FEEL WINDOWS

Checkout my new blog

2010-10-19T22:27:00.001+05:30

http://windowsxperience.wordpress.com/

Why Windows 7 should have been called Windows Vista RELOADED!

2009-06-07T13:06:00.010+05:30

Windows 7 has become one of the most hyped and anticipated Windows release ever. People are going gaga over it's performance and compatibility. The buzz is huge and Windows 7 can become one of the most successful operating systems of all time. But should it be called Windows 7? I don't think so! Windows 7 to me is only a polished and refreshed version of Windows Vista. What Microsoft has done is, taken into account the problems associated with Vista and eliminated them in this latest release. BUT, have they added anything new which is significant? Let's find out.

Windows Vista RTM'ed in November, 2006 and saw a retail release on January 2007. People had to wait about 5 years for this new version of Windows. Most people felt that the wait was not worthwhile. Vista brought a lot of compatibility problems, was a resource hog and for many people, it was not worth a upgrade from XP. Most of the hardware at that period was not powerful enough to run Windows Vista smoothly. People had to upgrade their hardware to be able to run it and this put many people off from making a switch to Vista. Those who did, faced a lot of compatibility problems. All in all, Windows Vista was a nightmare to many. But not to me! I thought that Windows Vista was a necessary evil.

Windows Vista brought with it a wealth of new features!

1) Windows Aero

This was truly a revolution as far as the Windows GUI goes. Translucent borders, live taskbar thumbnails, Flip3D, smooth animations were brought about by Aero and it was the prettiest Windows GUI so far. Windows 7 also uses Aero with some little tweaks here and there like the Aero Peek, Shake and Snap etc, but mostly it feels like the GUI of Vista.

2) Instant Search

This was one of the major changes which Vista brought about, Instant Search and it's really fast! The search boxes are available virtually everywhere in Windows Vista. You just have to type in some keywords and it will instantly search for the file, application etc and the results show up instantly. It's really cool. Windows 7's search tool is basically the same but with an added option of searching from external database sources, and is dubbed as the "Federated Search".

3) Windows Sidebar

Windows Sidebar was introduced in Windows Vista. The basic functionality of it was to provide information at a glance and give access to frequently used tools with the help of small mini programs called Gadgets. Gadgets can display information like weather, calendar, memory usage and also have shortcuts to shutdown, run, screensaver, etc. Windows 7 also features gadgets but doesn't have the sidebar.

4) Win SAT

Windows System Assessment Tool measures various performance characteristics and capabilities of the hardware it is running on and reports them as a Windows Experience Index (WEI) score, a number between 1.0 and 5.9 for Windows Vista. The WEI includes five subscores: processor, memory, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, and disk; the basescore is equal to the lowest of the subscores. It had a lot of promise, like for example, before making a purchase of a computer, it's WEI score will give you the idea of how well it's hardware is, as compared to other models. But most of the vendors don't follow it.

5) Windows DreamScene

Windows DreamScene was a part of the Windows Ultimate Extras. It is an utility which allows videos and some optimized animations like dreams to be used as the desktop background. It uses the GPU for display instead of the CPU, leaving the latter free to perform user tasks. Windows DreamScene was a welcome addition as I was getting bored with the still, lifeless wallpapers. Now you could have a waterfall running through your screen or a bird flying. It was really cool. The sad part is that, it has been removed from Windows 7 and replaced with wallpaper slideshow!

6) User Account Control

This was one of the most controversial features to come out in Windows Vista. Microsoft says that, "User Account Control in Windows Vista improves the safety and security of your computer by preventing potentially dangerous software from making changes to your computer without your explicit consent". It has come under serious criticism with some saying that it slows down various tasks on the computer. But it has been proved that it can spot rootkits before they install. So love it or hate it, you can't ignore it. Windows 7 also features UAC but it has been just updated a little so that it gives fewer interruptions to the user.

Windows Vista also brought about Backup and Restore Center, Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Media Center, Windows Mobility Center, Shadow Copy, Parental controls, ReadyBoost, ReadyDrive among others. So what does Windows 7 bring? The new Superbar and touch supprort.Windows Vista p@wns Windows 7 as far as the feature set is concerned. One of my friends who has Intel C2Q, 4 GB RAM and GeForce 9600 GT is not keen on upgrading to 7, as he feels that Vista runs fast enough and there is nothing new in Windows 7, which is significant enough for him to make the switch. I feel that instead of burying the Windows Vista name so soon, Microsoft should have called Windows 7, the Windows Vista Second Edition or Vista Reloaded!

Top 7 Reasons People Quit Linux

2009-05-20T13:00:00.000+05:30

1. Linux doesn't run a program I use.

In this particular argument, people typically point out that Linux doesn't run one of the main Adobe products, such as Photoshop or Dreamweaver. They then point out that there's no swap-in replacement in the world of open-source.

This is true. I can't argue.

The problem is that they're using specialized industrial tools. Most people neither know nor care what Dreamweaver is. It might seem otherwise in the circles in which that person moves, but out here in the real world, it just ain't the case.

Much of the work that's gone into desktop Linux in recent times has been to make it better for the ordinary individual. Linux now has a top-notch browser and office suite, for example. But, so far, nobody has got around to re-creating specialist toolsets such as high-level Web design software.

The solution is simple: If you need to use a particular industrial tool for your work, then you should keep using it. That means you'll have to keep using Windows. It's no big deal.

2. I installed Linux, but some element of my hardware didn't work!

That's incredible because I installed Windows the other day and had the exact same experience! My graphics card didn't work, and Wi-Fi didn't either.

Might this just be the way PCs are?

But do you know what I did? I fixed everything. Maybe I'm lucky to be clever enough to do so, but if I wasn't, I could easily ask around for solutions. I know there are smart people out there who are willing to help.

If you do this, you might have to do some hard work, and step into unfamiliar territory. But there are lots of instructions out there on the Web, and it only has to be done once. Plus, as you work through the solution, you'll be learning stuff about your new operating system. Treat it as an opportunity, rather than an ordeal.

Some people expand this complaint to point out that Linux can sap their precious time as they work through getting it set up the way they like. Again, this is as true of Linux as it is of Windows. It's just the way PCs are.

3. I tried Linux, but I had to type commands!

OMG!!! Really?

But seriously. So what? Are you scared of the keyboard? This is usually related to point #2 above, and it's usually a one-time maneuver designed to get something working. For example, to get DVD playback on Ubuntu, you have to type a certain command after downloading software. Once done, however, DVDs will play back automatically forever and ever.

If you had to do this every time you wanted to play a DVD, then you might have a point. But typing a few strange words won't kill you.

There are also those who take a haughty position and project their fear onto others: “I had to type commands! Ergo Linux just isn't ready for the ordinary person!” Here, the individual concerned seems to be implying that the “ordinary user” (whoever that might be) suffers from an intelligence deficit and is incapable of typing commands. It that really true? Why do we always assume that other people can't possibly be as smart as we are?

4. I did this, and this happened. That doesn't happen with Windows!

Again, so what? Nobody said Linux was a clone of Windows. Things are going to be different now you're using Linux. Not necessarily better, not necessarily worse. Just different. You're over the rainbow, Dorothy! Rather than griping about your troubles, why don't you get used to it? If you're unable to adapt, it says more about you than it does about Linux.

5. I posted a message on a forum, but Linux people were mean to me.

It's true that some community members aren't paragons of virtue and honor. These kinds of people are found in all walks of life, however, and are best avoided. You can't blame Linux for their existence.

But in most examples of this complaint, the individual concerned brought wrath on themselves in one of several ways:

a) By being aggressive and/or unfriendly in their posting, or in their replies to other people. Yeah, you might be frustrated that you can't get Linux to work how you want, but try and keep that temper in check;

b) By not doing basic homework before asking for help, such as searching the forum for a particular issue that may be extremely common. There's only so many times community members can answer the same query before getting annoyed;

c) By simply not respecting Linux and its culture. Switching operating systems is like switching support for a sports team. When chatting with fellow fans, you can't keep mentioning how good you think the other team is, or how you think their techniques are better. In fact, even making reference to the other team might stretch your fellow fans' patience to breaking point.

6. I just don't like it.

It would be marvellous if people were honest enough to state this as bluntly as I've listed it above. After all, Linux isn't for everybody.

But what people with this complaint always do is make a spurious argument about usability--that wonderfully nebulous term that means different things to different people. “Linux just isn't as usable as Windows or OS X,” they'll say. When asked to back up their complaint with evidence, they don't bother to reply.

What they're really saying, of course, is that Linux was unfamiliar and spooked them so much that they ran back to Windows. Again, this is reasonable. It's their choice. But they shouldn't pretend they're making an objective evaluation. It's just an opinion.

7. I installed Linux and things went honey-nut-loops crazy.

Typically the person with this complaint will say something like, “I installed Linux and the installer program crashed half way through. I tried to boot but nothing happened and I found myself at a command prompt. I eventually got the desktop running but none of the programs worked correctly.”

This might also be known as the “shaggy-dog story,” because it's usually a long and rather pointless tale of things going wrong. (Ironically, their attempts to fix things usually makes the situation worse. But I digress.)

Most times I've no idea what the cause of the problems are, and the individual concerned has my sympathy. But I do know that what they describe is probably a one-time event, and definitely not indicative of what most people experience. As with point #6 above, it's not really fair to make an objective argument out of it, because--effectively--it's little more than one person's bad luck. If it happens to you, just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again.

PCWORLD

Windows 7 gets virtual 'XP mode'

2009-05-03T12:57:00.000+05:30

Microsoft will unveil an add-on to Windows 7 that lets users run applications designed for Windows XP in a virtual machine, the company confirmed Friday -- the first time Microsoft has relied on virtualization to provide backward compatibility.

Dubbed "Windows XP Mode," the add-on creates an XP virtual environment running under Virtual PC, Microsoft's client virtualization technology, within Windows 7, said Scott Woodgate, the director of Windows enterprise and virtualization strategy.

In a post to a company blog, Woodgate said the add-on is part of the pitch to convince businesses to migrate to Windows 7. "All you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP Mode," said Woodgate. "The applications will be published to the Windows 7 desktop and then you can run them directly from Windows 7."

Details of Windows XP Mode (XPM) were first reported Friday afternoon by Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott, two prominent bloggers who are also collaborating on a book, Windows 7 Secrets, due out this fall.

According to Rivera's Within Windows blog -- Thurrott published a nearly identical write-up on his SuperSite for Windows -- Windows XP Mode will be offered as a free download only to users running Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise, the three top-priced editions of the new OS.

Windows 7 Enterprise is available only to companies with volume licensing agreements.

Windows XP Mode (XPM) requires processor-based virtualization support and is based on the next-generation Microsoft Virtual PC 7 virtualization technology, said Rivera, who also disclosed that Microsoft will include a fully licensed copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) with the add-on. That, in effect, gives Windows 7 users a way to run older applications without having to pay for another operating system license.

Rivera also touted, as had Woodgate, the ability to run Windows XP applications directly from the Windows 7 desktop without having to first open a separate virtual machine window.

"XPM does not require you to run the virtual environment as a separate Windows desktop," Rivera said. "Instead, as you install applications inside the virtual XP environment, they are published to the host (Windows 7) OS as well. That way, users can run Windows XP-based applications, like IE6, alongside Windows 7 applications under a single desktop."

Both Rivera and Thurrott trumpeted XPM as a "huge convenience" for Microsoft's corporate customers, and predicted that Microsoft will be able to discard older code and technologies from future versions of Windows, and instead rely on virtualization to provide backward compatibility.

Techworld

MS Windows 7 goes on public test

2009-05-01T12:49:00.001+05:30

A release candidate of Windows 7, the next major release of the world's most popular operating system, goes public in trial form in the next week.

Windows 7 has been designed to be compatible with Vista so users do not have to invest in new hardware.

A commercial release of Windows 7 is expected in the next nine months.

A test version of Windows 7 will be available to developers from Thursday, while the public can try it out from 5 May.

BBC

Why Windows 7 will be the best Microsoft OS to date!

2009-03-15T11:42:00.005+05:30

Windows 7 will be the next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system. And if the early previews are anything to go by, I feel that Windows 7 will be the best version of Windows till date. The reasons? Here are a bunch of them :-

1) The Superbar!!

The taskbar has undergone a facelift. This affords a richer icon language, improves identification of programs and improves targeting for both the mouse and touch. Yet, one of the most important advantages large icons provide is a means to promote the taskbar as the central place to launch everyday tasks.

Windows 7 taskbar: Default settings include large icons, no text and glass surface

You can still pin programs to the taskbar by dragging them or via a context menu, just like you have always done with Quick Launch. Destinations can also be pinned via a drag/drop, but they are designed to be surfaced differently as we’ll see under the Jump List section.

Vista showed thumbnails when the user hovers on a taskbar button and Windows 7 improves upon this design. Unlike Vista, these thumbnails are now an extension of their corresponding button so the person can click on these visual aides to switch to a given window. The thumbnail is also is a more accurate representation of a window complete with an icon in the top left corner, window text and even the ubiquitous close button in the top right.

Thumbnails: Grouped, interactive thumbnails make it easier to manage windows

Credits: E7Blog

2) Touch

"If you are impressed by the 'touch features' in the iPhone, you'll be blown away by what's coming in Windows 7."

Touch is quickly becoming a common way of directly interacting with software and devices. Touch-enabled surfaces are popping up everywhere including laptop touch pads, cell phones, remote controls, GPS devices, and more. What becomes even more compelling is when this experience is delivered to the PC -on a wide variety of Windows notebooks, in all-in-one PC's, as well as in external monitors.

Imagine painting in Photoshop, rotating and zooming Google Earth by your hand, or playing a piano using your fingers.The possibilities are endless! Having a Windows Media Player 12 behave like iPOD touch or playing multiple videos on your screen, changing and resizing them using your hands just like Tom Cruise did it in Minority Report!

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

3) Codec support!

A common annoyance with many media players, WMP included, is not having the right codec. WMP will try to detect which codecs are required and provide a location to download them, but this is hit-and-miss and less than convenient if all you want to do is play a video. In recognition of this, WMP12 includes support for H.264 video, AAC audio, and both Xvid and DivX video, in addition to all the formats supported by WMP11 in Vista (MPEG2, WMV, MP3, etc.). With these new codecs, WMP should support the majority of video found on the Internet out of the box.

Also in the list of some changes since beta for the RC, the E7 blog mentions :-

''We’ve since added support for Windows Media Player to natively support the .MOV files used to capture video for many common digital cameras.''

Credits: Ars Technica

4) Speed....

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of ZDNET recently did a test between Windows 7 (7048), the beta 1 (build 7000), Vista SP1 and XP SP3. There were about 30 benchmarks.

The results

Here are the results for the two systems:

(click for larger image)

And he concluded that :-

Windows 7 is, overall, better than both Vista and XP.
As Windows 7 progresses, it’s getting better (or at least the 64-bit editions are).
On a higher-spec system, 64-bit is best.
On a lower-spec system, 32-bit is best.

Credit : ZDNET

5) Jump Lists

Think of this feature as a mini Start Menu for each program or an evolved version of the system menu. Jump Lists surface commonly used nouns (destinations) and verbs (tasks) of a program. There are several advantages this new approach provides.

First, the you don’t need to even start the program to quickly launch a file or access a task. Second, destinations don’t take up valuable space on the taskbar; they are automatically organized by their respective program in a simple list. Should one have ten programs pinned or running on her taskbar, this means she could have quick access to over 150 destinations she uses all the time, without even the need to customize the UI!

Since the Jump List shows lots of text for each of its items, gone are the days of having identical icons on your taskbar that are indistinguishable without a tooltip. Should you wish to keep a specific destination around, you can simply pin it to the list.

Right-clicking on Word gives quick access to recently used documents.

Credits: E7Blog

6) You Can Turn Off Every Major Windows Feature in Windows 7

And it's a good thing!

Suppose you are a Firefox user and you don't need IE, or maybe you like KMPlayer and hate WMP, you can just turn WMP off. This feature customizes your experience

Customers are now given more control, flexibility and choice in managing the features available in the RC of Windows 7.

Below are the list of extra features that are added to Windows 7 RC:

Windows Media Player
Windows Media Center
Windows DVD Maker
Internet Explorer 8
Windows Search
Handwriting Recognition (through the Tablet PC Components option)
Windows Gadget Platform
Fax and Scan
XPS Viewer and Services (including the Virtual Print Driver)

Credits: Neowin

7) Aero Peek

When the taskbar doesn’t offer enough information via text or a thumbnail, the person simply moves the mouse over a taskbar thumbnail and voilà—the corresponding window appears on the desktop and all other windows fade away into glass sheets. Once you see the window you want, just click to restore it. Not only does this make finding a window a breeze, it may also remove the need to switch altogether for scenarios in which one just needs a quick glance to glean information. Peek also works on the desktop too.

