Still About Windows 7

Here are some more interesting views about Windows 7, by Rick Broida of PC WORLD:

Windows 7: Five Unique Features
Is Windows 7 necessary? Yes, because some of its improved features simply aren't available for Vista or XP. Here are five reasons you'll eventually want to step up to Windows 7.
Rick Broida, PC World

Other parts of this story package are dedicated to explaining how to replicate Windows 7 features on a Vista or XP machine--and we offer so many suggestions that you may be starting to think that perhaps there's no compelling reason to upgrade to Windows 7 after all. If so, you should think again. Though Vista and XP users can enjoy some of the new operating system's goodies, either directly or by proxy, various highly desirable features are available only in the genuine article. Here are five that will require you to roll a 7:


Device Stage: Whereas Vista barely seems to recognize the presence of cameras, phones, printers, and other external devices, Windows 7's Device Stage treats them like royalty. The operating system devotes a slick-looking status window to each device, so you can browse files, manage media, and perform other device-specific tasks.

HomeGroup: At long last, Microsoft promises to take the pain and frustration out of home networking for users of its operating system. Set up a HomeGroup, and then add PCs and other devices--and without further ado you can share files, printers, and the like. Why did it take seven versions of Windows to get this right?

Jump Lists: Like souped-up Recent Documents menus, Jump Lists provide quick access to application-specific documents and/or tasks. For example, you can right-click the Internet Explorer taskbar icon and choose from a list of frequently visited Web sites or from a list of available tasks (such as New Tab and InPrivate). Once you get started using Jump Lists, you'll wonder how you ever got along without them.

Libraries: Most of us have documents, music, pictures, and video scattered across multiple folders on our PCs. Libraries are special folders in Windows 7 that catalog these items under a single roof, regardless of where you actually store them on your hard drive. And best of all, Libraries are easy to share within your HomeGroup.

One-click Wi-Fi: Unlike Windows Vista, Windows 7 makes choosing a wireless network to connect to simple and convenient: Click the system-tray icon, and choose from the resulting list of available hotspots. Granted, you can find third-party connection managers for Vista, but nothing this streamlined and unobtrusive.
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Windows 7 coming this Fall

Windows 7 is already here and a beta try our version is already installed in thousands of computers. Reviews are generally good.
I have not experienced this new upgrade of Windows, but I have read a lot about it.
There are many new features, some very good, some not so good, but overall, within a year I'll bet that most people will switch. I believe that new computers sold after September/October will come with the new Windows 7 version.

Here is some "good stuff" from W7 that will be available, but that you can now install and use with your version of W Vista. (This info as usual comes from our friends at PC World:

"Windows 7 has an excellent taskbar feature: When you mouse over a taskbar icon, you get a pop-up thumbnail preview of the corresponding program (if it's running, that is). And if you're running multiple instances of a program--such as Internet Explorer--you'll see multiple thumbnails. To get the same effect in Vista only, install EnhanceMyVista Free. After starting the program, click Customization, Taskbar, and then enable Iconize your Taskbar. EnhanceMyVista is an easy to use yet advanced enhancing, optimizing and tweaking tool for Windows Vista. With a clean and simple interface it brings you an All-in-One set of powerful and neatly classified tools, settings and tweaks. As a bonus there are some unique and uncommon options too. Being permanently in development it is the best choice in its category.

--Rick Broida

To download this nice feature go to:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,78521/description.html?tk=nl_ddx_h_dlfeat

Just copy and paste the above address in your browser and you are there.

George

AP IMPACT: Weak security enables credit card hacks

With the financial crisis looming on this is becoming more and more of a problem:

AP IMPACT: Weak security enables credit card hacks
-- Every time you swipe your credit card and wait for the transaction to be approved, sensitive data including your name and account number are ferried from store to bank through computer networks, each step a potential opening for hackers.
And while you may take steps to protect yourself against identity theft, an Associated Press investigation has found the banks and other companies that handle your information are not being nearly as cautious as they could.

To read more in great detail go to:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061401320.html

George Freire

USEFUL FREE SOFTWARE : START UP DELAYER

This free software allows you to start your computer smoothly and in orderly fashion. You can configure the start up so that your most important programs start first and delay the ones that are not so important to start later:

Start up Delayer allows you to configure which programs to start first and which ones to delay when your computer is rebooted. You can set a custom delay for each one, even drag the visual display graph which shows you exactly how your programs are starting and allows you to easily modify the order or adjust delay times.

To download this free program go to:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/startdelay.html

I have it in my computers and they all start up much better now with a lot less delay.

George Freire

SECURITY PATCH PALOOZA:Microsoft issues important updates to Windows XP and Vista users that fix some (not all) security flaws.

If you do not have automatic windows update functioning, make sure you update your Windows software with these important security patches.

