Microsoft Freak

Windows Live QnA

2008-03-11T13:16:15Z

Windows Live QnA Beta is the place where you can ask your questions and get answered by experts, you can also help others by answering others questions. This is a lot similar to Yahoo! Answers.

Try the Windows Live QnA Beta.

Get the latest info on Live QnA.

Windows Live FolderShare

2008-03-11T12:47:07Z

Windows Live FolderShare is the revamped newer version of FolderShare. Windows Live FolderShare helps you to sync the folders between multiple computers.

All you need to do is to download and install the Windows Live FolderShare Client in your PCs and access your files from any computer on the Internet. . FolderShare can sync files up to 2 GBs in size and works on both Windows and Mac.

Windows Live FolderShare is in Beta so you can report the bugs you come across here.

Keep updated on the lastest on Windows Live FolderShare from the Team Blog.

Alternative Windows Live FolderShare Client download link.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Released

2008-03-06T06:10:43Z

Microsoft has released the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Public Beta Testing.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/readiness/Install.htmIE 8 has a host of new features, which includes

Activities - Activities are contextual services to quickly access a service from any webpage. Users typically copy and paste from one webpage to another. Internet Explorer 8 Activities make this common pattern easier to do.
WebSlices - WebSlices is a new feature for websites to connect to their users by subscribing to content directly within a webpage. WebSlices behave just like feeds where clients can subscribe to get updates and notify the user of changes.
Favorites Bar - In Internet Explorer 7, the Links bar provided users with one-click access to their favorite sites. The Links bar has undergone a complete makeover for Internet Explorer 8. It has been renamed the Favorites bar to enable users to associate this bar as a place to put and easily access all their favorite web content such as links, feeds, WebSlices and even Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
Automatic Crash Recovery - Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR) is a feature of Windows®Internet Explorer® 8 that can help to prevent the loss of work and productivity in the unlikely event of the browser crashing or hanging. The ACR feature takes advantage of the Loosely-Coupled Internet Explorer feature to provide new crash recovery capabilities, such as tab recovery, which will minimize interruptions to users’ browsing sessions. Learn more…
Improved Phishing Filter - Internet Explorer 7 introduced the Phishing Filter, a feature which helps warn users when they visit a Phishing site. Phishing sites spoof a trusted legitimate site, with the goal of stealing the user’s personal or financial information. For Internet Explorer 8, we are building on the success of the Phishing Filter with a more comprehensive feature called the “Safety Filter.”

Internet Explorer 8 can be installed on Microsoft Windows Vista® Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista, Windows XP® Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server® 2008 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Downloads are available from the following location:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/getitnow.mspx

Microsoft Live Volta

2008-02-27T09:06:21Z

Microsoft Live Labs hs announced the Volta technology preview, a developer toolset for building multi-tier web applications using existing and familiar tools, techniques and patterns. Volta’s declarative tier-splitting enables developers to postpone architectural decisions about distribution until the last possible responsible moment. Volta enables new end-to-end profiling and testing for higher levels of application performance, robustness, and reliability. Using the declarative tier-splitting, developers can refine architectural decisions based on this profiling data. This saves time and costs associated with manual refactoring. In effect, Volta extends the .NET platform to further enable the development of software+services applications, using existing and familiar tools and techniques.

You architect and build your application as a .NET client application, assigning the portions of the application that run on the server tier and client tier late in the development process. You can target either web browsers or the CLR as clients and Volta handles the complexities of tier-splitting. The compiler creates cross-browser JavaScript for the client tier, web services for the server tier, and all communication, serialization, synchronization, security, and other boilerplate code to tie the tiers together. In effect, Volta offers a best-effort experience in multiple environments without requiring tailoring of the application.

Learn more about Microsoft Live Volta.
Download Microsoft Live Volta

Pre-register for Microsoft Office Live Workspace

2008-02-21T05:20:41Z

Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta is your online place to save, access, and share documents and files. Use it to group related information for work, school, or personal projects.

Microsoft Office Live Workspace is free and there might be additional features that are charged. View the FAQs.

Learn more about Microsoft Office Live Workspace.

Pre-register for Microsoft Office Live Workspace.

Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate 2 Released

2008-02-21T05:21:14Z

Microsoft has released the Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 for the public via the Windows Update.

All you gotta do is to download a small registry fix for making your system ready for the Service Pack 3 RC2 via the Windows Update.

Download the Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 via Windows Update.

