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Developing for the Windows 7 Taskbar – Jump into Jump Lists – Part 3

Yochay Kiriaty

2 Jul 2009 | 1:59 pm

So far, you have seen how you can opt into the Windows 7 Taskbar Jump List experience by creating a Jump List for your application (in the Developing for the Windows 7 Taskbar – Jump into Jump Lists – Part 2 post.) You have also seen the Windows 7 default support for listing “Recent” or “Frequent” destinations as well as how to create your own custom categories. In this post, we will explore more of the Jump List features and discover how easy it is to add Tasks to your application's Jump List. User tasks are customized tasks that get their own Tasks category. As a developer, you…
What’s new at Talking About Windows.com

Stephen L Rose

2 Jul 2009 | 9:18 am

If you haven visited Talking About Windows.com in a while, you are missing a lot! You missed Microsoft Engineers like Ian Burgess talking about the engineering design of DirectAccess and BitLocker and Mario Garzia discussing application compatibility and how Windows 7 works with legacy applications. You can interact with IT pros like Darren Baker, the National Director of Infrastructure Solutions for Sogeti USA talk about how virtualization and imaging has made implementing Windows 7 in his organization easier. Talking About Windows.com is your chance to hear what Microsoft Engineers and IT…
SCCManager 2007 Service Pack 2 Beta aka ConfigMgr07 SP2

Stephen L Rose

1 Jul 2009 | 5:42 pm

Today I am featuring guest Blogger Jeremy Chapman from the Windows Product Team. To see more of Jeremy, view our latest VRT on Application Compatibility. To learn more, click here. Below is his interview with Jeff Wettlaufer from the System Center Team. I recently interviewed fellow product manager, long-time friend and fellow “automator” of operating system deployment tasks, Jeff Wettlaufer, from the System Center team. He explained the new features in the recently released System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Beta (let’s just call it “ConfigMgr07 SP2” for…
Remaining Windows Vista SP2 Languages Released to Windows Update

Brandon LeBlanc

30 Jun 2009 | 9:34 pm

Back on May 26th, we announced Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 hit the RTW milestone. The first wave of languages (English, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese) was made available on Windows Update at that time. Today, we are releasing the remaining languages for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to Windows Update. For more information, including languages, on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 click here. If you have Windows Update configured to download updates automatically, Windows Update will notify you when Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 is…
The Springboard Application Compatibility VRT rebroadcast is live!

Stephen L Rose

30 Jun 2009 | 6:04 pm

Last week we posted the promo teaser here on the Springboard Blog for the Virtual Roundtable on Application Compatibility. As of today, the rebroadcast is live and ready for you to view. If you missed the live broadcast, here’s your chance to hear Aaron Margosis, Paul Schnell; Darren Baker (also watch for Darren’s interview on TalkingAboutWindows next week), Greg Lambert Michael Sciacqua, Gov Maharaj, Celine Allee, Jeremy Chapman, and of course Mark Russinovich discuss the issues in getting your Windows XP and Windows Vista applications to work with Windows 7 quickly and…

Reviews Tom's Hardware US
Windows 7 Versus XP: Which Belongs On Your Netbook?

2 Jul 2009 | 1:10 am

Windows Vista was never really an option for netbook users, but the release candidate of Windows 7 piqued our interest. Can Microsoft finally retire Windows XP in the netbook space? Even now with RC1 available, the answer seems tied to driver development.
Presented By:

2 Jul 2009 | 1:10 am
A Lesson In Backup: Taking Care Of Your Data

2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 am

If you aren't regularly backing up your data, now's a good time to start. In this piece we cover some of the basic backup strategies, a handful of available tools, and backup performance over USB 2.0 using Samsung's newest Story Station external drive.
Killer Xeno Pro: Do You Really Need A Gaming Network Card?

1 Jul 2009 | 1:00 am

Bigfoot Networks has updated its gaming Network Processing Units to support PCI Express connectivity. The new Killer Xeno Pro has a lot of new features, but can it really deliver higher performance for a gamer? We test the new card in order to find out.
Presented By:

30 Jun 2009 | 6:01 pm

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows
Where Have All the Platforms Gone?

30 Jun 2009 | 6:50 pm

Microsoft is the most successful platforms maker in the history of...
Windows 7 FAQ: Updated with Pricing Info

29 Jun 2009 | 8:41 am

The Windows 7 FAQ has been updated with retail pricing info!
Quick Take: RealPlayer SP

28 Jun 2009 | 1:31 pm

RealPlayer SP offers two important features: The ability to download web video and copy it to portable devices...
Windows Weekly 113: The Rural Juror

28 Jun 2009 | 1:31 pm

Leo and I discuss Windows 7 retail pricing, Windows 7 RC downloads...
Windows 7 Product Editions Comparison (Updated)

27 Jun 2009 | 8:00 am

The ultimate Windows 7 product edition comparison is updated with retail pricing info!

Bink.nu
Windows 7 gets guided tours

Sumeeth Evans

30 Jun 2009 | 7:15 am

Now Microsoft has a series of guided tours for Windows 7 too. Similarly to the recent iPhone 3GS video, the Windows 7 videos too feature a charming employee who introduces and narrates the videos, in this case, Latika Kirtane. If the face looks familiar to you, that’s because you probably watched Latika sing in the now infamous Microsoft Research Songsmith video. Interestingly, according to her LinkedIn profile, she has since moved on from the Windows team to now work on Windows Internet Explorer. In terms of the video production, it’s fascinating to see the use of Sims-like figures in…
Upgrade Versions of Win 7 Top Amazon Sales Charts

Sumeeth Evans

26 Jun 2009 | 12:46 pm

Microsoft's half-price promotion for Windows 7 upgrades have attracted the attention of Amazon shoppers, according to the company's sales rankings As of Friday afternoon, the $49.99 Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade was the top seller in Amazon's software section, followed by the Professional upgrade. The Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade, which is not included in the promotion and costs $219.99, was at number four behind Microsoft Home Office and Student 2007. Continue At Source Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites
Windows 7 to be available on USB Drives?

Sumeeth Evans

26 Jun 2009 | 12:45 pm

Microsoft is considering offering Windows 7 on a thumb drive to allow Netbook owners to more easily upgrade their machines, a source tells CNET News. The move, which is still under consideration, is one of several things Microsoft has looked at to try to make it convenient to upgrade machines that don't come with a CD or DVD drives. Microsoft executives have said that they recognize that upgrading Netbooks poses a challenge and are exploring ways that the company can make it easier. In an interview on Thursday, Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said that Microsoft had nothing to announce…
Interview with the Zune source

Sumeeth Evans

26 Jun 2009 | 12:44 pm

In May, after months of anticipation and rumors, Microsoft finally confirmed the existence of the Zune HD. The official confirmation was more or less a "let's get this out of the way for E3" move. Microsoft wanted to be sure the Xbox 360 and its Natal controller would be the star of the show. Like all journalists, I tend to be wary of news tips from people I don't know. Such was the case when I was contacted way back in March by someone claiming to have inside info on upcoming Zune hardware. The tipster told me that the new Zune would be a full touch screen device. I thought…
Announcing the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program & Windows 7 Pricing

Vasudev

25 Jun 2009 | 9:14 pm

Today we have some news to share around Windows 7 including answering what may be some of the “hottest” questions people have as we head toward General Availability (GA) on October 22nd. I had the opportunity to sit down with Brad Brooks, Corporate VP for Windows Consumer Marketing, to talk about today’s announcements. Special thanks to Brad for taking the time to talk through these details with me. You’ll find a transcript of the video here. As Brad discussed in the video, today we’re announcing details for the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, pricing, and a special…

InformationWeek Windows News
Bing Adds Twitter Searches

2 Jul 2009 | 5:42 am

Microsoft's new search engine looks to capture the real-time Web.
Macs Sales Growing Faster Than PCs

2 Jul 2009 | 5:00 am

Apple Mac sales growth outstripped PCs even before Apple cut prices and introduced new MacBooks last month.
Global IT Spending To Drop 10.6%: Forrester

1 Jul 2009 | 11:56 am

The good news: IT spending growth will resume in the US in the fourth quarter, and in the first half of 2010 in other markets, according to Forrester Research.
Microsoft's Bing Makes Gains At Expense Of Google, Yahoo

1 Jul 2009 | 11:29 am

Microsoft's new Bing search engine is slowly gaining ground against the competition. But that may not be enough to change the dynamics of the search market.
Windows 7 Beta Kill Switch Activated

1 Jul 2009 | 5:12 am

The trial version of Microsoft's next operating system has entered its expiration phase.

Mary Jo Foley
Microsoft's Gazelle browser: A layperson's explanation

Mary Jo Foley

2 Jul 2009 | 8:41 am

Microsoft Research has published a new article that explains in more layperson-like terms exactly what its "Gazelle" Web browser is and why the company's researchers believe it's needed.
Windows 7 pricing: Some users fume as the rose-colored discounts fade

Mary Jo Foley

2 Jul 2009 | 5:31 am

The dust is beginning to settle a week after Microsoft went public with its Windows 7 retail pricing plans. Now the details (and lack of details) are starting to sink in with some Windows users.
Microsoft clips Butterfly program's wings

Mary Jo Foley

1 Jul 2009 | 8:26 am

The rumors circulating earlier this week were true: Microsoft has decided to pull the plug on its MSN/Windows Live Butterfly program.
Microsoft starts recruiting testers for its 'Dublin' app server

Mary Jo Foley

1 Jul 2009 | 7:07 am

Microsoft is recruiting a set of select testers for its "Dublin" distributed application server, and is preparing for a public beta of the technology that is due out later this year.
Report: Microsoft chooses ad agency for Pink phone campaign

Mary Jo Foley

1 Jul 2009 | 5:53 am

AdWeek is reporting that Microsoft has selected ad agency McCann Erickson to develop its campaign fo the Microsoft "Pink Project." Pink is the codename for a Microsoft-branded phone and set of accompanying premium consumer services being developed largely by the Danger team that Microsoft acquired last year.

Photostream from Daylife

Win Beta
Windows 7 pricing: Some users fume as the rose-colored discounts fade

The dust is beginning to settle a week after Microsoft went public with its Windows 7 retail pricing plans. Now the details (and lack of details) are starting to sink in with some Windows users. Some customers who jumped to pre-order half-price Windows 7 copies — that are available only through July 11 here in the U.S. – are coming to realize that they might have gotten a raw deal because Microsoft wouldn’t confirm when and whether it planned to offer a Family Pack. View Full Article: Mary Jo Foley's Blog
Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium

Ed Bott: Thanks to a tip from Kristan Kenney, I took a close look at the agreements embedded in the License folder of the latest leaked builds of Windows 7. This is no longer a beta license agreement and is presumably very close to the final agreement that customers will accept. The agreements for retail copies of Windows 7 Home Premium contain this eye-opening clause... View Full Article: Ed Bott's Microsoft Report
New Linux patch could circumvent Microsoft's FAT patents

A Linux developer has published a new kernel patch that provides a workaround to avoid Microsoft's patents on the FAT filesystem. The patch, which has undergone extensive legal review by patent lawyers, could make it possible to use FAT on Linux without having to pay licensing fees to Microsoft. View Full Article: Ars Technica
Suit: Microsoft, Real, Yahoo music streams break copyrights

Mark Farner, of the 1970s band Grand Funk Railroad, is one of numerous plaintiffs alleging the online on-demand music-streaming services of Microsoft Corp., RealNetworks Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. distributed their music without proper copyright licensing... View Full Article: Seattle PI's Microsoft Blog
Microsoft posts modest search gains with Bing

New search engine Bing helped Microsoft increase its share of the search market in the United States in June but, still lags behind Yahoo! and Google, a Web analytics firm reported Wednesday. StatCounter said Microsoft carved out an 8.23 percent share of the US search market in June, up from 7.21 percent in April and 7.81 percent in May. View Full Article: Yahoo News

Computerworld Blogs
Microsoft pulls porn-and-puke ad

Preston Gralla

2 Jul 2009 | 1:25 pm

Microsoft seems to have heeded the critics who were less than enthralled with the company's recent Internet Explorer ad that featured a housewife spewing vomit on her husband after she saw the porn he was viewing on his computer. The ad has been pulled from a Microsoft YouTube channel, as well as from a Web site launched for the ad campaign. read more
Six of the best: June's IT Blogwatch

IT Blogwatch

1 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am

In this special IT Blogwatch, we look back at what bloggers were saying about IT news in June. From iPhones to aviation and from H-1B workers to Windows 7, bloggers blogged it and your humble blogwatcher watched it. By Richi Jennings: your humble blogwatcher, who selects bloggy morsels for your enjoyment every day. Not to mention how we used to play games on phones... read more
London Stock Exchange to abandon failed Windows platform

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

1 Jul 2009 | 10:20 am

In September 2008, the London Stock Exchange collapsed because its Windows-based electronic trading platform, TradElect completely failed. Now, under new leadership, the Exchange will finally do away with its fatally flawed Windows system. read more
Microsoft's porn-and-puke ad: Is this thing for real?

Preston Gralla

1 Jul 2009 | 9:38 am

Microsoft has launched a new ad campaign for Internet Explorer that is either clever and slyly humorous, or obnoxious and snarky, depending on your point of view. But in one ad promoting IE 8's so-called porn mode, the software giant has crossed the line of bad taste --- by about three miles. I've got details and the video itself in my blog. read more
Finally! Download Firefox 3.5 from Mozilla in 3... 2... 1...

IT Blogwatch

1 Jul 2009 | 2:47 am

After many delays, you can finally download Firefox 3.5 from Mozilla.org. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers debate its speed, stability, security, and, err, private browsing mode. By Richi Jennings: your humble blogwatcher, who selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention life in plastic: it's fantastic... read more

Todd Bishop
Microsoft pulls pukey IE8 ad

2 Jul 2009 | 4:32 pm

If you haven't seen the following Microsoft ad for Internet Explorer 8, take a minute to check it out.
Judge: Microsoft's 'frivolous' actions wasted court's time

2 Jul 2009 | 2:03 pm

No, Microsoft cannot miss a deadline for filing documents. No, Microsoft cannot submit more than 140,000 marketing documents, without an index, just two months before a trial. And no, Microsoft cannot object to a plaintiff's request based on what was obviously a typo.
Microsoft on Twitter: No kidding!

2 Jul 2009 | 10:58 am

Jeez, Microsoft. Got enough Twitter accounts?
Yahoo hires executive to oversee rebranding

2 Jul 2009 | 9:00 am

Last week, I took a look at reports that Yahoo is planning a big re-branding of the company and its Web site. What that really means, no one on the outside really knows.
The video-game war: Price cuts coming?

1 Jul 2009 | 3:59 pm

Over at CNBC, writer Chris Morris takes an interesting look at the likelihood of a pricing war in the video-game console industry. Despite what Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are saying, analysts suggest the companies could cut console prices for the holiday season.

VersionTracker: Windows
GameEx 10.17 - Play games and view image and multimedia files.

