This option can be very useful if you have a couple of open windows that you want to resize quickly, but if you use a lot of open windows this helpful option can become an annoyance and start to get in the way.

Thankfully there’s an option to turn it off in the Windows Control Panel in the Ease of Access Centre. To get there click on the Start Button and in the ‘search programs and files’ box type Ease of Access Centre.

Now click on ‘make the mouse easier to use’ and tick the option ‘prevent Windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the side of the screen’. To get the Aero snap feature back again just un-tick the box on the Ease of Access Centre page.

Set Windows 7′s Share Settings

To share you printer you should start in Windows 7′s Advanced Sharing Settings (Found in the Network and Sharing Centre, alternatively just type Advanced Sharing Settings in the Search Programs and Files box).

Once there make sure you turn on network discovery, file and printer sharing, and public folder sharing. Make sure these are enabled in both the Home or Work and Public profiles.

Depending on your setup, you might want to turn off password protected sharing. Otherwise you’ll need to enter the password for each machine in the network. Turning it off while you’re setting up printer sharing does make things a bit easier though by saving a step.

Set Windows Vista’s Share Settings

On the Vista machine we need to double check and make sure it’s sharing settings are ready to go. Right-click on Network and choose Properties. The Network and Sharing Center will then open up. Under Sharing and Discovery turn on File Sharing, Public Folder Sharing, and Network Discovery. Also on the Vista PC you might want to turn off password protected sharing, but it’s completely up to you.

Now that we have the correct settings on each machine, it’s time to put this to the test. Make sure all your computers are turned on and then open up Network on the Windows 7 machine. You should now see all the PC’s on the network.

Now on the Vista computer, double click on Network and you should see the Windows 7 machine. You should see the folders and devices that are now shared. And you should see the printer that’s already connected to the Windows 7 machine.

Test the Printer Sharing Set Up

As you can now see the printer connected to Windows 7 you should make sure that you can connect to it and print a test document.

In Windows Vista click on the Start menu and type Printers into the search box and hit Enter. Right-click on the shared printer and select Properties. Under the General tab click on the Print Test Page button. Another test you might want to perform is opening a text document and making sure you can print that to the printer that’s already attached to Windows 7.

Provided everything prints out successfully you might want to make the shared printer the default printer for your Vista PC.

Fixing any Problems that Crop Up

If your computers cannot see each other or the printer is not working, here are a few steps you might want to try to determine where the problem lies.

Double check to make sure that Network Discovery and File and Print Sharing are enabled on both PC’s.

If the printer isn’t working, double check to make sure you have the latest drivers for each OS installed.

You didn’t have to install any different drivers for this printer sharing, like you often have to when sharing a printer between XP and Windows 7.

Results with sharing printers will vary depending on the printer you own and the set up that’s needed. Older printers are in fact notorious for having issues with drivers that won’t work with either Windows Vista or Windows 7. So the only solution may be to buy a new printer.

You’ll be pleased to know that as long as network discovery is enabled on both the Windows Vista and Windows 7 machines, sharing printers is actually a straightforward process.

I hope this short post will get you started with sharing folders, files, and printers between your Vista and Windows 7 PC’s.

TechNet subscribers and Microsoft volume license customers got access to the update last week.

Microsoft says the standalone update package should weigh in at 527MB for x86 users, about 903MB for x64 users, and 511MB for users on Itanium chips.

The service pack doesn’t bring any new features for consumers, but it includes two important back end additions that promise to improve performance in Windows 7′s server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2. The update adds Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX, technologies that increase, respectively, the density of virtual machines and the graphical prowess of thin-client hardware. The RemoteFX feature is also coming to the consumer version of Windows 7 in the form of client-side support.

Also included in SP1 are a number of fixes for bugs and security holes, which may be useful for those who don’t use the auto-update feature or are applying the update to machines that don’t have an active Internet connection.

Other small changes include improved HDMI audio-device performance, a fix for printing mixed-orientation XPS documents, and “improved support” for Advanced Format storage devices.

Source: CNET

After you have decided what to remove and what can be deferred to a later start up, Soluto will show you how much time you have saved when booting up your computer

Soluto depends on its quickly growing user base to help develop database tips that are safe to delay or pause.

There are a few items for which Soluto doesn’t have any advice at the moment so you may not want to remove or defer these. In time, the database will contain more and more user tips and will be even more useful!

To download this free version of Soluto please follow this link to the developers website – http://www.soluto.com/.

Note – This post was an excerpt from the QBS PC Help Easy PC Repair Guide. See some of the other things this great eBook can do for your Windows computer.

The news comes several weeks after Microsoft’s Russian Windows localization team had reported the update as being finalized from its first and only release candidate, and released to manufacturers.

Microsoft says the SP1 update will go out to consumers through Windows Update.

SP1 includes an updated version of Microsoft’s remote desktop client, alongside a round of hot fixes, and dynamic memory support for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Source: CNET

As of last month, Microsoft’s latest Operating System has more than doubled its market share over 2010 and now sits on many more computers than its predecessor Vista, which holds only 12.11%, according to stats from Net Applications.

Long-standing favourite XP still has hold of 56.72% computers, however.

Overall, 90.29% of computers run a Windows OS around the world, down from 92% at the beginning of 2010.

Mac OS slid, from 5.16% in January 2010 to 5.02% last month, but Apple’s iOS – found on iPads and iPhones – gained from 0.59% to 1.69%, led by strong growth by the iPad.

Rival Android also had a strong year, growing from a 0.06% share at the start of the year to finish with 0.4% of all browsing devices.

Source: PC Pro

The problem seems to affect the most recent free update for AVG 2011, which was made available to users on 1st Dec.

AVG has acknowledged that the patch can send some 64-bit Windows machines in to a crash cycle, forcing a reboot of the computer from which it never restarts. The anti-virus company has since withdrawn the update.

The problem is caused by one particular virus database update, which automatically forces the computer to reboot in order for the update to take affect. Upon restarting, the PC will register a “c0000135 error”, and will not complete the boot cycle.

The software update is no longer available to users, but AVG has released a guide for those customers who have already installed the update and are experiencing problems as a result.

The step-by-step instructions how the update can be disabled, by running an AVG “rescue CD”. AVG apologised to users for the software glitch. The company has also recommended an alternative recovery method for those users who no longer have, or cannot create, a “rescue CD”.

The software maker did not disclose a date for final availability for the service packs at the conference, held in New Orleans, but it did go into detail about what customers can expect to see. The relatively minor updates add a few new features and concentrate on improving desktop virtualisation support for the server operating system. The beta’s will also provide a roll-up of hotfixes and updates for the desktop operating system.

Source: ZDNet

Microsoft’s Kevin Dallas on Tuesday shows off an embedded version of Windows 7 designed to run on TVs, set-top boxes, and other devices.

Among other things, the new software could allow Windows Media Center on new types of devices, Microsoft said. The operating system, dubbed Windows Embedded Standard 7, was shown Tuesday at the ESC Silicon Valley conference in San Jose, Calif. “With the release of Windows Embedded Standard 7, Microsoft has furthered its commitment to the integration of Windows 7 technologies in the specialized consumer and enterprise device markets,” said Kevin Dallas, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Embedded unit.

Microsoft first showed the embedded software, previously code-named Quebec, at ESC Boston in September. At that point, Microsoft was calling it Windows Embedded Standard 2011.

The PC version of Windows 7 is already running on more than 10 percent of computers worldwide, Microsoft said last week as it announced quarterly earnings.

Source: CNET News