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  • Upgrade to Genuine Windows 8 Pro from non genuine Windows 7

    - by mark
    I have a computer with non-genuine windows 7 (cracked with windows loader). I was thinking of buying / upgrading to Windows 8 Pro. I ran Windows8-UpgradeAssistant.exe and was said that I can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro. Can I perform a clean upgrade (format and install) from my current windows 7 to windows 8? In future, in order to re-install Windows 8 do I need to re-install the non-genuine Windows 7 and install on top of it? If my hard disk crash, or I want to install on a new hard disk (clean install), do I need to install windows 7 again before upgrading to Windows 8? If I don't like Windows 8, can I downgrade to Windows 7 genuine?

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  • Windows 8 upgrade advisor in windows xp not starting

    - by TBohnen.jnr
    I really hope someone can help me as I am stuck and can't figure out what to do next. I am trying to upgrade from windows xp sp3 (Media Centre edition) Steps I've followed: Clean install from XP SP3 Professional disc Installed all drivers downloaded upgrade advisor and ran where it just closed after like 2 seconds without even showing the screen changed to have a selected startup after finding guidance on the internet, this still did not make a difference Does anybody have an idea? I've looked for logs but can't find anything.

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  • How to Easily Put a Windows PC into Kiosk Mode With Assigned Access

    - by Chris Hoffman
    Windows 8.1′s Assigned Access feature allows you to easily lock a Windows PC to a single application, such as a web browser. This feature makes it easy for anyone to configure Windows 8.1 devices as point-of-sale or other kiosk systems. In the past, setting up a Windows PC in kiosk mode involved much more work, requiring the use of third-party software, group policy, or Linux distributions designed around kiosk mode. Assigned Access is available on Windows 8.1 RT, Windows 8.1 Professional, and Windows 8.1 Enterprise. The standard edition of Windows 8.1 doesn’t support Assigned Access. Create a User Account for Assigned Access Rather than turn your entire computer into a locked-down kiosk system, Assigned Access allows you to create a separate user account that can only launch a single app — such as a web browser. To set this up, you must be logged into Windows as a user with administrator permissions. First, open the PC settings app — swipe in from the right or press Windows Key + C to open the charms bar, tap Settings, and tap Change PC settings. In the PC settings app, select Accounts and select Other accounts. Use the Add an account button to create a new Windows account. Select  the “Sign in without a Microsoft account” option and select Local account to create a local user account. You could also create a Microsoft account, but you may not want to do this if you just want a locked-down account with only browser access. If you need to install apps from the Windows Store to use in Assigned Access mode, you’ll have to set up a Microsoft account instead of a local account. A local account will still allow you access to the preinstalled apps, such as Internet Explorer. You may want to create a user account with a blank password. This would make it simple for anyone to access kiosk mode, even if the system becomes locked or needs to be rebooted. The account will be created as a standard user account with limited permissions. Leave it as a standard user account — don’t make it an administrator account. Set Up Assigned Access Once you’ve created an account, you’ll first need to sign into it. If you don’t, you’ll see a “This account has no apps” message when trying to enable Assigned Access. Go back to the welcome screen, log in to the new account you created, and allow Windows to go through the first-time account setup process. If you want to use a non-default app in kiosk mode, install it while logged in as that user account. Once you’re done, log out of the other account, log back in as your administrator account, and go back to the Other accounts screen. Click the Set up an account for assigned access option to continue. Select the user account you created and select the app you want to limit the account to. For a web-based kiosk, this can be a web browser such as the Modern version of Internet Explorer. Businesses can also create their own Modern apps and set them to run in kiosk mode in this way. Note that Microsoft’s documentation says “web browsers are not good choices for assigned access” because they require more permissions than average Modern (or “Windows Store”) apps. However, if you want to provide a kiosk for web-browsing, using Assigned Access is a much better option than using Guest Mode and offering up a full Windows desktop. When you’re done, restart your PC and log in as the Assigned Access account. Windows will automatically open the app you chose and won’t allow a user to leave that app. Standard Windows 8 features like the charms bar, app switcher, and Start screen won’t appear. Pressing the Windows key once will do nothing. To sign out of Assigned Access mode, press the Windows key five times — quickly — while signed in. You’ll be sent back to the standard login screen. The account will actually still be logged in and the app will remain running — this method just “locks” the screen and allows another user to log in. Automatically Log Into Assigned Access Whenever your Windows device boots, you can log into the Assigned Access account and turn it into a kiosk system. While this isn’t ideal for all kiosk systems, you may want the device to automatically launch the specific app when it boots without requiring any login process. To do so, you’ll just need to have Windows automatically log into the Assigned Access account when it boots. This option is hidden and not available in the standard Control Panel. You’ll need to use the hidden netplwiz Control Panel tool to set up automatic login on boot. If you didn’t create a password for the user account, leave the Password field empty while configuring this. Security Considerations If you’re using this feature to turn a Windows 8.1 system into a kiosk and leaving it open to the public, remember to consider security. Anyone could come up to the system, press the Windows key five times, and try to log into your standard administrator user account. Ensure the administrator user account has a strong password so people won’t be able to get past the kiosk system’s limitations and tamper with the system. Even Windows 8′s detractors have to admit that it’s an ideal system for a touch-screen kiosk device, running either a browser or another specific application. Assigned Access finally makes this easy to set up on Windows systems in the real world — no IT experience, third-party software, or Linux distributions necessary.     

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  • Windows 7 Desktop/Start Menu Redirection: Server O/S: Windows Server 2003 And Server 2008

    - by VerGuy
    Hi, I am new here so I am might be asking a question which has already been answered [however I can't see it in the suggested answers above] I manage a network which is split into a parent domain and a child domain. Recently I have been looking at when to migrate to Windows 7. The child domain users [authenticated by the 2008 based (child) domain] get the redirected Desktop [as expected] but not the Start Menu. The parent domain users [authenticated by the 2003 based (parent) domain] get neither desktop nor Start Menu redirected. Does anyone here know how to successfully redirect the properties for these users as desired? Many thanks.

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  • Windows 7 Desktop/Start Menu Redirection: Server O/S: Windows Server 2003 And Server 2008

    - by Moody Tech
    Hi, I am new here so I am might be asking a question which has already been answered [however I can't see it in the suggested answers above] I manage a network which is split into a parent domain and a child domain. Recently I have been looking at when to migrate to Windows 7. The child domain users [authenticated by the 2008 based (child) domain] get the redirected Desktop [as expected] but not the Start Menu. The parent domain users [authenticated by the 2003 based (parent) domain] get neither desktop nor Start Menu redirected. Does anyone here know how to successfully redirect the properties for these users as desired? Many thanks.

