Compatibility Mode Make older programs run in Windows XP

If you're having trouble running older programs originally developed for previous versions of Windows, you're not out of luck. Luckily for consumers, Microsoft built Compatibility Mode into XP. Compatibility Mode allows you to
run a program using the shell of the original program it was developed for.


Here's how to access a program's Compatibility Mode in XP:


Find the executable or program shortcut icon you'd like to run. Right-click the icon and select Properties.
Click the Compatibility tab and place a checkmark next to the text labeled "Run this program in compatibility mode."
Select the operating system that the program was originally intended to run on.
You may need to fine-tune the three fields under "Display Settings" if an older program requires 640x480
resolution or 256 colors. Click Apply.

Try starting the program after making these changes. If it still gives you trouble, try a different operating system.
If the program was written for Win95 and worked fine in Win98, there's nothing that says it still won't work fine with Win98.

The coming tablet wars

I’m going to try writing longer form stuff for the weekends, sort of to stretch the old mental legs a bit and share a bit of the stuff that is floating through my transom, man, about tech and especially mobile and portable electronics.

Come back with me to 2001. A young man got up on stage one afternoon in November to announce something new and amazing: an operating system dedicated to tablet computing. That young man was Microsoft’s Bill Gates and that operating system was Windows XP Tablet PC edition.

Chances are that is the first and last time you saw a working tablet computer. Laptops, then, were monsters. They were heavy – 10 pounds or more – had small, bad batteries, and WiFi was just a dream for most people. It seemed, in those dark years, that laptop manufacturers could shave off pounds and complexity by removing the keyboard and offer a pen-based OS. After all, this was a post-PalmOS era when handwriting recognition was an input option we all knew and understood.

The thinking was this: if you can streamline applications – data entry applications being the target here – you could sell smaller, more expensive computers to medical and business clients. It didn’t work and Windows Tablet PC has been little more than a clever solution to a nonexistent problem.

So what’s with all the tablet talk lately?

We have entered an era of the thin and light computer and, rather than worrying about power we’ve become obsessed with the concept of thinness. This is why Apple, in their wisdom, created the MacBook Air and the iPod Touch. This is the same reason we are all salivating over the thought of tablets thinner than an issue of BusinessWeek and this is why laptop manufacturers – and Michael Arrington – are rushing to make them.

The Apple Tablet (or iPad or Tapplet) is real. It will have a capacitive touch screen and manufacturing difficulties are slowing down the tablet’s release to a crawl, thereby preventing us all from having one. It will be thin and, like the abhorrent HP DreamScreen, will focus on media. The extant tablet verticals – mostly in the medical industry – will still exist.

Note this new focus. Rather than trying to create a business machine, manufacturers understand people want bigger screens on which to consume web and media content.

So what can we expect in the next year? Well, first we have the CrunchPad. When all the bugs are worked out, it will be an amazing device – I’ve seen it. And I’m not just saying that because I’ve been intimately involved in the design process, because I wasn’t – that gives me a bit of perspective. Expect the CrunchPad to be a excellent device for blogging – that’s what Mike made it for – and for web apps. Don’t Expect much in the way of media. [I was wrong.]

Then there’s the iPad. This will eclipse the industry and for the rest of the year that’s all you’ll hear about. Trust me. Apple could require you to give this device three drops of blood every morning in order to satisfy the demonic hell-beast soul trapped inside it and we would, gladly. The release will be on par with the iPhone release and they’ll sell a million of them.

Then you have Microsoft’s Courier. It’s impressive, but it’s Microsoft; don’t expect that thing to take shape for two years and don’t expect it to take off until the second generation. Like the Zune, Microsoft will make a product but they won’t make it good until they have a little time to mull it over. I don’t think the Courier will be a player in 2010.

As for the rest of the devices, expect slow uptake by price conscious consumers and folks who don’t think it’s “cool” to own “name brand” technology and are real “hackers” (read: teenagers and European students). Archos, for example, is doing a lot of good work in the tablet space but they’re an also-ran. They are going the Tablet OS route, which is no good. Creative has some devices planned and it’s also clear that ChromeOS could power a nice device – provided HTC makes it.

