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Many have said they’re not interested in Windows Vista, that Windows XP is just fine for them. And in fact, you could go so far as to say some of them actually hate the OS. Still, a new OS, Mojave, may just be the key to a new marketing campaign. Last week Microsoft told a focus group in San Francisco they were being shown a new version of Windows, codenamed Mojave. Feedback was quite positive; more than 90% gave positive feedback. Afterwards they were told that Mojave was actually Windows Vista.

Business PC buyers are still overwhelmingly opting for XP, computer giant HP has revealed. HP's revelation, made at the launch of a new range of business notebooks, flies in the face of Microsoft's persistent PR claims that Vista has sold tens of millions of copies — and is selling at a faster rate than XP ever did. However, HP explained how Microsoft is coming up with these "Vista" sales figures. "From the 30th of June, we have no longer been able to ship a PC with a XP licence," said Jane Bradburn, Market Development Manager, Commercial Notebooks for HP Australia....

When you buy a new PC today, unless you hunt down a Linux system or you buy a Mac, you're pretty much stuck with Vista. Sad, but true. So, when I had to get a new PC in a hurry, after one of my PCs went to the big bit-ranch in the sky with a fried motherboard, the one I bought, a Dell Inspiron 530S from my local Best Buy came pre-infected with Vista Home Premium. Big deal. It took me less than an hour to install Linux Mint 5 Elyssa R1 on it. As expected, everything on this 2.4GHz...

The solution to what is apparently a common problem ("Wizard Was Interrupted Before [program name] could be installed") seems to involve "Impersonate a client after authentication" The following worked for us, although we are not computer professionals and results are not guaranteed. You need ntrights.exe (downloadable from Microsoft as part of the Windows tools resource kit). ntrights.exe -u ADMINISTRATOR +r SeImpersonatePrivilege ntrights.exe -u ADMINISTRATORS +r SeImpersonatePrivilege ntrights.exe -u Everyone +r SeImpersonatePrivilege You must restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Then the installation should work. (We don’t know which of the above three did it, we enabled all...

We are investigating the issue with the MS update KB951748. For the time being we suggest you uninstall KB951748 until the issue has been resolved. We will post when we have more information Best regards, Forum Moderator

Excerpt - Redmond, WA (AHN) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is pulling the XP operating system from its product line come Monday. The move comes 18 months after the company launched the Vista operating system. Although Microsoft will not sell the XP program any longer, they will still generate revenue from providing support for the software as it will no longer be free. Microsoft will offer extended support packages for XP until at least 2014. ~ snip ~

Et Tu, Intel? Chip Giant Won’t Embrace Microsoft’s Windows Vista By Steve Lohr Intel, the giant chip maker and longtime partner of Microsoft, has decided against upgrading the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft’s Vista operating system, a person with direct knowledge of the company’s plans said. The person, who has been briefed on the situation but requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of Intel’s relationship with Microsoft, said the company made its decision after a lengthy analysis by its internal technology staff of the costs and potential benefits of moving to Windows Vista, which has drawn fire...

Microsoft has given another lease of life to Windows XP only days before PC makers have to stop selling it. Windows XP reaches its end of life on 30 June but Microsoft has now said it can continue being sold until June 2010 but only on cheap desktops. The decision follows one made in April to extend the life of XP on low cost laptops until the same date. It comes as Dell, HP and Lenovo exploit loopholes in Microsoft's licensing terms to keep putting XP on machines. Growing market In an announcement at the Computex trade show in...

Comments by Steve Ballmer at a press conference in Europe today have led to speculation that Microsoft is reconsidering its June 30 deadline to stop selling most new Windows XP licenses. A spokeswoman from Microsoft's public relations firm said Thursday that there is no plan for a change in deadline, however. "Our plan for Windows XP availability is unchanged. We're confident that's the right thing to do based on the feedback we've heard from our customers and partners," the spokeswoman said, reading from a Microsoft statement. Ballmer's comments at a press conference at Louvain-la-Neuve University in Belgium led to a...

