New Vista Screen Shots Hit the Web
ActiveWin has posted some
new Windows Vista screen shots of Build 5268, which is the "Interim OEM build," according to the site. We are still hearing that
5270 is what will be designated as the December Windows Vista Community Technology Preview (CTP) build, however.
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19.12.2005 How to Change Windows Vista Boot Screen
Some of you remember how it was possible to change the boot logo screen of Windows 95/98. I'm not sure why anyone would go into the trouble of actually doing it, but it seems that it is possible to do the same for Windows Vista.
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19.11.2007 High quality image Vista boot screen
Some people found a way to change that black boot screen of Windows Vista RTM to a high quality one, the one that was supposed to be in before it was cut from the final version.
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19.11.2006 Black screen of darkness to haunt Vista pirates
Microsoft Windows' infamous "blue screen of death" has become synonymous with an operating system crash or freeze, but that's nothing compared with what users of pirated copies of Vista worldwide can expect from now -- a black screen of darkness.
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12.9.2007 Enable New Boot screen in Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2
Tired of the pathetic boot screen in current Vista builds? There is a new trick that will allow you to see what may be the new boot screen for Windows Vista.
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12.5.2006 Black Screen of Death for XP SP3 and Vista SP1 Upgrades
Microsoft has warned end users that performing Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 upgrades from copies of XP SP2 and Vista RTM, respectively, that have Onekey Recovery 5.0 installed will cause the operating systems to display a black screen following reboot.
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9.8.2008 In progress: Vista updates!
In progress right now is a beta testers chat with MS experts on the future of IE7 and Vista. Here are some parts of the chat that may be interesting to you... more to come shortly:
SamW [MS] (Expert):
Q: [17] When will you release the November CTP? Only 2 days left of November!
A: There will be no CTP for Vista in November because we are targeting for most features to be code-complete by end of December and resources efforts are going towards that effort. We should have a CTP in December before the Christmas holiday. These interim changes have no impact on our general availability target for Windows Vista. We are on track to deliver a high-quality Windows Vista in the 2nd half of 2006.
Paul Donnelly [MS] (Expert):
Q: [54] Can someone clear up what seems to be confusion on the groups over the release of Build 5259? Did it go to selected testers or TAP because date of release and extent seems confused. I notice Mario mentions it today.
A: A specific, small group of partners received access to 5259. It is an IDW build and has not gone through the CTP testing process.
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29.11.2005 Updates for Windows Vista
Here are new Updates for Windows Vista. (KB942089), (KB942089), (KB940069), (KB940069), (KB943544), (KB943544)..
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25.10.2007 Microsoft Releases Eight Updates for Vista
This week, Microsoft released some "important" updates for its newest operating system.
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28.6.2007 Security Updates for IE7 and Vista Beta 1 Available Now
Security updates for Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 and Internet Explorer in Windows Vista Beta 1 are now available from the Windows Vista/IE 7 beta downloads page on the Connect site. Direct links to these updates are also provided below. These security updates resolve a vulnerability in IE 7 Beta 1 and IE in Windows Vista Beta 1 that has already been addressed for released/supported versions of Internet Explorer by Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-052.
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Microsoft Releases First Batch of Updates for Vista
Microsoft has made the first batch of updates for Vista available via the built-in Windows Update client. If you don't see the 22 updates, manually "Check for updates".
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30.1.2007 Updated List of updates for Vista SP1
This guy Aaron Tiensivu keeps a VERY good list of non-critical Vista updates and this looks like it could be part of SP1.
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14.6.2007 New Performance and Reliability Updates for Vista SP1
A reliability and performance update is available for download for Windows Vista Service Pack 1. This specific release targets all Windows Vista editions, provided that they have the first service pack integrated.
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25.6.2008 New Updates Available on MDC for Vista/XP/Server 2003
Microsoft have released a few updates on the Microsoft Download Center to resolve various issues in Vista/XP/Server 2003. Thanks to pacpis for this news.
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25.7.2007 Device driver updates causing Vista to deactivate
After weeks of gruelling troubleshooting, I've finally had it confirmed by Microsoft Australia and USA -- something as small as swapping the video card or updating a device driver can trigger a total Vista deactivation.