3 Jul 2009 | 12:40 am

GameEx is a graphical DirectX based front-end for MAME, Zinc, Daphne, PC games, and all command line based game emulators, along with being a good Home Theatre PC solution (HTPC). It has support for LCD/VFD displays, the MCE remote control, game pads, full mouse control, wide screen displays, volume control, music play lists (OGG, MP3, WMA, M4A), has a fully functional jukebox, video player, DVD player, news reader, Internet radio tuner (ASX, PL, M3U, WMA), picture, slide show viewer, news reader (RSS 1 & 2), and should work with HotRod and X-Arcade, SlikStik/IPAC controllers. It has support…
Kaspersky Anti-Virus Definitions 02 July 2009 - Detect the malicious programs.

2 Jul 2009 | 10:49 pm

The latest virus definitions for Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal and Lite. Use this if you already have AVP installed.
George 1.0 - Create Word 2007 documents from PowerPoint 2007 files.

2 Jul 2009 | 2:23 pm

george! is an add in for PowerPoint 2007 that creates Word 2007 documents from PowerPoint files. george! sends PowerPoint slides and notes directly to Word, building documents that include a title page, acknowledgements page, table of contents and pages containing the slides and notes being pulled over from PowerPoint. The documents created are Speaker Notes and Session Handouts. Users can select from 20 different page layout and document styles for Speaker Notes and 20 different page layout and document styles for Session Handouts; include their logo on the title page and their copyright and…
NBL Invoicing 1.2.5 - Create and manage quotations, customer orders, and invoices.

2 Jul 2009 | 7:44 am

NBL Invoicing is a Windows database-driven software designed for soho, small and medium size company, to manage and monitor invoicing process, from issue quotation/offer, receive sale order, issue delivery order to issue invoice. Master Editor: Store Customer, Employee, Organization particular/contact and Product information. Issuing: Print, fax Quotation, Delivery Order, Invoice or export to PDF file.
PURL 1.0 - View number of clicks on your Web site.

2 Jul 2009 | 7:41 am

What kind of links to your website do you want to attract? Attract the gems with PURLS (Partnering by Unique Ranking and Linking System) on your site. Do you know how many clicks each of your link partners generates? This system displays the number of clicks for you to see and for everyone to see. What motivation do other quality sites have for placing your link in a strategic position so that visitors will actually see it and click on it? Provide that motivation with a unique ranking system that rewards more clicks. Do you want a system you can install and forget? Do you want it to work…

Ed Bott's Windows Expertise
Pre-order Windows 7 at a big discount

Ed Bott

26 Jun 2009 | 4:39 am

Yesterday, Microsoft announced pricing information for Windows 7. (You can read all about it in my post at ZDNet: Microsoft unveils ’screaming deals’ for Windows 7.) The big news for would-be upgraders in the United States is that you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional at a significant discount right now, and have the product shipped to you on October 22, when it’s officially released. The discount is 50% or more over the normal estimated retail price (ERP) of the two mainstream consumer editions. In the United States, you’ll be able to buy a…
Free antivirus software from Microsoft

Ed Bott

23 Jun 2009 | 11:29 am

Microsoft has now opened beta testing for its new Microsoft Security Essentials Beta. I wrote about it last week at ZDNet and continue to be favorably impressed. It works on Windows XP (SP2 or later), Windows Vista, and Windows 7. You must be in the United States, Israel, or Brazil to sign up. If you try it, leave a comment and let me know what you like/don’t like. Update: Well, that was fast. Roughly 24 hours later, all 75,000 slots in the beta group are filled. Of course, if you can get your hands on a copy of the software you can still install and use it.
Having Media Center problems with your digital TV tuner?

Ed Bott

15 Jun 2009 | 8:49 am

Given all the advance notice (and even a four-month delay) you’d think that Microsoft would have been fully prepared for the transition to all-digital broadcasts in the U.S. Wrong. I’m not the only Media Center user who suddenly lost several over-the-air HD channels last Friday. I’ve got details over at ZDNet. If you’re a Media Center user and you’ve been affected, please leave a comment there: Microsoft fumbles the digital TV transition
Stuff for sale

Ed Bott

10 Jun 2009 | 7:59 pm

I’ve got a little more technology than I need in the office right now, so I’m putting some PCs and monitors up for sale. Details here. I’ll be updating this list regularly and will probably have several notebooks and desktop PCs plus some miscellaneous peripherals available over the next few days or weeks.
Who wants a Windows 7 RC DVD?

Ed Bott

6 Jun 2009 | 8:49 am

Microsoft sent me eight packages containing official DVD copies of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. It appears to be 32-bit (x86) only. I don’t need them, but I figured some of my readers might, so I’m offering them up here. If you’ve got a low-bandwidth connection and you don’t want to go through the hassle of downloading and burning a DVD, this could be useful. Conditions: 1. U.S. addresses only. These are U.S. English copies and I don’t want to mess with foreign postage. Sorry. 2. You have to go online and get your own product key. Instructions are in the package. 3. No tech…

greg hughes - dot net
How to get a Yamaha WaveRunner with a new battery to start

2 Jul 2009 | 3:03 pm

I’m going to file this one here for my own use, and hopefully someone else will benefit in the process. I bought two new batteries for my late-90’s Yamaha WaveRunners because the old ones were dead. I got the batteries all prepped, charged them per the instructions, and went to install them in the watercraft. I hooked them up and tried to get the Wave Runners to start, but both were dead as a doornail. I checked fuses and electrical connections and all was good. Hmmm. But something seemed familiar about this, like I’d dealt with this problem once before. It really struck me that was the…
What we need next from Google Voice: MMS support and multiple SMS recipients

23 Jun 2009 | 10:42 pm

Google Voice is awesome. It's the greatest service you can't get yet today. One number for all my phones, for life, replete with text messaging capabilities and a whole slew of cool features. But, as much as I love Google Voice, I will stand on my soapbox here for a few moments to yell into the ether about a couple of glaring omissions in the current release that I think Google should address sooner rather than later: MMS message support, and support for sending a mobile message (whether SMS or MMS) to multiple recipients at the same time. MMS messages are multimedia messages and are sent…
Here comes the AT&T 3G Microcell femto launch - well, kind of...

23 Jun 2009 | 9:56 pm

The latest news via Unstrung's Michelle Donegan is that AT&T's 3G Microcell, which has been in a limited and private beta in the United States for a few months now, will be available in a sort of public beta in the coming weeks, in select (and as-yet unnamed) cities. The 3G Microcell is a device that you plus into your broadband connection at home. It has a 3G transceiver built in, and allows you to create a small cell area of coverage (hence the name "microcell" of course). I've written about it before, here and here. From the news article: According to AT&T's executive director for radio…
Why I might just skip the iPhone 3GS - for now at least

8 Jun 2009 | 9:16 pm

Today Apple announced the next rev of the iPhone, the "iPhone 3GS." It has beefed up processing power and some cool new features like a better camera, more storage, etc. Normally I'd be ultra excited about getting one as soon as its available. But this time around, I'm having a hard time getting inspired. It has nothing to do with Apple's hardware and software. In fact, the processing power boosts and other changes are very, very tempting, and in a world where all else was equal it would be a no-brainer for me to drop the early upgrade cash on the table and move on up. But the fact of the…
What's old is new again

8 Jun 2009 | 8:52 pm

After a year and a half of doing some fun security and IT consulting (along with taking some valuable personal time off), last week I returned as a contractor to work full-time at the "parent" of the company I used to work for. Fiserv acquired CheckFree last year, shortly after CheckFree acquired Corillian - which was the company I at worked for about eight years. My new responsibilities involve working on enterprise security strategy for the company as a whole. I'm excited to be back working with a bunch of people I respect and admire. Completing the full-circle path this transition…

IEBlog
IE Compatibility List Pruning

ieblog

1 Jul 2009 | 2:31 pm

Hi, I am Michael Benny, a tester on networking in Internet Explorer. During the Internet Explorer 8 development cycle I was responsible for verifying many of the pieces of Compatibility View. We have discussed earlier about how the Compatibility View feature works and the steps a site author can take to ensure the Compatibility View button never displays for IE8 users visiting your site. There is another scenario that we have not yet covered, if my site was already added by an End-user to their Compatibility View list before my site was updated, and now it’s ready, how would I get the site…
IT Professionals: Prepare for Internet Explorer 8 availability via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) in August 2009

ieblog

29 Jun 2009 | 1:01 pm

For those of you who manage your organization’s desktops using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Internet Explorer 8 will be made available via this technology starting August 25, 2009. Internet Explorer 8 will be made available as an “Update rollup” and will be applicable to all supported languages. Is my organization affected? If your organization uses WSUS and has it configured to auto-approve Update rollup packages, upon acceptance of the Internet Explorer 8 End User License Agreement (EULA) by the WSUS administrator, Internet Explorer 8 will install automatically on…
IE8 is now available on Windows XP for 5 more languages

ieblog

26 Jun 2009 | 2:27 pm

We are pleased to announce the availability of Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP for 5 additional languages today. These languages were tagged as “Coming Soon” in our blog post early June. Please visit our World wide sites page to download Internet Explorer in your preferred locale/ language. Languages newly available on Windows XP: Telugu Malayalam Punjabi (India) Kannada Bengali (India) For reference, here’s a table with the full list of IE8 availability: LANGUAGE Windows Vista Windows XP Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2003 x86 x64 x86 x64 PRO x86 x64 x86 x64 Arabic…
Declaring Security

ieblog

25 Jun 2009 | 11:45 am

Recently, a number of people have asked me what I think about Mozilla’s Content Security Policy draft spec. Back in January, I went on record as being someone who thinks that CSP is a good idea. CSP is a mechanism for declarative security, whereby a site communicates its intent and leaves it up to the user-agent to determine how to enforce it. There are a number of benefits to declarative security mechanisms: Reduced compatibility risks. Because sites must opt-in and declare what, if any, restrictions they want, new security features may be added to the user-agent with decreased…
How we used user research data to help design Compatibility View

ieblog

19 Jun 2009 | 2:00 pm

There have already been a few posts on Compatibility View in Internet Explorer 8 (here, here, here, here, here, and here), but none have gone into detail about the user research data we used to help design this feature. We collected data on Compatibility View throughout the IE8 beta releases and have made multiple decisions about its design based on our data from lab studies, field studies, instrumentation, and community feedback. What I’d like to do is go through some common questions we’ve received about the user experience of Compatibility View, and explain how user data has influenced…

istartedsomething
Kodu: first impressions and the art of simplicity

Long Zheng

30 Jun 2009 | 9:48 pm

The Kodu game by Microsoft Research is out today and I’d encourage anyone with an XBOX 360 with access to Indie Games on the XBOX Marketplace to check it out. Simply put, it’s a sandbox game that allows you to make games using a straightforward but capable visual programming language. By definition it’s not the Little Big Planet for the XBOX 360, but if that makes you want to try it, then let it be. I’ve been toying with Kodu for a couple of days now and I can’t help imaginging almost everyone will have a different experience with the game because it is so unique…
Microsoft TechEd Australia attendees to receive free HP Mini netbook with Windows 7

Long Zheng

29 Jun 2009 | 6:45 pm

If any Aussies out there wasn’t entirely sure of going to the Microsoft TechEd Australia conference on the Gold Coast this year or not, then here’s an offer to nitro-boost your thought process a little. Microsoft Australia is going to be hosting the largest hands-on Windows 7 evaluation in the world by offering each paying attendee with one of 2,300 HP Mini netbook preloaded with Windows 7 for free. From a freebie perspective, it’s difficult to imagine anything better. Whilst no person can ever have enough backpacks, drink bottles and glossy printed materials, a netbook on…
The best Windows Mobile concepts you’ve never seen

Long Zheng

29 Jun 2009 | 6:27 am

Chinese Microsoft enthusiast blog LiveSino.net today posted a bunch of links to some interesting portfolios by a handful of Chinese designers who works at the Microsoft Advanced Technology Center (ATC) Studios in Beijing. What many people don’t know is that the ATC has been largely responsible for the user experience design of Windows Mobile. This however is no longer the case as WM 6.5 was their last project, but up and until now, they’ve been busy conceptualizing the future of Windows Mobile. Most of those concepts have never surface in public before, until now. Out of all the…
Windows 7 gets “Apple style” guided tours

Long Zheng

29 Jun 2009 | 3:41 am

[See post to watch Flash video] I’ve been a big fan of the guided tour videos Apple makes available soon after a new product launch. It’s an effective way of showing off a new product without looking like an advertisement, at the same time educating potential customers about the features of the product without a wordy manual or features list. Now Microsoft has a series of guided tours for Windows 7 too. Similarly to the recent iPhone 3GS video, the Windows 7 videos too feature a charming employee who introduces and narrates the videos, in this case, Latika Kirtane. If the face…
“I’m a PC and I’m about to get a major upgrade”

Long Zheng

28 Jun 2009 | 11:30 pm

So I was over at the Microsoft Store seeing if one could pre-order a copy of Windows 7 with a fake US address and saw this banner when I checked out. I thought it was cute Windows is talking about itself in the first-person. It’s also interesting to see Microsoft ultimately classifying Windows 7 as a major upgrade where there’s been quite a bit of a debate on whether it is a major or minor release. Thoughts? Update: For those who are curious, using a fake US address did not work since it appears to check for the region of your credit card number too (after you complete purchase).

Microsoft Download Center
competence centers

competence center overview
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0: Update Rollup 5

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 5. This is a tested, cumulative set of updates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It includes performance enhancements that are packaged together for easy deployment.
Risk and Health Assessment Program for Active Directory – Scoping Tools v1.1

This download package is intended for Microsoft Premier Customers Only. This package includes all of the scoping tools necessary to prepare and qualify your environment to receive a Risk and Health Assessment Program for Active Directory.
SIAM Datasheet

This offering provides an end-to-end security solution that allows you to move toward a dynamic IT infrastructure while ensuring better security integration, manageability, and efficiency.
IT Service Mapping Datasheet

IT Service Mapping is designed to help you evaluate the availability of your enterprise-wide IT infrastructure services.

KezNews.com
Fancy a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for FREE?

2 Jul 2009 | 4:46 pm

A little bird has informed me of an official Microsoft hosted survey in which the winner(s) will receive a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate after simply filling out a 4 question survey.
Microsoft introduces Apple-like tours of Windows 7

2 Jul 2009 | 4:46 pm

Microsoft has introduced some product tours of Windows 7 in action, similar to Apple's guided tours.
Windows 7 Family Pack Leaked Details

2 Jul 2009 | 4:46 pm

Microsoft is gearing up to introduce the evolution of the Windows Vista Family Pack, but this time around with Windows 7 as “la piece de resistance.”
Windows 7 in Europe will have no upgrade options and up to double the pricing

2 Jul 2009 | 4:46 pm

Windows 7 fans in Europe are in for a major disappointment. According to ComputerWorld, European customers will have to pay up to double the price for Windows 7 compared to the American counterparts.
Vista's dead: Microsoft kills an OS and no one cares

2 Jul 2009 | 4:46 pm

For anyone still burning a torch for Windows Vista, its time is rapidly approaching. Buy now or forever hold your peace.

