Entries tagged with vista - Channel 10

New Vista Sidebar Gadgets Let Your Track The Elections

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:48:00 GMT

Are you a political junkie? Here in the U.S. it's hard not to be when it's election season. With so much going on - rallies, debates, and economic crises - it seems that the poll numbers change every day. Now you don't have to wait on the news to give you the latest info from the presidential polls - you can just look at your desktop. The new Gallup Poll Vista gadget lets you obsessively watch the Gallup daily election polling numbers to see who's ahead on a day-to-day basis. And the new Election Countdown gadget will count down to the next important political event in the presidential election calendar, including all three Presidential debates, the Vice Presidential debate (which is tonight) as well as Elections day and Inauguration Day. The gadgets are non-partisan and include links to both Obama and McCain's web sites. The countdown gadget can be themed with either Obama or McCain skins, too. What great finds!

A Simple Tool To Change Your Icons

sarahintampa — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:20:00 GMT

Although changing an icon is something that’s built into the Windows OS, avid desktop customizers are always on the lookout for better ways to make changes on the fly. A new tool that helps you quickly update your drive icons is Drive Icon Changer. All it does is update icons, nothing else, but sometimes a simple tool is just what you need.

To use the tool, you simply select the drive from the top drop-down box and then browse for the icon in the second box. Click “Save” and you’re done! This app was built by Taimur Asad in C# using Visual Studio 2008. He’s tested it on Vista only, but it may work on older versions of Windows, too. You can download the software for free from here (zip file).

Microsoft's Holiday Preview - Windows Vista Powered PC's and Accessories

Laura — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:36:00 GMT

This Holiday season is certain to be merry considering all the great new products being offered to you from Microsoft Hardware, Vista powered machines and Games for Windows. Check out some of the sexy new Dell laptops, BlueTrack mice and of course...some great games for Windows like Fallout 3 and Lego Batman.

Also-make sure to check out what you can expect from Windows Mobile and Xbox 360.

How To Speed Up Vista Boot Time on Dual-Core PCs

sarahintampa — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:04:00 GMT

Peter Provost posted a handy tip on his blog the other day that will be useful for anyone with a Vista computer that has a dual-core CPU. In Windows Vista, there’s a setting that lets you configure your PC to use both cores upon booting up (by default, it only uses one). You can change this setting in the System Configuration menu to get your PC to boot faster. Here’s how:

Go to Start, type msconfig and hit [Enter]
In the System Configuration Window, select the Boot tab
Click on Advanced Options
In the BOOT Advanced Options dialog, check the "Number of processors" check box, and choose 2 (or 4 if you have quad core) for the number of processors.
Click OK twice

That’s it! Now your Vista PC will boot up using both CPUs!

Create Custom Themes With Vista Style Builder

sarahintampa — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:32:00 GMT

Have you always wanted to build your own theme for Vista? You can with a new application called Vista Style Builder and the How-To-Geek has a great walkthrough to get you started with doing so. The Vista Style Builder application lets you modify the visual style of your Vista theme or even import styles from XP to be used on Vista. Also, if you’ve found a style you liked on the web, like on devianART, for example, you can also open that file up in the program and use it as a starting point. From there, you can completely customize every aspect of the UI and theme, using the software’s easy-to-use built-in tools. The program is not available just yet, so bookmark this download page and check back soon. The program will not be free and pricing info is not available yet, but the How-To-Geek promises it will be reasonable.

Make Your PC Wake From Sleep Automatically

sarahintampa — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:46:00 GMT

A lot of people these days are becoming more aware of the energy savings to be had by shutting down unused equipment when it’s not in use. And while it’s no problem to shut off the TV and the end of the evening a lot of people have trouble doing the same for the PC. This is mainly because it’s nice to have all your work on your computer right there where you left it when you return in the morning. Of course, this is what “sleep” mode is for – you can save energy without losing your place.

But wouldn’t it be nice if your computer knew when to wake up for you? Well, it can! Using the Task Scheduler (In Vista: Control Panel\System and Maintenance\Administrative Tools\Task Scheduler), you can make your PC wake up at the designated time you want just by having it run a simple task – like say, launching then closing the command prompt window.

For example:

Schedule a task that executes the command cmd.exe with command line arguments [/c “exit”] (without the []) and make sure to set the ‘Wake computer up to execute this task’ in the power options. Schedule the task for when you want your computer to wake up and you will never have to wait on it again.

(Thanks to Thomas Delrue for this tip!)

