Windows Phone 7 Changes the Way We Interact With Smart Phones

With the pending release of the Windows 7 Phone many users have been wondering about the functionality and interface of this new Smart Phone driven by Microsoft technology. Now with MIX 10 in session some of our questions are finally being answered… along with new questions being posed.

First off (for those who don’t already know) what is Windows Phone 7?

Windows Phone 7 series is the latest release of the Microsoft Windows Phone operating system. While the name implies similarities to Windows 7 the best way to look at this OS is that it was designed from the ground up, in the same way that Windows 7 was. At least this is the initial impression we are hearing from the guys over at Engadget.

With a hands-on demonstration their initial reports seem to show that they are impressed with the look and feel of the device, short of the initial limitations that are going to be imposed on the phone. The biggest concerns of many users being the lack of a “Copy & Paste” function in the Windows Phone 7 OS.

But haven’t we been down this road before?

I remember waiting in line to get my first Apple iPhone and the initial excitement I felt about the device kept me occupied for quite some time before I even realized I couldn’t copy and paste. The sheer number of things I COULD do with the phone made this a non-issue for many months.

Regardless of how you feel about this lacking feature lets look at some of the other things the Windows Phone 7 will allow you to do.

As you would expect with any Smart Phone now a days the Windows Phone 7 will allow you to email, go online, organize multimedia, offer access to audio and video with additional features like being able to update your Xbox Live profile on the go, and play games.

The development platforms for Apps on the new OS also show a lot of promise as they will be designed around XNA & Silverlight to offer rich, content oriented mobile computing.

Even now we are learning more details about the Apps platform for this phone along with the potential for developers. For now we will need to sit back and relax as all the details are released. But we can look forward to seeing this new OS in action around Q4 of this year.

Windows XP BSOD Error while Installing on an Intel Motherboard

Hey guys, here’s a quick one I ran across the other day that could give people massive headaches because it’s such an obtuse issue.

While installing Windows XP SP1 one onto an Intel motherboard I received a Blue Screen of Death error with a mention or IRQL in the dump.

I did a memory diagnostic test which came back error free. I reseated the CPU, and checked the cooler to make sure it was not overheating. I even tried a different hard drives and cables.

It turns out that many Intel Motherboards will Blue Screen if you are installing Windows XP with an old service pack. (In most cases SP1). A good way to identify if this is the case is that the error usually always occurs at the same point of the install. (Usually 1 min into the graphical portion of the Windows XP installation.)

If this is the case you can do a few things to resolve the issue:

1. Get a copy of Windows XP (Home or Pro depending on what you are trying to reinstall) that is Service Pack 2 (SP2) and up from a friend or coworker. Use your windows key when you reinstall and this should resolve the BSOD error.
2. If you cannot get a copy of an updated service pack version of Windows use a program like nLite to slip stream the service pack into your copy of Windows.

(You will need to the latest version of the .NET framework on the PC you create your slipstream disk on. http://www.microsoft.com/Net/Download.aspx)

To slipstream your disk simply run nLite and it will walk you through the process. You will need your original Windows installation disk, and a standalone executable of SP2 or SP3.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/default.mspx

When you run nLite it will ask for your installation disk. Put it into the system and nLite will copy your disk. Then it will ask you to point it to the executable you would like to slipstream into the disk. Point nLite to where you saved your service pack download and walla! You now have a slipstreamed disk that should help you avoid the BSOD error on Intel Motherboards.

My iPhone Won’t Sync on Windows 7 Due to an “Unknown Error”?

Lately a few friends have been asking me about their latest problem where they are having issues were their iPhones won’t sync with Windows 7. In the majority of these cases Windows 7 is reporting an “Unknown Error” when they try to sync the iPhone with iTunes.

From what we have seen from doing some research online this problem seems to be more common for users who are running Windows 7 64-bit, and also motherboards with the P55 chipset. In some cases users are reporting the Unknown Error message along with an error code 0xE8000065.

