Heron Fidelity

My adventures with the Windows 8 operating system (OS) have led me to finally upgrade my main work notebook, that was running Windows 7, with Microsoft's latest and greatest. Prior to the OS upgrade, I backed up my data (I love Dropbox), updated my SSD's firmware, and secure wiped the drive for the heck of it.

My notebook isn't exactly cutting edge gear anymore at just over three years old and equipped as such:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• 120GB SSD (an upgrade I did last year)
• AMD Radeon HD 4500 Series Graphics

The solid-state drive (SSD), in particular, was key to speeding the install process on this not-so-older notebook.  Post OS install, the few finishing touches included a couple of driver updates, a visit to Windows Update, and the addition of Windows Media Center - still a free addon for a limited time!

I then visited the SiliconDust website and download their awesomely easy-to-use 1-file installer that detected and guided me through the initial configuration of the HDHomeRun PRIME (CableCARD) and DUAL (ATSC; over-the-air) tuners that I have linked to my home network via this sweet powerline networking product.

It took only minutes to setup and configure the tuners...5 tuners in total that my notebook can access and use anytime its connected to my home network.

Also, I cannot stress enough how much faster it is to install Windows using a USB flash drive compared to a DVD - it took less than 10 minutes (9:54 on the stopwatch) from the click of the mouse to selecting a desktop color scheme in the presented Personalize setup menu.  I'm growing fond of these 8GB SanDisk flash drives!