Maybe this is a small bug or something in the beta version and I hope it will change in the RC and future version of Windows 7. In the mean time, if you are like me and would like the ratings to be higher, here is a quick fix. For some games you may need a higher base score, so this may be a possible solution for the time being.

So, how to correct WEI of primary hard disk in Windows 7?

Here is an example of how the primary hard disk is rated lower initially in Windows 7.

Go to Start –> Control Panel. In the search box, type Device Manager. Open Device Manager. Expand Disk drives –> Right click the drive name and click on Properties. Click Policies page and uncheck Write-caching policy.

Click ok and re-rate the components.

You can see that Primary hard disk was initially rated as 2 and now its rated as 4.6

[Via ItsMadh]

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2. How to Add New Files and Folders Location to Index in Vista?
3. Improve Gaming Experience in PC by Disabling Windows Key
4. How to use Firefox as Windows Explorer or File Manager?
5. 12 Must Have Futuristic Extensions for Windows Vista in a Single Package

So let see how to open a stuck CD or DVD drive.

That’s my laptop and lets assume its DVD drive is stuck!

Now we need a Paper Clip. Just make sure its not too thin or too thick.

Search for a small reset hole on the CD or DVD drive. Most of the time you might have never noticed it until now.

Stretch the paper clip so that you can use it to insert inside the reset hole.

Most of the times, or at least in what I have experienced, you don’t need power supply to open the drive when using this method. So you can turn the power supply off.

Use the paper clip to poke inside the reset hole until the DVD drive opens by itself. Sometimes it might be little resistive but use a little force.

Hope this tutorial helped you in opening your stuck CD or DVD drive.

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5. How to Turn On or Off and Manage Guest Account in Vista?

Realtek has added support for Windows 7 and you can download the new version R2.16

Download Realtek HD Audio Codec Driver for Windows 7

Update (May 7,2009): It doesn’t say Windows 7 in the link, but the update is primarily due to Windows 7. At this time of update, they even have newer version of the driver R2.22 updated on 4/20/2009. So the link just says, Vista Driver (32/64 bits) Driver only (ZIP file)

This supports Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and other earlier OS for both 32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64 OS

They also have ATI HDMI Audio Device driver and 3D SoundBack which restores audio effects, including surround sound, reverberation, and spatial effects, for legacy game titles when running on Windows Vista.

Related Posts:

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5. I got Vista!

This Motorola S9 headset is one of the best A2DP Bluetooth headset (A2DP – Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) that are available now in the market. Connecting this with my Nokia N95 was a very easy task (I also tried connecting with other Sony Ericsson phone, it was also very simple and straight forward). But connecting with my Vista laptop took me a while to figure it out.

The coolest Option lets to connect both Vista and Phone to the same headset at the same time:

Here is my biggest reason why I wanted this Bluetooth headset to set both with my phone and vista laptop. Imagine you are watching a movie or listening to songs from your laptop using this headset, when you get a call in your phone, the movie or song automatically pauses, you take the call using the headset and after you are done with the call, the movie or song automatically resumes. So here you have a headset which is connected with both phone and vista computer at the same time.

Drivers for Bluetooth in Vista:

Many advised to change the Bluetooth drivers that came by default with Vista saying it doesn’t support A2DP. But I just managed to get it to work without changing my Bluetooth drivers as I had my HP Bluetooth Module driver from Broadcom.

Before I proceed these are the Bluetooth drivers that are in my laptop currently.

Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator – 6.0.6001.18064 – Microsoft

Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) – 6.0.6001.18000 – Microsoft

HP Bluetooth Module – 5.1.2535.0 – Broadcom

Bluetooth Hands-free Audio – 6.0.1.3700 – Broadcom

Bluetooth Stereo Audio – 6.0.1.3700 – Broadcom

So here is how to connect A2DP Bluetooth headset with Vista:

1. Make sure Bluetooth is active in your computer. Click the Vista Start button and type Bluetooth in the Search box. From the results in top select Bluetooth Devices under Programs. (Note: If Bluetooth Devices is not listed then it means you computer does not have Bluetooth)

2. From the Options tab, make sure all the options are checked.

• Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer
• Allow Bluetooth devices to connect to this computer
• Alert me when Bluetooth device wants to connect

Also if you prefer select options like Show the Bluetooth icon in the notifications area.

