Microsoft’s upcoming operating system Windows 8 is coming with a unique feature called “System Reset“. System Reset will let users restore Windows 8 to factory defaults. This feature will save a lot of time for system administrators and users alike, and will save you from having to reinstall Windows.

RefreshPC is a free program developed for Windows that offers similar system reset option to current Microsoft Windows operating systems. Though this freeware application will not restore the operating system like Windows 8′s “System Reset” feature, but it will restore only a few sections of the operating system.

RefreshPC will be handy for users, who love to experimenting with Windows Registry settings and system services. Another example would be users who have used Windows system optimizer and have caused more harm to the system than good. Malicious virus, spyware, trojan attack that changed critical system settings can also be restored back to default after cleaning it using your favorite antivirus.

After you have downloaded RefreshPC, you need to install the program and create a System Restore point (recommended). The program than detects your operating system and version, and displays the information. You will find only a single button that will let you restore the settings to their factory defaults when clicked on.

RefreshPC will do the following:

The freeware application is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system, from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Download RefreshPC for refreshing your Windows back to defaults.

Ever faced a situation where after uninstalling a software, you find that it has left behind its service or driver references in the registry, and when Windows tries to load them at every boot, it fails displaying an error? This mostly happens with the security programs (though other applications also causes trouble) that fails to remove its installed services or drivers. Even though we posted an ultimate list of antivirus removal tools, but it is not enough.

We need something which will solve the problem in general for almost every Windows applications that causes trouble. In this article, we will show “how to easily remove an orphaned or unwanted service or driver from your Windows system.”

Basically there are three methods to deal with the problem. You can either use Windows in-built sc.exe command, or use the Registry Editor, or using Microsoft Sysinternals Autoruns for Windows utility.

Warning: Use this tutorial with caution, once you delete a service from Windows system, it’s gone, and it will be very difficult to install it back.

The first thing that you’ll need to do is identify the name of the service. To do so, open Services through the Start Menu or Control Panel or press Windows + R key and type services.msc then press Enter. Find the service in the list that you want to delete. Now, double-click on the service name to open up the Properties dialog-box. Now, highlight the “Service name” value and press Ctrl + C to copy it to the clipboard. You’ll need this name to remove it. For more information, see the article: How to find the short names of services.

Remove unwanted services from Windows using sc.exe command

The sc.exe is a command-line tool in Windows 7/Vista/XP. It can be used to create, edit or delete Services. From the TechNet documentation, sc.exe:

Communicates with the Service Controller and installed services. SC.exe retrieves and sets control information about services. You can use SC.exe for testing and debugging service programs. Service properties stored in the registry can be set to control how service applications are started at boot time and run as background processes. SC.exe parameters can configure a specific service, retrieve the current status of a service, as well as stop and start a service. You can create batch files that call various SC.exe commands to automate the startup or shutdown sequence of services. SC.exe provides capabilities similar to Services in the Administrative Tools item in Control Panel.

Windows 7 and Vista users are needed to open up an elevated command-prompt, that is, right-click the command prompt and choose Run as Administrator. Windows XP users can open a simple command prompt but the account should have administrative rights.

The sc.exe command syntax used to delete a service is:

sc delete ServiceName

Where the text in emphasis/italics represents the short name of a service (which you have already copied as shown earlier in this article), and not its display name. For example, the short name for Automatic Updates service is wuauserv, but its display name is Automatic Updates.

Now if you press the F5 key to refresh Windows Services list, you’ll see that the service is gone for good.

The second method involves using the Registry Editor

If your edition of Windows XP or Windows Vista does not ship with sc.exe console tool, then you may have to edit the registry manually. Simply use the underlined steps:

1. Start Regedit.exe and navigate to the following branch:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
2. The Service and driver entries are present under the above registry key. Each sub-key represents a driver or a Service. You should be able to identify them easily by looking at the DisplayName and ImagePath values in the right-pane in the Registry Editor.
3. Once you spot the Service/driver entry, right-click on the key and choose Delete.

Warning: Before modifying or removing a Service, create a System Restore point and/or a complete Registry backup, just in case something happens.

The third method is easy compared to the earlier two and involves using Autoruns for Windows app

Autoruns is a must-have tool for Windows users which helps you manage Windows startup, services, drivers, Winsock providers, Internet Explorer add-ons, Shell extensions and much more.

