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2010-08-06T00:08:00.002-04:00

Early history: an expansion of MS-DOS
Main articles: Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, and Windows 2.1x

Early Windows logo (1985-1991)The first independent version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released on 20 November 1985, achieved little popularity. It was originally going to be called "Interface Manager" but Rowland Hanson, the head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that the name Windows would be more appealing to consumers. Windows 1.0 was not a complete operating system, but rather an "operating environment" that extended MS-DOS, and shared the latter's inherent flaws and problems. The first version of Microsoft Windows included a simple graphics painting program called Windows Paint, Windows Write, a simple word processor, an appointment "calendar", a "cardfiler", a "notepad", a "clock", a "control panel", a "computer terminal", "Clipboard", and RAM driver. It also included the MS-DOS Executive and a game called Reversi.

Microsoft had worked with Apple Computer to develop several Desk Accessories and other minor pieces of software that were included with early Macintosh system software[citation needed]. As part of the related business negotiations, Microsoft had licensed certain aspects of the Macintosh user interface from Apple; in later litigation, a district court summarized these aspects as "screen displays". In the development of Windows 1.0, Microsoft intentionally limited its borrowing of certain GUI elements from the Macintosh user interface, in order to comply with its license.

Screenshot of Windows 1.01For example, windows were only displayed "tiled" on the screen; that is, they could not overlap or overlie one another. There was no trash can icon with which to delete files, since Apple claimed ownership of the rights to that paradigm.

Microsoft Windows version 2 came out on 9 December 1987, and proved slightly more popular than its predecessor. Much of the popularity for Windows 2.0 came by way of its inclusion as a "run-time version" with Microsoft's new graphical applications, Excel and Word for Windows. They could be run from MS-DOS, executing Windows for the duration of their activity, and closing down Windows upon exit.

Microsoft Windows received a major boost around this time when Aldus PageMaker appeared in a Windows version, having previously run only on Macintosh. Some computer historians[who?] date this, the first appearance of a significant and non-Microsoft application for Windows, as the beginning of the success of Windows.

Versions 2.0x used the real-mode memory model, which confined it to a maximum of 1 megabyte of memory. In such a configuration, it could run under another multitasker like DESQview, which used the 286 Protected Mode.

Later, two new versions were released: Windows/286 2.1 and Windows/386 2.1. Like previous versions of Windows, Windows/286 2.1 used the real-mode memory model, but was the first version to support the High Memory Area. Windows/386 2.1 had a protected mode kernel with LIM-standard EMS emulation, the predecessor to XMS which would finally change the topology of IBM PC computing. All Windows and DOS-based applications at the time were real mode, running over the protected mode kernel by using the virtual 8086 mode, which was new with the 80386 processor.

Version 2.03, and later 3.0, faced challenges from Apple over its overlapping windows and other features Apple charged mimicked the ostensibly copyrighted "look and feel" of its operating system and "embodie[d] and generated a copy of the Macintosh" in its OS. Judge William Schwarzer dropped all but 10 of Apple's 189 claims of copyright infringement, and ruled that most of the remaining 10 were over uncopyrightable ideas.

[edit] Success with Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0 screenshotMain article: Windows 3.0
Microsoft Windows scored a significant success with Windows 3.0, released in 1990. In addition to improved capabilities given to native applications, Windows also allowed users to better multitask older MS-DOS based software compared to Windows/386, thanks to the introduction of virtual memory.

Windows 3.0's user interface was finally a serious competitor to the user interface of the Macintosh computer. PCs had improved graphics by this time, due to VGA video cards, and the Protected/Enhanced mode allowed Windows applications to use more memory in a more painless manner than their DOS counterparts could. Windows 3.0 could run in Real, Standard, or 386 Enhanced modes, and was compatible with any Intel processor from the 8086/8088 up to the 80286 and 80386. This was the first version to run Windows programs in protected mode, although the 386 enhanced mode kernel was an enhanced version of the protected mode kernel in Windows/386.

A "multimedia" version, Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions 1.0, was released several months later. This was bundled with "multimedia upgrade kits", comprising a CD-ROM drive and a sound card, such as the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro. This version was the precursor to the multimedia features available in Windows 3.1 and later, and was part of Microsoft's specification for the Multimedia PC.

The features listed above and growing market support from application software developers made Windows 3.0 wildly successful, selling around 10 million copies in the two years before the release of version 3.1. Windows 3.0 became a major source of income for Microsoft, and led the company to revise some of its earlier plans. It was discontinued on 31 December 2001.[1]

[edit] A step sideways: OS/2

OS/2 logoMain article: OS/2
During the mid to late 1980s, Microsoft and IBM had cooperatively been developing OS/2 as a successor to DOS. OS/2 would take full advantage of the aforementioned Protected Mode of the Intel 80286 processor and up to 16MB of memory. OS/2 1.0, released in 1987, supported swapping and multitasking and allowed running of DOS executables.

A GUI, called the Presentation Manager (PM), was not available with OS/2 until version 1.1, released in 1988. Its API was incompatible with Windows. (Among other things, Presentation Manager placed X,Y coordinate 0,0 at the bottom left of the screen like Cartesian coordinates, while Windows put 0,0 at the top left of the screen like most other computer window systems.) Version 1.2, released in 1989, introduced a new file system, HPFS, to replace the FAT file system.

By the early 1990s, conflicts developed in the Microsoft/IBM relationship. They cooperated with each other in developing their PC operating systems, and had access to each others' code. Microsoft wanted to further develop Windows, while IBM desired for future work to be based on OS/2. In an attempt to resolve this tension, IBM and Microsoft agreed that IBM would develop OS/2 2.0, to replace OS/2 1.3 and Windows 3.0, while Microsoft would develop a new operating system, OS/2 3.0, to later succeed OS/2 2.0.

This agreement soon however fell apart, and the Microsoft/IBM relationship was terminated. IBM continued to develop OS/2, while Microsoft changed the name of its (as yet unreleased) OS/2 3.0 to Windows NT. Both retained the rights to use OS/2 and Windows technology developed up to the termination of the agreement; Windows NT, however, was to be written anew, mostly independently (see below).

After an interim 1.3 version to fix up many remaining problems with the 1.x series, IBM released OS/2 version 2.0 in 1992. This was a major improvement: it featured a new, object-oriented GUI, the Workplace Shell (WPS), that included a desktop and was considered by many to be OS/2's best feature. Microsoft would later imitate much of it in Windows 95. Version 2.0 also provided a full 32-bit API, offered smooth multitasking and could take advantage of the 4 gigabytes of address space provided by the Intel 80386. Still, much of the system still had 16-bit code internally which required, among other things, device drivers to be 16-bit code as well. This was one of the reasons for the chronic shortage of OS/2 drivers for the latest devices. Version 2.0 could also run DOS and Windows 3.0 programs, since IBM had retained the right to use the DOS and Windows code as a result of the breakup.

[edit] Windows 3.1 and NT

Microsoft Windows logo (1991-2000)Main articles: Windows 3.1x, Windows NT, and Windows NT 3.1
In response to the impending release of OS/2 2.0, Microsoft developed Windows 3.1, which included several minor improvements to Windows 3.0 (such as display of TrueType scalable fonts, developed jointly with Apple), but primarily consisted of bugfixes and multimedia support. It also excluded support for Real mode, and only ran on an 80286 or better processor. Later Microsoft also released Windows 3.11, a touch-up to Windows 3.1 which included all of the patches and updates that followed the release of Windows 3.1 in 1992. Around the same time, Microsoft released Windows for Workgroups (WfW), which was available both as an add-on for existing Windows 3.1 installations and in a version that included the base Windows environment and the networking extensions all in one package. Windows for Workgroups included improved network drivers and protocol stacks, and support for peer-to-peer networking. One optional download for WfW was the "Wolverine" TCP/IP protocol stack, which allowed for easy access to the Internet through corporate networks. There were two versions of Windows for Workgroups, WfW 3.1 and WfW 3.11. Unlike the previous versions, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 only ran in 386 Enhanced mode, and requires at least an 80386SX processor.

All these versions continued version 3.0's impressive sales pace. Even though the 3.1x series still lacked most of the important features of OS/2, such as long file names, a desktop, or protection of the system against misbehaving applications, Microsoft quickly took over the OS and GUI markets for the IBM PC. The Windows API became the de-facto standard for consumer software.

Meanwhile Microsoft continued to develop Windows NT. The main architect of the system was Dave Cutler, one of the chief architects of VMS at Digital Equipment Corporation (later purchased by Compaq, now part of Hewlett-Packard).[2] Microsoft hired him in August 1988 to create a successor to OS/2, but Cutler created a completely new system instead. Cutler had been developing a follow-on to VMS at DEC called Mica, and when DEC dropped the project he brought the expertise and around 20 engineers with him to Microsoft. DEC also believed he brought Mica's code to Microsoft and sued.[3] Microsoft eventually paid US$150 million and agreed to support DEC's Alpha CPU chip in NT.

Windows NT 3.1 (Microsoft marketing wanted Windows NT to appear to be a continuation of Windows 3.1) arrived in Beta form to developers at the July 1992 Professional Developers Conference in San Francisco.[4] Microsoft announced at the conference its intentions to develop a successor to both Windows NT and Windows 3.1's replacement (Windows 95, code-named Chicago), which would unify the two into one operating system. This successor was codenamed Cairo. In hindsight, Cairo was a much more difficult project than Microsoft had anticipated and, as a result, NT and Chicago would not be unified until Windows XP—albeit Windows 2000, oriented to business, had already unified most of the system’s bolts and gears, it was XP that was sold to home consumers like Windows 95 and came to be viewed as the final unified OS. Parts of Cairo have still not made it into Windows as of 2009 - specifically, the WinFS file system, which was the much touted Object File System of Cairo. Microsoft announced that they have discontinued the separate release of WinFS for Windows XP and Windows Vista[5] and will gradually incorporate the technologies developed for WinFS in other products and technologies, notably Microsoft SQL Server.

Driver support was lacking due to the increased programming difficulty in dealing with NT's superior hardware abstraction model. This problem plagued the NT line all the way through Windows 2000. Programmers complained that it was too hard to write drivers for NT, and hardware developers were not going to go through the trouble of developing drivers for a small segment of the market. Additionally, although allowing for good performance and fuller exploitation of system resources, it was also resource-intensive on limited hardware, and thus was only suitable for larger, more expensive machines.

However, these same features made Windows NT perfect for the LAN server market (which in 1993 was experiencing a rapid boom, as office networking was becoming common). NT also had advanced network connectivity options and the efficient NTFS file system. Windows NT version 3.51 was Microsoft's entry into this field, and took away market share from Novell (the dominant player) in the following years.

One of Microsoft's biggest advances initially developed for Windows NT was a new 32-bit API, to replace the legacy 16-bit Windows API. This API was called Win32, and from then on Microsoft referred to the older 16-bit API as Win16. The Win32 API had three main implementations: one for Windows NT, one for Win32s (which was a subset of Win32 which could be used on Windows 3.1 systems), and one for Chicago. Thus Microsoft sought to ensure some degree of compatibility between the Chicago design and Windows NT, even though the two systems had radically different internal architectures. Windows NT was the first Windows operating system based on a hybrid kernel[citation needed].

[edit] Windows 95

Windows 95 LogoMain article: Windows 95
After Windows 3.11, Microsoft began to develop a new consumer oriented version of the operating system code-named Chicago. Chicago was designed to have support for 32-bit preemptive multitasking like OS/2 and Windows NT, although a 16-bit kernel would remain for the sake of backward compatibility. The Win32 API first introduced with Windows NT was adopted as the standard 32-bit programming interface, with Win16 compatibility being preserved through a technique known as "thunking". A new GUI was not originally planned as part of the release, although elements of the Cairo user interface were borrowed and added as other aspects of the release (notably Plug and Play) slipped.

Microsoft did not change all of the Windows code to 32-bit; parts of it remained 16-bit (albeit not directly using real mode) for reasons of compatibility, performance, and development time. Additionally it was necessary to carry over design decisions from earlier versions of Windows for reasons of backwards compatibility, even if these design decisions no longer matched a more modern computing environment. These factors eventually began to impact the operating system's efficiency and stability.

Microsoft marketing adopted Windows 95 as the product name for Chicago when it was released on August 24, 1995. Microsoft had a double gain from its release: first it made it impossible for consumers to run Windows 95 on a cheaper, non-Microsoft DOS; secondly, although traces of DOS were never completely removed from the system, and a version of DOS would be loaded briefly as a part of the booting process. Windows 95 applications ran solely in 386 Enhanced Mode, with a flat 32-bit address space and virtual memory. These features make it possible for Win32 applications to address up to 2 gigabytes of virtual RAM (with another 2GB reserved for the operating system), and in theory prevented them from inadvertently corrupting the memory space of other Win32 applications. In this respect the functionality of Windows 95 moved closer to Windows NT, although Windows 95/98/ME did not support more than 512 megabytes of physical RAM without obscure system tweaks.

IBM continued to market OS/2, producing later versions in OS/2 3.0 and 4.0 (also called Warp). Responding to complaints about OS/2 2.0's high demands on computer hardware, version 3.0 was significantly optimized both for speed and size. Before Windows 95 was released, OS/2 Warp 3.0 was even shipped preinstalled with several large German hardware vendor chains. However, with the release of Windows 95, OS/2 began to lose market share.

It is probably impossible to choose one specific reason why OS/2 failed to gain much market share. While OS/2 continued to run Windows 3.1 applications, it lacked support for anything but the Win32s subset of Win32 API (see above). Unlike with Windows 3.1, IBM did not have access to the source code for Windows 95 and was unwilling to commit the time and resources to emulate the moving target of the Win32 API. IBM later introduced OS/2 into the United States v. Microsoft case, blaming unfair marketing tactics on Microsoft's part.

Microsoft went on to release five different versions of Windows 95:

Windows 95 - original release
Windows 95 A - included Windows 95 OSR1 slipstreamed into the installation.
Windows 95 B - (OSR2) included several major enhancements, Internet Explorer (IE) 3.0 and full FAT32 file system support.
Windows 95 B USB - (OSR2.1) included basic USB support.
Windows 95 C - (OSR2.5) included all the above features, plus IE 4.0. This was the last 95 version produced.
OSR2, OSR2.1, and OSR2.5 were not released to the general public; rather, they were available only to OEMs that would preload the OS onto computers. Some companies sold new hard drives with OSR2 preinstalled (officially justifying this as needed due to the hard drive's capacity).

The first Microsoft Plus! add-on pack was sold for Windows 95.

[edit] Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT logoMain article: Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft released Windows NT 4.0, which features the new Windows 95 interface on top of the Windows NT kernel (a patch was available for developers to make NT 3.51 use the new UI, but it was quite buggy[citation needed]).

Windows NT 4.0 came in four versions:

Windows NT 4.0 Workstation
Windows NT 4.0 Server
Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition (includes support for 8-way SMP and clustering)
Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server
[edit] Windows 98

Windows 98 logo
Windows 98 screenshotMain article: Windows 98
On 25 June 1998, Microsoft released Windows 98 (code-named Memphis). It included new hardware drivers and better support for the FAT32 file system which allows support for disk partitions larger than the 2 GB maximum accepted by Windows 95. The USB support in Windows 98 is far superior to the token, unreliable support provided by the OEM editions of Windows 95. It also controversially integrated the Internet Explorer browser into the Windows GUI and Windows Explorer file manager, prompting the opening of the United States v. Microsoft case, dealing with the question of whether Microsoft was abusing its hold on the PC operating system market to unfairly compete with companies such as Netscape.

In 1999, Microsoft released Windows 98 Second Edition, an interim release. One of the more notable new features was the addition of Internet Connection Sharing, which was a form of network address translation, allowing several machines on a LAN (Local Area Network) to share a single Internet connection. Second Edition was also much easier to use and much smoother than the first edition of Windows 98. Hardware support through device drivers was increased. Many minor problems present in the original Windows 98 were found and fixed which make it, according to many, the most stable release of Windows 9x family—to the extent that commentators used to say that Windows 98's beta version was more stable than Windows 95's final (gamma) version.[6]

[edit] Windows 2000
Main article: Windows 2000
Microsoft released Windows 2000, known during its development cycle as Windows NT 5.0, in February 2000. It was successfully deployed both on the server and the workstation markets. Amongst Windows 2000's most significant new features was Active Directory, a near-complete replacement of the NT 4.0 Windows Server domain model, which built on industry-standard technologies like DNS, LDAP, and Kerberos to connect machines to one another. Terminal Services, previously only available as a separate edition of NT 4, was expanded to all server versions. A number of features from Windows 98 were incorporated as well, such as an improved Device Manager, Windows Media Player, and a revised DirectX that made it possible for the first time for many modern games to work on the NT kernel. Windows 2000 is also the last NT-kernel Windows operating system to lack Product Activation.

While Windows 2000 upgrades were available for Windows 95 and Windows 98, it was not intended for home users.[7]

Windows 2000 was available in six editions:

Windows 2000 Professional
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Windows 2000 Advanced Server Limited Edition
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Limited Edition
[edit] Windows Millennium Edition (Me)
Main article: Windows Me
In September 2000, Microsoft introduced Windows Me (Millennium Edition), which upgraded Windows 98 with enhanced multimedia and Internet features. It also introduced the first version of System Restore, which allowed users to revert their system state to a previous "known-good" point in the case of system failure. System Restore was a notable feature that made its way into Windows XP. The first version of Windows Movie Maker was introduced as well.

NOTE:

The Season 2010 Updates will end on Friday, August 6th 2010
After that we will have no more updates for you until season 2011 starts on Febuary 25th, 2011.

To keep knowing more please keep watching YouTube Channel

SPAIN became the champions!.

See you in Febuary 2011!

2010-07-30T00:00:00.001-04:00

Early versions
Main articles: Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, and Windows 2.1x

Windows 1.0, the first version, released in 1985The history of Windows dates back to September 1981, when the project named "Interface Manager" was started. It was announced in November 1983 (after the Apple Lisa, but before the Macintosh) under the name "Windows", but Windows 1.0 was not released until November 1985.[6] The shell of Windows 1.0 was a program known as the MS-DOS Executive. Other supplied programs were Calculator, Calendar, Cardfile, Clipboard viewer, Clock, Control Panel, Notepad, Paint, Reversi, Terminal, and Write. Windows 1.0 did not allow overlapping windows, due to Apple Computer owning this feature[citation needed]. Instead all windows were tiled. Only dialog boxes could appear over other windows.

Windows 2.0 was released in October 1987 and featured several improvements to the user interface and memory management.[6] Windows 2.0 allowed application windows to overlap each other and also introduced more sophisticated keyboard-shortcuts. It could also make use of expanded memory.

Windows 2.1 was released in two different flavors: Windows/386 employed the 386 virtual 8086 mode to multitask several DOS programs, and the paged memory model to emulate expanded memory using available extended memory. Windows/286 (which, despite its name, would run on the 8086) still ran in real mode, but could make use of the high memory area.

The early versions of Windows were often thought of as simply graphical user interfaces, mostly because they ran on top of MS-DOS and used it for file system services.[7] However, even the earliest 16-bit Windows versions already assumed many typical operating system functions; notably, having their own executable file format and providing their own device drivers (timer, graphics, printer, mouse, keyboard and sound) for applications. Unlike MS-DOS, Windows allowed users to execute multiple graphical applications at the same time, through cooperative multitasking. Windows implemented an elaborate, segment-based, software virtual memory scheme, which allowed it to run applications larger than available memory: code segments and resources were swapped in and thrown away when memory became scarce, and data segments moved in memory when a given application had relinquished processor control, typically waiting for user input.[citation needed]

Windows OS market share Source Net Market Share[8] W3Counter[9] StatCounter[10]
Date June 2010 June 2010 June 2010
All versions 91.35% 84.07% 92.56%
Windows XP 62.43% 49.98% 57.7%
Windows Vista 14.68% 17.1% 18.74%
Windows 7 13.7% 15.76% 16.12%
Windows 2000 0.45% 0.34% —
Windows 98 0.06% — —
Windows Me 0.03% — —
Windows Server 2003 — 0.89% —

Windows 3.0 and 3.1
Main articles: Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1x

Windows 3.0, released in 1990Windows 3.0 (1990) and Windows 3.1 (1992) improved the design, mostly because of virtual memory and loadable virtual device drivers (VxDs) which allowed them to share arbitrary devices between multitasked DOS windows.[citation needed] Also, Windows applications could now run in protected mode (when Windows was running in Standard or 386 Enhanced Mode), which gave them access to several megabytes of memory and removed the obligation to participate in the software virtual memory scheme. They still ran inside the same address space, where the segmented memory provided a degree of protection, and multi-tasked cooperatively. For Windows 3.0, Microsoft also rewrote critical operations from C into assembly, making this release faster and less memory-hungry than its predecessors.[citation needed] With the introduction of Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows was able to bypass DOS for file management operations using 32-bit file access.[citation needed]

Windows 95, 98, and Me
Main articles: Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me

Windows 95, released in 1995Windows 95 was released in August 1995, featuring a new user interface, support for long file names of up to 255 characters, and the ability to automatically detect and configure installed hardware (plug and play). It could natively run 32-bit applications, and featured several technological improvements that increased its stability over Windows 3.1. There were several OEM Service Releases (OSR) of Windows 95, each of which was roughly equivalent to a service pack.