Aero Peek: Hovering over a thumbnail peeks at its corresponding window on the desktop

Credits: E7Blog

8) Federated Search

Windows Vista included the enhanced desktop search feature which helps users to readily locate files, e-mail messages, and other items on their PC . With the release of Windows Search 4.0, the performance of the search tool improved while adding much-needed manageability features for IT.

Windows 7 along with the desktop search, introduces Federated Search in which the scope of the search goes beyond your PC. You can now search for items in remote repositories from your PC. It is based on OpenSearch and the RSS format. Since it is based on open standards, it becomes very simple to create custom 'search connectors' for your own remote repositories. For example, you can search Flickr or Twitter from within explorer.

There are already few search connectors available for download:

The Federated Search feature looks very promising. As more sites add support for OpenSearch, expect to see more search connectors emerging for Windows 7.

Credits: Neowin

As the final release is still many months off, expect to see more new features and surprises :)

Windows 7 build 7057 leaks

2009-03-15T11:18:00.002+05:30

With few weeks left for Windows 7 RC to be released, some Neowin users have found Windows 7 build 7057 in the wild. The build string reads - 7057.0.x86fre.winmain.090305-2000 which means that this was compiled on March 5.

The EULA reads this for now

Yes, this makes it clear that Microsoft is already cooking its Windows 7 RC builds (not final build though)

The most immediate change users would notice is the new welcome and shutdown screen

Source

20 awesome dreams for Windows Vista

2008-11-19T11:48:00.005+05:30

Dreams are high quality animated wallpapers that run exclusively on Windows Vista and transform the static desktop users spend all day looking at into a world of motion and activity.

Dreams are subtle, looped motion videos or animations that bring new life to the desktop without slowing down your PC. Watch a serene nature scene while you type an email. Glance at a meteor shower as you work on a document. Make your desktop interesting again!

Here I pick 20 of my favorite dreams!

1) Winter Snow

Give your desktop that winter feel with this dynamic dream. Use the supplied night image or pick your own from the configuration dialog.

Snowflakes fall from the top of the screen and collect on your taskbar.

You can control the number of flakes, their size, speed and how long they take to melt, and the background wallpaper. Even better it will use very little cpu unless you really crank up the number of flakes!

2) Liquid Dream

Turn your desktop into a rippling pool of water with Liquid Dream from Stardock Design.

Water drops fall on your desktop, creating realistic ripples that spread across your screen. Using the DeskScapes engine to render the water and motion in real-time, this Dream looks great without using up valuable resources.

Liquid Dream is highly customizable to suit your preferences. You have the ability to decide:

Time between water drops
Size of water drops (bigger drops mean larger ripples)
How reflective the water surface is
Choose a sky to see reflected in the water (fluffy white clouds, or a starry night sky)
Choose the background image that sits below the water. Pick from one of 3 provided images, or supply your own.

3) Desktop Collage

Turn your desktop into constantly-changing photo collage with the Desktop Collage Dynamic Dream from Stardock Design!

This is the second dynamic Dream released by Stardock Design and one of the most anticpated Dreams since the first announcement and preview of DeskScapes' dynamic content capabilities.

Desktop Collage takes photos and images you have on your computer and randomly places them on your desktop, creating a collage that is always shifting and never the same. Photos are framed in white and layered on your desktop, fading to gray over time as newer pictures are added.

All you have to do is fill a folder on your computer with your favorite photos, and using the configuration options in the Desktop Background window tell this Dream where the folder is, and you're in business!

4) Blissful Dream

Grass sways lazily in the breeze in these three beautifully rendered animated desktops for Stardock DeskScapes.

Blissful Dream is an updated package of animated wallpapers from Stardock Design. This is the second of our triggered dreams, where your wallpaper changes automatically based on the time of day. Included in the package are:

Blissful Sunrise/Sunset-
The animated wallpaper shown off by Microsoft at various press events leading up to the release of Windows Vista, and is the first premium Dream from Stardock Design. (Plays starting at 6am and 6pm)
Blissful Day Dream -
The same beautifully rendered scene in full mid-day splendor. (Plays from 8am until 6pm)
Blissful Night -
Darkness falls across your desktop as night falls outside your window. A scene of summer night provides the perfect background to your PC as the day draws to a close. (Plays from 8pm until 6am)

5) Big Blue Sea HD

Slow, dramatic waves over the Atlantic.
1920x1080 @ 25fps

This is a new version of Big Blue Sea at full HD resolution. I had to completely restructure and tweak all effects but I think it was worth it.

6) Poubel Sun v1.0

Poubel Sun v1.0
HDV 1920x1080 Widescreen

7) farcry2_two

a quick farcry2 dream.i`ll find better scenery but i`m to busy doing the bad guys in.

1680 x 1050

8) dark_energy

9) sunset_at_fairyglade

at sunset the faries come out to play

1680 x 1050

10) winters_here

a winter scene

1680 x 1050

11) Vista Ultimate Comet I

My first dream!
I hope you all will enjoy this!

Widescreen 1920x1080

12) Poubel Tafiti v1.1

So, this is my first rendered dreamscene.
HDV 1920x1080 Widescreen

Now the clouds is more slower and smooth.
Added more saturation to dream

13) Poubel Hill

Poubel Hill

HDV 1920x1080 Widescreen

14) Poubel Sunset v1.1

By some requests to HD resolution i've updated the dream to HDV 1080 widescreen format with seamless transition.

15) Cheetah

1920x1080 mpeg encoded dream

nice close up shot

enjoy

16) Humbird

1920x1080 mpg encoded dream.

Hummingbird feeding on your desktop

just 4 fun

17) Butterfly

1920x1080 mpg encoded dream

butterfly warming its wings

18) Polar

Sky pulsates with the northern lights.

19) Asteroids

A large asteroid belt surrounding this blue supergiant makes it difficult maintaining the required stationary orbit for monitoring a unique solar disruption.

Blue supergiants represent a slower burning phase in the death of a massive star. Due to core nuclear reactions being slightly slower, the star contracts and since very similar energy is coming from a much smaller area (photosphere) then the star's surface becomes much hotter.

20) Edge of Eternity

Almost break through the clouds in the dream.

I would like to dedicate this dream to my wife. Today we found out she has cancer.

2 Minutes @ 1152x720 30fps MPEG2

You will need Stardock DeskScapes to run these dreams.

DeskScapes is available now as a free trial. The free trial includes three free dreams. (The free trial will ONLY run the three dreams included.) It supports nearly all versions of Windows Vista including Home Basic/Premium/Business/Enterprise.

Download

Windows Vista Ultimate users can download DeskScapes 1.02. from here

10 blogs related to Linux and Microsoft that you should bookmark!

2008-10-23T23:03:00.000+05:30

Blogs are the best way to get information about something, fast and quick. Some blogs have more tips, tricks and features than the official websites. So if you want information about Linux or Microsoft, straight from the red hot frying pan, you should lend your eyes on the following blogs.

It's not possible for me to cover all the Linux and Microsoft related blogs. I have just picked up the ones which are more popular and interesting, according to me.

LINUX BLOGS

1) UBUNTU Blog

Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.

Do you want to install Vista fonts in Ubuntu? Do you need libdvdcss2 and w32codecs? Or maybe you want to know how to mount a remote ssh filesystem usi? The answers to all these questions are right here. Go ahead and bookmark it, if you haven't already!

Ubuntu Blog

2) openSUSE Blog

openSUSE is a free and Linux-based operating system for your PC, Laptop or Server. You can surf the web, manage your e-mails and photos, do office work, play videos or music and have a lot of fun!

This blog has information about openSUSE and also about Linux as a whole. Lancelot Menu for KDE 4.1, Linux Running on Large Hadron Collider, London Stock Exchange runs Windows, Crashes (considers Linux?) are some of the recent posts here.

OpenSUSE Blog

3) Fedora Blog

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that showcases the latest in free and open source software. Fedora is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute.

One of the busiest and updated blogs you will find among the five. I counted about 15 new posts in a day itself! I came across some interesting articles like Install Fedora 9 on Eee PC (1000H), Amarok 2 beta video preview, Fedora 10 Beta, etc.

Planet Fedora

4) Debian Blog

Debian is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux. Debian GNU/Linux provides more than a pure OS: it comes with over 18733 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine.

The blog features posts which are quite diversified. From nice essay type articles like What Traditional Values Mean to Me or Differences between paid and volunteer FOSS contributors to more technical ones like python-gammu 0.27.

Planet Debian

5) Mandriva Blog

Mandriva Linux is an operating system created by Mandriva. It uses the RPM Package Manager. The product lifetime of Mandriva Linux releases is 18 months for base updates and 12 months for desktop updates.

This blog is a bit different from the last ones as it solely dedicated to this particular distribution. So the posts are mainly related to Mandriva directly. Mandriva Linux 2009 RC2 is available, Happy 10th birthday Mandriva Linux are some of the latest topics in this blog.

Mandriva Blog

MICROSOFT BLOGS

6) Windows Vista Blog

The intro on the blog says, The Windows Vista Team blog exists to provide you, the community, a channel for conversation with Microsoft on all things relating to Windows Vista. We do our best to relay the "back story" of the product, and in turn hope that you'll share with us your experiences using it. This will help us learn what you think works well -- or perhaps not so well --, and what you like vs. what could stand to be changed.

So whether you want to know about the Adobe Flash killer - Silverlight 2.0 or download ''I'm a PC'' messenger theme pack, it's all here. Information or features directly related to Vista like Mojave, SP1 or the Snipping tool, forms the bulk of the blog. If you are one of the 180 million people who are using Vista right now, you have come to the right place.

Windows Vista Team Blog

7) Internet Explorer Blog

Jeff Davis says about this blog that ''We will happily post and discuss issues around what features should be in IE, how features work in IE, the importance of application compatibility in IE, tips and tricks in IE, answers to technical issues, security and extensibility in IE, web browsing in general, and what keeps us up at night.''

You can be a Firefox user but you cannot ignore the most dominant browser in the market in terms of market share. IE8 is going to release soon with new features like Accelerators, WebSlices and more, so now it's a good time to visit this blog and find some reasons to switch from Firefox. The blog has nice information about IE8 group policy, tab grouping, visual search etc

IEBlog

8) Windows 7 Blog

Let's face it, many people are not happy with Windows Vista. They are not in a mood to switch from XP and are waiting for Windows 7 to be their savior. Are you one of them?

This blog features all the latest development and engineering news from Windows 7. You can get the latest about the improvements and evolution that are taking place in the Windows Desktop Search, UAC, User Interface, etc of Windows 7. You can always share your ideas by dropping a comment or two and really make this the best Windows version to date!

Engineering Windows 7

9) Microsoft Office Word Blog

Microsoft Office word is the most powerful word processing software yet. It's so rich with features that it's not possible to learn everything about it by yourself. That's where this blog comes.

The blog is full of tutorials, tricks, tips and the latest news related to Word. The tutorials are rich with big illustrations. I found some interesting topics related to Widows/Orphans, Picture Styles, Line Numbering, WordMail, Stlyes and many more.

Microsoft Office Word Blog

10) Microsoft Surface Blog

To me, this is the most exciting and innovative product to come out of Microsoft. Now people are comparing this to a giant iPhone, but I wonder who stole the idea from who? Anyways, atleast the functions are different, so I could care less.

Microsoft Surface has been recently deployed at various places. You can get pictures, videos and articles right from that spots and get to know what people think about it. You can also read what Ashton Kutcher thinks about Microsoft Surface!

Tales from the Microsoft Surface team

10 ''Google Fight'' results that will surprise you!!!

2008-10-02T23:00:00.000+05:30

Obama Vs. McCain, Windows Vista Vs. Ubuntu, Bill Gates Vs. Steve Jobs, Xbox 360 Vs. Playstation 3 and six more fights is in the cards for tonight's ''Google Fight''.Only one will be declared the winner and there will be no runner up's in this battle. Who stand's tall and who bites the dust? All the questions will be answered now. So let the games begin!

You might ask, ''What is Google Fight''? According to Wikipedia, Googlefight is a website that allows users to compare the number of search results returned by the Google search engine for two given queries. What that essentially means is that you can compare the number of websites that two particular keywords has against each other. Suppose you do a fight between Google and Microsoft, the keyword which has the maximum number of search results or websites will win the fight. Simple!

I made ten fights, and most of the results weren't according to my expectations!

FIGHT # 1

Who sucks more, Barack Obama or John McCain?

And the winner is Barack Obama!

Obama Vs McCain

FIGHT # 2

Which company is hated more, Microsoft or Apple?

And the winner is, Apple!

Microsoft Vs Apple

Fight # 3

Which Operating System is loved more, Windows Vista or Ubuntu?

And the winner is, Windows Vista!

Vista Vs Ubuntu

Fight # 4

Who has a larger fan following, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?

And the winner is, Bill Gates!

Gates Vs Jobs

Fight # 5

Which sucks more, Internet Explorer or Firefox?

And the winner is Firefox!

FF Vs IE

Fight # 6

Bill Gates Vs. Linus Torvalds

And the winner is, Bill Gates again!

Gates Vs Linus

Fight # 7

Sarah Palin Vs. Pitbull

And the winner is, Pitbull!

Palin Vs. Pitbull

Fight # 8

XBOX 360 Vs. Playstation 3

And the winner is, XBOX 360!

360 Vs PS3

Fight # 9

Apple Vs Intel

And the winner is, Apple!

Apple Vs Intel

Fight # 10

God Vs. Satan

And this result is not surprising, God pwns Satan!

God Vs Satan

An open letter to Mr. Kevin Rose

2008-09-26T13:56:00.009+05:30

Dear Mr. Rose, I am just one of the millions of users of your website and I just wanted to say that I love Digg for many reasons and I have always felt that it's a great concept. But there are some things which I don't like. I know this has a high chance of getting buried in digg, but I have decided to go with it. Are you gonna read it?

1) Power Diggers

You might say ''who are they''? Well, they are the users of digg who have the highest number of submissions that has reached the front page. People like MrBabyMan, msaleem, MakiMaki and others. For example, MrBabyMan has hit the frontpage about 2900 times! So if an article get submitted by these guys, it has a much higher chance of hitting popular than the ones submitted by me or a newbie, mainly because they have a huge fan base and their fan's digg whatever they submit. It was said that top 100 diggers control 56% of Digg's homepage content!

the top 100 Digg users posted 56% of Digg's frontpage content

List of top 100 diggers

2) POLITICS!!!

As I pointed out previously, the power diggers enjoy enormous success. So, many companies are reaching out to them with cash and are asking them to promote their story. These diggers in turn have a huge network with many friends on the instant messengers. They follow the '' I scratch your back and you scratch mine'' policy. So sometimes stupid stories get popular. Don't you think that the power diggers have a undue advantage over someone new?

The politics of digg

3) Burying Option

Why does this option even exist? You like something, digg it and if you hate it, don't digg it. It's that simple. In elections, you can vote for Obama but can't you bury McCain. As it ain't democratic. Moreover burying is also anonymous, why is that? People should be held accountable and there should be two sections for comments for a particular article, one for the diggers and one for those who buried it. Otherwise the burying option should be done away with!

The bury button

4) Blogs and small websites have a smaller chance of reaching the frontpage

Blogs or small websites have a much smaller chance of reaching the frontpage. I will not say that it doesn't have any chance whatsoever but it is really slim. I have seen that the front page of the technology section regularly featuring articles from established websites like wired, cnet, techradar, torrentfreak, linuxhaxor, lifehacker etc but I rarely see domains from blogspot or wordpress or the lesser known websites. Now some of us don't have enough money to get a domain for themselves and blogs are the only way to express and write articles. But in that way, the chances are really small of hitting the fp even if the article deserves to be popular. I don't know exactly if digg is responsible for it. Are you?

5)Social Networking

Does digg wanted to be a social networking website? There are many other options availaible like Myspace, Facebook, Orkut etc. So why this whole friend's and fan's concept? I know that it helps a digger to promote their story but it has also like poisoned the whole system. Some diggers get a bigger and better platform to promote. But is that what the digg concept is about? Digg has over a million people, but increasingly the stories which are hitting frontpage are coming from established diggers who have a huge networking base in digg. Is this what Digg set out to be? Or was it more in the lines of ''Let the best story,win''?

