Windows 7 Migration Tool to Move From Windows XP to Windows 7
In past we had covered guide on upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7. Unfortunately there is no direct upgrade path from Windows Xp to Windows 7 and you have to use Windows Easy Transfer utility if you want to move your user and program files from XP to Windows 7.
download -
comments -
22.11.2009 Vista SP1, and then Windows 7, Windows 8 and Non-Windows Midori
2008 saw the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008, but Microsoft's journey on the Windows path is far from over.
windows -
comments -
5.8.2008 Windows 7 RC Brings Windows XP Mode Beta and Windows Virtual PC Beta
The Release Candidate of Windows 7 will bring with it the first Beta development milestones for Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC.
windows -
comments -
29.4.2009 Windows Reactivator 2.0 - Backup & Restore Activation Status of Windows XP with Windows Reactivator
Every time you reinstall your windows XP you need to reactivate it online using your product key & worst if you lost your Windows XP product key.
download -
comments -
3.6.2009 Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Feb 26th, 2008. Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks.
windows -
comments -
28.2.2008 Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9 – 1 Billion and Counting
Is Windows dead? Or, at least, is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft's proprietary operating system?
windows -
comments -
15.9.2008 Week in Microsoft: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9
This week in Microsoft, we covered 128-bit support possibly coming to Windows 8 and Windows 9, Windows 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, Bill Gates, Office 2010 Starter, Microsoft MVP status, Windows Live Hotmail, the EU, and Microsoft Security Essentials.
windows -
comments -
10.10.2009 Windows Vista Build 5231 and Windows Media Player 11 Leaks!
Windows Vista Build 5231 has leaked to the web. The new build is said to include Windows Media Player 11 included. View the screenshots below! This is a Main branch build that was released on September 12th, 2005 at 8:20PM.
windows -
comments -
Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Official Release Dates
A French website, PC Inpact, has posted the official Microsoft product change request forms for Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3.
windows -
comments -
6.2.2008 Download Free Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 Straight from Microsoft
Via the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. That's right! Microsoft is offering access to free downloads of Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2.
download -
comments -
6.3.2008 Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception.
windows -
comments -
27.5.2008 Windows Fiji Has RTMd as Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008
Microsoft officially confirmed that Windows Fiji has been released to manufacturing.
windows -
comments -
18.7.2008 Windows 7 Beta Doesn't Play Nice with Windows Azure Cloud OS Tools
The promise for Windows 7 is that it will deliver an evolution when it will come down to stretching into the Cloud compared to its precursor, Windows Vista.
windows -
comments -
16.1.2009 Internet Explorer 8 MUI packs for Windows XP, Windows Server 03
As detailed in our previous blog post, the following Internet Explorer MUI packs shipped today.
download -
comments -
17.5.2009 Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta adds Windows 7 support
Microsoft announced the release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta, along with news that it will feature Windows 7 support.
windows -
comments -
20.7.2009 Check for RAM Error or Defect in Windows 7 and Vista with Windows Memory Diagnostic
Memory or RAM is one of the most important electronic hardware component on a computer systems, not only in term of speed or clock frequency and size, but also the reliability of hardware ecosystem of the RAM sticks or memory modules and its subsystem.
common -
comments -
1.10.2009 The Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 Threat Mitigation Guide
Well, Microsoft still puts effort in old Windows versions...
microsoft -
comments -
31.3.2006 Windows Vista comes with 19,500 drivers on DVD – more on Windows Update
Ever needed to find a driver for a product and wished Windows would either just have the driver in it, or that their Windows Update service could provide it? With Vista, it can – and new features and updates will be forthcoming too. It’s about time!
windows -
comments -
20.11.2006 Windows XP Home No Longer Qualifies for Windows Vista Upgrades
Windows XP Home Edition no longer qualifies for Windows Vista Business Upgrade or Upgrade + SA through Volume Licensing.
windows -
comments -
17.10.2007 Microsoft Offers a Complex Windows Vista vs. Windows XP Perspective
A new standard of security is an integer aspect of the evolution puzzle represented by the move from Windows XP to Windows Vista.
windows -
comments -
3.11.2007 Windows XP SP3 to Drop Concomitantly with Windows Vista SP1?
Yes, it's time for every Windows user's favorite obsession: Windows XP Service Pack 3. The third and final service pack for Windows XP has been quite elusive for the past three years.
