Developer OneNote

After I upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, I see two options at boot up, one is to logon to Earlier Version of Windows, the other is Windows 7. The default option is boot into Windows 7.

There is a workaround to remove the Earlier Version of Windows option from the boot up screen so that it will boot straight into Windows 7 instead of asking users to choose which OS or waiting for 30 minutes and boot into Windows 7.

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Windows.old is a folder that contains archive information from previous windows system(XP/VISTA) when you upgrading to VISTA/Win7.  It mainly stores programs and files that are required to run the earlier version of Windows and contains following folders.

• Windows
• "Documents and Settings"
• "Program Files"

You might end up having a windows.old folder taking up 20+ gigs on your system drive.

If you don’t need windows.old folder and want to safely delete this folder, follow the instructions below:

1. Select Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and then Disk Cleanup.
2. If you are using Windows 7, select Clean up system files. If you are using Windows Vista, select Files from all users on this computer.
3. Select the Previous Windows installation(s) check box, and click OK.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to back up all important documents/files from the previous OS before following this article.

Once Hyper-V role is enabled on windows server 2008/R2, Hyper-V manager will be installed automatically. However, you don’t need to log on to Hyper-V host server to use Hyper-V manager. Instead, you can manage Hyper-V machines remotely from you Win7 desktop.

To manage Hyper-V machines remotely from Win 7, following these steps:

1. Install Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d2f6ad7-656b-4313-a005-4e344e43997d&displaylang=en
2. Go to Start > Control panel Under Programs, click on Get programs
3. On the left panel, click on Turn Windows feature on or off
4. On the feature list, expand Remote Server Administration roles > Role Administration Tools, mark Hyper-V Tools, then click OK
5. Go to Administrative tools > Hyper-V Manager, launch it
6. Now you can manage Hyper-V virtual machines from your windows 7 box.   Read more »

I frequently hit this on my Win7/Vista machines when I run executables that were built from VB6, the following error message appears:

Component ‘filename’ or one o its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid.

The problem is caused by a component or a dependency file used in this executable is not correctly registered or is missing from the system. The resolution is copy the file from another computer that does not experience this problem and register it.

I wrote step by step instructions on how to resolve this problem in this post. It uses comdlg32.ocx as example but instructions also apply for other VB6 component file like richtx32.ocx, mscomctl.ocx, tabctl32.ocx and so on

WordPress is one of most popular blog applications. This application is very easy to use however setup a local environment for theme or plugin development on windows system is not that easy for bloggers. In this post, I will walk thru you how to setup local WordPress environment using Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 with just a few clicks. (I am using 64bit Windows 7 in this tutorial but same steps work windows server 2008 as well)

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To change theme in Outlook 2010

1. Open outlook, click Files, then Options
2. On the General tab, select a different theme in Color scheme drop down.

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Today when I run an old tool on my x64 win7, following error message is displayed: Component ‘COMDLG32.OCX’ or one of its dependencies is not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid.

Here is how to resolve comdlg32.ocx missing error.

1. Download comdlg32.zip and extract comdlg32.ocx from zip file
2. Move comdlg32.ocx to c:\Windows\system32 folder. For 64bit Vista/Win7, move comdlg32.ocx to c:\Windows\SysWOW64
3. Open a command line window and run following command:

   regsvr32 c:\Windows\system32\comdlg32.ocx

   Note: a) On 64bit Vista/Win7, run this command instead:

   regsvr32 c:\Windows\SysWOW64\comdlg32.ocx

   b) For Vista/Win7 with UAC turn on, the above command needs to be run from elevated command prompt.

4. Once comdlg32 is registered successfully, following message will prompt, DllRegisterServer in C:\WINDOWS\System32\comdlg32.ocx succeeded.
5. Now launch the application again you should not see file missing error.

Now windows have snipping tool in Vista and Win7.

You can use Snipping Tool (normally you can find it at %SystemRoot%\system32\SnippingTool.exe) to capture a screen shot, or snip, of any object on your screen and then annotate, save, or share the image. Simply use a mouse or tablet pen to capture any of the following types of snips:

• Free-form Snip.  Draw an irregular line, such as a circle or a triangle, around an object.
• Rectangular Snip.  Draw a precise line by dragging the cursor around an object to form a rectangle.
• Window Snip.  Select a window, such as a browser window or dialog box, that you want to capture.
• Full-screen Snip.  Capture the entire screen when you select this type of snip.

After you capture a snip, it’s automatically copied to the mark-up window, where you can annotate, save, or share the snip.

A list of shortcuts specific to Windows 7

Windows shortcuts

Taskbar shortcuts

Desktop shortcuts

Accessibility shortcuts

Explorer shortcuts

Mouse Shortcuts