- Shuffling Through Program Windows. If you’re running a number of files from the same program, such as multiple documents in Microsoft Word,Windows 7 allows you to switch through these windows with ease.Simply press down on the Ctrl key while clicking the icon from the taskbar.Each click will change the window to the next in the sequence, in the order that you opened them.
- Managing Your Windows. Windows 7 simplifies document and program management by allowing you to “dock” a window or manipulate its size with one mouse maneuver or a simple keystroke. To dock your window on one half of the screen, drag it to the left or right and it will change its size to fit that half of the screen. To manipulate the vertical size of a window, drag the window to the top to maximize it, or double-click the window’s top or bottom border to maximize it vertically while keeping the same width. You can also perform all of these functions with keystrokes:
+Left Arrow and +Right Arrow dock to half the screen +Up Arrow and + Down Arrow maximize and minimize +Shift+Up Arrow and +Shift+Down Arrow maximize and restore vertical size. 
Project Your Display With Ease. Plugging in a projector and projecting your display
is a snap with the Windows 7 driver display utility, displayswitch.exe. Simply hit+P to display the following easy-to-navigate pop-up window:
By hitting your arrow keys (or+P) you can switch through multiple display
settings, such as “clone”, “extend” or “external only.”- Multi-Monitor Window Management. Windows 7 makes using
multiple monitors as convenient as it should be. When you’re working
in multi-monitors, use the keyboard shortcuts+Shift+Left Arrow and+Shift+Right Arrow to toggle between monitors. The new window
will keep its relative position to the top-left origin of the original. - Aero Peek Your Desktop. A lesser-known versatile tool introduced with
Windows 7 is the Windows® Aero® feature, “Aero Peek”. Just click the
rectangle in the lower right hand corner of the task bar for quick access to
your desktop. The keyboard shortcut +Space performs the same function. - Live Clutter-Free. We live with enough clutter in our lives. Windows 7 gets rid
of all the superfluous windows behind your active window. Just hit+Home to
minimize all inactive windows. To restore the windows when you’d like them, just
press +Home again. - Help the Help Desk Help You. Solving problems unique to a machine can be
an arduous task for both the end-user and the help desk. That’s why Windows 7
introduces the Problem Steps Recorder, a screen-capture tool that allows the
end-user to record the problems they’re having step-by-step. It’s as simple as
hitting “record” then adding in comments as needed. A HTML-based file is
converted to a .ZIP folder, which is easily passed on to the help desk.
The program is accessible from the Control Panel under “Record steps to
reproduce a problem” or run psr.exe from Explorer.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Seven Tips & Tricks For Windows 7
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Configure a wireless LAN connection in Windows XP
Install the WLAN network card
Of course, the first thing to do is pop a WLAN network adapter into your system—and it's still best to do this while the system is shutdown. In most cases, you'll probably be putting a PC Card adapter into a laptop system. However, there are also PCI and USB adapters for desktop systems.
For this example, I am installing an ORiNOCO Gold PC Card into a Dell laptop. I chose the ORiNOCO card because it had good reviews from industry experts and buyers, and I was happy with the choice; the card proved to have excellent range while holding a strong signal. I highly recommend the card for corporate installs.
In my case, Windows XP was already installed on the system before I added the WLAN network adapter, but for the purposes of this tutorial, you will achieve the same effect by installing the WLAN card before loading Windows XP. If you had already installed a WLAN card (and its drivers and utilities) in a previous version of Windows, and you are now upgrading to XP, you need to watch out for a gotcha. Before upgrading to XP, uninstall the drivers and utilities that came with the WLAN card. If you don't, then you could run into some errors and conflicts with your WLAN configuration when you upgrade to XP.
Verify that XP recognizes the WLAN card
Once you power on your system, Windows XP should automatically recognize your WLAN card. (It has a vast database of WLAN adapter drivers built in.) After it is recognized, Windows will automatically add it to the list of available interfaces in Network Connections. To verify this:
You should then see an icon that says Wireless Network Connection. Double-click that icon to bring up the Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box (Figure A). This should look familiar. It's basically the same as the Local Area Connection Status dialog box you see when you double-click on a standard Ethernet NIC, but there's one distinction. The wireless version has a nice little graphic with green bars to show the signal strength of your radio wave connection.
Figure A
Configuring wireless networks
When you're ready to configure your WLAN settings, click the Properties button. This will bring up the network settings properties (Figure B) that you're probably familiar with. They're the same as the network properties for a standard Ethernet NIC, but with one important addition: When you are configuring a WLAN network card, you will see a tab called Wireless Networks.
