Hide Skype or other icons from your Windows Start Menu and put it back in your task tray in Windows 7

One of my largest blog hits is how to hide Windows Live Messenger from your Start menu and keep it in your task try in Windows 7 as it did in Windows Vista.

You can see this post here: http://wp.me/piqX8-6

This also works for other icons you don't want to show including Skype.

Windows 8, well that a whole new story since its all about the Metro UI now and App Swapping.  It will be interesting to see apps re-adopt to the new UI.

Windows 7 – Add your own search engines!

Love this feature i stumbled across Sarah Perez’s (Chanel 10 Blogger) site… http://cid-781010de23482939.profile.live.com/

She shows a way to add Windows 7 Search context’s to the Windows Explorer.

I took her example of how to search the Microsoft Support site and updated it with BING (she was using live), then found another one for Twitter and finally created my own for MSDN searches.

You can grab them from my skyDrive here:

http://cid-4320f28e64229e18.skydrive.live.com/embedrow.aspx/Public/Windows7SearchAdd-ins

 

Just download them, and open them up.  Windows will ask you if its ok to register them and voila!  You get search power right from Windows Explorer:

Hide Live Messenger from the Windows 7 Start Menu Taskbar

I just wanted my Messenger to hide the way it did in Windows Vista and XP.

Right now, when you minimize Windows Live Messenger, it takes up a lot of space in your taskbar.

So here’s a trick i found out when testing some code for Windows 7…

If you set the properties of an application to run as an older OS, it will allow the app to behave like it did in the “old” days.

So find your Messenger in your “Start Menu” and right click on it and select “Properties”

Then from the Compatibility tab, set the mode to “Windows Vista”

 

Make sure to Restart Messenger and you done.

Now when you close your messenger window, it will run the way it did in the background accessible from your notification area.

 

The last thing you might want to do is tell Windows 7 to always show the icon so you have it always ready to go…

From the Control Panel, click Notification Area Icons and set the Windows Live Messenger to “Show icon and notifications”.

Cheers

S.

Woo Hoo…Windows 7 Media Center Extender to Xbox 360 plays all types of video types!!!

Finally…Without having to install any extra codec products (like KLite or Shark007 Codec Pack) Windows 7 play all of my home video files taken with the variety of cameras and camcorders we have used over the last 10 years.  What a joy to finally watch all our home movies right on Windows 7 as well as our XBOX 360 without any “conversion” like we had to back in the Vista/XP days. 

I love Windows Media Center.  Great job team.  Gets better every release.

ps… the “play favorites” has become a family favorite feature.

Windows 7 RC and Dell XPS 1330 – smooth sailing

I'm happy to report that the install of Windows 7 RC went very well on my Dell XPS 1330.  I'll write more about it later, but I did not have to install anything specific from the dell website.  I just did a clean Windows 7 RC install, ran windows updates after the install which added fingerprinting, video display, and memory card (SD, etc) support. Other components installed during the initial install (Bluetooth and the embedded Dell Webcam).

Its so much faster than the Beta.

Only issue, Norton 360 3.0 seems to have issues where there were no issues with the Beta.

More later…

ps

MS has gotten really creative with their wall papers and account pictures

Linksys Powerline AV Adapter

I tried this technology a few years ago and did not have much luck with it.  It was a D-Link Powerline system that converted your standard power outlet into instant network cabling.  It just didn’t work and was unreliable.

A little while ago, we added a Powerline-based security-IP camera to our network from Logitech.  Its a really cool system and easy to setup.  Web cam plugs in outside directly into an outlet.  Then you plug another box right beside your PC/Server (one side into an outlet directly and the other into a USB port) and blamo, you got a direct network connection from the security camera right to your PC/Server.

I figure i’d try Linksys’ second generation Powerline systems to connect my Windows Home Server 2003 to our network.  It was working over a Wireless N Network well, but was chewing up valuable Wireless bandwidth, plus, the Linksys Wireless N USB Adaptor would give up about once every two weeks under load requiring the server to be reboot (yuck).

I swapped out the Linksys Wireless N USB card on the server with a Powerline AV Adapter Kit HD (PLK300) and its been working great for a few months now.

This diagram shows how it uses your power plugs as a network.

Codec Pack and Windows 7

Before upgrading Windows 7, you should uninstall any Codec Packs that you might have installed.  Microsoft did a lot of work to add great support for common Codecs and having Codec's packs can cause issues with playback or stable support for video.  Research your codec pack before upgrading  (k-lite, shark007 vista, etc).

 

S.

Windows 7 and XBox 360 Media Center Extenter

Tonight, i finally got a chance to try to see what the XBOX 360 Media Center Experience would be like when connected to Windows 7.  I am so happy to finally be able to stream and watch home video's on my xbox extender.  Before, my AVI, MPG,etc files (taken with casio, canon, sanyo, and only cameras) would not play through the xbox extender, using Vista; but Win7 it works!!!.  Our hi-def videos show perfectly.  It also has a great screen saver cycling through our photo library.  perfect for where our xbox extender is; in our dining room.

