Here’s something that get Matt Fry salivating… my definitive guide to making Windows XP look cool. Or like Vista (depending how you see it). And it’s all free.

Here are my recommendations for what you need to download…

Zune theme
I mentioned in a previous post – it’s a black and orange colour theme for Windows.

Vista cursor
Read the supplied read me file for installation instructions.

Vista Wallpapers
Lots of official and un-official Vista wallpapers. I use WallMaster to cycle through mine.

Vista Sounds
Hmm, I have them installed on my PC but can’t find where I got them from… will upload them and put a link on my Blog when they’re ready.

Sidebar
After looking at various sidebars, the Google version ended up as my favourite, mainly due to the large number of gadgets available for it.

Alt/Tab Replacement
Microsoft provide a great Alt/Tab replacement as a PowerToy, although it’s not as good as Vistas Flip 3D. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

But, if you want to flip your windows about in 3D, try Madotate – personally I didn’t get on with it. Anyway, there’s no installer with it, so after unzipping it, run install.reg (this will add a registry entry) and then run madotate.exe to kick it off. A system tray icon will appear – from here you can change settings, etc. You will also notice that your current focused window has a new button at the top – click on this to make the window go all-3D.

And that’s it for now – if you can suggest anything further, please let me know.

A while ago my Hiper Power Supply failed. It was well within its warranty so I contacted Hiper, who arranged for a replacement. Naturally I had to return it to them and cover the cost myself. On top of that they didn’t reply to my emails and the person I spoke to on the phone was rude.

So as well as returning my PSU, I sent them a letter of complaint.

And I’ll them their due, they apologised. And to make things up they’d send me one of their lovely alloy keyboards.

Anyway, the other day my replacement PSU turned up. I carefully put it in my PC and switched it on. BANG.

After getting my house electric back on, I removed the Hiper PSU and put in my “temporary one” (that I’d bought whilst I was awaiting this replacement from Hiper). Luckily, and miraculously, my PC still worked.

But I’ve sent Hiper another strongly worded mail, this time asking for my money back. So far they’ve responded by asking if they can pick it up from me so they can examine it. I suspect that will involve me sitting at home and awaiting a courier so I’ve been less than keen.

And here’s where insult gets added to injury… I thought I’d try the keyboard out tonight. Except there was something odd about it. Maybe it was the strange words on some of the keys. Or maybe it was the symbols being on different keys than I’m used to. Yes…. drum roll….. they’d sent me a French one.

God bless.

I’ll never… ever… buy from Hiper again.

Meantime, I await a response from Hiper – I’ll give them a few days. Unfortunately my computer continues to play up (not related to the explosive PSU). It’s new trick is for the LAN connection not to work when booted up. A quick reboot and it works again. Never-the-less it’s one more annoyance that’s making the whole computer experience more and more annoying.

My long term plan? Ditch the thing and buy one from a big company, with a big warranty period on it. Mesh are looking good right now, but I’m trying to see if I can have XP installed instead of Vista (mainly due to the fact that my Harmony Remote and Siemens phone won’t connect to Vista).

Update (06/03/2007):

Ok, so you’d have thought that after all my problems me stating that the keyboard was a French version might have been taken seriously.

“It is highly unlikely you will have the French version, as we only sell UK version here.”

Says Hiper Customer Services.

Of course, my fault. I was obviously looking at something else. Like a French dictionary or something.

How stupid do they think I am?

Anyway, a couple of pictures went back to them (one of which is above – click on it for the full size picture. See if you can spot the problem). The French keytops being one clue. The French symbols on the keys being another. Oh, and the letters “FR” on a sticker on the keyboard and the box being another. Last, but by no means least, the French flag on the box is a REALLY big give-away.

Other than the above response I’ve heard nothing from Hiper – nothing about my PSU for a start.

But wait… a card came through the post. From worse-than-bloody-useless courier firm Amtrak. Who will only deliver during the day whilst I’m out, will only attempt delivery twice and don’t answer their phone. Hiper use Amtrak.

So I rang their customer services to find out if they’d sent me anything… “Oh, I think a colleague may have sent you another keyboard”. This was AFTER I’d told them I wasn’t prepared to spend anymore time sat at home waiting for couriers.

Well, this time I will. Simply because their keyboard is actually quite nice (when it’s in the right language). I may as well try and get something from them. In the meantime, I’ll email Hiper again to find out if/when they plan to refund me for my PSU. If I don’t get anywhere it’s my intention to email the Watchdog page at PC Pro magazine.

I think it’s about time I introduced you to a friend. A bloody frustrating friend, I’ll admit. Yes, it’s my PC.

Built by my own fair hands (or rather assembled).

Within an Alpine EZ-Cool case, the PC was designed for quietness. The aluminium case is vented (and filtered) on all sides. Two case fans are installed – an 80mm HiPer fan on the front (lowered in speed via a Zalman Fanmate) and a rear 120mm (the make of which I can’t remember, but it was picked for its lower dB rating). This rear fan is controlled by the motherboard software, as is the Nexus fan on the processor. Both fans sit on Acoustifan gel gaskets.

The motherboard is an Abit AX8 3rd Eye, running an AMD Athlon 64bit 3200+ processor. 1GB of Crucial PC3200 DDR memory is installed.

Power is provided by a HiPer Type R 480w PSU.

A Maxtor Diamondmax 10 300GB hard drive is installed, along with a Lite-on CD-RW and an LG Dual-layer DVD-RW.

Graphics are powered by a Sapphire ATI Radeon X300SE.

The whole thing runs quite hot, as the fans are running at low speeds, but it’s incredibly quiet.

Anyway, I’ve recently been looking at possible upgrades, after having problems with my cordless mouse. Other than just giving it a bit of a refresh, it’s probably prudent to make it ready for the powerhouse that will be Windows Vista (I’ll end up with it one day – it’s bound to happen).

So, other than a new keyboard and mouse combo (the Logitech S510 looks cool), I’d probably look to upgrade my processor to a 3800+, double the memory to 2GB and improve the graphics with an ATI Radeon X1300 (which is certified to run Vista’s Aero interface).

Having said that I might hold back on the processor. You see, I keep having problems with my PC (hence the frustration) which I suspect is motherboard related. As I have an oem copy of XP, if I upgrade my motherboard then it’s likely to break it (as in, any major changes to your system and XP thinks it’s been installed on another machine. If you have a non-oem copy of XP, a quick phone call to Microsoft and they’ll allow it. If you oem, you’re on your own).

So it probably makes more sense to wait until I’m due to upgrade my OS to Vista and then get a new motherboard along with that.

Of course, my problems may also be PSU related, so a change of that may be in order first.

Hmmm… something to think about for a while. I think I’ll indulge in a SatNav system first, though.