News and events

Technical matters What is Microsoft's vision for the future? There is a very interesting video at this website - http://www.microsoft.com/showcase/en/us/details/e7728af1-3fe4-4e25-a907-3dbf689fe11a To view this video on-line you will need to have Microsoft Silverlight installed. Microsoft Windows 8. This new version of the Windows operating system is in the pipeline and early information indicates that for tablet computers it will have a desktop with icons that can be swiped. However for normal desktops and laptops there will be the familiar desktop accessed by a mouse and keyboard. One major difference from previous versions of Windows is there will be only one version. The software will automatically adapt itself to the configuration of your hardware, and activate those functions that your hardware can support. Reportedly this new OS will take us yet another step towards cloud computing. Rumours abound, but it is thought Windows 8 will start appearing towards the end of 2012. Microsoft Windows 7 We recommend this operating system as the most advanced 32 bit consumer operating system for PCs currently available. It is now virtually the only option on new computers now, and can also be purchased from retail stores as an upgrade, or full version. The upgrade version upgrades from any version of Windows from Windows 2000 on, and it retains your settings, programmes, and data. The best advice is to install the full version, which means a 'Clean install' by formatting your hard disk with the NTFS file system. This gets rid of any corrupted files, and data you have forgotten you had. You will of course lose all your data and programmes, so back up everything important first, including your emails, contacts, and settings. If you do not know how to do this we have had a workshop to show you how, which could be repeated. At our learning Centre we have installed Windows 7 on all computers, and we now have workshops available to assist you with understanding it. If you are familiar with Vista you should have no problems. Before installing Windows 7 on your computer first run the Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. This will tell you whether your computer will run Windows 7. A minimum of 1 GB of RAM is essential, 2 GB is better, and for image editing 4GB is advisable. Most legacy software that runs in Vista will run in Windows 7. Office 2002, 2003, and 2007, Adobe Photoshop in most versions, MS Digital Image, MS Works 8, MS Money 2003, MS FrontPage 2003, AVG 2011, Skype, all work normally. It builds on the engine (code) which underlies Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista, and has dispensed with some of the resource hungry applications built into Vista. If you want applications like Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, or Windows Live Mail, you have to download them from the Microsoft website. There are some cool new things, and my top pick is the Jump Lists. Now that is a really useful innovation. In the realm of the funky is the Aero Shake. Have a look at this website for a demo: http://www.microsoft.com/showcase/en/us/details/d900362b-0011-4df2-bbcd-05bfaf5ca086 Microsoft say they have listened to their customers, and have provided a stable core which doesn't fall over, on which you can run the applications you want - you choose this time. This makes a lot of sense. Installing Windows 7. Put the CD in the CD/DVD drive and reboot your computer. Follow the instructions and choose a clean install (you lose your data and settings) or upgrade (you retain your data and settings). You can also setup from within Windows Vista. Dual Boot? If you have two hard disks (or a large one -120GB or larger which can be partitioned) you can retain your present operating system on one disk and load Windows 7 on the other disk (or partition) - easily. If you have just the one unpartitioned hard disk you don't have to reformat it as Windows 7 has a built-in facility to shrink partitions. It actually happens automatically if you choose the option to retain your current operating system when installing Windows 7, and then you have the choice of booting into Windows 7 or your old system. They say you can even boot Win 7 from an external hard disk, or even a largish media stick. Another claim is improved compatibility. Some programmes which ran in Vista will not run in Windows 7. You can get around this by running it in Vista SP2 compatibilty mode. This website gives a full explanation. