Microsoft Talk

Read your RSS feeds and listen to podcast’s from the comfort of your couch with Media Center RSS Reader, a plug-in for Windows Media Center.

The software comes in two slightly different versions: one for Windows Media Center Edition 2005 (MCE) and one for Vista. The former relies on a separate feed-aggregator utility that runs in the background; the latter pulls your feeds from Internet Explorer 7. But the end result is the same: You’re able to browse and view feeds using your Media Center remote. The plug-in also supports podcasts, both audio and video.

Sadly, RSS Reader strips out photos, so you’re left with only text.

Media Center RSS Reader is free. It requires Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate or Windows Media Center Edition 2005.

Media Center RSS Reader (MCE) Media Center RSS Reader (Vista)

Shout-out to LifeHacker Rick Broida

Heaps with Microsoft this week, but I found these interesting. What do you think? Have you got yourself a copy of Vista? I have. At home its Ultimate and at work this week, I have just installed the Enterprise edition (look out for a post or an article on that). Admittedly there were lots of application releases, but these should interest you.

• Microsoft sells 20 million Vista licenses
• Reuters News Alerts to be sent through Windows Live Messenger
• Microsoft temporarily closes video site
• Windows DreamScene Content Pack now available
• Windows Vista Power Management Features Can Help UK Companies Reduce Their Carbon Footprint

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What command do you use for copying of files from the command line? COPY would be the most obvious answer for single-item copying of files.

For copying multiple directories you would use XCOPY command, since it preserves the attributes as well. What about preserving NTFS extended attributes such as access control lists and alternate data streams? Use Robocopy. It is available as part of Windows Resource Kit, designed to overcome unreliable network conditions or other possible interruptions of service—e.g., for copying files to drives mapped across WAN links or via wireless networks.

Robocopy is now a a standard-issue item with Vista, meaning it’s all the easier to get hold of and work with.

Derk Benish,systems engineer in Microsoft’s MSN Search Group, has a simple GUI for Robocopy! Maybe because Robocopy is a command line utility and has not gained as much ground as it should have.

The GUI is divided into six tabs, each dealing with one aspect of the Robocopy command set:

• Path allows you to set the source and target paths for the copy operation, or use the standard Windows folder-picker to select them manually. The “Map Drive?” box lets you map to a folder on a remote server if needed.
• Copy Options lets you set all the needed switches for the copy operation. If you don’t know what each switch does, hover your mouse over them for an explanation.
• Drive Mapping allows you to provide a target server name, username, password and domain if you’re using the drive-mapping option in the Path tab.
• Filters defines any file-filtering operations (again, as described by the program’s command switches). Hover your mouse over any of the options for an explanation.
• Logging lets you enable any logging options for Robocopy.
• Monitoring enables real-time monitoring for the copy operation.

Save the configuration to a script that can be reused, so the GUI doesn’t create a dependency on the GUI in order to make Robocopy functional. Use this GUI to learn how Robocopy works and slowly move to using the command line.

Till now, what did you use to copy files/folders?

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Cross Posting from Alpesh Nakars’ Blogosphere - IT’s All about Technology

Microsoft Download Notifications is a weekly mailing that points you to the latest free downloads and download-related services from Microsoft.

Purchase and Download Windows Vista Today

Find out which edition of Windows Vista will work best for your needs, then download and install with easy step-by-step instructions at Windows Marketplace.

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Microsoft Update

Visit Microsoft Update for the latest updates to Windows, Office, and other Microsoft applications. Also, learn how to have automatic security updates delivered to your computer.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor 1.0

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is designed to help Windows XP users identify whether their PCs are ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista, which edition of Windows Vista meets their needs, and which features of Windows Vista will be able to run on their PCs.

Release Notes for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2

These release notes address late-breaking issues and information about Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system with SP2.

All recently published Windows downloads

Office Update

Scan your computer for updates that help improve the stability and security of the Office programs on your computer.

Live Meeting Add-in Pack

With the Live Meeting Add-in Pack, you can perform conferencing tasks directly from Microsoft Office Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, and Visio, as well as from Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Office Communicator 2005.

