Save $80 When Buying Windows 7 With a Few Hacks

The trusted Windows expert, Paul Thurott have figured out how to use a Windows 7 Upgrade disk to do a clean install of Windows 7. This is really great because the Windows 7 Upgrade costs a whole $80 less then the regular version.

Here are the installation instructions:

1. When installing Windows 7 do a clean install. You should have no problems doing this.

2. Make sure there are no Windows Updates pending -- if there's an orange shield icon next to the Shutdown button in the Start Menu, that means you need to reboot before attempting the next steps.

3. Open the Windows Registry Editor.This can be done by clicking start and type “regedit” (without quotes).

4. In the Registry Editor navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

5. Change MediaBootInstall from '1' to '0'

6. Open Command Prompt. This can be done by clicking start and searching for “CMD”.

7. Type slmgr /rearm -- and press enter.

Your PC will restart and run the Activate Windows utility. Then like magic, everything works and you’ve got another $80 in your pocket.

iPhone OS 3.1 for 3GS Now Jailbroken

The iPhone OS 3.1 has finally been jailbroken, and freed from the evil grips of Apple. The problem is that you need to have already Pwnd it at 3.0 or 3.0.1—you can't jailbreak 3.1 directly, but its a start.

Palm Fixes Pre iTunes Sync!

  Last week Apple tried to prevent the Palm Pre from syncing with iTunes, but it was not enough. Palm came out with an update that un-broke iTunes syncing and added many great features.

Palm had this to say on their blog:

"That's right — you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1)."

But there are a bunch of other sweet new features, especially "person reminders," which let you set individual reminders for each person in your contact list (imagine a buddy calls, and a message pops up, reminding you to, say, congratulate him—or, if you're like me, to ask him to pay you back the money he owes you). So cool. Below is the full list of updates.

Version information

* Version: webOS 1.1.0
* Release date: 23 July 2009
* Configuration: Sprint 1.7

New applications
NFL Mobile Live from Sprint

* Watch or listen to live NFL games right on your phone.

Feature changes to existing applications
Calendar

* For Calendar accounts you create on your phone, the default reminder intervals are 15 minutes for timed events and one day for all-day events. A few notes:
o This change applies only if software version 1.1 was on your phone when you bought it, or if you did a partial or full erase on your phone and signed in to your Palm profile again after updating to version 1.1. If you simply update your phone to software version 1.1, the default reminder intervals in Calendar do not change.
o This change applies only to Calendar events you create on your phone, not to events that are synchronized to your phone from an online account.

Camera

* The Photos application opens more quickly when launched from the camera.

Clock

* Enhanced support for time zones in Clock.
* When you set an alarm in Clock, an alarm icon appears in the notification area at the bottom of the screen. Tap the icon to display alarm details. Alarm details include the following:
o If the alarm is set for the current day, the alarm time appears.
o If the alarm is set for tomorrow, the alarm time and "Tomorrow" appear.
o If the alarm is set for any day other than today or tomorrow, the day of the alarm appears.

Contacts

* Friends added and deleted in Facebook on the web are now correctly added and deleted in the Facebook account in Contacts on the phone.
* As soon as you create or makes changes to a Google contact on the phone, the phone begins a sync to reflect those changes in Google on the web.

Email

* When you set up an Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) email account, you can enter the mail server name as an IP address.
* Support for self-signed certificates with multiple common names has been added.
* When you reply to an email in HTML format using an EAS account, the formatting of the sender's original message is now retained in the reply.
* Palm's EAS implementation now supports several Exchange ActiveSync Policies, including the following:
o PIN/Password Required. IT administrators can ensure a password is assigned to the phone. Administrators can also specify the minimum length of the password.
o Inactivity timeout. IT administrators can ensure that an inactive phone goes into a locked state after a certain time period. You cannot set a higher timeout interval for your phone, but you can set a shorter interval.
o Remote Wipe. IT Administrators can remotely erase all data on a phone from their Exchange console. IT administrators can also have the device wipe itself if an incorrect password is entered more than a specified number of times.

