Microsoft Windows® Windows 7, Windows Vista. Windows XP. Windows Operating Systems links.

Microsoft out-of-band security update for Internet Explorer. Microsoft released an urgent security update for Internet Explorer on all currently supported versions of Windows.

Compare Bargains on Microsoft Windows    Compare Bargains on Microsoft Vista

Mac or PC? Desktop or Laptop? Web Video Producers Want to Know... Which Models, Features & Software You Need to Make GREAT Web Videos "This FREE video guide finally settles the debate between Macs vs. PCs and Desktops vs .Laptops When it Comes to Producing Great Web Video..."

Windows 7 Release Candidate Testing Windows 7, This stop is where millions of developers take Windows 7 and begin testing it in their real environment. You get to see what’s coming, and we get to see if our changes and fixes from the Beta testing are working correctly. We want to encourage you to install and actively test the RC code, both to help us ensure Windows 7 is the best possible release, and to help you get ready with your software and hardware solutions. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use. (Learn more about installing Windows 7). Note that it is clamed that Windows 7 RC1 has Windows XP Mode which can run XP programs without much user intervention read more about this on PC Advisor's Windows 7 RC1 review.

PC Advisor's Windows 7 RC1 review

Windows 7 Hard Core Review

Windows 7 Library's an Introduction. Discover more about Windows 7 Library's. Includes coding idea's

Microsoft Security Updates

Windows Help from Microsoft    Microsoft Fix it Solution Center

Microsoft Product Solution Centers

Welcome to Windows 7 Microsoft Learn more about Windows 7, the next version of Windows for PCs. Make everyday tasks easier.

Windows 7 News The Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News. Information about Windows 7 Milestones, Screenshots, Videos & Rumours.

Windows 7 Blog. News on Windows 7 Windows 7 Blog. News on Windows 7. Covers what Windows 7 is doing.  Also programming and coding tips, etc...

Windows 7 E-Learning Clinics from Microsoft Learning

Windows 7 UAC Vulnerability or not a Vulnerability to Hackers? Windows bloggers Long Zheng and Rafael Rivera claimed to have unearthed two flaws in the Windows 7 beta that could allow an attacker to gain full administrative privileges by sidestepping the UAC, (User Access Controls),  in the planned operating system. The flaws are rooted in Microsoft's effort to make UAC less annoying to end users in Windows 7 than it's been in Windows Vista, which uses pop-up Windows to ask them whether they really want to download and install code. The number of pop-ups have been a source of distraction and annoyance to end users and also ISVs writing code that installs on Windows.

The Windows 7 Ecosystem Readiness Program can help you ensure that your new and existing devices, systems, and applications will be compatible with Windows 7. Through Microsoft Connect, the program provides you access to Windows 7 builds, support and toolkits to aid your development efforts in building innovative solutions for your customers.

Microsoft Hardware support information for Windows 7 RC

Microsoft Update Catalog for Windows 7 (Including Hardware Divers such as NVIDIA and ATI present alongside Hauppauge, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Razer and many others.)

Windows 7 Client drivers appear on Microsoft’s Update Catalog

Windows 7 Device Experience

Windows 7 with NVIDIA Graphic Processors

Windows 7 Drivers Download Roundup

Windows 7 Way Smarter With Graphics RAM

WDDM is Windows’ Display Driver Model

WHDC, Windows Hardware Developers Central  

Windows Driver Kit (WDK) The WDK is a fully integrated driver development system that contains the Windows Driver Device Kit (DDK) and tests for stability and reliability of Windows drivers, WDK Documentation instructions. Alternatively, the Windows Driver Kit can be accessed via MSDN. The actual Windows Driver Kit for Windows 7 are available to MSDN subscribers and via Microsoft Connect which is a connection point between you and Microsoft, and ultimately the larger community. Your feedback enables Microsoft to make software and services the best that they can be, and you can learn about and contribute to exciting projects. Learn more.

Lifehacker's Guide to Upgrading to Windows 7 RC (Read the comments for user experience of Windows 7)

Windows 7 details galore: interface tweaks, Netbook builds, Media Center (Thanks to Engadget.)

Read - Technologizer Windows 7 hands-on
Read - Ars Technica Windows 7 interface walkthrough
Read - Laptop Windows 7 hands-on
Read - Windows 7 Media Center revealed

Microsoft details pre-beta release of Windows 7 We knew good and well Microsoft was gearing up to drop a pre-beta release of Windows 7 in developers'laps at its Professional Developers Conference, but now we're being treated to a host of details from Redmond itself. For starters, it's showing off (for the first time, mind you) its new Web applications for Office. As you'd expect, said apps are "lightweight versions of Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that are used from within standard web browsers." According to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, it's aiming to bring "the best of the web to Windows, and the best of Windows to the web."'Course, we're also told about improved navigation, a new taskbar (preview shown), support for multi-touch gestures, Device Stage and enhanced AV integration -- all things that have our interest decidedly piqued. Hit the read link for the full spill direct from the horse's mouth.

Windows 7 Federated Search Provider Implementer's Guide. Describes how to build a basic web service that leverages the Windows OpenSearch provider for federated search. Federated search enables users to search remote data sources from within Windows Explorer and to interact with that remote data from within Windows Explorer.

More about Operating Systems and Graphical User Interfaces. Windows Visa/XP, Linux, Apple, BeOS, etc.

Microsoft Surface Surface is the first commercially available surface computer from Microsoft Corp. It turns an ordinary tabletop into an interactive surface.

Microsoft A - Z Technology Initiatives for Next-Generation PCs:- Mic Arrays, Multicore, PCIe, Rally, Removable Storage, Secure Hardware, UAA Audio, UEFI, Virtualization, WCS, WDDM, WDF, WHEA, x64, XPS

Windows Vienna is now Windows 7a> Microsoft revealed a new name for the upcoming operating system:  - as it is built upon the 7.0 version of the NT Kernel.

Windows Vista Main Page . Windows Vista is now available for IT professionals, developers, and technology enthusiasts. Windows Vista (Microsoft has formally renamed Longhorn, the long-awaited operating system to Windows Vista. Windows Vista is being developed to replace Windows XP, (Arriving 2006). No more Longhorn.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor This is a small application that you can run on your current Windows XP-based computer to find out if it's ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista.

Windows Vista Downloads Optimize Windows Vista for better performance

VIDEO: Watch the name announcement for Windows Vista    Players and viewers/PDF file viewers. Messenger Services.

Windows Vista Features Revealed Video with VP of Marketing for Microsoft, Mike Sievert.   Ref: WebProNews More Videos to Watch and Video Publishing

Windows Vista  Windows SDK and WinFX Beta are now available to all developers. Download or order Windows Vista Beta 2 via the Customer Preview Program (CPP) or the Beta Experience program.   

Download the Latest Windows Vista If you are not already a member of the Windows Vista beta program, there are three other ways to obtain the latest beta version of Windows Vista.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1

Installed 4GB of RAM with Microsoft Vista? There's said to be a bug in Windows Vista that can prevent the operating system being installed where there's more than 3GB of RAM installed. You mat get the following error message :-

STOP 0�0000000A (somenumber, somenumber, somenumber, somenumber) IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Answer: Removing 2GB of RAM allowed the installation to continue.

Windows Help and How-to

Microsoft execs struggled with Vista too, say internal e-mails. Some of Microsoft Corp.'s own top executives had trouble getting Windows Vista to work in the weeks after its release, according to company e-mails unsealed yesterday. The officials, including a member of the Microsoft board of directors, voiced some of the same complaints about missing drivers and crippled graphics that users have raised since Vista debuted in January 2007.

Tutorials Win: Microsoft Windows Forum

Microsoft Virtual PC to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Switch between virtual machines with the click of a button. Use virtual machines to run legacy applications, provide support, train users, and enhance quality assurance.

• MSDN Subscriptions - If you have an MSDN Subscription (Operating System level or higher), you can download Windows Vista Beta 2. (Read information on purchasing an MSDN Subscription)
• Windows Vista Beta Program - If you wish to become a beta member, you can do so by registering for the world-wide Windows Vista Beta Experience. There you can download or order Windows Vista Beta 2 and receive additional resources, specialist knowledge, and bonus material.
• Windows Vista Beta 2 Customer Preview Program - Windows Vista Beta 2 is now available via the Customer Preview Program (CPP). Visit the Get Ready for Windows Vista site to download or order Windows Vista Beta .

The MSDN Library is an essential resource for developers using Microsoft tools, products, and technologies. It contains technical programming information, sample code, documentation, technical articles, and reference guides.

MSDN TechNet Lab is an agile platform to publicly incubate and showcase both fresh new experiences and exciting new technologies. Our goal in the lab is to grow the software through a public evolution with the express desire of incorporating public feedback throughout the labs lifecycle. Ideas that resonate with the public will eventually be folded into our regular sites while projects that fail to appeal will be relegated to oblivion.

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset. 30 day evaluation of the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset. This product provides powerful, intuitive tools that help administrators recover PCs that have become unusable, and easily identify root causes of system issues. This toolset is part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.

Microsoft MSDN Channel 9 TV. Channel 9 keeps you up to date with the latest news and behind the scenes info from Microsoft that developers love to keep up with. From LINQ to SilverLight

Creating Your First Gadget How to script Windows Vista gadgets. Scripting in Windows Vista.

Widgets and Gadgets. Small free-standing applications that reside on your computer.

Microsoft gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web.

Port 25. Everything you need to know about the world's leading .NET platform for social networks and online communities is right here!

Event Forwarding in Windows Vista Vista brings a new event forwarding feature for Windows Administrators. Event forwarding allows configuring a central event collector machine to collect events from other computers. This feature has a complete UI support in event viewer.

