It all starts when Springfield Mall gets a new Mapple store, shaped like a giant cube. “It’s so sterile”, is the first thing Lisa excitedly says upon entering. She goes from display to display looking at the MiPods and MiPhones.

Steve Mobs’, the self-proclaimed “insanely great leader”, makes a live announcement from the Mapple headquarters deep below the sea. Some geeky spectators comment, “he’s a genius” and “he’s like a god who knows what we want” before Mobs even says anything.

Mobs’ says he has something that will “completely change the way you look at everything”. Everyone in the audience now has cash in hand waiting to buy whatever it he says.

Of course, Bart sees this as an opportune moment to hook up a microphone and dub over the lisping Mobs’. “You think you’re cool because you buy a $500 phone with a picture of a fruit on it. Well guess what? They cost 8 bucks to make and I pee on every one!” The hilarity doesn’t stop there, as Bart continues, “I have made of fortune off you chumps and I’ve invested it all in Microsoft. Now my boyfriend Bill Gates and I kiss each other on a pile of your money!”

People are offended and outraged, one employee states “Who dares question the boss we fired 10 years ago and the brought back!” Comic Book Guy is so offended he does his best to recreate the classic 1984 Macintosh commercial (you can see it below), by throwing a sledge hammer which breaks the giant screen.

After getting her Mapple bill in the mail, Lisa travels to Mapple headquarters under the sea in a USB thumbdrive (I’m not making this stuff up). She finds the vein Mobs searching his own name, he geekily rejoices the findings. She’s there to discuss setting up a reduced payment plan for her $1,200 MiPod bill. Mobs then fill Lisa in on the true Mapple slogan “I know our posters say Think Differently, but our real slogan is No Refunds”.

I’m not sure if Steve Jobs did something to piss Matt Groening off, but I’ll be the first to admit… it was very funny. If anyone is interested in viewing the full episode you can check out Hulu (US Only) or MegaVideo.

The company says it will provide comprehensive protection from malware including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans, and it will be free of charge, and architected for a smaller footprint that will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs.

Coinciding with this, Microsoft will stop offering Windows Live OneCare subscriptions on June 30.

“Customers around the world have told us that they need comprehensive, ongoing protection from new and existing threats, and we take that concern seriously,” said Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management for the Online Services and Windows Division at Microsoft. “This new, no-cost offering will give us the ability to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware.”

Morrow is built on Microsoft’s current malware protection engine, and will contain all of the protection services offered with the company’s enterprise products, but will not include the non-security features they have. Microsoft says that Morrow will provide all of the necessary protection without overusing system resources.

“Because uptake of standard anti-malware is low around the world, particularly in developing nations, the availability of basic protection for anyone who wants it is all the more important,” said Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. “By offering such basic protection at no charge to the consumer, Microsoft is promoting a safer environment for PCs, service providers and e-commerce itself, since it is through unprotected PCs that the worst threats are introduced to the system as a whole.”

The product will be available for download for XP, Vista, and Windows 7. Meanwhile, OneCare will continue to be sold for XP and Vista up until the date mentioned.

Recently I had to help out a friend who, for various reasons had two Outlook Express identities on his XP machine.  He had recently changed the password to his ‘important’ identity and couldn’t for the life of him remember what it was.

No password, no access, no important emails.  That’s when I got called.

A quick search showed tons and tons of applications available for recovering OE Identity passwords - they ranged from $19.95 to $49.95.  I knew there had to be a way to get the email back for him without having to shell out money and guess what?  There is.  I had a bit of a search to find this stuff so I thought I’d write it up and share with the world.

Two notes before we start.  First, click the images to make them bigger and easier to read. Second, yes I know that OE is an older mail client and yes I’m sure there are better mail solutions out there.  However, there are lots of people who still use it so I hope this will come in handy to someone.

Here’s what we’re going to do.  We’re going to determine where OE stores all of the folders, emails and whatnot for each identity.  Then we’re going to create a new identity with the same email account settings as the ‘lost’ identity.  Finally, we’re going to copy all of the important stuff into this new identity.

Go ahead and right click on “My Computer” and choose explore.   In order to find the files we’re looking for, we’re going to have to make a few changes to how XP shows files in explorer. Mainly, we want to display file extensions and be able to see hidden and system files.

So in your Explorer window, choose Tools-> Folder Options.  Then select View.  From there, uncheck Hide file extensions, hide system files and change the option on Hidden files to Show hidden files and folders.

Now, let’s go look and see where OE keeps it’s brains.  In your Explorer window, browse to:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities

USERNAME should be substituted with your actual user name.

You should see something that looks like this:

Those long strings of numbers and letters are your GUIDs for your OE data.  Each Identity has a separate GUID.   There are a couple of ways to determine which GUID belongs to which Identity.

• The first is size - if you’re looking to find the files for an Identity that has much more mail than another one, you’ll be looking for larger files.
• The second is to look for date modified - if you haven’t been able to get into an Identity for the past two days, use that to determine which one is which.
• And lastly - the old fashioned go into OE and look method.  To do this though, you’ll have to have access to one of your Identities.   Open Outlook Express,  go to Tools-> Options.  From there click the Maintenance tab.  Then click the Store Folder button and look for a GUID.  That’s the GUID that belongs to the Identity you’re in.

So, you know where to find Outlook Express’ place to keep its mail - now what do you do?  Let’s minimize Explorer and continue on like so.

First thing we’re going to want to do is create a new Identity in Outlook Express.   Even if you don’t have access to any OE Identities, you can do this by Launching OE and then clicking the Manage Identities button.  From there, create a new Identity.  When OE launches, add all of your email account settings for the inaccessible Identity into this new Identity.  (For instructions on how to set up an OE mail account, hit Google).

