Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Microsoft's Office 365 launch puts Google on defensive

"Apps isn't for everyone," Sinha writes. "But in the last week alone 38,000 businesses decided to give it a try. Maybe you should too."

Google claims more than 3 million businesses use Google Apps, and the company just launched a line of Chromebooks, Web-only laptops that don't require Google Apps but may be effective for Google Apps customers.




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Microsoft's publicly stated numbers are a bit higher: 750 million active users of Office, and installations on 1 billion PCs, although Microsoft doesn't detail how it arrived at those calculations.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is scheduled to talk to press in New York City Tuesday to announce the launch of Office 365. Microsoft is likely to argue that it's better suited than Google to providing a full-featured and secure office experience, whether in a customer's data center or in the cloud.

But there's room in the market for both, and Google has won some converts. Sinha hopes Google's cross-platform capabilities will win some more.

"Office 365 is optimized for Windows-based PCs and devices, which reduces your flexibility," Sinha argues. "Our applications are designed to work well on any device, on any operating system. Desktop, laptop, Chromebook, tablet, smartphone. Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Blackberry, iOS, Windows Mobile."

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Offshore ASP.NET Developer

If you deal in building web pages then you definitely have to go for the new or we can say the next generation server side scripting that is ASP.NET. What makes it unique is it takes an object-oriented programming approach to web page execution. An ASP.NET page gets compiled into an intermediate language by .NET common language runtime-compliant compiler. With so many features comes number of questions like when to need a server and what are the alternate which we can use and what other technique we can implemented to get the better result. Offshore Asp .net developer takes care of all these aspects of development.


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The salient features which keep it ahead of others is that ASP.NET have easier and quicker programming which in turn results in reduced amount of code as a result of which more than 30% of the time is being saved in any project development which can be utilized in developing something new. Declarative programming model, richer server control hierarchy with events, larger class library, better support for development tools- to utilize all these one need a skilled asp net programmer.

With the increasing amount of web pages on internet it became very important for any one to have a skilled hand so that proper connectivity and long term results can be achieved. Keep updated with latest changes is must and going for offshore asp.net developer is the most intelligent choice for any one. As per the requirement one can hire offshore asp.net developer on full time, part time or hourly basis or can even go for a team of offshore asp.net developer, junior or senior asp.net developer as per the web software development needs.

The asp net programmer should not only be knowledgeable in dotnet programming but also in custom software development, asp.net ecommerce development, vibrant website development, database management and net web design . Experience is what matters a lot in web development. If you are going for offshore asp.net developer go for someone with enough experience as well is highly qualified and should have web development capabilities in ASP.NET Jquery, AJAX, XML, HTML, XHTML, CSS and Java script along with the database capabilities in MS SQL server and Mysql. And to cover all the dimensions the process and system should include web development, ecommerce , content management, and OOPS as the whole .net framework revolve around them.

If you can get all the above mentioned skills in a asp net programmer than you are atleast assured to develop what you are planning for and can discuss the changes and various strategies so as to improve the quality of web page. Ask for technical development, further improvement, exploring new features of asp.net having an asp net programmer at your end is always a plus point. The thing with which asp.net can be embedded opens a wide area of possibilities and with the rapid growth in internet the asp net programmer will continue to dominate over others as it covers all the important technology from going online to the conceptual level highly successful real world depicting OOPS. Looking at the present scenario the best of asp.net is yet to come.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Mozilla's Right: Bring on the Browser Updates

Firefox 5 is now the poster boy for all that's wrong with slip-stream, blink and you missed it, auto-updating software. I just don't get it; this hands-free approach has been, in other instances, a real boon for me.



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My Apple iPad is full of software that regularly gets significant updates. They do not happen automatically, but they do wipe out previous versions with no fuss or muss. Online, I love that Google's Chrome web browser auto-updates. On any given day, I can be pleasantly surprised with a new version and new Chrome features and functionality. Sometimes the changes are super-subtle and address things like speed and stability. Other times, the logo has changed and I notice odd new buttons. None of this bothers me or slows me down. Sometimes I benefit greatly from the changes, other times, I scarcely notice them until someone mentions their existence.

Firefox, a Web browser I long-since stopped using, now follows the Google Chrome model, with auto-updates and, scandalously, no support for previous versions. Yes, I've heard the controversy. Businesses, in particular, are up in arms because Firefox 4 has been cast aside in favor of the shiny, new Firefox 5.

Out of curiosity, I downloaded Firefox 5 and was stunned by how much it had changed since my last update (somewhere around version 3.5). Firefox 5 is leaner and faster than any Firefox I've used before. Its interface actually reminds me, just a bit and not in a bad way, of Ubuntu, a Linux distro. In this version, it has managed to carve out a look somewhat distinct from the increasingly indistinguishable browser competitors. Overall, I'm happy with the Firefox 5 update, but there are many who are not.

Companies and their IT managers are not happy about what Firefox's parent, Mozilla, just did. Slipstream updates and lack of support for legacy products is a big no-no in the IT world. Businesses move to new technology at a glacial pace. This is to protect their bottom line. New hardware and software that doesn't work with other mission-critical products could mean lost work, lost time and a whole bunch of confused employees.

This is as it has always been. It is why Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows XP survived for so long in the business world. To this day, I can walk into local businesses and find them running custom or industry-specific applications on Windows 95. Doing so also saves businesses a lot of money. That copy of Windows 95 is likely running on a 10-plus-year-old PC.

I would argue, of course, that companies stuck in the last century will likely get last-century business results while their newer competitors upgrade and race ahead at 2011 speed.

Web browsers are an interesting case. IT admins clearly see Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Firefox as just another piece of software—one they have to manage and ensure the entire company is standardized on. This seems like madness to me. A Web browser is little more than a container for everything you'll do on the Web. Web sites and Web services are built with some legacy browser compatibility, but they're also being built using new tools and with the latest browser features and functionality in mind. Internet Explorer 6.0 won't do as well as IE 7, 8, and 9 with some of the newer Web services.

