Technological Guide.

XP Mode in Windows 7

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

Windows XP Mode (XPM) is a feature of Windows 7 Release Candidate. XPM allows users to continue to run their older xp-compatible applications on Windows 7. This feature will make XP users to upgrade to Windows 7.  XPM was designed by Microsoft for small-business users but the beta will encourage many users which can be downloaded for free from Microsoft Virtual PC.

XPM gives a new, improved version of Microsoft Virtual PC to run a complete freely downloadable virtual copy of Windows XP that runs in a window with Windows XP desktop. Or using seemless mode, XPM allows you to install applications to the Virtual Windows XP as how you install on normal Windows XP machine. And you can run those applications from Windows 7 desktop just as if they were standard windows 7 applications. In the seemless mode you wont be seeing Windows XP desktop. Instead you just sees a window with XP based application. The Virtual Windows XP system runs invisibly in the background.

Files can be saved from applictions running seemless mode under XPM to the default documents folder under Windows7. In both XPM seemless mode and seperate XP desktop, you can use the Windows Clipboard to transfer text and images between Windows 7 and XP applications.

This post was originally reviewed by Edward Mendelson at PC Magazine Reviews.

Unable to read .chm files on XP / 2003 / Vista

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

Sometimes you may not be able to read the downloaded .chm (compiled Html Help) files as shown below.

Possible Cause:

Security update 896358 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 include changes to the InfoTech protocol that block the ability to view remote content. These changes were introduced to reduce security vulnerabilities in HTML Help. After you install 896358 or Windows Server 2003 SP1, files in the Temporary Internet Files folder are treated as content from the Internet zone. Therefore, files may be blocked when you click Open in the File Download dialog box. Additionally, after you install 896358 or Windows Server 2003 SP1, Attachment Manager may treat a downloaded .chm file as an untrusted file. Therefore, you may not be able to open the file. These effects are expected and intended effects of installing the security update and of installing Windows Server 2003 SP1. Visit Microsoft Support for full explanation.

Resolution:

After saving the file using download, use one of the following methods:

Method1

  1. Right-click the CHM file, and go to properties.
  2. You can see “Unblock” as shown below
  3. Click “Unblock” and click “OK” to close the properties window.
  4. Now open the file, it works and you can read it.

Method2

  1. Double click or Open the CHM file.
  2. Open File-Security dialog appears as shown below
  3. Remove Tick mark or Uncheck “Always ask before opening this file”
  4. Click Open and you can read chm file.

Windows 7 RC - Free Download

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Now Windows 7 RC became available for Public to download and use it. Earlier it was available to beta testers and MSDN and TechNet subscribers only. Any one can download Windows 7 RC and can use it for 1 year which is free.

 

 

System Requirements:

  • 1 GHz 32-bit (x86 processor) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • 1 Gb RAM or 2 Gb if you need more performance
  • 16 Gb of available free disk space
  • Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 Mb memory (to enable the aero theme)

 

Languages: Windows 7 RC is available in 5 languages which are English, German, Japanese, French and Spanish.

 

Turn on Automatic updates: You can get all bug fixes and security updates for the Windows 7 RC via Windows Update

 

Technical Support: There is no technical support from Microsoft on issues and troubles arise installing or running Windows 7 RC. You must be dependant on other RC testers for support.

 

1 year Free: Windows 7 RC is free until 1st June 2010 only. It’ll be expired by that time and windows will start teasing you by shutting down your pc for every 2 hours from 1st March 2010. So a regular version of windows must be installed before 1st March 2010.

 

Back Up data: Windows 7 RC will be having some bugs and which can be fixed gradually. So its recommended to use RC as secondary operating system only as RC may have crashes in which case you must have regular backups of your data. You can learn How to Backup your pc.

 

Download is available at Microsoft Windows 7 Download. You will be given a product key to activate the windows 7 RC within 30 days along with download. Please go through Release Notes, Things to Know and FAQ before downloading Windows 7 RC.

Download & Try Microsoft Windows 7 RC Free

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Microsoft has released Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) recently. You can download now which is avaialble to download free for MSDN Technet subscribers. Windows 7 is in final phase of development for which other software partners are getting ready to develop new applications, decice drivers and services to run on the Windows 7 Platform.

 

Check out here whats new in Windows 7 RC

 

Some new features which are cool:

1. Remote Media Streaming - You can access digital media content located at home from another Windows 7 enabled PC outside.

2. Windows Xp Mode - Windows 7 users can launch windows Xp productivity applications from the windows 7 desktop which utilizes Windows Vitual PC.

