Welcome to the SVCS
Windows SIG
WinSIG, the Windows SIG welcomes
both new and experienced users of Microsoft Windows and Office software.
NEW time and place for our meetings: 7
PM to 9 PM on the 2nd Monday of each month at the MicroCenter store in
Santa Clara. For a map and directions to the store, Click
here...
To see the agenda for the upcoming meeting, click here...
Important activation changes to Windows Vista
The significant anti-piracy technologies built into Windows Vista™ software are designed to make the widespread pirating of Windows Vista more difficult. Now, all customers who deploy Windows Vista must successfully activate their product using a genuine product key. If a non-genuine product key is used in activation, customers will experience reduced functionality and lose certain features, such as Microsoft Aero and ReadyBoost.
- Activation: In the first 30 days of use, all new installations of Windows Vista must be activated by the OEM, through Windows Vista volume licensing technologies, or by the end customer.
If Windows Vista is not activated in the first 30 days, the system will operate in a reduced functionality mode.
- Validation: In order to protect users from being victimized by counterfeit software, and to protect Microsoft’s intellectual property, Windows Vista includes ongoing validation.
Through validation, if non-genuine Windows Vista is detected (including non-genuine product keys, cracked or tampered code) the system enters a 30-day grace period.
During this time Windows Aero and ReadyBoost features are disabled, and Windows Defender and Windows Update will have limited capabilities (optional updates will not be available through Windows Update, and Windows Defender will only remove critical and severe threats).
In addition, during this grace period, a message will appear repeatedly, encouraging the user to take the steps necessary to activate with a genuine product key in order to regain the full value of Windows Vista and to prevent the system from going into a reduced functionality mode.
- Reduced Functionality: After the repeated prompts above, and if Windows Vista is not activated in the 30-day grace period, the system will operate in a reduced functionality state until a genuine product key is used for activation.
In this reduced state, the user will have access to their files and applications, and access to the Internet.
However, the desktop will be simplified with only a browser (no Start Menu or Task Bar) and Windows Vista usage will be limited to one hour sessions, at which time the user is forced to log off.
Additionally, users may boot the system in Safe Mode in order to access or back-up personal data and applications.
Sysinternals
Utilities Catalog 
At
the December 2006 WinSIG meeting Maury Green discussed the Windows
Sysinternals Utilities. His catalog of these utilities is available
in PDF format.
Microsoft® 2007
Office beta 2 Release Will Expire Soon
Depending on whether or not you implemented the beta 2 technical refresh,
you will not be able to use the 2007 Office beta 2
release after one of the following dates:
- For the 2007 Office beta 2 release with no update:
02/01/2007
- For the 2007 Office beta 2 release updated with the beta 2 technical
refresh: 03/31/2007
- For the 2007 Office beta 2 release server products updated with
the beta 2 technical refresh: 05/15/2007
If you would like to continue using the 2007 Office release to create,
open, or modify files, you may:
- Receive a FREE copy of Microsoft Office Professional
2007 when you attend a launch event for the new versions
of Microsoft's most popular software.
- Register
for an event near you.
- Sign up for a FREE 60-day trial of the new 2007 Office release
by visiting Microsoft
Office Online.
- Sign up to be notified when the new 2007 Office suites will be
available by clicking here.
If you would like to use Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office
2003 to open and modify Microsoft Office Word, Excel®, and PowerPoint® files
that have been saved using the 2007 Office release file formats, please
download the Microsoft Office
Compatibility
Pack.
Gaming
Glitch Found In Windows Vista Certain
online games are not compatible with Microsoft's latest operating
system, according to the CEO of the largest online gaming
company. WildTangent
CEO Alex St. John said more than 500 of the web's most popular
games do not work with Vista. "The new Vista operating
system has pretty extensive incompatibilities with a lot
of popular casual games," St. John said. For Vista, the problem
is more than just growing pains. The company took careful steps to make
the new operating system as secure as possible, but those steps are also
preventing consumers from downloading some web content, including casual
games. "Real Arcade, Yahoo, AOL and interestingly Microsoft's own
casual game download site is largely broken with Vista, and will take
some time to fix," St. John said. New PCs from Dell, HP, Gateway
and Toshiba will include fix-it software from WildTangent, but consumers
buying the stand-alone software will be out of luck.
PerfectDisk
8 Certified for Windows Vista
Raxco is proud to announce that
PerfectDisk
8 is the first and only defragmenter to be Certified for Windows Vista
by Microsoft.
PerfectDisk
8 Build 50 is now available for use on Windows Vista, as
well as Windows XP Home/Professional, Windows Server 2003
and Windows 2000 Professional/Server.
