1. Download Free Vista, XP and Windows 7 from Microsoft
2. Repair the MBR to restore Windows 7 to your Multiboot Options
3. MEGA TIPS – Last year popular tips 2009
6. Windows 7 RTM Windows Biometric Framework Fix
7. VoIP Apps Can Hang on Windows 7
8. Windows 7 RTM Eats Desktop Shortcuts
9. Vista SP2 Upgrades on NVIDIA Chipset PCs Result in Crashes
Microsoft has informed users of the latest iteration of its Windows client that they might come across issues when running VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications on their computers. According to the Redmond company, audio playback and capture applications can hang when used in combination with Windows 7. The software giant revealed that applications performing audio playback and audio capture simultaneously were typically VoIP software. Windows 7 customers running VoIP solutions can often experience hands, Microsoft stated.
“WaveOut API on Windows 7 sometimes fails to process audio samples correctly when response of your audio device is slow,” the company explained. “There is a problem on how WaveOut API handles audio playback requests and audio capture requests submitted by your application.”
While the software giant has confirmed the issue and even identified the source of the problem, an update is not yet available to resolve the issue. At the same time, Microsoft is most likely not to release an update, but to allow affected customers to resolve the problems by applying a hotfix, rather than serving a refresh to all Windows 7 users. Read More»
Windows 7 RTM can eat up some of the desktop shortcuts created by end users, Microsoft explained. Customers running the latest iteration of the Windows client have reported that in certain scenarios shortcuts that they placed on the desktop disappeared altogether. According to the Redmond company, this is expected, by design, behavior in Windows 7. At fault is the System Maintenance troubleshooter that will delete all shortcuts from the desktop as long as they are considered broken.
“The System Maintenance troubleshooter performs a weekly maintenance of the operating system. The System Maintenance troubleshooter either fixes problems automatically or reports problems through Action Center. When there are more than four broken shortcuts on the desktop, the System Maintenance troubleshooter automatically removes all broken shortcuts from the desktop,” Microsoft stated.
According to the software giant, the System Maintenance troubleshooter has a certain limit that triggers it to delete broken shortcuts. Microsoft informs that keeping the number of broken shortcuts on the desktop to no more than four ensures that they won’t be touched. But place five broken shortcuts on the Windows 7 desktop and they will be deleted. Read More»
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»
For the development process of Windows 7, Microsoft has worked closely with hardware manufacturers in order to ensure seamless compatibility and support for the latest iteration of the Windows client. This strategy has put Windows 7 light years away from Windows Vista in terms of incompatibility issues, but still, there are exceptions “designed” to confirm the rule. According to Microsoft, there are users that experienced failures when upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 because of an Intel storage driver.
The Redmond company noted that the upgrade process would fail with the following error message: “\$windows.~bt\windows\system32\drivers\iastor.sys. Status: 0xc0000359. Windows failed to load because a critical system driver is missing or corrupt.” The machine would subsequently be rolled back to Vista. At fault for the error message and failed upgrades are incorrect versions of the iastor that are referenced during the move to Windows 7.
Microsoft hasn’t produced an update or a hotfix designed to resolve this particular issue. Users affected by this specific problem will have to manually resolve it in order to be able to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. Fortunately enough, the Redmond company did detail the necessary steps in KB 2008373. You will be able to find them included bellow. Read More»
On October 22, 2009 Microsoft reached the final milestone of the Windows 7 release schedule, namely general availability. Customers worldwide have already started embracing the product, buying 234% more boxed retail copies of Windows 7 since the official launch compared to the first few days after Windows Vista GA. The NPD Group took into consideration only sales of Windows 7 through the retail channel in the US in order to note that Windows 7 retail sales were outpacing those of Vista, but it’s likely that actual sold licenses of the latest Windows client are more than reported by NPD, taking into account the fact that the platform is available pre-installed on OEM computers, as well as offered for download through online outlets such as Microsoft Store.
Windows 7 guarantees a completely revolutionary UX for users upgrading from Windows XP, and evolutionary, as Microsoft itself has put it, for those that migrate from Vista. Either way, the latest edition of Windows brings a consistent range of enhancements that set Windows 7 apart from its predecessors. Assessing the value associated with the innovations introduced in Windows 7 certainly leads to recommendation lists with more than seven items.
Users will find that some of the new Windows 7 features and capabilities will come into focus more than others. Without having this aspect become a representation of the value they will bring to end users, there are things that customers will want to try ahead of anything else. Below is a list with seven of them, although in all fairness, users that will actually keep count will find that the limit of seven items “might” not have been respected entirely. Read More»
Keeping Windows 7 and Windows Vista running under normal parameters takes much more work than is done in Redmond alone. Fact is that the ecosystems of software and hardware products designed to integrate with the Windows clients have to do this seamlessly, especially when dealing with solutions that hook into the core of the operating system. Driver update failures for example, can easily cripple Windows 7 and Windows Vista, causing the two platforms to no longer start.
“This problem may occur if any one of the following conditions is true: The new device or the driver causes conflicts with other drivers that are installed on the computer. A hardware-specific issue occurs. The driver that is installed is damaged,” Microsoft explained.
In case you performed a driver update for a device component of your computer and Windows 7 and Vista are acting up, then your best choice to resolve the matter is to roll back the changes. Reverting the driver update will cause the issues introduced by the refresh to go away. First you will need to boot into Windows.
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Users that upgrade Windows Vista OEM computers to Windows 7 might find that the recovery applications set in place by the original equipment manufacturer are no longer accessible. This scenario is valid for some OEM machines that were acquired with Windows Vista pre-installed, the Redmond company explained. OEMs, in certain cases, will preload the Windows Recovery Environment inside the operating system. In this regard, users would be able to benefit from the System Recovery Options right in the graphical user interface (UI) and help topics.
“You have a computer that is preinstalled with Windows Vista by the computer manufacturer. After you upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 on this computer, you notice that manufacturer-specific recovery applications are no longer available on the System Recovery Options menu,” Microsoft explained.
It is not uncommon for OEMs to customize the System Recovery Options. Original Equipment Manufacturers will in fact tailor Windows platforms to their specific needs, and always present custom build copies of the operating system along with their new computers. In this context, the Windows RE tools are customized in accordance with different OEMs. Read More»
Redmond-based software company Microsoft released several months ago its own solution aimed at offering Windows 7 RC users the possibility to enjoy compatibility with the older Windows XP operating system, the Windows XP Mode. Available for download initially in a beta flavor, the RC iteration of Windows XP Mode is currently up for grabs for those who installed the RC version of Windows 7, and is bound to become final in the near future.
A recent post on the Windows 7 Team Blog states that Windows XP Mode was released to manufacturing on October 1 and that the final version of the solution is expected to become available for download as soon as Windows 7 hits the market, on October 22, to be more precise. The RTM version of this solution is meant to offer OEMs the possibility to include the XP Mode within the PCs they will bring to the market, the post also notes.
“Windows XP Mode is designed to provide small business and mid-sized businesses running Windows 7 Professional (or higher) the ability to run Windows XP productivity applications that may not be natively compatible with Windows 7. We expect many Windows XP applications to be compatible [with] Windows 7 however Windows XP Mode is meant to serve as an added safety net so small and mid-sized businesses can migrate and run Windows 7 without any road blocks. Windows 7 Professional is designed to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses,” Brandon LeBlanc describes the software solution. Read More»
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»
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