All recently published Office and home downloads

All recently published server application downloads

If you want an answer to this burning question, especially if you’re planning a new PC purchase and weighing the pros and cons of the x86 and x64 architectures, this article is worth a read.

George Ou has a very nice introduction to the differences between 32-bit and 64 bit Windows.

He has summarized the situation for you:

• Almost all new servers sold within the last two years from AMD or Intel will have x64 capability.
• Most mid- to high-end desktop processors from AMD or Intel within the last year have x64 capability.
• Some higher-end Semprons have x64; lower-end Semprons do not.
• No AMD Durons have x64.
• All AMD Opteron processors have x64.
• All AMD X2, FX, and Athlon64 chips have x64.
• All Intel Pentium D and Celeron D chips have x64.
• All AMD Turion notebook processors have x64.
• All Intel Core 2 processors (mobile, desktop, and server) have x64.
• No Intel Core Duo notebook processors have x64
• No Intel Pentium M notebook processors have x64.

Have a read. Its worth it.

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Your opinion matters and will be rewarded. You have to help me decide, which license of Office Ultimate 2007 should I purchase?

All I ask of you is to leave your suggestions as a comment which license of Office Ultimate 2007 would you buy, if you had this opportunity.

Ok what is the deal for me? IT’s not cheating! An offer from Microsoft Australia for Australian University Students Only. 

I work full time and am studying as well.

Being a student in Queensland University of Technology, studying for Masters Of Business Administration and Master of Information Technology, I stand to benefit from a special Microsoft Australia offer of purchasing Office Ultimate 2007! What is the offer? Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 - unlimited license - AU 75.00 OR Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 - 12 month license - AU 25.00 (At the end of 12 months, I have an option to upgrade to unlimited license for AU 50.00) Your Opinion Matters - If you were me, what would you do? Remember for your comment, you will get an e-book you won’t regret. This poll remains open until end of April 2007.

Disclaimer: I may win if all 75 of you leave your supporting comments here. Winning does not matter, but if I do win, I will auction the win on e-bay and donate the amount to charity. Which charity? If I do win, it will be a poll like this one - let you decide which charity.

Remember, I want to buy Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 and your opinion matters! I am running the same poll at my other blog as well and it sure has generated some discussion…

Have you subscribed to MSTALKONLINE feed? It’s easy and you will receive updates everyday!

I don’t use Vista at work and at home, there isn’t enough time to check emails (family+study) let alone chat. But if you use Vista and WLM and see this error code, here is a cool fix. Will serve as a reference for me as well.

- Click start
- Type: cmd (but don’t hit Enter)
- Right-click cmd.exe when it appears under Applications
- Click Run As Administrator
- Type the following: netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
- Press enter

Then just sign into WLM; you don’t even have to reboot.

via A Matter of Degree via Donovan via Shaun via David

When you install Windows Server 2003 and start to place applications on that server, it’s absolutely astounding how many programs are actually there. If you’ve used msconfig, you’ve gotten a partial look at a list of these programs. Msconfig provides you with a small subset of the actual executables that are loaded when you use a Windows server. Using the AutoRuns utility, available for download from Microsoft’s Web site, you can get the complete list of programs and executables that are loaded when a Windows server boots or when you run certain applications.

AutoRuns looks at every known location that houses boot files, including the StartUp folder, the Run and RunOnce registry keys, Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, autostart services, and a number of other locations. AutoRuns displays each item in the order that Windows processes the item, and provides a Properties page that matches the page you get if you locate the executable file on your own and bring up the Properties page.

AutoRuns also provides a Jump To link that takes you directly to the location that loads the executable. For example, if you use the Jump To link on an entry that is loaded from the registry, AutoRuns will load the registry editor and browse to the key. You can also configure AutoRuns to look at the entries that are loaded for a particular user.

AutoRuns also comes in a command line variety, named Autorunsc.exe. Use autorunsc /? to get information from particular startup locations.

VIA TechRepublic

Windows Vista has a feature called System Restore that automatically backs up registry and system files whenever you install new software or drivers. This feature is useful when you install evil software that makes your computer run really slow. But don’t worry, System Restore won’t remove Windows Vista.

