Not everyone gets to know the exact date they’re going to die and most people don’t want to know. But millions of computers worldwide are staring a kind of death right in the face. In just over two years Microsoft will stop supporting Windows XP. On April 8, 2014, to be exact.

That doesn’t mean that every XP computer will shut down, give up the ghost, and crawl into the grave. It does mean that there will be no more updates, bug fixes, security patches, or anything of that sort. XP computers will be on their own.

Of course, Microsoft only promises 5 years of support for consumer versions of the OS and 5 extra years for businesses. As Ed Bott lays out here, that’s how things have worked for a long time. Which would normally mean that Windows Vista would reach the end of its mainstream support line in April of this year.

Wow… has it really been just five years since Microsoft unleashed the horror that is Vista upon an unsuspecting world? How time does fly.

At any rate, Microsoft is bending their own rules and extending the end of life for XP, Vista and Windows 7 a little bit longer than normal. XP is over 10 years old at this point, but there are still business and mainstream users clinging to it after seeing everyone else get burned by Vista, which then engendered a distrust of Windows 7. Maybe that’s why the company quietly went ahead with the extension. They have a lot of bridges to mend.

Vista support ends in 2017 and Windows 7 support ends in 2020. By then maybe everyone will be brave enough to start thinking about giving Windows 8 a try.

Windows XP Will Reach Its End Of Life In April of 2014, Vista In 2017 is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

If you would like to automatically log into Windows 7, you can have the operating system do so. There is a potential security risk, I strongly would not recommend you do this on a laptop, public or shared computer. If it’s a stationary computer that is in your home office or study, then the risk are much lower. Of course, if someone breaks into your home, its gonna be a piece of cake for that person to break into your computer too.

Anyway, lets take a look at how to setup Windows to log in automatically:

Click Start, then type: remove netplwiz into the box.

Hit Enter on your keyboard.

On the User Accounts window, select your account name then uncheck the box Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. Then click Apply.

Enter your password and confirm it then click OK.

Click OK.

You will now be able to log into your computer automatically.

How To Automatically Log Into Windows 7 is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Just like downloading offline definitions for your Antivirus utility, you can do the same for Windows Updates. If you are on a slow connection, or lack the consistent availability of Internet and would like to keep your machine updated offline, this article will show you how. Offline updates can also be important if you work in a secure environment that requires that your machine be kept permanently offline due to the sensitivity of the information stored on your computer.

The first thing I recommend you do is check your Windows Update History to see when last you updated Windows. To do that, open Windows Update and click View Update History.

The View Updates History window indicates that the last updates were installed August 3rd 2011 on this machine. Which is not too long ago, but this was before the latest patch. Of course, your setup might be different, so you might need updates dating back farther. To do that, click the following link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913086

Here you will see a list of links to updates for each month dating back to January 2006 provided as .ISO images. .ISO files are a sort of replica of a CD or DVD: basically a virtual image of it. You have the option of mounting it in Windows, or burning it to a blank DVD that you can then use to install the update.

If you have not updated since say March 2011, I would recommend you download the updates from that period going forward. There is a small disadvantage to using this method, and it’s the fact that these .ISO images contain updates for not just Windows 7, but different versions and editions of Windows operating systems such as Windows 7, XP, Vista, Windows 2000, Home Premium, Enterprise, Ultimate 32 and 64 bit versions. Thankfully the installation will automatically install the appropriate updates for your version and edition of Windows.

Once you have identified the Windows Updates you need, click Download.

Recommendations

If you are able to have your machine updated on a fast connection, do so to reduce the need to download a lot of these .ISO’s, so going forward you can simply download the latest Windows Update .ISO file.

How to manually download and install Windows Updates is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Apple is expected to debut its next major release of Mac OS X, the Company’s flagship operating system for its Macintosh computer. Apple describes this release as advancing the world’s most advanced operating system. When I look at some of the highly touted features, its hard not to point out that these features have been in Windows for a long time. Lets take a look at these new features and some of the hard to accept changes Mac users will have to face.

vs

1. Full Screen Applications on Lion vs. Full Screen Applications on Windows 7

Apple marketed this like the greatest invention since the graphical user interface. Some Mac users have complained about the inability to fully maximize their applications. Windows users have been able to do this for a long time, here is a look at it in action;

Here you can see I have a PowerPoint presentation set to full screen. If want to auto-hide the Windows 7 Taskbar, you do that too. Here is how you do it.

