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The festive season is not too far away and so I thought of creating some eyecandy using Christmas as a theme. Did my best in Photoshop to make some beautiful hi-resolution wallpapers and then gift-wrapped them into a Windows 7 themepack. Enjoy!

Details:

5 beautiful 1920x1200 widescreen wallpapers.

Windows Sound scheme: Festival.

Download Windows 7 Christmas Theme Pack

Just want these wallpapers? Click here.

It just takes a moment to click the Tweet button on top. :)

[All rights reserved for Windows 7 Christmas Theme Pack]

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Today’s technological scenario is all about integration and making every task simpler and every information easily accessible. Well, similar are the thoughts of UXLabs at Microsoft. They have created a very sleek Facebook client application that brings the complete Facebook experience right on your Windows desktop – Fishbowl.

Although in a ‘trial’ (beta) stage, Fishbowl offers some features that surely will excite Facebook power users. Apart from the seamless integration with Facebook, here are some of the plus points of Fishbowl:

» Fishbowl offers mini-mode which is more fun and less obtrusive.

» Smooth user interface and sleek navigation. It supports drag n’ drop pictures to publish them on Facebook. Furthermore, it can go full screen and play a slideshow of your albums.

» You can update your status, view your friends’ albums, their updates, news-feeds and other notifications.

» “Interest Level”, my favorite feature, helps you filter your stream anonymously in order to avoid boring updates from friends.

» If you are a Windows 7 user, you can monitor your Facebook stream right from your taskbar using jumplists.

If you want to give it a try then click the link below.

Download Fishbowl / 6.6mb

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In PDC ‘09, Microsoft unveiled a prototype called Pivot, created by Microsoft Live Labs that claims to revolutionize the way we search the web by introducing a new dimension called ‘visual search’. Redmond company explains that Pivot lets users experience the web in a more subtle and ‘visual’ way, instead of series of pages.

Powerful, informative and fun – this is what Pivot is, in it’s classical sense. The introductory paragraph of the official Pivot website reads, “We tried to step back and design an interaction model that accommodates the complexity and scale of information rather than the traditional structure of the Web.”

Currently available to a handful of people, you can request for an invite in order to use Pivot. I was lucky enough to get an invite. Upon installation, I was represented with, what seemed like, a homepage:

Pivot can be used in two ways:

» As a regular browser to surf the web

» As a visual search tool to browse collections.

When used as a regular browser, Pivot is just a clone of Internet Explorer, only a bit less customizable. When it comes to rendering pages, it uses the same Trident layout engine used in IE.

The beauty of Pivot is in its ability to browse specially created collections which are infact massive information clusters. As of now, the Live Labs have offered sample Pivot collections to mingle with. Ofcourse users can create their own collections and share it with others. However, understanding the basic architecture and the three types of collections is a bit too nerdy. That is why, Microsoft has challenged developers to create custom collections based on existing web services.

Minimum requirements:

» Windows 7 / Windows Vista with ‘Aero’ enabled. (Pivot is not compatible with Windows XP and Windows Server Editions as of now.)

» Internet Explorer 8.

» .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

» 2-GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.

» At least 256 MB of video memory.

Note: Pivot does not support Intel integrated video chipsets without additional acceleration hardware.

The road ahead...

Considering the strong foundation on which Pivot is built, one can expect it to be helpful in these scenarios:

» Create collections from data in existing online services.

» Use collections as a front end to desktop search.

» Display data sets from academical studies.

» To visualize stock market data.

» Using Pivot for personal photo galleries, or social networks.

Finally, here is a demonstration video of Microsoft Pivot in action.

Demo video:

Download Pivot / 28mb

Note: You are required to enter an installation code without which Pivot won’t install. You can either wait for your installation code or get one from me. I have 2 codes which are good for 19 more installations. Just leave a comment with your e-mail address and I shall give it to you.

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Sometime ago I showed a simple trick how you can minimize Windows Live Messenger to system tray in Windows 7. Based on the similar trick, I am going show you how you can set Windows Live Mail to always minimize to tray.

1) Right-click on the Windows Live Mail icon and then click ‘Properties’.

2) In the ‘Windows Live Mail Properties’ window, click the ‘Compatibility’ tab. Here, set the ‘Compatibility mode’ to Windows Vista. Click OK.

3) Run Windows Live Mail and you will see its icon in the notification area (system tray). Right-click its icon and choose ‘Hide window when minimized’.

Now whenever you minimize the Windows Live Mail window, it won’t appear in the super bar and you can make it appear again by double-clicking its icon in the system tray.