Using System Restore in Windows

There are two places that you can use the system restore feature from. From within Windows, you can just type restore into the Start menu search box, and you’ll immediately see System Restore at the top of the start menu.

Or you can type rstrui into the search box and hit enter.

You will immediate see a screen where you can choose to roll back the system to the last restore point. You can select “Recommended restore”, and just click next, or you can choose a different restore point.

Click one of them, and you will have to confirm and then restart your computer to roll the system back.

If your system won’t boot

If you can’t even get into windows, you can boot off the installation dvd, and choose the “Repair your computer” option on the lower left hand side. Click next on the next screen.

Now choose System Restore from the System Recovery dialog.

Click next, and on the next screen select the drive that your copy of Windows Vista is installed on.

Click Finish, and Vista will roll back to the previous restore point. Really pretty simple stuff.

Source: HowToGeek

If you’ve owned a computer running Windows, you’ve probably complained about things crashing on your computer. Windows Vista includes a Reliability Monitor utility that lets you track all of the times that something crashed.

To get to this screen, you’ll just need to open Performance and Reliability Monitor in the administrative tools section (or just type perf into the start menu search box, and it’ll show up)

You can track how stable your computer is, based on the number of crashes, and you can select a large number of dates to get a nice graph like you see above, which includes information on various system failures, as well as installs and uninstalls of software.

In order to illustrate how this could be used for troubleshooting, let’s give an example:

Your computer has been crashing for at least a few weeks now, but you aren’t sure what you did to make it start crashing. You go to the Reliability Monitor and discover that there were no crashes before 2 weeks ago, and the day before the crashes started, you installed some shareware software. Now we know that the shareware software is what probably caused the application crashes, and we can just uninstall that.

Source: HowToGeek

• Microsoft’s antivirus deletes users’ e-mails
• US government dept bans Vista
• A New Generation of Office Exams
• Just five years support for Vista Home, Ultimate
• Microsoft Research Unveils More Than 100 Innovations for Future of Computing

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Why?

Overview

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is a cumulative service pack that includes the latest updates and provides enhancements to security and stability. In addition, it adds new features and updates to existing Windows Server 2003 features and utilities. SP2 can be installed directly on the following operating systems:

• Windows Server 2003 Editions (all 32-bit x86)
• Windows Server 2003 R2 Editions
• Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Editions
• Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 (SBS 2003 customers - Please read Knowledge Base Article 932600 before installing SP2)

Before installing this service pack please read the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Release Notes

Related KB Article Here

Microsoft and Lenovo announced a deal to include Live.com and Windows Live toolbar on Lenovo PCs worldwide:

“As a part of their continued collaboration, Microsoft Corp. and Lenovo today announced a global agreement to pre-load Windows Live™ services on Lenovo PCs sold worldwide including ThinkPad notebooks, ThinkCentre desktops and Lenovo-branded PCs. In the coming weeks, Lenovo will be the first PC maker to provide its customers worldwide with immediate access to the Microsoft^® Live.com portal (http://www.live.com) and Windows Live Toolbar (http://toolbar.live.com) for a more integrated and personalized Web experience as they work, communicate and conduct their day-to-day activities.”

3 must have Outlook Gadgets:

• Outlook info gadget,
• Outlook Upcoming Appointments and
• Outlook Tasks gadgets.

• Outlook info shows info from MS Outlook.
• The Outlook Upcoming Appointments gadget shows you your next 3 to 5 upcoming appointments from your Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 calendar.
• The Outlook Tasks gadget shows you your tasks from Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 sorted by date, category, or priority.

Vista, Microsoft, Microsoft Talk Online, Alpesh Nakar, 451Press

A must have sidebar gadget for VISTA.

You can add apps to the Launcher by Dragging and Dropping or use settings. In settings you can reorder the apps using the arrows, add or delete them. You can drag and drop folders or drives from My Computer. Now includes My Computer, Control Panel, Network and Recycle Bin links. With Recycle Bin you can delete the files, view contents or change settings. Removed shortcut arrows. Fixed fuzzy looking icons. Added names for links when hovered over.

More information and download from here. 

Vista, Microsoft, Microsoft Talk Online, Alpesh Nakar, 451Press