PC Tech Thread

My girlfriend is non-technical. She's totally comfortable with the set up.

I set Windows to autohide the task bar, set a cinema-esque desktop wallpaper. Then went into appearance settings and made the desktop icons so big there is basically only space on the desktop for 12 icons.

On the desktop are shortcuts to Internet Explorer for BBC iPlayer, LoveFilm, etc. And there's a shortcut for XBMC. IE starts full screen and has a password manager plugin installed (LastPass), so that it auto-logs in to LoveFilm and the like... and you're already on the "What film to watch" page. VLC has the NAS set up as a library location that is a network folder mounted locally... so VLC will always offer whatever is on the NAS to play.

It's basically super simple.

She's perfectly comfortable going into LoveFilm, or firing up XBMC, or watching something on catch-up. And none of the above requires a TV license at all... BBC iPlayer favourites mean you can watch everything so long as you don't want to watch it the second it's broadcast.

I prefer Windows and IE because so many sites work perfectly on that combination... such as the Eurosport Player (also a desktop link).

As for WDTV... no idea. It looks stunning, but if I ever bought one I'd just blow away the software and install a Linux.

Cheers for that. Got a combination of Linux OSX and XP running in the house, as we're moving, thinking of tidying it all up, and also do not want to pay a TV license any more.