How-to Install Microsoft Security Essentials

Learn where to download and how to install Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE).

Driver Detective

09/30/09 - Maintain your system updated and optimized with the latest drivers.

PC Decrapifier

09/30/09 - Remove defined unwanted software from your PC.

Ultra Serial Port Monitor

09/30/09 - Track multiple serial ports within your network.

The Windows 7 Logo Program

First, let me introduce myself.  My name is Mark Relph and I am a Senior Director with the Windows Product Strategy Group and I lead a group known as the Windows Ecosystem Team. My team and I focus on a few specific areas – compatibility of applications & hardware, working with our partners and driving developer excitement for Windows 7 (and beyond). As we count down to the launch of Windows 7, I will be posting updates from all of these areas.

Partners, both hardware and software, are essential to Windows. They build the products that help you at work or entertain you at home. We call this our “ecosystem” of partners and they help to make your experience with Windows great. So, with the launch of Windows 7 right around the corner, I want to spend some time talking about the Windows 7 Logo Program that highlights the products from this ecosystem of great partners.

The Compatible With Windows 7 Logo is designed to help customers make better purchase decisions by identifying products that have passed Microsoft designed tests for compatibility and reliability with Windows 7. Since we designed Windows 7 to be compatible with the products you use every day, many of these products will just work and thousands of partners are committing to meeting an even higher quality bar.

For Windows 7, we’ve made a number of changes to the Logo criteria and the process for granting Logo status. Our goal is to make the “Compatible with Windows 7 Logo” about the customer and ensuring them the best experience possible with Windows. A few of the changes we made include:

• We focused on robust testing requirements to ensure optimal Windows 7 experience. Products that receive the Logo are checked for common issues to minimize the number of crashes, hangs, and reboots experienced by the user.
• To be granted the Logo, products are tested to work with all versions of Windows 7 including 64-bit. This is an important change since 64 bit systems are becoming more mainstream.
• We changed the testing process, reducing the amount of paperwork required and making it less expensive for our partners to achieve the logo.
• We reached out to partners earlier giving them more time to test their products for use with Windows 7

These changes have already been met with positive results from our partner community. For the last several months we have been running a program for partners called Ready.Set.7 designed to help them achieve the logo. There are already over 6000 products that have received the logo and many more are added every day. You can see some of the partners who have already passed the logo tests at readyset7.com.

Like I said, the Logo is really about our end-users. We have a simple goal to help Windows customers to easily find great products that work exceptionally well with Windows 7. Hardware and software products that receive Compatible with Windows 7 Logo offer many advantages for our customers:

• It is very easy to identify products that are for Windows 7. The logo will appear on packaging and on retailer websites
• Devices that carry the logo will work seamlessly. For example, a digital camera will automatically transfer photos or a wireless router will easily be set up in minutes and you can add a wireless device to Windows 7 that has received the logo in seconds.
• Software will install without worry. Applications and drivers are signed so that you know the file has not been tampered with and can trust there is no malware or spyware.

If you are in the market for new hardware or software and you want to know it will work well with Windows 7, look for the Compatible with Windows 7 Logo.  If you are a software or hardware vendor, see how other partners are getting ready and learn more by visiting readyset7.com

You will hear more from me about the Windows Ecosystem in future posts and you can follow me on Twitter @mrelph.

Hyped about Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 and Windows 7

Too many companies today are struggling to make do with fewer technical resources and they are looking to maximize the efficiencies of their technologies in order to reduce costs and business risks. HP is working with Microsoft to address these challenges and give companies the competitive edge they need to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Working with Microsoft on the launch of Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 and Windows 7 has been an exciting venture for the HP team. HP and Microsoft are continuously building on our expertise in providing customers with an unparalleled technology experience for business-ready technology environments.

Our collaboration with Microsoft on Windows 7 showcases the extensive capabilities and functionality of Windows 7 on HP’s portfolio of PC’s, notebook’s and workstations. The sooner companies adopt Windows 7, the sooner they can start reducing overall support costs- that is why HP is ready to design, plan, migrate, manage and deploy Windows 7. In addition to services, HP Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solutions are helping to control the cost, manage the complexity and improve security of desktop computing with Windows 7. We’ve also been working with Microsoft on unified communications and collaboration solutions so customers can integrate their choice of endpoint devices, including Windows 7 platforms, and connect people seamlessly regardless of technology used.

We’re excited to join forces with Microsoft in their mission to create the most efficient enterprise technologies across the board with Windows Server 2008 R2. HP’s collaboration on Windows Server 2008 R2 is helping customers build a secure, infrastructure that is scalable and adaptable to meet changing business requirements.

