Geeky Reviews

Geeky Reviews / Vista Service Pack 2 / Vista SP2 — No Comments
28
May 09

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Install – Initial Impressions

Windows Vista had a gift for me this morning, a bright new service pack with promises of improved stability and reliability..

I resisted the urge to press install immediately (It was not difficult considering several bad experiences installing Service Packs in the past (XP SP1, 1a or even SP2..) and waited until I had done some critical work for my clients.

Once that was done and I have a window for the expected crisis that may ensue I pressed the install button, with everything crossed, rabbits foot, horse shoe – you get the picture.

Well, first I had to agree to the licence, I did not read it through so have no idea if there are mentions of side effects or small implosions etc. Then my PC (64 bit Vista Quad core, 8GB, 945 chipset) restarted and during this the now familiar three stage update install progressed.

When it started up again it appeared a little quicker, but nothing too noticeable.

At this point the service pack could be uninstalled as the older files where backed up that where replaced during the install. To make Vista SP2 permanant and save some space run ‘cmd’ as an administrator and type ‘compcln.exe’ and let it clean your system of backup files. IMPORTANT: This means you can never uninstall Vista Service Pack 2.

I also ran my favourite degraf program; http://www.defraggler.com/download to tidy the drives up afterwards.

The system is running well but I can not see any noticeable difference. Obviously there are many 100s if not 1000s of changes made and security is paramount so it is advised (by Microsoft) to install it.

Hope this was helpful.

Andy

Issues since installing

Explorer has crashed once but I think that is due to memory hogging FireFox plugins that I have cleaned up since and no further explorer crashes.

Geeky Reviews — No Comments
23
Jul 08

Western Digital, my book 2, Raid, 1TB Studio edition review

External hard drives have come a long way in the last few years, long gone are the noisy and slow performing devices that offer no real practical application as they run via usb and are unable to power down on the fly.

Western digital are a good established company and I have the pleasure of using two other smaller drives from the my book edition recently that I client was using. So I know what to expect, a lot of quality.

I needed a lot of storage as I wanted to back up everything, not just the essentials. So 1tb was the way forward, I also decided to us eSata ( to a sata2 port) for speed.

I know that there are some 1tb drives out their but the raid 0 set up is a brilliant addition, as a high data transfer rate is one of my main concerns.

Also the drive is very quiet and even though it does have a power switch (button) on the back it automatically powers down as computer shut down. So it is set and forget wear!

I give it 10 out of 10 :)

Geeky Reviews — 1 Comment
22
Jul 08

BullDog online back up 6 month free trial review

Bulldog back up is not just another online drive. It is a brilliant automated system.

The importance and practical application of automated backup systems is really coming into its own as more and more people get access to high speed broadband connections.

Bulldog back takes advantage of this by providing you with an online drive that initially is 10gb. I am lucky enough to be trialling a free 6 month version thank you to the cover disc in this month’s edition of www.pcpro.co.uk . I really like it, provides that off site back up facility that is essential now a days in case all if your equipment is destroyed or lost.. It also includes a great system for backing up locally and the best thing is it is set up and forget about software as if you set bulldog to run the backup job when the computer is ideal it will back up your system whenever it can.. You can also manually start the jobs as well.

I will certainly be buying this when the trail ends.

broadband / Uncategorized — 2 Comments
6
Jun 08

Three 3 mobile broadband, a review on the Mac os x

Three mobile broadband is a great idea, in theory, as you can plug in the toggle and away you go. ADSL like broadband on the go and access wherever you want. So you can take all your online life with you. But how is it in practice.

Installing the Three mobile dongle, a Huawei E220 seemed to be an easy thing. Looking at the three website they had a Mac specific instruction manual and a driver to down load as the dongle does not contain Mac drivers as it does contain windows drivers. A minor set back I thought. So I download the driver and get the set up guide ready. Installing the driver goes well, but then the guide suggests that I change the APN number with the driver application… but where is it. It is not on the three website ad there is no mention of it in the questions and answers. Has Three made a mess up? Well only a small one, but thankfully where there is a technical problem there is a geek who has posted a solution in a forum. You need to download this file, it is not hosted in any official capacity, so please feel free to down load it from here to get your Mac working with three mobile broadband. (lhuaweidatacardapp) You then add the APN, three.co.uk and away you go.

Once connected I went to Speedtest.net, I manage to get a download of 1mb and upload of 100k. Not bd in my view for being in a built up area in London. The ping as high but in everyday usage it works. Pages are not as quick as appearing as on my home broadband connection, but that is 24mb from Bethere (see my review.)