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  • Add New Features to WMP with Windows Media Player Plus

    - by DigitalGeekery
    Do you use Windows Media Player 11 or 12 as your default media player? Today, we’re going to show you how to add some handy new features and enhancements with the Windows Media Player Plus third party plug-in. Installation and Setup Download and install Media Player Plus! (link below). You’ll need to close out of Windows Media Player before you begin or you’ll receive the message below. The next time you open Media Player you’ll be presented with the Media Player Plus settings window. Some of the settings will be enabled by default, such as the Find as you type feature. Using Media Player Plus! Find as you type allows you to start typing a search term from anywhere in Media Player without having to be in the Search box. The search term will automatically fill in the search box and display the results.   You’ll also see Disable group headers in the Library Pane.   This setting will display library items in a continuous list similar to the functionality of Windows Media Player 10. Under User Interface you can enable displaying the currently playing artist and title in the title bar. This is enabled by default.   The Context Menu page allows you to enable context menu enhancements. The File menu enhancement allows you to add the Windows Context menu to Media Player on the library pane, list pane, or both. Right click on a Title, select File, and you’ll see the Windows Context Menu. Right-click on a title and select Tag Editor Plus. Tag Editor Plus allows you to quickly edit media tags.   The Advanced tab displays a number of tags that Media Player usually doesn’t show. Only the tags with the notepad and pencil icon are editable.   The Restore Plug-ins page allows you to configure which plug-ins should be automatically restored after a Media Player crash. The Restore Media at Startup page allows you to configure Media Player to resume playing the last playlist, track, and even whether it was playing or paused at the time the application was closed. So, if you close out in the middle of a song, it will begin playing from that point the next time you open Media Player. You can also set Media Player to rewind a certain number of seconds from where you left off. This is especially useful if you are in the middle of watching a movie. There’s also the option to have your currently playing song sent to Windows Live Messenger. You can access the settings at any time by going to Tools, Plug-in properties, and selecting Windows Media Player Plus. Windows Media Plus is a nice little free plug-in for WMP 11 and 12 that brings a lot of additional functionality to Windows Media Player. If you use Media Player 11 or WMP 12 in Windows 7 as your main player, you might want to give this a try. Download Windows Media Player Plus! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Install and Use the VLC Media Player on Ubuntu LinuxFixing When Windows Media Player Library Won’t Let You Add FilesMake VLC Player Look like Windows Media Player 10Make VLC Player Look like Windows Media Player 11Make Windows Media Player Automatically Open in Mini Player Mode TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 Easily Create More Bookmark Toolbars in Firefox Filevo is a Cool File Hosting & Sharing Site Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule Boot Snooze – Reboot and then Standby or Hibernate Customize Everything Related to Dates, Times, Currency and Measurement in Windows 7

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  • Make Your PC Look Like Windows Phone 7

    - by Matthew Guay
    Windows Phone 7 offers a unique and exciting UI that displays lots of information efficiently on the screen.  And with a simple Rainmeter theme, you can have the same UI and content directly on your Windows 7 desktop. Turn your Desktop into a Windows Phone 7 lookalike To give your Windows 7 desktop a Windows Phone 7 makeover, first you need to have the free Rainmeter application installed.  If you do not have it installed, download it from the link below and run the setup.  Accept the license agreement, and install it with the default settings. By default Rainmeter will automatically run when you start your computer.  If you do not want this, you can uncheck the box during the setup. Now, download the Omnimo UI theme for Rainmeter (link below).  You will need to unzip the folder first. This theme uses the Segoe UI and the Segoe UI Light font, so Windows Vista users need to install the segoeuil.ttf font first, and XP users need to install both the segoeui.ttf and the segoeuil.ttf font first.  Copy the appropriate fonts to C:\Windows\Fonts, or in Vista double-click on the font and select Install. Now, run the Rainmeter theme setup.  Double-click on the Rainstaller.exe in the Omnimo folder. Click Express install to add the theme and skin to Rainmeter. Click Finish, and by default Rainmeter will open with your new theme. When the new theme opens the first time, you will be asked to read the readme, or simply go to the gallery. When you open the gallery, you can choose from a wide variety of tiles and gadgets to place on your desktop.  You can also choose a different color scheme for your tiles. Once you’re done, click the X in the top right hand corner to close the Gallery.  Welcome to your Windows Phone 7 desktop!  Many of the gadgets are dynamic, and you can change the settings for most of them.  The only thing missing is the transition animations that Windows Phone 7 shows when you launch an application. To make it look even more like Windows Phone 7, you can change your background to black.  This makes the desktop theme really dramatic. And, if you want to add gadgets or change the color scheme, simply click on the + logo on the top. Windows Phone 7 Desktop Wallpapers If you’d prefer to simply change your background, My Microsoft Life has several very nice Windows Phone 7 wallpapers available for free.  Click the link below to download these and other Microsoft-centric wallpapers. If you can’t wait to get the new Windows phone 7, this is a great way to start experiencing the beauty of the phone UI on your desktop. Links Download Rainmeter Download the Omnimo UI Rainmeter theme Download Windows Phone 7 inspired wallpapers Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Try out Windows Phone 7 on your PC todayTest All Features of Windows Phone 7 On Your PCHow-To Geek on Lifehacker: How to Make Windows Vista Less AnnoyingCreate a Shortcut or Hotkey to Mute the System Volume in WindowsMake Ubuntu Automatically Save Changes to Your Session TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Norwegian Life If Web Browsers Were Modes of Transportation Google Translate (for animals) Roadkill’s Scan Port scans for open ports Out of 100 Tweeters Out of band Security Update for Internet Explorer

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  • How can I connect to a Windows server using a Command Line Interface? (CLI)

    - by HopelessN00b
    Especially with the option to install Server Core in Server 2008 and above, connecting to Windows servers over a CLI is increasingly useful ability, if not one that's very widespread amongst Windows administrators. Practically every Windows GUI management tool has an option to connect to a remote computer, but there is no such option present in the built-in Windows CLI (cmd.exe), which gives the initial impression that this might not be possible. Is it possible to remotely management or administer a Windows Server using a CLI? And if so, what options are there to achieve this?

