News: Microsoft Touts Azure Cloud Services

 

Bob Muglia, President of Microsoft's Business and Tools Division, used his speech at the Professional Developers Conference Microsoft to boost the company's Blue screens as a platform as a service. He introduced some new features, introduced a series of new demos and examples, and talked about how he thought Blue was the only platform used as a service and how it is changing cloud computing software development.

Windows Azure is "operating system for PaaS," he said, with a large number of services, with all sorts of things such as authentication, caching. He said Microsoft has been working on these looks for a long time, saying that "there is a ragged set of operations acquired in the last 12 months. He talked about how Microsoft tools based on the products created for traditional servers and re -designed for the cloud, for example, talked about how SQL Server is designed to run on a single server or a cluster;. but SQL Azure runs on thousands of servers across six data centers worldwide, so that developers do not have to think about it.

Muglia also announced the Windows Azure market, including market data (formerly Dallas) with over 40 partners who provide monitoring tools now.

Muglia also talked about a "service composition", which has all services available in Blue or elsewhere on the Internet to create the "backbone" of an Azure application. James Conard shown that demonstrate the addition of linking multiple services in Visual Studio 2010 through the composition AppFabric service.

This year's Professional Developers Conference was different than in previous years. It was held at Microsoft itself, and therefore has far fewer participants live, only 1,000. However, it is oriented towards the Microsoft web site saying that there were 30 thousand people in line.

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Windows Power Management.

Compared to earlier versions of Windows, Windows 7 offers new power management options so you can lessen the energy consumption of your computer.

To use the power management function:

• Go to Start menu.
• Type “Power Options” in the Search field and press Enter.

On the Power Options windows, you’ll see three preferred power plans: Balanced, Power Saver, and High Performance.

• Select which power plan you would prefer by ticking the circle.
• Adjust the settings of your preferred power plan by clicking on “Change plan settings”.

If you don’t like your newly-defined settings, you can always go back to the default settings by clicking on “Restore default settings for this plan”.

You can also create your own custom power plan by clicking on “Create a power plan” on the left portion of the window.

On the Create Power Plan window, select the power plan that best suits you and give it a name. Click on the Next button.

On the next screen, choose the time that the monitor turns off the display and the time the computer is put to sleep. Click on Create and you’re done.If you click on “Change plan settings” and “Change advanced power settings” you’ll be presented with a lot more options to change the power settings. This, however, should only be changed if you have full knowledge about power setting configurations as this might cause your computer to not work properly.

Once you have created your own custom power plan, it will now show in the Power Options window under Preferred Plans.

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Changing the drive location of My Documents

Tags: Windows tips, Win7 Helps, Win7 Tips, DVD to iTunes, Win7 Tutorials, Windows Live

You have the ability to open your My Documents folder directly via your Windows start menu but if you don’t have enough physical storage for your document then there´s only one smart solution to access the folder quickly and that is to change the location.

Normally this is located in "C:\Users\<Username>\My Documents". To do so, browse to "C:\Users\<Username>" using Windows Explorer (Press WINDOWS KEY + E to access this). Then, right click on My Documents and select Properties.

Now, click the Location tab at the top, then click Move which allows you to select the new location for your My Documents folder.

Windows will ask if you want to move the current files from your My Documents folder to the new location. Select here yes or no. (Depends on your needs).

Now you should have a new My Documents folder with enough free space.

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Using the Windows 7 desktop gadgets

Windows 7 has mini-programs called gadgets, which provides information in a quick look. Information and tools are readily accessible and to simply illustrate this is just like keeping your eye on world headlines and not stop what you are currently doing.

To easily access and start playing with Desktop Gadgets, just right-click on your desktop and you will easily find Gadgets.

Then this should lead you to this very elegant-looking page, our Desktop Gadgets. The default list should include Calendar, Clock, CPU Meter, Currency, Feed Headlines, Picture Puzzle, Slide Show, Weather and Windows Media Center.

For you to place your chosen gadget(s), just right-click on the item and click on Add or simply drag the specific gadget to your desired location in the desktop.

