Search results for 'app:weblogs' matching tags 'Vista' and 'Windows 7'

That’s a lot of Windows support, eh

mikehall — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

XP gets support until 2014
As of 10 April 2012, Vista gets a reprieve and will now get security updates up to April 2017
Windows 7 gets support until 2020
Windows 8 will be most likely be out later this year and will get support until 2022/3

If Windows 8 does as well as Vista, and it’s by no means written in stone that it will/won’t, Microsoft could well be doing support for FIVE operating systems before XP support runs out in 2014.

Personally, I find that prospect quite funny. Am I being mean? No, not at all.

Along with almost all other beta testers, I voiced up against releasing Vista, but Microsoft let it out anyway. It was that bad that even Microsoft have tried to erase it off the face of the earth.

Windows 7 has enough redeeming features that it has succeeded,

Windows 8 has no redeeming features for users of desktops and laptops, but Microsoft is going to release it anyway. Below the few apps lies the skeleton of a desktop operating system, not enough of one to be a really good desktop and a bit of a shock for anybody coming from a different Tablet.

I would have thought that Microsoft could have given us the full desktop and just added apps to the Metro UI as they finished them. As it is, neither user type will get what they expect or want. I can see Windows 8 going the same way as Vista. Maybe Microsoft will have enough time with Windows 9 development to do a proper job for both user types, because we will all still be here, regardless of what some pundits would have us believe.

The one saving grace is Windows 7. It will be around until 2020 and maybe beyond that if Microsoft persevere with the ‘not quite either’ policy.

AHCI can be a real pain

mikehall — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Did you know that an ISA video card, e.g. the old Trident cards from the early days, can put up a display on a screen which enables you to recover from a corrupted BIOS. The only problem is the complete and utter lack of an ISA slot in today’s PCs. And you thought they were just junk? PCI VGA is detected by any system, but it will do nothing to help recover from a serious BIOS fault as ISA could do.

A Microsoft serial mouse from the same period and a 5 pin DIN standard keyboard will give you mouse and keyboard functions when no other mouse and keyboard will work. PS/2 mice and keyboards have taken up the gap left by the demise of serial and 5 pin DIN since those heady days..

So what has this got to do with AHCI? No, I haven’t ‘lost it’. Read on.

AHCI creates an environment where SATA drives can be hot swapped, useful if you have an X-Port. or if you are in the habit of removing and/or connecting SATA drives on the fly. The trouble with an all SATA setup is that the Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 installation DVD will not boot if all SATA drives are covered by AHCI. The DVD doesn’t boot and the F6 option to load drivers from an external source is never reached.

The accepted ‘fix’ for the above is to install the OS using the Native IDE setting in BIOS, make a small registry hack when the OS has finished installing and then restart the machine, remembering to go back into BIOS to reset AHCI.

Unfortunately the above does not always work. Sometimes, the registry hack is already in place but the AHCI drivers aren’t.. Vista, Windows 7 and 8 do not install drivers which they do not need, and if AHCI is not set, AHCI drivers are not installed. Motherboard manufacturers supply AHCI drivers for XP, Vista and Windows 7 which can be downloaded and installed at the F6 option. Windows 8 is not supported by these drivers, and the only way out from this situation is to start over..

OK.. There is a drive connection standard which is not affected by any SATA settings in BIOS. It’s been around for a long time and as long as the drive is in good condition and the bootable DVD is not corrupted, an IDE DVD drive will ALWAYS boot a DVD/CD.

With AHCI set for all SATA drive ports, an IDE DVD drive will quite happily run the entire installation, and Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 will install the AHCI drivers such that when rebooted, everything works. You don’t have to go into BIOS and you don’t have to make any registry hack. It is foolproof.

So, when somebody tells you that the old standards are boring and that you should move on, be they hardware or software, you can smile and say to yourself ‘Yeah, right’’..

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Please note that some BIOS configurations will let you set AHCI for some of the SATA drive ports, but have a ‘get-out clause for the others, maybe two out of five or six ports. I am not sure if using the get out clause on the SATA port to which a SATA DVD is connected will allow the drive to boot from a Windows 7 or 8 DVD. I will try it out in time, but for now, the IDE drive is a great way out of a sometimes awkward and frustrating situation and works regardless..

Windows Gadgets..

mikehall — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

If you go to the Microsoft Gadget Gallery now, you will find many less gadgets available. This is not to say that the gadgets no longer exist, more that Microsoft are no longer providing the service as was. What few gadgets are on the current gadget page is all you will get unless you do a search in your preferred browser for 3rd party gadgets. This is the NEW Microsoft Gadget Gallery..

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/personalize/gadgets

Whatever you have running now, go to each gadgets 'help' and then bookmark the individual gadget website in case you ever need to re-install, and don’t forget to back up your ‘Favourites’..

More about Microsoft’s decision here...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/looking-for-gadgets

Network monitor gadget

mikehall — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

This is the blurb..

“Monitor the status of up to 60 devices on your network or internet by pinging them and testing for a response with this Windows Desktop gadget. Various options available including variable ping timeout, option to display alert and play sound when devices go offline or come online, writing of log file and color scheme options.”

There is a version 3.1.3 in the Online Gadget Gallery, but you can get 4.0.1 from here..

http://samwtucker.com/NetworkMonitor

I use it on my home network to see what is online. It would be particularly useful in a home network spread over multiple floors and/or rooms and for checking the status of a network printer BEFORE you send stuff and wonder why nothing is happening..

Weather Center gadget..

mikehall — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

There is no shortage of weather gadgets, and I have tried most of them. Ultimately, the most accurate weather reports for Canada come from ‘The Weather Network, so I have had a tendency to use TWN’s own gadget.

