Skip to Content

Submit your nominations for the Luxist Awards' Best in Decor
AOL Tech

Windows 7 posts

Filed under: Utilities, Microsoft

Hate the new Windows 'start menu'? Get the classic XP menu back with this little app!

by Sebastian Anthony Nov 21st 2009

By now a lot of you will have experienced the 'All-in-One Omnipotent Start Menu' thing that was first introduced with Windows Vista and can now be found in Windows 7. It combines My Computer, My Documents and your installed programs into one big, gribbly menu.

Some people love it. Some hate it. Personally, I like the all-in-one search/run input box... but that's about it. I much prefer the old drop-out menu, even if it is a bit stupid when you've got 500 programs installed. I still use icons on my desktop, rather than getting at everything through my Start Menu.

There have been a few tools that replicate the old Start Menu, but this one(aptly called 'Classic Windows Start Menu'), unlike the others, also works with the Windows Aero theme. Sadly, as you can see in the screenshot below, there still seem to be some bugs with the display (ironically, probably when you have a lot of stuff installed), but otherwise it all seems to work as intended!


So if, for some reason (and I'm sure there are lots of possible reasons) you don't like the Vista/7 Start Menu, why not grab this tiny little app?

Direct download link / developer's site (it ain't pretty, but you can find other-language versions there, if you don't want it in English)

[via Into Windows]

Tags: start menu, StartMenu, windows 7, windows vista, Windows7, WindowsVista

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

Auslogics Disk Defrag buffs up, adds disk optimization in v3

Windowsby Lee Mathews Nov 20th 2009


Defragmentation (like backing up) is one of those chores I don't think about doing all that often. And I really should, since my desktop at work is a cluttered mess of downloads, screenshots, temp files, and other digital flotsam.

When Auslogics mentioned they've got a new version of their Disk Defrag tool available for download, I figured why not take it for a spin? My drive could use the TLC, after all. The app is available with an installer or as a portable app and is free for home use.

One small feature worth a mention is that Disk Defrag supports Windows 7's superbar progress indicator. You can choose to defragment your entire drive or target specific files or folders. It's also got a number of other smart features, like free space consolidation and intelligent system file placement. Disk Defrag can also be set to run automatically when your system is idle.

The installable version can also clean up your temp files prior to defragging, minimize to the system tray, run scheduled jobs, and integrate into your right-click context menu.

Tidying up my drive's 130Gb+ of disorganization took about 25 minutes. Disk Defrag also includes a new optimization feature which Auslogics recommends running once a week. It takes quite a bit longer, but if it helps keep your drive healthy and running at peak performance it's time well spent.

Tags: auslogics, defrag, defragmenter, portable, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Social Software

Fishbowl is a kick-ass Facebook client for Windows 7

Windowsby Lee Mathews Nov 20th 2009


When Microsoft introduced us to Silverlight 4 the other day, they also demoed a slick Facebook application. It's called Fishbowl, and it's now available for download. Not only does Fishbowl provide a nice, clean display of your stream (read: free of sidebar annoyances), but it's packed with excellent features, responsive, and extremely intuitive to use.

It's also ready to add some sizzle to your Windows 7 taskbar with jumplist and Aero Peek goodness. Read on after the break!

Read more →

Tags: facebook, fishbowl, silverlight, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: Mozilla, Beta, Browsers

Windows 7 taskbar previews to be disabled by default in Firefox 3.6

by Lee Mathews Nov 18th 2009

Those of you running Firefox on Windows 7 who were excited when taskbar previews landed, get ready for a little disappointment. It looks as though getting Aero features ready in time for the release of Firefox 3.6 is no longer part of the game plan.

It was already known that jump list support won't be arriving until later on. After a lengthy discussion on Bugzilla, the decision was made to disable Firefox 3.6's other Windows 7 integration feature.

The code is still there in 3.6b3pre, so you can still enable thumbnail previews in your about:config. The general feeling is that too many users were still seeing the spinning up circles and not actual thumbnails.

The general perception is that Windows 7 enthusiasts would be OK with simply flipping the switch themselves.

