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Admittedly, the standard calculator application found in every version of the Microsoft Windows operating system since the beginning is not usually considered sexy, but the new version found in Windows 7 earns props for adding real value. Check out some of the new features found hidden in the menu tree of this often-taken-for-granted free applet.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download and as a TechRepublic Photo Gallery.

The Hidden

The Calculator app is located in its typical spot in the Start Menu — under Accessories. Of course, the easiest way to get to the application is to type “calc” in the Start Menu search box, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A Starting the calculator

Click on the Calculator application icon, and you will get the familiar standard view shown in Figure B.

Figure B The standard calculator format

Click on the View menu item (Figure C), and one of the first things you should notice is that there are a plethora of new options available besides the Standard and Scientific modes of the past, including the new Programmer (Figure D) and Statistics (Figure E) modes.

Figure C View menu Figure D Programmer mode Figure E Statistics mode

History is a feature I have wanted for a long time (Figure F). The ability to get what amounts to calculator tape appeals to the accountant in me.

Figure F History

But where the real feature changes have taken place are in the lower levels of the View menu. Figure G reveals the conversion feature, where you can convert one kind of unit of measurement into another unit of measurement. The categories of units you can convert range from angle to weight/mass.

Figure G Conversion

The Date calculation will tell you how many days separate two dates. Yes, that is a lot of days (Figure H).

Figure H Date calculation

Under the Worksheets menu item (Figure I), you see four additional worksheets for calculating:

• Mortgages
• Vehicle leases
• Fuel economy in miles
• Fuel economy in kilometers

Figure I Worksheets

I have been using Web sites to calculate the mortgages on my dream houses in the past, but now I can dream without involving the Internet (Figure J).

Figure J Mortgage calculation Take advantage

The unadvertised enhancements to the standard calculator applet that comes with Windows 7 have raised the usefulness of this ubiquitous program tenfold. Check out the new features, and you just might end up pinning it to your desktop.

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In last week’s blog, “Get the Most Out of Windows XP Mode with These Tips,” I showed you several very cool tips that you can employ if you are using Windows XP Mode in Windows 7. That article drew some criticism about Windows XP Mode that I thought raised some very valid concerns. I have heard similar concerns from other folks as well. As such, I thought that I should address them in this week’s blog since they have equally valid solutions.

The main gist of these concerns refers to the fact that Windows XP Mode is touted as one of the major features in Windows 7, yet it is available only in the higher-end versions of Windows 7 — Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate. Furthermore, most consumer computer outlets typically carry the lower-end versions of Windows 7 — mainly Home Premium. Therefore, it may be difficult for the average consumer to take advantage of this great feature.

It is also possible that a less-informed consumer could purchase a computer with Windows 7 Home Premium from a consumer outlet thinking that because they are getting Windows 7, they would have access to Windows XP Mode. To further complicate the matter, there is still a lot of concern about the various CPUs out there and the necessary built-in hardware-assisted virtualization technology.

In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll discuss these concerns in more detail and offer up some solutions.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

Determining hardware-assisted virtualization support

Determining hardware-assisted virtualization support with respect to Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode isn’t as difficult as might appear to be. In fact, AMD claims that all of its currently shipping CPUs, with the exception of the Sempron chips, provide the AMD-V hardware-assisted virtualization technology.

If you are not sure if your AMD CPU provides AMD-V support or if you just want to check, you can download and run the Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Tool. No installation is required, but you must have administrator privileges to run it. When you do, you’ll hopefully see a display like the one shown in Figure A.

Figure A If your CPU provides hardware-assisted virtualization technology, you’ll see this verification message.

Intel, on the other hand, produces such a wide variety of CPUs models, and not all their CPUs provide the Intel VT hardware-assisted virtualization technology. If you need to check if your Intel CPU provides the Intel VT hardware-assisted virtualization technology, you can use the Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Tool or you can download and install the Intel Processor Identification Utility. When you run it, hopefully you’ll see a display like the one shown in Figure B.

Figure B If your Intel CPU provides the Intel VT hardware-assisted virtualization technology, you’ll see this verification message.

If you are shopping for a new computer at a consumer outlet and want proof that the CPU in the system you are looking at does indeed provide hardware-assisted virtualization support, just ask the salesman to run one of these utilities on the floor model.

The Anytime Upgrade

When it comes to purchasing a Windows 7 system at a consumer outlet and getting your hands on Windows XP Mode, you can always take advantage of the Windows Anytime Upgrade and easily go from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional. While most of the folks to whom I suggested this option balked at the thought of paying more to upgrade the operating system of a brand-new computer, it really isn’t a bad way to go.

For example, you could walk into Best Buy and pick up a Dell Inspiron laptop with an Intel 2.2GHZ Core 2 Duo, 4GB of memory, 500 GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit for a little over $700. While at Best Buy you could also purchase the Windows Anytime Upgrade: Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional Upgrade package for $89.99.

So, for a little under $800, you could get a Windows 7 Professional system at a consumer outlet and get your hands on Windows XP Mode. This is a pretty good deal, especially when you consider that the price of similarly configured system with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit at Dell.com sells for about $900. Of course, Dell offers special deals all the time and there’s a good chance that you wouldn’t have to pay the full price. However, you would still have to wait for shipping.

The bottom line is that with the availability of Windows Anytime Upgrade, there is no reason to miss out on Windows XP Mode, just because the computer you are purchasing at a consumer outlet comes with Windows 7 Home Premium.

(Alternatively, you could also purchase the Windows Anytime Upgrade: Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade package for $139.99 along with the $700 Dell Inspiron laptop. That is about $840 to get your hands on Windows XP Mode at a consumer outlet.)

What’s your take?

Do you have Windows 7 Home Premium and want access to Windows XP Mode? Does using the Windows Anytime Upgrade sound like a good solution to you? As always, if you have comments or information to share about this topic, please take a moment to drop by the TechRepublic Community Forums and let us hear from you?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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In late February we saw a large dump of patches out of band. Not a single one was considered a security item. I know I have said this before, but this is really unacceptable. I do not think a single systems administrator has commented on one of these blog posts with praise for out-of-band, nonsecurity patches, and I would be highly surprised if it ever happens (I know I just invited a rash of sarcastic “I love it!” comments). That being said, there are only two security items this month, both of them related to opening poisoned files.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

Security patches

MS10-016/KB975561 - Important (XP, Vista, 7, Microsoft Producer 2003): Specially crafted Movie Maker files can be used to exploit Microsoft’s Movie Maker and Producer 2003 applications and remotely execute code. This code is executed with the logged-in user’s permissions, which makes this less of a security concern. Install this patch during your next regular patch cycle. 1.7MB - 6.1MB

MS10-017/KB980150 - Important (Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007, Office 2004 for Max, Office 2008 for Mac, Office SharePoint Server 2007, Excel Viewer, Office Compatibility Pack): A number of problems in Excel’s file handling exposed it to remote code execution attacks with the user’s permissions. Microsoft does not rate this as “critical,” but given the prevalence of Excel and the likelihood of users opening Excel files, you will want to install it immediately. 4.9MB - 221.5MB

Other updates

KB976002: This patch adds the new “browser ballot” to existing installs of Windows for European users affected by the recent legal actions around this issue. For some reason, they released it out of band in late February and again on March’s Patch Tuesday. 104KB - 745KB

“The Usual Suspects”: Updates to the Malicious Software Removal Tool (9.7MB - 10MB) and Junk Email filters (2.2MB).

