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.
Reports have surfaced about a new security hole that has been in Windows since the release of Windows NT 3.1 on July 27, 1993. The vulnerability is present in all 32-bit versions of Windows released since then, including Windows 7.
Thankfully, the flaw isn't in a commonly used application but in the Virtual DOS Machine (VDM) used to support 16-bit applications. There are several vulnerabilities in this implementation, according to Google security team member Tavis Ormandy, who found the issues.
The US Court of Appeals has ordered Microsoft to drop support for editing Custom XML in Word, essentially stopping the company from selling current versions of one of its flagship products and affirming a $290 million patent infringement judgment against the software giant. The injunction, which goes into effect on January 11, 2010, not only bars the sale of Word 2007, but also affects all editions of Microsoft Office 2007, since Word comes bundled with all of them.
He's little, he's metal, and he's lost.Being a small robot isn’t always easy. Being a small robot marooned in a surreal world of clockwork, inventive mechanisms and challenging puzzles, even less so. In Tinker, a free puzzle game that pushes the boundaries of robot deduction, you’ll guide your robot through switches, contraptions to reach the exit. He’ll only do what you command. He’ll only go where you tell him to. It’s up to you to get him home!
Microsoft's latest round of security patches appears to be causing some PCs to seize up and display a black screen, rending the computer useless.
The problem affects Microsoft products including Windows 7, Vista and XP operating systems, said Mel Morris , the CEO and CTO for the U.K. security company Prevx.
The biggest change to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 was supposed to have been the introduction of something called Unified Communications -- the introduction of a singular console for the handling of all forms of digital communication, wrapping voice mail, instant messaging, and e-mail into a single delivery system. History may yet vindicate UC as the product's singular achievement.
The Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 (Web PI) is a free tool that makes getting the latest components of the Microsoft Web Platform, including Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server Express, .NET Framework and Visual Web Developer easy. The Web PI also makes it easy to install and run the most popular free web applications for blogging, content management and more with the built-in Windows Web Application Gallery.
Not going to test it but it claims to setup a PHP environment too. Personally I would recommend WAMP for setting up a PHP environment in Windows.
The Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware open source utility that retrieves your Product Key (cd key) used to install Windows from your registry. It allows you to print or save your keys for safekeeping. It works on Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003, Server 2008, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007 family of products. It also has a community-updated configuration file that retrieves product keys for many other applications. Another feature is the ability to retrieve product keys from unbootable Windows installations.
Although Microsoft gave us some great numbers regarding the Windows 7 beta, the company (unsurprisingly) refused to give us any details about what changes the planning and development team was going to make for Windows 8. Earlier this month we rounded up every minor detail that bloggers had posted on the operating system.
Three weeks ago, the European Commission signaled its approval of Microsoft's revised plan for a more vendor-neutral Web browser selection screen for European Windows users. But that revised plan was buffered with a big bonus: a promise to supply the general public with a wealth of interoperability information, including about proprietary formats.
Among the most sought after formats on that list has been for Outlook Personal Folders -- the much-maligned .PST file format, whose lack of comprehension has been the pet peeve of certainly every developer who's ever worked on a calendar or smartphone synchronization utility. Now the manager for Microsoft's new Office Interoperability Group announced this morning that work is under way on public documentation for the file format.
MS letting go a little more to the many proprietary file formats.
Windows 7 officially launches today, but we've been testing, tweaking, customizing, fixing, and writing about this OS for a year now. We present here a guide to everything we've learned about the OS, from first install to final settings change.
Whether you've played around with Windows 7 during its beta or release candidate versions, launch day is finally here, and Windows 7 is finally ready for widespread, public consumption. This guide will take you straight through from system requirements and upgrading your PC to highlighting Windows 7's best new features to helping you hit the ground running with all of the awesome tweaks Windows 7 has in store for you.
Download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to see if your PC is ready for Windows 7. It scans your hardware, devices, and installed programs for known compatibility issues, gives you guidance on how to resolve potential issues found, and recommends what to do before you upgrade.
On a computer that has a Windows Installer based product installed, you may receive an error while installing an update for the product and the installation of the update may fail. Installation errors caused due to incorrect patch registration may be corrected using this tool.
