Tools to Tweak Windows 7 and Make it Like Windows 8

Windows 8 will be released soon, perhaps not soon enough. No big news there except that if you are a Windows fan, you probably want Windows 8 now. Windows 7 is fantastic and you may not want to let go. What do you do? It is time to tweak your Windows 7 operating system to give it features similar to Windows 8. This sounds fun, does it not? Windows 8 is tile-based and for those who like tiles, this is a beautiful thing. This article details some tools to give the tile format to Windows 7. Set a restore point and get ready to start tweaking.

Aero Tile

To add the glassy aeroful tiles to your PC desktop, the portable utility Aero Tile delivers this distinctive glamour. It offers you several options and choices for My Computer, My Documents, Control Panel, Fonts and other such Windows dimensions. Aero Tile is simple to use. There is no need for extensive technical knowledge or added code.

Download Aero Tile from the following link and get started. It will arrive in a .zip file. Extract the application from the zipped file and launch. The options window opens immediately. Check the boxes next to the tiles you want to display. You have to arrange the tiles by dragging them and placing them in the appropriate area of the desktop.

mnimo 4

This is an application based on Rainmeter. It is a multi-function desktop center. It is interactive and versatile once you get a feel for it. The tiles are easily customized and any information is accessible from an aesthetically pleasing layout. You will need to install Rainmeter 2.0 or higher, as Omnimo 4 requires Rainmeter. Download here. Now you can install and start using Omnimo 4.

It will open from a .zip file. The installation is simple. When complete, Omnimo starts right up and you can begin configuration.

Zetro

Another Windows 8 metro UI theme for Windows 7 is Zetro. It yields the stylish tiles of 8 to Windows 7. You will have to go through several steps to prepare the proper format to work in Windows 7 and produce tiles that are active and functional. The instructions can be found in the Readme file located in the extracted .zip folder for Zetro. The interesting thing about this tweak is that it is a theme pack that enables you to alternate between tiles and Aeros easily. This versatility is well worth the setup procedure and will produce a genuine Windows 8 format for the Windows 7 desktop. Download Zetro from this link.

Source : ghacks.net

How to install Windows 8 from usb

For many enthusiasts there's nothing quite like getting your hands on a shiny new release of Microsoft's Windows operating system. And that's precisely why the web is buzzing with all things Microsoft, as the software giant has made available a Developer Preview of its next flagship OS, Windows 8.

The preview is strictly a pre-beta version of Windows 8 for developers to get to grips with, and Microsoft is keen to stress that it "may not be stable, operate correctly or work the way the final version of the software will". But still, this is Windows, and those short provisos aren't going to prevent everyone who's curious from trying it out.

If that sounds like you, and you're wanting to install the preview without donating a blank DVD, here's a brief guide on how to install Windows 8 from a USB pen drive.

There are a couple of ways of doing this, but we reckon the method we're about to outline is the easiest of them all. In order to make it happen, here's what you need: a USB pen drive (4GB or greater in size), the Windows 8 Developer Preview disk image file (64-bit download here, 32-bit download here), Microsoft's Windows 7 USB tool (download here) and of course a working PC.

Once you have all those, follow these steps:

1. Install and run Microsoft's Windows 7 USB tool. In the subsequent window (pictured below), browse to the 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 8 disk image file you've already downloaded. Hit next.
2. With your USB stick plugged in (remember, it'll need to be at least 4GB in size for a 64-bit install), choose USB device as your media type.
3. Select the correct removable device from the drop-down menu, then click begin copying.
4. Sit back, relax, and make a cuppa while the USB tool formats your pen drive, makes it bootable, and copies over all of the Windows 8 files.
5. Once the process is complete, the USB drive can be used to boot a PC and run the Windows 8 setup process.

That's all there is to it. You'll save yourself a blank DVD, the Windows 8 setup process should be quicker from flash-based media, and it's of course a must on netbooks or laptops lacking an optical drive.

Tips on How to Install Windows XP

With any operating system, the best way to install is to start clean, formatting the computer and erasing all data. This isn't the only way to install an operating system, however -- Windows XP was originally sold as an upgrade for Windows 98 and Millennium Edition users. You can install XP over an existing operating system.

Disc Types
Microsoft sold Windows XP in two editions - Home and Professional - and promoted both as upgrades to the previous versions of Windows. In addition, some computer manufacturers offered users a free upgrade to Windows XP, too, usually for systems that sold with Windows 98 or Windows ME. These users received a disc labeled "Windows XP Upgrade" in most cases. These discs, though labeled differently, were XP installation discs in disguise. The contents of the disc are identical to an XP Home or Professional Edition that you'd find in a store.

