Posts tagged windows 7
How to Set a Static IP Address in Windows 7
0There are a number of reasons that you would want to setup a static IP address on your Windows 7 PC. One of the major ones is that you want to get away from automated DHCP addresses on your network. Or maybe you want to share resources that are on your PC with other devices on your network and you need your PC’s IP address to be consistent.
Whatever your reasons, it’s very easy to achieve, in this quick walkthrough I’ll show you how.
The first step is to find out what your current (DHCP) IP address is. This will give you an idea of what range of IP addresses you can use for your PC. To do this, click the start menu and type “CMD” in the search box, then press Enter. This will open a command prompt.
In the command prompt, type the following:
[box] ipconfig /all[/box]
Then press Enter. This will bring up details of all of your PC’s network connections, including IP addresses. It should look something like this:
The important things to get from this are you PC’s current “IPv4 address”, “Subnet Mask”, “Default Gateway” and “DNS servers”. Write these numbers down, you’ll need them to arrange a static IP.
Next, you’ll need to open Control Panel, then click “Network and Internet”:
This will bring up a few further options, of which you need to select “Network and Sharing Centre”, this will open up the following Window:
On the left hand pane, select “Change Adapter Settings”, this will open up a new window with all of your network adapters listed:
You’ll need to right-click the appropriate adapter and select “Properties” from the menu, this will bring up the details for your network adapter:
As above, select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” from the list, then select “Properties”. This will bring up the IP address properties for your adapter:
By default, your system will be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically”, to setup a static IP address, change this option to “Use the following IP address”.
Now this is where you need to use the information noted down from the command prompt window earlier.
Copy the information noted down from “ipconfig /all” into the appropriate fields in this window. if you only have one value for “DNS Server” do not worry about it.
Once the information has been copied across, click “OK” to apply the settings.
Congratulations, you’ve now setup a static IP address on your Mac. To confirm it has worked, open a web browser and navigate to any web page (or refresh this page if you’re doing it now), you shouldn’t notice any difference in performance with your network connection.
How to Keep Windows Media Player Video On Top Of Other Windows
0With older versions of Windows Media Player it was easy to playback video via a small window attached to the taskbar.
Unfortunately, with Windows Media Player 11 and Windows 7 this feature was removed.
The only way to replicate this sort of behaviour is to make sure that your video window is displayed on top of all your other windows. That way you can browse the internet or work on Office documents while still enjoying your video.
To do this in WMP, open a video and then press the “Alt” key on your keyboard, this will bring up the menu, navigate to Tools–>Options:
This will bring up the options menu, on the “Player” tab make sure that “Keep Now Playing on top of other windows” is ticked, as shown below:
Your video’s will now stay on top of all other windows that are open, allowing you to view your videos while working with other applications. You can resize your Media Player window by dragging from the bottom right corner to make it larger or smaller.
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Released
0Microsoft has today released Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
The update can be installed via the Windows Download Center.
This is the first major update for Windows 7 since its release back in 2009, the update itself has been talked about for the best part of a year. Many of the updates included in SP1 have already been issued incrementally via the Windows Update service, meaning that the SP1 update can vary in size dramatically depending on when your system was last updated. Users are reporting upgrades varying in size from 44MB to nearly 1GB.
Microsoft is hailing this service pack as a major update to the security of both systems, though it also contains a couple of new features:
- The first is the support for RemoteFX which offers increased graphical power for virtualized environments. Microsoft clarifies this by stating that RemoteFX “introduces a new set of end user experience enhancements to remote desktop computing”. Most home users will not take advantage of this, though Windows Server users might be suitably impressed.
- The other new feature is “Dynamic Memory”, again for virtualized environments, it allows for dynamic allocation of memory resources depending on the requirements of the virtualized envirnment. This way, if you’re running more than one virtualized environment you will make the best possible use of all of your system resources.
With both of these features being aimed purely at virtualized Windows Server environments it’s going to be hard for home users to get excited about the update, though it’s still recommended that you update your Windows 7 system at the earliest convenience.
How To Get A Mac OS X Dock in Windows
0One of the coolest things about Mac OS X is the funky dock bar present at the bottom of the screen. It’s a great tool for accessing the programs and locations that you access every day. It can also be hidden to free up desk space or animated if you like your desktop to have a bit of a cool look about it.
Luckily, Windows users need not feel put out by this, as you can implement a very similar idea quickly and easily using free software.
RocketDock is a free tool for implementing an OS X style dock on Windows operating systems. So far, it’s only available for 32bit versions of Windows, but it will run on XP, Vista and Windows 7.
To get your hands on RocketDock, just download the latest version here and install it on your Windows PC.
In the video below I give you a quick guide to setting the software up in minutes and getting the look just right.