George Freire

Security Patch Palooza: Microsoft Issues 31 Big Fixes
Information issued by PC WORLD, Todd R. Weiss
timestamp(1244645160000,'longDateTime')
Jun 10, 2009 10:46 am

It may be June, but Microsoft techies haven't turned their focus to summer vacations yet. Instead, company security engineers have been busy prepping 10 major software patches that fix 31 important security vulnerabilities in Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products. Eighteen of the vulnerabilities are classified by the company as "critical fixes."
Patches were delivered Tuesday via Windows Update and are targeted at Windows XP, and to a lesser degree Vista. Beta users of Windows 7 don't appear to have been included in the update. If your PC isn't set up to receive automatic updates -- it should be. Here is how.

Patches target the usual security suspects, such as new vulnerabilities found in Microsoft's own Internet Explorer Web browser. Also included with the updates is help for computers impacted by a rogue "antivirus" application called Internet Antivirus Pro. The purported antivirus program installs itself onto users' computers, then eats up huge resources as it slows systems down, flashes up constant pop-up messages (see above), and then downloads software that steals passwords and causes other havoc. Tuesday's Microsoft patches include a fix that can detect and help remove this rogue application, according to the security team.
Some Applications Get Patched, Others Not
Also included are patches for Windows, Excel, Word, and much more, all aimed at fixing the latest moderate- to critical-level security vulnerabilities recently uncovered.
One fix that didn't make it into this month's Patch Tuesday release was a patch to fix a generally rare vulnerability that involves DirectX and QuickTime. The security vulnerability can affect Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 users, but not Vista or Windows Server 2008 users, according to the company. The vulnerability can allow an intruder to take over control of a computer using an exploited QuickTime file. In the meantime, here's a workaround you can install to protect your PC from this possible vulnerability.

FREERASER FILE "DELETING FOR GOOD" SOFTWARE

Preston Gralla, one of our favorite technical analyst writers of PC World recommends this free software for those who need to delete files "for good", meaning that nobody will ever be able to get to your hard drive and revive files that you have deleted. He comments:

"Simply deleting doesn't actually get rid of the file or its data--it can be reconstructed relatively easily. If you're worried that someone might invade your privacy by restoring files you've deleted, give Freeraser a try. It's as simple a program as you'll ever find for killing files so that they stay killed.

How easy is it to eliminate files? Run the program, select a file to delete, and it's gone. The program doesn't just delete a file; it first fills the contents of the file with random data, then deletes it. That way, if someone reconstructs it, they'll see only random data.

Freeraser has three levels of settings for deleting files. The "Fast" one fills the contents of a file, then deletes it, and as the name implies, this is the fastest. The "Forced" mode is slower, and first fills the file with three separate rounds of data. According to vendor Codyssey, Freeraser uses an algorithm approved by the U.S. Department of Defense. And Ultimate is the slowest, filling the file with 35 rounds of data, using the Guttman algorithm. The program claims that it is impossible to recover the data in the file destroyed in this way.

If you're worried at all about old files coming back to haunt you, Freeraser is an easy, effective way of making sure those files don't come back from the dead."

In order to be able to download this software, copy and paste the following address to your browser:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,77849/description.html?tk=nl_ddx_h_dlfeat

Enjoy,

George Freire

CODYSAFE FREE SOFTWARE

From our friends at COMPUTER WORLD here is another great piece of free software that can be very useful for most of you, especially those who carry files and applications from one computer to another:

By Prston Gralla:

"Why use a USB flash drive as a mere data shuttle? The free CodySafe is one of the cleverest ways you can find to turn a USB flash drive into what the developer calls a "computer on a stick." Install CodySafe on a USB stick, and it lets you take applications along with you, managing them along with your documents and the drive itself. The beauty of this approach is that you can plug your USB drive into any computer, and never actually have to store data on the computer or use the computer's resources. With CodySafe, everything can be done from the USB drive itself.

Install CodySafe on a USB flash drive, and when you run it from the drive, it looks very much like the Windows Vista Start menu. Install programs to the drive, and they show up on the CodySafe menu, just as they do in Vista; run programs by clicking on them. CodySafe also includes quick navigation to folders it creates, including Documents, Pictures, Music, and Video.

CodySafe also includes features for managing your USB drive, including a "Drive Doctor" for checking the health of the drive, an applications manager, and a "Find-if-Lost" feature that lets anyone who finds the lost drive find out your contact information so that they can get it back to you.

Vendor Codyssey.com also has a number of portable applications at their site that you can download for free to your USB drive, as well as links to other portable applications. Once you've got your USB drive set up the way you want, carry it with you, plug it into any computer, and you've got your applications and data, all within easy reach."


In order to download this software, copy and paste the following address into your browser and enjoy!

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,77843/description.html?tk=nl_ddx_h_dlfeat

George Freire