Paul Thurott and a friend over at the SuperSite Blog have worked out how to perform a clean Windows 7 install using the upgrade disc. Come again?

That's right: save $80 and buy the Windows 7 Upgrade disc, because you can use it to perform a clean, full-featured installation. Awesome!

The instructions are as follows:

1. Perform a clean installation using the Upgrade disc -- this should work without a hitch.

2. Make sure there are no Windows Updates pending -- if there's an orange shield icon next to the Shutdown button in the Start Menu, that means you need to reboot before attempting the next steps.

3. Open 'regedit.exe' from the Start Menu -- just type it in there, where it says: Search programs and files. Accept the User Account Control dialogue that pops up to give yourself Windows 7 superpowers.

4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

5. Change MediaBootInstall from '1' to '0'

6. Open the Start Menu again and type 'cmd' -- use ctrl+shift+enter to run it as an elevated-permissions user

7. Finally, type slmgr /rearm -- and press enter.

Your computer will now reboot and run the Activate Windows utility. Type in your product key aaaaaaand, as the SuperSite Blog says: voila! Much love, Paul.

My buddy Dave once shared with me a bit of computing wisdom which I've since found invaluable.

"Proper troubleshooting requires a Teddy Bear."

As it was told to me -- long ago in a university computer lab not so far away -- there was a sysadmin who became frustrated with the number of questions he was asked by student developers. It wasn't that the questions were invalid, or that the students weren't thinking them through. Rather, his frustration was with questions which found their own answers.

Students seeking his help would begin to explain the problem they were working on. More often than not, they wouldn't finish explaining before having an "Aha!" moments; That tiny moment of clarity every developer, admin or desktop analyst seeks as a part of their job.

Being forced to explain the problem had some effect which thinking about the problem alone didn't. How can you achieve the same mind-altered state without bugging the sysadmin, or taking a handful of Adderol and Xanaax*?

The weary sysadmin found a brilliant solution. He attached a teddy bear to his desk, and forced anyone who wanted to ask him a question to address the bear and explain the problem.

So, the next time you're halfway through asking a collegue a question and find yourself saying, "Wait, I think I just got it, never mind!", remember to thank them for being your teddy bear.

* Download Squad does not condone the abuse of Adderol, Xanaax or any other prescription drugs. Just sayin'.

FMX Team is a motocross game where jumping and pulling off tricks to rack up your score is the name of the game. It's a typical side-scrolling motocross game, but is executed quite well and is fun to play. Unfortunately, the points system in the game is a little bit simplistic, so the best way to rack up your score is to consistently pull off the highest number trick that your rider can do, over and over again.

FMX Team has one gimmick, which is that you have a stable of three riders to choose from, and you can not use any one rider twice in a row. I found the #2 and #3 riders to be the most useful due to them both accelerating faster than the #1 rider, even though rider #1 has a higher top speed.

To get a high score, it seems that you need to find a jump where you can sit and perform flips and tricks over and over again without advancing through the level, but then make sure to make it to the end before the time is up. But if you're not too worried about getting a high score, and just want to have a fun quick time waster, FMX Team is worth your 15 minute coffee break.

Firefox is like a box of chocolates--

No, let me try that again. Firefox is one of those applications that's so hard to write about, because there may be little tricks and shortcuts I've been using for some time, and someone will discover one and say, "Hey, that rocks! Why didn't anyone tell me?" Then light dawns over my marblehead that it is a useful trick, and I should have pointed it out.

So Sean Privitera kindly reminded me that searching Google on Firefox is easier than it appears. Ever been reading something on the web and you have no freakin' idea what the word or phrase means? Select the word in question (if you really want to try it out, select this word: geoduck. It's not a Pokemon), right click, and wonder of wonders, there is an option there to search Google for the selected word.

See a nifty bit of formatting on a website, and you're wondering how it was done? Select that formatting, images and all, and right click. Then click "View Selected Source" and a window will pop up in Firefox showing you (brace yourselves!) the HTML formatting of the parts in question.

I've learned to love my right mouse button. Seriously, developers hide all the interesting stuff there. Of course, the right mouse button in Firefox will allow you to open a link in a new tab or window. But it can also calm some fears about what you might be opening (and how it behaves). Right clicking while hovering over a link can tell you if it opens in a new tab, what the URL is, and allow you to send or copy link location.

It is the little tricks like these that make a browser really useful, and more than just a vehicle for surfing the web. But like geoducks, sometimes you need to do a little digging to find them.

