Tag Archives: windows

Vista and stupid notification bar not showing common items!

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I have recently been having a problem in Vista, where the three common notification items (battery, network, and volume) don’t show on the notification bar. It’s a pain, and if you try and fix it by right-clicking on the Start bar and clicking Properties, and then clicking the Notification Area tab you just get all of the items greyed out. It’s ridiculous and it never used to happen – it just started happening a couple of weeks ago.

So, when it frustrated me enough to persuade me to Google the issue, I found I’m not the only one with a problem. Apparenly, it’s an issue with the Local Group Policy Editor, and can be fixed either with the Local Group Policy Editor (if you have it enabled) or via the Registry Editor.

If you go to this site, you’ll find some guides that can fix the problem via the Local Group Policy Editor or via the Registry Editor.

However, I still can’t seem to get it working properly. Some of the icons show but I’m usually missing one or two.

Update 24.9.09: I thought rather than linking to another site, I could write a guide on how to fix it myself :P. So, if you’re having the problem, follow these steps to solve it:

1. First, click Start and type in the search box regedit, then press enter.

2. The Registry Editor will open. You now need to use the plus signs next to each category to reach the key below.

Navigate through the following threads:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Classes, Local Settings, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, TrayNotify

3. Delete the following keys by highlighting them and pressing the delete key, confirming by clicking Yes:

IconsStream

PastIconsStream

Now simply log off and log back on and your problem should be solved, or restart the explorer.exe process if you don’t want to log off.

Hopefully, if all that goes smoothly, you should have the icons back (thank god!)

Review: Windows Live Essentials 2009

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It’s finally arrived – the finished edition of Windows Live Essentials from Microsoft Live, including the well known Windows Live Messenger, as well as Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Photo Gallery plus the Windows Live Family Safety and toolbar.

We’ve waited not far off a year for the newest version of Windows Live Messenger to appear on our screens, so I’ll kick off with that. The new interface of Windows Live Messenger is fantasic and is also much more customizable than the last version. It looks especially good if you have a version of Windows Vista (or Windows 7 Beta – it works on that too) with the Aero glass. It doesn’t look quite as good in XP. Nevertheless, looks aren’t everything, the new features are good. There’s a new groups feature – where you can create groups of your favourite mates and they all share the group with everyone in it, as well as a new favourites group for you personally. Fans of the Sharing Folders will be disappointed, as it would appear they have been scrapped. I personally never used the Sharing Folders as I would just send a file manually.

Windows Live Mail is also very good. New improvements include a much cleaner interface which is much more user friendly. Under the hood, there aren’t many really noticeable changes, but it is still definitely worth downloading and using – especially if you use Windows Live Hotmail a lot.

Windows Live Writer is a good blog editing program, but I don’t personally use it myself as I’m quite happy to simply use the WordPress admin interface to add whatever I need to. However, it does include some neat features including picture editing, and it does have some cool plugin support. However, nothing will beat the ease of use in the WordPress dashboard, and since they are both free, I’d go for WordPress.

The Windows Live Photo Gallery has always been something I’ve used when I’ve been viewing photos from my digital camera. It’s neat and tidy, and resembles the Windows Media Player interface vaguely. It’s also a simple way of transporting photos from your camera or memory card to your computer.

If you need a good package for writing blogs, talking to friends, emailing and viewing your photos, go ahead and download this. Computer manufacturers are already dispatching this with their systems (Dell has agreed to do this recently) so you may already have these programs with a new PC. If you don’t, head over to download.live.com to get it for free.

Windows XP and Internet Connection Sharing

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I’ve just spent 2 hours helping a friend to get Internet Connection Sharing working on Windows XP, and we still haven’t got it done!

He’s just got a Xbox 360 and he’s trying to use ICS to connect the Xbox to his computer via ethernet. In the end we just gave up and I told him to just move his router so he can plug his Xbox directly into the router rather than having to go through the PC and the dreaded Windows Firewall.

But things like this just explain why I don’t use Windows XP anymore (with exception to the very odd occasion). It’s just a pain – with Vista it’s just one click. XP is just not user friendly and its really complicated compared to Vista.

Ok Vista has it’s issues, but come on, why do people hate it so much? Ever since I got my Vista laptop I can’t live without it, and I wish people would just give it a chance.

I’m not going to bother explaining the several procedures we attempted to get it working because we’ll be here forever. But if you’re going to try to connect your Xbox to the internet via your PC… just don’t bother. Get a wireless adapter for the Xbox – I mean go through this and I think you’ll be a little more convinced the £50 is well worth the money. Or at worst, just connect the Xbox direct to your router. Or get Vista :).

Just don’t use XP. If you’re still using XP, I really recommend you take another look at Vista – it’s got a hell of a lot better since launch.

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta first looks

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After the beta of Vista Service Pack 2 was finally launched to the public, I decided to give it a try and see if there were any major improvements.

You can grab a download of SP2 beta for free from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/dd262148.aspx but its only recommended you do so if you are an experienced computer user.

I went ahead and downloaded it last night and the first thing that was a little annoying was that the file is getting on for 400mb and the install program has to download even more so if you are on tight bandwidth be careful. I, thankfully, checking the Fair Use Policy with my broadband provider and according to Tiscali I won’t have to worry if I’m not using in excess of 100gb per month which is miles off what I use. Anyhow, I downloaded the file and ran it.

It doesn’t require much of your attention. It first confirms you want to install and you have to accept terms, then it kicks off. Once it has downloaded a few files you have to confirm again that you want to install the serivce pack and then you just leave it to it.

However, it takes several hours to install the pack and on a 1GB memory laptop thats dual core I had to wait about 3 hours before the first PC restart. 

It hasn’t really changed very much since the install. Admittedly it is a little faster and there are a couple of minor upgrades in features but I wouldn’t say its something thats vital.

I dont think its worth bothering to upgrade, and I would wait until the final next year.

Windows 7 beta 1 and Windows Vista SP2 coming next year

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Microsoft announced yesterday that it will be releasing Windows 7 Beta 1 on DVD on their US tour next year. They have also announced that they are hoping to have Windows Vista Service Pack 2 finished and shipped by July next year.

They have now finished a test version of Windows Vista SP2 beta and this is publically available today. Information is at http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/24/windows-vista-service-pack-2-beta.aspx and can be downloaded through a customer preview program (CPP) along with the Windows Server 2008 SP2 beta at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/dd262148.aspx. You must currently be a subscriber to either Technet or MSDN to download however a public version will be available in a few days.

I will take a look at Vista SP2 beta soon and report back.