Windows 7 RTM Links : If You Didn’t Get It Already
Since Microsoft Said that they will release the Windows 7 RTM build to the public in October 22nd, but before that they promised to release it to the TechNet community. What if you are not part of the TechNet community and could not wait?
Well here are some links for you to download the original untouched Windows 7 RTM (build 7600) ISO. But after downloading always make sure you check the file hashes accordingly to make sure that they are indeed unmodified and untouched.
Check the Win 7 Hashes Here use a hash checking application. We recommend HashTab.
Webmail Via Firefox
Most people hate email clients and prefer webmail. Well I’m no different. Email clients are slow and they get stuck when you receive huge attachments they are prone to virus attacks and the disadvantage list goes on. Web mail on the other hand is faster easily accessible and has built in virus scanning and you only need to download an attachment when you really need to view it (and not always like an email client).
For those of you who use Firefox and multiple web mail accounts like Live, Gmail and Yahoo, here is a superb Firefox extension which notifies you when you receive the mails. I tried this out and its absolutely fantastic. For all of you web mail fans out there here is the WebMail Notifier Firefox Extension.
Simply add the username and the password of each of your accounts and the webmail notifier takes care of checking you mails in regular intervals (this can be set in the preferences) and notifying you if you receive any new mails.
Get WebMail Notifier (Firefox Add-on)
Tab King – The Firefox New Tab Era
Ever got bored of the blank new tab page of Firefox? wishing that it could have something other than a blank page, like chrome or opera? Well you are not alone, join the thousands who wish the same.
Well all these will be put to an end after this awesome new plug-in called Tab King. This makes the chrome and opera new tab dialog look lame. This is a plug-in every user should have, therefore I recommend that you get this and step into the awesome Firefox new tab experience.
Get Tab King Add-on For Firefox
Peer Block – A Peerguardian 2 Alternative
Peerguardian is a security tool that blocks certain IP ranges that has been added to its block lists. But Peerguardian has major issues when it comes to Vista and Windows 7. Although a RC test version was developed by Phoenix Labs it crashes and freezes most of the time not to mention its blocking ability getting disabled without reason.
Peer Block is similar to Peerguardian in fact its a branch of PG2, only with less bugs. This is due to Peer Block development being much more active than PG2. The driver signing issue in x64 is still there as a signed driver is required for proper functionality without workarounds, for which they are currently collecting funds. Check out their site or blog for more info.
Chrome OS Coat For XP
Here is a nice theme for all you XP fans, (who refuse to change to Windows 7) well this is a chrome OS theme for XP. Its made by a deviant artist called Lenox make sure that you have patched your XP Theme.
Speed Up Your Life With Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of two or more keys that, when pressed, can be used to perform a task that would typically require a mouse or other pointing device. Keyboard shortcuts can make it easier to interact with your computer, saving you time and effort as you work with Windows and other programs.
Most programs also provide accelerator keys that can make it easier to work with menus and other commands. Check the menus of programs for accelerator keys. If a letter is underlined in a menu, that usually means that pressing the Alt key in combination with the underlined key will have the same effect as clicking that menu item.
Pressing the Alt key in some programs, such as Paint and WordPad, shows commands that are labeled with additional keys that you can press to use them.
You can also create new keyboard shortcuts to open programs. For more information, see Create keyboard shortcuts to open programs.
View The Full Keyboard Shortcut List For Windows 7
Source: Microsoft
Installing Windows 7 from a USB Drive: Newbie Guide
There have been a lot of installing Vista/Win7 via USB articles in the recent past, all using different types of methods. Now with Windows 7 round the corner and with the RC version being a success people have started to tryout Windows 7 and I’ve received a lot of mail, some stating it works and for some it doesn’t. Mainly there are responses about these methods being not easy to follow unless you have a fair knowledge about these stuff.
So in this tutorial I have used the easiest way to create a bootable USB that you can use to install Windows 7 (or Vista) and this will probably be the final post as well.
Creating the bootable USB drive:
Requirements
- An ISO Image of Windows 7 (any version)
- UltraISO (not free, but a trial version would do)
- A USB drive consisting more than 2.5GB (4GB drive is more than enough)
Mozilla Firefox 3.5.2 Update
Changelog:
- Chrome privilege escalation due to incorrectly cached wrapper
- Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.9.1.2/1.9.0.13)
- Location bar and SSL indicator spoofing via window.open() on invalid URL
- Heap overflow in certificate regexp parsing
- Compromise of SSL-protected communication
- Data corruption with SOCKS5 reply containing DNS name longer than 15 characters
- Images with ICC profiles now render properly on all monitors
Nero 9 Free Edition
Nero 9 is mostly known for being bloatware rather than being a reliable user friendly disk burning software, sadly Nero was all that several years ago. Recently Nero has introduced a new version of Nero 9 that is free and 54MB in size. This version is a stripped down version of Nero 9 ultra and consists of Disk burning and disk copying components. And that actually is a good thing compared to the whatnots that come bundled with the other versions. So basically the free version is Nero Essentials that come bundled with most CD/DVD writers these days. However I still don’t think the free version will be a success as you will need to submit an email address to get the download link(that seems ok) but they messed it all up adding the Ask toolbar which comes as an optional component during install. All Eset users will find out that the Antivirus flags it as a “potentially unwanted application”.
Windows 7: RTM leaked and already cracked
As you would know by now Microsoft released Windows 7 RTM version about a week ago but it seems its been leaked and activation already cracked. According to Steve Ballmer and Steven Sinofsky Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22nd 2009, and will be available in stores by October. The final RTM version is 6.1.7600.16385. Several days before the RTM version “leaked” copies of the RTM started popping up on torrents sites but most of them were either fakes or build 7600.16384 modified with the RTM files. And as usual right after the RTM was official copies of it started emerging again in torrent sites and forums but this time some(most) of them are believed to be the official one. Although Microsoft has not confirmed or denied of its existence yet, Daniel Melanchthon, technical evangelist for Security and Messaging in the Developer & Platform Strategy Group at Microsoft Germany has revealed the original SHA-1,MD5 and CRC hashes of windows 7 which now that can be used to find out if the copies leaked are indeed genuine or not.
Windows 7 RTM hashes:
