Now that people are rushing towards installing Windows 7, here’s something that will increases speed of Installation.
How many times you lost your patience while burning DVD/CD for each installation? You don’t need to do that.
The Era of silly DVD/ CD is totally phased out, and will be replaced by BluRay Drives in the near future.
So, What is the best and the Fastest way of installation?
Its USB drive! (Flash or External HDD). Here’s what you need to do. It’s simple but don’t make any blunders.
UPDATE: This guide has been updated to support all windows Installations.
Method1: Using WinToFlash (Easier)
Step 1. download WinToFlash from here and unzip.
Mount the Windows installation image (using PowerISO) or if you have installation DVD/CD, then well and good.
Step 2. Run the exe
Step 3. Select the source and target drive and hit next.
There you go, it`ll finish up automatically with a bootable USB.
Reboot into BIOS. Change settings to Enable “Boot from USB”, and give it the highest precedence. Save settings and reboot, You would reboot into installation.
Method 2: via inbuilt DiskPart (Harder) Try this only if you have problems with Method 1
Step 1. Preparing USB drive
Open command prompt, from Start > run > cmd. If you are on vista or Windows 7, you might need to run it as elevated administrator. You can do this by creating shortcut to “cmd” on desktop then right click > “Run as Administrator”.
Enter following commands -
> Diskpart
DISKPART> LIST DISK
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
——– ————- ——- ——- — —
Disk 0 Online 93 GB 13 MB
Disk 1 Online 8 GB 6 MB
Note down the number corresponding Disk number. 1 in my case
DISKPART> SELECT DISK 1
>CLEAN
>CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
>SELECT PARTITION 1 – This 1 remains same always.
>ACTIVE
>FORMAT FS=FAT32
>ASSIGN
>EXIT
Step 2. Copy Installed CD/DVD contents to USB drive
> xcopy e:\*.* /s/e/f f:\
where e:\ is your source DVD drive, f:\ is target USB drive
Step 3.Changing BIOS Settings
Reboot into BIOS. Change settings to Enable “Boot from USB”, and give it the highest precedence. Save settings and reboot, You would reboot into installation.
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications enable professionals to target specific technologies and to distinguish themselves by demonstrating in-depth knowledge and expertise in their specialized technologies. more at http://www.certkingdom.com
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life
Technology is supposed to make life easier, but it doesn't seem that way when you're struggling to wrangle 289 new e-mail messages, dealing with a hard-drive crash, or suddenly realizing that you left an important file on the office computer. Thankfully, plenty of tools can help. We'll tell you which ones are worth trying, and we'll also suggest some practices that you can incorporate into your workday to use tech tools more effectively and efficiently.
1. Telecommute by Remotely Controlling Your Office Computer
Remote-control software; click to view full-size image.You can work from home--but use the computer in your office--through remote control software such as LogMeIn (free version available) or TightVNC (free). You can view the remote computer full screen, launch and close programs, read e-mail, copy and paste text between PCs, and access any files you left behind. Save money on gas, claim home equipment on your taxes, and convince your boss that you'll be more productive without leaving your house. Even the iPhone has some VNC clients, such as Mocha VNC and Teleport.
If you don't need full remote control but you do require access to your office or home files, set up Microsoft's free file-syncing tool, FolderShare. Your files will always be up-to-date, no matter where you're working or where you last updated them.
2. Schedule Automatic Hard-Drive Backups, Locally and Remotely
Backup software; click to view full-size image.Backing up your critical files is as exciting as purchasing home insurance, but just as important, too. Don't risk losing your irreplaceable digital photos by making empty promises to yourself to burn a couple of DVDs every few months. Instead, set up software and services to do the job for you while you concentrate on more-exciting projects. First, save yourself from an "OMG my hard drive crashed!" catastrophe with a top backup program. Or get started now with a free copy of SyncBackSE, and schedule regular backup jobs to your external FireWire drive, thumb drive, or network drive. (If you have FTP-server access, SyncBack can back up to that as well.)
Of course, local backup isn't enough. To protect your data against fire, lightning, theft, or other disasters, you want to back up your data to a remote server over the Internet. Both Carbonite and Mozy Home offer affordable unlimited server space and utilities that quietly back up your data in the background while you work.
