Microsoft was going to stop the offline installer for the newest version of Windows Live Essentials, but for those with slow internet connections or none at all, it just wasn’t fun. Thankfully, Microsoft has given in and released a list of offline installer links to help you out.
With the previous Windows Live Essential
We have posted a new review on a book today, this time going through the Windows 7: The Missing Manual. Check it out! We are also giving the book away to one lucky winner in this thread in our forums! Sign up for the forums (very easy) and post a reply to be in it to win it!
Microsoft has had a poor track record when it comes to documentation coming with their operating systems. Last I remember, Windows 3.11 had a decent manual included, but starting with Windows 95, they got smaller and smaller until they are non-existant with Vista and windows 7. They expect users to know what they are doing, or buy a book to show them the way. For a lot of users, this isn’t much of a problem. But, for others, it is a necessity.
Microsoft has had a poor track record when it comes to documentation coming with their operating systems. Last I remember, Windows 3.11 had a decent manual included, but starting with Windows 95, they got smaller and smaller until they are non-existent with Vista and windows 7. They expect users to know what they are doing, or buy a book to show them the way. For a lot of users, this isn’t much of a problem. But, for others, it is a necessity. Sometimes, they ask questions and get the answer “RTFM”, which stands for Read The Flipping Manual (or you can substitute other colorful language). Hard to do with no manual included. O’Reilly has published a series titled “The Missing Manual”, with the new “Windows 7: The Missing Manual” being the latest. Today, I am letting you know what to expect with the book, and if it is the right book for you.
Looking at the table of contents is like looking through a feature list of Windows 7, and is pretty much spot on as to what to expect with any manual for an operating system, missing or not. So, I decided to get to the meat and potatoes of the book. I started with the beginning and worked through until the end. Usually, books on computers aren’t exactly the easiest to read, sometimes reading like a stereo manual from Japan: confusing, difficult to understand and full of technical jargon. This is the first thing I noticed with this book, it is nothing like that. At all. It is an extremely easy to read book, written for the beginner, but going into enough detail to satisfy the more technical adept readers. The steps are easy to understand, but not dumbed down to become dull and condescending. The author always keeps his keen sense of humor throughout the entire book, making it not only informational but entertaining as well.
The book is divided into 8 Parts, each including several chapters. The parts are dedicated to a general topic. Part one is “The Windows 7 Desktop”, which goes over the desktop (obviously!), the Start menu, Explorer, Windows Search, changing the look of Windows and the built-in help system.
Part two goes through the built in software and gadgets along with the Control Panel. It goes into the details of opening and closing documents, speech recognition, Windows XP mode, and the free applications that Windows includes or provides free via Windows Live Essentials (which isn’t included in the OS due to anti-competitive lawsuits).
Part three is about getting online and being safe while online. It goes through details on the Windows Firewall, Defender, how to clear your cookies, security settings and details on Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Live Mail (and other Live services). Definitely a must read for those that continuously have to take their PC’s into the shop to remove viruses or malware.
Part four is all about multimedia, TV on your PC, Windows Media Player, and the awesome Windows Media Center.
Part five is getting your hardware and peripherals working with Windows 7 and how to access their full potential. From printers to scanners to tablet PC’s, it’s all here.
Part six is about PC health, which many people need to read. The main focus is on maintenance and speed tweaks, which is a common concern for many users. There is also a section on disk management, encrypting and compressing your files and the entire drive encryption program built into the OS: BitLocker.
Part seven is for networking and homegroups. Windows 7 introduced homegroups, and at time can be confusing to set up (although Microsoft intended it to be extremely easy). It goes into the basics of workgroups and domains, but not enough for a budding network administrator to run his small office network. It also shows you how to share your files and printers for other PC’s to access.
Part eight is for the appendixes. They show you how to install or upgrade to Windows 7, editing the registry, keyboard shortcuts and a ‘Where’d it go’ section to show you where Microsoft has so elegantly moved some commonly used areas. It can get frustrating to know where something is for years, and it takes only a click or two to access, then with the new edition, you’re stuck searching for half an hour for a shortcut in the Control Panel. Good to have that included.