Within Windows
UxStyle Core Beta bits now available

Rafael

19 Jun 2009 | 9:50 pm

In March, I announced that my unsigned theme patch-less vision was being realized. Today, I’m happy to let everyone know beta bits of UxStyle Core are now available for public testing! UxStyle Core does not currently have a theme manager or even a UI. UxStyle Core is exactly what it sounds like – the absolutely bare minimum (core) needed to enable third-party theme usage. Nothing more, nothing less. Later in the beta, we’ll push out a “bundle”, containing both the core software and a theme manager developed by our close partners. Install UxStyle Core. Download some themes. Give them…
OEMs, partners can’t brand Windows 7 Starter either

Rafael

17 Jun 2009 | 7:35 pm

Back in March, I wrote about a sick-joke of a limitation in Windows 7 Starter edition preventing users from changing the wallpaper. The limitation was imposed by the use of a technical licensing policy named ChangeDesktopBackground-Enabled and re-enforced by a SHA-256 hash of the static image, to prevent img0.jpg hot-swapping. Given Windows 7 Starter’s applicability to the rising netbook market, it was presumed that Starter would branded by OEMs and/or mobile carriers (like Verizon) like any other Windows SKU. This is no longer a valid presumption. Here’s the official scoop, from…
Tweak your Windows 7 Logon UI “button set”

Rafael

13 Jun 2009 | 2:56 pm

Back in March, I wrote about how you could easily customize the background of a Windows 7 logon screen. One problem you may have run into is that lighter wallpapers affect button and text readability. To overcome this issue, Microsoft added the ability to change the active “button set” to a couple of alternatives. Comparison of Windows 7 Logon UI “Button Sets” (from left to right: default, set one, set two) To change your button set, simply jump to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI and add a DWORD value named ButtonSet. The supported integer…
UAC, UAC, go away, come again some other day

Rafael

10 Jun 2009 | 4:46 pm

I was reading Mark Russinovich’s latest UAC article and Long Zheng’s latest scribblings and… developed quite the headache. Honestly, I’m tired of trying to sort out what UAC really is and don’t care anymore. UAC has become this gigantic undocumented blob of an idea that is explained (differently) on-demand every single time, to fit some marketing agenda du jour, and I’m sick of it. Mark jumps up and down about how UAC isn’t a security boundary and how we’re stupid for thinking such, yet Microsoft’s own sites pitch otherwise. Whatever, guys. Here’s my million dollar…
Inside the Touch Pack for Windows 7: Blackboard

Rafael

1 Jun 2009 | 7:41 pm

Third to be touched upon is Microsoft Blackboard, a pseudo-physics game (reminiscent of The Incredible Machine and featuring graphics gaspingly similar to Crayon Physics) in which you use gestures to rotate and resize various objects to get balloons to explode from a light bulb’s hot touch. Like Rebound this game was developed by our friends at Fuel Games. As a huge bonus to those that can’t pass the first level, I’ve included the solve below. [See post to watch Flash video] Digging through the technical innards of the Touch Pack games is a rather tedious and fruitless process… but…

Microsoft Security Bulletins
MS09-020 - Important: Vulnerabilities in Internet Information Services (IIS) Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (970483)

9 Jun 2009 | 1:00 am

Bulletin Severity Rating:Important - This security update resolves one publicly disclosed vulnerability and one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). The vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker sent a specially crafted HTTP request to a Web site that requires authentication. These vulnerabilities allow an attacker to bypass the IIS configuration that specifies which type of authentication is allowed, but not the file system-based access control list (ACL) check that verifies whether a file is accessible by a given user.
MS09-026 - Important: Vulnerability in RPC Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (970238)

9 Jun 2009 | 1:00 am

Bulletin Severity Rating:Important - This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in the Windows remote procedure call (RPC) facility where the RPC Marshalling Engine does not update its internal state appropriately. The vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code and take complete control of an affected system. Supported editions of Microsoft Windows are not delivered with any RPC servers or clients that are subject to exploitation of this vulnerability. In a default configuration, users could not be attacked by exploitation of this vulnerability.
MS09-022 - Critical: Vulnerabilities in Windows Print Spooler Could Allow Remote Code Execution (961501)

9 Jun 2009 | 1:00 am

Bulletin Severity Rating:Critical - This security update resolves three privately reported vulnerabilities in Windows Print Spooler. The most severe vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an affected server received a specially crafted RPC request. Firewall best practices and standard default firewall configurations can help protect networks from attacks that originate outside the enterprise perimeter. Best practices recommend that systems that are connected to the Internet have a minimal number of ports exposed.
MS09-025 - Important: Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (968537)

9 Jun 2009 | 1:00 am

Bulletin Severity Rating:Important - This security update resolves two publicly disclosed and two privately reported vulnerabilities in the Windows kernel that could allow elevation of privilege. An attacker who successfully exploited any of these vulnerabilities could execute arbitrary code and take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit these vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities could not…
MS09-023 - Moderate: Vulnerability in Windows Search Could Allow Information Disclosure (963093)

9 Jun 2009 | 1:00 am

Bulletin Severity Rating:Moderate - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Windows Search. The vulnerability could allow information disclosure if a user performs a search that returns a specially crafted file as the first result or if the user previews a specially crafted file from the search results. By default, the Windows Search component is not installed on Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It is an optional component available for download. Windows Search installed on supported editions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 is not affected by…

MSDN Blogs
Good cryptography is built to last.

reedme

2 Jul 2009 | 3:29 pm

Dr. Smithline apparently lost some sleep over this cipher, but he cracked it. The overall calculations necessary to solve the puzzle were fewer than 100,000, which Dr. Smithline says would be "tedious in the 19th century, but doable." Two Centuries On, a Cryptologist Cracks a Presidential Code - WSJ.com Interesting technique. Good job!
Update Rollup 5

Kevin Williamson

2 Jul 2009 | 3:28 pm

We released Update Rollup 5 today. This is a cumulative update rollup that includes all fixes from previous rollups, plus a few new items that will continue to improve stability in the Outlook client. For CRM Online Users this will apply to any of the following applications you may be using: CRM Client for Outlook Data Migration Manager E-Mail Router It will not apply, of course, to the CRM Server because we manage all of that for you. You can download Update Rollup 5 from…
Workshop de Service Software Factory

Roberto Erazo

2 Jul 2009 | 3:23 pm

Los invito al Workshop de Service Software Factory donde veremos cómo implementar los conceptos de WCF a través de las buenas prácticas condensadas en esta herramienta. Aprenderemos cómo hacer la implementación de servicios basándonos en las prácticas y recomendaciones del grupo de Patterns and Practices, incluyendo modelo de los contratos de mensaje, operación y fallas. Veremos también la implementación de host y de cliente con esta poderosa herramienta. MARTES 7 DE JULIO, 6:30PM Entra en www.microsoftactiva.com, ahí encontrarás todos los beneficios para desarrolladores…
Codemasons’ Guild Jumpstart Series – Live Meeting 1 today

wmOz

2 Jul 2009 | 3:13 pm

Don’t forget the first in our series of Live Meetings on 6.5, Marketplace & App Dev for WinMo is happening today – 1pm. Today’s Live Meeting will provide what’s new in 6.5 and outline what Marketplace is. If you haven’t registered yet, head to www.codemasons.com.au to register. Looking forward to talking to you all later on today. DonK Technorati Tags: windows Mobile 6.5,marketplace,codemasons guild
Who Won The Tag Slaps Design Contest?

elemenager

2 Jul 2009 | 2:44 pm

To see who won the Tag Slaps Design Contest watch the video below.

Computerworld Windows News
Vista Ultimate users fume, rant over Windows 7 deals

2 Jul 2009 | 10:05 am

Consumers running Windows Vista Ultimate, who have blasted Microsoft for breaking promises to deliver a host of extras, are now knocking the company's upgrade plans and discount pricing for Windows 7.
Reports: Microsoft will sell Windows 7 'Family Pack'

2 Jul 2009 | 9:02 am

Microsoft will reportedly offer a multi-license "family pack" for Windows 7, according to details in the end-user licensing agreement (EULA) of a recently-leaked build.
Windows 7 Upgrades: Why 25-Free Deal Stinks

1 Jul 2009 | 12:39 pm

On one hand, Microsoft may seem generous for allowing companies to upgrade 25 purchased machines to Windows 7 for free between now and the Oct. 22 planned ship date for the new OS. After all, that's five times the amount of free licenses that it offered companies for Vista upgrades three years ago.
FAQ: How much will Windows 7 cost you?

1 Jul 2009 | 12:26 pm

You'd think that with just three retail editions of Windows 7 -- Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate -- navigating Microsoft's OS price list would be easy. It's not. That's why we've done the navigating for you.
Microsoft to push IE8 at businesses next month

1 Jul 2009 | 9:25 am

Microsoft will begin pushing Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) to enterprises next month via Windows Server Update Services, the company said this week.

Within Windows
UxStyle Core Beta bits now available

Rafael

19 Jun 2009 | 9:50 pm

In March, I announced that my unsigned theme patch-less vision was being realized. Today, I’m happy to let everyone know beta bits of UxStyle Core are now available for public testing! UxStyle Core does not currently have a theme manager or even a UI. UxStyle Core is exactly what it sounds like – the absolutely bare minimum (core) needed to enable third-party theme usage. Nothing more, nothing less. Later in the beta, we’ll push out a “bundle”, containing both the core software and a theme manager developed by our close partners. Install UxStyle Core. Download some themes. Give them…
OEMs, partners can’t brand Windows 7 Starter either

Rafael

17 Jun 2009 | 7:35 pm

Back in March, I wrote about a sick-joke of a limitation in Windows 7 Starter edition preventing users from changing the wallpaper. The limitation was imposed by the use of a technical licensing policy named ChangeDesktopBackground-Enabled and re-enforced by a SHA-256 hash of the static image, to prevent img0.jpg hot-swapping. Given Windows 7 Starter’s applicability to the rising netbook market, it was presumed that Starter would branded by OEMs and/or mobile carriers (like Verizon) like any other Windows SKU. This is no longer a valid presumption. Here’s the official scoop, from…
Tweak your Windows 7 Logon UI “button set”

Rafael

13 Jun 2009 | 2:56 pm

Back in March, I wrote about how you could easily customize the background of a Windows 7 logon screen. One problem you may have run into is that lighter wallpapers affect button and text readability. To overcome this issue, Microsoft added the ability to change the active “button set” to a couple of alternatives. Comparison of Windows 7 Logon UI “Button Sets” (from left to right: default, set one, set two) To change your button set, simply jump to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI and add a DWORD value named ButtonSet. The supported integer…
UAC, UAC, go away, come again some other day

Rafael

10 Jun 2009 | 4:46 pm

I was reading Mark Russinovich’s latest UAC article and Long Zheng’s latest scribblings and… developed quite the headache. Honestly, I’m tired of trying to sort out what UAC really is and don’t care anymore. UAC has become this gigantic undocumented blob of an idea that is explained (differently) on-demand every single time, to fit some marketing agenda du jour, and I’m sick of it. Mark jumps up and down about how UAC isn’t a security boundary and how we’re stupid for thinking such, yet Microsoft’s own sites pitch otherwise. Whatever, guys. Here’s my million dollar…
Inside the Touch Pack for Windows 7: Blackboard

Rafael

1 Jun 2009 | 7:41 pm

Third to be touched upon is Microsoft Blackboard, a pseudo-physics game (reminiscent of The Incredible Machine and featuring graphics gaspingly similar to Crayon Physics) in which you use gestures to rotate and resize various objects to get balloons to explode from a light bulb’s hot touch. Like Rebound this game was developed by our friends at Fuel Games. As a huge bonus to those that can’t pass the first level, I’ve included the solve below. [See post to watch Flash video] Digging through the technical innards of the Touch Pack games is a rather tedious and fruitless process… but…

TechNet Blogs
MVP ConfigMgr

PL System Center

2 Jul 2009 | 4:06 pm

Jest mi niezmiernie miło poinformować, że Microsoft przyznał mi tytuł MVP w zakresie System Center Configuration Manager. Nie będę się rozpisywać, napisze tylko krótko, że warto było poświęcić rok pracy aby przeczytać ten akapit maila: “Dear Jacek Doktor, Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2009 Microsoft® MVP Award! “ Michale chylę czoła, a jednak miałeś rację !! Autor: Jacek Doktor
Licensing Certification offer is extended

PartnerTraining

2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 pm

Looking to attain the License Delivery specialization? Lucky for you, the offer that gives you 50% off one of the two Licensing exams below has been extended to September 30th. Exam 70-671 : Designing and Providing Microsoft Volume Licensing Solutions to Small and Medium Organizations Exam 70-672 : Designing and Providing Microsoft Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations Learn about the value of becoming an MCP for designing and providing Volume Licensing solutions.
Tanjay (LG-Nortel IP8540 or Polycom CX700) phone and other end user questions

markga

2 Jul 2009 | 3:15 pm

These questions came from a school district in California replacing their entire legacy voicemail and PBX system with 2,000+ seats of OCS 2007 R2 voice. They are in pilot phase right now. LG-Nortel IP8540 or Polycom CX700 (Tanjay) questions: Can you dial 911 with a locked Tanjay phone? – Yes, you can dial any number you just can’t see contacts on the LCD. Do you have to log in every morning with password and AD account...(read more)
An update from FIRST and what we can learn from the Nijō Castle

mmpc

2 Jul 2009 | 2:30 pm

Hi, Ziv Mador again. This week I’m attending the FIRST conference in Kyoto, Japan along with four of my Microsoft colleagues: Steve Adegbite, Andrew Cushman, Jonathan Ness and Dan Wolff. Today Jonathan, Steve and I gave a presentation about Microsoft response to the attacks which exploited a 0-day vulnerability back in the fall of 2008. Microsoft released a security update MS08-067 that fixed that vulnerability. Given the wormable nature of that vulnerability, we had strongly encouraged customers to install the security update, for example in the following blog post. In the days,…
Consejos de Seguridad para operar la Banca Electrónica

SEGURIDAD DIGITAL MEXICO

2 Jul 2009 | 2:03 pm

Nuestros amigos de Banamex nos dan algunos consejos para reducir los riesgos de seguridad en Banca Electrónica: 1. No compartas tus contraseñas ni las claves de tu NetKey Banamex. 2. No envíes información confidencial por mail, teléfono, mensajes o fax. 3. No des click en ligas adjuntas a mails. Si un mail no proviene de fuentes conocidas, elimínalo. 4. Protege tu PC descargando desde BancaNet o BancaNet Empresarial nuestra herramienta Anti-Intrusos. 5. Evita realizar operaciones financieras desde computadoras públicas.

Microsoft Research News and Highlights
A Conversation with Sr. Tony Hoare

29 Jun 2009 | 4:33 am

Sir Tony Hoare answers questions about his background, his relationship with Microsoft Research, his interest in "Unifying Theories of Programming," and numerous other topics.
Microsoft Research Shows Off 13 New Tech Tools

29 Jun 2009 | 4:28 am

Hundreds of representatives from businesses and government agencies attended the Microsoft Research D.C. TechFair on June 24, viewing a collection of new technologies.
When Is a Browser Not a Browser?

28 Jun 2009 | 6:00 pm

The Gazelle project breaks new ground with a browser operating system designed to support Web applications as first-class citizens and proves that it’s feasible to construct a browser as a multi-principal operating system.
Innovation in D.C. Limelight

23 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pm

Innovation was on inimitable display June 24 in Washington, D.C., as Microsoft Research hosted D.C. TechFair 2009.
Why It’s Essential to Invest in Basic Research During Hard Times

23 Jun 2009 | 7:00 pm

Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research, was in Washington, D.C., June 2 to give policymakers a glimpse of some of the exciting projects at Microsoft Research. Read his blog post.

