#  >  > Computers Can Be Fun >  >  > Computer News >  >  Windows applications and stuff

## melvbot

BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft to battle in the clouds

"Its OK trust us, we'll keep all your stuff online in our servers if you fancy"

Not a chance, at least theyre offering an option not to.

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## Mid

> the few big companies wealthy enough to be able to build the huge data centres on which this new form of computing will depend.




dslextreme.com

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## melvbot

BBC NEWS | Technology | MS offers peek through Windows 7

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## melvbot

A few more screenshots and a bit more info

First look at Windows 7's User Interface

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## Mid

Microsoft maybe in a bit of a bind , xp has settled in and rarely crashes and with the added bonus of the gained familiarity of how it works , well neither vista nor 7 have shown anything to entice me to switch .

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## Marmite the Dog

If I could get everyone in the office to move to Linux, I would, but until Photoshop & Illustrator are written for Linux, it isn't going to happen (and no, I don't believe using a Windows Emulator is a solution).

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## melvbot

I dont know if you watched the video but the 2 finger resize made me chuckle, something thats already in use on phones but it still looks a bit clunky on a PC. 

It seems to me like its what they wanted Vista to be but couldnt delay it any longer so they pushed Vista out knowing this could be out a year or 2 later. A lot of people will want it because of the gimmicks like multi touch, but in the end its just a gimmick to show your mates.

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## melvbot

> If I could get everyone in the office to move to Linux, I would, but until Photoshop & Illustrator are written for Linux, it isn't going to happen (and no, I don't believe using a Windows Emulator is a solution).



How far off Photoshop is the GIMP, havent used it for a while.

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## Marmite the Dog

> How far off Photoshop is the GIMP


Miles off.

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## melvbot

Video Demonstration: New Windows 7 Taskbar, Peek Feature Look Awesome

Another vid of features, Taskbar this time.

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## melvbot

Seems like theyre adding a bit of funk-tionality to Windows 7

Windows 7 Screencast: New "Aero Shake" Clears the Windows 7 Desktop

No sound on this clip. When you grab the window to move it around if you shake it left to right or whatever it minimises the other windows on the desktop, shake again and they re-appear.

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## melvbot

I spotted this for all you Windows users out there

Featured Windows Download: DeskAngel Helps You Manage Your Windows Desktop

DeskAngel -- a free desktop enhancement tool for windows

First link has a screenshot of what it does, second link is direct to the site. Its free as well.

Can I request a thread title change please?
I can lump all the Windows stuff I come across in here instead of starting a new thread .

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## melvbot

Some lucky Windows users out there today

Trayeverything

Featured Windows Download: TrayEverything Stashes Programs in the System Tray

TrayEverything 1.21 | winapizone.net

RBtray

Featured Windows Download: RBTray Minimizes Any App to Your System Tray

Moitah.net

Trayconizer

Featured Windows Download: Trayconizer Makes Any Program a Permanent System Tray App

Trayconizer 1.1.1 - WhitSoft Development

All free apps to minimise apps to the system tray even if they dont support it natively

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## melvbot

Just cant wait for some of those snazzy Windows 7 features like Aero Shake?

You can have most of them in XP or Vista if you want


http://http://lifehacker.com/5085657/aerosnap-brings-the-windows-7-snap-feature-to-xp-vista

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## Mid

*The end of an era - Windows 3.x* 

Wednesday, 5 November 2008
By Mark Ward 
Technology correspondent, BBC News 


 
_Windows 3.x established the look of the operating system._

*An application has expectedly quit.* 

Windows 3.x has come to the closing moments of its long life. 

On 1 November Microsoft stopped issuing licences for the software that made its debut in May 1990 in the US. 

The various versions of Windows 3.x (including 3.11) released in the early 1990s, were the first of Microsoft's graphical user interfaces to win huge worldwide success. 

They helped Microsoft establish itself and set the trend for how it makes its revenues, and what drives the company until the present day. 

*High flyer* 

For many computer users 3.x was the first Windows-based operating system they used, and the software established the iconography of Microsoft's flagship product. 

As it was updated the software started to make PCs a serious rival to Apple machines, as it could take advantage of much improved graphics, had a broader colour palette, and could use multimedia extras such as sound cards and CD Rom drives. 

Microsoft maintained support for Windows 3.x until the end of 2001, and it has lived on as an embedded operating system until 1 November 2008. 
 
