The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

THat looks quite nice! Empty the recycle bin though

 

That OCD

 

Wait, Sam, in showing that graphic on how to make windows 7 look like XP, did you also imply that there is a way to get the quick-launch tray in windows 7?

I have several programs, and one folder, that I use in Quick-launch on all my XP machines. Is there a way to do that in Windows 7? Quick-launch is one thing that I DO miss, and I haven't looked hard enough to see if pinning is the same thing - isn't pinning just for a document, not to open a program or a folder?

Not a biggie obviously - but if anybody knows the workaround for the Quick-launch, please let me know. If it means giving up the Aero look, however, I'll probably pass (I uninstalled Vista service pack 1 just to recover Aero.)

 

You can "pin" programs and folders to the taskbars in Windows 7 - folders don't act like I can remember them doing in XP though. E.g. you can't have a folder full of burning apps pinned, and a folder of encoding apps pinned - it is more or less a location, like 'My Documents' or whatever.

Edit:

Agree with Recycle Bin comment; always has to be empty or it bugs me!

 

I am using Quick Launch in Win 7 Pro, and no, they are not pinned, although I have a couple of Pgms pinned.. So I am not sure what the problem is?

 

I'm the one that posted if you buy the Win8 upgrade not the full MS cancels out the Win7 activation if it is the oem of 7. I'm not sure but I believe I read that it also cancels out the full 7. I do know for a fact it cancelled out my legit oem7 after I put 8 on.The message from MS was this code is blocked by Microsoft.I'm finally getting use to 8 using the classic shell.The speed of loading is as was stated earlier 2 to 3 times faster than7. The second machine I just loaded 8 on Full version on a rapteor 150 took 16 mins total.

 

Me too with the Recycle bin. It is true that you can't Pin a folder to the Task Bar or Start Menu but you can add a Folder to the Toolbars on the Task Bar which is what I do to get back Quick Launch by adding this link to the "New toolbar..." selection;

"%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch"

I then cleanup all of my application shortcuts in Start Menu Programs and copy them to the Quick Launch bar in organized folders which works quite well.

As to Windows 8 upgrades cancelling out Windows 7's original license, they haven't done this in the past so I would doubt it but then it is possible for them to do so.

 

sam,

Here's what my desktop looks like.



BTW, I found the slowdown problem. It was caused by the Weather Bug. Runs fine now!

Russ

 

I stopped reading right after this post, so please forgive my laziness if someone has already told you this, but yes, you can get the quick-launch back and pin folders to the task bar. You do not even need a third party app for it (hint: this trick works in both 7 and 8).

It's very easy. You just right-click on the task bar and make a tool bar. Right click on the toolbar after giving it the directory you want it to be at and you can then choose options to remove title and text. It is then exactly identical to the quick launch from Vista.

PS, head on over to the Windows 8 forums and read the sticky thread that I wrote about how to get a start menu and quick launch in Windows 8 if better instructions are wanted. It has more detailed instructions for doing this and they apply to Windows 7 too. Also, these tricks work in the Server versions of Windows equally well.

 

Sure could've saved myself some trouble if I had seen your sticky.

 

Chris past this shortcut into the add new toolbar and you'll be good to go like I stated prior.

"%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch"

 

Sam what are you using for a Start menu on your Win 8 install? I've heard of a few but want to find the most Windows Authentic one I can and just pretend it was always there lol.

Overall am slowly warming to the idea of Windows 8. The performance improvements are numerous and in all sorts of different areas. Microsoft really wanted to improve it drastically and it's not just simply 7 with a tacked on UI. And as far as I can tell, it sacrifices no features from Windows 7. Ideally it should perform better than old faithful XP on newer machines. The only trick is to avoid Metro as much as possible. I am not interested at all in that part of the OS. I also prefer clean and minimalist interfaces, not cartoons.

I am still unwilling to relinquish my use of Windows XP on various machines, including one of my own. It is an all time classic OS and an old friend Also XP has no software sound buffer so the Creative X-Fi sounds noticeably better IMO.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_8

I still cling to XP, but typically now in virtual machine format - I haven't needed to power up my physical XP machine for some time. Quite happy with the results I've had - have been playing games over Hamachi with people over the internet, both us playing from virtual machines. It's a little laggy, but still playable.

I am using ClassicShell for the start menu (among other features). It's free, and offers a wealth of legacy Windows functionality, far more than just adding the start menu back to Windows 8.

 

Heres a new one...Troubleshooting friends PC, has all the typical signs of a dead PSU. I hook the 12V and 5V connections to my tester and they read ±.1V so that seems OK but my tester was alarming furiously over the POWER GOOD signal. I understand what that signal is, just never seen it fail without visible problems to any of the rails. weird huh?

 

I've used voltage testers, that showed generally good signs, but when I hooked a 12V light bulb to the 12V line, you could see it flicker ever so slightly.

 

Testers aren't 100% unless they show a positive fail. You could have weak caps and the tester would say everything is fine but the PS would fail in your system. Flickering LEDs is a bad sign typically.

 

A meter (especially a digital one) isn't going to respond quickly enough to see fluctuations. The only true way of properly testing voltage outputs for things that depend on a stable voltage level is with a scope.

 

It's still a useful tool So are lights, unless the instability is VERY minor. Scope?

 

An O'scope is really the only true way but checking current drops can be a good tool too especially under load. I use cheap testers but never rely on them unless like I said before they show a failure then you know there is a problem for sure but again if they say the PS is good well maybe, maybe not...

 

plz i knw dis out of the discussion, i need help. my pc keep tellin me 2 select bootable options and restart which i have done several time, even formatted it twice. after workn for while it still bring out the message. am fed up as its wouldn't let me log on. plz wat is the possible solution to put my pc in place again?