How does this work?

Even if your computer doesn’t have hardware virtualization, you can still install XP Mode but just cannot run it as you can’t run Virtual PC.  Enter VMware Player.  This free program lets you create and run virtual machines, whether or not you have hardware virtualization.  And, it can directly import XP Mode so you can use that copy of XP for free.  A couple features are different, but it’s still a great replacement since you otherwise couldn’t use it at all.

Note: XP Mode does not work on Home Versions of Windows 7 and you’ll need VMware Player 3.0

Getting Started

First, download and install XP Mode (link below). There is no need to download Virtual PC if your computer cannot run it, so just download the XP Mode from the link on the left.

Install XP mode; just follow the default prompts as usual.

Now, download and install VMware player.  The download is free, but requires registration.

You may see some prompts about installing drivers; simply approve them.  We didn’t see them on our latest test, but have in the past.  When you are finished installing VMware Player, you will have to restart your computer.

Add XP Mode to VMware Player

Now that your computer is rebooted, run VMware Player.  We can import XP Mode by clicking File, then click “Import Windows XP Mode VM.”

VMware Player will simply start importing your XP Mode.  Converting XP mode to VMware format may take a couple minutes depending on your hardware, so just be patient.

When this is done, you should see a new virtual machine in VMware Player called XP Mode!  Click “Play Virtual Machine” to run XP Mode.

XP will run through it’s first-run setup process.

While it is loading, you may be prompted to install or update VMware Tools.  This is required to integrate XP Mode into your computer, so click Update Tools or Install Tools depending on you situation.

The tools will automatically download and install, though you may have to approve an UAC prompt.

Now you can proceed with your XP setup.  Accept the license agreement,

Choose your locale and keyboard settings

Enter a name for the virtual machine and an administrative password

And enter the correct date, time, and timezone.  It usually gets the correct time and date from your computer itself, but the time zone is often incorrect.

XP will now finalize your changes, and then reboot.

When XP Mode restarts, choose your settings for updates.

Windows may ask to search for drivers.  Simply press cancel, as VMware Tools will contain everything we need.

After a short delay, you should see your XP desktop in VMware Player!

There’s one last thing that needs to be installed – VMware Tools.  This should automatically open in XP Mode; if not, click Start, then My Computer, and finally double-click on the CD drive which should say VMware Tools.

Now, simply run the Tools installer with the Typical setup type, and reboot the XP Mode when it’s finished.

Now VMWare is setup and we’re ready to start integrating it with Windows 7.

Integrate XP Mode in VMware Player with Windows 7

The real advantage of the default XP Mode in Windows 7 is that the XP programs are fully integrated with their Windows 7 counterparts.  You can run them seamlessly with other programs, copy between them, and even open and save files to the same folders.

Let’s set this up in VMware.  Copy and paste from Windows 7 to XP Mode in VMware is activated by default.  To use your XP programs seamlessly with Windows 7, click VM on the top of the VMware window, and click “Enter Unity.”

You can easily access any program or file in XP mode through a dedicated XP Mode Start Menu.  When you hover over your Windows 7 Start button, a new button called “Windows XP Mode” will above it.  Click there to access a full start menu from XP Mode right in Windows 7.

Here is an IE 6 window from XP running side-by-side with IE 8 in Windows 7, thanks to VMware Player!

By default, the virtualized windows will have a border and the VMware logo on their edge.

To remove this logo, click VM in the VMware player window, then settings.  Click on the Options tab, and choose Unity on the left.  Now uncheck the boxes that say “Show borders” and “Show badges.”

Without having the VMWare borders and badges give everything a more authentic XP Mode look and feel.

You can even use removable devices, such as flash drives, in XP Mode in VMware Player.  Whenever you connect a new device to your computer, VMware will remind you that you can add it to XP Mode.

Simply click VM, then Removable Devices.  Select your device name, and click Connect.

Save Files in XP Mode to My Documents in Windows 7

By default, files created in XP Mode in VMware Player will be saved inside the virtual machine.  It’s more convenient if they’re saved directly to the My Documents folder in Windows 7, so let’s change this.  Click VM, then Settings.  Click the Options tab, and then choose Shared Folders on the left.  Now click the bullet for “Always enabled” and check the box for “Map as a network drive in Windows guests.”

