Windows Shows error "Can not format the pen drive" ?

We have received many problems mentioning that they are not able to format their pen drives. Some of them have written that the pen drive capacity displayed is not correct.

When they try to format the pen drive, Windows Shows error "Can not format the pen drive". There can be more than one reasons behind such problems, some of the common problems are:

1. Virus or trojan infection.

2. Corrupted flash chips on the pen drive (hardware fault)

3. Fake pen drives ! (Many such drives are there in the markets, beware)

Lets see what to do to fix the issues.

Fix:

Virus or trojan infections:

Virus or trojans can run some process that keeps running in background. This not only harms the computer, but also prevents the pen drive from formatting as it shows that the drive is in use. Remove and re-insert the pen drive, don’t double click on drive and cancel autorun operations if it starts automatically. Run a virus scan on pen drive, this will help fix the issue. Now format the pen drive.

Always take precautions while using pen drives on other computers.

Restore Folder Options in WinXP

Your folder options missing under Tool menu in Windows Explorer, maybe it cause by virus because many computer virus can do it, or this matter is caused you installing a software, don’t panic! You can restore it back. There are two solutions for the problems you can choose one of them to resolve the problem.

Solution 1: Edit registry setting

1. Open registry editor by click Start menu – Run, type regedit and then press enter.
2. Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Policies | Explorer”
3. At right panel, look for a value called “NoFolderOptions”, delete the value.
4. Go to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Policies | Explorer”
5. Repeat step 3 to delete NoFolderOptions entry.

Solution 2: Change setting in Group Policy

1. Open group policy setting by click Start Menu – Run then type gpedit.msc and then press enter.
2. Navigate to “User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Explorer”.
3. At the right panel, look for “Removes the Folder Options menu item from the Tools menu”, right click on it then choose Properties, and then disable it.

Safari for Windows 3.2.2

When we used to see that eye catching internet browser in our friend?s Mac we didn’t expect to see it in our PC. All of us thought that such an Apple product would be always just for Mac users, but now we can enjoy that amazing browser in our Windows OS.

Safari for Windows includes several good features and options behind that really good interface. Tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, forms autofill, built-in RSS, private browsing,…

The first steps of Safari on Windows haven&39;t been as good as Apple thought and that can be really good for users, because from now on, Apple will work really hard in order to improve Safari.

The elegant interface of Safari and its expected performance can be a good reason to give Safari a try. It is said to be faster than any other browser, but it needs a bit more beta testing period

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OpenOffice.org 3.0.1

OpenOffice, is a free cross-platform office application suite available for a number of different computer operating systems. It supports the ISO/IEC standard OpenDocument Format (ODF) for data interchange as its default file format, as well as Microsoft Office formats among others. As of November 2008[update], OpenOffice supports over 45 languages.

OpenOffice.org was originally derived from StarOffice, an office suite developed by StarDivision and acquired by Sun Microsystems in August 1999. The source code of the suite was released in July 2000 with the aim of reducing the dominant market share of Microsoft Office by providing a free and open alternative;

later versions of StarOffice are based upon OpenOffice.org with additional proprietary components.

The project and software are informally referred to as OpenOffice, but this term is a trademark held by a company in the Netherlands co-founded by Wouter Hanegraaff and is also in use by Orange UK, requiring the project to adopt OpenOffice.org as its formal name.

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Free Language Translator 1.8

Free Language Translator is a desktop language translator application using the Google translation service. It adds more features to the existing service and addresses some of its shortcomings.

Quick guide for using this free multi language translator:

* Open a text document or paste some text here, select the “To” and “From” languages, click on the “Translate” and select one of the options from the menu.
* You can create your custom dictionary to correct the online translation and save them for further use when using the “Translate and use Custom Dictionary” menu option.

* In order to add an entry to your Custom Dictionary, select the text to be corrected, right click in the translation panel and select “Add to Custom Dictionary”. You will be able to make further changes manually by typing into the translation panel while tracking the synchronized original panel.
* The status bar can display an optional empiric quality of translation. Selecting a smaller page size increases the translation time a little bit, but at the same time, for large amount of text, it can improve translation accuracy and synchronization between the original and translation panels.
* You can also set the orientation of the panels from the combo box on the status bar.
* Finally, select the translated text and copy into the clipboard, right click in the translation panel and choose “Copy Selection”, or just save it as a file using the “Save File” icon in the toolbar.

Requires: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.

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Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.2

Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical CD/DVD drive, however it exists only virtually. Image files generated with CloneDVD or CloneCD can be mounted onto a virtual drive from your hard-disk or from a network drive and used in the same manner as inserting them into a normal CD/DVD drive.

Probably the best virtual drive software, Virtual CloneDrive allows you to enjoy the freedom of a virtual drive and is completely free.

Features
* Supports all common image formats such as ISO, BIN, CCD
* Supports up to 8 virtual drives at the same time
* Easy to use – just double-click an image file to mount as a drive
* Virtual CloneDrive is freeware, you may use it at no cost.

