Cybertopia

How to Dual Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.04

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:52:00 +0000

Finally, it’s done. Ever since I installed Windows 7, I couldn’t dual boot with Ubuntu, which was quite a frustration for me. But when Jaunty Jackalope sprang out in beta, the endless search for a tutorial how to do it finished. And Wubi doesn't work in Windows 7. (yet)
So this is how it’s done:

Step 1: You need a PC with Windows 7 installed. Preferably build 7057 or better.

Step 2: Download the beta of Ubuntu 9.04 ( Jaunty Jackalope) from www.ubuntu.com and burn it on a CD. (click here to start downloading).You can download from a direct link, or a torrent. My advice is to use a torrent client, since if your internet connection goes down or anything else goes wrong you will be able to continue the download. (click here to download the torrent file).

Step 3: Insert the burned CD (or DVD) into the computer and restart. The point is to boot from the CD (again, or DVD). (currently only CDs are available, but once the final release is out, there'll be DVDs here)

Step 4: After you have booted in Ubuntu double click the Install Icon on Desktop.

Step 5: And the standard procedure begins:

First choose language. English is default. Click "Forward".

Now choose time zone. Click "Forward".

Next is my favorite, the keyboard input layout.

And after you click Forward, the magic begins. Previous Ubuntu Editions (8.10 and below) couldn’t discover that there’s another OS on the computer, Jaunty Jackalope recognizes Windows 7 as Windows Vista, and although it doesn't do justice to Windows 7, that'll do just fine.

You can see the partitioner scanning the hard drives, on the screenshot below, checking for space and another OS.

Step 6: When the partitioner is done you can choose how much space from the disk you want for your Ubuntu. (This means that both OS will be on the same partition, so when in Windows you won’t be able to see the part of it where Ubuntu is installed, because the Windows partition will be shrunk).

In order to do so check “Install them side by side, choosing between them on each startup”.

And now you can drag the black separator with the mouse on the line to specify the space you want to be cut from the partition for Ubuntu. After you do that click "Forward".

And I don’t have anymore screenshots, because I’m an idiot, but don’t worry.

There’s not much to do, except wait.
Once you click Forward, the partitioner will first ask you if you are sure that you want to execute the specified actions, and it will warn you that two partitions will be formated. One primary partition for Ubuntu and a Swap partition. (The Windows partitions is "sda1", so the partitions that will be formated will be marked as "sda2/3/4/5...", or other numbers depending on the number of hard disks you have).

You can click Forward on that window too. Those two partition will be created from your OS drive, while the rest of the data on the drive will remain intact. This means a lot of waiting if your Windows partition is not well fragmented. I repeat you might wait for an entire hour or even more just for the partitioner to finish creating the partitions. While the installing of the system will be quite fast.

After the installing will finish, the computer will restart, (it might ask you to remove the CD first, I don’t remember.)

After the first reboot, the Grub Loader will make Ubuntu as the default OS. You can change this by following instructions, provided here. (if instructions are not provided it means I haven't written them yet)

Note 1: It is advisable to back up all important data, at least on your OS disk. Although screw ups are not expected, you just never know (that's why back up exist, for things we might not excpect).

Note 2: It's OK that the installer says Windows Vista, like I said Ubuntu "thinks" that Windows 7 is Windows Vista (so not true).

Note 3: Just once more, after step 6, when the partitioner will start creating the partitions for Ubuntu, during all time the progress bar might remain at 0%, but don't worry eventually it will finish.

Note 4: Windows 7 is in beta, Ubuntu 9.04 is in beta too (at least in the next 2 or 3 weeks). It is not recommended to install beta OSs as primary OS on your computer.

On a side note: I now am a proud owner of a machine running on two beta OSs, no crashes, no errors, no BSDs.

Take care.

Windows 7 RC1 in Screenshots

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Rumor has it that in mid April this year Microsoft will start shipping the first release candidate of the much praised Windows 7. Other roumer has it that the first RC is the leaked build 7057. Anyhow here are some screenshots of the last build, which is 7057, to get a glimpse of the look and feel of the new mMicrosoft wonder. It's not an in-depth review, just a couple of screenshots focused on the visual.

