Big Basics of Computer World.

The Blog has been Migrated

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:43:00 +0000

We have Migrated this blog at a new address due to some reasons, Now the readers of this blog will get latest tech updates at http://windows4life.blogspot.com

so, Please do a visit at http://windows4life.blogspot.com

Thanks,

10 Steps to Fix Your PC with Maintenance Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

1. A Tidy Registry
If you’ve had a Windows Vista installation on the go for a while, it’s likely that your maze-like Registry contains a large amount of spurious and irrelevant information. Windows Vista will generally be a lot happier and faster if this information is as streamlined as possible, so a program that’s designed to remove such detritus can really speed up the process. It also means you won’t risk breaking everything by diving in there yourself. Eusing Registry Cleaner or CCleaner is an excellent choice.
2. Remove useless files
Disk Cleaner, CCleaner or windows default disk cleanup are very useful to remove useless files. It scrubs long-redundant temporary files from your hard drive, often left there by application installers and web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox, in order to free additional space. if you’re using a laptop or desktop with limited storage space then this could come in very handy. There is one more benifit too, the fewer files there are on your hard drive, the faster your antivirus or anti-spyware scans will be. Many users also prefer Wise Registry Cleaner, Wise Disk Cleaner is free to use, but with certain ‘PRO’ features disabled.
3. Destroy spywares
Malicious and unwanted software makes its way onto most machines sooner or later. It pays to hunt down these programs once in a while, as they can sap system resources all the way from internet bandwidth to RAM and CPU time. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is our favourite tool since it’s fast to search with it and generally very effective, but it’s worth running several packages to cover as many bases as possible. Check out Ad-Aware and SUPERAntiSpyware as well. Some good freeware programs are also available like AVG Free edition.
4. Forget fragmentation
The more you write to your hard drive the more scattered everything becomes. It may look as if your files are neatly tucked away in folders, but in reality they’re sitting in physically separate places, filling any gaps left by deleted files. This means your drive has to waste time seeking each part out. Windows Vista can already do a pretty good job of defragmentation, but the excellent JkDefrag finds chunks of data to shuffle even after a full run of the built-in tool.
5. Remove ‘free gifts’
Just bought a PC from a big-name manufacturer? Somewhat annoyed that it’s full of intrusive ‘bonus’ software that you don’t want or need? We’ve all been there. Thankfully, there’s a program to help. PC Decrapifier is an application specifically designed to get rid of the bloat that certain system builders install – everything from unwanted 30-day trials of software you won’t use to cleverly enforced web-browser branding is easily removed. The package was originally directed at Dell machines only, but it’s been expanded to run the gamut of preinstalled rubbish.
6. Perform a tune up
Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a package filled with cunning and obscure tweaks that can significantly speed up your day-to-day Windows Vista operations. It includes hundreds of minor & major alterations that make your PC run faster both under the hood and in terms of your own efficiency.
7. Use what’s built in
Windows Vista includes better tools than ever to keep your system in tip top shape. located at Control Panel > System and Maintenance. You can also switch off indexing, which will slow down searches but improve overall performance. Just right-click your C: drive, choose Properties, then uncheck Index this drive for faster searching.
8. Stay up to date
The best way to keep Windows Vista in good shape is pretty obvious – just keep it up to date with the latest patches and fixes using automatic windows updates. It isn’t just security tweaks that get rolled out with Microsoft’s updates: fixes for flaws in its internal sprockets trickle down too, which can help prevent crashes and slowdowns. Make sure you have automatic updates switched on by going to the Control Panel, opening the Security section, and clicking Turn automatic updating on or off.
9 Do it all at once!
There’s nothing that says you have to install a host of different packages. We’re trying to streamline Windows, not add mounds of software to it! Glary Utilities & Tuneup Utilities is the best jack-of-all-trades package we know of. It does an incredible amount, from advanced disk management and cleaning to constant system monitoring, and managing your RAM and processes so that Windows Vista runs at peak efficiency.
COMPLETE TOOLKIT Fix and optimise your system with this fantastic all-in-one toolkit, they are not freeware.
10. A Good Defence
Don’t forget that Windows Vista has its own built-in spyware detection tool, Windows Defender, which will look after your PC and keep system-hogging spyware away. Double click the Windows Defender icon in the Control Panel to switch it on.

Customize the Windows Start Menu

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:55:00 +0000

Organizing the Start menu can make it easier to find your favorite programs and folders.

Note Some of the following steps do not apply if you're using the Classic Start menu.

To pin a program icon to the Start menu

If you use a program regularly, you can create a shortcut to it by pinning the program icon to the Start menu. Pinned program icons appear on the left side of the Start menu, above the horizontal line.

Right-click the program icon you want to pin to the Start menu, and then click Pin to Start Menu.

Notes

To unpin a program icon, right-click it, and then click Unpin from Start Menu.
To change the order of a pinned item, drag the program icon to a new position in the list.

To remove a program icon from the Start menu

Removing a program icon from the Start menu doesn't remove it from the All Programs list or uninstall the program.

1. Click the Start button .

2. Right-click the program icon you want to remove from the Start menu, and then click Remove from this list.

To move the Start button

The Start button is located on the taskbar. Although you can't remove the Start button from the taskbar, you can move the taskbar—and the Start button along with it.

1. Right-click an empty space on the taskbar. If Lock the Taskbar has a check mark beside it, click it to remove the check mark.

2. Click an empty space on the taskbar, and then hold down the mouse button as you drag the taskbar to one of the four edges of the desktop. When the taskbar is where you want it, release the mouse button.

Note To lock the taskbar into place, right-click an empty space on the taskbar, and then click Lock the Taskbar so that the check mark reappears.

To clear recent items from the Start menu

Clearing the Recent Items list does not delete the items from your computer.

1. Click the Start button .

2. Right-click Recent Items, and then click Clear Recent Items List.

To adjust the number of shortcuts for frequently used programs

Windows displays shortcuts on the Start menu for the programs you use most frequently. You can change the number of program shortcuts displayed.

1. Open Taskbar and Start Menu Properties by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Taskbar and Start Menu.

2. Click the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.

3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, in the Number of recent programs to display box, enter the number of programs you want to display on the Start menu, and then click OK.

To customize the right pane of the Start menu

You can add or remove items, such as Computer, Control Panel, and Pictures, that appear on the right side of the Start menu. You can also change some items so that they appear as links or menus.

1. Open Taskbar and Start Menu Properties by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Taskbar and Start Menu.

2. Click the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.

3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, select the options in the list that you want, and then click OK.

To restore Start menu default settings

You can restore the Start menu to its original, default settings.

1. Open Taskbar and Start Menu Properties by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Taskbar and Start Menu.

2. Click the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.

3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, click Use Default Settings, and then click OK.

To search for programs from the Start menu

• Click the Start button , and then type a word or phrase in the Search box.

To add the Run command to the Start menu

1. Open Taskbar and Start Menu Properties by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Taskbar and Start Menu.

2. Click the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.

3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, scroll through the list of options to find the Run command check box, select it, and then click OK.

