PC Technology Comments and Advice - Mobiles/Internet/Operating System Tips

Partypop UK - Scam Email? Is Partypop a ripoff?

2011-12-05T05:22:00.001-08:00

Over the last few days I've had several voicemails left for my from Partypop.co.uk stating that I've registered our details on their website and they need my approval to continue them. This is complete fiction and has all the hallmarks of a scam. We have never ever registered on Partypop and have no idea how they harvested our details so it appears that this email is a con as the email also states that the cost is from £192. The email they sent reads:

"This is the second time we have tried to reach you in order to verify your listing's information.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to keep your business' listing without proper verification.
Please call us at 0800 7310219 so you will not lose your listing. Just to remind you why you registered on PartyPOP in the first place: "

It appears that we are not the only people that are unhappy with Partypop. This is a site that has similar reports about the sales tactics from Partypop

http://djakib.blogspot.com/2010/07/partypopcom-huge-scam.html

VW Golf Central Locking Only Unlocks Drivers Door, Can Open via Car Switch

2011-11-30T04:52:00.001-08:00

Our VW Golf has recently had a problem with the central locking where it only unlocks the drivers door not the other doors or boot. You can open the rest of the doors using the switch on the drivers door so it is clear there is no actual fault with the central locking wiring.

Normally with a VW Golf (and indeed other VW cars such as the Passat) a single press of the key fob will remotely open the drivers door and a second press will open the rest of the doors and the boot. It appears that when the car battery is getting low a fault can develop where only the drivers door unlocks and the rest of the doors remain locked even when you press the key fob twice.

The suggested cure to fix the problem is to disconnect the battery for 10 seconds and then reconnect it. This should resolve the problem and get all doors unlocking together again. In our case the battery was nearing the end of its life and occasionally proving difficult to start the car so we also took the opportunity to replace the battery at the same time.

New battery fitted and the doors on the VW Golf are all now opening as expected with one or two presses of the key fob.

How to View Solar Panel Generation Data via Bluetooth from SMA Sunny Boy 3000HF Inverter

2011-11-20T13:44:00.001-08:00

How to View Solar Panel Generation Data via Bluetooth from SMA Sunny Boy 3000HF Inverter

Having just had our Sungrid PV solar panels installed by Solar Advanced Systems we were keen to be able to monitor the production of electricity by the PV panels without needing to visit the Sunny Boy inverter each time to view the display.

14 Solar panel array - Sungrid PV installation with Sunny Boy 3000HF inverter

SMA Sunny Boy 3000HF (as well as the 2500HF and 4000HF) inverters have the capability to display data using Bluetooth. SMA Sunny Boy supply a device called the Sunny Beam that will show the production from your solar panel system. However this costs around £175 in the UK and there are much cheaper alternatives to the Sunny Beam to show this data on your PC or laptop.

Step 1)

Firstly you need a laptop or PC that has Bluetooth capability. If your PC doesn't have this built in then you can buy an external USB Bluetooth dongle for approx £10. This is one such device from Ebuyer A class 1 Bluetooth adapter would probably be a better bet than a Class 2 adapter as it will give a much longer range than class 2. The difference between a Bluetooth class 1 range of 100m and class 2 range of 10m is very significant and would mean the difference between being to view the data from any room in your house to only being able to view from the room next to the inverter.

Step 2)

Once the Bluetooth dongle is installed you need to download the free Sunny Explorer software. This is available as a free download from the SMA website.
http://www.sma.de/en/products/software/sunny-explorer.html

Step 3)

Install the Sunny Explorer software, let it detect your system. You will need to enter its password which is set as default to 0000.

Step 4)

View your data and download the log files to your PC. By default these are stored in a folder called SMA under the My Documents folder.

Step 5)

Additional tools are also available to analyse and store the data from the SMA Sunny Boy 3000HF./2500HF/4000HF inverter range and I will cover those in another blog post.

Solar Panel Fitting Video - Time Lapse Video of UK Solar Panel Installation

2011-11-20T10:33:00.001-08:00

This is a time lapse video taken of our solar panel installation being fitted by Solar Advanced Systems of Edenbridge Kent. The solar panel array is 14 solar panels of 215W capacity giving a total potential output of 3kWp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9ukxKHW6-c

The solar panels are now generating electricity and on 20 November generated a total of 6.46kWh of electricity, somewhat above the quoted average for November of 4.87kWh so it will be interesting to see how they perform over a longer period.

