Anti-Virus for Windows Home Server

Most of you may probably have known, while some antivirus software are free for personal use, server based programs normally will ask for a premium. Same goes to Windows Home Server. Since it’s based on Windows Server 2003, PC version mostly won’t be compatible. For an example, I am using Avast Home on my PC, but it won’t install on the server. Fortunately, there are always good people out there, especially those who write open source program, which means it’s free (they only ask users for some donation to support their hard work).

So, after searching here and there, I came across this WHSClamAV. Based on ClamAV, and implemented on Windows Home Server by the guy Al West. Write up is available at MSWHS.com.

Technorati Tags: WHS,WHS ANti-Virus

Aspire easyStore H340 Mod #1

Bought the Home Server yesterday, and I did the first mod today (really speechless about my pairs of itchy hands…). Anyway, I noticed that the system runs quite hot. With the stock 120mm fan running at 900+rpm, CPU idle at 60c+, while System temp is at around 50c+ (non air-cond room).

The stock fan (from AVC, Taiwan) was attached to a pair of nice metal bracket with rubber type feet, to reduce vibration I suppose, although you can hardly feel any when it’s only spinning below 1k rpm. Anyway, the fan was sitting more towards the top side to blow directly on the 4 HDD bays. It’d be better if it can blow those heatsinks on the mobo too.

I replaced the stock 120mm with a Cooler Master 140mm unit. The 140mm wouldn’t fit on the bracket. So forget about mounting it onto the bracket, I used cable tie to hold it, slightly tilted so that it can blow on the heatsinks too. Fan speed is around 1050rpm. The result, everything is cooler inside this small casing now. CPU is max at 52c under 80% usage, while System is staying at 40c. The screen shot below was taken when the server was idling.

In conclusion:

		Before	After
CPU Temp	Idle	60c+	48c+
	Load	70c+	52c+
System Temp	Idle	50c+	38c+
	Load	60c+	40c+

It’s quite a good improvement consider the fan cost only RM29.

Next mod: larger heatsink, if I can find a suitable one in the local market, or perhaps a larger PC casing.

* Note: My Q6600 @ 3.3GHz / 1.424V is idle at around 36c under a CM V8. So…gonna try to reduce another 12c on the server…

Technorati Tags: Acer Aspire,easyStore H340,Windows Home Server,Mod

Aspire easyStore H340

After a long searched and countless time of frustration to get this Windows Home Server, I finally have it! From LHS (Karamunsing), at RM1299 (around USD382). The shop owner was quite surprise to see there is actually someone who’s interested in this product. According to him, Acer asked him if he would like to sell such product, so he tried it out by ordered 1 unit…and it’s quite a coincidence that I dropped by his shop after he had it on the shelves for few days.

Anyway, if you’d like to know the spec:

• Intel Atom 230 processor (1.6GHz / 512K Cache / 533MHz HSB)
• Intel 945GC Express Chipset
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 2GB DDR2 Memory
• 256MB flash ROM
• 1TB 7200RPM HDD
• Genuine Windows Home Server OS

So, does it worth the money? What if you DIY (estimated cost):

• RM200 – Intel Atom & the mobo
• RM130 – 2GB RAM
• RM300 – 1TB HDD
• RM340 – WHS OS
• RM100 – for the small and pretty casing
• RM240 – for the 4 hot swap HDD bays

That will add up to RM1310. Won’t differ much if you DIY one unit. Unless you are planning to run FreeNas, then you can save that OS cost for another 1TB of HDD. Anyway, the unit comes without keyboard/mouse and video out port. So just plug in the power cord, connect the RJ45 to your Switch or Router, everything else is setup through the neat GUI web interface from network client PC.

Things suppose to work out flawlessly (at least it was when I was setting up the 120-day trial last time), but sometimes we just have to expect the unexpected. I am not sure if the retailer’s staffs have been messing with the machine (although the shop owner did tell me it’s not yet configured), or is it Acer people who tried it out before they pushed it to their dealer. The unit is pre-configured, with a password…when the password is only suppose to be created by the user when he runs it for the 1st time after he bought it (it’s like when you take home a branded PC fresh out from the box, everything suppose to be fresh, no password, no user name and stuff).

Luckily, whoever that fellow was, he set the password at the “Password Hint” too. So that makes things went smooth for a short moment, before I encountered another problem – unable to detect Windows Home Server. Reset server and software reinstallation didn’t help either. Crap!

