AddictiveTips » windows 7

RT Se7en Lite: Create Customizable Windows 7 Installation Disk/USB

farshad — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:53:07 +0000

It can be difficult for common users to understand the complex process of creating an unattended installation disk (that requires for no manual interference during operating system installation), add custom wallpapers, themes, screensavers and other components to a Windows 7 disc. RT Se7en Lite is an application that simplifies the process of adding such features and creating an unattended installation disc/USB for Windows 7. Read on past the break for details on this useful little tool.

At startup, select a source for your Windows 7 installation package, e.g., an ISO file, and extract it to a destination folder. Make sure that you have ample space on your hard drive, as the Windows temp folder is also used by this application during the Windows 7 installation media creation process.

Once done, the Task tab will become clickable. Head over to Task and select the changes that you wish to perform. Selecting each option will allow you to make changes in the respective tab. For example, when you click Un-Attended, the Un-Attended tab will become active. Other options include ISO Bootable, Customization (both being important options), followed by Un-Attended, Tweaks, Components and Integration (optional). For detailed instructions, you can also refer to the step by step guide on the right side of the program in Task.

After selecting your desired features, click each respective tab and make appropriate changes. For example, you can add custom screensavers, themes, wallpaper, logon screen, gadgets, documents, sample, music. media sounds etc, from the Integration tab.

Once you have made all configurations, head over to the ISO Bootable tab and select a burning option (Direct Burn, Create Image, Burn Image, Erase RW or USB Bootable). Click Make ISO to proceed further.

This will burn your custom image to the selected media device.

The supported operating systems for RT Se7en Lite include Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 – SP2 and Windows Server 2008. For complete system requirements, we recommend that you check out the developer’s instructions here.

Download RT Se7en Lite

[via intowindows]

A Comprehensive Tool For Tweaking Windows 7 Logon Screen

Fawad — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:50:08 +0000

We have covered some very effective Windows 7 logon screen editors, including Pulse, which periodically changes the logon screen background, and Windows 7 Branding Changer to change the Windows 7 branding logo. Today, we have Windows 7 Logon Screen Tweaker, a portable tool that allows you to change the User Picture, Logon Screen Background, Logon Button Set, Default Logon Sound, Logon Text Branding etc. Moreover, the application lets you remove items from the logon screen, including Easy of Access button, Logon Text Branding, Shutdown Button and add Custom Logon Screen Message. The application also has a built-in Default button to revert back any changes.

The main window of the application allows you to change the user picture, as well as the background image of the Windows 7 logon screen. It also enables you to preview any changes made to the logon screen.

Select Tools from the bottom-left side to view extended options for making changes to the logon screen. You can configure options, such as remove ease of access button, change default logon sound, remove and change logon text branding etc.

The option to add a custom logon screen message did not work during our testing, and we hope that the developer will fix it in the next release. Testing was done on a 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate system. It works only on Windows 7.

Download Windows 7 Logon Screen Tweaker

Windows 7 App Launcher: Run Programs In One Go From Taskbar

Usman — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:48:42 +0000

Ever wanted to launch multiple applications for performing routine tasks in one go, without having to manually create a batch script to invoke applications’ execuatables? Although the batch script file (.BAT) can be used to run multiple commands and applications, it’s a bit tiresome to manually add new applications to batch file and edit the existing applications’ paths. What you probably need is an application like Windows 7 App Launcher to effortlessly create application profiles, so they can be launched with a single click. It’s an app launcher that lets you add applications, shortcuts, files et., without going through the hassle of creating and editing the script. Since it has a GUI-based configuration console, all you need is to bring it up for adding new applications, changing the profile icons and editing the list of applications, files and shortcuts

Windows 7 App Launcher supports both Windows 7 Jumplist and Thumbnail Preview features, enabling you to launch all the applications in a specific profile from Windows 7 Taskbar. The application can also run as desktop gadget, which provides an easy way to run the application profile and switch between existing profiles. The main screen lets you enable Start 7APL in Gadget Mode option, and specify its behavior. You can also associate a hotkey combination to launch the gadget, and tweak basic application settings including Start minimized, minimize on close, run at startup and close 7APL after running a Jumplist task.

To add a new profile for launching multiple applications, head over to New Profile tab, enter profile name and hit Create Profile.

This will add a new tab by the name of profile. Under this tab, you will find options to add applications that you want to launch under your profile. Simply, click Browse and select application executable from Windows Explorer. You can add as many programs to the your profile app list as you want. Apart from Jumplist, you can also launch the applications under your profile using a hot key combination. When all the required applications are added, create a hotkey and then click Save/Update.

If you want to set profile as category, enable the respective option and click Settings. It will open a separate dialog, where you can define aliases for applications.

As mentioned earlier that it supports Jumplist and Thumbnail Preview features to launch the applications in profiles and navigate between them. In Thumbnail preview, it shows navigation buttons to jump to next, previous, and last used profile.

Using Jumplist, you can quickly bring up the main interface or gadget (if enabled), create a new profile, and bring applications as Task from selected profile by clicking Switch to . When you switch the profile, you can use Jumplist to directly launch applications from the specified profile.

Windows 7 App Launcher certainly makes it easy to launch applications in batch mode without having to go through convoluted process of creating a batch script. As of this writing, it’s in beta testing phase, so you may run on some bugs and interface-related glitches. It supports 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7.

Download Windows 7 App Launcher

How To Transfer Files & Settings From Windows 7 To Windows 8 [Step-by-Step Guide]

Usman — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:00:41 +0000

Migrating applications, personalized system and application settings, and other important data from old PC to new PC isn’t only time consuming, but also a wearisome task, as one needs to make a list of all the installed applications, Windows components, User Profile folders, System settings including Personalization, Color Management, Fonts, Accessibility, Keyboard and Mouse settings etc., and then manually transfer the settings and data to new PC. In the past, we’ve covered numerous applications such as Backup Utility, Backup Folder Sync and DataGrab, which let users effortlessly backup User Profile folders without having to manually transfer Documents, Pictures, Music, AppData, Roaming and other important folders. Applications like Special Folders Manager not only makes it easy to create copy of Users profile folders, but also help restoring them at their original locations with a click, but what if you want to migrate entire system including Settings, Applications and data saved in local drives from old PC to new PC?

In this post, we will take a look at the easiest way of migrating Windows 7 system and user settings, local drives, and other required data to new PC running Windows 8. Although Windows 8 final Version is yet to be released, the steps involved in migrating data from Windows 7 to Windows 8 would probably not change.

To begin, login to Windows 7 PC, and launch Windows Easy Transfer from Start Search. Windows Easy Transfer is Windows 7 native utility that allows you to copy files, system and user settings from one PC to another. It presents an easy wizard that guides user through the process of selecting files and system & user settings, and transferring all the selected files and settings to another PC.

The Files and Settings Migration instructions are divided into two parts, saving Windows 7 files & settings to external drives, and transferring saved settings and files to new PC running Windows 8.

Save Files And System & User Settings To External Hard Drive

After launching Windows Easy Transfer wizard, click Next to choose the type of target location, where all the specified settings and files will be saved. You can use Easy Transfer Cable, Network location, or External hard disk to move the settings to your new PC. The first two options require connecting your new PC to old PC in order to send the files and settings. However, if you’re planning to upgrade your PC to Windows 8, select the third option that moves your system settings along with files to external hard drive. We will use an external hard drive to save the settings, and then move them to Windows 8 PC. Just plug-in the external hard disk, and then Select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to proceed.

Now, select This is my old computer option to transfer files and setting from current PC.

In this step, it shows currently logged-in User profile and Shared Items options, allowing you to choose the folders from both User Profile and Shared locations. You can customize the default folder and file section by hitting Customize. The Customize link present in User Profile section lets you pick Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Program Settings and Windows Settings, whereas the Shared Items section’s Customize link will open a Shared Items menu, allowing you to choose the shared items that are to be moved.

