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Joe Wilcox doesn’t like Netbooks. Never did. Never will. He thinks they are the root cause of problems in the WinTel segment of the tech industry. Netbooks eat into profit margins and, heaven forbid, let customers buy things on the cheap. After Apple’s product announcements today, coming on the heels of the the positive financial [...]

Yesterday, the Windows Team blog announced some changes they’re making to the upcoming Windows 7 Starter Edition. They’re removing some limitations (no more 3 application limit, not just for emerging markets) but retaining a whole lot of others (no Aero, no changing the wallpaper, no multimon support, etc). Now I don’t know about you, but [...]

Some may call it a confusing signal, and it is to a degree. But I think it is all about counting dollars and cents. Microsoft is once again extending the life of Windows XP to June 2010. Microsoft is also going to allow users to skip Windows Vista if they choose to downgrade from Windows [...]

It seems like it was forever ago that Vista was launched. And of course it was longer than that as we awaited what would become “the next great operating system” and everything it would bring. Of course we all know how well that turned out. If you look back that was a chaotic time brought [...]
Mary Jo Foley is linking to information on the Tech ARP site that purports to lay out an upgrade policy for users who purchase Windows machines after July 1. According to the report a customer purchasing a Windows machine after July 1, 2009 through a date to be determined later) will be eligible for a [...]

Remember the Asus R50a UMPC that we told you about in January? Well, it appears Asus wasted no time at all in bringing it to market and, in an apparent attempt to actually not sell any, has priced it $1,839. For that price you get: 1.33GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD [...]
Looking for a keyboard short-cut to quickly change screen rotation? Ctrl-Alt and any of the four arrow keys will set you free: Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Up will rotate your screen up Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Down will rotate your screen down Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Right will rotate your screen right Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Left will rotate your screen left I’ve verified this to work [...]

Laptop Mag got their hands on a Dell Mini 12 Netbook and has posted up a quick first impression. That quick first impression though seems to suggest that this might not be the fastest performer out of the box. Keep in mind the Dell Mini 12 is running Vista Basic on an Intel Atom Z530 [...]
First, context. Keep in mind that everything we’re hearing about Windows 7 is way, way, early. Things can, and will change, and some of those changes have more to do with Microsoft’s partners and the OEMs than with just the OS. That said, word out of WinHEC is that battery life will be improved with [...]
This week has brought us non-stop news about Windows 7, with video demos, first impression articles, screenshots, tablet pc inking video demos, multi-touch demos, and much more. The focus is clearly changing from Vista to looking foward to Windows 7. In my opinion, this has been a very good week for Microsoft. So far, I’m [...]
I always say it is a good day when you learn something new and this is a handy tip. Sooner or later we all have to reboot our Windows machines into Safe Mode to try and correct a problem. When that occurs, I alway find myself having to remember what Function Key to press and [...]

Mike Nash on the Windows Vista Team Blog is talking about the release process of Windows Vista SP2 and some info on what we can look forward to. Vista SP2 is in Beta now and will be rolled out slowly. Timing of general release is based on feedback from those doing the testing. In addition [...]

Are you a PC and want the world to know it? Well, today is your lucky day. We want to hear your story about why you are a PC, what kind of PC you are, what makes you unique, etc. Are you rugged? Are you artsy? Are you touchy? Are you mobile and flexible? Are [...]

If you’re someone who uses the native Vista Start menu and find that it can drive you a bit nuts, you might want to take a look at this. VistaStartMenu is an add-on that arranges things in a little different way. It relies on your visual memory allowing applications that are installed to basically remain [...]
It looks like Microsoft might be giving Windows XP yet another reprieve, this time until July 31, 2009. The life of XP has been extended at least twice before, and for the Netbook and Nettop devices. According to a leaked email (no official word from Redmond yet) the new lease on life for Windows XP [...]

If you use multiple monitors, then I have one word of advice for you: UltraMon — it is THE application for superb multi-monitor support. I use it everyday in my setup at the office. efficiently move windows and maximize windows across the desktop manage more applications with the Smart Taskbar control application positioning with UltraMon [...]

Meet the man behind Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” commercial, Sean Siler >>
Just got word from Microsoft that some new “Extras” were released today for Vista Ultimate users: Microsoft ® Tinker (TM): Microsoft Tinker is a casual game that provides players with short puzzle game play sessions set in a warm, calming environment. Ultimate Extras Sounds from Microsoft Tinker: Based on the positive feedback we received from [...]

