Lookin Good

LooKInMyPC won’t fix your PC the next time it throws a wobbly, but it might make it easier for you, or someone who knows their way around computers, to track down the fault. When called into action it produces a detailed system profile and diagnostic report about all of the hardware, running services, drivers, updates, startup programs, networks, Internet connections, event logs and a zillion other things about your PC that could prove useful. Save the report when the PC is behaving itself and if things do go awry and help isn’t at hand you can email the report to a knowledgeable friend or tech. You don’t even have to install it on your PC after you’ve downloaded the program you get the option to install it on your hard drive, or on a removable drive or UDB memory stick. Hopefully you’ll never need it (some hope…) but if you do, it’s ready to help.

Windows 7 RTM Lacy Hearts Theme

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Microsoft is helping Windows 7 customers celebrate love right on their desktops. In this regard, the Redmond company has made available for download a new desktop theme designed to integrate seamlessly into the desktop of their Windows 7-power computers. The Lacy Hearts is, as the software giant has put it, “A dreamy theme for Valentine’s.” The theme pack is available as a free download via the Windows Personalization gallery website, along with the vast majority of themes that Microsoft has made available for the successor of Windows Vista.

Themes are personalization items unique to Windows 7, and not available for previous releases of Windows operating systems. Essentially, the packs feature multiple wallpapers, which can be scheduled to swap one another at specific intervals, but also color and sound schemes for the platform. This is the case of Lacy Hearts. Read more

15 Must Have Free Microsoft Downloads

Microsoft offers a plethora of software that users can download and install without paying a single cent to the company. However, the software giant hasn’t centralized all its free offerings into a single location, a move which would streamline access to the resources it is delivering. That’s why I included below a list with a consistent collection of free software products which can be grabbed free of charge, with the vast majority available through the Microsoft Download Center.

As far as I’m concerned the list needed to start with Windows client and server operating systems. In one way or another, packaged as ISO or VHD images, Microsoft is offering customers the chance to test drive, and even use, feature-complete versions of its platforms, again, completely free. In some cases, Microsoft is making it easier for customers to test drive a Windows release before buying, while in others it is actually offering the OS on top of an existing license.

However, the list doesn’t stop with Microsoft’s operating systems. The Redmond company is also providing free downloads of its “other” cash cow, the Office productivity suite, along with its development platform and tools, security solutions and additional offerings. Users will be able to find on the list both finalized products, as well as software that is still in development. As far as pre-release products are concerned, while the overall quality of the products is extremely high, customers should keep in mind that they might still run into issues. Read more

Windows 7 RTM Activation Cracks

It was only a matter of time before methods designed to illegally circumvent the antipiracy measures in Windows 7 made their way into the wild. And, in this regard, the latest iteration of the Windows client joins its predecessors, for which a consistent collection of leaked volume keys, key generators (keygens), hacks, cracks and activation bypass techniques, including those targeting OEM activation, is already available from various sources, for those that know where to look. Now, Windows 7 users can also take their pick of fresh items from the bazaar of activation cracks, and illegally prolong the life of the operating system without activating the product, and of course without buying a license, for that matter.

Ways around the antipiracy protections built into Windows 7 have already been documented, with some techniques even automating the process of bypassing activation altogether. Automated Windows 7 hacks are designed to let users circumvent the activation process with little or no effort on their part. Cracks can, in this context, be run like any other executable, and produce a fully functional, albeit non-genuine, copy of Windows 7. Read more

Fruity PC Comeback

Those of you who have been around computers for a few years may well remember the Fruit Wars of the early 1980s, indeed one of the very first home computers I wrote about was the Tangerine, back in the late 1970’s. In fact it was little more than a very large printed circuit board, smothered in logic chips, and you had to add your own keyboard and light bulbs, but it was a start… Anyway, soon afterwards we had more useable machines from the likes of Apple, and Apricot, not to mention quite a few lemons, though to be fair I don’t remember anyone actually using that name. But the rest, as they say is history, with only one fruity PC maker managing to survive.

Anyway, this preamble is by way of reintroducing the Apricot brand, last owned by Mitsubishi though by the late 1990s it had all but disappeared. Read more

Sony Unveils New Blu-Ray Notebooks

Shortly after going public with the fact that the TZ series of notebooks has been shipped with some factory issues, Sony has introduced today two new notebook series that will benefit from the latest Blu-Ray Disc technology. The newly announced notebooks are part of the company’s NS and CS series, and have been designed to provide an impressive high-definition quality.

“With these new units, Sony is now offering consumers a host of multi-media PC options to choose from,” said Mike Abary, senior vice president of VAIO product marketing at Sony Electronics. “And with a starting price of around $1,000 for the NS model, we’re expecting a new audience to experience HD entertainment on their computers.” Read more

Pull the other Lego…

I’ve ‘bricked’ a few computers in my time but Luke Anderson has gone one better, and built one out of bricks, Lego bricks to be precise, 1238 of them. Of course the important bits inside the case are not made out of Lego, that would be silly, but the case – and I think you will agree that it is an arresting sight – cost him a grand total of £85, which isn’t that much dearer than a fancy case, and there’s the added bonus that it is almost infinitely customisable and when you have finished with it, in stead of it ending up in landfill, you can use the bricks to make a house, or a fort, or my favourite, monster trucks with wings… Should you wish to emulate Luke’s heroic effort you’ll find everything you need to know his blog

One Laptop Per Child Goes Public

The laudable One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project, which as we reported a few months ago is distributing its rugged XO laptop, eventually costing $100 to build, to children in poor countries. Apparently the take up hasn’t been as quick as the developers had hoped, which may be why the OLPC foundation is doing a bit of a U-Turn and offering the green machine to the public.

The offer, called ‘Give 1 Get 1’ is you buy two machines, for $400, OLPC donates one to a child in another country and you get the other one for your child. Originally OLPC said the XO wouldn’t be available to the public, despite the considerable interest shown in the Linux-based machine, Read more