March 13th, 2009

You are currently browsing the articles from MS Windows Vista Compatible Software written on March 13th, 2009.

Vista Tips - Using Windows Search without an Index

The indexing service plays a key role in accelerating searches within Window Vista. Although this service provides a lot of value by allowing you to quickly search thousands of files, it is not a requirement of Windows Search. It is possible to completely disable the indexing service. However, searches with Windows Search will require much more time to complete and can cause your hard drive to do a lot of work while Windows Search iterates through folders and files instead of just accessing a search index.

Disabling the indexing service will save your computer extra memory and CPU time required to run the application in the background. Depending on how often you use the Windows Search feature, you can decide if it is worth sacrificing fast searches for a little extra performance from Windows Explorer.

Follow these steps if you decide to disable the indexing service:

Click the Start button, type services.msc in the Search box, and then press Enter (or in Run Command). This loads the Services utility.
After Services has loaded, scroll through the list and locate the Windows Search service. This is the indexing service. Right-click this service and select Stop.
When the service is stopped, make sure that it does not start again. Right-click the service again and select Properties.
Locate the Startup type drop-down box. Change the Startup type from Automatic to Disabled.
Press OK to close the window.

You have now successfully disabled the indexing service that is used by Windows Search. Although your searches are now slower, you have freed up processing power that can be used instead by other processes such as Windows Explorer.
Ultimate Links PC Tips™

Written by FireFly on March 13th, 2009 with no comments.
Read more articles on windows tips and Index and Windows Search and otherSoftware and Tips and Windows Vista.

Windows 7 HQ Wallpapers (part 4)

The wallpapers included in the last build 7057of Windows 7, which is supposedly the first release candidate of Windows 7. Looks like they really made an effort and Windows 7 has some awesomely awesome wallpapers.

Scenes

Nature

Windows 7 HQ Wallpapers

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Previous builds Windows 7 Wallpapers:
Windows 7 Wallpapers (build 7000)
Windows 7 Wallpapers (international build 7000)
Fan Art Windows 7 Wallpapers

Written by silfiriel on March 13th, 2009 with no comments.
Read more articles on otherSoftware and windows 7.

Another Peek at Changes Coming with the Windows 7 RC

In late February, the Windows Engineering Team offered a little sneak peek at upcoming changes with the Windows 7 RC based off on the amazing amount of feedback we’ve received (and continue to receive) from the Windows 7 Beta. Today they are offering another peek at some more changes coming with the Windows 7 RC. These 2 blog posts represent only some of the changes coming for the Windows 7 RC and as Steven notes in his intro – this is not an exhaustive list.

Written by Brandon LeBlanc on March 13th, 2009 with no comments.
Read more articles on Windows Engineering and windows 7 BETA and Windows 7 RC and E7 and otherSoftware and Feedback and windows 7 and rc.

Switch Back, Forth, Back, Forth

Whilst I tend to use my computers until they’re in the ground, I do seem to have a periodic refresh, and not just to the same platform.

Mostly I have switched between Apple and Windows but threw Linux into that mix for a couple of years. For the time being I am not using Linux on my computers, work demand is such that I need to run a lot of Windows applications at the moment, most notably SQL Server 2005. On the laptop front, that is more my personal computer than my desktop is, which is really just a workhorse.

I have been using Macs on and off since 1994, and Windows PCs for the same time. I sold my PowerBook in late 2006 due to financial reasons, and then got a Power Macintosh G4 which I upgraded massively, but then had to sell that when things got tight. Eventually I ended up with a Dell PC, and my current ThinkPad T40 (which I have had now for about 3 years.)

I have had a bit of a clear out and up until last week I only had my new desktop PC (the only new desktop computer I have ever owned) which runs Vista (which is just fine thanks), an old iMac G3 which gets used as a DVD and CD player as well as basic MS Office machine and the ThinkPad. I sold my eMac as it wasn’t getting used, a second Dell which was going to be a network attached storage device was sold. And now the ThinkPad wil be sold too.

Why?

I got my Apple notebook back this week. Partly because a job I’m doing which needs a Mac but because since December 2006 I was gutted having to sell my pride a joy PowerBook 12″ which I saved long and hard for. I haven’t bought a PowerBook, nor a new Mac notebook - they’re too expensive for what they are (no really they are, sorry Apple die-hards but you can get a much better Windows laptop for much less, and as nice as OS X is, it isn’t worth an additional £400-600 on top of a similar specification Windows laptop for a MacBook (white or new aluminium one.)

However, selling a ThinkPad for £140 and buying an iBook 12″ from mid-2005 (I used to sell this exact model when I worked for Apple) with 1.33ghz processor for £250 seemed very decent value overall.

I know Apple has very speedly moved away from its PowerPC platform and in some respects is now discontinuing support for some applications and the next version of OS X is probably going to be Intel only — that’s just a fact of owning an Apple machine.

But the iBook is still a very nice laptop.