To enable the hidden telnet command in Windows 7, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, Control Panel.
2. Choose the Programs section.
3. Click the Turn Windows features on or off link.
4. In the appearing window, find the Telnet client item and enable it by ticking the checkbox.
5. Confirm with OK.

Now you can use the telnet command in command prompts, even while using Windows 7.

To prevent Messenger from starting automatically at boot time, follow these steps:

1. Open the Messenger sign-in window.
2. Click the Options link.
3. On the left side, switch to the Sign in section.
4. Make sure to uncheck the Start Messenger when I log on to my computer.
5. Click OK to save your settings.

Messenger Companion displays notifications to let you know you when your friends in Messenger have shared links to pages on the site you’re visiting.

If you don’t want to be notified, click the Options icon in the notification , and then click Yes, stop showing.

To turn notifications back on, in Windows Internet Explorer, click the Messenger Companion button, click the arrow next to your name, and then click Show notifications.

Okay, I admit it:  I’m using the default Mac OS X pointer on Windows. 
You would like to change your default mouse cursor as well?  Follow these steps:

1. Click Start, Control Panel.
2. In the Hardware and Sound section, click the small Mouse link.
3. A dialog appears.  Switch to the Cursor tab.
4. Now for each cursor type that you see in the list, select it, then click the Browse… button to fetch a different cursor.  Tip: You may select cursors in *.cur or *.ani format. 
   You want my Mac OS X cursors ?  Download them for free.
5. After you have changed all cursor types you want to look different, hit Save as… to name your new collection.
6. Finally, click the OK button to apply your changes.

Do you like your new cursor?

In Windows 7, “My Documents” have been replaced by “Libraries”.  However, not everybody uses the new folder structure.  Many users still prefer to store their files in their own custom folders, or on network storage.  In these scenarios, the Libraries are unnecessary and you may hide them.

If you want Windows Explorer to stop displaying Libraries, follow these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Right-click the corresponding library, for instance Videos.
3. In the appearing context menu, choose Don’t display in navigation area.
   Woops — the item is hidden.

You need to restore the Library?

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Click Libraries.
3. In the right pane, right-click the Library you want to show again, for instance, Videos.
4. Pick Show in navigation area.

Today, we are going to take a look at the first half of 2010, that is, from January to June.

• January 2010
  • Details and first photos about Messenger Wave 4 emerge.
  • You can now connect SkyDrive to Windows Explorer — using CloudStorageExplorer.
  • Hotmail Wave 4 will add Conversation view for messages.
• February 2010
  • The cloud system Windows Azure launches officially.
  • The social network Facebook launches its new home page layout.
  • Windows Live ID has an outage, causing that customers cannot sign in anywhere.
  • The Windows Live Messenger extension Messenger Plus! becomes silent at Yuna Software, its new owner, but eventually the silence is broken and we can move on to new pastures.
  • The Chinese website cnbeta.com discovers the design of Windows Live Writer 2011.
• March 2010
  • Google acquires the online image editor startup company Picnik.
  • The IT trade fair CeBIT 2010 takes place in Hanover, Germany.
  • The release roadmap for Windows Live Wave 4 surfaces.

• April 2010
  • Live.com changes to be Windows Live Home.
  • Office 2010 reaches RTM status, its development is finished.
  • Chris Jones talks about the future of Windows Live.
• May 2010
  • The search engine Google overhauls its interface.
  • Angus Logan showcases the Windows Live Messenger App for Apples iPhone smartphone.
  • mynetx.net takes an in-depth look at the new features in Hotmail Wave 4.
  • Messenger 2011 retires the existing “View webcam” feature and instead relies on Video calls, which are easier to maintain. Users’ reactions are overly negative and loud.
  • The complete feature list of Windows Live 2011 is published. Remarkable new features include Messenger’s Facebook Chat module as well as Photo Fuse and facial recognition in Photo Gallery.
  • On May 31, Windows Live Events is closing.
• June 2010
  • Office 2010 and Office Web Apps are released to the public. Office Web Apps allow to edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations right in your web browser.
  • The Windows Live Wave 4 public beta launches in 7 languages.

What was your personal highlight in the first half of 2010? I am curious to know!

Windows Live Writer is one of the first applications of the Essentials suite to enter the planning phase for its next release, called “Wave 5.” Now is the time to get involved into the plannings and add your ideas, wishes and bug reports, so the development team can integrate them into their plannings.