3. Now turn on the Bluetooth headset. Click the Devices tab in the Bluetooth Devices window and click Add.

4. In the Add Bluetooth Device Wizard check My device is set up and ready to be found and click Next.

5. It will search for all the nearby turned on Bluetooth devices and it will list all the devices including Bluetooth headset. Choose the headset and click Next.

6. Choose a Passkey in the next window for security purposes. Usually the device may come with some documented security code (For example, Motorola S9 HD Bluetooth Headset has the Passkey 0000)

7. Now it will connect and install the drivers needed.

8. In the next window click Finish.

Now even if the Bluetooth headset is connected, you may not be able to hear any music from the headset.

So here is the tweak you need to do to make it work. Go to Bluetooth Devices and select the headset under Audio Devices and click the Properties at the bottom.

Select the services tab and make sure you have Headset checked, this is what is responsible for A2DP stereo connections. Check all necessary and click OK.

Now go to Audio tab in the Bluetooth Devices and make sure Bluetooth Stereo Audio says its connected. If not select and click Connect at the bottom.

Even now you may not be able to listen through your Bluetooth headset using A2DP.

So, Go to Start –> Control Panel –> Hardware and Sound –> Sound –> Manage audio devices. Now under Playback select Bluetooth Stereo Audio and select Set Default.

Some Points to be Noted:

1. Now you should be able to hear the music in both speakers using stereo mode. If not try closing the players or browsers and start them again.

2. Make sure you don’t play anything while changing any options that I had mentioned above. It may cause the program not to respond or crash.

3. If you are absolutely sure that you have done all these steps, try restarting the system.

Related Posts:

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2. What to do when your computer monitor goes blank or frozen?
3. Setting the Start Menu Power Button to Shut Down in Vista
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5. How to change Double Click to Single Click Mouse Selection in Vista and Windows 7? – Readers Question

It’s a customized HP Pavilion dv9700 Entertainment Notebook PC and its little bigger than what I have as its 17 inch. As I told before, I am a fan of HP and I love their sleek design!

Check out different imprint finish they have for laptops.

HP Imprint Artist

HP Imprint Verve

Other imprint finishes include Influx, Dragon, Radiance (this is what I have in my laptop), Echo, and Trace.

(Imprint details and pictures from HP Shopping)

Here are some of the details regarding HP dv9700:

Operating System : Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Memory : 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Display : 17.0? WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1440 x 900)
Graphics Card : 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS with DirectX 10
Networking : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)
Hard disk : 320GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (160GB x 2)
DVD Drive : LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
Battery : High Capacity 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
No TV Tuner with Remote Control

Other features :
HP Imprint (Radiance)
Fingerprint Reader,
Webcam,
Microphone ,
Remote Control.

Slots, Pins and other features on the Left Side:
Security cable Slot,
S-Video-out jack,
External Monitor Port,
Expansion Port 3,
RJ-45 (network) jack,
RJ-11 (modem) jack,
HDMI port,
2 USB port,
1394 port,
Digital Media Slot.

Slots, Pins and other features on the Right Side:
Express Card Slot,
Optical Drive,
USB Port,
Power Connector.

Slots, Pins and other features on the Front Side:
Power light,
Battery light,
Drive light,
Wireless Switch,
Wireless light,
Consumer infrared lens,
Audio-in (microphone) jack,
2 Audio-out (headphone) jack.

Windows Experience Index:
Here is the list of subscore for all different parameters.
Processor (3.9) : Calculations per second
Memory RAM (3.4) : Memory operations per second
Graphics (3.2) : Desktop performance for Windows Aero
Gaming Graphics (4.4) : 3D business and gaming graphics performance
Primary Hard Disk (4.9) : Disk data rate transfer

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2. How to use inbuilt webcam in HP Pavilion Entertainment PC to record videos and snapshot?
3. How to get the details of Shared Video and System Memory in Vista?
4. How to Check If My Processor is x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) in Windows?
5. What to Look for When You Buy a Home Photo Printer?

Note: Incoming messages may be charged based on the service provider.

So how to find the mobile phone’s email address?

The cell phone’s email address is the 10 digit phone number @ the domain from your service provider. For example, for ATT or Cingular it is number@cingularme.com or number@mobile.mycingular.com . Also now it works with number@txt.att.net for SMS and number@mms.att.net for MMS. So you need to know the providers domain address to send emails to the mobile phone.

