GeekwithEnvy

Richard Vincenti Jr

How To Set Up Hyper V in Windows 8

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Windows 8 Pro is filled with features that are somewhat hidden and Hyper-V, a virtualization technology, is no exception. This article will show you how to to get up and running with Hyper-V. It’s important to note that Hyper-V is currently only available on Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise editions on the x64 platform (64 bit).

So what does Hyper-V do?

Well, to essentially gloss over it, Hyper-V allows you to create a a virtual machine (PC). You can customize it any way you would like by assigning how much memory, hard-drive space and other hardware features you would like this PC within a PC to have.Once you customize your virtual hardware, you can install whatever operating system on it you prefer; even Windows 95 or earlier if you are so inclined.

This technology has been around for a while and continues to get better. It’s pretty powerful stuff especially when used in large scale corporations, it can save a lot of time, money, and headaches. For the home user it’s pretty much up to you what you want to do with it. Maybe you just want to mess around with it or maybe you have some old games that won’t run on newer versions of Windows, either way you should check it out.

Finding and Installing Hyper-V

Hyper-V is not installed by default in Windows 8 and if you’re not sure where to look, you may never find it. Fortunately, it’s not that hard to set-up.

  • Head to the Desktop in Windows 8.
  • Bring up the “Charms Bar” on the Right-Hand side of the screen.
  • Click “Settings”.
  • Click “Control Panel”.
  • Now Click “Programs”.
  • Click “Turn Windows features on or off”. Here you will find a list of the many features that Windows 8 offers, one of which is Hyper-V.
  • Place a check next to Hyper-V, Hyper-V Management Tools, and Hyper-V Platform then click “OK”.

Windows will now set-up Hyper-V for use. If you can’t seem to locate the application, you can find it quickly by typing Hyper-V into Windows 8 search and then you can make a shortcut.

* Alternatively, you can open up “Run” and type in “appwiz.cpl”, then follow the last two steps from above.

HyperV ScreenShot
Hyper-V Manager

How To Understand and Test Your Internet Speed

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Your internet provider says you should be getting a specific speed for the price you’re paying, but are you really getting those speeds? There are many useful sites that you can go to to test your speeds but it’s important to remember that all speeds can vary from test to test.

Speed of internet connection

Varying Speeds

Let’s say that your internet provider is supposed to be supplying you a 12 Mbps connection on your downstream. At times that may test at 10 Mbps or 9400 Mbps. It’s important to note that these fluctuations are usually of no major concern and are a product of “normal” changes in your bandwidth. However, if you find (in our hypothetical situation) that you’re only getting 4 or 5 Mbps, something has likely gone wrong and you should contact your internet provider.

Bits VS Bytes

Don’t be confused by the data rates being advertised by your service provider. All to often do I run into people who are confused about the download rates they are seeing when downloading a specific file. Here is the easiest way to show the difference between 1Mbps and 1 MB/s.

1 Mbps is equal (=) to 0.125 MB/s

Remember this when your looking at the data rate for a given download, the speeds you’re seeing will make much more sense.

Bottlenecks

Remember that just because your connection to the internet is fast doesn’t mean that what your connecting to is. Many servers will only offer a certain amount of bandwidth for you to use when obtaining data from them. This is because the people who set up these servers want to reduce the overall load on their system. One way to get around this issue is to offer content through a torrent, this will allow for much higher data rates with minimal impact to server load. Torrents will be discussed in another article.

Websites to test your speed:

Here are a few websites that I have found to be the best when it comes to testing your bandwidth.

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm “Vengeance” Trailer

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Watch live video from Starcraft on TwitchTV

 

The world premiere of the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm “Vengeance” trailer features a live discussion with Chris Metzen, Dustin Browder and Jeff Chamberlin, and Kevin Johnson “Cloaken”.

 

How To Fix Your Windows 8 Master Boot Record (MBR)

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openHarddrive

If you’ve been playing around with Linux or some other type of OS installation on your PC and you want to go back to Windows, but you get a MBR (Master Boot Record) error, then don’t worry there’s hope. This error can also happen for other reasons like a virus but the fix is usually the same.

The problem is just as the error message states, you have a problem with your MBR. The MBR contains important information about partitions and files that are needed to boot up your PC. Without an intact MBR, your PC will fail to boot properly and therefore it’s important that you get it back in working shape.

Here’s a step-by-step process on how to fix your MBR:

  •  Find your Windows 8 DVD and insert it into your computer.
  • Make sure your computer is set to boot from the DVD drive first ( You may need to enter the BIOS for this, See your PC’s documentation).
  • Boot your computer from the Windows 8 disc.
  • The first screen that will popup after the DVD boots your machine is the Language selection screen, click “Next”.
  • On the “Install Now” screen go to the lower left hand section of the window and click “Repair Your Computer”.
  • Now Click “Troubleshoot”
  • Click “Advanced Options”
  • Click “Command Prompt”
  • You will now see a black command window, type  BOOTREC /FIXMBR and then press enter.
  • After you press enter you should see the message “The operation completed successfully.”. Now you can type  EXIT and press enter. Now you can select “Turn off your PC”.

Once you turn your PC back on you should see that your issue has been resolved!

Playstation 4 Will Stick To Blu-Ray

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Blu-ray_Logo

As the popularity of digital downloads has increased over the years many of us were wondering if the next-gen consoles will focus less on actual discs. We keep seeing more and more content available for download and some games aren’t even shipping manuals anymore, instead they are available in a digital format.

However, the Playstation 4 will still rely on Blu-Ray as it primary game delivery medium. In a recent interview with IGN, Sony’s Jim Ryan mentions this about the format.

Clearly, and this applies not just to games but to pretty much every form of entertainment, there is a trend to increased digital consumption, and that is happening now on PS3 and will continue and will probably accelerate on PS4, but the primary delivery mechanism for the big games on the PS4 platform will continue to be Blu-Ray discs, for the foreseeable future.

I’m not surprised by this at all and actually I’m quite thrilled to hear that they are sticking with Blu-Ray. First of all, our broadband still lacks the bandwidth that’s necessary to make digital downloads attractive. With some games possibly being as large as 40 gigabytes and up, something Jim Ryan says he’s encouraging developers to do, there’s no way you can download that in a reasonable amount of time. The Blu-Ray disc is still reaching it’s peak potential and has plenty of years ahead of it.

I’m still quite fond of having the case and actual game disc. I never feel like I should have to pay full price for a digital download, it feels like I’m not getting the whole game. It’s a strange thought to imagine that one day we may not be using discs at all. Let’s not forget to mention that if we go all digital that will also be the death of the used game business.

At least for now we will be living in a hybrid world of both digital and physical content for not just our games, but movies and music as well. One thing I am wondering about now is whether or not Microsoft will be using Blu-Ray or some other type of proprietary media.