Sorry, Windows Live programs cannot be installed on Windows Server, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, or Windows operating systems earlier than Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Being a new user of Windows XP x64 that message puts me off quite a bit, apparently Microsoft wants you to install the old and ugly MSN Messenger instead of Live Messenger if you happen to run the state of the art version of Windows XP. However, as you will see, Windows Live Messenger can be used in full, but Microsoft in its infinite wisdom just made the installer incompatible!

Live Messenger 8.0 seems to be the latest version on the Microsoft Download Center where support for Windows XP x64 is specifically mentioned. In version 8.1 only Server 2003 is mentioned. If you download v8.5 you will receive the message above during installation… Notice also that the size of the file is reduced considerably because this is just an installer that then downloads the features you choose to install.

On the official download page for Windows Live Messenger you can read this under requirements:

Windows 2003 Server and Windows XP x64 are not supported.

What is so ironic is that Windows Live Messenger is fully compatible with XP x64, as a matter of fact I’m using it right now. So what you have to do is download the file I mentioned that the unsupported installer downloads. Take note though that you will not get any prompts during the install, it is silent, since you are supposed to make those choices in the unsupported installer… What this means is that you are saved the trouble of unticking the boxes about installing MS toolbars and changing your browsers home page to the dreaded MSN sites.

Also worth mentioning is that Windows XP x64 shares its codebase with Windows Server 2003 x64 and even uses the same service packs!) So this should apply to Server 2003 as well, just like drivers for either OS work fine with each other.

You can download the bare MSI file of Windows Live Messenger v8.5.1302.1018 here. While you are at it check out A-Patch that allows you to disable many annoying features of MSN like advertising – it’s beyond me why MS advertises in their own client. And when you have come to your senses you can may as well download a decent chatting client instead ;).

Oh, and here is the command to uninstall the Windows Messenger (not the same as MSN Messenger OR Live Messenger) that is bundled by default with the OS. Just copy and paste the following into Start > Run and Windows Messenger will be gone: RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

One of the worst things about bloated software is the addition of shortcuts and context menus that are better suited as opt-in features rather than self-imposed annoyances. So, call me a purist, but when I recently switched from a GeForce videocard to one of the newer Radeon HD boards, I hated to see a new context menu option added by ATI drivers that looks plain ugly with its red icon and too-wide-to-be-true length.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about…

Looking for a solution I stumbled upon this website that offers the quick & dirty tip, if you want to disable the new link:

Open regedit and go to:
KEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\ACE
Then then remove the key named “ACE“.

Alternatively, you can download these registry files and run them to disable or enable back the ATI option.

There are a number of programs that can help you burning ISO files in Windows, unfortunately a majority of them are time-limited trials that later on you are forced to either uninstall and look for a new alternative, or just pay for the full version. If you’ve ever been faced with this dilemma or just can’t stand anymore the bloated piece of software Nero has become, then I have a golden tip for you.

Windows enthusiast (we assume) and programmer Alex Feinman offers on his humble website a “powertoy” he calls ISO recorder, available for both Windows XP and Vista that will let you burn ISO files with ease (and for free). The application is also very lightweight, just like the original XP Powertoys we used to love.

If you have ever feel frustrated because you have been unable to reboot a machine from a remote location (using Microsoft’s own RDC), here’s a solution. While I recall having the option to send a Ctrl+Alt+Del to the remote machine that doesn’t seem to be available in most recent versions of the software, or at least not in the obvious places.

So, what you are left with right now is disconnect and log off options. To be able to reboot or shutdown the remote system you can call up the Command Prompt (cmd.exe) or just type the following in XP’s Run or in Vista’s search line that also serves the purpose of launching programs:

“shutdown -f” to shutdown
“shutdown -r -f” to reboot
“shutdown -i -f” to get a GUI
“shutdown -l -f” to logoff

Personally, I hate the trend of software adding bloat in subsequent versions as much as I hate people saying an application is bloated just because it’s no longer a simple one-dimensional kind of program. That said, Adobe current crop of products have to be some of the worst in this sense.

At this point I’m sure nobody doubts the deserved dominance of Photoshop in the world of digital photo editing, just like Microsoft Word or Excel are your overall best bets for documents and spreadsheets despite of its cost. But when the very creators of the PDF format ship its latest reader which takes twice the amount of time for opening files than third-party software like Foxit Reader (on a high-end PC, for slower machines it can be as much as a 10x difference!) you know something is very wrong then.

But that is just one of the many examples I can give you. The Adobe installer is just damn horrible. For a moment I thought this would be limited to the Windows version of the CS3 Suite, but when I downloaded trial versions of Fireworks and Dreamweaver for the Mac, it was quite the unwelcomed surprise to see that the bloated and painfully slow installer is also used under OS X. I have to admit that adding a bunch of ‘required’ middleware like the “Extension Manager” is not something I enjoy, but I find much worse the inclusion of the stealth Adobe Updater. You may be surprised the first time this updater pops up because it doesn’t leave any traces in the Windows registry and is not listed as a startup program. So, unless you are running a full fledged firewall (which you should but there aren’t many good ones for Vista yet), the program could run and download updates without your consent. In fact it’s quite likely you won’t notice this running unless it’s taking away your bandwidth, or CPU time (bloat, remember?) or an interruption in your Internet connection happens, which will make it complain and thus become evident it was running behind your back.