Taskbar

Click Start, type: taskbar

Control Panel

Hit Enter on your keyboard

Taskbar properties

Under Taskbar (tab) > Taskbar appearance, check the box ‘Auto-hide the taskbar. Click Apply and OK

Full Screen Application on Windows 7

2. Purchasing Mac OS X digitally vs. purchasing Windows 7

I believe this is more of a disadvantage for Mac OS X Lion, since this is the only way to purchase the new version of Mac OS X. Microsoft has been offering Windows 7 as a digital download from the Microsoft Store since its debut in 2009. You can also purchase Windows 7 at almost any electronics store.

One of the immediate disadvantages is for people who don’t have a fast enough Internet connection to purchase Mac OS X as a digital download. Microsoft realizes this and provides Windows 7 both as a digital download or a box license you can purchase in a store. In addition to that you can order a reinstallation disk if you need one from the Microsoft Store or download and burn your own.

Apple doesn’t provide the option to burn an OS X Lion disk. Power users will likely find a workaround, but basic users will be left out.

3. Reinstalling Mac OS X Lion vs. Reinstalling Windows 7

Another problem with Mac OS X Lion when it comes to reinstallation is, in order to reinstall you must first connect to the Internet and validate your Mac’s serial so Apple can determine if it’s approved.

Windows 7 provides product activation too, but it’s not strict like Mac OS X Lion. In fact, you can do a clean install or in place upgrade with the Windows 7 Upgrade disk if you wish, you are given 30 days activate or you can activate by telephone. In fact, if your 30 days are up, you can extend your activation grace period for up to 120 days. So if you are in some remote location where there is no Internet Access or telephone, you can use Windows 7 for a long period of time with ample time to get your installation reactivated.

Recently a Mac user emailed Steve Jobs asking about the options for doing a clean install with Mac OS X Lion:

On Jun 20, 2011, at 9:57 PM, xxxx wrote:

Steve,

I’m really exited about Lion, but I’m a bit anxious about the absence of any physical media in the event of a crash where I need to do a clean install. Will Lion still provide a way to make a bootable image in the event that I need to start from scratch?
And Steve’s typically short response:

From: Steve Jobs
Subject: Re: Lion clean install
Date: June 21, 2011 7:55:05 AM PDT
To: xxxx

You can clean install Snow Leopaard [sic] first.

Sent from my iPhone

You have to authorize your Mac first before you can reinstall Lion on “your” Mac. With Windows, the only thing you have authorize is “Windows”.

Microsoft license agreement does recommend that you have a qualifying operating system installed (Windows XP or Vista) in order the use the Windows 7 Upgrade disk, but based on my experience it is not required. You can do a clean install using the upgrade disc and reactivate by telephone. Also, you have the option of backing up a working image of your Windows 7 installation that’s already activated and restore it without the need to reactivate. Mac OS X requires that you connect to the Internet to reactivate your Mac OS X installation use it.

Speaking of qualifying operating systems, users running older versions of Mac OS X such as Leopard or Tiger will have to upgrade to Snow Leopard to qualify to use Mac OS X Lion. In fact, Snow Leopard is the only way you can download Mac OS X Lion since the App Store it is only available on that version of OS X. So that’s two upgrades required, which works out to more than the $29 Apple advertises for Lion. Windows 7 on the other hand requires either Windows XP or Vista as a qualifying operating system and you can do in place upgrades from Windows Vista.

4. Internet and Restore Utilities vs. Windows 7 System Recovery Environment

System Recovery option in Mac OS X Lion (image: Cult of Mac)

Apple describes its new Restore Partition as something new and unique to Mac OS X Lion, but these are features many Windows PC OEM’s such as DELL, HP, Acer, Lenovo and many others have been offering for years, Apple just caught up in July of 2011. Windows has carried a recovery environment since the release of Vista, with the release of Windows 7, Microsoft made the system recovery environment installed on the hard disk boot drive. So you don’t need to have your Windows installation disk to access it. Just start your computer, press F8, select ‘Repair Computer’ and Hit Enter on your keyboard.

The Apple Restore utilities will let you restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup, reinstall Mac OS X, run Disk Utility or use Safari.

System Recovery Options in Windows 7, available since Vista

Well, you can do most of these features in Windows 7 today, the System Recovery Environment in Windows 7 lets you fix start-up problems, restore a system image and do advanced task such as partition hard disk and other diagnostics tasks. Another great thing, if your hard disk dies or gets corrupted, you always have your Windows 7 reinstallation disk and you can even create your own System Repair disk if you need to repair your Windows 7 installation.