During the PerfectDisk 8 Vista certification
testing process, Raxco’s
development team uncovered a bug within a component of Windows
Vista that could potentially cause hard drive corruption.
Raxco has already reported this bug to Microsoft and Microsoft is
working to resolve the issue. Raxco has designed PerfectDisk
8 build 50 to specifically work around this issue.
How do I get
PerfectDisk 8 Build 50?
-
If you are running PerfectDisk 8 on Windows Vista,
it is critical that you update to Build 50. You
can do this by clicking on PerfectDisk and selecting
Run as administrator and then click on Help and then
select Check for Updates.
-
For non-Vista versions of Windows, run PerfectDisk,
click on Help and then select Check for Updates.
-
To redownload a purchased PerfectDisk 8 installation,
follow the instructions in the email receipt that you
received when you purchased PerfectDisk.
If you have any questions please
contact the
Raxco
Technical Support team.
Is
your flash drive fast enough for Vista’s ReadyBoost?To be used as a ReadyBoost device, your flash drive has to pass several
tests, including available free space, write performance, and random
read performance. When you connect a supported flash device to your system
and choose the Speed Up My System option, Windows Vista runs a quick
performance test to see if the device meets minimum standards required
for ReadyBoost. Those standards are:
- 2.5 MB/sec throughout for 4 KB random reads
- 1.75 MB/sec throughout for 512 KB random writes
These results must be consistent across the entire device. In addition,
the device must be at least 235 MB in size (although you
can designate less than the full space on the drive for the
ReadyBoost cache). If any of these tests fail, the drive
is rejected.
Security
Hole in Microsoft Word Being Exploited 
A yet-to-be-patched
security hole in multiple versions of Word is being exploited
in cyberattacks, Microsoft warned late Tuesday (Jan 9, 2007).
The attacks are "limited," according to
a
Microsoft security advisory. The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker
is developing a security update that addresses the vulnerability, it
said.
The vulnerability is similar to previous so-called zero-day
flaws that have
hit
Office applications in recent months. An attacker could rig a Word
file in such a way that he would gain complete control over a vulnerable
PC when the file is opened, Microsoft said in its advisory.
An attacker could exploit the flaw by hosting a Web site
with a malicious Word file or send an e-mail with the file as an attachment.
In all cases, the target would have to open the file to be compromised,
Microsoft said.
Security experts have said the limited-scale attacks
are
the most dangerous. Widespread worms, viruses or Trojan horses sent
to millions of mailboxes are typically not a grave concern, since they
can be blocked. Instead, especially for businesses, targeted Trojan horses
have become nightmares, as they can fly under the radar.
The latest Office vulnerability affects Word 2000, Word 2002,
Word 2003, Microsoft Word Viewer 2003, Word 2004 for Mac, Word 2004 version
X for Mac, as well as Works 2004, 2005 and 2006, Microsoft said. As a
way of protection, Microsoft suggests not opening or saving Word files
from unknown sources or that arrive unexpectedly.
Vista
Content Protection Specification: The Longest Suicide Note
in History "In order for content to be displayed to users, it
has to be copied numerous times. .... Windows Vista's content protection
(and DRM in general) assume that all of this copying can occur without
any copying actually occurring, since the whole intent of DRM is to prevent
copying. .... So in order for Windows Vista's content protection to work,
it has to be able to violate the laws of physics and create numerous
copies that are simultaneously not copies."
AT&T’s
IPTV Plan Change Raises Core QuestionsAT&T Inc.’s confirmation
last week that it had
shortened its 2006 IPTV (Internet
Protocol TeleVision ) deployment plans – from the long and publicly stated 15 markets
to only 11 – coupled with its reason why, has raised core questions
as to the current health and well-being of the video ecosystem. To recap,
AT&T’s Jeff Weber was sticking to the 15 market goal roughly
two weeks ago. “We’re targeting 15 markets this year and
are planning to grow that footprint as quickly as we can,” AT&T’s
vice president of product and management said in an interview with xchange
magazine. “We plan to add applications as we go through the first
quarter of 2007.” Last week, AT&T upped the count to four – adding
San Jose, Calif., and San Francisco – and changed its goal to
11.
The
Great Windows Vista Antivirus War 
"You'll
never believe what those bastards are doing now." Those were the
first words out of my buddy Steve's mouth. Steve manages
a computer network for an exclusive private school, so I
figured he might be refering to something computer related.
Or something a teacher had done. Or some crime committed
by the Democrats or by the Republicans (Steve's non-partisan
when it comes to being annoyed). Or, perhaps, it was the
Purple People in the Trees. Again. Steve's like that. "But
what's the truth? What's really going on? I had the opportunity
to interview both Microsoft and Symantec on this issue." Honestly,
I had no idea who the bastards were, but I'd soon find out.