_Windows 3.x has found a role onboard some long-haul jet aircraft._

As an embedded system, it was used to power such things as cash tills in large stores and ticketing systems. 

One of its more glamorous uses as an embedded operating system is to power the in-flight entertainment systems on some Virgin and Qantas long-haul jets. 

*Tech specs* 

Stefan Berka, who runs the GUI Documentation Project, said the important technical innovations in the software were its extended memory that could address more than 640KB and the improvements to hardware support. 

The fact that it was 100% compatible with older MSDOS applications helped too. 

Windows 3.x required an 8086/8088 processor or better that had a clock speed of up to 10MHz. It needed at least 64KB of RAM, seven megabytes of hard drive space, and a graphics card that supported CGA, EGA and VGA graphics. 

By comparison, the Home Basic version of Windows Vista requires a 32-bit 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 20GB of hard drive space, and a graphics card with at least 32MB of memory.

 
_Many people still rely on older operating systems._

"I haven't received an e-mail about Windows 3.11 for a long time," said Andy Rathbone, author of a Dummies guide to the software. "But I wouldn't be surprised if some people still use it." 

Sales of the software still pop up on eBay, he said, but not at a price that would tempt him to part with his unopened copy of Windows 3.1. 

Agent Quang from home IT support firm The Geek Squad, said he regularly encountered venerable operating systems in customer's homes but it had been a long time since he saw Windows 3.x. 

"The majority of machines we see are running XP," he said, "Vista is still a bit flaky here and there and people are not comfortable with it." 

But, he said, Windows 95 and 98 were still popular with some customers. 
"We see them on laptops and people are unwilling to let them go," he said. "It's perhaps because in the early days laptops cost a lot more money they do now, and there's much more perceived value there." 

Agent Quang's personal favourite operating system was Windows 98 because, by the end of its life, the software was so solid. 

*Old Iron* 

He said anyone running an ageing operating system might face problems as they try to find a web browser that could run on it and display the latest online innovations. 

"We had a case a while ago a customer with a Windows 98 machine trying to view her website and the pictures were just not coming up," he said. 
"Eventually we had to install Netscape Navigator to get it working." 

Stefan Berka said he had recently re-installed Windows 3.11 on a computer and was surprised at the results. 

"Personally, I had fun at my last Windows 3.11 test installation to make it a useful desktop operating system again," he said. 

"With patched SVGA driver for 1024x768 resolution, Internet Explorer 5, WinZIP, VfW and Video Player, it was still useful," he said. "The desktop was ready after a few seconds' loading time." 

Said Mr Rathbone: "Windows 3.11 would still work reasonably well today, provided it only ran software released around the same time." He cautioned against anyone considering returning to the olden days and using it as their mainstay operating system. He said: "I wouldn't connect it to the internet, though, as it's not sophisticated enough to ward off attackers."

news.bbc.co.uk

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## melvbot

If youre running Windows XP but like the look of the Vista sidebar take a look here

Windows Sidebar, Real one,Pack by ~joshoon on deviantART

Its the actual Vista sidebar scripted to run in XP so you can grab the gadget/widgets from the MS site.

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## melvbot

This is for people who might be on dial-up or on really slow connections

http://www.baresite.com/

It strips the site of all the fancy crap that takes ages to download on slow connections and leaves the basics like links and images.

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## melvbot

Just checked my HSBC account and noticed that theyre givng away McAfee anti virus free to internet banking users. You can download it to 3 PC's if you want.

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## melvbot

ZoneAlarm by Check Point - Award winning PC Protection, Antivirus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware, Identity Protection, and much more.

Free copy of Zone Alarm firewall if anyone fancies it

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## melvbot

This is very similar to Expose on the Mac. Move your mouse into the corner of your screen and it invokes an action like show desktop etc.

programsforpeers - Hot Corners v2.2.2.0

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## melvbot

*Minime:*
										Minime is a tool that allows you to *minimize applications like Windows Media Player to the system tray*. What makes this tool unique is that it keeps the system tray clean by minimizing all applications into a *single tray icon*.

SaphuA

freeware

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## melvbot

*                 World's First Triple-Engine Web Browser*

 Do you use multiple web browsers? Juggling multiple web browsers is not so uncommon to overcome incompatibity and inefficiency of web sites or browsers that are not well optimized to web standards. But it's not that power users who know how to install and use multiple browsers actually love the hassle at the cost of their precious time.