Protect your Data | Back up and Synchronize Important Information on Your Windows Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:54:00 +0000

You can always replace a lost or damaged Windows Mobile device, but you may not be able to replace the data on it. Keep your device synchronized with your desktop PC and back it up regularly.

Use Windows Mobile Default Application to synchronize and Backup

ActiveSync is the user-installable desktop PC synchronization program that ships with all Windows Mobile devices. Install it on your Windows desktop PC, connect your Windows Mobile device to your desktop PC via cable or data cradle, and you’re ready to go. ActiveSync senses the connection and automatically synchronizes Calendar appointments, Contacts, Tasks, e-mail, and more, between the mobile and desktop computers. If you loose your device, you still have the synced data on your PC. All users can make use of third-party backup programs, or can back up their data to a storage card, as described below.

All Windows Mobile devices have at least one built-in expansion card slot that will accept a storage card. Most Pocket PCs have an SD card slot but a few have both SD and CF card slots. A few Phone Edition Pocket PCs and most Smartphones have miniSD card slots. At least one Smartphones has a microSD card slot.

Most Pocket PCs come with a utility that lets you back up your data directly to a storage card. These cards come in different sizes, storage capacities, and prices

CompactFlash (CF) cards are about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) square and about 4 times the thickness of a credit card. CF storage cards are solid-state devices without any moving parts. Files are stored in thin computer chips embedded in the card. Storage capacities of the cards currently available range from 64 MB to 16 GB.

Secure Digital (SD) cards include built-in security features to manage protected content like digital music. Like CF cards, SD storage cards use solid-state memory to store files. Storage capacities of the postage stamp-size SD cards range from 1 GB to 24 GB. (Note: Multi-Media Card (MMC) cards are the same size as SD cards but a little thinner. A device with an SD card slot will accept an MMC card also.

MiniSD cards are physically about 60% smaller than SD cards. They are available with memory capacities ranging from 1GB to 24GB.

MicroSD cards are physically smaller still. They are available in capacities ranging from 1 GB to 16 GB.

Here are the five major types of storage cards used by Windows Mobile devices: the CompactFlash (CF) card; the Secure Digital (SD) card, the MultiMedia Card, the miniSD card, and the microSD card.

Most manufacturers of Windows Mobile devices sell storage cards for their devices. Go to the manufacturer’s Web site or online store and look for a link to the accessories page. Also, you should be able to get storage cards at any computer retailer or any store that carries accessories for digital cameras. In addition, you can purchase storage cards online from SanDisk, MagicRAM, MobilePlanet and other vendors.

Third-party Backup Utilities

As mentioned, most Pocket PCs come with a simple utility that lets you back up your system to a storage card. However, most Smartphones do not come with this utility. Fortunately, there are several excellent third-party backup programs available, including Sprite Backup.

Both of these programs are also available for Pocket PCs and add features not found in the simple utilities that come with the devices. Spb Backup (Pocket PC only) is another excellent backup program.

Finally, ActiveSync doesn’t work with Mac OS, but alternatives are available. Check out Missing Sync and PocketMac Pro.

Tips to Manage Windows Vista Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:45:00 +0000

Monitor System Demands

Resource Monitor gives you a detailed overview of how your system is working. Right-click the Taskbar and choose Task Manager, then switch to the Performance tab to see what the current demands are on your processor and memory (click Resource Monitor for more details). Switch to the Processes tab and click the CPU tab to see what’s currently hogging system resources.

Remove Unwanted Programs

The more software you have installed on your system, the slower it will run. Even applications that aren’t currently running take up disk space and clutter up the Registry. Open the Control Panel and select Uninstall a program under Programs. Select the program you want to remove and click Uninstall/Change. Follow the uninstaller.

Streamline Your Startup

Every program that starts with Windows Vista consumes resources and extends the boot time. Some programs – like your security tools – are essential, but others aren’t. Discover how to trim back what loads with a free program called AutoRuns, which you can download from Microsoft TechNet.

a) Extract Program Files Once downloaded, double-click Autoruns.zip and choose Extract all files. Choose a folder and click Extract. Once complete, double-click autoruns.exe to launch the program.

b) Logon Tab A whole series of tabs will appear, each display start-up programs according to their category. Switch to the Logon tab. Uncheck those you think it’s safe to disable – right-click an entry and choose Search Online to find out more about it first.

c) Delete Entries Permanently Once you’ve ascertained a disabled entry isn’t important, you can opt to remove it completely - to do so, right-click it and choose Delete. Click Yes when prompted.

Disable Network Printer Search

If you’re on a network, but not sharing any printers, speed things up a little by disabling the network printer search. Click Start, type network and sharing center and press [Enter]. Under Printer Sharing, click the down arrow and select Turn off printer sharing before clicking Apply.

Scale Back Indexed Searches

Windows Vista’s indexed search technology means super-fast searches, but does impact on day-to-day performance. Exclude unwanted items from your indexes to boost performance – click Start, type indexing options and press [Enter]. A list of current locations will be displayed – click Modify followed by Show all locations, and then untick those areas you don’t want to index.

Advanced Index Options

Remove file types that you’re unlikely to search for from the index. Back in Indexing Options, click the Advanced button. This launches a dialog that enables you to change more indexing configurations. On the File Types tab, you can opt to add or remove certain file extensions from indexing. Consider removing executables and files that you’re unlikely to search for.

Disable Search Indexing

The minor performance hit brought about by indexing your hard drive for fast searches is acceptable to most people, but if you’re on a low-spec system you can disable this for slower search results, but better overall performance. Click Start > Computer, right-click your drive and choose Properties, then uncheck “Index this drive for faster searching” on the General tab before clicking OK.

OR you can easily apply these tricks and get many more tweaks by simply using the ULTIMATE WINDOWS TWEAKER. developed by Ramesh Kumar & Published by The Windows Club.

Five IT Security Pet Peeves by TechRepublic’s Chad Perrin

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:18:00 +0000

TechRepublic’s Chad Perrin shares five of his pet peeves in the realm of IT security.

Sometimes, I just feel like complaining. I look at the world around me, and despair at the difficulty of making a dent in the rampant dominance of security issues in the world that are, frankly, among the technically easiest to solve. Despite the fact that the solutions are not exactly unknown or difficult to implement, they don’t gain any traction. While he tends to phrase it more diplomatically, Bruce Schneier has essentially made the point that the biggest problem in IT security is people.

