If you are still on Windows Vista RTM (ahem!) then it is recommended you upgrade to Windows Vista SP2 or better still, Windows 7. That’s because Microsoft officially ends support for Vista RTM as of today.

We have repeatedly said that Microsoft follows their product life-cycle very strictly and the end of support to Vista RTM was already decided. So if you are running Windows Vista RTM, do the following:

» Click > All Programs > Windows Update.

» Search for updates. Upgrade to Vista SP1 and then Vista SP2. (That’s because SP2 won’t install if you don’t have SP1 installed first.)

OR

You can explicitly download Vista Service Packs and install it.

There are lot of wallpaper managing software available on the internet today. Mostly all of them have pretty much similar functionality like maintaining a list of wallpapers and changing them at regular intervals. Today we have featured a slightly different wallpaper managing software – Dream Desktop.

Dream desktop is different in a sense that the wallpapers it uses are located somewhere on the internet. The application lets you browse through their ever growing collection of extremely high quality wallpapers. You can either choose to display all the wallpapers in the collection or your marked favorites at specified time intervals. Apparently you can download the wallpapers too if you wish.

Dream Desktop is much sophisticated too. Every aspect of the client software is superbly intuitive and is low on resources. It also gives notifications when new wallpapers are added to their online collections. Apart from that, the upcoming versions will support games too. Download Dream Desktop and experience it. I find the software rather awesome.

Download Dream Desktop / 696KB

Beginner Quick-tip

Confirmation dialog boxes in Windows are like the best thing after sliced bread just because they give you a ‘second chance’. However, if you are smart enough and consider yourself as the ‘one who can do no wrong’, you might want to turn off confirmation dialog boxes that appear when you delete a file/folder. So here’s how you can save an extra click.

1) Right click on ‘Recycle Bin’ and select ‘Properties’.

2) In the window that appears, un-check ‘Display delete confirmation dialog’.

That’s it. No more annoying confirmation dialog boxes. Now you can go on a deleting spree. ;)

According to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy and the End of Support page at Microsoft, this comes as a reminder to all the users of Windows 2000, XP SP2 and Vista RTM that the software giant is going to end its support for the aging OSes. Back in 2008, Microsoft declared the exact dates when the above mentioned operating systems will enter the ‘End of Support’ phase.

Important Dates:

April 13, 2010 – Windows Vista RTM reaches ‘End of Support’ phase. Microsoft ends support for Windows Vista RTM (also known as Windows Vista SP0).

July 13, 2010 – Windows 2000 (all versions) and Windows XP SP2 reaches ‘End of Support’ phase. Microsoft ends support for Windows 2000 (all versions) and Windows XP SP2.

What should I do?

If you are running Windows Vista RTM then you should install Vista Service Pack 1, followed by Vista Service Pack 2. [Download Vista Service Packs]

If you are running Windows XP SP2 then you should install XP Service Pack 3. [Download Windows XP SP3]

If you are running Windows 2000 then you should upgrade your OS to a more stable and advanced one like Windows 7.

In any case, the best option is to upgrade your OS to Windows 7. At TechExplorer, we highly recommend using Windows 7 because it is more secure, highly advanced and exceptionally stable than all its predecessors.

For more on how to upgrade to Windows 7, click here.

I wish to keep this short and sweet. So, without an intro paragraph (which you don’t read anyway ;) ), here goes.

Desktop Currency Converter is well, a currency converter (duh!) with some decent features. It is a small widget-like app that stays on your desktop and converts the amount inputted in one currency to the other. It fetches Forexview’s currency conversion data.

Features of Desktop Currency Converter:

» Fresh currency conversion data is fetched from the Internet.

» Works in offline mode too.

» It is a calculator too. (See screenshot)

» Converts among 55 different currencies.

» Decimal precision values can be pre-set (0 digits, 2 digits, no-limit)

» Supports cut, copy and paste.

» Works on Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7.

Download Desktop Currency Converter / 752 KB

As a security measure, there are times when you need to stop access to certain programs to other users. In Windows, using the Local Group Policy Editor, you can specify which all programs you want to prevent from running. This is very useful if you are administering an Internet lab in school and colleges or running an Internet café. Here’s the work around:

1) Press + R to open the ‘Run’ dialog box. Type ‘gpedit.msc’ and click ‘OK’.

2) The Local Group Policy Editor window will open. In the left pane, navigate to ‘User Configuration’ > ‘Administrative Templates’ > ‘System’. Now in the right pane, double-click ‘Don’t run specified Windows applications’.

3) In the window that appears, click the ‘Enabled’ radio-button and then click ‘Show…’ button under ‘Options’.

4) In the ‘Show contents’ window, specify the executable file (.exe) of the programs you wish to prevent from being executed. Finally, click ‘OK’.