I also like to add that fanboyism pretty much exists in Digg. You write something good about Apple or Linux, you get huge diggs. You write something BAD about Microsoft, you get also get a huge digg count :) See what I mean.

I know that many of these problems doesn't have a solution. But I can guess we always take the first step!

Thank You.

The Only 5 Sites You'll Ever Need to Know for Downloads!

2008-09-24T22:15:00.012+05:30

What would a computer be without downloads? The problem is finding the tough ones. You can't trust the search engines, as they can send you to a site that adds malware or spyware to their downloads. You can't always trust torrents for the same reason. When in doubt or in need of something obscure, these are the "goto" download sites.

If you can't find it at one of these sites, it probably doesn't exist.

1) CNET DOWNLOAD.COM

The big momma of all the download websites. This is the best looking and the most feature rich among the five. It is divided into four main categories which are Windows, Mac, Mobile and Webware. The sections are further divided into mp3 and audio software, video software, browsers etc. You can also check out the most popular and the editor's pick among the applications. The site also features a nice and big review section. All in all a must visit!

DOWNLOAD.COM

2) SOFTPEDIA

The first time you take a look at this website, you will be overwhelmed, even somewhat intimidated by the sheer number of sections! Windows, Games, Drivers, Mac, Linux, Scripts, Mobile, Handheld....whew! It even features a cool gadgets section. But the one thing I always loved about Softpedia, is it's news section. It is really comprehensive and is divided into Science, Technology, Microsoft, Security, Apple, Linux, and what not!

Softpedia

3) MAJOR GEEKS

This website is mostly garnered towards a Windows user but it also has a nice Mac section. It features both shareware and freeware downloads. The Windows and Mac section are further divided into files which comprises of Admin Tools, All In One Tools, Appearance, Backup, Benchmarking, Data Recovery, Networking, Messaging, etc. I must say that this site has quite a substantial amount of applications.

MajorGeeks

4) FILE HIPPO

The reason I love FileHippo is mainly due to it's design and interface. It is the most clean and fastest website of the lot and has a nice, elegant, and hassle free look. On the top of the page, you can see the latest updates and most popular downloads. The main categories are Audio and Video, Browsers and Plugins, Developer Tools, File Sharing, CD and DVD tools, etc. You can also download some of the previous versions of a particular application from it's download page. Filehippo has also come up with a free update checker which checks for the latest versions of the applications installed in your system and informs you if a update is available. NICE!

FileHippo

5) DRIVER GUIDE

Having trouble finding a driver for a particular device? Then, you have come to right place, my friend! This website features one of the biggest drivers database in the Internet and is divided into BIOS/Motherboard, Scanner, Printer/Plotter/ Multi-Office, Game Controller, Modem/ISDN, Sound Card, and many more categories. When you click on a particular category, you will see names of different brands which make that particular product. Click on the brand, you will see the most popular downloads from that brand. You can search for the driver of your particular device by typing in the search box. It is godsend for all your drivers problems and needs.

DriverGuide

So what are your favorite download websites?

Firefox v3.0.2 Released!!!

2008-09-24T09:18:00.002+05:30

Firefox 3.0.2 contains the following updates:

Fixed several security issues.
Fixed several stability issues.
Official releases for Sinhala and Slovene are now available.
Beta releases for Bengali, Galician, Hindi, Icelandic, Kannada, Marathi, Telegu, and Thai are available for testing.
Fixed a number of minor issues with the layout of certain web pages.
Fixed several theme issues that affected right-to-left locales.
Fixed issue that caused some users with customized toolbars to have their Back and Forward buttons go missing (bug 426026)
Add new Extended Validation (EV) roots to Firefox 3.0.2.
On certain IDN sites, the password manager would not fill in username and password details properly.
Fixed several hangs and crashes that occurred when using screen readers.
Fixed Mac-specific issues:
- Keyboard shortcuts would stop working in some cases.
- Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Indic characters can not be entered (using IME) into text fields in Flash objects (bug 357670)
- Firefox 3.0.1 could not be used when the user profile is stored on an AFP directory (bug 417037)
Homepage

Windows Vista : New Ultimate Extras Released

2008-09-23T23:53:00.003+05:30

I was just searching for updates in Widows update and to my surprise, I got presented with 3 brand new ultimate extras which are:

1) Microsoft Tinker

2) Ultimate Extras Sound from Microsoft Tinker

3) Windows DreamScene Content Pack 4

I will download and try these out tomorrow!

OFF TOPIC: STFU!

2008-09-17T23:47:00.002+05:30

I want Microsoft to change, do you?

2008-09-17T08:19:00.019+05:30

I am a Microsoft MVP, you can see my profile by clicking on the MVP logo in the right side. We MVP's have frequent online and offline meetings with the different product groups of Microsoft and also there is a summit every year for 3 days in the Microsoft headquarters where we can get in touch with Steve Ballmer or even Bill Gates. So the question I want you to answer is :-

Do you want to change the way Microsoft is working right now? Are you dissatisfied with the features that Microsoft is implementing in the applications it is making? Do you hate Windows Vista because it's eating up your hardware resources? Have you stopped using Internet Explorer because it's slow and lacks extensions? Do you feel that Windows Media Player should be light and have codecs installed out of the box? I surely do and I can be your voice if you feel the same way!

1) Do you want to change the way Microsoft is working right now?

I feel that Microsoft doesn't exactly know what the users of their product want. The latest adventures of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld proves that! Surely it's not possible for them to know the needs and wants of every users but can't they setup an official Microsoft feedback forum where the people can have their say about what they want in the products? There can be categories like Windows 7, Windows Media Player 12, DirectX 11, etc where people can post their expectations and the features which they want. The respective product groups can take a look at them and implement the ones which are possible.

2) Do you hate Windows Vista because it's eating up your hardware resources and a million different reasons?

Windows Vista is a one hungry monster :) Windows 7 is coming out in 2010. Windows 7 work fast with the mid range hardware that is currently available now in 2008 so that people doesn't have to buy a new machine with Windows 7. The final build of Windows 7 should be as bug free as possible, we don't want to use it for a month and feel that it requires a service pack.It should have optimum support for applications and drivers at the time when it's released. Developers should also be given a nice platform in Windows 7.

P.S. Microsoft can do a Google Search using Vista Sucks and see the current concerns and hope it's not repeated in Windows 7.

20 Reasons why Vista Sucks! is a good place to start!

3) Have you stopped using Internet Explorer because it's slow and lacks extensions?

We all know the glory days of Internet Explorer when people couldn't think of an alternative to browse the internet. Enter Firefox and it's eating away it's market share. Internet Explorer is slow and resource heavy. It lacks extensions too. There is no reason why anyone should use Internet Explorer in the present scenario.But Internet Explorer 8 is coming out and I want it to to that. It should be faster than Google Chrome, support extensions and have a vast and intelligent community making the required extensions for it. Some new features like WebSlices and Accelerators have been introduced in the beta version but we want some more innovation. The best parts of the other browsers should be implemented, like the speed of Chrome, extensions of Firefox or one search or the bittorrent support of Opera!

The market share of Firefox vs. Internet Explorer See how firefox is closing in and Microsoft needs to stop that!

4) Do you feel that Windows Media Player should be light and have codecs installed out of the box?

Windows Media Player is the only media player that comes bundled with the Windows OS. It should then be the best media player around. But it's not! It doesn't have most of the popular codecs installed and is resource heavy. VLC, KMPlayer, mPLAYER are much better alternatives at this time. But I want that to change. I want Windows Media Player 12 to be the best player in the market, a player which would make all the Linux and MAC users envious that it doesn't come in their system!

VLC media player See how fast it is being downloaded by the masses, will this be the case with WMP 12?

I have made my views, opinions and suggestions known to you. Now, I want your feedback. I promise that you even if some of your feedback is not implemented, you will be HEARD! So what are you waiting for?

Windows 7, the real WOW?

2008-09-15T08:16:00.008+05:30

Imagine painting in Photoshop with your hands, rotating and zooming Google Earth by your hand, or playing a piano using your fingers. Well, it will all be possible in the upcoming Windows 7 and I can only say, WOW and this time for real! I was stunned when I saw this D6 Conference Windows 7 Multi Touch Keynote Demo.

We can have Windows DreamScenes (Animated Wallpaper) which will change and behave in a different manner when you touch them. You can literally interact with your computer in a way which wasn't possible before. The possibilities are endless! Having a Windows Media Player 12 behave like iPOD touch or playing multiple videos on your screen, changing and resizing them using your hands just like Tom Cruise did it in Minority Report!

I also want to know what are your ideas which can bring more to this multitouch technology and what are the ways it can be used in other applications? Innovate and dream!

5 features that can make a Windows user switch to Linux

2008-09-14T18:01:00.005+05:30

I have been a Windows user all my life but there are certain features in Linux that makes me have some second thoughts. I am smitten by it's security, reliability, freedom of choices and many other features. I am hereby presenting you 5 features of Linux, which can make a Windows user think, ''Is it time for a change?''

1) Cost

Linux is free. You don't need to spend a single cent for getting it. Even all the software's that comes with it are free. That's completely different from Windows. You need to pay for Windows Vista, you need to pay for Office 2007, you need to pay for Nero and the list goes on and on. If money is a concern for you, Linux is the one and only way to go. Since everything is free, you don't have the nagging Windows Genuine Advantage Validation tool and also you don't have to store and keep in mind the 25 character products keys for different applications.

2) Security and Reliability

Linux is more secure and reliable than Windows. You don't get BSOD's in Linux! Most of the top websites use Linux based systems as it is not uncommon for Linux to run for years without needing a single reboot! Viruses are very few, almost negligible as compared to Windows. Linux is highly resistant to crashing, freezing and is an extremely stable and robust operating system.

3) Updating Software

Windows features Microsoft Update which updates only the Microsoft software's that are installed in your system. It doesn't update, say for instance Adobe Photoshop CS3 or Winamp. You need to manually update each and every software which are not made by Microsoft. But Linux automatically updates each and every software that is installed in your system. It saves a lot of time and effort.

4) Freedom of Choice

When you install Windows Vista, you also get all the default applications installed with it. Suppose you don't need Microsoft Paint or Windows Media Player because it doesn't come with the codecs installed, you cannot install Vista without them. There are many such applications like this which you may not use in your lifetime, but you have to install them. But in Linux, you can pick and install the applications which suits you most. You also have the chance to pick up the Linux distribution which matches with your personality! You can change and try something new everyday as it's FREE. No bloatware!

5) Support

The quality of support for Linux from the Internet is highly praiseworthy. High quality support is available from newsgroups, forums, irc's etc. People say it is as good if not better than the support that comes with proprietary software's. The best and the brightest of the Linux users are there to assist you if you run into any problems and in most cases, the solutions they provide are effective and they provide it with enthusiasm. They welcome you as a part of their family. They don't do it for money but for their love for Linux.

I would also like to add that you don't have to defragment in Linux. It can read an incredibly large number of file systems. You can modify any application according to your needs and preferences as you have the source code with you. Linux can run from a CD. The Linux kernel comes with a huge number of hardware drivers, so most of the common hardware works out of the box. Linux doesn't have a registry like Windows which is complex and hard to manage, but it stores configuration files in text files which are easy to backup/manage and transfer. Linux works faster on the same piece of hardware as compared to Windows. Linux has a much faster rate of development than Windows.

I can really go on and on, but I am letting it rest at this point. So what do you think are the features of Linux that can make a Windows user switch to it, if I have missed any.

5 reasons as to why it's wrong to hate Microsoft

2008-09-12T18:14:00.008+05:30

People hate anything that Microsoft does. It's a common perception that Microsoft is an evil monster. If anyone writes anything good about Microsoft, he gets buried way down. But there are always 2 sides of the same coin. So here are the 5 other sides of MS which I love :-

1) The Windows Operating System

You might be thinking about BSOD's right now, but to me Microsoft is the company that has made computers come to the hands of billions of people who might not even be knowing what a kernel is. They have made computing easier and a whole lot of fun.Windows is the biggest gaming platform apart from the consoles. You will not find such a vast library of applications in any other operating system.

2) Bill Gates

I love Bill Gates. He may be the wealthiest man in the world but he also gives like the wealthiest man in the world. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is helping millions of people in hundreds of different countries. Microsoft may be huge and rich but it's definitely using the platform to make the world a better place.

3) Indirect wealth creation engine

They are helping millions of people indirectly to get their paychecks. The game developers and graphics card manufactures owe a great deal to the Windows platform. There are thousands of websites and blogs which are creating money by writing about or bashing Microsoft products. Adobe which is a big software developer wouldn't be so big, if it wasn't for Microsoft.

4) Innovation

Many people would say that Microsoft doesn't innovate but I beg to differ. They don't rest upon their laurels. They are constantly evolving and changing by taking feedback and improving the existing products. Microsoft Surface, Live Mesh, Photosynth, Silverlight are results of this innovation.

Microsoft Surface

5) Steve Ballmer

Steve Anthony Ballmer is not your typical CEO. He is sweaty, bald, and crazy. Even though Microsoft is not his own company, his enthusiasm and passion about Microsoft sends a signal that he truly loves and worships Microsoft as a company. His wild screamings and dancing on stage and chanting developers 14 times in front of an audience gives a different edge to Microsoft.

See some of his hilarious videos

Going Crazy

Developers

So did you find any reason to like Microsoft?

South Asia MVP Open Day 2008

2008-09-11T22:55:00.005+05:30

We are having the South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 in GOA from November 15-17. It promises to be a lot of fun! There will be meetings with dev product group (IDC), MVP executives and MS folks, speaker pool opportunity, a Photosynth team activity and so much more. We will get to know the MVP's up close and personal. There will also be YOGA from 6:00 in the morning, and that can suck for some of us ;) I may not be able to attend this time around as I have CAT on 16th, but all the rest of you MVP's shouldn't miss the fun!

8 unique features of Google Chrome

2008-09-10T21:49:00.009+05:30

Google has released their own web browser called Chrome. It is fast and has some amazing features. It's still in beta right now so the future couldn't be more brighter. Here I present to you, the top 8 features of Google Chrome which can make it your default web browser now!

1) Simple, Elegant and Effective

Chrome looks simple and clutter free. It's also beautiful because the title bar is big, and looks amazing in Windows Vista, because of the transparency. You can see that there is no menu toolbar or search bar. Chrome has only the bare necessities and that what makes it look different and unique. Even the status bar is done away with but you can see the whole url if you hover your mouse over a particular link.

2) Amazing speed and performance

Chrome is mighty fast as you can see from the benchmark results. It's the fastest browser that I have worked on. It uses the V8 JavaScript engine and WebKit rendering machine to display webpages and the results are there for all to see. This is a SunSpider benchmark for Google Chrome and it's to be noted that smaller the bar the better.

P.S. I got this benchmark test from http://kourge.net/node/122.

3) One box for everything!

Chrome has no search toolbar! The search toolbar and the address bar is unified and this is one of the most innovative features I have seen in a browser. You can just type your query and search from the address bar. It makes searching very simple and fast so you don't have to provide extra memory for a search toolbar.

4) Thumbnails of your top sites

When you start Google Chrome, you get this page which has your recent visited sites. You don't have to manually add anything and you can just click and go to your favourite website. I really enjoyed this feature cause it's automatic.

5) Application Shortcuts

Chrome has a nice feature where you can create application shortcuts of your favorite websites and save them on your computer as desktop shortcuts, etc. They behave like normal programs. The saved webpage opens in a new application window which gives you as much working space as possible.

6) Inspect Element

There is a feature called Inspect Element. Right click on something in a web page and you get the option. It shows the css/html details. There is also a resource tab in the inspect element window which shows the size and also the colored time to download.

7) A nice download manager

Chrome has a nice download manager which is fast and doesn't look like a pop up window. It goes right down to bottom of the web page and shows the downloading status there. It looks much better than the normal pop up download window which the other browsers have.

8) Drag a tab to create a window

You can also drag tabs to form a new Window as you can see in the picture!

So has this article made you switch to Chrome?

10 hilarious anti-Microsoft quotes

2008-09-06T21:47:00.011+05:30

Love or hate Microsoft, these 10 quotes would make both a fan and a hater laugh their heart out. These are so funny and well thought out. I had a good laugh after reading them and I bet you would too!

My friend, Ashish, showed me these hilarious anti-Microsoft quotes from BOARDOFWISDOM.

I picked up 10 quotes from there and here they are :-

1) People say that if you play Microsoft CD's backwards, you hear satanic things, but that's nothing, because if you play them forwards, they install Windows.

2) The box said 'Requires Windows 95 or better'. So I installed LINUX.

