Posts Tagged windows 7
Windows 7 Beta 1 Upgrade Complete
Posted by clifgriffin in Technology on January 9th, 2009
As of a few minutes ago I finished haphazardly upgrading my HTPC to Windows 7 Beta 1 (Build 7000). The short story is that things went smoothly with very few exceptions.
Details to follow tomorrow/later today…possibly even with videos, just like last time.
Life Without Walls? Energize your world?
Posted by clifgriffin in Technology on January 8th, 2009
Microsoft’s ambiguous, fluffy catch phrases are continually frustrating. Windows, as a brand, is being advertised with the “Life Without Walls” phrase as of recent, which is old news I suppose. My central complaint remains the same: it’s a meanlingless statement. It attempts to connect some imagery involving physical “windows” and their relationship to physical walls and life, but as a vehicle for useful brand information it’s a complete failure, in my opinion.
Their inability to communicate continues with their latest slogan for Windows 7, “Energize your world.”
As a fan of Windows 7, I don’t even know what this means. I hope this isn’t their final marketing invention for this product.
It’s time for Microsoft to market more practically. They need to pretend like their talking to their fans instead of trying to talk over the heads of their fans to their skeptics. Don’t be trendy. Be clear. Tell me that Windows 7 is the funnest version ever. Anything…so long as it is something I can understand and embrace.
I don’t think of my life as my world or with walls that needs to be energized. Neither does anyone else.
Remember WinFS?
Posted by clifgriffin in Technology on November 9th, 2008
Today I remembered WinFS, that infamous Microsoft technology that was supposed to make its debut in Vista but was ultimately dropped. It occurred to me that Windows 7 is currently on the fast track to get released sometime next year, yet I have not heard anything about WinFS being included in its feature set.
After a few minutes on Google, I found this enlightening article explaning why WinFS was dropped, and why it might not be as great as I thought it was (and Microsoft suggested it would be).
It’s worth a read. So read it.
Hidden Windows 7 Superbar Feature (Registry Hack)
Posted by clifgriffin in Technology on November 8th, 2008
[11/09/2008: This isn't really a hack. Please see my edit at the bottom of this entry.]
By default, the Windows 7 superbar is similar to Apple’s dock in that each program is represented by one icon on the bar. When you hover over this icon, it displays the windows hidden underneath.
Icon has a stacked effect for programs with multiple windows.
Hovering over Firefox icon shows hidden windows allowing us to click one or even exit one right from the preview.
It’s a very nice effect that I have found to be extremely functional and time saving.
One of the commenters on my original article has found an interesting registry hack that causes the superbar to emulate the Vista taskbar with a couple of variations. Windows that are from the same program are grouped in that they stay linked on the taskbar. Hovering over one of the buttons reveals all windows similar to the default superbar functionality.
Vista like superbar.
To enable this feature (?) do the following:
- Open regedit.
- Find the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced - Add a DWORD named
TaskbarGlomLevel. - Set the value of this DWORD to 1 to enable the Vista functionality or 0 to disable. (Or just remove the entry.)
- Log off and back on.
Or, download Vista Superbar Registry Entry and double click it to add the entry automagically.
The standard disclaimers apply. Editing the registry is dangerous so don’t do it if you aren’t absolutely comfortable with doing so. If you jack up your computer or accidentally kill your gradmother or anything else, it’s not my fault.
Thanks to Matt A. Tobin for sharing this hack.
Edit: This is not a hack. You can change this setting in taskbar and startmenu properties as this screenshot shows:
I should have seen this before...
Setting TaskbarGlomLevel to 2 accounts for the “Never group” option.
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