After few times try and error, noticed that it’s due to this Acer H340 messed up with my D-Link NAS. It’s using my NAS IP. So, reconfigured both units IP and things finally worked out good. Reset password, download and run those updates, and now it’s backing up my home office PCs...

Technorati Tags: Acer Aspire,easyStore H340,Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server – Sad Case

Time flies, and my WHS trial copy expired.  During the past 120 days, I have been looking here and there trying to get an original copy of the program (or even together with the PC if I have to).  However, no luck for us Malaysian.  I emailed my enquiry to Microsoft USA, telling them about the case, hoping that they might be able to help me out but the representative redirect me to Microsoft Malaysia…WTF, can’t they read the damn mail properly?

Since hp is one of the Microsoft’s partners on this product, I contacted a friend who works in a hp retail outlet, who also has a few contacts working in Microsoft Malaysia.  So she got an answer for me.  Her friend introduced Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition, which costs RM2k+…DUH!! 

Someone said that it possible to buy from Amazon and activate it from Malaysia.  But looks like Amazon now doesn’t ship it out from the USA. 

So, 3 choices:

1)  Forget about the whole damn WHS thing;

2)  Buy or download a pirate copy;

3)  Use the trial version, the follow the AntiWPA group and see what crack they have.

I believe Microsoft is trying their best on anti piracy, but what is freakin’ wrong with selling WHS in Malaysia?  If I still can’t get an original copy, then “Jack Sparrow” will be my only friend…

Computer Keyboard

A good computer keyboard will improve your productivity, be it word processing, messaging, gaming, or whatever you can think of which need input from the keyboard. Besides, a good keyboard will add an elegant touch to your desk and your workstation too.

To some people, keyboard is simply just an input tool. To some, however, they collect it. I myself is not elite enough to, say, keyboard collector as things can get expensive when you are talking about branded stuff such as Logitech. It costs as low as around RM30 for a classic keyboard, and a good gaming unit can go up to few hundred RM. To me, however, I just can’t resist not to have a browse through the keyboard section whenever I go to computer shops although my current unit may still in good shape.

Anyway, I always think that an illuminated keyboard will be nice due to my office can get pretty dimmed in the afternoon, and I just don’t like to switch on the lights during day time. So when I saw the Logitech keyboard which has the illuminating feature in an IT shop few days ago, I can’t help but decided to bring it home.

The packaging is nice, and the keyboard layout is clean and neat, and like any other keyboard, you will need to get use to it when using it for the 1st time but it won’t take long.

The size of the keyboard is about the same as average keyboard but only at about a CM thick. Illumination can be adjusted with a key press and only the characters are illuminated, in white. So you can have just the right amount of light you need instead of the whole keyboard backlit in bright red or blue like those gaming keyboards which in my opinion, it’s a stress to the eyes.

Like all the multimedia keyboards out there, it comes with all the necessary media keys. Pair with the Logitech’s SetPoint software and those buttons will be customizable. A standard USB connector will ensure its compatibility with any kind of PCs out there.

I always like the laptop style keyboard, short key stroke, silence, and precise. And this illuminated keyboard is just what I have been looking for. So if you are looking for an elegant keyboard and have a little bit of budget, give it a try. Although it can’t consider cheap at RM299 for a wired keyboard.

Windows Home Server

Wow...another 3 months has passed since my last post. Well, been buzy setting up my new home. Yea, finally moved in on the 4th last month. Anyway, back to the subject, I get to know this Windows Home Server thing few months back, although it's been on the market for quite some times. Looks good and promising, and is available through famous vendors like hp and acer. However, perhaps Microsoft thinks that people from 3rd world country like Malaysia will not need a server at home or it's simply trying to encourage software piracy, those pretty server is not available here although you can download the trial copy from their website and build your own server (more on that later). I have went to a couple of local hp retail outlets and most of the IT shops in Karamunsing, and none of them seems to know about it...

Anyway, since I have downloaded a trial copy few months back, so the only way to try it will be building my own server. Excuse of my PC appearance, it's only a temporary unit. It will have a new casing soon. Hardware used are:

Processor: C2D E4300

Mobo: Abit AW9D

RAM: OCZ 1066 2GB Kit

GPU: GeForce 7300GT

PSU: FSP Group Saga II 500W

HDD: WD SATA 500GB

Optical Drive: External

Installation was pretty simple although you might need to have your hardware drivers in hand due to the OS is based on Windows Server 2003. So newer hardware drivers will be missing, mine was LAN and GPU drivers, and those mobo chipset drivers.

