By Computerworld Philippines
September 1, 2010

D-Link’s DSL-2740B Wireless N ADSL router is one of the first routers to earn the ‘Compatible with Windows 7’ logo and provides consumers with a quality user experience together with a seamless and high speed wireless connection. Supporting 802.11n technology to provide high speed wireless performance, the DSL-2740B features ADSL2/2+ standards to provide Internet transmission speeds of up to 24Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. Its Quality of Service (QoS) capability also supports priority usage. The DSL-2740B also supports WPA and WPA2 for the best possible encryption regardless of client devices. It is also equipped with a simple Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) to easily add devices and secure the network. Additionally it includes the Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall and hacker attack logging features to prevent unauthorised access to the network. SPI inspects incoming packets before they are allowed in while the hacker attack logging feature protects the network from Denial of Service attacks.

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By Matt Hamblen
Computerworld (US)
August 16, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Hewlett Packard Co. definitely plans to be in the tablet business, but questions remain about whether it will create different hardware for each of three expected tablet operating systems — Android , Windows 7 and WebOS.

HP on Thursday officially said in a statement that it’s “very excited about the slate [tablet] category” and “plans to use the WebOS from its Palm acquisition as well as Windows 7 from Microsoft for this category.”

There was no mention, however, of an HP slate running Android, as widely reported, although a spokesman indicated more information would be avilable “at the appropriate time.”

WebOS will run in HP smartphones , slates, netbooks and printers, with Windows 7 running in a slate targeted for select enterprise markets, the company said.

HP did not discuss timing in its statement.

The fact that HP didn’t mention Android is interesting, given the number of reports — especially on Engadget — saying Federal Communications Commission documents show that HP will produce an Android-based Zeen tablet that’s geared toward e-reading.

Zeen is a play on the last syllable of the word “magazine.” Reportedly, the device would connect directly to an HP printer, making it a portable way to quickly produce any magazine on printer paper from the Web.

Engadget has also reported that the Windows 7 tablet will appear in the fall, with the WebOS tablet expected in the first quarter of 2011 . Those dates are not official.

Assuming all three OSes are used by HP, it isn’t clear how they will be branded, or even whether they will have three different hardware builds. “I’m skeptical HP will do all three OSes as different products,” said Carl Howe, an analyst at Yankee Group. He said it is more likely HP will manufacture a common tablet hardware platform tailored for different operating systems and the apps used by each.

Of those three, however, Howe said the Android version would be the winner because of the ability to adapt apps already on the Android Market built for smartphones. He said Windows 7 is “hamstrung” with a non-tablet app legacy and that the WebOS developer community is small.

Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, said HP has been showing analysts a version of the Windows 7 tablet, but it has been criticized for sluggish performance.

Gold urged HP to put its efforts, instead, into a WebOS or Android tablet. There will be many Android-based tablets from other manufacturers released before the end of the year, he added.

If HP builds an Android tablet, Gold said it might be branded under the Compaq name that HP controls, and marketed for use by the consumer and education markets.

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By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
August 16, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Microsoft on Thursday announced it will release a public beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) on Sept. 15, a little less than five weeks from now.

Only a minority of Windows users will be able to try the beta, however. IE9 will not work on Windows XP, the aged operating system that powers nearly 68% of all PCs running Windows. The new browser requires either Windows Vista or Windows 7 .

Thursday’s announcement followed a comment made late last month by Kevin Turner, the company’s chief operations officer, that the IE9 beta would show up in September . Until today, Microsoft had declined to set a date or even confirm Turner’s statement.

Microsoft first announced IE9 in March , and has released four developer preview builds since then, most recently on Aug. 5 when it said the fourth such preview would be the last.

But while those previews have trumpeted the new browser’s “Chakra” JavaScript engine, graphics processor-powered hardware acceleration, support for the new HTML5, and being more in line with current Web standards, Microsoft hasn’t as much as whispered about IE9’s look and feel.

The developer previews have relied on an nearly-nonexistent interface that lacks even the most basic navigational features, such as a back button or even an address bar.

Most expect that Microsoft will debut IE9’s UI (user interface) in the beta next month.

According to reports earlier this year, IE9 was to feature a look copied from Windows Phone 7’s “Metro” interface. Today, Neowin.net said sources had told it that Metro is out and a “simplistic UI similar to that of Google’s Chrome” is in.

If so, it wouldn’t be a surprise: Other browser makers, notably second-place Mozilla, have headed in that direction, too, as they follow the lead of Google and its cleaner-composed Chrome. Mozilla’s next major upgrade, Firefox 4, will feature tabs on top and will eliminate the traditional Windows menus above the browser’s content area, two UI features popularized by Chrome.

IE is on a two-month upswing in usage share, according to the most recent data from metric firm Net Applications, and Microsoft has to hope that IE9 will be able to keep that momentum.

However, earlier this month Roger Capriotti, a product management lead on the IE team, refused to be drawn into a discussion of Microsoft’s goals for IE9, or even whether the company thought the new browser would entice users to come back to the browser.

Vince Vizzaccaro, an executive with Net Applications, had previously pegged IE’s increase in usage share to the growth of Windows 7, the Microsoft OS that includes IE8, and to a national television advertising campaign in the U.S. More recently, he had other explanations.

“[The two-month increase] is more than a blip for IE,” said Vizzaccaro in an interview last week. “Something is working for them. Maybe it’s related to ongoing privacy concerns on the part of people with Google.”

Microsoft has said nothing about a ship date for IE9, though many have speculated on an April 2011 release to coincide with MIX, the company’s annual Web conference, slated to run April 12-14, 2011 in Las Vegas.

It’s possible the ship date will be significantly later: Microsoft finalized IE8 a full year after it released the first public beta for that browser. If it maintains the same pace for IE9, the upgrade’s final edition might not appear until September 2011.

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By Robert X. Cringely
InfoWorld (US)
August 13, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - It seems Microsoft didn’t get pummeled enough in the “I’m a Mac, you’re a PC” ad campaign, so it’s coming back for more. This time the marketing marvels at Microsoft have cooked up a new web site detailing the various ways in which the Mac is inferior to a Windows 7 machine. Like, for example, “Macs don’t work as well at work or at school” or “Macs can take time to learn” or “Macs don’t like to share.”

It’s kind of pathetic, really. Most of these arguments are premised on the notion that if you’ve already wasted most of your adult life using Windows, you’ll be more familiar with it than the Mac, so you might as well waste the rest of your adult life. Which is really the only reason why Microsoft continues to dominate desktop market share: It’s harder to switch than to stick with what you got, even if what you got sucks eggs.

[ Want to cash in on your IT experiences? InfoWorld is looking for stories of an amazing or amusing IT adventure, lesson learned, or war tale from the trenches. Send your story to offtherecord@infoworld.com. If we publish it, we'll keep you anonymous and send you a $50 American Express gift cheque. ]

Still, is that the best MSFT can do with its billions in profits? Seriously?

It’s like Redmond has fallen so far behind in the mobile/tablet space that it’s clinging to an era in which the battle for control of the desktop still mattered. (”Remember the good old days when we were kicking the Macintosh’s behind?”) I can’t believe I’m actually writing this, but I’m starting to feel sorry for them.

Meanwhile, of course, there’s that new corporate motto Microsoft is allegedly going to reveal: “Be What’s Next.” So far that tagline has yet to be spotted in the wild, only at an internal Microsoft trade show. But it does reveal the huge gulf between how Microsoft perceives itself and how the rest of the non-Microsoft fanboy world perceives it.

Pop quiz: If you were looking for what’s coming next to the world of technology, is Redmond the first place you’d look? How about the 20th place? Is it even in the top 100?

In a blog post late last month (”Can Microsoft imitate Apple one more time?”), I asked Cringesters what they would suggest for a new Microsoft slogan.

Commenter “engpjp” suggests Microsoft take a page from the pre-second-coming of Steve Jobs era: “Microsoft: Be What’s NeXT.” I think they’d probably get sued for that one.

But the residents of Cringeville came up with some pretty good ones, too. Here are the best, followed by the author’s initials.

* “If you’ve got the solutions, we’ve got the problems” (D. W.).
* “The 500 pound gorilla doesn’t play with toys. Microsoft: We get the Jobs done.” (S. E.)
* Here’s one from the Caesarean section: “We came, we saw, we copied” (C. D.).
* The practical: “Reboot your life (and while you’re at it, your PC)” (R. L.).
* The acquisitive: “If you can’t beat em, buy em” (J. P.).
* The scatological: “Microsoft: We love downloading lots of s**** to your PC” (M. S.).

Here’s one proclaiming hey, at least our CEO didn’t have to resign because of a sex scandal: “We’re not HP” (B. C.).

And this one would sound right at home on that new Windows-vs.-Mac site Microsoft just created: “Lots of people use our software because they have to” (M. B.).

Personally, I like eSarcasm’s somewhat NSFW take on the new Microsoft slogan, especially this one: “Microsoft: Re-imagining the future by clinging blindly to the past.”

Maybe Microsoft should fire all of its marketers and hire the residents of Cringeville instead. We certainly couldn’t do much worse.

