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Microsoft Ships Deleted Files with the Free Copies of Windows XP SP2

Despite the fact that Microsoft's business model is in no way similar to that associated with open source software, the Redmond company does offer free copies of its operating systems.
windows - comments - 23.1.2008

Recover Deleted Files or Folders in Windows Vista

The title of this article explains it all! DataRecovery is freeware and written by TOKIWA(a japanese) to undelete accidentally deleted files even from recycle bin.
download - comments - 29.4.2007

Vista Recovery Command Prompt

As good as the recovery console in is Windows-it really aint that secure at all. Did you know that the Command Prompt tool found in Vista’s System Recovery Options doesn’t require a User Name or Password? And that the Command Prompt provides Administrator level access to the hard drive? For multiple versions of Windows? All you need is a Vista Install DVD and you’re all set to go.
windows - comments - 18.6.2007

Vista SP1: Create a recovery disc

One of the new administrative tools Windows Vista Service Pack 1 provides is the ability to create a recovery disc. Thanks to pacpis for this news.
windows - comments - 1.10.2007

Microsoft Kicks Windows Vista Diagnostics and Recovery Up a Notch

The TechEd IT Forum 2007 in Barcelona, Spain, was the stage where Microsoft kicked the Windows Vista diagnostics and recovery up a notch.
windows - comments - 13.11.2007

Vista to Windows 7 Upgrades Kill Access to OEM Recovery Applications

Users that upgrade Windows Vista OEM computers to Windows 7 might find that the recovery applications set in place by the original equipment manufacturer are no longer accessible.
windows - comments - 9.10.2009

I/O Data Vista Approved Tuners Announced

This week I/O Data is launching its new line of TV tuners -- the company is ready to set the mark for Vista friendly video hardware.
windows - comments - 1.1.2007

Analyzing 3 months of Vista reliability data

A Windows Vista feature which I make use of regularly is the Reliability Monitor. While being far from an ideal metric for measuring reliability, it does offer users a simple way to tell if their system is behaving or misbehaving.
windows - comments - 25.3.2008

Offline Files in Vista

One of the key things that we focused on for Windows Vista was improving the experience for mobile (laptop) users. If you are like me, you spend quite a bit of time running around with a laptop. However, when I am in my office, I tend to use my desktop. The primary way that I share files between my desktop and my laptop is by storing them on a Windows Server (it's also the primary way that I make sure that my files get backed up).
windows - comments - 1.2.2007

OpenOffice Password Recovery

Thanks to pacpis for this news in our forum. OpenOffice Password Recovery is an "all-in-one" solution for effective recovery of passwords to open OpenOffice documents and instant removal of any type of document protection.
download - comments - 23.4.2007

Ways to Search for Files and Documents in Windows Vista

Searching in Windows Vista has taken a great change, improvement and enhancement in Windows Vista, and integrated into Windows Vista new and improved file and data management that Microsoft called Windows Vista’s new information visualization, organization, and search features.
windows - comments - 15.12.2006

Moving the Offline Files Cache in Windows Vista

Several customers have asked us how to move the Offline Files cache location from the default location (c:windowscsc) to another volume. Here is a procedure for doing this.
windows - comments - 31.12.2006

Windows Vista and Exported Event Log Files

Here on the Performance Team, we recently had a discussion about the pains associated with viewing exported Event Log (.evt) files from Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 on a Windows Vista machine.
windows - comments - 15.10.2007

Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible

In a rare discussion on the severity of the Windows malware scourge, a Microsoft security official said businesses should consider investing in an automated process to wipe hard drives and reinstall operating systems as a practical way to recover from malware infestation.
microsoft - comments - 4.4.2006

Windows Vista Genuine Validation Fails Due to Incorrect BIOS Data

Thanks to Steve Jobs for this post in his blog. Even if the operating system was activated properly.
windows - comments - 27.6.2007

Stop the Windows Vista Features and Services Harvesting User Data for Microsoft

There is a constant flow of communication between Windows Vista and Microsoft. A collection of features and services across Microsoft's latest desktop operating system exchange data with locations on the Internet, including those belonging to the Redmond company.
windows - comments - 19.8.2007

Introducing Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)

The Windows Recovery Environment (aka Windows RE aka WinRE) team would use this blog to share information, tricks and tips about WinRE with support professionals and end-users of Windows.
windows - comments - 18.9.2006

Download Windows 7 System Recovery Disc

Most of the users are impressed with Microsoft latest operating system Windows 7 thanks to aggressive marketing by Microsoft.
download - comments - 14.10.2009

Download Windows 7 System Recovery Discs

With Windows 7 released and currently making its way to shelves in time for the holiday season, we've taken this opportunity to upgrade our copy of the official Windows System Recovery Discs for compatibility with Windows 7.
download - comments - 16.10.2009

Microsoft: Some Free Vista (+SP1) to Go Along with the Free XP SP2 Downloads?

