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Window Xp - Screenshot

Today, Tuesday, April 10th, 2012 is the day that Microsoft is ending the mainstream support for Windows Vista after five years of its release, and for Microsoft Office 2007. However, because Windows XP still a big player in the operating system world, all support is set to be terminated in about two years, together with Microsoft Office 2003.

As reported by Ars Technica, the software giant has two stages for the support lifecycle of its products:

• Mainstream: The product gets all sorts of updates, security, stability, fixes, and seldom features.
• Extended: The product only gets security updates and business have to pay for bug fixes.

This means that Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 are in the Extended lifecycle until the end of 2014. Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 on the other hand has just joined the Extended stage and their limited support are set to be terminated in early 2017.
For more information, you can visit Microsoft’s lifecycle web page.

Source :-  www.pureinfotech.com

Ten years have passed since Windows XP was first released for general availability, and how much technology has changed since a decade ago. Looking back 10 years in past, I don’t recall streaming all of my music, watching my TV shows right from a laptop wirelessly connected to the internet, or using a flash drive in the camera to take pictures and record HD videos with a device that fits in the palm of my hand; definitely many big changes have happened.

The software giant started developing Windows XP (experience) back in 1999 under the code name Windows Neptune and it took less than 2 years to bring it to the retail stores.

Windows XP was built from the grown up to replace Windows 2000 and Windows ME. This operating system also marked the end of MS-DOS era — for many of you that may not know, previous versions of Windows such as, Windows 98, Windows 95 and Windows 3, used to run on top of MS-DOS, but starting Windows XP the operating system run independently of Microsoft Disk Operating System –.

Here is a short video where Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and CEO — at that time– kills MS-DOS.

In Windows XP, Microsoft introduced a new user interface, visual effects, a new theme engine. XP also was shipped bliss default wallpaper from Napa Valley landscape in California. And of course many new features were included like the ability for each user to have their own account.
Windows XP had 3 major updates, service pack 1, 2, 3, that offered tons of fixes and the addition of a number of new features such as, WPA Wi-Fi support, ad blocker for IE6, Firewall, and bluetooth support. The software maker also added the Windows System Center, which was built to alert users of security concerns like, not having an antivirus, configure Windows Updates, disabled Firewall, etc.
This 10 years old operating system dominated the computer market until recently, when Windows 7 finally surpassed its predecessor worldwide usage. But it still a long way to go, Windows 7 is installed on 40.21% of all global desktop computers in the world and Windows XP is in second place with 38.64%, according to StatCounter. Now after many time of postponing, Microsoft is scheduled to end the support of Windows XP and Office 2003 by April, 2014. In this 10 year anniversary Microsoft is also urging users to move to Windows 7.

Microsoft now is in a new quest to reinvent Windows “without compromises” with Windows 8. This is a new operating system that features hundreds of new improvements, a new Start screen that replaces the classic Start menu, designed that is almost a carbon copy of the company’s Windows Phone OS. The software maker is also going to allow application developers to write Metro style apps in almost any language, including HTML, that will interact with the Start screen and the OS. This new redesign also opens the door for Microsoft to finally compete head-to-head with Apple and Google in the tablets market, something that the company could not yet achieve — If you want to learn more about the up coming operating system, check out our Windows 8 spot.

 Check out this infographic to find out more:



Source :- www.pureinfotech.com, www.blogs.windows.com

A Dreamweaver user will definitely reckon what a powerhouse it is. Packed with tonnes of features, options and debatably one among the most well known IDE (Integrated Development Environment) in today’s market. It may not meet the criteria that some developers demanded however, Dreamweaver undeniably provides a decent range of development, collaborating and coding tools. These options and tools are hidden under layers of regrettable less intuitive menus, which is why we are providing tutorials in today’s post.

We will show you some of the most powerful functions of Dreamweaver to assist your access them quickly, along with many other helpful tricks that will lubricate you development time and improve your code quality significantly. Full list after jump.

