Something that has bugged me for a long time in Windows 7 is how the taskbar right-click functionality was changed.  Since Windows 95, when you right clicked on an item in the taskbar, you were presented with a menu to Restore, Minimize, Maximize, Close, and with some programs, some nifty custom options (like PuTTY’s custom menu, which since I use it  a lot, is the main source of my gripes here).

But, for some reason in Windows 7, Microsoft decided to do away with all of that and change what the right click does.  Right clicking now brings up Windows 7’s jump lists.  A feature that is absolutely worthless to a good 95% of the programs that run on Windows.  It was so incredibly frustrating to me to right click on running program and not be presenting with a useful menu, and right clicking on the program name in the jump list presenting you with an equally worthless menu.  Even more frustrating was there is an alternate way to access jumplists, by clicking and dragging up, they didn’t have to change the right click functionality!  The final straw was when they (as usual) gave you no setting to change this option back to the classic right click menu.  Now, I realize you can hold the Shift key and right click on a taskbar item to get the classic menu, but I want that to be the default function, not something that his hidden behind the shift key.

Well, as you may have guessed, I have a fix for this.  A little free program called 7 Taskbar Tweaker.  This program will let you change the right click function back to the classic menu (and a slew of other tweaks)!  And even more so, if you do use jump lists for something, you can still access them by the other method of clicking and dragging up like I mentioned above.  The only slight downside is that the program must run in the system tray for the changes to remain in effect as it actually has to inject a dll and hook in to the explorer process since there are no registry options for the tweaks it applies.  Fortunately, the memory footprint is fairly small, clocking in at only around 2mb of ram used, so it’s not going to have an adverse effect on systems, even those with only a couple gigs of ram.

So, you can change this:

Back in to something useful:

Well, it’s that time of the season again where Microsoft pushes out a new service pack.  This time it is Service Pack 1 for Windows 7.  I have actually been running SP1 for a few weeks now (yay for developer’s releases) on 3 different machines, all with zero problems.  The install is smooth and the service pack didn’t cause any issues.

As with the service packs for Windows Vista, there is a command you can run for your command line that basically permanently installs the service pack files on your machine (by removing all of the backup files it makes during install).   I previously showed you how to do this for Vista SP1 and Vista SP2, so now it is 7 SP1’s turn.

Also, as with previous SP release, Microsoft has once again changed the command to make this happen.  I’m not sure why they always want to make you play guess-the-command, but I did the research for you, and here it is.  Run this at an Administrator command prompt:

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

It will take a few minutes to run and do its thing, but once it is finished you will get back around 1.3gb to 1.5gb of space.  Not bad for running 1 command at the command line!  Just remember, this command does make the service pack install permanent, so there is no reverting after this, but honestly, once you have booted a few times and everything works fine, there is really no reason to ever want to revert.

So go claim back your space!

For the most part Windows 7 is great.  There are a few – things – about it that annoy me, and I have found another.  This “feature” has popped up a couple times and is very frustrating when it does.

For files created/modified in the last 24 hours, Windows 7 does not display the file time in the File Properties dialog.  It just gives a very unspecific “X hours ago”.  What the fuck is this shit?

So if I wanted to know the EXACT time this file was created, I can’t see that.  Fan-fucking-tastic idea Microsoft.  Where do you idiots come up with this shit?  Seriously, who ever thought this was a good idea should be punched square in the balls.  What good does “5 hours ago” do.  Ok, so it was created some time 5 hours ago, giving an hour of buffer time in there.  That really doesn’t help me.

And the kick-to-your-face part of it is that if the file was created/modified/whatever more then 24 hours ago, it actually shows the time:

Why on Earth can’t it show that for ALL files?!  Why does 7 think it necessary to change this USEFUL format to a USELESS format for files changed in the last 24 hours?  I know that most people don’t care, and that is probably why they changed it, but how is this helping anyone?  It’s not!  It’s only hurting those of us who need exact file times.

Fucking mind-boggling!  I’m not alone either, there are others out there who are annoyed by the same “feature”.  You see, this is the kind of shit that is fine to implement, IF YOU GIVE THE USERS A CHOICE TO CHANGE IT SOME PLACE.  I’d be fine even with a reg edit, but from what I have seen, there is no way to change this back.

