Artwinauto

We have heard horror stories that upgrading Vista to 7 went wrong and the user was often left with a faulty system. There is a proven method being circulated on the internet to perform a clean installation with the Windows 7 Upgrade DVD.

 

First if you are still able to do so, try running Windows 7 upgrade advisor to check if your PC has the hardware to run Windows 7. Next save and backup important data on the HDD as you would normally do when reinstalling Windows. This how-to shows how to save and restore your office settings (if any) using the Save My Settings Wizard.

Then boot from the Windows 7 DVD and do a clean install, i.e. at the hard drive section, you choose to delete and format the hard drive. Remember to choose the correct Windows edition. When you are asked to enter the product key, do not enter, as your product key won't allow a clean install. You will be given a 30-day trial because of that.

After the installation is done. Don't install anything yet. Do an upgrade install (on top of the new windows 7 itself!). This time you enter the product key and you will have a working and registered Windows. Restore your backup after that.

Information technology industry progresses in a very fast pace as IT is of high demand currently. Old technology, best practices are often replaced by new ones within a few years. This means there is no safe haven in IT. The only way to keep your rice bowl is to upgrade existing skills and pick up new skills, make your resume as interesting as possible to the future employers.

 

This how-to is about how to learn a new programming language fast, it also applies to learning any IT skill. Everyone knows what's best for him/her to learn a new programming language as a result of experience from the past. This is because everyone has his/her own unique learning style. By adapting to this learning style, one can make maximum learning efficiency.

 

This is the last update to TypingAid version 1.x which addresses the problems of tooltip blocking and antivirus false alarm. A Unicode version of the program is also added for support of languages with Unicode characters. Meanwhile TypingAid 2.x and BlitzType are under intense testing and development. When they have reached a stable stage suitable for general users, we will release them. The primary new feature of TypingAid 2.x is the word learning function and its performance was much improved after code optimization. BlitzType will have multiple-suggestion tooltip and external dictionary support.

 

Wordlists update

The Swedish word list is updated to include more words.

2 new word lists are uploaded too: Brazilian Portuguese and Russian.

Newest TypingAid 1.2 now has some of the requested features. Thanks to maniac @ AutoHotKey forum and those who gave their feedback. Meanwhile I have created a poll about BlitzType, if you like our typing autocompletion programs, please help us to answer the question of the poll. (Poll is closed)

 

Why the question?

The TypingAid program has proven useful to many and we have received many feedback. It's fascinating to learn that there are many different ways to use the program. However, very few know that the script has been around and developed for as long as 5 years on AutoHotKey forum.

 

A freeware author is often enthusiastic on his/her creation to a limit, because he/she can't devote full-time into it, (with some exceptions). An open-source project often needs commercial backing for it to turn into success. Some active distribution and promotion methods are needed to let more people know about a project. It's not unusual that TypingAid was left relatively unnoticed for 5 years.

 

Therefore it's my desire to attract more developers to work on BlitzType, and make the development process faster (6 months instead of 5 years to complete), hopefully build a community around it, offer a more responsive email as well as community technical support, introduce the programs to more people, publish more useful articles on the blog. The ultimate goal is to let more people benefit from TypingAid & BlitzType. To do that, I need $$.

 

So as not to create any bias in your mind before you attempt the poll. I shall comment no further. Please take some time to ponder and give an answer based on your own judgement. Thank you very much.

 

BlitzType is a predictive text completion software for Windows, designed to reduce repetitive typing in text input. It can be used as a learning aid or typing aid for users who have difficulties typing normally, or to reduce keystrokes when working with a list of lengthy technical terms or commonly typed words and phrases. It is an on-going project currently under beta, the software will have features unique in its own way, compared to other commercial offerings in the market. It focuses on prediction and learning capabilities.

 

The software is now open to public for testing and feedback. Since it is still at beta version, it is advisable to backup your data before testing or only test it on a non-priority machine. The minimum requirement for running BlitzType is a Windows XP system or above on a machine with Pentium III 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM.

 

New release: 0.95

 

(If you have an older version, fresh install is required)

Features of BlitzType:

Auto-complete words and phrases in any window. Automatically learn from typing. On-demand or always show suggestion. Multiple suggestions in the tooltip. Different ways to auto-complete, including 'text expand'. AutoCorrect. Portable.

Coming features:

Support European languages with accents. Management of learned phrases. Better control of tip position.

DOWNLOAD BlitzType

 

If the program does not start,

you might need MS VC++ runtime or

from offcial website.

