I am ShadowLord

Interesting to me

• Will Windows 7 be better than Vista?

  Sep 16th 2009

  No comments

  “Will Windows 7 be better than Vista?” is the wrong question to be asking. We should be asking, “Will Windows 7 be better than XP?”

  Chris Hernandez of Microsoft posted on his blog, “One of the main goals with Windows 7 in general has been to be better than Vista.” Chris’ quote scares me. Being better than Vista is not what I am looking for. I want an OS that makes me want to upgrade from XP. XP has served me well and I want a clear upgrade path. What are the killer new features? What makes Win7 an “upgrade”?

  I have been using Windows 7 on my laptop for a few months. I do like some UI improvements, but compared to XP it misses the mark. Compared to Vista, Win7 is better. Although, Win7 requires pretty good hardware to install where XP is able to install on my pieced together machines with parts 8-10 years old in some cases. I hope by the time Windows 7 is on the shelf, someone figures out that we are not looking for an upgrade from Vista, we are looking for a real upgrade to XP.

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  Software

  windows, windows 7, windows vista, windows xp

• Network Printer Issues with Windows Vista

  Dec 18th 2007

  1 comment

  So you bought that new laptop with Windows Vista, set it up, got on the Internet, downloaded some updates, checked YouTube for the latest video of someone miming a boy band song, and bumped your ex-girlfriend from your Top 8. Now you want to print something across your home network through a shared printer. That printer happens to be shared on a Windows XP machine. You never had a problem before, but this new laptop keeps sending you an error message: Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied.

  If you are like me, you begin troubleshooting to figure out what is going on and start by downing a caffeinated beverage. You check UAC, permissions, reinstall the printer, and finally REBOOT. None of your tactics worked.

  After research and struggling with the same problem, here is what I have come up with. Give thanks to Melonhead on TechNet for inspiring my streamlined solution to this printer problem that will become an issue for many users. I recreated the scenario and 60% of the time the following solution works every time.

  • Install the Windows Vista printer driver on the new Windows Vista computer
  • Open Control Panel and double-click on Printers
  • Remove all of your previous attempts at adding the printer
  • Click on Add a printer and Choose to Add a local printer
  • Select Create a new port and Type of port: Local Port
  • Enter a port name (the port name is in the format of
    “\\{computer name}\{printer name}”)

    

  • Verify installation by viewing the port settings in the printer properties window

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  Tweaks

  printer drivers, printing, procedure, windows vista

• New Computer

  Oct 5th 2007

  3 comments

  I finally ordered a new computer. In the PC clone line of computers, my first computer was a 286 with MS-DOS. It was not a productivity machine, but I did play a stock market game and Duke Nukem quite a bit. I have upgraded a few times since then and my desktop now is a P4/1GB/Vista/Ubuntu modded several times starting in 2002. It served me well as I made a living off the system by writing software and technical books. And yes, Doom was played heavily to mom’s chagrin. Vista was not a good upgrade for this aging system. Even in its most optimized state, the lag in video playback, game response, and DHTML processing made it a pain to use for day to day entertainment purposes. AGP video cards and Vista don’t mix, so it’s time to look at SATA, more RAM, and PCI Express/SLI video.

  On a tip from Darth Kevin, Shadowlord’s nemesis in the real-world, I purchased a custom SLI machine from CyberPower. I was able to build a system that will fit my needs (gaming, AJAX development, updating online dating profiles, using Google, watching the Matrix, etc.) and fall into my budget of $2000.

  The first system I configured was absurd — 2TB of storage, 4GB of RAM, dual SLI video cards, Quad processor, and floppy drive. I have trimmed off some excess and now looking at a solid configuration. When I settle into the machine, I will let you know how it stacks up.

  Case and Power Supply

  Apevia X-Juniper Jr. (S Type Metallic Gray)
  Apevia ATX-LCD650W Quartz

  Motherboard and Processor

  Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI
  Intel Quad Core 2.4GHz/64bit/8MB

  Internal Drive

  500GB SATA-II

  Sound and Video

  3D Wave On-board Sound Card
  GeForce 8800GTS (XFX Extreme Edition) 320MB/16X PCI Express Video Card

  External Drives

  LITE-ON LH-20A1H — 20X, Double Layer, DVD burner and player
  12in1 Flash Media R/W
  Floppy Drive

  OS

  Vista Ultimate

  Connectivity

  10/100/1000 On-board LAN Card

  Peripheral

  Logitech G15 Keyboard
  Logitech MX Revolution Mouse
  Dual Samsung SyncMaster 204B 20″ Monitors

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  Hardware

  dating, games, windows vista

• Windows Vista Optimization

  Jun 24th 2007

  1 comment

  A few months ago I upgraded an older PC with Microsoft’s newest Operating System (OS) called Windows Vista (Home Premimum Edition). My older PC has 256MB of dedicated video memory, 1GB of RAM, and a 2.4GHz Intel Processor. Vista ran very sluggish and gets unresponsive with a few browsers tabs open and couple of programs running, so I became frustrated. There is something good found in everything, so I was dedicated to make this OS purr. The irony was that I was also contributing sections to a new Windows Vista Technician’s User Guide. The design applications to write my sections of the manual ran so slow on Vista, I had to figure it out. The following information applies to Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate editions.

  Here are some ideas and tricks that I used to optimize Windows Vista:

  • Minimizing and Maximizing Windows
    Once you start using Vista, you will notice there is animation sequence that happens as you minimize and maximize a window or vice versa. It makes the transition look smooth but takes up 100% of your processor to accomplish the task. The animation has to process, allocate memory, execute it, and then the window reacts. This sluggish response to just moving between windows becomes annoying with just a few windows open. Stopping this animation will be the biggest noticeable change you can make.

    Follow these steps to stop the animation:

  1. 1. Select the Start Button, enter “SystemPropertiesPerformance” into
        the Start Search Box, and press Enter
     2. On the Visual Effects tab, uncheck Animate Windows When Minimizing/Maximizing
     3. Select OK to apply the settings

  • Window Transparency
    The windows in Vista are transparent around the top edges to accomplish a 3D experience as you notice whats behind the window. The effect works and looks great although it takes up RAM and processing power to update the transparency effect as things change.

    Follow these steps to turn off window transparency:

  1. 1. Right-click on the Desktop and select Personalize
     2. Select Windows Color And Appearance
     3. Uncheck Enable Transparency
     4. Select OK to apply the settings

  • Windows Vista Services
    There are services that run in the background that process data, user actions, and protect the stability of the PC. Some of these are just not needed. On a new install almost all of them are installed and running. You can safely stop some services that will free up system resources. Follow the procedures at your own risk and only disable services that you actually don’t need.

    Here are few services that you can safely disable:

  1. 1. Windows Defender
     2. Tablet PC Input Service
     3. Telephony (if you are not using your dial-up modem)
     4. Parental Controls
     5. WLAN AutoConfig (if you are not using wireless)
     6. Routing and Remote Access

  Follow these steps to disable a service:

  1. 1. Select the Start Button, enter “Services” into the Start Search Box, and press Enter
     2. Right-click on a Service to disable and select Properties
     3. Under Startup Type, select Disabled
     4. Select OK to apply the settings

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  Tweaks

  optimization, services, windows vista

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