System Requirements
* An IBM-compatible personal computer with a minimum 500 MHz Pentium-class microprocessor (1 GHz recommended) and 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended)
* Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP/XP64/VISTA/VISTA64
* If you use Windows 2000 or Windows XP you must be an administrator to install Virtual CloneDrive.

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CrazyTalk 6 Pro

CrazyTalk is a revolutionary tool for creating sophisticated, zaney or dramatic talking characters for unique digital content. Simply import an image and CrazyTalk guides you through the process to bring it to life with wizard-like menus for beginners and in-depth power editors for pros.

* Automatic Audio Lip-sync from Text and Voice
* Edit and Customize Expressions & Emotions for Your Actors
* Revolutionary Storytelling Engine with Actor Animation Control
* The Fastest Way to Generate Virtual Actors for any Media Project

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LameXP

LameXP is a graphical front-end for the LAME MP3, Ogg Vorbis and Nero AAC audio encoders.
It accepts WAV, MP3, MP2, Vorbis, AAC, AC3, FLAC, WavPack, Musepack, Shorten, Speex, APE, TTA and WMA.
The easy-to-use interface supports multiple languages, including English, German, Spanish and Italian.
Batch processing is implemented and multi-threading will be used, if several processors/cores are available.

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BitTorrent 6.1.2 Build 13422

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing/distribution protocol designed for transferring files from multiple locations. Because of the nature of this protocol, large files can be handled more efficiently than the typical client/server method.

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Doom Metal Fonts Pack

Doom Metal Fonts Pack include some nice fonts.

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TuneUp Utilities 2009 v8.0.2000.35

TuneUp Utilities® 2009 optimizes the performance of your computer, corrects problems and helps you to customize your system to suit your needs. It combines important aspects of system configuration, security, cleaning and maintenance under a modern interface.

You can remove unnecessary files from your hard disk(s), clean and optimize the registry, tweak your internet connection settings, recover deleted files, optimize memory and more. In addition, you can analyze your system, receive automatic suggestions for potential performance improvements and view detailed hardware information. TuneUp Utilities also includes an Uninstaller, registry Editor, Task Manager and even an Undelete tool to recover files that have been deleted from the recycle bin. A very nice tool, with many features that will appeal to novice as well as advanced users.

TuneUp Utilities 2008 makes Windows faster, more secure, and comfortable. All important aspects of system configuration, security, cleaning and maintenance are combined under a modern graphical user interface.
Features:
- TuneUp Utilities 2009 – Start Center
- Reliable Protection for Your Data
- Simple Hard Disk Organization
- Simple Windows Customization
- Perfect Error Correction
- Simple 1-Click Maintenance
- Optimum Start Acceleration
- Internet and Windows Acceleration
- Secure Data Rescue and Deletion
- Individual Windows styling

Your TuneUp Utilities advantages:
- NEW! Configures Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Windows Media Player 11 and Office 2007
- NEW! Automatically eliminates errors in the file system
- NEW! Allows for simple clean-up of your disk drives
- NEW! Deletes sensitive data using the secure DoD 5220.22-M and Gutmann methods
- IMPROVED! Gives you intelligent tips to optimize your hardware and software
- IMPROVED! Speeds up your system startup
- IMPROVED! Scans your system for settings that might be slowing it down and corrects them
- Reliably and completely removes unnecessary applications including their registry entries
- Offers optimum Internet and system settings for every type of user
- Defragments the Windows registry
- Restores accidentally deleted files
- Speeds up your Internet connection

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Escape Rosecliff Island

An unexpected storm has left you shipwrecked on a mysterious and remote private island. Seek & find cleverly hidden objects and solve puzzles to find a way off the island. Find over 2100 hidden objects in 25 intriguing and mysterious locations to find items that will help you escape! Play 5 different types mini-game puzzles to collect inventory items from each location that will be needed to help you escape the remote Rosecliff Island. Play 3 different game modes: Escape the Island, Unlimited Seek & Find, and a Mystery Bonus Game.

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USB Disk Security 5.1.0.15

USB Disk Security is the best antivirus software to permanently protect offline computer without the need for signature updates, but other antivirus software should update signature database regularly, and they cannot effectively protect offline computer. This light and easy to use solution is 100% compatible with all software and doesn’t slow down your computer at all.

√ 100% protection against any threats via USB drive
√ The best solution to protect offline computer
√ The world’s fastest and smallest antivirus software
√ Require no signature updates√ 100% compatible with all software
√ Easy to use

Operating Systems: Windows Vista, Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98.

System Requirement: 100MHz Processor or more, 16MB RAM or more.

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Google Earth 5.0.11337.1968 (Portable)

Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.

* Fly to your house. Just type in an address, press Search, and you’ll zoom right in.
* Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions.
* Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings, or look up to explore the sky
* Save and share your searches and favorites.

