Build has started the Microsoft just made the Windows 8 dev preview public to all. The OS with developer tool is now available for download via MSDN and the download is public.

Please find the direct download links below

Main Page -> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/home/

Download x86 (32bit) -> Download (Windows Developer preview x86)

Download x64 (64bit) -> Download (Windows Developer preview x64)

There is no partiality, it does the same with any browser, Microsoft or any other platform.

An appreciable approach by Mozilla to make sure users surf the net safe.

Since using out dated browsers not only risks the users data but also increases the chance of losing vital information about their respective blog such as passwords and account secretes. Secondly newer features of WordPress can be best used with updated version of the browsers.

Microsoft Office PowerPoint comes with free templates to help you create beautiful slides with ease for your various needs.

However Microsoft constantly updates their online template gallery by adding new and unique design to help PowerPoint users to make better slides.

http://office2010.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT010117272.aspx

So don’t forget to check the Microsoft Office PowerPoint Online Template Gallery before creating your next presentation slide for what ever reason it may be.

The tune is heard worldwide an estimated 1.8 billion times per day, about 20,000 times per second.

However after 17 years of world domination, Nokia finally thought to replace the tune with a new one and have put up a contest world wide to select the next Nokia tone.

Anyone can register to submit their own version of music which they have made for Nokia, and if it gets selected for next Nokia tune, not just a prize money of USD 10,000 is up for grab but the opportunity to become important via their creation.

For more details read here -> http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/09/05/create-the-next-nokia-tune-win-big/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjM6fMD0eFI

It would be the end of an era since when the new tune arrives, Nokia would be replacing the most iconic tune of the world.

Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7 uses a module (Windows System Assessment Tool) to measures various performance characteristics and capabilities of the hardware it is running on and reports them as a Windows Experience Index (WEI) score.

This rating score is a quick way to view and understand the hardware power of the machine to compare with a software (game or video edit app) which may put up a certain minimum system rating requirement to understand the possibility of operation.

Though its strongly recommended on not to touch the system generated report card, but some advance users may like to play with their index score to modify the numbers without altering the hardware.

How to edit or change the Windows 7 Experience Index Rating ?

Windows 7 Rating changer is a small and free app, which would easily do the job for any non technical PC users.

Microsoft published an article on how to force Windows to show those options back again when you select multiple files.

The following registry value may be modified to choose the number of files that may be selected while maintaining the context menu options.

 

 

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Name : MultipleInvokePromptMinimum
Type : DWORD
Default : 15 (decimal)

Changing the number (how many files) value there would force the Windows to display the hidden options.

Intel is issuing software to upgrade codes to safely unlock and overclock processor frequency via Intel upgrade service program.

Each upgrade would cost USD 50, which is sold via scratch card, once the proper code is given, the software does couple of simple things,

• Unlock the cache (increase cache memory
• Unlock multiple to increase proper frequency

The service is valid for only a handful of processors. Mainly those which were factory under-clocked to lower price and compete with rivals for low cost CPU solution.

Intel Upgrade Service at present supports following processors

• Intel Core i3 2102
• Intel Pentium G622
• Intel Core i3 2312M
• Intel Pentium G6951

After installing your upgrade and rebooting your system, a congratulations message will be displayed, confirming that the upgrade process is complete. Also, your processor description will change:

CPU Before Upgrade:	After Upgrade:
Intel® Core™ i3-2312M Processor:	Intel® Core™ i3-2393M Processor
Intel® Core™ i3-2102 Processor:	Intel® Core™ i3-2153 Processor
Intel® Pentium® G622 Processor:	Intel® Pentium® G693 Processor
Intel® Pentium® G6951 Processor:	Intel® Pentium® G6952 Processor

https://retailupgrades.intel.com/Page.aspx?Name=Benefits

Microsoft already have a website called BuildWindows.com running to show case their upcoming products to the developers and system builders to get things ready for upcoming technologies.

