WinXP had some power schemes, and Vista improved on the power management options for desktops and laptops. But they were all pretty geeky, you had to know what was going on and to do a good job of getting it set up right there are a bunch of places you needed to go to install things.

Steve Clayton has just reminding me that Microsoft, Climate Savers Computing Initiative and Verdiem have made available Edison as a free download.

Edison (an application we’ve been testing at home for the last 90 days) is a free installation to help you optimize power usage on your PC as we all strive for a greener computing experience.

Download it and give it a try – every little big helps :)

It's official... Vista SP1 is now available in the wild, and trust me - you'd be mad not to!

I've been using Vista SP1 through various earlier incarnations and I've noticed improvements in performance and stability in each incremental build.

I'm running it already on both my day-to-day Vaio laptop and my UMPC. Tonight I'll kick off an update on my daughters desktop machine.

Now the waiting starts for SP2 (and Windows 7)! But for those who never install v1 of anything.... it's time to give Vista a try

For the last few weeks I've had the occasional warning from my DIY Windows Home Server that one of the drive wasn't 100% stable. It would work fine then... just stop. SMART said it was fine when I'd restart but...

Then on Sunday it died and wouldn't restart, so a quick trip to Frys for a new drive, whip off the case, stick in the new drive (replacing the cables as well just to be sure).

Powered it all up. Let it balance storage and... good as new, no files lost (though it did have to delete some backups as there wasn't enough space on the single drive to store everything) but way better than a crash and burn.

Now I might get an extra PCI SATA card and add a couple more drives...

Windows Zero Configuration is a real boon to the world of WiFi connectivity. I let WinXP and Vista take care of connecting to the right router and managing all that "stuff" for me and I've never given it a thought.

However, I've started using a different VoIP solution at home and for various reasons it's not plugged into a wired machine but living off a WiFi connected box (if I can work out the audio driver issues on the server it's going back to there, but I might end up having to wire the machine it's on at the moment)

So... what's the problem?

It was a tricky one to find... Every minute or so on a call I'd get a moment of total silence. I couldn't hear anyone, and no-one could hear me. Weird huh? That's what I thought.

So I started investigating. Lots of diligent diagnostics and pleas to the internet search gods and eventually I got a pointer in the right direction.... every 60 seconds Windows ZeroConf checks the health of the connection... sadly that has an impact on the communications to the router:

Reply from 192.168.10.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.10.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.10.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.10.1: bytes=32 time=944ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.10.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.10.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.10.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

So what's the answer?

Well... in WinXP you need to kill the ZeroConf service (hit "Start", then "run" and type "Services.msc" and hit enter. Search for "Windows Zero Configuration...." and hit the "stop service" button) - or if you have a driver/management program for your WiFi card use that instead.

In Vista it's a little tricker

• Open a command prompt using run as administrator.
• Make sure the WLAN service must be running first. If it isn't type net start wlansvc.
• Type in netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=no interface="name of your wireless network here" (with the quotes)
• If you need to see the name of your wireless network first, type in netsh wlan show settings

or (and if you have a group policy set that won't let you run that command) you can try this WLANOptimizer utility.

However there is a downside of turning off ZeroConf.... in my case when the machine that's running as the VoIP host loses the WiFi connection for any reason you have to restart the service, let it reestablish the connection and then shut it down again!

Hopefully, as this impacts both VoIP users and gamers (who need good ping times) we'll see a hotfix for Vista or someone will write a cool utility that softphones can trigger when in a call to stop ZeroConf doing it's check (perhaps extend the refresh interval to an hour from start of call or only if the connection drops or some other rule)

Oh, the VoIP solution I'm using is MagicJack. It's early days yet, but the quality blows Skype out of the water. If you're thinking about getting one check out the unofficial forum for some really good advice.

In an interesting twist on the commonly held view that OSX is much more secure ZDNet has actually done some testing and dispelled a lot of the rumors and replaced them with some cold hard facts.

X Extremely critical
H Highly critical
M Moderately critical
L Less critical

I guess it goes to show that a lot of the superiority OSX was able to claim in the past came from it's very low marketshare making it a less popular target for exploits, but as that share and awareness has grown it's become a juicier target. Like Flash (which has also been exposed recently as a cause for concern) I hope Apple step up to the plate and make a difference early in 2008.

It's interesting to see how the testing also confirms that Microsoft have done a good job in improving the security of Vista over WinXP - hopefully Service Pack 1 will continue this trend in the right direction.

It's the sort of article that ThinkSecret would have had as front-page news... if Apple had not litigated them to the wall.

Recently I've needed to transfer files, 10 or 12 times a day, from the machine I'm working on to a local server and also a remote FTP site. It was painful and inefficient (had to have multiple windows open, FTP kept disconnecting... just no fun).

I did a quick search on the web and found UpRight from Otaku Software. I'd tried one of their products before (TopDesk, an OSX Expose like utility for Windows) and thought it was really well done (but I got a second monitor instead!).

According to their write-up it looked straight-forward and simple

UpRight significantly simplifies file transfer, allowing you to:

• Upload to files and directories to FTP servers, Amazon S3, and local and network directories.
• Select which files and directories to transfer using wildcards and regular expressions.
• Move or copy files and directories during transfer.
• Display, email, or copy to the clipboard a configurable message after each upload.

so I thought I'd give it a go... and after using it for a week so far I think it's worth a look.

Now, it's not perfect...

