Just wanted to post a quick note that I have added a new Tips & Tricks section to the site.  This can be reached by clicking the link in the top navigation bar.  This is a one stop shop that will contain links to all of my guides and other guides that I feel are useful for people to have a look at.

 With that said, I should also mention that I posted a new guide in that section yesterday that outlines how to get the search link back in the start menu in Vista SP1.

Vista SP1 Re-Add Search Guide

Here’s a funny video about the last Windows Server 2003 box powering microsoft.com.  Well known that pre-release versions of Server 08 have been powering microsoft.com without a hitch since last June.

Just wanted to inform everyone reading this blog with IE8 in the default standards mode that there seems to be a weird scroll jumping issue occuring if the mouse hovers over any links while scrolling.  I have pinned this down to a block of CSS on the skin and am working to resolve the specific issue as we speak.  So just hang tight, I’ll have it fixed soon :).

 Edit: the issue seems fixed now.  For anyone interested in the cause, it seemed to be my custom a:hover settings for links etc…  As soon as I did away with the a:hover events the issue cleared up.

Today at the MIX conference in Las Vegas, Microsoft announced the first beta of Internet Explorer 8.  This release of IE targets web standards in the agressive way the IE team should have done this years ago.  While beta 1 is a release mainly targeted at the developer sector, some of you may want to check it out.  One thing I will say though, the new rendering engine is still rather buggy and “IE7 Emulation” mode is almost a necessity on some sites.

Just a few notes though, since I noticed people complaining that IE8 doesn’t pass Acid2.  First off, it does pass, you guys are just using a knockoff of the original, here’s a better explanation from the IE team themselves:

IE Team Blog post about Acid2

This version also includes a slew of new features that many users should enjoy, including Activities and Web Slices.  You can find out more about all of this over at the IE8 Start Page.

Enjoy!  And feel free to comment with your feedback.

So as many of you know, back in December I got a shiny new EVGA 780i Motherboard (which was later followed by a slew of other hardware, but that’s another story for another day).  Anyway, over the course of these 2 months I have been battling with some pretty severe chipset temperature issues.  The IDLE temp of the MCP (Southbridge) chipset was 62C!  While this is "in spec" according to NVIDIA, to me this is completely unacceptable, especially when it was cranking up to 70C under load.

Now, I know what some of you might say.  Did you try replacing the TIM?  Did you follow [p]’s guide on the EVGA Forums?  The answer to both of those questions is a yes, those temps I provided are AFTER doing the mentioned things, you don’t want to know what it was before the initial mod.

So I decided to get a Thermalright HR-05-SLI High Riser from FrozenCPU.  That coupled with a little handy work modding the stock cooler and I should be all set.  Here’s some pictures of the progress with an explanation of the steps (click the images to see larger pictures)

Ok, so step 1 was of course to pull the motherboard out of the case.  As you can see here this is the motherboard with the stock cooler as it came from EVGA.  The only mod is the 60mm fan on the NB Heatsink, to push more air (yes I know it’s an AMD Fan lol).

Here are a couple of shots of the Southbridge chipset after removing the stock cooler.  As you can see it resides right under the Video card, so this thing getting hot does not spell good things for the video card temperatures, especially considering that I have an 8800GTX.

Here you can see the HR-05-SLI Mounted on the MCP.  It is mounted on an angle because the way the mounting system works it cannot be mounted straight.  This does not hinder the cooling performance whatsoever, and this proves that this product DOES fit on the 780i MCP (it does NOT fit on the northbridge because of the second NF200 chip).  So now that this is mounted, how do we get the rest of the cooling system in place?

As you can see here, the stock cooling system is back on the Northbridge and the MOSFETS.  The only thing missing is the heatpipes and the small block that sat on the MCP.  I simply cut this section of the cooler off with a hacksaw and filled in the heatpipes with lead free solder to avoid any possible leakage of the heatpipe element.

Here are a couple of pictures after everything is back in the case, as you can see everything fits great, and even better, there is enough clearance to get a second video card in the bottom PCI-E slot.  Tri-SLI however, is not possible when using this cooler on the MCP.

So now for the real good stuff, how does this all perform?  Well I mentioned before that my temp ranged from 62-70C on the MCP with the stock setup.  With the new setup the MCP temperature ranges from 41-46C.  That’s a full 20C decrease in temperature which is great.  As an added bonus, this also dropped my 8800GTX temperatures by almost a full 10C.  So all in all I’d say this mod is MORE than worth the cost of the cooler plus the time it takes to perform the mod (about a half hour if you’re good at this stuff).

