gHacks technology news » Windows

Windows Application Switcher

Martin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:06:45 +0000

If you ask Windows users how they switch between applications then a majority will likely state they they use the Windows taskbar to do so. But there are others who prefer a keyboard shortcut like Alt-Tab to quickly bring another running program or window to the front. The free software Switcher offers another possibility. The now abandoned program was initially designed to be compatible with Windows Vista but tests have shown that it is fully compatible with Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 7 as well. Best of all, the application is available as a portable version as well.

Switcher will display a configuration menu after installation which can be used to configure the program. This starts by choosing one of three view modes, animation and appearance settings or the window style over filters, keyboard shortcuts and detailed advanced settings.

The user should take a close look at the view modes available and at the keyboard shortcuts and adjust them for better personalization. A total of three view modes are available: Tile, Dock and Grid with Tile being the default view mode.

Tile will simply place all windows on the screen whereas dock places them on top and grid ordered and next to each other.

The settings window can be hidden afterwards and the application itself controlled by the keyboard shortcuts. All windows will be displayed in the selected view mode after the corresponding keyboard shortcut is put into action. The same key is then used to switch through the windows. The enter key will bring the selected window to the front.

All windows are numbered and it is also possible to press a number to bring the window to the front immediately without having to flip through individual windows first.

Another interesting feature is the multi-monitor support that is enabled by default. Switcher can be downloaded from the developer’s website where it is available as an installer and portable version.

Windows 7 Themes

Martin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:57:00 +0000

Microsoft has changed the theme management in their Windows 7 operating system. There is still a lock in place that is keeping users from installing themes that have not been signed by Microsoft but the overall theme manageability has improved. It is for instance now possible to save and load basic themes which opens up several new possibilities like sharing them with friends and family or installing the same theme on multiple computer systems running Windows 7.

This new option made it possible for Microsoft to offer a multiple of the themes that they offered for previous operating systems. The Windows 7 Personalization Gallery over at the Microsoft website contains download links to dozen of themes from country specific themes to sponsored themes. Every Windows 7 user can create basic themes with custom wallpapers, sounds, mouse pointers or desktop icons.

Windows 7 News has published a comprehensive guide on theme usage in Windows 7 (read: Windows 7 Guides: Managing Windows 7 Themes (Part 1) and Windows 7 Guides: Managing Windows 7 Themes (Part 2)).

Part 1 of the guide describes the build in theme management options while part 2 deals with custom third party themes that require system file patching before they can be installed. The Windows 7 theme patcher for Windows 7 can be downloaded from the same website. Please note that the patcher will replace several system files in Windows 7 with different versions. Make sure to backup all important data before making any changes to the computer system.

A good resource for finding third party Windows 7 themes is the Windows 7 themes repository at the Windows 7 News website. There are however other places to look for new themes for the operating system including Deviant Art.

On a personal note: I’m pretty happy with the default themes that are provided with the operating system and have not yet felt the need to search for third party themes. What about you? Have you customized your theme in Windows 7?

Tags: windows 7, windows 7 theme, windows 7 theme patcher, windows 7 themes

Windows System Tray Manager

Martin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:19:56 +0000

Have you ever asked yourself to which software program a specific system tray icon belongs? While it is usually easy to tell by left- or right-clicking on the system tray icon it sometimes can be more difficulty. Inexperienced users might prefer an easier solution to identifying system tray applications. The system tray manager System Tray Cleaner is a system tray analyzer for the Windows operating system. It will automatically recognize visible system tray icons and offer the user to display information about them in the default web browser. The concentration on visible icons diminishes the value of the software program for Windows 7 users where most system tray icons are hidden by default.

A user wanting to lockup these icons would need to make them visible which can be easily done from the available customize link.

All visible system tray icons will be listed on the custom web page. Each in its own row with information that include the name, system path, description, company and its icon.

A click on an item will open a detailed overview of that application (if available) that contains actions at the top, descriptions and technical information at the bottom of the page. The actions listed at the top can be used to perform various task including terminating the process responsible for the system tray icon and uninstalling the application.

System Tray Cleaner is an easy to use system manager that can assist the user in identifying system tray icons. The majority of Windows users on the other hand might prefer the manual way of researching system tray applications due to a number of reasons including privacy concerns. Users who want to test the application can download it from the developer’s website. It is compatible with most versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Tags: system tray cleaner, system tray icon, system tray manager, system-tray, windows software

Use Unsigned Drivers In Windows Vista And Windows 7

Martin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:08:18 +0000

One of the security enhancements that Microsoft has added to Windows Vista and Windows 7 is the enforcement to only accept digitally signed drivers in 64-bit editions of those operating systems. The operating system would refuse to install and run a driver without digital signature. There are several points of view on the purpose of this enforcement. Microsoft states that it is important for the security of the computer systems, developer’s don’t like it as much as they have to pay for digitally signed drivers and end users don’t like it because it can mean that the operating system is not accepting some of their drivers (even if they would work properly).