This is the standard Aero Flip introduced in Vista.

The new Aero Peek feature in action.

In this build Alt+Tab also features Aero Peek, which wawsn't the case in the previous Windows 7 builds.

The Control Panel showing all items.

The desktop context menu. Notice the new "Screen Resolution" and "Gadgets" entries.

This is the same theme color changer. But on this screenshots you can see the large icons on the new dock-like taskbar. (Which is quite awesome and functional, by the way). While on the screenshot below you can see the taskbar with small icons and the Star Menu with the new Start Button.

Gadgets floating on desktop without the sidebar. I am not a fan of desktop gadgets anyway, but losing the sidebar is great.

The jumplists, with the most recent open files. Interesting is you can pin files to the jumplist that you use more often. Or folders you open on a regular base can also be pined to the jumplist of the windows explorer icon.

This is the new "libriries" feature. Librires contain all the folders of your PC with similar content, and you can orginize them yuorself. For example you can place folders from different partitions in the picture library for fast access, while physicaly the folders are still in their original locations. Some sort of shortcuts you might say.

Go To Page 2 =>

Windows 7 RC1 in Screenshots

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:11:00 +0000

The notificatoin area, and cosumizing for it.

Show Desktop icon is not an icon now, but the end of the taskbar, where if you float with the mouse pointer yo get all windows transparent (Aero Peek), and clicking on at the end of the taskbar, minimizes all windows and sjows the desktop.

Snaping windows by draging them to the edge of the screen. Draging to the left or right expands the windows to half of the screen, while draging to the top maximizes the window.

The Snipping tool, for capturing the screen or parts of it in action (taking screenshots).

Solitaire. Nothing new, just few more backgrounds and I had to post it because it's the first game everybody plays.

A little closer look of the Start Menu.

Sticky Notes.

Taskbar Properties.

The action center, which replaces the Security center.

The new calculator.

Desktop Slideshow.

Windows Paint with the new ribbon interface, and below is Wordpad.

Windows explorer.

You can find the wallpaper here, as many other Windows 7 wallpapers too.

<= Back To Page 1

And This is How you Do It!

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:38:00 +0000

So, it' Thursday, March 19 and Internet Explorer is shipping today. What a happy day, for those testing Windows 7, since I am working for a week now without IE on my PC, not just IE8, but no IE in general. I don't want to be like one of those Microsoft bashers because Windows 7 rocks, but Internet Explorer is like the slowest, the most insecure browsers currently on the market. And this is how you turn it off and remove it, in Windows 7 Beta at least.

1. Open Computer>Uninstall or Change Program>Turn Windows Features On or Off

2. This is the Default state of optional Windows features. As you can see IE8 is checked.

3. IF you want to remove Internet Explorer 8 you unchecked. And since I don't use Windows Media Center and don't have a Tablet PC I unchecked those features as well.

And then you click OK.

And after two restarts (depends on what you unchecked) you have a n Internet Explorer Free PC.
That's How you Do It!

Check out the new Windows 7 Wallpapers

Foxit 3.0

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:24:00 +0000

Just a quick not on Foxit 3.0.
From freeware to adware.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Screenshots

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:37:00 +0000

Adobe Photoshop CS4

The all new Photoshop CS4 (version 11.0) is out, and it looks amazing. The interface is Mac-like (even on Vista), grey and elegant and more important it's very flexible. Now you can open files in tabs in one window, and other files in another window, or just simple one window one file.

The most important feature though is the GPU acceleration, so on graphic cards with at least 128 MB of RAM--and a display driver that supports OpenGL 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0 Photoshop CS4 will run much faster and much smoother. The start up of the program is noticable faster, and also the rendering of aplied filters on higher resolutions.

When Ubuntu hangs in Initramfs...

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:58:00 +0000

If you dual-boot, and windows crashes, or there's a power failure and you try to boot in Ubuntu next, the boot will hang in "initramfs tools". And there's not much you can do with this tools.
The only way to start in Ubuntu again is to:
-boot in Windows
-Start>Shut Down
-Power Button>Ubuntu

In other words, you need to boot in Windows and do a proper Shut Down of the system.

