What is Windows Home Server?

Review of the One for All SV9380 Full HD Indoor Aerial

Reviews
Tech

Andrew Edney

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Feb 21, 2010

One For All has launched a powerful new Full HD indoor aerial. The SV9380 aerial is targeted at the owners of the 12 million TV sets that still receive analogue terrestrial broadcasts, as well as offering crystal clear pictures to those who can already receive HDTV via Freeview.

TV reception in the UK is gradually being replaced by a digital signal and by 2012 the analogue signal will be switched off – yet 20% of all televisions remain analogue. Nearly all sets can be converted to receive digital TV via their aerial with a Freeview box.
But one in ten analogue users may also need to replace or adjust their aerial before they can join the digital revolution – warns One For All.

Rooftop aerials over ten years old may have corroded, especially in seaside locations, or they may be pointing in the wrong direction. With a weak analogue signal you just get progressively worse reception, whereas with digital it may mean you simply can’t watch TV at all – there’s no halfway house of poor digital frequency.

After the digital switchover, aerials will also need to be ‘wideband’ to pick up all services – otherwise you may find you can’t receive channels such as C5 and ITV2, as well as new TV and digital radio channels added in the future.

Even homes with cable or satellite still have second or third TV sets in kitchens and bedrooms that receive their signal via an aerial – which may now need upgrading. If there is no accessible TV point for an external antenna, a high-powered internal aerial is the solution.

‘Dual Patch’ technology means it’s two aerials in one, with a 180 degree angle of reception – so there’s no longer any need to adjust the aerial inch-by-inch to get the best signal! And the triple filters eliminate any interference from WiFi and mobile phones.

Here is how One for All describe the SV9380:

Amplified indoor antenna for superb reception of Full HD television, DVB-T television and DAB radio
Dual Patch technology increases reception capability and eliminates unwanted signals
SignalClear technology: Only boost your picture quality and not the interference
State of the art amplifier usingmicrocontroller amplifies terrestrial High Definition television signals up to 42dB
Minimal interference through the active triple noise reduction filters
Unique design with Aluminumstand for placement on shelf or cabinet

Technical Specifications

Amplifier up to 42dB
VHF, UHF and FM channels
Size 280mm x 138mm x 48mm
1.5 meter gold plated coaxial cable included
Powered via DVBT receiver or via included AC/DC adapter

My Netbooks Book Is Out

Andrew Edney

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Feb 20, 2010

6

I am very happy to announce that my new book, Netbooks in Easy Steps was published here in the UK this week (it will be out in the US shortly).

As it sounds, the book is a guide to all things netbooks and is in clear, easy to follow full colour steps.

The topics include what a netbook is, various Windows 7 features, and much much more.

Why not buy a copy today – please… 🙂

Add-In Central Release Candidate for Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

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Feb 20, 2010

5

The guys over at HomeServerLand.com have posted about the exclusive availability of the release candidate for their cool new Add-In for Windows Home Server known as Add-In Central.

Here is what they say about it:

Add-In Central is the first and only centralized add-in manager that allows you to browse, download and update add-ins conveniently through your Windows Home Server Console. Add-In Central is fast, simple, and provides you with the information you need when determining which add-ins are right for you.

Add-In Central Features

Notifications of new updates for Windows Home Server Add-Ins
One Click upgrades that will provide a simple and fast way to upgrade your current Add-Ins
Browse, find information with screenshots, and download Add-Ins directly from your Windows Home Server console
View Add-Ins by popularity, category, or find the latest ones to hit the market
Direct links to support forums which help improve communication and provide direct troubleshooting support
Screenshots and descriptions help you make the right choice when downloading new Add-Ins

If you want to try out Add-In Central (I know I do) then if you are one of the first 100 people to sign-up you will get access to it. I’ve signed up and so my fingers are crossed – more information when I get access to the beta (hint hint Alexander) 🙂

Click here to sign up for this exclusive beta

Twonky Update TwonkyMedia Manager

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 20, 2010

0

Today Twonky have updated their TwonkyMedia Manager software to version 1.3.1. This release also includes TwonkyMedia Server 5.1.3.

TwonkyMedia manager streams your music, photos and videos to compatible devices in your home. Playing media on a compatible device is easy. Just drag and drop a media file or playlist onto the icon for the device. For example, if you want to play a slideshow of your favorite photos on your TV, simply drag the playlist onto the TV icon.