3) In a world without fences and walls, who needs Gates and Windows?

4) Microsoft: "You've got questions. We've got dancing paperclips."

5) MICROSOFT = Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Only Fools Teenagers

6) Windows has detected you do not have a keyboard. Press 'F9" to continue.

7) Use The Best...
Linux for Servers
Mac for Graphics
Palm for Mobility
Windows for Solitaire

8) Software is like sex: It's better when it's free.

9) Unix, DOS and Windows...the good, the bad and the ugly.

10) ACs are like computers- Both work fine until you open Windows!

Which is your favorite quote among these? Please let me know in the comments!

5 websites a Windows Vista user must visit!

2008-09-03T14:01:00.009+05:30

As a Windows Vista user, I frequently visit these 5 websites. The websites range from getting gadgets for your sidebar to dynamic wallpapers for your desktop.

WINDOWS VISTA SIDEBAR

Windows Vista has introduced a new feature called the Windows Sidebar. Windows Sidebar contains gadgets which can perform various tasks like showing the CPU usage, weather forecasts, RSS feeds of news, picture slideshows, etc. This website showcases the various gadgets and they are categorized into fun and games, tools and utilities, multimedia etc. You can also sort the gadgets by downloads or rating. All in all a must visit website for all the Windows Vista users out there!

Windows Vista Sidebar

ULTIMATE PC

UltimatePC is for all the Windows Vista Ultimate edition holder. It has got information about the Ultimate Extras that are released, so if you want to learn about the new sound schemes, Windows DreamScene, Language packs, or Bitlocker, you have found yourself in the right place. This website also has tips to get the ultimate experience from your computer. From setting up the ultimate Home Theater to Hollywood quality HD movie editing, it makes sure that your experience is truly ULTIMATE.

UltimatePC

WINDOWS VISTA SOLUTION CENTER

If you want support while working with Windows Vista, then this is the place to be. Are you getting error messages like ''Windows could not search for new updates'', ''An internal error occured while installing the service pack'', etc, this website has all the solutions you need. It is categorized into error messages, configuring, security and privacy, and many more. You can get troubleshooting tips, guided help and articles about the features in Windows Vista. You can even search for the solution of the particular problem you are facing by using the search panel.

Windows Vista Solution Center

WINDOWS VISTA TEAM BLOG

Do you want the latest news about Windows Vista? Do you want to know how to customize IE8 Beta 2 to fit your needs? Windows Vista Blog has all the information about the latest developments that are taking place in Windows Vista. It's as fresh as they come. It will keep you up to date with the latest information available in regards to Vista.

Windows Vista Team Blog

DREAM WINCUSTOMIZE

Windows Vista has an amazing feature called Windows DreamScene which lets you keep videos or animations as your desktop wallpapers. Sadly, it is only available to the users of the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista. But Stardock has come up with DeskScapes 2.0 which allows you to have dynamic wallpapers called dreams in the non-Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. It works in the Ultimate version too and thereby increases dynamic wallpaper gallery!

Dream Gallery

Are you a Windows Vista user? Let me know the 5 websites which you visit the most regarding Windows Vista.

Get Virtual Desktops on Vista

2008-08-29T23:20:00.003+05:30

Windows Vista only: Microsoft still hasn't updated Windows XP PowerToys for Vista, but you can still get multiple desktops with the free Vista Virtual Desktop Manager beta.

Once the software's installed, use key combo's to navigate the desktops, which are mighty pretty with Vista's super-duper video capabilities:

* Windows Key + Z - Show the fullscreen "switcher"

* Windows Key + W - Pop up the window menu for the active window

* Windows Key + Numpad 1...9 - Switch to the corresponding desktop, if it exists

* Windows Key + Arrow Down/Right - Switch to the next desktop

* Windows Key + Arrow Up/Left - Switch to the previous desktop

The beta isn't completely stable just yet, so do proceed with caution.

The Vista Virtual Desktops Manager is a free download for Windows Vista only.

Vista Virtual Desktop Manager

Source

15 ideas for Windows 7 (A bit more like Linux ?)

2008-08-27T22:15:00.011+05:30

Windows 7 is scheduled to come out in 2010. I am satisfied with Vista SP1 to tell you guys the honest truth but I want Windows 7 to be even better. Here I present you with 15 suggestions, I agree that some of them may not be possible but if even a little of it is implemented, I hope that many Windows users will be delighted. Wouldn’t you?

1) Performance, Compatibility should be improved. Please don't make us wait for service packs, make the final Windows 7 release as good as you can. It shouldn't be too resource heavy. The boot up time should be minimized. It should be stable, fast and reliable.

2) The GUI should be changed. I don't know what change you should make but it should be visually spectacular and not resource heavy at the same time. The taskbar can be heavily modified or changed completely. MAC OS X looks great but is not resource heavy at the same time.

3) New Windows Media Player with codecs installed, which can play videos out of the box should be present. An effective audio enhancement tool like DFX audio enhancement or SRS sandbox should replace the existing and less powerful graphic equalizer.

A faster and a resource light Internet Explorer with features which are atleast better than the competition at that moment. Let's make browsers like Firefox/Opera/Safari slow if compared to Internet Explorer. Make features which the other web browsers would follow. I think IE8 beta 2 is an awesome step forward and has many features which the other web browsers lack. Accelerators and WebSlices are a good way to start.

4) Paint should be improved with more features, more like Paint.Net or GIMP. It should atleast have layers and more tools to draw with.

A document reader which can read .doc, .pdf files should be inbuilt. We don't want to pay and install Office to read documents or Adobe/ Foxit reader to read pdf files.

5) A good internet security solution and a good compression utility like WinRAR should be pre-installed supporting the major compression file extensions like .rar. .zip etc

6) Drivers should be automatically detected and installed. We don't want to look for the driver cd or hunt for the drivers in the internet.

7) A chat program which supports major sites like Yahoo, Gmail, and MSN should be pre-installed. More like Pidgin!

8) A good cd/dvd burning software and a tool to mount images (.iso etc)

9) More customizable installation and the ability to add or remove more Windows components, features, etc should be there to make the OS tuned according to one's preferences and needs. Components should be recommended and installed according to the hardware.

10) Windows Movie Maker should implement more features and a Windows Audio Maker can be made. A good Audio and Video converter/splitter should be added.

11) A performance enhancing tool which should include Disk Defragmenter, Disk clean up, Registry cleaner and Defragmenter should be present.

12) Different desktop environments which would alter the looks of Windows or atleast a tool like that. Themes are too basic to bring about a noticeable big difference in the UI except colors and wallpapers. Tools like Talisman Desktop or WindowsBlinds are needed to achieve that at the present moment.

13) Tabbed Explorer feature would be a nice addition to the Windows Explorer.

14) Ability to read file systems of Linux, MAC OS X. I should be atleast able to access the movies, pictures or music kept in my Linux partition.

15) Please don't make a large number of SKU's for Windows 7. The number of sku's of Vista has confused many users of which one to take, so keep that number as low as possible in Windows 7.

I would be glad if you can post your suggestions in the comments section! Let me know the features you want to see. Let me conclude by saying that even though there are some distributions of Linux like Debian , which provide all the softwares for free but in case of Microsoft many would consider this to be a monopoly, providing all the software's for free, made by Microsoft developers ( what would the other developers do). Well, make it better or have more features. And if that's not acceptable then instead of providing the software's for free, Microsoft can add a price tag to it. Like you get all these extra tools or software in a dvd, for a price, and which is not included in the OS. Or they can even enter agreements with the major players in the market like Adobe, etc. But many of the ideas which I mentioned here can be done for free without thinking of a law suit from the other software developers!

Why I prefer Windows more than Linux?

2008-08-26T21:29:00.008+05:30

Linux has been there as an operating system for a long time and even though it's free, it has not been able to take a sizeable market share out of the Windows operating system. I tried to find out what are the main reasons behind this.

1) Why bother to switch from Windows to Linux?

I mean why would a Windows user would want to switch to Linux? An average PC user doesn't want a cli interface to do all his tasks. You can argue that some Linux distribution has gui too but if you are comfortable with gui, why would you switch? Security? Getting to know how the operating system works? Have more freedom? Use a good internet security suite and update your Windows operating system regularly for security. Moreover, when anyone purchases a PC, in more than 90 % of cases it is preloaded with the Windows operating system. So they get used to it and are in no mood to change. Windows has as all the features for an average PC user and also for the developers.

2) Where are the applications like Photoshop CS3, Flash CS3, Adobe Premiere........

Granted there is OpenOffice, GIMP and many such applications but they don't come anywhere close to their Windows counterparts. Either they are lacking in many features or are stripped down versions of their Windows counterparts.

3) Games! Where are Crysis, Half Life 2 and Grand Theft Auto?

Linux has no games as such which are worth mentioning. PC’s are all round devices, and Linux makes the PC handicapped in this respect.

4) Market share makes Linux lose out

Since Linux has such a low market share, maybe most people in your neighbourhood and your friends wouldn't know about it at all. So internet is the main source of support. If you don't have internet, Linux can be your worst nightmare.

5) Where are the drivers?

People used to complain about the lack of drivers of Windows Vista (it has been more or less sorted out with time) but if they see the state of drivers with Linux, they wouldn't complain at all!

How to dual-boot Vista with XP (with XP installed first)

2008-08-25T00:15:00.004+05:30

Scenario: You want to install Vista on your PC alongside your XP installation, on the same drive. You have already installed XP. (If you installed Vista first, see our other tutorial on How to dual-boot Vista and XP - with Vista installed first.)

Tutorial Summary: We're going to use the DISKPART utility on the Vista DVD to shrink the Windows XP partition on the hard disk and create enough space for an installation of Vista. We'll then install Vista and use the EasyBCD utility to modify Vista's bootloader to get XP loading properly.

This is an updated tutorial,based on our first Windows XP/Vista dual-booting workshop. The main difference is that we're covering using both the latest version of GParted and DISKPART to shrink the Windows XP partition.

DISKPART can shrink NTFS partitions and it's certainly the more convenient option, but on some systems using DISKPART to shrink the volume will fail, with an vague "Access is denied" error.

This may have something to do with different disk controllers, as this was a problem on the AcerPower test system which has a SATA hard drive, but not on the VMWare system which uses a virtual IDE controller. So we'll cover both processes

EasyBCD has also been updated since the first tutorial was written.

This tutorial was tested on a VMWare Workstation 6 virtual machine and an AcerPower SK50.

Using GParted

We assume that before you start this tutorial, you have backed up the drive (partitions and data) that will host the two operating systems.

Your first step will be to modify the Windows XP system partition to make space for Vista using GParted

The GParted Live CD ISO is available here – burn it to CD and boot the system from the disc. The version we used was 0.3.4-7. It's important that you download this specific version because we've found that the operation of GParted does differ from version to version, and we know 0.3.4-7 works.

Boot the Linux machine from the GParted LiveCD. Depending on your system, you should just need to select the auto-configuration boot option.

During boot, press Enter twice when prompted to select the keymap and language settings.

When the main GUI loads, right-click on the main Windows XP NTFS partition (depending on your setup, probably /dev/hda1) and select Resize/Move.

Resize Partition

Use the slider to reduce the partition size and free up enough room to instal Vista (at least 10GB) and click Resize/Move.

Resize Partition 2

The changes haven’t actually been made, they’ve just been scheduled to run. To commit the changes and resize the partition, click Apply. GParted will ask to confirm the changes – hit OK and away you go.

Using DISKPART

Boot the machine from the Vista DVD. Select the appropriate language and then "Install Now".

Load Vista

On the product key page, press SHIFT + F10 to launch a Windows PE 2.0 command window. Then type in DISKPART and press enter to get into the DISKPART utility.

DISKPART

Now type in LIST VOLUME - this gives you a readout of the volumes available on the system. Select the main Windows XP volume (probably Volume 0) by typing in SELECT VOLUME 0.

DISKPART Volume

Now type in SHRINK. Vista will reduce the size of Volume 0 (the selected Volume) by around 50%.

DISKPART Shrink

Once that is done, type in EXIT and EXIT again to get back to the Vista installation window.

Now Install Vista

If you used the GParted LiveCD to shrink the XP partition, you'll need to reboot the system from the Vista install DVD. If you've used DISKPART then you just need to continue the installation. Once the install gets to the install location, there should be at least two options: a partition marked as Primary and unallocated space. Select the unallocated space and click Next. The install will then commence.

Install Vista

The Vista boot manager will take over the system completely, and Windows XP effectively loads via Vista. It’s all pretty seamless though, and you shouldn’t encounter any technical problems.

Modify Vista's Bootloader

Once Vista is installed and the system reboots, you’ll be presented with a boot menu with two options: “Microsoft Windows Vista” and “An Earlier Version of Windows”.

Boot Menu

This is perhaps a little bit bland, so you’ll probably want to change it. Here’s where one of the new features of Vista comes in, and it’s not so terrific. In Windows XP if you want to modify the bootloader, just right-click on My Computer, select Properties, go to the Advanced Tab, and click Settings under Startup and Recovery, then click Edit. This opens a local file – boot.ini. It’s just a standard text file and you can change pretty much anything. Unfortunately it’s not that easy in Vista – you can still navigate to the Startup and Recovery settings, but all you can do is select which operating system is the default and modify the timeout settings.

To edit Vista’s boot manager you have to use the command line BCDEDIT utility. To access BCDEDIT, run the Command Window as an administrator and type in BCDEDIT.

Unfortunately BCDEDIT isn’t an easy tool to come to terms with, especially as it’s purely command line-driven. So, a great tool to use here is EasyBCD by NeoSmart Technologies. EasyBCD offers a GUI frontend to BCDEDIT, and makes life much easier.

Once Vista is installed, call up the browser and navigate to the EasyBCD download page - download, install and launch the application.

To configure the bootloader go to “Configure Boot” – you’ll see the two entries, for XP and Vista.
To change the name of Windows XP, just overwrite “Earlier Version of Windows” with “Windows XP” and click Save Settings.

Modify Boot

Reboot the system and the changes are visible. You have a dual-booting Vista and XP system. That's all there is to it.

Changed Boot

Open up Windows Explorer and there’s two hard drives – the primary disk running Vista and the secondary disk with XP installed. Restart the system and load up Windows XP, and the XP disk is now the primary, with the Vista partition running on the secondary D: drive

If you decide that dual-booting Vista and XP is not for you, EasyBCD lets you wind back the clock.

All you have to do is remove Vista’s boot manager – go to “Manage Bootloader”, select “Uninstall the Vista Bootloader” and then “Write MBR”. Restart the machine and that’s it – the XP boot loader is the only one left on the system and XP loads. You can then delete the Vista partition and use GParted to re-extend the partition to take up the entire disk, or the Extend command in Vista DISKPART.

Source

"Up" Keyboard Shortcut for Windows Vista Explorer

2008-08-23T21:30:00.003+05:30

The new Explorer window in Windows Vista doesn't have an Up button, which drives me completely batty. Thankfully I found a keyboard shortcut replacement.

Let's say I'm in my x:\wpmu\wp-content directory. Sure, I can usually click the "wpmu" part of the path and simulate the Up button, but it doesn't always work, especially if I've lowered the size of the window or tiled two windows beside each other.

This window is 600px wide, shouldn't I have an easier way to go Up? Turns out I do… if I just hit the following key combination:

Alt+Up

Ahhh, so much better… now I'm in the parent directory!

Note that this is also the quickest way to get to the Desktop folder… just keep hitting Alt+Up until you get to the right folder.

Other interesting keyboard shortcuts for Explorer:

Alt+Right - Go forward
Alt+Left- Go back
Alt+D - Focus the address bar and select the current path.
F4 - Pop up the dropdown in the address bar, actually somewhat useful.
Alt+Enter - Properties of the selected file
Ctrl+Mousewheel - change the size of the icons
F11 - Put explorer into Fullscreen mode. Actually kinda weird, and I have no idea why this function is even there.

Enjoy!

Source

PCs Are Superior to Macs

2008-08-22T23:38:00.004+05:30

Signaling yet again that the time for inaction when it comes down to the damage delivered by Apple's Get a Mac ads is over and done with, Microsoft has come out with the proverbial guns blazing. The Redmond giant, through the voice of Christopher Flores, Director Windows Communications, is applauding Windows Vista PCs as superior to Mac computers running Mac OS X. Flores is basing his claims on an independent journalistic source.

"Windows Vista PCs win "hands-down" over Macs for things like better software compatibility, better community support, IE and greater user productivity. And his fundamental point on cost should hit home for anyone (not just online investors) in the market for a new computer," he indicated.

