Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
No option for 64 bit guest on Oracle VirtualBox?
When I installed Oracle VirtualBox (4.3.8) on a 64 bit host (Windows 8.1/AMD A4 APU) I was surprised to see only 32 bit options to create guest VMs. I was running a 64 bit OS on my host, I know that my processor supports virtualization but couldn't quite understand why I wasn't seeing options to create a 64 bit guest VM. The solution that worked is that you need to enable virtualization in the BIOS. In many systems, this is turned off at BIOS settings. Once this is enabled, 64 bit options for guest VMs appear in Oracle VirtualBox.
Tag :
Microsoft,
Virtualization
Enable MP3 album art in Windows Explorer
If you have tagged MP3 files with album art but in windows explorer you get the default MP3 icon when you view as icons here's what you can do to fix that :
1. Download this zip file which when expanded gives you two .reg files.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/3m413pvobfbobct/ThumbsWork.rar
2. Right Click -> Merge MP3.reg
3. Right Click -> Merge Default_MP3.reg
4. Rebuild Windows Indexing Option.
Go to Control Panel -> In the Search box type "Indexing Options"
Go to Advanced Tab -> Rebuild Cache
5. Lastly, if mp3 files aren't associated fix that if needed by going to Control Panel -> Programs -> Make a file type always open in a specific program. I use Windows Media Player but I guess you can choose your favourite here.
1. Download this zip file which when expanded gives you two .reg files.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/3m413pvobfbobct/ThumbsWork.rar
2. Right Click -> Merge MP3.reg
3. Right Click -> Merge Default_MP3.reg
4. Rebuild Windows Indexing Option.
Go to Control Panel -> In the Search box type "Indexing Options"
Go to Advanced Tab -> Rebuild Cache
5. Lastly, if mp3 files aren't associated fix that if needed by going to Control Panel -> Programs -> Make a file type always open in a specific program. I use Windows Media Player but I guess you can choose your favourite here.
Before :
After :
Start Menu on Windows 8
For all those Windows 8 users who wish that Microsoft brings back the start button and start menu, here's something that might help. There are a bunch of third party apps which let you have a start menu on the Windows 8 desktop. After trying out some of the notable ones such as Start8 from stardock, Pokki Menu, Windows8 StartMenu gadget and Classic Shell here is one which got my attention.
IObit Start Menu 8 -
The reason? Its got everything that I seek from it as a Windows 8 power user. Simple, lightweight, runs as a service, certified, customizable and it doesn't alienate me from Modern UI and you get all this for free. It offers an easy way to switch between Modern UI (IObit still calls it Metro) and Start Menu based desktop mode. Modern UI apps are also seen on the start menu under a separate category.
This is what Microsoft should have done rather than forcing Modern UI onto users. It reminds me of the days of transit from DOS to Windows 3.0 where you weren't forced to move to Program Manager on Day 1. You still booted to DOS, typed win to go to Windows and either went to DOS by running the MSDOS Shell or by exiting from Windows back to DOS. Then came Windows 95 with a whole new change - the explorer interface but you could still have a desktop short-cut to progman.exe aka Program Manager just in case you needed some time. As time progressed, users got used to the new interface in both these cases.. DOS to Windows and Program Manager to Explorer and it worked. I guess a similar strategy would have worked for Explorer to Modern UI.
IObit Start Menu 8 -
The reason? Its got everything that I seek from it as a Windows 8 power user. Simple, lightweight, runs as a service, certified, customizable and it doesn't alienate me from Modern UI and you get all this for free. It offers an easy way to switch between Modern UI (IObit still calls it Metro) and Start Menu based desktop mode. Modern UI apps are also seen on the start menu under a separate category.
This is what Microsoft should have done rather than forcing Modern UI onto users. It reminds me of the days of transit from DOS to Windows 3.0 where you weren't forced to move to Program Manager on Day 1. You still booted to DOS, typed win to go to Windows and either went to DOS by running the MSDOS Shell or by exiting from Windows back to DOS. Then came Windows 95 with a whole new change - the explorer interface but you could still have a desktop short-cut to progman.exe aka Program Manager just in case you needed some time. As time progressed, users got used to the new interface in both these cases.. DOS to Windows and Program Manager to Explorer and it worked. I guess a similar strategy would have worked for Explorer to Modern UI.
Trying out Windows Live Writer
I have been an irregular blogger all this while. Everytime I promise myself that I will blog whenever I learn about something interesting so that I can share my thoughts and what I learn… but then I get just too bored to logon to the blog site, compose a page using the online editor that blogger gives and then write my thoughts. A few times I had typed what I wanted to blog in Notepad and then logged on later and posted it here but that too wasn’t something that I would find enthusiastic. I must admit that I never bothered to try out any Offline Blog Editors that have been around for a while. A few days back I downloaded Windows Live Writer and saw that it offers a convenient way to write your blog posts with some nice and handy features. This post has been written using the same. Apart from the usual editing options, there are some great plug-ins which are available here. I hope it keeps me enthused about writing regularly.
Tag :
Microsoft
Clear Bluetooth history - Windows XP
Recently I wanted to clear by Bluetooth Devices History on the Send To menu on my computer. With many files being sent to different devices and computers over a period of time, my Send To Bluetooth menu was quite cluttered with a long list. Many of these entries were useless since they were probably a one time transfer but they remained on my list forever. I tried to Google up (ahem.. tried Windows Live Search too) but there was nothing I could find for clearing this list on Windows Xp. Did a Registry Search too but to no avail. Thats when I came across a simple way to to this. My computer uses the Widcomm Bluetooth stack and here's what I did. I went to c:\Documents and Settings\< username >\Send To\Bluetooth (its a folder with the Bluetooth Icon on it) and thats where I could see 1 KB Shortcuts for each device. Interestingly these shortcuts point to c:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth\Bluetooth Software\btsendto_explorer.exe with a list of parameters which have the Bluetooth Device Address, Device Name and Device Class and deleting the relevant (or rather irrelevant) shortcuts result in the discovered device getting knocked out from the Send To Bluetooth list. I do not know of an option on Windows Xp which does this so I thought this might help someone who needs a solution to this.
