Technet offers a special mode that can be used to create and export document collections. Please note that you need a Windows Live account that you need to sign in to export the documentation to HTML or PDF. Here is how this works. Visit the Technet Library website and click on the printer icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

Select Print Multiple Topics from the context menu and Start on the next page. The click on starts enables the collectors mode on Technet. You can use it to add documents to a collection.

A small toolbar is added to each page of the Technet Library. It can be used to add the current web page to the collection. Documents can also be added by right-clicking on a link and selecting the “Add this topic” menu option.

You can add as many documents as you want to the collection. Please note that you will only add that particular page and not pages that are linked from that page. You can add multiple documents directly by right-clicking on the menu structure in the left sidebar.

Here it is possible to add sets of topic to the collection. Root documents with to many sub-documents are limited to 100 pages. You may need to add pages manually after all in this case.

You can click on Collection at any time to manage the collection. All documents that you have added to your collection are listed here. Options are available to rename or delete documents, and to add chapters.

The exporting options are displayed below. Here you can select the HTML or PDF export option. You may want to click on Advanced Options prior to exporting the documents to make changes to the destination document. Available are are options to include community contents, translate contents that is not available in your language, and to include example codes for all programming languages and not only Visual Basic.

Once you have made the output format selection you are asked to sign in to Windows Live before the service processes all documents. A new page with a download link is presented in the end. You need to right-click on Download Your Document and select to save it to store it on the local computer. (via)

To get started, you need to first download a copy of Microsoft Expression Encoder. You can do this by going to this link. This will take you to the Microsoft download center, and all you need do is click on the download button. You may be taken to another page where it will prompt you to download the file. Just go ahead and save it to you computer. Once the file has downloaded, you simply have to click on it to begin the installation process and follow the instructions. During the installation process it will not only install the Microsoft Expression application, but also a screen capture codec, that will allow you to capture the screen and audio from your computer. It will also enable you to save the video you’re recording into a file format you can use later to edit the video.

One you’re done installing the program, you should be able to find it listed as a new program in your start menu. It will be called Expression Encoder Screen Capture or something similar. When the program runs, you may see an informational screen saying the program is limited to only ten minutes of screen capture. This is because this is the standard version of the software, so if you want to record for more than ten minutes, you’ll have to split your video into sections and join them again later. Most instructional videos are less than ten minutes anyway, so this shouldn’t be too big of a deal.

To get the best out of the software, you should probably alter some settings before recording. So click on the “gear” icon, which will open up a settings screen. The best frame rate is about 30fps, so just change that on the drop down menu. Also change the quality to 100. Also if you’re going to be using a microphone during the recording, click on the audio tab, and select the microphone you’re going to be using, and choose a bit-rate of 256.

To start a recording, just click on the red record button. You will get a window on your screen that can be resized to how you want. You can record either the entire screen or just a portion of it. Once you’re ready and happy with your screen size, go ahead and click on record once more to start your recording. Click on stop when you’re done.

Once you have finished a recording you will be presented with another screen where you can choose to open your recording in Expression Encoder 4 for encoding. Choose an output directory on the right hand side of the screen – your desktop might be a good place. Click on file, and then encode, and your video will be created. The standard video type is a WMV file, so you can view your video in Windows Media Player. That’s all there is to it really.

We have reviewed software to modify the keyboard layout before here on Ghacks, for instance in our Ultimate Guide To Keyboard Remapping.

The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator is a first party tool by Microsoft to make modifications to the keyboard layout. It can be used to remap the majority of keys on the keyboard. Some keys are exempt from the modifications. This includes the Shift, Control and Alt keys as well as return, backspace, tab and caps lock.

Every other key, including shift state keys can be remapped with the help of the software. A blank keyboard layout is loaded on first start. You can populate the keyboard by loading one existing keyboard layout via the File > Load Existing Keyboard menu. Windows displays a list of known keyboard layouts of which you can select one. The blank keyboard is then replaced by the new keyboard’s layout.

