Installing a new operating system on a netbook without a CD/DVD drive should be an easy task thanks to Unetbootin, but when it comes to installing Windows 7, there are a few extra steps that need to be taken before you are able to get the latest Windows OS onto your netbook.

In this guide, we’re going to show you how to create a bootable USB flash drive using either Windows XP or Windows Vista, and then install the files onto the USB and then install Windows 7 onto your Netbook from USB.

You will need one USB flash drive, with a capacity of at least 4GB, a copy of Windows 7, a program to extract the contents of your Windows 7 image file, such as 7-Zip, and a computer running either Windows XP or Vista. Windows XP users will need to download an additional program, MBRWizard.

Before getting started, you need to make sure you can boot your netbook from a USB by going into the BIOS settings. This can be done on most netbooks by hitting F2 as it is starting.

Once you are in the BIOS settings, go to the Boot tab, and ensure that ‘USB HDD’ is included in the Boot priority order list. If it is, you should be able to boot from your USB flash drive.

Format The USB Flash Drive

First, we need to format the USB to get it ready for use. Right click the USB drive in your Explorer window and click on ‘Format.’ The file system you will be using is NTFS.

Windows XP users, if you do not see that choice in the drop down menu, follow this guide, to enable formatting your USB flash drive, using NTFS.

Activate The USB Partition

At this point, Windows XP users will put the program, MBRWizard to use. After you have downloaded the zip file, extract its contents to the C drive, then open the Windows Command Prompt. (Click the Start button, hit ‘run‘, type ‘cmd‘ and press enter.)

Using MBRWizard and the command prompt, you are going to be able to activate the partition, by typing the following commands:

cd\

cd mbrwiz2.0

mbrwiz list

You should now see, as in the screenshot below, your USB listed as one of the disks, in my case, Disk 1.

You will then type the following command:

mbrwiz /disk=X /active=1 (Where X is the number of your Disk)

When prompted with “Are you sure you want to set the partition(s) Active?“, answer Yes.

Windows Vista users will not need to download MBRWizard, but rather can go straight into the command prompt and type the following:

Diskpart

list disk

You will then need to identify your USB flash drive, again in my case, it is Disk 1, and type the following

Select Disk X (Where X is the number of your Disk)

List partition

Select partition 1

Active

You should then see the message: Diskpart marked the current partition as active.

Extract Windows 7

Navigate to your Windows 7 image file, and extract its contents to a folder named Windows7 in the C Drive. These files can be deleted once you are done.

Return to your command prompt window and type the following:

cd Windows7\boot

bootsect /nt60 X: (Where X is the letter of your USB drive – in my case G:)

You should then see the following:

The final step in getting your USB ready is putting Windows 7 on it, which is where unetbootin comes in.

Once you have the program installed, select Diskimage, and browse to your Windows 7 image file, and select the USB that you have prepared for the install, and click OK.

Unetbootin should take about 15 to 30 minutes to copy the files onto your USB.

Installing Windows 7

All that’s left to do is install your new OS. Plug the USB into your netbook, and start it up. When starting your netbook, you can select to boot from the USB by entering the Boot Menu. In my case, on the ACER Aspire One, I had to hit F12, but with some other netbooks, this can be done by hitting the ESC button.

Once you are in the Boot Menu, you can choose to boot from your USB flash drive, and will then enter the Windows 7 set up menu.

If you are upgrading from Vista, you should be able to preserve your program files and settings, but upgrading from XP is not possible. A clean install is necessary, but all of your files and folders will be preserved in a folder in the C drive, labeled Windows.Old.

If you’re not sure where to start once you have Windows 7 installed, check out the 15 Best WIndows 7 Tips and Hacks and 12 More Windows 7 Tips and Hacks.

Did you manage to install Windows 7 on your netbook? Let us know how it goes in the comments.

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Source: MakeUseOf.com

The first time I came across this issue, I was attempting to send video from my laptop to my television via s-video.  You see, at the time we did not have cable television (and still don’t by the way) so I was wanting to watch some YouTube videos with my wife while still working on other stuff on my laptop.

It really isn’t that complicated to do this.  The TV basically acts as a second monitor extending my screen to a second “desktop.”  Now I can watch videos while still working, right?

All was fine until I attempted to make the video full screen on the second monitor – the television – and still click on anything else on my laptop screen.  You see, flash video tends to not hold the full screen if something off the screen is clicked.  I’m sure there is a reason they have it that way but that is not the purpose of this post.  The purpose of this post is to tell you that I finally found a way around this!

