In this age of sub-£100 Freeview PVRs, Sky+ and Virgin V+, it might seem silly to use a complete Windows PC, complete with all its many foibles, as a way to record television programmes. And yet, like many people, I find myself rather attached to the large, ugly and and generally unreliable Windows XP Media Center Edition computer that sits clicking away to itself under my TV.

One of the most annoying things about MCE, though, is its habit of occasionally losing channels. Sometimes entire channels disappear from the EPG, and on other occasions the channels remain but with no programme guide data. In either case, re-scannning for channels simply adds duplicate channels to the database, making it even more unstable. After six months or so the cumulative effect can leave the whole system useless (or, in my case, only capable of recording ITV2 - as good a definition of "useless" as any).

But there's hope. If you find your Media Center computer acting up, I'd thoroughly recommend the Media Center Configuration Reset utility on this page. It completely wipes the Media Center settings in a few seconds, allowing you to re-scan for channels and create a new, fresh database that should work happily (at least for a few months until it breaks down again). It doesn't remove any recorded programmes, although you will need to re-enter any shows you want to record in future.