Microsoft faces Vista trademark challenge

PARIS: A French television executive said Tuesday he had taken legal action against Microsoft for breaching his right to the trademark "Vista," which the US software giant uses for its new operating system.

"A writ has been served in both France and the United States," Philippe Gildas, a former presenter on French cable television channel Canal+, told AFP.

Gildas accuses Microsoft of violating his intellectual property rights after he registered the trademark "Tele Vista" for use worldwide in March 2003.

The name is to be used for a new satellite and cable television channel that Gildas is to launch in the next few weeks in France.

Microsoft launched its new "Vista" operating system in January this year amid much glitz and fanfare.

The new operating system cost about 6.0 billion dollars (4.4 billion euros) to develop and was the first new Microsoft operating system since Windows XP in 2001.

According to US advertising industry magazine Ad Age, the global branding campaign for Vista cost Microsoft about 500 million dollars.

The online register of the French trademark office, the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI), shows that Microsoft filed the trademark "Vista" in July 2005, two years after Gildas registered "Tele Vista."

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.

Gildas declined to give further details of his action on the advice of his lawyers, but said the legal process would be long.

Windows XP Service Pack 3.0: Wait no more…

We need Windows XP Service Pack 3.0 badly now. When you install a new XP system, after installing Service Pack 2.0, you will find over 60 more updates to install now. It was predicted that Service Pack 3.0 would be out sometime in 2006! But we are now almost at 2007 mid-year. Most of the ‘XP Service Pack 3.0 predictions’ were based on statements from Microsoft executives and the Windows Service Pack roadmap available on the Microsoft Site.

Microsoft initially hinted that XP Service Pack 3.0 could be released before Longhorn but very soon, Windows Vista became the top priority and Service Pack 3.0 development was pushed further back.

Service Pack 3.0 was planned as a regular bug fix release with no new features though there were rumors that Internet Explorer 7.0 and Windows Media Player 11.0 could be bundled with XP SP3. Unfortunately, nothing of this sort happened and Microsoft finally pushed XP Service Pack 3.0 to first half of 2008.

Now the next big question – “How to keep track of various security patches, updates and hotfixes that have been released by Microsoft since Windows XP Service Pack 2.0” debuted in August 2004?

While you can install Windows XP Service Pack 2.0 from the CD, connect the computer to the internet and turn on Windows Update so that all patches are automatically downloaded and installed, this is certainly not the best approach - imagine when your net connection breaks or you have to build 10 computers or you don't have internet at all??



Well, here's an easy installer package that will install every single Microsoft update on your XP Service Pack 2.0 computer. The program is called Autopatcher for XP and maintained by a group of Windows enthusiasts who update this program every month embedding new fixes that Microsoft released in the previous month. Like other standard Windows installers, Autopatcher also features a slick looking GUI and can be customized to install as much or as little as you please.

The most remarkable part of Autopatcher is that you don't have to restart your Windows machine after every update. With AutoPatcher, you can install critical patches offline, eliminating the risk of getting infected while using Windows Update.

More resources: Autopatcher Help , Autopatcher FAQ.

Disabling the ability for a computer to download

This tip is very useful for internet cafes and companies that need to set up computer terminals that don't allow customer to download any file from the Internet.

Follow the following steps :-
1) Click start Menu>Run
2) Type "Regedit" and press Enter
3) Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre nt Version\Internet Setting\Zones\3
4) Double Click at "1803" and Change "Value Data is 3" then press OK

How to hide computer files that you don't want people to see

If your Windows Operating System is using NTFS file system, there is a more secure method to hide files, then setting the File Properties to Hidden.

This method hides a file by storing it in a stream file, and it works with any file type. Remember... to do this your hard drive must be formatted with NTFS, not FAT. To hide the file you will need to access the command prompt.
Windows 95/98/ME
     Start->Run->command
Windows 2000/XP/2003
     Start->Run->cmd

Let a.exe be the original file, and you want to hide it in b.txt
In your command prompt:
     type a.exe > b.txt:a.exe

This command types everything from the executable into a stream in b.txt called a.exe. The text file can be blank, and it will show up as 0 bytes. If anybody clicks on b.txt, it will appear empty, but the hidden file is there.

To get the file back type this:
     b.txt:a.exe > a.exe

This will take the hidden file out of the stream, and into a file called a.exe. There is no way anybody can find the file, unless they know which file it is hidden in, and the name of the stream you have hidden it in.

Windows Vista and XP Complete Codec Pack

I got numerous enquiries from people about audio and video codecs for Windows XP and a few for Windows Vista. Sometimes finding the right codec for a particular file can be tricky, and there are hundreds of dodgy codecs out there laced with malware. It's not safe out there!

Over on the MSFN forum, there's a download that contains a massive selection of codecs for Windows XP and Vista (32-bit and 64-bit versions). This package is very comprehensive and after installing it you shouldn't need to download another codec. You can download this massive codec package from one of these mirrors:

File Forum Beta News
Major Geeks
SoftPedia

It does not contain a media player, and it does not associates filetypes. With this package installed you will be able to use any media player (limited by the players capabilities) to play DVD's, movies and video clips such as quicktime, realmedia, avi, mpeg, Flv, swf, wmv, etc. Streaming video is supported in most web browsers. By default, you should not need to make any adjustments to enjoy your media content immediately.

Users have the ability to choose what is installed using the public redistributable and after an unattended install, you can select to remove specific portions without removing the entire package. Future releases will recognize previous releases and perform upgrade installations.

