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TECHNOLOGY
Offline Virtual Machines Servicing Tool
Apr 19th
Microsoft has released the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.1, a very useful maintenance tool for IT Pro’s which gives them the possibility to update offline Virtual Machines. This tool is suppose to help organizations maintain virtual machines that are stored offline in a Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager library. While stored, virtual machines do not receive operating system updates which expose them to great risk. Important updates provide significant benefits, such as improved security and reliability and for that, The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.1 provides a way to keep offline Virtual Machines up to date so that bringing them online does not introduce vulnerabilities into the organization’s IT infrastructure.
The update process is pretty much simple, the IT’s don’t need to do anything because Windows Workflow programming model together with the Windows PowerShell™ interface will do all. Together they bring groups of virtual machines online just long enough for them to receive updates from either System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or Windows Server Update Services aka WSUS. Once the virtual machines are updated, the tool returns them to the offline state in the Virtual Machine Manager library.
For the official overview, system requirements, installation instructions and More >
TweetDeck (version 0.32.1)
Feb 5th
TweetDeck just rolled out the latest update for the application and I’m loving it. I have used TweetDeck since the first time I started to really enjoy tweeting and to understand how it works. With the new updates the Re-tweet function is something that I can actually enjoy, works faster and also offers the option to edit. Re-tweet is also one of the new features, next to Geolocation and the possibility to use LinkedIn. The interface has changed, looks more shiny and the way to access the Settings has changed a bit, easy to get used with it.
For those of you, who don’t know what TweetDeck is and how it works, the best way to know more about it is just to Download and try it out, it lets you ad Facebook as well and works both on Mac and Windows.
Microsoft Customer Action Day
Jan 22nd
Customer Action Day aims to help victims of conterfiting software make the difference between a genuine and a counterfeit version of Windows. In the past two years, the number of customers complaining about being victims of software piracy has grown.A big percentage of the PC users, use a non genuine copy of Windows. This should not discourage those who have license!In many cases, when they download or unknowingly purchased counterfeit Microsoft products, they are exposed to viruses and malware. Viruses and malware can lead to identity theft, loss of data or more. Besides the fact that non genuine software does not provide reliability and security, if you are cached you might have to pay a higher price then the price of the license. So, why should you bother using counterfeit software and expose yourself to all mentioned, when you can get all the good stuff in one single operating system. More information about how to protect yourself against counterfeit software and where you can report it, check the official How to Tell page.
New Microsoft Business Intelligence platform
Jan 21st
Among Microsoft Business Intelligence platform you can find the following product available as a free download: SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP, SQL Server 2008 R2 Express, SharePoint Server 2010 Beta, Office 2010 Beta and PowerPivot for Excel.
SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP and its technologies provide companies with a trusted, scalable, easy to manage database platform, help gain rapid insight, lowers the cost to extract, analyze and correlate streaming data. Detailed description, download options and installation steps of all the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform products, can be found here.
Microsoft Browser Choice
Jan 20th
In near feature Microsoft will deliver Browser Choice for users of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The impact will be in all EU countries, except: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. This means that every user of genuine or non-genuine software will receive an update through Windows Update or Automatic Update that will allow them to choice what browser to use. There will be 12 browsers from which to choose, ordered in a top 12. To see the browsers that will be included click here. The update will be “High Priority” for Windows XP and “Important” for Windows Vista and 7. To make sure you will get the update when available, set your PC region settings to one of the 32 EU countries.
If you have selected China for example, you will not receive the Browser Choice update. To set the PC with one of the impacted countries: For Windows Vista and 7 users: go to Start and type in the search field ”Change Location”. For Windows XP users: Control Panel→ Regional and Language Options→ Regional Options.
After you install the update a shortcut will be placed on the desktop and you will be able to More >
How to escape from Blue Screen on your PC
Jan 5th
Have you ever received a Blue Screen on your PC? Sometimes it appears while you do something on your computer, other times when you shut down or open it. It is annoying because once you detect such problem, it is like it never goes away. The common causes for the Blue Screen are the hardware components of your PC or the way they work with your operating system. Once you receive a Blue Screen, a folder named MiniDump is created in c:/windows. Here is how to check what caused for the Blue Screen to appear.
You have to download Windows Debugger which will open the file inside the Minidump folder. With Windows Debugger you can see (in the bottom of the file) what is the cause for the Blue Screen to appear. Common causes: Card Reader, Drivers, etc. How to eliminate the problem? Disable the Card Reader or update drivers.
Not all Blue Screen issues can be solved like this, it can also be a serious hardware issue and in this case you might need to contact the service.
New Microsoft Trials
Dec 1st
In the past two months, Microsoft has released a number of three new products Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010.
We will start with Windows 7 Enterprise which is available for download only to Microsoft Partners, MSDN and TechNet Plus Subscribers and companies with Volume License/Software Assurance contracts. If you qualify, get it here. Windows 7 Enterprise is a 90 days trial version which cannot be converted to a full version, you will have to uninstall it after that time period.
Guidelines on usage: * Protect your PC and data. Be sure to back up your data and please don’t test Windows 7 on your primary home or business PC. * You have 10 days to activate the product. If not activated within 10 days, the system will shut down once every hour until activated. Unsure on how to activate? Visit our FAQ. * The 90-day Trial is the full working version of the Windows 7 Enterprise, the version most of you will be working with in your corporate environment. It will not require a product key (it is embedded with the download). * The 90-day Trial will shut down once every hour when you have More >