The only way to overcome this restriction temporarily is to press F8 during system boot.But this would have to be done on every boot which can become quite a nuisance.

Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider is another option. The software program makes use of a developer test option in both operating systems to load drivers which would otherwise be rejected by the operating system.

These drivers still have to be signed but not digitally which means that the operating system will accept the signatures that are provided by the software.

This option does come at a price though as it is required to disable UAC, the User Account Control, to run the program in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

How to use the program:

So how do I use it?
First and foremost; you are using this software at your own risk, we do not take responsibility for any damages to your system, but we do not believe it can harm anyone anyway. Secondly, User Account Control (UAC) must be disabled in-order to use this tool as well.

1. Go ahead download and launch the application from the link below. Inside its main menu, press on the “Enable Test Mode” button and follow the instructions on the screen. This will enable TESTSIGNING mode, which allows unverified system files to be loaded.

2. Now all you have to do is to add the unverified signature to the required system files. To do so press on the “Sign a System File” button from the main menu, and enter specific filename including full path. For example: if ATITool64.sys from C:\Windows\System32\drivers refuses to load due to driver signature enforcement, you should type: “C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ATITool64.sys”, and if you would like to sign more than a single file, just repeat this procedure until you’re done, and finally reboot.

After you enabled Test Mode and added signatures to the required system files, they should bypass Windows’s driver signature enforcement and load without any issues.

Is it worth disabling UAC for it? This has to be answered by everyone individually. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users who want to give the software program a try can download Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider from the developer’s website.

Tags: driver, driver signature, Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider, windows 7, windows software, windows-vista

Antivir Maker Avira Changes Update System

Martin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:03:44 +0000

We ran a post in the beginning of this month (read: Avira Antivir Update Hangs)that mentioned a growing problem that users of Avira Antivir were experiencing. The problem these users were experiencing was a permanent update failure during the virus definition update of the antivirus software. Some users were able to fix these difficulties by manually updating their Antivir installation, others were not able to solve the problem and decided to switch to other security software programs instead.

Avira made an announcement a few days ago where they addressed that problem somewhat. They mention that they have realized that “users of the free Avira AntiVir Personal had issues fetching the Updates in time recently”. This is not exactly the same issue but it could very well be related.

Avira therefor decided to implement the following two changes: Change the virus definition file format and use a content distribution network.

First, we switch from our current virus definition files (called iVDF) to a new format called nVDF. iVDF consists of 4 VDF files, while nVDF uses at least 32 files – we need to transfer less data for updating our virus definitions effectively in the future.

This means that we need to deliver about 25 MByte to every Avira installation starting today for switching to the new update system. This might lead to some delays for some users, especially for the users of our free version Avira AntiVir Personal. Just to get an idea about what we’re talking here: More than 100.000.000 Users are trying to get the update more or less on the same day. That is more than 2.5 Petabytes (or 2,500 Terabytes) of traffic.

The previous format used four files that contained all the virus definitions of the program. The new format splits those virus definitions in at least eight times that number so that it will take less data transfers to update the virus definition files (it theoretically could slow down as well if a majority of the files need to be updated as this would mean that more files need to be transferred than in the old update system, but that’s just speculation as there are no technical information available about the process at this point).

To ease the bandwidth bottleneck, we decided to additionally use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). We were first testing a CDN built up by our current Internet service provider. Shortly after activating the CDN, the redirectors – which redirect the update requests to servers close to the users location – were overloaded and couldn’t answer the requests anymore. The situation was solved a little later on, but the CDN isn’t big enough yet to spread this huge update in time. So we decided to switch to a global player in the CDN market to deliver the update.

The second change is the use of a content delivery network. Avira is building up their own CDN but had to contract a global CDN company to spread the massive update to all Avira users. It is likely that they intend to switch to their own CDN at a later time.

It does sound like a good plan though although the massive data transfer to bring the update to all Avira users could prove to be quite a challenge. Did anyone already receive the update?

