In this installation guide on how to build home media servers, I am using an old, reinstalled version of Windows XP SP3 with a 1TB Hitachi hard disk drive. (Note: This should work equally well on Windows Vista with User Account Control (UAC) off and an Administrator account set up on the serv

Second is Wiinremote [Broken URL Removed], intended specifically for the Wiimote. After downloading the latest version of Wiinremote you will be able to configure your Wiimote to act as a wireless controller, not just for gaming but general use in Windows – this might prove useful when giving PowerPoint presentations, for insta

(For more cool articles on how to build home media servers, check out these articles by Damien on how to set up a Media Server [ Part 2 ] using Linux. Or if you are ready to invest some cash check out our guide on How To Build A Great Media Center P

My first thought is a distributed surveillance system where you wire up a webcam at every remote location you want to monitor. This could be your elderly mother's house, your camp way up north or maybe even your office because you suspect someone's stealing your favorite multi-colored sticky notes. Whatever the reason, all you need to do is install your webcams with either their own Internet IP, or plugged into an Internet-connected PC running Active Webcam. For my global distributed network test, I visited Opentopia and selected three random webcams from several Universities around the United Sta

The email settings are very easy. Just configure your SMTP settings and remember to add which email address to send the alert to. You can add multiple ones by using a comma between them. The interval setting will wait before firing off another email when there's more motion, and you can choose how many snapshots you want the camera to take. During a test run with my single laptop webcam watching for motion, I received the following em

Also make sure that you have the fan mounted so it blows in the proper direction. The fan should have a printed or molded arrow that shows the direction air flows. Fans can be installed as either an intake (air blowing in) or exhaust (air blowing out). There may also be an arrow that shows the direction of s

Now, select the "Tun on Windows File and Printer Sharing" option and click "Next." Make sure the info is right and click "Next" again. On the following screen select "Just finished;" and then click "Next" and "Finish

If the fan is installed and has power it should start to spin as soon as the system begins to boot – if it does not, check the power connection again. Something may have come loose or the fan may be fau

Combining a classical, old-world look with the modern sleek lines of DVD drives and digital readouts, PC cases constructed from wood require considerable planning but when finished look stunning and strangely unobtrus

Using a Nintendo Wiimote as a new user interface device for Windows is surprisingly easy and can have a number of uses from the usual gaming to more impressive applications such as conducting a PowerPoint presentation or using it as a remote control in a Windows home thea

To access your newly established home media server, simply go to "My Computer" and double-click on the drive you created and your in! You should now be able to copy and paste files to your hearts desire! (If Windows asks you for a username and password, enter your username and password for your home server accou

Now you may be wondering – what is the difference between three and four-pin connections? It’s all about a feature called Pulse Width Modulation. With this feature, which is enabled through the fourth pin, a computer can control the speed of a fan connected to its motherboard. Having this is nice because the fan can automatically adjust its speed based on internal temperatures or user pres

Now that you have a shared home server directory set up you need to be able to start sharing your files! To do so, simply go to your other computer(s) that you wish to access these files at and click on "Start" and then right-click on "My Computer" and select "Map Network Drive." Now, click "Browse" and select the name of the home server and click the "+" beside it to expand the options and click the folder that we just crea

In the early days of Google, the vast amount of storage that was required to analyse the structure of the World Wide Web was stored in a custom PC Gaming Benchmarks|https://pcbuildinsight.com/ case made from Lego ! It’s been 16 years since that device was in use, yet PC builders still throw money at new cases when it is pretty easy to build your own from scratch using various methods and materi

This has been a dream of mine for years, but I've always avoided the project because of the costs I assumed were involved. However, writing for MakeUseOf often forces me to think a bit outside the box. How would I accomplish a home security system inexpensively or f