IT Resource

Microsoft will resume two major Windows updates it had stalled due to a conflict it caused with one of its lesser-known software products.

A week ago, Microsoft delayed the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a problem that could lead to data loss when running the XP update in conjunction with its Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System program. It also halted automatic updates to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 because of a similar issue.

The software maker on Tuesday said it is releasing XP Service Pack 3 for Web downloads, and resuming automatic updates to Vista Service Pack 1, after developing a filter that will prevent machines running Dynamics RMS from getting either update.
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Microsoft Windows XP is without a doubt a great operating system and I can honestly see it being around for quite some time to come. However, the default themes that come with Windows XP look very much out dated and in same ways very boring and unpleasant to look at. After all, Windows XP is almost 7 years old so I guess you have to expect that.

If you’re like me and tired of the same old Windows XP theme that you’ve had for years, then you may have been looking for some themes that can brighten things up a little. To save you the hassle of searching further, I’ve listed three themes below which I think you might like and best of all, they are all completely free and very easy to install.

Royale Blue

Download Here!

Simply Run the installer and then use the Display Properties to change the theme.

Royale Black

Download Here!

1. Unzip the contents to your Desktop and then copy the folder into your themes directory – e.g. c:\windows\resources\themes\
2. Double click the luna.msstyles to start the installation of the theme.

Zune

Download Here!

Similar to the Royale Blue installation, simply run the installer and use the Display Properties to change the theme.

And there you have it!  Three extra themes to give WIndows XP a crisp new look.

Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that it has stopped automatic updates of Vista to Service Pack 1 in the wake of a newly discovered glitch.

The problem, which has also halted the availability of Windows XP Service Pack 3, prevents Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System from working with either operating system update.

“We are temporarily holding any additional automatic distribution of Windows Vista SP1,” Microsoft said in response to an inquiry from CNET News.com. The company said it will continue to make Vista SP1 available for manual download. Microsoft had just started pushing out the Vista service pack last week via automatic updates.
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On Monday, we reported that Microsoft would be releasing Windows XP Service Pack 3 on Monday night, early Tuesday morning. We just received word that Microsoft yesterday said it is delaying the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a newly uncovered glitch.

The software maker said there is a “compatibility issue” between the XP service pack and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System, a retail chain management program for small and midsize businesses.

Microsoft finalised the code for Windows XP SP3 last week and had planned to make it broadly available starting Tuesday.
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Software developers claim they have created a tool to bypass Windows Vista’s “annoying” User Account Control (UAC) security feature.

The developers from NeoSmart said on their Web site that the UAC feature was “only there to give the impression of security”.

UAC is a controversial feature of Vista designed to stop users from installing or executing arbitrary code. Many see it as a hindrance to performing everyday tasks, as it requests confirmation from users without administrator rights for many actions where no user confirmation was needed in Vista’s predecessor, Windows XP.
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Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) will be made available for download from Microsoft’s web site today and will be pushed out to XP users via the Windows Automatic Update in the coming weeks/months. The update includes all patches and fixes released since SP2 in 2004, but does not include Internet Explorer 7.

The update is likely to be deployed quickly in enterprises, as it enables IT departments to ensure client systems are fully patched, without having to roll out a myriad of separate fixes.

It also brings extra security in the form of support for Network Access Protection (NAP), a technology introduced in Vista. NAP is a policy enforcement mechanism to ensure systems comply with security requirements.
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Microsoft on Wednesday kicked off automatic distribution of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the first major update to the year-and-a-half-old operating system.

The company finalised the Vista update in February but held off until now pushing it directly to individuals.

This Microsoft has started sending it to Vista users who have the automatic update feature turned on. However, Microsoft cautioned that not everyone will get SP1 immediately.

“While Microsoft is beginning automatic distribution today, it’s important to note that customers might not see the update download right away since Microsoft is distributing the service pack in phases to ensure a seamless download experience,” Microsoft said in a statement.

