Windows Search, 84% Faster on Vista SP1 and 26% Faster on XP SP3
Back at the start of June 2008, Microsoft introduced an upgrade for the search infrastructure of its Windows client and Server operating systems.
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20.11.2008 Sbar Taskbar Replacement - Windows 7 Taskbar in Windows Vista & XP
Microsoft has completely revamped taskbar in Windows 7.
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11.6.2009 Windows 7 RTM Icons Pack
Here is a complete set of Windows 7 Icons extracted from Windows 7 RTM (Build 7600.16385).
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27.7.2009 Windows Vista Official 133 Icons
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Windows Vista 254 Icons Collection
Thanks to odeeee for this download - collection of high-resolution Icons in Vista-style. The icons are .png files.
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13.6.2007 Are Windows Vista icons facing the wrong way?
I know what youre thinking, has it really come down to this. No doubts youve all seen the Computer icon in Windows Vista.
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23.6.2008 Download Windows Vista Official 113 Icons
This site will soon offer a large database of free vista icons (.ico) so you can customize your desktop and OS icons. More free Vista Icons coming soon.
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2.1.2006 Download Office 2010 Beta Icons Pack
The latest Office 2010 Beta Build 14.0.4417.1000 which was leaked about a week ago features refreshed icons for all Office applications.
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8.9.2009 Windows 7 on multicore: How much faster?
San Francisco - Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system is receiving raves in its pre-release testing.
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20.10.2009 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part V: Desktop Icons
Once again, it's time to enhance your Windows XP operating system exactly the way you want and without paying a cent on expensive programs that do something so simple that even a kid could handle it.
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26.11.2008 Vista SP1 up to 86% faster
Is Vista SP1 really the shot in the arm your Vista system needs? We've spent many hours strapped to our benchmarking system in a caffeine and pizza fuelled haze to uncover these very interesting results.
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5.3.2008 Intel says new chips about 40 pct faster
Intel Corp. said a new line of computer processors due out later this year will be about 40 percent faster than current chips when running computer games, videos and other heavy workloads.
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18.4.2007 Fixing Vista: Faster, smarter search
In previous installments of this series, I discussed the virtues of a clean Vista install, some useful User Account Control workarounds, top tools for troubleshooting, and the wisdom of shutting off Windows system services.
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6.6.2008 Speed Test: Windows 7 May Not Be Much Faster Than Vista
Though Windows 7 edged out Vista in our lab tests, you may not notice much of a difference.
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7.5.2009 Microsoft details the Windows 7 Taskbar
Chaitanya Sareen, Windows Team at Microsoft, has produced a blog post detailing the new Windows 7 Taskbar.
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24.11.2008 Windows Server 2008 is 20% faster than Vista
It seems Microsoft may have a successor (or replacement) for Vista after all and its already been released. Windows Server 2008 isnt easy to configure as a desktop operating system but when done correctly can be 20% faster than Vista while retaining most of the same features.
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12.3.2008 Microsoft files patent for possible taskbar replacement
A method for managing windows in a display would sound particularly familiar to every Windows user as that strip at the bottom of the screen with the Start button and clock or perhaps the more formal name, the taskbar.
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15.7.2007 How to Get the Old Thin Taskbar Buttons with Text in Windows 7?
Windows 7 contains new iconized taskbar buttons which only show program icons. Its a new feature in Windows 7 and looks nice. But a few people might find it difficult to use.
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26.1.2009 How to Speed up Taskbar Thumbnail Preview in Windows 7
Windows 7 has much better aero transparency glass effect along with taskbar thumbnail preview. Taskbar Thumbnail Preview displays small thumbnail preview of opened window on your taskbar when you hover your mouse on taskbar icons. Many users have started loving taskbar thumbnail preview of windows 7.
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9.2.2009 Win7shell For Integrating Winamp With Windows 7 Taskbar
Since the first release of Winamp player by Justin Frankel in 1997, today it has becomes one of most popular if not the best MP3 player for Windows operating systems. Although a lot of features and improvement have been included in each newer version but till the latest version of Winamp, it still does not support the integration with Windows 7 taskbar.
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23.9.2009 Remove Unnecessary Startup Entries To Boot Windows Faster
Sometimes it's very frustrating when your computer is booting up Windows very slowly especially when someone calls you up to check something on your computer, and you need to call back because your computer takes ages to boot.
