About a year ago Windows 7 hit the computer world, offering a wide variety of new features, and in the past year it has showed everyone just how strong a Operating System it is. How else did it become the fastest selling OS in history?
Among the many things that make Windows 7 what it is, there are seven that stand out. Let’s take a look at what exactly is going on when we look out of the Windows 7:
The first one is a cool feature that allows you to customize your desktop wallpaper. Instead of just seeing the same old picture of a tree or the face of your baby, now you can put a slide-show that can be displayed in intervals on the background. I have tried it, it is a pretty neat seeing a whole trip I took change pictures on my desktop. The feature gives Windows 7 its true name: a window into exciting technology at our fingertips.
The second feature is the back-up tool that you can use to make sure your files will never be lost. By plugging in a flash drive or inserting a CD-R, the window pops up asking you if you would like to back-up your files. Once you do this, whenever you insert them in that same computer you can re-run that operation. It is an easy way to protect those important files you have stored.
The third feature is found in the taskbar, where your whole hard drive is at your fingertips with the search box. Type in that missing essay you wrote last week and need to edit, like magic it appears right before your eyes found in seconds. A common problem exists with iTunes when certain music files are moved around by accident, and when you try to play the song you have to locate it. Instead of trying to search your memory, search with the box and you will find what you are looking for.
The fourth feature is something that was anticipated by the makers of Windows 7, the inevitable clashing of OS like Windows XP(an older version). So Windows 7 includes a program that allows users to run XP from within Windows 7.? Not all programs run smoothly on Windows 7, so having this feature is vital to performance.
The fifth and final feature that makes Windows 7 a great system is the time it takes to boot up. In a test with Windows Vista, Windows 7 beat it out by 30 seconds, making it 20% faster than it’s competition. This time adds up, especially when you are in a hurry and need to get up and running as fast as possible to get on the web or get to your business.
Overall Windows 7 is definitely worth the upgrade. It has been open only a year, and guess what? Rumors around the computer world are whispering about a Windows 8 release in 2012. Can it get better than Windows 7? For now the best is in the number 7.
With the internet, cooking has never been easier, the sheer number of available recipes enough to tide you over until the end of time. Simply visit your favorite search engine, type in the name of a dish, and pore over the various recipes for your culinary favorites.
If Bing is your search engine of choice, you should know that Microsoft has spiced (pun intended, of course) it up with a neat addition that makes searching for recipes easier than ever.
Just visit Bing.com, type in an ingredient, and Bing will return with results culled from recipes sites the world over. When clicking on the Recipes link, you?re brought to a list of recipes that include the ingredient you searched for. Accompanying the recipes are pictures of the dish, a nutritional description, every rating it?s received, and the name of the site from which it came. Using the sidebar, you can filter through the results down to the category of cuisine and the convenience of its preparation.
For many, cooking is therapeutic, while others simply love to eat. Whatever your reason for hitting the kitchen, this site is an excellent resource to aid you in your effort.
If you?re the administrator of a shared computer on which you have multiple users, you very well could be someone who wants that computer used for a specific purpose, wanting to limit access to a select few applications. This is especially true of businesses where lapses in productivity could be a concern. You could be a manager looking to have your network administrator to craft a means of increasing the productivity of employees, or you might be a parent who?s mindful of the impact your children?s computer use is having on their studies.
For whatever the reason, Windows 7 allows you to decide just which applications users of that shared system can open.
This feature is not available for users of Windows 7 Home versions.
First, you want to click on the Start button and enter ?gpedit.msc? in the search box. Press Enter.
Then, you?ll want to go to User Configuration Administrative Templates System. Once there, look under ?Setting,? where you will then double-click on ?Run only specified Windows applications.?
You” have to set that to ?Enabled.? Then, in the Options section, click on the ?Show? button.
Doing so will pull up a ?Show Contents? window in which you can enter only those applications you want users to have access to. Once you?ve completed the list, click ?OK.? Close out of the Local Group Policy editor.
With that done, you have now set restrictions on which applications users of your computer can avail themselves of. Should someone try to use one that isn?t included on your list of allowed applications, they will see the following message:
If you?re someone who monitors which applications are being used on your computer, this a great feature that will assist you in that regard.
A few blog posts ago, I touched upon Microsoft Security Essentials’ recent accolades from AV-Comparatives, an anti-malware testing group that compares various anti-malware solutions and ranks them accordingly. As reported, Microsoft Security Essentials is one of just two anti-malware packages — the other being F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 — that were rated “very fast” in every test category included in the company’s comparisons.
Adding to that initial honor, AV-Comparatives has also given Microsoft Security Essentials the award for the best performance of those programs tested.? Subjecting the competing anti-maleware solutions to a variety of tests derived from real-world scenarios — downloading, extracting, copying, encoding files, application launches, etc. — gave a? clear leader in Microsoft Security Essentials.
What became most noticeable was how little Microsoft Security Essentials demanded of a system’s resources, contributing to AV-Comparative’s decision to rank it as the best-performing anti-malware solution that you can get for free. Brisk performance in every major category, while being light on resources, is reason enough to give this highly recommended anti-malware program a look — particularly when you taking into consideration that it’s free, outpacing those solutions that cost money.
Proving its mettle against the competition, Microsoft Security Essentials is a great tool to protect your computer with.
If you use either Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 2010 or McAfee Virus Scan Plus 2010, you might be interested in knowing that a recent report by AV-Comparatives — an Austrian non-profit that assesses differences between anti-virus software, informing the public of their findings — concludes that Microsoft Security Essentials runs faster than the two aforementioned competitors.
Still, Microsoft Security Essentials placed 6th overall amongst 16 products tested by the firm. Coming in at the 8 spot was Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 2010, while McAfee VirusScan Plus 2010 came in 10th place. Microsoft Security Essentials was rated “very fast” in every test category, with just one other anti-virus program — F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 — qualifiying for the “very fast” honor in every test category.
This is of particular significance for those of you looking to install a security solution that doesn’t hinder the performance of your computer, a problem that persists with many anti-virus programs.
Microsoft Security Essentials has received high marks for its relative lack of bloat and fast performance. More enticing, Microsoft Security Essentials is free, making it the superior alternative to anti-virus solutions that are both costly and less efficient.
