windows interoperability with linuks to come from china

For the last decade, Windows has held the emperor's seat in Chinese enterprises. As a result, market share for Internet Explorer 9 and usage share of Bing are believed higher in China than in the U.S. When China's National University of Defense Technology - its key research academy sponsored by the defense ministry - teamed up last January with China Standard (CS2C), the country's principal licenser of Linux, the presumption here in the States was that China was gearing up to kick Windows out of that country.

The presumption was apparently wrong. This morning in a signing ceremony, Chinese industry officials including the president of CS2C formalized an agreement with Microsoft that will pool their research efforts toward nationwide cross-platform cloud computing. In short, it's a pre-emptive truce.

As a first gesture toward cooperation, Microsoft has agreed to make NeoKylin Linux - the enterprise distribution produced by the CS2C/Defense collaboration and based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux - a "first-class guest" of its Hyper-V virtualization platform for Windows Server. This makes it easier for server operators in China to deploy NeoKylin VMs in data centers running Windows Server. Admins using Microsoft's System Center software will be able to more easily generate NeoKylin VMs, and then administer patches and updates to them as necessary.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server already enjoys first-class status with Hyper-V, by virtue of Microsoft's 2008 agreement with Novell. And a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to RWW this morning that, as part of a February 2009 cross-support agreement, Red Hat Enterprise Linux remains on Hyper-V's first class support list, along with CentOS, the leading commercial derivative of RHEL, which was added to the list last May.

When CentOS joined the list, journalists interpreted the move as another attack by Microsoft on RHEL's competitive position. This despite the fact that Red Hat was also on the list, and that CentOS is an RHEL derivative. It will therefore likely be argued further that Microsoft's agreement with China this morning is yet another stab at Red Hat. As journalist Brian Profitt argued last month in IT World last May, following the CentOS agreement, "A big detriment to Red Hat in the commercial market is not just competing Windows and UNIX systems, but also the presence of non-commercial clone distros like CentOS and Scientific Linux, which offer very much the exact functionality of RHEL without the expensive support costs."

Thus, any visibility Microsoft gives to Red Hat's competitors, even though they're leveraged from Red Hat's platform, and even though technically Red Hat is equally visible, hurts Red Hat. But Red Hat is not equally visible on Hyper-V, at least not anymore, and Red Hat is to blame. In a controversial move last February, Red Hat began distributing its kernel source and patches in a single, so-called "obfuscated tarball" - an all-or-nothing deployment package that isn't compatible with Microsoft's management tools such as System Center.

As Debian kernel contributor Maximilian Attams said in an interview last February, "The only real big bastard on the cool [Debian] 2.6.32 'sync' is Red Hat. Red Hat Enterprise 6.0 is shipping the linux-2.6 2.6.32 in obfuscated form. They released their linux-2.6 as one big tarball clashing with the spirit of the [General Public License]. One can only mildly guess from the changelog which patches get applied. This is in sharp contrast to any previous Red Hat release and has not yet generated the sharp and snide comments in press it deserves. Red Hat should really step back and not make such stupid management moves. Next to them even the semi-maintained Oracle 'Unbreakable' 2.6.32 branch looks better."

Red Hat's move also makes it more difficult for downstream adopters of the RHEL platform, including Oracle, CentOS and now NeoKylin, to incorporate changes from upstream. If an American company doesn't want first-class treatment, certainly a Chinese competitor would be more than willing to substitute.

Remove Windows Context Menu Entries

Some applications that you install add entries to the context menu. This is usually true for programs that interact with files, like the 7-zip archiving software, a text editor like Notepad or software to play media. The usability issue here is the following: It is sometimes not possible to accept or decline the program’s integration into Windows Explorer. Plus, some programs do not remove their entries from the context menu when they are uninstalled from the system.

Editing entries of the context menu in Windows Explorer natively is complicated and problematic. It involves editing the Windows Registry directly. Most users do not want to keep the entries in the Windows Explorer context menu either, because it makes the menu look messy and might even result in clicks on the wrong items.

A program like Context Menu Editor offers a solution for Windows users who would like to remove entries from Windows Explorer’s context menu. The free program lists the available menus in a pulldown menu on startup. All menu items are listed, and the description, file location and details of the selected file are displayed as well.

Items are removed with a click on Delete From Menu. Some Windows users may need to start the program with elevated rights. This is done with a right-click on the program icon and the selection of Run as administrator from the menu.

Item names, descriptions and locations aid the user in finding the entries that they want deleted. A issue here is that the program does not display the actual context menu entries, but only the item’s name in its interface. It may sometimes be necessary to research a name on the Internet to find out if it is the right entry.

Entries that are deleted are removed from Windows Explorer immediately. It may pay off to have an Explorer window open to check the effects directly in the file manager.

Context Menu Editor offers menu editing for the File Context Menu, the Folder Context Menu and the Internet Explorer Context Menu.

The software is easy to handle which makes it powerful and at the same time dangerous, as it is possible to remove entries that are still needed on the system. A backup option to restore deleted settings is missing, which makes this even more serious.

