iOS 7 release date, news and rumours

 

The last major iOS 6 update for Apple's mobile devices, the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, was mostly hit, but there was a big Maps-shaped miss. Lots of people were rightly angry about Apple ditching Google data, but beyond that mis-step there were things to like: a more useful Siri (App launching plus the recognition that a world exists outside of the USA), shared Photo Streams, handy Phone app controls such as 'send to voicemail', and major improvements to Mail, Safari, accessibility and the Camera app.

iOS 7 release date

it looks like the new operating system might be running a little behind schedule. John Gruber believes that iOS 7 is "running behind", with engineers being pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it.
We're expecting a September or October release date for iOS 7 in line with previous releases. Expect a preview of the new features to come at June's Apple WWDC.

iOS 7 design

A greater synergy between hardware and software design is something Apple is looking to achieve as it moves towards iOS 7. That's according to the Wall Street Journal in late March 2013, which also suggests that Jonathan Ive is pushing for a starker and simpler design for iOS 7 - that reminds us a little of what Microsoft has done to the desktop in Windows 8.

But regardless of what Apple achieves, it's never really enough. As soon as you've sat there playing with the latest iOS, ideas pop into your head regarding what you'd like to see next.
However, most changes will be "pretty conservative" according to the paper's sources.
The rest of this article explores a dozen of the features we're clamouring to see in iOS 7. (And by 'clamouring', we of course mean 'asking really nicely'. C'mon, Mr Cook - pretty please?)

1. Hide Apple apps

Pretty much everyone we know with an Apple device has a folder entitled 'Apple'. This isn't filled with must-have apps from the geniuses at Cupertino, but all the junk Apple installs that you can't get rid off. To be fair, what each individual considers junk is different, and these apps—Compass, Stocks, Voice Memos, Passbook, and so on—have their fans; but is it too much to ask for a switch in Settings that will hide those we don't use?

2. Better app management

Change for change's sake is rarely a good thing. Recognition is key to satisfying experiences with technology. That's why we're not yelling at Apple to change how iOS home screens work. What we would like to see is improvements to app management: more screens; by default saving app data on delete; and an alphabetical list of installed apps, perhaps accessible from Spotlight.

3. Change app defaults

We're pretty certain this request would be met with wide-eyes from Apple CEO Tim Cook, swiftly followed by a full twenty minutes of belly laughing, but we want the ability to use non-default apps for important things like email and calendaring. Apple's own apps would remain the defaults, but you should also be able to pick your own in Settings.

4. Provide a guest account

It's extremely unlikely that Apple's ever going to enable multiple user accounts on iOS devices—they are, after all, designed as extremely personal computers. What is perhaps more realistic is some kind of guest account you could switch to when handing your device over to someone for a short while; something similar already exists on the Mac in OS X.

5. Change Siri's voice

OS X is blessed with dozens of high-quality voices that witter away to you in various dulcet tones. By contrast, Siri is Siri. In the US, you get a slightly robotic woman; in the UK, Siri's that bloke who did The Weakest Link for a decade. It'd be great if you could choose the voice your device uses to speak. (Possible exception: Yoda voice.)

6. Provide App Store demos

Apps and games might be cheap, but that doesn't figure cheapskates into the equation. Too often, people are unwilling to risk 69p on the latest release, forcing devs into irritating freemium models or making them clutter up the App Store with 'lite' versions of their output. Apple should just allow demos: 24 hours from first launch and then you buy or the app won't run. Boom.

7. Power up 'Do Not Disturb'

Fed up of getting woken up in the middle of the night by the marketing efforts of [redacted, but quite possibly a well-known mobile network] or Game Center fanfares? Do Not Disturb is a great feature that enables you to time when your phone will quit bugging you. But you can define only a single schedule, and we want to see alternative options for weekends.

8. Make locking location-aware

Locking is a great thing on iOS devices, making it at least a little harder for some scallywag to get at your data if they pinch your shiny Apple joy. But it could be more intelligent, locking on a location-aware basis, and not when you're, say, happily sitting at home on the sofa.

