Norton 360 Version 4 – The best Anti-Virus solution till date

As most of you folks already know, I have become a fan of Norton products ever since I started using Norton Internet Security about 6 months back. The new Norton products and solutions have had a radical shift in terms of performance (which I deem very important), features and even the UI. This time round I got hold of a copy of Norton 360 Version 4 – the new kid(version) in the block!!

First things first – Norton 360, as the name truly suggests is a complete 360⁰ solutions that truly runs out of the box from the time you say go (err… install). Norton 360 takes care of all things related to security for your PC / Laptop / Netbook and also takes care of a few more mundane tasks. It is packed with a powerful Anti-Virus, a super smart Fire-Wall, a password safe storage solution and also a auto-backup feature.

Lets deep dive into each of these features separately and the significant improvements that you get with the new Version 4.

Norton 360’s Anti-Virus Solution: One of the most powerful and yet light weight anti-virus solution that I have seen for quite sometime now and it’s getting better. The most useful and exciting feature that I find is called “Live Scan” – this is switched ON by default and runs whenever it finds the computer usage to be idle or low. “Live Scan” automatically determines whether to run a ‘Quick Scan’ or a ‘Full System Scan’. The advantage that I get with this cool new feature is that it runs usually when I’ve left my comp and gone to grab a cup of coffee or catch up on dinner – so no more hassles of setting up a schedule and making sure your comp is up and running for the scheduled scan to run.

I for once have had issues running scheduled scans – missing most of the schedules all the time, setting up a schedule over the weekend or late times of the day means that your machine needs to run over that time to hit the schedule. Now all that looks passé with this very cool and intuitive option. The best part of all this is that the scan magically ends as soon as you once again start using your computer – so you never feel that any of the computer resources have been sacrificed for the scan.

Norton 360’s File Insight Feature: How often do we download .exe’s / setups and what not off the internet – but how do we know that whatever you’ve downloaded is really legitimate and free of any virus, Trojan or root-kit. The later part is taken care by the anti-virus solution but never the legitimacy of the file. You are always left to make the decision yourselves based on the site from which you have downloaded, the person/forum that recommended it, etc – but even for a seasoned internet person like me, it’s quite a daunting task to decide. That’s when you’ve got help in the form of ‘File Insight’ which checks the file against an online database and reveals some interesting facts, let alone whether the file is safe to use/install. It churns out some cool facts such as the number of users who have downloaded/installed the file, safety level of the file and from where you got it to the physical location on your hard-disk that the file resides on. That’s a lot of cool and interesting facts to consider before you make a choice.

Norton 360’s Firewall : This is a very simple and lucid fire-wall solution, nothing much to worry on and it’s so very simple that if you can use your computer for browsing you can configure the firewall too easily. But I guess the default setting that Norton 360 ships out with is more than enough and you don’t really need to tweak any of the configurations frankly speaking. Also Norton's new SONAR (Symantec Online Network for Advance Response) behavioral monitoring system does a good task in combating phishing attacks and real time surveillance of your PC from attacks of the outside work over the network.

Norton 360’s Identity Safe Storage: Quite a cool option to store your usernames and passwords for the sites that you often visit. All the information is safely encrypted and stored. You now need to only remember one master password to access the safe storage.

But, I am really not a very big fan of this solution since it’s not portable really. In the sense, if I happen to use a public computer at a kiosk or over at a friend’s place – I really can’t harness this solution easily. Also, since I’ve become lazy in not typing the password’s each time to login – over a period of time one tends to forget the actual credentials. There must be a better solution for this problem but I can’t think of one that would be truly safe in all scenarios for now.

Norton 360’s BackUp feature: Looks like Norton is slowly consolidating it’s portfolio and that’s really a boon for users like me and you. The backup feature is pretty tidy and easy to setup and use. A few clicks on configuring your backup drive/media and the locations to backup – you should be ready to go. Believe me it’s a very simple process and best of all it’s right out of the box for all practical purposes.

Norton 360’s backup and recovery tool also provides you a free 2GB of online storage space that you can easily backup your important documents and photos. This free Online Backup is simply too cool if you’re out of home/office on a remote country with only a PC connected to the internet (read an airport) - viola you get access to all your backup files right there online.

Also for an extra charge you can easily increase your online backup storage up to 25GB at $69.99 per year. This is a very cool feature that the other backup / anti-virus products like McAfee currently donot do not offer today.