Messaging

* You can enter emoticons in new text, multimedia, and instant messages. Emoticons also display in incoming messages.
* If you set the phone to use a 24-hour time format, the message times shown in a conversation appear in 24-hour time.
* If you go into an IM account's preferences, all the options are available even if you are signed in to the account. You can tap Remove Account to delete the account, enter a new password to update the password, or tap Sign In to sign in with your updated password. Previously, you needed to sign out of the account before you could use these preferences.
* When you delete an IM account, a message now appears asking you to confirm that you want to delete the account.

Phone

* When multiple missed call notifications are displayed on the dashboard, the time of the most recent missed call is shown.
* When you slide the ringer switch off, a bell icon with a slash is displayed. Previously, the icon was a speaker with a slash.
* In Phone Preferences, the Show Contact Matches preference is now turned on by default. When typing on the keyboard in the phone app, the phone automatically displays both the numbers being entered and any contact matches for the characters entered.

System

* Improved functionality of person reminders. A person reminder is a notification that you create in a contact entry. The notification appears when you have a call or exchange an email, text, multimedia, or IM message with a contact.
* Resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (8.2.1).
* When you enter a search term in Card view or the Launcher to perform a universal search, if you select the Wikipedia web search option, results are shown in the Wikipedia Mobile site instead of the Desktop site.

Web

* You can now use symbols from the symbols table (Sym Sym key icon + key) when you enter text into a web page dialog box.
* If you have a page open at a certain zoom level, leave the page, and use the onscreen Back Web Back button button or the back gesture to return to the page, the zoom level is restored right away.
* A new gesture is now available that works the same as the onscreen Forward Web Forward button button. To move forward through open web pages, make a short swipe left to right in the gesture area.
* When using the Wikipedia drop-down search feature in the address bar, results are shown in the Wikipedia Mobile site instead of the Desktop site.
* When you tap a link, the link appears highlighted to indicate it has been activated, even if it takes a moment for the linked page to open.

YouTube

* After you enter search text, you can tap the Search Search icon icon to perform a search. You still have the option of pressing Enter Enter key to perform the search.

Windows 95 Running on iPhone is a Disgrace to Tech

I don’t know why, but the iSoft team has decided to run Windows 95 on an iPhone 3G. The horrible background music and unfocused camera makes my stomach turn.

The hack uses the normal Windows 95 image and runs on the Bochs emulator. As everyone would expect, the speed is awful They are currently working on getting Windows XP to run on the iPhone, which will be even slower. This is a huge disgrace to tech.

China Gets iPhones Early, But Wi-Fi is Disabled

China Unicom will likely be selling an iPhone sooner than expected, but it will not have Wi-Fi capabilities.

The Government of China, which controls the 3 major cell phone networks in China said in the past that it objected to Wi-Fi in phones, perhaps because it's harder to sniff local packets than ones drifting through a wide-area network.

According to unconfirmed reports, China Unicom plans to sell a GSM based iPhone, but its licence is for something where Wi-Fi is blocked. As TradingMarkets.com puts it: "Apple has to cancel the Wi-Fi function without changing other components."

The good news is that, China has been waiting for the iPhone for a long time and they are finally getting it now. I just wonder how adept the Chinese jailbreakers will be at reactivating that Wi-Fi.

Modder adds IRC/Twitter/email LED’s to Eee PC

Its a shame that there are so many lights on laptops but most of them never go to use. One modder, who shared this philosophy, added a multicolor LED to an Asus Eee 901 to track incoming messages from IRC, Twitter and email.

Combined with an extra microprocessor and some custom scripts, the RGB LED illuminates with a different color depending on whether it's email, an IM or a new tweet awaiting one's perusal. With all of the useless software that are bundled with laptops these days, you’d think that Dell or HP would do something similar.

Stream Zune Songs to your iPhone

Gear Live has found a clever way to stream Zune Pass songs to your iPhone. Why would you do that. Zune Pass gives you an unlimited amount of songs for about $15/month. The issue is that they don't play natively on the iPhone.

You first need to set up Orb on a Windows based computer to transcode, on the fly, your already downloaded Zune songs. Then you can listen to all of your songs (not just 16GB or 32GB of them) wherever you have internet access. It works well on 3G and Wi-Fi but EDGE is too slow for full quality music. For a full guide on how to do it click here.