Now click Add at the bottom of that window.  This will let us add a shared folder.

Let’s add the My Documents folder from Windows 7.  Click Browse, and then select your My Documents folder.  Click Ok, and then click Next.

Make sure the box is checked that says “Enable this share” and then click Finish.  You can now close the settings window as well.

Back in XP Mode, click Start, then right click on My Documents, and select Properties.

Click Move to find the new My Documents folder.

Find the folder we just shared from Windows 7 by clicking My Computer, then the drive that says “Shared Folders on ‘vmware-host’” or something similar.  Now select the folder we shared, Documents, and click Ok.

Click Ok in the main properties window.  It may offer to copy the files from your old My Documents folder to the new one; choose Yes to make sure you have all of your documents in Windows 7.

Now, whenever you go to save a file in XP Mode, it will automatically save in your My Documents folder on Windows 7.  You can repeat the same process for any folder you wish, such as your My Pictures and My Music folders.

Conclusion

That’s all … now you have your full XP Mode running on your computer without hardware virtualization.  Almost all the same features are there; the only thing you’re missing is the Start Menu integration, but VMware’s menu is the next best thing. In our tests using VMware worked as good or better as actual XP Mode on a machine that supports hardware virtualization. If you’re frustrated that the Windows 7 machine(s) you have don’t support XP Mode, using our VMware method works, and allows you to use it on whatever machine you want.

Thanks to How-To Geek for this great guide.

“Q2 [of FY 2011] is going to be the quarter when Fermi is hitting the full stride. It will not just be one Fermi product, there will be a couple of Fermi products to span many different price ranges, but also the Fermi products will span GeForce Quadro and Tesla. So, we are going to be ramping now on Fermi architecture products through Q2 and we are building a lot of it. I am really excited about the upcoming launch of Fermi and I think it will more than offset the seasonality that we usually see in Q2,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia, during the most recent conference call with financial analysts.

Earlier the head of Nvidia said that the company would ramp up production of Fermi-based chips in Q1 FY2011. Nvidia’s first quarter of fiscal year 2011 began on the 31^st of January, 2010, and will likely end on the 30^th of April, 2010; the Q2 of FY 2011 will last from May till late July, 2010. At present many observers suggest that Nvidia will launch the GeForce GTX 470 and GTX480 graphics cards in March or April, but it looks like the products will not be available in truly mass quantities right after the launch.

Nvidia’s chief executive officer did not provide any concrete timeframes for the transition of the whole lineup to the new Fermi architecture, but said that since the owners of mainstream and entry-level graphics cards hardly demand new functionality, it is not crucial for Nvidia to update currently available “fabulous” graphics chips. In addition, the speed of the transition depends on the supply of 40nm chips by TSMC.

“All of that just depends on 40 nm supply and we are trying to finesse it the best we possibly can. For the entry-level products, the truth is that the new architectures […] are probably not extremely well appreciated anyhow. People, who buy the new architectures, tend to be early adopters and they tend to be the game enthusiasts, workstation designers or creative artists or – there are very specific reasons why it really enhances their experience. Our current-generation GPUs are fabulous and all the things that mainstream consumers would use their computer for. […] I think the mainstream GPUs are really fabulous and has been enhanced recently with some really great features and so my sense is that they are going to continue to do quite nicely in the marketplace. Then we will just transition as fast as we can,” said Mr. Huang.

In the fourth quarter of FY 2010 Nvidia posted revenue of $982.5 million. Sales of GPUs accounted for 58.3% of sales, or $572.9 million.

Hold onto your butts, kids, we’ve got a doozy of a story. Let’s take this one slow: a class-action lawsuit has been filed in Pennsylvania accusing the Lower Merion school district of “unauthorized, inappropriate and indiscriminate remote activation” of webcams in laptops issued to students, without prior knowledge or consent. The tale begins when Assistant Principal Lindy Mastko of Harriton High School informed a student that he was “engaged in improper behavior in his home”; the suit alleges that when pressed for details, Mastko told both the boy and his father that the school district could remotely activate the webcam — a capability that is apparently being used.

