Microsoft OS Technology

NEW OS Windows 7:

Microsoft stated in 2007 they were planning Windows 7 development for a three-year time frame starting after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Microsoft has stated that the final release date would be determined by product quality.
Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is intended to be an incremental upgrade from Vista, with the goal of being fully compatible with device drivers, applications, and hardware with which Windows Vista is already compatible. Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, most notably Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are no longer included with the operating system; they are instead offered separately (free of charge) as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.

Development:

Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. Later, Blackcomb was delayed and an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003.By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold in order to develop new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also "reset" in September 2004.
Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006,and again to Windows 7 in 2007. In 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system. The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with Milestone 1 (build 6519).Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric". Gates later said that Windows 7 will also focus on performance improvements; Steven Sinofsky later expanded on this point, explaining in the Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions.
Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that Windows 7 will not have the kind of compatibility issues with Windows Vista that Vista has with previous versions. Speaking about Windows 7 on 16 October 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Vista and Windows 7. Ballmer also confirmed the relationship between Vista and Windows 7, indicating that Windows 7 will be an improved version of Vista.
On 27 December 2008 Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet.According to a performance test by ZDNet, Windows 7 Beta has beaten both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas, including boot and shut down time, working with files and loading documents; others, including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video-editing, remain identical to Vista and slower than XP. On 7 January 2009, the 64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web.The official beta, announced at the CES 2009, was made available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers on 7 January 2009 and was made briefly available for public download on Microsoft TechNet on 9 January 2009 before being withdrawn and replaced with a coming soon message. The servers were experiencing difficulty in dealing with the number of users who wished to download the beta. Microsoft added additional servers to cope with the large volume of interest from the public. Due to the unexpectedly high demand, Microsoft also decided to remove its initial 2.5 million download limit and make it available to the public until January 24 2009, and later until February 10, from where it was no longer available to the public, although paused or deferred downloads of the DVD image files still worked until February 12.
Users can still download Windows 7 via the Microsoft Connect program. According to Neowin, the release candidate is scheduled to be released wordwide on 10 April 2009.

Features:

New and changed features

Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors,improved boot performance, and kernel improvements.
Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors, a new version of Windows Media Center,a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion.
Many new items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display. Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds) which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer.
The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with pinning applications to the taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons. These buttons also enable the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks.The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons.
Adjacent to the system clock is a small rectangle button for the new feature Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop. Clicking this button minimizes all windows.
Unlike Windows Vista, window borders and the taskbar do not turn dark when a window is maximized when Windows Aero is applied. Instead, they remain transparent.
For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking API with support for building SOAP based web services in native code (as opposed to .NET based WCF web services), new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages, and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API.
At WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB.Microsoft is also investigating better support for Solid State Drives and Windows 7 will be able to identify a Solid State Drive uniquely.
Online versions of Spades, Backgammon and Checkers were removed from Windows Vista, but restored in Windows 7.
Windows 7 will include Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Media Player 12.

AVG Anti-Virus

AVG Anti-Virus :
AVG is an umbrella term for a range of antivirus and internet security software for the Microsof Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD computing platforms, developed by AVG Technologies. A signature update dated November 9 2008 crippled Windows Machine as it allowed the software to think "User32.dll", a major component of Windows XP/vista, was a trojan and advised users to delete it. Users who deleted the file in question were put on a continuous reboot loop. The problem was rectified a few days later with a new signature database ,

AVG features most of the common functions available in modern antivirus and Internet security programs, including periodic scans, scans of sent and received emails (including adding footers to the emails indicating this), the ability to "repair" some virus-infected files, and a "virus vault" in which infected files are held (A quarantine area; also known as a "virus chest").

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition:

According to AVG Technologies, over 80 million users have AVG Anti-Virus protection, including users of the Free Edition. On April 24, 2008, AVG released AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0. Along with a more colorful interface, the new program added some new features – a combined Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware protection engine, LinkScanner Search-Shield safe search protection, plus the AVG Security Toolbar – which were previously only available in AVG commercial versions.
There are some limitations with AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 compared to the commercial versions of AVG products. These limitations include:
Less protection – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 provides the same anti-virus and anti-spyware scanning engine as the commercial product; however, it lacks anti-rootkit. The older 7.5 Free Edition is perfectly capable of finding and disabling rootkits based on signature, but cannot scan for rootkit-like activity. Also, it does not provide safe surfing (drive-by download) protection. While there is no official protection for files from messaging sources, the Residen Shield component automatically scans files before they are opened or copied.
Infrequent updates – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 receives updates via a lower priority service. Priority updating via high-speed servers is only available for the commercial versions of AVG products.
No telephone or e-mail technical support – There is no telephone or e-mail technical support provided by AVG for users of AVG Free Edition products anywhere in the world. AVG Free Edition users have access to support via the self-help AVG Free Forum.
Less customization – Scheduling options in AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 are very limited (only one scheduled update per day, one scheduled scan per day etc.). However, the AVG Resident Shield configuration allows exclusions. The on-demand/scheduled scanner allows advanced testing options such as heuristics and reporting of password-protected archives reporting. Process priority for on-demand/scheduled scans can be dynamically adjusted over three different configurations.
No server support – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 cannot be installed on server operating systems (such as Windows Server 2003), nor can it be used for the scanning of network drives.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 is only licensed for home and non-commercial use on a single computer.
AVG Free Edition was once responsible for popup ads advertising the non-free versions of AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 and AVG Internet Security 8.0, which claim to provide more comprehensive levels of protection. Current free versions display only in-program banner ads for the full edition; not popups

What is Linux?