windows -
comments -
25.11.2007 Windows Vista vs. Windows 9x/Me, NT Server, 2000 and XP
If at just a couple of weeks short of the first anniversary since Windows Vista hit the shelves you are still looking for reasons to upgrade to the latest Windows client, then Biplab Paul, Partner Technical Consultant with Microsoft India, has an impressive, and exhaustive list of features that are bound to tilt the balance in Vista's favor.
windows -
comments -
14.1.2008 Free Windows Vista Business and Windows XP SP2 on Parade
Free Windows... Not a concept you would expect from Microsoft. With a business strategy focused on proprietary software, the Redmond company is by all means at the opposite technology spectrum from open source and free software.
windows -
comments -
9.3.2008 Microsoft Presents the Lost Comparison: Windows Vista vs. Windows XP
With both Windows XP and Windows Vista being available concomitantly on the market, Microsoft is doing nothing more than inviting the consumers to compare the two operating systems.
windows -
comments -
20.4.2008 Windows Server 2008 = Windows Vista SP1 Minus the Pain
Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn, is essentially intimately connected with Windows Vista Service Pack 1, to the level in which the RTM version of Microsoft's latest server operating system features the
SP1 label
windows -
comments -
6.5.2008 Windows Embedded NavReady 2009 - Latest Windows Platform from Microsoft
The latest Windows operating system is available for download as of June 16, 2008. And no, it's not a new release of Windows 7, nor the first taste of Windows 7 Server.
download -
comments -
16.6.2008 Free Windows for Supercomputers Available for Download - Windows HPC Server 2008
Microsoft made the latest iteration of its Windows operating system for supercomputers available as a free download.
windows -
comments -
23.9.2008 How to Install Windows 7 or Windows Vista on Physical Machine Without DVD Media
A lot of Windows Vista and Windows 7 license has been sold media-less nowadays, where buyers only receive a piece of authenticated certificate with a genuine and legitimate product key printed on it.
windows -
comments -
23.12.2008 Windows 7 beta testers find critical Windows Installer Bug
Mary Jo reports that a number of Windows 7 Beta testers have come across a bug that crashes the system randomly whenever they try to start a Windows Update or install anything using Microsoft's MSI installer.
windows -
comments -
19.1.2009 AeroBar: Show Titlebar Text in Explorer Windows Under Windows Vista
Have you ever wondered why Explorer Windows don't show titles in Windows Vista?
windows -
comments -
13.2.2009eJamming Audiio P2P music collaboration launches beta 14
At CES 2008,
Intel's Paul Otellini used eJamming Audiio, BigStage, and the band Smashmouth to show off how a
group of musicians located on various corners of the globe could get together via P2P and play live in a virtual environment.
BetaNews tested
the eJamming Audiio software last year and found that it was suitable for recording and collaborating with others in an voip-enhanced environment, but
playing instruments live had too many latency issues to be feasible. In using MIDI drums, a guitar and bass in three different locations in the United
States, each musician found they had to get accustomed to latency in their own signal, and then the latency of the others as well. In the end, it was
nearly impossible to play live.
Today, The site has launched Beta 14, which includes a near zero latency "Jam Mode" as the default.
The team says a user's own instrument will now play back with nearly no delay, and audio streams from other musicians will be synched together to
make live collaboration easier. The site is still accepting new beta testers, and users will have to download the eJamming P2P client in order to
start playing...
betanews.com -
31.01.2009Private network for online gaming bypasses Internet bottlenecks
A Missouri startup called
GameRail
feels the pain of
latency-challenged online
video gamers, and has
developed a private network
that routes game traffic from
PCs to about 10,000 servers
hosted by online gaming
companies. Essentially, it
allows online gamers to bypass
the Internet, the company
claims.
For players of
first-person shooter games,
GameRails target market, śthe
higher the latency the slower
the bullets and you cant dodge
out of the way,ť says John
Alden, vice president of
business development. śWith
lower latency, you can shoot
better, faster, and react
faster.ť
Politicos such as Hillary
Clinton and her crusaders
against violence in video
games will be horrified. But
at $11.99 per month, with a
free 30-day trial, players of
Counter-Strike and other
online shooters might be
tempted to give it a try.
winbeta.org -
18.08.2007New "Network Direct" RDMA Interface Available with Windows Server 2008
Phil Pennington: Windows HPC Server 2008 introduces a new low-latency RDMA network API known as "Network Direct". This RDMA interface in
addition to and distinct from the existing "Winsock Direct" interface. The Network Direct interface introduces several advantages over
Winsock Direct including no dependency on the Winsock stack and much lower latency metrics. MS MPI is being developed to take advantage of this
new interface.
