When Windows 7 beta was announced, I installed it on my test machine and I was impressed how well it functioned in beta. However, I decided to hold off on installing it on my production machine until it was a more stable release. Once the RTM was available for MSDN subscribers, I immediately downloaded it and installed it on my production machine.
I am a software engineer by trade so having a stable system is something that is a very high priority to me. I was one of the first to jump on Windows Vista and I must say, I was not satisfied. I continued to use Vista (64 bit) on my main production machine as long as I could, but I eventually did what many other before me. I reinstalled my machine and put Windows XP (64 bit) back on it.
I am a software engineer by trade so having a stable system is something that is a very high priority to me. I was one of the first to jump on Windows Vista and I must say, I was not satisfied. I continued to use Vista (64 bit) on my main production machine as long as I could, but I eventually did what many other before me. I reinstalled my machine and put Windows XP (64 bit) back on it.
04/09/2009
Windows 7 Guide
23/08/2009
Dell Assists Windows 7 Migration
It seems as though more and more companies are relying heavily upon the release of Windows 7, considering that every major hardware manufacturer has pledged their support to Windows 7 and have done everything possible to further the release, such as Sony or Nvidia. Now Dell has also joined the mainstream movement, as detailed in one of the posts on the Windows 7 Partner blog by Jim Ginger, an employee over at Dell.
Dell
In the post, Jim pointed out that many customers are not your technological gear heads, and that most will find that “migrating to a new OS can be complicated and risky without the proper planning.” Unfortunately, not everyone has a technology friendly son assisting them with the migration. Even so, Dell describes itself as an “important resource” to business customers during the migration, such as the following services that Jim outlined:
Application Management Services: Application compatibility is a key concern for many customers. Dell has developed a suite of services to efficiently identify, test, remediate and deploy applications. Dell can also help customers inventory and rationalize their application portfolio before initiating the remediation activities to focus resources on the most critical applications.
Migration and Deployment Services: In order to ease upgrading to Windows 7, Dell offers readiness assessments and optimized OS deployment services. Dell’s deployment services help customers with all migration aspects including organization, infrastructure, hardware, software, image and deployment. By leveraging Dell’s global deployment capabilities and tools, customers can more efficiently upgrade to Windows 7, while decreasing deployment time, mitigating risk, and reducing network traffic.
Image Management Services: These provide fully functional images built by Dell consultants according to the customers’ specifications that are ready for deployment of Windows 7 on Dell client systems.
It seems as though there are plenty of opportunities for business during the Windows 7 migration, as many businesses wish to simply skip Vista and head straight for Redmond’s new release from XP. Hardware manufacturers will simply have a field day from all of the new hardware upgrades required.
Robert
NVIDIA announces DirectCompute Driver Support For Windows 7
NVIDIA have just announced that their drivers are the first to get Microsoft’s Direct Compute driver certification. DirectCompute NVIDIA drivers can be downloaded now.
Windows 7 includes a new feature called DirectCompute, that allows Windows 7 developors to make use of the parallel processing power of modern video cards, to give the give the system processor a boost for tasks that involve say high-quality video playback or high performance transcoding.
“DirectCompute enables more than 100 million users of GeForce GPUs to run applications optimized for DirectCompute so they can spend less time waiting and more time creating and sharing content with friends and families.”
Direct Compute may lead to users such as myself who don’t need games investing in high-end graphics cards to assist with other computing tasks:
“Windows 7 combined with applications that take advantage of the new DirectCompute technology have the potential to transform the personal computing experience for millions of customers using GPUs to turbo-charge scenarios in digital media applications,” said Mike Ybarra, general manager for Windows Product Management at Microsoft Corp. “We’ve already seen some applications come to market that take advantage of the GPU, Windows 7 and DirectCompute will make it even easier for developers to write applications and deliver these benefits to millions of additional customers.”
It will be interesting to see if DirectCompute does indeed provide a significant performance boost for PCs. When Windows Vista was launched, Microsoft promised that Readyboost would provide a significant boost to performance, whereas I’ve found it to be negliable.
