Bluetooth

I have finally decided to shut down my old "bluetooth guide" site, so this post is intended to act as a replacement with some of the same information...

Credits

This guide wouldn't be what it is without the many contributions I have received. I would like to thank the following people for their extensive contributions: Phantasm4489, BluetoothMaster, Lion_III, Derek Bartram, Chris Walker, Andrew Lord, Mark Allerton, Ray Hilton and all the contributors to GSM-Forum.

What you can do if this guide doesn't work

If you're still struggling try some of the following links before e-mailing me:   Whizoo.com   |   PC-Counselor.com   |   Geekzone.co.nz   |   GSM-Forum   |   Howard Forums   |   The Expansys Forum   |   Socket Forum

Initial preparation

• Make sure you are logged onto Windows with a user account that has Administrative rights.
• Disable anti-virus software.
• If you have a firewall running on your PC, disable it.

Disconnect your device

If you have a USB or a PCMCIA / PC Card Bluetooth device, please disconnect it. If you have a laptop / notebook or other device with Internal Bluetooth that can be "turned off" please turn it off.

Download and extract the files

There are many locations on the Internet for downloading the Widcomm drivers, for example HP. Please note that you must agree to the HP software licensing agreement. to download the drivers from HP, and similar agreements apply to available versions of the Widcomm software.
Broadcom Corporation have requested that I remove the "patcher" utility that I have previous provided. Without this patcher you will not be able to make the HP (or any other) download work with devices other than those it has been locked to. There are probably other locations available on the Internet that may provide this information, but I can no longer offer it. I apologise for any inconvenience.

Uninstall previous Bluetooth software

If you have previously installed any Bluetooth software you should uninstall it before proceeding.
The following list is of software that should be uninstalled, but it is not necesarily a complete list!

• Any previous Widcomm software (more details available here)
• Any previous Soleil software
• Sony Bluespace software
• XTNDConnect Blue Manager software
• Microsoft Patch Q323183
• Any drivers that were supplied with your Bluetooth device
• Microsoft IntelliType and IntelliPoint software for Bluetooth mice & Keyboards.

The driver installation procedure

To install Widcomm drivers simply run the installer for the drives that you have downloaded and follow the installation instructions.

After the installation

Look for the Bluetooth icon in the system tray at the bottom right and if it is white with a blue background ( ) then you have successfully completed the driver installation. If the icon isn't present or is red with a blue background ( ) then you should try the other sites mentioned

The Microsoft Intelli-Drivers mess

Many people have advised me to avoid IntelliType 5.0 and IntelliPoint 5.0 drivers like the plague. Unfortunately, installing the Intelli drivers from the Microsoft CD will install Microsoft Bluetooth drivers, which break the Widcomm driver installation. Without the Intelli drivers you will not be able to use the extra buttons on your keyboard or mouse. The solution? Install an older Intelli driver! All the other wireless keyboards and mice produced by Microsoft have the same or very similar additional keys to the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

Where to get the older Intelli Drivers

From Microsoft:
IntelliPoint 4.12
IntelliType 2.22

It didn't work: The first things to double check

• If you have an icon in the system tray that is white on a blue background ( ) then you should skip the information on this page - your driver is correctly installed already!
• Check that you followed the preparation instructions correctly.
• Double check that you didn't make any mistakes in the main procedure.
• If running the patcher produced an error, reboot into safemode and run the patcher again
• If you weren't logged on as a user with Administrator rights, try the procedure again with an account that does
• If you have anti-virus software running disable it and retry the procedure
• If you have a firewall installed on your PC make sure that the Widcomm Bluetooth software has unrestricted access - remember, Bluetooth is a networking technology!
• If you are using a laptop / notebook with an Internal device that came with proprietary software, read the Internal section.
• If you didn't reboot after running the patcher, please do so now

The list above didn't help and your device is a PC Card (PCMCIA)

Some PC Cards are a little tricky to locate a driver for.

It still doesn't work

It is possible that Windows installed another driver for you device (such as the Microsoft driver) instead of the Widcomm driver. Read the Manual Install section.

It still doesn't work and your device is a USB device

It is possible that your device is not included in the list of devices that the drivers can recognise by default. Read the New USB Devices section.

It still doesn't work

• Try removing everything Bluetooth related from the computer, and try the procedure right through from the beginning again.
• Read the F.A.Q.
• Finally, if you still can't get it to work, and you have tried everything above, please visit GSM-Forum

Manual Driver Installation

The manual driver installation should only be attempted after the Widcomm software has been installed. The description below describes how to replace the Microsoft driver with the Widcomm driver. If the Microsoft driver isn't present you will not be able to complete the following procedure. If you have a PC Card you should have already read the PC Cards section. The method for doing a manual driver update is different on different versions of Windows, please use the procedure that corresponds to your version of Windows

Windows XP / 2003 forced manual driver installation

1. Open the system control panel, and in the "Hardware" tab, and click on "Device Manager"
2. Expand the "Bluetooth Radios" section of the device list
3. There might be a "Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator" and another device listed
4. Double click on the other device, and in the "driver" tab, click on "update driver"
5. Select "Install from a list or specific location"
6. Select "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install"
7. Click on "Have disk"
8. Type in "C:\Drivers\Win\BDCACT"
9. Click OK
10. There should be 1 single device listed
11. Click Next
12. Click OK
13. The system tray icon should now be white & blue. If it isn't, reboot your PC.

I have a 3Com PC Card

3Com version 3 cards are compatible with Widcomm software but 3Com do not provide Widcomm software. I can no longer offer the information on how to set up 3Com cards with Widcomm software.

My USB Device wasn't found...

Every USB device has a VID (Vendor I.D.) and PID (Product I.D.). If your device wasn't found it is possible that it's ID is not listed in the Widcomm driver. The Widcomm drivers will only install for devices they recognise, and they recognise devices based on their VID and PID. The installation file btwusb.inf contains a list of USB VIDs and PIDs that the drivers will recognise. All USB devices will work with the Widcomm stack, but the ID's for some of them are not included with the drivers. If your device is not included you will need to add it.
The majority of notebooks / laptops with internal Bluetooth use an internal USB solution. If you have a notebook / laptop and are experiencing problems getting the driver working, you should read this section, even if you don't have an actual USB dongle to plug in.

How to find the VID and PID of a device

This method will enable you to find the VID and PID for your USB Bluetooth hardware before it has a driver installed.

• Connect your Bluetooth dongle, and let Windows add it as an "Unknown device"
• Open "system information" from start/programs/accessories/system tools/system information
• Expand "Components"
• Select "USB"
• Locate the device in the list
• It will have an ID in the following form: USB\VID_XXXX&PID_YYYY\ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
• Make a note of the VID (the XXXX) and the PID (the YYYY)

How to update your driver with the VID and PID of your USB Dongle

I have removed this section as requested by Broadcom Corporation, who now own Widcomm.

How to uninstall Widcomm drivers

The Widcomm drivers should have a normal add/remove option in the control panel, regardless of who supplied them. If your installation has become damaged, and for some reason you cannot use the normal uninstallation method, the details below should help you remove the Widcomm drivers from your system.