Live Search The official Blog of the Live Search team at Microsoft (Blogs MSDN):-

Update on SafeSearch

You may have read our post last week where we talked about how Smart Motion Preview and SafeSearch work together. As we mentioned, Microsoft is never done when it comes to providing tools to help customers, whether they are large enterprises, local school districts or parents make sure they can provide a safe searching experience when using Bing. We made two changes that we think will help. First, potentially explicit images and video content will now be coming from a separate single domain, explicit.bing.net. This is invisible to the end customer, but allows for filtering of that content by domain which makes it much easier for customers at all levels to block this content regardless of what the SafeSearch settings might be. This makes it much easier for filtering software to block unwanted content if SafeSearch has been turned off. In addition, we will begin returning source url information in the query string for images and video content so that companies who already use this method of filtering will be able to catch explicit content on Bing along with everything else they are already blocking for their customers. An example of such a query string is: http://ts2.explicit.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=974382499649&id=12ae77a7fed979b0502840bedacd2552&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.explicitsite.com%2fexplicit-picturegoeshere.jpg Thank you to everyone who shared feedback with us on this matter, it helped us to quickly develop a solution and get it into production. Mike Nichols General Manager, Bing

Join us June 1st @ 10am PT for the Bing Webcast

Want more Bing?  How about an interactive Webcast where we’ll walk you through all the cool features in our new decision engine.  Sure you could read the Product Guide (located here) but that would require, you know, reading.  Better just to watch.     Plus, while you can talk to the Product Guide it likely won’t respond (and if it does let us know - I thought we fixed that bug).   Our webcast will let you interact with the presenter by asking questions throughout the session!   How do you join in the fun?  Three easy steps:   1)      Set your alarm clocks for 10AM Pacific Daylight Time, Monday, June 1.  2)     Point your browser to  http://ms.istreamplanet.com/search (I’d do this before 10AM just to make sure you’ve got what you need to watch the stream) 3)      Sit quietly and watch the ‘cast OR engage by typing questions in the player.   That’s it!  Tell your friends.  Tell your neighbors.  Tell people you don’t even know.  Post it on Facebook. The Bing Webcast– no prompters, no scripts, 100% danger.     Stefan Weitz, Director, Bing

Next best thing to Bing

Have you been itching to try out Bing? Looking longingly at the screenshots around the Web wondering how those lucky few got early access? Wondering who you have to know to get an invite code to check out all your favorite queries? How about the next best thing? Head over to the BehindBing site at http://www.discoverbing.com/behindbing/ and get all the cool-kids info to help you get ready for Bing's public launch. You can see some behind-the-scenes videos (shot with soft lighting so you know they are serious) featuring some of our engineers, way too much Stefan, live Twitter and Blog feeds so you can see what the world is saying about us (that sounds so narcissistic) and most importantly for some — the Product Guide. It has a bunch of great info on all the features, how to use them once Bing is alive for all, screenshots, and screencasts featuring...yes...more Stefan. It's like I'm a video virus. Get it here! Enjoy! Stefan Weitz, Director, Bing

A Letter to Bing

Dear Bing (the Author),   We couldn’t help sit up and take notice of your offer of services from one Bing to another.  We were moderately surprised and mildly excited. As you might have guessed, today is quite a big day for us.  Even so, we dropped everything when we saw your press release this morning.  After an emergency meeting (three people were invited, all declined), we’ve decided to take you up on your offer.  We’re not certain what exactly this would involve. We’re not certain it would pay much (nothing, actually) but we look forward to starting a dialogue and hope we can work together soon.  Let’s do lunch. In the meantime we are sending you a case of moderately priced cigars.   Your pals, Bing.com

The sound of found: Bing!

This morning, Steve Ballmer is speaking at the D Conference where he’s unveiling our new search service — named Bing. Bing is rolling out internally to Microsoft employees worldwide today and will be available to you and your friends in the coming days. We spent lots of time listening to you, learning how you use search today and what you’re trying to accomplish with search. We found that search is no longer just a tool for mapping a keyword to a document. If you’re like many people, you’re increasingly using search to help you make decisions: from everyday decisions, like which restaurant to eat at, to complicated decisions, like which digital camera to buy or when to fly and where to stay on your next vacation. Problem is: search engines themselves haven’t evolved all that much to address the new ways that people like you are using search today. So today we’re introducing a new kind of search that goes beyond traditional search engines to help you make faster, more informed decisions. It will do this by combining a great search engine (with powerful new features to improve your results for any query), more organized results, and unique tools to help you make important decisions. We think of Bing as a Decision Engine. So why did we pick Bing as the new brand name? We needed a brand that was as fresh and new as our approach. It needed to be like the product — optimized for the Internet. A name that was memorable, short, easy to spell, and that would function well as a URL around the world. We like Bing because it sounds off in our heads when we think about that moment of discovery and decision making — when you resolve those important tasks. And frankly, the name needed to clearly communicate that this is something new, to invite you to come back, to re-introduce you to our new and improved service and encourage you to give it a try. In the coming weeks we’ll be using the blog to update you on Bing and provide an inside look at how we’ve designed it to cut through the clutter on the Web and deliver more relevant results to help you make better choices. In the meantime, we encourage you to check out our press release, visit http://www.decisionengine.com, and follow us on Twitter (@Bing) for all the latest news. Looking forward to sharing Bing with you very soon! Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President, Online Audience Business Group

MTV Movie Awards on Live Search

This Sunday, Andy Samberg will host the 18th Annual MTV Movie Awards and unveil the winners in categories ranging from best movie to best kiss, and lots in between. As you may remember, we did our first awards show instant answer for the Oscars back in February. After all the great feedback, we decided to continue the tradition with our new MTV Movie Awards instant answer. Just type in “mtv awards” and you'll see our pre-show instant answer with the awards show date and air time, pointers to promo videos with Andy, and links to vote for your favorite performances. And if you miss the show on Sunday, check back with us afterwards for a complete list of winners of the coveted Golden Popcorn. This is just the latest push in our effort to help make finding the right information on the Web easier for you. We know that you don’t want to browse through a sea of links to find out who won the best kiss or best fight. You want the right answer right there on page 1 in front of your eyes — and that's what we deliver with our instant answers. We’re always looking to improve and expand so let us know what else you’d like to see in instant answer form. Theo Vachovsky, Instant Answers Product Manager, Live Search

Live Search Makes Playoff Searches Easier

When I last blogged, Derek Jeter searches had tripled and major league baseball was in full swing. Fast forward a few weeks, and while Derek Jeter is probably still a top search (when is he not?), some may argue that the current show stopper is Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who’s leading his team in the Eastern Conference finals of the 2009 NHL playoffs. Or Kobe Bryant, who led the Lakers with 34 points despite the Nuggets’ win to tie the series at 2-2 in the NBA playoffs. Whether you’re devoted to hockey or basketball, Live Search can help you get your fix—fast. Because if there’s one thing we know about sports fans, it’s that you don’t keep a fan waiting for player stats and scores. So these Instant Answers are going to be particularly useful for all the die-hard NBA fans following the Lakers, Nuggets, Cavs, or Magic; and the NHL fans tracking the Hurricanes, Canes, Red Wings, Hawks, or Pens. Simply type in, “NHL,” “NBA,” or “NHL or NBA + the date,” and you’ll get a summary of recent games and current standings in the series. Or enter your favorite player for season stats, recent scores, news, and upcoming game details. If you can’t watch the games, use Live Search and the NHL and NBA Instant Answer for a detailed account of the games as they happen. We developed Instant Answers to help simplify key search tasks and save you time. Read more here and take a look at some of the others we’ve talked about recently, such as the Instant Answers for the Oscars, March Madness, Major League Baseball, and the Kentucky Derby. As always, we welcome feedback on this or any Instant Answer. Theo Vachovsky, Instant Answers Product Manager, Live Search

What Do You Want to Ask Qi Lu?

As you may know, our fearless leader Qi Lu will be keynoting SMX Advanced on June 3 in Seattle. We’re looking forward to a good discussion between him and Danny Sullivan about the great stuff we have cooking on the search business. This will be Qi’s first public speaking engagement since he took the helm of the Online Services Division in January, and we know that you are all anxious to hear from him. After the discussion with Danny, Qi will be taking questions from the audience. If you’re planning to go to the conference, or even if you’re not, what questions do you have for Qi? If we get some great suggestions here on the blog, we’ll see if we can work them into his discussion from the stage. Looking forward to your thoughts, Whitney Burk, Director, Live Search

Live Search offerings top the Webware 100 list!

Today CNET announced the winners of the 2009 Webware 100 awards (visit the blog post from March for a refresher on the Live Search offerings nominated). Live Search, Live Search Maps, and Live Search Farecast are all winners! The Web 2.0 user community cast more than 630,000 votes to determine the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications that are leading the next wave of innovation. Other Microsoft winners include Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live SkyDrive, and Editor’s Choice Rafe’s Favorite: Windows Live Sync. Congrats to all the winners and thanks for voting for us. Melissa Powell, Senior Product Manager, Live Search

