Windows 7 is the perfect OS to run on a Netbook but how do you install it without a CD drive? Use a USB flash drive in place of the DVD. In this article I will show you how to create a bootable USB flash drive that will install Windows 7.

Before we get started you will need:

• Windows 7 ISO file and WinRAR or a burned DVD with the install source files
• 4GB USB flash drive. You can buy one on eBay for around $10 with free shipping.

Step 1 - Preparing the USB flash drive

Let’s get started. First we need to format the USB flash drive to erase any existing data on the drive.  Click on the Start Button and then Computer to bring up your drives. 

Next, right click on the removable USB flash drive and select Format.

Click Start and the USB flash drive will be formatted.

Step 2 - Preparing the source files

Now it is time to extract the setup from a Windows 7 ISO CD image file.  If you have a physical Windows 7 install DVD then skip to step 3. 

To extract the files from the ISO file you will need WinRAR. If you do not already have WinRAR download and install that now.

Once you have WinRAR installed navigate to the ISO file in explorer and right click on the file and select the bottom Extract to <folder name> option.

The ISO file will now be extracted to a sub-folder with the same name as the ISO file. This can take a few minutes to complete.

Step 3 - Copying source files to USB flash drive

The final step is to copy the install source onto the USB flash drive in a way that will allow the Windows 7 install to boot up. The trick here is to use XCopy.  Depending on where your source files are located there are two different methods to copy the files onto the flash drive.

Using extracted source files

Open up command prompt and navigate to the directory you extracted the source files from the ISO file with the CD command. Then, run XCOPY *.* J: /e and hit Enter to start the copy. Be sure to replace J with the drive letter of your USB flash drive.

Using a physical Windows 7 install DVD

The instructions are slightly different when using a physical DVD.  Open up command prompt and type XCOPY D:  J: /e and hit Enter. Replace D with the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive and replace J with the drive letter of your USB flash drive.

Step 5 - Installing Windows 7 from the USB flash drive

Once the file copy has completed you are ready to plug the USB flash drive into your Netbook. Turn it on and hit the keyboard shortcut to bring up the boot menu for your model. Typically it is F12 or F1. After you select your USB flash drive the Windows 7 installation should begin to load. At this point, installing Windows 7 is the same as on a normal laptop or a desktop.

Windows 7 includes a new tool to help you calibrate the correct gamma, contrast, brightness and color settings for your specific display.

Just click on the Start Button and type in dccw and hit Enter.

Then follow the on screen directions and adjust the sliders so that the test picture look like the “Good” sample picture.

A bug in Windows 7 Beta 1 (build 7000) is known to corrupt MP3 files if you use the Windows Media Player to modify or automatically update (the default setting) MP3 file meta data.  Microsoft has released a QFE patch and the bug has been fixed in more recent builds.

If you are running Windows 7 Beta 1 Build 7000 be sure to download the patch:

Windows 7 Beta 1 32-bit Patch Download

Windows 7 Beta 1 64-bit Patch Download

Read More in KB961367

In older versions of Windows using an external projector with your laptop can be a difficult task. It seems like every laptop has a different function key combination to enable output for a projector. In Windows 7 that has finally been improved. Now, all you have to do is hit the Windows Key + P and the projector menu will be displayed.

The on-screen display will allow you to:

• Show Desktop only on Computer
• Duplicate Desktop on Projector
• Extend Desktop to Projector
• Show Desktop only on projector

If you don’t like keyboard shortcuts you can also create a desktop or taskbar shortcut to the projector menu. To do that, create a shortcut to "C:\Windows\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe".

Displayswitch.exe also has command line parameters that allow you to create a shortcut that will set a specific display mode. 

• /internal
• /clone
• /extend
• /external

According to a report by DisplayBank in 2008 over 14.9 million netbooks were sold with that number expected to almost double in 2009. Netbooks have become a great secondary PC when you want a very portable and low cost way to do basic computing. Many ship with Windows XP home edition but that is just not as fun and helpful to use as Windows 7.

Like many of you I loaded Windows 7 on my netbook and it performed just OK.  It provided a huge performance improvement over Windows Vista but was not as snappy as I wanted.  The key to speeding up Windows 7 on a netbook with limited resources is to turn off and disable features that you don’t need. After all, it’s a netbook and there are many Windows components that will never be used. Additionally, disabling un-needed components will extend your battery life since fewer processes will be using the CPU running in the background.

