Technology & Pop Culture

REMINDER: Microsoft’s Free Support For Windows XP Ends Today

Posted by Bradley under Technology

People love and continue to love Windows XP but Microsoft is ending free support for its most popular OS beginning today.

That means if you HAVE to call up Microsoft for a problem with XP you will have to shell out your hard earned money to talk to somebody.

Office 2003 also leaves mainstream support tomorrow.

But never fear your automatic updates and security patches will continue on until April 8, 2014.

Tags: Ends, Free, Microsoft, Office 2003, Support, Windows XP

Get Ready For Windows 7 By Using Large Quick Launch Icons

Posted by Bradley under Personal, Technology

Microsoft‘s next version of Windows is due sometime after September of this year and fundamentally changes the way you think about the task bar.  (That’s the thing at the bottom of your screen that shows the programs and windows you have open.)

In Windows 7 each program gets a large icon that represents a program whether it’s running or not.

As you can see in the screen shot above Microsoft has eliminated the text that is traditionally seen to the right of a program’s icon in Windows XP and Vista in favor of large icons.  Similar to the dock on a Mac.

You can somewhat mimic this behavior on Windows XP and Vista by following these steps:

1. Unlock your Task Bar by right clicking and choosing “Lock the Taskbar”
2. Make sure the Quick Launch toolbar is enabled by right clicking the Task Bar and choosing Toolbars, Quick Launch
3. Right click in the blank space before, after or in between a Quick Launch icon and choose View, Large Icons — somewhat janky, try it a few times and it’ll work

Now your Task Bar and Quick Launch icons should look similar to mine.

Granted I am using Vista and I have moved my Task Bar above the newly enlarged Quick Launch icons.

By following this technique you can make the transition to Windows 7′s large icon style Task Bar much easier and make your icons prettier in the process.

For more on Windows 7 check out Gizmodo‘s “How to Use Windows 7′s New Interface“.

Tags: Interface, Large Icons, Task Bar, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

New Theme For Windows XP Surfaces

Posted by Bradley under Technology

Tired of that everyday, Fisher Price theme for Windows XP?

You can change it!

The ability to do this has been around for a while — most of the time involving hacking your XP install with some third-party files.

But from time-to-time Microsoft releases themes that are “official” and require no hacking.

Askvg.com recently stumbled onto the new “Embedded Theme” for Windows XP.

I had been using Royale and Royale Noir for quite some time but this one is much sexier.

Oh and there’s that tacky Orange Zune theme.  Umm.  (Not x64 compatible, screw it.)

Enjoy the new look.

http://www.askvg.com/download-new-official-embedded-theme-for-windows-xp-and-2003-no-file-patching-required/

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?aywudxvynnq

[IMG via askvg.com]

Tags: Embedded Theme, Microsoft, Royale, Royale Noir, Theme, Windows XP