How to get rid of that nasty little square next to "Recent Items" in ViStart Beta 5

In case you haven't already tried it out, go to http://www.windowsxlive.com/ to try out ViStart Beta 5, which gives Vista functionality to your XP startmenu, with search, etc.

That being said, when I ran it, there was a nasty looking square symbol (the symbol you get when your computer spits meaningless glubber into space) to the right of the words "Recent Items".

I fixed it on my computer. Here's how you do it: open up the folder whereinto you downloaded ViStart; open settings.xml in Notepad or something. Where it says,

<option name="Recent Items     [nastysquare]" recentdoc="true" rollover="rollover\recent.png"/>

Just get rid of the square and all the spaces. Save. Restart ViStart. It should be all better!

Windows Vista Clock Art

Check out what I did with my Vista sidebar under XP:

It really slowed my computer down, but it was pretty fun...

For more info on Vista Sidebar under XP with VAIOXP, go here.

ViStart Beta 4: Nice new feature

The new ViStart Beta 4 is out, and I have just tested it out on my machine. It can be downloaded here: http://www.savefile.com/files/723659. When I used it, I had a regisry bug. This can be fixed by downloading the following registry patch and running it: http://savefile.com/files/725056. Note that it will reset your start menu preferences for Email Client and Internet Browser.

Here is a screenshot:

Notice the icons that appear when you open it; much nicer than the emptiness of beta 3. As you open programs, they get added to the front list. Very nice.

How to install the [actual] Windows Vista Sidebar in Windows XP (with tons of gadgets)

I have done it myself, and I would like to pass on this wonderful information to anyone who cannot afford Windows Vista. First, to get started, here is a video screencast:

If you don't believe I'm using XP, note the crappy vista start orb (the top is cut off).

OK, so here's how you do it.

First, install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=32BC1BEE-A3F9-4C13-9C99-220B62A191EE&displaylang=en

Then, install, if you don't already have it, the .NET Framework 3.0: http://www.fallingleafsystems.com/site_media/vaio/vaioxp_b2r3.4_feb02.zip. It will probably make you restart; do everything it tells you to do until it is fully installed. If you already have .NET 3.0, ignore this step.

Then, install, if you don't already have it, Internet Explorer 7: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx. It will probably ask you to restart at least once, so do everything it says until it is fully installed. If you already have IE7, ignore this step.

After that, install the Wireless LAN API: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=52A43BAB-DC4E-413F-AC71-158EFD1ADA50&displaylang=en

Then, install, if you don't already have it, Windows Media Player 11: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/download/download.aspx. If you already have WMP11, ignore this step.

Then, install VAIOXP; if you have Windows XP, go here: http://www.gcnaddict.com/mirror/vaio/vaioxp_b2r3.4_feb02.zip. If you have Windows Server 2003, go here: http://www.gcnaddict.com/mirror/vaio/vaio2003_b2r3.4_feb02.zip. It will mke you restart your computer possibly a few times; do everything it tells you to do!

Then, install some fonts: http://www.sokoolz.com/addons/r64/Ricks_VistaRTMFonts_AddOn_v1.1.7z

Then, finally, download and install the Vista RTM Sidebar: http://www.sokoolz.com/addons/r64/Ricks_VistaRTMSidebar_AddOn_v2.4.rar. You can unzip that using a free program like 7-Zip.

It will make you restart. Then, you can run it. Now some gadgets, like the clock, will look like crap. Therefore, run the following command in the Run (start>>run) box:

"%VAIOTOOLS%\regtlib" "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe"

When you restart the Windows Sidebar, the gadgets should show perfectly.

How to install new gadgets:

All the gadgets from the Windows Live Gallery site can be installed. They, however, are not as easy as one click.

When you download a gadget, you think you should be able to double-click on it, and it would install itself, but this is not the case. Here's how to do it.

First, open up Windows Explorer, and navigate to: C:\Program Files\Window Sidebar\Gadgets. If you have downloaded a .Gadget file to your desktop that is named HelloWorld.Gadget, create a folder in the Gadgets directory called HelloWorld.Gadget.

Then (you need 7-Zip for this, see above), right click the gadget file on your desktop. Hit the 7-Zip menu >> Open Archive. Then, select all the files in the archive, and drag them into the HelloWorld.Gadget directory you created under the Gadgets folder. Alternatively, you could hit Extract Files instead of Open Archive, and then selected the folder you created.

Finally, your gadget it installed!

One of the things you will like the most about the Windows Sidebar is the fact that when you use the Windows Live Search feature, instead of opening a browser window, it opens the search in a pull-out box, which can be enlarged (see the screencast above).

References:

1. http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=485
2. http://www.aeroxp.org/board/index.php?showtopic=8968&pid=100498&mode=threaded&start=0#entry100498
3. http://www.joejoe.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=2538
4. http://www.aeroxp.org/board/index.php?showtopic=7728

ViStart Beta 3 Video Screencast

Lucifiar from Windows X has released the third beta of his ViStart, a program which allows you to have a start menu like that of Windows Vista on your Windows XP.

Features include no huge unwieldy menu, really awesome, transparent interface, instant search of start menu items, and other cool stuff.

Here is a video screencast I created (turn up your speakers, full blast!):

 Enjoy!

Ubuntu Linux Vs. Windows Vista: The Battle For Your Desktop -- Ubuntu Linux

Is Linux finally ready to take on Windows as a desktop OS? We tried out both Vista and Ubuntu on individual PCs to see which works better. Here's who won. [Via Digg]



read more | digg story

Transparent window backgrounds for linux, like vista

No, they don't really exist, but I would really like them to... Windows Vista has transparent window borders, but I don't mind, because I can get those with Beryl on Linux. But what about the window backgrounds? Remember Windows Explorer and Windows Media Player? They backgrounds of them, not just the window borders, are transparent.

I think that it is really pretty. I also like being able to drag the window around on the transparent parts. I would love for a new version of KDE or GTK to be able to do these kinds to things. That would be so cool.

Windows Vista did not steal ideas from Mac OS X!

Another great video, kind of old, but never gets old, if you know what I mean...

Vista Oops

Another funny video. Looks like speech recognition is not quite there...

Vista install in 2 minutes

Watch this hilarious video! It is really funny. I feel sorry for that guy.... :)