Ed Bott: My Windows 7 wish list
Cynics see the new Engineering Windows 7 blog, which launched last week, as a pure PR play from Microsoft. Maybe its just a matter of setting expectations properly.
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20.8.2008 Disable and Turn Off Windows Vista Search Indexer and Indexing Service
Windows Vista has greatly enhanced its search algorithm where the search process is now not only faster, but users can also easily search for almost all kind of files, documents, pictures, videos, emails and contacts in Outlook 2007, and even commands or application programs executables.
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19.9.2007 MSXML4 is going to be kill bit-ed
We are going to kill bit MSXML4 in the October December timeframe of this year. Kill Bit applies to Internet Explorer only. After the kill bit , applications will not be able to create MSXML4 objects in the browser.
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22.3.2007 Wrapping up Tech Ed 2007
Tech Ed 2007 is over. It's been a very busy week and I am tired and ready to go home. For IT Pro people Tech Ed contained loads of interesting infomration about Windows Server 2008 and the System Center products among others.
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11.6.2007 Microsoft Tech-Ed 2007 - June 4-8
Microsofts annual conference for IT Pros and Developers is dedicated to providing technical training, information and resources related to Microsoft technologies.
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3.6.2007 How to Install Vista Language Packs MUI on all versions of Vista + video tutorial
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, and Vista Business versions of the Microsoft licensing restrictions can only preserve a language!
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23.9.2008 The Vista Built-in Super Administrator Account Has Survived in Vista SP1
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is designed to evolve the RTM version of the latest Windows client from Microsoft, made available in November 2006 to business customers, and in January 2007 to the general consumers.
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15.2.2008 Vista SP1 Is Out, XP SP3 Old News, the Pink Edition of Vista Is In
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is now nothing more than water under the bridge, now that the service pack was released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, shipping to general users on March 18.
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27.3.2008 Tell Hasta la Vista to XP - Time to Upgrade to Vista SP1
Like it or not, this is the right time not only to upgrade to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 but also to tell hasta la vista to Windows XP.
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30.6.2008 Instant Change Vista Product ID with Vista ProductID Changer
In past we have reviewed number of application to recover product key like Product Key Finder, WinGuggle, Windows product Key Finder.
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1.11.2009 Vista SP1 RC1 Flies Past Vista RTM and Windows XP SP2
Despite the fact that Microsoft has expressed its official position regarding testing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 ahead of its finalization, there is simply too much of a hunger for the service pack.
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27.12.2007 Vista SP1 Won't Resolve the 4 GB RAM Limitation of 32-bit Windows Vista
32-bit Windows operating systems, and Windows Vista makes no exception whatsoever to this rule, are limited in terms of the amount of system memory that can be addressed to no more than 4 GB.
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4.1.2008 Vista Loader 2.1.3 - Windows Vista Activator 2008 Support SP1 with No Boot String
Vista Loader is one of the most successful Vista activation crack available to date, second only to physical modify (hardmod) the BIOS to include SLIC table to make BIOS Vista activation-compliant.
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15.5.2008 x64 Vista SP2 JPG Rendering Performance Inferior to x86 Vista SP2's
The JPG rendering process on 64-bit flavors of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is inferior to that on the 32-bit variants of the operating system.
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10.6.2009 Microsoft to Kill the Grace Timer and OEM BIOS Windows Vista Cracks with Vista SP1
With the advent of Windows Vista, cracks also became available being designed to bypass the activation process of the operating system.
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4.12.2007 New Vista OEM Activation Hack - Vista Boot by gkend
Thanks to Steve Jobs for this article on his blog and to our forum members to clecha, Nighthief and fitterphil120 for most of the findings. One again the Chinese come up with a new method to trick out the Vista Activation. We have seen Softmode and VistaLoader, however Vista Boot by gkend does promise even more.
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21.5.2007 Windows Vista on Super Nintendo, As Real As Vista on PSP
We're puzzled and confused... How can a console that's at least ten times less powerful than the acclaimed PSP cope with Windows Vista's requirements?