Linux starts here :
Linux (pronounced LIH-nuks) is an operating system for computers, comparable to Windows or Mac OS X. It was originally created starting in 1991 by Finnish programmer Linus (pronounced LEE-nus) Torvalds with the assistance of developers from around the globe. Linux resembles Unix, an earlier operating system, but unlike Unix, Linux is both Free Software and open source software -- that is, you can not only download and run it on your computer, but also download all the source code the programmers created to build the operating system. You can then modify or extend the code to meet your needs.

Linux runs on a wide variety of hardware platforms, from huge mainframes to desktop PCs to cell phones. It is licensed under the Free Software Foundation's GNU Project's GNU General Public License, version 2, which lets users modify and redistribute the software.
You can think of Linux as having two parts -- a kernel, which is the basic interface between the hardware and other system software, and the functions that run on top of it, such as a graphical user interface (GUI) and application programs.
About Linux.com
Linux.com did not create and does not sell Linux. We simply write about Linux and other open source software. We're part of SourceForge, Inc., which also maintains SourceForge.net and Slashdot.
No single company sells Linux. Because it's open source software, anyone can package Linux with some programs and utilities and distribute it. The different "flavors" of Linux are called distributions. You can get information about some of the most popular distributions from our distributions page. A comprehensive resource for distributions is DistroWatch.com.

Many Linux distributions are designed to be installed on your computer's hard drive, either as a sole operating system, or in a dual boot configuration with another OS, which lets you choose which operating system to run every time you start your computer. Others are designed to run as live CDs that boot from removable media -- typically CDs, but there are also live DVD distributions, and even ones that boot from diskettes and USB storage media. Live distributions can be useful because they let you run a different operating system without affecting any of the contents of your hard drive.
If you're a Windows user to whom Linux is completely new, trying it out might sound daunting. For you we explain in a separate article how you can test Linux without altering your Windows computer, how to install Linux while preserving all of your Windows programs and files, and how to choose what Linux flavor suits your needs best.

The Linux desktop:-
Part of what makes Linux useful on your computer is its graphical user interface. The GUI gives Linux a "look and feel" with clickable icons and widgets, as well as screen borders, scroll bars, and menus that the user can manipulate and customize. This "point and click" environment makes the operating system more intuitive by presenting interface options in an attractive visual layout that doesn't require knowledge of textual commands. Without the GUI, Linux (or any operating system) requires users to type commands in a procedure that is known as the Command Line Interface (CLI).
While most operating systems don't let you choose the user interface you want, Linux gives you a choice of several. Most of them are more than just graphical interfaces -- they are truly complete desktop environments that come with tools, utilities, games, and other applications to make the user's computing experience a richer one. Two of the most popular desktop environments that work with Linux are KDE and GNOME.
KDE stands for K Desktop Environment. KDE runs on any Unix operating system, including Linux. All of the source code for KDE is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, which means that anyone can access and change KDE to suit specific purposes. KDE comes packaged with most Linux distributions and includes standardized menus, toolbars, and color schemes, as well as a complete help system, networking tools, graphics and multimedia applications, and a complete office productivity solution, and dozens of other software tools. The entire KDE project is supported by the free software development community and is provided to Linux users at no cost.
GNOME (pronounced guh-NOME), the GNU Network Object Model Environment, is another ubiquitous GUI or desktop environment for Linux. It is also licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, which means it is freely available, along with the source code, for use on any Unix-based operating system. GNOME comes packaged with just about every Linux distribution. It is a part of the GNU project, which created the GNU operating system, parts of which are included with all standard Linux distributions.
Like KDE, the GNOME desktop environment includes more than just toolbars, icons and menus. Help files, networking tools, games, and productivity applications like GNOME Office round out the free software offering.
Other GUIs that work with Linux include:
XPDE desktop environment - "tries to make it easier for Windows XP users to use a Linux box."
Xfce - "lightweight desktop environment for various *NIX systems. Designed for productivity, it loads and executes applications fast, while conserving system resources."
Enlightenment - "advanced graphical libraries, tools, and environments."
IceWM - "The goal of IceWM is speed, simplicity, and not getting in the user's way."
Blackbox - "Blackbox is the fast, lightweight window manager for the X Window System you have been looking for, without all those annoying library dependencies."
Window Maker - "Window Maker is an X11 window manager originally designed to provide integration support for the GNUstep Desktop Environment."
FluxBox - "A fast compact window manager based on the Blackbox, but offering more features."

