Windows 7 News

The time for narrow-minded self-interest is over

Mike Halsey — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:52:25 +0000

This week it came to light that there have been senior people at Microsoft who have blocked, or tried to block new products from the company on the grounds that they hadn’t come from their own department.

Now it’s widely known that different departments within Microsoft don’t talk to each other. Examples of this are SkyDrive and Mesh, two competing products that don’t interoperate, SkyDrive / Mesh and Office Online which don’t work together yet (though there is at least hope with this one as SkyDrive is being integrated into Office 2010), Zune and Windows, Windows and Windows Mobile, XBox and Windows Games… the list just goes on and on.

Then let’s take Google, with one of the biggest portfolios of free and online applications, absolutely none of which talk to one another.

The internal politics of large corporations like Microsoft and Google makes them look more and more like the British Civil Service every day. For instance, take this quote from sitcom Yes Minister, with the minister talking to his permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby on the subject of Europe.

Sir Humphrey: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it’s worked so well in the past?
Hacker: That’s all ancient history, surely?
Sir Humphrey: Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing [the EEC] up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn’t work. Now that we’re inside we can make a complete pig’s breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased; it’s just like old times.

But now we need to look forward to what’s in the best interest of the consumer, and what these companies need to do with their platforms and hardware.

Despite Windows 7 coming bundled with Windows Mobile Device Centre, my phone, the HTC Touch HD, required an update to this software despite the phone coming out many months before Windows 7 was released. If I want to plug an iPod into my computer, which incidididdlydentally I don’t, then this device won’t just work natively with Windows, nor will many MP3 players or mobile video devices, despite being little more than a USB storage device with a headphone out jack.

But it’s when we get to cloud computing that this lack of connectedness really galls me. I can’t edit a document in Google Docs that’s stored in Skydrive, or a photo in Pixlr that’s stored in a Picassa online gallery, or Flickr, or Skydrive, or Mesh. I can’t do a great many things that I’d like to do. And this isn’t just a case of companies locking me into their own services either, as I said earlier, the services from Microsoft and Google for example, won’t even talk to each other. It’s all incredibly frustrating.

Now we all know that these companies are run by the accountants and lawyers (the only people who ever make any real money) and this is where we need standards bodies like the IEEE and open-source foundations such as Mozilla more than ever. We desperately need standards for these things.

As an example let’s look at at the recent work done by the EU to standardise mobile phone chargers. From 2012 all chargers in the EU will be micro-USB, even Apple and their proprietary socket format. This isn’t something the EU forced them to do, but every mobile phone company in Europe has jumped on board willingly and helped to thrash out a sensible standard that will greatly reduce waste from millions of phone chargers being thrown away each year.

For decades now, companies have been able to work together to develop web standards, and standards bodies have helped facilitate these. It’s all been brilliant.

Now we need a new set of standards, one for connected devices and how they interact with operating systems, and another for web apps, and how they connect with each other.

The first of these will make sure that you can plug any device into any computer and it’ll just work, no fuss, no third party drivers, no extra software, nothing. The latter will make sure you finally will be able to edit a file on Google Docs that’s stored in SkyDrive. The time for narrow-minded self-interest is over!

But will this happen? It certainly won’t happen on its own. I believe the time has come for consumers to stand up and tell these corporations unashamedly that the time has come for new standards.

To this end I’ve set up a new Facebook Group which I encourage you all to join. Maybe this small gesture will be enough to get the corporations talking seriously to each other for the benefit of us all.

You can join the Facebook group here.

Microsoft Security Patches Coming Next Week

GGarza — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:33:05 +0000

A new group of security patches are scheduled for release on Tuesday Feb 9,2010. The image below shows what software will be affected and by how many updates and the type.

Security Patch

This month Microsoft will be releasing 13 bulletins – five rated Critical, seven rated Important, and one rated Moderate . At the heart they will be addressing 26 vulnerabilities. In the first half of January 2010, Microsoft released one security bulletin that would impact Windows. But in February the number has grown to 13.

Here is how Windows 7 Vulnerabilities are to be handled.

Bulletin ID	Maximum Severity Rating and Vulnerability Impact	Restart Requirement	Affected Software
Bulletin 1	Critical Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 2	Critical Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 3	Critical Remote Code Execution	May require restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 4	Critical Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 6	Critical Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 7	Important Remote Code Execution	May require restart	Microsoft Office
Bulletin 8	Important Remote Code Execution	May require restart	Microsoft Office
Bulletin 9	Important Denial of Service	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 10	Important Elevation of Privilege	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 5	Important Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 11	Important Denial of Service	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 12	Important Elevation of Privilege	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
Bulletin 13	Moderate Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows

Use the table to learn about the security updates that will be available and if you should install it. You should review each software program or component listed to see whether any security updates pertain to your installation. If a software program or component is listed, then the severity rating of the security update is also listed. The table also has information for windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003, Server 2008, and Server 2008 R2.

Source: Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for February 2010

Also as reported here in the post An Old Vulnerability from 1993 Rears Its Head in 32Bit-Windows7, Microsoft will be supplying a patch affecting the 32-bit (x86) versions of Windows, including Windows 7. Advisory 979682 will address vulnerability in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-feb.mspx

Windows 7 Start Orb Changer

Martin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:37:11 +0000

The user Perception of the design and default theme of Windows 7 is mainly positive. Every operating system on the other hand has users that love to customize the design by installing new themes and changing system files which often results in a unique design that does not look like all the others out there.

We have covered some tools from basic Windows 7 personalization, over replacing the Windows 7 start menu to customizing the Windows 7 logon screen in the past that can be used to replace standard Windows 7 design elements.

Start Orb Changer is another program in that category. It allows the Windows 7 user to replace the orb image and animation that is used to power up the Windows 7 start menu.

The portable software is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7. It comes with eight sample orb designs (the first is the original Microsoft orb so that the user can revert the changes back to that orb) that can replace the original design by Microsoft.

It is possible to search on the Internet for additional orb designs. All the user needs to do to replace the existing orb is to start the application, select change orb and pick another orb design.

Windows 7 Start Orb Changer can be downloaded from the developer’s page at Deviant Art. (via Blogs DNA)

Sky Player For Windows 7

Robert B — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:01:19 +0000

UK users have already had this feature since November 2009, but Sky TV broadcaster has now finally rolled out it’s Sky player to Windows 7 users in Ireland.The service gives Windows 7 users in Ireland and the UK access to a range of live and on demand programming, including movies, sports, the arts and family entertainment. This is now all built into the Windows 7 Media Center menu. In the past you could access the Sky Player online but it’s much more convienent now that it’s built in directly to the Windows 7 Media Center.

Ronald Dockery, client manager, of Microsoft Ireland said:

With Windows Media Center we are continuing to deliver on how people are choosing to view their entertainment,” ”Teaming up with Sky was a no brainer, delivering rich content through the power and ease of Windows Media Center gives people the best possible selection and viewing experience right at their PC.”

With the Sky Player weaved into the Media center it now provides users with a more media rich, TV like experience. So you now search for shows using keywords, browse programme galleries or scroll through the familiar Sky on-screen guide, it also takes advantage of the multi-touch interface with Windows 7 and it works with any Windows Media Center-enabled remote control.

If your a current Sky TV subscriber, you can easily access these features by logging in with your Sky User ID, however depending on your current package, you may be limited to what you can watch. Sky packages start at €15 per month but if you want to avail of the Sky On Demand Programs and Sports and Movies, you will have to sign up for the more expensive packages which can see your bill above €60 a month.

This is still a big step forward in Ireland at least for online TV as watching movies and content on demand is still very limited. Hopefully Sky will make more than just the 26 channels available in the future and lead the way for others to follow in online entertainment.

Microsoft Office 2010 RC Leaked

Robert — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:43:34 +0000

Microsoft’s Office 2010 RC has been leaked to various torrent sites (brings back memories of the constant postings of new Windows 7 leaks) after being circulated via Microsoft Connect on February 4th to select members of the Technology Adoption Program (TAP). This is a newer build (14.0.4734.1000) than the other recent leak of MS Office (14.0.4730.1007), with a higher build number and progress from Pre-RTM Escrow to the RTM Escrow phase.

The leak is definitely genuine, as it was released by SoLoR, a popular and trusted uploader when Windows 7 development builds were being distributed amongst the public. The only problem with the leak is that it has moved into the retail phase, so the beta keys no longer work; instead, new keys must be found that are considered valid by the suite.

The release consists of the following programs after installation:

Microsoft Word 2010
Microsoft Excel 2010
Microsoft Outlook 2010 with Business Contact Manager
Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
Microsoft OneNote 2010
Microsoft Access 2010
Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010
Microsoft InfoPath 2010
Microsoft Publisher 2010
Microsoft Office Web Apps
Microsoft Communicator

Download Links:

Name: 14.0.4734.1000_ProfessionalPlus_retail_ship_x86_en-us_exe.exe
Torrent: ThePirateBay
Size: 681,636,632 bytes
SHA1: C23D29021ED9DEF184207A69036407D04004CFAD
MD5: 16C7179EE349C8846417E6AB9D78EE47
CRC: 9D66856C

Name: 14.0.4734.1000_ProfessionalPlus_retail_ship_x64_en-us_exe.exe
Torrent: ThePirateBay
Size: 751,891,192 bytes
SHA1: CA88E152548C06067692312577879D5EBE401A2C
MD5: 2E4E149ECCD33A6863E0CC30CA664DFC
CRC: A8FDFEF3

Sources: MyDigitalLife

Which OS is best for your tablet device? A surprise winner

Mike Halsey — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 10:46:14 +0000

With the recent launch of Apple’s iPad and the consequent talk about not only forthcoming tablet devices running Google’s Android operating system, but also what a low power-tablet running Windows 7 or Chrome OS might be like, I decided to work out some (unscientific) figures to see which OS would be best to use on your own tablet device.

I have to admit I was expecting Windows 7 to win this, due to its flexibility and the better hardware that it requires.

I didn’t take into account the cost of the OS, working instead on the assumption that it would simply be provided with whatever device you buy, and that all the prices would be pretty-much the same.

I did pick ten categories though to compare the different operating systems on…

Local file storage (small)

For devices with Flash memory only, what the local storage would be like if you didn’t have many files to store on the device. Here Google Chrome OS stood out as the only OS not to support local storage.

Local file storage (large)

If you want to store music, video or photo collections on a tablet device you’ll probably need a proper hard drive. Here only Windows 7 scored highest as none of the other devices, so far, come with hard drives.

Install programs

Being able to install programs on a device is essential. iPhone OS and Android get plaudits here for the ease of use of their App stores in installing software, and Microsoft scores well for the sheer volume of quality titles available. Again, Chrome OS, which doesn’t allow for software to be installed at all, scored poorly.

Works offline

Despite what Google will tell you, having the ability to use a computing device when you don’t have an internet connection is essential. Here again Chrome OS scored very badly.

Email / Video / Music Offline

Again, Chrome OS with its lack of support for offline storage scored badly in this category.

Large Music / Video collection supported

Windows 7 scored best in this category because all devices running it come with good capacity hard drives. While iPhone OS and Android also support these libraries, there can be an additional charge for the hardware that can make them seem uneconomical compared to Windows powered devices.

Works on very low power devices

This is where Windows 7 scored it’s lowest score. It’s quite demanding, very in fact, when it comes to the minimum hardware requirements it needs to run. Compare that to the other operating systems and it looks all too demanding.

Easy to use interface

Every operating system scored well here as these OSes are now almost as simple to use as a family microwave.

Security rating

Here, Windows 7 with it’s propensity to be attacked by hackers and criminals, scored the least of all the operating systems. However it was saved by the beefed up security in Windows 7. Android and Chrome OS scored the best here because there have, so far, been no security attacks on either. They are simply put, much less of a target than Windows and iPhone OS.

Web application / plug-in support

iPhone OS, sadly, scored the least here due mainly to the continued lack of support for Flash. This plug-in is used so widely on the internet these days that whatever the reasons for the lack of support, it still leaves the OS open to criticism.

The results

In the chart (above) you can read a green square for 1 point, a yellow square for ½ a point and a red square for zero points.

It was very close all round with the exception of Chrome OS that, because it’s so very limited, scored quite poorly. Windows 7 and iPhone OS came neck and neck in the results. I was very surprised however to see Google Android sneak ahead and win by a narrow margin. With a score of 9 out of 10 in this unscientific test, it could be your best OS choice for a tablet.

