Udhyan's Blog

Microsoft has finally released Silverlight 4 desktop client for Facebook which was first demonstrated back in April, 2009. According to iThinkDiff blog, Microsoft released the app out of the blue without any announcement. Of all the facebook desktop clients we have tried so far, this one takes the prize.

It has a clean interface and looks much like the Zune desktop app. The best part is that it is actually usable and comes with build-in notifications(alerts). Navigating facebook with this app is seamless. The minimalist design, combined with easy-to-use functionalities makes it a killer desktop client and is a must-have for all facebook addicts out there.

Note: When installing the app, Silverlight 4 beta will be installed. Of course you will have to allow permission to this app before it can connect to facebook.But use IE8 and after installing from the below's link refersh that page, so that it allows you to use this software.

Link to download software, scroll down at last.

Download this application from : http://www.silverlight.net/content/samples/apps/facebookclient/

Cheers,

Udhyan.

ISO Creator is an opensource software that allows anyone to create an ISO CD image from a folder. You can also create ISO with virtual files if a tree representing a directory structure is given.

It can not create ISO from files, you will have to add the files inside one folder and then convert that folder to ISO format using this tool.

Overall, it requires only three steps- Enter the path where you want to save the ISO file, given the Volume a name, and choose the folder that you want to convert to ISO. You can even convert a drive into ISO image.

The process to create the ISO image will depend on the number of files and the total folder size. Having said that, the progress was quite fast while we tested it.

Download ISO Creator from following link:

http://cid-642bb33434e97b85.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/ISO%20Creater?uc=1

It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008, and Windows 7. Enjoy!

Microsoft is very confident in boasting that Windows 7 is the one of the safest operating systems. Windows 7 has enhanced many features from Windows Vista, some noteworthy improvements have been made to Windows 7’s Security. Lets see what’s new in Windows 7 security.

Please note that we are making a comparison between Windows 7 and Vista in terms of both enhancements to existing security features as well as new additions.

Action Center

Action Center is a centralized place which provides useful information regarding system maintenance, security, and troubleshooting. It provides different types of notifications, reports about any issues in the system, and assists in troubleshoot problems. Action Center is being considered as one of the best perks of Windows 7.  It is located  under Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Action Center .

Enhanced User Account Control (UAC)

This feature was first introduced in Windows Vista, UAC becomes annoying as whenever you try to install a new software, a dialog box pops up asking you to have the administrative rights to install the software. Windows 7 has enhanced this feature and now it has reduced the number of operating system applications that need administrative privileges and thus the standard users are prompted for administrative privileges far less than ever before. In case you still want to get rid of it, there is an option to disable it as well.

AppLocker

As you know that running any unauthorized software can cause a real security threat to your system, so Windows 7 has introduced a great feature called Applocker which lets you create rules that govern the way in which respective users can install and run programs in the system. You can use this feature in Windows 7 to prevent unauthorized software from running and thus this results in better system security and performance.

System Restore

The System Restore feature has long been used as a security tool. In Windows 7 it includes many advanced options, for e.g, it allows users to choose the restore points and to restore the system to an earlier point in time in case of some disaster situation. It is the best tool which is available in Windows 7 with respect to system recovery and security

BitLocker

You can adopt as many security enhancements as you wish, but what if some one steals data from your hard drive? Don’t worry, Windows 7 has a solution for this as well. Windows 7 protects your drives with the help of the Bit Locker technique and even in the case of a stolen or lost disk your data will not be accessible to any unauthorized person.

Conclusion

Microsoft deserves a round of applause for their effort, as we can see that Windows 7 is no doubt much more secure than the older versions of Windows. Even though they have increased the security, there will still be some critics who would blame Microsoft every now and then. What do you think about Windows 7’s Security? Do you think Microsoft did a great job or should they have done more? Let me know in the comments. Enjoy!

Those readers who have switched to Windows 7 from Vista will know that there is a default administrator account in Vista which is disabled by default. Same is the case with Windows 7, the default Administrator account is not enabled in the default settings and when you need to run any particular application in the administrator mode, then you manually assign it the admin right.

Lets see how we can enable the administrator user account in windows 7. But we will recommend to use this account for troubleshooting purposes only.

Open the command prompt with administrator privileges and run the following command. It will enable the default administrator account in Windows 7

Now logout and you will see the Administrator account on the logon screen.

In order to disable it again, run the same command with the following slight modification.

net user administrator /active:no

It’s that easy.

Thanks & Regards,

Udhyan.

There have been a lot of installing Vista/Win7 via USB articles in the recent past, all using different types of methods. Now with Windows 7 round the corner and with the RC version being a success people have started to tryout Windows 7 and I’ve received a lot of mail, some stating it works and for some it doesn’t. Mainly there are responses about these methods being not easy to follow unless you have a fair knowledge about these stuff.

So in this tutorial I have used the easiest way to create a bootable USB that you can use to install Windows 7 (or Vista) and this will probably be the final post as well.

Creating the bootable USB drive:

Requirements

• An ISO Image of Windows 7 (any version)
• UltraISO (not free, but a trial version would do)
• A USB drive consisting more than 2.5GB (4GB drive is more than enough)

1. Download the ISO image of Windows 7

2. Download and install UltraISO

3. Plug the USB drive to the PC. backup any data as they will be deleted.

4. Start UltraISO go to File->Open and select the downloaded ISO image

5. In the Local tab (lower left) select your USB drive. Make sure its the drive you want to make bootable. In this example its “USB Flash (M:)”

6. Now click the Bootable tab from the menu and select Write Disk Image

7. In the Write disk image dialog box click Write. (You can also tick Verify, this will check the data for errors.)

8. Wait until the write operation finishes. Now you can use the USB flash drive to install Windows .

Hope this will help more efficent then the way you usually do through the command mode.

Thank you.