Furthermore, Adobe doesn’t give you an easy way to turn this feature off beforehand, but rather you can configure it while it’s running – there’s no access through the Adobe programs’ options menus – or you will have to manually edit a configuration file (AdobeUpdaterPreferences.dat) as detailed here. Adobe, you still make really good software, but I may have to look elsewhere in the future if you make this an on-going trend.

Per has done it again! As far as I’m aware he was the first and only source for bringing Bioshock to Windows 2000. Crysis is yet another (great) new generation shooter that officially only supports XP and Vista, but he has managed to bypass that limitation and get the demo fully working on his trusty Windows 2000 rig…

To play Crysis on Windows 2000 you need three files, powrprof.dll, dbghelp.dll and xinput1_3.dll

You can get powrprof.dll from a Windows XP or 2003 install, the version I used which worked was 6.0.3790.3959 from a 2003 SP2 server install. dbghelp.dll is used by many games, the version I took was from my Steam directory, version 6.7.5.0

You can find the xinput1_3.dll in the latest DirectX monthly redist (or the Bioshock DVD if you followed that guide too). In the extracted archive open the file APR2007_xinput_x86.cab and extract the xinput1_3.dll file.

Please read the complete instructions here. You may also be able to get some support from our community if you come across any problems. In addition, here are some benchmarks he ran on Win2k, XP and Vista 64-bit. You can also get a full scoop on Crysis’ videocard performance and scalability from our article posted last week.

Although not all of us are cut to be extreme Windows tweakers, there are still a few small hidden tweaks most people are familiar with and feel comfortable enough changing. Take for example the shortcut arrows in Windows. Those have been around since Win95 I believe, and not even in Windows Vista is there an obvious way to remove them.

In fact, because XP users can rely on the free Tweak UI they can access to this setting without recurring to a third party application. But there are still no PowerToys for Vista, so third parties is what we have for now.

So, I was recently trying a few different Vista “tweakers” to see what they were capable of, and while none offered anything particularly interesting, one of them decided to remove the registry entry for the shortcut arrows completely, rather than changing its value. The result? An empty list of Favorite Links (those useful shortcuts on the Windows Explorer sidebar).

If this has happened to you, don’t worry. Just download a trusted application that will correct it for you, namely Vista Shortcut Manager, a.k.a. FxVisor by Frameworkx. This small application will let you configure the shortcut arrow overlay while also fixing whatever any other program did to your registry entry.

On a side note, if you are into deeper tweaking you may want to check out TechSpot’s own Windows Vista Memory Tweak Guide.

Switcher is an Expose clone for Windows Vista. You may remember I recommended the beta version just a few weeks ago, new in the final version are a few stability fixes and reportedly some performance improvements as well. If you have no idea what Switcher or Expose are and what they can do for you, check out this post.

I have yet to try this updated version but I still wanted to bring the update to you ASAP considering I have endorsed it in the past as the best implementation of Expose-like functionality for Vista. Forget about Flip3D, and ease your use of Alt+Tab with this smart application switcher.

This little tweak has been available from our forum for a few weeks now thanks to Per who apparently is still running the old trusty Win2k (and you thought you were being conservative keeping XP for a while longer). It has been confirmed by users this should work for both demo and full versions of the game that officially only supports XP SP2 and Vista.

To play Bioshock on Windows 2000 you need two files, dbghelp.dll and xinput1_3.dll:

• You can get dbghelp.dll from a Windows XP or 2003 install, the version I used which worked was 5.2.3790.3959 from a 2003 SP2 server install.
• You can find the xinput1_3.dll on Bioshock’s install DVD or in the root directory of the demo zipfile in a folder called “dx redist” Open the file APR2007_xinput_x86.cab and extract the .dll file.
• Now you need to open it in a HEX Editor, I use Hex Workshop.
  Search for the textstring: “TraceMessage” and replace that with “GetUserNameA”
• Place both .dll files in the games install directory under \Builds\Release
  (Don’t overwrite the files in your winnt/system32 dir!)

That should do the trick! You may want to install the latest videocard drivers available, too, since both Nvidia and ATI have addressed bugs and optimizations targeted to Bioshock. More information and user feedback on this fix can be found in our forums. Enjoy, and thank Per!

Many of you probably remember the earlier days of the web when the browser dominance wars took place between Netscape (which enjoyed a majority share) and Internet Explorer.

One of the many things I remember is how I used to prefer Netscape which was a more elegant browser and hands down the better overall program on its early versions. It wasn’t until years later that IE took over while Netscape remained stagnant and slowly faded away.

It was all about 28.8k modems and the eternal wait that took for opening graphic-intensive sites. You actually had enough time to go get some something from the fridge, or just stare at the beautiful “loading” buttons…

Because Firefox is completely skinnable and there’s a huge community behind it, you won’t even have to mess around with any files, I picked the three best Netscape themes from the official add-on site for you to try out:

• Foxscape: This is by far my favourite, resembles the looks of the old Netscape 4.8 that uses the throbber (loading) buttons you see above.
• Modern Aluminum: This is a port of Netscape 7.x, all silver buttons with a more subtle look.
• Netstripe: This is a new official skin developed by the guys behind the new Netscape 9 beta browser. It’s a very nice green-ish theme, and a good excuse not to try the actual Netscape 9 browser that also uses the Mozilla (Firefox) code as a base.

While we are on the topic, I wanted to share another tip on customizing Firefox. You can also change (only) the throbber (that is the name given to the “loading” circle displayed by default on Firefox). You can create your own JPEG/GIF files and tell Firefox to use those instead. Here is a good guide on how to do that and yet another link for an already coded add-on that adds a spinning Firefox logo.