Windows 7 News

Installing software is always a chore, especially if you’ve recently installed a new version of Windows (or reinstalled).

Google this week is cleaning house at the Gmail Labs, a year and a half after first launching the e-mail feature beta program. Labs offers Google developers the opportunity to “try out” potential permanent features for the popular Webmail program. Google is “graduating” six features and “retiring” five.

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If you’re a fan of Seesmic Desktop or Seesmic for Blackberry or Android, you’ll be pleased to find out that there’s also a Seesmic Web client that doesn’t require you to download Adobe AIR like the desktop app does. Seesmic Web is no slouch feature-wise either: It has all the tools and options that the downloadable version has, and is laid out the same way, complete with a scrolling view and multiple columns that you can configure to show your Twitter stream, your mentions, your direct messages, your lists, and even trending topics and searches.

One of the most impressive things I saw at CES in Las Vegas was a Web app from Case-mate called I Make My Case . The service allows you to design your own iPhone case from the bottom up using elements from famous designers like Joshua Davis, Deanne Cheuk, Shadow Chen, and Hannah Stouffer. You have the option of picking a predesigned case by one of those designers, or starting from a blank case cover and using their design elements to create something truly new and unique that you’ll never see on someone else’s iPhone. Most Web-based case designers do one of two things: they either give you a blank slate and let you design from scratch with handful of drawing tools (which inevitably results in a case that looks unique but not very attractive) or give you a handful of pre-made designs from a few designers and let you choose from among them and maybe change the background color

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I’ve been using Windows Media Center ever since the initial XP version, and I currently have 3 machines running the Windows 7 Media Center .  If you’re a serious W7MC user like me then one site you should subscribe to is Hacking Windows 7 Media Center, which has almost daily tips on getting the most out of W7MC.  One example post is a list of W7MC switches you can add to customise the way W7MC behaves .  My favourites are: /mediamode – start in “media only mode” with no minimize/close buttons, which is great if you are using a dedicated media center PC like me /playfavmusic – Play favorite music at startup, which gives you something to listen to while you decide what to watch Other Windows 7 Media Center Switches include: /nostartupanimation – disables the startup animation /noshutdownui – removes the shutdown item from Tasks /widescreen – force widescreen mode /nochrome – launch windowed mode without the containing window /playallmusic – Play all music at startup /playfavslideshow – Play favorite slideshow at startup /playfavslideshowwithmusic – Same as above with music /playslideshow – Play all slideshows /playslideshowwithmusic – Same as above with music /screensaver – Start media center in screensaver mode /configuress – Start media center at configuring screen saver menu To activate any of these switches just add the chosen argument to the end of the ‘target’ field for your Media Center shortcut and add a space between each option: Copyright

Over the years WindowsBlinds has been a popular tool for creating custom windows themes.  With WindowBlinds users can very quickly create their own skins or download ready mad ones. The latest version, WindowsBlinds 7 , which has just been released now includes native support for Windows 7 as well as several other new features including 64-bit support. New in WindowBlinds 7: Native support for Windows 7 Native Aero skinning for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users Native 64-bit support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users Auto-conversion of Windows XP era skins to Windows Vista or Windows 7 Ability to apply textures to skins A new, easy to use configuration program Native Clear-Type support for better font handling New Skin format called UIS0 for skinning Aero (takes hours instead of days to create a new skin). New WindowBlinds 7 skins included such as Submline, Aero Metals, Corporate, Aero Woods, Aero Clay, Sabertooth along with new WindowBlinds 7 skins being released soon after to the public such as Altitude

The full story can be found on Windows 7 News