Pushing Daisies -The Comic Book

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:38:00 +0000

For everybody that love the show, and can't wait for the newe episodes this fall, here's the Pushing Daisies Comic Book in pdf. Click the image to download it.

Pushing Daisies

How to install the Stackswitch plugin on Ubuntu Hardy

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:43:00 +0000

Today after many hours of trying I finally installed the stackswitch plugin for Compiz Fusion on Ubuntu 8.04. The fianl result was disapointing, at least for me, because I didn't really like it, but for anyone that's open to new experiences, go a head!

First what you need to do is install Compiz Fusion from Git source. In order to do this follow this instructions.
Note: first uninstall the previous version of compiz, then follow the instructions.
Note 2: the installation takes a while, so when the terminal goes crazy, just leave it, it'll finish eventually.
Note 3: Restart the Computer
Note 4: in order to run Compiz Fusion Icon on start up go to System>Preferences>Sessions and add another item for Compiz.

After you successfully installed Compiz Fusion from git, it's time to install the stackswitch plugin. (Other experimental plugins will be installed, but on Hardy the stackswitch requires additional setup)

1.Open a terminal and write this command to download the nescessery files:

This will create a folder in your home folder named "stackswitch"

2. Go to the folder typing:

Remember to replace "username" with.... your username.

3. Then type the following lines one by one (once you are in the stackswitch folder)

4. Reload the window manager, and Stack Switch Plugin will appear in Settings Manager under Windows management.

Now you can use the plug in. Although I appreciate more the cube deformation.

Screenshots of stackswitch, sphere, cilindar and the snow plug in.

My favorite, the Sphere. You can set it as screensaver under the screensaver plugin. (Flying windows are available as screensaver too).

The Cilindar (is this spelt correctly? Spellcheck gives me Celinda as alternative):

Snow. You're gonna love this.

The Stackswitcher.

Evolution of Continents

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:05:00 +0000

A short video I made out of 14 pictures, depicting the movement of the continents through the ages.

Digg's Duplicate Detection System

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:50:00 +0000

You just gotta love it, I usually don't pay much attention to the duplicate stories, but this just widens your eyes.

How to remove Vundo/Virtumonde trojan?

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:17:00 +0000

I got burned by this motherf**king (sorry for the language) trojan twice. The first time the explorer was quiting everytime I opened a folder and no antivirus was able to detect it. I tried Vundofix, VirtumondeBegone, HiJackThis etc. I even reinstalled the OS, but the trojan was persistent. After two days a message appeared offering a "help" (paid help of course), I ran Kaspersky then, and I got rid of it.
The second time I fried the motherfu**ing b**tard's as* (again, sorry for the bad english) much easier and faster.

THE SOLUTION

What you need is SpybotS&D (Search and Destroy). It's freeware made to get rid of adware. You can download it here. You can choose the beta version or a stable release which is recomended.

Install Spybot, and update it. Then run it and scan your computer. This will take a while. After it's finished look carefully if any of the results is actually something you need (which I doubt it, but if anyone is using cracked OS, the crack might be on the list). Select the Vundo or Virtumonde entry and click Fix Selected Items. Now Spybot will get rid of most Virtumonde/Vundo entries, but some will be unable to.
That's where Spybot will ask you if you want to run Spybot at startup. Choose Yes or OK, I don't remember which was it, and restart your computer.
After restarting only Spybot will run and start checking for problems again. (This is the waiting part which could be about 30 minutes. And again after finishing click Fix Selected Items, but this time since no other program is running Spybot will remove the Vundo/Virtumonde trojan.
Choose Exit from the menu bar and Windows will start.

And that is how it's done.

If any questions, comment. I'll try to help. if it works please do tell, again.