Figure B
Click on this tab, as we've done in Figure C. Now, you can configure your WLAN adapter to connect to various wireless access points (WAPs).
Figure C
First, you'll need to make sure the Use Windows To Configure My Wireless Network Settings check box is selected. (This is the default setting.) You'll notice that there are two sections to this tab: Available Networks and Preferred Networks. In the Preferred Networks section, you can manually set up a connection to a WAP by clicking the Add button. You can then enter the Network Name (SSID) for the access point and set up Wireless Encryption Privacy (WEP), as shown in Figure D.
Figure D
Another way to connect to a WAP is to click the Refresh button in the Available Networks section. Windows will go out and look for nearby access points and give you a list of them. Just click on the one you want to use and then click Configure. This will pull up the same Wireless Network Properties screen that you saw in Figure D, only the Network Name will automatically be populated. After you tinker with the settings and click OK, the WAP will be placed on your list of Preferred Networks.
Now, when you roam to new locations (especially ones that you'll probably be returning to later), you can simply let Available Connections find the access points, and you can add them to your preferred networks with a few clicks. When you return to that location, your laptop should then automatically connect you to the WAP, and you'll have network access without having to do any special reconfiguration.
If you have multiple access points in a single location, you can add them all to your Preferred Networks list and simply use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to prioritize them.
There's one more setting you should be aware of on this screen, which you can access by clicking the Advanced button. Here, you set your preference in terms of connecting to WLANs powered by access points or connecting to peer-to-peer WLANs (basically just connecting to other client machines that have WLAN network adapters installed). You also have a third option of connecting to Any Available Network, which will show you both of these categories. Obviously, in a corporate environment, you'll probably want to rely on access points. You'll also probably want to leave the Automatically Connect To Non-preferred Networks check box deselected.
WLAN authentication and security
Another nice feature of the Windows XP implementation of WLANs is that it has built-in support for IEEE 802.1X security. This makes it easy to require identity verification for WLAN adapters via a variety of standard authentication mechanisms including RADIUS, smart cards, and certificates. This can be configured on the Authentication tab (Figure E) of the network adapter's properties page.
Figure E
It's important to note that 802.1X security is not limited to WLANs. It can be used for standard 10/100 Ethernet connections as well.
Basic monitoring and troubleshooting
Once you make your WLAN connection, you can easily monitor the reception and bandwidth of your connection. First, go into the properties of your WLAN network adapter (which appears in Figure B). Then, select the Show Icon In Notification Area When Connected check box. This will put a small icon with two computers in the System Tray (in the lower right-hand corner of your screen). The icon will indicate when data is being sent over this network interface by changing colors. (The little computer screens change from navy blue to sky blue when data is moving.) When you hover your mouse over this icon, you'll see a screen tip displaying connection information. This includes the name of the wireless network that you are connected to (usually the WAP), the connection speed (in Mbps), and the signal strength of your radio wave connection (from Very Low to Excellent).
Summary
All in all, Windows XP greatly streamlines the configuration and implementation of WLANs. In addition, it improves functionality (especially roaming) and makes it easier to implement security features such as WEP and RADIUS. To my surprise, I even found that the WLAN client software that's built into XP is superior to the third-party drivers and utilities that come with WLAN cards for use in older versions of Windows. I found that in XP, the WLAN cards have an easier time locating and holding wireless connections, and they don't suffer from as many inconsistencies and hiccups.
I have not been a huge fan of XP. However, its WLAN implementation is the one area where XP is head-and-shoulders above all previous versions of Windows client operating systems. If you want to configure laptops for extensive use of WLANs, you should definitely consider upgrading them to XP, especially if they are going to be roaming among different access points and/or different physical locations.
Of course, the first thing to do is pop a WLAN network adapter into your system—and it's still best to do this while the system is shutdown. In most cases, you'll probably be putting a PC Card adapter into a laptop system. However, there are also PCI and USB adapters for desktop systems.
For this example, I am installing an ORiNOCO Gold PC Card into a Dell laptop. I chose the ORiNOCO card because it had good reviews from industry experts and buyers, and I was happy with the choice; the card proved to have excellent range while holding a strong signal. I highly recommend the card for corporate installs.