Connect it to your switch/router, and it will detect all the client PCs automatically, and you then need to download and install a small program (from your newly setup server) onto all the client PCs so that they will be able to login to the server. The little program will put a share folder on all the client PCs too. Neat and simple. One good thing about it, you don't have to be an IT expert to run this thing.

Anyway, after installation and activation (key is available through Microsoft Connect) you will have 120-day evaluation period to play with it. To continue using the product after that, you either find a way to get the OEM installation disc (it's available in amazon.com, but they don't ship to Malaysia...duh!!), or, be "Matt Farrell". Well, I want to buy the original...but seems like Microsoft just doesn't wanna give a damn. So...

Ok, since it's working good. I went to buy a new casing for it, a CM690 (pretty good for air circulation and ventilation), together with a 1TB HDD to expand the storage. For a normal desktop PC, adding additional HDD means you will add another driver letter, or simply RAID it before you install the OS to make it a single large volume disk.

In Windows Home Server, however, a disk wizard will pop up to help you to decide. In case you just simply want to expand the storage space (for your data), it will automatically help you to merge those drives. So you won't have to remember all your data locations (eg. Picture in drive D, Video in drive E, and adult video in *cough* drive X...*cough*). Just go to drive D and all your files will be in there. As simple as that.

It's temporary sitting on top of my daily/gaming rig for better air circulation and easy for me to access. Naah, it won't fall down by itself, no earthquake anyway...*touch wood*. Oh yea, streaming media to PS3? Playing MKV files with PS3? No worries, just download and install this little program in your server and you will be able to enjoy your collection on your big screen in no time.

Windows 7 on EeePC 1000H

News on Windows 7 is going like a hot cake on the Internet now. Microsoft claims it’s build based on users suggestions and comments. I missed out the Beta released which they actually send out the installation disc. So I downloaded the current RC 32-bit version image file, size is around 2.3GB. It’s a Windows 7 Ultimate version. Product key will be issued from Microsoft website after the registration (Yea, you need to register yourself before the download). Burn the image file onto a DVD-R and you will have your own copy of installation disc.

As stated on the website, this is a RC release. So expect some troubleshooting. It’s for consumers to try out 1st hand before the final release, which should be available around end of this year.

Anyway, after some readings on reviews on the Internet of how people experience it with their old machines, as well as some notebook PC and netbook are actually come available with Windows 7 Beta pre-installed, I put it on my Asus EeePC 1000H, which I have had the memory ram upgraded to 2GB the 2nd day I bought it.

Since my EeePC comes with Windows XP Home, so upgrade installation is out of the question. Fresh installation is the only way, but it was a breeze anyway. Boot from the optical drive and just follow the on screen instruction. It takes about an hour to complete (didn’t actually time it). Once reboot into desktop, you get a fresh and clean look of Windows 7.

Picture shown above is my desktop in Windows 7. I have changed the wallpaper and have installed some programs to try out. I especially like how the taskbar look now, everything is icon-based. Items categorised more neatly than in Vista, menu looks excellent, date and time are shown together too, simply nice. Of course, to make it run more smoother under Atom, some visual effects such as animated controls and fade/slide menu will have to be compromised but have no worries it will affect your Windows 7 experience. Everything still looks good as it is.

Not sure if it’s because of the Ultimate version, compare to Vista Home Premium on my main PC, there are some extra settings to play with under Control Panel. Just in case something doesn’t work properly, the troubleshoot section is very easy to use too although it might not solve the problem (duh!!). It’s still a RC version…you’ve been warned. My Internet connection through office router was setup automatically and runs perfectly, but my Prolink wireless USB modem just doesn’t work although I’ve set it to XP SP2 compatible mode.

Just as most of the mobile users stated, battery/power management is one big improvement compare to the previous version. Users have stated that Vista has better power management than XP, and Windows 7 is more better than Vista. I’m not sure about Vista on EeePC but Windows 7 sure does it better than the Asus power management utility tool ran on XP before this. As of now after running for 3 hours, and countless times of PC restarting and programs launching/closing, I still have 45% of usage time. Previously, I’d be left with around 30-35% of usage time by now.

