Suppose you want to drag some files to an Outlook message you have open to add them as attachments.

1. Select the files in Windows Explorer.
2. Click and drag the files over the message in the task bar.
3. Pause for a second and the message will be restored or brought to the front.
4. Drop your files onto it.

This works with just about anything, so it is not limited to dragging files to Outlook. I often have tons open at once (my task bar is set to hold 3 layers of entries), so this trick definitely saves me time.

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Drag And Drop To Hidden Or Minimized Applications

So to help you get acclimated with these tools, here are a couple of resources:

• Guide to using Windows XP backup (note, this site is for a 3rd party product, but they give a really good guide for the XP tool)
• Windows Vista / 7 backup overview

Again, these tools are nothing fancy, but they are effective for getting the job done. It only takes a few minutes to set up an automatic backup plan, so if you don’t have one already, get to it.

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Using The Windows Backup Utilities

For the most part, unless you specifically installed these programs, they probably get installed by sneaky installers. For a more in-depth look at how this happens, check out this post titled “How Does Spyware, Malware or Crapware Get on My Computer?“.

It only took 2.5 hours to reach [a high level of garbage]…simply surfing wherever for “whatever looked interesting or different”, downloading things like screensavers, file-sharing applications, and installing questionable software from advertisements.

As I have said before, the most effective protection is education. If you can treat the problem instead of continually treating the the symptoms, you will not have this problem ever again.

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How Does “Garbage” End Up On Your Computer?

The requirements for this offer are as follows:

• You qualify if you have a valid .EDU e-mail OR an e-mail address through one of the educational institutions listed here.
• You are enrolled in coursework, current proof or enrollment may be required in the United States.

This offer is good through January 3, 2010. Needless to say, this is a fantastic deal so take advantage of it if you can.

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Students Can Get A Windows 7 Upgrade For $30

The article walks you through all the scenarios:

• Windows XP to Windows 7
• Windows Vista to Windows 7
• Old XP/Vista computer to a new computer running Windows 7

Personally, whenever I am installing an OS, I just wipe my existing installation and install it new. In my experience, an upgrade typically leaves stuff behind and I prefer my OS installation not be inhibited by any “pre-existing conditions” so there are no problems down the road.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Upgrading XP/Vista To Windows 7

1. XP’s taskbar

 
Windows XP Taskbar

I have a few gripes about XP’s taskbar.

First is the fact that in single-tier view (which is the default,) you don’t see the date next to the clock. If you want to see that, you must extend it to two-tier view. But then that makes the Start button look messed up with a big space underneath it, and if you have any QuickLaunch icons, those get all shuffled around. If you have many taskbar icons next to the clock, the taskbar by default "shrinks" them with a clickable arrow that expands to the left. But by the time you find the icon you want, that menu shrinks again too quickly.

 
Windows 7 Taskbar

You get the date in default view along with the clock. Running programs can be "pinned" (very cool feature) for easy-access in the future. That maddening "shrinking" of taskbar icons has been replaced with a small up-arrow which is clickable that opens a menu that stays there (important) to find the stuff you want.

And let’s not forget the program previews, the nicely shadowed borders over open programs, and.. well.. it’s simply wonderful to work with.

2. XP’s search options

The quickest way to find a file in XP using a mouse is to open My Computer then click the Search button at top. At that point you are not presented with a search box but rather the question, "What do you want to search for?", accompanied by a stupid animated dog. Yes, a dog. This is the "search companion," as XP calls it.

Windows XP Search Companion

Let’s say you clicked on "All files and folders." At that point you’re simply given too many options:

 
Windows XP Search Companion, "All Files" search

When searching, this is what it looks like, and it just takes way too long to finish.

 
Windows XP Search Companion, actively searching for a file

(The dog by the way is not bowing his head in shame, although he should be.)

As for the results you get, I can guarantee it won’t be what you’re looking for.

Where’s the search in Windows 7? Right on the start logo:

One click and ta-da, search is right there. And the moment you start typing, search results start showing up. And not only will it search for files, but content within files, programs and anything else you have. You don’t have to tell it what you want. Just type it and Windows will find it.

That’s awesome.

3. XP’s Help

The Help and Support area of XP is something I’ve never known anybody to use. When you click Start and then Help and Support, XP has to "think" about it before actually doing it. Then when it finally loads, you’re greeted with a bevy of tiny text.

Windows XP Help and Support Center

To date, there is absolutely nothing in the XP help area that has actually helped me. Sure, it contains oh-so basic information, but for almost anything advanced, it’s simply not there.