Once on your desktop, you may right-click on the gadget and choose from a variety of options like closing it or changing the size, putting it on "Always on top" of other applications, changing its Opacity and of course move it wherever you desire it to be.

Closing a gadget is super easy. Simply click on the Close (X) button in the top right corner of the gadget when you over it.

Some desktop gadgets can be enlarged so you can see information better. You will be seeing an extra button like this (shown below with arrow pointing outward) which you can click.

To revert back to the previous/smaller gadget, you will have to click that same button but this time the arrow is pointing inward.

To free your desktop from gadgets all at once, all that you have to perform is right-click on your desktop, go to View and uncheck the option for "Show Desktop Gadgets".

To revert and show the gadgets again, follow the same process but check the option "Show Desktop Gadgets" this time.

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Windows 8 Will be Ready In 2012?

The celebration of Windows 7′s first birthday with decent sales record was just some days ago. But many people have already turned their eyes towards the next one after Windows 7, willing to know what have Microsoft planned for us next. To date, though MS have been rather silent on the news of their future operating system, MS Netherlands seem to have a news leak. Just by the time it was celebrating the 1st birthday of Windows 7 on the official news site of MS, they somehow let slip that they were planning to introduce Windows 8 to the market in 2012.

For the folks who cannot understand Dutch, Google translate will help to know the basic meanings of the following message. Even with this badly translated passage it's quite clear what the message is about:

The first update of Windows 7 is the new version of Windows Live Essentials (explore.live.com) became available in mid-June. Furthermore, Microsoft is of course the next version of Windows. But it will take about two years before 'Windows 8' on the market.

So long as MS have not changed their plans of releasing Windows 8, it will make 3 year gap between the Win 7 and next OS. In order to compensate for the disappointment of Vista, MS released Win 7 ealier than anticipated and they did get folks back on their side. Therefore, I am wondering the success of Win 7 may gain them adequate time for preparing the Win 8? In that case, will 2 years be enough for them to develop an edition OS better than Win 7? If Win 8 gets into the market so soon, what will it look like? Let's just wait and see.

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Creating and minimizing your startup programs

When you are always using the same programs it can be helpful to load them automatically as soon as you start up your system.

I'll show you first how to let them load automatically.

The program I always want to have running is the software SpeedFan. SpeedFan is a program that monitors voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in your computer. The software is installed as usual and it is running as always.

This is very simple, just follow the next steps.

• Go to Start menu
• Go to All Programs
• Open the program folder
• Click and hold the exe. File and drag it to your startup program folder

Now it will load automatically when you are starting up Windows 7. The only problem now is that you'll see an open program each time you startup you system and to me that's pretty annoying.
Just follow the next Tips to get it out of the way.

• Go to Start menu
• Go to All Programs
• Open the Startup folder
• Right-click on the program that you'd like to minimize
• And select Properties
• Here you'll see a Run option; select Minimized and click OK and you're done

Now you don't see SpeedFan when you start up your system but it is running.

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Limit the number of rotating flip 3D windows

There are several cool features in Windows 7. One of them is the rotating 3D Windows to choose a new program window. If you want to use this action you need to hold down TAB + Windows Button at the same time. It performs the same action as ALT+TAB but now you see the Windows rotating (for those that didn’t know this).

While this can look pretty cool, it can sometimes be a problem. If you are like me and most of the time you work with lots of programs running, then these rotating windows don’t look very nice. It’s also a problem for slower computers, rotating several windows can use a lot of power from your system.

To solve this problem we need to edit some things in the registry. We are now limiting the number of flip 3D Windows.

• Go to Start menu
• Select All Programs
• Go to Accessories and open Run (or simply press the hotkey WINDOWS KEY+R)
• Now type in “regedit” and press OK (you can also do this by typing “regedit” on the Search field of the Start menu and then pressing Enter)

Your Registry Editor is now opened and you should go the following Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM.

• Now go to the Edit menu or right click in the right window.
• Choose New>DWORD (32-bit) Value to create a new entry.
• Name this entry Max3DWindows.
• Now right-click and choose Modify.
• Now you can set the maximum amount of windows you want to have rotating. For people with slower computers 5 might be the way to go. Click OK and that's it!