Coming Soon: Get Facebook on Media Center

sarahintampa — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:50:00 GMT

It seems that lately I’ve just been finding more and more Windows Media Center plugins. The latest one I stumbled across (Thanks Ian!) is a way to get Facebook on Media Center. This is thanks to a soon-to-be-released application called Photato, which will be available in beta later this month. It looks like the Photato app will focus on bringing Facebook photos to your Vista Media Center – both those belonging to you as well as the photos that your friends are sharing. At the moment, the website for the application hasn’t launched yet, but for those interested in beta testing the application, you can email photato.beta@armchairware.com. (image thanks to Ian Dixon’s Blog)

TV Manager Beta for WHS

sarahintampa — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:42:00 GMT

There’s a new plugin for Windows Home Server users called TV Manager which copies your recordings from a Vista Media Center PC over to your Windows Home Server for storage and management. The plugin, still in beta, actually has 2 parts to it – one part for the WHS and one for Media Center. After the plugin copies the recording to the WHS, the original is removed from the Vista PC, freeing up valuable disk space on your machine. However, the plugin allows you to still watch the recordings just like you would normally watch “Recorded TV” in Media Center. The part of this program that runs on the Home Server displays a console for managing the recordings and deleting the ones you don’t want to keep. This plugin was created by Brent Friedman of We Got Served, where you can read in more detail about the features, requirements, and updates in the latest version of this beta software. (Image courtesy of WGS)

UltraExplorer, An Awesome Alternative to Windows Explorer

sarahintampa — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:51:00 GMT

This weekend, I decided to look for an alternative to Windows Explorer. Although Windows Explorer gets the job done, there’s just a lot that it doesn’t do that I wish it would, and frankly, I miss XP’s version. Well, now, I have it back and then some! That’s one of the great things about Windows actually – you don’t have to be stuck with the way things come out of the box. If you don’t like something, you have the power to change it. Tweak, customize, download new software, whatever – you can really make Windows your own.

I decided to go on the hunt for a new version of Explorer. I heard a rumor someone out there is creating an XP version of Windows Explorer for Vista users, but I couldn’t find it. (If you know, please leave a comment! The closest I found was Explorer XP, which is similar, but not the same.)

Instead, I found something nearly as good, if not better: UltraExplorer. This alternative Windows Explorer program has it all: a completely customizable interface, tons of configurable toolbars, lots of different views, favorites, a temporary holding area for moving files around called “Drop Stack,” and, of course, the long-lost “up” button. (Don’t tell me about Alt+Up, I know - I want a button!).

Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the program except that I would like to customize the defaults for the views depending on the folder I’m accessing, and it seems that you can only set defaults for the whole program. However, the app does remember your most recent settings, so this hasn’t been a huge problem.

If you want to try this alternate version of Window Explorer, you can visit the app’s homepage here or download it from Download.com here.

Discovering Great XP and Vista Themes

sarahintampa — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:57:00 GMT

I was recently stumbled across a link to this XP Zune theme when searching for ways to jazz up my older laptop. I had forgotten, but I used to really love this theme! The theme was sort of a take off on the also awesome “lost” XP theme - Royale Noir, but with a few tweaks. It’s sort of funny to look at this today, nearly two years later, as I’m running Vista. I still have a very similar color scheme going on now – a dark taskbar and Start Menu and a simple background that shows off my widgets and icons (I guess I’m not much for desktop cleanliness after all). The only variation is that I have blue/greenish windows now. Of course, this led me down the path of looking for a way to customize Vista's themes even more. I know Stardock has professional software to do so, but what about a simple free theme? I ended up here where I discovered a whole slew of themes, skins, and wallpapers for Vista, including the sleek and simple Chocolate Theme (pictured). Nice!

Mars Gadget for Vista

sarahintampa — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:48:00 GMT

Sweet! Brandon just posted about the coolest little gadget I’ve seen in a while –the Mars weather gadget for Vista. Thanks to the Phoenix Mars Lander, this gadget displays the maximum and minimum daily temps on Mars as well as the Mars weather. Hint: It’s sunny a lot there. And for even more Mars fun, the Lander is also on Twitter so you can get quick and humorous updates from the mission throughout the day, like this:

Media Center University at the CE Installer Blog

brianjo — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:24:00 GMT

We shot some talks given by professional consumer electronics installers for a series called Media Center University at the Electronic House Expo (EHX) this spring in Orlando. These talks are now being made available online at the CE Installer Blog. The speakers in this series are some of the top home entertainment system installers in the US. This is great information if you're interested in using Windows Media Center as the basis (or even just a part) of your home entertainment system.