Now that you’re in the new account, don’t allow it to check mail.  Just quit out of Outlook Express.

Back into your Explorer window and let’s dig a little deeper and find the files we’re going to copy to our new Identity.

You should be at: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities

Now browse deeper - GUID\Microsoft\Outlook Express

So your full path would be

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\GUID\Microsoft\Outlook Express\

Inside the Outlook Express folder you should see a number of .dbx files.  These are your mail files.  Folders.dbx will contain your folders, Inbox.dbx your Inbox, etc.  You’ll want to highlight all of these files and then right click and choose “Copy”.

Now, still in Explorer, back up a bit and go into your new Identities GUID - the easiest way for me to find this is by the date but you can use one of the methods I mentioned above.  Once in the new Identities GUID, browse to \Microsoft\Outlook Express, right click the white space in Explorer and choose “Paste”.  Allow these files to overwrite any existing ones.

Minimize Explorer, go ahead and start up OE and log in to your new Identity.  You should see all of your emails that were stuck in the inaccessible Identity.  Go ahead and check your mail so that new stuff comes in.  The hard part is over.

Tell  OE that your newly created ID is the one you want to log into by default (if that’s the case) through the Manage Identities tool which you’ll see when you launch OE again.

You should now have access to your previously locked Identity’s email in a new Identity.

Technorati Tags: howto, how to, oe, outlook express, identities, lost password, recover email

Technorati Tags: lifehacker, windows, optimization, myths, debunked, debunking, tweaks, registry cleaners, prefetch

Inkseine introduces a gesture-based UI, which reduces screen clutter and makes the app just plain fun to use. It also includes a few unique features. My favorite: you can highlight handwritten text and use it to search any document on your computer (or search the web), then open it for viewing or hyperlink it into your notes for easy access later. Inkseine also has a handy widget for taking clippings and pasting them directly into your notes, like a streamlined version of Snipping Tool.

Naturally as soon as I downloaded it I went straight to planning a D&D campaign. First I sketched out a couple of regional and dungeon maps. After adding some annotations, I hyperlinked the dungeon maps to the regional maps using the search feature. I have all my D&D books in PDF format so I used the search tool to look up the monsters and traps I intended to use, then took snapshots of them and pasted them right into the notes for easy access. I have the whole adventure planned out with everything at the tip of my stylus, and anything I forgot to paste into the notes I can easily search for mid-session without digging through a stack of books. Freakin’ sweet.

I could go on about the things you can do with Inkseine, but I’ll let you check out the features yourself over at its page at Microsoft Research.

“By focusing principally on the needs of the average user, we were able to create a more unified PC experience for users of all levels while enhancing existing users’ experiences by enabling new home-computing scenarios,” said Rory Smotes, group vice president of the Platforms Strategy, Marketing and Developer Group at Microsoft. “Windows Vista Me 2 supports our goal to evolve the Windows-based PC to continue to provide a rich and exciting user experience in the connected home, while not violating any of the numerous patents held by other companies.  In addition, Windows Vista Me 2 will host it’s own schema of Digital Rights Management, assuring that the user never commits a crimed against the United States or any of the other numerous treaty nations.”

Virtualization, PC Health, Digital Media, Home Networking and Online Experience Enhancements

Windows Vista Me 2 is a timely technology update for home PC users. Enhancements to the home-computing experience are focused in the following areas:

Virtualization.  Windows Vista Me 2 marks a departure for Microsoft from a monolithic kernel to threaded environment hosting numerous instances of virtual operating systems.  Windows Vista Me 2 will allow users to spawn a virtual, 32 bit or 64 bit instance of Windows Vista Me 2 on each processor core, allowing for multiple applications to be launched while not taxing the underlying operating system.  Users will now be able to play games, surf the web and run other applications concurrently.

PC health. Windows Vista Me 2 provides an easier, more intuitive and stable computing experience. New features include a self healing file system, in which the entire system is mirrored on a separate, remote volume hosted by third parties.  Remote hosting ensures complete file integrity and will allow users to restore everything from a single file to their entire computer for a small fee.  If at any time your file system, files or any of your virtualized operating system instances become corrupt, they will instantly repair themselves based on the remote copy.  A high speed connection is required to utilize this function.

Digital media. Using PCs to do more with pictures, video, music and games is becoming increasingly popular among home PC users. Windows Vista Me 2 provides advancements in each of these areas with features such as Windows Picture Organizer (WPO) to store, modify and organize all of your digital photos.  New playback functionality for digital media allows users to purchase and play videos or music directly from the internet.  Since Windows Vista Me 2 utilizes many of the same drivers as Windows Vista, manufacturers of third party devices such as digital cameras, scanners or MP3 players will be able to update their products quickly.

Home networking. Windows Vista Me 2 further enables the “connected home” through the HNW, a feature that helps users quickly and easily find shared resources and connect them.  Now with one click of a button, discover all of the available wired and wireless networks and devices attached to them and access them with ease.

Online experience. Windows Vista Me 2 will provide the best Internet experience for families by providing enhanced features for doing the things that matter most to them: browsing the Internet, shopping online, sending and receiving e-mail, purchasing digital media, playing games online, doing Web publishing, and chatting or conferencing with friends and family. Windows Vista Me 2 includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.5 technologies, which adds print preview functionality, core reliability and performance enhancements to improve the home Internet experience.