Since Google Earth was launched, users have been exploring our world and creating content overlays (KML files) to share their explorations with others.

After download create a folder named “thinstall” in Google Earth folder.
Then run from pendrive…

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Adobe Photoshop CS4 Portable

Easily create a single image from a series of shots that have different focal points with the enhanced Auto-Blend Layers command, which smoothly blends color and shading and now extends your depth of field, automatically correcting vignettes and lens distortion.

Create accurate composites with the enhanced Auto-Align Layers command. Move, rotate, or warp layers to align them more accurately than ever before. Or use spherical alignment to create breathtaking panoramas.

Get instant access to Adobe Bridge CS4 with faster start-up, use new workspaces to jump to the right display for every task, easily create web galleries and PDF contact sheets, and more.

Combine a range of images, each with a different exposure, color, and focal point — with options to preserve tones and colors — into a single color-corrected image.

Select multiple photos in Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® software (sold separately) and automatically open them in Adobe Photoshop CS4 to merge them into a panorama, a high dynamic range (HDR) photo, or a multilayered Photoshop document. And seamlessly roundtrip back to Lightroom.

Enjoy superior conversion quality as you process raw images with the industry-leading Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 5 plug-in, which now offers localized corrections, post-crop vignetting, TIFF and JPEG processing, and support for more than 190 camera models.

Enjoy dramatically enhanced color correction with reengineered Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools that now intelligently preserve color and tone details.

Get outstanding prints with superior color management, tighter integration with leading printer models, and the ability to preview out-of-gamut image areas. Support for 16-bit printing on Mac OS offers increased color depth and clarity.
File display options new

Easily work with multiple open files by using tabbed document display or n-up views.

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Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks computers running Windows XP, Windows 2000,Windows Vista,Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom and helps remove any infection found. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed.

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Real Desktop Light 1.49 Portable

This software will transform your desktop into a real one, as it was meant to be. As you most probably know, the file queues on your Desktop becomes ever longer, daily coming new files and you lose slowly but surely the overview.

Are you missing the certain order, the fealing of a genuine desk, simply the reality? Real Desktop brings back this experience to you again!

Your icons behave now, thanks to the powerful physics-engine, like real objects that you can touch and move as on a real desk.

Here are some key features of “Real Desktop Light”:

Running behaviour:
· 3D Sound
· Activatable Antialiasing
· No performance losses with resting condition of the symbols
· Very less resources needed
· Very efficient, thanks to the “Reality Engine”

Design:
· Reflecting surface
· Icons are reflecting the environment

Languages:
· German
· English
· French
· Italian
· Spanish
· Croatian
· Hungarian
· Swedish
· Portuguese

Requirements:

· DirectX 9.0c
· Intel Pentium IV 1500 MHz
· 256 MB main memory
· DirectX able graphic card: 64 MB NVIDIA Geforce 3 or better,
· ATI Radeon 8500 or better
· Screen resolution 800×600 at True Color (16 million colours)
· Internet connection

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Orbit 2.8.4

Are you tired of waiting and waiting for completing the download processes? Forget it, now you can speed up your downloads and make them to be faster than ever thanks to Orbit Downloader.

Easy to use and really intuitive, those are the two main adjectives which would define Orbit, the tiny application which will become the best friend of your downloads from now on.

Orbit can be integrated seamlessly into Microsoft Internet Explorer to automatically handle your downloads.

No matter if you download via HTTP, FTP, RTSP or MMS, orbit will handle it and will make them faster.

It accelerates your downloads like no other download manager, and it’s for free. If you want to speed up your downloads and take the most out of your internet connection, try Orbit, it will not let you down.

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Yahoo Multi Messenger 8.0.0 508

If you use Yahoo Messenger, for sure that at any time you have missed the possibility of opening several sessions from the same computer.

Using MSN Messenger, there are a lot of programs which allows you to open those sessions, but in the case of Y! Messenger, its more difficult to find it, and here you have it.

Thanks to Yahoo Multimessenger, also known as Y! Multi, you will have that possibility too. It’s easy to use, just install this program and double click it. From then on, enjoy the multisession experience using all your yahoo accounts.

Yahoo! Multi Messenger is specially recommended for latest versions for Yahoo Messenger, though it can be used with any version after 6.0.0.1922.

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Circle Dock 0.9.2

What Circle Dock 0.9.2 Allows You to Do: * Launch your programs from a circular dock.
* Drag and drop your files, folders, and shortcuts onto a circular dock that you can resize.
* Rotate the dock with either your mouse wheel or the keyboard arrow keys.
* Change the image shown for the icons and change the skins (compatible with icons and skins for Rocket Dock, Object Dock, etc.)
* The dock appears where your mouse is by pressing a hotkey (default is F1) or your middle mouse button.
* Tested on computers with multiple monitors, Windows XP/Vista, 32-bit & 64-bit, and requires only .Net Framework 2.0.
* Automatically works on all Windows Vista computers and most Windows XP computers.
* A new settings panel that allows you to customize many options. It updates your dock as you make changes. See it change in real time! No need to press an OK button.

