Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on February 26, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft Monday

Before I dive into Power Toys, I wanted to point out that we have changed our CyberNotes Monday feature to “Microsoft Monday.” It was about time for a change from the previous “Million Dollar Monday.” A rather large majority of our readers (94%) use some form of Windows, and I’m sure many of those that don’t still use software from Microsoft. For those reasons alone (and the fact that we’ve been Windows users forever), we thought it was a fitting topic. We’ll cover a variety of different things raging from Windows to Xbox to Microsoft Office, and everything in between. And as always, if you come across something that would fit in well with our “Microsoft Monday” feature, let us know! Now on to Power Toys…

First things first, the Power Toys that I am mentioning today work only with Windows XP. Yes, I know that XP is out and Vista is in, but there are still more people that use XP than Vista. So with that, what are Power Toys? Essentially, they are extra add-ons that have been released by developers after XP launched. They’re supposed to add functionality to your Windows Experience, and with my experience they work well.

Microsoft doesn’t offer technical support for them, and they’re unable to answer your questions because they’re not actually part of Windows.  Over time, I’ve downloaded and used a few of them without problems, so chances are, you won’t have problems either. Here are some of the more useful tools that I’ve used that might be helpful for you too.

—Image Resize—

There are are plethora of options for resizing images, but this one is by far the simplest one I’ve come across.  It does exactly what it says it does and nothing more. By right clicking on an image, or a group of images you’re given a few options for resizing. They include:

• Small (fits a 640×480 screen)
• Medium (fits a 800×480 screen)
• Large (fits a 1024×768 screen)
• Handheld PC (fits a 240 x 320 screen)

You’re also able to select a custom size, and resize the original picture.  By default, it will create a second copy of the image. This will be especially useful when you’re wanting to email pictures, or when there are image size restrictions (i.e. MySpace).

Download Image Re-sizer

—Power Calculator—

If you’re using the calculator on your computer, you probably aren’t needing any advanced functions. However, just in case you need more than the simple add, subtract, multiply, and divide, this Power Calculator gives you the ability to graph, evaluate functions, and perform conversions.

Entering Input is very similar to what you’d do with a standard graphing calculator, and the image below shows what the Power Calculator looks like:

Download Power Calculator

—HTML Slide Show Wizard—

This Power Toy will make it simple to create an HTML slide show because it does most of the work for you! After installing it, you can select to add single images, or an entire folder, and then drag them into the order you prefer for the slide show. Once you have your images in order, you’re give a few options like selecting a name for your show, what size you’d like it to be, and whether you want the simple, or advanced slide show type.

From there, your slide show is created and you’re ready to share it with friends or publish it to the web. It’s a really simple process that anyone can do.

Download HTML Slide Show Wizard

Each of these add-ons are really small downloads (around 550KB) and take no time to get set-up. I tend to use the Image Resizer most often just because I tend to email pictures frequently, and I know people don’t like to receive huge images.

You can find the entire list of Power Toys here, and remember, they’re only for Windows XP.

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This article was written on April 25, 2008 by CyberNet.

Back on April 15th, we wrote about how Dell was offering a Windows Downgrade Service which would give buyers the option to have XP factory-installed on their computers. Part of the deal is that Dell gives the buyer the DVD for Vista so that when they are ready (if ever), they can install it. At the time of writing the article, we weren’t sure if the offer was something that Dell would be able to offer once June 30th comes rolling around, the date that Microsoft has set to stop shipping OEM and shrink-wrapped copies of XP. Clearly the consumers are wanting XP to stick around longer, and today there are several bits of good news regarding this.

The first bit of news: InfoWorld has confirmed that Dell will be able to sell and support Windows XP using the Downgrade service after the June 30th cut-off date. Secondly, Steve Ballmer was quoted at a news conference in Belgium saying, “XP will hit and end-of-life. We have announced one. If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter, but right now, we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments.” Customer feedback has clearly been there, and people want XP to stick around. Engadget says to Ballmer, “Maybe it’s time for a quick nap.”