LiveSide
A Bit Of Twitter In Bing

Sunshine

2 Jul 2009 | 3:15 am

The Bing team is bringing a bit of Twitter to Bing search results. Not indexing all of Twitter at this time… just a small set of prominent and prolific Twitterers (a few thousand) to start. This includes Tweets from folks from Microsoft’s own search technology and business sphere like Danny Sullivan or Kara Swisher as well as those from spheres of more general consumer appeal like Al Gore or Ryan Seacrest. The choice who to add was based primarily on follower count and volume of tweets. Did your blog (or you personally) get in? Only way to find out is to try! How? Of course we want to…
Microsoft ends Windows Live Butterfly beta testers program

Kip Kniskern

1 Jul 2009 | 10:23 pm

As reported by Mary Jo Foley, the Windows Live Butterfly program, a group of beta testers who signed on to test whatever was thrown their way, is sputtering to a close. From a statement issued by Microsoft on the subject: “The Butterfly group has been involved in beta testing MSN and Windows Live products for a number of years. Rather than continue the program as something only focused on beta testing, we’re offering the group a variety of options to engage in the broader Windows Live community, including the opportunity to join the MVP (Most Valuable Professional)…
Bing Homepage Photos Coming To More Markets + Photo Contest!

Sunshine

1 Jul 2009 | 12:13 pm

One of the favorite features of Bing for many users is the daily image that appears on the homepage each day. Whilst not yet available in every country, this will change! According to this blogpost, international markets will also get a rich image version of the homepage. Starting next month, a number of those markets (including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, and the UK) will begin customizing the images to suit their unique audience, as well as adding their own hotspots! Hotspots? Yes those little squares you see when you hover over the homepage image, they tell you more about the picture.
Microsoft India - Windows Live Planet

Sunshine

1 Jul 2009 | 7:50 am

One of our readers, nikhil_jain, pointed out Windows Live Planet. Curious me just had to investigate. Windows live Planet is a social network from Microsoft India. It will help you find people with similar interests as you. You can also “Populate Your Planet” as they call it by importing contacts from the social networks that are connected to Windows Live (Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Hi5 and Tagged), just as you can on your Windows Live Profile. The site also makes use of the Messenger Web Bar, so you can chat to your windows Live contacts without leaving the site. This social…
Get All Your Email In One Place!

Sunshine

30 Jun 2009 | 2:42 pm

Hotmail users in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Germany were already enjoying this feature: the possibility to add email accounts to their Windows Live Hotmail account, so they can read all their mail at one place. Starting today users in the US, Canada, and Brazil can add any POP-enabled email account to their Hotmail! Setting this up is easy: (1) Click Add an e-mail account on the left-hand side of the Hotmail inbox. (2) Type the email address and password for your other account, and click Next. (3) Choose where you want the messages to go, and click Save. Note:…

Microsoft PressPass, Information for Journalists - Press Releases
Microsoft Introduces New Ways to Help Teachers Personalize Learning at the National Educational Computing Conference 2009

28 Jun 2009 | 9:01 pm

From Windows 7 to free teacher resources, and a collaboration between Microsoft’s Innovative Teachers Network and the Smithsonian Institution, Microsoft helps educators effectively engage students.
Microsoft Outlines Revenue Recognition for the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program

25 Jun 2009 | 6:15 am

Company will defer a portion of revenue from OEM and retail sales, similar to Windows Vista technology guarantee program in 2006-7.
Microsoft Hohm Helps Consumers Save Money and Energy

24 Jun 2009 | 9:01 am

New online application enables consumers to better understand home energy usage.
Microsoft Announces 2009 Partner of the Year Awards Finalists and Winners

24 Jun 2009 | 6:00 am

Awards recognize partners’ innovative use of Microsoft technology to exceed customer expectations and solve business problems.
Christian Bale Is the Only Thing Hotter Than the Sun This Summer, According to MSN Survey

24 Jun 2009 | 1:00 am

More than 50 percent of women are pining for a summer fling with the Hollywood bad boy.

Windows Vista Team Blog
Remaining Windows Vista SP2 Languages Released to Windows Update

Brandon LeBlanc

30 Jun 2009 | 9:34 pm

Back on May 26th, we announced Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 hit the RTW milestone. The first wave of languages (English, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese) was made available on Windows Update at that time. Today, we are releasing the remaining languages for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to Windows Update. For more information, including languages, on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 click here. If you have Windows Update configured to download updates automatically, Windows Update will notify you when Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 is…
Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 RTW

Brandon LeBlanc

26 May 2009 | 4:26 pm

On April 28th, we announced that Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (Service Pack 2) SP2 had RTM’d. Today, we are pleased to announce the Release to Web (RTW) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2. Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2, a combined service pack for both operating systems encapsulated in a single installer, will simplify deployment, management, and support for IT Professionals. It includes support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards, as well as updates since SP1. For specific information on what’s included in SP2, visit the notable…
Windows Vista SP2 RTM + Windows Vista SP1 Blocker Tool Removed

Brandon LeBlanc

28 Apr 2009 | 4:49 pm

Today we are announcing the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. SP2 represents the latest step in Microsoft’s commitment to continuous improvement. It includes all updates that have been delivered since SP1, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards. As we have mentioned before, here are some of the key benefits of Windows Vista SP2: Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology…
Try the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 RC Today!

Brandon LeBlanc

4 Mar 2009 | 10:16 pm

Last week we announced the Release Candidate (RC) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2. We initially made it available for TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Today, we’re making it available to anyone interested in testing SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 prior to final release. You can download the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 RC from our Customer Preview Program site or install through Windows Update using our Windows Update Experience Kit. If you have the SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Beta installed, you will need to…
Announcing the Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 RC

Brandon LeBlanc

25 Feb 2009 | 11:24 am

This week we are announcing that Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 has hit an important milestone in development: Release Candidate (RC). Starting today, the RC of SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 will be available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers to test prior to final release. In the very near future, we will be making the RC broadly available for anyone to download and test. You can expect another blog post from me when that happens. SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 include updates that have been delivered since the release of SP1, as…

Microsoft Windows News
Layered Technologies Makes Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Available

2 Jul 2009 | 1:40 pm

Layered Technologies, a provider of on-demand IT infrastructure, has announced that Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is now available for rapid server deployments via Astro, Layered Tech's proprietary automated Web hosting platform.A In addition to Windows Server 2008, Layered Tech offers the broadest range of high-performance, secure Linux and Unix ...
How to Use 64-bit Windows Vista to Solve Your Vista Problems

2 Jul 2009 | 9:03 am

There are many people who despise using Windows Vista because of the high specifications that you need to run Windows Vista comfortably.
Findley Designs updates iPod Access with iPhone OS 3.0 and 3Gs support

2 Jul 2009 | 4:39 am

Findley Designs, Inc. announces the immediate availability of iPod Access 4.3 for Mac OSX and Windows Vista/XP. iPod Access is the leading iPod/iPhone music and video transfer application for the Mac and Windows.
Microsoft to push IE8 at businesses next month

2 Jul 2009 | 12:14 am

Microsoft will begin pushing Internet Explorer 8 to enterprises next month, the company announced this week.
The death of the netbook

1 Jul 2009 | 7:54 pm

I'm traveling this week and noted that the guy traveling next to me, who owns his own company, is using an Acer netbook.

Microsoft Windows SDK Blog
New Win32 Samples in Windows SDK for Windows 7: Networking and Related Services

wsdkblog@microsoft.com

2 Jul 2009 | 11:14 am

This is the second in a series of posts that describe new and updated samples in the Windows 7 SDK. An earlier post described new and updated Multimedia samples. The following table lists samples that pertain to networking and related services, and are new to Windows 7 or updated to support Windows 7, including the Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), EAP, HTTP, IPHelp, Mobile Broadband, Network Access Protection (NAP), Distributed Routing, Quality of Service (QOS), Remote Access Server (RAS), Remote Procedure Call (RPC),…
New Win32 Samples in Windows SDK for Windows 7: Multimedia

wsdkblog@microsoft.com

1 Jul 2009 | 4:05 pm

The upcoming release of the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 contains a comprehensive set of Win32 samples illustrating Windows 7 technologies. Over 1,200 samples were changed since the release of the Windows SDK for Windows 7 RC release. Many “new to Win 7” samples were added, simplified, or extended, and many older samples were updated to support Windows 7 as well as older operating systems. This is the first in a series of posts that describe new and updated samples in the Windows 7 SDK. (See also: New Win32 Samples in Windows SDK for Windows 7:…
Installing Win 7 SDK (RC) and VS2008 RTM can disable VC++ configuration platform choices

wsdkblog@microsoft.com

15 Jun 2009 | 3:47 pm

If the Windows SDK for Windows 7 SDK (RC release) and Visual Studio 2008 RTM are installed on a machine running an x64 version of Windows, the following issue may occur. The Itanium and x64 listings are missing from the New Platform drop-down lists of the New Project Platform and New Solution Platform dialogs of the Visual Studio IDE. (This issue will be fixed in the RTM release of the Windows SDK for Windows 7.) This issue will occur regardless of the order of installation – Windows 7 SDK (RC) and then Visual Studio 2008 RTM, or Visual Studio 2008 RTM and then the Windows 7 SDK (RC)…
Windows API Code Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework

wsdkblog@microsoft.com

12 Jun 2009 | 3:56 pm

Excited about Windows 7 and would like to use new features from your managed application, but do not have a convenient way to do that? Always wanted to use many of the useful features from Windows Vista or older versions of Windows but could not do so because they were not available via .NET Framework? There is help available now for some of your needs. Perhaps, you are already aware of Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework and have tried the version 0.85 or 0.80. We have just released the version 0.90 of this Code Pack. For people reading about it for the first time, Windows…
Win SDK for Server 2008 plus VS2008 causes double X64 platform entries in VC directories

wsdkblog@microsoft.com

12 Jun 2009 | 1:57 pm

Issue: Installing the Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 after Visual Studio 2008 Standard on a computer with an X64 operating system corrupts VC directories, causing a double X64 entry Scenario: You probably have this issue if your computer setup matches the setup described below: 1. Visual Studio 2008 Standard is installed on an X64 OS. To determine what version of Visual Studio you are using, launch Visual Studio, choose Help, About Visual Studio. 2. The Windows SDK for Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 is installed (this is v6.1). 3. The VC++ Directories Platform Entries are…

Neil Hutson
An Introduction to Manual Testing with Visual Studio 2010

neilhut

12 Jun 2009 | 11:03 am

Brian in the team has just released the next 10-4 show on Channel 9 which is all about some new features to help manual testing of applications. Despite all of the advances in automated testing tools and frameworks, manual testing still a key part of the testing effort. This episode shows the new capabilities in Visual Studio Team System 2010 for supporting manual testing. You will see how these capabilities will not only help manual testers do their jobs more effectively, but this approach also helps developers by providing detailed diagnostics information about tests when they fail.
Installing Visual Studio 2010

neilhut

3 Jun 2009 | 8:15 am

Brian walks you through downloading and installing Visual Studio 2010 Team Suite Beta 1 and Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server Beta 1 as part of the regular Visual Studio 10-4 show ( amazing this is already episode #20. This video references several important URL's. You can Download instructions for all files in this video through the following link.
Windows Azure SDK Update and New Storage Features

neilhut

28 May 2009 | 12:35 pm

The Windows Azure team have announced a refresh to the Windows Azure SDK and Visual Studio Tools for Windows Azure together with some significant updates to Windows Azure Storage. The updated SDK includes improved Visual Studio integration, support for development on Windows 7RC, Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 SP2 and addresses some bug fixes. The new Windows Azure Storage features include new capabilities that allow applications to perform atomic transactions across multiple entities and to copy blobs. Essentially they include entity group transaction support for Windows Azure…
Windows Vista / Windows Server 2008 SP2 Released

neilhut

27 May 2009 | 6:50 am

You can now download the latest Service Pack (SP2) for Vista and Windows Server. The Service Pack, which is a consolidation of a number of small fixes into one larger downloadable, was uploaded to the Download Center on Tuesday. As before, there is only one service pack which supports both OS’s to make it easier for Administrators to deploy the image around the business. Once the service pack becomes part of the automatic updates in “Microsoft Update”, business customers who want more time to prepare for the implementation of SP2 can use the same blocking tool that Microsoft provided…
Released: Windows Azure Management Tool (MMC)

neilhut

15 May 2009 | 3:40 pm

Ryan in the team has just release the Windows Azure MMC. This tool was created to manage storage accounts in Windows Azure and makes it simple to help debug, create, and explore your storage solutions. Features Manage multiple storage accounts (makes it easy to manage all your accounts) Easily switch between remote and local storage services Manage your blobs Create containers and manage permissions Upload files or even entire folders Read metadata or preview the blob contents Manage your queues Create new queues Monitor queues Read (peek) messages Post new messages to the…

NT Compatible
Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate Changes

SuperSite for Windows published an update on Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate
Windows Server 2008 Foundation Preview

Paul Thurrott posted a preview on Windows Server 2008 Foundation, anew low-cost version of Windows Server
Windows Server 2008 Service Pack Details Leaked

Tech ARP posted details on Windows Server 2008 Service Pack
Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta

Microsoft has released a public beta of Windows Server 2008 R2
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 to support up to 256 CPU cores

InfoWorld reports that Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 will support up to 256 CPU cores

NT Compatible
Windows Vista SP1 vs Vista SP2 Release Candidate Performance

TweakTown compared the performance of Windows Vista SP1 vs Vista SP2 Release Candidate
Windows Vista Service Pack 2's Latest Release Schedule

Tech ARP posted some news on the release schedule of Windows Vista Service Pack 2
Microsoft repeats IE8 lock-in warning for XP users with SP3

InfoWorld posted a news story that Microsoft warned users of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) again that they may not be able to uninstall either the service pack or Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).
Microsoft delays Vista SP2, says report

InfoWorld posted a news story that Microsoft has delayed Windows Vista SP2
Microsoft grants Windows XP a reprieve

Some PC makers now have an extra four months to sell Windows XP

NT Compatible
Windows Server 2003 R2 VHD 1.1

Microsoft has updated the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition VHD
Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB951072)

Microsoft has released an update for Windows Server 2003 to resolve an issue that is caused by revised daylight saving time laws
Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB955417)

Microsoft has released an update for Windows Server 2003 to resolve an issue in PStore
KMS 1.1 for Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Later

Microsoft has released Key Management Service 1.1 (x86) for Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Later
Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 Manager

Microsoft has released Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 Manager

NT Compatible
A look at SSD performance in Windows Vista

The Tech Report takes a look at the SSD performance in Windows Vista
Windows Server 2008 Service pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - All Language

Microsoft has released Windows Server 2008 Service pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - All Language Standalone DVD ISO
Vista SP1 vs SP2

TestFreaks compared Vista SP1 against SP2
Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2

Microsoft has released Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2
How to Enable DVD Library in Media Center for Windows Vista

Computing on Demand has posted a new article, How to Enable DVD Library in Media Center for Windows Vista