Microsoft's next release was Windows 98 in June 1998. Microsoft released a second version of Windows 98 in May 1999, named Windows 98 Second Edition (often shortened to Windows 98 SE).

In September 2000, Microsoft released Windows Me (Me standing for Millennium Edition), which updated the core from Windows 98 but adopted some aspects of Windows 2000 and removed the "boot in DOS mode" option. It also added a new feature called System Restore, allowing the user to set the computer's settings back to an earlier date.

Windows NT family
Main article: Windows NT
The NT family of Windows systems was fashioned and marketed for higher reliability business use. The first release was NT 3.1 (1993), numbered "3.1" to match the consumer Windows version, which was followed by NT 3.5 (1994), NT 3.51 (1995), NT 4.0 (1996), and Windows 2000 (2000). 2000 is the last NT-based Windows release which does not include Microsoft Product Activation. NT 4.0 was the first in this line to implement the "Windows 95" user interface (and the first to include Windows 95’s built-in 32-bit runtimes).

Microsoft then moved to combine their consumer and business operating systems with Windows XP, coming in both home and professional versions (and later niche market versions for tablet PCs and media centers); they also diverged release schedules for server operating systems. Windows Server 2003, released a year and a half after Windows XP, brought Windows Server up to date with MS Windows XP. After a lengthy development process, Windows Vista was released toward the end of 2006, and its server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 was released in early 2008. On July 22, 2009, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 were released as RTM (release to manufacturing). Windows 7 was released on October 22, 2009.

64-bit operating systems
Windows NT included support for several different platforms before the x86-based personal computer became dominant in the professional world. Versions of NT from 3.1 to 4.0 variously supported PowerPC, DEC Alpha and MIPS R4000, some of which were 64-bit processors, although the operating system treated them as 32-bit processors.

With the introduction of the Intel Itanium architecture (also known as IA-64), Microsoft released new versions of Windows to support it. Itanium versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were released at the same time as their mainstream x86 (32-bit) counterparts. On April 25, 2005, Microsoft released Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions to support the x86-64 (or x64 in Microsoft terminology) architecture. Microsoft dropped support for the Itanium version of Windows XP in 2005. Windows Vista is the first end-user version of Windows that Microsoft has released simultaneously in x86 and x64 editions. Windows Vista does not support the Itanium architecture. The modern 64-bit Windows family comprises AMD64/Intel64 versions of Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008, in both Itanium and x64 editions. Windows Server 2008 R2 drops the 32-bit version, although Windows 7 does not.

Windows CE

The latest upcoming version of Windows CE, Windows Embedded Compact 7, displaying a possible UI for what the media player can look like.Main article: Windows CE
Windows CE (officially known as Windows Embedded Compact), is an edition of Windows that runs on minimalistic computers, like satellite navigation systems and some mobile phones. Windows Embedded Compact is based on its own dedicated kernel, dubbed Windows CE kernel. Microsoft licenses Windows CE to OEMs and device makers. The OEMs and device makers can modify and create their own user interfaces and experiences, while Windows CE provides the technical foundation to do so.

Windows CE was used in the Dreamcast along with Sega's own proprietary OS for the console. Windows CE is the core from which Windows Mobile is derived. Microsoft's latest upcoming version of their mobile OS, Windows Phone 7, is based on components from both Windows CE 6.0 R3 and the upcoming Windows CE 7.0.

Windows Embedded Compact is not to be confused with Windows XP Embedded or Windows NT 4.0 Embedded, modular editions of Windows based on Windows NT kernel.

Future
Windows 8, the successor to Windows 7, is currently in development.

History
Main article: History of Microsoft Windows

The Windows family tree.Microsoft has taken two parallel routes in its operating systems. One route has been for the home user and the other has been for the professional IT user. The dual routes have generally led to home versions having greater multimedia support and less functionality in networking and security, and professional versions having inferior multimedia support and better networking and security.[citation needed]

The first version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released in November 1985, lacked a degree of functionality and achieved little popularity, and was to compete with Apple’s own operating system.[citation needed] Windows 1.0 is not a complete operating system; rather, it extends MS-DOS. Microsoft Windows version 2.0 was released in November, 1987 and was slightly more popular than its predecessor. Windows 2.03 (release date January 1988) had changed the OS from tiled windows to overlapping windows. The result of this change led to Apple Computer filing a suit against Microsoft alleging infringement on Apple's copyrights.[11][12]

Microsoft Windows 3.0, released in 1990, was the first Microsoft Windows version to achieve broad commercial success, selling 2 million copies in the first six months.[13][14] It featured improvements to the user interface and to multitasking capabilities. It received a facelift in Windows 3.1, made generally available on March 1, 1992. Windows 3.1 support ended on December 31, 2001.[15]

In July 1993, Microsoft released Windows NT based on a new kernel. NT was considered to be the professional OS and was the first Windows version to utilize preemptive multitasking.[citation needed]. Windows NT would later be retooled to also function as a home operating system, with Windows XP.

On August 24, 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95, a new, and major, consumer version that made further changes to the user interface, and also used preemptive multitasking. Windows 95 was designed to replace not only Windows 3.1, but also Windows for Workgroups, and MS-DOS. It was also the first Windows operating system to use Plug and Play capabilities. The changes Windows 95 brought to the desktop were revolutionary, as opposed to evolutionary, such as those in Windows 98 and Windows Me. Mainstream support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2000 and extended support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2001.[16]

The next in the consumer line was Microsoft Windows 98 released on June 25, 1998. It was substantially criticized for its slowness and for its unreliability compared with Windows 95, but many of its basic problems were later rectified with the release of Windows 98 Second Edition (98SE) in 1999. Mainstream support for Windows 98 ended on June 30, 2002 and extended support for Windows 98 ended on July 11, 2006.[17]

As part of its "professional" line, Microsoft released Windows 2000 in February 2000. During 2004 part of the Source Code for Windows 2000 was leaked onto the internet. This was bad for Microsoft as the same kernel used in Windows 2000 was used in Windows XP. The consumer version following Windows 98 was Windows Me (Windows Millennium Edition). Released in September 2000, Windows Me implemented a number of new technologies for Microsoft: most notably publicized was "Universal Plug and Play". Windows Me was criticized a lot, due to slownesses, freezes and hardware problems.

2010-07-23T00:00:00.001-04:00

SIW is an advanced System Information for Windows tool that gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings and displays it in an extremely comprehensible manner.

SIW can create a report file (CSV, HTML, TXT or XML), and is able to run in batch mode (for Computer Software and Hardware Inventory, Asset Inventory Tracking, Audit Software Licenses, Software License Compliance).

The system information is divided into few major categories:

Software Inventory: Operating System, Installed Software and Hotfixes, Processes, Services, Users, Open Files, System Uptime, Installed Codecs, Software Licenses (Product Keys / Serial Numbers / CD Key), Passwords Recovery.
Hardware Inventory: Motherboard, CPU, Sensors, BIOS, chipset, PCI/AGP, USB and ISA/PnP Devices, Memory, Video Card, Monitor, Disk Drives, CD/DVD Devices, SCSI Devices, S.M.A.R.T., Ports, Printers.
Network Information: Network Cards, Network Shares, currently active Network Connections, Open Ports.
Network Tools: MAC Address Changer, Neighborhood Scan, Ping, Trace, Statistics
Miscellaneous Tools: Eureka! (Reveal lost passwords hidden behind asterisks), Monitor Test, Shutdown / Restart.
Real-time monitors: CPU, Memory, Page File usage and Network Traffic.
SIW is a standalone utility that does not require installation (Portable Freeware) - one less installed program on your PC as well the fact that you can run the program directly from an USB flash drive, from a network drive or from a domain login script.
SIW can be distributed freely (ftp, archives, CD-ROMs ...).

Client Platform: Windows 7 / Vista / Windows XP / 2000 / NT4 / Me / 98 / Media Center / Tablet PC / WinRE / Bart PE / Winternals ERD Commander
Server Platform: Windows Server 2008 (R2) / Windows Server 2003 (R2) / Windows Server 2000 / NT4

2010-07-16T00:00:00.001-04:00

With Mac OS X Panther came a simplified networking experience, particularly when it comes to sharing folders and files with Windows machines. Enabling access to a computer running Windows 7 from a machine running OS X requires very little configuration. However, file and folder sharing between Windows 7 and OS X machines isn’t quite an 'out of the box' feature. Here’s what you need to do in order to make it work.

Before You Begin - List of Prerequisites
Before you attempt to network your Mac and PC, there are a few basic preparation steps. First and foremost, you must have your machines connected to the same network. That is, plugged into the same router or on the same WiFi network. We know you knew that already, but just in case…

Next, you should figure out the IP address of each machine. Now, this isn’t the same IP address that the world sees when you’re out surfing the World Wide Web. The IP address you need is the local one that is assigned by the router. More often than not, it will be some variation of 192.168.1.x.

To figure this out on your Windows 7 machine, click 'Start -> Accessories -> Command Prompt'.

Once Command Prompt is open, type ipconfig and press Enter. Windows will spit out a whole bunch of text—what you’re looking for is the IP address that comes after IPv4 Address. In this case, it’s 192.1681.5.

Next, you’ll want to find the IP address for your Macbook. You won’t need it for this tutorial, but it’ll be handy for later networking tutorials. You can find this by opening up the Network pane in System Preferences.

Your IP address will be underneath the Status item. Here, it’s 192.168.1.8.

Now, that all the machines are connected and we know the IP addresses, let’s move on.

Preparing Your Windows 7 Machine
In order to get your Windows 7 machine up and running, all you need to do is activate File Sharing and choose which folders you want to share. For instructions on turning on File Sharing, read How to Customize Network Sharing Settings in Windows 7.

To learn how to choose which folders to share, read Share Libraries or Folders Using Advanced Sharing.

After that, your Windows 7 machine is ready to go. Now, let’s hop on over to our Mac.

Setting Your Macintosh’s Workgroup
In order to share folders between your Windows 7 computer and Macintosh, you may need to set the workgroup name on your Mac to be the same as on your PC. If you haven’t changed the workgroup name on your Windows 7, this step will be unnecessary, since both Windows 7 and OS X use "workgroup" as the default name. (Oddly, the two test machines used in this tutorial had differing workgroup names and the connection was still successful, so you may not need to perform this step at all.)

To change your Macintosh workgroup name, access the Network pane in System Preferences and choose the device that connects you to your network. Click Advanced and choose the WINS tab.

In the field labeled "workgroup", type in the name of your Windows 7 workgroup.

For more information on your Windows 7 workgroup, read How to Change the Workgroup in Windows 7.

Connecting with Your Macintosh
From your Mac, open up a Finder window, click Go and then 'Connect to server'. Alternately, you can use the key combination Command-K (a.k.a Apple-K or ⌘-K).
NOTE: For this keyboard shortcut to work, you must be focused on a Finder window.

In the Connect to Server window, type your Windows 7 machine’s IP address after 'smb://'. For this example, it’s 'smb://192.168.1.5'. Next, click Connect.

You’ll be asked to enter in a name and password. To log in, enter your Windows username and password. These are the same credentials you would use when logging into your Windows 7 user account when you first start your machine.

Once you enter in your password correctly, you will be asked which volumes you’d like to mount. Your choices will consist of all the shared folders on your Windows 7 machine. Choose which one you’d like to mount and click OK. (NOTE: You can mount multiple volumes by holding Shift as you select each folder name.)

You’ll now see your Windows 7 machine in two places: on the left-hand sidebar under Shared and listed with your other volumes when you click on your Macintosh’s name under Devices. When you click on your Windows 7 machine’s icon under Shared, you’ll see the other shared folders which you did not mount. You can browse them and access them as if they were mounted.

You can browse the contents of your Windows 7 machine just like it was a local drive. You should also have full read/write privileges, since you are logged in under the same user account as if you were sitting at the keyboard in front of your Windows 7 machine.

Automatically Mounting Your Windows 7 Machine on OS X
One last trick before we go: if you want to forgo the entire process of mounting your Windows 7 machine each time you reboot, you can add it to the login items on OS X. Open up the Accounts pane in System Preferences and click the 'Login Items' tab.

Now, pop open a Finder window and find the volume that represents your Windows 7 machine. (Remember, it’ll probably be called Users.) Simply drag and drop it into the 'Login Items' window. Now, next time you reboot, it’ll automatically mount it.

Conclusion
As you can see, there isn’t much technical trickery involved in getting Windows 7 to allow OS X access to its files. Stay tuned for our next tutorial which will cover how to do the opposite - access OS X files from Windows 7. Until then, check out some related articles.

2010-07-09T00:00:00.001-04:00

Last Wednesday, the Windows Live team officially shipped the first public Beta releases of the much anticipated "Wave 3" set of "Live" applications.

The announcement was made by Chris Jones, Corporate Vice President, Windows Live Experience Program Management in a blog posting on Windows Live Spaces. Chris wrote that "This wave includes significant updates to our software applications for your Windows PC, and the latest version of the Windows Live suite of PC applications includes Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Toolbar, and Family Safety. You'll find new features across the products and most notably, Windows Live Messenger has been almost entirely redesigned."

The first wave of Live applications included Hotmail, Messenger, and Spaces, and were released in 2006. The second wave tied the PC to the Web, and included Photo Gallery, Live Mail, Windows Live Writer, Events, SkyDrive, Calendar, and Family Safety. In this wave Microsoft also introduced Windows Live experiences for mobile phones including downloads for Windows Mobile devices and browser-based services for web-enabled mobile devices. The second wave was completed in 2007.

"Microsoft encourages interested Windows Live customers and the tech-savvy community to test the new features and functionality," Microsoft said in a statement. "It is recommended that consumers wait until the products are final before downloading."

In addition to updating the desktop programs, Microsoft is also expected to make updates to its online services--things like Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Spaces.

If you want to download the Wave3 Beta's, you can do so from the Windows Live Downloads site.

No release date has been set for the release of final versions of the software.

Give your comments on this article. E-mail This Page

2010-07-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

The Windows 7 RC already expired on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, PCs running Windows 7 RC began shutting down every two hours.
If you're still running the RC, your PC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won't be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You'll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn't genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.

To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you'll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you'll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data.

Thanks again for helping us test Windows 7.

vDiscussions on the data that Windows 7 RTM will be available have been going around the Internet (as with any new Windows release).

Monday July 13 was mentioned by some sources, but on that day Microsoft posted an update on its Windows Blog explaining that it still had not signed off on Windows 7 RTM.

Note: On Wednesday Microsoft did RTM Windows 7 (article).

Yesterday, July 21st, another note was posted listing the dates that the RTM will be available to the various groups.

Partners and OEMs will be able to download Windows 7 RTM from Microsoft Connect or MSDN on August 6th.

Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English through the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal on August 16th. By October 1st, the remaining languages will become available to download.

Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers will be about to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 23rd. The remaining languages will become available to download by October 1st.

OEMs will receive Windows 7 RTM software images beginning approximately 2 days after Microsoft officially RTM Windows 7.

Business Customers that have access through Software Assurance (SA) licenses will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 7th via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). The rest of the languages for Windows 7 RTM should be available within a couple of weeks after that. Customers without a SA license will be able to purchase Windows 7 through Volume Licensing on September 1st.

IT Professionals/Developers that don't have access to Volume Licensing but have a TechNet or MSDN Subscription will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th and remaining languages by October 1st.

For Consumers, Windows 7 will be in retail stores and shipping on new PCs starting October 22nd. If you pre-ordered Windows 7, it should be delivered sometime around the October 22nd timeframe (depending on the retailer).

Microsoft also confirmed that it will be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs. Further details will be released later.

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Last Updated: July 22, 2009

2010-06-25T00:00:00.000-04:00

I get messages from people having problems with Windows Explorer crashes on a regular basis. Mostly they go something like this: "When I right-click a file in Windows Explorer, I get a message that Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close" or "When I try to browse through the folders on my computer, I receive an error message that Windows Explorer needs to close."

In a lot of cases, these errors are caused by 3rd party shell extensions that are not functioning properly.

These shell extensions are responsible for creating the options you'll see on the menu when you right-click a file using Windows Explorer. Some 3rd party applications will add their own "action" to this menu, and this can cause problems.

If you look careful at the picture on the right, you'll see several non-standard additions to the right-click menu: "Send to Fax Recipient", "Scan with Norton Antivirus", "TextPad" and "Winzip".

To try and find if a 3rd party shell extension is causing your Windows Explorer to crash on certain actions, you'll need to download this handy (and free) utility: ShelExView. It will let you view & disable shell extensions.

After you downloaded & executed it, ShelExView will show all shell extensions installed on your system. You could sort the entries so that you'll have all non Microsoft shell extensions grouped together. Next, select all these non Microsoft shell extensions, and disable them. Try the sequence that would previously have resulted in Windows Explorer crashing (for example browsing a folder, or right-clicking a file). If no crash occurred, one of the shell extensions you disabled has been causing the crash. To find out which one, start enabling one shell extension at a time, each time testing to make sure you can still use Windows Explorer without it crashing, until you find the shell extension that would cause Windows Explorer to crash.

ShelExView gives you all additional information you need to know such as the product & company name of the shell extension, as well as the version number. If you would like to continue using the software of the 3rd party whose shell extension is causing the Explorer crash, contact the company responsible, and check to see if there is an updated version of the software you are trying to use.

Another cause of Windows Explorer crashes can also be attributed to the existence of viruses or spyware on the machine. To tackle this, start by running one or two on-line virus scans. I'd suggest the on-line scan from eTrust and/or Trend Micro's HouseCall.

To combat any spyware that might lurk on your machine, I'd suggest the following programs: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Javacool's SpywareBlaster, or SUPERAntiSpyware. As with Anti-virus scanners, run at least two different ones, they will detect different things!

If you need more help in fighting Spyware or Virus infections, start by reading these instructions on our WindowsBBS.com support forum, and post a message in the appropriate forum.

