"Windows 8"

Today, at the D9 Conference, we demonstrated the next generation of Windows, internally code-named “Windows 8,” for the first time. Windows 8 is a reimagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface. A Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.

The demo showed some of the ways we’ve reimagined the interface for a new generation of touch-centric hardware. Fast, fluid and dynamic, the experience has been transformed while keeping the power, flexibility and connectivity of Windows intact.

Here are a few aspects of the new interface we showed today:

•	Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.
•	Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.
•	Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
•	Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
•	Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.
•	Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.

We also showed effortless movement between existing Windows programs and new Windows 8 apps. The full capabilities of Windows continue to be available to you, including the Windows Explorer and Desktop, as does compatibility with all Windows 7 logo PCs, software and peripherals.

Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience Click for high-res version.

Although the new user interface is designed and optimized for touch, it works equally well with a mouse and keyboard. Our approach means no compromises — you get to use whatever kind of device you prefer, with peripherals you choose, to run the apps you love. This is sure to inspire a new generation of hardware and software development, improving the experience for PC users around the world.

Today, we also talked a bit about how developers will build apps for the new system. Windows 8 apps use the power of HTML5, tapping into the native capabilities of Windows using standard JavaScript and HTML to deliver new kinds of experiences. These new Windows 8 apps are full-screen and touch-optimized, and they easily integrate with the capabilities of the new Windows user interface. There’s much more to the platform, capabilities and tools than we showed today.

We are excited to bring an innovative new platform and tools to developers and see how their creativity jumpstarts a new generation of apps. Windows 8 apps can use a broad set of new libraries and controls, designed for fluid interaction and seamless connectivity. Apps can add new capabilities to Windows and to other apps, connecting with one another through the new interface. For example, we showed today how a developer can extend the file picker control to enable picking from their own app content or from within another Windows 8 app, in addition to the local file system and the network. We’re just getting started.

And this isn’t just about touch PCs. The new Windows experience will ultimately be powered by application and device developers around the world — one experience across a tremendous variety of PCs. The user interface and new apps will work with or without a keyboard and mouse on a broad range of screen sizes and pixel densities, from small slates to laptops, desktops, all-in-ones, and even classroom-sized displays. Hundreds of millions of PCs will run the new Windows 8 user interface. This breadth of hardware choice is unique to Windows and central to how we see Windows evolving.

The video below introduces a few of the basic elements of the new user interface. Although we have much more to reveal at our developer event, BUILD (Sept. 13 - 16 in Anaheim, Calif.), we’re excited to share our progress with you.

Building "Windows 8" - Video #1 View in stand-alone player (.mp4) View on YouTube

Today’s demonstration followed our announcements earlier this year about Windows 8 running on System on a Chip (SoC) processors, and our browser engine innovations and significantly increased standards support in Internet Explorer 10. Windows 8 extends these innovations and reimagines every level of the Windows architecture — the kernel, networking, storage, devices, user interface — all building on the broadest and richest ecosystem of software, peripherals and devices.

We have so much more on the way! We’re working very hard to get the product ready for early testing, and we plan to kick off our engineering dialogue through our team blog, just as we did for Windows 7.

So please stay tuned — we have a lot of cool innovation coming in the months ahead.

By Julie Larson-Green
Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience

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Rain meter instruction

INSTALLATION

Download the latest release or beta version from this site. The installer (.exe) allows you to install both 'standard' and 'portable' installations.

Both 32bit and 64bit installations are done with the same installer.

If you are running on a 64bit version of Windows, you will be asked if you wish to install 64bit or 32bit Rainmeter. If the installer detects a previous version of Rainmeter on your system, the same architecture version will automatically be installed. If you wish to change from 32bit to 64bit, you should uninstall Rainmeter first.

