This is another article on Windows 7: It’s Windows 7 week this week; and since I’ve installed the RC (Release Candidate) of Windows 7 (64-bit) this week, the fact that it is is rather appropriate. – Not forgetting, of course, that Microsoft have officially released the RC to the public this week also.

Below is a listing of all the .msc files in the RC. What are .msc files? According to fileinfo.com, this: -

File Type
Microsoft Management Console Snap-in Control File

Category
System Files

Common?
No

File Description
Additional control added to the Microsoft Management Console in Windows

You’ll notice from the date affixed to the listing that these .msc files were also present in the various beta builds; from build 7000 upwards.

.msc files in Windows are generally useful, as they have a function similar to .com and .exe files: For instance; devmgmt.msc is the device manager, and eventvwr.msc is the event viewer. These files reside in the System 32 subfolder of the Windows folder. The same thing is true of Vista and XP to a certain extent; other than a few of the files might have a slightly different nomenclature in some regards, depending upon the operating system in question.

(Please excuse DS Clock for getting in the shot.)

What I noticed was new in the RC version, and that wasn’t included in the original beta, was the .com (Command) files listed below. As you will note from the listing below; .com files are MS-DOS application files: The 16-bit equivalent of a 32 or 64-bit .exe file. Despite whatever counter-claims may arise; Microsoft are still using DOS in at least part of their operating systems. This may not be a bad thing. – And then again it might? – But no biggie. These files are a throwback to before the days of Windows 95; (Probably revised somewhat since then.) but are still useful to this day.

I don’t intend to teach you DOS at this point. Either you know it or you don’t. If you know DOS then so much the better: You’ll instantly understand what these files are for and what they do. If you don’t know DOS then there’s little point learning it anyway these days. – But if you want to learn it anyway, then there are many online tutorials available. Google is your friend.

However; more than this, Microsoft have added a shedload of .exe files, as well as a gargantuan collection of .dll’s. It’s the .exe files that particularly interest me, and I have to admit that I haven’t even screen-captured all the listings, let alone browsed through them all identifying and comparing them to those of previous operating systems.

(If you’re expecting me to do so and report the results in the next article then I’ll inform you here that it took me many months to do that with XP, during which Vista appeared, and was looked at and ignored by me – along with most of the corporate world including Intel. – In other words I most likely won’t so you’re out of luck. – But no doubt someone will: The internet’s a big place, and with somewhere around 1/4 billion blogs out there it’s unlikely that it won’t happen.)

The first screen of them, and there are many, is pictured below.: -

- And if you think that’s a vast amount, having looked for yourself; wait until you see the number of .dll’s they’ve added. – That’s well beyond the scope of this article.

What drew my attention to these files in the first place was that I transferred some files and settings over from my 32-bit XP setup on the networked computer next door.(As in; the next computer in that row of computers.) Having transferred all of my personal profile over from XP to 7, I noticed that the thing that stuck out like a sore thumb, and that was missing, was the sound recorder icon that I created in XP.

I looked in 64-bit 7’s System 32 folder for a similar file or icon to the sndrec32.exe found in 32-bit XP, and discovered that there isn’t one. There’s an equivalent to sndvol32.exe, the volume controls, named SndVol.exe, but there’s no SndRec.exe, nor is there any equivalent file as far as I can tell.

This is going to cause problems for me if Microsoft don’t include it in the RTM version: I use the sndrec32.exe function in 32-bit XP via a desktop shortcut to call up the sound recorder, on which I record voice tracks, then use software to mix with music tracks, combine and clean them up, convert to mp3 format, and use the finished product. In fact the intro music for this blog was produced in just that manner. Without the presence of the sound recorder I am a bit stuffed, as are other bloggers who also record in this way.

I don’t know if it’s included in the 32-bit version? I strongly suspect not.

…And I’ve just found out, via Twitter, from Rich Menga of PC Mech.com that I suspected right: It isn’t.

Here’s my last-minute appeal. I do know that Microsoft’s Windows 7 Team read this blog from time to time; especially if I write something on Windows 7. (Logically.) – So I ask those geeks in that team to please include an equivalent to sndrec32.exe in the RTM build.

If it isn’t included I’m sure I’ll get by. – But I see no reason why it can’t be so included. (Having said that; I’m not on the development team, so what do I know?) If it isn’t included it’ll be a big pain in the ass at first. – Like the absence of the Address Bar was when I first installed Service Pack 3 to my Win XP Pro 32-bit installations. – But I carried on regardless, and eventually scrubbed round it and almost forgot about the Address Bar in the end.