Fine Tune Visual Settings

The Windows 7 eye candy is the main cause of GUI slowness. While my netbook has a decent graphics card that can display Aero Glass it can be choppy at times. Follow these steps to improve the performance of the interface:

Click on the Start Button and type in adjust the appearance and hit Enter. This will load the Visual Effects performance options.

On this screen I suggest disabling the following settings by removing the check:

• Animate controls and elements inside windows
• Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
• Fade or slide menus into view
• Fade or slide ToolTips into view
• Fade out menu items after clicking
• Show window contents while dragging
• Slide open combo boxes

Click OK when you are finished.

Remove Startup Programs

Nothing wastes resources more is startup programs that you don’t need. Click on the Start Button and type in msconfig and hit Enter.

When the System Configuration utility is loaded click on the Startup tab.

Remove the check next to any applications you don’t need and click OK.

Disable Services

Now it’s time to trim the Windows services running in the background of your computer.

Click on the Start Button and type in services.msc and hit Enter.

When the Services management console is shown you can stop and disable services by selecting the service, right clicking and selecting Properties. Then change the Startup type to Disabled and hit the Stop button. Finally click OK to return to the Services management console.

I recommend disabling the following services on a netbook:

• Block Level Backup Engine Service
• Certificate Propagation
• Homegroup Provider
• Offline Files
• Portable Device Enumerator Service
• Software Protection
• SSDP Discovery
• Windows Defender
• Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
• Windows Search

Keep in mind that if you use any of these services or applications that depend on them they will no longer function. E.g. if you are a homegroup user don’t disable the Homegroup Provider.

Install More RAM

There is really no good substitute to having plenty of ram in a computer. You can use ReadyBoost but with memory prices so cheap why not just buy more. I purchased a 2GB chip for my netbook for $16 (hopefully the mail-in rebate will come through).

The popular Intel Atom processor netbooks use the Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset that has a max of 2GB of ram supported. The amount of expansion slots or if your netbook even has one depends on the vendor and model of your netbook.

I suggest picking up a 2GB stick of PC2-5300

There is no doubt that all of the security features in Windows Vista will help keep your computer secure.  However, these features become less valuable when they are not turned on by default.  One feature, known as user account auditing, is not turned on by default. With this feature is turned off, anyone with physical access or remote access to through a hole in your firewall (such an opening for Remote Desktop) can use a brute force attack against your user account for as long as they want without getting noticed at all.   How? The default audit security policy is configured to not log any account logon events, successful or failed.

This allows an attacker to try to hack your accounts for as long as it takes to break in.  There are a few ways to protect against this that I am going to go over in my next article about the Account Lockout policy.  But first, it is important to turn on this account auditing so that you can see who may be trying to break into your accounts.  After you have adjusted the auditing security policy, you will be able to see any account attacks including the account that they tried to logon with and where the request came from.

Let's get started and turn on audition for failed logon events:

1. Click on the Start Button and key in secpol.msc in the box and hit Enter.
2. Navigate through Local Policies and Audit Policy.
3. Right click on Audit account logon events policy and select Properties.
4. Check the Failure box and hit OK.
5. Right click on Audit logon events policy and select Properties.
6. Check the Failure box and hit OK. Your screen should now look like the figure below:
   
7. Close Local Security Policy editor.

Your computer has now been configured to log all failed user account logon attempts. 

Once you have turned on account auditing, you can view the logs in Event Viewer (run eventvwr.msc) under Windows Logs and Security.

In Windows Vista it is now possible to resize partitions without any data loss in the new Disk Management console.

Resizing Partitions with Windows Vista:

1. Click on the Start Button and right click on Computer and select Manage.
2. Expand the Storage section and select Disk Management.
3. Then just right click on any partition and select either Expand or Shrink to change the size of the partition.

This will allow you to safely resize your partitions without any data loss.

The indexing service in Windows Vista is responsible for making those search boxes all over the operating system lightening fast. By default Windows automatically indexes all files in your user profile folders, start menu and any files you have setup for offline access. If you have a lot of files in these locations and the files change often you can be putting a heavy load on the indexing service.  For maximum performance when using Windows Vista I recommend disabling indexing for all other locations other than the Start Menu.  This will lessen the background work that Windows Vista has to do.  It will also slow down your searches of other locations but that is the price you must pay for this performance benefit.