5. AirDrop vs. Windows 7 HomeGroups

AirDrop is Apples simple new solution for sharing files using your local area network. Windows 7 innovated on this front with its New HomeGroups feature which lets you easily network multiple Windows 7 PC’s and share files and even stream media such as music and videos and movies to other PC’s in the home. To even prove how amazing Windows 7 media streaming capabilities are, you can stream music and videos from your Home PC to your Work PC over the Internet. You can enhance this with free tools such as Windows Live Mesh and Windows Live Sync so you can remotely access your files on other computers and keep your files across multiple devices synced.

6. No more Rosetta vs. Compatibility Troubleshooter, Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode

Application compatibility will be an interesting case with Lion; there have been numerous complaints amongst Mac users about how they will run their legacy applications that depend on PowerPC code. With the removal of the real time code translation technology Rosetta, many Apple users will not be able to run some of their favorites old apps. Examples include older versions of Office for Mac 2004, X and programs like Quicken 2007.

Work arounds have been suggested, such as dual booting Snow Leopard and Lion, which will be a chore for many or consider investing in a copy of Windows 7 and virtualization program such as Parallels or VMWare Fusion. One of the hallmarks of Windows has always been compatibility; Microsoft definitely ensures that many legacy programs or older applications can work with the latest version in the most convenient way possible. Some common options include Compatibility Troubleshooter, which allows you to run a program designed for an older version of Windows such as Windows XP or Vista.

Another option if you are running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate is the free Windows Virtual PC with Windows XP Mode software. Windows XP Mode will let you seamlessly run older applications side by side with modern Windows 7 applications. You can pin them to your Taskbar and switch between them like you were running them natively.

7. Hardware Requirements

Windows 7 ultimately takes the cake here. I have Windows 7 running on my 7 year old Dell Dimension 8300 flawlessly. This computer is powered by an Intel Pentium 3.2 GHz Northwood 32 bit processor. The only computers Apple sold back in 2004 were PowerPC Macs, so obviously they could never run Mac OS X Lion or even Snow Leopard.

Mac OS X Lion calls for a Core 2 Duo, Xeon or Core 2 Quad capable Mac. That means, Intel Macintosh computers that came out in early 2006 won’t be able to run the latest version of Mac OS X because they are 32 bit only, all Core Duo Macs are left behind. Windows 7 on the other hand runs on a variety of processor models, whether its Core Duo, Intel Pentium, Xeon, Core 2 Quad, Centrino and the next version of Windows will run on ARM processors from a variety of manufacturers. Unlike Mac OS X, Windows does not rule out still capable hardware and does not require a lot to run it. The minimum memory requirement for Lion is 2 GB of RAM, while Windows 7 requires a minimum 1 GB of RAM.

Conclusion

The intention of this article is not to put Apple in a bad light, but the execution of this release seems more troublesome than welcome. Upgrading to Lion seems more like a hassle than a necessity, the system requirements, the requirements to download and install it, the requirements to reinstall it if necessary make Windows 7 a better operating system almost two years after its release to market. When you compare the key feature set, Lion is just catching up with some of the features Windows had for years.

Windows 7 versus Mac OS Lion: 7 Reasons Windows 7 is Better is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

If you have recently upgraded to or want to upgrade to Microsoft’s latest web browser, Windows Internet Explorer 9 and you are experiencing some technical difficulties with it, here are some tips to resolve some of the common problems you might experience.

1. Internet Explorer 9 Refuses to Install.

• The first thing is to make sure you meet the minimum requirements, which is Windows Vista Service Pack 2 or later. Please remember, Internet Explorer 9 does not support Windows XP.
• If you are attempting to install Internet Explorer 9 on supported operating systems and its still refusing to install, try disabling your Antivirus, it might be interfering with setup. Consult your Antivirus documentation for instructions about how to do this.
• Make sure all open applications are closed and probably do a restart just before.
• Make sure you are installing the right architecture. Internet Explorer 9 comes in 7 specific versions for different versions and architectures of Windows.

- Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7 32 bit
- Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7 64 bit
- Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Server 2008 64 bit
- Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Server 2008 32 bit
- Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Vista 64 bit
- Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Vista 32 bit

You can find out which version and architecture of Windows you are running by clicking Start > right click Computer > click Properties. Take note of the Operating System Type:

• I notice every version and edition and architecture of Windows I have installed IE 9 on, the browser needs to download pre-requisite components or it refuses to install. This means, you cannot do an off line install in some cases unless your Windows installation is fully updated or you are running Windows 7 with SP1 installed.

A work around for this is to download the necessary pre-requisite updates first for Internet Explorer 9 or run Windows Update and make sure Windows is full updated.

• Prerequisites for installing Internet Explorer 9

2. Internet Explorer 9 Takes too Long to Startup

You can try resolving this by disabling items that load when you open Internet Explorer.

If there are additional browser objects you believe might be affecting the browser performance, you can disable them by accessing the Manage Add-Ons menu at any time.

Click Tools > Manage add-ons.

3. Cannot view some of my favorite websites in Internet Explorer 9

Internet Explorer 9 is very new and there are many websites that support the browser, but there few unique ones that might still be optimizing their sites to support the browser. The best recommendation is to try viewing site in compatibility mode. Press Alt on your keyboard > click Tools > Compatibility View Settings > Check, Display all websites in Compatibility View

If the site still refuses to load, turn off ActiveX filtering or Tracking Protection from the Safety dropdown menu

If you continue to experience problems viewing your favorite website in Internet Explorer 9, Compatibility Mode is a great feature that allows you to view sites designed for older versions of the web browser.

To do this, go to website, in the Address bar, a Compatibility view button will appear in the address bar which indicates that the site might have some problems being viewed in IE 9. Click it and it will refresh the page and display it properly.

4. Compatibility Mode Still Does Not Help When Trying to View Sites Properly.

Its possible the side has coded to support a much older version of Internet Explorer. Holding down the alt key, and pressing 5, 6, 7 or 8 will let you choose an older version of Internet Explorer to render the site in.

5. Cannot View Video and Access Certain Web Applications in Internet Explorer 9

• If you are unable to view video from sites such as YouTube or any site that utilizes Flash, you need to update your Adobe Flash Player. Adobe recently updated Flash with optimizations just for Internet Explorer 9. You can download it here.
• If you are running a 64 bit version of Windows, make sure you are using the 32 bit version of Internet Explorer 9 since Flash is currently not commercially supported on Internet Explorer 9 64 bit. Click Start > All Programs > Click Internet Explorer (the one that is not listed as 64 bit).
• If your desire is to use Internet Explorer 9 64 bit and you would like to view Flash content, Adobe has a preview release of Flash Player for 64 bit Windows, please learn more here. Please understand, this is software is still in development.
• Many desktop and web applications are built on top of the JAVA Virtual Machine which is a platform for writing special programs that are cross platform aware. Meaning, a program written using the JAVA Virtual Machine can run on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux without alteration. Unlike certain applications, where you have to get the operating system specific version. Some uses for JAVA include, playing online games, running small applications such as a web page counter and uploading photos to Facebook. If you unable to access JAVA based applications in Internet Explorer 9, try updating your installation of JAVA. Please learn more from our Notebooks.com article about how to update JAVA Here.

6. Internet Explorer 9 is Unstable From Time to Time

If Internet Explorer 9 becomes unresponsive or closes unexpectedly, then it is most certainly attributed to a installed extension (or what is known as a add on). My recommendation is to reset Internet Explorer 9 to its default factory settings and reinstall any extensions as needed.

• To reset Internet Explorer 9 to its default factory settings, click Start, type: Internet Options
• Hit Enter on your keyboard
• Go to the Advanced (tab)

Under Reset Internet Explorer settings, click the Reset… button.

7. After Installing Internet Explorer 9 and Restarting My Computer, Windows 7 is Reporting it is Non-genuine.

There could be a number of reasons attributed this, it is possible that Windows could indeed be non-genuine and you do not realize. It is possible this is also an anomaly and restart of your computer will resolve the problem.

Another thing you can do is to check the validation of your computer. Run the Microsoft Genuine Diagnostics Tool to find out.  It will generate a report of your Windows 7 license. If any of the product keys match any of the known black listed keys blocked by Microsoft, this means you are victim of piracy.

Example: 00000-065-0000000-00000

The unique product id is represented by the 3 digits, in the above example, it is 065. If you product id matches any of the following unique id’s (065, 066, 067, 068 for Ultimate, 220, 221 area for Pro and the 230, 231, 221, 232 area for Home Premium), then you are using a license that was not intended for use outside of its licensing agreement. Your best course of action to resolve this problem is the following:

You can confirm that your software is genuine now. It’s quick and easy. Click the ‘Validate Windows’ button, if the validation check fails, then click on the ‘Get Genuine’ button to get a WGA Kit.