Changed, but not significantly:

• European “Browser Ballot” screen (KB976002)
• IIS Extended Protection for Authentication (KB973917)
• Application Compatibility Update (KB976264)

Updates since the last Patch Tuesday

No new security items were released out of band.

There have been a number of minor items added and updated since the last Patch Tuesday:

• Windows Activation Update (KB971033) fixes some potential ways to work around the “Genuine Advantage” validation. 1.2MB **
• Meiryo Fonts (KB975929) updates the Meirya Japanese fonts in Vista and 2008 to include some new, more easily read fonts. 9.7MB - 10.1MB
• European “Browser Ballot” screen (KB976002) adds the new “browser ballot” to existing installs of Windows for European users affected by the recent legal actions around this issue. 104KB - 572KB
• Application Compatibility Update (KB976264) improves compatibility in Vista, 7, 20008, and 2008 R2 for a large number of applications, including a number of games. 31KB - 3.3MB
• .NET 2.0 SP2 Update (KB976569) and .NET 3.0 SP2 Update (KB976570) are both for XP and 2003 and fix a problem with some objects not serializing with .NET 3.5 and .NET 4. 226KB - 25MB
• IE 8 JSON improvements (KB976662) gets IE8’s JSON handling (used in a lot of Web applications) in line with the latest standards. 336KB - 1.2MB
• Fix for Romanian errors showing in Czech Windows (KB977617) 50KB - 57KB
• Hanging W7 update (KB977632) resolves a problem where W7 machines with certain CPUs would hang if put to sleep or hibernated while running a VM in Virtual PC. 161KB - 183KB
• Cumulative Media Center Update (KB977863) and TVPack Update (KB977864) fix a number of issues with Media Center and the Media Center TVPack on Windows 7. 4.2MB - 11.6MB
• Compatibility Settings Fix (KB978637) for W7 and 2008 R2 addresses a scenario where a program that opens another ignores the compatibility settings. 263KB - 1.9MB
• Rights Management Services Client Update (KB979099) for Vista and 2008 handles expired manifests for AD RMS enabled applications better. 4.0MB - 9.2MB
• Daylight Savings Time Update (KB979306) gets Windows up to speed with recent changes to DST around the world. 145KB - 1.3MB

Changed, but not significantly:

• Security update for 32 bit versions of Windows (KB977165) - fix to the Windows Kernel that closed an escalation of privileges hole.

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On February 5, 2010, I used Mary-Jo Foley’s blog post about Microsoft’s lack of innovation, “Microsoft’s Challenge: Innovation, Innovation, Innovation,” where she wondered out loud whether Microsoft would ever be able to recapture its ability to develop innovative products, as a basis for this question:

When it comes to product innovation and creating new markets, how far behind has Microsoft fallen?

Results

If anyone from Microsoft happens to be passing by, they might want to take a close look at the results, because as far as the very IT savvy TechRepublic Membership is concerned, Microsoft is woefully far behind when it comes to innovation. Perhaps it is time for the company to interject a greater sense of urgency in the research and development process.

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Cloud computing is a strong buzzword in the information technology industry these days. Google, Facebook, Cisco, and a bunch of other companies, big and small, all have strategies designed to take advantage of this thing popularly known as “the cloud.” Even Microsoft has a cloud computing strategy. Steve Ballmer spent over an hour explaining the company’s strategy to an audience at Washington University on March 4, 2010. If you want some insight to that strategy, you can view the presentation.

But is all this “strategy” on cloud computing really going to pan out to create a better, more efficient business? Since TechRepublic members are known to be on the front lines of IT implementation, I thought it would be a good idea to ask members where they stand with regard to the cloud and the potential of cloud computing as a business model. And please, jump in the discussion to expound on the topic.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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While Windows 7 has several built-in compatibility features that are designed to allow you to run most Windows XP applications right from within Windows 7, there are other older Windows XP applications that will not run in Windows 7 even with those built-in compatibility features. For these types of applications, Microsoft designed Windows XP Mode for Windows 7.

Installing and using Windows XP Mode is a very straightforward operation. If you have Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate and the CPU and if your PC has the necessary built-in hardware-based virtualization technology, then all you have to do is download and install Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC.

Once you have Windows XP Mode up and running, you can install your XP applications in the Windows XP VM (Virtual Machine) just like you normally would. You’ll then be able to launch your XP applications right from the Windows 7 Start menu.

While using Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC is pretty straightforward, there are some tips that you can employ to get the most out of this winning combination. In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll introduce you to some of these tips.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

Working with Virtual Applications

By default, applications installed in the Windows XP VM are auto-published to the Windows 7 host. This means that your Windows XP applications appear on Windows 7’s Start menu. You can then launch your XP applications without having to first load the Windows XP VM and then launch them from the virtual Windows XP’s Start menu.

In order for a Windows XP application to be auto-published to the Windows 7 host, the application must be installed in the All Users profile in the Windows XP VM. However, not all applications are installed in the All Users profile by default.

So, what if the application that you want to be able to run from within Windows 7 isn’t auto-published? Or what if an application is auto-published and you really don’t want it to be available from within Windows 7? Fortunately, you can take control of the auto-published using a couple of tips.

If the XP application that you want to be able to run from within Windows 7 isn’t auto-published, you can force it to be so simply by creating a shortcut to the application in the All Users profile in the Windows XP VM. When you do so, the application will be auto-published to the Windows 7 host.

Access the Windows XP VM, right-click the Start button, and select the Open All Users command. When Windows Explorer launches, open the Programs folder. Once there, you can either drag-and-drop the shortcut from Windows XP’s Start menu to the Programs folder or you can launch the Create Shortcut wizard, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A By creating a shortcut to your application in the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs folder, the application will auto-publish to the Windows 7 Start menu.

If an application is auto-published and you really don’t want it to be available from within Windows 7, you can exclude it simply by moving the shortcut from the All Users profile to the XPMUser profile. That way it will still be available in the Windows XP VM but not in Windows 7.

For example, I installed my vintage copy of Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 in the Windows XP VM and it also showed up on the Windows 7 Start menu, as shown in Figure B. As you can see, not only did Paint Shop Pro 8 show up in Windows 7 Start menu, but so did Animation Shop 3 and the Uninstall Paint Shop Pro 8 utility. Since I really only want to be able to run Paint Shop Pro 8 from within Windows 7, I simply moved the shortcuts from the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Jasc Sofware folder to the C:\Documents and Settings\XPMUser\Start Menu\Programs folder where I created a new Jasc Sofware folder, as shown in Figure C.

Figure B XP applications installed in the Windows XP VM show up on the Windows 7 Start menu. Figure C By moving shortcuts from the All Users profile to the XPMUser profile, you can remove auto-published applications from the Windows 7 Start menu. Accessing folders on the host

When you are working in the Windows XP VM, chances are that you’ll want to save your data in the Documents folder on the Windows 7 host system. While the built-in Windows XP Mode Integration Features automatically provide you with access to drive C on the host system, you still have to navigate through several layers to get to the Documents folder.

Fortunately, with the help of the old DOS Subst command you can assign the Documents folder, or any folder, on the Windows 7 host system to a drive letter. When you do, that drive letter will appear in the Integration Features’ Drive list, where you can see it. Then any time you need to access the Documents folder, you can just access that drive letter.

