Compatibility

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A Comprehensive Look at Internet Explorer Beta 2

Today, the Internet Explorer Team has made available Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 for all to download. You can read the IE Team's announcement of the new release and very important milestone here from IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch on the IEBlog.

Download: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

Also be sure to read this post from Program Manager Jane Maliouta on upgrading to IE8 Beta 2. It includes some very important information such as how to uninstall IE8 Beta 1 and more.

Internet Explorer 8 comes packed with new features designed to make browsing the web much easier and finding what you want much quicker. Matter of fact, based on my own experiences with IE8 these past few weeks, finding your "stuff" quicker is a very strong theme in IE8. I've discovered with IE8 that browsing the web is much more efficient. There are some brand new features in IE8 I'd like to call out, based on my own experiences that I think users will find very useful in browsing the web. I've found these features in IE8 so useful in fact that I am using IE8 Beta 2 on all my PCs. Keep in mind there are far too many new features and changes in IE8 for me to highlight in a single post. I'm only going to cover some of IE8's biggest new features and features I use the most.

First off: when you fire up IE8 you'll notice that the IE "chrome" has changed from the glossy metallic look to a softer light blue look with less gloss.

 

The most notable change to the UI in Internet Explorer 8 users will take notice of is the Favorites Bar. And this is one of the new features in IE8 I use the most. Essentially - the Favorites Bar is designed to help users highlight there most used Favorites and other information they want quick access to.

Side note on customization in IE8: Many readers of this blog have expressed to me unhappiness with the lack of customization in IE7. IE8 brings some changes that allow much more customization that I think users will be happy with. You can unlock the toolbars and drag the IE menu bar to a variety of places in IE8. You can also right click in IE8's menu and choose Customize where you can have the refresh and stop buttons moved to the front of the Address Bar. Those who also prefer not to have the Favorites Bar showing will be pleased to know you can turn it off (although I don't know why you would want to!).

The Favorites Bar is also a key component to another new feature in IE8: Web Slices.  Web Slices are little "slices" of information within a website that can be subscribed to and added to the Favorites Bar. As information within these Web Slices update, they become bold in the Favorites Bar signifying new information is available within a specific Web Slice.  When I visit a website that has a Web Slice, instead of the standard orange RSS icon I get a green Web Slice icon. I visited Digg (a favorite website of mine) with IE8 and noticed that they have a Web Slice available for top "dugg" topics.

I clicked on the green Web Slice icon and added the Digg Web Slice to my Favorites Bar. There, I can click on the Digg Web Slice to check out the current top dugg posts.

Digg is one of my favorite Web Slices along with the Facebook Web Slice. The Facebook Web Slice allows you to stay on top of your Facebook friend's Status Updates. I found this very useful.

TIP: You can resize the Web Slice "window" by grabbing the bottom right-hand corner.

You are able to add RSS feeds you subscribe to in IE8 to the Favorites Bar as well. To stay on top of all the tech news happening in the blogosphere - I am constantly watching Techmeme. By subscribing to Techmeme's RSS feed and adding it to my Favorites Bar in IE8 - it's easier for me to keep tabs on the latest geek news.

When I subscribed to the Techmeme RSS feed, all I had to do was make sure "Add to Favorites Bar" was checked and when I hit subscribe - it automatically appeared in my Favorites Bar. When the feed updates, just like with Web Slices the RSS feed will become bold.

IE8 introduces the Smart Address Bar designed to help you get to where you want to go on the web quicker. One of the most common tasks for users in web browsers is getting back to websites they use regularly. Much of my web browsing is essentially getting to websites I regularly visit and check. With the Smart Address Bar - getting back to these sites is much easier.

The Smart Address Bar matches what I type in the address bar with websites in History, Favorites, and RSS Feeds. It also features an Autocomplete Suggestion as well for whatever website I am trying to get to. I've found that IE8's Autocomplete Suggestion has been pretty spot on which is great. Mistyped entries can also be deleted by simply clicking the red X to the right of any entry. Autocomplete works across your history as well as your feeds. Domain Highlighting is also used in the Smart Address Bar in IE8. This allows me to quickly identify which domain I'm on. If I am on the Windows Vista Team Blog, the Smart Address Bar will show the URL for the site as http://www.windowsvistablog.com/. However, only windowsvistablog.com is highlighted. Believe it or not this is actually a security feature. Domain Highlighting is designed to aid users in identifying deceptive phishing websites. If a user suddenly discovers a domain highlighted that doesn't make sense and seems a little shady, they can proceed in reporting the site via IE8 as a phishing site.