When Google started doing auto-updates, no one complained. I'm guessing that this is because Google is making the biggest inroads in the consumer space. Internet Explorer gets weekly security updates, but as a business veteran, Microsoft would never dream of silently upgrading customers from Internet Explorer 7 or 8 to IE9.

Firefox became the darling of business and, especially, Web developers, in the mid Oughts (2000-to-2010). In my own company, our developers started using Firefox almost exclusively, with the result that sometimes my own Web sites weren't entirely Internet Explorer-compatible. For a time, I used Firefox. Eventually, I grew tired of its buginess and propensity for resource hogging and turned to Chrome and then back to IE9.

I think the size and intensity of this Firefox upgrade and support dustup is also a result of many businesses adopting Firefox over the last decade. Perhaps they fell in love with the vast array of extensions, some of which were probably designed for their industries. Now, however, these same IT admins feel betrayed. If Firefox 5 does not work with some mission-critical business app, they'll be blamed. On the other hand, I wonder if those same IT guys are simply upset that a little bit of control has been wrested from their hands. I suspect that Firefox 5 will work quite well in the majority of businesses and that companies simply don't want software and system update controls to migrate from IT to the end user. Unfortunately for them, I don't see anything stopping this trend.

Insta-Poll: Tell us below whether or not you think Web browsers should auto-update.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

The bug that made history!

Spotting bugs in software and debugging them are standard practices in software development these days. However, the terms ‘bug' and ‘debug' became popular only after an incident in 1947, even though the term ‘bug' had been used as far back as in the 1870s by none other than Thomas Alva Edison, and was used by engineers to describe problems that occurred in machines, and even computers.


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In August 1947, Grace Hopper of the US navy and some colleagues were working on the Mark II computer (considered by many to be the grand dad of modern computers) when they found that something was amiss with one of the circuits, causing the computer to malfunction.

They searched and searched and then found the problem - a two-inch moth that was stuck in the circuits. They removed the moth using tweezers, pasted it in their logbook and claimed that it was the first actual case of a bug being found in a computer. They also claimed that by removing it, they had successfully ‘debugged' the computer! The incident made the two terms famous. In case you are wondering what happened to the moth that was in the logbook, well, it can be seen in the National Museum of American History and can be viewed online at http://americanhistory.si.edu/dynamic/images/collections_xlarge/92-13135_428px.jpg (picture courtesy)

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Report: Investors About to Close $2 Billion Deal to Buy GoDaddy

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a group of investors is on the verge of a deal to buy GoDaddy Group Inc., the company best known for registering Internet domains as well as its sometimes-controversial Super Bowl commercials that often feature buxom women wearing little clothing. The deal is said to value the company at between $2 and $2.5 billion.




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The buyers are said to include private equity firm KKR & Co. and Silver Lake Partners, who most recently sold Skype to Microsoft in a deal worth $8.5 billion. Private equity and venture capital firm Technology Crossover Adventures is also reported as a minor investor.

An official announcement about the deal could come as early as next week. However, the Journal's sources said the talks have not been finalized, and the deal could collapse at any time. When contacted, GoDaddy told PCMag that it had no comment.

GoDaddy's CEO, Bob Parsons, recently made headlines after he killed an elephant during a recent trip to Africa. Some GoDaddy customers threatened to take their business elsewhere in the wake of the killing. Parsons defended his actions, saying elephant hunts are necessary to help feed local villagers and prevent the animals from destroying crops.

A key part of the deal is that Parsons will continue as CEO. Parsons founded the company in 1997 and is an outspoken leader of the company, producing regular videos for his vlog and tweeting often.

Back in September the Journal reported that GoDaddy had hired the services of investment bank Qatalyst Partners to shop the company around to potential buyers. Besides Internet domain registration, GoDaddy also offers Web hosting, email, security, Web design, search, and other business services.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Mozilla mulls Firefox 3.6 retirement, too

Will deliver at least one more security update, set for mid-August

Mozilla is planning to retire Firefox 3.6 from support, but won't put the 18-month-old browser out to pasture until August at the earliest.

The retirement of Firefox 3.6 would follow that of Firefox 4 and Firefox 3.5 earlier this year.




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Firefox 3.5, which Mozilla launched in mid-2009, received its last security update in April. Since then, users have been encouraged to upgrade to either Firefox 3.6 or 4. Going forward, the estimated 12 million users of Firefox 3.5 will see their browser automatically updated to Firefox 3.6 , a move the company discussed last month.

This week, Mozilla retired Firefox 4 , which debuted three just months ago, as it rolled out Firefox 5 .
That move has been criticized by some enterprise IT managers . They've argued that the quick retirement combined with Mozilla's rapid-release scheme -- which delivers a new edition every six weeks -- puts them in an impossible position: By the time they test one version, another will already be out.

Next on the drop list: Firefox 3.6.

Mozilla has decided to issue at least one more security update for that edition, which shipped in January 2010. The update, to be pegged 3.6.19, will be released alongside Firefox 6 when the latter ships on Aug. 16.

The company has not disclosed other parts of its plan to declare Firefox 3.6 at "end of life," or EOL. Although Mozilla held a meeting Tuesday in its Mountain View, Calif. office to discuss Firefox 3.6's retirement, unlike its usual practice the company did not publish notes from that meeting.

The demise of Firefox 3.6 from support would put users who have stuck with the older version in a bind.

IBM, for example, selected Firefox 3.6 last summer as its default browser for employees.

John Walicki, the manager of workplace and mobility in the office of IBM's CIO, has complained about the retirement of Firefox 4, saying that it would force him to make a tough decision.

"I'm now in the terrible position of choosing to deploy a Firefox 4 release with potentially unpatched vulnerabilities, reset the test cycle for thousands of internal apps to validate Firefox 5 or stay on a patched Firefox 3.6.x," Walicki said in a comment appended to a blog post .

When Mozilla retires Firefox 3.6, that last option won't be available to Walicki and IBM.

Microsoft has exploited the Firefox retirement dustup to tout its support policies for Internet Explorer (IE).