8. After I installed Internet Explorer 9, My Internet Connection is Not Functioning Properly

This should be a rare one, but if you do experience problems connecting to the Internet after installation, you can try a number of things.

• - Click Start, type: CMD
• - Right click CMD and click Run as administrator
• - At the command prompt, type the following:

ipconfig/release then ipconfig/renew then ipconfig/flushdns

• Type EXIT to close the command prompt, restart your system and try connecting again.

If the problem persist, I would suggest resetting your wired or wireless router if you are connected to one. First power it down, disconnect it, reset it using the reset button. Wait 10 mins. Reconnect it, start it up and try connecting again. Depending on the router model and brand, you should consult your owner’s manual for details.

9. Internet Explorer 9 Seems to Not Be Installed Properly, How Can I Reinstall It?

• Click Start, type: view installed updates
• Hit Enter on your keyboard
• Search for windows internet explorer
• Select it, right click it and click uninstall
• Restart the machine, then reinstall Internet Explorer 9

9 Tips for Troubleshooting Internet Explorer 9 (How To) is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Last week Microsoft announced the availability of Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate. If you have not upgraded to the Release Candidate, before you do so, make sure you uninstall the beta first.

Here is how you uninstall the Internet Explorer 9 Beta:

Click Start, type: view installed updates

Hit Enter on your keyboard

Next, search for internet explorer

Select Internet Explorer from the search results and click Uninstall on the command bar

Click Yes

Wait while Internet Explorer 9 is uninstalled. You might be prompted to restart your system.

Your previous version of Internet Explorer will automatically be restored. You are now ready to upgrade to Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate.

Microsoft recently announced, computers running the Beta or RC will automatically be updated to Internet Explorer 9 (RTW or Release to Web) when it is available.

How to Uninstall the Internet Explorer 9 Beta is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Here is a quick look at how to install the Internet Explorer 9 RC. Please note that Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate is pre-release software. Although this is a near final product, there are possible show stoppers and certain websites might not function as desired. If you are not sure about installing pre-release, its best you not do so or consider having an alternative web browser installed such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome installed while testing the Internet Explorer 9 RC.

Go to Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate download page.

Click the Download now link

If you are running Windows Vista, click the link to Other versions. Internet Explorer 9 only supports Windows Vista or Windows 7.

The Internet Explorer 9 web page should automatically detect your installed operating system.

Click Yes

Click Install

Make sure all open applications or instances of Internet Explorer are closed. To guarantee a smooth installation, also disable your Antivirus utility.

Internet Explorer 9 RC features a simple, stream lined installer. The installation should only take a few minutes.

Once the installation is complete, you will be prompted to restart your computer. Do so to confirm changes.

Internet Explorer 9 installed

How to Install Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

If you are planning to do a reinstall of Windows 7 , then this article might be of interest to you. If you didn’t know, Microsoft sells Windows 7 in both a Full Package Product version and an Upgrade version. What are the differences? Simply put, the upgrade version is cheaper and you need to have a previous version of Windows to use it.

Upgrade version: Requires that you have a previously installed, qualifying and activated version of Windows such as Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. Not easily transferable to another computer because of certain licensing restrictions regarding having a qualifying license installed.

For instance, say you have a computer that came preloaded with Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM license), if you upgrade that computer using the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade DVD, it is tied to that machine because it used the base license as a qualifying product. The only way you could transfer the upgrade license to another machine, you will first need to reinstall the original license. This version can be used to do a clean installs as well as the obvious in place upgrade.

Full version: With the full version, you don’t need to have a qualifying license installed. You can transfer it to another computer easily just as long as you reinstall the original license that came with the computer. Also, full versions of Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate are used as qualifying products for volume license versions of Windows. You can do both clean installs and in place upgrades with the full version DVD. Basically, it carries less restrictions than the upgrade versions.

Reinstalling with a Windows 7 Upgrade DVD:

If you initially bought a Windows 7 Upgrade, upgraded your computer and decided later you want to reinstall Windows 7 you might be wondering what you need to do if you want to reinstall Windows 7 without installing your old version of Windows 7 first.