Upgrade Install
When XP first came out in 2001 and users were changing from older operating systems to Home or Professional Edition, Microsoft primarily recommended an upgrade install. This is the most straightforward way to install Windows XP, though not the most effective. You may prefer this install type as it doesn't format the hard drive and all personal information, but the circumstances in which an upgrade install can occur in 2011 are limited. To use the upgrade, you have to start with Windows 98 or ME. Insert the XP disc while the computer is running and click "Upgrade to Windows XP." Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Clean Install
Most commonly, you'll need to reinstall Windows XP -- either as the result of a crash or because your computer is running slowly. Reinstalling means putting a fresh copy of the operating system on your computer and removing everything that was there before. It sounds pretty serious, but you can easily prepare for a reinstall by backing up your important files to a CD or external hard drive. It's a good idea to have your device drivers downloaded and backed up, too, particularly for your network card, video card and sound card. If you bought your computer from a major manufacturer, these drivers are likely included on separate CD-ROM discs.

The Install Process
To install Windows XP from its CD, you need to boot to the CD. The disc contains all of the files needed to run the setup and to boot your computer, but you have to point your PC at the disc. Before you begin the installation, unplug all nonessential peripherals from your computer, leaving only the keyboard and mouse. Insert the Windows setup CD and reboot your system, looking for a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD." Press a key, and then press "Enter" to load the setup. Press "F8" to accept the license agreement, and then press "C" to continue installing Windows. Select your primary hard drive, which is usually labeled "C:" and press "Enter" to select it. Press "F" to format the partition, then choose a file system type -- NTFS for drives larger than 32 GB -- and press "Enter." Windows copies all the necessary files to your hard drive and reboots -- don't press a key to boot to the CD this time -- and completes the installation. The process takes about 30 minutes, depending on the speed of your PC.

Source : eHow

Setup Printer Sharing on Windows 7 For Use on Windows XP

Printer sharing on Windows 7 is necessary if you have a USB printer or parallel (LPT) printer. Newer printers may have Wi-Fi or a LAN connection for sharing with multiple computers. By setting up printer sharing, you are enabling other networked computers to connect and print.

Let's start with setting up Windows 7 for printer sharing.

1. Click "Start" and open "Control Panel", then click "Devices and Printers".

2. Right click the printer you would like to share and click "Printer Properties"

3. Choose the "Sharing" tab and checkmark "Share this printer", then click "Apply"

4. Choose the "Security" tab. If you are setting this up for yourself or you trust all the people on the network click "Advanced". Choose Everyone and click "Remove". Click "Add", Advanced, then "Find now". Find Everyone in (RDN) and click "Ok" twice. Checkmark all the boxes in the Permission entry window, then click "Ok". Now it should say full control for everyone. Click "Ok" twice.

5. Click "Start" and open "Control Panel", then click "Network and Sharing Center". To the left click "Change Adapter Settings".

6. Right click the adapter that you are using on the network and choose "Properties". Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)".

7. Choose "Use the following IP address:". We must change your IP settings from DHCP to Static. If you do not know what to put here, right click the adapter you are using on the network and click "Status", then "Details". For the IP address type the numbers you see under "IPv4 Address". For example, you may see something like 192.168.1.2. You may also use the same subnet mask and default gateway you see in the details window. Because we have chosen to "Use the following IP address:", "Use the following DNS server addresses:" has now become necessary. Fill in "Preferred DNS server:" with the default gateway IP address and the "Alternate DNS server" with the "IPv4 DNS Server" address you see in the details window.

8. In "Network and Sharing Center", to the left, click "Change advanced sharing settings". Scroll down to "Password protected sharing", under "Home or Work", and make sure it is set to "Turn off password protected sharing".

This concludes the Setup of the Windows 7 system. We will now turn to the Windows XP system to setup the printer for sharing. There are two ways to do this.

For printers with network driver setup, like most HP drivers, just follow the steps to connect to the network printer when you load the drivers. The drivers for your printer can more than likely be found on the venders website. If not, you will have to search them out or use a similar models driver.

For printers that only come with the local USB driver setup, follow these steps.

1. Connect the printer to the Windows XP system. Install the Windows XP drivers for that printer.

2. Run a test print to be sure the printer is functioning on the Windows XP machine and then reconnect it to the Windows 7 system.

3. Click "Start" and open "Control Panel", then click "Printers and Faxes". Right click the printer you have just added and choose "Properties".

4. Click the "Ports" tab, then click "Add Port" from the bottom of the window. Choose "Standard TCP/IP Port" and click "Next". Click "Next" on the Welcome to the Add Standard TCP/IP Port Wizard page. Type "\\" followed by the IP address of the windows 7 system (example: \\192.168.1.2), then click "Next". Click Finish and you are all done. Right click the printer and go to "Properties" to run a test print.

Source: EzineArticles

Install Windows on an External Hard Drive

The Windows operating system includes several consumer-friendly features, including built-in security and productivity software. Learn how to install the Windows operating system on an external hard drive in order to make a portable copy of the Windows OS to take with you if you move or travel.