- But; dear Microsoft, I appeal to you and beseech thee not to cause me any further pain, and to please include a sound recorder file in the System32 folder of the RTM of Windows 7. (It’s like a bloody prayer this. (“Oh great God of the Sacred Redmond, it is with humility and sworn devotion that we come before thee…”) I just hope it has better results than prayer.) I also speak for those others who cannot live without the sound recorder and would like it reinstated.

- In the name of Bill Gates who gave up his position for us so that Microsoft could move ever onward.

Amen.

“Blasphemer…!”

“Oh rock of ages; don’t you crumble or be leaning still.

Ah, magic moonshine now: A little people magick if you will.”

- Queen 1972.

Ah – Egg on face time: There is a sound recorder exe file in System32. It’s called SoundRecorder.exe Why is it so difficult to find? I partially blame Microsoft for renaming it to something unexpected, and also myself for not looking hard enough.

It appears to only recognise a USB microphone though. All attempts to get it to recognise an analogue mic plugged into the sound card appear futile. I did only try with a single analogue microphone though – So there may be a chance that the one I used was faulty (?)

My thanks to my internet stalker Synapse Syndrome commenting under his gay alter-ego of “Sarah Palin” (aka Syphilis Syndrone.) for this information. Unfortunately I won’t publish his comment as it is rude and obnoxious, plus I’ve banned him from publication already due to the rude and ignorant crassness of his rhetoric, as seen in his previous comments prior to the instatement of the ban. No doubt he investigated the case extremely carefully over the course of a number of days before discovering it, so that he could write a comment full of insults and ridicule. – That was a total waste of time on his part in writing it; but it’s good to know that I have my detractors serving at my feet.

The experts from the scientific institutions such as Oxford Uni and NASA recently convened a gathering aimed at devising ways to prevent information technologies threatening human dominance and possibly bringing about the end of civilisation as we know it.

(Personally I think it might be a good idea if done right – I mean look at planet Earth right now: Humans are trying to self-destruct as a species as it is by the looks of it. Maybe it’s time for a change brought about by the cyber-gods we create? Jobsweh and his ilk aren’t doing very well after all; Gates has retired; and a conflict between Redmond, Jobsweh, and “cyber-terrorists” from the open-source community – The dark side in jackets – appears to have kicked off in a small way anyway.)

Is the Matrix to become a reality? I suggest pre-empting it by rewriting Smith if so. Will we become slaves to vast armies of terminators following a nuclear war started by our computers? I think not – That scenario appears a bit too far-fetched to me; considering the fact that such a war would obliterate most of the worlds computers, internet communications, and server units, anyway.

The lightning pace of information technology may be of concern to some; but would it be so bad to be controlled to some extent by a higher, if non-human, intelligence? Once again I really don’t see what’s so terrible about that. Humans replaced Neanderthals because they were more adept at survival, so what if some technologically-enhanced race of humans superceded humans as we know them today?

OK ignoring thoughts of the Borg that are now running through the heads of Trekkies reading this blog – Forget the Borg collective consciousness and forget cruising the universe in a cube looking for vulnerable civilisations to turn into more of the collective – I really can’t see what’s so bad about having unobtrusive implants attached to increase the sensitivity of the human senses, in addition to being a replacement for worn out parts. OK maybe it might change humanity totally; but is that so bad after all? We already have the capability to self-annihilate within minutes and it only takes some set of power-crazy halfwits with access to the right button to make it happen: What if technology could prevent it from ever happening? What if some implant could correct the chemical imbalances in people’s deranged minds: No Hitlers, Stalins, no warmongering Bush hearing voices from “god” telling him to nuke his enemies.

The experts say that the reason humans are the dominant species on this planet is because of our intelligence – Pah! – What intelligence? – We’re just clever monkeys having bigger inter-tribal wars with each other and using rocket-propelled sticks and stones that explode and kill more of the enemy; otherwise we’re no better than Neanderthals as a whole, apart from being better suited to today’s environment physically. If technology threatens that position due to having greater intelligence then good: Isn’t evolution wonderful? Isn’t it just engineered evolution taking its natural course? – Or do we fight it and carry on blowing each other up until there’s nobody left to kill?

They think that they could create a super-computer with recursive artificial intelligence that could become more intelligent than humans. I say do it: You can’t get more stupid than some humans in some regards; and those stupid humans usually end up leading an army of followers…You know the story – Look at Osama Bin-Laden as one example.

“Anything that has more brains than us, can develop more technology, more quickly – including powerful weapons technologies. It could also come up with strategies and plots much more quickly and would therefore be extremely powerful.” said Bostrom; one of the so-called experts in question. If that were the case then surely it would soon see how the way humans have turned out is only going to lead to oblivion; therefore it might even ensure a future for humanity- rather than the 50/50 chance of self-elimination.

The mind boggles! – Aided of course by the latest multi-cored processing technologies. If only…

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