More: NVIDIA Release
22/08/2009
Database Assisted Testing For Software Applications
The next time you plan to install a new software application, you should seriously consider designing a database-assisted test configuration. The table-records of the new database can then be populated with values that contribute to a strenuous requirements-validation and verification series of tests.
This configuration will provide you with a handy tool that can generate test-values to compare against the new system performance values. In addition, the configuration can be expanded, as necessary, to include all future testing.
The first time you use the newly constructed database will be as a test-value generator. This mode of usage will allow you to ensure that your new program performs within the parameters of your requirement specifications. The performance values matched against your preset requirements will provide you with an ample supply of analysis reports. It would be an easy matter to rerun the tests as many times as necessary to satisfy your level of acceptance.
The database-assisted approach will of course include screen dialogs and action scripts that will give you the opportunity to adjust both the test-database and the new software system so as to let you take advantage of fine tuning the acceptance parameters.
The same test-configuration can also become highly useful when adding new software features at a later date. The values representing the new features can be added to the new test-tables with your dialog screens and when the new features are activated, the same acceptance parameters can be reviewed and adjusted to suit your needs.
In addition to feature modifications, each time an error appears in the normal processing or an application performance problem disrupts your normal business activity, your test-configuration system again becomes handy. This testing scenario is probably the best way to restore working values which were captured and maintained by your original-database designed as a performance-acceptance tester.
This entire testing scenario is possible only because of your original effort to plan your business requirements in advance of software selection and installation. This preplanned set of application performance-values is thereby available for translation into table record layouts and dialog screens which are necessary to handle the data-streams that activate your business transactions.
The testing software should always be in place before any new software application is either built by your company or purchased and installed by outside vendors. The database-assisted approach gives you the opportunity to have real requirement values to test long before you make any build or buy decision.
In effect, your test-database becomes a specification vehicle with your business requirements embedded as dynamic value representatives.
By Tom Gruich
How to Clean PC Registry - Cleaning the Registry of Your PC
Is your computer always having problem because of its inability to function properly? This situation is always happening to every computer user around the globe. In order to prevent this from happening in your end, you should know how to clean PC registry.
Computer problems/error and performance slow down are generally caused by registry problems. In fact, it was found out that almost 90% of most computer problems are rooted here. The files stored in your registry controls almost all applications in your system; as well as how the hardware should be manipulated. Hence, owners who have used their units for about a year have higher risk of having errors coming from this area.
To ensure that your unit performs perfectly, here's how to clean PC registry which should form part of your regular maintenance. First of all, you should have registry-cleaning software to perform the cleaning process. This is very important in order to ensure optimum PC health. When you are always connected to the internet, your equipment is highly vulnerable to infection by spyware and other forms of malicious software. These are usually found on various websites you have surfed. Most often, this is bundled as part of the free programs and music or video files you have downloaded. Therefore, when downloading programs, always be careful by checking the veracity of the site.
Another way to solve your problem on how to clean PC registry is to do manual scanning and deleting of junk files stored in your system. This requires advanced skills and expertise in identifying the files. Even then, you are still at risk of accidentally eliminating essential files which are important for smooth and proper operation of your programs.
Looking at the options you have, the best solution to your problem on how to clean PC registry is to have registry-cleaning software powerful enough to perform extensive deep scan on your system and identify even the most advanced and sophisticated spyware installed. It should also possess powerful cleaning capacity by completely eliminating all junk files found and fix all errors identified.
There are many free software available for you to download anytime you want. But the results that you will get may not be satisfactory enough because it is not as powerful compared to the paid premium software. Hence, if you are really determined in putting an end to your question on how to clean PC registry, then go buy a high quality and powerful registry cleaning software; and you will never regret your purchase of the product.
Ryan Clover
Window XP Registry Clean Up - Cleaning the Registry of Your Windows XP
Performing a Window XP registry clean up is becoming necessary nowadays especially since many spyware and other malicious software are created almost every week or month for various reasons. They are also becoming sophisticated and more advanced which increase the risk of our computer from infection of these malicious products. Hence, it is necessary to conduct regular cleaning of our computer and constantly update our cleaning software to ensure optimum computer performance.
