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This Setup Must be Launched from an Elevated Command Prompt

By Michael Hudson

User Account control for Windows 7 has been implemented by keeping security of system, non-system related files in mind. Hence any process in windows 7 is launched under restricted mode to prevent user from performing task which is against user rights and permissions.

This feature may be extremely useful for normal users but for geek and computer experts this feature annoys a lot. If you want to install something on your windows 7 and you see a prompt with message “This Setup Must be Launched from an Elevated Command Prompt”.

Even If you are working on windows 7 command prompt some commands may not work and throw access denied error. So users need to launch command prompt will full admin rights and permission state. Below are few listed methods to get elevated command prompt.

Normal/User Command Prompt

C:\users\blogsDNA>

Elevated Command Prompt

C:\windows\system32>

How to Open Elevated Command Prompt in Windows 7

Method 1: Manual

1. Click on Windows 7 Start Button

2. Go to All Programs-> Accessories

3. Now right on Command Prompt and select “Run as Administrator” from context menu.

Method 2: Search Bar

1. Click on Start and type CMD in search bar

2. Now press Ctrl+Shift+Enter

3. This should bring elevated command prompt with full Administrators rights.

Please keep in mind that if you are not a part of administrator group then you need to enter username and password of administrator user to access elevate command prompt.

To help ensure that you don't lose your files, you should back them up regularly. You can set up automatic backups or manually back up your files at any time.

How to Backup Your Files in Win 7
To back up your files

  1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.
  2. Do one of the following:
  • If you've never used Windows Backup before, click Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
  • If you've created a backup before, you can wait for your regularly scheduled backup to occur, or you can manually create a new backup by clicking Back up now.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

 

Notes

  • We recommend that you don't back up your files to the same hard disk that Windows is installed on.
  • Always store media used for backups (external hard disks, DVDs, or CDs) in a secure place to prevent unauthorized people from having access to your files—we recommend a fireproof location separate from your computer. You might also consider encrypting the data on your backup.

To create a new, full backup

After you create your first backup, Windows Backup will add new or changed information to your subsequent backups. If you're saving your backups on a hard drive or network location, Windows Backup will create a new, full backup for you automatically when needed. If you're saving your backups on CDs or DVDs and can't find an existing backup disc, or if you want to create a new backup of all of the files on your computer, you can create a full backup. Here's how to create a full backup:

  1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.
  2. In the left pane, click Create new, full backup.

 

Note

You will only see this option if your backup is being saved on CDs or DVDs.

To set up a backup after upgrading from a previous version of Windows

After you upgrade Windows, you will need to set up Windows Backup, even if you had a scheduled backup in the previous version of Windows. This is because there are several changes to the backup program. Instead of selecting file types to back up, you can have Windows back up data files saved in libraries, on the desktop, and in default Windows folders, or you can choose specific libraries and folders to be backed up. You can also create a system image of your computer. For more information, see How does Windows choose which files to back up?

To set up your backup, follow these steps:

  1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.
  2. Click Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Checkout Bizteks online Data backup system with free 30 day trial.

Is Windows 7 Worth the Money ?   By M. Hudson

The first thing you'll notice about Windows 7 is that it looks like Vista. It also works like Vista, in the sense that it has the same plumbing underneath, except for a very welcome graphics upgrade to DX11. However, it works much better than Vista, and most of Vista's annoyances have either been removed, or (mostly) can be changed so the system works the way you like. It takes personalization to extremes.

Microsoft has analyzed the data from millions of user computing sessions to find out exactly what people do with their computers, and then attacked the "pain points" to make Windows 7 quicker and smoother. (About 15 million people used the Windows 7 beta.)

The most obvious difference is that Windows 7 doesn't keep annoying you with prompts — though it's also true that the latest version of Vista is much less annoying than the original. In fact, you can set the degree of annoyance on a sliding scale; though reducing it increases the risk of security breaches. However, Windows 7 is vastly more secure than XP and, in any case; the threat landscape has changed since XP was trashed by worms such as Blaster and Slammer. Today, the more important security changes are in the Internet Explorer 8 browser which, uniquely, defends against cross-site scripting.

Another obvious difference is that Windows 7 uses fewer resources.

Where Vista really needed 2GB of memory, Windows 7 will run quite happily in 1GB on a slow dual-core Intel processor, though I'd still recommend 2GB or, for preference, 4GB with the speedy 64-bit version of Windows 7.

The reduced footprint and some optimization means Windows 7 sleeps and wakes up faster (though it's still not in the same class as Mac OS X).

