Indiana University: IT Training Tips Blog

In the last year or so, I’ve become increasingly dependent on my tablet for day-to-day computing. I’m finding that I rarely need a full desktop computer, but when I’m in the office, that’s what’s most convenient. Everywhere else, however, I have my tablet in my bag and can pull it out for anything from taking notes in a meeting, to grocery shopping, to entertaining myself or friends, to writing, email, and reading. One of the design philosophies in tablet OS design deals with scrolling the content instead of scrolling the viewport. What I mean is this, if I want to scroll down a page on my tablet (or phone), I push the page upwards, I don’t drag the device’s screen down.

If you were to put your hand on your screen, grab the document/page/file you’re viewing, and try to push it down to see the content below. It simply won’t work.

Here’s a more real-world example: Imagine that you can’t move your eyes; they are permanently fixed viewing a specific location on your desk. When you grab a piece of paper on your desk and move your hand downward, the page moves down, changing your focus to an area higher up on the page. If you move the page up, your focus changes to a location further down the page.

This is how tablet scrolling is designed.

This is something that I’ve found myself having trouble with lately on my desktop computer. I browse to a web page, open an email, edit a document, and I find myself pushing my mouse wheel upwards to scroll down a page rather than rolling it downward. Apple’s Mac OS X Lion has inverted the scroll direction, making for a more uniform experience across a myriad of different devices.

I began thinking, “I wonder if I can do that with my Windows 7 machine in the office.” Turns out, it can be done, and it takes changing a registry value in several places.

Here’s how I did it:

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Over the past several months I have been attempting to use Internet Explorer 9. Even though I have read about its strengths (hardware acceleration, security enhancements, option to pin favorites to the Windows 7 taskbar, etc.), I have not been pleased. While I haven’t done a great deal of trouble-shooting to try and figure out why it is not working well for me, this newest version of Microsoft’s web browser freezes up, doesn’t display content, and frequently displays pop-up messages informing me that it is opening web pages in compatibility mode.

A few days ago, I decided that this was simply too annoying to deal with any longer. I deleted IE9 and restored IE8 on my computer.

Are you in the same boat but don’t know how to go back to a previous version of Internet Explorer? If so, and you are working on a PC that is running Windows 7, you can follow the directions below:
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By default, the rulers in PowerPoint display measurement in inches. The same is true of the other Microsoft Office applications. If you prefer to view and work with metric units, this setting can be changed from within Microsoft Word and Excel (via Options > Advanced > Display) but not from within PowerPoint.

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Every time my friend turns on her laptop, she is prompted to update Java. I have heard her complain about this for months now, and I decided it was time to address this issue.    
    

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Error talk

Uh-oh, the notorious “Windows detected a hard disk problem” error. What now? This article will show you steps you can take to make a proper decision about the problem. These steps can be taken for almost any suspected hard disk problem whether or not you’ve gotten this error.

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From: http://www.basicinstructions.net/?p=1301

By Scott Meyer

Note: Windows 7 has been released to IU students faculty and staff earlier than anticipated.  This article has been updated to reflect the new information.

Windows 7 is now available to IU students, faculty and staff, so it’s a good time to think about whether or not you will want to upgrade, and start taking steps to prepare for the upgrade.

In this post, we’ll examine some resources you can use to help make your decision, and try to answer some common questions that might arise.

How to get Windows 7

At IU, you can go to any IU Bookstore to purchase the Ultimate edition for $20.  As of now, only the Ultimate edition will be available, but both 32-bit and 64-bit versions will be available.

32-bit or 64-bit?

The difference between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions will not be apparent just by using the operating system.  From the end-users perspective, they are identical.  However, the 64-bit version of the OS allows Windows to use greater amounts of memory.  A 64-bit operating system requires a 64-bit compatible processor.  If your computer was built in the last 3 years, it is likely capable of using a 64-bit operating system, but check with your computers manufacturer to be certain.