3. Work Faster and More Efficiently Without a Mouse
Launchy; click to view full-size image.Streamline your computer work by teaching yourself keyboard shortcuts for your common actions, such as Ctrl-S to save, Ctrl-T to open a new tab in Firefox, and Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to copy and paste (see our list of additional shortcuts). Then, become a keyboard master with the help of a keyboard launcher such as the free Launchy (Windows) or Quicksilver (Mac). You can start programs, open documents, and even do advanced actions such as resizing images and moving files without moving your hands from the keyboard.
You can also assign key combinations that automatically type out common phrases--such as user names, passwords, addresses, and e-mail signatures--with utilities like TypeItIn (Windows) or TypeIt4Me (Mac OS X).
4. Lose Weight, Get Fit, Save Money, and Increase Your Mileage Online
Wesabe; click to view full-size image.A new crop of social self-improvement sites help you monitor how much you've eaten, exercised, and spent, to motivate you and keep you on track.
Web services such as FitDay and Weight Watchers log and guide your diet and fitness regimen.
If Quicken or Microsoft Money has become too complicated to update, you can track your spending, balance your checkbook, and run charts on expenditures versus income at personal-finance sites Mint.com and Wesabe.
As for your car, avoid online gas scams. Additionally, you can squeeze the last bit of mileage out of every expensive tank of gas with a miles-per-gallon tracker like Fuelly or MyMileMarker. Entering your information into such sites gets you personalized suggestions, comparisons, and a community of like-minded people who can offer support and suggestions.
5. Clear Out Your Inbox Every Day
Beat e-mail overload once and for all by emptying your inbox completely--and keeping it that way. The "Inbox Zero" philosophy says that e-mail messages are just calls to action--not clutter that we need to hang on to. Create three folders or labels in your e-mail client: Action, Later, and Archive. Each day when you check your e-mail, make a decision and do something with every new message you've received until you've moved them all out of your inbox and reduced your message count down to zero. Ruthlessly delete the messages you don't need, on the spot. Respond to the ones that will take under 2 minutes. File messages that you want to keep for future reference in the Archive folder, those that will take longer than 2 minutes to reply to in Action (and add those to-do items to your list), and messages you need to follow up on at a subsequent date (such as Amazon shipment notifications) in Later. Then breathe a sigh of relief when you see that glorious declaration: 'You have no new mail.'
1. Telecommute by Remotely Controlling Your Office Computer
Remote-control software; click to view full-size image.You can work from home--but use the computer in your office--through remote control software such as LogMeIn (free version available) or TightVNC (free). You can view the remote computer full screen, launch and close programs, read e-mail, copy and paste text between PCs, and access any files you left behind. Save money on gas, claim home equipment on your taxes, and convince your boss that you'll be more productive without leaving your house. Even the iPhone has some VNC clients, such as Mocha VNC and Teleport.
If you don't need full remote control but you do require access to your office or home files, set up Microsoft's free file-syncing tool, FolderShare. Your files will always be up-to-date, no matter where you're working or where you last updated them.
2. Schedule Automatic Hard-Drive Backups, Locally and Remotely
Backup software; click to view full-size image.Backing up your critical files is as exciting as purchasing home insurance, but just as important, too. Don't risk losing your irreplaceable digital photos by making empty promises to yourself to burn a couple of DVDs every few months. Instead, set up software and services to do the job for you while you concentrate on more-exciting projects. First, save yourself from an "OMG my hard drive crashed!" catastrophe with a top backup program. Or get started now with a free copy of SyncBackSE, and schedule regular backup jobs to your external FireWire drive, thumb drive, or network drive. (If you have FTP-server access, SyncBack can back up to that as well.)
Of course, local backup isn't enough. To protect your data against fire, lightning, theft, or other disasters, you want to back up your data to a remote server over the Internet. Both Carbonite and Mozy Home offer affordable unlimited server space and utilities that quietly back up your data in the background while you work.
3. Work Faster and More Efficiently Without a Mouse
Launchy; click to view full-size image.Streamline your computer work by teaching yourself keyboard shortcuts for your common actions, such as Ctrl-S to save, Ctrl-T to open a new tab in Firefox, and Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to copy and paste (see our list of additional shortcuts). Then, become a keyboard master with the help of a keyboard launcher such as the free Launchy (Windows) or Quicksilver (Mac). You can start programs, open documents, and even do advanced actions such as resizing images and moving files without moving your hands from the keyboard.
You can also assign key combinations that automatically type out common phrases--such as user names, passwords, addresses, and e-mail signatures--with utilities like TypeItIn (Windows) or TypeIt4Me (Mac OS X).