This problem actually goes back to some of the power management problems I discussed in a previous article entitled “How to Wake a PC from Hibernation / Sleep / Stand By on Windows” which discusses Power Management issues with Windows 7 and the USB ports on the motherboard.

For information on How To fix the iPhone / Windows 7 sync issue, follow the instructions below:

1. First click “Start” and then “Right Click” on “Computer” and select “Properties”
2. Under the Properties window click on the “Device Manager” link in the upper left corner.
3. In Device Manager click on the arrow next to “Universal Serial Bus controllers”. Look for the entries labeled “USB Root Hub” and right click on the first one and select “Properties”.
4. Under Properties, click on the “Power Management” tab.
5. Under Power Management uncheck the option that says “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” and then click “OK”.
6. Repeat this process for each entry of USB Root Hub going down the list in device manager.

Once you have changed them the Power Management options of each entry of USB Root Hub reboot your PC and see if you are now able to sync your iPhone.

This issue is similar to the cases where Windows 7 will not come out of sleep mode when users have connected a USB keyboard or mouse which I discuss in the article I linked to above.

HELP! Windows 7 Automatically Moves and Resizes My Windows! How do I Turn This Off?

As soon users have discovered inadvertently Windows 7 now comes installed with a feature that can automatically move and resize your Windows depending on where they are dragged on the screen. This feature in Windows 7 is known as “Aero Snap” and was designed to increase productivity by allowing users to manage their windows easier.

Though in some cases this can lead to pure frustration for users, which is the case for many of the people who have emailed me asking how to fix this from happening.

If you prefer to manage your windows yourself and would like to disable Aero snap altogether simply follow these 3 easy steps:

1. First click “Start” > “Control Panel” and click on “Ease of Access”. Under Ease of Access Center select “Change how your mouse works”.
2. In the new window look for an option that says “Make it easier to manage Windows”.
3. Put a check mark next to the option that says “Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen”. Then click “Ok” to save your settings.

(The option above can also be set under “Change how your keyboard works” under the Ease of Access Center.)

You have now disabled the Aero Snap feature in Windows 7 and should no longer have to worry about your workspace being arranged automatically when you accidently move a window.

How to Fix Problems with Windows 7 Aero

One thing on Windows 7 that a lot of users have been emailing me about is Windows Aero. Aero is the 3D default Windows 7 theme that utilizes visual effects and transitions to make navigation more graphical in Windows 7.

In some cases Aero may not be functioning because it was not fully enabled on your system or various features are disabled.

To fix this do the following:

Click “Start” and in the Run / Find line type “Aero”.

In the bottom of the new window click on the “Troubleshoot problems with transparency and other Aero Effects” link.

This will open the “Aero” troubleshooting wizard. Click “Next” and follow the prompts to automatically resolve issues with Aero.

If the wizard finishes and does not detect or fix the problems you are having with Windows 7 Aero make sure you have the most updated video drivers for your system. This can be done by going to the video card manufacturer’s website and downloading the latest drivers. (In most cases this will be ATI or NVidia.)

If you are using onboard video you may need to check the motherboard manufacturer’s website for updated video drivers, or visit the website of the company that manufactured your computer if it is a gateway, HP, Dell, etc.

(If you are using onboard video and you continue to have issues with Aero not functioning correctly you may want to consider adding a video card to the system. It doesn’t need to be anything expensive, but just something that will give you dedicated video for the PC.)

If the above suggestions do not work you may be running into an issue with Aero features being disabled in the registry. One common feature that can be disabled is Aero Peek, which makes your windows semi transparent so you can see your desktop underneath the windows.

You can check for the this by clicking “Start” and in the Run / Find line type “Regedit”

Browse to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

And make sure that EnableAeroPeek is set to 1, and not 0 (1 being on, and zero being off)

Hopefully the above methods have helped you resolve any issues you may have been having with Windows 7 Aero.