Disabling Windows Defender

I had an issue recently where Windows updates installed Windows Defender automatically, on top of Microsoft Security Essentials on my TS3 server. This caused MSE to disable itself, and Windows Defender didn’t enable itself, causing my TS3 server to be exposed for longer than I would have liked. Obviously this was a huge problem, and … Read more

Domain controller migration

This weekend I was running through a migration from Server 2008 Hyper-V host to ESXi and Server 2012 as the primary DC in a test environment. All the VMs were backed up and converted to VMDKs beforehand, and the install went off without a hitch. What I had done with the server, was to install … Read more

How poor usability led me to piracy

Last night I felt like watching Star Trek on bluray again, so I pop the disc into my laptop and connect it to the TV, but instead decide to grab the digital copy to put onto my XBMC PC. I insert that disc, and go through the steps the disc guides me through, inputting the code correctly to initiate the download…

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Media center software – XBMC

A couple of months ago I purchased some new parts from Scan to build myself a Media PC. I went through a lot of different options, weighing up the pros and cons of each and eventually settled on a stripped down version of the Budget PC found in Custom PC Magazine. I have media across multiple drives, and a large factor for me was to have all of a set type of media – TV shows and films – kept together regardless of which drive they were on. I tried a couple of solutions before I settled on my final decision, and for anyone else finding themselves in the same dilemma I faced, here’s a quick rundown of the programs I tried…

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How to set an AFK channel in Teamspeak 3

I have a private Teamspeak 3 server I run for my friends and I when we play online games. I recently found the need to have an AFK channel, and wondered how to make all users have muted microphones while in that channel. The way to do it is pretty simple, as all you need to do is Right click the channel -> Edit Channel and under moderation on the Standard tab, set Needed talk power to 76.

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Why use multiple stylesheets?

It’s tidy

A much cleaner set of stylesheets can be obtained by splitting them into different files. This is known as encapsulation – where each stylesheet only contains the relevant, associated information.

For different media types

Different stylesheets can be used to support different devices. Three of the most popular are:

  • Screen – for display on a monitor
  • Print – for printing a webpage
  • Handheld – for mobile and handheld devices such as the Kindle

Stylesheets catering specifically to handheld users is becoming more popular now, with the boom in the range of smartphones and tablets available since 2011. By using a stylesheet for handheld devices you can omit things such as background images and scale down/compress decorative and informative images further, both to fit on the screen and to reduce the bandwidth needed for a handheld user to view your site.

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