I have to appologize once again, but I continue to have issues with recording.  I am working on the issue and will try to have it fixed by the next show.

Microsoft: Out-Of Band Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for December 2008. Released December 17th.  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-dec.mspx

Make sure your autoupdate is enabled in Windows XP or Vista. 

WindowsXP: Right click on My Computer and select Properties.  In there you will see an AutoUpdate Tab.  For Vista right click on My Computer and select Windows Update.  You will find information about windows update in there.

 Joel Helms joined us for this show.  He has experience with Media Servers and has one running in his home.  He gave us some great tips.  Thank you Joel!

• Use a media server to distribute video/movies, music, pictures to multiple machines and TV’s.
• A NAS (Network Attached Storage) device can be used for the storage of a Media Server over the network.

What do you want the Media server for?  Are you using mostly music or video?  These questions may help you?

If you want hotswappable drives for a media server, your best bet is to pick up a NAS device that has hotswappable drives.

A simple NAS solution: http://www.freenas.org/  This will run on a very old machine with little resources.

DaveAC in the chat room asked about what drive size would be good.  I suggested that since drive prices are so low, you couldn’t go wrong getting 1TB drives.  Joel added that it depends on what you are using it for.  Ripping DVD’s into ISO’s, Music, etc.

In his home, Joel uses a TVIXBOX along with FreeNAS.

Popcorn A100 has received great reviews and is afforable.

This weeks show was cut off due to a problem at Talkshoe.com.  I will re-visit some of the show in our Part 2 of Media Servers next week.

If you have bought a new computer recently, you may already have Windows Media Center.  Windows Media Center comes with Microsof Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate operating systems.

How to connect Windows Media Center to your TV

Most new HD TV’s come with a computer or VGA port where you can plug your monitor or display port from the back of your computer.  Also If you have a Computer with HDMI or DVI out, this could also connect to your TV.

If you have an Xbox 360, you can connect to your Windows Media Center PC over your home network.  This comes in handy when your computer is in your home office and you TV is in your living room.  All features on your Windows Media Center are accesible via the Xbox 360 over the network.

What can you d with Windows Media Center?

View Internet News MSNBC.COM: See news broadcasts from MSNBC

Sports information: Track your favorite fantasy league players and see Live scores and Stats for your favorite NHL, NBA and NFL teams.

Online Media: TV and Movies, Music and Radio, News and Sports.  All this information can be accessed via Windows Media Center.

Watch TV: If you have optional TV Tuner hardware on your Windows Media Center computer, you will be able to Pause Live TV, Record shows, and have access to a Full TV program guide for your local and TV provider.    You will also be able to watch what you have recorded just like a TIVO or other DVR.

Music Library: Have access to your Music Library.

Pictures Library:  Have access to your Picture and Video library.

Games: Play Games that comes with Windows Media Center.

http://www.orb.com

What is ORB.com

This free service, provides a way to stream your Music, Videos, Live TV to you from anywhere on the Internet, similar to a SlingBox.  You can also access documents stored on your home computer and play Flash based games provided by orb.com.

Tips to help protect your kids while they are online

1. Encourage your kids to share their internet experiences with you.  Surf the internet with your children.  (Maybe put the computer in a common area of the home)
2. Let your kids know, if they feel nervous about anything online they should let you know.
3. Infom your kids not to give out your address, or any other personal information.
4. Teach your kids that the difference between right and wrong is hte same on the interne as it is in real life.
5. Teach you kids to respect others online.  Rules for good behaviour don’t change just because they’re on a computer.
6. Teach your kids that not everything they read or see online is true.  Encourage them to ask you if they’re not sure.
7. Control your childrens online activity with advanced internet software.  Parental controls can help you filter out harmful content, monitor the sites you child visits, and find out what they do there. 

Using Windows Vista’s Parental Controls

• User accounts

1. Create separate user account for each of your children.
2. After you create the account to go that account and select ‘Setup Parental Controls’
3. Select your child’s account that you want to monitor
4. You must select ‘On, enforce current settings’

Some of the things you can do with parental controls in Vista

• Control allowed websites, downloads and other use (web filtering)
• Set time limits for your children
• Control what kind of games your child can play.
• Allow and block specific programs.

Control allowed websites, downloads and other use (web filtering)

You can either block some websites or content or allow all websites and content

You only allow websites which are on the allow list that you create

Web restriction levels are as follows: High, Medium, None, Custom

You can block File downloads

Time Limits: By enabling time limits, you can set the times where your child can use that computer.

Games: Control PC gaming by allowing or disallowing different types of games.
See ESRB.ORG for ratings

Allow or block specific programs on the computer (IM, media players etc.)

Get Activity reports delivered to you by Vista.

For more informaton on setting up Microsoft Windows Vista’s Parental Control visiti Microsoft.com