vista

Volta Volta is a Microsoft Live Lab experimental developer toolset that allows you to build complex web applications. It has been unavailable for a while, but a download has been made available via BrotherSoft. http://www.brothersoft.com Top 9 ... Tweaks For A Faster Vista Tired of Vista's sluggish startup and load times? They can make operating a Vista machine feel like a not-so-pleasant time warp back to the late 1980s. Below is a list of features that offer tweaks for the UAC (User Account Control), system restore and indexing, sidebar, themes, and lots more. http://www.blackviper.com Today's ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Rick M. writes: " Dear Infopackets, I really enjoyed your article that compared 32 bit vs 64 bit (CPU / Operating Systems); however, I did notice the article was dated back in 2006. Is there a later evaluation of the 32bit versus ... 64bit? I'm in the market for a new computer and want to make sure the programs on my 32 bit Windows XP will work on a 64 bit of Vista. If so, where do I find it? " My response: If you are looking for a new computer, one of the biggest decisions that you will have to make is whether to go with a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system. On the surface it ... (view more)

A day after Microsoft revealed that it would make Windows 7 downgradeable all the way back to XP, a new poll suggests it's unlikely anyone will really want to do that. Apparently, Windows 7 is gaining popularity after all. The poll is courtesy of ... ChangeWave Research, which has been keeping tabs on Microsoft's operating systems for a while now. Two years ago it polled users shortly after Vista's much-anticipated launch, only to find that just 10% of all users felt "very satisfied" with the OS. A couple years of serious griping later, and here we are with what most hope will completely redeem ... (view more)

A Texas senator is trying to make it illegal for any government agency to buy Windows Vista without prior approval. Juan Hinojosa says simply "Don't buy it because it's not worth it." If the law passes, all state agencies in Texas would need written ... approval from the Legislative Budget Board before buying Vista itself or any machine with the system pre-installed. The only exception would be for places of higher education. Anti-Vista Amendment Rides State Budget The proposal is not a separate law. Instead it's a rider to the budget: one of 800 amendments added during the legislative process. ... (view more)

Vista Services Optimizer There are many performance issues in Windows Vista, including services that continually run in the background, consuming a lot of CPU power and eating system memory (RAM). Vista Services Optimizer tweaks Vista by stopping ... and disabling unwanted services in order to reduce CPU usage and save space in the system memory. http://smartpcutilities.bravehost.com Softswitch Run your own VOIP server with Mizu Server, a software soft switch solution running on Microsoft Windows. It can replace traditional hardware-based PBX and ISDN solutions. Extremely useful for small ... (view more)

What's the problem with introducing a new operating system? When it comes to Microsoft, the upgrade makes your last operating system pretty much obsolete, even if it took almost ten years to construct and a lot of hassle to promote. A recent survey ... from industry analysts Gartner found that about 30 per cent of large businesses were seriously considering skipping Windows Vista altogether, a significant blow to Microsoft which has spent the last year and a half trying to convince home and corporate users alike that the operating system is worth the software and training costs associated with ... (view more)

Now that the news of Windows 7 beta is starting to wind down, more details about Microsoft's next operating system are starting to become available. Juicy news on the wire this morning includes word that Windows 7 will ship in several different ... versions, much like its much-maligned predecessor. One of the big complaints against Windows Vista, released to the wider public in 2007, was that it came in too many different packages. The system was confusing for many, particularly those roped into buying Vista Home Basic , a skeletal version of the operating system that offered only a fraction of ... (view more)

With the next big Microsoft operating system already looming in the form of a Windows 7 beta, many home and business users are beginning to look past Windows Vista. However, a controversial new report from Computerworld suggests that the fat lady ... may not have yet belted out her final note. In a recent article, Computerworld columnist Eric Lai suggested that at least two significant segments in the tech population have begun to adopt the maligned 2007 operating system . Lai cites a survey last month by Valve Corporation, which found that more than one-third of gamers playing online are using ... (view more)

Aero Peek For XP And Vista Aero Peek is one of the new features introduced by Microsoft's upcoming operating system Windows 7, set for release later this year. Aero Peek refers to the ability to show the Windows desktop, hiding all active windows in ... the process. The feature in Windows 7 is enabled by hovering over an icon in the Windows 7 Task Bar. AeroPeek for Windows XP and Windows Vista tries to mimic that behavior. http://www.ghacks.net DownThemAll (DTA) DownThemAll is a powerful yet easy-to-use Mozilla Firefox extension that adds new advanced download capabilities to your browser. It ... (view more)

Some used PCs are reportedly being purchased not for hardware but because people want to get their hands on a copy of Windows XP instead of newer operating system Vista. A recent Gartner study found that about 197 million PCs were discarded because ... Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system created a demand for PCs with greater hardware capabilities. Of those 197 million PCs that were discarded, 44% were put up for sale. David Daoud, research manager at IDC, said that many consumers and businesses prefer used PCs with Windows XP because they still have older copies of software programs that ... (view more)