Testing on IE6, IE7 and IE8

Have you ever needed to test your web app in multiple versions if Internet Explorer? It is not quite common to have IE6 and IE7 (or IE8) installed on the same computer side by side.

It is possible. But if you have already upgraded to IE7, there is no going back. Or is there?

Well, you can still test on both browsers. Microsoft quite conveniently produced a free Virtual PC image for IE6 compatibility testing. Go to Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image page, where you can download images for IE 6, 7 and 8 Beta 2.

• Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP SP3
• Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP SP2
• Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 on Windows XP SP3
• Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista

All you need to run these images is Microsoft Virtual PC. It's all free.

To Vista or Not To Vista?

Sysadmin in our company posted a message regarding Vista installations. I found it very funny and quote him here with his permission:

On a related note now that Vista has been officially released, and inspired by some helpful pages that others have produced I thought I'd preempt the inevitable requests for installation and come up with the following decision-tree to see if you qualify for an upgrade:

It's all crystal clear now :-)

Windows XP Tips

Yahoo published the Top 10 Windows XP Tips Of All Time and I found some of them useful for me. So I decided to share them with you.

Tip 10: Halt background services to improve performance
Tip 9: Increase available disk space by scaling back System Restore
Tip 8: Scrub your hard drive clean
Tip 7: Run two displays on the same PC
Tip 6: Force unresponsive applications to close at shutdown
Tip 5: Automatically optimize your hard drive
Tip 4: Set a custom resolution
Tip 3: Stay on top of registry changes
Tip 2: Recover lost data
Tip 1: Automatically log when and why shutdowns have occurred
In particular I like the tips 6, 5 and 1, so here they are:

Tip 6: Force unresponsive applications to close at shutdown

1. Launch RegEdit (select Start > Run, type regedit and click OK) and browse to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop


2. Find the string called AutoEndTasks. Right-click it, select Modify from the pop-up menu, and change the data value from 0 to 1. (If you can't find this string, create it by selecting Edit > New > String Value and set the data value to 1.)


3. Close RegEdit and reboot your PC.

Tip 5: Automatically optimize your hard drive

1. Open RegEdit and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OptimalLayout


2. Find the string called EnableAutoLayout, and change its data value to 1. (If this string doesn't exist, create it and set the value to 1.)


3. Exit RegEdit and reboot your PC.

Tip 1: Automatically log when and why shutdowns have occurred

1. Open RegEdit and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Reliability


2. Set the ShutDownReasonUI data value to 1. (If this string doesn't exist, create it and set the value to 1.)


3. Exit RegEdit and reboot your PC.

The greatest tips in history of Windows XP on Yahoo!