Tags: antivir, antivir 9, antivir update, avira, avira antivir, security-software

Auslogics Disk Defrag

Martin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:28:59 +0000

Auslogics Disk Defrag is a hard disk defragmentation software for the Windows operating system. Recently version 3 of the software program has been released; Reason enough for us to take a look at the improvements in this new version. At its core stands the option to defragment all connected hard drives of the computer system. The hard drives can be analyzed before the defragmentation to ensure that it is necessary to start the process at all. Hard drives can be unselected which is helpful in several cases including connected solid state drives or encrypted partitions that are not mounted.

The analysis will display the total number of files and the number of fragmented files on the PC system. Auslogics Disk Defrag can then defragment the selected hard drives. A new feature is the option to optimize the fragmentation by consolidating free space by placing all files on the disk contiguously.

The top menu contains several additional options, namely the option to defragment a file or folder and to change the process priority of the defragmentation.

The defragmentation can be paused and resumed anytime. One interesting option is the defragmented file view which makes it possible to take a look at all defragmented files of the selected hard drive. Most changes have been made to the core including performance improvements to the defragmentation process, better tie-ins with the Windows Task Scheduler or better processing of files that are locked by the computer system.

Auslogics Disk Defrag is available as an installer or portable version. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website where it is available for all Microsoft operating systems that have been released since Windows XP including Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Interested users can take a closer look at the release notes to read about all of the changes that have been added to the disk defragmentation software. (via Download Squad)

Tags: auslogics disk defrag, Defragmenting Software, disk defragmentation, portable software, windows software

Install Multiple Applications With AllMyApps

Martin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:11:33 +0000

AllMyApps offers a similar functionality as Ninite which we have reviewed last month. Both applications allow a computer user to install multiple programs without further user interaction. But that’s where the similarities end. Ninite creates a custom installer based on the selection of applications that the user makes on the homepage. AllMyApps on the other hand consists of a software program that needs to be installed on the computer system and an online part which consists of the selection of applications and the sending of these information to the installed software.

Another difference that becomes obvious right away is the support for both Windows and Linux operating systems whereas Ninite only supports Windows. AllMyApps on the other hand makes it more difficulty to finish the process, especially at first run. The user needs to download the application and install it on the computer system. An account at the website needs to be registered afterwards. Once that is done it comes down to selecting the applications that should be installed on the user system.

That selection takes more time compared to Ninite as the developers have listed them in categories with no apparent option to view all at once. It usually takes a few clicks to add an application to the list of applications. AllMyApps offers more applications than Ninite does. Both seem to provide access to popular applications such as CCleaner, Google Talk, Paint.net or ImgBurn to name a few.

The applications need to be transferred to the installed application. The web browser will display a launch application dialog (Firefox does at least, not tested in other web browsers) with the AllMyApps application preselected. Security software of the operating system, like UAC in Windows, might also display a prompt that needs to be accepted before the data can be transferred. The program will then display the applications in its interface giving the user the option to cancel or start the installation.

A click on start will initiate the download of the setups and afterwards the installation of the selected software programs without further user interaction. Users who want to install multiple applications at once now have two programs to chose one. Ninite works only in Windows and does not offer as many applications but is less complicated to use. AllMyApps is compatible with Windows and Ubuntu Linux, offers more applications to install but makes it harder to install the applications due to the registration and software selection process.

Users who want to try out AllMyApps can visit the project’s homepage to do so.

Tags: allmyapps, install, install applications, install software, linux software, ninite, windows software

Video To MKV Converter

Martin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:41:01 +0000

VideoToMKV is a comfortable software program to convert various video formats into the Matroska container format (mkv). The program utilizes the ffmpeg library for the conversions. New videos can be easily added to the application by drag and drop or a file browser. The videos that have been added are then displayed in the main interface. The only other controls available in the interface are located in the header menu at the top.

Here it is possible to change the output directory and video bitrate before the queued videos are processed. Advanced users can edit batch files with advanced settings that are located in the program’s installation directory. These batch files contain the default configuration for the video to mkv conversion. The standard settings produce great results but advanced users might want to tweak the settings further to improve the quality of the output further.

Video To MKV will automatically detect several subtitle formats (srt, idx, sub) which are then automatically embedded in the mkv file that is created. The software program supports multiple audio channels as well.

Video To MKV is an easy to use program. All it takes to convert videos to the mkv format is to drag and drop them into the interface to process them one after the other. Advanced users can tweak the settings in the supplied batch files. Not the most comfortable way of editing the video conversion settings but better than no options to tweak them at all.

The software is available for download at the developer’s website. It is compatible with most versions of Microsoft Windows and does not need any additional software installed to function properly.