Lunascape Web Browser - The World's Fastest Browser Ever



This is an ALPHA release, freeware. Might be useful for anyone doing web design who wants to check sites in the main renedering engines without having all 3 browsers open at once.

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## Camel Toe

> Originally Posted by melvbot
> 
> How far off Photoshop is the GIMP
> 
> 
> Miles off.


Worlds apart?  And with the extensions/plugins available for PS, makes Gimp look like Windows Paint.   FaceShop is kinda nice.

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## Camel Toe

> ZoneAlarm by Check Point - Award winning PC Protection, Antivirus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware, Identity Protection, and much more.
> 
> Free copy of Zone Alarm firewall if anyone fancies it




It is a bit naggie but it works really well.

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## baldrick

> Originally Posted by melvbot
> 
> 
> ZoneAlarm by Check Point - Award winning PC Protection, Antivirus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware, Identity Protection, and much more.
> 
> Free copy of Zone Alarm firewall if anyone fancies it
> 
> 
> 
> ...


if you can use Zonealarm I would suggest moving to Comodo personal firewall - free - you have to get it to learn your apps the same as Zonealarm , but it seems a lot better to me.

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## melvbot

Ive posted a few of these but heres how to get a few of the Windows 7 features on XP/Vista.

Windows 7: Get Windows 7's Best Features Right Now

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## melvbot

If you like free stuff then check this site

Giveaway of the Day - free licensed software daily. Today: Windows Automation Macro Recorder - Windows Automation Macro Recorder is a handy utility that automates repetitive and boring tasks on computers. It records all operation ...

Developers give stuff away for free sometimes to get a larger userbase, this site tracks some of them and gives you links to free software that you would usually pay for.

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## melvbot

Something nice from Microsoft if you get .DOCX files and are on an older system which has an older version of Word on it.

This is a plugin for Firefox and works with Windows and Linux.

Featured Firefox Extension: OpenXML Document Viewer Opens Office 2007 Files in Firefox

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## melvbot

Giveaway of the Day - free licensed software daily. AnVir Task Manager 5.4.1 - Get several Windows enhancements, get full control of PC, remove Trojans, increase performance.

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## melvbot

Found this for making a stripped out version of Windows. YOu can strip out all the stuff you dont want/need/use to make a sleeker install.

Slimming Down Windows XP: The Complete Guide - Bold_Fortune Forums

Feature: Trim Down Windows to the Bare Essentials

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## melvbot

Google Chrome - Download a new browser

Google Chrome out of BETA now becomes 1.0

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## melvbot

Busy day in Windows land

http://perso.accelance.net/~pesoft/trm/us_trm.html

small tool that displays useful information about system resources in real time, but it also gives much more detail when you right-click on the displayed fields

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## melvbot

Free Video Media Converter - Quick Media Converter Home Page - Free FLV TO AVI DIVX DVD MP4 MPEG MP3 H264 IPHONE IPOD MOV WMV XVID WII XBOX PS3 3GP 3G2 TS VOB Free Video Audio Converter Cocoon Software DOWNLOAD Free Media Converter Download Free Vide

DExposE2 , for Vista - WinMatrix
This is an Expose clone for Windows. If you move the mouse to any of the corners in the screen it shows you all the apps you have open making it easier to switch.

executor.dk
Application launcher similar to
Launchy: The Open Source Keystroke Launcher

Chris'n'Soft Â» StandaloneStack
Mimics stacks for the Mac, easy shortcuts to folders etc

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## melvbot

heres a nifty little way of downloading and playing flash games you find on the net offline on your PC.


How To Download and Play Flash Games Offline | MakeUseOf.com

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## melvbot

Download SpeedBit Video Accelerator for YouTube
Never heard of or used it.

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## melvbot

We all forget passwords every once in a while but what about when its the biggie? The admin password for your computer

3 Ways to Reset the Forgotten Windows Administrator Password | MakeUseOf.com

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## melvbot

Free spyware removal and spyware protection - Spyware Terminator

A limited feature free version with the upgrade option. Supposedly a decent alternative to AdAware

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## melvbot

Heres a page of tips to speed up Windows XP. It shows you how to disable any unnecessary services that might be running that dont get used but might be running by default.
 Also lots of programs like to set themselves to start automatically when you start your computer up, slowing it down and just being a general pain when you need to get the computer up and running.