For example, suppose that you want to assign the My Documents folder to drive letter H? To do so, access a Command Prompt in Windows 7 and type the command:

Subst H: “C:\Users\{your name}\Documents”

where {your name} is your user account name. Be sure to enclose the path in double quotes if {your name} is two separate words with a space in between.

Once you add the drive letter to your Windows 7 host, it will automatically be picked up by the Windows XP Mode Integration Features and you’ll find the new drive in My Computer in the Windows XP VM, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D Using the Subst command, you assign the Documents folder to a drive letter. Back up your Windows XP Mode VM

Even though you probably aren’t storing any data in your Windows XP Mode VM, chances are that you’ve put some time and effort into setting it up and configuring it to work the way that you want. As such, you’ll definitely want to back up your VM so that you can easily reestablish it in the event of a disaster.

You will need to back up the following files:

• Virtual Hard Disk/Differencing Disk file
  C:\Users\{your name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines\Windows XP Mode.vhd
• Parent Disk file
  C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode\Windows XP Mode base.vhd
• Virtual Machine Configuration file
  C:\Users\{your name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines\Windows XP Mode.vmc
• If the Undo Disks are enabled, you will need to back up the Undo Disks file
  C:\Users\{your name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines\VirtualPCUndo_Windows XP Mode_{#_#_##############}.vud

Before you begin backing up your Windows XP Mode VM files, you will need to shut down Windows XP Mode VM.

You can then copy the files over to your backup media for safe keeping. Should you need to restore the files in the event of a disaster, be sure that you restore the files in the same folders.

Shut down a VM

By default, when you close the Windows XP Mode VM window, the VM goes into hibernation rather than shutting down.

To really shut down the Windows XP Mode VM requires some extra steps.

On the VM Windows’s toolbar, click Ctrl+Alt+Del menu item. When you see the Windows Security dialog box, click the Shut Down button. When you see the Shut Down Windows dialog box, select Shut Down and click OK.

What’s your take?

Are you running Windows XP Mode? Do you have Windows XP Mode tips or experiences that you would like to share? As always, if you have comments or information to share about this topic, please take a moment to drop by the TechRepublic Community Forums and let us hear from you.

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Posted by Mark Kaelin

This article was originally published on TechRepublic in February 2005 by a guest contributor.

If you’re like most Windows XP users, you’ve probably read that the Indexing Service is unnecessary and that disabling it will improve the operating system’s overall performance. Although these statements aren’t entirely true, most people buy in to them because they really don’t understand the benefits of using the Indexing Service.

If you regularly search for specific content in data files on your multigigabyte hard disk, the Indexing Service will definitely save you time and therefore can be considered a necessary service. In fact, I have literally thousands of articles in Word documents, and I’ve discovered that searching for content with the Indexing Service turns up results hundreds of times faster than using a standard search engine.

Furthermore, like a screen saver, the Indexing Service is designed to perform its intensive hard-disk indexing operations when the computer is idle. The service pauses whenever it senses activity from the keyboard or mouse, so it will never drag down system performance when you’re using your computer.

Of course, like all tools in the Windows operating system, the Indexing Service’s default settings can be tweaked in order to improve performance. For example, in its default configuration, the service is designed to search through all the files on your entire hard disk as it performs its indexing operation. However, the service is much more efficient if you redirect the indexing operations toward the directories, or folders, in which you store your data files.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to redirect the focus of the indexing operations and discuss other ways you can configure the Indexing Service so that it performs more efficiently.

How it works

Let’s begin with a brief look at how the Indexing Service works. To provide such fast turnaround time, the service actually performs a comprehensive search operation during the indexing phase, when it goes through the files on your hard disk and gathers detailed information on each file. As it does, it creates a catalog, or database, of the results. When you run a search operation, you’re actually searching through the database rather than searching through the files on your hard disk.

To determine what types of files to search for and how to search them, the Indexing Service uses a set of preconfigured filters. By default, the service comes with filters for HTML files, text files, and all files created by Microsoft Office, including e-mail. The filter also allows the service to isolate the meaningful text from other content in the document, such as header and formatting information.

In addition to using filters to determine how to search a file, the service has a list of noise words — words that don’t need to be indexed. Words in the noise list include prepositions, common verbs, conjunctions, pronouns, individual letters, and numbers.

The service also gathers other pertinent information about the file. For example, it indexes standard information, such as file size, time and date stamp, and file type. More detailed information about a document includes word count, author, or even the last time the document was printed.

Works best on NTFS

While the Indexing Service will run on any hard disk regardless of the file system, it runs best on NTFS volumes, where it can take advantage of several advanced NTFS features. The most beneficial of these features is the NTFS Change Journal.

As its name implies, the Change Journal keeps a constantly updated log of any file deletions, additions, or modifications to all folders on the NTFS volume. The Indexing Service can consult with the Change Journal to help determine when new files have been added or when existing files have been modified; it can then proceed to update the index.

As you can imagine, a database of all the files on your hard disk could become extremely large. To deal with the size issue, the service stores its database using NTFS Sparse File, a feature that stores files in a way that requires much less disk space than if they were stored on a FAT-formatted hard disk.

Taking a look around

Now that you have a good idea of how the Indexing Service works, let’s take a look at its default configuration via the Indexing Service console.

To launch this console, go to the Run dialog box on the Start menu, type Ciadv.msc in the Open text box, and click OK. Once the console is up and running, select the Show/Hide Console Tree button on the toolbar to show the console tree. You’ll then see the screen shown in Figure A.

Figure A By default, the Indexing Service is configured to index the entire hard disk.

Select the Directories folder in the tree to see a list of all the directories the service is configured to monitor. While these default settings ensure that data files on this computer will be included in the catalog, it forces the service to spend a lot of time searching through folders containing files that might not have the data you want to index.

For example, the C:\Windows folder on this particular system contains close to 17,000 files, which would take a lot of unnecessary time and disk space to index. The C:\Documents and Settings folder comes much closer to the data I’d like to index; however, this folder contains nearly 34,000 files, many of which aren’t data files.

Redirecting the indexing operations

To make the Indexing Service as efficient as possible, you should redirect the indexing operations to the My Documents folder, which contains all your data files. This will make the service much more efficient.

First, delete all the current entries in the Directories list by right-clicking on each and selecting the Delete command from the menu. As you do, the Indexing Service will prompt you to confirm the deletion.

To add an entry for the My Documents folder, go to the Action menu and select the New | Directory command. In the Add Directory dialog box, select the Browse button and type the path to the My Documents folder into the Path text box, as shown in Figure B. Then, click OK.

Figure B You can redirect the Indexing Service so that it focuses on the folders containing your data files.

At this point, minimize the Indexing Service console, launch Windows Explorer, and locate the My Documents folder. Now, right-click on the My Documents folder to access the Properties dialog box. Click the Advanced button. In the Advanced Attributes dialog box, shown in Figure C, select the For Fast Searching, Allow Indexing Service to Index This Folder check box, and click OK.

Figure C To ensure that the folders and files are ready for the indexing operations, you need to set the Index attribute.

To continue, click OK in the My Documents Properties dialog box. You’ll then see the Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box, shown in Figure D. Make sure the Apply Changes to This Folder, Subfolders and Files check box is selected and click OK.

Figure D You’ll be prompted to confirm that you want to set the Index attribute for all subfolders and files.