Tags: convert to mkv, mkv, video, video to mkv, windows software

Desktop Torrents Search Engine Torrent Fetcher

Martin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:59:06 +0000

Users looking for torrents usually go to a website like Mininova or The Piratebay that index torrents. An alternative to this is a desktop torrents search engine like Torrent Fetcher is available for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Torrent Fetcher comes with a comfortable interface to perform the search for Bittorrent files from the local computer system without firing up a web browser first. This method has several advantages including the ability to search multiple torrent indexers at once, the display of all discovered torrents on the same page in the same interface and a comfortable option to download torrents without having to switch pages.

Torrent Fetcher uses a basic interface that contains both the torrents search engine and the results listings. It is possible to enter a search phrase and start the search for torrents right away or configure some of the advanced options like the number of results that should be retrieved, the torrent download directory or a specific category that should be searched to avoid that unrelated torrents are displayed in the search result listing. Up to 1000 results can be displayed by the software. Categories include the usual assortment of games, tv shows, movies, software and music that one finds in almost every torrent search engine on the Internet.

Torrents in the search results are displayed with their name, size, seeders, peers and date it was added to the database. Torrents are color coded so that the user can see on first glance if a torrent is well seeded or not.

A double-click on any file will download the torrent to the local computer system. Some Bittorrent clients can be configured to monitor directories for torrents. The programs could therefor be configured to start the downloads of the files right after the download of the torrent file has finished if the client supports it. There is also an option to automatically launch downloaded torrents which is another way of adding them directly after download the Bittorrent application.

The developer of Torrent Fetcher could improve the software program by adding the following features to it:

The ability to retrieve additional information about a torrent. It is currently not possible to see where a torrent originated from.
The option to download multiple torrents at once.
Search filters like excluding words from the search results or searching for an exact phrase.

Torrent Fetcher is a comfortable alternative to searching for torrents on websites. It does not offer the same amount of information that those websites usually offer on the other hand. This is something that the developer should consider improving on.

The software program is available for download at the developer’s website. It is compatible with most versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Tags: bittorrent, torrent, torrent fetcher, torrents, torrents search, windows software

FastStone Image Viewer 4.0

Martin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:29:47 +0000

A new version of the image viewer FastStone Image Viewer has been released today by the developers. Version 4.0 introduces several new and enhanced features including better Windows 7 compatibility, improved performance in network folders, display of GPS information with a link to Google Earth, favorite folders and several minor improvements and bug fixes.

The image viewer is available in several editions including a portable version and an installer. It supports multiple languages and is completely free for personal use. The main interface of the software looks a bit cluttered and very colorful at first glance. Especially the two icon bars at the top of the window can cause some confusion at the beginning. It is possible to make changes to the skin but not the the interface itself. The designs itself looks professionally done and the three program windows for browsing folders, previewing images and thumbnails are intuitive to use after all.

A click on a thumbnail image will display a larger preview of that image in the preview window in the left sidebar. A left-click in that preview window will zoom in on the image. It is even possible to move around with the mouse as long as the left mouse button is pressed.

FastStone Image Viewer comes with an assortment of image editing tools. Not as much as image editing software programs like Paint.net, Gimp or even Adobe Photoshop offer but enough to perform the most common image editing operations like resizing, rotating, cropping, changing colors, brightness or contrasts or removing red eye effects.

There are also options to perform batch operations like converting or resizing multiple image formats at once. A handful of other interesting modules are available that include the ability to create slideshows, remove JPEG metadata, change timestamps or compare images. The program supports file tagging and is a solid program for these kinds of tasks.

FastStone Image Viewer 4.0 is a fast comfortable image viewer that can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Tags: faststone image viewer, image viewer, images, photos, portable software, windwos software

Windows 8 Slated For 2012 Release

Martin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:26:16 +0000

Microsoft has released two roadmaps at this years Professional Developer’s Conference (PDC 2009) which both suggest a Windows 8 release in 2012. This confirms earlier rumors that Microsoft’s next desktop operating system after Windows 7 would be released in three year’s time. To be more precise, the roadmaps that Microsoft showcased at the conference show the Microsoft server releases over the years. The first of the two roadmaps does mention Windows 7 (but not Windows Vista) along with Windows Server 2003 and 2008 releases.

The 2012 release is codenamed Windows 8 and Microsoft does not explicitly state that this will also be the release year of the new operating system although that is generally assumed by everyone.

Windows 8, which is currently only a codename for the new operating system (did not they say so previously when asked about Windows 7 as well?), will be major released opposed to the release updates Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

Our thanks to Stephen Chapman for publishing those two Windows roadmap images. Check out the Windows 8 News website for the latest news and rumors about Microsoft’s upcoming operating system Windows 8.