1. Dynamic View with “Live View”

We already know that DW offers a static view of our open files, but what about "dynamic views" of an application such as WordPress?
First, we need to tell DW what settings to use to present our"dynamic views" correctly. To do this, select HTTP Request Settings from the View > Live View Options menu, then enter the GET or POST parameters you need to view your application correctly.
Then by switching to Live View in DW, it replaces the old Design View pane with a live, pixel-perfect WebKit rendering of your page; complete with live Javascript, DOM manipulations, database queries, server-side code, and rendered CSS, rather than the placeholder icons you see in Design View.

2. "Code Navigator" is DW’s Firebug

Taking it a step further is all about the Code Navigator and when in the Live View window, ALT-clicking (Command-Option-clicking for Mac) anywhere in the window, instantly presents the code that rendered that item. Similar to what you might currently see in Firefox/Firebug.

3. Freezing JavaScript

Due to the dynamic nature of Ajax, many times we need to interact with a page where certain items are not rendered or available on first page load. These are items that are injected into the page some time after page load. Here’s an example:
You might want to change the styling of a tool tip that is implemented entirely in JavaScript. Before today, you’d have to methodically search your way through your scripts to find what was being created and where.
Instead, try this:
Render your page in Live View, then hit F6 to Freeze JavaScript at any time, allowing you to target and dissect the code relating to any dynamic item in the page.

4. Live View’s Next Best Friend – "Live Code"

When using Live View, you can also turn on Live Code. Live Code will update your code as you hover, click and interact with elements and items in the Live View window!

5. Automatic JavaScript Completion

Dreamweaver comes with an intelligent and complete HTML and CSS code completion, but what about Javascripts? If you code jQuery or Prototype in Dreamweaver, then you should know there are API extensions that provide Javascript code completion. It reduces the typing needed and can come in pretty handy for fast coders.
Click here to read more, or download:

• jQuery API extension for Dreamweaver
• Prototype API extension for Dreamweaver

6. Beautify Codes On The Fly

Does your code page look like unorganized, messy lines of code? Use the Apply Source Formatting feature and reformat it exactly to your preferences. To quickly clean them up, click the Format Source Code icon at the bottom of the Coding toolbar (Edit > Toolbars > Coding) and select Code Format Settings to set your preferred formatting.
You can also access the formatting option from Commands > Apply Source Formatting or only apply it to a select block of code by selecting the Apply Source Formatting to Selection option.

7. Get widgety

Just click the Extend Dreamweaver icon (it looks like a gear) in your Application Bar and select Browse for Web Widgets. This will take you to the Adobe Exchange where you can find additional widgets from vendors such as Yahoo!, JQuery, and many others.

8. Subversion & Dreamweaver

And yes, Dreamweaver does support Subversion (SVN). For developers who uses SVN to maintain revision control of their project, this could be a good news. Dreamweaver developer Andrew Voltmer discuss how you can use Subversions with Dreamweaver.

9. No More Redundant Styles

Many people use Dreamweaver as a way to update content visually, like a word processor. Before Dreamweaver CS4, this could result in redundant CSS rules like .class1, .class2, and so on. In Dreamweaver CS4, just switch your Property Inspector to HTML mode (click the HTML icon on the left of the Inspector) and you’ll say goodbye to all that redundant CSS, inserting only appropriate HTML markup.

10. Form Validation made easy

Want to validate your form fields, but worried that you’ll have to rebuild from scratch? No worries. Simply select an existing form element, such as a text field, and apply a Spry Validation widget from the Insert > Spry menu. Then control validation requirements such as minimum or maximum characters directly from the Property inspector.

Bonus: 3 more

11. Access Related Files Easily

When you open an HTML or PHP file, you will now see a row of dependent file names, such as CSS, Javascript and even included files for PHP, at the top of the document window. You can easily switch to these files, make changes and save them, all without even opening them up. When you click any file in the Related Files bar you will see its source in Code view and the parent page in Design view. Or use Code Navigator to quickly access CSS source code that affects your current selection.