Ultimately, this move is about Firefox devs addressing more critical issues now so that 3.6 can be released. They'll have plenty of time to perfect the feature in future minor updates to 3.6. For now, the priority needs to be on getting 3.6 final out the door.

Tags: aero, firefox, tasbkar thumbnails, TasbkarThumbnails, windows 7, Windows7

  • Tweet this!
  • Comments (6)

Filed under: OS Updates, News, Microsoft

Windows 7 RTM "improved" activation bypassed by hackers

by Lee Mathews Nov 14th 2009

Earlier this year, Microsoft and Lenovo teamed up to tackle the first Windows 7 activation workaround. It was based upon a leaked OEM volume activation key, and was neutralized fairly quickly.

Things have been fairly quiet for a while. Microsoft's anti-piracy team had cooked up WAT - Windows Activation Technology - in hopes that it would prove more successful at thwarting unlicensed Windows use than its predecessor WGA. And so began the latest round of cat-and-mouse with pirates. "You've got a better activation system? We'll build a better crack," is how the game usually plays out.

It should come as no surprise, then, that there are two new activation bypass tools spreading like wildfire on the Internet. Called RemoveWAT and ChewWGA, the apps provide one-click patching of Windows 7 RTM installations.

Microsoft, of course, has promised a speedy response. Still, once a system is patched and a user shuts off Windows Update, there's really not much Microsoft can do - or is there? Maybe they know something we don't.

[via CNet]

Tags: activation, crack, hack, windows 7, windows-7, Windows7

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Microsoft

Windows 7 security defeated by 8 out of 10 malware applications

Windowsby Sebastian Anthony Nov 9th 2009


Leading up to its release, there was a lot of concern regarding Windows 7's default User Account Control (UAC) settings. Namely: it doesn't actually provide any damn security. Alas.

Basically, Microsoft went ahead and reacted to the public outcry regarding the Vista security confirmations. I think we can all agree that they were really annoying (and most power-users turn UAC off because of how irritating they are). As a result, there are significantly fewer UAC warnings in a default Windows 7 installation -- hooray! The problem is that the new default setting in Windows 7 leads you to falsely believe that you have a secure installation right out of the box. Sadly, this is not the case.

It's no surprise then that 8 out of 10 malware applications defeated the default Windows 7 UAC setting in tests.

So practice safe surfing (duh!) or go and hoik your UAC settings up to the most secure -- and annoying -- setting. Ars Technica has a great guide on patching up your UAC for new Windows 7 users -- or even an experienced user like myself that falsely believed the default setting to be secure.

[via ZDNet]

Tags: malware, security, uac, windows 7

Filed under: OS Updates, Microsoft

Windows 7 already bigger than Snow Leopard and Linux combined

by Jay Hathaway Nov 8th 2009

It's only been a couple of weeks since Windows 7 was released, but Microsoft's new OS has already captured a larger percentage of the market than Apple's OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Linux (yes, all of Linux). This doesn't come as a huge surprise, considering how many Windows users were clamoring for Win7 after the flop that is Vista. Microsoft says Windows 7's launch outdid Vista's by 234%. Those brisk sales have already netted Windows a 2% share of the world's OS business, compared to just over 1% for Snow Leopard, and just under 1% for Linux.

Despite the strong sales of Win7, Windows as a whole dropped a quarter of a percentage point in October, with Mac and Linux both making small gains. That quarter of a point hardly matters when you've got 90% of the OS market and your new operating system is being adopted quickly, though.

I expect to see Windows swing back up after Windows 7's been available for a while. I mean, we're talking about an operating system that outsold Harry Potter in the UK. Right now, it's only got a 2% share, compared to 19% for Vista and 70% for XP, but that's after only two weeks. Expect that number to zoom upward by the end of November.

[via Ars Technica]

Tags: operating system, OperatingSystem, sales, stats, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

7 Taskbar Tweaker gives you more control over the Windows 7 superbar

Windowsby Lee Mathews Nov 5th 2009

The Windows 7 superbar sports some very cool improvements over the old Windows taskbar. But suppose you want to customize your taskbar a bit. Say, for example, you find the close buttons just a bit too small to be practical. What then?