No related posts.

Firefox 4.0 Concept Videos Appear

Robert — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:55:51 +0000

In a recent blog post by Stephen Horlander, a new interface for Firefox 4.0 was shown in two concept videos that match the Ribbon style present in Windows 7. The next major overhaul of the popular browser will include a new UI developed to match the interface of the operating system that it runs on, and although Firefox 4.0 is nowhere near complete, these two concept videos provide a peek into what we may be able to expect in terms of the new design for Windows 7.

My goal was to quickly demo how this would actually look and feel because still images and wireframes can only convey so much.

The first video, which demonstrates the creation of a new tab, can be found here. A frame by frame picture is also provided:

Another, longer video is also shown that displays tab rearrangement and the “tear-off” animation.

More mockups can be found on the official wiki.

Photo Manipulation Themes for Windows7

GGarza — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:34:17 +0000

Surreal Art gets a lot of attention because an artist can combine standard and normal images in unusual ways. Thus he is able to express his creativity, feelings and the way he thinks, the way he looks at the world. It is the medium of art in which you can showcase your talent and creativity in the most meaningful and the most intangible way.

Usic Is Life Music Is Art

According to the the Surrealist Manefesto, published in 1924, ”Surrealism. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life.”

Out of World War I and the Dada art movenemt Surrealism developed in Paris to reflect the dissatisfaction of the art of the day, but also to allow artists to express themselves in new ways. In the 20’s the art movement had an impact of the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages. Although some have claimed that it had an impact in political and social theory, if it was it was embedded in the manefestations of other more powerful forces and ideologies that were appearing at that time, like communism and fascism.

The goal was that by freeing people from what they saw as false rationality, and restrictive customs and structures, a new human order would develop and take over; one without preconceptions.

Once you download these images, you can turn them into themes. You can follow the tips at

Windows7 Sci-Fi Themes from TheLovas

Your PC is more expensive to run with Apple software

Mike Halsey — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:54:25 +0000

I’m not only a PC, I’m a Microsoft lock-in. I use Windows, Office, Live Mail and Calendar, Live Suite and Windows Mobile. Why do I exclusively use Microsoft products? The answer is simple really, it’s just so convenient to do so. It’s called the lock-in.

Other companies have lock-ins too, top of the list being Apple. But why isn’t the Apple lock-in something that you choose?

For this article I have installed software from Apple and Google on my PC, the Live Suite was already installed, to see the effects they have on my computer and on my life. I didn’t choose much, just the types of software you would normally have installed, iTunes, Chrome and Picasa, all using the default options.

So first things first, why would I want to do this? Surely it’s just an opportunity, as someone who uses exclusively Microsoft software and services to slag off the competition. No, there are good reasons why I switched away from Google services two years ago and don’t touch Apple services with a bargepole. In this article I hope to prove why to you.

When I was interviewed by the IEEE Organisation recently about Google Chrome OS and cloud services, one of my criticisms was that there was no interoperability between the services provided by different companies, nor was this likely. Firstly this was due to protectionism of these companies’ own markets, but a large part of this was the lock-in. This is where a company will try and make all their products and services interoperate with each other seamlessly, to help give users a more complete service and to encourage you to stick exclusively with that company.

This is where Microsoft excel. They’ve still got a considerable way to go, integrating services such as Live Mesh and Skydrive into Windows for example (Skydrive integration with Office 2010 already exists) but generally their services don’t only work well together, they compliment each other.

Let’s compare this approach to that taken by Google and Apple. Google have one of the biggest software and cloud-computing suites in the world, with a vast array of products and services available for download. Unfortunately these services aren’t very good at interacting with each other, or allowing you to share files between them. This is a shame as they’re otherwise very good, Their Chrome browser and Google Earth being two brilliant examples.

Apple are even worse however. Everything that Apple are about these days is centred around the iTunes software, and everything about iTunes is designed to get you to part with your cash.

It’s unfortunate that Apple’s business model is so mercenary. Clearly it’s working for them and millions of people around the world don’t mind. I however can’t help but compare iTunes to Windows Media Player. Both are good music players and in both you can buy music and video, but with WMP it’s so much more understated. It’s never thrust down your throat the way it is in iTunes. Microsoft just aren’t so desperate to get you to part with your cash.

Then there’s the effect these programs have on my PC. Both Google and Apple install ‘updater’ software with their software packages. Why? Please can somebody explain to me why I need a constantly running updater for a software package that I’ll use perhaps once or twice a week?

This is by far my biggest beef and the biggest reason why I won’t use this software at all. The Google Update, QuickTime and iTunes update software (the latter of which is consuming 4Mb of my precious memory when I don’t need it) that runs automatically is only just the start of it.

Both companies also install services that will run automatically with Windows every time it starts. These services are very difficult for inexperienced users to switch off. Google is bad enough with not just one but two updater services but Apple takes the crown by installing a service to interact with an iPod, a piece of hardware I don’t even own and a service that should never be installed unless I buy one!

I also can’t understand why the iTunes software must install QuickTime!? QuickTime video is hardly used outside of the USA and I almost never come across a video that requires it. Why do I need this software running all the time on my PC when it could instead simply install a codec that works with iTunes, Windows Media Player or both. After all, this is what every other company does.

But then Apple commit the worst crime of all. Anybody who buys their hardware, such as an iPhone or iPod can only interact with that device through iTunes. Why? Google and Microsoft see no need to do this. Are Apple being insecure? Worst still you can’t even use an iPhone until you’ve installed iTunes on your PC to activate it. This is madness.

Let’s compare all of this with Microsoft who certainly seem to have got things right. When you install software such as the Live Suite, not only are they providing software that interacts with other products in the suite reasonably (though there’s still much room for improvement), you won’t get a single program or service running in the background. The software if necessary will check for updates when you start it, which is what they should all do and the resulting drop in memory and processor usage can have only one effect. My PC is cheaper to run with Microsoft software installed on it! I can be absolutely certain that if were using a low-power device such as a netbook instead of a top-end PC, I would notice my PC get a little more sluggish with Google and Apple software installed.

As a proof of this I used to run Windows with the Deskscapes animated desktop running from Stardock. I stopped using this however when, after some tests I found that just having this one piece of software running on my PC increased it’s power usage from 130 watts to an incredible 151 watts. That’s a big power increase from having one piece of software running. Now the iTunes and Google updaters won’t increase power usage by anything like this amount, but any extra, and unnecessary, program running on you PC is guaranteed to push up power consumption.

I’m not averse to the lock-in, I’m a willing participant but one who knows and understands what the implications and ramification of making such a choice are. I’ve also come out in support of Apple on many occasions, but I wonder if the millions of users of Google and Apple products out there know just what’s going on behind the scenes on their computer when they choose to lock-in with them?

Windows 7 Personalization: New Themes

Martin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:03:56 +0000

Microsoft has once again made available new Windows 7 themes and desktop backgrounds in their personalization gallery. One of the biggest improvements over previous operating systems is the improved personalization in Windows 7. Basic themes can now be created by anyone and shared with friends, family and colleagues. We call them basic themes because of their limitation to only changing the color scheme, desktop backgrounds, sounds and screensaver opposed to full themes that require system file patching but offer to change basically any element of the operating system in return.

The four new themes that are now available for download at the personalization gallery are Cats Everywhere, Dogs in Summer, Valentine and Year of the Tiger.

Each theme comes with multiple desktop backgrounds, a custom color scheme and sounds. The themes can be easily installed by double-clicking on the file after it has been downloaded to the computer system.

You can download the new themes by clicking on the links below or by visiting Microsoft’s personalization gallery.

Observant visitors will also notice new desktop backgrounds that have been added to the gallery on the Microsoft website. These extra backgrounds can be downloaded from there as well. They can either be added to an existing theme or a new theme.

Microsoft Set To Patch 26 Holes In Windows & Office

Robert B — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:31:43 +0000

Microsoft are getting ready to patch yet another 26 security flaws this coming patch Tuesday. One affecting the kernel of 32-bit versions of Windows and several holes in Office. Five of the 13 bulletins affect vulnerabilities that could lead to remote code execution and Microsoft have rated them as critical, seven are rated important, and one is rated as moderate.

The Office security flaws would require the user to be tricked into opening a “specially crafted” file that will then exploit a vulnerability in Office.

“The Office-related bulletins are both rated Important and would require user action to be exploited (usually in the form of convincing a user to open a specially crafted file),”

Jerry Bryant, a senior security communications manager at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post. It’s only older versions of Office that are affected by these vulnerabilities.

“The vulnerabilities only affect older versions of Office so customers on Office 2007 or Office 2008 for Mac will have no actions this month.”

The bulletins affect Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7, as well as Server 2003 and 2008, Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2004 for Mac, according to the advisory released on technet.

Included in this security update are two fixes for holes in 32-bit versions of Windows which could allow someone to install programs, change data, or create new accounts with full user rights.

However there are still two underlying flaws Microsoft have yet to address – a hole in Internet Explorer that could lead to data leakage, which was disclosed on Wednesday, and a hole in the Server Message Block file-sharing protocol that was disclosed in November.

But Jerry Bryant said:

“We are not aware of any attacks on these vulnerabilities and continue to encourage customers to implement the mitigations and workarounds outlined in the advisories,

This chart shows the number of bulletins affecting the different versions of Windows and their rating of importance. (Credit: Microsoft)

Folder Takes Ages To Load? Try This Fix

Martin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:31:11 +0000

I have one folder on my hard drive where I put all the downloads from the Internet on; Videos, photos, documents, music, programs and basically anything that gets downloaded. I noticed lately that it took a long time to open that folder in Windows Explorer. Or, to be more precise, a long time before the contents where sorted correctly in the folder. Windows Explorer would show that loading animation in the location bar and it took a few seconds before the files and folders were sorted properly.

I first thought it was related to the size of the contents which now occupied 247 Gigabytes of space on that hard drive. the 35k files and 485 subfolders could also have been a problem. Deleting some old contents in that folder did not fix the problem. I also tried switching the layout but every view mode resulted in the same problems.

Then I thought about other programs that might cause the problem. Antivirus software or shell extensions but none of this was the reason for the lag that was experienced whenever I opened that folder. All other folders opened fine but none had the size or files of that one folder.

Then I discovered the customize tab in the folder properties dialog which finally allowed me to fix the issue that I had.

The “optimize this folder for” pulldown menu was set to Pictures although pictures did not make up the bulk of the data. I switched that to videos, enabled the “also apply this template to all subfolders” option and et voila, the folder contents where being displayed immediately afterwards. I double-checked, reverted the changes to end up with the same slow loading folder. Applied the fix again and it was once again fast and without lag.

I do not know how the folder is optimized depending on the choice in that menu. I only know that it solved my problem and am thankful for that solution.

Please let me know if you ran into similar troubles and if this fix solved yours as well. Someone with deeper knowledge on the optimize folder function would also be welcome to shed some light into this matter.

Windows 7 Bests Apple’s Snow Leopard in Satisfaction?

Jason — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:39:48 +0000

A few years back we were all anxiously awaiting an operating system codenamed project Longhorn which made many transformations throughout its long testing phase. The ultimate product was 32 flavors of a bloated, poorly reviewed operating system, which was slammed by any and all media outlets, including Apple’s “I’m a Mac” campaigns. Now it’s 2010 and Windows 7 has taken an aggressive hold of the OS market and is rising significantly every week. Now add to that the reports from a London-based market-research firm called YouGov Plc. and Windows 7 has taken the lead in customer satisfaction. That wasn’t a typo; I definitely just said that Windows 7 has taken the lead in customer satisfaction, something which I vaguely remember Apple ripping Microsoft products on in their ad campaigns.

What YouGov Plc. has reported is that Microsoft’s satisfaction level rose to 67% in the week after Windows 7’s launch which was no less than 3% in a single day rise, while Apple’s Snow Leopard could muster only a 1% rise bringing their total percentage to 65%. It was also reported that the momentum gained by Windows 7 was no fluke because it kept raising its satisfaction percentage throughout the end of 2009 (by December 31st Microsoft grew its score 14%, bringing it to 73%, Apple grew 6.9%).

I have heard some comparisons of Snow Leopard to being the new “Vista”, which everyone knows will be the label of shame for decades to come. I personally don’t know if I would label Snow Leopard like that because it’s just a service pack that Apple charged for, however, Cupertino did pass it off like it was something more than a service pack.

At CES Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer even shared that Windows 7’s score might be even higher because it received a 94% satisfaction rate by early adopters.