4. Lose Weight, Get Fit, Save Money, and Increase Your Mileage Online
Wesabe; click to view full-size image.A new crop of social self-improvement sites help you monitor how much you've eaten, exercised, and spent, to motivate you and keep you on track.
Web services such as FitDay and Weight Watchers log and guide your diet and fitness regimen.
If Quicken or Microsoft Money has become too complicated to update, you can track your spending, balance your checkbook, and run charts on expenditures versus income at personal-finance sites Mint.com and Wesabe.
As for your car, avoid online gas scams. Additionally, you can squeeze the last bit of mileage out of every expensive tank of gas with a miles-per-gallon tracker like Fuelly or MyMileMarker. Entering your information into such sites gets you personalized suggestions, comparisons, and a community of like-minded people who can offer support and suggestions.
5. Clear Out Your Inbox Every Day
Beat e-mail overload once and for all by emptying your inbox completely--and keeping it that way. The "Inbox Zero" philosophy says that e-mail messages are just calls to action--not clutter that we need to hang on to. Create three folders or labels in your e-mail client: Action, Later, and Archive. Each day when you check your e-mail, make a decision and do something with every new message you've received until you've moved them all out of your inbox and reduced your message count down to zero. Ruthlessly delete the messages you don't need, on the spot. Respond to the ones that will take under 2 minutes. File messages that you want to keep for future reference in the Archive folder, those that will take longer than 2 minutes to reply to in Action (and add those to-do items to your list), and messages you need to follow up on at a subsequent date (such as Amazon shipment notifications) in Later. Then breathe a sigh of relief when you see that glorious declaration: 'You have no new mail.'
5 Things You’ll Actually Like About the New Hotmail
Hotmail and innovation: Those two words haven't been used in the same sentence for years. But when Microsoft launches an update to the online mail service (officially known as Windows Live Hotmail) sometime this summer, it'll include some features that are genuinely innovative, well-thought-out and useful.
As with Bing, it feels like Microsoft hasn't been content just to copy popular traits from its rivals, but find compelling new ways for people to interact with email. I've gotten a chance to play with the new service early and here are a few of my highlights:
1. New Inbox Views
These automatically generated filters help you find what really interests you in your inbox. The most useful is probably the "From contacts" view, which shows only emails from people in your contact directory. This does a pretty good job of isolating only the messages you really need to respond to, especially if you have all the people you work with regularly in your contacts list.
Another filter shows all your updates from social networks like Twitter and Facebook, while a third finds mail like newsletters and email blasts to large groups. And there are views that find all e-mails with photos or office documents attached or that contain shipping updates.
Of course, you can create some of these filters yourself in a service like Gmail, but lots of people won't go through the hassle. Microsoft has done a good job of recognizing what filters many people would want and building them automatically.
2. Sweeping Out the Junk
These days, most true spam - Viagra ads and porn come-ons - gets caught before it ever gets to your inbox. But you still get semi-spam messages: newsletters that you signed up for, but then found weren't that useful or coupons from a store you no longer shop with. With a little work, you could figure out how to unsubscribe, but Hotmail's Sweep feature makes evicting them from your inbox much easier.
You hover over the sender of a message and can choose to delete all messages, past and future, from that sender or, automatically move them to a different folder, if you want to keep them, but don't want them cluttering your inbox.
3. Active View
Active View, Microsoft's typically obtuse label, actually refers to very cool functionality. Say your friend sends you an e-mail about the latest YouTube video showing accidental damage to a man's nether region. Instead of getting just a link to the video, you see a thumbnail of the pole-vaulting disaster and can play the video in a popup window right in your inbox. In addition to YouTube videos, the system also supports Hulu videos.
Active View also works with pictures. If a friend attaches a few shots from their vacation, you'll see thumbnails of the pictures in the email. You can scroll through the thumbnails in the same window or click on them and see a slideshow in a pop-up window.
Your friends don't have to use Hotmail for Active View to work on your end, but your system must have Microsoft's Silverlight installed.
4. Edit Attachments in Office Online
When someone sends you a document in Word, Excel or Powerpoint, Hotmail will give you the option of opening it in the Office online apps. You can choose to edit the document online, in which case Hotmail will automatically upload it to Skydrive, the Microsoft cloud storage site. Then you can respond with a link to the online document containing your changes. (Note: When I tried editing documents, the system hung for minutes on end with a message saying it was converting my document to be edited online, then threw up an error. Given that the service won't be launched until "sometime this summer" (there is no definite date), it's not too surprising that there are bugs.)
