Microsoft has just released the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate on the 26th of October, 2010. That is a mouthful of words, which if you didn’t get it – refers to the Release Candidate version of Windows 7 SP1, and also Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Which means that the real thing (ie the SP1) will probably be out early next year. So if you’re into operating systems and have the time to try out leading edge technology before the rest of the people, head over to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff183870.aspx to get your copy.

For the Release Candidate, the only languages available are English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

Windows 7 SP 1 RC Minimum System Requirements:

-OS: Windows 7 RTM (Final) -IMPORTANT!
-CPU: >1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
-RAM: >1 GB (32-bit) / >2 GB (64-bit)
-HDD: 16 GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)
-GPU: DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
-Optical Drive: DVD-compatible drive

1. Review the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 system requirements, and the FAQ at the download page above. Probably the only interesting thing from the FAQ is this question:
“Q. Will I be able to uninstall the service pack RC?
A. Yes, you will be able to uninstall the service pack RC if you need to.”

2. Click the “GET STARTED NOW” button to start the download. Notice that there are 2 similiar looking buttons. The top most one requires you to login and register. The other one doesn’t. Guess which one most will prefer to go for.
Note that the difference, as stated on the page, if you bothered to read it, is: “By registering for the Service Pack 1 RC, you will receive updates on new builds and RC expiration dates. You are encouraged to register, but if you wish, you can opt out of registration and proceed directly to the download. If you choose to opt-out of registration, you will not be contacted further.”

How to locate explorer.exe

"Do you want to end explorer.exe?"

How To Kill Windows Explorer (Windows 7/Vista/XP):
Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc (-Ctrl-Alt-Del no longer brings up the Task Manager in Windows 7, it brings up an interim screen) to bring up the Task Manager and click on the Processes tab, then find all instances of explorer.exe and press “End Process” to kill them.
After killing Windows Explorer, you will notice that the taskbar has disappeared, and you will no longer have any access to the Start Menu. The only access you have is the Task Manager itself.

Note: If after you kill Windows Explorer, you get something like “Dr Watson (Not Responding)”, kill it as well.

Press "Enter" to restart explorer.exe

How To Restart Windows Explorer (Windows 7/Vista/XP):
Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc (/Ctrl-Alt-Del) to bring up the Windows Task Manager, then from the menu, click on File > New Task (Run …), type in “explorer” and the Windows taskbar should regenerate itself before your eyes. You will now have Start Menu access and everything is back to normal.

Homework:

You can easily practise this now by following the steps above to kill Windows Explorer, then restart it again. As a precaution, save your work before doing this but generally Windows is more resilient to explorer crashes these days compared to the days of Windows 95, so the crash itself should not take down other running applications.

Disclaimer: In a less than perfect Windows installation, killing Windows Explorer may cause system instability, and causes other applications to crash. So, try this on your system if you have a stable system that you have confidence in. You are on your own in this, be warned.

Read the disclaimer above, cross your fingers, and do this at least once as HOMEWORK, so that you can remember how to apply this when the real thing happens. Repeat as many times as necessary – especially if you are a slow learner.

The official music for this article is here, courtesy of The Rolling Stones. No, I am not really a big fan but strangely this great proggie by the name of Taskbar Shuffle reminds me of this long forgotten song. So turn up the volume and let Mick Jagger and gang take you back to a point in time when TVs rule and the internet was unheard of, while you read this short review.

Taskbar Shuffle v2.5
Type: Freeware
OS: Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT/9x
Note: Not for Windows 7, as taskbar shuffling is already a feature.
Homepage: http://nerdcave.webs.com/
Download: http://nerdcave.webs.com/
Size: 505KB (taskbar_shuffle_2.5.zip, portable version)

This program has 2 functions actually – shuffle the taskbar and rearrange the icons in the system tray.
The portable (non-installer) version’s  zipped file is just 505KB, so it gets extra points for being small.

