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Encrypt your USB Drive’s Data

2010-04-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

Do you have data on your USB drive that could be accessed by someone if they found your key drive?
Do you have sensitive data that you need to protect, but don’t want to pay for expensive software?
TrueCrypt was designed for you and in this section you’ll learn how to use it.

NOTE: Do not encrypt the entire drive your OS is stored on. You can encrypt parts of the drive,
but not system files.

Download TrueCrypt :

1. Dowload TrueCrypt

2. Run the installer.

3. When prompted, select Extract and click Next

4. Extract the files to your USB key drive in a folder

named TrueCrypt .

You can delete other files in the directory if u wish..

Ensure you keep the four files as depicted above ..

Encrypt part of your USB drive:

1. Run TrueCrypt.exe.

2. Once loaded, specify a drive letter that will become

the encrypted volume (the drive letter of your USB

drive won’t change—but will show as two different

drive letters when you complete this tutorial.)

3. Click Create Volume . Your USB drive will still keep

its letter (e.g ."R") will be split into two

virtual drives (so the encrypted data will appear as

a “[your chosen letter]” drive in Computer after you

finish the setup.)

4. Now click Create a standard TrueCrypt volume and

click Next .

5. The next screen will ask you where you want to

store the volume. Save a file named Container in

the TrueCrypt folder on your USB thumb drive and click Next

6. Specify the size of the encrypted volume (I suggest

you use 1/2 the size of the drive.)

7. Create a secure password.

8. Now click Format and your Container will be

formatted.

9. After a confirmation message, click Exit

When you are done, go back to TrueCrypt and Click

Dismount. Congratulations, you now have your data encrypted on your USB drive.

Verify Your Encrypted Drive Works:

1. Go to your Computer and look for a “W” (or letter

you choose)drive.Its not there; good news!

2. Open TrueCrypt.

3. Click the drive letter you chose in the previous

steps.

4. Click Select File and find your Container you

created.

5. Click Mount .

6. Type in your password and click OK and your

volume will mount.

7. Go to Computer and your drive will be there.

Windows Registry

2010-04-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

What is the Windows Registry?
Think of the Windows registry as a control center for your computer.
Windows settings, individual program settings, and other important configuration information
are stored here.
The registry is made up of the following components:

•Keys

•Subkeys

•Values

Access the Windows Registry Editor

Figure shows how to open the registry editor..
Click on windows type regedit in search.

Add Keys or Values

Add a New Key:

To add a new key:

1. Right click on the parent key.

2. Click New > Key
Add a New Value:

1. Navigate to the key that you want to add a value to.

2. Right click in the blank space of the right pane.

3. Click New > xx (Where xx is the value)

Dual Boot Windows Vista with Windows 7

2010-04-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista natively manages partitions; you will need to create a second partition for Windows 7.
Once you have created the partition, you can install Windows 7 on it.

Create a New Partition (Vista):

To create a second partition on your hard drive in Windows Vista:

1. Click the Start button, right click Computer, and

click Manage

2. In the left pane, click Disk Management .

3. Now create a new partition by shrinking a previous

volume so you can use the newly created space.

Right click on the partition and click Shrink

Volume .

4. Input the size, in MB, by which you want to shrink

the partition. I recommend 32 GB (32,768 MB.)

Windows 7 requires a minimum of 16 GB (16,384

MB.)

5. Now right click the free space and click New Simple Volume…

6. Click Next .

7. Specify the volume size and click Next .

8. Assign an unused letter to the drive and click Next

9. Format the drive as NTFS, give it a label, and click

10. Click Finish.

install Windows 7 on your newly created partition.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 Final+ Skins +Crack new

2010-04-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 is a universal medicine information security. The program provides not only antivirus protection but also protection against spam and network attacks. More program features can protect your computer from unknown threats and Internet fraud, computer control user access to the Internet.

Complete protection is provided on all channels of income and transfer of information. Flexible configuration of any component allows maximum Kaspersky Internet Security adapt to the needs.
Download by clicking any of link

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CFosSpeed Final

2010-04-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

CFosSpeed Is a network driver, which is tied to the existing Internet connection and optimizes data transfer by prioritizing traffic. Prioritization of traffic - method of optimizing the Internet traffic, providing the maximum speed with minimum delay. You can use cFosSpeed with a router and / or DSL-modem or cable modem. It is also possible to use with other types of Internet connections. cFosSpeed supports a wide range of connections such as DSL, cable, ISDN, UMTS, and others. The program will help maintain low latency in the network (ping), to make Internet applications with fast response so far as possible. Also, one of the main objectives cFosSpeed is to improve the throughput by removing bottlenecks in the network. Interface is translated into many languages.

Supported connections:
"Broadband: Cable and DSL
"Low speed connection: Modem and ISDN
"Mobile (UMTS, HSDPA, GSM, GPRS, HSCSD)
»DSL, PPPoE
»DSL, PPPoA (VCmux and LLC)
»DSL, PPTP
»VDSL
"Cable
»ISDN
»IP over AAL
»RFC1483/2684 bridged

LINK

UserGate Proxy And Firewall

2010-04-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

UserGate is a complex solution for sharing Internet access among employees in your company, making traffic calculations, and protecting your local network against malicious activity and software, such as hacker attacks, viruses and Trojans. UserGate is a flexible yet very powerful program that can be used in small- and mid-sized companies instead of relying on large and expensive hardware or software alternatives. With UserGate, you can enforce as strict an Internet access policy as you want, to ensure that the Internet is used appropriately in your company. The integrated BrightCloud Service allows you to apply web filters, and helps boost employee productivity by giving you total control over what sites your employees can access.

Key features:
• Dual antivirus protection
• Advanced firewall
• Advanced NAT driver
• VPN connection support
• User-based access management
• Categorized URL filtering
• Application filtering
• Speed limitations and traffic quotas
• Traffic monitoring and reporting
• Web statistics client
• Billing system
• Internet connection sharing
• Proxy servers
• Multiple ISPs and connection failover
• Traffic manager
• Web caching
• IP telephony support
• DHCP server support
• Routing
• Resource publishing
• Remote administration

LINK

Ad-Aware Pro Internet Security 8.2 (2010)

2010-04-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

Ad-Aware Pro is Lavasoft's solution to combat the most extreme forms of malware and cyber threats, including protection against viruses, spyware, keyloggers, Trojans, rootkits, password stealers, bot networks, and drive-by downloads. An advanced solution that won't load down system resources, Ad-Aware Pro is the optimum security tool for today's small businesses.

Download by clicking any of below link

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Norton 2010 With 90 Days Trials

2010-04-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hey Frnds Its Good News that norton itself is giving 90days trial for all its users ..
To Know more just click below link
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Stop Sending Emails, Now Send Video Mails

2010-04-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Eyejot:Eyejot is the first, comprehensive, client-free online video messaging platform ideal for both personal and business communications. It offers everyone the ability to create and receive video messages in a self-contained, spam-free environment. With no client to install, you can start using Eyejot immediately with any browser, on any platform. It even features built-in support for iTunes™ (and iPods™), mobile devices and social networks like MySpace.

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TokBox :

Thousands of people video chat using TokBox everyday.

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VuYou:

A world-class video streaming platform, utilising the very latest in video
streaming technology. Video E-mail your friends and family like never before.
Run video blogs, podcasts and easily add video content to your own website.
Register for your VuYou account today. It's fun, it's free, it's VuYou.
LINK

Install Windows 7 as a Virtual Machine

2010-03-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

If you would like to use Windows 7 and still use Windows
Vista or XP, rebooting your computer every time can be a
pain. A virtual machine (VM) can be used to simulate
hardware and run Windows (or any operating system)
within Windows.

Install Virtual Box

Virtual box is a VM host that facilities in VM creation and deployment ..

To install virtual box:

1. Download Virtual Box

2. Install Virtual Box and ensure all options are selected via the Custom Setup .

3.You’ll be asked whether you want to install drivers;

these are essential and should be installed

4.Open Virtual Box And click New.

5.On the Virtual Machine Wizard, click Next

6. Give the VM a name ( Windows 7 will do) and select Windows 7 from the Version drop down list as shown in above figure..

7. Select the amount of memory you want to use (I recommend using no more than half your physical RAM amount i.e., 4GB RAM = 2GB allocated.)

8.Select Create new hard disk

9. Click Next

10. Select Dynamically expanding storage and click Next

11. Choose where you will save your VM data

12. Click Next

13.Click Finish.

Sharing a Folder: The Wizard-Based Approach

2010-03-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

Microsoft’s wizard-based approach to folder sharing is simple enough. Navigating with
Windows Explorer, locate and select the folder you’d like to share on your home network.
Then click the Share with button in the toolbar, followed by Specific people. The File
Sharing wizard, shown in Figure , will appear.

In the first stage of the wizard, you set the permission level for each user configured on
the system, and remove those users to whom you do not wish to give access. By default,
you are configured with Owner permissions, while all other users are configured with Read permissions.

The following permission types are available:

♦♦ Owner: This is essentially admin-level permissions, and you are free to view, add,
edit, or delete any shared file, as well as configure or remove the folder share.

♦♦ Read/Write: Users with this permission level can view, add, edit, or delete any
shared file. (This permission level was called Co-owner in Windows Vista.)

♦♦ Read: Users with this permission level can view shared files but not add, edit, or
delete them.

Once you’re done configuring permissions, click the Share button and you’re good to go. To
change sharing permissions or stop sharing the folder, select it again, choose Share with
and then Specific people, and then choose the appropriate option from the File Sharing
wizard, which will now resemble Figure .

Advanced Sharing

The File Sharing wizard works well enough, but if you’ve been sharing folders with Windows
for a while now, as we have, you may actually be more comfortable with Windows 7’s
alternative sharing UI, which very closely resembles classic file sharing from Windows
XP. To access this interface, locate the folder you’d like to share, right-click, and choose
Properties. Next, click the Sharing tab, shown in Figure .

If you click the Share button, you’ll see the now-familiar File Sharing wizard. Instead,
click Advanced Sharing. This launches the Advanced Sharing dialog, which is very
similar to the Sharing tab of a folder’s Properties window in Windows XP (when classic
file sharing is enabled, as it is by default in Windows XP Professional). The Advanced
Sharing dialog, shown in Figure , assumes you know what you’re doing, but it’s very easy to use.

To share a folder this way, select the option titled Share this folder. Then, accept or edit
the share name and click the Permissions button to display the Permissions window. From
here you can set the permission level for users and groups. By default, only the Everyone
group, which represents all user accounts on the system, is present, but you can click
Add ➪ Advanced ➪ Find Now to choose other users and groups individually if needed.
Click OK when you are done.

Creating a New Homegroup

2010-03-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

To create your homegroup, click the Create a homegroup button. The Create a Homegroup
wizard appears, shown in Figure . From this window, you can choose which resources
you’d like to share. These include pictures, music, videos, documents, and printers.

