Microsoft Office 2010 introduced the Social Connectors. With the Facebook Connector, emails now come with faces, thanks to the connector downloading profile pictures from Facebook. Opening contact items shows faces as well.

The next logical step is to use that contact item’s profile picture as the business card picture. However, no matter how I click-and-drag the picture over to the placeholder, nothing happens. Searching the Internet yields a program called OutSync. However, it managed to only download 3 profile pictures to my Outlook. Looking at its source code revealed the reason – it compares the full name on Facebook and Outlook. Since most of my Facebook friends registered only with their first names or initials, OutSync failed to match them to my Outlook contacts.

So now I have a problem that seems to be easily solvable. I thought I could change OutSync such that it will download email addresses of my friends and match them with my Outlook. However, Facebook always return null for emails.

Another approach is necessary. and in the end, I wrote a program – Outbook – that matches email addresses of Facebook and Outlook. It does so by running multiple search requests, downloading the information of the search results, then downloading the photos.

PS: As I’m running on Windows 7 64-bit and Office 2010 64-bit, I cannot promise that it will work on other OS and Office versions.

Download the application here: https://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=143431545697835

With my C: running out of space, I deleted the recovery partition on my hard disk. However, as the recovery partition occupied the space before C:, Windows was unable to expand C: to take the space. To move C:, I used GParted Live USB. However, GParted only created the partition, totally wrecking the data and Windows can no longer boot (WinRE cannot even recognize that I had Windows 7 installed). Luckily, I had heeded the advice to backup my computer before running GParted.

Recovering from the system image is not so straight forward. Firstly, the “repartition and format drive” is checked and cannot be unchecked. Thus, there is no way for me to restore Windows to a larger partition I wanted. Secondly, I had a Fedora partition which I suspect will be wiped out by the formatting. An alternative to overcome the restrictive options is needed.

After looking at these websites, Howto: Duplicate any Windows installation to a new hard disk using only a Vista DVD (!) and How to restore VHD file backup?, inspiration came to me. I could combine both instructions to recover my system image, which is a VHD, to any partition with no restrictions.

Firstly, I booted off the Windows 7 DVD and selected “Repair Windows”. Cancelling the wizard brings me to the advanced options. Selecting “Command Prompt”, I mounted the backup file (on E:) as F: by entering the following:

diskpart
select vdisk file="E:\…\Backup Set…\Backup….vhd"
attach vdisk

Then, following the instructions on duplicating Windows installation, I typed

ROBOCOPY F:\ C:\ /e /efsraw /copyall /dcopy:t /r:0

It took an entire night for the copy to complete. Once done, I booted into the Windows 7 DVD and selected “Repair Windows” again. This time, the wizard detected a problem with the boot up and did the appropriate repairs.

I was overjoyed when I could boot into Windows again. However, Avast! antivirus prompted me for a new license key. Entering an old one made the dialog go away. Another program that I found broken was Microsoft Outlook, which responded with “Not Implemented” pop-ups when many of the ribbon buttons are clicked. Repairing Microsoft Office through Control Panel > Program Features solved the problem.

The easiest way to get a Windows 7 shortcut to an application inside XP Mode is to load up the Virtual Machine and within the guest Windows XP, create a shortcut in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu.

This method can be used to create shortcut for Internet Explorer 6 and Outlook Express. However, when I use the same method to create a shortcut to Pinball Space Cadet, the Windows 7 shortcut isn’t created.

I found out that there is a manual way to create shortcut. The steps are as follows

1. In Windows XP, create the registry entries for the Terminal Services Application Allowed List
2. In Windows 7, create a shortcut to the application in XP Mode.

Creating the registry entries

I will attempt to create a shortcut to Pinball. The following is the registry entry I created.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\TsAppAllowList\Applications1234567円]
"CommandLineSetting"=dword:00000000
"IconIndex"=dword:00000000
"IconPath"="%SYSTEMDRIVE%\\Program Files\\Windows NT\\Pinball\\PINBALL.EXE"
"Name"="Pinball"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\Windows NT\\Pinball\\PINBALL.EXE"
"RequiredCommandLine"=""
"ShortPath"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\WINDOW~1\\Pinball\\PINBALL.EXE"
"ShowInTSWA"=dword:00000000
"VPath"="%SYSTEMDRIVE%\\Program Files\\Windows NT\\Pinball\\PINBALL.EXE"

[画像:image]

The “1234567” part in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\TsAppAllowList\Applications1234567円] is some random numbers that I had come up with. This number will be used later in the Windows 7 shortcut.