Well, someone else actually figured it out, but I want to give some exposure to the trick because I’m SURE there are many people out there just living with this issue just like I have been.  Please note that I am a Windows user and I use Firefox and Google Chrome and I don’t think it’ll work on Internet Explorer.

So, to give a basic rundown, there is one file that needs to be changed.  It’s called “npswf32.dll” and it’s the culprit.  It’s found in C:\windows\system32\macromed\flash\.  The cool part is that someone else has already taken care of the technical part and has been kind enough to post the modified file online for our downloading pleasure!  Very cool, huh?

Let me now take you through the process of fixing the problem so that you can watch videos full screen on a second monitor. Just follow 4 simple steps: find the file responsible, backup the existing file, copy the downloaded/modified file into the file, and close and reopen all browser windows.

STEP 1: Find The File Responsible

As I mentioned earlier, the file is found in C:\windows\system32\macromed\flash\ so basically just open File Manager and copy and paste that path into the box.

STEP 2: Backup The Existing File

Anytime you are looking to replace an important file, like a DLL file, it’s good to back it up just in case the new file doesn’t work out the way you were hoping it would.

So let’s go ahead and rename the file to something like “NPSWF32old.dll” so the new file doesn’t copy over it.  To rename it, just right-click on the file, choose “Rename” and get your cursor in between the “2″ and the period and type “old.”

STEP 3: Copy The Modified File Into The Folder

You can download the modified DLL file here.  Note it is compressed in a zip file so you’ll have to open and decompress it before moving it into place.  Some Windows versions will handle the zip file just fine for you.  If not there are free utilities that can help decompress them for you.  Then just move the new file into place.

STEP 4: Close & Re-Open All Browser Windows

As far as the fix goes, that’s it.  You won’t see any difference until you close all browser windows and re-open them.  This will refresh things and put the new file to work!

Disclaimer:  I have tested this myself on my Windows Vista laptop using both Firefox AND Google Chrome and it has worked for me.  I believe people have tried it on Internet Explorer 8 and it DID NOT work and I am not sure about Opera.  In fact, if you try this running Opera, let me know if it works or not.  Also, keep an eye out because this may work now but it may need to be fixed again after further Flash updates.

Thanks to Polybore for posting this fix on his blog!  Also thank you to d.i.z. for posting the modified file for the world to download.  When a new version of Flash DOES come out, and it will, I would probably check back at d.i.z.’s page to see if he has another updated file.

Do you have a better fix for this problem?  Let us know!

Image Credit : unimatrixZxero

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Within my last post I mentioned that deleted eMails can be recovered in Thunderbird, even if the Trash can was emptied. The only prerequisite is, that the incoming folder was not compacted.

Here is the post that will shed light on how to recover deleted emails in Thunderbird. So if you have recently deleted an important eMail and accidentally emptied the Trash, you may still be able to recover it. Just don’t compact your folders, yet!

Before you start, close Thunderbird and best perform a backup. At least make a manual backup of the files you are going to work with!

Open your Thunderbird profile folder. Generally this folder can be found under C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles.

By default, the Application Data folder is hidden. To make it visible go to C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\ and click Tools > Folder Options and open the View tab. Scroll down to Hidden files and folders and check Show hidden files and folders. Click OK to save and you should be able to see the Application Data folder.

You should know under which account and to which folder the deleted eMail was originally delivered. Otherwise you will have to apply trial and error and search through different accounts and folders.

Let’s say we’re looking for an eMail that was delivered to the Inbox, subsequently deleted and emptied from the Trash. The traces of this eMail should still be found in the Inbox folder.

Go ahead and open the folder for the respective eMail account, then launch the Inbox file without the .msf file extension in a text editor, such as Notepad.

If you’re unsure, click on one of the files and expand the file details in the bottom left of the folder. For the correct file type it should just say “file”, rather than “MSF-file”.

Opening files can take a few seconds or a few minutes, depending on how many eMails have survived termination in that folder. Make sure the text editor you choose can handle large file sizes. Some of my files were up to 300MB!

For my example, I picked an eMail I received from Stumble Upon this morning. I had deleted it and before attempting to restore the eMail I also emptied the Trash for this account.

When I looked into the Inbox file I indeed found that eMail along with all details and contents in my Inbox text file.

To recover the eMail and make it reappear in its original folder, change the X-Mozilla-Status to 0. In the example pictured below it says “X-Mozilla-Status: 0009″. The result should say “X-Mozilla-Status: 0″.