The intractable social problem of fixing security failures that only persist because of the tendencies of herd behavior are some of my pet peeves:

Too many people still believe ignorance is an effective security strategy. There is a pernicious meme contaminating the general discourse of security issues that keeping people in the dark can somehow improve security. It can’t. As should be all too obvious by now to anyone who is paying attention, obscurity is not security. In fact, in many cases, quite the opposite is true.
People who know nothing about IT security have godlike power over matters of IT security policy. In particular, members of congress, judges, and law enforcement officers wield a lot of power over matters of IT security, and are clearly incompetent to use it. It’s a sad truth that not everything can be legislated away, nor should it.
People keep insisting that the best way to improve security is to violate it. Prying into the lives of the people you’re supposedly protecting, without their permission or even any probable cause for doing so, is not only insulting, but counterproductive. Try to remember that privacy is security, and avoid making the mistake of burning the village to save it.
We still don’t have widely available, cheap technology for encrypted telephone calls. Despite this, using a telephone to talk to someone about a bank account, sensitive legal matters, or other private topics is almost never questioned as a means of securely communicating. Particularly since the advent of digital cellphone networks and the modern cellphone that can run games like Tetris and Solitaire, there isn’t really any significant technological challenge to using encryption to protect sensitive calls. The only bright point right now is the fact that devices that run the Openmoko Linux and Google Android open source operating systems provide ample opportunity for software call encryption to creep into our mobile telephony lives, but I haven’t seen an encouraging rush to fill that gap yet.Probably the only thing worse than lacking the available technology is . . .
We have widely available, free technology for encrypted online communication, but (almost) nobody uses it. With encryption tools like GnuPG, OpenSSH, and OTR, there’s simply no excuse for the major mailing list software offerings, bank notification systems, and even my friends to fail to offer or use encryption to help protect their communications from malicious security crackers. Somehow, though, the importance of being encrypted is still lost on most people.

You may have noticed that many of my pet peeves in the realm of IT security fall under a single heading: willful ignorance. That is, in fact, one of the biggest pet peeves in my life in general, even outside of security matters. I just wish I knew a way to mitigate the problem in the world at large.

Windows 7 RC users get new IE 8 'Tab Responsiveness' feature

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:16:00 +0000

Even though Microsoft already released the final standalone version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) in March, the company is continuing to add new functionality to the version of IE 8 that is bundled with Windows 7.

One of the new features not in the standalone build — but present in the version of IE 8 that is in the Windows 7 Release Candidate — is a new tab-responsiveness capability.

One of the selling points of IE 8 is tab isolation. Tab isolation means if one tab crashes, it doesn’t (necessarily) crash your whole browser.

The new tab-responsiveness feature in the IE 8 in the Windows 7 RC is designed to provide Microsoft end users with more feedback when a tab fails to open. Instead of whirring endlessly, leaving users wondering whether a Web site is down; not working with IE 8’s default standards mode; or what, a new tab dialog box is designed to pop up, allowing users to shut down proactively an unresponsive tab.

In a posting on the Microsoft IE Blog, officials explained the purpose of the new dialog box:

“For the Win7 RC, we added functionality to IE8 that lowers the threshold for identifying delayed responsiveness that might be a hang. Basically, IE’s frame uses a timer, and if the tab doesn’t respond within a given interval of time, the frame gives the user the choice to recover the page, close the page, or wait for the tab to respond.
“A tab might become non-responsive like this for different reasons. The webpage in the tab might use a plug-in that is very busy pulling down a lot of video information from a slow server and then processing it. The webpage might be on an intranet (e.g. http://salarydata) and different authentication mechanisms are negotiating, slowly, what the user is allowed to see. Sometimes, it’s an issue with IE. Better telemetry here is crucial in figuring out what we, as engineers, do differently here.”

Source Microsoft IE Blog

Microsoft Stops Windows Live Messenger Services in 5 countries

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:11:00 +0000

Microsoft is confirming that it is cutting off Windows Live Messenger service for users in five countries that are “subject to United States sanctions.”

As reported first by LiveSide.net earlier this week, “users in Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea can no longer IM with Windows Live Messenger.”

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the move on May 21

“I can confirm the report on LiveSide is correct. Microsoft has discontinued providing Instant Messenger services in certain countries subject to United States sanctions. Details of these sanctions are available from the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.”

Microsoft isn’t providing additional information beyond that statement. According to the Treasury Web site, the reasons for the political sanctions vary from country to country, and encompass everything from not “trading with the enemy” to trying to discourage terrorists and human-rights violators. Many of these sanctions date back eight years. So it’s unclear why Microsoft just this week removed the access of users in these countries.

IDC: Windows still leading Server market, but revenues down 29%

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:47:00 +0000

It’s not just PC client sales that have to be worrying Microsoft and its partners. Server sales are pretty abysmal, too, as new International Data Corp. numbers make plain.

The Register has IDC’s server breakdown for the first quarter of 2009. There’s seemingly no silver lining: Revenues for all server types were down 24.5 percent, compared with the year-ago quarter, to $9.9 billion. Unit shipments were down 26.5 percent compared to Q1 1008, to 1,485,490 units.

The breakdown (in terms of dollars): Windows servers held onto their lead, with $3.7 billion in sales, a 28.9 percent decline. Unix servers dropped 17.5 percent, to $3.3 billion. Linux servers dropped 24.8 percent, to $1.4 billion.

The softest segment of the server market was low-cost “volume” servers, the Reg reported, meaning machines costing under $25,000. Revenues for that class of systems dropped 30.5 percent compared to the comparable year-ago quarter. Midrange servers fared a bit better, with revenues down 13.6 percent. High-end server revenues were down 19.5 percent.

The Reg’s conclusion: “If you do the math, companies are buying fewer but more expensive non-x64 boxes, which suggests virtualisation and consolidation projects.”

In spite of the downward server spiral, as TechFlash’s Todd Bishop noted recently, Microsoft’s Server and Tools unit was, as of Microsoft’s third quarter of fiscal 2009, one of the company’s top two cash cows. The Office unit and Server and Tools generated the most revenue, with Windows client now #3.

Source ZDNet Blogs

Building a "High Performance" Windows 7 PC

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:40:00 +0000

With the official availability of Windows 7 release candidate and Finalizing the date of Windows RTM by Microsoft on 22nd October 2009, I thought to spec out a high performance PC suitable for Windows 7 64-bit, This system would also be a great Windows Vista system.

Note: Just to clarify that this is a “high performance” PC, and not a “sky’s the limit, money no object” system. I am therefore choosing parts that offer the best bang for the buck at the high end, and not the very best, bleeding edge components.

Here’s the Specs

CPU Choosing an Intel CPU is a no-brainer when it comes to high performance PCs. Intel’s current Core i7 silicon offer the very best performance going. However, if you go for the top of the line 965 Extreme Edition then you are going to be spending a thousand dollars on the CPU alone. While some people are happy to spend such sums on just the CPU, I feel that the cost outweighs the performance gains and that the cheapest Core i7, the2.66GHz 920, which retails at a more reasonable $290 is a better option.

The 920 still offers plenty of performance and if combined with the right parts you can always overclock the system to get even more horsepower.

Price: $290

Motherboard With the Core i7 processor in the bag, we now need a compatible motherboard. A Core i7 CPU needs a socket LGA 1366 motherboard sporting an X58 chipset, and fortunately there are plenty to choose from.

