With Windows 7 likely to be complete in Q4 2009, Microsoft’s chairman Bill Gates hinted at what the company is planning for the next version of Windows last week.

In a speech at the Windows Digital Lifestyle Consortium (in Tokyo) last Wednesday, Gates hinted:

“We’re hard at work, I would say, on the next version, which we call Windows 7. I’m very excited about the work being done there. The ability to be lower power, take less memory, be more efficient, and have lots more connections up to the mobile phone, so those scenarios connect up well to make it a great platform for the best gaming that can be done, to connect up to the thing being done out on the Internet, so that, for example, if you have two personal computers, that your files automatically are synchronized between them, and so you don’t have a lot of work to move that data back and forth.”

Gates also mentioned Windows Live services and the fact the company has 400 million users connected to these services. Also mentioned was the fact that Gates sees “a major new version of Windows every two to three years”, noting that services that Windows connects up to would be updated on a regular basis.

Microsoft is currently in the middle of building Windows Live Mesh which plays on the idea of being able to sync data between multiple PCs and mobile phones.

Source: Neowin

A video has been posted in YouTube. It shows what appears to be a Windows 7 new features demonstration. Windows haters are already criticizing this features in many forums and blogs.

I can say that i’m impressed that, if this is true, Windows 7 will boost productivity a lot. The dual-pane explorer is a “long due” feature i have been asking for.

Also, the virtual drive and the new task manager caught my attention. All of this can be achieve now in Vista or XP just by installing some third party programs, as many people are saying.

But let me say that, when integrated in the operative system itself, the chance for bugs, crashes, unexpected behavior can be practically non-existent. And not to mention that the video shows that these features are integrated really nice.

I hope to hear or read about this a little more to confirm this is actually being done and not just a fake video. If it’s fake, well, it’s the best fake video i’ve seen so far.

Nowadays, overclocking has become more and more popular. Even hardware manufacturers are implementing new and easier ways to get things done.

I have my CPU, RAM, Front-Side Bus and video card overclocked. One if not the most important thing to keep an eye on is operating temperatures, because too much heat can lead to crashes and/or physical damage to the hardware. Not mentioning that this lowers the life span of your equipment.

There are two great tools to read and messure temps. Both are free and can be used to log temperature over time. This is very useful when overclocking and checking for stability.

CoreTemp

This one is the one i use the most because of it logging feature. You can customize read and log intervals so you can keep an eye when stressing the hardware using games or benchmarks.

Website

Real Temp

This one is very simplistic but does what it claims. It offers a convenient logging for basic needs because the maximum and minimum temperature are displayed and constantly updated as long as the program is running. This feature is not better than CoreTemp logging, but can be useful when monitoring over shorts periods of time.

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Nvidia released a new set of ForceWare drivers today.

Current version is 175.16 WHQL, which means that these drivers passed Microsoft’s certification and are going to be deployed via Windows Update as well. For more details read the release notes for XP or Vista.

Remember to use a program like Driver Sweeper to clean registry entries and other files after you uninstall video, audio or chipset drivers.

This way you make sure the new versions are being installed without problems.

Download XP | Vista

New version of Realtek HD Audio drivers. This time is 1.92.

If you experience problems with drivers, use Guru 3D Driver Sweeper after you have uninstalled your current drivers to clean the system before installing the new ones. You can do this right in you windows session or in Safe Mode.

Unattended usage:

setup.exe -s -f2<path\LogFile> -z[-rp<path\LogFile>]
example:
setup.exe -s -f2C:\mylog.log -z[-rpC:\RHDSetup.log]

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Two months ago, i posted about the strategy of releasing free music albums and asking the fans to set the price they think is fair. This has been great news because you can get the for free and, if you want to support the band directly, you can donate or pay for the special editions of the albums.

A few days ago, Nine Inch Nails released another free album, called The Slip.

To get the download link, simply register your email here. An email with download links to all options will be sent to your Inbox.

Best of all, all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits. The files are fully tagged and include album art as well as lyrics.

If you want to download the High Quality versions, here are some Bit Torrent links directly from NIN website:

• FLAC
• WAV 24/96
• Apple Lossless

Website

If you ever encounter yourself stuck in a file operation that cannot be completed, like moving or deleting a file or folder this program can help you. It is called Unlocker and it adds an entry to the shell context menu.

When you try to delete or move a file or folder and windows says it cannot do it because another process or person is accessing it, you right-click the file or folder in question and choose Unlocker.

It opens a windows where you can see which process are locking the item. You can either kill the process or unlock it. The latter works great for 99% of the cases. If you still can’t do it, well, kill the process and you are ready to go.

Its freeware

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BurnAware is a program for burning files to CD/DVD.

It can burn DVD Video discs and Audio CD’s as well. Supports multi-session and can save (not from discs in the freeware edition) and write ISO images.

There is a Home Edition available which has more features but is a bit expensive is you ask me.

Look at this comparison table to learn about the differences between freeware and paid versions.

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