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If you use the web regularly, pay attention. Here is a list of keyboard shortcuts that will help you navigate with your browser and complete web based tasks more quickly than ever before! The best part about these shortcuts is that most apply to nearly every major browser out there, so whether you are using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or even Internet Explorer, you’ll be able to move between your favorite sites with great fluidity. What’s more, if you have a mouse that has extra buttons, you can often assign those buttons to these keyboard shortcuts to be even more efficient.

• Open new tab: ctrl+t
• Close tab: ctrl+w
• Move to right tab: ctrl+tab
• Move to left tab: ctrl+shift+tab
• Move cursor to address bar: ctrl+l

I’ve prepared a short video showing the different between browsing with and without keyboard shortcuts. It isn’t exactly a practical example of browsing, but the goal here is to show how quickly you can navigate between tabs and websites.

Compatibility is always a sensitive issue when it comes to a new version of Windows. Microsoft takes it very seriously and considers it a hallmark of the Windows platform, making it easy for users to transition to a new release with little or no hiccups. With the release of Windows XP, Microsoft introduced Compatibility Mode, which let older applications run on the OS emulating supported versions of Windows with the ability to save settings so that your applications will start in the correct mode every time. Compatibility Mode worked in some cases and others it did not.

Windows Vista’s compatibility story was a tough one, simply because of the fundamental changes that were made to enhance the system’s security foundations. This ultimately affected how older applications would function, because many older applications were written with the intention of running under Administrative privileges. Meaning, some applications were designed to write to parts of the system that were considered vulnerable to attack and malicious activity. It is a beneficial change that has greatly helped the security initiative in Windows. Windows Vista’s kernel version change also affected how certain applications tried to install on the system, since applications were hard coded to check for a specific version of Windows. Microsoft’s solution to Vista’s compatibility woes included the Virtual PC 2007 utility which allowed Windows customers to run a virtualized copy of Windows XP or 2000 and still run their legacy applications in a suitable environment while transitioning to the latest version of Windows. Although it was a solution it required a costly overhead in resources while being a cumbersome experience of having to switch between the host operating system (Vista) and the guest operating system (XP or 2000).

I recently migrated from Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 RTM, I also moved to the final version of Microsoft’s virtualization solution for small businesses and power users running legacy applications; Windows XP Mode. Back in July I started using the first beta and found it a handy solution on Windows 7 64 bit since my GPRS modem is not compatible with Windows 7 64 bit, so I was able to use the Internet through XP Mode. I also benefited from XP mode for 3 key legacy applications: Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000 v2, Print Shop 5.0 and Hallmark Card Studio 1.0 This article takes a look at some of the improvements since the beta and RC were released. Prior to Windows Virtual PC with XP Mode, Microsoft’s most popular virtualization solution was (and in some way, still is) Virtual PC 2007 which supports systems that do not have a processor with hardware based virtualization technology. XP Mode is a more sophisticated solution, in addition to the ability to running Windows XP in a virtual environment, you can publish applications from within the Virtual Machine and use them along side Windows 7 applications without the need for the operating system layer.

What is Virtualization?

Virtualization is jargon that has caught on with many who are in the Information Technology realm. Virtualization involves using non-physical solutions that would often involve deploying physical hardware resources. In the world of Virtualization a Virtual Machine takes the place of a physical machine, providing similar resources, only non-tangible, this is done on a machine with appropriate resources such as a powerful CPU, lots of Memory and in some cases a GPU (graphical processing unit) depending on the desired capabilities to efficiently run one or more “virtual” instances of an operating system. For instance, I could own a computer with a 2 GHz processor, 3 GBs of memory and be able to run an additional operating system on top of the included operating system, whether it be Windows or Linux without the need to have another machine by sharing some of the resources of the computer with the virtual machine.

Setup

As I noted earlier, to use XP Mode, your computers processor (CPU) needs to support hardware based virtualization. This can be recognized by standards such as Intel-VT and AMD-V. Some computers might not have this capability built in, so I recommend you check Intel or AMD’s website to find out if your processor is supported. Some PC Manufacturers might have the technology disabled on certain models requiring that you enable it. Enabling Virtualization support might be a bit complex for novices which requires that you enter your computers BIOS, the experience can vary depending on the manufacturer of your computer.

The Internet’s history began in the United States, where Americans had the best access to the Internet’s resources for several years. According to technology experts like S. Derek Turner, as more countries began to link to the Internet, a strange thing happened. The United States began to lose its dominant position as world leader of Internet access. Other countries began to support Internet access more effectively than the country that invented it.

But other sources disagree, arguing that the United States is still a leader both as a content provider on the Internet itself and in giving citizens the access they need. What do these different perspectives mean?

