Category: Windows Vista

Windows 7 / Windows Vista

Burn a DVD from Windows 7 .ISO Download

“How can I install Windows 7 from the .iso download from Microsoft?”
The Windows 7 .ISO file is basically a DVD in the format of a file on your hard drive. If you downloaded the Windows 7 .ISO, you need to burn it to DVD before you can install it on your computer. Once you have the DVD, you can simply boot from your newly created Windows 7 disk and follow the steps for the installation.

Windows Vista

Upgrade from 32-bit Windows XP to Vista 64

“I bought a 64-bit computer with Windows XP 32-bit installed. Now I want to upgrade from 32-bit Windows XP to 64-bit Vista. I have tons of applications on here and I’d rather not wipe my hard drive and start over. Is it possible to do the upgrade or do I need to do a clean install of Windows Vista 64?”
Under most circumstances, this is the type of upgrade I’d never do. Too many potential headaches are likely going from Windows XP to Windows Vista in general. Switching to 64-bit compounds the possible problems. xyHD.tv has a straightforward tutorial on upgrading XP 32-but to Vista-64, with the catch that you probably want to install Vista 32 before you go all the way. Most important part of the process – backup your files before you begin. A good rule of thumb in any operating system install, but especially important when you’re attempting something like this. Follow the steps to upgrade from 32-bit Windows XP to Vista 64-bit at xyHD.tv.

blu-ray / HDTV / Media Center PC / Windows Vista

AMD Live! Home Cinema Changes Home Theather PC Market

MSI AMD Live! Home Cinema Motherboard and Soundcard The home theater PC market has been rather dull for several years. Sure you can get a sound card with 7.1 surround sound, but they’ve generally been noisier than I’d want in my own home theater. You can purchase video cards that output to an HDTV and support HDCP, but the experience hasn’t been on par with using home theater components. At Computex 2008, AMD is showing off a couple of new boards from MSI that change the game in important fundamental ways.

Windows Vista

Windows Quick Launch Keyboard Shortcuts

The Windows Quick Launch bar, those little icons to the right of the start button, is over 10 years old. In that time, Microsoft has done little to enhance it’s functionality. You can add dozens of Quick Launch items if you want to, but they all require a mouse click to activate. Windows Vista adds a new feature to the Quick Luanch bar — keyboard shortcuts. For the first 10 items (and who really needs more than 10?) you can use the Windows key + the corresponding number key of the sequence to easily launch the application you want without ever taking your fingers from the keyboard.
For instance, in the image below Windows key + 1 launches Outlook, Windows key + 2 launches Firefox, all the way up to Windows key + 9 launching Quicken. If there were a tenth item on the list, Windows key + 0 would launch it.
Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows Vista Quick Launch
If you don’t use Windows Vista, here’s some more Windows key shortcuts to save you time. You can also create your own shortcuts for anything using additional software.

Downloads / Freeware / Windows Vista / Windows XP

Windows Live Photo Gallery

Windows XP may be long in the tooth, but it’s certainly not dead yet. If you do only one thing to overhaul the current state of your Windows XP machine, download Windows Live Photo Gallery. This barely exposed update for the baked in Windows photo management tools is one of the most useful upgrades to your Windows user experience. An improved photo import makes this a worthwhile download all on its own. Photo management is upgraded to include views sorted by date and tags (a new tagging tool helps you ID your photos for grouping all pictures of a particular person, event, or location). Simple photo editing for red-eye removal, crops, and adjusting levels handles most common image fixes. If you happen to have a Windows Live Spaces account, there are additional features to publish direct from Windows to your Space or build slideshows for publishing to your Space. Download this free upgrade to the built-in Windows photo management experience and you’ll be looking at your images in a whole new way. (The same features also improve Vista) [Windows XP/Vista $0.00]