• Firefox 3.5 is now officially out. It starts almost as fast as IE8 and Google docs loads at least a millisecond faster
• Microsoft says “user performance” is better with IE8 than with Firefox 3.5, Safari 4.0, Chrome 2.0
• Internet Explorer 8 will be available via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) on August 25
• Why is Microsoft Office so hard to kill? I’ve another explanation than Kennedy: There are no real competitors.
• First look: Microsoft Office 2010
• AppLocker Technical Documentation for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• Sun (Oracle) VirtualBox 3.0 is out

Until my recent discovery of Process Hacker, I assumed that Process Explorer was the best Task Manager alternative. However, in some areas, the Open Source tool Process Hacker is more than a match for Microsoft’s Sysinternals tool. The user interfaces of both tools look quite similar. As in Process Explorer, you can add additional columns to view more details of running processes on a Windows machine. Unfortunately, Process Hacker doesn’t allow you to view DLL and handle information in the lower pane like Process Explorer.

To access such data, you have to open the process’s properties. Process Explorer (left hand) and Process Hacker (right hand) differ here (see screenshot). I am missing the open TCP/IP connections in Process Hacker’s process properties. However, the main user interface has an extra tab that lists all processes with their open network connections.

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• Microsoft to charge Europeans double for Windows 7
• Enterprises say no to cloud computing – 85 percent of corporate customers will not implement cloud computing in 2009
• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit – building install media for Windows 7 This video gives a quick overview of MDT 2010 beta
• Acer to surpass Dell as the second biggest PC company

I didn’t know Macrium Reflect before Claus and Bill recommended it in my review of DriveImageXML. I was so pleased when I tried this backup tool today that I have decided to use it as my own system backup tool for the time being.

Its major advantage over DriveImageXML is that it comes with its own rescue CD, which you need if you have to restore a system drive. It also supports BartPE, but I found the Reflect Rescue CD more convenient. It is Linux-based, so you don’t need a Windows license for it. Its user interface is very easy to use and can be used by anyone who knows how to operate a mouse. By the way, the mouse pointer behaved strangely sometimes in a virtual machine under VMware Workstation 6.5. I didn’t have these problem on physical machine, though.

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• If you pre-order Win 7 now, then you can save 50%. This offer is only available for a few days (limited number of copies)
• Windows 7 pre-orders grab Amazon’s top sales spots
• Microsoft plans Windows 7 upgrade version for Europe
• Microsoft offering $100 Technet discount till July 3
• Is Microsoft silently building a better VDI?
• Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2 It is a series of detailed webcasts.
• How to get on the Office 2010 Technical Preview
• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 2 is now Available for Download!

Half a year ago, Microsoft announced that they would discontinue Windows Live One Care and instead would offer a free alternative with the code name Morro. Microsoft Security Essentials is the new name and the beta is now available. You can’t download it anymore through Microsoft, but it is still available at Softpedia.

Windows Live One Care

One Care was not really a success. Its market share was only 2%, which is a little embarrassing for a giant like Microsoft. I suppose some security software vendors heaved a sigh of relief when they realized that OneCare was no real competitor for their antivirus tools. I guess the trembling starts again now. It is one thing if small companies such as AVG or Avira offer a free anti-malware tool, but a completely different matter if the Windows maker himself comes out with a free tool. Moreover, the free version will Microsoft help to improve the detection rate of the Forefront products

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• Microsoft to Europe: No Windows 7 upgrades for you! Michael to European Commission: Thanks for making us less competitive
• Windows 7 Upgrade Test Matrix – Outlines supported and unsupported upgrade paths for Windows 7 SKUs.
• Microsoft: Outlook’s not broken and we aren’t ‘fixing’ it I agree. HTML in E-Mails often causes problems.

Microsoft announced Windows 7 prices. This post summarizes the most important facts. I also share my opinion at the end of the article. The video at the end of the article shows the interview about the announcement with Brad Brooks, Corporate VP for Windows Consumer Marketing.

Upgrade prices

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

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• Check out the New Windows 7 Packaging Why do people still want software is plastic boxes?
• Download of Microsoft Security Essentials Beta has been closed. But you can still get it here:
• RSAT and ADUC for Vista – Update to add tabs for Terminal Services Profile, Environment, Sessions, and Remote Control
• Aero Glass Remoting in Windows Server 2008 R2

A few days ago, I blogged about BartPE, a well known tool for creating a Windows PE based rescue boot CD. Some readers recommended checking out UBCD4Win, which is an offspring of BartPE. The main difference between the two is that the UBCD4Win project is still alive while BartPE seems to have been discontinued. There is also no doubt that UBCD4Win is the far more advanced tool. The number of rescue utilities is impressive. And best of all – its Windows PE installation didn’t crash on my Dell Precision laptop, unlike BartPE.

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• Microsoft Security Essentials beta to be capped at 75,000, kicks off today
• Microsoft Security Essentials Beta (Microsoft’s new anti-malware tool) is now available for download.
• Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V version 1) Planning, Deployment and Operations Guide
• Rumor: Windows 7 RTM sign off on July 13
• No upgrade installation of Windows 7 in Europe? (German)
• Windows 7 Release Candidate downloads will end August 15th
• Changes to Remoting Model in RDP 7

Submitted by David Homer

XIA Configuration provides a centralised management system for the inventory and technical documentation of your network infrastructure.

The Configuration Client can be deployed as a Windows Service which can then use several methods to detect and document Windows Servers, Windows Workstations, DNS Services, SQL Instances etc.

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AutoHotkey is a famous, free Open Source mouse and keyboard macro utility. It allows you to automate all kinds of Windows tasks. As an IT administrator, you will probably have to perform quite a few tasks repeatedly. Using shortcuts for complex GUI-based operations can significantly improve your productivity.

When I first tried AutoHotkey, I uninstalled it after two minutes or so. Only when I saw, in my continuous search for a free keyboard macro creation tool, how popular it is, did I gave it a second chance. The reason I was turned off by the tool at first was that the first macro I created with its recorder, AutoScriptWriter II, produced an error message when I first launched it (Error: Requires at least one of its Windows parameters). I found this a bit odd considering that nothing had really changed on my desktop since I’d created the macro.

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• System Center Configuration Manager Service Pack 2 Public Beta
• Windows Client Feature Comparison: Windows XP SP3 | Wndows Vista SP1 | Windows 7
• Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Resource Kit is now available!
• Mark Russinovich and David Solomon: Windows Internals 5 Released

GFI Backup Home Edition is a free backup tool for desktops and laptops which can also be useful in a corporate environment. The number of and laptop workers who only stop by the office every now and then to synchronize their data with corporate servers is constantly growing, as is the number of workers who telecommute. As such, the need for a good desktop backup tool is increasing. Windows XP has a nice backup tool, but it is hopelessly outdated, while Vista’s backup tool is probably the weakest component of that otherwise great operating system. Windows 7 has an improved backup tool, but it is certainly no match for GFI Backup, a newly-developed backup and recovery software.

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