Watch the final part of the video series : Windows 7 security checklist.

Watch the second part of the three part video series where the essential parts of the Windows 7 Security checklist are explained. These features include Windows Defender, Action Centre, User Account Control (UAC), Windows Update, Windows Firewall, Backup & Restore

Watch the three part video series where the essential parts of the Windows 7 Security checklist are explained. These features include Windows Defender, Action Centre, User Account Control (UAC), Windows Update, Windows Firewall, Backup & Restore.

Customizing Windows is something that most of us love to do. There are tons of software out there that offer different solutions or features, but bottom line is that they all offer very limited functionality. UWC ( Ultimate Windows Customizer) is a ALL-IN-ONE integrated solution for customizing Windows that includes everything from customization option for explorer , libraries, taskbar to Windows Media player. UWC works both on 32bit & 64 bit Windows.

Some of the features include:

1. Lets you customize almost all aspects of Windows including, Start Button, Logon Screen,  Windows Explorer, Libraries, Context Menu, Taskbar, Windows Media Player and more
2. Very simple and easy to use. No manual Hacks. No need to manually edit the Windows Registry and Windows System files
3. Tested over and over for compatibility between various customizations.
4. 70+ major features with literally tons of sub-features
5. Built in Update Feature to be easily notified of new updates.
6. Backs up all System Files and Registry Settings that UWC deals with and does not modify these.
7. Error Log for easy display
8. Creates System Restore Point before any customizations are done

Continue Reading & download

Windows 7 being a huge success & a milestone in the operating system history of Microsoft, has brought a new level of development scenarios to the OS development architecture. Windows has always been a frontline product of Microsoft. After Windows 7’s success and a major architecture change, it was time for Microsoft to think something new, to invent something that might change the way people interact with computers.

Microsoft put together www.buildwindows.com that showcases what is being done with the next version of windows and is a ultimate heaven for developers. After months of work the Windows codenamed “Windows 8” was previewed to the Developer community on September 13, 2011. This NextGen, and next version of Windows has been built upon the rock solid platform of Windows 7. Windows 8 at this Milestone has unique User Interface & User Experience styling, which on combination is known as Metro. This Metro UI is the same UI that was used in the Windows Phone 7 devices launched the previous year.

Metro UI, being a NUI ( Natural User Interface ), provides its user with fluent flick & clicks and a very soothing and natural interface that is inspired with the way human interact with things in their daily life. This just not only supports multi-touch in Windows 8, but it serves as a touch-first interface. This UI on ground level is made for touch screen devices but works equally good with normal keyboard and mouse.

What makes a computing experience wonderful ? It is the capabilities and the reliability we get while working. Windows 8 has its own Marketplace or App Store that connect your computer with thousands of apps to choose from, according to your needs and at your desktop. This also gives the application developer a great chance to build and sell their apps anywhere in the world where Windows is sold.

Windows 8 apps are showcased as tiles that fill your screen in order to provide you with enhanced view of the application making is simpler to run and use. The apps on Windows 8 communicate to give you an easier user experience, this means that you can now copy anything like a picture from anywhere say Flickr and post it to Facebook. These Metro styled apps make your life and work easier with all at one place, that is your desktop. You can now sync to cloud services or upload files to SkyDrive right from your app.

When it comes to consumption of system resources, Windows 8 goes one more step ahead of Windows 7 in reducing the memory footprint that is used by the system, making Windows run more efficiently even on low end hardware. Windows 8 also has a system spell checker that truly helps a lot while writing at places where Spell check is not enabled.

Windows 8 also comes with a new Taskbar that is taking a lot of attention. This Taskbar is kind of a Power Bar, that shows you the information in two different ways. If you are normal user who just wants to see what application is running in the system, the taskbar just shows the list of active applications, plain & simple. But for enhanced users, as soon as you click for more information, the Task Manager gets a powerful tool that displays almost all the information one needs for effective computing. This information includes CPU, Memory, Disk usage. The current application usage, services running in the system & much much more.

At this milestone, Windows 8 developer preview showcases some application that adds Social network integration to your desktop. Some of these apps socialite ( Facebook ) & twitter@rama ( for twitter) has been introduced.

Windows 8 runs on everything that includes 10inch tablets to HD screens. It also adds support for ARM based chipset, x86 as well as x32 and x64 devices.Windows 8 support old low-end hardware as well, it also supports the next generation hardware.

Windows 8 Developer preview definitely gives out a sense of future and showcases beautifully the future of operating system that is to come from Microsoft.

As I have just got my hands on Windows 8 Developer preview, my experience will soon follow.