Free downloads of Microsoft's operating systems have been made available throughout 2007, and the Redmond company is ready to take it one step further.
windows - comments - 5.2.2008

How can I extract the files from a Windows Vista Microsoft Update Standalone Package (MSU)

The new MSU format doesn't support the old /x type switches to extract the content. It also can't be run on a pre-Vista OS.
windows - comments - 3.4.2007

Windows 7 Data Corruption

Microsoft warned that testers of Windows 7 could come across data-corruption issues on various machines including computers from Lenovo and HP.
windows - comments - 31.3.2009

50 ways to lose your data

Disk drives are marvelous devices. Especially when they go “clunk” and stop working. I’m not kidding: at least you know your data is hosed. I prefer that to the silent data corruption you don’t find out about until you can’t access a file or your OS starts freezing. Or a RAID rebuild fails.
common - comments - 8.8.2007

Windows 7 Search for Data Anywhere It Lives

Windows 7 has long evolved past its precursor, Windows Vista. One key aspect of this evolution is the operating system's ability to stretch Windows Explorer well beyond the limitations of a local machine, or even a local network.
windows - comments - 24.3.2009

Inside a Microsoft data center

It takes mucho computes and terabytes to create the 3D models used in Microsoft’s Virtual Earth online mapping service. So how do they cram 5,000 cores and 10,000 terabytes - 10 petabytes - of storage into 3 40 ft. shipping containers?
microsoft - comments - 25.3.2009

Hackers steal government, corporate data

Hackers stole information from the Department of Transportation and several U.S. corporations by seducing employees with fake job-listings on ads and e-mail, a computer security firm said on Monday.
common - comments - 17.7.2007

Microsoft 2008: From Desktop to Data Center

Year In Review. Microsoft had a pretty good year, despite the fourth quarter's global economic crisis.
microsoft - comments - 30.12.2008

Data Protection Manager 2010 Beta

On September 29, 2009, Microsoft released the beta version of the third generation of System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM), previously called “DPM v3” or “Zinger”.
download - comments - 30.9.2009

States rush to remove data on residents from websites

States across the USA are furiously removing sensitive data from official websites. The task highlights challenges facing states with sites full of personal information on residents, from Social Security numbers to bank account numbers.
microsoft - comments - 24.4.2006

Trojan poses as Windows screen to collect data

Symantec has warned of a Trojan that has posed as a Windows activation program and duped users into entering credit card information.
windows - comments - 7.5.2007

Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download

If you're like most PC users, you got Windows Vista with a new PC or laptop. And if you're like 99% of the population, you get your new machine from one of the major manufacturers. Dell, Acer, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, all have one thing in common: they don't give you a real Windows Vista installation disc with your purchase. Instead, they bundle what they call a "recovery disc" (that's if you're lucky - otherwise you'll have a recovery partition instead).



It doesn't matter that you just paid a thousand dollars for a machine that comes with a valid Windows Vista license - they just don't want to spend the money (or perhaps take on the responsibility) of giving you a Windows Vista installation DVD to accompany your expensive purchase.




winbeta.org - 19.01.2008

Download: Windows Vista x64 Recovery Disc

NeoSmart: Ever since we first made available the Windows Vista Recovery Disc for download back in January, we've been inundated with requests for an x64-compatible version. Flash-forward to three months later, and it's finally here!




winbeta.org - 08.04.2008

IBM enters the data protection and recovery business

IBM today filled a hole in its storage product line-up by buying FilesX, a rising star in the category of continuous data protection (CDP) and data recovery software for Windows...
betanews.com - 11.04.2008

Staples launches data recovery services

Staples Inc. announced on Tuesday that it is partnering with Seagate Technology LLC to provide in-store data recovery services and information retrieval expertise.



As part of the agreement, 1,400 Staples office supply retail stores in the U.S. will offer free walk-in evaluations to determine whether lost data can be retrieved from various types of storage media, including desktop and laptop hard drives, external drives, flash cards, memory sticks, tape and optical devices. If recovery is possible, the company will charge various sums for the service.



The company said that Seagate experts trained its in-store EasyTech services staff in data forensic and diagnostic training techniques and on how to use the Seagate File Recovery software.




winbeta.org - 21.11.2007

Recover "Create a recovery disc" on Vista SP1 RTM

Long Zheng: During the betas, one of the few new functionality Windows Vista Service Pack 1 added was the ability to create a Windows recovery CD with an easy-to-use GUI interface. Up and until then, it was slightly harder but still possible to do so through a command line.



