Nearly 300 Free Ebooks From Microsoft

Normally I would just tweet about this sort of thing, but this list big list of ebooks is something I want to reference for myself in the future.  So I'm posting it on the techblog!

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There are several Windows 8 and 8.1 related books which I'm interested in.  Several Office related books and Shortcuts cheatsheets.  Powershell cheatsheets and books - will have to save these for future reference.

There's really too much there to mention it all.  So Here's the link.

What books and cheatsheets do you find helpful?  Leave a comment and let us know what you are interested in.


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Unrecognized Kingston Data Traveler 8GB Windows 7

I have been struggling with a Kingston Data Traveler 8GB flash drive for nearly a week now.
It was a very strange problem and I thought it was a software driver issue with Windows 7 on one particular computer.

The drive worked fine on other computers, both Windows 7 and 8.  This ruled out any hardware issues with the flash drive itself - or so I thought.

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After removing and uninstalling many unused drivers in windows device manager, I rebooted my pc a couple of times to be sure everything that is installed still worked properly.  After all this, the flash drive still did not work.

I tried all 4 usb ports at the front of my desktop pc and occassionally I would see a windows pop-up showing something was plugged in.  The drive never shows up in the computer's removable storage list.

Then I had a thought, something I've seen on rare occasions on this pc, what if the usb contacts are not doing it's job?  I've had other devices not work properly from time to time, but never with all the usb ports.  So I held the flash drive at a slight angle so the contacts would be closer to that of the pc's - voila! it worked!

I tested this several times, in the other ports and they all did the same thing.  I compared the USB flash drive contacts to others that do work on this pc and I noticed it does look slightly thinner than the others.  So I think it's a combination of the ports on this pc and device connectors.

THE FIX

I have three of these devices and two do not work on this pc, while one does.  It could be a manufacturing issue, but I do have a quick fix now.  I use a usb extension cord like the AmazonBasics USB 2.0 Extension Cable, and it works like a charm!

My other usb flash drives like the SanDisk Cruzer Blade 8GB or SanDisk Cruzer 16GB  do not have this issue.  I'm leaning toward a manufacturing quality control issue since the problem is not consistent and it does work on most other machines.

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Android Tablet for 20

A few weeks ago I purchased the Azpen A727 Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) Tablet from the Queens Micro Center store for $20.  In short, this was a GREAT BUY for the price.  I use it for a number of things including checking weather, news, email, Pandora for music and checking Facebook.

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You won't be able to find this tablet for this price regularly.  I received a promotional coupon, which they sent out to hundreds, or likely thousands of people.  The day I went to pick this tablet up, there were several hundred people lined up purchasing the same tablet.  Micro Center sells this for $80 currently, which is not worth it, as you can buy something better for a little bit more.  Micro Center has very good prices on other computer gear and supplies, if they were closer to where I live, I'd visit often.

The tablet has the following specifications:

• Capacitive Multi-Point Touchscreen LCD 7" 800x480 Display - very responsive
• Allwinner A23 1.5GHz Dual-Core CPU - zippy!
• 512MB RAM & 4GB SSD Storage - not so great
• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean - comes with Play Store, GREAT!
• Expandable up to 32GB via microSD Card - makes up for the low built-in storage

It comes with a charging cable and charger.  Only about 1GB of storage is really usable when you check the settings.  It's good enough for light use.  I have the following apps installed and they run well on a regular basis.

• 2048
• Chrome
• CPU-Z
• Facebook
• Gmail
• Go Launcher EX
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary
• Pandora
• Premium Walpapers HD
• Temple Run 2
• Weather
• YouTube (doesn't run very well)

The one problem I have with the device is the screen glare.  I think that's where they they cut back a lot to make the device so cheap.  For occasional use it is a good device, especially for the price.  If you use it everyday, take many breaks - or you may need to get new glasses.

Let me know if you picked one of these up and how you like it.

One problem I found from various owners is the audio.  Many people say it is terrible and sounds like you are in a tin can.  I had that issue with several of my mobile phone headphones.  When I put in a dedicated audio headset it sounded fine.  The audio issue may have something to do with the wiring of the mobile phone headsets.  If you have this problem, try an over the ear stereo headset.

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