The procedure

• Make a back-up of your system registry
• Run "regsvr32 -u BtNeighborhood.dll"
• Run "btstackserver.exe /unregserver"
• Run regedit and delete the WIDCOMM key from HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• Delete "bt*.dll", "btcpl.cpl", and "bt*.manifest" from your system folder (this varies depending on which version of Windows you are using)

Bluetooth Personal Area Networks

The Bluetooth specification supports the use of Bluetooth for networking between devices. If you have a PC with a Bluetooth adaptor and a Bluetooth enabled PDA, laptop, or other device that supported networking, you should use the following information to set up a network connection. Network connections between a PC and another device can be used for file and print sharing, and also for Internet access. A typical example of a Bluetooth PAN would be if you have a Bluetooth enabled desktop PC with broadband access, and a laptop with Bluetooth support you can turn your desktop PC into a W.A.P. (wireless access point) and use the Internet access on your laptop without a need for wires.
The setup of a Bluetooth PAN is dependent upon your existing configuration, below are several options...

• Bluetooth networking for file and print sharing only
• Providing Internet access to another device from a PC with a direct Internet connection
• Providing Internet access to another device from a PC that has Internet access through another network (e.g. a corporate LAN)

If you need more detailed or specific information than I have provided, there are some other excellent guides for specific platforms available

• If you have a Palm, you can go to Whizoo.com
• If you have an iPaq, you can go to PC-Counselor.com
• If you are networking between 2 PC's there is more information available at GeekZone.co.nz

Setting up a Bluetooth Personal Area Network for File & Print Sharing

• Make sure you have fully followed the main guide
• Pair the devices
• Open the configuration options on the primary PC
• Select the "local services" tab
• Choose "network access" and click on "properties"
• Make sure it is set to "start-up automatically", and change the pull down option to "allow other devices to access the Internet/LAN via this computer"
• If the device you want to connect FROM does not support Bluetooth security properly you need to download and run this registry fragment
• Make sure that the Bluetooth network connection is enabled on both devices
• Share the relevant folders or printers on the main PC
• Connect the network access option the same way as any other Bluetooth service
• If you want to share files, folders, or printers in both directions you should carry out the above procedure on both PC's

Setting up a Bluetooth Personal Area Network for Internet Connection Sharing

This method of Internet access sharing will only work when the host PC has a direct Internet connection. The host PC must be using Windows Me, 2000, XP or 2003 because it uses Internet Connection Sharing

• Make sure you have fully followed the main guide
• Pair the devices
• Open the configuration options on the primary PC
• Select the "local services" tab
• Choose "network access" and click on "properties"
• Make sure it is set to "start-up automatically", and change the pull down option to "allow other devices to access the Internet/LAN via this computer"
• If the device you want to connect FROM does not support Bluetooth security properly you need to download and run this registry fragment
• Click on the "connection sharing button and if read the help file if you need more information
• Make sure that the Bluetooth network connection is enabled on both devices
• Share the relevant folders or printers on the main PC
• Connect the network access option the same way as any other Bluetooth service
• If you want to share files, folders, or printers in both directions you should carry out the above procedure on both PC's

Setting up a Bluetooth Personal Area Network for Internet Connection Sharing

This method of Internet access sharing will only work when the host PC has Internet access through a LAN. The host PC must be running Windows 2000, XP or 2003 because it uses a Network Bridge

• Make sure you have fully followed the main guide
• Pair the devices
• Open the configuration options on the primary PC
• Select the "local services" tab
• Choose "network access" and click on "properties"
• Make sure it is set to "start-up automatically", and change the pull down option to "allow other devices to access the Internet/LAN via this computer"
• If the device you want to connect FROM does not support Bluetooth security properly you need to download and run this registry fragment
• Open the "Network Connections" control panel
• Select your primary LAN connection (usually called "Local Area Network"), and then, holding control, also select your Bluetooth network connection (usually called "Bluetooth Network")
• Right click on either of the selected connections, and choose "Bridge Connections"
• Make sure that the Bluetooth network connection is enabled on both devices
• Share the relevant folders or printers on the main PC
• Connect the network access option the same way as any other Bluetooth service
• If you want to share files, folders, or printers in both directions you should carry out the above procedure on both PC's

Windows didn't find a driver for my device

There are several possible causes of this problem.
1. I have removed this section as requested by Broadcom Corporation, who now own Widcomm. 2. You have a "Microsoft Driver" Infection. Have a read of the Manual Driver Installation page
3. Your device is faulty. Try the original driver that came with the device. If that fails then you need a new piece of hardware.
4. You are not using a USB dongle. I'm not quite sure yet how these work, there may be issues. Get in touch with me.

I can't customise the buttons on my Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth

See the Microsoft Input section of the Driver Installation page.

I get the error "There was a problem installing this hardware. An error occurred during the installation of this device. The required section was not found in the inf"

If you are connected to the Internet, Windows will sometimes try to update your driver from WindowsUpdate online. Make sure you are disconnected from the 'net and try again. You may need to do a manual driver installation. If you still encounter this problem please post to the forum.

I get the error "There was a problem installing this hardware. An error occurred during the installation of this device. The system cannot find the file specified"

Try disconnecting from the Internet (as detailed above). You may need to do a manual driver installation. If that doesn't help, try posting a question on the forum.

My Nokia phone wont connect or keeps disconnecting

You may not have new enough firmware. This is a particularly common problem with the Nokia 6310i. You need to read the Nokia firmware information page. If your software is trying to connect on "COM0" you need to change the settings (see question: The driver installation works correctly, but when I try to use the serial port service it tries to connect on "COM0" and fails)

I am using a bluetooth keyboard and I keep getting a pop up when I press the capslock key or the numlock key

Download and run this registry fragment: Key Indication

My device appears to have a VID and PID of 0000 0000

Replace your device. It's broken.

I get the error "Your bluetooth software license does not include use with this Bluetooth device. [6]"

I have removed this section as requested by Broadcom Corporation, who now own Widcomm.

My iPaq drops the connection to my PC regularly

I don't have a solution to this yet. I think it is a problem with the iPaq software / firmware. If anyone knows of a solution please get in touch with me.

The driver installation is asking for a licence.dat

I have removed this section as requested by Broadcom Corporation, who now own Widcomm.

I am using bluetooth to connect my PC to my mobile phone so that I can use my phone to access the Internet. Internet access seems very slow

First generation Bluetooth supports 1Mbit connections which is twice as fast as most broadband Internet connections. Second generation Bluetooth devices should work at up to 2Mbits. The problem is with the mobile phone, not Bluetooth. Many phones only support 9.6.KBit. Most will not work faster than 28.8KBit. You'll have to wait for 3G networks for fast Internet access through your mobile.

Eveything works but I get an icon in the system tray that says "Bluetooth Network - A Network Cable Is Unplugged"

This is normal. The bluetooth drivers install support for networking. If the icon bothers you then open the "Network Connections" folder and disable the "Bluetooth Network" connection.

