New Age Of OS(Operating System)-->WINDOWS 7



Ever since Microsoft announced its new windows called windows 7,it has made a life in the world of operating systems.The new operating system was not launched fully officially but was given by Microsoft to only few who downloaded form them they were given the license for some months.But the review made by those people got a good response to Microsoft.The official date for its release is to be at 7th January 2010.The beta version has been already released by them as i have stated earlier.You might be waiting for the this new windows which will be having more features than their pre-released windows vista OS.The new OS has many new features for your fast computing and speed up your performance and pc experience.Here I will list out the features of windows 7 to get you know about the new operating systems.I have got the mixed response from my friends as they used windows they liked the new concept,personally my view about it is also good,you must wait for it and make sure to have experiened the new windows.My newer Posts will be on the new wonders of operating system:windows Se7en.

Change XP Start Button

Change the Start text

1. First of all, make sure you download Resource Hacker. You'll need this puppy to edit resources inside your Windows shell.

2. Locate explorer.exe in your c:\Windows directory. Make a copy of the file in the same directory and rename it explorer.bak.

3. Now launch Resource Hacker. In the File menu, open explorer.exe. You'll now see a bunch of collapsed folders.

4. Expand the String Table folder and then find folder No. 37 (folder No. 38 if you're in Windows Classic mode).

5. Click on resource 1033 and locate the text that says "Start." This is your Start button, and now you've got control over what it says! Change the "Start" text to your text of choice. You don't have a character limit, but the text takes up valuable taskbar space, so don't make it too long.

6. Click on the button labeled Compile Script. This updates the settings for your Start button. But nothing will happen until you complete through step #20, so keep going!

Change your hover text

7. While you're here, why not also change the text that pops up when your mouse hovers over your Start button?

8. Right now it says "Click here to begin." Well, duh! We already know that's where to begin!

9. Open folder No. 34 and click on resource 1033.

10. Find the text that says "Click here to begin" and change it to something cooler. Might I suggest "Click here for a good time, baby."

11. Click on the Compile Script button to update this resource.

Customize your Start icon

12. For an added bonus, you can also change the Windows icon to the left of the text, too.

13. Collapse the String Table folder and expand the Bitmap folder at the top of your folder list.

14. Click on folder No. 143 and click on resource 1033. You should see that familiar Windows icon.

15. Go to the Action Menu and select "Replace bitmap." Select "Open file with new bitmap", and locate the replacement image on your machine. Note: The image must have a .bmp extension and a size of 25 pixels by 20 pixels. Then click the Replace button.

Here's the image I've been using instead of the Windows icon, in case you want to use it.



16. Now that you've made your changes, save the file in your Windows folder with another name, such as newstartbutton.exe. Don't name it Explorer.exe, because that file is already being used by your system. Close all open programs and restart your system.

17. Boot into Safe Mode With Command Prompt by pressing F8 on startup. Then choose Safe Mode in the command prompt.

18. Log on as administrator and enter your password.

19. When the command prompt comes up, make sure you're in the right directory by typing "cd c:\windows" (without the quotes).

20. Now type "copy c:\windows\newstartbutton.exe c:\windows\explorer.exe" (no quotes). Type "yes" (no quotes) to overwrite the existing file, then restart your system by typing "shutdown -r" (no quotes).

When Windows relaunches, you'll see your new Start button in all its glory!

Increase Internet SPeed by 20%

Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes like Windows Updates and interrogating your PC etc. Don't you want to get it back for your self? Here is the trick how to get 100% of your available bandwidth.
Increase internet speed :ugeek:

To get it back:
Click Start then Run and type "gpedit.msc" without quotes.

This opens the "group policy editor" and go to: "Local Computer Policy"

Then "Computer Configuration" Then "Administrative Templates"

Then select "Network" then "QOS Packet Scheduler"

After that select "Limit Reservable Bandwidth".
Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab i.e." By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."
So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20

Move Around Your System Faster..

One question I get asked a lot in my field is how do I move around so fast on the PC. Without meaning to, I seem to make people feel like they are moving in slow motion when I am opening, closing, copying, pasting, etc.

To be honest, I can type very quickly. But in addition, I know a lot of shortcut keys for the common applications we use. This comes from my time as a bench tech many years ago. In the days of serial and bus mice, we didn’t always have users bring in their mice for their system when they dropped them off. Sometimes we had a spare mouse, but now always. So we went to plan B. Keyboard commands.

I have decided that not only are they helpful for IT staff that can be in a hurry and dragging the mouse around does slow us down sometimes. But it can make users that have to do a lot of these common functions over and over again more efficient. Isn’t that the point of computers? I am including an overall common Office products PDF also a seperate on for each: Excel, Outlook and Word. I have even put together some helpful key commands for Windows. These are not all inclusive, and if you know of anymore that you use, please let me know.

