The PC Report

After prolonged exposure to pointless and irritating prompts such as the Open File Security Warning in Windows 7 it is easy to get so frustrated that you want to remove the prompt completely. Luckily this is very easy to do thanks to an editable list of “safe” file types.

In case you’re worrying about compromising your system, this method poses no risk to your system as your anti-virus should clean up infected files before you can open them. It’s surprising that Microsoft includes annoying warnings like this that are rendered useless if you are running AV.

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Released on Monday by Microsoft is the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) public betas. While Windows 7 SP1 includes just minor hotfixes, all of which were probably available to download via Windows Update at some point, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 contains some new virtualization tools to help enterprise users with the VMs as well as prepare them for cloud computing.

RemoteFX, now included in Server 2008 R2 SP1 (unfortunately not present in Windows 7 SP1), is a new upgrade to RDP’s “graphical remoting capabilities”. It enhances the remote desktop client so that remote clients can use multiple displays, multimedia streaming and Aero if the server PC is currently utilizing any of those features. Basically RemoteFX renders the entire screen on the remote PC locally before compressing it and sending it to the remote host/client. How well this actually works and whether or not there will be lag present will depend on your setup and you’ll probably need some powerful hardware to run it smoothly.

The beta is available right now for your consumption via the Microsoft TechNet Evaluation Center. To install the beta, you will need an existing copy of the RTM version of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 already installed on your machine; the copy on TechNet does not include a full version of either. For Windows 7, the SP1 beta update weighs in at over 1.2 GB.

Rumour has hit the streets this week that suggests that the recently announced Windows 7-packing HP Slate has been killed shortly after HP bought smartphone maker Palm. According to sources, HP is not happy with Windows 7 as the operating system for the device – could this mean Android or the recently acquired Palm WebOS will be powering the device instead? Windows fans are surely just a little disappointed that the main attraction from Microsoft’s CES 2010 live event has been seemingly cancelled.

Windows 7 often takes an extremely long time to shut down and close everything. This simple tweak will reduce the Wait to Kill time on applications during the shut down process, reducing the time you have to wait for Windows to shut down while having almost no adverse effects. Of course, we recommend that you close all programs and save all data before you shut down your computer to ensure that no data is lost.

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I recently downloaded Windows Live Messenger (previously known as MSN messenger) but when I started the program and signed in I was stuck with two items on my task bar. One I could make go away just by closing it but the other stayed there. I found this to be really annoying. Years ago when I first started using MSN messenger when I close out of the messenger it would go to my system tray (next to the clock at the lower right hand corner) but this time it would just take up another space on my task bar (at the bottom with all my open windows).

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(Don’t forget to come back and leave a comment if this helped you)

Microsoft has recently started an offer that reduces the upgrade cost from Windows 7 Starter Edition to Home Premium. The original price for this upgrade was US$79.99 but for a limited time the upgrade will be available for just US$50 – starting April 4 and lasting through until July 3. Home Premium users will also be able to upgrade to Professional during this time for US$79.99.

The upgrade should definitely be considered, especially with the US$30 off special promo making it all the more worthwhile. Windows 7 Starter lacks some main and important features available in Home Premium, including personalisation options (background switching), Aero Glass, mulit-display support and many other features.

According to the latest report from Tech ARP, the first service pack for Windows 7 could be hitting us sometime in Q4 of this year. Originally Microsoft had planned for a 22 month development period for SP1, longer than the dev times for Vista and XP’s SP1s. According to the report though, MS has pushed this date forward to the last quarter of 2010 due to new bugs that need to be fixed.

For those of you using Windows Update frequently, don’t worry because these bugs will no doubt will be patched via an update. However, for businesses that may only update to a new Service Pack, they will need a release sooner rather than later. Many businesses also don’t adopt new operating systems until a Service Pack has been released to ensue that all the bugs have been squashed before they update their systems.

If you’re still running the Release Candidate (RC) version of Windows 7 then your machine will begin shutting down every 2 hours. This is an intentional annoyance placed by Microsoft to encourage you to upgrade to the fully fledged version of Windows 7. On June 1 of this year the RC will be completely phased out so we urge you that if you’re still using the RC you really should upgrade to the full version right away.

Remember that Windows 7 Activation Technologies update we mentioned a few weeks ago? Well, it’s now out for everyone as KB971033 via Windows Update marked as Important. Take it or leave it, it’s entirely up to you.

Remember the browser ballot screen for EU Windows 7 machines that has caused Microsoft so much trouble? Today we all get to see what the browser ballot screen will look like when it hits countries across Europe starting with the UK, Belgium and France next week and then spreading throughout the rest on March 1. The top 5 browsers on the screen (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari and Opera) will be randomized to be fair, as well as the next 7 browsers.

If you live in the EU, and you’re running Internet Explorer, you will be alerted that there is “an important choice to make” and you will be redirected to the browser ballot screen where you can choose a new browser to download or stick with IE. Hopefully the browser ballot screen will inform more people of the other browsers available out there and give them some much need market share out of IE’s chunk.