More than 100,000 people worldwide have signed a Save XP petition organized by the US magazine Infoworld. The operating system will no longer be available as a shrink-wrapped product after 30 June, though PC builders will be able to pre-install XP until January.

A starter edition of XP will be available until mid-2010 in emerging markets, according to Microsoft, which claims Vista sales are heading for 100 million.

However, most Vista installs are in machines sold to home users. Business have been slow to adopt, not unusual with a new operating system, and some are concerned about hardware and software compatibility and performance, particularly on older machines.

But not everyone responding to thee petition was against Vista. One wrote: I’ve had Vista on my laptop since launch and I haven’t had any major issues with it.

The most infamous error message is the Blue Screen Of Death. It’s so well known that it has crept into the vernacular: “Aw, Fxxk! I was almost finished with my project when I got bluescreened!” The phenomenon is also known by its acronym, BSOD.

The conditions that cause a blue screen have changed since the days of Windows 95/98, as has what it means. In either case, chances are pretty good that, if you get bluescreened, any unsaved work will be lost, as either Windows (in NT/2000/XP) or your application (in 95/98) has been shut down.

The BSOD is perhaps the most despised error not only because it has wiped away countless hours of work over the years, but because of the obtuse way in which it does so. The messages delivered in the typical blue screen are meant for developers more than end users. For example, a blue screen delivered by Windows may deliver a message such as the following:
0×0000001E, KMODE_EXCEPTION _NOT_HANDLED.

And if you don’t find that sufficiently informative, you’ll see four variables in parentheses to help developers figure out what’s happening. Again, none of this will mean much to most of us, but a support rep or developer can often learn a great deal from such cryptic messages.

Fortunately, blue screens are rare in recent versions of Windows and may disappear after a reboot. But if the problem recurs, you could have a real problem. Here are some troubleshooting steps to follow if you encounter a BSOD:

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The first service pack for Microsoft Windows Vista operating system won’t arrive until early next year, but judging from many experience with a beta of SP1, the update will be more about stability and security fixes than noticeable performance gains.

What is Improved
Many alterations in this service pack, the tested version of 0.275 won’t be obvious to a casual user. You probably won’t notice any interface changes, for example.

Instead, Microsoft says, the service pack beta improves stability, performance, and reliability when reactivating a machine from Hibernate or Suspend mode; enhances device-driver support; increases security; and adds support for new standards such as Extended File Allocation Table (intended to enhance flash storage on notebooks, not desktops).

According to Microsoft, typical load times for the final version should range from 30 to 60 minutes. The installation requires 7GB of free hard-drive space (some of which will be reclaimed after the installation is complete), though the finalized install file itself is expected to be a 50MB download via Windows Update.

In early tests with the beta, some small improvements in boot time on an HP Compaq 8710p Core 2 Duo notebook. Before SP1, the laptop took 1 minute, 51 seconds to boot. After the update, that figure dropped by almost 20 seconds.

Microsoft is also touting improvements in the speed of copying and extracting files, so that also tested a few of those scenarios. Noted that a slight increase in the time required to copy 562 JPEG images totalling 1.9GB from an SD Card to the hard drive of the a fore mentioned HP Compaq notebook.

In another test, Nero 7 Ultra on an Acer Aspire 5630 Core 2 Duo laptop were tested to add files to a disk image. After SP1 installed, the notebook built the disk image about 7 percent faster.

When Beta 2 of Vista was released in May 2006, many blog listed these favorite Vista features:
Windows Flip, Meeting Space, SideShow, and performance enhancers SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, and ReadyDrive. After a few months of reviewing with Beta 2, though, here the list of Tops 5 compiled by Computer Shopper.

1. EXPLORER BREADCRUMBS
Vista offers lots of features with a high geewhiz factor that catch your eye at first, such as the live file previews in the new Explorer or if you can run Aero, the live thumbnails of currently running apps on the Taskbar. But we have found Vista’s breadcrumb navigation to be much more useful, it lets me click quickly through subdirectory hierarchies to find what I need.