The registry is one of the most important parts of our computer. It contains vital information necessary for our system to run. Every time you install, modify, or uninstall a new or existing program; the registry is affected as updates are recorded in this area. Just like traffic; when the road is congested of vehicles coming in and going out of the same place, traffic will start to slow down until eventually it will come to a complete stop unless something is done about it. This is also what happens inside the computer-registry when it is filled up with too much files and documents; both important or not. Under such condition, you will notice that your equipment's performance slowed down; and redundant errors start to occur until your system will eventually crash unless you perform immediate Windows XP registry clean up.
Furthermore, another reason why you should clean your registry is because there are tons of information stored in this area. This include records for many events such installation and un-installation information, start-up data, operation records and so on. As you continue to use your equipment, this area is gradually filled with a lot of unnecessary data. When to much stress is placed on it, there are instances that even harmful files may be stored in a crucial part of your computer system. This causes an increasing number of error messages that will drastically slow down its performance level. But, by using Window XP registry clean up software, you can easily fix this problem.
Some people have wrong impression that they perform the cleaning process on their own without using a certain application program. Although you can a manual cleaning, this is very ineffective and risky because you might end up deleting very important file that is required for some programs to properly run. Hence, you should be an expert in order to do this.
But why should you give yourself a headache when there are software available where you can easily perform Window XP registry clean up with ease and instantly.
Ryan Clover
The Best Registry Cleaner For Vista
Vista might be a relatively new operating system, but many registry cleaners have not caught up with it yet. Having being released in 2007, it's only a few years old, meaning that you need to be able to rely on the registry cleaner which can tackle the latest problems that Vista throws at it. Luckily, we've found one which works flawlessly on this popular OS.
The problem with Vista registry cleaners is that many of the ones that supposedly work "flawlessly" on the operating system don't actually work at all, and can even ruin your PC. The registry is basically a big database which sits at the core of Vista, making your computer able to "remember" all different settings and options. It stores all sorts of files which your computer needs to be able to run. Everything from your latest emails to your desktop wallpaper are kept in the registry database, making it one of the most important and frequently used parts of your system.
Because the registry is so important, Windows is constantly using 100's of registry files each time you use your computer. This is okay, but the problem is that Windows gets confused and ends up saving many of these files in totally the wrong way. This makes the files extremely hard to read, making your computer slow down as it tries to decipher what they say. Basically, think of each file as a book and when Windows gets confused, it ends up mixing up all the contents of the files making them incredibly difficult to read. This still happens in Vista, which is why you need to be able to use a registry cleaner which is going to fix the file for you.
The problem with most registry cleaners in Vista is that they don't work very well because Vista has a lot of new features which makes old registry cleaners unable to clean it out properly. Features such as the new Windows Sidebar and other tools fill the registry with a lot of new files which many old registry cleaners will simply label as "problems". This means that you need to be able to use a tool which can find all the problems inside your registry, cleaning them all for you. There are only a handful of registry tools which can do this effectively in Vista, but we've found the best one to be one called RegAce. This registry cleaner was only released at the start of 2009, making it one of the most advanced and up to date of all cleaners. This means it's been specifically designed to work flawlessly on Vista, recognizing all the problems and keeping all the healthy files separate.
By James Henry Johnson
The Best Registry Cleaner For XP
Although Windows XP is almost a decade old, it's still one of the most popular and well-used operating systems on the planet. However, it still has a big problem in the form of the registry, known as the "Achilles Heel of Windows". To fix this, you just need to use a registry cleaner, but which one is the best?
There are a lot of XP registry cleaners out now, giving you a lot of choice when it comes to picking one. However, you need to be sure that you're getting the best one for your computer. The problem is that the registry is a big database that lies at the core of Windows, making it very important but very delicate. It stores all the settings and system files which tell your computer how to do various different things on your system. Everything from your latest emails to your desktop icons are kept in this database, making Windows heavily reliant on it each time you use your PC.
It's known as the "Achilles Heel of Windows" because it's actually prone to many problems which can seriously affect your computer. Because Windows is constantly using 100's of registry files to tell it what to do, it often gets confused, making it save the files in completely the wrong way. This makes them incredibly hard for your computer to read, making it slow down as it tries to decipher them. To fix this problem, you just need to use a registry cleaner, but you need to make sure it's the best.
