As the dust from the holiday season settles, many people find themselves exploring the possibilities of their new Windows XP systems. While we certainly expect folks to be taking full advantage of this product already, some tips and tricks directly from the software designers should be very useful. Whether allowing people to do things they didn't know were possible or making everyday tasks that much more simple and quick, we believe some useful tips and tricks will be appreciated. Included are:
- Remove Interference in Movie Files
- Working with Album Art in Windows Media Player
- Managing Multiple Photos or Other Files
- Turn Off File Names in Thumbnail View
- Try Grouping Files for Effortless Manageability
- Add a Map Drive Button to the Toolbar
- Fax Tip
- Changing Thumbnail Options
- Use the Windows Classic Look
- Change the Start Menu Style
- Add Fields to the Details View of Folders
- Using a Folder Type as a Template
- Create a Personal Screen Saver
- Advanced Customizations
After pulling the download for PowerToys -- a popular group of small applications that add extra functionality to Windows XP by taking advantage of hidden settings -- and promising a release by January 31, Microsoft has decided to hold off on the much anticipated update. A note on the PowerToys Web site simply reads, "We're sorry, because we know you like them a lot. PowerToys are currently being improved, and will be available for download in the spring."
Out of the blue, Fujitsu Siemens has given a sneak preview of a new PPC 2002 device - with built-in Bluetooth, a top-secret Intel processor and an upcoming GPRS add-on module. To our great surprise, Fujitsu Siemens' German branch today issued a press release stating that the company will be launching a new handheld at CeBIT 2002 - and not just any handheld at that. The new device runs on Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002 operating system, sports built-in Bluetooth and is - brace yourself - a processor that's so top-secret Fujitsu-Siemens could not provide any further details than that it's an Intel processor, pending disclosure.
Even though Microsoft do their best to lower the boot time with each successive release of the Windows OS, after a while things will tend to slow down a bit as more applications get set to load at start-up unnecessarily, whether you wanted them to or not. This guide will take you through configuring Windows 9x, Me, 2000 & XP to load as quickly as possible & also have the benefit of loading with more memory available for use.
Since most of the more recent versions of Microsoft Windows are covered on this article, we recommend Win9x and ME users to keep reading, while Win2k and XP users will want to skip some of the info that follows and go directly here, where their OSes are covered. The third part of the article covers general/miscellaneous settings that should work for all of the OSes aforementioned.
Bonus Pack is a review of stories and goodies that happened in past month, perfect of slow news weekend. Featuring roundup of Consumer Electronic Show; news and information about Longhorn, the Next Generation of Windows. Plus find out why Netscape still exist? What is HomeStation and what has it to do with Xbox? Plus a ton more...
Microsoft on Friday released USB 2.0 drivers for its Windows XP operating system. The drivers are designed to enable third-party USB 2.0 add-in cards to work with XP, which originally shipped without support for the connectivity standards. The drivers can be downloaded using the Windows Update feature. USB 2.0 transfers data at 480mbps, which is much speedier than USB 1.1's rate of 12mbps for exchanging information between PCs and peripherals such as external hard drives and CD-rewritable drives. USB 2.0 is also backward compatible with USB 1.1. Gateway is the only major PC maker currently offering USB 2.0, although more companies are expected to follow when Intel releases chipsets later in the year.
It seems that not only Microsoft is spending time in court.
A group representing Gypsy victims of the Holocaust has filed suit against IBM Corp., accusing it of complicity in Nazi atrocities. Gypsy International Recognition and Compensation Action (GIRCA) is suing in a Geneva court on behalf of five Gypsy survivors of the Holocaust, seeking an average of 20,000 Swiss francs (US$11,622) in compensation per victim.
The suit, the second of its kind in the last year, builds on claims published in the recent book "IBM and the Holocaust," by Edwin Black. The book charged that IBM and its subsidiaries leased and maintained the punchcard data-processing machines the Nazis used to categorize and track concentration camp victims, and that Big Blue was well aware of how its equipment was being used.
For at least the first eight months of 2001, Open Source poster boy Linux was actually far less secure than Windows, according to the reputable NTBugTraq, which is hosted by SecurityFocus, the leading provider of security information on the Internet (the company's 2001 statistics are only available through August 2001 for the time being). According to the company, Windows 2000 Server had less than half as many security vulnerabilities than Linux in 2001. And when you break it down by actual Linux distributions, it had fewer vulnerabilities than RedHat Linux 7.0, MandrakeSoft Linux Mandrake 7.2 and it was tied with UNIX leader Sun Solaris 8.0 and 7.0. A look over the previous five years--where the data is more complete--also shows that NT/2000 had far fewer security vulnerabilities than Linux, each year, despite the fact that Windows is deployed on a far wider basis than any version of Linux. So once again, folks, you have to ask yourself: Is Windows really less secure than Linux? Or is this one of those incredible perception issues? For more information and the complete stats, please visit the SecurityFocus Web site. I'll be checking back on this to see how all of 2001 shapes up, of course.
Attend the Most Important Windows Management Event for 2002. The Microsoft Management Summit will take place at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, from April 29 to May 3, 2002. In partnership with Altiris and NetIQ, and with support from myITforum.com and Compaq, Microsoft is sponsoring this event intended for IT professionals who want to find out how to better manage their Microsoft Windows-based environments.
Microsoft plans to appoint a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney to its top security position, company sources said Thursday. Scott Charney, currently the principal for digital risk management and forensics at PricewaterhouseCoopers, will assume the position of chief security strategist on April 1, overseeing the software giant's internal and product security policies.
Before he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers, Charney served as the chief of the computer crime and intellectual property section of the U.S. Department of Justice, between 1991 and 1999. Security has become a critical issue for the software giant.