My Dial-up and Fax Services don't work after I have installed Bluetooth on Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 system

You need to uninstall and reinstall the Fax and Dial-Up services. This can be done in add/remove programs/windows components, BUT by default many of the windows components are hidden, including the Fax and DUN services. To show ALL of the windows components that can be selected you need to carry out the following procedure:

• Open notepad or a similar text editor
• Open the file C:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf
• Do a search and replace, and replace ,hide, with ,,
• Save sysoc.inf

Please note: Some of the components take a long time to "untick" after you click on them. When you deselect the components you wish to reinstall you will have to wait 10-15 seconds and then move the scrollbar at the right hand side, and the tick should disappear.

My Sony-Ericsson R520m keeps disabling Bluetooth

I believe this is a problem with the R520m, which will hopefully be fixed with new firmware.
I recommend contacting Sony-Ericsson if you experience this problem
Until a firmware update becomes available you can try switching the phone off and back on, or using the "Master Reset" option.

I am trying to use a Compaq Multiport with a Microsoft Mouse and the response time is very slow

This is a firmware issue. Compaq don't currently supply updated firmware, but it can be resolved by flashing the Multiport with the firmware update from TDK for their USB BT adapter

The driver installation works correctly, but when I try to use the serial port service it tries to connect on "COM0" and fails

Right click on the system tray icon and select open the configuration options. Under the local services tab click on "Add Serial Device" and follow the steps to add a new device. Under the "Client Applications" tab click on "Add COM Port" and follow the steps. The names you use for the services do not matter. Use this port instead of the default port.

I have a networking device that will not accept secure connections (there are some Bluetooth routers with this problem)

Download and run this registry fragment: Network Security

I'm having problems getting my D-Link DBT-120 to install

There are known firmware issues with the D-Link dongles. Download an updated firmware here and use the Firmware update program included with the Widcomm drivers to update your dongle.

I get the following error: "no local bluetooth device detected"

I have removed this section as requested by Broadcom Corporation, who now own Widcomm.

The Mrouter software does not see any Known or Unknown devices and refresh has no effect

If you have an internal modem that is using a COM port, use device manager to disable it, try using mrouter again, and once it has come to life, re-enable the modem

MPC-HC

The latest version of media player classic homecinema and the standalone codecs seem rather elusive. The place to go is XvidVideo.ru

Favourite apps for the HTC Desire

I've had an HTC Desire for a couple of months now, which has given me plenty of time to explore the range of apps available. Below is a list of the ones I've found myself using the most frequently (excluding the built-in ones)...

(Updated 1 times. Last update 27-July-10)

Google Sky
Google Goggles
handyCalc
Layar
RemoteDroid
NeoReader
TV-Guide (by Jersey Productions)
Android Agenda
TuneWiki
Wapedia
LED Desire Light
Juice Defender
Astro File Manager
Sound Manager (by Daniel Roozen)
SMS Popup
Volume Locker (by HourDB)
SwiftKey (alternative keyboard - easier to type on)
Meridian Media Player & "Extended Media Scanner"
Shop Around

Wish List

One of the best things about the Internet is that one can find almost anything. Sadly, there are some things that can't be found (at time of writing). Below is my personal list that I'm hoping to eventually find...

1. Tom Tom Navigator (with IQ routes and ALG) for Android!
Second prize goes to CoPilot Live, but I'd much prefer TomTom. Garmin seem to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by releasing their own Android based NuviFone but no app for all the other Android phones.

2. A Standard, Media Center compatible Remote Control with QWERTY keyboard.
Come on boxee! Or anyone else (see my post). Second prize goes to RemoteDroid.

3. A way to properly share my Media Center system on my LAN including Live TV.
The "softsled" software media center extender dream which seems like it wont ever arrive. There are various options, none of which really do the business for me. The closest is probably Orb.

4. A Photo Sharing site that allows me to tag my facebook contacts.
Second prize goes to Flickr + Polar Rose, but Polar Rose is (and has always been) slow and a bit buggy, and is limited to 10,000 photos - I have 23,000 and growing. To be honest I'd rather use Picasa than Flickr as everything else I use is provided by google, but I can't find anything to hook facebook user accounts into Picasa Web Albums. The Picasa face recognition is vastly quicker and more accurate than Polar Rose tho.

Problems with DS splitters playing a range of m2ts files

Ever since settings up a HTPC running Win7 Media Center I have had the occasional problem playing m2ts files. ffdshow supports all of the codecs used in m2ts files but still a few files play without without either audio or video, or the playback isn't smooth despite more than ample hardware. I have experimented extensively with both haali matroska splitter and gabests mpeg splitter but both have their flaws. haali doesn't seem to correctly support HD audio formats, and whilst gabest does it has problems with some of my files - particularly those that are 1440x1080 rather than 1920x1080. Eventually I discovered the following simple work-around.

1. Install both gabest and haali splitters (enabling mpeg-ts in haali).
2. In the registry browse to [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Media Type\Extensions]
3. Make sure there is an entry for .m2ts and add an entry for .m2t
4. Inside each there should be a string named "Source Filter"
5. Set the source filter for each of the 2 files to the CLSIDs (see below) of each of the splitters (e.g. set m2t to haali and m2ts to gabest).
6. Change the file extension of any .m2ts files that are problematic to .m2t. They will then play via the other splitter - which hopefully won't have any problems with them!

Gabest CLSID = {1365BE7A-C86A-473C-9A41-C0A6E82C9FA3}
Haali CLSID = {55DA30FC-F16B-49FC-BAA5-AE59FC65F82D}

Please note - the above refers entirely to x64 codecs, splitters and players. It should work the same for x86 32bit but I haven't tested it

Annoying firefox extensions that can't be removed

I have various annoying "extensions" listed in my firefox install that can't be removed through the normal extensions tab. Here's how to get rid of them...

1. PC Sync 2 Synchronisation
run regedit and delete the key bkmrksync@nokia.com in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Firefox\Extensions

thanks to techyforums.com

2. Multiple Java versions

Run firefox as administrator and remove thru normal panel

ITV-HD as a proper channel

ITV-HD is finally available as a proper channel. For anyone manually tuning a freesat box of Media Center PC you need to add 10832MHz with 22600 ksymbols on horizontal. 2 extra channels should appear called 10000 and 10001. I can't remember the channel numbers (and I have now renumbered them) but there were between 1000 and 1100 I think.

There is still no guide data available, but this will hopefully be added in April when sky starts providing guide data

Cheers to Betamax_man on TheGreenButton forums for the info

Problem with Juice - solved

For a while I've used the podcast manager Juice. I've been very happy for a while, but the other day it suddenly stopped running for no obvious reason. Uninstalling and reinstalling didn't resolve the issue, but after some digging I discovered the uninstallation process wasn't deleting the settings file. On Windows XP this is located in C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data and is a folder called iPodder (not Juice!). Deleting this folder and then reinstalling Juice restored it to its former glory.

Subtitles and DXVA in Windows Media Center 7 x64

Thanks to a guide on theHTPC.net I have been able to get subtitles working with hardware accelerated decoding in Windows Media Center 7 x64.

