Windows Archive

Microsoft Set to Push Out Updated Antipiracy tool

Submitted by MaxxTotal 2006-11-29 Windows 11 Comments

Microsoft will soon start pushing out a new version of its controversial Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications antipiracy tool to Windows XP users. The updated WGA Notifications package includes additional changes in response to continued criticism Microsoft has faced over the software, the company said Tuesday. Microsoft in June also updated the tool after critics likened it to spyware because it checked in with Microsoft after each Windows restart.

Submitted by Governa 2006-11-28 Windows 41 Comments

"I worked at Microsoft for about 7 years total, from 1994 to 1998, and from 2002 to 2006.The most frustrating year of those seven was the year I spent working on Windows Vista, which was called Longhorn at the time. I spent a full year working on a feature which should've been designed, implemented and tested in a week."

‘Vista Takes Windows to New Heights’

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-27 Windows 126 Comments

"eWEEK Labs has been testing Microsoft Windows Vista builds for more than three years, and our evaluation of the final code shows that the new operating system is a significant improvement over its predecessor, Windows XP. What's more, with a raft of subsystem and driver model improvements, Microsoft has laid out in Vista a solid foundation for stability and usability gains in future Windows versions. For enterprises running XP on their desktops and notebooks, however, a Vista upgrade is no slam-dunk. While Vista's new UAC facilities can make it easier for companies to appropriately lock down their desktops, for instance, it's quite possible to run a well-managed shop of XP machines, either out of the box or with the aid of lockdown tools."

High Performance Timing Under Windows

Submitted by Esther Schindler 2006-11-26 Windows 9 Comments

"If you're doing any kind of animation or running a process that needs to poll another process or a particular piece of hardware on a regular basis, you need an accurate timer. Depending on your application, the timer might need to be accurate to within one second, or within a fraction of a millisecond. If your timer's resolution is too coarse or its margin of error is too large, your animations will appear jerky or uneven, and your program that's collecting data from custom hardware will miss data or will fail altogether. Windows has two primary methods of measuring elapsed time, and two ways to provide periodic events."

Calmira XP Is No More

Submitted by i386DX 2006-11-26 Windows 60 Comments

Calmira XP is no more. "After almost 15 years of Windows 3.1 and 5 years of Calmira XP this is the time to say goodbye to this great project. I had a great time developing this, and I hope you enjoyed using it. As a farewell-gift I made a last version which includes all the graphical enhancements of Calmira XP 4.0, but without the experimental LFN-support; so this is a stable version. Now it's time to search for a new, fresh project."

Review of Windows Mobile 6.0 for Pocket PC

Eugenia Loli 2006-11-21 Windows 20 Comments

Russian web site Mobile-Review features today a thorough review of the upcoming version of Pocket PC: 6.0 aka Crossbow. The addition of VoIP SIP functionality by default is a welcome one.

Submitted by Dolphin 2006-11-18 Windows 28 Comments

"It's not often that something we classify as a 'really good' feature turns out to be a bit of a sham, but unfortunately, that's the case with Vista's symlinks. Just a couple of days ago, symlinks were our 'big Vista feature of the week', but now, we're not so sure."

Free Vista Keys for Beta Testers

Submitted by anonymous 2006-11-17 Windows 25 Comments

"Windows Vista RTM'd a week ago, and now, the beta testers have gotten their swag. If you (actively) participated in the Longhorn Beta program, this is your chance to get a free Windows Vista Business or Ultimate Edition product key. The only requirement to receiving this free product key is that throughout the duration of the beta program you submitted at least one bug - nothing more, nothing less."

Details Revealed On Longhorn Server; PowerShell Launched

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-15 Windows 44 Comments

Fresh from an almost missable US launch of Zune, Microsoft was back on familiar ground Tuesday touting server, security and admin software to reassure shareholders the company's future is bright. Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president for server and tools opened the company's IT Forum in Barcelona, Spain, by promising a third, and final, beta of Windows Longhorn Server during the first-half of 2007 with full product availability by years' end. Microsoft also officially launched its PowerShell.

The Rising Tide of Vista; Vista: ‘Polished, Speedy’

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-13 Windows 111 Comments

"Security is the lens through which I always view products like Windows Vista, and in that view it looks good. But there is a bigger picture with Vista for the industry: It's really, really different from previous versions. At many levels it requires a different approach." The Inq took a look at Vista RTM, and they find: "Suffice to say we're impressed. Vista has come a significantly long way since the RC2 build. It's polished, speedy, and looks good on the eye."

First Superficial Look: Windows Vista RTM

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-13 Windows 103 Comments

Last week, Microsoft announced that Windows Vista went gold, and was released to manufacturing. The release has been long coming (five years of work) and was surrounded by controversies, rumours of rewrites, and legal threats by Microsoft's competitors. We got our hands on the RTM build (Microsoft Windows 6.0 (Build 6000)), so read on for the first superficial look at Windows Vista Ultimate.

