This is one of the best sidebar gadgets for Vista….ever! This gadget checks the status of your website at your choice of intervals (1-60). You can run multiple instances of this gadget to watch a variety of your sites to make sure they are functioning properly. The background will change to display the status of your site, so it’s easy to spot a problem.
The great people over at The Vista Forums have a contest going on where you can win an Xbox 360 Elite, and several other prizes. This is to celebrate them reaching the 30,000 member mark, and entering the contest is easy. All you have to do is write a review of a Microsoft hardware product, or anything listed as Vista capable. More details and rules can be found at the link below.
Long Zheng (istartedsomething.com) has created a Windows Vista UI “taskforce” which will gather and record all known UI quirks in Windows Vista. Obviously, nothing can be guaranteed to be fixed, but Long will send the list to someone at Microsoft and hopefully get some results. He is asking for help in finding these quirks and there is already quite a big list of some interesting glitches in the Vista UI. These are also fixes that could lead themselves into “Windows 7″ as well.
Head over to his site and check out the current list, and if you know of something that should be there, go ahead and submit it. You can also help out by spreading the word about the UI “taskforce” on your blog or social network.
To help count down the days until the release of the upcoming PC game, The Political Machine 2008, I created these gadgets for your desktop. One gadget will run on any XP or Vista desktop, and the other is for the Windows Vista Sidebar.
“Last year’s successful launch of the Apple iPhone made clear to cell phone makers that yes, the experience a “commodity” provides for the customer matters. PC makers have begun to take note and leading the way is Dell who began pre-loading the new Dell Dock on consumer PCs yesterday.
The new dock, represents a significant improvement for Windows Vista users over the default experience by seamlessly integrating programs and data into the desktop experience. It’s a first step to be sure but it’s a pretty bold move for one of the world’s leading PC producers to take.
While at a glance, one might try to argue that the dock looks like the MacOS X dock. But that would be akin to people saying that the dock in MacOS X is like the LaunchPad that came with IBM OS/2. What makes the Dell dock special is its ease of customization, low memory foot print, and raw performance. In addition, as pretty as the Dell Dock is, its focus is on usability rather than flash. Short-cuts get separated from folders, the category view is designed for ease of access, and dozens of small touches make it feel as if it were a natural part of Windows.”
Windows Vista is here, and regardless of whether you upgraded from XP, or just purchased a new PC with it installed, I’m sure you are ready to customize the way Vista looks. Now we can go in all sorts of directions in customizing Vista, but I wanted to cover some of the basics as that is enough for most people.
Let me also take this time to cover a few questions about customizing Vista that you might have.
Q.Will it use many resources or “slow” Vista down?
A. By using the tools I will show you, your system performance should not be affected at all.
Q.Will this somehow “hurt” my computer?
A. Not at all. The methods used here are not system hacks, and the software I will show here is fully tested on Vista.
Q.Is this free?
A. Some applications are free, and some require a purchase after the trial period runs out. The price of the applications are typically small and well worth the investment.
Changing the Vista Logon
The logon screen is basically the first thing you see when you start your computer. Windows Vista has a nice default logon screen, but why not personalize it? To do that, just go and grab yourself a copy of LogonStudio Vista and have at it. LogonStudio Vista (free) lets you easily change a create the Windows Vista logon to any number of downloadable logons already available. If you prefer to use an image of your own, it’s as simple as drag and drop to create your own.
I just caught this post by Brandon LeBlanc at the Windows Experience Blog today about a new application for photographers from Microsoft.
Microsoft today has made available a new tool for photographers using Windows for their digital photos: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools V1. This application lets you quickly edit the metadata on digital photos you’ve shot with your camera - including RAW formats.
Have you ever been writing that important report for your boss and suddenly, Word just “unexpectedly” stopped working? Or maybe the spreadsheet you have been working on for weeks gives you that strange corrupt file error? Regardless of the reasons, I’m sure it’s safe to say all of us have had some type of similar experience regarding losing important data.
Backing up data is always one of the first things people tell you to do, but lets face it, many of us just forget or don’t make a steady routine of it. So what do people like us, or anyone for that matter, do to ensure our data is kept safe and can be easily restored if needed?
First thing you need to do is grab yourself a copy of KeepSafe. KeepSafe is an application from Stardock that provides real-time backup of your data, and provides an easy to use interface for managing and restoring your saved data. You can choose to backup specific document types, or entire folders, and KeepSafe will only backup when the files are changed, saving disk space.
Once installed, KeepSafe will present you with a wizard for a quick and easy setup of commonly used files. You can always select more, and have access to more options in the full configuration window.
The main configuration window is where you can add and configure more file types, and also specify directories for backup. It’s not just for backing up document and spreadsheet files, you can select it to save nearly anything including media files.
One new feature in KeepSafe 2.0 is the ability to set a secondary backup location to an external hard drive or USB drive. save to local storage temporarily and copy to secondary drive when connected. There are also many different configuration options that lets you choose how often, or specify a backup size, allowing you to save even more space if needed.
If you are one who likes to keep tabs on what is being saved, and how much space it’s taking, then don’t worry as KeepSafe also has an easy to read Statistics section. This section gives a variety of options to view all your KeepSafe statistics.
In the event that you do lose some of your data, getting it back is what really counts. Another new feature in KeepSafe 2.0 is newly designed user interface of the recovery wizard. This makes recovering any of your lost data a snap. You can search through saved filed by time, file type, name, and more. Once you find your file you then have the option to open or save it.
KeepSafe works with both Windows Vista and XP. A free trial is available and you can find more information at the Keepsafe website.
KeepSafe is the ultimate real-time data protection technology that is as simple as set-and-forget it. It’s designed to work in the background and be as seamless as possible. Anyone who has ever lost that all important document due to a drive crash, corrupt save, overwritten, etc., then users will appreciate what KeepSafe can do. This new version of KeepSafe features several new features:
Improved User Interface to make more user friendly and intuitive.
Secondary backup location can be an external hard drive or USB drive.
Configure KeepSafe to save to local storage temporarily, and copy to secondary drive when connected. Very useful for when working mobile.
New statistics view to show file counts and disk space usage.
Entries (RSS)