STC Europe – Building Momentum

There have been a few requests for some international flair on the Live Search team blog, so we thought we’d give you an update on the European Search Technology Centre. Thanks for asking! There have been several important milestones in the creation of STC Europe: The first was in Paris, October 2008, when Steve Ballmer and Jordi Ribas (General Manager, STC Europe) announced the creation of the STC Europe. This announcement was well received in Europe and STC Europe became one of the top news stories for 2009 in France. This was a promising start although all the hard work was still ahead! It was in November 2008 when the first members joined the team – Mike Miles (Group Program Manager, STC Europe/London), Oswaldo Ribas (Development Manager, STC Europe/London), Travis Barrett (Group Program Manager, STC Europe/Munich), and Andreas Bode (Development Manager, STC Europe/Munich). Then in early January 2009, Mike, Oswaldo, and Jordi moved to London. You can tell we moved in January since Internet search volume increased significantly that month for grocery stores, garbage service, TV, internet, HOT WATER, etc. BTW: January was THE WORST WINTER IN LIVING MEMORY in London. Europe is an important market for Search and one we’ve been focusing on a lot recently. Here are some of the more significant reasons why, counting down to number one: 7. Live Search in the U.S. has improved over the past few releases. We have some unique features (Live Search cashback, to name one). And we’re starting to develop the business through distribution partners. In short, while there is still a lot to do, the U.S. product is mature enough for us to start spending more energy elsewhere. 6. Europe is a big Search market. Currently around $8B, Europe represents 40% of the non-U.S. Search opportunity over the next few years... 5. STC Asia was established and is making good progress. Asia represents a significant growth opportunity for the Search market over the next few years (especially as China becomes increasingly connected). We established a Search Technology Centre in Beijing a few years ago that is focused on developing Live Search business in that region. Steve Macbeth, General Manager, STC Asia, is at the helm. Following STC Asia’s model in Europe was a logical next step. 4. We’ve recently made strong European acquisitions (e.g., Ciao and MultiMap) that will help expand our user base as well as increase the breadth of our technology stack. 3. We need to improve our understanding of the European Search user. 2. We have strong Internet reach through our network across MSN, Windows Live, MultiMap, and Ciao in most European Markets (upwards of 80%), representing a big opportunity to increase traffic to Live Search. 1. The ‘10 blue link’ Search paradigm hasn’t changed that much over the last 10 years, and we believe that European Search users are ready for a change. So what are we doing about it? It’s hard to talk about all of the exciting things that we are working on without giving up too many details, but here are a few of the highlights: · Core web relevance – this is the primary focus of our team in Munich. We’ve made some strong hires in Munich and are already starting to see some gains in core relevance. Much more to come from this team. · Local – including integrating the MultiMap team and product into Live Search Maps. · U.S. feature parity – there are a lot of features that work well in the U.S., but haven’t yet been extended to Europe, so we’re working on that. · Making the most of our online assets – think MSN + Windows Live + MultiMap + Ciao = better Search experience for Europeans. · Other exciting stuff that I can’t mention for fear of being made redundant. We believe that Search will be much improved and radically better for consumers in another 10 years, and, even though we have much work and challenges ahead, we are excited about the opportunities to innovate in Europe with Live Search. We encourage you to visit this space and continue to use Live Search to see our progress. À bientôt, Bis spatter, Cheers! Mike Miles, Group Program Manager, Live Search

Introducing the Powerset Podcast series

Want to know what’s been going on behind the walls of the Powerset division of Live Search lately? Check out the Powerset blog for the first in a series of Powerset video podcasts. This week Mark Johnson sat down with Dave Fayram, a software engineer working on Powerset’s semantic search infrastructure, to discuss the semantic web. Stay tuned for more podcasts, and if there are hot topics you’d like to hear about, let us know in the comments. Katie Conry, Powerset division of Live Search

MSN City Guides Gets a Facelift with Live Search

Today MSN announced a new version of its local offering MSN City Guides, one step in a long term plan to help users stay in the know wherever they are. The new MSN City Guides is an entirely re-vamped site, featuring a new design with integrated Live Search, Live Search Maps, video, content sharing, and more. New integration with popular social networking services such as Windows Live and Facebook makes it easy to organize events with just a few clicks. With Live Search and Live Search Maps integrated into the new experience, making a decision about what to do and where to go just got a lot easier. Thanks to Live Search, local search results are integrated throughout the site so you will now get relevant results for all ZIP codes in the U.S. Filtering capabilities will help make it easier to decide where to go based on your chosen criteria. For example, type in “baseball” as an event search and you can sort by relevance, date, type, or within a certain mile radius.   You can also find listings for local businesses, with easy links to Live Search Maps and one-click directions– right from MSN.   Now go out and explore your city with help from the new MSN City Guides and Live Search! Lisa Tiedt, Director, MSN

Find video clips, baseball scores on Live Search Mobile

The Live Search mobile team has just launched two great new features to help make the mobile web your own: MSN video search and an MLB dashboard. Looking to fill some time while you’re on the go and feel like grabbing a video news clip from Obama’s First 100-Days event? Now you can! Type “obama” in the search box on your mobile phone, and scroll down to the “MSN video” section of the results page to tune in. Trying to keep track of the latest statistics for your favorite baseball team when you’re away from home and missing the big game? Just search for “mlb,” and we’ll give you a dashboard where you'll quickly find the latest scores, news, and standings for your favorite team. You can get all these features plus local business listings, maps, directions, and optimized web search by visiting m.live.com on your web-enabled mobile phone. Happy roaming, Jeremy Beasley, Product Manager, Live Search Mobile

Jane & Robot Meetup Wednesday @ MS, Mountain View

Are you going to be in the Bay area tomorrow? Do you have a vested interest in search marketing? Know any web developers? Well then, make sure drop in to the Microsoft technology center in Mountain View, CA for a hearty discussion of search marketing hosted Microsoft, with guest speakers: Vanessa Fox, famed creator of Google’s Webmaster Tools, and Sean Suchter, previous VP of Yahoo. Microsoft Campus in Mountain View Event: Jane & Robot SEO Meetup When: May 6, 2009 from 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm Where: 1065 La Avenida, Mountain View, California 94043 Bring all your search questions, and of course there will be plenty of food, drinks and opportunities for networking. Follow @janeandrobot on Twitter for event updates and last real time logistical information. See you there! -- Nathan Buggia, Live Search Webmaster Center

Flights – and Not the Late Kind!

I’ve spent a lot of time on airplanes in the past few weeks.  All that thinking about flights got me thinking about trying new things: new foods, new hotels, new smells in taxi cabs. That got me thinking about how we try new things in search.  And that reminded me of what we call it here when we try new things: flighting (which you may recall from Ramez Nam’s post earlier this month.) And that, my friends, is a play on words.  This is how we do it:  UX video is up http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/StefanIs/StefanIs005/ Enjoy, Stefan Weitz, Director, Live Search

Windows Vista Developer Center Building Drivers for Windows Vista Find technical and event information focused on building drivers for Windows Vista.

The Vista forums     More forum links

Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) are exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who are awarded for voluntarily sharing their high quality, real world expertise in offline and online technical communities. Microsoft MVPs are a highly select group of experts that represents the technical community's best and brightest, and they share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others

MVPS Internet Explorer Trouble Shooters, Hijacked Home page correction etc...

MS-MVP Microsoft most Vulnerable Professional

Windows Vista, Windows SDK and WinFX Beta

Photo Gallery: Installing the Vista beta (So Longhorn still lives)

Windows Vista Activity Center for a cool front-end to all of the Windows. SuperSite for Windows is dedicated to providing all of the information you need to evaluate Microsoft's upcoming Windows platform technologies. This Web site provides continuous updates about these future Windows platform products and related technologies, while offering reviews and technology showcases, all designed to give you the information you need to decide which upcoming Windows version is for you. Windows Vista and Longhorn information.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

Tom's Hardware review of Windows Vista     Tom's Hardware

Microsoft Expression A suite of tools for professional designers building web and Windows client applications and rich media content. For example Video.

Microsoft� Silverlight� is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browser running on the Mac OS or Windows. Boasts Video editing online.

TweakVI Basic enables you to tweak and optimize Windows Vista. It provides access to many hidden or difficult to find features and settings that allow you to optimize your machine and tweak it to your needs. The set of features include desktop customization, Internet Explorer tweaks, CPU cache tweaks, CD/DVD drive performance tweaks and much more. The program also includes EasyBCD, a Vista Boot Configuration Manager that enables you to configure the Vista Bootloader. Other features include Firefox optimization (FireTune), wallpaper randomizer, system information, Outlook/Windows Mail tweaks and more. A commercial version is also available that offers additional features.

Microsoft Office Discussion Groups

Windows Vista used the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM), Features collectively called Windows Aero® which include; Desktop Composition, Glass window frames with colored glass, window thumbnails and Flip3D, a new window management facility. All of the Windows Aero® features are enabled in Windows Home Premium, our Business SKUs, and Ultimate assuming you have the appropriate hardware. On Home Basic, you get Desktop Composition with opaque colored glass windows frames. If you don't have a display driver capable of running WDDM you'll get the Windows Vista Basic theme which does not benefit from some of the more graphically intensive features such as desktop composition and glass window frames. This is a good, clean interface called the Basic or Standard theme, but lacking the glass window frames of Aero®. Grapics Cards

Origami Project., (MicroSoft), The code name for a small project with big plans. Our team wants to make Ultra-Mobile PCs,  (UMPC), a device you won't leave home without, but we need your help. Own a UMPC? Tell us what you like and dislike about it. Don't own a UMPC, but have ideas about the perfect go-everywhere device? Let us know what you think. The Origami Project team wants to share our knowledge about UMPCs and the Microsoft Touch Pack. UMPC Touch Pack Tutorial

Microsoft Forums. Find a Forum for a Product or Technology that Interests you.  More Forums. Computing, webmaster, programming Forums

Mircosoft Discussion Groups Home

Microsoft Enterprise Search

Ultimate Free Windows Software from Microsoft  Microsoft has over 150 FREE Windows & Office Programs available for download -- finding them all is extremely difficult . . . until now.

BootDisks Essential Utilities Windows and DOS Boot Disks, Also Drivers.

Windows Reinstall

WinUpdatesList displays the list of all Windows updates (Service Packs and Hotfixes) installed on your local computer. For hotfix updates, this utility also displays the list of files updated with these hotfixes. In addition, it allows you to instantly open the Web link in Microsoft Web site that provides more information about the selected update, uninstall an update, copy the update information to the clipboard, or save it to text/HTML/XML file.

Windows Service Pack Road Map

Windows XP Service Pack 3 - ISO-9660 CD Image File

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers

The Windows Support Tools for Microsoft Windows XP are intended for use by Microsoft support personnel and experienced users to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer problems.