9. Improve the lock screen

There's something to be said for Apple's minimalism regarding the iOS lock screen, and it's mostly that it's too minimal. We're not sure we want to see Android-style widgets sprayed everywhere, but a little more functionality wouldn't go amiss. For example, artwork from a currently playing song is displayed on the lock screen, but there are no controls for pausing or skipping to the next track, until you double-press Home, which isn't hugely discoverable. And beyond notifications, nothing else shows up there at all.

10 Cut all iTunes ties

In recent years, Apple's made great leaps away from iTunes, and you can technically get away with never using the monstrous jukebox. However, there's still no way to easily get your existing music collection nor your photographs on to your device, and there should be. (Alas, with Apple wanting to push iTunes Match and the iTunes Store, there almost certainly never will be for the first of those.)

11. Make more icons dynamic

We're hesitant at arguing Apple's home screen icons should be more like Windows 8 tiles, but there's something to be said for dynamic updates when such things work well. With iOS, you get update badges and a live calendar. It'd be nice at the least if Apple made its own Clock and Weather icons dynamic.

12. Enable cross-platform installs

On a device, you now often see iOS-style banners on websites that when tapped take you right to the equivalent App Store app. But if you're browsing elsewhere, you have to email yourself a reminder and then install later. How good would it be if you were surfing on your PC, saw a great app and could install it across your devices without going near them, nor even to iTunes?

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie release date and faetures

Google's showing no signs of slowing its pace of Android development, with Android 4.0 appearing on the Galaxy Nexus late in 2011, followed in July of 2012 by the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release that arrived powering the super Nexus 7.
But, forward-looking, update-obsessed people that we are, we can't help but imagine how Google's going to maintain the pace of innovation in its next version of its mobile OS, Android 5.0. 

Android 5.0 release date

Google has announced that its next developer conference - Google IO - will take place from May 15 to May 17 2013, a month earlier than 2012's June dates. Given that Google announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at 2012's IO conference, it's not unreasonable to expect to see Android 5.0 at this year's event.

Androids out in force at Google IO 2012

On 31 January, a Google IO showing of Android 5.0 looked more likely when screengrabs of a Qualcomm roadmap were leaked, showing Android 5.0 as breaking cover between April and June 2013.

Android 5.0 features

 

Android 5.0 interface

While this is pure speculation, we're wondering whether Android 5.0 might bring with it a brighter interface, moving away from the Holo Dark theme that came with Android 4.0.
Google Now brought with it a clearer look with cleaner fonts, and screenshots of Google Play 4.0 show Google's app market taking on similar design cues. Is this a hint at a brighter, airier look for Key Lime Pie?
While we wait on more Key Lime Pie features to be revealed and scour the web for more Android 5.0 news, TechRadar writer Gary Cutlack has been thinking about what we want to see in Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Hopefully the new mobile OS will feature some of these things...

1. Performance Profiles

It's bit of a fuss managing your mobile before bed time. Switching off the sound, turning off data, activating airplane mode and so on, so what Android 5.0 really needs is a simple way of managing performance, and therefore power use, automatically.
We've been given a taste of this with Blocking Mode in Samsung's Jelly Bean update on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Note 2 but we'd like to see the functionality expanded.
Something like a Gaming mode for max power delivery, an Overnight low-power state for slumbering on minimal power and maybe a Reading mode for no bothersome data connections and a super-low backlight.
Some hardware makers put their own little automated tools in, such as the excellent Smart Actions found within Motorola's RAZR interface, but it'd be great to see Google give us a simple way to manage states.
Another little power strip style widget for phone performance profiles would be an easy way to do it.

Set telephone to BEDTIME SLEEPY MODE

2. Better multiple device support

Google already does quite a good job of supporting serious Android nerds who own several phones and tablets, but there are some holes in its coverage that are rather frustrating.
Take the Videos app which manages your film downloads through the Play Store. Start watching a film on one Android device and you're limited to resuming your film session on that same unit, making it impossible to switch from phone to tablet mid-film.
You can switch between phone and web site players to resume watching, but surely Google ought to understand its fans often have a couple of phones and tabs on the go and fix this for Android Key Lime Pie?