In order to manually pick User profiles’ folders, and files from hard drive partitions, click Advanced to open Modify your selections dialog. It presents a simple file browser to select the Windows folders and local volumes which are to be transferred. After the Windows folders and local volumes are selected, click Save.

Window 7 Easy Transfer wizard saves all the settings, user folders, and files from hard disk partitions in a MIG file. It also lets you apply password-protect this file from unauthorized usage. Once you’ve selected the files, it will ask you to enter the password to secure the transfer process. Clicking Save will prompt you to specify the external hard disk folder where your files and settings are to be copied. It’s worth mentioning here that USB drive/External hard disk formatted with FAT-32 file system does not support saving file larger than 4GB. So, before you select the external hard disk destination, make sure that it’s formatted to NTFS file system.

When the destination folder is selected, it will start copying the settings and selected folders. The time it takes to complete the copying process depends upon the volume of selected data.

Once copied, open the destination folder to verify the copying process. Now, eject the external hard disk, and move to PC running Windows 8.

Transfer Settings And Files On New PC Running Windows 8

Now that you have saved the system & user settings, and files from old computer in Windows Easy Transfer file (Windows Easy Transfer –Items from old computer.MIG), it’s time to restore all the files, user profile folders, shared items at their original position. Just like previous Windows versions, Windows 8 comes with Easy File Transfer utility to help you move the data from old to new PC, and to restore the saved data in MIG file to original locations.

To get started, open Windows Search from Windows 8 Start hover menu, enter easy transfer in search bar, and then click Apps. Now, launch Windows Easy Transfer utility from main window. If you don’t find the Windows Easy Transfer, first install Windows update to install all the additional Windows 8 components.

In Windows Easy Transfer wizard, select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to restore data and settings saved in MIG file.

In next step, choose This is my new computer option.

It will now ask you to plug-in the external hard disk where the MIG file is saved. Plug-in the external hard drive and select Yes to specify the Windows Easy Transfer file.

On selecting the MIG file, it will ask you to specify the password. Enter the password to restore the data, and click Next.

Once access is granted, it will ask you to choose what to transfer from old PC. At this point, you can select the files and settings that are to be transferred to your new PC. Click Customize under User Profile and Shared Items sections to select the folders. However, if you want to customize the drive map options, click Advance Options. It will open a separate dialog to tweak with map user accounts and local drives settings. Once you’ve selected the settings and folders, hit Transfer to begin the settings and data migration process.

While transferring files and settings from your old PC, it may ask you to enter the password of your old PC to transfer the protected content. Once correct password is entered, it will immediately restore the system and personalization settings of old PC including user account details, desktop theme and numerous other settings.

After all the files and settings are restored from old PC, you can take a look at the files that were transferred during the process, and applications which you might want to install.

Clicking See what was transferred option will open Windows Easy Transfer Reports utility, letting you view the transferred user accounts, documents, documents, program & system settings.

The Program report tab shows the list of applications that you need to install on new PC. You can view detailed information of listed applications by clicking More information.

There are numerous third-party migration utilities available out there, but none provides as easy a way of migrating data from old to new PC, as Windows native data transfer utility. The Windows Easy Transfer Reports maintains a log of transferred data and settings in a separate file. When you want to view previously transferred files and settings, open Windows Easy Transfer Reports from Windows 8 Start Search, and choose the required report from View Report pull-down menu.

Want to migrate installed applications with saved settings to new PC? Check out PickMeApp.

Lion UX Pack Transforms Windows 7 To Mac OS X Lion User Interface

farshad — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:52:06 +0000

Those of you who have been regularly following AddictiveTips, would know that we have covered a number of elegant skin packs for our readers in the past, including the Android , Mango, iOS, Windows 8 and the Ubuntu Skin Pack. Most of these skin packs were developed by Hamed, and required following a simple setup wizard for getting the job done, instead of going through any complex theme patching methods. Recently, we cam across a Mac OS X Lion skin pack that was even easier to install than the previously reviewed Lion Skin Pack. The Lion UX Pack has been designed to instantly transform your Windows 7 system into a Mac OS X Lion style desktop.

You can simply install the Lion UX Pack by launching the setup file, selecting the system font, dock configuration (enabled, disabled or auto-hide), and selecting other OS X UI elements that you want, including the start orb, caption button, expose feature and spaces. Click Install to transform your Windows 7 desktop.

The Lion UX Pack, surprisingly, does not provide any installation wizard or system reboot, and transforms the desktop immediately after you click Install.

Note: Please bear in mind that such transformation packs are difficult to uninstall, and often, a system restore point will not revert the changes. Before installing the Lion UX Pack , make sure that you backup your computer to revert the changes (if required). Moreover, make sure that UAC (User Account Control) is disabled.

The below screenshot displays the Mac OS X Lion style UI changes that you will get for your Windows 7 desktop.

After installation of this transformation pack, we experienced some internet connectivity issues. It cannot be determined if this was a problem specific to a specific kind of network adapter/system, or is a skin pack bug. For this reason, do follow the instructions mentioned in the disclaimer above, before proceeding with the skin pack installation. The skin pack is also ad-supported, as it offers to change the homepage for the web browsers installed on the system. Lion UX Pack works on Windows 7 only.

Download Lion UX Pack

WinUSB: Create Bootable Windows Installer USB In Ubuntu Linux

farshad — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:33:59 +0000

WinUSB is an Ubuntu application for creating a Windows USB installer for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Like other applications that enable creating installer USBs, you can create a bootable (installation) USB from an ISO disc image or a DVD. While other tools like Unetbootin can perform similar tasks, however, WinUSB is much simpler than other competitors, and delivers a two-click solution for creating a Windows installer USB. This may be a blessing for users who may require creating a USB installer for Windows for dual booting it with Ubuntu or other Linux distributions. Similarly, you might require installing Windows on another system, but do not have Windows installed on a computer to utilize tools such as the Windows 7 USB DVD Tool.

To create your bootable installer disc, select an ISO image or CD/DVD disc, and click Install.

This will create your Windows Vista/7 installer USB. It is worth mentioning here that the tool might also work with Windows 8; however, it has not been tested. Having said that, the developer has mentioned that the supported images include, “Windows Vista, Seven+.” You can install WinUSB either from the Deb package given at the developer’s website (for Oneiric, Natty, Maverick and Lucid), or from the PPA given below.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:colingille/freshlight
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install winusb

Since WinUSB also works from the command line, you can create a Windows 7 or Windows Vista USB installer by following the command line format given below:

sudo winusb --format

Once the USB is formatted using the above method, install a Windows partition and edit the Master Boot Record:

sudo winusb --install

[via WEBUPD8]

WinLaunch Brings Mac OS X Lion Launchpad To Windows 7

Usman — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:00:49 +0000

Finding applications and system utilities from Mac OS X default Application folder (which is accessed from system Dock) can become quite wearisome, especially when you’ve installed applications in great number. For this reason, Mac OS X Lion brought a complementary utility for Application folder, namely Launchpad, which lets users quickly find, organize and launch installed applications. Although Windows 7 Taskbar, aka superbar, makes it easy to keep frequently used applications at fingertips, you may need a Mac OS X Launchpad alternative to conveniently organize your ever-growing app list. Today, we stumbled across WinLaunch, which clones Mac OS X 10.7 Launchpad, allowing you to quickly manage your installed applications as well as launch most frequently used applications with a click.

