Pirated Windows XP fades to black
Microsoft has announced a significant update to its Windows Genuine Advantage system. In future users of pirated copies Windows XP Professional - which, it says, is the version most commonly stolen - will find that their Windows desktop has been replaced by a plain black screen. In addition, a translucent message will display in the bottom-right hand corner, warning that the copy of Windows "did not pass genuine Windows validation":
Users will be able to replace the desktop wallpaper if they choose, but after one hour it will change back to the black screen. The notifications produced by previous versions of WGA, which pop up from the system tray, will continue to appear.
The new notification system mirrors the one used in Windows Vista, but with one crucial difference. A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed to Zdnet that the new WGA system for XP Professional does not include the "kill switch" that severely limited the abilities of non-validated copies of pre-SP1 Windows Vista.
More information on the WGA blog.
Reasons to love Vista: Media Center
I have, in the past, had something of a love-hate relationship with Windows Media Center. Although Media Center 2005 had some fantastic features - it could record an entire television series at the click of a button, give instant access to hundreds of CD albums and display instant photo slideshows on TV - it could also be, well, a little cranky.
In particular, my Media Center PC had a frustrating habit of spontaneously forgetting which TV listings accompanied each channel, requiring a frustrating hour of messing about with the setup wizard before it could do anything. After re-tuning a few times I ended up with a channel list of over 200 channels - not bad for Freeview, except that 150 or so of them were duplicates. What's more, it didn't always turn itself off - not ideal in these days of sky-high energy prices.
With this in mind, I finally crossed my fingers, took a deep breath and upgraded the system to Windows Vista Home Premium, which includes Vista's updated Media Center. And, remarkably, it works really well.
Admittedly, the upgrade wasn't cheap: as well as a copy of Vista I had to invest in a new processor (Celeron E1200, £30) and motherboard (uATX with an HDMI port, £45), but the results are stunning. The TV setup system has clearly been much improved: after scanning for channels I was braced for an entertaining ten minutes associating each one with a listing, but Vista sorted that all out for me. The recorded TV and music interfaces are much improved - the "wall of CD covers" presented in the music menu is particularly nice and, best of all, the computer slips neatly into a deep sleep after recording a programme. The next step is sorting out a way to record from both Freeview and a cable TV box; something that I never even attempted with Media Center 2005.
So, for me at least it's a case of Vista Media Center 2, MCE 2005 1 after extra time. But what are your experiences of Media Center: a pointless graphical doodad that Apple could have implemented more neatly, or simply the best personal video recorder around?
Review: Cyber Clean
Cyber Clean looks and feels like silly putty (and even comes in a similar small plastic pot), but it's the product's smell that gives it away - the faint whiff of (non-drinkable) alcohol means it must be a cleaning product.
In this case, it's a keyboard cleaner - any kind of keyboard, in theory, can be cleaned with this stuff. The way it works is that you remove it from the pot and press it flat and hard against the surface to be cleaned. Leave it there for a few seconds, then lift it away and with it will come all the dust and dirt that's built up between or under the keys.
Microsoft video explains Shadow Copy
No it's not a new Batman character, Shadow Copy is a utility built into Windows Vista (not Home Basic though) that saves a copy of files each time they are changed. This means you can reverse a saved change to a document later on. This gets around the problem in some programs that clicking on Save removes all of the Undo history.
It makes more sense to see it in action, and that's just what this video on the Windows Experience blog does.
Game of the week: Dino Run
The aim of Dino Run is to run. Fast.
You play the dinosaur, and you're being chased by all sorts of things that want to make you extinct. From fireballs to dust storms and plain old big rocks, there's plenty that will kill you.
But build up enough momentum and eat enough small furry mammals to gain points, and you'll make it through to the next level.
Lighting up
Some years ago there was a lot of talk about the Optimus keyboard, a device on which all the keys were tiny LED screens, with the result that, not only did it look very cool, it was completely customisable.
The only problem with it was that it turned out to be extraordinarily expensive - somewhere in the region of a thousand dollars. Which in turn means it's extremely rare, too.
A more affordable version popped up this week in Thinkgeek's monthly email. The US shop is selling the Luxeed Dynamic Pixel LED keyboard, a snip at just USD200. 
While it can't display custom keys, it does have 430 LEDs, allowing you to light up each key in whatever colour you like, and even to do tricks such as displaying a rainbow across the breadth of the keyboard.
It's pointless, true, but it's still very impressive. And in a non-tech-related vein, but from the same email of new products, Thinkgeek is selling flavour pils, in the form of Miracle Berry Fruit Tablets, which make sour and bitter foods taste sweet. Now that's the sort of future science I like.
August security update for Internet Explorer now available
Word from the IEBlog that the IE Cumulative Security Update for August is now available. It is on Windows Update so should be downloading now if you have Automatic Updates enabled.
As this update is rated Critical, I'd recommend heading over to the Update site anyway just to make sure. I'm on my way there right now...
Changing the size of icons on the Vista Desktop
One of the benefits of Vista is the improved file icons that can show previews of images and videos. The only snag is making the icons big enough to see what they contain. The good news is that there's an easy short cut for changing the size of the icons.
Simply hold down the Ctrl button and then move the mouse scroll wheel up and down to make the icons bigger or smaller.
Sadly this doesn't work in Windows XP. I'm sure there's a program somewhere to add this, I'll take a look but if anyone knows do tell us about it.
Chandler organisation software released
There are all kinds of programs around designed to help you stay organised no matter how busy you are. The best known is without doubt Outlook, but there are alternatives.
One worth looking at is Chandler, not least because it takes a very different approach. It's also open source so there's no charge to download or use. There are
Rather than organise by tasks, events and contacts, Chandler organises by projects, bringing all three together into one place. It makes a certain amount of sense especially when dealing with different groups of people.
One of the things that excites me about Chandler is the online synchronisation. Not only does this allow you to access the same account from several computers, and keep them all up date, but there is a web interface for working on a shared computer.
It is possible to run a server for a Chandler account yourself, assuming that you have a computer connected to the internet running Java. Personally, I have signed up for an account with Chandler Hub to keep life simple for the moment. There's even a Chandler widget for an iGoogle page to quickly add note to a Chandler account.
Definitely worth taking a look if you want to improve your organisation.
Game of the week: Switch
Like all the best Flash games, Switch is supremely easy to pick up, harder to master, and has a difficulty curve that makes it almost impossible to play (in a good way) after a few levels.
Moving your puck around the board, pick up the balls that are coloured the same as the puck. Then click the mouse to change your puck's colour and mop up the rest. You can switch colour at any time, but you'll get more points if you stay in one colour for longer (or play it safe and switch regularly).
If you want to cheat, take a look at the level codes.