What began last week as a service disruption for T-Mobile Sidekick users devolved into one of the worst calamities in mobile/cloud synchronization thus far. One week after announcing the prolonged disruption, T-Mobile, its Sidekick service provider Danger, and Danger parent company Microsoft alerted users that the disruption had become a complete failure, resulting in the loss of contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists, and photos which users had synced to the network.
This is why I would never rely on a cloud-based system without a rock solid backup feature.
Neowin has received information regarding a possible Windows Live Hotmail "hack" or phishing scheme where password details of thousands of Hotmail accounts have been posted online.
An anonymous user posted details of the accounts on October 1 at pastebin.com, a site commonly used by developers to share code snippets. The details have since been removed but Neowin has seen part of the list posted and can confirm the accounts are genuine and most appear to be based in Europe. The list details over 10,000 accounts starting from A through to B, suggesting there could be additional lists. Currently it appears only accounts used to access Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail have been posted, this includes @hotmail.com, @msn.com and @live.com accounts.
This is why every online account I have has a different, strong password. I use RoboForm to manage all the passwords so I don't have to remember them.
Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.
Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.
Going to give this a go and probably drop AVG in favor of an MS solution.
Microsoft is close to opening retail stores in several major cities across the planet, but in Paris they’re doing something special in anticipation of the real shops and the imminent launch of the Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft France has surprised inhabitants and visitors of the French capital with the public preparation of a genuine coffee shop / cafe situated in the heart of the city (47 Boulevard Sebastopol).
The Windows Cafe, which will only be open to the public for a couple of weeks starting October 22nd, will boast a number of Microsoft products that visitors can play around with (Xbox, mobile devices and more) but they will not be able to purchase anything there besides snacks and drinks.
No hassle, no cost security software for your computer.
The idea is good and MS is the best computer to protect the OS that they developed (I'm sure lots of people will strongly disagree with that) so will see if this becomes anything.
A Microsoft Software Engineer has posted the results of tests the company performed to the upgrade time of Windows 7. Worst case scenario is that it will take a bit over 20 hours. But a clean 32-bit install on what Microsoft calls "high-end hardware" should take only 30 minutes.
Expression Web SuperPreview for Internet Explorer shows your web pages rendered in Internet Explorer 6 and either Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8, depending on which version you have installed on your machine. You can view the pages side by side or as an onion-skin overlay and use rulers, guides and zoom/pan tools to precisely identify differences in layout. You can even compare your page comp to how the targeted browsers render the page.
This is a free tool that every web designer should have.
Fix It is a relative new way of solving problems that occur in the Windows operating system. These fix it solutions are basically one-click solutions for fixing problems. The Fix It logo will signal to the user that an automated solution is available. It usually consists of a file that has to be downloaded to the local computer system and executed from there.
The front includes a 3.3-inch capacitive OLED touch-screen display covered with glass, and a single home button beneath it that behaves just like a normal button and doesn't replicate any of the Zune Pad functionality of previous models. The top edge includes a power button that also triggers the lock screen, the left edge has an iPhone-like volume rocker, and the bottom carries the headphone jack and Zune dock. For all you sound nerds out there, the Zune HD's DAC is the same Wolfson one used on previous models--which is good news in my book.
Imagine a situation where you need to install Windows Vista or 7 in a system but you don't have access to DVD drive. We all know Windows Vista, Server 2008 or 7 comes in DVDs and you'll need a DVD drive to install them. Then how will you install them? The solution is, you can create a bootable USB drive which can be used to install Windows without using DVD drive.
Even though it's been In the hands of OEMs for barely a week and has not even made it to general availability yet, Windows 7 has already been cracked. The crack can reportedly be built on Lenovo's Windows 7 Ultimate OEM DVD .ISO that was leaked to a Chinese forum. Using the leaked .ISO, the OEM-SLP product key and activation certificates can be obtained through the boot.wim.
Today we will learn a fascinating little feature in excel called “goal seek”. But what good is a feature if we cant find a use for it? So we will build a simple retirement calculator using excel. Before plunging in to the complex retirement calculations, let us spend a bunch of words understanding what this goal seek is all about.