Yesterday, Ari Bixhorn, director of IE, published an open letter to Walicki urging him to consider switching from Firefox to IE8 or IE9. "I think I speak for everyone on the IE team when I say we'd like the opportunity to win back your business," said Bixhorn.

The retirement of Firefox 3.5 will affect only a small fraction of Mozilla's active users. According to Web metrics company Net Applications, Firefox 3.5 accounted for just 6% of all copies of Mozilla's browser used in May.

It's unclear how many users would be impacted in mid-August by the retirement of Firefox 3.6: Although that edition accounted for 42% of all copies last month, the browser has been on a steady decline as people have upgraded to Firefox 4. If the trend of the last three months continues, Firefox 3.6 would near extinction by the end of August.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Microsoft readies record-breaking patch release

Microsoft will release 17 bulletins next week to fix 64 security vulnerabilities in Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, Visual Studio, and .NET Framework. Microsoft's massive "April Patch Tuesday," which includes patches to a "critical" bug in Windows XP, will tie the record for the most security bulletins released at one time, and break the record for number of vulnerabilities addressed with a total of 64.


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On April 12, Microsoft plans to release 17 security bulletins, including nine that are rated "Critical" and eight rated "Important." Fifteen of the bulletins address vulnerabilities that allow attackers to remotely execute code.

Microsoft's April Patch Tuesday is a dramatic contrast to last month's skimpy Patch Tuesday release, which only contained three security bulletins.Combined, the bulletins will address a stunning 64 vulnerabilities spanning Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Visual Studio, .NET Framework, and the Graphics Device Interface (GDI+).

The last time Microsoft included this many bulletins in one update was in December, according to Jason Miller, a data team manager with Israel-based Shavlik Technologies. Microsoft will set another record with the number of vulnerabilities patched in one release. The previous Microsoft record was 49 vulnerabilities fixed for October's Patch Tuesday, according to Miller.

While the advance notification bulletin released April 7 did not include any specific details about the individual patches, Microsoft said some of the fixes will address the Windows MHTML vulnerability and the Server Message Block Browser bug in Windows XP.

First reported last January (Security Advisory 2501696), the MHTML flaw allows attackers to run scripts in the wrong security context on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and all supported Windows Server releases.

An attacker could exploit the MHTML vulnerability to inject a client-side script in a website the user is viewing in Internet Explorer. Once executed, the script could collect user information and spoof content. Attackers have exploited the vulnerability in "limited, targeted attacks" using the public proof-of-concept code, according to Microsoft.

The Server Message Block Browser bug in Windows XP, which could trigger a blue screen in kernel mode, was publicly disclosed on Feb. 15. French security firm Vupen rated the flaw as "Critical" and warned that the exploit could cause a denial-of-service attack or completely take over the compromised system.

"While RCE [remote code execution] is theoretically possible, we feel it is not likely in practice. DoS [denial of service] is much more likely," Microsoft Security Research Center Engineering's Mark Wodrich stated in a Feb. 17 post.

"This is a huge update and system administrators should plan for deployment," Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, wrote on The Laws of Vulnerabilities blog.Affected operating systems include Windows XP, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition, Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7.

Updates are available for Internet Explorer 6 through 8. Despite Microsoft's attempts to sunset IE6, it appears IE6 bugs in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 have been addressed.

The patches cover commonly used Office applications, including Microsoft Excel 2002 through 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 through 2010, and Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac through 2011.Other included applications are Open XML File Format Converter, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Service Pack 1 through Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 through 2010, Microsoft Excel Viewer Service, Microsoft PowerPoint views 2007, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, and Microsoft PowerPoint Web App.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Microsoft provides security updates

Microsoft announced updates to its Windows Embedded Standard 2009 operating system, some of which also apply to Windows XP Embedded. New features include a Web Services on Devices API and Powershell 2.0, while there are three "optional" updates and three security updates, the company says.


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Microsoft's premier embedded operating system is now Windows Embedded Standard 7, still in CTP (community technology preview) status. But ongoing updates for Windows Embedded Standard 2009 show that the company hasn't forgotten about its earlier, Windows XP-based embedded OS.

Last month, for example, brought a variety of feature and security updates, including a macro component that allows installing Powershell 2.0.

According to Microsoft, June 2010 security updates are now available, and they're applicable both to Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2, Feature Pack 2007, Update Rollup 1.0 and Service Pack 3. The security updates may be applied directly to runtime images, the company adds.

The June 2010 security updates are described as follows by Microsoft:

* 978542 -- vulnerability in Outlook Express and Windows Mail could allow remote code execution
* 979902 -- vulnerabilities in media decompression could allow remote code execution; this KB solution is comprised of the following KB update packages: KB975562, KB978695, and KB979482
* 979559 -- vulnerabilities in Windows kernel-mode drivers could allow elevation of privilege
* 980195 -- cumulative security update of ActiveX kill bits
* 980218 -- vulnerability in the OpenType compact font format (CFF) driver could allow elevation of privilege
* 981793 -- May 2010 cumulative time zone update
* 982381 -- cumulative security update for Internet Explorer
* 982865 -- vulnerability in Microsoft .NET Framework could allow tampering
* 974378 -- vulnerabilities in the Microsoft .NET common language runtime could allow remote code execution; this KB solution is comprised of the following KB update packages: KB953300 and KB974417
* 981343 -- vulnerability in Microsoft .Net Framework could allow tampering; this KB solution is comprised of the following KB update packages: KB979909 and KB982865
* 982168 -- Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 SP2 update (rollup of KB976765, KB980773 and KB976769 to allow .NET opt-in to extended protection for authentication (security advisory KB973811)

According to a posting on Microsoft's Windows Embedded Standard blog, an update is also included that resolves an issue introduced with the April 2010 component database security updates, whereby a duplicate package caused the Packages view to be locked in Database Manager.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Facebook iPad App Launching In “Coming Weeks” [REPORT]

A Facebook app for the iPad is about to become a reality. Years after the Facebook iPhone app’s rollout in July, 2008, the company’s finally finished a tablet-optimized version, said to now be in the final stages of testing.