Context Menu Editor is not the most sophisticated of editors available. Especially the lack of backup and the missing display of the actual entries are negatives. Interested Windows users can download the free program from the developer website. The software program is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

Windows Phone GM Charlie Kindel leaves Microsoft for mystery startup

Charlie Kindel, a Microsoft veteran of 21 years, and the man tasked with recruiting developers for Windows Phone, announced this morning that he’s leaving the company to work on a stealth Seattle startup.
Kindel hasn’t divulged any details on his new gig other than “it has to do with sports, advertising, mobile, social-networking, and, of course, the cloud.” But it doesn’t appear that he’s leaving Microsoft with any bad blood — a good sign for Windows Phone’s future.
As general manager of Windows Phone developer experience, Kindel was tasked with leading the team that built the Windows Phone application platform. He also served as a developer evangelist for Windows Phone. 27,000 apps later, it seems his work has paid off.
In a long farewell message to colleagues on his blog, Kindel waxed about his more than two decade-long stint at Microsoft. “Shipping IE 3.0 was my first taste of what it really meant to build a product that changed the world,” he wrote, referring to the first version of Internet Explorer that could go toe-to-toe with Netscape Navigator in the 90s (and which led to the beginning of IE’s browser dominance).  “I would have never joined the Windows Phone team if I had not had that prior experience of an impossible, come-from-behind, project.”
Kindel said in an interview today with GeekWire that if his new company were to build a mobile app, he would target Windows Phone before iPhone or Android. “You know the old saying “Code Talks”:  I know I can build a beautiful and functional WP7 app in afraction of the time it would take to build an iOS or Android app,” he said. “Startups are about executing quickly. But I’m sure we’d quickly take what we learned there and apply it on all the popular devices.”
In his farewell message, Kindel made it clear that his family will be Microsoft loyalists for the foreseeable future: “To my kids: No, just because I don’t work at Microsoft anymore you may not use Google. Remember, every time you use Google, a puppy dies.”

Firefox 8 for Windows x64: Has 64-bit browsing finally come of age?

Over the last couple of weeks, Mozilla has finally stepped up its 64-bit testing process. There are now five slaves dedicated to building Firefox for Windows x64, which means that from Firefox 8 and onwards, you’ll be able to pick up 64-bit builds that are functionally identical to its 32-bit cousins but operating in native 64-bit CPU and memory space.
When I first took 64-bit Firefox for a workout last year, it wasn’t the best of experiences: it crashed, JavaScript performance was abysmal, and it was generally sub-par compared to the stable, 32-bit branch. Today, however, Firefox 8 64-bit is stable and it’s fast; it’s really, really fast. Even more importantly, though, there are now stable 64-bit browser plug-ins for Flash and Java. In other words, there’s very little reason to not use Firefox 8 x64; you can download a copy from the Nightly site (it won’t interfere with your stable install), grab Flash 11 beta for Windows x64 and Java 6 for Windows x64, and start surfing. It’s that simple.
Just how fast is the 64-bit version of Firefox 8? About 10% faster than the 32-bit version — but instead of taking our word for it, take a look at the comparative results from the Peacekeeper suite, the most comprehensive browser benchmark. The following results are from the ExtremeTech test rig which houses an Intel i7 930 with 6GB of RAM and an Nvidia GTX 460.

Augmented reality windows being developed for Toyota

As a child sitting in the back of the family car, did you ever use your finger to doodle in the condensation on the inside of the windows? Well, a group of engineers and designers from Toyota Motor Europe's Kansei1 Design Division and the consultancy arm of the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) have taken car-window-doodling into the 21st Century. They've created a prototype system that could turn the side windows of Toyotas into touchscreen augmented reality devices, allowing passengers to interface with the passing scenery.
Called "Window to the World," the technology was developed with five main concepts in mind. The first of these, called "Drawing in Motion," would allow passengers to draw on the window with their fingers. As the vehicle moved, however, their drawing would stay "attached" to the real world objects it was drawn around - if a child drew a tree beside a pond, for instance, that tree would stay lined up with the pond, until it scrolled off the window.
In a manner similar to that with which smartphone users zoom in on photos with their fingers, Toyota passengers could use their fingers to zoom in on objects seen through the window. By using a distance function, they could also obtain on-window read-outs of how far away different objects and landmarks were from the car.
A similar function would let them see and hear the words for selected objects, in the language of the area through which they were being driven. Finally, the "Virtual Constellations" function would work with the car's roof windows, pointing out and displaying information on the constellations visible through the glass.
Although neither Kansei1 nor CIID have provided any information on how the system actually functions (such as how the window knows which angle it's being viewed from), two working prototypes have reportedly been built, and were on display last month at the "Our Future Mobility Now" exhibition in Brussels.
A simulation of how the system would work in an actual car can be seen below.

Announcing Windows Azure Storage Analytics

We are excited to announce the release of Windows Azure Storage Analytics.  This feature offers developers and operations the ability to track, analyze, and debug usage of Windows Azure Storage (Blobs, Tables and Queues).  You can use this data to analyze storage usage to improve the design of your applications and their access patterns to Windows Azure Storage.  Analytics data consists of:

• Logs
  • Provide trace of executed requests for Blobs, Tables and Queues
• Metrics
  • Provide summary of key capacity and request statistics for Blobs, Tables and Queues

Logs
This feature provides a trace of all executed requests for your storage accounts as block blobs in a special container called $logs. Each log entry in the blob corresponds to a request made to the service and contains information like request id, request URL, http status of the request, requestor account name, owner account name, server side latency, E2E latency, source IP address for the request etc.
This data now empowers you to analyze your requests much more closely. It allows you to run the following types of analysis:

• How many anonymous requests is my application seeing from a given range of IP address?
• Which containers are being accessed the most?
• How many times is a particular SAS URL being accessed and how?
• Who issued the request to delete a container?
• For a slow request –where is the time being consumed?
• I got a network error, did the request reach the server?