5. Bing Integration
Not surprisingly, Bing, Microsoft's search engine, is heavily integrated with Hotmail. What is surprising, though, is the seamless way the two can interact. When you're writing a message in Hotmail, you can choose to insert information from Bing - images, videos, movie times and information, map data and webpage info. A side panel pops up that lets you search Bing for what you're looking for. Find it and you can simply click Insert below the item. Hotmail will place the image, map or other data directly into your message, along with a link that lets you go to the search result in Bing.
I don't know if the sum of all these improvements will be enough to move me out of Gmail, but they're clearly the product of some innovative thinking that should advance the online e-mail universe.
For more information on new Office online apps, take a look at Microsoft Office 2010 Rocks Desktop, Fizzles Online.
As with Bing, it feels like Microsoft hasn't been content just to copy popular traits from its rivals, but find compelling new ways for people to interact with email. I've gotten a chance to play with the new service early and here are a few of my highlights:
1. New Inbox Views
These automatically generated filters help you find what really interests you in your inbox. The most useful is probably the "From contacts" view, which shows only emails from people in your contact directory. This does a pretty good job of isolating only the messages you really need to respond to, especially if you have all the people you work with regularly in your contacts list.
Another filter shows all your updates from social networks like Twitter and Facebook, while a third finds mail like newsletters and email blasts to large groups. And there are views that find all e-mails with photos or office documents attached or that contain shipping updates.
Of course, you can create some of these filters yourself in a service like Gmail, but lots of people won't go through the hassle. Microsoft has done a good job of recognizing what filters many people would want and building them automatically.
2. Sweeping Out the Junk
These days, most true spam - Viagra ads and porn come-ons - gets caught before it ever gets to your inbox. But you still get semi-spam messages: newsletters that you signed up for, but then found weren't that useful or coupons from a store you no longer shop with. With a little work, you could figure out how to unsubscribe, but Hotmail's Sweep feature makes evicting them from your inbox much easier.
You hover over the sender of a message and can choose to delete all messages, past and future, from that sender or, automatically move them to a different folder, if you want to keep them, but don't want them cluttering your inbox.
3. Active View
Active View, Microsoft's typically obtuse label, actually refers to very cool functionality. Say your friend sends you an e-mail about the latest YouTube video showing accidental damage to a man's nether region. Instead of getting just a link to the video, you see a thumbnail of the pole-vaulting disaster and can play the video in a popup window right in your inbox. In addition to YouTube videos, the system also supports Hulu videos.
Active View also works with pictures. If a friend attaches a few shots from their vacation, you'll see thumbnails of the pictures in the email. You can scroll through the thumbnails in the same window or click on them and see a slideshow in a pop-up window.
Your friends don't have to use Hotmail for Active View to work on your end, but your system must have Microsoft's Silverlight installed.
4. Edit Attachments in Office Online
When someone sends you a document in Word, Excel or Powerpoint, Hotmail will give you the option of opening it in the Office online apps. You can choose to edit the document online, in which case Hotmail will automatically upload it to Skydrive, the Microsoft cloud storage site. Then you can respond with a link to the online document containing your changes. (Note: When I tried editing documents, the system hung for minutes on end with a message saying it was converting my document to be edited online, then threw up an error. Given that the service won't be launched until "sometime this summer" (there is no definite date), it's not too surprising that there are bugs.)
5. Bing Integration
Not surprisingly, Bing, Microsoft's search engine, is heavily integrated with Hotmail. What is surprising, though, is the seamless way the two can interact. When you're writing a message in Hotmail, you can choose to insert information from Bing - images, videos, movie times and information, map data and webpage info. A side panel pops up that lets you search Bing for what you're looking for. Find it and you can simply click Insert below the item. Hotmail will place the image, map or other data directly into your message, along with a link that lets you go to the search result in Bing.
I don't know if the sum of all these improvements will be enough to move me out of Gmail, but they're clearly the product of some innovative thinking that should advance the online e-mail universe.
For more information on new Office online apps, take a look at Microsoft Office 2010 Rocks Desktop, Fizzles Online.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Can you rise in a company without being a strategic thinker?
