Hasta La Gadget!

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

One of the really nice things that Microsoft added to Vista was three different power plans, and also provided the ability to create your own if you so desire. By default the operating system ships with a power saver, balanced, and high performance plan. I can really attest to the power saver plan squeezing every bit of juice out of your battery, but most people will likely never switch out of the “balanced” plan that Microsoft has set as the default.

Naturally you would expect performance to suffer when using the balanced plan when compared to the high performance plan. After all, the balanced plan is more friendly on your pocketbook and the environment. Interestingly enough that’s not turning out to be the case according to some recent CrystalMark benchmarks by PocketTables (here and here).

What they found was that Vista’s balanced power plan beat out high performance on two different machines that they tested. You would expect it to be pretty darn close since the balanced plan is supposed to kick up performance when it’s needed, but to flat-out beat the high performance plan in nearly every test is just crazy.

If you’ve been using the high performance power plan maybe it’s time you kick it “down” to the balanced option. 😉

[via jkOnTheRun]

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on December 10, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft Monday

We’ve looked at Windows Vista Sidebar gadgets before, but it seems every time I go back to the gallery of gadgets, there’s always at least one or two that I haven’t seen before that impress me. Today we’ll be looking at three of the best Vista sidebar gadgets I’ve come across lately including XM Online Radio Gadget (perfect for all of you XM radio users), Wp-corp Mail Checker (for checking up to five different email accounts), and Auction Sidebar Tool for eBay (a necessity for eBayers).

XM Online Radio Gadget

The XM Online Radio Gadget is by far one of the most useful gadgets that I’ve seen.  I listen to XM radio all throughout the day while I’m working, so you can see why this has come in handy.  Previously I accessed XM Radio online through Windows Media Player which was nice, but it wasn’t as convenient as I wanted it to be for a couple of reasons.  First, I’d have to open Windows Media Player and leave it open to listen to XM but secondly, there wasn’t an option to remember my login and password. It got a bit tedious after a while to enter in a user name and password any time I wanted to listen to music. This gadget takes care of both of the minor complaints I had about accessing XM Radio Online.

Features:

• Once you enter your name and password, it will remember it so you don’t have to enter it in each time you want to listen to the radio
• Access the channel list right from the gadget
• Displays the channel you’re on and the artist that sings the song

Obviously you have to have a paid subscription with XM Radio in order to be able to use the gadget.  I noticed that some people that left comments in the Gadget Gallery were complaining because they assumed if the gadget was free, so was the XM service. XM does offer an online only subscription which is $7.99 per month or you can get the full subscription and use it with an XM Radio device and listen online.

Below you’ll see a screenshot of what the gadget looks like in the sidebar. I clicked to view the channels, and they pop-out to the left:

Wp-corp mail checker

Wp-Corp Mail Checker is my new favorite service for checking my mail because I can set it up to check multiple accounts. It’ll work for any POP3/ IMAP4 with SSL email accounts which means it does work with Gmail. There are a few bugs here and there, but all around I’d say it’s an awesome gadget for checking your mail. Once you install it, you’ll go through the process of configuring your accounts – you can have up to five.

There are several configuration options including selecting the number of accounts you’re going to use. You’ll also be able to determine how often you want it to check your email. Options range from one minute to one hour. There are a few other options as well like selecting “mailbox glow.” If you decide to use the mailbox glow, you’ll see a glow around the box in the gadget when you have a new message. You can also opt to show the mail date. As you can see below, I have two different email accounts setup. When you click to view the unread mail, it will pull-up all of the messages from your inbox in a pop-out window as shown below.

My only complaint with this gadget is that if you trash a message, it will remove the email from your inbox but it actually archives it instead of actually deleting it.

Here are a few things to make sure you do while setting it up if you’re using a Gmail account:

• Mail Protocol: Select IMAP and SSL from the dropdown lists
• Server address is imap.gmail.com and the port should be changed to 993
• Make sure you choose how many headers you want it to retrieve otherwise it won’t work

Auction Sidebar Tool

The Auction Sidebar Tool for eBay is perfect for anybody who buys or sells on eBay. You can either use it as a basic search tool, or you have the option of using it in an advanced mode where you can manage your whole eBay account right from your sidebar. If you want to get notified when you get a new message, you can get notified through this gadget as well. When you’re initially setting up the gadget, you’ll have the option to show items that you’re watching, selling, and bidding on.  You’ll also be able to select a skin that suits your tastes.

After you’re done with the setup process, you’ll have to sign in to your eBay account. The sign-in page will open in your browser at which point you’ll enter in your user name and password.  Then you’ll be required to authorize the gadget to access the info in your account by simply clicking ” I agree.”

If you search for an item, you can either have the results open in a window in your browser, or you can select to have the results appear in a gadget flyout (shown above) which I prefer.  If you click on a result within the searches, there are tabs for the overview of the listing, the description, pictures, and shipping and policies so that it’s easy to navigate as shown below.

