Tuesday is here at last, and for Windows Home Server owners that means one thing… Power Pack 3 Day!

Microsoft have released PP3 for download via Windows Update, and it’s free and waiting for you to download. Simply open your WHS Console, go to the Settings dialog, and click Update Now in the General section. You’ll need to restart your home server, and each hope computer connected to Windows Home Server, after which Power Pack 3 will be yours!

Let’s recap on what’s new, courtesy of the Windows Team Blog:

Windows 7 Libraries integration

When you install the Windows Home Server Connector and log on a computer running Windows 7, you can access the Windows Home Server shared folders from the Windows 7 libraries.

Windows 7 Action Center backup warning suppression

After you install the Windows Home Server Connector to enable the home server backup for your computer running Windows 7, you can suppress the Action Center warning reminding you that Windows Backup has not been set up.

Windows 7 power settings

You can configure your computer running Windows 7 to wake up at a scheduled backup time and then go back to sleep after the backup finishes.

Console support for Windows 7

Windows 7 is properly displayed as the operating system shown in the Computers & Backup tab.

Windows Search

Windows Search 4 is included to improve query search times, indexing times, and reliability. Extended Remote Discovery increases the efficiency of searching across all your libraries running Windows Search 4. Files encrypted with EFS are now supported.

TV archive

Windows Home Server can automatically archive recorded TV by moving your recordings from a Windows Media Center computer to your home server in the format of your choice. This enables playback in the correct format for your home computers and/or portable devices.

Console view

You can view information about your home server’s storage space, hard drives, backup status, and more from Windows Media Center.

Complete details are available in the Power Pack 3 Release Documentation.

If you’ve been running the Power Pack 3 beta, make sure you uninstall it before you install the final PP3 update. Here’s how (thanks to Janne Strom for the heads up!):

1. Access the Windows Home Server Administrator’s Desktop (How to connect to the Windows Home Server Administrator’s Desktop)

2. Navigate to the Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta folder at Start > My Computer > D: > Shares > Software > Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta.

3. Run the Uninstall.cmd file to un-install Power Pack 3 Beta. After reboot, your Home Server will revert back to your previous version.

4. Re-install the updated Windows Home Server Connector software on your home computer. (Windows Home Server Connector installation)

Source Article:
Windows Home Server Power Pack 3, Waiting For You

One major advantage to be had when using a Windows 7 Media Center over your standard cable DVR is the ability to scan and remove commercials from Recorded TV shows. Programs such as Lifextender, which can be setup to use either comskip or Showanalyzer, can arrange for new shows to be scanned and the commercials removed without having to process each file by hand. Unfortunately, Lifextender doesn’t work with the new WTV format so first we’ll need to convert the files using a program such as WTVWatcher.

To get started you’ll need to download and install both WTVWatcher and Lifextender or, if you prefer, we’ve also got a guide on using DVRMSToolbox with Lifextender. Once you’ve got both programs installed you’ll need to setup WTVWatcher to monitor the Recorded TV location. Use the preferences to set the location of your Recorded TV folder, typically C:UsersPublicRecorded TV. WTVWatcher will begin to go to work converting the WTV recordings into DVR-MS files that are readable by Lifextender.

WTVWatcher uses the built-in conversion program provided by Microsoft to convert each WTV file into a DVR-MS file. For even more information on WTVWatcher check out our previous review of this handy little tool right here. Once the files have been converted we can setup Lifextender to automatically scan for and cut commercials from these files. Next, open Lifextender and choose Options by right-clicking the icon in the system tray.

Under the general settings be sure to set the TV Recording path to the same directory as the one you set previously inside WTVWatcher. Also, unless you plan to run the process by hand enable the Automated Library Scanning so that Lifextender will automatically find your new shows for processing. To test your settings you can start a manual processing of the files by right-clicking the Lifextender system tray icon and selecting Scan Media Center Library.

Lifextender’s processing dialog will appear as the program scans each recorded show for commercials. This can take quite a bit of time depending on the length of the show and the complexity of commercial scanning process.

After processing each file will be added to the “blacklist” inside Lifextender’s options. This allows you to check the progress of Lifextender’s processing of files as well as preventing the program from scanning the same program each time the library is scanned for new content. You can find the blacklist under the Options –> Advanced tab. Here you can also add individual files to be excluded from processing, though if you have a certain show or channel you’d like to permanently exclude from processing there is an included Rules feature to allow for easier management.

Unfortunately, there has been some issues reported with Lifextender not accepting the converted files from WTVWatcher and the Lifextender program is no longer in active development. If you experience the same issue your only option may be to use the DVRMSToolbox method in this guide using an alternative program for converting the WTV files to DVR-MS. Also, be sure to drop a line in the comments below with as much detail as you can provide including which version of Windows 7 you’re using, Lifextender log info and anything else noteworthy. Perhaps we can sort out the issue with more information.

