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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

A cheap network printer..

This is what has become of my venerable HP Deskjet 5150. Bought in 2003, it has been connected directly to my PC and shared with other network users, but no more. I have one of these.. http://www.win-star.com/eshop/goods.php?id=58 These things are half...

Published Fri, Oct 5 2012 7:28 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Printers
My box so far..

Considering the ambient temperature in this high rise, south facing condo, the fans in the case are pinning the CPU to around 33°C, which is 6 to 8°C less than it used to be. The case sits quite close to heating pipes too, the price of not having unlimited...

Published Wed, Oct 3 2012 9:05 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware
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
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
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
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
Microsoft’s Comfort 5000 Desktop Set..

This is what I use. http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/wireless-comfort-desktop-5000/CSD-00001 Having used a Microsoft Laser 6000 desktop set prior to this one, I am used to the curved keyboard layout. It takes a little while to acclimatise to...

Published Fri, Jul 13 2012 10:14 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Review
VGA and chipset cooling for older stuff.. or maybe even newer stuff..

The photo shows a Vantec Iceberg CCB-A1A.. Officially, it is a heatsink/fan assembly for VGA or mobo chipsets. If what you see is a bottle cap fitted with a small capacity fan, 3.5 cfm, you would be nearer the mark. I removed the heatsink and broken fan...

Published Sun, Jul 1 2012 14:18 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Cooling
The Toshiba gets a re-install..

I refreshed the Toshiba laptop the day before yesterday. It was working fine but the Toshiba’s primary user was having problems with Facebook and some of its features and functions. I explained that the Internet connection was fine and that it wasn’t...

Published Fri, Jun 15 2012 13:28 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Windows 7, Annoyances
No more playing with Windows 8 CP..

I booted the drive with the Windows 8 installation a couple of days ago and all it wanted to do was disk check all three drives. Eventually, Windows 8 started and I played around for a while. Today, I attempted the same and everything went to plan except...

Published Mon, May 21 2012 16:39 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Windows 8
A new connection..

I have traded in my old Scientific Atlanta DPC2100 cable modem. Rogers have a new modem which will allow for a nominal 18mb download on their cable networks, and my old modem can’t do that apparently. although I have seen it reach that level...

Published Sat, May 19 2012 23:43 by Mike Hall

Filed under: networks, Hardware, ISPs
All set up and ready to go.. down?

If you entered computing during the XP age, you missed out on all of the fun. Here is a piece of computer world history for you.. The title of the video says it all.. This spawned more humour like this photo on the right. It was particularly popular with...

Published Sat, May 12 2012 17:36 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Windows 8, PC
CoolerMaster CM690 II - Revised fixing point for the ground cable..

Well, I have now made a better and more permanent fixing point for the ground/earth cable. Using a 3/32 twist bit, I sank a hole roughly below the power switch. This ensured that the cable would not be a problem to tighten down and that , in the event...

Published Sat, Apr 14 2012 14:35 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware
CoolerMaster CM690 II Advanced mid tower case

If you own one of these, you should know this..I do because I have one. I bought mine in May of last year and I do like it except for the fact that the cabling to the drives can be a bit of a tight fit when putting the back cover in place. I can live...

Published Tue, Mar 27 2012 15:30 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware
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
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
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
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
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
Laptop cooling

The user of the Toshiba L500 laptop on the home network recently reported that it was getting a little hot for laptop use. Needless to say, it did not take too long to ascertain that the single cooling fan had ceased to turn, Airflow through the exhaust...

Published Mon, Jan 30 2012 12:38 by Mike Hall

Filed under: Hardware, Cooling

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Browse by Tags

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

A cheap network printer..

My box so far..

Toshiba L500.. R.I.P

Card readers

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

Better cooling..

Microsoft’s Comfort 5000 Desktop Set..

VGA and chipset cooling for older stuff.. or maybe even newer stuff..

The Toshiba gets a re-install..

No more playing with Windows 8 CP..

A new connection..

All set up and ready to go.. down?

CoolerMaster CM690 II - Revised fixing point for the ground cable..

CoolerMaster CM690 II Advanced mid tower case

37 into 18.5 = disaster

Another LCD panel bites the dust..

The Wireless Toshiba..

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

A case for Windows 8..

Laptop cooling