The World of Windows

Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista is an update to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. It provides customer and partner feedback-driven fixes into a single service pack, minimizing deployment and testing complexity. In addition to all previously released updates since SP1, SP2supports new types of hardware, and adds support for several emerging standards. Download Service Pack 2 (SP2) SP2 Standalone is an update for computers that have Windows Server 2008 SP1 or Windows Vista SP1 installed. Five Language SP2 Standalone: for computers with one or more of the following five languages: English, French, German, Japanese , and Spanish. If your computer has any other language installed this option will not work. ISO for Windows Server 2008 x86/x64/ia64 and Windows Vista x86/x64 x86 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista x86 x64 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista x64 ia64 for Windows Server 2008 ia64 Get Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Reso...

Your PC, simplified. You told us what you want in a PC. We listened. And made hundreds of little improvements and a few big ones that add up to a whole lot less. Less waiting, fewer clicks, and less complexity. With less of what you don’t need, Windows 7 helps you do more. More work, more play, and more of everything in between. Making every task simpler and every day easier. See for yourself— get the Release Candidate . Download instructions 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. Here's what y...

To confirm that you are running a legitimately pu rchased copy of Windows Vista in accordance with the terms of the End User License Agreement (EULA), Microsoft relies on Windows Product Activation, a process which verifies your Product Key and hardware configuration online or over the phone. While activation has been around since Windows XP was introduced, some of the measures surrounding it have been tightened as part of the new Microsoft Software Protection Platform. This chapter looks at how Activation and Validation work, though note that I don't cover any illegal methods of bypassing Activation. LICENSING AGREEMENT The End User License Agreement (EULA) for Windows Vista contains the terms and conditions of acceptable usage for the OS. You do not actually own Windows Vista outright; Microsoft gives you permission (a license) to use the software under certain terms and condition...

FILE SYSTEMS During the formatting of your hard drive and/or its partitions, you can choose to format using the NTFS (NT File System) or FAT32 (File Allocation Table) File System. The file system used on a hard drive determines how the drive will store and organize data, so it is an important choice. You can see a comparison of the two file systems in this Microsoft Article. Windows Vista actually uses an enhanced version of NTFS called Transactional NTFS which allows Vista to perform single and multiple file operations more securely and with greater data integrity. This new version of NTFS also allows other changes, such as Directory Junctions and improved searching - see the Windows Explorer and Windows Search chapters for details. In general your hard drive(s) should be formatted in NTFS only. The only possible reason for using the earlier FAT32 file system on a hard drive or partition wou...

The methodology behind the installation of Windows Vista has changed from previous versions of Windows. Vista now uses an image-based installation method which is covered in this Microsoft Article. Your Windows Vista installation DVD contains all the different Vista editions, and at the start of installation, the Product Key you enter identifies which edition you've purchased and will be installing. Then as installation begins, instead of selectively copying across a large number of individual files as XP did, a complete compressed 'hardware neutral' image of a Vista installation is copied across to the target hard drive, uncompressed and overwrites the drive contents. As the installation continues, Vista then identifies your hardware and configures itself accordingly. This change in the underlying installation method has a range of practical impacts which are discussed furthe...

The company denies recent reports that it's working on a "ZunePhone" for Verizon Wireless, and it will focus on upcoming Windows Mobile upgrades. Despite the latest round of whisperings, Microsoft is insisting it will not be making its own smartphone. It's not the first or the last time the software vendor has been at the center of speculation when it comes to backing its own breed of iPhone or BlackBerry. Whereas Windows Mobile competes with the likes of Research In Motion and Apple in building operating systems, Microsoft's rivals have control over nearly every aspect of their smartphones. That's because they produce the hardware. Microsoft merely licenses its mobile OS to partners to build smartphones. But there have been rumblings that the software maker is interested in creating its own smartphone to give Verizon Wireless a significant rival to the iPhone. This device reportedly could have been built by Sidekick maker Danger, which was acquired by Microso...

Customers have heard us say over the years that the threat environment is an ever-evolving one. That means that one of our jobs in working to keep customers safe is to continually monitor the threat environment and make changes to adapt to it. Today, we’re announcing modifications in Windows that adapts to recent changes in the threat environment. Specifically, we’re announcing changes to the behavior in AutoPlay so that it will no longer enable an AutoRun task for devices that are not removable optical media (CD/DVD.). However, the AutoRun task will still be enabled for media like CD-ROM. There are more details on the change over at the Windows 7 blog as well as at the Security Research and Defense (SRD) blog. The reason we’re making this change is that we’ve seen an increase, since the start of 2009, in malicious software abusing the current default AutoRun settings to propagate through removable media like USB devices. The best known malicious software abusing AutoRun is Conficker,...