As the form factor of the laptops (read NetBooks) reduces in size it comes with certain drawbacks. One of the most prominent is the lack of an optical drive, for example, CD or DVD Drive. Of course, you can plug-in an external optical drive but that’s certainly an inconvenience. Instead why not make use of the USB ports that comes with those slim-line notebooks (NetBooks) and install software using, let’s say, an USB Thumb Drive.

Read from this detailed article at DemoGeek.com to learn how to prepare a USB Thumb Drive to install Windows 7 Beta from an USB Thumb Drive. It’s a 10 step process but the steps are pretty simple and well explained.

Windows Vista has implemented the Parental Controls the right way and it makes it so easy to configure parental controls to keep an eye on your kids’ computer activities. The list of things that you can keep track of ranges from the type of programs that your kids are allowed to run on a computer, the websites that your kids are allowed to visit and time limits so that your kid can only use the computer on certain times.

Read from this article at DemoGeek.com on how to make use of Windows Vista’s Parental Controls to keep track of your kids’ computer activities.

Have your handful and wanted to get things done on your computer? If you run Windows Vista there is a simple way to control your computer with your own voice. It’s a very interesting read and explained well in detail.

Microsoft announced the big news at Microsoft Sales Training Conference in Orlando, FL. The big news was what was previously been called as “Vienna”, the next major version of Windows, will now be called “Windows 7″ and would be due in the next 3 years time frame.

Source: Engadget

Tags: Windows, Windows Vista, Windows Vienna, Windows 7, Microsoft, News

To me @Live addresses are cool even though I like Gmail interface and email handling a lot better than Hotmail. It is short and sweet and stands out. When Microsoft announced that it will open up the @Live addresses I was excited. But then the news faded and there was no word for a while. In the mean time our unofficial hackers came up with a hack that will let us get @Live addresses (unofficially) by changing few parameters in the browser URL.

Here is how you do it,

1. Visit the Windows Live Hotmail subscription page
2. Click the “Get it free” button 
3. When the new page comes up, in the address bar, replace “hmnewuser.aspx” with “newuser.aspx”
4. Locate and delete “&hm=1″ from the same address bar
5. Hit enter, and when the page reloads it will let you create @live addresses

Enjoy!!! And make sure to get your @live addresses as soon as you can as this hack might not work forever.

I’m not sure if the mainstream media and the public is fully aware of the US Immigration fairlessness and the hardship legal immigrants face before getting past the immigration gate. One good example is the latest fiasco by the USCIS/DOS on it’s Visa Bulletin game. You can read a little bit about this fiasco from here. It looks like not just the poor legal immigrants but the employers as well go thru this hardship it seems and one good example is this move by Microsoft to open up a development center in Vancouver, Canada.

Read the full story from here.

Tags: Microsoft, Immigration, News, Development Center, Canada, Vancouver

I was looking at the latest research stuff from Microsoft, HD View. It’s really an awesome application that let’s you zoom in so deep that I was able to see the people standing on top of the Seattle Space Needle.. While taking a virtual tour around Seattle Downtown I noticed this, which looks to me as a bug. Notice the pole that has the US Flag. Is that looking unrealistic to you?

May be I’m testing this free for Microsoft. I love Microsoft products and I don’t mind doing this on my free time.

Well done Microsoft Research Team. I hope you guys put in more pictures to view.

Microsoft Research HD View

tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Research, HD View, Bug

Microsoft has finally decided to deal with the devil on it’s own turf. They are now suggesting that you don’t use pirated softwares of theirs but if you do use pirated softwares they want you to use Microsoft’s softwares. The motivation behind this scheme is that even if your current version of the software is pirated you may be tempted to buy a future version of the software when it comes out. Even though it is just a “IF SO” kind of thing they just don’t want to miss out on that customer base.

Source

tags: Microsoft, Piracy, Pirated Softwares

The consumer version of Office 2007, which launched only four weeks ago, is designed to withstand higher scrutiny by malicious code writers, as Microsoft subjected the software to code auditors as part of its security development lifecycle.

But researchers at eEye Digital Security found a file format vulnerability in Microsoft Office Publisher 2007, which could be exploited to let an outsider run code on a compromised PC.

“We were surprised we could find a flaw so quickly (after Office 2007 launched) and one that was part of their core products,” said Ross Brown, eEye’s chief executive.

An attacker could create a malicious publisher file, he said. Once the recipient opens the file, he or she could find the system infected and susceptible to a remote attack.

Researchers at eEye used a standard process of code auditing in discovering the vulnerabilities, Brown added. He noted that Microsoft either did not do a “good job” with its code auditing, or it may not have had enough people working on such a task.

Microsoft, meanwhile, said it is investigating eEye’s report of a possible vulnerability in Publisher 2007 and will provide users with additional guidance if necessary.

Executives at the software giant have recently said they expect security challenges to keep emerging, as an increasing number of devices connect to the Internet.

No public exploits have been reported in circulation for Publisher 2007 and, given Office 2007’s recent release, the flaw may hold little attraction for attackers who may wish to concentrate on software that is in greater distribution, eEye said.

Source

tags: Office, Microsoft, Microsoft Office 2007, Bug in Office 2007, Error, Bug

If you are into virtualization then you should give a good hard look into the Microsoft’s latest in the virtualization arena, Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. Microsoft just released Virtual PC 2007 and is available as a free download. Of course, you’d need a machine with some spare memory and hard disk space to handle the extra load of the virtual PC.

Here is what you need to install Virtual PC 2007 on these platforms,

Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition

64 MB – Memory

500 MB – Hard Disk Space

Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me)

96 MB

2 GB

Windows 2000 Professional

96 MB

2 GB

Windows XP Home Edition

128 MB

2 GB  

Windows XP Professional

128 MB

2 GB

Windows Vista Enterprise

512 MB

15 GB

Windows Vista Business

512 MB

15 GB

Windows Vista Ultimate

512 MB

15 GB

OS/2 Warp Version 4 Fix Pack 15, OS/2 Warp
Convenience Pack 1, OS/2 Warp Convenience Pack 2

64 MB

500 MB

Download it from here.