To learn more about Twonky, click here.

What’s New in TwonkyMedia Manager v1.3.1

– Now includes TwonkyMedia server 5.1.3
– We now automatically back the entire database — including all custom fields when the Rebuild Database button is pressed
– Implemented changes to improve pausing of videos on Samsung TVs
– Improved device discovery. Also fixed a problem that sometimes caused renderers to take a long time to appear
– Fixed streaming problems with XBOX 360 and some DivX, Xvid or MP4 video files
– Fixed an issue where M3U playlist import didn’t work unless rescan was set to automatic
– Fixed a problem that made it appear like playlists didn’t go away after they were deleted
– Fixed a problem deleting playlists on HP MediaSmart PCs running TwonkyMedia server
– We’ve inserted a slider in-between the devices and playlist section. The gives you more control on screens like a limited number of vertical pixels and also allows users with large monitors to show more device icons at once
– Reduced the amount of media feed-related traffic that TMM generates. Now the media feeds only be refreshed when a user presses F5 or asks to have the feeds updated (not automatically during server rebuilds)
– Updated the TwonkyMedia Manager installation guide
Each renderer’s shuffle and repeat button state is now independent from the others on a network. – Before it was carried on to the next renderer selected
– Can now find and push the best resource among DTCP-IP content
– Playback no longer stops after transferring playlists from one PC to another using “Follow Me”
– Fixed some issues in the Now Playing window between two PCs
– Fixed a problem that caused a pushed slideshow to stop on the first photo with some transition time settings
– Fixed a problem where the shift select and delete key didn’t work properly with playlists
– Fixed a possible crash in streaming for Shoutcast stations
– Fixed problems with text in the Settings screen for non US languages being too wide for the Settings window
– Fixed a problem where the French Help file was not properly displayed
– Pressing play in Browse or Folder views now plays the first available media item
– Fixed some problems with trial expiration
– Fixed a problem pushing FLAC playlists to a Denon receivers and Philips networked music players
Known Issues
– The first time you launch TwonkyMedia manager, it has to scan all of your media and import all of your playlists. This can take several minutes. During this process, TwonkyMedia manager may appear a little sluggish and you may not see all of your media until this process is complete.
– You can’t change some media feed settings or view personalized feeds if you’re running as a 30-day trial
– You cannot push media feeds to Samsung network-ready TVs. Please use TwonkyBeam instead. It’s a free download

To View the TMM v1.3.0 Release Notes click here: http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7294

To download the update, click here: http://www.twonkymedia.com/manager_download.html

We Are Making Some Changes

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 20, 2010

9

As you may have noticed last night and this morning, we are making some changes to Using Windows Home Server.

We have a new logo and we are also changing the look and feel of the site.

These things take a little time so please bear with us whilst we are making these changes and apologies in advance if things look strange or don’t work correctly straight away!

Any any comments are welcome 🙂

And yes, there is spelling mistake in the logo – that is being corrected by our designer – it was 2am when he did it 🙂

UPDATE: the spelling mistake in the logo has now been corrected – thanks Craig 🙂

WHS Mobile Add-In for Windows Home Server Updated

Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

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Feb 19, 2010

2

WHS Mobile is a utility that lets you manage your Windows Home Server files, port forwards, and users using your iPhone or iPod Touch, and it has just been updated to version 1.5.3.4. It is written by Brent Friedman.

Here is what Brent says about WHS Mobile:

WHS Mobile can give you access to your shared files and manage them from your iPhone. You can delete and rename any file no matter the type.

Search your home server’s shares using your iPhone. WHS Mobile interfaces with Windows Search to provide speedy results.

Stream your MP3’s and videos (.mp4, .m4v,.mov, and.3gp) that are stored on your Windows Home Server directly to your phone.

View and download your photos that are on your Windows Home Server.

Upload photos from your device’s photo library or directly from the camera.

Manage your user accounts from your device. Enable, disable, and delete users without the need to log-in from a computer.

Forgot to forward a port to your Home Server before you left? Just open up WHS Mobile and add it on the go.

Here is what Brent says about the update:

What started out as a minor update for iPhone turned into a more substantial update. With three major changes, push notifications; being able to create shares from the device; and video streaming, this version is worth the update.

In addition to the changes below, I am also half way done implementing (just need to add it to the iPhone UI): creation of users and their shares, editing share name and description, and changing user permissions on existing shares.