Windows Movie Makers  Microsoft Windows Movie Maker tips, tutorials, forums and more... With other helpful links. More Graphics, Graphics file formats Video and Images links

Movie Maker and Photo Story 3

Download Windows Movie Maker Make movies like the pros. Check out the cool effects, transitions, and more in Windows Movie Maker.

Moviemaker How to and help

Windows Movie Maker File Fix.  Movie Maker sometimes causes problems crashing or hanging when trying to save projects or files. This is how I solved this problem. Made by me using Instant Video Suite, and finalised in Windows Movie Maker.

Microsoft Photo Story. Create slideshows using your digital photos. With a single click, you can touch-up, crop, or rotate pictures. Add stunning special effects, soundtracks, and your own voice narration to your photo stories. Then, personalize them with titles and captions. Small file sizes make it easy to send your photo stories in an e-mail. Watch them on your TV, a computer, or a Windows Mobile® based portable device.

Hardware Graphics Card links from A Computer Portal. 

Also view Videos to Watch and Video Publishing,  Graphics, Graphics file formats and Images and  Three Dimensional Graphics VRML, (Virtual Reality Modelling Language), and Stereo Graphic Images

RSS in Windows Vista Today RSS is primarily used for news sites, blogs, and increasingly for audio-based serialized content. But RSS has the potential for broader reach and to more deeply integrate the information it delivers across applications of various kinds. Learn About the New Support for RSS in the Windows Vista Platform Learn about the new support for RSS in the Windows Vista Platform and how Windows Platform Services make it easy to incorporate RSS functionality into your applications. Microsoft Simple List Extensions Specification The Simple List Extensions are designed as extensions to existing RSS feed formats to make exposing ordered lists of items easier and more accessible to users

Windows Vista Pre-RC1 Screenshots

Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7) in Windows Vista

TweakVI Basic. The first software designed to both tweak and optimize Windows Vista. Tweak hundreds of hidden features of Windows Vista, optimize your machine and customize it to your needs.

Sitemaps Yahoo and Google announced a collaborative site called Sitemaps.org Watch this Video. A single way to submit sitemaps to both Google and Yahoo. More information about Google Site Map  Yahoo Site Map, Yahoo Site Explorer. Not only are Google and Yahoo collaborating on this project, they�ve also issued an open invitation to the other search engines willing to join.   Microsoft accepted that invitation and will jointly support Sitemaps.org and its efforts. More about SiteMaps.

Download SP2 from Microsoft Update

Support and how-to's for Windows XP Service Pack 2

Windows Server Update Services. Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 Beta 2 delivers new features that enable administrators to more easily manage and deploy updates across the organization. WSUS 3.0 Beta 2 benefits include a new MMC-based user interface with advanced filtering and reporting, improved performance and reliability, branch office optimizations and reporting rollup, and a Microsoft Operations Manager management pack.

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility helps resolve installation problems for programs that use Microsoft Windows Installer.

Microsoft Discussion Groups Ask questions, share information, or exchange ideas with others, including experts from around the globe.

DreamSpark is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career. Free Microsoft software for students and teachers.

The Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) makes IT professionals more productive by providing powerful preparation and installation tools for Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Windows Server 2003. With Windows PE, IT staff can build custom solutions that speed deployment through automation, enabling them to spend less time and effort keeping desktops updated.

Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD. PE Builder is not a Microsoft product and does not create Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment ("Windows PE"). Using PE Builder does not grant you a license to Microsoft Windows PE or to use the Windows XP or Server 2003 binaries in a manner other than stated in the End-User License Agreement included in your version of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has not reviewed or tested PE Builder and does not endorse its use. Please do not contact Microsoft for support on the preinstallation environment that has been created by PE Builder! Microsoft does not provide support for PE Builder or for the preinstallation environment created by PE Builder.  More Backup/File Compression. Data Recovery links.

Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE, WinPE) 2.0 is a minimal Win32 operating system with limited services, built on the Windows Vista kernel. It is used to prepare a computer for Windows installation, to copy disk images from a network file server, and to initiate Windows Setup.  Windows PE is not designed to be the primary operating system on a computer, but is instead used as a standalone preinstallation environment and as an integral component of other setup and recovery technologies, such as Setup for Windows Vista, Windows Deployment Services (Windows DS), the Systems Management Server (SMS) Operating System (OS) Deployment Feature Pack, and the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE). Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) is a lightweight version of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Vista that is used for the deployment of workstations and servers. It is intended as a 32-bit or 64-bit replacement for MS-DOS during the installation phase of Windows, and can be booted via PXE, CD-ROM, USB flash drive or hard disk. Traditionally used by large corporations and OEMs (to preinstall Windows client operating systems to PCs during manufacturing), it is now widely available free of charge via the Windows Automated Installation Kit More about the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) which was introduced with Windows Vista. It is a lightweight version of Windows Vista that is used for the deployment of workstations and servers. It is the second version of the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) that was intended as a 32-bit or 64-bit replacement for MS-DOS, which was needed during the installation phase of Windows 3, Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME. WAIK can be booted via PXE, CD-ROM, USB flash drive or hard disk. Traditionally used by large corporations and OEMs (to preinstall Windows client operating systems to PCs during manufacturing), it is now widely available free of charge via Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). The package can be used for developer testing or as a recovery CD/DVD for system administrators. 

BitLocker Drive Encryption is the final feature release name for the project previously referred to as "Secure Startup Full Volume Encryption." Some preliminary releases of Windows Vista, still use the old project name in text strings and Windows titles. This step-by-step guide uses the old project name where appropriate, such as referring to the user interface where it appears. Otherwise, the feature release name is used.  More Backup/File Compression. Data Recovery links.

AppDeploy Repackager, freeware MSI repackager offers a simple interface, descriptive exclusion lists and (most importantly) a shareable project file format so you can share your repackaging efforts with others right here at AppDeploy! Beta download available now!

The Microsoft Robotics Studio is a Windows-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. More Robots and Robotics. Computer Control. Computer Engineering..

Microsoft® Expression® Web Designer. Community Technology Preview, (CTP) of Expression Web Designer. Expression Web Designer is a professional design tool to help you create modern standards-based Web sites. Expression Web Designer helps you create and work with:-

Microsoft Foundation:-

• Standards-based Web sites
• Sophisticated CSS-based layouts
• Extensive CSS formatting and management
• Rich data presentation
• Powerful ASP.NET 2.0-based technology
• The Microsoft Foundation exists to provide organizational, legal, and financial support for disadvantaged children, and its mission to preserve choice and promote innovation amongst this diverse group. The Microsoft Foundation was incorporated as an International not-for-profit corporation to ensure that Microsoft and its partners continues to exist beyond the participation of individual volunteers, to enable contributions of intellectual property and funds and to provide a vehicle for limiting legal exposure while participating in projects targeting the disadvantaged children.

.NET Framework 2.0

.NET Framework 3.0

.NET Framework 3.5

.NET Framework 3.5 SP1

.NET Framework 3.0 The new version adds the Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) APIs, with few changes to the existing .NET 2.0 APIs. The VS2005 extensions are also up.

.NET Resources 2.0 from SitePoint

Download the full version of Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 SP1. Save time and money as Virtual PC allows you to maintain the compatibility of legacy and custom applications during migration to new operating systems and increases the efficiency of support, development, and training staffs.

Access FrontPage Cover Microsoft FrontPage 97,  FP98, FP2000, FP2002, FP2003 and FPE (FrontPage Express) and incorporate Tips, Tutorials, How-to's, Faqs and Help.

Think Free OnLine Office. ThinkFree is a comprehensive online office productivity solution. ThinkFree products are platform independent (works on Windows, Apple, Linux) and include ThinkFree Write (word-processing), ThinkFree Calc (spreadsheet), and ThinkFree Show (presentation) - applications that are round-trip compatible with Microsoft Office (.doc, .xls, .ppt).

Boot Camp For Mac OS X Leopard, Apple that lets you install and run Windows on your Mac.

Winhlp Windows Problem Solver. Community site open information exchange. 

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE). CWE is a community-developed formal list of common software weaknesses. The intention of CWE is to serve as a common language for describing software security weaknesses in architecture, design, or code; as a standard measuring stick for software security tools targeting these weaknesses; and to provide a common baseline standard for weakness identification, mitigation, and prevention efforts. Broad community adoption of CWE will help shape and mature the code security assessment industry and also dramatically accelerate the use and utility of software assurance capabilities for organizations in reviewing the software systems they acquire or develop.

Microsoft Doctor Watson for Windows Dr. Watson for Windows is a program error debugger that gathers information about your computer when an error (or user-mode fault) occurs with a program. Technical support groups can use the information that Dr. Watson obtains and logs to diagnose a program error. When an error is detected, Dr. Watson creates a text file (Drwtsn32.log) that can be delivered to support personnel by the method they prefer. You also have the option of creating a crash dump file, which is a binary file that a programmer can load into a debugger.

Dr. Watson will check out your website from spelling to including link validity, download speed, search engine compatibility, and link popularity. This site is NOT related to Microsoft Doctor Watson for Windows For more detailed help with Doctor Watson for Windows, click here More Web Master Tools and Utilities

WhatIsProcess, a site dedicated to providing you with detailed information on the processes that are running on your computer.  Some processes are essential and are needed to keep your computer working as expected. Other processes can seriously reduce the performance of your computer and may even present a security risk. It is common for Viruses, Spyware, Adware and Malware to disguise themselves as normal processes, making spotting them a rather

Advanced Windows Care - Freeware Advanced Windows Care v2 Personal is a comprehensive PC care utility that takes an one-click approach to help protect, repair and optimize your computer. It provides an all-in-one and super convenient solution for PC maintenance and protection. This fantastic program is available free of charge for private use.