Performance has really been a deciding feature for me to switch over to Norton (this statement looked very very unlikely about 10 months back – if you were to ask me). There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t choose Norton 360 over the ample number of products that are out there in the market.

Norton 360 1 PC license costs INR 1795 - but the deal is with the 3 PC license at INR 3200, nowadays most of us have a desktop, laptop and netbook - so it does make sense to have a three license one - these also come with 2GB of online storage space. The premium edition includes 25GB of online storage space and a three PC license, the suggested retail price is INR 4025. Both - standard and premium editions of Norton 360 includes a one-year service subscription to use the product and receive Symantec’s protection updates. All Norton 360 users with a valid product subscription are eligible to receive the latest product updates via the subscription service model.

Norton 360 not only protects your computer but also tunes up your system for the best performance like doing a disk defragmentation or fixing driver issues and also backs up essential files – all in the background (now that’s the icing on the cake). The list of features and the great value for money that it provides is simply endless – as I started off this review, it’s truly an out-of-the-box solution where you deploy and completely let it take care of everything – all in the background.

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Windows 8 Activation Key Serial Available for Free Download

Though we - the loyal customers need to wait a couple of months before we get the legal copies of Windows 8. The Windows 8 Activation crack is already available online for Free download. It has been barely a couple of weeks since Microsoft made available the RTM version of Windows 8 to the OEMs and lo we have the activation crack already available for Windows 8.

The Windows 8 Activation crack is available on a Chinese Forum(Link cannot be revealed due to piracy concerns). The Windows 8 Ultimate activation crack has been built on the OEM version of Lenovo's Windows 8 OEM DVD. The DVD ISO of Windows 8 along with the newly available crack is already leaked at the forum. Anyone who uses the leaked .ISO, along with the OEM-SLP product key of Windows 8, coupled along with the activation certificates can be obtained through the boot.wim - helps you run Windows 8Ultimate Final version.

The new activation crack uses a very simple technique of exploiting the "OEM Activation 4.3", which happens to be an updated volume license activation system by Microsoft that was earlier available from 2009 with Windows 7 and known infamously as "Activation 2.0". Looks like Microsoft hasn't learned from the mistakes coz, Activation 2.0 was previously the easy module break into Windows 7 way back in 2009 when Win 7 hit the stores.

The new crack which has been successfully been built on a Windows 8 volume license means that anyone who uses this cracked version can install Windows 8 on numerous machines without any limitations as such.

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How to Reset or Refresh Trial period of Windows 8 PC without the installation media

In Windows 8, Microsoft has introduced two very nice and useful features which will reset the trial period. Reset PC and Refresh PC are two new features that help you overcome all Windows 8 issues by refreshing settings or resetting all of it. These features allow you make your Windows 8 PC settings to their defaults, or reset Windows 8 to factory settings (as it was during the original settings) by deleting data and installed apps.

Here is a detailed step by step procedure of how you can reset / refresh your Windows 8 PC and also reset the Trial period.


Step 1: Simply launch Metro >> Control Panel or PC settings. You can easily do this by simultaneously pressing Windows + I keys followed by Enter key.

Step 2: In the left pane, click on General option to see Reset your PC and Refresh your PC options. Click on Get Started button under Reset your PC or Refresh your PC. With this option you will not be asked to insert the installation or recovery media message this time around.

Hope this step-by-step procedure to Reset Windows 8 PC helped you overcome the trial period.

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How to easily Uninstall Internet Explorer 9 when the uninstall program fails

Internet Explorer (IE) still continues to be one of the world's most used browser for several years now. Though in the recent times it has begun to get quite a lot of competition from Firefox and lately from Google Chrome.

With Windows 7 getting into the market and having a pretty strong presence users now have a very easy task of upgrading their browsers to Internet Explorer 9(IE 9) but just running the upgrade utility.

Microsoft says that users can very easily downgrade to their old browser version of IE anytime they want by simply uninstalling IE9 -  how this can be done is by navigating to Control Panel >> Programs and Features >> click on View installed updates option where you will see an entry for Internet Explorer 9. Right click and select the uninstall option. This should easily remove the IE 9 version from your PC and restore the earlier version of the Internet Explorer browser.

But many a times users get an error while trying to uninstall IE9 by following the simple method mentioned above or at times are not able to find the Internet Explorer 9 entry in the installed updates list. If that is the case, the you can easily follow the simple steps explained below to remove Internet Explorer 9 from your PC.

Step 1: Type CMD in Start menu search box and simultaneously press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys(This is used to launch the elevated prompt). Click Yes when you get the User Account Control (UAC) prompt. The other way of doing this is by going to Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> right-click on Command Prompt entry and then click Run as administrator - this will also open the elevated prompt.

Step 2: In the command prompt, copy and paste the below command and then press enter key to execute the command.
FORFILES /P %WINDIR%\servicing\Packages /M Microsoft-Windows-InternetExplorer-*9.*.mum /c "cmd /c echo Uninstalling package @fname && start /w pkgmgr /up:@fname /norestart"

Step 3: You are done almost!! Just reboot your computer to completely uninstall Internet Explorer 9 from your PC.

Hope this helped - if it did let me know!!

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New Features in C# 4.0

Visual Studio 2010 is out and we have a new version of C# that also accompanies it. That's C# 4.0 - I have been working on C# from the good old 1.0 or 1.1 version upwards. So whats the new 4.0 version of C# got in store for you. Here's a wrap up of the new features available as part of C# 4.0 release.

keyword Dynamic

There's a new kid in the block, with the introduction of a very a key feature of this release called the dynamic keyword. The keyword dynamic bridges the gap that existed between a dynamically and statically - typed languages. Well, C# can now also be considered a dynamically typed language too. You can easily create dynamic objects on the fly and even have their types determined only at run time. You will simply need to add a new namespace called System.Dynamic, and lo you can create expandable objects and even advanced class wrappers. You can also facilitate interoperability between different languages, including the dynamic ones.

To better understand the use of dynamic keyword, here's an example:

dynamic BankAccount = new ExpandoObject();

BankAccount.Number = "174258733-451269";

BankAccount.HolderName = "Jason S";

BankAccount.Branch = "Bangalore";

Though there are many pros and cons for the use of dynamic keyword and the system performance overheads, it makes like that much more simpler for the developer in the end.

Optional (or Default) Method Parameters

If I rightly remember, VB.net is preferred to C# when porting old projects in ancient langues of VB 5 / 6 or when working on creating COM wrappers since VB.net allows you the use of Optional or Default parameters in methods. C# 4.0 has finally got this feature to make it that much more robust in this area.

You can now easily specify a default value for a parameter within the method declaration in C# 4.0. Also, the consumer of the method can either pass a value or can easily skip the parameter. When the parameter is skipped, the default value declared in the method is passed.

Here's a simple example to explain it:

Method declaration:

public static void GetMoney(int amount = 0) { }

Bot the below Method calls for the above declaration are valid in C# 4.0:

GetMoney(); // 0 is used as amount in the method.

GetMoney(1000);

Named Arguments

Well, here's another relief to the developer. Did you know that in C# 4.0 the order of parameters in a method declaration and also the order of arguments you pass to the method when calling don’t need to match anymore!!. You can now easily provide arguments to a method in any order that you are comfortable with by specifying parameter names with-in the method call. This feature also tremendously improves the readability of one's code.

Here's a simple example of using Named Arguments in C# 4.0

var sample = new List();

sample.InsertRange(collection: new List(), index: 0);

sample.InsertRange(index: 0, collection: new List()); // both ways it'll work now

Covariance and Contravariance

Does the heading sound confusing? Well, the use of variance on generic type parameters in interfaces and delegates is yet another new feature available in C# 4.0. Though, strictly speaking it doesn’t add that much of a new functionality. But it rather makes things work in the first place as you expected them to work. Here is a major advantage that is hidden in the power of C# 4.0 in simple line below. Note: The below code wouldn't have compiled up until C# 4.0 was released:

IEnumerable

Now you have the ability to implicitly convert references for objects instantiated with different type arguments. This makes it that much more simpler and easier to reuse code.

Improved COM Interop Support

As I started this article with the dynamic keyword, then we had the optional parameters and named arguments, did you know that all of this actually enables a significant improvement in working with COM interop. Though all these features have arrived pretty late for the COM Interop world - but it's like late than never is better.

Take a look at my ugly code below:

var excelApp = new Excel.Application();

// . . .

excelApp.get_Range("A1", "B4").AutoFormat(

Excel.XlRangeAutoFormat.xlRangeAutoFormatTable3,

Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing,

Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);

I can now simply write it in a few lines as below:

excelApp.Range["A1", "B3"].AutoFormat(

Excel.XlRangeAutoFormat.xlRangeAutoFormatClassic2);

Ain't it pretty neat?

So, there you go - that was a wrap up of the new features that are available in C# 4.0. Hope it helped!!

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Complete list of Best and Free Anti-Virus for your Windows 7 :: Updated on May 2010

Though you may have one of the best operating system's in your computer - a.k.a. Windows 7, you will still need a good anti-virus program to protect your PC from Viruses, Trojans, Root-Kits, etc. There are several paid Anti-Virus solutions from Norton (Symantec), Mc-Afee, etc but when you have a personal PC or laptop and can't really afford spending any more on softwares - well, look at the Free Anti-Virus solutions.

Free Anti-Virus softwares are actually second to none in terms of protection but they lack functionality and a few bells and whistles found exclusively on paid Anti-Virus softwares.

I have put together a list of the Best Free Anti-Virus Solutions that are available currently.

• Avira
• Panda
• AVG Free
• DriveSentry Desktop
• Spyware-doctor

As for the paid Anti-Virus, the Best detections rates are found in these:

• Symantec Norton
• Avira AntiVir
• Panda
• Avast
• Sophos

Go ahead and protect your data - choose a Anti-Virus solution wisely and don't forget to update it often!!

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How to disable Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications - using the Free RemoveWGA

>For those of you who are wondering how to disable or simply remove the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications - You have help at hand in the form of a cool tool called RemoveWGA. Though you must already be aware that removing the WGA from your Windows copy amounts to piracy by Microsoft's term.

But at times you may have a genuine reason as to why you want to turn off the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification, in such cases Microsoft doesnot help you with any tool right away. This is where RemoveWGA comes into picture. This is a very simple and easy to use tool that allows you to remove the WGA protection in your copy of Windows.

I would like to once again stress that removing WGA from your Windows XP or Windows Vista or Windows 7 amounts to you having a pirated copy of Windows. So thread in caution when you try this out. Your on your own and i don't assume any responsibility.

Now after all that long disclaimers - where do you get a Free download of RemoveWGA you may ask? Well, head over to the software database at Softpedia and you can find it easily.

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How to install Windows 7 from a .iso without burning onto a DVD

Windows 7 doesnot allow you to install off the same Hard Disk. But if you didn't want to burn the .iso image of Windows 7 that you downloaded to a new DVD - you can still install it off the .iso file by using the method below.

You will need a portable hard disk / pen drive though.

Incase, you have a portable hard disk or a pen drive - do the following :

1. Get WinRar (www.rarlabs.com) and install the software on your machine. WinRar is similar to winzip but supports many other formats including .iso.

2. Extract the .iso of Win7 to your pen drive / portable hard disk. Place the extracted files into the root of the drive - your other data can be put into folders.

3. Restart your laptop and hold F9 / F2 to enter into boot-menu which gives you a choice to load from. Here select your pen-drive / portable hard disk - usually a USB device.

Done - that's all it takes. You can now go ahead with the normal install process.

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Norton Internet Security 2010 (NIS 2010) – Complete Review

Regular readers of my blog know that I am not a fan of Norton products since the are sluggish and consume a lot of resources. But wait a sec – that was my opinion from ages. Shouldn’t they have improved now? recently when I got my Acer Aspire D250 netbook it came with McAfee installed but that was no good for me. Getting back to Norton, I wanted to really check out their new offerings and see how they have improved when you have many free and fast anti-virus solutions in the market like AVG, AVAST, etc.

Norton has a slew of 3 products lined up – Norton 360 (a complete suite that has all the solutions), Norton Internet Security 2010 (more targeted for Internet Users) and the plain vanilla Norton Antivirus.

I got myself Norton Internet Security 2010 popularly known as NIS, since it boasts to offer complete protection and yet not compromise on performance. It is one of the lightest protection solutions available currently and that makes it much more interesting. Norton Internet Security currently supports Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 – all 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Now this is where it got me interested since my home PC was loaded a few weeks back with Windows 7 64-bit – I was really out there looking for a next gen Anti-Virus for it.