Metrics
Provide summary of key statistics for Blobs, Tables and Queues for a storage account. The statistics can be categorized as:

• Request information: Provides hourly aggregates of number of requests, average server side latency, average E2E latency, average bandwidth, total successful requests and total number of failures and more. These request aggregates are provided at a service level and per API level for APIs requested in that hour.  This is available for Blob, Table and Queue service.
• Capacity information: Provides daily statistics for the space consumed by the service, number of containers and number of objects that are stored in the service.  Note, this is currently only provided for the Windows Azure Blob service.

All Analytics Logs and Metrics data are stored in your user account and is accessible via normal Blob and Table REST APIs. The logs and metrics can be accessed from a service running in Windows Azure or directly over the Internet from any application that can send and receive HTTP/HTTPS requests. You can opt in to store either the log data and/or metric data by invoking a REST API to turn on/off the feature at a per service level.  Once the feature is turned on, the Windows Azure Storage stores analytics data in the storage account. Log data is stored as Windows Azure Blobs in a special blob container and metrics data is stored in special tables in Windows Azure Tables. To ease the management of this data, we have provided the ability to set a retention policy that will automatically clean up your analytics blob and table data.

Windows Firewall Notifier

Microsoft has improved the Windows Firewall ever since it was included in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The majority of usability and security issues have been dealt with. Outbound Packet Filtering was for instance introduced under Windows Vista. There are still some issues left that Microsoft has not yet addressed. Especially the firewall’s configuration interface and notifications need improvement.
Windows Firewall Notifier is a third party program for Windows 7 and Vista that improves the handling of the firewall in this regard. When you first start the firewall notifier it performs a series of actions.
The program enables the Windows Firewall if it is not enabled on the system. Once enabled, it will block all inbound and outbound connections for which no firewall rules exist. It then enables Windows firewall inbound connection notifications and outbound connections logging if disabled.

A task is then created in the Windows Task Scheduler that is linked to Windows firewall event log entries. This will basically launch Windows Firewall Notifier whenever an inbound or outbound connection for which no rule exist is blocked.
Configuring the program to run as a task means that it will not run in the background all the time. The Task Scheduler will launch the firewall notifier whenever the system tries to make a connection that is not listed under allowed or blocked connections. The following dialog is then displayed on the screen giving the Windows user options to allow or block the connection.

The notification lists the application’s name, system path and target IP or hostname. Buttons are available to allow or block the connection once, or to allow or block it always.
The program will make the selected changes to the firewall configuration before it closes down again. Users who want to uninstall the firewall software again need to run it again. A dialog to disable it is then presented on screen.
Windows Firewall Notifier is a handy program for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users who make use of the built-in firewall. The program, compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of supported Windows operating systems, is available for download at the developer website.

Microsoft's future: Windows everywhere or Windows nowhere?

Two very different rumors have been making the rounds in the wake of a recent speech at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC 2011). One rumor has Microsoft putting Windows code on every device possible, from smartphones to tablets, PCs, TVs, and beyond. Another has Microsoft biting the bullet and giving up the Windows name entirely. Which is more likely to happen?
The speculation was set off when Microsoft Windows Phone President Andy Lees gaver a speech and said that Microsoft planned to have a "unified ecosystem" for all devices. Here's what Lees said:

One of the key important things here, though, is the change that's yet to happen, but it's about to happen, and that is the bringing together of these devices into a unified ecosystem, because at the core of the device itself it's possible to be common across phones, PCs, and TVs, and even other things, because the price drops dramatically. Then it will be a single ecosystem. We won't have an ecosystem for PCs, and an ecosystem for phones, one for tablets. They'll all come together. And just look at the opportunity here.

The key question is what"unified ecosystem" means. It's a nebulous, vague phrase that means many different things to many different people. Mary Jo Foley reports that rumors have been circulating for quite some time that Microsoft hoped that it would soon make its "Windows Everywhere" mantra a reality. Lees' statement backed up those who thought it would be coming soon.
But a blogger at the thisismynext site has heard rumors that say Microsoft will eventually abandon the Windows name:

Our sources also tell us that Microsoft is seriously considering ditching the "Windows" brand name...The idea is to rebrand this new super-OS with something that better fits with Redmond's vision of the future.

I'd bet that Microsoft will never give up Windows, and the company is more likely to actually put a variant of Windows code on every device, rather than abandoning Windows' name or Windows code. After all, at WPC 2011, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had this to say in his keynote:

Windows is the backbone product of Microsoft. Windows PCs, Windows Phones, Windows slates. Windows Windows Windows Windows Windows.

Don't expect Microsoft to abandon Windows soon -- or ever. It's the horse the company rode to success, and even though the horse may be getting tired, Microsoft plans to keep riding it.