For this simplified guide to work you must already be comfortable with the various tweaks necessary to change the default codecs used in Media Center (see Hack7MC.net for more info on how). Once you know how to tweak codecs (and change their merits) you can simply follow these steps...

1. Download and install ffdshow tryouts build 3305 or newer. (install the x64 version if you use Windows 7 x64)
2. Run "DXVA Video decoder configuration x64", select the "hardware acceleration" option on the left and change the post-processing pull-down to "surface overlay"
3. Select the "subtitles" option on the left, tick the box next to the word subtitles, and tick "accept embedded subtitles"
4. Tweak the font settings if you like
5. Run regedit and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectShow\Preferred
6. Replace the data (NOT THE NAMES) in {e06d8026-db46-11cf-b4d1-00805f6cbbea} and {31435641-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71} with {0B0EFF97-C750-462C-9488-B10E7D87F1A6}
7. Restart

Note: The merit for the DXVA decoder must be higher than the merit for the non-DXVA decoder

This is working fantastically for me. Any questions, post them below.

Thanks again to Jon on theHTPC.net

media center basic codec tweaks

Following on from my previous post listing details of the addins and apps that I use with my media center PC here are the details of the basic set of codec tweaks I use to enable maximum file compatiblity with DXVA support enabled...

Disable (by renaming) the Media Foundation Direct Show wrapper (mfds.dll) in system32. First must take ownership and then change permissions

Copy MPCVideoDec.ax to system32
in elevated command prompt run regsvr32 MPCVideoDec.ax
run regedit
take ownership and change permissions to give admin full control of...
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectShow\Preferred]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Decoder]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{083863F1-70DE-11D0-BD40-00A0C911CE86}\Instance\{212690FB-83E5-4526-8FD7-74478B7939CD}]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{083863F1-70DE-11D0-BD40-00A0C911CE86}\Instance\{E1F1A0B8-BEEE-490D-BA7C-066C40B5E2B9}]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{45597c98-80f6-4549-84ff-752cf55e2d29}\LocalServer32]

Run fix-all-codecs to correct codec settings
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Decoder]
"PreferredMPEG2AudioDecoderCLSID"=-
"PreferredMPEG2VideoDecoderCLSID"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectShow\Preferred]
"{00000050-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{0000000A-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{0000000B-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{00001602-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{e06d8032-db46-11cf-b4d1-00805f6cbbea}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{00000160-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{00001600-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{000000FF-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{00000161-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{00000055-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{e06d802b-db46-11cf-b4d1-00805f6cbbea}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{00000162-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"
"{00000163-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}"="{0F40E1E5-4F79-4988-B1A9-CC98794E6B55}"

Run (elevated) GraphStudio (x64 version)
Change the following merits
Enhanced Video Renderer to 0x00800002
MPC Video Decoder to 0x40000001
Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder to 0x00800001
Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder to 0x00800001
ffdshow Audio Decoder to 0xFF800002
ffdshow Video Decoder to 0x00400000

Media Center apps

Below is a list of (and links to) all the apps I have used to enhance my Media Center PC

ffdshow and x64
graphstudio and x64
ImagesByName
Media Browser
MediaCenter Studio
MediaInfo
MPCVideoDec.ax
xiph oggcodecs
TunerFreeMCE
WMPTagSupportExtender
Slysoft Virtual CloneDrive
Haali Media Splitter (and x64 beta, not final)
DataRam Ramdisk
My Channel Logos
StarkCovers
Media Center Master
uTorrent
GuideTool

When I get time I will follow-up this post with a full guide including these apps, various tweaks, and full details and explanations

ATI BBC HD Fix!

Further to my post yesterday, I discovered, via Nigel Dessau's blog, that ATI will be releasing a fix for this issue in the Catalyst 10.2 (February) release. This is fantastic news, thank you ATI!

For those that just can't wait, an early release version of the 10.2 drivers is available from station-drivers.com. It is listed as "Version 10.1 (8.70RC1) WHQL". Having tested this personally I can confirm success with a recorded episode of "life" from BBC HD, played back with my Radeon HD4850 with DXVA decoding enabled (~2-5% CPU usage with a Core2Duo E6300)

Update on BBC HD / ATI corruption issues

Just a quick update on a previous post about problems with BBC HD in Windows 7 Media Center when using ATI video cards.

As I have pointed out on Nigel Dessau's Blog, the length of time customers have had to wait for a fix to this issue is now beyond reasonable. ATI should stop blaming Microsoft (even if this is a legitimate laying of blame) and implement their own fix. If a driver fix is not possible then ATI should work on enabling the avivo codec in LiveTV by making it conform to Microsoft's DRM requirements (as Cyberlink have apparently done with the PowerDVD codec).

Whilst ATI and Microsoft are responsible for not fixing this problem, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the BBC for creating it. Tweaking their encoding process has not only created this problem, but it has also reduced the quality of their HD broadcasts even when they are playable. It's all well and good creating stunning programmes like "Planet Earth" but it's barely worth it if they are then so heavily compressed for broadcast they look nothing like the quality of HD that is obtained from a physical medium (i.e. BluRay). Stop wasting spectrum with all those channels that no-one watches and start broadcasting HD as it ought to be seen!

In the meantime here are the places to keep checking for progress with this issue...

• Microsoft KB article
• Thread #1 on GreenButton
• Thread #2 on GreenButton
• AMD Forum
• Nigel Dessau's Blog
• AMD InfoBase Article
  

The search for a versatile HTPC remote control with keyboard (17 and counting)

I've been looking for a new (more versatile) remote control for my HTPC. At the moment I have to use a full-size keyboard as the remote control has no such facility. I've been looking for a suitable remote control with keyboard, and whilst I haven't yet found quite the right thing I have found some interesting products...

If anyone knows of any more please post a comment below. Personally I'm hoping to see something for HTPC's (i.e. Win 7 Media Center, etc.) that is like a cross between the sky remote and the boxee remote (the full-featured remote control like the sky has, but dual-sided like the boxee rather than flip open). A rollerball or "nipple" for mouse control would round it off beautifully :)


The boxee remote with keyboard on reverseThe Brooklyn Keymote
The Sky Navigator
Vizio TV remote
Lenovo Mini HTPC keyboard
EFO Keyboard
Logitech DiNovo Mini


Update 1: Keysonic Wireless Mini Keyboard (cheers to Jonathan for this one - see comments on this post)

Update 2: The iGugu InterneTV QWERTY Remote - The closest thing yet.
PS3 3-in-1 remote
Another PS3 3-in-1 Remote

Update 3... Archos DRV Remote

Tivo remote

StarHub Remote


The On1 remote (can't find any more info on this, just a pic)

Rii mini wireless keyboard
Old skool IBX100 internet.tv remote

Outlook 2007 generating corruption in some sent e-mails

I recently encountered a very strange problem in outlook 2007. E-mails sent to large numbers of recipients (approx 30) were suffering from some corruption where a large part of the header was appearing in the content of the e-mail. The appeared as a long string of random characters followed by some text (eg "Sosha1_v1;7" and "x-cr-puzzleid") that suggested the garbled text was part of the outlook anti-spam "postmark" feature. The e-mail message appeared as normal below this corrupt text. Another symptom of the problem was e-mail failing to send properly the first time send/receive was clicked.