Something that got me interested in Norton Internet Security 2010 was that it uses a new security model. This new security model helps NIS to attain unmatched levels of detection of new malwares. What the new security models does really is that it uses cloud-based intelligence to identify malware in an entirely new which is simply ages ahead of the traditional way of using signatures and behavior-based detection. The new security model also features a real-time reputation system that tracks files and applications and dozens of their attributes such as their age, download source, digital signature, and prevalence(more about this feature in detail later).

First of all – installing NIS was a breeze, except for the 60MB update that it needed to download off the internet.But belive it or not - I had NIS working on PC in less than a minute flat!!! (excluding the 60MB download). This feat by Symantec is simply commendable.

The NIS 2010 interface is all re-vamped and so fresh to look at.

It has 3 very distinct partitions – Computer, Network and Web. Well, these are the only there layers for which we need protection.

• Computer : This has the anti-virus solution which has many new features like enabling of system scan when computer is idle. Also the idle time can be easily set by the user – now this is really a wow for a geek like me. Gone are the days when I had to schedule scans in my PC at mid-night and let my PC run through the night. Now, the scan happens even when I get off my comp to grab a cup of coffee (coz I have my idle time to be 3 mins – 3 mins is too much of an idle time for a geek like me if I am near the comp).
  It also features something called as SONAR 2 (Symantec Online Network for Advanced Response) which is a 2^nd generation system that harnesses all elements of NIS 2010 to make really sophisticated and clever decisions about what to trust and what to convict as a threat or risk. Again, to do this it leverages data from the cloud, network communications and file attributes such as location on the PC, origin information, etc.
• Network : NIS 2010 is not just an Anti-Virus but more of a complete security suit and this is further testimonial to it having a Smart Firewall which repels any possible attacks and also constantly monitors the traffic flow to determine any threat. Intrusion prevention is a key here and also has in-build e-mail protection that helps prevent your PC being used as a botnet by spammers.
• Web : Finally the web. Norton IdentitySafe provides one-click log-ins and automatic form filling to prevent key loggers from stealing your information. Norton Safe Web adds additional protection when you search, shop, and surf the web to stop Internet threats before they can infect your PC. Safe surfing is always the key and this is easily achieved by NIS 2010.

Here’s a small test that I subjected Norton Internet Security 2010 to and it came out with flying colors. I had a exe which was infected with a trojan on my PC. I unassumingly like a lay-man double clicked the exe. This is what came up.Went ahead and clicked on More Details and this popped up.

I was simply amazed at the kind of information that NIS 2010 threw back at me. It picks up information off the cloud and display some very vital statistics like how many people have used this exe and what kind of threat level it carries. This helps me to make a informative decision on whether to go ahead or not (Though it won’t allow me to execute the file – but even before that giving this kind of info is really handy).

Norton Internet Security also comes with a Task Manager – not the plain Windows kind of one, but this is a hybrid one which clearly lets you analyze your system performance over a period of time in time-slices. Important installations can be easily tracked and even tasks that have consumed more CPU or memory can be easily tracked down.

Some of the advantages of using NIS 2010:

• The fastest, lightest security suite you can buy for award-winning protection that won’t slow you down or get in your way.
• Installs faster than any other security suite.
• Boots faster than any other security suite.
• Scans faster than any other security suite.
• Uses less memory than any other security suite.
• Doesn’t impact your PC’s speed when you copy or edit files, install applications or download files.

What I would like NIS to improve upon is provide a full fledged Widget for Vista / Windows 7 users rather than the signal light widget that we have now this only lets us know how secure or vulnerable the PC is. But having an option for a full fledges widget would be a really nice add-on.

The pricing of Norton Internet Security 2010 in India is very competitive and also much below (or in-line) with other Anti-Virus vendors. The suggested retail price for Norton Internet Security 2010 is Rs 2,495 for a three PC license(great for a Home Network like mine), and Rs 1,450 for a single PC license. You can easily purchase it at the Symantec online store www.in.symantecstore.com

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How to easily convert .ppsx file to .pptx or .ppt?

Well, a .ppsx file is a Power Point Show file created in Microsoft Office 2007 or later. Today at office I received one such file and double clicking it launches the Powerpoint Viewer and Not on PowerPoint. This maybe needed if you want to edit a few slides or copy some information from the slides.