For this build I went for the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 board. There are three reasons to like this board:

Support for 24GB of DDR3 RAM
Triple PCIe 2.0 x16 slots
Excellent overclocker

Price: $290

RAM While the ASUS P6T can support up to 24GB of RAM, that much memory is overkill and a waste of money. A good compromise for a Core i7 system is 12GB. For this build I went for 12GB (in the form of 6 x 2GB modules) of OCZ DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) high performance RAM. Price: $220

Graphics card While this system can take three NVIDIA graphics cards in a triple-SLI setup, I’m only adding one card to the initial build. The card I’m adding to this system is NVIDIA’s excellent EVGA GeForce GTX 285 GTX 1GB GDDR3. This is an excellent card and is a solid performer at a reasonable price (for a high-end card). It’s also quiet and the cooler is very effective. Price: $340

Hard drives A high performance system needs lots of fast storage. Unfortunately, solid-state drives (SSDs) haven’t fallen to a price point where you can get a decent amount of storage at a decent price.

I’m picking two drives for this system

1TB Western Digital Caviar Black ($110)
2TB Western Digital ($300)

Plenty of fast storage! Price: $410

Sound card This is a pretty simple pick - it has to be the Creative X-Fi Titanium PCIe card. Price: $135

Power Supply Unit (PSU) While I don’ see the point of over-spending on a crazy PSU, a system like this does need a power supply that has enough overhead to cater for both future upgrades and the demands of any overclocking. With that in mind I’ve chosen a 700W SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM. This is an 80 PLUS certified unit that makes use of modular cabling to help you keep the cables under control. All SeaSonic units I’ve handles are also well made and very reliable. Price: $160

Miscellaneous A few final bits and pieces

Sony BWU-300S Blu-ray drive - $360
Noctua NH-U12P CPU cooler - $75
Case (up to the individual, so I’ll set a price limit) - $200

Total price of the High Performance Windows 7 PC $2,480

Configuration Setup by blogger @ ZDNet Blogs

Intel Nehalem-EX | 8Cores, 16Threads, 2.3Billion Transistors, Very Cool

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Intel revealed details of next-generation server processor, code-named Nehalem-EX, and it’s pretty cool. As you might have guessed, the Nehalem-EX is based on the Nehalem microarchitecture, which Intel debuted with the Xeon 5500 and Core i7 series of processors. While the Xeon 5500 and Core i7 processors feature 4 cores and 8 threads (thanks to Hyper-Threading), the Nehalem-EX series is kitted out with up to 8 cores and support for up to sixteen threads. To support the cores the Nehalem-EX has 24MB of cache.

Intel Nehalem Architecture built on Intel’s unique 45nm high-k metal gate technology process
Up to 8 cores per processor
Up to 16 threads per processor with Intel Hyper-threading
Scalability up to eight sockets via Quick Path Interconnects and greater with third-party node controllers
QuickPath Architecture with four high-bandwidth links
24MB of shared cache
Integrated memory controllers
Intel Turbo Boost Technology
Intel scalable memory buffer and scalable memory interconnects
Up to 9x the memory bandwidth of previous generation
Support for up to 16 memory slots per processor socket
Advanced RAS capabilities including MCA Recovery
2.3 billion transistors

Nehalem-EX offers up to nine times the memory bandwidth of the Xeon 7400 platform and double the memory capacity thanks to 16 memory slots per processor socket. The Nehalem-EX will also incorporate 4 high-bandwidth QuickPath Interconnect links per CPU allows 8 socket systems capable of processing 128 threads simultaneously (Nehalem-EX supports systems with up to 32-socket).

Microsoft Bing helps People make Better Decisions

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:17:00 +0000

Microsoft Corp. unveiled Bing, a new Decision Engine and consumer brand, providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions. Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today’s search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

The result of this new approach is an important beginning for a new and more powerful kind of search service, which Microsoft is calling a Decision Engine, designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly to important decisions. The new service, located at http://www.Bing.com, will begin to roll out over the coming days and will be fully deployed worldwide on Wednesday, June 3.

“Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don’t do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they’ve found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions.”

A New Approach to Internet Search

Based on the customer insight that 66 percent of people are using Internet search more frequently to make complex decisions, Microsoft identified three design goals to guide the development of Bing: deliver great results; deliver a more organized experience; and simplify tasks and provide insight, leading to faster, more confident decisions. The new service, built to go beyond today’s search experience, includes deep innovation on core search areas including entity extraction and expansion, query intent recognition and document summarization technology as well as a new user experience model that dynamically adapts to the type of query to provide relevant and intuitive decision-making tools.

Great search results. Relevant search results are still a top priority for people, yet Microsoft studies show that only one in four search queries deliver a satisfactory result. Bing helps identify relevant search results through features such as Best Match, where the best answer is surfaced and called out; Deep Links, allowing more insight into what resources a particular site has to offer; and Preview, a hover-over window that expands over a search result caption to provide a better sense of the related site’s relevancy. Bing also includes one-click access to information through Instant Answers, designed to provide the sought-after information within the body of the search results page, minimizing the need for additional clicks.

Organized search experience. More and more customers are regularly spending time with search engines, engaging in complex, multi-query and multi-session searches. Respondents also said an organized search experience would be twice as useful in helping find information and accomplishing tasks faster. Bing includes a number of features that organize search results, including Explore Pane, a dynamically relevant set of navigation and search tools on the left side of the page; Web Groups, which groups results in intuitive ways both on the Explore Pane and in the actual results; and Related Searches and Quick Tabs, which is essentially a table of contents for different categories of search results. Collectively, these and other features in Bing help people navigate their search results, cut through the clutter of search overload and get right down to making important decisions.

Simplify tasks and provide insight. Microsoft’s research identified shopping, travel, local business and information, and health-related research as areas in which people wanted more assistance in making key decisions. The current state of Internet search isn’t optimized for these tasks, but the Bing Decision Engine is optimized for these key customer scenarios. For example, while a consumer is using Bing to shop online, the Sentiment Extraction feature scours the Internet for user opinions and expert reviews to help leverage the community of customers as well as product experts in trying to make a buying decision. In Bing Travel, the Rate Key compares the location, price and amenities of multiple hotels and provides a color-coded key of the best values, and the Price Predictor actually helps consumers decide when to buy an airline ticket in order to get the lowest prices.

The new brand portfolio will include the following changes to existing Microsoft programs

Microsoft’s mapping platform, Virtual Earth, will now be branded as Bing Maps for Enterprise. More information can be found here.
Technology from Microsoft’s April 2008 acquisition of Farecast is now a central part of Bing Travel. More information coming soon.

Microsoft’s popular cashback program, now dubbed Bing cashback, with more than 850 merchants and more than 17 million products available, will be fully integrated into the Bing Shopping experience.

Source Microsoft PressPass

MSN Wonderwall Launches New “Celebrifeed” to Deliver Nonstop Celebrity Scoop Straight From Celebrities

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:06:00 +0000

More Hollywood A-listers are taking control of their image online, instead of letting the paparazzi do it for them. Celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and R&B singer Usher are some of the latest stars to join the Twitter circuit, while blogs by Kanye West and Gwyneth Paltrow are attracting more fans than a Taylor Swift concert.