Once you’ve chosen, click Next. HomeGroup will set up your homegroup and then you’ll
be presented with the password, as shown in Figure . The wizard recommends jotting
this password down, as you will need it on other PCs that want to join the homegroup, but
you can skip that step: we’re going to change the homegroup’s password next.
Click Finish to close the wizard

Joining a Homegroup

Once a homegroup has been created on your network, you can connect to it from other
PCs. To do so, you will again access the HomeGroup control panel. Only this time,
because there is already a homegroup on the network, the window looks a bit different
(see Figure ).
To join the existing homegroup, click the Join now button. You will be prompted to pick
the resources you want to share and then enter the homegroup password before you are
allowed to join.

Configuring a Homegroup

Once you’ve created or connected to a homegroup, you can use the HomeGroup control
panel to configure it in various ways. As shown in Figure , once there is a homegroup
on your network and you are joined to it, the HomeGroup control panel changes yet again.
Now, it’s designed to help you make changes to the homegroup configuration.

Here are the changes you can make to your homegroup from this interface:

♦♦Change which resources you’re sharing from this PC. At the top of the HomeGroup
control panel is a section called Share libraries and printers. From here, you can
check (enable) and uncheck (disable) the sharing of pictures, documents, music,
videos, and printers. The first four items are shared on a per-Library basis.

♦♦ Share media with devices. Since all media sharing now occurs via the HomeGroup
mechanism, you can access the Media Sharing options window. .

♦♦ View or print the homegroup password. This one is pretty self-explanatory but
note that you cannot change the homegroup password from this interface.

♦♦ Change the password. This allows you to change the homegroup password. I
recommend doing so, and using a password that you will remember if you need
to join the homegroup from another PC.

♦♦ Change advanced sharing settings. The enormous window (see Figure )
that appears when you select this option lets you access a number of important
network- and sharing-related features. These include network discovery (which
determines whether your PC can find other computers and devices on the network
and vice versa), file and printer sharing (which can be globally enabled or disabled),
public folder sharing (which can be globally enabled or disabled), media
streaming (which is accessed via a separate Media streaming options interface), password-protected sharing (which affects the oldschool sharing methods), and HomeGroup
connections (which determines whether to allow Windows to utilize simple
homegroup-based sharing or to revert to the sharing technologies provided by
previous Windows versions).

HomeGroup Sharing

2010-03-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

When you think of “sharing” with regard to PCs on home networks, you generally mean
two types of resources: files and printers. For a long time, Microsoft has supported sharing
these types of resources in various ways, but there was always a level of complexity
involved. In Windows 7, there’s a better way. And while it requires two or more PCs in your
home to be using Windows 7, the result is worth it: HomeGroup sharing makes sharing
documents, music, pictures, video, and other files, as well as printers, easier than ever.

HomeGroup sharing is so important to Windows 7 that Microsoft actually makes joining
or creating a homegroup part of the Windows 7 Setup experience. As you can see from
Figure , you’re given this opportunity in one of the final phases of Setup.

I recommend not configuring a homegroup until you already have Windows 7 up and
running. If you run the HomeGroup control panel (either by typing homegroup in Start
Menu Search or by clicking Choose homegroup and sharing options in the Network and
Sharing Center) in Windows 7, you’ll see a window like that shown in Figure .

Using Network Explorer

2010-03-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

In previous versions of Windows, the Network link was prominently displayed right in the
Start menu, providing you with a quick way to access resources on your home network. In
Windows 7, Network does not appear on the Start menu by default. You can enable it via
Taskbar and Start Menu Properties if you think you’re going to use it a lot (as we do), or
you can simply enter network in Start Menu Search and choose the Network entry from
the search results list that appears.
Either way, when you do so you’ll see the Network Explorer, shown in Figure .
Compared to the My Network Places view in Windows XP, the Network Explorer is quite
an improvement. (It’s very similar to Network Explorer in Windows Vista, however.)

From the Network Explorer, you gain access to the following:

♦♦Discovered computers: These are computers on the local network that offer folder
and printer shares. You should be able to connect to any PCs on a Home or Work
network, but only the local PC on a Public network. If you double-click on a discovered
computer, you’ll see a list of the folder and printer shares available on that system,
as shown in Figure , assuming you have the correct access privileges.

♦♦ Media devices: This includes digital media–oriented hardware devices, such as
Xbox 360 video game consoles, Media Center Extenders, and other digital media
receivers, as well as any shared media libraries on Windows-based PCs. Each of
these items behaves a bit differently. For example, if you click a shared media
library, Windows Media Player 11 will load and display the shared library. Doubleclick
a Media Center Extender and Windows Media Center will launch, enabling
you to configure connectivity between the two. And if you double-click an Xbox
360 or other digital media receiver, Windows Media Player will launch and present
its Media Sharing interface so you can configure sharing with that device.

♦♦ Network infrastructure: Your broadband router will show up here as long as it’s
compatible with modern networking technologies such as Universal Plug and Play
(UPnP). Double-clicking this icon usually loads the device’s Web-based management
console, which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

♦♦ Other devices: When Network Explorer detects other network devices but can’t
correctly identify them, it places them in the Other Devices category and provides
a generic icon. Windows Home Server causes such an icon to appear,
for example. Double-clicking one of these icons triggers a UPnP event which, in
the case of Windows Home Server, launches IE and displays the server’s Web based
welcome page..

Connecting to a Network

2010-03-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 offers various ways in which you can connect to networks. The most common,
of course, are wired and wireless connections, but wireless networks typically require
the most work. With Ethernet-based wired connections, the configuration is simple: you
plug one end of the network cable into your PC and connect the other end to your router
or other networking interface. If all goes well, you’ll be connected to the Internet rather
quickly.

For those with a wireless network adapter (including users with both wired and wireless
connections), the Set Up a Connection or Network wizard typically presents many more
options, as shown in Figure .

The View Available Networks window offers more information than you’ll see with a wired connection.
From this simple interface, shown in Figure , you can see which
wireless network you’re connected to, which kind of access you have, and which other networks are within range.

Managing Network Connections

If you’re coming from Windows XP, one of the biggest network-related changes you’ll
notice in Windows 7 is what happens when you right-click the Network link in the Start
menu (called My Network Places in XP) and choose Properties. In XP, this launches
Network Connections, a Windows Explorer view of the various networking devices in
your PC. In Windows 7, of course, doing this launches the Network and Sharing Center,
a much more comprehensive resource for all your networking needs. (In Windows 7, the
Start menu does not display a Network link by default.)
What if you really do want to access your network connections for some reason? In
Windows 7, you do this by first launching the Network and Sharing Center and then
selecting the Tasks link titled Change adapter settings. As in XP, the Explorer location
that opens is called Network Connections, and the functionality it provides is virtually
identical (see Figure ). It’s just harder to get to.

The big difference is that the visible network connection options—shown when you select
a particular network connection—appear in the Explorer window’s toolbar instead of in
a Network Tasks pane, but the options are the same:

♦♦Disable this network device: Clicking this will disable the device hardware and
disconnect you from any connected networks.
♦♦ Diagnose this connection: This launches the Windows Network Diagnostics
wizard.
♦♦ Rename this connection: This option enables you to rename the connection from
the bland but descriptive defaults Microsoft chooses (e.g., Local Area Connection
and Wireless Network Connection).
♦♦ View status of this connection: This launches the connection status window,
described previously.

♦♦ Change settings of this connection: This option brings up another blast from
the past, the old Network Connection Properties window, from which you can
view and configure the various network types, protocols, and other networking
technologies supported by the connection. As shown in Figure , this dialog hasn’t changed much since Windows 95..
You may also see a View Bluetooth network devices option if your PC has Bluetooth capabilities.
Finally, note that you can right-click a connection to access many of these options..

Other Network-Related Tasks

In the left side of the Network and Sharing Center, you will see a list of two or three
tasks, depending on what types of network connections are available in your PC. (The
first task, Manage wireless networks, will not appear unless you have a wireless network
adapter.)

♦♦ Manage wireless networks: Clicking this link displays a unique Windows 7 interface
called Manage Wireless Networks (see Figure ). From this window, you
can configure various options for each wireless connection in your PC, including a
rather unique one: you can rename the connection by right-clicking it and choosing Rename. Why would you want to do this? We can’t think of a single reason.

♦♦Change adapter settings: As noted previously, this option navigates to the Network
Connections explorer.
♦♦ Change advanced sharing settings: This link triggers the Advanced sharing settings
window, which enables you to manage network discovery, file and printer
sharing, public folder sharing, and other sharing features..

Setting Up a New Connection or Network

2010-03-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

The Set up a new connection or network link in Network and Sharing Center launches
the Set Up a Connection or Network wizard, shown in Figure . This wizard is a handy
front end to all of the network connection types you can create in Windows 7. (You will
see more options in this window if you are using a wireless-equipped PC.)

Your options here are many, but Microsoft breaks them down to obvious subsets:

♦♦ Connect to the Internet: Choose this if you need to set up a wireless, wired, or
dial-up connection to the Internet. Generally speaking, you will almost never
need to use this option, but there are two exceptions. One, you may have a DSL or
similar broadband connection type called PPPOE (called Point-to-Point Protocol
over Ethernet) that requires you to actually enter a user name and password before
you can get online. Two, you’re using a wireless network (though this option will
simply launch the View Available Networks window).
♦♦ Set up a new network: If you just purchased a new Internet router or have just
recently subscribed to a new Internet service, you may need to access this option,
which looks for wireless routers, access points, and other network connection
hardware devices on your network—a process that can take quite a bit of time—
and then attempts to configure it for you. Frankly, this type of thing is best handled
by either the service provider or directly from the device’s own user interface,
assuming you know what you’re doing. But newer network devices based on
the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) standard can be configured directly from
Windows 7. The wizard will detect your network hardware and settings and then
forward you to the networking hardware’s Web-based configuration. Of course,
this varies from device to device, as will your success rate.

♦♦ Manually connect to a wireless network: This connection type is available only
on wireless networks. It provides an alternative to the View Available Networks
window and is only really needed when you want to connect to a network connection
that does not broadcast its SSID (and is thus normally “invisible”). As
shown in Figure , you’ll need a bit more information than is normally the case,
including the name (SSID) of the network, the security and encryption types, and
the security key (passcode).

♦♦ Connect to a workplace: Choose this option if you need to create a VPN (virtual
private network) or direct-dial connection to your workplace. Some businesses
require a VPN connection so that any connections between your PC and the
corporate network are electronically separated from the public Internet, and thus
somewhat protected from snooping. You either need a VPN connection or you
don’t; and if your company doesn’t explicitly configure your PC for this feature or
provide their own custom VPN software solution, they will provide instructions
on how to get it to work.
♦♦Set up a dial-up connection: The 1990s are calling: if you’re stuck in dial-up hell
(that is, you need to connect to a dial-up Internet connection via a telephone line
and computer modem), this option will get you started. Note that traditional dialup
services such as AOL and NetZero often provide special software and don’t
require you to use this sort of interface.
♦♦ Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer to computer) network: This option provides a
way to set up a temporary peer-to-peer (P2P) network between two closely located
PCs with wireless adapters. Why might you want to do such a thing? It can be a
handy way to share files or even a (wired) Internet connection. Note, however, that
creating such a network disconnects you from any traditional wireless networks,
which is why it’s rarely needed or used..