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I have seen many of my friends who recently switched to Windows 7 but have all the nostalgia and love for the aging Windows XP. They are not wrong. Windows XP did rule for quite a long time and I see no reason for someone not to get used to it. One of the many things people still crave for is the Classic Start Menu from the Windows 2000 and XP era. It was a minimalism norm back then. Even Windows Vista has it but Windows 7 doesn’t. So if you are the one using Windows 7 and missing those fly outs of the classic start menu then you might want to check out CSMenu.

CSMenu is a light weight application built specially for Windows 7 that acts like the classic start menu. It does nothing fancy. Just brings back the pure classiness which is favored by millions.

While CSMenu is a freeware, there’s an advanced version too – The Classic Menu with Aero, a shareware. This version give a little eye candy by making the fly-outs transparent.

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Instead of exploring new things all the time, sometimes I dig into what I have already got and I always come up with something new. Very few of us might know that Microsoft also offers lots of free games to its users. ‘The Games’ section in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is often listed in the feature lists but rarely anyone plays the games offered. And if you have checked the link in the ‘Game providers’ subsection lately, then you will find that Microsoft now offers 100+ free games to its users. So if you think you’ve had enough of solitaire and minesweeper, I’d say you do the following:

Click Start > Games. In the ‘Game Providers’ subsection, click ‘More Games from Microsoft’.

Alternatively, you can click here: Microsoft "Play Your Game"

And guess what, that’s it. Just click “Play Now” button to play your favorite games. You can also download trial versions of these games. Enjoy!

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Microsoft SyncToy needs no introduction. It is an excellent freeware utility that syncs files and folders and is mostly used for sharing multimedia and documents across computers and also used for backing up important data.

Microsoft has released its updated version, SyncToy 2.1, with some new features and improvements to meet the Windows 7 standards. The new SyncToy 2.1 has native 64bit support and is available for both (x86 and x64) architectures.

SyncToy 2.1’s help section enlists these new features:

» New Platform: SyncToy 2.1 uses the latest synchronization engine from Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0.

» Better Performance: File copy speed is significantly increased.

» Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.

» Improved Robustness: Instead of failing the whole synchronization session on an unknown single file error (including network issues), SyncToy 2.1 flags the error and continues with the remaining files.

Download Microsoft SyncToy 2.1 / 3.5mb

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Blogging is amazing when it is unrestricted and hassle-free. And to make blogging a smooth experience, there are many desktop blog-publishing applications available but most of them are ‘typical’ softwares that you need to install. Some might require you to download a suite in order to get a simple blog-publishing application. Here is something for those who love blogging on Blogger and hate installing a blog-publishing software – Blogger Buddy.

Blogger Buddy is a Windows Vista/Windows 7 Gadget that lets you create new posts and publish them to your Blogger blog. It also lets you preview the content before you publish.

Although a mere 120kb download, this small utility has full fledged text editor where you’ll find everything you need.

Features of Blogger Buddy:

» Unlike a typical blog publishing software, Blogger Buddy is a Windows Vista/Windows 7 Gadget.

» Just 120KB download size and low on resources.

» Rich text editor.

» Post previews are available before publishing to Blogger blog.

So, if you are a Blogger user out there, I would recommend you to use thisgadget for posting to your blog just because it is too hassle-free and has a footprint of an ant.

Download Blogger Buddy / 120kb

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Halloween’s gone and its getting cold everywhere. Why not give your Windows 7 some chilling look? Well, so thought I, and made a Winter theme pack.

» 7 beautiful, handpicked pictures from Flickr (thanks to MeanTux). Added a Vignette effect for awesomeness.

» High resolution images (1920x1200, 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio).

» Windows Sounds scheme: Sonata

Download the file by clicking the image below. Double click the .themepack file to set the theme.

Liked the theme? Tweet it to let your followers know. Get more of desktop customization as I will be adding more themes in the future.

There are many services out there on the web which are just ‘a violet by a mossy stone’. Hidden from the world, yet very useful. Google Pack is one such service where you can download software in, well you guessed it, packs. Though currently in beta, things are pretty neat.

What’s Google Pack?

It is a bunch of very useful software (especially for Windows 7 users) that includes a salad mixture of utilities like – Google Chrome browser, Firefox, Google Earth, Spyware Doctor, Picasa, Skype, Adobe Reader, Google Desktop, Google Talk, Google Apps like Calendar, Docs etc and Real Player – All packed in one suite called Google Pack.

So if you are too lazy to download all these utilities one by one, here is a blessing for you. Just head over to pack.google.com and select the programs you wish to download and click ‘Download now’.

