Windows 8 Consumer Preview with Download

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Setup will verify to see if your PC can run Windows 8 Consumer Preview and select the right download. Setup also features a compatibility details and upgrade support. Built-in tools for creating an ISO or bootable flash drive are offered for some previous versions of Windows (excluding Windows XP and earlier). You can find system requirements and extra information in the FAQ and in the links on this page.

A reimagined Windows

With Windows 8, the whole experience of Windows has been reimagined. It’s designed to work on a wide range of devices , from touch-enabled tablets, to laptops, to desktops and all-in-ones. We’ve designed Windows 8 to give you instant access to your apps, your files, and the information you care about most so you can spend less time navigating and more time doing what you actually want to do. You can move between Windows 8 PCs easily and access your files and settings from virtually anywhere. We’ve made touch a first-class experience and navigating with a mouse and keyboard fast and fluid. And just like Windows 7, reliability and security features are built in. It’s the best of Windows 7, made even better.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is just that: a preview of what’s to come. It represents a work in progress, and some things will change before the final release. This means you’ll encounter some hiccups and bugs. One of the great things about widely releasing a preview like this is that it gives us a chance to get a lot of feedback through telemetry, forums, and blog posts on where we can smooth out some of the rough edges.

Note before you download: Windows 8 Consumer Preview is prerelease software that may be significantly modified before it’s commercially released. Microsoft makes no warranties, articulate or implied, with respect to the information provided here. Some product features and functionality may require extra hardware or software. If you decide to go back to your previous operating system, you'll need to reinstall it from the recovery or installation media that came with your PC.

And finally, you’ll need the right hardware

Windows 8 Consumer Preview should run on the same hardware that powers Windows 7 today. In general, you can expect Windows 8 Consumer Preview to run on a PC with the following:

• 1 GHz or faster processor
• 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
• 1024 x 768 minimum screen resolution

Download Windows 8Consumer Preview

Article Was Originally Posted @ WindowsTeamBlog

Linux kernal Gets Three Digit 3.0.0 RC1 , Microsoft Contributes Among Top Five on the Changes !!

Linus Torvalds announced an RC1 release of the next Linux kernel , but instead of calling it the expected Linux 2.6.40, it's dubbed Linux 3.0. The final Linux 3.0 will coincide with the 20th anniversary of Linux in August, but will offer no great breakthroughs, says Torvalds.

Torvalds posted the 3.0 RC1 as a 93 MB download on the kernel.org mailing list at about 6 pm PST, marking a major new phase for the open source operating system. There has been a debate for some time whether it was time to move up from the 2.6 versioning, possibly to 2.8, for some time. The general notion among Linux kernel contributors has been that it would be a good time to leave some of the old and no longer needed features behind along with the 2.6 version number.

Linus wrote on the Linux Kernel Mailing List, "3.0 will still be noticeably faster than 2.6.39 due to the other changes made (ie the read-ahead), so yes, the regression itself is fixed."

Linus also hinted that the next kernel will be 3.1, "This obviously also opens the merge window for the next kernel, which will be 3.1. The stable team will take the third digit, so 3.0.1 will be the first stable release based on 3.0."

Microsoft Contributes on Linux Kernal Changes!


It's strange. Microsoft has been patent trolling the heck out of the Linux kernel for a long time now, and is still using these patents against Android today in its protection money scheme. However, as LWN.net illustrates, Microsoft makes quite a few contributions to the Linux kernel. Shouldn't this invalidate their patent claims?

LWN.net regularly investigates and summarises the various contributions to the Linux kernel, making lists of who contributes the most. Now that version 3.0 of the Linux kernel is about to hit the big wide world, it was time for another one of these investigations.

Microsoft proposed a total of 361 changes to the Linux kernel, putting it in seventh place on the list of companies contributing the most to the kernel. To give you an idea - Red Hat provided 1000 changes, and Intel 839. Independent developers contributed 1085 change sets.

Read more 

What Are the Changes !!

Obviously, many can expect major changes from this new kernel numbers, but the truth is that version 3.0 of Linux will be a launch without any drastic change. Do not expect something as seen in GNOME KDE 3 or 4, is not this what Linus wants at the moment.

Any bug fixes will be there, some updates on the drivers too, but that's it. Do not expect changes in the API, do not expect new features, do not expect a long list of changes in the source code that may end up breaking other programs that make use of the kernel.

At the time, Torvalds is just really want to leave for a new version of Linux. And avoid the hundreds of problems that occur when a project is launching a new version ".0", with bugs, compatibility issues, and the like.