 

Iphone users...Welcome to Hotmail...

No longer do you have to use a 3rd party software or purchase the Hotmail PLUS package to get email to your iPhone...

The Live Mail team has now announced that you can get Live Mail (Hotmail) via POP3:

A new way to get Hotmail on your phone - Windows Live

 

Yes, Dell XPS m1330 runs Windows 7 Beta (build 7000)

I opted to do an upgrade from my Vista to 7 since i didnt want to lose my program settings, etc.  I am running:

MS Office 2007 (entire suite including Project and Onenote)
VS 2005 and 2008
SQL Server 2005 and 2008
Virtual PC 2005 (need to reconfigure MS Loopback if used)
Windows Live Suite (no parental controls)
Quicken 2008
Roxio 10 (Loads but need setup disks to self fix)
Zune 3.0 (Zune still syncs, WinMo still syncs)
iTunes 8 (iphone still syncs)
Skype

So far, all hardware works as it did before (bluetooth, wifi, webcam, thumbprint reader, SCSI/SATA, etc).

I upgraded my bios to A15 and backed up my machine with Windows Home Server first.  Then started the install.  It took over 4 hours to upgrade!!!

The setup program initially warned me of only two problems.  One, the SCSI might not be supported and Two, Visual Studio 2005 was not compatible.  The SCSI issue never happened (thank goodness).... 

Failures:  Daemon Tools, Norton Protection Center (full suite)

Issues:  Virtual PC 2005 - when launched, it complained that my virtual machine could not find my "Microsoft Loopback Connector".  Checking it, it looks like Win7 removes it during the upgrade.  No biggie...the Virtual PC still works and is fast.

Success...Much faster boot, and application execution.

After installing Windows 7 dont forget to install the Win7 Update Patch (KB961367) - don't add you music (mp3's) to your music library until you do this!!!

Good luck with your upgrades...gotta go find an AV solution.

Cheers

S.

Microsoft announces Windows Azure

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Windows Home Server Power Pack Beta 1

 

The Home Server team released the new Power Pack and it has some nice improvements.

First it resolved one of my backup issues with our primary Media Center PC where it was not able to backup the Hot-Swap drive.  Bug fixes are good.

It also now lets you multi-select files and download them from the server as a compressed zip.  Yippie!  It even shows thumbnails for photo's (but not for videos). 

The new Home Connect software that runs on each PC in the home now has a self update feature...self maintaining software is a great Father's day gift...Thanks MS...Less "IT Support Dad", more time for cool technology.

Love this video from Lenovo on the MacAir Book

 

 

YouTube - test
 

Worldwide Telescope

 

It looks like Microsoft has taken their cool PhotoSynth technology and applied it to Space Exploration.  In Q4 of last year, they pushed Photosynth into Virtual Earth letting you pan and zoom photographic data taken by helicopters across the earth.  It now seems like they have done the same but with satellite images and earth images of Space.

Worldwide Telescope is said to be available in the Spring of 2008.  Should be really cool.

If you have not tried Photosynth yet...check this out:  http://labs.live.com/photosynth/ or check it out by downloading the 3D viewer from Virtual Earth (http://local.live.com)

S.

Thoughts on MS Home Server (and the COOL WebGuide4 Add-in)

 

I recently installed the new Windows Home Server to help manage our computer backups and share video, pictures and movies across our network (diagram pre-Home Server).

Home Server has been a really cool (and inexpensive**) add-on to our home network.  It provides us with:

1. Daily backups of all home-connected computers
2. Streams pictures and SOME video nicely to our XBOX 360 - Add WebGuide4 and IT ROCKS!!!
3. Centralized storage of our data
4. Remote connection to your PC (as long as its Vista Ultimate or older XP OS')

** HP is one of the first companies to sell Home Server machines to the public.  However, you could take an older PC in your home and install an copy of Home Server with a purchased copy from companies such as this.

Backups

Our daily backups are seamless.  Initially each computer took about 2 hours to do a full backup.  After the initial backup image, they take about 10-15 min each night....and those times are over a Wireless Network...both Server and client.  Yes!  Our Windows Home Server is not even connected via a network wire, but rather a Wireless-N connection.  I was worried about the server running wirelessly initially since its not a supported configuration...but i have had ZERO problems with in and its been running for a 1.5 months now.  I still plan on having someone come in to run a buried wire to my router...but i gotta find the time.

 

Picture, Video, Music streaming

Out of the box, the experience for this could be MUCH better.  Thankfully, Home Server is a developer-friendly environment and companies like ASCII EXPRESS have filled the void where MS couldn't in time for the release (or lack of will).  Without add-ins you can have up to 10 registered users access your Home-Server and users have this kind of view to shared video, picture and music:

After installing the FREE add-in from a ASCII Express ( a guy who has now been hired by the Microsoft Windows Media Center Team), your video, picture and music experience is more like this:

It even lets you streaming music and video over the web:

And the Photo sharing experience is wonderful.  Thumbnail views, Zooming and panning capabilities, and even picture details.