Tags: microsoft-windows, operating system, windows 8, windows 8 news, windows 8 release, windows 8 server

Microsoft Beta Downloads Overview

Martin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:01:32 +0000

Most tech savvy computer users who visited a technology news website yesterday noticed that Microsoft has released a public beta version of their upcoming Microsoft Office 2010 software product. The beta has been made available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of several Windows operating systems. What some do not know is that the beta release of Office 2010 was not the only beta release of upcoming Microsoft software yesterday.

The following article contains an overview of Microsoft beta releases that have been made available yesterday. Each item will be introduced with its name, a small summary and a link to the official project page at the Microsoft website which contains additional information and the downloads.

Microsoft Office Web Apps (Beta)

Microsoft Office Web Apps are new web-based tools that extend the Microsoft Office 2010 experience to your browser. Office Web Apps enable you to view, do light editing, and share your Office documents from virtually anywhere. With these online companions to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote you’ll always have the tools you need, wherever you are.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2
Hardware Requirements: Processor – 64-bit; Dual Processor; 3 GHz, RAM – 4 GB for standalone; 8 GB for farm, Hard Disk – 80 GB
Software Requirements: Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Server or Microsoft SharePoint Server
Size: 177.8 MB – 1367.7 MB*

official Microsoft link

Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Beta

Microsoft Office 2010 gives you powerful new tools to express your ideas, solve problems, and connect with people. Applications include Word, Access, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook, InfoPath, Excel, SharePoint Workspace, OneNote, and Communicator.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP with Service Pack (SP) 3 (32-bit), Windows Vista with SP1 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows Server 2008 with SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Hardware Requirements: 500 MHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor or higher, 256 MB of system memory or more, 3 GB of available disk space, 1024×768 or higher resolution monitor, DVD-R/W Drive
Software Requirements: None
Size: 700 MB

official Microsoft link (registration required)

Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010 Beta

Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010 provides contact management, sales, marketing and project management for the small business or small team.

32-bit download page | 64-bit download page

Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 Beta

Microsoft Visio 2010 Beta takes diagramming to a new level with dynamic, data-driven visualization tools and templates, enhanced process management capabilities, and advanced Web sharing. Bring real-time data together from multiple sources, including Excel and Microsoft SQL Server, in one powerful diagram using vibrant graphics like icons and data bars. Manage processes with sub-processes and rules and logic validation to ensure accuracy and consistency across the organization. Create SharePoint workflows and export them to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for real-time execution and monitoring. Share refreshable, data-linked diagrams over the Web with anyone, even those who don’t own Visio.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7; Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 3
Hardware Requirements: Computer and processor: 500 MHz processor or higher, Memory: 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher, Hard disk: 2.5 GB; a portion of the disk space will be freed after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard drive, Display: 1024×768 or higher resolution monitor; 1024×576 or higher for Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word.
Software Requirements: Certain inking features require running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition or later. Speech recognition functionality requires a close-talk microphone and audio output device. Information Rights Management features require access to a Windows 2003 Server with SP1 or later running Windows Rights Management Services.

Connectivity to Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 or later is required for certain advanced functionality in Outlook 2007. Instant Search requires Microsoft Windows Desktop Search 3.0. Dynamic Calendars require server connectivity.

Connectivity to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1 or later running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services is required for certain advanced collaboration functionality. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is required for certain advanced functionality. PowerPoint Slide Library requires Office SharePoint Server 2007. To share data among multiple computers, the host computer must be running Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows XP Professional with SP2, or later.

Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, 32 bit browser only. Internet functionality requires Internet access (fees may apply).

Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration and operating system.
Size: 296.5 MB

32-bit download page | 64-bit download page (registration required)

Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta

Project Server 2010 Beta ensures organizations select and deliver the right projects, while gaining greater visibility and control of resources leading to improved productivity and better business performance. Participate in the Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta and be the first to see how the innovative new capabilities can help organizations to:

• Capture all types of work in a centralized demand management repository
• Select the right project portfolios and maximize resource utilization
• Build and conveniently update project schedules online
• Create powerful dashboards and project reports

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2
Hardware Requirements: Processor: 64-bit, dual processor, 3 GHz, RAM: 4 GB for stand-alone or evaluation installation, 8 GB for single server and multiple server farm installation for production use, Hard Disk: 80 GB.
Software Requirements: SharePoint Server 2010 Beta is a required prerequisite for Project Server installation, SQL Server 2005 SP3 CU4 or SQL Server 2008 SP1 CU3, SQL Server 2008 AMO objects.
Size: 22.1 MB

download link (registration required)

Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 Beta

For organizations looking to help users find information and expertise quickly and easily through a search capability able to address their most challenging needs – includes all the search features and integration capabilities of SharePoint Server 2010, plus a more engaging and conversational search experience, use of context to provide specific search experiences for different needs (such as departments or geographies), advanced content processing capabilities that create metadata and add structure to unstructured content, and deep platform flexibility, scalability, and extensibility. For use with SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Edition.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2
Hardware Requirements: Processor Minimum: 64-bit, 4 CPU cores, 2.0 GHz, Recommended: 64-bit, 8 CPU cores, 2.0 GHz, RAM Minimum: 4 GB, Recommended: 16 GB, Hard Disk
Minimum: 50 GB, Recommended: 1 TB RAID* across 6 spindles, Other DVD Drive.

In general, RAID5 configurations with 128 KB stripe size provides a good combination of performance and reliability as content storage for FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint. Different RAID controllers have varying sweet spots for operation. SAS disks are recommended over SATA. Within a fixed power and cost budget, performance will be better with a larger number of 10k RPM disks compared to a smaller number of 15k RPM disk.
Software Requirements: Windows Server 2008 SP2 x64 or Windows Server 2008 R2 x64
Size: 651 MB

download link (registration required)

Microsoft Project Professional 2010 Beta

Microsoft Project Professional 2010 Beta gives you powerful, visually enhanced ways to successfully manage and deliver a wide range of projects. Easier and more intuitive, Project Professional 2010 Beta provides flexible choices to simplify planning, collaboration and resource management.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7; Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista; Windows XP Service Pack 3
Hardware Requirements: Computer and processor: 700 MHz processor or higher, Memory: 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher, Hard disk: 1.5 gigabyte (GB); a portion of this disk space will be freed after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard drive, Display: 1024×768 or higher resolution monitor.
Software Requirements: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2 or later running Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise is required for certain advanced collaboration functionality. Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 SP2 or later required to use the Import Outlook Tasks feature. Visual Reports require Microsoft Office Excel 2003 SP2 or later and Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 SP1 or later. Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 is required for Project Professional 2010 Beta task list synchronization.Project Server 2010 Beta is required for enterprise project and resource management capabilities. Exchange 2007 SP1 or later required for importing tasks to the Outlook tasks list.
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Beta (installed as part of Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta) is required for publishing projects, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Project Tasks List. Microsoft.Net Framework Version 3.5 is required for the Resource Substitution Wizard.
Size: 651 MB
download link 32-bit | download link 64-bit (registration required)

Tags: Business Contact Manager, FAST Search Server 2010, microsoft, Microsoft Office Web Apps, office 2010, project professional 2010, Project Server 2010, Visio Premium 2010, windows beta

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Downloads Live

Martin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:50:49 +0000

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta downloads have been active for a few days for MSDN and Technet subscribers. Everyone else did not have a choice but to wait until Microsoft would enable public downloads of their latest Office software suite. Downloads have finally been activated for the public and are now available on the official Microsoft Office 2010 Beta website. The strange thing here is that the download link that was reported a few days ago is still not working. Downloads can on the other hand be initiated on the following Microsoft Office 2010 website.

Users need to log into a Microsoft Live account and fill out a short form before they are able to download the beta of Microsoft Office 2010. Downloads are available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions and various languages. The product key for the beta will also be displayed on those pages. The key is required to activate the beta.

Step 1: Open Microsoft Word 2010 Beta and click on the “File” tab. This will take you to the Backstage view. Next click “Help” in the set of tabs on the left.

Step 2: Click “Change Product Key” on the right side of the screen.

Step 3: Enter the Multiple Activation Key (MAK) displayed above. Please check the box to activate automatically or restart the app to activate using the activation dialog box.

Step 4: That’s all you need to do. Entering the MAK key in Microsoft Word 2010 Beta automatically activates all the Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta applications. Click on the “File” tab to return to the Document view.

New features in the beta include:

Outlook Social Connector (blog)
Deeper integration between Office client and Web Apps allowing users to save directly to Windows Live Sky Drive or SharePoint 2010
Improved navigation, visual design and icon update
New Office logo
Increased performance and stability

The 32-bit English beta has a size of 700 Megabytes which can take some time to download depending on the Internet connection. Users who want to follow the development of the beta can subscribe to the #officebeta Twitter channel to do so.

