Review: Avermedia Windows 7 TV Starter Kit

My review of this DVB-T digital TV tuner is now available on The Inquirer. It's a cut-down version of the AverTV Hybrid Volar HX (with no remote, software or AV cable), and there's nothing technically innovative about it, although as a plug-and-go Windows 7 solution for novices it works pretty well.

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Feature: How to fix common Windows problems quickly

Computeractive has just published a cover feature I wrote for a recent print edition of the magazine. It shows how to solve problems associated with common Windows error messages.

Review: Panasonic HM-TA1 HD camcorder

My full review of this pocket HD camcorder is now available on the Computeractive website. It's a mixed bag, with excellent video quality and a superb focusing range, but its usability leaves a lot to be desired. Below is a very short 1080p outdoor video clip made with the HM-TA1 in my back garden.

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Review: Cisco Linksys E3000 router

My review of Cisco's new flagship consumer router has now been published on The Inquirer. It's a decent piece of hardware, but there are some features that will annoy advanced users.

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First pics: Acer Iconia dual-screen tablet

Fresh from Acer's press conference today in New York, here are the first pictures of its new Iconia tablet device. This is an odd contraption that uses two 14in capacitive multi-touch LED-backlit screens, each running at 1366 by 768 resolution and made from 'Gorilla Glass' (the stuff on the iPhone 4).

It runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and is powered by a range of Core i5 CPUs. I've posted full specs from the press release below.

Specifications:

ICONIA Specifications
Operating system	Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit1
CPU and chipset2	Intel® Core™ i5-480M/i5-560M/i5-580M processor (3 MB L3 cache, 2.66/2.66/2.66 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93/3.20/3.33 GHz, DDR3 1066 MHz, 35 W), supporting Intel® 64 architecture, Intel® Smart Cache Mobile Intel® HM55 Express Chipset
Memory2, 3, 4	Dual-channel DDR3 SDRAM support: ·              Up to 4 GB of DDR3 1066 MHz system memory, upgradable to 8 GB using two soDIMM modules5
Display	Dual multi-touch screens 14" HD 1366 x 768 resolution, high-brightness (200-nit) Acer CineCrystal™ LED-backlit TFT LCDs, supporting all-point finger touch Tempered glass with fingerprint-resistant coating Mercury-free, environment-friendly 16:9 aspect ratio
Graphics	Intel® HD Graphics with 128 MB of dedicated system memory, supporting Microsoft® DirectX® 10 Dual independent display support 16.7 million colors External resolution / refresh rates:6 ·              VGA port up to 2560 x 1600: 60 Hz ·              HDMI® port up to 1920 x 1200: 60 Hz MPEG-2/DVD decoding WMV9 (VC-1) and H.264 (AVC) decoding HDMI® (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) support
Audio	Optimized Dolby® Home Theater®7 v3 audio enhancement, featuring Dolby® Digital Live, Dolby® Pro Logic® IIx, Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Natural Bass, Dolby® Sound Space Expander, Dolby® Audio Optimization, Dolby® High Frequency Enhancer technologies8 High-definition audio support S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface)9 support for digital speakers MS-Sound compatible Built-in microphone
Storage	Hard disk drive: 320/500/640/750 GB or larger1, 10
Webcam	Acer Video Conference,2 featuring: ·              Acer Crystal Eye webcam with 1280 x 1024 resolution ·              Acer Video Conference Manager software, featuring Video Quality Enhancement (VQE) technology, supporting 640 x 480 resolution online video calls11
Wireless and networking	WLAN:2, 12, 13 ·              Acer InviLink™ Nplify™ 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ ·              Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ ·              Supporting Acer SignalUp™ wireless technology WPAN:2 Bluetooth® 3.0+HS WWAN:2, 12 UMTS/HSPA at 850/900/1900/2100 MHz and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, upgradable to 7.2 Mb/s HSDPA and 5.7 Mb/s HSUPA (for 3G models) LAN: Gigabit Ethernet, Wake-on-LAN ready
Privacy control	BIOS user, supervisor, HDD passwords Kensington lock slot
Dimensions and weight2	347 (W) x 248.5 (D) x 19/31.9 (H) mm (13.53 x 9.69 x 0.74/1.24 inches) 2.8 kg (6.18 lbs.)14 with 4-cell battery
Power adapter and battery2	ACPI 3.0 CPU power management standard: supports Standby and Hibernation power-saving modes 3-pin 65 W AC adapter: ·              95 (W) x 50 (D) x 25.4 (H) mm (3.74 x 1.96 x 1 inches) ·              216 g (0.47 lbs)14 with 180 cm DC cable 44 Wh 3000 mAh 4-cell Li-ion standard battery pack Battery life: 3 hours15 ENERGY STAR®
Input and control	Multi-touch virtual keyboard with standard QWERTY layout and international language support, featuring: ·              Numeric keypad ·              Predictive text input ·              Multi-gesture handwriting mode ·              Virtual touchpad
Input and output	Two USB 2.0 ports USB 3.0 port HDMI® port with HDCP support External display (VGA) port Headphone/speaker jack with S/PDIF support Microphone-in jack Ethernet (RJ-45) port DC-in jack for AC adapter
Software16	Productivity: Acer eRecovery Management; Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1; Adobe® Reader® 9.1; Barnes & Noble Desktop Reader (US only); Bing™ Bar; Device Control; eSobi™; Gesture Editor; Microsoft® Office 2010 preloaded (purchase a product key to activate)17; Microsoft® Office Starter 201018; New York Times Reader (US only); Norton™ Online Backup; Virtual Keyboard; Window Manager Security: McAfee® Internet Security Suite Trial19 Multimedia: My Journal; Scrapbook; TouchMusic; TouchPhoto; TouchVideo Communication and ISP: Acer Crystal Eye; Acer Video Conference Manager2; Skype™; SocialJogger; Microsoft® Silverlight™; TouchBrowser; Windows Live™ Essentials2 Web links and utilities: Acer Accessory Store2 (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK only); Acer Identity Card; Acer Registration; Acer Updater; eBay® shortcut 20092 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, UK, US only);Netflix shortcut2 (US only)
Options and accessories	2 GB / 4 GB DDR3 1066 MHz soDIMM module 3-pin 60W/90 W AC adapter External USB optical disc drive External USB Lite and LSI modem
Warranty	One-year International Travelers Warranty (ITW)
Windows®. Life without Walls™. Acer recommends Windows 7. 1.     64-bit software is required to enjoy the advantages of 64-bit processing. 2.     Specifications vary depending on model. 3.     Shared system memory may be allocated to support graphics, depending on system memory size and other factors. Actual system memory available to the operating system will be reduced by any memory used by the graphics solution and resources required by the operating environment. 4.     This system is bundled with DDR3 1066 MHz memory; however, memory speed may vary depending on CPU/chipset support. 5.     A 64-bit operating system is required to enjoy the ultimate performance of 4 GB or higher memory. 6.     Resolution/refresh rates depend on display and color/depth settings. 7.     Dolby® is a registered trademark of Dolby® Laboratories. Dolby Home Theater® is a trademark of Dolby® Laboratories. 8.     Dolby® Pro Logic® and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby® Laboratories. 9.     Supports 5.1-channel surround sound and 2-channel stereo output (multiple streaming). 10.   1 GB is 1 billion bytes. Actual formatted capacity is less and may vary depending on preloaded materials and the operating environment. Acer eRecovery Management utilizes up to 10 GB of the stated hard disk capacity as dedicated backup space. 11.   Two VQE-enabled Acer notebooks with dual-core processors are required to enjoy the exclusive benefits and added performance of VQE. 12.   Actual throughput may vary depending on network conditions and environmental factors such as network traffic or overhead, building construction, and access point settings. 13.   Acer Nplify™, a high-throughput wireless solution, delivers superior performance and reliable connections while enabling emerging voice, video and data applications. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™, it supports Acer SignalUp™ wireless technology and is compliant with 802.11b/g/n and 802.11b/g standards. 14.   Weight may vary depending on product configuration, vendor components, manufacturing variability, and selected options. 15.   The listed battery life is based on MobileMark 2007® productivity mode testing with wireless on. Details of MobileMark2007® testing are available at www.bapco.com. Battery life rating is for comparison purposes only. Actual battery life varies by model, configuration, applications, power management settings, operating conditions, and utilized features. A battery's maximum capacity decreases with time and use. 16.   Bundled software may vary depending on hardware configuration, OS and regional availability. 17.   Purchase an Office 2010 product key to activate one of the following Office 2010 suites preloaded on this PC: Office Home and Student 2010, Office Home and Business 2010, Office Professional 2010. 18.   Includes Microsoft® Office 2010 preloaded. Purchase a product key to activate a full Microsoft® Office 2010 suite. This PC is preloaded with reduced-functionality versions of Word and Excel that include advertising. PowerPoint, Outlook and Publisher are not included. 19.   Trial periods vary depending on the geographic region and specifications: 365-day trial for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese OS models); 60-day trial for other regions.