Follow these steps to tweak the indexing locations:

1. Click on the Start Button and key in Indexing Options and hit Enter. Indexing Options will now load. 
   
2. Hit the Modify button.
3. Next, click on Show all locations.
4. Scroll through the tree-view and uncheck any folders you do not want to be indexed.  When you are finished, click OK.
5. If you want to change advanced indexing settings such as what file types are indexed click on the Advanced button. Otherwise hit Close.

Do you have a SATA disk drive in your computer? If so, you can squeeze a little more performance out of your hard disk.  This speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enhancing write caching. However, if your computer is not connected to a battery backup and you loose power you have a increased risk for data loss or corruption. If you have a laptop your chances are data loss or corruption are dramatically less since your laptop battery will kick on if your power source is lost. Let's get started:

1. Click on the Start Button and key in Device Manager and hit Enter.
2. Expand Disk Drives.
3. Right click on your hard drive and select Properties.
4. On the Policies tab, check Enable advanced performance.
5. Hit OK and close Device Manager.

Q: What perf do you need on your device?
A: 2.5MB/sec throughput for 4K random reads and 1.75MB/sec throughput for 512K random writes
Q: My device says 12MB/sec (or 133x or something else) on the package but windows says that it isn't fast enough to use as a ReadyBoost device... why?
A: Two possible reasons:

1. The numbers measure sequential performance and we measure random. We've seen devices that have great sequential perf, but horrible random
2. The performance isn't consistantly fast across the entire device. Some devices have 128M of lightning fast flash and the rest of the device is really slow. This is fine for some applications but not ReadyBoost.

Filed under: Windows Vista

ReadyBoost helps your computer by giving it more high-speed memory.  If your computer is running low on RAM then it has to kick a lot of applications out of high-speed physical memory to the paging file on your hard drive.  This usually results in a big hit in performance and increased activity on your hard drive. ReadyBoost helps this situation by giving Windows an alternative to having to stick data into the slow paging file on your hard drive. Instead, ReadyBoost uses a USB storage device that is faster than a hard disk. This results in a performance boost because Windows will have a high speed alternative than using the slow paging file on your hard drive.

In order for ReadyBoost to work, it requires a USB storage device that meets minimum performance and space requirements:

• The device must be at least 64 MB
• The device must be USB 2.0
• It has to be able to read at 3.5 MB/s
• It has to be able to write at 2.5 MB/s

If you are unsure if your USB storage device meets these requirements, just give it a try anyways. To get started using ReadyBoost, follow these steps:

1. Plug in USB storage device.
2. Go to Computer and right click on the removable storage device and select Properties.
3. If your device is compatible, you will see a ReadyBoost tab. Click on that.
4. Select Use this device and select the amount of space on it you want to dedicate for the ReadyBoost system file.
5. Click OK and you are finished.

The new sidebar in Windows Vista provides many opportunities to present the user with information. For those of you that like to monitor your system performance, the sidebar is the perfect place to run various performance monitoring gadgets. Windows Vista ships with a simple CPU and Memory usage gadget, however, there are many more gadgets out there that are much more useful and help you monitor almost every aspect of Windows.

1. Wireless Signal and IP Address Gadget

This gadget displays your wireless network information such as it's status, signal strength and security. This gadget also displays your internal IP and gives you a direct link to your router's / wireless gateway's web based control panel.

2. Battery Meter Gadget

Monitor the battery level of your laptop with this gadget.  This gadget provides a much more accurate level reading than the tiny system tray icon.

3. Multi-Meter Gadget

Info shown: - Cpu usage % ( 2 cores ) - Ram Usage % - Ram info ( Total, used, left size) - Status bars animated above 90% - 100 Skins + background selection

4. Uptime Gadget

This gadget allows you to see how much time has passed since you last restarted your computer.

5. Free Space Gadget

This gadget monitors your PC's drives and shows you the available space for those you've selected

For those of you have have the aero glass interface on your computer, it is possible to hold down the shift key while closing, opening, and minimizing a windows to see the animation in slow motion.  If you would like to test this out, just follow the steps below:

1. Open up Regedit.
2. Navigate thru HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft and Windows.
3. Create a new KEY called DWM if it is not aleady there.
4. Create a new DWORD called AnimationsShiftKey inside the DWM folder.
5. Set the new DWORD that you just created to a value of 1.
6. Run net stop uxsms at administrative rights command prompt followed by net start uxsms to restart the DWM engine.