If you are interested, Please download the Developer Preview from : www.buildwindows.com

Today, about one third of Asia-Pacific alone is under threat from malwares & other threats and are desperately in need of a effective solution to get rid of these problems are provide a better & safe working browsing environment. Taking action against threats like these Microsoft created the latest Internet Explorer 9 browser, which proves itself a solid line of defence against online threats. Internet Explorer 9 not only is safe, but it provides a beautiful & speedy browsing environment .

To prove this fact NSS labs released two reports which indicate that SmartScreen feature in IE continues to offer industry leading protection against Malware. The report states “ Internet Explorer 9 blocks exceptional 99% malware. 96% of the live threats were caught with SmartScreen URL reputation in IE9, and an additional 3.2% with Application Reputation.”

When Comparing since report published by NSS labs in October 2010, the average time taken to block a threat by SmartScreen filter has gotten 28% faster. Comparison of Application reputation resulted in 85% faster response time. Refer the graph below that highlights that Internet Explorer blocks 5X ( 5 times ) more malware than competitive browsers.

The other reports looked at socially engineered malware targeted towards people living in Asia Pacific region and in Europe. As you can see below, in each region the results remained consistent – Internet Explorer 9 maintains a lead in protecting users from live threats.

Internet Explorer 9 has proved itself in every aspect of browsing & has received positive feedback from consumers globally. Microsoft has build this browser keeping every aspect in mind that a consumer needs. Very useful new features like ActiveX filtering, Tracking protection, Tracking protection lists & so on. As a result IE9 currently has a 18% usage share worldwide on Windows 7.

You can check out the full report here

Download Internet Explorer 9

These updates are divided into :

Now, the hardware for all windows phone 7 devices is nearly common with 1Ghz processor, Internal Storage or 8gb,16gb, 512Mb ROM and 576 MB RAM** , The Dedicated camera button is a necessity with Windows Phone design and it also comes equipped with just three buttons ( touch or local ) on the front.

HTC HD7 Front slide

Samsung Omnia 7 front slide

Currently, there are a few Windows Phone 7 devices that are available in India, but the choice is pretty good in other parts of the world, mainly USA & UK.

Talking about the updates, The update system as shown above consists of three types of updates you can call them Core OS update, Security update & performance and hardware updates. Within these only the Hardware based updates that are released for solving performance issues with a specific device or to increase overall user experience on a specific device. One such update was released today. This update is for Samsung Focus ( v1.4). This types of updates are phone specific & are used for improving overall quality of user experience.

So, if you have a Samsung focus, connect it to Zune to get your update. This update is currently delivered to AT&T users and will soon be live for other carriers too.

Microsoft Surface is a piece of technology driven by Innovation & to deliver Information & services in a completely new & friendly way. The target is to engage customers in a better way so as to provide the businesses a unique prospective nature of interaction that could help the consumers better understand the nature of product or services offered.

Surface is a kind of product that has been innovated for the end users, but you cannot walk off to a shelf and buy surface for home use. The basic Idea is to target end users through the corporate businesses. It’s a product for the people through a channel called business.

Let’s watch this video to understand how surface works:

History of Surface

Surface computing did not start like this. The idea goes long back when Microsoft hardware and Microsoft Research labs started working together on various projects and combined both their expertise in hardware and software. This was the year 2001, when they started to work on an idea of an Interactive table “that could understand the manipulation of physical pieces”. This was the idea that resulted in the Surface we see now.

The Evolution of Surface began in 2003, when the Idea was presented to Bill Gates, who instantly liked the Idea and encouraged the team to continue developing the technology. After a lot of discussion the basic idea of design came as “a table with a hole cut in the top and a sheet of architect vellum used a diffuser”.

Conversion: Prototype to Product

Following the basic principles of Research, it took over 85 early prototypes and the idea of a single camera detecting movement was dropped. The Hardware and Software research team came to a conclusive idea of using five camera for detecting movement & natural gestures from the surface. After the basic model and principles were decided, the technology came to a product cycle in 2005. Surface was then launched in 2007 with a 30-inch display in a table like form factor. The Innovation by Microsoft was praised and promoted by many. Surface is currently used by many top notch companies and hotels all around the globe. The Surface version 1 looked like this.

Surface 2.0

Microsoft Surface 2.0 has been designed in collaboration with Samsung, while incorporation all the key features of Surface 1.0. Surface 2.0 is a Slimmer device that has a massive touch experience, the ability to recognize fingers, hands and objects & some other devices that enables a new recognition technology.

