5 Reasons you shouldn't go back to Windows 7

Windows 7 is still enjoying a market share of almost 50 percent despite there was the opportunity to do a free upgrade to Windows 10. Here are a few features I miss when I'm using a Windows 7 computer again...

You get so used to the new Windows 10 features and when you start working elsewhere your operating system may still Windows 7. So you can't use certain features you were used to - not to mention that some were already introduced in Windows 8...

1: Screenshots by one key combination

In Windows 10 you can now make screenshots very easily just by using an easy key combination. You press Windows + Print and your screenshot will be saved in your user directory in the folder 'Pictures/Screenshots'. It's quite useful making several screenshots after another.

2: Virtual Drives included!

Remember software like Daemon Tools or Virtual Clone Drive? These were quite useful tools if you wanted to avoid burning an ISO image in order to use it on Windows 7 or earlier versions. In Windows 10 you don't need to install any extra tools. You just need to select on ISO file, right-click and select 'Mount'. That's it. A virtual drive will be added with your CD/DVD image. Way easier, all included. You'll noticed if you get back using Windows 7.


3: Control+V in CMD!
After so many years it's finally possible to use Ctrl+V in the command line. Pasting lines into the black box is now way easier. Going back to Windows 7 or other older Windows version you had to right-click, selecting 'Paste' to paste your clipboard. Now that's just better and faster.

4: Lots of language packs!
Changing the languages of your operating system had never been easier. You can change your Windows 10 easier to any language - even to small ones like Luxembourgish. Just go to Control Panel, 'Language', select the 'idiomas' you want, download them. After that you can easily switch to one of your downloaded languages. You only need to log off and log on again. Back in Windows 7 it was more difficult or even limited to certain version like Enterprise or Ultimate. And the amounts of possible languages are increasing. I remember working in certain companies a language change back in Windows 7 was applied by reinstalling the whole computer... But nowadays with Windows 10, no issue. Just switching to Japanese. As easy as with Android.

5: File Explorer Ribbon Bar

The Ribbon bar was first introduced as a the new view of Office 2007 applications. Some other applications within Windows 7 followed and since Windows 8 it´s also in the Windows Explorer - so jumping from 7 to 10, you will notice and you don´t wanna go back! Also having a graphical view on how fast a file transfer goes makes the new included file manager even better. Not only looks all better.


Anyway...
There are of course many more features in Windows 10 in comparison to Windows 7, but that´s just to name a few which I found were ones people would notice quite quickly. Also easy to get used to that. These examples show that you should not go back to Windows 7, although it´s still a great operating system.

Feel free to comment on if you agree or would have named other examples for reasons not to go back the OS from 2009.

How to use homebrew software on PS2 - An overview

By the end and after the PS2 era more and more homebrew software was released for the famous console of the early 2000s. After the first step was done, you were able to execute multiple applications.

First, you had to find a way to install 'FreeMCBoot' (in short FMCB) on your Memory Card. I only know two ways to do that: Let someone who already has it install FMCB on your Memory Card or: Buy a network adapter to install a hard disk in the PS2 (of course only possible with the older, bigger model), install an ISO image with homebrew software on your hard drive and boot it with a special CD.

Installing FMCB

I would recommend to use the Windows tool WinHIIP for that: Connect the IDE hard drive either with an USB adapter or with an IDE cable with your PC. Start the tool and select the ISO you want to install (it's usually used for games). Before using it the hard drive must be formatted in PFS which is possible with WinHIIP.

Following that the hard disk has to get back in the PS2 again. The previously called 'special CD' is something like 'HD Advance' or any other software which was sold with the network adapter to use the hard disk.

So after booting the CD you'll end up in the menu with all on the hard disk installed PS2 games - including the ISO with homebrew software. This image should include the software 'ULaunchELF', a software - as the name says - able to execute ELF files.