3. Enhanced social network support

Android doesn't really do much for social network users out of the box, with most of the fancy social widgets and features coming from the hardware makers through their own custom skins.
Sony integrates Facebook brilliantly in its phones, and even LG makes a great social network aggregator widget that incorporates Facebook and Twitter - so why are there no cool aggregator apps as part of the standard Android setup?
Yes, Google does a great job of pushing Google+, but, no offence, there are many other more widely used networks that ought to be a little better "baked in" to Android.

4. Line-drawing keyboard options

Another area where the manufacturers have taken a big leap ahead of Google is in integrating clever alternate text entry options in their keyboards. HTC and Sony both offer their own takes on the Swype style of line-drawing text input, which is a nice option to have for getting your words onto a telephone. Get it into Android 5.0 and give us the choice.
UPDATE: Google heard us and this feature appeared in Android 4.2.

P-U-T T-H-I-S I-N A-N-D-R-O-I-D 5-.-0

5. A video chat app

How odd is it that Google's put a front-facing camera on the Nexus 7 and most hardware manufacturers do the same on their phones and tablets, yet most ship without any form of common video chat app?
You have to download Skype and hope it works, or find some other downloadable app solution. Why isn't there a Google Live See My Face Chat app of some sort as part of Android? Is it because we're too ugly? Is that what you're saying, Google?

6. Multi-select in the contacts

The Android contacts section is pretty useful, but it could be managed a little better. What if you have the idea of emailing or texting a handful of your friends? The way that's currently done is by emailing one, then adding the rest individually. Some sort of checkbox system that let users scroll through names and create a mailing list on the fly through the contacts listing in Android Key Lime Pie would make this much easier.

Make this a destination, rather than a never-used list

7. Cross-device SMS sync

If you're a constant SIM swapper with more than one phone on the go, chances are you've lost track of your text messages at some point. Google stores these on the phone rather than the SIM card, so it'd be nice if our texts could be either backed up to the SIM, the SD card, or beamed up to the magical invisible cloud of data, for easy and consistent access across multiple devices.

8. A "Never Update" option

This would annoy developers so is unlikely to happen, but it'd be nice if we could refuse app updates permanently in Android 5.0, just in case we'd rather stick with a current version of a tool than be forced to upgrade.
Sure, you can set apps to manual update and then just ignore the update prompt forever, but it'd be nice to know we can keep a favoured version of an app without accidentally updating it. Some of us are still using the beta Times app, for example, which has given free access for a year.

9. App preview/freebie codes

Something Apple's been doing for ages and ages is using a promo code system to distribute free or review versions of apps. It even makes doing little competitions to drum up publicity for apps much easier, so why's there no similar scheme for Android?
It might encourage developers to stop going down the ad-covered/freemium route if they could charge for an app but still give it away to friends and fans through a promo code system.

10. Final whinges and requests...

It's be nice to be able to sort the Settings screen by alphabetical order, too, or by most commonly used or personal preference, as Android's so packed with a huge list of options these days it's a big old list to scroll through and pick out what you need.
Plus could we have a percentage count for the battery in the Notifications bar for Android 5.0? Just so we know a bit more info than the vague emptying battery icon.

Oracle Realeased NoSQL 2.0

Oracle has released Oracle NoSQL Database 2.0, a scalable, low-latency, key-value database for real-time big data workloads. This version adds support for storage and retrieval of large database objects, such as documents and images, as well as improved performance and tighter integration with Oracle Database and Hadoop environments. According to Oracle, it is "designed to fit seamlessly into an enterprise IT stack." 