This book is definitely a manual for Windows 7. Every feature that is included in the OS is included in the book. However, said that, it is aimed at the general user, not for a power user that really wants to dig into the registry and edit system files. It is aimed for anyone that wants to learn how to use the OS, all it’s features, and become a knowledgeable user. It won’t teach you how to debug blue screens or any advanced configuration (that comes in another book, review coming soon! Windows Internals 5), but it isn’t meant to. If you are looking to learn how to use Windows 7 proficiently, quickly, and become more efficient, then this book definitely begs a read through. However, if you feel comfortable with Windows, know how to use the built in applications, or are more of the hands on type (when you hit a brick wall, then you RTFM), you might want to skip to something a bit more advanced.
You can purchase the book from Amazon(Windows 7: The Missing Manual
BetaNews says Steve Ballmer has one last chance to save his job from the guillotine.There is a lot of negativity around Microsoft lately, and it hasn’t been the stability of it’s operating system in question these days. Windows Mobile has lost it’s umph, if it ever had any. I’ve been a fan, but that’s when it’s only competition was from PalmOS. Now that the iPhone and Android have hit the market, and hit it hard, there is little reason to go with mini-Winny (or Windows Lite, if you prefer). If Windows Phone 7 is all it promises to be, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel, if it isn’t too little, too late. Office 2010 may be awesome, but sales aren’t. In fact, they claim that Office has reached its peak in customer appeal. Steve better bring his A game to the investors and pull a rabbit out of his magic hat. Microsoft needs something other than Windows 7 to bring it back to life.
July 29, 2010 may be remembered as the most important day in Steve Ballmer’s career at Microsoft. Tomorrow, the company hosts its annual Financial Analyst Meeting, or FAM. How much Ballmer and his core leadership team spend concretely talking about the future, rather than the past, will foreshadow how long the chief executive can remain the big boss. Nearly as important: Which executives will make presentations.
Most people have played with Google Maps Street View, or heard about it in the news with it’s privacy issues. Now, Microsoft is visiting the same area, this time with Street Slide View. Similar to Google Street View, but a lot more fluid and allows more freedom. Personally, I see Google coming back with a comeback punch very soon. As least Google isn’t the only one in town anymore with it’s very accurate maps and imagery.
With Street Slide, the researchers took the best aspects of the
Microsoft is pulling all the punches with its newest Internet browser, Internet Explorer 9. Look at the images at the MSDN site, and how IE9 renders the text so it is actually readable. Firefox isn’t bad, but it is still a very noticeable difference. Last place definitely goes to Apples Safari, I can barely read that text!
Recently, I
Mozilla has a bounty of $3000 for finding bugs in their Mozilla Firefox 4.0 beta, and Microsoft with it’s nearly endless R&D budget is offering: infamy in a knowledge base article and patch! No cash reward, though. While I wouldn’t do it for the fame or cash, an extra few thousand in the ol’ bank account wouldn’t hurt!
Now if you are just dead-set on being paid for finding a bug in a Microsoft product, there is one possibility that the company holds out for you. Microsoft’s Jerry Bryant says, “While we do not provide a monetary reward on a per-bug basis, like any other industry, we do recognize and honor talent. We’ve had several influential folks from the researcher community join our security teams as Microsoft employees.” So perhaps the free work that you give to Microsoft is just your ticket to a job in Redmond. Then again, perhaps not.
Mintywhite has just posted an article to educate you about Virtual Memory and what it does for you and your system. A good read for everyone to further understand VM.
I was reading a newsletter the other day that was using he words Swap File, Paging File and Virtual Memory, interchangeably. Now this confused me and I realized that this might be a great topic for an article. I
Mashable has a few facts about Microsoft that you may not have known about. There are a few surprises in there for me, but most of them have been previously circulated. I would love to work there… Just have to finish my BS degree, and I’m going for it!
There is a new scam going on right now, this time involving real people making phone calls that trick you into installing their virus software, and even paying them to “fix” your computer. Beware!
The scam always starts the same way: the phone rings at someone’s home, and the caller