The key criterion offered by Flores is a comparison between the price of a Compaq Presario CQ50Z laptop and a MacBook. Sporting a 1.9 GHz dual-core CPU, 1 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce graphics card, and a 120 gigabyte HDD, the Compaq Presario CQ50Z comes with a price tag of just $500.

In contrast, the MacBook machine, featuring the same hardware characteristics, but with a 2.1 GHz processor will cost customers no less than $1,099. That is a difference of $600, weighing in to the disadvantage of Apple.

"For most people, a 156% price mark-up is too steep for admission to the club (and most people don't buy computers to join clubs anyway). Picking a Windows Vista PC over a Mac is no-brainer for business customers in particular - it's a smarter use of resources, offers hardware choice (something sorely lacking with Macs), and flexibility to use whichever applications make the most sense," Flores concluded, indicating yet again that the software giant will no longer sit back and be trashed by Apple, and that it will fire back.

Source

Seinfeld booked to give Gates the last laugh

2008-08-22T00:17:00.002+05:30

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld will headline Microsoft's upcoming $300 million Windows Vista ad campaign, along with Chairman Bill Gates, according to anonymous sources quoted in The Wall Street Journal.

Seinfeld will get $10 million for his work on the campaign, whose slogan is along the lines of "Windows, Not Walls."

The campaign is Microsoft's attempt to hit back at Apple, which for the last few years has trashed Windows PCs, and Vista in particular, in the public consciousness with its "I'm a Mac" campaign. Some ad execs I've talked with can't remember a campaign that has done so much to define a competitors' product.

The Seinfeld Vista campaign will likely be the subject of much discussion around Microsoft. I've heard from multiple sources that there was heated debate over whether to even launch a counterattack against Apple, which still has a small fraction of the market share for personal computers compared with Windows.

The Journal article didn't say whether any Seinfeld catch phrases -- such as Yada, Yada, Yada -- would be part of the campaign, which could launch as soon as Sept. 4.

What do you think of using Seinfeld and the slogan "Windows, Not Walls"?

Source

Ten Reasons Why Vista is better than XP!

2008-08-20T23:26:00.005+05:30

1. It's more secure than Windows XP. After being implicitly responsible for botnets and security breaches through the incredible popularity of their Windows XP, Microsoft went back and made sure Vista is more secure than its predecessor. And it is. According to security firm PC Tools, Vista had 639 unique threats over a six-month period, whereas XP had 1021. This came from much internal restructuring under the hood, but there's a chance that it might be due to Vista being a smaller target than XP for malware as well.

2. It's the best looking Windows yet. Despite any complaints users may have about Aero hogging up too many CPU cycles or requiring a video card from this millennium to use, it's still the best looking Windows yet. I mean really, do you remember what XP looked like out of the box? With that gigantic balloon of a task bar and the green Start button. Vista's glass definitely trumps that. And then there's the underlying graphical framework changes which allow new features like live thumbnails. All these visual effects may require more power, but you can't deny that it's pleasing to look at.

If you want to disable Aero for certain applications for performance or compatibility reasons, see here.

3. Games work just about as well as under XP. There's a slight performance degradation under Vista when compared to Windows XP using the exact same hardware. Is it noticeable? Probably, but it's somewhere around the level of 10%. There's also the consideration of DirectX 10 and the visual improvements you'll get in the future when more developers really take advantage of it. With a slightly better video card, you won't even really notice that you're going at 90FPS versus 100FPS.

4. Vista Media Center is a fantastic DVR. Microsoft integrates their fantastic Windows Media Center Edition into Home Premium and Ultimate, and it's pretty much the best DVR you can get outside of getting a TiVo. Combine it with various Media Center Extenders, of which there are lots (such as the Xbox 360), you can get HDTV streamed to anywhere in your house from one computer in your office. Our only complaint is still that Cable Labs doesn't allow you to stick a CableCARD tuner onto just any appropriately spec'd Vista PC—you actually have to buy a machine pre-made for CableCARD.

5. The sleep mode works. Sleep mode in Windows XP was essentially a shortcut for locking up your computer and forcing you to reboot. It actually does what it's supposed to in Vista.

6. Built-in search is better and more useful. Vista's searching feature relies on cataloging your hard drive, then searching the resulting database to quickly (and easily) find your files. By default it's just limited to a couple user folders, but if you expand it to your entire hard drive, you'll be able to find anything fast, much like the way Spotlight works on a Mac. The downside is that during the first day or two, everything slows down while Vista indexes your computer. Best to leave it on overnight or over a weekend while you're away.

7. User Account Control is useful for some people. I have to admit that I've turned this off but UAC—the thing that pops up and asks you for your password whenever you do something on the system level—is useful in theory for many people, especially those who share a family computer. Hide the administrator password from your parents/grandparents/kids so they won't be able to install any weird apps they're not supposed to. In practice, it's a bit annoying in that it pops up for mundane things that shouldn't really need system-level clearance. It's a step in the right direction; however, if you want to disable UAC for certain programs, see here.

8. Drivers support isn't as bad as it's made out to be. Although "Man gets Windows Vista to work with printer" may be an actual non-Onion headline, the root cause of his original woes was that the man installed a Windows XP printer driver instead of the correct Vista one. But there is a smaller percentage of users who—no matter how old or new their peripheral is—can't get it to work with Windows Vista. The blame for this lies on peripheral manufacturers who either can't or won't update their drivers to support the new OS. There's not much you or Microsoft can do here, but it's rarer than you'd think from reading the internet.

9. It's not any buggier than Windows XP. This is a bit of a corollary to #1, but out of the many, many Vista users we've seen, they almost all agree that the only times Vista has crashed or blue-screened on them was when they were doing something they usually don't do. The OS by itself rarely crashes in everyday use, and compared to even OS X Leopard, it's pretty damn sturdy. In a year's worth of daily use, we think the OS has probably only crashed once, if that.

10. Vista is not slow if you have enough RAM. One of the main complaints that users have is that Vista is slow, but they either upgraded Vista from an old machine or they purchased a "Vista Ready" system with only 512MB to 1GB worth of RAM. You can run Vista with 1GB of RAM, but like OS X, you really want to have at least 2GB. Modern operating systems get fatter because they DO more stuff for you under the hood, such as optimizing your memory for the applications you run often so they load faster.

Source

Don't be misled by these 10 Windows Vista myths

2008-08-19T23:44:00.004+05:30

Now that Windows Vista has officially launched and is available to consumers, everybody's talking about it. Unfortunately, a lot of what I'm hearing--from both Windows fans and the ABM (Anybody But Microsoft) crowd--needs to be taken with a grain of salt. In many cases, what the information lacks in accuracy, it makes up for in sensationalism. But how do you sort through all the hype and get a real picture of what the new OS will and won't do for you?

In this article, I'll take a look at some of the exaggerations, distortions, and out-and-out untruths I've heard floating around about Vista.

Myth #1: You'll have to buy a new, high-end PC to run Vista

Many in the mainstream media are claiming that to run Vista, you'll almost certainly have to buy a new computer. This myth is undoubtedly being encouraged by hardware vendors, but it's not true. I was able to install Vista on my existing Dell Dimension mid-priced system with no problems, and the existing video card, an ATI x600, runs Aero Glass.

If your computer is older or a low-end machine, you can still probably install and use Vista but you may not get the Aero Glass interface. Although Glass adds a lot of "wow" factor, it's not something that's essential to getting work done. You'll still benefit from Vista's security enhancements, search functionality, and added features. If you do want the Glass look, you still may not need to buy a new system. Instead, you can add RAM to bring your system up to the 1 GB recommended for Glass and install a new video card that supports it.

Another myth I've heard is that only PCI Express (PCIe) video cards support Aero Glass, so if your computer doesn't have a PCIe slot, you're out of luck. That's not true either. Video card vendors have regular PCI cards that will run Glass. I'm running it on a system with a relatively inexpensive GeForce 5200 card with 256 MB of memory in a regular PCI slot.

If you do choose to buy a new PC, you don't need a high-end one that costs thousands of dollars to run Vista. Just a couple of days after the launch, retailers began offering machines preloaded with Vista Home Premium, complete with LCD monitors, for as low as $600.

Myth #2: Vista will solve all your security problems

Microsoft is touting Vista's improved security, but no operating system is perfectly secure (and no OS ever will be). Running Vista doesn't mean you don't still need perimeter firewalls, antivirus protection, and other third-party security mechanisms.

Because much of operating system, including its networking technologies, has been redesigned and new code written, Vista is likely to present some vulnerabilities that weren't in older versions of the OS even as it fixes many that were. This is true of any new software and Vista, despite its focus on security and Microsoft's best efforts, is no exception.

In fact, Microsoft shipped the first critical security update for Vista over a year ago, when it was still in the beta testing stage. It will be just as important with Vista as with any other operating system to ensure that updates are installed regularly. The danger is that novice users, hearing that Vista is more secure, may let their guard down and fail to take the protective measures necessary to prevent attacks, virus infestations, etc.

Myth #3: Vista is no more secure than XP SP2

On the other hand, some of Vista's detractors have been claiming that the new operating system offers no security advantage at all. I've heard computer "experts" on the radio say that Vista is no more secure than Windows XP with Service Pack 2, and an eWeek article last summer went so far as to report that Symantec security researchers were contending that Vista "could harbor a range of vulnerabilities that will make it less secure than previous iterations of Windows."

It's true that, properly updated, Windows XP is a pretty secure OS. But Vista includes a number of new security enhancements that XP doesn't have. For example, User Account Control (UAC) in Vista protects against attacks that rely on elevation of privileges. Internet Explorer 7, when running on Vista, leverages UAC to run in Protected Mode, which keeps Web applications from writing to system folders. IE7 doesn't run in Protected Mode on XP.

BitLocker drive encryption, available in Vista Enterprise and Ultimate versions, provides a way to keep unauthorized persons from accessing sensitive data on a stolen or lost laptop. The Windows Firewall in Vista allows you to block outgoing traffic as well as incoming. Windows service hardening reduces the potential for damage if one of Windows' services is compromised. Vista includes the Network Access Protection client, which allows administrators to restrict computers that are properly updated or don't have antivirus, anti-spyware, or firewalls from connecting to company networks.

Those are just a few of the new security improvements included in Vista.

Myth #4: The only thing new about Vista is the eye candy

Your first impression of an operating system, like your first impression when meeting another person, is often based on appearance. And Vista's appearance does make an impression. With Aero Glass turned on, the transparent window borders, 3 D animations, and other visual effects make it clear (no pun intended) that this is a whole new Windows.

However, the changes to Vista amount to more than just a pretty interface. In addition to the security improvements discussed above, many aspects of the operating system have been reworked to improve usability and provide new functionality. For example:

The search capabilities have been greatly expanded, so that you can easily find documents, programs, and other objects, and even run applications, from a single box in the Start menu.
New productivity applications are built into Vista, including a calendaring/task list program called Windows Calendar and a new, improved address book called Windows Contacts. Together with Windows Mail (the replacement for Outlook Express), these provide much of the same functionality as Outlook, without the need to purchase Office. There are other new built-in applications, too, such as the Snipping Tool that makes it easy to do a screen capture of any desired area without installing third-party software such as SnagIt.

Changes to Windows Explorer make it easier to organize and view your files, with more options. For example, you can see thumbnails of all files (not just graphics) and view their contents in the preview pane without opening them, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

You can preview files in Windows Explorer without opening them.

Explorer also features automatic horizontal scrolling when needed, and you can select multiple files using check boxes instead of the old method of holding down the [Ctrl] key. Many little things make the user experience less frustrating; for example, when you select to rename a file in Explorer, only the filename is changed; by default the extension remains the same.

These are only a few of the new Vista features that can be enjoyed with or without the Aero Glass interface.

Myth #5: You can't dual boot Vista with another operating system

One of the strangest and most inaccurate statements I heard was that "With Vista, you can't run two operating systems on the same computer like you could in the past." That's news to me, as I'm currently running two computers that dual boot Vista and XP. As with previous versions, a boot menu is displayed when the computer starts, and you can choose either Vista or Previous version of Windows.

Now, it is true that for some reason, on the Boot tab of the System Configuration Utility in Vista, only the Vista operating system shows up even though I can boot into XP from the boot menu. As with XP, the System Configuration Utility is accessed by typing msconfigat the command line. Figure B shows the tool.

Figure B

You can dual boot Vista with another OS, but the other OS doesn't show up in the Boot tab of the System Configuration Utility.

You may also notice that the old boot.ini file, which was used to edit the boot configuration information in Windows NT, 2000, and XP, is missing. Now the boot options are stored in the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store, and the system is started by the Windows Boot Manager.

You use a tool called Bcdedit.exe to change the boot information.

Myth #6: Vista requires (or includes) Office 2007

I recently read an article in a well-respected national publication that, in listing a number of things the author didn't like about Vista, included the new "ribbon bar" in Word. Oops--that's not a Vista feature; it's a feature of Office 2007, which apparently was installed on the Vista machine he was testing.

I've also seen several references to the need to upgrade to Office 2007 when you install Vista. Well, of course you can, but it's by no means a requirement. Office 2003 runs fine on Vista. This bit of misinformation seems to be most often used in articles that inflate the projected cost to deploy Vista; you can make those numbers look higher if you add in the cost of upgrading Office, too.

Also, contrary to the rumor that Microsoft made Vista so open source competitors of its office products won't run on it, I had no problems at all installing and running Open Office, the open source alternative to Microsoft Office, shown in Figure C.

Figure C

Figure C

You can install the free Open Office software on Vista if you don't want to buy Microsoft Office.

Myth #7: Most old applications and peripherals won't work with Vista

Circulating amongst the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) being spread about Vista is the idea that upgrading will subject you to all kinds of application incompatibilities. Some programs made for XP, especially those that hook into the kernel, like antivirus programs and some system utilities, won't work with Vista. However, the majority of applications that run on XP will also run on Vista.

In some cases, you may need to install or run older programs in Compatibility mode (right-click the program file, select Properties, and click the Compatibility tab to select compatibility options) and/or run the program as an administrator for it to work properly.

You don't have to figure out most compatibility issues for yourself. Vista comes with the Program Compatibility Assistant, which can detect what changes need to be made to run a program and resolve conflicts with UAC that may be preventing a program from running correctly. It runs automatically when it detects an older program that has compatibility issues. You can also use the Program Compatibility Wizard, a tool that you run manually from the Control Panel Programs and Features section (in native view).

There have also been many reports about hardware peripherals, especially printers and scanners, that don't work with Vista. It's true that some hardware vendors were slow to provide Vista drivers during the Vista beta testing period. By the time Vista launched to the consumer market, though, many hardware drivers were included on the installation DVD and many more will be made available in the next few months.

My older HP OfficeJet G55 had no problems working with Vista, and if you peruse the list of supported printers (Control Panel Printers Add A Printer Wizard), you'll see that Vista supports a large number of printers from HP, IBM, Brother, Canon, Citizen, Dell, Epson, Fujitsu, Konica, Kyocera Mita, Lexmark, Minolta, NEC, Oki, Panasonic, Ricoh, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Xerox, and other major printer vendors.

Myth #8: You have to buy a Premium version of Vista if you have a dual core machine

There was initially some confusion over the specification that Vista Home Editions support only a single processor. Some folks took this to mean that that version of Vista wouldn't run on dual core machines.

Dual core CPUs do contain two processors--but they're combined on one chip or die. This is called chip-level multiprocessing and it's different from having two separate physical processors installed on the same machine. Even though a dual core machine will show the activity of two processors in Windows performance monitoring tools (see the two separate graphs for processor activity in Figure D), Microsoft's definition of "processor" refers to the number of physical CPUs, not the number of cores. (This policy is laid out in "Multicore Processor Licensing.")

Figure D

Dual core machines show the activity of two processors in performance monitoring tools.

In fact, all versions of Vista will run on a machine with multiple processors installed--but Home Basic and Premium will recognize and use only one of the processors.

Myth #9: You won't be able to play ripped music in Vista

Have you heard about the horrors of Vista's DRM (Digital Rights Management)? Some people have implied that it will prevent you from playing any music or movie files unless you download and pay for them online. Others are speculating that even the media you do buy may be blocked.

Interestingly, the people who are spreading this one all seem to be folks who have never used Vista (and, according to many of them, never will). The real story: I have no problem playing music files that were ripped from CDs on Windows Media Player 10 or in Vista's Windows Media Center application. Yes, I legally own the CDs, but Vista has no way of knowing that. All of the media that imported from my XP Windows Media Center computer, including recorded TV programs, played without a problem.