This means that Infiniband vendors, for instance, will need to provide HCA Network Direct providers in
addition to (or perhaps instead of) the Winsock Direct providers published previously. Consequently, development is underway by both Microsoft
and partners to enable full support for the entire network stack.
For programmers, the Network Direct API provides a model
similar to the User Mode Driver Framework (UMDF). MS MPI will be the first user-mode application to leverage Network Direct.
winbeta.org -
15.12.2007Windows 2003 KB: Slow network communication from Vista RTM (6000) to Windows 2003 SP2
Brad Rutkowski: This was one issue I worked on for quite some time a few months ago. We found that Vista clients were taking forever to download
group policies from domain controllers in the regions while Vista SP1 and XP clients did not see the issue. If the local DC was running LH or Windows
2003 SP1, we didn't see any issue. If the server was running Windows 2003 SP2 though and had a certain type of hardware we would see the latency.
Based on customer reports, Windows Dev learned of more widespread devices in the network that dont understand greater window
scale factors. So, they improved the heuristics in SP1 for when to limit or disable auto-tuning, which is why we only saw in in Vista RTM and not
SP1.
The bug is in Windows 2003 SP2 and the details can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947773 So if you find that you have vista clients experiencing network
latency when hitting a Windows 2003 SP2 server (File server, DC, Exchange, etc) then you should look into this hotfix.
winbeta.org -
31.01.2008Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy.
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception. In this demo
I show how Vista outperforms Windows XP and I show the under the covers process traces of just how it achieves it."
"Demo environment
consists of two images. One Vista SP1 and the other Windows XP SP2 both on the same HDD IO and communicating across my home wireless network to a
Windows Server 2008 box on my main LAN. Once the two images get going latency gets introduced and things start to slow down....except Vista doesnt
slow down." Watch and see at
Edge TechNet.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
27.05.2008Windows 7: RDP changes improve virtual desktop performance
The Remote Desktop Client in Windows 7 is equipped with new features and enhancements via Remote Desktop Protocol 7 (RDP). The most interesting
enhancement is the support for Desktop Composition, full Aero glass effect. Below are the features introduced in Windows 7 Remote Desktop Client
Windows 7 Aero supportDirect 2D & Direct 3D 10.1 application supportTrue multi-monitor supportRDP Core Performance ImprovementsMultimedia
enhancementsMedia Foundation supportDirectShow supportLow Latency audio playback supportBi-directional audio support I fired up the Remote Desktop
Client in the latest Windows 7 build 7057 and tested few things. Remote desktop connection experience is very much improved compared to its previous
versions and I also found the session to be incredibly responsive even while playing HD videos.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
16.03.2009RS690T to have dedicated graphics RAM
IN ORDER TO IMPROVE the
performance of the integrated
X700 graphics on the RS690T
chipset, we can reveal that
ATI have decided to add the
option of a local frame buffer
to their north bridge.
This is mainly to get
around a major limitation of
the K8 platform: lower memory
latency to the CPU comes at
the expense of higher memory
latency to the integrated GPU
on the north bridge. Instead
of talking to the RAM
directly, as on an Intel GMCH,
AMD chipsets must look over
the HT bus to the memory
controller on the CPU, which
can badly decrease performance
of integrated graphics. Which
aren't exactly the best
performing devices in the
world anyway.
neowin.net -
07.12.2006Screencast: Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP in network IO
Michael Kleef: Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista underperforms in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception.
In this demo I show how Vista outperforms Windows XP and I show the under the covers process traces of just how it achieves it.
Demo environment consists of two images. One Vista SP1 and the other Windows XP SP2 both on the same HDD IO and communicating across my home
wireless network to a Windows Server 2008 box on my main LAN. Once the two images get going latency gets introduced and things start to slow
down....except Vista doesnt slow down. Watch and see!
winbeta.org -
08.05.2008Startup FastSoft Prepares App Accelerator
A new startup is moving to
elbow its way into the
competitive WAN optimization
and application acceleration
market with a new technique
for speeding the transfer of
very large files across
TCP/IP.
FastSoft
will address the lag time in
transmitting large files using
industry-standard FTP with its
new Aria appliance. It is an
asymmetric device that
requires no companion
appliance or software client
at the other end of the
connection.
The
company's FastTCP technique,
originally developed at the
California Institute of
Technology, boosts performance
by addressing latency issues
associated with TCP, which was
developed over 20 years ago...
winbeta.org -
30.06.2007Researchers show off advanced network control technology
Researchers can adjust network infrastructure to boost bandwidth, optimize latency and save power using an experimental technology called OpenFlow.