Windows Vista Me 2 Pricing and Availability

Windows Vista Me 2 will be available in retail boxes or as a download from Microsoft. In addition, Windows Vista Me 2 will be available pre-installed on new PCs. The estimated retail price for Windows Vista Me 2 is  $209 (U.S.) for the full-package product and $109 (U.S.) for a version upgrade (from Windows Vista only). Parties interested in learning the estimated retail price in local currency for other countries should contact their local Microsoft subsidiary.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.

Technorati Tags: vista me 2, microsoft, windows, technology, operating systems, announcement, press release, geek

By Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
February 21, 2008

In a major turnaround for Microsoft, the company Thursday promised “greater transparency” in its development and business practices, outlining a new strategy to provide more access to APIs and previously proprietary protocols for some of its major software products, including Windows and Office.

The move, inspired by the ongoing antitrust case against Microsoft in the European Union, shows the company finally acknowledging the significant impact open source and open standards have had on the industry and the company’s own business. It also should mean the end of Microsoft’s patent threats against Linux and interoperability concerns surrounding Office 2007 file formats.During a news conference with top executives Thursday, Microsoft said it is implementing four new interoperability principles and actions across its business products to ensure open connections, promote data portability, enhance support for industry standards, and foster more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open-source communities.

These steps are “important” and represent “significant change in how we share information about our products and technologies,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement. “For the past 33 years, we have shared a lot of information with hundreds of thousands of partners around the world and helped build the industry, but today’s announcement represents a significant expansion toward even greater transparency.”

Under increased global pressure, Microsoft has limped toward a more open development policy for some time with strategies like the Open Specification Promise, which it published in September 2006 as a pledge that it would not take any patent-enforcement action against those who use certain technology APIs (application programming interfaces). The company launched an open-source Web site last year, a move that was notable for one of the first official uses of the term “open source” by the company. Microsoft previously would release APIs and code to developers and other companies through something it called the Shared Source Initiative rather than specifically calling its policy open source.

However, at the same time as it appeared to be more open, Microsoft continued to make bold claims and threats against technologies like Linux that it said violated many patents the company holds. While the open-source community mostly scoffed at Microsoft’s claims, some companies — including Novell — signed specific deals with the vendor to protect customers from indemnification and promote interoperability with Microsoft software.

Microsoft also continued to promote proprietary file formats it designed as the default for Office 2007 — Office Open XML (OOXML) — in favor of another file format, ODF (Open Document Format for XML), which already has been approved as a global technology standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Microsoft submitted the OOXML specification to another standards body, Ecma International, in November 2005 in an effort to have it fast-tracked through the ISO. However, approval by the ISO has been stalled and the process riddled with complaints that Microsoft is not acting in the transparent way typical of an international standards process.

The announcements on Thursday don’t affect the company’s continued efforts to standardize OOXML, Ballmer said during the press conference.

Thursday’s news includes broad, royalty-free publishing of APIs and the establishment of an Open Source Interoperability Initiative to provide ongoing resources and documentation to the community, and marks more commitment than the notoriously proprietary software maker has ever shown toward embracing open standards and open source.

Microsoft plans to publish on its Web site documentation for APIs and communications protocols that are used by what it calls its “high-volume products.” Microsoft includes Windows Vista (including the .NET Framework), Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 — as well as their future versions — under this umbrella. Microsoft will not require developers to license or pay royalties for this information, the company said.

To get this ball rolling, Microsoft Thursday will publish on its Microsoft Developer Network Web site more than 30,000 pages of documentation for Windows client and server protocols that were previously available only under a trade-secret license through the Microsoft Work Group Server Protocol Program and the Microsoft Communication Protocol Program. Microsoft will publish protocol documentation for the other high-volume products in upcoming months, the company said.

Microsoft also is providing a covenant not to sue open-source developers for development or non-commercial distribution of implementations of these protocols — a huge move for any Linux or open-source developers that may have feared litigation from Microsoft. The company said Thursday that developers will be able to use the documentation for free to develop products. However, companies that want to commercially distribute implementations of the protocols still must obtain a patent license from Microsoft, it said.

On the OOXML front, Microsoft promised Thursday to design new APIs for its Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications so developers can plug in additional document formats and enable users to set these formats as their default for saving documents. While there are add-on technologies that can translate between OOXML — the default file format in Office 2007 — and other file formats, Microsoft has not included the ability to set other file formats as default in the product suite.

Microsoft said Thursday it will use a new Open Source Interoperability Initiative to provide resources, facilities and events to the community, including labs, technical content and opportunities for ongoing cooperative development. Microsoft also is seeking an ongoing dialogue with customers, developers and open-source communities through an online Interoperability Forum. And Microsoft will launch a Document Interoperability Initiative to address the issue of data exchange between widely deployed formats, the company said.

The announcement reflects a change in the market in the past couple of decades, said Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s chief software architect, during a question and answer session at the press conference. “When Microsoft entered the game in the mid-1980s, people focused on using the PC. They tended to use a small number of programs,” he said. Today, people use many more applications, and they expect data from one program to be available in other products, he said. The changes Microsoft is making adapt to that change in the market, he said.

Still, Ballmer cautioned that end-users shouldn’t expect to see much change for some time. “Any opening up doesn’t happen overnight,” he said during the Q&A session. “I think it will be more like years than days” before end-users notice the effects of Thursday’s announcements, he said.

Microsoft finds it hard to predict what kinds of new products might become available to users because of this change. “One thing the Net has shown is that sometimes, constraints around standards can be quite liberating to developers,” said Ozzie. “Many times, new services pop out of nowhere once a standard is there and once interoperability principles are established because we can’t think of the different potential uses of customer data and how to interface with products.”

