Technology News And Reviews » microsoft

Trouble for Win7 trial users!

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:00:04 +0000

Microsoft Windows 7 Release Candidate users will lose control over their computers. Their PCs will start shutting down every two hours, even if they haven’t saved their work. And, on June 1, the screens will go black.

World’s largest software maker Microsoft’s business strategy for pushing hard to sell its new Windows 7 by exerting control over users’ PCs has opened a pandora’s box.

Release candidate were the trial versions that Microsoft released last year. Most proprietary software vendors do supply beta or trial versions for a limited period, which shut down after limited use. Microsoft Office software versions also lock a user’s files after a few trials, which means all data created during the trial period becomes unusable. But, in case of an operating system, which is the brain of a PC, the risks of losing control over a PC are much higher.

“The RC is a pre-final build that is distributed with a clearly stated intent and expiration date. Thus, testers already know at the time of downloading/installing that the RC is valid for a limited period. Even now, users have over 130 days to buy the final available for sale version of the product,” says Rajiv Popli, director–Windows Client, Consumer & Online Business, Microsoft India. “It’s a normal practice in software industry,” he adds.

Open source and non-profit IT bodies have started lobbying for open source software even harder for government systems. They fear that during times of a crisis, large corporations can control private networks. Legally, users cede the right to control over their PCs when they check into terms and conditions before installation. Many IT leaders cite this loss of control, as an unhealthy trade practice, especially for government systems. “The government is unfortunately burying the cyber threats as a non-real threat by procuring critical systems from foreign parties. Some US internet search engines are also reported to use US’ National Security Agency (NSA) algorithms. The issue of loss of control by users has to be taken suo moto by competition commission. It’s a highly coercive practice,” says Prabir Purkayastha, of Knowledge Commons.

Microsoft had however denied any reports of an NSA backdoor in Windows 7, last year. IT for Change, a non-profit body working towards open software in public systems, says that public systems should use public software. “Resting the control over public systems to private parties is against the principles of universal access,” says IT for Change director Gurumurthy Kafinathan.

Public systems aside, for users, geeks have designed ingenious ways to get past the practice. Dr Zaki Qureshey, chairman E2-Labs and an ethical hacker, says that reverse engineering of software is the key to it. “Many hackers get into reverse engineering after the Beta software are made available. All they do is create a small program that stops software from expiring, by lets says stopping the date to change.”

Numerous patches are available on the internet that promises to do away with the desktop watermarks and even stop the send feedback functionality. However, for users these may come with a risk. Security updates and patches would be unavailable making them vulnerable to malware attacks. “Further some of the software developing companies can even remotely lock the PCs which are using the pirated versions,” he adds.

A software called TimerNuke counts the remaining beta test period of Windows 7. If one missed the deadline for downloading the Beta software, when it was made available, one still has the option of downloading the entire cracked version from the internet through torrents. Torrents are small files with addressees of several internet connected PCs, which act as a resource base.

Tags: beta, business, client, computers, desktop, knowledge, microsoft, online-business, time, windows, windows 7, windows-client, work

IE 6 is Probably the First Software Piece that Got a Formal Funeral both in Real and Virtual World

Hiew Chok Sien — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:58:40 +0000

Internet Explorer 6, probably the oldest piece of software that still serves many people in the field, finally was announced its death on March 1st.

Internet Explorer Six, resident of the interwebs for over 8 years, died the morning of March 1, 2010 in Mountain View, California, as a result of a workplace injury sustained at the headquarters of Google, Inc. Internet Explorer Six, known to friends and family as “IE6,” is survived by son Internet Explorer Seven, and grand-daughter Internet Explorer Eight.

And Microsoft, the father of IE, also sent the flowers to the funeral that speaks quite clear that it’s time to move on and it’s time for IE 6 to rest.

So to avoid troubling yourself by encountering a ghost from your computer while surfing the internet, do yourself a favor, upgrade your IE to the latest IE 8, or completely move away from it by introducing a different browser.

Tags: avoid-troubling, california, completely-move, explorer, flowers, funeral, headquarters, internet, interwebs, microsoft, morning, mountain, mountain-view, your-computer

IBM’s new server to counter Oracle

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:43:47 +0000

International Business Machines (IBM), the largest computer-services provider, is introducing new server systems today, aiming to bolster its leading position as software rival Oracle Corp enters the market.

