Microsoft Blue Track Says Goodbye to Laser

Although Microsoft is not breathing a single word in relation to an event it has cooking for September 9, 2008, under the slogan “Say Goodbye to Laser,” leaks from its partners are managing to paint a more complete picture. As it has been speculated, the new technology, which will be unveiled in the second week of the coming month, has been incorporated in a mouse. The Microsoft Blue Track mouse, featured in the adjacent images, reportedly sports a LED in combination with wide angle lenses, instead of a laser diode. In this context, despite the attempt to build anticipation with consumers, the Blue Track mouse is by no means reinventing the wheel. Read More »

Is Ctfmon-Exe Spyware?

In the early days of Windows PCs text inputting was a reasonably simple affair, with a keyboard used to enter text, in American English, which is then displayed on the monitor. With the arrival of new technologies, such as speech-to-text, and handwriting-to-text, conversion, and with the new opportunities of the globalized technology market requiring the more advanced support of Asian languages by existing technology, Microsoft beefed up its advanced text processing functionality with the Ctfmon.exe software component.

The process Ctfmon.exe is not spyware and is actually used by the Microsoft Office suite of applications to launch both the Microsoft Office XP Language bar and the Alternative User Input Text Processor. The Language bar is an important part of Microsoft’s Text Services Framework [TSF] and operates as the user interface for the TSF. Although it comes preinstalled, with Windows XP and Vista, it is also available to be downloaded for the older versions of windows. Read More »

Download Zune theme with colour variations

Zune theme always gives that classic windows xp feel but it never offers any customization in terms of colors. Some people might get bored by the orange coloured start menu in the traditional zune theme by Microsoft

Today, we have come with some beautiful colour variations in the zune theme by a developer Usman Akhtar named Zune Usmanistan

The Zune Usmanistan theme is like an extended version of the original zune theme released by Microsoft, you can change the orange colour start menu to many colours under the ‘Colour Scheme‘ menu on the ‘Appearance’ tab, in ‘Display Properties‘. Read More »

Microsoft Unveils New Gaming Peripherals

SideWinder X6 Keyboard and the SideWinder X5 Mouse are the new pair of gaming peripherals unveiled by Microsoft at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. According to the Redmond company, both products will hit the market as early as September 2008. The SideWinder X6 Keyboard will come with a price tag of $79.95 while the SideWinder X5 Mouse will be lowered to $59.95. While the SideWinder line of peripherals is not new to Microsoft, this is the first time when a keyboard is released under the label.

However, the release of the SideWinder X6 Keyboard marks yet another first for Microsoft, and for the entire industry for that matter. SideWinder X6 is the first keyboard with a switchable key pad. This means that end users can switch the key pad from on side of the keyboard to the other to get increased flexibility. Read More »

Introducing the Firefox 3.0 CD

The gold bits of Firefox 3.0 went live on June 17, 2008, over half a year past the initially planned launch which was targeted for the end of 2007. At just a few days short of the first two months on the market for the successor of Firefox 2.0, users of Mozilla’s open source browser now have access not only to the download version of Firefox 3.0, but also to the CD. Via Mozilla’s store, Firefox 3.0 CDs go for $4.20 a pop in the U.S. and £3.00 per item for additional international markets.

“With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than ever before,” reads a fragment from the description of the browser. “Dozens of new features including the “awesome” bar, one-click bookmarking, full zoom, advanced tabbed browsing and blindingly fast performance. Instant Web Site ID and other security features keep you safe from scammers and spammers. Over 5000 add-ons let you customize your web experience to your personal needs.” Read More »

New Security Programs from Microsoft

Black Hat USA 2008 was the stage where Microsoft revealed that it was kicking its security game up a notch. The software giant’s commitment to protecting its customers has spawned a pair of new initiatives designed to enable a new level of security-information sharing. In this regard, the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) along with the new vulnerability Exploitability Index, are the programs offered to both end users and partners for added security.

“The introduction of these new programs helps address evolving online threats and provides more practical guidance to assess and manage risk,” said Andrew Cushman, director of security response and outreach at Microsoft. Read More »

Live Search Gets Wallpapers

Microsoft is constantly evolving the products and services under the Windows Live brand umbrella, and one of the main focuses of the company is, of course, Live Search. Chris Rayner, Senior Product Manager, and Zach Gutt, Senior Program Manager Live Search User Experience team, revealed that the redesigned Live Search homepage would from now on feature background images. The Redmond company will ensure that the Live Search “wallpapers” will alternate frequently, but this process won’t be random, and it won’t happen on every refresh. Additionally, the Live Search backgrounds will have hotspots implemented, offering users a search item in accordance with elements contained in the image. Read More »

Learn about Windows games

Windows comes with a small set of games that you can play whenever you’re in the mood for a bit of fun. This article gives a brief overview of each game. For more specific instructions, click View Help on the game’s Help menu.

The games that come with Windows are located in the Games folder, the central location for games on your computer.

To open the Games folder, click the Start button Picture of the Start button , and then click Games in the right pane. To open one of the games in the folder, double-click its icon.

Note: Windows games are not installed by default in Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise. To install them, click the Start button Picture of the Start button, click Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Turn Windows features on or off. In the Windows Features dialog box, select the Games check box, and then click OK. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. Read More »

Free Games at Windows Live

Windows-Live

To compete with Apple’s successful iPhone and iPod App Store, Microsoft announced today that Windows Live will have free games for its PC users. What used to be only available to Xbox users is now available across the entire Windows platform.

Microsoft’s press release states “the launch of Games for Windows  LIVE marks a major expansion of the Xbox LIVE service across multiple platforms, uniting gamers with a single identity, a single gamertag, a single friends list and a single list of achievements attainable on the Xbox 360 and a Windows-based PC.” Read More »

Web Page Error Toolkit

Customize your 404 error pages with the Web Page Error Toolkit!

For large web sites with extensive amounts of content, 2 to 10 percent of traffic is looking for pages that either don’t exist or have been moved. Most web servers return a generic 404 error page or a sitemap when a user’s desired page cannot be found. These unhelpful pages often result in a dead end for users.

With Microsoft’s Web Page Error Toolkit, you can create dynamic 404 pages that contain customized error messages along with search results seeded with relevant keywords to help your users move past the missing page and find the information they need. Below is an example of a screenshot of what the typical 404 error page looks like “before & after” the application of the Web Page Error Toolkit: Read More »