But with so many stars and so little time, how do you keep up with your favorite celebrity? MSN Wonderwall makes it easier to follow all your favorite celebrity chatter by bringing it together in one place. Celebrifeed, premiering today on http://wonderwall.msn.com, aggregates the latest celeb tweets and blog posts in real time, allowing fans to follow along as stars weigh in on their personal reality show picks, plug their favorite diets, compete against each other for followers and even end relationships!

Features of Celebrifeed include

Sorting by celebrity name or the chronology of the Tweet/blog entry
Click-through feature to learn more about the celebrity
One-click feature to access the Tweet or blog directly

About Wonderwall

Wonderwall is a celebrity destination developed by MSN (http://www.msn.com/) and independent media company BermanBraun, which allows consumers to experience and digest the latest on the lives of celebrities, like never before. Consumers get an opinionated, in-the-know and irreverent take on celebrity information within a highly innovative and dynamic design. Wonderwall includes the latest information and photos from leading celebrity and paparazzi agencies, original editorial content created by the Wonderwall editorial team, and video content from MSN content partners including Access Hollywood and Extra.

B-roll includes

Celebrifeed user interface
Features including celebrity Tweets and blogs

Note to Readers: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

Technorati Tags: MSN,Wonderwall,Twitter

Introducing Microsoft Mediaroom with Virtualization

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:52:00 +0000

Microsoft Corp. launched Microsoft Mediaroom with virtualization, making Mediaroom the first Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) platform to offer virtualization support. Mediaroom with virtualization can deliver up to a sixfold reduction in the number of physical servers required to support a full-featured IPTV service, significantly reducing hardware and management costs and speeding time to market for Mediaroom customers by up to three weeks.

Mediaroom with virtualization is designed to provide a cost-effective yet full-featured IPTV platform for smaller operators, for operators launching new services as they scale their subscriber base, and for operators who want to extend an existing service into new markets to serve lower-density communities.

With virtualization support, it is possible to deploy and operate a full Mediaroom-powered TV service for up to 30,000 subscriber homes per market using fewer than 10 physical servers. Even for deployments of greater than 30,000 subscriber homes, a mix of virtualized and dedicated servers can still provide efficiency benefits.

“Reservation Telephone Cooperative prides itself on delivering a full range of advanced voice, data and TV services to our highly distributed community of just under 10,000 customers in North Dakota,” said Royce Aslakson, CEO of RTC. “By adding virtualization support, Microsoft Mediaroom is making the promise of converged entertainment services approachable without the cost and compromise inherent in more piecemeal solutions. The opportunity to sprint ahead of traditional TV services is now within our reach.”

Mediaroom with virtualization offers the full functionality of Microsoft’s award-winning IPTV platform including video on demand, DVR Anywhere for viewing and managing recorded shows in any room, and Mediaroom Anytime for viewing of previously aired programs or restarting currently airing shows without any preplanning or prior digital video recording. Other capabilities include high-definition video for live and on-demand content, multiview, instant channel zapping, and TV applications that support rich interactivity and seamless blending of Web content and services with broadcast TV. A full lineup of Mediaroom features is available at http://www.microsoft.com/Mediaroom/Features.aspx.

“Mediaroom with virtualization provides the industry’s lowest platform footprint for deploying a full IPTV service,” said Andreas Mueller-Schubert, general manager for the TV, Video and Music Business at Microsoft. “Given the pressures of today’s economic environment, the reduction in capital expenditure and ongoing efficiencies make Mediaroom with virtualization an attractive proposition for operators of all sizes as they launch and grow their IPTV businesses.”

“As IPTV becomes more mainstream, the industry must find a way to lower deployment costs. Mediaroom with virtualization does just that by reducing the overall number of servers that need to be deployed,” said Vince Vittore, principal analyst at Yankee Group Research Inc. “This development comes at a time when consumers are demanding the ability to access their content regardless of location or device. Mediaroom with virtualization gives service providers of all shapes and sizes a chance to fulfill this demand.”

To power virtualization in Mediaroom, Microsoft is using Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft’s hypervisor-based server virtualization technology. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V enables multiple virtual servers to be hosted on the same physical server. Virtual servers share the physical server’s resources, such as memory, disk access and CPU cycles. Sharing these resources efficiently can result in a dramatic reduction in the number of physical servers that are needed to deliver services.

Additional Resources

Microsoft Mediaroom home page & demo reel http://www.microsoft.com/Mediaroom
Mediaroom image library & fact sheets http://www.microsoft.com/Mediaroom/Press.aspx

About Microsoft Mediaroom

The award-winning Microsoft Mediaroom Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and multimedia software platform is the most widely deployed IPTV platform in the world. Mediaroom is driving the future of television by enabling broadband service providers to deliver new connected TV and entertainment experiences to consumers worldwide. It provides new ways for consumers to experience TV as part of their connected, digital lifestyle, while also creating new business opportunities for broadband service providers, hardware manufacturers, content creators, advertisers and application developers. Over 20 of the world’s leading service providers across four continents have selected the Mediaroom platform to drive their digital TV services. More information on Mediaroom and the opportunity to deliver the best in TV plus all your media in one place is available at http://www.microsoft.com/Mediaroom.

Xbox 360 Shows Record Growth in 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:44:00 +0000

REDMOND, Wash. — May 28, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. announced today that sales of Xbox 360 consoles have passed the 30 million mark globally, with its Xbox LIVE community swelling to more than 20 million active members. After the biggest year in its history in 2008, Xbox 360 achieved the highest percentage growth in hardware sales of any console so far in 2009, up 28 percent over the previous year.

The success of the platform can be measured across the business, with Xbox LIVE now considered the world’s largest global entertainment network. Increasing consumer desire to connect with friends, download and enjoy blockbuster movies and TV shows, and extend the life of their favorite games has been the primary driver behind the growth of Xbox LIVE membership and the reason Xbox continues to expand offerings on the platform.

“We’ve always been confident that Xbox 360 offers more entertainment value than any other console on the market, and these latest numbers show that consumers agree,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “We expect our growth to continue to accelerate. Our news at E3 next week will underscore our commitment to bringing blockbuster entertainment experiences to everyone and to growing the Xbox entertainment brand globally.”

Over the course of this console generation, U.S. consumers alone have spent $14.5 billion across all categories on Xbox 360 at retail.This number reflects strong interest in a comprehensive entertainment offering that includes the ability to connect with others socially and to digitally download entertainment, be it games, TV shows or movies. To date, consumers have downloaded nearly 1 billion pieces of gaming and entertainment content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace, including a broad array of premium high- and standard-definition movies and TV shows from top studios and networks around the world.

In addition, Xbox 360 continues to be the platform of choice for the industry’s top games, generating $5.9 billion in sales to date at U.S. retail for third-party publishers, which is more than those of current-generation consoles combined. Xbox 360 also leads current-generation consoles in game purchases, with consumers owning an average of 8.3 titles each.