♦♦ Connect to a Bluetooth personal area network (PAN): This connection type is
available only on PCs with Bluetooth hardware. It provides access to Windows 7’s
Bluetooth Personal Area Network Devices explorer, shown in Figure . A
Bluetooth PAN is a special kind of ad hoc or P2P network that is typically created
to facilitate file sharing between a PC and a Bluetooth-capable device, or
between a small collection of Bluetooth-capable devices (such as smartphones,
Palm devices, and the like). Note that not all Bluetooth-capable devices support
PAN functionality, however.

Network and Sharing Center

2010-03-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Most people will simply boot up Windows 7 for the first time, configure the network
location for a Home, Work, or Public network location, and go about their business. But
Microsoft provides a handy front end to all of the networking-related tasks you’ll ever
have to complete in Windows 7. Called the Network and Sharing Center, and shown in
Figure , it is indeed a one-stop shop for all your networking needs.
You can access the Network and Sharing Center from a variety of locations. The most
obvious is via the taskbar notification area Network icon discussed in the previous section.
Just click it once and then click the Network and Sharing Center link in the pop-up
window that appears. We recommend the Start menu approach: open the Start menu and
type sharing in Start Menu Search.
However you enable this utility, the Network and Sharing Center provides a wealth of
configurable networking information..

Looking at the Network Map

At the top of the Network and Sharing Center window you will see a simple network
map depicting the basic relationship between your computer, the local network to which
you’re connected, and the Internet (see Figure ). For wired networks, on the top, the
network name is simply called Network by default. With wireless networks, the network
name represents the actual name that was given to the wireless network.

The Network and Sharing Center can also display a more detailed network map that shows
you a topographical view encompassing other PCs and devices on your home network. You
can see this map by clicking the link titled See full map. As shown in Figure , this map
can be quite full indeed. (More often than not, however, the full map offers information
that isn’t any more useful than the information provided on the basic map.)

Viewing Active Networks

Left Showing Is the basic network map is a list of one or more active (or what you might think of
as “connected”) networks. Figure , for example, shows a computer with two active
network connections, one wired and one wireless. It’s not hard to imagine other multiple
network connections. For example, some people may have wireless network access
through a high-speed wireless card provided by their cellular company as well as either
an Ethernet-based wired network connection or a traditional Wi-Fi-based wireless network
connection.

Changing Network Settings
In this section of the Network and Sharing Center, you can configure a number of properties
related to network discovery and sharing. The following settings are available:
Set up a new connection ♦♦ or network: This triggers the Set Up a Connection
or Network wizard, which enables you to manually configure a new network
connection
Connect to a network: This triggers the View Available Networks window, which
is also seen when you single-click the Network notification icon.
♦♦ Choose HomeGroup and sharing options: This launches the HomeGroup control
panel, from which you configure Windows 7’s new HomeGroup sharing feature.
♦♦ Troubleshoot problems: This launches the Network and Internet troubleshooter,
which is part of Windows 7’s new troubleshooting platform.

Network Locations

2010-03-24T05:50:00.000-07:00

If you already have a wired or wireless home network (or, more typically, a home network
that features both wired and wireless connection types) or you bring a Windows 7–based
mobile computer to a new networking environment (such as an Internet cafe, coffee shop,
airport, or similar location), you will run into one of Windows 7’s best features: the Set
Network Location wizard. Shown in Figure , this wizard will appear during Setup if
it detects a network connection. Or you will see it later, whenever you connect to a new
network for the first time. (This is true for both wired and wireless networks.)

The Set Network Location wizard takes the guesswork out of connecting to a network by
providing clear explanations of the different ways in which you can make the connection.
It offers three options:
♦♦ Home network: Used for your home network or other trusted network type. When
connected to such a network, your computer will be discoverable, meaning other
computers and devices on the network will be able to “see” your PC and, with
the appropriate credentials, access any shared resources your PC may provide.
Additionally, you will be able to discover other PCs and devices connected to the
network.
♦♦ Work network: Used for your workplace or other trusted network type. As with
the Home location, a network configured for the Work location provides discoverability
of network-based PCs and devices.
♦♦ Public network: This is used for any public network connection, especially Wi-Fi
connections you might run into at the aforementioned cafes, coffee shops, airports,
and similar locations. With a Public network type, you’re assumed to need Internet
access and little else: network discoverability is kept to a minimum and software
on your system that might normally broadcast its availability—such as shared
folders, printers, and media libraries—remains silent.

Using the New Now Playing Mode In Windows Media Player

2010-03-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

Also not obvious, perhaps, is the new Switch to Now Playing button, which can be found
in the bottom right of the Windows Media Player window. In previous versions of the
player, Now Playing was a view style, like Library, Rip, Burn, or Sync, that would literally
take over the entire player window. This time around, Microsoft has come up with
a more elegant solution.
You toggle the new Now Playing view by clicking the Switch to Now Playing button. When
you do so, the player switches into the small and clean display shown in Figure . In
this view, only the necessary UI bits are available, and then only when you mouse over
the window. Leave it alone, and the player window will display only the song name, artist,
album title, and album art of the currently playing selection..

Playing Recorded TV Shows

If you’re using a Media Center PC, or a PC running Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate
edition and a TV tuner card that’s connected to a TV signal, you have the capability to
record TV shows . TV shows recorded with Windows Media
Center are visible in and playable by Windows Media Player as well, and appear in the
media library when you select Recorded TV from the Navigation pane. Recorded TV
works just like any other videos, as shown in Figure , but occupy a lot of disk space,
thanks to Microsoft’s use of an inefficient video codec.

Editing Digital Video with Windows Live Movie Maker

2010-03-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

Starting Windows Live Movie Maker

Typically, you start Windows Live Movie Maker by launching its shortcut from the Start
menu. (Type movie in the Search box to find it quickly.) You can also find it buried in
the Start menu All Programs list under Windows Live. The Windows Live Movie Maker
application window is shown in Figure .

Working with Projects
Each time you work in Windows Live Movie Maker, you are creating a project. A Windows
Live Movie Maker project is basically just a file that points to the various digital media
files you’re accessing, along with whatever transitions, effects, and titles you’ve made in
the timeline or storyboard. This project does not contain any of the videos, photos, music
files, or other content, so if you move these files around in the file system or delete them,
Windows Live Movie Maker will not be able to use them in a saved project later. Instead,
the project is simply a way to save your work so you can return to it later. You don’t have
to create your finished video in one sitting.

Importing Content
To start a new project in Windows Live Movie Maker, you first need a collection of shortcuts
to digital media files that will be used in your final video. Windows Live Movie Maker can
import a variety of video, audio, and picture files, and most of these files—with one glaring
exception—can be assembled however you like in your project’s storyboard or timeline.
Below highlights the formats you can use with Windows Live Movie Maker.
Movie formats .asf, .avi, .dvr-ms, .m1v, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2,
.wm, .wmv, .WTV
Audio formats .aif, .aifc, .aiff, .asf, .au, .mp2, .mp3, .mpa, .snd, .wav, .wma
Picture formats .bmp, .dib, .emf, .gif, .jfif, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tif, .tiff, .wmf

Editing Your Video
The simplest way to make a movie is just to grab some pictures and/or a video, and possibly
an audio file for a soundtrack, and drag them into Windows Live Movie Maker. (A
soundtrack obviously makes more sense for photo slide shows as sound in a video file
would compete with the sound from an audio file.) Then, you can press Play in the Preview
pane and watch your simple, unedited creation play through to completion. For the very
simplest of videos, this is straightforward.

Adding Transitions

To access these transitions, click the Visual Effects tab in the ribbon. As shown in
Figure , the available transitions can be found, logically enough, in the Transitions
group.
You apply transitions on a clip-by-clip basis, and can apply only one transition to any
photo or video clip. Also, transitions apply to the beginning of the selected clip and do
not repeat. To add a transition, select the appropriate clip in the Storyboard and then click
the transition you want to apply. To test the transition, click Play in the Preview pane.
The video will begin playing at the selected clip with the transition in place, as shown
in Below Figure . Repeat with other clips as needed.

Trimming Video and Audio

In addition to transitions, effects, and titles, you can also perform a variety of other simple
edits on your projects. In this section, we’ll examine these trimming functions.
First, it’s possible to trim video clips, though as usual only in very simplistic ways. This is
an advantage for a number of reasons, but consider a typical example: you have a video
clip you took with your digital camera. As is often the case with such clips, the beginning
and end of the clip are pretty rough, so what you’d like to do is trim off the beginning and
end of the clip so that it begins and ends in more meaningful places.
In previous Movie Maker versions, you could do these types of trims, but also edit out any
portions of the video clips you wanted. Now, you can only trim the beginning and end of
a clip; you’re on your own with the middle. Here’s how you make that happen.
Load the video clip you’d like to edit into the Preview pane by selecting it in the
Storyboard view. Then, navigate to the Edit tab in the ribbon and click the Trim button
in the Video group. As shown in Figure , the timeline under the preview display
(and to the right of the Play button) picks up some scrubber tools. And a new Trim tab
appears while you work..

Outputting to the PC

Publish is handy when you want to go directly to the Web, but the resulting files are
pretty low quality and they’re certainly not good enough for archival purposes. A better
option is to output the video to the PC, and this is true even if you eventually intend to
publish it to the Web: the resulting video file can be of much higher quality than what’s
available via Publish.
Windows Live Movie Maker can output video in just two formats:
Windows ♦♦ Media DVD quality: This is a Windows Media Video (.WMV) file
encoded at 2.8 Mbps with a resolution of 640 × 480 at 30 frames per second (fps).
Technically speaking, this is actually sub-DVD quality (as DVDs are encoded at
720 × 480 in the U.S.) but it’s close enough for horseshoes. You should generally
choose this option when outputting to disk.
♦♦ Windows Media portable device: This is a Windows Media Video (.WMV) file
encoded at 1.5 Mbps with a resolution of 320 × 240 at 30 frames per second (fps).
This file will play well on a limited range of Windows Media–compatible devices
and Windows Mobile-based smart phones.
To output your video to the PC, you can click the down arrow below the Output button
in the Home tab to choose between the two aforementioned formats, as shown in
Figure . Or, you can just click the Output button. When you do so, the higher-quality
Windows Media DVD quality format is chosen for you.