I’ve been using Google’s Chrome as my go-to browser these days – it loads a website faster than any browser I’ve used in the past. Unfortunately, it isn’t very touch or pen friendly. However, there are some ways to bring a little pen and touch love to Chrome. Using Pen Flick gestures in Vista, assign [...]

GBM’s resident speech evangelist, John Gannon, has challenged some of us to use various the speech recognition tools to complete our daily work. I have volunteered to use Vista’s speech recognition. The first time that you use speech recognition in Vista you’ll be guided through a wizard to configure your microphone and a tutorial [...]

Paul Thurott is linking to a post by Koroush Ghazi on Tweakguides.com that highlights and purports to resolve some of the Vista annoyances we’ve all come to loathe love. In addition to tweaks that you can make, you’ll find some interesting history on how Windows XP was received when it was released. He’s also touting [...]

Just a public service announcements for those who do not have automatic updates enabled for Windows XP and Vista (or for those who have yet to receive the automatic updates): Windows released a slew of updates today, most of which are security enhancements. It should be noted that these listed updates are specific to my [...]

GottaBeMobile Forum Moderator Sharon Treloar, aka sbtablet, shared a clean-up tool that is built in to the SP1 upgrade a few days ago. It essentially deletes all of the pre-SP1 files if you are sure you won’t be reverting back. In the process, it cleans out anywhere from 800MB to 1.5GB of space. Rob Bushway, [...]

I really like Lifehacker, they are always putting up some nice tips. This one today will help everyone save a few clicks, battery life or gain some performance! Right click your Aero on and off with this quick little tip they found over on Windows Vista Magazine. It will require a Registry edit, so be [...]

In the category of winning hearts and minds Microsoft has released some video of, and information about, its Mojave Experiment, an effort on its part to try and change perceptions about Windows Vista. While saying up front that this isn’t part of the big and expensive marketing effort they are planning, they do provide some [...]

On Friday I had a situation where I needed somebody to look at a map I had on my screen, it was an application running on my Vista machine. The other person was using Windows XP. In my quick research, it’s not possible to use Windows Meeting Space and connect with somebody using NetMeeting on [...]
This is an interesting bit of info. SanDisk CEO Eli Harari told folks during an earnings conference call that Microsoft Windows Vista is not optimized for solid state drives (SSD). This is causing a delay in the delivery of optimized drives until next year. I’m not sure if this is just more piling on Vista [...]

I imagine we’re going to see more and more of this kind of testing on the ultra-sub-mini-net-low cost-mobile PCs as they continue to roll out. But for now, jkkmobile is testing out Vista on the Asus 901 Eee PC running an ATom processor. Note that he’s running this on a 30GB drive. As things continue [...]
In the comments to one of my recent posts Taxman asked the following: Microsoft is a huge company with the most advanced tablet technology on the market. Why don’t they spend advertising dollars to make the tablet a household word? I have often wished that Microsoft would get out there and really promote the Tablet [...]
I was lying awake last night, thinking about Vista and sidebar and sideshow and such (as you do) and I had a really interesting idea. When Vista launched there was a great deal of talk about SideShow and how there were going to be all sorts of hardware devices that could leverage all sorts of [...]
Microsoft’s Rob Chamberlin points to a great new tool from the Office Labs team called Search Commands, which helps you find commands, options, and wizards in Office apps. Rob takes the Search Commands a bit further by developing a speech macro for it. Check it out!

Ever have those moments in a presentation when you have wandered away from your PC, without a mouse, and needed to advance the slide in your PowerPoint presentation? Microsoft’s Rob Chambers has a solution for you in this Vista Speech macro that will advance or go to the previous slide just by speaking the words [...]
Good news! We are really close to announcing our new speech reco writer. He is someone that has spent quite a bit of time in the speech reco area and he’ll have quite a bit of user experience to pass along. Until then, you might want to check out this post from Carl Franklin, who [...]
OQOTalk.com forum members JT and Troy lit the mobile blogosphere on fire when they demoed an OQO Model 02 running Mac OS X. They have now posted complete instructions on how to do this yourself. Be sure you purchase a license of Leopard before going down this trail – you definitely want to remain in [...]

After installing Vista SP1 I reported that one of the things that didn’t seem to work as quickly as pre-SP1 was opening Outlook. In an attempt to try and track that down, I decided to do a little Outlook house-keeping and see if that would improve things. I typically have far too many emails in [...]