Windows 7 Running on a Pentium II Based PC

The moment I herd that Microsoft was designing Windows 7 to run on netbooks I was wondering what hardware it would run on.

A Windows Club Forum member that goes by the name of “hackerman1” has impressively installed Windows 7 on an ancient PC.  He installed it on a system packing a 266MHz Pentium II, 128MB of RAM and a 4MB graphics card. After succeeding, he decreased the RAM capacity to 96MB, which also handled 7. His experiment came to a temporary halt after dropping the RAM to 64MB. Hackerman’s fun won’t end there, though. He plans to try and get Windows 7 up and running on a 166MHz Pentium I and 1MB graphics card next.

Hackerman1 did not say how long it takes Windows 7 to boot or how long the install took. Other forum members said that on an ancient PC it took 17 hours to install, and 17 minutes to boot.

Install Windows Mobile 6.5 Before its Released

The bad news is that Windows Mobile 6.5 is not yet released, the good news it that you can install it today on your HTC Phone.

There are plenty of Windows Mobile 6.5 Roms floating around the internet, and despite the fact that installing Windows Mobile 6.5, the ROM’s are great. Unfortunateley most phones wont be able to run Windows Mobile 6.5 (sort of like Vista).

The Disclaimer: This tutorial will go deep into your systems software and there is a high chance that may brick your phone, deeming it unusable. If you are not geeky enough to do this don't even try it, if you are ready lets continue.

What you'll need:

An HTC Touch Diamond or Touch Pro (GSM only. Folks with CDMA handsets—that's you, Sprint and Verizon—go here or here.)
A (free) account at XDA Developers
A Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM (Lotsa choices here: Diamond, Pro)
A Windows PC, set up to sync with your handset A device flashing utility (Both)
A bootloader (Diamond, Pro)
A device radio (Diamond, Pro)

Installing the bootloader:

Many of you have probably updated, or "flashed" your devices before, but this will have been with an official, signed utility from either your carrier or handset manufacturer. What we're doing today is installing unofficial software, something which your handset isn't currently set up to do. Our first order of business, then, is to install a new bootloader, called HardSPL, on the device, which will allow your handset to load software from third parties, i.e., your sweet, sweet Windows Mobile ROM. Let's go:

1. Connect your phone to your PC, and establish an ActiveSync (on XP) or Sync Center (on Vista, or Windows 7) connection to your device. You don't need to set up any sync rules—just makes sure the connection is active. You can check this by looking for a bi-directional arrow in your phone's taskbar.

2. Extract the bootloader you've downloaded, and note the location (see "What You'll Need" for links)

3. Find your extracted files, and run the executable file (usually called "ROMUpdateUtility.exe" or something like that.

4. Follow the instructions, carefully. The software performs lots of checks to make sure you don't goof this up, but make sure you a.) have at least 50% battery left in your phone b.) the correct bootloader c.) a host computer that won't shut off, go to sleep or otherwise interrupt the process. Heed! Or else there may be bricking.

5. Wait! You'll see paired progress bars on your phone and computer screen. This part of the process doesn't take that long, since you're only updating a small piece of software.

6. Restart your phone. The small text in the corner of your Windows Mobile splash screen will have changed to something unfamiliar, but don't worry about verifying your new bootloader. If you ran the utility to completion and the device restarted on its own, it's more or less a sure thing that you're upgraded.

Installing a new device radio:

This is the most esoteric part of the process, so I'll try not to get too deep into the nuts and bolts. Basically, your device has firmware that manages its various antennae, letting you connect to cellular networks, GPS, etc. Installing a fresh Radio onto your device usually won't make much of a change in how your phone works. it just lets us—or rather, your soon-to-be mobile OS, manage your phone's communication capabilities freely. Some radios can improve reception on certain networks, or even connect to entirely new mobile bands. For more info on that, I'l refer you again to XDA.

You'll probably notice that this process is seems an awfully lot like the last stage: that's because it is. Since we're "flashing" different parts of your phone's software in each step, the core utility, and general technique, is quite similar. Anyway!