* Multi-language capable. Just translate the English.ini file to the language of your choice.
* Change the image used for the dock icons with the easiest method out there: Just set the program to “Icon Replacement Mode” in the right-click menu of the centre icon and you can change all the icon images by just dragging and dropping new PNG images onto them! Huge time saver when you are customizing your dock!
* You can now toggle the visibility of the dock by moving your mouse to any edge of your screen. By default, the left and right edges are used for toggling. No need to press a button!
* Rotate the dock with your mouse wheel or arrow keys (customizable).
* Click sensitivity adjustment for tablet users.
* Reorder the dock items by draging and dropping them over each other.
* Organize the dock items using dock folders.
* By default, clicking on the centre button does not open the start menu. You can enable this in the settings panel.
* Uses the default high resolution icons in Windows Vista

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PCWin Speaker Record

PCWin Speaker Record can records everything you hear from your speakers. Save as mp3 or wav files. Records at 128 Kbps CD quality. Now you can enjoy your music and podcast anytime.

Record from Internet radio stations. Grab audio from any web site, podcast, Internet Radio, DVD or CD as it plays.

Easy to use. Select mp3 or wav file format. Click ‘Start Recording’ and when you are ready to stop recording press ‘Stop Recording’ button. Then save your newly created mp3 or wav file and play it anytime.

Play your saved recording with Microsoft media player, Video Lan, WinAmp or any media player! It so easy, no complicated settings, just great CD quality 128 Kbps mp3 or wav files everytime.

Requires : MPEG Layer3 Audio Encoder

It is totally free and a good choice, really fast and reliable. If you have an mp3 player, Switch will become its best partner, because now you will be able to store more songs in your mp3player thanks to its powerful music compression features.

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K-Lite Codec Pack Full 4.6.2

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codec is short for Compressor-Decompressor. Codecs are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video. This Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. You should be able to play all the popular movie formats and even some rare formats.

The K-Lite Codec Pack has a couple of major advantages compared to other codec packs: It it always very up-to-date with the latest versions of the codecs; It is very user-friendly and the installation is fully customizable, meaning that you can install only those components that you really want;

It has been very well tested, so that the package doesn’t contain any conflicting codecs; It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies; and has different packages.

Full contains even more codecs. It also has encoding support for various formats. This package is for power users and people who do their own encodings.

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YouTube Downloader+ 1.7

YouTube Downloader+ is a powerful and easy to use application that will help you to download your favorite videos from YouTube. The program offers a unique feature that makes it possible to extract video files names from the YouTube website. Other features are: multiple downloads during one program session, easy to use graphical user interface and html format download report. The application is platform-independent and runs in Windows, Linux and MacOS.

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LinkCollector 3.0.1.0

LinkCollector PC is a tool with a user-friendly, attractive and intuitive interface that helps create a single bookmark collection. This collection can then be kept updated, and any link can be opened in the necessary browser. It is also easy and simple to move internet addresses between different browsers and files.

Features:

* Copying bookmarks between browsers (Internet Explorer Favorites, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome)
* Capturing links from adress bar of a browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Mozilla)
* Searching for duplicates
* Verifying internet adresses
* Import/Export bookmarks from/to HTML, XML, URL and LinkCollector file format
* Ten browsers are supported to open links (IE, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, SeaMonkey, Mozilla, Safari, K-Meleon, Maxthon, TheWorld)
* Moving into a program a ‘.url’ files and a links from web page.

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Bangla Dictionary & Vocabulary

Bangla Dictionary and Vocabulary Software. It’s Free to use.


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Avro Keyboard Standard Edition 4.5.1

Avro Keyboard was born in the 26th March, 2003 (The Independence Day of Bangladesh), bringing a new era in Bangla computing. It’s flexible, gorgeous, feature rich, totally customizable, user friendly and already has a lot of typing automation tools that you have never imagined! Avro Keyboard, simply the Best Bangla Typing Software, breaks all old records, wipes out obstacles, rewrites history and recreates tradition!

The aim of this project is to add all popular Bangla typing methods from Bangladesh and India in a single interface. Current release supports English to Bangla Phonetic typing support for home users, mouse based Bangla typing support for newbies and for professionals traditional keyboard layout based Bangla typing support.

Keyboard layouts those are added with the current release are – UniBjoy (99% match with popular Bijoy keyboard layout), Avro Easy (an easy to learn keyboard layout from OmicronLab), Bornona (the easiest Bangla keyboard layout we have found yet! From “The Safeworks”) and National (Jatiya) – Standard Bangla Keyboard Layout in Bangladesh designed by Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC).

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Windows 7 Upgrade: 1,220 Minutes

According to Microsoft, the maximum amount of time that a Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to Windows 7 upgrade can take is 1,220 minutes.

