Category Archives: Computer

inspiron15r

How to buy a Dell Laptop (Germany)

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Yes, you need a guide to buy a Dell laptop — and Dell is wondering why nobody is buying their products. Well this is a guide to buy a laptop, not a post-pc touch device.

Choosing the Laptop Series

The first step is to figure out the technical specifications and what kind of laptop you want to have.

You can choose as a normal person from the Laptops available from “Privatkunden” (If you are representing a school etc. other benefits are also available, for simplicity we will just go with a average consumer).

Currently all 14” Laptops have a HD+ display and all 15” Laptops have a FullHD (1920×1080) display.

In this category there are two product lines: The cheaper Inspiron series and the more expensive XPS line (Only the XPS 14 and XPS 15 are Laptops, all other Models in the series are touch devices).

If you do not find a suitable laptop you also can look in the “Mittelstand” Category (However sales tax has to be added to the price)

Getting the best deal

Ok choosing the Laptop series was the easy part. To get the best deal you got to use coupons. In many cases you save 100Eur or more, or you get a laptop with better technical specifications for a lower price. Coupons are even available for laptops that are currently on sale.

So where do you get these Coupons? For one they are located on the top of the website. (Usually you just scroll down and miss them)

Dell Screenshot1

Location of the Coupons

In addition coupons are available when you subscribe to newsletters. Specialized sites like http://dell.awardspace.info/ collect and display current coupons available. (When you scroll all the way down on that site you can select your series laptop and the various coupons are then displayed)

When buying the laptop, you have to try out different combinations of the available coupons to get the best deal.

You usually only can apply a single coupon for a laptop. However, an independent coupon to discount the shipping costs is usually available.

When all is said and done, the price of the laptop is reduced by 100-200eur, making it competitive to laptops available in stores or Amazon. Frankly, I believe if Dell would simply apply their coupons directly and not have customers go on a coupon hunt they would sell more laptops.

Windows 7: Quick and optimized install (Update)

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Ok, so essencially my original post had a quick way of doing things. But now lets speed it up even faster.

1. Install

1.1 Win 7 SP1 integrated

So for WinXP you would have slipstreamed the Service Packs. But screw that we got broadband. Download an integrated Iso from:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/

1.2 USB Install

Installing from USB, is usually faster than installing from a DVD.

  1. Copy all the contents of the Win7 ISO to an USB-Drive (3GB free space required).
  2. Right-click on “Computer” – > Manage and navigate to Disk Management
  3. Right-click on the Partition you copied the Win7 Files to and select “Mark Partition as Active”
  4. Plug the USB-Drive in the PC to be set up and boot from the USB-Drive.
  5. Install

Note: If you have a USB3-Port you may need additional drivers to install via USB.

1.3 Partitions

The sole purpose of Partitions is organization. However you want to organize you files you create any number of partitions accordingly. Best Practice is to have at least 100GB of space for the Operating Install Partition so you have plenty of space to install more Programs. Note: To gain a speed advantage one must use  multiple physical Hard drives and then configure the Swap Files. However placing the Swap-file on the same physical disk will is not give any performance boost.

2. Initial Settings via Powershell

  • Open Powershell as Administrator
  • type  Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
  • Copy (and modify)  following Code into a new Textfile

#Enable Windows Classic Theme
Write-Host "Enabling Classic Theme"
& $env:Systemroot'\Resources\Ease of Access Themes\classic.theme'

#Set Explorer Settings
Write-Host "Configuring Explorer-Settings"
$explorerKey = 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced'
Set-ItemProperty $explorerKey NavPaneShowAllFolders 1
Set-ItemProperty $explorerKey NavPaneExpandToCurrentFolder 1
Set-ItemProperty $explorerKey Hidden 1
Set-ItemProperty $explorerKey HideFileExt 0

#Set Taskbar Settings
Write-Host "Taskbar Settings"
Set-ItemProperty $explorerKey TaskbarSmallIcons 1
Set-ItemProperty $explorerKey TaskbarGlomLevel 1

#Disable Customer Experience Improvement Program
Set-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows' CEIPEnable 0

#Desktop Items
Write-Host "Display Icons"
$desktopKey = 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons'
new-item -path $desktopKey
new-item -path $desktopKey\ClassicStartMenu
new-item -path $desktopKey\NewStartPanel
new-ItemProperty -path $desktopKey\ClassicStartMenu -name '{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}' -value 0
new-ItemProperty -path $desktopKey\ClassicStartMenu -name '{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}' -value 0
new-ItemProperty -path $desktopKey\ClassicStartMenu -name '{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}' -value 0

new-ItemProperty -path $desktopKey\NewStartPanel -name '{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}' -value 0
new-ItemProperty -path $desktopKey\NewStartPanel -name '{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}' -value 0
new-ItemProperty -path $desktopKey\NewStartPanel -name '{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}' -value 0

#Disable Remote Assistance
Set-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Remote Assistance' fAllowToGetHelp 0

#Restart Explorer
Stop-Process -processname explorer

#Disable UAC
Write-Host "Disabling User Account Control (UAC)"
Set-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System' EnableLUA 0
Write-Host "System needs to be rebooted"
#Disable Services
#Windows Search
(gwmi win32_service -filter "name='WSearch'").ChangeStartMode("Disabled")
#Windows Features
DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:WindowsGadgetPlatformDISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:TabletPCOC /NoRestartDISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:Printing-XPSServices-Features /NoRestart
DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:Xps-Foundation-Xps-Viewer /NoRestart
DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:Printing-Foundation-InternetPrinting-Client /NoRestart
DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:MediaCenter /NoRestart
DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:OpticalMediaDisc /NoRestart
DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:WindowsMediaPlayer /NoRestart
  • Save as “windowsConfig.ps1″ at C:\
  • In Powershell execute C:\windowsConfig.ps1 (works only with full path)
  • Useful Services Configuration Black Vipers Guide

3. Applications

3.1 Internet Explorer 9

To prevent downloads of unneeded updates, install IE9 prior to running windows update.