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By Logan Kugler
Computerworld (US)
August 6, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - The words Windows and security have not always been compatible. In the past, Microsoft’s quest to make its operating system as easy to manage as possible for the “typical” user has often meant sacrificing adequate safeguards against intrusion and infection. Windows XP’s notorious vulnerability to network worms stands as a recent example; Microsoft shipped the operating system with a firewall but initially left it turned off by default.

For all its flaws, real and perceived, Vista marked a huge step forward in Windows security. Windows 7 has continued that improvement, adding several new features and enhancing many others — most obviously the User Account Control system, which proved so obnoxious in Vista that many users turned it off, leaving their systems vulnerable to intrusion in exchange for a less annoying experience. UAC has been revamped in Windows 7 to be less intrusive and more discerning about what constitutes a true threat, and therefore more effective.

Other Windows 7 security features are less apparent, especially those intended for businesses concerned with protecting not just one computer but an entire network. Among the most important new features are DirectAccess, a VPN replacement for computers on Windows networks; the Windows Biometric Framework, which standardizes the way fingerprints are used by scanners and biometric applications; and AppLocker, which improves on previous Windows versions’ Software Restriction Policies to limit which software can be run on a machine.

Also key are BitLocker To Go, which extends the full-disk encryption of BitLocker to external hard drives, and a refined procedure for handling multiple firewall profiles so that the level of protection better matches the location from which a user connects to the Internet.

In typical Microsoft fashion, these features have been made available with little fanfare or guidance. Let’s take a look at each to see how they can help Windows shops secure their computers and networks.

Note that some of these features are available for all versions of Windows 7, while others require the Enterprise or Ultimate editions. What’s more, you won’t be able to fully implement some features until you’ve upgraded all your users to Windows 7, and at least one — DirectAccess — has back-end requirements that most companies don’t have in place yet. These features will, however, work side by side with older technologies for users who are still on earlier versions of Windows.

So even though you may not be able to take full advantage of all the new security features immediately, the time to start planning for them is now. We’ll start with the features that you can use right away and work our way up to those that require planning.

Multiple active firewall profiles

Windows 7 offers a small but incredibly important improvement over Vista in its handling of firewall profiles. Vista allowed users to set up different firewall profiles for public, private and domain connections. A private network might be your home Wi-Fi network; aside from having the right WEP or WPA key, you don’t need any credentials to log in, but you trust it more than a public network like a coffee shop hot spot. A domain network requires authentication — a password, fingerprint, smart card or some combination of factors — to log in.

Each profile type has its own selection of applications and connections allowed through the firewall. For instance, in a home or small-business network marked Private, you might allow file and printer sharing, while on a network marked Public, you would likely disallow access to your files.

Vista’s firewall profiles worked well except when a computer was connected to multiple networks simultaneously, such as an Ethernet and a wireless network. In those cases, the system would default to the most restrictive profile. This could cause problems when, for example, connecting to a corporate VPN through a public Wi-Fi hot spot; Vista would recognize simultaneous connections to both a public and domain network and apply the public profile to both.

All versions of Windows 7 allow computers to keep several firewall profiles active at the same time, maintaining the access and functionality of the more trusted network while blocking access via the less trusted network. Since many remote access functions require less restrictive firewall settings, users can now work securely while remaining protected from threats outside of the corporate network.

Windows Biometric Framework

With fingerprint readers becoming more and more common on laptops, establishing a standard for the handling of biometric data has become important. Enter Windows Biometric Framework, a standardized method for storing fingerprint data and accessing it through a common API. Although most of the features of this subsystem are of interest only to developers, there are two important things that businesses should know.

First, while fingerprint scanners could formerly be used to log onto a computer but not to log onto a corporate domain (a corporate network or network subsection), the Windows Biometric Framework allows domain log-in.

Second, users can store up to 10 unique fingerprints, one for each finger. While most of us probably don’t expect to lose a finger anytime soon, having all 10 fingers enrolled in the system is a good precaution in case of lesser injuries. A cooking accident or a hand caught in a door can easily modify a finger enough that it won’t register correctly with a fingerprint reader, and you don’t want a user to be barred access to his computer while he heals.

Fingerprints are added using the Biometric Device applet, which appears in the Control Panel of any Windows 7 computer with a fingerprint scanner attached and from which you can enable computer and domain log-in. You must be logged in as an administrator to add or manage fingerprints on Windows 7.

BitLocker To Go

One of the most serious security threats facing today’s businesses is the loss of a mobile asset containing confidential corporate information. Windows Vista’s BitLocker began to address this problem by allowing business users to encrypt a laptop’s entire hard drive so that if it were lost or stolen, nobody could access the information stored on it. BitLocker To Go extends the same protection to even more easily lost external drives, including pocket-size hard drives and tiny flash drives.

Available in Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions, BitLocker To Go is simple to use: Right-click an external drive in Explorer and select “Turn on BitLocker” to open a wizard that will walk you through encrypting the drive, wait a while for the process to run, and you’re done. The wait depends on the speed of your computer and drives, but expect the initial encryption to take 20 minutes for a 2GB flash drive and up to a full workday for 500GB and larger external hard drives.

BitLocker To Go drives can be decrypted using a user-selected password and/or, in businesses that use them, a smart card for multifactor authentication.

Encrypted removable drives can be created only on Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7, but once you’ve created one, you can read from and write to it from any Windows 7 computer. You can also install a reader application on the encrypted drive that allows read-only access from Vista and XP computers.

Additional security can be implemented in corporate environments through the use of administrative policies that allow only BitLocker To Go drives to be written to, preventing users from storing data on nonsecure drives. Users of Windows Server can also keep a recovery password in escrow using Active Directory so that lost or forgotten passwords can be recovered.

AppLocker

Controlling what applications users can install or run is an effective way of maintaining the stability of users’ systems, preventing malware and protecting the integrity of the network from bandwidth-hungry applications like BitTorrent.

In previous versions of Windows, this was handled by the Software Restriction Policies feature. These policies could be applied to prevent specific software from running based on either its location in the file system or its failure to match a cryptographic hash of a known, trusted application.

Software Restriction Policies could be a hassle to implement and maintain effectively. Some programs need to be installed outside of the typical path, necessitating new path rules to be generated. And hash-based policies offer powerful security but can fail whenever a program is updated. Any change to the program’s code — even a bug fix or security update — changes the hash and, if allowed, would prevent the program from running. Thus, IT managers had to maintain and update a cumbersome list of hash rules and override programs’ ability to update automatically.

AppLocker, available for Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate (as well as Windows Server 2008 R2), adds a new, more flexible method of controlling software: publisher rules. Publisher rules rely on information in a program’s signature certificate, which more and more applications have today.

This information is far more detailed than the file path or hash data, which lets admins create complex rules such as allowing software only from a particular publisher, with a particular name, with a specific file name and/or of a particular version to be run. For example, a rule could be created to allow anything from Adobe to be run, or only Photoshop, or only the current and future versions of Photoshop.

AppLocker rules can be applied to any executable, script, installer or system library, giving users enough latitude to, say, install needed software or updates without an administrative override, while still preventing them from using unauthorized software.

Furthermore, AppLocker rules can be written to apply to specific users or user groups; your accounting team and your graphic design team probably have very different software needs, but with AppLocker, only one set of policies is needed to provide each group with its own unique set of restrictions and allowances. AppLocker can even distinguish among users who share the same computer.

A real timesaver is the ability to automatically generate rules from a trusted reference computer. Policies can be exported and applied globally across the network using Windows’ Group Policy settings. (See Microsoft’s TechNet for a step-by-step guide to using AppLocker.)

It’s important to note that AppLocker rules apply only to users whose machines are running Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate editions. If some of your users have older Windows versions, you’ll need to keep Software Restriction Policies in place for them. As more users upgrade to Windows 7, you can phase out SRP and rely on AppLocker.

DirectAccess

Billed by Microsoft as a “next-generation” replacement for VPNs, DirectAccess allows Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate users to connect directly to Windows 2008 R2 and future servers. Whereas users generally have to initiate VPN connections, DirectAccess is completely transparent for end users: When the computer connects to the Internet, DirectAccess automatically creates a secure connection to the corporate network without any action on the user’s part, and automatically routes requests to the internal network through that connection.

DirectAccess offers improvements over traditional VPNs beyond the automatic connection. First of all, it uses IPsec and IPv6 Internet protocols to encrypt and route the connection from end to end. Where VPN encryption is stripped at the VPN server, DirectAccess can remain encrypted all the way to and from the application server inside the corporate network. (DirectAccess supports a number of other protocols to create tunnels for this traffic across networks that do not support IPv6 or IPsec yet.)

And because DirectAccess uses a standard Internet port for traffic, it easily traverses firewalls without any additional configuration, something VPN users often have trouble with.

Another benefit: Because the connection is created and maintained automatically, administrators can continuously manage and update DirectAccess-enabled computers, even when the user is not directly using corporate resources. Remote users tend to connect through a VPN only when they need access to network resources; depending on the worker, weeks may go by between VPN connections.

This means that VPN users must be quarantined, scanned and patched before they can be allowed access to the corporate network, a process that slows down the connection and limits worker productivity, as well as providing IT administrators with only small windows of time to manage their remote computers. With DirectAccess, computers are updated at the same time as the rest of the corporate network and can be monitored regardless of whether the user needs access to the corporate network.