In my case, Windows XP was already installed on the system before I added the WLAN network adapter, but for the purposes of this tutorial, you will achieve the same effect by installing the WLAN card before loading Windows XP. If you had already installed a WLAN card (and its drivers and utilities) in a previous version of Windows, and you are now upgrading to XP, you need to watch out for a gotcha. Before upgrading to XP, uninstall the drivers and utilities that came with the WLAN card. If you don't, then you could run into some errors and conflicts with your WLAN configuration when you upgrade to XP.
Verify that XP recognizes the WLAN card
Once you power on your system, Windows XP should automatically recognize your WLAN card. (It has a vast database of WLAN adapter drivers built in.) After it is recognized, Windows will automatically add it to the list of available interfaces in Network Connections. To verify this:
- Click Start | Control Panel.
- Click Network And Internet Connections.
- Click Network Connections.
You should then see an icon that says Wireless Network Connection. Double-click that icon to bring up the Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box (Figure A). This should look familiar. It's basically the same as the Local Area Connection Status dialog box you see when you double-click on a standard Ethernet NIC, but there's one distinction. The wireless version has a nice little graphic with green bars to show the signal strength of your radio wave connection.
Figure A
Configuring wireless networks
When you're ready to configure your WLAN settings, click the Properties button. This will bring up the network settings properties (Figure B) that you're probably familiar with. They're the same as the network properties for a standard Ethernet NIC, but with one important addition: When you are configuring a WLAN network card, you will see a tab called Wireless Networks.
Figure B
Click on this tab, as we've done in Figure C. Now, you can configure your WLAN adapter to connect to various wireless access points (WAPs).
Figure C
First, you'll need to make sure the Use Windows To Configure My Wireless Network Settings check box is selected. (This is the default setting.) You'll notice that there are two sections to this tab: Available Networks and Preferred Networks. In the Preferred Networks section, you can manually set up a connection to a WAP by clicking the Add button. You can then enter the Network Name (SSID) for the access point and set up Wireless Encryption Privacy (WEP), as shown in Figure D.
Figure D
Another way to connect to a WAP is to click the Refresh button in the Available Networks section. Windows will go out and look for nearby access points and give you a list of them. Just click on the one you want to use and then click Configure. This will pull up the same Wireless Network Properties screen that you saw in Figure D, only the Network Name will automatically be populated. After you tinker with the settings and click OK, the WAP will be placed on your list of Preferred Networks.
Now, when you roam to new locations (especially ones that you'll probably be returning to later), you can simply let Available Connections find the access points, and you can add them to your preferred networks with a few clicks. When you return to that location, your laptop should then automatically connect you to the WAP, and you'll have network access without having to do any special reconfiguration.
If you have multiple access points in a single location, you can add them all to your Preferred Networks list and simply use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to prioritize them.
There's one more setting you should be aware of on this screen, which you can access by clicking the Advanced button. Here, you set your preference in terms of connecting to WLANs powered by access points or connecting to peer-to-peer WLANs (basically just connecting to other client machines that have WLAN network adapters installed). You also have a third option of connecting to Any Available Network, which will show you both of these categories. Obviously, in a corporate environment, you'll probably want to rely on access points. You'll also probably want to leave the Automatically Connect To Non-preferred Networks check box deselected.
WLAN authentication and security
Another nice feature of the Windows XP implementation of WLANs is that it has built-in support for IEEE 802.1X security. This makes it easy to require identity verification for WLAN adapters via a variety of standard authentication mechanisms including RADIUS, smart cards, and certificates. This can be configured on the Authentication tab (Figure E) of the network adapter's properties page.
Figure E
It's important to note that 802.1X security is not limited to WLANs. It can be used for standard 10/100 Ethernet connections as well.
Basic monitoring and troubleshooting
Once you make your WLAN connection, you can easily monitor the reception and bandwidth of your connection. First, go into the properties of your WLAN network adapter (which appears in Figure B). Then, select the Show Icon In Notification Area When Connected check box. This will put a small icon with two computers in the System Tray (in the lower right-hand corner of your screen). The icon will indicate when data is being sent over this network interface by changing colors. (The little computer screens change from navy blue to sky blue when data is moving.) When you hover your mouse over this icon, you'll see a screen tip displaying connection information. This includes the name of the wireless network that you are connected to (usually the WAP), the connection speed (in Mbps), and the signal strength of your radio wave connection (from Very Low to Excellent).
