Alpesh Nakar's Blog

Nothing beats Windows Vista ‘Ultimate’. The real beauty with Vista Ultimate is Ultimate Extras.

If you know what I mean – Dreamscene. Windows DreamScene enables you to use looped, full-motion video as your desktop wallpaper instead of a static image.

This is available as a Windows Ultimate Extra. Not for any other version. And if you using Windows Xp/MAC, you really don’t have a choice.

Yes, you do. VistaWired shows you how.

1) Download the latest version of VLC Player here.

2) Open your video file, right click, and choose wallpaper. You can find some great videos to use here:
Winmatrix
SkyTimeLapse
Corbis Motion
Microsoft WMV HD

3) If you do not see the wallpaper option then proceed to:
Settings > Preferences > Video > Output Modules > Direct X.
Once you get here, check the Advanced Options box in the bottom right hand corner.
The advanced options will appear. Check Enable Wallpaper Mode. Now when you right click on your videos, you should be able to see a Wallpaper option.

If you want VideoLAN to behave like Dreamscene, you obviously do not want to see it in your taskbar since you will be running it for a long time. To get rid of its appearance in the taskbar:

4) Proceed to Settings > Preferences > Interface > Main Interfaces > wxWidgets

5) Then uncheck the box beside Taskbar

If you want to reach VLC, you can only get there by using Alt+Tab or Vista’s Flip3D. You can also choose to check the box beside systray so a VLC icon appears in your system tray.

6) Finally, you really wouldn’t want your background to disappear after a couple of seconds so we would have to loop it. To do so, just click on Playlist in the navigation menu, and a list of settings will be provided. Thanks to Matt for reminding me that I have forgotten to include this.

MAC Users:

All you have to do is proceed to the following:

VLC > Preferences > Interface > Main Interface > Use as Desktop Background

VIA VistaWired

This registry hack will ensure that Windows Vista does not wait for a service to stop before prompting you to forcefully stop it. Just decrease the time, Windows Vista will shut down quicker. This can be achieved via hack of your registry.
*Registry hacks are dangerous. Be warned, take a backup, before performing this hack. I will not be liable for any loss.*

1) Access your registry editor: Open up the Start Menu, and type regedit in the Search bar. When working with the registry editor, it is always a good idea to make some sort of a backup in case you make a mistake. You can access it by going to File > Export.

2) Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]

3) Edit the WaitToKillServiceTimeout=20000 - By default, the setting is at 20000 milliseconds (20 seconds.) The default setting are the safest settings for your computer. By lowering this amount, there is some degree of risk involved. I would suggest you lower it in 5 second increments to see what works for you. It is generally recommended that you do not lower it more than 3-5 seconds. Doing so will cause your computer to shut down improperly or lose data.

In Vista, there is this awesome feature – ReadyBoost. You can use nonvolatile flash memory devices, such as universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, to improve performance without having to add memory “under the hood.” The flash memory device serves as an additional memory cache—that is, memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard disk drive.

Note: Edit registry at your own risk. It’s a risky business. As always, backup, backup, backup! I am not responsible for whatsoever that can happen if you try this!

However, not all USB flash drives are supported. In order for USB drive to be recognized, you can use the following reg hack.

1. Let Vista test it, and check the Do not Retest this device checkbox.
2. Unplug the device
3. Go to regedit
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\EMDMgmt
4. Find the key related to you device (the device vendor and name is in the key)
5. Change the follwing values:
Device Status 0×02
ReadSpeedKBs 0×1000
WriteSpeedKBs 0×1000
6. Plug the device, right click on it to open properties and enable cache.

And oh yeah, USB drive is used for ReadyBoost!

Digg This?

As again, this is not a public release. This RC is to update a PC running Windows Vista RTM to Windows Vista SP1 for testing purposes only and is time limited.

This standalone package will install SP1 as well as any applicable pre-requisite packages.

This has been made available for MSDN / TechNet subscriptions.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC (x64) – EXE (English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish)

• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC (x86) – EXE (English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish)
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC (x64) – EXE (Multiple Languages)
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC (x86) – EXE (Multiple Languages)
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC (x86 and x64) – DVD (English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish)
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC (x86 and x64) – DVD (Multiple Languages)
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Windows Update Installation Experience

Points to note from Windows Update Installation Experience document

• This is pre-release code and will change before the final release. Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate is for individuals, organizations, and technical enthusiasts who are comfortable evaluating pre-release software. This pre-release software is provided for testing purposes only.
• Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate is Time-Limited software. It will no longer operate after June 30, 2008 and should be uninstalled prior to that date.