This is a call for ideas regarding Windows Live Writer. Consider the following two points:

1. Think about a feature that any Windows Live Writer blogger might find useful. Such as: “Posting to Tumblr.”
2. Now think about a wish that you personally would love to see integrated into the application. Such as: “Add a dictionary to look up words while writing.”

Please enter your ideas as comments below this original post.

The good news is that it was not you who caused this error. Several server-side factors have caused it to appear — the good news is that you can now just retry to launch Windows Live Mesh, and it will load successfully, as the server-side configuration of Live Mesh has been changed to avoid the error occurring.

You get a different error when trying to connect to Windows Live Mesh? Please let me know — add a comment below!

To install the update, just run the installer from Windows Live Essentials 2011 15.4.3538.0513 again. Afterwards, reboot your computer. Here is a list of included bug fixes (incomplete, perhaps):

• Windows Live Writer 2011: The Alt Gr could not be used for typing special characters (like needed in French and German keyboard layout).
• Windows Live Mail 2011: a hash “#” was added to any sent e-mail if Internet Explorer 9 beta is installed
• More fixes due to the Internet Explorer 9 beta

While I am just getting round to installing the update, please let me know if you become aware of more bug fixes included in this Essentials 2011 update.

However, some problems could arise that you have to overcome. Most importantly: Your processor has to be 64-bit capable. You can detect this from extensions to its name, such as “x64”. Also, you should have access to corresponding drivers for all system devices (that is, graphics card, sound card, network controller, printer etc) — as 32-bit drivers are most not suitable for 64-bit.

Regarding supported programs, there is a highlight: Nearly any 32-bit application runs on 64 bit as well. Exceptions are only system-near programs that hook deeply into Windows, such as disk partitioners or antivirus programs. The other way round, real 64 bit software can make full use of the processor and should thus run better than its 32-bit variant. Though, much depends on the way the application is optimized for 64 bit, that is, how well it is making use of the possibilities that the 64 bit processor offers.

My guest for today is Harrison Hoffman. As Evangelism Product Manager at Microsoft, he likes Windows Live a lot. Why not take a seat and listen to his thoughts?

Klaus: Harrison, it is a pleasure for me to have you here talking with me about you and your relation to Windows Live!

Harrison: Hi Klaus, I’m excited to have the opportunity!

Klaus: Let’s start right away with the first question.
Which sentence would describe you best?

Harrison: In terms of my job at Microsoft, I would say that I am focused on helping people discover all of the amazing things that you can do with Windows Live, as well as trying to make sure that our products reflect what people want. Outside of my job, I would say that I am a recent college grad, living in Seattle, who loves music, traveling, and Chicago sports.

Klaus: You were one of the co-founders of LiveSide.net, a news site talking about Windows Live. What motivated you to engage in this, back in January 2006?

Harrison: Prior to January, 2006, I was involved with beta testing for a variety of Microsoft products, which included various MSN products. I got to know a few other beta testers pretty well, so when we saw Microsoft starting to roll out this rebranding and new set of products called Windows Live, we saw a great opportunity to get out in front of it and provide information on it. So, in January, myself, Chris Overd, and Matthew Weyer started LiveSide, with Kip Kniskern (the current Managing Editor) joining just a few days after we launched.

Klaus: Would you have imagined Windows Live to become one of the main Microsoft products for Windows? Why so?

Harrison: I definitely knew that Microsoft had something special on their hands with Windows Live and that’s why I decided to do LiveSide at that time. From the outside, it was really obvious that there was a lot of momentum building internally around the new set of products, so I had a lot of faith in it. Even back then, when we were seeing some of the concepts for what we now call PC + Cloud services, you could tell that there was a lot of potential there.

Klaus: When you first got the chance to use Windows Live Messenger, what did you think?

Harrison: The first time that I used Messenger was back when it was still called MSN Messenger (version 6 I think). Since it wasn’t really popular in the U.S. then, my initial impression was, “Why don’t more of my friends use this? This product is clearly better than what AIM is bringing to the table.” My impression was that it was a really solid product, with a very useful feature set.

Klaus: Now, after moving your viewpoint from outside to inside MS, how did this affect your relation to Windows Live? Does it make you feel differently?