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Roboform Form Filler and Password Manager

Roboform Password Manager and Form Filler are smart, fast and easy to use!

RoboForm makes logging into Web sites and filling forms faster, easier, and more secure. RoboForm memorizes and securely stores each user name and password the first time you log into a site, then automatically supplies them when you return. RoboForm’s powerful Login feature eliminates the manual steps of logging into any online account. With just one click RoboForm will navigate to a Web site, enter your username and password and click the submit button for you.

Completing long registration or checkout forms is also a breeze. Simply click on your RoboForm Identity and RoboForm fills-in the entire form for you. You no longer need to remember all your passwords. You remember one Master Password, and RoboForm remembers the rest. This allows you to use stronger passwords, making your online experience more secure. RoboForm uses strong AES encryption for complete data security.

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Disable by default: reporting an application error

We have all seen them many times. I'm talking about the error messages when you just had an application failure or error. You know: “send error report” or “don't send”. If you are like me and you don’t want to have Microsoft looking in to your private stuff, you always click on “don't send”. Even though Microsoft says that nobody sees this information.

They are probably right and it might help them a lot with improving their operating systems but I just don't like the idea that my “stuff” is sent over for them to look at.

If you want to disable this feature by default, it´s pretty easy.

• Go to Start menu and click on Control Panel.
• Select Action Center.
• Click on “Change Action Center settings” on the left side of the screen.
• Click on “Problem reporting settings”.
• Choose the option “Never check for solutions (not recommended)”.

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Changing the default playback and recording audio system

Audio devices are PC tools that you use to play or record audio. When you listen to music or any sound from your computer, you are using your computer's playback functionality; while when you record any sound, through a microphone for example, you are using the recording functionality.

Choosing a Default Playback Device

• Go to Start menu.
• Type “manage audio devices” in the Search field and press Enter.
• Click on Manage audio devices to pull up the Sound window. This can also be achieved if we right-click on the sound icon in the located in the Notification area and selecting “Playback Devices”.
• In the “Playback” tab of the Sound window, we will see our devices. This is where we can choose the device we want to set as default and then click on the Set Default button. When we're done, click on OK for the current configuration to take effect.

Choosing the Default Recording Device
In similar manner as choosing our default playback device, we now set our Default Recording Device.

• Open the Sound window (as mentioned above) and click on the “Recording” tab.
• Choose or click the recording device of your choice, then click on Set Default and then OK.

What if your Sound Device is not in the List?
Yes you might run into this question, who knows? Please check first if the device is properly connected to the computer. If it is, try and verify if the appropriate driver is installed. Or you may simply right-click in the space somewhere in the list of devices and “Show Disabled Devices”. You may then proceed and further enable the device or even set it as the default device.

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Open a webpage much faster using the address bar

Most people open a webpage by double clicking the Internet Explorer (IE) button on their desktop or via Start. Then when IE starts you'll first get your default homepage and then you'll have to open the page that you really want. The same goes for a location on your hard disk on in your network. As you understand; this takes up unnecessary time. There is a method in Windows 7 to really speed this up.

• First you'll need to right click on a blank area of your Taskbar.
• Select Toolbars and mark/click on the Address.

Now you see the word Address search bar in your taskbar. Here you can type the Web page address directly (without http:// or www.) and press enter and your default browser will automatically start with the address that you've typed in the Address Bar. To remove the Address Bar from your taskbar you'll just need to do the same thing but then uncheck the Address Bar in your shortcut menu.

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Managing Opened Windows

Showing the Desktop – click on the rightmost area in the taskbar which gives you the information (show desktop) if you mouse over.

Other way of doing this is by pressing: Windows + D. To revert to the previous state, click on the same area or press the same keys again.

Show the desktop temporarily – to temporarily view the desktop while opening an application, press Windows + Space. You may also mouse over the rightmost area in the taskbar which gives you the information (show desktop).

Live thumbnails – move the mouse cursor over the application's icon in the taskbar to get a thumbnail preview. If you opened five Internet Explorer windows, you'll be able to view them all.