You can add as many applications, files, shortcuts, folders etc. as you want. WinLaunch, just as Mac OS X’s Launchpad, creates new pages to accommodate your applications. However, it doesn’t scan the system for installed applications, so you have to manually add them to WinLaunch page. To begin, just run WinLaunch.exe executable file, and use Shit+Tab hotkey combination to open the Launchpad. Since it doesn’t automatically add apps to the page, hit ‘F’ and start dragging applications over its window.

The Settings can be accessed from the bottom-left corner, which lets you change default hotkey combination for launching the application, and add more pages to Launchpad. To swipe the page, hold right-click and drag left or right.

Removing apps from the page is easy; just select and hold an application with left-click until the application icons on the page start to jiggle, then hit the Close (X) button above an app to remove it from the page.

You can also organize applications into groups. Just drag the application on top of another to group applications in a folder.

It must be noted that it requires using specified hotkey combinations to open and hide the page. You may not be able to launch the application after, let’s say, hitting Escape. The application is in beta testing phase, so you may encounter some bugs while adding applications to pages. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download WinLaunch

Win Lock Brings Windows 8 Style Lock & Login Screen To Windows 7

Fawad — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:24:19 +0000

Even with the launch of Windows 8 looming on the horizon, there are still a lot of apps coming out to make Windows 7 look like Windows 8. Among other features and designs, the user, as well as the developer community, has been giving special attention to the lock and login screen of Windows 8. Win Lock is another new open source addition to the list of utilities to make Windows 7 look like Windows 8. It replaces the default Windows 7 lock screen with the one from Windows 8, providing you with an alternative, and beautifying your Windows’ appearance. The application allows you to set custom Name, Password and Background for the lock screen.

After installation, the application runs in the system tray. Right-click its icon and select Settings to setup the Windows 8 style lock screen for use. The Setup Win Lock window allows you to enter Your Name, Set Password and Select Background from an available list. You can also set the application to launch on Windows startup.

Once the lock screen is setup, the Windows 8 lock screen will be displayed with the selected background every time you login to Windows.

Double-click the lock screen to access the login screen. Enter you Password to get entry into Windows. Clicking on the Power button lets you Sleep, Hibernate, Restart and Shutdown your PC directly from the lock screen.

Win Lock works on Windows 7.

Download Win Lock

Bring New Year Joy To Your Desktop With New Year 2012 Skin Pack

farshad — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:45:12 +0000

2012 has finally arrived, and the New Year celebrations and decorations are in full bloom across the world. In the wake of 2012 celebrations, we have something special for Windows 7 users, i.e., the New Year 2012 Skin Pack. This skin pack has been created by Hamed, who has previously brought us several elegant skin packs, including the Android , Mango, iOS, Zune, Windows 8, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu Skin Pack. Interestingly, the New year skin pack has some very similar features to the recently released Christmas Skin Pack, and even the boot screen shows a Christmas tree (perhaps some elements that the developer can modify). Just like our previously-reviewed skin packs, you can install this one by simply launching an executable file, and following the simple setup wizard.

Note: Please bear in mind that such transformation packs are difficult to uninstall and a system restore point will not revert the changes. Before installing the New Year 2012 Transformer Pack, make sure that you backup your computer to revert the changes (if required). Moreover, make sure that UAC (User Account Control) is disabled.

To begin, launch the setup file, accept the terms and conditions and click Next.

Like most transformation packs, this skin pack is also ad-supported, as it attempts to change your default home page and search engine. You can avoid this by unchecking the respective options during the installation process.

When installing this transformation pack, you will be presented with the option to install the UXTheme Patch, DLL files and other extra items, click Install to initiate the installation process.

This will install the New Year 2012 skin pack on your Windows 7 computer.

The following screenshot displays some UI elements of this skin pack.

New Year 2012 skin pack is currently only available for 32-bit Windows 7 operating systems.

Download New Year 2012 Skin Pack

Mitini Is A Siri Like Virtual Personal Assistant For Windows

farshad — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:15:12 +0000

As most of us know, Siri is apple’s latest brainchild, a personal (virtual) assistant that acts as a knowledge navigator, and provides information regarding voice queries made by the user. Unfortunately, since long, there has been no application for Windows users that can provide Siri like functionality. Recently, Mitini was launched, which is a portable, Siri-like application for Windows users. This third-party application uses Microsoft’s speech engine to recognize your voice and to reply to your queries.

To use Mitini, click the “m” icon and speak in your microphone. This will enable Mitini to detect your query and to fetch relevant information about it. The below screenshot demonstrate the functionality of Mitini.

The current version of Mitini seems to provide a reasonable result, considering that this is an initial release. During testing, we were able to get correct answers for some queries, whereas the application seemed quite redundant (if not retarded), at other instances. While the iOS Siri has been criticized for not being accurate many a times, Mitini might become more accurate with the passage of time, as new versions are released. One of the major issues with Mitini, for now, seem to be the lack of backend resources that it uses for fetching information. This is because, it does detect many voice queries, but fails to provide a result for it. For example, it does recognize words like MS Office, but is unable to provide any results for it.

While Mitini is currently not as feature rich as Siri, or other voice assistant application available on mobile platforms like Android, it is certainly fun to use, and works reasonably well for some queries. For more information regarding the usage of Mitini, check out the video below.

Let’s hope that Mitini grows into a more robust Windows application with upcoming versions, and provides many options available in the mobile voice assistants, such as scheduling of meetings, launching applications and sending messages via voice commands. Mitini works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download Mitini

[via intowindows]

Basics To Know Before Moving From A Windows PC To An Apple Mac

Fatima — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:30:51 +0000

Changing phones, email providers or web browsers is something that takes a lot of conviction and adjusting to; imagine if you felt compelled to change your OS? The move would definitely be a bigger adjustment and if you’re switching from Windows 7 to Mac, since the adjustment would probably be equivalent to sleeping on the opposite of the bed. This guide helps you ease in to that adjustment. It is neither a feature list nor a comparison between the two operating systems. It was written just to tell you where the electric box is, and how the plumbing works. Briefly, we will look at how you can search for apps, files and folders on your Mac, find and install apps, manage windows and finding system preferences.

The difference between a Mac and Windows will be apparent the second you start your system. First thing you want to get to know is how you are going to do anything on a Mac, and by anything, I mean opening a file/folder, where do files and apps go, and what to expect instead of ‘My Computer’.

Windows Taskbar & Start Menu –> Mac Dock & System Menu Bar

As a Windows 7 user, you’ve grown comfortable with finding and accessing applications from the Start Menu and pinning your frequently used items to the Taskbar. In effect, the Start Menu is where you have app access from, and the Taskbar is where the currently running applications reside. In Mac you will meet the Dock.

The Dock is like a dashboard (not to be confused with the Dashboard for Widgets); icons for applications like the Finder, the Launcher, Mission Control and Safari can be found here. All these are default Mac applications that will help you perform some very basic functions. As in Windows 7, you can add your frequently-used apps to the Dock. Apps are listed to the left, folders and minimized windows go to the right. You will find three folders on the Dock – Applications, Documents and Downloads.

At the top of the desktop, you will see a horizontal bar known as the System Menu Bar; this bar is omnipresent, regardless of which app or utility you launch. The menus on this bar, however, will change to reflect those of the active app.

You will find that that the menu listed on this bar change as you click different app windows. If you have Safari window (or Chrome or Firefox) active, the menu bar will show options that you would normally see on the Title bar in Windows. Unlike windows, where the menu options for each application, program or utility is within its own window, app menus are always listed on this bar when the app window is active. As a rule, whenever you want to view settings for any app, select it, so that it becomes the active window, and the menu bar reflects its menu items. The preferences that appear in the system menu bar usually belong to the active app, and not the system itself.

What’s Up, Dock?

