Found this little tip out after some tweets with @jas who was seeing IE9 beta crash at start up with a message “Internet Explorer has stopped working”.

either type the following into the run box  iexplore.exe  -extoff

or click all programs in the start menu and then--> accessories-->system tools-->internet explorer (no addons)

I think his problem was to do with conduit toolbar

Hope this tip is useful

Rob

Just read this useful command line utility built into Windows 7 for viewing a report about how your laptop is using energy.

Swiss IT Professional and TechNet Blog : Windows 7 – Power Management Reports

“Wondering why your battery life of your laptop is not as good as the manufacturers claim?

powercfg -ENERGY

You need to run this command from the command prompt with administrator privileges (Run as Administrator). This command will perform a 60 second analysis of the computer’s energy consumption and provide you with a report: (by default in the system32 folder): C:\Windows\system32\energy-report.html

It lists the devices and drivers that hamper Sleep, or hinder that the full power saving features of your machine can not be utilized.

It also lists if your hardware is capable of S1, S2, S3 or S4 sleep modes”

Looks like I have some things that I can look at to improve my battery life.

Update 28/05/2010 - some additional info and screenshots at http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/

Rob

Just a reminder that if you have forgotten for UK customers the Windows 7 pre order program starts tomorrow 15th July, in fact we plan to have the site available shortly after midnight tonight (fingers crossed) so you can place your orders as early as possible.

You will be able to order Windows 7 in time to to get it for the October 22nd release at a special price of Windows 7 Home Premium E for £49.99** or Windows 7 Professional E for £99.99*

Read more about the offer at Microsoft Windows: Windows 7 Pre-Order Offer

* Estimated retail price, only available until August 9th 2009 or until stock runs out

Rob

If you ever wondered where the wonderful pictures where taken for the UK Windows 7 Theme pack?

	Oak Tree by Ullswater Lake in the Lake District http://www.ullswater.co.uk/
	Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick, http://visitcumbria.com/kes/casstone.htm
	Ruins of Dunluce Castle in Northern Ireland http://www.ukheritage.net/castles/dunluce.htm
	Conwy Castle in Wales http://www.conwy-castle.co.uk/
	Seaton Bay in Dorset http://www.jurassiccoast.com/
	Stone Wall at Timsgarry, on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland http://www.isle-of-lewis.com/

Rob

Do you think your PC has a virus? the download the Microsoft Safety Scanner

The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free downloadable security tool that provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It works with your existing antivirus software.

Note: The Microsoft Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded. To rerun a scan with the latest anti-malware definitions, download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner again.

The Microsoft Safety Scanner is not a replacement for using an antivirus software program that provides ongoing protection.

For real-time protection that helps to guard your home or small business PCs against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, download Microsoft Security Essentials.

Read more about Understanding security and safe computing

Rob

In Windows Live Mail / Hotmail distribution lists (a group of email addresses that can be emailed at the same time) are setup and managed using Categories  and once you know that they are very simple to create and manage, here is how:

Windows Live Mail

1. Open Windows Live Mail and go into your contacts
2. Press the Category button in the ribbon
3. Enter a new category name such as Friends and Family and  add people to the list  by simply clicking on them
4. once you have added everyone you want to the list just press save.
5. now when you want to email all the people in that category just type it into a new mail and your new category should appear

If you are using Hotmail using a browser then it is a very similar process but differs a little

1. Open Hotmail in your browser and go into your contacts.
2. To create a new category choose New category from the Categories  menu
3. Give your new category a name and then in the member s box, type in the names of the contacts you want to add, and when you have found the right ones simply click them to add them and press save.

Learn more about  Windows Live and Hotmail

Rob

Get help with Internet Explorer 9 Beta and some handy tips

Find out more about Internet Explorer 9 Beta

Download Internet Explorer 9 Beta

Rob

The Engineering Windows 7 blog has just put up a great article about the Windows Experience Index in Windows 7.  SO it thought I would quickly check and see what my score was, remembering that in Vista I scored a not so great 3.0

…and now I am a big fat 2.0, really got hit by the hard disk and graphics limitations of my PC

Anyone got a higher, or lower score?

To find out your Windows Experience Score, simply type ‘ Score’ into the start menu

Rob

So now with the launch of  Windows 7 I expect to see more LIPs coming for Windows 7, here is the first for Hindi:

Click here to download the Hindi Windows 7 LIP

Rob

This useful download outlines the support and unsupported upgrade paths for the various editions of Windows 7.

Download details: Windows 7 Upgrade Paths

I have copied the relevant sections from the document below

Supported Upgrade Scenarios

Unsupported Upgrade Scenarios

·      Upgrades to Windows 7 from the following operating systems are not supported: 

·      Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows XP, Windows Vista® RTM, Windows Vista Starter, Windows 7 M3, Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC, or Windows 7 IDS

·      Windows NT® Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2

·      Cross-architecture in-place upgrades (for example, x86 to x64) are not supported.

·      Cross-language in-place upgrades (for example, en-us to de-de) are not supported.

·      Cross-SKU upgrades (for example, Windows 7 N to Windows 7 K) are not supported.

·      Upgrades from Windows Vista to Windows N, Windows K, Windows KN, or Windows E are not supported. 

·      Cross-build type in-place upgrades (for example, fre to chk) are not supported.

·      Pre-release in-place upgrades across milestones (for example, Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 RTM) are not supported.

Thanks again to Blake for the tip

Rob