Stupid Windows Vista has this annoying problem: it doesn’t detect unpopular brand’s mouse easily. When it happened, it will display a pop-up with the following message:

Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it

USB Browser Mouse

An error occurred during the installation of the device

The driver installation file for this device is missing a necessary entry. This may be because the INF was written for Windows 95 or later. Contact your hardware vendor.

If you know the manufacturer of your device, you can visit its website and check the support section for driver software.

According to Techguy forum, the problem occurs because Windows Vista couldn’t find the driver for generic mouse (msmouse.inf). So if you have one (you can search it on your Windows folder / subfolder), you can manually direct the driver installation process to the folder that contain the driver.

I’ve tried that procedure, but strangely, the file doesn’t exist But after a bit of trial-and-error, I finally solve the problem! Here’s what I do:

1. Open Control Panel – System – Device Manager.
2. Double-click on the missing mouse device.
3. Choose Reinstall Driver – Browse My Computer… – Let Me Pick…
4. Choose HID-Compliant Mouse
5. Done!

Isn’t that easy? If I knew about this solution before, I won’t waste several mice on the trash bin…

According to Reuters, Microsoft Corporation is going to cut Windows Vista’s retail price down. In United States, Windows Vista Ultimate’s price will be reduced to $319 (from $399), while the upgrade from Windows XP to Vista will cost just $219 (from $259). These reductions will vary depend on the country.

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Toshiba presents the new Dynabook Satellite T31 laptop. Interestingly, this 15-inch notebook PC comes preloaded with both Windows XP Professionals and Windows Vista operating system, thus allowing you to choose which one you want. Personally, I only recommend Vista if you configure this machine with at least 2GB of RAM. Other features include a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 processor, an Intel GM965 Express chipset, and a WXGA display. No words on pricing and availability.

If we put aside the rip-off part, this is indeed an interesting cell phone. It’s an iPhone-clone with an additional Vista-like operating system. Very cool, isn’t it? Measures 114 x 60 x 16mm and weighs 103 grams, this made-in-China handset (not sure about its name) features a 3.2-inch QVGA display with touchscreen and 260K colors, an integrated 1.3 megapixel camera module, microSD media card slot, and a built-in stereo speakers with 3D sound.

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PQI currently offers USB DOM (Disk On Module), a UFD with ReadyBoost capability. Incase you didn’t know, ReadyBoost is one of Windows Vista’s innovative feature that lets you use either a flash disk or memory card to enhance the perfomance of your system. Back to the device, measures 7.2 x 27 x 30.4mm, it comes with a capacity between 512MB to 2GB and has a data transfer rate of 22MBps (read) / 17MBps (write).

PQI’s USB DOM key is available for $67 (2GB version) or about €50.

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Mark this date, April 28th, on your calendar because, according to SOTEC’s schedule, the company will release 6 new WinBook WH series laptops at that time. One of them is WinBook WH3313. This 15.4-inch (1280×800) notebook is powered by a Celeron M430 processor, a VIA VN896 chipset with integrated graphics engine, a 512MB of main memory (upgradeable up to 2GB), and an 80GB of hard drive. It’ll be pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Basic Edition operating system and can be purchased for just 89,900 Yen or about $760 (€560).

Other configuration is the WH3513P model. For 104,800 Yen (€660/$900), you’lll get a powerful machine with 1GB of RAM, 4 x USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard slot, Windows Vista Home Premium OS, and various connectivity options, including 802.11a/b/g WiFI and Ethernet LAN. As for the battery, it can stand for up to 1.5 hours before recharge. However, if you need to work on your office document or presentation, you’d better check out the WinBook WH3513PC laptop. The specs is similar to WH3513P, except you’d get a pre-installed Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 and Office Personal 2007 productivity software package. This one will cost you 134.800 yen (850 Euros/1150 USD).

Finally, all of these six notebooks measure 358 x 263 x 36mm and weight 2.6kg.

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Toshiba yesterday announced the new Satellite laptop, the P205 series. Priced slightly less than $1,000 (base configuration), the multimedia notebook PC features a 17-inch widescreen display with a native resolution of 1440×900, 802.11n wireless connectivity, built-in webcam, and DVD burner with LabelFlash laser inscribing labels technology. Based on Intel’s 943GML and 945GM chipsets, it is powered by either an Intel Pentium, Core Duo (Yonah), or Core 2 Duo (Merom) processors; an integrated Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 950 graphics engine, up to 2GB of main memory, and up to 250GB of hard disk.

Regarding connectivity, along with Atheron Wireless LAN, Toshiba’s Satellite P205 laptop also provides support for Ethernet LAN and 56K modem. Other features include a keyboard with numeric keypad, built-in Harman Kardon speakers, ExpressCard and PC Card slots, four USB ports, Firewire, S-Video and VGA outputs, and a 5-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter. It weighs up to 8.1lbs (depend on the configuration) and comes with an Onyx Blue Metallic lids along with slightly rounded body-contour.

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Samsung showcased its new 22-inch widescreen LCD monitor, 226CW, during CeBIT 2007. Comes with a Vista Premium certified logo, this display offers a resolution of 1680×1050, 97% color gamut, a brightness of 300cd/m2, a dynamic contrast ratio of 3000:1, a viewing angle of 160 degree, and a response time of 2ms (gray to gray). Moreover, it is equipped with D-Sub and DVI-D (including HDCP) ports.

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IO-Data reveals three new DVD burners: one internal model with two color variants, one external recorder with USB 2.0 interface, and another external one with USB 2.0/Firewire interface. All of these recorders support LabelFlash technology and fully compatible with the latest Windows Vista operating system. As for the technical specs, they can burn data at 8x for DL-DVD media and at 12x for DVD-RAM.

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