Many of the recommended tools made it into our top anti-malware programs list and we agree with the recommendations given. Once you’ve removed the malware, you should fix any issues present on your PC and then take steps to protect your PC from future attacks. A good start can be made by reading the PC Security Handbook.

What steps do you recommend when removing malware? How else can you protect your PC from infections?

Malware Removal Guide for Windows | Real Security via Windows Forums

Having the whole operating system on disc isn’t necessary if you just need to repair your Windows installation. Recovering or repairing your current installation of Windows is favorable because most recovery software that comes with brand name PCs will wipe your PC back to factory settings.You should have a repair disc on hand to deal with the following situations:

• You’ve made a change to your PC and it now won’t boot into Windows
• You get a message such as NTLDR is missing but your hard drive has not failed
• You get a virus on your PC and need command line access to fix the issue
• Windows starts to boot and then your PC power cycles

In this guide:

• How to make a Windows 7 repair disc yourself
• How to make a Windows 7 repair USB drive
• How to boot from a disc/USB drive and use it to repair your PC

Note: A repair disc cannot be used to install Windows and provides no functionality beyond that of a Windows installation disc. If you already have an installation disc, you can use that for system recovery.

Burn a Windows Vista/7 Repair Disc

To burn your own Windows repair disc you’ll need to be using Windows 7 or Windows Vista SP1 or later release:

1. Click Start, type create and click Create a System Repair Disc (Windows 7) or Create a Recovery Disc (Windows Vista)

2. Insert a CD/DVD, choose the DVD drive in which the disc resides and click Create Disc

Once the disc is finished, I recommend booting from the disc to test it—before you really need it.

Make a Windows Vista/7 Repair USB drive

If you own a netbook, don’t have an optical (CD/DVD/Bluray) drive etc., you should create a bootable USB repair drive.

To make a bootable Windows repair USB drive you’ll need to:

1. Download the Windows recovery disc
2. Make your thumb drive bootable
3. Copy the recovery files to your thumb drive

1. Download the Windows Recovery Disc

Do a web search for and download one of the following recovery discs

• Windows 7 32-bit Recovery Disc torrent
• Windows 7 64-bit Recovery Disc torrent
• Windows Vista 32-bit Recovery Disc  torrent
• Windows Vista 64-bit Recovery Disc  torrent

How to use torrents.

2. Make your Thumb Drive Bootable

To prepare your USB thumb drive, you will need to delete all the drive’s files, create a FAT32 active partition, and copy over the Windows recovery files. To do this:

2.1. Press Windows Key+R to open the Run dialog

2.2. Type diskpart and press Enter (If you don’t have diskpart, get it here)

2.3. Type list disk and press Enter

2.4.  Type select disk 3 where the “3″ is the corresponding number of your USB drive

2.5. Type clean and press Enter

2.6. Type create partition primary  and press Enter

2.7. Type active  and press Enter

2.8. Type format fs=fat32 quick  and press Enter

2.9. Type assign and press Enter to assign the USB drive a letter in Computer

3. Copy the Recovery Files to Your Thumb Drive.

To copy the files to your thumb drive:

3.1. Open the file you downloaded in step 1 with a utility capable of browsing ISO images (7 zip works well)

1. Download 7zip and install it
2. Right click the ISO file and select 7-Zip > Open Archive

3.2. Extract the contents of the ISO to the USB drive you formatted in step 2

Boot from a Disc/USB Drive and Use it to Repair Your PC

So now you’ve either downloaded a burned the Windows Vista/7 recovery disc, created your own Windows 7 recovery disc, or made a bootable Windows Vista/7 recovery thumb drive.

To boot from your disc/USB:

1. Insert your bootable repair disc/USB drive

2. Reboot your PC

3. When your BIOS is loading (if you have a brand-name PC, this is usually when you can see the brand’s logo), press the key that loads the boot options menu (this is usually displayed as an option on the screen and is typically the ESC/F8 key)

4. Arrow down to “CD-ROM Drive” / “DVD-ROM Drive” / “Removable Media” / “USB Media” and press Enter

The recovery software will take some time to load:

5. Now select your default keyboard layout:

6. After the software detects your installation of Windows, click Next:

What Can You Do with a Repair Disc?