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  • Turn Non-Resizeable Windows into Rezieable Windows

    - by Asian Angel
    Are you frustrated with Windows app windows that can not be resized at all? Now you can apply some “attitude adjustment” and resize those windows with ResizeEnable. Before Everyone is familiar with the many app windows in their Windows OS that simply can not be resized. What you need is cooperation, not attitude. For our example we chose the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Window”…notice the cursor in the lower right corner. No resizing satisfaction available at all… After The program comes in a zip file with three files as shown here. Once you have unzipped the program place it in an appropriate “Program Files Folder”, create a shortcut, and you are ready to go. There will be a “System Tray Icon” with only two “Context Menu” items…“About & Quit”. Here is a quick look at the “About Window” that tells you exactly what ResizeEnable does. Notice that it does state that you may occasionally have a window that may not respond correctly. Now back to our “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Window”. Notice the resizing cursor in the lower right corner….time for some fun! During our test the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Window” was suddenly a dream to resize. Daring to stretch the window even further…now that is what you call “stretching” the window out in comparison to its’ original size! Think of all the windows that will be much easier to work with now… Conclusion If you have been frustrated with non-resizeable windows then ResizeEnable will certainly bring a smile to your face as you watch those windows suddenly become a lot more cooperative. This is definitely one app that is worth adding to your system. Links Download ResizeEnable (zip file) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Quick Tip: Resize Any Textbox or Textarea in FirefoxTurn on Remote Desktop in Windows 7 or VistaSave 1-4% More Battery Life With Windows Vista Battery SaverQuick Tip: Disable Search History Display in Windows 7Turn Off Windows Explorer Click Sounds in Windows 7 or Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional New Stinger from McAfee Helps Remove ‘FakeAlert’ Threats Google Apps Marketplace: Tools & Services For Google Apps Users Get News Quick and Precise With Newser Scan for Viruses in Ubuntu using ClamAV Replace Your Windows Task Manager With System Explorer Create Talking Photos using Fotobabble

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  • Migrating Windows XP BOOT.INI Settings to Windows 7 Boot-loader

    - by Synetech inc.
    Two months ago my motherboard died, so I bought a used computer that came with Windows 7. I have since installed my old hard-drive, which had Windows XP on it, in this system. What I am trying to do now is to figure out a way to migrate the settings from XP's BOOT.INI into 7's boot-loader. Below is the BOOT.INI I used in XP (I have reduced the strings and updated the disks to point to the new location of the old HD. Oh and I am not clear on the drive letters. In XP, I could boot the recovery console or MS-DOS from a file in C:\ that contains the boot-sector. I am not sure what drive letter it would be called now—I had to manually change all the drive letters of the old partitions in Windows 7 because it auto-assigned them all wrong/differently). [boot loader] timeout=10 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP (Safe)" /safeboot:network /sos /bootlog /noguiboot C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console" /cmdcons C:\BOOTSECT.DOS="MS-DOS 7.10" /win95 I have looked around, and have only been able to find some bcdedit commands to add XP to the boot-loader, but none that include information on setting safe-mode for it (or changing any of the XP load options for that matter). Not surprisingly I suppose, I have not found anything on adding the XP recovery console or DOS to the Windows 7 boot-loader. (Yes, I tried EasyBCD, but that did not help; it had no options for XP, and the best I managed was to get a choice of booting 7 or normal-mode XP—choosing XP didn't even give the old XP boot menu.) Can anyone please tell me how to export the entries in XP's boot.ini to 7's boot-loader so that on boot, I can choose to load the following: Windows 7 Windows 7 (Safe-mode) (Windows 7 (The Win7 counterpart of the Recovery Console)) Windows XP Windows XP (Safe-mode) Windows XP (Recovery Console) MS-DOS 7.10

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  • Migrating Windows XP BOOT.INI Settings to Windows 7 Boot-loader

    - by Synetech inc.
    Hi, Two months ago my motherboard died, so I bought a used computer that came with Windows 7. I have since installed my old hard-drive, which had Windows XP on it, in this system. What I am trying to do now is to figure out a way to migrate the settings from XP's BOOT.INI into 7's boot-loader. Below is the BOOT.INI I used in XP (I have reduced the strings and updated the disks to point to the new location of the old HD. Oh and I am not clear on the drive letters. In XP, I could boot the recovery console or MS-DOS from a file in C:\ that contains the boot-sector. I am not sure what drive letter it would be called now—I had to manually change all the drive letters of the old partitions in Windows 7 because it auto-assigned them all wrong/differently). [boot loader] timeout=10 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP (Safe)" /safeboot:network /sos /bootlog /noguiboot C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console" /cmdcons C:\BOOTSECT.DOS="MS-DOS 7.10" /win95 I have looked around, and have only been able to find some bcdedit commands to add XP to the boot-loader, but none that include information on setting safe-mode for it (or changing any of the XP load options for that matter). Not surprisingly I suppose, I have not found anything on adding the XP recovery console or DOS to the Windows 7 boot-loader. (Yes, I tried EasyBCD, but that did not help; it had no options for XP, and the best I managed was to get a choice of booting 7 or normal-mode XP—choosing XP didn't even give the old XP boot menu.) Can anyone please tell me how to export the entries in XP's boot.ini to 7's boot-loader so that on boot, I can choose to load the following: Windows 7 Windows 7 (Safe-mode) (Windows 7 (The Win7 counterpart of the Recovery Console)) Windows XP Windows XP (Safe-mode) Windows XP (Recovery Console) MS-DOS 7.10

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  • Prohibit installers from modifying Windows Firewall rules

    - by Sysadmin
    Some application installers tamper with the Windows Firewall rules. I would like to prohibit such automated modifications of the Windows Firewall rules on Windows 7 machines (which use the Windows 7 version of Windows Firewall). Is there some setting that would accomplish this, or would it be necessary to resort to hooking the Windows Firewall API? I would like to prevent these modifications from being made at all, rather than backing up the firewall rules before the installation and restoring them afterward. A TechNet article indicates that there is no way to prevent installers from accessing the Windows Firewall API, but that article pertains to the Windows XP version of Windows Firewall. The Windows 7 version of Windows Firewall is newer and much-improved over the Windows XP incarnation, so it is unclear whether that advice is still pertinent. A similar SuperUser question had received a couple of responses, but neither response answered the question, likely because they misunderstood that question due to the way it was worded. I hope that I have explained this problem clearly. Don't hesitate to ask if you need any clarification.

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  • Windows: what is the difference between DEP always on and DEP opt-out with no exceptions?

    - by Peter Mortensen
    What is the difference between DEP always on ("/NoExecute=AlwaysOn" in boot.ini) and DEP opt-out ( "/NoExecute=OptOut" in boot.ini) with no exceptions? "no exceptions" = empty list of programs for which DEP does not apply. DEP = Data Execution Prevention (hardware). One would expect it to work the same way, but it makes a difference for some applications. E.g. for all versions of UltraEdit 14 (14.2). It crashes at startup for DEP always on, at least on Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition x64 edition. (2010-03-11: this problem has been fixed with UltraEdit 15.2 and later.) Update 1: I think this difference is caused by the backdoors that Microsoft has put into hardware DEP for OptOut, according to Fabrice Roux (see below). In the case of IrfanView, for which Steve Gibson observed the same difference as I did for UltraEdit (see below), the difference is caused by a non-DEP aware EXE packer (ASPack) that Microsoft coded a backdoor for. Is there a difference between Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 ? Is there a difference between 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows ? Sources: From [http://blog.fabriceroux.com/index.php/2007/02/26/hardware_dep_has_a_backdoor?blog=1], "Hardware DEP has a backdoor" by Fabrice Roux. 2007-02-26. "IrfanView was not using any trick to evade DEP ... Microsoft just coded a backdoor used only in OPTOUT. Bascially Microsoft checks the executable header for a section matching one of the 3 strings. If one these strings is found, DEP will be turned OFF for this application by windows. ... 'aspack', 'pcle', 'sforce'" From [http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-078.htm], by Steve Gibson. "I can’t find any documentation on Microsoft’s site anywhere, because we’re seeing a difference between always-on and opt-out. That is, you would imagine that always-on mode would be the same as opting out if you weren’t having any opt-out programs. It turns out it’s not the case. For example ... the IrfanView file viewer ... runs fine in opt-out mode, even if it has not been opted out. But it won’t launch, Windows blocks it from launching ... in always-on mode." From [http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-083.htm], by Steve Gibson. "... IrfanView ... won’t run with DEP turned on. It’s because it uses an EXE packer, an executable compression program called ASPack. And it makes sense that it wouldn’t because naturally an executable compressor has got to decompress the executable, so it allocates a bunch of data memory into which it decompresses the compressed executable, and then it runs it. Well, it’s running a data allocation, which is exactly what DEP is designed to stop. On the other hand, UPX, which is actually the leading and most popular EXE compressor, it’s DEP- compatible because those guys realized, hey, when we allocate this memory, we should mark the pages as executable."