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24.10.2007 Critical Vista, IE 7 patches highlight MS security updates
This months batch of patches from Microsoft includes six bulletins covering at least 15 vulnerabilities, including several critical code execution holes in Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7.
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13.6.2007 Microsoft Updates the Default Spy Tool in Vista SP1
In order to improve the quality of the software information collected from the users' operating systems and sent to Microsoft, the Redmond company introduced an update to the spy tool included by default into every copy of Windows Vista, following the release of Service Pack 1.
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13.6.2008 Microsoft releases Security updates for Beta Windows Vista, Server 2008
Microsoft releases Security updates for Beta Windows Vista, Server 2008!
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15.1.2008 Matrix Screen Saver
Whether you're a newbie or senior software engineer, you want your screen savers to look cool, and this one fits the bill. It emulates the green Matrix code you see in the movie, with characters running vertically down the black background. You can set the resolution, the speed of the falling glyphs, and other options.
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SumoDance Screen Saver
Whose life can't be uplifted by the site of rows of dancing sumo wrestlers? Life's not so bad once you get to know these guys, as rows of them dance, bounce, and stomp to a goofy tune.
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UFO Screen Saver
Watch flying saucers zoom across a virtual cityscape. To preview the screen saver, unzip both files and put them in your c:windowssystem directory. Then go to the Control Panel, click the Display icon, and select the Screen Saver tab.
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Turkey Screen Saver
Adorn your desktop with some turkeys strutting across a simple black background. As the turkeys amble across the screen, they show a little knowledge of what will become of them Thanksgiving day--making for a poignant scene of innocence the moment before all is corrupted. You can choose from one to ten turkeys; the program also offers password protection.
Note that the screen saver shows the vendor's name on your desktop, and although this brash self-promotion can seem a bit annoying, it is tolerable--especially since the program is free, and because it's seasonal, you'll probably want it on your desktop for only a short time.
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Sea Life Screen Saver
Display a variety of sea life, including jellyfish, dolphins, sand sharks, and other underwater denizens. This screen saver works best at a resolution of 800 by 600 pixels, although 640 by 480 is also supported.
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Hubble Images Screen Saver
Take your mind to the heavens every time your computer is left idle. The Hubble Images Screen Saver displays images of nebulae and celestial bodies, captured by the world-famous telescope.
There's no other information concerning the images than the names, so if you wish to learn more about spacey sights with names like "Eta Carinae" or "NGC-3603," you'll have to look elsewhere. But the full-screen NASA photographs will jettison you to places far removed from this mudane, terrestrial existence.
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3D Dissolve Screen Saver
Watch 3D objects in random sizes and colors as they spin and transform. You might not see the same morphing twice. This updated version is smaller in size and has fixed a system key bug in Windows 95B.
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Halloween Witch Screen Saver
This screen saver shows a witch flying across the night sky, dropping pumpkins. A Halloween banner also slides down the screen.
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Flying Christmas Screen Saver
Watch Santa as he flies across your screen while Christmas music plays in the background. You specify the number of Santas to display and how fast they fly. You can also choose how long the included photos display before they fade out. The registered version contains ten photos.
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3D Santa Screen Saver
This screen saver features a 3D Santa Claus performing a variety of acrobatic acts (and a few unusual stunts, too). If you have a sound card, you can listen to some accompanying effects, as well.
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Rainy Night Screen Saver
Lull yourself to sleep with this screen saver, which adds rain and the delicate sound of distant thunder to your desktop.
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Models Celebrity screen saver
Angelica Bridges, Cindy Crawford, Meg Ryan Katherine Heigl, Pamela Anderson, Stacy Keibler are just a few of the Hot Models and Celebrities included in this Babe-Packed screensaver. You can also easily configure your favorite image from this screen saver as your desktop background.
(FREE - Win 95+ / 1.31 MB Easy install/uninstall)
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Xbox 360 owners reporting blank video output issue
Although the reports are
limited to what seems like
one
thread on the Xbox 360
forums, several Xbox 360
owners are saying that their
consoles are starting to stop
displaying video. Several
users say the screen goes
blank during gameplay, and
white lines appear at the
bottom of the screen, although
the audio continues to come
through.
