Essential Software Downloads after Installation of Windows 7

You have just installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 and relaxing with a cup of hot cappuccino. Wait! There are a lot of things to do yet. It may differ according to the type of OS you have. Let’s have a look at those must-have software for your newly installed Windows 7.

• Drivers: you can get the drivers from your motherboard disc and if you are keen to install the latest stuff for your PC, here’s how you can do it. Go to the official website of the motherboard and download the latest drivers and install them. You can also install Driver Genius software which will download and install latest drivers.

• Winrar: it is the most commonly used tool to compress files and save up the disc space.

• Anti-virus: download and install a good Anti Virus. It will help protect your PC.

• Windows 7 Tweaking software: you must install a tweaking software to trim a complex system. Flashget is a free tool.

• Download your own uninstaller: the default uninstaller of Windows 7 may not work well. Hence you should download ‘YOUR UNINSTALLER’ which removes the program entirely.

• Internet browser: download Mozilla Firefox which is still at top.

• iKill: download iKill to stop the autorun at the time of installing any Flash Drive.

• A good Search Engine: go for an alternative that works better than Windows 7 default search engine.

• PDF Reader: Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most commonly used PDF reader. But you can also opt for Foxit which is easy, simple and light.

Two top Wi-Fi routers

Now-a-days Wi-Fi are of varied flavors and they are so much helpful in adding features to the network. This can give a boost up to the user’s business at most. Some wireless routers comprise an incorporated VPN server. It lets a user to connect to the home or office while he or she is on road. Buffalo is a company which provides a VPN router having remote access software to make it easy for a customer to locate and access resources on the home network, this way finding the shared files and folders. Others come up with a new technology called MIMO, which remarkably enhanced the performance of wi-fi networking gear. Belkin’s MIMO will help a user work out of the patio.

Netgear WPN824 router is the best of the lot. It weighs 1.1 Ibs and offers a data transfer rate of 108 Mbps and has a frequency band ranging up to 2.4 GHz. It follows IEEE 802.11b. The system requirements are Microsoft windows 98/XP, Apple Mac, Novell NetWare, Linux and UNIX.

Buffalo AirStation WZR-RSG54 will be the best choice for you if you intend to set up a VPN at your home or office. It weighs 0.7 Ibs and offers a data transfer rate of 125 Mbps. It runs on the same frequency band. It follows the Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g protocol. System requirements are the same as Netgear.

Both the routers are available at a price range between $59 and $98.

Choose your laptop wisely

The windows 7 market is likely to grow more in the coming days. May be you are a little bit bewildered to decide on the category of laptop to buy.

Buying a handy Windows 7 might be a challenge for you. You may lose in the puzzling long list of suppliers many of whom offer two dozen different models. Be very specific at the kind of laptop you need. To be very precise, there are six types of portable PC. They are netbooks, desktop replacements, ‘value’ systems, mainstream notebooks, ultraportables and gaming systems.
Most netbooks now-a-days come with Intel Atom Processors with 1GB memory, a 10inch screen and XP. Windows 7 Starter Edition (not available currently in stores) is also installed in some netbooks. If you possess one, upgrade it to 2GB as soon as possible.

• Netbooks are not made for serious computing like sound or image processing. They are crafted mainly for web-based applications. That is the limitation of netbooks.

• Desktop replacements have generally the same power as desktop PCs, but they are heavy and have poor battery life. The expensive models may have quad-core processors, 17 inch screens and Blueray devices.

• ‘Value’ systems have low-end conditions and low prices. They are available in supermarkets and high street stores. The price varies between £249 and £399. They are larger and heavier than netbooks and has a built-in DVD drive.
  

• Mainstream notebooks have Intel Core2Duo processor and offer more power and functionality if you spend some extra cash. Most of these cost between £499 and £999 depending on the graphic variations. If you tend to buy one for windows 7, go for the 64-bit version with 4GB of memory and preferably with DirectX 11 graphics.
  

• Ultraportables are crafted with light weight and long battery life. The processor is an Intel CULV chip and it’s better if you take the duo chip. You will get 13-14 inch widescreen and prices vary from £600 and £1,200.

• Gaming machines have fast graphics. Some of the leading brands are Alienware, Voodoo etc.

Now, it’s open for you to choose from these categories and buy the most suitable for you. Still confused? Click here

Guidelines to speed up our laptop

You are getting let down with your laptop’ performance very often and want to get rid of this? Maybe your laptop has grown old or maybe your system getting bogged down. Just take a look at those tips to make your laptop smarter. And this time need not contact a technician who steps down at your home; speedup your laptop, but all for a handful of extra bucks.