WebGuide4 just such a slick User experience.  A MUST for any Home Server.

A list of other add-ins for WHS can be found here

Storage

Being able to store data centrally is great.  But what is even cooler is you can grow your storage space as easily as plugging in another USB External Hard Drive!  Here you can see i've added a 500GB USB Drive to my existing 150GB for storage:

You can also ask Home Server to "Duplicate" some of your important folders (such as family photo's or video's) so that in case of a major hard drive failure you are protected.

Remote Access to your Computers

Being able to access any of your home computers remotely is really cool...Unfortunately, it only works if you have specific versions of the operating system on your computer for Home Server to connect too.  Most home computers today will come with Windows Vista Home Premium....and Home Server does not consider this an acceptable computer to provide remote access too.  You have to be running Vista Ultimate for Remote to work (or older XP editions which is odd).  I think the Home Server team should talk to the Vista team and unlock this feature for Home Server access.  How many times did i get a call from home asking for remote help?  Now i have to upgrade of our Home PC's to Ultimate just to get this?!  Please fix this MS on your next release!!!

Things that could be better

Clear Direction on the Photo/Video story from Microsoft

The Media Center team needs to talk to the Home Server team (Media Sharing) which needs to talk to the Zune team which needs to talk to the Windows Live Team (Live Photo) which needs to talk to the XBOX 360 Team (MCE and/or Blade Video/Photo's).  What's going on?!  We need a common approach on how to store video and pictures and share them with our friends and devices.  For example, Media Center has this neat way exposing a folder that contains both Video and Pictures.  If you are in "Pictures", you have a cool "Related Video" link that allows you to show video's found in that same folder (ie related to these pictures).  This approach is also how Windows Live Photo deals with the import of pictures and video from a camera that does both (like our Casio EX-880...which by the way does AWESOME HD Video).  This is great!  So your approach would be to move all video and photo's into the same directory...This is where is dies...cause if you do, you can't share it properly with Home Server...since home server requires you to have your video and photo's separate (ala Media Player).  So why does this matter?  Well, if you don't separate them, then you can't access the pics and video from your Home Server to your XBOX 360...or other media extender devices.

Synchronization across computers for family and friends

Microsoft bought a company many moons ago called FolderShare.  MS quickly logo'ed it as a "Live Service" but has done nothing with it since.  An alternative is MS Sync Toy, but is no where near as powerful, flexible, and more importantly, stable.  I'd love to see FolderShare as part of the Home Server service

Centralized Recorded TV

There has been some work around this in the dev community, but no clear winner, but Home Server should be where ALL recorded video is stored and then streamed from.  HP's Home Server implementation did something cool which is the addition of a streaming service to stream video (like WebGuide).  I have not seen this in action, but I'm not sure if it allows for the recording of content direct to Home Server for streaming.

Home Organization

HP added a neat feature on their TouchSmart PC that parents and kids share a calendar, notes, tasks, etc. with each other.  This should be a service of the Home Server accessible via the Home Server desktop panel.

Sync My Ride!!!

http://www.syncmyride.com/

 

I'd be curious to see how well this works.  Its good to see that MS as got this working with a variety of devices - music devices and phones.  The MS Voice Command on the Windows Mobile devices work great without any training.

 

S.

Samsung SSD...very cool

Samsung has these new SSD drives that replace Hard Drives.  SSD's have no moving parts and are much smaller and faster...

 

check out this video that compares them:  http://www.samsungssd.com/video/ssd.html

 

limted to 64GB of space...but i can see how they can really reduce the size of your notebook.

 

s.

.net 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5? How does it fit?

Such a common question asked.  I think the confusion of it comes because on major version updates, Microsoft has typically replaced the former version with the newer one.  WIth the .NET framework, they have just added to it, betwee, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5.  Its a strange pattern MS is setting, however, it makes it great for compatibility of your apps on each new release. 

 

Here is a blog that nicely shows it in a picture format:

http://www.danielmoth.com/Blog/2007/06/net-framework-35.html 

 

 

NRF - The "Big Show"

I'll be presenting at the NRF show again this year.  We'll have a bootha the show as well as a kisok and theater time with Microsoft.  I'll be offically presenting in the Microsoft Theater at 10:45am on Tuesday Jan. 16th.  We'll be showing our cool visualization app and presenting a whole new app too!.  Its very very cool.

 

Vista/Office 2007 Launch Presentation...

We got another great opportunity to present our next generation solution at the Vista/Office 2007 launch event here in Toronto.  We presented to over 600 architects.  We presented with Mohammad (a Senior Architect as MS) our partner evagilist Cigdem.

 

It was also good to run into so many familiar faces!