12. Check browsers compatibility

Open the document you want to check for compatibility; from the same menu bar where Code / Split / Design views are accessed, look to the far right for ‘Check Page‘ button.
Clicking it will expand a drop down menu, select ‘Check Browser Compatibility‘. The Browser Compatibility results window will show at the bottom of the window with any issues that you need to address.
Note: This will NOT check new versions of IE on Mac! To select which browsers to use for testing, select Check Page > Settings from the menu.

13. Preview PHP Pages

Dreamweaver allows you to run and preview PHP codes within the software. Here’s how to get it setup.
Getting started

1. First, select Site -> New Site from the top navigation.
2. You’ll see both the Basic and Advanced Site Definition option tabs. Let’s proceed by selecting the Advanced Site Definition tab.
3. Enter a folder name for the site in the appropriate box (for this example we’ll use "myphp" as the folder name).
4. Create another folder named "images" by entering its name in the ‘Default Images Folder’ field.
5. Under the Local Info, input the following values in the fields:
   • Site Name: the name of the site. To be used in Dreamweaver only
   • Local root folder: This is the name of the site you will be working in. Be sure to name sites in a way to minimize conflicts, or confusing names.
   • Default Images folder: This is optional, but it’s advised to create it now as most sites will use images to some extent. This is where DW will ‘look’ to insert images in your documents during the coding phase.
   • Links Relative to: This defines how document linking in Dreamweaver will be handled. You can select either Document or Root. The differences between the two are:
     • Document Relative – Will insert a path relative to the file you are working and the item being linked to.
     • Root Relative – Uses / which causes the document/file to be linked in relation to the ROOT folder.
     • Another alternative is to add some configuration to the server configuration files. Being a more advanced task, we’ll just stick to using Document-relative for now.
   • HTTP address: enter the site root folder for your project
   • Case-sensitive links: Dreamweaver will check if any file in the project can have Case-sensitive issue when uploading to the server. Notifications will be shown when you use: Site -> Check Links Sitewide. You can leave it checked if you want. I personally don’t leave it checked as I always name files in lowercase. Uppercase letter is not recommended.
   • Cache: Check Enable cache.
6. In the Remote Info page, either setup your FTP or other access to a remote server or leave the Access to None.
7. In the Testing Server page select the option that relates to the file type/system you will be testing.
8. Version Control will not be used for this example so you may leave it blank unless familiar with it.
9. Cloaking allows you to place .psd, .fla, and other source files within your sites folder and DW will disregard them when uploading/updating your site.
10. Design Notes are ideal for a web design team as it retains note on changes made to the files. It’s checked by default and fine for us to use this way.
11. Leave File View Column, Contribute, and Templates as default.
12. The Spry page simply points to the Spry assets folder which is automatically included with Dreamweaver. There’s no need to change this. Once every setting is finished, click OK.

Preview PHP in Dreamweaver
Now open a PHP file and make the needed changes to it. To view this file in Dreamweaver simply press F12 and the results will show in your default browser. You can change which browser is used in Edit -> Preferences -> Preview in Browser. This allows a faster edit-to-preview time, eliminates the need to type long URLs into your browser bar or to use another server software to render the PHP files, all of which save time!
That’s all. Happy Dreamweaver’ing :-)

Source :- By Jesse Matlock at www.hongkiat.com

The Microsoft Windows 7 operating system has been designed for delivering better speeds than its predecessors. However, as time passes by, the laptop/PC might tend to get slower. This is not exactly the fault of the OS. As the matter of fact, it is a common problem faced by many operating systems.

 

The major reasons for this are accumulation of junk in the system or a highly stuffed hard drive or running of too many unnecessary services and programs. Here we shared a few essential tips that can help speed up Windows 7 performance on laptops or computers. Hope it helps!