Free PDF Writer

By now, most everyone has noticed that PDF files have become the prevailing format for secure and reliable distribution of electronic documents.

So how do you, the normal person, create these handy files without paying an arm and a leg? I have found a great and easy answer. CutePDF writer. I admit, it’s not as full featured as the pay version by Adobe, but for the savings, I can do without those features anyways.

Like with the MS Office products, it appears that the more you pay for the program, the more “features” you will never use in your life. I know someone somewhere would have a use for them, but at least for me, they just slow me down and make the product cost more then it’s worth.

I personally like the way CutePDF works, no interface to deal with, no configuration. Install and go. I like plain and simple.

When you get the product installed, to create a PDF all you have to do is print. That’s all. You have a webpage (I know this one is at the top of your list) that you want to convert, go to file print and select the CutePDF Printer. You can use this converter for any application you can print from. For the price you can’t beat it.

How Hot Is ur laptop..

How many readers have a laptop? I would say alot, they are much cheaper and much more functional then the laptops of the old days. Some are almost as cheap as a desktop. That coupled with how easy a wireless network is to set up and how many public area offer free WiFi for on the road, makes a laptop a good investment now a days.

But have you tried to ever sit with one on your lap sometimes? Well imagine the temperature inside the case and imaging what it is doing to your CPU(s).

For those that may not be aware of what high temperatures can do, it cause cause hardware problems or even cause software to freeze up and crash.

To see the CPU temperature, there is a few free programs out there. The first is Real Temp. It is a small download that you install and bam you see the temp of your Intel processor(s). It does show a lot of information, but for most users you will need only the minimum and maximum temp, the current CPU load, and the thermal indicators. Another I have used in the past is SpeedFan. I personally like SpeedFan better, I find it gives better information as well as information concerning S.M.A.R.T. hard drives.

For Macs, though I can test it, there is a utility for Mac OSX – smcFanControl2. If you are a Mac user and try this, please let me know how it works.

For the heat to your legs, I recommend getting a laptop cushion you can find almost anywhere, or I have a belkin base that actually has a fan that runs cold air up at the bottom of your laptop to cool it down. My base usually drops the CPU temp about 5-6 degrees Celsius. I highly recommend looking for one.

Task Manager Replacement..

As many Computer users know, the Task Manager is an essential piece of software. It is great for a quick glance to see how your system is performing, if there is a hung application, a memory leak, or a program is just eating up your system.

There are some limitations to it though, you get just very general information that may not help in your diagnosing problems. If you wish that Task Manager had more punch, have I got news for you.

This program does exist. Free Task Manager by Extensoft can be described as Task Manager on steroids.

Not only do you get the CPU and Memory statistics in the performance tab, you also get the Disk I/O information, to quickly gauge why your drive is tapping away while you are not even doing anything.

Another reality in this interconnected world of always on network connectivity is monitoring what application is talking to what and where. Instead of having to run NetStat or another tool, just go to the newly added Ports tab and get all the updated NetStat information. Great information if you feel there is something going on to slow or even compromise your network speed.

Some other features per their website:

Extended Task Manager features:

  • Displays disk input/output activity with information about related applications
  • Displays network port activity with IP addresses of external computers
  • Displays information about applications that utilized most of the CPU or memory at any time presented on the charts
  • Displays all files locked by a select process.
  • Finds all processes locking a specified file.
  • Includes “Summary” tab for quickly assessing the overall state of the Windows system
  • Allows freezing individual Windows processes
  • Offer various visual and functional improvements over the standard Windows Task Manager

Now the installation is pretty self explanatory, just a straight default install. The first thing that I recommend when launching it for the first time is to head to the Options and enable the replace Windows Task Manager, this way you don’t have to go and find and launch the application, you can now get it the normal route you take to launch the task manager. Personally, I right click the task bar and go to Task Manager.

Some other really handy features include the Freeze process option. How will this help me you ask? Well say you are running a backup or virus scan, and you need to work on something quickly. Do you want to stop and have to restart whichever process? Me personally, no. With this tool, you can now go to the process in the list. Click on it and freeze it. When you are done, you can now go back and resume it. It will continue like it didn’t miss a beat.

Task Manager can be found here. Give it a try, I think you will be happy you did.

Install Like There is no tomorrow..

With so much free software out there, it is hard to not to want to install and take it for a spin. Well, after a while, you end up with all of these left over bits and pieces of the software clogging up your registry and taking up hard drive space.

A few weeks back, a good friend of mine recommended a piece of software to help me with this, Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS). I have thanked him a few times since. This tool is a blessing.