Vista SP1 was made available for download to customers last month. Service Pack 1 doesn’t add much in the way of new features. It is more so a collection of changes designed to fix bugs and improve performance, as well as address competitive concerns raised by Google over Vista’s desktop search system. Microsoft also changed how its anti-piracy mechanism works.

Microsoft yesterday released the final Windows XP Service Pack to computer builders and volume licensing customers.

“Today we are happy to announce that Windows XP Service Pack 3 has released to manufacturing (RTM),” wrote Chris Keroack, the service pack’s release manager, in a message posted to a TechNet support forum. “Windows XP SP3 bits are now working their way through our manufacturing channels to be available to OEM and Enterprise customers.”

Some of the biggest additions to Windows XP SP3 include a range of features backported from Windows Vista, such as black hole router detection, Network Access Protection, and Windows Imaging Component. A full summary of the SP3 features and changes can be found at Microsoft’s XP SP3 download centre.

Existing XP Pro and Home users will have to wait until April 29 to be able to download the service pack directly from Microsoft Download Center while TechNet and MSDN subscribers will have to wait another month until they can download it, according to Keroack.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has told delegates at the software giant’s Most Valuable Professionals Summit in Seattle that Windows Vista is “a work in progress” and that the company is trying to learn from its mistakes.

“I think we did a lot of things right, and I think we have a lot of things we need to learn from,” Ballmer told the assembled independent developers, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The five-year development cycle for Vista had been too long, according to Ballmer, and was not something that Microsoft would be repeating.

“Can we just sort of kiss that stone and move on?” he asked. “Because it turns out many things become problematic when you have those long release cycles. We can’t ever let that happen again.”

Ballmer confirmed that Windows 7 will be released in 2010, but would not be drawn on whether Microsoft will extend the deadline for selling new computers running XP beyond 1 July.

“I know we are going to continue to get feedback from people on how long XP should be available,” he said. “We have some opinions on that. We have expressed our views.”

It is the type of vulnerability that Microsoft wanted to head off as long as possible, especially since Windows Vista’s new kernel was designed to thwart this possibility.

Now, as the company acknowledged in a security bulletin yesterday, a malicious program running as a local or network service can leverage another local or network service running in the same system, to elevate its own privilege and potentially cause damage.

As of early Friday evening, there was no known exploit for this vulnerability, and thus security firm Secunia has given it a “less critical” rating. The nature of Microsoft’s report today indicates that it may have been alerted to the problem by a security engineer who discovered a proof of concept, though no credit has yet been given.
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Activation is required in all versions of Windows Vista. After you install Windows Vista, you have 30 days to activate it online or by telephone. If the 30-day activation period expires before you complete the activation, Windows Vista does not work as expected. You cannot create new files, and you cannot save changes to existing files. You regain full use of Windows Vista when you activate it.

To activate Windows Vista online, you must have an Internet connection. To activate Windows Vista by telephone, you must use an automated telephone system.

To activate Windows Vista, follow these steps:
1. Click the Start button, and then click Computer.
2. On the toolbar, click System properties, and then click Activate Windows now in the Windows activation area.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

3. Select the Windows Vista activation method that you want, and then follow the instructions.

Note: If you select the automatic activation method when you set up the computer, the automatic activation process tries to activate your copy of Windows Vista three days after you first log on.

To verify the Windows Vista activation status, follow these steps:
1. Click the Start button, and then click Computer.
2. Click System properties on the toolbar, and view the Windows Vista activation status in the Windows activation area.

Windows Vista should now be activated.

The third and final service pack for Windows XP could be available by the end of April, according to a leaked Microsoft schedule.

The alleged schedule for the release of XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) — obtained from Neowin — shows that manufacturers and volume licence customers will get their hands on the upgrade on 21 April. Other XP users will get access to the pack on 28 April via Microsoft Update, Windows Update and the Download Center Web site.