Microsoft Is Stuck On The Windows Treadmill

Yesterday, Microsoft’s Windows Phone president Andy Lees basically said that WinPho 7 (or any other version of Windows Phone) would not land on tablets any time soon. “We view the tablet as a PC,” he stated at a Worldwide Partners Conference. That’s kind of sad.
Windows is great on laptops and desktops but consistently, time and time and time again, Windows has failed on tablets. Take the HP Slate 500 for example: it was an impressive piece of hardware that, in the end, is just another Windows slate.
HP knew it, too, just as everyone else did when they started pumping out Android tablets. Clearly, HP bought WebOS to capitalize on the tablet craze without resorting to have to sell “enterprise” tabets like the Slate to consumers. That probably won’t work, but it shows the lengths to which manufacturers are going to grab a good OS for their current products.
Microsoft is taking the slow and steady approach. Windows 8 should be much more tablet friendly and much more usable for the general consumer. And then Microsoft will do what they’ve always done: lock manufacturers into Windows 8 “flights” i.e. forcing them to make at least one Win8 tablet to go alongside the desktops and laptops they are sure to churn out. They pulled a similar stunt with Windows 7. Ever wonder why almost every hardware manufacturer made a touchscreen all-in-one that no one wanted? Because Microsoft told them to. So you’re at least sure of five or six Windows 8 slates to roll through town, perhaps by next CES.
But in this post-PC world, people still want a good tablet. Heck, they may even, as Patrick Moorhead suggests go for “convertible PCs,” PCs that are merely a tablet propped up next to a keyboard and mouse a la the Atrix. While I find that a hard sell, it could happen.
If current market conditions have showed us anything it’s that hardware and software vendors have to ship. The longer people sit on product the worse it is. The life cycle for a product is wildly truncated these days and the build-up of excitement can work to a manufacturer’s detriment.
Microsoft is stuck on the Windows treadmill. They need to hop off and see if WinPho7 can actually exist on a larger device and, in the end, give people what they want instead of catering towards the needs of some mythical Microsoft’s Internal Enterprise Group For Enterprise Customers And The IT Buyer or whatever they call their IT business unit.
Enterprise is great, but enterprise is cost- and risk-averse. Consumers will pay a premium for a good Microsoft tablet but they don’t want to wait for Windows 8 to hop on board.

Windows at Worldwide Partner Conference 2011

Here at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, we’re talking with attendees about the IT challenges they face and how those challenges can be overcome with solutions from Microsoft and from our network of partners to get the most out of their Windows experience.
One way we can help our partners and our customers get the most from their Windows experience is to help them move off of Windows XP. As of today, customers have 1000 days until support for Windows XP ends. Windows XP served us well, but in the ten years since it launched, the world has changed. It’s time to retire Windows XP and move to Windows 7 to take advantage of the last decade of innovation in areas such as security, performance and more natural, intuitive interface.
Microsoft and our ecosystem of partners are committed to helping every customer move to Windows 7 by providing the deployment tools and resources they need. One way users can stay updated on the latest version of Windows is through Windows Intune, our cloud-based PC management and security service that includes the benefit of upgrade rights to Windows 7 Enterprise as well as future versions of Windows.
Since the Windows Intune launch in March, we’ve seen positive reception from partners and customers looking to standardize and manage their PC environments. Windows Intune has proven to be the comprehensive solution they need, giving them cloud services for PC management and security and upgrade rights to Windows 7 Enterprise (and future versions of Windows) from a single, simple subscription. Partners like InfinIT Consulting have leveraged Windows Intune to move customers to Windows 7 Enterprise while also providing the most advanced security solution, powerful management tools to their small, medium, and enterprise customers.
Today at WPC, we are excited to announce the beta availability for the next release of Windows Intune - we expect the final release later this year. Based on the feedback we continue to receive from partners and customers, this release includes top feature requests and usability improvements:

• Software distribution: One of the most common requests has been software distribution and we’ve worked hard to bring this feature to this beta. With this release, administrators can deploy most Microsoft and third-party updates or software applications to PCs virtually anywhere, without the need for a server infrastructure or physically touching each PC to install the software or update.
• Remote Tasks: This update allows IT to perform tasks, including full scan, quick scan, restart, and update malware definition all from the administration console. If there is an alert for a malware threat for example, administrators can run a scan on the affected PC by simply right-clicking on the PC from the administration console.
• Read-only Access: IT pros and partners can grant select administrators read-only access to the administration console so that they can view PC information as needed, but not perform any tasks.

These are just a few of the new features, to check out more features and to sign up for your beta account, visit Windows Intune on Springboard. Each new update builds upon the prior version, so regardless of when Windows Intune customers purchase the service, they will automatically get the latest and greatest features available. Existing Windows Intune customers will receive this update seamless without any migration. To log into your Windows Intune beta account after signing up, click here!
Partner and Customer Success with Windows Intune
Our partners have shown us they are motivated to support Windows Intune – in the short time it’s been in the market, they’ve been able to build or enhance their managed services business with new revenue opportunities, greater customer reach and reduced costs. Today we are announcing new updates, including new Internal Usage Rights (IUR) program and new sales incentives.