Harrison: It’s obviously different being on the inside than the outside, when looking at Windows Live, but I can’t say that my opinions have changed greatly. I still stand by what I have always thought about the set of products. When you use all of the Windows Live products together, they provide a value that is greater than what any other company offers. This is truly a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Klaus: Most folks are starting to accommodate with Windows Live 2011 (Wave 4). What do you like most in it?

Harrison: I think that we have a really strong set of products across the board, but if I had to pick one thing, it would probably be Facial Recognition/People Tags in Photo Gallery, combined with the Upload to Facebook feature. The fact that you can take your photos off of your camera after a party, have Photo Gallery import and organize them, as well as recognize your friends for batch tagging, and then upload them to Facebook with the tags is amazing. I think that it is a hugely powerful scenario and one that I personally find very useful. This process is so simple, especially in contrast to the painful experience of tagging photos one by one, person by person on Facebook’s site.

Klaus: Over the past 2 years, focus has drifted away from Instant Messaging, towards Social Networking. How might this trend continue? Will Messenger eventually become super fluent?

Harrison: I wouldn’t really say that we have drifted away from Instant Messaging because we still think that IM is hugely important and that a lot of people love chatting with their friends, but we have definitely placed an additional focus on social content in Messenger 2011. It’s really about completing the idea of staying in touch with the people that you care about and today, sites like Facebook are a big part of that. I’m not sure that I see Messenger becoming superfluous in the near future, but I think that it is safe to say that it will continue to evolve, as every product does.

Klaus: What is your biggest wish for Windows Live Wave 5—and will it come true?

Harrison: As far as the future goes, I am a big fan of the web, especially the social aspects of it. It’s a very fast moving space with a lot of exciting possibilities, so I would like to see Windows Live continue to work with more web services to build in deep integration, like we’ve done with Active Views in Hotmail or Facebook in Photo Gallery/Movie Maker and Messenger. That’s the kind of stuff that really shines for me. As for whether that will come true, I guess we’re going to have to wait and see!

Klaus: We’re looking forward to it! I appreciate you took the time to talk with me about what you think about Windows Live. =)

Harrison: Thanks for having me Klaus!

If you’re interested in checking out what Harrison is doing with Windows Live, you can follow him on Twitter: @harrisonhoffman.

No matter which desktop background you set in Windows 7: while starting, you will always see the blue default background. You want to style this background as well? Here are the necessary steps to customize the Windows logon screen.

You have to make use of a third-party tool to change the blue default screen: the free “Windows 7 Logon Background Changer”. At its first launch, the freeware shows the blue default background. To change it, click “Choose a folder” and select the folder containing the new background. Then confirm with OK.

In the upper window section, all photos in the chosen folder are listed. Click one of the images to preview how your new logon screen will look like. If you like it, click Apply to save the change. At the next boot and while shutting down, Windows will show the new logon screen.

Free download: http://www.julien-manici.com/windows_7_logon_background_changer

1. Open any conversation window.
2. Maximize the window.
3. Messenger 2009:
   At the bottom, click the icon.
   - or -
   Messenger 2011:
4. At the right end of the toolbar, click the More commands button.
5. Now choose the entry.
6. Select your favorite font on the left.
7. Choose a great color that you like on the left bottom.
8. Click OK.
9. Start writing chat messages in your new shiny font!

Does that work for you?

You wonder why no emoticons are showing up in chats with your friends? Here’s a solution.

1. Open Messenger, and sign in with your Windows Live ID.
2. In Messenger’s main window, click your profile name, then More options. (In Messenger 2009, click your display name, then Options…)
3. Switch to the Messages tab.
4. Check that both “Show emoticons” and “Show custom emoticons” checkboxes are checked.
5. Click OK.
6. Now open a chat window with one of your friends, and send an emoticon.
7. Does it show up? I bet! =))

You got another question regarding Messenger or Windows Live?
Feel free to post it on the Facebook wall of Buddy-Scouts!

Starting from Windows Live Messenger 2011, your friends will always see your real name when talking with you. In order to unify the experience, the development team says, the display name feature has been removed from Messenger.

The name shown to your friends now originates from your Windows Live Profile. Thus, this is the place to look at when you want to change your display name in Messenger.

1. Open http://profile.live.com/details/Edit/Name.
2. Sign in with your Windows Live ID and the corresponding password.
3. Enter the name you want to show into the boxes for First name and Last name.
4. Click Save.

Sign out and back in — and you will have changed your name displayed in Messenger.
Did this work well for you?