Section: Windows 7
January 05, 2010 by
Jason
Despite Windows 7 RTM God Mode (GodMode), fact is that Windows client deities are in short supply. Various reports are making the rounds on blogs, news websites, tweets etc. of a so called Windows 7 GodMode. Now, while undoubtedly geeks everywhere are already familiar with the Super Administrator account hidden in Windows, a GodMode undoubtedly holds untold promises of a new level of control over the latest iteration of the Windows client. And if it sounds too good to be true, then it’s because it is.
“Enabling” GodMode in Windows 7 essentially requires end users to perform a small trick. On the desktop, or in a Windows Explorer location, users will need to create a new folder and subsequently name/rename it to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. After the new label is set, the folder’s generic icon will change to one specific of the control panel. Opening the new folder will deliver access to a list of Control Panel items rearranged alphabetically in accordance with master categories such as Action Center, Administrative Tools, AutoPlay, Backup and Restore and so on and so forth. Each item on the list can be double clicked to launch the specific feature or tool that it designates. Read More»
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January 05, 2010 by
Jason Microsoft is gearing up for an important stage in the testing of its first major update to the latest iteration of the Windows client. The Redmond company traditionally releases the first Service Pack for a new Windows OS approximately one year after the platform was finalized, and is currently cooking SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. A third-party report indicates that the software giant has started preparing Windows 7 copies for the delivery of the first external testing development milestone of Windows 7 SP1.
According to WithinWindows, Microsoft is following the same strategy for Windows 7 as for previous Beta service pack rollouts outside of Redmond. In this regard, the company began enabling a check within Windows 7 operating systems, which would qualify the respective versions as candidates for testing the SP1 Beta. The process involves refreshes served through Windows Update in order to add a registry key as well as an associated value which will permit members in the Windows 7 SP1 Beta testing pool to download the new bits.
Here is the Key added to Windows 7 RTM machines: Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 2 Comments »
January 03, 2010 by
Jason Each time you install a version of Windows, it rewrites the MBR to call its own boot loader. If you install Windows 7 (or Windows Vista) as a second operating system on a PC where Windows XP is already installed, the Windows boot menu incorporates the options from the older boot menu. But if you install a fresh copy of Windows XP (or Windows Server 2003) on a system that is already running Windows 7, you’ll overwrite the MBR with one that doesn’t recognize the Windows 7 boot loader. To repair the damage, open a Command Prompt window in the older operating system and run the following command from the Windows 7 DVD, substituting the letter of your DVD drive for d here:
d:\boot\ bootsect.exe /nt60 all
When you restart, you should see the Windows 7 menu. To restore the menu entry for your earlier version of Windows, open an elevated Command Prompt window and type this command:
bcdedit /create {ntldr} –d “Menu description goes here”
Substitute your own description for the placeholder text, being sure to include the quotation marks. The next time you start your computer, the menus should appear as you intended. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 1 Comment »
January 01, 2010 by
Jason Microsoft is offering free downloads of all its supported Windows clients, including Windows 7 RTM, Windows XP and Windows Vista. Starting with the advent of Vista, customers, partners, IT professionals and developers have been able to take advantage of a variety of offerings involving free releases of Windows from the Redmond company. Furthermore, the software giant has made somewhat of a tradition from making sure that XP, Vista and now Windows 7 are available as free downloads in order to streamline various testing, training, planning and adoption programs.
Various releases of Windows, packaged both as ISO and VHD images can be grabbed from the company, and installed into testing environments immediately. In this regard, it is critical to note that one downside of the free Windows OS downloads is the fact that the bits cannot be deployed into production.
On December 29th, 2009, Microsoft has updated the virtual hard disk images of Windows Vista and Windows XP. Initially delivered following the release of Internet Explorer 7, the VPC Hard Disk Images of XP and Vista are designed for testing websites in accordance with multiple Internet Explorer versions. There are three copies of XP SP3 and two of Vista available at no charge via the Microsoft Download Center. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
December 30, 2009 by
Jason
The Windows 7 driver store includes a small collection of drivers for legacy devices, mostly older printers, modems, scanners, infrared ports, PCMCIA controllers, and other oddball devices that don’t use Plug and Play connections. As you might suspect, Windows will not automatically set up such devices, and you’re rolling the dice if you find one of these old but still worthwhile devices and try to install an old driver.
But what if the device in question is valuable to you and can’t be easily replaced by a newer, supported one? Then by all means give it a try. Download the most recent hardware drivers you can find (ideally, for Windows XP or Windows Server 2003), and then use the Add Hardware wizard to complete the hardware setup process. Follow these steps:
1. If you’ve found a downloadable driver package or a CD that came with the device, look for a Setup program and run it. This option places the driver files on your hard disk and simplifies later installation steps.
2. Connect the new hardware to your computer. In the case of an internal device such as an add-in card, turn off the computer, add the device, and then restart. Read More»
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December 28, 2009 by
Jason In addition to the performance enhancements built into its latest iteration of the Windows client, Microsoft is offering additional tools for download for customers and partners that want to squeeze all the extra juice from the OS. Case in point, the Windows Performance Analysis Tools, also referred to as the Windows Performance Toolkit, was released ahead of Windows 7, and included as an integral part of the operating system’s software development kit. Microsoft underlines that while “the WPT Kit is useful to a broad audience,” the tools will serve better specific audiences including “system builders, hardware manufacturers, driver developers, and general application developers.”