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5.5.2007 Windows 7 User Interface The Superbar - Enhanced Taskbar
One of the elements of the Windows graphical user interface that is evolving past what end users have come to traditionally associate with it is the Taskbar.
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4.11.2008 How to Pin Show Desktop Option to Windows 7 Taskbar
Windows 7 has got revamped taskbar also known as superbar. Windows 7 taskbar has number of excellent features like Jumplist, Thumbnail preview, Aero peak, etc.
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7.10.2009 Move Windows XP Start Button & System Tray on Taskbar
Do you want to impress your friends and colleagues then here is small freeware tool for you.
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30.9.2009 Do not make Win 7 too Mac-like
Blogger Paul Thurrott has written a couple of interesting posts about the difference between simple and easy in the context of Windows 7.
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4.12.2008 Why Apple does not make a netbook
As netbooks continue their inexorable rise up the wish lists of gadget hounds, businesses and ordinary folk alike, the clamor for Apple to join the market continues to increase from all sides.
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5.3.2009 Is Google going to make Microsoft look good?
Why do we like Google? Is it because they are the do no evil company? Is it because they are not Microsoft? Is it because they make our lives easier through their search, email, and other services? The fact of the matter is that a lot of people from users, to developers, to workers, and to investors like Google. Heck, even I like google! (Look at the ads.)
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3.8.2006 Microsoft Blogs Make Room for Ads
Microsoft's MSN Spaces blogging features are set for a major upgrade to incorporate a revenue-sharing advertising option and a new partnership with Amazon.com, according to various sources.
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26.1.2006 How To Make a Custom Vista Disc AIO
odeeee report How To
Make a Custom Vista Disc All In One in our forum.
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26.1.2007 ReadyBoost in Windows Vista: Does it Make a Difference?
USB memory keys are compact little devices that can store and transfer anywhere from 128MB to 8GB of data, all it takes is a USB slot.
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27.8.2007Tidbits about the new "superbar" taskbar
Long Zheng: Ever since the Windows 7 demo with Steven Sinofsky and Julie-Larson Green at PDC 2008 where they showed off the new superbar taskbar,
theres been a lot of questions about how the new taskbar will work, customized or tweaked.
Unfortunately because the pre-beta
build did not contain the new taskbar, its been hard to answer those questions. Fortunately I met up with Chaitanya Sareen today who took me through a
better tour of the new taskbar on one of the demo machines with the new build. Heres a few facts about the new taskbar.
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31.10.2008Giz Explains: Why the Windows 7 Taskbar Beats Mac OS X's Dock
Matt Buchanan: The Windows 7 taskbar is the most important Windows UI change since Windows 95, and it will dramatically change the way you use
Windows. And it's better than the Mac's Dock.
That's because the "superbar"as the taskbar is known by developersjerks
taskbar functionality in a new direction. It's no longer merely a window managerjust a place to manage open windows and by proxy, open applications.
It's now a bona fide application launcher. More than that, it blends the two in ways that will remind many of the OS X Dockapps that are running and
those that aren't can live together. True, you've been able to launch apps from the Windows taskbar's Quick Launch ghetto for ages, but that's
been demolished so that Microsoft could completely and seamlessly integrate the launching of new apps and the managing of running ones.
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22.01.2009More details on the new Windows 7 Taskbar
At PDC 2008, Microsoft took the wraps off Windows 7 and showcased its new dock-like Taskbar. But the revamped Taskbar isn't in the pre-beta build
distributed to attendees, so we went hunting for more details on Windows 7's most prominent new feature...
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30.10.2008The New Taskbar in Windows 7
As we have noticed with the Windows 7 presentation at D6, Microsoft is putting in some efforts to make an update to the aging design of the taskbar,
contrary to the belief that they are going to make something completely new. The supposedly new name of the taskbar is the "Superbar." Long Zheng
has pointed out some of the new things:
"The first being the taskbar is higher than usual, but not as big as double-height. If I were to
guess, I'd say its somewhere around 1.75x-high. In the left corner, the Windows orb remains wedged "on top" of the taskbar - sticking its head out
a little - instead of in the center like it is today in Vista.