Rainmeter will detect if you require either the C++ runtime libraries or the .NET libraries. The C++ runtimes are required to use Rainmeter. Chances are you already have them, but if not, Rainmeter will download and install them. The .NET libraries are required to use any of the C# plugins which come with Rainmeter. If you are running on Windows 2000 you will need at least Service Pack 3, and on XP at least Service Pack 2, to install the .NET libraries. If you elect not to install the .NET files, you will not be able to use any plugins written in C#.

Rainmeter is fully compatibile with Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

The file which Rainmeter uses to keep track of the skins you have loaded and how they are configured (Rainmeter.ini) is stored in your "Application Data" folder, and all Rainmeter "skins" are stored in your "My Documents" folder.

The following components are distributed by default with Rainmeter:

- The illustro suite of skins by poiru

- RainBrowser (skin manager), RainThemes (theme manager), and RainBackup (Rainmeter backup tool) by JSMorley

Normal Installation

Run the installer. By default Rainmeter will install in "C:\Program Files\Rainmeter", but you may install it in any folder you wish. The installer presents you with a set of options allowing you to create Start Menu and desktop shortcuts, have Rainmeter automatically start with Windows, and install Rainmeter for all users.

When Rainmeter starts the first time, it will install the default skins and themes in the proper folder locations and load the illustro suite of skins.

Portable Installation

If you wish to run Rainmeter from one folder, so it can be easily taken with you or even run directly from a removable drive, all you need to do is download the latest installer and select 'Portable Install' during the install process. You will be prompted to browse for a location (for which you have full read and write access) to install Portable Rainmeter. After the install, you may use the program normally, but can easily take the application "on the road" by copying the entire \Rainmeter folder and sub-folders. Note that if you do a portable install, you are responsible for ensuring you have the appropriate C++ and .NET runtime libraries installed on your system.

Default File Locations

Program files:

Windows XP: C:\Program Files\Rainmeter

Windows Vista and later: C:\Program Files\Rainmeter

Skins:

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\My Documents\Rainmeter\Skins

Windows Vista and later: C:\Users\YourName\My Documents\Rainmeter\Skins

Rainmeter.ini and themes:

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\Application Data\Rainmeter

Windows Vista and later: C:\Users\YourName\Appdata\Roaming\Rainmeter

Uninstalling

If you installed Rainmeter with the installer you can uninstall it from "Add or Remove Programs". If you installed Portable Rainmeter, just delete the folder you browsed for during the install process.

Ensure that Rainmeter is not running when uninstalling.

Skin Tutorials

While Rainmeter does include some very nice skins, many people like to create their own. While Rainmeter was designed to make skin creation simple, it is not necessarily intuitive for new skinners. To help we have created a set of tutorials that will teach you how to make some simple skins. But first, there are some basics that you need to know. If you have read the rest of Rainmeter 101, then feel free to skip this since it will cover similar ground. Otherwise, read ahead!


How to edit skins
Editing skins is a very simple matter. While every skin is a file with the extension ".ini", they're really just regular text documents. You can open any skin file with Notepad (or your preferred text editor) and edit them directly. It is important that your editor be a plaintext editor. That means no programs like Microsoft Word, Works, OpenOffice.org or any other document editor. You'll want one that does just text without the formatting.

Once a skin is edited, Rainmeter will reflect the changes the next time it is refreshed. If the skin is already running, you will have to refresh it manually. Otherwise, just start the skin and your changes should be there.
How to create a new skin

To create a skin, you must first find your skins folder. If you installed Rainmeter normally, the skins folder will be found in one of these locations:

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\My Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\
Windows Vista and 7: C:\Users\Your Name\Documents\Rainmeter\Skins

Basically, just head over to "My Documents" and look for the "Rainmeter" folder. In there you'll find the "Skins" folder. Once you're in there, make a new folder. Call this folder whatever you like. Within this folder make a new text document and call it whatever you like. Make sure that the text document's file extension is ".ini" and not ".txt". There you have it. You now have a brand new, albeit empty, skin. If you right-click the Rainmeter icon in the taskbar and choose "Refresh All", your new skin will be available for use. Don't start it up yet though, it doesn't do anything!

