Jessica Alba Corrects Bill O’Reilly
Jessica Alba correcting Bill O’Reilly and many others on World War II history is not what you would expect from the lass. Her comment to be Sweden about her light tussle with O’Reilly made headlines with everyone claiming that she was wrong without any research. It’s because she played a character that was a stripper in Sin City, right? What type casting.
If they would have performed a simple Google search, they would have known that Sweden was, indeed, one of the great neutral countries in Europe during WWII. In the early 40s, they saved thousands and thousands of Jews from certain death and torture and gave home to somewhere around 50,000 Norwegians. Their efforts seem to have been forgotten by most of history. The humanitarianism aside, why would anyone assume that Sweden was not neutral during WWII?
Sweden traded millions of tons of iron ore and also ball bearings to Germany. Even during the war. Sweden had dealings with Germany that actually could have turned the tide of war, or even stop Germany altogether, if they would have discontinued exporting mass amounts of ore. Because of their neutrality policy, they could not have interfered. Sweden also feared an economic collapse if they stopped trading and an attack from Germany as a result.
There were several other neutral countries, but many only decided to declare neutrality late in the war. While the United States did not immediately declare war on Germany, and there is speculation if the US would have if Hitler did not declare it first, we did declare war on Japan first because of Pearl Harbor. Several days later, Hitler declared war on the US. That is when we entered a German First policy with the British. The US was no longer neutral in 1940 because of the Lend-Lease Act, but did not enter the war until over a year later.
There are stories about the US denying asylum to immigrant Jews are true, but most of these stories were from when the US did not want to break their neutrality and stay out of the war for as long as possible. It wasn’t just the US, of course, as many countries either took as many Jews as they could handle or refused to take any at all. There were little moral justifications in doing so aside from getting involved in a long and bloody war.
Sweden did accomplish rescue efforts that saved thousands, but the question will always remain of what would have happened if Sweden cut off Germany completely when a second world war became more than a rising fear. Even in the year 1944, the Swedes continued to trade with Germany. Sweden relied on compensation for their concessions and Germany relied heavily on the raw materials to create weapons and vehicles. Even with the loss of 1,500 Swedish sailors and attacked shipments from the British, the trade continued.
While Jessica Alba corrected a man I hope plants a bullet in his brain as a consequence of his hateful ignorance, it only shows that the media is quick to label a person without any knowledge or research beforehand. Everyone that had any negative criticism towards her comment should be fired or at least severely reprimanded on the sole basis of stupidity. May the typist responsibly for the ignorant slander receive severe carpal tunnel syndrome.
Flash Media Recovery
When it comes to data recovery, I have had a really high success rate. Unless there is catastrophic physical damage or internal mechanical failures, I can retrieve data.
Last night, my brother came over in a panic with his Rebel XTi in hand. His pictures on his flash media card were no more, no matter what he tried. I’ve never come across flash media that I could not retrieve data from, so we go into my office and throw the card into my media reader. I have a library of recovery software to try.
I tried GetDataBack FAT. I received nothing. I tried Recuva, different options hoping for different results. Nothing. Roadkil’s Unstoppable Copier. Nothing. Pandora Recovery. Nothing. File Recovery 4. Same. Avira UnErase Personal. No surprise. This went on until late in the evening as I tore through the internet looking for recovery software that could show some immediate results.
Well, I thought about giving up when I Googled for another piece of freeware I’ve never had the absolute pleasure of using before.
PC INSPECTOR™ Smart Recovery 4.5
After all I thought was lost, when “all” is about 1,600 images since our dad’s 50th birthday, this software immediately began to show results. I selected which directory to save the pictures into and it went to work. After 20 minutes of scanning 1/4 the 2GB card, I saw many thumbnails of pictures free of corruption in the directory. I could even open them, look at them, save them, and edit them.
