Showing the Compatibility Button in IE8

After having used IE8 since it came out, i can say that compatibility mode is absolutely essential for quite a few sites that are still using IE7 hacks that don’t play nice with the new version of the browser.  Having control over when to use compatibility mode is essential and can be turned on by clicking the button in the address bar:

If you can not see this button in the address bar, it is almost certainly due to the ‘feature’ i just discovered in my last install of Windows 7.  In this install i did something i almost never do – use the default settings.  By default, IE8 sets the option to Include updated compatibility view website lists from Microsoft.  When this option is enabled, the compatibility button is hidden from the address bar because it is assumed that the updated list from Microsoft will include all sites that you will ever need.  In practise i have found this is not the case and i wouldn’t expect it to be – how can MS expect to trawl every website and ensure they work. 

Fortunately, re-enabling the compatibility view button is simple.  Simply go to Tools –> Compatibility View Settings to open the following dialog.  Then turn off the Include updated website lists from Microsoft setting and click OK to save.  A few seconds later the compatibility view button will re-appear in the address bar and you can click it to view a webpage like you are using IE7.

So in short, if you used the recommended IE8 settings the first time you ran IE8 (which is likely for a lot of people), the issue above is very likely to be the cause of the compatibility view button not displaying in the address bar.  At some point in the future most websites will be written with IE8 in mind.  Until then, this button can be a lifesaver, especially with Flash enabled pages.

Wake On LAN (WoL) – Saving the World 1kW At A Time

When i was running Windows Vista i never even considered setting my computer to go to sleep for a number of reasons:

• Vista’s recovery time was too long
• I use my computer as a server for a number of services, which i frequently use remotely
• My son likes to use the PC as a media box

Now that i have Windows 7 installed, i have taken to using the sleep feature since it wakes up in a matter of seconds.  By default Windows 7 uses the Balanced power profile which puts the computer to sleep after 30 minutes when running on power.  This caused me to think about how much power my computer had been using over the past few years.  In Perth, the cost of power is currently 12.67c/unit so we can use the following formula to calculate the amount of power a device is using:

Cost ($) per day = (wattage) / 1000 x ($$/kWh) x (hours used per day)

The power supply in my computer is 500W.  Until i get a cheap energy power meter that can accurately measure the utilisation accuracy, lets assume an average 300W usage (based on the components in my computer).  Plugging this into the above equation means that my computer is costing $1.06 a day to run!!  I really should have done this calculation a few years ago.  Its pretty easy to see that any down time on the computer is going to save some serious $$ over the year.  This is why I’ve started to use WoL as described in my previous post.

I recommend following this guide on Lifehacker to setup WoL on your network. I’ll be writing in the near future on some issues i found with using WoL, in particular the miriad of utilities out there that don’t work, why they don’t work and present a little utility i wrote for my own use while on the train the other day.

This means that for the majority of the day the PC is not running and consuming power, but is available whenever i need to use it.  Since the price of power is only going to rise in the near future, this is going to save me more and more money.  As humans with a growing energy problem, we should all be looking at solutions like this to save power when its not required.  Gone are the days when we can just be lazy and not think about it.

Let’s WoK and WoL – Computer Restarting After Going To Sleep

I finally got around to installing Windows 7 RC on my desktop PC to replace Vista Ultimate.  After enabling extended memory in the BIOS i had 64-bit running in about 1 hour and it is WAAAY faster than the Vista setup i had before.  Anyway all was going well and i had it running next to me while using the laptop.  Next thing i notice is that the computer goes to sleep - it turns out the default power profile in Windows 7 is balanced which by default puts the computer to sleep after 30 minutes of activity, even on desktops.  I guess this is to try and help the world save power, since most users probably don’t have an issue if their computer shuts itself off.  Considering i should try and be green too, I decided to run with it and leave this profile enabled.  Much to my shock the computer restarts itself 5 seconds later!

It turned out the default Windows settings are to blame for this - by default WoL is enabled for ethernet NICs and configured to allow any packet to turn the computer on!  On the majority of home networks out there with more than one computer, this means that it is highly probable a packet will be received in the near future, resulting in the issue i had, which is for the computer to immediately turn itself on.  I really don’t understand why this should be the default configuration for most users out there.  Still, it is simple enough to change so that only a magic packet will turn the computer on, or disable WoL completely, which is much more desirable for most users.  To do so:

1. Go to the start menu, type 'device manager’ and press enter to start the Device Manager
2. Expand the Network Adapters section and find the correct network card.  This step is very important – make sure you are modifying the network card that is used to connect to your LAN.  It might be an idea to modify all adapters if you are unsure
3. Double-click the network adapter to open its properties
4. Change to the Power Management tab
5. Uncheck the Allow this device to wake the computer option if you want to disable WoL completely.  In my case, i have this turned on but ensure the Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer option is checked.
6. Press OK to save the changes

I also recommend turning off Wake-on-Mouse (WoM) since its very easy for someone (eg – your 3 year old son) to knock the mouse and turn the computer on.  I like to enable Wake-on-Keyboard (WoK) since I find it very handy to be able to hit a key and start using my computer.  You control both of these through the device manager using the same method described above but for the relevant devices.  WoK combined with WoL gives me a great combination – using the keyboard to turn the computer on locally and the LAN to turn on the computer when i need to access it remotely, while minimising my PC power usage.

