Tag: reliability
October 19, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft is making use of the time it still has ahead of the October 22nd general availability deadline of Windows 7 to deliver some last-minute finishing touches to the operating system. The latest iterations of the Windows client and server platforms were released to manufacturing on July 22nd, 2009, and, since August, have been available to specific customer segments including MSDN and TechNet subscribers. On October 13th, the Redmond company made available for download updates for both Windows 7 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM designed to boost the stability and reliability of the two platforms.
“An update is available to resolve issues that affect some computers that are running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. These issues are reported by customers who use the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services,” Microsoft revealed. “This update improves the stability and reliability of Windows 7 and of Windows Server 2008 R2 in various scenarios.”
This is not an uncommon practice with Microsoft. In fact, ahead of Windows Vista’s GA in January 2007, Jim Allchin, the then Windows boss, told customers that the first thing they would have to do after installing Vista and running the operating system for the first time was to update the brand-new platform. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
Starting in the third week of April, Microsoft has debuted automatic upgrades to Internet Explorer 8. IE6 and IE7 users running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are being offered IE8 as an update via AU. Still, Microsoft has stressed the fact that Internet Explorer 8 delivered through Automatic Updates will not in fact install automatically. Instead, end users must opt in for the upgrade from previous versions of Internet Explorer for IE8 to happen.
“IE8 will not automatically install – the user has control over whether to upgrade to IE8. When offered IE8, three choices are offered: Ask later, install, or don’t install. If one chooses “Ask me later” then IE8 will continue to be offered via Automatic Update, and choosing “Don’t Install” will cause IE8 to no longer be offered via this method. Users who choose “Don’t Install” can still download IE8 [from the Download Center] or from Windows Update as an optional update,” explained Eric Hebenstreit, lead program manager. Read More»
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
November 21, 2008 by
Jason Microsoft promises to optimize the amount of disk space that Windows 7 will consume in comparison to Windows Vista. Essentially, the Redmond company is laboring to decrease the installation footprint of the operating system with the next iteration of the Windows client. While the software giant failed to indicate just how much occupied disk space it was going to shave off in Windows 7, it did inform that it was looking to have Windows Vista beat in this aspect.
“As we develop Windows 7 it’s likely that the system footprint will be smaller than Windows Vista with the engineering efforts across the team which should allow for greater flexibility in system designs by PC manufacturers. We will do so with more attention to defaults, more control available to OEMs, end-users and IT pros, and will do so without compromising the reliability and robustness of Windows overall,” revealed Michael Beck, a program manager in the core OS deployment feature team. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
September 01, 2008 by
Jason While rival browser makers Mozilla and Opera have launched the latest iterations of their products, Firefox 3.0 and respectively Opera 9.5, as early as June 2008, Microsoft is still in the development phase of Internet Explorer 8, the successor of IE7. August 27 marked the delivery of IE8 Beta 2, a deadline absurdly safeguarded by Microsoft, with the company only managing to confirm a release by the end of this month, and taking its due time when it came down to making available the bits for the browser second development milestone. Internet Explorer 8 is still far from the finish line, reportedly planned for November 2008, but Beta 2 feels more like a browser version ready for wrap-up than Beta 1.
The reason for this is the fact that, in comparison with the March 2008 release of IE8, the second Beta is packed with features and functionality aimed at the home and business users, on top of what has already been available to IT professionals and web content developers and designers. In this regard, IE8 Beta 1 was more of a skeleton on which Microsoft built Beta 2. Now, although Microsoft is not touting IE8 Beta 2 as a feature-complete version, it is clear that the Redmond company will move further only with the process of fine-tuning the browser got with Release to Web (RTW). Read More»
Posted in Internet | 2 Comments »
February 28, 2008 by
Jason
You may be able to free up some valuable space if you’re using two disk partitions, using two physical drives, or dual-booting between XP and Vista on the same machine.
I’ll show you several steps you can take to eliminate duplicate files and get more out of your disks.
Decide on your multiple-partition strategy
Years ago, it was common for users seeking more reliability to divide a hard drive into two or more partitions: portions of a disk, each with a different drive letter. Back then, recovering data from drive d: was easier than from drive c: if the primary partition (containing Windows) became corrupted.
That configuration is rare today, because backup programs and disaster-recovery services have improved. But there are still three situations in which you might find yourself handling two or more partitions or physical disks: Read More»
Posted in Computer | No Comments »
February 25, 2008 by
Jason Microsoft decided to pull KB937287 from automatic updates that was supposed to prepare machines for the upcoming SP1 release after reports the patch was causing infinite reboots. According to Microsoft Help and Support, patch KB937287 was designed to “improve reliability and performance when you install future individual update from Microsoft.”
Nick White on the Windows Vista Blog states that the problem affects “a small number of customers in unique circumstances.” The unique circumstances are still unknown. I have installed this patch on a handful of different manufacturers and models and have not yet had any issues. Read More»
Posted in Computer, Windows Vista | No Comments »
January 12, 2008 by
Jason Let’s say your computer started acting funny and you have no idea what’s going wrong. Maybe it slowed down, or a program or device isn’t working like it should.
Windows Vista can run a diagnostic report to find any obvious problems and save you the time and aggravation of hunting the problem down yourself, especially if you’re not an IT pro. Read More»
Posted in Computer, Windows Vista | No Comments »
November 01, 2007 by
Jason Microsoft is offering Windows Vista users the means to take Windows Vista compatibility, reliability and stability up a notch ahead of the release of the first service pack for the operating system. In this context, the Redmond company has been hammering away at Vista, since the client hot the shelves in January 2007 with constant refreshes served through the Windows Update infrastructure. Although Windows Update is not yet a fully fledged substitute for the service pack release practice, Microsoft has hinted that small and incremental updates are the way of the future, in contrast to large and bloated refreshes.
Starting with its debut on the market, Vista has had quite a rough ride, experiencing a plethora of issues, mostly centered around software and hardware incompatibilities, as well as performance. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | 1 Comment »
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