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Trial/crapware banished from PCs bought from Microsoft store

0 Comments 29 October 2009

Filed under: News, Microsoft Ask just about any technician or hardcore PC user, and they’ll tell you that the unwanted bloat shipped with many new PCs is a major annoyance. I’m blown away by just how slow it is to boot some of the new Windows 7 systems my store has received. HP, Toshiba, Acer, MSI – they’re all guilty of excessive bloat. Not a single one of these pre-packaged systems boots as fast or is as responsive as those I’ve built in-house with Windows 7. That’s not really a great way to show off your new OS. After all, customers are expecting to get their new machines home and see performance from the get-go. While Microsoft can’t control what makes it out the door at other retail stores, they’re putting PCs they sell at their own store on an application diet. According to Electronista, all systems sold at Microsoft’s newly-launched retail stores will have their bloatware demons exorcised. Yes, yes, I hear you, Linux fans. No, I don’t mean they’re uninstalling Windows from said systems. Are you paying attention, OEMs? Even the company providing you with the primary OS on your hardware thinks you’ve…

News

1 in 5 UK gamers prefer to download their games

1 Comment 29 October 2009

Filed under: Games Findings in a recent report presented at the London Gaming Conference last night show that 7% of console – and 14% of PC-gamers prefer to download their games in digital, no-box-or-paper-instruction-booklet format. This isn’t as big news as it seems though, as many PC owners also own consoles, and vice-versa — and I bet there’s some cross-over in the demographics. But, with the recent take-off of digital-only download services like Direct2Drive, Valve’s Steam, and Microsoft’s LIVE Marketplace, it’s no surprise that gamers have been enjoying the lower prices and quicker delivery times inherent to such services. As game developers continue to jump on-board with these services and reap the higher profit margins, we can expect the trend to continue. As always though, when there’s a shift in sales, someone has to lose out — even if it’s not the customer. In this case it’s the real-world shops like EB Games and Game. They’ve often relied on value-added deals to turn a decent profit — buy two games, get a third free, that kind of thing — and with more and more people staying home (really, the number of reasons to leave your home…

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Windows 7 Edition Switcher lets you change your ISO from Home to Ultimate

0 Comments 29 October 2009

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Windows x64 A lot of techy types weren’t too excited when Microsoft changed the Windows 7 ISO. Beta and RC versions lumped all the versions on one DVD. Heck, this was one big thing I thought Microsoft did right with Windows Vista. I had one DVD and I could load any of the 39 different versions using the same disc. Windows 7 ISOs and DVDs? Not so much. They’re single-version. Frustrated techs are never content to sit back and deal with annoyances – like the developer behind Windows 7 ISO Edition Switcher. Download the free, portable app and you can easily convert any Windows 7 ISO to the version you need. Sure, it’s pretty easy to do this by editing a text file but Switcher is about as painless as the process can get. Pick the patch file you need from the ones included in the zip, pick your ISO, and presto! Patched ISO, ready to burn. Big thanks to VT4000 for submitting this via our comments!! Windows 7 Edition Switcher lets you change your ISO from Home to Ultimate originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms…

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Clearing the air (again) about what Google Chrome OS is and isn’t

0 Comments 29 October 2009

Filed under: OS Updates, Google, Op-Ed Thanks in no small part to an errant Gizmodo post this morning, the blogosphere is once again atwitter with musings of a “leaked” Chrome OS build that we can all download and enjoy. Share Wrong, wrong, wrong. First and foremost, the “build” they’re talking about is a fan-built Linux distro with Chrome bolted on created using SUSE Studio. Second, no official Google project is going to be hosted as a subdomain on Google Sites. No way. They’ve already got a domain registered for ChromeOS. Third, it’s not really that close to what Chrome OS is going to be. Don’t count on any desktop apps – such as OpenOffice and Gimp – to be included. The aim as I understand it from sources at Google is to provide a portable computing experience that relies very heavily upon access to the cloud. Google’s vision is for you to boot, sign in to the OS using their single sign-on cookie which preps your browser to access all your Google goodies (GMail, Docs, Picasa Web, etc.), and get down to business with the Chrome browser. Sign out of your session on your netbook, sign in on…

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10 hot Growl styles to make your pop-up alerts really pop

0 Comments 29 October 2009

Filed under: Utilities, Features, Macintosh Growl provides customizable pop-up alerts for hundreds of Mac apps, making sure you never miss an important chat message or completed download. You can use Growl to set an alert for just about anything, and you can also make Growl notifications look practically any way you want. The built-in themes and the list on the official Growl Styles page don’t even begin to cover all the options for gorgeous notifications, from the minimal to the very flashy. Here are 10 lesser-known Growl styles that look a lot nicer than the defaults: Gallery: 10 Hottest Growl Styles 10 hot Growl styles to make your pop-up alerts really pop originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Sponsored Topics: Download Squad – Macintosh – Growl – Apple – Pop music