Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on January 30, 2007 by CyberNet.

Special Vista Edition: Part 1

We’ve been talking about Vista for months now, and finally the day for consumers to get their hands on it has come! Newegg and other online retailers have already been selling OEM versions a little early, but now you can walk into nearly any electronics store and pick up a copy. Windows Aero, the redesigned user interface will be one thing Vista will always be known for.

Paul Thurrott has put together an extensive, very complete guide to nearly every aspect of Vista.  If you’re looking for a review in words, head on over to SuperSite. His eight- part review will give you plenty of information on each of the features.

Our goal was not to duplicate what he had done, rather we wanted a guide that you could quickly look through to determine if Vista is right for you and your PC.  We’re visual kind of people, so this review will include LOTS of screenshots. Below is a table of contents so that you can easily navigate to sections that interest you the most.

–Table of Contents–

• Vista Editions
• Installation
• Eye Candy
• What’s Keeping you Protected?
• Vista Works for You
• Applications that come with Vista
• What’s not to Like
• Final Thoughts

–Remember, you can click on screenshots to view a full-size image.

–Vista Editions–

As you probably know by now, there are four different versions of Windows Vista with each having different features.  They are: Windows Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate.  Windows Vista Ultimate is the most complete, feature intensive version of Vista available. One of the perks for the Ultimate version includes Windows Ultimate Extras. DreamScene is one of those unique Ultimate extras, and a unique experience (demo here). Each version of course, comes at a different price ranging from $199 for Home Basic to $399 for the Ultimate version. Previously, we posted a Windows Vista Feature Comparison chart that will give you a good visual as to the main differences between each of the versions. That will be the first place you’ll want to start when determining which version is right for you.

–Installation–

One of the best things about the installation for Vista is that it takes around 1/2 the time that it took to install XP.  In about 20 minutes, your installation process will be complete, and you’ll be ready to use your new operating system. Another thing that you’ll want to note is that it asks for all of your information upfront.  Enter in the serial number, walk away, and come back 20 minutes later with the installation process completed. There’s no stopping in between which is a huge improvement from Windows XP!

Another important thing to keep in mind is that all of the Vista versions are available for a 30-day trial.  When installing Vista, the entire process will be the same, except you leave out the serial number. This will start your 14 day trial.

We’ve talked about Windows Anytime Upgrade before, and we’ll mention it again.  This is the first time Microsoft has done something like this, and here’s how it will work. All of the versions of Vista will either be on a CD or embedded onto your computer when you make the purchase.  At any point you can upgrade to a better version.  All you’d have to do is contact Microsoft to pay and get the new serial number for the version you’re upgrading to. There are also separate upgrade prices which you can find here.

–Eye Candy–

Vista will be known for it’s fancy features and eye candy. Lots of it. Here’s a run-down on all of the ‘easy on the eyes’ features that you’ll find.

• Windows Vista Basic – Before you get excited about the eye candy, remember that you’re not going to find the eye candy with Windows Vista Basic.  It’s basic for a reason; no transparency, no flip 3D, and no Taskbar thumbnails.
  
• Windows Vista Aero (Glass) – You’ve probably seen the Aero in screenshots and other Vista demos floating around the Internet.  It includes a translucent start menu/Taskbar, Windows Flip 3D, and Live Taskbar Thumbnails. There’s a wide variety of colors to match your taste. It’s cleaner, and overall a more pleasing look.
       
• Windows Flip 3D and new Alt-Tab- Angles your open windows and lets you shuffle through them. The new Alt-Tab will show thumbnails of all of the windows that you have open, even if they’re minimized (Windows XP doesn’t have the capability of making thumbnails when windows are minimized).
       
• Live Taskbar Thumbnails – Whenever you hover over a thumbnail, you’ll get a live preview! If you have a movie playing in a window, you’ll still get the preview showing the movie playing.
  
• Instant Search – Searching is all over Vista.  That’s one of its’ best features. It indexes the names of files on your hard drive so that the results are instant. The screenshot demonstrates the search box outlined in red, and the instant search results in blue.
  
• Start Menu – Now all of the programs are contained within the start menu. There are no pop-out menus.  If you’re one of those people that have enormous lists of programs in your start menu in XP, it’s needless to say that you’ll be scrolling in your start menu.
       