Yes, Microsoft has identified a scenario in which moving from Vista SP1 to Windows 7 lasts almost an entire day, over 20 hours. Affected by this are what the Redmond-based company referred to as Super Users running Mid Range Hardware.

In its work to assess Windows 7 upgrade performance, Microsoft has put together user and hardware profiles. The software giant considered a Medium User one that has “User Data: 70Gb of data (documents, music, pictures); applications: 20 applications installed; OS Settings modified; Optional Components: 15 optional components installed; Windows Targeted Release: 5 Windows Targeted Release installed (WTR).”

The company’s Heavy User Profile is as follows, “User Data: 125Gb of data (documents, music, pictures); applications: 40 applications installed; OS Settings modified; Optional Components: 15 optional components installed; Windows Targeted Release: 5 Windows Targeted Release installed (WTR).” The Super User Profile involves customers with “User Data: 650Gb of data (documents, music, pictures); applications: 40 applications installed; OS Settings modified; Optional Components: 15 optional components installed; Windows Targeted Release: 5 Windows Targeted Release installed (WTR).”

When it comes down to Hardware Profiles, it considers Low End Hardware computers with 1Gb of RAM, with AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ 2.2 Ghz, a Hard Drive of 320Gb 5400 RPM ATA-6 and running either a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system. For the Mid Range Hardware, the configuration that qualify have 2 to 4 GB of system memory, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ 2.60 Ghz or Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40 Ghz, and 1TB HDD up to 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s.

High End Hardware are machines with at least 4 GB of RAM, Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40 Ghz, and 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s. Just take a look at the graphic on the left in order to get a more organized view of the data courtesy of Chris Hernandez, from the Windows Deployment team.

A Super User running Mid Range Hardware and performing a 32-bit Vista SP1 to 32-bit Windows 7 upgrade will have to wait a full 1,220 minutes before the process is over. Think this is much? Well, you’ll be happy to know that a Vista SP1 to Vista SP1 upgrade would take even longer, namely 1,305.72 minutes.

A Super User upgrading to 64-bit Windows 7 on Mid Range Hardware will have to wait 610 minutes, compared to just 480 minutes on High End Hardware, Microsoft informed. The same upgrade scenario on High End Hardware, but with 32-bit Windows 7 will take 675 minutes.

The fastest upgrade to Windows 7 Microsoft came across is 26.75 minutes, from a clean install of Vista on High End Hardware.

NTFS Undelete: Recover deleted files

NTFS Undelete

NTFS Undelete: Recover deleted files

NTFS Undelete is free and open source software that allows you to recover deleted files. It recovers files directly from hard drive, and it will work even if you empty Recycle Bin.

Before downloading NTFS Undelete, please consider the following:

When you delete a file, its content physically remains intact on the media, but the occupied space becomes marked as free. Next file saved to the disk may overwrite the contents of the deleted file.

It is very important to make sure that no application writes to the drive or partition where deleted file is located since every new file (even a small one) may overwrite the deleted file.

Tips. What you should do, when you realized that the file you need is deleted:

1. Do not open or close files and applications. Many applications create temporary files which may overwrite and corrupt your deleted files.
2. Depending on your system configuration, you should perform one of the following actions:

A. If deleted files were located on the system disk (usually disk “C:”), or if you have only one logical disk in the system, you should not install any software into the system since it will most likely overwrite your deleted file. You will have to use another computer to burn the ISO image to a CD or DVD. Then just run NTFS Undelete directly from CD.

B. If your deleted files are not located on the system disk, then you can use NTFS Undelete Windows Installer to install the software as usual.

3. Run NTFS Undelete application and locate deleted file you’d like to restore.

4. Always recover files to another disk or partition. Do not recover files to the same partition they were located, otherwise files you are recovering may get corrupted and unrecoverable.

5. That’s it, now you have your files back!

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Windows 7 Theme for Windows XP

Enjoy the look and feel now on our Windows XP & Vista system's using the "Windows 7 Desktop Theme", Since not much details about the upcoming OS is available, the theme looks very similar to Windows Vista but provide some nice refreshing changes to the same old look.

To install:

1. Download Windows 7 Theme here >> Download Now
2. Install "UXTheme Multi-Patcher 6.0.exe" from "UX Theme Patcher" folder.
3. Double-click "Windows 7 M1 VS.msstyles" in "Theme\Windows 7 M1 VS" folder to install.

Windows 7, Whats going on

The German computer magazine Winfuture revealed in a recent post that Microsoft will extend Readyboost support in Windows 7. Readyboost was introduced in Windows Vista and was used to add flash drive caches of up to 4 Gigabytes to the system. The main intention of Readyboost was to provide lower end systems running Windows Vista with better performance by utilizing those additional flash caches. The updated Readyboost in Windows 7 will see several advancements. The 4 Gigabyte restriction will be lifted which essentially means that flash drives with larger capacities can then be used as additional cache. The limit to one Readyboost device has also been removed which gives users the possibility to use multiple flash drives as additional caches in Windows 7.