Linux is a powerful operating system, but chances are it's a very different operating system than any you've used before. The dizzying number of choices in distributions alone is enough to make your head spin, but it also means there's something out there that really suits your computing style. There are some things in Linux you just have to work out for yourself -- distributions, applications, neato screen savers (hey, we like distractions as much as the next guy).

We're taking a departure from the norm this week and not discussing a specific piece of software. Instead, we've been thinking about what we most wished we'd been told on our first foray into Linux-land. These tips run the gamut from installation planning to how to best ask for help. We chose these tips because they are not distribution-specific, and the majority of new users will at least find a few tips apply to their situation at some point.

We're always on the lookout for hot Google tricks. Marc and Angel have put together a list of 7 that is really worth a look. Marc says of his own list, "Together I think they represent the apex of the grand possibilities associated with Google search manipulation tricks and hacks. Although there are many others out there, these 7 tricks are my all-time favorite. Enjoy yourself. "

Among them, finding face with Google Image Search, using Google to mine reddit and digg for cool desk-candy, finding anonymous web proxies and more.

The system clipboard is possibly one of man's greatest inventions. Just think how often you use that little piece of functionality, and how much time it saves you every single day. But, are you using it as effectively as you could?

Lifehacker put together a list of 10 clipboard tricks you can use to increase your productivity, and amaze your friends -- ok, your friends probably won't be amazed. Still, it's a top ten worthy of a look and, you just might learn something.

I've been a user of Gmail since late 2005 and have loved just about every minute of it. The revolutionary webmail interface, the vast popularity among power users and plethora of scripts, add-ons and doodads - but the one thing that always bothered me was the loss of integration with the rest of my computing. Sure, there are some great tricks and bookmarklets we found for our Top 10 Gmail tips and hacks post, but I've missed real integration with Mac OS X apps like iSale that can show me emails related to an auction I created with it, iPhoto that can compress copies of 20 images and attach them to a new message and even simply double-clicking a .VCF I've downloaded to quickly add it to Address Book and keep on working. Heck, toss in a dash of Automator and I really find myself longing for a desktop email client and the synchronized wonders of IMAP.

Thus began my journey to figure out some sort of a hack or workaround for using Gmail over IMAP with my preferred and well-integrated desktop email client, Apple Mail. It wasn't too difficult, but the setup requires your own web host who offers IMAP email that can scale up to around 2GB or more (for example: I already pay for hosting at DreamHost which offers IMAP with every account, but some companies offer free IMAP, and other hosting companies offer flexible solutions as well) and a little bit of incoming/outgoing server trickery. Another necessity is some sort of tool or plug-in to enable one of Gmail's most well-known features: tagging, otherwise known as labels. While Thunderbird is probably the first fairly mainstream email client to do tagging out of the box, it drops the ball on my need for integration; it doesn't support Apple's built-in Address Book (which so many other apps do), and it doesn't plug into all the other handy tools that allow so many of Mac OS X's 3rd party apps move data from one to another so effortlessly. For what it's worth, I also found a plug-in for Outlook on Windows called Taglocity that should get the job done, though I can't test it because I don't own Office. That said, all my setup instructions are written using Apple Mail, but you should be able to apply them to any IMAP-capable desktop email client and tagging plug-ins you find. As a bonus, this trick will also work for mobile devices that support IMAP, including Windows Mobile, BlackBerries and, of course, your shiny new iPhone. Following is my 7-step trick for using Gmail over IMAP, leveraging the power of desktop software while bringing the innovation of Gmail's tagging and conversations along for the ride.

WordPress is a powerful and very extensible blogging engine that is gaining more CMS (Content Management System) features with each release. As anyone who has downloaded a copy can probably tell, the directory structure is pretty friendly to hacks and plug-ins, but unless you are your own WordPress coding ninja, you might be asking yourself: where exactly can all these themes, plug-ins and hacks be found? Thus the idea for a short roundup of WordPress download sites and communities was born. Following is a starter list of sites for themes, plug-ins, tips and tricks of all kinds, ripe for helping you take your WordPress-powered site as far as you need to go. Since we're sure we haven't found every site for WordPress goodness, feel free to add your favorites in the comments and we'll update this post with the good ones.

