prathapml

Yeah, but not a continuous use of it. I'd use a language translator very rarely - but at all other times, stick to english. You can't really feel fine, if you need to use that page to translate italian to english, every few minutes. Learning the common language that the others use, and communicating in that, is the key!

WOW!!!!!! That's great. Thanks, will try it out. Just that, if someone can find the time to make a tool that can simplify the process (so that you can do it graphically) - that would be fantastic.

I've heard people say that its faster if you compile the batch-file into an EXE or COM. But I haven't really noticed any such thing. I think if you have a very big batch-file, then the EXE will execute faster than CMD.

Voted for learning, obviously!

Some EXE files are actually compressed archives (like ZIP files). download and install winrar to be able to right-click and extract files from within that compressed file.

Thanks to the BT400 G3’s 350 hr. standy time and 10 hr. talking time, you needn’t worry about talking on the phone too long. Additionally, the BT400 G3 can be used with any mobile phone which supports the Bluetooth headset or hands-free profile. The device size is 92mm(L) x 50mm(W) x 26mm(H) - expanded; and the weight is just 26g. review

November 12th, 2004 - 10:00AM EST Gaim 1.0.3 was released. It's another bug fix only release. See the ChangeLog. home-page

Don't use the setup! Remove the setup-related files and save some disk-space as well! You need to use the OEMpnpDriversPath method mentioned here: http://unattended.msfn.org/xp/drivers.htm

Just follow the unattended XP guide for that. The steps are quite the same.

Oracle, Sun Announce Oracle Database 10g For Solaris 10 OS At its Network Computing '04Q4 launch, Sun Microsystems Inc and Oracle announced that Oracle Database 10g will be supported on Sun's Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) for Intel Xeon, AMD Opteron and SPARC processor-based architectures. Additionally, the companies are announcing the general availability of Oracle Database 10g for Solaris 9 OS for x86 systems. These business-critical information technology (IT) platforms deliver additional choice for secure, low cost computing options to a broad range of customers and partners. "The enhancements in Solaris 10 further expand the opportunity to combine Oracle's grid technology with a high-performance Solaris platform," said Bronwyn Hastings, vice president of Global Alliances and Channels at Oracle. "The combination of Oracle Database 10g and Solaris 10 will provide our joint customers the powerful world class offerings that they have come to expect from us." "Sun and Oracle continue to build on a strong two-decade long relationship to extend the industry's No. 1 UNIX OS and build a direct link between technology solutions and profitability through maximum system uptime," said Stephen Borcich, vice president of partner and industry marketing for Sun Microsystems Inc. "Today's announcement emphasizes our complementary strategies in key areas such as enterprise grid computing, security, high-availability and clustering, continue to have a huge impact on the industry." Oracle 10g On Solaris x86 Last year Ellison and McNealy outlined the companies' agreement to provide low-cost offerings to the marketplace and delivering Oracle Database 10g on Solaris OS for x86 is the first major milestone. Early indicators prove that customer demand is high for Sun's AMD Opteron based systems with more than 1500 software downloads of Oracle 10g for Solaris 9 x86 in just a few weeks. Oracle and Sun have worked together for 20 years to deliver secure, reliable and scalable enterprise-class datacenters to over 70,000 customers around the world. With a shared commitment to open, standards-based computing, Oracle and Sun deliver optimal performance, innovation and value to the customer through joint engineering efforts, sales and service. About Sun Microsystems Inc Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems Inc to its position as a provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com. Source