The school district has yet to respond to the accusations, so at this point we’ve only got the plaintiff’s side of the story — for all we know this kid took a picture of himself and somehow accidentally uploaded it on the school network. Then again, some purported Lower Merion students just emailed Gizmodo and claimed that their MacBooks’ green webcam lights went on at random times, but they were told by IT support that it was just a technical glitch. Holy alleged invasion of privacy, Batman, this could get mighty interesting. PDF of the complaint available below.

Update: The Lower Merion School District superintendent Christopher McGinley has issued an official response on its website, acknowledging “a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops.” Going further, he says the district “ has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever” but that the matter is “under review.”

Enable Windows Firewall

The first step to increasing your computer’s security is to enable Windows Firewall.   If your Windows XP Operating System has the SP2 update installed already, it is most likely that the Windows Firewall is turned on. New Vista installations will also be on by default. However, some

computer manufactures or system administrators will turn this feature off. So, check to make sure that it is turned on for the moment. Here’s how:

1. Go to Start>> Control Panel>> Security Center>> Windows Firewall
2. Make sure that the “On” radio button is ticked (see right image ).

Install Anti-Virus Software

If you have already purchased Anti-Virus software and have the disc available, go ahead and load that on to your new system at this time. If you do not have any Anti-Virus software, please proceed with the next step. Don’t worry, I’ll get you hooked up with a good Anti-Virus software that you can download for free! But, first things first…let’s continue.  If you’re not sure which software is for you, check out our recent article on popular anti-virus software.

Install All Windows Updates

After it is certain that your Windows Firewall is activated, go to the Windows update site (link below) and install all available updates for your Operating System. Follow all “recommended” procedures when using the Windows Update site.

http://www.windowsupdate.com/

OK, so now your system is equipped with all of the latest security patches and updates right? Great job! Now, if you had already installed your Anti-Virus software, go ahead and go to the manufactures web site and download the latest security files available for your version.

If you did not have Anti-Virus software, then I highly recommend AVG. I have used it for years with great success. Here’s the link:

http://free.avg.com/us-en/download?prd=afe

Install Anti-Spyware Software

Once your Anti-Virus software is installed, updated and running, this is a good time to go ahead and install two Anti-Spyware utilities. The two that I recommend are:

• Adaware SE
• Spybot Search and Destroy

Install a good Firewall

Lastly, let’s get you in to an excellent Firewall that is much better protection than the Windows XP Firewall. I recommend ZoneAlarm. I have used ZoneAlarm for many years and it has never let me down. It also has a free version that is very adequate!  Here’s the link:

Free ZoneAlarm Firewall

Once you have ZoneAlarm installed and running, you can go ahead and turn off your Windows XP Firewall. It is not necessary to have them both running and in some cases, they may conflict and cause you some problems. You are protected with ZoneAlarm…it’s OK.

Update and Use

When configured properly, AVG and ZoneAlarm will update themselves whenever a new update is released. If for some reason they do not update themselves, Windows will tell you that there is an update available for your product with a security shield that will reside in your taskbar until the update is installed.

The Spyware scanners (mentioned above) will not automatically notify you of available updates. You will have to actually click the “check for updates” link prior to running a system scan.

In closing, many people have different idea’s about security and what products to use for protection. I am merely sharing with you the products that I use and that have proven very effective against all Internet threats. Granted, my surfing habits are very good and I don’t go looking for trouble, but sometimes, it comes looking for you and this is why I keep all of these products running and updated.

Hardware

The first (and probably most important) thing you’ll want to look at is the computer you’re considering upgrading.  We’ll look at hardware first.  The minimum system requirements for Windows 7 are a 1GHz processor, 1GB of memory (RAM) and 16GB of free space on your hard drive (don’t forget to leave room for your other programs!).

Now that doesn’t sound like a lot, but keep in mind… those are the absolute minimum requirements.  Personally, I wouldn’t upgrade if the computer had anything less than a single-core 2GHz processor in it.  But that’s me.

If you are having trouble finding the hardware specifications of your computer, click on Start -> Right-Click on My Computer -> Click Properties, and around the bottom-center of that window should be all the information you need.

Software

The next thing you’ll want to look at is your software.  Is all of it compatible with Windows 7?  A lot of people are running older programs that barely run on Windows XP, that you may have problems getting them to run on Windows 7.  If you are using Windows Vista, as a general rule, all of the programs you are using should work on Windows 7.