The performance improvements introduced with this version enable organizations to dynamically expand clusters as their data grows, without interrupting service, according to Oracle. The company cites a recent performance test, when Oracle NoSQL Database 2.0 delivered over a million YCSB operations per second on a 2.4 terabyte database on an 18-node commodity cluster setup.
New and improved features in Oracle NoSQL Database 2.0 include:

• Enterprise-class elasticity with near linear scalability and under five-millisecond latency;
• Dynamic management of resources to maintain service level agreements as demand increases and processing requirements change;
• Web-based console for deployment management, monitoring, document management, and structured data management;
• New application programming interfaces (APIs), including a new C API, new large object API, and new automatic serialization API;
• Tighter integration with Oracle Database, so Oracle Database users can view and query Oracle NoSQL Database records directly from SQL through External Tables;
• Support for SNMP/JMX for integration with Oracle and third-party management tools; and
• Tighter integration with Hadoop through JSON object and schema evolution support for data storage and serialization using Avro.
•  

Oracle NoSQL Database 2.0 is available now from the Oracle Technology Network. Further information is available at oracle.com.

Read more at 

http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/12/18/oracle-releases-oracle-nosql-database-2.0.aspx#STOzcWUxDx5h9l8s.99

Mount NTFS, FAT32 Partitions On CENT-OS

As you know, you can store your data in different physical storage devices, like floppies, CD-ROMs, and hard disk drives. Your hard disk or disks are also very likely split up into different partitions with different filesystems.

If you're migrating to Linux from Microsoft Windows, you're probably used to accessing all your filesystems very easily: you just boot up your puter, go to My Computer, and find all your Windows partitions there immediately. For example, if you have a second hard drive (or a second Windows partition), it automatically appears as D:\ and you can immediately access it. The same goes for floppies, CD-ROMs, digital cameras, and other storage devices - you just plug them in, and you'll be able to immediately access them. However, this isn't the case in Linux.

You're probably a bit confused at first: you put your floppy or CD into the drive and start wondering why you're not able to access it! This is because your floppies, CDs, hard disk partitions, and other storage devices must be attached to some existing directory on your system before they can be accessed. This attaching is called mounting, and the directory where the device is attached is called a mount point. (Now a days Ubuntu, fedora and other user friendly Linux flavors automatically detects windows NTFS and other partitions.)

After the device is mounted, you can access the files on that device by accessing the directory where the device is attached. When you're done and want to remove the floppy or CD or other device, you need to detach, unmount, it before removing it.

How to mount any partition

Mounting is done with the mount command.

When mounting, you must tell the mount command what is the device or partition you want to mount and what is the mount point. The mount point must be a directory that already exists on your system. For example, to mount your floppy:

$ mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

In this example, /dev/fd0 is your floppy drive, and /mnt/floppy is the mount point. Now when you access /mnt/floppy, you'll actually access the files on your floppy.

Usually /dev/fd0 is your floppy drive, although some distros are configured so that /dev/floppy is the same thing as /dev/fd0. Usually your CD-ROM is configured the same way: /dev/cdrom is your CD-ROM device (or, more specifically, /dev/floppy is a symbolic link to your actual floppy drive, and /dev/cdrom is a symbolic link to your CD-ROM drive).

Where to mount partitions

Although many Linux distros have directories like /mnt/floppy or /floppy created by default so you can mount your floppies there, you're not forced to use these directories. Using the mount command, you can mount your devices or partitions into any existing directory you want!

Usually your Linux distro is configured so that one particular directory is the default mount point for one particular device. In most distros it's /mnt/floppy or /floppy for floppies, and /mnt/cdrom or /cdrom for CD-ROMs. When this is the case, you don't need to tell mount the whole device name: just give either the device or mount point and you're ok. For example, if /mnt/floppy is the default mount point for /dev/fd0 (or whatever your floppy drive is), this would mount your floppy:

$ mount /mnt/floppy

The default mount points for different devices are configured in a file called /etc/fstab. The root user can freely edit the mount points configured in that file.

How to unmount partitions

 

Unmounting is done with the umount command. No, I didn't make a typo: the command really is umount, not unmount.