Microsoft End-of-Support Deadline for Windows NT Server 4.0 Affects IT Security for Many Small and Large Enterprises November 18, 2004 (9:01 PM EST) NORCROSS, Ga., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft plans to stop supporting an older version of Windows, NT Server 4.0, at the end of 2004 -- a decision that affects thousands of enterprises, with more than two million servers still running the network operating system, who have not developed and executed plans for migrating to a different enterprise networking environment. Maha Mahadevan, president and CEO of Norcross, Ga.-based BOSS, which offers network asset management software and services to all size enterprises, says that those who do not make a change to either an upgraded Microsoft network platform or one offered by another vendor will have to play virtually "without a net" in today's high-risk enterprise networking environment. "Since Microsoft will not be providing patches, security fixes and even premier pay-per-incident support for the Windows NT Server any longer, you will have to address security problems and other technology issues on your own," said Mahadevan. "Your enterprise will become more vulnerable to hackers. Your network availability will be subject to inordinate downtime. Your users will lose productivity. New software applications, such as accounting, backup, firewall, mail server or anti-virus protection may not be backwardly compatible with NT Server. And even when you buy replacement hardware there may not be drivers available to make the components work on your network." As a Microsoft Gold Software Development Partner, the BOSS product suite, which includes the DiagWin network management and software deployment utility, and the U-Win software and operating system migration aid, plus BOSS's expertise and track record in successful enterprise migrations, would be of great benefit to any organization contemplating upgrading to the recommended Microsoft path. In addition, Mahadevan said, BOSS's custom development and deployment skills would be of great value to those seeking to migrate instead to an entirely different networking environment, like open source Linux or UNIX. A successful migration takes a number of weeks of proper planning and execution, addressing server and workstation configurations, domain configurations, mail, corporate practices and policies, and other considerations, said Mahadevan. "Most enterprises already feel the pinch of constrained IT resources just in supporting and maintaining resource availability for their users," he said. "BOSS can give those IT managers the extra muscle they need to make any migration path smooth and painless." Microsoft stopped supporting client versions of NT on June 30, 2004, and the Dec. 31 end of support for NT Server signals a total discontinuation of the product. Its upgrade strategy is to prepare a smoother migration path to its 64-bit operating environment that's expected to hit the market in 2005 and 2006. Microsoft recommends that NT customers migrate to Windows 2003 Server, which in many cases involves upgrades to Microsoft Exchange Server and Web server applications. BOSS has experience and creative expertise in assisting enterprises with all aspects of that deployment, including migrations to Active Directory, the Microsoft schema for tracking all network resources and users, and SharePoint Portal Server, which enables enterprises to seamlessly connect users, teams and knowledge so people can take advantage of relevant information across multiple business processes. All of that will provide solid foundations for the enterprise to accommodate the 64-bit architecture that is making its way into enterprises today. Source #1 source #2

VMware Targets Microsoft with New Beta November 19, 2004, 10:40 AM Sources familiar with testing have told BetaNews that VMware has released Beta 1 of Workstation 5.0 to a select group of testers. This latest release of VMware's virtual desktop software includes a host of new features ranging from improved collaboration and networking, better performance and surer security, to enhanced cloning capabilities and Microsoft Virtual PC compatibility. New to VMware Workstation, Teams are intended to clear the way for easier configuration of multi-tier applications. The Teams feature lassos together a collection of virtual machines that are connected by private network segments. Once a team is created, the entire cluster of virtual machines is administered as if it were a single unit. In addition, administrators can view active thumbnails of every "Team" member. VMware's V2V Assistant rolls back the clock to a time when Microsoft was not a competitor, enabling Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machines to be stripped of their vendor identity and converted into Workstation 5 virtual machines. Workstation 5 can also open a Microsoft virtual machine without conversion. Workstation 5 also promises to deliver enhanced networking performance, sources said. When a user installs the updated VMware tools, all required drivers are automatically loaded through the software's custom network driver. VMware claims to have achieved significant improvements in network performances. Developers have turned their attention toward shoring up the efficiency of memory utilization, and to securing the computing environment against buffer overruns. VMware has elected to target the scenario of concurrent use of multiple virtual machines as the primary candidate to receive performance tweaks. The beta also targets buffer overruns, permitting operating systems that support the NX bit to designate memory space for applications. Any code that attempts to run outside of the space will not be executed. Two different methods are provided for cloning: linked and full. If a parent virtual machine is accessible in shared storage, it can be linked to rather than copied and stored locally. Any changes that are made to the cloned virtual machine are saved on the resident hardware. Team members can then share the saved configuration. In addition, linked clones can be used as a universal template for additional clones, thus sparing disk space. Full cloning makes complete copies of virtual machine that can be stored on disks and other media. What's more, Workstation 5 offers the ability to record all activity within a virtual machine and commits the record to the .AVI format. VMware has provided the feature so that users can reproduce steps that may have led to defects or to record the process of installing and configuring a new application. If all else fails, users can take an unlimited number of snapshots to capture the state of the environment along a specified range of time. A new item called Snapshot Manager allows administrators to roll back to a previous state along the timeline. Other miscellaneous features in the Workstation 5 beta include a gtk2-based user interface for Linux to provide a better look and feel, as well as increased stability; souped up drag and drop, shared folders and sound features; and support for USB devices such as Web cams and speaker systems. Source