How to Install Windows Media Player 11.0 Bypassing Genuine Windows Validation...

Windows Media Player 11.0 is the latest Media Player by Microsoft. It offers great new ways to store and enjoy all your music, video and pictures along with its new cool look. You must have Windows XP Service Pack-2 (SP2) in order to install Windows Media Player 11.0. But still you will face a problem while installing this new Windows Media Player if your copy of Windows XP is not a genuine (non-pirated) one, since WMP 11.0 installation requires genuine windows validation.




But there are some tricky steps through which you can install WMP 11.0 even in your pirated copy of windows XP bypassing the genuine windows validation. You just have to follow the following steps one by one:

1. Download Windows Media Player 11.0 (make sure its the final and latest version, not beta) from the Microsoft Site. Alternatively, you can download the installer file directly from here. Remember you can’t install Windows Media Player 11.0 if service pack 2.0 is not installed in your operating system.
   
2. Extract the downloaded Windows Media Player setup file (wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe) using WinRAR to a directory (wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu). Now make sure you have a “LegitLibM.dll” file in the extracted “wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu” folder.


3. Download the patched LegitLibM.dll and then copy-paste it to the “wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu” folder and click yes when asked to overwrite.
   
4. Now run “setup_wm.exe” file in the “wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu” folder.
   
   
5. Restart your PC, then run your Windows Media Player and you are done.
   

Increase Number of Download Sessions in Internet Explorer

To comply with current Internet standards, Internet Explorer limits the number of simultaneous downloads to two downloads, plus one queued download. This configuration is a function of the browser. However, as connection speeds increase, and the number of total connections that are allowed to Internet servers increase, the two-connection limit may be restrictive.
Please Note: Changing the maximum number of connections beyond two is a violation of Internet standards; use at your own risk!

To increase the number of simultaneous connections that are allowed, follow these steps:

1. Start the Registry Editor
   a. Click on Start -> Run, type Regedit and press OK
   

   b. WARNING: Be very careful while you are running the registry editor. You can easily render your machine unable to boot if you play with settings you aren't familiar with!

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Internet Settings
   
3. Select New -> DWORD Value from the Edit menu
   
4. Name the new value MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
   
5. Right-click the MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server value and choose Modify
   
6. Under Base, click the radio button next to Decimal
   
7. In the Value Data: box enter the number of simultaneous connections you want to set (for example 10 is a good value), and click OK
   
8. Repeat steps 3 - 7 using the new value MaxConnectionsPerServer
   
9. Exit the registry editor
   

How to Install Internet Explorer 7.0 Bypassing Genuine Windows Validation...

Internet Explorer 7.0 is the long awaited tabbed web browser by Microsoft. Nearly four years after the release of Internet Explorer 6.0, in the face of growing competition from Mozilla's Firefox, Microsoft has finally given the old IE platform a facelift. Optimized design along with new cool interface, favorites centre, search box, RSS feeds and most importantly easy to use tabbed browsing are the exclusive features of this new internet explorer.

You must have Windows XP Service Pack-2 (SP2) in order to install Internet Explorer 7.0. But still you will face a problem while installing this new Internet Explorer if your copy of Windows XP is not a genuine (non-pirated) one, since IE 7.0 installation requires genuine windows validation!!! So what to do??? Don’t worry… There are some tricky steps through which you can install IE 7.0 even in your pirated copy of windows XP bypassing the genuine windows validation. You just have to follow the following steps one by one:

1. Download Internet Explorer 7.0 installer from the Microsoft site. You have to choose Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) as your operating system. Remember you can’t install IE 7.0 if service pack 2.0 is not installed in your operating system. And if you are facing genuine windows validation problem while downloading IE7 installer from the Microsoft site, can also download this installer alternatively from here or directly from here.
   



2. Extract the downloaded Internet Explorer setup file (IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe) using WinRAR to a directory (IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu).
   



3. Download the patched iecustom.dll and then copy-paste it to the update folder (IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu\update\) and click yes when asked to overwrite.
   



4. Now, download normaliz.exe . Then copy this exe file and paste it in your “c:\” drive.
   



5. Run ‘update.exe’ in the update folder (not iesetup.exe!!!). At the end, you have to choose ‘Restart Later’ (not Restart Now) option to finish the running process of the exe file.
   



6. Now you have to download normaliz.dll and then copy-paste it to “c:\windows\system32\” directory (in order to prevent problems with the file not being found after the installation). And then reboot/restart your pc.
   



7. After rebooting your pc, you may face a problem with a file called normaliz.dll that can not be found by explorer.exe. If you’re having this problem, you will find your desktop blank.(If you are not facing this problem then just go to step 8) In order to fix this problem, you have to do the following things one by one:
   
   a. Press ctrl-alt-del to go to the task manager.
   b. Go to “File -> New Task (Run…)” in the task manager.
   c. Type: ‘C:\normaliz.exe’ (excluding quotation marks) in the ‘open’ field and then press the ‘ok’ button.
   d. ‘WinZip Self-Extractor - normalize.exe’ window should popped up and then press the ‘unzip’ button.
   e. Reboot your pc. Now you can see your desktop contents!!! :)
   



8. Now you have to run ‘xmllitesetup.exe’ in the update folder. This step is very important, because somehow if you forget to run this ‘xmllitesetup.exe’ , IE 7.0 will be installed in your PC without it's toolbar!!!
   



9. Then reboot your pc again, run Internet Explorer…and you are done!!!