As corny as that line is, you need to know what those icons on the Dock do, if you want to do more than just admire your Mac. Finder is a Mac system utility for exploring files on your Hard Disk, much akin to Windows Explorer in Windows 7. The Finder icon is best described as a two faced blue guy. Click the icon to launch the Finder.

The Launchpad app makes it easy for you to view all installed apps on your Mac, use the mouse wheel to move across screens and view different apps. Click on any app to launch it. Once an app is launched, its icon will appear on the Dock.

In case you do not see the Launchpad icon on the Dock, visit the Applications folder to find and launch it. Once launched, right-click the app, and from the Options submenu, choose Keep in Dock to pin the app to the Dock. To remove an app from the Dock, drag & drop it on to the desktop and it will vanish in a puff of virtual smoke.

You will also see the Safari icon, a navigation compass, that will launch Apple’s default web browser. On the far right of the Dock, you will see the Trash Can which is Mac’s equivalent to Window’s Recycle Bin and works similarly. You can send items to the Trash Can from the right-click context menu, or drag & drop them on to the icon in the Dock.

Windows Start Search & Mac Spotlight

In Windows 7, the start menu has a search feature that lets you find folders, files, applications and system utilities by typing in their name. To do the same in Mac, click the magnifying glass icon on the top right of the system menu bar and start typing in a file or app name. The Spotlight feature will search as you type, and list all matches. The search is universal, i.e., it will search for apps, files and folders.

Control Panel & System Preferences

Control Panel is a massive feature in Windows 7, and on Mac, you get System Preferences. To access System Preferences, click the Apple icon on the system menu bar and select System Preferences. You can set system time, volume, display, networks, user accounts, parental controls, printers etc, all from here.

Scrolling

While you will be able to use any ordinary mouse with your Mac, you will notice from the get go that scrolling is reversed, i.e., scrolling the mouse wheel up actually scrolls a page down, and scrolling the mouse wheel down, scrolls a page up. Don’t think your mouse is broken, or that you might have plugged it in the wrong way – that’s just how things are on a Mac. You might also have noticed that the close, minimize and maximize buttons are all located on the upper left of windows, and not the the upper right as in Windows 7.

Opening A File

Selecting a file and hitting the return (enter) key will not open a file, it will ready the file for renaming, to open a file, either double click it or select it and hit Command + O.

Viewing Hard Disk And User Files

Unlike Windows 7, you will not see options to view “My Computer”, in order to view the Hard Disk, open the Finder menu on the System Menu Bar and open Preferences. From the General tab, select which items you would like to view on your desktop. Check the Hard Disks options and you will be able to view all disks connected to your Mac.

You will find four folders; Applications, System, Library and Users. The Applications folder will show all installed apps on your Mac, the Library folder will list folders created by Apps. The System folder is where files for system utilities and apps are saved. This is where you will find the extensions folder for Safari.

Apps

When you move to a Mac, you move to an OS that relies on apps for any and all functions that aren’t basic. Installing apps in Mac isn’t difficult, it is just different. In Windows, applications are in EXE format, in Mac they are DMG. There is seldom an installation procedure involved. A majority of Apps are installed from the Mac App Store, an app that resides on the Dock and requires you to sign in with your Apple ID.

How to Install an App

Search or browse for apps in the Mac App Store, to download a paid app, you will have to associate a credit card with your Apple ID. To download a free app, simply click where it says Free, the button will turn green to read Install and will ask you to sign in to your Apple ID. Once you’ve signed, download will begin. Download and installation are synonymous here. Once download is complete, click the app icon in either the Applications folder or in the launch pad.

The Mac App Store isn’t the only place you can download apps from, as developers host apps on their websites, and the only difference you will experience when downloading apps like this is, that they will rest in the Downloads folder and you will have to manually move them to the Applications folder. In further, rarer cases, the developer might have zipped the file, which will unzip via the default archiving utility.

Quitting & Closing An App

In Windows 7, you can exit an instance of some apps without closing. For example, you can close and image you were editing in Paint, without exiting the program itself. Similarly, in Mac, closing and quitting are often separate functions. Case in point, you might exit Safari (or Chrome, or Firefox), but it will continue to run, unless you quit them by right-clicking the app icon in the Dock and selecting Quit.

Force Quitting Apps

Mac’s Task Manager equivalent can be found in the Utilities folder in Applications and is called the Activity Monitor. You can use the Activity Monitor to quit apps as you used the Task Manager to quit processes but it is a longer process.

If you want to quickly quit an app that’s stopped responding, hit Command + Option + Escape, select the app you want to quit from the window that opens, and click Force Quit.

Mission Control & Window Management

You will find that windows minimize individually in Mac, and are not grouped as they are in Windows 7. That might make it difficult to organize your workspace, but things work differently in a Mac. Windows are best organized using Mission Control. This is a Mac feature that lets you create desktop spaces that you can switch to. More specifically, if you have trackpad, you can use the three finger swipe gesture to switch to a desktop. Each desktop space remembers which windows you were working in, and you can move windows from one desktop to another. To use Mission Control, click the icon in the Dock, and use the plus sign in the far right corner to add as many desktops as you like and drag & drop a window on to another desktop.

Hopefully, after reading this brief guide, you will have an idea of where to look when you want to access a file/folder, or change a system preference. Mac is, in no way, any less of an OS than Windows, but getting used to a new OS or finding out where everything is, can often be frustrating. Mac, if nothing else, is very different from Windows, and these are just a few things you should know before you go digging deeper.

Xbox 360 Transformer Pack Makes Windows 7 Look Like Xbox 360

farshad — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:01:13 +0000

We have previously brought you a number of Windows 7 transformation packs, including he Android , Mango, iOS, Windows 8, Mac OS X, and the Ubuntu Skin Pack. Recently, we came across another elegant skin pack, known as Xbox 360 Transformer Pack. Unlike the previously-reviewed transformation packs, this skin pack has been developed by a different developer, “the-dhruv-8”. However, just like our previously reviewed skin packs, you can install this one by simply launching an executable file, and following the simple setup wizard. In other words, you do not need to go through any manual theme patching methods.

Note: Please bear in mind that such transformation packs are difficult to uninstall and a system restore point will not revert the changes. Before installing the Xbox 360 Transformer Pack, make sure that you backup your computer to revert the changes (if required). Moreover, make sure that UAC (User Account Control) is disabled.

To get started, launch the EXE file, accept the terms and conditions and click Next.

It is worth mentioning here that this skin pack is ad-supported, as it attempts to change your default home page and search engine. You can avoid this by unchecking the respective options during the installation process.

When installing this transformation pack, you will be presented with the option to install the UXTheme Patch, DLL files and other extra items (e.g., wallpaper, visual styles etc). Click Install to begin the installation process.

This will install the skin pack on your Windows 7 computer.

The following screenshot displays some UI elements of this skin pack, including the Windows 8 Metro UI like menu.

You can switch to the normal desktop mode by hitting the Windows key.

Xbox 360 Transformer Pack works only on Windows 7 32-bit operating systems.

Download Xbox 360 Transformer Pack

TinyWall Makes It Easy To Control Windows Firewall Settings

farshad — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:03:31 +0000

Using the Firewall can help secure a system by blocking unwanted (and potentially malicious) incoming connections. Many users turn off the default Windows firewall due to the number of annoying pop-ups and confusion in configuration that they have to deal with. This is particularly true for the Advanced Firewall in Windows Vista and Windows 7. TinyWall is an easy to use tool that makes it possible for common users to use Windows firewall, without having to deal with any annoying pop-ups, and provides users with the option to whitelist or unblock programs easily. For example, you can initiate connection white listing using a hotkey, select an application from the list of running processes, and allows completely enabling/disabling all connections in a click.

TinyWall is basically a simpler configuration tool for Windows Firewall, as it presents you with a minimalist interface and necessary information displayed on the main application window. To get started, click the Starts button to begin detection of installed applications. The main window displays all blocked applications, you can select and allow access to blocked applications.