As for connectivity most of these will have a 3G option – although I doubt the iPad will have 3G built-in. WiFi is an obvious second-best.

As for size, tablets, at least with capacitive screens, are weighed down by a huge hunk of metal that shields the electronics from the screen. This hunk of metal – and the glass – prevents us from getting a bigger iPod Touch and is what is keeping the iPad from coming out sooner. Once the world’s (i.e. China’s) scientists solve this problem we’ll get what we want. Until then it’s resistive all the way.

So prepare yourselves for the coming tablet wars and sock away a little cash because things are going to get interesting in 2010.

How to know operating system bit count

How you can know your operating system on your pc operating system bit count

how to know your window is 32 bit or 64 bit

Windows Vista

If you have Windows Vista, there are two methods to determine whether you are running a 32-bit or a 64-bit version. If one does not work, try the other.

Method 1: View System window in Control Panel

1. Click Start
   Collapse this imageExpand this image

   
   , type system in the Start Search box, and then click system in the Programs list.
2. The operating system is displayed as follows:
   • For a 64-bit version operating system: 64-bit Operating System appears for the System type under System.
   • For a 32-bit version operating system: 32-bit Operating System appears for the System type under System.

Method 2: View System Information window

1. Click Start
   Collapse this imageExpand this image

   
   , type system in the Start Search box, and then click System Information in the Programs list.
2. When System Summary is selected in the navigation pane, the operating system is displayed as follows:
   • For a 64-bit version operating system: x64-based PC appears for the System type under Item.
   • For a 32-bit version operating system: x86-based PC appears for the System type under Item.

If you cannot determine the operating system bit count with these methods, go to the "Next Steps" section.

Windows XP

If you have Windows XP, there are two methods to determine whether you are running a 32-bit or a 64-bit version. If one does not work, try the other.

Method 1: View System Properties in Control Panel

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
3. Click the General tab. The operating system is displayed as follows:
   • For a 64-bit version operating system: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Version <> appears under System.
   • For a 32-bit version operating system: Windows XP Professional Version appears under System.
   Note is a placeholder for a year.

Method 2: View System Information window

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type winmsd.exe, and then click OK.
3. When System Summary is selected in the navigation pane, locate Processor under Item in the details pane. Note the value.
   • If the value that corresponds to Processor starts with x86, the computer is running a 32-bit version of Windows.
   • If the value that corresponds to Processor starts with ia64 or AMD64, the computer is running a 64-bit version of Windows.

If you cannot determine the operating system bit count with these methods, go to the "Next Steps" section.

Windows Server 2003

If you have Windows Server 2003, there are two methods to determine whether you are running a 32-bit or a 64-bit version. If one does not work, try the other.

Method 1: View System Properties in Control Panel

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
3. Click the General tab. The operating system is displayed as follows:
   • For a 64-bit version operating system: Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition appears under System.
   • For a 32-bit version operating system: Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition appears under System.

Method 2: View System Information window

1. Click Start, and then click Run
2. Type winmsd.exe, and then click OK.
3. When System Summary is selected in the navigation pane, locate Processor under Item in the details pane. Note the value.
   • If the value that corresponds to Processor starts with x86, the computer is running a 32-bit version of Windows.
   • If the value that corresponds to Processor starts with EM64T or ia64, the computer is running a 64-bit version of Windows.

If you cannot determine the operating system bit count by using these methods, go to the "Next Steps" section.

After Windows XP

boots up to Welcome Screen or Logon Screen for user to log on to Windows desktop, there may be a message on the Logon Welcome page that user have certain number of unread mail messages, together with the email address of the account. For example, “1 unread email messages”. The unread email messages count also appear when system is locked, and user is required to enter the password to enter the desktop again.

The count of number of unread messages is generated for each users individually, and normally will be shown after user starts to use Microsoft’s related email clients or services, such as Microsoft Outlook and Windows Live Hotmail. The count takes into account all unread messages from programs like Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, and etc, depending on how these programs are used and setup.

It’s pretty useless and something annoying to display the number of unread mail messages available, especially when it also display user’s email address together. It’s possible to to remove these list and count of unread email messages on the Welcome Screen page with the following tricks.