For most people, however, this method should provide a simple solution to easy commercial removal from Windows 7 Media Center recordings. Hopefully the future will bring us an alternative to Lifextender and more active development (and hopefully more open source projects as well!).

Source Article:
Using WTVWatcher and Lifextender to Cut Commercials from Recorded Shows

Since we had such a great response from our previous post on the Top 10 reasons to use Windows Home Server, we thought it would be beneficial to share our thinking on the business side of things. Don’t let the name Windows Home Server fool you into thinking that this product was created for home use only. A lot of the reasons that you would use Windows Home Server in your home are just as applicable to a small or home office. Windows Home Server provides a dependable and affordable way to organize and safeguard your work on up to 10 computers. In order to help you see how Windows Home Server could enable you to work more efficiently and effectively, take a look at the top 10 reasons to use Windows Home Server in your SOHO.

1. Conveniently backup important data with automatic image-based backup of up to 10 computers every day.

2. Quickly restore an entire PC, a specific hard drive, or individual files and folders in the event of data loss.

3. Remotely access PCs while away from the office to access files, check e-mail, review financial information, or look up an address or phone number.

4. Create a centralized and security enhanced location for important work documents that can be accessed by everyone in the company.

5. Easily find and share information by organizing data in a security-enhanced centralized location.

6. Help reduce downtime with automatic monitoring of the health of your computers on the network to keep them active and available.

7. Easily expand storage space and add new capabilities as your business needs grow.

8. Grant permissions for varying levels of access by team members to your business documents.

9. Easily extend your investment with new Windows Home Server add-ins for things such as virus protection, power management, and online storage.

10. Easy to use and set-up Windows Home Server in as little in 2 hours.

Windows Home Server was designed to “grow with you”. That may be obvious when it comes to adding additional hard drives but also includes the option to install extra software features to help customize your Home Server. The development community has created “add-ins” for Windows Home Server that extends its capabilities in fun, exciting, and useful ways. There are currently over 100 add-ins available for download.

Three widely popular add-ins that are being used today include: Lights-Out, WebGuide, and Whiist.

Lights-Out

This power management add-in is used to put your Windows Home Server in a hibernated mode when you are not using it. This is a great way to cut down on energy bills and make your home or office a little “greener”.

*Windows Home Server console screen shot of Lights-Out add-in

This add-in allows your Home Server to go into hibernation mode when users are not using it, based on your calendar of events, or a combination of both. You will also have the option to set a defined time in which the Home Server will fully turn back on. Windows Home Server will never remain asleep if you have a backup scheduled. Therefore, all of your important data will remain safe and still be automatically backed up.

WebGuide

WebGuide allows you to remotely view live and recorded TV programs while you are away from home. It will also enable you to remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, music, pictures and videos on your Windows XP Media Center edition or Windows Vista Premium, or Windows Vista Ultimate PC.

*Screen shot of Windows Home Server’s add-in, WebGuide

*Screen shot of streaming videos through Windows Home Server’s add-in, WebGuide

WebGuide provides you with mobile access to your music and videos from your Windows Mobile devices. This means you can have access to all of your pictures and movies while you are on the road.

Whiist

Whiist is a Windows Home Server add-in that allows you to create and manage web content on your Windows Home Server. Once downloaded, Whiist can be used through your Windows Home Server console. This tab makes it so that you can easily create and manage new websites, photo albums, and homepage links.

*Screen shot of Windows Home Server console with the Whiist add-in

Some of the key features that are found in Whiist include:

• Quickly create new websites on your home server.
• Create new photo albums to share with family and friends in a few simple steps.
• Share photos with family and friends through online photo sharing.
• Create public content, or restrict access to users of your Windows Home Server.
• Easily customize your public and private Windows Home Server Homepage links.
• Fully integrates with the Windows Home Server management console.
• Customize your Windows Home Server homepage

You have now seen three out of many Windows Home Server add-ins. If you are interested in learning about all of the other available add-ins to download, you can visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/add-ins.mspx.

Source Article:
Windows Home Server Add-ins: Lights-Out, WebGuide, and Whiist

The Windows Home Server Team is pleased to announce that Power Pack 3 will be available in all shipping languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish) on November 24^th, 2009. Power Pack 3 will be made available to existing users via Windows Update. Users need to have Windows Home Server with Power Pack 2 already installed on their home server. Power Pack 3 will automatically install as part of Windows Update if Automatic Updates is enabled on the home server.

As Microsoft communicated in a past post, Power Pack 3 improves the Windows Home Server experience with Windows 7 and Windows Media Center by providing new features like: backup and restore of computers running Windows 7, Windows 7 Libraries integration, enhancements for Windows Media Center, and better support for netbook computers. Power Pack 3 will enable the most optimal experience for Windows 7 users on a Windows Home Server network.