The command line
One thing all the desktop environments have in common is that they let users access Linux commands; you don't have to use a mouse to perform every operation. It may be faster and easier to perform some operations by typing in one or more commands, as users used to have to do on PCs under DOS 20 years ago.
Each desktop environment has a different way to get to a command prompt. Often, you'll open a window that lets you type commands. In GNOME, that application is called GNOME Terminal; in KDE, it's Konsole.
We've prepared a brief introduction to the command line. A good site for further learning is LinuxCommand.org.
Desktop applications:
Like any operating system, Linux supports a wide range of desktop applications. Typical programs include those for email, office software, playing music and video, personal information management, network communications such as instant messaging and Internet Relay Chat, and file sharing.
Gaming:
Linux is no stranger to gaming. Linux distributions almost always include games; the GNOM Games package, for example, features 16 arcade and puzzle games, and the KDE Games Center includes games from the arcade, board, card, dice, logic, strategy, and toy genres. If the distributions don't contain what you're looking for, you can turn to commercial sites such as Linux Game Publishing and Tux Games or you can buy games directly from small companies, independent publishers, and bedroom coders. If games designed for Microsoft Windows or home gaming systems are what you're after, several available emulators may be able to help. For more information on the numerous games available to Linux users and how to obtain them, see Enjoying games with GNU/Linux.
This is not the end
Coming soon, we'll be adding to this document to talk about different categories of desktop and server applications, programming tools, training, and support. We welcome your input on what you think new Linux users should know about. If you are a new Linux user with a question, please ask it in our forums.

Technology business with Linux

New technology center mixes business with Linux:
Linux has different meanings in the corporate and collegiate worlds, but a new Linux Technology Center (LTC) in upstate New York is bridging that gap and bringing both students and small business the benefits of Linux and open source.
Based at Binghamton University, the center brings together expertise from the school, IBM, and Mainline Information Systems. More importantly, it brings Linux and open source to the local business community through Binghamton students and their open source experience.
While other centers in New York focus on technical research and development, Binghamton's Linux Technology Center will be more focused on education and relationships with local industry, says professor Upinder Dhillon. "Firms are looking for leaders who will look beyond traditional solutions that are being used today," he says.
To prepare students to be administrators, managers, and entrepreneurs with open source expertise, the LTC will provide a learning lab to give hands-on experience with open source software and communities to at least 20 to 25 students, Dhillon says. In addition to the students and local businesses benefiting from the center, Linux and open source software also stand to gain from the center's participation, according to Dhillon.
"That community is built by its members," he says. "The more members and institutions devoted to it, the greater the pace of development in the Linux world. That's where we hope we can play a significant role."

FOSS in action :
Binghamton student and emerging Linux pro Michael Head says he became involved with the LTC late last year, when he was approached by the chair of the computer science department, professor Kanad Ghose. "I was particularly excited that Linux job opportunities were starting to be officially supported by the school administration and local business," Head says. By the time he completed his work on a project with local company Custom System Integrations (CSI), Head had introduced several open source tools and projects to the organization, including Eclipse, gcc, GTK, Glade, and autotools/autoconf/automake. CSI had already purchased Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, he says.
Before the LTC project, CSI had no corporate experience with Linux, and only one or two of the company's employees had any personal experience with it, Head says. "Still, I got a lot of visitors to my cube from other interested employees," he says.
At CSI, Head says he set up numerous PCI I/O cards, including digital, analog, CAN, and RS-232, under RHEL3. He checked that the drivers worked, and built a GUI program that tested whether each card was functioning properly.
"There ended up being some significant troubles getting things to work," Head recalls. "Our first motherboard simply did not work with Linux and PCI-2-PCI transparent bridges. The bridge was required because we had so many cards (11) that we needed to run simultaneously. This incompatibility caused me a large number of headaches because it wasn't obvious that the bridge plus Linux PCI code combination was at fault."
The problem prompted Head to post to a number of mailing lists, including an entry on the Linux Kernel Mailing List. "While I didn't receive an on-list response to that problem, I did get a response from the manufacturer's support staff," he says. "I was impressed that they followed the list and contacted me based on my post."
By leveraging the Linux and open source development communities, Head says, he was able to deliver dollars to CSI that the company may have otherwise missed. He says he hopes the LTC will expose this utility to more of the New York area's small business people.
"There are a lot of businesses here that might find opportunities to deploy Linux, but haven't the skills to do it or even the awareness of those opportunities," he says. "What's more, as far as I know, there aren't any local Linux consultancies, so the managers at those businesses don't even have a place to go to find out about those opportunities. The project I was on was a perfect example of this. Because the customer specified Linux, CSI would have passed on the contract except for the fact that the LTC could provide a resource (me) to help them out.
"There are a lot of students like myself here at the university that have both the Linux knowledge and great need for extra cash. With the new Linux Technology Center, we students have got a place that will do the marketing and develop the local business relationships for us, so we can have, as Joel Spolsky recently put it, the 'developer abstraction layer,' though I'd probably modify it slightly because it's really the 'student developer abstraction layer.'"