Return to the Indexing Service console and select the Indexing Service on Local Machine folder in the tree. You’ll then see the main System catalog, as shown in Figure E. Now click the Start Indexing button on the toolbar.

Figure E

To initiate the indexing operation, just click the Start Indexing button on the toolbar.

The Indexing Service will begin the indexing operation, and you should leave your system site idle for a while. Ideally, you’ll allow the service to run while you’re at lunch or even overnight in order to give it time to build the index. While the indexing operation is running, the service will keep you apprised of its status, as shown in Figure F.

Figure F While the indexing operation is ongoing, the Status column will show that it is scanning.

When the indexing operation is complete, the Status column will list the operation as Started, as shown in Figure G. You can then close the Indexing Service, launch the Search tool, and begin searching your indexed files.

Figure G Once indexing is complete, the Status column will indicate that the index is ready to be searched. Adding file types

As I mentioned, by default the Indexing Service comes with filters for HTML files, text files, and all files created by Microsoft Office. If you want to index other types of files, you can find and install custom content filters, also called IFilters. Because Microsoft’s SharePoint Server also uses IFilters, you can find them for a lot of common file types.

For example, you can download and install a free PDF IFilter from the IT solutions page on the Adobe Web site. You can download and install a free Visio IFilter from the Downloads page on the Microsoft Web site. From the 4-Share Web site, you can download a 30-day evaluation copy of an IFilter for ZIP files. You can also purchase a number of IFilters on the IFilterShop Web site.

Adding unknown extensions

You can configure the Indexing Service to index files with unknown extensions. In this case, the service will analyze the content of the files and try to locate pertinent information.

To do so, run the Indexing Service console as described earlier. Select the Show/Hide Console Tree button on the toolbar to show the console tree. Right-click on the Indexing Service on Local Machine folder in the tree and select the Properties command. In the Indexing Service on Local Machine Properties dialog box, select the Index Files with Unknown Extensions check box, as shown in Figure H, and click OK.

Figure H If you want the Indexing Service to attempt to pull relevant information from unknown file types, you can enable the Index Files with Unknown Extensions check box.

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We all use tags. Whether we know it or not, they are in our lives, every day, making digital life easier. Tags make our file searching as well as our digital organization infinitely easier. But in many cases, the tools used for tagging files aren’t as easy as many would like them to be. Because so many people do not have the understanding of how PCs work, they want for the easiest possible solution to every problem. One of the easiest solutions to tagging files in Windows Explorer is TaggedFrog.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

This handy little application has an incredibly clean and easy-to-use interface that allows users to simply drag and drop files into the GUI to add tags to a file. Of course, that’s not all. TaggedFrog features include:

• Integration with Windows Explorer
• Tagging of Web links, Office documents, PDF documents, images, and more
• Simple-to-use interface
• Fast access to dispersed files using tagging in the clouds
• Direct opening of files
• Support for English, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish languages
• Auto-tagging 

There is very little need to discuss how TaggedFrog is installed, as it is a standard Windows installation. Simply download the latest install file and double-click the downloaded file to begin the installation.

Now that you’ve been tempted, let’s see how TaggedFrog works.

Usage

Using TaggedFrog is as simple as it sounds. When you first open TaggedFrog, you should immediately feel at home with the GUI (Figure A).

Figure A As you can see, I already have some tags created for files. When you first open TaggedFrog, there will be no tags.

Let’s walk through the process of adding tags to files.

1. Open TaggedFrog.
2. Open an instance of Windows Explorer (to My Documents or wherever you save your files).
3. Drag and drop files from Windows Explorer to either the upper or lower pane in TaggedFrog.
4. When the Tag window opens (Figure B), enter a comma-delimited list of tags you want to add to the files.
5. Click OK.

Figure B From this window you can also add more files to be included with these tags by clicking the “+” button.

That’s it. But that is not the only way to add tags to files. Remember that TaggedFrog integrates with Windows Explorer. So let’s take a look at the steps for adding tags from within Windows Explorer.

1. Open Explorer.
2. Navigate to the directory containing the files you want to tag.
3. Right-click a file.
4. Select Add Tags from the context menu.
5. When the Tag window opens, enter your tags as you did in the steps above (starting with Step 4).

You can also follow the same steps above (for Windows Explorer) and tag multiple files. To do this:

1. Open Explorer.
2. Navigate to the directory containing the files you want to tag.
3. Click the first file you want to tag.
4. Click on and hold the Control key as you select the other files you want to tag.
5. Click File | Add Tags…
6. Follow the steps above (starting with Step 4) and complete the tagging.

As you begin building up your collection of tags, make sure you use your tags wisely. Many of your files will span multiple tags, which is good. This categorizes your files in a much more orderly fashion.

Finding your files

After you have tagged those files, let’s take a look at how you find and open them. Remember in Figure A where you saw the small list of tags I had already created? If you click on one of those tags, a list of files will appear in the lower pane. Say you click on the Accounting tag I created. When you do that, all files with the accounting tag will appear in the lower pane. To open one of those files, you simply double-click the listing from that lower pane. Simple.

You will also notice, in the left vertical pane, an expanded tree view of file types, including Bookmarks, Images, Office Documents, and PDF documents. If you click on one of those listings, you will see that your tag listing (in the upper right pane) changes to reflect only those tags that contain that type of document.

Managing tags

Finally you can edit your tags by clicking the Manage Tags link in the left pane. What you can do with this option is:

• Rename a tag
• View the statistics of the tag
• Delete the tag

You can also create Favorites that will take a general category and show all files related to that category. Let’s say you have the tags:

• Linux
• Open Source
• Ubuntu

Create a Favorite and add only the Linux tag to it, All files related to the Linux tag will display. So if you have files that are tagged:

• Linux
• Linux, Open Source
• Linux, Open Source, Ubuntu
• Ubuntu, Linux

All of them will show when you click the Linux favorite.

Final thoughts

TaggedFrog is an outstanding means to keep your files better organized and your work more efficient. As your collection of files grows ever larger, I highly recommend this free application to help keep your files and folders from getting lost in the mire.

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Last week I polled the TechRepublic membership regarding the use of unlicensed copies of Microsoft Windows. I was looking for an explanation of why and how someone would consider that activity to be justified. After the poll runs its course, I’ll present the results, and then we can discuss some of the more inventive responses.

However, in the meantime, one common theme kept creeping into the conversation and that was the idea that Microsoft is a monopoly. That got me thinking, what exactly do we mean by monopoly? The Oxford English Dictionary contains this definition:

Monopoly: noun (pl. monopolies) 1 the exclusive possession or control of the supply of a commodity or service. 2 an organization having a monopoly, or a commodity or service controlled by one. 3 exclusive possession or control of something.

So, while Microsoft certainly enjoys a substantial market share in the operating system market, it really doesn’t meet the formal definition of a monopoly, does it? I mean, there are several other operating systems available, some even for free. Doesn’t that preclude Microsoft from being labeled a monopoly or are there other mitigating factors we should consider?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Recently I wrote an article “How Do I Connect to a Remote Windows 7 Desktop from a Linux Machine” and was asked to show how to do the same trick — the other way around. You might assume this trick to be a challenge. You will be surprised how little of a challenge it really is.