A repair disc cannot be used to reinstall Windows but can perform many repair tasks. Here is just a small list of what you can do with a repair disc:

1. Startup Repair
2. System Restore
3. System Image Recovery
4. Windows Memory Diagnostic
5. Command Prompt

The most commonly used function (for me at least) is the Startup Repair. I use this when I get an error message like “NTLDR Missing”, “Unable to boot” etc. The startup repair checks the MBR, GPT etc for common errors and repairs them.

If you cannot boot into Windows because of corrupted settings, a virus etc, then you may find using a previously-created System Restore point will help you get back to Windows.

If you created a system image using Backup and Restore, you can use it to completely restore your computer to a previous state.

The memory diagnostic is used to check for bad memory sectors (more about the memory diagnostic tool.)

Finally, the command prompt can do (almost) anything the full command prompt can do while using Windows. This can be very useful to run tools like chkdsk to find out why your hard drive is suddenly not working.

For what functions have you used a system repair disc?

In my last article (An Explanation of the Pros and Cons of Using RAID on Your Computer), we discussed the problem of heat build-up during the very hot Auckland summer months and how a RAID 5 configuration with 4 disks can sustain the failure of a single disk. RAID protections provide one part of what should be an overall strategy to protect your data and your computer from heat.

In this piece we divert a bit from our standard hardware/software fare and look at the computing environment as a whole. We will postulate that a tidy workspace is, in fact, a happy workspace and suggest a few tricks to make your work-space more productive and more comfortable.

The three biggest factors driving the design of my workspace are heat, noise and clutter. If I can minimise these three and maximize my computing power and productivity (all within family budget constraints, of course), I will have archived the objective.

The three primary physical components available for modification are the room, the cabinet and the PC (also referred to as the Box or Tower).

The Room:

The ideal design would be a copy of a corporate computer room with climate control, raised floor and glass interior walls. Your computers would be rack-mounted and networked throughout your house with a patch panel to distribute computer services to every room.

If you’ve got the resources, and your wife will let you do it – please do.

The rest of us are probably stuck with a home office which is usually a converted bedroom, and we don’t have a lot of latitude for change.

My office has several problems that affect my productivity.

• It gets messy
• It gets hot
• and It gets noisy

As I get older I find it more and more important to keep my resources organised. So much stuff had accumulated in my office that I was spending more time looking for a resource than I was actually using it. Problem area #1 was first on my hit list. It is also made up of several components:

• Tools and parts and papers lying about
• Wires connecting the various bits of equipment
• Three out of five times the part or tool I needed was elsewhere

Number 1 has been the easiest to tackle with a quick fix. I’ve instituted a “no shop work” policy and banned all of my “project” tools back to the workshop in the garage. Additionally, I’ve developed an exit strategy that requires me to tidy up the office each night so I can hit the ground running in the morning.

To reduce the clutter and improve the look of the room a good part of the project was dedicated to removing or hiding all the visible wires.

Capping:

Ok, I confess, this picture is a bit staged and I wish I’d taken more pictures of the mess before blasting through with a clean-up, but you get the idea and probably have a scene like this of your own very much like it.

Capping is a square pipe tacked against the floorboard with a snap-on cover. Just tack the 3-sided part against the wall where you need it, run the wire inside, and then snap on the cover. Not quite as tidy as running the wire through the wall, but you need special tools and know-how to accomplish that. Capping is sold in a variety of sizes.

A big advantage to capping is that the cover can be removed and the wiring reconfigured to meet changing conditions.

Under the Carpet:

Depending on the size of your wire and size of the gap between the carpet and the molding, a thin wire can often be hidden in that space. Speaker wire is a good candidate for this, coaxial wire less so.

The wire can be pushed into the gap with almost anything that isn’t sharp (don’t use a fork for example). A chopstick is my tool of choice, there are more dangerous options …

Whenever you need to go under the carpet, always stay as close to the wall as possible – even the thinnest speaker wire will produce a lump.

Over the Roof:

In some circumstances a wire on the roof might be the best plan. The wire obviously needs to be of a grade that can withstand outdoor conditions, and any joins require extra weather- and water-proofing. Just be sure to tack it down securly. The tacks (below) are a good option as is hot glue or silicon. Don’t want the wire making any noise on a windy night.

Exterior wiring will eventually need to extend back into a room, a terminating plate (like the one shown above) is easy to install and gives the work a professional look.

Power Leads:

Mounting a power board on the back of a unit or on a nearby wall can give the appearance of order and the excess cable can be gathered and secured above the floor with cable ties, rubber bands, whatever, but a word of caution here, don’t wind up a big length of mains extension wire and leave it on the floor – it becomes a magnetic coil, heats up and bursts into flames.

