Hackstacks » Microsoft

How to run older application in Windows 7 32 bit or 64 bit?

Renjith — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:07:48 +0000

Organizations are upgrading their workstation operating systems to Windows 7 since Windows XP’s expiry is almost close. Many companies will have their own developed tools and 3rd party utilities worked very well on Windows XP. But when moved to Windows 7 few of them has stopped working because of incompatibility. Microsoft has addressed this problem and they have extended the Compatibility Mode in Windows 7 Editions as well.

If you are unable to open any application on Windows 7 the compatibility mode will help to change the compatibility mode and let you set the compatibility for last worked Windows platform. Windows 7 is even smart enough to scan the executable file and advice you which compatibility mode should be used in order to run the application.
You can change the Compatibility mode in file Properties>Compatibility Tab.

Sometimes even the compatibility mode will not work if the file is 16-bit application. The best way to resolve this issue is loading the support files on Windows 7 for older applications. The support files called Libraryfiles and VB5-Runtime needs to be downloaded and installed on your Windows 7 to run such old applications.

By default the instalation will drop the support files under System32 folder, but there is a bit different in Windows 7 64 edition or any other 64-Bit edition of windows because the 64 Bit systems will have a subsystem folder called WOW64 (Under Windows folder). WOW64 will work as an emulator for 32 applications to provide support in 64-bit editions of Windows. If you wish to know more about WOW64 read here.

So while loading the support files in to a 64-bit operating system you will have to change the installation location to C:\Windows\WOW64\ because when you run any 32 bit application in 64-Bit Windows it will look for the emulator files under the WOW64 folder.

Let me know if you have any different way of fixing this issue?

Microsoft Social Networking project leaked -Tulalip

Renjith — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:03:45 +0000

Yes, Facebook is probably going to get one more rival. It was Google + was covering all the media till now! but the news media is now behind the Microsoft Research labs for their new Social Media project called Tulalip. The project name is not so good I guess and even the project is hosted on a different domain and it’s called Socl.com. We found that it’s owned by Microsoft from a domain name check. So mostly the world’s largest software company(Microsoft) will challenge the world’s largest search engine provider (Google) and the world’s largest Social Network giant(Facebook)

If you visit the Socl.com you will see a message saying

Thanks for stopping by.
Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web.
We didn’t mean to, honest.

The news was first reported by Fusible and from the screenshot and the tag line we can figure out it’s based on a search engine. It reads like this “With Tulalip you can Find what you need and Share what you know easier than ever”. Also it has integration with Facebook and Twitter users for an easy signup. The links found on the site were not operational. So hopefully soon we can hear something good from Microsoft!

Microsoft Office Career Center : Guiding Job Seekers

Renjith — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:36:47 +0000

Microsoft Office Career Center is a new page created by the Microsoft in association with the online job portal giant Monster.com. The career center guides a fresh job seeker with relevant information to land in the right job. The site is filled with informations such as Top 10 Interview Questions, Interview Cheat Sheet, Dressing tips for an Interview, How to follow-up after the interview and tips for analyzing your strength and weakness etc.

Also the site has a database of elegant resume samples for a College Graduate to Highly Experienced Professional. Monster resume templates will helps an entry–level job seeker to get a good start in their career.

I would suggest this site for a beginner/college student as this has must read contents for an entry level person.

Image Courtesy @Microsoft

Microsoft Outlook Features Now Available on Hotmail

Renjith — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:45:52 +0000

Hotmail enhance the Hotmail experience by adding few features available on the Outlook application. Microsoft is using the HTML5 on Hotmail to deliver the latest features. With the new features, Hotmail is going one step ahead to Gmail and fortifies the war. The new feature allows you to Right Click on the window and do actions like Reply, Reply All and Forward options for the Email. Also it supports basic actions like Mark as unread, Delete, Junk, Move, and View message source etc.

Check it out these features in action

Apart from that you can use the Hotmail Shortcuts and do the tasks easier.

Windows 8 user experience-The First video from the Microsoft Lab

Renjith — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:28:46 +0000

Jensen Harris the director of program management for Windows 8 user experience has released the first video from the lab which demonstrates the user experience that you going to have in Windows 8 interface. Windows 8 has given more importance to touch screen navigation but that does n’t mean that it won’t work well in desktop. Microsoft say’s Windows 8 will work well with mouse and keyboards as well. Windows 8 more likely looks like a smartphone OS. Application multitasking is one of the attractive feature is added on Windows 8. Also the web apps powered with HTML 5 and Java Script has beefed up the operating system.

Check it out the demo and we shall wait more videos from Microsoft soon.

Microsoft is Up with New Wireless Keyboard with 128-Bit Encryption

Renjith — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:27:48 +0000

Microsoft recently announced a Wireless Keyboard and Mouse combo in 2000 series. Microsoft has released many wireless keyboard combo’s but the attraction of this model is it supports 128-AES encryption. The keystrokes and mouse movements are completely encrypted over the air while it passes to the wireless receiver. Intercepting the Microsoft keyboard’s data is not that widely known but the techniques are knows to the bad guys from late 2007. While having 128-AES encryption on the device make it secure and boosts the confidence level while typing.

Microsoft Mouse is designed with Bluetrack technology so that the mouse works on any surface and provides better tracking. It works on Wood, Granite, Marble even it works on carpet and fabrics. But don’t expect this mouse work on clear glass surface and mirrored surfaces.

This model of Microsoft devices works on Windows platforms as well as Mac OSX 10.4 or later operating systems. This device is priced at 39.99 USD

Search Commands Add-on for Office 2010 will help you to find commands quickly

Renjith — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:39:53 +0000

Microsoft Office Lab has released an add-on for Office 2010 to help the users to find the commands easier. It is indeed a great feature introduced by Microsoft to help the migrated users from Microsoft office 2003. Because the user will find the Office 2010 interface as new if they have not worked on Office 2007. So such users will have hard time to navigate on the Ribbon styled menu on the Office 2007 and Office 2010. The users will be able to remember the Command name they have used in previous version but will be hard to find it on the new menu.

Once the Microsoft’s Search Command add-on is installed on your Office 2007 or Office 2010 you will see a new tab on the Office menu Ribbon called “Search Commands” Click on the tab and Type in the command you want to launch. It will populate relevant command buttons on left side of the ribbon menu and you can easily launch the desired one.

I feel like this add-on should be included on the next Office Service Pack and made it available as a default feature. This feature can be enjoyed only by the English users and it will be applicable only on Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Download the Add-on from here.