Clean Your Windows Registry to Speed up Your PC

Step1

Clutter can be scary! Pretty much everything you do in Windows is recorded somewhere in the Registry. For example, the simple fact that you are reading this article is most likely being recorded in your registry this very second. The problem with your Windows Registry is that if you open it on your computer, it's probably as cluttered as your 13-year-old's bedroom. Even though Windows can clean up some messes on your computer, the registry can sometimes get a little too messy, causing your PC to run a little more slowly than you're used to. First, if you don't have one already, you're going to need Registry Software. Most of this is free, but some you may have to purchase.

Step2

I use AVG, and it works very well. In case you don't wish to purchase software, there are also registry cleaner downloads. This download will provide you with information such as user and expert reviews and utility features that help you in selecting the tool that is best compatible with your PC. Be sure that you get your downloads from a site that you can trust that is legitimate so you don't accidentally get a virus on your computer. The best way to ensure that the download is clean is to scan it with your anti-virus and spyware programs.

Step3

Malicious viruses can cause major problems to your PC When in doubt, run your anti-virus before and after you clean your registry. Sometimes viruses or other malicious programs are embedded so deep within the registry that it is close to impossible to remove them on your own. Running your anti-virus daily will ensure that your registry is safe from any malicious spyware, and it will also remove them from your registry.

Step4

Think smart when removing programs from your PC. Remember when you started downloading that particular program, and it took too long, so you aborted it? Well that is a major cause of registry clutter. If there are programs that are half-installed on your computer, you're going to have to uninstall it. This can be done by going into your Control Panel and clicking on the Add or Remove Programs icon. Select the program that you wish to remove and follow the directions on the uninstaller wizard.

ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND

• When you begin scanning, make sure not to have any applications running because they cause registry changes.
• You're going to need to do the cleaning twice. The first time, you'll need to pay closer attention, but the second time you can leave the computer alone.
• Clicking on icons or anything while the scan is running will cause registry changes, so it is best to just watch closely.
• Cleaning your registry is not the sole way of speeding up your PC because everything depends on the condition of your Registry.
• When cleaning your registry, don't just simply click the "next" button in the wizard in case it's accidentally removing something that you need.
• Do not remove any program that you're not sure of. When in doubt, ask a computer expert.

SOURCE: from various ebooks and security related forum

Add or Upload Music to Powerpoint Presentation

Wanna to have more fun and make your powerpoint presentation to be more interesting? With music upload would be more applicable to attract attention to your audience and match your content of your presentation.

Instructions
Step1
Go to Microsoft Office to open-> Powerpoint. In here is referring PPT version 2003. You can pick your favourite slides by choose Slide Layout, Slide Design (Color & Animation Scheme), Slide Transition. So after your prepare all your slides with your story content. Now you can add your background music

Step2

Choose your favourite Music/ Song. The must can be in waive, midi or mp3 format.
Go to Insert-> Movies and Sounds-> Sound from file. (choose your prepared music from your folder)

Step3

After click "OK" from the 'Insert' button
You will see a message box said:
"How do you want the sound start from your slide show" Two choices, either "Automatic" or "When clicked".
Mostly people will choose "Automatic" which means music will start automactic when slide shows begin.
If you choose "when clicked" which mean music will start will your click on each slide.

Step4

Music can play across different slides show by your favourite song.
Go to Slide Show-> Custom Animation-> Under Modify effect-> "Start After Previous". You may have to pick "Start Previous" Apply to every slides, then the song will stop until the last slides.

Step5

Under Custom Animation, you can also change your slides effect and speed. In 'Speed' you can choose very fast, fast, medimum, slow, or very slow. Whichever suit the needs of your presentation.

Step6

Slide Transition-> Advanced Slide->Automatically after
This function you can set how many minutes your slide will stay or hold on each presentation piece. If you choose "Apply to All Slide", all slide will have the same minutes to hold on every pieces. Usually people would like to set time difference in every slides because they wil have different needs in presentation.

Classroom Games using PowerPoint

Kids today are attracted to screens; television screens, computer screens, handheld game screens...and many classrooms are now blessed with some type of projection screen. Learn how to create a gameshow-style review game (Jeopardy! too old for your kids? Who Wants to Be A Millionaire is just as easy!) using Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 to make a fun review game that all of your kids will love.

Instructions

Step1

The first thing you want to do when designing a PowerPoint game for students is to pick an eye-catching design that'll grab and hold on to their attention. PowerPoint comes with a few pre-set designs that you can take your pick from by clicking the "Design" tab along the top of the window after opening PowerPoint 2007 (see picture). You can also change the colors of the design by using the buttons under the "Design" tab.

Step2

Most games use some sort of table of point values or dollars that can be clicked to bring up questions. To insert a "Jeopardy!" - style table, you will need to click the "Insert" tab and click "Table." You can drag your mouse to highlight the number of rows and columns you want (see picture); 6 by 6 fits pretty well for classroom game purposes.