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  • Listen to Over 100,000 Radio Stations in Windows Media Center

    - by Mysticgeek
    A cool feature in Windows 7 Media Center is the ability to listen to local FM radio. But what if you don’t have a tuner card that supports a connected radio antenna? The RadioTime plugin solves the problem by allowing access to thousands of online radio stations. With the RadioTime plugin for Windows Media Center, you’ll have access to over 100,000 online radio stations from around the world. Their guide is broken down into different categories such as Talk Radio, Music Radio, Sports Radio and more. It’s completely free, but does require registration to save preset stations. RadioTime It works with Media Center in XP, Vista, and Windows 7 (which we’re demonstrating here). When installing it for Windows 7, make sure to click the Installer link below the “Get It Now – Free” button as the installer works best for the new OS. Installation is extremely quick and easy… Now when you open Windows 7 Media Center you’ll find it located in the Extras category from the main menu. After you launch it, you’re presented with the RadioTime guide where you can browse through the different categories of stations. Your shown various station suggestions each time you start it up. The main categories are broken down further so you can find the right genre of the music your looking for.   World Radio offers you stations from all over the world categorized into different regions. RadioTime does support local stations via an FM tuner, but if you don’t have one, you can still access local stations provided they broadcast online. One thing about listening to your local stations online is the audio quality may not be as good as if you had a tuner connected. It provides information on most of the online stations. For example here we look at Minnesota Public Radio info and you get a schedule of when certain programs are on. Then get even more information about the topics on the shows. To use the Presets option you’ll need to log into your RadioTime account, or if you don’t have one just click on the link to create a free one.   Creating a free account is simple and basic on their site. You aren’t required to have an account to use the RadioTime plugin, it’s only if you want the additional benefits. Conclusion For this article we only tried it with Windows 7 Media Center, and sometimes the interface felt clunky when moving quickly through menus. Also, there isn’t a search feature from within Media Center, however, you can search stations from their site and add them to your presets. Despite a few shortcomings, this is a very cool way to get access to thousands of online radio stations through Windows Media Center. If you’re looking for a way to access thousands of radio stations through WMC, you might want to give RadioTime a try. Download RadioTime for Windows Media Center Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Listen To XM Radio with Windows Media Center in Windows 7Listen and Record Over 12,000 Online Radio Stations with RadioSureUsing Netflix Watchnow in Windows Vista Media Center (Gmedia)Learning Windows 7: Manage Your Music with Windows Media PlayerSchedule Updates for Windows Media Center TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Windows Media Player 12: Tweak Video & Sound with Playback Enhancements Own a cell phone, or does a cell phone own you? Make your Joomla & Drupal Sites Mobile with OSMOBI Integrate Twitter and Delicious and Make Life Easier Design Your Web Pages Using the Golden Ratio Worldwide Growth of the Internet

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  • Add the Recycle Bin to Start Menu in Windows 7

    - by Matthew Guay
    Have you ever tried to open the Recycle Bin by searching for “recycle bin” in the Start menu search, only to find nothing?  Here’s a quick trick that will let you find the Recycle Bin directly from your Windows Start menu search. The Start menu search may be the best timesaver ever added to Windows.  In fact, we use it so much that it seems painful to manually search for a program when using Windows XP or older versions of Windows.  You can easily find files, folders, programs and more through the Start menu search in both Vista and Windows 7. However, one thing you cannot find is the recycle bin; if you enter this in the start menu search it will not find it. Here’s how to add the Recycle Bin to your Start menu search. What to do To access the Recycle Bin from the Start menu search, we need to add a shortcut to the start menu.  Windows includes a personal Start menu folder, and an All Users start menu folder which all users on the computer can see.  This trick only works in the personal Start menu folder. Open up an Explorer window (Simply click the Computer link in the start menu), click the white part of the address bar, and, enter the following (substitute your username for your_user_name) and hit Enter. C:\Users\your_user_name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu Now, right-click in the folder, select New, and then click Shortcut. In the location box, enter the following: explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder When you’ve done this, click Next. Now, enter a name for the shortcut.  You can enter Recycle Bin like the standard shortcut, or you could name it something else such as Trash…if that’s easier for you to remember.  Click Finish when your done. By default it will have a folder icon.  Let’s switch that to the standard Recycle Bin icon.  Right-click on the new shortcut and click Properties. Click Change Icon… Type the following in the “Look for icons in this file:” box, and press the Enter key on your keyboard: %SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll Now, scroll and find the Recycle Bin icon and click Ok. Click Ok in the previous dialog, and now your Recycle Bin shortcut has the correct icon.   You can even have multiple shortcuts with different names, so when you searched either Recycle Bin or Trash it would come up in the Start menu.  To do that, simply repeat these directions, and enter another name of your choice at the prompt.  Here we have both a Recycle Bin and a Trash icon. Now, when you enter Recycle Bin (or trash, depending on what you chose) in your Start menu search, you will see it at the top of your Start menu.  Simply press Enter or click on the icon to open the Recycle Bin.   This trick will work in Windows Vista too!  Simply follow these same directions, and you can add the Recycle Bin to your Vista Start menu and find it via search. This is a simple trick, but may make it  much easier for you to open your Recycle Bin directly from your Windows Vista or 7 Start menu search.  If you’re using Windows 7, you can also check out our directions on how to Add the Recycle Bin to the Taskbar in Windows 7. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Hide, Delete, or Destroy the Recycle Bin Icon in Windows 7 or VistaDisable Deletion of the Recycle Bin in Windows VistaHide the Recycle Bin Icon Text on Windows VistaAdd the Recycle Bin to the Taskbar in Windows 7Resize the Recycle Bin in XP TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional StockFox puts a Lightweight Stock Ticker in your Statusbar Explore Google Public Data Visually The Ultimate Excel Cheatsheet Convert the Quick Launch Bar into a Super Application Launcher Automate Tasks in Linux with Crontab Discover New Bundled Feeds in Google Reader