How to install skins
If you have a skin that was downloaded from he internet, installing it is very similar to creating a new skin. First, if the skin came in an archive (such as ".zip" or ".rar") you will need to extract it. Once the files are extracted, make sure that they are all contained within a single folder. Often, skin makers will havev this folder already in the archive. Otherwise, you will have to make it yourself. Move this folder to your Skins directory (one of the paths show in the section above). If Rainmeter is already running, right-click the icon in the taskbar and choose "Refresh All". Your downloaded skin should now appear in the "Configs" list.

Loading a skin
To load a skin, first make sure that Rainmeter is already running. Right-click the icon in the taskbar to open the context menu and navigate to "Configs". Here, a list of all of the folders in your Skins directory should appear. From there just choose the folder holding the skin you want and load up the appropriate .ini file.

NOTE: You can only load one .ini file from a specific folder at once. If you want two skins to run simultaneously you will need to have each one in its own folder.

A word about the tutorials
Now that you know how to actually make, install and load the files for skin, you can move on to the real meat of skin creation. The following tutorials will start off simple and get more and more complex, each one adding new concepts of Rainmeter. The good thing is that at the end, you will always have something to show for it. If you are new to Rainmeter, it is highly recommended that you go through these in order, as each one will assume that you understand the concepts of the previous tutorial. That being said, it is highly recommended that you play with the skins! When you are given values, change them around to see what happens. Make all of these tutorial skins look the way you want them to. Rainmeter is all about customization, so don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.

Good luck!

myLot User Profile

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Windows OSX Customize

Introduction

Rainmeter is a Windows customization application. Empower your desktop with an expandable library of useful tools - handy notes and application launchers, weather and feeds from the web, system status and more. Then, rearrange and modify them to suit your personal style. With Rainmeter, your desktop is finally yours.

Rainmeter can display various performance data in different formats. It can measure:

• CPU load
• Allocated memory
• Network traffic
• Windows performance data
• Uptime
• Free disk space
• and a lot more!

The data can be displayed e.g. in a histogram, a bar, bitmap frames or just plain numbers. Rainmeter also includes a plugin interface to extend the capabilities with 3rd party plugins. Rainmeter will run on Windows XP and above and has both 32bit and 64bit versions.

And no, Rainmeter does not measure how much it rained last night, though it probably could ;-)

READ INSTRUCTION:

Download:

Rainmeter 2.0 Release

Rainmeter  2.0 (32bit/64bit)

Mirror Site – (32bit/64bit)

Rain meter 2.1 Beta

Rainmeter 2.1 r874 – (32bit/64bit)

My Collection:

Download
Eker lina rainmeter 

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Download

My dock

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Download
save_the_earth
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Download

deepspace 
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Download
Show bar

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Download
raindesk

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Download
elegance
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WALLPAPER CLICK TO ENLARGE

Download
pileus
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 Download
Sony vio
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Download
Clock

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 Download
Darkness
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Download
Tony stark
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 Download
Stark industry
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Download

OSX win7

Dock
ICON

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Wallpaper Click to enlarge

Download
Dark eve
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Download
Corner clock

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How to hunt down hard disk resource hogs

Most users find that the longer they use Windows, the slower it seems to run. While there are countless areas in which you can tweak Windows to regain that lost speed, most techniques result in negligible performance boosts. In this Drill Down, I will show you how to focus your troubleshooting efforts to restore Windows to its past performance levels.

Disk time percentage and disk queue length

IT professionals think of hard disk corruption or inadequate disk space as the cause of most system performance problems, but disk time is an equally important performance factor. Disk time is represented as a percentage of time that the hard disk is in use. If the hard disk is running 80 percent of the time, for example, you can be sure that system performance is suffering.