Microsoft Pulls XP SP3, Delays Release Indefinitely Jason Mick (Blog) - April 29, 2008 5:12 PM Bad news for those looking to get the latest XP service pack DailyTech reported earlier today that Windows XP's third service pack was ready for full deployment via Windows Update, as promised by Microsoft. However, in an eleventh hour move sure to draw criticism, the service pack was yanked by Microsoft and will not be released on April 29th as previously promised. The pack was pulled because it breaks or otherwise compromises the Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS). The RMS application is relatively...

If you didn’t have your calendar marked this day (04/29/2008) is an important day; the third service pack for Windows XP has been released to Windows Update today. It may not be trickling down just yet but several sites have already posted manual updates that can be downloaded. DailyTech reports that Microsoft hasn’t yet posted an official download for SP3 but BetaNews does have a download link that goes straight back to Windows Update. Windows XP SP3 is more than just a regular Service Pack including more than 1,100 hotfixes/patches which has new features such as Network Access Protection and...

Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer on Thursday offered a glimmer of hope to fans of the company's XP operating system, saying customer demand may see the company reconsider a decision to stop selling XP in June. But Ballmer was adamant that "most people who buy PCs today buy them with Vista." "That's the statistical truth," he told reporters at a press conference at Louvain-La-Neuve university. "If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter," he said. Fans of the six-year-old operating system set to be pulled off store shelves by June 30 have papered the Internet with blog...

Microsoft Corp.'s operating systems run most personal computers around the globe and are a cash cow for the world's largest software maker. But you'd never confuse a Windows user with the passionate fans of Mac OS X or even the free Linux operating system. Unless it's someone running Windows XP, a version Microsoft wants to retire. Fans of the six-year-old operating system set to be pulled off store shelves in June have papered the Internet with blog posts, cartoons and petitions recently. They trumpet its superiority to Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest PC operating system, whose consumer launch last January was...

With the market preparing for the next -- and final -- phase of the life of Windows XP with the forthcoming general availability of Service Pack 3, the old operating system continues to show itself to be a spry performer. In head-to-head tests between Windows XP Service Pack 3 Beta (Release Candidate 2) against Windows Vista Service Pack 1, it's clear that XP still holds a measurable performance advantage overMicrosoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s next-generation desktop operating system. Our CRN Test Center conducted a faceoff-type of performance evaluation. Testing was done on two identical desktops: HP (NYSE:HPQ)'s rp5700 model with a single...

Journal written by symbolset (646467) and posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday April 05, @07:21AM from the also-duke-nukem-forever dept. Microsoft's efforts to get businesses to adopt Vista may come to a screeching halt now that Bill Gates has announced "Sometime in the next year or so we will have a new version", referring to Windows 7, the next expected version of the company's flagship desktop operating system.With a new version available soon, many organizations may decide to wait and see if they can avoid the pain of a Vista rollout altogether.

Microsoft said today it will continue to sell Windows XP Home beyond its scheduled June 30 kill-date for the emerging class of "ultra-low-cost PCs," or ULCPCs. The operating system has been granted a reprieve until mid-2010, but only for the diminutive laptops such as the Asus Eee PC and Intel Classmate PC which lack the hardware necessary to run Windows Vista adequately. The cut-off date for XP licenses in mainstream boxes remains the end of June, 2008. Free live support and warranty-based technical support will dry up next April. After that, customers need to pay for phone support until April...

Okay…I give up. I’ve got to ask for some help. Freepers have given me great advice on holsters, guns, etc., but now I need computer help. I recently re-installed XP Media Center on my Dell Dimension E310. Now, whenever I re-start I have no sound. And when I go the Control Panel, I get the “No Audio Device” with all of the selections grayed-out. And I mean all of them: The Volume section, the Sounds section, the Audio section…all of them. When I troubleshoot the hardware it says the device is working properly. I’ve searched the web (and lots of...