Setting up this users account on another computer with outlook 2007 did not produce the same problems, and the original PC had previously been restored to working order by removing all e-mail accounts, completely uninstalling office, and reinstalling. However, soon after the problem recurred!

After a lot of trial and error we eventually realised that this seems to be a bug (which is reproducible) in Outlook 2007, and is caused by using plain text for e-mails. Most e-mails do not suffer from this problem, but e-mails sent to distribution groups are consistently corrupted. Switching back to HTML e-mail cures the problem.

Multi disc albums in Media Center

I recently added my FLAC music collection to my Media Center box, but one of the last few things bugging me about the Media Center interface is that it does not respect the Disc Number. I prefer not to have a different album name for the second disc, and i also prefer to keep discs separate. Today I accidentally stumbled on a solution, thanks to a mis-tagging of a double-cd album. Using Mp3Tag (downloadable for free) it is possible to add custom fields to those that can be edited. I discovered that Media Center recognises a FLAC tag called "ALBUM ARTIST" (note the space which shouldn't be present - the valid tag title should actually omit the space). If I set this field to the artist name for just one of the 2 discs (the second disc is better so they are shown in correct order) Media Center shows the 2 discs separately.

The only downsides I have found to this approach are, 1: Media center doesn't distinguish between the disks by name, the album just appears twice, and 2, this will only work for double-cd albums, not 3 or more discs

Any thoughts - drop a comment below

VirtualDub x64 with plugins

I've used VirtualDub for many years as video tweaker / reencoder. I recently needed to edit a video and decided to try the 64bit version. All is well, except for the lack of plugins (and hence greatly reduced versatility). After digging around for quite a while I managed to locate the following selection of plugins which did the job nicely.

• VirtualDub x64 itself can be downloaded from sourceforge.
• I found an MPEG2 plugin for download from MegaUpload thanks to a post by ale5000 on the virtualdub forums
• I found a collection of x64 filters (including AC3 and Lame) here
• And also useful is x264vfw which is available as x64 again from sourceforge (look under the x264vfw64 folder)

If I locate additional plugins I will update this post accordingly.

Full Flac support in Media Center x64

Following on from an earlier post, I have been continuing to work on getting my music collection working in Windows 7 Media Center. The problem I have had is that although there are codecs from xiph which support playback of flacs in 64bit players (see this post) there are (as far as I'm aware) no tag extenders compatible with 64bit.

After banging my head against a wall for ages I eventually had a breakthrough. Installing the 32bit xiph codecs (altho I imagine the official FLAC codec and ffdshow will both work) and the tag extender WMPTagPlus 1.1 I was able to build a library, play flacs and view and edit tags in Media Player 32bit (but not 64bit). It seems that Media Center uses the Media Player engine to play music, but it doesn't seem to mind which Media Player it uses. In my case the default appears to be the 64bit player, which couldn't read the tags. However, I was able to switch this by renaming the 64bit player folder in C:\Program Files\ (I renamed it to Windows Media Player 64) and then copying the 32bit player from C:\Program Files (x86)\ to C:\Program Files\. Since then Windows Media Center has happily used the 32 bit Windows Media Player to play back and manage the tags of my flacs.

Whilst this works great, in the longer term I hope someone releases a 64bit tag extender so I can return to using the 64bit player and being purely 64bit again.

Speeding up Media Browser

An article on Hack7MC caught my eye a couple of months ago, but I have only just got around to following up on it. The idea is to speed up the Media Browser plugin for Media Center by moving its library to a Cheap USB Flash drive, which hopefully offers much better performance than normal hard-disk drives. The first thing I did was test a couple of flash-based devices that I have against my desktop HardDrive...

WD VelociRaptor (300Gig)
random 4k read = 0.9mb/s
random 512k read = 57mb/s

Super Talent Pico-C 8Gig
random 4k read = 8.2mb/s
random 512kb read = 34.6mb/s

SanDisk Extreme III SDHC 8Gig
random 4k read = 4.6mb/s
random 512kb read = 20.45mb/s

I have been led to understand that the 4k measurements are the most important values, however I would like an explanation of why this is the case.

The average file size in my media browser image library is ~42kb so they are relatively small files, which I believe is relevant

For comparison of a lot more pen drives there is a recent review (2009) at Ars Technica

The corsair drive from the ars review is currently on ebay for around £16 - I wonder how much of a performance increase it offers

Speeding up WMP12 (and 7MC) media library database

One of the problems with my HTPC that I have only just started looking at is how to use it to play and manage my large collection of audio CD's which I have painstakingly ripped to FLAC's. The Xiph codecs (see previous posts here and here) make it possible to play FLACs in 64bit media center, but the media library was incredibly slow.

Digging around I discovered that the database is stored in C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player\ and in Windows 7 is now called CurrentDatabase_372.wmdb

User "RM" has posted a very helpful guide on the GreenButton forums about how to move an equivalent database on previous versions of windows but it took me a while to get this working. My problem turned out to be the RAM-Disk I had chosen to use.

I eventually switched to the free version of DataRam RamDisk which works well on Windows 7 x64 and supports drives up to 4Gig. My thanks to user OpenBook on [H]ardForum for the recommendation.

Having set up a RAMdisk successfully I was able to move the library by simply using a registry tweak recommended by user surge, again on the GreenButton Forums.

So, the procedure I used is as follows...

1. Close and running instances of Media Center and Media Player
   
2. Download, install and set up a RAMdrive. Make sure it is set to save on shutdown and reload on startup.
   
3. Right click on my computer and select manage.
4. Expand services and applications, then services.
5. Scroll down to "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service", right click, and stop it.
6. Fire up regedit and browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences.
7. Create a new String called LibraryDatabasePath.
8. Set the value of the new DWORD to the path to your RAMdrive (in my case N:\).
9. Close regedit.
10. If you already have a library and don't wish to rebuild then copy the contents of C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player\ to your RAMdrive.
    
11. Restart the "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service" and close the computer management window.
12. Restart Media Player or Media Center.
13. Voila!
    

Haali finally release official x64 splitter

Haali Media Splitter is now "officially" available for 64bit. To download simply go to http://haali.su/mkv/ and download from the link at the top right. Both 32bit and 64bit splitter are included. Various fixes are mentioned altho I haven't yet had opportunity to test them.

64bit Xiph codec breaks file-type dialog in WMP12

In an earlier post I recommended installing the Xiph codecs to support FLAC files in 64bit Media Player and Media Center. One of the comments (my thanks to thom007) on that post pointed out that the Xiph codecs break the "file type" dialog box in Media Player 12. Below is a work-around which restores the file-type dialog box. The possible side effects are as yet unknown, so experiment at your own risk...

To restore the file-type functionality open an elevated command prompt and unregister dsfOggDemux2.dll by running regsvr32 /u "c:\program files (x86)\xiph.org\ogg codecs\dsfOggDemux2.dll".