Alerts from push notification will show the title and body of the alert. However, I have not yet implemented the health/notification viewer so the “View” button will only launch the application. If you have any problems with push notifications, please let me know (bug [at] compugeeksoftware [dot] com) so I can fix any problems that arise. I was unable to test the distribution build of the push notifications due to the required change in certificates. Although, it worked just fine in the development certificate and build.

In this version, you cannot edit the share permissions after creation so make sure to add any needed accounts with the proper none/read/write access right after creation (permission dialog will automatically pop-up right after you create the share).

Change Log

Fixed: If you enable or disable a user, the image would not update to show the changes (e.g.: gray to show disabled)
Fixed: Image downloading would throw a strange error.
Fixed: “Download” button would show up when you tapped a file.
Fixed: Some problems with symbols and streaming.
Fixed: Problems with commonly used symbols in file and folder names.
Fixed: Some other minor things.
Added: Push notifications of server alerts.
Added: Ability to create new shares and set the permissions.
Added: Ability to play unprotected .mp4, .mov, .m4v, and.3gp video files.
Added: Ability to play unprotected .m4a audio files (untested).
Added: Ability to create folders.
Added: Ability to delete folders.
Added: Ability to view .txt files.
Added: Ability to set the port to connect on.
Changed: The thumbnail now stretches to fit the 64×64 pixel block instead of aspect ratio resizing.
Changed: Redesigned the users tab to be more aesthetically pleasing – the first tab to be redone in that fashion.

Click here to learn more about WHS Mobile.

The add-in is free, but you need to purchase the iPhone or iPod Touch app from the Apple App Store. Its only a few dollars and well worth it.

I will be doing a full review shortly (when I can find the time!) 🙂

DA Document Manager 2010 Add-In Software Update for Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 19, 2010

5

Yesterday Group Seven Technology released a software update for their DA Document Manager 2010 Windows Home Server product.

Here is what is included in the update:

3.1.100 – WHS – Update Release – February 18, 2010

Client Connector

Fixed, Subcategories in the Workspace Form are still shown for all Categories when they are assigned to only one Category
Fixed, Archive Recovery fails if the archive title contains an illegal character
(Tilde ~, Open Quote `, Plus +, Bar |, Ampersand &, Single Quote ‘)
Fixed, Under Search Documents; Advanced Options Group expansion setting is not remembered when the application is restarted
Fixed, Under Search Documents; Date Created does not display when clicking on Search Results in the Auto Fill Form box

WHS Add-in

Fixed, Add-in will display a popup error messages when trying to connect to the DA WebService if a user manually overrides the Default Website port
Fixed, Add-in does not allow the database web service connection port to be changed

To download the update, which is 25.5MB, click here.

We will be doing a full review on DA Document Manager 2010 in the next few weeks.

New Windows Home Server Small Office Home Office (SOHO) Page

Andrew Edney

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Feb 19, 2010

0

With the constant shifting of Windows Home Server from not just a product for use in the home, to one that can be used in a small or home business (also referred to as SOHO), Microsoft have added a page to their official Windows Home Server website.

As you can see, at the moment there isn’t much new content, however this will change over time and there are some good videos and case studies, including one with my good friend and fellow MVP Kevin Royalty.

So if you have a small or home based business, have you looked at Windows Home Server yet? If not, maybe it’s time you did.

To go take a look at the site, click here.

The Media Center Show #244 – 40TB Home Server

Andrew Edney

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Feb 19, 2010

0

Ian over at the Digital Lifestyle has just released the Media Center Show podcast, number 244.

Here’s what Ian has to say about this weeks show:

This week joining me is Dale Kirkwood a Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server enthusiast, we will be talking about his massive 40TB Windows Home Server and how he is integrating it with his Media Center setup. Dale talks about the hardware he used to build his home server and the software and services he uses to connect it all up

I also have a roundup of the weeks news which includes my thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 announcements and new addins for Windows Media Center that enable you to get TV content in to Media Center without a needing a TV tuner

So, someone with a 40TB Windows Home Server. Can you do better? If so drop us a link, or leave a comment, we would love to hear from you!

And as usual you can listen to the show by clicking here.

The Home Server Show Podcast 77 Out Now

Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 18, 2010

1

Dave and the guys over at the Home Server Show have released show number 77.