Symantec, Windows users beset by Vista SP1 flaws By Tom Espiner, ZDNet UK Monday, March 24, 2008 10:56 AM Security vendor Symantec has said that updated drivers to replace those adversely affected by Windows Vista Service Pack 1 are not yet available. The company said users will have to wait for the updated drivers, which will be available "in the coming weeks". The drivers in question are for Endpoint Protection and Network Access Control, two of Symantec's flagship enterprise security products. Microsoft released Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to Windows Update on Tuesday. However, in the Vista team blog, Vista...

According to Microsoft's timeline, XP is on its way to becoming an ex-operating system. The approaching death of Windows XP may upset you, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. Microsoft Corp.'s product life-cycle guidelines have foretold the fate of XP since 2001. In fact, Microsoft has been killing off one version of a product as it is replaced with another for years now. But this time around, the approaching demise of XP is getting more attention than, say, the final passing of Windows 2000. Why? For a couple of reasons: XP is the most widely used operating system on...

"They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know. By RANDALL STROSS ONE year after the birth of Windows Vista, why do so many Windows XP users still decline to “upgrade”? Microsoft says high prices have been the deterrent. Last month, the company trimmed prices on retail packages of Vista, trying to entice consumers to overcome their reluctance. In the United States, an XP user can now buy Vista Home Premium for $129.95, instead of $159.95. An alternative theory, however, is that Vista’s reputation precedes it. XP users have heard too many chilling stories from relatives and friends about Vista upgrades that...

Just spent my weekend dealing with new computers for the kids that have Vista installed. I found this short video that I think that all of you who have experienced Vista will appreciate. http://blip.tv/file/340692/

Goodbye, Windows XP. Microsoft, which released its latest operating system, Vista, last year, plans to stop selling Windows XP in stores and through its PC partners on June 30.

Keep Windows XP until 2009, analysts tell Microsoft Galen Gruman 2 hours, 48 minutes ago Microsoft should keep Windows XP available until at least 2009, not end the majority of sales on June 30 as currently planned, said analysts at Gartner and The Burton Group. ???A good rule of thumb in any OS transition is that you have to have the original and new products available for at least two years to handle customer [migration] needs,??? said Richard Jones, a Burton Group vice president and service director. But Microsoft gave customers just 11 months in its original plan, in which...

Microsoft released Windows Vista to the world one year ago with ads likening the new PC operating system to such awe-inspiring moments as the first American spaceflight and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Charles Walling just wants it to work with his printer. The retired Seattle warehouseman has spent hours on the Dell tech support line, installed all the drivers and, yes, double-checked all the cords and plugs. No luck. The cause of the problem isn't clear, but Walling knows one thing: The same printer worked with Windows Vista's predecessor, Windows XP. "You can see the frustration," Walling said...

My Windows xp crashed, again. It continually reboots even in safe mode.The blue screen of death flashes only for a split second so i cannot read the error code. Tried Recovery, it accepted the FIXBOOT command and rejected both \i386\NTLDR C: and \i386\NTDETECT.COM C: I`m certain a virus damaged the boot sector. What options do I have now so repair and save the xp?

Windows Vista, One Bad Year Later A year since the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft is cringing at the poor sales of the new operating system. It was initially touted as a landmark new development to reinvigorate the IT industry, prompting expectations of wide-ranging “Vista effects.” Instead, Apple’s new operating system, which now also works on PCs, is stealing the thunder. Microsoft has hurriedly responded by developing a new version of the old XP. ◆ Windows Vista flops According to market researcher Net Applications, Apple is enjoying the largest-ever share in the global operating system market with Leopard, the...

