Computer Specs

Intel core 2 quad Q9400 CPU @ 2.67 GHZ
4GB DDR3 RAM
Asus 4870 wth 512MB DDR5 memory
500GB HDD
windows 7 6956 / Vista Dual boot    32 BIT!!

Have XP on another laptop to compare with
I used my friends mac to test mac OSX speeds

First, looks

When I first got in and activated windows 7 it came up with a more polished and a refined look that far surpassed the look of vista. With the addition of the new super bar and the new revised gadgets it became easier to navigate through and actually looked quite beautiful. From the New boot screen to the new window transitions I found it look a hell of alot better than vista, But how does it perform?

Performance

I remember how vista was originally extremely slow and with the addition of service pack one it's still not up to par in speed and performance as XP or Mac leopard. So how does windows 7 improve on those issues?. As soon as I started to boot up windows 7 I already noticed the huge speed up times. On vista it originally would take me about a minute to boot the computer, now with windows 7 I get approximately 30 seconds. That's half the times of vista! As soon as windows 7 loads the desktop, I could notice that the transitions have been smoothed to perfection. The OS feels so much faster and the load times when opening programs have decreased drastically. Windows 7 just feels alot better than vista does when changing between programs.

Features

One of the new really amazing things in windows 7 is the super bar, which is very similar to the dock on the Mac OSX. It uses a special docking feature that you can pin almost every program to. Another great feature for it is aero peek which utilizes the desktop preview function, when you hover your mouse over the desktop preview of a window it automatically appears and when you move it away it goes back to your previous window. This makes it very easy to multitask. Another amazing way to multitask is to the use the aerosnap feature in which you move windows to each corner of the screen and it will snap to it; making it possible to say, work on two documents at the same time. Or say your writing and essay, you could snap the information to one side, and open your document on the other. Windows 7 now features jump lists which are an easier way to access a program or find a folder. By right clicking on one of your icons in the taskbar up comes the list, with your options for your program that you selected. I't was also great that I found that all my Drivers, Programs and games were all compatible with windows 7! And this was just the beta!

Final Words

Words can't explain how amazing this new OS really is. Just give it a try, I guarantee you will be amazed.

9/10

Note-This is part two of a four part guide.

To Partition Your Hard Drive

You Will Need:

   1. An External Hard Drive
   2. A Kalyway Installation Disk (see first section).
   3. Your Vista recovery disk set.

Instructions

   1. Click the "Start Orb"
   2. Right click on "My Computer"
   3. Click manage
   4. If prompted, type your administrative password or click continue.
   5. In the right pane, click "Disk Management" under "Storage".
   6. In the top pane, right click click your main disk.
   7. Click "Shrink Volume..."
   8. Enter the size of the Partition you want for your Mac installation.  I recommend 25,600 MB (25 GB).
   9. If you are able to shrink the disk the amount you want, then go to the next section.  Otherwise go to step 10.
  10. Put in your kalyway installation DVD, and reboot your computer.
  11. You should see text that says Darwin x86 or similar. If you do, go to step 19.  If not, go to step 12.
  12. Reboot your computer again, and hold F8.
  13. Select enter setup, or enter BIOS.
  14. Find the frame that talks about boot order.
  15. Change the order so that it says cd-rom drive, optical drive, or something similar is first.
  16. Select save and quit.
  17. Your computer should should reboot and say something about Darwin x86.
  18. If not, add a comment detailing your problem, and I shall try to help you.
  19. Wait for it to load (about 5-10 min).
  20. Select your language and click the blue arrow.
  21. Click utilities from the bar at the top.
  22. Select "Disk Utility"
  23. Go to backup.
  24. Drag the icon of your internal hard drive to the source box.
  25. Drag the icon of your external hard drive to the destination box.
  26. Click backup.
  27. After it is done, right click the name of your internal hard drive and click partition.
  28. Select 2 Partitions from the drop down menu.
  29. Enter the size for each one, and name them.  Note: The second partition should be the one you install Mac OSX onto.
  30. On the second one, select Mac extended (Journaled).
  31. On the first one, select MS-DOS.
  32. Click options, then select MBR.
  33. Click partition.
  34. Reboot your computer, and put in the first disk of the set.
  35. Reinstall the operating system, being careful to select the option that lets you perserve the current partitions.
  36. Reboot your computer, and put the kalyway disc back in your optical drive.
  37. Wait for it to load again.
  38. Select your language again.
  39. Go back to disc utility.
  40. Click on backup.
  41. This time, drag the icon of your external hard drive to source, and only the the icon of your vista partition to the destination box.
  42. Click backup.
  43. Restart your computer, and take out the kalyway disc.
  44. Vista should start up, if not, go back to step 34.
  45. Your Hard drive is now partitioned!