This fix will inevitably break some functionality, at a guess related to ogg files, but I do not know what yet. Give it a try and feel free to post your experiences. I have tested that FLAC files still playback ok with this fix, but I haven't tested any of the other formats supported by Xiph.

Update:

There is a second issue with the xiph codecs I have become aware of. If you install both 32bit and 64bit codecs on a 64bit system both sets of codecs will install to C:\Program Files (x86)\ - and one set will over-write the other. To avoid this issue change the install path of the 64bit codecs to just C:\Program Files\ :)

LG PC Sync for Viewty KU990i

One of my family owns an LG Viewty KU990i (note: the original viewty is a KU990 - subtle difference, big impact) and asked for my assistance in connecting it to their PC. The problem is that LG seem to support the KU990, but not the KU990i. The phone was not supplied with any software or cable, but my family member had obtained a cable in the expectation of downloading the software from LG. Apparently this is too much to ask. The KU990 was apparently provided with LG PC Suite version 2, and I found various posts around the net stating that LG had said that version 2 would also work with the 990i, however, despite obtaining a copy of LG PC Suite 2 I was unable to communicate with the phone successfully. Eventually I was led to try LG PC Suite 3, and with some fiddling was eventually able to get communication working.

1. Download LG PC Suite 3 from this megaupload link(thanks to the anonymous poster on Phil Puttock's weblog). I have subsequently found an alternative link direct to LG (thanks to LG-Phones.org), but as the previous version is working I am not desperate to uninstall it to test the new link, but you're welcome to try it.
2. Install PC Suite, run it, let it detect the update, and install the update
3. Turn the phone on, connect the cable to the phone
4. Connect the cable to the PC and wait for the drivers to install
5. IMPORTANT - Load LG PC Suite, but before clicking on any of the options (e.g. manage contacts or view messages) make sure the phone is on, with nothing running, at the main screen, and NOT locked or with a screen-saver. The phone I was using auto-locks after a very short period and when locked causes an error in PC Suite. Once PC Suite has communicated successfully for the first time it seems to work regardless of the phone being locked from then on
6. You may need to change the USB mode in the phone settings - it should be in "service" mode not "usb storage" mode.

Good luck!

Windows 7 dial-up connection autodial

Over the xmas holidays I was asked to look at a few issues with a family PC. One of the problems was a minor annoyance related to the modem-based DSL internet connection. The dial up box has a tick box which says "connect automatically". Although this box was ticked, when the PC was restarted when a connection was required the same dialog box would show up, with the option unticked. Some digging eventually revealed that this setting is somehow associated with a location and that a location hadn't been set. To remedy this open the control panel, and then the "Phone and Modem" control panel. The first time this is opened it will ask for an area code - once you have completed this and clicked OK the control panel will appear. you can click OK to close the control panel - specifying the area code is all that is required. From now on the option to "connect automatically" should be retained

playing downloaded FLV's

I recently had a problem with 2 PCs which appeared to be configured identically, but whilst one would play a FLV downloaded from youtube, the other would fail. Some other FLVs played OK on both systems. After much further investigation I discovered that the activeX version of flash player on 1 of the PC's was up-to-date, but on the other was not. Both PCs have firefox as the main browser and the firefox plugin was up-to-date on both, but it appears that an up-to-date version of the IE activeX plugin is required for 3rd party programs like Real Player. Updating the active-X fixed video playback

a temporary workaround for the ATI / 7MC / BBC-HD problems

-update-
This issue has now been fixed by a driver update from ati. For more info see my latest post on the issue

There appears to be an incompatibility between the Microsoft codecs in Windows 7 and BBC-HD (and other broadcasters too I understand). This causes some image corruption on all platforms I have tested, but on ATI hardware it results in continuous corruption which renders BBC-HD unwatchable. For anyone looking for a solution to this problem keep an eye on the microsoft knowledgebase article KB2008334. In the meantime, there is a work-around, as long as you have a sufficiently powerful CPU - disabling GPU accelerated H.264 decoding. To do this requires a registry edit...

• Run regedit
• Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\
• In video there will be several subkeys. One of these is for your graphics card. To locate it you will have to look through each in turn - each will have a video folder inside it. The "service" value inside the video key is the clue you need - I have several that start RDP which is presumably related to remote desktop so they're not right. I also have one which is called atikmdag. This is the one!
• When you've found the correct subkey of video expand the key 0000 (if you've got the wrong one you probably wont be able to expand 0000)
• Expand "UMD" and then "DXVA"
• Create a new string value called VForceUVDH264
• set the value to 0
• Reboot. Test BBC-HD. You will get 5-10 seconds of initial corruption but playback should then become normal and should remain that way thereafter

This tweak will disable gpu acceleration of playback of all H.264 files - so if you have a blu-ray collection you're going to be decoding with the CPU - expect much higher CPU usage. Any modern dual-core CPU should be plenty capable however.

Once Microsoft issue a fix for this problem simply go back into regedit and delete the key to restore normal functioning.

Audio issues with gigabyte power saver

I've been suffering from audio distortion issues when playing back movies on my recently rebuilt HTPC. After much testing I discovered a solution - disabling (in my case by uninstalling) the gigabyte dynamic energy saver utility. I am not sure if this tool only causes problems because of my specific configuration of codecs, but it certainly did cause problems across a range of hardware and media players. Disabling it immediately resolved the problem :)

Automate DVD Ripping on Windows 7

With my recent HTPC project now working really well, I want to rip my collection of DVDs to my media server for more convenient playback in Windows 7 Media Center (and all the additional benefits associated with Media Browser, particularly the meta data on ratings, synopsis, etc). Ripping DVDs, whilst straightforward is rather tedious. I found an excellent method of automating the process was to modify my autoplay settings with AutoPlay Repair, and point the autoplay to a program called DVD Rip which automates the ripping of DVDs with the well known DVD Shrink. Now I just put the DVD in the drive and chose "Rip with DVD Shrink" in the autoplay options. I could choose this as the default operation to make the entire procedure 0-click, but I may not want to rip every DVD I put into the PC!

Update: I'm now experimenting with a commandline tool that works with AnyDVD as it appears to be simpler.

Happy HTPCing

Media Center 7 Startup

I've had a very irritating problem with my new Windows 7 Media Center HTPC setup. I have 7MC set to load fullscreen on startup (as the PC is a dedicated HTPC), but something I changed at some point was causing the taskbar to show on top of Media Center (i.e. Media Center didn't have window focus) and therefore my remote control didn't work until using the mouse function to click on Media Center to refocus it (at which point the taskbar disappears). The eventual solution to this problem was very strange, but entirely successful - simple change the windows theme back to the default windows aero theme. Not only did this solve my issue but it also reduced the startup time by about 5 seconds!

Cheers to NickW who posted this solution on the GreenButton forums

Creating Windows 7 DVD from digital distribution

I got my copy of windows 7 via digital purchase, and after running the downloaded EXE was left with the contents of a setup CD in a folder. Now i want to do a clean install so I need to create a bootable DVD. A bit of googling revealed the way to do this. Download and install WAIK for windows 7 from microsoft. Install it, and then use the command line as follows...

