Popo Cat - Software, News, How to tutorials

Windows 7E is the version of the Windows 7 operating system that will be sold – as of now – in all countries of the European Union. It is basically a version of the Windows 7 operating system without Internet Explorer. This has caused quite some concern by users in the European Union as they face several problems that users of regular Windows 7 editions do not face including the impossibility to perform an upgrade of Windows Vista to Windows 7 or the problem that arises from not having an Internet browser.

Microsoft’s new proposal could ultimately remove Windows 7E from the operating system landscape. They suggest to provide a ballot screen after installation giving users the choice to install a web browser of their choice from a selection of possible alternatives including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari.

A mockup screen was posted that visualizes how the ballot screen could look like (please note that the browserballot.eu website is currently not working)

Additional blank spots are reserved on the right side of the screen that could be filled with additional web browsers if requested or needed. It should be noted that this new proposal would mean that Internet Explorer would be installed as the default web browser during installation of the operating system and that the ballot screen would be displayed afterwards to give the user the option to install another web browser and make it the default browser on the computer system.

Many news websites, bloggers and even conventional news sources such as newspapers or TV news have reported about the Microsoft killer Google Chrome OS, the cloud based operating system by Google that is based on their web browser Google Chrome and a modified Linux kernel. Google Chrome OS is expected to make its appearance on netbooks and other mobile devices in mid 2010. So what exactly is known about Google Chrome OS? The only viable information that are available stem from a post at the official Google blog that is introducing the Google Chrome OS.

According to this blog post the Google Chrome OS is “an open source, lightweight operating system” targeted initially at netbooks. Google will publish the code as open source and netbooks running the operating system will be available int he second half of 2010. The operating system is designed to boot up and display the web in a few seconds with a minimal user interface and most of the user experience taking place on the web. Google Chrome OS is compatible with today’s chipsets and uses a “windowing system on top of a Linux kernel”.

Journalists create a Microsoft Windows killer out of these information. It should be noted that Google is initially targeting the netbook market which has risen in popularity in the past years. Netbooks currently have a market share of about 20% of the mobile PC market which is predicted to increase further in 2010. The concentration on netbooks on the other hand dismisses the rest of the mobile PC market and the complete desktop PC market. It is impossible to become a Microsoft Windows killer with such a narrow focus.

Google probably has plans to offer their operating system to manufacturers of laptops and desktop computer systems as well although no announcement has been made so far.A cloud operating system could confuse and irritate customers as they might be buying a PC only to find out that they need Internet and cannot play the latest games or run Microsoft Office on it.

Talking about PC gaming and software programs. It is very likely that PC games will not run on the Google operating system and that game developers will not develop games for the operating system until it has a market penetration that makes developing worth their while. Web browser games are surely going to work but they usually cannot match the quality of desktop PC games. It is possible that PC games will use a netbook with the Google Chrome Os as a secondary PC but it is very likely that they stick with a PC running Windows in the near future.

The same is true for software programs. Many users are used to certain software programs which they do not want to change. A switch to a cloud based operating system would mean that these users have to learn new interfaces and programs. Tech savvy users on the other hand are used to these web applications and are therefor the most likely to give the Google Chrome OS a chance.

Businesses on the other hand are also not likely to switch to a cloud based operating system as it would raise security and privacy concerns but also mean intensive training of their staff.

Here is a prediction: Google Chrome Os will be a niche product in the next five years. It will not be a Microsoft Windows killer and it will mostly be used by tech savvy users who use the Internet all the time.

What’s your take on the new Google OS? Will it be able to compete with Windows 7 in the netbook market or be a niche product just like the Google Chrome browser and Google Android?

I’m pretty excited about the upcoming launch of Windows 7, Microsoft’s next operating system. Not only because I’m running a very successful Windows 7 blog but also because I finally have the opportunity to install and use a new computer operating system. Windows 7 has seen lots of praise since its first announcement and it is very likely that it will be a good – if not great – operating system that combines the best of Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Many users are already running a beta or release candidate build of Windows 7. Some even on their main computer system as Windows 7 has proven to be very stable and reliable. These users might be interested in the following news. Microsoft is offering Windows 7 Upgrades to give users running specific Windows XP or Windows Vista operating systems the opportunity to upgrade. Windows XP users will have to do a clean install but can purchase the Windows 7 Upgrade editions which are cheaper than the full retail editions.

Microsoft recently confirmed that it is also possible to upgrade a pre-RTM version of Windows 7 with a Windows 7 Upgrade edition. This means that users who are already running Windows 7 RC (or another build) can buy a Windows 7 Upgrade edition and get a full installation of Windows 7 this way.

