2007 January

From Lockergnomie Dan Mowry:
Chris, just wanted to thank you for the Vista reviews. To be honest, I think I’m going to avoid it. I don’t watch high-def tv/video on my computer but some of the DRM that seems to be in there, coupled with the apparent lack of peripheral/driver support makes me nervous. Don’t laugh, […]

My skill in responding to clients meaningfully without being patronizing got a severe test this week. A senior couple had replaced an aging computer with a new one. The transfer went without hitches. The only warning I gave them was to check out their fax machine to make sure it still worked. They have an […]

I received a notice yesterday of Zoho’s Notebook launch, along with an offer to be an alpha tester. Zoho, for those who aren’t familiar with the name, offers Web-based applications such as Zoho Writer and Spreadsheets which are - in my opinion - the best executed apps of the kind presently available.
I don’t know if […]

One of my Christmas presents was a Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000. I was very much looking forward to using it instead of my dated Intel Camera Pro (which I’ve been using for at least the past five years). However, the LifeCam just doesn’t work in Vista - at least, for me. I’m running the 32-bit version […]

Enjoy the realistic 3D animation of rippling ocean waves reflecting a bright sky garnished with white fluffy clouds that float slowly by in the 3D Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Screensaver! Seagulls fill the daytime sky. Sky fades to night and the lighthouse beacon comes alive. Real segull sound effects pierce the air, but thankfully they can […]

These lesser-known files got a lot of attention for PC World visitors this month. Among them: music tools, a Vista emulator, and an encryption program.
BearShare
Download and play music and video free with the 30-day trial version.
MP3&WAV Converter
This collection of three utilities aims to help you manage your audio files.
TrueCrypt
This free, Open Source encryption program lets […]

Technology and education go together like peanut butter and jelly, and it makes sense that schools would aim to instruct their students in various aspects of technology since it is the way of the future and these students are the ones who will help to shape it. If kids are educated at an early age […]

From an OpenOffice.org press release:
The future of OpenOffice.org extends beyond the office suite. With the creation of our new ODF Toolkit Project, which we are announcing today, we are inviting developers everywhere to take the source of the world’s leading Free and Open office productivity suite in bold new directions. These may include technologies that […]

Assuming that your computer meets all the hardware and software requirements for Virtual Server 2005 R2, you can proceed with the installation steps that are described below.
Completing these steps will install both the Virtual Server service and the Administration Web site.

Insert the Virtual Server CD-ROM to launch the Setup Wizard. The wizard can also […]

Most software you install has a minimum set of requirements that must be met first. Virtual Server 2005 R2 is no exception. The computer that you are installing R2 on (also referred to as the host computer) must meet a set of minimum hardware and software requirements before you can begin setup.
The minimum hardware […]

The message with a subject line of “Press inquiry: Phone interview w/ German radio on Vista Launch” hit my inbox late last night. I decided to respond in writing, if only to mentally prep myself for the impending phone call. Reinhard Roede wrote:
I’m preparing a short radio segment on the launch of Windows Vista, to […]

Disk Watchman is an application that monitors your hard, removable, and mapped network drive resources. It displays free and used disk space on a real-time basis.
You will be able to see and/or notified by email/ICQ/SMS/sound when your free disk space falls short of certain values. Disk Watchman contains rapid tools to find disk space […]

HDClone Free Edition enables you to move the content from an entire hard drive to another, larger one. The program installs itself on a bootable floppy or CD, and includes its own operating system so it runs completely independent from Windows. Once HDClone has created the bootable floppy or CD for you, you can use […]

So many of us are busy trying new things and managing multiple projects on the Internet. You may have started out with a standard Web site, but after some time, your personal portfolio could potentially expand to include multiple accounts on social networking services, a podcast, a blog, and so on. All of these pieces […]

There are many different ways that you can get to the Control Panel in XP. Since the Control Panel is the place to go for making configuration changes, I usually find that the more ways I have to get there, the better.
In a previous tip I showed you how to add the Control Panel to […]

There are many fancy add-ons for computers, but the basic components of the computer are simple and universal. If one of these main components is missing, it’s not a computer.
The four essentials of every computer system are: a motherboard, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), memory, and a hard drive. These components are installed in a […]

Lockergnomie Chuck Langin is a geek - just like the rest of us. We make hardware decisions just about every day of our lives. What happens when that decision turns out to be a costly one? What do you do when your essential hardware goes belly up? Do you go and spend more - or […]

A terrifyingly adorable cupid sways to up-tempo big band music as heart-shaped clouds float past and arrows with pink heart tips whiz by in search of their Valentine victims! Welcome to the 3D Dancing Cupid Screensaver!
Want a soothing nighttime scene? Just set the time of day to nighttime and a dark shadowy blue hue is […]

RegSeeker is a handy tool for managing several popular registry items and searching the registry by keyword. It offers quick access to startup entries, uninstall information, color schemes, history items (URLs, recent documents, etc.) and IE Favorites. The program also includes a registry cleaning feature that finds invalid and unused registry entries, allowing you to […]

Q: What are the differences in the new Windows Vista versions that are about to come out? - Jeremy
The final phase of Microsoft’s launch of Windows Vista, which is focused on the general retail consumer, is slated to occur on January 30th.
And in its classic ambiguous and confusing style, it is releasing four different consumer […]