The system tray menu provides the option to change your monitoring mode (normal protection, block all, allow outgoing, disable firewall and allow LAN traffic), manage advanced firewall settings (e.g., toggling the ICMP on/off), view connections and select processes, applications and windows to white list.

For instance, you can open the running processes to white list by selecting them via the Whitelist by process option. The below window displays all running process, including blocked processes, which can be enabled by selecting them and clicking the Select button.

Once any configuration changes occur (e.g., when you enable a process), a notification is provided via the system tray.

Despite being a good application for novice and intermediate users who might not have much knowledge about advanced firewall settings, it must be noted that by default TinyWall blocks all browsers at startup, which have to be enabled using a white list option from the system tray menu. TinyWall works on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download TinyWall

Bring Holiday Joys To Your Windows 7 Desktop With Christmas Themes

farshad — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:23:48 +0000

Christmas has arrived once again, and all the houses, streets and cities are lit up with the Christmas spirit. While your house is filled with Christmas pleasure and goodies beneath the Christmas tree, it’s also time to brighten up your Windows 7 desktop with sparkling images of holiday celebration and Christmas wonder, as we have four beautiful Christmas themes for your, including a complete Christmas transformation pack to give your PC the snowy, festive look. Read past the break for more.

Christmas Theme

A glowing decorated tree, a quiet gift amidst the red ribbons, a snowy winter Christmas night, a bouquet of Christmas flowers, a magical Christmas gift and a dancing snow man, this amazing Windows 7 theme pack has it all. Enjoy the Christmas lights on your desktop with 22 amazing Christmas wallpapers.

Download Christmas Theme

Golden Christmas Ball Theme

Sometimes, all one looks for in a theme is not a long chain of flashy wallpapers, but rather a quiet and elegant image that says it all. The Golden Christmas Ball Theme brings a single, yet elegant wallpaper that brings the joy of the holiday season to your desktop.

Download Golden Christmas Ball Theme

Christmas House Theme

Everyone decorates a Christmas tree and their house to enjoy the festive spirit in full bloom. Enjoy the Christmas House theme, which bring a peaceful Christmas house to your desktop.

Download Christmas House Theme

Christmas Skin Pack

If a Windows 7 theme seems too little to celebrate the holiday joy, you can completely transform your Windows 7 desktop with this Christmas Skin Pack. This transformation pack has been developed by the same developer, Hamed, who previous brought us the iOS, Mac OS X, Windows 8, Android and Windows Phone 7 Mango skin packs.

Note: Please bear in mind that such transformation packs are difficult to uninstall, and a system restore point will not revert the changes. Before installing the Halloween Skin Pack, make sure that you backup your computer to revert the changes (if required). Moreover, make sure that UAC (User Account Control) is disabled.

Note: This skin pack is ad-supported, as it offers to install a toolbar and change your default home page, which can be avoided by using the custom installation option.

Download Christmas Skin Pack (32-bit)

Download Christmas Skin Pack (64-bit)

The AddictiveTips team wishes our readers a Merry Christmas Everyone! Ho Ho Ho!

How To Setup Dropbox-Like Synchronization Using Windows Live Mesh

farshad — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:09:53 +0000

Many users who use Dropbox and other cloud storage services, have recently been more concerned about security vulnerabilities that can compromise their personal data. While many people like using services like Dropbox because of the convenience that they provide, Windows Live Mesh can be used as a viable alternative for syncing multiple folders (instead of just one parent folder) between Windows and Mac computers. In this post, we will walk you through the steps of setting up your Windows Live Mesh synchronization folders.

To get started, launch Windows Live Mesh and login with your Windows Live ID. Once done, click Sync a folder and select a folder to sync.

This will provide you with the option to select devices to sync your folder with. The available options will include all connected computers, and your SkyDrive account. For example, you can save your data to your cloud drive, and also choose another computer to sync the folder with. When you login to the other computer using Windows Live Mesh, the folder will be automatically synced.

Using this method, you can save up to 5GB of data on your SkyDrive account between numerous Windows and Mac OS X computers.

You can edit permissions by logging into your Windows Live account (at devices.live.com). Here, you can connect and disconnect devices to sync folders with, and control what data is shared with each connected device.

While Windows Live Mesh is a good alternative to Dropbox and other cloud storage services, it currently does not support too many platforms, like many widely-used mobile operating systems, such as iOS and Android.

Reset Lost Windows 7 User Account Password With Ubuntu Live Disk

Usman — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:35:25 +0000

Windows 7 has an in-built option to create password recovery disk to log into system in case a user forgets the Windows account password. You may know that Windows 7 keeps the administrator account concealed unless you activate it from Local Users and Groups or by using net user administrator /active:yes command in CMD. Using the admin account, you can easily log in to system and reset admin, standard and guest accounts’ passwords. However, in a worst case scenario, where you don’t have a password reset disk nor have access to administrator account, Ubuntu Live media disc may help. In this post, we will guide you through step-by-step procedure of resetting and changing Windows 7 administrator, standard and guest user account password.

Ubuntu Live CD is, basically, a disc that can run Ubuntu in isolation, and load all the essential components attached and/or installed into the system; you can access removable drives & primary storage mediums (HDDs), clone partitions, and apply numerous fixes without having to install an operating system. While Ubuntu Live CD is widely used to troubleshoot PC problems, you can use it to reset Windows 7 user account passwords as well. The process requires creating a Ubuntu Live CD, and then booting it to gain full system access for writing/editing user account-related registry hives.

To get started, grab Universal USB Installer (download link given at the bottom of the post), and then download Ubuntu 10.10 (32-bit or 64-bit) from here. The USB Universal Installer enables users to create a persistent Ubuntu Live media disc, so they can make permanent changes to bootable medium and save all the additional apps they may require to fix the issues. You can also download Ubuntu from within the application; select Ubuntu 10.10 and enable Download the iso option. It will open the Ubuntu 10.10 download link, letting you start the download process.

Once the Ubuntu 10.10 is downloaded, select Ubuntu 10.10 from drop-down menu, and then click Browse to select the downloaded ISO file. Now, select the USB drive letter and set the persistent file size, i.e disk space you want to utilize for permanent file write operations.

Once all settings are in place, click Create to begin creating an Ubuntu Live media disk.

After the Ubuntu Live media disk is created, reboot your PC and access system BIOS menu by pressing ESC, F2, F10, F9 or other system defined key. Head over to Boot menu and set USB/Removable Hard disk as first boot option. Once boot priority is changed, save the changes and reboot the system. From boot menu, choose Run Ubuntu from this USB option to load Ubuntu 10.10.

Ubuntu doesn’t come with chntpw – a utility to change and reset Windows user account passwords. The chntpw offers an easy solution for reading and writing registry values to SAM (Security Accounts Manager file residing in Windows/System32/config folder). So, first you need to install chntpw (32-bit) from Synaptic Package Manager. If you’ve created Live media disk for Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit version, you need to manually download chntpw – 64-bit DEB package from here, and then install it from Terminal or Ubuntu Software Center.

For Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit, open Administration menu from System, and then click Synaptic Package Manager.

This will open Ubuntu 10.10 default package manager. Now, you need to include community-maintained Open Source repository to download and install chntpw tool. To do so, open Settings menu and then click Repositories.

Under Downloadable from the Internet section, enable Community-maintained Open Source software (universe), and then hit Close.

Now, hit Reload button in toolbar to add the Open Source repository list.

At this point, make sure that you’re connected to internet, as it will start downloading the open source repository list.

Once the repository list is updated, click Search (present at extreme right of toolbar), enter chntpw, and hit search.