Windows 7’s help area on the other hand is something I actually have used.

Before continuing – my screen shots are probably going to differ from the full release as I’m still using the RC at the time I write this.

Windows 7 Help and Support

Right up front the whole experience is friendlier, and it loads faster too.

There was a point where I was trying to load something from a command prompt where 7 stated I needed "elevated" privileges. Confused as to what that meant, I headed to the help section and searched for elevated.

I found exactly what I was looking for in seconds:

 
Windows 7 Help and Support search results

I found the information I needed; that’s what we call legitimately helpful.

4. XP’s lack of native software monitor color calibration

XP does not natively have any monitor color management options other than "Color Quality" and "Color Management" that uses what’s called "Color Profiles" that nobody ever uses. In order to get real calibration options, you must use 3rd-party software by nVidia, ATI, Intel or whatever OEM made your video card. And of course when you use one of those, that in itself is a challenge to figure out because it’s not native to Windows (the menu systems in those 3rd-party apps are seriously messed up.)

Windows 7 has a Calibrate color option:

Windows 7 Appearance and Personalization / Display

This to me was a very big deal because I did not have to manually adjust the color via the monitor itself (which you can never seem to get right,) or use some wonky 3rd-party program. Calibrating the color on a native level is built-in to 7, and it’s easy. Very cool.

I don’t want to claim that 7 doesn’t need nVidia or ATI specific drivers, because it does. But the point is that you don’t have to use them just to make simple adjustments.

5. XP’s infamous disappearing status bar

For whatever seriously stupid reason, XP’s status bar for Explorer windows will periodically disappear.

Example:

Windows XP My Computer without status bar

Okay, so I want the status bar active so when I highlight drive C that it will give me information about the drive. So I click View then Status bar so I see it:

Windows XP My Computer with status bar

You see at bottom the status bar right there as it should be. But then it will magically go away for literally no reason at some point in the future. It doesn’t matter how often you reset this feature, because it will happen.

This has irritated me to no end ever since I’ve been using XP. Windows NT and 2000 did not do this. XP does and it’s always been a mystery as to why.

Windows 7 "Computer"

The Windows 7 OS on the other hand never loses the bar unless you specifically, and I mean very specifically, instruct it not to be there. And that’s the way it should be.

Are you are 7 user? What do you like about it over XP?

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

XP vs. 7, 5 Things I Don’t Miss About XP

As many have been saying right along, Win 7 is a good product. It runs on even the most minimal of hardware (even a netbook,) has huge support for tons of different peripherals (if your printer didn’t work in Vista, it will probably work in 7,) and a whole host of other features.

The bundled disc comes with both 32 and 64-bit editions. And if you’re wondering which of the versions to buy, the only one needed is Home Premium. The rest do not have any significant features most would need from my perspective. This is why the upgrade edition I bought was Home Premium and not Ultimate.

Also bear in mind Windows 7 is available at popular online retailers such as NewEgg (who is including free shipping by the way.)

For you nervous nellie’s out there who say, "I’ll wait until the first service pack before I buy," that’s a waste of your time. All of us, including myself, who used Windows 7 RC had already been using this OS for several months. It works. It has had an overwhelmingly positive response. I personally use it as my primary operating system on both my custom PC tower and netbook.

You’re in good shape with 7. I say that with utmost confidence.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Reminder: Windows 7 Available Today

It is unfortunate however that some ISPs have decided to drop newsgroup access altogether. My local Florida ISP, Brighthouse, does have complimentary service by Newshosting. This happened because Roadrunner (as in Time Warner) dropped access to it. But other ISPs don’t offer this, so you’re left with no access whatsoever. However there are alternatives. More on that in a moment.

One of the best uses of Usenet is for Linux discussion. To this day Usenet is very active on this topic, and is a great resource for help when you need it. Usually you can get a Linux question answered within minutes via Usenet.

Such example newsgroups are alt.comp.linux, alt.comp.os.linux, alt.linux and many more.

If you do not have newsgroup access via your ISP, Google Groups is an alternative. Here’s a link list from the newsgroups listed above:

• alt.comp.linux
• alt.comp.os.linux
• alt.linux

Of course, using Google Groups is not the same as having direct access. Usenet is always best used with a mail client that supports it, such as Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird and so on. The reason it’s better with a client is because you have more control over how the discussion looks. Google Groups is done "The Google Way," which definitely isn’t the best way. This is not to say Google Groups is unusable, but once you’ve used Usenet in a true client, you’ll understand the advantages.