Although XP has been around for some time, there are cleaners out there which don't know how to clean out the XP registry properly. These cleaners are generally free and can cause some major problems with your computer if you use them. Essentially, they work by scanning your registry and fixing as many "bad" files as they can find. This is okay, but if you have a low quality registry cleaner, they will end up deleting many of the files that XP actually needs to work. These are known as 'system files' and are VERY important for your computer. They are so important that they control everything from helping your computer switch on to logging you in, meaning that if they are removed, your computer will not be able to do even the most basic of things on your system which would ruin your PC.
That's why it's important that you use the best registry cleaner for XP. These cleaners are designed by professional software developers and clean out the registry in the most intelligent and safest way possible, allowing your computer to quickly find all the files it needs when it needs them, speeding it up and stopping the errors you've been getting. Out of the handful of high quality registry cleaners that are out there, we've found the bestone for XP is one called "RegAce". This is a relatively popular registry cleaner which has been downloaded 1,000's of times by people all across the world. It's a very effective cleaner but it also has a complete backup facility, allowing it to protect your computer against any problems that might happen after a scan.
By James Henry Johnson
21/06/2009
7 Rules of Software Localization
If you want to sell your software to non-English speaking international markets, you definitely need a professional software localization service. In this article, let me share with you 5 important rules of software localization:
1. Include the localization consultant in the development phase. Localizing your software after development may cause some unnecessary problems such as rewriting codes. Therefore, I will suggest that you include the software localization consultant in the development phase so as to minimize any extra work in the future.
2. Make sure that your fonts support foreign languages. Foreign languages contain special characters that the English language cannot support. So before you translate the content of your software, make sure that you have all the necessary fonts to support foreign languages.
3. Always consult a translator about the grammar of a foreign language. The grammatical structure of the English language is different from foreign languages. So before the programmer writes the code, be sure to consult a translator. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you include the localization consultant in the development phase.
4. Bear in mind that some foreign languages require larger space. Especially for the German language, you need to leave extra space for the translated terms.
5. Test your software. You should engage some native speakers of the target language and test the software. Allow them to run through the software and ensure that there is nothing wrong. If they cannot understand some of the sentences, you need to re-translate the sentences.
6. Localization is more than just translating word by word. You must be sensitive about the culture, dialect and other issues of the target country. You are now doing business in a foreign country and you cannot afford to offend the people there. A professional and experienced software localization consultant will be able to help you with this.
7. Always take your time to choose the right translation agency for the job. Do not rush to engage a particular agency. Nowadays, it is very easy to find a list of agencies to do the job for you. Just go to Google and search for software localization services. Visit their websites and shortlist a few of them. Call all shortlisted agencies and ask for quotes. Software localization is not cheap. So compare a few quotes and choose the one you can afford.
Last but not least, do choose an agency with at least 3 years of experience in the localization industry. Software localization is not easy. The translator must be experienced and proficient in foreign language in order to translate accurately.
By Cheow Yu Yuan
Remove Adware From Your Computer
The most effective way to curb adware's hold on your computer, and prevent new problems, is to install anti-adware software. In addition to removing any present problems, well-designed software will actively protect your system from new infections, automatically updating its files and scanning your PC.
Adware is, annoyingly enough, a rampant problem in today's computer age. The people behind this mess profit from the massive amount of ads that you have to wade through, and you get...aggravated, pretty much. Not fun.
One could spend hours manually removing adware from their computer, but even then you aren't guaranteed results. These things are designed to be impossible to remove, and even if you've managed to get rid of it for the time being, not only is it likely to return but you're still open to new infections that are just as obnoxious.
The best features to look for when selecting an adware protection system are scheduled scans and active protection. Cheap programs won't actively protect your computer, they just try to resolve problems once they crop up. Instead, well-designed software anti-adware programs will make it so you never have to be bothered by pop up ads ever again.
Scheduled scans are also important, because some properly installed programs come bundled with annoying ads. When you install them, they leave little bits of code that can start spitting out ads whenever they want. Regular scans will pick up and remove these as well, ensuring a popup-free computer and web-browsing experience. Wouldn't it be nice if everything was this easy?
Roger C Edwards editing By paijo
