Dursoft

There was a problem with Ajax extentions in VS 2008, it has been fixed.  XP mode is great, it alows you to run drivers and programs(yes, games too) that worked under xp but not vista on Windows 7. 

  I use Windows 7 for everything on my laptop. In fact I use it so much, I sometimes forget that it is not even released yet. I have been using it as my main OS since May.   I love it, but there are a few things that need to be added or changed before it is released in my opinion. This is not a list of complaints, but rather a list of suggestions for Microsoft. 

1. RAW support for photographers.

This one should have been corrected in Vista. Why was it not? I have no idea. All I want is a thumbnail generated and the ability to preview my images. Right now I have to open them using Adobe Bridge then import them into Lightroom or Photoshop. Which is like having to perform an extra step. I really would love for this to built in.   Mac users get it built in, why can’t we?

2. Blu-ray support.

I know Microsoft lost the battle between Blu-Ray and HDDVD. But, they should bite the bullet on this one and make Windows 7 support Blu-Ray. It is not like the format is going somewhere and it is only going to grow in popularity. It is just another reason for people to say that Windows Media player is not for me.

3. Dreamscenes

Yes, you read that correct. I said dreamscenes! It was the one killer thing I loved about Vista. So far it has not been included in any of the Windows 7 releases. I understand that they want people to try the “desktop slide show” feature. But to leave it out completely? Come on Microsoft!  

4. PDF Support or .RAR support, etc.etc.

I’m not gonna waste your or my time explaining why these should be built in; it is a no-brainer.

So there you have it. A small list of suggestions for Microsoft to improve Windows 7.  Will they listen? Probably not.

This time we look at the changes int the task bar.

You'll also notice that the background picture has changed, Windows 7 has a Auto background changer. 

The task bar is cool( starting to look like a mac???) but what under the hood.  thats next time!! 

It's time to turn our attention to the next Windows client release, Windows 7. (Microsoft had used other code-names, like "Vienna" and "Windows Seven," to describe this product in the past.) Like Vienna, Windows 7 was originally just a codename. But Microsoft announced in October 2008 that they would use Windows 7 as the final name of the product.

Windows Vista was a major release, and Microsoft is positioning Windows 7 as a major release as well. However, the language Microsoft uses to describe the technical underpinnings of the Windows 7 suggest that this product will in fact be a minor release, or what the Windows Server team would have called an interim, or R2 ("release 2") release. Microsoft corporate vice president Steven Sinofsky described it this way: "[We are not going to] introduce additional [in]compatibilities, particularly in the driver model. Windows Vista was about improving those things ... Memory management, networking, process management, all of the security hardening, all of those things will carry forth, and maintain the compatibility with applications that people expect. Windows Vista established a very solid foundation, a multiyear foundation, particularly on subsystems like graphics and audio and storage and things like that, and Windows 7--and then Windows Server 2008 built on that foundation, and Windows 7 will continue to build on that foundation as well."

I've been saying for over a year now, Windows Vista wasn't as horrible as people had heard. Indeed, for the first year of that OS's existence, Microsoft was largely silient, and it wasn't until the software giant fixed the few real problems with Vista in Service Pack 1 that the company finally turned its attention to marketing the fact that, yes, Windows Vista was actually quite good. Efforts like the Mojave Project, and the "I'm a PC" ad campaign did a lot to overturn Vista's bad PR, and presumably Windows 7 will finally put all that nonsense to rest for good.

I loaded Windows 7 RC last night and am writing this on my Windows 7 Laptop.  At first glance it apears much like Vista with some noteable exceptions. one being a taskbar which without the start button, looks alot like a Mac taskbar at the bottom of screen.  More on this next time with screen shoots.

How to Install Programs

Insert the program CD or DVD in the disk drive if a security message appears confirm or type the administrator password. If the Autoplay dialog box appear, (See Fig 1) choose to run the program wizard (Setup.exe)

Figure 1

 If nothing happens, then click Start/Computer and double click the CD/DVD drive icon to browse the installation disk, find the program's setup file (usually setup.exe) and double click on it to start the installation.  Follow the instructions on the screen.  If you want to install from the Internet,click the link of the program you found on the net, normally looks something like: "Download myProgram"   A message on the screen asks you whether you want to run or save the program file on your Hard drive,click run and the program will install immediately after the download. (see Fig 2)

Figure 2

Click save if you want to run the installation later by double clicking the program icon from the folder you choose to save it (see Fig 3)

Figure 3

In either case,after launching the installation follow the instructions on screen,and if a security prompt appears confirm or type the administrator password .