The taskbar also appears 'divided' into sections by variations in the
color (dark, gray, lighter) to indicate the different areas. Speaking of which, if you look at the far right corner, you'd notice that the tray
(icons & clock) is not touching the edge of the screen, and there's a small lighter gap. I have no explanation for this, but is well worth keeping an
eye on."
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01.06.2008Developing for the Windows 7 Taskbar Application ID
Yochay Kiriaty: This is the first post in a new Windows 7 Taskbar series. One of the first Windows 7 changes that developers should pay attention to
is the new Windows Taskbar. We all need to understand the functionality this feature introduces so that we can ensure that our applications work well
with the Taskbar, resulting in an enhanced experience for our end users.
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18.06.2009Add the Quick Launch Bar to the Taskbar in Windows 7
The How-To Geek: In yesterday's article we showed you
how to make the Windows 7 taskbar
work more like XP or Vista, but we left one thing out: the Quick Launch bar. It's really not too difficult to add it back, although it will take
a few more steps...
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21.01.2009PDC 2008: More details on the new Windows 7 Taskbar
At PDC 2008, Microsoft took the wraps off Windows 7 and showcased its new dock-like Taskbar. But the revamped Taskbar isn't in the pre-beta build
distributed to attendees, so we went hunting for more details on Windows 7's most prominent new feature...
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30.10.2008Windows 7 tips and tricks
Two Microsoft employees have posted helpful Windows 7 tips, tricks and secrets this week. Tim Sneath has posted 30 secrets/tips on his blog. Some of
the highlights include the following: Get Quick Launch toolbar back Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars / New ToolbarIn the folder selection
dialog, enter the following string and hit OK: %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick LaunchTurn
off the "lock the taskbar" setting, and right-click on the divider. Make sure that "Show text" and "Show title" are disabled and the view is set
to "small icons".Use the dividers to rearrange the toolbar ordering to choice, and then lock the taskbar again.Windows Vista taskbar Right-click
on the taskbar and choose the properties dialog.
Read full
story.....
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15.01.2009Hey Microsoft, isn't that the iPod scroll wheel?
Microsoft is showing
off more than a dozen new
phones designed to work with
its business telephony
software, but the thing that
caught my eye was the
iPod-like scroll wheel on one
of the models.
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15.05.2007Windows 7 tip: Recycle Bin on your Windows 7 Taskbar
I'm not exactly sure when it became cool to abandon the use of your operating system's desktop, but a growing number of people these days
prefer the "clean" look. Recent releases of Microsoft Windows seem to encourage this. By default, Windows Vista and 7 strip the desktop of all icons
but the Recycle Bin. Try as you may, ignoring this lone icon is impossible. Sure, you can hide it in just a few seconds, but at the cost of losing
quick access to deleted files. You could also drag the Recycle Bin icon to the taskbar, but then it will appear pinned under Windows Explorer --
requiring an extra click to open and offering half the functionality.
Read full story.....
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15.09.2009A peek at an early build of the new Win7 taskbar
One of Mac OS X's most successful features has been its zooming apps dock, which has been mimicked in third-party utilities for Windows. Windows 7's
new taskbar looks more similar, but its changes are already themselves being changed...
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05.11.2008Microsoft files patent for possible taskbar replacement
"A method for managing
windows in a display" would
sound particularly familiar to
every Windows user as "that
strip at the bottom of the
screen with the Start button
and clock" or perhaps the
more formal name, the taskbar.
On July 12 the Patent
Office processed a
patent
application from Microsoft
filed on the 9th of February,
2006 of what appears to be a
possible alternative for the
decade-old taskbar we all know
and cherish in Windows.
Time and time again,
Windows enthusiasts have
jumped on the idea of
replacing the taskbar in the
next version of Windows as
one of the most revolutionary
user interface changes
Microsoft can make. For
Windows Vista (Longhorn), the
center of attention was the
sidebar before undergoing
major feature-reduction
surgery in 2005 - a lot of
people fantasized about how
the sidebar could become the
taskbar replacement, however
that soon worn-off.
