Will IE 8 be a FireFox 3 killer? With Beta 2 of IE8 being release late August it makes you wonder if Microsoft has learned their lesson and added the basic features that makes other web browsers like Opera and Firefox more attractive.
Currently in Beta 2, IE 8 is said to be noticeably faster, leaner and more intuitive to use. However you can probably count on it being the interface for Microsoft's Silverlight application, which competes against Adobe’s Flash.
First look of the latest Beta of IE 8 shows:
- The address bar now highlights just the domain in the URL decreasing your risk from domain phishing attacks by accidentally clicking links which are fake and malicious.
- The search box now sports the ability to display an icon for the search provider you have currently selected.
- The Bookmarking interface has been improved as well as access to all your other bookmarks are available from the “Favorites” button.
For one, IE 8 is allegedly to have the following features by the time its released (lets hope so) :
WC3 standards adherence and compatibility UPDATE “IE8 has been significantly enhanced, and was designed with great support for current Internet standards. This is evidenced by the fact that even in its first beta, IE8 correctly renders the popular test known as ‘Acid2,’ which was created by the Web community to promote real-world interoperability,” said Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect. “Our initial plan had been to use IE7-compatible behavior as the default setting for IE8, to minimize potential impact on the world’s existing Web sites. We have now decided to make our most current standards-based mode the default in IE8.
Automatic Crash Recovery
Built-in spell checker
Undo close tab
Saving and restoring sessions
Activities
WebSlices
Favorites Bar
Automatic Crash Recovery
Improved Phishing Filter
Most anticipated new features
The most obvious new features are Activities and WebSlices. These give you context sensitive options for looking up data (maps, search and so on), or doing stuff with it (emailing it, sharing on Facebook), rather like IE6's abandoned Smart Tags, and the latter are Sidebar Gadget-style clippings that let you view web content without actually visiting the website.
WebSlices sounds like Safari's Web Clip feature, but it's a different approach: where Apple's method is user-driven, WebSlices is site-driven; it's up to the site owner to define what, if anything, you can slice.
Performance and Standards
IE8 beta so far is faster. Microsoft says key systems including the HTML parser, CSS processing, JavaScript parsing and memory management are speedier than before, but it's still tweaking performance.
The Phishing Filter is back, but this time it's supplemented with Domain Highlighting – a Firefox-style feature that makes it clear whether the site you're visiting is the site you think you're visiting. The second beta will use SmartScreen filtering, a replacement for the Phishing Filter that offers a better interface, quicker performance and better analysis of unknown websites. It will also check servers to see if they're areas to avoid, so if you click on a potentially unsafe link in a chat window IE8 will pop up a warning message telling you about it.
Safety
In addition to these changes, IE8 will make ActiveX controls site specific, they will include protection against cross domain and cross site exploits and its Data Execution Prevention system will stop certain kinds of code from writing data to the system memory. When IE8 crashes you should be able to resume your last session when you restart the browser just like Firefox 3 does today.
Last but definitely not least, IE8 will be CSS 2.1 compliant and run in standards mode by default. There's also an Emulate IE7 option for when you encounter sites designed specifically for IE7, and a Quirks mode for IE5 emulation. Developers also get a Developer Toolbar for easy HTML, CSS and JavaScript debugging.
There are many commands in Windows that you can enter in the Run Command Prompt for example. But did you know which ones they are? If you do or dont it doesnt matter, My tip shows you how to make a shortcut to important commands that will execute control panel options for example, saving you a few clicks here and there instead of having to navigate to where you want to be.
This tip has a list of very useful commands to access areas of Windows XP that would normally take you a little longer to find or get to if you didnt have a shorcut for it. I also explain how to create the simple shortcut to the command so you can reuse it.