Note, however, that it won’t be practical for most companies to move to DirectAccess right away. The system relies on an advanced network infrastructure — including Windows Server 2008 R2 and IPv6 — that many businesses have not yet rolled out or are incrementally upgrading to, so it may be several years before many companies have all the tools and technologies in place to move fully to DirectAccess. During the ramp-up phase, it can be run alongside a traditional VPN.

But it provides a glimpse into the future of networking — a secure, always-on connection to “home base” that allows remote employees to work as if they were sitting in the central office.

For businesses, Windows 7 allows a partnership of sorts to be established between the security-savvy IT department and the end user, letting employees get to work while security policies are applied and updated from the network. What all these features share is a commitment to ease of use that does not come at the expense of real security, showing a Microsoft that seems to have finally recognized that the two are not necessarily incompatible.

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By Chris Byers
PC Advisor (UK)
August 4, 2010

LONDON - QUESTION My PC dual-boots Windows XP 32bit and Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. Every time I work in XP I lose all my restore points in Windows 7. Geoff Turner

HELPROOM ANSWER You can’t keep System Restore points if you dual-boot with an earlier operating system. XP will delete the Restore Points when it reboots, since the Windows 7 disk structure is incompatible with the way XP reads the hard drive. A workaround is available, but this can create its own problems.
If you want to continue running Windows XP on your computer, you’d be better off doing so in the free Virtual XP mode. Click here to download Windows XP Mode.

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By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
August 3, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Microsoft’s Windows 7 reached a major milestone in July, while Apple’s Mac OS X lost ground for the fourth straight month, a Web analytics firm said Sunday.

According to California-based Net Applications, Windows 7 passed Vista for the first time last month by posting a usage share of 14.5%, versus its predecessor’s 14.3%.

Net Applications uses data acquired from the 160 million unique visitors who browse the 40,000 Web sites it monitors for clients.

Windows 7 has been on a fast pace to supplant Vista as Microsoft’s — and the world’s — No. 2 operating system, behind the nearly-nine-year-old Windows XP. By Net Applications’ calculation, Windows 7 needed just nine months to hit a mark that Vista took more than 21 months to match.

Vista’s share crested at 18.8% in October 2009 and has been in decline since: Vista has lost 4.5 percentage points, or 24% of its peak share, since Microsoft launched Windows 7.

Microsoft has not been shy about flaunting Windows 7’s success, calling it the firm’s fastest-selling operating system with more than 175 million licenses sold , and claiming that Windows 7 runs 16% of the world’s personal computers.

But the rate of Windows 7’s increase during July — just 0.8 of a percentage point — was the smallest since the new edition’s debut.

And for all its success at selling Windows 7 , Microsoft has not had as much luck in moving users off Windows XP.

The aged XP accounted for 61.9% of all operating systems used last month, Net Applications said, a decline of six-tenths of a percentage point from June and down 5.9 points since the first of the year. But Windows XP’s slide has slowed: In the second quarter of 2010, the operating system lost two percentage points, compared to 3.3 points in the first quarter. At that rate of decline, XP won’t drop under the 50% share mark until January 2012.

Combined, all editions of Windows ran on 91.3% of the machines that connected to Net Applications’ sites last month, a decline of just over one-tenth of a percentage point. Windows 7’s growing use appears to have been key to that small slip and in a slowing of Windows’ gradual decline: In the second quarter of 2010, Windows lost only one-fourth as much share as it did during the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Net Applications reported that Apple’s OS X recorded its fourth consecutive month of share decline in July, losing nearly two-tenths of a percentage point, the largest single-month drop in over a year and a half.

Since the beginning of 2010, Mac OS X has lost share in five of seven months. It now stands at 5%, the same number as in February 2010 and off the operating system’s peak of 5.3% in October 2009, the month Microsoft debuted Windows 7.

Net Applications’ numbers don’t equate to sales — two weeks ago Apple reported it sold a record 3.5 million Macs in the second quarter — but they do show that Windows 7 is fueling an even bigger PC sales boom relative to last year’s usage share standings. Windows 7, for example, now powers three times the number of machines than does Mac OS X.

Not all is gloomy for Apple . According to Net Applications, the iPhone ’s operating system accounted for seven-tenths of one percent of all OSes online in July — not just mobile operating systems — a 19% jump from the month before.

July was the first full month that the iPhone 4 was available in the U.S. and several other countries.

In a note on its Web site, Net Applications pointed out that the gain came amid reports of antenna and reception problems in the iPhone 4 throughout much of July. However, the company also said that the jump in share was “typical prior to the release of a major upgrade” as buyers delay purchases until a new version of an operating system or device is available.

Net Applications had a point. The first full month after the introduction of the iPhone 3G in the summer of 2008, iPhone usage share leaped 63%. Two months after the debut of last year’s iPhone 3GS, its share was 20% above pre-launch levels.

Net Applications’ operating system share data can be found on its Web site.

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By Robert X. Cringely
InfoWorld (US)
August 2, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Remember back in early June when Steve Ballmer said the Apple iPad was “just another PC”? He’d like to amend that slightly to “just another PC that’s now kicking our a**.”

In a meeting with analysts yesterday, Ballmer spent a fair amount of time talking about Apple’s iPad and trying to explain why there are no Microsoft-based devices that remotely compare to it.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Cringely is nothing if not an equal-opportunity satirist, as he proves in "Apple's Steve Jobs: He's no Old Spice Guy" | Stay up to date on all Robert X. Cringely's observations with InfoWorld's Notes from the Underground newsletter. ]

Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt distills the Ballmer discussion of the iPad into 11 words: “We’ll talk about slates and tablets and blah, blah, blah, blah.” (Apparently, Ballmer is also adopting the Steve Jobs 11-word rule.)

The “blah blah blah” part included a) an admission that the iPad has sold “more than I’d like them to sell,” b) “we’re coming full guns” to the slate market, and c) they’ll be “coming when they’re ready” — so don’t bother camping in line outside any Microsoft stores just yet. (Greg Packer, this means you.)

Meanwhile, the one Windows-based slate Ballmer could dig up to demo at last January’s CES — and got virtually heckled off the stage by the blogosphere afterward — may end up not being a Windows device after all. Now that HP has gobbled up Palm, its Slate PC may run Palm’s WebOS, a much more attractive tablet interface than Windows 7. Given how badly HP got jobbed by Microsoft during the whole “Vista ready” labeling debacle, I imagine this would be sweet revenge.

So, once again, Microsoft finds itself in the position of needing to imitate Apple to stay relevant.

Of course, imitation is part of Microsoft’s DNA. Copy something successful, then ram it down people’s throats. CP/M becomes MS-DOS, the Mac GUI gets reborn as Windows, though maybe “stillborn” is closer — it took Redmond 11 years to come up with an interface that approached the Mac’s features and simplicity. Intuit’s Quicken begets Microsoft Money. The iPod spawns the Zune. And so on down the line.

I’m not saying Microsoft has not come up with some innovations over the last 35 years. I still think Excel is the best software Redmond ever made. The Xbox, Microsoft Surface, Project Natal — er, Kinect — are all first rate. But its bread-and-butter strategy continues to be “imitate, then destroy.” And that strategy has grown less successful over time.

Now Microsoft has to play catchup to the iPad, as well as the 3,247 Android-based tablets we’ll be seeing over the next 12 months. Given how long it’s taking Redmond to catch up on cell phones, it may be two years before we see any tablets worth talking about. By then, it will be too late.

Still, this could explain Microsoft’s new slogan, unveiled at its annual Microsoft Global Exchange confab last week: Be What’s Next. In this case, what’s “next” is Apple, a company it seems Microsoft now desperately needs to become.

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By Ian Paul
PC World (US)
July 28, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Once you’ve seen some amazing pictures of seemingly transparent LCD screens, you may want to create your own optical illusion. After researching the topic, I wanted to give it a try, too. So I’m going to show you the simplest way I’ve found to create the effect. All you’ll need is a digital camera, photo-editing software, and about an hour to produce the image.

In this step-by-step guide, I use Gimp, the free photo-editing software for Windows, Mac, and Linux; but any standard photo editor that can produce layers and perform basic editing will work as well.

TAKE YOUR PHOTOS

Before you get started, you need to determine (and write it down for later reference) your screen’s resolution. Microsoft has two online tutorials–one for Windows 7 users and one for Windows Vista users–that show how to obtain this spec.

Next, you need to take a photo with your computer screen in the frame, and another without your screen in the frame. If you’re using a laptop, the only adjustment you have to make is to fold the clamshell down before taking the second shot. Desktop users must remove their monitor from the desk entirely to achieve the right effect. You should also mark the location where your monitor sits on your desk with tape or pencil. This will make it easier to restore the screen to the right spot later on.

When taking your photo, make sure that you have enough light in your environment, but avoid having a strong light source–like the sun or a bright light–directly behind you, as it could cause screen glare in your final picture, decreasing the illusion of transparency.

The other key is to be sure to take two shots at an identical angle.The best approach is to mount your camera on a tripod. If you don’t have a tripod, you can create a makeshift one. To take my shots I just used my nightstand, with a few boxes piled on top of it. You should also turn off your display or give your desktop a solid color background. This will simplify the task of editing the screen in your photo-editing software later on.