I searched online for quite sometime with no luck. For the earlier .pps files, they can be easily converted to .ppt file by merely renaming the file extension to .ppt from .pps. But this technique doesnot work with the new versions - so a mere renaming of a .ppsx file to .pptx throws up an error when you try to open the file.

Then an idea struck me and it worked beautifully.

• Open Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Click on the Ribbon and Open.
• Now select and open the .ppsx file.

Viola - you have now opened the .ppsx file in edit mode and can now save it in either .pptx or .ppt formats too within Microsoft PowerPoint.

Related Articles :

• How to open .xlsx files easily without using Microsoft Office 2007

• How to open .docx files easily without Office 2007

• How to Save and Restore Settings in Office easily?

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Like it or not iPhone currently commands 50% of WorldWide smartphone web traffic

AdMob Which reports on web requests on more than 15,000 web sites and applications world wide has some very stunning news in it's October release. Apple's iPhone is the most popular Smartphone OS in the world and it sweeps a whooping 50% of all mobile web traffic. Symbian OS has a 25% share which is very closely followed by a very new entrant - Google. Yes, the Google's Android OS seems to direct in 11% of the mobile web traffic out of Smartphones and that's really very impressive.

So, where's WinMo you may ask? Well, it currently has only a mere 3% of the SmartPhone Web Traffic. Do note that this not all the mobile web traffic we are talking about but only specific to SmartPhones. Let's put it this way - there aren't so many WinMo SmartPhones that have taken up well with the users. On the other hand, iPhone has entered several markets WorlWide and has consolidated a very nice marketshare in the very competitive SmartPhone market. The iPhone has been available atleast in the US for almost 2.5 years now - but taking 50% of the Worldwide traffic of smartphones is very impressive.

Some very interesting news related to Android again is that the newly launched Motorola Droid which runs only on Verizon in US currently has already managed to capture 24% of all Android traffic in US in the last few weeks!!.

The upcoming holiday season is surely going to tilt in favor of the new slew of Android phones and also more folks picking up the impressive iPhone 3GS. Stay tuned for more updates in this space.

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VMLite the best alternative for running Windows XP in your Windows 7

Well, when Windows 7 was released there was one very nice feature which was much talked about by the geeks and that was the Windows XP Mode. Well, Windows XP Mode is part of a seperate installation by which you can run Windows XP on your Windows 7.

But the catch was that in order to use Windows XP mode Microsoft made it mandatory that you must be running Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate - also your PC must have virtualization support by the hardware.

These mandatory requirements was a downer and many users weren't able to truly enjoy Windows XP Mode. But here some very good news - enter the VMLite which is a very nice alterative to Microsoft's Windows XP Mode.



VMLite XP Mode does offer very similar features like the Microsoft XP Mode but lo it doesn't need you to have Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate - so even Windows 7 Starter edition will work fine and also it doesn't require hardware virtualization.

VMLite allows you to easily run Windows XP from your desktop running on a different host operating system - not just Windows 7. You can download VMLite here.

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Microsoft Office 2010 Beta 2 Leaked (Build version 14.0.4514.1007 ) with the Keys

Yes, the much anticipated Microsoft Office 2010 suite has already been leaked on many peer-to-peer(torrent) file sharing websites/networks. This is the Beta 2 release featuring a Build version 14.0.4514.1007.

The build which has been leaked last week is said to install with the Office 2010 Technical Preview keys and no new keys are needed. So the keys are available here.

Here are some very exclusive screen shots running the Microsoft Office 2010 on my Win 7 RC 1 as you can very well see the UI has been polished and so also the program icons. The public beta is expected to be out by early next week.

Office 2010 runs on Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista and of course the brand new Windows 7.

Here are the exclusive Screenshots of Office 2010 Beta 2 (Build version 14.0.4514.1007)

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The all new My Phone - cloud based services for Windows Mobiles - Reviewed

Along with the release of Windows Mobile 6.5 , the My Phone services have also been launched. It is a cloud-based FREE sync service that allows mobile users to back-up contacts, photos, text messages, videos and also calendar data onto a protected website which is hosted on the Microsoft Cloud services.

It also has a premium service offering for $4.99 which has so many cool services and features that will definitely be a bang for the buck you spend!!

The best thing is that the 'My Phone' premium package also comes with a Web-based GPS system that can provide accurate location of a lost phone. It also has an ability to remotely send a "lock device" command with an "if found please return to ." message which seems to be simply superb.