Zune Features And How To Use

2010-03-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

Drag and drop: One of the more unexpected ways in which you can interact
with playlists is similar to the right-click method except that you have to do a bit
of work first. That is, you must mouse over the Playlists icon and either create a
new playlist or select an existing playlist from the pop-up menu that appears; in
either case, that will become the active playlist. Then, you can find content in the
Artists, Albums, or Songs pane that you’d like to make part of that playlist, select
it, and drag it over to the Playlists icon (see Figure )
From the Playlists subzone, you can add items to the Burn list to burn them to a CD or DVD,
in much the same manner as described above; drag and drop works just fine using the
Disk icon you’ll see there, as does the right-click menu. You can also use these methods
to sync playlists to a device.

To create an autoplaylist, mouse over the Playlists icon in the lower left corner of the Zune
application window and choose New autoplaylist from the pop-up menu that appears. Or,
navigate to the Playlists subview and click the New Autoplaylist button. Either way, the
Autoplaylist dialog appears, shown in Figure , enabling you to configure the filters
that will determine which songs appear in the autoplaylist.

Organizing Pictures

Zune’s support of pictures is pretty lackluster and seems to be oriented more toward device
synchronization than actual PC playback. In this sense, the Zune software is much like
Windows Media Player. It offers only basic picture viewing functionality, with simple slide
shows. That said, the Zune does present folders of photos in a very visual way. As shown
in Figure , folders of photos utilize a thumbnail and a large photo count within the
Zune player.

Sharing with the Xbox 360
Zune also supports an optional media-sharing feature that’s aimed at the Xbox 360,
Microsoft’s video game console. If you have one of these devices and think you may
want to stream music, movies, and other content from your Zune media library over
your home network, you’ll need to enable this functionality first. To do so, navigate to
Settings ➪ Sharing.
Click the button labeled Enable Media Sharing with Xbox 360. Once you have done this,
you can configure a few other sharing options, such as the name that will identify your
media collection to the Xbox 360, which media types to share (music, video, and pictures
are available, but only music is selected by default), and whether you want to share your
media library with any nearby Xbox 360 or would prefer to specify a particular console.
(The Zune-based PC and Xbox 360 must, of course, be on the same home network for the
sharing feature to work.)

The Zune PC Software

2010-03-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Like Apple, Microsoft no longer bundles its digital media software with its devices. Instead,
it directs users to the Zune Web site (www.zune.net) where you can download the latest
version of the Zune PC software. This is a smart move because Microsoft, again like Apple,
updates its software fairly regularly. (Not providing an install disk also enables Microsoft
to create smaller and more eco-friendly Zune packaging. You know, just like Apple.)
In addition, as with iTunes, you don’t need a device to take advantage of most of this
player’s features. It works just fine as a standalone media player. You may find it taking
the place of Windows Media Player for many of your day-to-day digital media playing
needs.
From the Zune Web site, shown in Figure , you can do a number of things, including
download the Zune software, which is what we’re going to focus on here.

Using Zune

The Zune user interface, shown in Figure , is a breath of fresh air compared to more
staid digital media applications like Windows Media Player and, especially, Apple iTunes.
This is by design. After basing the first version of its Zune PC software on Windows Media
Player, Microsoft went back to the drawing board and built its Zune 2 software from the
ground up as a brand-new application, and Zune 3 is an evolution of that design. The
result is visually stimulating and, frankly, kind of pretty.

Burning a DVD Movie or Music CD In Windows Media Center

2010-03-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

Creating an Audio CD
1. Select an artist, album, playlist, genre, or whatever song list from within Media
Center’s Music library, right-click it (or press the More Info button on the remote)
and choose Burn a CD/DVD. As shown in Figure , you will be prompted to
insert media if you haven’t already done so.

2. Choose Audio CD in the next screen and then click Next. Provide a name for
the CD (Media Center will default to the name of the media you previously
selected).
3. In the next screen, Review & Edit List, click Add More and repeat the preceding
steps until you’ve filled the CD or added everything you want.
4. Click Burn CD when you’re ready. Media Center will make sure you want to
proceed and then burn the CD.
Assuming you used write-once media (that is, not a rewriteable CD), the resulting CD
should work fine in any CD player, including in-car, home, and portable CD players.

Creating a DVD Movie
1. Open Recorded TV (by navigating to TV ➪ Recorded TV) and select the movie
or TV show you’d like to copy to DVD.
2. Right-click (or press the More Info button on the remote) and choose Burn a CD/
DVD, as shown in Figure .

3. If you haven’t already inserted compatible writeable optical media, Media Center
will prompt you to do so.
4. In the next screen, Media Center will ask if you prefer a Data DVD or a Video
DVD. Select Video DVD and click Next.
5. Pick a name for the DVD movie; Media Center will auto-select the name of the
TV show as the default.
6. In the next screen, Review & Edit List, you can perform a number of actions. If the
TV show you selected is the only one you want on the DVD, simply click Burn DVD
to commit the movie to disc. Otherwise, click Add More and repeat the preceding
steps.

Using an Xbox 360 or Media Center Extender

2010-03-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Your Xbox 360 includes instructions on connecting the device to your home network.
Assuming you’re up and running—you should be able to log on to the free Xbox Live
service, for example—you’re ready to link the Xbox 360 to your Media Center. To do so,
ensure that Windows Media Center is running on your Windows 7 PC. Then, turn on
the Xbox 360, being sure to eject whatever game DVD happens to be in the tray. On the
Xbox 360, navigate to My Xbox ➪ Windows Media Center. The Xbox 360 provides some
basic information about Media Center functionality via a Learn more button, or you can
simply click Continue.
If the two machines are connected to the same network, you will see a Windows Media
Center Extender dialog appear in Media Center. If you don’t see this dialog, you can
manually run the Extender Setup wizard, shown in Figure , by visiting Tasks ➪
Add Extender.
The wizard will walk you through the process of configuring the Xbox 360 (or other
Extender) to work with your Media Center PC. Note that the Xbox 360 and other Media
Center Extenders can be configured to work with only one Media Center PC at a time.
(However, each Media Center PC can connect to up to five different Extenders.)

The only tricky part of this Extender Setup process is that you need to enter an eight-digit
Setup Key in the Media Center Setup Wizard to link the two machines. When Media
Center prompts you for this key, walk over to the Xbox 360 and write down the number
displayed on the Xbox 360/Extender. Then, return to the PC and enter the Setup Key to
continue, as shown in Figure 1. Click Next to continue.

At this point, the Extender Setup wizard configures the PC to interact with the Extender.
This process can take a few minutes, as part of the configuration is locating and identifying
all of your media.

After configuring an Xbox 360 or other Extender for use with Media Center, you can visit
Settings ➪ Extender in order to add other Extenders, configure a single Extender-related
option (whether notifications are displayed when an Extender is connected), and view
information about the Extenders that are already connected, as shown in Figure .
From here, you can also run the network performance test again if you’d like

UMPC Software in windows 7

2010-03-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

While the underlying operating system on a UMPC is a stock version of Windows 7 Home
Premium, Professional, or Ultimate with full Tablet PC capabilities enabled, Microsoft
has added a number of UMPC-specific software solutions to the mix as well, and of
course various PC makers also supply their own device-specific utilities. Before we get
to that, however, you’re probably curious what the UMPC interface looks like. Shown in
Figure , it’s basically Windows 7…but on a low-resolution screen, typically 1,024 × 600 or lower.

The Origami Experience

The Origami Experience is the poster child of the UMPC world, a unique Microsoft
application that combines the simplicity and basic look and feel of Media Center with a
touch-enabled interaction scheme. While it’s geared primarily toward entertainment—
three of the four most prominent options in the initial UI are related to music, video,
and pictures—it can also be used as a straightforward program launcher. The Origami
Experience is shown in Figure .

Windows Mobile and Windows 7

2010-03-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

If you do adopt a Windows Mobile smartphone, you’ll find that it’s easy to integrate
with Windows 7, as well as some other Microsoft software, including Microsoft Office.
Windows 7, unlike previous versions of Windows, is Windows Mobile aware, so when you
plug in a Windows Mobile device for the first time, the OS will install drivers and then
trigger the downloading and installation of a Windows 7 feature called Windows Mobile
Device Center (see Figure ). This application controls synchronization between your
smartphone and Windows 7.

After you’ve installed Windows Mobile Device Center, the application will appear, as
shown in Figure .

At this point, Windows Mobile Device Center will prompt you to establish a partnership
between the smartphone and your PC. As shown in Figure 1, the application allows
syncing between Microsoft Outlook-based contacts, calendar, e‑mail, and tasks, as well
as Mobile Favorites (between IE on your PC and IE on the device) and files.

In the next step, you’re asked to name your device and can optionally create a shortcut to
Windows Mobile Device Center on your PC. When this is done, Windows Mobile Device
Center will sync information between the PC and the device, as shown in Figure .
NOTE-You can create a partnership between your smartphone and up to two PCs. To
end a partnership, unplug the smartphone from the PC, run Windows Mobile
Device Center, and choose Mobile Device Settings ➪ End a partnership.

Quick Tabs In IE

2010-03-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

Although other browsers have had tabbed browsing functionality for years, Internet
Explorer was the first to utilize an innovative new tabbed browsing feature called Quick
Tabs. Quick Tabs are a visual way of managing the open tabs you have in any Internet
Explorer window, and it’s likely that you’ll be quite taken with it. In fact, it’s so nicelooking
that other browser makers rushed to copy it for their own products, an interesting
about-face. (Yes, even Apple. Especially Apple.)
To understand why Quick Tabs is so cool, you’ll have to open a number of Web pages in different
tabs in Internet Explorer 8. When you are displaying two or more tabs in an Internet
Explorer browser window, you’ll notice that a new icon appears next to the Favorites Center
and Add to Favorites icons. This icon, resembling four squares, enables you to use Quick
Tabs. When you click the Quick Tabs icon, the document contained in each tab is tiled in
a thumbnail view within the main browser window, as shown in Figure .

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2010-03-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

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Internet Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-03-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Keyboard shortcuts make it possible to navigate the Internet Explorer user interface without
having to move your hand away from the mouse. Internet Explorer 8 supports virtually
all of the keyboard shortcuts supported by earlier Internet Explorer versions, but it
also adds a slew of new shortcuts related to new functionality in this version. Below Table
summarizes the Internet Explorer 8 keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard Shortcut What It Does

Alt+left arrow key Navigate to the previous page.
Alt+right arrow key Navigate to the next page.
Esc Stop the current page from loading.
F5 or Ctrl+R or Ctrl+F5 Refresh (reload) the current page.
Alt+Home Go to your home page.
Alt+D Select the address bar.
Ctrl+Enter Automatically add www and .com to what you typed in the address bar.
Spacebar Scroll down the Web page.
Shift+spacebar Scroll up the Web page.
Alt+F4 Close the current window.
Ctrl+D Add the current page to your Favorites list.
Alt+N Select the information bar.
Shift+F10 Open the context menu for the currently selected item.
Shift+mouse click Open the link in a new window.
Ctrl+mouse click Open the link in a new tab but do not select that tab.
Ctrl+Shift+mouse click Open the link in new tab and navigate to that tab.
Ctrl+T Open a new tab.
Alt+Enter Open a new tab from the address bar.
Ctrl+Tab Switch between available tabs.
Ctrl+Shift+Tab Switch between available tabs in the opposite direction.
Ctrl+W Close the current tab (or current window if no tabs are open).
Ctrl+x (where x represents the Switch to a particular tab
number of the tab, as numbered
from 1 to 8)

Installing Windows Live Mail

2010-03-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

As its name suggests, Windows Live Mail is part of the Windows Live family of products
and services and thus may not have been included with your copy of Windows 7. Strictly
speaking, Windows Live Mail is part of the Windows Live Essentials product suite, which
you can download from http://download.live.com. But chances are good you already
have it: Microsoft delivers Windows Live Essentials to Windows 7 users via Windows
Update, and many PC makers ship the product with their computers as well.
TIP--If you’re not sure whether you have Windows Live Mail installed, open the Start menu
and type windows live mail into Start Menu Search. If nothing comes up, it’s time to
download and install the application.