Below I have listed a number of Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles dealing with Windows Explorer crashes:

KB Art. # Title Applies to
175211 Fatal Exception Error When Opening or Closing Control Panel Windows 95, 98
188540 You receive an "Invalid page fault" error message when you try to view the contents of a folder or its subfolders by using Thumbnail view in Windows Explorer Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP
191609 Explorer Caused an Invalid Page Fault in Module... Windows 98, Me
192315 "All Folders" pane missing or Windows Explorer is blank Windows 95, 98
193903 Err Msg: Windows Encountered an Error Accessing the System Registry Windows 98
221085 Error Message Typing Address in Address Box or in Open Box Internet Explorer 4.x, 5.x
227152 Error Message: Explorer Caused an Invalid Page Fault in Pdm.dll Windows 98 Second Edition
227472 Cannot Rename System File in Windows Explorer Windows 2000 Server
255758 Error Message: Explorer.exe Has Generated Errors and Will Be Closed by Windows Windows 2000
257675 Windows Explorer May Hang When Viewing Images Internet Explorer 5.x
259096 Error Message When You Open a New Folder Windows 98, ME
266320 Error Message When You Use Windows Explorer to Search for Files or Folders Windows 2000
266644 Windows Explorer Stops Responding When You Take Ownership of Folder Without Selecting a New Owner Windows 2000
275599 Dr. Watson Error Message May Occur When You Copy and Paste Files by Using Windows Explorer Windows 2000
289799 Desktop Is White and Error Message Reports a Windows Explorer Error in Browseui.dll Windows Me
291343 FIX: "Explorer.exe has generated errors" error message when you click the "Properties" of Outlook 2000 or search for files or folders Microsoft Outlook 2000
293174 Error Message: Explorer Caused an Invalid Page Fault in Module Browseui.dll Windows 98, 98 SE
306599 Error Message: Error Loading Explorer.exe You Must Reinstall Windows Windows 98, 98 SE, Millennium Edition
314867 You receive an "Explorer.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows" error message Windows XP
315094 Windows Explorer May Stop Responding When You Close a Window Windows XP
317250 Access Violation in Windows Explorer When You View Printer Properties in Active Directory Windows 2000
319124 Error Message When You Start Windows Explorer: Explorer.exe Has Generated Errors and Will Be Closed by Windows Windows 2000
320563 Windows Explorer Quits When You View Contents of My Computer Windows XP
322857 Windows Explorer Quits and Generates an Error Message When You Try to Map a Network Drive Windows 2000, XP
326572 Explorer.exe Repeatedly Generates Access Violation Error Messages After You Log On Windows 2000
326612 "Explorer.exe Has Generated Errors and Will Be Closed By Windows" Error Message When You Try to Install Service Pack 3 Windows 2000 SP3
329692 Explorer.exe may generate an application error when you close a folder Windows XP SP1
555177 Windows XP halts on desktop when loading Windows Explorer, after upgrading to Service Pack 2 Windows XP
810891 Access Violation Occurs in Windows Explorer When the My Computer Window Is Refreshed Windows 2000
811266 You receive a "Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close" error message when you try to open My Network Places in Windows XP Windows XP
815240 Windows Explorer Stops Responding When You Try to Rotate a JPEG Image in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer Windows XP
815494 "Access Violation" Error Message in Windows Explorer on Windows 2000-Based Server Windows 2000 Server
816375 Windows XP Explorer Pane flickers on mapped network drives Windows XP
817768 Windows Explorer Stops Responding When It Tries to Sort More Than 1 Million Objects on a RAID Controller Windows 2000
821403 Mipmapi.dll Error Message When You Point to "Send To" and Then Click "Mail Recipient" to Send a File in an E-mail Message Windows 2000, XP
822797 "Explorer Has Encountered an Error and Needs to Close" Error Message When you Start Windows XP Windows XP
824136 Error Message Occurs When File is Right-Clicked, or Problems Occur When Opening Certain Files in Autodesk or Discreet Products Windows 2000, XP
830780 Windows Explorer stops responding and the shortcut menu does not close when you use the SHIFT+F10 keyboard shortcut Windows XP
831938 My Computer and Windows Explorer unexpectedly quit when you try to open My Network Places or Shared Documents in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003, XP
833161 Windows Explorer Does Not Start After Resuming From Hibernation Windows Server 2003, XP
873414 A delay may occur before the contents of a folder are displayed in the Windows Explorer Folders pane in Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP Windows Server 2003, XP
883791 Explorer.exe repeatedly quits unexpectedly in Windows XP Windows XP, XP SP1
888162 You receive an "Explorer.EXE - Entry Point Not Found - The procedure entry point SHCreateThreadRef could not be located in the dynamic link library Shlwapi.dll" error message after you install the MS04-038 security update Windows XP SP2
897089 Windows Explorer stops responding, or you receive an "unexpected network error occurred" error message when you use the Client for NFS service to connect to a NFS volume in Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX 3.5
898051 Windows Explorer may exit unexpectedly when you use it to view TIFF files in the Details view in Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003
900004 The Explorer.exe process may unexpectedly quit when you try to search for a file in Windows XP or in Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003, XP
914222 Error message when you restart a Windows XP-based computer: "Explorer.exe unable to locate component" Windows XP
918165 You may experience problems in Windows Explorer or in the Windows shell after you install security update MS06-015 Windows 2000, Server 2003, XP
920155 Windows Explorer randomly generates an access violation and closes when you refresh the wireless network list on a Windows Server 2003-based computer or on a Windows XP x64-based computer Windows Server 2003, XP Professional x64
925066 Windows Explorer may stop responding on a Windows XP-based client computer in a domain environment, and CPU usage is very high on the primary domain controller Windows XP Professional
930092 Windows Explorer stops responding on a Windows Vista-based computer when you try to open a file or a folder that resides on a Sony Ultra Portable universal serial bus drive Windows Vista
931702 Windows Explorer crashes when you try to remove the $WINDOWS.OLD folder from a computer that has been upgraded to Windows Vista Windows Vista
933771 Windows Explorer stops responding or the Svchost.exe process stops responding when you try to copy encrypted files to a WebDAV resource in Windows Vista Windows Vista
937093 Error message when you log on to Windows Vista: "Windows Explorer has stopped working" Windows Vista
938828 Error message when the Explorer.exe process crashes on a Windows XP SP2-based computer: "STOP 0xc0000005" Windows XP SP2
942435 Error message when you try to copy files from a Windows Vista-based computer to another computer by using Windows Explorer: "Out of memory There is not enough memory to complete this operation" Windows Vista
944883 FIX: Windows Explorer crashes when you minimize Windows Media Player Windows Vista
946529 You receive an error message in module Olkfstub.dll in Windows Explorer when you open a folder that contains many .msg files or many .oft files Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
946758 Windows Explorer closes and restarts on systems that run OneCare Family Safety Windows Vista, XP
949109 Why do I receive the following error message when I use Windows Explorer in Windows Vista to rename folders: "The file or folder does not exist" Windows Vista
955359 Windows Explorer stops responding when you try to view thumbnails for Quick Time content on a Windows XP-based computer that has Windows Live Photo Gallery installed Windows Live Photo Gallery
957322 Windows Explorer crashes when you try to use a shortcut to open a file that is located in a WebDAV folder Microsoft Office 2007
961038 Windows Explorer may crash when you try to expand a parent folder in the Windows Explorer navigation pane in Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008, Vista
971405 Windows Explorer stops responding for approximately 30 seconds when you try to access the DFS resources in a Windows Server 2008 domain Windows Server 2008

Last Updated: June 22, 2010

2010-06-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

At its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) event later this month, Microsoft will publicly unveil its "Windows Cloud" Internet-based OS, the company confirmed.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the plans at a Software plus Services partner event in London last Wednesday. "We need a new operating system designed for the cloud and we will introduce one in about four weeks, we'll even have a name to give you by then. But let's just call it for the purposes of today "Windows Cloud". Just like Windows Server looked a lot like Windows but with new properties, new characteristics and new features, so will Windows Cloud look a lot like Windows Server."

A Microsoft representative did not directly confirm the reports. When asked for clarification, however, he said, "I can confirm the statement I provided echoes what Steve said."

"As we've discussed publicly, Microsoft is investing heavily in its Software + Services vision, particularly as it relates to the services platform to deliver a set of solutions that address our customer's needs," the spokesman said. "In addition to our current, widely adopted service-based applications, such as Microsoft Online Services and Office Live Workspaces, we are working with many of our customers, partners and our broad developer community to understand their needs for extensible, scalable services platforms. We have publicly discussed a roadmap of commitments for our services strategy, most notably from Ray Ozzie at MIX 08 and the Financial Analyst Meeting."

"We are excited to talk more about our progress and opportunities for customers and partners at the Professional Developers Conference in a few weeks, but we don't have any further details to share at this time," the Microsoft spokesman said. "You can go to the PDC website for more information."

Cloud computing might be considered as the back end of Web 2.0 applications, or as software as a service. The term cloud computing comes from the use of a cloud image to represent the Internet or some large networked environment as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure behind it. In cloud computing IT-related capabilities are provided "as a service," allowing users to access those services from the Internet ("the cloud") without knowledge of, expertise with, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports those services. In essence this is distributed computing

Week 12

2010-06-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

At the end of July Microsoft confirmed that the rumors we had been hearing for some time that a Family Pack was in the works for Windows 7 were correct. Microsoft has now released some additional details and pricing.

Windows 7 Family Pack consists of Windows 7 Home Premium for installation on up to 3 PCs. Microsoft announced that the Family Pack will be available starting on October 22nd "until supplies last here in the US and other select markets." In the US, the price for the Windows 7 Family Pack will be $149.99 for 3 Windows 7 Home Premium licenses.With the first beta of Windows 7 available to the general public to download, I will take you through an overview of Windows 7. While this beta build has only been available for testers for a few weeks, it had already leaked onto the Internet at the end of December when Microsoft (mistakenly?) put this build (build 7000) on MSDN and TechNet for a few hours. Some lucky ones got to download it, and (one or more people) decided to share it via file-shares.

Now that the beta has been officially released by Microsoft, let's take a look at it. The first thing you'll notice is that this build hasn't changed much in comparison to the M3 (build 6801) build released last October. That is, if you (like almost anybody else) enabled all the hidden M3 features using Rafael Rivera's "Blue Badge" tool.

This Windows 7 Beta is anything like a previous windows beta. It's feature complete, and looks and feels more like a Release Candidate (RC) build than a beta. We'll see over the next few weeks how the public will receive this build, when it will be put through its paces on thousands of different hardware/software configurations.

Setup

Windows 7 setup routine looks a lot like Vista's routine, and although Vista's routine was a huge improvement over Windows XP's setup routine, Windows 7 managed to further improve upon it, with fewer steps before the install begins.

The post-setup phase (configuration phase) includes one or two extra screens, depending on the presence of a wireless network. If a wireless network is detected, Windows 7 will prompt you for a wireless network to join; if not you will get the new Homegroup setup.

Windows 7 installed in around 30 minutes on my test machines.

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Last Updated: February

Now that is a great saving, but there's a catch. I have included the 'problematic' words in Microsoft announcement above in quotation marks; Microsoft is saying it will be a limited offer "while supplies last." Microsoft has so far declined to comment on this.

It is also not clear in which markets the Family Pack will be offered, but it looks to be quite restricted too. About the only information available right now is that we won't see a Family Pack offer in Europe until 2010.

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Week 8

2010-06-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

Today, Microsoft announced it made changes to its virtualization efforts, one of those changes is good news for Windows 7 users: Windows XP Mode no longer requires hardware virtualization technology.

Windows XP Mode is a feature of Windows 7 Professional or higher that allows you to run Windows XP applications that are incompatible with Windows 7 in a virtual environment.

According to Microsoft this change simplifies the experience by making virtualization more accessible to many more PCs for small and midsize businesses wanting to migrate to Windows 7 Professional or higher editions, while still running Windows XP-based productivity applications.

Although originally targeted at businesses, many consumers also want to run Windows XP Mode, and there had been quite some confusion as to which processors (CPU's) offer hardware virtualization. What further complicated matters is that in some cases the CPU would be capable of hardware virtualization, but the computers BIOS would not, or you had to specifically enable support for hardware virtualization in the BIOS.

No changes for current Windows XP Mode users

If you are already using Windows XP Mode with hardware virtualization you should continue using it. If you are not yet using Windows XP Mode you can start using the product without having to worry about hardware virtualization. Microsoft expects the performance will be more than acceptable with or without hardware virtualization.

The only users that would need to download the new version are those that downloaded the original files only to receive an error message that their system didn't support hardware virtualization.

The update to Windows Virtual PC to support running on systems without hardware virtualization is available for download here:

•For 32-bit host operating systems
•For 64-bit host operating systems

Please note: This update only removes the hardware virtualization support requirement for Windows XP Service Pack 3. If you want to run other operating systems you'll still need hardware virtualization support.

If you receive an error This update does not apply to your system, make sure you first install the update Windows Virtual PC (KB958559), before installing the update above.

IE 8

2010-05-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Microsoft announced the release of Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1). This release is the first update sice the public Beta 2 release last August.

According to Microsoft, IE8 RC1 is "Platform Complete", which means that Microsoft won't be adding (or removing) any futures from IE8. Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of Microsoft's IE development team pointed out a new security feature that was added after Beta 2: "We've worked closely with people in the security community to enable consumer-ready clickjacking protection. Sites can now protect themselves and their users from clickjacking attacks "out of the box," without impacting compatibility or requiring browser add-ons."

According to Dean Microsoft also made some changes to the InPrivate function. This function lets you control whether or not IE saves your browsing history, cookies, and other data (popularly known as "porn" mode).

Users who have already installed a beta of IE8 will soon be offered an upgrade to RC1 automatically via Windows Update, but if you can't wait, I have the direct download link below.

If you like to try IE8 RC1, I must strongly urge you to read the Release Notes first. There are several applications that will need updating or that will not work at all with RC1, so make sure you check before you install.

Operating System

IE8 will run on these operating systems:

•Windows Vista x64 and x86
•Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) x64 and x86
•Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
•Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)
•Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Windows Server 2008 x64 and x86
•Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) x64 and x86

You can download IE8 RC1 from Microsoft's Windows Internet Explorer 8 page. IE8 RC1 is available in 25 languages.

Note: If you are running Windows 7 Beta, you will not be able to install IE8 RC1. You will get an error message saying that your operating system is not supported since IE8 already ships in Win7. According to Microsoft Windows 7 users will get an updated IE8 with the next update of Windows 7.

2010-05-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

If you are the only user on Windows XP, you could save some time by having Windows XP log you into your user account automatically.

There are a few reauirements for this to work:

•The Welcome screen must be available
1.Select Start > Control Panel and click User Accounts
2.Click Change the way users log on or off
3.Check to make sure that Use the Welcome screen is selected

•Guest account access must be turned off
1.Select Start > Control Panel and click User Accounts
2.Click the Guest account
3.Click Turn off the Guest account

•There must be only one user account on the computer
•The user account must not have a password
1.Select Start > Control Panel and click User Accounts
2.Click the user account
3.Click Remove the password

2010-05-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

Windows 7

Windows 7: Which Edition Should You Choose?

Like Windows Vista, Windows 7 includes a number of product versions that make it difficult for users to know which version they should choose. As I did with Windows Vista, I'm providing a listing of the differences between the products.

First, let's list the versions and their estimated retail pricing as announced by Microsoft last June.

Product Full price Upgrade price
Windows 7 Home Premium $199.99 $119.99
Windows 7 Professional $299.99 $199.99
Windows 7 Ultimate $319.99 $219.99

Besides the above editions, three more additions are available: Home Basic, Starter and Enterprise. These are not available in retail packaging; you can only get these pre-installed on a new PC (or with a service contract for the Enterprise edition).

Differences between versions

Feature Home Basic Starter Home Premium Professional Enterprise & Ultimate
Windows Aero UI ("Glass")
Aero Peek / Aero Shake
Windows Flip 3D
Live Taskbar Previews
Maximum RAM (64-bit version)
32-bit version Max 4 GB for all editions n/a n/a 16 GB 192 GB 192 GB
Physical processor support
Unlimited core's are supported on all editions 1 1 2 2 2
BitLocker & BitLocker To Go
Encrypting File System (EFS)
Backup to Network
System image backup and recovery
Previous Versions
Remote Desktop (client/host) Client only Client only Client only
Join domain
IIS Web Server
Offline files and folder support
HomeGroup sharing Join only Join only
Windows Media Center
Windows DVD Maker
Dolby Digital compatibility
Location-aware printing
Windows Mobility Center Partial Partial
Tablet PC functionality
Windows Touch
Windows SideShow (secondary display support)
Support for multiple user interface languages
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications
Licensed Windows XP Mode
Virtualization rights (Can be installed in a virtual environment)
Windows Anytime Upgade To Home Premium ($79.99) or Ultimate ($164.99) To Home Premium ($79.99), Professional ($114.99) or Ultimate ($164.99) To Professional ($89.99) or Ultimate ($139.99) To Ultimate ($129.99)

So which version?

So which version should you choose? Again as with Vista you should avoid Home Basic (or Starter). These versions will only be available with a new PC purchase, and as you can see above, are missing quite some useful functionality.

Most users will have to choose between Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft promised unique functionality/applications for Vista Ultimate, which in the end turned out to be a red herring & disappointed greatly for the price paid ($160 over the Home Premium full version price at release). With Windows 7 Ultimate 'only' costs $120 extra (over the full version of Home Premium), and there's no promise for extra's that may or may not show up.

So to choose, here are the main advantages of Professional over Home Premium:

•64-bit can address over 16GB of memory
•Can join a domain
•Offers Offline files and folder support
•Location-aware printing
•Full Windows Mobility Center (HP has no presentation mode)
•Licensed Windows XP Mode

Ultimate is $20 over Professional. For that you get:

•BitLocker & BitLocker To Go
•Branch Cache
•Direct Access
•MUI

In my view Home Premium will be the edition of choice for most users. If you would want to run the virtual Windows XP mode or have more than 16GB of RAM, your choice would be Professional. If you would want to use BitLocker functionality or use multiple user interface languages Ultimate would be your choice.

Upgrade Options

In general, if your PC can run Windows Vista, it will be able to run Windows 7. But if you're not running Windows Vista, there's a quick way to do a simple check. Just download, install, and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, which runs on Windows Vista & Windows XP.

If you're upgrading from Windows Vista, your upgrade options will be the simplest. You can easily upgrade Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium, Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional, and Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate. The only thing Vista Ultimate users should note is that you will lose your Ultimate Extra's... one final 'gift' from Microsoft!

If you wish to upgrade another Vista edition - or to another version as indicated above - you will have to do a "clean install" of the operating system, which means you'll have to reinstall your applications after you install the OS. This is also the case if you change from 32-bit Vista to 64-bit Windows 7.

Any Windows XP upgrade also requires a clean install.

If you are performing an upgrade installation from Windows Vista, you must have 9GB of free space for the installation, and the installation can only occur on the same partition. Existing applications and user data will be automatically migrated to the new Windows 7 installation.

A clean installation will require 16GB of free space for the installation process. Vista's files from C:\WINDOWS will be preserved under C:\WINDOWS.OLD (unless you choose to repartition or format the current partition).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade
USA (USD $119.99) | UK (GBP 64.99)

Windows 7 Professional upgrade
USA (USD $199.00) | UK (GBP 154.57)

Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade
USA (USD $219.99) | UK (GBP 169.98)

\

ATTENTION ALL FANS

2010-05-08T21:58:00.002-04:00

Contact us to book your spot on the first ever
WINDOWS 97 Season 2010 Book
COMING OUT THIS SUMMER 2010!

Targeting over 250,000 visitors in and our the world
Contact us for Maximizing your Exposure.

THANK YOU!

NOTE:

The Season 2010 Updates will end on August 6th 2010
After that it will have no more updates until on the end of Febuary 2011.
To keep knowing more please keep watching YouTube Channel

Week 10

2010-05-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

Microsoft Security

Microsoft Windows Security Bulletin Summary for February, 2007
The security update for February 2007 includes seven updates for Microsoft Windows, and one update for Internet Explorer.