When unmounting, you'll need to tell umount what mounted device to unmount, either by telling what's the device or the mount point. For example, if /dev/fd0 is mounted to /mnt/floppy, you'll unmount it with $ umount /mnt/floppy
or $ umount /dev/fd0

It's not wise to remove the floppy from the floppy drive without unmounting it first! In the worst case the data you were writing to the floppy wasn't written into it yet. With CD-ROMs you can't do this: the tray won't even open if you haven't unmounted the CD first.

9 Resons to ROOT your Android Phone

To root or not to root? That is the question. Rooting your Android device definitely pushes you up a level or two in your geekdom. It requires a certain level of commitment, at least a little savvy, and even a modicum of risk. So, why would you want to bother? We've got nine good reasons for ya.

What Is Rooting?

We talk about rooting plenty around here, but here's the high-level look for the few remaining uninitiated. Rooting means gaining root access to your device. When you take your phone out of the box, while there are plenty of settings you can tweak, you can only alter what the manufacturer allows you to. By gaining root access you can modify the device's software on the very deepest level. It takes a bit of hacking (some devices more than others), it voids your warranty, and there's a small chance that you could completely break your phone forever. But you know what? It's still totally worth it for all the goodies you get access to.

1. Apps Aplenty

If you've spent much time in Google Play, you know you're not exactly hard-up for good apps. But why settle for good when you can have great. Once you're rooted not only can you get more apps, but the apps you have access to can get way down deeper into your phone's brains. In some cases you'll be able to do things that carriers, manufacturers, and/or Google may not want you to do. Some will allow you to do things of questionable legality. For example, Network Spoofer uses your device to set up a fake wireless network. When your houseguests sign in, you can make ever image they see inverted, or all of the text fuzzy. It's a harmless prank, but of course it could (but shouldn't!) also be used for stealing passwords and other nefarious things.

Full size

Where do you find all these root-only gems? Amazingly enough, many of them are still in the Google Play app store. Google's much more relaxed about rooting than Apple is about jailbreaking. Some apps, like Tasker, work for factory-shipped devices as well, but get expanded superpowers when you root.

2. The Latest OS Updates

Dammit, why am I always three updates behind. This may be the most common complaint among Android users, less than half of whom have made it as far as Ice Cream Sandwich. Between the Google, the carriers, and the hardware manufacturers, there are a whole lot of shenanigans behind closed doors that determines when (or if) your phone gets an upgrade. Who has the patience?
Android's developer community, on the other hand, is a hardcore bunch. They're often able to get the new OS onto a phone months before the carrier releases the update, often along with a few bonus features. Once you're rooted, you just have to find the OS version you want (optimized for your specific device), and it's generally extremely easy to install the latest and greatest.

3. Ditching the Skin

Android enthusiasts rightly hate the software skins that hardware manufacturers use to brand their devices. They're often bulky, ugly, unwieldy, or just downright not as clean and functional as stock Android. They're also a big reason those OS updates take so long. You're almost always better off without. So root! Once you do, you can download and install any number of custom-built ROMs (different versions of the Android firmware). Some of them are highly customized and tweaked to add features, and others are basically just stock Android. Cleaning off an ugly skin can be like a breath of fresh air.

4. Bloat Banishment

Android phones are plagued not only with OEM skins, but with a fistful of superflous apps that you don't want and will never use. Generally, they're just things to get you more entrenched in the carrier's ecosystem. The best part? You can't remove them. In Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) devices, you can disable those apps so you don't see them, but they're still there, taking up space. Once you've rooted your phone, you can use Titanium Backup to delete them once and forever. Just be careful you don't accidentally delete something that your phone actually needs, or you'll be sorry.

5. Speed/Battery Life Boosts

 

Phone starting to get laggy? Or maybe you're having trouble making it through the day on a single charge? Rooting allows you to install customized kernels (the software that enables the OS to talk to the hardware, basically) that are optimized differently. Some are made for low-power consumption, and some are built for speed. You can also use an app like Set CPU, which enables you to overclock or underclock your phone's processor, and set rules for usage.
For example, you can set your processors to go into overdrive when you're playing a graphically intensive game, but have them draw the bare minimum power when the screen is off.

