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October 15, 2009

I’m running Windows 7

 Windows 7 upgrade installment II.  Friday night I booted back into the Windows 7 machine and installed the Adobe Creative Suite. Then a few utilities I find indispensable and I called it a night!  Saturday morning I installed Office 2007 and began getting my printers configured. I also installed SpyBot to block any spyware/malware that may be lurking in my future.

Windows 7 moved a few things around, like printers.  It’s now tucked away in the control panel under “devices and printers’ instead of just printers.  It also categorizes all of the devices it finds.  The ones that need help were tagged and with a little work I was able to upgrade all of the device drivers to work with Windows 7, including my Hauppauge TV tuner.  The Gretag MacBeth X-Rite Colorimeter was the biggest struggle, but I did find a driver that would work.  It just took a little creativity to get it to install. I was able to calibrate both monitors easily.

Sunday, was accounting software day.  I know what you’re thinking, why would I have Accounting on my graphics machine.  Right?  Well, it’s simple.  I’m lazy and I don’t want to get up to do billing.  I use Peachtree 2008 and it installs just fine.  However, the email function won’t work.  Some investigation reveals the Peachtree email writer print driver won’t install. After nearly a whole day of not getting this to work, I realize Peachtree isn’t going to support Windows 7 in the 2008 version..  So, I have to boot back into my Vista machine to do billing.  :o(  I ordered Peachtree 2010.

Back in Windows 7, there are some really cool features that I’m diggin.  Aero really works, Ready Boost really works. Great background themes that rotate like web shots and just hovering over the running program tabs on the start bar pops up a thumbnail of all the open pages to choose from.  The start bar has been optimized too. Now you can launch your favorites from the start bar and there’s a desktop menu too.

Monday I moved on to installing and configuring my Logitech Setpoint software as well as the Wacom tablet driver. I also configured Photoshop and Bridge preferences and did some editing in Photoshop.

Later in the day I noticed a scrolling issue in Internet Explorer 8 on my secondary monitor.  It was real jumpy and typing was lagging too.  I worked on it most of the day and my brilliant wife suddenly says, did you try the browser on your main monitor?  Duh, no, I’m too stupid for that kind of logic.  I moved the browser to my main monitor and it worked perfectly.  Now, I start researching this issue and eventually come to the conclusion that it’s my video card combination.  I’m running an ATI X1800 Crossfire (main) and an ATI HD 2400 Pro (secondary).  The 2400 has Windows 7 support, but the X1800 not so much.  I mean it works perfectly but the drivers don’t want to coexist.  So I buy a new video card and all is well.  Thank god for eBay.

Peachtree should be here today, but I’m calling the upgrade a success regardless.  I really like the performance increase and the system boots much faster too.  I think the Video is a bit sharper, could be the clear type optimizer.  Let me know if you run into problems with your upgrade, maybe I can help.

I'm a PC running Windows 7.jpgRegards,

David


October 8, 2009

Moving to Windows 7 this weekend

It’s true; I’m moving my graphics machine to Windows 7 Ultimate this weekend.  It’s been Vista 64 Ultimate for about 6 months now so I’m installing a new hard drive for the new OS.  I don’t want to do an in place upgrade on this machine.  I’ve done an in place upgrade elsewhere and it works well, but takes a long time to complete and doesn’t clear out all the sludge in the user profile, registry and other settings.

Last night I installed the new hard drive and started the install.  It copied files and expanded in about 10 minutes, then restarted.  The restart didn’t see the new hard drive because the CMOS changed to another drive I have in the system.  Because of that error, I was set back an hour.  It booted back to the installation DVD and started the install again.  I didn’t know any better, so I went along.   Long story short, I wound up having to take the new drive out, install it in another machine and delete the partitions I had created and then reformat it.

I put it back in my graphics machine and started the install again, with the CMOS boot drive error corrected.  It installed in about 30 minutes, another 10 or 15 to get updates and join our domain.  Very smooth!

I took the new Windows 7 drive out, hooked up my old drive and put my Vista production machine back in use.  I get back to the upgrade later; I have a hundred apps yet to install and tons of settings to manually re-configure before going live.

I hope to be done by Monday October 12th.   I'm almost running Windows 7

 

David

 

Windows 7 Q&A:

1.         My client wants to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7; can I do that?

Yes!  Microsoft has integrated a XP > 7 migration tool right on the installation disc.
            Details and procedures here: Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7

2.         Will my client’s computer run Windows 7?

The short answer is “Yes”.  Microsoft has an Upgrade Advisor tool available.   
Click here: Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor or http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements

3.         What about my client’s applications? Will they run in Windows 7?

Microsoft has developed a Windows 7  Application Compatibility Toolkit   

4.         I have a client with an incompatible software program, but they want the security and ease of use with Windows 7. What can I do?

You have a solid option. With the introduction of Windows 7 – Microsoft offers “WindowsXP Mode”. This feature utilizes Microsoft VirtualPC (With compliant hardware) to create a virtual machine running WindowsXP Pro.

