Category: Windows Vista

Test your Internet connection

The interesting (and by “interesting” I mean completely frustrating) thing about networking is that it involves so many pieces of hardware and software. Adapters, routers, firewall devices, operating system components, third-party tools, applications…the list goes on and on.

If you’re going to make sense of this sort of system, it helps to start with a reliable baseline, which is where the Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool comes in. Visit this page using Internet Explorer on Windows XP or Windows Vista, accept a license agreement, download a little code, and click the Start Test button.

Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool

It’s not a speed test (other sites do that better). Instead, the results tell you about your router and how it works with Windows. It doesn’t make any permanent changes, and it doesn’t disclose any personally identifiable information.

Recommended.

Check for Ultimate Extras

A commenter on an earlier post (Ultimate Extras, MIA) asks, “Where are the extras?”

Only Microsoft knows what, if anything, is coming in this category. But you can find out which Ultimate Extras are currently installed on your system (delivered via Microsoft Update and, of course, only there if you’re running Vista Ultimate) by doing this:

1. Open Control Panel.

2. Click Programs.

3. Under the Programs and Features heading, click Turn Windows features on or off.

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4. Scroll to the bottom of the Windows Features dialog box. Expand the Windows Ultimate Extras category to see the full listing, and note that you can enable or disable any item on the list by selecting or clearing its checkbox.

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There’s some other interesting stuff in that dialog box, too, but don’t click unless you’re certain you know what you’re doing. For instance, that Indexing Service? That’s the old, basically useless one from pre-Vista days. It has nothing to do with Windows Desktop Search and you definitely don’t want it running. Trust me on this.

New ATI, Nvidia drivers for Vista

Last week both ATI and Nvidia released updated, WHQL-certified drivers for Windows Vista. The ATI drivers are working fine here on my main system, and I’m about to update the Nvidia drivers on a test machine.

I’ve got download links and more information over at ZDNet. I’m especially interested in feedback from the gaming community. Are these drivers an improvement?

More: Are ATI and Nvidia doing enough with their Vista drivers?

Get your Vista Media Center rollup

Five months after RTM, Microsoft has released the April 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista.

You’ll find several bug fixes and a few improvements, including Online Media support for 64-bit systems. My experience with Media Center rollups has been good, but your mileage may vary. Robert McLaws says he had some problems with IE7 and Outlook 2007 after installing it, so caution is, as always, in order.

This one is being delivered as a Recommended update, so if you check Windows Update on a supported system (Vista Home Premium or Ultimate), you’ll see it in the list of available updates.

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Vista slow? Says who?

I’ve read a bunch of complaints from people about how slow Windows Vista is. Frankly, I’m mystified by those complaints, because my experience is the exact opposite. Apparently I’m not alone. Carl Campos has documented his 10 weeks with Windows Vista:

After 10 years of supporting Windows systems, I have a good feel for how fast a system works, sort of like a mechanic who can listen to a car idle and identify its problems. Vista is quick, responsive and it seems to multitask better than XP. Vista, unlike XP, is still usable when applications hog the 100% of the CPU or constantly page the hard drive. Vista uses a tremendous amount of memory while not doing much, but it doesn’t appear to affect the feel of the system at all.

Overall, it’s an excellent piece of writing, with a well-rounded, balanced look at the pros and cons of Vista. Well worth reading.

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A 32GB flash drive?

Dreaming of building your own super-high-capacity flash drive? Addonics has this nifty-looking little adapter that lets you sandwich two flash drives together and then replace the 2.5” hard drive in a notebook.

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It’s not cheap. Kevin Tofel at JKOnTheRun has priced out the pieces for a 32GB solid-state drive (two 16GB cards at $250 each) and has the details. I think I’ll wait until they’re down in the $50 range, which should be about this time next year. (I’m kidding, I think.)

I’d love to try it as the system partition on a Windows Vista machine. How wicked fast would it be? I’m guessing it would cut Vista’s load time to about 12 seconds. If anyone wants to donate the parts – or at least pitch in for the flash cards – I’ve got my stopwatch handy.

(via Gizmodo)

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The trouble with the Xbox 360

Today’s big news: Microsoft Unveils Xbox 360 Elite03-27xboxElite

Shiny black finish? Check.

HDMI support? Check.

120GB hard drive? Check.

But the one question that this press release doesn’t address is the one that matters most to me: How much noise does it make? I’ve got two Xbox 360s here, purchased almost exclusively for their Media Center Extender capabilities. The one that was installed in the master bedroom has now been banished because of the godawful noise, which made TV viewing unpleasant. The one in the living room is still in service, but the noise level, while tolerable in the larger room, is still noticeable, especially when watching a quiet movie on DVD or streamed from the Media Center PC in the other room.

I really hope that the engineers who work on the Xbox 360 pay some heed to the many complaints about this issue. Read the comments on this thread, for instance, to see that I’m not alone: the fan noise is “pretty distracting, actually”; “annoying and the wife acceptance factor just isn’t there”; “makes the 360 useless as a media player”; “for bedroom purposes, useable only if you want to drown the fan noise with louder audio”; and so on.

Spousal acceptance factor is the key metric. These comments from the same thread are identical to my experience:

Vista works flawlessly with the new XBOX 360 as an extender. The graphics are great, HD, recording, etc. everything works as it should through the XBOX. The only problem is the fan noise on the XBOX 360, unbelievable. It’s unrivaled as appliances go, and my wife is not too pleased with it.

and

In the bedroom we have a Linksys extender and there is NO noise from the box. It is a very [quiet] unit, BUT it will not stream HD. The wife likes this box as an extender and uses it every day. Please wake up to the fact that any audible fan noise is NOT acceptable if Microsoft want the xBox 360 to be a true set top box.

As much as I love Vista’s Media Center capabilities, I can’t use them, at least not today. I’ve pulled the old first-generation Linksys Media Center Extender out of mothballs and put it back in the bedroom, and XP Media Center 2005 is running the show.

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When ReadyBoost goes wrong

I opened the Computer window on my main desktop machine (running Windows Vista Ultimate) and did a double-take when I saw the scrambled label on my F: drive:

Scrambled label on Readyboost drive

Hmmmph. That’s a 4GB Apacer Steno flash drive, and it’s supposed to be handling ReadyBoost cache chores. A quick inspection of the properties reveals that the ReadyBoost tab is gone. And displaying the contents of the drive shows some, shall we say, interesting file details:

Readyboost drive - files scrambled

(I’m dying to know what’s in that file dated January 4, 2047.)

The last ReadyBoost cache was created on this device on March 13. After I remove the device from the machine and reinsert it in a USB port, I get an indication that the drive has failed completely; a generic driver loads, but the system thinks it’s an empty removable drive.

I’m going to assume this is a hardware failure. Anybody else see anything like this?

Update: Wow, that was fast. Immediately after posting this, I went to Apacer’s website and posted a support question. Less than 40 minutes later, I had a reply from a support rep who attached a low-level flash drive formatting utility. In the comments, Scott Hanselman (upon whose recommendation I bought this drive) notes he had the same problem and this utility cleared it up right away.

All fixed now.

Kudos to Apacer for excellent support, and thanks for the confirmation, Scott!

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