Liberty Corner Computing Company

Posts Tagged ‘RAM’

To install XPM, you’ll need the right combination of hardware and software. Your hardware must include a CPU and motherboard that supports Hardware Virtualization Technology, sometimes known as VT-d, AMD-V, or Vanderpool. If your motherboard is less than two years old, you’re probably safe, though you may need to find a Hardware Virtualization option in your computer’s BIOS and switch it on. If you’re not certain whether your system supports Hardware Virtualization, visit this Microsoft Web page and download and run a CPU-identification utility from Intel or AMD that can tell you. The same page tells you how to switch on the necessary technology in many standard BIOSes.

Your operating system must be Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate. The currently downloadable Release Candidate installs Windows 7 Ultimate, so the RC version is ideal for testing XPM. Next, you’ll need to install a small 5MB update to the RC version, which you can find by visiting this Microsoft update page, where you can download Windows Virtual PC.

Finally, from the same Web page, you’ll need to download Windows XP Mode, which is a 445MB installer that expands into a 1GB virtual XP system. With both downloads, make sure to download the 32-bit or 64-bit version, depending on whether you’re running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7.

Your next step is to run the small Windows Virtual PC installer and, when prompted, restart your system. After that, you install Windows XP Mode. The installer will present you with a screen that says your XP Mode username will be “user” (you can’t change that) and prompts you to create a password. On the same dialog, you should mark a checkbox labeled “Remember credentials (recommended)” so you won’t be prompted to retype the password when XPM starts up. The next dialog will prompt you to turn on Automatic Updates, which you definitely should do, so that XPM will update itself without your intervention. Finally, after about ten minutes of background activity, a virtual Windows XP desktop will open in a window.

You’ll probably want to customize the desktop and Start Menu of your virtual XP system. For example, you’ll probably want to open the Control Panel, then Folder Options, and the View tab, and tell XP not to hide the extensions of known file types, so .DOC files will display in Explorer with the .DOC extension. You’ll probably also want to open the Display Control Panel, go to “Appearance,” then “Effects,” and turn on ClearType to smooth screen fonts.

You’ll also want to install a printer so that applications running in XPM can print to the same printer you use for Windows 7. If your printer is attached by a USB cable, all you need to do is go to the top-line menu of the virtual machine, click USB, and then click the line that reads “Attach” followed by the name of your printer. XP will need to install drivers for your printer, which you’ll provide either by inserting the installation CD that came with your printer, or by running the Internet Explorer browser in your virtual XP system, and finding, downloading, and installing the XP drivers for your printer.

There’s too much “stuff” on your computer’s hard disk to use it all at the same time. During the average session sitting at the computer, you’ll probably use only a small amount of all that’s available. The stuff you’re working with at any given moment is stored in random access memory (often abbreviated RAM, and often called simply “memory”). The advantage using RAM to store whatever you’re working on at the moment is that RAM is very fast. Much faster than any disk. For you, “fast” translates to less time waiting and more time being productive.

So if RAM is so fast, why not put everything in it? Why have a hard disk at all? The answer to that lies in the fact that RAM is volatile. As soon as the computer is shut off, whether intentionally or by an accidental power outage, every thing in RAM disappears, just as quickly as a light bulb goes out when the plug is pulled. So you don’t want to rely on RAM to hold everything. A disk, on the other hand, holds its information whether the power is on or off.