installation

Easy Transfer Migrates XP Settings To Windows 7

4:00AM The How-To Geek | Windows 7 only allows you to upgrade directly from Vista, so if you are looking to switch from XP you are out of luck. Thankfully the built-in Easy Transfer tool makes the upgrade process much easier. More »

EXtreme Power Suppply Calculator Helps You Accurately Select A Power Supply Unit

5:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | If you checked out the PSU calculator we shared with you and wished it had a more detailed selection process for really granular and precise control you’ll definitely want to check out the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator. More »

Upgrade Windows 7 RC To The Final RTM Release

2:00AM The How-To Geek | Yesterday Microsoft released the final version of Windows 7 to Technet and MSDN subscribers, but you can’t upgrade directly from the release candidate to the final release—at least, not without a hack. More »

Power Supply Calculator Figures Out What Size To Buy

3:00AM The How-To Geek | When building your own desktop computer from scratch, how do you know what size power supply to get? The Newegg Power Supply Calculator figures it out for you with ease. More »

Install Windows 7 On Almost Any Netbook

7:00AM Adam Pash | According to Gizmodo’s John Herman, Windows 7 runs like a charm on diminutive netbooks. Installing the new Windows operating system on a netbook, on the other hand, can be a pain. More »

Save Synaptic Markings To Speed Up Ubuntu Reinstallation

10:30PM Kevin Purdy | If you’re about to start over with an Ubuntu installation, you don’t have to spend time selecting and reinstalling all your chosen apps and packages. Synaptic offers a convenient solution for auto-installing your favourites. An Ubuntu Forums user points to an option in the default package manager for Ubuntu (and Debian, and a few other distros as well) that your Linux-using editors hadn’t noticed. “Save Markings” in the File menu creates a file that notes all the package names—everything—you have installed in your current setup, and can be loaded easily into Synaptic on your next install for automated re-installation. It’s a nifty time saver, but it likely works best on re-installations of the same OS version—package names can sometimes change across upgrades, though the worst that would likely happen would be an error message and some manual searching/downloading after that. HOWTO Reinstall all of your current packages if you do a fresh Ubuntu install [Ubuntu Forums] More »

Install-It Creates Auto-Starting Installer CDs For Any Applications

10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: Free app Install-It puts a small auto-starting application on any removable drive that makes installing applications a double-click affair. After downloading the Install-It package, you’ll want to extract its files to somewhere you can reach, like your desktop, and open up the Install.ini file in your favourite text editor. This file is simply a list of program descriptions and the locations of their installer files. If you’re creating a disc full of useful installers, just replace the default examples with your chosen verbiage for each app and the location/names of the setup files. You separate those two items with a comma, using slashes where necessary, and end each line with a semi-colon. More »

Checklist and Software For Reinstalling Windows

11:00PM Kevin Purdy | The Digital Inspiration blog has a really thorough checklist, with links to relevant, free software to help you back up and get your system back up to a fully-patched, optimised state. Note the tip at the very end, involving a can of compressed air, because it’s a worthy one, in my experience. While you’ve already got your system on the lifts, so to speak, it pays to blast away the CPU-heating, fan-clogging bunnies in there. More »