As is my wont, I'm going to do another of my periodic updates on the usage of Firefox by PCWorld.com visitors, as shown in our Web analytics numbers. And since 2007 is practically over, I'll expand my report to look at some other notable numbers, too. First, let's look at browsers... 2007 has seen the first full year of competition between Internet Explorer 7--Microsoft's first sorta-modern browser--and the upstart known as Firefox. IE7 has steadily grown in usage over the year, going from around 24 percent usage to 37 percent today. But despite some predictions that it would strike a...

It’s official, manufacturers are starting to dump Windows XP support entirely and some new models won’t even have Windows XP drivers or any kind of support available, anywhere. One reader, “Mark” contacted us regarding installing Windows XP on his HP V6610 (AU) laptop which is the V6620 in the US. “Mark” said when he went to the HP driver/downloads section that very few Windows XP drivers were available for it and he was right, there were almost no useful drivers for the laptop there. His call to HP support didn’t get very far as “HP is no longer supporting Windows...

Anybody know? Walmart? Circuit City? Ain't got the patience for Vista.

There were apparently some problems with at least one of the updates released last week as part of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday update for the month of December. The problem shows up with IE 6 and IE 7 and affects both XP and Vista. The issue surfaces slightly more than half the time upon firing up Internet Explorer. A dialog pops up with the message that "Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and must close." It is still possible to use Internet Explorer, though it normally takes restarting Internet Explorer a few times before it opens successfully. Customized homepages appear to...

I have finally decided to take the plunge. Last night I upgraded my Vista desktop machine to Windows XP, and this afternoon I will be doing the same to my laptop. Look & Feel Windows XP has quite a cartoony look and feel compared to the slick look of Aero Glass, this is mostly offset by the lack of strange screen artifacts caused by malfunctioning graphics code. You know, almost like static on the screen. This was a once or twice monthly occurance on my laptop, and happened on my desktop whenever I logged in, and also whenever I played...

This may be a crazy question but is it possible to dual boot windows XP and Mac Leopard OS?I have an empty partition on my AMD PC which I built and would like to try Leopard if this is possible.

The software maker wants OLPC to redesign its XO low-cost PC for children in developing nations. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has asked the designers of a low-cost Linux laptop intended for children in developing nations to redesign the system so it can accommodate its Windows XP operating system. In a move sure to provoke controversy, Microsoft wants the designers of the XO laptop, available through a non-profit initiative called One Laptop Per Child, to add a port through which the storage capacity required by Windows XP can be added to the system. The XO currently runs on a Red Hat Linux...

SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is pulling back from a system that disables programs on users' computers if it suspects the software is pirated, opting instead for a gentler approach based on nagging alerts. Microsoft said late Monday it will roll out the new version of Windows Genuine Advantage with the first "service pack" for Windows Vista, due in the first quarter of 2008. When computer users activate a copy of Windows Vista or try to download certain software from Microsoft's Web site, the Windows Genuine Advantage system scans their PCs for signs of pirated software. Today, if the...

Hackers have newer methods to hack into your systems. They are smart enough to detect security loop holes in your PC and enter through open ports,unencrypted Wi-Fi connections,malicious websites or internet servers. It is better you check your PC periodically for invasions and protect your system to prevent pilfering and damage of data. Detecting security loopholes. Eliminating malicious programs. Tracking hackers .

Windows XP trounced Windows Vista in all tests, regardless of the versions used or the amount of memory running on the computer, says Devil Mountain Software.In the latest Mac versus PC ad, that put-upon Windows guy quietly concedes he's "downgrading" from Vista to XP. He may have good reason: new tests show that the older XP runs common productivity tasks significantly faster than Microsoft's newest operating system. Researchers at Devil Mountain Software, a Florida-based developer of performance management tools, have posted data from their most recent Windows performance tests -- and Vista, even after it's been upgraded to the new...