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  • Display Song Lyrics in Windows Media Player with Lyrics Plugin

    - by DigitalGeekery
    Looking for a way to display song lyrics in Windows Media Player? Today we look at a very simple method to accomplish this with Lyrics Plugin for Windows Media Player. Download and run the Lyrics Plugin install. (See download link below) When the installation is finished you’ll be prompted to run Windows Media Player. Click Yes. Begin playing your song or playlist then switch to Now Playing mode.   You should now see the full song lyrics of the currently playing track. To toggle the lyrics on and off, select Tools from the Menu in Library view, choose Plug-ins, and click Lyrics Plugin. If you don’t see the Menu bar, you can enable it by going to Organize, Layout, and Show Menu Bar. When Lyrics Plugin is turned off, Windows Media Player will switch back to it’s default visualization.   Whether you just want to know the lyrics or you’d like to hone your karaoke chops, Lyrics Plugin makes a nice addition to Windows Media Player 12. Download Lyrics Plugin for Windows Media Player 12. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Install and Use the VLC Media Player on Ubuntu LinuxInstalling Windows Media Player Plugin for FirefoxFixing When Windows Media Player Library Won’t Let You Add FilesQuickly Preview Songs in Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7Foobar2000 is a Fully Customizable Music Player TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Microsoft’s “How Do I ?” Videos Home Networks – How do they look like & the problems they cause Check Your IMAP Mail Offline In Thunderbird Follow Finder Finds You Twitter Users To Follow Combine MP3 Files Easily QuicklyCode Provides Cheatsheets & Other Programming Stuff

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  • Create a Shortcut To Group Policy Editor in Windows 7

    - by Mysticgeek
    If you’re a system administrator and find yourself making changes in Group Policy Editor, you might want to make a shortcut to it. Here we look at creating a shortcut, pinning it to the Taskbar, and adding it to Control Panel. Note: Local Group Policy Editor is not available in Home versions of Windows 7. Typing gpedit.msc into the search box in the Start menu to access Group Policy Editor can get old fast. To create a shortcut, right-click on the desktop and select New \ Shortcut. Next type or copy the following path into the location field and click Next. c:\windows\system32\gpedit.msc Then give your shortcut a name…something like Group Policy, or whatever you want it to be and click Finish. Now you have your Group Policy shortcut… If you want it on the Taskbar just drag it there to pin it. And that’s all there is to it!   If you want to change the icon, you can use one of the following guides… Customize Icons in Windows 7 Change a File Type Icon in Windows 7 Add Group Policy to Control Panel If you’re using non Home versions of XP, Vista, or Windows 7, check out The Geek’s article on how to Add Group Policy Editor to Control Panel. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Add Group Policy Editor to Control PanelQuick Tip: Disable Search History Display in Windows 7Remove Shutdown and Restart Buttons In Windows 7How To Disable Control Panel in Windows 7Allow Users To Run Only Specified Programs in Windows 7 TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Fun with 47 charts and graphs Tomorrow is Mother’s Day Check the Average Speed of YouTube Videos You’ve Watched OutlookStatView Scans and Displays General Usage Statistics How to Add Exceptions to the Windows Firewall Office 2010 reviewed in depth by Ed Bott

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  • Edit Media Center TV Recordings with Windows Live Movie Maker

    - by DigitalGeekery
    Have you ever wanted to take a TV program you’ve recorded in Media Center and remove the commercials or save clips of favorite scenes? Today we’ll take a look at editing WTV and DVR-MS files with Windows Live Movie Maker. Download and Install Windows Live Movie Maker. The download link can be found at the end of the article. WLMM is part of Windows Live Essentials, but you can choose to install only the applications you want. You’ll also want to be sure to uncheck any unwanted settings like settings Bing as default search provider or MSN as your browser home page.   Add your recorded TV file to WLMM by clicking the Add videos and photos button, or by dragging and dropping it onto the storyboard.   You’ll see your video displayed in the Preview window on the left and on the storyboard. Adjust the Zoom Time Scale slider at the lower right to change the level of detail displayed on the storyboard. You may want to start zoomed out and zoom in for more detailed edits.   Removing Commercials or Unwanted Sections Note: Changes and edits made in Windows Live Movie Maker do not change or effect the original video file. To accomplish this, we will makes cuts, or “splits,” and the beginning and end of the section we want to remove, and then we will delete that section from our project. Click and drag the slider bar along the the storyboard to scroll through the video. When you get to the end of a row in on the storyboard, drag the slider down to the beginning of the next row. We’ve found it easiest and most accurate to get close to the end of the commercial break and then use the Play button and the Previous Frame and Next Frame buttons underneath the Preview window to fine tune your cut point. When you find the right place to make your first cut, click the split button on the Edit tab on the ribbon. You will see your video “split” into two sections. Now, repeat the process of scrolling through the storyboard to find the end of the section you wish to cut. When you are at the proper point, click the Split button again.   Now we’ll delete that section by selecting it and pressing the Delete key, selecting remove on the Home tab, or by right clicking on the section and selecting Remove.   Trim Tool This tool allows you to select a portion of the video to keep while trimming away the rest.   Click and drag the sliders in the preview windows to select the area you want to keep. The area outside the sliders will be trimmed away. The area inside is the section that is kept in the movie. You can also adjust the Start and End points manually on the ribbon.   Delete any additional clips you don’t want in the final output. You can also accomplish this by using the Set start point and Set end point buttons. Clicking Set start point will eliminate everything before the start point. Set end point will eliminate everything after the end point. And you’re left with only the clip you want to keep.   Output your Video Select the icon at the top left, then select Save movie. All of these settings will output your movie as a WMV file, but file size and quality will vary by setting. The Burn to DVD option also outputs a WMV file, but then opens Windows DVD Maker and prompts you to create and burn a DVD.   Conclusion WLMM is one of the few applications that can edit WTV files, and it’s the only one we’re aware of that’s free. We should note only WTV and DVR-MS files will appear in the Recorded TV library in Media Center, so if you want to view your WMV output file in WMC you’ll need to add it to the Video or Movie library. Would you like to learn more about Windows Live Movie Maker? Check out are article on how to turn photos and home videos into movies with Windows Live Movie Maker. Need to add videos from a network location? WLMM doesn’t allow this by default, but you check out how to add network support to Windows Live Move Maker. Download Windows Live Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Rotate a Video 90 degrees with VLC or Windows Live Movie MakerHow to Make/Edit a movie with Windows Movie Maker in Windows VistaFamily Fun: Share Photos with Photo Gallery and Windows Live SpacesAutomatically Mount and View ISO files in Windows 7 Media CenterAutomatically Start Windows 7 Media Center in Live TV Mode TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule Boot Snooze – Reboot and then Standby or Hibernate Customize Everything Related to Dates, Times, Currency and Measurement in Windows 7 Google Earth replacement Icon (Icons we like) Build Great Charts in Excel with Chart Advisor

