Tag: update
October 19, 2009 by
Jason
Following the release to manufacturing of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft is slowly setting in place all the software pieces that traditionally accompany new client and server platform releases. An illustrative example in this regard is the WinHlp32.exe download. The utility is designed to enable users running Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to access Help files, easily identifiable after the “.hlp” file name extension.
According to KB917607, titled “I cannot open Help files that require the Windows Help (WinHlp32.exe) program,” “At this time, there is no WinHlp32.exe download available for Windows 7 or for Windows Server 2008 R2. However, separate downloads for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be offered after the RTM versions of these products are available to public.”
However, Microsoft has failed to wait for the October 22, 2009 general availability deadline of Windows 7 and already released the 32-bit (x86) flavor of WinHlp32.exe. Before Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, the Redmond-based company allowed third-party developers to include WinHlp32.exe with their Windows programs. This is no longer the case, and the utility is now available exclusively as a standalone download from Microsoft. WinHlp32.exe is set up to integrate with both the 32-bit and the 64-bit editions of Windows 7, as well as with the exclusive x64 version of Windows Server 2008 R2. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
October 14, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft has made available for download a tool designed to ensure that software installed on top of various Windows operating systems gets updated correctly. The Patch Registration Cleanup Tool is a utility offered by the Redmond company free of charge with a rather self-explanatory name. Designed to clean the patch registration errors, the tool went live on the Microsoft Download Center on October 12th, 2009 and is currently up for grabs for all users of Windows XP, and later releases of Windows, including the latest iteration of the Windows client.
“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,” Microsoft informed.
According to the Redmond company, end users will be able to run the Patch Registration Cleanup Tool not just on Windows 7 RTM, but also on older Windows platforms. The software giant pointed out that the following Windows operating systems are supported by the tool: Windows 2000; Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Vista and Windows XP. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
Dell has produced the first drivers for select desktops and laptops running Windows 7 RTM. The US computer maker did not detail the specific products for which it now provides full driver support in concert with the gold release of Microsoft’s latest Windows client. However, customers can of course look for Dell Certified Windows 7 drivers via the company’s official Dell Online Windows 7 Support website. Of course, the search for Dell Certified Windows 7 drivers would have to be done in accordance with the Dell desktops or laptops they are running.
“Dell is jumping in to help business (commercial) customers get ready for Windows 7 by offering Windows 7 drivers for their commercial desktop and laptop PCs. They are posting their Windows 7 drivers (see Drivers and Downloads on left-hand navigation),” revealed Brandon LeBlanc, Windows communications manager on the Windows Client Communications Team. “By offering drivers for their commercial desktop and laptop PCs, Dell is helping business customers with Dell PCs in their environments prepare for Windows 7 deployments.” Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 1 Comment »
Since Firefox 3.0, bookmarks, history and most storage is kept in SQLite databases. Also, the default history time span was raised from 9 to 90 days as it became more discoverable and useful thanks to the awesome bar, so depending on your browsing habits it could represent some pretty large databases.
Aas any other database, SQLite databases become fragmented over time and empty spaces appear all around. But, since there are no managing processes checking and optimizing the database, these factors eventually result in a performance hit. So, a good way to improve startup and some other bookmarks and history related tasks is to defragment and trim unused space from these databases.
To do this:
Step 1: get sqlite3, a single file command line SQLite database manager, for your platform (available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X).
Step 2: Copy the downloaded binary to your profile folder where all your .sqlite files reside.
Step 3: Close Firefox. Read More»
Posted in Firefox | 1 Comment »
If you have more than one operating system installed on your PC for example, you may have both Windows Vista and Windows 7 beta installed – your computer displays a menu asking you which operating system you want to load. If you don’t select an operating system within 30 seconds, it automatically loads your default operating system.
You can cut the amount of time your computer waits for your input before loading Windows Vista by going back to Msconfig and selecting the Boot tab. Where it says Timeout, change the number to a lower setting, but give yourself enough time to actually make your choice. If you only have Windows Vista installed on your machine, you don’t need to complete this step.
Fix notifications
Windows Vista is great at letting you know if there’s a problem with your computer. Your antivirus program should also alert you to potential problems, such as when a virus has been found or if you haven’t downloaded and installed the latest update for the software. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | 1 Comment »
The latest release of the Compatibility View list update for Internet Explorer 8 went live earlier this week and is now available for download. In an effort to maintain compatibility between IE8 and website developers for IE6 and IE7, Microsoft introduced the Compatibility View feature in the browser.
