Difference between WinXP Professional and Win2000 Professional

Even today most of technicians have the doubt of what all are differences between xp and 2000. here are a list of differences for you.

Although XP is superior and faster than 2000, most people want to know more of the comparison. Hope you got your answers today.

Power Options in Microsoft Windows Vista fights Global Warming.

The power saving has become an essential requirement all over the world. We need to have advanced and more efficient configurations to be made to make more performance with less power loss. Most of the time we keep the PC powered on without any task. This consumes a lot of power. Power cuts are frequent due to the shortage in generation of Electricity. We can’t burn lot of fuel in generators as we all need a Green planet.
Microsoft has found solution for making the planet greener and made improvements in the configurations of power in Vista. These options are much better than XP and previous versions of its operating systems. We much advanced options that practically suit every user environment.
To change your power settings go to Control options, power options, choose any preconfigured plan or make your own configurations from the options available.

We can configure, start menu power button options, turnoff hard disks when idle, change wireless adapter setting, sleep settings, USB power, PCI Express Link state power management, processor power management, Search and indexing, Display power setting, windows dream scene setting, multimedia setting.

Use these options to save power and consume less carbon emitting fuels those cause the Global Warming. Please help to keep the planet green. We need this green planet for our future generations.

What is the Windows Experience Index?

To check this feature, go to Control panel, open performance information and tools, click update my score.

The windows experience index is a new feature available in windows vista. If you have installed vista newly then you got to check the performance of the hardware components. Ratings are available for hardware, especially Processor, Memory, Graphics, Gaming Graphics and Primary Harddisk. Sub score are displayed for these components and base score is taken out of the sub score.

The base score is the least score achieved by the hardware. The lower base score means the lesser performance from the hardware and more the base score, the better performance you’ll have. Based on this analysis you can plan to buy your software that works best for your system. The score ratings ranges are 1.0 to 5.9, where 5.9 is the top score you can target.

Every time you install windows vista (or) new hardware, you need to update the score for vista to recognize the added performance. Windows aero will start after you install the drivers for graphics card and your base score updated. Aero requires base score 2.0 or above to work. If you have base score 1.0 you can run office application and browse internet, but you cannot use vista’s graphics demanding features.

A base score of 4.0 or 5.0 is required to run HDTV content, 3D gaming, Powerful graphics requirement of applications and the most of vista’s full featured animated graphics. The detailed information of the system like total Harddisk, active network adapters, and graphics can also be viewed from the view and print details option.

So if your base score is below 2.0, it indicates that you can have minimal pleasure out of your system, so plan to buy new hardware to improve system performance than blaming Windows Vista.

Convert Fat32 drives with Data into NTFS

Do you want to upgrade from Fat32 Drives to NTFS when you have your important data, then you got your hands on the right post.

Converting your Fat32 disk is a very easy task. You can run this command from the Windows XP command prompt. Formatting will also help convert the file system, but warning is we cannot do this if we have data, because formatting erases the data. So to convert safely without losing the data, we got to use this command only; we cannot convert from Disk management.

Just type the command convert D: /fs:ntfs, considering D: is the drive to be converted and give Enter. Give Volume label when prompted. You can find it in My Computer, and see what name is displayed with your drive, give enter when done. It takes few seconds based on the size of Drive and it’s done.

Be sure you want this conversion or not. NTFS drives cannot be accessed from win98 or previous versions. See that you have an UPS before running command, because if power fails during the conversion process, you might lose all data. Microsoft does not recommend taking this risk.

Difference between File Compression and NTFS Compression

Let’s test this using some document files. I’ve compressed the files with the file compression method and file system compression method and screen shots have been taken. Let’s analyze the results and find out.

File Compression

We can use Winzip and Winrar for compressing files. This can be used on FAT32 and NTFS drives. In this method the content of file is compressed based on the type of file and finally reduces the size of the file itself. It also packs the files and folders into a zipped folder. When the file is packed tight, it cannot be used without unpacking. So every time when we open the zipped file, we need to unzip it. This files can be Encrypted. This takes time and reduces performance. To compress files on XP and win2000, Right click on the folder and give, send to compressed folder.

NTFS Compression

We can use this method only on NTFS drives. When files and folder is compressed using this method, it reduces the amount of size required to store on a Disk. This does not alter the file or change its Extension. We can use file without manually unzipping, but when the file is accessed, the windows decompresses and when we close, it compress back to save space. We cannot Encrypt NTFS compressed files. This also does affect performance. To do this, open folder properties, go to Advanced and check mark the compress contents to save disk space and give OK.

These Pictures show what happens by these compression methods. The only point in compressing is to save space. When we compress with winrar or other application we can password protect the compressed file and also encrypt file names.

Difference between Quick Format and Normal Format in Windows

There is not Much difference between these two options.
Formatting
To format a drive, right click on drive and choose format. Be sure you have taken backup of your data before you proceed with format of any drive. When we use format our data is erased completely and left as a clean drive. It only does the formatting job and does not do anything to the physical harddisk or Formatting does not cause damage to your harddisk.

QUICK FORMAT
When you try to use quick formatting on any drives, it formats the drive into NTFS or Fat32 as specified. This do not take much of time and can be done easily. This process does not check the physical condition of the harddisk.

NORMAL FORMAT
When we use the normal formatting on hard drives, it will do the formatting in specified format. This also runs an utility during format, called chkdsk.exe (check disk). The function of the check disk tool is to find and repair bad sectors on the physical disk. This process takes place during format itself and so it takes lot of time to complete compared to quick format.
If you are sure that your harddisk is in good health, then use the quick format, else go for normal format.

IS MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA UNSTABLE

Why people say Microsoft Windows Vista is unstable and does not work with many computers. Is problem with Vista OS or problem with computers? Microsoft has already released service pack 1; still most people fear and use only XP. Let’s analyze…
Windows Vista is one of the most users friendly OS ever built and released. People feel uncomfortable because they are used to XP and could not change their mind immediately. When XP was released in 2003, I heard people say the same thing, but now XP has conquered the worlds 80% of the PC’s market.
If we install Windows Vista in a computer which does not have vista compatible hardware and drivers, it becomes unstable. Vista by default has drivers integrated for many devices. There drivers contain Digital Driver Signature (Explained in previous post). If your hardware comes under this list, Vista will install drivers automatically. If it installs, then your computer is going to have the latest & Stable Vista OS.
Windows vista has a whole lot of features which is much faster than our XP machines. The aero theme is an mind blowing theme which also plays video also during switching windows.

According to me, Switching over to vista now is right. Before you install vista in an older PC, check if you meet the minimum requirements for installing Windows Vista. You can do this by downloading Windows vista upgrade advisor. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx

Digital Driver Signing

What is Digital Driver Signing
Microsoft windows tests every device driver on Windows platform in their test lab. This is done to ensure that the driver is programmed perfectly to work with Microsoft Windows Operating System. Once found stable, an Digital Signature (logo) or Electronic security mark is been added stating that this driver will work without affecting the Operating Systems stability.