WinHack - Speed Up Your Windows XP Computer (Part 1) | MakeUseOf.com

Jumped the gun a bit, theres a part 2 as well

WinHack - Speed Up Your Windows Computer (Part 2) | MakeUseOf.com

Another page of tips for tweaking 

Some non-Registry Windows tweaks | MakeUseOf.com

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## jandajoy

> Download SpeedBit Video Accelerator for YouTube Never heard of or used it.


I use this it's ok .

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## melvbot

If youre a budding Bustak taking oodles of photos a every opportunity then at some point you'll have to start to organize the hundreds/thousands of photos you have.

 This free program claims to be able to search your photos with some unknown claim of accuracy/voodoo. My guess is it will do OK but throw up some wrong results as its impossible to make these types of programs work 100% of the time.

photology makes finding photos easy, fast & fun

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## melvbot

We've all heard of Swiss Army knives and how they have a tool for any situation but if you've ever owned one you find out theyre about as useful as a chocolate teapot in a lot of situations, so when someone bills and app as "The Swiss Army Knife of PC tools" I have a little snigger and make a cup of tea from my non chocolate teapot.

This tool however might have a few uses

Capture .NET - A multifunctional desktop utility

Theres a free and a pay version. The free version includes

*Screen Captures, Post it Notes, A Color Picker, Alarm Clock, World Time, Timer and Time Synchronization, A Backup Expert, A Tweaker, A File Format Convertor*


and probably some other stuff as well. Small download of about 700kb.


If you look at the site and it scream "malware!" then run the file through this site to check it for any nasties.

VirusTotal - Free Online Virus and Malware Scan

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## melvbot

With it being Christmas and lots of people buying computers as gifts Microsoft have kindly set up a new forum so you can ask a nerd a question if youre stuck with something on Vista.

Windows Vista Community Forums | Microsoft Answers

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## Butterfly

not sure if you posted it already, but there is a collection of Portable Apps for WinXP which are very nice when you want to fit all the useful apps in a small 1GB USB drive

PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives

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## melvbot

Here a freeware/open source screenshot capture program. Allows you to take a screenshot or a selection, apply text and shapes to the screenshot for anything that needs highlighting along with supporting a few file formats.

greenshot.sourceforge.net

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## melvbot

This might be of use to someone somewhere.

DLL-files.com - Download all your missing dll-files.

Has the most common files that might get corrupted on your computer, all free to download.

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## melvbot

If youre an international spy, have lots of passwords, financial data or dodgy porn vids you want to hide then tunnel over to this site. Works with Win/Mac/Linux

TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux



If you try and delete a file and get that annoying "cannot delete folder" error try this 

UNLOCKER 1.8.7 BY CEDRICK 'NITCH' COLLOMB

Whenever you cant delete a file, just right-click on it and choose Unlocker (the app integrates itself into the Explorer right-click menu). Unlocker will then kill all the Windows processes that are holding that app and stopping you from deleting it. You can then go ahead and nuke the file.

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## melvbot

If you install a lot of applications and your computer takes longer and longer to start up its usually due to apps setting themselves to start at the login after you boot the computer. This means they are running in the background even though they arent visible so when you want to use the app it starts pretty much straight away. 

Do you really need skype, messenger, winamp etc  starting as soon as you boot the computer?  Theres a youtube video here for the lazy ones




Or you can head over to this site

Disable Startup - Free Startup Manager and Monitoring Software

And check out this free app for  managing startup items in Windows.

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## melvbot

If you like making your desktip look a bit prettier Kaelri has released a new version of  his Enigma desktop

Enigma by ~Kaelri on deviantART


Microsoft arent exactly know for giving stuff away free but some nice bloke has compiled a big ol' list of the feebies that Microsoft has to offer.

http://bhandler.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!70F64BC910C9F7F3!1231.entry?wa=wsignin1.0

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## melvbot

Everyone who has used a computer regularly has experienced it from time to time. You are running some very intensive tasks, running several programs simultaneously and suddenly you find that your computer does not respond to you anymore. For some reason the computer is so busy that it does not respond to your actions anymore. Your clicks and key presses are handled much later or not at all, giving you no chance to interact with the system. Your system is hanging.

This tool is free for now. 

AntiFreeze is a self proclaimed Emergency Task Manager that is capable is suspending all applications presently running, and killing them if necessary. This is how it works.

