While | Windows 7

New Windows 7 Bing Themes

Mar 282011

It’s been a while, but Microsoft has made an update to the Windows 7 Bing Update them pack. The theme pack in question is a unique addition to the collection of Bing-branded themes from Microsoft. Here is how it works, Windows 7 has an option of allowing its users to set themes to customize their desktops the they want. But, the problem is that these themes are limited to a few wallpapers after which it all becomes boring again. But the “Bing Dynamic” theme changes things. It updates your Windows 7 theme with new wallpapers directly from Bing.

Bing Dynamic

Actually, there is more, with Bing Dynamic Microsoft offered a special theme featuring auto-updating theme capabilities. What this means is that Microsoft designed a theme pack, which is capable of automatically refreshing the collection of wallpapers through an RSS feed. So the plan was that for Windows 7 users who installed Bing Dynamic would receive new wallpapers from Microsoft at certain times throughout the year. The idea was to enable the program and receive two new photos from Bing every week for three months. But that didn’t happen. In fact the program lay dormant. There haven’t been any updates to the Bing dynamic theme since November but it appears it is going again with 2 new pictures just released.

Back To Life

But the Bing Dynmic theme has come back to life. The Bing Dynamics theme is now available for download through the Windows Personalization Gallery at no charge, and now that auto-updating has been switched back on, users have fresh reasons to download and install it.

You can get the Bing Dynamic at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/bing-dynamic-theme

Presumably this Bing Dynamic program won’t stall and fizzle out. It’s not in Microsoft’s best interest to let it. So it would be a good program to jump into for the variety of themes and make your desktop more entertaining.

Note: Windows 7 themes can only be used in Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions.

Windows 7 Family Pack – Lowest Price Yet

Windows 7 No Responses »

Feb 042011

The Windows 7 Family Pack is already one of the greatest deals that’s available from Microsoft. Instead of paying the normal $119.99 single license upgrade pack for Windows 7, you can get 3 upgrade licenses for just $149.99. That’s a saving of nearly $210.

However that saving is about to get even bigger, because Amazon have just reduced the price of the Windows 7 Family Pack on their site from $149.99 to a mere $109.99! That’s an additional $30 saving off the normal price, giving you a grand total saving of $240 over the traditional method of buying 3 single licenses.

windows 7 family pack

Some users may be reluctant to upgrade to Windows 7 because of the price it, but looking at it this way, you can now get 3 Windows 7 licenses for less than one costs ( note:on the amazon store the family pack and single licenses are priced the same, but other stores are more expensive) !

If you haven’t jumped to upgrade yet, now is definitely the time to do it if you’re not planning on buying a new computer anytime soon. Microsoft are actually stopped the sale of the Windows 7 Family Pack for a while before it came back at the end of last year.

So make sure you take advantage of this offer soon, because there was rumors flying around that Microsoft we’re going to stop the sale of the Family Pack once it’s current stock of it ran out, Amazon may well be selling off the last of their stock.

Why wouldn’t you go for it now, it works out at a mere $36 per PC, and even if you’re only upgrading one or two PC’s you’re still saving money and could even sell the other one ( I’m not saying you should)

To take advantage of this head over to Amazon

Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Released

Windows 7 No Responses »

Dec 172010

Yesterday Microsoft quietly announced Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0, it’s anti-malware software. As usual it’s available as a free download and while it’s predecessor was widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best anti-virus solutions out there, MSE 2.0 only improves on it.

Ever since Microsoft released Microsoft Security Essentials, I’ve learnt to stop worrying about my antivirus.. I no longer pay for software to protect my computer and no longer have to worry about whether or not I have a virus all the time. I’ve been using Microsoft Security Essentials right from its first public beta and haven’t looked back since. It’s unprecedented protection has kept every computer in my household free from viruses since it’s been released, all the while remaining anonymous to the users.

So what’s new in MSE 2.0? Well the most noticeable difference to users is the color scheme, but that’s about it. It’s underneath the skin where all the work has taken place.

The old MSE operated on mainly just detected viruses using the virus database and definitions. But this latest versions ads a heuristic engine which takes things up another notch. This means you’re more likely to be protected by viruses and malware that hasn’t been positively identified yet, and you’re less likely to get false positives.

And as we’d expect, Microsoft have made this version faster and cleaner than before. It seamlessly integrates with Windows 7 and the security center as well as the firewall. The new version also integrates with Internet Explorer to detect Web-based threats and will keep an eye out for malware coming in through a network .

All in all, Microsoft Security Essentials still remains one of the best security suites out there and I recommend it to you all,

You can grab the new version for free from here

Have you Noticed… Windows 7 Now HAS an App Store!

Windows 7 No Responses »

Dec 072010

There’s been talk for a while now about Windows 8 getting a full App store and lots of people are excited about it. There are bound to be a few companies however, perhaps Adobe and Apple, who are used to delivering software to their customers in specific (more traditional) ways and who may not like the idea of an App store appearing directly in Windows. Thus, this is a move that may even prove as controversial as the bundling of Internet Explorer or Microsoft Security Essentials appearing in Windows Update.

So last month Microsoft began quietly rolling out the Games for Windows Marketplace via Windows Update. This is a full App store for Windows 7 and Windows Vista that plugs into the Games panel in the OS. The original announcement of this store at the end of October went largely unnoticed because of the hype surrounding the launch of Windows Phone. Perhaps this was deliberate?

There was no fanfare, no furore, just a quiet release that has gone seemingly unnoticed. Perhaps this is because other companies have their own Games stores and, as such there could be complaints here too. Who knows. The simple fact is that if you want an App store in Windows, there’s no time like the present to get one.

This is an interesting view on what a final Windows 8 App store would be like too. You sign in with your Windows Live ID and the interface is quite simple and, in ways, a little similar to the Zune Marketplace for Windows Phone. This is presumably intentional. It’s a proper software package too itself, not a redirect to a website which some people might expect.

There are quite a few games available for purchase there already as the Games for Windows programme has now been running for four years, giving developers plenty of time to get games out that plug happily into the Games panel that was first introduced with Windows Vista.

The Games for Windows Marketplace itself is a recommended update so isn’t even too easy to miss when the time comes to update your copy of Windows.

As I’ve already said, the impact and response to this App store, if indeed there is one, remains to be seen. It’s clear though that Microsoft are testing the waters ahead of a full store launch in 2012, and in the mean time this can only be good news for Windows gamers.

Add Elevator Music To Progress Bars

Windows 7 No Responses »

Nov 222010

Ok, this is more a novelty thing to do rather than a practical use, but we all like to have a bit of fun every once and a while dont we?

Do you ever find yourself just staring at those Windows Progress bars, waiting for something to be done, and it just seems to take for ages? Well admittedly they’re not as common now as they once were, but every so often I do come across them. Wouldn’t it be great if you had something to break those awkward moments though? Well how about some Instant Elevator Music?

I’m sure you’ve figured out what it does by now, whenever a progress bar appears up on your screen, some “Muzak” will magically emanate from your speakers, just as it would in an elevator. The only problem I’m having is that there are very few things that take more than a couple of seconds in Windows 7, so the music never gets a chance to start….. I guess it’s not a bad complaint though.

It’s not like in the olden days where we seemed to spend more time looking at progress bars than actually doing something productive. What was worse though was those progress bars that would just seem to hang for ages, generally on 99 %…. or even worse, the ones that went backwards!

You can choose to have different music come on instead of the elevator music, and also it will tell you how much time you’ve spent listening to elevator music waiting for those pesky progress bars.

Interested? Download it here now