End users are missing from the enumeration above, and for good reason. The Windows 7 RTM Performance Analysis Tools are, in fact, designed to ensure a high level of hardware and software performance before the finalized products and solutions make it into the hands of home users. In this sense, the Windows Performance Toolkit is set up to permit the analysis and measuring of both system and application performance not just on Windows 7, but also Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7 | No Comments »
December 27, 2009 by
Jason While the worldwide economy is showing signs of recovery from the financial crisis of the past years, fact is that cost is a key fact to consider when it comes down to the adoption of new technology. Windows 7 makes no exception to this rule, with the operating system bound to have businesses that are upgrading pay for more than just the price tag. Microsoft is now offering a free tool designed to permit corporate customers to calculate just how much will embracing the latest iteration of the Windows client cost them.
In this regard, Windows 7 ROI Tool Lite is advertised as a resource capable of showing companies just how much they stand to save by upgrading to Windows 7. Unlike end users, corporate customers need to take into consideration the Total Cost of Ownership for new technology, as well as get estimates on their Return on Investment.
Windows 7 ROI Tool Lite “helps organizations assess their current PC total cost of ownership and the potential benefits from implementing Windows 7 to help lower costs, improve service levels and drive business productivity. Enter requested information, indicated in yellow. Default research metrics provided regarding current opportunities and potential savings based on Microsoft studies of first deployments, and Alinean research – 2009,” reads the description of the tool. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7 | 1 Comment »
December 27, 2009 by
Jason Mid-2009 brought with it the first indications that Mozilla was planning a major overhaul of the graphical user interface for the next major iteration of Firefox, namely version 4.0, not 3.6 which is considered only a minor upgrade to v3.5, and not v3.7. It now appears that the efforts done for the Firefox 4.0 GUI redesign are starting to take contour and that the company has chosen a direction in which to take the end user experience in 2010. Included with this article are a range of sketches and mock-ups of the way designers envision the Firefox 4.0 revamping at this point in time. It is important to note that the screenshots provided here are nothing more but concepts, and certainly not the final implementation of the GUI for version 4.0 of Firefox, and that they apply only to the Windows flavor of the open source browser (especially to Windows 7).
To cut a long story short, Firefox 4.0 will feature style elements common to Microsoft’s Ribbon/Fluent GUI, but also design similarities from Google Chrome and Opera 10.5. As far as Firefox 4.0 is concerned, Mozilla is planning the “Introduction of “App” tabs. [But also to] combine location bar and search bar (separate location and search items can be customized). Tabs-on-top option (possibly left/right as well). In bar search “button” with drop down of other types of search. Ability to attach stop/reload/go to location bar (TBD). Expanded home tab functionality. Read More»
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December 21, 2009 by
Jason A simple change made into Windows 7’s registry can cause the operating system to cut access for end users to the settings of the User Account Control feature. According to the Redmond company, the Office 97 has been identified as the source of the problem. Microsoft explains that the issue only occurs in scenarios in which end users attempt to install Office 97. It is the very installation of Office 97 that is responsible for the registry change which cuts off access to the settings of UAC in Windows 7.
“In the Windows 7 “System and Security” control panel category, the Action Center lets you change User Account Control (UAC) settings. In the User Account Control Settings dialog box, you move the slide bar control for notifications, and then you click the OK button. In this scenario, the dialog box does not close, and no change is made. When the mouse pointer is positioned on the OK button, and you press ENTER, the dialog box still does not close, and no change is made,” Microsoft revealed.
Microsoft doesn’t offer a hotfix or an update designed to resolve this specific issue as of yet. However, the Redmond company does have a manual fix in place. Users will be required to essentially mend the problems created with the installation of Office 97 on top of Windows 7. Essentially, users need to put together a file that will modify the Windows 7 registry. For this, they will need nothing more than Notepad. They will need to create a file with the name UAC.reg and place it on the desktop. Next, they will have to copy and paste the following text in the UAC.reg file, save it and close the text editor. Read More»
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December 17, 2009 by
Jason
Some of Win7’s best timesavers are staring you right in the face on your keyboard, particularly via the previously underutilized Windows key. You probably already know that pressing the Windows key (Win) opens the Start menu. But now, holding the Win key in combination with other keys does a lot more.
Win7’s Windows-key combinations speed up opening system tools, navigating between files and apps, and performing other common tasks. (Note that many of these shortcuts work in XP and Vista as well.)
* Win+Pause: Displays the System Control Panel applet.
* Win+D: Shows the desktop.
* Win+Spacebar: Shows the desktop without minimizing open windows (Aero Peek).
* Win+E: Opens Windows Explorer with Computer selected.
* Win+F: Opens a Search window for finding files or folders.
* Win+Ctrl+F: Opens a Search window for finding computers on a network. Read More»
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