Once the install finishes downloading, it will run (after a brief UAC security prompt)
and present the simple interface shown in Figure .
This installer will present a list of Windows Live Essentials applications you can install.
Right now, we’re only concerned with Windows Live Mail, which is represented by the
Mail option in the list; but you are, of course, free to install any of the other Windows Live
Essentials programs if you’d like.

When you’re ready to install, click the Install button. The Windows Live Installer begins
installing Windows Live Mail (and any other programs you may have selected), as shown
in Figure .
When the Windows Live Essentials Installer is completed, you’ll be asked to choose a few
simple settings options, click Continue, and then conclude the process. It’s time to check
out Windows Live Mail.
TIP-- As previously discussed, we assume that you have a Windows Live ID, which is
Microsoft’s online persona management system. If you don’t have one, you will need
to create one. You can create a Windows Live ID in various ways, but the easiest may
be to simply sign up for a Hotmail account (www.hotmail.com). The e‑mail account
you create during that process will be your Windows Live ID as well.

Windows Live Messenger

2010-03-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: It’s an excellent way to communicate with others around the world via
text, audio, or video chat.
Type: Windows application.
Windows Live Messenger replaces MSN Messenger as Microsoft’s mainstream instant
messaging (IM) application for consumers. In truth, the term “instant messaging” doesn’t
really do this application justice. Although it can indeed be used to hold text-, audio-, and
video-based chats online with your friends, co-workers, and other contacts, Windows Live
Messenger is blurring the line with telephone-like functionality thanks to its integration
of Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies. That means you can make long-distance and
international phone calls via Windows Live Messenger for a small fraction of what you’re
probably being charged by the phone company. It might be time to invest in a PC headset.
Windows Live Messenger is shown in Figure.
The latest version of Windows Live Messenger is the most extensive update yet of
Microsoft’s popular IM client and it is being refined to form the Windows-based hub for
the social features in Windows Live. Windows Live Messenger will integrate with the
Favorites and Groups features in Windows Live People. The biggest change, however, is
the What’s New feed, which works with the consolidated What’s New feed that’s available
across all of your Windows Live and third-party services.

Windows Live Writer

2010-03-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: It’s the ultimate blog editor.
Type: Windows application.
While every blogging solution available offers a Web form of some sort where aspiring
bloggers can post their writings and other blog items, such forms are relatively primitive.
Enter Windows Live Writer, a superb blog editor that works with Windows Live Spaces,
yes, but also with virtually every other blog service on Earth.
Shown in Figure , Windows Live Writer features an attractive user interface and an
amazingly complete feature set.
Windows Live Writer works with common blog features such as categories, and includes
inline spell checking; hyperlink, image, photo, and video insertion capabilities; and awesome
text-editing features. You can even upload images to Google’s Picasa Web service,
in addition to Windows Live Spaces. Writer is an impressive little niche application that
many people are going to find quite advantageous. It’s that good.

Windows Live Toolbar

2010-03-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: You’re a heavy user of IE and Microsoft’s Live services.
Type: Windows application.
Anyone who’s used Internet Explorer is probably familiar with the notion of helper toolbars
that include such things as integrated search boxes, pop-up blockers, and a variety of other
useful features. Given how advanced Internet Explorer is—it includes, by default, both
an integrated Search box and a pop-up blocker, for example—you might think that these
toolbars would be a thing of the past. That, alas, is not true; and while the Googles and
Yahoo!s of the world are still offering their own brands of Internet Explorer–compatible
toolbars, Microsoft has one, too. Not surprisingly, it’s called Windows Live Toolbar.
Windows Live Toolbar, shown in Figure , includes numerous potentially useful
features, such as smart menus that enable you to find any location on a map simply by
highlighting the address on a Web page. There’s a form-fill function that saves commonly
typed Web form information (name, address, telephone number, and so on), sparing you
from having to manually enter that data repeatedly. The toolbar also integrates with a
number of useful Windows Live online services, giving you one-click access to such things
as Windows Live Spaces (blogging) and Windows Live Mail.
Why would you want such a thing? Toolbars like the Windows Live Toolbar are aimed at
heavy users of a particular Web services company, so if you have bought into Microsoft’s
online vision—which is absolutely okay, by the way—the Windows Live toolbar might
be useful to you.
The real appeal of the toolbar, frankly, isn’t what is installed by default, but rather what
you can add to it: Microsoft and its partners offer a wide variety of toolbar buttons that
extend the toolbar, and thus the browser itself, in very interesting ways. One excellent
example is the Windows Live Favorites button, which enables you to save your Favorites
up in the cloud, in a single place, rather than maintain different Favorites collections on
each PC. That’s a nifty feature. Whether it’s worth the download is your call.

Windows Live Movie Maker

2010-03-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: It provides basic video-editing features and Web services integration.
Type: Windows application.
Windows Live Movie Maker includes various editing features, effects, transitions, and
themes, as well as numerous ways to share the movies you create via the Internet, optical
discs, or your TV, cell phone, or portable video device. Windows Live Movie Maker, shown
in Figure , also supports a new plug-in model, similar to other Windows Live applications,
so that third parties can provide other capabilities and format/codec support.
Because Windows 7 no longer ships with a video-editing solution, Windows Live Movie
Maker is now the preferred application for this need..

Windows Live Groups

2010-03-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: It provides a way to collaborate online with groups of people, such as
families, sports teams, and the like.
Type: Online service.
Windows Live Groups is an intriguing idea: basically, it’s like Microsoft’s server-oriented
SharePoint for consumers, offering a way for any group of individuals to share things
such as documents and other files, calendars, and photos, and a place to connect, discuss
things, and discover what’s going on. Windows Live Groups (groups.live.com) is shown
in Figure .
When you create a group, a group calendar is created for you in Windows Live Calendar and
you can optionally overlay your group calendars in your own private calendar if you’d like.
Groups also get their own dedicated storage in SkyDrive that is separate from your individual
storage, and you can privately share photos among members of a group very easily.
Unique to Groups is the ability to start and participate in discussions, which are essentially
Web-based newsgroups, but private, of course, to the group.

Windows Live Calendar

2010-03-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: Microsoft’s online calendaring service supports all the expected scheduling
features plus tasks management and calendar standards interoperability.
Type: Online service.
Windows Live Calendar, like Windows Live People, was formerly a subcomponent
of Windows Live Hotmail. And like Windows Live People, Windows Live Calendar (calendar
.live.com) is now on a separate development path and has been heavily updated since
its inception. Windows Live Calendar is shown in Figure .

Windows Live People

2010-03-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: Microsoft’s contacts management system aggregates contacts from across
all of the other Live services you use, including Hotmail and Messenger.
Type: Online service.
Windows Live People (formerly Windows Live Contacts) was formerly considered a subcomponent
of Hotmail. It has been upgraded along with Hotmail, while sporting a number
of new features of its own. These include contacts searching, one-click contacts addition,
and so on. Windows Live People (people.live.com), shown in Figure , integrates
with both Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft’s instant messaging client,
and also with other Windows Live services. If one of your Messenger contacts updates his
or her personal information, for example, those changes are reflected across all Windows
Live People–compatible products and services, so you’ll see the changes in your contacts
list in Hotmail as well.
Windows Live People also integrates nicely with various portable devices, especially
Windows Mobile–based smartphones. Here, Microsoft is delivering on its “software plus
services” mantra in a major way, because accessing your contacts—and thus their phone
numbers—via a mobile device is, of course, the ultimate example of anywhere/anytime
information access.

Windows Live Hotmail--most successful online services ever created

2010-03-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: This is one of the most pervasive and successful online services ever
created; you get a free account with your Windows Live ID.
Type: Online service
Significantly upgraded in 2007, Windows Live Hotmail (mail.live.com or hotmail.com)—
more commonly referred to simply as Hotmail—is now a modern and mature Web mail
service. It offers desktop application–like capabilities through its Web-based interface. It
features excellent Windows and Windows Mobile integration hooks, and can be accessed
from Microsoft’s popular Outlook e‑mail client.
For hundreds of millions of people worldwide, Hotmail is a big part of what it means to be
online, connected, and communicating with other people. Of course, Hotmail also accommodates
the various ways and places in which people now want to access e‑mail. That is,
many people now want to access e‑mail constantly, whether they’re at work, at home, or, with
a new generation of mobile devices, on the go. Microsoft has Hotmail-based solutions for all of
these scenarios. Home users can, of course, access the Web-based Hotmail service or access
Hotmail through Outlook 2003 and 2007 via free Outlook Live Connector software or the
Windows Live Mail client .