This is the first software I’ve ever used that not only was free, but absolutely incredibly thorough, quick, and shows results within five minutes instead of waiting idly by for unpredictable results. Also, this software actually had Canon’s CR2 RAW file format, among other RAW formats, listed in the drop down menu. You can select which format to recover and then click Start. Easy as that.
PC Inspector Smart Recovery 4.5 receives my highest recommendation for recovery software. I have not tried PC Inspector File Recovery, which is also freeware, but I’m already positive that it is legendary.
World Ends December 21st, 2012
Mathematically speaking, the Mayan calendar had to have an ending. Every calendar man-made will have an ending. When New Years rolls around, do we cry out rapture? Well, we have in the past while waiting for the years 1000AD and 2000 (Y2K). Nothing happened except several reported suicides, panic in the streets, and then life goes on as normal after the first. Time is a man made concept, man cannot predict the end of time. Hence, a calendar created by man cannot pinpoint the end of time, because time only exists within the minds of man.
The Mayan Long Count calendar will simply “reset” itself when it hits 13.0.0.0.0. It will return to 0.0.0.0.1. When the trip odometer reaches 999.9 on an automobile, does the car stop dead to never run again? What if the mileage were to reach 999,999. Would that matter aside from a quick milestone picture? Do people realize an automobile is a lot more complicated than a calendar? The Mayan’s were not the only ancient civilization to master arts, mathematics, and astronomy. Take a look at the technology the Greeks held at one point.
The Antikythera mechanism: The first known mechanical calculator.
Many ancient civilizations had their own tales of the end. Many predictions have passed their visioned date and several actually came to fruition, but we are still here. White Buffalo have been born and bombs have been dropped. Several Antichrist candidates have been born and rained fire across a continent of their choosing multiple times, but they have been proven to be only human. This planet can withstand a beating, but mankind cannot.
Even if there were a God, He obviously knows that we are a greedy, panicky, self-centered, arrogant, murderous, cannibalistic, easily frightened, wild pack of animals. We were created in His image. Another cheerful thought is that there is no great destiny for man except to evolve our mind, body, and civilization until the day our time on this rock ends to usher in an era of another dominate species to rule the Earth. It has happened before and those that know their history know that history will always repeat itself.
Catastrophic Global Economic Failure
Icelandic government falls amid financial crisis.
Britain is facing return of three-day week.
Visteon shifted all salary workers to 4-days a week and cut their pay by 20%.
Intel cut 6,000 jobs, closed five plants, and the CEO of 34 years stepped down.
Home Depot slashed 7,000 jobs.
The company Caterpillar slashed 20,000 jobs.
IBM is supposed to slash 16,000 jobs.
Microsoft cut 5,000 jobs.
Sony laid off 8,000.
Circuit City lost 34,000 jobs.
All combined banks for a total of 100,030 lost jobs and counting.
ING just cut 7,000 jobs.
All according to the Forbes layoff tracker and Wired.com tech layoff tracker.
The unconstitutional, international banker controlled Federal Reserve System is the cause of all of this with their high interest to the tax payers, worthless federal notes.
The only way Obama could save the US Economy would be through the demise of the Federal Reserve System, but we saw what happened to Kennedy in Dallas for going vis-a-vis with the powerful Federal Reserve.
Every stimulus and rescue package sinks the country into debt at an always increasing rate. It’s simple: the more money we need, the higher the interest. Instead of having money printed at material value, the cost to print, we, the tax payers, are stuck with a enormous bill because we are charged face value, what the bill shows it is worth, plus a gigantic amount of interest.
Bush and Cheney are not the cause of the $55+ trillion debt. Know the true villains.
Separation of Bank and State.
The Second Great Depression Begins Now
There is no easy way to say this, but given the recent events over the last several months, we are all looking at another depression very soon. There is no easy way to turn this around and it may not be possible for a very long time. The tech industry, one of the of many struggling industries, is staggering, trying not to collapse onto itself too fast and hard, but it’s happening. Corporate giants are trying to condense all of their manufacturing and corporate headquarters into a fraction of what they once were. Layoffs are also going by the thousands almost weekly.
