How to know whether your Windows XP PC can run Vista?

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a small software Tool that helps Windows XP users identify which edition of Windows Vista meets their needs, whether their PCs are ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista, and which features of Windows Vista will be able to run on their PCs. This small software tool will scan your computer and create a report of all known system, device, and program compatibility issues, and recommend ways to resolve them.

To install and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, you will need .NET2.0 (at least .NET 1.1), MSXML6 (at least MSXML4) and an internet connection. Before you run the Upgrade Advisor, plug in devices such as printers, external hard drives, or scanners that are regularly used with the PC you are evaluating.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor supports 32 bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista, except Windows Vista Enterprise edition.

Download Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor

WordWeb - The free off-line English dictionary for Windows

WordWeb is a quick and powerful international English dictionary for Windows. This off-line dictionary can be used to look up words from almost any program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words. It includes pronunciations and usage examples.

The free version includes Definitions and synonyms, Proper nouns, Related words, Pronunciations, 150000 root words, 120000 synonym sets, and Fixed web reference tabs. WordWeb supports Windows 98/2000/Me/XP/Vista.

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How to convert .docx files to .doc files in Windows and Mac?

M.S Windows
Microsoft has added a new file format called the Microsoft Office Open XML File Format (.docx) to Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 and Microsoft Office Excel 2007. But this format is not compatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Office. With the help of Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, you can convert .docx files to .doc files very easily and you can open and save Office Open XML Formats in earlier versions of Microsoft Office.

By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. Before installing compatibility pack, users of Microsoft Office XP and 2003 must install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update.

This Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack supports Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP Service Pack 1, and Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Download Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack

Mac
For Mac beta version of Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter is available. This beta version expires on December 31, 2008. This Open XML Converter can convert Open XML files to a format that is compatible with Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac and Microsoft Office v. X for Mac.

With this converter you can convert Open XML file formats like .docx, .docm, .pptx, .ppsx, .potx to a format that is compatible with Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac and Microsoft Office v. X for Mac. But remember, You must use Office 2004 11.3.4 or later, or Office v. X 10.1.9 or later to open these converted documents. Also this version of converter is not compatible with Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac.

Download Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac

FireFox 3 second Beta version now available

Firefox 3 is based on Gecko 1.9 Web rendering Engine. FireFox 3 includes nearly 2 million lines of code changes, fixing more than 11,000 issues. This latest Firefox 3 Beta 2 version includes nearly 900 improvements over the previous beta, including fixes for stability, performance, memory usage, platform enhancements and user interface improvements. This beta version is intended for testing purposes only. So this is recommended for developers and testers.

Firefox 3 Beta 2 is available in more than 25 languages for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users.

Download FireFox Beta 2

CrystalMark - an excellent BenchMark software

CrystaMark is an excellent benchmark software, with which you can test your CPU (ALU/FPU), Memory, HDD, and Graphics (GDI/DirecDraw/OpenGL). You can know about your BIOS/Mother Board Information, CPU (Clock, Cache, Multiplier, System Clock), Chipset, Video (Driver Information/ Video RAM), Netwark Information, PCI Device, IDE HDD Information, and DLL Information.

No need to install CrystalMark software. Just download and unzip it. Now just run the application CrystalMark core system. Then you will get all details about your Bios/Motherboard, CPU, HDD, DLL information etc. For further information you can run the other applications like CrystalMark OpenGL test, Windows GDI BenchMark, DirectDraw benchmark.

CrystalMark 2004R2 supports 32bit Windows Vista/2003/XP/2000 and 64bit Windows Vista/2003/XP.

Download CrystaMark