Linux just gets sexier and sexier, and Fedora 11 just joined Ubuntu 9.04 in the ranks of super modern Linux distros released this year. Fedora doesn’t have all the desktop refinements of Ubuntu, or the wild popularity, but it does act as the underpinnings of Intel’s Moblin, and the Sugar OS, and doesn’t shy away from the future.

Fedora 11 makes the bleeding edge ext4 filesystem the default for installs, which speeds performance and improves data integrity — Ubuntu offers ext4 as an option, but some application incompatibilities have caused data loss problems, so hopefully Fedora has overcome that. Fedora 11 also has boot times in its sights, with a goal to be at the login screen in 20 seconds, new versions of GNOME and KDE desktop environments (GNOME is default, but KDE 4.2 is looking great) and plenty of other minor and major tweaks. Sure, it’s still Linux: most folks who expect to just swap out their Windows environment wholesale are sure to be sorely disappointed, but it’s clear the steady march of progress continues unabated — and hey, it’s good enough for Intel and the children.

itechzo

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As it has been announced earlier, in new operational system Windows 7 it is possible to easily change a background of a logon screen. For this purpose it is not required to change resources in executable files or to carry out still any special actions. Process of changing of the image is very simple and can be executed without use of additional tools. This functionality is accessible and correctly works since 7057 build.

To change a background on the logon screen it is necessary to do following steps.

1. To open the registry editor and to find section “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE –> Software –> Microsoft –> Windows –> CurrentVersion –> Authentication –> LogonUI –> Background”. In this section there is a special key “OEMBackground” (DWORD type). Value “1” herein says that it is necessary to use special appearance of the logon screen. If the key does not exist, he can be created manually.
2. To be convinced, that there is folder “%windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds”. Here Windows 7 will search for background images for the logon screen. If this folder does not exist, she is necessary for creating.
3. To put in this folder all necessary images. For each screen resolution it is necessary to put the image in this folder with a specific name. If the image with the necessary name is not found, file backgroundDefault.jpg will be used. It is important, that each image should be no more than 256 KB, differently it will be ignored. The list of files which are necessary for putting in this folder:
   1. backgroundDefault.jpg
   2. background768×1280.jpg  (0.6)
   3. background900×1440.jpg  (0.625)
   4. background960×1280.jpg  (0.75)
   5. background1024×1280.jpg (0.8)
   6. background1280×1024.jpg (1.25)
   7. background1024×768.jpg  (1.33)
   8. background1280×960.jpg  (1.33)
   9. background1600×1200.jpg (1.33)
   10. background1440×900.jpg  (1.6)
   11. background1920×1200.jpg (1.6)
   12. background1280×768.jpg  (1.66)
   13. background1360×768.jpg  (1.770833)
4. For display of changes there is no necessity to reboot. It is enough to lock Windows (Win + L) or to leave a current session (Log off).

Also it is possible to take advantage of 3rd-party utilities. One of such utilities – Tweaks Logon Changer for Windows 7. This utility will execute all necessary changes in the system registry, and also will compress the image till the necessary sizes and will put in the necessary folder.

From: geekswithblogs.net

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Gmail notifier for Windows 7 is a utility that is non-dependant of the browser and notifies you with the new mails in your gmail inbox and lets you enjoy with more options of Gmail independently in Windows 7.

It not only allows you to have the mail count, but also the mail previews from the taskbar, also when the mails are opened from the inbox, you are automatically logged into the browser version of Gmail. It is using Gmail secured RSS feed to retrieve the mails so it should be pretty safe. Credentials are saved using a machine’s dependent encryption.

Clicking on any mail would open it in Gmail, and the software is compatible with Windows 7 OS. Moreover, this tool does not come in the list of Alt + Tab windows, but sits just beside the Windows icon between the shortcut icons.

Download the Gmail notifier for Windows 7 from here.