The second most common thing I do in the web browser is web search. IE8 has some impressive enhancements to its inline search box that make search. When I search for something, I can quickly switch between multiple search providers by clicking the search provider icon.

With Live Search as a search provider (the default search provider on my PCs), when I typed in something I was looking for - Live Search offers me suggestions in real-time to help me find what I'm looking for. When searching the web via IE8's inline search box - it also searches your web history as well.

So what if you want to find something on a specific webpage you are on? IE8 is very accommodating with this scenario. Using the feature Find-on-Page (Ctrl + F), I can quickly get search results for something I am looking for on single page.

When I press Ctrl + F, the Find-on-Page Toolbar appears (under the tabs) and allows me to search the site. In the above screenshot, I searched the Featured Community website Windows-Now for the term "windows". As you can see, Find-on-Page highlights each instance of the term I am searching for and also counts the results. Find-on-Page found 20 results for the word "windows" on this specific page on Windows-Now.

Another way to find information within specific websites is to use Accelerators in IE8. In IE8 Beta 1 we called these "Activities" but in IE8 Beta 2 they are now called Accelerators. Accelerators appear in IE8 when you highlight text and right-click on the blue Accelerator icon. Here I highlighted the word "virtual machine" and used the Encarta Accelerator to find the definition of "virtual machine".

If I am visiting a website that has an address that I want to quickly map - I can use the Live Search Maps Accelerator to quickly map the address. Accelerators don't have to just come from Microsoft. 3rd parties can take full advantage of creating Accelerators and users can quickly add in IE8.

TIP: You can manage Accelerators, Search Providers, and Toolbars & Extensions all in one spot via IE8's updated Manage Add-ons Panel by going to Tools and then Manage Add-ons.

There are a few more things I'd like to call out in IE8 I think users will enjoy. Managing Tabs in IE8 is enhanced to accommodate getting to those websites you like to visit. For example, when I open a new tab in IE8, it allows me to re-open closed tabs. For me, many closed tabs were websites I often visit so it's nice to be able to simply open a new tab and quickly re-open a website I want to get to again.

The new tab screen also allows you to access Accelerators as well.

Another new thing with tabs is Tab Groups. I have a habit of right-clicking on hyperlinks and clicking "Open in New Tab". When I do this - a new tab is of course opened but the tab that I opened a new tab on as well as the new tab is colored. These Tab Groups allow me to keep track of groups of tabs that I am going between. I've found this incredibly useful in managing what I do in IE8.

Speaking of tabs, IE8 comes with a crash recovery feature for when a tab in IE8 crashes it is automatically reloaded and restored. The real beauty of this feature is that, unlike other browsers, IE8 does not need to restart in the event of a crash. You could be watching a video in one tab and if another tab crashes you won't miss a thing. It' crash recovery done right. Any information entered on the page such as a email you're writing in Windows Live Hotmail or a form you are filling out is automatically restored.

As many folks know by now, the Internet Explorer Team has focused on making IE8 standards compliant. IE8 passes the Acid2 Test and offers full support for the CSS 2.1 specification. These are just two of the many changes made in IE8 to support standards and interoperability. Because of these changes, users may notice some of their websites make not look correctly because they were designed for older browsers. IE8 comes with a feature called Compatibility View that lets users quickly switch from IE8's standards compliant layout engine to IE7's layout engine.

Unlike in Beta 1 of IE8, switching into Compatibility View doesn't require the restart of IE8. When you click on the Compatibility View button on a specific website - that website is refreshed in "compatibility mode". Compatibility View works on a per-website (domain) basis.

For more information on Compatibility Mode in IE8 Beta 2 - read this in-depth post from IE Lead Program Manager Scott Dickens.

I am just touching the tip of the iceberg here with IE8 features. Expect more in-depth coverage from the folks working on these features in IE8 from the IE Team themselves over on the IEBlog in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to the IE Team for this excellent release!

Also take note of a brand new website launching for IE8 called the Internet Explorer Gallery at http://www.ie8gallery.com/en/.

The Internet Explorer Gallery allows you to find all kinds of neat Accelerators, Web Slices, and Search Providers. It's a great place to start after you get Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 installed!

Written by Brandon LeBlanc on August 27th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Announcement and Beta and Compatibility and Contributors and Featured News and IE8 and Search and internet explorer 8 and web browsing.

A Comprehensive Look at Internet Explorer Beta 2

Today, the Internet Explorer Team has made available Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 for all to download. You can read the IE Team's announcement of the new release and very important milestone here from IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch on the IEBlog. Read More......(read more)

Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on August 27th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Announcement and Beta and Compatibility and Contributors and Featured News and IE8 and Search and internet explorer 8 and web browsing.