Now, this is all very good for me, but what if you live in a place where TNW is not so accurate or you do not like the look of the ‘weather’ station gadgets which gives you the most accurate reports?

Enter the ‘Weather Center’..

As you can see from the graphic, it is night time here (hence the black background), 19°C, reasonably humid, it is going to be a nice day tomorrow, and all info is courtesy of The Weather Network.

It can be toggled to show only current weather, or you can add data windows as I have done. The current weather state at the top of the graphic always reflects what is happening outside, and the windows will also show an appropriate graphic which best reflects weather for the period being shown.

The second window can be customized to show ‘feels like, wind speed, humidity, actual pressure and pressure state, any order.

The general background also changes colour, so tomorrow it will be a rather pleasing shade of blue.

Assuming that you like the look (there is a plain background too), you can choose from any of these weather providers:

Weather.com
Accuweather.com
Wunderground.com
MSN.com
Weatherbug.com
Weather.gov (US Only)
Weathernetwork.com

Ultimate Windows Tweaker for Windows 7..

mikehall — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 06:00:00 GMT

.. is still free and now works with Windows 7 as well as Vista. This is what it looks like..

If you like tweaking, you have just got to go for this, but remember to tweak bits one at a time. Make too many changes and you may just forget what you have done.

This is where you get it. http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista

Try not to click on the free registry scan buttons ( I do wish that MVPs and other techies wouldn’t support ads like these)

Gadgets

mikehall — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:00:00 GMT

I don’t like the weather gadget which comes with Vista and Windows 7. I much prefer the Weather Networks offering, at least I did until very recently.

Accuweather do a nice line in gadgets, various versions but, strangely, the smallest version does not show the correct temperature. When I installed it and connected to their website, it was 1 degree C out. Not much, I will admit, but enough to cause some concern.

This is the one I have settled on, and this is how it looks. Oh, and it shows the same temperature as the website. The place name links to a full page on the weather for the locality and even shows an hour by hour view. Like Weather Eye, it flashes up weather warnings. I haven’t seen any yet, and if don’t see one fairly soon, I will run Weather Eye again and compare the two. In the meantime, it looks nice and is doing its job.

For ‘weather huggers’, there is a professional version for which a subscription is required.

.NET 4 is on windows update !

bill — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Today I was running windows update on some virtual machines, and noticed that .NET 4 Client Profile is available via windows update. Seems it was released to windows update in June.

For Windows XP the update is optional. For Windows 7 and Vista the update is recommended. What this basically means is for XP users they will typically need to run windows update and select .NET 4 from the optional updates:

For Vista and Windows 7 the download and installation will be automatic if you select to automatically download recommended updates.

One great thing about .NET 4 is the installation is a breeze, especially in comparison to previous versions of the framework; distributing .NET 3.5 was a really a pain as it had dependencies on .NET 2 and the 3.0 additions. .NET 4 is a standalone installation with no other dependencies on earlier frameworks; it also runs side by side with earlier versions even in COM.

If you are running Windows Server (2003 or 2008), windows update will list the .NET 4 Framework as an optional update. Note: this is the full framework as opposed to the client profile.

If you prefer to download and install the full profile on XP, Vista or Windows 7, you’ll still need to go to the Microsoft download site. Currently you can download a Web Installer that then goes and gets the bits you need, or a full installation which includes both x64 (64 bit) and x86 (32 bit) versions:

.NET 4 Client Profile Web Install

.NET 4 Client Profile Standalone Installer (Full Download)

.NET 4 Full Framework Web Install

.NET 4 Full Framework Standalone Installer (Full Download)

So far I haven’t had any problems with distribution of .NET 4. The installs have all been really smooth. Now of course I can also point clients directly to windows update, making life even easier :)

Rapport Microsoft sur les données de sécurité N°8

jeanmarc — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Le Rapport sur les données de sécurité Microsoft présente un point de vue détaillé sur le contexte versatile des menaces, notamment la divulgation et l'exploitation des vulnérabilités, les logiciels malveillants et les logiciels potentiellement indésirables.

Rapport Microsoft sur les données de sécurité - Microsoft Sécurité

7 RC back to Vista

mikehall — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Windows 7 RC looked good until..

.. the realization that installation of 7 RC overwrites manufacturer MBR’s making it more difficult to access recovery partitions than just pressing CTRL + F11 or whatever key combo does the trick. One has to use any Vista DVD and intercept the installation in order to get to a command prompt and finally the recovery partition. Fortunately, Vista images are laid very quickly indeed, and that is a good thing because the time taken to install updates thereafter takes forever.

All of this is way beyond the average end user who was not supplied with a DVD in the first place and who never realized the importance of creating one.

Once on track..

.. the first round of updates saw ninety seven on the list. Then a few more, yet more, and still no sign of SP1. In the end, I manually downloaded and installed both service packs. Two days later, Vista Home Premium and Office 2007 have finally quit asking for more.

At last..

The owner of the Dell laptop now has a computer which is not going to shut down in the next few days and continue to behave like that until Windows 7 RC is replaced. There wasn’t enough free cash to upgrade to Windows 7 RTM presently, but the laptop is working well running Vista Home Premium. It is not underpowered as it has 2gb RAM, unlike many computers which were sold underspecified in a bid to keep the price down. Realistically, the only difference that the owner will notice is the appearance.

The future is not looking too good though..

Generally for a machine like the above, I would suggest waiting for Windows 8 if funds available to upgrade in the foreseeable future are out of reach. The problem with this is that support for Vista home versions will mostly likely end before the public release of Windows 8. I know that Windows Vista did little for the reputation of Microsoft, but more than a few people still bought into it, and they deserve better support than they are going to get.