THE WINDOWS CLUB

If you are not familiar with this web site "THE WINDOWS CLUB", you must visit it:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/

This site has almost infinite good info, such as new features, tips, security matters, free downloads related to both Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Today, (as an example of the good stuff that can be found in this web site), I am going to tell you about a short but very, very useful program I have downloaded in my computers, called "Windows Access Panel". This program has been recommended by our friends at PC World. Rather then trying to explain what it does, I am going to transcribe the editorial review:

"Windows Access Panel is a free, moderately useful program that can make it easier for you to change Windows settings that you otherwise wouldn't know how to alter. It doesn't actually give you any tools or access to settings that aren't otherwise available in Windows. Rather, it gives you one-click access to settings that normally require several clicks to reach. Instead of having to navigate your way through the Control Panel, or dig deep into menus, you can quickly get right to the setting you want.

For example, to change your User Account Control settings in Vista or 7, you usually have to go through the Control Panel and click several different screens until you get to the settings themselves. It's easy to get lost along the way. With Windows Access Panel, you can get there with one click. The program offers similar one-click access to dozens of other settings. Want to launch a memory diagnostics tool, schedule a task to run automatically, create a repair disk, or monitor your PC's performance? On your own, you likely won't immediately know how to get to the screens that will let you do those things. With Windows Access Panel, you can get to them right away.

If you're comfortable with finding Windows settings on your own, there's no need to download Windows Access Panel. But if you often wish you knew how to navigate to specific settings, you'll find it useful. And if you're looking to make the jump from Windows XP to Windows 7, it might be a good starting point for finding out the locations of useful settings.

--Preston Gralla "

In order to download the program go to:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_download/fid,81837-order,4-c,desktop/download.html

As i mentioned above I have this program now in my computers. It is indeed a great tool because if I want to go to any of the many features and tools available in Windows, all I have to do is click the icon related to it, without having to go through all the many "clicks" that otherwise would be needed. Presto I'm on it!

When opened, the panel has two screens, "Basic and Advanced features" in total 48 features and tools including quite a few I did not even know existed!

Try it and I am sure you all will love it.

George Freire

REVIEW OF SOME GOOD POSTS PUBLISHED SINCE THE START OF THIS BLOG

This week I'm going to review two posts published in the past, which some of you may not have seen.

They are quite handy; here goes the first:

KEYBOARD SHORT-CUTS FOR WINDOWS

Here are some good and easy to remember keyboard short-cuts that work in most windows related programs.

They are easy to remember, (especially those that you use more regularly), and as the title says, very fast and easy to use:

SAVE THE CURRENT DOCUMENT: Ctrl-S
SELECT THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT : Ctrl-A (this is useful if you want to copy and paste the document).
TURN ITALICS "ON" , "OFF' : Ctrl-I
TURN BOLD "ON" , "OFF" : Ctrl-B
TURN UNDERLINING "ON" , "OFF" : Ctrl-U

TOGGLE FULL SCREEN MODE
"ON" OR "OFF" IN IE AND OTHERS: F-11
GO TO YOUR HOME PAGE: : Alt-Home
REFRESH WEB PAGE: : Ctrl-F5

There are many more keyboard short-cuts that you can use, however, remembering them all is "kinda" hard to do. I though that the above cover most of the actions that we all need when using "WORD", "EXCEL" Internet Browsers, (IE, Firefox and others); once you start using them, you'll find out that it all comes naturally when you are working in your computer.

George Freire

Here is the other good one:

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS IN YOUR SYSTEM?

When you decide to upgrade certain components in your computer, wouldn't it be nice to first make sure of what you have inside that box in great detail?
That can be very easy to do: go to http://www.cpuid.org/ and download and install a free very, very handy utility called CPU-Z.

This freeware will in a split of a second gather information on the main devices of your computer system such as:

CPU
Name and number.
Core stepping and process.
Package.
Core voltage.
Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
Supported instructions sets.
Cache information. Mainboard
Vendor, model and revision.
BIOS model and date.
Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
Graphic interface. Memory
Frequency and timings.
Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table. System
Windows and DirectX version.