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One of the worlds largest video sites is Megavideo. Megavideo is mainly known for allowing users to make money from just uploading their videos to the site. At Megavideo you are also not allowed to download the videos unless you are a premium member.

Here is a little trick bought to you by HelloGiri you can easily download and save MegaVideo videos to your computer and watch them offline whenever you like.

1. Open your MegaVideo video in your browser and let it load fully
2. After you are done watching the video online, go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Settings -> View Files (For IE)
3. Now you will get a large size file with long name and unknown type there
4. Copy and paste that file at desktop, this file is the video file in flv format
5. Rename it with flv extension, say e.g. MyMega.flv

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The critics and Windows users will likely amazed with the born of this RC 1. To avoid “spicy” criticism from customers, Microsoft now put extra consideration to the development of Windows 7.

In the previous beta version, users are given the opportunity to ‘recognize’ the new features in Windows 7. RC 1 is now comes with the completion of these features.

Prior to installing Windows 7 RC 1, there are 7 important things you should know:

1. Some new changes;
   • The Taskbar becomes more responsive and feels more comfortable.
   • Music streaming via Windows Media Player.
   • To enable or disable some Windows features. You can now ‘throw’ Internet Explorer 8 and some other Windows’ pre-installed software.
   • Additional Driver Support, now you do not need to search for new drivers when installing Windows 7. The system will automatically recognize the driver.
   • New wallpapers, themes and sound schemes addition.
2. You don’t need a bootable disk or DVD during the installation of Windows 7. You can do this from within Windows itself.
3. Installing the upgrade version from the Beta, now is not working on RC 1.
4. Windows 7 is able to run with VMWare or Virtual PC.
5. It’s getting easier to repair Windows system. Windows 7 can detect any system error, before you repair it.
6. Old Windows XP can still run in Windows 7 via Windows XP Mode (XPM) application, how cool is that…
7. You can enjoy the Windows 7 RC 1 for free for about 1 year, until June, 1 2010.

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A couple of months ago, Microsoft conducted a research study where they found search engine branding had an impact on the perceived quality of results. Now, months later, Bing is launched and people are once again ranking the quality of search results. At first, there were direct side-by-side comparisons, but of course there’s no better challenge than a double-blind experiment.

Michael Kordahi, which I feel compelled to disclose is a Microsoft employee, has set up such an experiment, dubbed “BlindSearch” which you can try here. On the site, you enter a single search query which results three sets of unbranded results. After viewing the results, you are given an option to vote on one set of results, which then reveals the provider and adds it to the tally.

At the time of writing, Google is in the lead with the tally standing at “Google: 40%, Bing: 31%, Yahoo: 29%” out of 355 votes.

Update: Approximately half an hour after posting, Bing takes a slight lead over Google. (Google: 36%, Bing: 38%, Yahoo: 26% | 641 votes)

Update 2: A thousand votes later, Google and Bing are tied. (Google: 39%, Bing: 39%, Yahoo: 22% | 1757 votes)

Update 3: Three’s the magic number, for Google. (Google: 40%, Bing: 37%, Yahoo: 23% | 2554 votes)

Update 4: Google is taking a stronger lead with another thousand votes. (Google: 43%, Bing: 32%, Yahoo: 25% | 3520 votes)

Update 5: It appears the application has exceed Yahoo API’s daily limit. Michael is aware of the problem and looking for a workaround. Yahoo results has since been fixed.

From: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090607/bing-vs-google-vs-yahoo-blind-search-engine-test/

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More and more programs are dedicated on enhancing Windows 7 and although, the new OS doesn’t needs much patching, Windows 7 Little Tweaker enables some features that might be useful to anyone. Windows 7 Little Tweaker is a small portable application that works ONLY on Win 7 and ads some little juice to the pie.