The "CommandLineSetting"=dword:00000000 "IconIndex"=dword:00000000 "RequiredCommandLine"="" "ShowInTSWA"=dword:00000000 are some default values that I have copied over from the 5664112 entry, which is the entry to Internet Explorer 6.

"IconPath"="%SYSTEMDRIVE%\\Program Files\\Windows NT\\Pinball\\PINBALL.EXE" determines what icon will be used. Windows 7 will extract the icon at this location and store it in Windows 7’s folder at %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Applications\Windows XP Mode

"Name"="Pinball" is used for naming the icon that is extracted in the previous step. It will be used in the Windows 7 shortcut later.

"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\Windows NT\\Pinball\\PINBALL.EXE" and "VPath"="%SYSTEMDRIVE%\\Program Files\\Windows NT\\Pinball\\PINBALL.EXE" are the path to Pinball.

"ShortPath"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\WINDOW~1\\Pinball\\PINBALL.EXE" is the 8.3 path to Pinball.

We can get the 8.3 filenames step-by-step. To get the 8.3 filename of c:\Program files, type cd \ dir "Program files*" /x You will see something similar to Volume in drive C has no label. Volume Serial Number is 24FE-A31E

Directory of C:\

07/26/2009 05:57 PM <DIR> PROGRA~1 Program Files 0 File(s) 0 bytes 1 Dir(s) 134,463,721,472 bytes free

PROGRA~1 is hence the 8.3 filename for Program files.

[画像:image]

Creating the Windows 7 shortcut

Create a shortcut in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Virtual PC

[画像:image]

Set the Target to %SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\VMCPropertyHandler.dll,LaunchVMSal "Windows XP Mode" "||1234567" "Pinball"

"||1234567" "Pinball" correspond to the random number and the Name that I have specified in the Create the registry entries step.

Installing Language Pack

To have Chinese Handwriting Recognition, the Chinese Language Pack needs to be installed. According to Microsoft Help and Support, Windows 7 language packs are available for computers that are running Windows 7 Ultimate. Implicitly, it means that other editions of Windows do not have language packs.

To verify that, the instruction from Windows 7 Center showed the following UI in Control Panel>Regional and Language that can be used to install additional language packs.

image

However, as I am running Professional Edition, there is no Display language group.

image

Does this really mean I can’t get language pack into my Windows 7 Professional? My previous experience says that it is possible to turn Windows XP into Windows Server 2000, and also enable RAID-5 on Windows XP Pro. There must be some way to get language pack.

Sure enough, I discovered that there is another way for me to install a language pack. On WinMatrix forum, the instruction given is as follows

MUI can be also installed on Professional edition avaliable at MSDNAA: Run CMD as administrator and type: DISM /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:(path to lp) then: bcdedit /set {current} locale (your locale) and: bcdboot %WinDir% /l (your locale) Then in registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MUI\UILanguages remove key en-US Reboot and it's done

To get Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese language pack into my system, I typed for the first part of the instruction

DISM /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:D:\langpacks\zh-cn\lp.cab

and

DISM /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:D:\langpacks\zh-hk\lp.cab

image

Installing Handwriting Recognition

Go to Control Panel>Regional and Language

Click on Change keyboards…

Click on Add…

Check Chinese (Simplified) – Microsoft Pinyin New Experience Input St and Chinese (Traditional) – New Phonetic in the following dialog

image

Once added, you will see the following dialog

image

and on your task bar, you will see a new EN button added

image

Turning the Input Panel on and switching to Chinese, I can start writing.

image

Edit: The language pack seems to un-install itself. Anyone knows how to get it to stay?

Edit (April 25, 2010): Read the comments for the method to stop the "uninstall".