I love WoK and WoL, put another dime in the jukebox baby …

Battlefield 2 Patch 1.50 Full Map List

I searched quickly and couldn’t find this anywhere on the net in one neat, succinct list, so here is the full list of all 30 maps available after installing patch 1.50 for Battlefield 2 and Special Forces:

BF2:

• Dalian Plant
• Daqing Oilfields
• Dragon Valley
• FuShe Pass
• Gulf Of Oman
• Highway Tampa
• Kubra Dam
• Mashtuur City
• Operation Blue Pearl
• Operation Clean Sweep
• Road To Jalalabad
• Sharqi Peninsula
• Songhua Stalemate
• Strike at Karkand
• Wake Island 2007
• Zatar Wetlands

Special Forces (Extra):

• Devil’s Perch
• Ghost Town
• Iron Gator
• Leviathan
• Mass Destruction
• Night Flight
• Surge
• Warlord

Euro Forces (Free):

• Great Wall
• Operation Smoke Screen
• Taraba Quarry

Armored Fury (Free):

• Midnight Sun
• Operation Harvest
• Operation Road Rage

Battlefield 2 Patch 1.50 Crash To Desktop Fix

DICE recently released patch 1.50 for Battlefield 2 which includes a bunch of great enhancements and content.  Its an old game but still my favourite game of all time.  I installed it on my Windows 7 64-bit install and much to my dismay, found that it would crash to desktop every time before even getting to the movies.

After a bit of experimenting i found the issue had nothing to do with Windows 7 or the fact that it was 64-bit, rather it turns out this path is only incremental and requires the game to be fully patched up to version 1.41 before applying.  I didn’t notice any documentation that mentioned this and was misled when the installer completed successfully even without patch 1.41 being applied.  Surely they could check the current version before applying … apparently not.  If you use the following steps you should find the game installs on any system.  Note that updating PB is also required to avoid being booted when you do get around to joining a server online:

1. Install BF2
2. Install Special Forces (if you have it)
3. Apply patch 1.41 full
4. Apply patch 1.50
5. Run the PB manual update utility to bring the client PB files up-to-date

Macbook Pro Unibody 2009 LCD Display

This is the next piece of my MBP Unibody to receive my attention.  I am dismayed at the support for the LCD under Windows.  No driver is provided for the monitor so it using the Generic PnP Display driver.  As i have previously posted, it seems the ACPI support is almost missing.  Because of this, Windows is unable to adjust the brightness of the screen as is apparent from its absence in the Mobility Centre:

This also means that some of the cool new power management features of Windows 7 like the idle screen dimming feature are unavailable.  I really like this feature in OSX and would love to see it working under Windows.  I decided tonight to investigate this further and the first step was to find out some useful information about the panel.  Running the following command in an OSX terminal window gives you the model of your display:

ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings –6

Finding the model information under Windows is even easier:

1. Open device manager
2. Expand the Monitors node and double-click the display to bring up its properties dialog
3. Change to the Details tab and select Hardware Ids from the drop down list

The model can be seen in the last 4 digits of the hardware ID.  For example mine is MONITOR\APP9CA4 which means i have the 9CA4 screen.  A quick Google search reveals that this means i have the Samsung LTN154BT08 LCD panel.  You can also use the trial version of the excellent Everest application to get even more detailed information:

Now that i know the panel specifications i can continue my hunt for a driver that will hopefully provide better control of the screen.  In the meantime, i highly recommend running the Calibrate display colour wizard included with Windows 7 as a minimum.  When i ran the wizard, i found the gamma to be WAY too high, which was leading to a washed out image.  I ended up following the fantastic guide and lowering the as low as it would let me.  Admittedly, up to that point i had not noticed the high gamma since the screen is so damned nice, but after making the adjustment, i can honestly say the colours are much richer.  It seems a lot of other people have come to the same conclusion even compared to the standard OSX colour profile.

Oh by the way, if you are thinking of purchasing the matte display option, read this article first.  While it does reduce glare to a certain extent, you do sacrifice quite a lot of colour richness.  I personally dont find the glare distracting at all, but i guess its personal opinion.