Summary
All in all, Windows XP greatly streamlines the configuration and implementation of WLANs. In addition, it improves functionality (especially roaming) and makes it easier to implement security features such as WEP and RADIUS. To my surprise, I even found that the WLAN client software that's built into XP is superior to the third-party drivers and utilities that come with WLAN cards for use in older versions of Windows. I found that in XP, the WLAN cards have an easier time locating and holding wireless connections, and they don't suffer from as many inconsistencies and hiccups.
I have not been a huge fan of XP. However, its WLAN implementation is the one area where XP is head-and-shoulders above all previous versions of Windows client operating systems. If you want to configure laptops for extensive use of WLANs, you should definitely consider upgrading them to XP, especially if they are going to be roaming among different access points and/or different physical locations.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Slipstreaming Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Create Bootable CD
Slipstreaming a Service Pack, is the process to integrate the Service Pack into the installation so that with every new installation the Operating System and Service Pack are installed at the same time.
When ready, you should get a confirmation. Windows XP Service Pack 3 has now been integrated into your original Windows XP files.
Slipstreaming is usually done on network shares on corporate systems, but it also makes sense for the home user or small business user to do.
Microsoft added the ability to Slipstream a Service Pack to Windows 2000 and Windows
Slipstream Windows XP Service Pack 3
Download the (full) "Network Install" of the Service Pack (English version [316.4 MB]), and save it to a directory (folder) on your hard drive (in my case E:\XP-SP3). Other languages can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download site.
Note: do not use spaces in the folder name!
Next copy the contents of your Windows XP CD to your hard drive. Just create a folder (I used \XP-CD), and copy all the contents of your Windows XP CD in that folder.
Next, open a Command Prompt (Start > Run > cmd), and go to the folder where you downloaded SP3 (cd \foldername). Type the command: servicepack filename /integrate:drive/path. In my example the command is WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe /integrate:E:\XP-CD.
If you get the error:
This Service Pack cannot be integrated into a destination that also has integrated Software Updates
Consult the Service Pack documentation for more details about supported integration scenarios.
This is caused by the fact that your Windows XP CD contains updates that will be automatically installed when you run setup. These type of CD's will usually be from larger OEM suppliers (like Dell, HP, or others).
You cannot use this type of CD to create a slipst
reamed install.
First, the files will be extracted, and next they will be integrated in your Windows XP files:
Creating a Bootable CD
For this part I used IsoBuster and Nero Burning ROM 7*
.
*)You can of course use your own favorite CD-burning program.
After you install IsoBuster, you can choose to use only the product's free functionality for what we want to do, IsoBuster will look like the image below (you need to have your original Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM drive).
Start to extract the boot loader from the original Windows XP CD. Using IsoBuster, select the "folder" Bootable CD, and right-click Microsoft Corporation.img. From the menu choose Extract Microsoft Corporation.img, and extract it to the folder on your hard drive where you have your Windows XP files (E:\XP-CD in my case).
Next, start Nero Burning ROM, and choose CD-ROM (Boot) in the New Compilation window. On the Boot tab, select Image file under Source of boot image data, and browse to the location of the Microsoft Corporation.img file. Also enable Expert Settings, choosing No Emulation, and changing the Number of loaded sectors to 4 (otherwise it won't boot!)
The ISO tab should be configured correctly as shown below:
If you have an older version of Nero you won't have the option
You can configure the Label tab to your liking, I would however recommend that you keep the Volume Label the same as on your original Windows XP CD. Here are some (English) Labels:
Next press New, and from the File Browser window, select the files and folders from your slipstreamed location (in my case E:\XP-CD). Now drag & drop the selected files in the ISO1 window.
Next,burn your new CD.
You now have a Bootable, Slipstreamed Windows service pack 3 CD!
The ISO tab should be configured correctly as shown below:
If you have an older version of Nero you won't have the option Do Not Add ";1" ISO file version extention under Relax ISO Restrictions. You won't be able to boot your new CD, so update Nero!
You can configure the Label tab to your liking, I would however recommend that you keep the Volume Label the same as on your original Windows XP CD. Here are some (English) Labels: - Windows XP Professional: WXPCCP_EN
- Windows XP Home: WXHCCP_EN
- Windows XP Professional OEM: WXPOEM_EN
- Windows XP Home OEM: WXHOEM_EN
Next press New, and from the File Browser window, select the files and folders from your slipstreamed location (in my case E:\XP-CD). Now drag & drop the selected files in the ISO1 window.
Next,burn your new CD.
You now have a Bootable, Slipstreamed Windows service pack 3 CD!
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