Updating Harman/Kardon AVR255/x55/x45

I tried updating the firmware of my Harman/Kardon AVR255 with Windows 7 Ultimate x64, but it always failed at the video subsystem part with the message: “AVR didn’t respond properly. Video subsystem upgrade failed.”

Then I tried using Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 and it worked!

Remote desktop not sharing clipboard information

Usually when I set up a remote desktop connection I was able to share clipboard information between the server and the client, but for some reason it didn’t work anymore.
After some search I found out that it has something to do with ‘rdpclip.exe’. Some websites suggested to restart this process, but the problem was ‘rdpclip.exe’ wasn’t even showing up in my process list.
The trick is to add this executable to your startup folder in the start menu. The file ‘rdpclip.exe’ is located in your System32 directory, e.g.: C:\Windows\System32\rdpclip.exe. Now you’re able to use the clipboard again with remote desktop sessions.

Winamp and Dolby Digital AC3

I recently bought a new A/V Receiver, which supports digital audio via two connection types: optical and digital. So I connected my laptop via spdiff – optical to the receiver and the receiver was receiving Dolby Digital perfectly.
There was only one problem, I wanted to send stereo sound via Winamp in 5.1 signal too. After looking around the web for some plug-in, I found ATSurround. This plug-in can upmix stereo to 5.1 / AC3.

Just download it from free-codecs.com

Vista logon changes dual monitor settings

I recently had a problem with Windows Vista and the nVidia display drivers:
When I logged on to Windows and the dual monitor settings were set correctly (19″ display as primary display and the laptop display as secundary), Vista would reset these settings, setting my laptop display as primary, my stand-alone display as secundary with a resolution based on the laptop display (1280 x 800).

Then I found a fix for this issue, changing a register entry:
The key is in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\TMM, called
UseIViewHelper and it’s value is 1. Just rename this key and reboot. The problem will be fixed!