Features of Google Pack:

As Google states it: Google pack is a bunch of free and ready-to-use software selected by Google. Adding to that, it saves time to download software from a one stop shop. Almost all software provided in the Google Pack are must-have for a Windows 7 user.

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This is a very cool trick that saves time and doesn’t require any 3rd party software. If you want any folder or a file shortcut to be placed right in the ‘My Computer’ window, then you can do that by following these simple steps:

1) Make a shortcut of the file/folder (‘Properties’ > ‘Create shortcut’)

2) Place the shortcut in this folder:

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts

Make sure you change <Username> to the user’s name of your computer.

Done! You have now placed a shortcut of your file/folder in the ‘My Computer’. I have tested this on Windows 7 and Windows Vista and it’s pretty neat.

[via HackTheUgly and TWC]

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Recently many users all round the world have been facing this very strange issue where the updrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 stucks at 62%. Users complained that the upgrade just sits there at 62% no matter how long you wait.

However, Microsoft has quickly identified it as some issue with the Windows IPv6 helper service that stops responding during an update which causes it to get stuck at 62% and have come up with a solution.

Warning: Use this solution only if you are experiencing the exact problem. i.e. Upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 stucks specifically at 62%. Do not use this solution otherwise.

Solution:

Click , right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

Thanks to Lee Mathews and Microsoft for providing the solution.

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Last week has been pretty exciting for Microsoft as it launched its most awesome OS ever but I guess the party is still not over. Microsoft is giving out small surprises like never before. There is lots of happening things going on over at Microsoft.com and here’s one example of it.

Recently, Microsoft put up 30+ Windows 7 themes on the Windows Personalization Gallery. Just click on the individual .themepack file, download it and double-click it to install the new themes. Moreover, checkout the new wallpapers in the ‘Desktop backgrounds’ tab.

Visit Windows Personalization Gallery

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Windows 7 have been around for quite a while now and every one is going gaga over it. Amidst all the cheering for Windows 7, I feel bad for Windows Vista owners for being felt left out. Although many Vista owners have already upgraded and enjoying Windows 7 in all its full glory, here’s something for those who haven’t made the switch yet – The Windows 7 Transformation Pack for Windows Vista.

Although this transformation pack has been around for many months, I could only post about it when Windows 7 was finally out. Transformation packs have been around since the age of Windows XP so there is nothing new to speak about. Windows 7 Transformation Pack has the refreshing Windows 7 Theme, Windows 7 Logon, WMP 12 for Vista, New Windows 7 Sound Schemes, Windows 7 Wallpapers and Windows 7 User Pictures.

Use the transformation pack at your own risk because I cannot give you my word for it as I have not tested it myself. On a personal note, I would suggest you to upgrade to Windows 7, because it’s worth.

Download Windows 7 Transformation Pack for Vista

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It’s October 2009 and Microsoft has already released Windows 7 a few days ago. People all over the world has embraced the new operating system but there are some who are still nostalgic about the operating system that ruled the world for 7+ years – Windows XP. Apart from all the good things that Windows XP had, it had those really beautiful games which you grew up playing them. Now we are on a highly advanced OS called Windows 7 which has the super stylized version of games that featured on Windows XP. But here is your chance to play the same old versions of Windows XP games on Windows 7 without much hassles.

The thing that makes this task easy is the simplicity with which these small applications (like games) were incorporated into Windows XP. In Windows XP, such applications need just an executable file and a dll file to run. Here I am going to show you how you can play the Windows XP version of Solitaire in Windows 7. You can use this method to play other Windows XP games.

Windows XP Solitaire in Windows 7:

You’ll need: Two PCs, one running Windows XP and other, Windows 7 and a USB flash drive.

1) Plug in the USB flash drive in Windows XP machine and navigate to this folder:

C:\Windows\System32

2) Copy and paste the files ‘sol.exe’ and ‘cards.dll’ from the System32 folder to the USB flash drive and safely remove the flash drive.

3) Insert the flash drive in the Windows 7 machine and store both the files in a folder on the local hard disk.

4) Run ‘sol.exe’ and there you are! Enjoy the Windows XP version of Solitaire in Windows 7.

As I mentioned earlier, you can follow this method to play other Windows XP games but I leave that upon you. Enjoy!

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It is a wide spread news that Windows 7 has been launched today so I won’t write about the same story again. But many people, especially Indian are pretty much confused about the price of different flavors of Windows 7. From the confirmed sources, we’ve received some final figures. It should be noted that, the Indian prices of Windows 7 is strikingly less by 40% than that in the US markets.