1. Simply download Autoruns and run it. Windows 7 and Vista users are needed to run it as an administrator. To do so, simply right-click on the Autoruns.exe file and select Run as Administrator.
2. Click on Options, tick on Hide Microsoft Entries, so that you can filter out legitimate Microsoft Windows system Services and see only third-party entries. This make it easy for you to spot a third-party driver or Service.
3. Press F5 key to refresh the listing.
4. Now, click on the Services tab and you can easily remove unwanted drivers and Services from there.

Important: Before deleting any service think hard, search for it using any search engine like Google, Bing, etc to find out if that service is important or not, because it’s very difficult to get them back once they are gone. Deleting any important service needed by Windows may cause instability or may lead to loss of data. We will not be liable to you in any way for any kind of data loss that occurs due to mishandling of this information. Use with high caution!

Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott has discovered a new feature in Windows 8, Aero Auto-Colorization. Microsoft Windows 7 users must have seen the new Personalization interface, which allows users to customize their desktops as they wished to. In Windows 8, the software giant has gone a few steps further by letting users customize the Aero elements to the fullest. Rafael and Paul found out that Windows 8 has a new ability to automatically configure the color of Aero elements, like the Start Menu, Windows Explorer windows, and the taskbar based on the desktop wallpaper which is set.

What this means is that whenever the desktop wallpaper changes, the Aero elements change their color to match it. This is a great feature as users will now see different colors as soon as the desktop wallpaper changes thus removing the monotonic look of only one color for the Aero elements all the time.

The ability to automatically color Aero based on the underlying wallpaper.

To make this change in Windows 8, users have to visit the Personalization interface, which basically is unchanged since Windows 7, and then click on Window Color. As you can see in the screenshot below, there’s a new option in the grid of window color swatches: Automatic. Click on this swatch and then click on the Save changes button.

Now, as soon as you rotate through different wallpapers, the window color will automatically change to match the color of the wallpaper (but do keep in mind that this effect only occurs in Aero mode only).

See some examples below (images credit: Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott)

Before this, they also revealed that Windows 8 will apparently be including its own PDF reader to be known as Modern Reader and the app utilizes the new AppX application package type.

modern reader - side by side

Now, before concluding this article, here’s something that Windows 7 users will love! A tiny app called Aura is available that lets Windows 7 users get Windows 8′s featured adaptive Aero colorization (Aero Auto-Colorization).

When the program is run, it sits in the system tray and automatically adjusts your Aero window borders to compliment your wallpaper.

A number of top blogs are reporting that Microsoft has begun to distribute early copies of Windows 8 to key OEM partners via Microsoft Connect. The software giant’s Connect is an external testing system, My Technology Guide has learned that the company is distributing build 7971.0.110324-1900.

According to one poster at the My Digital Life forums, the program is advertised as Windows 8 and Server vNext Pre-Release Program, on Microsoft’s Connect site and requires a special invite code.

OEM’s have received an invitation code to download Windows 8 via Connect. Following is the download URL but the invitation code has been removed for obvious reasons:

http://connect.microsoft.com/site1094/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=5474&InvitationID=XXX-XXXX-XXXX

Microsoft is expected to be readying a Windows 8 beta for September. Microsoft’s primary Windows 8 interface is believed to be fully 3D. The interface will be “fully dynamic” and able to adapt to user habits. Icons and shortcuts will adapt to different usage scenarios to speed up daily tasks. Windows 8 is also rumored to include a new fast hibernation system. The system will hibernate in around three to six seconds and save all open documents and running tasks.

Paul Thurrott suggests that Microsoft is working on a tile-based user interface codenamed Mosh. “I have to believe that this UI will be an alternative UI, and not a full replacement, or will appear only on low-end tablet-like devices aimed at the iPad,” wrote Thurrott.

Rumors also suggests about a dual-UI for Windows 8. Windows 8 will also include a new app model codenamed Jupiter that will target a new Windows Marketplace app store. The app store will provide access to new, Silverlight based “immersive” applications that are deployed as AppX packages (.appx). The Windows and Office teams are betting very heavily on this new app type, according to my source, and development has already begun using a beta version of Visual Studio 2012. These apps can be written in C#, Visual Basic, and even C++. Microsoft is also building a system reset function in Windows 8.