But first off, you might be asking yourself “Why would I need this?” The answer is to use a single point of administration. How many times have you scurried around computers to try to resolve a problem only to have to waste time going back and forth. With the previous article, you were given the means to connect from Linux to Windows. Now, with the ability to connect from Windows to Linux, you have all you need to make administrating from a central location much easier. And with that said, let’s get on with the setup.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

Assumptions

First and foremost I am going to assume both Windows and Linux desktops are operating correctly and are on your local LAN. To make things simple, I will use the 192.168.1.x IP addressing. And, as you could assume, it’s always easier (in this case) when the IP addresses are static (otherwise you will find yourself tracking down IP addresses of your desktop machines).

Software used

There are only two pieces of software necessary:

• x11vnc: Installed on the Linux machine to use as the VNC server
• TightVNC: Installed on the Windows machine to use as the VNC client

Installing the Windows software is straightforward for most users. Just download the installer and double-click. For many Windows users, the installation of the Linux software might not be as straightforward.

Of course, the Linux installation will depend on your distribution. But basically all you have to do is follow these steps:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software tool (such as Synaptic, Ubuntu Software Center, gnome-packagekit, etc).
2. Search for “x11vnc” (no quotes).
3. Select the results for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.

Now, if you are more comfortable with the command line, you can install the Linux software like so:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue a command like sudo apt-get install x11vnc (this will depend on the distribution you use).

Once all the software is installed, you are ready to go.

The Linux side

This is really quite easy. All you have to do is start the x11vnc server. If you look at the manual page for x11vnc (issue the command man x11vnc), you will see numerous options available for the server. One of those options you might want to consider is the -forever option. If you don’t add this option to the command, your x11vnc server will die as soon as the client quits the session.

So the command you will want to run, from the terminal, is:

x11vnc -forever

You will notice you do not get your prompt back. Even if you add the & character, x11vnc will not return you to your prompt. Because of this, you might want to consider adding a line like x11vnc -forever to the end of your /etc/rc.local file. This will ensure your x11vnc server is started at boot.

The Windows side

Now it’s time to connect. You’ve already installed TightVNC on the Windows machine, so go to the Start menu and fire up TightVNC. When you open the tool, a small window will appear (Figure A) that allows you to enter an address for the connection as well as open the Options window.

Figure A Make sure you select the Connection Profile that best matches your connection type.

In the Options window (Figure B), there are a number of items to configure. Unless you need a specific configuration, the default generally works pretty well.

Figure B You will notice that you can set TightVNC in View mode, which effectively connects the client to a noninteractive session. This is always good for training purposes.

After you make all your configurations, click the Connect button, and the connection will be made (Figure C). The speed at which TightVNC runs will vary depending on the speed of your network. But you should find it to be a very workable solution.

Figure C Select options and make the connection. Final thoughts

And there you have it – a simple way to make the connection between the Windows and the Linux desktops. Your administration world just got a bit easier.

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While experimenting with several Microsoft Windows 7 systems recently, I spent a lot of time staring at the Logon screen. During that time, I began to think about changing the Logon screen wallpaper. Now, I have changed the Logon screen wallpaper in just about every version of Windows I’ve used, so I knew that there had to be a way to do so.

For example, in the April 1, 2009, blog article, “Tweak Windows Vista’s Logon Screen to Meet Your Needs,” I showed you how to perform this operatiion using a program called LogonStudio from the folks at Stardock.

However, when I began to investigate the procedure in Windows 7, I discovered that changing the Logon screen wallpaper in the newest version of the Windows operating system is easy, once you know the steps — and you don’t even need any third-party software to do it.

In order to make it easy for OEMs to customize Windows 7, Microsoft built the ability to change the Logon screen wallpaper right into the operating system. In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll show you how to change Windows 7’s Logon screen wallpaper.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

A Registry tweak

The process begins with a very minor Registry tweak. Even for those who would not normally feel comfortable editing the Registry, this one’s a piece of cake. To begin, click the Start button and type Regedit in the Search box. Then, select the appropriate result and press [Enter]. When you do, you’ll see the User Account Control, shown in Figure A, and will need to click the Yes button.

Note: Editing the Windows Registry file is not without its risks, so be sure you have a verified backup before making any changes.

Figure A You will encounter a UAC when you launch the Registry Editor.

Once the Registry Editor launches, locate and right-click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key and select the Find command. When you see the Find dialog box, type OEMBackground in the text box and make sure that only the Values check box is selected, as shown in Figure B.

Figure B Type OEMBackground in the Find dialog box.

When the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background key opens, locate and double-click the OEMBackground value. When you see the Edit DWORD dialog box, change the value data from 0 to 1, as shown in Figure C. (If the OEMBackground value doesn’t exist in the Background key, you’ll need to pull down the Edit menu from that key and select New | DWORD (32-bit) Value).

Figure C Change the value data from 0 to 1.

To complete this part of the operation, click OK to close the Edit DWORD dialog box and then close the Registry Editor.

Creating folders

In the second part of the operation, you’ll need to create a couple of folders. To begin, launch Windows Explorer. Then navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\Oobe folder. Once you access the Oobe folder, click the New Folder button in the Windows Explorer toolbar. You’ll see a confirmation dialog box, like the one shown in Figure D. When you click Continue, the new folder will be created and you can name it info.

Figure D When you click the New Folder button, you’ll encounter a confirmation dialog box.

Then, open the info folder, click the New Folder button again, work through the confirmation dialog box, and then name the second new folder backgrounds.

Configuring the wallpaper

You can use any image that you want for your new Logon screen wallpaper. However, the image has to be in JPG format and you need to name it backgroundDefault.jpg. When you copy your file to the Windows\System32\Oobe\info\backgrounds folder, you’ll encounter and will need to work through a confirmation dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure D.

Two other things to keep in mind: First, the actual file size of backgroundDefault.jpg cannot exceed 256 KB. Second, you’ll want to use an image whose dimensions match the screen resolution that you are using. If you use a file whose dimensions are smaller, the image will be stretched and may appear distorted.

Altering shadows

As you know, the button and the text used to identify your user account on the Logon screen have shadows behind them to give them a 3D-like look, and these shadows work well with the default Logon screen wallpaper. Depending on what image you use for your new Logon screen wallpaper, these shadows might not work so well.

In addition to making it easy to change the Logon screen wallpaper, Microsoft also made it easy to adjust or disable the text and button shadows to accommodate your particular image.

To alter the shadows, launch the Registry Editor again as described above and access the

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI folder

Once you open the LogonUI folder, you’ll create a new DWORD value called ButtonSet, as shown in Figure E. You can then configure the shadow by setting the value data to one of the following numbers:

• 0 — Light shadow
• 1 — Dark shadow
• 2 — No shadow

Figure E The ButtonSet value allows you to adjust or disable the text and button shadows. What’s your take?

Now that you know how easy it is to change the Logon screen wallpaper, will you do so? As always, if you have comments or information to share about this topic, please take a moment to drop by the TechRepublic Community Forums and let us hear from you.

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In early January, right after the Consumer Electronics Show but before the announcement of the Apple iPad, I asked TechRepublic members if they were interested in purchasing one of the new and improved tablet PCs on display at CES — “Do You Really Want a Slate or Tablet PC? Really?” My thinking at the time was that the marketplace had pretty much rejected the whole concept of tablet PCs, except for certain niche applications.

Of course, now that Apple has hit the scene with their marketing machine for the iPad, there seems to be more interest than just a mere month ago.

Not surprisingly, what people would like to use their tablet PC for is, well, everything. It will be interesting to see if any manufacturer can actually deliver a device that the marketplace will embrace.