We have heard a lot of feedback from beta testers and enthusiasts over the last 3 years that we need a better solution for homes with multiple PCs. I’m happy to confirm that we will indeed be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs. As I’ve said before, stay tuned to our blog for more information on this and any other potential offers.
It's unclear whether they brought the requested "boatloads of money," but several top Microsoft executives are in Silicon Valley to try to finalize a search deal with Yahoo, according to an All Things Digital report late on Thursday.
It’s all too common to drown in email every day. Luckily, Microsoft® Outlook® 2010 gives you tools you need to stay on top of practically everything. Save valuable inbox space with improved email conversation tracking and management. Compress long e-mail threads into a few conversations that can be categorized, filed, ignored, or cleaned up with a few clicks. From advanced email organization and search to a completely redesigned look, Outlook 2010 provides you with a world-class experience to stay productive and stay in touch with all of your networks.
That makes me interested. Might just get me to upgrade.
I don’t know what timezone Microsoft’s web servers are running on, but it’s revealed the much anticipated Office 2010 release in great detail way ahead of the expected official announcement at the Microsoft Worldwide Partners Conference 2009.
Will you upgrade? Any point upgrading to a new version of Office? Is there anything new in Office that makes it worth upgrading? I'm still on Office 2003 and have never had that "I wish this application did this" moment so I'm not sure I need to upgrade. Add to that my dislike for 'ribbons'.
Internet Explorer 8 Demo Site - This site gives you the opportunity to test some of the new security, interoperability and advanced AJAX features in IE8 without having to search for sites or visit potentially dangerous sites.
Not like I would switch as a long time, and very happy, Firefox user.
Microsoft is investigating a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Video ActiveX Control. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. When using Internet Explorer, code execution is remote and may not require any user intervention.
I know some people will download non-official copies of Windows 7 when it becomes available. Some of you will also have a brand new operating system infected with malware and spyware because some of these copies will be pre-infected. If you want to make sure the copy of Windows 7 that you downloaded has not been tampered with then check out the Windows 7 ISO Verifier.
Vista and XP users will need to pony up $119.99, $199.99, or $219.99 on October 22 to score their Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate upgrade, and those of you who want a full retail disc will need to roll up with $199.99, $299.99, or $319.99 respectively. It's not quite that simple, though: starting tomorrow, June 26, you'll be able to pre-order upgrades at much cheaper prices -- $49.99 for Home Premium and $99.99 for Professional..
Just when it appeared Windows and its associated services were looking more stable month after month, Microsoft chose June to tackle a plethora of vulnerabilities including no fewer than 14 that its security engineers believe could be exploitable within the next 30 days.
With that many fixes I think it will be better to wait a couple days to make sure the patches don't introduce any problems.
The news comes in advance of comments being planned for the Computex conference in Taiwan early tomorrow morning, by Microsoft Corporate Vice President for OEMs Steve Guggenheimer. There he is scheduled to officially deliver the news that Windows 7 general availability worldwide will begin on Thursday, October 22.
The new Zune is coming with some much needed improvements:
Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver so users can listen to higher-quality sound than traditional radio on the go. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD. If you don’t like the song playing on your station’s HD channel, switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming.
The bright OLED touch screen interface allows users to flip through music, movies and other content with ease, and the 16:9 widescreen format display (480x272 resolution) offers a premium viewing experience on the go.
The HD-compatible output lets Zune HD customers playback supported HD video files from the device through a premium high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) audiovisual docking station (sold separately) direct to an HD TV in 720p.*
Zune HD will include a full-screen Internet browser optimized for multitouch functionality.
Zune HD is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing for instant streaming to the device from the more than 5 million-track Zune music store.
Now if they would just fix the horrible software that is used to update the media or release an API so developers can incorporate the Zune syncing in their own software, like Media Monkey.
Windows 7's about ready to come out of the oven, and now everybody can shove their hands in the warm OS pie. And really, you should. Here's everything you need to know to dive in.
Welcome to Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) testing. We're on our way to Windows 7, and if you like trying out pre-release software, now’s your chance. You get to see what's coming, and we get to see if our changes and fixes from the Beta testing are working correctly.