Do The Taskbar Shuffle: “You move it to the right, yeah!”
If you’re on Windows XP or Vista (Why?), and you are jealous of Ubuntu users who can switch programs on the taskbar at will while yours are stuck into place like a nail in the wood, then you should really have a look at this nifty thingie.
I’d been using it for a while now and it does its job well, doesn’t crash, doesn’t use much resources and doesn’t need a system tray icon to announce itself. All the signs of a very well written program.

It’s especially useful after a Windows Explorer crash when you notice that programs aren’t in the sequence you opened them. Don’t you just hate that? At least, I do. Which is why I got hold of this thing – to have it enforce a pecking order in my taskbar and make Windows Explorer crashes tolerable.

And it also makes my Windows XP a bit like Windows 7.

How to use it? Easy!
You click and hold the mouse button on the program you want to move in the taskbar, and then you move it to the left or right as Mick Jagger sang in the song. That’s why we have his song playing in the background.

Pros:
-It has non-installer version, ie it’s portable! (One extra Kong for this!)
-It is tiny
-It can also rearrange icons in your system tray (which I’d just notice, while writing this!)

Cons:
-It does not auto play Harlem Shuffle in the background.

Final Score:

Rating: 4.5 Little Kongs

Sometimes, you really need to keep things simple. You don’t really want the full power of a Microsoft Outlook, Windows Mail, Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird to handle the simple job of shooting an email as these programs tend to be overloaded.

This is when promoting Gmail to the lofty position of default email client seems to be an attractive alternative as it opens up pretty fast for a web application. Unless, you really have a slow connection, or heaven forbid, a dial up connection – which is a relic of the last millenium in this time and age.

How to make Gmail your default email client?

For Google Talk users:
Double click on the Google Talk icon in the system tray and click on the Settings link, then check the “Open Gmail when I click on email links” box in the Settings window. “OK” and done!

For Gmail Notifier users (Not compatible with Google Toolbar):
Right click on its system tray icon, select the Options menu and tick the box next to “Use Gmail for internet mailto: links”.
Select your favorite browser in the drop down menu. Done!

TIP: You may get an error stating “Cannot connect to your mailbox. Service temporarily unavailable.” which is caused by a bug in the Gmail Notifier for those of you who have “Browser connection: Always use https” selected under “Gmail > Settings > General (tab)”.

IF so,
1. Download this registry patch from Google support.
2. Unzip and double click on the file called notifier_https.reg to install it. Or, right click and select “Merge”.
4. Click ‘yes’ to confirm that you want to add the information to the registry.
5. Close and restart the Gmail Notifier.
The other file, notifier_https_undo.reg is to delete the registry key if you ever need to uninstall it.
Done!

For Mozilla Firefox users

If you don’t have the programs above, and for some reasons don’t want to install them either, you can still try the mod below, but only if you use Firefox.

1. Type ‘javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler(“mailto”,”https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s”,”Gmail”)‘ minus the outermost quotation marks into the address bar.
Take out the ‘s’ from ‘https’ if you don’t use https for Gmail.
Press Enter.

2. If you see “Add Gmail (mail.google.com) as an application for mailto links” at top of your browser below the address bar, click on the “Add Application” button.

If you don’t: From the top menu, go into “Tools” > “Options” (or “Firefox” > “Preferences” for Mac users), select the “Applications” tab. Find “mailto” and select “Use Gmail”.
Done!

A Final Word

Personally, I am a Google Talk user, so the choice was easy for me; but if I don’t have either Google proggies installed, I would go for the Firefox option. I would also choose Gmail Notifier last as it always have an unnecessary pop-up to prompt me for connection to Gmail during startup.

For those payware apologists who want to argue that paid ones work better, note that 2 of the biggest Antiviruses – N**ton and Syman*** are hated by lots of IT people, including yours truly, for hogging resources on our computers. They were good back in 1998 but a couple of years back, lots of IT people find that removing them from Vista machines helped make Vista usable.

Just recently, I’d discovered that AVG has been doing a lot of unnecessary read/write in my computer.

Avgchsvx.exe is AVG’s Cache Server Process and as far as I know (after checking online), it is not necessary at all to catch viruses. It is supposed to be used to help speed up the AVG virus scanning but since it is a new addition in AVG ver 9, you can think of it as a BETA addition being tested out on the unsuspecting masses.

