Microsoft has said it would offer free technical support to small businesses that buy new PCs with Windows Vista in the next three months, its latest attempt to convince users that moving to Vista is a good idea. And if those efforts are for naught, Microsoft will help those users downgrade from Vista to Windows XP, the same maneuver several large computer makers, including Dell and Hewlett-Packard, have used in recent months to continue offering the older operating system to buyers.
The offer, dubbed Windows Vista Small Business Assurance, is available to businesses with fewer than 50 employees or 25 PCs, and it provides free telephone support through the end of October to companies that buy new PCs with Vista Business or Vista Ultimate between now and Sept. 30, according to details posted on the Microsoft Web site. Only businesses buying new hardware can take advantage of the free support; companies upgrading existing computers from, say, Windows XP, don’t qualify.
Source: The full story @ InfoWorld
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I’m currently working on the Media Center gadget for Windows SideShow. We’ve just put up the beta at http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=312 so be sure to create an account and download to try it today! Feedback is encouraged so please let us know about any issues or comments and be reading through them as we work towards the final version.
With the gadget you can control Media Center, including seeing the program guide, recording shows, viewing your photos, browsing through music, and more. I use it on a Vave 100 remote control but you can always use the SideShow simulator if you don’t have a physical device. (Get the simulator by following the links at http://blogs.msdn.com/sideshow/archive/2008/05/29/announcing-the-windows-sideshow-managed-api-sdk-and-runtime-releases.aspx)
Source- MSDN Blog
This update resolves issues that may affect some Windows Vista SP1-based computers. These issues have been reported by customers who use the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services.
This update improves the performance, responsiveness, and reliability of Windows Vista in various scenarios.
This update includes the following improvements on a Windows Vista SP1-based computer:
•This update improves the stability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by addressing some crashes that may occur when you try to check e-mail by using a POP3 e-mail client such as Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird. The crashes may occur on a Windows Vista SP1-based computer in the following scenario:
•Incoming POP3 and outgoing SMTP traffic monitoring is enabled.
•Both a third-party antivirus application and an antispyware application are installed, such as the following applications:
•ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
•SpySweeper by Webroot Software, Inc.
•This update improves the reliability of the Windows Vista SP1 based-computers by addressing some problems that occur when you delete user accounts by using the User Accounts item in Control Panel. When this problem occurs, the system may stop responding (hang).
•This update improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers that experience issues in which large applications cannot run after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time. For example, when you try to start Excel 2007 after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time, a user may receive an error message that resembles the following:
EXCEL.EXE is not a valid Win32 application
•This update improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing the number of crashes that may be caused by the Apple QuickTime thumbnail preview in Windows Live Photo Gallery.
•This update improves the performance of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing audio and video (AV) stuttering. Such AV stuttering may occur when the audio or video component is streaming high definition content from a Windows Vista SP1-based computer that has a NVIDIA network adapter nForce driver version 67.5.4.0 that is installed to a Windows Media Center Extender device.
Source: support.microsoft.com
The Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 (SP1) test-drive allows you to try (or “test drive”) this latest operating system from Microsoft without having to install it on your PC. By simply logging onto our test drive environment using your web browser, you will be able to experience Windows Vista first hand. You can explore the product on your own, or follow along with guided excercises and videos.
Site: Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 Test Drive
The firewall in the original release of Windows XP was adequate, but really left a lot to be desired. But over the years, the Windows Firewall has received a number of makeovers and continual refinements.
By the time Windows Vista was released, the firewall had beenredesigned and was quite impressive. Then the update that came with the recent release of Windows Vista SP1 added even more powerful features–support for Network Access Protection, reliability enhancements, new encryption-related algorithms, and so on.
In the June 2008 issue of TechNet Magazine, Jesper Johansson digs into the Windows Firewall. He discusses how it is a good solution for the enterprise and shows you how you can deploy and manage the Windows Firewall throughout your organization.
Source- Technet Magazine Blog
With a comprehensive demo script, sample content, and a preconfigured installation including user accounts and applications, you have everything you need to demo with Windows Vista with virtually no effort.
Installing the Demo Readiness Toolkit will completely erase all data on your hard drive and create a Windows Vista Demonstration PC. Be sure to use a machine that can be re-formatted. Do you demonstrate Windows Vista features? Or maybe you demo 3rd party applications, services, solutions and/or hardware with Windows Vista? With the Demo Readiness Toolkit, your workload just got a whole lot lighter! With a comprehensive demo script, sample content, and a preconfigured installation including user accounts and applications, you have everything you need to demo with Windows Vista with virtually no effort. No more searching for the right software, creating user accounts, tweaking settings, or writing product/feature messaging - now you can focus on your pitch, NOT on building a demo environment.
With the DRT, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3…
1) Download and burn our ISO to a bootable DVD
2) Insert the DVD into your optical drive and boot from it
3) Relax while the demo environment is created for you
So the next time you have meetings, tradeshow booths, keynotes, or events with demos, use the DRT as your demo platform.
Download here
Almost a year and a half since its launch, Windows Vista may be ready to penetrate big business and win the hearts and minds of CIOs, according to some watchers. Microsoft accepts that Vista has only penetrated about five per cent of large business accounts (and even that figure might be optimistic, according to some analysts) but a combination of hardware readiness, enhancements to Vista itself and application compatibility reasons could see the heavily criticized OS finally crack large accounts. At a roundtable session with media, John Curran, UK head of the Windows group at Microsoft, said, "Adoption is accelerating, especially now we’ve got SP1 out."
Curran also defended Vista’s reputation, saying the product had passed 140 million license sales and was "the fastest-selling OS in history. We’re seeing momentum whether it’s consumer, enterprise or public sector. Some of the [negative] sentiment is from people who tried Vista in the very early days and the fundamental experience is very different today than at launch."
Source PC World
Experts agree that Microsoft’s Windows Vista is relatively well-protected, but its security features — such as User Account Control (UAC) — have been highlighted by security experts as one reason why the operating system is far less popular than its predecessor, Windows XP.
According to Scott Charney, vice president of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group, UAC was designed to give users more control over the applications they run and help them make better security decisions by providing them with more information. However, the main problem with Vista’s UAC, according to Charney, is that it prompts the user far too often.
"Clearly there has to be work done on UAC user prompts, where users get prompts at times they don’t necessarily expect it — and it’s not intuitive. The challenge is — as with many of these things when we try to give users control — if you give people too many prompts in too many situations, they view it as an impediment," Charney told ZDNet.com.au yesterday at the AusCERT security conference on the Gold Coast.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Ankur Mittal | July 10, 2008