Review: TomTom GO LIVE 1000 satnav

My review of TomTom's new high-end standalone satnav, the GO LIVE 1000, has been published by IT Reviews. It features TomTom's first capacitive touch screen and a new window mounting system.

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Review: AVG Internet Security 2011 Business Edition

My review of AVG's 2011 security suite for smaller businesses has just been published by V3.co.uk. It's a pretty decent package with full remote admin capabilities.

Netgear launches new NAS range for small businesses

I've written a First Take blog article for ZDNet UK covering the launch of Netgear's new Pro range of NAS boxes for ZDNet UK. The company has also announced a new multi-site backup service, ReadyNAS Replicate, plus new Ultra Plus consumer NAS boxes featuring dual-core Atom CPUs.

The ReadyNAS Ultra Plus range upgrades the CPUs in the existing Ultra models

ReadyNAS Pro 2

ReadyNAS Pro 4

ReadyNAS Pro 6

Review: Cisco Linksys E3000 router

My review of this updated version of the WRT610N has now been published on IT Reviews. It has great wireless performance, but also has some peculiar configuration glitches that will most likely annoy advanced users.

How to fix the 'Cannot mount the backup' problem in WHS

Regular readers will know that I'm an ardent fan and user of Windows Home Server (WHS). Last year I built my own system to look after my three PCs, a job that it's done admirably, despite a couple of failed drives (note: never put ancient drives in USB enclosures, it's a false economy!).

But the other day I decided to check some old versions of files using WHS's file and folder restore facility, which temporarily loads a backup set as a Windows volume. The progress window on the WHS console got to 100%, but on the Windows 7 client window it always stopped at 81% before popping up an error message saying 'Cannot mount the backup'. This was very frustrating, as mounting the backups worked fine on my other two PCs, so it obviously wasn't a WHS issue.

WHS can mount backed up partitions as Windows volumes. Sometimes.

Looking around the various WHS forums, I found several suggestions for a fix, none of which worked. Eventually, a post on the We Got Served forums led me to a thread on the Microsoft forums which mentioned a problem with Diskpart. I tried this and it worked first time, although I've no idea why automount was disabled in the first place.

Here's the fix:

1. Right-click the Command Prompt icon and choose 'Run as administrator'. (Command Prompt is located in All Programs, Accessories).
2. Type 'diskpart'. After a couple of seconds the prompt will change to 'DISKPART >'.
3. Type 'automount enable' and press Enter. You should see a confirmation message.
4. Type 'exit' to quit Diskpart and 'exit' again to quit the command prompt.

Try mounting the backup partition again via the WHS console and it should now work. It seems as though there may be multiple causes for this behaviour, so I'm not guaranteeing it will work for everyone.

Update  20/11/2011: To those who are worried that this problem means that the backups themselves are corrupted, don't panic - the problem is caused by the client PC, not the WHS backups. The backups are perfectly safe and you should still be able to perform a full system restore from the backups, using the WHS client restore disc. The problem discussed here only affects the ability to restore individual files and folders.

Another thing to check if this fix doesn't work is to make sure that nothing is using the Z: drive. In Explorer, click Tools, Disconnect Network Drive. Highlight anything using the Z: drive and click OK. You can also do this from the command line. Type 'net use' to see a list of drive mappings. If Z: is in use, remove it by typing 'net use Z: /delete'. This won't delete data from any drive, it just removes the drive mapping.