Why not set your middle mouse button to close using 7 Taskbar Tweaker? By default, middle-clicking a superbar icon in Windows 7 opens a new instance of that program, the same way shift +left click does. I don't need to do that very often and holding shift really isn't an inconvenience for me.

On the flip side, I close windows and tabs from the superbar all the time. Right click -> close all windows works, but why not make use of your scroll wheel's clicking ability?

Taskbar Tweaker also allows you to change other superbar click actions. Another change I've made is swapping the default left click to open previews to cycling through windows/tabs. It's a welcome switch if your web browser happens to support per-tab thumbnails.

You can also use the app to disable thumbail previews if you choose, and the settings menu provides options to run at startup, hide the main window, and even hide the tray icon if you like keeping clutter to a minimum.

7 Taskbar Tweaker is a free download and versions are available for both 32 and 64-bit Windows 7.

Thanks for the tip, Miklos!

Tags: superbar, taskbar, tweak, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

VHD Attach enables right-click mounting and dismounting of VHD files in Windows 7

Windowsby Lee Mathews Nov 3rd 2009

One of Windows 7's slick new features is its handling of VHD (virtual hard disk) files. You can use them for a number of handy functions - from discreetly archiving files and folders to booting a full-fledged Vista, Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008 install via your Windows 7 boot.ini.

But VHDs aren't as easy to work with out-of-the-box as they could be. To mount and unmount, you've got to head over to the Disk Management snap-in (diskmgmt.msc), wait for the screen to populate, go to actions->attach (or detach), browse for your VHD, and then wait some more.

VhdAttach speeds the process up by adding two entries to your context menu. Mouse over a .VHD file, right-click it, and you can mount and dismount right from Windows Explorer. Left click attach, and your VHD will pop up alongside your physical hard disks. When you're all done, detaching is just as simple.

The control app (inset in screenshot) which can open your VHDs and display information about them. You can also attach and detach from this screen.

VhdAttach is a free download and works with both Windows 7 and Server 2008.

Tags: context menu, ContextMenu, dismount, drive image, drive management, DriveImage, DriveManagement, mount, right click, RightClick, vhd, windows 7, windows-7, Windows7

Filed under: Microsoft, Mozilla, Browsers

Firefox 3.6 has juicy Superbar integration with Windows 7 (and you can disable it)

by Sebastian Anthony Nov 1st 2009



Yesterday I told you about the new Firefox 3.6 Beta -- and today, I can show you a neat bit of Windows 7 integration. Windows 7 uses Microsoft's Aero window manager and theme -- you've probably heard about it, or learnt to hate it in Vista -- and in it there's a cool technology called 'Aero Peek'. As you can see in the screenshot above, in Firefox 3.6 Beta, Aero Peek is now fully enabled, and smoother than its implementation in 3.6b1pre.

Aero Peek lets you see what's going on in a particular program without having to actually click anything -- you can just mouse-over it on the alt-tab running-programs menu or on the Superbar. In Firefox 3.5 this works for the Firefox window itself, but not the tabs within. Now, in 3.6 Beta, you can see what's going on in any tab by hovering your mouse over the thumbnail. I do wonder if this requires massive disk-swapping though, or if it takes snapshots -- but I'm pretty sure Aero shows you the window contents in real-time. Either way, it's cool, and beats the hell out of tabbing through 20 different tabs to find what you're looking for.

Those of you that are already using 3.6 might have noticed another neat thing: when you have a bunch of tabs (10+ in our testing) open, you get a "buttonized" list of favicons and page titles, instead of thumbnails. You can still jump straight to a tab or see a preview from the Superbar.

Don't like the Aero Peek integration? You can easily disable it -- if you're worried about the potential performance hit -- just whack about:config into your Firefox address bar and set browser.taskbar.previews.enable to false.

[Download Firefox 3.6 Beta here]

Tags: aero, beta, firefox, superbar, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: Utilities, Features, Windows, Microsoft

A bunch of fun and productivity-boosting gadgets for Windows 7

Windowsby Sebastian Anthony Oct 29th 2009

The number of gadgets for Windows 7, both made by Microsoft and third-party developers, has skyrocketed. Only a few months ago there was little choice and almost nothing worth calling home about -- but today, you're spoilt for choice! What you have here are a bunch of the most useful (or interesting) gadgets usable with your shiny-new OS, Windows 7.