OpenFlow is in the proof-of-concept stage but someday could be used in business networks to engineer traffic, says Nick McKeown, an
associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford University.
winbeta.org -
30.10.2008Nivio betas hosted Windows
Nivio has started beta tests
of a Windows XP hosted desktop
service, which it claims can
stream a desktop to any
compatible browser so you can
remotely access Windows apps
on Linux, a Mac, or even a
handheld device.
The company hopes to follow
the access-anywhere success of
GoogleMail, Yahoo! and the
like - but with access to real
desktop software as well as
email. It points out that a
hosted desktop also lets you
run the latest Windows apps
even if your own system is not
capable or compatible.
The Nivio service is
hosted on replicated
highly-available servers in
data centres in Switzerland
and New Delhi - Nivio is a
subsidiary of a Swiss company,
SMX iNet Global Services, and
is the brainchild of SMX
founder and former Imperial
College London student Sachin
Duggal. The company says that
all user data is stored under
Swiss data protection laws.
It lets you set up a
new Windows desktop or
replicate your existing one to
Nivio and access it there
afterwards, and can even print
to your local printer. Nivio
says it will run over as
little as 128kbit/s, but warns
that GPRS and 3G connections
can be problematic because of
their relatively high
latency.
neowin.net -
07.05.2007Buffalo Unveils DDR3 Memory Modules
Japanese subsidiary of Buffalo
Technology Inc., a leading
maker of advanced memory
modules and other electronics,
has announced the world's
first memory modules based on
DDR3 chips. While there are
several months to go till the
first DDR3-supporting
platforms will emerge on the
market, Buffalo wants to sell
them now, but at a price that
will allow only a few
enthusiasts to get them.
Buffalo will shortly start to
ship PC3-8500 memory modules
with 1066MHz clock-speed, CL7
latency setting and 1.5V
voltage settings. Even though
CL7 latency setting is
considerably higher compared
to CL5 of DDR2 at the same
frequency, improved pre-fetch
and other technical advantages
of DDR3 versus DDR2 may help
the new memory type to be as
fast or even faster compared
to the previous-gen one.
DDR3 memory is
designed to increase
performance and lower power
consumption of DDR2 memory
utilized today. The new memory
standard features relatively
low operating voltage of 1.5V,
8-bit pre-fetch architecture
(compared to 4-bit pre-fetch
buffer with DDR2), on-die
termination (ODT),
power-saving modes known as
PASR (partial array self
refresh) and ASR (auto self
refresh) and some other
capabilities. The memory will
be able to operate at up to
1600MHz, but in the exchange
for enhanced latencies of CAS
(column address strobe) 5 to
10 (compared to CAS 3-6 on
DDR2).
neowin.net -
27.04.2007Audacity X gets 1.3.7 beta update
Download Audacity for Mac OS X from Fileforum
now.
Audacity X, the Mac version of the free open source audio editing and recording tool created by Google Dev
Dominic Mazzoni, quietly received a beta upgrade this morning, fixing a handful of bugs and including some new features. The new features include Full
Screen mode, a pitch shift/time scale slider effect, a WCAG2 accessibility testing function, improved latency correction and effect grouping...
betanews.com -
28.01.2009Windows HPC Server Debuts in Top 25 of World's Top 500 Largest Supercomputers
Today at the International Supercomputing Conference, Microsoft Corp. debuted in the top 25 of the worlds top 500 largest supercomputers with the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), which ranked at No. 23 with 68.5 teraflops. The company also announced that the release
candidate version of Windows HPC Server 2008 will be available for download in the last week of June.
Key features that enable
Windows HPC Server 2008 to efficiently scale to thousands of cores include a new high-speed NetworkDirect RDMA, Microsofts new remote direct memory
access interface, highly efficient and scalable cluster management tools, a service-oriented architecture (SOA) job scheduler, and cluster
interoperability through standards such as the High Performance Computing Basic Profile (HPCBP) specification produced by the Open Grid Forum (OGF).
At the show, Mellanox Technologies Inc. will demonstrate its new ConnectX InfiniBand cards achieving 2 µsec latency with 2 GB per second throughput
using the new NetworkDirect interface.
winbeta.org -
18.06.2008New server packs three Opterons
Opteron-based servers with
one, two, or four processors
are all over the place, but
server manufacturers rarely
experiment with more exotic
chip counts. However, the
folks at The Inquirer
have spotted
an Opteron server that
packs three chips, each with
two DIMM slots, on a custom
motherboard.