The most easy way is to use TweakUI PowerToys, which the TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe setup file can be downloaded from Microsoft Download Center. After installing the TweakUI, run the program, locate and select Logon in the left pane. Then click on Unread Mail. Unselect and uncheck the Show unread mail on Welcome screen option. Users can choose whether to apply the new setting (without unread email count) only to user’s account or for all users on the computer.

It’s also possible to modify the registry directly to get rid of the unread email messages count on Logon Welcome Screen. To do so, run Registry Editor (regedit.exe), and the navigate to the one of the following registry keys:

For current logged on user:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

For all users on the computer:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

On the right pane, find a value data named MessageExpiryDays. If it’s not found, create a new DWORD key named MessageExpiryDays. Set the value of “MessegaExpiryDays” to 0, and save the setting.

Once disabled, unread emails count notification will no longer be displayed.

How do I turn off the unread message count on the Windows XP login screen?

Open notepad and create file disable_unread_msg_display.reg with the following content:

---
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail]
"MessageExpiryDays"=dword:00000000
---

Now import it by double-clicking it in Windows Explorer or by running it from Command Line. This file will create zero REG_DWORD value "MessageExpiryDays" under the UnreadMail key and will effectively cause all messages to be naturally "expired", thus not displayed...

Hack to Remove/Uninstall Symantec Norton Antivirus (SAV) Client without Password

Norton AntiVirus Clients or Symantec AntiVirus Clients especially Corporate Edition Clients can be installed as managed network setup type by a Symantec AntiVirus Server. When a Symantec AntiVirus Client is managed, it will prompt for password when uninstalling client via local computer Control Panel Add or Remove Program applet. If you don’t know or forget the password, then the client is not able to uninstall or remove. And the SAV client uninstall password won’t work with server group password too, as if you enter that password, you will receive an invalid password message.

The client uninstallation password is different from the server group password, and it can be set by the administrator through the Symantec System Center for the client that is managed. If the client uninstallation password has not been set or changed specifically, it will still be the default password. Thus, first thing to try in order to successfully uninstall a Symantec Client Security program is by using the default password for the uninstalling clients, which is symantec.

In the cases where Symantec AntiVirus server has been taken down and no longer exist, or the client computer has no access to company network, or the default client uninstall password does not work, the following hack will enable you to remove Symantec Antivirus without using a password:

1. Open Registry Editor (regedit).
2. Navigate to the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTEL\LANDesk\VirusProtect6\CurrentVersion\Administrator Only\Security\

3. Change the value for useVPuninstallpassword key from 1 to 0.
4. Exit Registry Editor and now you can uninstall Symantec AntiVirus Client.

The trick should work on most version of Symantec AntiVirus client or Norton AntiVirus Client, including version 7, 8, 9 or 10.

Hack to Remove/Uninstall Symantec Norton Antivirus (SAV) Client without Password

Norton AntiVirus Clients or Symantec AntiVirus Clients especially Corporate Edition Clients can be installed as managed network setup type by a Symantec AntiVirus Server. When a Symantec AntiVirus Client is managed, it will prompt for password when uninstalling client via local computer Control Panel Add or Remove Program applet. If you don’t know or forget the password, then the client is not able to uninstall or remove. And the SAV client uninstall password won’t work with server group password too, as if you enter that password, you will receive an invalid password message.

The client uninstallation password is different from the server group password, and it can be set by the administrator through the Symantec System Center for the client that is managed. If the client uninstallation password has not been set or changed specifically, it will still be the default password. Thus, first thing to try in order to successfully uninstall a Symantec Client Security program is by using the default password for the uninstalling clients, which is symantec.

In the cases where Symantec AntiVirus server has been taken down and no longer exist, or the client computer has no access to company network, or the default client uninstall password does not work, the following hack will enable you to remove Symantec Antivirus without using a password:

1. Open Registry Editor (regedit).
2. Navigate to the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTEL\LANDesk\VirusProtect6\CurrentVersion\Administrator Only\Security\

3. Change the value for useVPuninstallpassword key from 1 to 0.
4. Exit Registry Editor and now you can uninstall Symantec AntiVirus Client.