Here are some features of interest in Windows Live Hotmail:

User Interface:

From a look-and-feel perspective, Windows Live Hotmail closely resembles a desktop
e‑mail application such as Outlook, as shown in Figure . There’s a toolbar at the top,
with all the expected options, such as New, Reply, Forward, Delete, Check Mail, and so on.
There’s also an Outlook-like three-pane view, with a folder list, e‑mail list, and Reading
pane displayed horizontally as you move your eye from left to right across the page.
One important part of the Hotmail user interface is the Reading pane, which works like
similar features in Microsoft Outlook and Windows Live Mail. This pane, which can be
displayed on the right, on the bottom, or disabled altogether, enables you to view e‑mail
as you navigate from message to message in the e‑mail list, without having to open a
separate window or, as is more typical with Web mail, navigate to a new page. The result
is an e‑mail application-like experience.
As part of the wider Windows Live Web experience, Microsoft also provides some stylized
themes so you can personalize Hotmail and the other services you access online.
Security Features:
If you’re familiar with some of the security features Microsoft has added to Windows 7
applications like Internet Explorer and Windows Live Mail, then you won’t be surprised
by the security advances in Windows Live Hotmail. There’s a new safety bar—similar to
the information bar debuted in Internet Explorer—that displays color-coded alert flags for
e‑mails that Hotmail finds suspicious. This provides a nice visual cue about the safety level
of the message. For example, you’ll see a yellow safety bar if a message with embedded
images, links, or attachments arrives from a source that’s not in your contacts list or safe
senders list; and you’ll see a red safety bar when a potentially fraudulent e‑mail message,
such as a phishing e‑mail, arrives.
Hotmail now automatically scans all e‑mail attachments. This scanning is free and
works regardless of whether you’ve configured a similar AV scanner on your desktop
computer.
Hotmail also sports pervasive junk mail controls with automatic reporting and usercontrolled
block and allow lists for fine-tuning e‑mail filtering. Overall, the level of protection
is just about exactly right and what you’d expect from a modern Web mail solution.
Productivity Enhancements:

Windows Live Hotmail provides every user with virtually unlimited storage space.
Microsoft’s policy here is simple: it will increase your storage requirements in the future
as needed in order to ensure that storage space is never a differentiator between Hotmail
and other services. That’s a big deal, because it means that virtually all e‑mail users could
manage all of their e‑mail via Microsoft’s servers if they wanted to.
When you compose a new e‑mail message, Windows Live Hotmail provides automatic
address completion functionality, which is handy. The recommended addresses are drawn from your contacts list as well as the list of e‑mail addresses from which you’ve received e‑mail.
In another e‑mail application-like feature, Hotmail provides automatic inline spell checking
with suggested corrections, just like the desktop-based Windows Live Mail product:
you’ll see a squiggly red line under potential misspellings, and when you right-click that
word, a list of corrections appears. You can also add words to your Hotmail dictionary
via this right-click menu, or just choose to ignore the notation. Unfortunately, there’s no
grammar checker.
You can also drag and drop e‑mail items (but not folders, not even for reordering), much
like a desktop application. If you want to drag an e‑mail message from the Inbox to the
Deleted folder, for example, you just click and hold and then and drag it over, as shown
in Figure .
Hotmail also supports multi-selection, so you can select multiple e‑mail messages, contiguously
or not, and drag them to new locations, or right-click and perform actions such
as Mark As Read, Delete, and the like.

Another hidden feature is the Photo Upload tool: when you are ready to attach a file in
an e‑mail message in Hotmail, you’ll see two options in the pop-down menu: File and
Photo. As expected, File displays a Choose File dialog from which you can navigate in
your system to find the file you’d like to attach. If you choose Photo, you’ll see the Photo
Upload tool, which loads in the browser window and enables you to graphically navigate
through pictures in a single folder and select the ones you’d like to add, as shown in Figure .

Windows Live Profile

2010-03-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: It provides a central location to manage your consolidated online persona,
which consists of your Windows Live ID and any associated and shared information
as well as an aggregation of numerous third-party services.
Type: Online service.
Where Windows Live Home is about viewing information about your Windows Live network—
that is, those people with whom you have some sort of digital relationship, typically
via Windows Live People—Windows Live Profile (profile.live.com), shown in
Figure , provides the opposite end of this equation: It is the place you go to broadcast
information about yourself to others. Here, you configure which information you’d like
to publish about yourself and who you’d like to see it. You can edit all the typical profile
information—name, picture, personal message, and the like—and invite people to join
your network. On the surface, it’s all pretty obvious stuff.

But the real power of Windows Live Profile lies in its ability to aggregate multiple Web
activities—that is, things you’re doing on other social networks, Web sites, and services—
in a single place, creating an automated “What’s New” feed that you can share with
others. Microsoft reports that it has partnered with dozens of companies, linking your
activities on services like Facebook, iLike, Twitter, WordPress, Yelp, and many others, as
well as virtually any custom blog or service that exposes an RSS-type feed, into a single
source of information.
So, say you are a Twitter user, a WordPress Blogger, and you upload photos to Windows
Live Photos. Without Windows Live Profile, anytime you updated one of these things, you
could only share those updates via those specific services. Now, you can share all three—
and any number of other activities—via the single Windows Live “What’s New” feed that
aggregates virtually everything you’re doing online. You set up each service from within
Windows Live Profile just once and then you’re good to go. From then on, everything you
do is automatically added to that one What’s New feed.

Windows Live Home

2010-03-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: It provides a single Web page, or portal, that aggregates content from
virtually all of the other Windows Live services mentioned in this chapter.
Type: Online service.
Windows Live Home (home.live.com), shown in Figure , is a dynamic, living front
end to your entire life. Okay, that may sound a bit dramatic, but if you configure this
page to its full potential, it’s hard not to be impressed by how useful it has become. And
if you’re looking for a single view into how impressive Microsoft’s Live services are, look
no further.
Microsoft describes Windows Live Home as a dashboard to your network of friends, and
this curiously businesslike description is accurate enough. Here, you will find a useful
aggregation of what’s going on with you and your friends. You will see mail, calendar, and
weather information as before, but in a more attractive guise. Favorite photos adorn the
header. News headlines and other configurable feeds drive the right side of the display.
But the centerpiece, really, is the What’s New feed, driven by the activities you and your
friends have configured, both within Windows Live and without. This feed lists all of the
activities you and others are engaged in, providing a central location for, well, your entire
life—again, if you’ve configured it correctly.

Windows Live ID--everyone needed this

2010-03-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

Why you want it: It’s needed to access many other Windows Live products and services.
Type: Online service.
Though Microsoft doesn’t explicitly market Windows Live ID, this important service sits
at the middle of all of the company’s Live products and services—including, yes, its Xbox
Live and Zune Marketplace/Zune Social services. That’s because Windows Live ID is
Microsoft’s central single sign-on service, and any Microsoft online product or service
that requires a logon of some kind requires a Windows Live ID.
It is the way in which you acquire a Windows Live ID: typically by signing up for a Microsoft online
service, such as Hotmail or Windows Live Messenger, which requires a logon. However,
you don’t have to do it that way. In fact, if you know you’re going to be interacting with
various Windows Live (and other Microsoft Live) services going forward, you can simply
sign up for a Windows Live ID first. Here’s how you do it.
Simply navigate to home.live.com with Internet Explorer and click the Sign up button.
Yes, you’re free to use the browser of your choice, but we’ve found that Microsoft’s online
services still work best with the company’s own browser, so it’s best to step through the
original sign-up process with IE instead of Firefox or whatever other browser you may
use. You can use another browser to access the service after you’re signed up.
Your Windows Live ID will be an e‑mail address of some kind. Note that you are free to
use an existing (non-Microsoft Live) e‑mail address as your Windows Live ID (like xyz@clubsachin.in), or you can create a new Windows Live ID using one of Microsoft’s domains.

Once the account is created, you are directed to Windows Live Account Services, where
you will see that you are signed in to your new account. At that point you can access any
of the Live services provided my microsoft.. when prompted to log on, do so with your
newly created Windows Live ID.

Restoring the Entire PC in Windows 7--Very important

2010-03-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

If a catastrophic hardware or software failure has rendered your computer untenable, and
you simply want to return to a known good system backup, you can use one of the system
images you’ve previously created. Note, however, that you typically need to boot your PC
into the Windows Recovery Environment to make this happen, either using the boot files
on your PC or using the system repair disc that you previously created. Note, too, that
restoring your PC in this fashion will wipe out all of the data and settings changes you’ve
made since the last system image, so this should not be undertaken lightly.
Follow these steps to restore your entire PC using a system image:
1. Reboot the computer.
2. If you are using a system repair disc, boot the PC with that. Otherwise, after your
PC has finished its BIOS sequence, hold down the F8 key. Choose Repair Your
Computer from the Advanced Boot Options screen (see Figure ) and tap
Enter.

3. After the Loading files screen, choose the correct language and keyboard input
method and then click Next.
4. If you booted from the hard drive, you will need to choose System Image Recovery
from the System Recovery Options window that appears. Otherwise, System
Recovery will examine the hard drives attached to your PC and look for Windows
installs. When it’s done, it will list the install it found and give you the opportunity
to use Windows 7’s built-in recovery tools to fix problems with Windows
or you can restore your PC to an earlier time using
a system image. Choose that latter option and click Next.

5. The Re-image your computer wizard begins, as shown in Figure . In the first
phase of this wizard, you can choose the latest image available (the default) or
you can select a different system image. When you’ve chosen, click Next.
6. In this step, you can choose to format the PC’s hard drive and repartition disks (as
Windows 7 Setup would do) to match the layout of the system image. Generally speaking, you should enable this option. Click Next to continue.
7. In the final phase of the wizard, you can verify your selections and click Finish
to continue. Note that restoring an entire PC from a system image can be a timeconsuming
process.

Backing Up the Entire PC: Creating System Image In Windows 7

2010-03-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

To create a system image, launch Backup and Restore and click the Create a system image
link on the left. This launches the Create a system image wizard, shown in Figure,
which walks you through the steps needed to completely back up your PC system. You can save system images to hard disks or optical storage (such as recordable CDs or DVDs), as
well as network locations (Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate only). However,network-based system images cannot be securely protected, as hard drive–based and optical disc–based backups can.
NOTE--You can only write a system image to a hard disk that is formatted with the NTFS
file system. That’s because system images often exceed the 4GB file size limit
imposed by the older and less reliable FAT32 file system.

Click Next. As shown in Figure , the wizard will give you a chance to confirm the backup settings and remind you which partitions are being imaged. It will also provide an estimate of the amount of space needed to create a system image. The required storage
space varies according to the size and usage of the hard disk on your PC.

As the image is created, Windows Backup will provide an ongoing progress indicator, as shown in Figure .

This process could take some time, especially on a heavily used PC. When it’s done, Windows
Backup will prompt you to create a system repair disc (see below Figure). You should do so: While Windows 7 does install recovery files directly into the boot partition, in some
instances, these files will not boot the PC. If that happens, you can use the system repair
disc to boot your PC, a requirement for restoring the entire PC with the system image .

Restoring files in windows 7

2010-03-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Follow these steps to trigger a restore of your
own data:
1. Open Backup and Restore and click the Restore my files button.
2. The Restore Files window, shown in Figure , appears.

From here, you have three options:
• Search: If you know exactly what you’re looking for, and need only one or
a handful of files, you can use the Search button to search your existing
backup sets.
• Browse for files: If you’d like to manually browse around the backup set to
find a file or any number of individual files, click Browse for files. You’ll be
presented with a modified File Open dialog (see 2nd Figure), from which you
can browse the various backups you’ve created, diving into the full backup
or just the files in your user account.
• Browse for folders: Choose this option to recover entire folders full of files
(and other folders).
Whichever method you choose, you can mark files and folders for restoration as
you go and then continue looking for more.

When you’re ready to go, click the Next button in the Restore Files window.
Windows Backup will prompt you to specify where you want to restore the files
to: either their original location or a different location (see Figure).

Choose one and then click Restore. Windows Backup will begin restoring your
files. If any of the backup files will overwrite an existing file, you’ll see the normal
Copy File window shown in Figure , which offers you a chance to overwrite,copy but keep both files, or not copy.
When the restore is complete, Windows Backup will let you know that the files have been
restored and give you an opportunity to view a list of restored files.