Hewlett Packard lays off 24,600 and 5,000 employees are laid off from Microsoft while Intel closes four plants and lays off 6,000. This is chaos. History has repeated itself from one hundred years ago with attempts by DC to stimulate the economy with bandages called Stimulus Packages. Of course, these are only temporary, because bandages eventually wear out their use. A red hot injection of cash only beefs up the NYSE and the NASDAQ to the point that they will only open the next morning. The day after that is scary as hell.
In troubled times like this, it makes me wonder what generation has lived in this country that hasn’t experienced serious economic woes and several major financial crises. Every decade has had their terrifying moments when all was thought to be lost. They survived, though, but even going into this decade knowing our history, nothing could have prepared anyone for the second Great Depression we are facing head on right now. It’s here, it’s ugly as sin, and there is little anyone can do about it for several years.
The White House does not create jobs, nor can it print off money out of thin air without being charged the largest amount of interest known to man by the Federal Reserve System. The private bankers continue to grew richer while everyone else dies in a pile of soot. They don’t care about the country the own and they could care less that it’s unconstitutional and immoral to bankrupt this country, but why would they care? They are filthy rich.
In years to come, Obama will unveil plans for recovery. Sadly, no president can save the environment or save our financial welfare. I knew before that several keynote speeches he gave were the same political dribble every president spits out while on the topic of taxes and jobs. We can’t cut taxes, we can’t continue trickle-down economics, and we can’t afford a socialized health care, or want one for that matter. We can’t afford the taxes that we owe and we can’t afford tax cuts to ease the burden.
No country in the world has had their economy bounce back for longer than a week, it seems, after a cash bomb is dropped. It either seems to get worse or decays the economy at a faster pace. This cancer is spreading. Businesses everywhere are clamoring for rescue money. Even if they get their hands on the cash, how much longer can they operate? Massive layoffs, huge corporate cut backs, CEOs taking salary hits, and lost benefits. It’s a horrific thought to imagine over 400,000 people a month are losing their jobs since November.
The problem is argued that this generation does not have a Rockefeller or a J.P. Morgan to rely on to save Wall Street. The money is coming from DC and paid for in interest by our next generation. This is a vicious cycle and we are continuing to use a busted system that has never once proven to work in this country. It only gets worse and our dismal decline accelerates with every millions of dollars printed. Even if we manage to stand on our feet, can the massive amount of debt as a result of the Rescue Package be justified?
There is no use fighting it, we have to declare bankruptcy as a country because we will never be able to pay back the dozens of trillions of dollars owed. The debt that we owe to the Federal Reserve alone is goes beyond the realm of logic on how to begin to chip away at that enormous block. One can easily convert this debt data owed to a smaller portion to serve one average American. Doing so will reveal to a financial adviser that this person is beyond the term permanent debt with no escape except for faking their own death to avoid creditors.
The Tech Tracker continues to update the numbers proving that the events such as the first black president cannot stimulate the economy or Wallstreet to regain stability. The economy is unpredictable and cannot be repaired by normal methods. Though, we haven’t had a panic on Wall Street that could be considered a Black Day, but that day is soon. The stock market is like a school of fish and it can change direction in one simple motion.
The NASDAQ Under-$1 30 Day Bid Price Rule temporary suspension ended last Friday, the 16th, and the following Monday, NASDAQ started a fresh clock for all companies that close under $1 per share. There was a grace period from October 16th of 2008 until last week. Now the clock is ticking. One company that I know cut one day a week and has forced employees to work four days a week without a paid fifth day. Delphi has axed one week out of every month to cut back. Delisting seems to be inevitable no matter how many jobs, stores, and salaries are slashed. Circuit City is an example of that fact.