“If you’ve recently upgraded to Windows 7, Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 is an essential download providing enhanced integration between the two platforms and a number of cool new features. Combine library support with enhanced features for Windows Media Center, and we’re really starting to see Microsoft bring together the Windows Home Server and Windows 7 client experience so that your media can be stored on your home server and enjoyed seamlessly on TV, PC and Mobile devices with little effort from the user. The bad old days of copy, paste, convert and transcode may well be behind us,” says Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP) Terry Walsh of We Got Served.

Microsoft MVP Alex Kuretz of MediaSmartServer.net says “Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 makes storing and accessing your media easier by bringing all the content contained on your Home Server smoothly into your Windows 7 libraries. TV Archive is also a very nice feature that has allowed me to record TV shows and move them to my Home Server to be watched at a later time.”

Here are some details on what’s new:

Windows 7 Libraries integration

When you install the Windows Home Server Connector and log on a computer running Windows 7, you can access the Windows Home Server shared folders from the Windows 7 libraries.

Windows 7 Action Center backup warning suppression

After you install the Windows Home Server Connector to enable the home server backup for your computer running Windows 7, you can suppress the Action Center warning reminding you that Windows Backup has not been set up.

Windows 7 power settings

You can configure your computer running Windows 7 to wake up at a scheduled backup time and then go back to sleep after the backup finishes.

Console support for Windows 7

Windows 7 is properly displayed as the operating system shown in the Computers & Backup tab.

Windows Search

Windows Search 4 is included to improve query search times, indexing times, and reliability. Extended Remote Discovery increases the efficiency of searching across all your libraries running Windows Search 4. Files encrypted with EFS are now supported.

TV archive

Windows Home Server can automatically archive recorded TV by moving your recordings from a Windows Media Center computer to your home server in the format of your choice. This enables playback in the correct format for your home computers and/or portable devices.

Console view

You can view information about your home server’s storage space, hard drives, backup status, and more from Windows Media Center.

Complete details are available in the Power Pack 3 Release Documentation.

- The Windows Home Server Team

One of the most popular articles ever at Win7Media has been our guide on how to enable Concurrent Sessions for Windows Vista. For those unaware of what it is, enabling Concurrent Sessions allows you to Remote Desktop into a system that someone else is on, under a different user account, and access the system without kicking the user off. I, for example, use the feature to have MCE running on my Television, and then I remote into my main user account to access all my files without interrupting my MCE session. All kudos go out to the original folks at WinMatrix forums (ShipIt, Pinobigbird, untermensch & Cocoa) who posted the instructions and files to edit the files as needed to work properly. Without them we would never have gotten this far!

***DISCLAIMER***

The following files and instructions are provided to you at your OWN RISK!! Understand that it is replacing important files, and as always, anything can happen. That being said, if you do have a problem, we have a fantastic community here to help you

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS (READ CAREFULLY)

1. First, you will need to download the appropriate files necessary:

DOWNLOAD HERE

2. Once downloaded, extract the files into a directory (for the purposes of this guide, it will be assumed that the files have been extracted to the folder C:\Win7RDP )

3. Open Windows Explorer to the above folder

4. Right Click on “install.cmd” and select “Run as Administrator”

5. Wait for the script to run entirely. At the end, you should see something similar to the below…

If you executed the command successfully, you should see this screen.

EXTRA ABILITIES

For 99.9% of folks, the above steps will be exactly what they are looking for. However, if you want to customize the abilities a bit, there are certain command strings you can run in addition. To do so, you will need to open a Command Prompt with Administrator Privileges (Start > Run > CMD > Right Click “Run As Administrator”). The other available options are:

For example, if you wanted to Enable multiple sessions per user, you would follow these steps:

1. Launch a Command Prompt with Administrator priveleges (Start > CMD > Right Click > Run as Administrator)

2. At the C:\Windows\System32 prompt type “cd\Win7RDP”

3. You should now be at the prompt C:\Win7RDP>

4. At the prompt, type: install multi

Are you one of the many Media Center users already running a Vista Media Center and planning to upgrade to a new Windows 7 install? If so, it’s likely that you’d want to move your recording schedule over as well. For those planning to do a simple upgrade the process should be automatic, however, if you’re planning a clean install it’s going to take a bit more planning and effort. Media Center developer Danny Ton has posted the method to getting this done over at The Green Button for those planning on a clean install of Windows 7 from Windows Vista.

This method will work for anyone who is moving from a basic Windows Vista install, without the Fiji pack installed, but will only copy the recording schedule. This means that the channel lineup and other custom settings will not be carried over and will need to be setup by the user. The recording schedule works by scanning the TV lineup for shows listed in the schedule then marking them for recording. The schedule is actually more of a list than a schedule, containing a list of shows and a set of rules for recording than a list of times, dates and channels to be recorded.