Results What would/do you use a slate PC for? Total Votes: 840

Last week, I asked the poll question “Does the Activation Process Really Decrease Piracy?” and some of the responses struck me as peculiar. While the majority of the respondents were not convinced of the effectiveness of Microsoft’s activation process, there were a few who seemed to express a more controversial sentiment. Their argument basically went like this: Microsoft Windows costs money, but it sucks, so why pay for it. If they made an operating system that was good, I wouldn’t mind paying for it, but they don’t, so I use a pirated copy.

At least that is what it sounds like to me. Of course the contradictory nature of the argument begs the question: Why use it at all if it sucks so bad that you are not willing to pay for it? But I digress.

In my mind’s eye, stealing is stealing, and there is no justification for using a pirated piece of software. If you cannot afford it, you should not use it. If you are running a business, you are just asking for a world of trouble if you are running illegal copies of Windows or any software. The accountant in me knows it is not worth the risk.

So, we have these questions, and most likely many more will come up in the discussion thread.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The TaskList utility provides details on the services and DLL modules related to running processes. This free Vista/Windows 7 gadget does the same job — but without the command-line headaches.

When you’re troubleshooting problems in Windows, one of the tools you’re likely to use is the Task Manager. It’s designed to provide you with detailed information about the programs and processes that are running on a system. However, Task Manager doesn’t really give you the full picture when it comes to the running processes. For instance, what if you suspect that a DLL is at the root of a problem and want to find out what DLL modules a particular process is using?

To get the information you need, you can shell out to a Command Prompt window and use the TaskList command-line utility, along with a couple of special parameters. But working from a Command Prompt can get fairly tedious. So I created the TaskList Gadget, which automates the TaskList command.

Using the TaskList Gadget

The TaskList Gadget runs from the Windows Sidebar in Vista and the Desktop in Windows 7. It presents each of the TaskList tool’s options on a flyout menu, as shown in Figure A. Just select the options you want to use and click the OK button. The TaskList Gadget will open a Command Prompt window and run the TaskList command, along with the selected options. If you need more information about an option, you can hover your mouse pointer over it to display a tooltip. You can also select the TaskList /? check box.

Figure A

The TaskList Gadget displays each of the TaskList command-line tool’s options on a flyout menu.

When the TaskList Gadget sends the selected command to the Command Prompt window, the command line won’t appear in the window. If you want to see the command line, be sure to select the Show Command Line check box before you click OK.

Installation

Once you download the taskList_gadget_package.zip, you’ll find that it contains two files:

• TaskList.zip
• TaskList Gadget Readme.doc

Simply extract both files to a folder of your choice and rename the TaskList.zip file to TaskList.gadget. Make sure that you have Windows Explorer configured to display file extensions. (On the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box, deselect the Hide Extensions for Known File Types check box.) Otherwise, the system might still have the file type set as .Zip even though it appears that you have renamed the extension to .gadget.

To continue, follow the appropriate steps for your version of Windows.

Windows Vista

1. Right-click on the TaskList.gadget file and select Windows Sidebar from the Open With submenu.
2. In the Windows Sidebar - Security Warning dialog box, click Install.

The TaskList Gadget will then be installed in the Windows Sidebar and will be ready to use.

Windows 7

1. Right-click on the TaskList.gadget file and select the Open With command.
2. In the Open With dialog box, select Windows Desktop Gadgets and click OK.
3. In the Desktop Gadgets - Security Warning dialog box, click Install.

The TaskList Gadget will then be installed in the Desktop and will be ready to use.

Other gadgets

• The ARP Gadget
• The Netstat Gadget
• The Route Gadget
• The PathPing Gadget
• Windows Vista IPConfig Gadget

Back in October I wrote “Tap into the Power of Libraries in Windows 7” and explained that Libraries were a refinement to the Search Folders Feature introduced in Windows Vista and that you can think of Libraries as collection points for files of a certain type that can exist in any number of locations. In the article “How Do I Create and Configure a Network with Windows 7 HomeGroup?” I then touched on how Libraries come into play in Windows 7’s new network paradigm.

Now, while Libraries are notably the biggest enhancement to Windows Explorer, Microsoft did indeed make many other standard file-management enhancements in Windows 7. Over the past couple of months I’ve uncovered and begun to use many of these to enhance my productivity. While some of them are obvious, many of them are a bit tricky to find and harness.

In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll investigate the file-management enhancements I’ve discovered in Windows 7. As I do, I’ll show you how to customize Windows 7’s Windows Explorer so you can set it up to meet your specific needs.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

New Folder button

While the New Folder button is not the most exciting new feature in Windows Explorer, it is something that I have been pining for a long time. I don’t know why it has taken Microsoft so long to put this button where it has always belonged, but it did. In Windows 7’s Windows Explorer, you’ll find the New Folder button on the toolbar, as shown in Figure A. Just click it and a new folder appears!

Figure A Finally, we have a New Folder button on the toolbar in Windows Explorer. Preview Pane button

On the right side of Windows Explorer’s toolbar, you see the Preview Pane button, which allows you to quickly and easily toggle the Preview Pane, as shown in Figure B. And if clicking the Preview Pane button isn’t easy enough for you, try the [Alt]-P keyboard shortcut.

Figure B You can quickly and easily toggle the Preview Pane from a toolbar button. Simulated dual-pane file manager

Back in the DOS days, I lived and breathed Norton Commander. With its dual-pane interface, copying files from one folder or drive to another was a breeze. I’ve always wished that Windows Explorer had a dual-pane feature. Now, thanks to Aero Snap, creating a simulated dual-pane interface with Windows Explorer is, well, a snap.

You can create your dual-pane file-manager simulation with four simple keystrokes:

• [Windows]+E
• [Windows]+[Left Arrow]
• [Windows]+E
• [Windows]+[Right Arrow]

You don’t even have to let up on the [Windows] key. In fact, I press and hold down the [Windows] key and then press E, [Left Arrow], E, [Right Arrow]. Once you have the two windows open, as shown in Figure C, you can easily copy files from one folder or drive to another.

Figure C In four easy keystrokes, you can open a simulated dual-pane interface with Windows Explorer. Change Windows Explorer’s target

When you launch Windows Explorer from the Start menu in Windows 7, the default target is the Libraries folder. If you would prefer to have Windows Explorer open Computer, all you have to do is change the target.

To do so, press [Windows], type “windows explorer” in the Search box, right-click the first result, and select the Properties command. When you see the Windows Explorer Properties dialog box, type the following command in the Target text box, as shown in Figure D, and click OK.

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} Figure D To make Windows Explorer open Computer, just change the target. Save time with Favorites

If you have certain folders that you access all the time, you can save yourself time and navigation steps by adding those folders to Windows Explorer’s Favorites. In Windows 7, it’s a very simple operation to add folders to the Favorites.

Navigate to and open the folder that you access all the time. Then, right-click on the Favorites item in the navigation pane and select the Add Current File Location to Favorites command, as shown in Figure E.

Figure E In Windows 7, it’s a very simple operation to add folders to the Favorites. Expand the navigation pane

By default, Windows Explorer displays five sections in the navigation pane: Favorites, Libraries, Homegroup, Computer, and Network. While this makes the navigation pane a straightforward tool, there are other locations you may want to have easy access to. To expand the number of items in the navigation pane, pull down the Organize menu and select the Folder and Search Options command. When you see the Folder Options dialog box, select the Show All Folders check box and click OK. When you do, you’ll see a fuller navigation pane, as shown in Figure F. As you can see, there are now nine items in the navigation pane including Desktop, your User folder, Control Panel, and Recycle Bin.

