Category Archives: Hardware

Tangible items that are not software.

Biometric Devices Missing from Windows 7 Control Panel

AuthenTec, a company that makes fingerprint scanning devices, worked closely with Microsoft to enable fingerprint authentication without third-party software for Windows 7. Unfortunately, the settings to set up the fingerprint scanner do not always show up in the Windows 7 control panel. To set up the fingerprint scanner you usually can navigate to Control Panel

HP MediaSmart Server ex485 review

I bought my HP MediaSmart Server quite a while ago and I have had a few random posts about it but I wanted to do an official review to let you know what I think of it. In order to successfully review this I am going to break it up into 2 sections: hardware and

HP 2730p Review

I am up for a new computer at work and I couldn’t force myself to go with a netbook as my main laptop just yet. I currently have a HP 8510p and it works well for my needs. My biggest problem is its size. Sure the 15″ 1680×1050 screen is great but 80% of the

How-to Fix a Video Card in the Oven

I recently happen to come across a video card that had problems with 3D rendering. I usually would just throw out the video card and get a new one, but when the video card is a Nvidia 8800 GTX I just couldn’t throw away the card no matter how bad it was broken. Luckily shortly

Netbook Bios Idea for ISO Files

So I was thinking the other day after I found this article over at Lifehacker about WinCDEmu that can auto-mount .iso, .img, etc. files into virtual drives in Windows. I know physical media is slowly dying out and it probably won’t be too long until we don’t have those formats any more. But wouldn’t it

Video Podcast 3

I recording a “video podcast” which was more of a review of the Logitech PS3 bluetooth to IR adapter, Windows 7 media center, SecondRun.tv, and Hulu desktop. And here is part 2

Recycling hard drive parts for rocking!

I never saw the appeal of buying all new Rock Band instruments if you already owned the first generation instruments. There was one thing however that made me really like the new Rock Band guitars, and no it wasn’t the new wood finish. This weekend I finally added the one part that I really wanted.

Windows Home Server install error

It was driving me crazy all day yesterday to have an error on the HP MediaSmart server I was trying to set up. The error I was getting was: “The operation cannot be completed at this time. Please try again later. If the problem persists, please contact Product Support” In case you are wondering the

Zune Originals unboxing(s)

Beth got a Zune last year and when she bought it we decided that we wanted to personalize it with some laser etching. The easiest way we found to get this done was to order a Zune Originals device instead of trying to laser etch it through a third part company. They also have tons

Vantec NexStar MX enclosure review

So, when I bought my NAS I started transferring over everything I wanted to keep on it. But then I realized that 500 GB would not be enough room to store everything. Instead of returning the NAS and getting a bigger one, which I did not have money for, I decided to keep the 500