• We are increasing the Windows Intune internal usage rights licenses to align with the benefit levels provided to partners with Silver and Gold competencies. Starting now, Cloud Essentials partners will be entitled to 25 licenses and 100 licenses for Cloud Accelerate partners.
• Over the past year, Microsoft has been enhancing and broadening channel incentives with the goal of rewarding partners across activities that drive growth and customer value. For more information, partners can visit https://partner.microsoft.com/40142578

Partners like District Computers and New Signature are working with companies of all sizes and various industries to deploy Windows Intune and benefit from the best Windows experience on a standardized platform:

• For D.C. based Microsoft Online Services Partner District Computers, Windows Intune has become the solution they need to provide customers with a secure and up-to-date system. They worked with Friendship Heights Rehabilitation Center to deploy Windows Intune to manage their PCs and standardize on Windows 7. Friendship Heights Rehabilitation Center’s executive director, Therese Rodda, appreciates having a dashboard to view the entire network, detect problems ahead of time and respond to updates: “Windows Intune has helped me as a business owner reduce my IT vendor costs because now I’m in the driver’s seat.” Watch a video on their experience with Windows Intune here.

• The California state-sponsored non-profit organization, the California Strawberry Commission, purchased Windows Intune for its remote management capabilities, so that their employees would have a well-managed, highly secure PC without being tied to the corporate network. With Windows Intune, California Strawberry Commission gets these benefits without huge upfront investment costs for servers and software since Microsoft hosts and maintains the cloud service. Furthermore, they take advantage of the upgrade rights to Windows 7 Enterprise to standardize their PC environment, and take advantage of features like BitLocker to protect data.
• New Signature couples their managed service offering Total Assurance Management Service (TAMS) with Windows Intune to reduce the infrastructure complexity in client networks, giving their team more time to focus on driving high-margin IT alignment business opportunities with their clients. New Signature worked with an emerging national law firm to deliver TAMS with Windows Intune, helping to keep these attorneys focused on business-critical tasks with PC’s performing at their best.

We thank the partners and customers that have helped us develop this beta update for Windows Intune, and encourage you to download and try the beta today!
Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) Updates
Today we also have updates to the MDOP suite, and are pleased to announce that MDOP 2011 R2 will be generally available for download in August with the following updates:

• Microsoft BitLocker Administration & Monitoring (MBAM) 1.0: Adds BitLocker Administration & Monitoring capabilities to the suite, which simplifies BitLocker provisioning and deployment, improves compliance and reporting, and reduces support costs
• Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) 7.0: New features, such as remote boot, make DaRT more flexible to administer and resolve issues while offsite
• Asset Inventory Service (AIS) 2.0: Updated/localized UI and improved software reporting improves inventory capabilities

There are many businesses that can benefit from purchasing MDOP for the first time and the more MDOP components you deploy, the higher the ROI. We recommend customers look into MDOP and find out how they can benefit from the six technologies that it offers. Windows Intune customers can have the MDOP on-premise tools as an add-on for an additional dollar per seat per month.

Hey! My friend’s account was hacked!

At Hotmail, we know that account hijacking is a big problem, and we continue to work hard to prevent it. We’ve noticed a couple of things about hijacked accounts. First, many accounts have weak passwords that make them easy targets for hijackers. Second, when someone’s account gets hijacked, their friends often find out before they do, because the hijacker uses their account to send spam or phishing email to all their contacts.
These two observations led us to develop a couple of new features that help protect your accounts. The first lets you report a friend’s account as compromised – a feature unique to Hotmail – and the second prevents you from using common passwords that make your account easy to hack.

Getting spammed by a friend

Maybe you’ve had this happen to you: You sign in to Hotmail, and you see you’ve got new mail from one of your friends. You open the message only to discover that it’s spam! Maybe it’s obvious spam – like an ad for a product. Or maybe it’s a more involved story – like a plea for money, with an explanation that your friend is stuck in a foreign country and needs cash, when you know for sure that your friend is safe and sound at home.
Whatever the case, one thing is for sure: this email isn’t really from your friend at all. Instead, it’s from a spammer who has hijacked your friend’s account. When this happens, you probably call or text your friend or contact them on an alternate email address to let them know that their email account has been compromised. But you wish you could do more.
Now you can. Hotmail lets you report your friend’s account as compromised. It’s easy: When you get that spam message supposedly from your friend, you just click “My friend’s been hacked!” on the “Mark as” menu:

You can also report an account as compromised when you mark a message as junk or otherwise move a message to the Junk folder:

What happens under the hood

Our compromise detection system is always working in the background to detect unusual behavior. When we detect bad behavior from an account (like an account that suddenly starts sending spam), we mark that account as compromised. It’s a bit like your credit card company putting a hold on your account when they detect suspicious activity.
When you report that your friend’s account has been compromised, Hotmail takes that report and combines it with the other information from the compromise detection engine to determine if the account in question has in fact been hijacked. It turns out that the report that comes from you can be one of the strongest “signals” to the detection engine, since you may be the first to notice the compromise. So, when you help out this way, it makes a big difference!
Once we mark the account as compromised, two things happen:

• First and foremost, the account can no longer be used by the spammer.
• When your friend attempts to access their account, they’re put through an account recovery flow that helps them take back control of the account.

Making it work with all accounts

We released this feature a few weeks ago. Initially, it only let you report Hotmail accounts that were compromised. But it worked really well – we got thousands of reports of compromised accounts.
Of course, we didn’t want to stop there; we wanted to go a step farther and make it work for any email account. After all, even if you’re a Hotmail user, you probably get email from friends using other email providers, and those accounts can get compromised, too.
We did the work to enable other email providers like Yahoo! and Gmail to receive these compromise reports from Hotmail including those submitted by you, and those providers will now be able to use the reports in their own systems to recover hacked accounts.
So now, in Hotmail, you can report any email account as compromised, and Hotmail will provide the compromise information to both Yahoo! and Gmail.