Power leads emit radiation that can interfere with voice, data and video communication. As a general rule it’s best to keep the two types of cable separate. If you must run the two together and you get interference on the com lines, investigate shielded com lines as an alternative.

Many power boards have mounting holes on the back side of the board. In my experience these holes are very hard to line up correctly. Instead I’ll drill through those holes as they seem to be located in positions that avoid any internal wires and mount the board with screws drilled in from the front. Be sure to counter-sink the holes so that the top of the screw is flush with the board face and doesn’t interfere with any plugs.

Vanity Panel:

Basically it’s a large sheet of material that acts to cover the ugly stuff behind it

If you’ve run wiring through your desk some wires may hang down and look at bit messy, you can tidy these wires behind a panel to hide them from view. If you put this panel on hinges or make it easily removable you will still have plenty of flexibility should an equipment change be required.

You can do the same thing with walls

an inexpensive noticeboard did the trick here. I re-wired the power lead on my “Cent-o-Meter” to feed directly into the box eliminating the plug, and pinned the USB lead on my Weather Centre behind the board so it doesn’t show up quite so much.

Capping on Steroids:

In my particular situation a large number of cables must be run from the desk where my keyboard mouse and monitors are to the computer cabinet where my 2 PCs live crossing a space of clear carpet about a metre wide.

The solution shown below is a section of white square box down pipe attached to the wall with 2 screws. The shot above gives some indication of the wiring that would otherwise be exposed. A curtain rod is used to thread the cables from one end to the other.

In this picture you can also see another important tool in cable management – the white tags indicating what is at the far end. They are a bit pricey – $4.00 (US) for a pack of 24 but they can save you time and frustration when you are tracking down a fault in your system.

Cable Tidies:

There is a variety of gizmos available to help you in this effort. Number one is a pieces of 2 – 4 meters plastic tube split down the middle, into which a special installation tool can placed that will enable you to cover and contain a collection of wires. One big wire is easier work with (and looks better) than a bunch of smaller wires.

Number 2 is simple and free, although perhaps best suited to storing unused cables.

Number 3 – This “handcuff” looking device works like one too to clamp a number of loose cables in a single large thread.

Number 4 – These holders are fixed to the desk or the wall and hold a group of wires in place.

Number 5 – Velcro. Fairly expensive, but very re-usable

And lastly, Number 6 comes from the garden store. It’s a simple spool of light wire with a built-in cutter at the base. Intended for flowers, the wire does a good job on quick, temporary jobs.

Having a clean and tidy workspace may not be for everyone – it requires a little more work and a bit of discipline and may not, in the end, enhance your productivity. I’ve worked under my new regime for about a month now and I think I’m a bit more productive, but I know it keeps my wife happy and I find thinking about going in to my office to work a more pleasant experience.

But I won’t claim a final victory now. As with the currently accepted scientific theory: it’s only true until it’s not. In our next episode we’ll look at heat and noise.

In our next chapter we’ll take a look the storage cabinet and modifications to the PCs – both designed to improve system cooling.

A Live CD is an actual Windows Installation that you carry with you on a USB Flash Drive or CD/DVD. The Windows Installation is portable, meaning that you can have your own windows running on any PC you encounter. The Live CDs are most commonly used to repair computers that have crashed or to rescue data from a hard drive before doing a fresh installation. The great thing about a Live CD is that it does not alter anything on the computer you use (almost like a sandbox). You boot the computer as if it is your own (from the CD/DVD or USB). You can pre-install all the software you like, making it available no matter where you are. Sort of a Laptop, but without the hardware.

In the Linux World it has been around for years ( and as Windows XP). But Windows 7, well it’s been a longer road. You have of course been able to download illegal Windows Live Copies on the net for a while – but now at last I am able to show you have to create your own legal copy (for your personal use), provided you own a Windows Setup Disk and license.

Enough chit chat, let’s get on with it…

The overview

In order to create a Live CD from Windows 7, we need to download a utility called WinBuilder (download link at the end of this article). We also need a whole bunch of scripts to program our Live CD. Luckily there are hundreds of ready scripts available for us to download, so you don’t have to be a geek to get it working.  I have a set of working scripts available to you, but first, let’s look for those custom ones. Go ahead and download the WinBuilder application.

NOTE!
Do NOT place Winbuilder on your Desktop or other “User Related” folders.