Said server is capable of
gobbling up to 16GB of RAM,
and it features two PCI
Express slots as well as two
4x Infiniband ports for
connectivity. The goal of a
three-way chip arrangement
isn't merely to serve as a
curiosity, though. The Inq
says a 3P Opteron system
should have lower cache
coherency latency than a
four-way one, because each of
the three chips is connected
directly to the other two.
Performance could therefore be
theoretically higher in some
workloads.
winbeta.org -
11.08.2007Google Two Years Into Overhaul of GFS File System
As its ten-year-old file system — GFS — struggles to keep up with Gmail, YouTube, and other apps it was never designed to support, Google
is
brewing a replacement. According to the company, it's
two years into a GFS sequel designed specifically for customer-facing apps that require ultra
low latency.
winbeta.org -
13.08.2009How Google improved performance on Google Code
Jacob Moon, Google Developer Programs: If you're a frequent visitor to
code.google.com for product updates and reference materials for
Google APIs you're working with, you might have noticed that the page loading time (or page rendering time depending on how you see
it) has reduced in varying degrees in the past several weeks.
As you'll see below, we've made several changes to help reduce
user-perceived latency. This is not an exhaustive list of all improvements we've made recently, but these are the major ones we've made.
winbeta.org -
16.03.2008The future of wireless networking in Windows 7
Long Zheng: Its rare for a week to go by
without a few interesting Microsoft job advertisements. One of which
posted last week provides a pretty good idea at how the next version of Windows will improve the wireless
networking experience.
Vista was about making Wi-Fi connections as seamless, manageable and secure as wired networks.
The next Windows version is really about taking Wireless networking to the next level by enabling new complete end to end scenarios and
experiences that are going to change how windows PCs interact with each other and other devices and nodes over a wireless network.
As a part of the Windows Networking Ecosystem Technologies team, you will be working on scenarios around virtualizing Wireless to allow
connections to multiple networks simultaneously. You will be working on enabling new windows to windows connectivity paths within a wireless network
to improve wireless throughput and latency. You will be working on wireless-only office and mesh networking scenarios that will make setup and
management of wireless networks quick and inexpensive with the goal to reduce TCO for centrally controlled and secured deployments by improving
manageability, performance and reliability.
As a part of this work, you will be working closely on existing and in-works wireless
standards such as IEEE 802.11s, 802.11k, 802.11r, 802.11w. This position will provide you the unique opportunity of working on core wireless
areas as well as collaborating with several other key Windows technologies to deliver a complete functional end to end scenario. The work will be in
both the Windows kernel and user space.
winbeta.org -
04.11.2007New Vista hotfix improves multi-GPU performance
Gamers who run Windows Vista with SLI or CrossFire setups will be happy to know that Microsoft
has released a hotfix just for them. The KB945149 hotfix resolves an issue that, in some cases, could cause systems with
multiple graphics cards to "perform more poorly than expected" in both games and benchmarks. Microsoft describes the issue as such:
A graphics processing unit (GPU) or part of a GPU link may incur a small scheduling latency on a new Direct Memory Access (DMA) packet. This is
true if the DMA packet is submitted to the GPU that has previously run out of work and if another GPU in the linked configuration is very busy. In
some scenarios, significant starvation of one or more GPUs in the linked configuration reduces the expected performance of an application.
The hotfix may resolve the problem, but it isn't freely downloadable. Instead, users must
visit this page and submit a request to Microsoft's Online Customer Services. The company also warns, "if you are not severely
affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next service pack that contains this hotfix."
winbeta.org -
04.12.2007Proposed flash standard to reduce card clutter
A new flash memory card specification has the backing of three major mobile phone companies and other parts of the electronics industry.
The Unified Flash Storage (UFS; not to be confused with Unix File System or Unified File System) specification is intended to eliminate the
need for adaptors by defining a single memory card format that is suitable for any consumer device including cameras, phones and PDAs.
If manufacturers can't agree to use any one of the formats currently in use, why would they go along with a new one? The answer appears to
be that UFS is being designed to overcome various limitations of existing formats, including capacity, performance and power consumption.
There seems to be no end to customer demand for increased memory for cameras and other devices (especially as image resolution improves), and
without greater transfer speed it will take longer and longer to dump memory card contents into a computer or a mass storage device. UFS aims to
reduce the time taken to transfer a 4G file from three minutes to a few seconds. The specification will improve both the bandwidth and latency of
memory access...
winbeta.org -
17.09.2007