I personally have never run any polls or market analysis on Windows 7’s satisfaction. And who knows how accurate polls are. I can only go off of my experiences and the experiences of those, I know, which have adopted the OS. Other than some minor user errors and pre-installed bloat-ware, Windows 7 has been off the charts in customer satisfaction from what I have gathered. The question is: can Microsoft continue this momentum into their next major release, Windows 8?

Source: Softpedia.com

Microsoft At a Crossroads … The Beginning of The End?

GGarza — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:35:13 +0000

On February 4th 2010, Dick Brass, former Vice President at Microsoft, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times about the state of the union, the union being Microsoft. It was not a pretty picture that he painted. No innovation, too much internecine warfare, very few successful products…these were some of the complaints laid down by someone who had worked at the worlds largest software company for years.

His biggest complaint centered on the fact that the most succcessful products were conceptualized decades ago. Like the car manufacturing alternates, GM, for one, who relied on trucks and SUV’s to make the case for profits, Brass charges that true innovation has been stifled from the inside.

At this site, however, there have been numerous posts about the growth of Windows7, touch screen innovation, Browser modifications, and other technology changes, all coming from Microsoft. It is hard to reconcile the charges that Brass makes with the things we read about the Microsoft does. It does fail, take Vista, but it bounced back within less than four years with Windows 7.

The other charge that was made was that true hardware innovation has come from competitors of Microsoft. Apple, Blackberry, and other companies have run away with the IPhone market; that’s true. But Microsoft has not pursued the hardware market, not in the way that Brass would like to see.

But it is also true that many of the software innovations have been implemented by Microsoft. Touch screen technology is now coming of age because of what Windows7 is capable of doing. But there are other software innovations that Microsoft has done.

Take the XML innovation. A small Canadian company sued Microsoft, and won, over patent infringement in the XML implementation in Office 2007. Yet it is precisely the fact that Microsoft has used XML in so many products that this technology is now more widely available. This is not to excuse or forgive Microsoft for the patent infringement problem, but it goes to show that without Microsoft, the XML technology would not be widely used.

Many will no doubt say, that Microsoft has squashed the competition unfairly or illegally, and it deserves to fail. Many of those issues have a grain of truth to them. But I’m reminded of J.D. Rockefeller in the late 1800’s when he organized, and later monopolized the oil industry. If you joined him you made money, if not he squashed your company and went belly-up. Microsoft probably did something like that in the 80’s and 90’s. Forced the competition to become partners, or Microsoft simply stole the technology if it couldn’t buy it. Undoubtedly this lead to the US government, and later European governments to go after them. But on the other hand, a lot of companies became very successful using Microsoft products. Just ask Dell, HP, and a host of other PC makers which are reporting sales notwithstanding the present day economy.

Many of the problems that Brass talks about are probably true, but that may have to do more with Steve Ballmer not being the tech guy that Bill Gates was. Ballmer is a good manager, but a visionary, no he is not. His stockholders are probably very happy with him, in the same way that the stock holders at GM or Ford were happy for decades. But look what happened there.

Brass makes the complaint over and over that innovation is lacking at Microsoft. With that I would have to agree. Innovation is the one element that must be maintained, or you are stuck in the past selling typewriters over and over again.

You can read the New York Times article Microsoft’s Creative Destruction.

NextWindow and Windows7 Touch Technology

GGarza — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:25:35 +0000

Yesterday I had a had an online Q&A with Geoff Walker, Product Marketing Manager, NextWindow. NextWindow makes touch screens, and are used by numerous computer manufacturers. I reviewed his company here yesterday(see below). Today, I’m presenting the results of the Q&A.

NextWindow

1. Has Windows7 been easy to work with? Have obstacles that your technology faced overcome using Windows 7 or did it not make a difference?
[GW] Windows 7 is very easy to work with. From the touch-screen manufacturer’s point of view, writing a Win-7 touch driver is straightforward. Passing the Win-7 Logo touch certification was challenging, but NextWindow was the first touch-screen manufacturer to achieve the Logo. From a touch application programmer’s perspective, Win-7 touch is very easy. The operating system abstracts the touch hardware so that the programmer doesn’t need to know what touch technology is being used. The application program can make two simple API (applications programming interface) calls to retrieve user touch-gestures from the operating system so that it can handle its own custom-defined gestures.

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2. Typically how long does your product take to develop?

[GW] If an OEM or ODM customer requests a new size of touch-screen, one that we haven’t manufactured before, it takes us only about four to six weeks until we are in full production for that customer. Developing an entirely new generation of optical touch product (hardware & software) is the same creating any other new high-technology product — it typically takes six months to a year. However, this cycle time is becoming shorter as everything moves faster and becomes more efficient.

3. Are you receiving more orders from other computer manufacturers for touch screens?

[GW] Absolutely. We shipped more than a half-million optical touch-screens in 2009. Our current PC-OEM customers (in alphabetical order) include Asus, Dell (3 models), HP (3 models), Lenovo, Medion, NEC, Samsung (2 models) and Sony. There are an additional three or four OEMs with products under development that we can’t talk about yet. We are very bullish about the growth rate of touch on the consumer desktop, especially on all-in-one computers.

4. Do you work with Microsoft at all on this technology?

[GW] Yes. We worked very closely with Microsoft in helping them develop the Windows 7 Logo test. We are currently working with them on a large-format (>30 inch screen) logo test specification. We work with Microsoft on a wide variety of applications, particularly in the large-format area. And we continue to interface with Microsoft as they begin the development of Windows 8.

5. How do you envision your company working with touch in the future?

[GW] Our vision is “bringing an intuitive user experience to every home, desktop and wall”. This means that we are focused on making the PC user experience more intuitive, not just shipping millions of touchscreens (which we definitely do also). We focus on touch and “virtual touch” using our core expertise of capturing, analyzing and interpreting data from sensors (especially optical sensors). ”Home, desktop and wall” refers to our markets — the consumer home PC, the desktop PC in enterprise (once touch starts to penetrate there), and large-format displays in interactive-information applications and education.

Microsoft and Touch Technology

Microsoft has spent considerable time to make their touch technology available through Windows7. Other aspects of Windows 7 as I have written here before show that hardware constraints are being overcome on a frequent basis. There is touch technology that uses muscle implants with wireless to connect to the screen. There are applications that allow safety collaboration and coordination that work with touch. To say that we are entering Star Trek territory would be an understatement.

See additional posts on this topic.

Windows7 and NextWindow – Touch Technology

Could Windows Touch Replace the Mouse and Keyboard?

Multitouch Demo -- HP Touchsmart TX2 Tablet -- Windows 7

What Windows 8 needs to be… Part 1

Mike Halsey — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:31:00 +0000

Everybody’s got a wish list for what they want Windows to be. As a technical beta-tester for Microsoft and the author of the Windows 7 Power Users Guide, I’ve had a great insight over the last few years into what Windows could have been, having tested features that were later dropped from betas, and I’ve read a great deal of private feedback from other technical testers over the years.

More at Windows8News.com…

Windows 7 Market Share Breaks 10%

Robert B — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:26:35 +0000

Windows 7 is still being adopted by consumers and businesses a like at a rapid rate. The latest market share statistics are in for the month of January and we see that Windows 7 has surpassed the 10% mark, just over 3 months after its release on the 22nd of October 2009.

According to Net Applications, Windows 7 is now being used on every one in ten computers, which is quite an impressive feat, especially when you consider that Windows 7 has only been out for just over 3 months. Unsurprisingly, Net Applications has indicated that the highest Windows 7 usage in the U.S. is centered on Redmond, Wash., where Microsoft has its headquarters; some 42 percent of Internet users within the city of Redmond itself are currently using Windows 7.

What’s even more impressive is the fact that Windows 7 managed to reach the 4% milestone in just one month, while its predecessor,Windows Vista took a grueling 7 months to accomplish this same feat.

Credit: Net Applications

Still, Windows XP continues to be the market leader with a 66.31 percent market share in January, miles ahead of Windows Vista (17.39 percent). Windows 7 had an average of 7.51 percent of the market for January, peaking on the 31st with 10 percent.

This information would correspond well with the news last week that Windows 7 had become Microsoft’s fastest selling operating system ever.

It also seems that like a faithful dog, Windows XP is still hanging in their but is continuing to decline. Since the release of Windows 7, Microsoft XP has dropped from 72% of the market down to 66.31%

However I don’t think Windows 7 will be a true success until it has overtaken Windows XP in market share. I would expect it to surpass Windows Vista ( 17.39 percent ) soon enough but Windows XP will be the biggest challenge for Windows 7.

Source:

Net Applications

Windows7 and NextWindow – Touch Technology

GGarza — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:21:50 +0000

NextWindow designs and manufactures optical touch screens to be used with computer displays, and large format screens. It works with Windows 7 touch screen technology. Multitouch is the ability to manipulate the display screen with one or more fingers. It is built directly into Microsoft’s the Windows7 operating system.

NextWindow has been instrumental in working with Microsoft to develop the Windows 7 Logo test. This means, that a company wishing to display the Windows 7 Logo for touch technology, must pass a series of technology tests.

NextWindows

Currently NextWindow have three series or products:

1900 Series: PC Touch

It should be used for: All-in-one PCs and Standard PCs. It comes in sizes from 15 to 32 inches.

1900 Series

2100 Series: Display Touch

It should be used for: Digital signage, Kiosks, Interactive education, and Gaming. It comes in sizes from 30 to 120 inches.

2700 Series: Overlay Touch

It should be used for Digital signage, Kiosks, Interactive education, Conferences. It comes in sizes from 30 to 82 inches.

Some of NextWindow’s products use low-profile optical sensors mounted on the surface of the glass (1900 series). Other products use different configurations. Nevertheless, in all models, the infrared light source and optical sensors are synchronized using a sophisticated algorithm that also eliminates the effect of ambient light, creating an extremely clear, accurate screen.

What is Touch Technology?

There are two kinds, infra-red technology, or special reflective surfaces. Working together, two optical sensors track the movement of any object close to the surface by detecting the interruption of an infra-red light source. The light is emitted in a plane across the surface of the screen and can be either active (infra-red LED) or passive (special reflective surfaces).

The system has a printed circuit controller board that receives signals from the optical sensors. Its software then compensates for optical distortions and triangulates the position of the touching object with extreme accuracy.

What is Windows 7 Touch Technology?

Microsoft has been working on touch technology for a while. The big drawback was the hardware interface. But that is no longer the case. Here are some of the enhancements that Microsoft has done to improve the user interaction with the touch screen.

Easier grasp on PC’s. Microsoft has enlarged icons in Windows 7 for the Start Menu, Taskbar and Windows Explorer. This makes it easier to grasp the PC. So in place of the mouse, you can open and shut programs by directly tapping or double-tapping with your fingers. You can also summon a virtual onscreen keyboard, too, though it’s nowhere near as natural as typing on a physical keyboard.

Multi-touch operations. You can also zoom in on a picture by spreading two fingers apart, or zoom out by pinching them back together. You can “right-click” by holding down one finger while you tap the screen with a second finger.

100 Point Support. Windows 7 can support up to 100 touch points, Microsoft says, though there are hardware constraints (screen size) and the genetic reality of having just so many fingers with which to perform gestures. The behavior on the screen changes depending on how many fingers you use.

Where is NextWindow Located?

NextWindow has offices in New Zealand, Taiwan, Singapore and the U.S. . It’s scope includes high-volume, cost-effective manufacturing for PCs as well as customized solutions for kiosks, digital signage, and interactive education. It has been around since 2001. The management team is varied as well, with different parties from New Zeeland, The US, Scotland, and the Great Britain.

Additional Information

Further information for NextWindow can be obtained here.

Windows 7 Touch Technology can be seen here:

To read more about Windows 7 and Touch technology look at these posts:

Windows7 and Microsoft TouchPack

Windows7 -- Digital Signage with an Intel Partnership

Why it doesn’t matter what OS you use

Mike Halsey — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:39:10 +0000

In the last year the most amazing thing has happened, all sorts of fantastic new operating systems have sprung up. Android, Chrome OS, iPhone OS and all of them really good whether they’re there for a niche market or not.

Now these operating systems have begun to propagate with iPhone OS and Android appearing on tablets, the kind of thing everybody would use in the home instead of a laptop. One of the biggest changes this will mean for users is that it will no longer matter what operating system we use and most people won’t even notice anyway.