With SVS, you can install software, without installing it to your system. How does that work you may be wondering? You simply install the software to virtual layers that sit on top of your Windows OS. It records all the registry keys and program files in this layer without ever modifying your system itself.

After installing SVS, you will launch the application and create a new application layer. There are two other layers there (Data and Empty) that I haven’t played with yet, but I will. You can name this layer anything that you would like so that you can easily remember it (if you are trying out multiple version of the same software Acrobat Reader 8 and 9 you can create a separate layer for each and name them accordingly).

Once you have named the layer, you will be brought to a screen where you can either capture the next install or browse for the installer file (this is my preference). Click finish and you are off to the races. The installer will run as normal, with the exception that it is not truly interfacing with your system.

With the software now installed, you have a lot of options. If you are done using it and want it gone, delete the layer, no muss no fuss. If you don’t want the application to be accessible until you are wanting to use it, you can deactivate the layer. You can have the layer auto start when you log into your workstation so it works like a normal install. There is even the option to reset the install in case you were tweaking the software a bit and messed up the install (it happens).

If you have a certain set of apps that you like to have installed on all of your computers, but don’t feel like installing them every single time, you can create it on one machine and export that layer. If you keep all of those layers in a repository you can then import them on all of your computers in 1/2 the time.


20 Things Programmers Say When Their Program Dont Work..

20. That’s weird….

19. It’s never done that before.

18. It worked yesterday.

17. How is that possible?

16. It must be a hardware problem.

15. What did you type in wrong to get it to crash?

14. There is something funky in your data. OR It’s a data problem, not a program problem.

13. I haven’t touched that module in weeks!

12. You must have the wrong version.

11. It’s just some unlucky coincidence.

10. I can’t test everything!

9. THIS can’t be the source of THAT.

8. It works, but it hasn’t been tested.

7. Somebody must have changed my code.

6. Did you check for a virus on your system?

5. Even though it doesn’t work, how does it feel?

4. You can’t use that version on your system.

3. Why do you want to do it that way?

2. Where were you when the program blew up?

And the Number One Thing Programmers Say When Their Programs Don’t Work:

1. “It works on my machine..”.


Online Backup...

A few days ago, I discussed a backup tool named Cobian and I promised to look into online space for offsite storage.

While looking around a I found quite a few, but focused on three. I will go over some of my initial impressions, and direct links to the site (so the FTC doesn’t chase me down for getting something for giving my opinion).

The three I will be talking about are iDrive.com, Mozy.com, and Humyo.com. Now the first thing that’s important to everyone is, how much space do I get. iDrive and Mozy both have 2 gigs for free, but this link (I promise I get nothing) will get you a 250 MB upgrade on Mozy. Humyo might as well be called Humongous giving you a whopping 10 GB online storage. Now this is all FREE.

Of course, if you find you are running out of space, you can pay for upgrades. For $4.95 a month you get expand to 150 GB on iDrive, Mozy gets to be a bit more expensive, using the pay as you go model at $3.95 a month per 500 MB. My opinion on that is if you are paying that, pay for hosting. In the odd case that you will need more then 10 GB for backing up your most critical data on Humyo it will run you $6.99 a month to get 100 GB.

So besides space, I am sure there are probably other things to consider. Let me think…

How do I get my data from my computer to my storage place. Well all three have a client that you can install on your computer. Though Humyo requires you have a paid account to use the client. It does, however, have a web console you can drag and drop into a java upload client.

The clients are nice and small, quick easy downloads, so I won’t get into that. Some of the things that I noticed on the client.

For the Mozy client, it automatically gives you a recommended backup set, including Thunderbird data. Since I use Thunderbird, that is handy to have. It also gives you two options of data encryption. If you push have VoIP phones, or bandwidth issues in general, you can throttle the application as well as schedule your backups for slow network times.

iDrives’ client is not as fully featured (at least not to the naked eye). The initial backup set is your documents and settings folder. With some digging around you can setup bandwidth throttling also. But it does have a synch option (quick delete if you erase a folder and want it pulled out of your backup) and continuous backup. Though I am not sure how often it checks.

Since you have to have a paid account for the Humyo client, I will not review it.

Ok. We have now backed up all the data and sure enough, we have to reformat or our machine, boooo. Or we just got a new computer and we want to get our documents back, yeah!

How do we get it back. Of course for both iDrive and Mozy you can use the client and restore. But… I want more. It’s free, I want it all.

For Mozy you have a two options: You can use a virtual drive (created when the client is installed) and drag and drop or pay for a DVD to be created and FedEx to deliver the disk.

With iDrive, you can go to the site and login. Going into the restore area you can use a Java applet to download your files. Or you can get a second download to create a virtual drive and go through your Windows Explorer.

Well Folks. I hope that helps a bit. Remember, backups are important…Before the system crashes.

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