...
Symantec was suing Microsoft because Microsoft refused to
open up Vista (Microsoft's upcoming new OS) in a way that
would allow Symantec to provide the full level of virus protection
the antivirus vendor wanted to provide.
Automatic
Backups with Acronis True Image 10.0 Home 
By
following our recommendations in the
Perfect Backup Approach tutorial
(
www.ugr.com/tutorials.html),
your hard drive is protected from a total hard drive crash to just a
file or two becoming corrupted. However, the weakest link in this backup
system is remembering to do your backups on a regular basis. The recently
released
Acronis True Image 10.0 Home edition
has solved this problem with new features to let you quickly set your
system to do automatic backups on a regular basis. Earlier releases of
True
Image could do some scheduling of backups, but a lot of function
was missing that would permit you to do the complete job. Now, you can
just set your backup system and forget it. Your backups will occur automatically
without your worrying about them. This article will guide you through
the steps of setting up automatic backups with
True Image 10, so
that you can do it on your system.
Microsoft
Releases Internet Explorer 7.0 On
October 23rd Microsoft announced that the final version of
Internet Explorer version 7.0 is available for optional download.
It will be distributed as a high-priority update via
Windows
Update/Microsoft Update beginning in mid-November. If you
have your system set for Automatic Updates and Express Install,
IE7 will be installed automatically.
If you would prefer to wait, Microsoft
has made a tool available to block the automatic installation
of Internet Explorer v7. The tool creates an entry in the
computer registry to prevent automatic installation. You can still
do a manual install later from the Windows Update site if
you wish.
To use the blocker tool:
- You must use MS Internet Explorer (as for all MS updates)
- You must have a genuine copy of Windows which will pass the Validation
test. If you haven't already installed "Genuine Validation" software
on your system you will be required to do so.
- Go to the following website
- http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=65788.
- Click the "Continue" button in the "Validation Required" box in the center of the page.
- On the next page (assuming you pass validation) click the "Download" button
and download the toolkit to your desktop.
- Go to the root of your C:\ drive (not your desktop) and create a new
folder and name it "IEBlocker" or whatever
you like.
- Go back to your desktop and doubleclick the "IEBlocker
Toolkit.EXE" file which you downloaded.
- When the installer asks you where to put the files, point it to the new folder you just created on the
C:\ drive.
Now comes the tricky part unless you are an old timer like me
who remembers working with DOS commands.
- Go to "START" and then "RUN" to
open the run window. Type in the word "CMD" and click OK.
- When the black CMD window appears, type "cd \IEBlocker" (or whatever you named the folder) WITHOUT the quotes and with the backslash in front of the folder name..
- Now type "IE70Blocker.cmd /B" without the quotes and with the space between the filename and the /B (that's a forward slash this time).
- The program will execute and give you a message saying that "the operation completed successfully".
- Type "exit" to close the cmd window and you are done.
If you want a more detailed explanation
of the process try this link: http://www.connectedphotographer.com/issues/issue200610/00001864001.html
Remember, this will only stop the AUTOMATIC installation. If you
decide later you are ready to install IE7, you can either download and
install the program manually from the Windows Update website or you
can repeat steps 9 thru 13 using the command "IE70Blocker.cmd /U" in
step 11 to uninstall the blocker and then do an automatic update and
express install.
Isn't Microsoft fun???
Mozilla
Releases FireFox 2
On
October 23rd, Mozilla announced the release of FireFox 2.
The award-winning Web browser is now faster, more secure,
and fully customizable to your online life.
Enjoy a Better Web Experience
Stay Secure on the Web
Personalize Your Browser
With Firefox
2, we’ve added powerful new features that make your online experience
even better. Firefox 2 delivers helpful new features to make
your online experience more productive. Firefox continues to lead the
way in online security, and now includes active protection from online
scams to keep you safer. Choose
from over a thousand useful add-ons that enhance Firefox. It’s
easy to personalize Firefox to make it your own.
Acronis
Announces True Image 10.0 Home Acronis
just announced the latest release of their award winning
backup utility,
Acronis
True Image 10.0 Home product. This is a significant new
version of this best of breed backup utility. The many new
features of this release make it the most powerful and complete
backup utility on the market. This is just the product you
need to be using to protect your important computer information
from hard drive crashes and the damage that viruses and faulty
software can cause. Copies of this new release can be ordered
from the User Group Relations web site at
www.usergroupstore.com for
just $29. That includes a training CD that will show you
the
Perfect
Backup Approach you should be using with this exciting product.