There are others ways of getting to Usenet if your ISP doesn’t support it and you don’t want to use Google Groups, such as NewsDemon, ThunderNews and Giganews. All of them charge, with Giga being the cheapest of the lot. Are they worth paying for? That’s up for you to decide.

Before you check out the alternatives, see if your ISP supports Usenet access first. Many still do but the documentation for it is absolutely buried. If you’re not able to locate the documentation instructing you what the newsgroup server is (which is what you need to access it,) try a Google search for "[your ISP] newsgroup server." This will usually return the information you’re looking for, or at least give an answer on whether your ISP has a newsgroup server or not.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Need Help With Linux? Have You Tried Usenet?

1. Internet Explorer 8 has been in existence for almost seven months at the time of this writing. The administrators of these "IE only" web sites couldn’t figure out how to write in support for 8 in this span of time? Apparently not.
2. Many choose not to use IE, but they’re out of luck when certain web sites will only support IE 6/7 and nothing else.
3. Windows 7 comes provided with IE 8 (unless you’re in the UK.) These computers will be on the shelves very soon and in come places already are. What does one do in that situation since they can’t "degrade" to IE 7 or 6 just to get certain web sites to work?

There are two ways to get around problematic web sites like this.

Method 1. Using IE 6 or 7 in WINE for Linux

WINE has had the ability to run a whole bunch of different IEs for some time now. Versions 1 all the way thru 8 are available, but the ones you would be interested in for compatibility’s sake are 6 and 7.

The only problem you may encounter running IE this way is that certain plugins for IE may not work when used in WINE. This is rare, but it can happen if it’s some ActiveX oddball plugin or something like that.

Method 2. Windows 2000 or XP virtual PC

On my Windows 7 desktop I purposely keep a barebones setup of XP running with IE 6 in VirtualBox. When I upgraded to Win 7 I already had an existing fully licensed copy of XP Professional Edition, so that’s what I have used in the virtual PC.

In Windows you have three major choices for computer virtualization, that being the aforementioned VirtualBox, Microsoft’s Virtual PC or VMware. I choose VirtualBox because it operates exactly the same in Windows, Mac or Linux – and I truly like that kind of compatibility because no matter what OS I’m on, VirtualBox is always familiar. However you may like Virtual PC or VMware better as far as your personal preferences are concerned. I will say the easiest of the bunch is Microsoft’s version because it’s very straightforward – but it only works under Windows.

Setting up your virtual PC with IE 6 or 7, and other notes

If you have a fully licensed OEM disc of Microsoft Windows XP, such as I do, this comes with IE 6 as its bundled web browser. What I’ve done in my virtual XP PC is used Microsoft Update to patch up every single thing I possibly could except the browser. This can be done easily. What I have is an XP that does have IE 6 for those web sites that absolutely refuse to work right with anything else.

VirtualBox running XP Professional Edition with the IE 6 browser

A bunch of updates in the virtual PC with XP, including Service Pack 3 – but still on IE 6

It is the fortunate case that web sites that are IE6-only are dwindling slowly but surely off the internet, but instead of embracing multi-browser capability, they’re latching on to IE 7 which is just as bad.

For the time being, I use a virtual XP with IE 6 and if I have to go to 7, this can be downloaded without going to 8 with XP, and I’m sure Microsoft will be keeping this download on their web site for at least a few more years.

Even if you are running XP with IE 8 now and plan to stick with that for a while, you can still use Virtual PC or VirtualBox to install another Windows XP (assuming you have another legal licensed copy) with IE 6 or 7. This will work fine.

The only thing you cannot do is have both IE 7 and 8 in the same Windows OS at the same time. While that would be really great if you could do that, it’s simply not an option. The easiest workaround is to have a virtual PC with a previous-generation browser.

For those of you out there who do not have another legal copy of Windows, my suggestion is to use VirtualBox and install a distribution of Linux, such as Ubuntu, and use IE 6 or 7 via WINE. Most distributions make this very easy to install, and I may even write up another article on how to do just that so it’s even easier for you.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

How Do You Deal With A Web Site That Refuses To Upgrade?

The article gives you a couple of methods which will allow you to control the mouse cursor with your keyboard. While (obviously) much slower than using a mouse, it will get the job done.

Hopefully, this situation doesn’t occur often (if ever) for you, but if it does at least you know what to do.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Navigating A Computer Without Using A Mouse