You can activate the shift, AltGr and Ctrl Shift states with a click to change the shift state keys as well. Especially the AltGr keyboard layout is underrepresented, and could be used to add keys. This could include additional currency symbols, special characters of another language or other symbols and characters (like copyright or registered sign) that are part of the character map.

A click on a key opens a form where the new key binding needs to be entered either directly if represented on the current keyboard layout or as a special character code. You get the codes from the Character Map which you can open with Windows-r and typing in charmap (hit enter afterwards).

Each character is represented by a code that is displayed in the footer when the character is selected. The code begins with U+. To add a new character to the keyboard layout, click on the key that you want modified, and enter the U+ code of the character map in the form that opens up.

The new character is then displayed on the keyboard once you hit the enter button.

You can test the new keyboard layout at any time with a click on Project > Test Keyboard Layout. It basically opens a text editor so that you see your input on the screen.

Select Project > Properties once you are finished configuring and testing the new keyboard layout. Enter a name, description and other information

Once you have added the project properties, it is time to build the new keyboard layout. A click on Project > Build DLL and Setup package does that. The process creates an installer that you need to run afterwards to install the new keyboard layout.

The new layout becomes then available in the language section of the Windows taskbar.

Adding or modifying keys can improve the workflow significantly. While it is possible to use Alt-Codes to enter special characters, it is usually not the easiest way to do, considering that you need to remember the codes for the characters.

Windows users can download the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator from Microsoft Download.

Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper can be downloaded as a 32-bit or 64-bit version. Users who download the small executable need an active Internet connection to burn all contents to CD or DVD, or an USB stick with at least 250 Megabytes of space in case they want to copy the Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper to USB instead.

Setup data is loaded from the Internet when the program is started. To use it, users need to boot from the disc or USB device which in turn loads the tool that gives you the options to scan the PC and recover it. It will load the Windows Preinstall Environment to run the Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper application for scanning and remediation of virus and malware.

Interested users can download Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper from the official project website. It is basically a recovery CD or USB application that Windows users can use to remove malware from a system.

The program requires a recent Windows operating system, from Windows XP SP3 to Windows 7. Users need to make sure to download the right program version. If they have a 32-bit operating system, they need to download and install the 32-bit version of System Sweeper, if they run a 64-bit operating system they need to download the 64-bit version.

An Internet connection is required to download the latest virus and spyware definitions for Standalone System Sweeper. Supported web browsers are Internet Explorer 6 or higher, or Mozilla Firefox 2 or higher.

Update: To clarify the 32-bit and 64-bit version choice. You need to download the corresponding setup file that matches that target’s computer architecture. If you want to clean a 64-bit system you need to download the 64-bit version, and vice versa.

The tool takes two snapshots of the system, one before the installation and one after the installation. It compares the two snapshots to identify the changes. It looks in particular for “classes of security weaknesses as applications are installed on the Windows operating system”.

In addition, Microsoft Attack Surface Analyzer “gives an overview of the changes to the system Microsoft considers important to the security of the platform and highlights these in the attack surface report”.

The program stores the report in a cab file. The start page offers to run a new scan or to generated a report by comparing a previous scan with a new scan.

Each scan performs several tasks, like enumerating files, handles or services. Some operations may take a while or show up as pending if they have not been started by the application.

The report is launched in the default web browser, a short explanation is available as well.

Attack Surface Analyzer is available as a 32-bit and 64-bit application at Microsoft.com. Please note that the application has been released as beta. Reports can be generated on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R1 and R2. The analysis of the data and report generation requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 in addition.

The description on Microsoft.com is short but up to the point: “Microsoft Mathematics provides a graphing calculator that plots in 2D and 3D, step-by-step equation solving, and useful tools to help students with math and science studies.

Microsoft Mathematics includes a full-featured graphing calculator that’s designed to work just like a handheld calculator. Additional math tools help you evaluate triangles, convert from one system of units to another, and solve systems of equations.”.