Overall, this is the best Windows ever. Just hope that it will be a “Woo~Waah” OS when it’s ready with no crash or BSOD...possible? Let’s keep our fingers crossed now.

TB Hard Drive

Just not too long ago IT enthusiasts were excited and talking about the 1TB hard drive.  It seems to be more than enough for our everyday digital storage usage, particularly at home for ripped DVD movies, digital photo and music storage.  Not only most of us can’t fill it up after we stored all of our digital files (except those hardcore users or torrent freak), we can even do a full PC backup on top of that.

Then, manufacturer announced and released the 1.5TB hard drive, and 1TB unit price dropped to a more wallet-friendly RM338, to be exact (available in Karamunsing, I myself just bough a couple of that weeks ago). 

Now, just recently, 2TB hard drive news pop up in all PC magazines.  Although priced at RM12xx at the moment, it will go down soon or later.   For those who don’t know, it’s around 2000GB (for easy calculation), or 2000000MB!  If an average mp3 file sized at 4MB, how many songs can we fit in a 2TB drive?  How about an average 700MB AVI files we ripped from a DVD movie?  How many of those files can we fit into this hard drive?  You do the maths.  My sister, an average PC user, got a shocked when I told her how far a hard drive capacity has gone to now.  She backup all her downloaded TV series on DVD-R then packed them nicely in shoes boxes (what a way..!).  So, I suggested her to get a 1TB or 1.5TB hard drive to store all her downloads then share them across the home network. 

For more advanced PC users, hobbyists, modders, or whatever name you like to call them, storage capacity can never be enough.  Especially when we are talking about ripping our media to the highest possible quality.  A MPEG2 DVD rip can go as large as 5GB, and 10 times or more for a BD movie.  So, with a 2TB drive to store DVD rips at average 5GB per file, that’s about 400 movies.  You say that’s a lot of movies?  Not to a movie freak.

I’ll build a media server once my house is ready, to serve the living rooms and home theater room.  Server storage capacity?  Well, currently targeting at a 10-bay PC case…and hard drive manufacturers are planning to roll out 3TB drive soon.

Welcome to the Terabyte Era!

My Home Network

Go to any IT or AV forum, you will find topics that are related to home network, for simply file sharing or multimedia streaming to every corner in the house, or even a more complicated ones. For my objectives, a simple one will do.

Anyway, the objectives of the setup are:

1. Have a central data storage or home server;
2. Media streaming to ground floor and 1st floor living room;
3. Media streaming to home theatre;
4. Media streaming to master bedroom;
5. And, Internet access from all the location mentioned above.

I never really look into a central storage before and thus all my data files are spread across my PC, laptop, and several external hard drives. All without a central network. It can become frustrated and tedious sometimes when you need to access a file and only realized that it’s stored somewhere else. Besides, it won’t be more troublesome when my fiancée wants to browse through some stock pictures from business supplier while I’m in the middle kicking some monster ass.

So, to make things simple and for me to have an uninterrupted-entertainment session in the future, I bought a network attached storage (NAS) at a local IT shop couple of weeks ago. It’s a D-Link DNS-323, not the top end product but able to server me my requirement. This little thing can do more than just storing files. Product review is available here, or you might want to check out the official site. I asked for a NAS product few years back in CPS, and it cost around RM1K that time. I will see how this thing goes 1st, and later I will try out the Windows Home Server.

Anyway, since I’m the one who will do the download and movie/music ripping, this device will be sitting in my home office connecting to the home network via my Belkin N+ modem router. So in order to play the media stored in this device from other location in the house, I guess the best way is to stream to the HTPC in every location mentioned above. That way, not only I can enjoy movie/music, I can even go online with the HTPC. Why make myself only able to surf the web in the office, right?

Ok, time to copy all my media files to the device now. Not really a lot at the moment, but for sure it’s not going to be a few minutes job.

Until then…..

All These While…

Life has been busy, in everything, and I just realized that my last post was over a year ago…aaah, I’ve been lazy! 

Time flies, and so does technology.  Especially in IT industry, only the rich can lay hands on all the latest gadgets.  So what did I get myself in the past 14 months?  Not much I’d say…

After I got myself a new casing, as seen in the previous post, I spent quite some times on PC gaming, and was into home theater stuffs later in the year.  Which also burn a big hole in my pocket! 