7. Pair your phone with your PC, like you did in step 1.

8. Extract your downloaded radio files and note their location

9. If the radio came with its own bootloader, skip to step 12.

10. Extract your downloaded bootloader, noting location.

11. Copy the extracted radio file—it should have an .NBH extension—to the directory where you've put your bootloader.

12. Run the bootloader, as in step 3.

13. Follow the instructions, as in steps 4 and 5.

14. Let the phone restart. Nothing much will have changed, but you may need to perform some minor network setup. Don't worry too much about that now, since you're about to wipe your whole device.

Flashing the ROM, i.e. Installing Windows Mobile 6.5

This is when we get down to actually installing our new OS. This is the step that'll take the longest, and it's the biggest leap of faith, since you're replacing your device's main software. Luckily, if you've come this far, it'll be a snap. Same process, different .NBH file. Onward!

15. Pair your phone to your PC (this is the last time! promise!)

16. Extract your downloaded bootloader, again, to a different location. (Or you can use the same copy you used to flash your radio; just make sure you delete the radio file from the directory)

17. Extract your Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM, which should be an .NBH file of about 80-100MB, to the same directory that your bootloader is in.

18. Run the bootloader, and follow the instructions. Same warnings as before—don't let your PC or phone sever the connection at any point.

19. Sit and wait. This time it'll take a bit longer, but shouldn't top 15-20 minutes.

20. Your phone will reset, and you should see a fresh Windows Mobile 6.5 splash screen. It might look hacked or unprofessional—don't be alarmed! The guys who so graciously put together these ROMs, which often take a good deal of tweaking, leave their marks on the software in various ways. Anyhoo, you'll have to let your phone run through a set of initialization routines for a little while. Just follow along.

21. WinMo should automatically guess your carrier and apply the appropriate connections settings. If not, you can do it from the device's Settings page, found in the top level of the new start menu. As for the settings parameters, Google is your friend.

Conclusion:
Congratulations! You are now the proud, semi-legal owner of a Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone! It's hard to imagine wanting to switch back, but if you do, just repeat the above process with a different ROM. There are plenty of 6.1 installs, including the official carrier versions, available from the same place you found your 6.5 download.

Resources:

• XDA Developers
• ModMyDiamond

So that's about it! Please add in your experiences in the comments-your feedback is a huge benefit to our Saturday guides. Good luck with your flashing (firmware only, please), and have a great weekend!

Windows Update Quietly Installs Firefox Extension

A routine update for millions of Windows based PC’s has quietly installed a .Net Framework Ad-On for Firefox.

Earlier this year, Microsoft shipped a bundle of updates known as a "service pack" for a programming platform called the Microsoft .NET Framework, which Microsoft and plenty of third-party developers use to run a variety of interactive programs on Windows.

The .Net update, like other updates, where pushed out via. Windows Update. A number of readers had never heard of this platform before Windows Update started offering the service pack for it, and many of you wanted to know whether it was okay to go ahead and install this thing.

The .Net update in the Firefox Add-Ons window has a greyed out uninstall button, therefore you may not uninstall it. The reason this is such major news is because this makes Firefox less secure, by allowing websites to install software without permission. Removal instructions are here.

Windows 7 Theme for Windows Vista and Windows XP

Lets say that you want to use Microsoft’s next Operating System but you don’t want to actually install Windows 7. The closest thing you can get to Windows 7 without installing Windows 7 is a Windows 7 theme.

The Theme

Like any other unofficial them you’ll need to hack Windows to allow the theme to run. Lifehacker covers that in this guide.

giannisgx89's theme does a basic skinning job without requiring too many extra ShellStyle images. Those looking for the complete Windows 7 look can grab Windows 7 wallpapers and icons from user Mheltin, and follow Vishal Gupta's guide to iconizing the Vista taskbar (all linked from the page below).

Here's a look at the Windows 7 PDC Style, with an appropriate wallpaper and a few icon tweaks. Click to enlarge to a truly full-size view:

For the theme to work you need to have Windows Vista or XP 32 Bit Edition.

I would just like to let you know that installing new themes is very different, your better off getting the real thing. If you want the real Windows 7 FREE click below (32 Bit):

How to Block Tracking Cookies

Some people seem really concerned about cookies. The worst offenders, they argue, are so-called “tracking cookies,” which supposedly allow companies like Doubleclick to track your movements on the Internet.