1. Upon first launch, WinBuilder will open the Download Script Page, which allows you to browse through lots of available projects. The first thing we do is updating the servers list and choose the “winPE 7″ project. This is a beginners project, with most common scripts you need to get started. More scripts and functions may be added later on.
   
2. Choose “Complete Set” from the dialogue, and click Download.
3. Once a project has been downloaded, close the Download page or reboot WinBuilder (you can always go back and download other scripts and add ons by clicking on the Download Button in the main window). Should you come across a script you would like to use, it can also be added manually by copying it into the WebBuilder Project folder.
4. If you are a curious geek, who like to tweak everything, go ahead and look through the downloaded scripts, tweak everything from windows theme, wallpaper, sounds etc.

Running the scripts

1. Once a project has been chosen and tweaked, you need your Windows Setup Disk, as the scripts will copy everything they need from it.
2. Click The Source Button, and choose the path for the Setup Disk.
   
3. Next, Expand the Finalize Folder in the script overview window and choose the apropriate settings (Create ISO, copy to USB-drive etc.).
4. Then, click the PLAY button and wait while WinBuilder does the rest.
   
   
   Once Winbuilder is done you will find a folder in the Script folder called ISO which contain the finished Windows Live CD.
   
   Then burn it to a DVD or a Flash Drive, and you should be good to go.

NOTE!
If you are tweaking the script files, you will sometimes get unforeseen errors. Should you experience this, post a question in the WinBuilder Forums.

Making it easy

If you want a Live CD that works “out of the box”, try the one below. Unpack the files into your WinBuilder Projects Folder and restart the application. Tweak whatever you feel like, then follow the instructions in the “Running the scripts“-section above.

Downloads

NOTE!
The Megashare link requires a password: mintywhite (all lowercase)

WinBuilder Project (link 1) Password: mintywhite WinBuilder Project (link 2)

Download WinBuilder

Useful Links

• Script Add ons
• Win7PE Projects

PROS: Easy. No Expertise needed, what so ever. Just run it, follow the wizard. CONS: Still in Beta. But that’s about it VERDICT: If you are looking for a simple solution to create bootable Setup disks. This is the tool for you. It takes no more than 5 minutes to complete. PRICE: FREE VERSION REVIEWED: 0.7.0000 (BETA) DOWNLOAD: WinToFlash

WinToFlash

I know, there are many solutions on how to create a Bootable Installation Disk for Windows. In a post (not too long ago) Rich showed you how to do exactly that – “the old-fashioned way” (Read it Here). Now I bring you a great piece of freeware to do the job for you: WinToFlash. Don’t get me wrong, the “old school” still works, and good too. But if you feel uneasy using tools without a familiar GUI interface, then WinToFlash is the way to go.

Win2Flash is still in beta and does not (yet) come with an installation package. Simply Unzip the files to a folder and you are set.

What you need

1. Installation CD/DVD (original of course)
2. USB Flash Disk
3. Win2Flash Software

Any Windows Version – Easy

Win2Flash has two options: Wizard and Advanced. The Advanced settings allows you to control how your Flash Drive is formatted, which windows version to use and so on. For most users, the wizard will suffice.

1. After you unzip the Win2Flash software, insert the Windows Setup Disk and connect your USB Flash Drive.
2. Start Win2Flash and click the Wizard button, and Click Next (Twice)
3. In the Basic Parameter Window, choose the Windows Files and Flash Drive Path.
   
4. Click Next
5. Now Win2Flash will ask to format your Flash Drive and start copying the setupfiles.
6. Close the application when done (There is no Exit Button).

And that is it. WinToFlash takes no more than 5 minutes to complete, giving you a hassle free Flash Drive Setup Disk.

We have spoken before about removing Windows virus:

Test to See if Your Antivirus Software Works (Safe)

Remove Viruses And Malware in Safe Mode [How To]

Thomas has written a post about a program that restores several windows features:

Re-Enable 2.0 – Restore Windows functionality after virus and Trojan attack [Freeware]

In this post  we are going to use another approach with SuperAntiSpyware portable to do this:

Download the program

The advantages of using a portable program are many. For example we can keep that program on a USB drive. To download SuperAntiSpyware portable go to the following link:

SuperAntiSpyware Portable

and select download as you can see in the image:

Execute the program

Once you have download the program, you will see a “.com” file on your system. The name changes with every download so a virus cannot remove the program. Imagine what can happen if a resident virus detects you have inserted a USB with a file it knows is an antivirus. It can easily delete the file; due to this, the utility changes its name every time.

