The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility has been developed by Microsoft as a tool to clean a computer system after a failed installation of a software program using the Windows installer. The computer program will display a list of all applications that have been installed using Windows Installer giving the user the option to remove their installers properly from the computer system.

It is possible to select one or multiple programs from the list for removal. The cleanup program will then remove the installation files from the computer system so that it can be removed or installed properly. Microsoft advises to not use the program to cleanup Office 2007 installers this way. The reason for this is that it can happen that installers can become corrupted so that it becomes impossible to remove the program from the operating system.

The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility is compatible (via 4 Sysops) with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

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Windows Defender comes with the usual options to automatically update the program and schedule regular system scans to protect the computer system. Default actions for low, medium and high alerts can be defined that will be executed by the anti-spyware program automatically.

Microsoft’s anti-spyware solution comes with the interesting advanced tool Software Explorer which can display extensive information about startup programs, currently running programs, network connected programs and Winsock service providers.

Each program and provider is sorted by company which makes it easier to find non-Microsoft programs that are running or connected to the computer system.

Microsoft has improved Windows Defender over the years. The company did receive lots of criticism in the beginning which can be attributed to a low spyware detection rate. Several anti-spyware products have performed better in tests, outlined here or here. Please note that the tests linked in this article have been performed about 10 months ago and that the situation may have changed in the mean time.

Which leads to the question: Are you running anti-spyware software? If so which?

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A good practice would be to install the Microsoft Network Monitor first and Microsoft Visual Round Trip Analyzer second to avoid compatibility issues.

The web developer has to select an available network connection in Visual Round Trip Analyzer that he wants to analyze. A click on the Start Netmon button starts the Netmonitor application which will from then on record the traffic on the selected network.

The user would then have to load the website or run a batch file that would simulate that and stop Netmonitor afterwards. The traffic will automatically be analyzed by the Visual Round Trip Analyzer software and displayed in the program’s interface.

The main chart lists the opened client ports, the domain and time it took to load the data. Hoovering over an entry will display detailed information about that traffic including headers, protcols, frames and sizes.

The Statistics tab will list file types, the total sizes, status codes and the average compressibility of them. More interesting than that is the All Files tab which gives – very – detailed information about files that have been loaded from external domains. This includes file sizes, download rate, Round Trips and Content Length.

Analysis is the last tab of the software program. It analyses various aspects of the site’s performance like Bandwidth Efficiency, Average File Size, Packet Loss or Whitespaces. The score ranges from A (best) to F (worst). Each parameter that has been rated is explained in a short paragraph. Hoovering the mouse over a paragraph will give information on the sites performance.

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Microsoft Phone Data Manager is not a full blown backup solution like the software that comes from the mobile phone company directly which can backup data like sms, games or protocols. It is a beta product on the other hand that could see those features implemented in later versions.

The major advantage of using the Phone Data Manager is that it works with phones from different mobile phone manufacturers. That is handy for a family that possesses different phones but only one computer and basically everyone else who is using phones from different cell phone manufacturers.

The list of working mobiles include phones from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. About 30 mobiles in total are listed on that page that have been tested and are working with the Microsoft Phone Data Manager but there are also a few that are not working. Most cell phone owners will probably have to try and find it out for themselves if their mobile phone is not listed on that page.

Microsoft has posted a user guide on their website that walks the user through the process of installing and working with the Phone Data Manager.

It supports and can identify bluetooth and usb cable connections. While it lacks on features it could be a viable alternative for users with multiple phones from different manufacturers.

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The interesting aspect about Microsoft Desktops is that it is a lightweight application. It uses less than four Megabytes of computer memory to run which is a very good value for applications of this kind. The user is asked to define the hotkeys that switch between the virtual desktops during program start.

The default option is ALT and the numbers 1-4. Other keys that are available are CTRL, SHIFT and Windows and the F-keys. Switching between the virtual desktops works extremely well and fluent, there is virtually no delay.

All icons and shortcuts that have been placed on the standard desktop are replicated and available in every virtual desktop as well.

The program places an icon in the Windows system tray that displays the contents of the virtual desktops when left-clicked. Another click would select the virtual desktop and bring it up on the computer monitor.