Anyone who has not installed the service pack will be forced to do so on 10 June by automatic update, according to the roadmap.

XP SP3 is effectively a roll-up of the updates and fixes released by Microsoft since SP2 came out 2004.

Windows XP has been around since 2001, and was replaced at the end of 2006 by Windows Vista. However, Vista has been poorly received by many users, and numerous petitions are currently circulating the Internet, pleading with Microsoft to continue allowing retail sales of XP past its stated cut-off date of mid-2008.

Microsoft will continue to allow XP to be sold on some computers, but only low-cost subnotebooks such as the Asus Eee, which do not have the processing power to handle Vista’s requirements.

Responding to the news of the leaked schedule on Wednesday, Microsoft issued a statement saying: “We expect Windows XP SP3 to be available in 1H 2008, provided it meets our quality bar for release.”

There is a really neat way that you can quite easily find all active/used IP Addresses on your network without the need for any third party applications or worse, pinging each IP Address individually.

Open the Command Prompt and type in the following:

Change 192.168.10 to match you own network.

By using -n 1 you are asking for only 1 packet to be sent to each computer instead of the usual 4 packets.

The above command will ping all IP Addresses on the 192.168.10.0 network and create a text document in the C:\ drive called ipaddresses.txt.  This text document should only contain IP Addresses that replied to the ping request.

Although it will take quite a bit longer to complete, you can also resolve the IP Addresses to HOST names by simply adding -a to the ping command.

GUI Based Discovery

If you’re not confident using the command prompt, there are alternative GUI based applications that you can use.

TCPNetView – No installation is required, simply double-click the executable and away it goes.  It will find all active IP Addresses on the subnet you are currently connected too.
- Download Here

Advanced IP Scanner – If you are after something with a few more options and features, Advanced IP Scanner is an excellent free utility.
- More Information Here

Have you ever wanted to remove Windows components like Media Player, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, Messenger and more from your Windows installation?  Have you ever wanted to include Service Packs and/or other Windows updates in your installation?  How about the integration of device drivers or even the creation of an unattended installation?  If the answer is ‘yes’ to any or all these questions, then nLite is the tool for you, and I can’t recommend it more highly!

nLite is a tool for pre-installation Windows configuration and component removal at your choice. Optional bootable image ready for burning on media or testing in virtual machines.

With nLite you will be able to have Windows installation which on install does not include, or even contain on media, the unwanted components.

Features

• Service Pack Integration
• Component Removal
• Unattended Setup
• Driver Integration *
• Hotfixes Integration **
• Tweaks
• Services Configuration
• Patches ***
• Bootable ISO creation

* – Textmode (CD Boot) and normal PnP
** – hotfixes with white icons, *KB*.exe, including update packs
and Internet Explorer 7
*** – supports generic SFC, Uxtheme, TcpIp and Usb Polling patching.

nLite supports Windows 2000, XP x86/x64 and 2003 x86/x64 in all languages.

If you would like to know more about nLite, or to download the software, visit the nLite website at http://www.nliteos.com

No, you don’t have to pay a cent for nLite.  Infact, nLite is completely free!  That said, I’m sure they would appreciate a donation.

I discovered something today which I found quite useful, and I think you might as well – built in hotkeys for the first 10 items in the Quick Launch toolbar.

The first 10 items in toolbar are assigned a number automatically from 1 to 9 with 0 representing 10.

For example, here is my toolbar:

1. Show Desktop
2. Flip 3D
3. My Computer
4. Microsoft Outlook
5. Firefox

With that in mind, say I wanted to open up My Computer which is in position 3 – I would simply press the Windows Key + 3 on the keyboard.  If I wanted to open Firefox, I would press the Windows Key + 5 and so on.

Now, considering you can easily use Show Desktop by pressing the Windows Key + D and Flip 3D with the Windows Key + Tab, you might be able to make better use of the Quick Launch hotkeys by removing these and adding in two others that don’t already have shortcut keys assigned to them.