Win 7 Beef of the day

As any of you who have followed me over the years will be aware, I've always been a staunch Microsoft supporter but that doesn't mean that I also think they are without fault.  This time they are definitly messed up and I'm not happy about it.
I run a Multi-Boot system with 3 operating systems on it.  Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.  In XP or Vista, if I open "My Computer" Then the drives appear in the order I wanted them to where C: is the primary system boot drive so the layout becomes.

• C: = Drive 0, Partition 0
• D: = Drive 1, Partition 0
• E: = Drive 2, Partition 0
• F: = Drive 2, Partition 1

But that isn't good enough for Windows 7, oh no, they have to change the drive order to always make the drive/partition that Windows 7 is installed on the C: drive.

• C: = Drive 2, Partition 1
• D: = Drive 0, Partition 0
• E: = Drive 1, Partition 0
• F: = Drive 2, Partition 0

Now you may ask "What difference does it make?".  Plenty.  I have a lot of software that i don't want to install on each hard drive but I do want to access it from each OS.  In the past, if there were registry settings involved all I had to do was export the registry settings from one OS into the registry of another OS by way of a *.reg file.

With Windows 7 arbitrarily, and without my permission, changing drive letters, I now have to manually edit each of those reg files to make sure the paths are correct.  In my case there are so many files involved that it's almost enough to make me stop using Windows 7 all together.  It's already gotten me to the point where I just don't bother booting into Win 7 more than once or twice a week and I get back out of there as quickly as possible.


Take note Microsoft,  all is not well in the world of Windows and people do have viable options now.

Windows 7

I've been asked quite a bit lately if I like and/or use Windows 7 so I'm just going to make a fast submission here.

Do I think that Win 7 is the best OS to ever come down the pipe? No, I don't.  I will say that it is better than Windows Vista, hands down, and that it has features and performance superior to what you find with Windows XP.  I'm not sure that those comments will help you decide if you should switch to Win 7 or not and they really were not intended to answer that.  There are just too many other determining factors in each individual scenario.

I basiclly like Win 7 and I have it installed in a multi-boot configuration on my primary system along with XP and Vista.  I don't currently use 7 as my primary OS at bootup but I'm sure that will change with time.  As a matter of fact I use the one that I dislike the most of the 3 choices.  That's probably just some sort of inclination towards self-punishment.

Whether or not you upgrade to Windows 7 is a choice which you have to make for yourself.  Now, I stated above that it has features that were not available in XP and/or Vista, the other side of the coin is that there are also some features missing that you will have to replace with third party software.  The most notable of these is an email client.  You had Outlook Express in XP and Windows Mail in Vista.  You have nothing to replace them in Windows 7 so you will have to install one yourself.  Microsoft will try to convince you that the way to go is with Windows Live! Mail.  When it comes to add-on applications, I personally prefer to stay away from anything that has Live! in the title with the possible exception of Live! Messenger and only then if you need the features it gives you.  If you only want a simple chat program then there are better alternatives which are not laden with features that you don't want or need.  Another consideration about the upgrade is, will your current hardware support Windows 7 efficiently?  Download and run the Windows 7 compatibility wizard to find out.  It's available on the Microsoft website in the download section.  be sure that your system doesn't barely meet the requirements.  If you don't have some headroom as far as hardware is concerned then don't even attempt a change.  If you are already running Vista then the odds of good success with an upgrade are greatly in your favor and believe me whaen I say that you will be much happier with 7 than Vista.

If you have more questions about this topic, I will attempt to answer them for you but an adequate answer is not guaranteed.

Whoa!! This looks like good stuff.

Since that beautiful weather we had yesterday has turned to crap today it was time to start seeing what's new in the way of software.  After a tip about the upcoming Content Aware Fill in PhotoShop I started looking around at what some other graphics apps now have to offer and landed at the following page.
http://o3.tumblr.com/post/470608946/photoshops-caf-content-aware-fill-unbelievable
It seems that GIMP already has it.

Here is the YouTube link for the demonstration as provided by the folks of the PhotoShop development team
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0aEp1oDOI

I just downloaded a fresh copy of GIMP and I'll let you know later what I think of it, if I can find the plugin that is.

It's great being where I am

I must live in the best area of this whole country.  years ago you could not have convinced me that living on a chunk of rock on Canada's west coast could be this nice and, even after all these years, springtime is still amazing.  The flowers are blooming and the birds are singing with the usual springtime mating ritual happening all day long.  This year everything about spring seems to be about a month ahead of schedule.

It's a beautiful day outside and here I am sitting in front of a computer with boredom quickly setting in, I must be out of my ever-loving mind.

Welcome one and all

Well, here we go with another new venture. I'm hoping to add some interesting content here most of which will primarily concern computers and possibly some scripting. In the meantime I hope you bookmark the site for future reference.

I am also toying with the idea of adding a slideshow to the mix so we will just have to wait and see what happens next.

Don't forget, as usual I'm open to suggestions so if you want anything in particular covered in this blog then feel free to let me know and I'll see what I can do to make it happen.