Tags: microsoft office 2010, microsoft-office, office, office 2010, office 2010 beta, office 2010 download

Create Desktop Icons With Simply Icon

Martin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:32:25 +0000

Desktop icons, or icons in general, come in handy in several situations but mainly to replace existing icons on the computer desktop or in applications. It is for instance relatively easy to replace an existing icon in the Windows operating system with another although it depends on the data type. System icons can for example be changed by right-clicking on the computer desktop and selecting Properties (or Personalize) from the menu.

Windows ships with a limited amount of desktop icons and some users might prefer to create their own icons for a more personal experience. Simply Icon is a lightweight software program to create desktop icons. All the user needs to do is to drag and drop an image into the applications interface. The application will automatically created four different icons in the sizes 128×128, 64×64, 32×32 and 16×16.

The newly created icons will be stored in one file in the same directory as the original file that was dropped into the application. Best suitable images for a conversion into icons are images that have the same height and width.

Simply Icon can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It does require the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 which needs to be installed before the application can be executed.

Tags: desktop icons, icons, portable software, simply icon, windows software

Sumatra PDF Reader 1.0 Released

Martin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:40:40 +0000

We reviewed the Adobe Reader alternative Sumatra back in the beginning of 2008 and came to the conclusion back then that Sumatra was a lightweight and fast replacement that was ideal for viewing PDF documents. Version 1.0 of Sumatra was released yesterday which actually was one of the two updates that the developer of the pdf reader has published this year. The main changes since our last review are better pdf reading compatibilities, bug fixes, other compatibility fixes and additional features that have been added by the developer or contributors. Contributors you may ask? Sumatra is Open Source and it is therefor possible for others to contribute to the program.

Sumatra concentrates on pdf viewing only but does that very well. Pdf documents are opened blazingly fast and the program does not require lots of computer memory or resources in general to operate. It is offered as an installer or portable version and it’s size of 1.1 Megabytes make it an ideal candidate for mobile usage.

We had some complaints about Sumatra which are still valid. It is for example not possible to mark and copy text from the documents. Not everyone might need that feature but those that do need to find another pdf viewer that comes with that option.

The main interface language of Sumatra (English) can be easily changed to several dozens others that are included in the download. The installer and portable version as well as the source code can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Tags: adobe pdf, pdf, pdf reader, portable software, sumatra, windows software

Check Open Computer Connections With My Ports

Martin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:23:10 +0000

Ports are what connects your computer to the outside world. This can either be in a network or the Internet. Open ports are required for many things like connecting to websites, downloading files, chatting or uploading photos to Flickr or Facebook. Most ports are only open when they are needed by an application. Problems can arise if ports are open all the time as these can be used by malicious users and automated scripts to attack the computer system.

It is therefor recommended to regularly check the open ports for computer security reasons. We reviewed CurrPorts (see: Who is connected to your PC right now) a while ago. It is a portable Nirsoft application that will display the open ports along with information needed to conclude if the open ports are needed or not.

My Ports is another application for that purpose. There is not really a big difference between both programs we’d figure it would be nice to have an alternative at hand. My Ports displays all open ports in a list after startup. It uses a table to display various information about each open port on the computer system including the state, local and remote IP address, local and remote port, process name that is listening or using that connection and the process path to that application. It is not as sophisticated as CurrPorts but it does its job just fine.

Most of the open connections can be easily associated with one specific program like Firefox or Skye in the screenshot above. Other ports are listening due to Windows Services or other services that are running. These usually require some investigation on the user’s part to find out if they are needed to operate the computer system. A search on the Internet usually reveals websites that contain information and advice on how to deal with those connections.

My Ports is compatible with most Microsoft operating systems including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Tags: computer security, connections, my ports, ports, windows software

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Download

Martin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:32:50 +0000

The beta of Microsoft’s upcoming Office suite Microsoft Office 2010 has been finished and already been made available to MSDN and Technet subscribers. This leaves the general public who is also highly interested in this new beta with second row seats for now although it is rumored that public Office 2010 beta downloads will be activated by Microsoft in this week.

One indicator that this is the case is the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Download page which is already listing download buttons for the three Microsoft Office editions Office Home and Business 2010 beta, Office Professional 2010 beta and Office Professional Plus 2010 beta. The links are unfortunately not live yet leading to a “The Office 2010 beta will come soon” page instead.

The differences between the three editions are the following:

Office Home and Business 2010 beta – Includes: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and Office Web Apps
Office Professional 2010 beta – Includes: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Publisher and Office Web Apps
Office Professional Plus 2010 beta – Volume licensing only – Includes: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Access, Publisher, Infopath, Communicator, SharePoint Workspace, and Office Web Apps

In other news: The first group of users who were able to get their hands on the new Office 2010 Beta were Bittorrent users who downloaded a leaked version of Office 2010. It is of course illegal to download the beta this way.