Linux marketing sucks :

Head also observes that his experience reflects the lack of marketing and promotion for Linux to smaller businesses, which often know the power of the open source operating system only if they chance upon it. "During my time at CSI, I heard the general manager several times repeat that 'Linux's marketing sucks,'" Head says. "As a long-time technology and Linux person, this really shocked me. But after thinking about it for awhile, I realized how huge the opportunity for Linux continues to be."
Head says while Linux is a known quantity to him and others like him, most businesses, particularly smaller ones, have not had the chance to realize the capabilities of Linux compared to Windows or Mac OS X. "After spending some time in a Linux-less small business environment, I'm realizing that someone needs to get out there and explain to small businesses what Linux can do for them," Head says. "And I don't think this is a job for Red Hat or Novell or IBM or HP or Canonical. Hopefully, the LTC will provide that sort of marketing for the Binghamton area. I think there's a huge opportunity for anyone that wants to develop and/or support Linux, particularly in smaller communities, to start talking with local business owners. Once the local business owners start to understand what Linux can do for them, and the fact that there is a fellow local business person that will help them achieve their goals, they'll start supporting it."

Internet Explorer new

Google Chrome Web Browser:
Google takes aim squarely at Microsoft with the release of its new Web browser, Chrome. And Microsoft should be very afraid: Chrome lives up to its hype by rethinking the Web browser in clever and convenient ways that make using the Web a more organic experience than you'd get with either Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 or Mozilla's Firefox 3.Initially available for
download for Windows Vista and XP, Google plans to expand its Chrome offerings to the Mac and Linux platforms as well. The company doesn't offer any timeline for these versions, though. Chrome automatically detects the Web browser you're using and prompts you through the process of installation (right down to telling you how to access downloaded files within Firefox, for example). When you first run the application, Chrome imports your bookmarks, passwords, and settings from Firefox or Internet Explorer. It even can grab username and password data, and it automatically populates those fields for you when you use Chrome for the first time to visit a particular site. After running through a quick import checklist, Chrome opens on your desktop—and right away you begin to experience the Web in a new way. Chrome's layout is very simple: You'll see a row of tabs running along the top, a Web address bar, and a bookmarks bar that runs beneath the address bar. A separate recent bookmarks box appears at the right of the screen, as does a history search field. Like its Google stablemates, Chrome has a remarkably minimalist interface. There is no full-scale menu bar and no title bar—and few distractions. All controls are buried beneath two icons to the right of the Omnibar (as Google refers to its address bar): a page icon for managing tabs and using Google Gears to create application-like shortcuts from your desktop to a Web site; and a wrench for history, downloads, and other browser options.You can set your own home page, or you can use the 'most visited' sites page as your starting point. This page provides thumbnail images of your most frequently visited sites, shows recent bookmarks, and supplies a search field for searching your page history. You can change your default search engine, too: This option is located beneath the wrench icon, under Options.Chrome's design bridges the gap between desktop and so-called "cloud computing." At the touch of a button, Chrome lets you make a desktop, Start menu, or QuickLaunch shortcut to any Web page or Web application, blurring the line between what's online and what's inside your PC. For example, I created a desktop shortcut for Google Maps. When you create a shortcut for a Web application, Chrome strips away all of the toolbars and tabs from the window, leaving you with something that feels much more like a desktop application than like a Web application or page. The lack of forward and back buttons means that if you browse between pages in a saved Web application you may find yourself a little confused if you want to go back a page. Chrome does let you right-click to navigate backward, however. This being Google, search is an integral part of Chrome; and Google has added some clever features to make searching easier. Chrome goes beyond its Microsoft and Mozilla competition by searching your browser history's page titles as well page content. The history results show the title of the page, as well as a thumbnail representation of the page (for some sites but not all; it was unclear why some sites were visually represented while others were not), but it doesn't show the actual Web page address. The lack of URL information can make it difficult to identify the specific Web page you're going to, especially if the site's title bar description is not specific (because, say, different sections of the same site have identical title bar descriptors).For example, earlier today I read an article on Macworld about an upcoming Apple launch event. To find the article in my browser history, I simply typed 'apple event' in the Omnibar. The resulting list showed every page I had visited that contained the phrase 'apple event'. Conveniently, the Omnibar lets you search not just your history, but Google and other sites as well.The default search engine is Google, as you might expect. However, you can choose from a list of nine other search engines, or you can manually add your own search engine. Type 'google fish sticks' to search for fish sticks on Google. The same syntax works for Yahoo, Amazon, Live Search, and other sites that are already recognized by Google or that you add. This feature, though nifty and promising, proved inconsistent in the early going: It worked for me most of the time on a Windows Vista PC, but two of my colleagues who were testing Chrome on Windows XP machines had trouble getting the feature to work. Google provides keywords to activate this search feature, but some of us had to edit the search engine keywords manually before the feature would function properly.Chrome includes a number of features that appear in other browsers, such as a private browsing mode dubbed Incognito, tools for Web developers to use in viewing and troubleshooting source code, and the ability to restore all tabs from a previous session. Chrome also features tab isolation: If a Web page causes a problem with Chrome and leads to a crash, the crash will affect only the tab displaying the page and not the whole program. Internet Explorer 8 will offer a similar feature, but Chrome takes the idea a step further by adding a task manager that gives the user an idea of how much memory and CPU use a page is eating up, and by allowing you to kill anything that is causing a problem. Unfortunately, you have to configure this tool manually.In my early testing, I ran into some problems. Chrome can be a little unstable, which is not surprising considering that it is a beta. Also, I have found that Flash does not work with Chrome on my Vista-based system, though my two colleagues running XP had no issues with Flash compatibility. They did, however, experience software crashes when searching in the history section. And when Chrome crashes, it takes everything with it unless you manually configure the browser to act otherwise (the configuration options are buried under the wrench icon, in the Options/Basics menu). In contrast, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 automatically restore your previous session in the event of a crash. The sites I visited that rely on JavaScript and Ajax seemed to work fine, but Microsoft's Silverlight wouldn't work with Chrome. Google's browser uses WebKit, the same engine that powers Apple's Safari Web browser--and Silverlight works with Safari for Mac only.Google has produced an excellent browser that is friendly enough to handle average browsing activities without complicating the tasks, but at the same time is powerful enough to meet the needs of more-advanced users. The search functionality of the Omnibar is one of many innovations that caught my attention. PC World has chosen to rate this beta version of Chrome because of Google's history of leaving products and services in long-term beta and in an ongoing state of evolution. In the past there has been some speculation that Google would develop its own operating system, but I think that Chrome's launch makes one thing is clear: The Web browser is Google's operating system.