When it comes time to take your final shot, you may want to use your camera flash or to be in a room with a lot of natural light. This is because both light sources help create the transparency effect in your final shot. But if you use a flash, take care to use an angle that doesn’t let the flash slip onto the screen. In the experimental shot above, the shot is pretty good overall, but the flash ruins it.

Tip: Have at least two items that run beside and behind the screen. Doing so will make it easier to line up your final shot later, and it will add to the transparency effect.

After you’ve captured two shots that you like you can upload them to your computer. Here’s how my two photos looked initially:

Tip: If you’re using a laptop, try not to move the base of your computer at all from start to finish of this project. That way, the only adjustment you’ll have to make will be to the screen angle when lining up your final shot.

LAYER YOUR PHOTOS

The first thing to do after you’ve uploaded your photos is to layer them. The shot with the screen should be on top, and the photo without the monitor should be on the bottom. The reason will become clear in a moment. Once you’ve layered the two photos, you need to align them. To do this in Gimp, select the image with the monitor in it, and then click Select, All from the menu bar. Then choose Edit, Copy to copy the entire picture. Now, go to the second photo, and click Edit, Paste As, New Layer.

At this point, you need to align the two photos by selecting Image, Align Visible Layers. Be sure to uncheck Ignore the bottom layer even if visible, and instead check Use the (invisible) bottom layer as the base.

FRAME YOUR SCREEN

Next, you want to use Gimp’s Free Select Tool (in Photoshop it’s called the “polygonal lasso”) to frame your screen. This type of lasso is easy to use since you have to create a closed shape to complete your cut. Don’t use a magic wand or any other tool to do this, as you aren’t going to cut out the contents of the top image; rather, the photo of your monitor is merely serving as a guide.

MOVE TO LAYER TWO

Now that your cut is ready, it’s time to get rid of the first layer so you can cut out the contents of the second layer. Open your layers dialog box, and in Gimp select Windows, Dockable Dialogs, Layers.

Click the eye icon next to the top layer (the image with the screen visible). You should see the image without the screen, with the selection frame that you created in the previous step over the top. To copy the selected area and create a new file, click Edit, Copy Visible, and then select File, Create, From Clipboard.

SIZE YOUR TRANSPARENCY

All you have to do now is create your background desktop image. The best way to edit this part is to go into full-screen view. You should see that your new selection doesn’t quite match up with the edges of the image canvas. To fix this, use the transform tool, but make sure you that have turned off the ‘constrain proportions’ setting. In Gimp that means making sure the link icon is broken in the transform tool dialog box.

Now, use the transform tool to push the edges of your photo until they just barely fill the entire canvas. Once you’ve done that, save your work (make sure you know the location of the saved image) and examine the final product to confirm that the canvas is filled.

At this point, you need to match your photo’s dimensions to your computer screen’s resolution. Click Image, Scale Image, again make sure that the ‘constrain proportions’ setting is turned off, and adjust your photo size to match your screen resolution numbers. My laptop’s screen, for example, has a resolution of 1200 by 800 pixels.

SET YOUR BACKGROUND

The moment of truth has arrived. Set your resized image as your desktop background, grab your camera and tripod and get ready to snap your first transparent photo. In person, your transparent desktop background may not look like much, depending on the resolution of your camera. But bear in mind that the finished product is your final photo–not the actual desktop image.

Take a look through your camera, and confirm that everything lines up. If you followed my earlier recommendation, several items will be running off your desktop screen–for example, a cord extending from the back of the monitor onto your desk, or a book that is partially blocked by your monitor. These items greatly enhance the transparency effect, and serve as guides for your monitor’s angles. Remember to take your time, be patient, and get the best shot you can.

As you can see, my final shot didn’t turn out too badly. I made a few lighting mistakes–but overall not a bad effort for a novice.

WHAT NOW?

After you’ve captured your final image, what you do is up to you. You can put it back into Photoshop and adjust its colors, lighting, and white balance; or if you feel that the image is good enough as is, you can simply declare victory.

Now that you’ve created your first transparent screen, consider posting your image on your favorite photo-sharing site or adding your work to Flickr’s Transparent Screens Pool.

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By Chris Byers
PC Advisor (UK)
July 28, 2010

LONDON - QUESTION I’m about to replace my Vista Home Premium laptop with one running Windows 7. I’ll be passing on my old laptop to my son, but I’d like to install Windows 7 on his laptop too. Can I purchase an upgrade version, and will I lose any programs or other files in doing so? What’s my best (cheapest) option? Steve Wilson

HELPROOM ANSWER Upgrading the older laptop to Windows 7 is definitely the way to go, as it will improve performance and extend the machine’s useful life. First check whether the laptop can be upgraded using the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. For more on this read: How to get your PC ready for Windows 7.
If you perform a full upgrade using a Windows 7 upgrade install then your files and folders will be retained. However, you may find that some software will no longer work, and may not even be transferred to the new installation because of compatibility issues.

For peace of mind, you could instead purchase a full version of Windows 7 Home Premium and install it from scratch. This will ensure the correct drivers and components are installed first time round. Either way, we’d recommend backing up all your files and programs before you make the upgrade.

The Upgrade edition of Windows 7 Home Premium costs around £90, while the full version is around £140. Both are available from the PC Advisor Software Store.

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By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
July 26, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Microsoft sold nearly 10 copies of Windows 7 every second over the last month, according to numbers the company released Thursday.

Yesterday, Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, told Wall Street analysts of the latest Windows 7 milestone. “With 175 million licenses sold to date, it is the fastest selling operating system ever, and now runs on over 15% of all PCs worldwide,” Klein said during an afternoon earnings call.

A month ago, Microsoft announced that it had sold 150 million Windows 7 licenses.

By Microsoft’s numbers, the company sold 25 million licenses during the 29 days between June 23 and July 21, a pace that represents sales of 9.97 copies of Windows 7 per second.

On Tuesday, Microsoft credited strong sales of Windows 7 , as well as the introduction of Office 2010, for pushing its second quarter revenues to a record $16 billion — a 22% jump over the same quarter in 2009. Windows revenue grew by more than $1 billion, to $4.55 billion, according to the company.

As it has several times in the past, yesterday Microsoft called Windows 7 “the fastest-selling operating system ever.”

The OS has certainly outperformed its predecessor , Windows Vista.

According to data from Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Net Applications, which tracks operating system usage share by monitoring 40,000 sites that use its Web metrics service, Windows 7 held a 14.4% share as of July 21, nine months after its release. Vista took 22 months to reach the same mark.

Klein’s statement that Windows 7 now accounts for 15% of the in-use operating systems worldwide not only differed from Net Applications’ numbers, but also from those of Irish analytics firm StatCounter, which pegs Windows 7’s current global share at 17.6%. It was also muddied by a competing claim by Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc, who said that the new OS now powers 16% of all PCs .

On Friday, Microsoft said that Klein had misspoke, and that 16% was the accurate number. A company spokeswoman said that Windows 7’s usage share was derived from internal data.

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By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
July 15, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Microsoft today patched five vulnerabilities in Windows and Office, including a bug hackers have been exploiting for almost a month.

As expected, today’s patch slate was short: Just four security updates that included fixes for five separate flaws. Of the four updates, three were rated “critical,” the highest threat ranking in Microsoft’s four-step scoring system. All five of the specific vulnerabilities patched today were also rated critical.

Two of the bulletins affected Windows, while the remaining pair impacted Office. Four of the five vulnerabilities in the bulletin quartet were pegged by Microsoft with an exploitability index score of “1,” meaning that the company expects attacks to materialize in the next 30 days.

But there were few surprises. Last week Microsoft revealed that the two Windows updates would address already-acknowledged bugs in Windows XP and Windows 7.

The most prominent of the pair was MS10-042 , the update that addressed the vulnerability in Windows XP’s Help and Support Center, a feature that lets users access and download Microsoft help files from the Web and can be used by support technicians to launch remote support tools on a local PC.

In early June, Tavis Ormandy, a security engineer who works for Google , published attack code for the bug — which also affected Windows Server 2003 — and immediately unleashed a heated debate. While some security researchers criticized Ormandy for taking the bug public, others rose to his defense, blasting both Microsoft and the press — including Computerworld — for linking Ormandy to his employer.

Ormandy disclosed the vulnerability five days after reporting it to Microsoft after he said the company wouldn’t commit to a patching deadline. Microsoft has disputed that, claiming that it only told Ormandy it would need the rest of the week to decide.

Users and IT administrators should apply the MS10-042 patch as soon as possible, agreed several researchers. “This is actively being exploited to target XP desktop systems,” said Jason Miller, the data and security team manager for Shavlik Technologies. Miller also noted that Windows XP remains the most-popular version of Windows on both consumer and business PCs, a fact that Microsoft itself stressed yesterday when a company executive said that XP was on 74% of all corporate machines.

“I’m impressed that Microsoft was able to do a turn-around on this as quickly as they did,” said Miller. “Some bugs linger for months out there.”

Microsoft was first told of the Help and Support Center flaw on June 5, and confirmed that by June 15, attacks were exploiting the bug.

