Windows Archive

Windows Vista Developer FAQ

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-12 Windows 2 Comments

Find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions concerning Windows Vista and WinFX Basics. The Windows Vista Developer FAQ is designed to put a wealth of answers at your fingertips. From setup and hardware issues to questions about future plans and about what it all means, this FAQ is an excellent companion to the WinFX newsgroups.

Microsoft Seeks to ‘WAIK’ Corporate Users with Vista

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-12 Windows 1 Comment

Microsoft recently posted to its Web site for download a user's guide for WAIK. Microsoft describes WAIK as "a new set of tools designed to help Original Equipment Manufacturers, system builders, and corporate IT professionals deploy Windows Vista onto new hardware." Read more.

Windows Vista Beta 1: a Guided Tour

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-11 Windows 72 Comments

"It's unusual for a Beta 1 version of Windows to have both the final shipping name of the product and as many new features as this build shows. And that's a strong sign of two things. Firstly: Windows Vista remains an ambitious release of Windows, despite some of the features that Microsoft has pushed off the side of the boat. Secondly: Microsoft is trying to get serious, both internally and externally, about this development program. Windows Vista is now the company's top priority." Read on, ten pages, here.

Submitted by Lazarus 2005-08-11 Windows 18 Comments

Singularity is a research project at Microsoft to write an OS using managed code. Although it will probably never be seen out in the wild, it incorporates some interesting ideas nonetheless. Read about it here and here (ppt).

Windows Vista Beta 1: Administrator’s Preview

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-10 Windows 51 Comments

"Windows Vista is actually quite interesting for an administrator. When I first saw it on MSDN, I thought, "Over 2 Gig's. What could they have done for it to be that large without the drastic new UI?" Well, I have been looking at this thing for about a week now and I uncover more and more each time that I look into it. I am going to cover some of the enhancements that Vista will provide for administrators as well as a few neat little tidbits that I have not seen much of."

Microsoft Fixes Six Flaws

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-09 Windows 30 Comments

Microsoft has released six patches for its Windows operating system today. Three of them are rated critical, one important and two moderate. The three critical ones are related Internet Explorer, Print Spooler and PnP. They all three fix issues where your machine could be taken over completely.

Beta Testing Windows OneCare

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-09 Windows 33 Comments

Microsoft has begun beta testing their solution to the slow and unprotected PC dilemma: Windows OneCare. FlexBeta reviews it: "Would I personally use the Windows OneCare service? Well, it depends on how much MS is going to charge for this service. If the service will range from $10-$20 a year, then I would say it is worth it."

Windows Vista SDK Goes Gold

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-09 Windows 18 Comments

Microsoft on Monday signed off on the Windows Vista SDK, or software development kit, which will enable developers to create applications for the next-generation Windows release. The SDK, complete with code samples, tools and documentation will be available via MSDN and distributed at next month's PDC conference in LA. In addition, Microsoft has finally released an updated version of Messenger:Mac, bringing it up to par with its Windows brother.

MS to Highlight Unix Services in Windows Server R2

Adam Scheinberg 2005-08-09 Windows 22 Comments

At this week's LinuxWorld conference, Microsoft officials are slated to talk up the Services for Unix features that the company is integrating into the Windows Server 2003 R2.

Submitted by Varg Vikernes 2005-08-09 Windows 79 Comments

Many people don't know that Microsoft provides an Installable File System (IFS) SDK kit for writing filesystem drivers. This SDK provides necessary info for writing a filesystem driver to manage Linux/OS X drives from Windows 2000, XP or 2003 Server. Stephan Schreiber wrote an Ext2 IFS driver for Windows which supports Ext2 and Ext3 with read/write operations and almost everything else available under Linux except access rights, defraging and some other minor things.

Vista To Address PCs Getting Slower Over Time

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-08 Windows 130 Comments

With Vista, Microsoft is addressing what's become a sad truth for most people: PCs run more slowly over time. Vista will automatically de-fragment hard disks, make better use of memory to more quickly load programs, and include a new performance control panel that will identify performance bottlenecks, according to the company. Elsewhere, ActiveWin hosts widescreen, high-res screenshots of Vista.

Windows Vista May Degrade OpenGL

Submitted by Valerie 2005-08-07 Windows 133 Comments

Microsoft's current plan for OpenGL on Windows Vista is to layer OpenGL over Direct3D in order to use OpenGL with a composited desktop to obtain the Aeroglass experience. This means that OpenGL performance will be significantly reduced - perhaps as much as 50%. It would be technically straightforward to provide an OpenGL ICD within the full Aeroglass experience without compromising the stability or the security of the operating system. Layering OpenGL over Direct3D is a policy more than a technical decision.

Microsoft to Reissue Windows 2000 Rollup

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-06 Windows 12 Comments

Microsoft is planning to reissue the Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Update rollup that it first launched in late June. While the company did not specify a reason for the planned reissue, a number of Windows 2000 users who have installed the download have complained of a variety of problems, ranging from incompatibility with third-party security applications to network-printing issues.

Microsoft: Virus Target Won’t Be in Vista

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-05 Windows 27 Comments

A new scripting tool targeted by a virus writer will not be part of Windows Vista, the next Windows client release, Microsoft announced Friday. Instead, the software maker is looking at delivering the command-line shell tool, code-named Monad, as part of its next major server operating system release, a Microsoft representative said. That release, code-named Longhorn Server, is due in 2007.

Authentication Auditing in Windows 2000

Submitted by esther schindler 2005-08-02 Windows 8 Comments

Authentication auditing is an essential part of protecting Windows computers from intrusion. The big problem in Windows auditing is trying to understand what's going on, without drowning in a flood of irrelevant or useless information. If you let it do so, Windows 2000 will bury you in event notifications. Figuring out what's going on from those notifications can be a real chore. In this Informit.com article, Rick Cook provides specific suggestions to start making your auditing process more informative.

The Whys, Whats and Whens of Vista

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-01 Windows 35 Comments

Head of all things Windows at Microsoft, Jim Allchin provides a heads up on the operating system formerly known as Longhorn: "Most of the stuff that we would expect that tech enthusiasts and consumers will be interested in will happen at Beta 2. Beta 1 is not what I would call deeply interesting unless you are a real bithead".

Developers Get New Tools for Vista, Vista on Video

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-01 Windows 19 Comments

Along with the release of the new Windows Vista beta, developers are being treated to technologies to create applications for the new operating system. Microsoft last week gave developers access to the WinFX Runtime Components Beta 1 and the WinFX SDK. FlexBeta has a video of Vista beta 1.

XP Starter Edition Sales figures Released

Thom Holwerda 2005-07-29 Windows 20 Comments

Microsoft said it has sold 100 000 copies of its Windows XP Starter Edition, the first indication of the popularity of the low-cost operating system.

Windows XP SP3

Submitted by Ethan 2005-07-29 Windows 25 Comments

Windows XP Service Pack 3 is in the works and is supposed to be released before Windows Vista. The following site has an ongoing updated list of fixes and downloads going into SP3.

Windows Vista Release Slips to November 2006

Submitted by anonymous 2005-07-29 Windows 83 Comments

Windows Vista won't be released until the end of 2006, a Microsoft exec let slip in a presentation on Microsoft's campus yesterday. The next version of Windows was expected in the second half of 2006, but at a financial analyst conference in Washington, Microsoft senior VP Will Poole revealed it would not appear until the 2006 US holiday season. In related news, a senior Microsoft executive has identified Apple as an obstacle to Redmond's success.