How to fix the rc.local problem on Ubuntu Hardy

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:37:00 +0000

(When rc.local hangs at boot)

I installed Hardy Heron (dual boot with Vista) and it was working fine with the nvidia-glx-new drivers (8500 GT). But the TV-out didn't work or I don't know how to set it up and I installed Envyng, and from than on everything got messed up. The system would boot to the point where the rc.local script runs (which is unedited) than hang and boot in low-res. I uninstalled envy and reinstalled the drivers from synaptic but it still didn't work. Booting in recovery mode only helps the current session, or you would have to boot in recovery mode always, but the desktop effects will be pour. THE SOLUTION IS THIS:

1. First uninstall Envy, nvidia-glx and nvidia-glx-new. (there's a chance you might need to remove compiz too, but first try it like this)
2. Download the latest NVIDIA drivers for Linux. (here's a download link, or visit nvidia.com and download the driver from there)
3. After downloading NVIDIA-Linux-x86-173.08-pkg1.run you need to install it. This is actually the fix, installing this beta driver. How to install it:
-save the file in a folder (Ex. Documents), but remember or write down the path to that folder (/home/username/Documents)
-exit the X enviroment Ctrl+Alt+FF2
-login again and use this lines one by one:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

cd /home/username/Document

(Note: you can use any folder to save the file as long as you know how to get to it, this is an example. Just make sure the file is in that folder. BTW this is not a line just a note don't write this)

sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-173.08-pkg1.run

(Accept everything, even if it seems to complicated, all you need to do is select Yes and OK)

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

sudo reboot

That's it, your computer will restart, and you will need to adjust the resolution, choose the model of your screen and fix here and there something but the main problem will be fixed. For example with me at first the windows were incomplete, but after I chose driver, screen and screen resolution in Screen and Graphics it fixed the problem)

How to Dual Boot Windows Vista and Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)?

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:56:00 +0000

After the release of the new LTS Ubuntu edition dual booting has never been made easier for windows users. Ever heard of installers? Yeah, it’s sarcasam. So, in Ubuntu 8.04 the Wubi installer makes it possible to install Ubuntu inside Windows and dual boot them. However this is recommended for Ubuntu beginners to experience Ubuntu more closely, once you get to work your way through Ubuntu you can remove the windows installation or uninstall Ubuntu and reinstall it in a regular dual boot procedure in order to get the best performance. The advantage of this kind of installation is that the boot is managed by Windows Boot Manager, and makes it easy to remove Ubuntu if you ever decide it’s not for you. So here is the procedure:

Boot in Windows, insert the Ubuntu CD and wait for the Auto Start window (if Autostart is disabled, go to Computer and double-click the CD/DVD drive.)

Choose Install Inside Windows.

In the next window choose the Drive where you want Ubuntu installed, Language, the size of the installation (how much space should ubuntu use from the specified hard disk), wirte down Username (all in lower case) and Password.

Now click Install

And your job is done here, the next few steps are automated and Ubuntu does them itself.

After it creates image of the files, the CD eject itself and a window appears which asks to reboot.

Click Finish.

The machine will boot up and Windows Boot Manager will ask which OS you want to boot in, choose Ubuntu.

Your computer will start in Ubuntu after it takes a couple of minutes to actually install the files and after another restart you can start working in Ubuntu.

That’s it! Just like installing a program. If you want to uninstall Ubuntu go to Programs and Features or to the folder Ubuntu in the drive where ubuntu is installed and click uninstall.

Note: You can access windows files on the hard disk where you installed Ubuntu in Filesystem>host.

For a regular dual boot installation read How To Dual Boot Vista and Gutsy Gibbon

New Ultimate Extras Available.

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:22:00 +0000

As from yesterday there are three new Ultimate Extras features available in Windows Update for the Vista Ultimate users.

There are two new sound schmese for Windows
-Ultimate Extra Glass
-Ultimate Extra Pearl
I can't really say which is better, because both have some good and bad in them. For example Pearl has minimize/restore sound, but Glass doesn't. Glass has also pretty weird explorer navigation sounds, but some might like it. Glass has better logg off/exit sounds, and a new Empty Recycle Bin sound. If they could just make a mix of these two...

There are also three new Dreamscenes available. (Dreamscene Content pack#3)
here are some screenshots. (You can use them as wallpapers).

The Dripping Green Leaf is my favorite and I am currently using it.