Download the script and run it on a machine currently running Windows XP Service Pack 2. The script sets a registry key on your system. The registry key is required for Windows Update to recognize your machine as a valid target for Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2.Versions of Windows XP Service Pack 3 prior to Release Candidate 2 should be removed before attempting to use the registry key. Windows Update will not offer Release Candidate 2 to machines with previous versions of the Windows XP Service Pack 3 beta.It is recommended that you apply the resulting update package to an activated, genuine copy of Windows XP, in a test environment. As with any pre-release software, it is also recommended that you back up files and settings on your machine before applying this update package.

Windows XP SP3 RC2 Release Notes
Windows XP SP3 TechCenter

Microsoft Live Listas

2008-02-27T09:17:20Z

Listas is a tool for the creation, management and sharing of lists, notes, favorites, and more. It allows you to quickly and easily edit lists, share them with others for reading or wiki-style editing, and discover the public lists of other users. We encourage you to try using it for meeting notes, bookmarks, shopping lists, to plan a night out, or whatever other creative ways you can think of.

You can even create lists from all the things you find on the web, like search results, wish lists, videos, or all or part of virtually any page with the Listas Toolbar for Internet Explorer.

Try Listas.

Windows Disk Idle Detection Whitepaper

2007-11-16T12:39:16Z

Windows Disk Idle Detection Whitepaper details the infrastructure supporting disk idle detection in the Windows operating system. The Windows power manager cooperates with disk driver software to automatically spin down hard disk drive rotational media to reduce power consumption when the system is idle.

System manufacturers will learn how to configure the disk idle detection power policies in their system preload. System manufacturers and test personnel will learn how to use the PwrTest utility to observe the mechanics of disk idle detection.

The Topics covered are,

Disk Idle Detection Overview
Configuring Disk Idle Detection Policies
Using PwrTest to Observe Disk Idle Detection

This whitepaper covers for the following operating systems:

Windows Vista with Service Pack 1
Windows Server 2008

Download Windows Disk Idle Detection Whitepaper 1.7MB

Microsoft Deployment

2007-11-13T02:27:24Z

Microsoft Deployment is the next version of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007. It is the recommended process and toolset to automate desktop and server deployment. Microsoft Deployment provides detailed guidance and job aids for every organizational role involved with large-scale deployment projects.

Microsoft Deployment unifies the tools and processes required for desktop and server deployment into a common deployment console and collection of guidance. The fourth generation deployment accelerator adds integration with recently released Microsoft deployment technologies to create a single path for image creation and automated installation. Microsoft Deployment’s tools and end-to-end guidance reduce deployment time, standardize desktop and server images, limit service disruptions, reduce post-deployment help desk costs, and improve security and ongoing configuration management.

Microsoft Deployment technologies eliminate interaction time required to install desktop and server operating systems. Interaction at the targeted computer may take a few moments using the Lite Touch Installation (LTI) method or it can be completely automated using Zero Touch Installation (ZTI). Zero Touch Installation utilizes Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or Systems Management Server 2003 with the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack. Lite Touch Installation can be used when software distribution tools are not in place.

Microsoft Deployment also uses Configuration Manager 2007’s stand-alone media-initiated operating system deployment feature. This release offers project management guidance for all deployment roles and separates technical documentation for the products and technologies to facilitate automation tasks.

Microsoft Deployment enables deployment of the following Microsoft products:

Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate (32 and 64 bit)
Office Professional, Professional Plus, Enterprise, and Ultimate 2007
Windows Server 2003 R2 (32 and 64 bit)
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (32 and 64 bit) or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Pre-release versions of Windows Server 2008 (32 and 64 bit)

Download Microsoft Deployment (Free Registration required) 28.4 MB - 56.8 MB

More info from Microsoft Deployment Team Blog and Desktop Deployment TechCenter

Virtual Earth 3D

2007-11-07T16:45:52Z

Virtual Earth 3D brings you another step closer to knowing “what it is like out there”. You can search, browse, and organize local information viewed in three dimensions, just the way it exists in the real world. This enables you to more effectively find the data that is relevant to you, making Live Maps more useful than ever. Even better — it’s just plain fun!

System Requirements:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Windows Internet Explorer 7, or Firefox 2.0
250 MB or more hard disk space
A 1 GHz processor (2.8 GHz or faster recommended)
256 MB of system memory (1 GB recommended)
32 MB video card (256 MB recommended) that supports Microsoft DirectX 9
A high speed or broadband Internet connection

Download Virtual Earth 3D