If you look at the average things a casual user will do with a computer or computing device then, email, browsing and shopping, photo editing, playing music and watching video would all top the list. In fact these are the activities people would do 90+% of the time.

All of these OSes are either capable of doing all of these activities out of the box, or with the very simple and quick addition of a bolt-on bit of software. More’s the point it can easily be argued that the App stores for Apple devices and Google make it even easier on those devices than a Mac or Windows.

Despite the major differences between these operating systems, required to give each one its own identity and prevent litigation cases in court, they’re all fundamentally the same. Only things like the top-of-the-screen menu system on the Mac and the ribbon in Windows pose anything different to the norm.

Now at this point Ballmer and Jobs would disagree with me immensely and point out the huge and fundamental differences that make their operating system the best and easiest. Take Windows 7 for instance, it’s certainly the most flexible and for a power-user such as myself, more attractive because of that.

But this is nothing more than corporate greed playing on the pack-animal nature of humanity. When it boils down to it we’re all human and all in the same boat wanting to do the same things. Psychology plays a large part here though and major companies attract fans and loyal supporters the same way your local football or baseball teams might. For example, only this morning I received an email from someone who didn’t like the things I’ve been writing here about Apple recently, accusing me of all sorts of things and being a bit rude in the process. This was even though I’ve been quite complimentary about the company in recent days.

This is really quite clever on their part and I’m certain they all have psychologists on staff. What they’ve been doing for the last couple of decades is grooming us into becoming ambassadors for their companies.

None of this really has anything to do with how good the actual product is because if you take a step back and think about the things you want to do on your device for 90% of the time, any-old device will probably do and most of your stuff’s now in the clouds, USB hard drives or pen drives anyway.

Even the old familiarity argument is fading fast with people picking up and mastering iPhone OS and Android as quickly as they can get a new microwave to cook a lasagne.

It will be interesting to see what each company do with their operating systems in the future, especially Windows 8 which has a monumental battle to fight now to prevent Microsoft from losing market share. Looks like they’ll need those psychologists to rally the troops again.

Windows7 14 Gadgets From The Artist Gersma

GGarza — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:57:05 +0000

Gadgets in Windows 7 can do more than show the weather or news. Many gadgets are useful as system monitoring tools that keep track of Windows 7 resources like CPU,memory, hard drive and network usage. Here are 14 chameleon gadgets. They change colors like your background does. But they are more than monitoring tools.

Chameleon Glass EN by Gersma

calendar : resizable desktop calendar
clock : analogue desktop clock
control : shutdown, restart or lock your pc from the desktop
cpu : monitor the cpu and ram load of your rig
email : check your pop3 account for new mail
netbars : monitor your bandwidth usage through a graphical bar
netstats : monitor your bandwidth usage through textual info
notescolour : coloured postit notes
noteswhite : white postit notes
onedrive : monitor free space for any drive on your pc
radio : listen live to DI or SKY fm streams, or add streams yourself
recyclebin : with spinning recycle icon when full
stats : shows online/offline state, uptime, localIP, date, wifi strength, battery status
weather : shows current weather conditions + a 5 day weather forcast in the flyout

Gadgets, which were introduced in Vista are mini programs that are built using XML, DHTML, and JavaScript. They first appeared in Vista, but they were constrained to working through the sidebar. Although you could move them outside the sidebar to other parts of the screen, the sidebar itself would never really go away. In Windows 7, that has changed. The sidebar is no more and the gadgets can sit anywhere on your screen in either a minimized or maximized state.

You can download the 14 gadgets from deviant-art and the Artist Gersma here.

See Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets in this site for more gadgets.

Don’t Forget – Windows 7 RC Begins To Shutdown In 1 Month

Robert B — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:23:16 +0000

Part of Windows 7 success was undoubtedly related to the extensive pre-release program that Microsoft had in operation prior to the official release of the RTM on the 22nd October 2009. The Windows 7 Beta 1 was released back in January of 2009 and began shutting down every 2 hours from the 2nd of July.

The Windows 7 RC 1 was then released in May of 2009 and there was an unlimited number of licenses available to the public so they could download and try out Windows 7 for themselves. We all knew that the Windows 7 Release Candidate ( Build 7100 ) was going to suffer the same fate as the Beta builds, so a month from today, the 1st of March, the Windows 7 RC 1 will begin shutting down automatically every 2 hours.

Windows 7 will automatically start alerting you to the fact that your copy of Windows is about to expire 2 weeks prior ( February 15th ) to the deadline of March the 1st. On June 1st 2010, if for some reason you are still running Windows 7 RC 1, the non-genuine experience will be triggered and your license will expire. What this means is that your wallpaper will be removed and “This copy of Windows is not genuine” will be displayed in the lower right corner of your desktop, above the taskbar.

So if you want to continue using Windows 7 and are running the Release Candidate ( you can tell by going to Start -> Right Click “My Computer” -> Properties ) you need to buy and install a copy of Windows 7 RTM. For information on upgrading from the RC to the official RTM of Windows 7, see our guides here, here and here. If you’re unsure on whether or not you need to perform an upgrade or clean install, see our guide here. Just remember that Microsoft don’t officially support upgrading from the Windows 7 RC to the RTM.

Now you have ample time to go out and purchase the final copy of Windows 7, back up all your data and install the Official RTM edition of Windows 7 before your system begins shutting down every 2 hours on you.

Re-evaluating the Tablet

Andrew Cunningham — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:26:14 +0000

What is it about the iPad that has people so riled up? Both the media frenzy building up to Wednesday’s announcement and the almost equally frenzied denouncement of the device by most media outlets have been pretty irrational, even given the intense debate that normally crops up between the Microsoft and Apple camps (for my attempt at a level-headed look at the device, see my other site).

I think in both cases, it has to do with Apple’s failure to “get the tablet right.” The tablet PC has been around since the early 2000s, and while many people are drawn to the idea of a PC they can write on and interact with as they would a pad of paper, the concept has never really gone mainstream. This is in part due to the higher cost of tablets versus normal PCs and laptops, but it has more to do with the fact that the concept has never lived up to its promise.

The media circus leading up to the iPad’s announcement was generated largely by the hopes that Apple, seemingly infallible when it comes to mass-market gadgets, would finally make a tablet that fulfilled the concept’s supposed promise, and that those must-have features would trickle down to their competitors’ products as they often do.

Think what you will about the company and its products, but would the smartphone market be so competitive right now if not for the iPhone? Would Dell and Sony be making such attractive laptops without the example of the MacBook to show them that people will pay a little more for something with style? Maybe the company that pioneered and popularized the MP3 player and so many other fixtures of our lives could make a tablet that worked.

Hence, the extreme disappointment when Steve Jobs hopped on stage Wednesday with what is essentially a giant iPod Touch. People who had been so hopeful that the iPad would change the tablet for the better had their hopes dashed, and lashed out all the more because of it.

Apple has its adherents, which guarantees the iPad an audience. Maybe the device will even have enough time to grow and become the product that people wanted. What I find more likely, though, is that people have no idea what they wanted the iPad to be. And now, with most PC manufacturers releasing tablets to counter what they thought would be another must-have product from Apple, we’re about to get hit with a wave of devices that are just slightly updated versions of tablet PCs that we already haven’t wanted for years now.

In fact, maybe we don’t want tablet PCs at all.

Battery Life Problems on Laptops with Windows 7

GGarza — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:43:34 +0000

The message shows up on your laptop: “Consider replacing your battery. There is a problem with your battery, so your computer might shut down suddenly.” You upgraded your laptop from XP or Vista to Windows7. You know that the battery is good. But now you are getting this error message. What do you do?

Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and are working on a solution. Although Microsoft has reported selling some 60 millions Windows 7 licenses, certainly a hit from any standard. A google search shows over 73,000 hits for the “consider replacing your battery” search spec. There is certainly a problem with the battery and Windows7.

Some of the suggestions for repair center on upgrading the BIOS. And while some users at a Windows7 forum have tried that, they continue to report that the problem has not gone away.

How serious is the problem?

The most common complaint seems to be that battery life which used to last between 1.5 hours and 2 hours, is now less that 30 minutes. Some users at the forum are down to 15 minutes of battery life time.

Indeed, some users have complained that their batteries have been permanently damaged by the drainage problems.

Other problems reported are that the laptop will suddenly go into hibernate mode without warning.

A Work Around

It could help to avoid automatic switching off and keep the information about battery charge:
Setup Critical battery action to ‘Do Nothing’. Use the powercfg.exe tool. Essentially change the settings to “do nothing.” Here is how to do that:

Activate the power scheme you want to modify.
Open an elevated command console (windows key, type ‘cmd’ in start menu, press “ctrl+shift+enter”, click ‘continue’)
Execute “powercfg -setdcvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_BATTERY BATACTIONCRIT 0″
Your current power scheme will show “Battery->Critical battery action->On battery: Do nothing” despite the option being unavailable in the drop box.

Note that this workaround is not a solution. Your battery drainage will still occur, but the messages will not appear.

Another possible work around solution: Calibrate the Battery

Another way to address this issue is to pursue the following strategy: completely drain the laptop and attach the A/C adapter to replenish the battery system.

Fully Charged Up the Laptop Battery to 100 % , then unplugged power cable, and I let the battery drain. Upon reaching 99 % drainage you will start to get the message … consider replacing….
When the battery is fully drained, laptop goes into hibernate. Power it back on but then it shutdowns completely.
Checked Bios to confirm if there was any power was left; it had 2 % left.
Wait 15 minutes to completely drain the laptop of any battery power and confirm that it can not be powered on.
Remove the battery; then in this condition while the battery is out press the power button this will drain the system of any power left in the laptop.
At this stage the laptop should be fully drained now.
Plug in the A/C adapter cable to the laptop and wait 5 minutes. Power up the laptop.
Under this process while charging the laptop you should not get the error message.

This process should allow you to restore your battery to it’s optimum level.

Source of the Problem

The laptop drainage issue dates back several months, to the Windows 7 beta. But many others state that the problem became more visible until the final “release to manufacturing” (RTM) build. This change in behavior happened when Windows7 went from an RC to RTM.

Microsoft’s Response

Microsoft has acknowledged the issue, saying it’s related to the way Windows 7 reads system firmware. “We are investigating this issue in conjunction with our hardware partners. The warning received in Windows 7 uses firmware information to determine if battery replacement is needed. We are working with our partners to determine the root cause and will update the [Technet] forum with information and guidance as it becomes available.”

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/29/windows_7_laptop_battery_issues/

What does the iPad mean for the Windows 8 interface?

Mike Halsey — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:10:03 +0000

The reinvention of the tablet PC by Apple this week could have significant ramifications for Microsoft during the development of Windows 8, and impact the look and feel of their next OS considerably.

More at Windows8News.com…

Ice Sculpture Images for Windows7 Themes

GGarza — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:15:36 +0000

The art form known as Ice Sculpture uses ice as the raw material. They can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. They are Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their limited lifetime.

Ice Sculptures have to be carved quickly, and the sculpture should be put in an environment that will allow them to exit as quickly.

The lifetime of a sculpture is determined primarily by the temperature of its environment. It can last a few minutes to even months. There are several ice festivals held around the world, hosting competitions of ice sculpture carving.

Several difficulties present themselves when doing Ice Sculpting. Ice presents a number of difficulties due to the variability and volatility of the material. Ice must be carefully selected to be suitable for the sculptor’s purposes and should be free of undesired impurities. Typically, ideal carving ice is made from pure, clean water. However, clear, transparent ice is a result of the freezing process and not necessarily related to the purity of the water.

To remove impurities and to get clear ice the process of slow freezing is used. This allows impurities to escape. The chemistry performs two different processes, water molecules are allowed to line up into the typical crystal lattice while impurities remain in the unfrozen water. By using certain machines and processes slow freezing is performed, which results in the removal of impurities. This process is able to produce the clear blocks of ice that are favored by ice carvers. However, not all blocks that are carved are clear ice.

The best ice sculpture must be done in a cold environment, or the ice melts. However, if the artist is quick some sculptures may be completed in as little as 10 minutes. Of course, it goes without saying that the artist must have the right kind of carving equipment, like chainsaws and specialty bits fitted to a die grinder.

To turn these images into themes, download them into a folder in libraries, like picture. Go to the desktop and right click. Select personalize. Click on the Desktop Background icon, and at the picture location, select browse. Locate your image folder and open it. Then select all of the images (ctrl-A) and save changes. Your images are now themes.