Anyway, enjoy and feel free to leave any feedback in the comments area or e-mail me :).

Yeah, Microsoft wants to move to more web based services, yet they can’t even keep their Windows Live ID Service online.  Ray Ozzie, do yourself a favor and give up your Cloud pipe dream, it’s not gonna work.

Look at the screenshot below, and awe at the awesome reliability of Windows Live ID:

Just a little fun post to express some opinions I have about the way things are working at Microsoft around Windows 7.

So the past week has been a little, shall we say, fun?  It seems every day brings more information, more screenshots, and more Windows 7 goodness!

One thing I will say first and foremost.  For all the non-believers out there, these screenshots and videos are indeed real.  What you are seeing is the real M1 build of Windows 7.  How do I know?  Well you’ll just have to take my word for it (no I don’t have the build so DON’T ASK ME FOR IT).

Now for the opinion part of this post.  I honestly think that it’s good that we’re getting to see tidbits of information and screenshots of Windows 7.  I think this allows people to get an inside look and become excited about the next version of Windows, which is a GOOD thing for Microsoft whether or not they want to admit it.  Although, I do have to say, this is something I would not have expected to see under Sinofsky’s rule in the Windows division (you know, everything uber secret and iron fisted consequences), but then again, this is what happens when you give code to OEM’s.  OEM’s leak, always have, always will.

Anyway, I think Microsoft needs to start being a little more open about Windows again, sort of like they were with Longhorn.  The whole Longhorn debacle was not due to the openness, it was due to the sad state of affairs at Microsoft at the time.  And also due to the genius (sarcasm) decision to halt Longhorn development and move everyone and their mother to XP SP2.  If it was me, I would have gone full steam ahead on Longhorn, and who knows how things would have been?  Maybe we would have a fully functioning OS with all of those awesome features that were demoed at PDC ‘03 and WinHEC ‘04.

Going forward I would definitely like to see Microsoft open up a little more.  And I would also like to see the beta program itself improve a little.  I can only hope Sinofsky doesn’t turn Windows betas into Office style betas where the testers are about as in the dark as someone who lives in a cave.

YAY!  I finally get to post something under the Windows "7" category!  And oh boy is it a goodie!

I caught these screenshots via the neowin forums and figured I’d repost them for everyone to see and enjoy.  The build tag for this build is 6.1.6519.1 (winmain.071220-1525) and carries a few new visual features but still looks largely like Windows Vista due to it’s early state of development.  So here are the screenshots for your enjoyment:

So a while back, Kristan Kenney wrote a very thought out guide to Power management in Windows Vista.  His guide included how to use the various features of the power management control panel and how to optimize Vista’s power settings for optimal battery life on any laptop, whether it be an ultra-portable or a desktop replacement system.

As many of you know, his blog at Windows-Now, where he posted this guide is now gone (might have something to do with the fact that he went over to the dark side *cough* MAC USER *cough*).  I have found a copy of the guide and have posted it on this site in the interest of preserving such a great piece of work.  So without further ado, I give you the Windows Vista Power Guide:

Windows Vista Power Guide by Kristan Kenney

Ran across this post made by Kristan Kenney on his blog over at Windows-Now.  Apparently there is a rather serious bug in Windows explorer.  Well, here’s the contents of his post for easiness sake:

So, I’ve run across what seems to be a very serious bug in Windows Vista and it still exists in Service Pack 1 RC1 (and I really don’t know if this is going to get fixed in SP1 either, although I would hope so).

Can anyone reproduce this? I would love to have some good customer feedback on this one.

1. Click on Start, and then click on Documents.
2. In the Search entry box, type “NOT Shortcut” (without the quotes).
3. Click on the “Save Search” button and save the search query as “Search Test”.

In 9 out of 10 tries, Windows Explorer will stop working and will restart itself after displaying a crash dialog. Seems to be an issue with how the search files are serialized. How the hell did this one get past quality assurance? It occurs in both RTM and SP1.

Thanks!

I can say that I can reproduce the bug here.  And I can also say that this has been bugged with Microsoft, and if the person who examined this bug was unable to repro, they need to learn how to read and/or get their head examined.