Ballmer said he doesn’t expect the licensing changes to affect Microsoft’s bottom line. “The amount of trade secrets licensing fees we forgo will be minimal,” he said. The licensing changes are risky, he acknowledged, but the potential benefit for third parties to add value around Microsoft offerings balances the risk, he said.

While Thursday’s announcements are related to Microsoft’s legal problems in Europe, Ballmer argued that the changes were more driven by the market. “The announcement today is driven by what we’re hearing from industry participants,” he said.

Microsoft’s Interoperability Executive Customer (IEC) Council will oversee the new principles and initiatives to help keep the company honest. The IEC is an advisory board established in 2006 and comprised mainly of chief information and technology officers from more than 40 companies and government institutions worldwide.

More information about the news can be found on Microsoft interoperability Web site.

This story was update on February 21, 2008

Time to dump Windows?
Can it be done? Is it the right time? Find out what it’ll take to finally switch to desktop Mac OS X or Linux

By Galen Gruman at InfoWorld

InfoWorld’s “Save XP” petition asking Microsoft to keep Windows XP available indefinitely, not end most sales on June 30 as currently planned, has prompted many readers to suggest that maybe the best answer for those who don’t like Vista is to switch to another operating system completely.

“Don’t be afraid. Just switch to Linux and become a member of a really free society,” wrote Carlos Raul Gutierrez.

[ Find out the deployment secrets of early Vista adopters ]

“Windows Vista was the reason I bought a Mac mini. I didn’t want my only choices to be an operating system that would soon be obsolete (XP) or one that was buggy and would break much existing hardware (Vista), and I’m not enough of a geek to use Linux (do things from the command line? Puhleeze…),” wrote “Jack.”

How realistic is a switch to Linux or Apple’s Mac OS X? For some users — often technically savvy people such as engineers, consultants, designers and CTOs — it is clearly an option that already works quite well. In the past year, running Mac OS X or Linux as your default OS has been made easier by the capability to run Windows in a virtual machine, giving you access to both Windows-only applications and Web sites that rely on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer-only ActiveX technology. But in a business environment, switching to a Mac or Linux PC may not be quite as easy.

The Mac OS X option
Of the plausible alternatives to Windows, Apple’s Mac OS X has the largest market share and history. InfoWorld chief technologist Tom Yager has written that the latest version of the Mac OS, Leopard (10.5), is simply the best operating system available. And Macs are indeed popping up more frequently even within IT circles — I’ve seen more MacBook Pros in the hands of CTOs and IT execs at conferences in the past year more than I’ve seen Mac notebooks in such venues ever. Although there are no real numbers on just the business adoption of Macs, it’s clear that Apple is in growth mode, gaining an increasing proportion of all new computer sales for more than a year now.

InfoWorld’s Yager has chronicled the adventures of one PC user who switched to the Mac OS, showing that for an individual, the conversion was ultimately a rewarding one. The TechWeb site has also provided a good guide on how to make the switch to Mac OS X.

A key tool for any Mac OS X switcher is a virtual machine to run Windows for those apps and Web sites that require it. Both Parallels Desktop 3.0 and EMC VMware’s Fusion software will do the trick, as InfoWorld’s comparative review has shown.

Although Macs are compatible with most typical hardware, such as monitors and drives, fitting a Mac into an enterprise’s management systems and ERP applications can be a different story. Yager’s Mac Enterprise blog and the Mac Enterprise user group both provide advice on managing Macs in a traditional IT environment.

The Linux option
The more technically inclined may be attracted to Linux, the most popular form of desktop Unix. Linux desktops typically are challenged by limited hardware compatibility (due to lack of drivers), limited application options, and user interfaces that require active participation to get work done, which tends to keep Linux away from the general user population. But those who work with a Linux server all day may find that using it on the desktop as well actually makes their lives easier.

Just as Mac users need occasional access to Windows, so do Linux users. Because Linux distributions run on Windows-compatible hardware, it’s straightforward to use desktop virtualization software, such as Parallels Workstation, Sun’s (formerly Innotek’s) VirtualBox, and EMC VMware’s Workstation software, to provide access to both environments.

Although some enterprises have committed to wide Linux deployment — such as automaker Peugeot Citroën’s plans to install 20,000 Novell Suse Linux desktops — most have left Linux to the engineering and development staff.

InfoWorld Enterprise Desktop blogger Randall Kennedy argues that desktop Linux is doomed to remain a tiny niche OS, given the Linux community’s lack of interest in providing a UI that regular people could use. Kennedy tried to spend a week working on nothing but the Ubuntu distribution of Linux but gave up on the fifth day.

But Kennedy’s take isn’t the last word on desktop Linux. Frequent InfoWorld contributor Neil McAllister put together a special report on how to move from Windows to Linux, concluding that the effort was not as hard as you might think.

Who’s right? As with any platform choice, they both may be. A one-size-fits-all approach may be unrealistic. And that likely explains why many businesses will have a mix, dominated by Windows XP today (and perhaps Vista in a few years) but not exclusively tied to Microsoft’s OS.

These release notes address late-breaking issues related to this release candidate of Windows Vista® Service Pack 1 (SP1), along with instructions for working around them. Unless otherwise specified, these notes apply to all editions of the Windows Vista operating system with SP1.

For an overview of significant changes and improvements in this release candidate of SP1, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107921.

For a list of the hotfixes and security updates included in SP1, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107922.