Temporarily show an opened window – just mouse over a specific window thumbnail in the taskbar to momentarily display only the window corresponding to the hovered thumbnail.

Cycling Between Windows and Taskbar Icons - The following tips are helpful if you want to use your keyboard to cycle or navigate between opened windows or with taskbar icons.

Cycling between opened windows – press Windows + T to cycle between opened windows through thumbnail previews.

Cycling between taskbar icons – press Windows + (1-9) to cycle between taskbar icons. To open the first icon, press Windows + 1. To open the second icon, press Windows + 2, and so on. To minimize the opened window, press the same keys again.

Cycling between an application's opened windows – if you opened two or more Internet Explorer windows, you can cycle between them by pressing on CTRL and then clicking on its taskbar icon.

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Hide all the icons from your system tray

If you would like to disable them permanently and not show any system tray icons at all you'll need to change some things in the Windows Registry.

• Go to Start menu
• Type 'regedit' in the Search field and press Enter.

Now you have your registry editor opened and you should find the "Explorer" key by going to the following directory: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer”

• Now right click in the window on the right
• Click on new DWORD (32-bit) Value
• Name the new Key NoTrayItemsDisplay

Now double click on the key and assign a value of 1 to the key. Click on OK and you're done. After rebooting your computer, your system tray should be icon free.

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Disable, Remove or Change the shortcut icon arrow

I think Windows 7 looks great but one thing I don’t like is the ugly big arrows on every shortcut on your desktop. We need to download the overlay manager from the Take Control of Windows 7 directory.

Okay, you should have grabbed the Vista Shortcut Overlay Manager (this is actually developed for Windows Vista but it works for Windows 7 as well) by now.

• Double click the downloaded file and follow the installation steps to install the software.
• Double click the desktop icon to open Overlay Manager

You can select in the program window the option for deleting the shortcut arrows, changing the shortcut arrows into an arrow, or create a custom shortcut arrow or no arrow at all. I’ve selected no arrow at all and I also check marked the option to remove the “- Shortcut” extension when new shortcuts are created.

Now you need to reboot and your shortcut arrows will be deleted or changed.

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How to Disable the Windows 7 login screen

For security reasons it's always recommended that you use a system password but when you are the only user on your computer this can be very annoying every time you logon.
Every time you start your computer, you’re prompted to enter a password in order to login to Windows. Just follow these few simple steps below and you won’t be bothered by this login prompt every again!

• Press the Windows key + R.
• Type "control userpasswords2" and click OK button.

A dialog box will appear. Uncheck "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer." and click OK button.

Then, another dialog box will appear asking you to type in the default user account that you’d like to login whenever you start your computer. Just type in your user name and password and you are ready for action.

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Hiding Recent Items on Publish PCs

This tip is especially handy when you work at a "public" computer in the office. This probably isn't necessary at home unless you’re working with multiple users on one computer. The problem is that when you leave your computer for one minute, anyone could check what you are doing and the Recent Items (or Recent Documents) is the first thing they'll check.

If you want to hide Recent Items you'll need to follow the next steps.

• Right-click on Start menu.
• Select Properties from the menu
• On the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window, click on the Start Menu tab.
• Now uncheck "Store and display a list of recently opened files" and "Store and display a list of recently opened programs".
• Click Apply and then OK and you're done.

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How to Make text in Windows easier to read

The normal and default text size in Windows 7 is 96 DPI (dots per inch); that is, 100%. But as most things in Windows 7, this is pretty easy to adjust. You can do this without changing the screen resolution of your monitor or laptop screen. This allows you to increase or decrease the size of text and other items on your screen while keeping your monitor or laptop set to its most favorable resolution.

• Go to Start menu and select Control Panel .
• Select Display
• Choose Adjust font size (DPI).
• Now select Larger Scale.
• Click on Apply and OK and after you log off or reboot, your new settings will be active.

On the DPI Scaling window you’ll also find an option to manually set them to a custom percentage (click on “Set custom text size (DPI)” on the left portion of the above window). I suggest you just play with these settings until you find the one that you like most.

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