Featuring My Own PC

I always dreamed of a PC with a superior cooling system, a good casing, 19” LCD monitor, a super high end processor and about 8 GB of RAM.  But then again I realized, do I really need such a powerful PC?  Thinking about it, I’m luckier than some of my friends, who are still using Pentium 4 or lower version of processors and they are much contented with their PCs.  Well here it is, my PC specifications, I’m currently using:

Intel Pentium Dual Core CPU  E2140  @ 1.60GHz, I’m planning to upgrade it to at least Core 2 Duo CPU, but then again when I asked the PC guy in the computer store what is the difference between a Dual Core and the Core 2 Duo, he answered that while the Dual Core operates at 100% capacity the Core 2 Duo works at 130% capacity.  For me a 30% gap it’s not a big difference.  I do have a 3 GB of RAM (2GB Kingston and 1GB Apacer) which allowed me to have a 64-bit operating system, funny thing is that I’ve been using this PC for quite sometime now and I just recently discovered that my system is 64-bit capable upon running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.  I have 2 HDD a 250 GB Samsung and another 250 GB Hitachi, that makes 0.5 Terabyte of HDD space for my downloads, files, music and movies! I also have 2 DVD-RW drives (both Lite-On) both dual-layer capable and the one has a LightsSribe feature. I got an ECS P4M900T-M main board, a generic power supply and generic ATX casing.  An A4Tech Keyboard, Sony optical mouse, Logitech S100 speakers, and Microsoft LifeCam VX-700 - which I acquired from Microsoft in an on-going IE8 trivia contest.  For my monitor, I have a 15” Samsung SyncMaster 591s CRT monitor, sadly I still don’t have budget for an LCD monitor, but I’m planning to upgrade soon.  For my operating system, I have Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, I got the promotional disc during the hunt for points contest of Microsoft Philippines. And that’s just it!

Summary of my PC specifications:
Intel Pentium Dual Core CPU  E2140  @ 1.60GHz
ECS P4M900T-M Main Board
3 GB RAM (2GB Kingston and 1GB Apacer)
2 x 250 GB HDD (Samsung and Hitachi)
15” Samsung SyncMaster CRT Monitor
2 x DVD-RW Optical Drive (with dual layer and lightscribe capabilities)
A4Tech Keyborad
Sony Optical mouse
Logitech S100 speakers
Microsoft LifeCam VX-700
Ganuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Version

Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder - A hassle free How To screenshot maker...

There’s this new feature that was added to Windows 7 that lots of people might not aware of.  I just discovered this feature a few minutes ago.  This feature is called “Problem Steps Recorder.”  Officially this is a diagnostic tool designed to combine screen capture with mouse tracking to record the user’s actions.  The recorded user’s action will be saved as HTML slide show and can be viewed to recreate the steps.  It can also send to the helpdesk folks to look at it so that they may assist the user how to troubleshoot a certain problem in his/her PC.

On the the other hand, I find this tool useful in other ways such as for those who creates How To documents who do all the hassles in taking screenshots for every step he/she makes. 

Here’s how to do it:
1.  In the Start Menu’s search field type psr.exe, then hit enter.

2.  The PSR window will appear, click Start Record, then you can start doing you process or How To screenshots.

Sync, Share, Access with Mesh

If you are really that lazy to backup your files into an external media / storage (Flash drive, CD, DVD, external hard drive), your files might still have hope to be saved just in case you accidentally deleted them or your system have crashed.  A solution for you is just a click away in the Mesh!  Well, the Mesh offers an on-line storage of 5GB for your important and subversive files (hehehe).  What really the Mesh can do is to copy (backup) your local files and folders and syncs them every time you are connected in the internet.  So you don’t have to worry about your most important and precious files because it updates and syncs regularly.

Here’s how to do it:
1.  Go to www.mesh.live.com

2.  Sign in using your Windows Live ID (your Live Account or Hotmail account will do) or just sign up if you don’t have one.

