Posts tagged xp
How to bring Windows 7 Taskbar thumbnail preview to Windows XP
Mar 7th
One of the things that I and probably many of you like about Windows 7 is the thumbnail preview of taskbar. What if you want to get the same functionality in Windows XP? The answer is Yes. The solution is not a complex one. More details after the jump
Sn0wbreeze: Jailbreak tool for iPhone 3.1.2 released
Jan 10th
A new jailbreak tool by the name sn0wbreeze has been released for iPhone and iPod Touch users. You can use this tool to jailbreak your iPhone OS 3.1.2 firmware. Sn0wbreeze is currently in Beta and is available for use with Windows 7, Vista or XP. This tool lets you create custom jailbroken firmware or custom .ispw files.
NumberKey : Use your iPhone as a wireless numeric keypad for your laptop
Nov 30th
We are in the era of notebooks and netbook. More and more people are using the compact sized laptops for well known reasons. While laptops offer numerous advantages, one thing that is missing from most of the laptops is the numeric keypad. All the computer based accountants will agree with me on this very fact. One solution to this problem is to purchase a seperate numeric keypad which costs in the range of double digits (around $40). But if you own an iPhone/iPod Touch, you just need to spend $2 to bring the numpad to your laptop thanks to an iPhone app named NumberKey.
Yahoo Messenger 10 released, brings support for Windows 7
Nov 13th
Yahoo has just rolled out Yahoo Messenger 10. Yahoo Messenger with version number 10.0.0.110 brings various bug fixes, some of which are related Yahoo’s new video call feature. Also the product’s overall stability has been improved.
Microsoft Security Essentials Beta rolls out
Jun 24th
Microsoft has kept its promise and has launched Beta of Microsoft Security Essentials just today. The antivirus and antispyware utility codenamed Morro replaces Windows Live OneCare subscription service. It is a product that is intented to support users of Windows 7 , Vista and XP. Built on Microsoft’s Forefront 2.2 enterprise technologies, Security Essentials has the vision of providing an economical and friendly way to encourage protecting your Windows PC.
Microsoft Security Essentials is available free of cost. Well there might arise an argument that there are antivirus softwares such as AVG and others which are also free. So why Microsoft wants to offers its security suite free of cost. Well Microsoft is in no way competing with commercial or freely available security products. Instead Microsoft Security Essentials is essentially for those persons who do not use and install an antivirus software at all or keep an outdated/expired one. At Microsoft Connect, they stated:
You’re too busy to spend a lot of time worrying about protecting your PC. With Microsoft Security Essentials Beta, you get high-quality protection against viruses and spyware, including Trojans, worms and other malicious software. And best of all, there are no costs or annoying subscriptions to keep track of.
Here are the features that stand out:
- Easy to install
- Easy to use
- Automatic updates and upgrades
- Runs in the background
- Will require your attention only when needed. (No more disturbance caused by needless alerts)
Currently the Beta has been made available to users based in United States, United Kingdom, Israel (English only), China (Simplified Chinese only) and Brazil (Brazilian Portugese only). Presently only 75,000 lucky users will get their hands on the Beta version.
Windows 7 price a possible barrier according to Dell
May 18th
There is so much talk related to Windows 7. You can read posts regarding the latest features, real box art and other stuff. So here comes another news in relation to the latest sensation from Microsoft. A Dell marketing executive has made a statement regarding the price of Windows 7. He has said that Windows 7 is ahead of Vista from various perspectives ( for e.g. less memory consumption), but the thing that might prove to stop users from switching to Windows 7 might be its price.
Darrel Ward, director of product management for Dell’s business client product group during a phone interview went on to say:
If there’s one thing that may influence adoption, make things slower or cause customers to pause, it’s that generally the ASPs (average selling price) of the operating systems are higher than they were for Vista and XP.
According to the director of product management Windows 7 Professional likely to be more expensive than Business version of Windows Vista. He further went on to say
In tough economic times, I think it’s naive to believe that you can increase your prices on average and then still see a strong swell than if you held prices flat or even lowered them. I can tell you that the licensing tiers at retail are more expensive than they were for Vista.
