Tag: x86
September 17, 2008 by
Jason
On September 16, the Redmond company went live with the second wave of IE8 Beta 2 releases, offering the browser in no less than 21 localized versions. The fresh IE8 Beta 2 releases covering 21 additional languages on top of the original four are supported only on the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista RTM and Service Pack 1, Windows XP SP2 and SP3 and Windows Server 2008.
“The IE team is pleased to announce the availability of Internet Explorer Beta 2 in 21 additional languages. The languages released today are fully localized versions of the IE8 English Beta 2. The Complete List of IE8 Beta 2 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish,” explained Vishwac Sena Kannan, International Program Manager.
Microsoft is currently gearing up for the availability of the gold build of Internet Explorer 8. The Redmond giant has not confirmed a deadline, except to say that it expects to deliver the final IE8 two years after the general availability of Internet Explorer 7 considered by the company to be January 30, 2007, the Windows Vista launch day. Read More»
Posted in Internet | 4 Comments »
The latest version of a solution accelerator initially dubbed Windows Vista hardware Assessment is now available for download. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit is now at version 3.1 and has hit RTM stage. The latest build of the assessment and planning solution accelerator is tailored specifically to the most recent Windows client and server operating systems, namely Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 SP1/RTM, including the Hyper-V release. Version 3.1 is up for grabs straight from Microsoft, and is designed to streamline as much as possible the evaluation and planning phases of large scale software migration processes in complex IT infrastructures.
“Formerly known as Windows Vista Hardware Assessment, this new release is now packed with many new features such as: Hyper-V virtualization candidates assessment (+ improved virtual machines inventory); SQL server discovery and assessment; 64-bit installation support; and Desktop Windows Security Center assessment,” revealed Baldwin Ng, Senior Product Manager, Solution Accelerators Team. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Software, Windows Vista | 1 Comment »
An update version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool is now available for download and it’s a perfect fit for the latest service packs for Windows Vista and Windows XP. The Redmond company releases new versions of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on the second Tuesday of each month, accompanying the availability of the Security Bulletins dropped as part of the monthly patch cycle. The updated version of MSRT is distributed via Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services and is also up for grabs on the Download Center.
Microsoft has failed to emphasize the fact that MSRT integrates seamless with both Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3. However, tests reveal that the tool plays well with the latest releases of the two operating systems. Vista SP1, RTM’d on February 4, 2008, was released to the general public on March 18, and XP SP3 is accessible to end users since May 6, having been released to manufacturing on April 21. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows Vista, Windows XP | No Comments »
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. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows Vista | No Comments »
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. Read More»
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
February 11, 2008 by
Jason Windows Performance Tools Kit, v.4.1.1 (QFE) is, as the product’s label states, a collection of performance analysis tools. The resources are an integral part of the Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5, and essentially offer an update to WPT Kit v.4.1.0. In fact, it is WPT Kit v.4.1.0 that was shipped as a part of the Windows Server 2008 SDK. With version 4.1.1 Microsoft has resolved a couple of issues, including the fact that Windows Performance Analyzer did not execute when double-clicking an ETL file, and failed to perform power state transition analysis.
“Windows Performance Tools Kit is now shipping along with Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5. A mouthful both, to be sure, but if you use either regularly it won’t be long before they become just ‘xperf’ and ‘the SDK’. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | 1 Comment »
September 03, 2007 by
Jason An evolved version of the Application Verifier is available as a free download courtesy of the Redmond company. As of the first day in September, Microsoft has made available version 3.4 of Application verifier with full support for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. According to the description of the tool, Application Verifier is designed to integrate seamlessly with x86, x64 and IA64 platforms. The tool offers an extra layer for the runtime verification of unmanaged code, on top of the basic application testing associated with the development process. Microsoft in fact boasted that the tool is capable of identifying even the most subtle of programming errors, including problems with heaps, handles and locks.
“Application Verifier is a runtime verification tool for unmanaged code that assists in quickly finding subtle programming errors that can be extremely difficult to identify with normal application testing,” revealed the Microsoft description. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows Vista | 2 Comments »
One of the core differences between 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista is of course how much system memory the two variants of Microsoft’s latest operating systems can use. Users have to understand that Microsoft alone limited 32-bit Vista to a maximum of 4 GB of RAM while taking the high-end editions of 64-bit Vista up to 128 GB of RAM. The fact of the matter is that Microsoft could have tailor fitted both 32-bit Windows Vista and Windows XP to address well in excess of 4 GB of system memory, but didn’t. The best argument related to the possibility of introducing support for over 4 GB of RAM with x86 Vista and XP is the fact that Microsoft does feature 32-bit Window operating systems that do it. Case in point Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32 GB of physical RAM), Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition and Windows Server 2003 SP1, Enterprise Edition(64 GB of physical RAM) and Windows Server 2003 SP1, Datacenter Edition (128 GB of physical RAM). All these server side Windows operating systems are 32-bit platforms.
So why hasn’t the same been done with Windows Vista? Well, just because the 32-bit server operating systems can support in excess of 32-bit of RAM does not mean that it is the ideal solution. Far from it in fact, it is something more of a hack. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
Changing the visual style of Windows is something that has become very popular over the years with Windows XP. In Windows Vista, this is just starting to gain momentum with the release of a few cool hacked visual styles. These alternative visual styles are replacements for the default Aero glass style and offer slight tweaks on the design. Over time there will be more and more higher quality visual styles released for Windows Vista.
If you want to get started, you will need to download the hacked visual style skinning engine files from Rafael Rivera’s site. Rafael has both x86 and x64 versions available. These modified system files remove the requirement for visual style files to be digitally signed by Microsoft. If you need help replacing the system files with the modified files, check out my article on working with system files in Windows Vista. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
February 26, 2007 by
Jason
Many people online are wondering if Microsoft will be releasing a TweakUI for Windows Vista or not. While we cant answer that particular question, we can help get TweakUI running on Windows Vista - and suggest a decent, Vista-specific alternative along the way.
TweakUI is a popular system configuration utility made by Microsoft since late Windows 95, and it provides quick and easy access to configure certain features in Windows without resorting to reshacking, registry editing, or other more dangerous tactics. Its not the most brilliant piece of code ever created, but its a nifty tool to have. You can download it at these links for Windows XP/2k3 x64 and x86. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | 6 Comments »