Whilst all Vista install DVDs include the recovery functionality natively, it’s probably useful to burn yourself a spare copy to take with you. You can also download an ISO from NeoSmart.net but you might not have bandwidth to spare...




winbeta.org - 24.03.2008

IT Managers Put Data Recovery to the Test

Bill Snow and Ed Eades are a couple of IT managers with very different businesses and data center setups.



But they are totally in sync on at least one thing: their data recovery systems are of supreme importance, and nothing is left to chance.



Snow, IT manager at Moss & Associates building contractors in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has a hub-and-spoke kind of system, in which each construction site becomes a remote location for the main data center. He has two data center locations in the Southeast and can switch them on and off at will, using a single Web-based control console.




winbeta.org - 09.05.2008

Microsoft Calls Reports of Missing Outlook Files 'Not Accurate'

In a Microsoft blog post today, a product manager tells OneCare users their Outlook e-mail files aren't really gone: "not that the files are deleted, just that they can't find them."..
betanews.com - 17.03.2007

Automated System Recovery (ASR) in Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1

Automated System Recovery or ASR as it is more commonly known is the Windows API set to capture the configuration of disks and volumes on a system and restore them in bare metal recovery scenarios. During such recoveries, backup applications (requesters) invoke ASR to restore the disks and volumes prior to putting back the operating system, applications and data.



For the purpose of bare metal recovery scenarios, the disks and volumes in a system can be divided into two broad categories “ critical and non-critical. Critical volumes are those containing system state or operating system components and include the boot and system volumes. A volume containing the Active Directory database on a domain controller is also an example of a critical volume. Critical disks as youve likely guessed are those that contain critical volumes.



Once the operating system and data have been put back, requesters may perform more recovery operations after the system is booted into the restored operating system.




winbeta.org - 12.02.2008

Windows Recovery Environment

A new team blog has been opened on the Microsoft Developer Network, talking this time about a derivative product of Windows' Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), called WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment).

The recovery platform features two important advancements, an automatic diagnosis and repair of boot problems, and a centralized platform for advanced recovery tools. WinRE is only available in Windows Vista and is intended as a replacement to Windows XP's old recovery console. The feature is already available into Windows Vista RC1 DVDs and OEM may also include it preinstalled in some machines' hard drive.


jcxp.net - 19.09.2006

Microsoft Inadvertently Ships Deleted Files

Microsofts use of virtual machines to distribute evaluation versions of software saves the end user much of the pain of having to configure test systems. However, it also introduces a new quality control issue by exposing the full dimension of data that was on the system when the virtual machines disk image was created, and last month, that issue caught Microsoft off guard.



The company began making disk images, or Virtual Hard Drives (VHDs), with evaluation versions available on a limited basis in 2005 and more generally accessible through Microsoft TechNet in November 2006, and had provided a way for partners to build their own prepackaged software stacks, using the Virtual PC technology it acquired from the now-defunct Connectix in 2003.



SD Times in December learned that at least one of the machine images available for download at TechNet did not have its free space wiped, and files thought deleted proved recoverable from an evaluation copy of the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image.




winbeta.org - 22.01.2008

Seagate confronts an overflow of bricked hard drives

Faced with a firmware bug fix that is making many of its hard disk drives even harder -- to read, that is -- Seagate is offering a firmware upgrade and free data recovery services if users still cannot read their data...
betanews.com - 21.01.2009

Panda Labs warns of talking virus

Computer users should be wary of a new virus that deletes important files and then hijacks the sound card to say "Your system files have been deleted. Sorry."

It's a new Trojan detected by Panda Labs, the company behind the fourth largest security software suite Panda Software.

Users who catch the BotVoice.A Trojan will hear the phrase, "You have been infected. I repeat, you have been infected and your system files have been deleted. Sorry. Have a nice day and bye bye," on a continuous loop while the virus attempts to wipe the hard drive clean...
winbeta.org - 06.07.2007

Eraser 5.82

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Works with Windows  95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Windows 2003 Server and DOS.Eraser is Free software and its source code is released under GNU General Public License. The patterns used for overwriting are based on Peter Gutmann's paper "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory" and they are selected to effectively remove magnetic remnants from the hard drive. Other methods include the one defined in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual of the US Department of Defence and overwriting with pseudorandom data. You can also define your own overwriting methods.

Eraser Features:

* Erases Files and Folders.
* Erases Files/Folders that were only previously 'deleted'.
* Erases all hard drives using 'Darik's Boot and Nuke' method.
* Erases Encrypted Files and Drives.
* Erases FreeSpace on 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS.
* Erases contents of the Recycle Bin.
* Erases Network Files, Floppy Disks, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW.
* Supports FAT32 and NTFS Files Systems
* Erases Compressed Files and Drives and more...