You’re done! The programs specified here won’t run until you ‘Disable’ the setting in step 3) or you remove the program’s .exe from the ‘Show Contents’ window.

deviantART is full of crazy people doing all the awesomeness don’t know since when. One such deviantART user, oO-MrHigh-Oo made a small utility called ‘Startmenu Animation’ that gives a nice 3D animation to the Startmenu in Windows XP, Vista and 7. Basically that’s all it does. But it deserves a post because the way it seamlessly integrates with the system without hogging much resources is what appealed to me. Here’s what the startmenu looks like after running ‘Startmenu Animation’.

Startmenu Animation runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7 so try it out now.

Download Startmenu Animation / 1.3 MB

Digg it or Tweet it to let your followers know about this utility.

Today’s technological scenario is all about integration and making every task simpler and every information easily accessible. Well, similar are the thoughts of UXLabs at Microsoft. They have created a very sleek Facebook client application that brings the complete Facebook experience right on your Windows desktop – Fishbowl.

Although in a ‘trial’ (beta) stage, Fishbowl offers some features that surely will excite Facebook power users. Apart from the seamless integration with Facebook, here are some of the plus points of Fishbowl:

» Fishbowl offers mini-mode which is more fun and less obtrusive.

» Smooth user interface and sleek navigation. It supports drag n’ drop pictures to publish them on Facebook. Furthermore, it can go full screen and play a slideshow of your albums.

» You can update your status, view your friends’ albums, their updates, news-feeds and other notifications.

» “Interest Level”, my favorite feature, helps you filter your stream anonymously in order to avoid boring updates from friends.

» If you are a Windows 7 user, you can monitor your Facebook stream right from your taskbar using jumplists.

If you want to give it a try then click the link below.

Download Fishbowl / 6.6mb

In PDC ‘09, Microsoft unveiled a prototype called Pivot, created by Microsoft Live Labs that claims to revolutionize the way we search the web by introducing a new dimension called ‘visual search’. Redmond company explains that Pivot lets users experience the web in a more subtle and ‘visual’ way, instead of series of pages.

Powerful, informative and fun – this is what Pivot is, in it’s classical sense. The introductory paragraph of the official Pivot website reads, “We tried to step back and design an interaction model that accommodates the complexity and scale of information rather than the traditional structure of the Web.”

Currently available to a handful of people, you can request for an invite in order to use Pivot. I was lucky enough to get an invite. Upon installation, I was represented with, what seemed like, a homepage:

Pivot can be used in two ways:

» As a regular browser to surf the web

» As a visual search tool to browse collections.

When used as a regular browser, Pivot is just a clone of Internet Explorer, only a bit less customizable. When it comes to rendering pages, it uses the same Trident layout engine used in IE.

The beauty of Pivot is in its ability to browse specially created collections which are infact massive information clusters. As of now, the Live Labs have offered sample Pivot collections to mingle with. Ofcourse users can create their own collections and share it with others. However, understanding the basic architecture and the three types of collections is a bit too nerdy. That is why, Microsoft has challenged developers to create custom collections based on existing web services.

Types of Pivot Collections:

Minimum requirements:

» Windows 7 / Windows Vista with ‘Aero’ enabled. (Pivot is not compatible with Windows XP and Windows Server Editions as of now.)

» Internet Explorer 8.

» .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

» 2-GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.

» At least 256 MB of video memory.

Note: Pivot does not support Intel integrated video chipsets without additional acceleration hardware.

The road ahead…

Considering the strong foundation on which Pivot is built, one can expect it to be helpful in these scenarios:

» Create collections from data in existing online services.

» Use collections as a front end to desktop search.

» Display data sets from academical studies.

» To visualize stock market data.

» Using Pivot for personal photo galleries, or social networks.

Finally, here is a demonstration video of Microsoft Pivot in action.

Demo video:

Download Pivot / 28mb

Note: You are required to enter an installation code without which Pivot won’t install. You can either wait for your installation code or get one from me. I have 2 codes which are good for 19 more installations. Just leave a comment with your e-mail address and I shall give it to you.

Instead of exploring new things all the time, sometimes I dig into what I have already got and I always come up with something new. Very few of us might know that Microsoft also offers lots of free games to its users. ‘The Games’ section in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is often listed in the feature lists but rarely anyone plays the games offered. And if you have checked the link in the ‘Game providers’ subsection lately, then you will find that Microsoft now offers 100+ free games to its users. So if you think you’ve had enough of solitaire and minesweeper, I’d say you do the following:

Click Start > Games. In the ‘Game Providers’ subsection, click ‘More Games from Microsoft’.

Alternatively, you can click here: Microsoft "Play Your Game"

And guess what, that’s it. Just click “Play Now” button to play your favorite games. You can also download trial versions of these games. Enjoy!

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