Step3

Once your table is inserted, you will need to enlarge it to take up the whole slide, or at least most of it. The design will be covered for this slide, but don't worry, it will show on the question slides. Just click and drag the edges of the table to enlarge it to the size you desire. Then, you can type into the darker cells along the top of the table different catergories for your game (in the case of this image, the steps of the writing process). Also type point values (or dollars, or whatever you want) into each column of cells. We'll add hyperlinks in a moment.

Step4

You're going to want to make the text bigger and center it in the cells to make it more aesthetically pleasing (the kids love stuff that looks good). Highlight all of the cells, and under the "Home" tab, you can change the text font, size, and center it (see picture). Play with fonts and sizes until you find something you like.

Step5

You will need to create your question slides before you can link to them from the table slide you just created. To add a new slide to the show, simply right click in the pane on the left below the thumbnail of the slide you're working on. Select New Slide and a new slide with your chosen design will appear. Type your first question onto the new slide; we'll link to it from the table in a moment.

Step6

To hyperlink to this slide, now, you will have to go back to your first slide (the one with the table), highlight the cell in the first column, first row (for this example, the first "10"), and right-click. Select "Add Hyperlink." In the window that pops up, select "Place in this Document" in the left-hand pane (see picture). Once there, you can select the slide you want to hyperlink to (in this case, Slide 2), and a preview of it will even appear on the right. Click "OK," and you've got a hyperlink!

Step7

The hyperlinked text will now be a different color than the other text, and underlined. If you right-click it, you can choose to "Go To Hyperlink" and you will be brought to the slide you have hyperlinked to. Now, while playing the game, you will probably want to be able to jump right back to the table slide from the question slide. For this, you will want to put a "home" hyperlink on every question page that links back to the slide. I suggest clicking the "Insert" tab, selecting "Shapes," and clicking the action button that looks like a house on the bottom (see picture). You can turn this picture into a hyperlink to the first slide by right-clicking the house and repeating Step 6, linking to Slide 1. You can copy and paste this house to every question slide, and the link will work as long as you created the link before copying.

Step8

Make your question slides by repeating Step 5 as often as you need, and create hyperlinks to each question using Step 6, and you've got yourself a fun, clickable, classroom review game that the kids will love! Break students into teams and keep score for a motivating challenge they'll ask for again...and you'll be able to allow that with ease by simply changing the column titles and questions on the slides!

source:powerpoint-forum.de

Next generation of Windows Live application suite now available

Microsoft> on Monday announced the release of a final "refresh" of its beta Windows Live Essentials applications.

The updated applications include Windows Live Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Toolbar, and Family Safety, according to the Windows Experience blog.

The applications will become key to Microsoft's Windows 7, which will not ship with e-mail reading software and other conveniences traditionally included with Windows.

The blog post offers little by way of explaining the changes, except to say that the developers are "getting very close to the final release" and want to make sure the software is stable.

"Beginning on December 15, we are giving existing beta customers the ability to download the latest version of the Windows Live Essentials suite as a means to get feedback on the changes that we've made to date and confirm that the applications will be ready for full-scale release in the coming months," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mail.

The updates include some minor changes, such as the way signature sounds are handled, but major features remain the same. The software is available for download from download.live.com.

The versions released today aren't dramatically different from the Windows Live Wave 3 apps w But Microsoft says the latest beta refresh means that the company is almost ready to take the beta label away and say that the Windows Live Essentials apps are ready to call final.

There is, however, a rather lengthy list of known issues, especially for users who are running Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. So you might want to check out the release notes and system requirements before installing Windows Live Essentials.

Greasefire Finds Greasemonkey Scripts for the Site You're Visiting

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Greasefire is a companion extension to the popular Greasemonkey extension designed to help you customize your web browsing by finding user scripts for any page you're currently visiting.

Once installed, the extension automatically searches the popular Greasemonkey script repository Userscripts.org for scripts related to the site you're visiting; if a script is available, the Greasemonkey icon in your Firefox status bar will display a fiery background to indicate that it found matches. For Lifehacker, as you can see from the photo above, Greasefire found nine matching scripts.

From there, installing new scripts is simple. Just click the "X scripts available" entry, then browse and find a script you like in the pop-up window. Click the install button at the bottom of the window when you find something you like.

Greasefire is a free download, works wherever Firefox does.

UPDATES for Firefox, Safari ON CRITICAL SECURITY

Apple and Mozilla have each issued updates to fix a large number of critical security flaws in their respective Safari and Firefox Web browsers. The Apple update, which brings Safari to version 3.2, is reportedly causing many users to experience frequent browser crashes.

Other problems with this update may be related to a new anti-phishing feature built into Safari 3.2 (Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer have had this feature for more than two years now).