Mr. Site:
Chances are that at one point or the other everyone has wanted to possess his/her own website. And hiring a professional to do it may just be a little too expensive. Mr. Site Takeaway Website (Version Two), which retails in India for Rs.2, 999, promises to make website creation and hosting a simple and painless affair.
The service is aimed at home users and small business establishments who want their own website. The box that you get on purchasing the software merely contains a CD with a few internet tools and the software manual, a manual in booklet form and your activation card with the activation number. U
sing this you have to register on the Mr. Site website, immediately after which you can get down to creating your website. On purchasing the service, you get 150 MB of web space, 20 email addresses and a year’s worth of hosting. After the first year, the service costs Rs. 250 a month. The first step is registering your domain for which Mr. Site offers you various domain names (such as. com, .biz, .in etc.).
On the Mr. Site page, you can then begin choosing a design for your site. There are over 100 templates offered and you can further change the background colour according to your choice. You can also choose what kind of menus you want on your site and where you want them placed. After choosing the number of pages that you want on your website, you can start adding content. If you plan on formatting the text that goes on your website, then Mr. Site offers an MS Word like interface with the help of which you can make use of more advanced features like adding tables or web-centric ones like radio buttons, drop down menus etc. Alternatively, you can u
se a basic interface in which you can type and add pictures or files for download. Mr. Site also allows you to add a lot of features to your site which include an onlineshopping page using PayPal’s services, an image gallery, a music jukebox, contact forms, guest books, password-protected pages, blogs and even forums.
Creating a website from scratch took us just about two hours thanks to Mr. Site’s intuitive and very simple design. Our test site also went online in a very short duration but it might take longer if you have a complex site. What we appreciated was that everything that you could do with your website could be done in a step-by-step manner, which left nothing to be confused about. Also, the number of features is available to the user is noteworthy.
Apart from the abovementioned features, MrSite allows you to add widgets, Google Ad Sense and Analytics and even a Mr. Site ad-banner to make your website earn you some loose change. Mr. Site is feature-rich, but it might not suit the needs of someone who wants a very professional website. Although it allows you to upload your files through FTP, the level of customization is restricted because th
e templates themselves cannot be changed.Mr. Site Takeaway Website is good value for money, since you get a domain name, one year of hosting, and an easy to use website creator for a very reasonable price. It is definitely worth purchasing from your software stockist or from http://www.mrsite.co.in/
SugarSync File Syncing Service:
If you use multiple computers and mobile devices for creating and editing documents, it can be tough to keep different versions of your files in sync. A new service called SugarSync goes a long way towards curing those syncing headaches.SugarSync is both a Web-based service and an application that you download; together, they provide a way for you to always have the most current version of a file, regardless of what computer you’re using. You configure the downloadable application, called SugarSync Manager, to monitor certain folders on your PC. Files in those folders are then uploaded to your personal SugarSync Web page, which acts as an online storage repository, allowing you to access them from any Web browser.SugarSync excels when you begin making changes to your documents. Any time you make a change to a file, the changes are automatically saved to the original version of the document on the computer on which it was created. SugarSync automatically saves those updates to your Web-based storage space, and also sends them to the original document on your office PC.Unfortunately, once you edit and save a file, only the newest copy is preserved.Unlike many online storage services, SugarSync isn’t free.A nifty feature for camera phone users allows them to have any pictures taken with their phones sent directly to their PC.SugarSync provides a cost-effective and easy-to-use solution to manage files on several devices.

