Installing Windows Movie Maker 6.0 on Windows 7 or 8

If you are reading this, I'm going to assume you've upgraded or purchased at least one PC with Windows 7 or 8 and discovered Windows Movie Maker is no where to be found. In its place, Microsoft now offers a set of programs called "Windows Essentials". Often these programs are installed on a new PC but otherwise you must download the Movie Maker program to once again have the ability to edit movies.

Many people have tried the newer version of Movie Maker 2011 or 2012 and complained about the lack of a traditional timeline, issues with crashing, long times to prepare video files and the inability to customize the transitions, effects and titles. If you have been building up a library of custom titles, transitions and effects under Windows Movie Maker 6.0, none of these can be used in the newest Movie Maker because the rendering architecture has changed and Microsoft has no API for customizing things.

The good news is you can still use the latest version of Windows Movie Maker 6.0 from Vista. You can do this manually by copying the files from a Vista machine, registering some DLLs and creating a shortcut in your start menu. Or you can just use the installers I created below:

Movie Maker 6.0 for Windows 7/8 (64-bit)
Movie Maker 6.0 for Windows 7/8 (32-bit)

There are two versions (64-bit or 32-bit) depending on the version of Windows 7/8 you are running. If you are unsure, go to your 'Start' menu, right-click on 'Computer' and choose 'Properties'. System type should show 64-bit or 32-bit operating system. Pick the installer that matches. After that, don't forget to start previewing all the cool add-ons that you can have with this version.

Watch ASCII Star Wars in Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8

Every one of us has watched Star Wars on television, computer or in a theater. It is the same movie with aliens fighting each other for galaxies and such stuff. There is nothing new in it. But wait, have you watched an ASCII( American Standard Code for Information Interchange) version of Star Wars and that too in Windows using telnet? A word mostly linked with computer wizards. Well if you have not, then you must do it now!

There is a complete copy of Star Wars done entirely in ASCII characters that you can watch in the Windows operating system (or any OS that supports telnet). The only thing required to watch it is an internet connection; speed does not matter.

To watch it on Windows XP,

1. Go to Start, Run.
2. Now type "telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl" without the quotes and press Enter.
   

On Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista

Telnet is turned off by default in the latest versions of Windows. So, in order to watch star wars, you must first enable telnet by going to Control Panel › Programs › Turn Windows Feature On or Off and ticking both the telnet check boxes. After doing that, follow the steps given below:-

1. Go to Start, Search in Windows Vista and Windows 7. On Windows 8, open the main Start page.
2. Type telnet and press Enter.
3. In the following command prompt window, type "o" without quotes and press Enter.
4. Now type "towel.blinkenlights.nl" without the quotes and press Enter.

If you do not need telnet anymore, you can turn it off.

A command prompt window like the one in the image will open with the movie being played in it. See the movie yourself. Did you enjoy watching this new version of Star Wars? Well, I did and know it for sure that you would have too.