Next Locked Windows 7 Feature Turns Up: Desktop Slideshows

We previously mentioned that Microsoft locked some of the features in the Windows 7 build that they handed out to attendees of the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. The reason why that was done has not (obviously) been revealed by Microsoft. Possibilities range from locking incomplete features from over-observant reviewers to releasing news about those new features at a later time. That surely backfired with the workaround to unlock the features in the Windows 7 M3 6801 build.

The newest feature is a desktop wallpaper changer which can be used to rotate wallpapers in Windows 7 in a user defined interval ranging from 10 seconds to 1 day. It is furthermore possible to shuffle the wallpapers which would have the effect that they are randomly chosen and to disable the feature when the computer is running in battery mode. Microsoft did - interestingly enough - add an option to use wallpapers of feeds that point to images. According to Long Zheng that feature was not completely working at the time of discovery which strengthens the argument that the features were locked because of being incomplete at the time of compilation.
Windows 7 Wallpapers

It took only some time until someone decided to provide access to the Windows 7 wallpapers that were supplied with the Windows 7 M3 build that was handed out to attendees of the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. Someone uploaded all Windows 7 wallpapers to the Internet and they are now available for download on the file sharing website Deposit Files. The package contains eleven 1960×1440 and seven 1920×1200 wallpapers.


Windows 7 Extends Run As Options

Windows Vista users had the option to run an application as the system administrator instead of the currently logged in user. There was however no option in the context menu to run the application as a different user. The current build of Windows 7 has this feature which should come in handy for several users who need the functionality. The context menu entry “Run As Different User” is only visible when pressing the SHIFT key before right-clicking the file icon.

Microsoft to Launch Windows Azure Cloud Computing Service With Windows 7


Windows Azure

The news is coming in thick and fast from PDC08. Microsoft have just announced that Windows Azure, a new cloud computing service, will be launched at the same time as Windows 7. Windows Azure will allow data and applications to exist online in the ‘Cloud’, rather than locally on a PC.

Moving Microsoft’s cash cows, Windows and Office, onto the internet is a big move for Microsoft and will allow it to enter an arena already occupied by companies like Google. By tying it to the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft clearly intend to use Windows 7 to try and entice customers to use Microsoft’s other products and services, rather than those of their customers.

One of the touted benefits of Azure is zero downtime for applications, as applications can be patched without shutting down other running applications. I hope this will lead to new functionality being added to Windows applications more frequently, rather than the current 2 year product cycle. It will also do away with the need to constantly run Windows Update and reboot local machines, as more updates will be done automatically.

Key components of the Azure Services Platform include the following:
* Windows Azure for service hosting and management, low-level scalable storage, computation and network.
* Microsoft SQL Services for a wide range of database services and reporting
* Microsoft .NET Services which are service-based implementations of familiar .NET Framework concepts such as workflow and access control
* Live Services for a consistent way for users to store, share and synchronize documents, photos, files and information across their PCs, phones, PC applications and Web sites
* Microsoft SharePoint Services and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services for business content, collaboration and rapid solution development in the cloud
You can watch Ray Ozzie’s speech at PDC 2008 where he introduces Windows Azure below:


Windows 7 Aero Snap For Windows XP Or Windows Vista

Aero Snap was one of the new features of Windows 7 that got quite a bit of coverage lately. It is actually a pretty basic feature that makes it possible to move windows to the left, right or top screen to display them on half the screen (left or right) or maximize (top) them. Several third party software programs are available that can do that on Windows Vista or Windows XP but it is always nice if the exact same feature is provided by an application.

Aero Snap Beta (via Ask VG) is that software program. It is available for Windows XP or Windows Vista and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0. The software developer has created a demonstration video to visualize the concept. The functionality is immediately available after installation. Do you know of other Windows 7 features that are available for previous versions of Windows? Let us know.


Windows 7 Boot Speed Benchmark

Lifehacker tested the boot speed of Windows 7, Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 and Windows XP Professional SP3 on a triple-boot system. All tested operating systems were 32-bit versions. Test 1 measured the boot time from boot choice to a fully loaded desktop while test 2 measured the time from boot choice to user logon screen. No additional software was installed on the operating systems, the autostart folders were empty and all settings were left on their default values.

Windows 7 Ultimate needed 32 seconds in test 1 from boot choice to a fully loaded desktop while Windows Vista Ultimate used 33 seconds and Windows XP SP3 40 seconds. The test from boot choice to login screen saw similar results with Windows 7 Ultimate leading the field with 23 seconds, Windows Vista Ultimate following suite with 24 seconds and Windows XP SP3 in third place and 29 seconds.

The results are interesting: Windows 7 is already leading the field even though the tests were conducted on a pre-beta build of the upcoming operating system. More surprising for some users, especially the die hard faction that does not like Windows Vista, is the excellent result for Windows Vista which was way faster than Windows XP SP3 in both tests.

