Technology - External USB CD/DVD Drive Detected as Mass Storage

Ever had one of those strange problems that is seemingly unexplainable? Well here is a new one for you - External USB CD/DVD Drives being detected as mass storage by Windows (Vista in this case). The solution is even stranger.

If you have an external USB CD/DVD drive, in my case a Freecom FX-50, which is being detected by Windows Vista as 'Mass Storage', there is a simple, but strange way to fix the problem. Follow the steps below and you should be burning disks in no time.

• With the PC on fully unplug the USB and power from the external drive - make sure the drive has no disk in it before doing so.
• Wait 10-15 seconds.
• Plug the USB back into the PC.
• Plug the power back in.
• Sit back and Windows should now detect the drive correctly.
  

Sounds strange, but seems to work.

Thanks to 'jaxmatt' at Club CDFreaks for his post on this issue with another drive.
[Opens in new window]

Shopping - Amazon

Sorry for the lack of updates.  Here is a good one though for fans of digital music...

Head over to Amazon and you will now find that Amazon have now adjusted their MP3 singles starting price - it's now down to £0.29p per track!  

The good news is that the Amazon downloader will auto add the tracks to your Windows Media Player/iTunes playlist(s) and comes complete with art work.  If you haven't used Amazon's MP3 service before, I strongly suggest you give it a go.

Hopefully Amazon will continue to shake the market place as it did with DRM free tracks.  

If only they would start with video media.

Technology Security - Satellite Hacking

I thought I'd make a quick post about security in technology after reading a great article on satellite hacking - for the princely sum of about £700...

As the web becomes more important in every day life we begin to depend on its existence more.  It is this dependency that creates responsibilities for everyone.  For the end user the responsibilities are, to some extent anyway, less than than those users and providers at the higher level.

The following short article is taken from TheRegister and gives a somewhat worrying insight into a little known type of hacking using satellites.

It amazes me still that in this day and age people insist on sending confidential data without any form of encryption, especially when so many good solutions to achieve a reasonable level of security exist.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/17/satellite_tv_hacking/

[Opens in new window]

Evolution - Science

In my final post on evolution (a short series ;)) I thought I would post a great video about CERN and the work they carry out in evolving the worlds understanding of science.....

Evolution - BBC Style

Continuing with the theme of evolution, I present a new link of interest.  This time from the BBC.  If you hurry you can also get a free poster....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/darwin/

[Opens in new window]

Evolution - Spy Gadgets

To celebrate the work of Charles Darwin I thought I would, over the next few days, post some interesting links to sites on the evolution of things.  Part 1, the evolution of spy gadgets...

http://www.coolbuzz.org/evolution/evolution-of-spy-gadgets/
[Opens in new window]

Omnis 7 - Windows Vista Fix (Repost)

As time marches forward, so do the operating systems critical applications rely on. I was recently asked to see if I could find a fix for Omnis 7 running on Microsoft's Windows Vista. Here is my solution...

There is no denying, Windows Vista is an excellent operating system which has been improved dramatically by Service Pack 1, but it has received a bit of a bad press. One of the main issues for most people was a problem with legacy software. Omnis 7 is one such product. Last certified for Windows XP and subsequently superseded by Omnis Studio it is unlikely there will ever be any further runtime update for Omnis 7 - at least not in general release.

The good news is that if you follow the steps below, you should be able to get Omnis 7 to run happily in Window Vista - and likely the subsequent release of Windows (Windows 7 - codename Vienna/Blackcomb). This fix has only been tested on Windows Vista Home Premium, but I see no reason why it should not work in the other editions.

Prerequisites

• Windows Vista (Ultimate/Home Premium/Business) including SP1.
• Omnis Installer.
• A Login to an administrator account.

Guide

• Install Omnis 7.1 following instructions given by .exe.
• Install Omnis fonts, to do this, select the font folder, highlight all fonts then right click and select INSTALL.
• Restart.
• Now open the Omnis installation directory [as below].
  
• Select OMNIS7.exe, right click then select Properties, followed by the tab Compatibility. Under ‘Settings’ select the ‘Disable desktop composition’ check box, apply the changes then click OK [as below].
  
• Now run your Omnis application. You may see the following message appear in the bottom right corner of your desktop [as below].
• Your software should now run as expected. In ‘Vista Basic Mode’ the visual look of Vista will differ slightly, there will only be visual changes. These will auto reset upon closure of Omnis.

The above should also work in windows 7. Comments welcomed.