While AntiFreeze is sitting in your system tray, eating up very little resources, its awaiting the hotkey combination of ALT+CTRL+WIN+HOME. Once this sequence of keys is pressed, the task manager like AntiFreeze is launched and a majority of running applications go into a suspended mode. Where as it doesnt kill any particular app, but it places it into an anti virus like quarantine and allows you view any programs that may be the culprit.

Resplendence Software - AntiFreeze Introduction

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## melvbot

If you fancy trying to get a genuine (not torrented) copy of Windows 7 Beta Microsoft will be unleashing it today (ish). Its tagged for release on this site

Welcome to Windows 7

On the afternoon of January 9th in one of the US timezones. Snag is they are only allowing 2.5mil copies to download so if you really want a freebie from Microsoft you'll have to be hitting refresh pretty often.

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## melvbot

If your machines running slow there could be a few causes, I havent used Windows for a while but I never heard of this when I was using it.

Check Your IDE Transfer Mode To Make Your PC Faster | MakeUseOf.com

Has a walkthrough with pics for a step ny step way of checking it.

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## Marmite the Dog

> If you like making your desktip look a bit prettier Kaelri has released a new version of his Enigma desktop


I tried that, but I couldn't get his theme to work, which is a pity.

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## melvbot

Im flying a bit blind with a lot of this stuff as I dont have a Windows machine to test it on, its one of the best looking desktop replacements Ive seen so far. Shame.

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## melvbot

> On the afternoon of January 9th in one of the US timezones. Snag is they are only allowing 2.5mil copies to download so if you really want a freebie from Microsoft you'll have to be hitting refresh pretty often.



Oh dear, it seems that Microsoft have made a monumental fok up with this. For some reason they thought that hosting an anticipated free release which totals 2+GB to download wouldnt be all that popular. Their servers crashed so they took the download down, put it up again on a different link and didnt issue any product keys.

Hey Ballmer, ever heard of Bit Torrent?

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## melvbot

Windows Task Manager.

 At some point you'll either use or be told to use by some geek the Task Manager in Windows to see what processes are running, easy enough but WTF do they all mean? Loads of foreign looking stuff like we'restealingyourpasswords.exe or fbitracklist.exe and you have no idea if youre going to cause a critical meltdown by stopping it.

TaskList.org - List of Windows Proccesses and Descriptions

This should help to identify which processes are genuine so you dont delete the wrong ones.

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## melvbot

The Windows 7 Beta has been floating around the interweb for a bit now and the overall impression is pretty positive, lots of "better than Vista" type comments which Im sure is making Gatesy sleep that bit easier each night.

 I havent got a machine to try it on (shame) so Im keeping on top of things through the news and vids that come out. 

Everyone adds some sort of personal touch to their computer even if its just changing the wallpaper so Microsoft have included a few more standard themes to choose from, our resident Win fanboy Butterfly gets his own theme as do a few cities/countries from around the world like Germany, Tokyo and for all you Welshists out there Llanrwst in Wales has its own theme.

Check them out here

Screenshot Tour: Windows 7 Beta's Many Free and Legit Themes

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## Marmite the Dog

If I install Win7 Beta on my old laptop, will MS disable it when the pukka version goes live?

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## melvbot

Its  supposed to have something built in that stops it working on August 1st 2009, also with it being a Beta it hasnt got all the features but I bet someones working on a crack/workaround to make it work after that date.

Windows 7 Beta Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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## melvbot

*Windows worm spreads further*





 A worm that infects computers lacking the latest security patches or updated anti-virus software is spreading rapidly, according to security experts.

The malicious program, variously known as Conficker, Downadup or Kido, was discovered in October 2008.

Windows worm spreads further - Latest News - MSN Tech & Gadgets UK

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## melvbot

This site lists loads of free alternatives to Windows applications if you have a torrent aversion and cant get the originals

Last Freeware version: jv16 Powertools, RegCleaner, PowerArchiver, REAPER

Live CD's are used pretty much for every Linux distro out there, they can be handy for taking a portable personalised OS wherever you go. Some clever dick has done a write up on how to do one for Windows XP

How To Create Your Own Custom Windows Live CD | MakeUseOf.com

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## melvbot

* 					Windows worm trickery for Vista 				*


 				The "Open folder" option appears in the  "Install or run program" list

*The Conficker virus has opened a new can of worms for security experts.* 
Drives such as USB sticks infected with the virus trick users into installing the worm, according to researchers. 
The "Autoplay" function in Vista and early versions of Windows 7 automatically searches for programs on removable drives. 
However, the virus hijacks this process, masquerading as a folder to be opened. When clicked, the worm installs itself. 
It then attempts to contact one of a number of web servers, from which it could download another program that could take control of the infected computer. 