Review of Solar Advanced Systems panel installation.

Solar PV Panel Installations - Feed In Tariff (FITs) to be cut?

2011-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

It has been reported that Feed In Tariffs (FITs) for new Solar PV Panel Installations will be cut as of 8 December 2011. This is despite previous assurances that payments would be guaranteed until 31 March 2012 and potentially questions whether the government will reduce payments for solar PV installations already in place.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2011/oct/28/feed-in-tariff-change-homeowners?intcmp=239

Choosing Best Position to install Solar Panels in Kent for Maximum FIT Payments

2011-10-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

Are you thinking about installing solar panels in Kent to benefit from the FiT (Feed in Tariff) scheme? If you install solar panels you want them in the best position to get the most sun to generate maximum electricity and maximise your FIT payments for best returns.

We have had quotes for installing solar panels on our roof in Rainham Kent. We have two choices, the lower extension roof or the upper original house roof.

Installing solar panels on the lower roof would be cheaper as the access is much easier than the scaffolding needed for the upper roof. However we have checked the roof at different times of the day and the shading and sun levels are significantly different for the two roofs.

Sun on both roofs first thing in the morning but slight shading on the lower roof to the right hand side

Solar panel in Kent positioning to avoid shade for best FIT payments

You can see on the roof later in the day that the lower roof is almost totally shaded, there is some shade across the upper roof but most of the roof is still covered in sun. We had three options for the panels. With a 3kWp system we could have solar panels fitted on the upper or lower roof or a mix between the two.

Kent Solar panel positioning on upper roof to avoid shade on lower roof

From the photos above we have decided to have the solar panels fitted on the upper roof only. The cost is higher due to the difficult access to the upper roof but from these photos of the shading of the roof the payback should mean that the FiT (Feed in Tariff) payments are significantly higher which will more than offset the increased cost of installing the solar panels on the higher roof.

Panels are now ordered so check back for progress reports on how they are doing!

VW Passat Sport TDI 140 Remap Tuning

2011-10-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

The VW Passat Sport TDI 140 has sports suspension, sports seats, sports alloys but the same engine as the standard VW Passat TDI. There is a more sporty version that VW released with 170BHP but the standard Passat Sport looks the part but without the performance to match.

This is where Remapping or Tuning your VW Passat Sport TDI 140 can make sense. Without any modifications to the physical car the engine is remapped to give more torque and a smoother power delivery. Having had an Angel Tuning remap on my VW Passat TDI140 I can say that it truly transforms the car. Acceleration is far smoother and the economy improves as well if you drive with a cautious right foot.

The Wisdom of Steve Jobs - Stanford Address

2011-10-06T05:01:00.000-07:00

I heard this quote on the radio today on an obituary for Steve Jobs and was a quote from an address he gave at Stanford University. It seemed a very fitting tribute to him and seemed to sum up why the products he produced at Apple were among the best ideas.

"Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle."

Windows 7 USB Mouse & Keyboard Do Not Work After iTunes Install

2011-09-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

I've had to reinstall iTunes as part of the fix for the woes I have had with the failed firmware upgrade on my iPhone 3GS. It appears that there is a problem with the USB driver for Windows 7 that clashes with the iPhone USB driver in iTunes.

After install of iTunes I now do not have a working mouse or keyboard on my Windows 7 PC. The PC is dual boot so I can switch into Vista and the mouse & keyboard work fine so it is not a hardware issue.

Still trying to resolve what is causing it!

VW Golf TDI 130 PD Reviews

2011-09-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Its probably the wrong way round but I'll start this review of the VW Golf TDI 130 PD with the conclusion. In summary the Volkswagen Golf TDI 130 is the best car I have ever owned and I think is possibly the best value for money car available for the mix of economy, performance and build quality.

There are cars that are more comfortable than the Golf Mark 4 TDI PD130
There are cars that are cheaper than the Golf Mark 4 TDI PD130
There are cars that are faster than the Golf Mark 4 TDI PD130
There are cars that are more economical than the Golf Mark 4 TDI-PD130
There are cars that are better built cars than the Golf Mark 4 TDI PD130

I believe the Golf Mark 4 TDI PD130 is one of the very few cars (the Bora PD 130 TDI and Passat TDI 130 included) that combines all the above attributes in a single vehicle. You can buy a Toyota Prius but the Golf TDI PD 130 is more economical in real world motorway driving and is a fraction of the price.

