As most of you know that Windows 7 has been released not to long ago. (October 22nd 2009; to be exact) Microsoft has partnered up with Burger King in Japan to sell what’s called a “Windows 7 Whopper” This Whopper has seven beef patties stacked that reaches 5 inches in height, this 1,000 calorie busting Windows 7 Whopper will cost around $8.55 for those that are welling to have immediate surgery for foolhardy enough to try eating one.
If you want to get this Windows 7 Whopper, you will have to go to Japan to get one. This Whopper is only available for seven days only, completing this run of sevens.
Microsoft is hoping for a fresh start with Windows 7, after a poor reception for Vista, the previous version of the software that runs most on the world’s personal computers.
Microsoft has a reputation for quirky ad campaigns, most recently a strange series with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. This particular ad may leave a bad taste in your mouth, as well. After all, the company has been criticized for releasing top-heavy, bloated operating systems. A blog on the Computerworld theorizes that “this could be one of its worst promotional ideas ever.”
The screen capture utility built into Vista didn’t make it into all versions of the OS. Here’s how to turn on if you have it how to upgrade if you don’t have it. 
After I wrote Vista’s Snipping Tool, I noticed when I reinstalled my computer and went to go use the Snipping Tool, it wasn’t there! On another note, If you have Windows Vista Basic, you do not have the snipping tool. Vista Basic is basically Windows XP with a pretty face, It didn’t even come with Windows aero! and many other features that are featured in other versions of vista. So if you have Vista Basic, just upgrade to Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, or Vista Ultimate (Vista Ultimate is the one I use). If you want to do more comparison, check out Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows.
So as long as you don’t have Vista Basic, you already have the Snipping Tool. (Choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, Snipping Tool) If you don’t see it there, it may not be activated. Which was my problem and I figured out how to activate the Snipping Tool. Go to Control Panel and Open Programs and Features (You will or may have to click Programs first). In the task pane on the left click Turn Windows features on or off. If Necessary click Continue when prompted by UAC (User Account Control).
Once you have the screen above visible, you may have to wait a few seconds for it load. Scroll through the lists of features, check the box next to Tablet PC Optional Components, and click OK. Turning on these features gives you not only the Snipping Tool, but also the Tablet PC input panel, Windows Journal and other stylus-related features.
A while ago you may saw my older post about a Microsoft Powertoy-Image Resize clone. Of course this was just a clone of the program to be use with Windows Vista. I have used it many times and it works well but the quality of the photos really degrade and it bothers the heck out of me.
I recently came across a new program for Windows XP or Vista called VSO Image Resizer – this is one great handy program. VSO Image Resizer is a free program, but they do have a paid version.
With this free resize image software, you can create e-mail friendly versions of your images, load them faster, move them easily from folder to folder, change their format, edit large numbers of image files/batch image resize and thus save space on your hard drive. Using high resolution 1600×1200 for creating wallpaper or file-sharing you can save your memory. VSO Image Resizer can also change file names using a template and you can add your own watermark with transparency support.
VSO Image resizer is integrated into the Windows explorer shell, right click on your pictures and start working on your pictures !
I have not noticed any degrade of image quality and it works very well when you are doing batch jobs. How ever if you do a ton of photography like I do, then this isn’t a very great way of resizing photos because though it might look alright, but there could be lost of data. So use Photoshop or something similar!
This is the interface, as you can tell it is very clean and easy to use. Also you can see all the neat features it offers!
And this is the processing box.
So if you have a ton of photos to resize for facebook to increase upload time, this is the program to use! I know you will like it and it is a better tool than the powertoy one. So download it now!
I know you been hearing a lot of Windows 7 and you didn’t like Vista and think that Windows 7 is going to be the same. if you thought that you are very wrong. Windows 7 is suppose to be one of Microsoft’s best operating Systems since windows 98 SE / 2000.
Anyways Desperate beta testers brought down Microsoft’s Windows 7 download page yesterday for about two hours.
Only Microsoft Developer Network members and TechNet members were offered keys, but Microsoft still had to make some changes to keep the site up and running. The MSDN blog said “systems are having trouble keeping up” and thanked people for their patience.
The Release Candidate code will be available to the great unwashed public from 5 May.
By the way, Windows 7 Server is available for testing too.
Tip of the hat to Ed Bott, who reckoned the crash was caused by an SQL database falling over thanks to too many requests. The site got a week’s traffic in less than hour. (now that’s just crazy!!)
It emerged yesterday that the final code is due for release in autumn 2009.
Microsoft’s Windows 7 page is here.
Microsoft is adding a "Windows XP Mode" to Windows 7, in a move to encourage users to make the switch to the software vendor’s forthcoming operating system.
Redmond was keen to emphasize in a blog post late on Friday that it’s hoping to woo small businesses to move to Windows 7 by bigging up the XP mode feature. "Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7," said Microsoft.
Microsoft said it will release a beta of Windows XP mode and Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate "soon" but wasn’t more specific about when the test builds will land.
When Microsoft released Vista over two years ago, many businesses and individuals complained about compatibility snafus with applications that simply wouldn’t work within the new OS.
Presumably Redmond has built in its virtualized XP insurance policy into Windows 7, a release candidate for which is expected on 30 April, to avoid some of the problems that dogged Vista from day one.
You remember the Powertoy “Image Resizer?” Well it was a very handy tool to have because it could resize a large batch of images. I used it so much when I had Windows XP and that Powertoy was only for Windows XP and when Vista rolled out, Microsoft didn’t update the code on that application so it wouldn’t run on Vista. I thought that was just awful and I couldn’t find a decent Powertoy like that at the time Vista came out. There were other tools sort of like that but you had to buy them and they had ton of ads on them. A few weeks ago I came across the Image Resizer Powertoy Clone for Windows Vista. It’s a life saver!
You can grab the Powertoy here
To use it, all you have to do is highlight the images you want to resize, right-click, and select Resize Pictures. You will then receive a dialogue window prompting you to choose a size from the most common, or you can click Advanced for more control.
It will not overwrite the images. Instead, it will rename the copy to have the image size after the original file name, how ever you can overwrite the file you want to do. If you do something wrong there is no way in recovering the image. So make sure you backed it up and or know what you are doing first.
If you used Mac OSX before and wanted to take a screen shot, there is a program that comes with OSX called “Grab” I used it a lot when I was in graphic design class to take screen shots of certain pieces on the website I was developing and man did that make life easier. Now if your a Windows user, like if you use any version under Vista your stuck with the print screen button and paint. We all done it, even the pros do it.
When Vista was released Microsoft included a tool or Windows application called “Snipping Tool” it is just like the program on OSX called “Grab” Now when I found this out I was so happy it wasn’t even funny (ok, hypothetically speaking of course.) I was glad to use this application because it made life so much easier on the windows side of the world. No more Paint and less use of the print screen button. Lets take a minute and show you how to find the application and how to use it, trust me its very simple!
Remember that this is only on Vista, not sure if its on Windows 7 or not, But I’m pretty sure it is!
Location: Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool
What does it look like?
As you can tell, its pleasant and easy to look at. They also give tips right below to show you how to use it. Once you know how to use it, you can remove those tips so the interface is even more cleaner! now isn’t that awesome?
Amanda on 