 How To get rid of the highlight newly installed programs

Right-click the the Start Button and choose Properties / Customize button Scroll down and uncheck the tick next to Highlight newly Installed (See Fig 4)

Figure 4

To Unistall or change a Program

Go to Start/ Control Panel / Program / Programs and Features, Select the program you want to remove and then click Uninstall or Repair if you want to try to repair the program(see Fig 5)

 
Figure 5

Click OK or confirm if you are prompted to do so .Follow the onscreen instructions to the finish

In the list that will appear,check or uncheck the box near the feature you want to turn on/off (see Figure 7)

Figure 7

 Click OK

How to launch or not to launch a program when Vista Starts

Inside the Startup folder are all the programs that open automatically when Vista starts.You can place your own shortcuts for the programs you want to start without having to do it manually.  Unfortunately there are a lot of shortcuts in this folder that have been added quite rudely sometimes, while you installed a program.  Most of them are not necessary and all they do is chewing up your processor time and get ram memory resources :

Check the  Run this program in compatibility mode for and choose the OS the program used to run fine with from the dropdown menu (see Figure 11) Click OK or Apply.

This Time we'll look at files! 

• How to change Folder Location
• How To Share a Folder
• How To Sort,Group Files
• How To stack the Files
• How to customize a Folder
• How to Set Folder Options

 How to Change Folders location

 When, for some reason, you have to change one or all your personal folders location,just follow these steps..   By the way, Personal folders are Documents, Picture, Music ect...

1. Click on Start and then your Account Name at the Top of the Start Menu.
2. Right-click the personal folder you want to change and click on Property from the drop down menu
3. Click on the Location Tab and,if you know the new path,just Type it in the TextBox or else click on Find Target, browse to the new location and press OK.
4. To undo just click Restore Default 

To back-up your files easily, it might be convenient to make top-level folders, for example, C:\WorkDocuments and C:\Personal Documents  On  Vista all your personal folders like My Documents and My Pictures,don't have My anymore and became Documents and Pictures. To open a personal subfolder click on the link below your account name.

 How To Share a Folder

To add a user you want to share files with on the File Sharing  Dialog box Type the name of the user and click Add.

If your computer is part of a Workgroup Click the arrow on the left, choose the user and click Add .  If your computer is part of a Workgroup and you don't see the user in the list
Click the arrow on the right and choose Create a New User to create a new Account.

 To Sort,Group Files

To stack the Files

1. Open the folder with the files you want to stack
2. Click the arrow on the right of the heading you want to stack and the click stack by
3. Choose the option you like from the dropdown menu

To add or change any column heading Right-click any column heading and check or uncheck the heading you want and click OK Or you can click More and choose from this list what to show and what to hide.

How to customize a Folder

You can easily customize the any folder in Vista,you can apply your custom image or images template.

1. Open the Folder you want to customize and Right-click an empty area and choose Customize this folder from the dropdown menu.
2. Or you can choose View > Customize This Folder, then Choose a Template from the dropdown menu Here you can choose the options to place a Picture on the folder icon,click Choose File then browse and get the picture you like.
3. To Replace the Whole standard folder icon,click Change icon and then Browse your Hard Drive to find an icon Click OK.

How to set Folder Options

There is a big offer of options that you can choose to change the appearance and behavior of the folder, here following how to :.

Go to Start > ControlPanel > Appearence and Personalization > Folder Option View tab 

select, by ticking the box,the option you want and click OK
To Restore back to the Vista default , click on Restore Defaults button.

Next, we will see how to work with programs and how to get your old windows and dos programs to work with Vista.

 From Windows Vista Start menu you can access any feature on your computer.  You can start Programs,go on the Internet,explore Documents, switch users, shut down your PC, and also start a new Search.

On the left pane (see Figure 1 ) you have the Most Frequently Used Programs at the Top, and AllPrograms at the bottom.
On the right, at the top is placed the User Icon,then you have all your personal folders, followed by the Windows Vista features like Network and ControlPanel.

Figure 1

  At the Bottom (figure 2)you will find the options to lock your computer, switch user, put it in a power save mode or turn it off.

Figure 2

 To add an Item to All ProgramsTo add an Item to All Programs

To Delete an Item from All Programs 

Over the next few bolgs we will be taking a look at the features of Windows Visa. Vista has gotten a bad rap because when it was in beta testing most of the hardware drivers were not available.  They are now and if you haven't upgraded to Vista yet I encourage to do so. 

How to use Welcome Center

When you start the new Windows Vista the first difference you will notice is the Welcome Center which is supposed to help you setting up your Operating System.

It is quite useful at first,you can transfer all the your personal documents from the old computer together with all the settings clicking on Transfer Files and Setting and following the wizard . You can also use it to connect to the Internet and to create new Users,but if you don't want it to appear anymore, uncheck the box in the bottom left corner (Run at start Up)

When you will want it back , all you have to do is :

1. Click Start > Control panel
2. System Maintenace
3. Welcome Center

 Not all the tasks are shown, if you want to see them all click Show all Items at the bottom of the Get Started pane.  Not all the tasks appear in the same way,for example Windows Ultimate Extra is only on Vista ultimate.

Vista's new search feature will change the way you used to navigate through yourhar drive in the earlier versions of Windows. Specially when you downloaded some file and you can't remember where you saved it or in many other cases,instead of opening Windows Explorer it's much easier and faster just typing the name of the file in the search box and the results will pop up as you typing. 