Double click the .com file and you will see a program like this:

Update the AntiSpyware utility

First of all you need to update the program so it will look if there is something new available. We all know how fast new malware appears so never forget this step.

Apply the  Fixes

Superantispyware hides this utility, full of repairs, into the preferences section so we have to go there:

Go to the repairs tab:

Here are some of the repairs you can select:

Enable start menu run, enable system tray, enable task manager, enable windows control panel, enable windows explorer folder options, home page reset, internet zone security reset, local page reset, remove desktop screen saver, remove explorer policy restrictions, remove internet explorer policy restrictions, and many more.

As you can see SuperAntiSpyware has some useful hidden features that will help you get your computer up and running as normal again.

Have you ever accidentally deleted the wrong photo? Or emptied the Recycle Bin and not realized that an important folder was in it? Unfortunately, it only takes a single mouse-click to lose a file.

So, what is the best way to go about restoring this lost data? It’s important to avoid write operations on the hard disk or flash drive inup anymore.question—if you can. Deleted files are never actually erased or destroyed; only the “pointer” to that specific file is gone, so it will not show

The good news is that the data will remain intact. The bad news, however, is that the Windows file system will mark the file as “overwriteable”. What this means is that the physical space used to store the deleted file is now designated as free space, where new programs can be installed, new files can be saved, or new data can be created. The accidentally deleted file will most likely be fully or partially overwritten, and in the latter case, it will be damaged.

By just turning on your PC and starting and shutting down applications, Windows automatically creates temporary files on your hard disk. Depending on your start configuration, this might be a few, or hundreds of, megabytes of data. You’ll eventually destroy the accidentally deleted file.

Three Data Recovery Solutions to Consider

First, a warning. Before you start the repair process, back up your entire disk or, if that’s not possible due to too many errors, copy all of your important data onto an external hard disk or burn it onto a DVD. Now we can get into how to remedy the situation through three options that won’t cost you a dime.

Depending on your situation, the following tools might come in handy for restoring your lost or damaged data. For those looking for a tool to easily rescue files from a hard disk, USB drive or camera card, the free trial for TuneUp Utilities’ Undelete feature is one of many great options available.

What about recovering data on damaged CDs or DVDs? Error correction in today’s laptops and PCs is great, but it can’t perform miracles. If you’re trying to access the files and the only thing you hear is the drive spinning around, I recommend CD Recovery Toolbox to get to your data and find out if it’s recoverable. I actually tried the free tool, which is capable of restoring CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays/HD DVDs, on three disks that were more than seven years old and heavily scratched. It worked flawlessly; I restored whole files that I backed up in 2003 and haven’t looked at since.

Lastly, if you’ve fallen victim to files that won’t open or just go missing all of a sudden, programs that suddenly won’t run anymore and show “invalid” file messages, or a Windows-based system that won’t boot up and gives hard disk warnings, try using your PC’s built-in disk checker. If you’re lucky, this is just a case of some bad drive sectors that can be easily repaired.

Here’s how to use Microsoft’s built-in disk checker. Click on the Windows Start orb, enter “cmd” and wait for the result to show up. Right-click on “cmd” and click on “Run as administrator”. Once the command shell pops up, enter “chkdsk /f /r /b”. This will launch the most effective repair tool Windows has to offer—it corrects all errors, finds and restores damaged sectors, and marks them as “bad” (if they are not recoverable). Finally, hit “Y” and restart your machine.

Depending on your hard disk, this can take a couple of hours. All of your files should come back as good as new, but watch out for further errors because should problems persist, there likely is a hard disk defect.

Tibor Schiemann is the President and Managing Partner of TuneUp. For more tips and tricks on restoring lost data and repairing damaged files—and keeping your PC running smoothly—visit the TuneUp Blog about Windows at http://blog.tune-up.com.

Now, more than ever, we carry more digital information on thumb drives and, in many cases, this information is sensitive and, in the wrong hands, could be used in ways we’d like to avoid. In this guide, I’ll show you how to encrypt your USB drive so that only you can access your data.

This guide covers the following steps:

1. Install TrueCrypt.
2. Use TrueCrypt to encrypt your thumb drive.
3. Access your encrypted data.

Install TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt can be used as a portable app, which is useful if you want to carry TrueCrypt around with you on the same drive with an encrypted container. I find using the containers isn’t the easiest solution so, in this guide, we’re going to install TrueCrypt on your PC and then use it to encrypt your whole thumb drive.