ConceptDraw Office:-

ConceptDraw Office is designed to help users in business environments manage projects, capture ideas, organize processes and keep track of communications and resource management. It comprises three main individual components: ConceptDraw Mindmap, ConceptDraw Project, and ConceptDraw Pro.ConceptDraw Mindmap is a mind-mapping tool that helps users visualize information as a map, relaying pictures, symbols, text and color to one another. It helps organize and plan idea development and communicate between process participants. ConceptDraw Project is a project management tool that lets you determine elements you need to commit to a project, manage schedules, handle resources and finances and measure progress, including Gantt charts. It provides the ability to calculate project expenses, track task execution, manage resource allocation and set communication processes between team members by sending ToDo lists and receiving regular reports. ConceptDraw Pro is a drawing tool that lets you create a "project whiteboard" - graphical additions to projects you're working on, to represent necessary business and project-related information in the form of charts and diagrams. This tool is used to create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and track project status on an intelligent dashboard. ConceptDraw Office uses InGyre technology that integrates all of its applications and enables users to rapidly represent information in an optimal visual manner. ConceptDraw Office is available not only for Windows Operating Systems, but also for the Apple Macintosh, making it a cross-platform application. The single file format used enables users working on either OS to exchange files with all data being completely retained.Increasing efficiency, cutting costs and slashing project execution times are just a few of the many ways through which this business productivity software suite can help you. The installer for ConceptDraw Office is available for PC World readers, on the bundled DVD that accompanies our September issue, in the Software > Office section. Installation is quick, and you have the option of either evaluating it for 30 days or purchasing a License key online at a price of $499 (approximately Rs. 22,455 at current exchange rates for the Rupee). ConceptDraw has offered a special 10 percent discount for PC World readers, which can be claimed by visiting this link www.conceptdraw.com/products/user_group_buy.php?usd – and enter the code "office583901_IN"

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard:-

Creating and deleting data is a mundane operation in daily computing… until disaster strikes! The cause of data loss could be anything from accidentally deleting a file, formatting a partition, to a memory card whose data structure has been corrupted due to being dropped. When that happens, you need a capable data recovery application. It would need to offer complex functionality while being easy to use. Make sure that you don't make any further changes to the device from which you need to recover data. This is because if the data to be recovered is over-written, you lose almost all chances of getting those files and folders back. To save the recovered files, you'd need to connect a different storage device, which has more available free space than the size of the data which is to be recovered. Easeus' Data Recovery Wizard (DRW) can recover files that were lost due to deletion, being formatted, lost partitions, or damaged drives. It is capable of operating on internal hard disk drives or removable drives such as external memory cards, as long as they use the FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file-systems. Besides the usual recovery of files and folders, Easeus DRW can also recover entire partition tables and boot records– which means that you could recover a hard disk drive in its entirety. Unlike many other recovery tools, encrypted or compressed files on an NTFS volume are also recoverable with Easeus DRW. Step-by-step guides are available that walk you through the recovery session. If you start a recovery session and have to stop midway for some reason, you can still resume the process (as long as no changes have been made to the damaged drive in the interim). A single license of Easeus Data Recovery Wizard is available for $69.95 (approximately Rs. 3,150, at current exchange rates of the Rupee to the US Dollar). They also offer a "Professional Unlimited" license at $899 (approximately Rs. 40, 455), which permits a business to install the DRW on as many machines as they need. The higher version also allows for recovery from dynamic hard disks or partitions formatted with the EXT2/EXT3 file-systems (used by Linux). You can find out more about, or purchase Easeus Data Recovery Wizard at http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/index.htm Minimum System Requirements: Windows 2000 128 MB RAM