According to The New York Times, unnamed sources who have seen the new app say it has a “slick design that has been tailored for the iPad and its touchscreen interface.”


SEE ALSO: 10 Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile [PICS]

The sources also mentioned how Facebook Chat and Groups have been overhauled for the iPad, adding that the app will go beyond what the Facebook website can do, allowing users to take photos from the iPad and place them directly on Facebook. Those who’ve seen the app called the photo and video uploading capabilities “amazing, offering full-resolution and full-screen images.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently has changed his tune about the iPad. When asked if his company was developing an iPad app, he replied:



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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Want to stop cybercrime? Follow the money

The economics of computer crime holds the key to stopping hackers

Five dollars for control over 1,000 compromised email accounts. Eight dollars for a distributed denial-of-service attack that takes down a website for an hour. And just a buck to solve 1,000 captchas.



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Those are the going rates of cybercrime, the amounts criminals pay other criminals for the technical services necessary to launch attacks. It's the kind of IT outsourcing no legitimate company would ever conduct, but it's a profitable business if done effectively.

This criminal underground was detailed Wednesday in a highly entertaining talk given by researcher Stefan Savage at the annual Usenix technical conference in Portland, Ore. Outrageous examples of outsourced cybercrime drew laughter from the audience, but Savage also presented an empirical approach to researching computer crime and devising the most effective - meaning the most financially feasible - methods of stopping it.

QUIZ: Do you know IT security?
Savage is a UC-San Diego professor and director of the Collaborative Center for Internet Epidemiology and Defenses (CCIED). Founded to study the technical components of cybercrime, CCIED started getting federal funding in 2004 and as a result had to incorporate economic models into its research to satisfy the government.

Savage admitted that his look at economics was "total lip service" at first, but later he and his team realized the financial basis for criminal hacking may be the key to solving the whole problem. They expanded their study of the money, even interacting with criminal organizations in devious ways, for example by adding their own code to hackers' code in order to monitor them, and by ordering tons of stuff from phishing scams to trace the path of the money.

"One key flaw was looking at this as purely a technical problem," Savage said. We can stop some attacks by reacting to each new threat with a new technology to stop it, and installing antivirus software on billions of PCs around the world at a high per-unit cost, but it is an unsustainable model.

"Your role as a defender is: When a new attack comes out, you need to come out with a new defense," he says. "Attackers, on the other hand, can attack proactively whenever they feel like it."

It's nearly impossible to measure the effectiveness of defense, and it is expensive to create new defenses, while the cost of committing cybercrime is cheap because of a vast black market.

If you don't have the expertise to steal email or credit card credentials, you just buy the compromised accounts from a website - in the customary lots of 1,000 that cyber criminals like to use.

"We buy and sell compromised hosts in lots of 1,000 where prices change based on supply and demand," he said.

Simply viewing the websites of businesses that sell access to compromised computers provides insight into their cost. One Russian site Savage showed listed the price of installing malicious software on computers.

"Ten cents is how much your machine is worth, and if you're in China your machine would be worth one cent," he said.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Microsoft Releases Kinect for Windows SDK Beta

Microsoft has released its Kinect for Windows SDK beta, opening its hands-free gaming technology to developers and researchers.

Microsoft has released its Kinect for Windows SDK beta, bringing the motion-control and voice-recognition technology to developers and researchers.


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Microsoft had originally designed the Kinect controller as a way to play Xbox 360 games via gesture and spoken words, in the process targeting those same casual gamers who had made the Nintendo Wii—and its own unconventional controllers—such an enormous success. In terms of sales, the company succeeded, with millions of customers snatching up a Kinect unit within weeks of its November 2010 release.

However, tech pros soon found a way to hack the Kinect’s 3D camera, which translates the movements of a user’s body to a digital avatar. Videos soon became to appear on YouTube, demonstrating what the next-generation hardware could do aside from virtual fencing and dancing: painting 3D images in mid-air, say, or tethering Kinect’s motion controls to a robot.

At first, Microsoft did not approve. “Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products,” a company spokesperson told CNET Nov. 4, 2010. “Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.”

However, before Microsoft’s legal counsel could begin printing off those cease-and-desist letters, the company executed an abrupt about-face. In a Nov. 19, 2010, interview with NPR, Alex Kipman, Microsoft’s director of incubation for Xbox, insisted that Kinect had not been hacked, and that the company had deliberately left the device open to modification.

“Hacking would mean that someone got to our algorithms that sit on the side of the Xbox and was able to actually use them, which hasn’t happened,” Kipman told the radio show, according to a transcript. “What has happened is someone wrote an open-source driver for PCs that essentially opens the USB connection, which we didn’t protect by design, and reads the inputs from the sensor.”

From that point on, Microsoft highlighted its apparent intention to offer Kinect’s technology to academic institutions, with an eye toward boosting the latter’s research. According to Microsoft Research, system requirements for those downloading the SDK beta include a Kinect for Xbox 360 sensor; a computer with a dual-core, 2.66-GHz (or faster) processor; a Windows 7-compatible graphics card with support for DirectX 9.0c capabilities, and 2GB of RAM.

Required software includes Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010 Express (or other 2010 edition), and Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.

Microsoft itself intends to use advances in 3D sensing for products beyond gaming. In late 2010, the company acquired Canesta, a maker of 3D-image sensor chips and camera modules that can be embedded in a variety of consumer products, including laptops and vehicle dashboards.

“There is little question that within the next decade we will see natural user interfaces become common for input across all devices,” Jim Spare, president and CEO of Canesta, wrote in an Oct. 29, 2010, statement posted on the startup’s Website. “With Microsoft’s breadth of scope from enterprise to consumer products, market presence, and commitment to NUI, we are confident that our technology will see wide adoption across many applications that embody the full potential of the technology.”