SuperSite Blog : Vista
Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 now available in all languages

pthurrott

1 Jul 2009 | 7:22 am

No announcement, but Microsoft has quietly released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 in all languages ... 32-bit download 64-bit download DVD ISO standalone image Thanks very much to Emmanuel P. for the tip!
Don't forget: Today's the day for Morro

pthurrott

23 Jun 2009 | 7:10 am

If you're looking to snag the initial beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials from the source, here are a few things to be aware of: US, Israel, and Brazil only (China in 30 days) Public downloads will be capped at 75,000 Download will be made available around 9 am PDT/12 pm EDT Requires Windows XP (32-bit only), Windows Vista or Windows 7 For more info, please check out my overview of the public beta. Please, no emails or posts about the torrent versions. Obviously, it's out there. Obviously, downloading a security product via torrent is ... well, dumb.
Early Morro shots leak

pthurrott

16 Jun 2009 | 11:36 am

Neowin has posted a couple of shots of an older Morro build. Again, I can't really comment except to note that this build is already out of date.
Using Upgrade media to perform a clean install of Windows 7

pthurrott

15 Jun 2009 | 6:28 am

I've gotten an unusual number of questions lately about whether it will be possible to use an Upgrade version of Windows 7 to perform a clean install, as is possible with Windows Vista (a process I validated with both the RTM and SP1 versions of Windows Vista ... I will do so with SP2 as well, once that media becomes available). I suspect it will still work. But there's no real answer to this question yet because, well, there's no retail Windows 7 media to test. In order to see whether this works, I will need a copy of some Upgrade version of Windows 7. And Microsoft doesn't…
Microsoft will soon unveil free virus software

pthurrott

10 Jun 2009 | 12:17 pm

So this puts me in an awkward spot. I can't really discuss this too much further at the moment, but since Reuters dropped the ball… * Microsoft getting ready to unveil free anti-virus service * Software maker says will soon put beta version on website * Company employees testing it internally Microsoft Corp is getting ready to unveil a long-anticipated free anti-virus service for PCs that will compete with products sold by Symantec Corp and McAfee Inc. A Microsoft spokesman said on Wednesday that the world's biggest software maker is now testing an early version of the product with…

SearchWinIT
IT wish list for SharePoint 2010: Keep it simple

30 Jun 2009 | 11:59 am

IT pros hope Microsoft focuses on bread-and-butter admin/management instead of feature creep in SharePoint 2010.
Using SharePoint for ECM requires careful prep

22 Jun 2009 | 7:33 am

How does Microsoft's SharePoint rate as a primary enterprise content management system? It's got the features if you are willing and able to build it carefully.
Dumb things IT consultants do

17 Jun 2009 | 8:37 am

When you set yourself up as an IT consultant, your career is in your hands. Learn what kinds of strategies to avoid and how to professionally handle customers and situations.
What Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 can do for your business

15 Jun 2009 | 9:37 am

Some killer enterprise features in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will solve some of your problems. Here's one expert's take on the best of what's coming in these two new operating systems.
Get more from your support contract and reduce IT costs

4 Jun 2009 | 6:18 am

Your support contract may be costing you more than downtime. Learn how to maximize ROI from your support contracts and reduce IT costs.

Windows Experience Blog
Internet Explorer 8 helps you save time with Accelerators

Brandon LeBlanc

30 Jun 2009 | 11:47 am

There’s been a great deal of more talk lately about browser performance. You may have seen some previous discussion about page load performance as you saw here in a video and whitepaper in March. Page load ensures that you get to where you want to go quickly. But page load time differences actually measure about the length it takes for a person to blink their eye once, making a win for any browser pretty inconsequential as far as time savings go. However, Internet Explorer 8 today offers a feature that saves you time and clicks and lets you get things done more quickly: Accelerators.
Important Update Regarding Windows Live Movie Maker Beta

Brandon LeBlanc

29 Jun 2009 | 10:14 am

Starting July 1st, 2009, when you launch Windows Live Movie Maker Beta you will be prompted to implement a software update which will extend the beta. You can download the software update here to continue to use the software without any interruption. If you choose not to install the software update, you will be unable to continue to use the Windows Live Movie Maker Beta. The folks on the Windows Live Movie Maker Team are hard at work on “V1” which should be out sometime this year. For more information on the future of Windows Live Movie Maker, see this excellent blog post by Lead Program…
Lenovo Announces New T-Series ThinkPad Laptop – The T400s

Brandon LeBlanc

23 Jun 2009 | 2:14 pm

Lenovo announced today a new T-Series ThinkPad Laptop called the T400s. Lenovo’s T-Series laptops cater to business customers looking for a powerful and thin laptop. Lenovo put a lot of effort in designing this laptop to be light, durable, robust, and powerful – key elements to a great business laptop for the mobile worker. I’ve had the chance to play with a T400s here in my office for the last few days and it has been a great experience so far. The T400s will ship with the following specs: Choices of Intel 2.53 GHz Core2Duo processors and graphics Choices of up to 128GB SSD or 250GB…
Top 6 Things to Consider Before Buying a Small Notebook PC

Brandon LeBlanc

17 Jun 2009 | 1:24 pm

With small notebook PCs (sometimes called netbook PCs) now accounting for about 10% of PC sales worldwide (up to 20% of PC sales in some geographies according to leading retail sales analysts), I’m starting to get more and more questions about what a buyer should look into as he or she is shopping for a small notebook PC. Ultimately, it depends on how you need to use your small notebook PC. While a small percentage of people are choosing to use these devices as their only computer, most are finding them better suited as a “companion PC” to a traditional desktop or notebook (for example,…
Find The Windows Blog on Facebook!

Brandon LeBlanc

16 Jun 2009 | 9:02 pm

You can now find The Windows Blog on Facebook and become a fan! Just click on the button below to go to our Facebook Page. Remember, you can also follow The Windows Blog on Twitter as well.

wannabegeek.org
MSN Web Messenger dies on June 30, 2009

29 Jun 2009 | 5:34 am

Microsoft is preparing to retire MSN Web Messenger on June 30, 2009. The software giant is asking its users to use the Web Messenger that is integrated in Windows Live People and Windows Live Hotmail. Microsoft has finally decided to phase out MSN Web Messenger; the service will be officially retired on June 30, 2009 (this Tuesday!). MSN Web Messenger launched back in August 2004. The replacement (pictured on the side) is the Messenger service that is integrated into Windows Live Hotmail. Screenshots of the new service first began to appear in January and slowly trickled out to all users over…
Windows 7: Cheaper Than Vista (and Every Other Windows OS)

27 Jun 2009 | 6:09 pm

It turns out, even if you don't weigh in all the slightly confusing Windows 7 upgrade deals, Microsoft's latest OS is its least expensive to date, and a real bargain compared to Vista. Looking at full (non-upgrade) pricing of consumer Windows editions really tells the story: When you compare sticker prices, you can see that most editions hovered around the $200 mark, with a rare spike found in the $260 Vista Home Premium. When you adjust for inflation, that fairly regular pricing becomes a downward cascade—except for that Vista price hike. The pro versions of Windows, starting with NT,…
Windows 7 News updates

24 Jun 2009 | 5:49 am

Warning: Windows 7 beta bi-hourly shutdowns start next week The Windows 7 beta will begin bi-hourly shutdowns on July 1, 2009 and will expire on August 1, 2009. This is a reminder post for all the Windows 7 users still on the beta (build 7000) that was leaked in December 2008 and officially given out to the public in January 2009. Bi-hourly shutdowns of this build will begin on July 1, 2009. This means that the user will be told to install a released version of Windows and their PC will shut down automatically every two hours. On August 1, 2009 if you are still on the Windows 7 beta, your…
Microsoft Security Essentials: What wannabe testers need to know

18 Jun 2009 | 7:20 pm

Microsoft finally broke its silence about its Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) — a k a “Morro” — June 18, after refusing for months to provide any real details on its planned free consumer security replacement to Windows Live OneCare. Alan Packer, General Manager of Microsoft’s Anti-Malware team chatted with me today about MSE. Based on our conversation, here’s what wannabe MSE testers and customers need to know: MSE provides antivirus and anti-malware protection for Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (including Beta or Release Candidate)…
Windows 7 Starter

30 May 2009 | 6:18 pm

There has been a lot of talk recently about Windows 7 Starter, so I thought I’d dive a little deeper into what it means to have this edition of Windows 7 running on a small notebook PC (a.k.a. a netbook) Today, the Starter edition of Windows is designed for entry level PCs and available only in certain regions. We first introduced a “Starter edition” with Windows XP, and did again with Windows Vista. Starter comes with limitations, such as being able to run only 3 concurrent applications on a PC at a time (this excludes background processes such as anti-virus applications,…

Windows - RSS Feeds
Microsoft Pulls Off the Wings of Butterfly

2 Jul 2009 | 8:30 am

Microsoft has ended its Windows Live Butterfly program, which provided a forum for IT pros to play with the betas of the newest Microsoft products before their public release. For those users, Microsoft is offering a number of new options, including MVP program membership and access to future beta testing. - Microsoft is officially ending its Windows Live Butterfly program, which let a select group of testers poke and prod at the newest Microsoft products in beta before public release. The company announced the shutdown of the program, previously known as MSN Butterfly, on July 1. quot;Rather…
Why Is Microsoft Windows 7 Pricing So Confusing?

1 Jul 2009 | 9:17 am

Microsoft has announced the pricing scheme for the various versions of its new Windows 7 operating system pricing. And once again, Microsoft is insisting on confusing some folks. At the same time, Apple offers a relatively easy pricing plan for its upcoming Snow Leopard operating system. - Microsoft is at it again. The software giant announced more details about its launch of Windows 7, which is slated for release on Oct. 22. And in true Microsoft fashion, it announced a pricing scheme that could easily confuse consumers who are going to the store to pick up a copy of the new op...
Microsoft Office Could Face Competition from Cisco

30 Jun 2009 | 12:05 pm

Cisco is considering offering Web-based alternatives to Microsoft's Office software as the networking giant expands on the Internet. - BOSTON (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc is considering offering Web-based alternatives to Microsoft Corp's popular Office software as the networking giant expands on the Internet. Cisco Senior Vice President Doug Dennerline said on Tuesday his company may develop a service that would allow busine...
Microsoft Windows 7 on USB: Two Reasons Why

30 Jun 2009 | 9:34 am

Microsoft is still refusing to comment on whether it will offer Windows 7 Starter or another stripped-down version of its upcoming operating system on a USB drive for small notebooks or netbooks. However, offering the Windows 7 operating system on a USB memory stick could provide Microsoft with certain advantages as it tries to maintain its lead in operating system market share for the ultraportable devices. - Microsoft has been sticking to a strict quot;No comment quot; on rumors that a version of the upcoming Windows 7 operating system will be available on a USB memory stick. However,…
Microsoft Could Sell Razorfish, Report Says

29 Jun 2009 | 9:28 am

Microsoft may sell Razorfish, its online ad agency, and use Morgan Stanley to broker a deal, according to a report by the Financial Times. Microsoft originally purchased Razorfish as part of aQuantive in 2007 for $6 billion in a bid to expand its online advertising platform, an area in which the Windows maker has heavy competition from Google. - Microsoft will be selling Razorfish, its online ad agency, and using Morgan Stanley to find a suitable buyer, according to a June 29 report by the Financial Times. When contacted by eWEEK, a Microsoft spokesperson had no comment about the matter. The…

Windows Networking Admin Blog
NETGEAR Launches the Industry’s Highest-Density Network Storage Solution for SMBs

Windows Networking Admin

23 Jun 2009 | 6:26 am

SAN JOSE, Calif. — June 22, 2009 — NETGEAR®, Inc. (NASDAQGM: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically innovative, branded networking solutions, today announced the addition of a new, high-density network storage system to its award-winning family of ReadyNAS® products for Small- to Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). more...
Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for June 2009

Windows Networking Admin

7 Jun 2009 | 5:45 pm

Version: 1.0 This bulletin summary lists security bulletins released for June 2009. With the release of the bulletins for June 2009, this bulletin summary replaces the bulletin advance notification originally issued June 4, 2009. more...
HP Advances Scale-out Computing with Breakthrough Data Center Solution

Windows Networking Admin

7 Jun 2009 | 3:19 pm

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 10, 2009 - HP today launched the HP Extreme Scale-Out (ExSO) portfolio designed to deliver a new magnitude of cost and resource savings for businesses involved in Web 2.0, cloud and high-performance computing. Companies with "scale-out" business models such as these, which operate with thousands of servers, are pushing the limits of current technology solutions. more...
IBM Helps Companies Gain Control of Their Information With Solid State Flash Technology

Windows Networking Admin

22 May 2009 | 12:08 am

SOMERS, N.Y. - 21 May 2009: IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced that it is delivering new solid-state offerings across its hardware platforms using new smart data management software to enable customers to dramatically improve response times on Solid State Drives (SSDs), while also helping to reduce costs. more...
HP Delivers Up to 400 Percent Improvement in XML Messaging Performance for SAP NetWeaver PI

Windows Networking Admin

12 May 2009 | 6:16 am

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 12, 2009 - HP today announced a first-of-its-kind server-based solution designed to dramatically speed business transactions within the SAP NetWeaver® Process Integration (SAP NetWeaver PI) technology. By speeding the mapping of XML messages sized from 7 to 15 megabytes, the new HP XML Accelerator can be a key element of success for retailers, manufacturers and other enterprises in high-transaction industries. more...

Windows Server Division WebLog
NuStar Energy: IT for growth

WindowsServer

24 Jun 2009 | 11:39 am

Yesterday the marketing team published a case study about NuStar Energy, a crude-oil transportation and storage company that has grown rapidly through acquisitions and recently joined the Fortune 500. NuStar relies on Windows Server, System Center and Forefront solutions to integrate new people and systems in days. Their IT department can respond to new business needs in hours instead of weeks with consistently configured, secured servers and a set of easy-to-use tools for managing them. Video below. The written case study is available here.NuStar Energy and Microsoft:…
Guest Blog: How Information Technology (IT) Can Still Invest in Innovation Today

WindowsServer

23 Jun 2009 | 10:30 am

Hi- I’m Joe Homnick, principal owner of Homnick Systems and a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Learning Solutions, located in Boca Raton, Florida. I am a Microsoft Regional Director Ambassador and trainer for the Microsoft Metro program, which targets early adopters of Microsoft technologies for the last five years. I believe that as the world moves out of this recession, extending productivity through IT will be a major means for allowing business enterprises to succeed in a more competitive market and innovation should not be sacrificed. The results from…
What is the state of IT? Find out tomorrow with Microsoft’s Bob Kelly

WindowsServer

22 Jun 2009 | 2:29 pm

Please join us tomorrow, June 23rd from 10:30am – 11:00am (PDT) for a teleconference with Bob Kelly, corporate VP of Infrastructure Server Marketing. Feel free to submit questions for the QA session following the presentation over the phone, or via Twitter any time leading up to or during the teleconference by tweeting with the hashtag, #qs4ms. If you are interested in attending, please REGISTER NOW.
Server & Tools Business Exec discusses state of IT, answers your questions on June 23

WindowsServer

18 Jun 2009 | 8:33 am

Are you interested in hearing about how other IT pros are reacting to economic conditions and where they’re investing? Do you have questions about Microsoft’s efforts to help IT be more cost effective and deliver new solutions to business? Is there a connection between virtualization and cloud computing? What is Microsoft doing in enterprise security? On Tuesday, June 23rd from 10:30am – 11:00am (PDT), join a teleconference with Bob Kelly, corporate VP of Infrastructure Server Marketing. Bob will talk about the state of IT within the context of results from a new Harris…
Not running Windows Server 2008 SP2 with Hyper-V? Well, you should be!