6. Extreme Customization

Android is already the most customizable mobile OS out there, which is one of its big draws, but if you root your phone you can really go nuts. If you want a total change, you can download custom ROMs that look nothing like Android at all. Want your device to navigable entirely by gestures? No problem, just install GMD Gesture Control (see video). Prefer a sliding keyboard when you're in portait mode, but a tapping, predictive keyboard when you're in landscape. Keyboard Manager will automatically switch between your keyboards of choice whenever you rotate your phone. You can also add features like widgets in your notification bar, or can change the way certain features look or behave, like the lock screen, or notification bar. The sky's the limit.

7. Infinite Features

Beyond just customizing your phone's existing features, rooting helps you pile on all kinds of wonderful new weirdness. You'll love it.
Want to hook up your PlayStation controller to your phone for better gaming? You can. Want to set rules for callers to decide who can and can't call you when? Why not. Maybe your carrier has blocked certain apps, or an app isn't available for the country you live in? There are Market Enabler apps that trick your phone (and Google) into thinking it's on another carrier or in a far off land. Nervous about connecting to the public Wi-Fi? Wifi Protector will keep you safe from all kinds of ARP, DOS, and MITM attacks. Or, you could put the new Android 4.2 camera on your non-Jellybean phone. Accidentally deleted something you wish you hadn't? Undelete might just save your bacon. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

8. A Free Wi-Fi Hotspot

 

You probably know that your phone can function as a Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing you to get your laptop (or tablet, or whatever) online wherever your phone has a data connection The catch? Most wireless carriers charge you $10 a month or more for that privilege, on top of your regular data plan. With a rooted Android device, however, you can simply download Wireless Tether (yep, right from the Android Market), create your own mobile, encrypted Wi-Fi network, and your carrier will be none the wiser.
If you do tether multiple devices to your liberated phone, just make sure you don't go over your monthly cap. Data goes down a lot faster on a laptop.

9. Better Backup

 

There are apps out there that kiiiiinnnnda back up your phone, but generally it's pretty surface level stuff (contacts, pictures, music, etc.). Once rooted you can go way, way deeper. Grab an app called Titanium Backup. Not only can it back up all of your apps, but it can back up all of the information stored in those apps. So if you've been doing great in Temple Run but you want to wipe your phone and start fresh, you can use Titanium to back up and then restore the game, and you'll be right where you left off. It's a nice security blanket if you're going to be messing around deep in your phone's brain.

HOW TO SHARE LAN CONNECTION THROUGH WIRELESS NETWORK

  Situation : 2 people with 2 notebooks , both want to use internet connection , but theres only 1 ethernet port and 0 router.

Solution : 1 notebook must connected to the LAN and share it through wireless.

Example :
2 notebooks , one is labeled as A, another one is B
Steps :
 
A

1. Plug in the RJ45 cable

2. Open Control Panel -> Network Connections -> Right Click on Wireless Network Connection , Properties

3. Click the Wireless Networks tab , checked the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings , Preferred networks , click Add



4. On Association tab , enter your Network name (SSID)
4.1 Network authentication : Open
4.2 Data Encryption : WEP
4.3 Network key : must be 5 or 13 character
4.4 Checked the This is a computer-to-computer(ad-hoc) network;wireless access point are not used. This is very important , if you don't use this , you wireless network will not available


5. Right click on Local Area Connection, Properties , click Advanced tab

6. Checked Allow other network users to connect through this computer's internet connection
6.1 Select Wireless network connection from Home networking connection drop down

B

1. Open Wireless network connection , click View wireless networks , choose nb-A's wireless network


2. Double click or click Connect , enter password if required

17 WINDOWS 7 TIPS AND TRICKS

1. Create and mount VHD files

Microsoft's Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the host system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter, then click Action > Attach VHD and choose the file you'd like to mount. It will then appear as a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written just like any other drive.
Click Action > Create VHD and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click it, select Initialise Disk, and after it's set up right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume to set this up). Again, you'll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just like any other, where you can drag and drop files, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it's actually just this VHD file on your real hard drive which you can easily back up or share with others. Right-click the disk (that's the left-hand label that says "Disk 2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove it.
The command line DISKPART utility has also been upgraded with tools to detach a VHD file, and an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size. Don't play around with this unless you know what you're doing, though - it's all too easy to trash your system.