Oscdimg –n c:\WinPE\ISO c:\WinPE\My_PE_Image.iso –n –bc:\WinPE\etfsboot.com

this assumes you have the folder containing the setup in c:\winpe\iso

credit to Only4Free.tk group

Speed up SSDs, especially in netbooks

I recently upgraded the SSD in an Asus eeePC 901, and whilst the size and performance were both better, the performance upgrade still wasn't on par with even a 5+ year old laptop HDD. The problem with most SSDs, especially the cheaper ones, is that they usually have very poor write performance with small files. This can make windows very sluggish and unresponsive at times. In my search for a way to aleviate this issue I discovered a driver called FlashPoint, specifically for SSDs running Windows XP - which claimed to improve performance by creating a much larger write-cache. Despite my initial skepticism I decided to have a crack anyway, and was pleasantly surprised that responsiveness improved very substantially. Sadly the website associated with the utility seems to have disappeared into oblivion, so I have no further information or documentation. For anyone who wishes to give it a try, here is a link to my copy. After downloading, extract the zip, right click on the inf file, and select "install". Use at your own risk!

Note: as far as I am aware this driver was available free. If it has been absorbed by a commercial entity, or is copyright or restricted in any way please get in touch and I will update this post accordingly

Update....

Can I direct readers to FlashFire which seems to be home to a similar / updated program which does the same job

Get rid of the outlook reading pane

One of the most irritating things in MS Outlook is the reading pane. Not only is it turned on by default, but according to Microsoft there is no way to change this default. Well, I beg to differ....

Below are specific instructions for Outlook 2007. Other versions of outlook will no doubt differ slightly, but it should be possible to find the same settings

1. Open outlook
2. Select the main / root folder for your emails (usually the inbox)
3. Open the "views" menu, and expand the "current view" menu
4. At the bottom click on "define views"
5. Select the line which says "messages" (or if you use imap select the "imap messages" line)
6. click on modify
7. click the "other settings" button
8. change the radio button option for the reading pane to "off" (by default it is set to "right")
9. click ok / apply to each window in turn

Credit to about.com and various posters on ask-leo.com

Switching the default WMP to x64 in Windows 7

One of the strangest things in Windows 7 x64 is the presence of both x86 and x64 versions of Windows Media Player 12. Even stranger is that despite Windows Media Center being 64bit only (and therefore requiring 64bit codecs) Microsoft saw fit to set the default WMP12 version to the x86 edition. For those of us who don't wish to maintain 2 sets of codecs it is desirable to change this default status. However, Microsoft do not appear to have provided a simple way to do this as yet. So here's how...

1. Open a command prompt and run unregmp2 /SwapTo:64.

2. Take ownership and then change the first part of the value of the following registry keys

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{45597c98-80f6-4549-84ff-752cf55e2d29}\LocalServer32
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{cdc32574-7521-4124-90c3-8d5605a34933}\LocalServer32
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ed1d0fdf-4414-470a-a56d-cfb68623fc58}\LocalServer32

from "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\....
to "%ProgramFiles%\....

These 3 keys in order apply to the context menu entries for enqueue, burn to cd and play

You may need to unpin WMP from the taskbar before this operation and repin the x64 version once you've completed the procedure


Update: I have been notified that the x64 version of WMP12 does not work with burn to CD so swapping to WMP x64 may cause problems if you use WMP to burn CD's. I have never done so and hence didn't encounter this issue. If you have this problem but want to use x64 WMP then I recommend downloading CDBurner-XP as a free alternative burning program.

Update 2: There is more discussion on this issue on Chris123NT's blog.

Upgrading the SSD in an eeePC 901

I've recently been asked to upgrade the SSD drive in an Asus eeePC 901. Rather than write about it in detail here I'll just say that the operation was painless and a great success, mostly thanks to the excellent guide provided at BitTech
I replace the default 4gig SSD (leaving the 16gig one intact) with a faster 16gig drive which cost £43 from ebay

Windows 7 empty "all programs"

I've been using the RC1 (7100) build of Windows 7 and have been largely very impressed, enough so to consider buying upgrades for all my current PC's. However, I recently had an issue with the "All Programs" menu going blank for no obvious reason. As usual a bit of digging with google offered the following temporary workaround...

• Right click on All Programs
• Select Open All Users
• Delete some unused shortcuts

I'll update this post if more information becomes available from Microsoft, but I expect this issue to be resolved in the final release of Windows 7 anyway.

Credit to Greg Duncan & various posters on Windows7Forums

Getting a Nokia 6101 working via CA-42 cable with PC Suite

I've had some real issues connecting an old Nokia 6101 to a laptop via a genuine Nokia CA-42 cable. Despite repeated attempts to get help from Nokia the problem remained unresolved until recently. The procedure which appears to have resolved the issue is as follows

1. Remove the nokia cable driver supplied with PC Suite. This can be achieved by downloading the installer for the cable driver, running it, and choosing to remove. This leaves PC Suite intact. but removes the driver for the CA-42 cable which didn't seem to work.
2. Download and extract (by running) this alternative driver
3. Plug in the cable and when windows detects it and prompts for a driver, point it to the extracted alternative driver

Windows 7 Autologon

A very quick tip for how to enable autologon for Windows 7. Press the windows-key and R to open the run menu (don't use the search/run bar at the bottom of the start menu) and type control userpasswords2 and press enter. Untick "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer"

Credit to Sarah Perez

Getting inside an Asus A2xxx

I recently had to get inside an old-ish Asus A2500 laptop to investigate an issue with the CD-ROM drive (and to upgrade the memory and add a wireless card). Most laptops have a cover above the keyboard that pops off, but on this particular laptop it didn't seem attached in the usual way. A bit of googling quickly offering some excellent info, namely that you need a paperclip or similar to poke into the hole in the top panel above the keyboard, to the right of the power button and 4 LED's. The panel then slides to the left. The keyboard is removed by sliding upwards and lifting. From there on it's like any other laptop - endless tiny screws.
For the original detailed instructions and excellent pictures please have a look at Allan's Webspace

Outputting WMP Videos to second display

When using a PC with a second display (for example a laptop with a data projector) it is often a common problem to find that a video played with Windows Media Player will only display on the primary display, and not on the secondary output.

There are various different configurations which contribute to this behaviour - Windows settings, Windows Media Player settings and Graphics Card driver settings.

One possible solution is to change which display windows treats as the primary display via the display control panel, but this is not always possible or suits the way you use the displays.

If you have an ATi video adaptor then you can tweak these settings in the "advanced" version of catalyst control centre. Under "Video" : "Theatre mode", change "second display" from "in standard mode" to either of the other 2 options.

If you have an nVidia video adaptor there is a similar option, called "fullscreen video mirroring", although I don't have specific instructions at present.

Update 1: If you have an Intel adaptor when you switch to "clone mode" you should get video output on both outputs

If none of the above solutions work for you than as a last resort you can try the following, which may work, depending on your video adaptor settings.