Much of the reason has to do with the way Internet access is measured. Is it measured by each country’s physical Internet resources? Or do you measure it according to the number of citizens who have Internet access out of the overall population? One company’s method was to simply survey a sample of the population of different countries by asking each interviewee if he or she had accessed the Internet over the last month.

In this article, we’ll use the same approach as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD compares each country’s number of broadband subscribers against the size of the overall population. Why use this method? Because looking at the number of subscribers alone doesn’t tell us enough information. Let’s compare and contrast the United States with China.

According to the OECD, the United States has more than 77 million broadband subscribers [source: OECD]. The United States Census Bureau calculates the population of the country at more than 305 million people [source: U.S. Census Bureau]. China, on the other hand, has 83.4 million broadband subscribers and a population of more than 1.3 billion people [source: Internet World Stats]. If we just look at the number of subscribers, China is ahead of the United States. But, if we factor in the number of subscribers against the entire population, we get a completely different picture. The percentage of the population in the U.S. with a broadband subscription is 25 percent, but in China, it’s 6.2 percent.

Let’s take a look at the world at large and find out which countries have the strongest broadband networks.

Random access memory (RAM) is the best known form of computer memory. RAM is considered “random access” because you can access any memory cell directly if you know the row and column that intersect at that cell.

The following are some common types of RAM:

• SRAM: Static random access memory uses multiple transistors, typically four to six, for each memory cell but doesn’t have a capacitor in each cell. It is used primarily for cache.
• DRAM: Dynamic random access memory has memory cells with a paired transistor and capacitor requiring constant refreshing.
• FPM DRAM: Fast page mode dynamic random access memory was the original form of DRAM. It waits through the entire process of locating a bit of data by column and row and then reading the bit before it starts on the next bit. Maximum transfer rate to L2 cache is approximately 176 MBps.
• EDO DRAM: Extended data-out dynamic random access memory does not wait for all of the processing of the first bit before continuing to the next one. As soon as the address of the first bit is located, EDO DRAM begins looking for the next bit. It is about five percent faster than FPM. Maximum transfer rate to L2 cache is approximately 264 MBps.
• SDRAM: Synchronous dynamic random access memory takes advantage of the burst mode concept to greatly improve performance. It does this by staying on the row containing the requested bit and moving rapidly through the columns, reading each bit as it goes. The idea is that most of the time the data needed by the CPU will be in sequence. SDRAM is about five percent faster than EDO RAM and is the most common form in desktops today. Maximum transfer rate to L2 cache is approximately 528 MBps.
• DDR SDRAM: Double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM is just like SDRAM except that is has higher bandwidth, meaning greater speed. Maximum transfer rate to L2 cache is approximately 1,064 MBps (for DDR SDRAM 133 MHZ).
• RDRAM: Rambus dynamic random access memory is a radical departure from the previous DRAM architecture. Designed by Rambus, RDRAM uses a Rambus in-line memory module (RIMM), which is similar in size and pin configuration to a standard DIMM. What makes RDRAM so different is its use of a special high-speed data bus called the Rambus channel. RDRAM memory chips work in parallel to achieve a data rate of 800 MHz, or 1,600 MBps. Since they operate at such high speeds, they generate much more heat than other types of chips. To help dissipate the excess heat Rambus chips are fitted with a heat spreader, which looks like a long thin wafer. Just like there are smaller versions of DIMMs, there are also SO-RIMMs, designed for notebook computers.
• Credit Card Memory: Credit card memory is a proprietary self-contained DRAM memory module that plugs into a special slot for use in notebook computers.
• PCMCIA Memory Card: Another self-contained DRAM module for notebooks, cards of this type are not proprietary and should work with any notebook computer whose system bus matches the memory card’s configuration.
• CMOS RAM: CMOS RAM is a term for the small amount of memory used by your computer and some other devices to remember things like hard disk settings — see Why does my computer need a battery? for details. This memory uses a small battery to provide it with the power it needs to maintain the memory contents.
• VRAM: VideoRAM, also known as multiport dynamic random access memory (MPDRAM), is a type of RAM used specifically for video adapters or 3-D accelerators. The “multiport” part comes from the fact that VRAM normally has two independent access ports instead of one, allowing the CPU and graphics processor to access the RAM simultaneously. VRAM is located on the graphics card and comes in a variety of formats, many of which are proprietary. The amount of VRAM is a determining factor in the resolution and color depth of the display. VRAM is also used to hold graphics-specific information such as 3-D geometry data and texture maps. True multiport VRAM tends to be expensive, so today, many graphics cards use SGRAM (synchronous graphics RAM) instead. Performance is nearly the same, but SGRAM is cheaper.