Read full story.....
neowin.net - 26.12.2006

How to Improve Microsoft Exchange Data Protection

Microsoft Exchange has become a mission-critical application in today's enterprise. Today's new requirements for Microsoft Exchange involve improving the data backup process, as well as the data recovery and data retention capabilities of Microsoft Exchange. For these requirements to be effective now, a higher level of integration is a must. Knowledge Center contributor George Crump explains how you can better manage Microsoft Exchange's data backup process and its data recovery and data retention capabilities.




winbeta.org - 11.11.2008

Microsoft Releases Backup Software To Testers

Microsoft is rolling out the first release candidate for System Center Data Protection Manager 2007, the vendor's flagship backup and recovery offering. DPM 2007 melds traditional nightly tape backup with continuous data protection, which backs up data every 15 minutes to enable users to recover deleted, corrupted or modified files.

In the continuous data protection market, there are vendors pushing solutions that can back up data on the fly in real time, but these are too expensive for small and medium sized companies, said Jason Buffington, senior technical product manager for Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager group.


neowin.net - 04.10.2007

Windows Vista Backup - questions answered

James Senior: There were a lot of comments in my post about Windows Vista backup I made in the summer and I wanted to follow up to some of the questions that I'd received having spoken to the guys who developed the features over in Redmond.



Here are some of their responses:

• 0x8007001B: Please check the firmware of the the DVD Drive is up-to-date
  
• 0x8007001B: The software knows how to swap DVDs
  
• My recovery drive: don't touch it, it is perfect the way it is. Do NOT delete files - this thing is a life saver
  
• 0X8007045D: please get the etls files from under c:WindowsLogsWindowsBackup and c:WindowsLogsCompletePC and we will take a look
  
• My recovery drive is almost full: exactly the same thing: Do NOT delete files, do not put files, this thing is a life saver.
  
• 160GB: depends on the source drive. Backing up 500GB on 160GB usually doesn't work. I recommend 2.5 times the size of the source disk.

Hope this helps with some of your queries.




winbeta.org - 22.10.2007

Windows recovery loophole lets hackers in

Windows Vista may be Microsoft's most secure operating system to date, but researchers are still finding some glaring loopholes for hackers to exploit. Here is the latest: all you need is a Vista Install DVD to get admin level access to a hard drive.

The loophole arises because the Command Prompt tool in Vista's System Recovery Options fails to request user name or passwords before handing over access to PCs running the operating system.

The hack, discovered by security researcher Kimmo Rousku, only works locally. Physical access to a target PC is a must. Even so, the potential for mischief (such as deleting directories or copying files on targeted PCs) is enormous. Hackers don't even necessarily need to run a DVD. "Its easy to create a bootable USB flash memory that works in a similar way," Rousku notes. ..
winbeta.org - 13.06.2007

Vista SP1: Create a recovery disc

Long Zheng: One of the new administrative tools Windows Vista Service Pack 1 provides is the ability to create a recovery disc. At first, the name might fool you into thinking the type of discs system manufacturers provide to you when you purchase a new computer to restore your computer to a factory state, but this is not that. A more appropriate name would be œWindows repair disc�.



To be blunt, this tool creates merely a slimmed-down Windows installation disc. It takes a normal Windows installation disc image and strips out all the œinstallation� functionality leaving only the repair tools and common system files.



What a lot of people dont know (or need to know) is that their Windows Vista DVDs are in fact running Windows PE, an extremely lightweight version of Windows that can be booted from removable media for the purpose of system maintenance. Up until now, creating a Windows PE image was not an easy task. This tool basically simplifies it down to just two clicks.




winbeta.org - 29.09.2007

Apple hides account info in DRM-free music, too

With great power comes great responsibility, and apparently with DRM-free music comes files embedded with identifying information. Such is the situation with Apple's new DRM-free music: songs sold without DRM still have a user's full name and account e-mail embedded in them, which means that dropping that new DRM-free song on your favorite P2P network could come back to bite you.

We started examining the files this morning and noticed our names and e-mail addresses in the files, and we've found corroboration of the find at http://www.tuaw.com/2007/05/30 /tuaw-tip-dont-torrent-that-so ng/>TUAW, as well. But there's more to the story: Apple embeds your account information in all songs sold on the store, not just DRM-free songs. Previously it wasn't much of a big deal, since no one could imagine users sharing encrypted, DRMed content.

But now that DRM-free music from Apple is on the loose, the hidden data is more significant since it could theoretically be used to trace shared tunes back to the original owner. It must also be kept in mind that this kind of information could be spoofed...
winbeta.org - 31.05.2007

McAfee Gaffe Deletes Excel, Other Apps

An error within the virus definition file for McAfee's antivirus software marked several Microsoft Office components, some Adobe product applications, and several other programs as viruses. Depending on the settings, these files would be either quarantined or deleted...
betanews.com - 13.03.2006