• Windows Explorer – The big thing with Windows Explorer is the thumbnails that it generates for images.  These thumbnails are better and more abundant than the thumbnails you’d find in XP. Another feature is that you can add favorites so that the folders you frequently use are added to the side navigation bar. Our favorite feature however, is the handling of the navigation in the “address” bar. It allows you to navigate between folders very easily.
                    
• Windows Sidebar – You’ve probably heard about the gadgets that come with Vista.  They allow you to customize your Vista experience more with items such as Weather, Feed Headlines, a Calendar, Clock, and Contacts.  If you don’t like the items on your sidebar, you can always drag them onto your desktop.
  

–What’s Keeping you Protected?–

• User Account Control – This is when you try to do something such as deleting a system file, that Vista requires special permission for.  You will be prompted to confirm that you really want to continue with the action. If you’re not logged in as an administrator, it will have to be approved using the administrator’s password. This feature can always be disabled in the Control Panel by going to your user properties.
       
• Windows Security Center – This gives you a central point to monitor that your Firewall, Anti-Virus, and other security measure are working properly.
  
• Windows Defender – Anti-spyware protection that keeps you safe from harmful malware. Windows Defender analyzes files that are downloaded, and applications that are put on your PC so that you’re always protected against any threat.
  
• Windows Firewall – It’s a basic firewall that blocks unwanted traffic from getting into your PC, but also prevents important information from unknowingly leaving your computer.
  
• Windows Update – This is a huge step for Microsoft, because they pulled Windows Update out of Internet Explorer. Now you’ll find it in the Control Panel.  If you prefer not to use Internet Explorer, you almost have no reason to open it.
  

–Vista Works for You–

• Windows Ready Boost – If you have a high-speed memory card, or flash drive, you could have Vista use this as memory for your computer. It’s an easy way to add memory without physically adding it internally.
  
• Windows Experience Index – This is a rating for your computer that represents how well your hardware stacks up to benchmarks. Vista performs multiple checks on your computer to analyze graphics capability and processing power. From there it outputs a resulting number.  Anything over five tells you that your computer is optimized well for Vista.
  
• Automatic Disk Defragmentation – Now the disk defragmenter runs every week to ensure that users aren’t neglecting to do this important process. Most people don’t even think about defragmenting their hard drive. Vista is all setup to do it for you.
  
• Power management and performance – Vista allows you to control the power aspects of your computer, more so with Vista than any previous version of Windows.  If you’re running a desktop PC, this may not be an important feature to you.  However, anyone that has problems with battery life on a notebook computer will certainly appreciate the battery saving options that Vista has.
  
• Backup and Recovery – By using this, you can backup files or your entire computer to another hard drive, or multiple DVDs if necessary. In the event that you need to recover these files, the restore wizard will help you do so.
  
• Windows Shadow Copy – Vista will create system restore points for your computer.  When it does this, it also allows you to restore individual files from that restore point. To restore an individual file, simply right-click and select ’show previous version.’ Unfortunately, they still don’t allow you to browse the files contained within a system restore point, but this is one step closer.
  
• USB Drive Auto Start Applications – This is something that we stumbled upon when we plugged our USB Drive into the system.  Often times in XP, it was difficult or impossible to get a program to automatically start when the USB drive was inserted into the computer. We noticed in Vista that as soon as we inserted the drive, our designated program launched automatically in the system tray.
  
• Network and Sharing Center – Now it’s even easier to connect to other networks, and to visualize which networks you are connected to.
  
• Improved file and folder sharing – Microsoft has done a really amazing job of making file sharing effortless.  After installing Vista, it recognized all of our other computers on the network; a couple of which are running XP.
  
• Windows Mobility Center –  With Windows Mobility Center on your notebook computer, you’ll be able to manage a variety of aspects within one screen. This would be where you could enable a presentation mode which would prevent screensavers from running, and unwanted notifications.
  
• Control Panel – This actually makes finding options very easy. They still have a classic layout for those who don’t like change, but you’ll become buddy buddy with that search box pretty quickly. To find a setting that you’re looking for, just start typing it in the search box and it will instantly filter results as you type. You’ll be amazed at how many clicks this can save.
        

