SKY+ Disk Space Fix

This may seem obvious to some people, but for the rest of us who haven’t a clue how SKY+ actually works… I came across a little gem of a fix for anyone experiencing disk problems. Essentially the system seems to get its knickers in a bunch after a while and the amount of free space left on the hard drive seems to evaporate, even when you have nothing recorded.

The fix is to reset the system from the installed menu. The secret is to follow the instructions below. I just did this myself and it worked a treat. Here’s how it works…

Select SERVICES from the menu, then select 4 for SYSTEM SETUP, now enter 01 and press SELECT; this will bring you into the INSTALLER MENU. From here enter 8 (for FULL SYSTEM RESET) and press SELECT. This will reset your hard drive back to normal.

Some words of caution - make sure you take note of your recordings information before you do this because this procedure will wipe them clean from the system. Also - when complete, don’t panic if the TV screen goes blank for a while. Just give it 60 seconds or so and then start up everything as normal.

PRINCE 2 Practitioner Certified!

I should be happy about this. I should actually be over the moon considering the grief I went through to study and prepare for the exams, but the sad truth is … I don’t really give a fuck!.

I got the results of my PRINCE 2 Practitioner Exams today - and I passed. They don’t tell you anything more than that…just pass or fail. I’m sure I’d be pretty pissed off if I didn’t get the expected result, but now that it’s all official, it’s a bit of a let down actually. Don’t know why exactly, but I suspect it’s got a lot to do with my general attitude / perspective at the mo.. pretty much summed up by the Care-O-Meter on the left there

I have not lost my mind…

Yeah things have been slow around here for a bit. I’m still waiting on that famous site upgrade… latest news on that is apparently the mockup is ready for viewing, so hopefully I should see something in the next few days. Posts have been slow of late mainly due to work and (to be fair) an unhealthy obsession with Battlefield 2. All of which will change in about a week or so, once I get back from some vacation. At that stage it will be time to get back some focus back and start making some changes.. here and elsewhere. So for now - you get a quote (from me!) and nothing much else as yet while I wait for this legendary site update. Cross ‘em if you’ve got ‘em

In-Game Advertising Invasion - Bastards!!!

Almost all of the articles I’ve read on this subject of late seem to start with the same sentiment; namely that it had to happen sooner or later… but that doesn’t mean we should just sit back and take it FFS!!

The massive growth in online gaming has opened up a new portal for those bastard advertisers. Various agreements have been struck recently which will now allow advertisers to display their wares inside games. This doesn’t just apply to online games or massively multiplayer setups in persistent universes, this also applies to bog standard single player games. It was bad enough when browsers became infested with friggin’ pop-ups but now your in-game experience is about to be blasted back to reality with some very context sensitive advertising and blatant out-right marketing.

Can you imagine your Half Life 2 in-game experience being washed away by crappy real-world ads? Or how about your World Of Warcraft environment being infested with Magazine ads, Collectibles, second hand garden nomes etc.? It’s just going to ruin your in-game experience if every time you turn a corner or crest a hill you encounter some poxy real world reminder with a price tag attached to it and some way to link out of the game in order to avail of the offer. Madness isn’t it. Read on - and you will see just how mad it’s possibly going to get.
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Stealth (Film Review)

Sometimes, being a film nut demands I see some pretty aweful movies. There are movies that I know will be bad, but I go and see them anyway just to see how bad they are. Stealth is one such movie. In fact - this is so bad that I don’t intend to do a proper review of the film - it doesn’t deserve it!

However - I cannot just tell you to avoid this movie without giving you a few reasons. That would be churlish of me and even bad movies deserve some effort (not much mind you) so I’ve decided the best way to proceed here is to follow a simply rule. Define the word (or movie title in this case) and then see how the delivery of same compares to the definition. So - I checked out an online definition and came up with the following for your consideration and cogitation:-

Stealth is defined as…

… and I have to agree with that definition. The plot of this movie was so covert, it was missing entirely. As was any quality acting or common sense. It is essentially one long music video that makes no sense whatsoever. This is pure stereotypes, cliches and unimaginative film making. And as for stealing; this movie stole 2 hours of my life that I’m never going to get back. My advice to you… don’t spend your money on this heap of steaming crap, go watch something else in the cinema. It is not worthy

Wolf Keyboard - Instant Gaming Gratification!

Now this is what I call a gaming keyboard!!!. Just look at that layout; for anyone who partakes of the odd bit of online mayhem and carnage, mapping your keys is a black art. However, with a keyboard like this I reckon it could very quickly turn into a science. It’s called the Wolf Claw Keyboard Type II and you can read more about it over at releasereview.com. Enjoy

ZoneAlarm V6 - Watch Out For That Upgrade

I’ve been using ZoneAlarm Pro for years now, and my system has been pretty much protected during this time from hacks, trojans etc. It’s a decent product and thus far all updates have gone smoothly… right up until this evening that is

A word to the wise… if you are intent on upgrading from V5 to V6 of this product - keep the following in mind. First - backup your settings (sounds obvious, but most of us forget to do it). Second - when you do the upgrade - don’t panic, because you can pretty much expect that all your previous settings will be screwed. Let me be clear about this.. SCREWED!!!!. The stupid freaking new version is paranoid and will disable almost everything useful you ever wanted to do by default!!!

It seems there is some new fangled thingy called SmartDefense - so smart if fucks up your settings for all programs and components. The only way back for me was to restore previous settings and go from there. Unfortunately - my settings were quite a few months old - so now I’m trawling through everything again one item at a time. Don’t make the same mistake.. you have been warned