Office 2010 was released to manufacturing (RTM) recently and on Thursday the “bits” turned up on Technet and MSDN.

The above caught my attention “Important: Microsoft strongly recommends the use of 32-bit (x86) versions of Office 2010, Project 2010, and Visio 2010 applications as the default option for all platforms.”

Basically unless you deal with 2GB Spreadsheets you should steer clear of a x64 version of Office 2010.

The x86 version of Office2010 running on an x64 operating system like Windows 7 Professional x64 will be running in Windows-32-on-Windows-64 or WOW64 as Microsoft call it.

I have been beta testing Office 2010 x64 for many months now but I guess I’m going to follow Microsoft’s advice on this and deploy the RTM x86 version.

Further information on x86 and x64 considerations here: Link

My trusty Dell Latitude E4200 laptop was the next candidate for a Windows 7 RC install.

Nearly all the hardware was detected out of the box.

Tip: If you have unrecognised hardware do a Windows Update first.

In my case I had two items:-

1) A Base Device

2) The Finger Print Reader.

Doing a windows update fixed the base device and a quick visit to support.dell.com got me the Driver security package needed.

My E4200 only has 2gb of ram so I elected to install the Windows 7 RC 32bit version.

In contrast to my boot time experience on my Desktop PC running the x64 version of the RC the E4200 boots Windows 7 from a cold power on to hearing the Windows start sound in an impressive 19 seconds.

Issues

Out of the box the fn key screen brightness controls don’t work.

I also suspect the onboard fan will be on more due to the aero interface in Windows 7. This machine was previously running XP Pro.

The E4200’s CPU in my case the Intel 1.4ghz Dual CoreSU9400 800Mhz FSB does support hardware virtualisation but by default this is turned off in the bios.  You need to go into the bios and down to the Virtualisation Support section and enable it.

I will need to install Virtual XP mode to make sure virtualisation is fully working.

Something exciting about the Windows 7 Release Candidate is Virtual XP Mode.

However before you get too excited first check that your CPU supports Virtualisation. You can get advice about this on the link below.

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/support/configure-bios.aspx

Moving on…

For users of Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate you can download Virtual PC 2007 and a fully licensed XP Virtual machine.

Virtual PC is nothing new, the bundling of the Free licensed XP Virtual Machine is and well as the interoperability between the host and guest operating system. Drag and drop and application sharing.

In English in Windows 7 I can use software installed in my Windows XP Virtual machine but outside of the virtual machine itself.

Step1) Download and install the files you need.

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Step2) Log into your Virtual machine.

From within the environment you have a fully working Windows XP Virtual machine you can run in a Window or full screen.

Step3) Install Applications in your Virtual Machine.

In this example I chose to install an older  legacy version of Firefox 2.0.

Step4) If I wanted to run the virtual Firefox 2.0 in my Windows 7 environment I would need to shutdown my Virtual XP. Then in in Windows 7 you click on Start > All Programs > Windows Virtual PC > Virtual Windows XP Applications. The installed applications will be shown here.

When you select an application this then starts the Virtual Machine in the background and your application will run seamlessly on top of Windows 7.

Tip: To access some of the default Virtual XP Windows applications for example IE6 from outside your Virtual machine right lick on Start (in the Virtual Machine) Choose Explore with all users, make a shortcut to IE6  and it will appear in the Windows 7 start menu and IE6 will run on top of Windows 7.

Problems

The only problem I had was when I tried to install Microsoft Office 2000 in my Virtual XP. I got a Windows Protection error that would not allow the install to continue.

Observations

Sometimes the loading of the Virtual XP can be slow but this pretty much delivers what it sets out to do and this kind of approach will allow Microsoft to ditch some of the legacy support holding them back.

Only time will tell how useful and practical this turns out to be, as of today I remote desktop to real Windows XP PC for legacy applications. In theory Virtual XP Mode would allow me using only 1 PC.

A visitor to the site left this question?

“I’ve just ordered a Dell Latitude D630 and know already I need to downgrade from Vista Business to XP Pro but everything I google on the matter is littered with conflicting information…seeing as you have done this would you be so kind as to give me a procedure? Treat me like I know nothing and we won’t go wrong!!”

Note: This process will require a re-format of your computer and you will need to ensure you backup any data first as all the existing data and software will be lost.

Pre requisites

1 x Dell Windows XP Pro CD and lots of time.

Step 1) Check that Dell Support Windows XP on your Hardware. For this specific user I know the answer is yes but not all Dell Models have Windows XP Support.

Go to www.support.dell.com then Drivers and Downloads and browse to your model.

From the Operating System dropdown box make sure there is a Windows XP option. Leave the Drivers Web Page open for the moment.

Step 2) Get to know your Dell Vista Hardware first. Find out what you will need.

You want to do this so there is no guess work about what other hardware you have inside your Dell.

Example: A Dell can ship will up to 5 different video cards.

So in Windows Vista click on the Start Menu and when you see Computer right click it and choose Properties.

Then from the left hand side choose the Device manager.

I always make a note of the Display Driver and Network adaptors and Sound (those expanded in the above picture).

Step 3) Download from www.support.dell.com the Windows XP Drivers you will need.

To keep yourself organised put each download into a Folder for easy access later.

Ideally you want to store these on a USB Key or burn a CD with them on.

Step 4) Backup any of your own Data from Windows Vista.

Step 5) Insert your Dell Windows XP Pro CD, turn on your computer and press F12 for boot options. Then Choose your CD/DVD Drive from the available boot options.

Tip: Make sure you don’t have any external hard disks or other peripherals connected. A mouse is ok.

The Windows XP Setup will take a few moments but eventually ask you what you want to do, choose the first option To Setup Windows.

The Windows XP Setup will now look for a version of Windows Installed and offer to Repair or Install a fresh copy. You want the fresh copy so press ESC.

On the existing Partition Screen you will see the various Partitions.

You want to Delete the largest partition and if you see a Dell Vista Recovery Partition you can also delete that. Leave the smallest FAT partitions alone.

Next you want to create a new partition in the un-partitioned space. Accept the size which should be the maximum available. Format the partition NTFS (Quick) after which the Windows XP Install files will be copied and the installation will continue.

Tip: The Win Supersite has a Step by Step guide with pictures of this procedure.
Link: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

Step 6) Once Windows XP is loaded you will need to install the Dell Drivers in the correct order.

1:System Software
2:Chipset
3:Video Adaptor
4:Network Card
5:Audio
6:Modem
7:Wireless
8:Input things like touch pad
9:Bluetooth
10:PMCIA/Smart Card

Tip: Dell now have their own “Driver install order” document which is more detailed that the one above. Link: Here

You should now be ready to connect to the internet and visit www.windowsupdate.com for the latest updates to windows.

Sorry, could not resist the post title.

It appears Gmail users are having a bad day.

Gmail has had mini outages before but this one is seems to have caught the big G off guard.

The Class A types soon headed over to twitter to see if their Gmail problems were isolated. However the flurry of tweets about Gmail arrived by the thousands.

Tips: Apparently Gmail’s  IMAP support is still operational and if you have an iPhone you can still access the service. Most typical users who access the service via a web browser will have to sit this one out.

Gmail has 113m users worldwide so I guess this is kind of a big problem and it is very unlike Google to be offline for this amount of time. Currently 3 hours and counting.

For updates see: http://mail.google.com/support/ or to check out the carnage in real time while it happens see: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=gmail