Windows 8 tablet and new metro UI design was first showcased via this platform and Build would be hosting a conference next month to demonstrate few technologies, according to Microsoft, which would change everything.

Leading into the conference, a new blog post on Build Windows, hints that Microsoft may showcase a pre-release version of Windows 8 over there.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/15/welcome-to-building-windows-8.aspx

Nothing is sure yet, but since Build is just a month away, it may be right time for Microsoft jump start some hype about Windows 8 and nothing better than few early preview of Windows 8.

Mozilla FireFox 6.0 RTM is now ready for download. You may download it from Mozilla public FTP via their early release channels.

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/6.0/

Download Windows US EN directly

It is nothing new that we come across to web articles about why not to use Internet Explorer and how much better another alternate browser is. One such story I was reading today at Computer world about 12 reasons on why not to use Internet Explorer. While I was reading, the points kept me thinking that most of them are valid for those so called safe options (alternate browsers) also.

Point 1

You are safer by avoiding software that bad guys target. Mac users benefited from this for years. Windows users can lower their attack surface (be less vulnerable) by avoiding popular software. Internet Explorer is popular, so bad guys exploit known problems with the browser. No thanks.

• 100% true that bad guys targets those which are used by mass.
• Google Chrome and FireFox both based are on same Mozilla platform retains around 35% market shared between them.
• These two browsers are used by power users compare to IE, which are mostly in school / college / public PC and corporate world where they run their own software.

So if Internet Explorer is targeted because of its audience, so would be the Mozilla platform too because of the market share and more importantly the percentage of power users on active use.

Point 2

Microsoft fixes bugs in Internet Explorer on a fixed schedule. But, bugs are not discovered on a schedule which means IE users remain vulnerable to know bugs until the next scheduled bug fix roll-out. Neither Firefox or Chrome, my preferred browsers, are locked into a schedule.

Well the point is not entirely true, for security products, Microsoft does release important security updates irregularly too.

But mostly the update comes on Patch Tuesday. Why ?? Read more on Wiki about the choice behind this schedule -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_Tuesday

Point 3

In addition, I get the feeling that Microsoft is just slow in fixing Internet Explorer bugs. The last release of IE patches included a fix to a bug that Microsoft had been told about six months ago.

Well unlike the author I don’t have a specific link, but Let’s Google for “unpatched safari” or another browser name. Plenty of examples are there for most of the browsers for being late on providing fix, in some case like Safari, two years late..

Point 4

The topic of bugs in popular software brings Adobe’s Flash Player to mind. Internet Explorer users with Flash enabled in their browser get notified of new versions of Flash using a very flawed system. And, when they are notified, they need to manually install the new version of Flash.

In this day and age, this is not acceptable; Flash is too popular and too buggy. Firefox fails here too. As I wrote about recently, I only use Flash from within Chrome which automatically, quickly and quietly updates the Flash player.

I don’t have to contradict, as author here him self have shown, not just IE, but FireFox too suffers the said problem.

Point 5

And speaking of Flash, it exists in Internet Explorer as an ActiveX control. The lack of security in ActiveX is what prompted me to jump on the Firefox bandwagon even prior to version 1.0.

ActiveX may be locked down a bit more than it used to be, but how many Internet Explorer users understand the security related prompts about running an ActiveX control, let alone the configuration options for ActiveX? To me, a browser that doesn’t support ActiveX is safer.

• Browser is not the problem here, the user is, as the browser would operate as the user would like it to be.
• The default settings are no way unsafe and while allowing active X, user can easily verify whether it is Adobe or some one else trying to deliver a rogue Flash module !!!
• Also check out Authors own point number 10, FireFox or Chrome “Extensions can spy on you”

Point 6

ActiveX was the first approach to extending browsers with extra features and functions. Now, both Firefox and Chrome have a huge number of available extensions. Internet Explorer has only a handful.

