BitLocker technology is one of the latest and newest technology Microsoft has introduced starting Windows Vista. The BitLocker is found in Windows Vista Ultimate and used for data protection of  computers whenever it is stolen or lost.

You can configure your BitLocker algorithm and key size. Below are the steps to achieve this:

1. Click on the Run button of Windows Vista

2. Type the “gpedit.msc” in the text box

3. Go to Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / BitLocker Drive Encryption

4. On the right pane, double-click on the “Configure Encryption Method” and choose on “Enabled”. From here, choose the encryption method you wish to use (see image below):

Image from my Windows Vista computer.

BitLocker technology is one of the latest and newest technology Microsoft has introduced starting Windows Vista. The BitLocker is found in Windows Vista Ultimate and used for data protection of  computers whenever it is stolen or lost.

You can configure your BitLocker feature to silently backup to a Active Directory Domain Services for added data protection. Below are the steps to achieve this:

1. Click on the Run button of Windows Vista

2. Type the “gpedit.msc” in the text box

3. Go to Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / BitLocker Drive Encryption

4. On the right pane, double-click on the “Turn on BitLocker backup to Active Directory Domain Services” and choose on “Enabled”

This should put additional protection to your data.

Image from my Windows Vista computer.

You might have noticed that aside from the User Access Control of Windows Vista, Internet Explorer nags you of various security risks and confirmation. In any case that you are knowledgeable enough for this task and is careful whenever you are accessing sites, you can disable this thru the following steps:

1. Click on the Run button of Windows 7

2. Type the “gpedit.msc” in the text box

3. Go to Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Internet Explorer

4. On the right pane, double-click on the “Turn off the Security Settings Check feature” and choose on “Enabled”

That should get the nagging off your back.

Image from my Windows Vista computer.

It’s just four months from now before the release of Windows 7, and Microsoft has already announced that there are three major versions: The Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, and Windows 7 Ultimate.

If you are going to use your computer at home, you are better off with the Windows 7 Home Premium since the functionalities included in it are more than enough of what you need. These functionalities include:

1. Except for European version, the Windows Home Premium already has an Internet Explorer 8 installed for your faster and better web experience

2. Users has the ability to watch and record TV as well as the standard pause and rewind abilities

3. It allows you to create home network and should be able to connect PCs to a printer

If you are using a personal laptop and are going mobile, I suggest you consider the Windows 7 Professional edition because it features a better and advanced security features.

And lastly, if you don’t want limitations and is an advanced user, the best choice is the Windows 7 Ultimate. This version of Windows has all the features of Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and all the other features not found in lower editions like the Bitlocker technology which allows you to encrypt and secure your data, a protection against loss or theft.

If you are planning to buy a computer anytime soon, you can start planning your budget for your OS as well.

Image from Windows 7 brochures.

A lot of users are visual people who like to beautify their desktops and every item in their Windows Vista system. Aside from the conventional desktop background, screen saver, icons, you can also customize your Windows Vista sidebar using the Vista Sidebar styler.

The Windows Sidebar Styler is an application which maximize the new technologies found in Windows Vista™ to be able to provide extensions to functionalities of Windows® Sidebar.

The custom styles would allow you to resize and customize the appearance of Windows Sidebar. This should make the sidebar fit various UI elements like the Aero Glass colorization or an actual third party theme. These visual styles can be saved and restored/applied by other Windows Vista users. Wow, this is similar to themes in wordpress or sites.

Anyways, go ahead and try this application via – Windows Vista Sidebar Styler.

Image from Windows Vista Sidebar Styler.

Errors were reported that Windows Vista “explorer.exe” would not start during boot up. Below are the steps you can do to fix this error:

1. As always, try booting up Windows Vista thru “safe mode”. If explorer.exe doesn’t start then serious problems are in your system. But don’t lose hope, we still have steps to try and fix this problem.

2. In safe mode, go ahead and scan the system for infections, malware, viruses

3. Windows Vista has system restore, see if the last system restore would get your system up and running.

4. Check your registry settings. Click on run and type in “regedit.exe”. Navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.

The value of “Shell” should be “explorer.exe” (see image below)

Hopefully you can get the system up and running with the steps above. If not, you can consider, repairing your Windows Vista through the installation disk, either by re-installing or installing a fresh copy.

Image from my Computer.

Mapping an FTP drive can be achieved using Internet Explorer or an FTP program, however, you can map an FTP drive in Windows Vista explorer. Below are the steps to achieve this:

1. Click on the Vista Orb

2. Type “explorer”

3. Click on “Computer”

4. Click on “Map Network Drive”

5. Select the drive you wan the FTP to map into.

6. From there type the ftp folder in the text box (see image below)

7. You should not see the mapped ftp drive

Image from my Computer.

A lot of people are annoyed by the User Access Control of Windows Vista especially with all those pop-ups here and there. Most people turn this feature off, but in case you want to keep this feature turned on, you can still minimize the pop-ups by making an application always run in Administrator mode.

Below are the steps you need:

1. Click on the application short cut that you want to run in administrator mode

2. Click the “Advanced” button

3. Put a tick mark on the “Run as administrator”

4. Click Ok until all windows close up

That’s it, you should no longer be annoyed by the UAC pop-ups on programs you always use.

Image from my Computer.

One of the powerful features of Microsoft Windows 7 is it’s touch screen abilities. One of the products that is taking advantage of these features is French portable media company Archos who has released a number of Tablet PC like devices.

Their latest product Archos 9 is a mini PC that would attract a certain market. The Archos is only 0.63 inch thick weighs only 1.8 lbs. The touch screen is an 8.9 inch device which could prove useful and valuable for travelers would wants to be productive but doesn’t like the bulk of PCs including netbooks.

The Archos 9 is expected to be released by the end of October or early November given that Windows 7 is going to be released by October 2.

The Archos 9 is powered by Intel Atom Z515 1.2 GHz and runs with 1GB of DDR2 RAM. It has a built-in Wi-FI (802.11 b/g), Bluetooth 2.1, a 10/100 Ethernet port and two USB 2.0 ports.

I am contemplating on this gadget as it seems more portable than a netbook which I currently have, Lenovo S10.

Image from Archos product brochures.

Microsoft has already announced the removal of Internet Explorer 8 for Windows 7 that are going to be released in Europe. The European Commission comes down hard on companies that have been judged guilty of anti-monopoly. Intel was previously slapped with $1.45 billion dollars after the chipmaker was found guilty of anticompetitive practices four years ago in 2004. Microsoft was slapped by the same European commission by an amount that is equivalent to around $790 million dollars today.

Microsoft’s statement is that they want to ensure they are compliant with European law, and releasing a customized copy of Windows 7 that has no Internet Explorer 8 installed is one of their steps to avoid any penalties.

I am using Internet explorer and happy to have it installed with Windows 7. Some of the applications I do not like include the Windows Media player, meeting space, photo gallery, etc.

What do you want removed from Windows 7?

Image from Microsoft.