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I have one Windows 7 PC so far, its running very smoothly in the 64 bit edition on a core i7 extreme chip, 6 GB of DDR3 RAM in a X58 Motherboard with 2 BFG 8800GTX Video cards in SLI.

I am so impressed with the improvements in Media Centre I am about to reinstall my Home Theatre Media Centre with it. I am also considering rebuilding my main development PC using Windows 7 and using a Virtual Machine to launch the old machine.

Now here’s a round up of news tweaks, themes and other Windows 7 links I have come across recently.

• Sarah on Channel 10 has links to a bunch of Windows 7 themes
• She also shows you how to change your logon screen – and use a utility from Tweaks.com to do this easily.
• More from Sarah - 7 tools for tweaking Windows 7
• Tech Radar has 50 seriously useful Windows 7 Tips, Tricks and Secrets

Last week I mentioned that I did not leave the world of PCs and Windows because I needed an easier interface. I’m a fairly serious computer user. I slogged my way through programs back in the early 90s, before Windows, when every program had a completely unique set of commands. F7 saved in Word Perfect. Why? Because that’s the way they designed it. Other programs had their own quirky commands. For me, Windows has always seemed incredibly easy and convenient, if only because of the universal command structure.

I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. Having lived through the Great Depression, my grandfather always thought an orange was a spanking good Christmas present.

You know what ultimately drove me away from Windows? I could never keep the blasted operating system clean. I would buy a new computer and delight at how Windows would jump onto the screen, wagging its tail like a puppy dog ready for a walk. “Where do you want to go today?” Six months later, booting was taking a little longer. After a year, I would pop into the kitchen for a snack while I waited for Windows to start. After 18 months I had a pattern pressed into my forehead from looking up to see if Windows had finally started and then lowering my face back down onto the keyboard.

A computer professional I know said, “You have to reinstall Windows every year or so if you want it to run well. I format the hard disk and start fresh. It takes me a day to reinstall software, update drivers, and all of that. But that’s just what you have to do.”

Yeah, well, I don’t have to do that anymore.

Smith: Unum's two million dollar man

Recently I found that Unum, a Fortune 500 company that provides long term and short term disability, group life and long term care insurance for more than 100,000 companies, uses OneNote 2007!  Looks like they save over $2 million by switching to OneNote by going to a paperless system.

Creating, Saving, Sharing Themes in Windows 7. An in depth how to from the Engineering Windows 7 blog.

From Sarah Arnold: Opportunity to win a Windows 7 Laptop if you are a Microsoft Partner

The Worldwide Windows Marketing Team has launched a Windows 7 partner video contest and I would love to see Australian Partners involved.

To get involved all you need to do is be a Microsoft Partner, create one or many 2-3 minutes video(s) and post it to DigitalForumTV.comfor voting by anyone with a Live ID.

Microsoft Mapping Roadshow – Melb, Syd, Brisbane - 9-12 June

Places are limited so if you do wish to register please do so ASAP at https://www.microsoft.com.au/events/register/home.aspx?levent=324573&linvitation