Figure F Selecting the Show All Folders check box expands the navigation pane. More Album Art

To help you more easily associate individual MP3s with the artist, you’ll now discover that each file’s icon can now show Album Art when you select Tiles, Medium, Large, or Extra Large as the view, as shown in Figure G.

Figure G Each MP3s icon can now show Album Art. Content View

There’s a new View setting in Windows 7 called Content View that makes it easier to keep track of multimedia files – pictures, videos, music/MP3s. As you can see in Figure H, Content View displays one item per line with information about that item, such as date modified, size, author, and type.

Figure H Content View makes keeping track of multimedia files easier. What’s your take?

The file-management features in Windows 7’s Windows Explorer are pretty nice once you get used to using them. Have you grown to like the file-management features in Windows 7? What do you think? As always, if you have comments or information to share about this topic, please take a moment to drop by the TechRepublic Community Forums and let us hear from you.

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There are tons of backup solutions available, ranging from simple, single-user applications to much larger, complex solutions. Most all of these solutions will do what the creators claim — back up your data. You always hope that data is backed up safely and that it will be there in that unforeseen moment when you need it.

There is one backup solution amid the myriad of others that offers a unique little twist on the old tried-and-true process. Yadis! Backup divides backup jobs into tasks that can be configured to perform either local or ftp backup. But what Yadis! does a bit differently is to run backups in real time. Whenever you make a change to your target file, your backup will quickly reflect that change. This means no scheduling is necessary. Good news for anyone who has forgotten to set up a backup schedule after making changes. Yadis! Backup offers a few other features that should appeal to users:

• Tiny footprint
• Simple to use
• No program necessary to access backup files
• Choice of exactly what to back up
• Changes stored and backed up later if backup location not available

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

Installation

Yadis! Backup has a standard Windows installation process. Just download the installation file and run it. The only step that might trip you up is that it will ask if you are a novice or an expert. Choose expert…naturally.

Once Yadis! Backup is installed, you will find the new sub-menu in the Start Menu. Now, let’s walk through the process of setting up a backup with this tool.

NOTE: For this article, I am using a standard Windows XP desktop installation. I will be focusing on the My Documents directory for backup.

Backup

The steps for creating a new backup are:

• Open the Yadis! Backup Monitor
• Click the New button
• Select the type of task
• Give the task (backup) a name and description
• Select the source and the destination
• Add masks to include or exclude files
• Set up versioning (optional)
• Choose the group the task will belong to

Now, let’s give each step a bit of detail.

Open the Yadis! Backup Monitor

When you first start Yadis! Backup you might get a warning that Yadis! Backup is already running. This is fine. The daemon is started upon installation. If Yadis! Backup is running, you will notice a small, round green icon in the System Tray. If you right-click that icon and select Open Monitor, then the Yadis! Backup main window will open (Figure A). From this window you click the New button, which needs no further details.

Figure A From this window you can Add/Edit/Delete tasks as well as Start/Stop the Yadis! Backup Daemon. Select the type of task

In Figure B you can see that there are three different types of tasks to select:

• General: Create a standard backup on a local drive (can be a mapped network drive).
• Favorites: Create a backup from your Favorites directory.
• FTP: Create an FTP backup.

You will also notice the choice of Advanced or Standard mode. The difference between these two is that Advanced offers versioning and file monitoring. Once you have made these selections, click the Next button to move on.

Figure B Most of your backups will be either General or FTP. And if you need to keep only one copy of the backup, you will not need versioning, so choose the Standard mode. Give the task a name and description

You will need to give your backup a name and description, as shown in Figure C. Only the name will appear in the Task list, so the description could be considered as optional.

Figure C Make sure the name indicates what is being backed up.

Once you have completed this step, click the Next button to continue.

Select the source and destination

Now it’s time to select the files/folders to be backed up and the location that will house the backup copies. As you can see in Figure D, this is fairly straightforward. If you want to back up a network drive (that is not an FTP location), you will need to make sure that drive is pre-mapped, otherwise Yadis! will not see the location. In my example I am backing up a pre-mapped Samba server on a local network.

There are two options underneath the directory selectors: Preserve Directory Structure and Validate Target. You want to keep both of these checked. If you uncheck Preserve Directory Structure, Yadis! might explode the files housed in sub-directories into one directory, making a mess of your backup target. And if you do not validate the target, you might be unwittingly backing up to a target that won’t work.

Figure D As you can see, I am backing up to \\192.168.1.10\JACK, which has been mapped to the X: drive.

Once that is complete, click the Next button.

Add masks to include or exclude files

This next step should also be fairly straightforward. You can include or exclude file types such as *jpg or *mp3. To add either an include or an exclude mask, click the “+” sign associated with the type of mask you want to add. By default, Yadis! will provide an include mask of  *.* (Figure E), which means it will include all files.

Figure E To remove a mask, you only have to click the “-” sign in the associated mask.

Once you have added the masks you want (or none at all), click the Next button to move on.

Set up versioning

If you have opted for the Advanced mode, you can enable versioning here. What this allows you to do is keep older versions of your backup. You can configure how many older versions to keep in this window (Figure F).

Figure F If these are production backups, it’s probably best to keep a version or two around.

Once it is complete, click the Next button.

Choose the group the task will belong to

The last step (Figure G) asks you to add your task to a group. This makes organizing your backups much easier. By default there is only one group — My Tasks. If you need to add more groups, click the Manage Groups button. If you know that you are going to be creating numerous backups, it would behoove you to take advantage of the Groups feature.

Figure G When you click the Manage Groups button, you will see a window similar to the initial Yadis! window (see Figure A above). Click the New button to create a new Group.

Once you click the Save button, Yadis! will give you a warning (if you have set up your destination on a network drive), making sure you trust the network device. Click Yes to this warning, and then Yadis! will ask if you want to immediately back up the files. Click Yes and you’re finished.

Final thoughts

Yadis! Backup is one of the more foolproof backup solutions I’ve come across. If you are looking for a simple backup solution that does not require any scheduling, this might be what you are seeking. It’s not exactly Enterprise-ready, but for smaller backups it’s a pretty sweet solution.

Stay on top of the latest XP tips and tricks with TechRepublic’s Windows XP newsletter, delivered every Thursday. Automatically sign up today!

In December 2009, I published a blog post, “Hello Windows 7 and Goodbye Windows XP? asking TechRepublic members what they were thinking regarding Microsoft Windows 7 and the potential for migrating from Windows XP. The results indicate that, despite the general acceptance of Windows 7 as a viable operating system, most enterprises were still waiting for a catalyst to drive the upgrade process.

Whatever else you can say about Windows XP, it has to be conceded that this venerable operating system has staying power. Take a look at the results and see where you fit in with your IT peers. Are you out in front of the curve this time?

Total votes: 2,824 Total votes: 2,655 Total votes: 2,547

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If you have been using the Microsoft Windows operating system after 2006 and you have been allowing updates (please tell me that you have been updating your operating system), you have probably been asked to activate and validate your copy of Windows as “genuine.”

For most of us, this is a minor annoyance that we allow to occur and then move on with whatever it is we have to do.