Installing Windows on an External Hard Drive

1. Check that the size of the external hard drive meets the system requirements of the Windows operating system. Windows XP requires 1.5 gigabytes of free hard drive space. Windows Vista requires 20 gigabytes (for the Home Basic edition) or 50 gigabytes (for all other editions). The system requirements for older, outdated versions of the Windows operating system, such as Windows Me and Windows 98, can be found on the official Microsoft Windows Web site (link in the Resources section).

2. Connect the external hard drive to the computer with which you plan to use the hard drive. Use the hard drive's original cables included by the drive's manufacturer. It does not matter what connectivity standard you use. Windows will automatically detect the external hard drive.

3. Click the Start menu in the lower left-hand corner of the PC screen and select My Computer.

4. Right-click the icon for the external hard drive. Click Format from the pop-up menu. Format the external hard drive in the NTSF format.

5. Insert the original Windows installation disk into your computer's CD-ROM drive. Close the Installation Wizard when it appears on the screen.

6. Return to the My Computer window from Step 3. Write down the drive letters assigned to the CD-ROM drive and the drive of your external hard drive. For the sake of this article, we will use the example of D:\\\\ being the external hard drive and E:\\\\ being the CD-ROM drive. These are typically the letters assigned to CD-ROM and external drives in the Windows operating system.

7. Click the Start menu button and select Run.

8. Type \"E:\\I386\\winnt32.exe /syspart:D: /tempdrive:D: /makelocalsource /noreboot\" (without quotation marks) and click OK. This launches the Windows installer file on the Windows installation disk in drive E:\\\\ and commands it to install on the D:\\\\ drive (your external hard drive). The Windows Installer Wizard screen will appear.

9. Select the Full Install option in the Windows Installer Wizard. You will then be guided through the Windows installation disk. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation. Depending on the speed of your computer's processor, this may take several hours. Be prepared to enter important information, such as your Windows registration key to register your copy of the Windows operating system. Do not close the installation window until the installation process is complete.

10. Shut down the computer and disconnect the external hard drive. You can now use the external hard drive to boot up another computer using the installed copy of the Windows operating system.

Source: eHow.com

Windows 8: A First Look

Smooth Install

Microsoft last week released its Windows Developer Preview – code-named Windows 8. It's pre-beta (read: late alpha) and targeted at developers.

But ala Google+, Microsoft is making it freely available for anyone to download here.

Typically, BYTE wouldn't review prerelease software, but if Microsoft makes this major OS release freely and widely available, that changes the rules. I downloaded it onto two systems and took a deep look.

It's a beefy system so far. Minus the developer tools, the ISO download is 3.6GB. With them, it's 4.83GB, too big for a standard DVD. Optimized for touch devices and sporting an entirely new interface – the tiled Metro-style user interface -- Windows 8 is a major upgrade from Windows 7. Microsoft hasn't made this radical a change to its Windows line since Windows 95.

The Metro name probably sounds familiar to you. It's the same user interface Microsoft uses in Windows Phone 7. I find its design to be clean and spacious, distinguishing it from Apple's iOS and Google's Android UIs. Let's start at the beginning of what I found after downloading the Windows Developer Preview, code-named Windows 8.

When you boot the ISO -- either after burning it to a DVD, copying it to a flash drive or by accessing it directly via a virtual machine – you install it just like Windows 7. The process really is almost identical.

The only visible difference is the name of the operating system during setup. I found the installation process to be smooth – it proceeded without a hitch on both my systems, a 1GB Oracle VM VirtualBox virtual machine and a 4GB Toshiba Portege M400 notebook.

indows 8: An installation walk-through

how can you install this into a virtual machine rather than dedicating an entire PC to the operations.

Here’s how!

Note: Your PC must support hardware virtualization for this to work.

1. Download and install VirtualBox (I’m using this because it’s free so you don’t have to shell out on virtualization software … don’t say I never give you anything!).
2. Download the Windows 8 ISO from here. So far I’ve only tested this with the 32-bit ISO.
3. Create a new VirtualBox virtual machine. Call it whatever you want but select Windows 7 as the OS type.
4. In the Motherboard tab under System, check Enable IO APIC.
5. In the Processor tab under System, check Enable PAE/NX.
6. In the Acceleration tab under System, check Enable VT-x/AMD-V and Enable Nested Paging.
7. In the Video tab under Display, check Enable 2D acceleration.
8. Remember to mount the Windows 8 .ISO file you downloaded and you’re good to go!

Install Windows 8 Dev

You will need Workstation 8, which was just officially released yesterday.

Step 1 - Get VMware Workstation

To get VMware Workstation, you must first request a Product Key from VMware.