The Power7 systems will be tailored for specific projects, such as running electrical grids or financial analytics, Rodney Adkins, senior vice president for systems and technology, said last week in an interview. The systems, made of integrated servers, software and storage, will start selling this month.

The release marks the first new systems since Adkins took over IBM’s hardware division in October, after predecessor Bob Moffat left the company amid the Galleon Group insider-trading scandal. IBM’s focus on project-specific systems, along with investments in research and development, will help it gain market share even as Oracle starts selling similar servers with its acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc., he said.

“It’s easy in this industry to say, ‘I have this piece, I have this piece, I have this piece, now I have it all,’” said Adkins. “It really requires innovation.”

With the purchase of server maker Sun, Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison has said he plans to challenge IBM by selling computers packaged with software customized for industries, such as retailing.

Global sales of high-end servers will be about $14 billion this year, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC. IBM held 40 percent of that market in the third quarter, IDC’s most recent report. Hewlett-Packard Co. had 27 percent, followed by Sun with 26 percent.

Hardware Sales
Hardware sales make up 17 percent of Armonk, New York-based IBM’s total revenue, which topped $95 billion last year. The company is the world’s third-largest software maker, trailing Microsoft Corp. and Redwood City, California-based Oracle.

IBM offered to buy Sun for about $7 billion last year, according to people familiar with the matter. Oracle ultimately acquired Sun for $7.4 billion, and the deal closed last month.

IBM rose 52 cents to $123.52 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Feb. 5. The shares had fallen 5.6 percent this year before today.

Tags: larry-ellison, microsoft, oracle, redwood-city, sales

Yoto M8 – player in the style of iPhone

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:14:23 +0000

The Chinese company Yoto (Yuantong) introduced a portable media player, very reminiscent of cell phone iPhone. Some overseas websites and blogs dubbed a clone of a novelty, but it is recognized that its characteristics are quite interesting.

Yoto M8 portable multimedia player has a slim stylish package with a 3.0-inch TFT display with a resolution of 400 × 240 pixels. List of supported formats includes RMVB, AVI, FLV, DAT, WMV, MP4 video and audio MP3, WMA, OGG, APE / FLAC. The music player has a variety of settings, including a graphic equalizer, and support for Microsoft PlayFX Audio. In addition, the device can work with formats JPEG, GIF, BMP, e-books, and has a variety of useful applications such as calendar, stopwatch, calculator.

Other characteristics of the new items include an FM radio, TV-out port USB 2.0, and FM transmitter.

Tags: device, Iphone, microsoft, Mp3 Player, the-device, touch-screen

Email archiving software for windows 7

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:15:51 +0000

Are you still search the email programs for windows 7? MailStore Home is a good free single-user desktop solution for email archiving. With its help, all your email messages from multiple applications and accounts can easily backup into one secure and persistent archive. MailStore Home Never lose important email! And it has the functions, such as Lightning-fast search, one-click backup, powerful export – all email information.
MailStore Home Archives Email From:
* Microsoft Outlook 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007
* .eml and other files
* Microsoft Outlook Express and Windows Mail
* Microsoft Exchange Server Mailboxes
* Hosted Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes
* Mozilla Thunderbird and SeaMonkey
* Microsoft Outlook 2010 BETA (32-bit version only)
* POP3 and IMAP (including webmail services such as Gmail and Yahoo)

The lastest FREE Version is 4.0.4 and run on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Windows 7 with Freeware License.

Tags: microsoft, microsoft-outlook, windows 7

Wireless mouse that works with windows 7

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:52:48 +0000

I had found the following lists of wireless mouse compatibled with windows 7.

Microsoft® Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft® Wireless Mouse 5000
Black Microsoft Arc Laser Mouse
Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000

Work on Virtually Any Surface:
Microsoft Explorer Mouse
Microsoft Explorer Mini Mouse

You can go to buy.com or bestbuy.com to buy the cheap wireless mouse.

Tags: black-microsoft, cheap-wireless, explorer, laser, laser-mouse, microsoft, microsoft-explorer, mouse, notebook-presenter, presenter, surface, virtually, wireless, wireless-mobile, wireless-mouse

Multitasking confirmed for windows 7 Phone Series

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:35:13 +0000

The document below have been scanned and posted on

Tags: legacy, microsoft, movement, propel-itself, silverlight, title-developed, vista, will-highlight, windows, windows phone, xbox, zemanta

7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:07:34 +0000

Windows 7 is awesome. It’s so awesome that I was ready to fight when I saw these 7 reasons to stick with Windows XP on ZDnet by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.