Note: If you're going to be installing third-party gadgets, you'll be faced with a confirmation dialogue before they can install:
Just hit 'Install'! With that out of the way, on with the show!

1. Weather Bug: One of the things you'll soon notice about the gadgets I'm sharing here is that they all do one specific thing, and they do it well. I hate feature-creep. If I want to know the current weather -- then show me the damn weather.

Weather Bug lets you select a nearby weather station and shows you everything you might need to know: current temperature (Celsius or Fahrenheit), forecasted high and low, wind speed, and the current cloudiness (or lack of).

There's also a link for extended website-based information, and even a webcam stream if your weather station has one!
2. UEFA Informer: Here's one for the non-Americans (do Canadians like soccer?) -- a football gadget! Keep track of every major football (soccer) league in Europe, from Italian to English to even the Champion's League.

The greatest thing about this gadget is you can even pull up the recent results and upcoming matches in a given league, or for your favourite/most hated team.

There's an option in the settings to show even more leagues, so I assume it will be be kept updated -- perhaps to show the World Cup when that finally ticks around next summer?
3. Gmail Reader: There isn't really much I can say about this one. It tells you when you receive new mail. It tells you how many unread mail you currently have. It shows you the subject and sender of your unread mail.

What more do you want?
4. TweetZ: Apparently created to do away with the annoyances inherent to Twadget, TweetZ is a full-featured Twitter tool disguised as a desktop gadget.

Unfortunately its default setting is to tweet some birdsong annoyingly every time someone twits, but it's easy to turn off. As you can see in the screenshot, links are replaced with [link], and you can mouse-over them to see where they link to -- it even expands the link-shortening services, so you can actually see where you're going!

And it doesn't seem to steal away all of your CPU cycles like Tweetdeck does...
5.Facebook Explorer: Now you can stalk your friends without constantly alt-tabbing back to your Facebook browser tab! Not only can you see pending friend requests or event invitations but you can also see if you've been poked -- life-altering, I know! All of your friend's updates are here too, with a break-out box popping-up to give you more details if you click on an update.

You can't seem to comment on or 'like' anything though -- perhaps that will come at a later date? Or maybe this gadget has been designed with the idea of improving your productivity at work...? So there is a God...

Either way, confining Facebook to a gadget would seem like a sensible thing to do. I imagine most of us know what it feels like to be sucked into the Facebook Void, sometimes never to resurface.
Some gadget niches are missing; most notably: an RSS reader! There are still relatively few gadgets compared to other computer customisations and, perhaps surprisingly, there are no decent RSS readers as a result.

The only good one seems to be Google's own gadget which only works with Google Desktop. If someone out there wants to design an RSS feed-reading gadget that can log into Google Reader... you'd be a very popular man.

The best I can offer you is a system-tray notifier called GRaiN that was featured over on Lifehacker in July. Or, if you want to subscribe to a few individual feeds, the Hermes RSS reader gadget might satisfy you.

I've also not mentioned the thousands of system-diagnostic gadgets, or the Google Search gadgets -- I figured I would try and show you some new gadgets that you might not have seen before!

Share

Tags: addons, facebook, features, gadgets, gmail, lists, plugins, rss, sports, twitter, weather, windows 7, Windows7

  • Tweet this!
  • Comments (21)

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

Add CPU and memory meters to your Windows 7 taskbar

Windowsby Lee Mathews Oct 29th 2009

I'm not the biggest Twitter fan, but let's face it: people sometimes share really useful information in their 140-character updates.

Scott Hanselman (@shanselman), for example, tipped users about a slick addition to your Windows 7 taskbar that you'll find over at Codeplex called Taskbar Meters.

Download developer Jeff Key's .zip file and extract the contents to a folder on your hard drive. Inside you'll find two executables - one for CPU and one for memory. Launch them, and the result is what you see in the screenshot.

