Archive for November, 2006

Windows Movie Maker Crash Solution

Thursday, November 30th, 2006

I found the solution to the problem I’ve been having with the Vista version of Windows Movie Maker.  Turns out the problem is the “Vista-Ready” Nero 7 that I installed at some point after installing Vista.  Uninstalling Nero fixed Windows Movie Maker.

MirrorX

Sunday, November 26th, 2006

You can buy a 320 gig external hard disk, with a USB-capable enclosure, for around $120.  That fits all my videos, music and photos, so using one as my backup medium makes sense.  It’s a lot faster than backing up to a stack of DVDs, and frankly I trust it more. I couldn’t find a tool […]

Application Configuration and the Registry

Saturday, November 25th, 2006

Back in the bad old days, applications used INI files to store settings like where the main window was when it was closed, or the last font selected. Then, with Windows 95, Microsoft introduced the Registry APIs, and suggested that applications store their settings in the registry rather than in INI files. One of the […]

Flight Simulator X Activation

Saturday, November 25th, 2006

I picked up Flight Simulator X a while ago, installed it and Activated it.  This hands Microsoft my Product Key, which they validate, and then unlocks the software.  I recently installed Windows Vista, and when I reinstalled Flight Simulator and went to Activate it, I assumed I’d be on the phone to Microsoft begging them […]

Windows Movie Maker has stopped working

Thursday, November 23rd, 2006

I’ve been using the Windows Movie Maker tool in Vista to do some simple video editing, and it’s been working beautifully for me.. until recently when it just stopped. Now when I import any video clip, even ones that worked before, I get: Then WMM has compatibility options to disable video filters – I disabled […]

Hello from Vista

Friday, November 17th, 2006

I’ve just finished installing Vista, and the first app I installed was Windows Live Writer.  So far so good – the only device I’ve noticed I don’t have a driver installed for is my sound card, and Vista has given my computer a 4.4 “Experience Index”. Some trivia:  It took 25 minutes from booting the […]

PowerShell

Thursday, November 16th, 2006

Now that Microsoft has released PowerShell, I’ve created a quick reference guide for the cmd shell commands that I use frequently, mostly because I keep forgetting them.  I’ve posted it as a PowerShell Cheatsheet. It’s funny that the ads Google associates with it are for people looking for ways to cheat on exams.

PS3’s sitting on store shelves?

Tuesday, November 14th, 2006

I find this news surprising:  88400 PS3’s were sold in Japan in 2 days.  It’s surprising because there were 100,000 units available in Japan.  This means there are ~11600 unsold units in stores in Japan. Did Sony not manage to sell out in their home turf on opening day?  That’d be a significant statement about […]

It’s Almost Vista Time

Monday, November 13th, 2006

MSDN will have Vista available for download on November 17th.  I’ve got a hard drive ready. 

LED Flashlights

Saturday, November 11th, 2006

Wasn’t long ago that the idea of an LED flashlight was cool in itself, but I realized they’ve gone mainstream when I picked up 4 pack of mini LED flashlights, each one with 8 LEDs (so they’re super bright) for $12 at Costco.  The package came with batteries – and usuall 12 AAA batteries would […]