But it turns out these ARE quite valid reasons that I can hardly argue with. So in stead of fighting with him, I am actually sharing them here because these are the good points that should be considered pretty much every time when you decide to upgrade your computer, more particularly, your Operating System.

1. Stick with what you know

2. Certainty

3. Cost

4. XP is still supported by Microsoft until April 2014

5. Developers still support XP

6. Upgrade components to stay secure

7. Do you really need to upgrade?

See, you can apply most of the reasons to other operating systems too.

[update on Feb 15, 2010]

Here also comes 7 reasons to move on in responding to this 7 reasons to stick with XP, from ZDnet as well.

And also check out the comments to see the 7 reasons not to use XP.

Tags: microsoft, operating, other-operating, reasons, still-support, still-supported, the-reasons, update-on-feb, windows, windows 7, zdnet-as-well

Get a Quick Solution to your Blue Screen or Death Screen Error with Windows 7

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:07:19 +0000

The error occurs due to MBR corruption, or some corrupted driver or mismatch of the RAM or often due to virus attack.

You can recover your normal screen smoothly by following the given steps:

Steps 1. Turn off and then on your PC.If the problem is in Windows then just shut down your system and restart. Shut the machine down completely and leave it for at least 20 seconds before switching it back on again. This also applies
with external devices. If it’s a USB device try unplugging it and plugging it back into a different socket. It will ask the OS to reload the driver once again.

Steps 2. Visit the Action Centre.he windows 7 comes with a feature called Action Centre to provide instant solution. Click on the flag in the far right of the taskbar will open the Action Centre. Check here for any solutions. You can click on
the Troubleshooting link to find solutions to problems using Microsoft’s automatic problem reporting tool. The Action Centre comes in Windows 7 only.

Steps 3. Visit Microsoft Fix it.

The Microsoft carries a unique sit called “Microsoft Fix it” to solve many issues.

Steps 4. Try Windows UpdateIf you find a problem being caused by a driver or is an issue with Windows itself, it’s possible that an update will fix the problem is already available via Windows Update. Have a look at all the optional and recommended updates as well as just the critical ones, as this is where a lot of driver and software updates tend to appear.

Steps 5. Reinstall the Driver
If you have hardware problems then dig out the original disc that came with your hardware and try to reinstall the driver. You can then reinstall the drivers through Windows Update or from the disc that came with your hardware.Clean up Windows.You can manage your hard disk by disk cleanup and CCleaner. If your problems are caused by performance issues you can clean up windows 7. Start Menu will find disk cleanup which does an admirable job of stripping out temporary and rubbish files that can slow Windows down. CCleaner will clean up the computer’s registry. Restart the computer after the action.Run the System File Checker.From the Start Menu open the command prompt and type SFC /SCANNOW. It will run the System File Checker. You will need your Windows install disc in your optical drive for this to work. It will scan all your Windows files and see if any have become corrupt. If it finds any it will replace them with the originals from the install disc. Reinstall the software.Some issue may arise due to the application software not due to the OS. Reinstalling or repairing it will solve the case. Find the Programs and Features from the control panel in Windows 7 and search for the program, and go for “Repair” option for that program. Failing that uninstalling and reinstalling your program might fix the problem.

Tags: action, microsoft, problem, start-menu, windows 7 installation, windows-update

How can you Download Windows 7 Beta?

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:07:18 +0000

Windows 7 promises a whole new experience of faster and bigger networking than Vista and Beta.

How can you download Windows 7 Beta?

First things first, it is always better to download any software or operating system from its official home website. Just go to the Microsoft Windows 7 Beta Download website at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx and get on with the installation process. Make sure that the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7 Beta are met with, for this will play a very important role in its installation. Following are the hardware requirements that one need to possess – GHz processor, 1 GB of memory, 16 GB free disk space, DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory, DVD-R/W Drive, and Internet access.

To take the installation process to the next level, quickly select the language of the image that one wants to download. The options given here are many; from English, German, Japanese, Hindi and Arabic. Next up, download the Windows 7 Beta image on your PC. The downloading process will take quite some time, and at this stage you will need nothing but loads of patience. Wait and watch, and once the downloading is complete and the image has been restored, burn it to a DVD and install it directly on your computer. Your downloading is finished.

Tags: download, german, installation, internet, language, microsoft, quickly-select, windows, windows 7 center, windows 7 installation, windows 7 requirements