Bulletin Description Impact Bulletin Rating
Vulnerability in HTML Help ActiveX Control Could Allow Remote Code Execution (928843)

Affected Software:

•Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
•Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
Remote Code Execution
Critical

Vulnerability in Microsoft Data Access Components Could Allow Remote Code Execution(927779)

Affected Software:

•Microsoft Data Access Components 2.5 Service Pack 3 on Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
•Microsoft Data Access Components 2.8 Service Pack 1 on Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Data Access Components 2.8 on Microsoft Windows Server 2003
•Microsoft Data Access Components 2.8 on Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Remote Code Execution
Critical

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (928090)

Affected Software:

•Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
•Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
Affected Components:

•Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4 on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
•Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 when installed on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
•Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 for Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 for Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 for Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-based Systems and Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
•Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
•Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
•Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
•Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
Remote Code Execution
Critical

Vulnerability in Windows Shell Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (928255)

Affected Software:

•Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
Elevation of Privilege
Important

Vulnerability in Windows Image Acquisition Service Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (927802)

Affected Components:

•Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
Elevation of Privilege
Important

Vulnerability in Microsoft OLE Dialog Could Allow Remote Code Execution (926436)

Affected Software:

•Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
•Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
Remote Code Execution
Important

Vulnerability in Microsoft MFC Could Allow Remote Code Execution (924667)

Affected Components:

•Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
•Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
•Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002
•Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
•Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Service Pack 1
Remote Code Execution
Important

Vulnerability in Microsoft RichEdit Could Allow Remote Code Execution (918118)

Affected Software:

•Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
•Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
•Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
•Microsoft Office 2000 Service Pack 3
•Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Project 2000 Service Release 1
•Microsoft Office 2000 Multilanguage Packs
•Microsoft Project 2002 Service Pack 1
•Microsoft Visio 2002 Service Pack 2
•Microsoft Learning Essentials 1.0, 1.1, and 1.5 for Microsoft Office
•Microsoft Global Input Method Editor for Office 2000 (Japanese)
•Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac
Remote Code Execution
Important

74-132 exams of Microsoft certification are playing the very fundamental role in creating the efficient IT professionals to work competitively in the sophisticated atmosphere of computing system. 646-202 exams of Microsoft certification are very helping agent in endowing the highly advanced professional expertise and experience to IT technicians. 70-296 exams of Microsoft certification are very fantastic exams for the critical evaluation of the basic qualifications and experience of IT professionals with the improvement of professional talents of these practitioners. vpn-security implies for virtual private network security system which is applied for the outgoing traffic of the different kinds of users with great security measures. VCP-101V exams of Microsoft certification are very plausible for those system engineers and systems administrators who are liable to operate ESX server with great administrative tools and applications.

Week 09

2010-04-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

Microsoft Security

Microsoft Windows Security Bulletin Summary for August, 2007

The security update for August 2007 includes five updates for Microsoft Windows, and two for Internet Explorer.

Bulletin Description	Impact	Bulletin Rating
Vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution (936227) Affected Software: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems, and Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Vista Windows Vista x64 Edition	Remote Code Execution	Critical
Vulnerability in OLE Automation Could Allow Remote Code Execution (921503) Affected Software: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems, and Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2	Remote Code Execution	Critical
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (937143) Affected Software: Internet Explorer 5.01 and Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1: Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Internet Explorer 6: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems and Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems Internet Explorer 7: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems and Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems Windows Vista Windows Vista x64 Edition	Remote Code Execution	Critical
Vulnerability in GDI Could Allow Remote Code Execution (938829) Affected Software: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition	Remote Code Execution	Critical
Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language Could Allow Remote Code Execution (938127) Affected Software: Internet Explorer 5.01 and Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1: Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Internet Explorer 6: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems and Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems Internet Explorer 7: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems and Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems Windows Vista Windows Vista x64 Edition	Remote Code Execution	Critical
Vulnerability in Windows Media Player Could Allow Remote Code Execution (936782) Affected Software: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Vista Windows Vista x64 Edition	Remote Code Execution	Important
Vulnerabilities in Windows Gadgets Could Allow Remote Code Execution (938123) Affected Software: Windows Vista Windows Vista x64 Edition	Remote Code Execution	Important

Week 8

2010-04-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

Windows 7 Release Candidate
It's time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate

While most people who tested Windows 7 have now moved to the final version, some are still running the Release Candidate. If you haven't moved yet, it's time to replace the RC.
The Windows 7 RC expires on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, PCs running Windows 7 RC began shutting down every two hours.

If you're still running the RC, your PC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won't be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You'll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn't genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.

To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you'll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you'll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data.

Thanks again for helping us test Windows 7.

The Display Configuration wizard is helpful for getting the best image quality possible on your TV screen or computer monitor via a series of easy-to-understand questions.

Here are details of how to use the wizard to:

* Every brand of TV or monitor has slightly different calibration menus.

To open the Display Configuration wizard in Custom Setup any time:

Use your mouse or press the green Start button on your optional Windows Media Center remote:

Open Windows Media Center to the Start screen and scroll to Tasks
Select Settings, select General, select Windows Media Center Setup.
Then select Configure Your TV or Monitor.

If the Display Setup dialog box is displayed and prompts you to switch to full-screen mode, select Yes.

Select the display type that you most often use to watch video using Windows Media Center; then select Next.

Select the type of cable that connects your PC with Windows Media Center to your monitor or TV; then select Next.

Select Adjust Display Controls, and then select Next.

From this point on in the wizard, you will not be making any more changes to your PC running Windows Media Center. Instead, the wizard will be helping you to configure your TV for the best display quality.

On the first Display Calibration page, select Next to see a list of the controls you can adjust.

To center and re-size your display

Select Onscreen Centering & Sizing to properly center the display on your TV or monitor.

Select Next and the wizard prompts you to refer to the instructions included with your TV or monitor to determine how to adjust the centering and sizing. Select Next to begin adjusting the centering and sizing. Tip: Centering and sizing settings for your TV or monitor may be labeled Horizontal Position, Vertical Position, Horizontal Size, Vertical Size, Vertical Center, or Horizontal Center.
Select Watch Video from the wizard. While the video plays, adjust the controls for your TV or monitor so that the display is centered and no border appears around the display. When finished, press STOP on your remote to return to the Centering & Sizing page.
Select Next to access the Display Calibration page.
To quit the Display Configuration Wizard, select Next without selecting a display characteristic.

To select correct aspect ratio

How do I change the way Windows Media Center looks on my display?

If you're using Windows Media Center to watch TV on your computer, the image on your monitor or TV might be stretched or there might be unnecessary margins around the image. This means that the aspect ratio is incorrect. You might be able to fix the problem by adjusting the display settings in Media Center.

Before changing any Windows Media Center settings, make sure that the display settings on your monitor or TV hardware are configured correctly and that you're using the best available connection to connect the computer to the display.

To change the aspect ratio for a specific channel

If you're having problems with the image aspect ratio on only a few TV channels, you can use the Zoom feature to change the dimensions for those channels.

While watching TV, right-click the video, and then click the right arrow to scroll to the Zoom section.
Click Zoom 1, Zoom 2, Zoom 3, and Zoom 4 to try the different zoom modes and see which one eliminates the margins and expands the image appropriately.

If you're using a Media Center remote control, press the MORE button to go to the Zoom section.
Zoom options might not be available for some digital TV channels.

To change the overall aspect ratio

If you're having problems with the image display on all channels, as well as the Media Center interface itself, change the general display resolution from widescreen display (16:9) to standard display (4:3), or vice versa. Here's how to do this:

On the Windows Media Center start screen, scroll to Tasks, click Settings, click General, click Windows Media Center Setup, and then click Configure Your TV or Monitor.
Follow the instructions, and when prompted to choose a display width, click Standard (4:3) or Widescreen (16:9)
Select the appropriate display resolution, and then complete the instructions as needed. You might need to try more than one resolution setting to find the one that looks best on your display.

If Media Center is not in full-screen mode, you can quickly change the overall aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 (or vice versa) by holding down the Ctrl key while resizing the window with your mouse. Or, you can switch to full-screen mode by clicking the Maximize button. When you do this, Media Center automatically adjusts the aspect ratio to match your display.

Week 7

2010-04-16T00:00:00.001-04:00

Support is ending Right Now
IMPORTANT:
Support for Windows Vista without any service packs ended April 13th, 2010, and it is no longer able to get security updates.
Windows Guides is a library of easy-to-use guides that show you how to get more from your Windows experience. Share these guides with your friends and family.
WINDOWS® GUIDE
© 2008 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Windows Search

Instantly locate and open any file on your PC, from documents to e-mail messages to songs, right from the Start menu just by typing a word or two.

See it in action:
Windows Search

Editions with this feature

Windows 7 Starter
Learn more
Windows 7 Home Premium
Buy Learn more
Windows 7 Professional
Buy Learn more
Windows 7 Ultimate
Buy Learn more

Installing Windows 7?
Read this first. oo

Other features you may like

With Windows Vista, we introduced Instant Search, which helps you easily locate files, e-mail messages, and other items on your PC. If you remember the type of file, when it was created, or even what it contains, Instant Search helps you find it quickly from the Start menu and other folders. In Windows 7, Windows Search improves upon this feature by making search results more relevant and easier to review. Now, you can find more things in more places—and do it faster.

Start typing into the Start menu search box—and you'll instantly see a list of relevant documents, pictures, music, and e-mail on your PC. Results are now grouped by category and contain highlighted keywords and text snippets to make them easier to scan.

Few people store all their files in one place these days. So Windows 7 is also designed to search external hard drives, networked PCs, and Libraries. oo Overwhelmed by your search results? You can instantly narrow them by date, file type, and other useful categories.

Have you ever needed to print a file at home when you weren’t connected to a printer? Did you decide that even with a home network, it was easier to just put the file on a USB drive and take it to the PC with the printer? That’s one reason we created HomeGroup. New with Windows 7, HomeGroup takes the headache out of sharing files, devices, and printers on a home network. Connect two or more PCs running Windows 7, and HomeGroup makes it easy to automatically start sharing your music, pictures, video, and document libraries oo with others in your home.

Concerned about privacy? HomeGroup is password-protected so you just set up one password for all your PCs and you’re ready to go. You can decide what gets shared and what stays private, or use “Share with” to decide who you want to share specific folders with. You can also make your files "read only," so other people can look at (but not change) your stuff.

You can join a HomeGroup in any edition of Windows 7, but you can only create one in Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate.

2010-04-09T00:00:00.001-04:00

Compare Windows Vista editions

There are many different editions of Windows Vista: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate. Here's a quick look at what comes in each of the editions.

Features

Home Basic

Home Premium

Business

Ultimate

Stay safe...

Find what you need...

Get the Windows Aero experience...

Choose from a variety of laptops...

Share documents and collaborate...

Use a secondary screen on your mobile PC...

All-in-one media center functionality...

Protect against hardware failure...

Scan, fax, and receive documents and images...

Automatically back up your files...

Remotely access your business resources...

Simple networking connectivity...

Protect your data against loss...

Make DVDs...

Have fun on your PC...

Create high-definition movies...

Additional programs and features...

Windows Enterprise

Windows Enterprise helps meet the needs of large, global organizations with complex IT infrastructures. Enterprise customers may also want to learn about the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance.

Windows Vista Starter

Windows Vista Starter allows you to affordably get the basic Windows Vista experience. Windows Vista Starter is exclusively* available in emerging markets, and is designed for a beginning PC user with additional tools and tutorials to make it easier to use. Read more.

*Note: Windows Vista Starter is not available in the United States, Canada, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, or other high income markets as defined by the World Bank.

WIndows 97 Updates Week 5

2010-04-02T03:25:00.000-04:00

12:00 AM GMT
7 PM ET
Top three things you can do:

■Fix flaws and add creative effects

■Organize for easy browsing

■Create slideshows and share online

That's where Windows can help. To get the best digital photo experience, download Windows Live Photo Gallery for free. Then with the tools it offers along with Windows Media Center in Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, you and your photos will be in great shape for sharing. You'll have tons of options, from showing them on your PC or TV all the way through sending photos in e-mail or through an online print service.

Download, find, and share photos with Windows Photo Gallery.
Shaping up the photos
With Windows Live Photo Gallery and a few clicks, you can remove red eye, fix exposure problems, and correct color, or crop photos for maximum impact.

You can also use Windows Live Photo Gallery to stitch together multiple shots into spectacular panoramas.

Touch ups, of course, aren't the only challenge that photographers face. For many, just finding a shot can become a treasure hunt. Windows Live Photo Gallery makes it a bit easier by automatically organizing the photos in the camera by time and date. You can also pinpoint photos in seconds with keywords, or bubble up your best work by sorting on a star rating.

You can pick any tag name you like.
Sharing and showing off your snapshots
Need a frame-quality print? The Photo Print Wizard feature can make one with your printer—or through popular online processors such as Shutterfly and Snapfish. You can also e-mail resized photos to friends or upload them to popular sharing sites such as Flickr, Windows Live Photos, and Soapbox on MSN Video.

Digital slideshows are a great way to share a collection of photos, say of your recent vacation. Windows Live Movie Maker is the key. Select the pictures you want to include, and with a single click your show comes together automatically. Or you can have some fun creating your own masterpiece, complete with titles, credits, transitions, and an original soundtrack. Then, you can use DVD Maker to quickly burn a DVD to share with friends and family.

Print your pictures with the Photo Print Wizard.
close
Print E-mail Some product features are only available in certain editions of Windows Vista
and may require advanced or additional hardware

Happy Easter and April Fools!
Votes Close on April 24/10
Hapy Good Friday Easter and april fools!1

Update 4

2010-03-26T03:21:00.000-04:00

For many of us, when it comes to thinking about PC protection we think about two things: protecting the stuff on the PC and protecting the people who use the PC. Windows Vista helps with both.

Top three things you can do:

■Manage your PC

■Backup your pictures and files

■Keep your children safer

Protecting your system
Your computer should be like your home: Only the people you invite can come in. Windows Security Center provides round-the-clock monitoring of your system, and sends you alerts about possible security breaches. It also lets you know when your security software is out of date or when you should tighten up your security settings. Plus, the Security Center displays your firewall settings and tells you whether your PC is set up to receive automatic software updates from Microsoft.

Keep an eye on security settings without a lot of fuss.
Built in backup
You have insurance for your house, your car, and even your health, but what about your data? Well here are two "policies." First, Backup in Windows Vista makes a backup of your favorite memories and critical documents, should something ever happen to your PC. Second, Windows Live SkyDrive offers a free online "vault" for storing up to 25 gigabytes (GB) in a password-protected spot. You can decide who can use the files, and you can get at them from pretty much anywhere you've got an Internet connection. On to protecting the people…

Backup demystified with one spot to do it all.
Keeping your children safer
Like a babysitter who never sleeps, Windows Vista can enforce parent-guided restrictions to help keep kids safer. The Parental Controls feature built into Windows Vista (all editions except Business and Enterprise) helps you manage how your kids use the PC. You can oversee the games they play, right down to which types of games each person can play by rating, content, or title. You can also control the applications they can use, and the websites they can visit—and when. You can even set up specific times your kids can use the computer and Windows Vista will enforce those restrictions.

Control kid's activities without watching them every second.

For many of us, when it comes to thinking about PC protection we think about two things: protecting the stuff on the PC and protecting the people who use the PC. Windows Vista helps with both.

Top three things you can do:

■Manage your PC

■Backup your pictures and files

■Keep your children safer

Protecting your system
Your computer should be like your home: Only the people you invite can come in. Windows Security Center provides round-the-clock monitoring of your system, and sends you alerts about possible security breaches. It also lets you know when your security software is out of date or when you should tighten up your security settings. Plus, the Security Center displays your firewall settings and tells you whether your PC is set up to receive automatic software updates from Microsoft.

Keep an eye on security settings without a lot of fuss.
Built in backup
You have insurance for your house, your car, and even your health, but what about your data? Well here are two "policies." First, Backup in Windows Vista makes a backup of your favorite memories and critical documents, should something ever happen to your PC. Second, Windows Live SkyDrive offers a free online "vault" for storing up to 25 gigabytes (GB) in a password-protected spot. You can decide who can use the files, and you can get at them from pretty much anywhere you've got an Internet connection. On to protecting the people…

Backup demystified with one spot to do it all.
Keeping your children safer
Like a babysitter who never sleeps, Windows Vista can enforce parent-guided restrictions to help keep kids safer. The Parental Controls feature built into Windows Vista (all editions except Business and Enterprise) helps you manage how your kids use the PC. You can oversee the games they play, right down to which types of games each person can play by rating, content, or title. You can also control the applications they can use, and the websites they can visit—and when. You can even set up specific times your kids can use the computer and Windows Vista will enforce those restrictions.

Control kid's activities without watching them every second.
For many of us, when it comes to thinking about PC protection we think about two things: protecting the stuff on the PC and protecting the people who use the PC. Windows Vista helps with both.

Top three things you can do:

■Manage your PC

■Backup your pictures and files

■Keep your children safer

Protecting your system
Your computer should be like your home: Only the people you invite can come in. Windows Security Center provides round-the-clock monitoring of your system, and sends you alerts about possible security breaches. It also lets you know when your security software is out of date or when you should tighten up your security settings. Plus, the Security Center displays your firewall settings and tells you whether your PC is set up to receive automatic software updates from Microsoft.

Keep an eye on security settings without a lot of fuss.
Built in backup
You have insurance for your house, your car, and even your health, but what about your data? Well here are two "policies." First, Backup in Windows Vista makes a backup of your favorite memories and critical documents, should something ever happen to your PC. Second, Windows Live SkyDrive offers a free online "vault" for storing up to 25 gigabytes (GB) in a password-protected spot. You can decide who can use the files, and you can get at them from pretty much anywhere you've got an Internet connection. On to protecting the people…

Backup demystified with one spot to do it all.
Keeping your children safer
Like a babysitter who never sleeps, Windows Vista can enforce parent-guided restrictions to help keep kids safer. The Parental Controls feature built into Windows Vista (all editions except Business and Enterprise) helps you manage how your kids use the PC. You can oversee the games they play, right down to which types of games each person can play by rating, content, or title. You can also control the applications they can use, and the websites they can visit—and when. You can even set up specific times your kids can use the computer and Windows Vista will enforce those restrictions.

Control kid's activities without watching them every second.
For many of us, when it comes to thinking about PC protection we think about two things: protecting the stuff on the PC and protecting the people who use the PC. Windows Vista helps with both.

Top three things you can do:

■Manage your PC

■Backup your pictures and files

■Keep your children safer

Protecting your system
Your computer should be like your home: Only the people you invite can come in. Windows Security Center provides round-the-clock monitoring of your system, and sends you alerts about possible security breaches. It also lets you know when your security software is out of date or when you should tighten up your security settings. Plus, the Security Center displays your firewall settings and tells you whether your PC is set up to receive automatic software updates from Microsoft.

Keep an eye on security settings without a lot of fuss.
Built in backup
You have insurance for your house, your car, and even your health, but what about your data? Well here are two "policies." First, Backup in Windows Vista makes a backup of your favorite memories and critical documents, should something ever happen to your PC. Second, Windows Live SkyDrive offers a free online "vault" for storing up to 25 gigabytes (GB) in a password-protected spot. You can decide who can use the files, and you can get at them from pretty much anywhere you've got an Internet connection. On to protecting the people…

Backup demystified with one spot to do it all.
Keeping your children safer
Like a babysitter who never sleeps, Windows Vista can enforce parent-guided restrictions to help keep kids safer. The Parental Controls feature built into Windows Vista (all editions except Business and Enterprise) helps you manage how your kids use the PC. You can oversee the games they play, right down to which types of games each person can play by rating, content, or title. You can also control the applications they can use, and the websites they can visit—and when. You can even set up specific times your kids can use the computer and Windows Vista will enforce those restrictions.

Control kid's activities without watching them every second.

The new Lenovo G550 is an update to the Value Line G530 with the primary difference being the shift from a 16:10 to a 16:9 screen. This is becoming a common trend for most manufacturers, as they shift to the now more standardized 16:9 screens. The biggest question on our minds is how well this updated budget notebook performs; considering the previous revision earned our Editor's Choice award.

BUY the G550 Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz/3GB/320GB/DVD+/-RW/abgn/NIC/WC/15.6

Newegg.com $599.99

see all pricing for the G550 Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz/3GB/320GB/DVD+/-RW/abgn/NIC/WC/15.6
Lenovo Value line G550 Specifications:

Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 (2.00GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
Microsoft Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (w/ SP1)
15.6-inch glossy 16:9 display (1366x768)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
3GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
250GB Western Digital 5400RPM HDD
SuperMulti DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
Broadcom WiFi (802.11b/g), 10/100 Ethernet, Modem
6-Cell 11.1V 48WHr Battery
Limited 1-year standard parts and labor warranty
Dimensions: LxWxH, 14.9 x 9.6 x 1.4"
Weight: 5lbs 9.0oz
Price as configured: $549

Build and Design
The design of the G550 has changed slightly from the G530, switching from a smooth matte exterior finish, to a black weave pattern. The new cover is every bit as strong as the last one, preventing any screen distortion even if you hit or flex the back of the screen. The interior of the notebook shares the same color as the lid, but is textured with a rougher matte finish similar to what you would find on unpainted sections of a ThinkPad. Lenovo took the back-to-basics route with the color scheme on this notebook, making it entirely black inside and out.