(old) November 16, 2004, 4:45 PM Despite media reports and industry pundits over the years relegating Netscape to Internet history books, AOL has restarted the browser's development. The company plans to bring back a refreshed Netscape browser based on Firefox, which will incorporate an enhanced user interface and several new features. A prototype of the new Netscape will debut on November 30 to a limited number of beta testers, AOL told BetaNews. Netscape was last updated in August to version 7.2, which brought the browser up to date with Mozilla 1.7. But for the most part, Netscape has received little attention from AOL since the release of 7.0 in August 2002. The browser's market share has dropped to single digits as Microsoft's Internet Explorer reigned supreme. But Firefox's surging popularity has breathed new life into Netscape. Although AOL could not yet comment on what to expect in the prototype, the revamped browser will likely extend Firefox's feature set with Netscape-specific extensions and retain Netscape's traditional green user interface. AOL announced the upcoming prototype in a message to Netscape users, even taking a swipe at Internet Explorer for its recent security woes. "While other browsers have seen little improvement over recent years -- except frequent patches for security leaks -- we have consistently added new features to save you time and to make the most out your time online," the Netscape product team wrote. "As a part of our next evolutionary step, we have developed this new Browser Prototype, which could change the way the world masters the web." Seemingly in competition with itself, AOL has also been beta testing an Internet Explorer based Web browser it calls "AOL Browser." AOL Browser is independent from the company's client software and adds features such as tabbed browsing and privacy options on top of Microsoft's IE engine. Users interested in testing the Netscape prototype can pre-register by visiting netscape.com and entering the registration code: prototype1104. Source

McAfee AVERT Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system. Stinger utilizes next generation scan engine technology, including process scanning, digitally signed DAT files, and scan performance optimizations. Latest Changes: Added W32/Sober.j@MM Download