So, it works while in London in my flat, but what about a road test. I am currently on a train speeding through the wonderful countryside of the west country in the UK. As soon as I got on the train at Paddington, I got the laptop out and fired up the device. It connected first time, registering 3.6mb, surfed a few pages, facebook being one (my profile is LINK if you want to add me.) and it worked well. It is a wonderful technology that allows my Mac to connect to the Internet from a high-speed train. Although, once we hit open country where I could hear the white noise of people saying, ‘hello, hello can you hear me?’ I realised my magical mystery tour of mobile broadband was about to turn into a wet British summer. The connection ground to a halt. I do not blame three for this, covering mile after mile of field is not a priority as cows and sheep simply don’t do mobiles. But I would like to see a greater commitment to developing a technology that provided a mobile service to long haul train routes. So I am writing this blog into a word file at the moment but do plan on posting it via three mobile broadband shortly.

The data plan is also very good, I have opted for a pay as you go option. For £15 I get 3gb of data to use over 30 days. I think this is very reasonable when there is no contract; the other options are 1gb for £10 and 7GB for £25.

One of the other reasons I brought three mobile broadband is you can use it abroad on three mobile networks for no extra cost. You can also look on that particular countries website and see if it they have signal in your area, even down to if they have signal in the accommodation you are planning to stay in. That is simply brilliant!

I am very happy with three mobile broadband, and once you have gotten around the comparative minor technical hitch at setting up it is a really useful and dependable service.

I have also contacted three and asked them to put the setup program on their website along with the driver for the Huawei E220.

1 & 1 8gb 8820 addthis Apple Belkin Blackberry Blackberry 8820 blog Blogger dual core 2 E8400 ebooks ecommerce ecommerce website facebook firefox free google Google maps hosting Install intel iPhone ipod mobile Mobile broadband myspace Package Personal phone Platinum available from Andy's Web project review SEO service skype upgrade Vista VOIP Website Website Design WIFI Windows wordpress

broadband — 3 Comments
23
May 08

Be There Be* Unlimited broadband ADSL 24mb in the UK Simply Brilliant

Be There Be* Unlimited ADSL2+ has arrived in my humble home office and what a true joy it is to ‘finally’ have instant internet! For a long time I was (foolishly) with Virginmedia ADSL which was poor at the best of times. Days would go by with ‘worse than dial up’ internet connections and no help from there department of jokers – Customer service they called it. But, I then found out that the ‘Be There Be* Unlimited stalk’ had left a little bundle of joy at our local BT exchange – yes a local loop bundle (Sorry bad pun!) had been installed and we could get Be There Be* Unlimited 24meg broadband!

Be There Be* Unlimited do have smaller, more modest, options but at £22 per month I went for the Be Pro package. This includes up to 24 meg download, up to 2.5 meg upload and £3 cheaper than what I was paying with Virginmedia!

Not only does this service actually work, but it flys. I am getting 18.5 meg downstream when Virginmedia would struggle to get 200k! Websites magically appear; at times I think my browser is psychic.

I have to mention their customer support: unlike many other ISP’s that have some and they are brilliant! I am web designer (Andy’s Web) and I need constant uninterrupted internet access. I am also an experienced IT consultant and I provide Broadband set up and troubleshooting to many of my customers. So when I was installing my Netgear DG834N and asked Be There Be* Unlimited for the IP, MAC etc settings, even though it is not the router they supply, a technician took the time to find me the correct settings instead of saying they cannot help as Virginmedia often did.

So I recommend Be* unlimited Broadband to anyone who likes a fast Broadband service that actually works and a customer service team that want to help you!

Link: http://www.bethere.co.uk/

Geeky Reviews — 1 Comment
21
May 08

WordPress initial impressions – no pun intended

WordPress is a community designed and supported blogging content management system.

I have been aware of it for sometime but only recently have I actually started to use it for my clients and myself for Blogs that I manage.

The system is driven by a SQL database, now before you go running and hiding away, that is probably that last time you will hear that if you’re a regular user.

The installation is simple. As such, it is nice and easy to get a blog started. The absolute brilliance of the system is the effective and clear way you write and manage the blogs. The entire interface is user friendly and for anyone used to using Microsoft’s Word, it will be easy to pick up.

The best thing about an open-sourced platform such as this is the large number and wide diversity of plugins available for it. For example, you can add you Adsence details to it to display ads from Google.

The most notable customisation is the themes that are readily available and with some css knowledge you can create your own.

WordPress is a blogging dream, it is easy customisable and free! Give it a try and start and blog, let me know how you do?

Geeky Reviews — No Comments
19
May 08

Dell XPS one, the iMac and single form factor

It all began, well became popular with the Mac. Someone thought that that large tower was just too much and though let’s put it inside the monitor.

Well, Dell have now release the XPS one. A single form factor dell with all the trimmings. It looks good and performance is high. Value is also up there are well.