The chassis is constructed entirely of plastic, but where most budget notebooks might feel flexible or flimsy, the G550 feels like a solid block of sturdy material. When talking about the palm rest on most notebooks, including ThinkPads, notebooks with good support still show some flex under a very strong grip. Somehow squeezing the palm rests on the G550 feels like you are trying to squeeze a rock. Other areas of the notebook share the same toughness, including the keyboard and surrounding trim.

To upgrade components the G550 has easy access panels to the memory and CPU, wireless card, and hard drive on the bottom of the notebook. No components, including the processor, had "warranty void if removed" stickers, making it very easy to handle upgrades or repairs in the future.

Screen and Speakers
The 15.6" LCD is average compared to most 15-16" notebooks, with bright and vibrant colors and decent viewing angles. The G550's big change is the transition away from the 16:10 screen size to the wider (but shorter) 16:9 panels. The screen offers a glossy surface, which helps improve colors and contrast at the cost of added reflections and glare. Compared to "frameless" displays the reflections were tolerable as long as you were not outside under direct sunlight. Screen brightness was adequate for viewing in bright office conditions, but might not cut it outside unless it is an overcast day. Vertical viewing angles were adequate with a broad viewing sweet spot measuring 30 degrees forward or back before colors started to wash out or invert. Horizontal view angles were much better, showing minimal color distortion at steep angles.

The speakers are located on the front edge of the palmrest and sound more than adequate for playing music or watching streaming video. Sound quality isn't the best compared to other notebooks of this size with a tinny sound that lacks bass. Headphones would be a good accessory for this notebook.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard is easy to type on, sharing the same comfortable and durable feel as my ThinkPad T60 keyboard and only differing in layout. Individual key action is smooth with no audible click when pressed. The keys are textured with a smooth matte finish, giving decent traction for typing ... unlike the glossy keyboards we are seeing on a greater number of notebooks these days. Keyboard support is excellent, barely a hint of flex on the main section of the keyboard. The newer 16:9 chassis on the G550 allowed Lenovo to add a numberpad to the keyboard, but they didn't change the support under that side of the keyboard frame. It doesn't appear to have much flex, but it has just enough to make a squeaking sound against the optical drive when press down. Media-related keys are limited to touch-sensitive mute and volume up/down buttons located above the keyboard.

Lenovo transitioned to a new touchpad on the G550, switching from the Synaptics model on the G530 to an ALPS pad. The ALPS pad doesn't have as quick of a refresh rate, so at times it feels like the pointer is lagging behind your finger. Another problem is the surface isn't as sensitive for users who like to use tap to click and tap to drag frequently. On the Synaptics pad it is easy to drag and lift off, while the ALPS models seem to need a strong tap at the end, otherwise it won't let go of the selected item and you keep dragging it around the screen. The touchpad buttons are similar to the old ones, with shallow feedback and giving off a positive "click" when pressed.

Ports and Features
Although the G550 is now larger than the G530, Lenovo still managed to decrease the amount of ports available. The ExpressCard slot is missing, USB ports are down from four to three, and the modem jack is gone. I can see no other reason besides cutting costs for such a loss of features.

Front: Wireless on/off, audio jacks

Rear: Screen hinge

Left: Kensington Lock slot, LAN, VGA, two USB

Right: one USB, optical drive, AC power
Dell Inspiron is cancelled and moving in 2011

Update 3

2010-03-19T03:05:00.000-04:00

WARNING! READ THIS

It's time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate

Windows 7 users have now moved to the final version, some are still running the Release Candidate. If you haven't moved yet, it's time to replace the RC.

The Windows 7 RC expires on June 1, 2010. PCs running Windows 7 RC continues shutting down every two hours. When it expires it is not genuine and you won't get any software such as Microsoft Security Essentials. To avoid, please install windows 7 or reinstall a prior version of windows such as Windows XP Home or Pro SP3 or Windows Vista Home basic, Premium, Business or Ultimate.

If you're still running the RC, your PC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won't be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You'll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn't genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.

To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you'll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you'll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data.

Thanks again for helping us test Windows 7.

Buy Windows 7

To qualify for an upgrade version of Windows 7, you need to have been running Windows Vista or Windows XP on the PC you used to test the RC. You can order or download Windows 7 directly from the Microsoft store.

Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade
Designed for people who want it all.
$219.99
Buy now
Windows 7 Professional Upgrade
Everything you need for work and home.
$199.99
Buy now
Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
The best entertainment experience on your PC.
$119.99
Buy now

Which edition is right for you?

Compare Windows 7 editions to find the best fit.

Compare editions

Support is ending for some versions of Windows

Support for Windows Vista without any service packs will end on April 13, 2010.
Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end on July 13, 2010.*

If you're running one of these versions after support ends, you won't get security updates for Windows.

While you are shopping online, hackers will take away your credit card information and you can be in trouble.

Which version and service pack am I running?

What does end of support mean?

Upgrade to Windows 7

Moving to Windows 7 helps you simplify everyday tasks, helps make your PC safer, and makes new things possible.

Check your PC

Download Upgrade Advisor to see if your PC can run Windows 7.

Get Upgrade Advisor

Compare

See why moving to Windows 7 makes sense.

Compare versions

Buy it

Check out your
choices.

Buy Windows 7

Not ready for Windows 7? Get the latest service pack.

Windows XP SP3 Windows Vista SP2

If you're running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and you're not ready to upgrade to Windows 7, you should install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), a free update.

Install Windows XP

SP3

Windows XP SP3 includes all previously released updates and a small number of new updates. It won't significantly change the Windows XP experience.

Get the service pack

* Note: There's no SP3 for the 64-bit version of Windows XP. If you’re running the 64-bit version of Windows XP with SP2, you have the latest service pack and will continue to be eligible for support and receive updates until April 8, 2014.

Is my PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version?

Help protect your PC

Install an antivirus program like Microsoft Security Essentials to help defend your computer against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

See other Windows security software providers

Keep Windows updated. To make sure that Windowsturn on Automatic Updates. receives periodic security updates,

Get Internet Explorer 8. Download Internet Explorer 8 for improved protection against online threats.

Learn more at the Windows XP Security and Privacy webpage.

Install Windows Vista SP2

Windows Vista SP2 includes support for new types of hardware and includes all of the updates that have been released since Windows Vista SP1.

Get the service pack

Help protect your PC

Install an antivirus program like Microsoft Security Essentials to help defend your computer against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

See other Windows security software providers

Keep Windows updated. To make sure that Windowsturn on automatic updating. receives periodic security updates,

Get Internet Explorer 8.Download Internet Explorer 8 for improved protection against online threats.

Learn more about security and safe computing in Windows Vista.

Update 3

2010-03-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

Support is ending for some versions of Windows

Support for Windows Vista without any service packs will end on April 13, 2010.
Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end on July 13, 2010.*

If you're running one of these versions after support ends, you won't get security updates for Windows. it will keep the pop-ups.

Which version of the Windows operating system am I running?

Finding out which version of Windows you're running can help you determine which features are available on your computer. Here's how to check.

Click the Start button , type winver in the search box, and then press Enter.

Note

If the steps above don't work on your computer, you might be running a previous version of Windows. To check, click Start, click Run, type winver, and then press Enter.

The About Windows window showing Windows XP Professional edition with Service Pack 3

This window displays the version and edition of Windows you're running. Each version of Windows comes in different editions with different features. This window also displays a service pack number if your version of Windows has been upgraded with a service pack.

The About Windows window showing Windows Vista Ultimate edition with Service Pack 1

Each version and edition of Windows also comes in a 32-bit or 64-bit version. To find out what version you're running, see Is my PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows?

For information about features available in different versions of Windows, see Which one is right for you? For information about upgrading to the latest version of Windows, go to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor webpage.

If you're already running Windows 7 but aren't sure which edition you have, see Find which edition of Windows 7 you are using.

What does it mean if my version of Windows is no longer supported?

An unsupported version of Windows will no longer receive software updates from Windows Update. These include security updates that can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information. Windows Update also installs the latest software updates to improve the reliability of Windows—new drivers for your hardware and more.

You should always install the latest service packs from Microsoft for your version of Windows. You can download and install these through Windows Update.

For information about using Windows Update in Windows XP, see Stay up to date automatically.
For information about using Windows Update in Windows Vista, see Install Windows updates.
For information about using Windows Update in Windows 7, see Install Windows updates.

Support end dates

Here are the dates when support will end for PCs running Windows XP and Windows Vista without the latest service packs:

Support for Windows Vista without any service packs will end on April 13, 2010. To continue support, make sure you've installed Windows Vista SP2.
Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end on July 13, 2010. To continue support, make sure you've installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3).

Note

There's no SP3 for the 64-bit version of Windows XP. If you're running the 64-bit version of Windows XP with SP2, you have the latest service pack and will continue to be eligible for support and receive updates until April 8, 2014. To find out what version you're running, see Is my PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows?.

Windows 7 is the newest version of Windows and is fully supported. It currently doesn't have any service packs.

For more information, see End of support for Windows XP with Service Pack (SP2) and Windows Vista without service packs.

Windows will continue to run

Even if you have an unsupported version of Windows XP or Windows Vista without any service packs, Windows will continue to start and run as usual.

For full details about the support policy, see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy FAQ.

Contact Microsoft for help

Upgrade to Windows 7

Moving to Windows 7 helps you simplify everyday tasks, helps make your PC safer, and makes new things possible.

Check your PC

Download Upgrade Advisor to see if your PC can run Windows 7.

Get Upgrade Advisor

Compare

See why moving to Windows 7 makes sense.

Compare versions

Buy it

Check out your
choices.

Buy Windows 7

Not ready for Windows 7? Get the latest service pack.

Windows XP SP3 Windows Vista SP2

If you're running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and you're not ready to upgrade to Windows 7, you should install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), a free update.

Install Windows XP SP3

Windows XP SP3 includes all previously released updates and a small number of new updates. It won't significantly change the Windows XP experience.

Get the service pack

Is my PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version?

Help protect your PC

Install an antivirus program like Microsoft Security Essentials to help defend your computer against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

See other Windows security software providers

Keep Windows updated. To make sure that Windows receives periodic security updates, turn on Automatic Updates.

Get Internet Explorer 8. Download Internet Explorer 8 for improved protection against online threats.

Learn more at the Windows XP Security and Privacy webpage.

Install Windows Vista SP2

Windows Vista SP2 includes support for new types of hardware and includes all of the updates that have been released since Windows Vista SP1.

Get the service pack

Help protect your PC

Install an antivirus program like Microsoft Security Essentials to help defend your computer against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

See other Windows security software providers

Keep Windows updated. To make sure that Windows receives periodic security updates, turn on automatic updating.

Get Internet Explorer 8. Download Internet Explorer 8 for improved protection against online threats.

Learn more about security and safe computing in Windows Vista.

Upgrade to Windows 7

Moving to Windows 7 helps you simplify everyday tasks, helps make your PC safer, and makes new things possible.

Check your PC

Download Upgrade Advisor to see if your PC can run Windows 7.

Get Upgrade Advisor

Compare

See why moving to Windows 7 makes sense.

Compare versions

Buy it

Check out your
choices.

Buy Windows 7

Download:

FLV MP4 3GP

Download:

FLV MP4 3GP

Update 2

2010-03-05T03:35:00.000-05:00

Were coming back from the 2010 olympic games
A TV Stations has launched for these satellites
Nilesat 101/102/103/201/203
11,875 V
Arabsat 2B and Badr
12,269 V
Hot bird 8
10,875 H
Nilesat homepage
Arabsat Homepage
http://www.windows97tv.com/
TV Station Lanced on March 2009 (Last Year)

Microsoft Announces Windows 7 Pricing - including exiting 50% pre-order discount!

Today Microsoft announced the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program & Windows 7 Pricing, as well as the General Availability (GA) of Windows 7. According to Microsoft's Corporate VP for Windows Consumer Marketing, Brad Brooks, Microsoft put a lot of effort on getting Windows 7 out to as many people around the world as quickly as possible. OEMs will start shipping PCs with Windows 7 in all language versions beginning on GA Day, Oct. 22.

In contrast to previous Windows releases, Microsoft made significant changes in terms of timing. Gone are the days when it could take months for all language versions to be available. In fact - Windows 7 will be available in all languages in just over ONE week!

On October 22nd, Windows 7 will be available in the following 14 languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Chinese (Hong Kong).

Then on October 31st, the remaining 21 languages will become available: Turkish, Czech, Portuguese, Hungarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Ukrainian, Romanian, Arabic, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Estonian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Thai, Croatian, Serbian Latin, and Latvian.

But, you don't have to wait until GA to get a new Windows PC. Many people need that new PC sooner - for back to school specifically. For people who need a new PC now but still want to get Windows 7 Microsoft started the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, which kicks off tomorrow, June 26th! Anyone who buys a PC from a participating OEM or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive an upgrade to the corresponding version of Windows 7 at little or no cost. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program will be available until January 31, 2010 - and is global! For more information on taking advantage of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, visit Microsoft's Windows Upgrade Offer Web site (starting June 26th).

Windows 7 Pricing

Estimated retail prices for upgrade packaged retail product of Windows 7 in the U.S.

Windows 7 Home Premium: $119.99
Windows 7 Professional: $199.99
Windows 7 Ultimate: $219.99

Estimated retail prices for full packaged retail product of Windows 7 in the U.S.

Windows 7 Home Premium: $199.99
Windows 7 Professional: $299.99
Windows 7 Ultimate: $319.99

50% pre-order discount

Finally, as a way of saying thank you to loyal Windows customers, Microsoft are introducing a special time limited offer giving people in select markets the opportunity to pre-order Windows 7 at a more than 50% discount. In the US, this will mean you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for USD $49.99 or Windows 7 Professional for USD $99.99. You can take advantage of this special offer online via select retail partners such as Best Buy or Amazon, or the online Microsoft Store (in participating markets).

This program begins tomorrow in the U.S., Canada and Japan. The offer ends July 11th in the U.S. and Canada and on July 5th for Japan or while supplies last. Customers in the UK, France and Germany, can pre-order their copy of Windows 7 starting July 15th and will run until August 14th (or supplies last).

Note: The special low pre-order price will vary per country.

For more information on this special pre-order offer, visit Microsoft's Web site.

Revised: June 26th 2009

Updates for Feb 26th 2010

2010-02-26T03:00:00.000-05:00

WINDOWS 97 2010 Finally Arrives
Time to upgrade from Windows 7 Release Candidate

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I posted this in the Seven Forums but thought it should go in here somewhere too.....this came in as a Microsoft Newsletter today.

It’s time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate

While most people who tested Windows 7 have now moved to the final version, some are still running the Release Candidate. If you haven’t moved yet, it’s time to replace the RC.

Starting on March 1, 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Your work will not be saved during the shutdown.

The Windows 7 RC will fully expire on June 1, 2010. Your PC running the Windows 7 RC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won’t be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You’ll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn’t genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.

To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you’ll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you’ll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data. For more details about replacing the RC, see the Knowledge Base article KB 971767.

.
Haiti Earth Quake

A major earthquake has devestated Haiti, and in particular its capital Port-au-Prince.

Windows97 recommends these charitable relief organizations, all of which have significant personnel and resources deployed in Haiti, and 4 out of 4 stars from Charity Navigator:

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) - 900 relief personnel in Haiti

Oxfam America - 200 relief personnel in Haiti

Save the Children - 200 relief personnel in Haiti

Partners in Health - 150 physicians; intact medical center in Haiti

CARE - 100 relief personnel in Haiti

UNICEF USA - 75 relief personnel in Haiti

Google News feed for Haiti Earthquake

Haiti entry from Wikipedia

A divided island: the forces working against Haiti - Jared Diamond, writing for UK Guardian

Special Tip: Windows 7: Released to Manufacturing

It had been expected to happen this month, and last Wednesday evening Microsoft announced that Windows 7 had been released to manufacturing (RTM).

Build 7600 has been validated and signed off as being the RTM build of Windows 7. At the same time Microsoft also signed off on Windows Server 2008 R2.

RTM means the code is considered finished from an engineering perspective and is ready to be pressed on DVDs, installed on manufacturers' PCs, and put on Microsoft's servers for download. You can read the dates on which various Microsoft clients/customers will have access to the RTM build in the article I posted yesterday.

In the release note posted on the Windows Blog, Brandon LeBlanc, Windows Communications Manager at Microsoft wrote: "Today's release is the result of the amazing amount of feedback we received from the millions of people who tested Windows 7 - from Beta to RC. We actually had over 10 million people opt-in to the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). That's a lot of people opting in to help us make Windows 7 a solid release. Through CEIP, our engineers were guided by customer feedback all the way to RTM. We also have had a great group of beta testers who have dedicated a great deal of their time to testing Windows 7 too. A special thank you goes out to all the people who helped test Windows 7."

I'll be posting a review on the RTM build of Windows 7 one I get access to the build.
The 2010 Votes Start on April 2nd 2010 and ends April 24th 2010 (Saturday)
New Videos are coming this year!
Videos:

Vancover 2010 Olympics Feb 12-28 2010

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T03:00:00.000-05:00

Wishing a happy new year in windows 97
See lot of videos in 2010 as in 2009!
We had the best 09 ever!

Windpws 7

2009-07-10T09:03:00.000-04:00

In case you haven't heard, Microsoft's going to launch its new Windows 7 operating system (OS) this Fall. But 7's your lucky number today because we've got a sneak preview, a full upgrade to this stellar new OS for a ridiculously low price. That's right, you can pre-order the upgrade to Windows 7 now and save up to 50%. Windows 7 is much simpler to operate than Vista, and just as easy as XP Pro, except you've got an even cooler interface than Vista (which is pretty cool no matter how you slice it).

Windows 7 also gives you more control over your computing experience. It provides a clean and uncluttered desktop, as well as more options than ever to customize and personalize your PC.

You can open files in just two (2) clicks!
You'll browse faster in Windows 7 because it speeds up your common web tasks.
Windows 7 features simplified home networking and an easier wireless setup than Vista.

In fact, Windows 7 works the way you want.

It's designed for faster start up, shut down, sleep & resume. Your laptops will run longer with Windows 7 because it improves battery life. Plus - and I know you're going to love this - Windows 7 allows fewer pop-ups and security alerts, which though essential, can be awfully frustrating when you're ready to work on a spreadsheet, writing e-mail, or watching a slideshow of your favorite photos.

Now, we've given you a tiny snapshot of what Windows 7 brings to your computer and why it's an upgrade from Window Vista and XP Pro. Maybe you're saying, "So what? I'm doing just fine with Vista. All the kinks have been worked out. All my drivers work fine. I'm going to stick to what I've got."

Okay, we'll be blunt. If you don't upgrade to Windows 7 you're going to get left in the dust.

Because Windows 7's the coolest and most powerful new operating system ever! And we're offering you an upgrade at an insanely low price. However, we have many more reasons you need to upgrade to Windows 7 now. Like we said before, it's simpler and easier. But there's lots more:

You can easily resize windows to maximize vertically. Or you can snap two documents side by side to compare content (I LOVE this feature, which is great when you're working with spreadsheets).
You can access your most frequent and frequently used files by simply right-clicking on a program icon on the Taskbar.

You're going to love this -- with Windows 7 web browsing is incredibly easy when you're working with the new Internet Explorer 8.

You can run a visual search by typing a search request. You'll immediately see a list of search results and images while you're typing!
And your monitor changes on Web sites of interest.

Windows 7 is way, way cool! It's faster because it reduces the number of default services that start & run in the background, which enables your PC to start up and shot down faster. It goes into sleep mode faster because it writes less to disk. You've also got enhanced stability - you're not going to see many crashes and freezes that short circuit your work and fun while you're in midstream. Windows 7 even recovers data easier because it can automatically backup to your home and business network.

Okay, here's the big question that you have on the tip of your tongue. Compatibility? You might have had all kinds of problems with Vista compatibility, but built into the design of Windows 7 are key technologies that give it perfect compatibility with the same programs and devices you've been able to run on Vista. In other words, if an application or device runs on Windows Vista it should run on Windows 7.

