Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Measure your typing speed

Measure your typing speed by typing a small text, see how fast your fingers are

http://labs.jphantom.com/wpm/



Sunday, May 27, 2007

Acer Travelmate 2490 Modem Driver XP

Get the WIRELESS DRIVERS for Windows XP for Acer Travelmate 2490

Company: Acer
Product: Travelmate 2490
Product Number: 2493NWLMi
Model Number: BL50
Wireless Adapter: Atheros AR5BXB63

Problem:
The drivers for the modem from the original cd supplied won't install

Solution:
Do as I have instructed on the video AFTER installing the audio drivers(a Microsoft Hotfix KB888111 for HD audio installs during the audio drivers installation which also applies for the modem)



Watch Install Instructions in Flash Video

Asus F2Hf Wireless Atheros Driver XP

Company: Asus
Product: F2Hf series
Product Number: F2Hf-5A025
Wireless Model: Atheros AR5BXB61

Problem:
Can't find wireless XP driver to download on the official Asus support site.

Solution:
Download 802.11 Atheros Driver XP

Friday, May 11, 2007

ESET Smart Security Available for testing

ESET the original creator of the famous Antivirus Software NOD32, released the long awaited Security Suite which is in Beta phase now. Besides a very good piece of antivirus program, it includes a firewall and an antispam module. I have used NOD32 for more than 7 years and I've been to the nastiest and meanest sites known to mankind and I can tell you it is a record breaking antivirus program. The guys from ESET are among the best if not THE best antivirus developers, but they seem to be terrible advertisers. From all the people I've recommended this antivirus to, there is not a single person to complain about it. Indeed, they are all grateful to me, bringing me presents, sacrifices and asking me to merry their daughters as to this day. Ok, ok I exaggerated for the most part, but if they could compare it to Norton's piece of junk they sure will do those things for me. :) So as I was saying, ESET Security Suite is about to be released. At the moment there is a beta available for testing at:

http://www.eset.com/beta/

I've installed this little guy and man I'm so happy about it. I'm struggling hard to find a bug in it, but I can't (I hope they will give away the final to beta testers who haven't submitted any bug :) ). As I can recall, compared to other "top" antivirus programs like Kaspersky and McAfee, the only thing NOD32 had lower rating for was: "Ease of use". Well now its been all taken care of. When installed by default ESS is so easy to use that it's almost like a "set it and forget it" solution. At first I was a little scared about it, since I'm very skeptical about "set&forget stuff" even if it gets the job done right, I still want to mess around with the settings. :) In fact, not having detailed info about my pc connectivity and what ESS does in background was something I was seriously getting worried about when finally there it was, an option at: "User Interface" called "Advanced Mode". When you tick that, you have complete control over your computer's security modules. At the firewall setting, you can see which program uses what ip/port to connect where. Now this option is something I really appreciate in a firewall and it is done so elegantly. The only thing I can complain about is the Vista "glassy look". Most of the guys will like this, but I'm a classic interface fan. But from their point of view, I can tell they will love it. All in all a great piece of software for your PC's security, try it and you won't regret it.

Disclaimer: I'm not related to ESET's personnel in any way, I don't work for ESET, nor do I do this for an affiliate program of theirs. I just want to cut your own misery, I'm a messiah baby, trying to bring heaven to earth, hooray for me!

P.S. By the way don't forget to write your comments thanking me that I introduced you to ESS if you were using some of the other antivirus crap. ;)

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Asus X51R series XP Audio Drivers

Today I sold an Asus X51R laptop and after installing Windows XP I put the drivers cd supplied when I come to realize that there are only Vista drivers on it! Man enough is enough, I don't know what those Ms guys are doing for the notebook manufacturing companies, but this Vista propaganda is no good. Not good for the end users, and even worst for us, salesman at pc retail stores >:]

I've downloaded the drivers for XP from the Asus Support site and every driver installed fine except for the audio and the modem. I started to get annoyed with this "right cd/wrong driver" problem, happening to me pretty often lately, when suddenly while searching trough the net, I came across a microsoft hotfix needed for the High Definition Audio to work.

Company: Asus
Product: X51Rseries
Product Number: X51R-AP016
ID: 1A

Problem:
The audio drivers on the cd supplied are perfect, but there is no Microsoft Hotfix for the high definition audio included and therefore windows Xp won't recognize the audio and modem.

Solution:
Hydrogen Audio Forum Post with download link for MS Hotfix KB888111.exe

Download, install the hotfix from the link at the forum and your HD audio and modem driver should be installed fine.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Acer Travelmate 2490 Wireless Driver XP

Another one bites the dust...

Company: Acer
Product: Travelmate 2490
Product Number: 2493NWLMi
Model Number: BL50
Wireless Adapter: Atheros AR5BXB63

Problem: The driver supplied with the cd gets installed if the instructions provided by acer are followed, but it has an exclamation mark at the device manager so wireless won't work.

Solution:
  1. Download Driver 802ABG Atheros ver.5.1.1.9.xp
  2. Watch Installation Instructions in Flash Video
If you have similar troubles installing drivers on another acer model, you can try different drivers from different models of acer notebooks, and also try the "Don't search" option like I showed in the video if it won't install automatically.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

MSI Megabook M673 No Audio Drivers?

I don't know what is it with these notebook manufacturers these days, it's like some kind of trend to have at least one driver mistaken/not working on the original driver cd provided. I think maybe if they put contextual ads at their 'download drivers' pages they could double profits. Here is another notebook from MSI to which the original driver cd lacks proper audio drivers. There are audio drivers on it, but they won't match. I've downloaded the ones from the Realtek site and they worked like a charm! Here is the info for the model and the original download page at MSI:

Company: MSI
Product: Megabook M673
Product Number: M673X-011EU (I think the same scenario goes for the M673X-013EU)

Problem:
The original cd provided with the laptop contains audio drivers, but they won't install.

Solution:
MSI M673 Realtek Audio Drivers Download Page