Windows 7 has now officially been out for more than 2 weeks and things are settling down now. Overall things have gone very smoothly not only for Windows 7 but also Microsoft with the opening of their new stores. However, as is with any new operating system release there are bound to be small hiccups, or in this case hanging during an upgrade.

The issue is that while a user is upgrading their machines from Windows Vista to Windows 7, the computer will hang at 62%.  The install at this point will then revert itself back to Windows Vista. While it is an extremely small percentage of people having this problem I am sure that many of them will appreciate knowing how to fix it.  Here is how to fix it according to Microsoft:

To resolve this problem yourself, follow these steps:

1. Restart the computer. Then, your computer will roll back to Windows Vista.
2. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.
3. On the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
4. Under System variables, click New.
5. Type MIG_UPGRADE_IGNORE_PLUGINS in the Variable name field.
6. Type IphlpsvcMigPlugin.dll in the Variable value field.
7. Click OK three times to close the dialog boxes.
8. Start the upgrade installation again.

Of course there is also the Microsoft Fix It utility that you can run and it will do all of this for you, download it here. The fix is in english but you can use it on any language version of Windows Vista. If your upgrade is freezing at a percentage other than 62% it is not related to this issue.

Check It Out> Microsoft

In the last week there have been an abundance of invites that have been sent out, many of which have been to friends of mine. Thankfully this helps to have active “Waves” with people I know. I admit that I have not been able to spend a lot of time with it, but I am having a hard time seeing where Google Wave fits into my life. Some of its features are intriguing and possibly revolutionary, but why would I make a point to use it beyond curiosity?

For those that are unfamiliar with what exactly Google Wave is here is a video that introduces it:

The concept is to basically have a threaded conversation with other people. The most interesting part is that you can see what other people are typing, as they type it. While this sounds interesting, it is most helpful to see just how many spelling errors other people make, which you then get to watch them correct, before they finish their message.  I can also see where this could get people into trouble who would normally have time to delete their comment before sending something that would get them in trouble.

Another thing that I dislike is that when you hit enter on your keyboard, it does not send the message.  There is however a handy little shortcut to accomplish this… Shift+Enter.  But that still makes me ask the question “Why do I need a shortcut to do this?”.

There are a few other little quirks with it that really make me wonder what is the point to it but the biggest thing that makes me not want to use it is the lack of a standalone application. I understand that Google wants the world to use their new “Operating System” aka Chrome, but I don’t want to have to keep a browser open all the time to know when I received a message in Wave.

I would love to hear other peoples feedback on Wave. Do you think this is something that has a future? Or is it just a cool piece of technology that will never have the Google Beta tag removed and will eventually fade away?

If anyone is wanting to give it a try you can go to http://wave.google.com/wave and apply to be a part of the beta. I also have a couple of invites left so if you are interested in one of them let me know in the comments section and if I have any left I will send you an invite.

When it comes to futuristic operating systems most of us have seen movies like Matrix and Hackers that make the “future” computers look ridiculous. Typically when move creators conceived these advanced computers and operating systems they were going for wow factor, but why hasn’t Microsoft done that? It’s simple, in the process of making a cool OS/computer they have to still make it a product device.

Most readers of this blog have read about the new Microsoft tablet/notebook but for those that haven’t, its called Courier. It is a true notebook in that it opens like an old trapper keeper and you can write in it. It has the futuristic look and feel but somehow they have managed to make it at least have the appearance of letting the user be productive.

Microsoft has also released (at least to people with deep pockets) Surface, the coffee table computer. It is beautiful and futuristic but is it useful? It most certainly has its place in the world and has an immense amount of potential but it is not a product that most of us would use day in and day out.

At what point are we going to move beyond standard laptops and desktops and get something truly revolutionary? If Courier is as revolutionary as it looks, Microsoft might just be ready to turn the computing world on its head.

This video might only be a marketing ploy or just an attempt to gather more feedback on what a tablet should like like, but this is still one very cool concept. But cool concepts don’t always sell well. Would you buy one? Or is it just vaporware?

Check It Out> Gizmodo

One of the worst things when it comes to any operating system is when there are components of it that are broken and an easy solution is nowhere in sight. Not everyone has the skill level to be able to manually repair things like Winsock Catalogs, Internet Explorer, Windows Update or any of the other Windows components that inevitably break within Windows. While companies like Geek Squad have their own automated solutions for fixing these types of problems, where does that leave the rest of us?

Welcome to Windows Online Troubleshooting Service or WOTS for short. The idea is to quickly reset or repair Windows components. This is something Windows users have been waiting a long time for and are finally getting it. This new feature of Windows 7 is still not getting much attention, mostly because it is buried in the Help section. And as most of us know, no one actually reads help files. Even technicians really don’t want to have to dive into the help section of Windows to actually repair a problem. We want a quick easy way to access the repair components without being treated like this is our first time using a computer.

WOTS basically consists of Windows Power Shell scripts that repair a computer. The actual scripts themselves are located in “C:\Windows\diagnostics” and you can manually launch each of them by going into the repair category directories and double clicking on DiagPackage.diagpkg. Upon launching the scripts it will diagnose if there is a problem and if one is found, attempt to repair it.

To make this even easier I have created shortcuts that can be kept on a flash drive and used without actually having to manually navigate to this directory and launch the scripts. Of course you can always try to navigate the help file and accomplish the same tasks, it will just take a few dozen more steps to get there.