How do you test the software? You put it on your PC, and then do what you'd normally do. Your PC will automatically and anonymously send our engineers the information they need to verify the fixes and changes they made based on the Windows 7 Beta tests.
I currently have Windows 7 RC running in a Virtual PC and so far so different. Going from XP to 7 is going to be a shock.
Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7. Windows XP Mode provides you with the flexibility to run many older productivity applications on a Windows 7 based PC.
All you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP Mode which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC. The applications will be published to the Windows 7 desktop and then you can run them directly from Windows 7.
Still have to get used to the new interface, for those who have not moved to Vista.
This outlook add-in adds the missing feature in Microsoft outlook which allows you to save and with option to remove all attachments from multiple emails at once.
Introducing the Microsoft Sync Framework – a comprehensive synchronization platform enabling collaboration and offline for applications, services and devices with support for any data type, any data store, any transfer protocol, and network topology.
Security Advisory 969136 describes the new problem as one that can allow remote code execution if the file recipient opens an infected file. The Microsoft Security Research & Defense blog is rather more useful (not to mention straightforward -- yes, they're seeing it out in the wild, used in targeted attacks), recommending several defensive maneuvers while we await a patch.
This blog post talks about a few of the improvements that will be in our Release Candidate (RC) based upon customer feedback. There are many under the hood changes (bug fixes, compatibility fixes, performance improvements, and improvements) across the entire dev team that we just don’t have room to discuss here, but we thought you’d enjoy a taste of some changes made by three of our feature teams: Core User Experience, Find & Organize and Devices & Media.
Great information if you're looking to see what's happening with Windows 7
Yup, that's right, IE8 is available today and that means I have to support another browser when developing websites. I just wish IE6's market share would drop enough so I could drop it from my list of supported browsers.
Two new releases from Microsoft that may be of interest to some:
Microsoft Elevate America: Microsoft is partnering with governments, private, public and community organizations to launch Elevate America; free and low cost resources that provide the skills, training and certifications needed for people of all ages who are preparing for job opportunities in today's changing economy.
Small Basic: Small Basic is a project that's aimed at bringing "fun" back to programming. By providing a small and easy to learn programming language in a friendly and inviting development environment, Small Basic makes programming a breeze. Ideal for kids and adults alike, Small Basic helps beginners take the first step into the wonderful world of programming.
The signatures for Outlook are stored in the folder: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures
Now all you have do to is go to the folder and make a backup of all the files. Each signature will have three associated files (.htm, .txt and a .rtf file).
Microsoft announced plans to open retail stores, hoping to boost visibility of many of its products and its brand. The move seems to be an effort to mimic the success that Apple has had with its retail stores. The news is just too tempting not to have some fun with. So here are some yet-to-be-officially-revealed details about the Microsoft stores.
REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 12, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that David Porter will join the company as corporate vice president of Retail Stores. He will lead Microsoft’s efforts to create a better PC and Microsoft retail purchase experience for consumers worldwide through the development and opening of the company’s own retail stores. Porter will report to Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner. He is joining Microsoft from DreamWorks Animation SKG, where he was head of worldwide product distribution.
A number of key details surrounding Microsoft's announcement yesterday on Windows 7 versions were left up in the air, and now spokespersons are working to bring them down to earth.
Protection against malicious Web attacks and tweaks to a feature that lets users browse the Internet privately are among updates Internet Explorer users can test in the first release candidate for IE8, which Microsoft made available Monday.
As first reported by the IDG News Service Friday, Microsoft released the feature-complete version of IE8 to the Web Monday. Microsoft added performance tweaks to existing features and one major security update to block Web attacks known as "clickjacking" that the company said makes IE8 the only Web browser to offer such protection.
Clickjacking lets hackers put a transparent filter on sites so they can view what information a user is accessing and what activities that user is doing, said James Pratt, an IE senior product manager at Microsoft. For example, if someone is on a bank Web site, attackers can use clickjacking to see the user's bank information and acquire passwords, and the user will not know the information is being viewed remotely, he said.
Redmond, Washington-based ACES Studio, the Microsoft-owned internal group behind the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has been heavily affected by Microsoft’s ongoing job cuts.
