[ it's my Windows ]

We know that Windows Vista SP1 has been out there and it can be installed in three ways:

1. Using Windows Vista SP1 pre-integrated DVD
2. Using Windows Vista SP1 Offline Update installer and
3. Via Windows Update.

But Microsoft has stated that Windows Vista SP1 pre-integrated DVD can get only Microsoft partners, Business Consumers, MSDN & TechNet subscribers and Microsoft Connect users. So there are only two ways to get Vista SP1 installed, but it take long time to install SP1 and terrible to install each n every time in fresh Windows Vista RTM. To solve this problem, I would like to thank vLite Developers and Community; they have released vLite with SP slipstream support and its simple tutorial that helps to slipstream SP in Windows Vista n build your Vista SP1 DVD.

Requirements-

1) Windows Vista RTM DVD
2) Windows Vista SP1 offline update installer and most important thing is
3) vLite (Windows Vista has in-built .Net Framework 2.0)

How to-

1. First of all, install vLite and copy all contents of DVD into HDD folder, say F:\Vista
2. Now select the folder where Vista installation source has been copied (F:\Vista)
3. Select the edition which is to be upgraded to SP1

4. Proceed Next and only select Service Pack Slipstream option.

By selecting Windows Vista SP1 offline update installer, extracting and slip streaming process will be started and it’ll take 60-90 mins to accomplish the task.

5. After completion, create bootable DVD or image and get your Vista SP1 installed simultaneously.

(Only a single edition will be upgraded to SP1 at a time and to make complete Vista SP1….I mean, if you want to create all editions upgraded to SP1 disc. You have to follow the same process for each edition.)

NOTE: Don’t select any other option such as integration, components, tweaks etc when slip-streaming service pack. One more thing, don’t remove any component from vLited Vista image because it may cause interrupted installation.

I have slip-streamed all editions into Vista DVD and tested…all are working perfect. And It has been taken 8-10 hours….slipstreaming speed may depends upon your computer configuration.

How do I ?, Windows Vista

In Windows Vista, the window icon and caption has been removed from Windows Exploer. Most of Windows Users are missing these thing, when move to Windows vista. But it can be restored back using this small free utility (I wanna say its smart utility) called AeroBar.

Download: AeroBar

Installation-

For Titles only : Place the file AeroBar.exe in your StartUp folder and reboot.
For Titles only without icon’s space : Rename the file AeroBar.exe to AeroBarNoIco.exe before.
For Titles + Icons : Rename the file AeroBar.exe to AeroBarIco.exe before.

Uninstallation-

Double click the file AeroBar.exe (or AeroBarIco.exe or AeroBarNoIco.exe), a message is shown saying “AeroBar OFF”
Remove the file AeroBar.exe (or AeroBarIco.exe or AeroBarNoIco.exe) from your StartUp folder.

Note: To show full path in the Title bar
Open Folders Options >> View tab and Check “View full path in the title bar (Classic view only)”

How do I ?, Software, Windows Vista

Microsoft announced to release IE8 Beta 2 today for public download. You can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/ie8. Please try it out!

You’ll find versions for 32- and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. In addition to English, IE8 Beta 2 is available in Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), and German. Additional languages will be available soon.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 comes with new features to enhance privacy, ease-of-use, and security. Microsoft first released Beta 1 version of IE 8 in March, but that was aimed at letting Web developers take a first look at the new browser. This latest version is aimed at a broader consumer audience.

Source & Download: Microsoft

Internet Explorer

What we love about this site is that it has gone public with some of the changes for Windows Live Hotmail that are coming up in the Wave 3 beta. Here’s the summary:

Speed: The coming soon page says that for broadband users, the new Hotmail will be up to 70% faster on sign in (50% for non-broadband users). That’s a pretty big claim, and one which should provide for some interesting testing once the beta is open to the public.

Ever-increasing storage: Microsoft have carefully avoided using the phrase “unlimited storage”, as Yahoo has done, but in a sense this is what is being offered. The figures we last heard for this were the the existing 5GB free accounts would be getting growth of 250MB per month, but this is pre-beta and could have changed and so our usual disclaimer applies. Obviously the PR definitely looks better leaving the figures out, but a free inbox of 8GB by the end of year 1 gives us a warm feeling. (For comparison, Gmail is currently on 7GB and still growing.)

New UI: Along with the new Wave 3 UI, in particular the new header and themes available shown below, the new promotion site suggests that the classic and full versions of Hotmail will be combined together. This potentially means that full functionality could be available across all browsers. Also worth mentioning here are improvements around deadling with spam.

In terms of Hotmail integrating with other Windows Live services, there’s also some details on that:

WebIM built-in: This feature doesn’t really need much explaining and should be a popular addition. From what we’ve heard it’ll support most of the basic needs such as presence, notifications and chat via the WebMessenger dogfood. Yes its been a while since we’ve spoken about that!

Integrated Calendar: No surprise if you’re on the new Windows Live Calendar beta to hear there will be integration between the two services.

Easier to send group emails: Thanks to the new Windows Live Groups service (go ABCH!) it’ll be easier to email all those contacts in one go

Source

Windows Live

Windows Vista allows you to change the program used to open a file. Sometime We set wrong association with file type and there is no option to revert back to default settings. So here is the only way to do that.

How to-

1) Run Registry Editor
2) Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\[Extension]
3) Expand the [extension] key and choose UserChoice key and delete all its sub keys
4) If it doesn’t work, delete the UserChoice key itself.

NOTE: To revert back to all default file association as we get after fresh clean installation of Windows Vista, We can delete all sub keys under FileExts.

How do I ?, Windows Server, Windows Vista

What about your privacy as you browse the web? As Dean outlined is his post earlier today, there is so-called “3rd-party” content on websites, some of which can gather data about how you browse the web. How do you know what that is, or how to control it?

With respect to privacy, IE8 gives users more choice about controlling what information they keep and exchange. In the first part of this post I’ll describe two Internet Explorer 8 features that help you control your history, cookies, and other information that Internet Explorer stores on your behalf. In the latter part, I’ll describe two more features that can help you control how your browsing history is shared by websites. By default, IE8 browses the web the same way IE7 does.

InPrivate™ Browsing lets you control whether or not IE saves your browsing history, cookies, and other data
Delete Browsing History helps you control your browsing history after you’ve visited websites.
InPrivate™ Blocking informs you about content that is in a position to observe your browsing history, and allows you to block it.

InPrivate Subscriptions allow you to augment the capability of InPrivate Blocking by subscribing to lists of websites to block or allow.

More Details

Internet Explorer