Another factor to consider is the average disk queue length, which refers to the number of processes that are waiting to use the hard disk. Using the disk time percentage in conjunction with the disk queue length will tell you not only how much the hard disk is being used but also if the heavy usage is a problem. For example, if the disk time is 40 percent but the average disk queue length has a factor of two or less, then the hard disk is keeping up with the demand that’s being placed on it. On the other hand, if the percentage of disk time and average disk queue length are both high (above 80 percent disk time and a factor of 2 or more for the average disk queue length), it means that processes are waiting for the hard disk to become available. Anytime a process has to wait for a component to become available, a user will experience less-than-desirable performance.

Measuring hard disk performance

To accurately diagnose a system's hard disk, you need to measure the percentage of disk time and the average disk queue length.

Begin by performing a full defragmentation on all of the system’s partitions to ensure that all files are contiguous and that the hard disk can perform file reads and writes optimally. Click on the Start menu and select All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Defragmenter. Once you’ve defragmented all partitions, run the Performance Monitor utility by opening the Control Panel and clicking Performance and Maintenance | Administrative Tools | Performance (Windows XP) or Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Performance (Windows 2000).

Tip

When the Performance Monitor opens, select any counters that are previously running from the bottom of the window and press Delete. Every counter that’s running has a slight, but noticeable, impact on the system’s performance. Therefore, the fewer counters you use, the more accurate your measurements will be. Click the Plus icon to open the Add Counters dialog box. Next, select PhysicalDisk from the Performance Object dropdown list, which will bring up a list of the physical disk counters. Now, select the %Disk Time counter from the list, and select the All Instances radio button to tell the system to measure the performance of all hard drives. Next, click the Add button to add the counter to the Performance Monitor. Finally, select Avg. Disk Queue Length from the counter list, select the All Instances radio button, and click the Add button followed by the Close button. When you do, the performance monitor will begin analyzing the disk usage as shown in Figure A.

The numbers beneath the graph refer to the percent of disk time for Drive 0.

As you look at the output, you can see that the lines on the graph correspond to the counters that you’ve installed. For example, in Figure A, the pink line is predominant. You can tell by the legend that the pink line corresponds to the average disk queue length for the C: and D: partitions of Drive 0. You can also tell the exact values of any counter by selecting the counter that you want to examine. It’s best to look at the actual numbers rather than the graph, as the graph can be deceptive if the scale isn’t set correctly.

Narrowing down the suspects

Now it’s time to figure out which process is using all of those disk resources. The first thing that I recommend to track down the culprit is to press [Ctrl][Alt][Delete] simultaneously to access the Windows Security dialog box. Next, click Task Manager to bring up the Task Manager utility, which reports on the resource utilization of every process running on the entire system.

While disk usage isn’t one of the factors that Task Manager normally reports, you can configure it to provide this information. First, select the Processes tab to view the list of processes that are running on your machine. Next, select the Select Columns command from the View menu. You’ll now see a list of all of the resources that you can monitor through the Task Manager. I recommend deselecting every resource except for I/O Read Bytes and I/O Write Bytes. When you click OK, you’ll see the number of bytes read and written by each process, as shown in Figure B. The trick now is to go through the list and look for rapidly changing values. It’s normal for most of the values to occasionally change, but if you see one that is constantly changing, then the process that corresponds to that value is hogging your system’s disk resources.

To kill a system resource hog, highlight the process and click End Process.

If the rogue system process is a part of the Windows operating system, there’s a good chance that the excessive disk usage is caused by thrashing. (Click here for more information on swapping vs. thrashing.)

However, if the disk usage is traced to a non-Windows process, then you may have problems with an individual service.

Be careful If you eliminate a process you feel is causing excessive disk usage, processor time and memory will also be affected.

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve focused on explaining how excessive disk time usage can degrade system performance, and I've shown you some ways to track down the processes that create this problem. By using the Performance Monitor to measure both disk time and average queue length, you can get a sense of whether or not the hard disk is being taxed by the systems' processes. Analyzing the Task Manager further narrows down the possible suspects that may be causing the problem.