After I had my home theater setup, I went back for some PC games again.  Followed by a new Razer Tarantula gaming keyboard, review here, and a Microsoft Razer Habu gaming mouse.  These toys weren’t cheap, but they will bring your PC gaming experience to a new level, if you know how to configure and utilize it.  Why settle you gaming peripherals with a cheap one?  20 bucks keyboard and a RM10 chicken-brand mouse sure can do the job you might say, then might as well we just stick to the granny black and white TV set.  Oh well, personal preference and hobby I’d say.  Even if our gaming skill doesn’t get improve, at least those toys will shine up our table.

Can’t recall when it actually started, PC performance items have found their place in some IT shops in Karamunsing Complex.  Although can’t compare with Lowyat in KL, at least local enthusiasts don’t have to order every single item from KL now.   

My Gigabyte Chassis

A new PC system definitely needs a new casing. Detailed info is available at the official site. I bought it at Karamunsing ACI Technology Sdn Bhd for RM600. Below are some pictures (sorry for the poor picture quality):

Big box! Almost as tall as the office table but fortunately doesn't weight as heavy!

Out from the box, you get a nicely printed installation guide and a piece of transparent acrylic side panel (just in-case you don't like the metal mesh piece).

The metal mesh side panel. Nice!

Two Gigabyte chassis blue led fans at the exhaust side. Silent fans, which also means low performance fans, in my opinion. Can barely feel the flow (replacement is coming soon, I guess).

Another silent fan at the lower front as intake. Enough to give your HDDs some cool breeze, and it comes with a filter too!

Time to serve (side panel is removed for picture session only)! Things that holded inside are: CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600 (OC @ 3.3Ghz), Cooler: AC Freezer 7 Pro, Mobo: Asus P5K Deluxe, RAM: Kingston PC2-6400 1G x2, GPU: Asus 8800GTS 320MB, HDD: 250GB+320GB, PSU: SilverStone ST56F.

That's my current workstation and gaming machine (Only the CPU, Mobo, RAM, HDD, GPU, and Casing are new).

* UPDATE * 16th Mar 2008

Rear blue led exhaust fans are now replaced by CM red led units. Still a silent fan, but with just a little bit higher air flow.

CPU idle temperature now max at 38c during day time in my non air-cond room (Q6600 OC @ 3.3GHz with 1.42V). So, pretty good I'd say.

Hard Disk Running Too Hot?

A Google research study revealed something about the hard disk temperature. While a lot of PC users are trying to keep their hard disk as cool as possible, the study showed exactly the opposite. The rate of hard disk failure increases especially in low temperature, below 30c. Only disks which are older than 3 years behave as expected. However, failure rate only increased when temperature went to about 45c and above. So meaning to say, hard disk cooling systems for home user like us, are basically unnecessary. Research also showed that pleasant temperature should be around 40c.

This is one of the most extensive tests in the IT industry. Google collected and analysed about 100,000 hard disks, included PATA and SATA models capacity range from 80GB to 400GB which majority of home users purchase, from its own data processing centre over the period of nine months.

So now we all know how to take good care of our hard disks.

Asus EN8800GTS 320MB

Just about a couple of weeks ago, I started to play "Rainbow Six: Vegas". With my E4300 running at 2.9GHz paired with further-overclocked 7300GT Sonic, the game play was lagged even though I have put the video setting to low and medium in 1024x768 res. So I started to think of a higher end GPU. After went through some forumers opinions and research, I finally put my order on an Asus EN8800GTS 320MB with my IT supplier. Some might ask why don't top up few hundred bucks and get a GTX. Well, my screen is only 22" and I'm not a full-time/hardcore gamer, nor I've that kind of budget at the moment. So...maybe next time.

Anyway, below are some pictures:

The packaging is nice, and the box is big. With the carrying handle on top of it, you sure can attract some envy eyes when carrying this baby out from the shop.

Inside the box you get a quick installation manual, some driver CDs, 3DMark06, cables, adapter, a nice black CD wallet, and of course - GAMES! WTCC & GHOST RECON:ADVANCED WARFIGHTER.

Not the biggest size GPU on the market but it's quite impressive (NO! That cigarette is not bundled with this toy!). Ghost Recon picture on the heat sink cover but too bad you won't be able to see it after attach to your mobo, unless you are using BTX casing with a top window panel.

Make sure you have nothing attached to the next PCI slot, it takes up two slot spaces. Hot air is push out through the rear vent, unlike some other brands design which just make the hot air circulate inside the PC case.