Add Extra RAM: See if your computer has enough RAM. Better if you add more RAM to it which will allow you to run more software straight away without making it slow. At least 1GB of RAM is required for running it fast. And if you are a VISTA user, 2 GB RAM is needed. It’s becoming more of a standard for all users. Adding RAM will definitely increase your boot time and facilitate you to run multi-programs concurrently without your slowing down your machine.

Drop the Start Up Programs: At the booting your laptop, check for different programs running on your laptop. Some of them are loaded by you and some of them are preset by the laptop manufacturers. These programs basically decelerate your machine. When you have several applications it covers the RAM and consumes the CPU power. Now that’s an easy go for you. Go to the Start Menu and run msconfig. Close the programs that are not needed.

Defrag Your Disk Space: If you defrag your machine pretty often, it automatically increases the speed of it. It helps speedup your laptop because it systematizes fragmented files that are scattered across the drives. The hard drive will not have to search for the files. Instead, the programs will be smoothly launched. It’s easy and simple. Just follow these steps: Click START> Programs> Accessories> System tools> Disk defragmenter. It will take time. Have patience. Once your machine is defragmented, it will run far better than it did.

Australia bus offers wi-fi connectivity

Adelaide saw the arrival of a new concept with the first wi-fi enabled bus taking the road. It is, indeed, Australia’s first passenger bus that allows surfing the internet onboard.

The wi-fi enabled bus, named as i-Commute bus will run for testing for the next six months. It offers free gaming software, real-time transport information and will provide news on two LCD monitors.

Commuters can know from these screens the distance of the upcoming stops as well as the time to be taken. Not only that, the screen will also work as a city guide by informing them about the must-to-know facts about every stop. This way, the passengers will come to know about cafés and cinema halls and even medical stores of that place.

The system has been crafted and financed by an association of technology companies. Internet access will be supplied through a free Wi-Fi bond. Bluetooth technology will be brought into play to allow commuters to use mobile handsets and other gadgets to gaming and receive other information. 18 long months and $500,000 was spent to make it possible.

The output is cool. Isn’t it? What do you say?

Windows 7 family pack going to hit UK

Until now, British consumers were not enjoying the FamilyPack of Windows 7. This pack allows a user to install Windows 7 on three computers in the same household. As there was a tussle going on between EU and Microsoft over the pre-installation of the internet explorer web-browser, the launch was delayed. Previously, the company was compelled to sell copies of Windows 7 without pre-installed internet explorer.

But now with all the tussle is over, Microsoft is about to launch it’s home pack in European union countries making it possible for the British customers to buy the multi-license family pack. The sale will start from October 22. The family pack will be priced at £150. If you buy separately the three all copies of Windows 7, the cost will be higher than this.

Try to be the first one to grab the pack. You may miss it as Microsoft has warned that this pack will be available in limited quantities.

Microsoft has given a hint that upgraded editions of Windows 7 may also be available in UK. Users who are already using Windows Vista on their machines can upgrade their OS to home premium which will be priced at £79.99. You can upgrade to professional version for £189.99 and ultimate version for £199.99.

On the other hand, Apple launches its new operating system, Snow Leopard, on Friday. It will just cost £25 for existing users to upgrade and the FamilyPack of snow Leopard is available at £39.

Updates to Wi-Fi standards nearly done

IEEE, the committee for networking standards first met seven years ago to sketch out the next generation standard. By the end of September, their work will be completed. The version of wi-fi dubbed 802.11 will be sanctioned. A long process will effect in faster wireless connectivity around the planet. If you are already a user of a wi-fi router that was built around the early 802.11n, then there is not too much difference between the revised one and your older one.

That's when the version of Wi-Fi dubbed 802.11n will be ratify, ending a long process that will result in faster wireless connectivity over greater distances.

Let’s take a look at 802.11n and 802.11g.

The 801.11n is the successor to 802.11g. The previous version supports speed up to 54 megabits/second, while 802.11n can lever up to 600 mbps. This is only a theoretical saying, though; it is needless to say that it is a lot faster than its predecessor.

There are some actual benefits of 802.11n other than high speed. As for instance, 802.11n has a greater range. If you don’t find wi-fi connectivity, opt for 802.11n which will fix it for you.

Apart from that, 802.11n operates at a different rate. This frequency level share bandwidth with older cordless phones, baby monitors and microwave ovens. The 802.11n went through some critical technical issues. One of these was channel-bonding that had to be done to combine more than two wi-fi channels to coalesce more than one wi-fi channel.