Before you install Windows Vista Service Pack 1

• If you install Windows Vista and then install this release candidate of SP1 without first activating Windows Vista, you might not be able to uninstall the service pack.Either activate Windows Vista before you install SP1 or activate SP1 before you attempt to uninstall the service pack.
• If you attempt to install the Korean version of this service pack on a computer that has the Korean version of the 2007 Microsoft® Office system, installation may fail. This only occurs when you use the executable installer—not Windows Update.To avoid this, install Office-kb937905-fullfile-x86-ko-kr.exe from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107923 before installing SP1.
• If you have certain applications installed, installation of this release candidate of SP1 may fail with the error code 0×80010119 (RPC_E_TOO_LATE). This is definitely known to occur when either Nokia PC Suite or Exceed PowerSuite 2006 are installed.To avoid this, uninstall these applications before you install SP1. Once SP1 installation is complete, you can reinstall the applications.
• If you attempt to install SP1 from a protected shared network resource that requires a password (that is, the administrator does not have direct access to the shared resource), installation may fail with the error “ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND”.To avoid this, gain access to the shared resource, copy the installation file to the computer you want to install SP1 on, and then start the installation.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

The Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) is turned on by default. If you do not want to participate in the CEIP, you can change the settings.

1. In Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and then click Problem Reports and Solutions.
2. In the Task list, click Change settings.
3. Change the settings.

For information about the CEIP and the data that is transmitted to Microsoft, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?linkid=52095. For the CEIP privacy statement, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?linkid=52097.

Display

In some cases, computers that use multiple monitors may display black screens when the display mode is changed after resuming from sleep. This issue can also affect laptop computers connected to an external monitor. Display mode changes may occur in any of the following circumstances:

• Attaching or detaching a monitor.
• Accessing the computer remotely.
• Changing the screen resolution or color depth using the Display Properties dialog box (which you can access in Control Panel) or an application.
• Logging users on or off.
• Rotating the display on a tablet computer.

To avoid this, do not use multiple monitors, or do not allow the computer to sleep or change the display mode.

If this has already occurred, restart the computer.

Event log messages

The following events from the Shell Hardware Detection service are not valid and can be safely ignored:

• Event 7011 A time-out (30000 milliseconds) was reached while waiting for a transaction response from the ShellHWDetection service.
• Event 263 The service ‘ShellHWDetection’ may not have unregistered for device event notifications before it was stopped.

Group Policy management

This issue affects Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise.

When you install Windows Vista SP1, the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is removed from the computer. It is being replaced by an updated downloadable version, which will be available later.

To continue managing Group Policy from a client computer, do either one of the following:

• Maintain a computer running Windows Vista for managing Group Policy.
• Remotely connect to a computer running the GPMC.

Installation

• If you attempt to install this release candidate of SP1 immediately after uninstalling any of the release candidate preview versions, installation may fail.To avoid this, wait at least 30 minutes after uninstalling the preview version before you start this installation. You can check that the computer is ready for installation by running the following command at a command prompt:

  reg query HKLM\Components\DerivedData\Components | findstr /i /c:”-ntdll_” | findstr 6001.170

  If the output lists any versions prior to 6001.17047, you should allow more time before starting the installation.

• In some instances, installation of this release candidate fails with the error code 0×80010108 (RPC_E_DISCONNECTED).If this occurs, simply rerun the SP1 installer.

Message Queuing

If your computer is in workgroup mode and you install this service pack, and then uninstall the service pack, the Message Queuing (MSMQ) service will not start. The event log will indicate that “notify_queue$” was not found.

To correct this, complete the following steps:

1. Start Notepad with administrative rights.
2. Navigate to the \Windows\system32\MSMQ\Storage\lqs directory
3. Copy the entire contents of the file 000000002.* and paste them into Notepad.
4. Find the following values in the file:
   • Label=private$\admin_queue$
   • Type=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
   • QueueName=\private$\admin_queue$
5. Edit the values to the following:
   • Label=private$\notify_queue$
   • Type=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
   • QueueName=\private$\notify_queue$
6. Save the new file in the \MSMQ\Storage\lqs directory with file name 000000003.6AB7C4B8 and file type All Files.

Microsoft .NET Framework

If your computer is running Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 and Internet Information Services (IIS) is configured to host XOML files, and you then install this release candidate of SP1, the files may not load properly if the application pool is in Integrated Mode. When you attempt to load the file, you will receive HTTP error 404.17.

To correct this, use the WFServicesReg.exe /c command to install handlers for Integrated Mode. This command is in the %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\ directory.

System Restore

When you install this service pack on a computer with low available disk space, the installer may delete previous System Restore points and shadow copies. This means that you may not be able to revert to the exact state of the computer prior to installing the service pack and that previous versions of files may not be available.Uninstallation

Uninstall

Follow these steps to uninstall SP1 using the command line:

1. Click Start, expand All Programs, and expand Accessories.
2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
3. In the command window, type the following and press ENTER:start /w pkgmgr /up: VistaSP1-KB936330~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~6.0.0.<build number>
   

   Note

   To uninstall SP1 from a 64-bit computer, replace x86 with amd64 in this command. Replace <build number> with the appropriate build number you are uninstalling. For example, for the Vista SP1 RC Preview, the build number is 17042.

4. Wait for the command to complete (there is no progress indicator), and then restart the computer when prompted.
5. To confirm that the uninstallation was successful, click Start and type winver in the Start Search box. The reported build version should be 6000.