Which is why I decided to remove AVG from my Windows partition for the time being. So for now, for my main OS, I’ll be using Avira.

Avira's highest read/write io

And this brings me to the reason why Avira was not in my main OS – I REALLY HATE that once-a-day ad! If that and its splash screen are the reasons why you don’t use it too, here’s how to get rid of them:

To disable the once-a-day pop-up surprise:

For Windows XP Pro, Vista Business/Ultimate/Enterprise and Windows 7:

-Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative tools > Local security policy.

-Right click “Software Restriction Policies”, choose “New Software Restriction Policies.”

(Skip if there are sub folders in “Software Restriction Policies” already).

-Right-click “Additional Rules” > “New Path Rule …”.

-Click “Browse” and find “C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\” (or wherever you have it installed), and select avnotify.exe.

-Set the security level to “Disallowed” > “Apply” > “Ok”.

(I do not have space for other Windows versions, search Google for “disable Avira ad + [your Windows version]” if yours is not covered here, esp if you are using Home or Starter editions)

To disable the splash screen:

-Open Regedit* and navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run].

-In the right pane double-click avgnt and add /ns at the end of the path (ex. /min /ns).

(This was /nosplash prior to version 9).

*Regedit is Microsoft’s Registry Editor and just running this thing means that your computer will not be supported by Microsoft in the event of booting problems or whatever. If you have not heard of it and have to ask how to run it , I suggest that you get someone more knowledgeable to help you – like your 13 year old – for example.

ClamWin (Windows version of ClamAV)

While we’re still on the subject of antiviruses, you may also want to try out:

-I liked it for its portability. I have it on USB and also synchronized across the internet (between work and home) as it does not need to be installed; the only antivirus I know which have this characteristic.

-I also use it (ClamAV) in Linux servers to prevent Windows clients computers from getting infected.

-It’s scanning is probably not as good as the rest but it is open source (FREE!); and though it used to lack (a usable) on-access scanner, it has one now, developed for it by a third party. Check it out here, it’s called Clam Sentinel.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel for HD fanatics who wants to see their netbook be capable of playing HD content. There are two options you can use, the first being the Shark007 codec. This is a free codec pack which is quite user-friendly with a settings control application to help you configure the codec pack properly. You will need to mess around with the H264 settings to see which works best for you. However this option is not perfect, as the codec used to decode HD content is not as efficient as the second option, which is CoreAVC.

CoreAVC is currently the most efficient and advanced HD decoder used but it will set you back $12.90, although I imagine if you play around with Google you will be able to find the download link for free. You simply install the application then set CoreAVC to always Skip Deblocking and Deinterlacing to None.

The next step is to install and run Media Player Classic Home Cinema. Select Options from the View dropdown menu and click the External Filters tab. Click the Add Filter… button at the top right of the window and double-click CoreAVC Video Decoder from the list. Make sure the Prefer option is ticked. Then select Output in the Options menu and make sure that the DirectShow Video is set to EVR. Click OK, and close Media Player Classic to make sure the settings are applied

With this done hopefully your 1080p videos will be able to play smoothly. You may encounter problems with more complicated videos with higher bitrate, and nothing can help beyond waiting for an even more efficient codec to arrive, or switching over to Ubuntu Linux.

But with this guide, hopefully 720p content will be able to play fine on your netbook. With a screen so small, that’s all you need anyway.

My 3-year old notebook

The 5 Ways

Note that since there are so many different configurations for notebooks, what’s mentioned here in this article are suggestions which may or may not apply to you. You will need to google for more information and also read your notebook’s user manual as I can only give you hints. You will have to do more research.

1 Upgrade your memory to the MAXIMUM as indicated in your notebook’s manual

Upgrading your RAM from 512MB to 1GB, for example, can give you a much noticeable speed improvement.

-The maximum memory limit can be anywhere from 512MB to 4GB depending on when you bought the notebook. And for Windows XP, regardless of how much physical RAM you have, there is a 3GB max for 32-bit WinXP and 4GB for 64-bit WinXP. If you need to use past this limit, upgrade to Windows 7!