For a more thorough discussion of content protection in Vista, see this article from CreateDigitalMusic.com.

Myth #10: Vista costs a lot more than XP

Ever since pricing for the various editions of Vista was announced, I've heard a lot of griping and grumbling about how much it costs. Windows XP came in only two versions that were available at retail: Home, which was priced at $199 for the full package and $99 for the upgrade, and Professional, which was priced at $299 for the full package and $199 for the upgrade.

Vista gives you many more options:

Home Basic: $199 full, $99 upgrade
Home Premium: $239 full, $159 upgrade
Business: $299 full, $199 upgrade
Ultimate: $399 full, $259 upgrade

Everyone seems to be focusing on the price for Ultimate, but if you look at the versions that are directly comparable to the two versions of XP (Home Basic and Business), you'll see that they cost exactly the same as their XP counterparts did five years ago.

Home Premium includes the Windows Media Center and Tablet PC functionality, along with Aero Glass and extra applications such as Windows Movie Maker, Windows Meeting Space, Mobility Center, and Scheduled Backup. Windows XP Media Center Edition and Tablet PC Edition weren't available at retail; you could only get them preinstalled by the OEM.

Ultimate Edition also includes Media Center and Tablet PC, along with business extras such as BitLocker encryption, Remote Desktop, and Windows Complete Backup and Restore. In fact, Ultimate includes all the home entertainment features of Home Premium plus all the corporate goodies of Business and Enterprise editions, and the upgrade to Ultimate costs only $59 more than the XP Pro upgrade while offering a great deal more functionality.

Source

Enable BitLocker without a TPM

2008-08-19T00:39:00.002+05:30

Vista tells you it needs a TPM for BitLocker, but it lies. Follow these steps to enable BitLocker without a TPM:

1. Open the group policy editor by clicking Start, typing gpedit.msc, and then pressing Enter.

2. Navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows
Components\BitLocker Drive Encryption.

3. Double-click Control Panel Setup: Enable Advanced Startup Options.

4. Click Enable. Then, select the Allow BitLocker Without A Compatible TPM checkbox.

5. Click OK.

Now, you can enable BitLocker without a TPM.

Source

Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 Leaked

2008-08-19T00:32:00.006+05:30

Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008, labeled as codename Windows Fiji, throughout the development process, has been released to manufacturing in mid-July 2008. Designed as an upgrade for the Windows Media Center component of the Home Premium and Ultimate SKUs of Windows Vista, Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 has been confirmed by Microsoft as an OEM-exclusive release. This means that Microsoft has no intention of serving the first Windows Media Center upgrade to end users running the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of the latest Windows client. However, despite this, Windows Fiji has been leaked to torrent websites and is now available for download from peer-to-peer networks.

Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 was initially planned as the first major update of WMC, shipped by default with Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. In development since 2007, Windows Fiji ended up as a release available only to Microsoft's original equipment partners offering hardware products running Windows Media Center. Ben Reed, WMC product marketing manager, explained that Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 would be served only to OEMs because of geography-specific technical and hardware requirements.

Source

OFFTOPIC: Why doesn't folders get sorted out by size?

2008-08-18T00:15:00.004+05:30

I have recently realised that folders don't get arranged or sorted out by size. Only files can be sorted out by size. I know that some people would say that it would take a lot of time to calculate the size of the folders and sort them but I guess there should atleast be an option where users can turn this feature on or off. Maybe there can be something like indexing or superfetch so that it doesn't take long to calculate the size and sort the folders in that way. So what do you guys feel about it?

Windows Vista Parental Controls

2008-08-16T22:56:00.003+05:30

Most of the info on this blog has been focused on the benefits of User Account Control for the enterprise and was written for IT professionals and developers. This post highlights one of the key benefits for home computer users, and in particular, for parents.

One of the limitations to providing really complete parental controls in the past was that all users of the computers were administrators and could probably undo most of the settings the parent tried to enforce. Windows Vista helps solve that problem by enabling people to use Windows without administrator privileges and adds a robust set of Parental Controls that parents can use to ensure their children are accessing appropriate programs and Web sites, when it is appropriate for them to be doing so.

To illustrate how the Family Safety Settings work and how they are integrated with User Account Control, I will use characters in a fictitious family where Abby is the parent and Toby is the child. Abby and Toby are personas that we’ve been using for years in developing Windows Vista and you will see these names often in screenshots on Microsoft.com and in demonstrations of Windows Vista.

Integral to the successful use of parental controls is the concept of User Account Control, and individual, non-administrator accounts for each user. Abby empowers Toby by giving him his own logon account, but with parameters that ensure she can confidently give him his independence within that account.

After creating an account for Toby, Abby enables Parental Controls on Toby’s account through the Control Panel. Abby can chose to limit what Web sites Toby can visit, what programs and games Toby can use, what time he can use the computer, and she can also access a report on all of his activities. Parental Controls in Windows Vista gives parents the option of taking a more active role in their children’s safe computer use, if they so choose, and can facilitate some healthy discussions about boundaries and how to stay safe online.

To encourage a collaborative approach to child safe computing, limitations set through Parental Controls are not hidden in Windows Vista - if Toby tries to access a Web site that his mother did not give him permission to see, he will see the following screen in his Web browser informing him that the Web site is blocked.

However, the screen also provides a link to “Ask an administrator for permission” to visit the site. If he clicks that link, he will be given the User Account Control over-the shoulder credentials prompt. This way if Abby feels like this is a site she wants Toby to visit, she has an easy way to grant permission.

After she provides her password, she is given one more dialog so she knows exactly what site she is giving Toby access to.

This example highlights the need to have strong passwords for all computer accounts. If Abby’s password was blank or easily guessed, Toby could easily circumvent the parental controls.

This also underscores the need for software that works well for non-administrator accounts. We anticipate that the Parental Controls will be a primary reason that many families want to get a computer with Windows Vista. However, since Parental Controls can only be enabled for non-administrator accounts, it is important that software developers create software—particularly educational tools, games, and other programs designed for children—that works well for standard users.

Source

Windows Vista's SuperFetch and ReadyBoost Analyzed : Cache Me If You Can!

2008-08-16T22:34:00.003+05:30

Windows Vista has been available only for few days and opinions about the new operating system are controversial. Some like it; others mistrust it and the business strategy that may be behind it. The new OS brings noticeable improvement in usability, accessibility and networking features, which helps less experienced users to get along. On the other hand it requires much more hardware resources, dumps native OpenGL support, performs slightly behind Windows XP and requires at least new drivers for many of your devices. In the worst case, your preferred applications may not even work anymore and Vista will not only require new hardware, but several software upgrades as well.

Windows has been the dominant client/end user PC operating system for more than a decade, which has predictable effects on new releases. If Microsoft decided to turn its operating system inside out, it can literally do so, because there is no real choice. Windows has become the ecosystem for our digital life. Though there are alternatives, most of them lack convenience, support, funding or the proper marketing. Vista is a prime example of strategic and technological modifications that involve the whole industry. Although Windows is barely catching up to what Mac OS X has already offered, no one can deny that Windows Vista is the better Windows from a user's perspective. That's why Microsoft has an excellent position marketing the advantages. Windows feels fluffy, and the new Windows Vista feels even fluffier, which makes it very easy to accept it - despite all odds. Finding your Windows alternative and getting used to it is time-consuming, which prevents most users from even trying. Eventually, using Windows is a matter of convenience for many people.

It will take time until drivers and updates for all your hardware (and software) will be available. However, don't expect too much support for older hardware. If you fail to find updates for your devices by the middle of 2007 then you better prepare to replace it. Vista is a very significant release - both for the end user and for both the hardware industry and the software vendors.
Whether you embrace or reject the Vista wind of change, Windows has learned to serve you better. We've already discussed the usability advantages that Vista will give you. But there is much more to talk about, covered under the colorful AeroGlass hood. Microsoft's Vista requirements envisioned a better overall user experience, which means that Vista supposedly runs smoother. This doesn't refer to application execution performance, but to ironing out delays that we've come to accept with Windows XP. We have to wait every time you start the system or launch an application, which is because applications have to be loaded from the hard drive.

Vista comes with two mechanisms that effectively reduce the time required to launch popular applications: SuperFetch analyzes your behavior and proactively puts applications into available main memory, so they can be launched quicker. Of course this requires as much main memory as possible, which is where the second feature engages: ReadyBoost allows expanding the main memory size by plugging in a USB 2.0 Flash drive. Although the data transfer performance of USB 2.0 devices cannot compete with modern hard drives, access times for Flash memory are literally nonexistent, making these devices a nice and particularly cheap choice.

Source

Windows SideShow

2008-08-16T00:11:00.006+05:30

Wouldn't it be great if you could read an e-mail message, confirm a meeting location, or check a flight reservation without turning on your computer? What if you could check the program guide in Windows Media Center by using a display that's built into your remote control? Windows SideShow puts this information literally at your fingertips on a wide variety of devices that can retrieve information from your mobile PC or desktop computer.

Windows SideShow is a new technology that delivers information from your PC to a secondary display on two kinds of devices: those that are integrated into a computer, such as a small color display in a laptop lid; and those that are separate from a computer, such as a remote control or mobile phone. With this additional display you can view important information whether your laptop is on, off, or in sleep mode. Windows SideShow is available in Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, and Windows Vista Ultimate.

Windows SideShow uses gadgets, convenient mini programs, to extend information from your computer to other devices. Gadgets can run on a Windows SideShow–compatible device and update that device with information from your computer. Using a gadget, you can view information from your computer regardless of whether your mobile PC is on, off, or in the sleep power state—which can save you both time and battery life.

Choose gadgets and customize settings in Control Panel

Windows Vista contains a central location in Control Panel called Windows SideShow where you can turn gadgets on or off for each of your devices.

From Control Panel, you can also set your computer to wake periodically (such as every hour) so that all gadgets that are turned on can update your devices with the latest information.

Source

Become familiar with Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption

2008-08-15T23:48:00.009+05:30

Data security on lost or stolen PC devices is a growing concern among security experts and corporate executives. The data stored on the PC asset is often significantly more valuable to a corporation than the asset itself, and the loss, theft or unwanted disclosure of that data can be very damaging.

BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature available in Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate for client computers and in Windows Server 2008. BitLocker is Microsoft's response to a frequent customer request: address these very real threats of data theft or disclosure from lost, stolen or inappropriately decommissioned PC hardware with a tightly integrated solution in the Windows Operating System.

The technical particulars

BitLocker uses either 128- or 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption; the level of encryption is up to you and is configurable using Group Policies. BitLocker works best when used on a system with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2. A TPM is actually another chip that sits on a computer’s motherboard and is responsible for the generation of cryptographic keys, which are vital to a successful encryption project. According to Microsoft and other independent testers, the use of BitLocker Drive Encryption comes with a negligible system performance penalty.

There are some caveats, though. BitLocker protects only the operating system volume of a computer. If you deploy laptops with a single volume, this isn’t a problem; but on systems with multiple volumes or multiple drives, BitLocker alone cannot protect all of the data. In these circumstances, Microsoft continues to recommend the use of EFS for non-OS volumes. When used in conjunction with BitLocker, EFS is also more effective since the root secrets of EFS are housed on the OS volume. So, once BitLocker is enabled for the OS volume, these EFS root secrets themselves are then protected by BitLocker and much less susceptible to tampering. Further, you get around one serious EFS limitation—the inability to encrypt files in the system root. Now, these files will be protected by BitLocker and the rest of your system protected with EFS.

There are also a number of areas in which BitLocker does not provide protection, including:
Tampering by system administrators: By default, these people frequently have carte blanche access to data. Encryption is not designed to keep those out who have been granted access to data.

Attacks by other authenticated users: If an attack is launched against a system and that attack is using appropriate user credentials, BitLocker will freely give up your secrets. In short, BitLocker cannot protect you if your system is compromised as a part of an online attack. The lesson here: multiple layers of defense remain critical. Always run a firewall, antivirus, and antispyware software for the maximum protection of your data assets.

Hardware attacks: A hacker can still attach a dedicated hardware debugger to a system and gain access to the underlying data.

Deployment

I will go over a full deployment sample in my next article. However, you should know that you can deploy BitLocker two different ways—either by using TPM 1.2 or not using TPM 1.2. Using TPM 1.2 offers the highest level of security, but not every system is capable of supporting this. In order to offer protection to those that cannot or will not deploy TPM, Microsoft makes available a non-TPM deployment method. The non-TPM mode supports multiple authentication methods, including the entry of a PIN by the user upon boot, or the insertion of a USB drive that has a startup key stored on the device. In my next article, you’ll see this second method in action.

And now, the bad

BitLocker is supported only on the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Vista and will also be available under Longhorn Server. Why Microsoft would exclude the other Vista editions, particularly the Business edition, is beyond me. Only the Ultimate edition of Vista can run BitLocker in a standalone way. Further, the Enterprise edition supports BitLocker only when the machine is joined to a domain. Now, this is not as much of a drawback as it would seem at first glance. Since you can store BitLocker recovery keys in Active Directory, this makes sense. You probably don’t want thousands of people out there carrying around their private recovery keys…and losing them, thus, making your company’s data irrecoverable.

Summary

While it has its limitations, BitLocker is a welcome addition to the family. The tool provides enterprises with additional data protection options that can help organizations keep data safe.

Intro

Source

Shadow Copy

2008-08-15T23:13:00.007+05:30

Have you ever accidentally saved over a file you were working on? Accidental file deletion or modification is a common cause of data loss. Windows Vista includes a useful innovation to help you protect your data: Shadow Copy. Available in the Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista, this feature automatically creates point-in-time copies of files as you work, so you can quickly and easily retrieve versions of a document you may have accidentally deleted. Shadow copy is automatically turned on in Windows Vista and creates copies on a scheduled basis of files that have changed. Since only incremental changes are saved, minimal disk space is used for shadow copies.

Methods for Creating Shadow Copies

There are two methods for creating shadow copies: making either a complete copy (a full copy or clone) or copying only the changes to the volume (a differential copy or copy-on-write). Each method results in two data images — the original volume and the shadow copy volume. The functional difference between the two is that the original volume maintains full read/write capabilities, whereas the shadow copy volume is read-only. This read-only status ensures that the shadow copy volume remains a point-in-time copy until its status is changed by the administrator for a specific purpose.

Clone (Full Copy/Split Mirror):

A clone is a full copy of the original data on a volume. You can create a clone through either software or hardware mirroring. Clones remain synchronized until the mirror connection is broken for the shadow copy. From this point forward, the source data and the shadow copy volume are independent. The original volume continues to take application changes, while the shadow copy volume remains an exact read-only copy of the original data at the time of the break.

Hardware vendors offer different hardware-based implementations (sometimes called split mirrors, snapshot mirrors, or clones) for creating identical images of volumes that can be used for online backup, application development, and testing.

Copy-on-Write (Differential Copy)

The copy-on-write method creates shadow copies that are differential rather than full copies of the original data. Like the clone method of creating shadow copies, the copy-on-write method can produce shadow copies using either software or hardware solutions. This method makes a copy of the original data before it is overwritten with new changes, as shown in the following table. When a change to the original volume occurs, but before it is written to disk, the block about to be modified is read and then written to a “differences area”, which preserves a copy of the data block before it is overwritten with the change. Using the blocks in the differences area and unchanged blocks in the original volume, a shadow copy can be logically constructed that represents the shadow copy at the point in time in which it was created.

Volume Shadow Copy Service Architecture

The following diagram and table describe how the Volume Shadow Copy Service coordinates with various components to create a shadow copy of a volume.

Volume Shadow Copy Service Architecture Diagram

How Shadow Copies Are Created

The various roles of the requestor, writer and provider are put into context in this section, which lists the steps that need to be taken to create a shadow copy. Overall coordination of the requestor, writer, and provider is controlled by the Volume Shadow Copy Service, as shown in the following diagram.

Shadow Copy Creation Process

The requestor asks the Volume Shadow Copy Service to enumerate the writers, gather the writer metadata, and prepare for shadow copy creation.

The writer creates an XML description of the backup components to the Volume Shadow Copy Service, and defines the restore method. The Volume Shadow Copy Service notifies the application-specific writer to prepare its data for making a shadow copy.

The writer prepares the data in whatever way is appropriate, such as completing all open transactions, rolling transaction logs, and flushing caches. When the data is prepared for shadow copy creation, the writer notifies the Volume Shadow Copy Service.

The Volume Shadow Copy Service initiates the “commit” shadow copy phase.

