Tag: effect
October 04, 2009 by
Jason
Following the same behavioral pattern as with the release of Windows Vista, software developers have striven to offer the masses the possibility to disguise Windows XP as Windows 7. There are plenty of freeware products on the market ready to emulate various features of the yet to be officially released operating system from Microsoft.
Seven Transformation Pack is the most prominent piece of software in the bunch, which has a tradition in making XP emulate the looks of ulterior operating systems launched by Microsoft. Vista Transformation Pack was created by the same developers and raked up positive attention. Also, there are various pieces of software dedicated to imitate different features in Windows 7, such as the new taskbar and system tray layout, Start Menu and even the font and icons, as well as the glass effect given by Aero theme.
SevenMizer is not a superset of all of the above, but comes with an extremely easy installation at the end of which you’re going to receive a makeover of the old, dusty XP look, turning it into a very close resemblance to the interface in Windows 7. The best part is yet to come: you don’t have to make any sort of configuration and what you see is all there is to know about the application. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows XP | No Comments »
September 11, 2009 by
Jason Microsoft has made available for download updated DirectX 11 resources tailored to Windows 7 and Windows Vista, but also additional Windows client and server operating systems. According to the Redmond-based company, the refreshed DirectX 11 release brings to the table the RTM version of Direct3D. Essentially, what it is offering is an update for the DirectX software development kit. Developers are free to grab the SDK via the Microsoft Download Center since September 8, 2009.
“The August 2009 DirectX SDK contains the first official release of the DirectX developer resources for Direct3D 11, DXGI 1.1, Direct2D, and DirectWrite. Developers can now publish and distribute Direct3D 11 applications and games that leverage all of the software and hardware features of DirectX 11 in Windows 7 and Windows Vista,” Microsoft noted. “ll headers, import libraries, and symbol files (.pdb files) are no longer marked as beta with the ‘_beta’ suffix and now link to the RTM versions of the runtimes. In addition, the HLSL compiler features for Direct3D 11 are now of release quality. The beta DLLs are no longer available in the DirectX SDK.”
With the August 2009 DirectX Software Development Kit update, Microsoft is offering developers the new Effects runtime for Direct3D 11. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7, Windows Vista | 2 Comments »
October 19, 2008 by
Jason While Apple’s older iMacs (Late-2006) boast an impressive pair of stereo speakers (considering the all-in-one design and their small size), the same thing cannot be said about the company’s 20-inch and 24-inch aluminum iMac (Mid-2007).
However, both Apple’s Late-2006 and Mid-2007 computers have their speakers placed at the bottom of the system, facing down. This leads to a considerable loss in sound quality, as the sound hits your desk and bounces off in all directions. Given this, some high pitched sounds (but not only) barely make it to your ears. There is a way to capture all the sound coming from your Mac’s speakers, and direct it all towards your ears.
Buy a pair of headphones! Just kidding. No headphones. You do, however, need two extra items on your desk to make this happen. A couple of ashtrays, for instance. Just place them underneath each of your iMac’s speakers. What happens is this: Read More»
Posted in Mac | No Comments »
September 20, 2008 by
Jason Save energy
Leaving your PC on wastes both energy and cash: running it overnight could cost you more than £100 a year. It’s time to stop sinning and make some savings.
Step1: Click Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Power Options. If your system uses the High Performance power plan then you can save a little energy by selecting Balanced.
Step2: Selecting Very low power delivers a real energy cut, but mainly by limiting the work your CPU can do, so it’s best used on laptops or PCs that aren’t running anything too intensive.
Step3: Click Change plan settings for your plan. Windows Vista normally turns the display off after 20 minutes of inactivity; cut this to 10, perhaps set the PC to sleep after 20 minutes or so.
Save power – disable Windows Aero at will
Run REGEDIT and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\Shell. Right-click the Shell part, select New > Key and call it Aero On. Read More»
Posted in Computer | 1 Comment »
When you combine Windows XP and Windows Vista PCs on the same peer-to-peer network, such as you might have at home or a small office, you may run into all kinds of problems. It may be difficult for your Windows Vista PCs to find your Windows XP PCs, and vice versa.
And the Windows Vista Network Map which may be the best networking feature Microsoft has ever introduced into Windows won’t work properly with XP PCs. They won’t show up properly on the network map, if they even show up at all.
Fixing workgroup woes
The first problem is that the default name for your workgroup on the network has been changed from Windows XP to Windows Vista. In Windows XP, the default name for the network is Mshome; in Windows Vista, it is Workgroup.
The fix for this problem is easy; you can change the name of the workgroup on Windows XP to match the name of your Windows Vista network. On Windows XP, right-click My Computer, click the Computer Name tab, then click Change. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 3 Comments »
For reasons inexplicable to mere mortals, Microsoft doesn’t allow you to customize how Windows Vista’s screensavers work for example, by changing how the bubbles look in the Bubbles screensaver, or the number or thickness of the ribbons in the Ribbons screensaver.
If you’re willing to get your hands dirty by using the Registry, though, you can customize both. For the Bubbles screensaver, for example, you can turn the bubbles metallic or keep them transparent, configure whether the bubbles should have shadows, and display the bubbles against the desktop or instead against a solid black background. For the Ribbons screensaver, you can change the number and thickness of the ribbons.
To customize the Bubbles screensaver, launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the Start Search box or at a command prompt and pressing Enter. Then: Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
Loading ...