Microsoft announces exclusive competition with Internet Explorer 9 Beta and Gorillaz
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Microsoft announces exclusive competition with Internet Explorer 9 Beta and Gorillaz to develop ‘The Evangelist’ – a new character in Gorillaz world
London, 2nd November 2010. Today Microsoft has announced the launch of a competition with Gorillaz to celebrate the Beta launch of the Windows Internet Explorer 9 browser. Entrants are being invited to design a new character, known simply as “The Evangelist”*. The winning submission will be redrawn by Gorillaz’ Jamie Hewlett, and the final creation will be revealed on 6th January 2011, on Gorillaz.com. The winner will be credited on the competition page and will receive a Gorillaz “gift pack” including a signed, framed print of Jamie Hewlett’s final design of “The Evangelist”.
Internet Explorer 9 Beta was launched with the support of Gorillaz in September 2010. Since then, over 10 million people have downloaded the browser worldwide and are enjoying the visually rich web experiences on the Internet, as expertly explained by Murdoc at http://www.gorillaz.com/club-room/laptop.
These rich experiences include websites which have been specially created by household names, from Rough Guides to the BBC and Amazon to showcase the difference Internet Explorer 9 Beta can make. Microsoft is featuring this web content and that of its other launch partners on its specially designed microsite http://www.beautyoftheweb.co.uk.
Internet Explorer 9 Beta is designed to use the power of your computer’s hardware to radically improve your online experiences such as shopping, browsing, surfing, gaming, watching TV or streaming music. At the same time, Internet Explorer 9 Beta reads special web design code enabling it to increase the speed, look and performance of websites by making colours, images and texture richer and deeper.
Gorillaz and the Microsoft team behind Internet Explorer 9 Beta are challenging fans to put their creativity to the test by submitting their drawing of “The Evangelist”*. A special design application to help budding artists create and submit ideas is available at http://www.gorillaz.com/evangelist.
The competition entry deadline is Sunday 28th November. All entries will be put to a public vote to shortlist the best entries for each week of the competition. Jamie Hewlett and Gorillaz’ design team will then judge the finalists from each week in order to pick a winner which will be announced on 6th January 2011 at http://www.Gorillaz.com. Commenting on the competition, Murdoc Niccals said:
“Gorillaz.com through Internet Explorer 9 Beta is like a Wizard’s Portal! It works like magic! Maybe it is magic! I’ve only got one CSE and that’s in Antisocial Anthropology so don’t ask me how the Internet works.
To celebrate I’ve decided to give my loyal fans a chance to help me battle THE BOOGIEMAN, the dark heart of Plastic Beach!
The Boogieman is a hideous underworld entity, all the world’s evil in a swirling black cape. And he’s tracking me down! We saw him in Stylo and again in Melancholy Hill….Creepy! So now I need your help!
We want you all to use your marvellous tiny minds to come up with the ‘look and feel’ for his equal and opposite, THE EVANGELIST!! It’s your winning design that will actually give image, shape and form to this new character, The Evangelist…the Boogieman’s nemesis and my possible saviour. As yet he’s just a spirit, an energy source…a shapeless mist floating in the ether… WE need YOU to give shape to The Evangelist, whatever shape that may be…Bring this being to LIFE!! The extraordinary future of Plastic Beach is in your hands.”
David Law, Director of Internet Explorer in the UK added:
“The feedback we’re getting since launch is fantastic. Internet Explorer 9 Beta is showing people all around the world why browsers really matter and the Gorillaz website is a perfect example of how the web is more beautiful with Internet Explorer 9 Beta. It behaves just like any other app you’re familiar with. It’s fast and it’s a browser people trust. We ‘re really looking forward to seeing what Gorillaz’s fans will come up with to bring the Evangelist to life through Internet Explorer 9 Beta.”
Internet Explorer 9 Beta requires Windows 7 or Windows Vista operating systems. For more information about the Internet Explorer 9 Beta, please visit www.beautyoftheweb.co.uk
How to Solve Framerate Issues with Fallout: New Vegas and Alienware M11Xr2
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If, like me, you own an Alienware M11X laptop and you waited eagerly for Fallout: New Vegas to be released, you would have been incredibly disapointed with the performance of the game when you finally managed to lay your hands on it.
It’s unbelievable to think that Fallout: NV performs worse on LOW settings than Crysis performs on HIGH. Luckily, after a bit of investigation on the web I stumbled across the answer, courtesy of AnthonyDamasco.net.
I’ve tried Anthony’s solution myself and it does yeild incredible results, I’m now able to play New Vegas on High settings and let me tell you, it looks incredible! Now, if Bethesda could only release a patch to fix this problem!
Building A PC From Scratch – Part Three
2In parts one and two of this guide we dealt with procuring hardware and assembling it to form a complete PC.
In part three I’m going to give an overview of what you need to do now to make your machine usable.
Operating Systems.