Mozilla Corp. on Wednesday patched 11 vulnerabilities in Firefox 3.0 -- and 12 bugs in the older Firefox 2.0 -- that could be used to compromise computers and steal information. Yesterday's update patched virtually the same number of vulnerabilities as the last security update seven weeks ago.

Firefox 3.0.4, the fourth update since Mozilla launched the browser in June, fixes six flaws rated "critical," two "high," two "moderate," and one "low" in Mozilla's four-step scoring system. Most of the critical bugs could be used by hackers to introduce their own malicious code into a vulnerable system.

Apple Quietly Releases Safari 3.2

Sunday nov 16 apple launched the update to safari version 3.2. The feature includes various feature to upgrade like:-
The notable feature is that it finally adds anti-phishing technology, an area where Safari has lagged behind competitors.
Aside from that, it provides some security fixes, improved JavaScript performance, and a slightly newer version of Webkit, pulling their Acid3 score up to 77.

Wars-of-browsers

There are the periods when Netscape & internet browser explore had the war for there place. Brits scientist sir Tim Berne less had never thought his 1991 which was renames Nerves would lead to origin a various change in 2008 World Wide Web.

Browsers are important tool for searching internet. Here I try to find which is great among

Fire Fox 3

Mozilla one of the failure browsers among the open sources users breaks the records by downloading 8 million in just 24 hours. Firebox has a simple 8 clean logout with light-weight 78MB. It is say 8 have rich a. it have various active security feature like (anti-phishing, pop-blocker, password managers, parental controls).

The area that lacks are speed & performance firebox is now of the blocks talking marginally longer. It takes about 1 to 14 at first startup & four to eight seconds to startup later.
Fire fox is great with its feature like bookmarks & history management, search engine integration & tabbed browsing. It is far ahead with thousands assours to pick. The manager is an easy way to in stall as sour by listing popular us without need to open a webpage.
Book-mark is done clicking star in the location tab change to golden means page is Booked.
Password manager is unobtrusive with a discreet toolbar shown instead of the dialog box that offers to remember passwords.
Spelling checking & searching on page is also well important.

Google Chrome

Every product has its important. When a goggle products comes then its goes to box in the web.
Since its logo looks like a pogo ball bat it has not left Google color.
Chrome is just easy to use simple & looks great. There is a tab bar in place of the little bar with no menu bar & tool bar cluttering the interface. The one thing in the address bar (also known as the amni bar) which doubles up as a search bar. when opening new tabs, chrome displays a preview of sites in the new tab which is like operas speed dial. There are no advance navigational options – only the forward/back/refresh.

Chrome is not loaded with feature but user can create application shortcuts to webpage on desktop. A handily feature that is also available in chrome is resizing areas like the comment box in the webpage. Besides that chrome is same like other browsers having basic bookmaking, full search engine functionality, password management etc.
Chrome logs more system resources than any other browsers chrome loads the site speedy but it had issues with heavy content sites.
Chrome is great but still at early stage to compare with established browsers.

Opera

Opera is a feature rich as firebox is but in narrowly loses out to the later. It has lots of feature that are hard to find in other browsers like e-mail. IRC & Bittorent clients etc. An option for controlling opera with voice commands is available, but it’s only for 2000/Xp has not been perfected yet. Operas mouse gesture is another feature which is useful for the someone who wants to navigate quickly. Data sharing is possible through the opera link a free service that synchronizes book-marks, speed dial entries, notes & other personal data between multiple computers.
Perspire boasting so many innovative & unique feature it disappoints as it is not yet, open source. Opera is erratic. Sometime its really quick but often lags behind the navigation time when compared to firebox & I.E
Opera disappoints on its Book-Marks as it does not provides on click bookmrking, editing & managing in ease. Password management still fit primitive with irritating boxes pop such when a password is entered. Search engine integration is not yet truthful, it provides mine default engine but does not provide good integration. Opera provide basic history management.

Internet Exploer-8

Microsoft latest offering is IE8 beta. Which claims its fast safe easy? Ie8 have lots of add-ons. Some free some non free
Accelators that provides easy access to various web services from any WebPages with just few mouse clicks. Another unique is web slices. Microsoft uses this technology to automatically trace sites. Using slices user can keep up frequently updated sites directly from favorite bar. Ie8 has a separate process for individual tab in browser windows.
Lacking feature is the download manager which is limited. IE still is copyright of Microsoft and no proper password mgmt.

20 Things You didn't Know About Windows XP

You've read the reviews and digested the key feature enhancements and operational changes. Now it's time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets.

This may not be true for an expert .

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run. and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.

6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run. (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As. and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run. from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options. and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. The Start Menu can be quite slow when it decides to show up, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By. Show In Groups.

18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

20. Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons, Windows Key+ U brings up the utility manager

I repeat, these may not be a secret for an expert .