  Searching from the start menu

Figure 1




Figure 2

Natural language Search

You Using natural language search you don't have to be worried about searching operators like AND,OR,NOT but ,for example,an advanced search like kind:country OR rock gives the same results as  country or rock music with natural-language.

Figure 4

Next we will look at the Start Menu and the new side bar

Want to install Vista on your PC but don't want to get rid of XP just yet? Here's how to install it so you can dual-boot between them, in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide.
 

Want to install Vista on your PC but don't want to get rid of XP just yet? Here's how to install it so you can dual-boot between them, in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide.

Boot the machine from the Vista DVD. Select the appropriate language and then "Install Now".

XP & Vista - Load Vista
 

On the product key page, press SHIFT + F10 to launch a Windows PE 2.0 command window. Then type in DISKPART and press enter to get into the DISKPART utility.

XP & Vista - DISKPART
 

Now type in LIST VOLUME - this gives you a readout of the volumes available on the system. Select the main Windows XP volume (probably Volume 0) by typing in SELECT VOLUME 0.

XP & Vista - DISKPART Volume
 

Now type in SHRINK. Vista will reduce the size of Volume 0 (the selected Volume) by around 50%.

XP & Vista - DISKPART Shrink
 

Once that is done, type in EXIT and EXIT again to get back to the Vista installation window.

Once the install gets to the install location, there should be at least two options: a partition marked as Primary and unallocated space. Select the unallocated space and click Next. The install will then commence.

XP & Vista - Install Vista
 

The Vista boot manager will take over the system completely, and Windows XP effectively loads via Vista. It’s all pretty seamless though, and you shouldn’t encounter any technical problems.

Once Vista is installed and the system reboots, you’ll be presented with a boot menu with two options: “Microsoft Windows Vista” and “An Earlier Version of Windows”(XP).

XP & Vista - Boot Menu

In this Issue we will See how to Do a clean install of Windows XP.

First backup all the files you want to save including emails and the email address book. If you save to a CD remember to remove the read-only attributes after you restore them.

Next identify all of the peripherals and acquire the device drivers for them. This would include the sound card, modem, video card, network card, monitor, printer, scanner, cameras, and anything else connected to the computer that requires drivers. You will also need the disks for any software you wish to install on Windows XP (MS Office or Works, Antivirus etc…)

Make sure you can boot with your CD drive. Unlike Windows 9x/Me, the Windows XP CD-ROM is bootable, so you will not need a boot floppy to initiate Setup. However, some PCs don't offer the capability to boot from CD, though this should be rare on the newer systems that can run XP. More likely is that your system can boot from CD but isn't set up to do so. To set up your system to boot from the CD, you'll need to enter the BIOS software and change the boot order. Typically, you will want your system set up to boot from CD, then floppy, then the first hard drive. Check the manual that came with your PC or motherboard for information about entering the BIOS and making this change, if needed.

1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive.
2. At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER to continue.
3. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.
4. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you will be prompted to repair it. At this point hit the ESC key (do not repair).
5. The screen will now list all existing partitions and un-partitioned space for each hard disk.
6. Use the cursor/arrow keys to choose where to create the new partition.
7. Press D to delete an existing partition or press C to create a new partition in un-partitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete that partition.
8. Repeat this process for each of the existing partitions that you want to move (or remove) in order to create your new partition. When all necessary partitions are deleted, you can then select the remaining un-partitioned space and then press C to create new partitions.
9. Install Windows XP, use the arrow keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP and then press ENTER.
10. Select the NTFS formatting option and press ENTER
11. From this point, you will follow the on screen prompts.
12. Personalize your XP Enter your Name and Organization.
13. Enter the Product Key. The Key is located on the back of the CD folder in the Retail versions, and on a holographic label with the OEM versions purchased with a piece of hardware. Write this key down and secure it in a safe place in case the original is misplaced or destroyed through natural causes.
14. Choose a name for the computer; this should be a unique name for the computer, especially if it is to be connected to a network. In XP Pro, you are given the option of creating a password or leaving it blank.
15. Set your Time Zone and Time and Date.
16. Setup will scan for network. If detected you will have the choice to choose a typical configuration or custom. Choose typical if you are unsure.
17. For home you will choose your workgroup, if a network is already established and you intend to connect to it, use the existing workgroup name, otherwise, I suggest using the default. For Pro, the same goes for Pro as suggested for Home, but you will have the choice to join a Domain, if you do not have a Domain or do not know leave blank.
18. Setup will continue and reboot when completed ignore the "Press Any Key". The XP loading window will now display after reboot. All XP SP2 versions now show the same XP loading screen. Windows XP is displayed for both Home and Professional.
19. You will see a change display settings, say yes, and accept the setting if you can see the screen after accepting.
20. You will see a welcome screen, press next and unfortunately you have to wait for the dialog to finish.
21. Setup users screen. Set at least one user for yourself or the person that will be using the computer.
22. Logon to XP and apply Service Pack and Critical updates from Windows Update before installing any software or hardware.
23. Install your anti-virus software.
24. Install all applications and setup your email.
25. That’s it!

 In the next issue we'll see how to install Windows Vista as a duel boot with XP.