And here's some great news - if a your system runs on Windows Vista, it should run faster on Windows 7!
See you in Fall 2009!

Notice

2009-07-09T13:22:00.000-04:00

We have a construction because windows 7 is coming!
See you in October!

Updates

2009-06-26T15:18:00.000-04:00

Microsoft Announces Windows 7 Pricing - including exciting 50% pre-order discount!
6/25/09, 19:30 GMT
Today Microsoft announced the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program & Windows 7 Pricing, as well as the General Availability (GA) of Windows 7. Microsoft also announced an exciting 50% pre-order discount for Windows 7!
Microsoft Releases Windows Vista Service Pack 2
5/28/09, 18:15 GMT
This week Microsoft announced that it has released Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) for download. Besides combining previously released updates, SP2 also contains a few small enhancements to Vista.
Windows 7: Release Candidate Review
5/12/09, 21:40 GMT
Last week Microsoft released Windows 7 Release Candidate to the general public to download & test.
Microsoft: There will only be one Beta for Windows 7
2/13/09, 17:45 GMT
At the end of January, in a posting to the Windows 7 Engineering Blog, Steven Sinofsky senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group made it clear that Microsoft will only ship one Beta of Windows 7 before releasing a Release Candidate (RC).
Windows 7: Beta 1 Review
2/07/09, 18:05 GMT
With the first beta of Windows 7 available to the general public to download, I will take you through an overview of Windows 7.
Microsoft Announces Windows 7 Editions
2/03/09, 21:25 GMT
Today Microsoft announced the SKU lineup of Windows 7, and while the company says it will focus mainly on two editions: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional; Microsoft offers a total of six different Windows 7 versions.
Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1
1/27/09, 20:30 GMT
Yesterday Microsoft announced the release of Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1). This release is the first update sice the public Beta 2 release last August.
Windows 7: Public Beta Available
1/08/09, 13:40 GMT
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the beta release of Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 R2) to the public this week.
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Public Beta
12/13/08, 14:05 GMT
Early this month Microsoft released a Beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 via their Customer Preview Program (CPP). The beta was released in five languages: English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.
Windows 7: Public Beta Soon
12/12/08, 20:15 GMT
There have been several reports that indicate that a public beta of Windows 7 would be available in early January. What's more, according to several sources (ZDNet's Ed Bott, Internet News.com Andy Patrizio and last week WinInfo's Paul Thurrott) Windows 7 will ship this summer (a June 2009 shipping date is being mentioned) - way earlier than Microsoft has (so far) indicated.
Site renovation on Fall 2009

Windows XP FAQ

2009-06-19T19:49:00.000-04:00

Windows XP FAQ
Windows XP is the most important release of Windows since Windows 95. Here's the first--and most comprehensive--Windows XP FAQ anywhere, extensively updated with all-new information about the final, shipping version of Windows XP.
UPDATE: This FAQ is now retired.
Q: What is Windows XP?
A: Technically, Windows XP is the next version of Windows 2000, but it is positioned as an upgrade for Windows 98, 98 SE, Millennium Edition (Me), 2000, and NT 4.0 users. It is based on the Windows Engine, an update to the Windows NT/2000 kernel.

Q. What does XP stand for?
A. "eXPerience". Microsoft likes to say that previous versions of Windows bundled applications, but that Windows XP bundles experiences. In other words, it enables end-to-end experiences with things such as digital photography, digital music, home networking, the Internet, and more.

Q: So what the heck is "Whistler"?
A: During its development, Windows XP was called "Whistler". Or, as noted succinctly by Craig Beilinson, the lead product manager for Windows, in early 2000, "Whistler is the code name for the next iteration of Windows."

Q: What editions does Windows XP include?
A: Windows XP ships in three edition, including Home Edition for consumers, Professional Edition for business and power users, and a 64-bit version for Intel Itanium processor-based systems, called Windows XP 64-bit Edition. Read more about the 64-bit version in my showcase on the 64-bit editions of Windows XP and Windows .NET Server.

Q: What's the difference between Windows XP Home Edition and Professional Edition?
A: Windows XP Home is designed as an upgrade for Windows 9x/Me and therefore ships with the same type of consumer features found in Windows Me. The biggest difference is processor support: Windows XP Home will support only one processor, while Professional supports two. I have a full and detailed list available regarding the differences between the two editions available, however: Use this showcase to determine which version is for you.

Q: How much will Windows XP cost?
A: Windows XP Home Edition retails for $199.99, while the Home Upgrade version is $99.99. Windows XP Professional is $299.99, while the Pro Upgrade is $199.99. Windows XP 64-bit Edition is only made available with new Itanium workstations, and is not available separately.

Q: Will I be able to upgrade Windows Me to Windows XP? What about Windows 95 and Windows 98?
A: Windows XP is an upgrade for almost every 32-bit version of Windows; you will be able to upgrade Windows 98, 98 SE, and Me to Windows XP Home Edition or Professional. You will also be able to upgrade Windows 2000 Professional and Windows NT 4.0 Workstation to Windows XP Professional as well, but not to Home Edition.

In case it isn't obvious, then, Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.51, or earlier, are not supported for upgrading, so you will need to buy a full version of Windows XP if you wish to upgrade your system.

Also note that Windows 98, 98 SE, and Me users will be able to uninstall Windows XP if the upgrade doesn't work out for some reason. This capability will not be made available to Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 upgraders.

For more information about what upgrades what, please refer to my showcase, What to Expect from Windows XP.

Q: This sounds cool. I want to know more about Windows XP!
A: No problem: Read my exhaustive review of Windows XP Home Edition and Professional and the many Technology Showcases I've written! No one has written more about Windows XP.

Q: I've heard that Windows XP includes a new user interface. Is this true?
A: Yes. Though you will be able to use the same "classic" Explorer user interface found in Windows 95-Windows 2000, Windows XP also includes support for Visual Styles, an XML-based "skinning" technology that will allow users to tailor the way their system looks in ways that were never before possible. Sadly, Windows XP only ships with only one Visual Style (called "Windows XP", go figure; it was code-named "Luna"), though that style will support various color schemes as well. During the early beta of Windows XP, Microsoft shipped a style called "Professional" (later called "Watercolor") but this skin didn't test well with corporations, which was the intended audience. The "Windows XP" visual style can be adopted by applications that run under this OS as well; in Windows XP, both IE 6 and Windows Media Player 8 use the new look and feel.

Q: I want more Visual Styles now! What can I do?
A: I recommend the excellent WindowBlinds XP, which can be downloaded, in beta form, from the Stardock Web site. This excellent tool allows you to totally customize the Windows XP user interface.

Q: Is Windows XP the same thing as the "Whistler" speech recognition software that Microsoft Research is working on?
A: No. Microsoft has been working on a speech to text translator project dubbed Whistler, along with a speech recognition engine called "Whisper," for some time now. But don't be confused about this seemingly unrelated set of projects: They have nothing to do with each other per se. However, Windows XP does include speech technology; but that's not why this release is code-named Whistler.

Q: So why was Windows XP code-named Whistler? I thought Microsoft was using space names for their betas.
A. They were ("Odyssey," "Neptune," "Mars") for a while, and before that they were using city names ("Chicago," "Detroit," "Memphis"). But now they've turned to mountain names: Whistler and Blackcomb are popular ski resorts a few hours from Seattle, located in British Columbia, and Longhorn, the next interim release, is a tavern at the base of Whistler mountain. However, the space names continue with other projects: The new Whistler user interface found in Windows XP was code-named "Luna."

Q: Is Windows XP 64-bit, 32-bit, or a 16/32-bit system like Windows 98?
A: Windows XP is based on the NT/2000 kernel and is therefore a full 32-bit system with no legacy deadwood. However, Windows XP is also available in a 64-bit version called Windows XP 64-bit Edition (find out more!).

Q: When will Windows XP be released?
A: Microsoft is planning to release all editions of Windows XP simultaneously on October 25, 2001. The products were finalized, or released to manufacturing (RTM), on August 24, 2001.

Q: I read somewhere that Windows XP will feature a new feature to finally cure "DLL hell". Is this true?
A: Yes. Back in the early days of Windows, before hard drives were even widely available, Microsoft introduced the concept of a shared code library called a "DLL" (Dynamic Link Library). The theory was that each program that needed certain snippets of code could get that code from a single location and thus save hard drive space. Over time, however, this became one of Windows' biggest weaknesses: Applications would "upgrade" these shared libraries with their own copies, causing other applications or even Windows itself to fail. In Windows XP, applications will think they're copying their files as usual, but the OS will manage the process so that they don't actually overwrite any existing files. Then, each time the application is run, Windows XP will ensure that it only uses its copies of the files, ensuring that all apps run correctly and none of them are able to get in the way of other applications. Microsoft says that this feature will "isolate applications from each other, providing users with a 'run once, run forever' environment. Sounds good to me. So good, in fact, that I wrote up a Technology Showcase about this feature, which Microsoft internally calls Fusion.

Q. Is there going to be a Plus! pack for Windows XP?
A. Yes. Plus! for Windows XP includes enhancements in four key areas: digital media, games, screensavers, and themes. For digital media, Plus!XP includes the Plus! speaker enhancement, which provides better sound clarity and richness through desktop speakers; Plus! Personal DJ for easier custom playlist generation; Plus! Voice Command for Windows Media Player (WMP); Plus! CD Label Maker; various new WMP skins; new 3-D visualizations; and the Plus! MP3 Audio Converter for converting MP3 audio files to Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, which will save hard-disk space.

New games include Russian Squares Plus! Edition, The Labyrinth Plus! Edition, and Hyperbowl Plus! Edition. New Plus! desktop themes take advantage of new XP features to create beautiful photos, screen savers, icons, sounds, pointers, WMP skins, and more. These themes include Plus! Aquarium, Plus! Space, Plus! Nature, and Plus! DaVinci. New screensavers include Plus! My Pictures, Plus! Robot Circus, Plus! Sand Pendulum, Plus! Mercury, and four other screensavers that correspond to the new desktop themes. Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP will retail for $39.99.

For more information, read my review of Plus! for Windows XP.

Q. Are there going to be new Power Toys for Windows XP?
A. Yes. add features to the base OS; although some of them are too buggy or slow for daily use, they present an interesting look at how developers might create XP add-ins. The XP PowerToys consist of Faster User Switcher, Shell Audio Player, Task Switcher, IE Find Toolbar, Open Command Window Here, the ever-popular TweakUI, PowerToy Calculator, and Bulk Resize for Photos.

Faster User Switcher lets you type WinKey+Q to bypass the Welcome screen and quickly switch to another logged-on user. Shell Audio Player adds an "Audio Player" toolbar to the XP taskbar and lets you play songs and playlists from the taskbar; the player is a great idea, but it loses its playlist every time you move or change it. The new Task Switcher replaces the standard ALT+TAB capability with a new version that sports thumbnails of each open window; unfortunately, this feature is particular slow. The IE Find Toolbar adds a new toolbar to Internet Explorer (IE) 6 called Find that visually resembles the Address Bar; the toolbar lets you search for text in the currently loaded document without opening a dialog box. Open Command Window Here adds a pop-up menu entry that lets you open command-line windows anywhere in the shell. PowerToy Calculator is a graphing calculator that will be immediately familiar to anyone who used a Texas Instruments (TI) graphing calculator in school. Bulk Resize for Windows lets you resize a photo or group of photos directly from the shell; it does so in various standard sizes and without deleting the originals.

The most interesting PowerToy is TweakUI, which is now a standalone executable instead of a Control Panel applet. TweakUI for Windows XP builds on the features from previous versions of TweakUI and adds new, much-needed XP-specific tasks. For example, you can disable those annoying XP balloon tips, turn off taskbar button grouping, and configure special shell folders such as CD Burning, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos. Unfortunately, this release is very buggy and setting certain options resets and reorders desktop icons.

For more information, please read my review of the Windows XP PowerToys.

Q. When I upgraded from Windows 9x/Me to Windows XP, the C:\My Documents folder was emptied! What happened to all my documents!?
A. Because Windows XP is a true multi-user system, each user has his or her own documents folder, located in a very specific directory structure. Check out C:\Documents and Settings: You should see a folder under there for each user. Under each user will be a folder called My Documents.

Q. What happened to WINIPCFG.EXE?
A. WINIPCFG.EXE is a GUI application in Windows 9x/Me that lets you check the status of your network connections. Because Windows XP was designed for networking from the ground up, however, and supports far more network connections, something a little more elegant was required. So Windows XP has two replacements for WINIPCFG.EXE. The first is ipconfig.exe, a command line application that supplies the same information, via text interface. The second is a much more elegant (GUI) interface that is individual to each network connection: Just right-click (or double-click) each network connectoid to make configuration changes and check their status

Q. If I want to clean install Windows XP, do I need to create a boot diskette like I did with Windows 9x/Me?
A. No. The Windows XP CD-ROM is bootable.

Q. Will there be a Windows XP Resource Kit?
A. Yes, though Microsoft is marketing it under a new name for some reason. The XP version is now called Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Operations Guide. You can order it now from Amazon.com and other book stores. It will ship October 10, and the list price is approximately $70 US.

Q: Has the final version of Windows XP been released?
A: Yes, Windows XP was released to manufacturing (RTM) on Friday, August 24, 2001.

Q: What's the final version number?
A: 5.10.2600

Q: When will beta testers get the final code?
A: On Friday, August 24th, beta testers received final code of Home, Pro, and 64-bit Editions, each of which comes with a time limitation, 120 days for Home, and 180 days for Pro. These versions are 100% final code, and only differ from the OEM and retail code in the time limit. In late October, active beta testers will be able to choose a single boxed copy of either Home and Professional Edition.

Q. When will MSDN Universal subscribers get the final code? And what editions will they get?
A. MSDN Universal subscribers will be able to download Windows XP Home and Professional, OEM full versions, from Subscriber Downloads on September 21. It will also ship in the November CD shipments.

Q: When will PCs with Windows XP ship?
A: Probably in early October. Most PC makers say that they will start taking orders on XP-based PC SKUs in late September, and begin shipping systems in early October.

Q: Where is your review of Windows XP?
A: It's now available here.

Q: How do I change drive letter assignments in Windows XP?
A: Right click on My Computer and choose Manage. In the window that appears, click on Disk Management. Then right click any partition you want to reassign and choose Change Drive Letter and Path. You cannot change the drive letter of the boot or system partitions (typically C:).

Q: Can I remove that "Evaluation Copy" text on the desktop from beta versions of Windows XP?
A: Yes, but the cure is worse than the problem. See my Windows XP Tips 'N' Tricks page for more information. This text is not present in the release version of Windows XP.

Q: I upgraded Windows Me/9x to Windows XP Beta 2 and I want to uninstall Windows XP and go back to my previous OS. How do I do this?
A: Open the Start Menu, then Control Panel, and go to Add and Remove Programs. You will see an option to uninstall Windows XP. If you upgraded from Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0, there is no uninstall option, so you will need to do a full reinstall from scratch.

Q: I have a DVD drive and heard that you could play DVDs in Windows XP. But when I load up Windows Media Player 8, it tells me that it cannot play DVDs. What gives?
A: Windows XP doesn't ship out of the box with a DVD decoder, so you'll have to get one by installing another DVD player first or an add-on codec first. Usually, you get such a player from your PC maker, so this won't be an issue for most XP customers when the product ships this fall. In the meantime, you can install WinDVD or PowerDVD, and then Windows Media Player will be able to play DVDs in Windows XP. When Windows XP ships, you'll be able to buy one of several low-cost ($10) DVD Encoder Packs for Windows XP from the Microsoft Web site.

Q: I'm seeing a weird little toolbar when I hover the mouse over images on my Active Desktop. How do I turn that off?
A: What you're seeing is the Internet Explorer 6 Image Toolbar. You can turn this off by opening IE 6 and then navigating to Tools, Internet Options. On the Advanced tab, uncheck Enable Image Toolbar under Multimedia.

Q: I heard that Windows XP allowed button grouping in the taskbar, but I don't see this happening. How do I make the taskbar group buttons?
A: It's working, but you don't have enough similar windows open for it to group them. Try open several Explorer windows, several IE 6 windows, and some other apps, all at the same time. They will group. You can control grouping in Taskbar Properties: Right-click the Taskbar and choose Properties. Then make sure the option Group Similar taskbar buttons is checked.

Q: How come different users can't have different screen resolutions? I like the multi-user feature, but would like to set different resolutions for each user.
A: Sorry, that's impossible in Windows XP. Each user must have the same resolution, though just about everything else is customizable on a user-by-user basis.

Q: What's the deal with Windows Product Activation (WPA)? Is Microsoft trying to prevent me from installing my copy of Windows on more than one PC? Are they spying on me?
No. I've written a lot about this technology for Windows 2000 Magazine UPDATE and WinInfo. Please refer to my articles, Clearing Up Some Windows XP Confusion, A Closer Look at Windows Product Activation and Microsoft Reveals Post-RTM Updates for Windows XP for more information. Since writing these, I've seen a lot of other Web sites and magazine try to grapple with this complex issue, and to this day, I have yet to see it described it as accurately or completely.

Q: What happened to Lock Computer? In Windows 2000/NT 4, you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to bring up a window that lets you choose this. In XP, this just brings up the Task Manager.
A: Type WINKEY+L to lock the computer. Or, turn off the Welcome Screen to go back to the Windows 2000/NT 4 style of logging on (this will enable the Lock Computer option as well): To do this, open User Accounts in Control Panel and choose Change the way users log on and off. Then, uncheck Use the Welcome screen.

Q: I heard that the new version of MSN Explorer will look like Windows XP. Is this true?
A: No. MSN Explorer 6.1 looks almost exactly like the previous version of MSN Explorer. It features a collapsible My Stuff bar, new spell checking, and other features. You can download MSN Explorer 6.1 from the MSN Web site.

Q: Every time I install an application in Windows XP, I get a little balloon help telling me that new programs are installed. The thing is, the little bugger never goes away! Is there an easy way to get rid of this?
A: Yes. Right-click the Start button, choose Properties, Customize, and then Advanced, and then uncheck Highlight newly installed applications.

Q. Does Windows XP include IIS (Microsoft's Web server)? How do you it?
A. Windows XP Professional and 64-bit Edition include IIS 5.1 (Home Edition does not). You can install it by placing your Windows XP CD-ROM in the drive and choosing "Install Additional Components" in the dialog that appears. You'll see IIS in the list.

Q. What do I do if Windows XP doesn't include a driver for a particular piece of hardware? Should I try the Windows 98 driver?
A. No. Normally, you should try the Windows 2000 driver first. Remember that Windows XP is simply the next version of Windows 2000.

Q. How come Open GL games won't work in Windows XP?
A. Open GL is supported through video card drivers, not the OS. Some Windows XP drivers do support this feature, but some don't. If yours doesn't, located the latest Windows 2000 driver for your card and install it. Quake 3 Arena and your other Open GL favorites should work once again.

Q. Will my Windows 9x anti-virus software work in Windows XP?
A. Probably not. But AV vendors are beginning to release Windows XP-compatible products, such as Norton Anti-Virus 2002. Other Windows 9x products that you shouldn't use in Windows XP include disk utilities and other low-level system utilities. But Windows XP will warn you about these applications during the upgrade process, or later, if you try to install them in Windows XP.

Q. What file system does Windows XP support? Just FAT? Or does it support NTFS as well?
A. Windows XP supports FAT/FAT16 (the legacy file system dating back to DOS), VFAT (from Windows 95), FAT32 (which debuted in Windows 95 OSR-2), and NTFS (the NT/2000 file system). You can choose which to use, and you can use different file systems on different partitions if you want. If you're upgrading to XP, you'll be asked if you want to upgrade your file system to NTFS.

Incidentally, Windows XP includes NTFS version 3.1, which is newer than the version used in Windows 2000. This means that Windows 2000-era disk utilities--such as Diskeeper and Partition Magic 6--should not be used with Windows XP. If you want to use either of these applications, be sure you're using the latest, Windows XP-compatible version.

Q. So which file system should I use?
A. You should always use NTFS in Windows XP unless you are going to dual-boot a system with Windows 9x/Me and XP and wish to access your XP partition from the old 9x-based OS. Remember that Windows 9x/Me cannot access NTFS file systems. However... You can access NTFS partitions over a network.

