Removing All Icons from the Desktop in Windows 7

No matter how hard I try, I always end up with a lot of junk on my desktop. There is never an end to the war I fight with my desktop to keep it clutter-free � this is evident from the programs I download, documents that I am too lazy to save elsewhere, and new program links that seem to pop up from nowhere. I like to see my desktop wallpaper and not have my view of the wallpaper blocked by useless icons. One cool way to win the never-ending desktop war is to disable the desktop�s ability to show the icons and instead pin the most common desktop icons � such as the Recycle Bin and other shortcuts � to the taskbar. Disabling the icons on the desktop is actually a very simple task. Most people never know about this feature because it was placed where you would never expect it in previous versions...

Enabling Windows 7 Num Lock by Default

If you have a password that has both numbers and letters and you frequently use the number pad to enter part of your password, this hack is for you. I cannot count the number of times that I started to type my password and was then presented with a logon error telling me that my password was incorrect. I would sit there staring at the screen for a second before I realized that Num Lock on my keyboard was not on.This is a great hack for every desktop computer with a full-size keyboard and a separate number pad. Turning on Num Lock by default on a laptop is not a good idea because most laptops do not usually have a separate number pad. Enabling this feature on a laptop will result in almost half your keyboard functioning as the number pad, and you would be much better off using the numbers instead...

Changing the Windows 7 Logon Screen Screensaver

If you turn on your computer and let it sit at the logon screen long enough, eventually the screensaver will appear. This setting can be tweaked so that the screensaver that you want to see instead is set and not the boring Windows default. Unlike changing your screensaver for your account when you are logged on, it is possible to change the logon screen screensaver setting only by using the registry. With the help of a few quick registry hacks, you can fine-tune the screensaver that is displayed and other settings, such as the screensaver Timeout value that determines how long before the screensaver is activated.Follow these simple steps to customize your logon screensaver:1. Start the Registry Editor. Click the Start button, type regedit in the box, and press Enter.2. When the Registry Editor...

Clearing Windows 7 the Last User Logon

Every time you boot up your PC, all computer accounts and users who have logged on to it display on the logon screen. This can be a big security risk because it shows the usernames of all accounts that someone can try to use to break into the computer. In addition, the logon screen can become cluttered with many user accounts. Therefore, it might be a good idea to enable the Do not display last user name policy. In previous versions of Windows that used the classic logon screen, this policy would just clear the User name text box so that an attacker would have no clue about the last account used to log on. With the removal of the classic logon screen in 7, this policy behaves slightly differently by removing the Account list on the logon screen and turning on basic User name and Password boxes.Using...

resolve the frequent troubles of LCD monitor Ourselves

TFT LCD monitors are rapidly becoming shipped with new computers by default. On this page I explain you the frequent trouble of TFT monitor and how to resolve them.  No display or white screen: If this is a new install make sure the refresh rate is not set too high. If you installed a new video card in your system make sure the refresh rate is not set too high. Under Windows, reboot the system and go into “Safe Mode” (Use F8 key on boot up) select safe mode and change the refresh rate under display properties to either 60Hz or Default. Then reboot the system and the screen will turn on. Maximum mode on 15″ TFT screens is 1024×768 and maximum mode on 17″ and 19″ TFT is 1280×1024. Check to see if the green light is on with the external power adapter. Make sure all plugs...

Hiding Users on the Logon Screen in Windows 7

One of the features of the new logon screen is the list of all the user accounts on the computer. What if you created an account for running services? You do not want other users of your computer to have the option to log on to that account, because you designated it only to be used by applications running as a service. Maybe you have a secret user account that you don�t want anyone to see. With the help of a simple registry tweak, it is possible to hide any account on the logon screen so no one will know it exists.Hidden away in the registry is the feature that Microsoft used in the past to hide system accounts from the logon screen. In the next few steps, I show you how to re-create the missing registry code so that you can use this feature again to hide your accounts:1. Click the Start...

What Is Sharding?

