Get the Windows 7 Calculator in Vista

Before Windows 7, the Windows Calculator was an overlooked area of Windows. Used by so many people on a daily basis for minor arithmetic tasks, yet appreciated by so few people.

From the looks of it, Microsoft seems to have done a sterling job on their latest Operating System. All the previously-overlooked utilities, including: Wordpad, Calculator, and even Paint, have been completely redone for the new version of Windows.

Daily Gyan has posted a port of the Windows 7 calculator for Windows Vista. It works perfectly.

To replace the default Vista calculator with this one, replace the 2 files in the following two directories:

C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe
C:\Windows\System32\en-US\calc.exe.mui

• Download Windows 7 Calculator for Vista
  (alternative link – via)

Replace the default System Calculator

It’s not particularly easy to replace system files on Windows. I’ve created a little script that will do this automatically. Follow the steps below.

• Download the 2 files you need: calc.exe and calc.exe.mui (found under the en-US folder in the download above).
• Place the 2 files in the same folder e.g. your desktop
• Download the script, and place it in the same folder as the 2 files (e.g. your desktop).
• Boot into safe mode, and double click the script.

Create your own Fonts, Symbols, & Characters

(Windows only) MakeUseOf exposes a hidden tool within the Windows directory that enables you to create custom fonts, symbols, and characters.

The tool is located deep within the Windows folder. To get to it, press the Windows key plus R to open the run dialog, and enter: c:\windows\system32\eudcedit.exe.

The Private Character Editor is available to users of both Windows XP and Vista.

[Create Your Own Fonts, Symbols, & Characters (Windows) by MakeUseOf.com]

Differences in Style: Apple and Microsoft (Macworld & CES 2009)

January is normally a very exciting month for the gadget lover. For the first time in recent memory, Microsoft had more exciting stuff to show off than Apple.

I’ll start with Macworld ‘09 and Apple. For Apple’s last ever Macworld appearance, Phil Schiller gave the keynote instead of the Steve Jobs – partly because of some health problems, and no doubt partly due to the fact that they barely had anything to announce.

They introduced new versions of their iLife and iWork software, announced the new MacBook Pro 17” (with an 8-hour battery), and announced removals of DRM from purchased music on iTunes.

Phil gave an admirable performance, not quite as good as Jobs, but considering what he had to work with, congrats Phil – you had a lot to live up to.

Now on to CES ‘09 and Microsoft.

It’s the first time Steve Ballmer gave Microsoft’s annual CES keynote since becoming CEO in 2001. Microsoft had some very exciting news regarding Windows 7, and Ballmer went on to explain Microsoft’s exciting (and probable) visions for the future of computing.

Microsoft had some excellent points to make – and some exciting announcements. However like every other year, I ended up preferring the Apple keynote. It was much simpler, engaged the audience much more effectively, and conveyed their messages much better.

Microsoft, despite having better content than Apple, just couldn’t perform as well. The demos of Windows 7 showed off the new OS pretty well, but the person actually giving the demo sounded very stiff and robotic.

Apple’s employee, on the other hand, gave a much better impression of iMovie. This is despite iMovie not being half as noteworthy as the new operating system from Microsoft.

The screens behind Ballmer weren’t perfectly in sync with what he was saying. In terms of presentation style, the screens were way too busy and overcomplicated. These things work best when they’re really simple.

Overall I wish Microsoft present their products in a better way, because they too have a lot to offer the world of computing.

Apple have some great products, and probably their greatest gift is some very good marketing and positioning for these products.

Conclusions

I am a huge fan of Microsoft’s vision for the future of computing, with touch based interfaces and mobile computing – it reflects some real forward-thinking on their part. Microsoft Labs are also innovating and showing off some really cool, if somehow vague, software.

Apple: you just keep on doing what you’re doing to drive the whole industry forward. [images via Engadget and Apple]

[Phil Schiller’s keynote for Apple at Macworld ‘09]
[Steve Baller’s keynote for Microsoft at CES ‘09]

Apple Beats Microsoft in Font Rendering

When Apple introduced its Safari browser for Windows, I for one, realise what I’ve been missing. And no, it’s not the “authentic Apple experience” which I dont buy into. It’s the font-rendering.

Windows Internet Explorer font rendering:

Safari font rendering:

 

Even with ClearType turned on in Windows Vista, I think it just doesn’t look as good. Fonts look bolder, and more like they’d be if they were printed.

Microsoft has its own font-smoothing technology called ClearType, it was designed with the intent of screen-reading. In fairness, ClearType is a massive improvement over the regular Windows font-smoothing. However, Mac’s own font-smoothing technology just looks better.

ClearType’s problem isn’t so much a problem as a different philosophy. Apple wanted to accurately replicate the fonts we see when printed, and Microsoft made it easier to read things on screen.

Both systems have their advantages. Over a long period of extended use, I think Windows’ rendering might just have the edge, and many agree. However Safari’s level of font-smoothing can be reduced. I have mine set on medium.

Every time I load up Safari to check rendering issues, it just looks better. While it may not be as readable, it makes text so much more beautiful.

Disagree? Have something else to add? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

Vista Design: Inconsistencies

While I really enjoy using Windows Vista, this is partly down to the many tweaks I’ve installed to make it less annoying, and less intrusive, and more fun. However there are some annoyances that you just can’t get over, no matter how many times a day you’re confronted with it.

I’m talking, of course, about the shutdown/sleep process.

To turn off the computer, you don’t press the red button on the start menu, as you’ve always done with Windows. Pressing that button (which actually looks like a power switch!), will put the computer to sleep. Great.