Michael Wallent on the Windows Vista User Experience

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-12 Windows 5 Comments

Michael Wallent, General Manager for Windows Client, was interviewed by the Windows Vista Blog about the user experience in Vista. "We sat down with Michael to learn more about what's changed for the better from a quality perspective. In the video below, Michael speaks in particular to changes made in building in hardware driver support and adds that updates will continue to be made available via download via Windows Update. This advance in driver distribution avoids the 'step-function' improvement that users had experienced in the past; now, via network-available updates, the experience of using Windows Vista continually improves over time."

Vista vs. Leopard; Tablet Tech, Cracking on Vista

Eugenia Loli 2006-11-12 Windows 52 Comments

"At its recent WWDC, Apple sought to steal some of Microsoft's thunder by releasing just enough details of its next OS, Leopard, to make an early comparison to the forthcoming Windows Vista possible. Staying true to form, then. More here. Also, Vista's dual Mode support allows resistive devices, such as touch screens and electromagnetic devices, to work with any computer that uses a digital tablet. Finally, Vista has already hit the pirate boards, along with an activation hack.

Submitted by Governa 2006-11-11 Windows 46 Comments

Outgoing Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin posted a blog entry Friday apologizing for the confusion surrounding comments he made to reporters Wednesday about being so confident in Windows Vista's security that his seven-year-old son's PC had no antivirus software installed. Allchin acknowledged Friday that he wasn't as clear as he intended to be, saying he never meant to imply that Windows Vista does not need antivirus software, despite citing the example of his son's PC. "It's important for me that our customers are using the appropriate security solutions for the right situations, whether that's security functionality integrated in the operating systems, or add-on products," he said.

Allchin Suggests Vista Won’t Need Antivirus

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-09 Windows 99 Comments

During a telephone conference with reporters yesterday, outgoing Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin, while touting the new security features of Windows Vista, which was released to manufacturing yesterday, told a reporter that the system's new lockdown features are so capable and thorough that he was comfortable with his own seven-year-old son using Vista without antivirus software installed. Elsewhere, bigg boss Bill Gates says that antitrust authorities did not make Microsoft remove any features from Vista, but he expressed anger with competitors who embarked on noisy public campaigns to 'castrate' the operating system.

Review: Windows Vista

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-09 Windows 85 Comments

Paul Thurrott takes a long look at Vista. "It's hard to put Windows Vista in perspective. On the one hand, the product has been in development for over five years, which means that Vista had one of the longest development cycles in the 20+ year history of Windows. Paradoxically, Windows Vista is both revolutionary and evolutionary. While it includes modern OS features, such as a new hardware-based graphical user interface, Vista will also feel like familiar territory, for the most part, to anyone that's already familiar with Windows XP. And Mac advocates can claim, truthfully, that many of Vista's best features appeared first on Mac OS X, sometimes years ago."

Submitted by stare 2006-11-08 Windows 63 Comments

After 5 years of development, Windows Vista is finally finished. Jim Allchin, the co-president of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division has put together a video about the announcement where he announces the General Availability date of 30 January 2007 for Vista.

Vista’s Last Mile

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-08 Windows 55 Comments

Each day, members of the Windows team gather inside the 'shiproom' to go over the bugs that remain, and to debate which of these can still be fixed in the days left until Vista is declared finished, a milestone that is expected any time now. The intense 'end game', as these final weeks are known, is a well-worn tradition inside the shiproom, which is on the third floor of the Windows development building. The small room, with its dated, dark wood conference table has been the war room for every Windows release since Windows 2000. In the meantime, Ars takes a look at running Vista on older hardware.

Submitted by danwarne 2006-11-07 Windows 71 Comments

Want to be able to access your machine anytime, anywhere? Can't be bothered purchasing a domain name and configuring Dynamic DNS? Microsoft has a solution: the 'Windows Internet Computer Name' - a unique domain name for your computer. There is one small catch though: you have to be using the next-generation networking protocol IPv6 which, although thoroughly integrated into Windows Vista, isn't supported by most home routers yet.

Killer Windows Media Center Plug-ins

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-06 Windows 26 Comments

"Just as extensions make Firefox better, so do plug-ins add extra goodness to Windows XP Media Center Edition. For the uninitiated, MCE provides DVR and other multimedia features wrapped in an attractive 10-foot interface. Armed with a couch and a remote, you can record TV shows, pause live TV, view photo slideshows, listen to your music collection, tune in FM radio stations, and so on. I am unabashedly in love with MCE. It's the one Microsoft product I consider just about perfect, which is why it's the heart of my home entertainment system. With these eight plugs-ins, most of which are free, you can trick out your MCE PC like never before."