Sharding is the method MongoDB uses to split a large collection across several servers (called a cluster). While sharding has roots in relational database partitioning, it is (like most aspects of MongoDB) very different.The biggest difference between any partitioning schemes you've probably used and MongoDB is that MongoDB does almost everything automatically. Once you tell MongoDB to distribute data, it will take care of keeping your data balanced between servers. You have to tell MongoDB to add new servers to the cluster, but once you do, MongoDB takes care of making sure that they get an even amount of the data, too.Sharding is designed to fulfill three simple goals:Make the cluster ?invisible.?We want an application to have no idea that what it's talking to is anything other than a single,...

Preventing Vendor Lock-In as You Migrate to the Cloud

�Insanity is when you keep doing the same things expecting different results,� wrote Rita Mae Brown. In a similar vein, in The Life of Reason, George Santanyana (1863�1952) famously wrote, �Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.� While IT has been battling lock-in since the earliest days of computing, not too much attention has been paid to this problem as IT rushes to madly to embrace the cloud.To prevent being locked in to a single vendor, you need to ensure that the architecture you have selected can run on multiple clouds, and that the data can be easily migrated from Cloud A to Cloud B. While that sounds trite and simple, it�s still true. And in theory, it�s not hard. But as usual, God (or the Devil; take your pick) is in the details. Totally new development without...

Desktop Virtualization

The first widespread use of virtualization was on the desktop. Companies tired of maintaining armies of technicians to tweak, fix, and upgrade desktop PCs. Operating system migrations, PC replacements, operational PC costs, and PC security concerns had become major and unaffordable costs. Managers wanted a standardized environment. Even better, they wanted an environment that can physically sit in a closet or a room full of servers.The two main vendors to jump on this bandwagon were Citrix and VMware. As the workforce became more mobile, the importance of remotely accessing a virtual desktop increased. Today's desktop is really an end-user environment defined by a profile consisting of applications, documents, and configuration data. As end users rely more and more on mobile devices such as...

Patterns for Adopting Scrum - Start Small or Go All In

Conventional, long-standing advice regarding transitioning to Scrum or any agile process has been to start with a pilot project, learn from it, and then spread agile throughout the organization. This approach is the frequently used start-small pattern in which an organization selects typically one to three teams (of five to nine people each), gets them successful, and then expands Scrum from there. As Scrum spreads through the organization, new teams benefit from the lessons learned by the teams that have gone before. There are many variations of start small, depending on how many people the organization wants to transition and how quickly they want to do it. Start small can also be applied differently based on how riskaverse or uncertain about the transition the organization is. For example,...

ADAPTing to Scrum

Lori Schubring was among the first to realize that things had to change. An application development manager for a large manufacturing company, Lori realized that its development process had become "so formalized that we hindered our ability to remain flexible for the business. It got to the point where we weren't turning around project requests fast enough" (2006, 27). Aware of the need to change, Lori attended a free, half-day seminar introducing Scrum. What she saw there was a better way to develop software, a framework she thought might help her organization. As such, Lori developed the desire to change to Scrum. Next, she acquired the ability to do it by participating in a ScrumMaster class, attending an agile conference, and visiting a company that had already adopted Scrum. Lori then...

Why Becoming Agile Is Hard (But Worth It)

Many software development organizations are striving to become more agile. And who can blame them? Successful agile teams are producing higher-quality software that better meets user needs more quickly and at a lower cost than are traditional teams. Besides, who wouldn't want to be more agile? It just plain sounds good, doesn't it? It is almost as though one cannot be too thin, too rich, or too agile. But beyond the buzzword and hype, organizations that take becoming agile seriously by adopting a process such as Scrum are seeing dramatic benefits.They are seeing significant gains in productivity with corresponding decreases in cost. They are able to bring products to market much faster and with a greater degree of customer satisfaction. They are experiencing greater visibility into the development...

Microsoft Also Endorses the Hybrid Cloud Model

In November 2009, Bob Muglia, president of Microsoft�s Server and Tools business, unveiled Windows Server AppFabric and Windows Azure platform AppFabric, a technology that bridges on-premise and cloud deployment and management scenarios for the Microsoft development environment.Windows Server AppFabric delivers a set of capabilities for hosting services (RESTful or SOAP-based), workflows, and application-level monitoring (based upon efforts formerly code-named �Dublin�). This technology provides developers with a prebuilt infrastructure that improves the scalability and manageability of composite applications. As a result, much of the complexity related to infrastructure is already taken care of.AppFabric is complemented by Windows Azure, which will help developers build composite applications...