Of late, I saw the following making rounds on twitter, the blogosphere, on email and even on CNET:
Create folder, rename it to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} and double click on it.
So I thought I’d make a few things clear here.
Firstly, it’s not called GodMode. Name your folder DevilMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} and the new folder will be called DevilMode instead. So it really isn’t “God Mode” – you can call it whatever you like.
Secondly, what you get is just the Windows 7 Control Panel in a different (expanded) layout – it doesn’t contain any “hidden” tweaks. Take a look:
When I collapse the tree, GodMode becomes this:
Now, let’s open Control Panel and switch to Large Icons:
I get exactly the same thing. Why?
Explanation:
Open the Windows Registry (REGEDIT)
Search for “ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C”
You will find this key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID
As you can see, this is nothing but Control Panel
What you’ve done is basically figuring out how to make a shortcut to Control Panel and give it your own name! You can do the same with any of the classes in the registry and achieve similar results!
For example: SuperGodMode.{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} will open the Personalization Control Panel and call it “Super God Mode”
I’m posting some photos from the New Efficiency Launch Event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Doha, Qatar.
The event setting was very unique – it was an outdoor event with tents on the beach, popcorn, cotton candy, balloons, live barbeque, and even a clown on stilts and a magic show. The presentations were done inside a tent on the beach!
The event was unique and one of a kind, and I really think our marketing team did a creative and awesome job!
Some of our partners also had stands at the venue, with each of them showcasing an exciting solution based on Microsoft technologies.
The event setting
Qatar Launch event
Manoj, Antony and others from Mannai Apps team showcasing Mediaroom
Joseph, Asanka and Fadel from ICT showcasing the Microsoft UC solution
Hani and Ali from QDS demonstrating Multi touch
Hardware vendor Al Masa
Johny & Jean from Mannai showcasing Hyper-V
xbox area
Antony with a clown at the event
Me
Tamer, Said and David
Eqbal and me
Vinod and Rifaz at the xbox area
me, Rifaz and Vinod
Press coverage: [ Gulf Times | Arabic newspapers ]
This is the day that we’re officially launching Windows 7 in Qatar. The email invites to IT Pros had gone out a few weeks ago and we’ve had an overwhelming number of people who have registered to attend this event. This launch event is going to be one-of-a-kind – with an unconventional but exciting theme. If you’ve registered, you are surely in for some *very* exciting stuff. I don’t want to spoil the surprise – you’ll see soon
The 16th of December will see the launch of Windows 7 in the academic sector. I will be present at the venue on both days, so this will be an excellent opportunity to network with you readers. Some of my managed partners like Mannai Computer, Information & Communication Technology WLL (ICT), EBLA, Qatar Datamation Systems, will also have spaces at the venue, where they will showcase our technologies and their offerings.
We have some awesome speakers talking about Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Phone, xbox, and a host of other new technologies. Alongside other presenters, I will be speaking at the event on the 16th.
Thanks to the location-aware printing feature in Windows 7, your computer will automatically print to the correct printer at home or office, depending on where you are.
Here’s how you can set up this feature:
From the Start menu, select Devices & Printers
Click on a printer, and click on the Manage default printers button (highlighted in the above screenshot).
Make sure ‘Change my default printer when I change networks’ is selected.
From the dropdown boxes for the network and the printer, select the appropriate printer for each network.
In my configuration, I print on the HP printer at the office when I’m at the office, and the Lexmark printer when I’m back home, and Windows will automatically change the default printer depending on where I am.
I’m setting up a Windows 7 Media Center at home and thought I’d share feedback on how I went about getting it done. Being a tech enthusiast, and NOT much of the movies/music person, I went for something very modest and inexpensive.
Very sleek, black, ultra small form factor, can be mounted on the back of a flat panel TV or mounted on its own footing. Both mounting kits are provided in the package.
Intel® Atom 230 processor @ 1.6GHz (intel’s smallest processor)
I used the LifeCam VX-6000 only because I had a spare one lying around. For those buying a new webcam, I would recommend the LifeCam Cinema, a great webcam that I had evaluated:
720p HD widescreen @ up to 30fps!