The VW Golf Mark 4 is probably the best built Golf, if the experience with the VW Passat Mark 6 is anything to go by the build quality of more recent VW cars has taken a turn for the worse. There are very few cars available that will do 50+ mpg but still have great performance for overtaking or accelerating and I believe the Golf Mark 4 TDI PD130 and sister car the Bora TDI PD130 are one of the best.

Email Management and Customer Email Tracking Software

2011-08-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

As part of a project I've recently been working on to automate the email handling of a major utility company I've developed a very useful solution for loading emails from a transactional website to Oracle databases. The software allows you to extract text based on keywords from the emails and to load specific text into different fields.

I am available for consultancy to advise on development or implementation of similar Email Management and Customer Email Tracking Software solutions for other companies.

VW Passat Bonnet Latch Failure - Fault on Bonnet Pin

2011-07-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

The bonnet latch (hood latch ) on my VW Passat TDI 2007 Mark 6 recently failed. The central locking pin fell out and the bonnet was only secured by the catch. When replaced it was also found that the wiring to the bonnet latch was also virtually worn through and would have broken very soon too.

Is this a general fault on the VW Passat TDI 2007 Mark 6? If your Passat has suffered the same failure then please leave a comment

Photo showing wear on wiring to bonnet latch


Missing pin on VW Passat bonnet catch

Missing safety pin on VW Passat hood catch - far left hole

Scammed by MultizoneAV.eu - What Can I do?

2011-07-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

This is the statement from the real MultizoneAV.com

I am sorry to inform you that the goods have not been ordered from our company. I would advise that you contact the company you have ordered from which would be Multizoneav.eu and not us.

We do not believe that multizoneav.eu is a genuine company, due to other customers contacting us with enquiries such as yours. We have reported this matter to both the Police and Trading Standards and it is being investigated by them. We would urge you to contact your local Trading Standards, the Police and the Action Fraud Team on 03001232040.

Volkswagen Golf Mark 4 PD TDI 130 Remap Review

2011-07-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

I recently had my Volkswagen Golf Mark 4 PD TDI 130 remapped by Angel Tuning. The difference in the car is amazing, the car is so much more responsive and smooth when driving. The economy is also improved by around 10%. The remap by Angel Tuning is not as aggressive as some remaps although the VW Golf Mark 4 TDI130 remap still increases the output from 130bhp up to 175bhp and seriously increases the performance of the car.

It is a common cliche but the remap really makes it like driving a different car. The engine is far smoother and the acceleration is stunning. Best of all in normal driving on the motorway you are getting up to 60mpg showing on the display. This gives an average MPG of just over 50 for each tank refill that includes some town driving.

In my view the Volkswagen Golf Mark 4 PD TDI 130 is the best Golf that has been made. For the money it is unbeatable; a reliable, comfortable and highly economical car that gives great performance and is a fantastic drive. I can currently see no reason why we would ever want to chaneg this car.

Amy Winehouse Death Video Facebook Scam

2011-07-26T01:03:00.000-07:00

As usual with world events that are the latest news, scammers have taken advantage of Amy Winehouse's death to launch multiple scam video links on Facebook.

As with the death of Osama Bin Laden these video links promise pictures of the last moments of Amy Winehouse but in reality are either viruses or scams that will earn money from you clicking the link and will flood your Facebook friends with the link on their profiles.

Don't click the links and if you see a similar link appear on your wall then please delete to prevent it spreading.

Payments to MultizoneAV.eu/MultizoneAV.net/MultizoneAV.info via UKcash

2011-07-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

UKash have posted an alert on their website warning about the scam being carried out by MultizoneAV.eu, MultizoneAV.net and MultizoneAV.info. They are unrelated to the genuine UK company MultizoneAV.com and are trying to confuse shoppers by association with their good name.

UKash vouchers are not a valid form of payment to MultizoneAV.eu/MultizoneAV.net/MultizoneAV.info and they advise not to send any money to this company as you will lose it.

http://www.ukash.com/uk/en/alerts/multizoneav-not-a-ukash-merchant---do-not-send-them-ukash.aspx

Stay safe and avoid being scammed by MultizoneAV.eu/MultizoneAV.net/MultizoneAV.info

Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2 - 2D or 3D?