Copyright

This document supports a preliminary release of a software product that may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release, and is the confidential and proprietary information of Microsoft Corporation. It is disclosed pursuant to a non-disclosure agreement between the recipient and Microsoft. This document is provided for informational purposes only and Microsoft makes no warranties, either express or implied, in this document. Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. The entire risk of the use or the results from the use of this document remains with the user. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Microsoft, MS-DOS, Visual Basic, Visual Studio, Windows, Windows NT, Windows Server, Windows Vista, and Active Directory are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

5.0

Technorati Tags: microsoft, vista, service pack 1, sp1, windows, technology, bork bork bork, what not to do

Microsoft announced the addition of nine new Games for Windows-branded titles joining the portfolio from renowned publishers Atari Inc., Capcom, Eidos Interactive, LucasArts, Microsoft Game Studios, SEGA and Stardock., bringing the growing Games for Windows portfolio to more than 60 titles. “Alone in the Dark” (Atari) and “Sins of a Solar Empire” (Stardock) join other branded games from top publishers around the world committed to delivering quality-tested Games for Windows titles, including 2K Games, Activision Inc., EA Partners, Midway Home Entertainment Inc. and Ubisoft. New Games for Windows-branded titles announced at CES include the following:

· “Alone in the Dark” (Atari)
· “Bionic Commando” (Capcom)
· “Conflict: Denied Ops” (Eidos Interactive)
· “Empire: Total War” (SEGA)
· “LEGO Indiana Jones” (LucasArts)
· “Microsoft Train Simulator 2” (Microsoft Game Studios)
· “Sins of a Solar Empire” (Stardock)
· “Space Siege” (SEGA)
· “Tomb Raider: Underworld” (Eidos Interactive)

Other highly anticipated Games for Windows-branded titles expected to release in 2008 include “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures” (Funcom, Eidos Interactive), “Borderlands” (2K Games), “The Club” (SEGA), “Fallout® 3” (Bethesda Softworks®) and “Frontlines: Fuel of War” (THQ).

In a year when gaming was one of the most popular choices of entertainment, the Games for Windows initiative drove the PC gaming category forward. Games for Windows has brought Windows-based gaming to the forefront of retail stores, raising consumer awareness of Games for Windows titles and positioning the category for successful sales. In November 2007 alone, the Games for Windows portfolio accounted for 20 percent of all PC game sales at retail stores in the United States, according to the NPD Group/Retail Tracking Service.

“Games for Windows-branded titles were among the most popular Windows-based games purchased as gifts this holiday,” said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising for GameStop Corp. “Microsoft’s efforts to revive Windows-based gaming have helped grow the category.”

Consumers can find Games for Windows titles featured in retail stores including GameStop, Circuit City and Wal-Mart in the United States, and PC World, Game, Media Markt and Saturn in Europe.

Technorati Tags: video games, gamers, microsoft, pc games, new titles, bill gates is l337

I missed my chance to feel acutely embarrassed for Microsoft when this little ditty came out so I’m applying for retro-embarrassment. Had I seen this back then, I would have shivered at every command prompt for the rest of my life. Hmm. . . retro-future-Linux FUD?

Technorati Tags: microsoft, video, rap, ms-dos, sticking USB drives in my ears

Technorati Tags: microsoft, office 2007, nightmare

Yesterday we ran an article about Microsoft’s plan to give away free software (up to and including Vista Ultimate) in exchange for pretty much total access to your computer using habits over three months.

Today there is a poll up and perhaps not surprisingly slightly over half the participants would gladly hand over their privacy in exchange for some pricey software.

I’ve heard that Microsoft has since rescinded it’s free Vista offer but is still offering other software packages (Office 2007, etc.)  What would you do?

Thanks to Eran for the tip on the poll.

Technorati Tags: free vista, privacy, microsoft, poll

Microsoft has a program where, if you’re an XP or Vista user, you can sign up, answer some survey questions and let them track your every move via installed software for three months.  Then they’ll send you some software.

If you are a Windows Vista or Windows XP user and decide to join and participate in both programs, we will send you a free Microsoft product when you participate in the program. Limit one gift per person. This offer is non-transferable. This offer expires on 12/31/07, while supplies last, and is not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are your sole responsibility. The current list of products to choose from are:

• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit DVD)
• Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
• Microsoft Money Plus Premium
• Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008
• Microsoft Streets and Trips 2000

Interested?  You can go here to start the process.   Curious as to just what kinds of data they’ll strip out of your computer?  Here’s the FAQ.

StreamMyGame enables games to be played remotely by converting a game’s video and audio into a Game Stream and sending it over a home network to a laptop or second PC. The game can be played on the laptop without any lag and the laptop does not need to have the game installed.

StreamMyGame is compatible with both Windows XP and Vista, with all computer games based on Microsoft’s DirectX8, DirectX9, DirectX10 including the latest games such as FIFA 08 and BioShock and OpenGL standards. Game Streams can be created with resolutions up to Super HDTV 3200 x 2400.

“We are embarking on a new paradigm in the gaming industry fuelled by advances in computer hardware, network speeds and the want of gamers to have more freedom,” said Richard Faria CEO. “We network the power of their main PC so it can be used to play high end games on other PCs and laptops around the home. I believe the demand for high resolutions will drive the sales of high end PC hardware”.

“We will release a Linux version in Q4 2007 which will enable PC games to be played on the PlayStation 3 and many other devices including DVD players, set top boxes, networked media devices and mobile phones,” he said.

StreamMyGame will extend its services in Q1 2008 to enable games to be played remotely over broadband networks that have sufficient capacity such as Verizon’s FiOS. Publishers will be able to use StreamMyGame to establish Pay-for-Play services.