2. Calculate more

At first glance the Windows 7 calculator looks just like Vista's version, but explore the Mode menu and you'll see powerful new Statistics and Programmer views. And if you're clueless about bitwise manipulation, then try the Options menu instead. This offers many different unit conversions (length, weight, volume and more), date calculations (how many days between two dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rates and more.
Don't take any Windows 7 applet at face value, then - there are some very powerful new features hidden in the background. Be sure to explore every option in all Windows applets to ensure you don't miss anything important.

CALCULATE MORE: The new Calculator is packed with useful features and functionality


3. Activate XP mode

If you've old but important software that no longer runs under Windows 7, then you could try using XP Mode, a virtual copy of XP that runs in a window on your Windows 7 desktop. But there's a big potential problem, as XP Mode only works with systems that have hardware visualization (AMD-V or Intel VT) built-in and turned on. If you've a compatible CPU then this may just be a matter of enabling the option in your BIOS set-up program, however some high profile brands, including Sony Vaio, disable the setting for "security reasons". And that blocks XP Mode from working, too.
One solution has emerged, but it's a little risky, as essentially you'll have to alter a byte in your laptop firmware and hope this doesn't have any unexpected side-effects. Gulp. If you're feeling brave then take a look at the Feature Enable Blog for the details, but don't blame us if it goes wrong.
A safer approach might be to use VirtualBox, a virtualisation tool that doesn't insist on hardware support, but then you will need to find a licensed copy of XP (or whatever other Windows version your software requires) for its virtual machine.


4. Enable virtual Wi-Fi

Windows 7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which effectively turns your PC or laptop into a software-based router. Any other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range - a desktop, laptop, an iPod perhaps - will "see" you as a new network and, once logged on, immediately be able to share your internet connection.
This will only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not all do. Check with your adapter manufacturer and make sure you've installed the very latest drivers to give you the best chance.
Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtual Wi-Fi for you. Virtual Router (below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharing your internet connection very quickly.

If you don't mind working with the command line, though, maybe setting up some batch files or scripts, then it's not that difficult to set this up manually. See Turn your Windows 7 laptop into a wireless hotspot for more.



5. Customise the log-on screen

Changing the Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and potentially dangerous hacks, but not any more - Windows 7 makes it easy.
First, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD key called OEMBackground (not there? Create it) and set its value to 1.
Now find a background image you'd like to use. Make sure it's less than 256KB in size, and matches the aspect ratio of your screen as it'll be stretched to fit.
Next, copy that image into the %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds folder (create the info\backgrounds folders if they don't exist). Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg, reboot, and you should now have a custom log-on image.
Alternatively, use a free tweaking tool to handle everything for you. Logon Changer displays a preview so you can see how the log-on screen will look without rebooting, while the Logon Screen Rotator accepts multiple images and will display a different one every time you log on.

6. Drag and drop to the command line

When working at the command line you'll often need to access files, which usually means typing lengthy paths and hoping you've got them right. But Windows 7 offers an easier way. Simply drag and drop the file onto your command window and the full path will appear, complete with quotes and ready to be used.
This feature isn't entirely new: you could do this in Windows XP, too, but drag and drop support disappeared in Vista. There does seem to be a new Windows 7 complication, though, in that it only seems to work when you open the command prompt as a regular user. Run cmd.exe as an administrator and, while it accepts dropped files, the path doesn't appear.

7. Faster program launches

If you've launched one instance of a program but want to start another, then don't work your way back through the Start menu. It's much quicker to just hold down Shift and click on the program's icon (or middle-click it), and Windows 7 will start a new instance for you.