No, not Javascript.  Java.

Despite similar names, Javascript and Java are 2 entirely different things.

Java, or Java applets are programs that can be embedded in to websites.  They are generally poorly written, and hardly ever function right.  Most people will probably never even need java, and in fact the only website I can think of that I ever use it on is Facebook’s shitty multi-photo uploader which I use only a handful of times a year.

Why am I writing about this?  Because I had a Windows 7 machine that was fully updated, running an updated Firefox with Java (Java may have not been up to date),  and a fully updated Antivirus program.  By clicking one simple link, the machine was infected through the Java run time in Firefox.  Despite clicking “Deny” on the Java question, the app still managed to run itself.  It looked like it caused some type of crash in the Java run time and allowed itself to execute code.  The virus then proceeded to attempt to hijack the browser and insert other malicious code in to the system.  Avira Antivirus was able to block most of these attempts, but it did miss something.  I have a feeling that this was a new strain of the virus, so I’m not going to place too much blame on Avira here.  After all was said and done I ran the infected file through an online scanner, and only 1 of 41 virus engines detected it.  Yikes!

Before shutting down the system I had ran FULL scans with Malwarebytes and Avira, both came back clean.  I rebooted the system and that is when it happened.  7 load screen… blue screen…. reboot.  Over and over.  Safe mode was of no use, other methods of recovery didn’t work, the bluescreen yielded no useful information.  It wouldn’t even point me to the file causing the crash (which would of helped me tremendously).  To make a long story short (I put probably 4 hours in to fixing this bluescreen), the virus had attempted to insert code in to my iaStor.sys driver.  This is an Intel Storage driver, vital to system operation.  I believe that because this was a Windows 7 machine, it was unable to successfully hijack this file (the virus was probably written to hijack XP machines).  I found the lone infected file by pulling the drive out of the laptop and using a separate computer running Nod32 to scan the entire drive,  and replaced the infected file with a good copy I had in my archives.  The really strange thing about it was the good file and infected file were the same exact size, but the infected file no longer had the Intel signature and had a different MD5 hash then the good file.  The virus obviously tried to re-write some part of my storage driver… who knows what though.

Nod32 identified it as Olmarik.pv which from what I can tell is a pretty new strain.

To bring this story back to it’s point, a fully updated system, running Firefox still caught an infection thanks to shitty ass Java.  So, do yourself a favor out there RIGHT NOW.  Disable Java.

Tools -> Options -> Content

Un-check Enable Java:

The nice part about this is that if you do end up on a site that you TRUST and need to enable it, you can simple check the box again and reload the page and it will work.  You don’t have to restart your browser.  Just be sure to disable it again after you’re done to keep your browser safe!

I have made this change on all of my machines and I strongly encourage you to as well!

A few weeks ago I wrote about how Microsoft was artificially crippling “lesser” versions of Windows.

Blocking you from running software you have a right to use, simply because you didn’t buy their more expensive version.

Well, it looks like the Free Software Foundation is launching an attack against Microsoft, pointing out just that…

“Microsoft is up to their usual tricks again — only this time, they’re also inserting artificial restrictions into the operating system itself. While not the first time they’ve done this, this is the first release of Windows that can magically remove limitations instantly upon purchasing a more expensive version from Microsoft.”

I for one am glad to see this.  This mentality over at Microsoft of “we wrote your OS, so we control everything on your computer” needs to stop.  Unfortunately Microsoft has done this shit since the early days of Windows… they always want to control what you can and can’t do on your own machine and it seems like a constant fight with Microsoft and Windows just to be able to do what you want on your machine.

They’re pushing Linux based software of course, and I wouldn’t be opposed to switching to such a platform if it weren’t for one major issue, which is gaming.  A lot of my home PC use is gaming, of which almost none of the modern games run on Linux platforms.

Maybe in time Linux will mature enough and get a large enough market share that developers will pay more attention to it.  If this would happen we could finally switch off of Microsoft and their bullshit strangle hold on our machines.

I’ve been using Windows 7 for a few weeks now, and it’s alright I guess.  It would’ve more appropriately been named Windows Vista SE (Second Edition) though.  It does not feel like a new OS.  It feels like Vista SE.