1. Download TrueCrypt and double click the installer to install it to your PC.
2. When asked, select Install to install the program files on your local machine.

Use TrueCrypt to Encrypt Your Thumb Drive

Once installed, you should insert your thumb drive into your PC and backup and data on the drive.

1. Open TrueCrypt and click a Create Volume.

2. Select Encrypt a non-system partition/drive and click Next.

3. Select Standard TrueCrypt volume and click Next.

4. Click Select Device…, click your thumb drive, click OK, and click Next.

5. Click Create encrypted volume and format it and click Next.

6. Select your encryption and hashing algorithms and click Next. I used the default options (I’m no encryption expert.) If you’d like to find out more about encryption and hashing algorithms, follow the links below:

• More information on Encryption Algorithms
• More information on Hash Algorithms

7. Click Next.

8. Set a password and click Next.

9. If your thumb drive is less than 4GB select FAT, if it’s over 4GB, select NTFS (the FAT file system doesn’t support files >4GB.) Click Format.

10. Make sure your files are backed up and click Yes.

11. Sit back and wait for your drive to be encrypted. This may take some time if you are on a slower PC and are formatting a drive that is large.

12. Once the encryption is complete, click OK.

Access Your Encrypted Data

Please note: Each time you insert your drive, Windows will ask you to format it–do not do this (Click Cancel.)

1. Insert your encrypted thumb drive, open TrueCrypt and select a drive letter. This drive letter will be used to access your data. Click Select Device.

2. Click your thumb drive and click OK.

3. Click Mount.

4. Type the password you set for the drive and click OK.

5. The drive will show up in the drives list.

6. Open Computer (Winkey+E) and double click the drive letter you just mounted.

Once you’ve finished with your data, go to TrueCrypt and click Dismount.

Download TrueCrypt

Download TrueCrypt

Back in a previous post (add a tuner) we talked about the features available in the TV section of Windows Media Center made possible by the installation of a TV tuner card.

In this article we’ll take you through the whole process, step by step, with plenty of screen shots. The tuner for this report is the WinTV-HVR-NovaT very similar to the model shown below.

Without a TV Tuner Card your Windows Media Center menu will only give you the option to set it up.

Any tuner will do so my next move was to plug in a fairly simple unit that I had lying around but, sadly my system wasn’t ready for it:

Fortunately, Windows 7 was smart enough to know what it needed:

we went through a download operation that I’m sure you are familiar with; just “save” the file to your “download” folder (if you don’t have one you should make one now and use it for every download: that way, they won’t get lost. Just make sure to clean it out every now and then ).

From your download folder, unpack the zip file and you’ll find the required setup files, one of which should say “setup” or “install” – something ending with a “.exe” suffix . Run that file and with any luck the correct driver will be installed.

Unplug your USB tuner and re-start your PC. Plug the tuner back in after the re-start and your success will be rewarded with the WMC offer to set up live TV.

Let’s get this show on the road

Now that you’ve got a tuner card in place, Windows Media Center will install the “PlayReady” software. We’ll keep this installation simple, but if your card features more than one tuner (internal cards can accept signals from satellite, cable, and antenna sources, as well as an S-Video signal from your SKY decoder), the choices get a bit confusing.

Once the software has been installed in your system you have to agree to its “terms and conditions” — the ever-popular “EULA” (End-User License Agreement).

Next it will ask you about your region ( this is one of the few times WMC will remember your answer).

Interestingly, you can tell this setup program that you live anywhere and it will attempt to collect the electronic programming data for that area. One late night session I told the system that I lived in the US.

and entered “90210″ as my post code. The wealth of TV shows and program information was astounding. You can’t view the shows, of course, but just viewing the EPG was impressive enough.

And I don’t think that the little information we do get comes from Microsoft – as they state (below) there is no guide in New Zealand.

Having given WMC the information it required, and agreed to all of its Ts and Cs the system is now ready to collect the data. Our USB tuner only supports one feed – DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial) and this makes our choice simple. Had additional tuners been available on our hardware, we would have been asked which one to set up.

In the same way that you have probably watched your TV scan for new channels when you first set it up, the Windows Media Center system goes to work collecting signals from the ether. Plenty of time to grab a snack. Periodic reports provide updates on the progress.