At least one
user reports seeing the red
aspect of the color signal
failing to come through, with
the image then failing
completely. It sounds like
most users with the problem
are encountering this after a
fair degree of time with the
console, after no previous
problems. For now, we'll just
have to add this problem to
the list of other technical
issues with Xbox 360:
hopefully it won't go any
further than the current
anecdotal evidence.
winbeta.org -
25.06.2007Enable New Boot screen in
Vista Beta 2
Tired of the pathetic boot
screen in current Vista
builds? There is a new trick
that will allow you to see
what may be the new boot
screen for Windows Vista.
This new boot screen
is still not what we have been
expecting but is a move in the
right direction compared to
the white progress bar screen
currently used.
Enable New Boot Screen:
1. Click on the
start orb and type in
"MSCONFIG" in the textbox.
2. Once the
System Configuration tool
loads, click on the Boot tab.
3. Under Boot
Options check "No GUI
Boot".
4. Hit
OK and reboot to see the new
screen
More
tweaks at source!
jcxp.net -
12.05.2006Why does Windows XP generate so many logon failure events?
Eric Fitzgerald: I got the question last week, why there are so many logon failure events on Windows XP when it is not domain joined.
The short answer is, by design. (Yes, bad design.)
The longer answer is that the shell team is working around the fact that
there is no "tell me if this user account has a blank password" API.
When in a workgroup (not domain joined), Windows XP
displays a welcome screen that has little pictures (called "tiles") for each user who is permitted to log on to the computer.
The shell team wanted the experience that when you click on a tile, that you will immediately be logged on if your password is blank (we have good
data that a large percentage of home users have blank passwords). They only want you to be prompted for a password if you actually have a password.
Fair enough, and it also helps with accessibility for people for whom typing is challenging.
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10.11.2007Darn that pesky euro! RSS feed problem traced to currency character
Well, as soon as we start publicizing our RSS feeds -- and we have one new one just for Betanews Alpha -- we get reports of problems with them. I'm
able to corroborate some of what many Firefox users are reporting: With some Firefox installations, our RSS feeds have been coming up blank. Some,
though not all.
One thing we noticed: On systems where Firefox is installed along with a separate RSS news reader, our RSS feed pages
do
not turn up blank in Firefox. In fact, they look fine. On systems where no separate RSS reader is installed, our feed pages
do turn up
blank.
Our infrastructure man -- or perhaps better put, "InfraMan," Eric Steil -- discovered the problem this afternoon: Believe it
or not, it has to do with the character for the euro, the European currency. I won't type that character here because it may cause the problem, up
until Eric installs the solution. Believe it or not, for Firefox browsers that rely on Live Bookmarks, the inclusion of the euro character in the page
causes the whole feed to come up blank. Anyway, we've tracked down the problem, and we're implementing the fix right away...
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20.01.2009Protect Your Windows XP Computer with a Blank Password?
Weblog Digital Inspiration
offers some counterintuitive advice for users who don't protect their Windows XP computers with passwords more difficult than
simplistic passwords like
abc123: Don't use a password at all. In fact, in
this article from Microsoft, the blank password option is described as
more secure than a weak password provided 1) you only have one computer or you don't need to network your computers and 2) you trust everyone who has
physical access to the computer.
winbeta.org -
07.03.2008Vista SP1 goes live on Automatic Updates, but gradually
It's apparently safe to try this now: Microsoft stated this afternoon it's going forward with plans to deploy Windows Vista Service Pack 1 via
Automatic Updates...
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24.04.2008European Vista and XP to get browser ballot screen too
Microsoft has confirmed that it will be distributing a ballot screen software update to users, in Europe, of Windows XP and Windows Vista. Last week
Neowin reported that Microsoft has proposed the idea of a ballot screen to the EU. European consumers who buy a new Windows PC with Internet Explorer
set as their default browser would be shown a ‘ballot screen' from which they could, if they wished, easily install competing browsers from
the Web. If this proposal is ultimately accepted, Microsoft will ship Windows in Europe with the full functionality available in the rest of the
world.
Read full
story.....