Add-LOCALAPPDATA-Environment-Variable-in-Windows-XP

LOCALAPPDATA is one of the new new environment variables included in Windows Vista, which points to the folder that stores the data for local (non-roaming) applications. To access the folder, run the command %LOCALAPPDATA% from Start, Search box in Windows Vista. This variable does not exist in earlier Windows Operating Systems. If you access this folder frequently in your Windows XP system, you may add the LOCALAPPDATA variable using the steps below.

Note: Alternately, you can open the Local Application Data folder in Windows XP and Windows Vista by running the command shell:Local AppData.

 

Add LOCALAPPDATA variable in Windows XP

Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose Properties

Click Advanced

Click Environment Variables

Under User variables section, click New

In the Variable name: field, type LOCALAPPDATA

In the Variable value: field, type %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data

Click OK, OK, OK to close the dialog boxes.

The LOCALAPPDATA environment variable is now added.

See if you can access the Local Application Data folder by running the command %LOCALAPPDATA% from Start, Run dialog. 

You can use this environment variable in Scripts and Batch files, as well.

Note: You can add or remove environment variables from command-line using Setx.exe, a Windows 2000 Resource Kit tool.

(Source:tweakxp.com)

Automatically Backup your Windows Vista Registry daily using ERUNT

ERUNT is an excellent Registry Backup and Restore Utility for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista. This program backs up the DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM hives and also the per-user registry hives namely NTUSER.DAT & USRCLASS.DAT.

ERUNT works fine in Windows Vista if run under elevated privileges. To run the application elevated, right-click the file ERUNT.EXE which is located in "C:\Program Files\ERUNT" and choose Run as Administrator. Additional instructions are available in article Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT.

Note: Running ERUNT in a non-elevated mode would display the following error:

RegCreateKeyEx: 5 - Access is denied.

Create Automatic Registry Backups at Vista Startup

Using Task Scheduler, you can configure ERUNT to backup the registry at Startup (Note that ERUNT does not create a new backup if one already exists for the current day.) Follow these instructions:

1. Open Task Scheduler from Control Panel or by running the command control schedtasks from Start, Search box.

2. In the Actions pane on the right, click Create Task…

3. Type a name for the task that you want to create (for example, ERUNT), and optionally assign a descriptive text.

4. Click Change User or Group… button

5. Type SYSTEM and click OK

6. Enable the option Run with highest privileges. This is an important step.

7. Select the Triggers tab, and click New

8. In the Begin the task drop-down box, select At startup, and click OK

9. Select the Action tab, and click New

8. In the Program/script: text box, type the following (including the quotes):

"C:\Program Files\ERUNT\AUTOBACK.EXE"

9. In the Add arguments (optional) text box, type the following:

(Hint: Read ERUNT’s documentation to know the command line arguments supported.)

10. Click OK, OK.

You’ve now created a new task to backup the registry at every Startup. To verify if the task works, restart Windows and check the C:\Windows\ERDNT\AutoBackup folder.

VistaBootPRO dual boot vista and xp

Manage





System Boot Loader





Manage BCD Entries





Registry Settings




Settings






Restore





Advanced






Dual Boot Trouble Shooting Guide / Vista Running


This is a short add on guide for trouble shooting your dual boot with Vista running and XP installed.

Software required for this guide: VistaBootPro

Below is how to locate the ntldr, NTDETECT, and boot.ini while in Vista.
1. Open My Computer
2. Click on "Organize" and then click on "Folder and Search Options"
3. Then click on the "View" tab
4. In the list under "Advanced Settings" you need to find "Hide protected operating system files" and uncheck it and then click "Ok"

5. Once back into My Computer open your XP (or Vista) drive and you will now see more "protected" files
6. Select the three files in question and right click and then select "Copy"
7. Go back and open your Vista (or XP) drive and right click and then select paste

VistaBootPRO v.3.1 Method
8. Open VistaBootPRO and go to the "System Bootloader" screen
9. Select to "Reinstall the Vista Bootloader" and then click on Install Bootloader
End v.3.1

VistaBootPRO v.3.3 Method
8. Open VistaBootPRO and go to the "System Bootloader" screen
9. Select "Windows Vista Bootloader"
10. Select "All Drives"

Note: Before continuing quit any I/O sensitive applications.

11. Select Force Install and then click on "Install Bootloader"
End v.3.3

10. Once done exit VistaBootPRO and reboot your system


Drive letters were not included due to the different configurations.