Mixed Vista/XP network to work properly

When you combine XP and Vista PCs on the same peer-to-peer , such as you might have at home or a small office, you may run into all kinds of problems. It may be difficult for your Vista PCs to find your XP PCs, and vice versa.

And the Vista Map which may be the best feature has ever introduced into won’t work properly with XP PCs. They won’t show up properly on the map, if they even show up at all.

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The first is that the default name for your on the has been changed from XP to Vista. In XP, the default name for the is Mshome; in Vista, it is .

The fix for this is easy; you can change the name of the on XP to match the name of your Vista . On XP, right-click My , click the Name tab, then click Change. The screen shown nearby appears. In the box, type in the name of your Vista name. If you’re leaving it as the default used in Vista, type in . If you’re not using the Vista default, change it to whatever name you’ve given your Vista and click OK.

After you click OK, you’ll see the confirmation dialog shown in the figure below. Click OK again, then restart your PC.

You can, instead, give your XP and Vista machines both new names, as long as they match. To change the name of your in Vista, right-click and select Properties. You’ll see the name of your PC as well as its name. Click Change , then from the screen that appears, click Change. In the dialog box, shown in the figure below, type in the new name for your and click OK.

As with XP, you’ll get a confirmation that the name has been changed. You’ll have to restart your PC for the changes to go into .

XP for Vista

Making sure that both XP and Vista are on the same will go part way toward making the PCs get along on your , but won’t go all the way. A bigger has to do with the new Vista map.

The map is possibly the best addition it comes to that Vista has made. To get there, select Panel –> and –> and Sharing Center –> View full map. A screen like one below appears.

The map shows you all the PCs and devices attached to your — those in your entire , not just your . This map is more than nice to look at; it’s extremely useful as well. Hover your mouse over any device, and you’ll be shown information about it, such as its name, and MAC address, as shown in the figure below. Click a PC and you’ll connect to it.

There’s a rub, though. Look at the bottom of the screen in the map Vista drew of our . You’ll see a number of devices listed. Vista has found them, but doesn’t quite know what to make of them. It can’t figure out where they fit in on the . And it won’t give you any information about them if you hover your mouse over them.

The is that to discover information about devices, Vista uses a new protocol, called Link Layer Topology Discovery. LLTD is built into any Vista PC, which is why they show up properly on the map. However, LLTD isn’t built into XP, which is why they don’t show up properly.

You can fix the by downloading and installing the Layer Topology Discovery Responder. Install it and your XP PC will show up on the map, properly located, with the mouse hover in full working order, as you can see in the figure below.

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Written by Jason on August 13th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Compatibility and Contributors and Control and Internet and Network and Networking and Patching and Settings and Windows Vista and Windows XP and computer and ip address and microsoft and problem and windows.

How to Create Symbolic Links

What Is a ?

A acts (and looks) like a shortcut but provides a to the target file at the file level instead of within .

are used most for backward . It can be used to trick into thinking its accessing files at a location where the files have been moved.

Create a Relative or Absolute

Relative : A relative is a that identifies the location of its target by its location.

For Example: I created a folder called test in the root of C:\. I also created a text file called file2.txt in the folder called test. I’m going to create a relative in the folder test I created called file1.txt to the text file file2.txt.

1. Open the prompt with privileges by clicking Start, All Programs, Accessories, right-click Prompt and then select as .

2. After navigating to the test folder I created I type mklink file1.txt file2.txt in the prompt and then press enter.

Now if you open file1.txt file2.txt actually opens. To prove this, open file2.txt, type something in it and then open the file1.txt .

Note: If the relative is moved the link will not work anymore.

Absolute

An absolute is a that identifies the location of its target by a full path.

Using the example above you’d type mklink file1.txt C:\test\file2.txt.

Note: If you move the to a different location it will still work.
Create a to a Folder

To create a to a folder you’d type mklink file1.txt \\file-server\test\file2.txt or mklink file1.txt Z:\test\file2.txt for a mapped folder.

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Written by Jason on July 17th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Compatibility and Contributors and Explorer and Internet and Software and administrator and command and command prompt and how to.

Vista SP1 Solution Accelerator

The latest version of a solution initially dubbed Vista Assessment is now available for . The Assessment and Planning is now at version 3.1 and has hit stage. The latest build of the assessment and planning solution is tailored specifically to the most recent client and , namely and Server 2008 /, including the Hyper-V release. Version 3.1 is up for grabs straight from , and is designed to streamline as much as possible the evaluation and planning phases of large scale migration processes in complex IT infrastructures.

