VMware Workstation 6 on Windows Vista

Virtualization software provider VMware announced the release of Workstation 6, the first of the company's product line to offer support for Windows Vista, Microsoft's newest operating system.

In this sixth generation of its desktop virtualization software lineup, EMC subsidiary VMware is touting other new features as well, including support for multiple display monitors and USB 2.0 devices.

The Vista support will allow users to deploy the operating system as a guest or host system, facilitate hosting of legacy systems, and enable upgrade and migration projects with "minimal end-user disruption," according to the company's product announcement.

The new software is likely to appeal most to developers, who have to test applications on multiple systems such as Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Windows XP, both in the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Usually, developers would have to work on multiple computers to test their code, but Workstation 6 would allow them to test applications on a single desktop that can run multiple operating systems.

Benefit Round

Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett noted that although the term "virtualization" is becoming broadly used, the type of virtualization provided by Workstation is primarily focused on hardware abstraction. "Workstation gives users the ability to run multiple operating systems on one desktop, and do hardware abstraction in the process, so you don't have to worry about drivers and other desktop issues," he said.

This technology is advantageous developers, who sometimes need multiple systems and hardware in one area, he added. Using virtualization can cut down on the costs associated with additional PCs at the same workstation, said Gillett.

Another benefit would be the uncoupling of desktop identity from hardware, he noted. "That aspect is appealing for folks who worry about virus stuff," he said. "It's all about trying to make it easier to set up managed, secure PC operating systems and users experiences. That's one of the most interesting things going on with virtualization -- the improved management and usability."

Feature Rich

Beyond the support of Vista, Workstation 6 features include integrated physical-to-virtual functionality so users can create a virtual machine by "cloning" an existing computer, and an integrated virtual debugger to debug programs inside a virtual machine.

The product also offers automation APIs for easier creation of scripts and programs that can help speed virtual machine testing, and virtual machine interface (VMI) support, which allows execution of paravirtualized guest operating systems that implement the VMI interface.

VMware Workstation was one of the first virtualization applications on the market when it came out in 1999, and since then has benefited from a lack of intense competition, although Microsoft has been increasing its efforts in the arena.

Automate your repetitive tasks to a single mouse click or a keystroke

This is a paid review:

Mavrsoft Apis Ceratina - Macro Recorder

Great tool for automating your repetitive tasks to a single mouse click or a keystroke.

Apis Ceratina is a Windows application for recording and replaying macros. Save millions of clicks and keystrokes with Apis . Reduce you repetitive tasks to a single mouse click or a keystroke.

Apis Ceratina is:
  • Intelligent software to record, replay and schedule keyboard and mouse activities. With Apis you don't need to learn any programming language. Apis system monitors such activities as creating and showing windows and drop-down menus, starting applications. It also monitors position of the windows on the screen. Intelligent kernel suspends macro replay until necessary objects are absent.
  • Auto fill of hundreds of business forms and dialog boxes. Relax while Apis logs on to your mail server, fills out repetitive parts of business forms, fills out dialog boxes involving any Windows application, copies current playing song to your mobile device, generates report, renames a group of files, or performs cross application macro. In fact, once you start using Apis , you discover hundreds of new ways to use it in your daily work.


With Apis you can:

  • Define hotkey and launch your macro from anywhere instantly.
  • • Define hotkey scope (Substring of a window title) and launch your macro from a certain application.
  • • Use Repeat option, which allows you to replay macros the repeatedly given number of times.
  • • Use Schedule, which allows you to schedule macros for any time, any day of week, and which offers many other schedule options.
  • • Use Turbo speed options, which allow you to run your macro faster.
  • • Use Fast access Apis Menu, which allows you to start macro faster from a drop-down menu.
  • Create shortcut to macros in Start Menu, Quick Launch panel or on the Desktop.
  • • Also select only mouse or only keyboard replay.




Define a hotkey and launch your macro from anywhere instantly. Define a hotkey scope, and launch your macro from a separate application.

Repeat options allow you to replay macros a repeatedly given number of times. Turbo speed option allows running your macros faster.

Create macros shortcuts in Start Menu, Quick Launch panel or on the desktop. Fast access "Apis" menu.

Scheduler allows you to schedule macros for any time, any day of week, and offers many other scheduling options.

Visit Official MavrSoft Site for more info.

Windows Movie Maker Overview

You can use Windows Movie Maker to import audio and video to your computer from a digital video (DV) camera, and then use the imported content in your movies. You can also import existing audio, video, or still pictures into Windows Movie Maker to use in the movies you create.