How to Write A How-To Article

How-to articles are a great way of explaining to someone how to do something that they don’t already know how to do. Such articles can contain either easy or difficult instructions, depending on how difficult the thing that you’re explaining how to do is. There are even some that have a mixture of easy and difficult instructions, which can be a little tricky. In this five-step how-to article we will explain how to write a successful five-step how-to article that is guaranteed to give know-how to people who don’t know how to.

1. To get started you should first write Step 1. This is the one that comes before all the others, so make sure you number it with a very clear ‘1’, which is the number key just the left of ‘2’ on most keyboards.
2. When you have completed the first step, it’s time for the second one. Don’t get carried away and jump to 3 or 4, which sometimes happens when you’re writing quickly.
3. The third step is often the most difficult to get right, as it comes immediately after Step 2 but before Step 4! A lot of how-to writers forget this, so if you’re getting confused it’s a great idea to note down (any old piece of paper will do) all the steps in a list one above the other in order to remind you which step goes where.
4. By the time you get to Step 4, you may be getting tired and should take care not to end here. Missing off the last step is never a good idea, as it makes your how-to article look a little amateurish.
5. Finally it’s time to write the last step, which means that there should be absolutely no more steps after this one! Before you finish, check carefully through all the other steps to make sure that there is the correct number of steps (and that they're in the right order - refer to the list you made in Step 3), and you’re done.

(This was inspired by an article about an editor's experience of working in a 'content farm')

AirMagnet launches new multi-adapter Wi-Fi analysis tools

AirMagnet, owned by Fluke since 2009, has updated its WiFi analyzer PRO and WiFi Survey PRO tools to include support for its new multi-adapter wireless hardware. I've written a short news piece about this on ZDNet UK's First Take blog.

How to disable Google Chrome's cache

I like many things about Google Chrome, such as its speed, tab handling and unified search box. But one very annoying feature is the lack of control over the content cache. Yes, you can clear it out using the Options, but there's no obvious way to set the size or disable it.

Why turn off the cache? Well, my Windows 7 PC has been suffering from occasional freezes and stutters for a while, always accompanied by a solidly-lit hard disk light. Chrome always seemed to be involved, and looking at Windows 7's Resource Monitor it was clear that my current anti-virus program (MS Security Essentials) was busy thrashing its way through scanning the cache every time Chrome launched or added files to it. Using the info in a thread on Google's support forums, I found the cache to be almost 1GB in size. (It's located in %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default). There are actually two cache folders, Cache and Media Cache.


It turns out there are two command-line switches that can set the cache size. Find the Chrome program icon in the All Programs menu, right click it and choose Properties. In the Target box, add --disk-cache-size=1 --media-cache-size=1 to the end of the command (after ...chrome.exe). 


After doing this, click Tools then Options, go to Under the hood, click Clear Browsing Data, uncheck all the items except Empty the cache, then click Clear browsing data. This clears the cache, and the new parameters prevent it growing again - after several days' use, my cache is only about 20MB.

The benefit was immediate and noticeable: the disk thrashing has now gone, and Chrome freezes less frequently (previously, it would often freeze when the status bar was saying 'Waiting for cache...'). In these days of fast broadband, I really can't see the need for huge content caches.


UPDATE 6/2/11: Seems like my freezing problem went deeper than just Google's cache, and even less likely for the average user to spot - see my newer post about dodgy Sata cables

Review: Belkin Surf Wireless Micro USB adapter

Computeractive has just published my review of Belkin's tiny 150Mbps 802.11n wireless adapter, which is remarkable for fitting inside the diameter of a £1 coin. Although not part of the review, my informal performance tests using Passmark showed it to be capable of throughputs (at 1m from a Fritz!Box 7270 router) of around 50Mbps, which isn't far off the speed of some 300Mbps adapters I've seen.

It must be the season for miniature dongles, as Solwise has just launched a very similar product, the NET-WL-UMD-606N, for the remarkable price of just £7.50. Quite a difference compared to the £30 that Belkin is asking...

Review: Avid Vocal Studio

Avid has just released three new Pro Tools SE-based home recording packages, one of which is Avid Vocal Studio. You can read my full review of this outstanding low-cost bundle on IT Reviews, where it received a Recommended award. For those just starting out in home recording, it's a great buy at £85. I certainly had fun with it, recording some acoustic guitar tracks and adding narration and music to video clips.

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