Dripping Ice

Autumn Leaves

More Dreamscenes for Download

Windows Explorer Restarts

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:26:00 +0000

In this post I am asking for a little help. A virus got to my computer and although I removed it, the windows explorer quits after I open a folder, any folder (sometimes it restarts, sometimes it doesn't so I restart it from Run).
I tried Hijack This, Spybot, and other spyware removal tools, but nothing works.
In system32 there's a file called iifDvwvw.dll, it's installed as a helper object in Internet Explorer, but it's impossible to remove it even in Safe Mode. (Also I tried to remove it with spyware removal tools). Deleting doesn't work because it says that "the file is opened in another program".

So can anyone who runs Vista Ultimate SP1, copy their explorer.exe (C:/Windows/explorer.exe) zip it and send me the file to slave3001@yahoo.com. Or uploaded somewhere and give me a link?

Pleeeease?

Blogger in Draft

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:54:00 +0000

What is Blogger in Draft?

Blogger in Draft is the regular Blogger, just few months in the future.
you can log in Draft Blogger by typing draft.blogger.com in the address bar, not just blogger.com.
When you log in you'll notice that the Blogger logo is over a bluprint background, and that's how you'll know it's blogger in draft.

What Blogger in Draft actually does is letting you use some features that are still tested and will be available in some time in the future.

Subscribe To
One of the best things is the Subscription gadget, which frees you from looking through the internet for HTML codes for diffrent widgets and stuff.

Another feature that looks great is The Sheduled Posting, which means that you can save a post in a draft and shedule it to post whenever you like by itself. So if you have a bigger story , you can split it in parts, save it in drafts and shedule them to be published one by one. Just remember that the order of the drafts should be reversed. (The last part of the story should be saved first and so on.)

Blog List
The Blogroll gadget also looks great and it's very functional. You can add your favorite blogs, or other of your blogs and this gadget will link to them showing the most recent posts.

Search Box
Another gadget that you can't find in the regular Blogger is Search Box. It can be set to search through your blog only, blog and web, or your blogs and the pages you are linked to.

Add Gadget
And finaly I think the most useful thing is that you can search through all gadgets available in Google Code, right from the window that pops up when you click Add Page Element, which in Blogger in Draft is renamed to Add a Gadget. You can search through all gadgets or just one categorie.

So if you "feel adventuroue" try it out! Also you can see the official anouncment on Blogger Buzz or just scroll down below your blog list when you log in to Blogger.

Firefox 3 Vista and Xp Themes Review

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:00:00 +0000

On March 10 was released Beta 4 of Firefox 3, and unfortunately Vista-Aero my favorite theme for Firefox is still incompatible. The "Fast Download Video" is incompatible too, but I've given up from that add-on, and I started using Firefox 3 completely, and removed Firefox 2.
However, the new Firefox 3 Theme is excellent, I just love it, only remark would be that the Mozilla team isn't even near to mention a "New Tab Button" integrated with the browser, which would be great.
Now, the themes for XP and Vista. Personally I like the XP version much better and it's more interesting (the buttons are in green, blue, red), unlike Vista Firefox theme where all 4 navigational buttons are blue.
This would not be a problem if you can choose which theme you want to use, but at least with the last beta you are stuck with the theme according to your OS. If you have Vista it installs the Vista theme, if You have XP the XP theme is installed.

How to choose which theme if you run Windows Vista, it's quite easy in fact, if you want the XP themedo the following:

1. Right click on the Firefox 3 icon on your desktop, or quick launch
2. Select Properties
3. Click on the Compatibility tab
4. Check the box "Run in Compatibility Mode"
5. Click Apply

Now you can start Firefox 3 and it will run with the XP theme, if you change your mind just repeat the procedure but this time uncheck the Compatibility mode box.

I could've just said run Firefox 3 in compatibility mode for XP, but I thought hey, someone might not know how to do that.

(Ths is a temporary solution until the final release is out).

Here is a preview of both themes.

Vista Theme

XP Theme

Soundmax Integrated Audio Drivers for Vista 32-bit

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:56:00 +0000

So far on the internet it's almost impossible to find functional drivers for Soundmax Integrated Digital Audio for Windows Vista. Now what I have is not an installer file with the drivers, but a folder with the drivers back up. And it works! So here it is what you need to do:

1. Download the files from here (512 KB). Unzip them on Desktop (or anywhere you like), and you'll get a folder called "DriverBackup". In this folder there will be another one named "SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio", but this is unnecessary information.