Ward made a statement regarding the chances of small sized businesses and educational institutions of going for Windows 7 :
Schools and government agencies may not be able to afford (the additional cost). Some of the smaller businesses may not be able to enjoy the software as soon as they’d like.
According to Ward Dell is more motivated and interested in Windows 7 than it was for Vista.
When Vista came out we didn’t have the motivation to do the types of services that we’re doing now. We didn’t have the clear customer demand for such services. We do have a visible number of customers, large and small, who are actually waiting for Windows 7 and who have already put plans in place to target the transition to Windows 7, they’re asking Dell for help. That demand and this opportunity is stronger than it has been in the past.
Dell’s service organization is quite active and is fully geared up for Windows 7.
Our professional service organization is beginning to structure service offerings specifically designed to help customers migrate their images, their applications, and their management infrastructure, security capabilities and so forth.
Ward shared his opinion regarding the Windows XP. According to him, XP is not going to live forever, so users will ultimately be required to make a switch. Ward appreciated the compatibility feature in Windows 7 called XPM. He said:
It’s one of the things that Microsoft is doing that we think is helpful. Putting an instance of XP virtual machine in the higher end SKUs (models). This is another alternative for compatibility. We’ll fully support that in our product and consulting services.
He shared his views regarding Driver readiness. According to him Driver readiness is quite good with some exceptions. He further stated:
Driver readiness–it looks pretty healthy compared to the past. (There are) some things that haven’t been worked out. The WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Lab) drivers for AMT VPRO is a little behind,” he said, referring to Intel’s Active Management Technology, which allows remote access to PCs for security, maintenance, and management.
Microsoft will be quite happy when it reads such appreciating comments and views from Dell.
Mainstream support for XP and Office 2003 ends today
Apr 14th
Microsoft has made an important announcement related to Windows XP and Office 2003. They have decided to end mainstream support for 2003 edition of Office and much successful operating system XP.
This announcement in no way means that you consider and evaluate options to upgrade your operating system and Office suite. The software giants are poised to provide extended support packages for both the products till 8th April 2014. What this option does is that it gives users and corporations ample time to consider the options they have in terms of upgrading to a new operating system or Office suite.
Microsoft will continue to provide security updates free of cost till 4th August 2014. From this day onwards, XP and Office 2003 users will be charged for assistance request on the a per incident, per hour or alternative basis. The changes apply to all version of Office and XP (except Embedded version).
Microsoft besides this announcement also made it clear that SP1 for Window Server 2003 is dead and people should upgrade to SP2.
Microsoft coming up with major updates
Apr 12th
Microsoft will issue eight security updates on Tuesday, which will be the biggest package after October 2008, to patch problems in Windows, Internet Explorer (IE), DirectX, Excel, Word, and the company’s security software.
Five of the updates will be "critical," Microsoft’s highest ranking in its four-step threat system, Thursday’s notice said, while two will be pegged "important," the next rating down, and one marked "moderate."
Andrew Storms, Director of security operations at nCircle Network Security Inc said:
"It’s going to be a difficult month to set priorities for patching. There are updates for Windows, one that’s critical across the board, a browser update that affects everyone and an Office update. That’s a lot of different groups to juggle."
Five of the eight updates will be about the flaws in Windows, with other updates will be tracking the flaws in IE, Excel and the Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) server software. Three of the five Widows updates have been tagged critical, as have the IE and Excel updates.
Microsoft also telling the users that they can protect themselves by blocking Excel files from opening, a process that requires editing the Windows registry, or by running Excel 2003 documents through the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE), a tool the company launched in 2007.
The IE update will patch all currently-support versions of the browser, including IE 5.01, IE6 and IE7, and was marked critical for all editions when running on the Windows client.
One of the five Windows updates is similar, in that it has been labeled critical for all versions, including Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008.
Storm said:
"It’s a big call-out whenever something’s critical for Vista and Server 2008,"
He further said that:
“The one they call ‘Windows 1′ affects both the operating system and Office. That’s an oddball case, and I’ve been trying to think of what it could be. Maybe it’s something like XML or OLE, something that’s not only embedded in the OS but also used in the application.”