If you already possess a version of 802.11n router at your residence, please go through the manufacturer’s web site for firmware upgrades. Not all the 802.11n are upgradeable. The first N-class routers might not be upgraded. However, it is almost done. And just keep a look at the changes happening.

Buy your antivirus from a reliable company

Your computer often gets affected with virus and you tend to buy antivirus software instead downloading a free one. Be cautious. Always buy it from a reputed and trustworthy antivirus company. Never think that as you are buying antivirus software from a company and not downloading it for free antivirus program, then you are just out of harm's way. Several software companies are out there to lock you in their antivirus software array. Avoid those companies to get real security.

Always have a good study of a company before you buy antivirus software from them. If you are not a techno-smart, hence not au fait with antivirus software, you can not just find out one trustworthy company. Go through the wikipedia list to find out the best possible solution for you PC. They regularly keep a track of antivirus programs. Their list is fine because antivirus programs are compared to each other in respect of boot-timing and operating-system availability. The list also includes a list of free software. You can also check out the lists of CNet and PCMag. Analyze the lists very carefully to give your computer the ultimate security.

You can also evaluate various antivirus programs by clicking here.

Zune HD To Hit The Market On September 15th

Come September and the Zune HD is going to hit the market. Microsoft announced that this media-player will bang into the retail market on 15th September. This will be available for pre-orders at selected stores like Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart and the Microsoft Store. The 16GB version is priced at $219.99 and the 32GB version at $289.99.

The warfare between Apple and Microsoft is quite evident now with the latter introducing next-gen portable player which is gonna be a provider of rich and meaningful connection to music, videos, podcasts and endless features. The player is the first touch-screen Zune. It is enabled with a potent playback technology; experience the media like never before. Incomparable software and other features like Zune Pass are included to provide error-free connection. Both the versions will be available in five different colors.


Notable features

In-built HD Radio signal receiver: It provides you higher-quality sound than the traditional radio channels and access to additional programming through HD2 and HD3 multicast channels from any of your favorite FM radio stations. And that’s also without extra charges.

Video output competence: It supports HD video playback through a premium HDMI A/V docking station directly to an HD TV, making the quality far better than your old DVD player.

Touch screen: It allows you to easily flip through music, movies and other contents. The 3.3 inch screen having a 16.9 wide display puts forward a fine viewing experience.

In-built Wi-Fi: It allows you to browse or download music from Zune Marketplace.

Web-browser: You can just browse the web with a full-screen view with exciting gestures like zoom-in and zoom-out.

Accessories: No matter where you are; whizzing in your car or sitting in your room, you can play HD radio, music and podcasts from your Zune HD gadget through your car-stereo with the help of the Zune premium car pack.

Zune HD is available in selected stores in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC.

Is southwest Airlines planning to launch in-flight wi-fi?

Southwest Airlines ended up their testing of in-flight wi-fi on four aircrafts. These days, many airline companies are actually implementing this facility in their airbuses. So it is about time that the company has joined in the bandwagon. The testers certified it as quite satisfactory and the authority is content with the outcome. Though it was tested in four flights at this beginning, it is more likely that the company will instigate the service more widely by the beginning of 2010.

And how interesting was this testing? Commuters were allowed to watch videos online, browse the internet and check their mails on their laptops as well as on their smartphones. As all the other airlines do, the company restricted the usage of video chatting and VoIP for the security and privacy.

But Southwest Airlines has not opted for AIRCELL satellite-based broadband connection like its predecessor Delta and American Airlines. Instead, it has chosen ROW 44 for the data connection. Although the authority did not confirm about the service-charges for the passengers, they will never be much cheaper. That’s for sure. By the end of this year, they are likely to come up with the details of their in-flight wi-fi.

D-Link offers pioneering and inexpensive Digital Home Wi-Fi

D-link, a top dealer of wi-fi connectivity for small, medium and big enterprise, provides wi-fi connectivity to homes in this back to school season. It’s innovative and affordable, I bet. Whether you are on your way to college, setting up a study area in the room or looking for multimedia infotainment, d-link boasts of offering their clients a vast range of needs and budgets.

D-link is offering the d-link wireless n router (DIR-615) for the schools wanting a wireless internet connection. This can offer a better wireless connectivity for the user’s network than the conventional one, 802.11. D-link has claimed that switching over to DIR-615 will be beneficial for the customers who want to share an internet connection as well as files such as video, music, photos and documents. D-link’s intelligent antenna technology is good enough to transmit multiple torrents of data which facilitates a user to obtain connectivity from any corner of the house.