And the other best part is that you can also remotely send instructions to wipe off all the data on the phone. That's not all, the service seems to be good value for money since it also has an option to ring off a very loud location alarm just in case the phone has been misplaced, this can be really useful if the mobile has fallen between the couch cushions, or has simply disappeared inside your house or car without actually being lost.

And all this is very easily integrated using your Windows Live ID - so all looks very seamless to use. keep up the good job Microsoft!!

Related Article : Windows Mobile 6.5 is finally launched and available for Free upgrade

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Windows Mobile 6.5 is finally launched and available for upgrade

Well, the much awaited Android killer - Windows Mobile 6.5 has been officially launched now. You can't really call it an Android or iPhone killer OS, coz both of these have a very low market share on the smart-phone sector when compared to Windows Mobile. The much awaited Windows Mobile Marketplace app store is also wide open now.

Some new stuff that has been released along with this is the latest Bing Mobile app that is available, the My Phone sync app has also been polished and a new security service has been launched as part of the new makeover. The complete list of devices running on Windows Mobile 6.1 than can be easily upgraded to Windows mobile 6.5 has also been released.

Currently we seen only three HTC devices namely Imagio, Tilt 2 and Pure along with a Samsung mobile called Intrepid that will come pre-installed with Windows Mobile 6.5. But all this is limited only to the US. When it comes across the world, Microsoft will have more than 30+ phones in over 20 countries that will be running the swanky new Windows Mobile 6.5 by this year end.

My Phone seems to be a very interesting cloud-based FREE sync service offered by Microsoft that allows a user to back-up contacts, text messages, photos, videos and also calendar data onto a protected website. Also the site allows users to post such content directly over to facebook, Myspace, Windows Live or Flickr. There is a service plan for $4.99 for the premium 'My Phone' package which will include features that helps users to recover data from their lost devices.

The new Windows Marketplace has all that Microsoft Mobile has to offer today for grabs. Currently it has a large number of Free and less than $30 paid apps that can be easily downloaded to your phone right from the marketplace. In a few days we will have a i-tunes kind of setup to browse the marketplace over a PC and then bill and send the content to the phone. All these services will be offered under the umbrella of Windows Live ID.

Coming back to Windows Mobile 6.5 OS, the operating system core seems to be unchanged and looks like some polishing has been done on the UI front to make it much more finger-friendly for the latest touchscreens.

So, lets watch out how well the users take on the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS and so also the Marketplace!! Meanwhile checkout the latest Motorola DEXT Deals here - they have really good ones.

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Halo Wars Limited Edition : Is there anything better?

Halo Wars Limited Edition is no-doubt a smashing game. It surely qualifies as a "Must Buy" for all Halo fans, everything personifies to be trustworthy to the story and it appears as well as sounds pretty unflawed.

Only hassle is subsequently when you have completed the story there's teeny-weeny more to extend.whenever Microsoft has in reality released something as a limited variant, then it will cease marketing when the inventory bleeds out. Thus it's not conceivable to ascertain a timewhen the limited edition will really stop.

Notwithstanding, whenever Microsoft has determined to do the kinda thing they generally do and make-believe something is limited edition but at the same time keep on producing them until the demand for it disappears. In the case of Halo Wars I am sure it'll in all likelihood never stop selling. Or at the least not for a while.

No matter whether they have actually made a limited edition measure or not, Microsoft isn't loggerheaded. Therefore we can safely take for granted it will in all probability stop selling in almost a year or so. Either from running off of inventory or from them determining not to produce them any longer.

In the XBox edition there are actually three very very New Multiplayer Maps that are included. The Mythic Map Pack from Bungie includes three new maps which are aptly named as “Assembly”, “Sandbox” and “Orbital”. As you all must be knowing Halo Wars: Genesis is a very attractive lifelike novel by Phil Noto, Graeme Devine and Eric Nylund chronicling the 1st armed forces military campaign against the Covenant. The novel concentrates close to the Sprit of Fire on a military mission to reveal why the Covenant are so fascinated in the world of Harvest.

Grab a copy as it is presently still selling. And before long, I can only presume, it will truly become a limited Edition.