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14.07.2007Microsoft Hardware Launches Exclusive Features for Windows 7
Microsoft Hardware will launch several new features for Windows 7 in the coming months for its peripherals; the first of which is a timesaving feature
called Taskbar Favorites that gives Microsoft keyboard users a smart new way to access their most frequently used programs and documents. Taskbar
Favorites will map to the location of applications on the improved Windows taskbar. The applications in the taskbar can be easily rearranged just by
clicking and dragging, and Taskbar Favorites will automatically adapt to the applications new locations. Additional new benefits of the Microsoft
Hardware and Windows 7 connection include the following...
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03.06.2009Windows 7: Measuring the "superbar"
One of the new things that anyone would notice immediately in Windows 7 is the new Taskbar. Microsoft internally calls it 'Superbar'. The
Windows Taskbar has come a long way since Windows 95 was released. With the help of the Taskbar, it becomes easier to see what are the programs
currently running, switching between applications and also to access your favorites using the Quick Launch. Image Courtesy: Windows 7 Blog For
many, Windows 7's Superbar looks bigger than the Windows Vista's Taskbar. Long Zheng has taken steps to prove that, after all the Superbar is
not that big. Long has found that the Windows Start button is actually shrunk by about 8 pixels.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
05.01.2009Microsoft details the Windows 7 Taskbar
Chaitanya Sareen, Windows Team at Microsoft, has produced a blog post detailing the new Windows 7 Taskbar. In the post Sareen highlights the
following areas of evolution: Refreshed LookPinningUnificationInteractive, Grouped ThumbnailsAero PeekJump ListsCustom Window Switchers Thumbnail
ToolbarsNotification AreaOverlay Icons and Progress BarsColor Hot-trackStart MenuIn the post, Sareen also posts screen shots of one of the latest
builds of Windows 7 at Microsoft, Build 6948.fbl_shell_dex.081112-1755. Most of the features we already know about from PDC but one interesting
addition, that Microsoft didn't demonstrate at PDC, is overlay icons and progress bars in the taskbar. Microsoft now allows application developers
to give feedback about progress by having their taskbar button turn into a progress bar.
Read full story.....
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21.11.2008Vista Tip Worth Remembering: TaskBar Height and the Start Button
WB: Another option is to right click the Quick Launch area on the TaskBar and select View->Large Icons (Note that "Lock the TaskBar" must be
disabled in order to see the option). This will provide a similar solution to the double height TaskBar while being slightly more compact.
Warner Crocker: The round Start Button or Orb can cause the GPU to force a non-rectangular clipping operation when it is overlapping
a maximized window. This indeed causes
some performance issues, especially on lower end graphics hardware. The best way to remedy the situation is to resize your
Taskbar so that it is double height, which encompasses the Orb.
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21.04.2008More on the Windows 7 UI: new taskbar will be mandatory
Ars Technica: While we haven't yet gotten our hands on a Windows 7 build with the new taskbar, we did talk to Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky about the
various UI changes and what we can expect at release time...
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31.10.2008The double-decker Windows taskbar
Long Zheng: To the untrained eye,
Ammunitions Longhorn PC concepts last week might look nothing more than standard industrial design renders. But if you stared at
it long enough as I did, youd notice the Windows Longhorn screenshot on the monitor shows a taskbar is nothing like anything youve seen before. Since
theres no official name for it, Ive dubbed it the double-decker taskbar.
Ive finally been able to track down the screenshot in
its original form...
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05.12.2007The Windows 7 Taskbar
Steven Sinofsky: Happy Birthday Windows! Given all the interest in the most used user-interface of Windows we thought it would be good to take a look
back and see how we got to Windows 7.
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21.11.2008Windows Mobile browser gets speed boosts
Access has announced a new version of its NetFront web browser for Windows Mobile devices. The "NetFront Browser v3.5 for Windows Mobile Concept
Version" features faster page drawing and scrolling, easier-to-use zooming, better column rendering, and a "PageMap" thumbnail feature, according
to the company.
The freely downloadable NetFront Browser v3.5 for Windows Mobile Concept Version is confusingly named, since the
company already released a
NetFront version 3.5 earlier
this year. That release added widgets, better XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) compatibility, claimed faster performance, and the
capability to scroll up and down pages under the guidance of a device's camera, similating "gesture" control without accelerometer hardware.
For the latest "concept version," Access touts further speed improvements. These include faster first drawing of a page, faster
scrolling in any direction, and quicker rendering mode changes. Rendering mode changes (see below, left) also take place faster, according to the
company.
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31.05.2008