How well is it working?

We’ve had this feature turned on for only a few weeks, and we’ve already identified thousands of customers who have had their accounts hacked and helped those customers reclaim their accounts. And we’ve found it to be very effective and fast. Accounts that you report as compromised are typically returned to the rightful owner within a day.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Of course, we don’t want to just detect when accounts are compromised; we want to prevent them from being compromised in the first place. That’s why we continue to innovate and build more features to help protect your account.
We‘re making another addition to the long list of account security and protection features that we’ve released over the last year. We will now prevent our customers from using one of several common passwords. Having a common password makes your account vulnerable to brute force “dictionary” attacks, in which a malicious person tries to hijack your account just by guessing passwords (using a short list of very common passwords). Of course, Hotmail has built-in defenses against standard dictionary attacks, but when someone can guess your password in just a few tries, it hardly constitutes “brute force!”
Common passwords are not just “password” or “123456” (although those are frighteningly common), but also include words or phrases that just happen to be shared by millions of people, like "ilovecats" or "gogiants."
This new feature will be rolling out soon, and will prevent you from choosing a very common password when you sign up for an account or when you change your password. If you're already using a common password, you may, at some point in the future, be asked to change it to a stronger password.
Of course, having a strong password is just one step to protecting your account. You should also provide “proofs,” including an alternate email address, a question and secret answer, and, even a mobile number where we can reach you via text message. You can learn more about how to set up account proofs, or go ahead and set up your account proofs now.

Will it operate if my personal XP software upgrade in order to Windows Several?

Almost certainly. Nearly all programs that work on Microsoft windows xp and Windows Vista do not have difficulty throughout Windows 6, although there are usually exceptions.
Expenses Hullender
To confirm no matter if a specific perform in the brand new environment, go through the support centre “Windows 7 Match ups Center” (find.pcworld.com/70878). Once there, examine the sorts of programs as well as search for particular name. Or perhaps visit the associated Web site to observe what it suggests on the subject.
If you find a program in which wants to keep on using carries a problem, we have now four possibilities.
1. Run the program throughout XP being compatible mode. Right-click the program file or a program magic formula in the Start menu and choose Properties. Click the Compatibility loss. Mark the choice “Run this program throughout compatibility way of …” and choose an option in the dropdown menu regarding XP. Take a look to see if it truely does work.
2. Upgrading to a new version on the program appropriate for XP, as well as replace the program of a rival.
3. Install Windows 6 on a separate partition to choose between Windows xp or Windows 7 if this lights up (observe find.pcworld.com/70879).
5. If you upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or Supreme version, get and mount Windows Personal PC and also Windows XP Setting (find.pcworld.com/70880). These kind of applications enable you to, in effect, manage XP inside Windows 6.
It is worthy of noting yet another point: if you change from a mature XP laptop or computer to a new Windows 7, probably will be changing at a 32-bit version regarding Windows to some 64-bit. (XP and also Windows 6 comes in two options, however the 64-bit is significantly more established now in comparison with when the PCs come normal with Windows xp installed). The actual programs Windows 16 pieces of the nineties can only operate on 32-bit environments, but don’t work on Windows 64 chunks. Therefore, a number of older applications will not work towards the new laptop or computer.

NVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows Vista 32 bit /7 (-) 275.33

NVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows Vista 32 bit is WHQL-Certified driver supporting GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500-series desktop GPUs and ION., And run in following OS : Windows Vista,7 and has installer size as 99.68MB

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

By admin

This driver package supports GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500-series desktop GPUs as well as ION desktop GPUs. This driver package also includes the 3D Vision Controller driver.
New in Release 275.33
GPU Support:

• Adds support for the newly released GeForce GTX 560 GPU.

Performance:

• The Release 275 beta driver v275.27 can cause significant performance drop in The Witcher 2. This issue has been resolved in v275.33 drivers. Please read this FAQ for more information on this issue.
• Increases performance for GeForce 400 Series and 500 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. v270.61 WHQL drivers. The following are some examples of improvements measured on Windows 7. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

GeForce GTX 580:

• Up to 4% in Crysis 2
• Up to 5% in Civilization V with SLI
• Up to 9% in Portal 2
• Up to 13% in Bulletstorm with Antialiasing enabled
• Up to 15% in Batman: Arkham Asylum with PhysX High

GeForce GTX 560:

• Up to 6% in Crysis 2
• Up to 8% in Portal 2
• Up to 14% in Batman: Arkham Asylum with PhysX High
• Up to 15% in Bulletstorm with Antialiasing enabled

NVIDIA Update:

• In Release 275, NVIDIA Update adds automatic SLI, multi-GPU, and antialiasing (AA) profile updates. These profile updates are automatically downloaded from NVIDIA and silently installed on your PC, keeping it up-to-the-minute with the latest game profiles. When you install a Release 270 or later GeForce driver from www.nvidia.com, you will be presented with the option to install NVIDIA Update.

Desktop Scaling:

• New NVIDIA Control Panel user interface for configuring desktop scaling, including new preview window.
• Now consistently available for all displays (including VGA and HDMI connections).
• New scaling override option for Windows 7 gaming.
• Improved desktop resizing user interface that guides the user to disable overscanning using their HDTV controls and also provides a fallback option to enable desktop resizing via the NVIDIA Control panel.
• NVIDIA desktop resizing now creates a custom, resized resolution with 1:1 pixel mapping and resizes standard resolutions for games that don�t support custom resolutions.