Once you have restarted the DWM engine, just hold down the shift key to see any of the window animations in slow motion.

Tip: Hold down shift and start Flip 3D

Here are two quick reg hacks for customizing the appearance of ClearType screen font smoothing:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

FontSmoothingOrientation = 1, 2 or 3

FontSmoothingGamma = Between 1000 to 2000

In your system tray you will find the Network and Sharing Center icon that allows you to easily connect and disconnect network connections and view your connection status. With the help of a simple tweak, you can animate the icon so that it shows when your connections are actively transferring data.

It is very easy to turn on icon animation, just right click on the network icon next to the clock and select Turn on activity animation.

Overnight Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 to the Microsoft download center for public download.  Previously Service Pack 2 was only available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers.

In other news anti-Windows fanboys international issued a press release requesting all members trade in "Windows 7 is Vista SP2" t-shirts for updated Vista SP3 apparel.

Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista - Standalone DVD ISO

Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista - x64 Based Systems (64-bit)

Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista - x86 Based Systems (32-bit)

Service Pack 2 Changes

Nearly four hectares of land owned by the villagers of Surajpur area of Bardiya district has been taken over by the Indian side for as long as five years.

The land located in the middle of Nepal-India border pillar no. 62/63 was reportedly encroached by Indian Forest Department and Indian Survey Department of bordering Nanapara, prohibiting the owners from earning their own land. The encroached land is owned by 86 people of Surajpur. The landowners have said that the Indian authority have set up a camp for its border security force Seema Surakshya Bal (SSB) close to the encroached land.

"SSB men have threatened to gun us down if we try to till our own land," said Krishna Gopal Gupta, one of the victims. "The Indian side claims that the land belongs to them."

The victims say that the encroachment of Nepali soil by the Indain began in 2001. As the most part of the border area is covered with forest, the encroachment of land from the Indian side has gone unnoticed so far.

Sahadad Ali Dhobi, local of Gulariya Municipality-9, claims that more than 1.3 hectares of his land at Surajpur is under the Indian occupation since past five years. "I reached out to the District Administration Office and local political parties asking them to free my land but they did not hear my plight."

Other claimants also say that the local administration did not take any initiative to free the encroached land.

Current Chief District Officer (CDO) of Bardiya Bed Bahadur Karki said that he had no idea about the encroachment issue.

"The complaints must have been made to the previous officer. As far as I am concerned I have not received such reports whatsoever."

Former CDO Keshav Sharma had told the victims that talks are underway with the Indian side on the matter but no step has been taken as of now to free the encroached land.

Two years ago, a joint survey team from Nepal and India had inspected the area along border pillar no. 62/63 and concluded that the area was disputed but no action was initiated to sort out the issue.   

The district-based political parties have appealed the government to look into the matter immediately and find out a solution.

Posted on: 2009-06-14 08:38:54 (Server Time)

FINANCE ko exam thyo khattam grade aauncha, C aauncha bore bhayo….

Its already 3 AM and still I'm not able to finish my theory parts of finance. 10:00 AM ma exam cha. Felt bored and now I'm hanging in my notebook posting a blog. WOW what a way..

New Nepal referred as ‘Naya Nepal’. People’s desire to out throw a monarchy and create a new Nepal naming as Democratic Republic Nepal aka loktantra Nepal something like that, excuse me actually I also don’t know the proper meaning of loktantra.

New Nepal, new government and every new commitments made by our new government. Has any of those commitments been fulfilled by our new government? Past government also couldn’t fulfill and how can current government fulfill it. Violence is spurring everywhere, peoples are been kidnapped and killed for simple reason and our new government says we’ve established peace in the country. What a joke?

It seems that we’ve forgotten our past, our culture and our nationality. People those used respect and pray monarchy have gone against it. Today is loktantra day but I think we should remember those who died and spilled blood for our country not those who just sat in road saying murdabad. I’m not against loktantra but, they are not the real heroes. Ok let all Nepalese people sit in the road and say murdabad, we’ll die saying murdabad and next day we’ll be declared as martyr.

Does our new government aka naya sarkar know the meaning of martyr? Instead of going to shaid gate and paying respect to our 4 brave heroes, every Nepalese say\w our new PM was paying respect to 7000 new and unknown martyr.