After editing the audio and video content in Windows Movie Maker, which can include adding titles, transitions, or effects, you can then publish your final movie and share it with your friends and family.

  • Understanding the Windows Movie Maker tools

Windows Movie Maker is divided into three main areas: the panes, the storyboard/timeline, and the preview monitor. The following picture shows the basic areas of Windows Movie Maker:

These sections provide a brief introduction to these areas.


  • About the panes



The main features of the Windows Movie Maker user interface appear in separate panes. Depending on which tasks you want to complete, you can alternate between using the Collections view and the Tasks views.

The Tasks pane lists the common tasks that you may need to perform when making a movie, including importing files, editing your movie, and publishing your movie.

The Collections pane displays your collection folders, which contain clips. The collection folders appear in the Collections pane on the left, and the clips in the

selected collection folder are displayed in the Contents pane on the right. The following picture shows the Collections pane:




The Contents pane shows clips, effects, or transitions you're working with while you create your movie, depending on the view you're working with. You can change the view to show thumbnails or details.

You can drag clips, transitions, or effects from the Contents pane or a collection from the Collections pane to the storyboard/timeline for your current project. You can also drag clips to the preview monitor to play them. If you make changes to a clip, those changes are only reflected in the current project; they do not affect the source file.

The preview monitor allows you to view individual clips or a

n entire project. By using the preview monitor, you can preview your project before publishing it as a movie. You can use the playback controls to navigate through an individual clip or an entire project. You can also use the buttons on the preview monitor to perform functions such as splitting a video or audio clip into two smaller clips or taking a picture of the current frame that is displayed in the preview monitor.




  • About the story board and timeline

The area where you create and edit your project is displayed in two views, the storyboard and the timeline. You can switch between these two views when making a movie.

Storyboard. The storyboard is the default view in Windows Movie Maker. You can use the storyboard to look at the sequence or ordering of the clips in your project and easily rearrange them, if necessary. This view also lets you see any video effects or video transitions that have been added. Audio clips that you have added to a project are not displayed on the storyboard, but you can see them in the timeline view. The following picture shows the storyboard view in Windows Movie Maker:





Timeline. The timeline view provides a more detailed view of your movie project and allows you to make finer edits. Using the timeline view you can trim video clips, adjust the duration of transitions between clips, and view the audio track. You can use the timeline to review or modify the timing of clips in your project. Use the timeline buttons to switch to storyboard view, zoom in or out on details of your project, narrate the timeline, or adjust the audio levels. The following picture shows the timeline view in Windows Movie Maker:


  • About the preview monitor

The preview monitor shows the clip or picture you're working on. You can use it to view clips or pictures in your collections folders or in the project you're working on. Use the buttons underneath the preview monitor to play or pause a clip, or to advance or rewind a clip frame by frame. The Split button allows you to split a clip into two parts at exactly the point displayed in the preview monitor.

You can make the preview monitor larger or smaller by clicking View, pointing to Preview Monitor Size, and choosing a size. You can also drag the window to make it larger or smaller.



  • Understanding Collections, Projects and Movies

Windows Movie Maker makes it easy for you to organize your video clips, pictures, and audio files using a set of folders known as collections. You can see your collections by clicking View, and then clicking Collections.

To learn more about collections, see Work with folders.

When you begin moving your video clips, audio clips, and pictures to the storyboard or timeline, Windows Movie Maker creates a project that contains all the information about the order of your files, along with any transitions or effects you might add. You can save the project so that the next time you open it in Windows Movie Maker you'll see all the information in the order you left it. To learn more about projects, see Work with projects.

When you have all of your videos clips, audio clips, and pictures in the order you like, you can create your movie by clicking Publish Movie. You can publish your movie to your computer, save it to a recordable CD, send it as an attachment in an e‑mail message, or record it on a digital video (DV) tape. If you have Windows DVD Maker, which is included in Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Home Premium, you can also save it directly to a DVD. To learn more about publishing your movie, see Publish a movie.

Device Drivers for Windows Vista

I found a good list of drivers for Windows Vista.

Start downloading your driver immediately.
If you are not sure which driver is right for you you can try RadarSync software. It detects your devices and shows you list required device drivers.
  • Tabs in Yahoo Messenger Hack

    Yahoo Messenger is getting ready for the next version especially for Windows Vista which is being build up from ground level. The new Yahoo Messenger will have the Vista Aero look as default and lots of other new skins are also supported. One can integrate it with Windows Live Messenger and it also has other features like drag and drop with new emoticons, program icons and alert sounds.