Also, take a note that all the programs installed using the previous Windows will get erased in case they are installed in the same drive as that of Windows. In case they have been installed on a different drive, they may not work properly.

1. Switch on the computer. When the computer is booting up, press DEL to open up the seutp. Under the boot menu, change the boot sequence and bring your CD/DVD drive on the top. The method for doing this depends on the type of BIOS your computer is using.
2. Insert the bootable Windows CD/DVD in the disc tray, and restart your computer.
3. You will be prompted as “press any key to boot from CD”
4. Pressing any key brings up the Windows setup menu.

The Windows-setup menu is quite user-friendly. You can choose to install a fresh copy, or repair the previous installations. You also get options for choosing the file-system for the drive on which Windows is being installed. You can also choose to format that drive. The various options related to file systems are:

• Leave the file system intact(means not to format the selected drive-in this case, you'll get multiple copies of Windows on the same drive, which can cause errors)
• Format the drive using NTFS(Quick)
• Format the drive using NTFS
• Format the drive using FAT(Quick)
• Format the drive using FAT

Using these options, you can setup the file systems. You can also format the C:, which you cannot do in the usual way as Windows does not allow to format the drive on which it it installed.

If you have read my Dual boot Ubuntu onto XP guide. This one will be similiar.. To get started boot up in Windows Vista and go into the Disk Management (right-click My Computer, go to manage, then Disk Management). Again, right-click on the main Vista partition and hit Shrink Volume.

The Shrink tool tells how much space can be freed up. In the menu type how much space to leave open. Try and give each OS atleast 10 GB of space to work with. Hit shrink and the tool will reduce the volume of Vista partition.

Installing Ubuntu

The first thing you should do before fully installing Ubuntu is deciding if you like it or not. You can do this by obtaining a copy of the Live CD or by downloading the ISO. You can do this by going to Ubuntu's website. If your internet speed is really slow and you do not want to bother with the time you can purchase the Live CD and it will be shipped to your house in 2 , to 4 business days. Remember you are just paying for the shipping. Or you can get a free Live CD by mail, but the downside is that it will take 10 to 20 business days to ship.

Now if you are going to download the Live CD from the website continue reading (If not skip this section). You are now at the download screen where it is asking you what version of Ubuntu do you want. You should check 7.10 under the desktop edition. After that is done, under what you just chose it should be asking you, "What type of computer do you have?" I run on an AMD 64 bit processor but for some reason it doesn't recognize the install disk correctly. So it is highly recommended you choose the first option, Standard personal computer. After this select the closest location near you under the drop down menu below the previous option. Then click start download. You will be redirected to a page that starts your download and asks you where to save it, just save it to desktop. Now go relax and wait for your download.

Supposing you have downloaded the ISO file of the Live CD and you are ready to host it. Go download Infra Recorder if you do not have a program that burns ISO files. If you are using Infra Recorder, insert your blank CD into your drive and if it auto loads select cancel, next open up Infra Recorder and select Actions > Burn Image, from here select your ISO file and hit open and it should begin to burn. After your image is complete you are ready to do a live boot of Ubuntu Gusty Gibbon.

Whether method you used to get a Live CD you should be ready to boot up in Ubuntu now. Insert your Live CD into your disk drive and restart your PC. When it gets to the screen where it displays your disk drives and memory amount you can either start mashing F9 or if you have timing just hit it once when you need to, to get to the boot menu. From here select boot from disk and a screen with multiple options of Ubuntu should pop up with the first option being "Start or Install Ubuntu", Select it and let Ubuntu load. The first time it loads off the CD it may take three or four minutes so be patient.