3. Windows Touch - Windows 7 PC can be operated using Touch Sense enabled Screen or Monitor.

 

System Requirements:

  • 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
  • 1 Gb of System Memory
  • 16 Gb of available free Disk space
  • Support for DiretX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)

 

If you are not a TechNet or MSDN subcriber, but still interested in previewing Windows 7, can be publicly available at Microsoft Windows 7.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 tips - Part II

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Microsoft Outlook 2007 is very widely used now-a-days in offices pcs and personal pcs. Some people often feel hard to use Outlook. Here are some tips to enhance handling Outlook 2007. Some tips are discussed already in my Previuos Post.

7. Color Code to Identify Key Messages: Often we feel how to identify mails when all mails are shown at a time many in number. We can easily differentiate the mail messages using color code for the important messages which will make difference from other mails. Follow the steps below to achieve this easy function to work out. Our aim is to identify messages in different color related to a particular sender / from.

  • In Microsoft Outlook 2007, select a mail message item, then goto Tools menu and click Organize.
  • A window opens on the top portion of the Inbox window (the mail grid).
  • In the Organize window, you can find “Using Colors” on the left hand side menu.
  • Select the “Using Colors” which will be shown as follows

  • in the Color Messages option, select the color from the drop down which will be bound to the particular “From” or “Sender” and click “Apply Color”.
  • There is another option “Show messages sent only to me” in special color. This option is used to highlight the color for mail coming from the particular sender which is not a group mail

8. Send a read receipt: Inorder to get notified whether the recipient for the mail, has read the mail or not, you can use the option to “Send a Response”. Follow the steps to use this option.

  • In Microsoft Outlook 2007, Select Tools menu and Click Options.
  • Select the Preferences tab from the dialog box and clikc the button e-mail options.
  • Click the Tracking Options button and select either “Always send a response” or “Never Send a response” or “Ask me before sending a response”. Click ok and finish the steps to achieve sending a response to the mail.

Editions of Windows 7 Operating System

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Six editions were announced by Microsoft as Starter, Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise. Windows 7 is designed to run easily with compatibility on more harddware components on small notebooks as power packed gaming desktops.

WINDOWS 7 EDITIONS


Windows 7 Starter Edition - This edition is offered only in the OEM channel on new PC limited to specific types of hardware which can’t be sold directly in the market.

 

Windows 7 Home Basic Edition - is available only in emergin markets, for customers looking for an entry-point experience in windows on a full-size value pc.

 

Windows 7 Home Premium Edition - This edition is recommended for all categories of consumers inluding us which gives full-functioned PC experience and a visually rich environment from entertainment to the handling of devices.

 

Windows 7 Professional Edition - This edition is reocmmended for small businesses and people who work at home by operating an IT-managed business environment. Most Vista Business users will prefer this version.

 

Windows 7 Ultimate Edition - designed for PC explorers who interests on security feature such as BitLocker. This is really boosted with lots of features.

 

Windows 7 Enterprise Edition - This edition is most advanced with competitive price can be said as low cost with advanced data protection and got more tools to streamline PC management. This edition enables access to information for business users from anywhere.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 tips - Part I

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Microsoft Outlook 2007 is very widely used now-a-days in offices pcs and personal pcs. Some people often feel hard to use Outlook. Here are some tips to enhance handling Outlook 2007.

 

1. How to create and use an e-mail signature

 

e-mail signature is a very good feature provided by Outlook which is used frequently in replying emails. Instead of retyping what you want to add at the end of the mail, you can create an e-mail signature and add it to the mail. Follow the below steps and create your own e-mail signatures.

 

  • In Microsoft Outlook 2007, Goto Tools –> Goto Options–>Click Mail Format tab
  • Click on the button labelled “Signatures…”, which will open a window to manage Signatures. Here click New button to add a new signature and type the name for your signature and click “Ok”
  • Edit the content of your signature in the below box and format it according to your needs(with hyperlinks also if you need like site links), and click Save in the above pane to save. You can add another signature if you want.
  • In the right side of the window you can find a section “Choose default signature” which provides options setting up e-mail signature for New Message and Replies / Forwards. Select the email-signature you wish to use for either of these and click “OK” to exit and use e-mail signatures.

 

2. Categorize the e-mails in Outlook to differentiate mails easily

 

  • In Microsoft Outlook 2007, Goto Menu Edit –>Goto Categorize –> Select “All Categories” which will open a window to maintain categories associated with business mails or personal mails or work mails etc.,
  • Add Categories of your preference and click “Ok” to save the categories.
  • In Outlook select the mails you want to categorize –>Right Mouse Click –>Choose category and click to apply the category for the selected mails.
  • You can categorize the e-mails, calendars, tasks, etc.,

 

3. sort emails easily: Sorting is a trick that we use rarely with Outlook 2007. Outlook is an advanced gridview showing all the mails. We can apply sorting feature on this outlook grid also.