VS 2008 Beta 2 is here !
Awright ! So finally Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 is available for public now. This most awaited download is 99% feature ready as per what Scott Guthrie says. Can't wait till I get my hands on it. So, its time to get busy again. Theres some interesting stuff mentioned by Somasegar in his blog. So now there's a lot to go after. The time is now !
You can get the download here. There's also a video by Scott and Somasegarhere where they talk about whats new, what's changed from Beta 1 to Beta 2, the state of .NET languages like VB9 and C# 3.0.. and how .NET has changed from 1.0 to 3.5. There's a Lap around Visual Studio 2008 video by Jay Schmelzer, which is a recording of what was presented at TechEd 2007, Orlando.
You can get the download here. There's also a video by Scott and Somasegarhere where they talk about whats new, what's changed from Beta 1 to Beta 2, the state of .NET languages like VB9 and C# 3.0.. and how .NET has changed from 1.0 to 3.5. There's a Lap around Visual Studio 2008 video by Jay Schmelzer, which is a recording of what was presented at TechEd 2007, Orlando.
Tag :
Microsoft
MSN Messengerrrr Grrrrrrrrr !!!
I noticed something recently with MSN Messenger 8.1. When you hover the mouse over the advertisement section at the bottom of the main window, a big ugly advertisement comes up. Basically the advertisement zooms up and takes a large part of the screen.. and gives me back some distraction in return. Grrrrrr... I hate this !
Minority Report.. Coming soon..
In 2002 when I saw the Spielberg Movie Minority Report, I was impressed with the stuff shown there. John Anderton, the cop played by Tom Cruise entering the chamber of pre-cogs and using that special computer to "browse" through images captured on it. By browse I meant they showed him actually move his hands through a stored collection of pictures, zooming, rotating and resizing them up by stretching and moving his hands.
Of course I don't wish to narrate the story for those who havent seen the movie but they showed this in a future time era of 2050 which after seeing I said to myself.. eh its not that far and I guess we are gonna see computers like that soon.
And recently when Microsoft unveiled Surface... I said wow ! It's really happening. Check out http://www.microsoft.com/surface and with what Microsoft is heading for.. it's sure to rock !
Of course I don't wish to narrate the story for those who havent seen the movie but they showed this in a future time era of 2050 which after seeing I said to myself.. eh its not that far and I guess we are gonna see computers like that soon.
And recently when Microsoft unveiled Surface... I said wow ! It's really happening. Check out http://www.microsoft.com/surface and with what Microsoft is heading for.. it's sure to rock !
Tag :
Microsoft
Microsoft Codenames
I have always been fascinated by various Microsoft Product Codenames and what they mean to Microsoft as well as what they mean to the real world. Many codenames came and went and I thought I should compile a list and create it.. just for kicks. While looking up online, I came up with a list already made by someone. For those who are equally interested, here's where you can read up : http://www.dnjonline.com/articles/backend/codenames.asp
Also check a very helpful list which talks about the latest updates from Microsoft and the various upcoming products with their expected launch dates. This is at : http://www.dnjonline.com/articles/backend/listings/default.asp The good thing is that this is a single page where you have everything you need about Microsoft's updates and new versions.
Also check a very helpful list which talks about the latest updates from Microsoft and the various upcoming products with their expected launch dates. This is at : http://www.dnjonline.com/articles/backend/listings/default.asp The good thing is that this is a single page where you have everything you need about Microsoft's updates and new versions.
Life in the fast lane
Who would have imagined travelling down an expressway at high speed, sitting at the back seat of a car and surfing the net, chatting on msn, writing a blog and doing a Google Earth lookup to see a satellite pic of the area where u currently are in. This would be called nothing short of silly or over ambitious a decade back. Thats what I am doing right now. I am travelling down the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway at 100kmph (good enough speed for this part of the world) and I am online and in touch with the world. Its fun. Actually I hadn't blogged in a while since I was busy preparing on quite a few things. So today I said to myself this would be a nice time to blog. With GPRS on the move its fun. But slow at times. With the RConnect PCMCIA card its even more fun because it's a lot faster. So I can afford to keep a host of internet based applications open at the same time. Whats more exciting is I needed WinZip on one of my VPC Images and guess what ? There I go online, get onto winzip.com and download the winzip application and install it. all at 100kmph.. oops.. at 15kbps :-p Cool aint it ?
Tag :
Microsoft
MSN Messenger Custom Emoticons
Are you missing your custom emoticons when you switch machines or if you format your machine ? At one time I had a nice collection of these emoticons... Stuff that was collected from others. Its just the same old thing, if you like it, you save it ;-) Now obviously since they are not stored on the server, they do not travel with you if you switch machines or are not going to come back if you format your machine.
So here's a simple solution that I bumped into long back. MSN Messenger 7.0 and above (I am currently using 8.0 Beta) store their custom emoticons under the logged in users profile. In that there are separate folders per MSN Account that you use, organized by what I believe is the numeric MSN ID.[C:\Documents and Settings\Your Login Name
So here's a simple solution that I bumped into long back. MSN Messenger 7.0 and above (I am currently using 8.0 Beta) store their custom emoticons under the logged in users profile. In that there are separate folders per MSN Account that you use, organized by what I believe is the numeric MSN ID.[C:\Documents and Settings\Your Login Name