Activity on Xbox LIVE, the industry-leading online gaming and entertainment service, surged following the launch of the New Xbox Experience in November 2008. Since that time, the community has recorded a 136 percent increase in new members, TV and movie downloads have more than doubled, and purchases of games, Game Add-ons and more on Xbox LIVE Arcade have increased by 70 percent. Xbox LIVE reaches 26 countries worldwide and is now in more homes than any satellite television provider. Before the end of the year, the number of Xbox LIVE members will surpass the number of subscribers to

Technorati Tags: Microsoft XBOX,Microsoft News

the largest cable provider. Consumers can expect more exciting announcements from Microsoft next week as Xbox 360 kicks off the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the world’s premier trade show for computer and video games and related products, with its press briefing on Monday, June 1, in Los Angeles.

About Xbox 360

Xbox 360 is a premier video game and entertainment system. It is home to the best and broadest games plus more entertainment than any other device connected to the TV. The digital center of the living room, Xbox 360 blends unbeatable content, including personal pictures and music, with a unified online social network to create a limitless entertainment experience that can be shared at home or across the globe. More information can be found online at http://www.xbox.com/xbox360.

About Xbox LIVE

Xbox LIVE is the most comprehensive gaming and entertainment network connected to your television, delivering the largest movie, TV music and gaming library on a single device, and instant access to select movies and TV shows.

With an active community of more than 20 million people across 26 countries, Xbox LIVE brings friends together — from the same living room or around the globe — to share the best in home entertainment. With an Xbox LIVE Gold Membership, enjoy exclusive benefits and premium access to movies, music, TV and games from the top studios and services, all in one place. More information can be found online at http://www.xbox.com/en-us/live.

Source Microsoft PressPass.

Improved Favorites and History Management features in Internet Explorer8

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Enhanced Favorites Bar

Now there's a better place to keep track of your top favorites. You can save Favorites, RSS Feeds, and Web Slices to the Favorites bar that appears across the top of the browser, quickly navigating to the sites and content that you care about most.

One Click Favorites

Press the One Click Add to Favorites bar button and immediately add the page you're browsing to the Favorites Bar, saving you extra clicks.

RSS feeds on Favorites bar

The Favorites bar has been updated so you can drag an RSS feed to your Favorites bar, making it easier to see when important feeds are updated.

History sorting

The new Browsing History view allows you to sort your history by Site Name, Most Visited Sites, Order Visited Today, and Date, making it easier to organize and locate sites in your history.

History searching

In Internet Explorer 8, you can search for pages in history by typing keywords, making it easier to locate sites when browsing your history.

Use keywords to locate sites in your browsing history.

Fine tune your Windows Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:33:00 +0000

Mobile device with great utility software are focused programs that add a single, important feature to the device/OS. With the exception of games, there are more utility programs available for the Pocket PC and Smartphone than any other category of software.

You can enter text into a Pocket PC using Word Mobile or Notes, but equivalent applications are not built into the Smartphone. Fortunately, third-party developers offer a number of note taker applications. One of the better ones, Vieka WordPad, is available for free.

Smartphone's come with Internet Explorer built in, but because the display is so small, you end up doing a lot of scrolling to find what you’re looking for. The free utility SmartSCROLL makes it easier to quickly move around a Web page, forward to new pages, and more. Toggle View lets you change the look of the Smartphone’s programs menu to a list view. And CeleTast is a power task/process manager that lets you open, close, and switch between applications; check your power and memory status; shut down and reboot the Smartphone, and more.

A number of useful freeware utilities are also available for the Pocket PC. You occasionally have to perform a “soft reset” of your Pocket PC—the equivalent of turning it completely off and back on again. This is done by inserting the stylus tip into a small hole on the back of the device: doing it repeatedly with too much force can damage the reset function. SoftReset lets you reset the device by tapping on the program’s icon. Program- MenuPlus adds cascading menus similar to the Start menus of desktop PCs.

Finally, the Pocket PC has a built-in dictionary that suggests words based on the first few letters you type in. For example, if you’re typing a memo in Word and type in “des” a small box will pop up listing “designed,” “described,” etc. To finishing entering the word tap on the desired word in the pop up box. There is no built-in option to add words to this dictionary, but Word Completion Dictionary Editor lets you do so.

Some normal tips to make Windows Vista faster

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:15:00 +0000

If your system doesn’t have good Hardware configuration then its a pain to drive system at faster speed, so here are some suggestions to optimize the PC Performance, by applying simple tips.

Scale Back Visual Effects

Remove some of Windows Vista’s visual effects for a speed boost. Click Start, right-click My Computer and select Properties. Click Advanced System Settings and click Settings under Performance. On the Visual Effects tab select Adjust for best performance to disable everything, or click Custom to disable individual effects. Click OK twice to enable your changes.

Disable Transparent Effects

Disable transparency in Windows Aero for a more responsive experience

The glass effect used by Windows Aero consumes a large number of resources. You can switch it off without disabling Windows Aero by right-clicking the desktop and choosing Personalize. Select Window Color and Appearance and uncheck Enable Transparency before clicking OK.

Disable System Restore

System Restore is handy for rolling your system back after encountering problems, but the cost is less disk space and processing power as Restore points are created and your drive is monitored. If you can live without this fail-safe mechanism, switch it off. Click Start, right-click My Computer and select Properties. Choose System Protection, then uncheck the box next to your drive and click Turn off System Restore when prompted.

Stop Automatic Hibernation

Prevent your PC from going to sleep to free up more resources. The Automatic hibernation process runs constantly in the background using up resources. If you’re happy to hibernate manually, and you’re not using a laptop on battery power, switch it off: open Control Panel, select System and Maintenance and click “Change when the computer sleeps”. Set “Put the computer to sleep” to Never and click Save changes.

Disable Remote Differential Compression

Unless you move files around your network on a regular basis, this feature can be safely switched off. Open Control Panel and select Programs. Choose Turn Windows features on and off, uncheck Remote Differential Compression and click OK.

Check Event Viewer

Problems with your PC can sometimes be manifested in sluggish performance or long delays – here’s how to identify what they are, enabling you to examine ways of fixing them

a) Access System Logs

Click Start, right-click Computer and select Manage. When the Computer Management console appears select Event Viewer – after a short delay the following summary screen will appear.

b) View Errors and Warnings

Select Windows Logs. Double-click a log to view recorded events – select Action > Filter Current Log and tick Critical, Error and Warning so only those events are shown. Click OK.

c) Event Details

Right click an event and choose Event Properties. The resulting dialog presents details of the event, including a brief description of what happened – if further information is available, click it for a possible fix.

Lose the Sidebar

Each Sidebar gadget consumes system resources, so either trim back what you use to a minimum or go one step further and switch it off completely. Right-click the sidebar and choose Properties. Uncheck “Start the Sidebar when Windows starts” and click OK, then right-click again and this time choose Close Sidebar.