BBC NEWS | Technology | Windows worm trickery for Vista

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## melvbot

Browsers, browsers, browsers. Which one should I try? 

Well heres yet another one, looks like its based on Firefox. Comes with all the usual claims of being the fastest and bestest and looks like it supports FF add ons.

CometBird - a lightweight, powerful and fast web browser

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## oldgit

Melvbot, not up with computers, tried to open my letters in my documents and up came ''This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. create an association in the folder options control'' seems ''notebook ''that all the letters have been written with has been deleted, only have notepad now, have tried Restore back three days but still no notebook, what do I try now please?
(microsoft did a big dowload of updates yesterday could they have wiped notebook?)

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## melvbot

Sorry Oldie but I dont use Windows anymore, Ive no idea who could help you with it.

You might already know this but IE 8 has been let out asa release candidate, this is sort of the last builds before they go for the full release so only minor tweaks will be made after these releases

Downloads: Internet Explorer Release Candidate 1 Now Available

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## oldgit

Thanks any way, will keep looking on the Web to see how I can restore ''Notebook''

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## melvbot

> Thanks any way, will keep looking on the Web to see how I can restore ''Notebook''


Cant you just re-install it?

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## oldgit

No idea how to do it, I do not have the XP disc, have tried to look for notebook dowload on the net, Google seem to think I am looking for a Lap Top Notebook. 

If I was to go back to the date I last used notebook and did a restore at that date, would I get notebook back? or am I clutching at straws? :Confused:

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## melvbot

Any idea who it was made by?

AM-Notebook - note-taking program for notes and formula based spreadsheets

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## oldgit

I guess it is a Windows Notebook, The chap installed it with the XP disc I think, he has kept the disc, If I download  the AM-Notebook I dont think I will be able to open the many copies of letters saved in my Documents, sorry to be a pain.

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## PlanK

^  If the letters are text documents you could try opening them with Wordpad or MS Word.

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## melvbot

I recently changed the file browser on my Mac and its made a whole load of difference as Ive been doing lots of stuff with images like sorting, resizing and renaming literally hundreds of them.

 Windows Explorer is far better than Finder for the Mac but there are plenty of replacement ones for Explorer.

The 5 Best Windows Explorer Replacements | MakeUseOf.com

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## melvbot

Posted about this desktop before but it was a case of being a bit geeky to get it running. Seems like its quite popular so hes had an installer added to it for easier installation.

Enigma destktop

Downloads: Enigma Desktop 2.0 Released, Adds Installer, Widget Manager, and Templates

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## melvbot

Free as in beer

Get Easeus Partition Manager Pro free today only - Download Squad

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## melvbot

If you like using multiple desktops and just cant live without a computer that has a cube interface, well, dream no more......
TokyoDownstairs: DeskHedron

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## lom

Thanks melvbot!
Now, if I only could get wobbly windows then I would be able to scrap my Ubuntu partition.

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## melvbot

This is pretty welcome news, would be nice if it was IMAP support but we are talking about Microsoft afterall

Windows Live: Hotmail Finally Enables POP3 Worldwide




> *POP server:* pop3.live.com (Port 995)
> *POP SSL required?* Yes
> *User name:* Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname[at]hotmail.com
> *Password:* The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
> *SMTP server:* smtp.live.com (Port 25)
> *Authentication required?* Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
> *TLS/SSL required?* Yes

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## Butterfly

> Windows Explorer is far better than Finder for the Mac but there are plenty of replacement ones for Explorer.
> 
> The 5 Best Windows Explorer Replacements | MakeUseOf.com


I tried a few from that link, not really impressed, and not as easy as Windows Explorer. I found another one, CubicExplorer, more promising and quite elegant.

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## spliff

Safari has a beta browser out now that windows can run. Don't know about x64, though. Anyone try it yet on windows?

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## melvbot

Internet Explorer 8 looks llike its out of BETA

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/

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## melvbot

If you do any sort of web developing the pain of guessing "will it work in IE" is a pretty common one. Microsoft have released this handy tool for previewing multiple sites in a load of IE engines, might be something similar around, no idea to be honest.

