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.

Enjoy!

• 300 GB Raptor  – System Drive. Small on size, but at 10,000rpm, a very fast drive.
• 1 TB Seagate – Documents, Pictures, Music, etc.
• 500 GB Seagate – dedicated drive for virtual machines
• 150 GB Raptor – dedicated scratch drive for Adobe Photoshop

Instead of taking the time to back up that old drive (which housed all my documents), I bought a Thermaltake BlackX from Newegg.

It’s a clever little external bay that lets you drop a SATA drive right in. I had an extra external drive bay that I used to use for such things, but with the BlacX, I don’t have to worry about taking off the cover, connecting cables, and so on. You just have to slide the drive in place. And given the number of other people’s drives I work on, that’s pretty convenient.

It has eSata and USB 2.0 ports and actually comes with both cables. Most eSata devices do not include the cable.

They also have a model that accepts two drives at the same time.

Windows 7 had its public beta period this year, with the public beta (build 7000) being released in mid January and the Release Candidate (RC and build 7100) released in May.

Other interesting dates:

• August 6 – MSDN and TechNet subscribers can download RTM
• August 7 – Existing customers with a Software Assurance (SA) license can download RTM
• August 16 – Certified/Gold Microsoft Partners can download RTM
• August 23 – Microsoft Action Pack subscribers can download RTM
• September 1 – Volume license customers without an SA license can purchase Windows 7
• October 22 – General consumer availability of Windows 7

Stumbled across this one on Lifehacker. Good stuff!

Computer hardware poster 1.7 by ~Sonic840 on deviantART

The latest version of the software, Microsoft Money Plus, was released in August, 2007, and after such a long time I should have known trouble was in the air.

As a user of Money for well over a decade, I was disappointed to hear the news.  I have never been a fan of the only other (or so I thought) real alternative – Quicken. Not that it’s not a good piece of software. It just never felt right to me.

Truth be told, over the last few years (from about the 2005 version), my wife and I felt like Money started going in the wrong direction. A lot of the automated, streamlined functionality they added either didn’t feel right or just didn’t work.

However, our story at least has a happy ending. I finally decided to give the online money manager Mint.com a try. And we have become converts.

Three things kept me from trying out Mint.com sooner. The first was inertia. We had so many years of using Money to overcome.

More importantly, though, was that I wasn’t sure I was comfortable putting my finances online. But the security features at Mint.com are reassuring. To name the big two for me:

• You register anonymously.  Just an e-mail address, password and zip code. They don’t require a name or other personally identifiable info.
• You cannot move money. It’s a read-only service. You can view your balances, registers, statements, and other information, but you cannot make transfers.

The final problem I had to overcome was that I just wasn’t sure an online service would give me the same level of control I had with a stand-alone application like Money. As it turns out, I not only don’t miss those features (things like bill reminders and debt planners), but I’m now kind of relieved they are gone. Less to worry about.

I’ll post a bigger review of Mint.com after we’ve used it for a while, but for now here are a few things that really impressed us:

• Setup was ridiculously easy. I gave Mint.com the credentials to log on to my accounts. That was it, really.
• Categories work. Mint.com has some really good algorithms in place for automatically assigning categories to transactions. In Money and Quicken, you have to spend a lot of time going through transactions and making sure that it categorized them properly. Most of the time, those programs don’t get them right. Mint.com does. It also gets the vendor names right, so instead of having to go in every time and change, say, “****DEBIT: xxx…” to the name of the vendor, it just happens. These features alone make it worthwhile. We save so much time every day not having to do these things ourselves.
• It’s beautiful. And simple. And intuitive. We find everything about the site just relaxing. That’s a nice change of pace from the glare of Money and Quicken. From the color scheme to the style and placement of buttons, Mint.com has a calming influence. That’s nice when you’re dealing with your money. The design is well-thought out. When we’re looking at something and want more information or to change a setting, the link is usually right there waiting for us. No more hunting around.
• We’re not tied to using one computer. I can check things out from my computer, my wife from hers. We can check on things when we’re out of town, or at work. That’s nice.
• There’s an iPhone app. I know. There’s an iPhone app for everything. But it is really handy being able to check out your balances when you’re out shopping without having to worry about how your bank’s Web site will load in your mobile browser.
• Budgeting is simple. The budgeting tool is not as feature-laden as the tools in Money or Quicken. But for us, that means we’re more likely to actually use it.

Oh yeah. And at least for now, it’s free. So do yourself a favor and check it out. You can learn a lot by watching this great demo of the site given by CEO Aaron Patzer.

Stay tuned for more thoughts as we actually put it through its paces.

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.

Tools in Glary Utilities (by category):

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

You can see a full list of those updates on Microsoft Technet.

After testing basic compatibility and stability in a safe environment (my notebook), I decided to go for it and just do the install on my primary work machine. Obviously, I made sure I had a good backup first and I recommend you do the same.

The short version: installation was a breeze and so far, not a hitch.

I’ll be doing some performance testing over the next few days and will report back on that. In the meantime, here are the basics and some initial thoughts.

Installing

You can download Vista SP2 Beta 1 from the Microsoft Download site. You can also download the Windows Update Experience Kit, which provides the instructions and scripts necessary to install SP2 through Windows Update.

You do need to have Service Pack 1 installed before installing the SP2 beta. I’m hoping that the final version will include SP1. In the meantime, if you have not yet installed SP1, you can install it through Windows Update or download the standalone SP1 update for 32-bit or 64-bit.

The installation of SP2 is straightforward. It creates a System Restore Point, copies files, and asks you to restart. My installation was quick – about 25 minutes. Your mileage may vary.

Experience

As most of the changes in SP2 are under the hood, you won’t see a lot of difference right off the bat. After using it for a couple of days, I did notice that the wireless connection on my notebook seems more solid. Occasionally, I’ve had to reset the wireless adapter under SP1, but not yet with SP2.

All of my software and hardware that worked under SP1 work just fine under SP2. My software list includes (at least the big stuff):

• Office 2007 Enterprise
• Adobe Creative Suite 3
• Windows Live 3 Beta
• Roxio Creator 2009
• Firefox 3.1 beta
• IE 8 beta 2
• Ultramon
• Tivo Desktop
• Picasa 3
• iTunes 8.02
• VMWare Workstation 6.5

I’ll let you know more as the days wear on.

He decided last year to do the walk for research for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and raised a bunch of money. He asked this year if I’d post this for my friends and colleagues on the Internet, so here it is.

Please, absolutely no pressure to donate at all, but they do good research with the money. Mostly, I’m just proud of him for taking the initiative to do something and wanted to show him off a bit.

Liam’s page