Maybe you’ve been putting off upgrading to Vista, but quite like the look of the operating system? Well, we’ve already shown you how to upgrade XP to look and feel like Vista, but one thing has been missing, the Sidebar, which hosts the famous’ Gadgets’. These are small desktop applications and utilities that have proved to be one of Vista’s most popular features. Now they’re yours, for free, with the Windows Sidebar Real One Pack. It’s not just a copy but the original Sidebar, rescripted for XO, so it looks and behaves just like the real thing, you can download gadgets, funky clocks and so on from Microsoft and all of the other goodies developed for the original.
Microsoft is gearing up to make available for download the gold version of Windows Live Messenger 9.0/2009. The Redmond company has so far managed not to indicate a delivery deadline for the next version of its instant messaging client. In this regard, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc only mentioned that the next version of Windows Live Messenger, along with the additional services and applications making up the Windows Live Wave 3 release, would start being rolled out to end users soon.
“Windows Live Messenger, the No. 1 instant messaging service worldwide with more than 330 million active customers, now includes more personalization, a “what’s new” feed with updates from contacts across the Web, drag-and-drop photo sharing in the conversation window, a favorites list to designate the most important contacts, and group IM to chat simultaneously with up to 20 people at the same time,” Microsoft revealed. Read the rest of this entry »
Users of AVG 7.5 and 8.0 should be on the alert for a false positive Trojan virus warning after downloading an update on November 11th. It concerns the legitimate Windows system file user32.dll, which AVG wrongly identifies as infected and advises that it should be deleted. Don’t do it!
If you do Windows will not load after a reboot. Apparently it only affects the Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish language versions of Windows XP and AVG has published a rescue plan. It involves running the XP Recovery console, which means you need an installation disc. Of course not all PCs come with one, in which case AVG has come up with a downloadable utility that should fix the problem. Read the rest of this entry »
Computer mice are pretty versatile these days but here’s a very neat little freeware program that adds even more functionality to your favourite rodent. It’s called AltMove and once it’s running you can quickly move, resize and hide windows with a simple keyboard and mousse key combination, and it even works on windows that do not normally support move and resize. If you have a centre mouse button, or clickwheel, pressing it opens a magnifier screen, and there are three simple ‘gestures’ with the right mouse button. Click and hold the right button and move the mouse down and the open window minimises, click right, hold and drag upward to maximise and click right, hold and drag right lets you change the windows transparency. Read the rest of this entry »
Now, wait a minute, and say that again, please. Could it be that three NVIDIA graphics processors are powering one of Toshiba’s portable computer systems? If so, this is happening at a time when most desktop computer systems are basically powered by a single graphics processor, while the majority of portable PCs are featured with integrated graphics. This should be interesting, at least if you are one of those late-night LAN party gamers looking for the very best in terms of computing experience.
Toshiba is known for offering some of the most interesting portable computer systems on the market but, this time, the company appears to have really outdone itself, with a bit of help from the Santa Clara, California-based green team. Read the rest of this entry »