And laptop batteries should last longer. I've been running Windows 7 on an Asus UL30 laptop with a claimed battery life of around 11 hours with Vista: it now does more than 12 hours.

Any PC that currently runs Vista will be better at running Windows 7 – a first for Microsoft – and it should also run on most PCs that will run XP SP2. (Search YouTube and you will find users showing off by loading it on unsuitable systems, including antiques with Pentium III chips.) The catch is that upgrading a PC running Windows XP requires a clean installation of Windows 7: you can't do an in-place upgrade. This has been a source of complaints, because it means reinstalling all your applications as well.

However, we've known for a dozen years that a clean installation of Windows usually works better, and geeks have generally recommended it.

Indeed, people used to reinstall Windows 95, 98 or Me just to clean up their systems, so it's silly to get hysterical about it now.

The Windows 7 interface has a few noticeable changes. First, the Vista sidebar has gone, but you can still use the clock and other gadgets, and you can position them wherever you like. Second, the QuickLaunch area and the Taskbar have been replaced by a sort of combo-pack.

Instead of putting applications in the Quick Launch area, you can now right-click and pin them to the new-style Taskbar, alongside running applications.

As in Vista, hovering over a Taskbar icon shows one or more mini-previews, depending on how many windows you're using, except now they're interactive. Hovering over a mini-preview shows it full size on the desktop, while right-clicking provides a Jump List of options.

It makes it dramatically easier to see what you are doing. However, if you are an inveterate Alt-Tabbed, that shows the same mini-previews. And if you liked Vista's Flip 3D feature, that's still an option.

Incidentally, you can now move Taskbar icons around to change the order, like browser tabs. As I always try to keep XP Taskbar items in the same order, I find this useful. It's a small point, but Windows 7 has lots of small points, and they add up.

There are a few party tricks that Windows 7 users can show their friends, such as Aero Snaps, Aero Peek and Aero Shake. Aero Snaps lets you put two applications side by side for easy comparison and copy-and-paste. Aero Peek makes open windows temporarily transparent so you can see what's on your desktop. Aero Shake means that if you shake a window, all the other windows will disappear. All are both useful and fun.

The My Documents section has been reorganized under one heading, Libraries. This includes Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos, with Windows 7 sorting things into these "shell folders". Each of these has two subfolders, such as My Music and Public Music. This makes it easier to keep stuff you want to share away from stuff you want to keep to yourself.

Sharing is an important part of Windows 7. It has a Home Group feature that makes it very easy to set up a home network and share things. It only works with Windows 7 machines, which I expect will sell a few family packs of Windows 7 (three copies of Home Premium for $199.99).

Right-click a photo, for example, select Share, and this gives you four options: Nobody, Home Group (Read), Home Group (Read/Write) and Specific People. "Plays to" lets you display a video, for example, on a different PC.

Support for the consumer electronics industry's DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) standard should help Windows 7 PCs work with other devices, though I've yet to see an example.

There are also some "location awareness" features where Windows 7 figures out where you are — on a home network or an office network, for example — and selects the appropriate printer. There's a section of the control panel, Location and Other Sensors, where sensors can be installed and controlled. One example is "adaptive brightness": if your PC has a light sensor, Windows 7 will adjust the screen brightness to match.

Multi-touch is also supported, if you have the hardware to take advantage of it. There is an emerging flood of laptops with multi-touch pads and new all-in-ones with multi-touch screens, but it remains to be seen whether these will be successful.

When it comes to Windows applications, the very old ones have been dramatically improved. Paint and WordPad now have "ribbon interfaces" like Office 2007, and both the Calculator and command shell (Power Shell) are much more powerful than before. Technically, several standard applications have also been removed from the operating system, though I expect most PC manufacturers will install them.

What Microsoft has done is decouple the Windows Live Essentials suite of applications – Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, etc – from the operating system. It means the Live programs can be updated from the web every six or nine months, or whatever, instead of on a three-year operating system development cycle. It also reduces the attack area for anti-trust complaints.

But one thing that's missing from Windows 7 is the Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus program, formerly codenamed Morro. You get Windows Defender and an improved firewall, but Microsoft appears to be too scared of the European Commission to do what would be best for users and include anti-virus software as well. As it is, specialist anti-virus companies install trial versions on new PCs, and pay PC manufacturers very handsomely for the distribution. If Microsoft did the right thing and defended users for nothing, it would upset the financial applecart.