Reverse way to find what’s your mobile’s email address

Compose a text message from your mobile and send it to your email address. From the email you received you can find your cell phone’s email address. (In case you are finding it difficult to enter the email address in the text compose box, save your email address in the phone book and then insert it while you compose)

When you send the SMS from your computer, the first 160 characters will be delivered and the subject of the email is also counted towards this.

If you are not able to find the provider’s domain then you can try using service like Teleflip (But it does not have the world coverage as of now)

Here is a list of domain for popular service providers in US

ATT or Cingular – number@cingularme.com,

number@mobile.mycingular.com,

number@txt.att.com

T-Mobile – number@tmomail.com(Update: If it doesn’t work, try number@tmomail.net) Thanks lex241

Verizon – number@vtext.com

Sprint – number@messaging.sprintpcs.com (Sprint PCS)

number@messaging.nextel.com (Nextel)

Alltel – number@message.alltel.com

Virgin Mobile – number@vmobl.com

Boost – number@myboostmobile.com

Here is a list of domain for popular service providers in India to send free sms from computer

Airtel – number@airtelmail.com

number@airtelkol.com (Kolkata)

number@airtelchennai.com (Chennai & Skycell)

number@airtelkk.com (Karnataka)

number@airtelkerala.com (Kerala)

If the region is not mentioned specifically then it should be number@airtelmail.com

BSNL – number@bsnlumn.com (North)

number@bsnlums.com (South)

number@bsnlume.com (East)

number@bsnlumw.com (West)

BPL – number@bplmobile.com

Idea – number@ideacellular.com

Escotel – number@escotelmobile.com

Celforce – number@celforce.com

Aircel – number@airsms.com

This is not the complete set, if you know any information about other providers, do drop as comments and I’ll add it here.

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As much as the confusion reigns in buying any product in this competitive world, it exists before buying a photo printer for home as there are thousands to choose from. The best way is to consider it category by category and go on in an elimination round. Think what is the purpose of the photo printer that you are willing to buy and this may determine the money you may want to put on it which usually ranges from $50 to $500 or more.

Yes, this is a new sleek printer from Samsung and Apple.

So here are the features that I would recommend to look for before you make up the decision:
Resolution
The first one that I would look into is the resolution in dpi (Dots per inch) also known as Max H-Resolution Color. But look carefully here as you infer the quality of the print from these numbers because this dpi varies for different technology like ink-jet or thermal or laser. DPI usually varies from 300 to 4800 or above and thermal printers have low numbers than ink-jet. But whatever it is, it’s better to get one a decent one from the category of your choice if not the highest. The highest and the latest would always mean the costliest, so it’s better to settle for the second best and you can also keep it for a reasonable time before you buy the next home photo printer. So buy a standard one like 1200 by 4800 dpi for ink-jet which is same as 300 by 300 dpi for thermal dye printers.

Brand
Buying a branded one usually tends to be a costlier one but you can it without thinking too much. It’s like paying insurance for your product. If you are willing to do a well research on other brands that you are considering to buy, it may be a better choice. The better ones are usually from HP, Canon, Epson, Xerox, Lexmark etc.

Size
The regular size of photos is 4 by 6 inches or little bigger than that is 8 by 10 inches. Most photos that you would print often would be within these sizes. But if you are a large photo enthusiast, you may consider tabloid sizes like 11 by 17 inches or even bigger tabloid 13 by 19 inches. These sizes would be great for wall hangings. But it’s better to settle for 8 by 10 inches and you can always print these extra large ones from a store.

Printer Type and Technology
Here the printer type we have considered is home photo printer but you can also buy printers which are also suited for regular day to day printing so that you need not have two printers near your computer! Considering the technology, the poplar ones for photo printing are ink-jet or thermal dye printers than laser. Most of the thermal printers are better than ink-jet for long lasting looks of the pictures and making it water proof.

Speed
Speed is the main factor when it comes to cost. Most of the printers may give the same quality but some offer high speed printing while maintaining the quality. As a home user, you may settle for low speed and save lot of money.

Operating Cost
You may end up buying a printer of your choice now and maybe reluctant to use it later because the running cost of using photo papers and ink may be very high. You may think that you can use third-party inks and paper but each printer is designed to work at its best with a particular ink, paper and software which run behind it. The physics behind the operation of the technology differs from product to product. You may see a slight difference in quality if you use third party products but if that’s reasonable quality, it may be the better choice.

