Extend MSN Messenger with free Messenger Plus! Live

If your a user of Microsoft’s internet messaging / chat client, Microsoft Messenger Live, you should check out a suite of tools from Messenger Plus! Live – http://www.msgpluslive.net/

Add-ons and features include a hide from boss shortcut (great for the office), blocking of groups of contacts, notification of emails from a non-hotmail account, tabbed chatting and many more.

Best of all, these suite of tools are free to download – well worth checking out.

New Asus 900 EEE PC Coming

Later this month, the new Asus 900 EEE PC will hit the shops. The new sub-notebook laptop houses a larger screen (8.9 inches from 7 inches) with improved resolution, double ram memory, larger solid state hard drive and improved web camera.

Whilst the Asus EEE PC is a wonderful device, it is not a main machine replacement. However for €400, it is a great mobile device. With the availability of a pre-installed XP version, anyone looking for a light weight laptop should give this machine a look.

However, hold off buying one until the summer. Online rumours suggest a new model will be coming soon with the new Intel Atom / Diamondville processors – that’s when I’ll be purchasing mine.

Transfering Nokia data to a new Nokia phone

Quite a few people have asked me about transferring data (text, contacts and files) from an old mobile to a new phone.

Whilst setting up my new Nokia phone, I noticed a back-up function within the Nokia PC Suite. This utility makes a back-up of the phone , which can be redeployed to the new Nokia. This enabled me to quickly transfer my contacts, calender and texts to my new phone.

How to do

1. Download the latest version of the Nokia PC Suite.
2. Open the download and follow the install instructions.
3. Create a connection between the PC and the phone using either a USB cable or bluetooth.
4. Select the back program and follow the instructions.
5. To deploy the back-up on the new phone, select the back-up option
6. Then select restore, then follow the instructions.

Vista SP1 disables ZoneAlarms

Came across an interesting problem this week. A PC which had been updated to Vista Service Pack One was disabled from accessing the internet.

The cause was a failure with ZoneAlarms. The user hadn’t updated the ZoneAlarms software with the release for Vista SP1 before installing the Vista update.

This caused the Internet to be shutdown. The only resolution was to uninstall ZoneAlarms, which opened up the internet access then reinstall the current Vista SP1 version at ZoneLabs website to enable the internet with ZoneAlarms protection.

Learning a Vista lesson the hard way

I finally fixed my Vista Ultimate desktop this weekend, after nearly a year of trying.

To cut a long story short, when removing Vista over a year ago, the motherboard and graphics card blew-up. I rebuilt the machine, however it crashed repeatedly and ground to a halt when burning CD’s / DVD’s.

However a report last week as to the cause of Vista crashes, stating that 40% of reported failures where due to NVidia graphics cards got me thinking.

I purchased a new 256mb graphics card, capable of Directx 10 and Vista compatible, to replace the old 32mb graphics card Directx 9 (as I don’t play any PC games it made sense at the time), and hey pesto, my PC is as fast as I day I brought it.

Hence the lesson – Graphic cards for Vista should be at least 256mb of Ram and Directx 10 compatible to cope with the this visually remanding operating system.

Will XP live on and undermine Vista?

Microsoft have announced that XP will continue to be available beyond the June 2008 deadline.

UMPC’s (Ultra Mobile PC’s like the Asus EEE PC) and developing countries will be able to purchase a specially produced Home version of XP for use upon “low powered” devices.

However, this seems to further undermine Vista. Whilst the threat of Linux being deployed by manufactures of UMPC’s may require Microsoft to respond, surely it would be in Vista and Windows 7 long term interest to kill XP in June, and deploy a version of Windows Mobile to these devices?

Skype enables video calling for Linux

Skype, the ebay owned Internet Phone company, have launched Skype Beta 2.0 for Linux supporting video calling.

Also included is group chatting with upto 100 contacts and conference calling with up to nine people, along with other benefits including low-cost international calling and free Skype PC to Skype PC calls.

Download the Linux Beta at http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/linux/beta/