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15.8.2007 Vista RTM vs. Vista SP1 - Office 2007 benchmarking
Enough with benchmarking the OS - lets see if Office 2007 is any faster on Vista SP1.
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26.2.2008 Microsoft Says Vista SP1 Needs to Speak the Same Language as Vista RTM
Microsoft says that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 needs to speak the same language as the RTM version of the latest Windows client. Otherwise there's no game.
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2.4.2008 Vista SP1 to Cure the Vista RTM Wow Hangover
When Windows Vista was unleashed in January 31, 2008, Microsoft was promising performance, security, innovation, all wrapped up under an umbrella of a Wow user experience.
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11.4.2008 Vista-For-Free coupon with Vista ready PC's
Microsoft and the world's leading PC vendors have reached an agreement to promote the long-awaited Vista OS by offering PC buyers worldwide a free upgrade coupon, as a way of encouraging them to buy a Vista-capable PC as early as possible, according to market sources, citing information leaked from Taiwan-based PC makers.
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11.10.2006 Can Vista SP1 help polish Vistas tarnished image?
Call it complaining. Call it whining. The end result is the same: Windows Vistas image is tarnished. And its corroding more and more rapidly as the weeks are going on. Thanks to pacpis for this news.
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21.8.2007 Vista SP1 Features the Same Sins as Windows Vista
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 comes with the same sins as Windows Vista. The service pack is not even out the door, and is already putting users at risk.
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16.1.2008 Will Vista SP1 Go Where Vista Never Went? Even with XP SP3 and Windows 7?
Throughout 2007, it became painfully clear to Microsoft that the main competitor for Windows Vista was not Apple's Mac OS X or even the open source Linux operating system but Windows XP, and, in fact, specifically XP SP2.
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1.3.2008 New Vista AutoPatcher - Vista update toolkit Alpha
Vista Update Toolkit Alpha (Windows Vista Updates Downloader) is a FREE program which downloads updates directly from Microsoft. All files are very useful with vLite!
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26.9.2008 Vista SP1 Microsoft Could Not Have Given Less Vista SP2 Anyone?
Microsoft had the chance to position the first service pack for Windows Vista as a panacea for the operating system, giving the platform nothing less than a fresh start and another take at the Wow.
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3.10.2007 Vista SP1 Rolling Over for Vista SP2
Vista SP1 did not do the trick for your RTM copy of the operating system? While such a scenario is highly unlikely, Microsoft is getting closer and closer to taking Windows Vista to the next level, again.
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7.12.2008 Vista SP1: Indictment of Vista 1.0?
Microsofts announcement that it is preparing a Vista Service Pack 1 beta in two weeks is curious on many levels. Although Microsoft delivers improvements via service packs I cant help but consider Vista SP1 a do-over.
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30.8.2007 Vista RTM vs. Vista SP2
We are all well aware of the limping start of Vista on the OS market. Despite the fact that its launch had been highly anticipated for a good while, contrary to all Microsoft expectations, Vista was received with great reluctance and unwillingness on the part of XP fans.
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13.12.2008 Microsoft: Vista! Vista! Vista!
Microsoft has a single generalized answer to all life's problems, but especially end user protection, and that answer is of course Windows Vista.
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14.8.2007More Vista SP1 answers
Ed Bott: Earlier this week I posted a
FAQ on Windows Vista Service Pack 1. In the
Talkback section of that post and via e-mail, I got a few additional questions. Here are the answers.
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14.02.2008Whos choosing XP over Vista?
Ed Bott: <...> As it turns out, Dell has published a large database of information about its current inventory for anyone to see, and I was able to
sift through it to form some surprising conclusions about the current relationship between XP and Vista in the PC marketplace. The short version:
Consumers have embraced Vista overwhelmingly, whereas small business is much more reluctant, preferring XP by a better than 2-to-1 margin.
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31.12.2007Six Vista annoyances fixed in Windows 7
Ed Bott: In this post, Ill show you six specific annoyances from Windows Vista that are fixed in Windows 7. Each one represents an easier, more
efficient way to accomplish a common task. Collectively, they constitute some pretty persuasive evidence that have it our way is no longer the
controlling design principle among Windows' designers.