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  • Recommended partitions to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 and Ubuntu

    - by Juanillo
    Hello, I have a system with Windows XP. My hard disk has 189 GB NTFS. I want to change the operative system to windows 7, but I want to add Ubuntu as well. As the change might take several days (because I don't have much time) I want to install one system (or Windows 7 or Ubuntu) keeping my windows XP installed in another partition so if something doesn't work in thebrand new operating system installed I can use my Windows XP installation. So I've thouht about doing something like this: Copy the data I want to keep to an external hard disk. Make partitions enough to install windows 7, keep data in another partition and another one to install Ubuntu. Copy the data I want to keep to the partition I've just created. Install Ubuntu in the partitions for Ubuntu. Check if Ubuntu works fine If it works OK install Windows 7 on the partition of Windows XP (Windows XP will be erased). Reinstall the programs in Windows 7. So my question is: How many partitions do you recommend me to have (and the size of each one and NTFS or FAT32)? The operative system I'm going to use more is Windows 7 (though I love Linux I use many programs which are windows dependant). Do you think I should do anything else / change something in the proccess to avoid any problem? I don't know if making the partitions can harm the data I have in the disk. Thanks.

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  • in HFT trading should I upgrade from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012?

    - by javapowered
    I'm using HP DL360p Gen8 + Windows Server 2008 R2 for HFT trading. That means that every 10 microseconds is important for me. I do understand that if I need everything to be so fast I probably should consider using Linux. But in this post I want to compare only Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012. I've found in internet couple articles that suggest how to tune Windows Server 2012 for low latency http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/jj248719 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831415.aspx Most part of optimizations from these articles apply only to Windows Server 2012 and can not be used on Windows Server 2008 R2. So now I think that as I can optimize Windows Server 2012 for low latency, probaly I should upgrade? After optimizations how much faster windows server 2012 would be (ideally in microseconds :)?

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  • Can I use a display driver from Windows 8 in Windows 7?

    - by adam0101
    My latest display driver doesn't support WDDM 1.0, and I need it to be at least version 1.1. I've been attempting to get the Windows Phone 7 SDK working on my HP Pavillion dv9000, but the phone emulator requires 1.1 or higher. My drivers are as up-to-date as they can get. I even tried a modded driver found here, but no go. Then, while evaluating Windows 8 Developer Preview on a different partition I noticed that dxdiag.exe showed it was using WDDM 1.2. I tried installing Windows Phone 7 SDK on Windows 8, but I get an "Internal Error" popup and "Connection failed because of invalid command-line arguments" in the error window in Visual Studio. I'm guessing because Windows Phone 7 SDK isn't supported on Windows 8 yet. So my question is this: Can I get Windows 7 to use the display driver Windows 8 is using to get WDDM 1.2 on Windows 7 and how would I go about doing it?

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  • How to install Windows 8 to dual boot with Windows 7/XP?

    - by Gopinath
    Microsoft released Windows 8 beta(customer preview) few days ago and yesterday I had a chance to install it on one of my home computers. My home PC is running on Windows 7 and I would like to install Windows 8 side by side so that I can dual boot. The installation process was pretty simple and with in 40 minutes my PC was up and running with beautiful Windows 8 OS along with Windows 7. In this post I want to share my experience and provide information for you to install Windows 8. 1. Identify a drive  with at least 20 GB of space – Identify one of the drives on your hard disk that can be used to install Windows 8. Delete all the files or preferably quick format it and make sure that it has at least 20 GB of free space. Rename the drive name to Windows 8 so that it will be helpful to identify the destination drive during installation process. 2. Download Windows 8 installer ISO– Go to Microsoft’s website and download Windows 8 ISO file which is approximately 2.5 GB file(32 bit English version). 3. Create Windows 8 bootable USB/DVD – Its advised to launch Windows 8 installer using a bootable USB or DVD for enabling dual boot instead of unzipping the ISO file and launching the setup from Windows 7 OS. Also consider creating bootable USB instead of bootable DVD to save a disc. To create bootable USB/DVD follow these steps Download and install the Windows 7 DVD / USB tool available at microsoftstore.com Launch the utility and follow the onscreen instructions where you would be asked to choose the ISO file(point to file downloaded in step 2) and choose a USB drive or DVD as destination. The onscreen instructions are very simple and you would be able to complete it in 20 minutes time. So now you have Windows 8 installation setup on your USB drive or DVD. 4. Change BIOS settings to boot from USB/DVD – Restart your PC and open BIOS configuration settings key by pressing F2 or  F12 or DELETE key (the key depends on your computer manufacturer). Go to boot sequence options and make sure that USB/DVD is ahead of hard disk in the boot sequence. Save the settings and restart the PC. 5. Install Windows 8 – After the restart you should be straight into Windows 8 installation screen. Follow the onscreen instructions and install Windows 8 on the drive that is identified during step 1. When prompted for product serial key enter NF32V-Q9P3W-7DR7Y-JGWRW-JFCK8. The installer would restart couple of times during the installation process. On the first restart, make sure that you remove USB/DVD. Windows 8 installation process is pretty simple and very quick. The complete process of creating bootable USB and installation should complete in 30 – 40 minutes time.

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  • Windows Azure: Announcing release of Windows Azure SDK 2.2 (with lots of goodies)