Microsoft has so far been extremely quiet on the Windows 8 front. Windows Chief, Steven Sinofsky, took to the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January to introduce a technology preview of Microsoft’s Windows ARM support and show off an early build of Windows 8. Microsoft is partnering with ARM-based manufactures NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments to produce new Tablet devices.

Microsoft is planning to push Internet Explorer 9 as an Important Windows Update to existing beta and RC users on March 21. The update will also be offered as Important to normal Windows users. Microsoft revealed that Internet Explorer 9 RTW has been downloaded 2.35 million times in the first 24 hours of availability. Internet Explorer 9 was released to the web on Monday March 14 and has clocked up 27 downloads per second, over 250 downloads every 10 seconds. Microsoft revealed earlier this month that users have downloaded 36 million copies of Internet Explorer 9 since its beta release in September.

It was already confirmed earlier by Microsoft’s head of Internet Explorer, Dean Hachamovitch, that Microsoft will upgrade RC users to the final build. “We will automatically update IE9 beta users to the IE9 RC. After the final release, we will automatically update IE9 RC users to the final build,” said Hachamovitch.

Internet Explorer 9 includes an enhanced minimalistic user interface with HTML5 support, hardware accelerated browsing and some great security improvements. Tracking Protection is included in IE 9. The new privacy feature allows consumers to address their concerns about being tracked on the web. Internet Explorer 9 offers users a new opt-in mechanism to identify and block many forms of undesired tracking such as cookies, web beacons, advertisements and trackers. Tracking protection involves lists that can be published online. Another security enhancement is the ability to block ActiveX controls. IE 9 includes an “ActiveX filter” option that allows users to switch off ActiveX elements within their session. Other improvement includes improved tabbing and site pinning.

We have covered some handy IE 9 keyboard shortcuts published by Microsoft earlier. These keyboard shortcuts will help users use IE9 faster. We also covered the release of IE9 product guide (manual) by Microsoft in the same article. The guide gives detailed information about the new features in IE9, will help you in getting started and easily understand most of the useful features in IE9.

Microsoft’s February Patch Tuesday was very critical with 12 updates fixing 22 vulnerabilities, out of which three are 0-day vulnerabilities. The bulletins address issues in Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Visual Studio and IIS. March in comparison with last month is fairly quiet month for Patch Tuesday patches. This month’s Patch Tuesday will have just three bulletins going out, two for Windows operating system and one for Groove 2007 users. These three bulletins are going to patch a total of four vulnerabilities.

Out of the two bulletins for Windows, one bulletin rated critical; the Groove bulletin and the other Windows bulletin rated as important. All three bulletins “may” need a restart after installation.

As ever, Microsoft has issued no information about which publicly disclosed vulnerabilities–if any–will be included in the patches. The critical rated bulletin will fix a flaw in Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 systems. The second bulletin, rated important, will fix a flaw in all supported versions of Windows, including Server products. The third bulletin affects Microsoft Groove 2007 SP2 product. All three bulletins marked as Remote Code Execution exploits. However, confirmation of this is not possible until the patches are released next week.

Microsoft seems to have missed to patch Internet Explorer ahead of next week’s Pwn2Own hacker contest. It’s not yet clear whether Microsoft has failed to patch the MHTML vulnerability before the Pwn2Own hacker contest, which kicks off next week in Vancouver, Canada. The Register reports that both IE browser rivals Mozilla and Google patched Firefox and Chrome earlier this week in preparation of the event. The MHTML vulnerability affects Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and all supported Windows Server releases. The vulnerability exists due to the way MHTML interprets MIME-formatted requests for content blocks within a document. It is possible for this vulnerability to allow an attacker to run script in the wrong security context. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could inject a client-side script in the user’s Internet Explorer instance.

The bulletins will be released on Tuesday at 10:00am PST. Microsoft will as usual host a webcast to address customer questions on the security bulletins on March 9, 2011, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada). You can get more information at Microsoft Security Bulletin.

Microsoft for February’s Patch Tuesday has released an advanced notification about the upcoming security patches. Microsoft will be issuing 12 updates fixing 22 vulnerabilities, out of which three are 0-day vulnerabilities. These patches will update Windows operating system, Internet Explorer, and the Visio software.

Three bulletins, including the Internet Explorer patch, earn the most severe “Critical” rating. The remaining nine, including the Visio fix, earn a still significant “Important” score. All the patches excluding three of the fixes will need a reboot.

