Fix broken Add or Remove Programs Control Panel applet in Windows XP

I have noticed recently that the Add or Remove Program applet is broken in my Windows XP installation.  This is the fix that I found online: http://forums.techarena.in/windows-xp-support/606768.htm

Android 2.3.1 and the Archos Arnova 10g2

Been doing a bit of research in the last few days to set up my Android tablet (Archos Arnova 10g2) for development of Apps for the Android Market.  Generally quite impressed with the tablet for the price I paid for it, although I have been experiencing a few problems (like others) with the small area set away on the device for applications and their data.  Thankfully there seems to be a large community of users on the Internet for support and other details, on top of this the Archos support sight is fairly open with details on how to work with the device.

Now that I have got the device working properly and know my way around it I can hopefully begin development on some apps.

References
Arctablet Blog:
http://www.arctablet.com/blog/
Windows Drivers for 10g2:
ftp://support.archos.com/ARCHOS%20it/ADB/adb_winusb_driver.zip
Force windows to recognise the 10g2:
http://www.arctablet.com/blog/forum/arnova-10b-g2/arnova-10-g2-vs-arnova-10b-g2/#p2487
Install Android USB drivers for windows:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html
Force ADB to work with the 10g2:
http://www.archos.com/support/support_tech/updates_adb.html?country=gb&lang=en
http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=26483&start=40
How to do a factory reset in Android:
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20070713-285/how-to-do-a-factory-reset-on-android/
How to clear the cache on Android: 
http://www.androidcentral.com/android-201-how-and-when-clear-app-cache-or-data

Messing around with the PIC board

Needed to get some drivers for the USB to serial driver for the pic board.

References
Information about adapter: http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/794220-please-help-usb-serial-controller.html
Drivers: http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31

WiFi printing at Plymouth Uni

For my reference / any body who is interested - the instructions to set up printing over Eduroam at Plymouth Uni is here: http://ilsselfhelp.plymouth.ac.uk/novo/admin/virtual/imgs/Wireless%20Printing%20Guide.pdf

Automatic Dropbox backup

As I found out last year, if any of my computers require formatting, the change of the dropbox folder on there will also mean my dropbox is cleared.  As I am currently saving all my uni work to the dropbox account obviously I want to guard against this, so I have written a batch file to backup the folder to each of my laptop / OS configurations.

Installing MS Visual Studio 2010 Premium on Windows XP SP3

I have been attempting to install Visual Studio on my computer for several days now, but the installer repeatedly hangs whilst in progress.  I have looked for support on the issue from Microsoft and there appears to be a couple of issues handled in two service bulletins.  I have firstly updated the Windows Installer (as detailed in the first article) and then applied the registry fix mentioned in the second article.

References
Article regarding Windows Installer Freezing: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/vssetup/thread/fcf7d496-d0a9-457b-8c33-54e70a2d6258
Article regarding slow installation of MS Visual Studio: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/vssetup/thread/c72a9fee-07a3-4843-8da0-c7fe0c278999

Installing Windows XP SP3 on the Mac

My Macbook that I use for Uni is setup to triple boot between OSX, Windows XP and Ubuntu.  I am currently setting up the Windows Partition for some computer vision and neural network work I need to do for my degree.  One problem I have had for a while now is the inability to install Service Pack 3 on the Mac, therefore I could not install Visual Studio 2010.  Now that it has become essential for me I have finally got round to sorting the problem using the instructions from the Apple support website.

References
Apple support article: support.apple.com/kb/HT3841