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Apple Mac OS X Lion: How to Get It

Apple Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is officially in the wild. After learning some Multi-Touch tricks from iOS, the latest iteration of Mac OS X has been loosed exclusively on the Mac App Store for an app-like price of just $29. The result: The best consumer OS on the market today. You can check out our Apple Mac OS X Lion review for the full dish. So if you have a Mac, how are you going to catch this cat? Here's what you need to know.

Snow Leopards Only
If you want to upgrade to Lion from an earlier version of OS X, you'll need Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). Sorry, Leopard (OS X 10.5) users: Because you'll need the Mac App Store—a Snow Leopard exclusive—there's no upgrade path to Lion except through Snow Leopard. Not just any version of Snow Leopard will do, either. You'll also want the latest version of Snow Leopard to ensure an easy jump.

Setting the Trap
Upgrades aside, it's best practice to run system updates. You know it, I know it, but it's easy to forget, especially if you don't reboot your Mac often—and you are a Mac user, yes? Before upgrading, open System Preferences and run Software Update.

View Slideshow See all (22) slides

MoreFor aspirant Lion tamers, there are two updates of note: Mac OS 10.6.8 and today's release of the Migration Assistant Update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The latest patch for Snow Leopard includes: "Enhancements to the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion." Considering this is a Mac App Store exclusive, it's in your best interests to embrace "enhancements." The second patch, made available today, is intended to assist in transferring data from one Mac to another. While Mac-to-Mac transfers aren't relevant for direct updates to Lion, why wouldn't you run a 312-kilobyte patch that aims to smooth out future migrations?

Other Ways to Play
For users with sluggish Internet connections, the prospect of downloading a 4GB OS may be a daunting one. While Apple will not offer a boxed version of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, there will be other ways to catch the cat. For example, Apple suggests that you can download it wirelessly in any brick-and-mortar Apple Store—though that may not be practical if you use a desktop Mac and the nearest Apple Store is hours away—or wait until August, when Apple will make Lion available on a USB stick, for $69. Better late than never, right?

Apple will also offer specialized licensing for business and education customers. SMBs can purchase the Lion client and server directly from Apple or through Apple's Business Store with volume licensing at $29.99 per license or $49.99 maintenance contracts (minimum purchase requirement of 20 licenses). Education administrators can use Image Utility included with Mac OS X Lion Server to create custom images or deploy the OS to multiple systems by copying the Install Mac OS X Lion application to the target system and running the installer.

Stay tuned for our hands-on experience of installing Mac OS X Lion using the Mac App Store

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Here Are Even More New Mac OS X Lion Features We Just Learned About

Apple released the third preview version of Mac OS X Lion, which is due to launch on Macs this summer.

Since then developers (and others with access) have been poring over the latest release for any new features Apple snuck in.

There's less than a month before Apple's WWDC keynote, where the final version of

We took a look at what they found and gathered the best new features here. Our favorite? The Instapaper-like reading lists that sync between Safari and iPhone. Very cool.

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Latest Windows 8 leaks reveal cloud-based settings, more app store evidence

We're sure Microsoft is going to announce some more official details about Windows 8 one of these days, but until then we'll just have to make do with the seemingly unending stream of tidbits being unearthed from the leaked version of the OS. Most notably, this latest batch includes the most conclusive evidence yet of a Windows 8 app store, including the logo pictured above, and a slew of other references at the code level -- things like the ability to download a trial app and then unlock the full version (rather than re-download it), for instance, and the existence of things like screenshots and system requirements in the app store listings. Another recent leak has also revealed some new cloud-based settings options that could let you take your desktop profile and other personalizations from one computer to another, and even give you the ability to sync apps from that aforementioned Windows Store between PCs. All that, plus support for 3D displays and WiFi Direct. Hit up the links below for some additional details.

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