Save the file, close it and launch your Thunderbird client.

Lo and behold, my test eMail magically reappeared in my inbox.

Now to everyone who have been getting rid of secret or compromising eMails simply by deleting them, there is no need to suffer from a nervous breakdown now.

There is a way to remove those eMails forever. Simply compact your folders. My previous post on How To Terminally Deleted eMails In Thunderbird by Compacting Folders thoroughly explains the steps you need to take.

Did I save your day? Your feedback is appreciated, please use the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Sometimes I wish that dates were the things that only grew on palms. But alas, it stares back at us from calendars too. Apart from the walls, we have them everywhere…online, offline, iPhones et.al. And with all that comes the task of managing them. It seems such a chore at first, but the payoffs if we can keep at it with discipline, is a more organized life.

Which are your two favorite calendar apps? I hope its Microsoft Outlook on the desktop and Google Calendar on the web; because this is what the post is all about. Both are full blown calendar utilities and adopting any one decidedly makes our life a whole lot easier.

But what if you decide to use both, like I do? One reason is that both have their own features and also I like to store my my plans in two places (offline and online) for all time access. As I said before, maintaining one is a chore…two could be a headache. Thankfully no, because there are some ways we can sync Outlook with Google Calendar.

The Little But Handy Outlook/Google Calendar Sync

A 684KB tool from Google takes away the pain of keeping both calendars updated. Google Calendar Sync works with Outlook 2003/2007 on Windows XP and Windows Vista. The utility not only allows us to sync Microsoft Outlook calendar events with Google Calendar, it also allows us to set the direction of flow (1-way or 2-way). Also we can specify the sync frequency by giving a time interval.

Google recommends deciding on the calendar which will act as the source and the one that will be the sink. The source will be the main calendar and contain most of the information. It’s better to clear the other calendar of all events and start with a clean slate.

Now, let’s install and sync. Close Outlook if it’s running. Installation is clear cut and simple.

1. The Google Calendar Sync window looks like this –



2. The first part covers the log-in details of your calendar account. The second part is about how you plan to sync between Outlook and Google Calendar. You have three options to choose from which are pretty self explanatory.
   • 2 – Way: The data flows both ways. Change any detail in one calendar and it gets updated in the other too.
   • 1 – Way (Google Calendar to Outlook): Information flows from Google Calendar to the default Outlook Calendar. Any changes in the Outlook calendar will not be shown in the Google Calendar automatically.
   • 1-Way (Outlook to Google Calendar): Information goes from Outlook to Google Calendar. Any changes in Google Calendar will not get updated Outlook automatically.



3. All that’s left is to set the update/sync interval. The bare minimum is 10 minutes while the default is 120 minutes.
4. Google Calendar Sync runs from the system tray and you can access the settings with a right click. For instance, a manual sync is right click and Sync.

When the syncing operation is on, you will notice swirling arrows in the system icon. It’s a simple solution and probably the only thing that would make it more complete would be a date range selection feature.

Did You Know You Can Subscribe To Your Google Calendar In Outlook?

Outlook offers an easy way to add internet calendars like Google. Google Calendar obliges by giving us a private URL to use. Using this private URL we can view updated Google Calendars within Outlook. This is just one way as any changes in our Outlook Calendar will not get reflected in Google Calendar.

But here’s how you can view your updated Google Calendar in Outlook –

1. Log-in to your Google Calendar account.
2. On the left-hand side, click on Settings for the calendar you want to use under My calendars.



3. On the Calendars tab, click on the (account name) of your calendar.



4. The Calendar Details tab opens up. Go down to Private Address and click ICAL. Select the Internet Web address that appears, and then press CTRL+C to copy the selected text. This private link is intended for your use only.



5. Open Outlook. Go to Tools – Account Settings. On the Internet Calendars tab, click New.



6. Paste the Internet Web address copied from Google Calendar and click Add.



7. Give a name to the calendar in the Folder Name field. Now, any changes made in Google Calendar will show up in Outlook.

A little utility called Google Calendar Sync does the synchronizing job for us. That’s the easy part…the difficult part is keeping to the calendar (as the multi-million dollar time management industry always tells us).

There are a few other tools which do the job. We have briefly covered OggSync before which also allows you to do a two-way sync between Outlook (and Microsoft Exchange) and Google Calendar(s). You can also try out SyncMyCal Lite which comes with all basic calendar synchronization features.

Do you use both calendars? How do you keep them concurrent? Let us know.

Download: Google Calendar Sync.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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