• I'd like so see support for uploading directly to my Windows Live Skydrive and the Silverlight Streaming Service as well as the already supported Amazon S3 service (normally a real pain to get single files uploaded to)
• I'd love to be able to associate specific settings/defaults for particular files (eg always upload the file to a particular subdirectory within the defined FTP site) - as it is you have to define a destination for each directory or subdirectory
• I could see a use for being able to upload a file to more than one place (in my case copy to both a local network drive and a remote server)
• and just a set-up thing... when defining remote FTP destinations a way to log on and navigate the file structure rather than having to remember the exact path would be very neat.

Those comments aside ... I love the ease of use - once you've set up a destination it's two clicks to get a file there.

I didn't think I'd have much use for the actions you can perform after a move, but I've become a fan of the fact I can script it to put the path and filename into the clipboard so I can check it in a browser with no more typing.

I've been using it this evening to push files both to my local server then when they are debugged to the live box, also to move stuff quickly and easily to my Windows Home server... saves me opening two windows and drag'n'drop (and I always lose windows when I'm trying to do that... maybe I do need TopDesk after all!).

Oh, quick up-date: just installed a trial on my wifes machine as (a non technical user) show now uses it to uploads pictures to our family site (public and the Windows Home Server) - FTP scared her, this ... is just like computing should be.

If you're interested in getting the latest One Care for a bit of a discount.... Costco Online are selling the (usually $39.99) package for $30 off - that's only $9.99 for a years protection for up to three machines.

Check it out at Costco before Jan 2 2008.

What is Windows Live OneCare?

The All-in-One Security and Maintenance Service for your Windows XP or Windows Vista-based PC

Windows Live OneCare helps protect your computer, and its automated optimization features keep your PC running at its speediest. OneCare even regularly backs up your important files. You get all this in one convenient package:

• Protection Plus, with its antivirus and antispyware scanners and managed, two-way firewall, helps protect your computer from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, hackers, and other threats. It runs continuously in the background, but you can scan individual files, folders, and even attachments you receive via Windows Live Messenger for viruses on demand. In addition, OneCare protects you from online scams and identity theft by ensuring you have Microsoft anti-phishing technology installed and enabled.

• Performance Plus regularly defragments your hard disk, removes any unnecessary files that can clog your PC, and helps make sure important security updates from Microsoft are installed efficiently and on time.

• Backup and Restore regularly copies your important files to CD, DVD, external hard drive, local network computer, and USB connected storage devices.

• Help Center includes email, chat, and phone support at no extra cost to subscribers.

A few months ago I installed some "dogfood" software for a new Microsoft project that promised to revolutionize computers at home.

Yeah, right I thought. And it'll bring me a cookie and tuck me into bed.

Well several months have passed and it's yet to surprise me with its culinary skills, but it has lived up to it's promise of making our home network a better, safer place.

This wonderful piece of technology has a name - Windows Home Server - and is available right now.

So why do I like our Windows Home Server?

Organization and peace of mind.

The organization comes from having one central, expandable, reliable place to back up everything. Be it photos that I took on a trip, MP3s I ripped from a CD or an MPEG of a family movie (and yes, if you're backing up personal copies of DVDs you can store them there to!). Those files are then available from any machine on the network and thanks to embedded Windows Media Connect software you can display the photos and video on your Xbox360. Check out this amazing home media setup based around Windows Home Server for storage and streaming...

But where does the peace of mind come from? I'm glad you asked! It's all very well remembering to save your photos onto a shared folder on the server, but what about everything else. Your emails, your MS Money file, that document you just over-wrote with totally the wrong thing, the laptop you just dropped and that's making a very funny sound instead of starting up?

Every night Windows Home Server wakes all the connected clients up, and backs up anything that has changed. But it's not just a backup from the last time it changed, it keeps a history of each file and allows you to revert a single file or an entire machine back to whatever point in time you need. You have total control over how much backup data is kept (within the confines of available space of course, but WHS machines are easy to add new disks to either internally or via USB 2.0)

Best of all because WHS is based on Windows Server technology it's robust, reliable and proven. Couple that with an open API that allows people to write plug-ins to extend the capabilities of your server (want to host the family blog or automatically back up to a remote location - all possible, and more).

So when your kids come home and ask "why is there a server in the house" .... you've got an answer

One thing that always used to bug me before I joined MS was the problems getting hold of a Hotfix. You're smart, you've worked out the problem and checked everything in the KB article and you know it's what you need. But then you have to make a phone call or fill in a big form and all the while time is ticking by.

Of course working here and living a life on the bleeding edge (us brave dogfooders get to play with really early bits to make sure what you get is safe and stable) access to Hotfixes become less of a frustration, but over lunch yesterday I discovered that the situation is much improved...

Hotfixes are pretty much delivered on-demand now (and have been for a couple of months). Simply go to the KB article and click on the link to "get hotfix". It takes you to a form where you confirm some simple details and a short while later you get an email back with the link to your required Hotfix.

I tried it out for an issue I've had with one of my personal machines at home and today the Hotfix is applied and everything is running happily.

I've got a couple of machines at home that I protect using OneCare. It's convenient, reliable and, unlike some other products I could mention, isn't a resource hog.

I was quite excited this evening to see that the team has released a pretty major update that improves the protection and optimization for both individual machines as well as a home network.

The update will roll out to existing users over the next few weeks so keep an eye out for it!

For more information, check out OneCare. If you're interested in a more corporate solution the bow-tie wearing chap in the office across from me pointed out that Forefront is its more enterprise focused cousin.