Category: Windows 7

Windows 7 64-Bit: Getting the Linksys Wireless PCI Card (WMP54G) To Work

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By Walter, October 26, 2009 5:06 pm

Almost everything I’ve thrown at Windows 7 over the past 8 or 9 months of testing first the Beta then the RC has worked – hardware and software alike. The sole exception in the hardware realm has been the Linksys Wireless PCI Card (WMP54G v4.0) in my son’s computer.

The trouble is that Linksys has been very bad about supporting 64-bit Windows (Vista and Windows 7) for some of their slightly older products.

Neither Linksys nor Microsoft have drivers available for many models of these cards. But, I finally got the v4.0 card to work in Windows 7 64-bit. Here’s how:

1. Download this Ralink driver (the card is based on a Ralink chipset): Linksys Wireless G (RT2500) (direct link to download).

NOTE: This driver is hosted on Dan Wendorf’s site and is just the Windows 64-bit drivers. You can also download the full driver set from Ralink’s site, but the download is quite big (lots of unnecessary programs and drivers for other versions) and the site is unbearably slow.

2. Unzip the .rar file. You can use WinZip or WinRar to do this.

3. In Device Manager (click Start, right-click My Computer, click Manage, then select Device Manager in the management window), locate the network controller. It may be an unidentified device or a mislabeled device depending on whether you’ve already tried to install a driver for it.

4. After selecting the device, click the Uninstall button on the toolbar to remove the device.

5. On the toolbar, click the Scan for hardware changes button.

6. When windows find the new device and asks for a driver, point it to the folder you unzipped.

7. If you get a notice saying the driver is unsigned, go ahead and allow it.

Windows should now install the driver and you’ll have wireless access before you know it. It’s sad this has to be so complicated. A company like Linksys should really get on the ball with 64-bit support.

I’ve been using the driver for quite some time now and it seems perfectly stable. Hope this helps some of you avoid the frustration I went through.

categories How To, Windows 7

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor now Available

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By Walter, May 8, 2009 4:07 pm

For those thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 when it is released or just trying out the public Release Candidate (RC) version, you can now use the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to scan a computer for any compatibility issues before you install.

The Upgrade Advisor will report known compatibility issues, including software and hardware problems. It will also advise you on how to resolve the issue when possible.

If you are already running Windows Vista, the chances are very high that Windows 7 will run just fine on your system. But it’s worth checking anyway with this free tool from Microsoft.

If you’re one of those that skipped Windows Vista, now’s your chance to find out if that system will run Windows 7. Even if your system reported in the past that it would not support Windows Vista, you should still run the Upgrade Advisor to find out if it will support Windows 7.

I’ve had a few computers that would not allow the Vista install, but are running Windows 7 just fine.

categories Tools, Windows 7

Glary Utilities

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By Walter, March 2, 2009 11:33 pm

In my ongoing hunger for new utilities, I came across a free set of utilities I can’t believe I haven’t been using all along. Glary Utilities combines a number of different tools under a single interface.

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Tools in Glary Utilities (by category):

Category Tool Description
Clean-Up & Repair Disk Cleaner Works much like the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows.
Registry Cleaner Purges Registry of things like missing extensions, bad shortcuts, and so on.
Shortcuts Fixer Corrects shortcut errors in Start menu and Desktop.
Uninstall Manager Let you uninstall programs, remove entries for programs that have been uninstalled but not properly removed, and even select multiple programs for a batch uninstall.
Optimize & Improve Startup Manager A great tool for exploring and removing startup programs. Unlike the msconfig tool built into Windows, this one provides information about the programs so you can make an informed decision about removing it.
Memory Optimizer Monitors and optimizes free memory.
Context Menu Manager Lets you manage the context menus (right-click menus) for files and folders in Windows Explorer.
Registry Defrag Defragments the Registry.
Privacy & Security Tracks Eraser Deletes cookies, Internet history, and so on.
File Shredder Permanently erases files.
File Undelete Retrieves accidentally deleted files.
File Encrypter and Decrypter Encrypts and decrypts files.
Files & Folders Disk Analysis Provides a graphical display of what files and folders are using up your disk space.
Duplicate Files Finder Creates a report of duplicate files.
Empty Folders Finder Finds empty folders on your system.
File Splitter and Joiner Allows you to split large files into a more manageable size and rejoin them later (say, for storing on a CD)
System Tools Process Manager Provides a more detailed look at running processes than Task Manager.
Internet Explorer Assistant Helps manage IE add-ons.
Windows Standard Tools Provides links to Windows tools, such as CheckDisk, System Restore, and so on.

Glary Utilities works on all versions of Windows from Windows 2000 to Windows 7 and includes 64-bit support.

categories Tools, Windows 7, Windows Vista

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