will be a good candidate for Windows 8.. Take a look here, the OP is advised.. http://windows...

Published Mon, Nov 12 2012 9:23 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Upgrading, Windows 8
Windows Live Messenger.. the future..

There isn’t one. Microsoft It will be replacing it with Skype. March 2013 will be end for what started out as MSN Messenger in 1999. In it’s heyday, if you wanted to ‘talk’ to a friend across the world, it was the cheapest and clearest option around....

Published Thu, Nov 8 2012 7:16 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Social Networking
Windows 8 64-bit compatibility..

My external hardware devices.. D-Link DWL G-132 wireless 108G USB adapter is identified, installs without the need for any additional drivers and connects to the wireless network at 54mb, just as it did on Windows 7. The surprise is that it still works...

Published Tue, Nov 6 2012 22:08 by Mike Hall

Filed under: compatibility, Windows 8, Device drivers
Windows 8 upgrades - Problems?

It is possible to to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 without having a bunch of issues in close pursuit because I have done it. Mind you, it only came good on the second upgrade attempt. While the first attempt did seem to go through ok, I did have...

Published Mon, Nov 5 2012 7:22 by Mike Hall

Filed under: compatibility, Upgrading, Windows 8
Windows 8 – More oddities..

Windows Live Messenger and Windows 8 Messaging.. This morning, I messaged my sister on Windows Live Messenger. When she replied, the Windows 8 Messaging app popped up a box which as it turns out was mirroring the conversation. I can’t say that I was expecting...

Published Sat, Nov 3 2012 22:46 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 8, Annoyances
Windows 8 - Weather Network update..

From the horse’s mouth at the Weather Network. “Hi, Thank you for taking the time to get in touch; we appreciate your feedback. We are working on optimizing the original version of the app for windows 8. In the interim, we are currently experiencing...

Published Sat, Nov 3 2012 9:26 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Windows 8, Utility, Apps

November 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

8 balled.. It isn’t getting any better for some..

Windows 8 refresh..

Black Friday for Rogers Internet customers..

Microsoft Partners..

So you don’t like the Windows 8 start menu..

Tying up loose ends..

Hurricane Sandy..

Windows 8 Email

Somebody has left the building..

A new member..

Too many fails - whoa up..

Windows Live Messenger.. the future..

Windows 8 64-bit compatibility..

Windows 8 upgrades - Problems?

Windows 8 – More oddities..

Windows 8 - Weather Network update..