How Stable are your Tweaks

It’s a good idea to monitor your system to see what effect – positive or negative – your tweaks have on the stability of your system. The Reliability Monitor provides a graph over time so you can see how each action might have affected the running of your PC.

The Reliability Monitor reveals stable your system is and lists possible causes of instability.

To launch it click Start, typing performance information and pressing [Enter]. Select Advanced tools from the left-hand pane and click Open Reliability and Performance Monitor. Select Reliability Monitor and view the graph to see what’s been going on behind the scenes. Tips by Windows Vista Magazine.

OR you can easily apply these tricks and get many more tweaks by simply using the ULTIMATE WINDOWS TWEAKER. developed by Ramesh Kumar & Published by The Windows Club.

Spammers harvesting emails from Twitter - in real time

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:14:00 +0000

Spammers are no strangers to the ever-growing Twitter. From commercial Twitter spamming tools, to re-tweeting trending topics for delivering their message, a new crafty search technique can provide spammers with fresh and valid emails harvested from Twitter’s users in real-time.

Basically, the search query consists of common phrases such as “email me at” and “contact me at” in a combination with a domain of a spammer’s choice.

The result? A flood of valid and fresh email addresses of Twitter users unaware that their emails will not only get indexed by public search engines, but also, that the output can be syndicated for spamming purposes.

From theory into practice - a day after the tactic was discussed a proof of concept script was released, even though it should be logical to assume that the practice has been taking place for a while now.

Email harvesting has been around since the early days of the Internet, and has therefore greatly evolved throughout the years. From the JS.Yamanner@m worm spreading through a Yahoo Mail flaw in 2006, harvesting @yahoo.com emails from the infected indoxes in order to further propagate, the email harvesting scripts crawling the web and their modern versions, to the Web 2.0 spammer’s mentality of harvesting instant messaging and social networking user names - their database usually ends up as value-added service in a managed spam vendor’s proposition.

In Twitter’s case, their TOS states that:

You are solely responsible for your conduct and any data, text, information, screen names, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, links (”Content”) that you submit, post, and display on the Twitter.com service

And whereas that should be the case, what Twitter can do to at least slow down this efficient email harvesting approach, is to either allow its users to choose whether or not they would like to have their emails/phone numbers obfuscated (reCAPTCHA Mailhide), or enforce the policy to all users.

Source | ZDNet Blogs

Dangerous Microsoft DirectX vulnerability under attack

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:14:00 +0000

Microsoft warned that hackers are using rigged QuickTime media files to exploit an unpatched vulnerability in DirectShow, the APIs used by Windows programs for multimedia support.

The company has activated its security response process to deal with the zero-day attacks has issued a pre-patch advisory with workarounds and a one-click “fix it” feature to enable the mitigations.

From the advisory

Microsoft is aware of limited, active attacks that use this exploit code. While our investigation is ongoing, our investigation so far has shown that Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 are vulnerable; all versions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are not vulnerable.

An entry on the MSRC blog provides more details

The vulnerability is in the QuickTime parser in Microsoft DirectShow. An attacker would try and exploit the vulnerability by crafting a specially formed video file and then posting it on a website or sending it as an attachment in e-mail. While this isn’t a browser vulnerability, because the vulnerability is in DirectShow, a browser-based vector is potentially accessible through any browser using media plug-ins that use DirectShow. Also, we’ve verified that it is possible to direct calls to DirectShow specifically, even if Apple’s QuickTime (which is not vulnerable) is installed.

Interestingly, the vulnerable component was removed from Windows Vista and later operating systems but is still available for use in the Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

Vulnerable Windows users should immediately consider disabling QuickTime parsing to thwart attackers. This KB article provides fix-it button that automatically enables the workaround.

It also provides detailed instructions on using a managed script deployment for Windows shops.

Also see the Security Research and Defense blog for more information.

Microsoft Silverlight 3 to Launch on July 10th 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:33:00 +0000

Earlier this year, Microsoft officials said they planned to deliver the final version of Silverlight 3 before the end of 2009. Looks like they meant months before…

Microsoft is planning to launch Silverlight 3 and its Expression Studio 3 family of designer tools on July 10 in San Francisco, company officials said on May 28.

Silverlight 3 adds 3D support, GPU acceleration, H.264 video support and out-of-the-browser capabilities to Silverlight, Microsoft’s competitor to Adobe Flash. The out-of-browser support will add to Silverlight capabilities that are available currently in Adobe AIR.

Microsoft released the one and only planned beta of Silverlight 3 in March 2009.

It’ll be interested to see how much, if any, of Silverlight 3 gets incorporated into the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7.0 releases (thanks to the “Alchemy” component of the platforms, as well as the Office 2010 Web Apps (for which Silverlight is not required but will “enhance the experience”) …. Stay tuned.

Have some fun with your Smartphone or Pocket PC

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:23:00 +0000

No-cost entertainment and games

There are a lot of novels and short stories available in various eBook formats. A list of some of the best eBook sites can be found on Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine’s Best Sites Web page (pocketpcmag.com/bestsites.asp).

The Microsoft Reader Web site (microsoft.com/reader/us/shop/default.asp) has a list of commercial sites that offer eBooks in MS Reader (LIT) format. Finally, a Web search on “eBooks” will yield thousands of references.

Earlier versions of the Pocket PC have Microsoft Reader built into them. If yours doesn’t, you can download it for free from the Microsoft Web site (microsoft.com/reader/downloads/ppc.asp). In addition, Adobe offers a free PDF viewer for the Pocket PC (adobe.com/products/acrobat/readerforppc.html). Smartphone versions of these programs are not available. However, some Smartphones come with third-party PDF viewer programs.

In addition to reading eBooks, you can listen to music or watch videos on your Windows Mobile device. All Pocket PCs, Phone Edition devices, and Smartphones come with Windows Media Player Mobile built into them. This lets you play music files recorded in MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, and view video recorded in WMV format wherever you are. Coupled with a high-capacity CompactFlash or SD card, you can store hours of your favorite music.

There are a variety of online sources for music in electronic form. From any online search engine, look for “free music” or “free MP3.” The version of Windows Media Player built into Pocket PCs and Smartphones lets you view WMV-formatted video. If you want to view MPEGs or AVIs you’ll need another player. Fortunately, there are excellent free programs available for both Pocket PC and Smartphone. The Core Pocket Media Player (The_Core_Pocket_Media_Player_download.htm) is another free media player for the Pocket PC and Smartphone. It supports AVI, MPEG1, WMV, DivX, and XviD video; and MP3, WMA, and Ogg audio; and other formats.

Mobile device with great utility software Utilities are focused programs that add a single, important feature to the device / OS. With the exception of games, there are more utility programs available for the Pocket PC and Smartphone than any other category of software.