Follow this link to get the key for the trial: https://www.vmware.com/...

Creating a new VMware account is a little bit annoying, as they ask quite a lot of personal questions, but what you "really" need here is a valid e-mail address - your honesty for the rest of it is not really our concern. After registering, you will get an e-mail to the account you specified with information on retrieving a key. You will need this key during the installation of VMware Workstation 8. You can also download the VMware Workstation 8 installer from the VMware site.

Step 2 - Get Windows 8 Developer Preview ISO

Microsoft is offering direct downloads of THREE separate ISOs.

Pick one from here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/...

Please NOTE the minimum system requirements of each, and then realize that you will need to go beyond the memory requirements on the machine you install VMWare Workstation on. For this example, we will be installing the x86 developer preview, in VMware Workstation, on a notebook with an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5500 @ 1.67GHz and 2GB of RAM. If you want to try an x64 installation, you will obviously need more memory than that.

TIP: You can use a download accelerator program for the ISO images, since they are simply direct downloads. JDownloader is highly recommended for that (read a guide for that here.) Downloading directly in your browser will surely take longer.

Run VMware Workstation 8. Click "Create a New Virtual Machine", and a new window will pop up (below).

What type of configuration for your VM? - Choose "Typical" here.


Source : afterdawn

Install Windows XP on VMware

There are several VMware virtualization products capable of running Windows XP. These include: VMware Server, ESX, Workstation, ACE, GSX Server and Fusion. Fusion creates an IDE hard drive that uses drivers included in the Windows XP installation media. All other versions require special SCSI drivers to install Windows XP. The SCSI drivers are required to copy the installation files to the virtual hard disk. The installation will fail without these drivers.

Instructions

1. Open the Datastore Browser, then click "Upload" and select the Windows XP installation ISO file to add it to the datastore. The Datastore Browser can be found in the "All Programs" section of the Start menu in Windows, the Applications menu in most versions of Linux, or the "/usr/local/vmware" directory in Linux/Unix variants. If you are using a physical Windows XP CD to install the virtual machine, skip this step.

2. Download the BusLogic driver floppy image for VMware for Server, Workstation or ACE. Download the LSI20320-R LSI Logic driver for all other versions. Use the Datastore Browser to upload the floppy image to the datastore.

3. Click the "Create Virtual Machines" button in VMware, then select Windows XP as the guest operating system. Click "Next" to use the default CPU, memory and hard drive options. You can also customize these options, just make sure not to set them lower than the recommended number, which is shown in parenthesis next to the option. Be sure to leave the "Datastore" option as standard, this will allow you to access the installation ISO and the floppy image.

4. Click the "Virtual Device Node" option for the "CD/DVD Drive" section. Select the Windows XP installation ISO in the list presented. If you are using a physical Windows XP installation disc, leave the default "Host CD/DVD Drive" option checked.

5.Click the "Use a Floppy Image" option in the "Floppy Drive" section. Select the floppy image in the list presented. Click "Finish" to create the virtual machine.

6. Click the "Console" to start the virtual machine. If you are using a physical Windows XP CD, insert it now. The virtual machine will start from the CD or ISO image, and you'll see the Windows Setup screen.

7. Press "F6" in the setup screen to load SCSI drivers.

8. Connect the floppy image to the virtual machine by clicking the floppy icon in the Console window, then press "S" when prompted to load the contents.

9. Press "Enter" and continue normally with the installation. The virtual machine will reboot when the installation is finished. Click the "Install VMware Tools" option in the main VMware screen to run the setup program and follow the prompts to install VMware Tools.


Article Sour: eHow

How to Make a USB Boot CD?

A USB boot CD is a USB storage device that is loaded with "boot" files, just like a normal boot CD. A boot disk is used to load important information before the OS (operating system) loads. A boot disk is used when problems with an operating system exist or the user wishes to work on the computer but not from the OS. Creating a USB boot disk is very simple and requires the original boot files to be copied to the USB storage device.



Instructions

* 1 Insert the USB device into the computer's USB drive. The USB device should automatically open. If it does not, click "Start Menu," "My Computer" and double click on the device.

* 2 Locate the bootable material on the computer's hard drive. This is the boot data that will be copied to the USB stick. If copying from an existing boot CD then insert the CD into the computer's CD drive and open it by clicking "Start Menu," "My Computer" and right clicking "Explore" on the CD drive. A folder containing the data on the CD will appear.

* 3 Copy the boot material to the USB device. In the directory containing the boot data, press "CTRL" and "A" at the same time to highlight all the files. Press "CTRL" and "C" to copy those files to the computer's clipboard.

* 4Open the USB device folder. Press "CTRL" and "V" to paste the material to that directory. Once the copying is done, the process is complete. The USB key is now a boot device.

For more info: http://www.ehow.com/how_7337879_make-usb-boot-cd.html