37signals' online PIM service Backpack is known far and wide in part for its extreme simplicity. It offers everything you need with nothing you don't - but that doesn't mean it's lacking in the power user department. While it hasn't been updated in a while, 37signals maintains a Power Users archive page at the Backpack blog with a whole slew of tips and tricks that will likely serve as a great review for old schoolers, or a killer resource for those new to the handy service. Some of our favorites include prefixing reminders with a plus sign and a number to quickly set an alarm for a few minutes or hours, as well as being able to email pictures and even lists of items to pages.

Since that blog hasn't been updated in a while though, what other tricks have you users discovered for the service? Let's see if 37signals' Backpack blogger(s) have been laying down on the job.

Yahoo's new version of web mail is, without a doubt, one of the coolest and most fluid Ajax applications we've seen to date. For the average user it offers every major feature that you can find in Outlook or Thunderbird, and it does it with style. But that isn't all, the Yahoo team also took the time to layer the app with embedded tricks, hacks, and shortcuts that makes the whole experience that much sweeter.

With that in mind, here are the top 11 tricks that I use everyday with the new Yahoo Mail Beta:

1. Trick: Instant Address Book Add - Drag a message onto the Contacts link and you'll see the icon change to a plus sign which means you can add that contact to your address book in one easy step.

2. Trick: Navigate your inbox the quick way - Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow or Down Arrow let you jump to messages in the same folder that have the same subject line. You can hit Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Up Arrow lets you choose another factor to filter on (such as flag) when using Ctrl + Shift to navigate.

Do you have something to share? Maybe a little tip about something? A trick of some sort? Tipstrs wants you to leave it on their website and share it with the world.

Tipstrs is pegged as a hybrid social bookmarking site. The whole idea behind the site lays on special tips and advice about specific topics that people can offer other visitors to the site. People simply post their tips complete with a Title, Description, Link, and Categories, no logging in necessary. Others can than search and read on the site, or be linked out to external information on what they are looking for. Topics on the site range from "Save power using compact fluorescent bulbs" to "Pimp your firefox browser". Currently there aren't a ton of tips on the site, but there are quite a few interesting ones in many different topic categories. Check out Tipstrs and drop a tip or trick about your expertise.

[via eHub]

Ugh. I'm buried under unread RSS feeds. Right now if I look down at Google Reader Notifier (a Firefox Add-In), I see that I've got 1927 unread items in my subscriptions.

I thought I was being responsible; I've got my feeds split up into logical categories, including one called "Now", which is the stuff I told myself I would always stay current on. Google Reader won't tell me exactly how many unread items are in that folder, but it's more than 100... that's for sure.

While there's nothing you can do about it if life simply gets too busy to stay current, there should be a way to pare down what you're reading to a manageable level. In fact, Google Reader's Trends page will show you what you are (and aren't) paying attention to, who hasn't posted in forever, and which feeds simply bury you under too much content. One click on the garbage can for any of the feeds in here will unsubscribe you.

That helps.

But it's not enough.

I still need help determining what is and isn't important to be following. I'm currently subscribed to almost 300 feeds, and that's after some heavy pruning. I need to be down around 100, but it depends on the feeds themselves; if they're relatively low traffic, I can carry many more.

So - Download Squad readers, Sound Off! Tell us how you mercilessly keep your feed subscriptions lean and mean. Hit up the comments!

Gmail offers a lot of flexibility when it comes to the way you manage your email. Innovative features like labels, a dedicated mobile phone client and rich script-ability via Firefox's Greasemonkey plugin create a unique appeal for users from nearly all walks of life.

Since you can do so much with and to Gmail, I thought I would round up my favorite tips and hacks for users both old and new. Some of these are simple ideas for thinking about labels in a different way, while others add more powerful functionality for the most dedicated of Gmail ninjas. Of course, this list is by no means complete, so have at it in the comments with your own tips, scripts and workflows. For now, here are mine:

• Greasemonkey repository at Google Code: Started by Mihai Parparita, a Google employee (though unaffiliated with Gmail), this Google Code repository has some of the coolest and most functional Gmail scripts for Greasemonkey, an add-on for Firefox. Scripts for adding colors to labels, saving searches and even integrating Gmail + Google Reader can all be found here.
• The Macros script: Found at that Google Code repository, I firmly believe this is *the* essential Gmail trick to end all Gmail tricks. It adds a serious dose of productivity that can make Gmail more functional than any desktop email client on the block. This script has shortcuts for label navigation, simultaneously marking as read + archiving, labeling messages on the fly and much more - all from the keyboard. Once you get this script installed, pressing 'h' should display a slick overlay of all available shortcuts.
• Trick your labels: Using unique characters to prefix label names brings them to the top of the alphabetized list of labels. The @ symbol, numbers and even underscores are all useful for bringing important labels out of their standard organization, and they make labels more accessible to other hacks like the Macros script.
• Join the Power Users group: The Gmail Power Users Google Group attracts many users just like you, looking for ways to extend and bend Gmail to their will. If you find yourself getting as hooked on Greasemonkey scripts as I have, this is a great place to find other people who are customizing them to their specific interests.
• Quicker Contacts: Gmail includes a built-in chat feature with a clever pop-up window for easy access to some of the contacts with whom you communicate the most, but why limit this handy functionality to the tiny chat area? Quicker Contacts is another fantastic Greasemonkey script that adds this pop-up window to every message in Gmail. One catch, however, is that you need to be using Gmail's standard + chat mode in order for this script to work. If you don't like chatting inside of Gmail though, the good news is that you can simply sign out of chat and collapse the panel to avoid being bothered with it.
• Bookmark any label, folder or message type: Another apparently undocumented Gmail trick is the ability to bookmark a label, a standard folder or even a message type such as 'read' or 'unread.' It isn't quite as easy as bookmarking a website, but it's useful: simply copy and paste this link into your address bar: https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1: and then add any label name, folder or message type after the colon (examples: fs=1:todo, fs=1:Drafts and fs=1:unread). Press enter, and then bookmark that page once Gmail loads.
• Backup Gmail offline: Some Gmail users can occasionally find themselves needing access to their email when they're offline somewhere, or - worst case scenario - their account might have accidentally disappeared. No matter what the reason is, it's always a good idea to have a backup of your data, and email from an online service is no exception. Gmail offers instructions for accessing and downloading your email to a desktop client, with a ton of customized instructions for nearly every client in the book. As an added bonus, it seems Gmail has recently introduced a "recent" mode just in case you want to download your email with more than one client.
• Manage multiple Gmail accounts: For one reason or another, many Gmail users find themselves opening multiple accounts. Throw the ability to run Gmail on your own domain with Google Apps for Your Domain, and things can get complicated. Gmail Manager is an add-on for Firefox that untangles your Gmail web by allowing you to manage, swap between and receive new message alerts from multiple Gmail accounts, including those run on Google Apps.
• Fetch your other mail: A recent and quietly introduced Gmail feature is Mail Fetcher, which can check up to five other email accounts and download all that mail into your Gmail. To help keep things organized, Mail Fetcher can automatically label and archive all this incoming mail.
• Bookmarklets: These are typically javascript-enabled bookmarks that do something instead of simply 'mark something. To make Gmail more functional, there are two bookmarklets which the Gmail community have cooked up to make the web service feel more like a desktop app. The first is Compose (drag that link to your browser's bookmark toolbar or 'mark as you see fit), which skips directly to opening a compose window in Gmail (sidenote: To save my life I can neither find nor hack this one to open a new window; if any readers were more successful, I would join many others in thanking you if you shared in the comments). The second bookmarklet is really handy for sharing whatever page you're viewing: Gmail This opens a new, smaller composition window with the title of the front-most webpage in the subject and a link to the page in the body of the email. If you selected any text on the page, this will be added to the message body as well.
  
  [Update: Download Squad reader bcnewman hacked the Gmail This bookmarklet to create a new, blank compose window in a popup, just like the Gmail This 'marklet. Get the javascript from bcnewman's comment here, or simply drag this link to your toolbar to create the bookmarklet. Thanks a lot bcnewman!
  

Like I said, this list is by no means complete. There are plenty of runner-ups in my book, such as the dragdropupload Firefox add-on which allows you to (amongst other things) drag and drop files you want to attach directly onto the "Attach a file" link, so be sure to (try and) trump me with your own perfect Gmail setup.

Windows power-users are a fickle bunch, and to them the average list of "super-secret Windows tips" is about as fresh as the average Windows ME install. I found a surprising number of gems, however, in this Joel on Software discussion thread. Did you know, for example, that in Microsoft word you can type =rand() anywhere and it will be replaced with filler text (more if you put a number in the parentheses)? Or that Alt+Esc sends the active window the the background? Or that Shift+* will expand all of the subdirectories in a directory tree? Advice is also proffered in the form of registry tweaks and downloadable utilities. Post your own super ninja Windows tips in your comments.