The following table summarizes the security bulletins for this month in order of severity.

The patches will be released on Tuesday, February 8, 2011, at 10:00am PST. Microsoft will host a webcast to address customer questions on the security bulletins on February 9, 2011, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada).

The full advanced notification is accessible from here.

DNS request are usually cached by our operating system. It’s a good way to speed up the DNS lookups, but sometimes we may want to clear the cache or “flush DNS cache” so that it doesn’t hold the old values that are no longer valid.

Follow our guide below to “flush,” i.e., clear the DNS cache in Mac OS and Windows operating system.

How to flush DNS cache in Microsoft Windows operating system?

1. Windows 7 and Vista users, click on the Start button and in the search box, type cmd and open the command prompt.
   Windows XP and earlier Windows edition users, click on the Start button, click on Run to open the Run dialog box. Type cmd and press Enter to open the command prompt.
2. Now, in the command prompt, type the command: ipconfig /flushdns
3. Press Enter and Windows will clear it’s DNS cache.

How to flush DNS cache in Mac OS?

Mac (OS Tiger and below) users need to use the following command in the Terminal to clear the DNS cache:

lookupd -flushcache

However, in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, a new command has replaced lookupd -flushcache command. So, to clear DNS cache in Leopard, you just need to type the following command in your Terminal and hit enter:

dscacheutil -flushcache

My friend called me yesterday to help him in getting back Windows 7 in the boot menu. What he did was, repair his Windows XP installation and now after repair he cannot find Windows 7 in the boot menu. Now, he was having a dual-boot configuration with Windows XP and Windows 7. The problem that he was facing is very common and every user who is having a similar dual-boot configuration also faces this problem when they try to repair or reinstall an older Windows version.

If you install Windows 7 or Windows Vista as a second operating system on a computer system where Windows XP is already installed, the Windows boot menu incorporates the options from the older boot menu. But, let us suppose, if you install a fresh copy of Windows XP or on a system that is already running Windows 7, Windows will overwrite the MBR with the old one that doesn’t recognize the Windows 7 boot loader. Each time you install any version of Windows, it rewrites the MBR to call its own boot loader.

But there is solution available to repair the MBR damage. Follow the steps below and you will be able to get back the MBR settings that was lost. (This guide will work for Windows XP, Vista, 7.)

After booting into the older Windows (in this case Windows XP), insert your Windows 7 DVD. Now, open Command Prompt window (type cmd in the Run dialog box and press Enter) from within the older operating system. Run the following command from the Windows 7 DVD, substituting the letter of your DVD drive for x here:

x:\boot\ bootsect.exe /nt60 all

Now, after you restart your computer system, you should see the Windows 7 boot menu. But, wait a second, what happened to the entry to your earlier operating system? Well, don’t panic, to restore the menu entry for your earlier version of Windows, open an elevated Command Prompt window (right-click on cmd in Windows 7 or Vista, select Run as Administrator) and type this command:

bcdedit /create {ntldr} —d "Menu description goes here"

Substitute your own description for the placeholder text, being sure to include the quotation marks. The next time you start your computer, the menus should appear as you intended.

An even easier solution is to use boot-editing utilities like EasyBCD that supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2003 or 2008. EasyBCD can also be used to switch quickly from a Windows XP-style boot loader to its Windows 7 counterpart and back again.

Microsoft routinely releases patches every month’s second Tuesday, popularly known as “Patch Tuesday.” During this monthly security update cycle, Microsoft has released 9 new security updates on September 14, 2010.

In the update, Microsoft also released MS10-061 patch to address vulnerability first discovered and reported by Kaspersky Lab and then later by Symantec. This vulnerability in the Print Spooler Service is rated Critical for Windows XP and Important on all other affected platforms and is used by Stuxnet to spread to systems inside the network where the Print Spooler service is exposed without authentication.

In addition, Microsoft researchers uncovered two additional Elevation of Privilege (EoP) vulnerabilities (one of which was also reported by Kaspersky to Microsoft, and later independently confirmed by Symantec) used by the malware to gain full control of the infected system. One of these EoP vulnerabilities affects Windows XP and the other affects Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2. These are local EoP issues which means that an attacker, in this case Stuxnet, already has permission to run code on the system or has compromised the system through some other means. Microsoft is working to address both issues in a future bulletin.