All round, then, Windows 7 is generally good, and some Windows fans reckon it's better than Apple's Mac OS X. It's certainly easier to use than Mac OS X if you are already familiar with the Windows way of doing things. Also, Windows 7 – released to companies on August 6 – has so far proved to be a lot less buggy than Apple's Snow Leopard, which has even lost users' data.

If you dig into Windows 7 you will, of course, find numerous relics from the past, going right back through Windows 95 to DOS.

There are lots of inconsistencies that still need cleaning up.

However, Microsoft's business depends on running millions of programs that stretch back decades, supporting vast numbers of peripherals, and providing a platform for thousands of competing manufacturers who make everything from handhelds and tablet PCs to racks of data-centre mainframes. That's just the baggage Windows carries.

But with luck you will not see too many of these relics, and on the surface, Windows 7 is impressively smooth.

I'm a full-time Windows XP user who didn't upgrade to Vista on my two main PCs, but I can't see a good reason for sticking with XP now that it looks doomed. I've bought a cut-price Amazon Windows 7 Pro upgrade for my desktop, and I'm planning to buy a new Windows 7 laptop to replace my very old ThinkPad X31.

Windows 7 is a long way from being perfect, and it's not an essential upgrade if you're happy with XP. But nor is there a real reason to avoid it. Windows 7 is simply the best version of Windows you can get.

 

 

What Causes Hard drive failures?

Hard Drive Basics

Before understanding what can cause a hard drive failure, it is important to know the basics of how a hard drive functions. A hard drive is essentially a large device with magnetic storage media that is encased on rigid platters. This allows the drive to store large amounts of data that can be accessed and written to very quickly.

Every hard drive is comprised of several key components: case, drive motor, platters, drive heads and a logic board. The case provides protection for the drive in a sealed environment away from dust particles. The motor spins the drive up so the data can be read off of the platters. The platters hold the magnetic media that stores the actual data. The drive heads are used to read and write the data to the platters. Finally the logic board controls how the drive interfaces and talks to the rest of the computer system.


Common Drive Failures

The most common failure for a hard drive is something called a head crash. A head crash is any instance where the drive head manages to touch a platter. When this happens, the magnetic media will be etched off of the platter by the head and render both the data and the drive head inoperable. There is no clean recovery from such a failure.

Another common failure comes from imperfections on the magnetic media. Any time that a sector on the disk fails to properly hold the magnetic alignment will cause data to be inaccessible. Typically drives will have a few of these located on the platter, but they are marked out of use by a low level format from the manufacturer. Later low level formats can be done to mark sectors as unusable so they will not be used, but this is a long process that erases all data from the drive.

Mobile systems tended to be prone to platters that shattered. This was due to the fact that most hard drive platters are made of glass and were susceptible to shock. Most manufacturers have or are switching to other materials to prevent this from happening.

If there is electrical problems with the logic board, data on the drive can become unreadable or damaged. This is due to the logic board being unable to properly communicate between the computer system and the hard drive.

MTBF

In order for consumers to get a good idea of the lifespan of a hard drive, a drive was rated by something called MTBF. This term stands for Mean Time Between Failure and is used to represent the length of time that 50 percent of drives would fail before and 50 percent would fail after. It is used to give an idea to a buyer as to the average amount of time the device will function for. This was typically listed by the manufacturers on all computer drives but in recent years it has been removed from all consumer drives. They are still listed for enterprise class hard drives.

Capacity vs. Reliability

Hard drive sizes have been increasing dramatically over the last few years. This is due to the increase in the density of data being stored on the platters and the number of platters that are being placed inside of a hard drive case. For example, most drives used to feature two or maybe three platters, but many now can have up to four total platters. This increase in the number of parts and the reduction in space has greatly reduced the tolerances that the drives have and increases the amount of possible chance of failure.

Are Drives More Prone to Failure Now?

A lot of this has to do with the construction and use of hard drives. Most consumer computers were used only few a few hours per day. This meant that the drives did not have as long of continuous use that increase factors such as heat and movement that can lead to failures. Computers are much more prevalent in our lives and are being used for longer periods. This means that drives are likely failing more frequently due to heavier use. After all, a computer used twice as long as another will generally have a hard drive fail twice as quickly. So this hasn't really increased the failure rate.

Of course, factors such as the increase in data density and number of platters may also be contributing the the chances of hard drive failure. The more parts and the tighter the density of the data on the platters means that there are more things that can potentially go wrong to cause data loss or a failure. To counter this though, technology has been improving. Better motors, chemical composition of the media and other materials means that failures that used to happen due to these parts are less likely to occur.