The other Windows update, MS10-043 , patches a single bug in the 64-bit version of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft confirmed the vulnerability in May with a security advisory, noting then that the flaw was in Windows’ Canonical Display Driver, which blends the operating system’s primary graphics interface, dubbed Graphics Device Interface (GDI), and DirectX to compose the desktop.

At the time, Microsoft told users to disable the Aero interface, which is the default on all but the least-expensive editions of Windows 7. Aero is an optional install on Windows Server 2008 R2.

According to Oliver Lavery, the director of security and research and development for nCircle, the Windows 7 vulnerability was due to a programming error on Microsoft’s part when it ported the relevant code from the 32-bit version of Windows to the 64-bit version of Windows 7.

The other pair of updates fixed flaws in Access, the database included with some versions of Office, and Outlook, Microsoft’s business e-mail client.

Of the two, the most interesting to Richie Lai, director of vulnerability research at Qualys. was MS10-045 . “The vulnerability undermines the security model of Outlook, because attackers can make any file type look like any other file type,” Lai said. “That’s scary, because it makes all attachments dangerous to open, not just those file types people are cautious about.”

Hackers could disguise attack code as, say, a .txt, .pdf or .jpg file type, Lai continued, to more easily dupe users into opening and launching the malware. “Those kinds of files most people will click on without thinking twice,” said Lai. “And it bypasses all the prompting that normally displays,” he added, referring to the warnings that Outlook normally shows when potentially-dangerous file types are clicked.

Others, including Miller from Shavlik and nCircle’s Lavery, echoed Lai’s take on the Outlook bug. “This one is interesting because it bypasses the security warnings,” said Lavery. “Attackers would have to host their malicious code on their own server, so this isn’t a direct attack, but it’s certainly a flaw in [Outlook's] warning mechanism.”

According to Microsoft, all currently-supported versions of Outlook, with the exception of Outlook 2010, contain the vulnerability and must be patched.

The fourth update, MS10-044 , addressed two bugs — one rated critical the other ranked “important,” the next threat step down — in ActiveX controls used by Access.

“It’s a bit shocking, really,” said nCircle’s Lavery. “ActiveX is practically a dead technology, but people are still finding vulnerabilities in it. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and even now, Microsoft hasn’t managed to kill off all the bugs. It’s just silly.”

Because Microsoft now ships alternating large and small batches of fixes, with the larger updates landing in even-numbered months, researchers expect that the patch count will be considerably larger next month. Microsoft will deliver its next slate of fixes Aug. 10.

This month’s security update can be downloaded and installed via the Microsoft Update and Windows Update services, as well as through Windows Server Update Services.

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By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
July 14, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Just a day before Microsoft drops support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) , the company announced on Monday that people running some versions of Windows 7 can “downgrade” to the aged operating system for up to 10 years.

The move is highly unusual. In the past, Microsoft has terminated downgrade rights — which let customers replace a newer version of Windows with an older edition without paying for two copies — within months of introducing a new OS.

While few consumers may want to downgrade from Windows 7 to XP — unlike when many mutinied against Vista three years ago — businesses often want to standardize on a single operating system to simplify machine management.

Monday’s announcement was the second Windows XP downgrade rights extension. Microsoft originally limited Windows 7-to-Windows XP downgrades to six months after Windows 7’s release, but backtracked in June 2009 after an analyst with Gartner Research called the plan a “real mess.”

Instead, Microsoft later said it would allow downgrades to Windows XP until 18 months after the October 2009 debut of Windows 7 , or until it released Windows 7 SP1.

In either scenario, XP downgrade rights would have expired sometime in 2011, perhaps as early as April.

On Monday, Microsoft again changed its mind. Users running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate will now be able to downgrade to Windows XP Professional throughout the entire lifecycle of Windows 7.

“Our business customers have told us that the removing end-user downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional could be confusing,” said Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc, in an entry on the a company blog .

Windows 7 Professional won’t be fully retired until January 2020; the Ultimate edition will be put out to pasture five years earlier, in January 2015.

Although Microsoft said it made the change to simplify the work in tracking licensing rights for PCs, the continued popularity of Windows XP may have had something to do with it. At the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), which opened Monday in Washington D.C., a company executive acknowledged that 74% of business computers still run XP.

The downgrade rights are available only from OEM copies of Windows 7, those that are pre-installed by computer makers.

“Going forward, businesses can continue to purchase new PCs and utilize end-user downgrade rights to Windows XP or Windows Vista until they are ready to use Windows 7,” LeBlanc added in his blog post.

The change impacts only consumers and businesses that don’t subscribe to Software Assurance (SA) — Microsoft’s annuity-like upgrade guarantee program — or those who purchase Windows through volume-licensing plans. Those companies already had downgrade rights from any edition, including Windows 7, to any previous version going as far back as Windows 95.

Other deadlines that Microsoft had previously scheduled for Windows remain in place. Computer manufacturers must stop installing Windows XP Home on netbooks as of Oct. 22, 2010, and they may sell PCs with Vista pre-installed only through Oct. 22, 2011.

Computer makers are also slated to stop offering factory-installs of XP Professional downgrades on PCs with Windows 7 Professional licenses after Oct. 22, 2010. That means Windows users who want to downgrade a Windows 7 system to XP must do it themselves starting Oct. 23 of this year.

It’s unlikely that many Microsoft customers, even the largest corporations, will downgrade to XP as long as Microsoft allows. That’s because the nearly-nine-year-old operating system falls off the support list for good in April 2014.

On Tuesday, Microsoft will supply the last-ever updates for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), the 2004 upgrade that was superseded four years later by XP SP3.

However, some computer makers continue to sell new PCs with a factory-installed downgrade to Windows XP. Dell , for example, offers downgrades on some Latitude notebooks.

The practice was much more widespread when Microsoft marketed Windows Vista. Then, customers clamored for ways to return to XP after buying new PCs equipped with Vista, a rebellion that forced Microsoft to delay several times the end of XP availability to both large and smaller computer sellers.

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By Paul Krill
InfoWorld (US)
July 14, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Developers are hopping on the Windows 7 bandwagon, according to survey results released Monday by database and developer tools vendor Embarcadero Technologies.

In a survey of 606 respondents conducted in May, Embarcadero found 54 percent indicated they were developing applications for Windows 7. Another 25 percent said they plan to develop applications for Microsoft’s latest client OS in the next year. Just 10 percent have no plans to build for Windows 7.

[ Get all the details you need on deploying and using Windows 7 in the InfoWorld editors' 21-page Windows 7 Deep Dive PDF special report. ]

But more than 15 percent of respondents are waiting for more organizations to adopt Windows 7 to make it worth their while, according to Embarcadero. Respondents were comprised of developers, architects, and analysts.

Respondents, Embarcadero found, are enticed by Windows 7 capabilities such as touch, multi-touch, and enhanced graphics. Microsoft began shipping Windows 7 last fall.

“The popularity of devices like the iPhone and iPad have helped drive mainstream acceptance of touch-based technologies. This popularity transcends into the developer community, and I doubt we’ll see it abate anytime soon,” said Michael Rozlog, product manager for Delphi Solutions at Embarcadero, in a statement released by the company.

Building for Windows 7 is not without challenges, however. Thirty-four percent of respondents indicated the biggest challenge is supporting users on older versions of Windows. Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP in April 2014 and analysts are encouraging enterprises and consumers to move to Windows 7 by the end of 2012, Embarcadero said. These urgings, however, have been met with reluctance, the company noted.

Better than 10 percent of respondents said learning something new was the biggest challenge to developing for Windows 7.

The survey also found that the majority plan to build Windows 7 desktop applications first, with database applications second on the list, followed by utilities and tools. Small business applications are of higher priority than enterprise applications.

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By Lincoln Spector
PC World (US)
July 7, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - The wrong program opens when Marvin double-clicks a .docx file. He asked the Answer Line forum how to fix this.

Windows can associate multiple programs with various file extensions (.docx, .jpg, and so on), with only one program being the default application–the one that opens when you double-click the file. Somehow, on your PC, Windows has the wrong program associated with that particular file type.

And believe me, you don’t want your files associating with the wrong type of application.

The instructions below work in Windows 7, Vista, and XP. The exact wording of the menu options and prompts varies between these three Windows versions, but they’re close enough.

Right-click a file of with the badly-associated extension and select Open with, then Choose default program. Make sure Always use the selected program to open this kind of file is checked. Double-click your program of choice or click Browse to find something else.

This will open the file in the program you selected. More importantly, double-clicking any file with that extension will open it in this program from here on in.

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By PC Advisor staff
PC Advisor (UK)
July 7, 2010

LONDON - Windows 7 , Microsoft’s latest PC operating system, has proven popular. A stable, good looking OS with a host of bells and whistles. But if you’re thinking of taking the plunge, there are seven things you should consider before you download and install Windows 7.

1. Decide on a version of Windows 7

While Windows 7 does not have the bewildering range of options which blighted Microsoft Windows Vista, there are still several flavours to choose from, principally Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate. Which version you should plump for will depend on your needs. If you’re a Vista user and the level of functionality you have is sufficient, you’ll generally want to move to the equivalent edition. So, if you have Windows Vista Home Premium, you’d move to Windows 7 Home Premium. Indeed, all but power- and business-users will probably find that Home Premium suffices.