–Applications that come with Vista–

• Games – Vista includes a variety of games, both old and new.  Some of the favorites like Minesweeper have gotten a new look. We’ve taken screenshots of all the games that are included. If you’re using the Vista Business Version, the games are not installed by default. Instructions on how to install them can be found here.
                                                 
• Internet Explorer 7 – By this point, many of you are already familiar with IE7.  It has been released for XP for several months now and has additional security features that make browsing the web safer, such as phishing protection pictured below.
       
• Windows Calendar  – This is a very basic calendar management application that supports iCal calendar formats so that you can share calendars from other applications and web sites. It’s not as feature intensive as the Outlook Calendar, but it will serve the purpose for most users.
  
• Windows Contacts – A very basic feature, allows you to add contacts. Just like the calendar, it’s not very extravagant, but gets the job done.
  
• Windows Mail – This replaces Outlook Express and is the new email client. We haven’t used it much, but after playing around with it, it does seem to be “lighter” than Outlook Express was. It includes a phishing filter, and improved junk mail filtering.
  
• Windows Photo Gallery –  A nice photo gallery management system that will sort images by the date that they were taken so that it might be easier to browse through them. You can add tags to your photos, as well as rate them which brings a little bit of web 2.0 into the system.
  
• Windows Media Player 11 – This is another application that has a Windows XP counterpart. It is a huge improvement over the previous version of Media Player, with a completely redesigned interface which makes listening to online music easy, and easy on the eyes.
  
• Windows Media Center – If you’re able to hook your computer up to a TV, Windows Media Center is a great tool to have. You have easy access to photos and music without excess navigation. Another plus is if you have the Windows Media Center remote control so that you don’t have to be near your keyboard to control it. Best of all, if you have a TV tuner installed, you can set it up to record TV shows and make use of the free TV Guide provided by Microsoft (this is something that services like TiVo charge monthly fees for).
                                           
• Windows Movie Maker – Create and edit your home movies in a snap. It’s not professional editing software, but that’s not why it was created. It’s focused for home users and gets the job done. It’s very successful at being a simple to use program that you can use to create a good home movie to share with family and friends.
  
• Windows DVD Maker – Allows you to take a movie that you’ve already made, (from Windows Movie Maker) and burn it to DVD. Before burning it, you’ll be able to create menus that will be used on the DVD so that it’s easy to skip to certain parts within the movie.
             

–What’s not to like–

 At this point not everything runs as smooth as it may sound on Vista, depending on the hardware that you’re using, and the software that you’re wanting to use. We’re glad they finally got around to bundling some more app’s with the operating system, but there are plenty of third party programs that we have found to not work as they should. iTunes is a prime example of that: it seems to work initially, but as soon as it tries to download the podcasts it freezes up. Things like this is what makes switching to a new operating system frustrating. Updates and patches are sure to come for a majority of applications just like they have for previous versions of Windows, but it’s just a matter of waiting.

As of right now we have one PC that has Vista Ultimate Edition on it, and that will help us to write tips and features for people who might jump on the Vista bandwagon early. We also have a few licenses of Vista Business sitting here just screaming to be installed on our laptops, but the hardware is not Aero-capable so it doesn’t seem quite as thrilling. The pre-release versions of Vista had become quite cozy with those machines for several months, but application compatibility is what drew us back to XP. We’ll get around to upgrading in the next week or two because we seem to be going through withdraws after having used Vista’s integrated search for so long.

We’ve already written a post about some of the things that have kept us using XP for now, and you can find that here.

–Final Thoughts–

Despite some of the limitations you might come across in the next few months, particularly with 3rd party software, Vista really is a great operating system.  Once application compatibility gets better, it will fix a lot of the problems that you’ll encounter.  Almost all of the new machines available will support the new Aero interface, and this will be one of Vista’s key features that will get talked about the most. Aero is one of the key features that will sell Vista.  Let us know when or if you plan on upgrading by participating in our Poll titled “When will you Upgrade to Windows Vista” that’s located in the sidebar right now.

 Here are a few Vista related links that you might find helpful:

• T-Mobile HotSpot Access for Vista Users
• Family Pack Discount for Windows Vista
• Not wanting Vista? Make your XP look like Vista

There you have it… CyberNet’s Vista Review with screenshots.  Hopefully these screenshots will be useful and help you to determine if an upgrade to Vista will be worth your time and money. 