There is no hard evidence that failures are occurring more frequently. From my own personally experience, I have not seen an increase in the number of drives failing, but other people that I work with have seen a fair number of drives in their computers have problems. This is anecodotal evidence though.

Warranties may be a good indicator of how the industry is dealing with reliability. After the dark days surrounding the infamous Deskstar problems, many manufacturers were reducing warranties. Before this the typical warranty was three years in length, but many companies switched to one year warranties. Now companies are typically offering three to five year long warranties meaning that they must have confidence in their drives as they are costly to replace.

What to Do in Case of Drive Failure?

The biggest problem with a drive failure is the amount of data that can be lost. With the increase in the number of digital devices that we use and resulting data being stored on our computer systems, it is much more disruptive to our lives to have it destroyed. Data recover from damaged drives can range from several hundred dollars to several thousand. Data recovery services aren't flawless either. A head crash will likely remove the magnetic media from the platter destroying the data forever.

There is no real way to prevent a drive failure either. Even the most reputable and reliable brand can have a drive that fails rapidly As a result, it is best to try and plan for an event that will cause the primary data drive to fail with data backups. There are a wide range of backup methods available to use.

One simple tip I like to suggest to people is portable hard drives. They are fairly inexpensive and due to their limited use, are less likely to fail when properly stored and handled. External hard drives are available in the exact same capacities as the desktop drives because they often use the same drives. The key is to only use the drive when backing up data or restoring it. This reduces the amount of time it is used and lessen the chance of failure.

Another option open to users is to build a desktop PC with a version of RAID that has data redundancy built in. The simplest form of RAID to setup is RAID 1 or mirroring. This requires a RAID controller and two identically sized hard drives. All data written to one drive is automatically mirrored to the other. In the event of a failure of one drive, the second drive will always have the data.

Conclusions

Hard drives in general are very reliable, but with the increasing amount that we use our computers to store the data from our lives, the more catastrophic it becomes to have that data be lost from a drive failure. In general the drives are not failing any faster than they have in the past, but with the increasing use of the drives, they are reaching their expected lifespan sooner. Because of this, it is important to be prepared for such an incident by planning how to store your data in multiple locations to avoid data loss.
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Is Microsoft "VISTA" worth the trouble?

I have read hundreds of articles about the new Windows Vista Operating System. After reading the pros and cons of what the public has to say, the Cons outweight the Pros by about 90%

Microsoft has come out with a supposedly super duper New Operating System, But everyone is having problems Installing it.

First you cannot have an Fat32 partition, it has to be NTFS. Second you have to have at least 11 Gigs, yes GIGS of space available in your operating sysem drive to Install it. 

From what I have read, it even gives you a hard time upgrading and from Xp Pro to Windows Vista. Most users have to do a new install which wipes out all of your data if you do not back it up first.

Now most people just stick the disk in and expects it to upgrade with just a little waiting time an a few clicks to continue. Folks do not be fooled by this old technique.

Windows Vista does not recognize a lot of your hardware and if you do not have the drivers for you Modem, Graphics Card Etc, you are totally screwed. This is if you can even get it to install.

Now as you know, when windows comes out with a new OS, there is always an issue and a lot of debuggging to do.

It has to be tested by the public , You! The same people that are testing it are the same people that are crashing their computers. You You You!

Now as an intelligent human being, why would anyone pay all this money to upgrade to something they don't even know will out perform their current OS is beyond me.

I say to all of the readers that are considering upgrading, please wait until Microsoft can Guarantee a smooth upgrade and insure you that it will not crash your computer.

Personnally, You should go read up on it before you spend hundreds of dollars on something you do not need and take a chance on loosing data you do need!

In Summary, is it really worth it? you make the choice, but be forwarned. You already know your current Operating Sytem Works, do you really want Vista just to say you have it and to stay up with the Jone's? 

Biztek will convert your Vista OS back to XP that works. Please call us for a quote.
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What is S.E.O.?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic")search results. Typically, the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search including, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

The acronym "SEO" can also refer to "search engine optimizers," a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term "search engine friendly" may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems, images, videos, shopping carts, and other elements that have been optimized for the purpose of search engine exposure.

Another class of techniques, known as black hat Spamdexing, use methods such as link farms, keyword stuffing and article spinning that degrade both the relevance of search results and the user-experience of search engines. Search engines look for sites that employ these techniques in order to remove them from their indices.

Biztek offers SEO and SEM  search engine marketing to its clients.
Calls us today for more information at 919-249-6454

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Visit us at the South Hills Shopping Plaza, Raleigh

 

 

Last Updated on Monday, 12 September 2011 11:14
 
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