The latest security updates published are:

• MS10-061 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 2347290)
• MS10-062 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 975558)
• MS10-063 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office (KB 2320113)
• MS10-064 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Office (KB 2315011)
• MS10-065 - addresses vulnerabilities in Microsoft Internet Information Services (KB 2267960)
• MS10-066 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 982802)
• MS10-067 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 2259922)
• MS10-068 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 983539)
• MS10-069 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 2121546)

You can click on the links to get more information related to the patch.

As you can see from the total severity and exploitability index chart below, there are two bulletins that are both Critical and have an exploitability index rating of 1. The first is MS10-061 discussed above and the second, MS10-062, involves a vulnerability in the MPEG-4 codec affecting supported versions of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. This issue can be exploited if a user opens a specially crafted media file or receives streaming content from the web.

The remaining bulletins are given a 2 or a 3 in Microsoft’s deployment priority list.

You may already have the update if you have automatic updating turned on. If you do not have automatic updating turned on, or you just want to check whether you need the update, simply visit Microsoft Update.

Microsoft Update is an online tool that will scan your computer and provide you a report about what updates your computer needs.

You can also download the security updates from the Microsoft Download Center. Find them by doing a keyword search using the words security update and the name of the month the update was released.

CCleaner is a very useful tool to clean temporary files and other junk data in the Windows operating system. CCEnhancer (formerly CCleaner Enhancer) updates the popular system cleaning utility with support for cleaning up after 450 more applications, so you can keep your system even more free of junk.

Once you’ve downloaded CCEnhancer, start the utility, and your CCleaner installation will be updated with support for the extra applications. If you want to update the portable version of CCleaner, you’ll be prompted to select the folder to install the rules in. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users need to run the program as administrators, as it otherwise fails to work properly. You’ll find the new rules on the Applications tab in CCleaner. You won’t actually find all 450 new rules in the list, since you’ll only see the rules that actually apply to your system.

The actual file containing the definitions is not included with the program, but is instead downloaded by the program. Simply press ‘Download Latest‘ and the tool will automatically download the most recent version of the definitions.

If CCEnhancer cannot locate the CCleaner.exe file you can open a dialog box and select the page yourself. When used correctly, you should see more programs appear in the CCleaner menu; like so:

Among the new programs that CCleaner will have support for are SRWare Iron, Yahoo Messenger, WinRAR, Windows Update Logs, Windows Live Messenger, VLC, Winamp, uTorrent, Valve Steam Logs, Gimp, SMplayer, RealPlayer SP, Quicktime, Microsoft Visual Studio, KMplayer, IMGBurn, Foxit PDF Reader, Foobar 2000 and more.

New programs are added to the list periodically, thus making CCEnhancer a must have for every CCleaner user.

CCEnhancer can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Microsoft has released the official beta version of Windows 7 SP1 at last publicly. Users who want to download and install the beta version of SP1 are first needed to register at the Evaluation Center. During registration remember to select IT or any developer related occupation to be able to download Windows 7 Service Pack 1. SP1 is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7, and are available in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish language.

This service pack is also offered via Windows Update and in standard ISO image format, which is around 1.2 GB in size and required to be burned to a DVD first to use it.

Note: Users will be reminded beginning March 30, 2011 about the expiration of SP1 beta. The beta will expire on June 30, 2011. After the expiration, users will have to then either upgrade to a newer build or uninstall and return to the RTM build by that time. Please read the FAQ over at Microsoft which answers common questions related to SP1.

Executing the download enables the system to receive the Service Pack 1 Beta via Windows Update. It can take a while before the update shows in Windows Update. Windows 7 users who chooses to install SP1 beta via Windows Update will notice that the download size is between 45 MB to 600 MB, which is very less when compared to the standard ISO image size.

Free documentation provided by Microsoft that will come handy when deploying the SP1 beta:

• Deployment Guide for Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 and Windows 7 with SP1
• Documentation for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Beta (KB976932)

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 beta does not add new features to the operating system. It will consist of updates that are already available through Microsoft Windows Update and some more hotfixes based on the feedback provided by the customers and partners. Hence, we will recommend users not to install the SP1 beta and wait until the final service pack 1 is released before upgrading.

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta, however, consists of two new features:

Dynamic memory: An enhancement to Hyper-V in R2. It allows IT administrators to pool all the memory available on a physical host and dynamically distribute it to virtual machines running on that host as necessary. That means based on changes in workload, VM will be able to receive new memory allocations without a service interruption.