Microsoft made some changes to how validation works, part of this is to reduce casual copying and piracy. Previous versions of Windows such as Windows XP Upgrade simply requested that you insert a qualifying disc during the installation. Now anybody could simply borrow a disc, whether it was Windows 98,  ME or 2000 which there are no shortage of, to use as a qualifying product. Of course, this is in the best interest of Microsoft’s financial bottom line at your expense. This inconvenience can be minimized with a smart little trick when using the Upgrade DVD. First lets look at what happens when we do a clean install with the upgrade DVD:

This is the message you will receive when you attempt to enter a product key for a Upgrade version of Windows 7. The simple workaround is to skip entering your product key for the time being and click Next. Complete task such as setting up your account name, password, time zone etcetera.

Once you arrive at the Windows 7 desktop, click Start, right click Computer then click Properties.

Scroll down to Windows Activation, then click the link that says xx days to activate. Activate Windows now

Enter your product key, then click Next

Click Show me other ways to activate

Click Use the automated phone system

Click Next again

Select your country

Call the number displayed on your screen to get a confirmation ID. Please hold on to speak with a live person, skip using the automated system. Explain your situation with the agent and they will provide you with a confirmation ID to enter into the blank fields. Click Next and Windows 7 should be activated. A minute or two longer than using the internet, but faster than doing two installations.

Isn’t this illegal?

Well, it depends. This option is recommended if your system previously came with a qualifying license installed. This can be determined by the Certificate of Authenticity sticker on the machine chassis. See below.

As long as the sticker is there on the machine with a Windows XP or Vista COA’s , the machine was genuinely licensed and you’re OK to use this upgrade path.

Technorati Tags: How to Reinstall Windows 7 with an Upgrade DVD Without Installing your Old OS

How to Reinstall Windows 7 with an Upgrade DVD, Without Installing your Old OS is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

When you install Windows 7 or get a new PC with Windows 7 installed, by default, there are programs setup to do certain things. Whether it’s editing text, viewing images, listening to music or some other common task Windows has a default program to get you going.

The programs that come set as the default might not be your favorite tool. For example, you may want to edit a picture in Adobe Photoshop instead of using Windows Live Photo Gallery. The following features and functionality, Default Programs, Open With and Always Open With can help you do that.

Default Programs

Say you have 3 or more programs that do the same thing on your computer, but you prefer to use one all the time when you trigger a task relating to that particular program. A common example of this would be clicking a link that starts your email program. Of course, the email program that starts might not be the one you want to use. With Default Programs, you can change that.

Click Start, then click Default Programs

This opens the Default Programs Control Panel items Here you can choose the programs that Windows uses by default.

Click the Set your default program link.

Wait while it loads the list of Programs available.

Here you can see a list of programs I have installed that I can set default options for, whether its email, web browsing, listening to music, viewing pictures, disc burning etc. For this example, I am going to set my default email program.

Because I use Microsoft Outlook a lot and all my emails are stored in it along with contact information and accounts, I want to set this as my default email program. I also have Windows Live Mail installed, but I don’t use it so often. To set it as the default email program, click Set this program as default

By default, I have Microsoft Outlook set to handle all emails, for example, when I click an email address on a web page or in a Microsoft Word document, it automatically launches Microsoft Outlook. Suppose I prefer to use another program instead such as Windows Live Mail? You can do that by using Associate a file type or protocol with a program

Whenever I Control + Click an address, it will automatically open Microsoft Outlook

With Associate a file type or protocol with a program you can change that behavior.

On the Default Programs page, click Associate a file type or protocol with a program

Scroll down to the Protocol or File type you want to change a default program for, then click Change program, in this case, it’s the MAILTO protocol that handles that association.

The Open with dialog will display a list of suitable programs, in my case, I will select Windows Live Mail since it opens faster than Outlook.

So whenever I click on an email address in a document or web page, it will open Windows Live Mail instead of Microsoft Outlook. Other scenarios you can use this for, you could set Apple iTunes to open .mp4 files instead of Windows Media Player.

Email addresses now automatically launch Windows Live Mail.

Open With and Always Open With

Say you have a bunch of files you use from time to time, but instead of setting a default program, you would like to use different programs on the fly from time to time. Here is an example.

I have Microsoft Word set as the default program to open .rtf files, although this is great for rich editing, when I just want to review the document or make minor edits, I would prefer a program that opens much quicker such as WordPad.

