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Introduction This is a quick step by step guide to help all .Net developers to take advantage of the new features of Windows 7. What you will Need   Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 Windows API Code Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework Can be downloaded from http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/WindowsAPICodePack Minimum .NET Framework version required is 3.5 SP1. A Windows 7 machine. Getting Ready   You will need to compile the Windows API Code Pack Dlls, after extracting the WindowsAPICodePack.zip file open the WindowsAPICodePack.sln located inside the WindowsAPICodePack folder and Build the solution this will produce the following Dlls * Core * Shell (Note : it depends on the Core project ) you will need to add a Reference to them in your applications. Compatibility with Different Versions of Windows   the application will crash and exit if for example a feature exclusive to windows 7 was called and it was running under a windows vista or a windows XP environment. so to prevent your  a

You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps. To create a partition or volume (the two terms are often used interchangeably) on a hard disk, there must be either unallocated (empty) space on the hard disk or free space within an extended partition on the hard disk. If there is no unallocated space, you can create some by shrinking an existing partition, deleting a partition, or by using a third-party partitioning program. For more information, see Can I repartition my hard disk? When you create partitions on a basic disk using Disk Management, the first three volumes you create will be formatted as primary partitions. Beginning with the fourth volume, each volume will be configured as a logical drive within an extended partition. For more information, see What are partitions and logical drives? Open Computer Management by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-c

We all must have had to download bulky files at night, while we are sleeping that is. So we just start the downloads, or schedule them and go off to sleep. Often we defrag our hard disks or take bulky automated backups. Now what if the work is done in say 3 hours? The computer still stays switched on for 4 or may be more hours doing pretty much …well, nothing. What if you would like to shutdown the machine or at least put it to hibernate to save power. Or just to save your machine? Schedule a shutdown. That’s what you will require. I made this kid stuff to make it a simple thing for you. You will not require any special knowledge or experience for using it. It is simple, easy and small. Enjoy Download the Setup file. Unzip the file and run the Setup. After installation start the program. The options are very self explanatory, and you can also Cancel a scheduled Shutdown task by clicking the ‘Abort Shutdown’ Button. The source code is also available to you @ here. Released under

Dream to test your ‘photoshopping’ skills? Or may be wondering how to get hold of Free CAD software legally, or may be burn discs without resorting to piracy? Some of the answers are here. I will list top 10 free or open source software that are good alternatives to paid software.   Adobe PhotoShop to GIMP It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything.   WinZip to 7-Zip Open source Windows utility for manipulating archives. Formats 7z , ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR are supported fully, other formats can be unpacked. Internet Explorer to Google Chrome I need not say anything about this. CuteFTP to Filezilla This free, open-source FTP application is handy if you're looking for a solid tool to handle FTP transfers Mic

Some of the lesser known things you can do with the new Windows Problem Steps Recorder As the local PC guru you're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder. When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start, type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they're doing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It's quick, easy and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time. Burn images Windows 7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had for years - the

You can enable “God-Mode,” a term devised by the Microsoft development team, which provides a single place to access all Windows settings without needing to browse options and folders in the Control Panel. To use it: Create a New Folder Rename the folder to God-Mode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} Note that you can change the “God-Mode” text, but the following period and code number are essential. The folder icon will change — double click it to show the God-Mode window: The window shows nearly 50 sections with quick links to configuration options. Strictly speaking, it’s not a God Mode since all the options are available elsewhere. It’s more akin to an “all tasks” list — but you may find it easier than stumbling through Windows numerous screens and panels.   Warning The trick appears to work on both the 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Vista 32-bit and Windows Server 2008 32-bit should also work. However, it is known to crash 64-bit versions of Vista — and yo

The Best Command Line Tricks : - Save A List of Files to a Text File by Extension dir *.ext /s /b > files.txt This command line will create a file called files.txt . When you open this file, there will be a complete list of all the files in that directory and all subdirectories with the .ext extension. You can then open up this text file in any text editor and work this the information.By changing the ext part, you can select different files. For example, if you wanted to list all of the PDF documents, you would type: dir *.pdf /s /b > files.txt Get Your IP Address Information ipconfig /all This will retrieve a pile of information about your network connection and IP information. From this command, you can get: Host Name Primary DNS Suffix Node Type IP Routing Enabled WINS Proxy Enabled DNS Suffix Search List Connection-specific DNS Suffix Network Adapter Description Physical (MAC) Address DHCP Enabled IP Address Subnet Mask Default Gateway DNS Servers G

There are many secrets to the world. Many more are there to the world of computers. I will share a really stunning secrets with you. Star Wars If you live on Earth you must have heard of Star Wars if not seen any of the series. It was the dawn of special effects, animation and computer generated simulations. But now you can watch it again on the Internet. The guys at Blinkenlights have gone a step further and made a full Star Wars movie using nothing but ASCII. Ridiculous? Crazy? May be, but it is great. Oh by the way if you were wondering what is the video player, it is the Command Prompt. Seriously. All right so here is how you can watch the film. First make sure you have TELNET installed. If it is installed you can go to Step 2 To install TELNET in Windows Vista and Windows 7 follow the steps: To install Telnet Client Click the Start button , click Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Turn Windows features on or off. If you are prompted for an administrator passwo

Tracing your IP and the hops made is easy. Remember this is different from finding your IP address. You can easily get your IP address by simply running the ‘ping’ command. This tutorial will show you the geographical locations travelled by the data between your system and some remote address. What is an IP address? An Internet Protocol address ( IP address ) is usually a numerical label assigned to each device (e.g., computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. How to trace your IP?   Windows Press Win + R', the Run Dialog box opens Type ‘cmd’ and press Enter Type tracert www.google.com (or any other site) You will find many entries with their respective IP addresses. These actually denote the path travelled by the packets of data between your machine and www.google.com (or any other site)         I have blurred some data to protect my privacy.   Unix/Linux First let me admit, this method is