While a lot of changes are good, there are some changes that just make me go “WTF?”

One such WTF change is the new Windows Media Player.  It’s freaking BUTT UGLY in Windows 7.  I mean it looks like Microsoft just completely forgot to develop any kind of skin for it.  I am completely dumbfounded by this.

First, lets look at Windows Media Player in Vista…

Nice pretty transparencies, a nice defined playback window.

Now lets look at Windows Media Player in Windows 7…

Hence my WTF?!?  The title bar of the program is completely void of text for some unknown reason, and the whole thing is just flat black.  The blurry line at the top is the name of the file playing, I blurred it out for the screen shot.  As I said it seriously just looks like Microsoft forgot to skin the damn thing.  What happened to the nice smooth transparencies from Vista?

In fact, so many people dislike the new media player, there are instructions and a download to install the old media player from Vista on to Windows 7.  I think I’ll skip that because I don’t want to mess up any future media player updates, but I must admit it is tempting to not have to look at this ugly beast every time I play a video file.

Damn you Microsoft… you just can’t get everything right on one shot, can you?  I can’t even fathom who saw this change, and gave it the stamp of approval.  It looks like garbage.

Ease of Access on the login screen was always something I disabled on my Vista machines… and of course Windows 7 hasn’t added any built-in option to disable this useless and annoying feature, so I’m here to show you how.  As far as I know you can’t remove the button, but you can disable it.

I call it useless and annoying because it is… it allows people to mess with YOUR computer settings even when your machine is LOCKED!  The entire point of locking your machines is so people CAN’T mess with it.

All you need to do is replace 1 executable file it is:

c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe

This file is what controls the pop up when you click the Ease of Access button.

I have taken a replacement file from an older version of Ease of Access Disabler.  This was a useful utility in it’s earlier versions, but the new version throws a bunch of shit-ads on your screen for their site, and if there is something I really can’t stand, it’s ads on MY computer.

So here you go…

utilman (23kb)

I recommend just renaming your current utilman.exe to utilman.exe.old

Then extract the file in that archive to the above directory.

That’s all you have to do.

Lock your computer and click the Ease of Access button.  Voila!  All you’ll get now is a screen that dims temporarily and says “Ease of Access has been disabled by your administrator” with out any obnoxious and shitty looking ads or url’s on the screen.

As far as I know this works on all versions of Vista and Windows 7 (32bit tested… should also work on 64bit, but haven’t confirmed).

With Windows 7 RTM hitting official Microsoft channels, I figured I’d load up the final version of Windows 7 and check it out.  I’ve commented in the past about being completely unimpressed with 7 and for the most part, that is holding true, with some added hatred for the big-wigs over at Microsoft for arbitrarily deciding what I should be allowed to run on MY machine.

I upgraded from Vista Home Premium to 7 Home Premium.  The upgrade process itslef took around 3 hours, but it did go off with out a hitch.  I was happy for the most part, until I went to fire up one of my virtual machines in Virtual PC 2007.

This is when my joy turned to pure black hatred for 7 and all it represents.  It is a step backwards in technology.  It is Big Brother watching over your every single move tell you what you can an can not do.

I was presented with a message that basically told me I was not allowed to run this program on the version of Windows I was using.  I should’ve grabbed a screen shot but my rage levels were through the roof and I wasn’t thinking ahead.  To run Virtual PC 2007 I would have to upgrade to “Professional” or “Ultimate”, something which didn’t agree with me.  So I popped in my Acronis Rescue CD and restored back to the image I had made just before upgrading (thankfully I have been through enough Microsoft upgrades and installs to know to make a system image before doing one).

These kinds of completely arbitrary and quite frankly asinine limitations are absolutely disgusting and should not be tolerated.  There is absolutely no technological reason why 7 Home Premium can not run Virtual PC 2007.  The only reason you can’t run it is because Microsoft doesn’t want you to.  They want you to fork over MORE money for this shitty OS and use their “Professional” or “Ultimate” versions.  The whole idea of different versions of the same exact OS never sat with me well any way.  It’s just one more way to fuck your customers in the ass and make them pay more when they shouldn’t have to.  There should be 1 version.  That’s it.  It would end a lot of confusion from the end user stand point, and frustration from more technical users.