Q. I've heard that you can convert drives to NTFS when upgrading, but if I do this, can I still uninstall XP and return to my previous Windows 9x/Me version?
A. No. If you think you're going to want to uninstall XP, do not allow it to convert your drives during Setup. Instead, wait a few weeks and ensure that XP works on your system first, and then run the convert.exe command line tool to convert any FAT or FAT32 drives to NTFS, on the fly, without destroying any of your data.

Q. I've heard that Windows XP will unleash a new wave of Internet-based Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Is Windows XP insecure?
A. No. As Microsoft likes to point out, Windows XP is its most secure operating system to date, thanks to features like Windows Driver Signing, System Restore, driver rollback, Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), and new privacy features in IE 6. However, there isn't much you can do about user error. Most compromised systems got that way because the user opened an unknown email attachment--unleashing a trojan or worm on the system.

Q: OK, Windows XP is a huge upgrade for Windows 9x/Me users, but I'm happy with Windows 2000. Why would I want to upgrade?
A. You might not want to, actually. But there are some pretty decent improvements in Windows XP that might make you change your mind: Remote Assistance, Remote Desktop, better laptop support, Windows Messenger-based audio and video conferencing, integrated digital media features, better compatibility with Windows 9x-based games, application, and hardware, and more. Windows XP is also more secure than Windows 2000, and more reliable.

Q. Speaking of compatibility, how good is XP's hardware and software compatibility?
A. In general, XP's compatibility is excellent. Microsoft reports that more than 90 percent of the Win2K/NT and Window Me/9x applications distributed in North America during the past 3 years will work fine with XP. And to iron out any remaining problems, Microsoft will deliver new updates through Windows Update. The company guarantees that virtually all new applications from major software retailers will be XP compatible. In addition, XP is compatible with more than 12,000 hardware devices out of the box, including the top 1000 best-selling devices. More than 300 devices have already received the new XP logo, which ensures a higher quality of driver compatibility and user experience. Microsoft tells me that the vast majority of Win2K drivers will work fine with XP, although some scanners, multifunction devices, video-capture cards, CD-ROM writers, and USB Web cameras might experience problems. The company is continuing to work with hardware vendors on these issues.

Q. Windows 98 Plus! and Windows Me included a cool feature called Compressed Folders. Is there something similar in Windows XP?
A. Yes, Windows XP ships with Compressed Folders, which provides a handy way to compress a file or group of files into a smaller compressed "ZIP" file. However, Compressed Folders is slow when working with numerous or large numbers of files. If you find this program to be a bit anemic, I recommend WinZIP 8.1, currently in beta.

Q. The little animated dog in Windows XP Search is annoying, to say the least. How do I remove it?
A. When you click the Search button and the dog appears, choose Turn off animated character. You can also make Windows XP Search act like Windows 2000 Search (which I prefer, incidentally) by clicking Change Preferences, then Change files and folders search behavior; then choose Advanced.

Q. What happened to Active Desktop? Is it still present in Windows XP?
A. Yes, Active Desktop is still there, but Microsoft has hidden it so users don't need to manually turn it on and off. If you add any Web content--or a GIF or JPEG image--to your desktop, Windows XP will automatically enable Active Desktop. If you turn off these features, Windows XP will turn off Active Desktop as well, behind the scenes.

Q. I want to do audio and video chatting with my friends who have MSN Messenger (I'm using Windows XP and Windows Messenger). How come it doesn't work?
A. Microsoft needs to update MSN Messenger before you can exchange audio and video with those users. The company says they will release an update on October 25th to enable this compatibility.

Q. Microsoft says that Windows XP will run with a Pentium II 233 and 64 MB of RAM. Is this realistic?
A. No. I recommend a 500 MHz or faster Pentium III and 256 MB or more of RAM for Windows XP.

Q. What are the other system requirements for Windows XP?
A: Windows XP requires 1.5 GB of available drive space, SVGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor, a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and a keyboard and mouse.

Q. I have two home computers. Will I have to buy two copies of Windows XP?
A. Yes. Windows XP includes a technology called WPA (discussed above), which enforces a license Microsoft has been using for years (that is, you're supposed to buy one copy of Windows for each computer). However, there are ways in which you can minimize your costs. If you only need Home Edition, and you qualify for the upgrade version, buy two copies of that. Or use Microsoft's new Additional Family License (AFL) option to get 8 to 12 percent off the cost of the second installation. I'll have more information about the AFL when Microsoft makes an official pricing announcement.

Q. I read that Windows XP includes a firewall. Is this true?
A. Yes. Windows XP includes a firewall called Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), which can protect your home network against intrusion. It's a zero-configuration option, too: Just check a box and it's on. Note that ICF is inbound-only: It won't prevent you from sending out trojans and viruses if you're system is infected. To get more functionality than ICF provides, try a full-featured firewall such as ZoneAlarm.

Q. How do I get America Online (AOL) working in Windows XP?
A. AOL 6 is only "sort of" compatible with Windows XP, but the recently released AOL 7 works just fine with XP.

Q. How do I know if I qualify for an upgrade version of Windows XP?
A. You must have a retail Windows 98, 98 SE, Millennium Edition (Me), NT 4.0, or 2000 CD-ROM, Full Version or Upgrade, to qualify for the Windows XP upgrade versions. Restore CDs from PC makers do not qualify.

Q. Will Windows XP be as fast/responsive as my current version of Windows?
A. Microsoft says that Windows XP performs 5 percent to 20 percent faster than Windows Me and Windows 9x and is on par with Win2K. "Windows XP gets faster as you use it, too," Kristian Gyorkos, an XP product manager, told me, "because of its dynamic, self-tuning features. Periodically, the application-launch, system-boot, and file-placement routines are optimized." Microsoft notes that Standby and Resume performance has also improved.

Based on my own personal use, I can verify that XP seems to be on par with Windows 2000. I find it hard to believe that it outperforms 9x. However, Windows XP is much more secure, stable and reliable than Windows 9x, a more than acceptable trade-off in my opinion.

Q. How do I network Windows XP with Windows 9x machines?
A. Unlike Windows 9x/Me, Windows XP is secure, so you have to be logged on as a particular user--with specific rights--before you are granted network access. To make Windows 9x/Me work with Windows XP, then, you will need to ensure that the Windows 9x boxes are logged on with a user name and password that appears on the XP box. Then, you should have no problem sharing resources between the two machines.

Q. Will Microsoft upgrade Windows XP now that it's finalized?
A. Actually, yes, and quite often too. Since Microsoft released XP to manufacturing, the company has updated several system components, and users will be able to download these updates through Windows Update when XP becomes widely available. Microsoft will extensively update Windows Messenger, for example, to include compatibility with Exchange Server 2000. The company will update Windows Movie Maker (WMM) from version 1.1, which ships in the box with XP, to version 1.2. WMM 1.2 includes support for Windows Media Audio 8 (WMA 8) and Windows Media Video 8 (WMV 8) and will include a 640 x 480 WMV mode for digital video. To prevent system failures, Microsoft has hardened several system drivers since the Release Candidate 2 (RC2) release; previously, users could install these drivers even when XP warned them not to. Now XP will actually prevent the installation of known problem drivers.

Q. Can I reboot into DOS with Windows XP?
A. No. Windows XP is not based on DOS, as is Windows 9x. However, Windows XP does support a DOS-like command line environment, and you can run most DOS applications--and even many DOS games--in Windows XP.

Windows XP also supports an optional boot-time command line environment called the Recover Console. As its name suggests, the Recovery Console is only designed to be used in the event of a system problem. To enable it, insert your Windows XP CD-ROM and type
D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons in a command line (assuming your CD drive is D:).

Q. Can I dual-boot between Windows XP and a previous OS?
A. Yes, but you will have to have two partitions (or hard drives) so that you can install XP separately from your other system (which can be DOS/Windows 3.1, Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000). Windows XP will automatically set up a boot menu so you can choose which OS you want when the machine starts up or reboots.

The boot menu is configurable by hand-editing the hidden file boot.ini, which you will find in the root of the C: drive. A better way to change the boot-up sequence, however, is to right-click My Computer, choose Properties, then Advanced, then click Settings under Startup and Recovery.

Q. I like the new Welcome screen, but it doesn't give me the option to log on as Administrator. How can I do this?
A: There are two ways to do this: First, you can use the "old" login screen, instead of the Welcome screen, as Administrator doesn't appear on the Welcome screen by default. To enable this, open User Accounts, choose Change the way users log on or off, and then uncheck Use the Welcome screen. Or, use the TweakUI for Windows XP Power Toy to add Administrator to the Welcome screen. This tool will not be available in final form, however, until XP ships in late October.

Thanks to several readers who pointed out that you can also get the classic Windows 2000-style logon to appear by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome screen; this will allow you to logon as Administrator.

Q. What happened to NetBEUI (an older Microsoft networking protocol)? My home network uses this.
A. NetBEUI is no longer supported and I don't recommend using it: Go with the more powerful, and routable, TCP/IP protocol instead, which is the default in Windows XP. But if you must have NetBEUI, Microsoft made it available on the Windows XP CD-ROM as an optional install. It's in D:Valueadd\msft\net\netbeui by default. You add it by configuring a network adapter and choosing Properties, General, Install.

Q. You seem unnaturally positive about Windows XP. Are you a Microsoft shill? How much is Microsoft paying you to write about Windows XP?
A. I'm honestly very excited about Windows XP, and yes, it does come through in my writing about this OS. I come down hard on Microsoft when they deserve it, but there is precious little in Windows XP to complain about (aside, obviously, from Windows Product Activation). But I don't work for--or get paid by--Microsoft.

Xp Pro Intro

2009-06-12T19:48:00.000-04:00

Slipstreaming Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2)
It's been a while since I've covered slipstreaming, or combining, a service pack into Windows (link), but the release of Windows XP Service Pack with Advanced Security Technologies (hereafter referred to as SP2) warrants some discussion. That's because XP SP2 is a huge change from the original shipping version of XP, offering as many new features and capabilities as a major new Windows version. For this reason, many people are going to want to install XP SP2 directly the next time they install Windows, and skip the time-consuming and potentially insecure step of installing the initial XP version first, and then applying SP2 after the fact.

But what, exactly, is slipstreaming, you ask? Back when Microsoft was developing Windows 2000, the company decided to create up a more elegant way of integrating service packs and other fixes back into the core OS, so that enterprise customers could always maintain an install set of the latest version of Windows, ready to be installed at any time on new machines. In the NT days, this process was convoluted at best, and service pack installs often required users to reinstall components that had previously been installed. It just wasn't elegant, but Windows 2000 fixed all that, and in XP the slipstreaming process is largely unchanged.

For end users, slipstreaming can also be useful. For example, you can copy the installation directory from your XP CD-ROM to the hard drive, slipstream the XP SP2 files into that installation directory, and than write it back to a recordable CD, giving you a bootable copy of the XP setup disk that includes SP2 right out of the box (so to speak). That's the process we're going to examine here. And slipstreaming isn't limited to service packs, either: You can also slipstream in various product updates, including hot-fixes. Previous to the release of SP2, I created a bootable XP CD that included the original "gold" version of XP, Service Pack 1a, and the Security Rollup 1 update, all meshed together into a single install. Now, I've tossed that CD aside for one that includes XP SP2 instead. Let's take a look at how I did this.

Windows 7 Release

2009-06-06T08:32:00.001-04:00

Was on Friday June 5 09
Main article: Development of Windows 7
Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb.[6] By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also "reset", or delayed in September 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn.[7]

Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006, [8] and again to Windows 7 in 2007.[9] In 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system.[10][11]

The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with Milestone 1, build 6519.[12] At PDC 2008, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 7 with its reworked taskbar. Copies of Windows 7 build 6801 were distributed out at the end of the conference, but the demonstrated taskbar was disabled in this build.

On December 27, 2008, Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.[13] According to a performance test by ZDNet,[14] Windows 7 Beta has beaten both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas, including boot and shut down time, working with files and loading documents; others, including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video-editing, remain identical to Vista and slower than XP.[15] On January 7, 2009, the 64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web, with some torrents being infected with a trojan.[16][17] At CES 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Windows 7 Beta, build 7000, had been made available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in the format of an ISO image.[18] The Beta was to be publicly released January 9, 2009. Initially, Microsoft planned for the download to be made available to 2.5 million people on January 9. However, access to the downloads was delayed due to high traffic.[19] The download limit was also extended, initially until January 24, then again to February 10. People who did not complete downloading the beta had two extra days to complete the download. After February 12, unfinished downloads became unable to complete. Users can still obtain product keys from Microsoft to activate their copy of Windows 7 Beta. Users can still download Windows 7 via the Microsoft Connect program. The beta expires on August 1, 2009, with bihourly shutdowns starting July 1, 2009. The release candidate, build 7100, has been available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers and Connect Program participants since April 30 and is available to the general public as of May 5, 2009.[20] It has also been leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.[21] The release candidate is available in five languages and will expire on June 1, 2010, with bihourly shutdowns starting March 1, 2010.[22] According to Microsoft, the final release is planned in time for the 2009 holiday shopping season.[2] On June 2, 2009, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 7 will be released on October 22, 2009. The release of Windows 7 will coincide with the release of Windows Server 2008 R2. [23]

[edit] Goals
Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric".[24] Gates later said that Windows 7 will also focus on performance improvements;[25] Steven Sinofsky later expanded on this point, explaining in the Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions.[26]

Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that Windows Vista users migrating to Windows 7 would not find the kind of device compatibility issues they encountered migrating from Windows XP.[27] Speaking about Windows 7 on October 16, 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Vista and Windows 7.[28] Ballmer also confirmed the relationship between Vista and Windows 7, indicating that Windows 7 will be a refined version of Windows Vista.[28]

[edit] Features

[edit] New and changed features
Main article: Features new to Windows 7

The new Action Center which replaces Windows Security CenterWindows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors,[29][30][31][32] improved boot performance, and kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter), a new version of Windows Media Center,[33] a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion. Many new items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display.[34] Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds) which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer.

The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with pinning applications to the taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons. These buttons also enable the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks.[35] The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons. To the far right of the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the Show desktop icon. This button is part of the new feature in Windows 7 called Aero Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop.[36] In touch-enabled displays such as touch screens, tablet PCs etc, this button is slightly wider to accommodate being pressed with a finger.[37] Clicking this button minimizes all windows, and clicking it a second time restores them. Additionally, when a user drags a window to the edge of the screen, it will snap in place on that half of the screen. This allows users to snap documents or files on either side of the screen to compare them. There is also a feature that when a user pulls a window to the top of the screen, it automatically maximizes. When a user moves windows that are maximized, the system restores them automatically.

This functionality is also accomplished with keyboard shortcuts. Holding down the Windows key and pressing the up arrow maximizes; pressing down the down arrow minimizes; pressing the left or right arrows snap the windows to the sides of the screen. Repeating the keyboard shortcuts generally restores the window's previous size. Unlike in Windows Vista, window borders and the taskbar do not turn opaque when a window is maximized with Windows Aero applied. Instead, they remain transparent. For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking API with support for building SOAP based web services in native code (as opposed to .NET based WCF web services),[38] new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages,[39] and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API.[40] At WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB.[41][42] Microsoft is also implementing better support for Solid State Drives [43] and Windows 7 will be able to identify a Solid State Drive uniquely.

Internet Spades, Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers, which were removed from Windows Vista, were restored in Windows 7. Windows 7 will include Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Media Player 12.

Wikinews has related news: Windows 7 will allow users to disable Internet Explorer
Users will also be able to disable many more Windows components than was possible in Windows Vista. New additions to this list of components include Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows Search, and the Windows Gadget Platform.[44] Windows 7 includes 13 additional sound schemes, entitled Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna, and Sonata.[45] A new version of Virtual PC, Windows Virtual PC Beta is available for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.[46] It allows multiple Windows environments, including Windows XP Mode, to run on the same machine, requiring the use of Intel VT-x or AMD-V. Windows XP Mode runs Windows XP in a virtual machine and redirects displayed applications running in Windows XP to the Windows 7 desktop.[47] Furthermore Windows 7 supports to mount a virtual hard disk (VHD) as a normal data storage, and the bootloader delivered with Windows 7 can boot Windows system from VHD.[48] The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) of Windows 7 is also enhanced to support real-time multimedia application including video playback and 3D games. That means the Direct X 10 can be used in a remote desktop environment. [49] The three application limit will be removed from Windows 7 Starter.

[edit] Removed features
Main article: Features removed from Windows 7
A number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of Windows Vista are no longer present or have changed, resulting in the removal of certain functionality. Some notable Windows Vista features and components have been replaced or removed in Windows 7, including the classic Start Menu user interface, Windows Ultimate Extras, InkBall, and Windows Calendar. Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Mail have been removed from Windows itself, but they are available in a separate package called Windows Live Essentials.

[edit] Antitrust regulatory attention
As with other Microsoft operating systems, Windows 7 is being studied by United States federal regulators who oversee the company's operations following the 2001 United States v. Microsoft settlement. According to status reports filed, the three-member panel began assessing prototypes of the new operating system in February 2008. Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research said that, "[Microsoft's] challenge for Windows 7 will be how can they continue to add features that consumers will want that also don't run afoul of regulators."[50] In Europe, Windows 7 may be required to ship with rival browsers including possibly Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome. The reason for this suspicion is on the inclusion of Internet Explorer which is seen as harming competition, as in the European Union Microsoft competition case.[51] However, Microsoft announced on the Engineering Windows 7 blog that users will be able to turn off more features than in Windows Vista including Internet Explorer.[44]

[edit] Editions
Main article: Windows 7 editions
Windows 7 will be available in six different editions, but only Home Premium and Professional will be widely available at retail.[52] The other editions are focused at other markets, such as the developing world or enterprise use.[52] Each edition of Windows 7 will include all of the capabilities and features of the edition below it.[52][53][54][55][56] With the exception of Windows 7 Starter, all editions will support both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x86-64) processor architectures.[57] According to Microsoft, the features for all editions of Windows 7 will be stored on the machine, regardless of what edition is in use.[58] Users who wish to upgrade to an edition of Windows 7 with more features can then use Windows Anytime Upgrade to purchase the upgrade, and unlock the features of those editions.[53][58][59] Microsoft has not yet announced pricing information or volume licensing details for Windows 7.[59]

[edit] Hardware requirements
Microsoft has published their minimum recommended specifications for a system running Windows 7 Release Candidate.[60][61] For the 32-bit version, these are much the same as those for premium editions of Vista, but they are considerably higher for the 64-bit version. Microsoft has released a beta version of an upgrade advisor that scans a computer to see if it is compatible with Windows 7.

Minimum recommended hardware requirements for Windows 7[60] Architecture 32-bit 64-bit
Processor speed 1 GHz processor
Memory (RAM) 1 GB of RAM 2 GB of RAM
Graphics card Support for DirectX 9 graphics device with 128MB of graphic memory (for Windows Aero)
HDD free space 16 GB of available disk space 20 GB of available disk space
Optical drive DVD-R/RW

Windows 7 News

2009-05-29T18:14:00.000-04:00

Windows 7 Looks Good, but XP Migration Is Key
John Fontana, Network World

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Close Thursday, May 28, 2009 2:26 PM PDT
Corporate migration to Windows 7 may be less about evaluating the new Microsoft operating system and more about how to properly gauge the correct time to get XP off client desktops.

The equation corporate IT pros will have to figure out is how long it will take to get all their XP desktops to Windows 7 before XP support runs out or before application vendors quit producing XP versions of upgrades or new software, which some predict could come as early as 2012.

Windows 7 is the shiny new operating system from Microsoft slated to arrive this fall to replace Windows Vista, which after 30 months has failed in the eyes of IT buyers.

Windows 7 offers a host of tantalizing corporate features such as AppLocker, DirectAccess, Branch Cache and XP Mode, a virtualization technology that should buy time for users who migrate but must hold on to key legacy applications.

Gartner predicts that more than half of the corporate Windows user-base is skipping Vista and aiming at Windows 7.While that means XP users won't have to tangle with Vista in name, it doesn't mean they will avoid the application compatibility issues that gave Vista a black eye right out of the blocks in November 2006. Windows 7 is built on the Vista code base.