There are some limitations on the other hand. No data will be taken over. The installation will move the old data into the folder windows.old from where the files are accessible. Most programs on the other hand will not work unless they are portable.

It also has to be noted that a clean install at a later time requires a Windows XP or Windows Vista installation (or a new installation of a pre-RTM build of Windows 7).

Microsoft Outlook users can sort emails and other messages in the email client by clicking on one of the column titles at the top. That’s a pretty common way of sorting emails and offered in other email clients as well. What many Outlook users do not know is that their email client is also offering advanced sorting possibilities.

This can be easily achieved by pressing the Shift key and at least two title columns. It is for example possible to sort by sender and date, title and date or sender and subject. The only important thing to remember is to press the shift key while doing it to get the desired effect.

Outlook will display the up and down sorting icons (up or down arrow) in the columns that have been chosen by the user to make it easier to understand how the emails were sorted. The first selected column will be the primary sort order, the second obviously the secondary with the possibility to add additional columns as well.

Here is a practical example. Lets say you receive lots of message from one email sender. You can sort the emails in Outlook by sender which would display the most recent emails from that sender on the top. If you wanted to sort these emails by size you would simply press shift and then click on the from and size column titles so that the largest emails would be displayed on top from each sender (another click on the size column would sort them with the lowest on top as it would reverse the sort order).

This sorting technique works not only with emails in Outlook but also RSS feeds and pretty much everything else that is displayed in tables in the email client.

Microsoft Visual Studio International Feature Pack 2.0 Beta
Microsoft Visual Studio International Feature Pack contains a set of controls and a set of class libraries designed to help .NET developers create world-ready applications.

We all have heard the news that the European Union made the “suggestion” that Microsoft should bundle additional web browsers with their upcoming operating system Windows 7 to make up for failings in the past and to embrace competition. Many users felt that this move was entirely unnecessary as users who wanted a new web browser were able to get one minutes after finishing the installation of the Windows operating system. The success of the Firefox web browser in European countries demonstrated as well that it was possible to compete with Internet Explorer without having to be supplied with an operating system.

While the intention might have been good the whole suggestion was clearly aiming for troubles. Some questions that came up where about the web browsers that should be supplied with the operating system. Who would pick the ones that would be supplied, who would make the decision to not supply a web browser and why.

It seems though that the suggestion has backfired as Microsoft announced that they will not ship Windows 7 with a version of Internet Explorer in the European Union which in turn means that the operating system will ship without web browser at all. Veteran Internet users might be reminded of times back then when web browsers were supplied on floppy disks or CDs and this is apparently going to happen in 2009 again. History repeats itself so to say, at least in the EU.

The browser-less versions, dubbed Windows 7 “E”, will be distributed in all members of the European Economic Area as well as Croatia and Switzerland. In addition, Microsoft will strip the browser from the Europe-only “N” versions of Windows 7, which also removes the Windows Media Player from the operating system and is the result of another move by Europe’s antitrust authorities.

“Microsoft will not offer for distribution in the European territory the Windows 7 product versions that contain IE, which are intended for distribution in the rest of the world,” Microsoft said in the memo. “This will apply to both OEM and Retail versions of Windows 7 products.”

“To ensure that Microsoft is in compliance with European law, Microsoft will be releasing a separate version of Windows 7 for distribution in Europe that will not include Windows Internet Explorer,” the software maker said in the memo. “Microsoft will offer IE8 separately and free of charge and will make it easy and convenient for PC manufacturers to preinstall IE 8 on Windows 7 machines in Europe if they so choose. PC manufacturers may choose to install an alternative browser instead of IE 8, and has always been the case, they may install multiple browsers if they wish.”

Microsoft has released the security bulletin summary for June 2009 which details this month’s software and system updates. A total of ten security bulletins have been released this month which patch vulnerabilities in a variety of Microsoft products including various Microsoft Windows operating systems, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office.

The easiest way to download and install the patches is by pointing the Internet Explorer web browser to Microsoft Update which will automatically detect and install the available patches for the computer system. Other possibilities include downloading the security patches from Microsoft Download Center from where they are available as well.

Six vulnerabilities have been rated as critical, three as important and one as moderate. Critical security vulnerabilities can usually be exploited for remote code execution meaning it is essential to fix these vulnerabilities quickly. You can follow the links below for additional information about each vulnerability.