The details are here: Microsoft WindowsXP Mode Minisite

5.         What about downgrades? Can we still downgrade Windows 7 Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate?

Yes!   “For a limited time of 18 months after the general availability of Windows 7 or the release of a Windows 7 Service Pack, whichever is earlier, the OEM license of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate will include downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional. After that period the OEM license will enable downgrade rights to Windows Vista Business.”  


May 6, 2009

Exploring Internet Explorer 8 - Part V

Search Suggstions
Have you ever forgotten the complete title of a book you were hoping to find or the first name of the actor in last night’s movie? The new search capabilities in Internet Explorer 8 will offer relevant suggestions as you type words into the search box to help save time. Click on a suggestion at any time to immediately execute the search without having to type the entire word or phrase.

Visual Search
Internet Explorer 8 is partnering with top search providers like Live Search, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon, and more to deliver “visual search” images that provide you with immediate answers. For example, typing “Seattle weather” with Live Search will instantly show you a preview of the current weather directly in the Search Box drop-down. Look for more visual search results with your preferred search providers.

More Improvements
Because people often use search to get back to sites that they’ve visited before, Internet Explorer 8 includes matches from your History in the bottom part of the Search Box drop-down.
An integrated “Find On Page” button also has been added to the instant search box, enabling you to search for text on the current webpage. Also, you can change the width of the Instant Search Box by dragging its left edge, making it easier to see long search strings as they are typed.
You can easily delete, disable, or enable Search Providers by clicking on Manage Search Providers from the drop-down arrow in the Search box or Manage Add-ons from the Tools button on the upper right-hand corner of the browser window.

April 14, 2009

Exploring Internet Explorer 8 - Part IV

Over the next few weeks, we will be showing you the new features available, how to use them to work more efficiently and securely. This week we will focus on the new Favorites and History features.
We hope you enjoy.

Enhanced Favorites Bar
Now there’s a better place to keep track of your top favorites. You can save Favorites, RSS Feeds, and Web Slices to the Favorites bar that appears across the top of the browser, quickly navigating to the sites and content that you care about most.

One Click Favorites
Press the One Click Add to Favorites bar button and immediately add the page you’re browsing to the Favorites Bar, saving you extra clicks.

RSS feeds on Favorites bar
The Favorites bar has been updated so you can drag an RSS feed to your Favorites bar, making it easier to see when important feeds are updated.

History sorting
The new Browsing History view allows you to sort your history by Site Name, Most Visited Sites, Order Visited Today, and Date, making it easier to organize and locate sites in your history.

History searching
In Internet Explorer 8, you can search for pages in history by typing keywords, making it easier to locate sites when browsing your history.

Don’t hesitate to contact MicroSolutions with any of your computing needs or questions.

April 7, 2009

Exploring Internet Explorer 8 - Part III

Over the next few weeks, we will be showing you the new features available, how to use them to work more efficiently and securely. This week we will focus on the new Navigation features.
We hope you enjoy.

Compatibility View
Compatibility View
Internet Explorer 8 is a new release and some websites may not yet be ready for Internet Explorer 8. Click the Compatibility View toolbar button to display the website as viewed in Internet Explorer 7, which will correct display problems like misaligned text, images, or text boxes. This option is on a per site basis and all other sites will continue to display with Internet Explorer 8 functionality. To go back to browsing with Internet Explorer 8 functionality on that site, simply click the Compatibility View button again.

You can maintain a list within Internet Explorer 8 for sites that should be displayed in Compatibility View. From the Command Bar, select Tools, and then select Compatibility View Settings to add and remove sites from this list. There are also options for viewing all websites and intranet sites in Compatibility View.

Enhanced Tabbed Browsing
Have you ever opened a large number of tabs only to find yourself overwhelmed when you go back to review them? Internet Explorer 8 introduces Tab Groups, which make tabbed browsing easier. When one tab is opened from another, the new tab is placed next to the originating tab and color coded, so that you can quickly see which tabs have related content. If you close a tab that’s part of a group, another tab from the same group is displayed, enabling you to remain within the context of the current task rather than suddenly looking at an unrelated site.

By right-clicking on any tab, you can close the tab, close the tab group, or remove the tab from a group. From the same menu, you can refresh one or all tabs, open a new tab, reopen the last tab closed, or see a list of all recently closed tabs and reopen any or all of them.

Better Find on Page
Internet Explorer 8 includes a completely redesigned Find On Page toolbar, which is activated by pressing Ctrl-F or choosing Find On Page from the Edit menu or Search box drop-down. Press the Alt key if you do not see the Edit menu option.

The toolbar is integrated below the tab row, so that it does not obscure any content on the page. Instead of waiting for you to type an entire search term and hit Enter, the toolbar searches character-by-character as you type. Matches are highlighted in yellow on the page so that they’re easy to identify.