List of fixes included in Windows XP Service Pack 2

FreeTechBooks. Lists free online computer science and engineering books and lecture notes, all of which are freely and legally available over the Internet. What's the Catch? None. All the books listed in this site are available for free, as they are hosted on websites that belong to the authors or the publishers. Note that each author and publisher has their own terms and conditions in the forms of free documentation licenses or other specific ones. Of course, you are most welcome to view, download and print the books for your own private use at no charge.

How to fix windows

Windows Open Source apps and Emulations for the Apple of Microsoft and Windows software. From OSDir

XP's No-Reformat, Nondestructive Total-Rebuild Option. Fred Langa shows you how to completely rebuild, repair, or refresh an existing XP installation without losing data, and without having to reinstall user software, reformat, or otherwise destructively alter the setup.

Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Windows 95,  98,  ME. Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Windows NT 4.0 and 2000. Microsoft, certain operating systems and service packs already include Windows Installer 2.0 and thus, if you are running one of these, (for example XP, Vista), you do not need to update your system. Warning: Make sure to carefully read and follow the Microsoft download and requirements instructions regarding Windows Installer.

Do's and Don'ts of providing a genuine Microsoft� Windows� software license

A Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is a label to help you and your customer identify genuine Microsoft� Windows� software. Without it, your customers will not have a legal license to run their Windows software. A COA is not a software license. It is only a visual aid that helps assist in determining whether Microsoft software is genuine it should never be purchased, sold or distributed by itself without the software it authenticates.

Find License Terms for Software Licensed from Microsoft

Microsoft Product Activation In an effort to reduce software piracy and ensure that Microsoft's customers receive the product quality they expect, Product Activation technology is being included in several.

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition Version 2003 for Itanium-based Systems 

Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.

You May Lose Data or Program Settings After Reinstalling, Repairing, or Upgrading Windows XP

FREE Software Tools for Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP

Troubleshooting Windows XP which includes Registry Edits for Windows XP "Tweaks and Tips"

Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM)

Microsoft ADO (ActiveX Data Objects)

Distributed Component Object Model DCOM98

Microsoft Visual Studio Developer Center

Dux Computer Digest

Factor 1

Alex Wagnar's Portal

Find Microsoft Drivers and Updates

Microsoft Direct X

Geek Girls

Microsoft Corporate Error Reporting Service to manage error reporting and data collection, and to choose the information that is sent to Microsoft

Privacy Statement for the Microsoft Error Reporting Service

Fresh UI - Tweek System Settings - Freeware Fresh UI is a tool for configuring and optimizing Windows. It comes loaded with hundreds of useful hidden settings in Windows such as: customizing the User Interface (UI), optimizing system settings, optimizing hardware settings, customizing Windows application settings, control user environment with policies. Fresh UI is organized by section for easy navigation and completed with detail description for easy reference.

Fix My XP

.NET Home Page .NET is the Microsoft Web services strategy to connect information, people, systems, and devices through software. Integrated across the Microsoft platform, .NET technology provides the ability to quickly build, deploy, manage, and use connected, security-enhanced solutions with Web services. .NET-connected solutions enable businesses to integrate their systems more rapidly and in a more agile manner and help them realize the promise of information anytime, anywhere, on any device. The Microsoft platform includes everything a business needs to develop and deploy a Web service-connected IT architecture: servers to host Web services, development tools to create them, applications to use them, and a worldwide network of more than 35,000 Microsoft Certified Partner organizations to provide any help you need. 

.NET Framework 3.0 (formerly WinFX) Developer Center

Microsoft Downloads Centre

Microsoft VBasic reference

.NET Framework Developmenr Centre. SDKs, Redistributables Service Packs Stay up-to-date with these downloadable service packs, updates, samples, and related components for the .NET Framework.

Microsoft Visual Studio Developer Center Visual Studio .NET Professional. Visual Basic .NET. Visual C# Visual C++ Visual Java and Office Developer etc..

Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server. More Diagnostics and Security links.

Microsoft Firefox More Browsers

Microsoft Trail Software

VB.Net Analyzer

Windows items form Amazon

Best Selling Computer items form Amazon

Best selling Software from Amazon

Watch the video of Stopping Windows Messenger Service. Made by me using Instant Video Suite, and finalised in Windows Movie Maker.

Windows Live Spaces It's where your online world and relationships come to life. It's the place to share and discover what's going on in your community. Take the Spaces tour.

Windows Live Writer - Windows Live Writer is a desktop application that makes it easier to compose compelling blog posts using Windows Live Spaces or your current blog service. 

Windows Media Bonus Pack - Free Jam-packed with utilities, PowerToys, visualizations, skins, sound effects, and much more, the free Windows Media Bonus Pack installs on your Windows XP-based PC and lets your personality and creativity shine. Fully packed with utilities, PowerToys, visualizations, skins, sound effects, and much more, you can install the Windows Media Bonus Pack on your Windows XP-based computer and let your creativity shine.

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP. PowerToys, (TweakUI), add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. What are they? PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released.

SyncToy for Windows XP With new sources of files coming from every direction (such as digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops), SyncToy can help you copy, move, and synchronize different directories.

Scott Hanselman's 2006 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows A lot of utilities coving most aspects including Blogs, Regular Expressions, Low-Level Utilities, TabletPC Indispensibles etc..

Windows Script is a comprehensive scripting infrastructure for the Microsoft® Windows® platform. Windows Script provides two script engines, Visual Basic® Scripting Edition and Microsoft JScript®, which can be embedded into Windows Applications. It also provides an extensive array of supporting technologies that makes it easier for script users to script Windows Applications.

Windows Script Control. The Microsoft® Windows® Script Control is an ActiveX® control that provides developers with an easy way to make their applications scriptable.

Microsoft Script Debugger. This section provides information about to use the Script Debugger how to start it, how to set breakpoints, run scripts, and so on.

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool - Free

WindizUpdate. This free website allows users of Mozilla Firefox 0.9.3, Netscape 4.0, Mozilla Firebird 0.7, Opera 5, or K-Meleon 0.9, to keep their copy of Windows up-to-date.

Microsoft XP style guidelines Creating Windows XP Icons. This article discusses how to design and create colorful and dynamic icons for Windows XP using a vector program, such as FreeHand or Illustrator, and Photoshop. (19 printed pages) 

Back up Outlook data with the Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Backup tool Backup Outlook emails automatically. For Outlook 2007/2003/2002 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup. The Personal Folders Backup download creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals, in Outlook 2002 and later versions, making it easy to keep all of your Outlook folders safely backed up. Download the tool from the Microsoft Office Online site by clicking the Download link and following the instructions in the dialog boxes.

XP Style Icons - Windows Application Icon, Software XP Icons

EnjoyXP! This site is dedicated to teaching and support about Microsoft Windows XP, and Microsoft Office XP! This site is run by the same people who run MSN 8 for Windows XP, so we know what we are talking about.

The X-Mac icon collection provides you with a realistic style which has all the main characteristics of Mac® icons. The designs have been created to give a clean and smooth sensation for your software and web projects. It has a great definition and details but also stylized images that enhances the functionality of electronic applications. For Windows 2000/XP/Me/98/95.

CodePlex, Microsoft's community development Web site. You can use CodePlex to create new projects to share with your fellow developers around the world, join others who have already started their own projects, or use the applications on this site and provide feedback.

Software tips and tricks

Windows Tips and Tricks

Nvu (pronounced N-view) Finally! A complete Web Authoring System for Linux desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which stands for "new view") makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML. Nvu is open source and covered under the MPL/LGPL/GPL tri-license

Wine  A compatibility layer that tries to provide the Windows application interface (API) on top of Linux.

FINECOUNT  Freeware. An essential free software package for translators and translation managers - providing a wide range of features and functionality needed for document analysis. FineCount can quickly provide detailed statistics for documents in many different formats (Microsoft Word, PDF, HTML, and many, many others.) FineCount can also be used to prepare cost estimates and invoices for translation work. FineCount also allows the user to create their own report templates that can be reused with different documents.

Tweaker is a utility that can customize several Windows settings that you can't control anywhere else. Tweaker is more for the "power users" out there who want more control on Windows settings -- to be able to change things that Windows just doesn't have a spot to change them in.

Fast Defrag is a tool that can free and optimize RAM and the swap-file usage .It displays current memory usage and statistics and can also be run from the command line (useful for automation). Fast Defrag cleans only the memory that was filled by previous loaded applications and does not remove Windows components or active programs from memory.

Start Menu Cleaner Clean up your Start Menu! A small and handy tool that finds and removes invalid entries from the Start Menu as well as your desktop. It cannot only delete broken shortcuts, but also empty folders (in the Start Menu) that were left behind from previous software installations.

Apache Lounge, home for Apache 2 on Windows.

Codec is an abbreviation for Coder-Decoder or Compressor/Decompressor,. It may be used for analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converter for translating the signals from the outside world to digital, and back again. Or used to compress/uncompress files for easier storage and/or transmission.

Codec Installation Packages for IT Professional Microsoft Windows Media codecs are automatically downloaded by Microsoft Windows Media Player, including all Microsoft Windows Media codec updates.

Windows Media Video 9 Series Codecs

Players and viewers/PDF file viewers. Messenger Services.

Visualisation of how Search Engines and Keywords link together

Free-codecs.com

Codecs Central

Free Codecs

GSpot Codec Information Appliance

Sherlock® The Codec Detective

Digital Cameras. Video Camcorders. Make you own videos. Take Professional Quality Stills. Find the best cameras whether you enjoy still photography or making your own videos and Video Production. Amateur and professional cameras. Camera Memory and batteries. Quality and Value.

File Names being saved in the incorrect case

Free Macintosh Emulators and Virtual Machines

Free PC Emulators and Virtual Machines

Dependency Walker is a free utility that scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module (exe, dll, ocx, sys, etc.) and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependent modules. For each module found, it lists all the functions that are exported by that module, and which of those functions are actually being called by other modules. Another view displays the minimum set of required files, along with detailed information about each file including a full path to the file, base address, version numbers, machine type, debug information, and more.