The D-link Xtreme n dual band router (DIR-825) provides an extra speed. Being a true dual band wi-fi router, it facilitates the users to surf the net to the 2.4 GHz band along with VoIP connection as well as connect their game console or HD media player at 5GHz. It is almost like a two-in-one router. D-link has averred that its 10” wireless photo frame (DSM-210) combines the benefits of a digital frame with the wi-fi internet connectivity to make it possible to experience the whole new digital photo frame. They can now view their favorite photos anywhere in the home.

The D-link 2-Bay network storage enclosure (DNS-323) with its two internal 3.5” SATA drives gives the chance to to share their content with everyone within the network.

Google wi-fi network still active

Metropolitan wi-fi did not actually meet the expectation high and was crushed down due to low 3G connectivity and many people questioned the network’s effectiveness. But one metropolitan wi-fi infrastructure remained that perfect, that is the one installed in Mountain View, Calif. The network has spent three successful years. All you need to do to connect to the wireless network is to sign in your g-mail account and that is absolutely free of charge.


Tropos, which is the owner of the routers on the network, told that the Google wi-fi network covers 12c square miles and within that area 16,000 to 19,000 users are served at a time. Everyday the network transfers at about 600 gigabytes of user data. This is a doubled volume compared to that of two years ago. Tom Ayers, Tropo’s chief executive, claims that the network handles data more than any other comparable network on this planet.

And this demand is surprisingly going up everyday. Nearly 25% percent of all the devices are handsets. Number of those handsets were at the beginning just a big zero.

Wi-fi sales increasing everyday

Wi-fi technology is gaining popularity all around the globe and everyday the sale of wi-fi chipsets is increasing. 1 billion is a pretty large number which points up how prevalent the new technology has become. The sale of the chipsets is most likely to meet that magic figure within a few days.

What ABI research projects got from a recent survey is by 2011 the sale will beat that line of one billion. And in 2012, as they say, more than % billion chipsets will be sold like hot cakes. The market research firm began their survey in 2000. As of now, the survey is showing some proliferating figures? Astounding, no?

There are plenty of reasons which are stimulating this rise. The mobile employees are increasing everyday. Now-a-days we can see many executives spending their 30%-40% time on the road and these people need to be connected to their company’s network every while. So, they need wi-fi chipsets a lot. Wi-fi connectivity is being ingrained in a mounting range of devices. The research cogitates that more than 100 million smartphones will feature wi-fi connectivity by this year. As well as, the rising popularity of netbooks will definitely inflate the sale of wi-fi chipsets. This wireless feature is also getting incorporated in many other consumer devices. Samsung has just released three wi-fi enabled cameras.

As the wi-fi technology is gaining goodwill, small industries should also opt for this for their own improvement. Companies can even take steps to discard their old wired connections and provide their employees wi-fi enabled mobile phones.

Troubleshooting for Windows XP installation

You may face a number of problems during the installation of Windows XP. Let’s take a look

1. Irreconcilable BIOS: obtain compatible BIOS before the installation process starts and replace your old motherboard with it.
2. Upgrade BIOS setting: the BIOS setting should be upgraded.
3. Mismatched hardware: the hardware should be replaced to install the XP properly.
4. Incompatible hardware drivers: get the Windows XP drivers from the manufacturers.
5. Irreconcilable TSRs: remove old TSRs or replace with updated ones from the software manufacturer.
6. Incompatible applications: get updated applications from the software manufacturer.
7. Least hardware requirement not fulfilled: upgrade your hardware. The minimum requirement is CPU(233 MHz) and RAM(64 MB minimum)
8. The hard-drive is tainted by a virus: not an issue. Just run a good anti-virus program and remove it.
9. The installation CD is despoiled: at first check if the CD runs on a different computer. If not, then check if there is any scratch on it. After that, clean the CD.
10. Incorrect CD key: check for the right CD key on the CD case.
11. A stop message appears: if it happens during a dual reboot system, boot from the Windows XP installation CD instead of other operating systems.
12. Installation halts: remove any other unnecessary hardware such as network card, modems and USB devices and resume the process.

Now you will be able to get through all the problems.

Hope you will thank me after that. ;)

Windows 7 features

In my previous post I picked up some exciting features of windows 7. Hope you are all eager enough to know the rest of these features. So, let’s take a look at these to quench your thirst.
An improved interface.

Windows 7 has new aero elements will change your way of communication with your PC. Aero Peek will be probably the most useful tool for you. All your open windows will come at once before your eyes. How is it? You need not close one after another of these and find your desired one opened. The outline boxes of all your windows will be displayed and by the help of thumbnail previewing facility, you can do this. Forget about your habit of alt-tabbing again and again.
Aero snap helps resizing the opened windows to fit in the display place available.
Aero shake enables a user to minimize all non-active windows at once.