2. Use Microsoft ReadyBoost if you’re running Windows Vista or Windows 7

ReadyBoost works by using flash memory in an USB drive or memory card as a disk cache. It is not additional RAM. Think of it as a middle man arbitrating between the RAM and the Paging File.

3. If your laptop has a hard disk running at 5400 rpm - upgrade it to 7200 rpm

…. for faster disk access times and better Windows performance.

A Nvidia Geforce graphics chip on a MXM card

4. Upgrade the graphics adapter in your notebook

No need to buy expensive Home Servers. There are a lot of free open source Linux distros that allow you to configure such a server. Like I said earlier, you will have to do the leg work yourself.

Finally, consider buying a netbook. It’s small, it’s cute, it’s adorable and it’s drawing all the admiring glances. Netbooks are also in line with the current focus on saving energy for a greener style of life. Notebooks are so boring and so last millenium. It’s like those Compaq luggables of old 80s. They were the portable computers of their time. Now, the baton has been passed to the netbooks.

My laptop was purchased back in 2007 and upgraded to the 8400M graphics system instead of using the default Intel GMA because of light gaming requirements. A year into its use, it began to develop some quirks such as laptop restarting itself, corrupted display, etc. The charger/battery also died soon after.

A few weeks ago, the entire laptop died. Booting it gives a blank display although I could still hear the fans and hard disk functioning normally. Devastated, I contacted Dell and they told me since my laptop is out of warranty, I have no option but to either pay to have the motherboard replaced, or to get an extended warranty to the tune of RM1000 and then have the motherboard replaced for free under warranty.

I was not happy with the outcome because a laptop should definitely be expected to last more than just a mere 2 years so I did a Google search and stumbled upon the core of the problem: The NVIDIA Defect. This problem first surfaced in late 2008 and affected laptops that have the NVIDIA graphics chip. A total of 10 laptops from Dell are affected and they are:

Other laptop manufacturers such as HP and Gateway also have similar problems. The common problem is that all these laptops have an NVIDIA graphics chip inside.

The problem stemmed from NVIDIA’s engineering fault which caused the graphics chip to operate at abnormally high temperatures. Error in the substrate chemicals used also resulted in the thermal cycles that will lead to the chip detaching itself eventually from the motherboard, thus leading to the ‘blank’ display problem.

Dell have acknowledged the problem and have offered a 1 Year Limited Extended Warranty to cover this defect, and they have also issued a BIOS fix, which forces the fans of the laptop to run at maximum speed for longer periods of the time to cool the laptop down. This led to a very noisy fan with low battery life, certainly not what you expect from the laptop when you first purchased it.

When I found out about this issue, I was very upset and called Dell up and demanded that they do something about the problem. All they did was apologize for the problem and offered me the RM1000 warranty extension and that there is nothing else they could do to me. I threatened to escalate the problem to the Consumer Tribunal but their position did not change. The person on the support line even said, “So are we expected to replace the motherboards of everybody who complained?”. Damn right, if you sold them with a defect!

Regardless, I went to the Consumer Tribunal and got the forms. There are 4 copies that need to be filled. I called Dell again and asked for the name of the person that I should write on the form so that the summons can be served to them. A female came on the line and we danced through the whole issue again, with me complaining about the problem. After putting me on hold for three times, she told me there was nothing she could do to help me because my computer is out of warranty and the system would just reject any request she made to issue me a repair.

I told her fine, just give me the address and name of the person I should serve the summons to. She gave me the address of Dell in Penang but did not offer a name. After I insisted, she put me on hold once more. When she came back on, she told me there’s no need to put a name, but she has conferred with ‘upper management’ and they have decided to give me a free replacement of my motherboard for this issue, because apparently I have never claimed warranty so presumably the money I paid for the warranty will be used to cover this one time fix.

