eBabble

Windows Product Activation

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

Blast from the past: originally published February 4th 2002. So much has been made of Windows XP product activation, with every major PC magazine carrying a feature article and countless online rants, that I felt it was covered to death. The information had been presented to me at the product launch held by Microsoft that covered all there was to be said, but I had encountered a number of variables. Here and there I had read that product activation was required, but you could upgrade pieces of hardware without reactivating. I was told…read more

Oct.26

Windows Update & Device Drivers

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

Blast from the past: originally published December 31st 2001. I’m a big fan of Windows Update; one easy place to find all the updates needed for your system. I’ve found it works with Windows 95 up and long as your version of Internet Explorer is 4.0 or greater. With versions 5 and 6, you go to Tools, Windows Update. With version 4, go to Tools, Product Updates. Either way you’re brought to the Windows Update page, with lots of information available. Products updates is my frequent destination for the latest operating system patches. It’s neatly…read more

Sep.14

Age Of Mythology

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

Blast from the past: originally published December 30th 2002. Christmas is almost upon us, so that means our loved ones have to buy us something. They’re looking for dropped hints, circled catalogue pages and the like. For gaming enthusiasts, this is a frightful situation. These best intentioned people will wonder into a computer shop and say “what game should I buy my son/boyfriend/nephew?” And how the salesman will love to dump some piece of crap, assuring the purchaser how every gamer wants this title. Lucky for us Microsoft has launched a major ad campaign this…read more

Jul.13

Mech Assault

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

Blast from the past: originally published June 18th 2003. Traditionally I’ve played sports and fighting games on my console systems. The PC handled everything else with aplomb. Since the console market dominates I’m trying to dally in all the genres available. This led me to Microsoft’s Mech Assault. The latest in a long line of Mech Warrior titles, this is a third person shooter where you control a variety of Mechs in a variety of missions. In case you’re not familiar with the whole FASA universe, I’ll boil it down for you. It’s the future, and…read more

Apr.20

Microsoft High Definition AV Pack

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

Blast from the past: originally published June 17th 2003. I’ve finally started playing some games on my X-Box. A guy at work was selling his X-Box with two controllers and some games for a song, so I couldn’t pass up the deal. Got it home and read the manual. Grabbed an HDTV adapter the next day and set it to take advantage of the various resolutions available, plus hooked an optical cable for Dolby Digital sound. My X-Box was ready for whatever I threw at it, which was nothing for about two months. I’m…read more

Microsoft Windows XP

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

Blast from the past: originally published December 14th 2001. I don’t have to tell you that Microsoft launched their latest operating system on October 25th. There was enough media coverage, advertising and hoopla to let everyone who has a PC get word of the new Windows eXPerience. I was at the product launch in Toronto, Ontario and received my press copy of Windows XP Professional. The question is why did I take so long getting to it? It’s the latest and greatest, so shouldn’t it have been installed ages ago? Way back when in…read more

Nov.05

Microsoft Web Platform

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

For those who have looked at doing their own web hosting the acronym LAMP or WAMP is familiar: Linux/Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Wrapped in an easy to install package with some management thrown in this is a simple one step install to get yourself an up and running web based application. I’m familiar with Windows so I tried out a few WAMP packages to get WordPress, Drupal and Joomla running on my network so I could see what they’re all about. All fairly straightforward to get running but like…read more

Aug.24

Microsoft Security Essentials

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

I’m a big fan of free and luckily there is no shortage of free real time anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities available to Windows users. The big news of the week was Microsoft’s beta release of Microsoft Security Essentials. As part of the Connect beta program 75000 slots were made available for beta testers which filled very quickly: I was lucky enough to get in. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free Windows security package that’s a derivative of it’s enterprise Forefront Security package, pared down as a free simplified offering. That’s…read more

Jun.26

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008

Posted by Scott VanderPloeg in Technology

I’ve written a review for every version of Small Business Server but have never published any of them: the scope seems to broad to adequately cover. I’ve sat on this one for a few months but decided to get it out there. Some months ago Microsoft made available a release candidate of Windows Small Business Server 2008 for public preview: I downloaded and installed it to give it a whirl. I ran it for a month to see what was new and to form an opinion, outlined below. I’ve been a big…read more

Mar.03

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