Jetway's 915P-TWIN Mobo: One PC, Two Users Jetway 915P-TWIN Serves Two Users New motherboard products keep hitting the market, yet their features do not change that fast, unless there are fundamental platform changes such as Intel's Socket 775 introduction. Usually, motherboard value- added propositions involve adding a new feature while removing one that is obsolete. However, Jetway offers a unique capability: the MagicTWIN mobo allows for two users to work on a single computer simultaneously. The groundwork was laid by Microsoft WindowsXP, which theoretically makes it possible to log on several users at the same time on a single PC. However, in practice, the capability hasn't worked, even when two monitor and input devices were available. Jetway finally found a way to get around this limitation and calls the new feature MagicTWIN, which is a software add-on. After installing it, two users can log on to two different Windows consoles. First, you will need a graphics card that comes with two display outputs. Fortunately, this is the case with almost every graphics card today. A second keyboard and mouse can be attached via a PS/2 splitter cable or via USB. Needless to say that MagicTWIN will share all the system resources such as the CPU and graphics processor, optical drives and hard drive capacity. For this reason, the MagicTWIN feature will never be able to replace two full-featured computers, particularly if you have got high performance requirements. However, running such a twin user system at home or in an office environment may be absolutely sufficient, since today's hardware usually is not pushed to its limits using common office and multimedia applications. Conclusion ------------ Getting started with Jetway's 915P-TWIN, including setting up Gigabit LAN, audio, Firewire and the additional mass storage device, was a piece of cake. Our random benchmarks (mainly games and encoding tasks) proved that this board runs within the performance level that one would expect from a 915P solution with dual DDR400 memory. Jetway did its homework pretty well, since we didn't run into any anomalies. Compared to motherboards from well-known manufacturers, the company would have some trouble distinguishing itself without the MagicTWIN feature, on which Jetway's value-add proposition is largely based. Meanwhile, installing the program is fairly easy, while having two people work with one computer is indeed a nifty application. All you need is a graphics card with two display ports. Although Jetway recommends NVIDIA only, we did not encounter problems running an ATI graphics card. We see a wide market for the MagicTWIN. In a work environment, one user can surf the Web while another finishes office tasks. Internet cafés and similar institutions can save thousands since they might cut their hardware requirements by up to 50%. Nor does the MagicTWIN feature require much processing power. With our test system it was easily possible to run a DVD on one console while somebody else was passionately playing Unreal Tournament 2004 on the second one. Yet we need to exclude one application scenario. It is definitely impossible to have two users playing 3D games with or against each other on one single system. At the end of the day, no commercially-available graphics card can accommodate this application. Complete Review

Connecting users to your network requires more than plugging in a network cable. In this book chapter, you'll learn the specifics of authentication under Windows XP: the process of verifying the identity of the user attempting to access a computer or other network resource. Find out the inner workings of Windows XP Professional, whether you need total authentication services or interoperability with Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003. Sometimes it is a good idea to be absolutely certain you know who you are dealing with. Authentication is the process by which the identity of a specific entity—a person, a user, or a computer—is verified. Authentication transactions happen in many places, many times a day. Using an ATM card and PIN to withdraw cash from an ATM, providing a driver's license when making a purchase at a home improvement store with a credit card, and presenting a passport when going through customs are common types of authentication. In each of these examples some sort of authority requests proof of identification. This ID verification indicates that the person requesting the transaction is who they say they are. This process is separate from authorization, whereby it is determined that an entity is granted specific rights or permissions. Simply proving identity does not guarantee the desired outcome of the transaction. Once the authority establishes that you are who you say you are, it then attempts to authorize you to complete that transaction: the ATM ensures that you have sufficient funds to cover the requested withdrawal; the cashier contacts the credit card issuer for purchase approval; and the customs agent checks that all necessary paperwork and visas are in place for a traveler to enter or exit a country. Windows XP Professional, like Windows 2000, provides a sophisticated authentication system, which is examined in this chapter. Specific topics covered here include the mechanics of Windows XP authentication, the log-on process, configuration and management of authentication parameters, and best practices for secure authentication. We cover authorization in detail in Chapter 17, Authorization and Access Control. Read more