"If you are on XP, Windows 7 isn't going to solve a lot of Vista's migration problems," says Brett Waldman, a research analyst for IDC. "Going from Vista to Windows 7 should be a much easier transition than XP to 7."

Users who have deployed Vista have an easier path because Microsoft provides an upgrade option not available to XP users, and because they have already solved their application compatibility issues.

Microsoft says nearly all applications that run on Vista will run on Windows 7 and early testing by users is beginning to validate that claim.

In addition, hardware upgrades made for Vista are relevant for Windows 7 rollouts.

While those rollouts won't be painless for Vista converts, it is those on the XP side who will have to tap into their planning and organizational skills.

The XP equation

The predominant migration questions among those coming off XP are "when" and "how."

"What we are saying is that by the end of 2012 you should be off XP," says Michael Silver, vice president and research director at Gartner. With most large corporations taking 12 to 18 months to test and pilot a new operating system, the migration clock is ticking.

"If I target the end of 2012 to get XP out then you have your migration window," he says. "Organizations really need to be poised to do a lot of migrations on new machines and some existing ones in 2011 and 2012. That will be the mainstream of the migrations."

Silver says Gartner's recommendation is a conservative one that provides a 15-month buffer before XP support ends on April 8, 2014. Mainstream support for XP ended in April 2009, just a year after XP SP3 shipped.

Microsoft for its part told XP users last month (MAY) that if they are just starting to test Vista that they should switch to Windows 7.

Silver recommends users in that boat switch only if it means less than a six-month delay in their current planning. "You don't want to lose momentum. If you have already done lots of testing or might be set to deploy you should continue with Vista," he says. "One of the big issues here is that Vista is a difficult decision politically at this point, but the folks that have migrated to Vista are generally happy."

Hitching the migration horse to the Windows 7 wagon, however, doesn't mean users won't have to take along issues that polluted Vista acceptance.

Applications that were not compatible with Vista won't work on Windows 7. The new XP Mode, available with professional, ultimate and enterprise editions, will give users a bit of a respite, but not a panacea.

With both Windows 7 (the host operating system) and XP (guest) running on a single machine, users will be forced to maintain and patch two operating systems per desktop.

Analysts such as IDC's Waldman and Gartner's Silver say it's a short-term solution.

"To take full advantage of new enhancements in Windows 7, which is what users are paying for, the app needs to be built for Windows 7," Waldman says. He says XP Mode is likely a one- to two-year Band-Aid.

Users are gearing up

"XP Mode might be the way we get around the fact that some of our institutional apps are behind the technology curve; it could be the answer," says Jeff Allred, manager of network services at the Duke University Cancer Center. He said patch management tools will make it easier to manage two operating systems on a desktop and that XP Mode's administrative considerations are not a showstopper

Allred is in the process of testing Windows 7, which he says is faster, more stable and seems leaner than Vista. "We are much happier with Windows 7 RC than Vista in its full shrink-wrap version," he says.

He said a Vista migration would have meant upgrading 60% of his hardware, something he was not prepared to do. With Windows 7 and its smaller footprint, the majority of his hardware is already compatible.

The same is true for Wesley Stahler, senior system consultant at Ohio State University Medical Center, who is testing Windows 7 from an Asus Eee netbook.

He says the medical center is just now beginning migration discussions to move off XP.

"We have some clinical-based apps that work great on [Internet Explorer] 6, but on IE 8 [with Windows 7] not so much. Those are the thing we will have to look into," he says.

He says XP Mode might help, but "as someone who has to maintain the environment I would prefer not to support two operating systems."

Stahler says there are other features that are enticing or will help save money.

"Right now we are using two different products to do what BitLocker can do, so we could save money and administrative headache," he says. BitLocker is a full-disk encryption feature introduced with Windows Vista and available in Windows 7.

Microsoft's input

For its part, Microsoft is offering its range of migration tools to help with a move to Windows 7.

Microsoft also has added tools to its Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), specifically to ease the management and deployment of Windows images.

The Windows System Image Manager lets users do low-level customization of an operating system image. The tool works with System Center Configuration Manager, which adds an administrative UI that lets users replicate information across their network. Integration with System Center management tools supports rollouts that scale to enterprise deployments.

Windows 7 also features updates to Microsoft's ImageX command-line tool, which lets users capture, modify and deploy Windows images. The tool is rolled into Configuration Manager and given a GUI interface.

Deployment Image Servicing and Management also is part of WAIK and is used to apply updates and drivers to Windows images.

Microsoft also is updating its User State Migration Toolkit with a new feature for hard-link migration, which keeps desktop data on the machine during the operating system upgrade, cutting deployment time from hours to minutes.

And the forthcoming Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 is an updated version of the Business Desktop Deployment Kit that shipped with Vista. It is now integrated with System Center Configuration Manager and builds off WAIK tools. Microsoft will release version 6.0 of its Application Compatibility Toolkit once Windows 7 ships.

"The capability to centralize and bring into one admin console the ability to customize and deploy an [operating system] with applications and updates is where the Windows division with System Center is a great story," says Jeff Wettlaufer, senior technical product manger for System Center.

Now the only other story left to tell is if Windows 7 will deliver on its promises
By PC World

new

2009-05-22T06:57:00.000-04:00

Windows 7: Release Candidate Review

5/12/09, 21:40 GMT

Last week Microsoft released Windows 7 Release Candidate to the general public to download & test.

Microsoft: There will only be one Beta for Windows 7

2/13/09, 17:45 GMT

At the end of January, in a posting to the Windows 7 Engineering Blog, Steven Sinofsky senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group made it clear that Microsoft will only ship one Beta of Windows 7 before releasing a Release Candidate (RC).

Windows 7: Beta 1 Review

2/07/09, 18:05 GMT

With the first beta of Windows 7 available to the general public to download, I will take you through an overview of Windows 7.

Microsoft Announces Windows 7 Editions

2/03/09, 21:25 GMT

Today Microsoft announced the SKU lineup of Windows 7, and while the company says it will focus mainly on two editions: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional; Microsoft offers a total of six different Windows 7 versions.

Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1

1/27/09, 20:30 GMT

Yesterday Microsoft announced the release of Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1). This release is the first update sice the public Beta 2 release last August.

Windows 7: Public Beta Available

1/08/09, 13:40 GMT

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the beta release of Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 R2) to the public this week.

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Public Beta

12/13/08, 14:05 GMT

Early this month Microsoft released a Beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 via their Customer Preview Program (CPP). The beta was released in five languages: English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

Windows 7: Public Beta Soon

12/12/08, 20:15 GMT

There have been several reports that indicate that a public beta of Windows 7 would be available in early January. What's more, according to several sources (ZDNet's Ed Bott, Internet News.com Andy Patrizio and last week WinInfo's Paul Thurrott) Windows 7 will ship this summer (a June 2009 shipping date is being mentioned) - way earlier than Microsoft has (so far) indicated.

Windows 7: The new Taskbar

11/28/08, 19:00 GMT

Microsoft did a lot of work on the new taskbar for Windows 7. They looked extensively how people where using their computers and started making improvements based on those observations.

Windows 7 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

11/11/08, 09:25 GMT

Frequently asked questions and general information about Windows 7

more headlines...

Windows 95

2009-05-15T03:00:00.000-04:00

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft,[2] and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products. During development it was referred to as Windows 4.0 or by the internal codename Windows Chicago.

Windows 95 was intended to integrate Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows products and includes an enhanced version of DOS, often referred to as MS-DOS 7.0. It features significant improvements over its predecessor, Windows 3.1, most visibly in the graphical user interface (GUI). There were also major changes made at lower levels of the operating system.

In the marketplace, Windows 95 was a major success, and within a year or two of its release had become the most successful operating system ever produced. It also had the effect of driving other major players in the DOS-compatible operating system out of business, something which would later be used in court against Microsoft. Some three years after introduction, Windows 95 was succeeded by Windows 98.

Contents [hide]
1 User interface
2 Technical improvements
2.1 Long file names
2.2 32-bit
3 Release
3.1 Beta
3.2 Final
4 Internet Explorer
5 Editions
6 System requirements
7 References
8 External links

[edit] User interface
The basic elements of the interface introduced in Windows 95 -- including the taskbar, Start button and menu, and the Windows Explorer file manager -- remain fundamentally unchanged in later versions of Windows, such as Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7, more than a decade later. The word "Start" was dropped from the button in Windows Vista in 2006, with the company preferring to label the button with the Windows logo ("Start" is still present as a tooltip and in the classic GUI mode).

When released for Windows 95, Internet Explorer 4.0 came with an optional shell update known as Windows Desktop Update that changed the user interface significantly. That update gave Windows 95 (and Windows NT 4.0) features that would become the graphical user interface of Windows 98.

[edit] Technical improvements
Windows 95 included support for 255-character mixed-case long filenames and preemptively multitasked pseudo-protected-mode 32-bit applications. Whereas earlier versions of Windows are optional "DOS extending shells" requiring an MS-DOS or MS-DOS compatible operating system (usually sold separately). Windows 95 incorporated MS-DOS into a consolidated operating system, which was a significant marketing change. The release of Windows 95 also marked wider acceptance of Plug and Play standards on the IBM PC platform.

[edit] Long file names
32-bit File Access is necessary for the long file names feature introduced with Windows 95 through the use of the VFAT file system. It is available to both Windows programs and MS-DOS programs started from Windows (they have to be adapted slightly, since accessing long file names requires using larger pathname buffers and hence different system calls). Competing DOS-compatible operating systems released before Windows 95 cannot see these names. Using older versions of DOS utilities to manipulate files means that the long names are not visible and are lost if files are moved or renamed, as well as by the copy (but not the original), if the file is copied. During a Windows 95 automatic upgrade of an older Windows 3.1 system, DOS and third-party disk utilities which can destroy long file names are identified and made unavailable (Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows indicated that the upgrade program was itself a computer virus). When Windows 95 is started in DOS mode, e.g. for running DOS programs, low-level access to disks is locked out. In case the need arises to depend on disk utilities that do not recognize long file names, such as MS-DOS 6.x's defrag utility, a program called LFNBACK for backup and restoration of long file names is provided on the CD-ROM. The program is in the \ADMIN\APPTOOLS\LFNBACK directory of the Windows 95 CD-ROM.

[edit] 32-bit
Windows 95 followed Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with its lack of support for older, 16-bit x86 processors, thus requiring an Intel 80386 (or compatible).

The introduction of 32-bit File Access in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 meant that 16-bit real mode MS-DOS is not used for managing the files while Windows is running, and the earlier introduction of the 32-bit Disk Access means that the PC BIOS is not used for managing hard disks. This essentially reduces MS-DOS to the role of a boot loader for the protected-mode Windows kernel. DOS can be used for running old-style drivers for compatibility, but Microsoft discourages using them, as this prevents proper multitasking and impairs system stability. Control Panel allows a user to see what MS-DOS components are used by the system; optimal performance is achieved when they are all bypassed. The Windows kernel uses MS-DOS style real-mode drivers in Safe Mode, which exists to allow a user to fix problems relating to loading native, protected-mode drivers.

[edit] Release

[edit] Beta
Several Windows 95 betas were released before the final launch.

Build 58 introduced a Start menu prototype. It divided the functions of the Windows 95 Start menu up into three buttons. Future Chicago builds combined these three into the Start button still recognized today.

Build 58 included a new File Manager, Chicago Explorer, which remained relatively unchanged in the initial version of Windows 95 and in Windows NT 4.0. Build 58 still included Program Manager as found in Windows 3.1, although this application was supplemented by the new desktop and taskbar/Start menu designs.

This build also introduced shortcuts (Chicago referred to them as Links) and native right click functionality, which Windows 3.1 lacked. It also introduced long file name support.

Prior to the official release, the American public was given a chance to preview Windows 95 in the Windows 95 Preview Program. For US$19.95, users were sent a set of 3½" floppy diskettes that would install Windows 95 either as an upgrade to Windows 3.1x or as a fresh install on a clean computer. Users who bought into the program were also given a free preview of The Microsoft Network (MSN), the online service that Microsoft launched with Windows 95. The preview versions expired in November 1995, after which the user would have to purchase their own copy of the final version of Windows 95.

[edit] Final

Microsoft Windows 95 operating system cover shotWindows 95 was released with great fanfare, including a commercial featuring the Rolling Stones song "Start Me Up" (a reference to the Start button).[3] It was widely reported that Microsoft paid the Rolling Stones between US$8 and US$14 million for the use of the song (from the 1981 album Tattoo You) in the '95 advertising campaign. According to sources at Microsoft, however, this was just a rumor spread by the Stones to increase their market value, and Microsoft actually paid a fraction of that amount.[4] A 30 minute promotional video, labeled a "cyber sitcom", featuring Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry, was also released to showcase the features of Windows 95. Microsoft's US$300 million dollar advertising campaign featured stories of people waiting in line outside stores to get a copy.

In the UK, the largest computer chain PC World received a large number of oversized Windows 95 boxes, posters and point of sale material, and many branches opened at midnight to sell the first copies of the product, although these customers were far fewer in number than publicity had suggested.[citation needed]

In the United States, the Empire State Building in New York City was lit to match the colors of the Windows logo. In Canada, a 300-foot banner was hung from the top of the CN Tower in Toronto. Copies of The Times were available for free in the United Kingdom where Microsoft paid for 1.5 million issues (twice the daily circulation at the time).

The release included a number of "Fun Stuff" items on the CD, including music videos from Edie Brickell[5] and Weezer.

[edit] Internet Explorer
Windows 95 originally shipped without Internet Explorer, and the default network installation did not install TCP/IP, the network protocol used on the Internet. At the release date of Windows 95, Internet Explorer 1.0 was available, but only in the Plus! add-on pack for Windows 95, which was a separate product. The Plus! Pack did not reach as many retail consumers as the operating system itself (it was mainly advertised for its add-ons such as themes and better disk compression) but was usually included in pre-installed (OEM) sales, and at the time of Windows 95 release, the web was being browsed mainly with a variety of early web browsers such as Netscape (promoted by products such as Internet in a Box).

Windows 95 OEM Service Release 1 was the first release of Windows to include Internet Explorer (Codenamed O'Hare) with the OS, including version 2.0. While there was no uninstaller, it could be deleted easily if the user so desired. The included version switched to Internet Explorer 3 when it came out. The installation of Internet Explorer 4 on Windows 95 (or the OSR2.5 version preinstalled on a computer) gave Windows 95 active desktop and browser integration into Windows Explorer, known as the Windows Desktop Update. The CD version of the last release of Windows 95, OEM Service Release 2.5 (Version 4.00.950C), includes Internet Explorer 4, and installs it after Windows 95's initial setup and first boot is complete.

Only the 4.x series of the browser contained the Windows Desktop Update features, so anyone wanting the new shell had to install IE4 with the desktop update before installing a newer version of Internet Explorer. The last version of Internet Explorer supported on Windows 95 is Internet Explorer 5.5 which was released in 2000. Windows 95 shipped with Microsoft's own dial-up online service called The Microsoft Network.

[edit] Editions
Release Version Release Date Internet Explorer USB Support FAT32 Support UDMA Support
Windows 95 Retail 4.00.950[6] 1995 ✗[7] ✗ ✗ ✗
Windows 95 Retail SP1 4.00.950A 31 December 1995 2.0[8] ✗ ✗ ✗
OEM Service Release 1 4.00.950A 1996 2.0 ✗ ✗ ✗
OEM Service Release 2 4.00.950B (4.00.1111) 1996 3.0 ✗ ✓ ✓
OEM Service Release 2.1 4.00.950B (4.03.1212 or 4.03.1214[9]) 1996 3.0 ✓ ✓ ✓
OEM Service Release 2.5 4.00.950C (4.03.1214) 1997 4.0 ✓ ✓ ✓

While Windows 95 was originally sold as a shrink-wrapped product, later editions were provided only to computer OEMs for installation on new PCs. The term OEM Service Release is frequently abbreviated OSR, as in OSR1 or OSR2.1. Thus, for example, OSR1 was the OEM release that was identical to Windows 95 retail with Service Pack 1 applied (with the addition of Internet Explorer). In order to maintain compatibility with existing programs, Windows 95 has an internal version number of "4.00.950", regardless of the internal build number, thus reflecting Windows 95's alternative identity as "Windows 4.0" (similarly, the original edition of Windows 98 has an internal version number of Windows 4.10.1998.) Later versions are sometimes referred to by the trailing letter appended to this version string, such as Windows 95 B for OSR2 and OSR2.1.

Windows 95 partially supports USB as of OSR 2.1, though it is disabled by default and is limited by driver availability.

[edit] System requirements
Official system requirements were an Intel 80386 DX CPU of any speed, 4 MB of system RAM, and 50 MB of hard drive space. These minimal claims were made in order to maximize the available market of Windows 3.1 converts. This configuration was distinctly suboptimal for any productive use on anything but single tasking dedicated workstations due to the heavy reliance on virtual memory. Also, in some cases, if any networking or similar components were installed the system would refuse to boot with 4 megabytes of RAM. It was possible to run Windows 95 on a 386 SX but this led to even less acceptable performance due to its 16-bit external data bus. To achieve optimal performance, Microsoft recommends an Intel 80486 or compatible microprocessor with at least 8 MB of RAM.[10]

Windows 95 was superseded by Windows 98 and could still be directly upgraded by both Windows 2000[11] and Windows Me. On 31 December 2001, Microsoft ended its support for Windows 95, making it an "obsolete" product according to the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy.[12] Even though support for Windows 95 has ended, the software still remains in use on some home and school computers because of budget issues, a lack of knowledge or lack of desire to upgrade to newer editions of Windows. In addition, some video game enthusiasts choose to use Windows 95 for their legacy system to play old DOS games, although some other versions of Windows such as Windows 98 can also be used for this purpose.

Windows 95 has been released on both floppy disks and on CD-ROM, as some computer systems at the time did not include a CD-ROM drive. The retail floppy disk version of Windows 95 came on 13 DMF formatted floppy disks, while OSR 2.1 doubled the floppy count to 26. Both versions exclude additional software that CD-ROM might have featured. Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 was also available on floppy disks.

[edit] References
^ "Windows Life-Cycle Policy". Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
^ Washingtonpost.com: WashTech
^ Microsoft detractors were quick to point out that the second verse of Start Me Up begins "you make a grown man cry" (a line which is repeated throughout). The phrase subsequently featured as a humorous reference in many critical expositions of Windows 95.
^ Michael Gartenberg (2006-08-22). "The Story behind "Start Me Up" and Windows 95". Jupiter Research. http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/gartenberg/archives/016913.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
^ "Good Times" release on release disk
^ This version of Windows 95 is sometimes called "950r6" because there were five prior release candidates of build 950. Release candidate 6 was the build that shipped in retail boxes.
^ Internet Explorer v1.0 was available with the additional purchase of Microsoft Plus!.
^ Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1 CD-ROM Readme.txt File
^ How to Determine the Version of Windows 95/98/Me in Use
^ "Windows 95 Installation Requirements". Microsoft. http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/138349/. Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
^ Windows 2000 Server
^ "Windows 95 Contact Support". Microsoft. 1 January 2002. http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/support/contact/default.asp. Retrieved on 2006-10-06.
Windows 95: The hype and beyond, Guardian Unlimited
With Windows 95's Debut, Microsoft Scales Heights of Hype, Washington Post
Windows 95 Installation Requirements, Microsoft
Windows 95 end of support date, Microsoft
Description of Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1 Components
Description of Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1 Updates
Description of Windows 95 OEM Service Release 1
Availability of Universal Serial Bus Support in Windows 95
Implementing Windows 95 Updates
Schulman, Andrew (1994). Unauthorized Windows 95: A Developer's Guide to Exploring the Foundations of Windows "Chicago". IDG Books. ISBN 1-56884-169-8 (paperback).

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Update 3

Which version of the Windows operating system am I running?

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What does it mean if my version of Windows is no longer supported?

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Windows will continue to run

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Update 2

Microsoft Announces Windows 7 Pricing - including exiting 50% pre-order discount!

Updates for Feb 26th 2010

Special Tip: Windows 7: Released to Manufacturing

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