Darren Straight's Blog

ICT Enthusiast and photographer.

By - Darren Straight

Notable Changes in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate

Good news for those looking forward to Microsoft’s Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). Microsoft has very recently published a 17 page document detailing notable changes in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate. Here’s the full list – though beware you may get bored of reading it all! 😉 Hardware Ecosystem Support and Enhancements Adds support for new UEFI (Unified

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft removes MSN Santa

Last year Microsoft created it’s MSN/Windows Live Messenger Santa(northpole@live.com) for children to talk too and ask what they would like for Christmas but now it looks like Microsoft have had to have him removed after he got himself into some trouble! 🙁 The Register reported that one of its readers discovered that a chat between Santa and his young nieces (aged 11

By - Darren Straight

MSN/Windows Live confirmed as staying in RedWest

There’s recently been talk about whether or not the MSN and Windows Live product teams would be moving from the Microsoft RedWest campus to the new Advanta buildings in southeast Bellevue. But it’s now been confirmed by The Seattle Times that the MSN and Windows Live product teams will in fact be staying at the RedWest campus. “It’s true that

By - Darren Straight

Do December’s Green Thing

December’s green thing is all about buying an old thing, not a new thing.  New things are the fanciest and most specced-up things and have the almost irresistible appeal of being the latest things. But manufacturing a new thing uses resources and energy, all of which creates CO2.  So instead of buying a new thing, buy an old thing. Old

By - Darren Straight

Top 10 Search Keyphrases for November 2007

1735 different keyphrases were used to find my site in November 2007, here are the top 10 with the amount of times they were used plus their overall usage percentage. 1735 different keyphrases Search Percent vtunnel 5340 38.3 % vtunnel proxy 477 3.4 % https v tunnel 452 3.2 % v tunnel 448 3.2 % vtunnel myspace 418 3 % sites

By - Darren Straight

Two-thirds of PC owners lose data but simply dont know how to protect it!

New research into the habits of 1,626 UK PC owners has revealed that a staggering two-thirds (65%) have lost precious data or files that were stored on their PC’s hard drive. The research, conducted by Tickbox.net on behalf of online backup provider Carbonite (www.carbonite.co.uk), also found that despite this high rate of data loss experienced, almost a quarter (24%) of

By - Darren Straight

Download Camtasia Studio 3.1.3 for Free

TechSmith Corporation, the company behind Camtasia Studio the Screen Recorder, is currently running a fantastic special offer in which you can download a fully functional version of Camtasia Studio 3.1.3 for FREE and upgrade (optional) to Camtasia Studio 5.0 for only £88. Ok here’s what you have to do to grab Camtasia Studio 3: Step 1. Download the program by clicking on

By - Darren Straight

Be a Desperate Dan Character

If you are a fan of Desperate Dan from The Dandy Comic, then Oxfam have an experience for you. The Dandy made history in 1999 when it was officially recognised as the longest running comic in the world with its 3007th issue. And now you can be part of its heritage as you get to be a real character in

By - Darren Straight

Space Shuttle Mission 2007 Reveals New Virtual Flight Deck Video

Exciting Simulations have today uploaded a new in-game video showing off the new Space Shuttle Mission 2007 Virtual Flight Deck. The video was originally captured at a resolution of 1280×1024 but had to be resized to standard DVD resolution. So although the video quality does not do it justice, the Virtual Flight Deck is modeled in high resolution, sharp graphics

By - Darren Straight

Bank Intern Busted By Facebook Profile

Kevin Colvin, an intern at Anglo Irish Bank’s North American arm, was busted when he told his manager, Paul Davis, that he’d be missing work due to what colleagues took to be a “family emergency”. However yet did he know that when he posted his drunken photos that his boss would find out what he was really up to! 🙂 There