It would be interesting to see how the operating systems would fare with a basic set of software, like anti-virus scanners, email clients, web browser or a photo editing program, installed. Would the results be similar except that the boot time would surely increase?

The result looks very promising for Windows 7. It is safe to assume that Microsoft will further optimize the operating system. It remains to be seen if this will make a huge difference in the end. Currently it does not for Windows Vista users but surely for Windows XP users.


Unlock Locked Features in Windows 7 M3

Microsoft has locked some of the upcoming features in the Windows 7 release that they distributed among attendees of the Professional Developers Conference 08 in Los Angeles. The build has made its way on various P2P sites shortly thereafter and is now in the hands of thousands of additional users who downloaded it from there. Features came to light shortly after the end of the conference that had been locked by Microsoft. Unlocking those features involved fiddling around with the command line which is not to everyone’s liking.

The Blue Badge tool changes and simplifies the process. Rafael Rivera created the tool over at Within Windows. The 32-bit edition of the software program is already available while the 64-bit edition is expected to be released tomorrow. A total of nine files will be patched by the tool. Please note that the files will not be backed up before applying the patches. Make sure to back them up before applying the patches. Here is the file list:
* \Windows\Explorer.exe
* \Windows\System32\wisptis.exe
* \Windows\System32\ieframe.dll
* \Windows\System32\shell32.dll
* \Windows\System32\stobject.dll
* \Windows\System32\TabletPC.cpl
* \Windows\System32\themecpl.dll
* \Windows\System32\themeui.dll
* \Windows\System32\powercfg.cpl


It should also be noted that the patch is compatible with previously patched versions.


Windows Complete PC Backup

Windows Complete PC Backup is a feature available in Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions that allows users to completely restore their PC environment including the operating system, installed programs, user settings, and data files. The feature in Windows Vista was limited to backing up data on a different hard drive or DVDs. Users with network shares but only one hard drive were at a loss here. Backing up the data on 20+ DVDs was surely not the best solution.

Windows 7 users on the other hand will be able to backup the data on a network share as well which was a feature that many users missed dearly. Thanks to Long for finding yet another new feature.


Windows 7 Tech Guarantee Program

Microsoft is planning a Windows 7 Tech Guarantee Program which will make it possible for Windows Vista owners to upgrade their operating system to Windows 7. They have not released many information yet about the program but some have been published at Neowin today.

Not all editions of Windows Vista will be eligible for the upgrade. Only Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate owners will have the chance and only if they have bought it in one of the following languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong), Turkish.

Some languages (like Swedish) might be missing and could be included at a later point. It is also very likely that the upgrade will only be eligible for a comparable edition of Windows 7. Windows Vista Home Premium users for example should not have high hopes to be able to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate without costs. Microsoft is said to release additional information later this month.


Windows 7 Language Waves

Microsoft has released information about the so called language waves of Windows 7. Windows 7 will be released in a total of eight language waves which basically define when a localized edition of Windows 7 will be released to manufacturing. Please take a look at the table below for information about the eight language waves and any language in particular that you might be interested in. Each language wave is released about 14 days after the previous wave. The time between the first and last release makes up 101 days.


Windows 7 To Be Released For 2009 Holiday Season

Microsoft was very shy about pinpointing the Windows 7 release date in the past. They did provide some clues like that it would be released about three years after the release of Windows Vista, or that Windows 7 would be released before the PDC conference in 2009. There was still lots of speculation about the day, week or even month in that Windows 7 would be released.

According to an article published today on Cnet the guessing is over as Microsoft director Doug How confirmed the Holiday Season release date of Windows 7.

The slides and Howe’s presentation appeared to confirm what has been widely speculated–but something Microsoft has not outright said–namely that Windows 7 is aimed to ship around mid-year, in time to be on machines that ship for the 2009 holiday buying season. After the session, Howe essentially confirmed that Microsoft is aiming Windows 7 for the holidays. “Definitely the holiday focus is going to be on 7,” Howe told me.

While that is not still on paper and subject to change depending on the progress in the Windows 7 development it is fair to assume that customers will be able to buy computers - or standalone software packages - coming preinstalled with Windows 7 during the 2009 Holiday Season. The RTM (Release To Manufacturing) release of Windows 7 is expected for mid 2009.

So, there you got it. If everything works out as planned we will all be able to get our hands on the official Windows 7 release at the end of 2009.


Windows 7 Screen Docking

New Windows 7 features are revealed every day. This one is actually a bit older but has not been mentioned yet here at Windows 7. Screen docking is popular feature that is currently only available by installed third party software to previous versions of the Windows operating system.

The feature basically docks and displays a window in a certain way depending on the side of the screen that it is moved to. A window will be displayed on half of the screen if the user moves it to the left or right side of it. That’s comfortable for viewing two windows that use the same amount of screen estate next to each other and should be a good option for users with large computer monitors. Moving the window to the top will turn it into a full sized window taking up all screen estate. Moving it to the bottom has no effect currently.