The Volume Shadow Copy Service tells the writers to quiesce their data and temporarily freeze requestor (application) I/O write requests (I/O read requests are still possible) for the several seconds required to create the shadow copy of the volume or volumes. The application freeze is not allowed to take longer than 60 seconds. The Volume Shadow Copy Service flushes the file system buffer and then freezes the file system, which ensures that file system metadata is written and that the data is written in a consistent order.

The Volume Shadow Copy Service tells the provider to create the shadow copy (a maximum of 10 seconds).

The Volume Shadow Copy Service thaws the file system. After the shadow copy is created, the Volume Shadow Copy Service releases the writers from their temporary inactive phase and all queued write I/Os are completed.

The Volume Shadow Copy Service queries the writers to confirm that write I/Os were successfully held during shadow copy creation.

If the writes were not successfully held (meaning that the shadow copy data is potentially inconsistent), the shadow copy is deleted and the requestor is notified.

The requestor can retry the process (go back to step 1) or notify the administrator to retry at a later time.

If the copy is successful, the Volume Shadow Copy Service gives the location information for the shadow copy back to the requestor.

Intro

Source

Windows Experience Index

2008-08-14T22:57:00.003+05:30

The Windows Experience Index is a new feature built into Windows Vista that is designed to help you better understand how well Windows Vista and other software will perform on your PC.

Your computer, running Windows Vista, is assigned a rating number called a "base score" that is achieved by measuring the capability of your computer's hardware configuration. This base score rating will help you to more confidently buy additional hardware, programs, and software that are matched to your computer's base score.

The scale of the Windows Experience Index ranges from 1.0 to 5.9. A higher base score generally means that your computer will perform better and faster than a computer with a lower base score, especially when performing more advanced and resource-intensive tasks.

For example, if your computer has a base score of 3.3, then you can confidently purchase any software designed for your edition of Windows Vista that requires a computer with a base score of 3.0 or lower.

The Windows Experience Index is designed to help you make smart buying decisions related to your use of Windows Vista.

When buying a new PC, it is useful for determining the quality of the Windows experience you can expect from a PC you are considering purchasing.

When upgrading a PC, the index is useful for estimating the overall improvements you can expect to get when replacing or adding a new hardware component to your computer.

When buying software, the software package may include the recommended Windows Experience Index score a PC should have in order to run the particular software application satisfactorily.

How is my base score determined?

The base score of your computer is determined by reviewing a collection of "subscores" assigned to various hardware components within your computer. Subscores are assigned to the following components:

RAM random access memory

CPU central processing unit

Hard disk

General graphics performance on the desktop

3D graphics capability

Your computer's base score is determined by the lowest subscore. For example, if the lowest subscore of a hardware component in your computer is 2.6, then the base score of your computer will be 2.6. The base score is not an average of the combined subscores.

The Windows Experience Index is designed to accommodate advances in computer technology. As hardware speed and performance improves, higher base scores will be introduced. However, the standards for each level of the index stay the same. For example, a computer scored as a 2.8 will remain as a 2.8 unless you decide to upgrade your computer's hardware.

You can also use the subscores of your computer to determine which components you need to upgrade to meet the base score you desire.

General guidelines

A computer with a base score of 1.0 or 2.0 usually has sufficient performance to do most general computing tasks, such as run office productivity applications and search the Internet. However, a computer with this base score is generally not powerful enough to run Windows Aero, or the advanced multimedia experiences that are available with Windows Vista.

A computer with a base score of 3.0 is able to run Windows Aero and many new features of Windows Vista at a basic level. Some of the new Windows Vista advanced features might not have all of their functionality available. For example, a machine with a base score of 3.0 can display the Windows Vista theme at a resolution of 1280 × 1024, but might struggle to run the theme on multiple monitors. Or, it can play digital TV content but might struggle to play High Definition Television (HDTV) content.

A computer with a base score of 4.0 or 5.0 is able to run all new features of Windows Vista with full functionality, and it is able to support high-end, graphics-intensive experiences, such as multiplayer and 3 D gaming and recording and playback of HDTV content. Computers with a base score of 5.0 were the highest performing computers available when Windows Vista was released.

Usage guidelines

The base score is a good indicator of how your computer will generally perform. Subscores can help you understand your computer's level of performance for specific usage scenarios as follows:

Office productivity. If you use your computer almost exclusively for office productivity, such as word processing, spreadsheets, e mail, and web browsing, then high subscores in the CPU and memory categories are important. Subscores of 2.0 or higher are usually sufficient for the hard disk, desktop graphics, and 3D graphics categories.

Gaming and graphic-intensive programs. If you use your computer for games or programs that are graphic-intensive, such as digital video editing applications or realistic first-person games, then high subscores in the RAM, desktop graphics, and 3D gaming graphics categories are important. Subscores of 3.0 or higher are usually sufficient in the CPU and hard disk categories.

Media Center experience. If you use your computer as a media center for advanced multimedia experiences such as recording HDTV programming, then high subscores in the CPU, hard disk, and desktop graphics categories are important. Subscores of 3.0 or higher are usually sufficient in the memory and 3D graphics categories.

Source

Windows ReadyBoost

2008-08-13T16:07:00.001+05:30

Adding system memory (typically referred to as RAM) is often the best way to improve a PC's performance, since more memory means more applications are ready to run without accessing the hard drive. However, upgrading memory can be difficult and costly, and some machines have limited memory expansion capabilities, making it impossible to add RAM.

Windows Vista introduces Windows ReadyBoost, a new concept in adding memory to a system. You can use non-volatile flash memory, such as that on a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive, to improve performance without having to add additional memory "under the hood."

The flash memory device serves as an additional memory cache—that is, memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard drive. Windows ReadyBoost relies on the intelligent memory management of Windows SuperFetch and can significantly improve system responsiveness.

It's easy to use Windows ReadyBoost. When a removable memory device such as a USB flash drive or a secure digital (SD) memory card is first inserted into a port, Windows Vista checks to see if its performance is fast enough to work with Windows ReadyBoost. If so, you are asked if you want to use this device to speed up system performance. You can choose to allocate part of a USB drive's memory to speed up performance and use the remainder to store files.

Source

Take screenshots with the Snipping Tool

2008-08-13T16:01:00.005+05:30

Screenshot-happy tech writers and bug reporters rejoice! One of the nicer utilities built into Windows Vista is the Snipping Tool, a screengrab application that blows the doors off Windows XP's measly Alt-PrintScreen and Mac OS X's Grab.

The Snipping Tool can take full-screen, particular window, any rectangle or free-form "snips" of your screen and open it in an editor. There you can highlight parts of the screenshot and draw on it with a free form pen of different colors, thickness and tip styles. For a quick look at the Snipping Tool, see some screenshots of taking screenshots (recursion!) after the jump.

Snipping Tool's default interface:

Choose your snip type:

Taking a free-form snip:

The results of that snip in the editor:

More editing and the options dialog:

While the Snipping Tool is a huge improvement over XP's built-in screenshot capabilities, for avid screengrabbers, it's still lacking a few key options that our favorite, TechSmith's SnagIt (a not-free app) does include, like timed captures and image resizing and cropping. But once you've got Vista installed, the price of all the new features the Snipping Tool offers is right - especially for the occasional screengrabber.

Source

Strip Down Your Vista Installation with vLite

2008-08-13T15:45:00.001+05:30

Windows Vista only: Like its XP-oriented predecessor nLite, vLite is a pre-installation utility that lets you decide which programs and components of Windows Vista are included when you go for a fresh install, allowing you to remove some of Vista's more resource-heavy pieces and make custom DVDs or CDs to install that same slim Vista later. What's more, vLite seems to allow you to pre-answer the typical setup questions, so you can install Vista unattended (and, it seems, without a Product Key handy). It's not a tool for beginners, as many of the changes can't be undone once the OS is in place, but for those who find themselves re-installing Vista frequently, it's certainly a useful utility. vLite is a free download for Windows Vista only.

Source

Customize your desktop icons

2008-08-12T14:12:00.003+05:30

Recently we have received e-mails from our readers asking us to help them customize or restore their standard desktop icons. In order to answer their questions and also help other people having the same "problems", we decided to publish this article. We will show you how to customize the list of standard icons shown on the desktop, how to change their icons and how to restore the originals, in case you want the standard icons back.

First, right click on your desktop and select Personalize.

The Personalization panel will open. Click on Change desktop icons.

Now, the Desktop Icon Settings window will launch. Here, you can select the icons you want to be shown on your desktop by checking the appropriate boxes. Computer stands for the My Computer icon (from Windows XP), User's Files is the shortcut to your user folder (where you can find your Documents, Music, Pictures, Contacts) and so on.

After you have checked the icons you want on your desktop you can also change their image. To do that, click on the icon you want to change and then on the Change Icon button.

In the Change Icon window you have to Browse to the new icon image. When you have found the new icon image, select it and click on Open.

You can follow this procedure for all the icons shown in the Desktop Icon Settings window.

If you don't like the new icons you have assigned you can always go back to the default ones. To do that, go to the Desktop Icon Settings window, select the icon you want to restore and press the Restore Default button.

Source

Windows Aero

2008-08-12T13:30:00.006+05:30

The Windows Aero experience

Windows Aero builds on the basic Windows Vista user experience and offers Microsoft's best-designed, highest-performing desktop experience. Using Aero requires a PC with a compatible graphics adapter and running a Premium or Business edition of Windows Vista.

A noticeably new element of the Aero experience is the translucent effect of Aero Glass, featuring dynamic reflections and smooth animations. The glass windows create an open, lightweight environment―and more importantly, help you to better focus on your content, rather than on the surrounding interface.

Two exciting new Aero features, Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D, provide a new way to confidently manage the windows on your desktop, so you can see them in a new visually striking, yet convenient way. Beyond the new graphics and visual polish, the Windows Aero desktop experience performs as elegantly and professionally as it looks, with smoother window handling, increased graphics stability, and glitch-free visuals. All of which give you a simple, comfortable, and high-quality experience.

Glass

Aero features windows that are truly translucent. In addition to giving the desktop a more polished look and feel, the effect of glass allows you to more easily focus on the contents contained within a window, and also provides better context for the surrounding elements on your desktop while you're working.

Aero Glass creates a truly translucent window, keeping the focus on your content and helping you to keep track of other windows on your desktop.

Dynamic windows

In Windows Vista, windows are dynamic. When minimized, a window will subtly animate to a specific location on the taskbar, making it easier to locate when you need it later.
Taskbar thumbnails

With Windows Aero, live taskbar thumbnails show you the contents of the windows that are currently open, in the background, or minimized in the taskbar. When you pause your mouse over a window tile on the taskbar, you see the thumbnail of the "live" contents of that window without having to bring it to the forefront of your screen.

Thumbnails show you the content contained in minimized windows in your taskbar.

Windows Flip

Windows Flip is an update of the feature known as ALT+TAB in previous versions of Windows. With Aero, Windows Flip shows you live thumbnails of your open windows instead of generic icons, making it easier to identify the window you're looking for. It even lets you instantly minimize all the windows on your desktop.

Windows Flip is an update to ALT+TAB that displays open windows as live thumbnails.

Windows Flip 3D

With Aero, Windows Flip 3D creates a view of your open windows in a three-dimensional stack on your desktop. Using the Windows logo+TAB keys, you can flip through the open windows to quickly locate and select the window you want.

Windows Flip 3D provides the same functionality as ALT+TAB, with the added ability to see all open windows simultaneously, as well as a much larger representation of what is in each window.

Smoother window performance

When using Windows Aero, open windows glide smoothly on your screen when you move or resize them. There are no redraw artifacts, latency, or "tearing" effects that you sometimes see, particularly in windows that display dynamic content such as video. Using Aero will even reduce legacy graphics driver-related problems on your system, giving you an even more confident and stable Windows desktop experience.

Some product features are only available in certain editions of Windows Vista and may require advanced or additional hardware.

Source

DirectX10: The Next Generation in Gaming

2008-08-11T22:45:00.024+05:30

Exclusivity to Windows Vista

DirectX10 is exclusive to Windows Vista and is not slated to be supported by any other platform. This will ensure that the next-gen games will be available on Windows Vista before any other platform.

The new display driver or graphics model in Windows Vista, WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model), is the main reason for DirectX10’s exclusivity to the operating system. It may come as a surprise to know that the graphics driver model hasn’t changed much since Windows NT4 – WDDM is the first major revamp of the system and is designed for scaling high-capability graphics.
DirectX10 depends on these improvements in the graphics model and so, it leverages the virtualization and architectural improvements of WDDM, in both the APIs as well as the underlying infrastructure.

Gamer Benefits

DirectX10 offers a wide variety of benefits to gamers. Let’s dive into the details now:

Greater detail, realistic shadows

Picture 1: DirectX9 (Halo: Combat Evolved)

Picture 2: DirectX10 (Crysis)

You can see the difference for yourself when we compare Picture 1, a screenshot taken from ‘Halo: Combat evolved’, a PC game which was among the best of its class at release to Picture 2, an image from ‘Crysis’, a PC game which is slated to release soon. Halo uses DirectX9.0b to support its graphics while Crysis makes use of DirectX10.

DX10 adds a new level of realism to games by making characters more life-like. You can see the incredible detail in the screenshot above. The facial expressions, pockmarks on the face, the handle-bar moustache and the glazed looking eyes all add to the realism.
In DirectX10, the next generation in graphics has arrived.

Greater detail, realistic shadows

Picture 3: DirectX9

Picture 4: DirectX10

DirectX9 ‘simulates’ detail with techniques like normal mapping while DirectX10 actually increases the amount of detail in game characters and materials. Shown above are two fish, the first, in Picture 3, is rendered using DirectX9 while the second, super-cool looking fella in Picture 4 is rendered in DirectX10. Observe the spikes with respect to the white background (on the silhouette edges), you see that the bumps on the DX10 fish are a lot more pronounced than the ones on the DX9 fish.

DirectX10 also offers more realistic looking shadows. Showcased below, in Picture 5 is a character with its shadow’s volume accentuated. The green light shows just how the shadow is created (depending on the light source) and how the shadow is featured on the ground. On DirectX9, the shadow volume is generated on the CPU, reducing performance for every new shadowed character on-screen whereas in DirectX10, the shadow volume can be generated and rendered entirely on the more-capable GPU.

Picture 5: Shadow Volume (Realistic Shadows)

Dynamic in-game scenarios

Picture 8 Picture 9

Picture 10

Picture 11

Pictures 8 through 11 show a vines growing on and around a crypt as time passes while in a game. DirectX10 facilitates the game engine to dynamically change the appearance of the crypt with passing time. This enables the in-game levels/scenarios to evolve with time passed inside the game, thus replacing the static environment with a unique one by simulating natural growth.DirectX9 is not capable of creating new geometry on the GPU. It is also not capable of storing intermediate geometric results, i.e. scenarios between Picture 8 and Picture 11 could not have been GPU-generated using DirectX9.

Motion blurring

Picture 12 Picture 13

Seen above in Pictures 12 and 13 are examples of realistic motion blurring, which is made possible by DirectX10. In earlier versions of DirectX, game developers were required to smudge the final image to achieve motion blur. In DirectX10 however, motion blur can be performed in object-space, simulating a camera exposure of an object across multiple sub-frames.

For technical details on the above benefits, please visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/

Source

DirectX 9 vs DirectX 10: Worth Upgrading to Vista For?

2008-08-11T22:28:00.003+05:30

One of the main (only?) improvements in Vista for gamers would be the inclusion of DirectX 10. And to make gamers upgrade, they made DirectX 10 a Vista exclusive. Is it worth it? See for yourself.

Above are two screenshots of the same game rendered in DX9 and DX10. Can you tell which is which? Maybe you need to see the larger versions after the jump. Can you tell now? If not, then it's probably not worth it.

Source

What is User Account Control?

2008-08-10T09:38:00.003+05:30

User Account Control (UAC) is a new security component in Windows Vista. UAC enables users to perform common tasks as non-administrators, called standard users in Windows Vista, and as administrators without having to switch users, log off, or use Run As. A standard user account is synonymous with a user account in Windows XP. User accounts that are members of the local Administrators group will run most applications as a standard user. By separating user and administrator functions while enabling productivity, UAC is an important enhancement for Windows Vista.

When an administrator logs on to a computer running Windows Vista, the user is assigned two separate access tokens. Access tokens, which contain a user's group membership and authorization and access control data, are used by Windows® to control what resources and tasks the user can access. Before Windows Vista, an administrator account received only one access token, which included data to grant the user access to all Windows resources. This access control model did not include any failsafe checks to ensure that users truly wanted to perform a task that required their administrative access token. As a result, malicious software could install on users' computers without notifying the users. (This is sometimes referred to as "silent" installation.)