Have a favorite Vista Sidebar gadget? Let us know!

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on January 06, 2008 by CyberNet.

Windows Vista is coming up on its one year anniversary since it officially launched, and some of you are just now getting around to determining if you should make the upgrade. Today we thought we’d share five different things you’ll want to do before joining the bandwagon and making the upgrade to Vista so that in the end, you’ll be satisfied with the experience you had.

1. Determine if Vista is right for you…
   If you’re content with XP, is there a reason to switch right now? This is the first thing you need to determine before you even begin the process of upgrading to Vista.  CyberNet’s Windows Vista Review with Screenshots may be helpful in this first step.
2. Use Vista Upgrade Advisor
   The Vista upgrade advisor can be found here and will prove to be beneficial in determining if your computer is ready for Windows Vista.  The Vista Upgrade Advisor will run on your computer and scan for devices and program compatibility issues.
3. Manually Check Hardware Compatibility
   Want to know if your webcam or video card will work? You’ll want to visit this site that Microsoft has put together. Everything is broken down into a variety of different categories.  Once you select a category, you can break it down further into company. There are literally thousands of devices listed that are certified for Vista.
4. Determine which version is right for you
   Microsoft has been teased for releasing so many different versions of Vista.  How is one to know which one is right for them? Luckily it’s easy.  For a quick overview, checkout a site that Microsoft has put together. It’ll briefly explain each version and give you an idea of what might be good for you.  For more in-depth information, check out CyberNet’s “Windows Vista Feature Comparison” chart that we put together.
5. Shop around for pricing
   This is important, especially if you’re a student or teacher.  There are discounted versions out there that you might be eligible for.  Checkout Academic Superstore, because this is one place where you can get the discount. Additionally, you’ll want to determine if you’re eligible for upgrade pricing.  If you have XP Professional, Home, Media Center, Tablet PC, XP Professional x64, or Windows 2000, you’re eligible for upgrade pricing. Check for that information here.

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on November 06, 2007 by CyberNet.

I just stumbled across a Vista Gadget called Magic Folder, and after seeing that it had been downloaded over 100,000 times I thought it should be something to look into. As it turns out this gadget is really amazing, and can save you a bunch of time.

What it does is add a folder (pictured to the right) on your Desktop or in the Vista Sidebar. Where you put the gadget is up to you. Then when you drag and drop files onto the Magic Folder gadget it will automatically sort through the files according to the file extensions. Images (jpg, png, gif, etc…) will be put in your Pictures folder, documents (doc, xls, ppt, etc…) will be put in your Documents folder, and so on.

Of course this gadget isn’t going to have every file extension pre-programmed the way you want it, so it comes with a fully customizable system where you can specify any extension to be moved to any folder. You can also change where the pre-programmed extensions get moved to.

In case that’s not enough for you Magic Folder can also do one other awesome thing. It creates a “watch” folder in your user directory cleverly called The Magic Folder. When this feature is enabled Magic Folder will automatically scan that directory for new files. Anything it finds in there will automatically be sorted and moved to the respective directories that you’ve specified.

–Settings–

I’m sure one thing that many of you want to see are screenshots of the different configuration options. The developer doesn’t really have any on his site, so I snapped some of my own:

(Click to Enlarge)

Magic Folder Vista Gadget

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on January 10, 2008 by CyberNet.

Long Zheng wrote a funny post yesterday regarding the forgotten Windows Vista Ultimate Extras. He wrote it in the form of a reminder email that you would receive from a service after not using it for a period of time. Here’s a snippet from the article:

This is an automated message to remind you it has been 81 days since your last activity on October 23, 2007 when you announced 19 languages packs for Windows Vista. Très Bien!

We’d like to remind you we’ve been eagerly awaiting more “cutting-edge programs”, “innovative services” and “unique publications” from you.

I’m extremely disappointed that Microsoft appears to have abandoned the Ultimate Extras that they boasted as big reason power users would love to have the most expensive version. I mean really, not having heard from the Ultimate Extras “team” in nearly 3 months can only lead us to assume that a team must not even exist.

And back in July 2007, they said this:

We also intend to deliver additional Extras in the future. In addition to Windows DreamScene and the remaining Language Packs, we plan to ship a collection of additional Windows Ultimate Extras over the next couple years that we are confident will delight our passionate Windows Vista Ultimate customers. We cannot identify dates or provide details at this time–but once we ship Windows DreamScene and the remaining Language Packs, we will provide more information about the next Extras.

Huh, they shipped DreamScene and the additional language packs three months ago, and here we sit wondering what’s going on in the world of Ultimate Extras. I thought that maybe, just maybe, they would have demonstrated a cool Ultimate Extra at CES, but they didn’t. Ah well, it’s Microsoft’s reputation on the line here. They shouldn’t have made a promise that they couldn’t hold up to.

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com