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html If all else fails and the programme that ran in Windows XP, or the hardware that has no Vista or Windows 7 driver, fear not as you can run virtual Windows XP using Virtual PC (not available in Home and basic versions). At SeniorNet we have Virtual PC installed in Windows 7 Pro on a laptop. In Virtual PC we have installed Windows XP Mode (virtually a free copy of Windows XP), and this is where we installed the XP printer driver. The laser printer worked as if it was installed in Windows 7. Over time HP produced a Windows 7 driver so it became unnecessary to use Virtual PC. So it is worth checking the manufacturer's website form time to time to see if an updated driver is available. Virtual PC can run several other operating systems in addition, such as Windows 98, or even Linux, and you can swap between them. Windows 7 is better equipped with inbuilt drivers (small pieces of computer code that make things like printers work) than Vista was when it was released, but if there is no Windows 7 driver many Vista drivers seem to work OK. Office 2010 has entered the mainstream, and we have it on our computers at SeniorNet in Warkworth in the Windows 7 partitions. Members are welcome to have a look at this improved version which offers improvements over Office 2007. Neville Fursdon Technical Manager
RAM Random Access Memory - RAM How Much should I have ? There is no really hard and fast answer to this question. It depends upon what you are using your computer for, and what operating system you are using, to take the two most obvious factors. If you are multi-tasking - using Adobe Photoshop Elements or doing video editing, and want to be able to run office applications, and surf, and do email, all at once - then you may need a fair amount of memory. If you are a typical home user and mostly use your computer for email, surfing, a word processor or spreadsheet, then you won't need quite as much. In terms of how it affects you the end user, the right amount of memory = faster computer. However installing more RAM may make absolutely no difference if your hardware is not up to it, for instance, you may need to upgrade your video card, and this on top of the cost of the RAM could go a long way towards the cost of a new box. For the typical (confused) home user here are some recommendations (or best guesses) Linux – can manage with as little as 4 MB Windows 95 - Seems to be happy with 64 MB. Anything over doesn't get you much performance increase, but if you have anything less, you should consider getting more memory. The benefit can be quite substantial. Windows 98/Me - Seems to be happy with 128 MB. Works OK with 64 MB, but you will probably see a significant performance increase by going to 128. Anything over 128 generally doesn't get you much. Windows NT (Workstation) - Seems to be happy with 128 MB for most things. Windows 2000 - At least 128 MB, and basically as much as you can afford. Consider 256 MB or more if it's got a heavy demand on it. Windows XP - Hard to say, but 256 MB as a minimum, and works better with more, up to 512 MB. Opinions vary as to whether going to 1GB gives any noticeable benefit. Windows Vista 32 bit – Will run with 512 MB, but as a rule of thumb you should double the amount you would have used with XP up to a maximum of 4 GB for the 32 bit version (and the sky is the limit for the 64 bit version). To use the aero effects your video card needs plenty of RAM installed on the card itself, or if it shares some of the RAM on the motherboard there will be less for general use. Most experts recommend 1GB with further benefit noticed up to 2GB. In early tests the scale of benefit beyond 3 GB is reported to tail off. Windows Vista 64 bit - the sky is the limit How much can you afford? 8 to 16 GB seems like a useful amount. Windows 7 32 bit - You will need 1Gb, 2 is better, and probably best to install 4 GB, however it can not use more than about 3.5 GB. Windows 7 64 bit - Once again the sky is the limit, though in practice similar to Vista requirements. Buying more memory is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective ways of improving your computer performance. Now what about DDR RAM, Rambus RAM, SD RAM, EDO RAM, XDR RAM, etc etc? Don't get confused by the gobbledegook. Your motherboard will usually want a specific type, so the options are limited. Look in the information booklet that came with your motherboard, or find the make and model by looking at the upper surface of the motherboard where it will be written in tiny writing, then Google it on the Internet for recommendations for your specific model. Another way is to do a scan at http://www.crucial.com/ to find what memory you have, and what is possible. If you want to find out the make and model of the various pieces of hardware which make up your computer try downloading the free Belarc Hardware Adviser. It will also tell you the version numbers and the product numbers of most of the software you have installed. Lost your disks with the product keys? Free utilities like the Magical Jellybean keyfinder at this website http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ will assist with Windows keys. Follow this link to find other keyfinders http://pcsupport.about.com/od/productkeysactivation/tp/topkeyfinder.htm Disclaimer. While we are able to offer advice in good faith in the above article, be warned that you follow this advice at your own risk. SeniorNet Warkworth Inc and its officers can not accept accept any responsibility for any untoward outcome as a result of following the advice in this article.