Now, close the Find dialog, right-click chntpw from main window, select Mark For Installation and click Apply on toolbar.

You can view the details of changes that are being applied during the installation process. Once finished, close the Synaptic Package Manager.

Now, you need to mount the hard disk partition where Windows 7 is installed. You will be able to access all the removable drives and hard disk partitions from Places menu.

Open all partitions to find the drive with Windows folder. Note down the disk identifier from Nautilus title bar, as it will be needed to access Windows folder in Terminal.

Once the drive with Windows folder is mounted, open Applications menu from panel, and select Terminal from Accessories menu.

In Terminal window, enter cd /media command.

Now list all mounted media drives with ls command.

Once listed, you have to navigate to drive that contains Windows folder. Enter the following command to do so.

cd

Since we have to make changes to Security Accounts Manager (SAM), which is residing in Windows/System32/config folder. Enter:

cd Windows/System32/config

Once you’re in config folder, use chntpw tool to read Windows user account credentials and make changes to saved passwords. Enter following command to run chntpw tool.

sudo chntpw SAM

The chntpw shows all the configured Windows user accounts with their current status.

It presents 4 different Windows user account tweaking options at the bottom, including clear the admin account password, replace current password/edit password, promote standard user, and unlock locked user accounts. You can reset Windows 7 admin user account password by pressing ‘1’ followed by ‘Y’, However, to edit the admin password, press ‘2’, enter a new password, hit enter and then press Y to change the password.

The sudo chntpw SAM command can only make changes to Windows admin account password. If you want to change standard user’s password, use the switch –u followed by correct user account name.

sudo chntpw –u SAM

Once you’ve changed the user account password, reboot your system, and plug out Ubuntu Live media disk. If you’ve just reset the admin password, Windows will not prompt you to enter the password. However, if you changed the password, use the new password to log in to Windows.

Download Universal USB Installer

Instant Beautiful Browsing: Windows 8 Metro Workspace In Windows 7

Fawad — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:18:53 +0000

The Metro UI of Windows 8 has been under a lot of discussion since the release of Windows 8 Developer’s Preview. If you really like the Metro UI but don’t want to leave Windows 7 just for the UI change, you can now enjoy Windows 8 Metro interface in Windows 7. Instant Beautiful Browsing or IBB is an open source project aimed at developing a workspace that includes applications such as multi-view browser, clock, weather app, store and links to other applications in a eye-candy Metro User Interface.

After installation, Instant Beautiful Browsing can be easily accessed from a desktop shortcut just like any other application. It takes over your computer screen and replaces the stock Windows 7 interface with the beautiful Metro UI. The application has Metro tiles set by default for Weather, Clock, Browser, Gmail, Shop, Music etc. Click a tile to access the attached application. You can also edit the tiles yourself to add and remove new applications.

For instance, click Clock or Weather to view the Metro clock in both analog and digital time formats or the current Weather of your location.

The Shop tile lets you change your user status, pin sites to Pinner, view your Google Docs, add and apply themes from Theme Center, etc.

Please note that Instant Beautiful Browsing is under development and some of the tiles and options might be buggy at the moment. Meanwhile, you can also check out how to get Windows 8 style Metro start screen in Windows 7 using Metro7.

Download Instant Beautiful Browsing

Notepad7 Is Ribbon Based Alternative To Windows Notepad

Fawad — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:49:37 +0000

The default Notepad of Windows hasn’t seen much GUI changes since a very long time. Even when Windows 7 came out, there wasn’t anything different about the way it looked. To be honest, the current GUI is pretty lame in my opinion. There are no tabs, no buttons to access the settings and you still have to access simple document editing options such as Cut, Copy, Paste, Select All, Find, Replace, Font Style, Size, Bold, Italic etc from the menus at the top. If you too find the default Windows Notepad boring and somewhat annoying, you can check out Notepad7. Read more about it after the break.

Notepad7 is a text editor just like the default Windows Notepad but it has a different GUI, inspired by the look and feel of MS Office 2010 Ribbon. The application just changes the appearance; the main functionality of Notepad remains the same. The basic options such as Font Style, Font Size, Undo, Insert Date Time, Find, Replace, Save Document, Text Wrapping, etc are neatly divided in Home and View tabs accessible from the top. Buttons for other options like Redo, Open New and Print can be added to the main interface from Customize Quick Access Toolbar button at the top.

Previously, we covered another alternative to the default Windows Notepad named FluentNotepad. Like Notepad7, FluentNotepad is also based on Office 2010 Ribbon UI and contains some added options such as Text Color, Text Alignment, etc. Notepad7 works on Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7.

Download Notepad7

Nemo Documents: Now With Jumplist Support & Colored Labels

farshad — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:12:15 +0000

Last year, we reviewed Nemo Documents, a Windows application for inspecting your current folder structure to see documents, images and other files, all mapped into a calendar-like view. This makes it easy to find files according to chronological order. Over the past year, Nemo Documents has undergone some major improvements, including Windows 7 Jumplist and drag/drop support, colored labels, faster document indexing, better file sorting features, many bug fixes and more.

Nemo Documents now provides Windows 7 Jumplist integration to make it easier to access your files. The Jumplist displays the files you have starred and recently opened with just one click. This allows you to open your files directly from the Jumplist.

The program also now comes with much faster indexing. One of the testers even reported a 30 second indexing time for their files, instead of 3 ½ hours (which was the time it took in the previous versions). Nemo Documents has also added support for drag & drop, and you can drag files from Nemo Documents to other applications more easily. Furthermore, the ugly black border (around items related to selection) has been fixed, along with faster views with larger number of files, better handling of moving files from one folder to another, and better checks for “file type already exists.” By default, Nemo Documents now sorts name according to day/week/month/year views.

The improved application comes with the ability to show 7 days in a week, instead of collapsing weekends as one day. You can configure this option from Settings under the Advanced tab.

You can also add colors to labels, drop files onto labels (to add labels), define height of file types, folders and labels. Clicking the Nemo Documents logo now pulls a menu, which provides access to Settings, Reindex files, and Check for updates options.

Nemo Documents works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download Nemo Documents

Get Infinite Scrolling On Windows Desktop With WindowSlider

Fawad — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:15:31 +0000

If you are tired of playing around with virtual desktop or opening, closing, minimizing and maximizing application windows to avoid cluttering on your desktop, have a go at WindowSlider. It is a desktop window management application that makes the desktop infinite on both left and right side. Infinite scrolling was first introduced on the web, and WindowSlider applies the same concept to Windows desktop (though not the first one to do so). You can scroll desktop to the left and right side allowing you to open multiple windows at a time. This gives you more space for application windows without them getting overlapped because of less screen space. It gives you the liberty to scroll left or right using keyboard hotkeys or just with your mouse.

WindowSlider resides in the system tray after installation. Right-click its icon to Enable/Disable infinite desktop and access the Hot keys Configuration window. The Hot keys Configuration window lets you edit hotkeys for Slide Left, Slide Right and Center Active Window functions. You can also scroll the desktop left or right by placing the mouse at the left or right edge of screen respectively or by switching to another window using the Windows default Alt+Tab application scrolling feature.

Watch the video below to see it in action. Note that infinite scrolling appears laggy in the video, but in reality it is smooth. Give it a try yourself!

WindowSlider is still in beta phase and according to the developer, experiences some issues when running on Windows XP. We hope that it will be solved in the next release. It has been successfully tested and works flawlessly on Windows 7.

Download WindowSlider

Take Ownership Of Files And Folders In Windows 8 With TakeOwnershipEx

farshad — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:27:26 +0000

Taking ownership of a file in Windows involves a complicated procedure, which can be confusing for people who are not acquainted with user rights management and NTFS file permissions. There are numerous reasons why one may require taking ownership of a file including unlocking of system files, accessing files, which may have been restricted for the administrator by a local user and installing Windows tweaks. For example, the Windows 7 Logon Screen Capture tool requires taking ownership of system files to add a screenshot facility to the Windows logon screen.