Let me know if you have a problem downloading this free sofware.

George Freire

UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 7 FOR THOSE WHO STILL HAVE WINDOWS XP (PART II)

Last week I told you how I did the conversion, (upgrade), to Windows 7 from Windows Vista. I also told you that making the conversion from Windows XP is a completely different situation, in as much as the conversion must be a "clean install" rather then an "upgrade".

The "upgrade" is relatively easy because your settings, your applications, your data and your files all travel from Windows Vista to windows 7 and there is very little work to be done after the installation is completed.

Unfortunately you Windows XP users are not that lucky; after the "clean install", you must reset your users and network, (if applicable), reinstall all your drivers, programs, data and files from scratch. Don't let this discourage you, because if you prepare your work with a little patience, you'll end up with a computer that is much cleaner, because all the garbage that was accumulated by Windows XP during the years of use of your computer will be gone for good!

One possible problem that you'll have to face is the possible incompatibility of certain application drivers that worked with W XP but will not work with W 7 such as drivers for your display, audio system, network adapters, wireless keyboard and mouse, etc. You can check the drivers you have by going to "device manager" in your computer. (click "start", right click "my computer", select "properties", click the "hardware" tab and finally click "device manager" button. once you are there, it will display a complete list of all devices installed in your computer as well as the drivers for each one of them.

To find out if you have such problems, you'll have to run the Microsoft short program I referred to last week, Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor , by going to the following Web address:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx

(click the above or copy and paste on your browser).

As i explained last week, once you run this program in your computer, it will generate a report which will verify compatibility of your hardware, software, drivers etc. that are now installed in your computer and tell you what you have to do before trying to do the clean install of W 7.

In order to find the right drivers that will run in W 7, you must download them from Windows 7 Compatibility Center at the following Web address:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatability/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx

(click the above or copy and paste on your browser).

Needless to say that now you will have to back up to an external drive all your data, files and any other information you want to transfer to the Window 7 environment. Programs will have to be reinstalled again and I assume you have the original disks for the same such as Window Works, Word etc. etc.

If you don't have the disks, the other solution will be to create an image back up of your hard drive. This is the most dependable way to transfer your old set up without having to install the programs with original disks, especially if you don't have them or don't know where you put them. Such an operation will restore all you have on your hard drive. You will need of course an external drive to copy the image to and a program that will do it.

Please read my post of September 5, 2009:

" BACK UP AND RECOVERY OF YOUR COMPUTER HARD DRIVE IS NOW EASY TO PERFORM"

This post explains how to do it using a very popular program called ACRONIS, (this program is not free, it costs $39.00, but it is well worth having because it will keep an image of your hard drive that can be updated as many times as you command it to do).

There are other free programs that will do it, but most of them are not as complete and easy to operate as ACRONIS,. A good one recommended by PC World is Macrium Reflect Free that can be downloaded at:

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Keep in mind that it takes several hours to copy an image of your hard drive to an external hard drive, especially if your hard drive has been accumulating all kinds of stuff along the years... a good way of doing it is starting the operation at night before you go to bed. The following morning it will be done...

Once you have done all this preparation work, you are now ready to run the clean installation. follow the steps I described last week, but when you get to the point in the wizard that asks you if you want to do an "Upgrade" or a "Custom" (clean installation), you'll have to select "Custom".

From that point on just follow the instructions, (see my post of last week), and after a couple of hours Windows 7 will be installed in your computer. After this, you will have to either transfer the hard drive image you have copied to your external hard drive, (if you decided to go this route), or to reinstall all your programs using the original disks and then copying the data files and installing new drives if required.

My friends, this may seem too complicated and scary for some of you, but really, if you have a little "hands on" experience with your computer it won't be so bad after all. In any case, this will be a good practice session for you to get really well acquainted in computer operation.

Have fun!!!

(Your comments will be very much appreciated)

George Freire