I for one will be avoiding Windows 7.  It offers nothing new worthy of upgrading, and only further tightens the controls Microsoft has over YOUR computer and REMOVES features you’re used to.

Well, I played around with the Windows 7 beta a while back, but not too much.

Recently the Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 came out, so I decided to pop it in and see what is new, and what I’ve found is painfully disappointing in most cases.

Microsoft is continuing in their tradition of dumbing-down their operating systems to the lowest common denominator, making power users such as myself feeling…  well… feeling like Micorsoft is calling us dumb.

Case and point; first thing I do to any machine I own running Vista (or Win 7 now) is to disable Windows Defender, and Windows Firewall.  These are 2 services I have never ever once found useful, and ALWAYS end up being a pain in the ass at some point, and they generally slow down your computer.  So, I went ahead and axed both of these services as usual by first disabling them in the control panel, then disabling their actual service from starting up.

So, a while after I did that I was getting stuff set up, and went to enable Remote Desktop, and what do I see when I try and enable it…

Yup, that’s right…  If you have the Firewall disabled, you can not enable remote desktop.

WHAT THE FUCK MICROSOFT?!  Ugh, this shit is just killing me.  Seriously… why does Microsoft feel the constant need to baby sit people?  It’s not their job to make sure their computer is secure, or whatever point they’re trying to make by enforcing these completely ludicrous requirements for things.

Sure, it is easy enough to enable the service, enable remote desktop, then just disable the service again, but why the hell should you have to do that?  Complete retarded.

Something else that has ALREADY annoyed me with Win 7 is what happens when you right click an icon in the taskbar now (yes, I set my taskbar to look like a traditional Windows taskbar, I fucking hate the shitty stupid little tard-icons that come defualt with complete lack of window description next to them.  How useless is that?)

Ok, you right click on the taskbar item and you get the box with the program name, the useless “Pin this program…” and the Close Window option.  Where the fuck is move?  If you right click the program name as I did above, it’s not there either.

So, what happens when you inevitibly lose a program off the side of your monitor now?  You can’t get it moved back on to your screen? (This happens a lot with dual monitor setups and if you remote in to the computer, or change resolutions).  Awesome Microsoft, way to continue on your path of REMOVING features from your Operating Systems.

And one more annoyance… this auto windows snap feature has already driven me crazy.  Now, I’m not sure if you can disable this or not as I haven’tsearched yet, but let me describe this to you.

Say you have a window up that you either just need to see a part of, or need to monitor but still remain visible, so you want to just slide it mostly off screen to see the edge.  This is something I do ALL the time.  But if you do it in Windows 7, look what happens:

Here I tried to place a 7-zip windows on the edge of the screen, and this little halo box forms… wtf?

So you let go of the mouse button thinking your window is going to stay where you put it, then BAM

The window is now taking up HALF YOUR FUCKING SCREEN!!!!

Oh genius Microsoft, just pure fucking genius right there.  How could they implement something so annoying and frustrating?

You know, a bit ago I wrote about how there is nothing wrong with Vista and I still maintain that position.  Vista is a fine OS, and while it has it’s share of annoying dumb-down “features”, it is still plenty useable.  I have not had any issues with Vista and I think it is a great OS.  This Windows 7 shit is really bugging me though.  I mean, I’ve only been using it for a few hours, and I am already feeling very annoyed by it, and finding that these annoyances are already out-weighing any advantages.  So far the only improvement over Vista I have seen is faster boot times.  That’s it.  I can’t tell a single other thing Windows 7 does better then Vista.

I for one will probably not bother to worry a whole lot about going from Vista to 7.  When I build a new machine, I’ll most likely go with 7 just to stay current, but I really do not see my self upgrading my current Vista installs to 7.  There is just nothing new and demanding in it to make it worth the shit load of hours it’d take to reinstall, and set everything up again, and dealing with it’s complete ignorant design decisions from the Microsoft bureaucracy.

Good luck with 7 Microsoft, you’re going to really need it. (Or maybe you won’t, because I bet the media will swing from 7’s nuts and call it the best thing since sliced bread… much the opposite they did to Vista by ignorantly bashing it every single chance they got.  I hate media outlets, seriously hate them, that’s a rant for another day though.)