Full disclosure: We were able to provide this Windows Vista review using a Velocity Micro Media Center PC from Microsoft for review purposes.

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on July 10, 2006 by CyberNet.

Million Dollar Monday

As gaming systems get more and more advanced, so do the peripherals that enhance them! The ultimate in gaming simulation has been built and designed for Mitsubishi. It is integrated into two Mitsubishi Lancer’s linked together for a side-by-side rally simulation. With two large projection screens or plasmas in front of the cars, you’re set up for a high tech realistic driving experience.

The side by side Mitsubishi Lancer’s are set up to race against each other with the help of Sony Playstation and Grand Turismo 3. The entire virtual reality experience is complete with vibrating seats, and an impressive Sony sounds system to make it sound and feel like you are racing against a competitor. The entire simulation gives you an ultimate experience including a handbrake so that you can back into corners. The cost to design this super simulation was around $200,000!

Sony’s Playstation together with Mitsubishi isn’t the only realistic simulation available. Nissan and Microsoft teamed together to create a concept car that duals as an ultimate gaming machine using the Xbox 360. The URGE is Nissan’s concept car that is equipped with a 7 inch flip down LCD screen (used as a rearview mirror for real driving) so that when the car is in park, it can be used as a racing machine via Project Gotham Racing 3. Using the car’s steering wheel, gas and break pedal, driver’s will be on a ride of a lifetime through the streets of New York City, London, Las Vegas, Tokyo, and Germany. Can you imagine having that parked in your garage?

From rally racing in a simulated Mitsubishi Lancer via Playstation to racing through the streets of Tokyo via Xbox 360 and the Nissan URGE— this is one virtual reality experience you certainly couldn’t experience in your living room!

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on June 23, 2006 by CyberNet.

Free For All Friday

In 1983, the World saw the very first handheld cellular phone, the Motorola Dyna TAC 8000X. For $3,995 you could have been the proud owner of the 13 x 1.75 x 3.5 inch phone. Thousands of people were on a wait list for this phone, simply so they could be one of the first to talk portably! It weighed a whopping 28 ounces with an impressive, or not, 1 hour of battery life. It could even store 30 phone numbers!

Amazing, isn’t it? Today we see phones with games, extensive phone books(you can certainly store more than 30 numbers), internet capabilities, cameras, and even video. Phones are considerably cheaper, lighter, and of course last longer, a lot longer! They have replaced the need for carrying around change for the phone booth, and have become one of the essentials you don’t leave home without! When you do leave home without it, you may end up in a panic wondering what you will do all day without it! Sound familiar?

Taking the Motorola Dyna TAC 8000X (wow, what a long name- even the names have gotten smaller!) and comparing it in size to one of the smallest phones available, the Motorola RAZR VC3, we are able to see just how far Motorola has come. The RAZR measures 3.86H x 2.08W x 0.57D inches and weighs a feather light 3.49 ounces! Can you imagine going from carrying a phone that weights less than 5 ounces to one that weighs almost 2 pounds?

While the mobile phones from the 80’s compared to today have certainly changed, one thing hasn’t and that is its effect on our culture. Back in the 80’s, it was only the rich who could afford a mobile phone. In 1990 we saw this brick of a phone in Pretty Woman with two men using the Dyna TAC 8000X as a method to impress Julia Roberts. Today phones are rather inexpensive and something that many people use. In fact, one source I found states that in the United Kindom, there are more phones than people! Could that really be possible? We see signs everywhere from the movies to the doctor’s office with reminders to keep phones off! Mobile phones have become an issue among lawmakers trying to determine if they increase the instances of traffic accidents, or pose a threat to public safety.

It is super impressive to think about how far technology has advanced from the 80’s until now. With all of the advances in technology with mobile/cellular phones, it makes me wonder what else they could possibly come up with next! Any ideas?

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on March 07, 2008 by CyberNet.

Fun Friday

On occasion, most of us have days where we don’t really feel like getting a whole lot done. Or maybe it’s  raining or snowing and your stuck inside? Whatever the reason is for your lazy day, you’ll need something to keep yourself occupied while you sit in your comfy chair and relax. Today’s Fun Friday is a collection of five fun (and free!) games to play for when you’re bored and need something to do. Most of them can only be played for a relatively short time before they start getting old, but they’re still a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Simon Says…

Remember the classic game of Simon Says? This online game is somewhat like that except your goal is the follow the pattern of lights and sounds for as long as you possibly can without messing up. If you miss, you’ll have to start all over again which can get really frustrating! Be sure you have your sound on when you’re playing this one because hearing the sounds that come from each colored button does seem to help. My best is 9, what’s yours?