(old news) Thursday, November 11, 2004 Microsoft still has yet to release a wide-scale beta of its next Windows Server release, code-named "R2." But according to sources, the product is well on its way to being finalized, with packaging, licensing and support details already hammered out. Microsoft officials said last month that R2 will ship in the latter half of 2005. To make that date, the company cut some features, such as network-access protection and file sharing over HTTP, from the product, officials acknowledged. But if it's due relatively soon, why has R2 yet to go to beta? R2 is expected to include some new features and functionality, but it won't be much more than Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) plus some of the myriad Windows Server 2003 service packs that the company has shipped since April 2003 (the date it shipped Windows Server 2003), according to Microsoft partners. The ultimate goal with R2, like other "interim" Windows releases, is to allow customers to incorporate it into their environments with relatively little testing, said partner sources who requested anonymity. R2 will be such a relatively minor upgrade, sources said, that Microsoft is planning to swap it out for Windows Server 2003 when it ships. The company isn't planning to charge its volume-license customers for the product, and it won't require new client-access licenses (CALs) for R2. (Users will be able to use the Windows Server 2003 ones they already have.) Microsoft officials are not ready to talk specifics about R2, a company spokeswoman said. This isn't to say Microsoft isn't adding some new capabilities to R2 – or that customers should expect the R2 upgrade to "just work" with all their existing applications. As Windows XP Service Pack 2 customers found, not all their applications, including those from Microsoft itself, worked seamlessly with the latest Windows update. Microsoft has a big job on its hands to coordinate the myriad moving parts that will underlie R2, acknowledged Michael Cherry, a senior analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a research firm based in Kirkland, Wash. "Microsoft has a lot on its plate," said Cherry. "They need to finish and ship Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows Update Services (WUS), 64-bit editions for the AMD and Intel x64 processors, Windows Server 2003 R2, the Windows editions for high performance computing, and then betas for Longhorn, the WinFX and other Longhorn technologies for XP, and Longhorn Server. They also have to work on the storage products. "Although some of these products logically build on others, Microsoft has to figure out the best order to complete the work, and the best way to manage any dependencies," Cherry continued. "Oh, and let's keep in mind they will have to address ongoing bug and vulnerability fixes, and release hot-fixes and service packs for products in mainstream support. My expectation is that we will see an effort to get Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 out, then WUS, and then Windows Server 2003 R2, but if any one of these first three slips badly, it could impact the rest of the releases." Microsoft officials have talked publicly a couple of times since this spring about which of the more than dozen feature packs that it plans to fold into R2. Among the ones that are definites, according to partners: Active Directory Federation Services (a k a "Trustbridge") Rights Management Server SharePoint Portal Services Version 2 File Server Migration Toolkit Network File System (NFS) support Services for Unix (some, if not all features) Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) 'Corral' Storage Resource Management Of these, the changes on tap for R2 will likely be in the areas of systems management, identity management ("Trustbridge") and storage management ("Corral"), partners said. Microsoft is still expecting branch management to be one of the biggest potential markets for the R2 release, partners said. Source

What is Expire. ? Expire is a tool which will help you find your way trough a cluttered desktop. On the press of a key or the activation of a screen corner hotspot, your desktop windows will turn into 3d versions and rearrange themselves neatly over your screen, allowing you to pick the window you were looking for with one click of your mouse. Your windows will then reassume their 2d shape and place, with the selected window on top. It has fantastic 3D animations, while miniaturizing and restoring windows. To the extent, that it even spins your active window (like in the longhorn demo). dot-Expire project is basically about bringing the functionality of the Mac OSX expose feature to windowsXP. And its just a couple-hundred KB! homepage/download

It still is at preview 3 level. I wonder how many more betas it needs, before going public.

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This is with regard to a post (deleted now, though) asking for longhorn download: READ THE BLURB AT TOP OF THIS PAGE. It says do not ask for warez, or for places to download it from. This warning has been given innumerable times, so direct action will be taken. Updates on status, like the post of Betasith, are not considered as breaking rules. But posts asking for download, will be INSTANTLY DELETED, without apologies.

Well, the .theme file might be referencing the wallpapers, etc. from "one level higher". But the actual theme is within the Themes folder.Oh well..... So does the Energy Blue theme (or Royale) work for you now?

Maybe that's what it is? Since direct 9.0c is here, either upgrade to that, or install SP2 (for WinXP) which contains it.

Oh, yes. ROFL The answer is a resounding yes! A DirectX slip-streamer would be nice too.

Best thing to do of course, is start with an SP0 CD. But since you don't have it, here's what you could do: Slip-stream your WXPSP1 CD with SP2. Then, to save on some disk-space, delete "SP1.cab" in I386.