After installation and everything, I tried it out with 3DMark05 just to see how far it can go. I scored 5587 with my previous setup and this baby hit 13646, and 8370 on 3DMark06! On top of that, it runs a little bit hot. My overclocked 7300GT Sonic ran full load at around 63c and this toy idles at that reading. So make sure your PC case has good air flow system if you are going to have this in your rig.

Now I'm going to Mexico to spank some bad dude ass! Until then...

AC Freezer Pro 7

Just when I have received my PSU yesterday, a postman honked at my gate this morning. My AC Freezer Pro 7 is finally here after 19 days of delivery, all the way from Performance-PCs.com.

Packaging.

Well protected.

Looks good.

Inside the box...

Compare with stock Intel unit.

Ready for action.

Since there are already a lot of product reviews available in the Internet, I'll not going into product detail. Anyway, I believe my home office is one of the most "computer-unfriendly" environments out there - high ambient temperature all day long. So how well does this unit perform? Let's see...

My rig stays in Coolermaster Centurion 531 case, with 120mm fan for both intake and exhaust. Intake fan speed at around 1260RPM, exhaust spins at around 1740RPM, and CPU fan at 2700RPM. Room temp at around 30c. With closed panel, CPU temperature reads at 47c, System temperature rises from 39c to 41c, PWM1 temp hits 48c from 40c, and PWM3 temp hits 45c from 39c.

I believe it's due the direction which the AC Freezer fan is blowing. Compare with Intel stock unit, Intel's unit is blowing down to the motherboard and thus able to bring down the surrounding temperature more effective, while AC Freezer fan is blowing straight to the exhaust side of the case with only little flow to the motherboard.

So my conclusion, not satisfactory at the moment but since have to wait for the thermal paste to run in, so I expect a slightly lower temp reading by then. Perhaps other people carried out the tests under a more cooler environment, and thus able to have lower temp reading. Maybe I should get an air-conditioning unit for my room.

My SilverStone ST56F PSU

Most people, including myself, neglect the PSU when they upgrade their PC due to almost all new PC cases attached with one. Never before I will consider to spend few hundred bucks in an aftermarket PSU since all my past units have served me well under various operating conditions. However, not until recently when one of my friends told me that his unit, which came together with the PC case, blew up while he was busy spanking his enemies. Now I don't know what does he really mean but certainly, I won't want that to happen to my new rig especially when I have spent few thousand bucks to build it.

So after checking out users suggestions and opinions from a well known local IT forum and read some related articles from the Internet, I put my order for a SilverStone ST56F through modernopc.com (an IT vendor with excellent customer service). Anyway, This unit has received pretty good comments from majority of PC-enthusiasts. Total costs is RM385, including POS LAJU charges.

It's not the best PSU in the world but it sure is the best bang for buck item when talking about 560W Continuous. Go have a round in all the IT shops in Kota Kinabalu, I'm sure you can't find one that comes close to it.

Since there are already lots of detailed reviews on this item, so I'm not going to put up another one here. Anyway, below are some pictures:

Received from POS LAJU.

The box.

Inside the box.

Looks solid and beautiful.

CoolerMaster Centurion 531

Just when I thought that I'll be happy with my rig running in my white, clean and simple Asus case, I came across a CoolerMaster case this afternoon, the Centurion 531. Being a PC enthusiast, it quickly grabs my attention. After some inspections on the casing, I bought it for RM299, although there are a few very minor scratches on the front panel.

Not bad for that price on a branded stuff. It comes with a well printed installation guide, some fitting bits, and a 120mm CoolerMaster fan attached at the front side, but without a PSU, unfortunately.

Since there are already a lots of reviews on this case, so I'm not going to write another one. Anyway, time for me to do some studying on the casing now.

Until then...

C2D Overclocking

Since the day I got my C2D equipped rig setup and running, I've been searching the Internet on how to overclock my toy. Results I found out are either too technical (for me), or too brief. So I just simply tried to push the FSB using Abit uGuru (comes with my motherboard - Abit AW9D), and of course, countless times of system crash and reboot, and the max I achieved was a merely 238 FSB (2.142GHz = 238 x 9), that's only 342MHz further.

Everything comes cleared when I found this C2D Overclocking Guide for Beginners. I'd say this is the most straight to the point guide I've ever seen. So after reading through it, I gave it a try on my system. The result, I achieved 300 FSB, that's 2.7GHz! I know there is nothing to brag on it, but for beginner, I think it's a pretty good result. Although CPU temperature reading still remain the same as stock, I won't go any further until I receive my Artic cooler.