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How to easily open an encrypted / password protected PDF document

I am not very sure if you already know about this method – but for all those who are unaware of this, here it goes. PDFs (Portable Document Format) documents can be easily encrypted/password protected so that any un-authorized user cannot view or edit the PDFs content. The secured PDF document can also have DRM restrictions embedded right into the PDF document to provide further restrictions on the user from copying, changing / editing or printing the PDF file.

To remove all the DRM restrictions or the password of the protected PDF document you will need to just forward the PDF file as an attachment to your Gmail account and then simply open them in HTML mode from within your Gmail Inbox – now isn’t that so very simple to remove the PDF restrictions and password protection.

I have previously written macros to remove password protection from excel files – but never this easy to remove a password protection. But you have a few trade-offs in that the formatting of the PDF file is lost to a great extend but you get all the content that’s inside.

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Windows 7 Ultimate Crack Available for Free Download

Though we - the loyal customers need to wait a couple of months before we get the legal copies of Windows 7. The Windows 7 Activation crack is already available online for Free download. It has been barely a couple of weeks since Microsoft made available the RTM version of Windows 7 to the OEMs and lo we have the activation crack already available for Windows 7.

The Windows 7 Ultimate Activation crack is available on a Chinese Forum(Link cannot be revealed due to piracy concerns). The Windows 7 Ultimate activation crack has been built on the OEM version of Lenovo's Windows 7 Ultimate OEM DVD. The DVD ISO of Windows 7 Ultimate along with the newly available crack is already leaked at the forum. Anyone who uses the leaked .ISO, along with the OEM-SLP product key of Windows 7 Ultimate, coupled along with the activation certificates can be obtained through the boot.wim - helps you run Windows 7 Ultimate Final version.

The new activation crack uses a very simple technique of exploiting the "OEM Activation 2.1", which happens to be an updated volume license activation system by Microsoft that was earlier available from 2006 with Windows Vista and known infamously as "Activation 2.0". Looks like Microsoft hasn't learned from the mistakes coz, Activation 2.0 was previously the easy module break into Vista way back in 2006 when Vista hit the stores.

The new crack which has been successfully been built on a Windows 7 volume license means that anyone who uses this cracked version can install Windows 7 on numerous machines without any limitations as such.

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Microsoft Soapbox to Shutdown

MSN will no longer offer Soapbox!! Soapbox was Microsoft's version of user generated video service and was also a part of MSN Video. Sadly it has met the grave and will be laid to rest on August 31, 2009. Microsoft Soapbox was considered to be the tech giant’s answer to Google’s most-popular video sharing service YouTube. The demise was announced via a formal e-mail a few minutes ago.

Microsoft hasn't completely backed out of the video sharing/streaming market though - as MSN Video will remain online. MSN Video gets roughly about 88 million unique visitors per month that translates to 480 million video streams a month. On the other hand Soapbox was getting a mere less than 5% of what MSN Video gets. So, it was quite obvious that the service need to be shut down. Hope Soapbox videos don't get listed on Irish buy and sell web site.

From 29th July 2009, users will NOT be able to upload any videos onto Soapbox and those folks who have uploaded videos earlier into their Soapbox account will have time until August 31, 2009 to download them. So maybe you need to download and upload onto youtube for greater prosperity!! I feel that the folks at Microsoft should have given an easy option for the SoapBox users to directly send the videos onto their MSN Videos account.

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100 Free Stunning Bing Wallpapers

Following my last article “ How to easily set the Bing Wallpaper of the Day as your Desktop Wallpaper automatically? ”, I decided to go deep under and unearth all the Wallpapers that have made it to the Bing website. I could find 100 such wonderful and superb Wallpapers that can make your Desktop simply stunning.

All these wallpapers have a size of 1916 x 1024 pixels which must fit almost all screen sizes. If you want to download the entire set of 100 Wallpapers, you can get it from this link : http://www.mediafire.com/file/ctjiaeynwmm/Jsbi 100 Free Bing Wallpapers.zip (.zip , 78.9MB).

Else, you can click on each of the Individual images below and on the resulting screen you can right-click and save the Wallpaper.
Update : For some strange reason - the individual images have been uploaded in 640px × 342px below. So, it is advisable to download the entire set above that has the 1916px x 1024px images is high quality. If you need only a particular wallpaper, feel free to mail me a request .

Please Note that the Images are copyright to their respective owners. And also, Bing is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Click to Enlarge and Save

Hope you liked these. Do let me know your thoughts.

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