Development sources have told Gamasutra that a large portion of the dev house’s staff has been let go - with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed.
Wonder what departments within Microsoft are being trimmed today to the tune of 1400 total jobs. 5000 jobs will be cut in total. Will this delay the release of the new OS, Windows 7?
Microsoft Tag creates unlimited possibilities for making interactive communications an instant, entertaining part of life. They tranform physical media (print advertising, billboards,product packages, information signs, in-store merchandising, or even video images)—into live links for accessing information and entertainment online.
With the Microsoft Tag application, just aim your camera phone at a Tag and instantly access mobile content, videos, music, contact information, maps, social networks, promotions, and more. Nothing to type, no browsers to launch!
The above tag is one I created quickly through Microsoft's tag manager.
Microsoft said research confirmed that the bug is within all its browsers, including those it currently supports -- IE5.01, IE6 and IE7 -- as well as IE8 Beta 2, a preview version that the company doesn't support through normal channels.
Users running any of those browsers on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 or Server 2008 are at risk, Microsoft said.
It adds IE6 and IE8 Beta 2 to the list, recommends disabling .dll to stay safe
DreamSpark: 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.
Microsoft Art Collection: The Microsoft Art Collection's mission is to create an inspiring work environment that fosters creativity and innovation.
DLL Help Database: The database contains information about DLL files that are included with selected Microsoft products. Microsoft Store: Buy any of the many Microsoft products and swag
CodePlex (Open Source hosting): CodePlex is Microsoft's open source project hosting web site. Start a new project, join an existing one, or download software created by the community.
Microsoft Automotive: Automotive industry solutions are powered by a winning combination of innovative Microsoft technology and partner experience and knowledge.
Microsoft Research: Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering.
If you like to stay on the bleeding edge of technology (and you’re running Vista) you may want to consider modifying two registry keys on your system so that you can participate in the Vista SP2 Beta program. To join the program all you have to do is...
Microsoft announced last night that they’ve come up with with a name for Windows 7. You might be expecting something along the lines of “XP” or “Vista,” but they aren’t going that route this time around. They’ve actually decided to go back to their roots and call the next major release “Windows 7.” This is just like the old days when Microsoft named milestones based on version (3.11, etc…) or year (95, 98, etc…).
SyncToy 2.0 for Windows is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers.
Features:
Dynamic Drive Letter Assignment: Drive letter reassignment will now be detected and updated in the folder pair definition.
True Folder Sync: Folder creates, renames, and deletes are now synchronized for all SyncToy actions.
Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.
Filtering Based on File Attributes: The ability to exclude files based on one or more file attributes (Read-Only, System, Hidden).
Unattended Folder Pair Execution: Addressed issues related to running scheduled folder pairs while logged off.
Folder Pairs With Shared Endpoints: Ability for folder pairs associated with the same or different instances of SyncToy to share end-points.
Command line enhancements: Added the ability to manage folder pairs via the command line interface.
Re-Architect Sync Engine: The SyncToy engine has been rearchitected to provide scalability and the ability to add significant enhancements in future releases.
Sync engine is also more robust insomuch that many single, file level errors are skipped without affecting the entire sync operation.
Sync Encrypted Files: Sync of Encrypted files works when local folder and files are encrypted, which addresses the common scenario involving sync between local, encrypted laptop PC folder and remote, unencrypted desktop PC folder.
64-Bit Support: SyncToy now has a native 64-bit build (x64 only) for 64-bit versions of Windows.
Folder pair rename
Sub-folder Exclusion Enhancements: Descendents created under excluded sub-folders are automatically excluded. Usability improvements for the sub-folder exclusion dialog.
Folder Pair Metadata Moved: Folder pair metadata removed from MyDocuments to resolve any issues with server-based folder pair re-direction setup.
Setup Improvements: Integrated setup with single self-extracting archive file and no extra downloads if you already have .NET Framework 2.0 installed. Enabled silent install for the SyncToy Installer file (see readme.txt file for more information). Removed combine and subscribe actions.
Ever have a need to convert a Word document to HTML knowing that Word itself produces some of the worst HTML code ever? There is a simple, easy trick to get this done.