Talking about extensions, here is an interesting read -> http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/itdojo/video-firefox-extension-vulnerabilities-may-increase-malware-risk/1662

Extensions are not that safe compare to ActiveX as we think..

Point 7

Buggy browser extensions/plugins are often targeted by bad guys. Both Firefox and Chrome do some checking for outdated extensions. Internet Explorer does none. As Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols wrote

The author already pointed out that internet explorer does the thing with ActiveX controllers.

Point 8

The most popular operating systems are, I believe, Windows XP, Windows 7 and OS X. Of these, the latest version of Internet Explorer, version 9, runs on only one. Many people use more than one computer and are likely to deal with more than one operating system. Firefox and Chrome provide a cross-platform experience (including Linux) that Internet Explorer does not.

The OS in talk, like Windows XP is already out of Microsoft support schedule secondly, not supporting OS X is more like a business decision compare to a technical down side.

The said point is a subjective example, valid for non Windows users.

Point 9

And, if you use multiple computers, both Firefox and Chrome have built-in features to synchronize bookmarks and more between different instances of the browser. Internet Explorer (at least up to version can’t do this.

Let’s check out Windows Live Mesh -> http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mesh?os=other

Not to mention, if you Google, you get hundreds of results on how to easily sync your book mark between computers.

Point 10

On Windows, I am a huge fan of portable applications, Windows programs that can run without first being installed. There are portable versions of both Firefox and Chrome. There is no portable version of Internet Explorer. A portable application is totally self-contained, which lets you have multiple installed copies that are totally independent of each other.

In terms of browsers, you could use one copy of a portable browser to test new extensions. Or, since extensions can potentially spy on you, have a copy of your browser with no extensions at all for online banking. Or, kick the tires on a new version of your browser, while still having the old version available. Or, multiple people sharing the computer can have their own copy of the browser with their own favorite extensions and modifications.

And, of course, you can move or copy a portable browser to a USB flash drive or another Windows machine. When you do, your favorite extensions come along, as do any tweaks you may have made to the user interface.

Perhaps the best thing about portable applications is that you can back them up before making changes. Backing up an application is something Windows has never offered.

If Internet Explorer starts acting funny, you’ve got a hassle ahead, potentially a big one. If a portable browser breaks, just delete the folder where its stored and fall back to the last backup. All that’s involved is copying a folder.

One thing I fail to understand is why would I need a browser to be a portable app ? It is a free software and Internet Explorer is an integrated part of Windows, thus making it available in any Windows PC (Yes, I know about Windows N and feature remove, above statement is for general purpose)

Author’s main need in point 10 is trial and error, for that, We have virtualization. Where you can try out things safely and securely.

Point 11

Anyone running a 64 bit version of Windows 7 may have to deal with the confusion over 32 and 64 bit versions of Internet Explorer. There is no such confusion with Chrome and Firefox.

So ? FF and Chrome doesn’t have a 64bit version. Is it a good side or bad side ?? I thought 64bit is the way ahead, is not it ??

While talking about confusion, please try to download IE9 and you would see MS download instruction would clearly detect your OS and its version (via browser) and would offer you the right download link. Even if it fails to detect (when approaching from an unsupported platform) it would through up warning with help and guide to determinate your OS and right IE version for you.

Point 12

The main competition to Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome, are free. So too is Opera.

Let’s rethink, the said point is valid for only those, who would buy a Windows OS just to use Internet Explorer since IE is free with any Windows installation.

Conclusion

No, I am not a fan boy for IE. I like FF, I like Opera too, but the way some time IE is said to be bad is not right.

The browsers, FF / Chrome / Opera and yes IE also are safer than we think, it is us, users who end up doing the mistake to open up the door way for malware to exploit.

All it takes to be and surf safe is read the warning and follow the process what the browser is asking. Just a few seconds to verify the URL in which you are in, or few seconds to verify the certificate, that is it. If we fail to follow these simple steps, no matter which browser we run, we will end up being exploited !!!