After the Live CD is done loading mess around with the Live session and see if you like it. After you decide that you want to install it (it is recommended that you back your window's portion of the guide) click the install icon on the desktop.

A welcome screen will come up and ask you what language you would wish to use. Then after that it will ask you what timezone you live in. Just select one that is relatively close to where you live. After this choose your appropriate keyboard layout.

Ubuntu will then load the disk partitioner to determine where it's going to be installed. Choose ,Manual - use the largest continuous free space. This will automatically select the unpartitioned space we created earlier using the Shrink tool. Click Forward. If you feel brave you can can edit the portions manually. After you have selected all of your needed information, Ubuntu has enough knowledge to install itself. Now go relax a second time if you have downloaded the CD, if not it will be your first!

After Ubuntu is done installing itself your computer will automatically reboot and will come up with the GRUB system select screen. Your very first option would be what you want to boot up in if you want Ubuntu, but if you want windows choose either the fourth or fifth option. After 10 seconds of no responding it will automatically boot up in Ubuntu. If you were like me and accidentally installed Ubuntu on your second HDD, you may have to reboot up into Vista for Ubuntu to recognize all of the hard drives and their space.

Now go out and enjoy your new operating system!

Now if you are going to download the Live CD from the website continue reading (If not skip this section). You are now at the download screen where it is asking you what version of Ubuntu do you want. You should check 7.10 under the desktop edition. After that is done, under what you just chose it should be asking you, "What type of computer do you have?" I run on an AMD 64 bit processor but for some reason it doesn't recognize the install disk correctly. So it is highly recommended you choose the first option, Standard personal computer. After this select the closest location near you under the drop down menu below the previous option. Then click start download. You will be redirected to a page that starts your download and asks you where to save it, just save it to desktop. Now go relax and wait for your download.

Supposing you have downloaded the ISO file of the Live CD and you are ready to host it. Go download Infra Recorder if you do not have a program that burns ISO files. If you are using Infra Recorder, insert your blank CD into your drive and if it auto loads select cancel, next open up Infra Recorder and select Actions > Burn Image, from here select your ISO file and hit open and it should begin to burn. After your image is complete you are ready to do a live boot of Ubuntu Gusty Gibbon.

Whether method you used to get a Live CD you should be ready to boot up in Ubuntu now. Insert your Live CD into your disk drive and restart your PC. When it gets to the screen where it displays your disk drives and memory amount you can either start mashing F9 or if you have timing just hit it once when you need to, to get to the boot menu. From here select boot from disk and a screen with multiple options of Ubuntu should pop up with the first option being "Start or Install Ubuntu", Select it and let Ubuntu load. The first time it loads off the CD it may take three or four minutes so be patient.

After the Live CD is done loading mess around with the Live session and see if you like it. After you decide that you want to install it (it is recommended that you back your window's portion of the guide) click the install icon on the desktop.

A welcome screen will come up and ask you what language you would wish to use. Then after that it will ask you what timezone you live in. Just select one that is relatively close to where you live. After this choose your appropriate keyboard layout. Then comes the disk portioner.

It will recommend a default portion size for your new operating system. You can move the slider up and down at your desire. All it does is takes that space and turns it into Ubuntu's space. If you feel brave you can can edit the portions manually. After you have selected all of your needed information, Ubuntu has enough knowledge to install itself. Now go relax a second time if you have downloaded the CD, if not it will be your first!

After Ubuntu is done installing itself your computer will automatically reboot and will come up with the GRUB system select screen. Your very first option would be what you want to boot up in if you want Ubuntu, but if you want windows choose either the fourth or fifth option. After 10 seconds of no responding it will automatically boot up in Ubuntu. If you were like me and accidentally installed Ubuntu on your second HDD, you may have to reboot up into XP for Ubuntu to recognize all of the hard drives and their space.

Now go out and enjoy your new operating system!

Here I will outline a few simple, free and easy-to-use programs that will help counteract this deterioration.