2. Now you're gonna need a software called Driver Genius, and you can download a trial version here. A trial version is all you need. You need this software because it's the software I used to backed up my XP drivers before I upgraded to Vista. You can use this even if you have a clean installation of Vista.

3. Install Driver Genius, run it and use the function "Restore". When it asks about the location of the back up folder, just point to the folder called "DriverBackup", and it will automatically detect any drivers in it.
Note: DO NOT point to the folder inside, because it won't recognize the drivers.

4. Start the restoration of the driver, and when it finishes although it might not be necessery restart the computer. And that's it, now you should have audio. You can check in Device Manager, that you have a driver and a sound card. Unfortunately there are no updates to this driver so far.

Note: There's a possibility that Driver Genie won't work because it's the newest version. If so just look on the internet for an older version.

If you have any problems, comment and I'll try to help. Also if it works , let me and the others know.

Major Update: "no need for driver application just extract it and update the driver and set it to the folder". (I haven't test this , but slugrite says so in a comment)

Good News Everyone....

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:43:00 +0000

Vista SP1 is officially out!

This really is good news, trust me. I installed the update from a standalone package (450MB) and the difference is amazing. You don't even need a benchmark test, the system speeds up heavily.
I have Vista Ultimate with 1GB Ram, Intel Celeron 2.93Ghz and GPU 8500 GT 512 MB. Finally I can feel that my PC is breeding freely. Everythi9ng is faster, the start up, file transfering, opening windows, faster, faster, faster...
You can read more about the changes at TechNet.

Windows Vista Power Plans

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Yesterday by chance, I switched my power plan from "Balanced" to "Power Saver" (Personalize>Screen Saver>Change Power Settings...). I didn't do for any reason, just thought , hey let's change it!
But later that day, my PC started to slow down, I couldn't play a movie, everything worked glitchy, and there was this "brainwashing like" quiet, sound coming out, so I restarted the computer but it was still problematic.
By now the sound was really annoying, so I just shut down the system and went to bed. And there it hit me! The power plan change!
Today I set the power plan to "Performance".
I don't know if the Power Plan was the reason for my PC's problematic behavior, because as far as I know the Power Plans are different only by the time set for Display Shut Down and Sleep, however it's the only reason to explain it.

Windows Vista Ultimate DreamScene Videos

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:37:00 +0000

The Vista DreamScene feature comes only with Vista Ultimate. The DreamScene is a looped video that can be set as a desktop background. It's not pre-installed , but you have to go in Windows Update and install it along with the other Ultimate Extras (Hold 'em Pocker Game, BitLocker etc.). After you install it in Personalize>Desktop Background>Windows Dreamscene Videos, there's only one Dreamscene Video, the Vista Aurora Animated Video, which looks pretty good. Actually it's pretty much the best DreamScene video that you can find on the net. In the context menu on desktop there's one more option now, Play Dreamscene or Pause Dreamscene. This is handy, so you won't need to change the desktop to a regular image, when you 'll need to open a more graphic consuming application, you'll just pause the Dreamscene Background.

DreamScene Videos are played on the PC's video card so it's not messing up the entire system. However, you will need at least 1GB RAM and a video card with 256 MB memory. With this kind of configuration with bigger DreamScene Videos above 15 MB you will notice some slowing down and minimal stops. So I recommend that you use this feature with at least 2GB Ram and a newer graphic card (nVidia GF 7 or 8 and if you can allow yourself make it a 512MB graphics memory).
You can use any MPEG video as a dreamscene, but it's recommended that they are looped so you can't notice the starting over of the video.
So far Stardock, has the biggest gallery with dreamscene videos, and many of them are free. But in order to use them (which natively are in .Dream format) you will need Stardock's Dreamscape software (freeware).
I found a lot dreamscenes, in .Dream, but they are just converted .mpeg's or .avi's. You can convert video files to .Dreams with Stardock's DreamsMaker (freeware)

But my opinion is why do this, when you can use the original video files, without any extra software. Currently the .Dream format and Dreamscape aren't really necessary. However, Stardock soon will make Dreamscape work on the other versions of Vista too.

