Tag: pc
September 16, 2009 by
Jason
There’s much to commend Windows 7 and our experiences with clean installs of the pre Beta, Beta and RTM releases have been mostly very positive, however, the one thing we haven’t tried yet is a Vista to Win7 upgrade.
If the reports now circulating the web are anything to go by, it’s not something we’ll be trying anytime soon. According to ars technica, reporting test results carried out by Microsoft, in a worst case scenario it could take more than 20 hours. The circumstances are not that unusual, either, it concerns a mid-range PC, with 40 applications and a drive containing 650Gb of data.
The tests covered a wide range of configurations and upgrade times varies from 100 minutes, on a high end PC with 20 applications and 70Gb of data to a 345 minutes on a heavily used (125Gb of data and 40 applications) low-end PC. Clean installations on most PCs typically took between 30 and 40 minutes, which chimes with our experiences, so the moral of this story is don’t upgrade unless you absolutely have to, and have plenty of time to spare.
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
September 14, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft is ready to offer free upgrades from Windows Vista to the latest iteration of the Windows client for participants in a Windows Media Center testing program. But the prizes go beyond the free Windows 7 upgrades, and include laptops, Xbox Elite consoles and even a PC Home entertainment System. In order to be eligible for the prizes, users must first get accepted into the Windows Media Center TV Ambassador program. The catch, well, there’s always one, Microsoft is accepting participation requests only from UK residents.
“Become one of our TV Ambassadors! If you’ve already got Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, you could receive a free TV tuner valued at £60 so you can enjoy watching and recording live Freeview TV channels on your PC,” revealed Microsoft’s Rob Margel. “Just turn it on, watch and record your favourite TV shows from over 50 Freeview channels including BBC Three, ITV2, Film4, E4 and Dave, and tell us what you think. Spread the word and you could win free stuff: software, games, an XBox 360, and an ultimate home entertainment system. You could even be in our next ad.”
Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
September 03, 2009 by
Jason
Have you ever tried to share files on your home network but found that dealing with folder permissions and user accounts was just too frustrating? You aren’t alone; the process can aggravate experienced IT pros and home enthusiasts alike. Just imagine how your parents feel when they try to share files across their home computers.
HomeGroup helps simplify file and printer sharing among computers that run Windows® 7 on your home network. Domain-joined computers can also join your homegroup, so you can bring your work laptop home and access your music collection. You can set up HomeGroup as easily as you log on to most password-protected Web sites. HomeGroup is a feature of Windows 7, and Home Premium or better is required to create a HomeGroup.
The step-by-step instructions in this walkthrough provide a brief tour of the new HomeGroup feature in Windows® 7. These instructions assume that you have two computers running Windows 7 and at least one computer is running Windows 7 Home Premium or better on the same network, and neither computer is already a member of a homegroup or are joined to a domain. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
Make USB Disk Bootable is a console based free tool which lets you create a MS DOS bootable USB drive which is created by using the system files on any windows xp PC. This bootable USB Disk is actually a MS-DOS Bootable USB Drive from the users XP source files.
Tip: Install Windows 7 From Bootable USB Drive
This free tool uses HP USB Dos Format Tool to make the USB disk bootable, if you do not have HP USB Format tool installed then it will download it from the HP Website and install it on your computer.
Note: You must accept the HP End User License Agreement during setup.
Here is the step by step procedure to do the same
Related Tip: Installing Windows XP Using A USB Flash Drive
1. Download Make USB Bootable Tool and extract the zip package in separate directory
2. Right click mkboot.cmd file and click edit to change the attributes in the config file.
3. Change USBDRV value R: to the drive letter that is been currently used by your USB Drive when you plug it in your computer.
4. Exit and Save then double click on mkboot.cmd to run this tool. Read More»
Posted in Computer | No Comments »
1. ACCURATE SCORE
Make sure you have an accurate WEI score. Follow our advice to optimise your PC, then close down all open applications and run the test again.
2. PERFORMANCE TWEAKS
If your CPU score is over 5 then overclocking, while risky, might help you reach the maximum. Check your BIOS setup program and documentation for advice.
3. FIND A REPLACEMENT
Upgrading your CPU may deliver the best results. Check your motherboard manufacturer’s web site to see which CPUs it supports, then comparison-shop at uk.shopping.com.
4. CHECK SPEEDS
Can this processor really deliver a 5.9? Visit shareyourscore.com/ ComponentScores.aspx to see how it performs on other people’s systems.
Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista | No Comments »
You can see whether your current passwords you do use more than one, right? are rated “strong” by using Microsoft’s online Password Checker. I bet you’ll be unpleasantly surprised by the results.
The three keys to strong passwords are length, randomness, and use of different types of characters. Each additional character multiplies the potential combinations a brute-force attack must try.
Random passwords use upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols. When at least three of these four categories are used, an eight-character password should suffice in most instances. According to the FrontLine security site, such a password would take a century or more to crack by a hacker using a single PC. The eight-character standard is also the minimum the Microsoft Password Checker deems “strong.” Of course, the more characters in your password, the safer you’ll be.
If you wish to create your own password, use a sentence or phrase you can recall easily and then tweak it for each account. Read More»
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VistaUACMaker is a free application which can help you make windows xp based applications and programs to run with proper compatibility in vista and windows 7. As vista has introduced a new feature called UAC ( User Account Control ) which controls the way and permissions on different users to execute applications on your computer.
In order to make any application as per vista and windows 7 complaint, the manifest file of the application should contain some information which provide the privileges required by the application and UI Interaction of application.
There are 3 types of privileges that can be mentioned in the manifest file.
requireAdministrator : Run as administrator
asInvoker : Run as same privilege as parent process
highestAvailable : Run with highest privilege available for user
Here is how you can use this utility to provide the necessary privileges to the program
Just run the utility and browse the executable of the program of xp which you want to run in vista or windows 7.
In just 3 steps, your application can be made to run on Vista or Windows 7
1. Select the application using Select browse button.
2. Set one of the privilege required for your application from selection box [ mainly Administrator [ requireAdministrator ]
3. Check the “Yes” button if your application interacts with high privilege applications on UI level in vista.
4. Click on “Make It” button, that’s it done. Now you can run this application in vista or windows 7
Download VistaUACMaker
Posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista | No Comments »
Debuted last week for customers worldwide, the Windows Upgrade Option Program is designed to deliver customers and small businesses that buy designated PCs with premium versions of Windows Vista pre-installed free upgrades to equivalent flavors of Windows 7 once the operating system becomes available. The initiative is meant to feed consumers’ appetite for Windows 7 that could hurt Windows Vista sales and to make waiting for the next iteration of the Windows client drop pointless.
1. What is the Program Eligibility Period?
June 26, 2009 to January 31, 2010 – Only PCs preinstalled with qualifying Vista editions have to be acquired starting with June 26, but no later than January 31, 2010, in order to be eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade through the Upgrade Option Program.
2. What are the qualifying Vista SKUs? To which Windows 7 edition will free upgrades be possible?
- Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
- Windows Vista Home Premium Full free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 1 Comment »