8. Block annoying alerts

Just like Vista, Windows 7 will display a suitably stern warning if it thinks your antivirus, firewall or other security settings are incorrect.
But unlike Vista, if you disagree then you can now turn off alerts on individual topics. If you no longer want to see warnings just because you've dared to turn off the Windows firewall, say, then click Control Panel > System and Security > Action Centre > Change Action Centre settings, clear the Network Firewall box and click OK.

9. Disable hibernation

By default Windows 7 will permanently consume a chunk of your hard drive with its hibernation file, but if you never use sleep, and always turn your PC off, then this will never actually be used. To disable hibernation and recover a little hard drive space, launch REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power, then set both HibernateEnabled and HiberFileSizePerfect to zero.

10. An Alt+Tab alternative

You want to access one of the five Explorer windows you have open, but there are so many other programs running that Alt+Tab makes it hard to pick out what you need. The solution? Hold down the Ctrl key while you click on the Explorer icon. Windows 7 will then cycle through the Explorer windows only, a much quicker way to locate the right one. And of course this works with any application that has multiple windows open.

11. Keyboard shortcuts

Windows 7 supports several useful new keyboard shortcuts.
Alt+P
Display/ hide the Explorer preview pane
Windows Logo+G
Display gadgets in front of other windows
Windows Logo++ (plus key)
Zoom in, where appropriate
Windows Logo+- (minus key)
Zoom out, where appropriate
Windows Logo+Up
Maximise the current window
Windows Logo+Down
Minimise the current window
Windows Logo+Left
Snap to the left hand side of the screen
Windows Logo+Right
Snap to the right hand side of the screen
Windows Logo+Home
Minimise/ restore everything except the current window.

12. Find bottlenecks

From what we've seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than Vista, but if your PC seems sluggish then it's now much easier to uncover the bottleneck. Click Start, type RESMON and press Enter to launch the Resource Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Network tabs. Windows 7 will immediately show which processes are hogging the most system resources.
The CPU view is particularly useful, and provides something like a more powerful version of Task Manager. If a program has locked up, for example, then right-click its name in the list and select Analyze Process. Windows will then try to tell you why it's hanging - the program might be waiting for another process, perhaps - which could give you the information you need to fix the problem.

FIND BOTTLENECKS: Resource monitor keeps a careful eye on exactly how your PC is being used


13. Minimise quickly with shake
If you have multiple windows open on your desktop and things are getting too cluttered, it used to be a time-consuming process to close them all down. In Windows 7 you can use the Aero Shake feature to minimise everything in seconds, using a cool mouse gesture. Grab the title bar of the window you wish to keep open and give it a shake, and rejoice in a clear desktop area.

14. Protect your data
USB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a problem, especially if they're carrying sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt your documents with an extension of Microsoft's BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password will be able to access it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect your private files.

PROTECT YOUR DATA: Your USB flash drives can easily be encrypted with BitLocker

15. Explore God Mode
Windows 7 has changed Control Panel a little, but it's still too difficult to locate all the applets and options that you might need. God Mode, however, while not being particularly godlike, does offer an easier way to access everything you could want from a single folder.
To try this out, create a new folder and rename it to:

The first part, "Everything" will be the folder name, and can be whatever you want: "Super Control Panel", "Advanced", "God Mode" if you prefer.
The extension, ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C, must be entered exactly as it is here, though, including the curly brackets. When you press [Enter] this part of the name will disappear, and double-clicking the new folder will display shortcuts to functions in the Action Centre, the Network and Sharing Centre, Power options, troubleshooting tools, user accounts and others - more than 260 options in total.

16. Rename multiples files
To rename multiple files in Windows, highlight the files you want to rename, then hit the F2 key. Rename the first file, then hit Enter. All your files will be renamed and a number in parenthesis will be added to the end of the name. If you change your mind, you can hit Ctrl+Z to undo the rename.

Original file names to rename.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee)

New file names.

17. Bypass the Windows splash screen
Disabling the Windows splash screen can shave a couple seconds from your total boot time. Launch the Windows Run command (Windows Logo+R), then type msconfig. Under the Boot tab, check the box next to "No GUI boot." Hit the OK or Apply button to save the changes.