Windows SteadyState for Vista and XP

Microsoft has made available for download the Windows SteadyState for the 32-bit editions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. SteadyState is a Windows management tool designed for scenarios in which access to machines is completely unrestricted. The evolution of the Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP, Windows SteadyState has been designed for the specific purpose of managing shared computers, safeguarding system resourced against changes made by untrusted users, and making irrelevant unwanted software installations.

“Windows SteadyState includes many new features and enhanced capabilities. Windows SteadyState is not simply a redesign of the Shared Computer Toolkit; we listened to you, our customers, to better understand how we could provide a solution that could really help you manage and maintain your shared computer environments”, Microsoft revealed.

SteadyState indeed comes with an overhauled installation and a new redesigned graphical user interface tailored on the Windows Aero in Vista. Still, the redesign does highlight the tasks and options of the tool streamlining access for the end users. At the same time, the Redmond company also simplified the settings associated with introducing restrictions to user accounts on a certain operating system and those related to handling updates.

On top of the management capabilities included in SteadyState Microsoft has also integrated the Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy mechanism. The company stressed the need to ensure that Windows machines with SteadyState have access to official downloads and the updates restricted by WGA validation. On top of this, SteadyState features Windows Disk Protection which makes all changes to the platform temporary.

“Help protect the Windows partition, which contains the Windows operating system and other programs, from being modified without administrator approval. Windows Disk Protection helps protect the Windows operating system and all files on the computer from permanent change. Any changes made by shared users when they are logged on to the computer are removed when the computer is restarted. Windows SteadyState allows you to set Windows Disk Protection to remove all changes upon restart, to remove changes at a certain date and time, or to not remove changes at all”, Microsoft added.

Windows SteadyState is available for download here.

Tags:32-bit, access, administrator, aero, Computer, download, genuine, installation, Management, opera, partition, program, Protection, remove, restart, Software, temporary help, toolkit, wga, Windows, windows machines, windows vista, Windows Vista, windows xp

Related posts

• Windows Vista: An FAQ for Nonprofits (0)
• How to remove Windows is not genuine notification (0)
• Download Windows Firewall with Advanced Security (3)
• Windows XP and Vista: The Benchmark Rundown (1)
• Windows Vista Drivers & software for Microsoft Hardware (2)
• Windows Vista and Malware Immunity (0)
• Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (0)
• WGA Phones Home When Canceled (0)
• Uninstalling Vista Product Keys Activates the Platform’s Kill Switch (0)
• Top 3 Free Product Key Finder Programs (12)
• Six Important Tips for Installing CygWin (0)
• Save space when using two drives or dual-booting (0)
• Run a Faster Windows PC (0)
• Notepad++ 4.1.2 for Windows (0)
• Make Room for Windows XP SP3 (0)
• How to Remove or Delete AutoPlay Handler from the Options List in Vista and XP (0)
• How to fix the quick launch items location change (1)
• How Genuine Is Your Windows? (2)
• Forgot Windows password ? Reset Windows password (6)
• Exclusive for Windows Vista (0)
• Eleven Tips for Troubleshooting Software (0)
• Dual-booting XP deletes Vista restore points (1)
• Automatically check your programs for updates (1)
• A Closer Look at Windows Vista (3)
• 10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows Vista (5)

Written by Jason on June 12th, 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 Contributors and Installation and Software and WGA and Windows Vista and Windows XP and access and administrator and aero and computer and download and genuine and management and opera and partition and program and protection and remove and restart and windows.

Best Practices for keeping your Windows Live ID safe

Your Windows Live ID is essentially your online identity for all of the Windows Live services, Xbox Live, Zune and other third party websites (such as Expedia.com) that utilize Windows Live ID. If you're using Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, Read More......(read more)

Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on May 5th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and Contributors and Featured News and Security and Windows Live and protection.

Best Practices for keeping your Windows Live ID safe

Your Windows Live ID is essentially your online identity for all of the Windows Live services, Xbox Live, Zune and other third party websites (such as Expedia.com) that utilize Windows Live ID. If you're using Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, your Windows Live ID stores all your contacts and email messages. Your Windows Live ID is definitely something you don't want to have compromised and I've got several pointers - or best practices - in keeping your Windows Live ID safe.

Do not hand out your password! Don't give anyone your password to your Windows Live ID. Handing out your password to anyone is simply asking for trouble. Don't even give out your password to friends or family. I can't imagine a reason why they would need it. Just don't give out your Windows Live ID credentials at all.

Be careful giving your Windows Live credentials on non-Microsoft websites. There are some websites out there that will claim they "require" your Windows Live ID credentials for their service. Some sites use this tactic to gain access to your Windows Live ID.

Fact: Microsoft will only ask for your Windows Live ID credentials on login.live.com and nowhere else!

