Skip to the end of the post for the solution if you don't want to read my trials and tribulations.

I had the same issues MANY other users have had which basically means the adapter didn't work. Netgear has a software/driver version 2.1 that is Vista compatible, 32 bit or 64 bit, is not specified as far as I could tell.

Before I try any of that, let me see if the device manager can just "find" the driver it needs. Negative. Alright, move on.

I downloaded the software/driver and ran it on my newly upgraded Vista Ultimate 64 bit PC. The software says it installed successfully and to plug my wireless adapter in. OK, done. Waiting... waiting... nothing. No blue blinking light indicating my connection to Life, ur I mean, the Inter-tubes.

Hmmm... alright double click on the shortcut the installer put on my desktop. It pops up in a flash and then disappears, goes away. Huh?

Ok, reboot and try again. Negative. Uninstall and reinstall Netgear software, then reboot. Negative again. Ok, search forums... nothing helpful except the knowledge that I AM NOT ALONE.

Alright, one of the suggestions was to use the Win XP drivers. Alright, I'll try that but FIRST, let me uninstall the current version. And one more thing, let me go to the device manager and see if the software at least loaded the drivers correctly. Negative.

Weird. Alright, so on a whim, I tried one more time to let the device manager "find" the latest driver. IT WORKED! and now I have an Internet connection!!! Blue blinking light and all... Woo hoo!!!

So WTF. The Netgear software loads itself but is not able to load the drivers for the WG111T adapter. Whatever, I don't really care as long as I can connect.

So here's the solution:

Download and install Netgear's version 2.1 software/driver for the WG111T adapter.

Reboot.

Uninstall the Netgear software (not sure this is necessary, but I did it)

Go do the device manager, find the WG111T adapter in the list, right click on it and update the driver. Let the Device Manager "find" the best one.

This worked for me and I hope works for all of you too.

I decided to take the plunge and upgrade from Windows XP 32 bit to Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit. It's not really an "upgrade". It's actually a brand new install as you can't really "upgrade" from a 32 bit OS to a 64 bit OS.

Windows has a downloadable compatibility tool called the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. You download it, install it, and then run it. This program will scan your system and basically point out your likely hood of being able to upgrade to Vista. Make sure you have all your periphials plugged in too. If there are any issues, the advisor will try and help you resolve them.

My self built rig is at least 4 years old and here are the specs:

Antec Piano Black Computer Case (It's beautiful =)
Thermaltake PurePower 430-Watt Power Supply
Asus K8V SE Deluxe mother board
One of the Athlon 64 bit processors (I forget which one)
1GB of RAM (all this time I thought I had more)
NVidia GeForce 6600 GT Video Card - 128MB, AGP 8X
Net Gear WG111T Wireless Adapter
Maxtor 60GB HDD 7200rpm IDE - primary
Maxtor 320GB HDD 7200 IDE (was a SATA drive, more on that later) - secondary
A Sony DVDRW
A Lite On CDRW

When I first ran the Upgrade Advisor (the UA) I had a Maxtor SATA 320GB HDD as my secondary drive. The UA had an issue with the SATA drivers. This was the only issue that came up for me, nice! Since I also had the equivalent Maxtor HDD as an IDE drive, I just swapped them out and ran the UA again. After that the UA was happy.

Tangent... I bought an external enclosure for the Maxtor SATA 320GB HDD and use it as my "off-site" back up. Do you have a back up plan? It was always my plan to have one as an internal back up and the other as an external back up.

I proceeded to back everything up to the secondary Maxtor and also the off-site back up drive.

I decided to take the plunge, popped in the Vista disk and rebooted my PC. "Hit any key to load from the CD", hit a key and away we went. After reinstalling Win XP several times over the life of this PC I expected this install to kinda suck, so my expectations were LOW.

I was presented with a screen asking where I wanted to install Vista. It recognized my 2nd drive (which is a good thing!) and that was an option. It also showed my primary drive, but with only 28GB available, meaning that 32GB was in use from Win XP and the existing data. I chose my primary drive expecting the install to just overwrite everything on the primary disk.