There is evidence to support that the Depression did not start with the stock market crash like many would believe, but for many other factors that would play into the economy. Ideally, failed banks, a stagnant real estate market, and extreme job loss is a good indicator that the good times are over and that we must watch out when we decide to walk around high rise office buildings. The outcome of a human being traveling at their terminal velocity of 120mph is usually messy.
Windows Live SkyDrive
Late last year, SkyDrive received a big boost in storage capacity. No longer do we have a measly 5GB, but 25GB. Imagine what you can do with 25GB of secure storage. I know I found a few uses. You do not need Windows Live Messenger installed to use the ActiveX IE drag and drop tools.
Here is a little guide on how to upload your entire video, picture, or software collection onto SkyDrive in encrypted, password protected archives. You have both a private and public section for your SkyDrive. This is great for storage, but downloading all those files after losing them could take a while. I am certain in due time there will be features for downloading large amounts of files at once or a decent Firefox addon. The “Download as .zip file” doesn’t seem to work for 4GB of data.
The Browser of Choice: I recommend using Internet Explorer 7.0+ and installing the ActiveX controls for SkyDrive. Using any other browser deprives the user of status updates, which file is done uploading, total upload size, and length estimation. You can also drag and drop all of your files in one huge queue instead of five at a time. Drag, drop, and leave IE be.
Get the Software: You will need 7-Zip. I recommend it over an expired WinZip or WinRAR evaluation copy. Also, we are using 7-zip for the encryption options, not superiority. If you have a Hotmail account, you already have a SkyDrive account. Otherwise, create one. I have an example for 7-zip settings at the end.
Box O’ Memories: Find a juicy folder full of memories, like My Pictures. You can right click this folder, find 7-Zip in the list, highlight it to expand, and select “Add to Archive”. When the Add to Archive window appears, you will see several options. I recommend, for JPEG and PNG formats, the Normal compression method. JPEG files are already compressed. Select higher compression methods for BMP and TIFF. Leave the other options as their default, such as the LZMA method. You can choose whatever archive format you wish, but I recommend .7z. because it offers better encryption.
Splitting the Archive: The box below, titled Split to Volumes, will be the crucial factor on how you will go about uploading your files onto SkyDrive. The upload limit is 50MB per file, so you can easily type in 45M per part to be safe. Let’s say you have over 5,000 files of pictures and video totaling over 6GB of data. You will end up with a hundred or so file parts. Dragging and dropping these into the proper window for SkyDrive will take care of everything. I uploaded 87 46MB files without fail or error.
Select a Strong Password: Type in a password. The longer and more complex, the better. Alternating upper and lower case with numbers and symbols is always a great idea, as long as you can remember the password, of course. I usually have passwords 20+ characters long that go along with a certain pattern my fingers will always remember. Fingers have their own memory and will remember patterns. Whatever password you choose should be good enough, though. As long as it’s a bit complex. Do not use complete words in the dictionary.
Encryption: The .zip format uses AES-256 encryption as well, but does not offer to encrypt file names. Encrypting significantly increases the time it takes to create the archive, but please have patience. Check the box “Encrypt file names”. This will hide unique file names. The encryption will use the AES algorithm with a 256-bit key. This will increase the difficulty of brute force attacks to prying eyes or if someone gains access to your Live account. Now for the final step: naming your archive. This should be at the top as Archive and typically will default the name to what folder or file you have selected to throw into the archive first.
Take a Nap: When you click okay, go find something else to do because it will a while. You may notice if you have Windows Explorer open with the target folder viewable that it will start populating with files with the scheme “FileName.7z.001″. This is normal. Depending on how you split the archive, you may have under 100, or you may have a thousand. No matter the file size, as long as they under 50MB, use the drag and drop option. It works great.
