November 2009 Links

Windows 7: 77 Windows 7 Tips – My (Bob) boss sent me this link today from Microsoft’s TechNet. It has some nice Windows 7 tips. There were one or two that were new to me.

How to Clean Install Windows Vista with Upgrade Media – You might be wondering why I (Bob) picked this article when everyone is talking about and, possibly, moving to Windows 7.

It’s simply because Windows 7 expects you to have your previous operating system on your computer if you’re using an upgrade version. Since I had removed Vista awhile ago and didn’t want to put Windows 7 on top of XP, it looked like I was stuck. However, this article told me how to do it. As an aside, I didn’t like the fact that the Windows 7 installation program only told me my product key was invalid. It never said I had to install an operating system first.

TweakNow PowerPack 2009 – This is the first “tweak” product I’ve seen that supports Windows 7. It allows you to do dangerous stuff like cleaning your registry. You’ll definitely want to do a backup before trying that. However, it also has the standard access to your startup items which can be hard to find depending on how the developer decided to make the program run on startup.

After September 2009 Meeting Links

Gamefly – This is a website that Olive told me about that allows you to either rent video games or buy used games at a reduced price.

Movieberry – Kathy sent me this website which allows you to rent movies very cheaply ($1.00) and play them on your computer or some TVs.

Microsoft’s grinning robots or the Brotherhood of the Mac. Which is worse? - I happened to run into this article while browsing the web. It’s not your typical “PC vs. Mac” article. I found it quite funny.

September 2009 Links

Windows 7 Upgrades: Block out a day – While the headline is sensationalized, it reports on some testing done by Microsoft on how long a Vista to Windows 7 “in place” upgrade might take.

After July 2009 Meeting Links

United Breaks Guitars – This is an interesting video that I (Bob) first heard about on CNN. I always enjoy unique forms of protests. Since almost everyone has been at the mercy of the airlines at one time or another, I think anyone can commiserate with this song.

July 2009 Meeting Links

Microsoft unveils ’screaming deals’ for Windows 7 – Microsoft is trying an aggressive campaign to get people to upgrade to Windows 7. For a limited time (I know it sounds like an informercial), you can get upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium for only $49.99. You’ll be able to upgrade from either XP or Vista. I (Bob) have already purchased a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade from Amazon. I’ve been using the release candidate of Windows 7 and I’ve been happy with it.

System Explorer – This free program gives you a lot more information than you’d find in Task Manager. It also gives you the ability to search for a process name on Google or ProcessLibrary.com.

After June 2009 Meeting Links

MostFun.com Game Network – This is the start of an intriguing way to get free games. This store gives you the opportunity to use a game for free. The catch is that you have to watch in-game ads. From my limited experience, the ads don’t seem excessive. If I (Bob) really love a game, then paying $19.95 makes sense. However, there are many games that I only play on occasion. For those games, I like this model.

June 2009 Meeting Links

A free way to give Office 2007 the classic look – If you’ve never gotten used to the Office 2007 look, this is a link to a program that adds back the classic menus to the Office 2007 programs.

From Starter to Ultimate: What’s really in each Windows 7 Edition? – Ed Bott, in his ZDNet blog, compares features in each Windows 7 version. Since Microsoft hasn’t produced an official list yet, he had to manually go through each version looking for changes.

Windows 7, June release – This link was a little deceiving to me until I read the article. Basically, a leaked memo suggests that Best Buy will allow people to upgrade to Windows 7 for a limited time for $49.95 to Windows 7 Home Premium. You’d still have to wait until October to actually get Windows 7 though. I’m wondering whether my OEM version of Vista Home Premium will work. I (Bob) doubt it, but I think I’ll be doing some investigating.

After April 2009 Meeting Links

For this month’s links, I have a couple of YouTube videos that Olive gave us at the meeting:

Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent – It’s very likely you’ve already heard about this YouTube video since it’s been played on every major news program. If by chance you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend clicking the link. Without giving it away, it proves the old adage that you should “never judge a book by its cover”.

Antwerp train station dance – I’ve always been a big fan of Broadway musicals so this stunt of spontaneously dancing to “Do Re Mi” from the Sound of Music is definitely up my alley. Unfortunately, it degenerates into a stupid remix part of the way through but that only lasts for about a minute. Sadly, I fear if someone tried that here, the police would have everyone arrested.

March 2009 Meeting Links

Ultimate Windows Tweaker – This is a Vista-only program that allows you to tweak many Vista settings without resorting to registry edits. It allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the User Account Controls (UAC), tune Vista to your Internet connection speed, Internet Explorer tweaks and more.