Right click on the media player logo at the very top left of the media player window, and select "tools" then "options"
Click on the performance tab, and then click on the advanced button
Untick 2 instances of "Use Overlays" which appear in the "video acceleration" and "dvd video" sections
Click OK to close the various windows
You may need to restart media player

Credit to..
iamfaizal on PCReview
VLC Tech Support

Microsoft Security Essentials final

Microsoft have updated their free security essentials package again. The softpedia link from my original post now offers version 1.0.1611.00 to download.

-update-

This appears to be the final release and is now available direct from Microsoft

Microsoft AntiVirus updated

Microsoft have now updated their free anti-virus to version 1.0.1500 which is available from windows update if you have the previous version installed (see my previous post). If you want to install 1.0.1500 without installing the old version first it can be downloaded from Microsoft. If you're in a country where its unavailable then you can download it from Tech-Mania

Repair HP Laptops and other hardware cheaply

I was recently asked to look at the touchpad on a HP Pavilion DV2000 laptop which had a faulty left button. Spares and repairs for laptops are often hard to come by so I was pleased to find the HP Service manual as a PDF, which included all the part numbers, and then very pleased to find that HP offer an extensive direct sales service for most parts via the HP PartSurfer. Suffice to say this laptop is now fixed, for a very low price. Good move by HP - I wonder if other major manufacturers provide a similar service?

Google Earth: How to fix poor quality overlays

I've recently had some problems with displaying large overlays (generated from NASA SRTM data) in Google Earth. Although the overlay data I exported was very detailed google earth was displaying a blurry mess which was impractical for my intended purpose. Searching around on the 'net didn't reveal anything useful so as a last resort I tried switching from "Direct X" to "Open GL" mode (under tools: options). Upon restart of the application the quality of my overlay was as it should be. Success! I am still unsure why DirectX mode appears to be faulty, my only guess is that it is because I am using Windows 7 which includes Direct X 11.

More on NoScript

A few more tips to improve NoScript, as the author sadly doesn't quite configure it for optimal security, or browsing-friendliness by default

1. If you haven't already then see my previous post

2. Turn off the annoying messages at the bottom: Right click on the NoScript icon, select options, select the notifications tab, and untick "Show message about blocked scripts".

3. Clear the whitelist which includes some sites you might not want to approve, for example the google advertising server: Right click on the NoScript icon, select options, select the whitelist tab, and delete all the entries you don't want.

4. By default every time NoScript is updated the next time Firefox is loaded it displays the NoScript release notes page. To prevent this right click on the NoScript icon, select options, select the notification tab, and untick "Display the release notes on updates".

Improve your browsing security without crippling lots of sites

I always recommend that people install an alternative browser to Internet Explorer. Personally I prefer Firefox to the other alternatives (Chrome, Opera, Safari) as I find the huge number of addons on offer give it an unassailable advantage. I've recently experimented with the NoScript addon, which enhances security by blocking active objects and scripts unless explicitly approved. However I found that I was forever having to grant permission to every site I visited for it to work correctly. The main reason I wanted NoScript was to prevent XSS exploits, but I didn't want genuine local scripts blocked. This can be achieved with NoScript by opening its options, ticking "temporarily allow top-level sites by default" and choosing "Base 2nd level Domains (noscript.net)". This should substantially reduce how frequently you need to grant a site permissions.

I'm sure some people will try to preach that this isn't 'properly' secure, but for most users if they have to choose between removing NoScript, or having it in its default configuration, the majority will choose to go without it. Using it in this configuration will block XSS exploits and offer significantly improved security without much compromise to ease of browsing.

Uninstall Haali Media Splitter x64

There is a beta (or maybe its Alpha) installer for Haali Media Splitter x64 out and about (for links to the installer see my previous post on windows 7 x64 codecs). Sadly the uninstall seems to be broken, which can cause havoc when trying to diagnose codec issues. To remove Haali completely you need to unregister the following files manually using regsvr32 /u filename (from a command prompt run as administrator)

avs.dll
dxr.dll
dxr.x64.dll
mmfinfo.dll
mmfinfo.x64.dll
splitter.ax
splitter.x64.ax
avi.dll
avi.x64.dll
mp4.dll
mp4.x64.dll
mkx.dll
mkx.x64.dll
ogm.dll
ogm.x64.dll
ts.dll
ts.x64.dll

These files are usually found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Haali\MatroskaSplitter\

Media Codecs and Utilities for Windows 7 x64

Here is a quick list of links to useful x64 codecs and related utilities that are compatible with Windows 7 x64 (64-Bit) edition...

• Haali Media Splitter
• ffdshow tryouts (look for the _x64 build under "newest files")
• Graph Studio
• MediaInfo (select the 64 bit GUI with installer)
• MediaPlayer Classic HomeCinema & Standalone Codecs (the main video codec is MPCVideoDec)
• Xiph Codecs for ogg, speex, theora and flac

There are some issues uninstalling Haali - see my post on how to manually unregister it.

There are also some issues with the Xiph codecs - see my post about that.

Updated 3-Jan-10 with new Haali Splitter link

Replacing a non-genuine Windows XP key with a legitimate key

If you've ever been asked to fix a PC and have subsequently discovered it has a non-genuine or inappropriate Windows XP key installed, and you wish to update the key with a legitimate key, for example when a second hand laptop has been installed with a corporate key and needs updating with the OEM key from the sticker still attached to it, you may have run into problems switching between OEM, Volume and Retail versions of windows. In the past this necessitated a complete reinstall, but it is now possible to correct this problem without a reinstall. Simply download the Key Update Tool provided by Microsoft!
This is also convenient if you want to create and use 1 unattended disk to reinstall Windows in multiple environments. Simply build your disk with any type of disk for which you have a key and then update the key to the correct key for the machine / environment.

Extra Freesat channels

Update: ITV-HD has changed. See my newer post

It seems that Windows Media Center 7 doesn't find all the channels that are FTA on the main UK Satellite group, the Astra 2D group at 28.2º East. I imagine many Freesat boxes wont either. Here are the frequencies for a few fully Free-To-Air English language channels available on this satellite cluster...

- Film24 (12691 V 27500)
- Movies for Men (11224 V 27500)
- World Movies (12643 V 27500)
- Zone Horror (11261 H 27500)
- Zone Thriller (12560 V 27500)
- Open Access 1 (11260 V 27500)

You should also find these channels appear as well as they're on some of the frequencies above

- Zone Romantica
- Open Access 2
- Open Access 3
- SA Direct

Quite a few other channels will also be found - as far as I'm aware they're either encrypted or junk channels or not English language

Free Anti-Virus from Microsoft

Microsoft have released (a few weeks ago) a free Beta of their new Anti-Virus / Security product Microsoft Security Essentials. Unfortunately as a UK resident when I visit the official Microsoft page I am told "This beta is available only to customers in the United States, Israel, China and Brazil". A quick google search quickly turns up a download link on SoftPedia which works. There are downloads of x86 and x64 versions of Security Essentials for Windows XP, Vista and 7