Tag: Windows 7

Removing Windows 10 Diagnostics from Windows 7/8/8.1

Windows 10 "Security?": We got opt-out-only-all-included-private-Wifi-Password-Sharing with all your Facebook Friends, access to all data, addressbooks, emails, voice and video as well as the possiblity to shutdown hardware you attached to your PC - if MS does not like it. Quite some people from the Facebook and Computerbild Front already upgraded to the new Windows 10 - "don't get left behind and get your upgrade" - well... it sounds more like a really evil episode of Dr. Who and the Cyberman to me. Ugh.

To get to the point: Microsoft did backport some of his Windows 10 telemetry magic to Windows 7/8/8.1 and installed it unasked as updates. So your data can enjoy its "freedom" even without you upgrading to Windows 10.

Sweet.

TL;DR - Microsoft did backport Windows 10 telemetry to Windows 7/8/8.1. Xvitaly on Github made a nice cmd file, just download it and execute it to remove all the bad updates and Windows 10 Ads. Restart. After that, check the Windows Update Section and disable the Updates in Question. Otherwise, you will install these again on your next Update.
Link: https://gist.github.com/xvitaly/eafa75ed2cb79b3bd4e9

[ØMQ] Getting started with ØMQ and Python on Windows 7, x64

ØMQ (zeroMQ) is one of these sexy "new" Message Queue Systems. I wanted to dive into it right away, starting with Java. However, building zeroMQ with Java Binding on Windows 7, x64 is a pain (read: Did not work out fast enough - as I wanted to get my feet wet fast!) - so I switched over to Python. Well. Getting that to work is quite easy.

1.) Download and install latest zeroMQ
You can get the Windows Downloads on http://zeromq.org/distro:microsoft-windows, i choose the Stable Release 4.0.4 for Windows, x64 Release for Vista and newer. Just download and install it.

2.) Download and install Python
As I really like the 2.7 branch, I went for Python 2.7.9 which can be downloaded at https://www.python.org/downloads/.
You should install it with all default settings, but enable the "Add Python to System Path".
After installation you should check that the Path Variables for your Python Install are added correctly, i.e. "C:\Python27;C:\Python27\Scripts"
( More information on how to add path variables on http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000549.htm)

3.) Download and install the Python Binding pyzmq
Open a cmd / command prompt and enter pip install pyzmq. That should install pyzmq.

4.) Final words
After that you can open your Python IDLE and start with some demo code, which can be found on the Github of pyzmq: https://github.com/zeromq/pyzmq/tree/master/examples

The getting started guide is also an awesome source of information:
http://zguide.zeromq.org/py:all

Common Problems:
If you get an "pip not found", you most probably have not set the Path / Enviromental Variables correctly.

Vagrant on Windows 7

So I wanted to try out some "new technologies" as Docker and Vagrant, so I decided to install Vagrant on my Windows 7 machine. It turned out to be not that "just install and go" as written down in the tutorial.

So, the short version to get you up and running:
1.) Install VirtualBox VirtualBox-4.3.12-93733-Win
Yes, 4.3.16 is current, no - you can't use something higher than 4.3.12 because of an error with ssh...
2.) Install some software which comes with ssh
So if you haven't installed git until, that should be the perfect time to do that.
Oh, and please include the bin folder with the ssh.exe in the PATH Variable of your Windows machine. Vagrant needs to call it to connect to your "VM".
3.) Install Vagrant 1.6.5
4.) After doing all that, you should reboot your pc.

Your first vagrant session:
1.) Open up your CLI / cmd.exe
2.) Create an new folder and enter it
3.) Init vagrant, i.e.
vagrant init
4.) Start the vagrant vm
vagrant up

After all that, you will be able to connect to your VM with:
vagrant ssh

If you want to stop your machine, enter
vagrant destory

And that is it.
Oh, by the way: Vagrant may use VMWare Workstation instead of Oracles Virtual Box - if you're willing to pay 79 Bucks per PC...

[Win7+] Software Accesspoint

Sometimes you just need to give wireless access to one of your little toys (i.e. Tablets, Smartphones, Raspberry Pis with Wifi - you name it) - but you got no wifi accesspoint with you. Starting with Windows 7, this ain't a problem anymore. You can setup an software ap in just a minute:

Enter following code into your command line interface to start an software accesspoint with the SSID WiBridge and the password mh28-dyi9-txwt:


netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid="WiBridge" key="mh28-dyi9-txwt" keyUsage=persistent
netsh wlan start hostednetwork

You can check upon your ap via:


netsh wlan show hostednetwork

And you can stop it with:


netsh wlan stop hostednetwork

[Win7] Asus EEEPC 1015PN: Getting Optimus working (again) on Windows 7 Pro

Optimus is a really nice concept: Having installed an low-power Intel GMA3150 next to an "high-end" (compared to the Intel ;)) NVIDIA ION2 with 512 MB RAM (and CUDA!) is very nice - switching between both cards on the fly depending on the application - awesome. But getting it to work can be quite painful. I had to reinstall the drivers on my EEE PC and got it wrong. And now that it is working, I just want to write it down. Just in case, you never know ;)!

1.) Get Windows 7 Pro or better installed
2.) Get all the Updates on your system
3.) Install and start the GraphicsSwitch for Windows 7 from Asus for your EEEPC 1015PN
4.) Choose Optimus Mode and reboot your system.
5.) Install the Intel Driver. Latest and working version is the GMA3150 15.12.75.50.7.2230
You can download that here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19494&lang=eng&wapkw=gma+3150 After that, reboot!
6.) Install the Nvidia Driver. Latest and working version (for me) is the Verde 301.42 driver. You get that here: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/44972/en-us - Could be that a newer version does work to, but thats what I came up with after trying a lot of different versions. After installing, reboot.
7.) You should be done. Right-click on your Desktop, choose NVIDIA Systemsettings. In these settings you can enable two cool options from the "Desktop" menu:
a.) "Start with graphics processor to context menu" - with right click on an Application you can choose to start that program with your highend gpu
b.) "Show Actitivy Symbol in Infobar" - that does show you whenever the GPU is working on something. And if that symbol does not show up some boots later - well, that mostly says that some update broke your Optimus Setup.

But by now, I think you know how to get that up and running again! 🙂

[Win7/8] Batch Print / Work with more than 15 Files

Windows 7 / 8 do limit the number of files you can "batch-work" with, after selecting them in Explorer and Right-Clicking for options.  The Standard Limit is set to 15 files. Selecting more than 15 files will remove options like "Print" from the context menu. To work with more than 15 files in batch mode, open your registry ( Run, "regedit" ) and go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer 

Create an new DWORD key with the Name MultipleInvokePromptMinimum and the Decimal Value of the Maximum Files you want to batch work with. I.e. 1000 (which could be too much or not enough - depending on your work and machine!)

And thats it. If you want to reset that option, just delete the created DWORD key again.