2011-07-17T01:40:00.000-07:00

Just seen Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2 in 2D having been disappointed with 3D films we've seen recently (Pirates of the Caribbean being one) and feeling that the 3D effect didn't add anything to the film for the extra £10 it costs.

Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2 was good but we found that in a number of places the 2D picture was fuzzy; whether this was a problem with the cinema projection or some artefact from the 2D/3D conversion process we were unsure. The picture for parts of the 2D Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2 did actually look like the 3D version. My 11 year old son also noticed it so it wasn't just me.

The verdict of reviews has been that the 3D version of Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2 doesn't add anything to the film and the general dark tones through the film actually makes it very hard to view in 3D so I think we made the right choice seeing the 2D version of Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2.

http://www.thehdroom.com/news/Harry-Potter-and-the-Deathly-Hallows-Part-2-is-Better-in-2D/9215

Why does HD video from Canon 60d not play back smoothly?

2011-07-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

My video from Canon 60D won't play on my PC /How to Play Canon 60D Video on Computer/Smooth Playback from Canon 60D?

A common question about the MOV video files that are produced from the Canon 60D cameras is how to play them smoothly on a PC as they can be very choppy/jerky when played as the MOV format. The files are in the H264 compression format and to play Canon 60D video smoothly you need a very high end PC with fast graphics card and plenty of RAM. My PC has Quad core processor, 8Gb RAM and ATI Sapphire HD 4850 512Mb graphics and generally will play smoothly as long as other processes are not running

Even if you have a very high spec PC the playback can still be jerky and not smooth. The best way that I have found to play Canon 60D video smoothly is to use some software called Cineform Neoscene. This will convert the MOV files which are highly compressed into a more usable AVI format that your PC can play easily.

You can get a free trial of the Neoscene software from the Cineform website and to purchase is around £70. This may seem a lot of money but remember that with this software you can then edit the video on your PC using Windows Movie Maker without having to purchase any further software and also without buying a new high spec PC.

multizoneav.eu Scam Website for Cheap iPads & Macbook Pro

2011-07-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

As with all the other goods they are listing on their multizoneav.eu scam Website the cheap bargain iPads & Macbook Pro are scams that will leave you out of pocket with nothing to show for it.

No legal company will use this kind of declaration or want you to send cash to pay for these types of goods.

http://blog.photo3.co.uk/2011/07/multizoneaveu-scam-multi-zone-av-scam.html

IMPORTANT: Non-Deductible VAT for Companies. The product(s) will be delivered as a gift package to the buyer.

Review of Cheap LCD/LED Plasma TVs From Multizoneav.eu?

2011-07-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

Many people are asking about multizoneav.eu and a review of their website offering very cheap LCD/LED Plasma TVs. Firstly multizoneav.eu and multizoneav.net are nothing to do with multizoneav.com which is a legal, legitimate UK company that sells electronic equipment. Their name has been used by overseas scammers to trick you into parting with your cash.

To lend credibility to their website they have added some items such as cheap LCD/LED Plasma TVs listed as "out of stock". The reality is that all items are out of stock, they do not have any items to sell and all they want to do is get your money.

If you send payment to them using Paypoint or UKash vouchers then you will lose your money and not see your goods and as it is cash you have sent you will have no way to claim money back. Using a credit card at least gives you some protection which is why Multizoneav.eu do not offer that option.

MultiZoneAV Electronics Review - How to avoid the scam to con you out of money

2011-07-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

We have recently become aware of a scam using the name of legitimate UK company MultiZone AV. The real company website is http://www.multizoneav.com/ and the Scam site is multizoneav.eu and multizoneav.net

MultiZone AV the legitimate UK based company have nothing to do with the scam multizoneav site using their name.The giveaway on the multizoneav scam site is that the prices are just too good to be true. It is just not possible to buy brand new Canon 5D Mark 2 cameras for £865, or with the 5% Multi Zone AV discount for £821. Canon cannot even make them for this price let alone sell them on.

The scam multizoneav also does not accept credit card payments and gives a variety of unusual payment methods; all of these are ways to take your money without trace and with no comeback to you. They claim that they can offer reduced prices without taxes, check how much you can buy a tax free item from Hong Kong and it is around the 15% below the UK price without VAT.

multizoneav scam can charge such low prices because they will never have to supply you the goods - all they want is your money and you will not get anything in return.