By the beginning of March, some 10 million Kinect units had sold worldwide.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Google Homepage Doodle Provides Lunar Eclipse Live Feed

Astronomy fans in the U.S. won't be able to catch a glimpse of Wednesday's total lunar eclipse, but Google just put up a homepage doodle that will allow people to follow along.

"Starting now, see the latest state of the lunar eclipse on our homepage - thanks @slooh for the imagery," Google tweeted.

Slooh.com provides crowdsourced access to live telescopes from around the world. Since its December 2003 launch, members have taken 1.3 million photos of 35,000 unique objects and events in the night sky. The Google doodle will include a live feed of the lunar eclipse from Slooh's Space Camera, which will update every two minutes throughout the event.




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When you land on the doodle, a dial at the bottom of the image will move from left to right, going through the various stages of the eclipse, before settling on its current state. For a slower view, however, you can move the dial back and forth yourself.
Google Doodle Provides Lunar Eclipse Live Feed

Earlier today, Google announced that it would team up with Slooh to live stream the eclipse. There are several ways to watch: Slooh's live mission interface includes audio narrations from real-life astronomers and it also has an Android app; there's a live stream on the Google YouTube Channel; and there's an eclipse sky layer in Google Earth that's accessible via a special plug-in.

During a lunar eclipse, Earth comes between the sun and the moon so that all or part of the sun's light is blocked from the moon, according to NASA.

Wednesday's eclipse is also notable for how long it will last. "The total phase itself lasts 100 minutes. The last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000," astrophysicist Fred Espenak wrote in NASA's eclipse guide for 2011.

The entire event will be visible from the eastern half of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, and western Australia, Espenak said. Europe will miss the first part of the eclipse because it happens before moonrise, but—with the exception of northern Scotland and northern Scandinavia—Europeans will be able to see totality. Eastern Asia, eastern Australia, and New Zealand, meanwhile, will miss the last stages of eclipse because they occur after moonset.

In South America, observers in eastern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina will witness totality, but nothing will be viewable from North America. Those in the U.S. should be able to see the December eclipse, however.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Some Disadvantages Of Computer Technology

Everything today is run by technology. Security system runs the security for our house, web hosting monitors our web site, and programmable software does our task such as recording, calculating, and data transferring. You just have to program it to do a specific task, and it will do what you wish it to do. No questions ask. That is how great technology can do to people today.


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On the other hand, let us not always look at the good side because everything has a bad side as well. Computer technology too, has it. It is not all the time that it works the way we want it to be. There will come a time that it will stop working. Why? It is because of many reasons. For example, our computer gets infected by a computer virus and you don't know it because the computer virus is too strong that the antivirus that we have can't detect it. This virus can go through our files and software, destroy it, and stop it from working. When this happens, doing your daily task will stop too. When it is left behind, it can lead to worse things such as destruction and deletion of our files, and even system failure. If this happens, you might even need to replace your computer with a new one.

With all of this, you still cannot rely on your entire task with the use of technology. Make it a point that you also do it yourself even some times.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Google, Facebook promise new IPv6 services after successful trial

Google leaves IPv6 on for YouTube; Facebook adds IPv6 to developers' site; Yahoo sees 'minimal risk' to IPv6


One day after completing a successful 24-hour trial of IPv6, Facebook, Google and Yahoo said at a joint press conference that they would begin permanently supporting this upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol on some of their key websites.

Joined by two content delivery networks -- Akamai and Limelight, which also pledged their commitment to IPv6 deployment -- these popular websites proclaimed the World IPv6 Day trial to be a resounding success. All three companies said they had handled a significant increase in IPv6 traffic on June 8 without suffering serious technical glitches.

IPv6 features an expanded addressing scheme, so it can handle vastly more devices connected directly to the Internet than its predecessor called IPv4. However, IPv6 is not backward compatible with IPv4, which means website operators have to upgrade their network equipment and software to support IPv6 traffic.


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DETAILS: No news is good news on World IPv6 Day

Google said it has decided to leave its main YouTube website enabled for IPv6 for the time being. Since 2008, Google has supported IPv6 on separate websites -- such as www.ipv6.google.com -- rather than on its main websites.

"We saw 65% growth in our IPv6 traffic on World IPv6 Day," said Lorenzo Colitti, IPv6 Software Engineer at Google, who pointed out that Google added IPv6 support to several new services including Orkut for the trial. "This event has really been successful in galvanizing the community."

"At Facebook, we saw over 1 million of our users reach us over IPv6," said Don Lee, senior network engineer at Facebook. "There were no technical glitches in this 24-hour period. We were encouraged by the many positive comments on our blog. ... It is really interesting to see how passionate people were about IPv6 around the world."

Because of the positive results from World IPv6 Day, Facebook has decided to support IPv6 on its Website for developers, which is www.developers.facebook.com.

"We will continue to adapt our entire code base to support IPv6," Lee added. "IPv6 will allow the Internet to continue its amazing development."

BY THE NUMBERS: IPv6 traffic surges at launch of World IPv6 Day

World IPv6 Day was held yesterday and was sponsored by the Internet Society. The event attracted 400-plus corporate, government and university participants that deployed IPv6 on more than 1,000 websites for the day.

Leslie Daigle, chief Internet technology officer for the Internet Society, said World IPv6 Day was designed to motivate service providers, website operators, hardware makers and software suppliers to test-drive IPv6 and to identify any remaining technical issues that need to be resolved with this emerging technology.

"It was perceived to be quite a successful day," Daigle said. "It was an amazing display of cross-industry participation. ... It's an important step in the Internet's progress. We are running out of IPv4 addresses, and IPv6 is definitely the way to move forward to make sure the Internet is a platform for innovation."

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Microsoft Demonstrates Capabilities Of Early Version Of Windows 8

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) is providing the first significant look at Windows 8, the next generation of the company's operating system that will run on tablet and desktop computers and can be used with a keyboard and mouse or on a mobile device's touchscreen.