So for the future, when you want to turn off your computer: don’t bother pressing the big red button taking up that perfect position. Instead, ignore your instincts and follow Vista’s weird design decision – go to the side-menu and select “Shut Down” from the list.

This wouldn’t be so bad, if it weren’t for the Vista menu designers to program the exact opposite behavior on the logon screen’s corresponding button.

Anyone who's used Windows Vista would immediately recognise this button. To turn off the computer, press the big red button that also looks like a power switch. To put it to sleep, click the little upwards arrow and select "Sleep" from the list.

Easter Eggs in MS Word

Apparently, Microsoft Office Word is full of Easter Eggs (an "Easter Egg" is a small, undocumented procedure in a program that normally expresses interesting commentaries or gives credit to the people who labored over the program. Like their namesake, Easter Eggs normally take a while to find and can be quite elusive. )

Perhaps the most famous is the "rand" trick. Open up a new Office Word document and type the following exactly as it appears below, then press enter.

=rand(x, y)

Where 'x' is the number of paragraphs and 'y' is the number of sentences.

In the case of Office Word 2007 enter =rand.old(x, y) to get the same effect.

This will then display the pangram for x paragraphs and y sentences (The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog). A pangram is a sentence that contains all the letter in the alphabet. It's used for displaying fonts, etc.

More pangrams

• =lorem() or =lorem(x, y) -- which will do the same thing but instead for Lorem Ipsum text.
• =rand() or =rand(x, y) (only in Office Word 2007) -- displays some boilerplate text about the insert tab.

Acer Extensa 5220 (and Vista)

Brief Thoughts

This is as much a short review on the notebook as well as a brief review of Microsoft's newest Operating System - Windows Vista.

Part One - The outside

The Acer Extensa 5220 is a mid-range notebook. With laptops, specs are everything - and the Extensa has some respectable figures.

Design-wise it seems decent enough. The body is a mix of a couple of dark greys and black. The outer parts are charcoal grey, and more of the inner sections are darker. The keyboard is black and has no backlighting (bummer). The sides and bottom aren't particularly clean, but that's not to say they're cluttered either. There are a few chrome accents to spice it up but in reality it's nothing particularly inspiring.

Physically, it weighs around 2.8kg, which I found to be quite lightweight. This is probably helped by the fact that it feels extremely balanced - I quite enjoy using it when it's sitting on my lap. It has a standard 1200x800 15.4" LCD. It uses what Acer call their CrystalBrite technology. I personally really enjoy using the screen, and Vista have their screen fonts slightly larger than XP's were for better readability.

The keyboard has an ergonomic perpetual curve which is absolutely love. I got used to the layout in a day and am now typing fairly quickly on it. I find the trackpad to be quite good, especially since it has a scroll wheel on the side.

Part Two - The specs

The all-important specs. If a laptop fails here it simply won't sell.

First off, let me explain that I bought this laptop for simple stuff: emailing, blogging, programming, etc. I wanted a portable workstation, simply an extension to my home computer. As such I didn't need great specs, but Windows Vista demands a minimum level of performance.

It packs an Intel Celeron 1.86 GHz. It's quite good, even though all in all it's nothing special. To compensate for this I got a €60 upgrade to 2GB RAM. It originally had 1GB. I find the computer's multitasking to be more than adequate.

It's got an 80GB hard-drive, which may be considered quite small, indeed I do find it quite limiting, but I plan to add an external USB HDD to compensate.

Part Three - Windows Vista

I was convinced that this was going to be my least favourite part of the computer. I knew Vista to be slow, clunky, and excessively security-oriented - making it extremely annoying to use. However I quickly set about downloading some programs to ease my experience. I highly recommend Tweak UAC.

Very quickly, Vista grew on me. I'm now at the stage where I got used to the interface, and have come to appreciate some of the genuine improvements it offers over XP. I love the new shellstyle(?), and I also like the idea of putting all the networking options in one place. This tripped me up at first but now I prefer it. I managed to connect to the internet just 20 minutes after turning it on for the first time (time includes Vista installation).

Since it's been out for quite a while, there were numerous security updates and other patches to be installed. It was all automated, with Vista installing around 49 updates in total, and I restarted around 4 times, however you could restart at your leisure so it wasn't a problem.

Vista seems to have a bit better memory management than XP. When switching between apps, the machine didn't slowly churn into life; it was a fast and seamless process. I also love the new user log-in page, with the huge user icons.

The eye candy has been kept at a respectable level, the transparency has been disabled (this is Vista Home Basic - no extra eye candy), however I did enable the Aero interface by a little hacking of the registry.

Conclusion

Well, I think that overall I'm extremely satisfied with the Acer Extensa 5220. Now that I've ironed out the workflow bumps and I've taken care of most of the "new computer" bloated pre-installed software, most of which turned out to be really good.

It's a typical mid-range notebook that's not overly capable, and certainly doesn't disappoint. It's a laptop that feels well "sorted". This is supported the very good keyboard and trackpad, as well as the placement of certain elements to enhance usability - including speakers placed in the front, and heat vents in a logical position.

All in all, it's fair to describe it as fairly average, but very useable. I'm certainly very happy with it, and it's not likely to annoy many people.

Rating: Solid Recommendation

Extra: Recommended Programs

Below is a list of programs I recommend to use with Vista. All of them are free downloads. Click on the name to go to their download sites.

• Internet Browser: Mozilla Firefox 2 or Mozilla Firefox 3 beta
• Email: Windows Live Mail (successor to Windows Mail)
• Office: OpenOffice.org (even if you have Microsoft Office 2007)
• File Handling: 7-Zip (handles nearly all compression formats)
• Anti-Virus: Avira AntiVir Personal or PCTools AntiVirus Free