WindowsServer

17 Jun 2009 | 3:15 pm

Hi, Isaac Roybal here. It’s been over two weeks since the release of Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and we’re seeing great adoption. From a Hyper-V point of view, we’re excited because the final Hyper-V release is an integrated feature in SP2 making it easier and faster to deploy Hyper-V. If you recall, when Windows Server 2008 was released, Hyper-V Beta was included. This meant to get the final Hyper-V release, you needed to go to Windows Update, download and go through the update process. With Windows Server 2008 SP2, Hyper-V final bits are included so there’s…

Windows Virtualization Team Blog
Beware The VMware Core Tax & More

WSV_GUY

28 Jun 2009 | 11:18 pm

Virtualization Nation, We'd like to again offer congratulations to AMD on the release of their new 6-core Opteron ("Istanbul") processors. As Bryon mentioned, Hyper-V R2 goes hand in hand with these new processors with support for AMD's Rapid Virtualization Indexing, advanced power savings with Core Parking and, of course, more cores means compute resources to run more virtual machines. In fact, two factors that have fueled virtualization have been the rise of 64-bit (x64) computing and the rapid growth of multi-core processors. Bring On The Cores Even an entry level laptop these days is…
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 - Quick Storage Migration

WSV_GUY

25 Jun 2009 | 6:30 am

Hi, I'm Edwin Yuen, a Senior Technical Product Manager at Microsoft's Integrated Virtualization team. In today's blog, I'd like to discuss another type of migration being added to System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Quick Storage Migration. Quick Storage Migration (QSM) In Brief As you may have seen, we recently released the Release Candidate for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2. One of the most anticipated features of SCVMM 2008 R2 is Quick Storage Migration (QSM) which enables the migration of the storage of VM from one location to another. For example, suppose you…
Guest Blog: The Role of IT in an Economic Downturn: Spend Smarter, Not Smaller

porourke

23 Jun 2009 | 2:30 am

Hello everyone, Richard Campbell here from Campbell & Associates based in Vancouver, BC. I am not only the host of RunAs Radio (www.runasradio.com) but also a Microsoft Regional Director and MVP. It’s fun being an IT consultant during boom times – my clients are only focused on getting more customers, expanding territories and getting new products to market. There’s no time to worry about costs, it’s time to spend and grow. Speed to market is key and building in lots of capacity so that you can keep serving your new markets is essential. Looks like that fun is…
Guest post: Hyper-V gives every Windows shop a free pass into “innovation”

porourke

22 Jun 2009 | 11:39 am

Hi, my name is Matt Lavallee and I am the Director of Technology at MLS Property Information Network, Inc., based in Massachusetts. Although you may not recognize the company name, we are one of the 700+ multiple listing service (MLS) companies that provide data warehousing for the Real Estate industry in the U.S. As my company took the early step to virtualizing our environment on Hyper-V last year, Microsoft asked me to share my opinion on the results of its recent survey on the state of IT infrastructure investments, conducted by Harris Interactive. One point that stands out on…
Server & Tools Business Exec to discuss state of IT, answer your questions on June 23

porourke

17 Jun 2009 | 9:27 pm

Do you have questions about Microsoft’s efforts to deliver new server infra (Windows Server, virt, System Center, Forefront security) to customers and partners? What is Microsoft doing about enterprise security? Are you interested in hearing how other IT pros are reacting to economic conditions and where they’re investing? On Tuesday, June 23rd from 10:30am – 11:00am (PDT), you're invited to join a teleconference with Bob Kelly, corporate VP of Infrastructure Server Marketing. Bob will talk about the state of IT within the context of results from a new…

The Windows Blog
Developing for the Windows 7 Taskbar – Jump into Jump Lists – Part 3

Yochay Kiriaty

2 Jul 2009 | 1:59 pm

So far, you have seen how you can opt into the Windows 7 Taskbar Jump List experience by creating a Jump List for your application (in the Developing for the Windows 7 Taskbar – Jump into Jump Lists – Part 2 post.) You have also seen the Windows 7 default support for listing “Recent” or “Frequent” destinations as well as how to create your own custom categories. In this post, we will explore more of the Jump List features and discover how easy it is to add Tasks to your application's Jump List. User tasks are customized tasks that get their own Tasks category. As a developer, you…
What’s new at Talking About Windows.com

Stephen L Rose

2 Jul 2009 | 9:18 am

If you haven visited Talking About Windows.com in a while, you are missing a lot! You missed Microsoft Engineers like Ian Burgess talking about the engineering design of DirectAccess and BitLocker and Mario Garzia discussing application compatibility and how Windows 7 works with legacy applications. You can interact with IT pros like Darren Baker, the National Director of Infrastructure Solutions for Sogeti USA talk about how virtualization and imaging has made implementing Windows 7 in his organization easier. Talking About Windows.com is your chance to hear what Microsoft Engineers and IT…
SCCManager 2007 Service Pack 2 Beta aka ConfigMgr07 SP2

Stephen L Rose

1 Jul 2009 | 5:42 pm

Today I am featuring guest Blogger Jeremy Chapman from the Windows Product Team. To see more of Jeremy, view our latest VRT on Application Compatibility. To learn more, click here. Below is his interview with Jeff Wettlaufer from the System Center Team. I recently interviewed fellow product manager, long-time friend and fellow “automator” of operating system deployment tasks, Jeff Wettlaufer, from the System Center team. He explained the new features in the recently released System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Beta (let’s just call it “ConfigMgr07 SP2” for…
Remaining Windows Vista SP2 Languages Released to Windows Update

Brandon LeBlanc

30 Jun 2009 | 9:34 pm

Back on May 26th, we announced Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 hit the RTW milestone. The first wave of languages (English, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese) was made available on Windows Update at that time. Today, we are releasing the remaining languages for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to Windows Update. For more information, including languages, on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 click here. If you have Windows Update configured to download updates automatically, Windows Update will notify you when Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 is…
The Springboard Application Compatibility VRT rebroadcast is live!

Stephen L Rose

30 Jun 2009 | 6:04 pm

Last week we posted the promo teaser here on the Springboard Blog for the Virtual Roundtable on Application Compatibility. As of today, the rebroadcast is live and ready for you to view. If you missed the live broadcast, here’s your chance to hear Aaron Margosis, Paul Schnell; Darren Baker (also watch for Darren’s interview on TalkingAboutWindows next week), Greg Lambert Michael Sciacqua, Gov Maharaj, Celine Allee, Jeremy Chapman, and of course Mark Russinovich discuss the issues in getting your Windows XP and Windows Vista applications to work with Windows 7 quickly and…

WinInfo
WinInfo Short Takes: 4th of July Special Edition

2 Jul 2009 | 5:00 am

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news, including a shortened work week thanks to the 4th of July, expensive Windows 7 pricing, Bing's modest monthly gains, IE 8 heading to work, Steve Jobs back at Apple, and so much more
Mozilla Releases Firefox 3.5

1 Jul 2009 | 5:00 am

Mozilla yesterday unleashed its latest web browser, Firefox 3.5, adding new functionality, performance improvements, support for leading-edge web standards, and improved customization options. Firefox is already the number two browser worldwide, behind
EU, Smartphone Makers Agree on Universal Charging Standard

30 Jun 2009 | 5:00 am

The European Union and the world's leading smartphone makers announced on Monday that the companies would voluntarily implement a universal charging standard, micro USB, across all their devices.
Too Many Questions Remain in Wake of Windows 7 Pricing Announcement

29 Jun 2009 | 5:00 am

Typically, when Microsoft announces something as important as, say, the retail pricing structure of Windows 7, the announcement is designed to answer questions, not cause them. But in the case of this particular announcement, there are more questions
WinInfo Short Takes: Week of June 29

26 Jun 2009 | 5:00 am

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news, including the Windows 7 pre-order frenzy, Windows 7 thumb drive sales possibilities, Outlook 2010 HTML email silliness, Ballmer vs. traditional media, Microsoft Hohm, and so much more

WinInsider.com
Report: Microsoft to Sell Razorfish ad agency

29 Jun 2009 | 9:00 am

Microsoft is planning to sell Razorfish, its interactive ad agency, according to a report in Monday's Financial Times.Razorfish fell under Microsoft's wing in 2007 when Microsoft bought aQuantive, a digital marketing services company, for about US$6 billion in order to grow its Internet advertising business and compete better with Google.
Ballmer: Advertising is all about content

26 Jun 2009 | 11:39 pm

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer presented an overview of his vision for the future of advertising to a gathering of global advertising professionals meeting on the French Riviera.His message laid out Microsoft's vision of advertising in the future -- and it's not just about moving media from paper or television to online.
Microsoft bets the farm on Bing

26 Jun 2009 | 11:38 pm

Microsoft has essentially said it's betting the farm on Internet search and Bing. But it may be that it's real target isn't Google, but instead Yahoo.The idea that Microsoft could catch Google in search is a pipe dream, even if Microsoft has said that it's willing to spend up to $11 billion on search in the next five years.
Don't get tricked by fake Microsoft update e-mails

25 Jun 2009 | 2:50 pm

I do not know about you, but for the past couple of days my inbox has received several e-mails claiming to be from Microsoft while touting links to updates for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. :>) Naturally, I clicked on those links right-away and installed me some updates.
Microsoft extends Dynamics service pack support

25 Jun 2009 | 2:49 pm

Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM users now have more flexibility in deploying the vendor's service pack updates, which are periodically released to address bug fixes and make feature improvements.This week, Microsoft said it will now support prior service packs for 24 months after a new one is released, or until the end of the application's support lifecycle, which includes mainstream support for five years and extended support for another five years.

Win XP Fix.com - Win XP Fix
CursorXP Updated, a Freeware program that takes advantage of the new visual effects features. Free File Download.

Free File Download. CursorXP: Updated, a Freeware program that takes advantage of the new visual effects features.
Skype updated, will enable you to make free calls anywhere. Free File Download.

Free File Download. Skype updated, will enable you to make free calls anywhere.
AutoReboot whenever Windows XP experiences BSOD - Blue Screen of Death. Windows Xp Tips.

Windows Xp Tips. AutoReboot whenever Windows XP experiences BSOD Blue Screen of Death.
FCleaner a freeware all-in-one Windows cleaning and optimization tool. Free File Download.

Free File Download. FCleaner a freeware all-in-one Windows cleaning and optimization tool.
Net Detective Plus Gives you an edge by enabling you to check on neighbors, colleagues, teachers, doctors and more.

Net Detective Plus, Gives you an edge by enabling you to check on neighbors, colleagues, teachers, doctors and more.

NT Compatible
Windows Home Server - Now available on MSDN

Windows Home Server is now available on MSDN
Microsoft Windows Home Server Power Pack 2 on deck

Mary-Jo Foley posted a news story that Microsoft is ready to roll out the second minor update to its Windows Home Server release
Windows Home Server Toolkit v1.1

Microsoft has released Windows Home Server Toolkit v1.1
November 2008 Windows Update for Windows Home Server

The Windows Home Server team has released a minor software update for Windows Home Server
Microsoft Cuts Windows Home Server Price

Beginning this Saturday, November 1, the System Builder SKU for Windows Home Server will retail at $100-110 - down from the current price range of around $150-160," Microsoft announced on Friday.

Neowin.net / All
Neowin's top 5 gadgets for summer

Elliot Harrison

2 Jul 2009 | 3:27 pm

UK readers of Neowin.net will have noticed that we seem to be at the end of a heatwave, but there is no guarantee it will stop there. I spent today on the beach and though readers may be elsewhere with the sunny weather still to come, do pay attention! Summer is always an exciting time for gadget lovers. It's the time of year when our favourite companies release their next surge of technology for us to cast our sweaty eyes upon. The following is our list of the very best gadgets the tech world has to offer this summer. Before we get properly started I'd like to make something clear.
Microsoft pulls 'sickening' Internet Explorer 8 ads

Sam Symons

2 Jul 2009 | 2:14 pm

Last week, Microsoft released some ads for Internet Explorer 8 that were intended to provide a "tongue-in-cheek look" at some of the new features of the browser. Unfortunately for them, there were those that weren't quite so happy watching a woman vomit, and as the Wall Street Journal reports, they've been removed. The title for the ad was "O.M.G.I.G.P.", or for those not quite down with acronyms, "Oh My God I'm Going To Puke". It featured a man happily sharing his laptop with his partner; to her horror, he was viewing some generic revolting website (yes, whilst sitting at the…
Family Pack deal coming to Windows 7 Home Premium

Sam Symons

2 Jul 2009 | 1:49 pm

The pre-ordering deal for Windows 7 has been going on for a little while now, but there was still a few whispers flying around that there would be a family pack type deal coming for the upcoming operating system. This is all but confirmed now, as Kristan Kenney's Digital Life blog has revealed fine print in the latest build that reveals some details about such an offer. In the Home Premium version of Windows 7, the Microsoft Software License Terms contain additional information about said deal, and how it would cover up to three computers in any one household. It states, "b. Family Pack.
TweetCraft: Twitter meets the World of Warcraft

Mitchell LeBlanc

2 Jul 2009 | 12:34 pm

Twitter serves as a communication platform in our day to day lives, but with a new addon for the World of Warcraft called TweetCraft, it does the same for your character. TweetCraft can: Send and recieve Tweets in-game Upload in-game screenshots AutoTweet when you log on, or reach important goals The messages are handled via an in-game window: Twitter, since launch, has permeated several different areas of our lives and emerged as a social networking giant. This functionality now extends to a virtual world of over 11 million players. To many, such an extension will seem laughable as Twitter…
Flickr adds Twitter integration

Mitchell LeBlanc

2 Jul 2009 | 8:08 am

Flickr has launched Twitter integration. The Flickr Blog reports that Twitter functionality has been added to the photo management tool. You can upload photos to both Flickr and Twitter, or use the functionality to tweet about an already existing photograph. The system will automatically shorten the url using a "flic.kr" URL. Getting started is simple enough and instructions can be found here. The Flickr Blog has also provided us with a sample image of a tweeted photo: This news must come as disconcerting to TwitPic, a website which allows the sharing of photos on Twitter. Read full story...

Active Win
Windows 7 Home Premium to include family pack licensing?

Kristankenney.com So, I was digging around in a recently leaked build of Windows 7 Home Premium and ran across a very interesting clause in the Microsoft Software License Terms which hints towards the possibility that Microsoft are going to be offering a family pack licensing plan which covers up to three computers in your household if you purchase a special “family pack” of Windows 7 Home Premium.
Microsoft and DOD Defining Windows 7 Security

As users await the release of the next version of the Windows operating system, Microsoft is working with the government to establish secure system settings that are expected to become the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) for Windows 7. <br><br> Earlier this month, Microsoft released the alpha version of its security guide for the new operating system. At the same time, it is working with the Defense Department to harmonize the setting with the FDCC. Ideally, the two components will constitute a single standard for secure configuration when Microsoft releases the…
And Windows 7's killer feature is ...