1. Defragment your hard-drive. It is said time and time again, and for good reason. Defragmenting your hard-drive will drastically improve your pc's speed. Defragmenting your hard-drive puts all your data back together, merging all the bits of each file scattered across the disk back together again. You don't even need to install an external program to do this. Go to >My Computer >Right-Click on your hard-drive (s) >management >defragment. This will take anywhere between 1 to 3 hours to complete, depending on the capacity of your hard-disk but is well worth the wait.
2. Download, and install "free registry defrag." This is a two-click use program. Once installed, run, and then select "analyze your registry." After two or three minutes, it will advise you as to what action to take, either that your registry is fine, and does not need defragging, or that it does. If it does, select the second button to compact your registry. By closing the various holes, and removing redundant data, your pc will be able to move through the registry faster, and consequently BE faster.
3. Download and install "Reg Cleaner." This allows you a greater level of control over how you deal with redundant data in the registry, and allows you to see exactly what programs have entries in your registry. Clean out any entries for programs that no longer exist on your system. You can either do this manually, or use a built in search function.
4. Reduce the number of programs that load up at system start-up. Use Spybot SnD to examine what programs are starting with your system. Clean out as many as possible for a faster boot time. It is advised to leave anti-virus and firewall software free to boot up at system start-up, otherwise you can expose your system to malicious programs and scripts.
5. Consider overclocking your system. If you are using an NForce system, try using NTune, otherwise look on the web. There are many applications which can do this safely and automatically, although some computers cannot be overclocked.

If you are at work, you should leave the work to your administrator, but if this happens at home, there are many ways to fix this problem. One of them is using a boot disc.
What exactly is a boot disc? A boot disc can be used to boot your computer in case your computer has an issue. The reason why your Windows XP CD might not be of help is because you might have a hardware problem. First, try booting from your CD and repairing Windows. If that doesn't work, there might be a hardware problem, and a boot disc is your next option.

There are many boot discs around, and they can fit on floppy discs, CDs, and DVDs. You need to decide which is best for you. If you have a floppy drive, it is recommended you try booting from a floppy disc first. If that doesn't work, a bootable CD will work, and finally a DVD.

First, we will create a bootable floppy disc. If you have Windows 9x or Windows Me, click here for instructions on how to create a bootable floppy disc. If you have Windows 2000, you can go here to receive instructions on how to create a bootable floppy disc. If you have Windows XP (Home or Professional), you can go here to receive instructions on how to create a bootable floppy disc.

To create a bootable CD, click here to create the Ultimate Boot CD, which I use and highly recommend. You may use any method you wish in getting the image to the CD (ISO, EXE, or ZIP). As you can see, there are a lot of tools that are on the CD.
DVDs aren't recommended unless a floppy or a CD won't work. To make a bootable DVD, go to the link above to the Ultimate Boot Disc website and follow the instructions. Burn the files to a DVD instead.

First, you need to set your BIOS to boot from the floppy drive or CD drive before your hard drive. To do that, you need to watch carefully when you press the power button. You may need to press DEL, F1, F2, F10, or another key to enter your PC's setup program.

You have to watch carefully, because things can go fast. Once you know the key, press it, and you should be directed to your PC's setup program. Once you're here, you might need to do a little searching to find the boot sequence or boot order. Once you find it, select it, and move the floppy drive (if you're using a floppy disc), the CD drive (if you're using a CD), or the DVD drive (if you're using a DVD) in front of the hard drive, preferably first. Then, after you've fixed the problem, you can return here and change the settings back to their defaults. Once that is done, you can exit the Setup program (make sure to save the settings!) and restart your computer.

Have the floppy, CD, or DVD in the drive that you want to use in place and ready to go when you restart your computer. If you've done everything right, you should boot to your chosen media and you can work from there.

If you are using the Ultimate Boot Disc, there are tools that you can use to wipe your hard drive, clone your hard drive, partition your hard drive, and monitor the health of your PC components. Sometimes, you can find the problem, and if you can't fix it yourself, you can go and get the proper assistance.

Some bootable CDs such as Knoppix have operating systems on them. Knoppix has Linux on it, and it is very easy to use.

As you can see, bootable discs can save your computer and a lot of money since you can get right to the problem. Make one today!