Resource Hacker™ is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2000 and WinXP operating systems. Viewing Resources: Cursor, Icon, Bitmap, GIF, AVI, and JPG resource images can be viewed. WAV and MIDI audio resources can be played. Menus, Dialogs, MessageTables, StringTables, Accelerators, Delphi Forms, and VersionInfo resources can be viewed as decompiled resource scripts. Menus and Dialogs can also be viewed as they would appear in a running application.

Win Insider Forum and News.

Microsoft XP passwords, (Also read Password Protection)

If you have other admin accounts on the machine that you can use then you can reset the password with their account.

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Click on the icon called User Accounts.
3. Click on the user that you have lost the password for.
4. Select remove password from the list of choices.

If you only have 1 profile or the others are password protected as well then you need to

1. Reboot the PC and press F8 when prompted to do so
2. This displays a menu with number on a black and white screen.
3. Select Safe Mode and press Enter.
4. Login in using the Administrator account (previously hidden)
5. Now follow the instructions above.

If the Administrator account is password protected then you will need to take the PC to a computer shop.

Understanding SAMI. This article describes how the new Microsoft Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI) technology expands the ability to provide closed captioning to a wide range of multimedia products.

Junction (Free) Many web developers are familiar with symbolic links on Linux, Mac OS X, and similar operating systems. With a symbolic link, you can reference any file or directory by a different name and/or in a different directory. It turns out that NTFS supports a very similar feature called junctions, but you need an expensive set of tools from Microsoft® or this convenient little command line program to use them. Windows 2000® and higher supports directory symbolic links, where a directory serves as a symbolic link to another directory on the computer. For example, if the directory D:\SYMLINK specified C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 as its target, then an application accessing D:\SYMLINK\DRIVERS would in reality be accessing C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS. Directory symbolic links are known as NTFS junctions in Windows. Unfortunately, Windows comes with no tools for creating junctions - you have to purchase the Win2K Resource Kit, which comes with the linked program for creating junctions. I therefore decided to write my own junction-creating tool: Junction. Junction not only allows you to create NTFS junctions, it allows you to see if files or directories are actually reparse points. Reparse points are the mechanism on which NTFS junctions are based, and they are used by Windows' Remote Storage Service (RSS), as well as volume mount points.

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows

Stretch Break is an ergonomic stretching and typing break timer program. the program reminds you to take periodic breaks from your computer and provides ergonomic information, including workstation setup guidelines.

Eyes Relax is a small freeware Windows utility that reminds you taking breaks when working with computers. This software allows you to customize the duration of your work and length of the breaks. During the break you may exercise your eyes, look away, or look at distant objects either in your office or outside, take a stroll outside your office. A "Parent mode" feature can be used to protect your children eyes.

RSI Action is a student group providing preventative education about RSI to the general public and to students at Harvard. It also provides advocacy and support for Harvard students with RSI. RSI stands for Repetitive Strain Injury. It includes a whole spectrum of conditions, from tendonitis of the hand or wrist to carpal tunnel syndrome to cubital tunnel syndrome.

UserHealth. Do you spend several hours in front of the computer without breaks or pauses? Maybe you want a tool that can monitor how much time you actually spend in front of the computer? In that case this software can be perfect for you, and by the way did I mention that it is freeware!

Preventing and healing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome & Repetitive Stress Injuries

Computer Related Repetitive Strain Injury

Safe computing tips Know the basic tips about Office Ergonomics, Workstation Ergonomics, Ergonomic PC, Laptop Ergonomics, Ergonomic chair and avoid health problems such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome & Repetitive Strain Injury. Stay Healthy & Fit while working in front of your computer. No eyestrains, back pains or other discomforts.

Learn About WMV HD Experience high-definition video on your computer with Microsoft Windows� Media High Definition Video (WMV HD). Also view Graphics, Graphics file formats Video and Images

Microsoft Update. Now you can get updates for Windows, Office and other Microsoft applications all in one place. Microsoft Update is a new service that brings you all the features and benefits of Windows Update plus downloads for other Microsoft applications including Office.

Windows Server Update Services. Download it today and find out how you can fully manage the distribution of updates that are released through Microsoft Update to computers in your network.

The Windows Security Center, (Microsoft Windows®), which is already installed on your computer, monitors and enables you to manage important security settings on your computer, including a firewall, automatic updates, and the status of your antivirus software. Anti-Virus Software Tools & Utilities

Microsoft Windows® Service Pack 2  A free software update pack for Windows XP, which is the operating system of many home PCs. Microsoft Windows® Service Pack 2 is commonly known as SP2 is designed to fix several bugs and vulnerabilities in Windows XP simultaneously, and give your PC better protection from viruses and hackers. How to get SP2 Also view Security and Anti-Virus Software Tools & Utilities

Windows XP Expert Zone

MSDN: Windows Media SDKs and Documentation

Microsoft's Patterns & Practices team

Registry Guide for Windows, formerly RegEdit.com, provides an extensive range of registry tweaks, tricks & hacks for optimizing, enhancing and securing the Windows XP, 2000, NT, 98, 95 and Windows Me operating systems

Registry Wizard allows you to scan Windows registry for errors or useless keys and fix registry problems. You can also backup and restore deleted keys. This program does not require installation. Features: Scan Registry - Scan Windows registry on critical and non critical errors. Fix founded Registry Errors - Delete from registry keys and values useless and containing errors. Restore backup - Restore registry keys and values from backup file.

Windows Live Search makes it easy to find the information you want. No matter what you're looking for music, images, the closest pizzeria to your hotel, something you thought you read in a blog a month ago you'll simply find it faster

Microsoft Office Live is the perfect way to get started on the Web. It features all the basics you need to create your first Web site, including free hosting, Web site statistics, personalized domain name, and e-mail addresses.

Microsoft Research Labs

Microsoft Live Labs

Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC is the evolution of the traditional notebook PC.

Microsoft Office® Online File Converters and Viewers

Microsoft Reader eBooks and more.. Including free eBooks

Microsoft Reader Text-to-Speech Package. Microsoft Reader for Tablet PC and Microsoft Reader for Windows-based PCs and laptops boast accessibility features that are bringing eBooks to more communities and providing a richer on-screen reading experience with additional TTS and Verbosity functionality. To enable Microsoft Reader to take advantage of existing speech technologies, you must install the Microsoft Reader Text-to-Speech Package (TTS) Package.

Microsoft Reader for Pocket PC's (PDA's) Microsoft Reader for Pocket PC.

Microsoft ActiveSync. Synchronization software for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones.

Windows Mobile Comunity Forum

Microsoft Virtual PC is now free! This may help you during testing as a developer. It lets one much more easily replicate the production environment without investing in hardware. It lets one test out beta software (such as IE 7 or Windows Vista) without breaking their current, working installation. The VPC image is stored as a file, it allows one to do some serious test runs on violate resources, such as databases, then restore without complex scripts.

VBRun60sp6.exe installs Visual Basic 6.0 SP6 run-time files. VBRun60sp6.exe is a self-extracting executable file that installs the latest versions of the Microsoft Visual Basic run-time files that are required by all applications that are created with Visual Basic 6.0. The files include the fixes that are included with Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack 6.

WinErrs Did you ever get an 'Illegal Operation' or 'Page Fault' error message and wonder what it meant?  WinErrs is a database of 1.554 Windows error codes and their definitions.  These codes are extracted directly from Microsoft Windows and are their descriptions.

Load Windows XP on your Intel Mac, Now!    Windows on Mac Wiki! The main purpose of this Wiki is for people to share information on how to install Windows XP on an Intel Mac, and where to obtain the Windows drivers for Apple hardware.

MS .NET Framework 2.0 The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 (x86) redistributable package installs the .NET Framework runtime and associated files required to run applications developed to target the .NET Framework v2.0. The .NET Framework version 2.0 improves scalability and performance of applications with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services. For more information on the .NET Framework 2.0, click here. Required Software: Windows Installer 3.0 (except for Windows 98/ME, which require Windows Installer 2.0 or later). Windows Installer 3.1 or later is recommended. IE 5.01 or later: You must also be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later for all installations of the .NET Framework.

Enterprise Library for .NET Framework 2.0, the collection of reusable and extensible application blocks for enterprise development, has been improved and updated specifically for Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0 (January 2006)   

Microsoft patterns & practices are Microsoft's recommendations for how to design, develop, deploy, and operate architecturally sound applications for the Microsoft application platform.

Depositit automatically protects all the essential data you hold on your computer, laptop, mobile phone and PDA. Keep your data safe from damaging viruses, hardware errors & natural disasters. Software and this backs up Microsoft Exchange servers. In order to use this feature customers must subscribe to the 'standard package' on our website which will take them to the 'package selection' area where they can then select the Exchange 'plug-in'.

Backup/File Compression.

Microsoft Global Input Method Editors (IMEs). Now, you can input Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text into any Microsoft Office XP applications, Web forms, and e-mail messages on any language version of Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Millennium, Windows 98, and Windows NT® 4.0 with Service Pack 6 (SP6) or later. And it's easy. After you have installed the Global IME for Office XP, you just start your Office XP program, select the language from the Language bar, and you can type the language you choose, regardless of the language version of Office XP or Windows you are using. Translation 

The Windows Genuine Advantage

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Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 Redistributable Package

Microsoft Product Lifecycle Search Microsoft provides support on the current service pack, and in some cases the immediately preceding service pack, for the products listed below. See the Lifecycle Support Policy FAQ for details on the Service Pack Support Policy. As a convenience to you, Microsoft is providing a list of the currently supported service packs: Supported Service Pack List. If you have any questions regarding support for a product, please contact your Microsoft representative. If you need technical support, visit the Contact Microsoft Web site.