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: I keep hearing about how Windows 7 is going to be just the CPR that the ailing PC industry needs to get itself out of the hole it’s in. It seems that folks, both consumer and enterprise, are going to be flocking to their favorite OEMs and throwing cash at them in exchange for brand-spanking-new PCs running Windows 7.
Microsoft TechEd Australia attendees to receive free HP Mini netbook with Windows 7

If any Aussies out there wasn’t entirely sure of going to the Microsoft TechEd Australia conference on the Gold Coast this year or not, then here’s an offer to nitro-boost your thought process a little. Microsoft Australia is going to be hosting the largest hands-on Windows 7 evaluation in the world by offering each paying attendee with one of 2,300 HP Mini netbook preloaded with Windows 7 for free.
Hotmail: Get all your e-mail in one place!

We are happy to announce that Hotmail customers in the US, Canada, and Brazil can now add other e-mail accounts to Hotmail!* No need to sign into multiple services to check all your messages on the web. Instead, you can see any POP-enabled e-mail account (including Yahoo! Mail (Plus), AOL Mail, and Gmail) right from your Hotmail account. You can put all of your messages together in your inbox or each e-mail account in its own folder, your choice.

Digital Inspiration - Technology Blog
Taking Full Screenshots of Web Pages Was Never This Easy!

Amit Agarwal

30 Jun 2009 | 10:33 am

Do you want to capture a full screenshot of a web page without installing any software or browser extensions? Well, here’s a simple trick. Open the web page that you want to capture, go to the address bar of the browser and type "aviary.com/" just before the http:// part of the URL. For instance, if your web address is something like http://labnol.org, the new URL will become aviary.com/http://labnol.org - hit Enter and there you have an editable screenshot image of that page. Or add this bookmarklet to the bookmarks bar and you can even save yourself from typing aviary.com…
Stop Ignoring your Less Active Twitter Friends

Amit Agarwal

30 Jun 2009 | 9:16 am

The Twitter website and most desktop clients of Twitter present status updates of people you follow in a "River of News" format. That is, the most recent updates of your Twitter friends are always displayed at the top and these get pushed down as new messages arrive. Why do friends get ignored on Twitter? You are comfortable reading news in the river style but it present one major problem. Say you have two friends on Twitter - Mr. Active who sends a new tweet every 5 minutes and Mr. Busy who rarely tweets. Now in the current format, you are most likely to miss all updates of Mr.
Want to See a Photo You’ve Taken on the Bing Homepage?

Amit Agarwal

30 Jun 2009 | 4:18 am

The homepage of bing.com features a new background image everyday - you can use the arrow buttons in the lower right corner to view images of the last 7 days or check this archive that includes every single image that has been showcased on Bing since its public launch on June 1. While a majority of these photographs have been licensed from stock photography websites like Getty Images or Fotostock, Microsoft has also featured images (e.g., Patagonia) that were shot by their employees. And now here’s an opportunity to get one of your own images featured on the official Bing homepage for a…
Import Google Images into your Office Documents

Amit Agarwal

30 Jun 2009 | 2:51 am

The Office Online website is an excellent resource to find high-resolution stock photographs, clip arts, GIF animations and other graphics that you can use in your PowerPoint presentations or Word Documents for free without having to worry about any licensing issues. You can also search through this huge collection of images using the Insert -> Clip Art command available inside all Microsoft Office programs. These images can then be downloaded to the local hard-drive so you can quickly use them in other documents as well without having to search the Office Online site again. The Microsoft…
A New Member In Our Family

Amit Agarwal

26 Jun 2009 | 5:26 am

We have a new member in our family - a baby boy! It’s such a joyous moment and blogging / twittering will stay light for a few days. Thanks for all your good wishes. A New Member In Our Family - Published at Digital Inspiration (RSS)

Channel 9
TweetCraft - A World of Warcraft Twitter Client

Dan Fernandez

2 Jul 2009 | 7:43 am

A gratuitious trailer for TweetCraft, a World of Warcraft Twitter client. Twitter is open source and includes: - A Windows client written in C# and Windows Presentation Foundation - A Warcraft AddOn written in FrameXML and Lua using AddOn Studio for World of Warcraft
Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle Template

Larry Larsen

2 Jul 2009 | 3:45 am

The Microsoft SDL Process Template is a new process template for Visual Studio Team System intended to ease adoption of the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle. The template integrates the SDL directly into your software development environment, provides auditable security requirements and status, and demonstrates security return on investment. I stopped by the Microsoft Security group and spoke with Jeremy Dallman about the SDL, and what it means for developers. The Process Template is free and can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/SDL/.
Expert to Expert: Harry Shum - General Purpose Search, Decision Engines and Bing

Charles

30 Jun 2009 | 8:44 pm

Harry Shum is the VP of Engineering for Bing, Microsoft's latest search engine offering (well, it's more than a search engine - it's a so-called Decision Engine, but what does that mean, precisely?). Harry has a long history in the world of complex algorithm design and implementation. Before joining the Bing team (at Bill Gates' request), Harry was a reseacher in MSR specializing in computer vision, which is an algorithm instensive discipline rife with machine learning principles, statistics and in some sense artificial "intelligence" in terms of autonomous pattern recognition capability. At…
Visual Studio Learning Pack for you to download

Max

30 Jun 2009 | 2:46 pm

What started out as an initiative to help middle school students learn about programming concepts has ballooned out into a great tool for all beginner programmers. It’s the Visual Studio Learning pack… and it’s ready for you to download. This pack allows you to interactively step through concepts like sorting where you can visually represent the steps taken to algorithmically perform a sort. Pretty cool stuff. My favorite part was the ability to have complicated arrays automatically constructed for me with the proper syntax with just a few clicks. This is a great teaching tool for…
Absolute Software - Theft Recovery, Data Protection, Secure Asset Tracking

Charles

30 Jun 2009 | 9:26 am

Absolute Software, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is the industry leader in Computer Theft Recovery, Data Protection, and Secure Asset Tracking solutions. The company provides individuals and organizations of all types and sizes with solutions to manage regulatory compliance, data protection, and theft recovery. The organization has 300 employees, including a team of 50 former law enforcement experts and private investigators. Absolute Software is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a launch partner for Windows 7

Channel 10
Deep Zoom into MJ’s Life in Pictures

sarahintampa

2 Jul 2009 | 9:31 am

MSN has posted a cool Silverlight application that lets you deep zoom into an image of Michael Jackson only to find that the original image actually consists of thousands of photos of the King of Pop taken throughout his life. Using your mouse’s scroll wheel, you can zoom in and out of the images and you can drag your mouse from left to right and top to bottom to move the images around and see new ones. Man, there are a lot of pictures! They have everything from Michael Jackson as a kid when he was a member of the Jackson 5 all the way up to recent photos featuring his…uhhh…more…
Bing Gets All Twittery

sarahintampa

2 Jul 2009 | 9:31 am

I have to admit, I’m personally thrilled to hear this latest bit of Bing news: the new search engine is now incorporating actual tweets into their search results. No longer do I have to find some Greasemonkey-powered workaround or rely on an IE add-on to see what’s being said on Twitter – it’s just baked into the search results themselves. However, Bing isn’t indexing all of Twitter at this time. Instead, they’ve identified some of the “more prominent and prolific Twitterers” - only a few thousand people to begin with, actually. When you search for one of these folks in…
Follow @Microsoft on Twitter (...and All the Rest!)

sarahintampa

2 Jul 2009 | 8:13 am

Microsoft already has a strong Twitter presence with numerous teams maintaining accounts on the microblogging social network, but until now there wasn’t an overall account for the company as a whole. On Wednesday, though, that changed as @microsoft went live on Twitter. The account is maintained by four members of the corporate communications team and it currently looks like more of a feed of Microsoft-related news than an attempt to read and respond to incoming @ replies. (Although that hasn’t stopped a slew of folks from tweeting to @Microsoft). Instead, if you’re looking for a little…
TweetCraft: Tweet From World of Warcraft

Larry

2 Jul 2009 | 7:10 am

Channel 9's own Dan Fernandez has come up with one of the coolest hacks I've seen recently. TweetCraft is a Twitter client that runs within World of Warcraft. It allows you to tweet, read tweets, automatically tweet your acheivements, and even post screenshots through TwitPic. The app can be downloaded by going to http://c9.ms/TweetCraft/. You can also read the FAQ here, the Getting Started Guide, or read how TweetCraft works. Dan even had a video made, which you can watch here (left).
More Details on Gazelle, Microsoft Research's "Browser OS"

sarahintampa

1 Jul 2009 | 1:50 pm

In February of this year, Microsoft Research released a paper (PDF) about a new web browser they’re calling “Gazelle,” which is really less of a browser and more like an operating system. According to the paper, what makes Gazelle different than any other browsers out there today is how it’s able to exclusively control and mange the system’s resources. Now, in a new article on Microsoft Research’s site, we get a little more insight about what exactly Gazelle can do. One of the features of Gazelle is its ability to manage devices. Unlike with other browsers, where device management…

Hardware 2.0
Apple issues "common sense" heat advice for iPhone 3G/3G S

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

2 Jul 2009 | 12:27 pm

Do iPhone 3G and 3G S handsets overheat during regular use? According to unconfirmed reports iPhone 3G S handsets can get get hot enough that they turn pink. I've not see one first hand so it's hard to confirm the reports, but it seems that the reports/rumors have prompted Apple to issue an advisory.
Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for Jul/Aug 09

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

2 Jul 2009 | 12:22 am

Welcome to the updated and revamped Hardware 2.0 "Very Best Kit List" for Jul/Aug 09. Here I've put together a list of the best high-end and mid-range and budget components currently available. So if you're thinking of buying, building or even upgrading a PC, this list is a must-read for you!
4.7 million Firefox 3.5 downloads ... and counting!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

1 Jul 2009 | 8:33 am

It's not been 24 hours yet, and Mozilla's Firefox 3.5 web browser has been downloaded over 4.7 million times.
Testing Firefox 3.5 ... mind your add-ons!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

30 Jun 2009 | 12:52 pm

Now that Mozilla as finally released Firefox 3.5, I know that many of you will be eager to take it for a spin ... but be careful as upgrading might mean you end up with fewer features, not more.
[Sponsored]

30 Jun 2009 | 12:52 pm

Ed Bott's Microsoft Report
Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium

Ed Bott

1 Jul 2009 | 9:40 pm

Every time the subject of OS licensing comes up, Apple's defenders point to the OS X Family Pack as one of the biggest differentiators between their favorite OS and Windows. But it looks like that difference is likely to go away when Windows 7 is released. I've got the text of a near-final license agreement for Windows 7 Home Premium as proof.
Do you need more than Windows 7 Home Premium?

Ed Bott

29 Jun 2009 | 1:45 pm

One of the most frequent questions I get these days comes from people who've been running the Windows 7 beta and Release Candidate and are planning to upgrade to the final version when it's available on October 22. "Which edition of Windows 7 do I need?" Most of the feature charts I've seen are dry and dense and overcomplicated. Here's my super-simple version, which also includes OS X.
Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How much do upgrades really cost?

Ed Bott

26 Jun 2009 | 5:00 am

In one of its brilliant "I'm a Mac" ads recently, Apple lampooned the complexity of Windows with a dizzying display of fine print that eventually filled up the screen and covered up both characters. Maybe Microsoft needs to take the same treatment with Apple's much-publicized $29 upgrade offer for Snow Leopard. The price sounds great until you look at the fine print. I did, and discovered that the majority of Mac owners don't qualify.
Microsoft to Europe: No Windows 7 upgrades for you!

Ed Bott

25 Jun 2009 | 6:02 am

If you live in Europe and you're contemplating an upgrade to Windows 7 later this year, I've got good news and bad news for you. The good news is you're going to get a better price than your counterparts in the rest of the world. The bad news is that Microsoft plans to completely disable upgrade capabilities in Windows 7E. I've got all the unpleasant details.
Microsoft unveils 'screaming deals' for Windows 7

Ed Bott

25 Jun 2009 | 6:00 am

Earlier this year, Microsoft promised aggressive offers to win over would-be Windows 7 buyers. Today, the company made it official, touting a "screaming deal" for anyone willing to order a Windows 7 upgrade more than three months before the software officially goes on sale. Is a 50% discount enough to get you to buy now?

Computing Tech
Linux Other Text Editors

2 Jul 2009 | 2:54 am

Dozens of text editors are available for use with Linux. Here are a few that might be in your Linux distribution, which you can try out if you find vi to be too taxing.Nano. A popular, streamlined text editor that is used with many bootable Linuxes and other limited-space Linux environments. For example, nano is often available to edit text files during a Linux install process.Gedit. The GNOME text editor that runs in the GUI.Jed. This screen-oriented editor was made for programmers. Using colors, jed can highlight code you create so you can easily read the code and spot syntax errors. Use…
Linux File Systems Versus Windows-Based File Systems

1 Jul 2009 | 7:54 am

Although similar in many ways, the Linux file system has some striking differences from file systems used in MS-DOS and Windows operating systems. Here are a few:In MS-DOS and Windows file systems, drive letters represent different storage devices (for example, A: is a floppy drive and C: is a hard disk). In Linux, all storage devices are fit into the file system hierarchy. So, the fact that all of /usr may be on a separate hard disk or that /mnt/rem1 is a file system from another computer is invisible to the user.Slashes, rather than backslashes, are used to separate directory names in…
Ubuuntu Ctrl+Alt+Delete

28 Jun 2009 | 8:06 am

Trapping Ctrl+Alt+DeleteDifferent versions of Linux either have the Ctrl+Alt+Delete (CAD) key sequence enabled or disabled. In Ubuntu Dapper Drake, this key sequence is enabled, allowing a quick shutdown and reboot. However, the Gnome desktop intercepts CAD. To reboot, you need to switch to a text window (Ctrl+Alt+F1) and then press CAD.Since the Gnome desktop intercepts CAD, you can remap this key sequence to run a different command. For example, to bring up the Gnome System Monitor, you can use:gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_10 \'Delete'gconftool-2 -t…
Ubuntu Xfce4 Desktop

13 Jun 2009 | 6:57 am

The Xfce4 desktop is a lightweight desktop designed to run fast without the kind of overhead required for full-featured desktops like KDE and GNOME. You can think of it as a window manager with desktop functionality. It includes its own file manger and panel, but the emphasis is on modularity and simplicity. Like GNOME, Xfce4 is based on GTK+ GUI tools. The desktop consists of a collection of modules such as the Thunar file manager, Xfce4 panel, and the xfwm4 window manager. Keeping with its focus on simplicity, the Xfce4 panel features only a few common applets. Its small scale makes it…
KDE 4

30 May 2009 | 11:22 pm

The KDE 4 release is a major reworking of the KDE desktop. Though not officially supported in the 8.04 LTR release, a version of 8.04 with KDE 4 is available, called Kubuntu4. You can download it from www.kubuntu.com or from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com. Check the KDE site for detailed information on KDE 4, including the visual guide: www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/.Every aspect of KDE has been reworked with KDE 4, including a new files manager, desktop, theme, panel, and configuration interface. The KDE window manager supports advanced compositing effects, and Oxygen artwork for user interface…

SolSie.com
Reminder: Pre-order Windows 7 (Home Premium Update) for $50 (for limited time)

SolSie

2 Jul 2009 | 9:32 am

Microsoft is to sell the standard home-user version of its new Windows 7 operating system for 8 percent less than the comparable version of its Vista system, as the global downturn hits spending on technology. The new operating system, which Microsoft hopes will be a bigger hit than the poorly received Vista, will be generally [...]
MLB.com Debuts Premium Mobile Service for Palm Pre

SolSie

2 Jul 2009 | 8:08 am

MLB.com Debuts Premium Mobile Service for Palm Pre, Feature set includes live stats, video highlights and streaming audio broadcasts of every game MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, announced that MLB.com Mobile Premium, a new mobile-optimized live game product developed for the Palm(R) Pre(TM) smartphone, is available on the device via the [...]
LG aims to be #2 in mobile space

SolSie

2 Jul 2009 | 7:54 am

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Ahn Seung-kwon, president for LG’s mobile business, determines to take over Samsung’s second spot in mobile phone market within 2 years. He also went ahead to lay out LG aggressive plan to gain market share. The plan includes a “Back-label” series phone to compete with the iPhone; [...]
Palm Pre Classic Store Sale 20% off

SolSie

2 Jul 2009 | 5:00 am

To celebrate the launch of the Classic catalog for Palm Pre phones we’ve created a 20% off all software sale from Wednesday, June 23 through July 4th. You just need to enter the coupon code “CLASSIC” on checkout. Visit Classic App Store for Palm Pre HERE! Technorati Tags: Classic,MotionApps,Palm,Pre,WebOS,PalmOS,Promotion
GDGT.com is live

SolSie

1 Jul 2009 | 11:22 am

Peter Roja and Ryan Block, both former Engadgeteers took some time to create their new Web site http://gdgt.com and it just went live few minutes ago. This is how they describe their site: It’s taken a little while for us to get here, but we’re very happy to be finally unveiling gdgt to the world. So [...]