Perked up hardware support
Worried about the compatibility of this new OS with upcoming hardware? Not an issue. It is crafted well to cope up with the upcoming hardware. It also includes multi-touch support. The 64-bit version of the new OS is to handle bigger system memory, scaling upto192 GB of RAM. You remember your old OS with 18-GB limit? It’s far better, no?
One thing I forgot to mention that this new OS is also fit for those chic netbooks. These scrawny devices are low-powered and that is why they go well with windows 7. it lengthens the battery-life of the netbooks.

Excellent looks
Though this little matters to the professionals but the thing is that the renovated look of windows 7 is something superb. You can not just resist yourself using it.

Thinking about opting for windows 7? Move on. Check it out right now.

Windows 7

Windows 7 has not actually hit the market yet. Customers worldwide are eager enough to know the distinguished features of it, but still some are skeptical about this new OS. But to convince them, here are some valid points given. I have found these quite interesting about Windows 7. I think it will make your enormous “no” to a big “yes”.

But still, there’s a whole lot of space provided for your counter-statements. If you find these points unreal or illogical, speak on pals. Don’t close the door of arguments.

Demand of the time
The immediate previous OS could not meet many of the expectations of the users. That’s why; many customers skip it and chose their 8-year old OS as a suitable option. Vista could not surpass XP. But this came into notice of Microsoft Corporation and they released a Beta version of Windows 7 to get a proper feedback of the crowd source. And the aficionados from all over the world complained about vista and demanded a better version. The giant manufacturer decided to launch it by this October.

Your old software runs sound
The corporation has kept its steadfast customers in mind. The software you used to use on your XP system can be run without any difficulty on windows 7. If somehow any of those XP programs does not run on your new OS, it can be run on a virtual environment that is called XP mode. The more interesting fact is that you need not clasp between XP emulator and windows 7. but the XP emulator will look like another window of windows 7.

Device-drivers pre-installed
No big change, but it is significant enough. You want a video card or an outer hard drive to install on your PC? You need not to follow that older way of installing it, windows 7 is intelligent enough to detect and install it on your PC. Forget about that garbage work from now.
Keen to know more about the varied features of windows 7? Read the rest of the features in my next post

UK’s wi-fi mobile device

3 UK, a company from UK has publicized that they are going to launch a new wi-fi mobile device before this Christmas. They are planning to offer devices such as the iPod touch which can access to the wireless UK 3 network from any place.

The interesting thing about this new product is it will allow customers to create their own individual mobile connection and manifold devices such as iPods and Netbooks can be connected to wi-fi network.

This wireless broadband connection escalates its predecessor, the USMB mobile broadband modem in an aspect that it needs not installation of software on the gadgets. Instead of that you can just continue with your old wi-fi with an eight-eight network key security. And we need to enter it just for once. And that too is applicable for every gadget you use.

Mr. mark Allera who is the sales and marketing director of 3 UK reportedly told that to reach the vast market of wi-fi products they are launching this plan. The users could access wi-fi connection in selected places only with having a limitation that their devices could not reach further. Consumers across the globe were looking for a wireless modem like this. And 3 UK has definitely met their need.

The wi-fi product is going to heat the market by this Christmas. Prices will be announced later. So, what’s your plan?

Want to know more about wi-fi technology? Just click here and get all your questions answered.

Enabling wi-fi broadband connection in your home

Suppose you have a desktop, a laptop and a Windows Mobile Device at your home or office. Having already a broadband connection, you intend to connect all these three without any wire.

Plenty of ways are there to incorporate wi-fi in your house or office. But let’s concentrate on one expedient option. Quite a lot of wireless devices are available in the market. But these gadgets are not fit for every situation. So we will have only a generalized discussion on this topic.

1. In a wired set-up, the computer remains connected to broadband with the help of a USB modem. But to avail it wirelessly, you need a wi-fi router paired with a broadband ADSL modem. Your existing broadband modem needs to be put back with a wireless network access router. This router generally contains one or more Ethernet connectors, which will allow you to have a direct cable connection to your machine.

2. The next step for you is to connect the router to your phone and then establish a connection between the wi-fi router and the machine. A PCI or USB Ethernet adapter is required for this.

3. Now you are connected to the wi-fi broadband connection. You can now use your computer to get connected to the router. You can just set up the access to the internet and the other two wireless devices.

4. If your laptop has inbuilt wi-fi connection, then everything will be easily done. Otherwise you need a connectivity card. You get your mobile device wi-fi connected and you just need to connect it to the internet with the help of the router.