    Yahoo Messenger for Vista

    But the most interesting feature is the tabbed IM windows. Like in the new Yahoo Mail beta which keeps all the mails you open in different tabs, you can group the IM windows under tabs in a single window. Though this is not yet officially released, some tweaks are released by Yahoo itself as it is already built in the current Yahoo messenger (Version 8.1).

    Tabs in Yahoo Messenger

    Two registry files are provided by Yahoo to turn it on and off. But it seems there are some functionality issues like no notification if there are new messages in the new tab and few others and these can be corrected with the utility provided by WackyB. This utility is mentioned by the Yahoo in their messenger blog.

    Note: I tried and it is working for me but I don’t guarantee that everything may work properly in your system. If you are not patient enough to wait for the next version you can try this as anyhow you can turn off this tab at any point of time.

    DirectX v10 Secret of Graphics in Windows Vista

    Windows Vista had been loved due its excellent real time graphics.But have you ever thought what makes those graphics real ? Thanks to DirectX 10 which is making thses ultra high real time graphics real.Before I dig into Directx 10.Lets get to know little about it.What is Directx ?

    Directx is the core which makes the games work.All the graphics designs which you even cant imagine in real time, is possible due to it.When Microsoft launched its operating system in 95 it was quite unfriendly do ue to internal restriction on hardware like audio device video cards and other peripherals.Thus directx made a set of api or functions that can be used in windows.The main advantge was taken by games which had much more freedom

    How DX10 makes it so real ?

    1. In real world every point is uinque.Even 2 points on your face is not similar.When Dx stared initially due to restriction on hardware and development part it was restricted on number of unique objects that can show in Scene.But with DX10 you can show hundreds of unique objects.This means if you have to show 100 flowers in a field you need not to create one and copy it to 100 but create 100 different one.That makes it more real.
    2. Displacement Mappings one more technique that makes Humans showing in most of the hi-fi video games so real.More details texture you have much real the image will look.DX10 has something called as geometry shaders.By adding more “triangles” in a particular point it makes them real.

    Now think of those graphics u see on your vista’s desktop.Thats what DX10 making it happen

    Comparison of DX 9.0 and DX 10

    Lets take a look at the images below and You will need no words to say how much they differ:

    Above: Image Generated By DX9

    Above: Image Generated By DX10

    Can it make my CPU slow and system crash.?

    It can if you don’t have a separate Graphics card.The gae has gone when the cpu had to all the work.If you have a separate graphics card DX10 will transfer the load on to it while your cpu can still do other things like downloading email checking and browsing.

    You can read these topics for DirectX 9L which is going to be DirectX10 for windows XP.I found it through google search DirectX 9.L will be a DirectX 10 for Windows XP

    So what does all that mean ?

    Over all as the end user you might be more concerned about your system performance.Thus u want to play hi-fi games without ur system crashing down or getting ur screen blank.Keepin this in mind the benefits of DX10 with Windows Vista you might be compelled to upgrade seeing these advantages, specially as a gamer u will.

    Download Free Seven Vista Themes and Suit

    Visa is growing everyday and becoming popular among 3d Fanatics. Directx10 , the secret of Vista has been boon to both game players and user experience on desktops. Vista themes are like skin on your default vista. They make vista look amazing by providing different icons or wallpapers and yeah the sound and graphics effect.

    I found these 7 amazing themes which all vista users can use on their desktops. You can choose whichever suits your taste. Some of the themes might require Free Theme Manager. Click on the images and it wil take you to download page.

    Please Backup Your Vista Before you install these themes. Thats for your safety. The author is not responsible for a third party tools.

    BlackLight

    Black Light Theme

    Alpha OS Suite

    Alphsa Os Suite Vista

    Moon Shadow II

    Moon Shadow Theme Vista

    Epsilon

    Epsilon VIsta Theme

    Design II

    Vista Theme Design2

    sotArt

    Vista Theme Sot Art

    Azure

    Vista Theme Azur

    So what are you waiting for, go ahead and download it

    DataStreams component library for .Net developers

    The following is a paid review:

    DataStreams is a component library for .Net developers to easily integrate data from various formats like CSV, Excel, and XML into their applications.

    Benefits:

    Read, write, and bulk load CSV files.

    Read and bulk load Excel XLS spreadsheet files.

    Read and bulk load XML files.

    Check out the demo!


