Plug & Play Computers PC News Blog

The press has decided to run with the latest security flaw in ie and make a large deal of it - note security updates to fix issues in MS software is nothing new and happens on a regular basis - so DONT PANIC. The flaw can be exploited if you go to infected websites (mostly adult pages) or click on virus attached files in emails.  So Keep you AV software up to date. Most auto update these days but open it up and check the date of the last update.If you want to install the Microsoft patch that closes the flaw you can use the Windows Update website to download the Critical Update (960714) - or if you have Automatic Updates ON then you will have the patch already installed (assuming you have downloaded the latest updates). 

Just a quick note on something we came across recently and are now using - ConvertXtoDVD from VSO Software. This simple program allows you to convert heaps of formats (AVI, Mpeg, Mpeg4, MP4, AVI, WMV, DV, Divx, Mk) straight to DVD - and automatically creates the title and chapters for you. You can even combine multiple files together in order on the DVD. Its worth buying - no more watching your favourite downloaded TV shows on your computer screen…

With the release of Vista Microsoft also released a new version of Office - they add on product that includes word, excel and outlook. Graphically it is very different to the previous versions, but it also includes a new file format that it saves in by default (eg. docx for word - rather than doc). This has caused a few problems for people with the previous versions of Office (2003, 2002/XP ). Microsoft have released a compatibility pack that enables older versions to read and write in the new format to accommodate this issue.Go to the following link from Microsoft - download and run the update, and then you will be able to support the latest file formats! DOWNLOAD HERE

We’ve now had new daylight savings changes in NSW again - and many servers and workstations are out of sync again. Here are some steps that will help in getting your Windows Servers and Workstations correctly setup.

1. Download the December 2007 DST Updates from Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942763/en-us 

2. Edit the registry settings on your PC (run regedit) - navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters, and update the following:
NTPServer - time.windows.com,0×01 time.nist.gov,0×01 my.time.server.com,0×02
TYPE - NTP

3. Do a restart on the w32time service from a command prompt:
net stop w32time
net start w32time

Hopefully then after about 30s your time should show up correct !

XP, which has now been superceded by Vista and Vista SP1, has been show to still have MS Support with the release of their lastest service pack - SP3. This is a rollup of the previous 2 service packs and all the updates since SP2 to get the machine running as fast and secure as possible. Unlike XP SP2 many years ago and Vista SP1, both of which received heaps of press since they were needed, SP3 has just come out through windows updates and the Microsoft website - and there you go. Obviously MS is putting their time and money into Vista - not unreasonable since XP is now a 7 year old system.
Download either via Windows Update on your PC or the internet, or from the Microsoft Web site as a complete download (315MB).

This year NSW has extended daylight savings by a week - so PCs and phones that have not had the latest patches in NSW changed this morning back 1 hour - which has caused a lot of confusion! Just set it forward 1 hour to get back to the normal time - BUT remember to set it back 1 hour next sunday !!

After more than a year in the market, Vista Service Pack 1 has now been released. It includes all the patches and security updates up till now, as well as some changes to help network and speed functionality of the o/s.
There are 2 ways to get it - either using the Update Windows function in the control panel, of via downloading the full update from the Microsoft Website
Note Microsoft are giving FREE support for Vista Sp1 until March 2009 - check HERE for information (click on Contact a Support Professional on the right, then choose VIsta SP1 at the bottom of the list).