RemoteFX: RemoteFX describes a set of rich media capabilities that are available to customers using the Remote Desktop Services platform to deploy a virtual machine- or session-based remote desktop infrastructure. Specifically, RemoteFX enhances the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) in Remote Desktop Services, so that remote workers can access any type of application or screen content, including rich media and 3D applications, improving end-user productivity.

You have just brought a brand new PC or laptop or netbook that came pre-installed with Windows 7 from one of the major manufacturers, viz. Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba, etc. But the problem that you face when buying from them is you won’t receive any Windows 7 installation media with your purchase. Instead, you will receive either a “recovery disc” (if you’re that much lucky) with your purchase or you’ll have a “recovery partition” built-in your machine.

You may ask what is the problem here, as you can easily recover your Windows 7 or Vista, using the “recovery disk” or “recovery partition.” Well, the problem is, when you use the recovery disks/recovery partition to recover Windows 7 or Vista, it will delete all your files and restore your computer to the state it was in when you first purchased it.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista DVD installation media comes with a “recovery center” that allows you to fix common Windows operating system related problems without restoring the whole computer back. If you do not have this DVD, Microsoft have made a recovery disc for this purpose. The Windows 7/Vista Recovery Disc can be used to access a system recovery menu, giving you options of using System Restore, Complete PC Backup, automated system repair, and a command-line prompt for manual advanced recovery.

NeoSmart Technologies is hosting a copy of the Windows 7 Recovery Disc and a copy of Windows Vista Recovery Disk for your convenience. Windows 7 Recovery Disk 32-bit version is 143 MB in download size while the 64-bit is 165 MB in download size. Windows Vista Recovery Disk is 120 MB in download size. All these recovery disks are in the standard ISO format, ready to be burned directly to a CD or DVD.

Note: You cannot use the recovery disc to install Windows 7 or Windows Vista from scratch or reinstall Windows.

• Download Windows 7 Recovery Disc
• Download Windows Vista Recovery Disc

Update: NeoSmart Technologies is no longer hosting the downloads. Instead, you are being directed to SystemDiscs.com by them. SystemDiscs.com charges $9.75 for downloading.

Don’t wait until your PC crashes, we suggest you to create your own Windows 7 repair disc or create a system image of Windows 7/Vista and keep the disc safely, before any disaster happens.

VLC Media Player is one of the best media player for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platform and its new avatar is even better. VLC Media Player is updated to version 1.1.0, adding many new features like extensions, new user interface, support for GPU acceleration among others. If you are still living under the rock and is unaware of what VLC Media Player is, well:

VLC media player is a free and open source media player and multimedia framework written by the VideoLAN project. It is one of the most platform-independent media players available, with versions for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BeOS, and BSD.

The new version of VLC Media Player fills all your needs and can handle DVD, (S)VCD, Audio CD, web streams, TV cards and much more. You don’t even need to install dozens of codec packs, VLC has all the codecs built-in and comes with support for nearly all codecs. It can even play back the damaged file or media, it plays all the video and audio information that’s still intact in the broken media file.

The latest release of VLC Media Player also brings in better support for HD videos. Made possible using GPU decoding on Windows Vista and Windows 7, using DxVA2 for H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2, and, GPU decoding on GNU/Linux, using VAAPI for H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2, and, DSP decoding using OpenMax IL, for compatible embedded devices. Improved support for MKV HD that includes seeking fixes, and 7.1 channels codecs and support for new codecs, like Blu-Ray subtitles, MPEG-4 lossless and VP8 is also notable.

With the addition to improved web plugins, the latest version of VLC also delivers improved streaming capabilities. The support new add-ons and script frameworks, makes it easier for developers to extend the application. VideoLAN also worked hard to streamline VLC 1.1.0 as much as possible, boosting the decoding speed by up to 40% especially in HD resolutions. On top of this, the application’s code has been rewritten, with overall functionality of the media player optimized.

Audio experience in VLC 1.1.0 is also improved a lot. It now offers integrated playlist in the Qt4 interface with multiple views (like album art) in the playlist. VLC 1.1.0 now supports AMR-NB, MPEG-4 ALS, Vorbis 6.1/7.1, FLAC 6.1/7.1 and WMAS. CDDB and CD-Text works now on the Windows port when you are listening to CD-Audio. It also supports DVD-Audio files (.aob). VLC Media Player now comes with improved meta-data and album-art support.

