Wednesday, May 6, 2009

7 Windows 7 Tips: Part 1

Auri Rahimzadeh
5/5/2009 2:06:28 PM

Below are a ton of Windows 7 Tips & Tricks shared with us by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft Partner Program. Did you know Windows 7 has built-in screen recording? How about control-clicking the taskbar to switch between windows? Read on and learn how you can get even more from Windows 7!

I received three of these great documents, so this is part 1 of a three part series.

  • Tip 1: Shuffling Through Program Windows.
  • Tip 2: Managing Your Windows.
  • Tip 3: Project Your Display With Ease.
  • Tip 4: Multi-Monitor Window Management.
  • Tip 5: Aero Peek Your Desktop.
  • Tip 6: Live Clutter-Free.
  • Tip 7: Help the Help Desk Help You.

Shuffling Through Program Windows

If you’re running a number of files from the same program, such as multiple documents in Microsoft Word, Windows 7 allows you to switch through these windows with ease. Simply press down on the Ctrl key while clicking the icon from the taskbar. Each click will change the window to the next in the sequence, in the order that you opened them.

Managing Your Windows

Windows 7 simplifies document and program management by allowing you to “dock” a window or manipulate its size with one mouse maneuver or a simple keystroke. To dock your window on one half of the screen, drag it to the left or right and it will change its size to fit that half of the screen. To manipulate the vertical size of a window, drag the window to the top to maximize it, or double-click the window’s top or bottom border to maximize it vertically while keeping the same width.

You can also perform all of these functions with keystrokes: image+Left Arrow and image+Right Arrow dock to half the screen image+Up Arrow and image+Down Arrow maximize and minimize image+Shift+Up Arrow and image+Shift+Down Arrow maximize and restore vertical size.

Project Your Display With Ease

Plugging in a projector and projecting your display is a snap with the Windows 7 driver display utility, displayswitch.exe. Simply hit image+P to display the following easy-to-navigate pop-up window:

image

By hitting your arrow keys (or image+P) you can switch through multiple display settings, such as “clone”, “extend” or “external only.”

Multi-Monitor Window Management

Windows 7 makes using multiple monitors as convenient as it should be. When you’re working in multi-monitors, use the keyboard shortcuts image+Shift+Left Arrow and image+Shift+Right Arrow to toggle between monitors. The new window will keep its relative position to the top-left origin of the original.

Aero Peek Your Desktop

A lesser-known versatile tool introduced with Windows 7 is the Windows® Aero® feature, “Aero Peek”. Just click the rectangle in the lower right hand corner of the task bar for quick access to your desktop. The keyboard shortcut image+Space performs the same function.

image

Live Clutter-Free

We live with enough clutter in our lives. Windows 7 gets rid of all the superfluous windows behind your active window. Just hit image+Home to minimize all inactive windows. To restore the windows when you’d like them, just press image+Home again.

Help the Help Desk Help You

Solving problems unique to a machine can be an arduous task for both the end-user and the help desk. That’s why Windows 7 introduces the Problem Steps Recorder, a screen-capture tool that allows the end-user to record the problems they’re having step-by-step. It’s as simple as hitting “record” then adding in comments as needed. A HTML-based file is converted to a .ZIP folder, which is easily passed on to the help desk. The program is accessible from the Control Panel under “Record steps to reproduce a problem” or run psr.exe from Explorer.


Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Plan Ahead for Windows 7 Beta and RC Expiration Dates
Attention Windows 7 Beta and Release Candidate (RC) testers! To avoid interruption, you’ll need to start planning now to rebuild your test machines using a valid version of Windows before the software expires.
Windows will notify you that the expiration process is beginning and two weeks later your PC will begin shutting down every two hours.
The Beta expires on August 1, 2009, and bi-hourly shutdowns will begin July 1, 2009.

The RC will expire June 1, 2010, and the bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1, 2010.
In both cases, you’ll need to rebuild your test PCs with another valid version of the OS, and reinstall your programs and data.

