Your place for technology information…

Do you have problems running “older” software in Windows 7? Microsoft has a new
program that lets you run Windows XP as a “virtual machine” from within Windows 7
(you don’t need a Windows XP disk).  See the link below to download it.  You can also
download a program to check if your computer has the hardware (requires processors
capable of hardware-assisted virtualization) to run Windows Virtual PC.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Got questions?  I can answer them!

Want to know why I use a Mac? I have a MacBook Pro running 5 operating systems.

My MacBook Pro runs Apple OS X Snow Leopard (Operating System)  with iWork
and Mac Office 2008.

I have VMWare Fusion 3.0 (a virtual machine) running Windows Vista with Office 2007
and Linux Ubuntu running Sun Open Office

I have Parallels 5.0 (a virtual machine) running Windows XP with Office 2003 and
Windows 7 (64 bit) with Office 2007

Now THAT’S A COMPUTER!

The good thing about Windows 7 is that it has been tested like no other
Windows OS. The beta version has been out for quite some time
(I even had it on my Mac).

But, should you upgrade? Here are some things to think about before you
go out and purchase it.

How old is your computer? If your computer is over 2 years old, I would not upgrade.

How much RAM do you have? If you don’t have at least 2 GB of RAM,
I would not upgrade. I would prefer to see your computer have at least 3-4 GB of RAM.

Are you running XP or Vista? If you are running Vista, and your computer
meets the other 2 criteria above, go ahead and upgrade! (Keep reading…there’s more!)
If you are running XP, I would think twice. Even if your computer meets the other
2 criteria (and I doubt it does if you are running XP), this is a MAJOR upgrade to XP.

So you’ve made the decision to upgrade. There is more you need to do before you
stick that dvd in the drive (yep, the Windows 7 comes on a DVD). So…
Make sure your computer has a DVD drive. It doesn’t have to be read/writable,
but it does have to be able to run DVD’s. 95% of computer’s have a dvd drive.

Make sure you run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

Backup, Backup, Backup, then Backup again. I can’t stress this enough.
If something goes terribly wrong ( and it can) you better have a backup!

Last point…upgrading to Windows 7 will not make you more money!
(that’s always one of my criteria to upgrading software or hardware…) so be patient.
Maybe wait a few weeks to see how everyone else (who didn’t read this blog)
are fairing with the upgrade. I don’t think there is going to be major problems,
but why take the risk? Microsoft is not know for flawless upgrades!

Did you download Internet Explorer 8 and can’t figure out how to uninstall it?
You’re not the only one!  Here’s how to get rid of it.

Windows XP:  Click on “Start” then “Control Panel”.  Double click on
“Add or Remove Programs”  Scroll down to the bottom and  click on
“Windows Internet Explorer 8″.  Click on “Remove”.

Windows Vista:  Click on the round Windows “Start” button.
Choose “Control Panel”.  Choose “Programs and Features”
On the left hand side, click on “View installed updates”.  Scroll down and click on
“Windows Internet Explorer 8″.  Look up at the top and choose “Uninstall”.

This will put you back to Internet Explorer 7.