Saturday, August 24, 2013

Star Trek - The Official Starships Collection Issue 1 Review


I'm not one for subscribing to magazines - after all, most of the stuff I want to read can be found on the internet for free.  In fact, the last magazine I did subscribe to was the Commodore 64 mag "Zzap 64" in the late 80's!  However, after watching an advert on TV last Tuesday about a new series of Star Trek magazines that come complete with a detailed model ship with each issue, I just had to subscribe...

Today I got my first issue of "Star Trek The Official Starships Collection", and with it came a fantastic model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D from Star Trek : The Next Generation.  The magazine itself is nothing special - a glossy mag with a few original drawings by Andrew Probert, some other photos which can be found online or in other books, and a bit of information about the ship.  To be honest, the magazine is just a bonus extra as I'm sure most people will be buying this series solely for the models, although with the binder that will be available to subscribers I'm sure the magazines will become a nice library once complete.


The model itself is not very big and measures about 140mm in length, but what is impressive is the amount of detail on the ship.  You can see windows, escape pods, and texturing on the hull is fantastic.  Also, the model has been made using die-cast metal and ABS plastic, so it doesn't look cheap.  This is no toy, but it does seem strong (and heavy) enough to take a bit of punishment from young hands.  Fortunately it comes with a nice display stand which is individually numbered.


Issue 1 cost a silly £1.99, so for that price, you can't really complain.  Issue 2 comes with the USS Enterprise Refit from Star Trek The Motion Picture and will be priced at £5.99.  All subsequent issues will then be £9.99 each which does seem a lot, but if the quality of the models remain the same as this, then I think it's a price worth paying.  The publisher Eaglemoss Collections hope to release 70 issues at least (once a fortnight), not including specials, and have issued a tentative list of all issues and ships (which you can see below).  Personally, I can't wait for issues 8 and 11 (USS Excelsior and USS Reliant)!






Provisional list of issues

◾01 USS Enterprise-D
◾02 USS Enterprise (refit)
◾03 Klingon Bird-of-Prey
◾04 Enterprise NX-01
◾05 Romulan Warbird
◾06 USS Voyager
◾07 K't'inga-class
◾08 USS Excelsior
◾09 USS Defiant
◾10 Borg sphere
◾11 USS Reliant
◾12 Ferengi Marauder
◾13 Akira-class
◾14 Vor'cha-class
◾15 Prometheus-class
◾16 Valdore-type
◾17 USS Equinox
◾18 Bajoran Solar Sailer
◾19 USS Enterprise-E
◾20 Xindi-Insectoid starship
◾21 Raptor-class
◾22 Jem'Hadar fighter
◾23 Nebula-class
◾24 Suurok-class
◾25 Delta Flyer
◾26 Breen warship
◾27 Krenim weapon ship
◾28 USS Enterprise-C
◾29 Galor-class
◾30 USS Stargazer
◾31 Borg Queen's vessel
◾32 Jem'Hadar battle cruiser
◾33 Maquis fighter
◾34 Romulan Bird-of-Prey (23rd century)
◾35 Hirogen warship
◾36 T'Plana-Hath (starship)
◾37 Prototype Klingon Bird-of-Prey
◾38 USS Enterprise-J
◾39 Son'a Command ship
◾40 Runabout
◾41 D-5-class
◾42 Romulan drone-ship
◾43 USS Enterprise-B
◾44 Jem'Hadar battleship
◾45 Malon export vessel
◾46 Federation mission scoutship
◾47 Scimitar
◾48 USS Relativity
◾49 Tholian starship (22nd century)
◾50 Goroth's starship
◾51 USS Kelvin
◾52 Son'a collector
◾53 Xindi-Reptilian starship
◾54 Oberth-class
◾55 Suliban cell ship
◾56 Phoenix
◾57 Fesarius
◾58 Steamrunner-class
◾59 Xindi-Aquatic cruiser
◾60 Vulcan Long range shuttle
◾61 Saber-class
◾62 Hideki-class
◾63 USS Enterprise-A
◾64 Romulan Bird-of-Prey (22nd century)
◾65 USS Dauntless
◾66 Federation holoship
◾67 Scorpion-class
◾68 Norway-class
◾69 USS Enterprise
◾70 Species 8472 bioship

NO NUMBERS
◾Borg probe
◾Cousteau (Captain's Yacht)
◾Borg cube
◾Galileo

SPECIALS (available to Subscribers only)
◾Deep Space 9
◾USS Enterprise (alternate reality - ST2009 and STID)
◾Future USS Enterprise-D ("All Good Things...")
◾Space Stations

The mag. Highly recommended.

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Techy Post - Have you forgotten the local administrator password?


Ever had an occasion when you've removed a computer from a domain, and can't remember the administrator password to log on locally?  I've been guilty of this on several occasions (I had it last week when I removed a domain controller from the network, and was left with a file server that I could not log in to!)

I know there are various utilities that enable you to reset the password, but this is a useful way of doing it without any hacks, or third party tools.  This works with Windows 7 and Server 2008.  Although I haven't tested it on other versions of Windows, I don't see why it won't work on those.

  • Boot your PC from your Windows 7/Server 2008 installation Disk.
  • When you are prompted, choose your language.
  • Select partition and installation version and click next.
  • Select Repair your Computer
  • Select Command Prompt (Open a command prompt window)
  • Type the following :-
    • cd c:\windows\system32
    • move utilman.exe utilman.exe.bak
    • copy cmd.exe utilman.exe
  • Restart your computer
At the logon prompt, hold down the Windows Key and press U at the same time.  This will now bring up the command prompt instead of the Utility Manager.

From the command line, type :-
net user administrator P455word

Try logging on with the new password - Voila!

Don't forget to copy back the original utilman.exe file.