IE9 Download

3.1 Ninite

Visit www.ninite.com you can choose from a selection of free programs and then download an automatic installer.

That’s all folks!!!

Further Links:

Speed Up Windows 7 How to

Tweaking Windows 7 for Maximum Performance

The Ultimate Guide to Speed up Windows 7

Windows 7 – Quick and Optimized Install

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Ok, I don’t have the time to create a fully automated Win7 Install. So I will be using an original unaltered Windows7 install. Links to downloadable ISOs are freely available at:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/windows-7-iso-x86-and-x64-official-direct-download-links-ultimate-professional-and-home-premium/

I based this guide solely on my personal preference, it purely optimized for speeding up a manual install and configuration of Win7.

1. Install

1.1 USB Install

Installing from USB, is usually faster than installing from a DVD.

  1. Copy all the contents of the Win7 ISO to an USB-Drive (3GB free space required).
  2. Right-click on “Computer” – > Manage and navigate to Disk Management
  3. Right-click on the Partition you copied the Win7 Files to and select “Mark Partition as Active”
  4. Plug the USB-Drive in the PC to be set up and boot from the USB-Drive.
  5. Install

Note: If you have a USB3-Port you may need additional drivers to install via USB.

1.2 Partitions

The sole purpose of Partitions is organization. However you want to organize you files you create any number of partitions accordingly. Best Practice is to have at least 100GB of space for the Operating Install Partition so you have plenty of space to install more Programs. Note: To gain a speed advantage one must use  multiple physical Hard drives and then configure the Swap Files. However placing the Swap-file on the same physical disk will is not give any performance boost.

2. Initial Settings

2.1 GodMode

To gain Access to all Configuration Panels Create a Folder and rename it to:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Open the Folder and you have Quick Access to all Panels currently available

Item

 Action
Action Center
Change Customer Experience Improvement Program settings Disable
Change User Account Control Settings Never
Administrative Tools
View local services Windows Search (Disable)

Read: Useful Services Configuration Black Vipers Guide
Folder Options
Show or hide file extensions Show extensions
Personalization
Enable or disable transparent glass on windows Deactivate
Show or hide common icons on the desktop Show User Files, Show Computer
Programs and Features
Turn Windows features on or off Tablet PC Components (off)Windows Gadget Platform (off)(Restart Required)
System
Activate Windows Insert Key – Activate Windows
Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows Mostly Personal Preferences for max Performance disable all
Allow remote access to your computer Deactivate Allow Remote Assistance connections
Taskbar and Start Menu
Customize the Start menu (Personal Preference) Small Icons enables “old Windows” look and feel

2.2 Drivers

Most devices get a significant performance boost when the newest drivers are installed. The newest drivers usually can be downloaded from the hardware vendors support websites.
For tweaked graphics drivers for Nvidia and ati you can visit

Omega drivers (Not officially supported by Nvidia or amd)

Further manual tweaking can be done with RivaTuner

3. Applications

3.1 Internet Explorer 9

To prevent downloads of unneeded updates, install IE9 prior to running windows update.

IE9 Download

3.1 Ninite

Visit www.ninite.com you can choose from a selection of free programs and then download an automatic installer. The free to use section only downloads 32bit version of the programs.

In some cases e.g 7-zip it is better just to download the proper version and install it manually.

Current Favorite Selection

Web browsers Chrome
Messaging Skype
Thunderbird
Media iTunes
VLC
Winamp
Quicktime
Runtimes Flash
Flash (IE)
Java
Security Avast
Spybot
Other Dropbox
Steam
Utilities TeamViewer
ImgBurn
CCleaner
TeraCopy
Compression 7zip
Developer Tools Phyton
FileZilla
Notepad++
Eclipse

More Information: Windows nützliche Programme (German)

4. Clean Up

4.1 Windows Update

Run Windows Update several times to get the newest updates

If Servicepack 1 was installed run in the Command Prompt:

 dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

to remove unneeded backup files.

 
 
That’s all folks!!!

Further Links:

Speed Up Windows 7 How to

Tweaking Windows 7 for Maximum Performance

The Ultimate Guide to Speed up Windows 7

Windows: Remove Security Warning Message from Downloaded Files

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So you know what you are doing and have Antivirus installed, are not downloading crap and hate useless security warnings nobody cares about?

Well, no there is no easy way. Windows marks the Files with "Zone"-Information.

For every single file in the “Properties-Menu” one must select Unblock.

Unblock

Advanced Users:

To prevent the Zone Information to be added to future Downloads – Open gpedit.msc (Run as Admin)

Navigate to “User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Attachment Manager”

Enable “Do not preserve Zone information in file attachments”

GPEdit

In CMD execute “gpupdate /force” or restart Computer.