StreamMyGame also offers its members the ability to record and broadcast gameplay and includes a free MP4 video player. “An easy solution to record your gameplay and upload it to the web has been demanded by gamers and StreamMyGame delivers that. Our YouTube ready MP4 format keeps file sizes low,” said Joanna Softly, Marketing Manager, “and broadcasting games at LAN parties so everyone can watch the final from the comfort of their own PC makes so much more sense than crowding around one monitor”.

You can try out StreamMyGame for free by simply registering at http://www.StreamMyGame.com/

Calculation Issue Update (Fix Available)

Two weeks ago, we posted about an issue involving the calculation of numbers around 65,535 and 65,536. As of today, fixes for this issue in Excel 2007 and Excel Services 2007 are available for download from the following locations:

Excel 2007

64-bit Excel Services 2007
32-bit Excel Services 2007

KB Articles have been posted as well:

Excel 2007: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/943075/
Excel Services 2007: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/943076

We are in the process of adding this fix to Microsoft Update so that it will get automatically pushed to users running Excel 2007 or Excel Services 2007. Additionally, the fix will also be contained in the first service pack of Office 2007 when it is released (the release date for SP1 of Office 2007 has not been finalized).

Thank you for your patience,

The Excel Team

To be fair, it’s not always easy to translate things but this is one area where computers just aren’t very good. You can get a very basic sense of meaning but that’s about it.  Click the below image for a larger version of an attempt to translate a Japanese paragraph into English.

Here are a few gems.

Several times during my attempts to translate text, I receive an internal server error 500 as well.

Technorati Tags: microsoft, translation, this is a suck

Well Microsoft is softening me up a little by introducing a new gaming mouse that not only looks sleek, causes you to drool from first glance (or at least I have), but with its 5000 adjustable settings (including weight, materials and touch), I may have to be forced to get in front of a console. I’m sure there are other mice that rival this, but I never cared to look and this one has captured my attention.

This product may also be the solution for a myriad of gamers out there, in which the main console companies seem to ignore, who are unable to use both hands for holding a mainstream controller due to special needs.

Come October my computer habits may wind up blissfully marrying my gamer side.

Check Out the Official Site

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Sidewinder, PC Gaming, Mouse

Technorati Tags: xbox, price drop, , fifty bucks, pick me

Here’s a link to get you started. Click on the thumbnail as well for a closer look.

From their site:“With Photosynth, we take pictures of an environment and knit them together into an experience that people can move through like a 3-D video game,” said Blaise Aguera y Arcas, architect at Microsoft Live Labs. “NASA provided us with some outstanding images and the result is an experience that will wow anyone wanting to get a closer look at the Endeavour and its travels.”

Technorati Tags: photosynth, microsoft, nasa, shuttle, 3d, wicked cool

Windows Vista is the next version of Microsoft Windows, an operating system for both home and business. As with its previous counterparts (Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 95), developers of Vista have made available many shortcut keys to make our lives easier. We’ll take a look at some of these shortcut keys below.

read more | digg story

This looks really handy if you want to slip a Google widget into your Microsoft gadgets, or drop your favorite YouTube vid into your side bar.  SWF games may work as well.

What the heck is a Silverlight you ask?  No, it’s not a propriatary super hero or a globe spanning super-bug, but a “cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.”

You can make stuff in it.

See the Silverlight page, or just go download it for your Windows or Mac computer.

APC has the full story here, or read it after the jump.

Computer makers have been told they’ll no longer be able to get Windows XP OEM by the end of this year, despite consumer resistance to Vista and its compatibility problems.

By early 2008, Microsoft’s contracts with computer makers will require companies to only sell Vista-loaded machines. “The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January,” said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. “At that point, they’ll have no choice.”

Despite Microsoft’s relentless promotion of Vista, manufacturers are still seeing plenty of demand from customers for systems preloaded with XP, especially in the finicky SOHO market.

In a recent post on its Direct2Dell blog, Dell reaffirmed to concerned customers that it wasn’t about to force small business users — who typically purchase PCs piecemeal, rather than in large enterprise-style orders — to shift to Vista, which has experienced a less-than-stellar reaction from many buyers because of driver issues and moderately beefy hardware requirements.

“Dell recognizes the needs of small business customers and understands that more time is needed to transition to a new operating system,” the post read in part. “The plan is to continue offering Windows XP on select Dimension and Inspiron systems until later this [northern] summer.”

“From a local perspective, the post was a reminder more than an announcement,” Dell ANZ corporate communications manager Paul McKeon told APC.

“This was something we’d always planned during the transition phase since businesses will have different time frames to adopt the new OS. If you’re a consumer, you’re unlikely to be managing more than say 2.4 OS images at home, so it’s less of an issue”

There’s general agreement amongst PC resellers that Vista has provided a minor boost to PC sales, but hasn’t produced blockbuster numbers. A similar story applies in the retail space. Figures from marketing consultancy GfK suggest that after an initial sales surge, around 1500 copies of Vista are now being sold through Australian retailers each week, according to a recent report in the AFR.

While Dell’s post suggested it wouldn’t be promoting Vista systems to the home market, manufacturers still have the option of selling XP-based systems for consumers this year.

1. Open ‘Control Panel’

2. Select ‘Programs and Features’

3. In the left column, select ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ (get ready for the annoying UAC prompt)

4. Check the box next to telnet (and any other obscure services you may want enabled), and wait while Vista thinks for a while.

Thats it, now you can administer your network devices in as unsecure manner as possible!

See what you think yourself by watching the video.

So after a few weeks of playing and tinkering just where is the ‘wow’?
Easier…Safer…More entertaining…Better connected. The ‘wow’ starts here. That’s what it says on Microsoft’s Vista homepage. And with those points I started finding out where my ‘Wow’ was.