With Windows Server 2008 R2, organizations can now make a serious reduction in power consumption and improve consolidation ratios with HP ProLiant G6 servers. HP’s support of Windows Server 2008 R2 provides a unique cost savings by reducing network real estate and improving server consolidation ratio- HP Flex-10 technology reduces network real estate by up to 75% reduces networking costs by up to 66% and reduces power consumption by up to 50% and can help improve virtualization ratios in network constrained environments.

HP provides a significant advantage for Microsoft Exchange 2010, foundational element for a complete, end-to-end unified communications and collaboration infrastructure. With this solution companies can reduce risk by relying on a strong partnership. HP has the broadest base of servers and storage that help reduce power and floor space requirements, lower cost of storage while improving availability with DAS storage and allows for greater choice in deployment options with a broad portfolio of storage solutions.

HP offers a number of services for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 and Windows 7. HP VDI standard set of services provides strategy and value workshop, planning and design, implementation and support services. Application Virtualization services help customers with the implementation of server infrastructure and support administration monitoring and management of server based computing servers.

HP is looking forward to the future of Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange Server 2010 and Windows 7 and we’re excited to be a part of this exciting development with Microsoft.

Meg Shea-Chiles
Director, Microsoft Strategic Alliance, HP Enterprise Business

Restore Windows 7 to a Previously Backed Up System Image Using a System Repair Disc

Learn how to restore Windows 7 to a previous point in time by re-imaging the computer using a System Repair Disc and a previously backed up system image.

Application Compatibility Roundtable with Mark Russinovich Wrap-up

Thank you to all of you who tuned in and posted or sent in questions for our most recent roundtable and made it another huge success. We will be posting all the questions and answers in the next few days so keep an eye out.

Missed the VRT? Here is the promo of what you can look forward to when the replay become available later this week.

 

To be the first to know when the replay goes live, follow our Twitter feed @MSSpringboard or watch for our blog post here.

Demonstration: Enterprise Geocasting, Photosynth, And SharePoint Dashboard With Windows Mobile

This post originally appeared here on SocialMedia Talk with Michael Gannotti

I have done several video where I talked in the past about using the power of Windows Mobile for geocasting in business focused scenarios. The opportunity to leverage the ability to capture rich data with contextual commentary combined with rich ancillary data has powerful applicability in a wide range of scenarios. Law enforcement, emergency responders, physical plant inspection, researchers, news reporting, travel industry, and much much more.

Last week while on my Charlotte visits I used my dearly departed Windows Mobile phone, a Samsung Omnia from Verizon (learn about demise here ;-), to create a geocast using the IncaX LiveMedia GPS application and talked through a scenario where I might be doing a physical plant inspection. I then combined this with a quick and dirty Photosynth of one of the Microsoft office buildings in Charlotte that I drove up to. During the geocast portion I talk about the scenario, road conditions, things that might be reported on, etc., all the while capturing information that in the event of a real business case could be played back in real time for analysis. With the addition of the Photosynth I then was able to create a rich 3-D view of the building in question that could also then be navigated and further analyzed. Finally, all this was then easily served up via my SharePoint dashboard page, an out of the box feature of SharePoint, making this a navigable record that could be further extended with textual reporting (oh say via InfoPath form services) and other data as desired.

The powerful combination of geocasting leveraging the Windows Phone platform with IncaX along with Photosynth and SharePoint delivery can be real business enabling features where rich data capture for analysis, entertainment, and so on is important. Think about the competitive advantage such a solution could bring to a cruise lines, the benefits to insurance companies assessing the damage done during a natural disaster, the evidence captured in law enforcement.

Check out the simple dashboard I have created with very little effort and think about how leveraging the Microsoft platform can enable your business. Be sure to toggle through the views (arial, road) in the geocast mashup stream (delivered via Microsoft Silverlight technology), zoom in and out,  as well as the blow out underneath  the video box. The click around the Photosynth itself and see how it is possible to create an immersive 3-D experience of a physical structure. All of this done using common, low cost equipment.

• Click here to view and interact with the geocast/photosynth dashboard

Technology resources cited/used in this demonstration:

• Windows Mobile
• Verizon Samsung Omnia
• IncaX LiveMedia GPS
• Photosynth
• SharePoint
• Silverlight
• Olympus 1030W Digital Camera

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,SharePoint,WindowsMobile,IncaX,Silverlight,Verizon,SocialMedia,Gannotti,Technology

Product Key Explorer

09/29/09 - Recover license keys of installed software products.

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