  Visual and Sound Related

1. Using minimal Visual Effects

Disabling certain (or all) visual effects can definitely enhance performance. To disable visual effects, do the following:

1. Press Windows key and while holding it down, press Pause/Break key.
2. In the window that appears, click on Advanced system settings in the left side pane.
3. In the Advanced tab, under Performance Section, click on Settings
4. In the Performance Options window (refer figure) that appears, under Visual Effects tab, disable the options that you do not need. Or simply selecting ‘Adjust for best performance‘ will disable all options.
5. After disabling the option, click Apply and then OK.

Doing the above might make the screen less attractive. But, the performance will surely get a boost.

2. Using minimal Sound Effects

For disabling sound effects, do the following:

1. Click Start. In the search box type mmsys.cpl and press Enter
2. In the Sound window (refer figure) that appears click on Sounds tab
3. Set the Sounds scheme to ‘No Sounds‘
4. You could set only the essential sounds if needed in the Program Events, by selecting the specific event and then choosing the sound from the Sounds drop-down menu below.
5. You can as well disable the "Play Windows Startup sound" option.
6. After the settings are done, click Apply and OK.

Software and Services related

1. Run a trusted Anti-Virus program

Ensure that you have a good anti-virus software loaded on your laptop/computer. This will ensure that no malware or spyware gets planted in your system. Without such protection software, there are chances of third party malware and virus being installed or stored on your system, causing harmful effects and also eating up precious space.

2. Install only essential software

Ensure that you install only that software which you need. If you install any trial software and find out that you don’t really need it, uninstall and delete it immediately. Else, they might hog precious disk space, RAM and processor cycles. If you’ve installed a software, which you are unable to get rid of, and which is hampering the normal functioning of your laptop, then you might have to format your hard drive. Be aware that formatting your hard drive might wipe out all your data. Therefore it is best you take a back-up before going ahead with formatting.

3. Disable or make unneeded services Manual

Some processes and services, which might not really be necessary, are by default made to start automatically once the system starts up. They will consume RAM as well as the processor’s attention, slowing down other important tasks. It is best to disable them. For this, do the following:

1. Click Start. In the search box type services.msc and press Enter
2. Go to Services & Applications > Services. You’ll see the Services window (refer figure).
3. Right-click on a service that you wish to set to manual or disable. If the service is already started, Stop it first.
4. Once the service is stopped, again right-click on it and select Properties.
5. In the Startup type, you can either set the service to Manual, if you would be using it later, or Disable it, if not needed.
6. Once done, you can close the window.

4. Disabling Unwanted Start-up programs to speed up System Start-up

Some programs are set to start during system start-up. These might slow down the start-up process. Programs that are not really needed during start-up can be disabled. For this, do the following:

1. Click Start. In the search box type msconfig and press Enter.
2. In the System Configuration window (refer figure), go to Startup.
3. Uncheck the box next to those processes that are not important for start-up. This will disable them.
4. Once you’ve disabled the processes, click Apply and OK.

Hard Drive related

1. Clean up the hard drive

Remove unwanted files, like temp files, downloaded program files, recycle bin, etc. You could use Disk Cleanup option to do this, as follows:

1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
2. The system will first calculate how much space can be freed up this way. In the Disk Cleanup window (refer figure) that appears, select the files in that need to be deleted under the Files to delete list.
3. For deleting ‘System Restore‘ and ‘Shadow copy‘ files, click "Clean up system files" and then on "More Options" tab
4. Finally click OK. You’ll be prompted again before the deletion. Click Yes.

2. Enable Write caching on device

This is an option which allows the OS to flush changed data to the hard disk when the system is idle, so that performance is not affected when in use. For enabling this, do the following:

1. Press Windows key and while holding it down, press Pause/Break key.
2. In the window that appears, click on Device Manager in the left hand pane.
3. In the next window that appears, expand Disk drives.
4. The drop-down list will show the hard drive. Right-click on it and select Properties.
5. Click the Policies tab in the Device Properties window (refer figure).
6. Check the box next to "Enable write caching on the device"
7. You can as well check the box next to "Turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device" and then click OK.