2. 32- or 64-bit?

If you have a 64-bit version of Windows Vista or Windows XP, you’ll need to install the 64-bit edition of Windows 7. To find out whether you are running a 64- or 32-bit OS, if your PC is running Windows Vista or Windows 7: click the Start button, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. The edition of Windows Vista is displayed under Windows edition near the top of the window. If your PC is running Windows XP: click Start. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. The edition of Windows XP is displayed under System near the top of the window.

3. Check system requirements

Here’s what your PC needs to run Windows 7:

32-bit: 1GB of RAM, 1GHz processor and 16GB of hard drive space. 64-bit: 2GB of RAM, 1GHz processor and 20GB of hard drive space. (For Aero visual effects you need a 128MB graphics card with support for DirectX 9.)

4. Run Windows Upgrade Advisor

The bare system requirements tell only half the story. To find out how your PC will handle Windows 7, read this story: Is your PC ready for Windows 7?

5. Decide on a custom or upgrade install

There are two ways to install Windows 7 on a PC: a custom (or clean) installation or an upgrade installation. The table below shows the type of installation you’ll need to do based on the version of Windows you have and the one you want to install. Here’s the difference between the two methods:

A custom installation erases everything on your hard drive. So you’ll need to back up all your files, photos, music, and settings on an external hard drive or on CDs or DVDs and then transfer them back to your PC after you install Windows 7. You’ll also need to reinstall all your programs from their original installation disks. If you have Windows XP, you need to do a custom installation.

With an upgrade installation, Windows 7 will simply replace Windows Vista without affecting anything else on your PC. You can do an upgrade installation from many editions of Windows Vista depending on which edition of Windows 7 you want to install.

6. Locate your data in a secure place

Regardless of the type of installation, storing your data in a secure place will make your life a lot easier. Read this story to find out how: How to install Windows 7 quickly and easily.
7. Download and install Windows 7

The easiest, safest and most secure way to purchase and install Windows 7 is via the PC Advisor Software Shop.

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
June 18, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Reader Noel just made the move to Windows 7, and a certain aspect of the OS is driving him crazy:

“When I start an application (like Firefox, for example) from a pinned shortcut on the taskbar, the Firefox icon disappears and transforms into its taskbar button for as long as Firefox is running. How do I keep the icon there, even while the application is running?”

You’re right, Noel: This Windows 7 “feature” can be quite annoying. It took me a while to get accustomed to it, and even now I occasionally find it unintuitive.

Before I offer up a workaround, however, consider a few of the advantages of this approach. For starters, it leaves more space on the taskbar than you’d normally get if Windows continued to reserve space for icons.

Also, these newfangled icon/button thingies afford access to Jump Lists, one of Windows 7’s truly spiffy features.

Finally, you noted that if you have, say, Firefox open and want to open another Firefox window, you have to click File, New Windows, instead of just clicking the Firefox icon (which has disappeared).

That’s not entirely true. If you middle-click the Firefox taskbar button, you’ll get a new window, just as you describe. And don’t forget the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl-N.

All that being said, there is a way to restore the XP/Vista-style Quick Launch toolbar, which I think is what you’re after. It’s a little complicated, but it works.

What do you think, fellow Windows 7 users? Is the new taskbar annoying, or does it just take a little getting used to?

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
June 11, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Reader Nayana has two PCs on her home network–one running Windows XP, another running Windows 7. Curiously, the Windows 7 system won’t let her access shared folders on the XP system, but it does work the other way around: she can access the Windows 7 folders from the XP machine.

Bleh. Windows networking has been a nightmare for as long as I can remember. Thankfully, Windows 7 solves a lot of the headaches–but only if all your PCs have it. If there’s an XP box in the mix, problems like Nayana’s are all but inevitable.

Much as I’m a fan of DIY fixes, tinkering with Windows’ networking settings (especially XP’s) is so confusing, frustrating, and frequently fruitless, I’m going to suggest a different (and much simpler) solution.

Yep, you guessed it: Cisco’s Network Magic Essentials. Install this fantastic utility on both your PCs and in no time you’ll be swapping files, sharing printers, and so on. Trust me: it’s the path of least resistance.
The software costs $29.99, but there’s a free 7-day trial. If your main goal is simply to migrate files and data from an old machine to a new one, that should be plenty of time.

One word of caution: for reasons I don’t fully understand, Network Magic’s system requirements make no mention of Windows 7. The software is compatible, but I suspect Cisco may have halted or abandoned its development–probably because of Windows 7 networking features like HomeGroup.

In any case, before you spend a lot of time trying to troubleshoot networking settings manually, give Network Magic a try.

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By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
June 4, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Google is set to push its new Chrome operating system into a market that may be more ready for a new OS than it has been for 20 years or so, according to analysts.

Company officials at the Computex electronics exhibition in Taipei yesterday said the Linux-based Chrome OS is now slated to ship later this year.

Analysts note that the Google Chrome OS will arrive as Microsoft’s new Windows 7 OS picks up steam, cloud computing continues to heat up and hardware vendors are constantly on the lookout for a solid platform to run competitors to Apple’s incredibly popular iPad tablet computer.

“This is a big play for Google and the market is more ready to accept an alternative than it has been since the early 90s,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group.

To gain the attention of IT managers, analysts said that Google must ship a solid Chrome OS as soon as it can.

“Google intends to own the operating platform for Internet applications, and Chrome OS is a key element in that strategy,” said Hadley Reynolds, an analyst with IDC. “Any time-to-market advantage they can achieve will be good. The risk is that the system comes out and doesn’t work smoothly, or key pieces, like full-range hardware support, are partially missing. The perpetual beta strategy Google has used with many of its experiments is not going to be acceptable in OS software.”

Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management, disclosed during a speech at Computex that Chrome will ship in the fourth quarter, and that the firm will initially target laptops.

Enderle said Google must release Chrome OS before too many enterprises move to Windows 7.

“Windows XP provides a better near-term migration opportunity. Folks won’t migrate from Windows 7,” said Enderle. “[Google] needs to get Chrome OS to market quickly or they will have a lot of additional problems to correct and an increasingly Windows 7-oriented market that will have them locked out. Even Apple is likely to have a major [user interface] upgrade coming, and if Apple executes before Google does, Google will look late and out-of-date.”

Stuart Williams, an analyst with Technology Business Research, agreed that Google needs to move its operating system before the company finds itself looking late to the party.

“The pace of competition for cloud computing and mobile computing is increasing as the large systems vendors begin to make their plays in these arenas,” he added. “Apple, of course, is already setting a blistering pace in the adoption of its cloud-enabled iPad. And HP, Lenovo, Acer and other hardware vendors are looking for a hardened and cloud-enabled OS that is already connected out-of-the-box to Web applications like Gmail, Google Apps and YouTube.”

Williams pointed out that competing hardware vendors want to offer strong alternatives to Apple’s iPad, and Chrome’s built-in HTML 5 support and media player could help.

Google is also in a position to take advantage of the demand for cloud-based and mobile applications — assuming Chrome is strong out of the box and ships on time.

“Should Google hit a home run with Chrome OS, it will clearly take a leadership role among client software — behind Windows and Appls OS X,” added Williams. “Chrome OS also has the potential to become a major aggregation point for consumer Web applications, such as Yahoo! Mail, Pandora, Hulu, Facebook and Twitter.”

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By Carrie-Ann Skinner
PC Advisor (UK)
May 28, 2010

LONDON - Following an upgrade to Windows 7, you may find some of the programs you use are incompatible. Rather than dual-booting with an older operating system to get them to run, use Windows XP Mode. This functionality is in essence a virtualised copy of XP that’s built into Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate or available from Microsoft’s website.

Step 1. If you don’t already have Windows XP Mode on your machine, download it from Microsoft’s website. If you installed the software when it first launched and don’t have Automatic Upgrades switched on, you may need to upgrade the program. Select the OS you’re running and language.

Step 2. The site will offer you three downloads: Windows XP Mode, Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode update. These must be downloaded in the order displayed. Click on the first download and press Continue. Follow the instructions to validate your copy of Windows and then save and run the software.

Step 3. You may find you need to restart your PC following validation; otherwise, press Continue. The Windows XP Mode download will automatically begin. Save and run this file, then follow the instructions to choose where the software should be installed. Repeat this process for all the downloads.

Step 4. Once all three downloads have installed, go to Start, Programs and choose Windows Virtual PC, Windows XP Mode. Accept the licence agreement and enter a password. Click ‘Start setup’. A virtual Windows XP desktop will appear onscreen, within which you can use software that won’t run in Windows 7.

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By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
May 19, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Microsoft today warned users of a vulnerability in the 64-bit versions of Wndows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that could be used to hijack systems.

The bug is in Windows’ Canonical Display Driver, which blends the operating system’s primary graphics interface, dubbed Graphics Device Interface (GDI), and DirectX to compose the desktop.

According to Jerry Bryant, a group manager with the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), the vulnerability affects any machine with the flashy “Aero” interface, which is the default on all but the least-expensive editions of Windows 7. Aero is an optional install on Windows Server 2008 R2.

