Place to find Windows 7 Start Orbs / Buttons:
DeviantArt (narrow search to just “orb“)
Windows Seven Forums (see the “sticky” posts)
Awesome guide on how to make a start orb / button using Photoshop on YouTube: How to make start button for Windows 7
StartOrbz is a program for creating and applying start orbs. I have not used it.
I use Windows 7 Start Button Changer to change my start orb.
( See here for how to use it: http://kishan-bagaria.deviantart.com/art/Win-7-Start-Button-Changer-1-0-153001999 )
My attempt at making a start orb (no after effects (click), just hover)
It should be noted that all my desktops / taskbars are dark (black / grey) so I’ve no idea how they look on other colors:
Black Orb w/lightning (I used the Black Start Orb form here)
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Metallica Ninja Star Start Orb ( I used the star from here)
Anyone is welcome to use them, just right-click > save as. (Please use proper credit if posting them)
If you make one and want to pass it along post it here.
I would appreciate any good links on this subject.
Tags: This Site, Windows 7
- I’ve finally updated the XP Freeware Machine article. It is virtually the same as the Windows 7 Freeware Machine with a few minor changes that are OS specific. The Vista Freeware Machine is now defunct. With the creation of the Windows 7 version it is pretty much redundant and truth be told I no longer run Vista on any of my computers.
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- I’m looking for more tips for the next revision of Tweaking Windows 7.
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- If you have emailed me in the past month and I have not responded, please resend your email.
Tags: This Site
I have completed The Windows 7 Freeware Machine article. I will attempt to revise the XP and Vista versions in the next week.
Tags: This Site, Windows 7
I’m about 2/3 of the way done with writing the Windows 7 tweak guide. I’ve come across an issue that I need some help with. It applies to SSD’s. During my research I found these 2 statements:
“In Windows 7, SuperFetch is automatically enabled for disks that have a low Windows Experience Disk Score and disabled for disks that have a high score.”
Performance Testing Guide for Windows
and
“If the system disk is an SSD, and the SSD performs adequately on random reads and doesn’t have glaring performance issues with random writes or flushes, then Superfetch, boot prefetching, application launch prefetching, ReadyBoost and ReadDrive will all be disabled.” Engineering Windows 7 – Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives
One problem with the above 2 statements. I have an SSD disk (specifically the Intel X25-M Generation 2). My Windows Experience score for Primary hard disk is 7.7 (out a possible 7.9). This was a clean install to this disk, not a clone or image. According to the above statements Windows 7 should have disabled Superfetch. Windows 7 did not disable the service nor adjust the registry settings. It is visable via Task Manager (SysMain) and is actively using system resources.
I’m interested if anyone has had Windows 7 disable this as they claim.
I would also like to know what qualifies as a high “Windows Experience Disk Score” according to Microsoft. (not really expecting an answer on this)
Tags: This Site, Windows 7
I’ve completed my guide on Installing Windows 7 . I hope you find it useful.
I have also begun work on the Windows 7 page. I could really use some good links for this page if you have any.
Some you have asked if I’m working on a Windows 7 Tweak Guide. Of course I am. It will be a bit different than previous tweak guides.The first reason for that is that Windows 7 needs far less performance tuning than Vista and XP (but there are some tweaks here and there). The second reason is that there are a ton of new features in Windows 7. While I will show you how to turn some of these off, I hope to explain why these features may just help you get things done faster and to tweak the features to your needs. Writing, researching, testing, and double-checking all this does take a considerable amount of time though. I do not know if it will be ready by the launch date or not (Oct. 22nd) but I’m trying.
Tags: This Site, Windows 7
I’ve spent the last few weeks updating the following guides in preparation for Windows 7 guides. There has been a lot of cleanup, clarifications, and several additions. As the name intimates the XP guide will not be revised again. The Vista guide may follow the same fate. I’ve never been shy about the fact that I did not like Vista. Those who are using Windows 7 know that it will probably leave Vista as just a bad memory. Once 7 comes out I will not have any Vista computers left (only 1 left now). At any rate, I hope you enjoy these guides and that they may be of some help to you.
TweakHound’s Super XP Tweaking Guide – SP3 Final
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The Right Way To Install Windows XP
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Tweaking Windows Vista
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Installing Windows Vista
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Tags: Cool Tools, This Site, Windows, Windows Vista, Windows Xp
As promised, the aforementioned Customizing Vista article is done.
Customize The Way Vista Looks
I would love to hear comments and feedback. What do you use to Customize Vista? Got a screenshot you want to share (links only please)?
*Updated March 09, 2009 for final version.
Tags: This Site, Windows Vista
I’ve been bored and playing around with customizing the look of Vista. I’ll have an article up on what I did in the next few days.
In the mean time, here’s a screenshot for you:
Full Size (1680×1050), Medium Size (1000×625)
Tags: This Site, Windows Vista
Congrats to the winners! If you won and haven’t gotten the email please contact me.
Continue reading “Puran Defrag Contest Winners”
Tags: This Site
Puran Software has generously offered 5 licenses for Puran Defrag 5.1! So I’m going to have a contest to give them away.
This is how the contest is going to work:
1 – Leave a reply in this post.
2 – The reply must contain the following:
-Your favorite freeware app and your favorite Computer related website (name only, no links/url’s, and not this site)
3 – You must use a valid email address so that I can contact you if you win.
***edit:
***READ THE ABOVE AGAIN***
2 – The reply must contain the following:
-Your favorite freeware app and your favorite Computer related website (name only, no links/url’s, and not this site)
“favorite app” AND “favorite Computer related website”. I don’t understand what is so hard about that???
The contest will end Friday October 31st, 2008 at midnight EST (GMT -4). Winners will be notified Saturday November 1st, 2008. Winners will be drawn randomly. That is, I will use a random number generator to pick 5 numbers from the entries (based on the # next to the reply).
( my Puran Defrag mini-review)
CONTEST HAS ENDED
Tags: This Site
