Posts Tagged windows
Ninite: A life-saver for new PCs and fresh Windows installs
Posted by jasoncross in PC Tech, Software on October 28, 2009
Upgrading to Windows 7? Sure, a lot of noise has been made about whether or not you can do an “in-place upgrade” or not, depending on which version of Windows you’re going from and which version of Win7 you’re going to. My advice – never do an in-place upgrade. If it’s a major new operating system, wipe your drive and start fresh. It’s nothing if not a good excuse to back up all your precious data.
Maybe you’re not doing an upgrade. Maybe you’re shopping around for a new PC. Either way, the biggest pain in the butt with getting a new PC or wiping your drive and starting fresh with a new OS is re-downloading and installing all those indispensable apps you use every day. (Well, the biggest pain is actually backing up all your photos and music and stuff – but you really should be doing that anyway.)
Enter one of the greatest websites in all creation, Ninite.com (no, that’s not hyberbole). It’s an idea so brilliant, so simple, and so useful that I wonder why it hasn’t been done years ago.
Microsoft Security Essentials – Thumbs Up
Posted by jasoncross in PC Tech, Software on September 29, 2009
Today, Microsoft launches its anti-malware software package, Microsoft Security Essentials. It’s honest-to-goodness anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-bad-stuff software that offers real-time protection. It would be pretty easy to make some sort of joke about Microsoft making business for itself, producing operating systems that are open to malicious attack with one hand and selling software to protect yourself from it with the other. But MSE is free, as in no dollars and zero cents free. Free to download, free to use, free updates, free free.
This, of course, means jack-all if the software is crap. Fortunately, it is not crap. In fact, it’s quite good. The fine folks at Ars Technica have a first-look that is favorable, but I’ve been using the beta myself for a couple months on both Windows 7 and Windows Vista PCs so I thought I would offer my two cents.
Hey HP, Where’s My Driver?
Posted by jasoncross in PC Tech on August 29, 2009
I have an HP Photosmart C5180 all-in-one network printer. It’s not an old model. HP is happy to still sell me overpriced supplies, for instance. I generally like the thing, it gets the job done. I don’t have demanding printing needs, really. Of course it complains about being low on ink far too often, and the ink costs too much, and all the other things people complain about with every printer out there.
My main complaint? No Windows 7 drivers. HP still has no Win7 drivers for any of their printers or all-in-ones. And they’re not alone. I don’t see Win7 drivers for Epson or Lexmark, or a host of other peripheral manufacturers, either.
A Quick Note on Windows 7 Benchmarks
Posted by jasoncross in Media, PC Tech on August 8, 2009
As we head up to the general availability date for Windows 7, and have moved past the date when it’s available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers, you’re going to see a lot of benchmarks.
Every site on the ‘net is going to test it’s speed relative to this or that setup. Some will use whatever machine they have lying around, some will construct machines to hit specific spec targets. This ZDNet article does a pretty good job. This browser comparison on BetaNews is somewhat questionable (mixing feature support and standards compliance tests with performance tests to single scores). DailyTech, for some reason, only used 32-bit (when 64-bit is so popular these days).
One thing none of the benchmarks show, but you hear again and again from those that use Windows 7, is just how much more “responsive” and “snappy” it feels. The time between when you click and something happens is noticeably diminished. You really notice it when you go back and use a machine with XP or Vista on it. Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing that benchmark applications simply don’t show, and is very hard to measure. Don’t take my word for it…ask any tech journalist who had to set up and run Windows 7 vs. Vista vs. XP benchmarks for a recent article. Every one I’ve met (and this is the kind of company I keep) will say that numbers aside, Win7 feels much faster. As intangible as that may seem, it’s worth keeping in the back of your mind when you see miles of bar charts comparing Office performance and PCMark Vantage scores and whatnot.
Win7 the Fast & Easy Way – Making a Bootable USB Thumbdrive
Posted by jasoncross in PC Tech on August 6, 2009
So, you’re downloading Windows 7 from one of the many places it is (or is soon to be) available. Or maybe you just don’t have an optical drive hooked up to your thin notebook, or you just want the install to go quickly. Whatever the reason, you want to install Windows 7 from a USB thumbdrive. No problem. All you have to do is:
1. Make your USB thumbdrive bootable.
2. Set your BIOS to boot from USB (or change the boot order so it tries the USB device first).
3. Extract and copy the entire contents of the .ISO file (I use WinRAR) or the whole contents of the DVD to the USB drive.
A Tip for Downloading Windows 7
Posted by jasoncross in PC Tech on August 6, 2009
If you’re a TechNet subscriber like I am, you may be totally aggravated by the way Microsoft’s downloader bounces between 100 and 200 KB/sec when downloading Windows 7. It was taking something like 5 hours…unacceptable!
Then I spotted this tip in a user forum.
The Great Windows 7 Adventure Begins
Posted by jasoncross in PC Tech on August 6, 2009
Today is the first “official” availability of the final Windows 7 bits. What everyone is calling “RTM” and should probably just call “final” or something, now that it’s sort of out. If you have a TechNet subscription, or if you are getting a free copy because you were in the invite-only technical beta, you can download the final Windows 7 today. In English. Other languages to follow.
In fact, that’s what I’m doing right now. I spent a good bit of time yesterday evening backing everything up, because I’m going to wipe my system out totally and start from scratch. Of course, I’m running the Release Candidate of Win7 today, so this is something of a formality. I use these new OS releases as an excuse to really back up all my stuff to an external hard drive. That part is easy.
The more complicated part is downloading and dumping into a folder on said external drive all the drivers I’ll need (not many, just audio, graphics, and Razer mouse) and all the downloadable programs I use. WinRAR, VLC, bDule, Zune, iTunes, Steam, Impulse, web browsers, the list goes on and on.
Later today, I’ll nuke my hard drive from orbit, boot to a bootable USB key with the Win7 files on it, and start the reinstall game. I’ll check in with word on how that’s going.
Update: Well, everything went totally smoothly. The worst part was the painfully slow downloading, until I found out this tip. Well that, and the interminable boredom of re-installing all my applications. Today I update my notebook. At least I have the Batman: Arkham Asylum demo to wile away the hours.