Let’s see what goodies can we have:

+ Add “Copy To” option in files and folders context menu, so that you can easily copy them to other locations

+ Add “Move To” option in files and folders context menu, so that you can easily move them to other locations

+ Set Windows to automatically end task of programs which are either hanged or taking longer time than expected to exit

+ Decrease menus show delay time, it’ll show the sub-menus fast when you select their parent menu

+ Disable the low disk space check so that you don’t get the annoying low disk space notification in system tray

+ Set Windows to not waste time in searching for a program which no longer exists in your system when you try to open its shortcut

+ Disable “search on Internet” prompt in “Open with” window so that it directly opens the program list

+ Add “Take Ownership” option in files and folders context menu so that you can easily take ownership of files and folders in case you want to replace them for customization purpose

+ Speed up the Explorer navigation by disabling network printers and network scheduled tasks

+ Add “Command Prompt Here” option on folders context menu (right click) for a quick command prompt opening at the selected folder

+ Adds “Open With Notepad” option on files context menu (right click) for a quick viewing of files content

+ Adds “Delete Folder Content” option on folders context menu (right click) to quick delete only the content of a folder without accessing the folder

+ Speeds up taskbar thumbnail preview by reducing the mouse hover time delay

+ Disables (Turn Off) Annoying UAC (User Account Control) and suppress UAC consent prompt dialog

So,  for the more advanced user, some of those unlocked features can be enabled via registry or by using the control panel and playing around, but overall,  I think Windows 7 Little Tweaker is a nifty little tool that can enchance your Windows Seven experience with some degree.

Download and install Windows 7 Little Tweaker

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If you wish to completely uninstall Microsoft Office 2007 this the article you are looking for. If instead you are looking for a nice tool letting you uninstall Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) go on reading. Microsoft has recently released a wonderful, easy and free tool intended for those users who have encountered issues and problems after installing Office 2007 SP2.  Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite will let you automatically uninstall all patches installed from the release.

Reading from the Microsoft webpage: “The Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite is a command line tool which will assist with uninstalling client patches installed by the 2007 Office Suite SP2.” Before running the tool to uninstall Office 2007 SP2, please keep into consideration to read the following articles (they are suggested by Microsoft itself):

• Knowledge Base Article 954914.
• For more complete technical details, see “Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office suite” in the 2007 Office system administrative updates section of the 2007 Office Resource Kit, which contains additional information on using the tool.

Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite supports Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2; Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 3.

If you want to know more, visit this link. If you want to download the tool right away, click here.

From: http://www.webtlk.com/2009/06/05/how-to-uninstall-microsoft-office-2007-service-pack-2/

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We were waiting for Google Chrome to become available for Linux for a couple of months.Today they released unstable version of Google Chrome.For the ones who do not know, it is NOT CHROMIUM, this is Google Chrome.Chromium is an open source browser project. Google Chrome is a browser from Google, based on the Chromium project.(However, they totally look same :) )Installing Google Chrome will add the Google repository so your system will automatically keep Chrome up to date.If you do not want to add the repository you can just use this command before the installation to disable it :
$sudo touch /etc/defaults/google-chrome
Installation :
Get the i386 deb (for 32 bit systems) from here or amd64 (for 64 bit systems) one from here.Now install it via double clicking the deb.
Now you can access Google Chrome via navigating Applications > Internet > Google Chrome or google-chrome command.
PS : At the moment there is no flash plugin, printing, complex text, complex tab dragging and gears support for Google Chrome like Chromium.Why would we use Google Chrome instead of using open source Chromium?

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In past we have reviewed Leopard Transformation Pack 2 & Mac OS X Leopart theme to transform Vista to Mac OS X. a latest Windows 7 is almost here and many users are already enjoying Windows 7 RC. We don’t see any reason for users to have Mac OS X like look & feel on Windows 7 RC.

But in case if you are looking for way to transform windows 7 to Mac Os X then Leopard OSX for Win7 RC v2 visual style developed by one of deviantart user is good option for you. Leopard OS X theme will only work with Windows 7 build 7100.

Screenshot of Leopard OS X theme for Windows 7 RC

Download Leopard OS X Theme for Windows 7 RC Build 7100

From: blogsdna.com

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