Make sure you have a Gmail account
Send the Word document, as an attachment, to your Gmail account
Sign in to Gmail and view the email with the attachment
Click the 'View as HTML' link at the bottom of the email
With the page opened, 'View source' from your browser
Copy the code
That's all there is to it. Google produces some pretty clean HTML from a Word document. It may have to be updated to XHTML 1.0 specifications (Google uses some deprecated tags)
I had a pretty complex tabled document with lots of text styles and it did a very good job.
Remember those awful Microsoft ads with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates? Well, now you can forget them. Microsoft flacks are desperately dialing reporters to spin them about "phase two" of the ad campaign — a phase, due to be announced tomorrow, which will drop the aging comic altogether.
Microsoft Pro Photo Tools provides a set of tools for photographers to perform various tasks with their images—including RAW captures. The current version enables you to quickly geotag your photos, view and edit metadata, and more, leveraging the power of Windows and Microsoft Live Local.
Contig is a single-file defragmenter that attempts to make files contiguous on disk. Its perfect for quickly optimizing files that are continuously becoming fragmented, or that you want to ensure are in as few fragments as possible.
SyncToy 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
Tweak UI This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.
Power Calculator With this PowerToy you can graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.
Image Resizer This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click.
Alt-Tab Replacement With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.
Who said Excel takes lot of time / steps do something? Here is a list of 15 incredibly fun things you can do to your spreadsheets and each takes no more than 5 seconds to do.
"15 datacenters hosting 148,357 servers sitting on 17,406 racks consuming 72,500KW of utility power as of the end of January 2008 (as indicated by the bar chart). If you’re a bit of a imperial measurement person, that’s 97,000 horsepower."
CodePlex is Microsoft's open source project hosting web site. Start a new project, join an existing one, or download software created by the community.
As you would assume its a lot of projects written using MS technologies like ASP.NET.
I didn't know that Microsoft was releasing the monthly security updates to a DVD ISO image as well as through the Windows Update tool. I guess for someone in an enterprise environment a DVD of the updates may be a desirable thing.
Scroll all the way to the bottom and look for the answer in green (Accepted Solution)
To allow users to only edit specific ranges when working in a shared workbook:
From the Tools menu, select Protection, and then Allow Users to Edit Ranges. This advanced option allows multiple users (for example, when working on a network) to update data in a well defined and private area. Each workbook user is allotted a range in the sheet with a unique password.
You ever come across a web page with lots of data you would like a copy of? Maybe in the format of a pretty Excel spreadsheet. Follow the steps below to get data from a web page into an Excel spreadsheet.
Scrape data from a web page:
Find a source of data you want (for an example use: Country List)
Open a new, blank Excel document
Select menu -> Data -> Import External Data -> New Web Query
In the address bar enter your URL (try the sample I used above)
Under Options (right of the address bar) try with no formatting first and then try Rich Text or HTML (attempts to style it to match the web page)
Press 'Go'
After the page has completely loaded you should see yellow boxes with black arrows next to tables that can be imported. Scroll down to the main table and click the arrow. It should now be a check.
Press 'Import'
Press 'OK'
That should be it. Your table of data should not be an excel spreadsheet where the data is nicely laid out in columns. From here you can work with the data in Excel or export to CSV (can be used to easily import into an database).
Also, I bet you didn't know that the data will be automatically refreshed when the data on the web page is refreshed. Pretty cool. Huh?
No, it's not WinFS, the file system that was supposed to revolutionize the way files and documents are stored in Windows. But if it gives users tools that accomplish the same things WinFS was supposed to provide, does Search 4.0 come close?
The Windows XP System Preparation tool enables administrators to prepare Windows XP system images as part of an automated deployment. You can use the System Preparation tool to perform the following tasks in a manner that is supported by Microsoft
This actually is worth checking out. Before you wonder its support on IE and Firefox.
I know some people will download non-official copies of Windows 7 when it becomes available. Some of you will also have a brand new operating system infected with malware and spyware because some of these copies will be pre-infected. If you want to make sure the copy of Windows 7 that you downloaded has not been tampered with then check out the 
Find out what the industry and Microsoft Engineers are saying about the next OS from Microsoft, 