ULaunchELF is a kind of file explorer for the PlayStation 2. You can even plug in an USB flash drive (in FAT32 of course) and use it for saving and executing files. ELF files - which means "executable and linkable format" - can now be used from this point. You only need some of them.

But now you should use the opportunity to install "FMCB" by launching the installation files from either an USB drive or from the hard drive. Make sure that you have some space on your Memory Card. It takes something around 2 MB which is crucial because the Memory Cards usually had 8 MB space.

From that point your boot menu is extended and you can add more software in the list by using the configurator.

Which opportunities do you get?

You can use the 'Simple Media System' - short 'SMS Player' to use your PS2 as a media center with files even on your external HDD. Unfortunately because there was no further development you can't play all media files. Especially the mp4 format does not work, while at least most of the avi files run.

Some minigames are available like rebuilds of Space Invaders, Tetris or even Super Mario - to be started as a single ELF.

Keyword emulators: There's a selection of ways to play games from older consoles like NES, SNES, GB, C64 and much more. In the last years there was even a PlayStation 1 emulator for its successor. Unfortunately a bit slow, but you can't expect miracles by starting such big games from the flash drive...

The ESR shows an alternate way to play copied games from the disk without having a special chip. A game with a special ESR patch can be started from the FMCB menu.

There are also alternate ways to start games from your hard drive: With the OpenPS2Loader you can not only launch games from your HDD - you can also create Virtual Memory Cards (VMC) to have your savegames on your HDD in a special folder. And there's more: You can use your FAT32 external hard drive or a public folder in your network to store your games instead of an internal hard drive. And despite we have already 2015 - there's still development!

Summary

Even in this short overview you can see the amount of opportunities you have once the PS2 has the ability to launch ELF files. It just shows extended features beyond the basic firmware. 

Of course the successor PS3 has way more to offer in the homebrew area, but in the PS2 era the firmware didn't change like every week - just with the release of newer models - which makes the homebrew usage a lot easier.

ASUS EEE PC 1002HA and Windows 7

Usually delivered with Windows XP the EEE PC 1002HA is also able to be used with Windows 7. With the official ending of the support (April 8th, 2014) it's now the time to install a newer Windows version.

STEP 1: LATEST BIOS VERSION

But it's a long way to reach the goal: First, it's recommended to update the BIOS to the latest version. If you don't do that Windows 7 will start with a black screen and you can only avoid it by pushing the power button for a few seconds to switch to the sleep mode and pressing the power button again to awake (normal screen will appear). But it's surely annoying to do that after every start.

So, in my case the BIOS had the version 0302 and the last one available is 1004. You can check the version with the Asus Update for EEE PC Update Tool and also update your BIOS (only if you're still using XP). Either try connecting with the internet or try to find the following ROM file by yourself: 1002HA-ASUS-1004.ROM

If you don't have the tool, then you can format an USB device with FAT16 (not FAT32, won't work!!!) and copy the ROM file to it. Rename the file to 1002HA.ROM.

Note: Devices bigger than 4GB can't be used with FAT16!

After that you just simply have to boot from your USB device (with pressing ALT + F2).

Process takes less than a minute

If the process is finished, remove your USB drive and push the power button to reboot the EEE PC.

STEP 2: INSTALL WINDOWS 7

To continue you need an ISO image with Windows 7 which you have to use on the bootable USB drive. The Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool is actually really helpful to convert and copy your image to a bootable USB device (check if it's big enough!).

Before booting from the USB device make sure, you have a backup of the current drive C, in case anything would went wrong.

You also need the files from C:\Program Files\EeePC\ACPI\Driver for installing the ACPI driver afterwards (it will be missed after the installation).

Simply save anything driver and software related EEE PC stuff. The safest way would be a hard disk image.

Finally you can boot from the USB device and install Windows 7. Except ACPI all drivers will be found by the operation system. It will work with just 1GB RAM but upgrading it to 2 won't be a bad idea. Good luck!