These days it would really be hard to admit that you do not know these computer lingo or computer terms especially if you are parents. Do not be embarrassed to admit because after reading this article, you would be ready to use your Personal Computer or PC and find a software to balance your checkbook, design a new kitchen, play endless games with your kids, bring office work to home, you can even track down your old friends and loved ones. Learning the basic terminologies would be the first step to save your face in public and become an educated consumer.

Boot: It only means to "start” your computer.

Bulletin Board: This is also called forums or blogs, these are areas on commercial on-line services where anyone can post messages for other users to read and they may also respond.

CD-ROM: Compact Disc-Read Only Memory. A compact disc holds as much as 200,000 printed pages, reams of information, sounds and graphics. Through this drive, these big files can be seen on your monitor and hear through your speakers.

Connect Time: This is the time you consume to an on-line service. The on-line charge varies depending on the speed and the company.

Crash: It simply means that the computer stops its normal operation for some specific reasons.

Cyberspace: For the on-line world this is a catchall label which work as a physical space wherever. As you roam in the internet you will discover different information, locations and addresses. This is where you pick up emails, go and chat to and from people around the world, creates Friendster account and many other things.

Download/Upload: The process of transferring information to and from your computer over a network or thru modem. Inside the office, if your computer is inter-connected, you can easily upload a file from your computer to your colleague where she can easily download it in her computer.

Edutainment: Originally this refers to educational software or program that packs entertainment value to keep kids interested and motivate children to learn. But today marketers got hold of it and called almost every software"s that educates and entertain “edutainment.”

E-mail: Short for electronic mail. This replaced the traditional snail mail where a postman would knock on our door and deliver that envelope. Email revolutionized the dating game. Whenever you subscribe to an internet service provider or ISP or open an account with a search network you get your own unique email address.

Flaming: This is the practice of sending nasty messages on-line.

Hard Disk/Floppy Disk: A hard disk is also know or called as hard drive. It stores frequently used programs and holds files. Floppy disk holds lesser space and information and is remote. The modern day floppy disk looks like 3 ½ inches-wide square plastic. Inside it is a magnetic disk that holds important files. It is safe from being harmed with dust or fingerprints.

Icon: This is a tiny picture in the screen of your monitor or desktop. Each picture represents and computer command or program that once you click it, surely it will respond and perform its purpose.

Interactive Software: This is an umbrella term for programs that present information (from mathematical problems down to a simple puzzle game).

Internet: The www or worldwide web. The highway of information, the worldwide network of millions and millions of computers from a private home to libraries; from institutions to government agencies; from private individuals or corporations and vice-versa. It offers email, games, files, chats, pictures, programs, music and a lot more.

Log-on: It means you connect on-line through a modem, another compute device. Whenever one goes on line he/she supplies his/her username and password.

Lurking: This is done by Peeping Toms. They eavesdrop on electronic conversation instead of contributing good things to sciences.

Modem: A term for modulator and demodulator. This device is connected to your computer and a phone jack enables you to go on-line. This way you will be able to receive and transmit messages.

Mouse: A small handheld device that looks more like soap but with its cord it looks like a mouse with a tail. This moves the pointer on the computer screen and in just a click; a program would execute a command.

Multimedia: This combines text, sounds, animations, colorful graphics and videos and created an outstanding audiovisual program.

Network: This is composed of several computers connected with one another usually within the same room, building or the same perimeter.

Online: Through telephone lines or wireless connection, it connects your computer to another computer.

Online Services: These are companies that provide combination of services such as email, news, games and reference materials to consuming public. Prodigy, CompuServe and AOL or America On-line are best examples of this.

Real-time: When you are typing something in your monitor and it is being seen by someone else on another screen it means real time. When you are chatting right here, right now, it means real time. It differs from an email wherein you have the option to check and read it some other time or later in a day.

Software/Hardware: This refers to computer programs - word processor, spreadsheets, databases, games, applications, etc. Now the equipment itself, the central processing unit or CPU is the hardware, the tangible parts. This includes the internal chips, the fan, the circuitry, the monitor, the keyboard, the printer and the mouse as well.

