PCTips Box

Microsoft has updated and re-released Windows NT Backup on March 27, 2008, making it available as a free download. The move comes as the utility needs to keep up the pace with the evolution of the latest Windows client and server operating systems. Microsoft released both Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1 to manufacturing on February 4, 2008. Windows Server 2008 was launched officially at the end of the past month, while Vista SP1 was released to the general public on March 18.

Version 1.0 of Windows NT Backup dropped on March 27 is tailored to both Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. The utility is designed to enable users of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 to restore backups that were created on the previous versions of the operating systems, namely Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. In the move from XP and Windows Server 2003, Microsoft has evolved the backup infrastructure of the two platforms. (more…)

With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 having RTM’d on February 4, 2008, and out to the general public as of March 18, Microsoft has made available for download its free toolkit designed to streamline and automate the deployment of desktop and server operating systems. Being offered as the evolution of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007, the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2008 process and toolset is set up to facilitate the installation of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. Previous variants of the tool, from the time it carried the label of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD), were used by approximately 1 million clients, according to the Redmond company.

“We’ve reached a pivotal moment in time, the release to Web of Windows Vista SP1, we [also] released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2008, the latest generation of the Microsoft Solution Accelerators designed to simplify and ease your deployment experience. (more…)

If you think that the first service pack for Windows Vista has managed to fix what was broken with the latest Windows client, think again. The same problems that were initially associated with the gold version of Vista have survived and moved on as the legacy of SP1. At the end of its first year of availability on the market, Vista had passed the 100 million sold license milestone, and according to Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer, present at MIX08 the past week, the platform is the second most popular Windows operating system in the world, despite its long line of problems.

“I’m not saying that there aren’t things that customers choose to comment on. Come on, the number one issue we’ve had customers have issues on were application compatibility and driver compatibility. (more…)

Everything else has not failed… Well, maybe the Wow… So, when on the remnants of the failed Wow, Microsoft is now bringing in the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 cavalry. With Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow in the Platform and Services division at the lead, the Redmond company offered the Springboard Live! Interactive Virtual Roundtable the past week. Keyword being live, at this point in time, you can consider that you missed it. But not entirely. You can no longer participate in the roundtable, and as such the interactivity label is nothing but a label, but you can access the entire event via this link.

“Join Mark Russinovich and a panel of experts for a live, interactive discussion on adopting Windows Vista into a desktop infrastructure. (more…)

After over a year since the release of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 in October 2006, and then along with Windows Vista in November 2006 and January 2007, Microsoft has delivered the first beta of its next iteration of Internet Explorer. IE8 Beta 1 is a release aimed at web content developers, but the company has provided full access to the bits, with the promise that Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 will be more user-centric.

IE8 Beta 1 integrates seamlessly with Windows Vista Gold and SP1 RTM, but also with Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows XP SP2 and SP3. With the exception of Windows XP SP3, IE8 Beta 1 will support both the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions of the operating systems enumerated above. Of course, XP SP3 only comes in x86 and not in a x64 variant. At this time, Microsoft offers XP SP3 RC2, with IE8 Beta 1 installing on the beta of the third and final service pack for XP even though it fails to do the same with pre-release versions of Windows Vista SP1. (more…)

Is Vista SP1 really the shot in the arm your Vista system needs? We’ve spent many hours strapped to our benchmarking system in a caffeine and pizza fuelled haze to uncover these very interesting results.

We tested Vista:

* as it comes out of the box (RTM — or “release to manufacturing”)
* as it comes out of the box, with all Windows Update patches applied (”RTM patched)
* with the final SP1 service pack applied

Testing Setup

Although Vista SP1 has many documented improvements, we aimed to test a particular scenario which has proved to be a major problem for pre-SP1 users: file copy speed, particularly over a network. (more…)

Microsoft officially confirmed the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 downloads at the end of the past week. On February 21, 2008, the gold bits of Windows Vista SP1 were offered for download via Windows Update. The move was a derail from the timetable set for the delivery of the RTM Build of Vista SP1, initially planned for general availability starting with mid-March 2008, according to Mike Nash, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management. Nash announced on February 4 that the final bits of Vista SP1 would find their way to end users through Microsoft Update, Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center in mid-March, and then through Automatic Updates beginning with mid-April.

But the fact that the end users of Vista got the short straw without even participating in the draw does not mean that the Redmond company did not release Vista SP1 RTM. (more…)

Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista SP1 has been released to manufacturing (RTM). This means that the code for SP1 has been finalized and they are now preparing to distribute the update.

Unlike traditional releases Microsoft is planning on shipping SP1 on all distribution channels at once. To ensure that customers that already have Windows Vista will have a “great experience” the Windows Update and standalone installation release will be delayed until OEM manufacturers and retail boxes of Windows Vista have been updated with SP1 code. (more…)

1. Open up your aero.msstyles file with resource hacker and click on variant then click on normal then click on 1033.
2. Save the 1033 file as a binary file.
3. Now open up winhex or any other binary file program that you use and go down to line 00023C43 00023C40 and find the first set of letters “ff”.
4. Simply change those to “00″.
5. Save your new binary file. (more…)