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On Thursday Mike Angiulo, corporate vice president, Windows planning, hardware and PC ecosystem, demonstrated Windows 8 running on a variety of devices at the Computex show in Taipei, Taiwan. That followed a presentation Wednesday by Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division, and Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president, Windows Experience, of Windows 8's capabilities at the All Things D "D9" conference in Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.

Most significantly, Angiulo showed off how the Windows 8 operating system is designed to work with touch-centric hardware with the capability to work across both x86 and ARM-based mobile devices. With its touch-gesture interface, observers noted that Windows 8 in some ways more closely resembles Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system than the current Windows 7 designed for desktop PCs.

“Our aim with Windows 8 is to make the user experience a natural extension of the device, from the time you turn on your PC through how you interact with the applications you know and love,” Angiulo said in a statement. “This represents a fundamental shift in Windows design that we haven’t attempted since the days of Windows 95, presenting huge opportunities for our hardware partners to innovate with new PC designs.”

Windows 8 (technically, that's the product's code name, not the official name for the software) is expected to be generally available sometime in 2012.

Earlier this year Microsoft and chip makers AMD, Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments said they would cooperate in developing Windows 8, allowing it to run on ARM system-on-a-chip architectures along with x86-based computers.

Microsoft has been absent from the fast-growing tablet computer market that's dominated by Apple's iPad and devices from Samsung, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and others that run Google's Android mobile operating system. Windows 8 is widely seen as Microsoft's make-or-break effort to become a player in the tablet market.

Wednesday reports surfaced that Microsoft will require ARM chip makers to agree to pair up with just one mobile device manufacturer to make tablet devices running the Windows 8 operating system. That would limit the number of variations of the Windows operating system Microsoft would have to develop, test and support, accelerating how quickly it can get into the tablet market. Microsoft is reportedly offering incentives to chip and device manufacturers to agree to such restrictions.

Microsoft hasn't commented on those reports or disclosed which device makers have allied with the semiconductor manufacturers to make Windows 8 tablets.

Some of Windows 8's demonstrated new capabilities include a tile-based "Start" screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu, and Live Tiles with notifications. Applications can be quickly re-sized to the side of a screen for easier multi-tasking. And the OS fully supports applications built using HTML5 and JavaScript.

Microsoft is also promising that Windows 8 will be backwardly compatible with all Windows 7 hardware, software and peripheral devices.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Ballmer's big plan for Microsoft Retail Stores shelved

Apple 300, Microsoft 8

Despite wanting to take on Apple in the retail space by opening more dedicated Microsoft Stores, CEO Steve Ballmer has reportedly had to put his retail plans on hold for the time being.

Business Insider reports that both Ballmer and Microsoft COO Kevin Turner are keen to open lots more dedicated Microsoft Stores to try to catch-up and overtake Apple – which currently has over 300 Apple Stores worldwide.


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Microsoft has only opened eight stores since it first announced its new retail plans back in early 2009 and has recently announced plans for two more stores in Atlanta and Seattle.

Apple owns our malls

We are still to hear more about the company's plans to open a flagship UK store in London with a Microsoft PR rep telling TechRadar that there was "no news on this yet, unfortunately."

Due to the high cost of building flagship retail outlets, sources are claiming that Steve Ballmer has been convinced to shelve his big plan to take on Apple in our malls and on our high streets.For now, at least.

Of course, if Windows Phone 7 starts to overtake iPhone sales by 2015, as some analysts are already predicting, then we may well see a change in Microsoft's retail strategy over the next few years.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

FPGA Design And Sunspot Activity a 2012 Prophecy?

From the AIM satellite to Surface Rover spacecraft, high-tech microelectronic circuitry is at the heart of aerospace technology, and must be heavily protected against cosmic radiation. Yet there's a threat to micro circuitry back here on Earth as well - and it's giving FPGA designers some serious headaches.

When engineers create complex electronic systems, the reliability of the semiconductors and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) designs is paramount. In deep space, radiation is a major hazard which must be factored in the mechanical design of the spacecraft. However, as natural background radiation (NBR) it can pose a threat to terrestrial applications too. PCB designers must choose their microprocessor components carefully, ensuring they can withstand fluctuations in natural radiation levels, to maximize system reliability. But what if those levels stop being in the background?




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NBR originates from a number of sources, including radioactive decay of natural and man-made materials; cosmic rays from distant stars, and a constant stream of charged particles originating from our own sun - the solar wind. Most of these particles are deflected into the magnetosphere. However, others penetrate the atmosphere, creating high energy neutron showers which eventually reach the Earth's surface - causing chaos and failure in electronic systems by interacting with semiconductors and FPGA chips.

High levels of sunspot activity equate to higher incidences of electronic failure. The neutron flux value is an important indicator of sunspot levels, which follow an 11-year cycle of activity. Or at least, they did. The current cycle has been strange, to say the least, leading many observers to speculate that the 2012 Mayan Prophecy may arrive in the form of a massive Solar Storm - against which the Earth's magnetosphere will be largely ineffectual. The most famous event was in 1859. To give you an idea of its potential effects on electronic systems today, telegraph systems burst into flames, or sent "ghost" messages after being disconnected. Operators were electrocuted and pylons erupted in showers of sparks. The Northern Lights were seen as far south as the Caribbean.

The event, known as the Carrington Superstorm after the London astronomer who documented it, was the most powerful solar storm in recorded history - and due a recurrence. There was, in fact, a scare recently, on Valentine's Day 2011. Although minor compared to the 1859 event, it nonetheless overwhelmed the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, albeit momentarily.

Neutron flux density varies with the Earth's magnetic field, but levels overall have been rising steadily over the last 45 years. Shielding of circuits is not practical - neutrons can penetrate several feet of concrete - so FPGA designers are seriously concerned. Another problem is alpha particle contamination. The plastic moldings used in semiconductor packaging emit alpha particles, which unavoidably interact with the components, exacerbating the neutron flux problem.

There is an increasing need for reliability in terrestrial hardware systems. It is essential for PCB designers to be aware of the threat of rising NF levels on commonly used FPGA devices, and minimize risk of system failure by choosing FPGA designs with proven immunity.