Managing backups in windows 7

2010-03-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

Once you have created your first data backup, a few things in the user interface change.
First, Backup and Restore indicates that you’ve configured a backup location, as shown
in Figure , and notes when the last and next backups occur. You can also change the
automatic backup settings and restore all of the files for the current user.

You can also manage the disk space used on your backup device. When you click the
Manage space link in Backup and Restore, the Manage Windows Backup disk space window
will appear, displaying information about the currently selected backup device. As
shown in Figure , you can browse the file system of the backup location, view backups
stored on that device, and change settings associated with system image backups.

If you do click View backups, you can’t actually navigate around inside of the backups
you have made so far. Instead, you’re provided with the window shown in Figure .
From here, you can view the backups and delete them, but not get into them in any
meaningful way.

Backing up pictures,documents and other data in windows 7

2010-03-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

If you want to create a data backup, you can use Windows Backup, which is available from
Backup and Restore. To do so, launch Backup and Restore and click the Set up backup link.
This launches Windows Backup’s Setup up backup wizard, as shown in Figure .

In the first step of the wizard, you must choose a location to store the backup. You can
save a backup to an internal or external hard disk or other storage device, a recordable
optical disk (typically a writeable CD or DVD), or a network share. (Network backup is
not available in Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, or Home Premium, however.) The amount
of space you need, of course, depends on the amount of data you are backing up. The
wizard automatically selects the local storage offering the most free space, but you can
change this selection, of course.

NOTE-Microsoft does not allow you to back up to the disk or partition you are backing up.
That is, if you are backing up data from the C: drive, you cannot save the backup to
the C: drive.

In the second step, shown in Figure , you have two options: Let Windows choose
(recommended) or Let me choose. If you choose the former, Windows Backup will automatically
back up data files saved in libraries, on the desktop, and in any folders found
in your user folder. (Windows Backup will also create a system image if you choose this
option, and then automatically make periodic backups on a schedule going forward.)

If you select Let me choose, Windows Backup will present an expandable view of your file
system, as shown in Figure , with some recommended locations already selected for
you. From this interface, you can pick and choose exactly what to back up. You can also
optionally cause a system image to be made with this type of backup.

In the next step, review what you’ve chosen. As shown in Figure , this step is important
because you can change the schedule on which Windows Backup backs up your data
going forward. Click the Change schedule link to change the default, which is to make
a backup every Sunday night at 7:00 p.m.

Click Save settings and run backup to start the backup and establish a backup schedule
going forward. As the backup begins, Backup and Restore displays its progress (see
Figure ).

As the backup runs, the Action Center icon in the notification area of the taskbar
changes, adding a small black clock. If you click this icon, you’ll see the message shown
in Figure : Backup in progress. This message will occur in the future, when Windows
Backup runs in the background.

SECRET--You can create multiple automatic data backup schedules if you want. For example,
you may want to back up different drives or data file types at different times or with
different regularity.

Using BitLocker To Go on Windows XP and Vista

2010-03-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

BitLocker To Go–protected devices work identically on all Windows 7 systems. But you
can also use these devices on Windows XP-based and Vista-based PCs. For these systems,
Microsoft provides a BitLocker Reader application right on the encrypted device,
enabling users of those PCs to access the stored files. However, this Reader application
isn’t full-featured, as it is read-only. So after you’ve provided the password to unlock the
drive, you can view files on the device and copy them to your PC hard drive, but you cannot
save files back to the device.
BUT Got a Mac? You’re really out of luck, then. You cannot access BitLocker To
Go–protected devices from Mac OS X at all.

Configuring BitLocker To Go

2010-03-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

You can configure devices protected with BitLocker To Go in various ways. If you rightclick
a protected device in Explorer, a new Manage BitLocker option appears in the
pop-up menu, replacing Turn on BitLocker. (You can also access this functionality from
the BitLocker Drive Encryption control panel, of course.) The resulting window, shown
in Figure , provides a number of options, including ways to change and remove the
device’s password, remove a smart card (if one is configured), add a smart card, resave or
print the recovery key, and automatically unlock the drive on the current PC.

The BitLocker Drive Encryption control panel provides one unique additional option:
The ability to turn off BitLocker, as shown in 2nd Figure . In fact, this is the only place
in Windows 7 from which you can remove BitLocker from a device. (Short of formatting
the disk, which would of course also delete any data stored on it.)

installing BITLOCKER TO GO in windows 7

2010-03-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

To enable BitLocker To Go, simply plug in the removable storage device, open Computer,
right-click the device, and choose Turn on BitLocker from the pop-up menu that appears,as shown in Figure.
Alternatively, you can manually run the BitLocker Drive Encryption control panel (bitl in Start Menu Search) to view the status of BitLocker and BitLocker To Go on your various
attached drives. From this interface, shown in Figure below, simply click the Turn on
BitLocker link next to the appropriate drive.

Either way, the BitLocker Drive Encryption wizard will start up in a separate window
(see Figure ). After a short wait, you’ll be asked to choose between password- and
smartcard-based locking. Most individuals will need to use a password, but many larger
businesses are starting to use smartcards, which allow administrators to centrally manage
BitLocker certificates in AD.

In the next step of the wizard, you are asked how you would like to store your recovery key
(assuming this hasn’t been already configured in a managed AD environment). This key
will help you recover the contents of a protected drive should you forget your password,
lose your smartcard, or suffer some similar problem. You have two options: save (to a text
file) or print. If you do choose to print or save the recovery key, you’ll see something like
the screen shown in Figure .

Once a storage device is encrypted, you’ll notice a few changes. The icon for disks
encrypted by BitLocker To Go is different, for starters, and includes a padlock/key overlay, as shown in Figure .

Also, when you remove and then insert a BitLocker-protected storage device, you will be
prompted to provide a password to unlock the disk (see Figure ). Once you do so, the
normal Auto Run dialog will appear and the device will work normally.
Remember, this prompt will appear when you plug the BitLocker-protected device into
any Windows 7–based PC. That is, you do not need Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate
to use this feature, because once BitLocker To Go protection is added to a device, it is
compatible with all Windows 7 versions.

SECRET--
You can choose to automatically unlock a BitLocker To Go protected disk on a
per-PC basis. This is arguably safe to do if you provide a password when you
log on to your PC. And it’s certainly more convenient than retyping the device
password every time you plug it in. If you do enable this option, it will not affect
how BitLocker To Go functions on other PCs.

Using System Restore to Repair Windows

2010-03-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

System Restore automatically backs up key system files at opportune times, such as when you’re installing a new hardware driver. (Otherwise, an automatic restore occurs once every 24 hours.) That way, if a driver
or application wreaks havoc with your PC, you can use System Restore to reload older
system file versions and get back up and running again. Microsoft describes this behavior
as “restoring Windows to any earlier point in time,”.

System Restore has the following two main interface points:
♦♦ System protection: This is located in the System Properties window, which can be
found by opening the Start menu, right-clicking Computer, choosing Properties,
clicking Advanced system, and then clicking System protection in the tasks list.
As shown in first Figure , this interface enables you to configure which disks or
partitions you will automatically protect (typically only the system volume, which
is usually drive C:). You can also manually create a system restore point by clicking
the Create button. You need to supply a name for the restore point.

♦♦ System Restore wizard--

This wizard restores your PC’s key system files to a previous
point in time. To launch this wizard, open the Start menu and navigate to All
Programs Accessories ➪ System Tools ➪ System Restore. (Or just type system
restore in Start Menu Search.)
In the introductory page of the wizard, shown in Figure , select Choose a
different restore point and then click Next to choose a restore point.

As shown in Figure , you will now see a list of restore points. Most of these
were automatically created by the system and will include a description of what
was going on when each restore point was created. If you manually created
your own restore points from System Protection, those restore points will have
“Manual:” appended to the front of the restore point name.
When you select a restore point, Windows will move into the secure desktop and
begin restoring your system to its previous state. This requires the PC to reboot.
Note that any applications you have installed since that restore point will almost
certainly need to be reinstalled.

You can also access System Restore from the Windows Recovery Environment . This is useful when an install has made Windows particularly unstable. As shown in Figure , accessing System Restore from this environment is similar to doing so from within Windows.

Using Startup Repair to Fix a Non-Booting PC

2010-03-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

If you choose the option titled Startup Repair, the Startup Repair utility will open and scan
your PC for boot-related issues . If it finds any, it fixes them automatically
If not, it simply provides a message to that effect.Startup Repair will run automatically if your PC is ailing.
And…that’s it. That’s literally all it does.

SECRET--
We accessed the Startup Repair tool manually here in order to explain its user
interface and functionality, but you won’t typically need to do this: if your PC
doesn’t boot properly for some reason, Startup Repair will run automatically and
fix the problem and then boot right into Windows 7. And if you happen to walk
away from the computer at that time, you may not even realize it happened.

remove unwanted local disc 'Q' from your PC

2010-03-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

for no reason that I can think up, I suddenly have a local disk Q: in Explorer. There is no hardware associated with it, it doesn't show up in Disk Manager, it's not a network drive, and everything I try to do with it results in "access denied".
is this same problem you are facing?/ if yes then dont worry its not a virus..
Never mind, I've figured it out. Apparently microsoft Office 2010 beta is reason for this..
so solution for this is simple.. follow these simple steps
1)go to control pannel
2)uninstall microsoft office 2010 beta from your pc
3)now restart your pc ..THATS IT ..
now your extra drive Q is gone from your pc..

pinning items to the taskbar--new feature

2010-03-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

Remember, the Windows 7 taskbar doesn’t just contain buttons for running applications
and other open windows. In this Windows version, the taskbar can also contain pinned
shortcuts for applications, folders, documents, and other items. As shown in Figure ,
different types of taskbar buttons look different. The Explorer button represents a pinned
taskbar shortcut, and because no Explorer windows are open, its button appears to float
on the taskbar, without any border. The Windows Media Player button, however, has a
single rectangular border around it. This means that the Media Player application is active
and running. And the Internet Explorer button has a bigger, more 3D border, indicating
that multiple IE windows and/or tabs are open.

By default, Windows 7 pins three buttons to the taskbar for you: IE, Explorer, and Windows
Media Player. But you can pin your own items to the taskbar, and you can unpin the default
buttons if you don’t want them there.
There are a few ways to pin an item to the taskbar. The most obvious is to open the Start
menu’s MRU or All Programs list, navigate to the shortcut you want, right-click it, and
choose Pin to Taskbar from the pop-up menu that appears, as shown in Figure .
SECRET --If you pin an item from the Start menu MRU to the taskbar, it will no longer
appear in the Start menu . So if you’d like to also pin this item to the Start
menu, you have dig deeper into the Start menu’s All Programs list to find it.