Auto Focus
Digital microphone
The LifeCam VX-6000 that I used is an older model, that has the following features:
71 degree Wide Angle Lens (good for living room set up)
High Definition video
3x digital zoom
Up to 30fps
Built-in microphone
Why a webcam on my Media Center PC? OK, I like to use the living room computer for video conferencing with relatives, because this way the whole family can be on the couch *and* within frame
TV Tuner:
I am still looking for a good, locally available external TV Tuner/Capture card that is on the Windows Media Center Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). The ones that I found locally are from Lightwave – and that’s not listed on the HCL. I already have an STB with RCA composite output and RF out jack, and I’m looking for a capture card that will receive one of these and display it in Windows Media Center. I will post an update when I finally install a TV Tuner.
Meanwhile, if any of you have got Lightwave TV tuner cards working with Windows Media Center, please post a comment and let me know of your experience.
For now, the only thing I watch on my PC is Internet TV from IslamBox.TV.
Other hardware:
Since the Acer Aspire Revo R3600 comes with no bluetooth, I have a USB bluetooth dongle plugged in.
The Revo comes with no DVD player/recorder and you might want to buy one. For me, I already have a DVD player hooked to my LCD TV, and I have other computers in my Windows 7 HomeGroup that have DVD recorders. Installation of Windows 7 on my Revo was done with a USB stick.
I had to buy an HDMI cable because neither the Revo nor the Videocon LCD TV came with one.
Audio: HDMI output
The audio from my TV is good enough for me. You can always connect a sophisticated audio system if your TV supports it. The Revo only has a headphone jack.
Setup:
Unpack and set up the Revo as per the instructions enclosed, initially use the wired keyboard and mouse supplied with the Revo
Connect the HDMI cable between the PC and the LCD TV.
Power on both units, get connected to the internet, install updates, antivirus software, etc.
Install the wireless keyboard and mouse as per the instructions enclosed and unplug the Revo’s wired keyboard and mouse
Install the LifeCam as per instructions e
nclosed. Plug the device in only when prompted by the installation software.
Uninstall any useless software that was pre-installed by Acer (some games, utilities and trial software)
I recently purchased an Acer Aspire Revo nettop for my home Media Center PC. Since the purchase was made before the official launch of Windows 7, the computer came pre-loaded with Windows Vista. The nettop itself is really cool, it comes with a tiny form factor and can be mounted on a mounting stand or stuck behind a flat panel TV. More on that will follow in another post.
Today I decided to upgrade the nettop to Windows 7. There is however one serious consideration to be taken – like most nettops and netbooks, the Acer Aspire Revo comes with no DVD drive!
Windows 7 comes on a DVD and I have no intention of buying a DVD drive . This is why I am going to use a 4 GB USB flash drive for the Windows 7 installation.
In order to prepare the USB drive, run DISKPART on any Windows computer. Type DISKPART on the Start menu and hit ENTER.
Note: DISKPART utility is usually available by default on your Windows installation. If you don’t have DISKPART download it here.
Plug in your USB flash drive. You need at least 3 GB of space, I recommend you use a 4 GB flash drive. All data on the USB stick will be destroyed so make sure you don’t have any important data on the USB drive.
Type the following commands inside the DISKPART command line utility:
LIST DISK (to see all physical drives on your computer)
SELECT DISK 1 (assuming disk 1 is your USB drive. Make sure you select the right drive here! Refer to the output from the LIST DISK command)
CLEAN (to wipe out any existing volumes on the USB drive)
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY (creates a new primary partition on the USB drive)
ACTIVE (Marks the newly created primary partition as ‘active’)
FORMAT FS=FAT32 QUICK (formats the newly created primary partition in the FAT32 file system. The QUICK parameter saves time by doing a quick format)
ASSIGN (to give the new partition a drive letter)
Close DISKPART
Copy the contents of the entire Windows 7 DVD into the USB drive (drag and drop).
Eject the USB drive, and plug it into your nettop or netbook, boot from it. (You may need to change the boot sequence to get your netbook or nettop to boot from USB). In the Acer Revo, hit the F12 key to select the boot device. The computer will boot from USB and you can continue the Windows 7 installation.