    - by ScottGu
    Earlier today I blogged about a big update we made today to Windows Azure, and some of the great new features it provides. Today I’m also excited to also announce the release of the Windows Azure SDK 2.2. Today’s SDK release adds even more great features including: Visual Studio 2013 Support Integrated Windows Azure Sign-In support within Visual Studio Remote Debugging Cloud Services with Visual Studio Firewall Management support within Visual Studio for SQL Databases Visual Studio 2013 RTM VM Images for MSDN Subscribers Windows Azure Management Libraries for .NET Updated Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets and ScriptCenter The below post has more details on what’s available in today’s Windows Azure SDK 2.2 release.  Also head over to Channel 9 to see the new episode of the Visual Studio Toolbox show that will be available shortly, and which highlights these features in a video demonstration. Visual Studio 2013 Support Version 2.2 of the Window Azure SDK is the first official version of the SDK to support the final RTM release of Visual Studio 2013. If you installed the 2.1 SDK with the Preview of Visual Studio 2013 we recommend that you upgrade your projects to SDK 2.2.  SDK 2.2 also works side by side with the SDK 2.0 and SDK 2.1 releases on Visual Studio 2012: Integrated Windows Azure Sign In within Visual Studio Integrated Windows Azure Sign-In support within Visual Studio is one of the big improvements added with this Windows Azure SDK release.  Integrated sign-in support enables developers to develop/test/manage Windows Azure resources within Visual Studio without having to download or use management certificates.  You can now just right-click on the “Windows Azure” icon within the Server Explorer inside Visual Studio and choose the “Connect to Windows Azure” context menu option to connect to Windows Azure: Doing this will prompt you to enter the email address of the account you wish to sign-in with: You can use either a Microsoft Account (e.g. Windows Live ID) or an Organizational account (e.g. Active Directory) as the email.  The dialog will update with an appropriate login prompt depending on which type of email address you enter: Once you sign-in you’ll see the Windows Azure resources that you have permissions to manage show up automatically within the Visual Studio Server Explorer (and you can start using them): With this new integrated sign in experience you are now able to publish web apps, deploy VMs and cloud services, use Windows Azure diagnostics, and fully interact with your Windows Azure services within Visual Studio without the need for a management certificate.  All of the authentication is handled using the Windows Azure Active Directory associated with your Windows Azure account (details on this can be found in my earlier blog post). Integrating authentication this way end-to-end across the Service Management APIs + Dev Tools + Management Portal + PowerShell automation scripts enables a much more secure and flexible security model within Windows Azure, and makes it much more convenient to securely manage multiple developers + administrators working on a project.  It also allows organizations and enterprises to use the same authentication model that they use for their developers on-premises in the cloud.  It also ensures that employees who leave an organization immediately lose access to their company’s cloud based resources once their Active Directory account is suspended. Filtering/Subscription Management Once you login within Visual Studio, you can filter which Windows Azure subscriptions/regions are visible within the Server Explorer by right-clicking the “Filter Services” context menu within the Server Explorer.  You can also use the “Manage Subscriptions” context menu to mange your Windows Azure Subscriptions: Bringing up the “Manage Subscriptions” dialog allows you to see which accounts you are currently using, as well as which subscriptions are within them: The “Certificates” tab allows you to continue to import and use management certificates to manage Windows Azure resources as well.  We have not removed any functionality with today’s update – all of the existing scenarios that previously supported management certificates within Visual Studio continue to work just fine.  The new integrated sign-in support provided with today’s release is purely additive. Note: the SQL Database node and the Mobile Service node in Server Explorer do not support integrated sign-in at this time. Therefore, you will only see databases and mobile services under those nodes if you have a management certificate to authorize access to them.  We will enable them with integrated sign-in in a future update. Remote Debugging Cloud Resources within Visual Studio Today’s Windows Azure SDK 2.2 release adds support for remote debugging many types of Windows Azure resources. With live, remote debugging support from within Visual Studio, you are now able to have more visibility than ever before into how your code is operating live in Windows Azure.  Let’s walkthrough how to enable remote debugging for a Cloud Service: Remote Debugging of Cloud Services To enable remote debugging for your cloud service, select Debug as the Build Configuration on the Common Settings tab of your Cloud Service’s publish dialog wizard: Then click the Advanced Settings tab and check the Enable Remote Debugging for all roles checkbox: Once your cloud service is published and running live in the cloud, simply set a breakpoint in your local source code: Then use Visual Studio’s Server Explorer to select the Cloud Service instance deployed in the cloud, and then use the Attach Debugger context menu on the role or to a specific VM instance of it: Once the debugger attaches to the Cloud Service, and a breakpoint is hit, you’ll be able to use the rich debugging capabilities of Visual Studio to debug the cloud instance remotely, in real-time, and see exactly how your app is running in the cloud. Today’s remote debugging support is super powerful, and makes it much easier to develop and test applications for the cloud.  Support for remote debugging Cloud Services is available as of today, and we’ll also enable support for remote debugging Web Sites shortly. Firewall Management Support with SQL Databases By default we enable a security firewall around SQL Databases hosted within Windows Azure.  This ensures that only your application (or IP addresses you approve) can connect to them and helps make your infrastructure secure by default.  This is great for protection at runtime, but can sometimes be a pain at development time (since by default you can’t connect/manage the database remotely within Visual Studio if the security firewall blocks your instance of VS from connecting to it). One of the cool features we’ve added with today’s release is support that makes it easy to enable and configure the security firewall directly within Visual Studio.  Now with the SDK 2.2 release, when you try and connect to a SQL Database using the Visual Studio Server Explorer, and a firewall rule prevents access to the database from your machine, you will be prompted to add a firewall rule to enable access from your local IP address: You can simply click Add Firewall Rule and a new rule will be automatically added for you. In some cases, the logic to detect your local IP may not be sufficient (for example: you are behind a corporate firewall that uses a range of IP addresses) and you may need to set up a firewall rule for a range of IP addresses in order to gain access. The new Add Firewall Rule dialog also makes this easy to do.  Once connected you’ll be able to manage your SQL Database directly within the Visual Studio Server Explorer: This makes it much easier to work with databases in the cloud. Visual Studio 2013 RTM Virtual Machine Images Available for MSDN Subscribers Last week we released the General Availability Release of Visual Studio 2013 to the web.  This is an awesome release with a ton of new features. With today’s Windows Azure update we now have a set of pre-configured VM images of VS 2013 available within the Windows Azure Management Portal for use by MSDN customers.  This enables you to create a VM in the cloud with VS 2013 pre-installed on it in with only a few clicks: Windows Azure now provides the fastest and easiest way to get started doing development with Visual Studio 2013. Windows Azure Management Libraries for .NET (Preview) Having the ability to automate the creation, deployment, and tear down of resources is a key requirement for applications running in the cloud.  It also helps immensely when running dev/test scenarios and coded UI tests against pre-production environments. Today we are releasing a preview of a new set of Windows Azure Management Libraries for .NET.  These new libraries make it easy to automate tasks using any .NET language (e.g. C#, VB, F#, etc).  Previously this automation capability was only available through the Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets or to developers who were willing to write their own wrappers for the Windows Azure Service Management REST API. Modern .NET Developer Experience We’ve worked to design easy-to-understand .NET APIs that still map well to the underlying REST endpoints, making sure to use and expose the modern .NET functionality that developers expect today: Portable Class Library (PCL) support targeting applications built for any .NET Platform (no platform restriction) Shipped as a set of focused NuGet packages with minimal dependencies to simplify versioning Support async/await task based asynchrony (with easy sync overloads) Shared infrastructure for common error handling, tracing, configuration, HTTP pipeline manipulation, etc. Factored for easy testability and mocking Built on top of popular libraries like HttpClient and Json.NET Below is a list of a few of the management client classes that are shipping with today’s initial preview release: .NET Class Name Supports Operations for these Assets (and potentially more) ManagementClient Locations Credentials Subscriptions Certificates ComputeManagementClient Hosted Services Deployments Virtual Machines Virtual Machine Images & Disks StorageManagementClient Storage Accounts WebSiteManagementClient Web Sites Web Site Publish Profiles Usage Metrics Repositories VirtualNetworkManagementClient Networks Gateways Automating Creating a Virtual Machine using .NET Let’s walkthrough an example of how we can use the new Windows Azure Management Libraries for .NET to fully automate creating a Virtual Machine. I’m deliberately showing a scenario with a lot of custom options configured – including VHD image gallery enumeration, attaching data drives, network endpoints + firewall rules setup - to show off the full power and richness of what the new library provides. We’ll begin with some code that demonstrates how to enumerate through the built-in Windows images within the standard Windows Azure VM Gallery.  We’ll search for the first VM image that has the word “Windows” in it and use that as our base image to build the VM from.  We’ll then create a cloud service container in the West US region to host it within: We can then customize some options on it such as setting up a computer name, admin username/password, and hostname.  We’ll also open up a remote desktop (RDP) endpoint through its security firewall: We’ll then specify the VHD host and data drives that we want to mount on the Virtual Machine, and specify the size of the VM we want to run it in: Once everything has been set up the call to create the virtual machine is executed asynchronously In a few minutes we’ll then have a completely deployed VM running on Windows Azure with all of the settings (hard drives, VM size, machine name, username/password, network endpoints + firewall settings) fully configured and ready for us to use: Preview Availability via NuGet The Windows Azure Management Libraries for .NET are now available via NuGet. Because they are still in preview form, you’ll need to add the –IncludePrerelease switch when you go to retrieve the packages. The Package Manager Console screen shot below demonstrates how to get the entire set of libraries to manage your Windows Azure assets: You can also install them within your .NET projects by right clicking on the VS Solution Explorer and using the Manage NuGet Packages context menu command.  Make sure to select the “Include Prerelease” drop-down for them to show up, and then you can install the specific management libraries you need for your particular scenarios: Open Source License The new Windows Azure Management Libraries for .NET make it super easy to automate management operations within Windows Azure – whether they are for Virtual Machines, Cloud Services, Storage Accounts, Web Sites, and more.  Like the rest of the Windows Azure SDK, we are releasing the source code under an open source (Apache 2) license and it is hosted at https://github.com/WindowsAzure/azure-sdk-for-net/tree/master/libraries if you wish to contribute. PowerShell Enhancements and our New Script Center Today, we are also shipping Windows Azure PowerShell 0.7.0 (which is a separate download). You can find the full change log here. Here are some of the improvements provided with it: Windows Azure Active Directory authentication support Script Center providing many sample scripts to automate common tasks on Windows Azure New cmdlets for Media Services and SQL Database Script Center Windows Azure enables you to script and automate a lot of tasks using PowerShell.  People often ask for more pre-built samples of common scenarios so that they can use them to learn and tweak/customize. With this in mind, we are excited to introduce a new Script Center that we are launching for Windows Azure. You can learn about how to scripting with Windows Azure with a get started article. You can then find many sample scripts across different solutions, including infrastructure, data management, web, and more: All of the sample scripts are hosted on TechNet with links from the Windows Azure Script Center. Each script is complete with good code comments, detailed descriptions, and examples of usage. Summary Visual Studio 2013 and the Windows Azure SDK 2.2 make it easier than ever to get started developing rich cloud applications. Along with the Windows Azure Developer Center’s growing set of .NET developer resources to guide your development efforts, today’s Windows Azure SDK 2.2 release should make your development experience more enjoyable and efficient. If you don’t already have a Windows Azure account, you can sign-up for a free trial and start using all of the above features today.  Then visit the Windows Azure Developer Center to learn more about how to build apps with it. Hope this helps, Scott P.S. In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu

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  • BUILD 2012 day 1 Keynote recap

    - by pluginbaby
    On October 30, 2012 Steve Ballmer kicked off the first BUILD conference keynote. Steve shared some insights around Windows 8: 4 million customers upgraded to Windows 8 over the weekend since the October 26 release (so in 3 days only!). Focus on sharing code between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Syncing everything through SkyDrive Xbox Music free streaming and Xbox Smart Glass. He did all the demos himself, showing off great “Windows 8 generation” devices already available (including an 82-inch Windows 8 “slate” by Perceptive Pixel). Steve Guggenheimer (Microsoft's Corporate Vice President DPE) talked about The Business Opportunity with Windows 8.   Notable announcements of day 1: The Windows Phone 8 SDK is now available at dev.windowsphone.com (includes SDK, free version of VS2012, Blend 5, and emulators). Release of the .NET Framework for Windows Phone 8: Ability to use C# 5 or Visual Basic 11 features in your code (async programming mode, ...), share code between WP8 and Windows Store apps. Windows Phone 8 individual developer registration is reduced to $8 for the next 8 days! (hurry up…) Note: strange absence of Steven Sinofsky on stage…   Watch the entire keynote online: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/1-001 Read the full transcript: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Speeches/2012/10-30BuildDay1.aspx

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  • Easiest way to replace preinstalled Windows 8 with new hard drive with Windows 7

    - by Andrew
    There are all kinds of questions and answers relevant moving Windows 8 to a new hard drive. I'm not seeing anything quite applicable to my situation. I have a new, unopened, unbooted notebook with pre-installed Windows 8. I will be replacing the hard drive before ever booting, unless that is not possible for some reason. I want to "downgrade" to Windows 7 Pro, and I want a clean installation. To do so legitimately, I apparently either need to: Upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 8 Pro using Windows 8 Pro Pack, then downgrade; or Just install a newly-licensed copy of Windows 7 Pro. (Let me know if I've missed an option.) Installation media is likely not a problem, though if I need something vendor-specific that I cannot otherwise download, that could present an issue (Asus notebook, if that matters). If I could, I would just buy the Pro Pack upgrade, swap the hard drive (without ever booting), then install Windows 7 Pro directly on the new hard drive, using the Pro Pack key for activation. Will this work? Are there any activation issues? Edited to clarify, as some comments and answers indicate confusion: Here is, ideally, what I want to do: Before ever powering on the notebook, remove the current hard drive. Replace this hard drive with a new, blank hard drive. Install a clean copy of Windows 7 Pro on this new, blank hard drive. Unless I have no choice to accomplish the end result (a clean install of Win7 Pro on the newly-installed, previously-blank hard drive), I am not wanting to: Install Windows 7 "over" the current Windows 8 install (after upgrading to Win8 Pro). That would involve using the currenly-installed hard drive. I want to use a new, different hard drive. Copy the Win8 install to the new hard drive, then install Windows 7 "over" that installation. Install Windows 7 "over" the current Windows 8 install (after upgrading to Win8 Pro), then copy the installation to the new hard drive. If I have to use one of those three options, I will, but only if there is no other choice. Please note that this question is not about licensing: I will purchase the necessary license(s) to accomplish this procedure legally (apparently either Win8 Pro Pack or Win7 Pro -- the former currently appears less expensive).

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