You can also drag and drop items onto the taskbar to pin them. As shown in Figure ,
the system will alert you that dropping the item will cause it to be pinned.

the new windows 7 taskbar

2010-03-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

In Windows 7, the system taskbar works similarly to the way it did in Windows XP and
Vista but it’s been significantly enhanced as well, and is now more easily customized.
More dramatically, the Windows 7 taskbar has picked up some functionality that was
previously the purview of the Start menu: it can be used as an application, folder, or
document launcher as well.

Every time you open an application or Explorer window, you will see a new button appear
in the taskbar. When you click one these buttons, the selected window comes to the
forefront. If that window was already at the forefront, it will be minimized. If you simply
mouse over the button, you’ll see a live thumbnail preview, as shown in Figure .

When a taskbar button does represent multiple windows, the button image is slightly different.
As you can see in Figure , a button with multiple underlying windows takes
on a more 3D look, providing a hint that there’s more underneath. And when you mouse
over it, you’ll see multiple thumbnails, each representing one of the open windows.

adding gadjets to desktop

2010-03-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

You access Windows Gadgets from the Windows Gadget Gallery, shown in Figure .
You can launch this application from the Start menu (just type gad in Start Menu Search)
or by right-clicking the desktop and choosing Gadgets from the pop-up menu that appears.
(If you already have one or more gadgets displayed on the desktop, you can also right-click
a gadget and choose Add gadget from the resulting pop-up menu.)

There are two ways to add a gadget to the desktop:
Double-click the gadget in Windows Gadget Gallery. When you do so, the gadget is placed
in the top-right corner of the desktop. Subsequent gadgets are added down the right side
of the screen. So if you were to add three gadgets using this method, the screen might resemble..

Drag and drop a gadget onto the desktop, as shown in Figure . When you add gadgets
to the desktop using this method, they will sit wherever you drop them.

However you add gadgets, you can move them around on the desktop as you’d like. Unlike
with desktop icons, they can be moved indiscriminately around on the desktop, as they’re
not bound by the positioning rules that govern icons.

jump lists in windows 7

2010-03-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

While the Windows 7 Start menu works largely like that of its predecessor, there has been
one major change: now, items in the Start menu (and, as you will see, in the taskbar as
well) can optionally have associated Jump Lists, which provide access to documents or
tasks associated with those items. Jump Lists expose themselves a bit differently in the
Start menu than they do in the taskbar, but the idea is the same: instead of launching
an application and then finding the document, picture, song, or other bit of data you’re
really looking for, you can now access this information directly, without a lot of mousing
around. Jump Lists also help reduce clutter.
The Getting Started application, shown in above Figure, is a good example of a Jump List.
When you highlight this item in the Start menu (by mousing over it—you don’t have to
click on it), the right side of the Start menu fills up with the contents of its Jump List. As
you can see from the figure, the Getting Started Jump List corresponds to the options
available in the application itself.

Jump Lists vary from application to application. After you’ve used Paint for a while, for
example, that application’s Jump List will include recently saved graphics files. Microsoft
Word provides a list of recent documents. These lists make a lot of sense, given the purpose
of the applications. But some Windows 7 applications provide custom Jump Lists,
and Microsoft has opened up the programming interfaces for this so that any application
in the future can do so as well.
The Windows Media Player Jump List provides a list of recently accessed media files, of
course, but it also has links for Media Player–specific tasks, as shown in Figure ...

creating a desktop slideshow in windows 7

2010-03-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

As noted previously, most of the built-in Aero Themes utilize a desktop background slide
show feature, which is also new to Windows 7. This works similarly to the static background
image feature which has been available in Windows for years. But now, you can
configure the desktop to switch between two or more pictures on a set schedule. Here’s
how it works.

When you enter the Desktop Background control panel (via the Personalization window),
you will see the interface . You can choose between different
background types, such as Windows Desktop Backgrounds (the high-quality wallpaper
provided by Microsoft), Pictures Library (pictures and other images you’ve stored in your
My Pictures folder and other locations aggregated by the Pictures Library), Top Rated
Photos (based on a metadata ranking system most users probably haven’t used), Solid
Colors, and, perhaps, other locations if you’ve ever manually browsed to a different location
using this UI. For all of these options (except, oddly, Solid Colors), a new feature has
been added in Windows 7: you can multi-select images.
When you do select two or more items, some new options become available at the bottom
of the Desktop Background window. You can determine how often the images change
(30 minutes is the default), whether to shuffle them so that they display in a random order,
and whether to disable the slide show when on battery power in order to save power.

THE NEW AND IMPROVED WINDOWS 7 USER EXPERIENCE

2010-03-06T09:24:00.000-08:00

When you utilize the Windows Aero user experience, you receive other benefits. Certain
Windows 7 features, for example, are available only when you’re using Aero. Windows
Flip and Flip 3D, two task-switching features, are available only in Aero.
Aero also enables dynamic window animations, so that when you minimize a window
to the taskbar, it subtly animates to show you exactly where it went. This kind of functionality
was actually first introduced in Windows 95, but it has been made more subtle
and fluid in Windows 7. Aero also enables live taskbar thumbnails: when you mouse over
buttons in the taskbar, a small thumbnail preview will pop up, letting you see the window
or windows represented by that button without having to actually activate it first..
In addition to its obvious visual charms, Windows Aero also offers lower-level improvements
that will lead to a more reliable desktop experience than you might be used to with
previous Windows versions. Thanks to a graphics architecture that’s based on DirectX
video-game libraries, Windows 7 can move windows across the screen without any of the
visual tearing or glitches that were common in Windows XP. The effect is most prominent
in windows with animated content, such as when you’re playing a video in Windows
Media Player (WMP). But it’s not just about looks. Windows Aero is simply more reliable
than the other user experiences. To understand why that’s so, we need to examine Aero’s
hardware and software requirements.

windows 7 user experience

2010-03-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

SECRET--While most people will see Windows Aero, some won’t. What you do see in
Windows 7 depends largely on the Windows 7 product edition you’re using, the
hardware in your system, and your own personal preferences. More confusing,
perhaps, is that you likely won’t see options for all of the user experiences.
You access the different Windows 7 user experiences via the Personalization
control panel . Windows Aero is the high-end user experience and the one you’ll likely want (though it’s not available in Windows 7 Starter or
Home Basic).
Windows 7 Basic is the simplest version of the new user interface,
and it is available to all Windows 7 editions. Windows 7 Standard (not to be
confused with the old Windows Standard color scheme) is available only in
Windows 7 Home Basic, so many readers will not see this option. Windows Classic
is available to one and all.

windows virtual pc-xp mode

2010-03-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

To the operating system and applications running in a virtual environment like Windows
Virtual PC, the virtual machine appears to be a real PC, with its own hardware resources
and attributes. These virtualized systems have no knowledge or understanding of the
host machine at all.
Though virtual machines cannot rival the performance of real PCs for interactive use—
they’re useless for graphically challenging activities such as modern, action-oriented
games, for example—they are perfect for many uses. In fact, virtual machines are often
used to test software in different environments, or test Web sites and Web applications
with different browser versions.
In Windows 7, the Windows Virtual PC virtualized environment—shown in Figure
plays a special role. Because new versions of Windows are often incompatible with legacy
applications, a virtual machine environment running an older version of Windows and
those incompatible legacy applications can be quite valuable. Best of all, in such cases,
users are often less apt to notice any performance issue because older operating systems
tend to require fewer resources anyway.
NOTE--Windows Virtual PC is available in separate 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Make sure
you download the correct version for your PC.

windows 7 anytime upgrade

2010-03-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 provides an integrated capability to upgrade from a less powerful product edition
to a more capable version at any time. Once you’ve installed Windows 7, you simply
run the Windows Anytime Upgrade applet, select a source to purchase an upgrade license from, and your PC is quickly enhanced with the more powerful version you’ve selected.
Because of the way in which the Windows 7 product line is designed, however, Windows
Anytime Upgrade is available only in the following product editions:
♦♦ Windows 7 Starter can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional,
or Ultimate via Windows Anytime Upgrade.
♦♦ Windows 7 Home Premium can be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional or
Ultimate via Windows Anytime Upgrade.
♦♦ Windows 7 Professional can be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate via Windows
Anytime Upgrade.
Windows Anytime Upgrade lets you upgrade from certain Windows 7 versions to
other, more powerful versions.

step by step windows 7 setup with hidden secrets-part 1

2010-03-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

STEP 1--
Insert the Windows 7 DVD in your PC’s optical drive and reboot the system. After
the BIOS screen flashes by, you may see a message alerting you to press any key
to boot from the CD or DVD. If so, press a key. Some systems, however, do not
provide this warning and instead boot from the DVD by default.
A black screen with a pulsating Windows logo and the text “Starting Windows”
will appear, as shown in Figure ..
If you’re worried about whether your PC can run Windows 7 effectively, be sure to
check out Microsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor tool first. This tool will check
the hardware (and, for upgraders, software) installed on your system and determine
whether you will run into any issues. You can find the Upgrade Advisor on
Microsoft’s Web site at: www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/upgradeadvisor.
aspx.
SECRET-If your system does not boot from the DVD, you may need to change the system’s
boot order so that the optical drive is checked before the first hard drive.
To do this, consult your PC’s documentation, as each PC handles this process a
little differently.

STEP 2--
Eventually, the screen displays a colored background and the initial Setup window
appears, as shown in Figure . Here, you can preconfigure the language, time
and currency formats, and keyboard or input method you’ll use during Setup.

SECRET--This window also provides a way to access Windows 7’s new recovery tools. If
you run into a problem with Windows 7 later, such as not being able to boot into
Windows for some reason, you can boot your system with the Setup DVD and
use these tools to help fix the problem. Choose the link “Repair your computer”
to access these tools.
SECRET--Note how a single letter is underlined in the Install Windows window. If for some
reason your mouse doesn’t work, you can press Alt plus the related key on your
keyboard to select the appropriate action. For example, pressing Alt+R on the
keyboard will start the repair process..
STEP 3--
Click Next. A window titled Install Windows appears, as shown in Figure . To
continue with Interactive Setup, click Install now.
SECRET--
If you run into a problem with Windows 7 later, such as not being able to boot into
Windows for some reason, you can boot your system with the Setup DVD and
use these tools to help fix the problem. Choose the link “Repair your computer”
to access these tools.
SECRET--
Note how a single letter is underlined in the Install Windows window. If for some
reason your mouse doesn’t work, you can press Alt plus the related key on your
keyboard to select the appropriate action. For example, pressing Alt+R on the
keyboard will start the repair process.

STEP 4--
In the next window (see Figure ), you must agree to the End User License
Agreement (EULA). Although very few people actually read this document, you
should take the time to do so, as it outlines your legal rights regarding your usage
of Windows 7. We’re not lawyers, but we think it says that Microsoft exerts certain
rights over your first born and your soul.

STEP 5--
In the next window, shown in Figure , select Custom (advanced) as the install
type. You don’t need to click the Next button here: just selecting an option will
advance the wizard to the next step.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTION IS CONTINUED IN MY NEXT POST