December 5th, 2007

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ITsVISTA Web Links: December 5th, 2007

Written by Joe on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on News.

Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate is out there!

From the Vista Team blog:
Today we’re making available the release candidate (RC) of Windows Vista SP1 via Microsoft Connect, and tomorrow subscribers to TechNet and MDSN will have access to those RC bits too. In addition, the RC will be available to the public next week via Microsoft’s Download Center.

Check out the Vista Team blog here!

 

Go get it!

/Jakob

Written by Jakob H. Heidelberg on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta and MSDN and Windows Vista and connect and download and service pack and technet.

Windows Server 2008 RC1 in Public Beta!

Today Microsoft made available for download the Release Candidate 1 (RC1) version of Windows Server 2008!

This build includes Group Policy Preferences - you HAVE TO try it out!

Download you evaluation copy here!

 

/Jakob

Written by Jakob H. Heidelberg on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta and Windows Server 2008 and download and group policy and group policy preferences.

Top 10 Video Games - Gifts for Christmas


This Christmas, the top video games are in high demand and if your unsure on what to get, look no further, we have here an unbiased top 10 list in no particular order. Of course the list could go on but lets look at this variety pack of video games.


If your looking to buy a Nintendo Wii, try here at Amazon

Starting off the list is Call of Duty 4, an excellent first person shooter with an AI that is remarkably smart, the RPG's fire realistically, the graphics are excellent (if you have the video card to support it) and the overall gameplay is awesome making this a terrific multiplayer game, better than call of duty 2.

Though it may make a difference if you have an Xbox 360,PlayStation or Wii version of a game as supposed to the PC version (which in most cases allows you to play the game at high resolutions), but the basis of a game remains the same in all platforms. These picks are based on this months latest activity in the market, researched PC Game reviews and experiences of people (ages 10+) playing them lately in general. Depending on the age of the player, preferences on which games are best change obviously.

Here is the list of video games people are currently enjoying and/or wishing to play which you may want to consider getting.

1 Call of Duty 4
This game has a clever story line and some wicked multiplayer for endless hours of enjoyment.
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

2 Football Manager 2008 (Soccer)
With all-new features, improved gameplay and a depth only seen from Sports Interactive, Football Manager 2008 offers a management simulation that is second to none. This will surly wet the appetite of every Football fan (and by football I mean soccer :) .
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

3Crysis
An alien invasion game set in the year 2020. An archeological team on a remote Pacific island is captured by an invasion force of North Koreans, and your US Special Forces team is dispatched to investigate and rescue the scientists. Perfect graphics and gameplay, a real winner.
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

4 Unreal Tournament III
A fast-moving and action-oriented first-person shooter. Yet the game's new maps, the requisite graphical overhaul, and easy-to-understand gameplay modes all feel great.
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

5 The Sims 2
The Sims Series is very popular for all ages, and this is why you will find it in various flavors. Essentially all Sims games give you that feeling of complete control over the lives of autonomous little computer people, this is all that really needs to be said.
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

6 The Orange Box
There's never been a package on a console like The Orange Box. You get five games: Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode One, HL2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. All in one box, on one disc. If there's one must buy game of the year, it is, without a doubt, The Orange Box. All five components are excellent, with Half-Life 2 and Episode Two being the two finest single-player first-person shooters on Xbox 360 version of the game.
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

7 Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
A real-time strategy game that features an all-new single-player campaign, a new faction and a myriad of innovative multiplayer features. Players can expect more than one hundred new units will give players access to cutting-edge strategic options, including fully realized navies, orbital weaponry and advanced counter intelligence technologies.
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

8 Gears of War
Unlike other shooters, Gears of War is all about teamwork in a big way. All game modes, levels and scenarios are designed specifically to encourage co-operative play, whether it be with A.I. partners or human players (with A.I. teammates designed with specific strengths, weaknesses and personalities.)
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

9 Halo 3
There's no first-person shooter on the Xbox 360 that can equal Halo 3's blend of cinematic action, adrenaline-pumping shootouts, and male- (and female)-bonding gameplay.
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping

10 Command & Conquer 3:Tiberium Wars
One of my favourites, the long-running and popular real-time strategy series with Command & Conquer is an addictive game,
Buy it here at a low price + free shipping
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Here are games that are more suitable for kids under 13 years of age:

1. FIFA Soccer 08
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Teen)
3. Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour (Game for girls)
4. Madden NFL 08
5. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
6. Need for Speed Pro Street (10+)
7. The Sims 2: Castaway
8. Super Mario Bros 3
9. Super Mario Galaxy
10. Viva Piñata

Written by PCWizKid on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on 360 and Sales and Xp and christmas deals and nintendo and pcwizkid and playstation and video games and vista and wii and xbox live.

Group Policy Changes in WS2008 article - part 3

Hi,

Just want to let you know that my latest article about "Group Policy related changes in Windows Server 2008" is released on www.windowsecurity.com.

This 3rd article in the series deals with the new and shiny Group Policy Preferences - read more here…

 

I hope you like it!!!

/Jakob

Written by Jakob H. Heidelberg on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Windows Server 2008 and article and group policy and group policy preferences and windowsecurity.com.

Windows Server 2008 RC1 Available For Download

Microsoft will launch the final version of the server OS at a February 27th event in Los Angeles which the company is calling 'Heroes Happen Here,' . Also to be unveiled is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

But Today you can download RC1 of Windows Server 2008 - Codename Longhorn.

Microsoft said Windows Server 2008 RC1 (Release Candidate 1) is now available to all users, either as a 30-day trial that does not require a product activation key, or as a six-month trial for which users must register.

Windows Server 2008 offers a number of significant enhancements over its most recent predecessor, Windows Server 2003.

