This is a “Special Request” dedicated to TheAVMan for all the folks on Stardock sites using Windows 7 phones.     How to download updates link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/howto/wp7/basics/how-do-i-update-my-phone-software.aspx And a special little present - a link to the apps for your phone: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/apps/default.aspx Microsoft has finally gone official on its website and declared t...

“Gimme!” or, “Poof Goes My New Year's Savings Resolution”.   I love the idea of tablets . I always have. Here's my Plan A (and I bet Lightstar 's too!) : The Asus Eee Slider:    It's a smallish, thin, quickly accessible portable computer with (hopefully) a low performance overhead. One of my biggest gripes with tablets is the size of my thumbs. Well, more accurately the size of the software keyboard keys and how they relate to ...

    Everyone makes New Year's resolutions (yep, I've heard the one about 1920 x 1080p). This one should bring peace of mind to WC'ers with children aged 6–12. Bringing this to you makes me feel better about being a grandparent, and yes...talk to your children about it for your grandchildren. You might be accused of being a “helicopter grandparent”, but don't forget, helicopters are for rescue, too. Ask Kids is a search engine designed exclusively fo...

  First, you've undoubtedly noticed Reporter Winky . My special thanks to Xiandi for allowing me to use her art in my posts. On my last post I showed how to create a Windows 7 themepack. But what if you want to use the wallpapers of any themepack separately? Well if you are using  7-Zip as your extraction utility, it shouldn’t be a problem! Simply right click on the themepack file and select “Extract”.   But if you are not using ...

    Well, the holidays are over, the tinsel, decorations and trees are coming down, the wrapping paper saved or disposed of....but you have memories: The children, grandchildren, loved ones, friends, festive meals, dancing, great parties, etc. After you've processed and fixed up your images, you can burn a disk, put them on Skydrive, file them away... OR You can make your own .themepack  and you can make a desktop theme with rotating wallpapers, special sounds, fa...

  So why is Doc telling us about a Trojan-Virus for a phone so few have? The reason is that Sydneysiders PM'd me with this story and by doing so in her usual, understated Ozzie way, dropped a bomb with a sputtering fuse right in my lap(top).    The implications are quite unpleasant for us all.   First some background. A virus infecting mobile phones using Google's Android operating system has emerged in China that can allow a hacker to gain access t...

  Some Fireworks For Your Desktop From MS   Happy New Year … a healthier, happier and more financially sound one for all! So, this is a shorty post…. designed to make it a prettier one for your computer. What happens today? "Fireworks", that’s what! So mosey on over to Microsoft and get the brand new Fireworks Theme!   And pick up “Arctic” while you’re at it …. Both themes are loaded with absolutel...

  Unlimited downloads, free giveaway for three days starting tomorrow (here in the USA, today in Oz):  12.31.10 – 1.2.11 Looks like this:     WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is an ultimate DVD ripper software capable of ripping the content of DVDs to a wide range of mainstream video formats, such as AVI, MP4, MPEG, WMV, MOV, FLV, 3GP, etc. Users can also painlessly rip DVD (including encrypted DVD) to iPhone, iPod, iPad, iTouch, Apple TV, Zune, Mobile phone...

Apps for your W7 Phone Windows Phone 7 is the newest kid on the Smartphone block, but this kid comes highly recommended. WP7's got some great apps worth grabbing, even in its very young Market, and you can try them all free. These look to me to be solid picks. That's right—with the vast majority of apps in WP7's Market, you can click the "Try" button to give a limited version of any paid app a go before committing to a purchase. There are also apps that are straight-up free. It do...

  At the request of a Community member (no, neither Jafo nor Zubaz), I'm doing a post about adding a spell checker to help while writing. Some but not all Windows apps have built-in spell checking of some sort. If you want to add spell checking to all of your apps (or a select group) let's look at tinySpell. Please note: There is a paid version of this software (tinySpell+) available as well for those who want extra functionality. The tinySpell I am posting about is the free version. T...

  Merry Christmas folks.   Just a quickie present this morning to help process those holiday photos .... on Give Away of the Day.   It runs on XP, Vista and Seven, however while 32 bit system support is certain, it is not clear 64 bit is.   Features: ( LINK )       I haven't downloaded nor run this software, but I have reviewed the comments on Free Giveaway of the Day, and one that caught my eye was that to register, you have to fill out a...

  I wasn't planning on posting today, but when I read this, I felt I should whip something up quickly. Security researchers have released attack code that exploits an unpatched bug in Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) and sidesteps defenses baked into Windows 7. Microsoft late Wednesday confirmed that all versions of Internet Explorer (IE) contain a critical vulnerability that attackers can exploit by persuading users to visit a rigged Web site. The site can then hijack personal data a...

    If you want really quick access to launch a frequently used application without putting extra icons on your desktop, you can add that application to the context menu for the desktop with a simple registry hack. Here’s how to do it for Windows 7. I don't have any other OS's to test this on. If you're afraid to edit your Windows Registry believe me, I understand. Just go to my response number 6 to get a nifty program to do this more easily. If you have problems, please pm...

  The Microsoft Fix It Center is a resource I knew nothing about until I started poking around with this new job of mine. This site automates repairs which many lay people are afraid to attempt and quite frankly, are ignorant of including advanced trouble shooting techniques and the Windows registry. The latter is a daunting prospect (remember to always make a backup, and change things one at a time). In later posts I'll deal with System Utility software.   Now, at this MS site,...

  Here's Part One if you didn't see it. Beth Jones is a senior threat researcher with Sophos. She stated to PCWorld (another of Doc's faves), "The two-week mark before Christmas is when things start to ramp up out of control. Spammers and malware authors focus on when the attention is going to be there. That's generally two weeks before a holiday." You don't need to be shopping online to get caught in one of their traps. Even checking out email or spending time on Facebook and Twit...