More Info: SkyDrive will tell you the filename in detail so that you will be able to check exactly which part you have uploaded so far. On the webpage for SkyDrive folder view, select View and click Details. You will see the file format on the right side with the numbering scheme (.001, .002. etc). It might take a while to upload everything, but to me, this is worth it considering this is 25GB of online storage for free with a rather generous upload limit. Not only that, but SkyDrive is easy to use.
Future Reference: When GDrive is available, that may give us an additional ridiculous amount of space to abuse. Between DVDs, external hard drives, and free online storage; losing data will be a thing of the past with good habits. A great feature for SkyDrive is the ability to upload files onto your SkyDrive and embed the file on a webpage for quick public downloading. It’s as easy as embedding a YouTube video.
Windows 7 MP3 Bug Patch Crashes Explorer – Solution
For those that have been experiencing pain when it comes to updating for Windows 7 after applying the MP3 bug fix, here is the proposed solution. I’ve tested this and so have others I know. It works.
Go into the registry. Navigate to the following key:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions
Rename the value “MachineThrottling” to “_MachineThrottling”.
This is the only solution I have found.
An Animal That Eats Your Mom’s Face … Twice
Moray Eel
Since the first day I read about this fantastic new find about Moray Eels, it keeps me awake at night knowing the deep sea is undoubtedly the creepiest place on the planet. There are over 200 species of Moray Eel on the planet and can reach lengths of 10 feet. It was thought before that, like many other fish, Moray Eels feed by the use of suction. This was wrong. The new discovery is so horrifying, it may bring about the end of civilization. Well, maybe not, but it will at least force people to perform an already ridiculously abused double take.
Everyone knows the Moray Eel. They are featured in aquariums staring right back with a jaw moving that resembles an animal gasping for air, but it’s definitely not suffocating. While this animal is typically seen with it’s body parked in a hole showing only their menacing eyes and snout full of teeth. That frighteningly calm visage is deceiving because most will never know their true horror: an entirely different set of jaws that perform the feeding.
Oh, yes. Another set of jaws that actually do the eating while the primary jaws hold the prey in place. Moray Eels are the only fish discovered that possess a completely separate set of jaws used in this way. This happens in fractions of a second. With evolution obviously inspired by the work of H. R. Giger, it has given an animal a very epic eating ability. Perhaps not as frightening as many other animals that will top the list of scariest animals known to mankind, but it is definitely one of the coolest discoveries in what was thought a well known animal.
Governing Windows into Submission: Part Three
System Optimization
Browser Temporary Files: First thing is first, clearing out temporary files and other browsing data will irritate other users. Also, there is little reason to worry about temporary information unless it’s a real security issue. There is little benefit to clearing out temporary files more than once a month. It does not speed up your browsing experience or your computer, but you may actually benefit from a personal temporary retention policy. Keep the history unless it is absolutely necessary to clear.
Registry Cleaners and Optimizers: The system slowdown from your computer is not coming from a bulky registry. On Windows XP and above, you do not have a registry limit. There is no max size. Now true “registry optimizers”, such as TweakUI, truly do their job. Your system is not slowing down from the size of the hives or the amount of keys, but what they are actually telling your machine. Turning a value of 1 to a zero to disable the mouse cursor shadow will boost system performance. Do not bother using registry cleaners as they will do more harm than good.
For more proof that register cleaners do not work, perform a sweep (Note: Don’t.) after a clean Windows installation. What do you get? Now try it with another program, it doesn’t matter if it is shareware or freeware. You will get dramatically different results every time with each program. The only registry cleaner I can recommend is RevoUninstaller. It removes a program from your system completely, including all registry entries, folders, and files. Extremely helpful. Registry cleaners are proven to work as well as colon detoxification.
Fine Tuning Visual Settings: This is a quick tweak native in Windows to increase system performance by a great deal depending on your hardware. If you don’t care for the mouse to have a shadow that sucks up more resources than most people think, then follow these simple steps. First: Start Menu – Control Panel – open the “System” applet. Go to the Advanced tab and now we’re in the Visual Effects tab. Note: Make sure to save your current theme if you want to go back by – Control Panel – Display Properties – Themes tab – Save As…! The best custom selections I can recommend without losing a few features, such as the rectangular selection box, are:
- Uncheck any window animation effects, such as when minimizing and maximizing.