Extensions for VLC makes it possible to add new add-ons and script framework and further personalize VLC Media Player. Two types of extensions are available in VLC: content add-ons, integrated in the playlist and functionality extensions, more like metadata searching on the web, or enhanced subtitles look-up.

Full feature list can be found here.

With all these new improvements, VLC Media Player 1.1.0 is a must have multimedia player and a definite upgrade from the old version.

[ Download VLC Media Player ]

Microsoft Security Response Center has released a notification that Microsoft will issue 10 Security Bulletins addressing 34 vulnerabilities on Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Microsoft Technet will host a webcast to address customer questions about the security bulletins the following day.

The list of affected operating systems includes Windows 2000, Windows XP (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows Server 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit), and Windows Server 2008 R2. In terms of the Microsoft Office suites, all supported versions are affected on both Windows and Mac OS X. Three of the vulnerabilities are rated “Critical” and seven are rated “Important.” At least two of the 10 patches will need a restart. February’s Internet Explorer flaw and April’s SharePoint vulnerability will both be patched this month.

The exact breakdown of the security bulletin is as follows:

• Bulletin 1: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows
• Bulletin 2: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows
• Bulletin 3: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows, Internet Explorer
• Bulletin 4: Important (Elevation of Privilege), Windows
• Bulletin 5: Important (Remote Code Execution), Office
• Bulletin 6: Important (Elevation of Privilege), Windows
• Bulletin 7: Important (Remote Code Execution), Office
• Bulletin 8: Important (Elevation of Privilege), Office, Microsoft Server Software
• Bulletin 9: Important (Remote Code Execution), Windows
• Bulletin 10: Important (Tampering), Windows

Along with these patches, Microsoft is also planning to release the following on Patch Tuesday:

• One or more non-security, high-priority updates on Windows Update (WU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
• One or more non-security, high-priority updates on Microsoft Update (MU) and WSUS
• An updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services, and the Microsoft Download Center

Microsoft has been known to rush patches or to pull them if necessary, so this information is subject to change.

X-Setup Pro is the best Windows system configuration and tweaking utility. X-Setup Pro is extremely easy to use and it allows you to nearly change 1800 hidden Windows settings and configurations that no other tweaking tool provides. X-Setup Pro wizards help you when you changing critical Windows configurations.

But it is sad to know that the development of X-Setup Pro has been shutdown and the last available version is made available for its fans as a free download.

All comes to an end …

Dear Customers,

Because of the insolvency of WUG all operations regarding X-Setup Pro have been shut down.

We thank all customers, partner and friends for their support during this time. We hope you had as much fun using X-Setup Pro as we had making it.

We wish you all the best,

TeX and Eric

P.S.:

You can still download the last version from Major Geeks: www.majorgeeks.com/download4083.html

In case you lost your serial number use this one instead: XSA092-11TA9R-8K12YT

As said in the announcement, you can still download the last version of X-Setup Pro from Major Geeks and use the serial number above to register it in-case you don’t have a serial number. If you are a Pro user, then you can use your existing serial number.

If you want to control the maximum time that any user is allowed to spend on your computer, then Romaco Timeout is the application that will help you. Romaco Timeout is specially useful for parents who wants to restrict the amount of time their child spends using the computer. It is a very small and easy to use utility which helps lock a child or any user out of their accounts when the maximum set time for that particular user is reached.

This free utility takes parental controls on your Windows operating system to the next level. Romaco Timeout also controls how much time a user can spend online before the application locks down the browser, and also gives the option of turning everything back on again after a certain amount of time has elapsed. If you want to set the application to start-up automatically every time a certain user logs on, you can do that, too.

When the maximum allotted time of computer usage reaches then the user is either logged off his account or the computer shuts down completely. After the user is logged off he/she will only be able to log back in if the administration password is typed, otherwise the user will have to wait until the next day when his usage quota will be reset. Romaco Timeout is designed to be automatic so it will require no administration after the first setup. But if you want to change its settings read below for a small how to.

How to use Romaco Timeout?