“Formerly known as Vista Assessment, this new release is now packed with many new features such as: Hyper-V candidates assessment (+ improved virtual machines inventory); SQL server discovery and assessment; support; and Center assessment,” revealed Baldwin Ng, Senior Product Manager, Solution Accelerators Team.

Designed as a -wide agent-less tool, MAP 3.1 will crawl all the servers and the desktops that are an integral part of an IT and will provide basic guidance through the migration process. The solution will deliver an inventory of all the resources available, focusing on a variety of areas, including server, and upgrade scenarios. All the scanning is performed via a and, in this context, MAP does not have to be deployed on each machine it evaluates. The assessment takes advantage of the capabilities offered by the Instrumentation (), the Remote Service, or the Simple Protocol (SNMP).

“ Vista and device assessment; 2007 assessment; Server 2008 and device assessment; assessment; SNMP inventory reporting, [and support for] Hyper-V and SQL Server,” Baldwin Ng added.

Assessment and Planning Solution 3.1 is available for x86 or x64.

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Written by Jason on June 30th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and 64-bit and Compatibility and Contributors and Hardware and Installation and Mac and Office and Office 2007 and Security and Software and Virtual Machine and Virtualization and Vista service pack 1 and Windows Vista and download and microsoft and operating system and windows and windows vista service pack and x86.

Pre-Activated Copies of Vista

Being the loyal adept of a model based on proprietary , a operating system is not exactly something that customers can expect from the company. But of course that there are always exceptions to confirm the rule. And the copy of Vista up for grabs via is an illustrative example in this context. That’s right, a completely copy of the latest client, time-bombed of course, but nonetheless.

continues a tradition debuted after the launch of 7. Because two different versions of cannot coexist under normal circumstances on the same machine, let alone be used , the Redmond giant turned to an alternative solution to make the lives of content developers and designers a tad easier. The company released Images.

The images are essentially nothing more than Virtual Hard Disks designed to integrate with Virtual Server 2007. This is precisely the case of the latest IE Image containing Vista. The VHD brings to the table a pre-activated copy of Vista with 7. And just as with the previous releases of the Images, the Vista VHD is also time-bombed. According to the giant, the June 17, 2008 release of the IE image containing Vista is set to expire on September 9.

But until that point the operating system is fair . It can be downloaded for from and used in a running under Virtual PC 2007 until September. At that point in time is bound to make available new releases of IE Image to replace the ones that have expired.

The Image containing Vista is available for here.

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Written by Jason on June 19th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Compatibility and Contributors and Explorer and Internet and Internet Explorer 7 and Software and Virtual Machine and Web and Windows Vista and application and download and free and microsoft and windows.

Make older programs run in this version of Windows

Most programs written for XP also work in this of , but some older programs might poorly or not at all. If a written for an earlier of doesn’t correctly, use the Wizard to change the settings for the . To change settings for a manually, use the individual ’s tab.

If changing the settings does not fix the , go to the manufacturer’s website to see if there is an update for the .

Do not use the Wizard on older antivirus programs, , or other system programs because it might cause data loss or create a .

the Wizard

1. Open the Wizard by clicking the , clicking , clicking Programs, and then clicking Use an older with this of .

2. Follow the instructions in the wizard.

If you cannot a , insert the disc for the and, using the wizard, browse to the ’s file, usually called .exe, .exe, or something similar. The wizard is not designed to work on programs that have an .msi file name extension.

To change settings manually for a , right-click the icon for the , click Properties, and then click the tab.

Setting Description

mode: Runs the using settings from a previous of . Try this setting if you know the is designed for (or worked in) a specific previous of .

in 256 colors: Uses a limited set of colors in the . Some older programs are designed to use fewer colors.

in 640 × 480 screen resolution: Runs the in a smaller-sized window. Try this setting if the appears jagged or is rendered improperly.

Disable : Disables themes on the . Try this setting if you notice problems with the menus or buttons on the title bar of the .

Disable desktop composition: Turns off and other advanced display features. Choose this setting if window movement appears erratic or you notice other display problems.

Disable display scaling on high DPI settings: Turns off automatic resizing of programs if large-scale font size is in use. Try this setting if large-scale fonts are interfering with the appearance of the . For more information, see Make the text on your screen larger or smaller and Ways to improve display quality.

Privilege level: Runs the as an . Some programs require privileges to . If you are not currently logged on as an , this option is not available.

Show settings for all users: Lets you choose settings that will apply to all users on this .

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