TakeOwnershipEx is a portable application for quickly taking ownership of Windows files and folders (including Windows 8). This application eliminates the need of requiring knowledge of any complex procedure to allocate and manage file and folder right and also provides an instant backup for the default rights of a file or folder, to restore settings (if required). Once launched, click Take Ownership and select a file or folder to take ownership for.

This will display a prompt that the ownership has been granted to the current user.

Having access to sensitive system files can often result in system issues, particularly if they become corrupt or are altered. To avoid damage to a sensitive file or to simply restore the default file rights, launch TakeOwnershipEx again and select Restore Ownership.

This will display a list of files and folders for which the ownership was changed. Select the files and folders for which you wish to restore the default rights and click Restore Rights.

If you would like to find out how user rights are allocated by the conventional method in Windows, then check out our guide here. TakeOwnershipEx works on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 (tested successfully).

Download TakeOwnershipEx

Metro7: Get Windows 8 Style Metro Start Screen In Windows 7

farshad — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:48:12 +0000

Since the release of the Windows 8 Developer’s Preview, there has been a lot of talk about the pros and cons of using the Metro UI. If you are one of those users who are thinking of sticking with Windows 7 or just cannot upgrade to Windows 8, you can still enjoy the Metro UI. Metro7 is a widget filled application that brings the Metro UI style interface to your Windows 7 desktop. It provides instant access to built-in widgets and a custom store from where you can install more applications. Obviously, the applications are not the ones that you would find in the original Windows 8 operating system, but some of them (like the weather app), come pretty close to providing you with the functionality of the real Metro applications.

After installation, Metro7 can be launched from a simple shortcut after which the Metro UI appears. The widgets of this UI provide time and date information, access to built-in metro store, weather application, and shortcuts to numerous websites like Facebook and Badoo. Clicking the arrow on the top right-side displays additional options, which allow you to pin any application as a metro tile, configure application settings and exit the metro interface.

To receive weather alerts, click the weather widget, enter your city name, click search and select your city’s name from the search result. Once done, you will get instant weather updates from the metro interface (as shown in the first screenshot). You can also select the time interval after which you would like to check for weather updates.

Clicking the main weather widget (once it has been configured) displays a five day weather forecast for the selected city.

Similarly, you can go to Settings and enable/disable full screen mode, widget animation, windows taskbar and set Metro7 to automatically start with system startup.

To add more applications to the Metro UI, head over to the Metro Store and select an application.

Overall, Metro7 is a good application for emulating the Windows 8 MetroUI style interface on your Windows 7 desktop, however, it still seems to be under construction as some of the widgets simply lead to a blank page and many of the website shortcuts on the main interface seem to be there to fill the main interface. Metro 7 has been developed for Windows 7.

Download Metro7

How To Install Windows 8 On A Windows 7 Tablet [Guide]

farshad — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:11:04 +0000

If you have a tablet capable of running the Windows 7 operating system, then you might be interested in trying out a more tablet-oriented Windows OS, i.e., Windows 8. Although the currently available Windows 8 build is still in its pre-beta stage, however, you might find the new Metro UI to be more suitable for your tablet. In this post, we will provide you with a guide for installing Windows 8 on a Windows 7 tablet.

Disclaimer: Despite the fact that many Windows 7 PCs and tablets are capable of running Windows 8 Developer’s preview, it must be noted that installing Windows 8 on your tablet can result in issues. Please follow this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips will not be liable if your device gets damaged during the process.

Requirements:

Windows 8 ISO
Bootable Windows 8 USB. To create a Windows 8 USB see our guide here. (For the first method)
At least 20GB of free hard disk space (recommended)

1. Windows 8 installation from USB

Instructions:

Connect and boot your Windows 7 tablet from the bootable USB. To do this, you may have to change your BIOS settings.
Once the tablet boots from USB drive, follow the regular installation procedure to install Windows 8 on your tablet.
After the installation is complete, install the respective drivers (which can be downloaded from your manufacturers website).

2. Windows 8 Installation From ISO

Using this method, you can install Windows 8 on a tablet by mounting the Windows 8 ISO to a disc mounting application, and initiating the installation from the .EXE file.

Instructions:

Login to a regular Windows 7 session on your tablet, and make sure that you have a system backup.
Mount the Windows 8 ISO image with a disc mounting tool. You can pick a free disc mounting application from our compilation of the 20 best disc mounting applications.
Now, open the virtual disc drive and run the EXE file to proceed with the Windows 8 installation. During installation, select the Windows 7 drive to overwrite Windows 7 with Windows 8. Your Windows 7 data will be moved to the Windows old folder after the installation of Windows 8.

Although Windows 8 can be uninstalled (see our guide here), we recommend you to keep a backup of your Windows 7 installation to revert the changes.

[via IntoWindows]

Remote Potato: Access Windows Media Center Across Network

Fawad — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:39:57 +0000

Windows 7 perfected the existing Windows Media Center, making it arguably the best central application to listen to music, watch videos and movies, and view images. It allows you to create a media library by specifying folders containing different types of data. Apart from all the useful features and an appealing and user-friendly interface, its major drawback is its inability to be portable. Remote Potato takes care of this problem, and turns Windows Media Center into a server, allowing you to access your media from any PC with a browser and an internet connection. Just put in your PC’s IP address and gain remote access to your entire media library, eliminating the need to carry media around in a USB flash drive.

The application wizard guides you through the complete setup process. During installation, enter a User name and Password in the Remote Library Access window.

Once the installation is complete, you will be required to configure Remote Internet Access when using the application for the first time. Choose the security settings and type of remote access. You will be given a local and an external IP address to access your media from the browser.

Enter the details of a user whose media library will be shared by Remote Potato and click Save.

Once all details are entered, you will be able to access the main interface of Remote Potato. Select the folders and media that you want to share, and click the Play button available at the top left corner to start the remote server.

Enter your PC’s IP address in the browser of another PC to gain access to your media library.

You can play your personal videos, movies, music and pictures directly from the browser without installing anything on the remote PC.

Remote Potato works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7.

Download Remote Potato

Force Windows 7 Aero Visual Style Settings Across Network PCs

Usman — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:19:19 +0000

Like previous version of Windows, Windows 7 saves Aero themes settings, images (PNG format) and metadata information required to set the themes design and layout in Aero.msstyles file. Since there is a difference between Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 skinning engines and msstyles file rendering mechanisms, you can’t use Windows 7 themes on previous versions of Windows, unless you convert PNG images into BMP and tinker around with metadata to meet the required Windows version skinning engine’s requirements.

Windows 7 allows admin users to enforce visual style settings file for all system users, so that standard and guest users can’t change the visual styles while changing themes. Moreover, using this visual style enforce option, one can easily share visual style settings file over the network, as it has the ability to read visual style settings from both local and remote locations. In this post, we will guide you through the process of enforcing a style theme across the network.

Since this method includes changing Personalization settings in Local Group Policy Editor, you need to log into Windows as admin to make the required changes. To begin, type group policy or gpedit.msc in Start search and hit enter to open Local Group Policy Editor.

Now from User Configuration list, expand Administrative Templates followed by Control Panel, and then select Personalization. In main window, right-click Force a specific visual style file or force Windows Classic option to select Edit.

Now, select Enabled and then specify complete path of msstyles settings file in Options section. The Help section discusses different scenarios for msstyles file. For example, you may want to know which visual style file will be used when specified msstyles file is not available, or what if you completely disable the visual style enforce option. As mentioned earlier, you can share the visual settings file (aero.msstyles) on network, so clients can easily access them and enforce the shared visual settings file from Group Policy Editor.

