Continue reading »]]> Right – I literally just upgraded the motherboard on my computer and then reinstalled Windows. Rather stupidly, I didn’t think to check I had all the driver disks for my USB devices – and nonetheless I since haven’t been able to get a driver for my USB TV Tuner.

It’s a PEAK USB Dual Tuner DVB-T, and I had it running perfectly on my original 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. However, I’ve now moved over to 64-bit Windows – which is great, but I can’t for the life of me find the stupid mini-CD that came with the device to install the driver.

Even more annoyingly – the company’s website (PEAK) is no longer working (www.peakhardware.com), and there aren’t any drivers on any public driver site – so I was absolutely stuck there.

Thankfully, I had a eureka moment and realised that I’d, in the past, also installed the tuner on my netbook. Whilst I couldn’t use the driver on that (because it is 32-bit), I was able to identify the name of the driver used and get a copy online (much more readily available).

Anyway – if you’re having the same problem as me – it uses a driver called the AF9015 BDA Device - and luckily enough, I have a driver for you!

DOWNLOAD NOW (direct from GEEK!) – please read instructions below! (file size: 600KB approx)
Please note: GEEK! accepts NO liability for any damage this driver may do to you or your computer. Every effort is made to make sure the drivers are safe and fully functional – but no guarantees can be made whatsoever. Please use this at your own risk. 

INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL:

1. Right, take a good look at the files in the ZIP folder. Fully extract it with whatever program you want to use. Navigate to the relevant folder for your Windows installation (either 32-bit or 64-bit). Don’t try and run the EXE files in either folders. They are included for reference, but probably will not work. This is because the applications won’t be able to detect the device and therefore will fail.
2. Plug in your device. Windows will tell you it’s detected it and try to install it (or prompt you to find the driver if you’re using Windows XP).
3. If you’re using Windows Vista or 7, the device should be identified as “DVB T-2″ or “DVB-T2″ but will not install because Windows won’t be able to find a driver. Cancel any installations dialogs if you’re using Windows XP, and if you’re on Vista/7 ignore any failure messages.
4. Copy the driver folders that you’ve downloaded to a place you’ll find them later – I’d suggest a folder on the root of your hard drive. Name the folder something you’ll remember and dump all the files from the download in it.
5. Now go to Device Manager on your computer. In Vista/7, you’ll find it from Control Panel. In XP, you’ll need to go to System in Control Panel and then click the Hardware tab, followed by Device Manager.
6. The device should be flagged up immediately with a yellow exclamation mark next to it. Double click the listing. Click the Driver tab and click Update Driver…
7. You now need to select the options which indicate manually finding a driver (in Windows Vista/7, click the Browse my computer for driver software button). Select the option to manually locate a driver from a disk (Windows Vista/7 – Let me pick from a list of device drivers), click Have Disk…and browse to the folder you dumped the driver files for your type of operating system. Select the only file that Windows flags up – which should be an INF file. Then select the driver that comes up in the list (AF9015 BDA Device).
8. Windows will warn you that this driver may not be suitable for the device. Ignore this warning, and proceed with installation.
9. Windows will now attempt installation, and it should then successfully install within a couple of minutes. With any luck, that’s it – you can now use the device.

You now need to find a piece of software for watching TV with. If you have Windows Vista Home Premium (or above) or Windows 7 Home Premium (or above), you can simply use Windows Media Center (which I prefer using anyway). You should also be able to use Windows Media Center if you have XP Media Center Edition 2005. Otherwise, you’ll need to find some third party – can’t help there myself, sorry.

Hopefully, that should solve the problem!

Continue reading »]]> Yes, I’m back posting again. Sorry I haven’t posted for a little while – I decided to take a little summer break. But have no fear, I’m back as of today!

Anyway, last night I came across this very cool application. It’s free and it works with your webcam. It basically replaces your password at Windows logon with a window that shows your webcam. As soon as the app recognises your face using biometric technology, it will automatically log you on with the password you told it.

It doesn’t actually replace your password. It leaves you with the opportunity to use a password, just in case your webcam packs up or you need to get in from Safe Mode.

However, the app does work very well and I was very pleased with how quickly it responded as soon as it recognised me. It also worked very well under various light conditions.

I would have been slightly more impressed if the app had given me the opportunity to register more than one accepted face, but I guess if security is really your thing you probably wouldn’t want that.

Overall, for a free app it is a must have. If you want to keep friends and family away from your personal info, it’s much more secure than a password and doesn’t seem to take any longer than typing a password. Go grab it for free by clicking here. The app works with any Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer.

Continue reading »]]> Microsoft have posted on their blog some important dates for Windows users. If you are using Windows XP Serivce Pack 2, Windows 2000 (all versions) or Windows Vista RTM (ie with no service packs) – this affects you.

• On April 13th 2010, Windows Vista RTM will loose support. To continue support, you’ll need to (at the very least) download Service Pack 1. You’ll be better off if you download Service Pack 2 as well.
• On July 13th 2010, all versions of Windows 2000 will loose support. You must upgrade to a newer version of Windows (ie Windows 7) to regain support. Windows XP Service Pack 2 will also loose support on this date. You must upgrade to Service Pack 3 to regain support, but bear in mind that support for SP3 will end soon.]

That should tell you all that you need to know. If you need to get your hands on Service Packs, check Windows Update.

Continue reading »]]> Yes, I know, it’s a bit late for me to be going on about problems in Vista since Windows 7 will be publicly available in a matter of months, but I’ve just been reflecting on how annoying it really is.