- Uncheck any Fade effects, examples would be how the ToolTips fade in and out.
- Uncheck shadows under menus and shadows under mouse pointer, but leave on “drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop”.
- Uncheck any sliding effects.
- Leave checked “translucent selection rectangle” and “show window contents while dragging”.
Feel free to play with the settings. Save your current theme. You cannot break your system from this tab.
Crucial Maintenance: Many know about Disk Defrag. Well, if you have Vista or soon Windows 7, you don’t have to worry about defragging all that much anymore unless the Task Scheduler service is disabled. By default, Defrag will do it’s job at the default scheduled time for Vista. With XP, you must defrag at least once every two months. If you’re a huge data rat with gigabytes of photos and videos, defrag at least once a month. System instability and data loss can occur in Windows from a heavily fragmented disk and excessive disk trashing! It’s in your Start Menu – Accessories – System Tools – Disk Defragmenter. Do not defrag under Linux.
Startup Queue: The number one biggest complaint I’ve heard always involves a slow booting computer. While it’s not the actual system booting, but the incredible amount of software that steps into the Thunderdome to fight to the death over precious system resources. It can be chaotic, definitely, but there are three ways to take control over what starts up and what is hurled out the window. Many know the MSCONFIG utility, but I do not recommend this because there may be dozens of entries that are not labeled properly. Some Spyware and legitimate software do not give hints to the process, which is why it can be overwhelming to guess which is which.
MSCONFIG: If you do decide to take the MSCONFIG route, I highly recommended checking every entry with the process library database. When you bring up the task manager by right clicking the taskbar and selecting Task Manager, or pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc, or even going through Ctrl+Alt+Del and selecting TM, you can type in the process names from the Process tab to check to see what they belong to as well. A rogue process needs to be brought back into the herd. This can be time consuming and a user may accidentally disable a necessary program.
Startup Delayer: One of my favorite freeware programs that has served me well for a long time. For those that need a lot starting up at once during boot need this software. It’s a lot friendlier than MSCONFIG and allows you to delay any software by what time you specify. Those with bulky anti-virus protection suites like Norton would benefit the most. Anti-virus software needs to start all required services, check for updates, and if configured, might begin to perform a system scan immediately. Startup Delayed can push back a program to startup a full minute before everything else. This will allow it to do what it needs without struggling for space in a crowded pond. Beautiful.
AutoRuns: The third suggestion is the most advanced. It may look like an advanced version of MSCONFIG, but it handles far more than startup programs. A closer look will reveal to seasoned users that AutoRuns can “show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more.” A very powerful program. Imagine if HijackThis and MSCONFIG produced a baby. Then the baby grew up to become Zeus.
Adding Windows 7 to Linux Multiboot
Update: I appreciate the comments! Thank you for adding more technical information to this attempt at a simple guide to simplifying the process. A big thanks to LifeHacker.com and Tuxmachines.org for adding this article to their front page!
Word of Caution: Thanks to the anon for mentioning you might lose the ability to use BitLocker. I have not tested any of this yet, but I recommend using TrueCrypt over BitLocker. Also note a Dynamic Disk setup would probably be slaughtered. Again, I have not tested any of this, just a word of caution.
I received a question regarding my last post about Windows 7 being in my multiboot setup.
Read This Before Starting: To begin, you must have a basic understanding of GRUB and naming conventions in the GNU/Linux world. If (hd0,1) speaks your language, this will be a very easy to follow guide. If you do not know GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader), then you are missing out on the best boot loader around. I should mention that LILO requires a bit more work and maintenance, but both possess the same functionality.