The first thing you’ll need to do is obtain an Operating System (OS) such as Microsoft Windows or a version of Linux. The OS is the program on your computer from which all your other programs and files are accessed. Microsoft Windows is the most popular OS, with the latest version being titles “Windows 7″.
Windows 7 comes in a few different varients, with varying features and options available dependant on the varient. Most home users will be content in purchasing Windows 7 – Home Premium which offers perhaps the best value for money out of all the varients. For dull details on what each version offers, check out the article on Wikipedia here.
You can buy Windows from a number of online suppliers, including those that were mentioned in part one of this series.
The actual installation procedure for Windows I will leave to the installation guide provided with your copy of Windows, there is little point in me re-writing the information provided to you by Microsoft.
If you do not wish to pay extra for an OS, there is an alternative to Windows known as Linux. Linux is an “Open Source” OS solution, which means that for personal use it’s completely free. There are many varients of Linux, but perhaps the easiest to use is Ubuntu Linux which we reviewed here. You can download Linux from the website of each of the varients, most will also include installation instructions.
Security Software
If your computer is to be connected to the internet then it is imperative that you install some form of security software on your computer to prevent it from getting infected and to protect your personal information.
There are two ways to go about this; there are complete security packages available from specialised security firms, such as Norton and McAfee. These are paid-for products which offer a decent level of protection from all sorts of online threats, such as viruses, spyware and malware. If you don’t wish to purchase security software, then there are some free alternatives available online. These offer a reasonable level of protection but updates are often slower to be released than for the paid for products, which means that your computer may be liable to infection for periods of time between viruses being created and your security package being able to detect them. Microsoft themselves have released a program called Security Essentials which is free to download and offers reasonable protection against online threats.
It’s important not to install all of these products at once; each of them requires processing power to run and slows down your system slightly, if you install multiple versions then the effect will be amplified and your system will function a lot slower than it could.
If you’re using a Linux OS then security software is a lot less necassary, that’s not to say that Linux is impervious to attack, or that you should let your guide down, but being that Linux is a lot less popular than Windows viruses don’t tend to be written to attack Linux.
Installing Updates
In Windows and Linux, you have the option to enable automatic updates so that the latest security updates and utilities are available to you. It’s important to make sure that this option is turned on as, combined with a decent security package, it will ensure so far as possible that your computer is protected from the threats of the internet.
Installing additional software.
With both types of Operating System there is a massive catalogue of additional software that you can install in order to increase the functionality of your computer. For details of some excellent free packages for both Windows and Linux,check out our top ten programs for both here and here.
Once you’ve installed security software, updated your OS and installed additional software you’re ready to begin using your computer for it’s true intents. Hopefully you’ll experience many years of happiness with your machine without the need to change any of the hardware of software, and even then you will likely be able to perform simple upgrades to both the hardware and software without having to go through the complete process of designing and building a PC again.
Why My New Laptop Is Not A Mac… (or there and back again)
0Many who know me know that I have a soft spot for Apple products, I started off with an iPod in 2004 and before long I was using Mac computers at home, owned more than enough Apple mobile devices, and ranted to all who would listen about how much I loved my Macs and iPods.
However, now that the time has come to replace my trusty white Macbook, I am choosing to replace it with (drum roll please…) a Windows 7 laptop. Now, before the Mac faithful amongst you jump down my throat, I still love my Apple products and especially my other Mac.
The problem is that although I feel that my iMac is a much better solution for producing digital content such as videos, photos and music, I don’t feel that it does a better job than a Windows PC in some other aspects such as playing games or web browsing. Now, depending on what you want to do with your computer, this can lead you to choose one brand or the other. For me it’s definitely more important to have the superior ability to create and share media than it is to have a machine that can play the latest games. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy games, it’s just my primary focus involves photo and video editing. Right now I can hear people asking; “then why don’t you want to buy another Macbook?”.
The reason is simple; creating and editing media is not the sort of thing people do on a laptop. Personally I am much more comfortable working on videos on my iMac than I am on the comparatively lower powered laptop. Very rarely am I in a position where I need to work on a video or photo and I’m not in reach of the iMac.
For this reason, the decision has been made that the new laptop would not be an Apple product, instead I am focussing on a product that can excel in some of the areas that the iMac struggles with. For that, you have to look towards a Windows 7 machine with the appropriate hardware to handle things like games, and when you think of gaming laptops you have to consider Alienware.
Alienware were initially a high-end manufacturer of performance PC’s and laptops. Now owned by Dell, they continue to offer the pinnacle of gaming hardware at a competitive price. In three weeks time I’ll take ownership of the new Alienware M11X gaming laptop (a review will be posted shortly thereafter). I still love my Macs, and my Apple mobile devices, but I honestly believe that a Windows 7 laptop is now the smarter choice (pound-for-pound) when considering a sub-15″ laptop.
To check out the Alienware M11X, head over to www.alienware.com/m11x