To get started, the files we need to access are located inside a hidden folder so we should enable the viewing of such folders. In the Control Panel, select Appearance and Personalization then Folder Options. Under the View tab in Folder Options select the Show Hidden files and folders option and press OK.

Once you’ve enabled the viewing of hidden folders open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:Program Data\microsoft\ehome\recording. Copy the contents of the folder to a backup location such as a flash drive or network storage location. Now proceed with your clean installation of Windows 7.

Once you’ve completed your clean install, follow the steps above to show hidden folders once again and locate the C:Program Data\microsoft\ehome\recording directory (or create it if it doesn’t exist). Now place the recordings.xml file you backed up from Windows Vista into the folder before running the Windows 7 Media Center setup.

During the initial setup of Windows 7 Media Center the recordings.xml will be converted into the Windows 7 Media Center recordings schedule and all of your recordings should be processed once the TV guide listings have been processed. If you’ve already run the initial setup you can also achieve the same results by running the TV Signal Setup from the Settings area.

Once the machine has had time to scan the TV guide listings for your scheduled show recordings you should be able to view scheduled recordings from Recorded TV’s view scheduled area. That’s all there is to it! You should now have a completely transferred recording schedule from Windows Vista into Windows 7.

Source Article:
Bringing a Recording Schedule from Vista to Windows 7

According to the U.K. Telegraph, Microsoft has confirmed that computer users will be able to test the new Windows 7 operating system for up to 120 days before they need to buy it.

Once the four month trial period ends, users will be asked to enter an activation code, which proves they have bought the software.

Windows Vista, the predecessor to Windows 7, contained a similar loophole, and Microsoft has given users tacit consent to exploit it. “A total of 120 days total time is available as a grace period to customers that take advantage of rearm,” a spokesman for the software giant told Computerworld.

Windows 7 goes on sale on October 22, and Microsoft is hoping it will be better received by consumers and commentators than Vista, which was widely criticised for being slow and processor-intensive, and for failing to work with many peripheral devices.

The new operating system has sought to address some of these concerns by introducing faster installation and boot times, improved out-of-the-box peripheral support and easier access to drivers, intelligent power management, and a smaller, less power-hungry footprint.

Windows Secrets, the website that first alerted the web community to the activation loophole, has issued instructions for the “rearming” process. Users must first pull up a command line by going the Start menu, selecting All Programs, then Accessories, then Command Prompt.

Once the Command Prompt appears, users must type “slmgr -rearm”, without the quote marks. Once the computer is rebooted, the activation calendar will have been reset to zero, giving users another 30 days of free use.

Some commentators have speculated that Microsoft is allowing a period of grace to users in order to let them fully get to grips with the new operating system, and to experience themselves the benefits of upgrading from Windows XP or the unloved Vista, and to reassure them that Windows 7 offers an improved user experience across the board.

Source Article:
Windows 7: ‘free 120 days’

As you most likely know by now Hulu has revealed at long last it’s own desktop application for browsing Hulu content outside of the web browser. Of course, the Media Center community immediately jumped into action to bring this new platform into your Media Center setup. While not quite what would be described as “integrated” it will get the job done none-the-less.

The first step you’ll need to do for all of these methods is to download the new Hulu Desktop client from the Hulu Labs website. Once you’ve done that you could do things the manual way and follow the guides on Win7Media for Media Center Launcher and Configurator then Creating New Start Menu Strips. You could also edit one of these registry files included in the Extra Programs for our Media Browser menu strip and add Hulu Desktop to that strip.

Although, if that seems like an awful lot of legwork to you there are a few other options to have a look at. The first is this solution from Missing Remote providing a plug-in and some directions to add a Hulu Desktop Icon to menu strip. It still requires a bit of work for you and may not work fully with Windows 7 Media Center since additions to the default menu strips are no longer allowed. You should be able to find the new app listed in Extra Programs with this method however.

The other option is a plug-in from SecondRun.tv developer Yaggs. This plug-in is essentially the same as the Missing Remote except slightly simplified. For some reason you’re required to make a copy of the Hulu Desktop application in your root C:\ drive though. This should provide the easiest method for beginners but the least customizability.

No matter which option you choose you’ll get Hulu on your ten foot interface but it won’t be the holy grail. None of these solutions will work on extenders as Hulu desktop is developed entirely in Flash. The interface could carry some learning curve as well for the less technical family members since it’s quite a departure from the Media Center interface.

This may signal some level of receptiveness to distribution of Hulu content outside the browser but I wouldn’t hold your breath for Microsoft and Hulu to sign a deal any time soon. In fact, I’d expect to see Microsoft pushing it’s abhorrent Internet TV betas on us for the next decade or so.

Plugin Download: Hulu Plugin (191)

Application Download: Hulu Desktop (106)

Original Artical Link: Hack7MC.com