Softpedia News - Microsoft
Windows 7 SDK RTM Cooking in Parallel with the OS

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga)

2 Jul 2009 | 8:51 am

As Windows 7 advances toward RTM, the operating system is accompanied by a range of resources focused on the next iteration of the Windows client. An illustrative example is the software development ki... (read more)
Free Panda Cloud Antivirus Beta 3 Will Embrace Windows 7

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga)

2 Jul 2009 | 8:00 am

Introduced at the end of April 2009, the free Panda Cloud antivirus will be tailored for Windows 7 and x64 platforms in Beta 3, a release that the security company promises will be readied by ... (read more)
Windows 7 Family Pack Leaked Details

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga)

2 Jul 2009 | 7:11 am

Microsoft is gearing up to introduce the evolution of the Windows Vista Family Pack, but this time around with Windows 7 as “la piece de resistance.” The Redmond company is completely mum on the subject... (read more)
Internet Explorer 8 Vomit Video Gets Pulled

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga)

2 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am

Was the Internet Explorer 8 vomit video advertisement a tad hard for consumers to swallow? Did it manage to leave an unpleasant aftertaste? No matter the reason, fact is that Microsoft has pulled the commercial altogether. Fear not, it is still available in the wild, and I even managed to embed it among the videos at the bottom of this article. I'm mo... (read more)
More Bing Customized Home Pages Coming

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga)

2 Jul 2009 | 5:43 am

One thing is clear about Bing, painfully so even. The search engine from Microsoft that killed off Live Search still has to grow until it will address international users in the same manner as those in the US. But it's not to say that Microsoft isn't trying. In fact, the Redmond company announced on June 1, 2009 that users in five markets around the world ... (read more)

The Digital Lifestyle
The Media Center Show #213 – Ed Bott

Ian Dixon

2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am

One of my favourite guests returns to the show this week. Ed Bott returns to talk Windows 7 and how its progressed from beta to RTM and how its different from the Vista development. Ed also talks about the product editions and which one is best for Media Center users. I also have email and a round up the weeks news [mp3]http://blip.tv/file/get/IanDixon-TheMediaCenterShow213110.mp3[/mp3] Listen Here (download mp3) - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS - Subscribe with Zune Vote for the show on podcast Alley - Join The Media Center Show Group on Facebook - Join the Windows Live Group…
The Media Center Show #213 – Ed Bott

Ian Dixon

2 Jul 2009 | 3:50 am

One of my favourite guests returns to the show this week. Ed Bott returns to talk Windows 7 and how its progressed from beta to RTM and how its different from the Vista development. Ed also talks about the product editions and which one is best for Media Center users. I also have email and a round up the weeks news [mp3]http://blip.tv/file/get/IanDixon-TheMediaCenterShow213110.mp3[/mp3] Listen Here (download mp3) - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS - Subscribe with Zune Vote for the show on podcast Alley - Join The Media Center Show Group on Facebook - Join the Windows Live Group…
Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium?

Ian Dixon

2 Jul 2009 | 1:04 am

Guest on this weeks The Media Center Show (posted later today) Ed Bott has been doing digging in the Windows 7 license and has found that Microsoft may be offering Family licences packs for Windows 7 Home Premium. Read Ed’s post for the details but if he is correct and its priced correctly it would be ideal for Media Center enthusiasts to upgrade their homes to Windows 7. With Homegroup being such a usefully feature of Windows 7 it makes sense to get all your machines upgraded and if a family pack if offered at the right price then I think Microsoft could be on to a winner. The question is…
Extenders are dead, long live DLNA?

Ian Dixon

1 Jul 2009 | 12:52 pm

While I was recording this weeks instalments of The Custom Integrator Show (out Friday) we were talking about UPNP, DLNA and Play To and this got be thinking about the future of digital media in the home and Extenders. First let me say that I love the concept of Windows Media Center extenders, I have an Xbox 360 connected up to my TV and audio equipment, I also have a HP Extender that I use in other rooms around the house. While I am happy with the Xbox 360 I know lots of people can’t put up with the noise and want a simpler device than a games console, the 3rd party Extenders like the…
Is a Consumer targeted Microsoft Phone on the way?

Ian Dixon

1 Jul 2009 | 8:06 am

There have been rumours for years about Microsoft bringing out their own mobile phone (as opposed to the current strategy of Windows Mobile on OEM hardware) which has been denied by Microsoft but according to Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley an ad agency has been picked to handle “Pink Project”. Microsoft has been keeping close to the vest details about Pink. I’ve heard from my tipsters that there will be one Pink phone manufacturer. Some are saying it’s Motorola or possibly Sharp, both of which have manufactured Danger-based phones. Pink’s “user experience”/user interface, which…

TechNet Edge
Screencast (Part 1 of 4): Master Your Environment with System Center Configuration Manager 2007

johnbake

1 Jul 2009 | 9:21 am

Part 1: The Administrator Console The first in a series of four screencasts on System Center Configuration Manager. Part 2 of 4: Site Server Roles : Discuss the different Site Server Roles and what each of role does. Part 3 of 4: Operating System Deployment and Software Update Management : Review the OSD functionality and integration with WSUS. Part 4 of 4: Desired Configuration Manager and Network Access Protection : Review DCM and see how NAP can be integrated with SCCM 2007 to remediate unhealthy systems. As more clients and servers are added to your environment, the task of…
Exchange 2010 Rights Management and Transports

Adam Bomb

1 Jul 2009 | 12:01 am

Colin shares a couple recent and real examples of email going to the wrong people, or at the wrong time, and talks about some of the new features in Exchange 2010 that can prevent some of those things from happening. How about moderating emails, so a manager can approve mails sent external to the company? Or automatically applying Rights Management to emails based on sender, or recipient, or contents? Also some new features for auditing and archiving mail. Find out more about Exchange 2010 at the website, and click here for all the Exchange 2010 videos here on Edge.
Attend TechEd Australia, get a free HP Netbook!

Adam Bomb

30 Jun 2009 | 11:03 am

Found out about this via a Jeff Alexander, a colleague in Australia - all paid attendees of TechEd Australia this year will receive an HP Mini 2140 Netbook running Windows 7! The full details are on the TechEd website, here. One of the cool things we'll be doing is using our own deployment tools to get the OS installed and configured on the machines, and given the quick turnaround from when Windows 7 releases, the netbooks are being delivered, and when the conference starts, it's going to be a rapid deployment - keep an eye out here to see if the tools are up to the task (I'm betting that…
Leveraging Software to Reduce Energy Consumption

Microsoft IT Showcase

30 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am

Faced with data center capacity limitations, soaring server use and increased energy consumption, Microsoft IT (MS IT) organized for and developed an Environmental Sustainability (ES) plan. Aimed at reducing the environmental impact of Microsoft, the ES plan inlcudes the strategy of using software to reduce the energy consumption of software-driven devices.
IT Pro Momentum Interview: Windows 7-Projekte von ADT-F

Ralf M. Schnell

29 Jun 2009 | 11:42 pm

Die Firma ADT-F hat im Rahmen des Programms IT Pro Momentum einige erfolgreiche Windows 7-Projekte durchgeführt. Der für die Projekte verantwortliche Consultant Frank Fiebiger hat uns in unserer Kölner Niederlassung besucht und berichtet in einem Interview über die besonderen Herausforderungen und das Ergebnis seiner Projekte.

Computer Techno
Windows Vista Special Shell Folders

Computer Techno

1 Jul 2009 | 11:48 pm

Most Windows Vista Secrets readers are probably familiar with basic computer file system concepts such as files, folders, and drive letters; but you may not realize that certain locations in the Windows shell—that is, Windows Explorer, the application with which you literally explore the contents of your PC’s hard drives—have been specially configured to work with particular data types, and live in the shell hierarchy outside of their physical locations. In Windows XP and previous Windows versions, these locations were called special shell folders, and they included such things as My…
Windows Aero

Computer Techno

30 Jun 2009 | 8:36 pm

Windows Aero is the premium user experience in Windows Vista and the one most users will want to access. It provides a number of unique features. First, Windows Aero enables the new Aero Glass look and feel in which the Start Menu, the taskbar, and all onscreen windows and dialog boxes take on a new glass-like translucent sheenAero Glass is designed to move the visual focus away from the windows themselves and to the content they contain. Whether that effort is successful is open to debate, but it’s certainly true that window borders have lost the vast, dark-colored title bars of previous…
Windows Vista Standard

Computer Techno

30 Jun 2009 | 3:34 am

This oddball user experience is designed specifically for Vista Home Basic users and is an olive branch, of sorts, to those who have the hardware required to run Windows Aero but cannot do so because that user experience is not included in Home Basic.Vista Standard is essentially a visual compromise between Vista Basic and Windows Aero. That is, it features the look and feel of Windows Aero, minus the translucency effects. Under the hood, however, it utilizes the less-sophisticated display technologies utilized by Windows Vista Basic. In addition to lacking Aero’s transparency feature,…
Windows Vista Basic

Computer Techno

29 Jun 2009 | 8:33 pm

Windows Vista Basic is the entry-level desktop user experience in Windows Vista and the one you will see on Windows Vista Home Basic or in other editions if you don’t meet certain hardware requirements, which I’ll discuss shortly. From a technological perspective, Windows Vista Basic renders the Windows desktop in roughly the same way as does Windows XP, meaning it doesn’t take advantage of Vista’s new graphical prowess and enhanced stability. That said, Vista Basic still provides you with many of the unique features that make Vista special, such as integrated desktop…
Windows Classic

Computer Techno

28 Jun 2009 | 8:31 pm

Like Windows XP, Windows Vista includes a user experience called Windows Classic that resembles the user interfaces that Microsoft shipped with Windows 95, 98, Me, and 2000. (It most closely resembles Windows 2000.) This interface is available on all Windows Vista product editions, including Starter Edition. Classic is included in Windows Vista primarily for businesses that don’t want to undergo the expense of retraining their employees to use the newer user experiences.Even though Microsoft markets Windows Classic as being identical to the Windows 2000 look and feel, in fact there are…

Windows Tools, Help & Guides | Mintywhite.com
Typography: Free Stylish Fonts Collection [Set 28]

Rich

2 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am

If you are making a PowerPoint presentation, poster, graphic, or anything that requires typography, you may find some of these fonts useful. There many free fonts out there but it is often hard to find good ones as there is so much choice and so many fonts are not very high quality. In these collections, [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper Showcase: Set 49

Rich

1 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am

A round up of the best wallpapers on the web. Full credit goes to the image authors. Let us know about any others you really like! Want More Wallpaper? Check out more wallpapers in the the Wallpaper section of this site or learn how to use these wallpapers for your login screen too! Further Reading: Get the Windows [...]
The Best Windows 7 Website Competition Begins

Rich

30 Jun 2009 | 2:37 pm

Windows7Update is hosting the Best Windows 7 Website Competition. I am one of the judges in the competition and invite those that run Windows 7 websites to submit their site. If you know of a Windows 7 related website, please head to the competition and nominate the site. Competition Prizes First Prize A copy of the Windows 7 [...]
Customize Windows Media Center [Vista/7]

Rich

30 Jun 2009 | 2:27 pm

If you would like to learn how to customize Windows Media Center, rsvr85 has written a comprehensive guide over in the forums. See my results, after following his guide, below. You can customize different styles of cover flow. The style below is my favorite. Get details, IMDB ratings, production year, director information and main cast information. Look up the [...]
Best Windows Freebies and Guides 15 [June 2009]

Rich

30 Jun 2009 | 7:00 am

Every month we take a look around some of the most interesting windows-related web sites. We collect the best free stuff and write tips to help you get more out of Windows. Below you’ll find wallpapers, icon packs, fonts, screensavers, and freeware we’ve found over the last 30 days. We’ve also put together our most [...]

Smart Diary Suite
Smart Diary Suite 4.4.2.1 released!

21 Jun 2009 | 3:00 pm

A new version of Smart Diary Suite has been released!
Smart Diary Suite 4.4.2 released!

18 Jun 2009 | 3:00 pm

A new version of Smart Diary Suite has been released!
Smart Diary Suite 4.4.0 released!

23 Mar 2009 | 3:00 pm

A new version of Smart Diary Suite has been released!
Smart Diary Suite 4.3.1 released!

25 Jan 2009 | 2:00 pm

A new version of Smart Diary Suite has been released!
Home Edition sale!

30 Dec 2008 | 2:00 pm

Buy Home Edition for just $19.95 - visit http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/smart-diary-suite-4/

Smart Diary Suite
Smart Diary Suite 4.4.2.1 released!

21 Jun 2009 | 3:00 pm

A new version of Smart Diary Suite has been released!
Smart Diary Suite 4.4.2 released!

18 Jun 2009 | 3:00 pm

A new version of Smart Diary Suite has been released!
Smart Diary Suite 4.4.0 released!

23 Mar 2009 | 3:00 pm

A new version of Smart Diary Suite has been released!
Smart Diary Suite 4.3.1 released!

25 Jan 2009 | 2:00 pm

A new version of Smart Diary Suite has been released!
Home Edition sale!

30 Dec 2008 | 2:00 pm

Buy Home Edition for just $19.95 - visit http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/smart-diary-suite-4/

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