I have a friend who is highly intelligent and very detail oriented. He wanted to further his career so he earned an MBA. He’s currently very frustrated because he feels like his bosses have never appreciated his intelligence (or at least shown that appreciation by way of a promotion to a more strategic position in the company).
If you want to make sure all your t’s are crossed on a project, then he is definitely a person you want in your corner. I think that this is recognized and appreciated by his boss, to the point where he’s the go-to person for that kind of thing.
However, he is also the first person to admit that he is not a strategic thinker. This got me to thinking if someone can reach an executive position in a company without being strategically-minded. Also, I wonder if strategic thinking can be taught or if it is something ingrained in the personality.
I’d like to get your opinions on this in a poll. Please take a second to take the poll below and we’ll talk about the results once they’re in.
If you want to make sure all your t’s are crossed on a project, then he is definitely a person you want in your corner. I think that this is recognized and appreciated by his boss, to the point where he’s the go-to person for that kind of thing.
However, he is also the first person to admit that he is not a strategic thinker. This got me to thinking if someone can reach an executive position in a company without being strategically-minded. Also, I wonder if strategic thinking can be taught or if it is something ingrained in the personality.
I’d like to get your opinions on this in a poll. Please take a second to take the poll below and we’ll talk about the results once they’re in.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Pop Quiz: RAID basics
From disk striping to distributed parity, RAID solutions can provide fault-tolerance and improve performance. But, how much do you really know about the different RAID levels? Take this short quiz and test your knowledge.
Note: Unfortunately, our poll tool, which I use to create each pop quiz, doesn’t let me indicate a correct answer after each question. To keep from giving away the answers before everyone has a chance to test his/her knowledge, and ruining all the fun, I’ve published the answers on the second page of this blog post. I encourage everyone to answer all the questions before looking at the second page.
The acronym RAID stands for:
Redundant array of inexpensive/independent disks
Replication area for important data
Redistribution assignment of individual data
None of the above
Vote View Results
Which of the following RAID levels provides no fault tolerance?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
Vote View Results
Which of the following RAID levels uses a fault-tolerance technique known as "disk mirroring"?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
Vote View Results
Which of the following RAID levels uses a fault-tolerance technique known as "distributed parity"?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
Vote View Results
Which of the following RAID levels uses a combination of disk striping and mirrored volumes?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
Vote View Results
What is the minimum number of disks required for RAID 0?
1
2
3
4
Vote View Results
What is the minimum number of disks required for RAID 1?
1
2
3
4
Vote View Results
What is the minimum number of disks required for RAID 5?
1
2
3
4
Vote View Results
What is the minimum number of disks required for RAID 10?
1
2
3
4
Vote View Results
Which of the following fault-tolerance techniques requires two separate disk controllers?
Disk imaging
Disk duplexing
Disk mirroring
Disk striping
Vote View Results
Answers are on the next page.
Edited 1/18/2011: Fixed an error in one of the answers to the first question and fixed a problem with the answers appearing on the first page.
Note: Unfortunately, our poll tool, which I use to create each pop quiz, doesn’t let me indicate a correct answer after each question. To keep from giving away the answers before everyone has a chance to test his/her knowledge, and ruining all the fun, I’ve published the answers on the second page of this blog post. I encourage everyone to answer all the questions before looking at the second page.
The acronym RAID stands for:
Redundant array of inexpensive/independent disks
Replication area for important data
Redistribution assignment of individual data
None of the above
Vote View Results
Which of the following RAID levels provides no fault tolerance?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
Vote View Results
Which of the following RAID levels uses a fault-tolerance technique known as "disk mirroring"?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
Vote View Results
Which of the following RAID levels uses a fault-tolerance technique known as "distributed parity"?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
Vote View Results
Which of the following RAID levels uses a combination of disk striping and mirrored volumes?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
Vote View Results
What is the minimum number of disks required for RAID 0?
1
2
3
4
Vote View Results
What is the minimum number of disks required for RAID 1?
1
2
3
4
Vote View Results
What is the minimum number of disks required for RAID 5?
1
2
3
4
Vote View Results
What is the minimum number of disks required for RAID 10?
1
2
3
4
Vote View Results
Which of the following fault-tolerance techniques requires two separate disk controllers?
Disk imaging
Disk duplexing
Disk mirroring
Disk striping
Vote View Results
Answers are on the next page.
Edited 1/18/2011: Fixed an error in one of the answers to the first question and fixed a problem with the answers appearing on the first page.
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