If it is still not booting then your boot.ini can be incorrect. Below is a typical boot.ini.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

The major components of the boot.ini are rdisk(#) and partition(#). Do not change disk(#) unless you are running SCSI drives. When you open Disk Manager, you will see your hard drives listed a Disk 0, Disk 1 and so on depending on how many hard drives you have. The boot.ini rdisk(#) should point to the disk with XP on it associated with the Disk Manager. The boot.ini partition(#) should point to the partition XP is on. The first section of a hard drive is partition 1 and so on. Remember; rdisk(#) can have a 0 such as rdisk(0). On the other hand, partition(#) will always have a 1 or greater. Below you will see my hard drive configuration.





Folks, the basic principle is that all the boot system files for both operating system need to be on the drive/partition tagged "System" in Disk Management (right click My Computer or Computer>Manage). The boot system files for Vista are the folder Boot (and contents) and bootmgr and for XP NTDETECT.COM, ntldr and boot.ini. Boot.ini needs to be pointing to the correct drive/partition. It doesn't hurt to have all these files on both operating system root drive/partitions as this has been known to fix the issue for some or other reason.

Once you have those all on the "System" drive/partition you can Install the Vista bootloader from the System Bootloader page of VistaBootPRO, or run Diagnostics from the Diagnostics menu item and then go to the Manage OS Entries page and if the entries there don't look right and don't work when you reboot and test them, then either the boot.ini is incorrect or the drive letter assigned to the entries is incorrect.

Do not change the drive letters in Computer or Disk Management as that will more than likely cause your systme to be unbootable for that OS.

You can also run a Startup repair by booting to the Vista DVD and selecting Repair my computer at the Install now setup screen.

If all else fails then try to rebuild the BCD by running these commands from the command prompt after booting to the Vista DVD and selecting the command prompt at the same place you would run a startup repair:

Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

The /RebuildBcd option scans all disks for installations that are compatible with Windows Vista. Additionally, this option lets you select the installations that you want to add to the BCD store. Use this option when you must completely rebuild the BCD.

Note If rebuilding the BCD does not resolve the startup issue, you can export and delete the BCD, and then run this option again. By doing this, you make sure that the BCD is completely rebuilt. To do this, type the following commands at the command prompt:

• bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
• c:
• cd boot
• attrib bcd -s -h -r
• ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
• bootrec /RebuildBcd




Unplugged XP Drive for Vista Setup: Can't Dual Boot to XP


So…you unplugged your Windows XP hard drive before Windows Vista setup, so that you didn’t fubar your XP installation. Both XP and Vista boot fine when you change the boot drive order in the BIOS, effectively changing the Windows system drive each time, but that gets a bit tiresome.

Windows XP needs the following files to be on the system drive for it to be able to boot;

boot.ini
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr

and Windows Vista needs these files to be on the system drive for it to be able to boot;

Boot (folder and contents, most importantly the BCD store)
bootmgr

To sort this out, follow the steps below:

1. Plug both drives in and set the Windows XP drive to be the boot drive in the BIOS. This will make it the system drive and although it doesn’t really matter whether the XP or Vista drive is the system drive, it tends to be easier to manage and control booting, from Windows XP.

2. Open Disk Management (right click My Computer>Manage) and go to Disk Management to check that your XP drive is your system drive, although the fact that you were able to boot to XP should already confirm that.

3. Open Windows Explorer and make sure you set Folder Options in Control Panel to be able to see hidden files and files and unhide protected operating system files. You’ll find folder options in the same place in Vista if you select Classic View for Control Panel.

4. Copy the folder Boot and the file bootmgr from your Vista installation drive and paste it to your XP installation drive.


Disk Management
Files to be copied




Files copied




5. Download and install VistaBootPRO and then open it to the Bootloader tab. Select “Reinstall the Vista bootloader” and press Apply.

Reinstall the Vista booloader




6. Now go to the Manage OS Entries tab and select “Add new operating system entry”and make sure you select “Windows Legacy”, give the entry a name like “Windows XP”, select the drive letter you have ntldr on as the drive letter and press Apply (This drive letter must also be your system drive which is set to boot in the BIOS). You can now choose which entry you want to be the default to which the system will boot by default.

Add new XP entry





Reboot and choose which Operating System you want to boot to.



source

http://www.vistabootpro.org/

MS To Become Open Source Friendly Post Gates

"Now that Gates has 'retired' from Microsoft, ZDNet is speculating that Microsoft will become much more Open Source friendly. From the article, "We already see quite a different approach to dealing with OSS and OSS companies from Sam Ramji's group [which is] doing a great job in establishing dialog," said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange and a former marketing exec at SUSE Linux. "With Gates' departure, the only mammoth remaining is Ballmer. With him away in a near future, Microsoft will definitely open up. They have to."" "For much of Microsoft's history, its primary strategic initiative has been Windows everywhere. Bill Gates was the primary architect of this and it has served the company well in reaching the $50 billion revenue mark. To get from $50 to $100 billion, however, they will clearly need to embrace the non-Windows world," said Barry Crist, CEO, Likewise Software. "I suspect this will be easier for Microsoft to accomplish without Gates. We see substantive signs of this happening already.""

http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2601

Bill Gates' last official day as a Microsoft employee

Bill Gates' last official day as a Microsoft employee, though as the company's largest shareholder, he remains the company's chairman. To underline his exit, Gates gave an emotional goodbye speech to employees Friday morning that was Webcast across the globe.
However, his departure leaves more than one burning question.
Despite all of the years of careful planning for this day and what comes after, can the management team that's left to run the company keep it moving forwards – and some would say, continue innovating -- instead of drifting into oblivion the way so many other tech firms have failed after the founder has left?