We at Enventure Technologies are specialists in the field of FPGA design, and can offer all the support you need in developing your product - whatever 2012 brings.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Windows 8: A Walk-Through

We got up close and personal with the new Windows 8 operating system, which runs on both tablets and traditional PCs. Check out all the details on this radical new interface.

Microsoft gave everyone a long glimpse of Windows 8 at the D9 conference in Southern California and immediately followed that up with Windows 8 for Tablets (and PCs) at Computex 2011 in Taipei.



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Computex 2011 bug

The last two days mark the first time Microsoft is unveiling the Windows 8 interface to the public, and the new look is a radical departure from the Windows operating systems that precede it. For mobile devices, Windows 8's new touch interface looks similar to the operating system it uses for its Smartphones, called Windows Phone 7. Of course, there's a lot more going on underneath the hood than just a pretty interface. Windows 8 will be able to scale from touch-friendly tablets to full-blown desktops. It's designed to work on "the hundreds of millions of PCs already out in the market," according to Microsoft.

It has been a tough road leading up to this point, what with Apple and Google eating up the tablet market share. But Microsoft looks ready to fight a good tablet war, thanks to Windows 8. In Taipei, Windows 8 was demonstrated on several tablets, ARM-based devices, and PCs. Follow the slides to sQee how it works.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Will the carriers kill the mobile revolution?

Verizon's ugly ploy to squeeze out small carriers
If you live in a big city, you've probably never heard of Blue Grass Cellular. But to millions of people living in rural areas, companies like Blue Grass offer the best -- in some cases, the only -- local service you can buy. You might think that the survival of those companies isn't your problem. But it is.


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To stay in business, companies like Blue Grass have to make roaming agreements with the big national carriers. Those agreements allow their subscribers to have service when they travel to other regions. Without those agreements, subscribers who want service when they're away from home would be forced to sign up with Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint, or AT&T, further bolstering these already large and powerful companies.

To protect the small carriers and their customers, the FCC earlier this year passed what sounds like a very reasonable rule: Mobile broadband providers must provide data roaming to other carriers "on commercially reasonable terms and conditions." The carriers offering roaming services still have the freedom to negotiate agreements with smaller carriers individually, but they can't arbitrarily turn them down or make charges so high that customers couldn't afford them.

And that's something they've done in the past, says Steven K. Berry, the CEO of the Rural Cellular Association, which represents about 100 carriers.

But Verizon Wireless doesn't want to abide by that rule and is suing in a federal court to have it thrown out. "It is not at all surprising that Verizon Wireless is appealing the data roaming order. Verizon has fought competitive policies for a long time. They have opposed data roaming, they have opposed interoperability, and they have opposed putting an end to exclusive handset deals," says Berry.

Simply put, Verizon Wireless is trying to reduce the market to fewer and fewer players. The bigger Verizon Wireless and its rival AT&T become, the more leverage they have to set prices and terms of services across the country. Already, they together control about three-quarters of the market. Why hasn't AT&T jumped in as well? "In sports parlance, this is the equivalent of what you would call a tag-team match. If AT&T is not there to fight a logical competitive policy decision, then Verizon will step in to complete the tag-team operation for the duopoly," Berry says.

Verizon Wireless argues that it does sign agreements with small carriers. "The reason that we're filing the appeal is we just think that the voluntarily negotiated agreements have been working," a company spokesperson said.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Hotmail and Yahoo users also victims of targeted attacks

In a blog post, published Thursday, Villeneuve outlined other attacks, including one that leveraged a Hotmail Web programming bug to suck email messages from users' accounts. This attack worked by tricking victims into reading a maliciously encoded email message. It hit Taiwanese victims.


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Another attack, spotted recently by Trend Micro, attempted to break into Yahoo Mail accounts by stealing the browser's cookie files and then using that information to try and trick Yahoo's servers into divulging sensitive information, Villneuve said. However, it looks like this attack didn't actually work thanks to technical difficulties, he said.

Microsoft was unable to immediately comment for this story, but earlier it did confirm that it fixed the Hotmail flaw. A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment on Trend Micro's report, but said that the company does "take security very seriously."

"We invest heavily in protective measures to ensure the security of our users and their data," the Yahoo spokeswoman said in an email message. "We also use a multi-faceted approach to further protect against spam, phishing and other online scams, which includes rapid response, industry collaboration, public policy efforts, and consumer awareness."

Although Gmail is now getting the most attention, Yahoo Mail is actually the most targeted Web mail platform, according to one researcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is involved in sensitive investigations into these attacks. "It's been going on for a very long time," he said. "Campaigns go on every day."

Friday, June 3, 2011

MCSE Certification - Still a Relevant Qualification

Although there are more recent systems and qualifications available, it shows that you can design, implement and administrate Information systems on these servers and can really boost your CV.The MCSE certification indicates you can work at a high standard on all several Windows servers up to and including the mcts windows server 2008 .



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The MCITP certification has arrived and does cover all the aspects of more recent Microsoft servers. On the other hand, while it is important to be up-to-date, it always takes a while for older technology to filter out of use and it does not look as though server 2003 is going to disappear any time soon and having a certification for this system can only be beneficial.

MCSE stands for Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, and the qualification has been around for several years now, meaning that most officials are aware of it. With the arrival of the new Microsoft MCSA Certification qualifications many people believe that the MCSE is out of date, but this is not necessarily true.

By no means is this an either/or situation. On the contrary, an extra certification can only help you. Starting out with the MCSE and then progressing to the MCITP will show that you have a broader understanding of your subject and the development of information systems. There are also MCSE 2008 upgrade courses available to show that you have that range of knowledge.

After all, it is better to be able to show a commitment to the career, and this certification might not be around forever. The broader your range of experience and qualification the better equipped you are. The MCSE certification can also help you gain CISSP or MCITP qualifications if you choose to expand on it.