Windows 7 prices in India:

If you have observed and compared closely how Windows Live Messenger behaves in Windows Vista and Windows 7 then you must have figured out that in Windows 7, the Live Messenger does not minimize to tray. Quite annoyingly, it just sits in the Super Bar of Windows 7 which looks absurd. Here is a quick little trick to make Windows Live Messenger behave exactly as it used to in Windows Vista. Many of you must have already got the hint. Yes, the compatibility mode.

To always minimize Windows Live Messenger in system tray in Windows 7, here’s a quick workaround:

1) Click to open the ‘Start menu’ and in the search box, type ‘msnmsgr.exe’. The start menu will fetch it. Right click ‘msnmsgr.exe’ and choose ‘Properties’.

2) Click the ‘Compatibility’ tab, change the compatibility mode to ‘Windows Vista’. Click OK and you are done.

Last night I was working with my brother on his project and there was a lot of material needed to be copied from websites to Word. It was a tiresome process to copy and paste the required material, neglecting few lines in between, again copying and pasting few lines and so on. It was then that I tried to search for something that can ease this everyday process of copy-pasting. I found the clipboard managers. A lot of good ones.

A clipboard managers does the basic task of storing the information for the temporary period of time during the time you copy the content and paste it somewhere. Now the built in clipboard of Windows stores one entry at a time. This is where clipboard managers come in. They let you temporarily store multiple bytes of information, maintains a history, and lets you paste that content one by one. I used some of these clipboard managers but I’d favor ‘Ditto’ clipboard manager.

‘Ditto’ lets you save multiple items in the clipboard and lets you retrieve them one by one at a later time. Unlimited amounts of data can be stored in clipboard using ‘Ditto’. The most advanced feature of ‘Ditto’ is that, it lets you copy information from one computer and paste it to another.

‘Ditto’ offers lot more features like:

1) Keeping synchronization of clipboard data within multiple computers.

2) Ability to encrypt data when transmitted over the network

3) Foreign character support

and many more…

It may seem like a not so useful utility but let me tell you, you will realize its importance when you’ll truly need it. It is definitely a time saver.

Some other clipboard managers that I came across: Clipmagic (8/10), Clipboard Recorder (8/10), Sanvient (6/10) and ClipTorrent (6/10). Use them and make copy-pasting a breeze! :)

Don’t miss these awesome tips/tricks:

Draw a picture in Wordpad

Password protect your files using WinRAR

Google Image Search made easy

More…

Windows 7 has definitely introduced lot of features along with eye candy but some people still want their Windows 7 to behave exactly like Windows XP. Well, this little trick is for them. Aero snap feature enables you to maximize / arrange windows on your desktop rather neatly by just dragging the window towards the edge of the screen.

However, you can disable the Aero Snap feature by doing the steps below:

1) Open Registry Editor (type regedit in the Start Menu search bar) and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

2) In the right pane, change the value of ‘WindowArrangementActive’ to 0.

3) Logoff and login again to experience the changes. Now the windows will behave exactly as it were on Windows XP.

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When we switch over to a newer operating system, we ought to look for the compatible programs that work optimally with the new OS platform. The final release of Windows 7 is just around the corner and that makes it important for the user to know the compatible software applications. Well, I can safely say that Microsoft tops the list when it comes to backward compatibility and support for legacy programs but the people at Microsoft doesn’t seem to take any chances and that is why Microsoft has tested most of the applications out there under strict conditions. The software/application that passed all the tests were given a ‘Compatible with Windows 7’ badge.

Following are some of the Antivirus applications which are perfectly compatible with Windows 7 and I hope the list would help you make a wiser choice. The prices indicated are for 1 year license and are subject to change. Please refer the official websites for exact figures.

Kaspersky Antivirus for Windows 7 (RC available for download)

Expected Price: $65, INR 1500/- [Reduced prices for India]

Avast Antivirus

Price: Free (Home Edition) / $39.95 (Professional Edition), INR 2000/- (approx.)

ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4

Price: $39.99, INR 2000/- (approx.)

AVG Antivirus

Price: $34.99, INR 999/- [Reduced prices for India]

McAfee Antivirus Plus 2010

Expected Price: $34.99, INR 1750/- (approx.)

Norton Antivirus 2010 with Antispyware

Price: $39.99, INR 2000/- (approx.)

Bitdefender Antivirus 2010

Price: $29.95, INR 1500/- (approx.)

Then there are bunch of other antivirus applications which are also favored by Microsoft: TrendMicro Antivirus, F-Secure, Panda Security, Webroot, Bullguard, Rising Antivirus, GData, Ahnlab Antivirus and Sunbelt’s Vipre Antivirus.

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