• After the installation of Romaco Timeout, launch it with Administrator privileges. Upon first launch it will prompt you to set the administrator password.
• Now to configure Romaco Timeout, first click on the Enable Timeout check box.
• Timeout is user account specific, so if you want to restrict more than one user account, simply log into that account and configure the settings individually for each account.
• Now select which mode to use between Daily Quota and Pre-session Time Limit. If Romaco Timeout is to work without user intervention for every session, then the Startup Automatically For This User check box must be checked.
  • The Daily Quota mode lets you set a time limit in hours and minutes for each day.
  • The Per-Session mode lets you set a time limit in hours and minutes for the session.
• The Warn box lets you set the time at which the user will receive a warning about his/her session time out, so that they can save their work. Select the action when the time limit ends for the user from the Action Option.
• The buttons on the right side give you more control over the software, you can reset  quotas, reset the administrative password, get help on Romaco Timeout, etc. from those buttons.

[ Download Romaco Timeout ]

Romaco Timeout works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Few days ago I wrote about FixWin, a free application which helps you fix a number of Windows 7 and Windows Vista errors. It’s a lot like Microsoft’s web-based FixIt solutions. Windows users are now having another option to fix common Windows problems and this one comes straight from Microsoft stable. Microsoft Fix it Center Client contains troubleshooters that help detect issues on target PCs and solve them on demand or proactively.

Microsoft’s new Fix It Center is a program which you can download for free. Fix It Center is currently in Beta stage and provides automatic fixes for a wide range of Windows bugs, problems and annoyances. You just need to choose the issue you need to fix, click Run, and follow the prompts (if any) by the program. The simple step-by-step instructions are very easy to follow and even your family and friends who are not so expert of computers can correct these problems with ease.

Fixes offered by Microsoft Fix It Center ranges from fixing Aero transparency problem to hardware or network adapter glitches and to Windows Media Player library and DVD issues. Fix It Center also features an inbuilt Windows system maintenance that checks for broken shortcuts, date and time problems, disk volume errors, etc.

Fix it Center can be installed on:

• Windows XP SP3
• Windows XP Pro (64-bit) SP2
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Windows Server 2003 SP2
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 R2

Installation

Download Fix it Center client and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

[ Download Microsoft Fix It Center ]

Don’t forget to create system restore points prior to running any of the repairs.

Wondershare Time Freeze is an easy and effective system protection tool to keep your computer safe from viruses, spyware, Trojans and other malicious threats. It puts the actual system under protection and creates a virtual environment, on which you run applications and surf the internet. All traces and malicious threats will disappear after reboot. You can also save changes to the actual system.

Time Freeze uses a unique advanced virtualization technology and creates a virtual environment for the operating system. In this way Time Freeze protects the actual system from getting infected by viruses, malware, Trojans and other malicious threats. After testing, you need to simply reboot your computer to return the operating system to its original state.

Key Features of Wondershare Time Freeze

• Virtual system as the shadow of the actual system: prevent threats of any viruses, malware, spyware and Trojans.
• Simply reboot computer to return to the original state. Eliminates cost for system maintenance.
• Surf internet safely, and play around with computer with NO trace left.
• Prevent access to protected files and folders. Protect your privacy effectively
• Manage the program with a custom password setting and keep inexperienced users from making change to your settings and configures
• Compatible with Windows 7/XP/Vista/2000.

Generally Wondershare Time Freeze license is available for $39.00, but Wondershare is running a time limited promotion through which you can get genuine Time Share license absolutely free. All you need to do is click on the promotion page link below and register for a free genuine license.

http://www.disk-utilities.com/time-freeze/

Note: Offer valid for limited time only, so grab your free license asap.

The indexing service built into Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Vista is better than what it was in Windows XP. With the user-friendly integrating of the search bar within explorer window, Microsoft has ensured that users quickly find what they want. But, if you don’t use Windows Search so much, you can disable it and free up some hard disk and memory resources.

Disabling the indexing service does not disable the search or search bar functions of Windows 7 or Vista, but disabling it will slow down getting the results a bit. But, disabling it will do speed the rest of your computer system up a bit, so whether you want to disable Windows Search service or not is up to you.

To disable the Windows 7 or Vista Indexing service:

First, click on the Start button to open the Start Menu. Now, type services in the search bar and press Enter.

In the services window, find an entry for windows search service.

Right-click on it and select properties. You can also double-click on the entry to open the properties dialog box.

In the Startup type drop down box, change the value to Disabled, and then click the Stop button below to stop the service immediately.

Press Enter to confirm.