2. SEARCH ON THE START MENU
In retrospect, this should have been on my original list. I love being able to click on the Start menu and easily find files and launch applications. I can go to the search field and type something like C:/Users/Janice/Pictures or www.application-install-guide.com and go right there without launching Explorer or Internet Explorer. The feature works wonders for finding functions that otherwise take lots of clicking to uncover. Typing in Device Manager drops you right where you want to be rather than having to navigate to the Control Panel and look for the Device Manager icon.

3. SLEEP MODE
While SuperFetch and ReadyBoost are still pretty cool, my favorite performance improvement is much less glamorous. I’ve long envied Macs and their time-saving instant on/off ability, and with Vista, Windows has finally caught up. By combining XP’s Standby and Hibernate modes into a single, instant-off state, you can power up or down in just seconds.

4. MEETING SPACE
It was on my original list, and I still love this collaboration tool, which lets you create an ad hoc wireless connection with nearby Vista users even without a Wi-Fi network. You can share programs and jointly edit documents with up to 10 other users although Vista Home Basic users only get to view documents. In Beta 2, it is still called Windows Collaboration, but Microsoft plans to rename the tool Meeting Space for launch.

5. GUIDED HELP
Call me lazy, but I love Vista interactive Guided Help tool. Just over 30 help topics in Vista include the tool, which provides a step-by-step description of how to accomplish a task or lets you opt to have the task completed for you automatically. Click Show me step-by-step or Do it automatically, with the latter letting you observe all the steps by following a green arrow that floats across the screen, pointing and clicking the appropriate options. Each topic even recommends whether to use the automated process, or the step-by-step option.

Microsoft will have six versions of Vista available at launch and two categories of hardware requirements (Windows Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready) for running different levels of the OS. All versions of Vista will operate and provide basic functionality on a Windows Vista Capable machine, but for all versions except Vista Home Basic and Vista Starter, you’ll want to go with a Vista Premium Ready configuration, at a minimum, to get access to all features. For the best experience, though, standard recommend doubling the minimum requirements listed.

Windows Vista Ultimate
For advanced consumers or business users; the highest-end edition, combining the best features of all editions.

Minimum Requirements:
Windows Vista Premium Ready Logo
1GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1GB RAM
DirectX 9-capable graphics with 128MB of graphics memory & support for Windows Display Driver Model
Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and 32-bit-per-pixel color
40GB hard drive (with 15GB free)
DVD-ROM drive

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Back in the days of 80-column monitors, dot-matrix printers, and DOS, the PrintScrn key on your keyboard was a way to send the entire contents of the screen to an attached parallel or serial printer. These days, PrintScrn takes a snapshot of your open windows, then sends the file into a hidden temporary buffer as an uncompressed image.

Each screen shot for this story was taken by opening the necessary windows, pressing the PrintScrn key, then loading Microsoft Paint by clicking Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Paint. Under the Edit menu in Paint, when you select Paste or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-V, Windows will paste the buffer contents in. You can also paste your buffer contents directly into applications such as Word, but many people like to compress the file into a JPEG first. To do this click on File -> Save As. Pick a folder and name the file something relevant, then select JPEG beside the Save As type. This will make the file much smaller, and the file can also be cropped into Paint while you are at it.

Tags: PrintScreen

Every time you boot windows, MSN Messenger starts running in the background. You’re not a fan of this IM client? Too bad. You don’t have a Passport account or don’t use the instant messenger integration built into Microsoft Outlook and Exchange? Too bad.

You can save a bit of memory and get a little faster boot time by not loading this chat client every time Windows starts. Users of AOL Instant
Messenger, ICQ, or Yahoo!’s client are also likely candidates for this tweak. First, click Start, then Run. Then, type this long string into the field:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove and be careful to type it exactly right (no spaces) or unpredictable results may occur. You will need to reboot to complete the settings.

If you run Outlook or Outlook Express, those programs may try to launch MSN Messenger too. In order to prevent this from happening in Outlook, for example, go into the program and click on Tools, Options, then Other. Under this menu you will find a check box that reads Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook, and you should clear it. Problem fixed!

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