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28.07.2009Windows 7 695x boot screen revealed
Chris Holmes, Windows Enthusiast and blogger, has posted a short and somewhat blurry video of the new Windows 7 boot screen in action. The latest
sign of changes for Windows 7 signals a departure from the Vista boot up screen. Microsoft kept the boot screen simple with Vista after asking BIOS
makers, PC makers, and video card makers to remove product advertisement screens at system boot. Microsoft created a simple boot method which it
claimed took 6 seconds off initial boot compared to the more graphical boot that it had originally planned with the Longhorn betas.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
04.12.2008Apple releases iTunes 8 update to fix Vista blue screen of death
UPDATED Apple has released an updated version of iTunes 8 to correct the blue screen of death problems some users have been experiencing after
installing the software. The issue relates to a driver that conflicts with Windows Vista...
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13.09.2008Vista Beta to Get Security
Updates, Too
Although Microsoft is fond of
saying that Windows Vista is
the most secure operating
system ever, a member of the
operating system's security
team disclosed this week that
the OS will be the first beta
product to be serviced by
security updates...
betanews.com -
18.08.2006First Windows Vista SP1 Prerequisite Update for Ultimate/Enterprise Users Now Available
Two or three updates are required before you install Windows Vista Service Pack 1. The updates that are required depend on the edition of Windows
Vista that you are upgrading. Prerequisite update 935509 is only applicable to Windows Vista Enterprise and to Windows Vista Ultimate. The other
prerequisite updates that are discussed in this article apply to all editions of Windows Vista.
Before Windows Vista SP1 is
released, these prerequisite updates will be delivered to most users through Windows Update as part of regularly scheduled monthly updates. These
updates will be installed together with other updates that will require that you restart the computer. An additional restart will not be required.
Therefore, this delivery method will simplify installation of these prerequisite updates.
Customers who decide to install Windows
Vista SP1 by using the stand-alone installer, instead of by using Windows Update, will not have to install the prerequisite packages separately. The
prerequisite packages will be installed by the stand-alone installer if they are necessary.
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08.01.2008Non-security Vista update rolls out Tuesday including SP1 prerequisite for BitLocker
Nick Whitel: Tomorrow, Tuesday 8 January, we are releasing several non-security update packages via Windows Update. The updates include the regular
monthly Malicious Software Removal Tool and Windows Mail Junk Mail Filter, two updates in our regular series of Windows Vista updates (KB943302 for
application compatibility and KB943899 for reliability and performance), and one update of particular notice: KB935509. Similar to previous updates
that enhanced Windows Vistas performance and reliability, these updates will be distributed automatically through Windows Update.
Tomorrows KB935509 release is a little different than past updates. It is a prerequisite for installing SP1 and is applicable only for Windows
Vista Ultimate and Enterprise users, because it only affects versions of Windows Vista supporting BitLocker Drive Encryption.
winbeta.org -
08.01.2008Leaked Vista Hotfixes to be broadly available in the near future
Microsoft Corp. confirmed
today that the Vista hot-fix
packs that have leaked to the
Web will be issued to all
users.
"We
plan to make these two updates
broadly available via Windows
Update in the near future," a
company spokeswoman said in an
e-mail.
The
two updates, dubbed "Vista
Performance and Reliability
Pack" and "Vista
Compatibility and Reliability
Pack," were posted over the
weekend to a third-party
download site after being
leaked from a group of Windows
Server 2008 testers. The list
of fixes -- which include
performance improvements to
Vista's sleep mode and speed
increases in copying or moving
large directories -- led some
users yesterday to speculate
that the updates were the
forerunner of Vista Service
Pack 1 (SP1), a major upgrade
that many businesses want to
see before they widely deploy
the new operating system. ..
winbeta.org -
01.08.2007Microsoft Plans Six Security Updates, Two For Windows Vista
Gearing up for next
week's Patch Tuesday release,
Microsoft announced on
Thursday that it's preparing
six security updates -- four
of them for critical bugs.
One
security update actually can
patch multiple vulnerabilities
so it's unclear at this point
how many flaws next week's
releases will fix. Microsoft,
though, did announce in its
Security Bulletin Advance
Notification that each of the
four critical updates will
affect Windows software, while
only one affects Internet
Explorer. Another one will
address issues in Outlook
Express, as well as Windows
Mail.