All about the Humble Mouse

John Campbell — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:43:24 +0000

The humble computer mouse has certainly come into its own since Douglas Engelbart invented it back in 1964. His contribution changed the way we work with computers. This user-friendly tool has undergone many changes over the years and now comes “tailess” with the wireless and laser mouse taking over from the earlier models connected to the computer by cable. This cable led Engelbart to christen this device a “mouse” because “. . . because the tail came out the end.”

Modern Mouse(s)

Recently I bought a new mouse for my laptop. It was a Microsoft product and was small and comfortable, fitting easily in my hand. It contained a new feature which I’d never come across before, the so-called “Back” button. Pressing this allows you to re-track where you’ve been on the web; saves you looking for the Back button on your browser’s toolbar.

New type of Laptop Wireless Mouse

Today’s mouse sports more than two buttons the earlier versions had. The scroll wheel can be configured to do many things, though I mainly use it to scroll up and down a screen while working in a document.

Configuring the Scroll Wheel

To access the Scroll Wheel’s options do the following:

Open the Control Panel. It opens in Category View.
Click Large Icons
In the expanded view, select Mouse.
Here you can customize your mouse.
Accessing Scroll Wheel options

Screen Pointers

The on-screen symbol is called a pointer. It shows your position on the screen. The type of pointer displayed will vary according to your location and the type of activity you are doing. It will also vary depending on the application you are using.

Mouse Pointer Shapes

Using the Mouse buttons

This table shows you the various ways of using the left and the right Mouse buttons.

Using the Mouse Buttons

Windows 7 on the iPad? (Maybe They’ll Sell a Few Now)

Jason — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:58:19 +0000

Much of the disappointment in the iPad lies in its inability to run multiple tasks. I know I don’t have a need for a huge iPhone and after reading loads of bad press regarding the new device, I realize now that many are thinking the same things that I am. However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for people wanting something with an Apple logo, but with the versatility of Windows 7 (as all Apple fans do).

There are many emulators and windows-look-alike programs out there for the iPhone, but you are very limited because the screen real estate is severely lacking. However, the 1024X768 resolution of the iPad coupled with the 9.7 inch screen just might allow users to actually do something other than play with iTunes, read iBooks and surf the non-flash supported web.

The folks at Citrix have already managed to run Windows 7 on the iPad SDK Emulator via Citrix Receiver and XenDesktop 4 and as the folks Sizzledcore.com have noted, this may open up options for other OSes like Android on the iPad.

Courtesy of SizzledCore.com

It’s still early, but this is good news for the web-displaying paper weight that is the iPad…just kidding, but not really.

Would the option to run other OSes cause more users to adopt the iPad, how about you? I think that I would just prefer to buy a cheaper tablet running Windows 7 or Android than spend $500 minimum on a device just because it has a fruit logo on it.

Windows 7 Build 7700 Screenshots

Martin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:46:48 +0000

First screenshots of the post-rtm build 7700 have been published by the Russian news site Wzor. The full build string of the client version is 7700.0.100122-1900 which indicates that it was compiled on January 22.

A server version is also available with that build number. This build should not be confused with the builds for the first service pack of Windows 7 as this build will eventually lead to Windows 8 while the service pack builds will lead to the release of the Windows 7 Service Pack.

Google starts forcing people away from IE6

Mike Halsey — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:36:28 +0000

This is a story which speaks volumes about Microsoft, its corporate customers and the mentality that both have. You might remember in recent weeks the argument between Google and the Chinese government about the Gmail accounts of Chinese dissidents being hacked.

The problem was traced back to Internet Explorer 6, most internet-based problems are traced back to IE6 to be honest. This browser has now been around for almost ten years. It’s been superseded twice and it’s widely acknowledged that this is possibly the worst and most insecure browser you can have on your computer.

IE6 came out at a time when Microsoft had won the browser wars and Netscape had largely disappeared. Firefox had yet to appear and the Redmond giant had 99% of the browser market. They had nobody to compete with and internet commerce was in its infancy. Thus Microsoft just let the browser stagnate for many years until finally forced to innovate by the likes of the Mozilla Foundation, who realised that adequate security was the minimum specification their new browser should have.

But IE6 was buggy in all sorts of other ways too, mostly in the notoriously bad way it rendered HTML code. Microsoft seemed to have their own ideas about how HTML worked and so most web pages had to be ‘fixed’ to work on it. But this had to happen because of Microsoft’s 99% market share. I was working in web design at the time and I can remember the constant complaints which still continue today.

Eventually with Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft released far superior and better protected versions of the browser but by this time big business had already developed their web-apps and portals to work with IE and made it clear that they didn’t want to spend the tens of thousands needed each to reformat them so they worked in IE7 or IE8.

Now Google is taking the bull by the horns and dropping support for IE6 from some of its products, starting with Google Docs. They’re doing what Microsoft should be doing. Not pandering to big business and causing the world a headache, but forcing people to stop using this buggy, insecure piece of antiquated rubbish.

Google are only giving you a month to prepare too. From the 1st March some services, there’s no definitive list yet, will no longer operate properly in IE6. Hopefully this will spur Microsoft to withdraw support for IE6 soon too, but somehow I doubt it.

This speaks volumes about Microsoft’s business model, and of how important to the company its volume licensing customers are. In some ways Microsoft execs will warmly welcome the move by Google. They’re doing what Microsoft can’t and it can only be a good thing.

It may even encourage more businesses to roll out Windows 7 before the first service pack is released later this year, traditionally the time when businesses begin deploying a new version of Windows.

We can only hope that IE6 is very soon dead, forgotten and that the world can concentrate on the security issues of today, not fixing the security nightmare of the 20th century.

Adding CopyTo and Move To commands to a Right Click Context menu

John Campbell — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:32:14 +0000

I spend a lot of time researching for useful tools and hacks on the Internet. One of my favourite web sites is “How to Geek“. Their website is www.howtogeek.com

You can register with this website and once you subscribe you will receive regular e-mails on a whole range of topics. This site has a lot of useful information on Windows 7 and of course, Vista and Windows XP.

One practical article I came across was entitled “Add Copy to/Move to on Windows 7 or Vista Right Click Menu“. It described how you can change the registry to include these two commands – Copy to and Move to which are then added to any right-click Context menu.

There was advice how to do this manually hack the Register. Personally, I am always reluctant in going into the Registry and making changes. I prefer to take the easier route and download their registry tweaks such as the one mentioned below as these will do the job for you trouble-free. I have included it below.

Download Copy To / Move To Registry Tweak

Unzipping the Registry Hack

Once you download the Registry file, it comes as a Zip file; you’ll need to unzip it.

Select Open with.
Click Ok.

Downloaded Files

Once you unzip the downloaded file, inside it there are two files – copyto.reg and moveto.reg.

Installing Copyto.reg

Double- click copyto.reg.
Windows opens a Caution dialog box.
Click the Ok button.
The User Account Control intervenes. Click the Yes button.
The Registry Editor cautions you. Click Yes to continue.
Finally, the Registry Editor advises you that you have succeeded!
Click the Ok button.

Once you install these useful commands on your right-click menus it is a simple matter to move or copy a file to another location such as a drive or folder without having to open it first. After all that you’ve added “Copy To” to the right-click Context menu. This is what you should see when you right-click on a file or folder on your Desktop.

Copy To working!

Note: Now you have to repeat the process again to install Move To.

Using Move To or Copy To

Now it’s time to put the new Context menu commands to the test.

Move To and Copy To at Work!

Was it worth the effort!

I’ve used these two hacks right back in Vista and found them very useful, so I’d have to say an emphatic, “Yes!”

How To Fix Windows7 Annoyances with FixWin

GGarza — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:37:56 +0000

FixWin is a freeware portable application to repair and fix common Windows7 and Vista problems and issues.

There are five categories of fixes provided by FixWin. These include Windows Explorer, Internet & Connectivity, Windows Media, System Tools & Misc Additional Fixes. These solutions are designed to repair and fix 50 common Windows annoyances, issues or problems. It also has a small footprint with only 539 Kb in size. To operate the program first download it to your computer.

Once you download the program, it is easy to install and use.

FixWin

Preliminary Tasks

First run the System File Checker Utility
Then Create A System Restore Point

System Has Begun

Restore PT

System Restore Point

Once those operations are complete, you can perform the fixes.

Fixes for Windows Explorer

Internet Fixes

Internet & Connectivity

Win Media

Fixes for Windows Media

Sys Tools

System Tools

Additional

Additional Fixes

The WinFix utility will not fix all or your Windows7 or Vista problems, but it does pay attention to the small and frequent ones.

There are other utilities that I have posted before, check out: WinZilla.

You can download the WinFix program here.

The Windows Platform Problem

Mike Halsey — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:42:29 +0000

I was interviewed recently by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for my thoughts on Google’s forthcoming cloud-based operating system, it was quite an honour. It also got me thinking in very serious terms about the ramifications of what’s unfolding both up in the clouds and down on the desktop.

With Chrome OS, Google are highlighting one of the biggest problems with computing today. Integration, or rather a lack of it. I said…

What about playing music or video on the move, or editing photos on one service when they’re stored on another?

and I’ll write more about the integration of cloud services in a later article. But it’s not just Google who are doing this and causing problems. Microsoft are also doing the same thing and Windows 7 lies at the heart of the problem.

The Redmond giant has simply become too big and has too many departments working, essentially, against each other. The lack of proper centralised co-ordination on the Microsoft campus is worryingly bad and the latest additions to this, the rumours of a Zune Phone and the forthcoming Windows Mobile 7 are just the latest examples of how these departments simply don’t talk to each other when, really, they should be co-operating at a very close level.

Microsoft have many competing platforms these days but they’re not just competing with the outside world, they’re competing with each other! We don’t have to worry about the lack of interoperability between cloud-based services from Google and the like, because Microsoft are already causing a bigger headache with products which aren’t even compatible with each other.

For an even better example look at the disparity and incompatibilities between XBox and PC gaming! These are essentially the same things with the same code running on the same hardware, but are they compatible? Not in the slightest. Live Mesh and Skydrive anyone!?

Okay so they do all work together, but not natively. My thoughts on the tighter integration needed between cloud services if also required on the desktop.

Windows 7, essentially at the hub of all of this, needs tweaks, software and updates to get it working even with Microsoft’s own cloud services. No doubt Windows Mobile 7 will need new versions of Mobile Device Centre to get it to talk to Windows. Indeed, why is mobile device centre even needed? Surely if joined up thinking was being used any Windows powered phone or device would simply show up as a drive with the integration with Outlook and Windows Live Mail simply working automatically within those programs.

For this to happen all the Microsoft platforms would need to be working from the same code base and that would be hard. But now Apple have led the way and demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can take the same code base and run it across hugely different types of platform. The iPhone, iPad and Mac all use the same code base. Everything, every single piece of hardware from Apple is just able to talk to all the others without a single problem, incompatibility, patch or update ever being required.

This is true unanimity. Now I understand that Apple have been able to start from scratch with a lot of this, but that’s what many people have been calling for with Windows Mobile 7. Just start from scratch, build it from the already excellent Windows 7 foundations and watch the magic take place.

But is this utopia going to appear at Redmond? When there were calls years ago for Microsoft to be broken up, it was unnecessary for any authority to do so. Microsoft achieved that all on their own.

What Another Computer!

John Campbell — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:18:16 +0000

This is exactly what my spouse and family said when I mooted the idea of buying one of the new Netbooks. After some persuasion I managed to convince all of my need for this!

Back in 2009, I was already considering buying a netbook despite reading lots of adverse criticism of them from various sources on the web. Despite this I kept my nerve and went ahead and bought one. There were many contenders to choose from:

Toshiba NB100
Dell Inspirion Mini 9
Lenova IdeaPad S10
HP Mini 1001TU
Asus Eee PC S101
MSI Win u100

I chose the MSI Win u100 netbook as it suited my needs. It came with an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 gig of RAM, a 160 Gig hard drive, a webcam, three USB ports and Windows XP preloaded and some bundled software. These little netbooks come in a range of colors.

MSI Netbooks Colors

None of the netbooks came with a DVD drive to save space, as they were tiny compared with a regular laptop. I overcame this problem by buying a Samsung portable DVD Drive which plugs into two USB ports and runs fine.

To boost my RAM I added another 1 Gig and now with a bit more grunt I upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7 Home Premium. I was able to do this easily as previously I had purchased the Family Pack version which I had already installed on two of my computers leaving me with one installation left reserved for my intended netbook.

