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Utilities for Windows Media Center 2005 and Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate

OCUR BIOS Check Utility - This utility will allow you to quickly check to see if your Windows Vista PC has the correct information in the BIOS to be “Digital Cable Ready”.  This is necessary for the use of Digital Cable/OCUR tuners. To use, extract the BAT and EXE files from the ZIP, to the same folder on your hard disk. Then double click the OCURCHECK.BAT file to execute it. NOTE: This utility is only for use on Windows Vista, as MCE 2005 does not support Digital Cable Tuners.

MCE 2005 Share Recorded TV - This utility has not been tested in Windows Vista.

MCE Live TV Buffer Manager - (MCE 2005 and Vista) - Allows you to change the size of the Live TV Pause Buffer from 30 minutes, up to two hours in 15 minute increments.  Based on code by Schmecky at: TheGreenButton.com.

Upgrade from MCE 2002 to MCE 2004

For users who missed the opportunity to upgrade to Media Center 2004, there’s good news.  Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, will automatically upgrade the previous version of Media Center to Media Center 2004. 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/upgrade/default.asp

Electronic Program Guide download and Media Center Extender connection issues

McAfee’s Privacy Service is currently known to cause problems with the Media Center Extender’s ability to connect to the Media Center host PC.  It can also prevent the Media Center PC from being able to download the data for the Electronic Program Guide. At this time, there is no work around. The only fix is to uninstall McAfee’s Privacy Service.

DVD Decoders

A list of available DVD Decoders (required for Recorded TV and DVD playback) and where they can be purchased.

Windows Media Center Resources

Windows Media Center Extender

Introduction

This article is about how to format any system, for any problem which causes a drastic decrease in ur system’s performance or file corruption while improperly loading some softwares, the former makes u bored when u sit woking with it and the later some times doesnt let ur system to boot itself, when ur system doesnt boot there is no possibility of performing a manuall delete, in that case a definate format is required.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need

• cd rom of the Operating system (eg: windows 2000, windows xp, windows vista)
• Mother board cd rom

Steps

1

Step One

When you have descided to format your system, you have to insert the OS cd rom (Operating System CD rom) in the disk drive of your computer.

2

Step Two

Then restart your computer. Before it gets to boot in you should press the ‘F8′ key (function key), then it shows all the list of drives in your computer such as hard disk drive,Cd rw/dvd rw etc. Now you have to use the arrow key and select the disk drive in which you have inserted the OS CD ROM, Then Press ‘ENTER’. Then the OS cd gets read, and now you will be asked to press any key to boot from the cd (ie OS cd which you have inserted in the disk drive) now on the bottom of the screen there appears some thing like press ‘F6 to install kernal debuger’ etc You need not install any thing of these. After a few minutes there appears a screen which says press ‘R’ To repair the OS or to continue fresh installation press escape ‘ESC’, You need to choose the second one (ie press ESC). Now the screen shows the list of local disks (ie hard disks partioned as C,D,E etc) Usually OS is setted up in C drive, you selct the C drive and press ‘ENTER’. And to format Press ‘F’. Normally all the systems are in FAT 32 format you better select the same.

3

Step Three

after formatting the system copies some files from the OS CD ROM and then it gets restarted, now booting in it again asks you to press any key to boot from the Cd *DONT PRESS ANY KEY* as this process is already compleated. Now your system boots in normally and copies all the files it requires from the OS CD ROM. and then asks you to perform some simple steps.
*NOW YOUR SYSTEM BECOMES A NEW ONE*

As all the files in your C drive are deleted while formatting, there will not be a display driver, audio driver etc… you need to install those from the mother board cd provided to you.

*You system will not be safe untill u install an antivirus and install it first in your system now*

Overall Tips & Warnings

• Get the genuine Operating system.
• Buy original anti virus.

Introduction

You boot up your computer, make a few phone calls, eat lunch, return to your PC and Windows is still booting up. This is a frustrating fact of life when using Microsoft’s operating system. But there are ways to speed up the process.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Steps

1

Step One

Check out the Windows startup folder and delete any links to programs you don’t want loaded when Windows boots up.

2

Step Two

Run msconfig from the command line in the Windows Start menu. Click on the startup tab and uncheck anything you don’t want to run. Be careful not to uncheck files that are essential to the operation of Windows.

3

Step Three

Defragment your hard drive(s). This process reorganizes your files so they will run faster and eliminates the wasted time it takes Windows to find files associated with your programs.

4

Step Four

Clean up and edit the Windows registry. Use a registry editor to analyze and tighten up the registry so it loads faster when Windows boots up. Also, some editors can defrag the registry to make it run more efficiently.

5

Step Five

Turn off anything that searches for updates automatically at startup or loads messages telling you to register. Don’t do this, however, for Windows Update and the update for your virus protection software.

6

Step Six

Troll the Internet for programs that will automate the process for you. Several are listed below. Some will load automatically at startup after you install them to monitor your system, so you may want to use msconfig to stop the process.

Introduction

The time may come that you’ll need to reinstall your Windows XP. It could happen. Maybe you’ll add a new motherboard or hard drive. Maybe you’ll get constant errors and problems that just won’t go away. Or perhaps you’re a neat freak who wants to rid yourself of clutter and start fresh with a clean operating system. If you do reinstall Windows XP, then you’ll need to re-activate it too—that is, unless you keep this tip handy

See, the first time you activated XP it created a file called “wpa.dbl” that lives in the WINDOWS\system32 folder. By creating a backup of this file on disk, you can simply put it back into the folder after reinstalling XP and avoid the whole re-activation hassle. Here’s how…

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Steps

1

Step One

 Click to enlarge

Go to My Computer then select your Hard Drive (usually drive C). Go to the WINDOWS\system32 folder and scroll way down until you find the wpa.dbl file.

2

Step Two

Right-click and choose “Send To” then either Floppy Drive (make sure you have a disk in) or CD-R/RW.

3

Step Three

Now, when you reinstall Windows XP you’ll come to the activation screen—decline to activate and let the install finish.

4

Step Four

Restart your computer in Safe Mode (keep hitting F8 at start-up then when the Advanced Boot Options menu appears arrow down to Safe Mode).

5

Step Five

Find your way back to the WINDOWS\system32 folder. It’s a good idea to rename the wpa.dbl file you’re replacing just in case you run into problems, so call it something like “wpa.nothing”.

6

Step Six

Get the backup disk and copy the old wpa.dbl file back to the WINDOWS\system32 folder and reboot.