The meters make use of the Windows 7 taskbar's progress indicator kung fu. Using the sliders in the ultra-simple options screens you can choose the update frequency and set at what percentage of utilization your indicators switch from green to yellow and then to red. Pin 'em to your taskbar and you've got a simple, Win7-friendly heads up display of your PC's vitals.

They're jumplist enabled as well, though right-clicking only gives you access to task manager (which you've always had by right-clicking the taskbar anyway) and the Windows Resource Monitor.

Each meter uses about 18Mb of ram and worked for me under both 32 and 64-bit builds of Windows 7.

Tags: cpu, memory, processor, ram, shell-enhancement, superbar, taskbar, windows 7, windows-7, windows7

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Windows x64

Windows 7 Edition Switcher lets you change your ISO from Home to Ultimate

Windowsby Lee Mathews Oct 28th 2009

A lot of techy types weren't too excited when Microsoft changed the Windows 7 ISO. Beta and RC versions lumped all the versions on one DVD.

Heck, this was one big thing I thought Microsoft did right with Windows Vista. I had one DVD and I could load any of the 39 different versions using the same disc. Windows 7 ISOs and DVDs? Not so much. They're single-version.

Frustrated techs are never content to sit back and deal with annoyances - like the developer behind Windows 7 ISO Edition Switcher. Download the free, portable app and you can easily convert any Windows 7 ISO to the version you need. Sure, it's pretty easy to do this by editing a text file but Switcher is about as painless as the process can get.

Pick the patch file you need from the ones included in the zip, pick your ISO, and presto! Patched ISO, ready to burn.

Big thanks to VT4000 for submitting this via our comments!!

Tags: edition, iso, patcher, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: Games, Windows, Microsoft

Valve's Steam now has Windows 7 support!

Windowsby Sebastian Anthony Oct 28th 2009

If you're fortunate enough to be running Windows 7, you have probably already noticed its best new feature: the new reworked quick-launch-cum-easy-access-taskbar -- or 'Superbar' as I like to call it.

What you might not have noticed is that some applications now have new context menus if you right-click them on the Superbar. Usually these menus have quick-access links to documents you've recently edited, or tabs you've closed in your web browser.

And with Steam, the one-stop shop for all your gaming needs (really, it's the best place to pick up casual-play, $10 games. Give Braid a go, if you want to play the best puzzle game in recent years) -- you can now access Steam's innards directly from your Superbar! Recent games, favourite games, your friends list -- you name it, it's all there and easily accessible.

Now, if Valve would pull their fingers out and release the next episode of Half Life, I'd be a very happy man. I guess I'll have to make do with yet another round of Peggle Extreme for now ...

[via Long Zheng of Istartedsomethingsomething]

Tags: integration, steam, ui, valve, valve-software, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: Windows, Microsoft

Microsoft ducks out on Family Guy, proves they still don't get "hip" marketing

Windowsby Sebastian Anthony Oct 27th 2009

...is that your surprised face I see? No?

In yet another blunder by the Microsoft PR team, they have pulled out of a planned variety show written by the creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, and Alex Borstein (the voice of Lois). In a dull, think-of-the-stockholders turn-up for the books, they've decided that the Windows 7 brand does not quite fit inside the Family Guy universe -- and promptly pulled the plug on their sponsorship (though the show will still be aired).

How boring is Microsoft trying to be exactly?

First the house parties -- man, they were coolest events since sliced bread! Now the canned Family Guy episode -- obviously too cool, too risque for ol' grandpappy Microsoft. And here I was thinking Microsoft was trying to appear younger, more hip, cool, and fun. More, well, Apple.

I mean, you saw their store-opening video, right?

Microsoft need to get with it. The lumbering, bureaucratic beast needs to put on some sunglasses and be that cool kid everyone liked at school.

The last thing they needed to do was piss off Seth MacFarlane -- remember what happened last time, after Fox stepped on his toes? Imagine how many jokes in Family Guy are now going to be at Microsoft's expense.

I guess that's publicity, of a sort.

[via CNET]

Tags: family guy, FamilyGuy, windows 7, Windows7

Next Page →

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Most Commented On (7 days)

Recent Comments

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio

Joystiq

TUAW

Daily Finance

Autoblog

Urlesque

Engadget

WoW

Switched.com

FanHouse