If you think this is a big deal, fine. You don’t need anti-spyware software to get rid of these cookies. Instead, take the following two steps:

1. Delete all currently saved cookies from your computer. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, Internet Options and then click the Delete Cookies button on the General tab. In Firefox 1.0, click Tools, Options. Click the Privacy icon in the sidebar and then click the Clear button to the right of the Cookies heading.
2. Specify that you want to block all third-party cookies. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, Internet Options. On the Privacy tab, click Advanced. Click to select the Override automatic cookie handling check box, and then click Block under the Third-party Cookies heading. In Firefox 1.0, click Tools, Options. Click the Privacy icon in the sidebar and then click the plus sign to the left of the Cookies heading to expand your list of options. Click to select both options: Allow sites to set cookies and for the originating web site only.

There. You’re done. You’re completely protected from “tracking cookies.”

But (I can hear you asking) what about first-party cookies? Well, if you’re visiting a Web site, they already have your IP address, and they have a record of every page you visit on their site and everything you type into a form. If you’re really that concerned about a Web site, you might want to avoid visiting it. But if you’re really worried about first-party cookies, open Internet Explorer’s Advanced Privacy Settings page and then click the Prompt option under the First-party Cookies heading. With Firefox, you can use an extension or set the ask me every time option. After you save these settings, you’re in complete control.

Here’s what your IE options should look like:

And here’s what Firefox options look like:

Now can we agree that there’s no need for an anti-spyware program to do something so simple?

When a Cookie is blocked you’ll get this alert:

Change Vista Sound Scheme

Sounds are part of our daily life and it only seems natural, at least while standing next to your computer, to be surrounded by likable sounds. The sound scheme that comes with Windows Vista is pretty good but it can become boring after a while. Considering that each person has its own personality and preferences, it is easy to understand why somebody would want to change their sound scheme to something more personal. In this article I will show you how to change your sound scheme in Windows Vista and how to customize the system sounds.

Before following the procedure below, you might want to know what a sound scheme is. Basically, a sound scheme represents all the sounds that Windows Vista plays when you make different actions such as emptying the recycle bin, deleting a file, clicking on a button, or when different events take place like: encountering an error, finishing the burning process of a DVD, etc.

Sound schemes can be found on the Internet on several websites. After doing a search for vista sound scheme I ended up finding a lot. Some may have their own installers, meaning that you will have to download a setup.exe file and run it to have the sound scheme up and ready, while others need some tweaking to make them work. Since installing sound schemes that have their own installers is obvious and simple, I will only show you how to install a sound scheme that doesn't come with an installer, just because I know it involves a bit more attention.

 

Backup the original Windows Vista sound scheme

Since installing a new Windows Vista scheme requires you to overwrite the default sound files, you should backup your original sound scheme before installing a new one. To do this, go to 'C:\Windows\', find the Media folder, right click on it and select Copy.

Once you have done this, Paste the content to a place where it's easy for you to remember. If you decide later that you want the default sound scheme back, you just need to copy this folder back to its initial location.

Since installing a new Windows Vista scheme requires you to overwrite the default sound files, you should backup your original sound scheme before installing a new one. To do this, go to 'C:\Windows\', find the Media folder, right click on it and select Copy.

Once you have done this, Paste the content to a place where it's easy for you to remember. If you decide later that you want the default sound scheme back, you just need to copy this folder back to its initial location.

Install a new Windows Vista sound scheme

To describe the procedure, I will use as an example the Glass and Pearl Sound Schemes. The procedure should be similar for other sound schemes found on the Internet.

First, download the archive containing the two sound schemes and unpack its content. When the folders from the archive have been unpacked, go to one of its two folders and there you will see some sound files with the extension '.wav'. Select all the sound files by pressing Ctrl+A. When all files are selected, right click and in the contextual menu click Copy.

Now, browse to 'C:\Windows\Media'. Once you are there, take the cursor to a white space, right click and, in the contextual menu, click on Paste.

Windows Vista will ask if you want to overwrite. Check the 'Do this for the next ... conflicts' like in the image below and then click 'Copy and Replace'.

Now the Windows Vista default sounds are changed with the new ones which you just copied.