The trick should work on most version of Symantec AntiVirus client or Norton AntiVirus Client, including version 7, 8, 9 or 10.

Google Talk gets graphical smilies

Image via CrunchBase

Google has quietly added animated smilies or "emoticons" to the Gmail-integrated version of Google Talk. They've obviously had a lot of feedback from the AOL-crowd, who apparently loves smilies. But Google has tried to appease the purists who like Google Talk's clean interface. These emoticons begin by showing you what you typed, then rotate or morph into a more traditional smiley. Most of them are black on white (like the text in chat), with a few splashes of color.

Here's a complete list:

Emoticon	Type this...	to get this!
	<3	heart
	:(|)	monkey
	\m/	rock out!
	:-o	shocked
	:D	grin
	:(	frown
	X-(	angry
	B-)	cool
	:'(	crying
	=D	big grin
	;)	wink
	:-|	straight face
	=)	big smile
	:-D	nose grin
	;^)	big nose wink
	;-)	nose wink
	:-)	nose smile
	:-/	skeptical
	:P	sticking tongue out

As we previously reported, Gmail Chat is being rolled out as a beta. Some people will see it, others won't. You won't be able to run Chat if you're using SSL encryption (https://) to access your Gmail. And so far, these emoticons haven't found there way into the standalone Google Talk program, but it's a pretty safe bet that's next.

Because these use many of the standard text shortcuts for emoticons, if you use Chat to talk to other people using different software (Gaim, Trillian, etc.), most of these are already translated into graphical emoticons. Some of the obscure ones ("rock out!") will not.

Could the integration of emoticons be a sign of what's to come? Is this just one more step in the preparation for the announced interoperability of Google Talk and AIM? We've already seen a preview of Google Talk with buddy icons.

Let's hope Google doesn't turn Google Talk into another bloated "me-too" instant messenger.

Google Voice Finally Marries SMS And Email

Image via CrunchBase

A long requested feature of Google Voice was a simple one: forward inbound text messages to email. Google Voice users get voicemails auto-transcribed and emailed to them, but text messages were not. Users can read and respond to them online in addition to their phones in the normal way, but email forwarding wasn’t an option.

Tonight that changed. Google Voice users now have the ability to forward inbound text messages to email. And even better, you can reply from email as well.

There are third party services (example) that have offered this, but they require users to give these services your Google Voice credentials, which is never a good idea. It’s great that Google launched this feature directly.

Since they seem to be taking requests, here’s my next one: launch an API. I can’t wait to see what developers come up with, and I’d love to use those non-Google services in a secure way without giving them my Google Voice credentials.

Google Voice Finally Marries SMS And Email

Image via CrunchBase

A long requested feature of Google Voice was a simple one: forward inbound text messages to email. Google Voice users get voicemails auto-transcribed and emailed to them, but text messages were not. Users can read and respond to them online in addition to their phones in the normal way, but email forwarding wasn’t an option.

Tonight that changed. Google Voice users now have the ability to forward inbound text messages to email. And even better, you can reply from email as well.

There are third party services (example) that have offered this, but they require users to give these services your Google Voice credentials, which is never a good idea. It’s great that Google launched this feature directly.

Since they seem to be taking requests, here’s my next one: launch an API. I can’t wait to see what developers come up with, and I’d love to use those non-Google services in a secure way without giving them my Google Voice credentials.

Bing Loves The Porn Hounds

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Bing is an excellent search engine. For one thing the surprising early reviews probably forced Yahoo’s hand as they entered into one of the dumber corporate transactions I’ve ever seen. So, kudos to Bing. Golf clap. Etc.

But one thing about Bing really stands out – it may be the best porn search engine ever created (see Badda-Bing Indeed). In private conversations Microsoft employees always said that the porn search feature was an unintended byproduct of good video search. But we always wondered if that was true.

Anyway, in May we noticed Bing ads on Google, which seemed a little ironic to us given how seriously the two companies compete with each other.

But one thing we didn’t notice until now is that Bing is also advertising on Google for the query “pornography.”

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