So the moral of the story is, if you have experienced a similar issue, please do not lose hope and try phoning to Dell and demand them to fix your FAULTY/DEFECTIVE laptop. If it doesn’t work, try using the Tribunal to pressure them, and if need be, take the case directly to the Tribunal because no company should be able to sell you a defective product and offer a 1 year extended warranty expecting that is sufficient to cover the problem, especially when the laptop WILL fail, just a matter of how long. I am now happily waiting for Monday for a Dell representative to come over and fix my computer.

If you want to confirm the problem, start the laptop while holding down the ‘D’ key and your laptop screen should flash different colours (confirming its not a LCD problem). Then restart the system holding down the ‘Fn’ and ‘Start’ button and after 5 minutes, the laptop should give a loud beep. That’s how the Dell personnel confirmed the defective chip.

….millions of people depend on Windows Vista software. While Windows dominate the market, feedback about Vista has been less than impressive. One of the key reasons is the fact that while you may have a PC with the minimum system requirements, excess codes from its graphics and utilities would reduce the performance of your pc. Another irritating fact about vista is the fact that many applications cannot work without a vendor update. Imagine the horror one goes through when basic applications like anti-virus, CD burning tools and even browser tools like Firefox require updates to be able to work. To add to one’s misery, Vista is also a favourite target for malware authors!

Nightmare of Windows user

Besides that, Vista’s 64-bit versions complicate matters further by prohibiting any drivers besides the signed ones for kernel mode installation. Even via system administrators to override this feature is an uphill task. Another reason why Vista users are frustrated is the fact that it has a flawed memory protection system that can be easily bypassed! With a weak file backup, problems arise when you attempt to backup files unless it is thought to be part of the operating system.

Premium Price, Hopeless Performance

For the price paid, many of the features Vista offers to its users are a nuisance that do nothing but slow down the computer. These include the rather redundant Super Fetch and even background services like Web Client and PnP-X IP Bus Enumerator Service to name a few. It is rather amusing to know that the software has many features that makes it not only annoying but unproductive!

Last but definitely not the least is the fact that Vista is guarded by a rather severe licensing system that allows allows the transfer of the license only once. This is a fact that many of us overlook when reading the terms and conditions. Value for money? Likely not!

So goobye Windows Vista, so long, farewell, adieu… . RIP

XP Mode is Windows 7′s new way of integrating a virtualization experience directly into the operating system. In the past, it was cumbersome to set up a virtual computer and required some special knowledge that most users are not bothered to learn. As a result, Vista which broke certain applications that only worked on XP earned the wrath of many a consumer. It might be a case of too little too late, but XP Mode for Win 7 attempts to make using virtual computers a seamless environment for legacy applications.

Virtualization Technology

One caveat to XP Mode is that your processor needs to support Virtualization Technology, and most AMD processors have this support enabled as a default so it will not be a problem for you. Unfortunately for Intel processors, only certain models have VT, and most of them are disabled by default in the computer BIOS. If you are running Intel, it is highly advised that you Google your processor’s compatibility with VT. Intel had a quirky way of working out which class of their processors support VT, and you may find it surprising that some of their high end quad core models DO NOT have VT.

Nevertheless, once you have enabled VT support from the BIOS, it is a simple matter of downloading and installing Virtual PC and XP Mode from this torrent.

The new XP mode supports the following features:

• USB device support
• Seamless application publishing and launching
• Support for multi-threads
• Clipboard sharing
• Printer redirection
• Smart card redirection
• Drive sharing
• Integration with Windows Explorer
• Known folder integration between host and guest
• Support for higher resolution
• Requires AMD-V or Intel-VT CPU features
• Integration with XP Mode

It’s definitely a virtual computer system done right, as the seamless integration means you won’t notice that the application is running within a virtual computer. It will just pop up and behave more or less exactly like it is running natively on your Windows 7.  However, note that XP Mode is only available for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate.

Why XP Mode?

Why run XP Mode? Besides offering you a way to run applications that wouldn’t run using Windows 7 XP Compatibility Mode, you can also use this to run 32-bit versions of applications from a 64-bit computer. An example of this would be engineering software like CATIA, which refuses to run on a 64-bit system unless you purchase the proper version of it.

Happy downloading and good luck with Windows 7.