Please do not fall for this scam - contact the real Multi Zone AV for confirmation of the scam that is being run using their name. They have also put out a press release to alert consumers to the scam using the multizoneav name. You can see the press release here

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/multizoneav-passing-off-201107081274.htm

Windows XP Permanently Acquiring Network Address for Wireless Card

2011-07-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

On my son's PC I recently reinstalled Windows XP SP2 and connected it to the internet using an Asus WL-167 Wireless Adapter. After a few days it stopped working and the message showing in the bottom right hand corner of the screen was "Acquiring Network Address" yet this message appeared constantly, even if the PC was left on for many hours.

Having done some research online it appeared that it was an error with the settings on the Asus WL-167 wireless adapter and the encryption method being used to connect to the wireless router. I realised that when I initially connected the Asus WL-167 Wireless Adapter the PC was running Windows XP Service Pack 2 but that then updated to Service Pack 3 shortly afterwards and the Asus WL-167 Wireless Adapter stopped working giving the error Acquiring Network Address constantly.

To fix the Acquiring Network Address problem the solution was as follows:

1) Open 'Network Connections' (accessible from the Control Panel).
2) Right click on the Wireless Connection, and select 'Properties'.
3) Select the 'Wireless Networks' tab.
4) Under the 'Preferred networks' section, click on your network and click 'Properties'.
5) Under the 'Association' tab, there is a drop down menu specifying 'Network Authentication'. This should be set to WPA. Set Data Encryption to TKIP.

Having done this and re-entered my WEP key the PC was then able to connect to the router and internet.

It would appear that this Acquiring Network Address error can be caused by the Windows Update from XP SP2 to Service Pack 3 and that some wireless setting is reset as part of the Windows update in SP3. So if your PC is unable to connect to wireless network after installing Windows XP SP Service Pack 3 then the above information may be a solution to resolve the problem.

Asus WL-167 Wireless Adapter Error Constantly Acquiring Network Address

2011-07-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Windows Movie Maker Wont Create Video/Media Player Doesn't Display

2011-06-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Have you found that Windows Movie Maker Wont Create Video or Windows Media Player Doesn't Display video? I had this problem with my son's Dell Inspiron 531 with nVidia 6150 GeForce nforce 430 video card.

Movie Maker would allow you to edit the project and save it but not publish it. When publishing the message was that there was insufficient space, missing files etc. None of these were correct. I checked the recommended requirements and the PC met all the list.

When trying to play a video the helpful message given by Windows was "Windows Media Player cannot play the video because there is a problem with your video card" yet the video card had no errors showing and I had updated it to the latest nVidia drivers from their website. I tried several things including loading latest DirectX 11 software and loading the new version of Movie Maker Live to see if that would affect it.

None of these changes made any difference. In fact Movie Maker Live wouldn't even open as it said the PC didn't meet requirements. I tried doing a search and various suggestions came up including reloading the nVidia 6150 GeForce nforce 430 drivers which I had already done. One page mentioned the video memory being set on the card. The nVidia 6150 GeForce nforce 430 is built into the motherboard and shares the main system memory. Originally I had a separate graphics card but moved this into my new PC before passing the Dell to my son.

Having checked in the BIOS on bootup (F2) the video memory was only set to 16Mb. I increased this to 64Mb and restarted the PC. Amazingly this fixed the problem and Movie Maker was now able to publish files, Windows Media player could play video and Windows Movie Maker Live would actually start up.

So if you have a problem with Movie Maker Live or Windows Media Player with nVidia 6150 GeForce nforce 430 video card then check your video memory settings to see if that will cure it.

Password Security - PC Password Management software tool

2011-06-02T08:53:00.000-07:00

I've recently investigated tools for Password Security and PC Password Management so that I can make my passwords more secure and save the huge numbers of passwords that I have for different websites and applications. The tool I have installed is Password Safe which allows you to store and create passwords to various security levels. By securely storing your passwords it allows you to use more complex passwords to reduce the risk of passwords being guessed. Password Safe allows you to specify the complexity and length to auto generate passwords which will ensure common mistakes such as using children's names or birthdays are avoided.

http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/