NVIDIA 3D Vision:

• With Release 275 drivers, the 3D Vision Controller driver is now included with all GPU driver installations. This driver package includes v275.33 3D Vision Controller driver. Users are no longer required to install a separate 3D Vision Controller driver or CD driver. For more information, please view this knowledgebase article for more information.
• 3D Vision Window Mode support. Please view this knowledgebase article for more information.
• Added support for 3D Vision Photo viewer to now work in Window Mode. When you have opened a 3D picture file check the �View� section for this new option.
• Improved 3D Vision IR emitter and 3D Vision glasses synchronization
• Adds support for new 3D Vision projectors: NEC NP-V300X series
• Added the following 3D Vision game profiles:
  • Age of Empires Online
  • Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
  • Battlefield Play4Free
  • Duke Nukem Forever
  • Dungeon Siege III
  • Super Street Fighter IV
  • World of Tanks
• Update the following 3D Vision game profiles
  • Portal 2 � fixed water reflection problem and updated convergence setting to provide a better user experience
  • The Witcher 2 � Improved 3D Vision compatibility for all in-game effects

Other:

• Installs HD Audio driver version 1.2.23.3
• Installs PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0514
• Supports playing back Blu-ray 3D discs when connecting your GPU to an HDMI 1.4 3D TV. Playback requires compatible freeware software application from CyberLink, ArcSoft, Roxio, or Corel. For GPU and system requirements, visit the NVIDIA Blu-ray 3D website.
• Supports the new GPU-accelerated features in Adobe CS5.
• Supports GPU-acceleration for smoother online HD videos with Adobe Flash 10.1. Learn more here.
• Supports the new version of MotionDSP’s video enhancement freeware software, vReveal, which adds support for HD output. NVIDIA customers can download a free version of vReveal that supports up to SD output here.
• Supports DirectCompute with Windows 7 and GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
• Supports OpenCL 1.0 (Open Computing Language) for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
• Supports OpenGL 3.3 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
• Supports OpenGL 4.1 on GeForce 400 series and later GPUs.
• Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.
• Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools freeware software.

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windows vista

Screenshot of freeware NVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows Vista 32 bit

Download NVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows Vista 32 bit

NVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows Vista 32 bit is 100% freeware, you could using it for free. If you may need assistance, just go to the http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us, please be remember it only runs in Windows Vista,7:

Speed up Windows with a flash drive

you've got a spare USB drive laying around, hold onto it till you start running Windows Vista. Using Vista's new ReadyBoost feature, a spare USB 2.0 key with enough space can speed up the OS performance. Plug in your drive and choose "Speed up my system" from the AutoPlay menu to enable ReadyBoost, which uses some fancy-pants disk-caching to make Windows a bit snappier. Still looking to unload a few extra drives? The hardware experts at Gizmodo have some links to donate 'em too. — Gina Trapani

Save That Flash Drive: Vista Speedup or Tax-Deductable Gift [Gizmodo]

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• Show Desktop Adds the Show Desktop Button to Windows Vista and XP

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• Does Windows 7 Make Up for Vista?

How to Create a Windows Vista Unattended Installation CD

The other day I showed you how to create a Windows XP unattended installation CD using a program called nLite. Today I would like to show you how to create an unattended installation CD for Windows Vista using a program called vLite. This unattended installation CD works the same way as the one for Windows XP and allows you to automate the whole process of installing Windows, drivers, updates, as well as configuring Windows just the way you like it.
For this tutorial, you will need a Windows Vista installation DVD and a product key if you don’t want to be prompted to enter one during the installation. You will also need a blank CD or DVD if you would like to burn your unattended installation when you are finished.
Step 1: Download and install vLite. When you are finished run the program.
Step 2: You will be asked to locate your Windows Vista installation files. Click “Browse” and choose your Windows Vista installation DVD. You will then be asked where you would like to save your Windows Vista installation files. Create a new folder, name it whatever you like, and click “OK”. vLite will now begin to copy the installation files from the DVD to the folder you created. When it is finished, click “Next”.


Step 3: Here you will be able to select which options you would like to configure. Click “All” and then click “Next”.


Step 4: Here you will be able to add all of the needed Windows updates to your unattended installation so you don’t have to install them later. Before you can add them, you will need to download the updates manually and save them to your computer. The easiest way to do this is by using Windows Updates Downloader. Once they are downloaded, click “Insert” and select them all. You can also set specific drivers to install when Windows installs by clicking on the “Drivers” tab and adding them. You can do the same thing with language packs by clicking on the “Language Pack” tab. When you are finished, click “Next”.


Step 5: Next you will be able to remove components that you don’t want installed during the installation process. When you are finished click “Next”.


Step 6: Here you will be able to tweak some additional security, system, and explorer settings. When you are finished click “Next”.


Step 7: Now you will be able to configure the unattended installation settings. If you have a product key, enter it in so you aren’t prompted for it later. When you are finished, click “Apply”.