Low-cost utility solutions

Resco Explorer from Resco (resco-net.com) is a feature rich replacement alternative to the Pocket PC’s File Explorer. It includes the standard features of File Explorer, but adds strong file encryption, ZIP compression, a file viewer, a Registry editor, and more. Other excellent, full-featured file explorers are available, including ALL-explorer (all-locations.com), PE Explorer Suite (vieka.com), and Total Commander (ghisler.com/ce.htm). All but PE Explorer are available for both the Pocket PC and Smartphone.

The Pocket PC has handwriting recognition built into it, but third-party alternatives are also available. CalliGrapher from PhatWare (phatware.com) supports cursive, print, or mixed styles, and includes a “quick correct” window for fixing mistakes. PenReader (penreader.com) and others offer handwriting recognition solutions for the Pocket PC.

Pocket Mechanic (antontomov.com) is a maintenance utility for Pocket PCs that lets you free up internal memory by finding and deleting unnecessary files. You can also use this program to format, de-fragment, scan, and repair CF, SD, and other storage cards. Tweaks2K2 (tweaks2k2.com) is a program that automates the process of “hacking” the System Registry on the Pocket PC or Smartphone. This allows you to change the system’s colors, fonts, battery settings, and much more. John Cody’s Alerts! Pro (omnisoft.com ) lets you set Smartphone “alarms” that perform actions, such as switching profiles, running a program, and more.

Windows Mobile devices don’t have built-in printing capabilities, but Field Software (fieldsoftware.com) offers a number of products that add it, including PrintPocket-CE and SmartPhonePrint. (Note: Word and Excel printing not supported on Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PCs.)

Do you find the screen on your Pocket PC too small? Check out WinMobile Lens (adisasta.com), a utility that lets you magnify any part of the Pocket PC screen for easier viewing. Do you have trouble entering text on the Pocket PC using the built-in soft input panels? You can speed things up with AccessPanel (developerone.com), a utility that pops-up in other Pocket PC applications, allowing you to quickly insert text, e-mail signatures, contact data, date/time info, and more. There are also a number of very useful alternate input panels for the Pocket PC. Check out Fitaly (fitaly.com), Phraze-It (prevalentdevices.com), and TenGO (free.tengo.net).

We mentioned a freeware note taker earlier in this section. A number of excellent, inexpensive titles are also available for the Smartphone. Check out PhatNotes (phatware.com) and SmartphoneNotes (syncdata.it/sphnotes.html). One of the more interesting note taker programs for the Smartphone is John Cody’s Vnotes Pro (omnisoft.com), a program that lets you record voice memos and attach them to recurring or non-recurring reminders.

Again, there are hundreds of utilities for the Pocket PC and Smartphone. The ones described above are just a fraction of those available.

Source | Thaddeus Computing, publisher Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine.

Windows API Code Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework (v0.85)

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:23:00 +0000

The Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework provides a source code library that can be used to access new Windows 7 features (and some related Windows Vista features) from managed code. These features are not available to developers today in the .NET Framework.

The features included in this version (v0.85) of the library are:

Support for Windows Shell namespace objects, including the new Windows 7 libraries, Known Folders and non file system containers.
Windows Vista and Windows 7 Task Dialogs.
Windows 7 Explorer Browser Control supporting both WPF and Windows Forms.
Support for Shell property system.
Helpers for Windows 7 Taskbar Jumplists, Icon Overlay and Progress bar.
Support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 common file dialogs, including custom file dialog controls.
Support for Direct3D 11.0 and DXGI 1.0/1.1 APIs.
Sensor Platform APIs
Extended Linguistic Services APIs

Requirements:

Minimum .NET Framework version required to use this library is 3.5.
This library targets the Windows 7 RC version, though some of the features will work on the older versions of Windows operating system.
DirectX features have a dependency on Windows SDK for Windows 7 RC.

To build the library in Visual Studio 2008, please extract the contents of the ‘WindowsAPICodePack0.85.zip’ file in a new folder, open the included ‘WindowsAPICodePack.sln’ file and build it (except the DirectX related features).
To build the DirectX features, build the 'DirectX.sln' file inside the DirectX directory. Please see the Readme file in the DirectX directory for additional information about building and using DirectX features.
The library also contains sample applications built using this library.
Help file for the library can be found in a separate zip file 'WindowsAPICodePackHelp0.85.zip'.
Please note that this library is currently a work-in-progress and this release is version 0.85 of this library. The final version of this library will be available around the time of the Windows 7 RTM release. Various features in the library could change between now and final release.
Two minute videos demonstrating some of the features in this release are now available:

Note | Some users may experience a security related issue when opening the help file or the Visual Studio solution. A security warning similar to “Unknown Publisher” or “This file came from another computer and might be blocked” may pop up. If that happens, the user won't be able to view the help file content or load the solution projects because Windows will block it.

Twitter API ripe for abuse by web worms

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:23:00 +0000

A security researcher is warning that the Twitter API can be trivially abused by hackers to launch worm attacks.

The red-hot social networking/microblogging service has been scrambling to plug cross-site scripting and other Web site vulnerabilities to thwart worm attacks but, as researcher Aviv Raff points out, it’s much easier to misuse the Twitter API as a “weak link” to send worms squirming through Twitter.

Raff, well-known for his research work on browser and Web application vulnerabilities, points out that a single vulnerability on any of the third-party services (Twitpic, etc.) that use the API can trigger the next Twitter worm.

Raff writes | An example for this threat is a vulnerability I found a few weeks ago in Twitpic.com website. Twitpic imports the profile information from Twitter, and displays it on the Twitpic.com profile page. While twitter.com (finally) sanitizes and encodes HTML tags in the Twitter profile information (name, URL, bio, etc.), Twitpic.com failed to do so and by that allowed injecting scripts to the twitpic user profile page. This is a very simple persistent XSS, which can be easily abused to hijack twitpic.com user accounts. However, because twitpic.com also uses the Twitter API to automatically send twits on behalf of the user, whenever the user uploads a picture or comments on another user’s picture, it can also be easily used to create a Twitter worm.

Raff created a demo attack that automatically comments on a random picture on Twitpic.com, whenever a user visits the twitpic.com profile of the user he created – “twitpicxss.”

Anyone who visted that profile page while logged in to the Twitpic service would automatically send a tweet to Twitter with the content he (Raff) set in the comment.

The content contained a link to the “twitpicxss” profile, which could have made other users, who follow the victim, to click on that link, be exploited, and keep spreading the worm.

Raff also showed the additional examples of cross-site request forgery (CSRF) problems in third-party Twitter services that could lead to worms.

Twitter’s ongoing search for software engineers to focus specifically on application and infrastructure security is a great first step but unless security gets baked into the way the API is used, the service will continue to be plagued by worms.

Google rolling out new Suite of Logos

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:23:00 +0000

In an attempt to streamline their look across all their services, Google has decided to create a new logo for each. The new logos are all consistent, with a Google logo on the left, and lower case writing with the name of the service on the right

The new clean logos can be seen on a few products already, including Google Code, Google Labs, and Google Moderator. The logos will be rolled out over a period of time across the rest of their services.

Read more about the logo change on the official Google blog here.