Finally, the last bit of news is that rumor has it that Dell is telling their customers that they will be selling XP on professional systems until 2012. Of course it is just a rumor, but that would certainly make all of the people happy who’ve been signing the “SAVE XP” petition that has been put together by InfoWorld. As of mid-April, over 164,000 people had signed the petition asking Microsoft to extend the date that XP will be available.

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This article was written on April 13, 2007 by CyberNet.

If you have forgot to write down your product key from Microsoft Office or Windows then all may not be lost. We have previously mentioned the wonderful Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder application that is capable of retrieving your product key from already installed software, but a newer Beta version is in the works and it does even more!

For starters this is the first version to support key retrieval for both Vista and Office 2007. The software previously supported Vista but it wasn’t able to retrieve your key for Office 2007. That bumps up the list of compatible Microsoft applications to Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Windows Vista, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007.

There is also another new feature that will definitely make this tool even more valuable than it already is. That is the addition of the keyfinder.cfg file which stores registry locations for other applications that save the product key in the registry. By default this file adds the capability of Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder to recognize keys from any of the following programs (and could easily be expanded later on):

• 3DMark
• Adobe Photoshop 7
• After Effects 7
• Alcohol 120%
• Axailis IconWorkshop
• Beyond TV
• Beyond Media
• Borland Delphi 6
• Call of Duty 2
• Company of Heroes
• Cyberlink PowerDVD
• DVD Profiler
• HDD State Inspector
• mIRC
• Naturally Speaking 8
• Norton PartitionMagic 8
• O&O CleverCache 6
• O&O Defrag 8
• O&O DriveLED 2
• Quake 4
• Replay Converter
• Splinter Cell
• Stardock
• SuperCleaner
• Techsmith Camtasia
• Techsmith SnagIt
• TGTSoft StyleXP
• TuneUP
• Unreal Tournament 2004
• VMware Workstation 5
• VSO Convert X to DVD
• Westwood Alarmstufe Rot 2
• Westwood Tiberian Sun
• Winamp 5
• WinPatrol
• WS FTP

Not only that but the Keyfinder can also change your Windows key should the need ever arise. All you have to do is enter in your new key as well as any registration information that you want to change:

The author of this application had done a really great job rewriting this program from scratch. The best part is that Keyfinder does not require any installation, so you can throw it on your USB drive and use it whenever it is needed.

Get Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder 2.0 Beta

Source: Lifehacker

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Microsoft already informed its most moneyed partners that no more systems could leave their labs after October 22nd with Windows XP, but given that the proverbial boy has cried wolf before, we were inclined to think that we’d eventually face yet another push back. We guess there’s still a few ticks of the clock left between now and that fateful day, but there seems to be little hope for XP to live on in any significant form beyond the aforesaid date. Dell has just published a report noting that they will stop offering XP on new machines later this month in preparation for October’s cutoff, though they’re quick to point out that Microsoft will continue Windows XP driver support until December 2012. For the average consumer, that means you’ve got just over a month to get whatever XP-equipped systems you want from Dell; for select “qualified customers,” they will still be able to snag XP machines post-October 22nd through the company’s Custom Factory Integration service. Hit the source link for all the details, and feel free to pour one out for a waning OS. We can shed a few more tears next month.

Dell lays down the law: no more Windows XP shipments after October 22nd originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Attending the Taipei Computer Applications Show today? Lucky you. Then be sure to pick up your specially priced Acer Aspire One D255 netbook with dual booting Android and XP operating systems before leaving the venue. Otherwise, the NT$9,500 (about $300) 10.1-inch netbook configured with an Atom N450 processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory, 160GB hard disk, and 3-cell battery (with optional 6-cell) will cost you NT$11,900 (about $375) when it hits traditional retail channels sometime in the days ahead.

Acer Aspire One D255 netbook dual boots Android and XP for about $375 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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