Advanced WindowsCare Repair and fix windows with 1-click. Slow down, freeze and blue-screen crash are over. Advanced WindowsCare thoroughly examines the Windows system, accurately detects the bottlenecks for slowing down and crashing, fixes these problems and repairs Windows. All work will be done with 30 seconds and 1 click. The intuitive interface makes Advanced WindowsCare the perfect tool for Non-IT professionals<

WHDC - Resources for system designers, driver developers, and test engineers. (Microsoft Windows)

Windows Mobile

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows     Linux Unix links

WiredX.net enables access to Unix applications from Windows machines via web browsers.

Platform SDK Redistributable: DCOM95 Redistributables

Microsoft SDK

Windows XP SP2 General Information

Windows XP SP2 Service Pack 2 Downloads of IT Professionals

Windows XP Service Pack 1a Network Installation

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers

Windows XP Service Pack 2 - Security Information for Developers

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Technology Advancement Program. Upgrade to Windows XP Professional x64 Edition from Windows XP Professional (32-bit). Notes Not all Drivers may function. This like all software may be buggy. You may have to give up using the 32bit version. You will need to have an x64 processor (the AMD Athlon 64, AMD Opteron, Intel Pentium 4 with EM64T, or Intel Xeon with EM64T) to run the new software.

Bob Cerelli's Windows Page

PowerPoint Viewer 97 for PowerPoint 97, 2000, and 2002 Users. This download is for users who don't have Microsoft PowerPoint®; it allows them to view PowerPoint 95, 97, 2000, and 2002 presentations.

• PowerPoint Viewer 2003

• PowerPoint 2003 Add-in: Microsoft Producer for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003

• Excel Viewer 2003

• PowerPoint 2003 Add-in: Template Creation Wizard

• Office 2003/XP/2000 Add-in: Office Sounds

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner allows you to safely clean and repair registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks. After scanning and fixing the invalid entries, your system will be more stable and run faster.

Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft Server System

Migrating from Microsoft Access to MySQL

Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft Server System

Microsoft SQL Server DBA Survival Guide

SQL Junkies A feature-packed SQL Server Web site communities on the Internet today. Community for developers to come and learn about building solutions using Microsoft SQL Server while being part of a collaborative community of peers.

SQL, MySQL (Structured Query Language; other database links)

Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Windows 95, 98, and Me

Advanced Windows Care - Freeware Slow downs, freezes and crashes are over. Repair and cure your windows with 1 click. Unlike other utility, Advanced WindowsCare does not do simple registry cleaning. It thoroughly examines Windows system, accurately detects the bottleneck for slowing down and crashing, and fixes them. With the novel system technology, Advanced WindowsCare empowers you to run computer faster, more stably and more efficiently than with any other system utilities.

NTFS - New Technology File System designed for Windows NT, 2000, XP NTFS is a high-performance and self-healing file system proprietary to Windows XP 2000 NT, which supports file-level security, compression and auditing. It also supports large volumes and powerful storage solution such as RAID. One of the most important new feature of NTFS is the ability to encrypt files and folders to protect your sensitive data. 

Windows 98 100 Internet problems fixed. APPLIES TO Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition.

JIS FAQ. Windows NT® / Windows 2000® / Windows XP® / Windows Server 2003® Tips and Tricks Purchase a license for our Desktop Tips and Tricks, available in a form suitable for use on your local computer.

Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) Donation Program, provides Windows 98 and Windows 2000 operating systems to nonprofit PC refurbishers for an affordable administrative fee. Providing affordable access to technology Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher (MAR) Worldwide  The Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher (MAR) programme is part of Microsoft's Partners in Learning and Unlimited Potential initiatives. The MAR programme works with eligible refurbishers to provide legally-installed Microsoft operating systems on donated computers to eligible recipients.  The primary goal of the MAR programme is to increase the number of donated and low-cost computers available to eligible charitable organisations, eligible academic users, and other Microsoft-specially approved recipients. In addition, the MAR programme benefits the environment by helping to keep serviceable computers out of landfills.  How the MAR programme works  The MAR programme authorises eligible refurbishers to install either Windows 98 Second Edition or Windows 2000 Professional operating systems, and Microsoft Works 7.0 software on donated computers. Through the programme, Microsoft provides authorised refurbishers with Microsoft media, special certificates of authenticity (COAs), and Eligibile Recipient agreements. By reducing the cost refurbishers incur when refurbishing donated computers, the MAR programme makes the equipment more affordable for eligible refurbishers to restore and eligible recipients to obtain. The MAR Web site facilitates the process by bringing together eligible refurbishers, computer donors, and eligible recipients.  For more Hardware donating view the Hardware Guides, BIOS, Drivers, DLL files and Peripherals page

Find a Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher.   Search by Refurbishers Location (EMEA), Europe, Middle East and Africa area only)   Search by Locations They Supply Computers (Global)

VirtualDub. Desktop video processing and capture application (Win32). More Graphics and Video Links

A Computer Portal. Site Map  Desktop version of the ROR Sitemap Generator. Download ROR Sitemap Generator 1.0! This tool requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1, if you don't already have it or if you are not sure, use this link:- Download ROR Sitemap Generator 1.0 + Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1 Download and install it on your computer (for Windows only). Feel free to re-distribute this tool. The Desktop version will generate a sitemap of up to 5,000 URLs (and even more, soon). Site Map in XML of this site. Using ROR (Resources Of a Resource) is a rapidly growing XML format for describing any object on a website (sitemaps, products, services, menus, images, reviews, contact info, business info, etc), so any search engines can better understand its content. ROR Sitemap Generator    ROR Submission  More information about Site Maps and Google Site Maps

    More information about Site Maps and Google Site Maps

DOS, Disk Operating System

How to use the Administration Tools Pack to remotely administer computers that are running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000

Windows Server 2003 Editions Compared Compare the features of the Windows Server 2003 family using this set of tables, which is organized by function.

Rancidbacon PC Hardware tips. Apple and Windows.

Mini is a application server designed to be simple and have a small footprint. It has the features you need to be able to develop small web applications that you want to deploy on a machine with modest hardware. Mini is implemented as a windows service and runs under windows 2000/XP/Vista. Mini is developed by Toni Thomsson and is still under heavy development, far from finished, especially the documentation, which for the moment is quite sparse. Still, it has been successfully used in a number of projects already. So if you are looking for something like Mini and you're not afraid of "The bleeding edge", try it out!  Mini application server API for C++.  More C/C++ Links.

GIMP for Windows GNU Image Manipulation Program. An open source Graphics creation and manipulation application similar to Adobe Photoshop. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages. This is the official web site of the GIMP, and contains information about downloading, installing, using, and enhancing it. This site also serves as a distribution point for the latest releases. We try to provide as much information about the GIMP community and related projects as possible.

GIMP Plug-In Registry

OPERATOR DIFFERENCES The .. range operator treats certain character ranges with care on EBCDIC machines. For example the following array will have twenty six elements on either an EBCDIC machine or an ASCII machine. Find out about cJ, cI, (You may see these when loading Excel characters codes via PERL), etc...

ASCII, American Code for Information Interchange. Character Symbols. Hexadecimal Binary Octal etc..

Help maximize your security with the Internet Explorer High Encryption Pack.

The Official Win32::Perms Home Page. One of the most frustrating aspects of administrating Win32 machines is the way that permissions are managed. The only way to modify permissions is by using the GUI tools that come with the operating system, such as the Explorer.exe program. There are other tools such as Cacl.exe but they are not necessarily easy to find nor are they easy to use. Additionally such tools typically only work on permissions for one particular type of object (such as files and directories or printer shares). This is what the Win32::Perms extension was designed to combat. It allows a script to query and modify the permissions on files, directories, registry keys, network shares and printer shares. In addition to permissions the extension also allows the management of how an object is audited as well as editing the objects owner and group.

WiredX.net enables access to Unix applications from Windows machines via web browsers.

AGrep for Windows (Search & Replace tool, use regular expressions)

Overview of the RHCE If the company Red Hat has its way, its Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) credential will eventually replace Microsoft's MCSE certification as king of the network operating system...

PlayStation Portable PSP2 Running Windows or Linux

Utter Access Microsoft^� Access, Excel, Word, Outlook, Visual Basic^�, SQL Server^�, Office online help discussion forums. And... many more!

Tutorialfind Learn more about computer related items.

Annoyance is the most complete collection of information assembled for and by actual users of Microsoft Windows.

OldVersion.com Sometimes upgrading to a newer version can be a good thing. Other times, your computer may not be compatible with the new version, the new version is bloated, or all the good options are no longer available. OldVersion.com has been supplying the online community with old versions of various programs since 2001. The service is utilized by thousands of users every day and has been featured in newspapers and magazines as well as on radio and television.

Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center from Microsoft.  Beginning in 2007, daylight saving time (DST) will be extended in the United States. DST will start on March 11, 2007, which is three weeks earlier than usual, and it will end on November 4, 2007, which is one week later than usual (more details on the new DST start and end times can be found here). This results in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than in previous years. Observance of DST, and Summer Time in much of Europe, is often different around the world; many areas, countries and territories shift their clocks at different times throughout the year. During these changes, clocks are usually shifted by one hour. Some locations follow a set of standard, uniform rules for the start and end dates of DST, but some locations determine the dates on a much more dynamic basis. Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four-week period. In particular, you must make sure that both your Windows operating system and your calendar programs are updated. View our World Time & Zone links

DB2 Universal Database, IBM, for Linux, UNIX and Windows

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows.

What Differentiates Linux from Windows? (Linux Insider View point)

MICROSOFT ANTI-SPAM POLICY. Microsoft prohibits the use of the MSN Services in any manner associated with the transmission, distribution or delivery of any unsolicited bulk or unsolicited commercial e-mail ("Spam"). You may not use any MSN services to send Spam. You also may not deliver Spam or cause Spam to be delivered to any of Microsoft's MSN Services or MSN customers. More...