 

  • The Outlook grid shows mail details in columns with column headings such as “From”, “Subject”, “Received”, “Size”, etc.,
  • Click once on these column headings to sort by either column “From” or “Sender” or “Subject” or “Received”  (to see mails order by received date / time)
  • In order to reverse the sort, just click again on the particular column which will give in reverse sort order (from Z-A to A-Z / from A-Z to Z-A).

 

4. Formatting Column names: The columns like “From”, “Received”, etc., which are defaultly named in Outlook, can be formatted to our needs like “Sender”, “Mail Subject”.

 

  • Right click on the Column header–>Select Format Columns
  • Select each field and change the label, width & alignment too.

 

5. Enable Spell Check: We can have spell checker for Outlook which is built-in to check while we type and an option to enable checking mail for spelling mistakes before sending.

 

  • In Microsoft Outlook, Goto Tools –> Click Options.
  • In options window click “Spelling” tab.
  • check the option “Always check before sending”
  • Click “Ok”

 

6. Use Advanced Find: In Outlook 2007 we need to wait too long to search messages in the normal Search provided above the Outlook mail grid. Its annoying to scroll throught he search results to the search criteria. We can use the advanced Find option available in Outlook 2007.

 

  • Click key combinations of Ctrl + Shift + F to bring up a dialog to give the search criteria.
  • Choose options like searching only in the related fields of mails and search which saves a lot of time.

Windows 7 - Next Microsoft Operating System

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

The next operating system going to come out from Microsoft is the Windows 7 which will be released by October 22, 2009. Windows 7 will be having many more features obviously as its the lattest emerged. Windows 7 is the next stage of Windows Operating system. It looks like Vista operating system but there are a lot of differences.

Windows 7 First Look

Windows 7 Review

Now already available in Beta version.

Free Open Source Applications for Windows

Saturday, June 27th, 2009
Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open-source community.  
 
1. Mozilla Firefox: Mozilla Firefox is considered to be the most popular open source application and browser today. According to a statistics by W3School, Firefox is used by 47.1% of internet users while Internet Explorer 28%. Firefox holds a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008 – 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3.
 
2. Mozilla Thunderbird: is another Open Source application from Mozilla. Thunderbird is a desktop email client with lots of features and strong spam filtering.
 
3. Open Office: Open Office is an Open Source package which is alternative for Microsoft Office. Open office has great features including support for DOC and XLS files. Open office contains applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases etc. We can save all our Open Office work files in International Open Standard Format which can also read & write files from other standard office software packages.
 
4. GIMP: GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation Program is another open source alternative for Adobe Photoshop which is the professional graphics application. GIMP also provides lots of features for graphics which can work with PSD files generated by Adobe Photoshop.
 
5. Pidgin: Pidgin (Previously called as GAIM) is an Open Source application for instant messenger which can support other IMs like MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, Google Talk, ICQ etc. for chatting with our friends.
 
6. VLC Media Player: VLC player is an open source media player and server which is well known which can support huge range of audio and video formats like MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX, MP3, OGG, AAC, DVDs, Audio CDs, VCD and many more. VLC has support for streaming media protocol as well.
 
7. ClamWIN: ClamWIN is an Open Source GPL virus scanner for Windows. ClamWIN can detect viruses and spyware at high rates, can schedule scanning for viruses, can update virus definition file regularly. And ClamWIN can be integrated with Microsoft Windows Explorer just by right clicking it. And ClamWIN can be integrated with Outlook as an Add-on to scan emails and attachments.
 
8. 7-Zip: 7-ZIP is an Open Source compression utility which can support for all popular compression formats besides 7-Zip compression has the best compression ratio compared to other popular applications.
 
9. Media Coder: Media Coder is an Open Source batch media transcoder for almost all popular media formats which can convert both audio and video formats.
 
10. FileZilla: FileZilla is another Open Source application for Windows which is a multi-platform full featured GUI Based FTP, FTPS and SFTP client. FileZilla is considered as the best available FTP client for windows.
 
11. Drupal: Drupal is highly flexible content management framework powering celebrity sites like MTV and Yahoo developer. Drupal bridges difference between a content management system like Joomla and a PHP based web framework like say Symfony.
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12. Torrent: Torrent is almost all other BitTorrent clients like uTorrent, Azureus etc are open source so the list will be incomplete without inclusion of one from torrent family.
 
13. Eclipse: One of the most powerful and versatile IDE for developers of any language which has numerous plugins and can be extended.
 
14. Python: Python is the programming language which had come a long way in the past 8 years and is now preferred web development language too along with frameworks like Django.