>>>Download Windows 7 Internal Diagnostic Shortcuts (Sounds better than WOTS)

But what about a Windows Vista repair solution? A team at Microsoft has been hard at work for many months now to be able to take care of Vista users as well. Simply called “Microsoft Fix it” this is a whole collection of repair tools that will automatically repair components of Windows Vista. Many of the fixes also work with Windows 7 and Windows XP but at least at this point they are focusing on Windows Vista as Windows 7 now has WOTS. The Fix it applications can be downloaded and saved to your flash drive for when you need them most.

Check It Out> Microsoft Fix it

Have you ever wondered why your computer gets such poor battery life? The Windows 7 engineers were apparently wanting to know the same thing and designed a very cool new feature into Windows 7. The best part about PowerCfg is that it not has the capability to change power settings but it can also review your current settings. It first observes the computer in action, and then create a report for you to view and see whats dragging the system down.

To use PowerCfg open an elevated command prompt (Right click on the shortcut and select “Run As Administrator”): Start >  All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt

Navigate to the System32 directory: CD C:\Windows\System32

Enter the command to generate the report: powercfg.exe -energy -output C:\EnergyReport.html

It will take a little over a minute to generate the report, after which you can then open up My Computer and go to your C:\ drive and open the html document labeled EnergyReport. Depending on the state of your computer the report can be pretty lengthy but there are enough details to help you adjust the computers power settings to get the most out of your computer.

Palm Pre has finally made the jump from Sprint and into Canada! This is sure to make quite a few Canadians happy that they can finally get their hands on it. To commemorate this momentous occasion Palm has also added a few more applications to the App Catalog. It’s just too bad that they think a few more demo applications are going to appease the masses.

Now Palm has 45 applications including the new Tetris and Yatzee demos that were added today. I am all for adding more applications to the App Catalog but Palm really needs to wake up and start working with all of the developers out there that have been making them look slow.

For Canadians to get the Pre they will need to spend a whopping 199.95 CAD which is $183.88 so it looks like they are getting a slightly better deal, that is until you look at the contract. In order to get the Pre they have to sign up for a 3 year contract as opposed to the 2 year contract Sprint users get treated to in the US.

Check It Out> Bell Mobility via MobileCrunch

When it comes to adding applications to their marketplace Palm appears incredibly slow. It has been 2 1/2 months and they still appear to be dragging their feet on their app store. The ironic part to all of this is that Apple took a year to deploy their app store but it has been such an immense success that consumers have gotten spoiled. Even non-Apple customers now expect that any smartphone they purchase has a large list of applications they can buy.

Palm will soon open up their App Catalog to developers wanting to sell their applications but if you don’t want to wait any longer there is always the “Un-Official App Catalog” where there are currently 148 applications you can download and try out. And what makes it even better is that you don’t have to worry about fake reviews from PR companies.

Check It Out> Pre Central

This is how you can add it to your personal copy of Windows PE. Granted this is technically more involved than most people want to get with WinPE and at least in this tutorial I am going to skip the formalities and basics with adding it.

Registry Keys To Add To WinPE:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\EXTERNALSOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{80EE4901-33A8-11d1-A213-0080C88593A5}] @=”Defrag NTFS engine”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\EXTERNALSOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{80EE4901-33A8-11d1-A213-0080C88593A5}\LocalServer32] @=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\ 00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,66,00,\ 72,00,67,00,4e,00,74,00,66,00,73,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\EXTERNALSOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{80EE4902-33A8-11d1-A213-0080C88593A5}] @=”Defrag FAT engine”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\EXTERNALSOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{80EE4902-33A8-11d1-A213-0080C88593A5}\LocalServer32] @=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\ 00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,66,00,\ 72,00,67,00,46,00,61,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,00,00

For these files you can copy them from a Vista machine but make sure that the Vista service pack version matches the WinPE service pack version. Make sure to place them in the same locations as they are located on Vista.

Files To Add:
Windows\System32\Defrag.exe
Windows\System32\dfrgfat.exe
Windows\System32\DfrgNtfs.exe
Windows\System32\DfrgRes.dll
Windows\System32\en-US\Defrag.exe.mui
Windows\System32\en-US\DfrgFat.exe.mui
Windows\System32\en-US\DfrgNtfs.exe.mui
Windows\System32\en-US\DfrgRes.dll.mui

Once you have added these files and registry keys to the Windows PE WIM you can then use Defrag via the Windows PE Command Prompt.

Microsoft frequently throws a party and training session at the same time to gain support for their products but I think this next one is just awesome. They are calling it “the NEW efficiency” but basically it is a information session for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Exchange Server 2010. The best part about this is that attendees will walk away with a FREE copy of Windows 7! These sessions even though sometimes dry, are a great way to escape from work for the day and hang out with your peers.

And who are we to argue with a free copy of Windows 7?

Check It Out> the NEW efficiency (Thanks to Alex S. for sending this in)

Despite the Palm Pre being a game changer for the entire mobile phone industry, things are not looking good for them in the short term. Palm has been very quiet about exact sales figures and the initial rush of people buying them only lasted for a few weeks. Most recently the speculated sales numbers is just below 300,000 devices. Now today there is a report coming out that Palm is cutting their production plans of the Pre. Palm is still expected to sell 500,000 devices by the end of the year but things are looking to have slowed a great deal for them.

This is a good wakeup call to Palm to not be so stupid as to lock themselves into a single carrier, especially Sprint. I admit that I personally really want a Palm Pre but I am finding it difficult to bring myself to purchase one when the carrier is Sprint. When the phone is carried by Verizon I am sure that Palm will see a surge in sales of the device but I think it would have been a much wiser move to offer it to multiple carriers from the beginning.

Check It Out> Tech Trader Daily