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine set up a user account for their Vista PC. On my laptop, I am (of course) an administrator and always have UAC off. But on my friends computer I am a standard user, and he has UAC on. Fair do’s – it’s his choice whether he wants it on .

Anyway, it really starts to bug me after a while. I have to have password confirmation from an admin to delete a bloody desktop shortcut on my own user. What the hell?

It’s simple things like running some programs, updating virus databases, and adjusting user-specific settings. Why can’t I do that without administrator confirmation? It really bugs me.

OK – if it was installing software or deleting Windows files that’s understandable. But the fact that I can’t choose my own desktop shortcuts without administrator approval – I mean, doesn’t that annoy anyone or am I just being silly? Probably the latter.

Continue reading »]]> Remember a while back when I was talking about Microsoft giving users the choice of which browser they use in Windows 7? Well, Microsoft is apparently now going extend this consideration to Windows XP and Vista too.

From what I’ve heard from various sites on the net, Microsoft will be releasing an update (via Windows Update) sometime in the next six months. The update will only appear in Europe and the update will be either a “high priority” or “important” update. Once the update is installed, the next time IE runs, a “ballot” screen will appear showing users all other internet browsers with more than 0.5% (per cent) of the internet browser share in Europe.

Users will then be able to choose a browser that appeals to them and install it.

Users can also choose to stick with Internet Explorer, or be asked again at a date in the future.

In my opinion, this is great news. We might actually be able to get accurate results as to which browser is most important, and users wont be biased into using Internet Explorer anymore.

Thanks Microsoft, this is great news!

Continue reading »]]> Ever since Microsoft released Windows Vista in 2007, I’ve absolutely hated the Disk Defragmenter in the operating system. It was fine in 98, 2000, and XP, but in Vista it is absolutely stupid.

For some reason, it automatically decides that you want to defragment all of your disk drives by default – and most of the time this is not the case for me. It spends absolutely ages “analysing” drives – to the point when I just give up and cancel it before it’s even started defragmenting.

It’s just such a failure – what happened Microsoft?

A lot of people say defragmentation is a total waste of time, but I think it does work now and then and it can improve hard disk performance (even if it’s just a little).

If you agree with me that defragmentation is a good idea, I’ve found a solution to the Vista defragmentation issues. It’s a little freeware program called Auslogics Disk Defrag. It works in all versions of Windows from 2000 up, so if you like it you can run it on some of your older systems too.

It’s much better than Vista’s defragmentation system because:

• It let’s you choose which drives you want to defrag.
• It doesn’t waste your time by trying to defragment files that don’t need to be defragmented.
• You can set it to clear temporary files before defragmenting so you don’t waste time defragmenting files that are about to be deleted.
• It shows you a graph of what’s being defragmented (this was in earlier versions of Windows and it was really helpful so why did Microsoft scrap it?)
• It’s relatively quick.

So yes, if you do think defragging is good but you hate Vista’s system, this is the answer.

Continue reading »]]> Microsoft recently confirmed that they have released Service Pack 2 of Windows Vista to manufacturers – which I guess means that they have completed work on it. They have also sent a RTM of Windows Server 2008 SP2 to manufacturers.

The official release of Vista and Server 2008 SP2 is not due until quarter two of 2009, but it’s good to know it looks like Microsoft are on track and ready.

According to Microsoft (quote-en-qoute), these are the key features of SP2:

• Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches
• Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology
• Ability to record data on to Blu-Ray media natively in Windows Vista
• Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration
• Windows Vista SP2 enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones.

So hopefully it’ll be good. GEEK! will keep you updated on any dates for the Service Pack’s launch as soon as they arise.

Continue reading »]]> Microsoft yesterday lauched the Service Pack 2 Release Candidate for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.

32 bit users click here for download, and 64 bit users click here. If you would like an ISO image, click here. 

I’ve downloaded it and tested it, and so far I cannot see many huge differences, both visually and internally. I haven’t found any bugs, other than the fact that I had to reinstall Windows Live Messenger before it would work properly. 

Also, bare in mind that you will have to uninstall the Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta if you have it already installed, which is very time consuming. It’s unlikely the whole process is going to take you less than 2 hours, even on a fast computer.

So, if you want my verdict, don’t bother with it right now. There’s not much new to see, and personally I think it would be easier and less frustrating to just wait for the final release which is due in a couple of weeks time. 

By all means download it if you’re desperate to, but if you have Vista SP1 it is relatively pointless.

Continue reading »]]> According to Techtree, Microsoft has said that the release candidate of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista will be available sometime next week. No official date was disclosed.

Also on the above site, it was mentioned that the file sizes will be 302MB for the 32-bit standalone installer and will come with 5 languages. However, the 64-bit version will be a more alarming 508MB so anyone with low bandwidth available on their broadband packages ought to really decide if it will be better to just wait for the final release, which is still due in the second-quarter of 2009.

As usual, as soon as the RC is released there will be news here on GEEK!, and it will be reviewed here shortly after, so stay tuned.

Continue reading »]]> It has been reported that Microsoft have sent a release candidate of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 to a small handful of private testers. It has been said that the private release was sent to users on the 19th of February.

According to a site called Ars Technica, the build number for the release is 6002.16670.090130. The private release has also been sent out to some Windows Server 2008 users.

Hopefully this means that a release candidate for SP2 will be released publicly soon. It would be nice to see it as I’ve had Vista SP2 beta on my laptop for quite a while now and it has worked fine.

I’ll update you as soon as I can find a release.