Use a strong password for your Windows Live ID. Don't use common words or names. Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

 

Don't use an obvious answer to your secret question. Microsoft provides a list of possible "secret questions" for your account. A secret question is used when you forget your password for your Windows Live ID. Choose a secret question that has an answer that people won't be able to guess (friends, family, etc). The risk you have in using a secret question with an answer your friends might be able to guess is that your friends can try to "hack" your Windows Live ID and have fun with you. Your secret answer must have 5 characters or more and is not case sensitive. Remember to remember your secret answer of course.

Added protection: make your password expire every 72 days. You can login to account.live.com and change your password for your Windows Live ID and configure it to expire every 72 days. I personally don't choose this option rather I change my password every couple weeks on my own.

Neelamadhaba Mahapatro, General Manager for Microsoft's Identity Services (including Windows Live ID) has a post over on the Windows Live Dev Blog explaining Microsoft ongoing to commitment to keeping your Windows Live ID safe and what's being done today to protect Windows Live ID users from phishing.

Written by Brandon LeBlanc on May 5th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and Contributors and Featured News and Security and Windows Live and protection.

Get Green and Stay Green with Windows Live OneCare

To help celebrate St. Patrick's Today - the Windows Live OneCare Team is kicking off a brand new campaign: Get Green Stay Green . The Get Green Stay Green campaign is designed to make sure Windows Live OneCare users are staying "green" - meaning their Read More......(read more)

Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on March 17th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Backup and Featured News and Security and Staying Green and Windows Live and Windows Live OneCare and Windows Vista and protection.

Get Green and Stay Green with Windows Live OneCare

To help celebrate St. Patrick's Today - the Windows Live OneCare Team is kicking off a brand new campaign: Get Green Stay Green.

The Get Green Stay Green campaign is designed to make sure Windows Live OneCare users are staying "green" - meaning their PC Health Status. Here is Amy Barzdukas, Senior Direct here at Microsoft, to talk about Windows Live OneCare and keeping your PC safe. Amy leads the Windows Live OneCare Team.

Video: Microsoft Windows Live OneCare

I use Windows Live OneCare on my 3 personal home PCs - which are connected together in an OneCare Circle (you can have up to 3 PCs in an OneCare Circle). This lets me manage the PC Health for all my personal PCs. If any of my PCs in my OneCare Circle have their PC Health Status change to yellow or red, I can quickly see which PC it is and why. I can then do what is needed to bring that PC back to green. Keeping all my PCs green is very important to me. If any of my PCs slip into yellow or red - I fix it immediately.

I have a few tips to share from personal experience in keeping my PCs green in my OneCare Circle that you can use to help keep your own PCs green:

• Make sure you have your PCs backed up. Windows Live OneCare can backup your PCs automatically to a centralized point on your home network. In my case, I have all my home PCs backed up to my Windows Home Server which Windows Live OneCare detects.
• Have your firewall turned on. Windows Live OneCare can maintain and monitor your firewall - protecting your PC from attacks. Even though I'm behind a pretty secure router - I have the firewall turned on for all PCs in my OneCare Circle to add an extra level of protection.
• Make sure Protection Plus (malware definitions) are up to date. This ensures your PC is protected from the latest internet garbage.
• Do a PC Tune-up! Windows Live OneCare can do regular Tune-ups that can ensure your PC is running at its best.
• Make sure your PC has the latest updates from Windows Update. Important updates are key to ensuring your PC stays green.

Again, keeping my home PCs green is very important to me and the above tips help me to do so.

Do you have any tips for Windows Live OneCare and keeping your PC green? I'd love to hear them. Leave a comment below. I would be particularly interested in hearing about how you use Windows Live OneCare to ensure your PCs are backed up.

Users can also visit http://www.getgreenstaygreen.com/ and find out what it takes to keep their PC "green".

Written by Brandon LeBlanc on March 17th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Backup and Featured News and Security and Staying Green and Windows Live and Windows Live OneCare and Windows Vista and protection.

[Solved] Explorer.exe protection fault when trying to view print properties HP Laserjet

We had this problem this morning suddenly the printer was buggy.
Trying to edit the printer properties resulted in an Explorer.exe message somthing like this:

C:\Winnt\Explorer.exe error. Function address 0x4f4c49f9 caused a protection fault. (exception code 0x0000005) Some or all property page(s) may not be displayed

And I saw this in the application eventlog.

An unhandled win32 exception occurred in spoolsv.exe [1084].

Luckily the spooler did still work for other printers connected than the HP one.

I suspected a driver corruption and installed the drivers for the HP 2300n from the HP site.
That did not help still the same message but I got into the printer properties and got to the driver properties.
I then installed the old drivers we had backupped. But again at no avail.

After searching the net I installed the HP Universal Print Driver [UPD].
http://h20338.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/cache/342988-0-0-225-121.html

 

This solved the problem.

Written by Teus on January 28th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Driver and HP and Laserjet and Print and UPD and Universal and explorer.exe and fault and protection.