Even more damaging, because the user is an administrator, the malicious software could use the administrator's access control data to infect core operating system files and, in some instances, to become nearly impossible to remove.

The primary difference between a standard user and an administrator in Windows Vista is the level of access the user has over core, protected areas of the computer. Administrators can change system state, turn off the firewall, configure security policy, install a service or a driver that affects every user on the computer, and install software for the entire computer. Standard users cannot perform these tasks and can only install per-user software.

To help prevent malicious software from silently installing and causing computer-wide infection, Microsoft developed the UAC feature. Unlike previous versions of Windows, when an administrator logs on to a computer running Windows Vista, the user’s full administrator access token is split into two access tokens: a full administrator access token and a standard user access token. During the logon process, authorization and access control components that identify an administrator are removed, resulting in a standard user access token. The standard user access token is then used to start the desktop, the Explorer.exe process. Because all applications inherit their access control data from the initial launch of the desktop, they all run as a standard user as well.

After an administrator logs on, the full administrator access token is not invoked until the user attempts to perform an administrative task.

Contrasting with this process, when a standard user logs on, only a standard user access token is created. This standard user access token is then used to start the desktop.

Source

Windows Flip and Flip 3D

2008-08-10T09:32:00.001+05:30

Using the new Windows Aero technology, available in Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate editions, Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D render live thumbnail images of the exact contents of your open windows, making it easier to identify the one you want. Windows Flip improves on the ALT+TAB method for flipping between windows, while Windows Flip 3D dynamically displays all open windows in a graceful three-dimensional view.

Windows Flip 3D

Windows Flip 3D uses the dimension of visual depth to give you a more comprehensive view of your open windows, helping you sidestep chaos even as you juggle myriad open files and programs.

Windows Flip 3D can even render images of live processes such as currently playing video. Use the START+TAB keys to initiate the 3-D view, then flip through open windows by using arrow keys or the scroll wheel on your mouse to quickly identify and select the one you want. Navigating your desktop has never been this fun.

Scan all open windows in one easy view.

Windows Flip

Windows Flip is a Windows Vista update of the feature known as ALT+TAB in previous versions of Windows. By repeatedly pressing ALT+TAB, you can scroll through a visual list of your open files and programs. Using Windows Aero technology, Windows Flip renders live thumbnails of the exact contents of those open windows instead of generic icons, making it easier to identify the one you want.

In Windows Aero, live taskbar thumbnail images display the actual contents of both windows that are currently open and those that are minimized in the taskbar. When you rest your mouse pointer on a tile on the taskbar, you'll see the "live" contents of that window without having to bring it to the foreground.

View open windows as live thumbnail images.

By arranging your open windows in a way that's visually striking yet convenient, Windows Flip makes it easier to identify the window or windows you're looking for. And, since one of the displayed windows in the Flip view will always be your desktop itself, you'll have an intuitive way to minimize all open windows at once.

Source

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Revealed

2008-08-10T08:59:00.003+05:30

Here's what you can expect in Windows Vista SP1.

Quality improvements

As with previous Windows service packs, Windows Vista SP1 will include all of the previously released updates for Windows Vista, including all security, reliability, and performance improvements. Many of these improvements were driven by customer requests and the WER, as noted above.

Microsoft says it will make the following quality improvements in Vista SP1.

Security improvements include previously-announced changes to Windows Security Center that will allow third-party security software makers to more effectively communicate with and replace Microsoft's security dashboard with their own solutions, new APIs aimed at helping security software makers work with the Kernel Patch Protection feature in 64-bit versions of Vista (also previously announced), changes to RemoteApp and the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), the addition of a new Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG), and a change to BitLocker Drive Encryption that adds optional multifactor authentication method combining keys protected by a TPM hardware module, a Startup Key stored on a USB memory key device, and a user-generated personal identification number.

Reliability. For reliability, Vista SP1 will include better reliability and compatibility with newer graphics cards, improved reliability when using notebook computers with an external display, improved networking configuration reliability, improved reliability of systems that are upgraded from XP to Vista, better compatibility with many printers, and increased reliability and performance when entering and resuming from sleep mode.

Performance. Vista SP1 adds a number of performance improvements as well by increasing the speed of copying and extracting files, increasing the performance of Hibernate and Resume, increasing the performance of domain-joined PCs when working offline from the domain, improving the performance of Internet Explorer (IE) 7 by reducing CPU utilization and speeding JavaScript parsing, improving battery life on certain mobile systems by reducing screen redraws and thus CPU utilization, increasing the performance of the CTRL+ALT+DEL logon dialog, and improving the performance of browsing network file shares.

Administrative improvements

Vista SP1 will include a number of changes aimed at the system administrators who deploy, support, and maintain Vista-based systems. These changes include:

BitLocker Drive Encryption. In the initial version of Vista, BitLocker could only automatically encrypt the C: drive. Now, in SP1, BitLocker can also optionally encrypt other drive volumes (D:, E:, and so on), as is possible with Windows Server 2008.

Terminal Service printing. Local printing from a Windows Terminal Services session will be improved.

Network Diagnostics. Windows Vista SP1 will add a new version of the Network Diagnostics tool that will also help administrators and end users diagnose common file sharing problems. (Available from the Diagnose and Repair link in Network and Sharing.)

Disk Defragmenter. The built-in Disk Defragmenter service will be updated so that customers can configure exactly which volumes are automatically defragged.

Group Policy. Vista SP1 will include a number of Group Policy (GP) changes. Most controversial, the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) will be uninstalled so that the GPEdit management console can be used to manage local policies. Microsoft will also ship a tool before SP1 that will let admins add comments to Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and individual GP settings.

Support for new hardware and standards

Since Windows Vista shipped in early 2007, a number of emerging new hardware types and international standards have emerged. SP1 will address these changes by adding support for them to Windows Vista. They include:

Extended FAT (exFAT) file system. A future standard for flash memory storage and consumer-oriented mobile devices. Based on FAT, exFAT adds support for longer file names and other improvements.

Secure Digital (SD) Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA). This update to SD technology improves transfer performance while decreasing CPU utilization. It will require SD DMA-compliant host controllers.

EFI network booting on x64 systems. In the initial shipping version of Windows Vista, 64-bit (x64) versions of the OS could boot on EFI-compliant PCs, which replace ancient BIOS technology with a more modern solution. With SP1, EFI-based x64 Vista systems can also support network boot, a feature that was previously available only on 32-bit (x86) Vista versions on BIOS-based PCs.

DirectX 10.1. Vista SP1 will support Microsoft's latest multimedia and gaming libraries.
Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP). Vista SP1 will add support for the SSTP remote access tunneling protocol.

Download

Source

Create a Post-SP1 Vista Install DVD with vLite

2008-08-10T08:45:00.004+05:30

The Digital Inspiration blog has a timely step-by-step tutorial on creating a "slipstreamed" Vista installation DVD that has all the fixes and tweaks from Service Pack 1 included. The guide utilizes the previously mentioned vLite tool, and requires a Vista installation CD—but you create the new DVD from inside your existing Vista install, so don't get too format-happy before reading through. For a similar method of creating an updated XP installation CD, check out RyanVM's Update Pack.

Source

Top 10 things you can do with Windows Vista

2008-08-09T16:34:00.010+05:30

1. Find that file in a few quick clicks

You don't need to remember folder names to be organized anymore. Save time by instantly tracking down any document, photo, e-mail message, song, video, file, or program on your PC using Instant Search. Just open the Start menu and begin typing in the Instant Search box—Windows Vista searches file names, application names, the full text of all files, and metadata, and then displays the results right away.

2. See everything you have open at a glance

Have you lost track of what files and programs you've opened? Flip through all your open files and windows with a simple click of your mouse using Windows Flip 3D—you're just one click away from everything you're working on. Plus, in Windows Aero, when you rest your mouse pointer on the taskbar, you can see thumbnail images of the windows you have open without having to expand them—so you can find what you're looking for at a glance.

3. Keep photos organized—and ready to share

Is your collection of digital photos getting out of hand? You don't have to search through folders to track down the ones you want. Now you can tag your photos with a date, keyword, rating, or any label you choose so you can find them quickly and easily in Windows Photo Gallery.
You can also use Photo Gallery to fix and edit photos, and then share them with family and friends through slideshows, e-mail, or prints—so everything you need for photos is in one place.

4. Create a custom movie without a fine arts degree

Making a great home movie just got easier. Use Windows Movie Maker to blend videos and photos into a rich movie, complete with your own soundtrack, titles, and credits.
When your masterpiece is ready to share with family and friends, you can easily create a professional-looking DVD in Windows DVD Maker.

5. Keep track of your music—and play it anywhere

The larger your collection of digital music grows, the harder it can be to organize and keep track of it. But now you can easily scroll, flip, browse through, and play your entire music library in Windows Media Player 11. You can even create new playlists of your favorite tracks with a single click. You can keep your music moving with you by easily synchronizing your portable music device. Or you can share the contents of your entire library with other computers on your home network or with digital media devices such as Xbox 360.

6. Surf multiple waves of the web at once

Do you like to jump from website to website? Satisfy your appetite for multitasking without having to open several browser windows. You can open multiple webpages in one window and easily click between them with the tabbed browsing feature in Windows Internet Explorer 7—plus, you can see thumbnail images of all your open webpages at a glance with Quick Tabs.

7. Record and watch TV on your time

Watch TV on your own schedule—not the TV networks' schedule. If your PC has a TV tuner, you can record, watch, and pause live television on your desktop or mobile PC using Windows Media Center. With multiple TV tuners, you can even record one channel while watching another. When and where you watch your shows is now up to you.

8. Bring your TV and PC together—and take home entertainment to a new level

Tired of huddling around the PC for entertainment? Connect your PC to one or more televisions in your home using a Windows Media Center Extender like Xbox 360, and enjoy all your digital entertainment on the big screen—from photo slideshows, home videos, and digital music to live and recorded TV shows and movies.

9. Keep the things you need most at your fingertips

No need to open a web browser to check traffic and weather, open a calculator to add up a few numbers and open an application to see your calendar. Now you can put mini-applications called gadgets right on your desktop, where you can see and use them whenever the mood strikes. Just use the Windows Sidebar pane to store and organize your favorite gadgets.

10. Help your kids stay safer

Worried about your kids' computer use or about what they may encounter online? Now you can give your kids a safer experience and set PC usage boundaries for them by using the centralized Parental Controls in Windows Vista. You can even restrict games and websites based on your family's values. Plus, you can better protect your PC and your personal information, as well as your family, with built-in security tools like Windows Defender and anti-spam and phishing filters.

Source

Discover Windows Vista

2008-08-09T14:02:00.005+05:30

It's safer and more reliable and there are dozens of wonderful new features. But what most people notice first about Windows Vista is the way it looks. The beautiful new design is your entry to an easier way of doing things, like working with files and editing pictures. After using it a little while, you’ll discover new things you can do and easier ways to do pretty much everything. Most people tell us it's even easier to use than Windows XP. Here are a few things we think you'll really like:

Stop waiting for your PC to start

Hate waiting for your PC to start? You'll love the Instant Sleep feature. When you're finished using your PC, just put it to sleep. When you come back, it should be ready to go in about 10 seconds. You can go for weeks without ever turning your computer completely off. When you turn it back on, you don't need to plan on a long wait—Windows Vista typically starts up in less than a minute.

Find what you're looking for instantly

Ever struggle to find a file or picture on your PC? Wouldn't it be great to search your computer the same way you search the web? We think so, too. That's why we added search to Windows. So now if you're looking for a picture you took on a beach vacation a few years ago, you can enter anything you remember about the picture, such as "06 2005" or "beach." You'll get a list of everything (even e-mail and applications) that includes the date or name you enter

Take your music and pictures with you

Got a CD collection sitting on a shelf? Digital photos still on your camera? Your PC is a great place to easily store, organize, and enjoy your music and photos. With new easy-to-use tools, importing and organizing photos or CDs is amazingly easy.

For example, building a music library is as simple as sliding CDs into your PC. Windows Media Player will import them for you and organize your music into a collection that you can instantly sort (and re-sort) any way you like, such as by artist, album, or type of music. If you're looking for a particular song, then sort all your music by song. And your songs aren't stuck on your PC because you can also easily transfer music to most MP3 players.

Now, about those photos on your digital camera. To import pictures to your PC, just plug in your camera. Windows Photo Gallery automatically offers to import your pictures. From there, you'll find easy-to-use tools to fix, organize and share your favorite shots with other people. You can remove red eye and crop images right from a single screen. That's a lot better than trying to show baby photos to your mom by holding up your camera's tiny screen.

Record TV on your PC—for free

Did you know that your PC can also be a digital video recorder? With Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate you can use your PC to watch and record TV (even high definition) and play it back whenever you want. Your PC becomes a digital video recorder...with no monthly fee. You'll generally just need a TV tuner card, and if your computer didn't come with one, you can get one for U.S. $50–100. Then, hook up your computer to your cable TV connection, and Windows Media Center in Windows Vista has all you need to watch, pause, rewind, and record TV.

Be ready to connect wherever you are

Connect anywhere there's wireless access—at home, at work, or on the road. It's a lot easier to do with the one-stop setup in the Network and Sharing Center. And it's easier to change your mobile PC settings. Instead of having to move among several windows, you have one stop at Windows Mobility Center to adjust power settings for longer battery life, turn your wireless connection on or off, connect to a projector, and more.

Help keep your family and PC safer

Like most people, you're probably concerned about computer safety. So it's good to know that Windows Vista is 60 percent less likely to be infected with viruses than Windows XP. Your family and personal information is also safer from threats such as malicious software or phishing scams. Parental Controls help you keep your kids safer by helping you control when they can use the computer, what applications they can use, what games they can play, and what websites they can visit.

This is just a sample of what's new in Windows Vista. Explore the rest of this site for more detail and help getting started.

Source

FEEL WINDOWS

Checkout my new blog

Why Windows 7 should have been called Windows Vista RELOADED!

Top 7 Reasons People Quit Linux

1. Linux doesn't run a program I use.

2. I installed Linux, but some element of my hardware didn't work!

3. I tried Linux, but I had to type commands!

4. I did *this*, and *this* happened. That doesn't happen with Windows!

5. I posted a message on a forum, but Linux people were mean to me.

6. I just don't like it.

7. I installed Linux and things went honey-nut-loops crazy.

Windows 7 gets virtual 'XP mode'

MS Windows 7 goes on public test

Why Windows 7 will be the best Microsoft OS to date!

Windows 7 build 7057 leaks

20 awesome dreams for Windows Vista

10 blogs related to Linux and Microsoft that you should bookmark!

10 ''Google Fight'' results that will surprise you!!!

An open letter to Mr. Kevin Rose

The Only 5 Sites You'll Ever Need to Know for Downloads!

Firefox v3.0.2 Released!!!

Windows Vista : New Ultimate Extras Released

OFF TOPIC: STFU!

I want Microsoft to change, do you?

Windows 7, the real WOW?

5 features that can make a Windows user switch to Linux

5 reasons as to why it's wrong to hate Microsoft

South Asia MVP Open Day 2008

8 unique features of Google Chrome

10 hilarious anti-Microsoft quotes

5 websites a Windows Vista user must visit!

Get Virtual Desktops on Vista

15 ideas for Windows 7 (A bit more like Linux ?)

Why I prefer Windows more than Linux?

Top 4 video players

How to dual-boot Vista with XP (with XP installed first)

"Up" Keyboard Shortcut for Windows Vista Explorer

PCs Are Superior to Macs

Seinfeld booked to give Gates the last laugh

Ten Reasons Why Vista is better than XP!

Don't be misled by these 10 Windows Vista myths

Enable BitLocker without a TPM

Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 Leaked

OFFTOPIC: Why doesn't folders get sorted out by size?

Windows Vista Parental Controls

Windows Vista's SuperFetch and ReadyBoost Analyzed : Cache Me If You Can!

Windows SideShow

Become familiar with Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption

Shadow Copy

Windows Experience Index

Windows ReadyBoost

Take screenshots with the Snipping Tool

Strip Down Your Vista Installation with vLite

Customize your desktop icons

Windows Aero

DirectX10: The Next Generation in Gaming

DirectX 9 vs DirectX 10: Worth Upgrading to Vista For?

What is User Account Control?

Windows Flip and Flip 3D

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Revealed

Create a Post-SP1 Vista Install DVD with vLite

Top 10 things you can do with Windows Vista

Discover Windows Vista

4. I did this, and this happened. That doesn't happen with Windows!