“If exploited, it would likely cause the affected system to stop responding and restart,” said Bryant in an entry on the MSRC blog . “Code execution, while possible in theory, would be very difficult due to memory randomization both in kernel memory and via Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR).”

However, ASLR, one of the bulwarks of Windows 7’s and Vista’s security defenses, has been repeatedly bypassed by researchers , including two who won $10,000 cash prizes at the noted Pwn2Own hacking contest in March.

Microsoft gave the bug an exploitability index rating of “3,” the lowest of the company’s three-step scoring system it uses to predict the likelihood of reliable attack code appearing in the next 30 days. According to that score, Microsoft believes it’s unlikely hackers will come up with an exploit in the coming month.

“We’re currently developing a security update for Windows that will address the vulnerability,” promised Bryant, who did not set a timetable for a patch. In lieu of a fix, users can disable Aero to protect their machines.

Attackers could exploit the vulnerability by tricking users into visiting a malicious site that hosts a rigged image file, Microsoft’s advisory warned .

But an attack may require more than that seemingly simple tactic, said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security. “I believe what Microsoft is saying [in the advisory] is that the image viewers from Microsoft won’t trigger the vulnerability, but third-party applications may.”

To disable Aero, users can click Start, select Control Panel, then click on “Appearance and Personalization,” Microsoft said in the advisory. Under “Presentation,” users would then click “Change the Theme” and then select one of the “Basic and High Contrast Themes.”

Today’s advisory is not the only vulnerability not yet patched by Microsoft. A flaw in SharePoint Server 2007 was acknowledged by the company late last month, but remains unfixed.

Microsoft’s next security updates are slated for release June 8.

The company won’t patch this latest vulnerability that fast, said Storms. “No way,” he said via instant message when asked what chance Microsoft has to ready a fix in three weeks. “They are already saying it’s difficult to reproduce, [so] it will be a low priority at the moment. But the info is public, so you can bet it’s getting eyeballs and things can change rapidly.”

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By Dave Johnson
PC World (US)

SAN FRANCISCO - Today’s a special day for me–if I was a kid, I probably would be wishing for a pony. That’s right, it’s my birthday. And in honor of my birthday, I got all of you a gift: A roundup of four (mostly) free photo editing toys. These are all one-trick ponies (see, birthday ponies!) designed to do only one thing–but they do those one things pretty well. These programs will go nicely with the free photo editors I told you about a few weeks ago, as well as last week’s free photo toys.
Protect Your Photos With a Watermark

I frequently get questions about how to protect your photos online, and specifically how to watermark images so they’re harder to steal. The somewhat generically named Watermark Image Software is a free program designed to address this very problem.

Watermark Image Software is really designed to work with large batches of files quickly and easily. Sure, you can use it to watermark a single photo, but that’s like swatting a fly with a hand grenade.

To use the program, point it to a folder where you’ve stored some photos, then indicate the destination folder. If you set the source and destination to the same place, you can replace your originals, but I don’t recommend that. Always choose a different folder, so you don’t permanently watermark your originals. Then just specify the text (like © Dave Johnson), font, size, and color, along with where on the photo the watermark will appear. You can also choose to resize the photos at the same time, which is handy if they’re headed for the Web.

One complaint: You have to indicate the font color in hex (quick: what color is #FFFFFF?), which is hardly user friendly. Here’s some help, though: #FFFFFF is black, #000000 is white, and #000DDD will give you some nice blue text. Or try the Hex Color Code Chart, where you can click to choose a color and instantly see the proper hex value.

Enlarge a Photo Without Sacrificing Quality

Have you ever needed to print a photo much larger than it was really designed to go–like trying to make a poster out of a 3-megapixel image? There are a few programs that will do this for you. In the past, I’ve told you about Genuine Fractals. That program uses some pretty fancy math to tease out hidden detail when enlarging an image-but it’s expensive. Try a free alternative instead: SmillaEnlarger works a lot like Genuine Fractals. To use it, drag a photo into the program window and specify the new size you want.
You don’t need to tweak any of the program settings to get great results. Just click the Preview button to see what the final image will look like. If you’re happy, specify a name for the final image and then click Enlarge & Save. The results can be incredible, maintaining enough resolution even at very large sizes to make even Jack Bauer proud.

Make a Greeting Card

About 10 years ago, you couldn’t avoid greeting card programs; they were absolutely everywhere. Everyone from Hallmark to Microsoft offered their own version, making it easy to incorporate your own photos into homemade cards.

Those days are long gone. It’s surprisingly hard to find greeting card software. But Frame Photo Editor is a modern, inexpensive substitute.

Frame Photo Editor is quirky, but think of it as a sort of simple layout program. You can add backgrounds, masks, frames and vignettes, and mask your photos with a variety of silly and fun shapes. You can also write on your project with text. It’s easy to get the hang of, and you can do all sorts of things with your creations, such as print, save, e-mail, and convert to Windows desktop wallpaper. You can try out the program for free for 30 days, and it’s $30 to keep.

Make a Ken Burns-Style Video From Photos

You know those dramatic documentary sequences in which the camera slowly pans and zooms around a photo while a somber voice narrates someone’s childhood? Well, you can easily make your own videos just like that.

PhotoFilmStrip lets you load one or more still photos from your collection, and then just specify start and end points for the “camera” on the image. It’s very easy to do; it’s just like setting a crop selection. Then tell the program how long the sequence should take, and produce your video.
It’s the easiest way I’ve found to make these kind of videos, but be warned: I was unable to get this program to work properly in Windows 7.

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
May 12, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - The Windows System Tray is something of a necessary evil. It shows status icons for various system elements (like volume and network connections) and programs running in the background (like MozyHome and your anti-virus software).

Until Windows 7 came along, it was challenging at best to control what did and didn’t appear in the System Tray. It wasn’t uncommon to see a dozen or more icons littered down there. Now, however, Microsoft has finally made it easy to choose what you see. Here’s how.

Start by clicking the small white arrow at the left edge of the System Tray. You’ll see whatever system/programs icons that aren’t currently configured to appear full-time in the Tray. Next, click Customize.

You’ll see a list of all the Notification Area Icons (Windows 7’s term for “System Tray stuff”). Click the pull-down menu next to any one of them and you’ll see three choices: Show icon and notifications, Hide icon and notifications, and Only show notifications.

I think these are pretty self-explanatory. If not, try choosing a different option for any given icon. Notice that the change gets implemented immediately–no clicking Apply or OK required. Obviously whatever changes you make won’t be permanent until you do click OK; this just gives you a chance to see what your System Tray will look like before you finalize it.

You’ll probably want to experiment with different settings for different icons. For example, I don’t want the Windows 7 Action Center icon cluttering up my Tray, but I do want to hear from it when there’s an issue–so I’ve set it to Only show notifications.

On the other hand, I routinely use the Control Center 3 software that’s tied to my Brother multifunction printer, so it’s nice to have that icon at the ready. The setting: Show icon and notifications.

Get the idea? It may take some fiddling, but ultimately you get to decide how your System Tray looks and acts. (’Bout time, Microsoft!)

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
May 12, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Reader Michael wrote in with this problem:

“I place the icons where I want them on the desktop but if I have to re-boot and/or shutdown at the end of the day, the next time I start back up, the icons are not the where I placed them before I shutdown.”

Yep, that definitely qualifies as a hassle! By the way, I should mention that Michael is a Windows 7 user, which begs the question: Why are we still dealing with dumb little problems like this? Yeah, I’m looking at you, Microsoft.

Although I don’t know of a specific OS fix for this problem, I do know of two third-party tools that should do the trick.

First up is DesktopOK, a free utility that lets you save and restore desktop icon layouts. Even better, you can set up multiple layouts, which is great for situations like using a laptop with and without an external monitor. (One layout for with, another for without.)

Second, my editor’s going to kill me for plugging this product yet again, but I can’t speak highly enough of Stardock’s Fences. Also a freebie, it corrals your icons into convenient translucent windows–and makes them disappear entirely when you feel like reclaiming your desktop.

One of those should do the trick, Michael. Good luck!

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
May 7, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Ingenious. That’s the only word I can use to describe Search Commands, a free Microsoft Office Labs tool that adds a search tool to the Office 2007 Ribbon.

See, for anyone who cut their teeth on Office 2003 or an earlier version, the move to Office 2007 can be daunting. Much as I like the Ribbon, it’s not immediately intuitive. And to this day I still have trouble finding commands that were a snap to locate in the old menu system.

(Speaking of which, you can restore those “classic” menus to Office 2007 by installing the free UBitMenu add-on.)

That’s why I’m jazzed about Search Commands. Once installed, it adds an eponymous tab to the Ribbon. Click it, then click in the search field and type the name of the command you’re after.

Like all search engines should be, this one’s dynamic: It starts producing results as you type. So if you’re looking for, say, macros, you’ll see matching commands just by typing mac. Then just click the one you want.

Search Commands also provides context-sensitive help, meaning if you type out macros and then click the blue Get help question mark, it’ll open the help window for that subject.

Although the Labs page for Search Commands says it’s compatible only with 32-bit Windows XP and Vista, I’m running it just fine on my 64-bit Windows 7 system. Keep in mind, however, that because this is not an official Microsoft product, you can’t get support for it.