    Csv Reader is an extremely fast and stable .Net class for stream based parsing of virtually any commonly found delimited data format, CSV files, tab delimited files, etc. It's usable from C#, VB.Net, ASP.Net, or any other .Net language. It's compatible with the 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 .Net frameworks. The methods are designed for ease of use, while the inner architecture is designed purely for speed and efficiency. Parsing is done using the de facto standard CSV file specifications. It handles quoted fields, delimiters in the data, and even data that spans across multiple lines. This gives you the ability to open csv files, edit csv files, and save csv files all directly from code. Data can be parsed in less than half of the time of any other parser it has been benchmarked against. Rough benchmarks on a 2 Ghz processor, parsing common comma separated columns is 20 MB, or 390,000 rows with 5 columns each, almost 2,000,000 cells total, of data parsing per second. Virtually no garbage collection is needed from the framework because of object reuse internally while parsing. All development is thoroughly unit tested to guarantee fewer bugs and to insure proper handling of extreme cases, currently using 195 test cases and 1308 asserts across 4800 lines of test code. Pricing is extremely cheap and licensing is amazingly open. One license is good across all machines enterprise wide.


    http://www.csvreader.com/



    SOURCE DATA:
    sample content of a csv file
    RESULT:
    sample display of csv data in grid

    SPEED:

    View Csv parser benchmarks versus ODBC and Jet drivers

    For more details, visit the BENCHMARKS section to see how Csv Reader stacks up against the competition.

    CODE SAMPLES:

    Look at the several code samples provided in the CODE SAMPLES section to see how the code is used.

    DOCUMENTATION:

    Download compiled help docs here: dsdocs.zip or view DataStreams docs online.

    RECENT CUSTOMER COMMENTS:

    "Have installed it and used it and I only wish I had found it and used it earlier. 'Does just what it says on the tin', many thanks."

    Charles

    "The parser works perfectly - and I've found the online examples very helpful. Suits our needs to a tee."

    Lanson

    "Thanks for the great tool!"

    Phil

    "I'm almost done with my import project, in 4 days instead of the 3 weeks I had estimated. Excellent product!"

    Josh

    SPECIAL FEATURES:
    • Stream based file parsing allowing for parsing of large files without storing the entire file contents in memory
    • Simple reader pattern movement through file
    • Simple access to field data by index or by field name
    • Internal parsing using arrays instead of strings for fast looping over large files
    • Uses built in framework functionality to handle most encoding issues instead of guessing or hardcoding
    • Includes a CSV writer to ease the worries while creating CSV data. No more needing to worry about what to replace with what to match up with delimiters, text qualifiers, etc
    HANDLES:
    • Standard comma and tab delimited data
    • End of records using Mac, Unix, or Windows end of line markers without predicting or specifying
    • Quote text qualified fields using double quotes
    • Alternate field delimiters other than commas, ie. pipe, tab, etc
    • Alternate text qualifiers
    • Occurrences of field delimiter within text qualified field
    • Occurrences of text qualifier within text qualified field using doubled up syntax
    • Alternate backslash text qualifier escaping syntax
    • Occurrences of any character, including record end delimiters inside text qualified fields
    • Automatic trimming of leading and trailing spaces and tabs in a non text qualified field
    • Using one char that's normally used as a record end delimiter as a field delimiter and a different one as the record end delimiter as commonly used in Unix files with CR as the field delimiter and LF as the record delimiter
    • All encodings, ANSI, UTF-8, Unicode, ASCII, etc
    • First record containing field names
    • Reading data from a System.IO.StreamReader that's wrapped around a System.IO.Stream that can come from anywhere, not just a System.IO.FileStream
    If you have an unsupported format, or are unsure whether the format is supported, please email bruce@csvreader.com.

    For more info Visit: http://www.csvreader.com/

    Vista Shell Styles and Themes List

    Seeing how hard it is to find themes for Vista, I decided to make this Topic. After searching around for quite some time, I have found some good Themes, and some bad ones.

    First of all, you need to patch your UXtheme.dll if you haven't already. You can find that here, instructions are included.

    When you download the theme, extract the files into C:\Windows\Resources\Themes. Right click on the desktop and go to Personalise, click on Window Colour and Appearance, then click Open classic appearance properties for more colour options. You will see that Windows Aero and Windows Vista Basic have been duplicated. Don't worry, they are the new themes. Click on them and you can change the theme as you wish.

    Always read the ReadMe files.

    Themes:Shell Styles:Please post any Themes or Shell Styles here that aren't listed. I will add them to the list asap. wink.gif

    Enjoy wink.gif

    Correct Disk Cleanup shortcut for Windows Vista 64-bit

    If you are using a 64-bit (x64) version of Windows Vista, then this is something you should know. By default, the shortcut in the Start menu points to the 32-bit (x86) executable for Disk Cleanup. While Disk Cleanup will work fine from this shortcut for most things, there is one function that does not work correctly – the cleaning of System Restore points and Shadow Copies / Previous Versions.