Consumer Electronics Installer Blog : Media Center University: Optimizing for Entertainment & Networking – Part 1
In the first installment of Optimizing for Entertainment and Networking at EHX Spring's Media Center University, Mike Seamons provides guidance on choosing one technology over another. In his presentation, he covers the difference between analog and digital formats, component cables and HDMI, Cat 5 and Cat 6 Ethernet wiring, several TV tuner options, and how to deal with protected content.

Future episodes in the series will include topics such as Whole House Integration, Media Management, Tips and Tweaks, and Plug-ins.

Windows Search 4.0 Final Version

sarahintampa — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:13:00 GMT

Only a few months ago, Microsoft released the Technical Preview of Windows Search 4.0, a new standalone search tool for Windows XP, Vista, and Server 2003. Now, the final version of Windows Search has arrived. It this version, there have been several improvements, including support for indexing encrypted files, reduced effect on Exchange, better performance, per-user Group Policy settings, as well as support for several new Enterprise Group Policy objects that I.T. admins can use when customizing their deployments of Windows Search 4.0 on their company’s computers. To learn more or download the software, go here and choose the right version for your OS.

Read RSS Feeds on Your Media Center TV

sarahintampa — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:40:00 GMT

The Media Center RSS Reader application lets you read RSS news items on your Media Center TV as well as watch and/or listen to podcasts and watch video blogs. Originally developed for XP Media Center, there is now also a version for Vista Ultimate. The application adds a new option to Media Center's Start page called "Accessories." From there, you'll have access to a section called "RSS News & Casts" where you'll be able to view your feeds. If you run into any formatting issues or unsupported codecs, the site suggests you try downloading the content to your PC instead via IE's built-in RSS reader, instead. Since I use my Xbox 360 to watch Media Center content on my living room TV, I'm excited to have a way to access not just feeds, but podcasts too, without the addition of another set-top box to do so. (thanks to scribkin for the tip!)

Ultimate Video Relay Contest

Laura — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:55:00 GMT

The Windows Vista Ultimate team has partnered up with TriggerStreet to create one seriously awesome challenge. Their team of pro's (directed by Kyle Newman) has created a 5 minute video and now it's up to YOU to create the next five minutes. Right now, all you have to do is write a killer script- and if you're one of the winners you'll get all the tools you need to actually shoot it. You can see the first couple minutes of Kyle's movie here, and then head to their site to get started on your own.

JD, Nic, and Brian Podcast - Episode 7

brianjo — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:44:00 GMT

This week, G. Andrew Duthie joins us to talk about Maker Faire, the Zune 2.5 update, and much, much more...

Links from today's show:

Maker Faire
Big Dog
Big Dog Parody
Ray Kurzweil on the singularity
Zune 2.5 on Channel 10
Zune.net
Zune.net Social
Games for Zune
Alien Agressors
Teched Tweener

ShareMaster Gadget for WHS

sarahintampa — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:45:00 GMT

The Home Server Hacks blog has just announced a new Windows Vista Sidebar gadget just for Windows Home Server users. This gadget, called "ShareMaster for Home Server," gives you quick access to the Windows Home Server's standard shared folders (Music, Photos, Public, Software, Users and Videos). The gadget has six icons on it that correspond to those six shared folders on the server. Clicking an icon on the gadget will open up that network shared folder. What's even cooler, though, is that you can drag and drop files onto the icons themselves to automatically move them from your PC to your Home Server. That's handy! This is definitely a must-have tool for any Windows Home Server owners. You can download the gadget from here. (image via Home Server Hacks)

Favorite Sidebar Gadgets

sarahintampa — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:31:00 GMT

Ed Bott put up a post about his favorite Vista sidebar gadgets the other day, which I thought was worth sharing. His favs included the clock and the notes gadget (both standard gadgets), as well as iWeather, a tweaked version of the standard weather gadget, Remote Desktop Gadget 2.0, App Launcher v3, a customizable collection of icons to launch favorite programs, and the Windows Search Indexer Gadget, which we covered here. He asked what others favorites are, so I'm going to revisit this topic and respond with some of the gadgets I'm running now:

Of course, I love the Channel 10 gadget, but did you know there are gadgets for Channel 9, Mix Online, and TechNet Edge, too? As a blogger, I also love the Feedburner Readers gadget, so I can obsessively check my subscriber numbers, and since I collect Coke Rewards point, I was happy to find a gadget just for that. I've also added the System Control gadget, which is definitely one of the better shutdown gadgets out there, offering you the ability to do more than just the normal Shutdown, Restart, Lock, and Sleep / Hibernate. It also lets you Switch User, Log Off, Run Task Manager, open the Run Window, and run the Command Prompt.