Other Features:
Number of Ink Colors – Higher number of ink colors may give professional quality of pictures but may not be necessary for home user.
Connectivity – You can always connect the printer with USB to your computer. Higher connectivity features like wireless, connecting to multiple computers at the same time are of necessity but of choice.
Scanner – Again it’s only by choice. It’s a matter of need and want.
Other features like compatibility, built in additional features like CD or DVD -writer, Digital and multimedia card reader, touch screen, preview screen, laminator etc add up the price tag so it’s better to decide what you want exactly.

To make your choice better, you can always read some printer reviews before you go to the store or order it online.

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5. The Touchy iPhone

The best advantage of this software is that you need not install this in your computer nor it requires any change in the registry. Just download the files and run the .exe file

CPUZ
This software gives detailed information about CPU, Cache, Mainboard, Memory and System.

Download CPUZ

Few of the information included are
CPU
  Name and number.
  Core stepping and process.
  Package.
  Core voltage.
  Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
  Supported instructions sets.
  Cache information.
Mainboard
  Vendor, model and revision.
  BIOS model and date.
  Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
  Graphic interface.
Memory
  Frequency and timings.
  Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.
System
  Windows and DirectX version.

PC Wizard
PC Wizard is from the same provider as CPUZ and they give very extensive report on all the hardware details of the computer. They detect all kinds of hardware attached to the computer and give the analysis report. They also give reports of benchmark details such as CPU performance, Cache performance, RAM performance, Hard Disk performance, CD/DVD-ROM performance, Removable/FLASH Media performance, Video performance, MP3 compression performance.

Download PC Wizard

They give details in sections like Hardware, Configuration, System Files, Resources and Benchmark.
Here is the list of some of the general most wanted technical information of the hardware analyzed by PC Wizard.
Hardware Information
  Mainboard / Bios (Connectors, ID String, MP Support …)
  Chipset (FSB Frequency, Norhtbridge, Hub, Direct Media Interface, XMB, NSI, …)
  Main Memory (FPM, EDO, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR-2 SDRAM, DDR-3 SDRAM, RDRAM, FB_DIMM, Timings …)
  Memory Profiles : EPP (SLi Ready), Intel XMP.
  Cache Memory (L1, L2, L3, Size, Frequency …)
  Processors (Type, Speed, Multiplier coeff., Features, Model Number, Vanderpool Technology …)
  Coprocessor
  APM & ACPI
  Busses : ISA, PCI, AGP (2x, 4x,8x), SMBus/ i2c, CardBus, Firewire, Hyper-Transport … )
  DMI / SMBIOS
  Mainboard Sensors, Processor, Hard Disk & Battery (Voltage, Temperature, Fans)
  Video (Monitor, Card, Bios, Capabilities, Memory, Integrated Memory, Frequencies …)
  OpenGL & 3Dfx
  DirectX (DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound (3D), DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectInput, DirectX Media)
  Keyboard, Mouse & Joystick
  Drives (Hard Disk, Removable, CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD …)
  SCSI (Card, Controller, Adapter, Devices …)
  ATA/ATAPI & S-ATA (Devices, Type, Capabilities, S.M.A.R.T. Features, RAID)
  Ports (Serial, Parallel, USB, IEEE-1394)
  IDE & SCSI Devices
  Twain & WIA Devices
  PCMCIA (PC Card) Devices
  Bluetooth Devices
  Sound Card (wave, midi, aux, mix, AC’97 codec, High Definition Audio)
  Printers (Local & Network)
  Modem (Features, Speed …)
  Network (Server, Connexion, Firewall …)
  Security (Scan Ports …)
  PocketPC & SmartPhone Devices
System Information
  MCI Devices (mpeg, avi, seq, vcr, video-disc, wave) & ACM
  SAPI
  Passwords (Outlook, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Dialup …)
  DOS Memory (base, HMA, UMB, XMS, EMS, DPMI, VCPI)
  Windows Memory
  Windows (Version, Product Key, Environment, Desktop, XP Themes …)
  Windows UpTime (Boot, Shutdown, BlueScreen, System Restore Points …)
  TrueType & OpenType Fonts
  WinSock (Internet), Telephony et Remote Access
  OLE (Objects, Servers …)
  Microsoft® Applications
  Activity (Process, Tasks, Threads)
  Modules (DLL, DRV, 32 & 16-bits) & NT Services
  Internet Navigator (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, FireFox)
  ODBC
  CMOS/RTC
  Resources (IRQ, DMA, E/S, Memory)
  System files (.ini, .log, .bat, .nt, .dos …)
System Benchmarks
  Processor (Dhrystone (MIPS), Whetstone (MFLOPS), Mandelbrot fractal …)
  L1, L2, L3 Cache, RAM (Bandwidth, Latency …)
  Main Memory (Bandwidth, Latency …)
  Hard Drives
  CD/DVD Rom
  DirectX 3D
  Video
  Removable/Flash Support
  MP3 Compression
  VISTA Experience Index