Surprise! A dialog box popped up saying it will save all that data as something ".old" - OK or CANCEL. Wow, that was nice of Vista. I didn't want that though, I actually WANTED Vista to just overwrite everything. I clicked cancel and looked at my options. Well there is an "Advanced" link that opens up a few more dangerous options which are good to hide from noobs, like "format drive". I chose that and formatted my primary drive and then installed Vista there.

I totally expected to have to sit there and baby sit the install process. Wow! and I mean WOW! That was it. I didn't have to do anything else. It ran throught the install process, rebooted when it needed to and then when it was done I was asked to choose an icon, a user name and password. No EFFIN WAY! So painless.

So the welcome screen pops up after I log in. There are lots of pretty things to look at but it is clear not all the drivers are loaded. I don't have sound and I don't have an internet connection. Let's just say I had already found and put all the drivers I needed on my thumb drive and then loaded all the appriate drivers and everything, so far, is working as expected.

The NetGear WG111T was a challenge and from what I have read online it has been a challenge for many many people, especially for those running Vista 64 bit. I have a solution and will make a separate blog post about this.

I still need to install a whole bunch of software too, but first (after getting internet access) I activated the OS and then did the Windows Update. I'll post more here if I come across any issues.

T-Mobile Shadow Windows Mobile 6.0 to Windows Mobile 6.1 Upgrade

T-Mobile posted an update OS for the Shadow from Win Mobile 6.0 to Win Mobile 6.1. I backed up all pertinent info from my phone to a safe place (my 2GB MicroSD storage card of which I removed from the phone during the update!), downloaded the update and ran it.

The update itself was painless, but whenever you update your OS on a Win Mobile phone, all your non-default settings are nuked. So all my email accounts have to be set again, all my ring tones have to be added and reset again, and even my Fave 5 was refreshed. If you had any MS Docs, Xcel files, One Notes etc, all gone unless you backed them up.

Even all of my custom software like Yahoo's Go 2.0 and Google Maps have to be reinstalled. If you were smart enough to save the cab files onto your storage card then you won't have to download them again.

So the good the bad and the ugly.

The GOOD: I noticed a few things that I really liked. It seems to manage the power consumption better, it manages connecting to and using WiFi better, and there are some cool GUI enhancements; particularly when trying to type a symbol.

There are also some changes to the T9 which I think are mostly on the good side. It now capitalizes "I's" when the "I" is stand alone. But it no longer recognizes "don't" and instead thinks the word is "font". It is an algorithm thing of course, but "don't" is a word that is used FAR more than the word "font". I've personally never used the word "font" in a text message.

The over all use of the Shadow feels a little faster... to start. More on that in a bit.

The BAD: They added another GUI layer to the Fave 5 options screen. Now you can "circle" around to the various options for a Fave 5 person like, text, email, call, etc. of which all are now just icons. The interface is clunky and slow and takes too long to load. I'd just as soon use the drop down menu they had before because it was fast and you don't have to decipher the meaning of the icons.

The UGLY: There is a memory leak somewhere. Over time, when someone calls, I can no longer see who is calling because the screen becomes a blur of overlapping text and images. I can sometimes make out a name, but that name is sometimes the person that I last spoke to, instead of the person that is calling.This memory leak also causes the entire phone to slow down doing any function at all, even just locking the phone. It also causes the phone to forget the correct ring tones that it should be using. Soft resets do not work. I have to completely take the battery out and replace it and then turn the phone back on.

The memory leak takes about a day and half or less to be really annoying. Not sure how long I'll keep version 6.1 on my phone. This is a DEAL BREAKER.

Read the official comparison between the Windows Mobile versions if you like.

I am a technology nerd/geek/aficionado whatever. I LOVE new technology breakthroughs and I have a feed from Christian Science Monitor where I read about the latest and greatest everyday.

This article has to do with blade design and I mean fan blades. Inspired and field tested by Mother Nature this latest breakthrough will have an unprecedented impact in our daily lives.