The MSI Win has a good-sized keyboard but one of its unusual features is a single button on the touchpad. To perform a left click you press the left-hand side of the button and for a right-click the other side. This works smoothly and is easy to get used too. However, being a mouse of long-standing I add a Microsoft Wireless mouse.

One Button Touchpad

One problem I found was getting the web-cam to work but after contacting support I found the right key combination – FN + F6. This little camera takes a good clear picture.

One criticism of netbooks is their short span of battery life. Some netbooks have a longer battery life. I have found I get about two and a half hours out of mine. As I am never far from a power point this is not a problem for me though some users who are more mobile may find this a problem.

One other matter! I now have all three computers talking to each other through Windows 7 HomeGroup. This new feature of Windows 7 certainly takes the angst out of networking!

Redmond Can Rest Easy After the iPad

Jason — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:27:51 +0000

Everyone on the internet and media are giving their thoughts on the new device from Apple, so I would be amiss if I didn’t give my opinion as well.

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave or under a rock for the last few years, then you have probably heard all of the speculation and rumors as to what the Apple tablet was supposed to be. What the folks at Cupertino and specifically Steve Jobs unveiled on Wednesday was, realistically…an oversized iPhone, minus the phone.

I’m a Microsoft fan, but I’m also a technology fan and admittedly, I was anxiously awaiting the reveal of “the most important thing” that Steve Jobs had ever done, because let’s face it; he’s done some pretty important things. And to that point, I really believed that we’d see something that was going to rock the foundation of the technology world. Instead, we got something called the iPad (No, really, I’m serious). Even as a fan of Microsoft products, I was greatly disappointed by the iPad, so I can’t imagine what actual Apple fans are doing with this most embarrassing product revelation. Probably similar to what most of us were doing when Vista was being slammed by critics – making excuses and pointing out its positives. Had Apple just introduced the product for what it was…an oversized iPhone, then we’d probably be saying how it’s a decent product with a niche market. The problem is that the rumors and hype from Apple during the event and outsiders leading up to the event was so exaggerated that we now have the fallout, similar to Windows Vista.

Let’s face it; no one was blown away by the iPad. No new feature was shown that would make this the new “must have” device. It’s simply a nice-looking piece of equipment that is overly priced and similar to the technology we’ve seen in iPods and iPhones for years now.

With the title of their event, “Come See Our Latest Creation”, I originally thought that Apple had produced something that might dwarf Windows 7 tablets and Windows 7 netbooks, but I believe that the folks at Redmond are currently breathing a sigh of relief. Their market share should be fine and their technology in the “third device” department is still going to be adopted as it has been.

In conclusion, the iPad is a cool device and might have been largely accepted as cutting edge and “the most important thing ever” had it been released two or three years ago, but it was released in the wake of Windows 7’s great success and the largely lauded Android devices, so for now, it’s kind of …eh.

Windows 7 Boost Microsoft’s Bottom Line – Fastest Selling OS Ever

Robert B — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:45:08 +0000

Thanks to a boost from Windows 7, Microsoft are saying that there quarterly revenue reached an impressive $19 Billion dollars as the company sold a record amount of its latest operating system. Microsoft the industry leader, said it earned $6.66 billion, or 74 cents per share, on revenue of $19.02 billion for the three-month period that ended December 31.

“Exceptional demand for Windows 7 led to the positive top-line growth for the company, “Our continuing commitment to managing costs allowed us to drive earnings performance ahead of the revenue growth.”

Said chief financial officer Peter Klein on Thursday. He touted that the release of Windows 7 on October 22nd really helped spur on sales for Microsoft and I’m not surprised it did.

We are thrilled by the consumer reception to Windows 7 and by business enthusiasm to adopt Windows 7,”

The company said that since the release of Windows 7 on the 22nd October until the 31 December, they company had sold more than 60 million Windows licenses which makes Windows 7 the fastest selling operating system in history!

The boys from Redmond also said that overall PC Sales were up 15-17 percent, however this was mainly driven by consumer sales as very little was happening in the business front. Microsoft also reported weak sales on the server front as well, however despite the weak sales they still managed to grow 2 percent compared to a year ago, which is impressive when you consider the economic downturn. It just goes to show that demand for cloud computing is continuing to grow.

The Microsoft business division reported a decline in sales of 3%, this may by be because people are holding off on buying Microsoft Office as they wait for Office 2010 to be released. But they did note that Bing is continuing to gain market share. However sales of their Xbox have declined, they only shipped 5.2 million units, down 13 % from a year ago.

Microsoft haven’t given a full forecast for the forthcoming quarter but they are saying they expect operating expenses s for the full fiscal year ending June 30 to total $26.2 billion to $26.5 billion.

Here’s a chart of how each of Microsoft’s individual business units performed:

Source:

Cnet

Why the iPad will fail and help Windows 7 to succeed

Mike Halsey — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:11:38 +0000

Yesterday Apple finally launched its much hyped iPad to the world, presumably avoiding the rumoured name iSlate after realising how much of gift it would have been to journalists. Apple products do tend to create a huge amount of anticipation and good will but on this occasion it’s, if you read around the internet, a case of OOH! OOH! OOH! oh!

So why will the iPad fail and what’s this rubbish I’m pedalling about it helping sales of Windows 7? This is simple. Quite simply this time Apple have got it wrong. All the tech press is saying the same thing and comments made by readers of those websites are echoing, mostly anyway, their sentiments.

The iPad is nothing more than a large iPod Touch. It’s lacking a 16:9 screen and while the bezel has to be of a reasonable size to allow for holding the device with your hand without your thumb poking the screen all the time, it’s simply too big. Finally those few people who’ve already used it are saying that having a standard keyboard on a device that you can’t rest easily on your lap and that is intended to be used one-handed is lunacy. Just look at the curved corner keyboards Microsoft introduced with the tablet editions of Windows to see how they should have done it.

If all of this isn’t enough to cause the iPad to fail then the price will certainly put everybody else off. With a starting price tag of $500 it’s simply too expensive, twice the price of a better specification netbook and the same price as significantly better laptops. At this price it’s unique selling points of multi-touch and… erm… whatever the others are, are simply not enough to win hearts and minds.

However…

For one reason or another, and I have no idea why this turned out to be such a coincidence, certain other companies such as MSI and Dell chose today to release details of their own forthcoming tablet devices, and both look gorgeous, especially the Dell (pictured).

These devices are similarly specified to the iPad and run everything from Windows 7 to Google Android, but the big difference will be in the price. They will all undercut Apple considerably and provide tablets for the price of a netbook, the price they should be.

This is excellent news FOR Windows 7. Firstly this new type of device, obviously based on something that’s been around since 2002 but we’ll skip lightly over that one, is a very interesting form-factor that, now popularised will enable just about everybody to produce a clone tablet.

This will help sales of Windows 7 because of its multi-touch facilities and, in turn, should tempt a very many XP and Vista laptop owners to upgrade to a tablet. Let’s face it there are thousands of people who, if a device such as this had been available five years ago, would never have bought a full laptop.

The knock-on repercussions for all this will be enormous. It will help people move away from the troublesome Internet Explorer 6, help boost the hardware industries of the world as we move out of recession. It’ll create jobs and wealth and so much more.

All this will have come about because Apple have done the R&D and released a product that’s been instantly derided as ugly and not what people want. If I were Steve Ballmer today, I’d be splashing out on an extra skiing holiday.

How To Add Network Folders to Libraries in Windows7

GGarza — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:25:45 +0000

If you have wanted to add network folders or non-indexed folders to the Libraries in Windows7, you’ld see that it can not be done. This is bad because the Libraries feature allows you to store documents, pictures, music, and other items that are scattered in different locations around your hard drives. This library configuration tool makes it easy to overcome that limitation.

The Program named, Win7 Library Tool, freeware version will do the task for you. Here are the download and installation steps.

Go to the website and download the program. Then install it.

Next open the program.

The Win 7 Library Tool ... A blank screen to start with

Next look for network folders to add.

Start with Create A New Library

It is into this library that you will put your folders.

Library-Folder

The new folder Printjobs is in the P drive, a network drive. In this case, I have 20 folders, but I want to have access to all of them in the Library, I will use the P drive.

Note that the other folders that already existed were added.

Library Folder: Adding the Existing Libraries

Another Feature Edit Properties Of Folder

Edit the Properties – you can additional content to the library.

Proceed

This warning should be carefully monitored. If you don’t add your existing libraries, they will be removed from the Windows 7 Library folder. The contents will still be available but not showing in the Library.

Libraries Created Successfully

Your new library folder will now appear in the Libraries folder.

Library-Folder

General Features

Besides network drives, mapped or UNC you can also add un-indexed folders.
You can perform Backup Library Configurations.
You can create a mirror of all libraries with symbolic links in the SystemDrive:\libraries. A shorter path can be used to make the reference.
You can also change the library’s icon.

I have found this program to be useful, and easy to work with. Remember my warning about adding your existing library folders before you proceed to add new ones.

Other Notes

If you are one of those programmers that likes to do things through the command line you can use the slutil.exe program.

Although this program was written by Zorn Software, another programmer, Josh Smith of the Treeview CodeProject came up with the initial model.

You can download the Win7 Library tool here.

Fix for Zune 4.2 Software in Windows 7 RC

Jason — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:09:17 +0000

Anyone who owns a Zune, which I realize is not too many, probably found out late Monday that the Zune marketplace had been temporarily shut down due to some maintenance. The work that Microsoft was doing with the Zune software mostly had to do with the updates later this spring that will allow Zune HD users to use the Xvid/MPEG-4 part 2 in the Zune software and on the Zune HD device. Which essentially means no more having to convert video files for the Zune, just drag, drop and watch.

Courtesy of Zuneboards.com

I decided to update my own software on two different computers late last night and all went perfectly well on the first. The second computer, however, game me fits. I downloaded the software without issue, but when I went to update the software I would get an error message saying that the software could not update and that I would need to update my Windows update version to continue with installation. Microsoft included a link to their support site which would explain how to do this. The problem was that everything had been updated and when I would open Windows Update, the only update that was available was the Zune 4.2 software update. I found it weird that the software I was trying to update required me to have the software update or something of that sort. I was stuck in an update loop.

After cursing at my machine and Microsoft for about a half an hour I decided to start doing some research. What I found was that the update is not technically compatible with Windows 7 RC and my second computer is still waiting for me to upgrade it to the purchased retail version, so I was stuck. Luckily, the guys in the Zune forums found a workaround to this issue for those still using the RC version of Windows 7.

Here’s what they did:

User jackcrack7 wrote, ”I didn’t have any luck with phone support but I did find a way to make it work on another message board. Download the full package from this website: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9d25c2a6-cae3-49b0-a474-124fe79628a8&displaylang=en

Once it’s downloaded, right-click on it and go to properties. Go to Compatibility and run it in Compatibility Mode for Windows Vista. I don’t know why this works but it did.”

I realize that the Zune following is not a huge crowd, but I figured I’d post my findings so anyone banging their head against their machine, like I did, wouldn’t have to do too much digging for an answer.

FYI: I have also read that some “Zune Phone” code has been spotted in the new update software. I wouldn’t put too much hope in anything just yet, but there may be a Microsoft phone competitor very soon if this is correct.

Sources: Zuneboards.com, Zune Forums

Enter the iPad

Mike Halsey — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:36:55 +0000

So the wait is finally over, Apple have today unveiled the iPad, a slightly less than A4 sized tablet computer with a 9.7” multi-touch display.

The device will sell for between $499 and $829 (no word on UK or Euro pricing yet) and they say it’s for watching films, playing games and surfing online.

In a surprising move, many of the rumours about this new tablet turned out to be true. For instance it can be used to read ebooks, downloaded unsurprisingly from the iTunes store, and Apple have done deals with Penguin, Macmillan and Harper Collins so far. iTunes comes pre-installed.

It has a 1GHz processor, similar to the ones now being fitted to modern mobile phones such as the HD2 and Google Nexus One and will come with between 16Gb and 64GB of flash memory. It is essentially a big iPod Touch with the same design and the same single button bottom-centre.

9.7 inch- (25cm-) multi-touch display
1 GHz Apple processor
16-64 GB of flash memory
0.5in- (1.25cm) thick
Weighs 1.5lbs (0.7kgs)
Wi-fi and 3G connectivity

You can take from this that this is no laptop replacement, clearly designed only for light tasks. This is how Apple are able to keep the price down, many people were expecting this device to cost around £1,000. It will be perfectly good for running online apps though such as Google Docs and Pixlr.