3.  After signing in, select the Add device (the one with the big + sign), Select your OS, then click install.  Your browser will download the Live Mesh installer into your PC, install it then you’re ready to begin!

4.  After installation you may now start to select your most precious files and folders that you want to sync to your Live Mesh Account.

5.  What you have to do is to right click on that folder and you can see an option “Add folder to Live Mesh…” click on it and you’re done! (Folder color will turn to blue once successfully added to the Mesh)

Now after adding that folder in the Mesh you’ll never have to worry because every time you add a file in that folder the Mesh will automatically sync it and save that file into the web. 

One more thing that I like with the Live Mesh is that I can always access my files wherever I go, I’ll just need to go to a computer with an internet connection and eureka! I can easily access my files! It’s just like having a 5GB flash drive only It’s virtual!  hehehe

So folks, what are you waiting for create your own Live Mesh account now, and start having that virtual flash drive now! :D

P.S.  You might wonder in the OS choices you can’t see Windows 7, just select Windows Vista, XP-32 Bit (if you have 32-bit OS) and Windows Vista 64-bit (If you have a 64-bit OS) and it will do just fine.

Add Hidden Regional Windows 7 Themes to your themes selection

During Windows 7 installation the aero themes that will be installed in your system will depend on the language or location that you have selected.  If my memory serves me right, during the early releases of Windows 7 all the regional themes were included and if you miss those themes you can still see them just by a few search and clicks!

To access the other regional themes type the following into the search box and hit the Enter key.

C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT

The MCT folder will show you the additional regional themes from Great Britain, South Africa, Australia,  and Canada.

You can go on to each every theme and copy or grab those wallpapers or go to the theme folder and double click the thumbnail to add the theme and make it available in the Personalization Settings.

In the screenshot below, as you can see the other regional themes are already added and installed.  For more cool themes you can also go to the Microsoft Personalization Gallery.

Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Windows 7

I am using Windows 7 since the Beta release and reformatted my pc every time a new build is leaked from Microsoft.  Every time I reformat my PC, I’ve noticed something odd to my back up files, I can’t open it without the owner’s permission, and that owner was me! How so? 

In doing this I have to modify the file properties, remove the previous owner, modify the permissions to access that file or folder.  Good thing someone had created this registry hack that will modify the right click menu and add the “Take Ownership” option to gain access to an specific file or folder. 

To install this feature (registry hack)  download the the zip-file below double click the InstallTakeOwnership.reg file and confirm the prompts to add the modification to the registry.  This action will require no reboot.  This registry hack has also an uninstall option, by double clicking the RemoveTakeOwnership.reg to remove the registry modification.

You can download the file here takeownership.zip

New Patch for “Aurora” security hole in IE

After the incident in China, the operation Aurora, which hackers have used an unknown security hole in several existing versions if Internet Explorer to access data of some individuals, Microsoft issued a fix in that said security hole.  The updates versions 5.01 to 8 of Internet Explorer.  You can download the patch at www.microsoft.com/security if your IE wasn’t automatically updated.

Microsoft founder joins Twitter

If you want to follow or to know what Bill Gates’ up to you might want to open a Twitter account and follow him there.  The world’s richest man who is also a philanthropist had just joined twitter a couple of days ago and had already got almost 300,000 followers! The said twitter account was verified by Twitter’s Caroline Mizumotto.  His first tweet was “"Hello World." Hard at work on my foundation letter - publishing on 1/25.”  You can follow him here.

Apparently Bill Gates had a Facebook account before but he eventually gave up on the service after being flooded with numerous friend requests.

Update: As I am writing this, he already have 297,102 followers and growing every minute, he also follows 42 Twitter accounts and and already have 12 Tweets.