The Redmond-based company also maintains a list of websites that fail to play nice with the gold version of Internet Explorer 8. For this specific content, IE8 doesn’t use the latest version of its rendering engine, tailored to modern web standards, but rather behaves like older releases of the browser.
“An update for the Windows Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View list that is dated June 23, 2009, is available. This Compatibility View list update makes Web sites that are designed for older browsers look better in Internet Explorer 8. When you install Internet Explorer 8, you can decide whether the sites that you browse should be displayed in Compatibility View. After you install this update, you may have to restart Internet Explorer,” Microsoft informed.
Read More»
Posted in Internet | 1 Comment »
Addressing users of an iPod shuffle (1st and 2nd generation), or iPod shuffle (3rd generation), Apple has updated its Support section with new information on how to update your player’s software.
Apple outlines that it is very important to understand the difference between “update” and “restore.” Failing to do this may result in losing all your songs, or whatever data you have stored on your iPod shuffle. Update does not affect your settings or songs, but only installs the software that controls iPod shuffle.
However, the restore action erases the disk and restores iPod shuffle to its original factory condition. According to the iPod maker, you should use the computer where music is normally synced, if you only need to update iPod shuffle. “Updating on another computer will result in all songs being removed from the iPod shuffle,” the company warns. Additionally, users should make sure to back up the contents of their iPod shuffle. Everything can be synced back to the device, if the items are part of your iTunes Library. Read More»
Posted in Mac, Windows XP | No Comments »
Microsoft is gearing up to start serving automatic upgrades to Internet Explorer 8. Fact is that the Redmond company has already debuted the Automatic distribution of its latest iteration of IE. In this regard, the software giant confirmed that IE8 RTW (release to web) was already offered via Automatic Update/Windows Update to all users running pre-release versions of IE8. Next in line are users of Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7, which should start seeing IE8 served through WU/AU by the end of this month.
“We released IE8 via Automatic Update to users still running pre-release versions of IE8 (Beta 2 or Release Candidate 1). The goal was to make sure users who chose to install IE8 have the latest up-to-date version,” revealed Eric Hebenstreit, IE lead program manager. It is important to note that automatic upgrades to IE8 are not synonymous with automatic installations of the browser.
Microsoft underlined that end users would need to opt-in in order to install Internet Explorer 8. In this regard, the gold version of IE8, offered through WU/AU, will come with three options: Ask later, Install and Don’t Install, allowing users to postpone the installation, give it green light, or simply block it through the Redmond company’s update infrastructure. Read More»
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
February 19, 2009 by
Jason
An issue originally associated with Windows Vista upgrades has come back to haunt Windows 7, as the operating system was released in Beta stage to the general public at the start of January 2009. According to Microsoft’s Nanda Lella, upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 is a process that will kill more than just the Ultimate Extras additions, if in fact the end users run the high-end edition of Windows XP’s successor. Lella revealed that the Vista to Windows 7 Beta upgrade would cause the RSS feeds associated with Internet Explorer to no longer update.
This is by no means a new issue. In fact, approximately a couple of years back, Vista users were running into the same issue. The context however, was a tad different. At that time IE feeds were killed by Vista to Vista upgrades. “Our investigations show that these tend to occur after upgrades from one pre-release build of Windows Vista to another version. If you’re encountering this issue, first make sure that the feed URL is still valid by manually updating the feed (press F5 while viewing the feed in IE7),” explained Walter vonKoch, Microsoft program manager. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista | 3 Comments »
January 13, 2009 by
Jason
Mozilla introduced Firefox Snowl in the first half of August 2008, and the open source project evolved into its next stage as of January 12, 2009. Mozilla Labs unveiled Firefox Snowl 0.2, moving onward with the development of the solution, from the initial release, which was, by all means, an extremely primitive prototype. With version 0.2 of its experiment with messaging in the browser, Mozilla Labs has in fact taken the conversing capabilities of the project a step further.
“We’re pleased to announce Snowl 0.2. This version of the messaging-in-the-browser experiment builds on the first release with an updated river view, a new stream view for keeping track of messages in a sidebar while you do other things, the ability to send tweets, and support for multiple Twitter accounts,” Mozilla’s Myk Melez revealed.
Users should make no mistake about it, as even at version 0.2 Snowl is still in very early development stages, making them more testers than actual users. However, the program does increase the level of Twitter integration. The solution now supports sending messages through Twitter, but also the ability for users to both receive and send Tweets from multiple accounts that they first need to subscribe to. Read More»
Posted in Firefox | No Comments »