Anyway, thanks again to "Clunk" for that guide.

Reactivate Vista, again...

With all the beautiful graphics and features, Vista takes around half of the 1GB system memory everytime after loading. So to make the system runs even smoother, I went out and grabbed another 1GB module to make it 2GB in total. Slotted in the memory module, booted up the PC, and again, I need to activate it...

Perhaps the timeframe is too short since my last activation, I couldn't get it done online this time. So, I called up the support center again, and received lots of questions. Maybe they think that I was installing the OS to other PC...

Anyway, it's done successfully, of course. I asked the guy on the phone under what circumstances do I have to reactivate the OS license again, " After every hardware changes", he replied. "So to save all your trouble calling us up every time, better do all the upgrades at one go". That's his suggestion. ;)

Until then...

Primary Hard Drive Replacement

Although this is not a new skill/knowledge, I believe there are people out there who still don't know how to replace their primary hard drive (that's your Drive C) without having to reinstall every single program, and I was one of them... So I would like to share what I learned in here.

I used a 40GB hard drive to start the Vista fun due to tight budget during that time. So, as usual, spaces filled up in no time (around half of it was allocated to Vista...). Just when I was about to go out and grab a new hard drive, I found one 80GB unit lying inside my junk PC in the storeroom...this will solve the problem temporary until I get a brand new SATA drive, with higher data volume, of course.

Anyway, since reinstalling all the programs and redo all the settings are not fun, so I search for program which is able to clone/backup the whole hard drive. Norton Ghost 10 is out of the list since it's not Vista compatible. Although it still can run, I don't feel like to take the risk.

Paragon Drive Backup 8.5 Personal was what I used. It has a 30-day trial and it's Vista compatible. Here is the link - http://www.paragon-software.com/demo.htm. Installing and running the program is pretty straight forward:

1. Download and install it. Make sure your new hard drive is connected as "Slave" and formatted.



2. Run the program and a window will pop up asking Buy now or Buy later.



3. I chose "Buy Later"...



4. On the main screen, click on Copy the entire hard disk, and a wizard window will pop up.



5. Follow the on-screen wizard and everything will be done in a short while, although mine took about 36 minutes.

Here is a snapshot of the main screen, with the cloning option circled in red.

I swapped the hard drive and set it to "Master" immediately to test it out. Everything runs well and of course, Vista will need to be reactivated. However, just a few clicks on the mouse while the computer is connected to the Internet and it's done. As simple as 1-2-3.

Vista Sidebar...

Been using Vista Home Premium for a couple of months now. Basically, I'm happy with its new interface, security features, and of course, the Sidebar. Previuosly I was using Samsung SyncMaster 753DFX. Yup, it's a few years old 17" CRT. With the Vista Sidebar showing at the screen side , any program window won't be able to show in full if I'm to put it side by side with the Sidebar.

Vista will definately love the additional pixels of a widescreen (perhaps it's created with widescreen in mind), and I'm glad that I just purchased a unit, as mentioned in my previous post, a 22" LCD (BenQ FP222W). One of the reasons that I bought this monitor is because I want to display the Sidebar side by side with most of the programs, if not all, which I run frequently. I do access to my Gadgets a lot when I'm doing my daily job on PC.

I've read quite some posts on the Internet that some people will simply ignore it or even turn of the Sidebar, saying that those Gadgets will take up system memory and slow down system loading speed. However, with my entry-level E4300 C2D paired up with a pair of Kingston 512, my rig has no problem with my 8 Gadgets at all.

I have tested some of the well-known branded PCs which loaded with Vista Home at several local IT stores before. My conclusion, most of them are slow, even it's a C2D system. It's most likely due to too many "unwanted" or "unnecessary" pre-loaded programs running at the background. I was once testing a "h" brand notebook PC, I nearly falling asleep while waiting for it to boot up. It's no wonder why some people complain on Vista's performance. Is it the PC problem, or is it Vista fault? Perhaps they think that branded means first-class. Anyway, Sidebar now display itself perfectly on the right side of my screen...but? Yeah! Can we widen the Sidebar? Or perhaps make it double-column or even triple-column? How about changing those Gadgets size? Unfortunately, no, at least not in the mean time...