The most important software you are going to have to look at is your operating system.  If you computer is currently running anything made before Windows XP, you will want to consider buying a new computer… maybe even one with Windows 7 already installed.

If you do have Windows XP, you may want to consider the same thing.  If it is an older XP computer, chances are you will have to upgrade it to have Windows 7 run the way it should.  You can install Windows 7 over Windows XP, the only problem is you can’t run the ‘upgrade’ option when you go to install it.  What you’ll have to do is back up all your data… your pictures, music, documents, Quickbooks database files, etc… and run the ‘Custom Installation’.  The downside to this, is even though you backed up all of your data, you will have to reinstall your printers, scanners, programs, etc.  All of that will be lost.

If you’re lucky enough to be running Vista, you have it easy. Personally, I feel all Vista computers should be upgraded to Windows 7.  Not only will you see a HUGE speed increase and increase the ease of use, you’ll also get the additional features that Windows 7 has that Windows Vista doesn’t.  To upgrade, all you’ll have to do is pop in the install CD and follow the prompts.

Things to Look For

The single best thing you can do before you buy any software at all, is use the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. This will tell you what you need to do to upgrade your operating system to Windows 7.

Do You Recommend Upgrading?

Yes.  Plain and simply, yes.  I am a huge fan of Windows 7.  Its the best thing since Windows XP.  If you have the money for it, and your computer can handle it… upgrade.

One of the most common questions I get from nearly everyone who knows I’m into computers is ‘What is the best anti-virus program out there?’.  Unfortunately, this is not as simple of a response as people usually want.  Besides the fact that there are two major categories, it usually depends on what you’re looking to get out of your anti-virus software.

For the most part, you basically have two main categories; free and commercial.  I am a big advocate of the phrase ‘You get what you pay for’ with anti-virus programs, however the couple good free programs there are out there are fairly decent.

To start off the free category, we have AVG Anti-Virus free edition. It doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles that the paid version comes with, but it definitely does the job. By default, the application is set to search for new virus definitions daily, but you always can use the scheduling tool to change this. Should a virus create serious system problems, AVG creates a rescue disk to scan your computer in MS-DOS mode. The program doesn’t tax your system when scanning or when running in the background and always proved effective in our tests. The new interface is much easier to navigate than in previous version, with tabbed navigation on the left assisting users in drilling down to the tools they need.

Most people want antivirus software they can install and forget and BitDefender does just that! In less than a half an hour, you can download, install, follow the prompts, re-boot your system and voilá, you’re protected and can forget about viruses, trojans, spyware, worms, and malware. Nobody wants to spend time tweaking antivirus software when they could otherwise be getting work done or watching the latest videos on Youtube. We all want protection without the effort or expense and now we can have our cake and eat it too.

One of the best advancements in the latest version of BitDefender has been the increase in scanning speed. Softwin makes BitDefender capable of logging when files were last accessed, and if a clean file hasn’t been used since the last scan, BitDefender skips it. This has made scans much faster than they used to be, which is nice because scan speeds were BitDefender’s prior weakness.

When I first started looking at Norton 360, all I could think about was what I didn’t like about the program; writing this review wasn’t easy. I consider myself to be an advanced user, so I often have a critical view of software that doesn’t give me the ability to configure every aspect of the product the way that I want it to run. After thinking about it again, I realized that I wasn’t the target audience for Norton 360. In this next generation of its protection software, Symantec has redesigned Norton 360 to be an install-and-forget security suite for the average home user.

This approach is a good one. With the increasing number of threats appearing every day, not having protection software on your PC is like leaving the door to your house open and all your valuables laid out for the taking. Although most people know that they should install protection on their PCs, the problem is which one to choose and then how to configure it so that it gives maximum security. Often, people opt for multiple solutions to help protect their PCs. But even with all that software installed, you still have to remember to launch it at least once a week, get the latest updates, and then scan your PC for issues.

Kaspersky Labs has been one of the best antivirus software developers in the world for over a decade and now Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 only strengthens that reputation. Founded by Natalia and Eugene Kaspersky in 1997, this Russian company is often the first to find and identify new viruses. Long used in Russia and Europe, Kaspersky is now making inroads in the North American market. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 is one of the most effective antivirus packages in the world today and boasts a great interface with easy to use and intuitive controls.