Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Fallout 3 - Windows 8 - GFWL - Games for Windows Live Marketplace - Games for Windows Software is missing - SOLUTION

I was struggling to get Fallout working on my system. I bought it a few months ago, registered it on Steam, but never got around to playing it.

When I first started Fallout 3, I could change the settings, but the "PLAY" item on the menu would just result in the window closing and nothing happening.

To solve this problem :

  1. Uninstall Microsoft Games for Windows - LIVE Redistributable
  2. Uninstall Microsoft Games for Windows Marketplace
  3. Uninstall Silverlight
  4. Reboot your computer
  5. Reinstall the Client for Marketplace here .
Now Games for Windows Marketplace should be working. 

Monday, February 24, 2014

Xplornet crippled a legacy unlimited service for a slower limited service

Just over three years ago, I signed up for an unlimited data 3Mbps service with Xplornet. The modem was a Motorola Canopy. We were paying $50/month including the modem rental.

The speed of the service wasn't terribly fast, never reaching anything beyond 2Mbps, but it was unlimited. Watching a video on YouTube would require some patience for buffering, however I never felt concerned about using the internet.

Over the course of the summer, the service became unstable. Tech support did not help other than telling us to change our phones so that they be off the 900MHz or 2.4GHz range. That did not help.

Eventually, they sent in an installer who pretty much told us we have to move up to a different service which is more expensive. It is supposed to be 5Mbps downstream. The data is limited to 20GB which means it is impossible to use Netflix, download the latest game that you bought on Steam.
With more than one device in the house, updates are also frustratingly because they often take several hundred megabytes.

Nevertheless, here are some speed test results. Oh! What is 5Mbps anyways?