Tags: Microsoft Office 2010 Beta, Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Download, office, office 2010, office 2010 beta download

Microsoft Security Essentials Updater

Martin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:45:19 +0000

Microsoft’s new and free security software Microsoft Security Essentials received some raving reviews since its first release as a beta version. The final version of the antivirus software program was released alongside Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7. Microsoft Security Essentials is using Windows Update to update the virus definition files which can be problematic in situations where Windows Update is not activated by default which is for example the case in company networks where updates are tested before they are applied to computer systems. It can also be helpful if Windows Update is not working properly (either because of a computer virus or other form of attack or because of other reasons).

Nakodari over at Addictive Tips has created a small software program called MSE Update Utility which can be used to update Microsoft Security Essentials even if Windows Update is disabled.

The update intervals of the software can be selected in the main interface after startup. The choices are daily, weekly, monthly or on startup with the additional option to add the program to Windows startup. The program could be an interesting option for users who cannot use Windows Update to update Microsoft Security Essentials. It seems though that the update tool needs to be running in the background to update the virus definitions. A better solution would be to either run and quit after updating the definition files or use the Windows Task Scheduler to schedule the updates.

Tags: microsoft security essentials, microsoft security essentials update, windows software, windows-update

How To NOT Offer A Program Publicly

Martin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:59:30 +0000

So I discovered that program Freeware Updater which looked interesting enough to be a potential candidate for a review here at Ghacks. I downloaded it and scanned it at Virustotal. It passed that check and I began the installation of the program with the usual double-click on the program executable. The software program did display a few options (said no to start menu entry and to starting the application after installation).

A message popped up halfway through the installation telling me to close Freeware Update to continue the installation. That sounded a bit weird as the installation of the (same) program was not finished yet. I clicked on the OK button only to be greeted with the same message again.

It got a bit silly after pressing ok for about ten times. Next stop was the Windows Task Manager which only listed the installer of the program as open. I figured that something went wrong, killed the setup in the task manager and started the installation again. The result was unfortunately the same. Last chance was to run the installer as administrator which – again – led to the error message.

It could be that the program is not compatible with Windows 7. But the developer’s have not added any compatibility information to their website so that this was impossible to check. A likely reason is a check if the program is running. Maybe that check does only look for the Window title and figured that the installer was actually the main program. Checked the forum to find a post of a user who reported the same problem. It is apparently possible to run the installer in safe mode. The user also mentioned that older versions did not have the problem.

Whatever it is I quickly killed the process, deleted the program and decided to stop wasting my time with a program that simply would not work for me.

Tags: freeware updater, installer, setup, windows software

How To Change Default Programs In Windows

Martin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:45:29 +0000

Default programs in Windows are those programs that are started when opening or editing certain file types or protocols. It can be an image viewer or editor for image formats or a web browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer for the http protocol. I recently encountered a problem in Windows 7 that was driving me crazy. My preferred image editor Paint.net was not the default program when right-clicking an image or photo and selecting edit from the context menu. Windows 7 would instead open the default Paint application that was overhauled for the operating system.

A visit to the Set Default Programs section in the Windows Control Panel did not help either as Paint.net was not among the programs to chose from. Even worse, there was no option to add additional programs to the list of default programs.

Associating the file types, e.g. jpg or bmp, with Paint.net was also not what I wanted as it would not only associated the edit command but also the open command with Paint.net and I did not want to use Paint.net as my main image viewer.

Then I discovered the free program Default Programs Editor which helped me tremendously. The program offers three options after startup: To edit file type settings, default programs and autoplay settings.

The Default Programs Setting option was, to my surprise, the same option that Windows 7 provided. No help here but the File Type Settings option on the other hand led to what I wanted to do. A click on Context Menu on the next page (which also contained options to change the icon or description of a file type) led to a listing of all registered file extensions.

It is here possible to select a file type and edit its associations with the additional option to configure individual applications for opening, editing or printing unlike the default file association setting in Windows which only allows to set one application that is then responsible for all actions.

The Default Programs Editor helped me change the edit action for image formats from Paint to Paint.net. It took a bit longer than it should as I had to locate and edit all file types manually but it was a once-a-lifetime operation that was definitely worth it in the long run. Microsoft on the other hand should really think about adding an option to add other default programs to the list of default programs in Windows as it is rather nerve wreaking to search for a solution online.

Defaults Programs Editor is available for download at the developer’s website. The free software program is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 to be installed before it can be used.

Tags: change default program, default programs, default programs editor, edit default program, windows software

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