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08.01.2009And the new name is Windows 7
Ed Bott: Last week I wondered whether the product currently code-named
Windows 7 would get a new
name for its release.
The answer, made official a few minutes ago, is no. In a post at the official Windows Vista Team Blog,
Microsoft VP Mike Nash announced that
Windows 7 will in fact be the final name...
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14.10.2008Look who's buying Vista Home Basic (hint: it's not home users)
Ed Bott: Who's buying new PCs with Windows Vista Home Basic? Judging by the name, you'd assume those OS editions would be loaded on underpowered
machines headed for tract homes in the burbs and studio apartments in the city. But you'd be wrong.
Based on my observations of
the PC market over the past year or two, I think consumers have rejected Home Basic in favor of Home Premium. But small, budget-conscious businesses
have embraced the low-end OS.
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10.10.2008Has Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows Easy Transfer Companion?
Ed Bott: Back in March 2006, more than two years ago, Microsoft
purchased Apptimum, Inc., which had
developed two system utilities for transferring programs and settings from one computer to another: the consumer-focused Alohabob PC Relocator and its
corporate cousin, Migrate DT. Roughly six months later, around the time Windows Vista was released to corporate customers, Microsoft
announced that it would release the software under a new name, Windows Easy Transfer Companion.
The stated plan in Redmond, as I wrote back in October 2006, was for
an extended public beta. winbeta.org -
19.07.2008How good is Microsoft's free antivirus software?
Ed Bott: Over the past few days I've been testing recent builds of Microsoft Security Essentials on two machines, one running a 32-bit edition of
Windows Vista, the other running a 64-bit copy of the Windows 7 release candidate. The software I describe in this post is a more recent build than
the current beta that has been floating around back channels on the Internet. Heres my report...
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19.06.2009Windows 7 Family Pack, Anytime Upgrade prices leak
Ed Bott: History has a way of repeating itself. Back in August 2006,
Amazon Canada inadvertently
published the price list for Windows Vista before it had been officially announced. In a distribution channel the size of Microsoft’s, leaks
are bound to happen.
Now, thanks to some similarly careless online retailers, I’ve found details confirming both the
availability and price of the Windows 7 Family Pack and three Anytime Upgrade products for Windows 7. As
I reported last week, Microsoft is apparently planning to release a Family Pack that will include
three Windows 7 Home Premium licenses for a discounted price...
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08.07.2009A deep dive into Windows 7 (build 6801)
Ed Bott: Microsoft took the wraps off Windows 7 for the first time at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles three weeks ago. That
public unveiling and the widespread availability of a pre-beta release of the Windows 7 code (build 6801) inspired a slew of first looks (
including mine). But after that initial flurry of activity, most of the interest quickly
subsided...
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18.11.2008What Microsoft can teach Apple about software updates
Ed Bott: Last summer, I looked at Apples announced plans for its Safari web browser and wondered out loud,
Is Steve Jobs planning a hostile takeover of the Windows desktop? Apples decision last week to begin
aggressively pushing Safari to any Windows user running iTunes (in other words, anyone with an iPod or an iPhone) made this part of my earlier post
look downright prescient...
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25.03.2008Is it OK to use OEM Windows on your own PC? Don't ask Microsoft
Ed Bott: If Microsoft expects its customers to take license agreements seriously, it has a responsibility to communicate the terms of those agreements
to its customers clearly and unambiguously. As I noted
earlier this month, Microsoft does a
generally poor job of explaining its complicated rules for how Windows licensing works. But I deliberately left one type of Windows license off that
list, because it deserves its own special place in the Corporate Communications Hall of Shame...
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16.11.2009Windows 7 - Revolutionary or evolutionary?