Symantec Backup Exec 12

What happens when your PC at home fails? You replace the hard disk drive or the component that failed, and life is pretty much back to normal. It is quite a different matter when the desktop at work or a string of PCs on your corporate network fail. Business is affected, work hours are lost …and sometimes heads roll. But hardware failure is not really such an unexpected occurrence, because machines are subject to wear and tear and will eventually stop working. The smart administrator knows this and makes provisions to reduce the effects of this on his/her network. System recovery is now a major focus area for mainstream business computers, just like antivirus/malware protection. Little wonder then, that one of the largest malware protection companies has an offering in this area – Symantec’s Backup Exec for Windows Servers.Backup Exec is meant for use with computer networks, where data on large numbers of desktops and laptops need to be backed up and restored. This data is stored on one or more “media servers” that use internal hard disk drives, SANs, or tape drives as the destination media for backups. Disasters such as hardware failures, data corruption, virus infestations, are damaging to businesses. The extent can be reduced when the time taken to restore critical systems is short. The application does a complete backup of systems and entire networks. It also offers granular backup (such as only system registries, only a particular folder on D: drives of each PC, etc). It allows scheduling these “jobs” and verifying files for integrity. Specific data can be included and excluded as per needs and you can monitor logs of actions, and receive reports. Symantec’s own LiveUpdate takes care of relevant updates to keep itself running smoothly. Documentation is extensive — how to operate, what the deepest settings do, and specific quirks when installed alongside certain applications. It is a good idea for any network administrator to fully read the provided documentation (in HTML and PDF formats) before implementing anything. To install this app, a Domain Controller and Active Directory Services are required to be setup and running. These services can run either on independent servers, or on the same machine as where you will install Backup Exec.To backup files of a specific desktop/laptop, the Backup Exec Remote Agent needs to be installed on it, which will then communicate over the network with the Backup Exec server. Currently, Remote Agents are available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux/Unix. For servers in the company, specific “Agents” can be installed to backup files associated with the following - Active Directory, MS Exchange Server, SharePoint server, MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, SAP, Oracle, Lotus Domino, etc. If you already use Symantec Endpoint Protection to protect all your PCs from viruses/hackers, Backup Exec can integrate with it as well. SQL Express is installed to store Backup Exec’s databases. At first run, the Backup Exec Assistant dialog guides you through documentation, settings, and creating backup “jobs”. As with any enterprise management tool, it allows creation of customized deployment packages (Windows Installer transforms). The administrator can then install Backup Exec Agents from a central Active Directory server. This is useful because a newly bought laptop that jumps onto the network for the first time will receive the required software automatically and be backed up, all this without needing the “IT guys” to come around and install it. How much of data loss would you deem “acceptable” ? No matter whom you ask, they would prefer to keep the “period of loss” at a minimum. Ideally, you would have every little change backed up immediately. This way, you can eliminate daily backups and recover quickly. For this, Symantec offers Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server which supports MS Exchange, MS SQL Server, file servers, and desktops. It is crucial to backup files even while they are still not saved and closed. You’d have noticed that files “in use” cannot usually be copied, backed up, or deleted. For an example of this, go to the Windows Temp folder, and try to delete the task scheduler’s log file – it just won’t go away! Similarly, MS SQL Server locks database files, and it may not always be possible to take it offline for backup, especially if it is used 24x7 or accessed globally across time zones. So to backup even open files as they change, Backup Exec offers “Advanced Open File Option”. You can enable such extra options during install of Backup Exec server, by entering the license keys that you paid for. For prospective users, a 60-day evaluation is offered, which can be downloaded from -here .Ideally, keep your server updated with the latest stable drivers and Service Pack for your OS before installing anything. Before installing any further hotfixes, wait a few days and check whether they cause any issues with Backup Exec, because these are known to happen sometimes with Symantec enterprise products. A Backup Exec admin could face one possible pitfall, as described in the next sentence. During installation, Backup Exec asks for a username and password so that it runs in the context of user permissions of that user account. If you change this password, make sure you update the password used by Backup Exec as well. Else, it will still invoke the old username and password, and won’t work because it failed to “initialize” some services.We received and tested Symantec Backup Exec for Windows Servers, version 12. It has gains over v11 such as support for T10 hardware encryption, and compatibility with 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 operating systems. The newer version 12.5 has “Agents” for VMware and MS HyperVisor, to support today’s big buzz – server virtualization. Pricing for Backup Exec v12 for Windows Servers starts at $1162 (approximately Rs. 54,600, at current exchange rates), with options to purchase higher levels of support and license keys for enhanced functionality.

Adobe Photoshop CS3

Photoshop CS3 :

Photoshop CS3 is marketed with three main components of improvement over previous versions: "Work more productively, Edit with unrivaled power, and composite with breakthrough tools." New features propagating productivity include streamlined interface, improved Camera Raw, better control over print options, enhanced PDF support, and better management with Adobe Bridge. Editing tools new to CS3 are the Clone Source palette and nondestructive Smart Filters, and other features such as the Channel Mixer and Vanishing Point were enhanced. Compositing is assisted with Photoshop's new Quick Selection and Refine Edge tools and improved image stitching technology.CS3 Extended contains all features of CS3 plus tools for editing and importing some 3D graphics file formats, enhancing video, and comprehensive image analysis tools, utilizing MATLAB integration and DICOM file support.The logo is composed of white letters "Ps" on a gradient blue square.ReleasesContinual revisions were made to the program, with new versions released in the following years. In November 1992, a Microsoft Windows port of version 2.0 of the software was released, and a year later it was ported to the SGI IRIX and Sun Solaris platforms. In September 1994, version 3.0 was released, which introduced layers and tabbed palettes. In February 2003, the program shipped with the Camera RAW 1.x plug-in, which allowed the user to import RAW formats from different digital cameras directly into Photoshop.FeaturesPhotoshop has strong ties with other Adobe software for media editing, animation, and authoring. Files in Photoshop's native format, .PSD, can be exported to and from Adobe ImageReady, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Adobe Encore DVD to make professional standard DVDs and provide non-linear editing and special effects services, such as backgrounds, textures, and so on, for television, film, and the Web. For example, Photoshop CS broadly supports making menus and buttons for DVDs. For .PSD files exported as a menu or button, it only needs to have layers, nested in layer sets with a cuing format, and Adobe Encore DVD reads them as buttons or menus.Photoshop can utilize the color models RGB, lab, CMYK, grayscale, binary bitmap, and duotone. Photoshop has the ability to read and write raster and vector image formats such as: .EPS, .PNG, .GIF, .JPEG, Fireworks, etc. It also has several native file formats:The .PSD (Photoshop Document) format stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, color spaces, ICC profiles, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colors, Clipping paths, and duotone settings. This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g. .EPS or .GIF) that restrict content to provide streamlined, predictable functionality. Photoshop's popularity means that the .PSD format is widely used, and it is supported to some extent by most competing software. The .PSB (Photoshop Big) format is a newer version of .PSD designed for files over 2 gigabytes. The .PDD (PhotoDeluxe Document) format is a version of .PSD that only supports the features found in the discontinued PhotoDeluxe software.