To do that:

Select the file, on the Command bar, click in the Open list box and select the program I want, Windows will automatically display a list of the most suitable programs installed that can handle that file. If I want to set a default, program, on the same menu, click Choose default program…

Then check the box that says Always use the selected program to open this kind of file.

Click OK.

The file will in future automatically open in that particular program.

How to Set Default Programs and Use Open With and Always Open With Settings is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

We know. You want to ask what we are thinking, downgrading from Windows 7 to Windows XP, but despite our desire to move forward there are still users and organizations who rely on legacy applications and devices that won’t run on Windows 7, a problem that can get worse with Windows 7 64-bit mode.

You might say, that there is Windows XP Mode, which is an excellent solution for specific scenarios, I personally use XP Mode with my GPRS Modem since it does not work properly in Windows 7 64 bit. But then there are devices that just don’t work in Windows XP Mode at all, devices with sophisticated requirements, specifically multimedia programs and games that depend on the accelerated graphics in your system, something you won’t find available in Windows Virtual PC.

The best option, if you want the best of both worlds while transitioning to Windows 7, is to downgrade and think about setting up a dual boot scenario (which I will be looking at in a future article).

For today, we will look at how to downgrade to Windows XP from a Windows 7 installation. We recently looked at how to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 and recover personal files using Windows.old. This will play an integral role in ensuring that we are able to downgrade. I had recommended in that article you do not delete the Windows.old folder just in case you want to downgrade. If you didn’t, great! If you did, not to worry, I am still going to look at how you can still setup a dual boot with Windows 7 and Windows XP.

Step 1: Click Start > Computer > open the C: drive where Windows 7 is installed. If you see the Windows.old folder, then we are good to go. If not, then it does not make any sense going to further.

Step 2: check the size of Windows.old folder by right-clicking and then selecting properties. You need to make sure that Windows.old folder must be less than two times the amount of free hard drive space available on Windows 7 system drive (C drive). If the Windows.old folder size is two times larger, disable system restore utility and also use disk cleanup tool to get some free space. In our case, we have ample free disk space.

Step 3: Insert your Windows 7 installation disc into DVD-ROM and restart your system. Press any key when prompted to boot from DVD.

Step 4: Choose your language, time, keyboard type and then click on Next button to continue. In the Install Windows screen, click Repair your computer option to get System Recovery Options.

Step 5: Now select your Windows 7 OS and note your Windows 7 Drive letter before clicking on Next. If you are prompted to do a System Restore, click cancel.

Step 6: In the next window, click Command Prompt to start downgrading from Windows 7 to XP.

Step 7: At first you need to transfer all the data of your Windows 7 drive to a folder. So type the following commands one by one and then press enter after each command (here we’re assuming that “D” is your Windows 7 drive letter).

D:

Md Win7

Move Windows Win7Windows

Move “Program Files” “Win7Program Files”

Move Users Win7Users

Attrib –h –s –r ProgramData

Move ProgramData Win7ProgramData

Rd “Documents and Settings”

Step 8: Next, you need to copy all the contents of Windows.old folder to the drive. Again, follow all the commands given below one by one and then press enter after each command.

move /y d:Windows.oldWindows d:

move /y “d:Windows.oldProgram Files” d:

move /y “d:Windows.oldDocuments and Settings” d:

Step 9: Next, you need to restore the boot sector by typing the following command:

E:bootbootsect /nt52 d:

Step 10: At last restore the boot.ini file by entering the following commands:

Attrib –h –s –r boot.ini.saved

Copy boot.ini.saved boot.ini

Step 11: Now type Exit and restart your system to get back to Windows XP again.

Resources

Eligibility for downgrade rights. Please note if you bought a computer with Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate editions, you are eligible for downgrade rights to any of the following editions and versions of Windows: Windows Vista Ultimate or Business, Windows XP Professional. Please note, the downgrade rights are on a case by case depending on the OEM. So, even though you are eligible, the option might not be available and it might specific to the model computer you purchased from the manufacturer. If this is the case, then you will need to provide your own full version license.

Volume License customers have all rights to downgrade to any edition or version of Windows they wish, so if you are using a Company PC purchased with Windows 7, contact your Administrator about downgrade options available to you.

If you are running consumer editions such as Starter edition, Home Basic or Home Premium, you will have to provide your own full version license for the edition or version of Windows you would like to downgrade to.

Understanding Downgrade Rights

Downgrade Rights Details & FAQ

Downgrade Rights Chart

How to Downgrade From Windows 7 to Windows XP is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.