Windows XP Commands Add/Remove Programs = appwiz.cpl Administrative Tools = control admintools Computer Management = compmgmt.msc Device Manager = devmgmt.msc Direct X Control Panel = directx.cpl Disk Cleanup Utility = cleanmgr Disk Defragment = dfrg.msc Display Properties = control desktop/desk.cpl Group Policy Editor = gpedit.msc Internet Properties = inetcpl.cpl Kill all applications that are "Not Responding" = taskkill /fi "status eq not responding" Local Security Settings = secpol.msc Network Connections = ncpa.cpl Password Properties = password.cpl Remote Desktop Services = mstsc Services = services.msc Shuts Down Windows = shutdown Logs You Out Of Windows = logoff System Configuration Editor = sysedit System Configuration Utility = msconfig System Properties = sysdm.cpl User Account Management = nusrmgr.cpl Windows Firewall = firewall.cpl
Now that you have a list of useful commands to create shorcuts to, follow these easy steps:
1. Right Click on your Desktop, then chose New > Shortcut
2. In the prompt for the location of the item, type the command from the list I provided you above. For example if I want a shortcut to the Device Manager I'll type devmgmt.msc , then click Next.
3. Enter a description of your Shortcut then click Finish.
There you go, now you have not just any shortcut , but a special one to quickly activate the Device Manager for example.
You will also notice it creates the appropriate default icon for the command aswell.
Whether you have or not yet, there are some positive upgrades such as the sleek new look, revamped playback controls, sync with your mp3 player and more intuitive media management for your large collections of video, audio and even album art.
However, like with anything, take the good with bad, and for Windows Media 11 there is no exception. After trying it myself, the first thing I went to test was video codec support. I found it to be lacking. This has been a big issue in previous versions of Windows Media players. Audio files are no problem, images, not an issue, its the video type support that falls short. Again, unless you are playing a standard AVI or WMV file for example ,there are issues with other codecs such as Xvid, DivX, Mov and so on.
So whats the solution if you want to keep using windows Media player 11 you ask? A Vista Codec Pack v4.5.8 has just been released containing all the codecs you would possibly need to play your new and old video files. Its a free download. With this package installed, you shouldn't need to install any other codec or filter Get it at Softpedia.com , there are instructions there to assist you in the installation.
Support from the developer of the Vista Codec Package can be obtained on the MSFN Forums. Another suggestion is to get a real DivX Player, I bought a nice Phillips that plays it all on my TV.
Here are a few obvious and not so obvious tweaks you should be doing to your Windows Vista if you are finding performance to be a problem. If you dont want to install 3rd party tweaking utilities, maintenance software or you just want to do things manually yourself then follow these suggested tweaks.
Explorer Performance Tweaks
1. Click Start, right click on Computer, and click Properties. 2. Click Advanced System Settings. 3. Click on the Advanced tab. Under Performance, click Settings. Uncheck these options:
Fade or slide menus into view Fade or slide tooltips into view Fade out menu items after clicking Show shadows under menus Slide open combo boxes Slide taskbar buttons Use a background image for each folder type Close the Performance Options & System Properties dialogs.
Disable DEP / NoExecute Protection
DEP, otherwise known as NoExecute, is a piece of technology in Windows that prevents processes from being altered in live memory. This lowers the frequency of certain attacks, but it can also have some adverse effects and cause certain things not to run.
Due to the way Windows Vista™’s boot editor has been created, it is now harder to disable DEP / No Execute Protection.
Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, right click on “Command Promptâ€, and click “Run as administratorâ€. If asked for permission to run Windows Command Processor, click on Allow. At the command prompt, type in “bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff†(without the quotes). You should receive a message saying “Operation Completed Successfullyâ€. Restart the computer, DEP / No Execute should now be disabled.