Among the software's more highly anticipated features are Windows PowerShell, Internet Information Services 7.0, a built-in Web server that brings together numerous online publishing technologies and a number of features first seen in Windows Vista.


Written by PCWizKid on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta and HACK and Longhorn and SP3 and Security and Tips and Updates and Xp and fixpack and pcwizkid and powertoys and rc1 and servicepack and sp1 and sp2 and tweaks and vista and windows 2008.

Vista SP1 RC available now for some, next week for all

Vista SP1The Windows Vista Team Blog just announced that Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC) is available today on Microsoft Connect. Tomorrow it will open up to Technet and MDSN subscribers, and finally, next week, it will be available to the public through Microsoft’s Download Center. Availability for the final version of SP1 is still slated for the first quarter of 2008.

Among the information given about the release, the download is much slimmer than it was, presumably due to removal of debugging code. It also requires less space to install, and will properly notify you if you don’t have enough space. For administrators, there will be a ‘blocker’ available (information available tomorrow), to prevent the service pack from installing. Many of use made use of this when SP2 came out for Windows XP, allowing us extra time to test and plan deployment, without worrying that the pack would automatically be installed through Windows Update.

The RTM version (final release to manufacturing) will be available as a stand-alone installer for English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese, in both the 32 and 64-bit flavors. 8-12 weeks later, the remaining languages will be available.

Written by Joe on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on General.

Deployed: Windows Vista SP1 RC on ALL of my PC’s

Today Nick announced the availability of the release candidate for Windows Vista SP1. I had a chance to get the RC build of Windows Vista SP1 installed a few days ago. I decided to roll the RC out on all of my PCs which showcase a variety of device types and scenarios:

In installing the RC on my PCs, I did a combination of using the standalone installer and Windows Update. Before proceeding to install the SP1 RC bits, I first needed to uninstall the SP1 beta bits first. Users looking to install the Windows Vista SP1 RC will need to uninstall any previous version of SP1 prior to the installation of the RC from either Windows Update or the standalone installer. With Windows Update, once SP1 was downloaded, a new series of screens telling me about SP1 appeared. The same series of dialog screens seen in the standalone installer is now launched when installing Windows Vista SP1 via Windows Update. This will be really helpful to the user in installing Windows Vista SP1. Previously with the beta, there was no guidance from Windows Update in installing Windows Vista SP1 like there was with the standalone installer. The ability to catch issues like insufficient disk space or PC not on battery power has been implemented earlier in the installation process - with a simple more useful error message to the user. In installing Windows Vista SP1 over Windows Update, a series of pre-requisites must first be installed before SP1. For the RC, these pre-requisites presented themselves to me in proceeding to install SP1 from Windows Update. However, before the final version of Windows Vista SP1 is released, it is likely these pre-requisites will be installed prior to SP1's release. If you have Windows Update configured for Automatic Update - it is likely these pre-requisites will be installed automatically at night.

When logging in to my PCs for the first time after installing the Windows Vista SP1 RC, the first thing I took notice of was that none of my PCs displayed a "find device driver" pop-up like I had experienced with the beta. Previously, I had a "find display driver" pop-up for my graphics driver for the PCs I had installed the SP1 beta on. In the RC - this seems to have been fixed. Many of the improvements I took note of back in September still held up, if not better, with the RC. All of my applications continue to work including:

These are just a few of the applications I use and have tested with the Windows Vista SP1 RC. I'd also like to note that Games for Windows - LIVE games such as Shadowrun and Halo 2 for Windows Vista also continue to work as expected.

A few days ago I had blogged about my new HP MediaSmart Server and deploying Windows Home Server in my home. Those unfamiliar with Windows Home Server can learn about it here. Windows Home Server is essentially the server for the home based off Windows Server 2003 SP2 code. With my PCs running the Windows Vista SP1 RC, I've seen some noticeable changes in how fast it takes for PC backups to complete. Windows Home Server uses a connector to configure backups to the server which take place over the network. With the networking fixes in Windows Vista SP1, transferring files over my network has improved tremendously. Accessing file shares on my Windows Home Server is also much more responsive.  

Because of these experiences with improved network performance, I decided it was time to migrate my network to a gigabit LAN.  To do so, I picked up a D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router as well as D-Link DGS-2205 gigabit switch.

Transferring recorded TV shows to my Windows Home Server is a breeze! I continue to be impressed with my network speed and responsiveness running Windows Vista SP1.

I'd also like to call out experiences on my laptop and UMPC with some SP1 improvements. Most notably is the improvement seen with my laptop and UMPC in resuming from sleep mode. Resuming from sleep is much faster. In coming out of sleep, I can now immediately use my mobile PCs rather than having to wait through a lag until the system is usable.

I've spent a total of 3 days now running a complete Windows Vista SP1 environment and am very impressed with the improvements and fixes that the RC provides over the last beta.

Written by Brandon LeBlanc on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Featured News and HP MediaSmart Server and Networking and Windows Home Server and Windows Update and Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 and release candidate.

Deployed: Windows Vista SP1 RC on ALL of my PC’s

Today Nick announced the availability of the release candidate for Windows Vista SP1. I had a chance to get the RC build of Windows Vista SP1 installed a few days ago. I decided to roll the RC out on all of my PCs which showcase a variety of device types Read More......(read more)

Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Featured News and HP MediaSmart Server and Networking and Windows Home Server and Windows Update and Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 and release candidate.

Announcing Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC)

Today we're making available the release candidate (RC) of Windows Vista SP1 via Microsoft Connect , and tomorrow subscribers to TechNet and MDSN will have access to those RC bits too. In addition, the RC will be available to the public next week via Read More......(read more)

Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Featured News and RC and Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 and release candidate and sp1.

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