Microsoft Mathematics can help you with many tasks, including:

• Computing standard mathematical functions such as roots and logarithms
• Solving equations and inequalities.
• Solving triangles.
• Converting measurements from one unit to another
• Computing trigonometric functions, such as sine and cosine
• Performing matrix and vector operations, such as inverses and cross-products.
• Computing basic statistics, such as mean and standard deviation.
• Performing operations on complex numbers
• Plotting 2D and 3D graphs in Cartesian, polar, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates. /li>
• Finding derivatives and integrals, limits and sums and products of series
• Finding, plotting, and solving common formulas and equations.

The software uses the standard Microsoft ribbon interface that is also used in Microsoft Office and other Microsoft applications. Users can start entering expressions right away which are then processed and solved by the application automatically.

A mobile phone like calculator on the left side contains elements and options that can be added to the expression, helpful if the element cannot be entered via the keyboard. One interesting option is the ink mode which can be used to write elements with the mouse.

Microsoft Mathematics displays two tabs (Worksheet and Graphing) which show the input, output and a visual representation. The application comes with additional tools including an equation solver, formulas and equations that can be viewed and used, a triangle solver and unit converter.

The application comes with a help file that explains the functionality in detail and with examples. Microsoft Mathematics is available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. It requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.

The software requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0, but has no other dependencies besides that. Users can launch by clicking on OffVis.exe after unpacking the download to a local directory.

First step in the analysis of Office documents is to load a supported file format from the File menu.

OffVis displays the raw file contents on the left side. A parser can now be selected from the parser pull down menu to parse the document that has been loaded.

microsoft offvis office visualization tool

If you’d like to parse only at the OLESS layer, choose “Format Library.DLL: OLESSFormat”. If you’d like to attempt to parse the file as an Excel, PowerPoint, or Word file, select one of those parsers.

Parsing results are displayed on the right side, selecting an element will highlight it on the raw file contents side.

The interesting aspect of the software for all users is that it can detect malicious code. It will automatically display “definitely malicious” entries in the document, if any are found.

Office users can therefor use the Office Visualization Tool to analyze binary Office formats for malicious code before executing them on their system.

The program only detects known vulnerabilities that have been patched already. The following vulnerabilities are detected:

CVE-2006-0009, PowerPoint, MS06-012 (March 2006)
CVE-2006-0022, PowerPoint, MS06-028 (June 2006)
CVE-2006-2492, Word, MS06-027 (June 2006)
CVE-2006-3434, PowerPoint, MS06-062 (October 2006)
CVE-2006-3590, PowerPoint, MS06-048 (August 2006)
CVE-2006-4534, Word, MS06-060 (October 2006)
CVE-2006-4694, PowerPoint, MS06-058 (October 2006)
CVE-2006-5994, Word, MS07-014 (February 2007)
CVE-2006-6456, Word, MS07-014 (February 2007)
CVE-2007-0515, Word, MS07-014 (February 2007)
CVE-2007-0671, Excel, MS07-015 (February 2007)
CVE-2007-0870, Word, MS07-024 (May 2007)
CVE-2008-0081, Excel, MS08-014 (March 2008)
CVE-2008-4841, Word, MS09-010 (April 2009)
CVE-2009-0238, Excel, MS09-009 (April 2009)
CVE-2009-0556,PowerPoint, MS09-017 (May 2009)

It may even make sense to run the tool, even if all the security patches have been applied to the Office software. Why? Because it can provide valuable information about a sender or the origin of the document. The OffVis software is available via direct download from Microsoft.

Microsoft Joulemeter is an experimental program for Windows that can track the PC power consumption. It is compatible with desktop and mobile computers.

The application places an icon in the Windows system tray on startup. A click on that icon displays the main interface where the power consumption and statistics are displayed and constantly updated.

The power consumption is divided into base, cpu, disk and monitor which are added to get a total power consumption. The application currently is not measuring the gpu’s power consumption which – on modern computer systems – uses lots of power.