Extremely Important Notes: I recommend a novice editing the mapped devices in GRUB with the distro installation disc. It is the easiest way. If you do not have a distro disc handy, then I recommend trying to use the Super Grub Disc. With the SGD, you can restore GRUB to the MBR, but you will still have to edit mapped devices. The distro CD or DVD allows both jobs done in one step. I do not recommend editing the Windows boot.ini file.
What Happened to the GRUB: Installing Windows 7 will wipe add itself to the master boot record (casualprogrammer is right, it does not “wipe”, bad choice of words) over your custom GRUB configuration. Do not panic when Windows begins booting without GRUB appearing first, this is normal. Since Windows Vista, the NTLDR has been replaced with several other components which are bootmgr.exe, Boot Manager, and winload.exe, the Operating System Loader. This might make people think that Vista or 7 are incapable of functioning under GRUB, but there are unnoticeable changes regarding the multiboot functions and performance with GRUB and bootmgr/winload.
What Happened to Windows XP: If you had Windows XP installed as your primary before, then XP will still be present. If you did not upgrade from Windows XP or format your hard drive, XP will still be present. Also if you did not install over the same partition that held XP. Windows 7 will take care of booting XP. When Windows boots, you are given a prompt and 30 seconds, by default, to choose to boot to Windows 7 or an Earlier Operating System. Choose Earlier Operating System to boot back into Windows XP.
Installing Windows 7: You can install Windows 7 on any other NTFS partition on your hard drive without worry. Seven will always be displayed and function like it is on the C: drive when running, even though it is actually installed on drive R:. This means that headaches will not result from installing it elsewhere. The installation is very straight forward, much easier than Vista, which says something because the Vista installation was a huge improvement from Windows 2000 and XP.
What Happens Next: After the installation, the computer can only boot into Windows because the newly added bootloaders are now priority after POST. No problem, but you will have to change this to get back into the capabilities of GRUB and boot back into your existing Linux installations. Pop in your tool of choice to edit the GRUB. The easiest way to do this involves your distro installation disc. Boot to the distro disc. Proceed through the language and other prompts to the Bootloader Configuration options. You may only have the choice to create a new bootloader. Select that and proceed.
Creating a New GRUB: If you only have one operating system using the Linux kernel and Windows 7 currently installed, this might be easier. Windows XP will not be in the device list and you should not be able to add Windows XP again while Seven is present. You can spot which partition holds what by the boot flags, such as “/boot”. Linux should be the one with the output “/dev/hda3″ or another consisting only of a forward slash (/). Add this and give it a relevant name. Windows may be installed under /dev/hda1, or (hd0,0). The title “Windows” should do, since it may be for both XP and 7.
Consummation: Apply the changes, wait for the BL update to finish, and you should be all set after the system reboots. You will be given the GRUB screen to choose between which O/S to boot. You’re all done. It’s been a couple of weeks, but I have experienced no issues and I am always bouncing from each operating system. I’ve been GRUBing it up with Windows XP Pro and Fedora for a long time without any hassles. Please respect my hard work. Pass this guide along if you’ve found it helpful, and feel free to leave a comment with any criticism. Enjoy.
Here are links with further information:
Arc Language Blog – Notes on dual-booting Windows 7 and Linux
APC – The definitive dual-booting guide: Windows 7, Linux, Vista and XP step-by-step
Windows 7: The Long Awaited XP Replacement
Balmer’s keynote is finished and the reports are everywhere. Ballmer said that the next Windows O/S is the best version yet. The world may agree with him soon because Windows 7 Beta will go public as of today, Friday, January 9th. I find this an excellent time for everyone who has an unused computer to break it out and install the beta. I’ve been testing it out for a while with multiple combinations of software, my favorite suite of system protection, and a lot of non-Vista friendly productivity software. As a friend of mine said, my thoughts exactly, Windows 7 beta build 7000 seems RTM already.