Gene Barlow will be presenting this information and have
the software for sale at the
November 8th SPAUG meeting.
Getting
Ready for Microsoft® Windows® VistaThe
next few months promise to be an exciting time for PC users
as Microsoft rolls out their new Windows Vista operating system.
While some business systems may be released late this year,
most of the action will take place shortly after the beginning
of the new year. Now is the time to start planning how you
are going to take advantage of this new technology. Gene Barlow
of
User Group Relations describes
some secure ways to update to the new operating system when
it becomes available. He will be presenting this information
at the November 8th SPAUG meeting.
The
HP Learning Center offers FREE instructor-led, online courses
in all the latest business topics.
As
seasons change it is a perfect time to begin something new.
Like a class at the HP Learning Center! Like a traditional class,
an online class offers a collection of lessons, assignments,
and quizzes to help you learn, as well as an instructor to
guide your learning, but it is up to you to determine the time and place
you attend class. You can take an online class when it is convenient
for you, rather than organizing your schedule around class time. You
also get personalized feedback from the instructor and the opportunity
to chat with other students to gain more insight and information about
the subjects that interest you. Currrent classes include:
Lessons
started September 14th but you can
enroll
now!
Monthly
Newsletter and FREE issue of VideoMaker magazine 
Pinnacle
is offering a monthly newsletter to users of Pinnacle Studio
and Avid products. It includes upgrade announcements, special
offers, podcasts and tutorials. This month's installment
of Studio Technique will start at the end - the credits.
What better way to wrap up your great looking movie than with
great looking credits. We'll start with the basics, and then
provide plenty of advanced techniques for getting that professional
look.
Microsoft® Windows® Vista
and Your Wacom Pen
Microsoft's
new operating system named Vista will arrive early next year and promises
to deliver a computing experience that's faster, easier, and more efficient.
When you use your Wacom pen on a computer running Vista, you'll be able
to quickly jot notes, capture sketches, navigate with gestures, and access
intelligent handwriting recognition. In addition, Office 2007 will take
full advantage of the exciting pen functionality provided by Vista.
Visit
Wacom for
a quick introduction to the Windows Vista pen experience.
Porn
sites exploit new IE6 flaw
The vulnerability lies in the way IE 6 handles certain graphics. The
vulnerability lies in a Windows component called "vgx.dll." This
component is meant to support Vector Markup Language documents
in the operating system. VML is used for high-quality vector
graphics on the Web. Malicious
software can be loaded, unbeknownst to the user, onto a vulnerable
Windows PC when the user clicks on a malicious link on a Web
site or an e-mail message, several security companies said.
"Fully patched
Internet Explorer browsers are vulnerable," Ken
Dunham, director of the rapid response team at VeriSign's iDefense,
said in an e-mailed statement. "This new zero-day attack is trivial
to reproduce and has great potential for widespread Web-based
attacks in the near future."
Security-monitoring companies Secunia
and the French Security Incident Response Team have given the
issue their most serious ratings.
Shady adult Web sites are
among the first to exploit the IE vulnerability, Eric Sites,
vice president of research and development at spyware specialist
Sunbelt Software, wrote on a corporate blog. In one case, a
malicious Web site used the exploit to install "epic loads of adware," according
to Sunbelt. The number of attacks may rise quickly,
according to Web security company Websense. It appears that
WebAttacker, a tool often used to create attack sites, has
been fitted with the new exploit, Websense said in an e-mailed
statement. "We have confirmed multiple, previously known, WebAttacker
sites that are currently exploiting this vulnerability to install
malicious software," Websense said. "We expect to see many
of the several thousand WebAttacker sites begin to utilize
the exploit, as they update to the latest release of the tool
kit."
Microsoft plans to fix the flaw as part of its
monthly patching cycle on Oct. 10, the software giant said
in a security advisory. The update might be released sooner, "depending
on customer needs," Microsoft
said. Typically, Microsoft only breaks its patch cycle when
attacks are widespread. "Microsoft is aware that this vulnerability
is being actively exploited," the company said in its advisory.
While it works on an update, Microsoft recommends users keep
their security software updated and take caution when browsing
the Web. In its advisory, it also provides several workarounds
to protect systems against the flaw. This is the second known
and unpatched flaw for IE to surface in as many weeks. Last
week Microsoft confirmed a flaw in an ActiveX control related
to multimedia. Attack code that exploits the flaw and could
be used to hijack Windows PCs running IE 5 or IE 6 has been posted on
the Net. Microsoft also has yet to provide a patch for a Word 2000 flaw
being exploited in targeted cyberattacks.