Photoshop Brushes:-

For as you may have noticed Photoshop Brushes has come out with a new look. We're going for a cleaner look to minimize the usless content and give you direct access to the Photoshop Brushes.All the photoshop brushes are now categorized into their proper categories. We got rid of the Submit a photoshop brush button, but you can still submit your photoshop brushes using the contact button. We're going to be adding new photoshop brushes weekly so be sure to check back often.



Free High Resolution Photoshop Brushes:
Why would you need Photoshop brushes in high resolution? If you print something at 200 or 300 dpi then you'll need graphics that can be sized accordingly, and that's where high resolution brushes excel. They were meant to be used in documents where the size would be much more substantial than just a web page element or a simple background. So download some of these exquisite free brushes and create something stunning in high res right now!Visit our new Free High Resolution Photoshop Brushes Directory and you'll find an amazing collection of free Photoshop brush sets from master Photoshop brush designer Jason Gaylor of Designfruit fame, and some very beautiful free high res sets from Bittbox.

Photoshop Brushes From Kirsty - Batman Comic Book Covers - 11 Free BrushesKirsty sends this in: "Hello everyone, it took a little bit longer (life gets in the way!), but I finally have a new brush set up, this time with a Batman comic book theme. You can find it at the usual address of 500ml Brushes. Thanks!" The Batman Set contains 11 brushes of different Batman (and Robin) comic book covers.Snow Flakes - Free Photoshop Brush Set The Snow & Flakes Photoshop Brush Set contains 10 individual brushes and is a real winter wonderland of snowy images, featuring icy trees, perfectly exquisite snow flakes, intricate ice crystals and more. Make sure to review the read-me file that contains certain usage restrictions, and then create your own spectacular wintery marvels to unleash on the world.

Download the Snow Flakes Brush Set (zip/1.3MB).

Plug-In Suite 4 :
Plug-In Suite 4 includes 6 Photoshop plugins that help you maximize the power of Photoshop. You get Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro for high-quality enlargements, PhotoTools 1 Professional Edition, Mask Pro 4 for removing backgrounds, PhotoFrame 4 Professional Edition for the perfect finishing touch to your photos, PhotoTune 2 for professional quality color correction and FocalPoint 1 for adding selective blur and vignettes to your photos (read more about each below).
Enter discount coupon code PSSPPT06 during the checkout process at onOne Software for an instant 10% discount on all other onOne Software products. This is a special offer exclusively for PhotoshopSupport.com visitors.
Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro:
Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro Photoshop plugin is the industry standard for image resizing. It is renowned across the photographic and printing industries for its ability to increase image size well over 1000% without the loss of sharpness or detail that you would normally expect. Its patented, fractal based interpolation algorithms work like nothing else and the results speak for themselves.Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro is a must for any photographer who makes large format and poster sized prints. Its also great for journalists, sports and wildlife photographers who may need to take a cropped section of an image and make a high-quality print from it. Genuine Fractals 5 plug-in can even work its magic with digital video still frames "up-rezzing" from standard-definition to high-definition video quality.
PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition:
Whether you are new to photography and have never experienced the darkroom or you are an experienced pro who has mastered photography you will appreciate the range of authentic camera, filter and darkroom techniques reproduced with PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition plugin for Photoshop. PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition contains 250 effects by Jack Davis, Kevin Kubota and onOne Software that faithfully reproduce camera filters like neutral density, color correction and polarization as well as darkroom techniques and alternative processes like solarization, cyanotype and more.
PhotoFrame 4 Professional Edition:
PhotoFrame 4 Professional Edition really puts you into the digital darkroom. It is now easier than ever to add realistic film and darkroom edge effects to your images. You can also add artistic edges like torn paper, brush strokes or even create full-on layouts with backgrounds, textures and adornments. Add the perfect finishing touch to your images with a library of professionally created edge effects and design elements allowing you to create an infinite number of effects that really make your images stand out.
Mask Pro 4.1:
Mask Pro 4.1 is the Photoshop plugin recommended by Advanced Photoshop magazine that allows you to cut out a subject from the background by assigning keep and drop colors and simply painting away the background. Mask Pro 4.1 makes it easy to create masks, selections and clipping paths on difficult subjects like hair, glass and fog all in real-time. The built-in tutorials allow you to quickly learn how to mask even the most complex images.
PhotoTune 2.2:
PhotoTune 2.2 is an Adobe® Photoshop plugin that provides professional level color correction in an easy to use plugin. PhotoTune 2.2 incorporates ColorTune technology (formerly known as 20/20 Color MD) with its patented color correction process and SkinTune technology, developed after more than two years of in-depth skin color research. PhotoTune 2.2 makes the tedious and time-consuming task of color correction simple and straightforward to improve your post-processing workflow. Learn more about PhotoTune plug-in for Photoshop.
FocalPoint 1.0:
FocalPoint plugin for Photoshop gives photographers a way to create realistic depth of field control, plane of focus control and selective focus to any image after it is photographed allowing for more control and precision. The focus bug control in FocalPoint has a tangible, hardware feel much like using a lens. It makes it fast for a photographer to define the "sweet spot" either in a round shape or a plane and then control how much and of what kind of blur they would like to add.