Just as an add on to the MCE post - to make sure we were able to playback everything a few bits of software were installed -
Divx (most downloaded videos use this)
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (has all the codecs to play movie and song files eg. XVid)
DVD Region Free (so the Media Centre will play ALL DVDs not just the local region ones)

Microsoft have a great AV product called Windows Media Centre which has a remote control driven front end to watch and record TV, play DVDs, and play media files (movies and music) all from a PC. So it can be a Set Top Box (SD and HD), DVD Player, Media player etc. all in one. So lets put it all together and see how good it is! There is a bit a trial an error here so have a read of how we made it all work step by step.
We got a PC with a 3Ghz HT Intel CPU, 512MB DDR Ram, 128MB x300 PCIx and a 160GB hard drive, XP MCE (now replaced by Vista Premium) and an analogue TV Tuner card. Many of these bits were just not up to the sort of system being built so parts that got upgraded were -
We replaced the CPU fan for a simple silent model, the Analogue TV Tuner was replaced with a AverTV Duo Hybrid card (using PCI-E - see our catalog) which is a DUAL DIGITAL TUNER card - allowing us to watch live one channel and record live another channel at the same time (like having 2 set top boxes). The RAM was upgraded to 1.5GB as per the TV tuner card box, and then some time was spent on the video card.
Since the x300 TV picture was not great, trial an error got us to end up with a MSI ATI 2600PRO PCIx card (see out catalog). The latest ATI software has a slightly better set of options than NVIDIA for TV position, size and brightness. Also we used the S-VIDEO connection since that give a much better picture than the RCA option (its going to a rear projection standard TV). OK now for the software.
We had the Microsoft MCE keyboard, IR Receiver and MCE Remote (see out catalog) which have all the functions needed for the PC and Media centre. Dont wast time just getting the Remote - there will be times you want to do things in normal windows and for that the remote is useless.
For XP MCE (not Vista PREM) you need to log on to the net and download all the latest updates for windows - one of which is a MCE update that allows the MCE keyboard to work outside of Media Centre. Once thats done you can start playing with the keyboard (which has a trackpoint like mouse on it to navigate) to do any work you need. We downloadeed the latest ATI drivers, played with the TV settings until the right position, size and bright was fixed, then ran MCE and had a play with all the settings. Its fairly intuitive - go into the settings, scan and tune the TV, and away you go. After all the prep work the unit ran very well - only the TV Guide does not work out of the box (not sure why - ask the Aussie Free To Air TV stations and Microsoft) so the last bit was to find a TV guide. There is a great FREE one at: http://www.epgstream.net which has some software to download and a simple walk through on how to setup the channels. Once this was done - we had a great working PVR/HD STB/DVD/TV/Media player that was also able to surf the interent, record TV programs off a TV guide - all on our TV, and stream movies from another server PC.
AND if you have an LCD TV or plasma - the quality would be even better…

Recently I decided to replace my notebook computer (which was used as my main PC with an external LCD and USB KB/Mouse) with a desktop. Being able to move around with my PC was no any use anymore, so it was time to change over. But one thing I liked about the notebook was it was QUIET - something when working on it a lot and at night when everyone is asleep was great. So the challenge was to replicate that with the desktop - heres how I did it.
The parts of the PC that make noise are (in general order) - (1) CPU Fan (2) Power Supply Fan (3) Video Card Fan (4) Hard Disk. I still wanted a powerful PC that could do graphics and gaming, so i put the following parts together-
(1) CPU Fan - used the Thermalright HR-01 PASSIVE heat sink. NO fan on this unit so it is silent, and it cools the Intel Core2 1333Mhz 2.67Ghz CPU perfectly
(2) Power Supply - the Zalman 360w Super Quiet power supply took care of this, and blows air over the CPU fan to assist the cooling. The 120mm fan is virtually impossible to hear
(3) Video Card Fan - MSI’s 8600GT PCix HEATPIPE video card works great - again NO fan so its silent
(4) Hard Disk - Samsungs 250GB Silentseek Noiseguard SATA HDD is very quiet and actually the only part you can normally hear working in the PC when its read/writing
So it can be done - and to be honest its actually quieter than my notebook was since it had a CPU /Video fan than ran a lot!! Its cheap to do as well - all the parts are available in our online store, and the added option is you can put a 120mm fan on the CPU heatsink for extra cooling if you are looking for the ultimate CPU cooler for overclocking or hot environments!