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: A couple of weeks ago Ed Bott and I decided that we’d each write a piece offering up our view of what’s new in
Windows 7. This is my piece. You can find Ed Bott’s thoughts on the subject
here. I think that it’s interesting that we both agree on two things - that
performance is key in Windows 7, and that the new OS has no single killer feature. winbeta.org -
20.01.2009Making sense of Windows' irrational pricing and licensing
Ed Bott: A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced it was
cutting the price of
retail, shrink-wrapped copies of Windows Vista. The new suggested price for an upgrade edition of Windows Vista Ultimate is $219, down from $299. The
cost of an upgrade edition of Vista Home Premium drops to $129 from $159. Those price cuts were effective with the release of Vista Service Pack 1 in
mid-March, and the actual prices that people pay (the so-called street price) will invariably be lower: Amazon, for example, is offering discounts on
the upgrade editions of Vista Ultimate and Home Premium for $195 and $95, respectively. The full versions are $300 and $216.
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15.04.2008Will the Windows 7 price be right?
Ed Bott: Engadget says theyve
unearthed a
confidential memo from Best Buy that gives away some pricing information for Windows 7.
According to the memo, Best Buy will
kick off its Technology Guarantee program on June 26. Beginning on that date, youll be able to buy a PC with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, or
Ultimate and get a coupon good for a free upgrade to Windows 7 when its released in October. That matches up with information Ive heard as well and is
consistent with how Microsoft has handled product launches in the past.
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06.06.2009Five things every Windows beta tester should know
Ed Bott: A few Windows 7 beta testers (and some high-profile pundits) are working themselves into a lather over the perceived shortage of feedback
from Microsoft. Ive read many of the complaints, public and private, and I think some beta testers need a refresher course in the basics of what it
means to be involved in the development of a product as complex as Windows.
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02.03.2009Good Microsoft, Bad Microsoft
Ed Bott: On paper and in theory, Microsoft is a single corporation, with something like 80,000 employees worldwide. In the real world, its actually a
collection of dozens, maybe even hundreds, of small companies that appear to act without a lot of central supervision.
That is
the only possible explanation for how the same company could do something totally amazing on the same day that it makes headlines with a ridiculously
boneheaded move.
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24.04.2008Five secrets to faster Vista starts
Oh, great. Here we go again.
The wise old men of mainstream tech journalism are once again repeating the conventional wisdom that
Vista is slow to start up and slow to shut down. Theyre wrong. I
proved this to my
satisfaction last spring (see also the
first and
second parts in the series) with tests on three separate systems, and Ive just
repeated the tests on a new crop of Vista PCs to verify that theres no new problem. The results are the same or better, perhaps reflecting incremental
improvements from the many reliability and performance updates since then.
In this post, Ill explain why theyre wrong and show
you how you can fix the problem if you encounter a slow startup.
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27.11.2007The Ultimate Windows 7 Upgrade FAQ
Ed Bott: Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote about
Microsofts licensing mess. Judging by my
mailbag, nothing has changed in the meantime. Microsoft has done an exceptional job of designing Windows 7, but a terrible job of communicating how it
will be sold. As Microsoft dribbles out details of the Windows 7 release schedule and product lineup, including pricing and upgrade offers, Ive been
deluged with questions from readers about whether they qualify for a Windows 7 upgrade and, if so, whats the simplest, most cost-effective way to
acquire it...
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24.07.2009Seven perfectly legal ways to get Windows 7 cheap (or even free)
Ed Bott: Only suckers pay retail.
If youve read any reviews of Windows 7, youve seen references to its price list, which ranges
from $120 for a Home Premium upgrade to $320 for a fully licensed copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.
Well, guess what? You dont have to
pay that much. Most people have much better options available, if you know where to look. As Ive detailed
here, the best deals go to PC manufacturers, which you benefit from if you buy a
new PC...
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06.11.2009The Vista license loophole that isnt
Ed Bott: Software licensing is often hard to understand. But that’s no excuse for so-called Windows experts to deliberately publish sensational
stories that turn the facts upside-down.
I’m talking about the fuss that Scott Dunn and Brian Livingston kicked up in
yesterday’s version of the
Windows Secrets
newsletter, in which Dunn breathlessly proclaimed the existence of an “upgrade hack” in Windows Vista that “allows end users to
purchase the ‘upgrade edition’ and install it on any PC with no need to purchase the more expensive ‘full edition.’”
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04.04.2008