Easier

I like many of you have used XP since it’s release. I’ve used and abused it. I’ve edited it’s registry to enhance certain features and take away others, I’ve downloaded themes and changed it’s appearance, I’ve done everything I could to this great OS and it’s always been there for me like a best friend. I know it and it knows me. It was easy to learn and use and it works. So Vista comes along and says it’s easier. Is it?
Vista looks better, how could it not with all that glass and minimizing effects. The Start menu has a search tool which works extremely well after it has indexed your hard drive. Explorer isn’t crap anymore, it’s verging on great especially the file preview (my favourite), folder content images, adding of tags, video preview panes…the list goes on. Most importantly I find it easier to use…now. It took a little time as I was after all a long running XP user so this new, improved Explorer took me by surprise and also kept me busy trying out its features rather than getting things done! Explorer on it’s own is worthy of the ‘wow’ tag. So it gets my ‘wow’ experience point.
‘Wow’ point=Yes

Safer

XP was and still is an OS riddled with holes, exploits and all sorts of nasties waiting to move into your PC. That is if you haven’t got anti virus and a firewall installed. XP SP2 gave us a firewall which worked but no antivirus but at least there are excellent freeware apps available. Vista still needs anitvirus no matter what anyone or UAC says. UAC is the supposedly ‘wow’ feature to make your experience safer. It acts like an all seeing sage, gifted with infinite wisdom but with no personality and forever annoying. The User Account Control allows you to act as administrator without having to be logged in as admin which is good, but the constant messages it throws up, the warnings, the actions, the are you sure’s, the whole ‘hold your hand through this possibly devastating procedure’ feeling is just too much. Thankfully it can be turned off by using a registry hack. No ‘Wow’ there for me then. I’ve nothing to say about ie7 as I stopped using it back when firefox was pre-release 1.
‘Wow’ point=No

n.b. this depends on whether you know your stuff concerning web security or not. If the latter I may be inclined to give a ‘yes’ answer as UAC does inform the user extremely well.

More Entertaining

Media Center ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’ ?Ron Seal
This is a definite ‘Wow’ for me. Especially on a big monitor or HDTV. The way Mac’s Frontrow should be but thankfully iTheatre and Centerstage are trying to be. But…it has crashed on me, stalled and refused to do anything at times. Also, you’ve better make sure you’ve got all those extra codecs installed otherwise you won’t get to see that divx version of Babel Wink
‘Wow’ point=yes

Better Connected

This is another selling point that I’m not too sure where the ‘Wow’ is supposed to be. XP connected me with never a problem whereas I’ve had to download a beta version driver for my Wireless router as it’s not officially Vista ready Angry It still works but I’m using a wired connection to be safe as I still experience un-wow like drop outs.
A point to note is that on the Vista website, the ‘Better Connected’ option targets business users more than home users so maybe a business user would care to expand this particular ‘wow’ factor.
‘Wow’ point=No

And the outcome? Wow points = 2 for and 2 against.

After all this I’m wondering if the ‘Wow’ isn’t just a stop gap for the actual OS to be released by Microsoft in the next 5 years. Maybe what we are witnessing now are just the possibilities of what’s to come. The desktop hasn’t changed since it’s first inception - it’s just gotten a facelift.

Underneath is what’s changing and I for one am looking forward to the real ‘Wow’ that’s going to come.

Technorati Tags: windows, vista, wow, really wow?

Here’s how you can get your hands on one of these five books.

Read our terms and conditions at the bottom of this post. Next head on over to the ArsGeek Forums and create an account. Once you’ve got an account, here’s how you can get a chance to win a copy.

First stop by our Contest forum and post under I Want a Copy of Windows Vista: The Missing Manual. This board is where you can tell us a bit about yourself, ask questions about the contest and find out who will win.

If you want to score a copy of the book, you’ve got to participate. Post in any of the below boards and you’ll have a chance to win.

One forum member will win by posting a suggestion about our site or Forums in our Suggestions board.

One will win for posting insightful comment in our OS Wars forum.

One will win by posting a neat XP or Vista tip or trick in our Windows forum.

One forum member will win by suggesting an interesting link in our Links forum.

One forum member will win by being selected at random from the I Want a Copy of Windows Vista: The Missing Manual board.

Remember, you have to create an account in our Forums and post to I Want a Copy of Windows Vista: The Missing Manual to qualify.

Wait - we said six prizes! Webmasters, bloggers and others with websites. You can win a copy of Building the Perfect PC, also from O’Reilly. This book retails for $34.99 and was reviewed on our site as well. How do you get in on this? Easy, simply put a link to arsgeek.com on your site or blog, and then leave a comment in this post telling us you did so. We’ll draw a random winner from everyone who’s linked to us and left a comment. The one catch is you have to be in the US or Canada to take part.

Terms and Conditions:

All award decisions are final.

ArsGeek’s administrators and moderators reserve the right to disqualify any member from the contest who is in violation of our Forum rules or these terms and conditions.

Administrators and moderators are not eligible for prizes.

Winners must create an account with a valid email address and must have a mailing address in the United States or Canada. We’ll ask you for your mailing address if you’ve won.

Notification of contest winners will be posted on www.arsgeek.com and in the ArsGeek Forums on April 18th, 2007. At that time all winners will be sent an email notifying them that they have won and requesting a mailing address.

Prizes will be sent via USPS media mail within one week of receiving a winning Forum member’s address.

Void where prohibited.

Only one prize will be awarded per user.

Technorati Tags: free book, give away, prizes, contest, windows, vista, missing manual, perfect pc, build pc, whoopie