Dr. Frank E. Fish (yeah, that's his name), a biologist, noticed, on a figurine of a hump back whale, the bumps on the front edge of its fins. "He was intrigued and decided to investigate."

His whale inspired blade design has been tested and patented. The benefits are amazing:

• These use about 20% less power, even at high pitch angles, drag is low.
• They Work more efficiently at lower speeds. Think wind turbines.
• The stall angle of traditional blades is 16 degrees. The new blades don't stall until a 31 degree angle! These blades provide more lift.
• Stalls can be violent cause damage to the blade and the engine they are connected to. With these blades, the stall is gradual and virtually eliminates the violent stalling.
• These blades are even more quiet.

How does this help us and what are the possible applications for this technology?

• For all of you Earth Huggers out there, wind turbines. Read Whalepower's full article regarding this.
• Car cooling fans, cooler engines means more efficient engines.
• Computer fans, quieter and more efficient. Cooler computers use less power.
• Airplane wings. More lift for faster take off using less fuel. Less drag making planes more fuel efficient. Plane turbines, increased blade angle allowing more powerful turbines while using 20% less energy, again saving fuel. Decreased chance of wing stall with a gradual stall, increasing safety of plane.
• Of course virtually EVERY cooling fan, home, office, industrial. One company can now make a 5 bladed fans that are more efficient than their traditional 10 bladed fan. This is a huge savings on Earth's resources and energy.
• Helicopters: commercial, medical, and military. They all become more safe, faster and more efficient.
• Submarines now become quieter, faster (less drag) and more maneuverable. Obviously a huge advantage for our military subs.
• I wonder if these blades would make better blenders? Margarita anyone?

Anyway, this is just an amazing discovery. Whalepower's wind turbine test comes to a close this year. I can't wait to see the results.

On a side note: I'm a true believer in the power of Mother Nature. She has already discovered the best and most efficient way to do just about everything. It's up to us to decipher her workings. Keep your senses open. You may discover something too!

I have a T-Mobile Shadow and it uses Windows Mobile 6 (6.1 now). Yahoo has a mobile solution they call Yahoo! Go. Here's their official description, "Yahoo! Go is today’s essential solution for anyone with a mobile phone. It’s an all-in-one offering that lets you enjoy the best of the Internet on your phone—for free. Send an email, upload photos, download a map, search for answers, check stock quotes, or get breaking news—all that and much more is available through Yahoo! Go."

Blah, blah sounds like a lot of fluff and essentially it is. I've been using Yahoo! Go version 2.0 for about a year now and I tried out version 3.0 yesterday. The ONLY reason I used Yahoo! Go version 2.0 is because it automatically synchronizes my phone contacts with my Yahoo address book.

This feature is actually awesome and works VERY well. I can add/edit/delete a contact on my phone and the changes are reflected in my Yahoo Address book. And it works in reverse too. I can add/edit/delete a contact in my Yahoo Address book and the changes are propagated to my phone. SO FREAKING SWEET!

Here's the key to this whole thing too. The contacts are STORED on my phone AND my Yahoo address book. In version 3.0 this feature doesn't exist at all.  They've replaced it with Yahoo! oneSearch which searches my Yahoo Address book, but requires a connection and is SLOW because the EDGE network is SLOW.

Uh, hello?! I use my phone to communicate with PEOPLE, not the Inter-tubes.

I don't want to have to rely on any sort of connection to be able to get someone's contact info. This is a total DEAL BREAKER. I won't ever use 3.0 unless the feature is added in.

So, I like the new 3.0 interface but it has too many useless features like 2.0 does. The only feature that I require is Address Book synchronization. The would be "cool to haves" are Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Calendar, and Flickr. And they should all be optional, meaning we can remove/add them as desired so the actual Yahoo! Go program starts up faster.

The Finance, Sports, Headlines etc. are worthless to me.

Please Yahoo, please please add the Address Book Sync feature into 3.0 or don't ever let 2.0 die =) Thanks!