Play Here

Shuffle

The goal of shuffle is to get all of your colored balls off of the board. In a way it’s like pool because you’re shooting one ball to move the others. All you do is click and drag your mouse to choose your speed and direction and then let go. It’s as simple as that!

Play Here

Mario Tetris

If you haven’t played Tetris in your lifetime, I don’t know where you’ve been living. Just in case though, it’s a falling-blocks puzzle game. There are all kinds of versions out there for a variety of gaming systems. There are even versions for graphing calculators and phones. This version is Mario Tetris and it’s as fun and addicting as ever.

Play Here

Budapest Defenders

Budapest Defenders is a shooting and strategy game in which your goal is to prevent enemy units from taking over the Hungarian Revolutionary headquarters. In the instructions, it says, “if you can plan correctly, choose and place your units wisely and manage your resources, you can hold them off and win the game. They offer two levels of difficulty to choose from, either Novice or Expert. Just play a few rounds and you’ll get a hang of it.

Play Here

Park a Car

Can you park a car without hitting any other vehicles. This game has different levels that continue to get a little more difficult. If you can park your car in the designated spot without hitting another one, you’ll move on to the next round.  Controls are basic and involve only the arrow keys and the space bar. Oh, and be sure your car is parked front first unless it says otherwise! There’s no backing in. The game is over when you hit a car.

Play Here

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on January 12, 2007 by CyberNet.

Free for all Friday

Lots of people shop online nowadays, or use the Internet to scope out the product that they’d like, and then buy at the local store; whether it be for the convenience, the prices, or a variety of different reasons. Now more than ever, there are  multiple ways that you can save money shopping on the Internet, or using the Internet as a tool with no coupons needed. Here are three different ways that you can save money:

–Price Protectr 2.0–

This is a fairly new service that will check stores’ website’s for price reductions for 30 days after you’ve purchased the product if they offer a 30 day price guarantee. They offer the service for purchases made from Amazon, Backbountry.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco, Future Shop, Jensen USA, Office Max, Sears, or Target. After you’ve purchased the item whether it be online, or at the store, find the product online from the merchant and enter the product link at http://priceprotectr.com. They’ll look up the item, and show the price.  If everything checks out, then you enter in your email address, and they’ll watch for the price to drop.  If the prices drops during the 30 days, they’ll send you an email to let you know, and from there you can get your money back! The graph to the right shows the average price drop. While it appears that more items don’t drop than do, you can still save!

–PriceGrabber.com–

Okay, you’ve probably heard of PriceGrabber, but you may not know of EVERYTHING that it can do.  First of all, it’s an awesome comparison shopping tool, not to mention they have merchant reviews, rebates, coupons, etc.  One of their best features is one that I don’t think many people make use of, and that’s their ’set price alert’ feature.  For this feature, you have to sign up for an account.  It’s simple, and easy, and literally took under a minute.  After getting an account, you’re able to set a price alert.  The picture below shows what this price alert feature looks like.

All you have to do is enter your target price.  From there, PriceGrabber will alert you by email when the retail price for the product that you’re interested in falls below the target price.  You can set filters like including only your selected merchants, or to exclude selected merchants. Merchants can change their price to compete within the blink of an eye, which makes this a really useful tool if you’re not looking to buy in an instant.

–NexTag–

Yet another comparison shopping tool is called NexTag, and what I like about their service is the Price History feature. Similar to PriceGrabber, NexTag will pull up a list of sellers, along with their ratings, and the price to give you an idea of where your best bargain would be. The Price History is what sets them apart. I searched for Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition with Service Pack 2.  They found that the lowest price is $128.00, and then they provide a graph of the Price History which shows me the high and low prices, and when they were relative to the time of the year.

Armed with PriceProtectr and their 30 day money back guarantee helper, PriceGrabber with their price alert feature, and NexTag with their price history graphs, you should be able to find a great price on the web for whatever it is you’re looking to buy!

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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