Here is what Dave has to say about this weeks show:

The Home Server Show 77 – Windows Mobile 7 Series and your Windows Home Server, News, Forums, and posts. On show 77 I am joined by AJ(usacomp2k3), Jim, and Chris. We discuss just about everything surrounding Windows Home Server.

Gladinet

WHS Mobile

Cloudberry

Shadow Copy on WHS

Midwest Gaming Classic

As usual you can listen to it from here.

Are You Having Problems With the Outlook 2010 Beta?

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 18, 2010

3

I have been using the beta of Office 2010 for quite a while now, going back to before the public release! I am really happy with Office 2010, use it on my all my boxes and am also in the process of updating my PowerPoint 2007 book to be PowerPoint 2010.

Tim even wrote a post on Office 2010 a few months ago.

In early January I started noticing that some of my emails that I was sending were very large in size, sometimes over 1MB, even though I only wrote a few lines. I then started getting people contacting me and saying that I was sending them blank emails. This was especially true of users of Hotmail and other web clients using portable devices like iPhones.

After doing lots of testing I finally found out that Hotmail and other services wont display a message if it is over a certain size, and by that I mean the message itself, not a message with an attachment,

After doing more digging around online, I found that a lot of people were also having the same problems!

Then about a month ago, Microsoft published a blog post about this problem. This is part of what they said:

We have heard from some of you that you are running into an issue with large e-mail message sizes in the Outlook 2010 Beta. We want to update you on the status of this issue. There is a known bug in the Outlook 2010 Beta where the usage of number and bullet lists causes redundant CSS definitions to be included in each outgoing message. The outgoing message might not display correctly in a mail service where there is a limit to message size, such as Gmail, BlackBerry e-mail, or Craigslist.

Restarting Outlook removes all the extra CSS for new outgoing messages, although you might see remnants of this bug when responding to a message that was already inflated.

If you use number and bullet lists, close Outlook at the end of each day, and your new outgoing messages will return to their normal size. This bug has been fixed in later Outlook 2010 builds.

Now at the time, a lot of people, myself included were not very happy with the response. I know it is a beta, but this is quite a serious problem, and for my personally it was becoming a real issue when I was sending a one line email that was coming out over 1MB in size and people just getting a blank email from me because they couldn’t read it.

What was annoying was Microsoft’s stance that it was fixed in later builds and that most people were not actually going to get access to those builds, so people were either just going to have to live with it or stop using Outlook 2010 until it came out officially.

Well I am really happy to see today that Microsoft have actually released a fix for this – I guess they got some much negative feedback about this issue that they decided to do something about it. Well done!

What they say about the fix is:

This fix prevents future messages from consuming unnecessary space, but doesn’t resize existing messages. If you reply or forward an existing message that is affected by this bug, it remains enlarged.

Well at least it’s a solution, one I am using right now! If you are running Outlook 2010 you should go download this fix now so that you don’t run into this problem.

To read about the fix, and to download either the 32 bit, 64 bit, or both versions, click here.

HP Recommend KeepVault and KeepVault Pro for Your HP MediaSmart Server and Data Vault Windows Home Servers

Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 18, 2010

0

Today HP announced that it is adding KeepVault and KeepVault Pro from Proxure to its list of recommended applications for use with its HP MediaSmart and Data Vault Windows Home Server products.

As you know, we are big fans of KeepVault here at Using Windows Home Server, so it is great to see HP recommending its use.

If you want to know more about KeepVault, you can read our review we did last year by clicking here.

Here is the full press release:

HP is excited to add the KeepVault and KeepVault Pro and Business Online Backup services from Proxure to the list of recommended applications for use with the HP MediaSmart Server and HP Data Vault product lines. With KeepVault, customers now have the option to backup their Server online, protecting their data in the event of fire, flood, or other disaster. Critical business files or priceless memories can be recovered quickly and reliably.

KeepVault provides real-time online backup for any HP MediaSmart Server or HP Data Vault. KeepVault is designed for Windows Home Server and is fully integrated into the Windows Home Server Console. KeepVault is presented as a Windows Home Server Add-in, and is easy to install and intuitive to use. Included is an additional piece of software called KeepVault Connector which provides automatic synching of PC data and files to the HP MediaSmart Server or HP Data Vault.