Well, if you have Vista Ultimate and adequate configuration I don't think that there are any reasons why not to use a live, dynamic desktop background.

Few days after you install Dreaqmscene, in Windows Update with Ultimate Extras there'll be more Dreamscenes for download.

Dreamscenes Video Downloads (mpeg and wmv)

Windows Vista Home Premium vs. Windows Vista Ultimate

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:43:00 +0000

I ran my machine (2.93GHz Intel, FX 5500 256MB, 1GB RAM) under Vista Home Premium for about 6 months and it was pretty cool, the reason why I didn't install the Ultimate version right away is because I didn't need the extra features that come with Ultimate (Fax, Ultimate Extras, BitLocker Encryption etc.). I pretty much striped the Home Premium version disabling all services and processes that I don't use (Tablet PC, Dial-up Modem service and others), in order to make it as fast as possible, but stil using the Windows Aero and 3D Flip features. Like this when no programs were runing (except Task Manager) I had 40 processes and the memory consumption was 55-60%.
Three days ago I upgraded to Windows Vista Ultimate, and I thought all I was getting was a new game, the Dreamscene feature, and Fax and Bitlocker which I don't use. Well guess what? I got a lot more!
In performance. Again I disabled all services I don't use and now I have 39 processes running and the memory consumption is always 38-40%.
So, my advice is if your spending money on Vista, don't spend it on anything else but Ultimate.

How To Remove The Grub Loader?

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:38:00 +0000

How to remove the Grub Loader after deleting Ubuntu?

OK, I know there isn't a legitimate reason to remove Ubuntu from a Vista dual boot, but I was low on hard disk space and I really needed it. Not good enough reason??? Well I just had to do it. Seriously, Ubuntu was all I expected, and it crossed many bridges in a very short time, in a year or two it will overcome Windows in performance , but not just yet.
So, here's what I did. I deleted the Ubuntu partition from the Vista Disk Managment Console and when I restarted the PC, the Windows wouldn't start because of a Grub Loader Error 17. Whatever.... If someone does this, here's how to fix it.

1.First you gonna need the Windows Vista Installation DVD.*
2.Boot from the DVD, choose the time zone and language (but make sure your keyboard supports the language, instead choose English and afterwards change it).
3.In the next window choose "Repair".
4.And than select Command Prompt.
5.In the Command Prompt Window write this lines one after another:

Bootrec/FixMbr
Bootrec/FixBoot
Bootrec/ScanOS
Bootrec/RebuildBCD

/xcopy bootmgr C:\

The result of each line might not be successful, but it doesn't matter, the first two lines are essential, (and maybe the 4th)and if they appear all right, write down the rest just in case.

*Actually what I needed first was the Ubuntu Live CD to connect to the internet and look for help. So here's also how to connect to internet (dsl connection) in Ubuntu:
1.Open a Terminal (in System>Accsesories)
2.Write sudo pppoeconf
3. A window will open asking a couple of questions, select YES to all, except when you are prompt about the username and password where logicaly you will write down your username (from your internet provider account) and the password.
4. Make sure when your asked at the end if you wanna connect to the internet NOW, also select YES.

Note: The Ubuntu Live CD might come in handy whenever you can't start your system. Just boot from it, access your Windows hard drives from there (in Places>Computer) and you can transfer any files you need to a Flash Drive or burn them on a CD/DVD. Or if you just want to check your e-mail, or surf the internet.

How to See non personalized Search Results?

sstojanoski@gmail.com (silfiriel) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:47:00 +0000

When you search through Google if you are constantly signed in, the search results that you will get are personalized, meaning that they are adjusted to your personal search and browsing history. So you can't really see the relevant results that you would get if you are not signed in. But signing out to see the non personalized results than signing back again is really annoying, so here's what you do.
1.Download and install some alternative browser like (Netscape, Safari, or any other that you don't normaly use. So if you are using Netscape or Safari download Firefox or IE).
2.Set Google as home page, and in Options>Privacy set the browser to clear all private data on Exit.

This is the best and easiest way to get relevant search results. All you need to do is run the browser and search.

You can test this by first searching while you are signed in, then start the other browser and search again. You'll see that the results are quite different.

There are other add-ons on the net for this , but this is by far simpler.