If you are upgrading from Windows Vista, just plug it in after Windows Vista has started and do an upgrade.
Watch out for my next post on how to set up a Windows 7 Media Center PC at home.
I wanted to run Windows Server 2008 R2 in a dual boot configuration on my Windows 7 RTM laptop – so that I can demonstrate Windows Server 2008 R2 features to partners when required.
This gave me an opportunity to use the new “Boot from VHD” feature on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Essentially, I would have Windows 7 on my laptop on one partition on the raw disk. The remaining space on the RAW disk (in my case 15 GB) will be allocated to a partition containing a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) file, that can be mounted to boot the computer off the VHD file. I will be installing Windows Server 2008 R2 on this VHD file.
Here’s how I went about doing it.
Since I did not have any unallocated space on my hard drive, I used the “shrink” option on drive C in Windows 7 (Computer Management) to get some free space – and got 15 GB unallocated as seen in the above screenshot.
Next, I popped in the Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD.
At the Welcome screen above, I press SHIFT+10 to launch the WinPE console.
Once you get the WinPE console, use DISKPART to prepare a partition for the Windows Server 2008 R2 VHD:
Type ‘DISKPART’ to launch the utility
Type ‘LIST DISK’ to see the list of physical disks in your machine.
Type ‘SEL DISK 0’ assuming you have only 1 physical disk installed
Type ‘CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY’ to create a primary partition out of the free space
Type ‘FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK’ to quick-format the new partition on NTFS format
Type ‘LIST VOL’ and look at what you’ve done . Notice the asterisk next to the new partition (in my case, it’s Volume 3).
Type ‘ASSIGN’ to assign the next available drive letter to the selected partition.
Type ‘LIST VOL’ again to see what drive letter was assigned (in my case, it’s E)
Now for the magic: ‘CREATE VDISK FILE=E:\FILENAME.VHD MAXIMUM=15000 TYPE=EXPANDABLE’ – this creates a dynamically expandable VHD file filename.vhd on the new volume with a maximum size of 15000 MB. Keep the maximum size lesser than the size of the partition.
Notice that once you finish this command, Windows 7 detects virtual hardware “Microsoft VHD HBA” and installs it.
Type ‘SELECT VDISK FILE=E:\filename.vhd’
Type ‘ATTACH VDISK’ to attach the VHD disk.
Type ‘CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY’ to create a primary partition inside the VHD.
Quick format the partition on NTFS by issuing the ‘FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK’ command
Assign a drive letter V: on this volume ‘ASSIGN LETTER=V:’
LIST VOL to see what you’ve achieved.
Volume 1 and 2 were pre-existing Windows 7 volumes
Volume 3 (E:) is the disk that we created to store the VHD file
Volume 4 (V:) is the virtual disk inside the virtual machine (uses space on E:)
Type EXIT DISKPART to close the utility and close the WinPE session.
Next, continue with the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation from Windows 7. Do not choose the upgrade option, choose the New Installation option.
Choose to install Windows on the partition you just created.
When installation is complete, and you restart your computer, a boot loader menu appears, where you can choose to boot Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
Windows 7 comes with a cool new feature called ‘BitLocker To Go’, which is a disk encryption mechanism to protect USB flash drives.
USB flash drives are becoming ever so common thanks to their small size, ease of use and low cost. Users often carry critical or sensitive data on USB drives and carry it outside the organization. A lost USB drive containing sensitive could mean unimaginable implications for the organization, and this is where BitLocker To Go can help.
A few weeks ago, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate Edition RTM on my brother’s Acer Aspire 5571 laptop, which is at least 3 years old and has an Intel 1.6 GHz processor, just 1 GB of RAM, and initially came preloaded with Windows XP.
Not only did the machine boot up amazingly fast, it also enabled the Windows Aero theme and the performance was great!
Check out the video:
This is my first video blog. The video was composed on Windows Live Movie Maker using a Microsoft LifeCam VX 6000. Please post your feedback!