My new Microsoft Life Cam VX-700

There’s an ongoing trivia contest at Microsoft Philippines called Internet Explorer 8 Trivia Mania and i just won a Microsoft Life Cam VX-700.  To join the contest you must register to this site and answer the trivia question regarding internet explore 8 and or any other IE versions.  Just this Sunday I participated in the game and luckily being the number 8th to answer the question I won the grand prize for that day which is the Microsoft Life Cam VX-700!  By the way clues for the trivia question are posted in windows7ako in twitter and trivia questions will be posted simultaneously at windows7ako facebook fanpage, windows7ako in twitter and in the IE8 Trivia Page.  Mechanics of the game is also posted in IE8 Trivia Page. The contest will last till February 17, 2010!

p.s.
To miss windows7ako (the facebook and twitter fanpage admin) I' still waiting for the email confirmation so that I can calim my new webcam! :D

Back-Ups

I just recently acquired a 1 TB Western Digital MyBook Esstential external HDD.  The reason I bought this gadget is that I’ve got a lot of stuff in my PC (files, documents, downloads, videos, music, applications, and programs) that are begging to be transferred to another location before I will reformat my PC and install the copy of Windows 7 Ultimate that I acquired in the “hunt for points” game from Microsoft Philippines.  As I am writing this article, I am also currently backing up almost 400GB worth my files into my new hard drive! I started the back-up process at 8pm and until now it’s 11:41pm already and i still have more than 90 GB to to transfer.

It’s my first time to back up such large amount of files! And I also realized that having a hard drive with big capacity in my PC makes me comfortable but it gave me the hassle of backing up my files!  By the way I have 2 hard drive in my PC, a 250GB Hitachi HDD and another 250GB Samsung HDD and sad to say the the two drives are almost full! So you can see my dilemma now, that i can’t just reformat my drives and wipe out all my files!  It’s a good thing that I already have an external HDD (thanks Mighty)!

Live.com for Our Convenience!

The live.com domain from Microsoft is not your ordinary domain, I’ve been using it for quite some time and I found it very useful.  Some of the feature that I like are the Skydrive , Office Live Workspace, and the integrated Hotmail where I can receive mails and send communications to my friends and family.

The Skydrive features a secure online storage with 25GB capacity and it’s for free!  You can upload a backup of your files and download it anytime, anywhere without hassles.  This is very helpful and convenient for you’ll never know when your system will crash and your files will be corrupted! With Skydrive you’ll have a backup of your files!

Tired of always bringing your flash drive? Here’s a solution, the Office Live Workspace!  Here you can upload, download, view your files online and even share it with friends!  What we usually do is that we save our reports and important files to a flash drive, bring it to the office and upload it in the company’s computer before the presentation, but using the Office Live Workspace you  will just upload your file from your home PC and access it via the internet in the office without the hassle of bringing a flash drive.  Isn’t that more convenient?

Nexus One: Google’s Flagship Phone!

Android powered Nexus One, the so called iPhone killer from search engine giant Google has already released last January 5, 2010! 

This smartphone features the  Android 2.1 (Eclair) operating system, 1 GHz Qualcom QSD 8250Snapdragon ARM processor, 3.7 inches AMOLED display, Wi-Fi capability, and a full touchscreen display.  It is initially offered for $529 USD (unlocked) or $179 USD with a 2 year contract with T-Mobile.  Nexus One is now available and selling online at www.google.com/phone but you need to be a US resident or in Hong-Kong or in Singapore to be able to order online.

Summary of Specifications:
Qualcomm QSD 8250 1.0GHz
512MB Flash, 512MB RAM
4GB microSD Card (up to 32GB)
3.7″ AMOLED touchscreen @ 800×480 pixels
5MP autofocus camera with LED flash
HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 2Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
GPS with aGPS
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
A2DP stereo Bluetooth
Li-Ion 1400 mAH battery

Windows 7 God Mode?

It was just recently discovered that the newest operating system from Microsoft, Windows 7, has a secret feature called “God Mode” which allows access to almost all configuration settings and options in just one folder!  God Mode can be activated by creating a new folder and name it “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”, and the following folder  icon will appear:

By opening this icon, it will show you 280 shortcuts for configuring your Windows 7 PC.  (Note: The said 280 shortcuts can be found when using Ultimate version of Windows 7, number of shortcuts may vary in other versions)