(Dell XPS One web page)

But, what interests me is the upgrade ability of the system. How easy is it to put another hard drive in there? Add some more ram to the mix? Such issues need to be taken into consideration.

All in all the single unit format looks good and performs well. They also save space, although would I swap my tower for one? That yet remains to be seen….

Bootcamp — 5 Comments
13
May 08

Apple Macbook and Bootcamp, experiences and review

Recently I had the pleasure of using a new Macbook with Leopard installed while doing some consultancy work for a customer of Andy’s web. It was a white 13” model at 2.1GHZ and they, upon my advice opted for 2Gb instead of 1GB memory as this little baby had windows approaching!

Such a small thing and yet houses some real power – it is very lite. As with all macbooks since 2006 (ish), under the hood is an Intel dual core processor (Que annoying chimes). Powerful enough to deal with several tasks at once

I was working on this macbook pro for a client, the objective was set it up and install windows XP on it with bootcamp.

For those that have been under a rock or stuck on an island similar to the one featured in ‘Lost’, ever since Apple took this step, I mean logical leap, from PowerPC processor based Macs to Intel based Macs, there was the idea of a Mac dual booting into windows! And, after some well documented and intricate attempts Apple released a beta of an application that does just this – Bootcamp.

Bootcamp its self is now incorporated in Apple’s new incarnation of ‘OS X 10’ Leopard.

You will find the only real major decision is how much space you want for your windows drive

After preparing the Macs drive, you restart the computer… Then you presented with all too familiar windows bios style boot screen. With the XP or Vista CD/DVD in the drive the install starts.

After the, somewhat out dated ‘new features’(As this was Windows XP) articles during the install the system is almost ready. Before you do anything you need to pop the Mac OSX disc in the drive and install the Mac drivers to allow you to use all of the Macs hardware, eg web cam, track pad and keyboard effectively.

Running windows applications is like running them on a pc, the only difference is the keyboard. As there was ‘no spoon’ in a cult movie, there is no delete key(option and backspace works if I recall correctly). This will prove to be a definite learning curve for people used to PC keyboard layouts.

My client has been happy using the Mac as a PC for some time now – I wonder if that is the BIG Steve’s plan he he.

Bluetooth headset — No Comments
6
May 08

Bluetooth headsets… Not just for cars.

We have all seen them, either used in a car to avoid being socially outcast for using a mobile while driving (and being fined ect.). Also, you see them on people walking down the street to look important and busy – yes waiting for that update on the shopping list from the wife.

But, they do have a genuine usage outside the car and not to double check if the bread should be white or brown.

As part of my web design business, I am often having a telephone consultation with clients for about half an hour at a time. This used to result in the classic tired arm syndrome – ie from holding the phone. I also was one less hand available for making notes directly into my computer (Geek – I hear you say.)

So, I decided to risk the social black hole and get one. A Samsung device (from Play.com ) that only cost £19.99!

I only use it to make or answer calls and never in the popular ‘I am working for the CIA’ capacity!

The call quality is good and only on a bad line does the slight difference in comparison to the handset make any difference.

It also switches between handset and device instantly. Although, that may be due to my blackberry 8820. (I can’t vouch for other phones but I assume they will operate in a similar way.)

It has really come in handy, it has the added advantage of making you feel like you’re not on the phone so, I personally tend to talk as if I am having a chat in person rather than a phone call.

So my advice, if you have to use your phone for a long time and need hands free for that vital note taking, become a closet Bluetooth headset wearer.

But, like me, refrain from wearing it all the time as well… You look silly!

Andy

Andy’s Web – Web Design and IT consultancy

www.andysweb.net

Blackberry — No Comments
3
May 08

Facebook mobile on the Blackberry 8820 review

MySpace is dead long live Facebook. As every man and his iPhone carrying dog knows face book is the social networking tool. It is good, I have to give the creators that. They are certainly creating a good example of web 2.0 and how to use Ajax (that is a programming language – not the household cleaner lol.) the Facebook team are always improving the service they provide, a recent-ish service is a Facebook ap for blackberry’s!

The small Facebook app is handy; it has an offline application feel to it (although you need to be online to use it.) Which allows you to message contacts, poke people and write on walls. It also displays status updates and you can change your own update.

If you’re a fan of third party apps like fun wall it will either send you to the Facebook mobile site or you will have to wait until you can log in to a pc.

It is very handy for writing quick notes to people and random poking while you’re travelling! Lol

One other thing, in order for it to work with your phone you have to link your mobile number to Facebook and of course install an application.

If you have a Blackberry then go to the Blackberry site on your phone and give it a try.

Other formats may be available, so best check with your manufacturer/operator.

Thank you

Andy

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