Other software from this group includes Performance Monitor and Hardware Monitor to give real time details from different sensors.

Related Posts:

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2. How to get the details of Shared Video and System Memory in Vista?
3. How to share one Internet connection with another computer using Vista?
4. Free Give Away of Professional Backup Software – Backup Platinum
5. How to Sync Data, Files or Folders between Windows Vista and USB drive or External Drive for Free?

After quick search and reading from the HP Laptop manual, I got it back to life after I took off the power cable and battery from the Laptop and put it again. I found that some of my friends also had the same problem when they put their laptop to sleep. So next time if your laptop screen goes pitch black when you are try to wake the computer after sleep mode, remove both the power cable and battery, wait for some time and then put it back!

If that’s the case for you, you may try these steps to make it work:

• First if the computer screen gets frozen, when you are working something, try ALT + CTRL + DEL or restart your computer.
• Make sure your computer is not in sleep mode or hibernate. You may wake it from hibernation by pressing the power button or by moving the mouse or pressing any button if it’s in sleep mode.
• Make sure the power cable to the monitor is working, in case if you are using a desktop.
• Make sure you have connected the monitor to the computer or to any other external display device (like a projector). If a laptop is connected to an external device, the image can be displayed in either the laptop screen or the external device or both. Use the keyboard shortcut, fn+f4 (Function + F4) repeatedly to switch between the options.

Related Posts:

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2. How to Automatically Switch Off the Monitor after Specified Time of Non-usage?
3. How to Automatically Change Desktop Wallpaper and Other Settings before Presentation?
4. Setting the Start Menu Power Button to Shut Down in Vista
5. How to share one Internet connection with another computer using Vista?

So how to sync data and folders between windows Vista and USB or external drive for free?
There are lots of good syncing software out in the market which comes with a cost but here are some good sync software which are free for personal use. The default sync feature of Windows Vista, Sync Center is also a very good sync tool. However it allows only syncing files and folders between offline contents to a server or another computer and does not allow to sync with external drives and USB drive. But Sync Center also allows syncing music files between Vista PC and external drives and music players with USB drive.

The two free sync software which I came across to be good and free are Allway Sync and GoodSync. Both are very easy to use and allow bidirectional sync, selective file sync, file type independent, automated synchronization and lots of other features. Also they allow jobs to be preset and can be run every time when you need to synchronize.

Download Allway Sync or GoodSync

So how to use these sync tool to synchronize folders and files?

Allway Sync

GoodSync

There will be two sections where you select the folders you would like to sync. It doesn’t matter where you place the FROM folder and TO folder. Click the browse button to select the folders and make sure you select the sync directions which is placed in between the two folder selectors. Then click the Analyze button at the bottom and you can see the result which lists the files and folders which are different between the selected folders. You can individually sync the files in GoodSync if you don’t want to sync all the files in the result or you can individually set the condition for sync in Allway Sync by adjusting the Sync direction. Finally click the Sync button to synchronize files and folders between computer and external drive or USB drive.

In comparison of the both, Allway Sync has a better interface and usability but GoodSync displays lot of relevant details about the files and folders in the interface.

Related Posts:

1. How to Backup Data in Windows XP and Vista?
2. How to Share Files and Folders between two Computers with Vista using Wireless or Wired Network?
3. How to Create (.pst) New Data Files and Folders in Outlook 2007?
4. Backup Personal Folders in Outlook 2007 – Addin
5. How to view Hidden Files and Folders in Windows?