If anyone wants to see pics of my finished moded KPC with a DVD burner… Here you go. Oops! Guess I got a little carried away when I created that huge crack.

If you own a MacBook or MacBook Pro with an Intel Processor, you know how hot it gets. Seriously, sometimes I think I could fry an egg on my MacBook Pro. I could hold my hand over the keyboard and feel the heat without even touching the laptop!

I really hate carrying around extra equipment but the other day I decided to get a dual fan notebook cooler from Coolmax. I have always known a notebook cooler would help but I literally keep checking and felt very little heat after using this device.

If you own a MacBook or MacBook Pro, I suggest you get one of these because unfortunately MacBooks get too hot. That thin form factor has it’s price. I hope the new 45nm processors found in the new notebooks are cooler. You can buy the Coolmax cooler I bought here.

Have you ever burned a CD only to find it does not work or part of it is missing? If so, the fact that the CD does not work is generally not your fault. The problem is with Buffer! Most burning software these days like Nero and Roxio automatically set to burn full speed which may be spitting data too fast at either the disc or filling up the buffer and causing errors. One problem this could be is using CD’s rated at a lower speed than your burner is burning at.

To fix this, don’t go out and buy new DVD’s or CD’s just set the setting to burn slower. Generally, you can set the speed just before you hit the burn button in most programs.

Just got my KPC Shuttle mini PC and within 30 minutes I had it running. This PC is perfect for many purposes or when you need a small PC. I bought a barebones K45 KPC for $100, installed a P4, some ram, and some hard drive I had laying around and I was ready to go. The biggest problem anyone is going to have with this PC is the power supply, it is green but only has 1  sata and 1 standard 12v connector for your hard drives. There are plenty of ports on the back: VGA, Parallel, serial, Ethernet USB… You can look this up for yourself!

Here is the hidden gem I found! Everywhere I looked, there was no mention of a CD-Rom drive bay in the front online or in any documentation. I have amazing  news to report! Inside the KPC there is two slots for standard hard drives and one slot at the top for a laptop Rom drive. Unfortunately, you will have to take off the beautiful Plexiglas bezel that houses those pretty pictures in the front but with a little DIY fun, you can make your own.

Take a look at the pics.

This tip is for Windows Vista Home Premium and above. Sorry Basic…

If you have ever wanted to change the color or appearance of Windows Vista? With some simple steps, you can personalize the look of your computer and the slick transparency in Windows.

Right-click on your desktop and select Personalize. A windows will pop up, then select Windows Color and Appearance where you will find an array of colors, enabling of transparency, and options for intensity.

So you have a network, multiple, pc’s, shared Internet, the whole nine yards, but how do you share files over the network. When using a Vista and XP machine, there are a few more steps but is pretty easy to set up. The easiest way to network files is use the standard Vista way but then you have to move your files to the shared area if you know what that is and you would not be using Vista’s cool networking features.

The key to networking a hard disk or folder is to plan two things: Where the drive or folder is going to be and the name of your network. You want to pick a place for the shared drive or folder that will be in a computer that is on the majority of the time or always on. If you create a shared drive in a computer that is turned off frequently, the other computers on your network wont be able to access the files on the disk or folder. The other thing that is forgotten frequently is the name of the network. If you are using all Vista PC’s, the name is WORKGROUP and MSHOME is the default for XP. It is important to change the name in a Vista or XP machine if you are going to share files over a network. To make things simple, this tutorial will assume all computers are Vista and not change the name of the network or "workgroup" as it is referred to in Vista. One of the cool things about Windows Vista is its auto sensing network technology which means your shared drive will be seen automatically if the workgroup is the same. Just a side note, there are many ways to share files in Windows, this is just one way.

Once the location for the shared files have been decided, the first step is to right-click on the drive or folder and select properties. From the window that pops up, click the sharing tab, then advanced sharing. Yet another Window will pop up and you need to click the box for share this folder, create a name (this will be the name identified on the network), and click permissions. In the Permissions box, you get some options for your users: full control, change, and read. Most people will want full control which will allow people to copy or read files, modify them, and save them in the shared folder. If you want people to be able to only read the files then select read but they wont be able to save to or modify the shared files. Click "OK" over and over until all the open windows with "OK" are gone. Your shared folder is now ready to be accessed.

Now you will want to be able to access the the files from the shared location to test the shared folder or drive you created. Again, there are many ways but one of the easiest is to click "Network" right from the start menu. Here is where you will be stopped by Vista’s new security features. Once the network window opens, you will see all the computers on your network, click on the computer with the shared drive where you will have to enter the username and password of the computer with the shared drive. When you enter the username and password, you might want to check remember password so you don’t have to do this again. Now you will see all available shared folders available in that computer. Just click on the folder and you will see all your files. You are finished as far as what you can do to share the folder but there is one last step you might want to do to speed up access to your folder. Right-click on the shared folder and select "Map Network Drive," select any drive letter you prefer that is not taken on your current computer, check reconnect at logon. Now this shared drive will show up with your regular drives in your computer area, you can also right-click and create a shortcut for somewhere else in your computer.

Just one more thing! You can also map a shared drive via "Computer," formerly My Computer, by clicking "Map network drive," and follow the steps to find the shared folder or drive as explained earlier.

Originally, the Shuttle KPC computer was supposed to be sold exclusive from NewEgg.com for $200 but they raised the price no doubt because of many orders. Currently, the KPC is no longer available. Even though Windows is not included and Linux is, any computer at a $200 price point is amazing. Celeron Processor, 80GB hard drive, 512mb of Ram, and no CD-Rom drive makes this computer possible but the fact that it is fully functional makes it a great deal. The linux OS included is great to give to a child learning their first computer or a Internet computer for the living room. I have found a barebones version for $100 which does not include the processor, ram, or hard drive for a project of my own. Going to have some fun in the weeks ahead.

To purchase this computer, check NewEgg.com frequently, the price might be $230 but should go to $200 soon.

Depending on what hardware you have, you may have many "Optional" Windows Vista updates you don’t actually want to install. Possibly you just hate seeing all of the language packs available for update. If you don’t want to see these updates, there is a simple way to remove them from the list.

From Windows Vista Update, click View Updates, right-click on the update you don’t want and select "Hide Update." Now when you use Windows Update, you wont have to worry about seeing updates that are optional that you don’t want… That is until there is another unwanted optional update.

If you are like me, you cant live without email, you could do without it because it takes up too much time but you are too invested in it.

Sometimes I find myself looking for email I accidentally deleted and until a few months ago, I was not able to do anything about it. With Google offering tons more storage for email than my current provider and given the fact that Google email storage keeps getting bigger, I had one of those light bulb moments. To fix this accidental deletion issue, I decided to forward every email I get to a Gmail account from Google. My current email service provider allows me to receive email, delete it, or do whatever I normally want but they also allow me to send a copy to another address. So in a nutshell, whenever I get an email at my current address, I get another copy at this Gmail account. If one day my my email service provider deletes my email by accident, I can get all my copies in my Gmail account.

For any Windows Home Server enthusiasts, there is a great site for you to go to for information and Home Server add-ins. Check out the web site http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/windows-home-server-add-ins/

Don’t know what a Windows Home Server is? Check out my review of the HP MediaSmart Server. http://bigpcgeek.com/blog/2008/01/22/hp-windows-home-server-review/