Surface 2.0 also uses a Full HD display that has PixelSense™ technology. This vision based technology enables richer visual experience.  Microsoft has designed Surface 2.0 uses a powerful embedded system & affordable design. The core Configuration of Surface 2.0 is:

• AMD Athlon™ II X2 Dual-Core processor clocked at 2.9Ghz
• AMD Radeon HD 6700M Series GPU featuring Direct X 11 Support

“Microsoft continues to innovate in vision-based interaction and software designed for touch. With the introduction of the next generation of Surface, using PixelSense technology, we’ll bring more tables and walls to life with amazing natural experiences for people to enjoy together,” said Panos Panay, general manager, Microsoft Surface. “We partnered with Samsung because of its strengths in LCD technology, hardware design and manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of large-format displays. The companies have built an incredibly successful collaboration that moved from invention to development to manufacturing and sales of a high-quality, industrialized commercial product.”

Possibilities

How can you use the Surface platform in your organization? The only limit is your imagination. Whether you’re in hospitality, retail, healthcare, professional services, or the public sector, you can change the way people interact with information and with each other.

•  

• Make content more engaging. Give your customers immersive and collaborative ways to engage with photos, videos, documents, maps, custom applications, and more.
• Plan and simulate. Bring to life real-time “if/then” modeling and visualization, simulations and calculations—perfect for financial services, healthcare, and other consultative environments.
• Make learning more fun. Breathe new life into the education process with rich visualizations that encourage teamwork and enhance learning.
• Transform the shopping experience. Make shopping more immersive by connecting customers with more options, recommendations, product and service comparisons, and personalized service.
• Connect with customers through games and pastimes. Have some fun by putting Surface in restaurants, bars, hotel lobbies, and other venues, associating memorable experiences with your brand.
• Communicate and connect. Give people an efficient and intriguing new way to get the information they’re looking for—like maps and tourist destinations in a hotel lobby. Or use it to help them exchange personal information so they can connect with each other and to your business.

 

Microsoft demonstrated its Surface 2.0 in India (New Delhi) on Tuesday 31^st May 2011. Price in India and/or availability scenario was not told as of yet. The manufacturer’s suggested price for Samsung SUR40 starts at $7,600 (U.S.). Samsung SUR40 will be available later in 2011 in 23 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

BUILD is a new event that shows modern hardware and software developers how to take advantage of the future of Windows. Learn how to work with the all new touch-centric user experience to create fast, fluid, and dynamic applications that leverage the power and flexibility of the core of Windows, used by more than a billion people around the world.

Hear how the UI was designed to work seamlessly with a diversity of devices and form factors. Go behind the scenes and learn all about the new app model that allows you to create powerful new apps. All while retaining the ability to use your existing apps. Web-connected and web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript have access to the power of the PC. Touch-optimized browsing, with the full power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10 transforms your experiences with the web. BUILD is the first place to dive deep into the future of Windows.

If you are a contemporary developer, a geek who thrives on the newest and coolest, who loves the freedom of the web and the power of all devices from mobile to desktop, you need to join us to help BUILD the future.

More at : BUILD / Windows

1. Adobe Reader – Lets you open the commonly used .pdf format files. It’s a must have if you use a lot of documents.
2. Weather App – While HTC has a HTC Hub integrated that tells me the weather conditions of the area, you can go for the Weather app if you don’t have a HTC device
3. GPS App : Some Devices get free subscription, but some unfortunate like me have to suffice with Apps like GPS app. It works & if you need navigation , using Bing Maps is highly recommended.
4. Where’s my car : It has proven itself a worthy app. In a crowded city where you don’t know much of the sorroundings, This app uses a GPS tag with a photo and let’s you see walking distance to your car. This is infact my one of the most used apps.
5. Handy Scan : Scanning documents is also a pain when you are not at office/home or when there is no scanner around. Handy scan is really handy while scanning documents. It works well for a emergency scanner.
6. IMDB : If you are a Movie krazy like me, IMDB app gets you information on each and movie just IMDB.com
7. Pic2Shop : I used this app a lot of times while buying stuff off shelves and across the counter. It not only searches for the product also tells you the best deals on amazon etc.
8. Twitter : If you are always tweeting this is the best app to get.
9. Facebook app : This one needs a lot of addon features and development, but for now it works.
10. Microsoft Translator : Ever stuck in a non-english place like france or italy , This app lets you translate anything you type in. It even speaks the translated text. Awesome app
11. Foursquare : Best location tagging app

There are also a few app i would love to see :

1. Forumming app
2. Updated Twitter app
3. Updated Facebook app
4. A presentation app for changing slides via bluetooth on PC.

Will get more updates when something changes.

Thanks for reading