It will have a battery life of around 10 hours of average use, which is the minimum it could really have got away with.

So the big question, which operating system is it using? It’s running a modified version of the iPhone OS, designed for the new big screen, and does indeed run programs that can be downloaded from the App Store, including the 3 billion or so already there.

The question should be asked though if this isn’t too much money for something that can do so little? It is indeed an expensive product, but Apple aren’t known for their budget range. Whether this product will represent value for money though when the tech press and public get their grubby little mitts on them is, frankly, irrelevant. The iPad is guaranteed to be a roaring success and spawn a great many clone devices.

This is exactly what the industry needs to give tablets a much needed shot in the arm. It will also, and this might surprise some, give a welcome boost to Windows 7 which introduced multi-touch technology to PCs late last year for the first time. There have been many products in the past that have done what Apple products do, but Apple have an uncanny way of popularising them and bringing them to the masses.

I’m certain now that the future for multi-touch, tablets, Windows 7 and indeed the iPad are very bright indeed.

Source : BBC News

No related posts.

Windows7 – Themes – The Single Warrior

GGarza — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:20:01 +0000

This is the second of a series of themes on Warrior Art. The focus here is the Single Warrior.

Warrior Art is not new but it is no longer limited to comic books as defined by DC Comics or Marvel Comics. Instead, artists now look at the warrior from a variety of different traditions, the Sci-Fi for example Star Wars or Avatar, the Samuri, the US Army Ranger, or the Vikings. Even traditions from South America the Aztecs, or the Mayans are now represented.

Each art sequence below shows a variety of what the artists are trying to depict from the warrior, how he looks, how he looks with his warrior equipment.

The Collection here includes the Profile, Dragon Warrior, The Warrior, Berserk Warrior, Man Warrior, and Alien Warrior.

Here is gallery #2.

The collection here includes Yakusa Warrior, Nordic Warrior, Raveged Warrior, Soldier of the Dessert, Soldier, and Warrior-2.

Here is gallery #3.

The collection here includes Warrior -3, Warrior-Dragon, Big Warrior, Warrior In The Dark, Imp Warrior, War Hammer.

Here is gallery #4.

The collection here includes Dark Warrior, Warrior – 4, Cloud Warrior, Warrior – 5.

All of the traditions shown here make the Warrior larger than life. Heroic, strong, fearless, and intimidating are some of the qualities that the artists try to represent. The Warrior costume, the garb worn also defines the Warrior in the context of who the warrior is.

The weaponry also has a place in the art, in many cases even if the weapon used is a simple one, it is shown to be large and intimidating. Modern weaponry is also on display.

The dramatic environment, windy, cloudy, dark shows how the warrior is to be observed; the warrior is always defined by the context he is in. You cannot separate the warrior from what he does, and where he does it. So the images here show one warrior, always ready.

Windows 7 Themes

You can covert these images into themes quite easily. See my post Windows7 Sci-Fi Themes from TheLovas for details on how it can be done.

Another Example of Microsoft Surface Touch Operations with E*Sponder

GGarza — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:50:53 +0000

Microsoft and E*Sponder, a software development company that focuses on emergency management response, are working together to provide police agencies crowd and safety control. The E*Sponder Software, called Mapping, works with Windows7 to leverage multi-touch capabilities to manipulate graphical maps and displays using hand gestures.

Last year at Superbowl XLIII, Tampa police worked with E*Sponder to manage the various agencies that were responsible for coordinating safety for the thousands of spectators. With Sharepoint, the Microsoft application for collaborative computing, E*Sponder was able to create a visual system that allowed 25 public agencies to be managed at one location.

Surface Image

Microsoft Surface is a touch technology that works with Windows7 to produce operations using hand and finger gesters. The Mapping software is used by public officials to locate and zoom into trouble spots. The surface is in fact a map of the Tampa area. Police and safety officers can be deployed to different areas, and with GPS technology can be spotted on the map. If safety issues suddenly surface, safety officers can be deployed quickly without disrupting other safety operations at other locations.

E*Sponder-Express

Collaborative computing is at the heart of the Mapping software. Used with Sharepoint, Mapping enables multiple first response safety agencies to share critical information to help in the preparation, response, resolution, and review processes associated with daily activities, events, and incidents.

The Mapping software is a portal that is based on Microsoft SharePoint Server. This is an extremely user friendly solution, and it has the same look and feel as Microsoft Office Suite applications. Consequently those users familiar with Office will see a friendly interface meanwhile other users can be trained quickly. Thus the Mapping solution will ensure that if and when an event occurs, users will be comfortable with the system and can utilize the E•SPONDER solution to its fullest potential.

E-SPONDER Mapping allows an agency to visually display aerial and street maps using either Microsoft Bing or ESRI map services. It also has the ability to create and gather new data on the fly, so you have real time information and to see that new information displayed immediately within maps along with other existing layers. And you can import, file and display new information as a new map layer using industry-standard map formats such as a SHAPE file. So database information can be shared easily. Sharepoint has several backend features usable, including Sql Server 2005, and Visual Studio 2005 with the dot net framework.

The back end feature allows Sharepoint to be an organizational tool that can supply multiple data points to be used. Hence Mapping which can provide it’s own data points can be integrated into Sharepoint so that information from multiple sources can be combined, analyzed, and used. The Surface tool, an operating system function, can help manage the visual features. Keyboards, and mice are not essential, even though this Surface program, is a computer. But as you can see, if not developed carefully you would have an overwhelming amount of data to sift through.

Several companies worked together to develop a central command interface for the touch-screen Microsoft Surface interface. The companies were Infusion Development, E•SPONDER and Microsoft. They wanted to provide the safety incident commander with a visual and tactile dashboard that would allow him / her to navigate through the massive amount of information, to communicate with relevant personnel and to make executive decisions quickly and effectively. One of the benefits of the Microsoft technology is the built in interoperability of Microsoft’s technology, this was the integration of data, and provided the visualization and functionality to Microsoft Surface.

Sources:

Microsoft Surface information can be accessed here.

Infusion Development information can be access here.

E*Sponder information can be found here.

Microsoft news source can be found here.

Windows 7 Utilities: CSMenu (if you want the classic-style menu back)

Jason — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:43:08 +0000

Do you miss the old start button classic-menu style? Me neither, but for those who do…CSMenu.

One of the things that I often like to post about are simple, small programs and utilities that I or friends of mine have found and have shared that have made my life easier. Some of these programs are useful for me and some are useful for others that I know. A particular program that falls into the latter category is CSMenu.

Simply put, CSMenu is a very small program which gives the Windows 7 user an option to use a classic menu, which is not an option in the new OS. This particular program is not useful for me, but I found it because my grandfather wanted a substitute start menu to replace the style of the menu he had in Windows XP. This was not because he couldn’t figure out Window 7’s menus, but rather that he just preferred the classic menu from previous versions of Windows.

Oddly enough, Windows 7 does not include a classic option that previous versions of their OS have. If you are one of those people who would like the classic-style menu back then CSMenu might be for you.

To give CSMenu a try:

Download the program here.

After installing, CSMenu will automatically create your program icons and ask you if you would like to run the program.

If you decide that you do not want to use the classic menu, you can exit the program by closing it in the system tray.

Pretty straight-forward stuff. If you are not a fan of the new superbar and menu style, then you may want to check out this nifty little program for Windows 7. Let me know below if you or anyone you know would find this program useful.

Microsoft Releases Windows 7 Bugfixes

Andrew Cunningham — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:51:53 +0000

We’re all used to Microsoft’s customary Patch Tuesdays, where Microsoft releases most of its security updates for its Windows and Office product families. It’s also not unheard of to see emergency out-of-band security updates, like the one released earlier this week to patch holes in Internet Explorer. Less common, at least outside of service packs, are patches that fix performance and reliability bugs, as do some patches released today.

The first patch, one that will apply to most if not all Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 users, fixes the following:

Keyboard function keys or keyboard shortcuts, such as mute or calculator, may not work correctly.
The notification icon for an application may be moved or lost when the executable application is updated.
On a computer that is running Windows 7, you configure the Screen Saver Settings to display the logon screen on resume. Additionally, you configure the computer to go to sleep. However, the computer may not go to sleep after the screen saver starts. Instead, a black screen is displayed. This problem causes the operating system to stop responding. You must restart the computer by holding down the power button.

I know I’ve been experiencing the second issue when iTunes has been updated, but I thought that was Apple’s problem and not Microsoft’s.

The second patch applies only to computers with this specific configuration, and only if the computer freezes or fails during a file copy operation:

You have a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
The computer has an NVIDIA USB Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI) chipset.
The computer has at least 4GB of RAM.
You try to copy data from the computer to an external USB storage device.

If these updates apply to your system, they can be downloaded automatically via Windows Update. They will also be included in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 when it releases later this year.

Windows 7 Utilities: Autoruns

Jason — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:13:18 +0000

About two months ago, I began booting my home PC running Windows 7 and not only did it take excessively long to start, but I also had an unusual window on the desktop at startup. I consider myself a decent troubleshooter and have experience in many different versions of Windows, but this particular problem alluded me. Obviously, I initially checked msconfig and went through my startup programs, but found nothing out of the ordinary. I googled the problem and found a few others with the same issue, but nobody had an answer. I didn’t want to reformat because I would have to backup everything, which at the time, would have been a daunting task. I actually lived with the annoyance for quite a while, which is very uncharacteristic of myself, until I started noticing a longer boot time. Sometimes it was very minimal and sometimes it would stick on a black screen with a lone mouse cursor. I would also find myself stalling on the Starting Windows screen just before the desktop loads. Nothing made sense and it was maddening not knowing what was causing it. After waiting too long and doing nothing about it, I decided to do a little more research. What I found is that the people with a similar issue used the Autoruns tool from Microsoft Technet. I had used the tool in the past, but it had never occurred to me to try it out again for this issue.

For those who are unfamiliar with Autoruns, it’s a utility which has a “most comprehensive knowledge” of your computers startup activity. Like using the startup option in msconfig, Autoruns will list your programs and activity on startup, but in a much more detailed fashion.

There are so many options and features while using Autoruns that I don’t have time to list and go over all, maybe in the future. However, with my recent computer issue I was reminded of this very useful tool provided free by technet and wanted to share with the readers. You can download it here.

The end of my story is somewhat bittersweet. While Autoruns didn’t help me find my specific problem, which I am still researching, I did find some other very useful reasons to keep Autoruns installed on my PC. If you or a user you know doesn’t really notice what they install and how it affects their startup and performance, they might benefit from using Autoruns and digging a little into the processes which can cause performance drops. Autoruns also provides a more-secure way of accessing this information, than burrowing through your registry.

UPDATE: I wanted to add the link for George Garza’s article on this site for a walkthrough of the features in Autoruns. Visit here for his in-depth look at Autoruns.

Important: As with any program or utility, be sure to read and understand how it works, so as to avoid making any unessecary or damaging changes to your PC.

Windows7 and Its Boot Up Time

GGarza — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:46:59 +0000

Windows7 boots up fast. That was one of the front end goals in development. It was observed in trial that when Windows booted up fast, the impression that was presented was a positive one. It set the stage for the user behavior that was to follow. Slow boot-up meant that the software was likely to have problems even there was no physical justification for that belief. Fast boot-up meant that the system was on track towards good performance.

Windows 7

Background Operations

One way to improve boot-up time is to start the boot process while Windows is performing the discovery and initialization process, not afterwards. This is called the the fast boot feature. In Vista and previous releases of Windows, every service that is scheduled to start during operating system startup adds time to the overall experience. Estimates are that by modifying the operation saved as much as 25% in the boot process. This method, substituting or interjecting , the boot program into the process before all of the hardware is recognized by the Operating System forces certain parts to work in tandem sequence software – hardware – software – hardware, and so on.

Windows7-XP-Vista

The next improvement features a mechanism that only starts services on demand. This is the Trigger Start Service. It runs the control manager (SCM), reducing the number of services using Automatic Start, and taking a load off RAM and I/O.

Another improvement also has a way of improving performance – there is less code to process, so it has to be faster. Consider that Vista required between 220 and 240 megabytes of code to be read and processed for the OS to load; but for Windows7 the amount is between 140 and 180; that’s 57% less. While originally, Windows7 was expected to load in less than 15 seconds trials showed 10 seconds.