Expression Web SuperPreview

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## Butterfly

> Internet Explorer 8 looks llike its out of BETA


why would anyone want to download that one ?

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## melvbot

The Conficker worm has infected millions of Windows computersand is set to be unleashed on April 1st, 2009. Here's what you need to know to keep yourself safe.  					

How To: Protect Your Windows PC from the Conficker Worm

Just a quick heads up as its mooted to go live today.

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## melvbot

If youre curious about Ubuntu, the Linux OS, this looks like another way to try it out or even use it more often on your PC. Its a portable version of Ubuntu which runs inside Windows and can work on and save to your Windows files and folders. It fits on and works from a thumb drive.

Lifehacker - Portable Ubuntu Runs Ubuntu Inside Windows - Portable Ubuntu

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## Marmite the Dog

^ And is excruciatingly slow.

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## melvbot

> ^ And is excruciatingly slow.


Bound to be as its running from a thumb drive, I forget not everyone thinks or knows about that sort of stuff.

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## baldrick

media player classic home cinema
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/index.html

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## melvbot

This is a clone of the Image Resizer Powertoy for Windows XP -- a PowerToy that allows you to right click on one or more image files in Windows Explorer to resize them. This clone was created to extend support to non-XP and 64-bit versions of Windows (including Vista).

Image Resizer Powertoy Clone for Windows - Home

The original for XP and some other ones can be found here

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/D...powertoys.mspx

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## melvbot

Im not going to calim any sort of proficiency or knowledge on this or claim that your internet will suddenly start working at lightning speed but heres a freeware TCP optimiser thingy

SpeedGuide.net :: TCP Optimizer / Downloads

This page has an explanation and pictures for the hard of thinking.

Optimize Your Web Connection With TCP Optimizer (Windows) | MakeUseOf.com

 Maybe Baldrick has some opinion on this as he's a freaky Aussie running custom firmware on his stuff.

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## melvbot

I didnt know this but Windows apparently only allows 10 outgoing connections in an attempt to stop the spread of worms and viruses or something. The app on this page provides a fix for that so you bump the amount of outgoing connections in a vain attempt to wring a bit more speed out of Thailands poxy internet service for your torrent downloads.
Tread with care as it alters a system file.

Lifehacker - Half-Open Patcher Speeds up BitTorrent Downloads - Featured Windows Download

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## melvbot

Cant be arsed to write much about this one, theres a video on this page. 

Divide Your PC Monitor Into Multiple Screens With WinSplit Revolution | MakeUseOf.com

WinSplit Revolution is a small utility that resides in the background of your Windows machine and allows for simple tiling, resizing and organizing of any of your Windows. According to the developer of the application, as resolutions have increased on video cards over time we need to take advantage of them.

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## melvbot

When Ive been on a Windows machine Ive had a look at Google Chrome and while its not going to replace Firefox for me I still like the tabs as processes blah blah blah.
 Anyway theres a BETA out for Google Chrome 2 if you fancy a look.

Google Chrome (BETA)

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## melvbot

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for this announcement, but yes search fans BING is finally here!

 Microsoft has changed Live Search to Bing in a futile attempt to gain some more market share in the search engine market, wow. Now Microsoft being Microsoft have added loads of features to this Bing thing but you can only use them in certain areas of the world so far like the USA, nice on M$.

 If you want to see what stuff's been tacked onto what was one of the crappiest search engines going you'll have to visit

Bing

using a US proxy. If you dont it'll be as crap as crap can be.

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## melvbot

Not that anyones really bothered about this but Microsoft has announced the release date for Windows 7 *yawn*

Windows 7 release date: October 22nd

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## Butterfly

> If you want to see what stuff's been tacked onto what was one of the crappiest search engines going you'll have to visit
> 
> Bing


it looks nice and it's fast though

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## melvbot

> Originally Posted by melvbot
> 
> If you want to see what stuff's been tacked onto what was one of the crappiest search engines going you'll have to visit
> 
> Bing
> 
> 
> it looks nice and it's fast though


Its great if you want a nice looking search engine that gives crap results quick.

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## Butterfly

I tried a few keywords I had in mind, and it worked perfectly, put my website at the top position 1 instead of position 3 and 4 like on Google  :Smile: 

and I know for a fact that Google is "cheating" for my website rank, paid for by a competitor

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## Marmite the Dog

Ms & Yahoo always yield better search results than Google in my experience. Google is too fixed by paying advertisers and a BS algorithm.