Don't forget that, after both companies foundered, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) had to recall their founders in order to save the companies they'd built.
That puts the focus on CEO Steve Ballmer and the team of executives he's assembled.
It won't be easy, but several Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) observers think both Ballmer and the company's other key leaders are up to the job.
"Ballmer has been managing this era already … Gates stepped out of the day-to-day [running of the company] at the turn of the century," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told InternetNews.com.
Ballmer, after all, Enderle pointed out, has been CEO for the last eight years. Many of the major decisions that have impacted the company, its partners and customers since 2000 have emanated from his office.
During that time, the company's revenues grew from $23 billion per year to an expected $60 billion in fiscal 2008, which ends Monday. The company has also grown in size until today Microsoft employs nearly 80,000 people worldwide.
Like Gates, Ballmer is 52. They met during their sophomore year at Harvard. Gates dropped out to start Microsoft, while Ballmer graduated and started on an MBA at Stanford before Gates hired him in 1980.
Since then, Ballmer has held a wide range of executive positions -- including vice president of operating systems -- many of them with a marketing focus, although they also required a technical understanding of the company's products,
"Ballmer may not be a technologist, the way Gates is, but he understands the product set," Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, told InternetNews.com.
Still, largely because Gates has been so visible throughout the company's history, many people have the impression that Gates' vision drives Microsoft and Ballmer is merely the company's chief salesman.
While there might be some truth to that argument – Ballmer is a consummate salesman -- analysts this week repeatedly said that attitude doesn't properly give credit where it's due. Ballmer, during his 28 years with Microsoft, has been closely involved with the company's technologies and the decisions around them, even if he hasn't done code reviews the way Gates has.
Additionally, Gates has said that he will continue to work as much as a day a week for the company as special projects for Ballmer, although he hasn't named any so far.
"I think it would be really wrong to say that Gates' oversight will not be there," Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, told InternetNews.com. "Bill and Steve have worked together for so long that Steve knows Bill's thinking," he added.
Besides that, Gates was smart enough to appoint Ray Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes, to replace him as the company's visionary and chief software architect.
"By hiring people like Ozzie, I think they have the technology [visionary] side covered," King said.
Additionally, Ballmer has the benefit of long-time technology executives like Bob Muglia, who is senior vice president of the Server and Tools business, and Steve Sinofsky, who is senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live engineering, to fall back on, said Rob Helm, director of research at Directions on Microsoft.
Ultimately, however, it may be that even if Gates had opted to stay, the company would still be seemingly constantly on the brink of disaster, analysts say. Change is necessary if the company is going to survive, much less continue to prosper.
"I honestly feel the 'old gang' couldn't move the company forward [because] it's too big and it needs a big gang of people making individual decisions [within the business units]," Helm said.

Dell Takes Lead In Windows/Linux External Storage Market

Dell Takes Lead In Windows/Linux External Storage Market .Ships over 116 petabytes in external disk storage for Windows/Linux servers in Q1.

In the first quarter of calendar year 2008, Dell for the first time has captured a 20.4 per cent of the open systems (Windows/Linux) external worldwide disk array storage market with $422 million in revenue. Its closest competitor claimed 18.5 per cent share and $384 million in revenue.


Dell’s external controller-based storage revenue increased 21 per cent year-over-year, and Dell gained share in iSCSI-based SANs to take the number one position with more than twice the revenue of the next leading vendor. This growth demonstrates strong momentum in all segments of Dell’s worldwide storage business.

“We believe taking the lead in the Windows/Linux external storage market is significant. We have invested heavily in our portfolio across the board,” said Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager, Dell Enterprise Storage. “This is the high-growth segment, and we plan to continue demonstrating leadership throughout our entire family of storage systems, including PowerVault, Dell/EMC and EqualLogic.”

This explains, in part, why Dell shipped over 116 petabytes in external disk storage for Windows/Linux servers in Q1, representing 95 per cent of the total of 122 petabytes of external disk storage Dell ships each quarter.