32-bit operating systems have been the default version for a long time, and if you purchased a computer more than a year ago, it likely had a 32-bit OS installed.  The monikers ’32-bit’ and ’64-bit’ refers to the size of the numbers your computer can keep track of.  For lack of a better analogy, it determines how high your computer can count.  With 32-bit addressing, the computer can count as high as 232. For a long time, this was sufficient for computers.  However, as memory requirements get larger, computers have run into a limit.  Your 32-bit computer can only keep track of about 4GB worth of memory, and because of other limitations, even if you have 4GB of RAM in your 32-bit machine, it is probably only utilizing about 3.5 GB.

Should I move to 64-bit?

If you plan on adding 4GB of RAM to your system, then moving to a 64-bit OS would be a good idea.  However, you cannot simply upgrade your OS from 32-bit to 64-bit.  You must do a completely clean installation, which requires some planning and forethought, not to mention time.

Computers that can have more than 4GB of RAM installed in the system are just starting to become common, so if your computer is more than a year old, it is likely it is not possible to install more than 4GB of RAM because of various technical limitations.  Still, you will likely see a performance boost by moving from a 32-bit to a 64-bit operating system.

Be aware that you will need new drivers for your hardware that are specifically written for a 64-bit operating system, but these are fairly common, and shouldn’t be hard to find.  You might also notice that some software manufacturers release ’64-bit’ versions of their applications.  Most of the time, you can still use the 32-bit version, as the OS will be backwards compatible, but after moving to 64-bit, you should choose the 64-bit version of software when applicable.

The bottom line: If you are upgrading and doing a clean install anyway, there’s no compelling reason not to move to 64-bit if your hardware can handle it.  However, moving to 64-bit should probably not be your only reason for upgrading.

For more information on 32-bit vs. 64-bit, including ways to tell if your machine can run a 64-bit OS, see this help article from Microsoft.

Preparing for Windows 7

Now that we understand how to get the software, and which version to get, let’s talk about preparing your system for Windows 7.

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Windows 7 is Microsoft’s followup to Windows Vista, and it will be released to the general public on October 22nd.  Windows 7 has been referred to in many tech blogs as an enhanced version of Vista, and in some ways this is true, but there are some significant changes to the interface, and in this video we will examine some of these interface changes focusing on the taskbar.  We will also look at some changes to arranging windows on screen, as well as talking about how Windows 7 handles Gadgets.

Windows 7 First Look

Windows 7 will be available to the general public on October 22nd, and is already available in some professional settings, but keep an eye on the UITS news page to find out when IU students, faculty and staff can get their own personal copies.

Back in the day, one of the more tantalizing promises of the internet was the ability to shop favorite stores while still wearing jammies. (For those of us living in small college towns, it seems like there’s no shame in wearing jammies anywhere – shopping, school, out to dinner – but I digress). We’re now at the point where the internet wave has also brought the ability for many folks to work a full-time, professional job while still wearing their jammies, via telecommuting.(Seen at right is the Business Bib, a suit-falsie so that jammies-wearing telecommuters can still look professional when in a videoconference.)

Many Windows users are familiar with Remote Desktop, which allows you to access your work computer, say, from your home or elsewhere. Depending on the robustness of your internet connection, however, you may find that Remote Desktop sometimes lags or provides a slow screen refresh, so that moving your mouse results in action on-screen several seconds later.  In this post, I’ll cover how to change a few settings in order to improve the performance of Remote Desktop so that you can be just as efficient in your jammies as you are when actually at school or work.

Four Steps to a Faster Remote Desktop Experience

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There’s an old adage that the only sure things in life are death, taxes… and that new operating systems from Microsoft will require more powerful computers. (What?  Your grandparents didn’t tell you about that last part? )

A (Brief) History of Microsoft Operating Systems

Many people (myself included) grow weary (and poor!) from endless upgrade cycles: each new software release seems to require an additional investment in a new, or upgraded, computer. Look at Microsoft’s absolute bare minimum system requirements for their most recent operating systems: (more…)