Windows 7 PC Safeguard

Windows 7 PC Safeguard is another new Windows 7 feature that recently came to light. The feature can be enabled on Windows 7 standard user accounts and has the effect that changes to the system will only be temporary. Microsoft is offering a similar feature in the form of Windows SteadyState for computers running Windows XP and Windows Vista. It seems that they have taken some time to evaluate Microsoft software programs and made the decision to integrate quite a few into Windows 7.

PC Safeguard does not provide many configuration options yet but it could be that Microsoft has plans to integrate some of the more advanced SteadyState features such as blacklisting applications to the software program before they release Windows 7. The only available option is to provide some disk space for data storage. The restricted user will be reminded after login that the changes that he makes to the operating system will be undone after logging off.

Source: windows7news.com
We Love Windows~

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

A Bootable USB

This utility can be used to create a bootable USB drive to install windows vista, Server 2008 and 7 without need of a DVD drive. Its very easy and useful utility. You can download it using following links:

Download Link (Rapidshare)

Download Link (Mediafire)

Download Link (Skydrive)

[FIX] WinRAR Causes Wide Context Menu Bug in Windows Vista, Server 2008 and 7

Its a known issue in windows vista, Server 2008 and Seven. I received lots of mails about this problem. Sometimes people called it a bug in windows and sometimes a virus problem. But the truth is, its a compatibility issue between WinRAR and windows.

Recently a visitor "Blu" contacted me about the same issue. He is using Windows 7. Whenever he right-clicks on a file folder in Explorer, he gets a very wide context menu as shown in following screenshot:

Following is another clear screenshot of the whole context menu:
If you are also facing this problem, follow these simple steps to fix the problem:

1. Open WinRAR and go to "Options -> Settings...".

2. Now click on "Integration" tab.

3. In "Shell integration" section, try following things to fix the problem:

• Disable "Icons in context menu" option and click on OK button.
• If the above trick doesn't work, then enable "Cascaded context menus" option.
• If none of the above 2 options works, then remove the context menu entry by disabling "Integrate WinRAR into shell" option.

4. After following 3rd step, your problem will be solved.

Google Chrome Themes Available, Download NOW

Google has released a few nice themes for its web browser Chrome. Currently themes are only available for Google Chrome 3.0 and above.

You can download these themes using official Google Chrome Theme Gallery:

Google Chrome Themes Gallery

To apply a theme, simply open above link in Google Chrome and click on "Apply theme" button.

Opera 10 RC (Release Candidate) Released, Download NOW

Opera team has released RC version of its upcoming browser Opera 10. Since its RC version, it should be considered as a stable version and everyone can give it a try without worries.

The most noticeable change in this RC version is the new Opera program icon and new document icon.

There are lots of bug fixes in this version.

You can download it using following links:

Windows MSI / Windows Classic

Macintosh (Intel-only) / Macintosh (Universal)

UNIX/Linux

Official Announcement

Studying in Canada

More than 130,000 students come to study in Canada every year and even more come to Canada to learn English or French. Foreign students bring a rich culture to our classrooms. Your knowledge and skills are welcome in our schools.

The provinces regulate education and schools in Canada. For more detailed information on living and studying in a specific province or territory, contact the school where you wish to study.

Study permits

To study in Canada, you may need a study permit or a temporary resident visa, though not everyone must have these documents.

Learn about:

• Before you apply
  Find out what you need to know about studying in Canada.
• Who can apply
  This page provides information about the requirements you must meet before applying to study in Canada.
• How to apply
  Find out how to apply, where to get application forms and guides, and what documents to provide with your application.
• After applying
  Information is provided on your application status and other steps you may need to take, such as getting a medical examination or security check.
• Arriving
  Find out what to do when you arrive in Canada.
• Extending your stay
  Information is available on the requirements you must meet and steps you must take if you wish to stay longer in Canada.
• Dual Intent
  Information about the concept of dual intent and how it is dealt with in the study permit process
• Frequently asked questions
  This section answers questions Citizenship and Immigration Canada is often asked about studying in Canada.

If you are interested in working in Canada while a student, see Work permits for students in the Related Links section at the bottom of this page.

Work permits for students

It is possible to work in Canada while you are here as a student, and there are opportunities for jobs on and off campus. You will need to apply.

Learn about:

• Working on campus
  This page provides information about applying to work at the school where you study.
• Working off campus
  Find information about applying to work off campus while you study in Canada.
• Co-op and internship programs
  Information is provided about applying to work as part of your academic program.
• Working after graduation
  Information about applying to work after you graduate from school can be found on this page.
• Work available to your spouse or common-law partner
  Find information about how your spouse or common-law partner can apply to work while you study or work in Canada.
• Frequently asked questions
  Answers are provided to questions Citizenship and Immigration Canada is often asked about applying to work while studying in Canada.

You may need a study permit to go to school in Canada. For more information, see Study permits in the Related Links section at the bottom of this page.