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‘Windows Vista Tips’ Category

  1. Install the Good, Vista Version of Windows Movie Maker (6.0) on Windows 7

    September 2, 2010 by Andrew Block

    Short attention span? Download the zip file, read the readme file, and be on your merry way!

    Like many others, I was sad to see Microsoft didn’t include Movie Maker with Windows 7. I thought the Windows Live version might fill that void, but frankly, it sucks. The Vista version (Movie Maker 6.0) was the best Movie Maker that Microsoft made.

    Note: there is a non-live version of Windows Movie Maker that you can download directly from Microsoft — Windows Movie Maker 2.6. It’s not as nearly good as 6.0, though.

    Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to get the Vista version — Windows Movie Maker 6.0 — installed on Windows 7.

    1. Download this ZIP file of Windows Movie Maker 6.0. NOTE: You MUST have a legal license of Vista to use this. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS if you don’t have a paid license for Windows Vista.
    2. Open or extract the ZIP file.
    3. Copy the ‘Windows Movie Maker 6.0′ directory to ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\’ (for Windows 7 64-bit) OR ‘C:\Program Files\’ (for Windows 7 32-bit).
    4. Run the correct batch file for your version of Windows 7: ‘install moviemk dlls – x64′ for the 64-bit version of Windows 7, and ‘install moviemk dlls – x86′ for the 32-bit version of Windows 7.
    5. Make movies!

    Shout below in the comments section if you have any issues. Oh and, do not attempt to install Windows Movie Maker 6.0 on Windows XP…it won’t work.

    Category Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips | Tags: ,,, | 1 Comment

  2. Installing an old, networked printer on Windows 7 or Vista (with the printer physically connected to a Windows XP machine)

    August 12, 2010 by Andrew Block

    I’ve got an old HP Deskjet 5550 that has served me faithfully over the years, so I haven’t had the heart to toss it. I use it as a secondary printer every once in a while; it’s physically connected to an old, crappy PC running Windows XP.

    After installing Windows 7 on my nice PC, I had a heck of a time getting the networked printer to install on Windows 7. Every time I’d try to add it by searching for a networked printer, Windows 7 couldn’t figure out the driver.

    Here’s the workaround. This should work for any printer that has this issue, I think.

    1. Click the Start Menu, then on Devices and Printers.

    2. In the upper left corner, click Add a Printer.

    3. Counter-intuitively, click Add a local printer.

    4. On the “Choose a printer port” screen, click Create a new port, and select Local port from the drop-down menu.

    5. In the “Port Name” box, you have to type two forward slashes (\\), the name of the computer where the printer is, another forward slash (\), and then the name of the printer. So the whole thing looks like \\computer-name\printer-name.

    Tip: to find the name of the computer and printer, go to Start, Devices and Printers, click Add a Printer, and then click Add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer. Windows will search for any networked printers, and will display the computer name and printer name of any it finds. Note the pertinent computer and printer name, and then cancel out of that screen. You can then use that information to enter in the “Port Name” box in step #5.

    1. After you have entered the “port name”, you can choose a driver.

    2. On the “Type a printer name” screen, give it any name you want:

    3. On the “Printer Sharing” screen, it’s probably best to select the Do not share this printer option, since it’s really already shared from another computer. If you want to get wild, though, why not try sharing it twice?

    4. Click Finish on the last screen. To verify your new printer is installed, go to Devices and Printers again, and you’ll see it in the list:

    That’s it! Well, maybe that seemed like a lot of work, but your antiquated printer will thank you for saving it from the garbage heap.

    Tip: if you delete the printer and try to re-add it, it won’t work, because Windows remembers the port. To delete the port, you have to go to printmanagement.msc, expand Print Servers, expand your local computer, and then click on Ports. Delete the appropriate port from the list on the right, and then restart the Print Spooler service using services.msc. For more info on that process, check out this forum.

    Give me a shout in the comments section if you have any trouble.

    Category PCs & Hardware, Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  3. Want the Image Resizer PowerToy for Windows 7 or Vista? Here it is (sorta).

    July 29, 2010 by Andrew Block

    Microsoft’s Image Resizer PowerToy for Windows XP was a convenient, no nonsense way to quickly resize images on the fly. I used to use it all the time in XP, and was bummed it never found its way to Windows Vista/7.

    But thankfully, all is not lost to Microsoft’s neglect. The Image Resizer Powertoy Clone for Windows is available for free on CodePlex, in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

    Works on XP, Vista, Windows 7…oh and even Windows 2000. :)

    Category Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  4. How to get different wallpaper on dual monitors in Windows (without 3rd party software)

    July 3, 2010 by Andrew Block

    Applies to:

    • Windows XP
    • Windows Vista
    • Windows 7

    Windows XP, Vista, and 7 will only show the same wallpaper on both of your monitors. There isn’t actually a setting to change this behavior (without the use of 3rd party tools such as Ultramon), but there is a very easy workaround.

    You just need to do a little bit of image editing. For this demo, I’ll use Adobe Photoshop, but any simple image editing tool will do.

    First off, either open an image that is the resolution of your left monitor, or re-size an image to the proper resolution.

    Note: this tutorial also assumes your left monitor is the same size or bigger than your right monitor. If not, this won’t work right.

    For example, my left monitor is 1920×1200, so — using Photoshop — I re-sized an image to 1920×1200.

    The next step is to re-size our image’s canvas to the total width of both monitors. Simply add up the width of your two displays. In my scenario, my monitors are 1920×1200 and 1280×1024, so the total width is 3200 pixels.

    Using your image editor, re-size the width of the canvas (not the image) to the total width of both monitors. Make sure the left side of the image is anchored to the left edge, so the part that expands is blank. Finally, ensure the unit of measurement is set to pixels.

    Now, copy another image, paste it as a new layer, and make it fill up the blank space (you’ll probably want to use an image that is close to the resolution of your right monitor). Make sure the new image doesn’t overlap the first image!

    Save your new image somewhere as a JPEG or something Windows understands, and set it as your desktop wallpaper.

    Then, go into your display properties and make sure the image’s position is set to tiled:

    That’s it! You now have the appearance that each monitor has its own unique wallpaper. Kind of a pain, but worth it if you like a little variety in your wallpaper.

    (Note: the screenshot below looks a little weird because the monitors are not the same height, and that’s how it is displayed when I captured the image.)

    Category Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: ,,, | 1 Comment

  5. Location of important folders in Windows 7

    June 4, 2010 by Andrew Block

    I often find myself trying to remember where Windows 7 stores my important stuff. Here are a few important locations, and I’ll probably continue to add more to this article as I find ‘em.

    Note: I’m pretty sure most of these are the same in Vista, but I can’t personally vouch for that.
    Note 2: Most of these require you to turn on viewing of hidden folders
    Note 3: I am assuming the “C:” drive is your system drive; if not, replace it with the correct drive.

    Location of Outlook data file(s):
    C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

    Location of iTunes backup of iPhone:
    C:\users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

    (Note: there will be a cryptic folder name for each backup made. For example, “df774585e699dff29cf10cf495a1fe81540495e6″)

    Location of Windows 7 user-installed themes:
    C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes

    You can find some of the “hidden” Windows 7 themes here (more info here):
    C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT

    Windows 7 temp file directory:
    C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Temp

    And of course, don’t forget about the most uber folder of all — God Mode.

    Category Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips | Tags: ,, | 1 Comment

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