Step 8: You will be prompted with a window asking you to choose an apply method. The “Just Apply The Changes” radio button will be clicked by default which is fine. The “Apply And Rebuild” method takes a lot longer but saves you more space. Don’t use this setting if your image contains more than one version of Vista. Click “OK” and vLite will now begin building your unattended Windows installation.


Step 9: You will now be able to burn your unattended Windows installation to a CD or DVD. You can also create an ISO file that you can burn later.


You are now ready to install Vista using your unattended installation CD. If you have any experience with vlite or unattended Windows installations, please feel free to post comments.

Windows Vista Wallpapers Are Taking the Internet World by Storm

With the growing buzz about Microsoft’s new Windows Vista Internet users are demanding for wallpaper sites to make the change to the new Vista wallpapers. They want their wallpapers to meet the high quality look and feel of the new Vista operating system. The hardest part for many Internet users is that they are not able to find many wallpaper websites dedicated to the new system.

TheNetCode Network decided to help alleviate this problem recently by launching its new VistaBorders.com wallpaper site. The site is focusing most of its attention on gathering and offering Windows Vista backgrounds for its visitors.

Since vista wallpapers are in short supply they have decided to run monthly contests for their visitors to submit their original Vista wallpaper artwork. Each month the company is offering a new prize to the winner of the contest.

Hoping to create a strong following and become the leader in Vista wallpapers on the Internet the VistaBorders team is working hard to scour the Internet for the best wallpaper artists. Future plans are to offer more dynamic wallpapers and other useful downloads for their visitors.

# # #

cit-ending-support-for-windows-xp-windows-vista-and-mac-os-x-10-5 (leopard)

CIT is ending support for older versions of Windows and Mac OS X to make the best use of the university’s support resources. We are working toward a goal of supporting the two most recent versions of both the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Because the adoption of Windows Vista was low and the next version of Windows is expected in 2012, Vista support is ending concurrently with Windows XP.
 To continue to receive troubleshooting assistance from the CIT HelpDesk after May 2012:

• Windows users will need to upgrade to Windows 7.
• Mac users will need to upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion—available July 2011).

 Compatibility
CIT suggests that units move toward replacement of computers that will not be able to run supported operating systems. In addition to support issues, these computers are likely to become increasingly incompatible with Cornell IT services.
 To verify a particular computer’s ability to be upgraded, please see:
Windows 7: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/system-requirements
Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard): http://support.apple.com/kb/SP575
Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion): http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html
 How to Get Windows 7
The Microsoft Campus Agreement currently allows Cornell University staff, faculty, and affiliates* to download selected Microsoft Windows desktop operating systems and install them on computers owned by Cornell University and its affiliated institutions at no cost.  Computers must have been initially purchased with a licensed version of Windows to qualify. For more information, visit:
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/services/software_licensing/available/windows.cfm
 How to Get Snow Leopard or Lion
An upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard costs $29, as does a multicomputer upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion. For more information about Mac OS X upgrades and pricing, please contact the Cornell Store Technology Connection:
(607) 255-4941
tcconsult@cornell.edu

Requirement Windows 8 == Requirement Windows 7 [download os]

Windows 8 start page

Ada Kabar baik mengenai Windows 8 yang akan Release Tahun depan. seperti yang ketahui Transisi Windows XP ke Windows Vista saat itu membawa perubahan besar, mulai dari penampilan dan security baru serta pengalaman baru, namun saat itu Vista membutuhkan Hardware yang tinggi seperti memory tinggi, dan processor tinggi, Microsoft memperbaiki hal ini pada Windows 7 yang System hardware Requirement nya lebih ringan dibanding Windows vista. hal ini juga diikuti dengan optimasi dari microsoft untuk Windows 7.
Untuk Windows 8 ini yang sudah booming bahkan setelah Windows 7 baru Rilis. Microsoft membuat pernyataan bahwa Windows 8 akan menggunakan Requirement yang sama dengan Windows 7 jadi User tidak perlu takut untuk menikmati Windows 8 nantinya karena jika PC anda bisa menjalankan Windows 7 dengan lancar maka akan sama dengan Windows 8 nantinya. hal ini tentu merupakan berita sangat baik karena kita tidak perlu sungkan untuk mengupgrade ke Windows baru nantinya.

Namun hal yang masih menjadi pertanyaan adalah hal system arsitektur Windows 8 yang konon akan hanya mendukung environment 64 bit saja sebagai native core daripada Windows 8. tentunya jika hal ini benar berarti mungkin sistem hanya terbatas pada minimal Processor 64 bit (walaupun sebagian besar hardware sekarang  sudah menggunakan 64 bit). dukungan native 64 bit memang membawa keuntungan dari segi memory karena sudah mendukung memory lebih dari 4GB, alokasi 32 bit hanya limit di 4GB maximal. ini merupakan langkah Microsoft yang baik karena dengan native 64 bit para developer dapat mengoptimalisasi dan mengembangkan software lebih jauh lagi, begitu juga dengan driver 64 dapat berjalan lebih matang lagi.
Dengan adanya Berita baik ini maka Kita sebagai User dapat menunggu dengan tenang untuk Windows 8 keluar nantinya, tanpa harus khawatir dengan adanya harus dengan hardware baru. jadi misalkan sekarang anda sudah memiliki Hadrware Processor yang bisa jalan pada 64 bit maka tidak perlu khawatir dengan Windows 8 .
bisa kita Review kembali Spec Requirement dari Windows 7 :

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (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