(削除) Edit (March 27, 2010): I managed to get both English and Simplified Chinese to stay installed some time ago. The method will most likely not work with more than two language packs though. (削除ここまで)

1. (削除) We need to continue with the next step of deleting registry keys as mentioned in the WinMatrix forum. So launch the registry editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlMUIUILanguages and delete the "en-US" (削除ここまで)
2. (削除) Restart computer. Now, everything should be displayed in the language you installed previously. (削除ここまで)
3. (削除) Install the en-US language pack using DISM. Launch the registry editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlMUIUILanguages , export the registry entry for the language you had installed before restarting and delete the registry entry. (削除ここまで)
4. (削除) Restart computer. Now, everything should be in English again. (削除ここまで)
5. (削除) Import the registry entry back. (削除ここまで)
6. (削除) The two language packs should stay even after restarting. (削除ここまで)

(削除) PS: Although this method seems to work, on examining the registry entries that are changed, they are in a wreck, with some settings referring to en-US and others zh-CN. So far, I did not notice any consequence. Try it at your own risk! (削除ここまで)

Just discovered Virtual Box had seamless mode. Virtual PC has a lot to catch up! The latest version with seamless mode is still in beta… Here, I’m running Fedora 11 in virtual machine, sharing the same desktop as Windows 7 RC. Cool, isn’t it?

Some minor problems though. All the Linux applications, including the panels, appear as a window on Windows, so clicking on any Linux app will bring all Linux app to the foreground. Not too nice. Resizing windows doesn’t seem to work after a while of usage.

I wish Virtual PC can play well with Virtual Box. Launching IE 6 (Virtual Window), with Virtual Box running, froze the computer, requiring a hard reset. It could have given me a warning that I shouldn’t be running 2 VMs at the same time…

There are 2 files that need to be installed for XP mode. Installation of Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu went OK, but VirtualWindowsXP.msi gave an error – your administrator prevented the installation.

To install correctly, I had to Shift+Right Click on the VirtualWindowsXP.msi, and click Run as a different user.

Once it is installed, clicking on Start>Programs>Windows Virtual PC>Virtual Windows XP will bring up this window.

And after some time, we’ve got XP in the virtual machine.

A differencing disk is used. If your computer has several users using XP mode, this could turn out to be a substantial saving on disk space, since only changes to the base XP image is saved in the each user’s virtual hard disk.

Though Windows Explorer has gotten flasher with each version of Windows, it still stumbles on the long file name that NTFS supports…

Dragging the Computer link in the start menu to the Pin area creates a pin for Computer. However, while it is easy to pin, it is impossible to remove! Luckily, by just adding a new registry key, the context menu will show the “Unpin from Start Menu” item.

Instructions at Start Menu - Enable Folder and Library Pin to Start Menu - Windows 7 Forums

It seems kind of weird that Microsoft removed support for running 16-bit programs on 64-bit Windows. Even in Windows 7 32-bit, 16-bit programs are still supported. How different can the code be? Why is the 32-bit version written but not ported to 64-bit?

The following article explains why

Virtual 8086 mode

It is AMD and Intel who removed support for 16-bit on 64-bit. Code for 16-bit support on 32-bit must be re-written in order not to use the Virtual 8086 mode.

Does this mean that my QuickBasic programs will never see the light of the day again? Or will Windows 64-bit one day support 16-bit again (by bundling DOSBox maybe)?

Windows: 'Life Without Walls'

Microsoft: Walls will become computers of the future

So are there Walls or no Walls?

A demonstration of web and networking functionalities in Windows 7.

RAZORTV - R.age: The Bonus Stage (Pt 2)

Download site http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/10/windows-7-beta-official-direct-download-links/ http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/12/27/windows-7-beta-1-build-7000-dvd-iso-image-torrent-and-namipan-download/ Getting a product key http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/10/hack-to-get-windows-7-beta-product-key-instantly/ Installing Windows 7 on a VHD and coexisting with other OS. http://www.jcxp.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=31282 http://www.vinternals.com/2009/01/boot-windows-7-from-vhd.html Installing Windows 7 from a USB thumb drive http://edge.technet.com/Media/Installing-Win7-using-a-USB-Stick/