All finished and the program captured 18 channels here in Auckland (or are there more? hint, hint)

With the process completed, the “offer to setup” icon is now replaced with the genuine item.

and we’ve even got a program guide of sorts.

Clicking on “Live TV” for the first time will pop up an offer to put a “gadget” on your screen that tells you what programs you’ve recorded on your hard drive.

we have only one previously recorded item on disk (the one that comes with the package) – but it also includes a link to the “Recorded TV” page where you can view all the available previously recorded material on your system.

Windows Media Center provides a number of snappy features in it’s “Live TV” package. Software that allows you to search for programs, sort programs by type, record live TV, set up a schedule to record future broadcasts and much more.

For our next installment we’ll take a look at a new program that puts the “E” in Electronic Program Guide.

In this article we’ll take you through the whole process, step by step, with plenty of screen shots. The tuner for this report is the WinTV-HVR-NovaT .

Without a TV Tuner Card your Windows Media Center menu will give you the option to set it up.

My next move was to plug in the tuner unit, but sadly, my system wasn’t ready for it:

Fortunately, Windows 7 was smart enough to know what it needed:

we went through a download operation that I’m sure you are familiar with; just “save” the file to your “download” folder (if you don’t have one you should make one now and use it for every download: that way, they won’t get lost. Just make sure to clean it out every now and then [1]).

From your download folder, unpack the zip file and you’ll find the required setup files, one of which should say “setup” or “install” – something ending with a “.exe” suffix . Run that file and with any luck the correct driver will be installed.

unplug your USB tuner and re-start your PC. Plug the tuner back in after the re-start and your success will be rewarded with the offer to set up Live TV.

Let’s get this show on the road

Now that you’ve got a tuner card in place, Windows Media Center will install the “PlayReady” software [2]. We’ll keep this installation simple, but if your card features more than one tuner (internal cards can accept signals from satellite, cable, and antenna sources, as well as an S-Video signal from your SKY decoder), the choices get a bit confusing.

Once the software has been installed in your system you have to agree to its “terms and conditions” — the ever-popular “EULA” (End-User License Agreement).

Next it will ask you about your region (and this is one of the few times WMC will remember your answer).

Interestingly, you can tell it you live anywhere and it will go out and collect the electronic programming data for that area. One late night session I told the system that I lived in the US.

and entered “90210″ as my post code. The wealth of TV shows and program information was astounding. You can’t view the shows, of course, but just viewing the EPG was impressive enough.

Then you get another agreement to sign up for — this one to use the Program Guide. In truth there is a limited amount of program information that comes through with the New Zealand TV signal, covering only a short period (one or two days if I recall) and not all the channels are included.

And I don’t think that the little information we do get comes from Microsoft – as they state (below) there is no guide in New Zealand.

Having given WMC the information it required, and agreed to all of its Ts and Cs the system is now ready to collect the data. Our USB tuner only supports one feed – DVB-T (Digial Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial) and this makes our choise simple. Had additional tuners been available on our hardware, we would have been asked which one to set up.

In the same way that you have probably watched your TV scan for new channels when you first set it up, the Windows Media Center system goes to work collecting signals from the ether. Plenty of time to grab a snack. Periodic reports provide updates on the progress.

All finished and we managed to grab 18 channels here in Auckland (or are there more? hint, hint)

With the process completed, the “offer to setup” icon is now replaced with the genuine item.

and Hey! we’ve even got a program guide of sorts.

Clicking on “Live TV” for the first time will pop up an offer to put a “gadget” on your screen that tells you what programs you’ve recorded on your hard drive are available to view.

we have only one previously recorded item on disk (the one that comes with the package) – but it also includes a link to the “Recorded TV” page where you can view all the available previously recorded material on your system.

Then, at last our first live TV feed! Not much to choose from on Saturday afternoon in New Zealand, but it’s not really about the shows anyway. It’s about getting some new technology to work!

Windows Media Center provideds a number of snappy features in it’s “Live TV” package. Software that allows you to search for programs, sort programs by type, record live TV, set up a schedule to record future broadcasts and much more.

For our next installment we’ll take a look at a new program that puts the “E” in Electronic Program Guide.

Footnotes

[1] Have a look at my piece on organizing your file system (The Last File System)

[2] Couldn’t find much on “PlayReady” – just a rather heated flame from “sneak” on “The Green Button” – always better to wait 24 hours before sending a flame.