Virus: Computer nerds formulated this destructive programs to get famous, and contend themselves by messing up other people's lives. Virus can be hidden in a game, in a file, in a program, in diskettes and this virus may destroy the data on your disk. It can totally harm and damage the entire system of the computer.

Windows: The program that lets you display more than one document at a time, run different programs simultaneously. This is the software design that made Bill Gates, once upon a time the wealthiest man in the Universe. Microsoft adapted the program for IBM.

 

Restart your computer and enjoy your faster boot time

Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu are all Linux operating systems. For more information go to their main website.

What is a Dual Boot?

A dual boot is when you have more than one operating system on your computer. An example of an operating system (OS) is Microsoft's Windows XP, Apple's Mac OS X, and Sun's Solaris.

If you do not want to go through the hassle of partitioning and putting the .iso file on a CD, there is hope! Try this, but note, this has not been tried by me, so I'm not sure of it's success rate.

To install, all you do is stay on your Windows OS, and then run an EXE file, follow the instructions, and finally install. Reboot, and you can use Ubuntu!

The Following are Required for this Tutorial:

• Paragon Partition Manager installed on your Windows OS.
• You need to have at least 10 GB to spare for this tutorial.
• The install CD of your Ubuntu Linux OS. For this tutorial, I used the Ubuntu Live CD and then installed KDE to get Kubuntu. To get that, go to Ubuntu's Main Website and download the correct ISO file! Once you have that, get a blank CD-R, download ImgBurn, and follow these instructions (or these) to plant the image.

Note: There was some confusion earlier on this. When I say 1 GB that is equivalent to 1000 MB, so if they ask you any questions using MB, you will know what to do if I say GB.

The Tutorial:

So far this has had a 100% success rate! I tried it on both my computers and it worked on a Pentium 4 which is my new one, and my old one which is a Pentium 2. Ubuntu runs pretty fast on both of them! Just follow these steps and everything will work out fine. If you have a question on any of these steps, do not hesitate to ask. If it's a prominent discrepancy then I will add more information to the step as to not confuse others. Estimated time of completion is about an hour to safely install Ubuntu as a dual boot.

1. There is a very slim chance of anything going wrong, but the slim chance of something bad happening, I will have to ask you to please back up any files that are important on your computer! Better safe than sorry. Before I started this tutorial, I saved all important files to my 1 GB USB Memory Stick.
2. Download, install, and open Paragon Partition Manager.
3. Resize your NTFS partition (normally your C: drive) by right clicking on it and clicking on Move/Resize partition. Allocate at least 10 GB and then click on Yes.
4. Now to create the Linux partition. At the top, click on Wizards > Create Partition. Click on Next and then click on the unallocated space you created in the last step. Click Next again, and then make sure to format it as Linux ext3.
5. Resize the newly created partition and leave about 2 GB unallocated.
6. Create another partition out of the 2 GB unallocated and format it as swap.
7. After you have finished, click on Apply at the top right. The changes should now take affect. If by any chance it gives an error, then just click on the "Restart" button which will restart and apply the changes on boot.
8. Once you have rebooted or the changes have begun - this may take a while - so make sure to go outside and have some fun or something.
9. Once it's finished your computer will be ready for Ubuntu! When it is, continue with this tutorial.
10. Pop in your Live Install CD you made earlier, and reboot once again. Your computer should now load the Live CD. Once it does, select the option to use the Live CD and install. If loading the Live CD does not work, then press F2 when you reboot to enter your boot settings in order to set them to the drive your Live CD is in.
11. Once the Live CD's Linux is up, double click on the Install icon on your desktop. These next few steps are very important.
12. Follow the installation's instructions up until the partitioning part! once you get to this part, set the option to manual and click on next.
13. You will now see your drives, probably 3 or 4. Make sure that formatting your Windows drive is not set! Only check the Linux ext3 formatted drive. Right click on the Linux ext3 drive and select "Edit Partition."
14. Make sure the new space in MB is the same as how much you allocated to that drive. Make sure the format is also set to ext3 and set it to mount as "/" (root).
15. Follow the remaining steps and instructions of the install and everything will be perfectly installed.

Screenshots:

• Ubuntu (GDE - Gnome style)
• Kubuntu (KDE - K style)