Disable User Account Control (UAC) For The Administrator Account Only
NOTE: Depending on the version of Windows Vista, you may not have access to step 3. In that case >> Watch my alternative tip <<
1. Click the Start Button 2. From the Start menu, Click All Programs followed by Accessories, then Run 3. In the Run dialogue box type: secpol.msc and then Click OK 4. User Account Control will prompt you for the necessary authorisation. Click Continue button 5. The Local Security Policies window now opens. This window is divided into a Left and Right hand pane 6. In the Left Hand pane look for the Local policies option and Click the > button to expand the list 7. From the expanded list, Click on Security options 8. In the Right hand pane you should see a list of available options (this is rather a long list) 9. Scroll towards the bottom of the list until you come to 'User account control: behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in admin approval mode' 10. Right Click on this option and Select Properties 11. In the Properties window, Click the drop down menu arrow and, from the available list, Select the 'Elevate without prompting' option and then Click OK 12. A warning message will appear in the notification area warning you that UAC has been turned off. This message will appear ever time you boot your PC unless you turn off the option to be notified of security alerts in the Security Center of Control panel 13. Finally, Close the Local security policy Window
Bypass The Vista Log On Screen
1. Click the Start button 2. On the Start menu click Run 3. In the Run dialog box type ‘control userpasswords2’ (without the quotes) and press OK 4. The User Account properties window will now appear 5. Remove the check mark from the ‘users must enter a user name and password to use this computer’ option 6. Click Apply 7. A new window will now appear 8. In this Window enter the Name and Password you wish to be used to automatically log on to your pc 9. Once you have entered the details click OK to exit the new user name and password dialog window and then click OK on the User Properties box
Microsoft has released for its windows users Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, a free download. Before you run off to get it lets review the desktop virtualization capabilities of this tool, you decide if its for you. First off ask yourself these questions and see if you agree with any or all.
Many windows users are used to the Tweakui goodies of PowerToys and utilities as such. It seems Windows Vista has been left out? Users are wondering where is the free tweaking utility for Vista? You might have gone to a 3rd party tweaking tool already, if you havent and are still waiting for Microsoft to release its official PowerToys for Vista, you can get some relief now.
On Microsoft Technet there has been a new "unofficial" release of a PowerToy for Windows Vista - Called Elevate Command PowerToy. Essentially it allows you to run as administrator programs and command prompts. This gives you the proper privileges in case you are getting UAC issues when running simple commands or accessing certain system files in Windows Vista.
The Windows Vista Explorer view can be customized further to your needs. Change how files and folders are displayed and the display the details you want about them. [Watch my video tutorial for details]
Microsoft has launched the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool. You can download the version 2.0 Beta version now. The assessment tool allows you to see how much effort it will take to migrate from your Windows XP hardware to Vista by testing the hardware and device-driver capability of PCs against the OS.
Microsoft claims that "Through use of the detailed inventory data, the tool will assess and report whether the computers can run Windows Vista, where to find drivers for devices on the computers, and provide recommendations for hardware upgrades, where appropriate."
One major issue with compatibility is not only drivers and software, but the video card hardware demand Vista requires if you want use the eye candy effects and the Aero look
To download the tool you will need a Windows Live or Passport log-on and register for using the tool.
If you are curious to see what are the features in each version of Windows Vista, I have listed them here for you. [ Feature List ]
If you have media on your PC such as videos, music , photos and download the occasional movie or TV show, Windows Media Center may be your one stop show to managing it all in one place.
PART 1 -Review My first impression is, this is no iTunes, this is not meant to be a Adobe Photoshop and it is definitely not a DivX player. So what is this then you ask? Well let me start with some observations I had when I first looked at it. I introduce the basics of Windows Media Center [Watch my video]
Attractive interface makes it easy to navigate to each area
Single spot to perform tasks such as DVD burn, create a slide show, edit a photo.
Ability to access online media (videos) such as TV, Movies and latest News
Widescreen support (for those who can afford a wide screen monitor)
There is a little of everything for everyone, however those without Vista Premium or Ultimate editions are out of luck since windows media center does not come bundled on other versions of vista.
, I bought a nice Phillips that plays it all on my TV.