Download Windows 7 Release Candidate

Get the all new OS from Microsoft today!!
Download it from here!!
Be sure to read all information on the pages before downloading and installing
Please come back and post your experiences here

-flasherstein

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Wireless Woes in Windows 7

So you got Release Candidate 1 all downloaded and installed but what's that can't connect wireless to your router? What a bummer? I repair/build computers and have already installed Windows 7 RC1 nearly 50 times on various set-ups. Today I am going to go through a resolution for the Linksys WMP54g. After you have installed Windows 7 RC1 you will notice in the device manager that there is an "other" category now this will only show up if Windows 7 did not find proper drivers for your installed hardware. . If there is no "other" then you are OK! However if you are trying to install a Linksys WMP54g you will need several thing to get this one working correctly.

Step 1. Download Ralink Driver HERE. Once you have downloaded the file. Open and follow the onscreen instructions.

STEP 2
. Now Go to device manager(Start->Right Click Computer-> then Left Click Device Manager) Under the "Other" drop down Right Click "Network Adapter" and choose "Update
Driver Software" then choose "Browse my computer for drivers" then "Let me pick from
a list of device drivers on my computer" at the Select Adapter screen under the Manufacturer
side select "Ralink Technology Corp."(first one) then select 802.11a/g Wireless Lan PCI. You will get the "update driver " warning Click yes.

Step 3. You should now see you wireless connections that are available.

Hope this helps:) please feel free to email any solutions you have are commets and/or questions.

Windows 7 Launch

This is an article I found on Computing World and I thought was worth reapeating.

April 30, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. will let users run Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) for more than a year, giving them free use of the new operating system for a significantly longer time than it did Vista's previews.

Windows 7 RC, slated for download by MSDN and TechNet subscribers today and by the general public on May 5, doesn't expire until June 1, 2010, 13 months from tomorrow, Microsoft confirmed today.

When asked why the company is giving users such a long free pass for the software, a spokeswoman declined to comment.

The date had been leaked more than a month ago, when a Microsoft site temporarily posted a page that revealed other details of the upcoming RC, including a May delivery and no limit on the number of downloads.

"You don't need to rush to get Windows 7 RC," the leaked page read in late March. "The RC release will be available at least through June 2009, and we're not limiting the number of product keys, so you have plenty of time."

The 13-month life span of Windows 7 RC is substantially longer than the time limit Microsoft put on Vista's release candidates. In September and October 2006, Microsoft issued Vista RC1 and Vista RC2, respectively; both expired June 1, 2007. Users of Vista RC2 then were able to run the operating system free of charge for nearly eight months.

Starting June 1, 2007, PCs powered by Vista previews, including the two release candidates, began rebooting every two hours, part of Microsoft's preplanned scheme to remind users to move to a paying copy.

Although Microsoft continues to be coy about a final release date for Windows 7 -- according to calculations by Todd Bishop, who writes the TechFlash blog, the company is behind schedule for such an announcement -- it has said that today's RC will be the only release candidate for the operating system.

The next milestone will be what Microsoft calls "release to manufacturing," or RTM, a stage that means developers have signed off on the code and the company has moved the product into duplication and begun handing it to its hardware partners for installation on new PCs.

Microsoft was having trouble serving up Windows 7 RC to MSDN and TechNet subscribers today, as the download sites for both services were overloaded early Thursday. As of 1 p.m. Eastern time, the MSDN and TechNet download pages for Windows 7 RC remained offline.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Windows 7

Windows 7 public release is just days away. Is your wireless network adapter going to work after you upgrade? On this blog you can post your experinces with Windows 7! Here are two issues I was able to over come.

Belkin PCI F5D7000 Windows 7 driver 32-bit

Install card-> Start computer
Start->"Right click" Computer-> "Left click" Properties-> "Left click" Device Manager->
Should see "Ethernet Controller" in the Other Catagory "Right click" and choose "Update
Driver Software" then choose "Browse my computer for drivers" then "Let me pick from
a list of device drivers on my computer" at the Select Adapter screen under the Manufacturer
side selcet "Atheros Communication Inc." Now scroll down in the right panel till you see "Allied
Telesyn AT-WCP201g Wireless PCI Adapter" This should get you going. Tomorrow I will post
my resolution for the Linksys WMP54G Wireless PCI Adapter for Windows 7 64-bit which
should also work for Windows 7 32-bit.

-----hope this helps c-ya flasherstein