Memory Support:
Question: I have 4GB of memory installed on my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit, but it doesn’t show up. When I install my copy of Windows XP 64-bit, it works fine. What gives?
Answer: For the x86 versions of Windows 7, they claim to support 4GB. In reality, the operating system can only access approximately 3.1GB even when a full 4GB is installed. This is due to how 32-bit operating systems handle memory access. If you were to install the x64 version of the same operating system, your machine will have access to the full 4GB. This information is primarily true for desktop computers. On laptops, you also have to take into account that the majority of notebook and netbook laptops use “shared” memory between system memory and video memory.
Upgrading:
Question: I bought this PC a few years ago, and it is currently running Windows Vista Home Premium. I bought an upgrade copy of Windows 7 Ultimate but it’s not working, and is saying that I’m not eligible to upgrade. Why is that?
Answer: Microsoft got a little smart this time around. You can only use the upgrade versions of Windows 7 with the appropriate copy of Vista. Vista Ultimate will upgrade to 7 Ultimate, Vista Home Premium will upgrade to 7 Home Premium, etc. You can also only upgrade 32-bit to 32-bit and 64-bit to 64-bit. Good for them, potentially annoying and expensive for us, the consumer.
Interface:
Question: I was alt+tabbing and my screen popped up this 3D menu of my items instead of just showing the name and a non-interactive image. It was cool, but I can’t seem to get it to happen again. How did I do it?
Answer: You ‘fat-thumbed’ your alt key and hit your Windows key instead. If you hold down the Windows key and tap Tab, it will initialize the Flip 3D. This is what I think you were looking at.
Question: I made a really cool theme using Aero. I’m trying to share it with a friend but it’s not working at all. The colors are working, but the custom graphics and sounds aren’t giving it. What can I do?
Answer: I knew how to answer this question, but I wasn’t really sure how to word it, so I will be quoting out of a book, Windows 7 Secrets by Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera. Don’t let the title fool you, it’s pretty much a user manual to Windows 7…I’ve yet to find any real secrets. On to quoting the book for the answer: “Aero Theme files are, in fact, simple text files, similar to XML or INI files, so you can open them with a text editor, like Wordpad, to see what they’re made of. A typical section in an Aero Theme file looks like so: *Skipping this little part for brevity sake* The problem with Aero Theme files is that they’re not portable. If the Aero Theme you’re using includes background images, sounds schemes, or screen savers but aren’t found in a default Windows 7 install, you won’t be able to pass them around to others. Fortunately, there’s a way around this issue: you can also save Aero Themes as a Theme Pack (*.themepack), which packages all of the needed files into a single archive that can then be distributed to others. “ Hope that helped.
I’m going to end this here. If you have any questions and want an answer, send me an e-mail and I will do my best to answer them as simply as possible for those who aren’t quite as tech-savvy. I can answer most questions, hardware or software, of any complexity. Be sure to add this article’s title in the subject line.