If you’re on thin client, then visual style enforce process would take relatively less time. Nevertheless, we recommend using server IP address for establishing connection in order to access and apply visual style settings file. Once specified msstyles file is enforced, reboot your system and all client PCs to apply the shared visual style across the configured PCs.

Vista Services Optimizer: Manage Windows Services To Speed Up PC

farshad — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:49:45 +0000

When optimizing Windows to acquire smooth performance, it is necessary to configure Windows services in order to manage the execution of backend services according to user requirement. Vista Services Optimizer is an open source Windows services’ optimization utility for Windows Vista and Windows 7, which enables you to adjust and tweak your Windows services within an easy-to-use GUI. This application provides a comprehensive set of options to automate the execution and halt of Windows services, thus better suiting the needs of all kinds of users, including generic users, gamers, network administrators and others of the like.

The Home Window displays system performance monitors and provides options to diagnose and fix system issues associated with Windows services. You can also enable and configure Windows Gaming Mode, automatic snapshots and automatic updates. Vista Services optimizer comes with Services Profiles, Services Manager and a Gaming Mode feature, the latter of which can be used to temporarily disable non-vital services.

For example, you can click Services Diagnostics to configure relevant hardware, security, internet, networking and other system settings by using the respective drop down menu options. Once you have selected your desired options, click OK.

This will open a diagnosis window, where you can diagnose system issues by running a wizard.

Once the wizard is complete, you will be presented with a detailed overview of the diagnosis result. The areas marked in green represent configurations that require no changes, whereas the services marked in yellow represent the services that should be started to optimize your system.

Similarly, you can automatically or manually tune up the system, limit support for peripheral devices like printers to optimize gaming setting, and open service manager within the application to add, remove, start or stop Windows services.

Vista Services optimizer works on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download Vista Services Optimizer

Ultimate Windows Customizer: All-In-One Customizer For Windows 7

farshad — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:06:25 +0000

There are many third-party tweaks that allow customizing numerous aspects of the Windows operating system. These includes applications for changing the Windows start menu orb, logon screen branding, library icons etc. Ultimate Windows Customizer is an all-in-one application suite that combines the functionality of many Windows tweaks. It provides the utility to transform the look of the Windows 7 logon screen, start menu orb, Windows Media Player background, taskbar and other Windows elements.

Note: Before installing this application, it is advised that you uninstall any previously installed teaks and revert the changes. This is because, upon First Run, UWC generates backups of the current files and registry settings to allow the user to revert back to default settings.

The Explorer section provides many useful options to tweak the Windows Navigation Pane (by adding additional items like Favorites, Libraries, Homegroup, Computer, Networks, Documents and Control Panel), image thumbnail borders and the command bar.

The Context Menu tab allows customization of the Windows right-click menu by adding and removing items. Similarly, you can change library icons, start Orb, change size of taskbar items, enable error message prompts, and change the Windows Media Player background image from the rest of the sections.

The below image displays how you can apply numerous tweaks to customize your Windows operating system. For example, the logon branding image and Windows Media Player background has been changed, and new items have been added to the right-click context menu.

Ultimate Windows Customizer works on Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Download Ultimate Windows Customizer

My Commander: Dual Pane, Tabbed File Manager For Windows 7

farshad — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:09:38 +0000

My Commander is a portable file manager that can be used as an alternative to the default Windows Explorer, and other widely used applications like Double Commander. It is a dual-pane, tabbed file explorer, which comes with a built-in file viewer to view files in hex, binary or text format. It provides nested archive handling with full Unicode support. You can also securely wipe files, modify file attributes, obtain favorites and folder history and send DOS commands from within the file manager. My Commander is a lightweight application and has a memory foot print of merely 5 MB (approximately).

One of the biggest advantages of using My Commander is that not only can you open numerous directories with a dual pane view, but also use tabs in each pane.

The File menu offers a list of basic functions, which are also accessible from the top toolbar. These include the option to launch a new window, rename files, multi-renaming of files in batch, copy to, compress, move to, new folder, mount folder, delete, remove, secure delete and close window.

For example, you can select multiple files and from File –> Multi Rename in order to open the batch file renaming utility. Similarly, the Edit menu provides verbose cut, copy paste options, followed by the View menu which allows changing the file and folder viewing and sorting format (e.g. Brief, Full, Branch View, Name, Extension, Size and Date).

The Mark and Tabs menus provide options for selecting files and opening/cloning tab(s), whereas, the Net drop down menu allows adding an FTP location, mapping a network drive, sharing the current directory with other users and opening the Windows Remote Desktop utility. You can open commonly used utilities such as MS Paint, calculator, volume label, disk defragmentation utility, etc from the Programs and Tools menus.

My Commander works only on Windows 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit variants).

Download My Commander

Team Viewer 7 Brings Better Multi-Monitor, Performance & Meeting Support

farshad — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 07:23:43 +0000

Team Viewer is perhaps one of the most widely used desktop remote sharing, control and collaboration application, which is used by not just system administrators for remotely controlling servers, but also by entrepreneurs, employees of small and medium size companies and even common users who require help regarding technical issues from their friends. Earlier, we covered features and enhancements in Team Viewer 6, and the iPhone and iPod version of Team Viewer. Recently, Team Viewer 7 beta was launched with improved remote control and meetings features. In this post we will provide you with a list of the new Team Viewer enhancements.

Team viewer 7 now provides faster file transfer via drag and drop. Instead of using the top toolbar, you can simply drag an item from your desktop to the remote screen, in order to quickly transfer files and folders.

Now you can utilize multiple monitor screens more efficiently by displaying multiple “remote monitors” simultaneously, without having to switch monitor screens.

Team Viewer 7 allows saving individual connection settings for each computer, which can be organized in separate groups to instantly launch a connection.

Team Viewer has also included a number of enhancements for meetings including scheduling, meetings, starting meetings with a single click using Start instant meeting button, connection support for upto 25 participants in a single meeting and mobile participation using an iPhone, iPad or Android app.

Team Viewer 7 also comes with some under the hood changes, such as optimization of data packets and display settings for preventing lags. During testing, I found Team Viewer 7 to be more responsive than previous version. The new features have added more convenience, and will help speed up remote control and collaboration.

It must be noted that team Viewer 7 is currently in beta, and therefore, users may face some functionality issues.Team Viewer 7 works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS and Android.

Download Team Viewer 7

Add A Location Sensor To Windows 7 With GeoSense

farshad — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:42:41 +0000

Starting with Windows 7, the Windows Sensor and Location platform was provided by Microsoft to enable applications to adapt to computers environment, including tracking your location with the help of GPS devices, WLAN radios etc. The platform was introduced to provide a standard way to integrate sensor and location devices into Windows. For example, Ambient light sensors allow computers to automatically adjust screen brightness based on current lighting conditions. For this reason, Microsoft has also provided Windows 7 WDK for hardware manufacturers and the Windows 7 SDK that provides information for creating location-aware and sensor-enabled applications.

Geosense is a Windows Location and Sensors platform for computers running Windows 7. It delivers accurate positioning information without requiring any GPS device. Once Geosense application is installed, you can enable the location sensors from Location and Other Sensors in Control Panel.

Once the sensors are enabled, you can use any application that supports geo location sensors to find out your current location. This can be handy when you might require finding out your current address during travelling and/or require searching a nearby spot (e.g. a restaurant). For demonstration purposes, the developers have provided a demo application with Google Maps integration, which displays your current location and address.

Using this demo app, you can also search for places using Google Maps. Similarly, you can track your current location and search for nearby buildings by using other applications, which are compatible Windows 7 location sensors.

GeoSense works only on Windows 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions).

Download GeoSense

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