We've covered a lot of cool gadgets in the past, if you're looking for more cool ones to try. Laura even posted a video about our favs back in December. If you love gadgets, you can also stay updated on the latest arrivals by subscribing to the Windows Live Gallery feed. (img via frankarr)

MSN Video/Soapbox Vista Sidebar Gadget now available

Tina — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:17:00 GMT

David Cronshaw and I chat about the new MSN Video/Soapbox Vista Sidebar Gadget which is now available for download.

The official MSN Video/Soapbox Vista Sidebar Gadget is now available for downloading and installing:

http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=b4ea67a2-5cb6-4a15-8ae1-048cccaf8ffc&bt=1

Some of the Highlights of the MSN Video Vista Sidebar Gadget:

Display Localized MSN Videos with links to MSN Video Destination Site
Display Soapbox Videos and play natively Inline
Localized for over 30 countries and languages
Top-Level market Navigation
Numerous Sort-by options
Display Search terms
Display Related Videos
Customize number of thumbs and pages to show
Auto-scroll Pages at defined intervals
And much more……

The art of the demo: Part 2

Laura — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:48:00 GMT

Introducing people to new and exciting ways to use Microsoft products is one of the perks of working for this company- but it's also a challenge. You have to be pretty creative in order to catch peoples attention. That's why we created the "World Cup Demo Competition". Microsoft employees from all over the world were asked to perform a demonstration of Windows Vista applications and really WOW their audiences. The best demo'er wins ten grand! This video is the second of the three finalists, take a look and give your feedback. Click here to see the first finalist.

JD, Nic, and Brian Podcast - Episode 6

brianjo — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:57:00 GMT

In another exciting episode of the podcast named for JD Lewin, JD, Nic, and Brian talk about Windows Vista, Live Mesh, stuff we saw on the Web, JD's sleeping habits, and the popular Asus EEE PC.

Links from today's show:

The art of the Demo : Part 1

Laura — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:09:00 GMT

Introducing people to new and exciting ways to use Microsoft products is one of the perks of working for this company- but it's also a challenge. You have to be pretty creative in order to catch peoples attention. That's why we created the "World Cup Demo Competition". Microsoft employees from all over the world were asked to perform a demonstration of Windows Vista applications and really WOW their audiences. The best demo'er wins ten grand! This video is the first of the three finalists, take a look and give your feedback. I'll post all three and then announce the winner on Wednesday.

Group Your Taskbar Windows with Reg Hack

sarahintampa — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:55:00 GMT

The Lifehacker blog offers up a great little registry hack for grouping similar items on your taskbar. You may have noticed that the taskbar only groups items when you have launched enough windows to fill the taskbar. However, if you want to group similar programs all the time, a simple registry hack does the trick. Go to:

HKEY_CURRRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced

Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named TaskbarGroupSize at that location, setting the value to 2 or higher to set the number of programs to activate the grouping.

Get a Vista Theme for Your Smartphone

sarahintampa — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:30:00 GMT

[Hey Forina] Whether you have a Microsoft smartphone or Pocket PC, you can now download a free interface that makes your phone look like a little Vista computer. The interface comes with some pre-installed background images, or you can use your own by pressing the "Action" key. On the right side of the screen a sidebar displays, showing a very Vista-like clock, plus the current weather, a battery indicator, and a signal strength indicator.

The main screen is called the "Start Screen," which is a heads-up display that shows your missed calls, text messages, appointments, news, and more.

You can then browse into other screens to see details on the weather, read the news, view your message history and missed calls, and access your program launcher.

You can see more images of these screens and other functions as well as download the program from here if you would like to try it out.

Get Drop Shadows in Your Screen Capture

sarahintampa — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:40:00 GMT

The Digital Inspiration blog posts a great tip on how to capture Vista's Aero Glass drop shadow when you're doing a screen capture without having to buy any expensive software.

The trick is to put the window you want a screenshot of in front of notepad. Then do a print screen or Vista's Snipping Tool to take the picture and save the file. Next, open the file in any editing program like Windows Photo Gallery and crop out the parts you don't need.

Quick, painless, and best all of free! Nice tip!