Once again, flocks everywhere are comparing Windows 7 to Mac OS X and their taskbar. I have to admit that I was not only skeptical of Windows 7 as a whole, but the new taskbar dubbed Super Taskbar. I am not only impressed, but it forks off from any taskbar I’ve seen in all the dozens of operating systems I’ve used. You are able to pin an application on the taskbar, as promised, but you gain a wealth of easily accessible Recent History and other options by one lonely click. No longer will mousers worry about the keyboard enthusiasts preach about wasting time navigating with the cursor. The new taskbar is fantastic.
Another jab at Windows 7 is the dreaded resolution to DLL hell called the SXS folder. Windows 7 possesses virtualization for backwards compatibility. The problem has been that this folder can climb to enormous levels quickly, especially so soon after installing Windows 7. After I was done with my first sweep of applications, the SXS folder was between six to seven gigabytes. After another week of testing, the folder did not increase. 7GB is a worthy trade off. This beta actually ran smoother than Windows XP on my current desktop, especially after I combed through services.
Next up I should mention multiboot capabilities. I have a GRUB controlled boot load that has Windows on default next to several Linux operating systems. After installing Windows 7 in a separate NTFS partition, it did take over as expected, but I was able to update the GRUB with no issues. After the boot configuration update, Windows 7 will boot up as the primary by default, but you have 30 seconds to choose either an Earlier Windows Operating System or boot into Win7. After which, you can choose to boot into any other Windows operating system. Simply put, I have had no problems with WinSeven in a large multiboot environment after installation. That might mean something to someone other than me.
Aside from most of the eye candy, Windows 7 is stable and impressive. It runs well enough on the old Dell I have laying around without turning off any visual effects. Not to mention I had a fleet of software running at full capacity. I may only have 2GB of RAM in this system, but multitasking not only became a lot more manageable, but customizing how you want to multitask is a huge perk. You can now easily edit the taskbar button grouping options in Taskbar Properties among other choices.
Microsoft will finally release an operating system that not only seems secure and stable on release, but one that doesn’t irritate us with user control prompts for every action. This brings up the mention that UAC can be configured to be relaxed for the most part without shutting the entire service off. Helpful options like this are sprinkled throughout Seven nicely and are not difficult to find. If you have a very basic idea of what you want to do, you will probably stumble into the necessary radio button or check box. While Vista was geared towards gamers and PC enthusiasts, Windows 7 looks to be geared for everyone else.
We will mark Vista down as the second black eye from Microsoft following Windows ME. While not nearly as terrible as ME, the constant annoyances, lack of backwards compatibility, and heavy hardware requirements deserve to be placed near the mantle of failure ME currently resides. I don’t know why Microsoft decided to follow up an operating system that has been around for seven years with a possible successor that could not run any software or drivers dated before 2006. At least they managed to release a proper beta before people began to lose hope. Windows XP was resurrected with SP2, Windows 98SE had SP 2.1a, and a lot of software and updates cannot install without SP4 in Windows 2000.
Microsoft also discontinued Live OneCare and will be releasing their own free antivirus program for Windows. I see this as another great move by Microsoft considering the wealth of garbage antivirus protection that can cost an annual subscription of $80. I trust this is an action taken to push Symantec to try to push out quality software for once, along with Trend Micro, AVG, and others. Too many consumers are being duped into buying protection suites that do little for protection and more in terms of setting up, registering, dealing with spam as a result, false positives, and lengthy, resource sucking scans.
This year is beginning to look up for Microsoft, but consumers may feel cynical after purchasing Vista. These may be the same people that felt cheated from investing in an ME machine. They are undoubtedly a lost cause, but Windows 7 definitely picks up the slack after losing a portion to Mac and Linux. Those that have found love in Linux may vow to never return again, but we have not hit that pivotal point in history where we no longer need to run Windows. Many will have to return, but at least it could be a delightful reunion with what appears to be an actual replacement for Windows XP.
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