In order to get an MCSE qualification there are seven exams you have to pass. This could seem like a lot of work but gaining MCSE certification does not need to take over your life. With user friendly computer based training available you can learn in your own time. These courses are put together by experts as well, so you do not need to worry about the quality of what you are studying. So, do not dismiss the mcse training qualification just yet. It will be useful for several years yet and still improves your CV.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

How to Enable Windows 7 Administrator Account And Reset Lost Win 7 Admin Password

How to enable Windows 7 administrator account and reset lost Win 7 admin password

There are two parts for your Windows 7:
* Enable Windows 7 administrator account
* Reset lost Win 7 admin password




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With 240 million licenses sold out in one year, Windows 7 has been proved to be a successful product of Microsoft. Compared with its previous versions like Windows XP, it has many improved features. The built-in administrator account is one of the features. In Windows XP, there is a default administrator account after installation. But the built-in administrator account is disabled by default in Windows 7. To enable Windows 7 administrator account and assign a password to it, you can achieve it in 2 methods.

Part I: Enable Windows 7 administrator account

Method 1: Use Command Prompt

The easiest way to enable the Windows 7 built-in administrator account is to use the Command Prompt.

1. Click Start and type CMD in the search box. Right-click CMD and select Run as Administrator.
2. Click Yes when prompted to allow the Command Processor to run. And then the command prompt will appear.
3. Type net user in the command prompt window, and then hit Enter. All the Windows account user names will be listed. You'll also see the Administrator account, but now it is not enabled.
4. Type net user administrator /active:yes and hit Enter to enable Windows 7 admin account.

Now the Windows 7 administrator account is created. To create the Windows 7 administrator password, you can follow the below steps:

1. Switch to log on Windows 7 with the administrator account.
2. Click Start, Control Panel, User Accounts and Family Safety and User Accounts in order. You'll enter the screen where you can make changes for your account.
3. Click Create a password for your account on the screen.
4. In the coming screen, type and confirm your Win 7 admin password.
5. Enter password hint and click Create Password.

Now your Windows 7 admin password is successfully created.

Method 2: Use Local Users and Groups

1. Click Start and type lusrmgr.msc in the search box, and then hit Enter. The Local Users and Groups screen will come up.
2. Double-click the Users folder. And all the Windows 7 account will be displayed for you.
3. Right-click the Administrator account and select Properties.
4. Uncheck the "Account is disabled" check-box and click OK on the administrator properties screen.

Now Win 7 admin account is enabled. To set a password for the enabled Windows 7 administrator account, follow the steps as below:

1. Right-click the Administrator account and select Set Password.
2. Click Proceed to go on your operation
3. Type and confirm your new Win 7 admin password and click Ok
4. Close the Local Users and Groups screen.

Now the Windows 7 administrator password is assigned to your Windows 7 admin account.

Part II: Reset lost Win 7 admin password

Windows 7 administrator password reset Tips:

Note 1. Please remember to create a Windows 7 password reset disk after assigning Windows administrator password. It allows you to change your forgotten Win 7 admin password when you are locked out of Windows.

Note 2. If you forgot to create the password reset disk, you can choose to use Windows Password Breaker to help create a Windows 7 password reset disk rather than reinstalling the system. Now follow the steps to create the Windows 7 password reset disk.

step 1. Download and install Windows Password Breaker.
step 2. Run the program and burn a Windows password reset disk.
Step 3. Reset Windows 7 administrator password with the disk.

It is an easy and safe way for Windows 7 admin password reset.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Exam 70-620 - Mcts Windows Vista Certification Exam Objectives And Guidelines

Exam 70-620 is one of the microsoft exams and the name of this examination is MCTS Windows Vista certification. This certification will suit best to the candidates who wish to gain skills and knowledge on validating efficiently to install, manage as well as configure windows Vista operating system in any level enterprise environments. This examination is also helpful to the IT professionals to upgrade their skills to the windows Vista operating system. Successful completion of this examination will help the candidates to earn Microsoft certified technology specialist certification in this configuration.


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Requirements And Job Roles For This Examination:

This examination will target the IT professionals who have work experience or knowledge in solving issues in the network connectivity, desktop operating system and other issues related with desktop applications. Candidates can get several job opportunities in the top companies after certifying with this examination. Some of the job roles include: technical support specialists, network administrators, system administrators and system analysts etc.

Exam Objectives:

The following are the Windows Vista exam objectives and they are:

1) Network connectivity configuration
2) Windows security features configuration
3) Upgrading as well as installing windows vista
4) Troubleshooting as well as configuring the mobile computing
5) Configuring the applications that are included in windows vista
6) Optimizing as well as maintaining systems that run windows vista
7) Troubleshooting and configuring post installation system settings

Other Details:

Exams can be registered in Pearson VUE centers or in online through Pearson VUE website by paying the fee. The exam comprises of 70 questions with 120 minutes time duration and no adaptive or case study type questions. Only multiple choices, drag- drop, built a tree, reorder type questions are asked. Minimum score to pass in the exam is around 700 out of 1000 (70%).
Install and configure Windows Vista drivers.Configuring and troubleshooting Post-installation system settingsTroubleshoot post-installation configuration issues.Configure and troubleshoot Windows Aero.Configure and troubleshoot parental controls.Configure Microsoft Internet Explorer.Configuring Windows security featuresConfigure and troubleshoot User Account Control.Configure Windows Defender.Configure Dynamic Security for Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.Configure security settings in Windows Firewall.Configuring network connectivityConfiguring networking by using the Network and Sharing Center.Troubleshoot connectivity issues.Configure remote access.Configuring applications included with Windows VistaConfigure and troubleshoot media applications.Configure Windows Mail.Configure Windows Meeting Space.Configure Windows Calendar.Configure Windows Fax and Scan.Configure Windows Sidebar.Maintaining and optimizing systems that run Windows VistaTroubleshoot performance issues.Troubleshoot reliability issues by using free Microsoft exam questionsbuilt-in diagnostic tools.Configure Windows Update.Configure data protection.Configuring and troubleshooting mobile computingConfigure mobile display settings.Configure mobile devices.Configure Tablet PC software.Configure power options.