Microsoft Product Code-names. From Noeld's Home Page

How to Install and Configure PHP4 to Run with Apache on Windows   PHP Links  Microsoft Windows®

Apache Links.    Downloading the Apache HTTP Server        Windows XP Apache Users Read This First If you will install Apache on Windows XP, you must install the Windows XP Service Pack 1.    Additional Warning: we recommend disabling the "Quality of Service" (or QoS) network driver from Microsoft if you are using Apache, since Apache Links does not support the QoS extensions to the WinSock API.

How to Install and Configure PHP4 to Run with Apache on Windows

The Internet Content Rating Association  The original aims of RSACi Rating System, (now folded), to protect children from potentially harmful content while preserving free speech on the internet, continue to provide the cornerstone for ICRA's work, backed by the biggest names online.

Micosoft Infomation RSACi Rating System Internet Explorer is installed with a PICS-based content rating system known as the Recreational Software Advisory Council on the Internet (RSACi) system. This built-in PICS support can help you control the types of content that users can access on the Internet. When you enable Content Advisor, Internet Explorer reads the meta tags to determine whether Web sites meet your criteria for suitable content. You can also subscribe to independent ratings bureaus or use third-party ratings to control access to Web content.

RSACi is an open, objective content ratings system for the Internet developed by the Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC), which has since been folded into the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), an independent, nonprofit organization. The RSACi system provides information about the level of sex, nudity, violence, and offensive (vulgar or hate-motivated) language in software games and Web sites. For more information about ICRA and the RSACi rating system, see the ICRA Web site at The Internet Content Rating Association You can also download the ICRA's new content ratings system from this Web site.

The following table shows the five levels of the RSACi Rating System and describes the content allowed for each level. Level 0 is the most restrictive, preventing users from accessing Web sites that include offensive language, nudity, sex, and violence. Level 4 is the least restrictive, allowing users to access Web sites that present explicit content.

RSAC no longer exists. In 1999 it was "folded into" a new organization, the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA). The original aims of RSAC, to protect children from potentially harmful content while preserving free speech on the internet, continue to provide the cornerstone for ICRA's work, backed by the biggest names online.

Level Language rating Nudity rating Sex rating Violence rating: -

You can set content ratings to any level for each of the four content areas. All content ratings are set to Level 0 by default. When Content Advisor is turned on and the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS)  rating for a Web site exceeds the rating level you specify, Internet Explorer prevents users from accessing the site. Also, you can configure Internet Explorer to prevent or allow users to access unrated Web content. For more information, see "Configuring Content Advisor Settings" later in this chapter.

mIRC is a shareware Internet Relay Chat client for Windows. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is one of the most popular and most interactive services on the Internet. Sure, the Web is nice for finding info and E-mail beats snailmail hands down, but when you've been wondering'where the others are?', then IRC is what you're looking for. IRC is the net's equivalent of CB radio. But unlike CB, Internet Relay Chat lets people all over the world participate in real-time conversations. IRC is where the Net comes alive! VProtector mIRC Contains mIRC, virus scanner (F-Mirc Worm Scanner) to scan and remove all kinds of mIRC viruses and worms.

XP's Little-Known'Rebuild'Command There's an easy fix for "Missing HAL.DLL," "Invalid Boot.Ini," and several other fatal startup errors, Fred Langa says. It usually takes a lot to stop XP in its tracks. Even in those rare cases when the operating system is badly damaged, you'll usually at least have the option of booting into the "Last Known Good" configuration, or to Safe Mode. But sometimes, especially after major hardware failures or part swaps (e.g. moving the operating system to a new hard drive), or after problems with dual- or multi-booting software, you may encounter seemingly intractable errors such as "Missing or corrupt HAL.DLL," "Invalid Boot.Ini," or "Windows could not start..." These problems can seem hard to get past. For example, the first time I got a "Cannot find \Windows\System32\hal.dll" error message, I thought I'd be clever and replace the missing file via a simple Copy command from the Recovery Console. I booted the PC, switched to the \Windows\System32 folder, and there it was: The HAL.DLL was already there. It wasn't missing at all. Why couldn't the operating system find it? For DLL files view our Hardware Guides, BIOS, Drivers, DLL files and Peripherals page

Events and Errors Message Center. Find detailed message explanations, recommended user actions, and links to additional support and resources. To perform a search, enter the event ID, the source, the message text, or the file name in the Search for text box, and then click Go. These values can be found in the Event Viewer logs. Bugs and Crashes. Use the Windows XP 'Event Viewer' to help assess problems... to get to it, use the Start button > right-click on My Computer > Manage > System Tools > Event Viewer > Application. Scroll through the log and check anything with a red Error icon. Double click on the line item to read about the problem. When checking the event log, don't stop on Warnings or items of Information. Go right to the Errors.

The OS Inside The OS. Fred Langa shows how a simple tweak turns Microsoft XP's low-level Recovery Console into a complete, standalone mini-operating system--in effect, an XP DOS! Operating Systems and Graphical User Interfaces. Windows Visa/XP, Linux, Apple, BeOS, etc.

Set Up Unix Shell Account using SLiRP with Win 98.  Expita. Includes RFCs by e-mail, accessing the internet by e-mail, agora servers, anonymous posting by e-mail, anonymous servers, archie by e-mail, archie servers, e-mail FAQs, finger by e-mail, finger gateways, finger servers, ftp by e-mail, ftp servers, getweb by e-mail, getweb servers, gopher by e-mail, gophermail servers, gophermail, jughead by e-mail, jughead servers, mail2news gateways, mail2news, other e-mail only servers, search engines by e-mail, usenet by e-mail, uudecode by e-mail, uudecoding e-mail, veronica by e-mail, veronica servers, web by e-mail, webmail servers, webmail, whois by e-mail, whois gateways, whois servers, www by e-mail, www4mail by e-mail, www4mail servers, and the WWW by e-mail.  Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text, Email only servers listing,

Returning Virus, keep getting a virus report even after removal? System Restore feature.

This may happen because of Windows XP system restore feature. This is able to restore your software to an earlier time. For example you've installed some software that has caused problems with your computer drivers and that even a standard uninstall does not fix it. In this case a system restores will be able to return your system back to before the time when you installed the problematic software.

System restore is semi-automatically able recovering eliminated files or the system settings for example if the where accidentally changed.

Windows XP keeps modified elements inside its hidden directory, called _restore  This is protected so that its contents can�t be normally changed by anything else.

This feature is an advantageous if you need to return your system to an earlier state.

With anti-virus/anti-spyware it may cause an issue that while the anti-virus/anti-spyware may have removed the virus/spyware the _restore files may still contain that virus.

The anti-virus/anti-spyware may detect again the infected file in the _restore folder but it may not be able to remove it because the file is protected by the operating system.

Returning Spyware, keep getting a spyware report even after removal?

This may happen because of Windows XP system restore feature. This is able to restore your software to an earlier time. For example you've installed some software that has caused problems with your computer drivers and that even a standard uninstall does not fix it. In this case a system restores will be able to return your system back to before the time when you installed the problematic software.

System restore is semi-automatically able recovering eliminated files or the system settings for example if the where accidentally changed.

Windows XP keeps modified elements inside its hidden directory, called _restore  This is protected so that its contents can�t be normally changed by anything else.

This feature is an advantageous if you need to return your system to an earlier state.

With anti-virus/anti-spyware it may cause an issue that while the anti-virus/anti-spyware may have removed the virus/spyware the _restore files may still contain that virus.

The anti-virus/anti-spyware may detect again the infected file in the _restore folder but it may not be able to remove it because the file is protected by the operating system.

How to remove anti-virus/anti-spyware from the System Restore folder:-

More How to Restore a Windows XP system to a previous State using System Restore

After completing these steps, carry out a full scan of your computer using the antivirus/antispyware program in order to ensure that it correctly disinfected.

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of two parts:. A DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a Linux API emulation layer providing substantial Linux API functionality

VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software.  As VirtualBox is a cross platform project, we use a cross platform build system meaning that there won't be any Visual C++ project files that you can open and just build.

Mini vMac emulator. The emulator is available for both Mac OS (Classic and OSX), Windows and Linux

Sysinternals web site was created in 1996 by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell to host their advanced system utilities and technical information. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July, 2006. Whether you're an IT Pro or a developer, you'll find Sysinternals utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications. If you have a question about a tool or how to use them, please visit the Sysinternals Forum for answers and help from other users and our moderators.  They have some Tools and Utility links that may help you out.

BSOD = Blue Screen Of Death. A Search for Microsoft Windows XP Blue Screen  or Microsoft Vista Blue Screen   Microsoft Help BSOD   Microsoft Stop Codes information

Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download

MDGx MAX Speed WinDOwS Tricks + Secrets Files   Secret Fdisk/Format hidden parameters' and commands, etc...  More DOS, Disk Operating System

MSN Knowledge. MSN Information

Windows Rewrites. Windows Servers. Mod Rewrite

DOS, Disk Operating System

Web Services UDDI, WSDL, SOAP.

Operating Systems and Graphical User Interfaces. Windows Visa/XP, Linux, Apple, BeOS, etc.

Safer Surfing

Programming Applications (VBA) Microsoft Office Programming. Using Applications.

Protect your Usernames and passwords. Protect your system 

Disaster Recovery Planning. (Also Undelete Files) So how good is your Disaster Recovery Planning?

Anti-Virus Software Tools & Utilities

Diagnostics and Security

Freeware, shareware, downloads and software links

Server Side Includes. SSI

CRON scheduler running of programs. CRONTABS

Hosting Question you should ask

Web Masters. Click Here Now to start making money. A Great opportunity to make some money. Receive 50% by offering your users Ton's of Keywords on A Great Portal websites. Our Affiliate Program Pays you 50% on Level 1 of Every Sale of our Text Link both searchable and static Text Link!