Windows 7 Life Theme
Windows 7 users that have been keeping an eye on Softpedia already know that Microsoft has been releasing a steady flow of personalization content. The latest Windows 7 theme made available by the Redmond company is titled Life, and comes courtesy of the Discovery channel and BBC.
The theme pack in question is available for download, as many others, free of charge via the Windows Personalization Gallery, the company’s central hub for offering themes designed to allow customers to customize their Windows 7 desktops.
“Bizarre, beautiful nature from Discovery Channel,” the short description of the Life theme, which will leave users with a feeling that the images should have been accompanied by more information, reads. Of course, the same is not the case with many themes on the Windows Personalization Gallery, but this specific example feels like it needs the added touch of the Bing wallpaper hotspots.
Read more
Windows 7 RC Self-Destructs
Just in case any of you are still using the free release candidate (RC) version of the operating system, you will start noticing strange goings-in. The trial period has now ended and it begins with warning pop-ups, and unannounced twice-hourly shutdowns; anything you are working on will not be saved. This will continue until June 1st when it goes into ‘non-genuine’ mode, at which point a permanent warning notice appears on the screen, the wallpaper disappears and it will no longer be possible to download updates. Be warned, there are a number of fixes on the Internet that claim to be able to fix Windows 7 Release Candidate’s suicidal tendency but as far as I’m aware none of them work properly and some of them contain viruses or malware.
Windows 7 RTM ‘Year of the Tiger’ Theme Pack
What better way to celebrate the year of the tiger, than with a theme pack from Microsoft? Users running the Redmond company’s latest iteration of the Windows client can now download a new theme via the Windows Personalization Gallery. A Windows 7 ‘Year of the Tiger’ theme pack is available from the software giant free of charge, and can be integrated seamlessly into the operating system.
The six new background images feature tigers, no big surprise in this regard, obviously, given the leitmotif chosen for the theme.
The year of the tiger draws its origins from the Chinese zodiac involving a total of 12 animals. It is a Chinese tradition to associate years with animal archetypes, in cycles of 12. The tiger is third in row in the enumeration which is repeated once every dozen of years. In addition to the tiger, the Chinese zodiac also contains the following animal symbols: rat, ox, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Read more
New Free Microsoft Security Essentials Release
A new release of Microsoft’s free security solution for Windows is now available for download. The Redmond company has made available for download extremely quietly the new version of Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 on February 17th, 2010. The latest release of MSE, formerly codenamed Morro, is currently up for grabs from the Microsoft Download Center, with no details available from the software giant as to what, if anything was changed with the antivirus.
“Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple. Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so you’re free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times,” Microsoft noted. Read more
Windows 7 Winter Sports Theme
As the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver get kicked off today, users of the Windows 7 operating system can download a free theme pack from Microsoft to help mark the event. The Winter Sports theme for Windows 7 is available as a free download via the Windows Personalization Gallery and is designed to integrate exclusively with the latest iteration of the Windows client. As users will notice immediately, the content is provided by Samsung, which is a mobile-phone partner of the US Olympic team.
Samsung is the latest company to take advantage of a pilot program run by Microsoft Advertising and designed to let customers take advantage of the Windows Personalization Gallery and Windows 7 for brand advertising. Windows 7 users are also able to download themes featuring content from CocaCola, Pepsi, Ducati, Ferrari, Infinity, Porsche, etc. One thing that users need to be aware of the Samsung Winter Sports theme is the fact that the wallpapers contained are tailored to wide-screens. Read more
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
Free PowerShell 2.0 Management Library for Hyper-V R2
PowerShell Management Library for Hyper-V is a rather self-explanatory label for any project, and to little surprise, it delivers just what it promises, namely a PowerShell management library for Microsoft’s hypervisor role in Windows Server. Put together by Microsoft Evangelist James O’Neill, the new PowerShell cmdlets for Hyper-V are designed to allow administrators to implement the resource as a module for PowerShell version 2. PowerShell Management Library for Hyper-V is available free of charge via Microsoft CodePlex, distributed under the company’s Public License (Ms-PL), which is an open source license. The latest version of the library represents an important update from the Release Candidate version.
“This update from the RC version contains more changes than would be normal , hence it is designated as “Gold” rather than “release”. I expect there to be corrections to the on-line help text,” O’Neill stated. “This release was produced to exploit PowerShell V2 and as a PowerShell module it will not run on v1 If you are running an R2 server OS, or are doing remote management from Windows 7 then you have PowerShell V2. If you are running on “Classic” 2008, you will need to upgrade the supplied PowerShell V1 to V2 or stick to V1 of the library.” 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
Solar Nanotubes Make Light Work?
I have been reporting on developments in photovoltaic cells for as long as I can remember and there’s always some new technology or fabrication method that’s going to improve upon the woeful efficiency of today’s silicon based solar cells. I’m still waiting and outside the labs most commercial cells still only manage a fairly miserable 20 – 30 percent efficiency, which basically means that during their lifetime very few solar cells ever recover the enormous amount of energy put into their manufacture, let alone live long enough to generate ‘free’ electricity. I have no doubt that one day the problem will be licked and this might just be the development to do it. It’s a rolled up graphene layer nanotube and it’s the brainchild of a team of researchers at Cornell University. The first problem, though, is that it’s tiny, no larger than a DNA molecule, which means you’ll need an awful lot of them to do anything useful. The good news is that it’s very efficient and when exposed to light the tubular structure creates more electrons, and the cylindrical structure makes it easier for them to flow. I know, we’ve been here before so don’t hold your breath, but one day, it will happen, and maybe, just maybe this is where it started…
Free Virus Protection from Microsoft goes Live
As reported earlier this year Microsoft’s very own free anti virus program, Security Essentials, has now finished its beta trials and is ready for download. The finished version doesn’t look significantly different from the beta but behind the scenes a various bugs and quirks have been fixed. First impressions are very good, it’s reasonably fast, unobtrusive and doesn’t hog resources and according to the experts provides a high degree of protection. Only time will tell if there are any gaps in it defences but if you’re a reasonably low risk user (you avoid dodgy websites, pirate downloads and opening unexpected attachments), and you’re unhappy with your present anti-virus program then it’s worth giving it a whirl. Incidentally, despite warnings about not getting along with other AV programs it didn’t seem to mind sharing disc space with Avast! and AVG on our test machines.