* MS09-018 – Vulnerabilities in Active Directory Could Allow Remote Code Execution (971055)
* MS09-019 – Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (969897)
* MS09-020 – Vulnerabilities in Internet Information Services (IIS) Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (970483)
* MS09-021 – Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (969462)
* MS09-022 – Vulnerabilities in Windows Print Spooler Could Allow Remote Code Execution (961501)
* MS09-023 – Vulnerability in Windows Search Could Allow Information Disclosure (963093)
* MS09-024 – Vulnerability in Microsoft Works Converters Could Allow Remote Code Execution (957632)
* MS09-025 – Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (968537)
* MS09-026 – Vulnerability in RPC Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (970238)
* MS09-027 – Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution (969514)

Microsoft will release 10 security updates on Patch Tuesday next week, including critical patches for holes in Windows, Internet Explorer, Word, Office, and Excel.

In addition, Adobe said it will provide security updates for Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions 7.x, 8.x, and 9.x for Windows and Macintosh on Tuesday in its first quarterly security update for its popular software for creating and reading PDF files. The critical update will be detailed on Adobe’s security bulletin site.

Meanwhile, the six critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft software could allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a machine, according to the Microsoft security bulletin issued on Thursday.

Three important vulnerabilities in Windows could allow an attacker to elevate privileges and one moderate vulnerability in Windows could enable information disclosure.

Affected products include Windows 2000, XP, XP Professional edition, Vista, Server 2003, Server 2008; Office 2000, 2003, 2007, and XP; and Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 for the Mac.

Other affected software includes Office Excel Viewer; Office Word Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats; Works 8.5 and 9.0; and Office SharePoint Server.

It’s likely the PowerPoint vulnerability is the same one that Microsoft warned about in April and fixed in the Windows version last month.

Missing from the list of patches is one disclosed by Microsoft in its DirectX streaming media technology in Windows last week that could allow someone to take complete control of a computer using a maliciously crafted QuickTime file.

The coverage of Microsoft’s new search engine Bing was quite extensive here on Ghacks but also on many other sites on the Internet. This is going to slow down in the future but we have two articles about Bing that we would like to publish in the coming days. The first deals with 5 advanced tips that showcase some interesting features that Bing is offering but also should make working with the search engine more comfortable.

1. Remove the Bing background image

Many users think that the background image that is shown on the Bing homepage is more of a distraction than anything else. There is however a very easy way of removing the background image in the search engine to work with a barebone version without the background image. All that needs to be done is to open the Bing homepage with the following parameter:

http://www.bing.com/?rb=0

This will make the homepage show up without the background image which gets rid of the noise and can save some Kilobytes of data transfer as well.

2. IP Address lookup

Bing can lookup any IP address using an advanced parameter and display a list of domains that are hosted on that IP address. The parameter to do that is the following:

IP:[IP Address]

Substitute [IP Address] with a valid IP. The query IP:207.46.104.147 would for example display a list of domains hosted on that IP address.

3. Every search is available as an RSS feed

Every search on Bing is also available as an RSS feed which can be very interesting for webmasters who want to monitor their position in the search engine. The web feed will be updated whenever changes in website rankings occur. The feeds can be accessed from the web browser’s toolbars or by pointing a feed reader to the result url and appending

&format=rss

To the results. A search for Windows 7 would be available as an RSS feed from the following url

http://www.bing.com/search?q=windows+7&go=&qb=1&format=rss

4. The contains parameter

The parameter contains will tell the search engine to only look for websites that contain that search term. This can lead to some interesting searches when combined with other search phrases, some examples are:

Windows 7 contains:torrent
Madonna contains:mp3
Google contains:pdf

5. Display only wallpaper images

Bing’s image search has already received some praise in the past days. One interesting feature is the ability to display only wallpaper images in the image search results. This is done by searching for a term in Bing image search and clicking on the Size category in the left sidebar. It will automatically display various size filters including one called wallpaper. This will display only images that have the exact size of the computer screen resolution.

The parameters are available in the url which means users can change it to find wallpapers for other screen resolutions as well.

What better way to test a new or improved search engine than to be stuck with it for a full week without being able to fall back to other search engines. Bing is the new Microsoft search engine and we would like to invite each and everyone of you to test the ins and outs of the new search engine by forcing yourself to use it. We have created a set of rules in case you want to join the experiment so that you know what you are allowed to do and what not (not that we are going to punish you if you perform the occasional search using another search engine).

Bing Experiment Rules:

* Use Bing exclusively for all of your searches for the next seven days
* Write down what went well and what did not
* Let us know your overall experience and rating of the search engine after the week
* You may perform the exact same search in another search engine to compare results
* You may also perform the exact same search in another search engine if Bing does not provide the results that you expect
* You may use other search engines to look at search engine rankings