KeepVault Pro and Business has all the great features of KeepVault plus additional value for advanced needs and small businesses. KeepVault Pro and Business enables best in class upload speeds, up to 3X regular KeepVault speeds. Data is encrypted prior to being sent, and remains encrypted in the cloud with secure 128 bit encryption (soon 256 bit). The Pro and Business version can backup multiple HP Data Vaults or HP MediaSmart Servers to the cloud, and allows remote access to files from any internet connected computer – at home, office, or on the road. KeepVault Pro and Business also includes administrative features such as enhanced alert notification, proxy server support, and admin lockdown.

Online storage options range from 20GB to 5TB, and customers can start their disaster recovery plan for as little as $3.60/month by creating a Login and installing the KeepVault software on the WHS device as an Add-in.

Customers can access the KeepVault Online Backup service presented by HP through the HP MediaSmart Server and HP Data Vault Add Software link located within the WHS Console or online directly at http://www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/everyday-computing/mediasmartserver/index.html.

KeepVault Online Backup will be available in English starting today, with other languages to be released in the near future. Look for a future communication and continue to check back via the Add Software link for updates and exclusive new features and functions designed for the HP MediaSmart Server and HP Data Vault product.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER FOR HP CUSTOMERS – Sign up for KeepVault now to receive up to 20% off the first year’s subscription.

We thank everyone for their continued support of the MediaSmart Server and HP Data Vault products.

To learn more about KeepVault, click here and to learn more about KeepVault Pro, click here.

Boxee Release a New Version of the Boxee Beta Software

Software

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 17, 2010

0

Today Boxee have released a new version of their Boxee beta software, version 0.9.20.10708.

We looked at the beta a few weeks ago – click here to have a refresher.

Here is what Boxee had to say:

The new version of the Beta includes almost no new features, but rather is focused on bug fixes. We focused on stability issues. Many hangs and crashes were identified and resolved. We spent a bunch of time trying to improve the never-ending saga of handling SMB shares.

All-in-all, more than 500 issues have been resolved.

Here are some of the changes and updates:

Multilingual keyboard support: under settings->appearance->region to add keyboards
Significantly improved video quality of our DXVA support
Regained support for older graphics cards (pre-2.0 pixel shader) which was broken after move to DXVA
Improved file scanning performance
Hardware acceleration of H.264 on Intel HD4500 cards
Hang on FLAC tag read over SMB
SMB crashes when canceling SMB operations
Hang on shutdown due to wait for SMB and file scanner
Hang in file scanner when manually scanning a folder
Hangs due to excessive locks around database pool
Hangs when left idle due to UDP sockets leak
Corrupted graphics on some ATI cards (X1600)
Log file cycling (every 32M, old log overrides boxee.old.log)
Present action dialog when clicking on DVD icon to allow browse/eject
Optimization to file scanning making it less IO intensive
Fixes to iPhone remote keyboard under Linux
Added support for m4b playback (audio books)
Crash in ID3 tag reading (playback and background scanning of some mp3 files)
Crash in some wav files which contained extra-info in the wav header (playback and background scanning)
Crash on some rss feeds caused by mis-parsing of empty http headers
Crash on image extraction from mp3 tags (in some cases)
win32: fixed runtime error in some cases where vc90 runtime was not installed properly
Dual screen issues. sometimes a movie would only show black screen when switching screens.
Allow apps to define properties for rtmp streaming
Playback of some internet video streams, mainly coming from playlists (partial read of the network buffer was causing wrong codec detection)
Playlist playback of internet video streams was sometimes using the music player instead of the video player
Playback of music from history (was not working and now it will open the folder played from)
Logout was broken enabling logging-in even after password change (was using stored cookie)
Win32: when launching boxee while another instance is running it will just bring the other instance to front

Download the new version from http://www.boxee.tv/download and help them continue to improve!

A Second Look at GodMode {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Timothy Daleo

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Feb 17, 2010

2

Have you been looking for a way to access all of your control panels in one spot? Want to consolidate your access to Windows options in one folder? Want to just try something cool? You should check out the “God Mode” in Windows 7.

Ina Fried over at CNET broke this story just before CES but apparently it did not get a lot of coverage in our circles. Andrew told me told me about it yesterday so I thought I would rehash the basics. A simple Yahoo search brought up 36,200 results but I have never heard of it.

Ina’s original article with a short video can be found at:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10423985-56.html

I am not sure where the God Mode comes in but I will run with it.