It also has to be noted that the values are estimations if the application is installed on a desktop computer. The connection of a WattsUp power meter and the calibration module of Joulmeter is said to return accurate statistics.

Laptop users do not need a WattsUp meter. They simply have to pull the plug if the laptop is at least 75% charged to get more accurate power date.

Microsoft Joulmeter is an interesting program for Windows that can track a computer’s power consumption. The software can be downloaded from Microsoft Research.

Visual Studio 2010 offers many improvements over the current retail version Visual Studio 2008. It features a redesigned streamlined IDE that has been optimized for multiple document windows and multi-monitors. The new version of Visual Studio comes with The Microsoft .net Framework 4.0 which is currently also available as a release candidate.

Other additions include integrated support for developing Microsoft Silverlight applications, parallel computing enhancements and support for IBM DB2 and Oracle databases.

Interested users can take a look at the official Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 website for additional information about the changes and additions of that new version.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 RC Downloads

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Ultimate RC ISO (DVD-5)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Premium RC ISO (DVD-5)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Professional RC ISO (DVD-5)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® Agents 2010 RC ISO (DVD-5)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® Test Professional 2010 RC ISO (DVD-5)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team Foundation Server 2010 RC ISO (DVD-5)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team Explorer 2010 RC ISO (DVD-5)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® Lab Management 2010 RC
Microsoft® .NET Framework 4 RC (x86, x64, ia64)
Microsoft® .NET Framework 4 Client Profile RC (x86, x64)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 SDK RC
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Visualization & Modeling SDK RC
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Remote Debugger RC (x86, x64, ia64)
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Shell (Integrated) RC
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Shell (Isolated) RC
Microsoft® Visual FSHARP 2.0 Runtime RC

The final version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 is scheduled for a world wide release on April 12, 2010.

Identical hashes mean no file manipulation while nonidentical hashes suggest file manipulations. The File Checksum Integrity Verifier can be downloaded from the Microsoft homepage. The Microsoft Support page that lists the file download contains an explanation of the program’s command line parameters.

The program needs to be unpacked after download. It is suggested to move the file fciv.exe into a system folder like the Windows folder so that it can be run without specifying a path.

MD5 hashes of a specific directory can be created with the following command:


fciv folder -r -xml output.xml
fciv c:\windows\ -r -xml c:\md5\20100117md5.xml


It is possible to specify file extensions with the -type parameter followed by the filetype, e.g. *.exe.

A previously created xml document containing hashes can be verified with the following command


fciv -v -xml output.xml
fciv -v -xml c:\md5\20100117md5.xml


The tool will display a list of modified files at the end of the comparison. It is possible to switch to use -sha instead of -md5. Users who want to verify the files regularly might want to consider creating a batch file for the file verification checks.

Neowin today mentioned that Microsoft is currently accepting beta testers for the Microsoft Security Essentials Ongoing Beta. It seems that every Windows users with a valid Windows Live ID can join the beta test which provides access to beta versions of the security software. They need to answer a question about their operating system after log in and can then download the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Previous installations of Microsoft Security Essentials need to be uninstalled before the beta version can be installed. Microsoft has not released information about the changes in the available beta version. A version check reveals the following information (first final version, then beta)

Microsoft Security Essentials Version: 1.0.1611.0
Antimalware Client Version: 2.0.6212.0
Engine Version: 1.1.5302.0
Antivirus definitions: 1.71.328.0
Antispyware definitions: 1.71.328.0

Microsoft Security Essentials Version: 1.0.1743.0
Antimalware Client Version: 2.0.6212.0
Engine Version: 1.1.5302.0
Antivirus definitions: 1.71.346.0
Antispyware definitions: 1.71.346.0

The only differences are the higher program version and the definition files although those are likely shared between the public version and the beta version. The downloaded beta of Microsoft Security Essentials will display as version 1.0.1676.0 at the beginning. The strange thing is that the Update check in the program will not raise the version to 1.0.1743.0. To get to version 1.0.1743.0 users need to click on Help > Upgrade Microsoft Security Essentials instead.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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