How to customize your sound schemes

To further suit your needs, you can customize all the sound schemes installed on your computer. For example, you can change one or more sounds from any scheme, you can switch between schemes or you can delete any of the installed sounds schemes. All these activities are done in the Control Panel.

Once you are in the Control Panel, click on Hardware and Sound.

When the Hardware and Sound page appears, click on Change system sounds.

A new window called Sound will appear. To change the current sound scheme, click on the drop-down list, select the scheme you prefer and then click OK.
If you want to change a specific sound from the selected sound scheme, click on the event or program which 'generates' that sound, then click on Browse and select the new sound file that will be played from now on. The sound file should have the extension '.wav' and should not last longer than a few seconds.

If you want to delete a sound scheme, first select it from the drop-down list with sound schemes and then click Delete.
When you have finished making all the changes, click Apply to save your settings and then OK to close the Sound window.

NOTE: Some may consider using favourite movie quotes when the computer starts or stops or when other events take place.
There is nothing compared to Neo, Jack Sparrow or Darth Vader giving one of their most inspiring lines to start your day.
The Internet is full of sites like MovieWavs filled with thousands of movie quotes.

Install OSX 10.5 (Leopard) on a PC

Installing Mac OSX on a PC is not allowed but it can be done. While having OSX on a PC can be useful, it is illegal therefore I am required to put a legal disclaimer.

INSTALLING APPLE’S MAC OSX ON A PC IS ILLIGAL AND BREAKES THE OSX EULA. WE HIGHLEY RECCOMEND AGENST INSTALLING OSX ON A PC. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMIGES CAUSED TO YOUR PC AND WE CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LEGAL ACTIONS TAKEN.

1. Get an Apple Leopard disk.

• You can get it from a friend or the apple store or website, Ebay might sell them.

2. Insert it into your disk drive, it'll soon be mounted on your desktop (It'll take longer to mount then a regular disk because of the amount of data).

3. The disk should be on your desktop now open up the disk and open the installer, you'll need to enter an administrator name and password.

4. It'll ask you to restart, get a cup of coffee, your computer will take longer to boot up this time.

5. Once it's booted up you'll have the installer popup with the new Leopard menu bar.

6. Choose your language

7. Soon you'll come up to a screen that actually asks you to install it (finally), first you should verify your consistency, have some food.

8. Once your disk is done being checked you'll have the installation part, the approximate times is about two hours and thirty minutes or so for processors 1 GHz or up, the approximate install time for computers 867 MHz to 1 GHz is about 3 hours, go out to eat or something, go work on your secondary computer.

9. Finally, when your done installing it you'll have your new system, Leopard!

How to Fake a Blue Screen of Death

For whatever reason you may want to create a fake a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) so here is how to do it.

 

1.Find a picture of a Blue Screen of Death (or save the image above). These are relatively easy to find on search engines such as Google or Ask, and with others such as Yahoo! and GoodSearch, you can select from a variety of sizes, including wallpaper.

2.Set it as your background picture. Just right-click on the image and select, 'Set as Background'.

3.Get rid of any icons. you can do this by right clicking on your desktop and clicking on "arrange icons by" moving your mouse down to show desktop icons and clicking on it to uncheck it.(do opposite to fix)

4.This is the tricky part. You need to get someone to just glance at your computer, making them think you have a BSOD.

How to Hack and Change an Administrator Account Password in Windows XP/ Vista

Lets say you have forgotten your account password. If you’re a computer administrator there will be no way to change your password. In this case most people would tell you that you need to reset Windows. There is another way and here it is:

Hack an Administrator Account in Vista

1. Click Start

2. Type in CMD

3. Click CMD. This scary window will appear:

4. Type in “Net User” without the quotes.

5. Hit Enter

6. A list of user names will appear

7. Type in net user (the user you want to hack)

8. Hit enter

9. Type in a new password and your done!!

Hack an Administrator Account in Windows XP

1. Click Start'

2. Click Run

3. Type in CMD. This scary window will appear:

4. Type in “Net User” without the quotes.

5. Hit Enter

6. A list of user names will appear

7. Type in net user (the user you want to hack)

8. Hit enter

9. Type in a new password and your done

10. Hit Enter and your done