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PC 101
BBQ Turkey and Bacon? Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together! No Tech Required!
Nov 27th
For the last 10 years or so, I have been trying to perfect the concept of the BBQ Turkey at Thanksgiving. Since I love to BBQ, and of course, I love Bacon, putting the two together seemed very natural. What a delicious combo they have become!
As I have mentioned this creation to others, many of asked, “just how do you pull it off?” So this year (2011), I decided to document it here and share it with anyone interested in reading about it. Enjoy.
For the second year in a row now, we have doubled the mess and cooked two turkeys at once. It can be done one at a time, however. It’s important that you follow all the same rules as you would cooking it any other way.
(Click Any Picture to Enlarge)
How To Connect Windows 7 Media Center To an Xbox 360 and Stream Media
Feb 3rd
If you’re new to Windows 7 and own an Xbox 360, you might want the ability to watch the Media Center Content from Your Xbox. Here we take a look at how easy it is to set it up using Media Center Extenders.
The cool thing about Windows 7 Media Center is you can access your movies, music, and other digital media from it with your Xbox. Here we’ll walk you through the process of adding media to the Windows Media Center (WMC) Libraries then setting up your PC and Xbox to talk with each other so your Xbox 360 can access those Libraries.
How to Configure Windows 7 Updates
Jan 20th
If you’ve been a Windows user since XP, you probably know the importance of keeping the OS up-to-date. If you’re new to Windows or more specifically Windows 7, here we’ll take some time to go over the importance of making sure you have Windows Updates configured properly.
If you want to help make sure that your PC is is more stable and less vulnerable to malicious attacks, the 2 main things to keep up-to-date is your Antivirus software and Windows Updates. The 2nd Tuesday of each month Microsoft has what’s called “Patch-Tuesday”. This is the day when Microsoft releases patches to improve stability, fixes to known vulnerabilities, and zero-day attacks. Let’s take a look at the process if you’ve just re-installed Windows 7.
Windows Update
To check to make sure your Windows Update settings are on…click on Start>>All Programs and scroll to Windows Update.
![sshot-2011-01-20-[00-16-18]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/sshot-2011-01-20-00-16-18.png)
Create and Edit Home Videos with Windows Live Movie Maker
Dec 21st
Over the past few weeks we’ve been taking a closer look at the apps in Windows Live Essentials 2011. For this week’s tutorial we’ll take a look at getting started with Windows Live Movie Maker 2011.
Installation and Setup
Download the Windows Live Essentials 2011 Installer file and kick off the process.
![sshot-2010-12-17-[12]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/sshot-2010-12-17-12.png "sshot-2010-12-17-[12]")
Again, it’s worth noting that you aren’t required to install all of the apps in this suite, only the ones you want. Since we’re covering Live Movie Maker make sure to select Photo Gallery and Movie Maker then wait while it installs.
![sshot-2010-12-17-[23-31-37]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/sshot-2010-12-17-23-31-37.png "sshot-2010-12-17-[23-31-37]")
Note: You will need to install Photo Gallery and Movie Maker together, but we’ll just be covering Movie Maker in this article.
![sshot-2010-12-17-[23-33-10]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/sshot-2010-12-17-23-33-10.png "sshot-2010-12-17-[23-33-10]")
When installation is complete a restart is required.
![sshot-2010-12-17-[23-37-24]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/sshot-2010-12-17-23-37-24.png "sshot-2010-12-17-[23-37-24]")
When you come back from the restart you’ll find Live Photo Gallery and Movie Maker in the Start Menu.
Install the Old Version of Windows Live Essentials on XP
Nov 28th
If you’re an XP user, unfortunately you won’t be able to install and upgrade to Windows Live Essentials 2011. XP users can still install the previous version through Windows Updates, and we’ll take a quick look at it.
2011 on XP – Sorry No Love from Microsoft
If you try to install Windows Live Essentials 2011 on XP which we’ve previously covered for Vista and Windows 7, unfortunately you’re out of luck. You can download the installer file, but when you try to run it, you’ll be greeted with a similar error.
![sshot-2010-11-28-[19-43-28]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sshot-2010-11-28-19-43-28.png "sshot-2010-11-28-[19-43-28]")
Install Windows Live Essentials on XP
The good news for XP users is you can still download the previous version through Windows Updates…which you should be running regularly anyway…but it’s not an essential update. To install it, launch Windows Update from the Start Menu…
![sshot-2010-11-28-[20-39-52]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sshot-2010-11-28-20-39-52.png "sshot-2010-11-28-[20-39-52]")
Or through Internet Explorer from the Tools Menu.
Reinstall Applications on Your Home Computer Easily with Ninite
Nov 27th
Have you recently needed to reformat your home computer’s hard drive? You saved your data, but the idea of reinstalling all the applications seems daunting. Enter ninite.com…which is a simple web service that will reinstall popular freeware apps with just a few clicks.
Using Ninite
Using ninite.com couldn’t be easier, just navigate to the website and select he apps you want to install. Everything on the page is separated into easy to find categories from browsers to music, to plenty of other utilities.
![sshot-2010-11-27-[1]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sshot-2010-11-27-1.png "sshot-2010-11-27-[1]")
These are only a couple shots of what it available on the site. For more on what is available, head over to ninite.com
![sshot-2010-11-27-[2]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sshot-2010-11-27-2.png "sshot-2010-11-27-[2]")
After you select the apps you want to install, head toward the bottom of the page, and get your installer. One of the cool things to keep in mind is, they don’t install any crapware such as toolbars or other wanted spyware with the apps.
Getting Started with Windows Live Mail on Windows 7
Nov 22nd
Previously we showed you the basics of Windows Live Essentials 2011 and the programs it includes. Today we’ll take a closer look at getting started with Windows Live Mail on Windows 7.
Install & Setup Your Live Mail
If you haven’t done so already, download and install the Live Mail from the Windows Live Essentials 2011 Suite.
![sshot-2010-11-18-[16-29-54]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sshot-2010-11-18-16-29-541.png "sshot-2010-11-18-[16-29-54]")
After it’s installed you’ll find Live Mail in the Start Menu, just click to launch it.
![sshot-2010-11-20-[22-36-58]](http://theaverageguy.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sshot-2010-11-20-22-36-58.png "sshot-2010-11-20-[22-36-58]")
Setup Live Mail with Live or Hotmail Account
Here we’ll setup a Live account, but you can also setup Gmail and many others. We’ll be taking a look at setting up other accounts in the future where you might need to manually configure the settings. The first time you launch Windows Live Mail you’ll be prompted to setup your email address then click Next.