Note: However, there is one disadvantage in enabling these options – if there is a power outage or a system crash, data might be lost or corrupted. If you have a secondary power supply, like a UPS, you could go ahead with checking these options.

3. Perform Disk Defragmentation

When there is no sufficient space to store in a hard drive, the OS splits the file into parts and stores it in different areas on the hard drive. Defragmenting allows all these parts to be stored in contiguous memory locations. For defragmenting disk do the following:

1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
2. In the window (refer figure) that appears, click on the drive that you want to defragment and then click Analyze disk.
3. This will estimate the time required for the process. When done click on Defragment disk.
4. Once done you can either View Report or click Close.

 These pretty much sum up the small things that you can do, to make a big difference to your Windows 7′s performance. If you have some personal tips you’ve done yourself to improve the performances, we’d like to hear from you.


Source :-  Post By Trinity Nick In www.hongkiat.com

Daniel Hillis of Thinking Machines Corp. moved artificial intelligence a step forward when he developed the controversial concept of massive parallelism in the Connection Machine. The machine used up to 65,536 processors and could complete several billion operations per second. Each processor had its own small memory linked with others through a flexible network that users could alter by reprogramming rather than rewiring.

The machine´s system of connections and switches let processors broadcast information and requests for help to other processors in a simulation of brainlike associative recall. Using this system, the machine could work faster than any other at the time on a problem that could be parceled out among the many processors.

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Apple Computer launched the Macintosh, the first successful mouse-driven computer with a graphic user interface, with a single $1.5 million commercial during the 1984 Super Bowl. Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Macintosh included many of the Lisa´s features at a much more affordable price: $2,500.

Apple´s commercial played on the theme of George Orwell´s "1984" and featured the destruction of Big Brother with the power of personal computing found in a Macintosh. Applications that came as part of the package included MacPaint, which made use of the mouse, and MacWrite, which demonstrated WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) word processing.

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Apple introduced its Lisa. The first personal computer with a graphical user interface, its development was central in the move to such systems for personal computers. The Lisa´s sloth and high price ($10,000) led to its ultimate failure.

The Lisa ran on a Motorola 68000 microprocessor and came equipped with 1 megabyte of RAM, a 12-inch black-and-white monitor, dual 5 1/4-inch floppy disk drives and a 5 megabyte Profile hard drive. The Xerox Star — which included a system called Smalltalk that involved a mouse, windows, and pop-up menus — inspired the Lisa´s designers.

Commodore introduces the Commodore 64. The C64, as it was better known, sold for $595, came with 64KB of RAM and featured impressive graphics. Thousands of software titles were released over the lifespan of the C64. By the time the C64 was discontinued in 1993, it had sold more than 22 million units and is recognized by the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records as the greatest selling single computer model of all time.

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IBM introduced its PC, igniting a fast growth of the personal computer market. The first PC ran on a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor and used Microsoft´s MS-DOS operating system. 

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 Adam Osborne completed the first portable computer, the Osborne I, which weighed 24 pounds and cost $1,795. The price made the machine especially attractive, as it included software worth about $1,500. The machine featured a 5-inch display, 64 kilobytes of memory, a modem, and two 5 1/4-inch floppy disk drives.

In April 1981, Byte Magazine Editor in Chief Chris Morgan mentioned the Osborne I in an article on "Future Trends in Personal Computing." He wrote: "I recently had an opportunity to see the Osborne I in action. I was impressed with it´s compactness: it will fit under an airplane seat. (Adam Osborne is currently seeking approval from the FAA to operate the unit on board a plane.) One quibble: the screen may be too small for some people´s taste."