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## Butterfly

^ yep, and yet the brainless consumers just rush there to search for a website like "microsoft.com" or "yahoo.com"

don't laugh, I saw it happened many times  :Smile:

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## Marmite the Dog

Funny lot the French, aren't they?




> don't laugh, I saw it happened many times

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## melvbot

Growl is one of my favourite apps for Mac. Its a notification system that lets you know when something has happened on your computer. For example, you're downloading a file with Firefox but using another app like Photoshop, when the download in FF finishes a Growl window pops up and lets you know its finished.

 The list of supported apps is nowhere near as big for Windows as it is for Mac as the Win version is new and a beta.

Windows Growl for Windows

Mac Growl

Theres also one called Snarl for Windows which can be combined with Growl somehow

Snarl :: Homepage

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## melvbot

VLC one of the best media players around has finally hit 1.0

What does it mean? A few new features and it'll play all manner of media files as it usually does I suppose.

VideoLAN - Open Source multimedia and streaming solutions for every OS!

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## Butterfly

found a great utility to convert video files, all free

I have a few WMV 10 HD that I couldn't watch on Mac-mini so will need to convert

WinFF - Free Video Converter

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## DaffyDuck

Good thing VLC does conversions as well.

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## melvbot

I think I posted about this before but its been updated to be a bit easier to use (apparently)

Rainmeter.net

 Screenshots and description etc are here

Rainmeter 1.0 Brings the Enigma Desktop to Everyone - Desktop - Lifehacker

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## melvbot

If this is true then its a refreshing change even if it doesnt affect me.

Shocker: Windows 7 to sell in UK for half the US price! - Crave at CNET UK

If anyone wants a genuine copy sent over PM me if it turns out to be true, you can trust me.....

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## Wallalai

> found a great utility to convert video files, all free
> 
> I have a few WMV 10 HD that I couldn't watch on Mac-mini so will need to convert
> 
> WinFF - Free Video Converter


You're ... ahem ... more than one year late.  :Smile: 

https://teakdoor.com/computer-news/28...tml#post613544

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## DaffyDuck

> Originally Posted by Butterfly
> 
> 
> found a great utility to convert video files, all free
> 
> I have a few WMV 10 HD that I couldn't watch on Mac-mini so will need to convert
> 
> WinFF - Free Video Converter
> 
> ...


ROTFLOL!

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## Wallalai

I subscribed some time ago to "The geek stuff" newsletter coz they have a lot of interesting tips about Linux. And this morning I get one mail presenting a free backup software for Windows.

Free Windows Backup Software – GFI Backup Home Edition Freeware

download here:

Free backup software for Windows - GFI Backup Home Edition

As I don't use Windows I cannot say more, but it can be useful for some people on this forum.  :Smile:  And it's free.

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## melvbot

> Originally Posted by Butterfly
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by melvbot
> ...


Ok, experiment time. Googles been on default for years now so Im trying Bing for a week now theyve had it around for a while.

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## slackula

> Bing for a week








/I hear it's good for pr0n though

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## harrybarracuda

If you want to compare the two, why not use:

Bing vs. Google

 :mid:

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## melvbot

As ive bought myself a PC in the last few weeks for the kids to learn on and use for a media centre Ive started looking at Windows apps again.

 This is one from MS themselves to try and diagnose/solve some of the more common PC probs that you might encounter.

Microsoft Fix it Center Online

Freebie  :Smile:

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## melvbot

Im posting this on the Windows and Mac thread as its a great tip for creating strong passwords.

Just spotted this on a blog. Its an easy way to create and remember strong passwords. 

For example you need something thats easy to remember, say "teakdoorrocks" for the example password. To make this into a strong password simply use the key on the keyboard to the right (or left) of what youre typing to make it strong so "teakdoorrocks" becomes "yrslfppttpvld"

Strong(er) password thats easy to remember

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## melvbot

As Ive got a Winbox Ive started to notice little things that OSX does that Windows doesnt and finding replacements for it. The latest one is this

Antibody Software - WizMouse makes your mouse wheel work on the window under the mouse

 Handy little thingy that lets you scroll a window thats underneath another one.

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## Butterfly

^ why would you want to do that ? seems a bit pointless in true OSX style ?

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