Smarter Address Bar
Can’t remember the full address of a new website you visited last week? Type a few characters in the new Address Bar and Internet Explorer 8 will automatically recall sites you’ve already visited based on your entry. It searches across your History, Favorites, and RSS Feeds, displaying matches from the website address or any part of the URL. As you type, matched characters are highlighted in blue so you can identify them at a glance. In addition, you can delete any address in the drop-down box by clicking on the red X. This is especially useful for getting rid of misspelled URLs.

Improved Zoom
Adaptive Page Zoom improves upon traditional zoom-in/zoom-out functionality in the browser by intelligently relaying out the page content and eliminating the need to scroll left and right. This will improve your ability to magnify pages with small fonts and be able to read more on the web.

A better back button
When using rich applications such as mapping on the Internet, you may be taken to the beginning of the application instead of the previous page when you hit the back button. Now when you hit the back button, more pages will behave the way you expect.

To look back on previous Parts of this series visit Our Blog.

Don’t hesitate to contact MicroSolutions with any of your computing needs or questions.

March 30, 2009

Exploring Internet Explorer 8 - Part II

Accelerators
How many steps does it take with your current browser to map an address, translate a word, or perform other routine tasks online? Until now it was likely a series of cutting and pasting information from one webpage to another. Now there’s a better way. The new Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8 help you quickly perform your everyday browsing tasks without navigating to other websites to get things done. Simply highlight text from any webpage, and then click on the blue Accelerator icon that appears above your selection to obtain driving directions, translate and define words, email content to others, search with ease, and more. For example, with the “Map with Live Maps” Accelerator in Internet Explorer 8, you can get an in-place view of a map displayed directly on the page.

You can discover other useful Accelerators by selecting the More Accelerators option on the right-click menu, or visit our Accelerators gallery. You can easily delete, disable, or enable Accelerators by clicking on Manage Add-ons from the Tools button on the upper right-hand corner of your browser window.

Internet Explorer 8 includes a number of useful Accelerators to get you started. You can add more by going to the Internet Explorer Gallery to customize the browser with Accelerators from Live Search, eBay, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, Facebook, and other sites in a way that works for you.

To look back on previous Parts of this series visit Our Blog.

Don’t hesitate to contact MicroSolutions with any of your computing needs or questions.

March 24, 2009

Exploring Internet Explorer 8 - Part I

Internet Explorer was released this week and there are several new and helpful features built into this latest release from Microsoft. Over the next few weeks, we will be showing you the new features available, how to use them to work more efficiently and securely. This week we will hit a few of the highlights which we will revisit in more detail in the weeks to come. We hope you enjoy.

Accelerators
Accelerators let you map directions, translate words, email your friends, and more in just a few mouse clicks.

InPrivate Browsing
Browse the web without saving your history with Internet Explorer 8’s InPrivate Browsing. Now you can shop for that special gift with confidence knowing your family won’t accidentally find out or use a shared computer without leaving a trace.

Web Slices
Keep up with changes to the sites you care about most. Add a Web Slice and you won’t have to go back to the same website again and again for updates on news, stock quotes, online auctions, weather, or even sports scores.

Search suggestions
Search smarter with detailed suggestions from your favorite search providers and browsing history. See visual previews and get suggested content topics while you type in the enhanced Instant Search Box.

SmartScreen Filter
New security features help to protect you against deceptive and malicious websites which can compromise your data, privacy and identity.

Don’t hesitate to contact MicroSolutions with any of your computing needs or questions.

February 19, 2009

Office Tips Part II

Have you ever been typing and realized too late that everything is in Upper Case and didn’t want to type the entire section over again? That’s when Caps Toggle comes in handy. Highlight a section of text, hold down shift and press F3 to toggle between upper, lower and initial caps.

Have you ever been putting the finishing touches on a very long or complex document and wanted to go back to the sect that you just made a change in easily? Shift F5 will take you to the last change you made in a document.

Sometimes I’m looking in other folders I’ve created in Outlook, or completed a search of all my emails in Outlook and I get the notification that I have new mail. A quick way to go to the Inbox without using the mouse is to simply press CRTL+Shift+I.

I’m constantly switching between my Outlook Mail and Outlook Calendar and from time to time want to see my Contacts and Tasks as well. Here is an easy keyboard shortcut to navigate between all four and never touch a mouse. CRTL+1 switches to mail, CTRL+2 switches to Calendar, CTRL+3 switches to contacts and CRTL+4 switches to tasks.

Make sure to come bck every Thursday for more tips from MicroSolutions.

February 10, 2009

Office Tips Part I

Change font size: While holding down CRTL+Shift, pressing > will increase highlighted text size, < will decrease the font size.

Move an entire paragraph. Go to the beginning of the paragraph you want to move and while holding Shift+ALT use the arrow keys to move the whole paragraph.

Draw a line. Type three hyphens in a row and press enter, this will create a regular line. Three underscores in a row and enter will create a bold line and three equal signs in a row and enter will create a double line.

Two things to remember. Press F7 to check the spelling. Press F12 to bring up the Save As dialog box.