The options of Microsoft Desktops are also accessible through the system tray icon.

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Then there is the trend to use a desktop computer and laptop or netbook or mobile Internet device and the desire to have the same data available on all computers. Data like contacts, emails, photos and even bookmarks is something that the user who is working with multiple devices wants to have in sync.

Microsoft SyncToy is the second installment of the synchronization software by Microsoft which has the goal of delivering an easy to use data synchronization software for Windows users. SyncToy comes in a version for 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista operating systems and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 or above.

Microsoft SyncToy works with so called folder pairs called the left and right folder. After selecting two folders from connected partitions or devices the user has to define the type of synchronization that should take place, he has the option to..

• Synchronize: New Files and Modifications are copied to the other folder. Renaming or deleting files will do so at the other folder as well.
• Echo: All modifications at the left folder are executed on the right folder as well. Changes on the right folder have no impact on the left folder.
• Contribute: All modifications at the left folder except deletions are executed on the right folder

After creating the folder pair and selecting the synchronization option custom options can be changed. Those custom options make it possible to exclude certain files and folders from the synchronization and to make file contents a criteria for checking if files are identical.

To be effective Microsoft SyncToy has to be added to the Windows Scheduler to be run regularly. This is done by creating a new task in the Windows Scheduler that makes use of SyncToyCmd.exe and the -R parameter which has the effect that all synchronizations that are set to Run are executed.

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The download has a size of roughly 230 Megabytes and Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008 is compatible to Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server and Windows Vista. The most important question is in my opinion about the differences between the free Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008 and the other available editions. We all know that Microsoft likes it complicated, just take a look at the editions of Windows Vista to know what I mean. The same is true for Microsoft Office Accounting. Five different editions are available including the free Express 2008 edition.

The other ones are Microsoft Office Accounting Standard, Microsoft Office Accounting Professional, Microsoft Office Accounting Professional Plus and Microsoft Office Accounting Professions 3 User Edition. The express edition lacks several features of the paid editions and everyone should take a look at the comparison table linked above to see if this version is sufficient for his needs.

The features of Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008 are:

Save time on everyday tasks

• Get started in minutes with a step by step interview wizard
• Create invoices, track time and expenses and bank online
• Enter data once and share it seamlessly with other Microsoft Office system programs
• Manage payroll and accept credit cards with affordable add-on services that save you time and money

Get a complete view of your business

• See customer, vendor, employee and financial data in one place
• Get business insights with customizable reports
• Easily share your books with your accountant through Office Live

Grow your business online

• List items on eBay, manage sales and download transactions
• Email invoices and get paid faster with PayPal
• Process credit card payments directly in Office Accounting

via Techmixer

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If you are you can grab free Microsoft software including Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and several more. All you need is a Live ID (which is free as well) and a way to identify yourself as being a student in one of those countries.

The real beauty of this system is that you do not need to study Computer Science to be eligible for those free full version downloads of Microsoft software, they are available for everyone. Here is a list of all Microsoft tools currently available:

• Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
• Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
• Expression Studio
• XNA Game Studio 2.0
• XNA Creators Club Online
• Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
• Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
• Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
• Visual Web 2005 Express Edition
• Visual J++ 2005 Express Edition
• SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
• Microsoft Virtual PC

Impressive List, ain’t it ? The process is as simple as it could be. You pick a software product from Microsoft first, then log into your Windows Live account, pick your continent from the world map, pick your country and finally your University from a list of available ones.

Not all Universities are listed in that menu, if yours is not in the list you need to check this page to see what you can do about it. A method for all countries is to use ISIC to identify yourself which is available as an option amongst all listed Universities.

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The Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit was designed for companies and organizations that test new software thoroughly before applying it to all machines of their network. The damages that a new Service Pack – or any new software – could cause are immense and those organizations want to test it in a safe environment before patching all computers.

The Service Pack Blocker was not designed with end users in mind but it can be used by downloaded and used by anyone. I would not suggest to use it though in a home environment because those service packs contain important security updates that should be installed on any computers connecting to the Internet.

via Download Squad

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