In a recent blog post on TechRepublic sister-site ZDNet, Ed Bott reports that a new version of the activation application is to be released by the end of February 2010. The blog post, “Windows 7 Activation Update Aims at High-Volume Pirates,” explains that the update will include “the addition of new code designed to detect common hacks that allow pirated software to circumvent Windows activation.”

He goes on to explain:

“The new update uses signatures similar to those included with antivirus programs to identify exploits and automatically updates itself every 90 days. When it detects that the core licensing files used in Windows have been tampered with or disabled, the update tries to repair those files (or, to put it another way, it disabled the activation hack).”

Question

The basic idea is that applications like this will help prevent the selling of pirated software to unwitting consumers. The “Genuine” activation process will let these unwitting people know that they have been sold a pirated copy and presumably that they will want to correct their mistake. But I wonder: does it really work like that? What do you think? Does the Microsoft Activation process to determine “Genuine” copies of Windows really reduce software piracy?

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Microsoft made some pretty dramatic improvements in Windows 7’s graphics subsystem in order to improve performance for the entire spectrum of usage scenarios, from the day-to-day desktop displays to the extreme CAD and game graphics. However, what you may not know is that Microsoft has also made some pretty dramatic improvements in Windows 7’s font system.

In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll investigate the changes and enhancements in Windows 7’s font system. As I do, I’ll show you how to take advantage of the new features in the Fonts folder.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a free TechRepublic download.

The importance of text

While the major concern about display performance in Windows typically revolves around graphics, the fact of the matter is that the average computer user spends more time reading or writing text on the computer screen than watching or interacting with graphics, such as movies or games. Another undisputable fact is that better-looking text is easier to read. And the easier the text is to read, the faster we can read it and thus be more productive. Since Microsoft is all about improving productivity, it makes sense that the company would want to improve the textual display in its newest operating system.

Pixels and rendering text

A pixel is the smallest addressable element on a computer screen, and as such, each character displayed in the screen is rendered by a group of pixels. Unfortunately, when it comes to displaying high-contrast graphic elements, such as text on modern LCD displays, the pixels on the screen tend to reveal jagged edges that can make the text fuzzy, which in turn makes it harder to read.

To improve clarity on LCD displays, Microsoft introduced ClearType, which uses an anti-aliasing technique at the subpixel level to reduce the visible jagged edges, making the text appear smoother and thus easier to read on the screen.

However, ClearType, which was introduced as a new feature in Windows XP, was overdue for an upgrade in order to keep up with the vast improvements made in LCD display technology since Windows XP first came on the scene.

In a Windows Engineering blog titled “Advances in Typography and Text Rendering in Windows 7,” Worachai Chaoweeraprasit, a development lead on the Windows 7 Graphics feature team, describes the improvements in Windows 7’s font-rendering capabilities as building on the foundation laid by ClearType.

“Fortunately, the advent of ClearType during the past decade has largely improved the clarity aspect of quality. ClearType leverages the anatomy of the LCD pixel structure and takes advantage of the human visual system to distribute the energy typically emitted to a whole display pixel, across the neighboring sub-pixels in the LCD’s typical 3-color channels making up each individual pixel, to create the visual illusion of higher resolution raster quality on a lower resolution device. As the result, ClearType text looks significantly sharper than the typical text on an LCD display, mitigating a large portion of the quality problem on a display technology that would become hugely popular a few years later.”

Chaoweeraprasit then goes on to explain the enhancements in Windows 7:

“One of the graphics improvements we made in Windows 7, therefore, is to move from the physical pixel model of the past, and instead creating a new design around what we call the “device independent pixel” unit (or “DIP”), a “virtual pixel” that is one-ninety-sixth an inch in floating-point data type. In this model, a glyph (or any other geometric primitive for that matter) can size to fractional pixels, and be positioned anywhere in between the two pixels. The new ClearType improvement allows sizing and placement of glyph to the screen’s sub-pixel nearest to its ideal condition, creating a more natural looking word shape and making text on screen look a lot closer to print quality.”

New fonts

With the new ClearType technology, the fonts in Windows 7 really are cleaner, clearer, and easier to read. To showcase the improvements, Microsoft has added more intricate fonts to Windows 7. In fact, Windows 7 ships with 235 fonts as opposed to Vista, which contains 191 fonts, or XP, which has 133 fonts. (You can learn more about the new fonts in Windows 7 at Microsoft’s Fonts for Windows page.

New Font tool

In Windows 7, you’ll find a new Fonts folder in the Control Panel, and it sports a host of great new features that make working with fonts much easier. Let’s take a closer look.

When you access the Fonts folder, shown in Figure A, you’ll immediately notice that the Fonts folder no longer contains an icon for each font variation in a set. Instead, if a font has multiple variations, you’ll see a stack icon, which you can double-click to access and view all the font variations on the set.

Figure A The new Fonts folder uses a stack icon to indicate fonts with multiple variations.

For example, the Arial font uses a stack icon that when double-clicked displays all the variations, as shown in Figure B.

Figure B When you double-click the Arial font’s stack icon, you’ll see all the variations in the Arial set.

You’ll also notice that each font icon actually provides you with a three-letter thumbnail preview of the font. Of course, the standard font preview window is still available. If there is a single font, you can just double-click the icon to display the standard preview. If there are multiple variations of the font, you can open the stack and double-click the font icon.

On the other hand, you can also select the stack icon and select Preview on the tool bar. When you do, you’ll see a standard font preview window for every font in the set, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C Selecting the Preview button for the Comic Sans font displays standard font preview windows for each font in the set.

Because there are so many fonts in Windows 7, Microsoft decided not to enable all the available fonts. If you look back at Figure A, you’ll notice that the three-letter thumbnail preview of some of the fonts is grayed out. Those fonts are not enabled and so will not show up in any of your applications. By default, Windows 7 automatically hides fonts based on regional settings; however, you can manually show or hide any font.

If you select one of the grayed-out fonts, you’ll see a Show command on the toolbar. If you select an enabled font, you’ll see a Hide command on the toolbar, as illustrated in Figure D.

Figure D Windows 7 allows you to manually Show or Hide fonts.

If you want to show all the available fonts, you can access the Font Settings command from the task pane and display the Font settings window, as shown in Figure E. Just clear the Hide Fonts Based on Language Settings check box. You can also enable the font shortcut feature, which allows you to install a font by creating the shortcut to the font file rather than actually installing the font.

Figure E From the Font Settings window, you can show all installed fonts as well as enable the font shortcut installation feature.

From the task pane you can also launch the ClearType Tuner tool – which is now part of the operating system – rather than using either the Web-based tool or the PowerToy version, and fine-tune your ClearType display. And because of the improvements described above by Worachai Chaoweeraprasit, the Windows 7 version of the ClearType Tuner tool provides more options than previous versions.

Figure F The ClearType Tuner tool in Windows 7 provides more options for fine-tuning your ClearType display.

The procedure for installing fonts in Windows 7 has changed too. When you download a font, just double-click its file to access the standard preview window, as shown in Figure G. When you do, you’ll see an Install button at the top of the window. If you have enabled the shortcut installation feature, you’ll also see the Use Shortcut check box.

Figure G You can install fonts in Windows 7 right from the preview window. What’s your take?

Have you noticed better-looking text on you Windows 7 system? Have you investigated the new fonts and font features? What do you think? As always, if you have comments or information to share about this topic, please take a moment to drop by the TechRepublic Community Forums and let us hear from you.

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