Aaron Dietrich The Man Behind Fast Start

So what computer did they run the tests on? The tests ran on a Quad-core 1.7 GHz Nehalem [Core i7] processor on a Calpella chipset, 2GB of memory, 80 GB Intel X25-M SSD (1st gen). In the set up, the log-in screen was turned off in the user control panel. So besides the computer, the 11 second boot time was all Windows 7.

The Microsoft source can be accessed here.

Windows 7 performance testing can be accomplished with Passmark and Burning Testing. PassMark performance testing software can be accessed here. Burnin Testing software can be accessed here.

What Has Windows 7 Done For You?

Robert B — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:54:43 +0000

Windows 7 has officially been out for 3 months to the public, while all of us here at Windows 7 News have had a bit longer than that to play around with Microsoft’s latest OS through the various Beta builds and RC’s, I’m sure many of you took advantage of the chance to try out the new OS for free as well. Many of you may still be running the RC1 version of Windows 7 right now.

Windows 7 has been praised for its speed, performance, and light footprint, its ability to bring older machines back to life and just be simple and easy to use in general. But what I really want to know is what you guys really think about Windows 7, at the end of the day it’s you and me, the general consumer who use Windows 7 the most and live with every day of our lives.

No amount of Microsoft’s testing, no matter how many boffins run complicated scripts and codes and how much market research Microsoft carry out, they will never be able to predict accurately what the general consumers reaction to a new product will be. There’s nothing better than a bit of hands on experience to really get a feel of a new OS and see how it performs in everyday life and day to day situations.

I know I’ve had enough time to play around with Windows 7, I’ve run Beta Builds, RC’s as well as the final RTM. I’ve tried it out on machines struggling to run Windows Vista and on power 64-bit computers which will effortlessly crunch numbers all day long , as well as performing numerous in place upgrades and clean installs. I have my own personal opinion of Windows 7,

But what I really want to know is, has Windows 7 changed the way you’ve used your PC at home and at work?

Do you boot up your computer with renewed energy, and bubble over with excitement as you watch the new Windows logo glow and pulsate. Are your friends jealous of how fast your desktop loads from a full boot and how impressive the sleep mode is? Has it changed how efficient you are at managing your workload and now you have time to go out and grab that extra coffee before your break?

Or is it the pain in your side that you have to use because you have no choice? Do you regret every performing that in place upgrade or buying a new PC with Windows 7 pre-installed? Do you wish that you could just go back to Windows Vista or even Windows XP and forget about all your problems and issues with Windows 7?

That’s what I want to know, has Windows 7 been a success with you guys, the people who use it every day.

Please be sure to let us know in the comments, express yourselves, give your own personal opinions and experiences, tell us what you think is missing and let the world know what you think of Windows 7, we won’t judge you for worse or for better.

Incoming…Internet Explorer 9

GGarza — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:21:36 +0000

Recently Microsoft applied for a patent for Internet Explorer 9, which will feature tabbed browsing upgrades. This is the latest in the moves that Microsoft is making to try to regain it’s performance superiority to the other browsers. As I have reported here before, Microsoft’s competitors have made significant inroads, in no large part due to Microsoft’s insistence on looking at the browser from their own unique perspective. This may be ok from the Operating System point of view because the have such limited competition there…(oh yea, What about Mac OS and Linux? Sure combined they have what … 10% of the market?), at the PC OS level MS is the only sheriff in town, but that is not the case with the browser…there are a lot of sheriffs, each claiming to bring their own law and their own order.

The Internet Explorer Browser

Performance

Performance is the first consideration that Microsoft has to address. How fast does a browser load, refresh it’s page, go to a new page, present new links, and overall handle graphics and text, are part of the performance features that ordinary users look at. These may not be the technical specs that Chrome, or Opera, or Firefox may be looking at, but if a browser/company wants to convince end users to use their browser then speed is probably going to be very high in the performance test beds. The browser community has accepted a series of tests for benchmark performance. One is the Sunspider Test, and the other is the Acid3 Test.

The SunSpider Test

This is a Javascript test. It is broken down into three components: Real world, Balanced, and Statistically Sound.

Real World: This test mostly avoids microbenchmarks, and tries to focus on the kinds of actual problems developers solve with JavaScript today. This includes tests to generate a tagcloud from JSON input, a 3D raytracer, cryptography tests, code decompression, and many more examples. There are a few microbenchmarkish things, but they mostly represent real performance problems that developers have encountered.
Balanced: This test is balanced between different areas of the language and different types of code. In addition to having tests in many categories, the individual tests were balanced to take similar amounts of time on currently shipping versions of popular browsers.
Statistically Sound: One of the challenges of benchmarking is knowing how much noise you have in your measurements. This benchmark runs each test multiple times and determines an error range (technically, a 95% confidence interval). In addition, in comparison mode it tells you if you have enough data to determine if the difference is statistically significant.

Sun Spider Test

The Acid3 Test

Acid3 is primarily testing specifications for “Web 2.0? dynamic Web applications.

The Acid3 Test on Chrome

Hardware Acceleration

The second consideration that the developers of IE9 have in mind is hardware acceleration. The hardware acceleration component is about Windows, DirectX 11 Windows APIs and the GPU (the computer’s graphics processing unit), and IE9 will take advantage of all these resources in tandem. In the process development from Internet Explorer 8 to IE9, Microsoft has changed the rendering engine from leveraging GDI to using DirectX.

At point is the graphics card. The graphics cards on computers running IE9 will be used from no on since the browser will turn to the Graphics Processor Unit for webpage operations and display. By embracing the GPU, IE9’s performance will get a boost. Ultimately, IE9 will be designed to deliver a superior users experience to IE8, and to all current competitive browsers available on the market.

The Graphic Patent description

The patent shows that IE8’s “quick tabs” feature will be substantially modified. Thumbnails will enlarge when you hover over them with the mouse allowing an easier preview of the page. Also, users will be able to drag and move the tabs from within the Quick Tabs page.

Internet Explorer9 Patents

How successful will IE9 be? It is too early to tell. But here are a couple of videos that will describe what features are under development.

Internet Explorer 9 preview video 1:

Video 2:

Microsoft Planning Toolkit for Windows 7 and other Technologies

GGarza — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:53:20 +0000

Windows 7 migration is just one of the technologies that a network administrator can be involved in. Assessing the network and the hosts can be a time consuming and difficult job. Microsoft has provided an assessment and Planning Toolkit that locates and identifies the hosts on a network and provides a detailed inventory. The technology underlying this is the Windows Management Instrumentation and Remote Registry Service. The planning toolkit provides a powerful inventory, assessment, and reporting tool to simplify the migration planning process.

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and Remote Registry Service

WMI can be used in all Windows-based applications; it is the infrastructure for management data and operations on Windows-based operating systems. With WMI you can automate administrative tasks on remote computers but WMI also supplies management data to other parts of the operating system and products. The remote registry service is a tool for a network administrator to allow them to remotely audit the company’s client machines.

Planning And Deployment Toolkit

The MAP Toolkit includes the following components:

Microsoft_Assessment_and_Planning_Toolkit_Setup.exe. Installation package containing the tool, release notes, Getting Started Guide, and toolkit help (chm file).
Release_Notes_en.htm. Available as a separate download. Provides information to read before installing the MAP Toolkit, including installation prerequisites and known issues.
Getting_Started_Guide.en.doc. Available as a separate download. Provides information about toolkit installation, environment preparation, and assessment scenarios supported by toolkit wizards and the UI.
MAP Sample Documents.zip. Available as a separate download. Contains sample reports and proposals that the MAP tool generates in Word and Excel formats.

The installation process looks like this:

There will be an installation of Sql Server Express for database purposes.

And the Application after installation looks like this:

The Toolkit Operations have three main portions, client, Server, and virtualization.

You can run the application using the Inventory and Assessment Wizard. The application uses Active Directory and the Domain Network Structure.

Here is a video showing the Assessment and Planning Toolkit for Windows 7 hardware assessment.

Here is a video showing the Assessment and Planning Toolkit for Server 2008.

httpv://vepexp.microsoft.com/thenewefficiency/?s=5601

You can download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit here.

Windows7 – New Fractal Images – New Themes from the Artist TomWilcox

GGarza — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:46:28 +0000

Here is a collection of fractal images from Tom Wilcox. He has been working in design for 40 years. His gallery is the product of photoshop. Fractal Art is a subclass of two-dimensional visual art, and is similar to photography.

Fractal art is created by calculating fractal objects and representing the calculation results as still images, animations, music, or other media. Fractal art is a new way of looking at space and form. A common experience while viewing fractal imagery is contemplation.

Back in the 1960’s, a French mathematician named Benoit Mandelbrot started thinking about simple pretty simple: How long is the coast of Britain? How you’d really measure it… Would you fly over the coast in an airplane and measure how far you flew? Or would you take a ruler (or meter stick) and get down on your hands and knees and crawl around the edge? It would be different! The measurement would be broken, fractured in fact.

In the 70’s fractals were a mathematical and visual oddity. Grouped together with the aging psychedelic-genre, mainstream and sophisticated art connoisseurs alike quickly dismissed the gaudy-colored patterns as inconsequential and really not all that attractive, anyway.

Imagery Of TomWilcox

6 Photos

Art of TomWilcox-2

6 Photos

TomWilcox-3

6 Photos

TomWilcox-4

6 Photos

TomWilcox-5

6 Photos

Download

Fractals are everywhere around us. Sea shells are fractals. Trees, plants, clouds, and even complex terrain can be realistically represented using fractals. Fractals are used to simulate the real world and do an amazing job creating complex, life-like structures that we would be hard pressed to manually draw or build.

How to create a theme from the image: See my post on this topic. “Windows7 Sci-Fi Themes from TheLovas“

The Tom Wilcox Wallpapers can be accessed here.

Windows 7 Growing Faster Than Vista – Overtakes Mac OS X & Popular Among Gamers

Robert B — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:36:58 +0000

Windows 7 has been out nearly 3 months to the day and I can’t remember any other operating system to date which has received as much praise as Windows 7. And well to be honest with you, the good news seems to just keep on rolling in for the the guys over at Redmond.

Windows 7, riding on the back of improving holiday sales has now managed to overtake every version of Mac OS X (10.4, 10.5 and 10.6) in terms of market share. It jumped from 4% to 5.71% in the month of December alone, overtaking Mac OS X at a mere 4.87%. An article over at Arstechnica shows us that Windows 7 is indeed taking off like a rocket, in its first month alone it was already at 4%. Compare this to, Windows Vista which only held 0.98% after a month. After two months Windows 7 has completely blown Windows Vista out of the water, holding 5.71% of the market compared to the mere 2.04% that Windows Vista held.

But it’s not all sunshine and roses for Microsoft, or Apple for that matter. Surprisingly, despite the strong PC sales over the holiday period. Between November and December 2009, Windows market share dropped 0.31 percentage points (from 92.52% to 92.21%), while Mac OS dipped 0.01 percentage points (from 5.12% to 5.11%). Remarkably the only OS to perform better was Linux, which moved forward 0.02 percentage points (from 1.00% to 1.02%)

Windows 7 also seems to be performing strongly in the gaming sector as well. Steam, one of the biggest PC gaming platforms, has reported seeing a rise in the number of PC’s running Windows 7 on it’s network with almost a quarter of it’s millions of users running Windows 7.

According to the December Steam survey, 23% of its users were running Windows 7, that’s still less than it’s 30% of users running Windows Vista, but given the fact that Windows 7 has only been out for two months at the time of this survey it’s putting up a strong fight to overtake Windows Vista. What’s interesting is that steam found that more Windows 7 PC’s were 64-bit than 32-bit, double the amount of 32-bit systems in fact.

See the table below for more info:

Windows Version	Popularity
Windows XP 32 bit	(-3.20%) 44.77%
Windows Vista 32 bit	(-0.27%) 20.71%
Windows 7 64 bit	(+2.45%) 15.61%
Windows Vista 64 bit	(+0.81%) 10.00%
Windows 7 32 bit	(+0.02%) 7.45%
Windows XP 64 bit	(+0.19%) 0.64%
Windows 2003 64 bit	(+0.04%) 0.64%
Windows 2000	(-0.01%) 0.10%
Other	(-0.03%) 0.08%

So Windows 7 still appears to be performing strong it all sectors, however, I think Windows 7 will only truly become a success the day it over takes Windows XP.

What do you guys think?

Let us know in the comments

Source: Arstechnica, Hexus Gaming