One critical
vulnerability affects Windows
Mail in Windows Vista and
Windows Vista x64 edition.
There another patch for
Windows Vista that's rated
"moderate"...
winbeta.org -
08.06.2007Black screen of darkness to haunt Vista pirates
Microsoft Windows' infamous "Blue Screen of Death" has become synonymous with an operating system crash or freeze, but that's nothing compared
with what users of pirated copies of Vista worldwide can expect from now - a black screen of darkness.
In an e-mail to a large
Windows Vista OEM distributor titled "Pirated Vista - A darkness descends!", a local Microsoft representative made it quite clear what Vista pirates
can expect to happen to their unlicenced installations.
A copy of this e-mail was obtained by Computerworld:
Good Afternoon, As of this week, Microsoft have
activated a function in Vista called 'Reduced Functionality'. This is a specific
function in Vista which effectively disables non genuine copies of Windows. Therefore, anyone who has a pirated copy of Vista will
experience...
winbeta.org - 11.09.2007
Vista's Purple Screen of Death
We've all heard of (and, quite unfortunately, experienced) the infamous Blue Screen of Death. Some of us who tested the earlier Windows Vista beta builds had the unique experience of trying out the Red of Screen Death, which occurred when the bootloader
experienced an un-handled exception (we experienced more than our fair share of these during the early days of EasyBCD development!). And then
there's Vista's Purple Screen of
Death, which few have seen.
winbeta.org - 04.12.2007
Windows Defender Gets Updates
It's been a long time since
Vista Beta testers have seen
updates for Windows Defender.
But finally on Tuesday, A new
category for updates specified
for the program appeared on
the Windows Update site, the
category for the updates has
been classified under
"Windows Products".
Along with that,
another category named
"Definition Updates" will be
available for newly released
definition updates for the
program.
At the
moment, Windows Defender is
only available to Windows
Vista testers and the updates
will only become available to
those who are testing
Microsoft's new Update
Service Pack 1.
jcxp.net - 17.01.2006
Windows Vista Beta 2 Screen
Shots
You Can See Windows Vista Beta
2 Screen Shots On Our
Site..
windowsvistax.com - 07.06.2006
Windows Vista SP1 Prerequisite Releases Coming Up
Microsoft Update Team: This week we're releasing two more prerequisites for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 that will be coming later this quarter. We
wanted to let you know about them because they are both marked as Important updates (and theyre a little different than usual).
KB938371 is a multi-component update that supports the successful install of SP1 and allows it to be uninstalled. KB937287 updates the Windows
Vista Servicing Stack. Both updates (required before SP1 will be offered via Windows Update) are being made available now to reduce the number of
reboots and make installation of the service pack easier.
Even if you're not ready to install the service pack once it's
released, you'll want to install these updates because they'll help increase performance and reduce failures for the installation of other
updates.
winbeta.org - 12.02.2008
Vista SP1 Offers Power Efficiency Enhancements
Most if not all the attention surrounding Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has been around performance, reliability and compatibility, but you probably
didn’t know SP1 also makes short strides in terms of Vista’s power efficiency. And by short, I really do mean short because we’re
talking about improvements in the magnitude of only a couple percents. That in the context of 5 hours battery life is a mere additional 6 minutes.
Having said that, some is better than none.
The first of two improvements is in the display subsystem. Starting from SP1, the VSync in the
Desktop Window Manager (DWM), intended to give a glitch free experience, no longer runs continuously. Instead, the interrupts are disabled after a
short timeout period where no screen updates has occurred. The catch is that a screen update can be anything from a blinking cursor to a flashing
network icon, so the chances of a screen idle might be a lot less than you would imagine. The second improvement is in the audio subsystem and only
concerns those with HD Audio codecs. Whereas in the RTM, the sound card would never idle even if there was no activity, in SP1, the default idle
timeout for has been changed to 30 seconds; after the time, the OS will switch the audio device to a D3 power state, meaning the device should not
consume any energy at all.
neowin.net - 23.02.2008