 

Defragmentation is an old and well-known PC maintenance method that helps to prolong harddisk lifespan. It achieves so by moving data bits that spread across the disk closer together and making the used space more compact. As a result the harddisk spindle moves less above the disk when seeking the data you want, therefore head scratch is less frequent - HDD lifespan increases. In some cases, it also helps to consolidate some free space, because if the disk is fragmented and getting full, it is difficult to save a large file on it.

 

Recently we came across reports saying that defrag could improve system performance as well. For example, MyDefrag claims to be a disk defragmenter as well as optimizer (a maintenance utility to make your harddisk faster). If it is true, it is amazing because we have a new way to speed up our computers. We are skeptical because work applications rarely use file I/O compared to other operations like memory and page file access. It is easy to understand this because you save your work or load another file only once in a while. Memory read is incredibly fast, and page file access is not improved by defragmentation because page file is usually fixed in size or does not get fragmented so easily.

 

This 5-part series of reviews is a reply to a statement in

Debunking Common Windows Performance Tweaking Myths

which says "I’d go a step further: Don’t run registry cleaner programs, period. I won’t go so far as to call them snake oil, but what possible performance benefits can you get from “cleaning up” unneeded registry entries and eliminating a few stray DLL files?"

 

We choose to take the scientific approach, to prove or disprove something, what is better and more objective than testing the assumption in an experiment. Find out whether registry cleaner is useful or not in our 5-part reviews which are the results of our experiment.

TypingAid is a simple, compact and handy auto-completion utility for Windows. It is a free and open-source software licensed under GPL.

New release: 2.15

I'd like to share with you a program TypingAid, to demonstrate how auto-completion tool could help to improve typing speed and productivity, as well as to reduce the risk of RSI (Repetitive strain injury). With proper set up, TypingAid could also be used as a typing aid for language learners and computer users affected by conditions such as Dyslexia, learning / writing difficulty, hand disability, Repetitive strain injury, etc.

Features of TypingAid:

Auto-complete words and phrases in any window. Auto-learn words as you type. Support European languages with accents and Unicode characters. Show suggestion listbox, no toolbar used. Add words and phrases to word list with shortcut key. Fast and memory-efficient. Portable, no installation needed.

DOWNLOAD

TypingAid 2.15

 

from Softpedia

TypingAid is made with AutoHotKey but does not require AutoHotKey to run. If you have AutoHotKey installed, you may also try the newest development version (bleeding edge) at AHK Forum TypingAid v2.15 - Word AutoCompletion Utility.

 

New users please read Quick Guide and check Known issues below to get started.

 

So, one day you decided to cut the cable and start using wireless connection instead of your old cable connection but as usual, new technologies come with new problems. When you are connected via wireless connection you may happen to run into disconnections so here you are, some tips.

 

The first thing is… why are you using a wireless connection? If you are just using it because you can use it, it is better for you not to do it anymore. Wireless connections are only useful if you have to put a long wire from the modem / router and you want to save that installation, but if you have the computer next to the router and you use wireless you are not making the most of your internet connection. If you can put a cable, forget the waves. Wireless connections are more unstable and less safe than a cable connection no matter how well do you protect them so, if there is a choice, use cable instead of wireless.

As shown in a previous article Computer is getting slow at opening programs and startup, we reduced the boot time of a computer by disabling unnecessary programs that load during startup. The computer performance improved as a result of less virtual memory being used. This method is very useful for computer performance tuning.

 

The command that enables us to do so is 'msconfig'.

Start -> Run or type in the searchbox -> 'msconfig' -> Enter -> Go to 'Startup' tab

 

 

Backup process is very important in computing as it minimizes the risk of losing important data when disaster strikes. But it could be a slow and arduous process if the amount of data that need to be protected is huge. In this review, we recommened a freeware, Cobian Backup, that helps to automate our backup process and saves us a lot of time. It can be used for synchronization of files between two locations as well.

 

We are aware of the existence of some online backup services that offer convenient backup of files to internet servers on a secure location. However, they didn't quite interest us, because to enable backup or restoration of files at anytime, the site need to have 100% uptime which is technically impossible. And using such a service would mean we are betting on the financial stability of the company and pray that they will not go bust within the lifetime of our data. Lastly, the storage space given is usually limited.One should also not rely on the software on our USB drive. Because some of these software choose what files to backup by themselves. This isn't helpful to us. Different drives have different software, that always takes time to configure. None of them offer the sophisticated options that Cobian Backup offers. Yet Cobian is very efficient in memory usage and also user-friendly. Since we started using Cobian we have deleted our backup batch file scripts.