Windows 7 Compatibility Center Gets Windows Running At It’s Best
Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 09:27 Written by Alan Wednesday, 1 February 2012 07:00
With all of the talk of Windows 8 we sometimes forget that the current Microsoft operating system, Windows 7, is still the one everybody is buying. Since MWE didn’t exist when Windows 7 debuted we never talked about ways to make it work best, but since Windows XP users are still switching to Windows 7 there is still a large amount of people looking for information. One of the simplest tools comes directly from Microsoft – the Windows 7 Compatibility Center.
The Windows 7 Compatibility Center is a Microsoft web site that allows users to view and download the software that the Redmond company thinks will work best with your system. This isn’t just a popularity contest, it’s determined by extensive testing that Microsoft has done with all of the software that they have given there stamp of approval to. There’s almost every category of application that the average user may be looking for including games, photos, videos, music, utilities, and even developer tools.
The Windows 7 Compatibility Center isn’t just for software either. Microsoft has also compiled an extensive database of hardware to let users know what devices will work best with their system. They have tested cameras, printers, MP3 players, webcams, monitors, and a lot more.
You can use the Compatibility Center to find software or hardware or use it to check for the rating of something you were considering buying or downloading. It’s very simple to find what you are looking for or browse for a particular piece of hardware or software.
Windows 7 Compatibility Center
Bing Turns Europe Aerial Photos into an RSS Windows 7 Theme
Last Updated on Sunday, 29 January 2012 07:45 Written by Alan Sunday, 29 January 2012 06:00
Not long ago Microsoft released RSS-driven Windows 7 Themes and now they are beginning to build up a library of them. An RSS theme brings a whole new dimension to the Windows 7 theme concept, with pictures constantly being added via RSS, which is a syndication feed normally associated with media files like podcasts. This allows new pictures to be added dynamically to a theme.
Microsoft have been continuously adding new themes to their Windows 7 library with a constant stream of new, and timely, themes based on current events like recently released movies and games, as well as seasons and holidays. With the addition of RSS the themes from Bing can now instantly update newly added pictures that will show up on your desktop. In this case, the new RSS theme is aerial photos of Europe. Microsoft describes the new theme like this:
“Enjoy a fresh perspective with these breathtaking aerial images of the landscapes of Europe, including Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and more. This free Windows 7 desktop theme exhibits the very best of Bing Maps aerial photography.”
The new theme will contain an ever grown number of pictures, all of which are aerial shots of locations in Europe. All Windows 7 themes are free to download and use. They are compatible with Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions.
Taking a Second Look at Box
Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 10:50 Written by Alan Saturday, 21 January 2012 06:00
We used to refer to them as Box.net, but now that they also own box.com they prefer to just be known as Box – they even redirect the box.net address to box.com. I looked at Box a long time ago, but I have ended up using both SkyDrive and Dropbox for my cloud needs. However Box restructured themselves and added a lot of new functionality to become one of the fastest growing cloud apps on the internet in the past year.
Box has become a viable Storage service for both home and business users. Their user count at the end of 2011 was up to 1.9 million, which was nine times higher than 2010. One of the biggest driving forces behind the success of Box is their mobile push, which has added many of their new users because of the great cloud deals they are offering to those users. The new mobile push resulted in 1.2 million downloads from iOS users and more than 460,00 Android users. Clearly the cloud is becoming very important to mobile users. According to TechCrunch:
“But when Box tracks its enterprise sales, it tracks the reason for buying, and this past year, the company found there was a 30x increase in the number of enterprise deployments that were mobile-driven.”
That’s due to the number of users who need the ability to have their files synced to the cloud constantly so they can have access to the latest version when they are offline. With all of this new functionality I plan to take another look at Box on both our home computers and mobile devices, so expect some more in-depth looks at Box to be coming soon.