That said, this is a must-have addition to Office 2007. Why Microsoft hasn’t built it into the suite–and, for that matter, the upcoming Office 2010–is beyond me.

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
May 7, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - After reading last week’s post on restoring the classic All Programs menu in Windows 7, reader Bill wrote to say he has “a lot of problems with the Windows 7 Control Panel,” and wants the old XP version back.

As many users have no doubt noticed, Windows 7 lacks any kind of “Classic Control Panel” option–which, incidentally, was available in Vista.

However, it’s actually pretty simple to change the view to something close to what you had in XP. But before I explain how, allow me to champion the new CP for a moment.

Specifically, you should really learn to take advantage of the new CP’s dynamic search capabilities, which make it much easier to find the setting you want than hunting through a big batch of icons.

For example, suppose I want to adjust the settings for my mouse. After opening the Control Panel, all I have to do is click in the Search Control Panel field (located in the upper right corner) and type mo. Presto: The first thing I see is the Mouse category, along with numerous available options.

I can peruse and click one of those options, or keep typing to narrow the selections. If I want to modify the mouse wheel settings, for instance, I’d just type mouse wheel. Presto again: The first option is Change mouse wheel settings.

I know this is different from what XP veterans are accustomed to, but trust me: Once you start using the Control Panel’s search capabilities, you’ll never look back. (Same goes for Start Menu Search.)

That said, if you really want that old XP-style Control Panel, just click the View by menu (located in the upper right corner, just below the Search field), and then choose Large icons. And there you go! It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close. And for what it’s worth, the Search option still works.

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
April 30, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - About a year ago I introduced some of PCWorld’s less tech-savvy readers to the Undo function, which can be lifesaver when you need to reverse whatever unintended (and/or unwanted) action you just took.

Most often, that’s something like an accidental paragraph deletion in Word, or clicking the wrong option in a pull-down menu.

Earlier this morning I was reminded that Undo–by way of its universal keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-Z–can do more than just fix typos and reverse errant clicks.

For example, let’s say you just deleted a file you didn’t mean to delete. Instead of opening up the Recycle Bin and poking around until you find the file, a simple press of Ctrl-Z should restore it to the folder window from which you deleted it. The same applies to batches of deleted files.

Also, a very common boo-boo is when you inadvertently rename a file. Can’t remember the old filename? No problem: Just press Ctrl-Z (before you close the folder containing the file) and presto, it reverts to the original name.

Needless to say, Undo is your go-to function for undoing unwanted actions and changes. Once you start using Ctrl-Z on a regular basis, you’ll wonder how you got along without it.

Use Text Messaging to Add Events to Google Calendar

Google Calendar is the single best cloud service I’ve used. It’s been around for years, but I know plenty of people who still don’t see the point of a calendar that lives on the Web.

Trust me: Once you start using it, especially for things like keeping tabs on family members’ hectic schedules, you’ll wonder how you got along without it. And talk about convenient: You don’t need to be sitting at your PC to do things like adding new events. All you need is your mobile phone and a few seconds to tap out a text message.

In other words, Google Calendar lets you add events via SMS. (Standard messaging rates apply, natch.) All you do is compose a plain-English message (see below), then send it to GVENT (48368).

For example:

Lunch with Bob at Crunchy’s 12:30pm tomorrow.

Brendan Benson concert at Blind Pig 9pm June 3.

Send a text like that and presto, Google Calendar creates a new appointment with all the pertinent details.

Before you can take advantage of this slick feature, however, you have to configure Google Calendar to work with your phone. Here’s how:

Sign in to your Google Calendar account and click Settings. Click the Mobile Setup tab. Enter your phone number, click Send Verification Code, and wait for a message to arrive on your phone. It should get there in just a few seconds. Find the verification code within the message, then type it into the corresponding field and click Finish setup.

That’s all there is to it. Now you can add stuff to your calendar just by texting the details to GVENT. Neat, huh?

Work Around Windows 7’s Wide Taskbar Icons

Reader Keith has a bone to pick with the pinned icons on Windows 7’s taskbar. He says they’re too far apart, and he’s looking for a way to close the gap between them.

I can understand that. The taskbar does leave a fair amount of empty space on either side of each icon. If you have a netbook or run your monitor at a relatively low resolution, you may find yourself running out of space down there.

Surely there’s a way to change the width of those buttons so that the icons sit closer together? Sadly, no–not that I’ve found, anyway–but there are several workarounds worth considering.

For starters, I did find a Registry hack for changing the button width, but it narrowed them only when the programs were running. Plus, the icons themselves got clipped or disappeared altogether. Not a good solution.

Here’s a better one: Move your taskbar to the side of the screen. That not only frees up valuable vertical space, but also puts your icons a bit closer together. (Each button is wider than it is high.)

Alternately, switch to Windows’ small-icons view, which you can do by right-clicking an empty area of the taskbar, choosing Properties, and then checking the Use small icons box. Click Apply to implement the change immediately–and see if you like it. If not, you can always uncheck the box and go back to the previous size.

Finally, considering ditching those taskbar icons altogether (some of them, anyway) and using a keyboard-powered launcher like Launchy. Granted, you’ll miss out on Windows 7 perks like Jump Lists, but you’ll also free up more space on the taskbar.

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
April 30, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - My recent post on tweaking the Windows 7 taskbar icons produced a lot of great follow-up questions, including one from reader Bob A. He doesn’t like the scrolling All Programs list in 7’s Start Menu; he wants to go back to XP’s larger fly-out list.

Vista offered the option of restoring that “classic” Start Menu, but Windows 7, inexplicably, doesn’t. Fortunately, there are at least two ways to accomplish this: one, a simple Registry tweak; the other, a shareware utility.

I’ll start with the latter first, as it’s arguably the easier of the two. Classic Start Menu replaces the Windows 7 Start Menu with, well, you can probably guess. Just install and run the utility, then click Start for a blast from the XP past.

As you can see, Classic Start Menu also leverages Windows’ Aero features, so you get some of the best of both worlds.

Now for the bad news: CSMenu is nagware for the first 30 days, and after that it’ll cost you $19.99. Ouch!

If you’d prefer a free solution, you can modify Windows 7 so that the Favorites menu becomes an XP-like Programs menu. Here’s how:

1. Click Start, type regedit, and press Enter.

2. Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software \Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

3. Double-click the Favorites entry and replace the current path with this one:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

4. Navigate to a second key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

5. Repeat Step 3.

6. Exit Regedit, then restart your PC.

Now, when you click Start, you should see a Programs menu on the righthand side. Mouse over to see the fly-out Programs menu of yore.

(Don’t see it? You’ll need to tweak the Start Menu settings. Right-click Start, then click Properties. In the Start Menu tab, click the Customize button. Scroll down to the Favorites menu entry, click its checkbox, and then click OK, OK.)

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By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
April 28, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Reader Keith has a bone to pick with the pinned icons on Windows 7’s taskbar. He says they’re too far apart, and he’s looking for a way to close the gap between them.

I can understand that. The taskbar does leave a fair amount of empty space on either side of each icon. If you have a netbook or run your monitor at a relatively low resolution, you may find yourself running out of space down there.

Surely there’s a way to change the width of those buttons so that the icons sit closer together? Sadly, no–not that I’ve found, anyway–but there are several workarounds worth considering.

For starters, I did find a Registry hack for changing the button width, but it narrowed them only when the programs were running. Plus, the icons themselves got clipped or disappeared altogether. Not a good solution.

Here’s a better one: Move your taskbar to the side of the screen. That not only frees up valuable vertical space, but also puts your icons a bit closer together. (Each button is wider than it is high.)

Alternately, switch to Windows’ small-icons view, which you can do by right-clicking an empty area of the taskbar, choosing Properties, and then checking the Use small icons box. Click Apply to implement the change immediately–and see if you like it. If not, you can always uncheck the box and go back to the previous size.

Finally, considering ditching those taskbar icons altogether (some of them, anyway) and using a keyboard-powered launcher like Launchy. Granted, you’ll miss out on Windows 7 perks like Jump Lists, but you’ll also free up more space on the taskbar.

In the meantime, if you’ve got a hassle that needs solving, send it my way. I can’t promise a response, but I’ll definitely read every e-mail I get–and do my best to address at least some of them right here in this space.

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By Lincoln Spector
PC World (US)
April 23, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - The Windows screen on Viksvet’s laptop flipped sideways. The Answer Line forum offered help.

Believe it or not, that’s a feature. No, really. It’s useful in some situations–for instance, if you have a tablet PC.

But if you don’t know about the feature and accidentally set it off, it feels like a reformat-and-start-over disaster. Luckily, it’s reversible. In XP, Windows 7, or Vista, right-click the desktop and select Graphic Options, then Rotation, then whatever seems appropriate.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. Mousing on a screen that’s oriented the wrong way is a bit like over-the-shoulder archery using a funhouse mirror. You can’t easily tell where the arrow will go.

Actually, you might not have to use your mouse for the solution. Your laptop quite likely has a hot button somewhere for rotating the image. In fact, the problem probably started when you accidentally hit that hot button. Check your manual or online help to find this shortcut. The hot button has got to be easier than figuring out which way to move the mouse so that the arrow moves up. (No! I meant to the right!)

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