“That is an astounding amount of storage capacity,” said Thomas. As a comparison, it is estimated by some that the total printed matter contained by all US academic research libraries equals only two petabytes. All told, Dell ships more than an estimated 288 petabytes of total disk storage each week within all of its products – including servers, desktops, laptops and enterprise storage systems – in order to accommodate the demand for storage in the digital universe.

Enable/Disable AutoRun For Individual Drives

Windows' Autoplay is a neat feature - the moment you pop in a CD/Drive or a Removable drive, autorun.inf file is read, and any executable file mentioned in there is executed. While this seems as a good idea, say, for automated setup installers, Autoplay has gathered some infamy as a virus distribution centre.

With default settings, you can only disable or enable Autoplay totally, not for individual drives. So is there a way to enable Autoplay, say only for individual drives, say, CD Drive? Yes!

For that you'll need Tweak UI, grab it from here.

After installing, launch it.
http://static.flickr.com/2018/2463874091_ff048ca52e.jpg

Click on the "+" mark next to My Computer, head over to AutoPlay, drives, and ensure that a Check mark is placed against only the drives you want AutoPlay to be enabled. Restart your PC. As simple as that.

Shyam.Com.NP Virus Solution

Shyam.Com.NP Virus Solution



I think here many people who have been troubled by shyam.com.np virus. So, There are many option to rid off from it, like one of my closest friend Subhojeet told me to Goto>Start>Run> Then type there “msconfig” without quote. Then turn of all non Microsoft services and startup programs. Then start PC in safe mode to scan drives with Avast And Spyware Doctor.



Ya may you get solution or not. In case of my I not get the solution my avast and Windows Defender are updated. Anyway maybe avast and Microsoft will update there definition soon. Anyway you may also format your machine to fix itL. But in both case of that you face some problem like formatting is big problem if your computer have some important documents and games etc. Those are really huge problem and in case of start up program closing maybe there some important program like Tray program such as Realtech Audio etc cause problem and many problems.



Now my method is very easy,



1. Restart Your Computer In Safe Mode.



2. Goto My Computer And Then Tools>Folder Options>View



Then Check Show Hidden Files And Folders And Also Show System Hidden Files.



3. Now Goto X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ Folder. (X: Is Your System Drive Such As C



4. Then Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to start Task Manager.



5. Goto Process Tab.



6. Click wscript.exe and click end process.



7. Then Delete VirusRemoval.vbs File from system32 folder. Actually this is the virus.




See This:- http://digital.itgalary.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=527

Make Older Add-Ons Work with Firefox 3.0

If you're willing to risk instability, a simple preference hack can bring out-of-date browser extensions back to life.


If you're like me, you've been playing around with the beta releases of Firefox 3.0.The new version of the open source browser is better-looking, uses less memory, and feels snappier all around. There's just one problem: Every time they release a new beta version, some of your extensions and add-ons are bound to stop working. With the release of Firefox 3.0rc1, almost none of them work.


Fortunately, there is a solution that will "fix" all of your extensions at once. But I caution you, it's not for the weak-hearted. The fix doesn't take longer than a few seconds, but when it comes to troubleshooting your browser afterward, you'll be on your own.


I can't repeat this enough. DO NOT TRY THIS unless you are comfortable editing the advanced preferences of your browser. And don't do anything until you've read through this entire post. Don't say I didn't warn you.


In my experience, extensions that worked with Firefox 3.0b5 will generally be stable with 3.0rc1. It is possible, however, that some of them will cause the new version of the browser to crash. It might even crash on startup -- which means, obviously, that you won't easily be able to undo the fix I'm about to describe.


The key to the fix is to prevent Firefox from checking its version number before it tries to load extensions. To do this, you will need to set a new preference value. Point your browser at the URL "about:config", then right-click on the preferences list to bring up the contextual menu. You should see an option that says "New." Select that, and choose "Boolean." When it asks you for the preference name, type "extensions.checkCompatibility" (without the quotes). You have to enter the name exactly. For the value, choose "false."


Now restart Firefox. When the browser comes back up, it should give you a warning that version checking is disabled. You can double-check under "Tools:Add-Ons" to make sure everything is activated once again.


If the worst case happens and the browser won't start after you add the new preference, you'll need to remove it by hand. Locate the file "prefs.js" within your Firefox profile directory and edit it with any text file editor to delete the line with the preference you just created. (If you're not comfortable doing that, then as I've said, this fix is probably not for you.)


Also, you'll want to remember to delete the preference once the final version of Firefox 3.0 is released, or else you'll never be certain that your installation is stable.
Good luck. As I've said before, I can't troubleshoot any individual Firefox installations. But hopefully this will help you keep your most-beloved add-ons running until their maintainers update them for the final Firefox 3.0. If you still have trouble with some extensions under Firefox 3.0rc1, you can post your experience here in the PC World Community Forums.



Source : PC World