    Note that if you launch Disk Cleanup from another location in Windows, for instance by clicking the “Disk Cleanup” button on a drives properties window, it will launch the correct executable for Disk Cleanup.

    If you want to correct the Disk Cleanup shortcut in the Start menu, follow these steps:

    1. Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then click on System Tools.
    2. Right click on “Disk Cleanup” and from the context menu that appears click on “Properties”.
    3. Change the “Target” from “%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\cleanmgr.exe” to “%SystemRoot%\system32\cleanmgr.exe”.
    4. Click on OK. If User Account Control prompts you for consent, click on Continue or provide the appropriate credentials.

    SoloSEO Proffesional SEO Tools Review

    This is sponsored review:

    SEO Project Management

    Search engine optimization (SEO) can help your site rank higher in the search engines, giving you more traffic and more conversions. There is no quick fix and instant results in SEO, it takes time and a lot of work. But there is hope! SoloSEO helps SEO to be easier, by managing keywords, content, and link building all in one place. With SoloSEO you can use professional SEO tools to track, manage, and optimize your site.

    SEO Tools and Reports

    Finding keywords is one thing, but managing them is another. Put away that spreadsheet and go to the next level in keyword management. For your site's content, keep track of Backlinks and PageRank for landing pages and other important site pages. Tools for link building help you from start to finish. Find the links, check their strength and quality, manage them from one place, and watch them over time.


    Do-It-Yourself SEO™

    Webmaster? Small-business Owner? Even if you are new to SEO you can do-it-yourself. SoloSEO provides task lists, tools, and reporting for managing your own SEO. Sure it still takes a lot of work, but much less than without being able to manage everything in one place. Plus, you'll learn a ton as you go that you can apply in any other SEO strategy.

    Link Building

    Long hours and tedious work is what it takes for effective link building. But link building can be easier. Our Link Search tool makes it easy to create queries to easily find links, then use the Link Build It! tool to analyze the strength of a link, and then easily add the link to Link Manager and track its progress through the link building cycle.


    Benefits:

    The Right Tools

    As with any trade, you need professional tools to get the job done, and done right. SoloSEO provides the professional tools for finding and managing keywords, tracking and optimizing content, and link building. These SEO tools are conveniently integrated into one simple interface for managing each of your SEO projects.

    Learning how to SEO

    Along with the right SEO tools, you need to know how to actually do SEO. SoloSEO gives you helpful and up-to-date learning resources to guide you through link building, writing optimized content, and finding the right keywords. With every account comes a standard SEO checklist, identifying dozens of items to do for each project. As you get more advanced in SEO, you can modify and create your own Checklists and apply them with all managed projects.

    Keeping Track of Progress

    Your hard work in SEO will soon pay off, and as you go along SoloSEO helps you keep track of your progress. Site statistics takes a snapshot of your site's indexed pages, backlinks, PageRank, and Alexa ranking every week, and then charts these stats over time to show you where you have been and where you are. SoloSEO also offers informative reports for competitive analysis and keyword rankings.

    Low Cost

    Hiring an SEO can put you out thousands and thousands of dollars. But if you have the time and willingness to learn how to do SEO, you can literally save yourself thousands. SoloSEO is a monthly subscription packed with professional SEO tools and functions, allowing you to become your own SEO.

    Find out why other SEOs can't live without SoloSEO by signing up for your free trial today!

    Review of Apogee Search Marketing

    The following is a paid review:

    Apogee Search marketing solutions drive qualified, targeted visitors to B2B and B2C websites for more leads, customers, revenues and profits.

    Instead of simply counting click-throughs or tracking vague "visibility" metrics, we zero in on the hard numbers that actually determine sales and profits. We're talking about solid, real-world measurements like -

    • Specific number of completed lead forms
    • Precise conversion rates
    • Actual cost per lead, cost per sale
    • Comparison of sales against search marketing investments
    • Total revenues generated per day, week, month, quarter and year

    SEO Services includes:

    Paid Search Advertising: Complete Pay-Per-Click campaigns to test and identify the keywords and keyword phrases that drive leads and sales.

    Natural Search Engine Optimization: Powerful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to bring more qualified visitors to your website, more effectively than ever before.

    SEMPO Circle Member

    Pay Per Call Management: Drive prospects directly to your phones - and only pay when they call.

    Affiliate Marketing: An all-in-one program managed by Apogee to increase revenue through affiliate partner sites.

    Search Engine Marketing Training: Detailed, hands on instruction in search engine marketing best practices.

    Search Engine Marketing Analysis: Receive a free analysis of your website's performance in the search engines.