Apple forgot to turn on Vista security feature, claims researcherSecurity researchers warn that attack code targeting an unpatched bug in Apple Inc.'s QuickTime has gone public, and added that in-the-wild attacks against systems running Windows XP and Vista are probably not far behind. There was no word as of Sunday whether the Mac OS X versions of the media player are also vulnerable. The critical bug in QuickTime 7.2 and 7.3 (and perhaps earlier editions as well) is in the player's handling of the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), a audio/video streaming standard. According to alerts posted by Symantec Corp....

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), the update scheduled to release next year, runs Microsoft Corp.'s Office suite 10% faster than XP SP2, a performance testing software developer reported Friday. Devil Mountain Software, which earlier in the week claimed Windows Vista SP1 was no faster than the original, repeated some of the same tests on the release candidate of Windows XP SP3, the service pack recently issued to about 15,000 testers. "We were pleasantly surprised to discover that Windows XP SP3 delivers a measurable performance boost to this aging desktop OS," said Craig Barth, Devil Mountain's chief technology officer, in...

I sell computerized equipment to manufacturers. My customer is claiming tat XP is going to be obsolete in a few months. Will I still be able to provide my equipment wth XP for at least the next year or so? Please help. FR tech support is much appreciated.

Like many folks, I leave my PC (running XP Home) on at all times (I reboot maybe once or twice a week). When I got home last night, I noticed that the LAN icon in the lower-right of the screen said "A network cable is unplugged." I checked all the physical connections and everything looked fine. When I went into Network Connections, instead of just seeing dial-up and LAN options, there was a third connection I hadn't seen before, called VPN or Virtual Private Network. The status said "connecting" not "connected." I tried to delete it for maybe 5-10 minutes...

I need help switching my vista back to XP on my laptop. No network is invloved, this is my personal pc. Vista will not work with several of my programs for outside applications(I have checked for Vista compatibility and it will be a long while). I have an XP Pro CD. Help me please. Thanks in advance.

A silent update that Microsoft deployed widely in July and August is preventing the "repair" feature of Windows XP from completing successfully. Ever since the Redmond company's recent download of new support files for Windows Update, users of XP's repair function have been unable to install the latest 80 patches from Microsoft. Repaired installations of XP can't be updated Accounts of conflicts with XP's repair option came to our attention after Microsoft's "silent install" of Windows Update (WU) executable files, known as version 7.0.600.381, was reported in the Sept. 13 and 20 issues of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. The trouble...

My 1 gigahertz, 512 Ram Toshiba Satellite notebook was finally bogging down on me after several years of excellent service. It was time for a laptop with more oomph. I compared prices and reviews of all the state of the art computers and decided that I would stick with Toshiba and buy a Core Duo with lots of ram, big hard drive, blazing speed, etc. Windows Vista had been out for six months, and I really had not been aware of some of its idiosyncrasies. Within an hour of powering up the new Tecra, I knew I was going to...

Now more than half a year into the launch of Windows Vista, it's beginning to look as though Microsoft may have a rebellion on its hands, at least in the corporate world. While Windows Vista continues to sell like hotcakes via OEMs to consumers, businesses are calling up those same OEMs and asking how they can get Windows XP instead. In fact, according to the Microsoft UK Partner Team Blog, the #1 licensing question asked about Windows Vista is: What downgrade rights does Windows Vista Business have? According to the blog, "We have received this question countless times." The #2...

Steve Jobs at Apple Worldwide Developers Conferences announces - 11:10 am - Safari 3 on leopard...now runs on xp/vista Live transcript: http://www.macrumorslive.com/

Online criminals are using Windows registration pages as new way to fool consumers into divugling confidential information, researchers with Symantec have noticed. The security firm said that it has spotted a new trojan that steals credit card information by posing as an anti-piracy control for Windows XP. The phishing trojan mimicks the behavior of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) anti-piracy software, which tracks down pirated copies of the operating system. On startup, the trojan produces a window informing the user that their copy of Windows has been activated by another user. In order to "re-activate" Windows, the software asks the...

Earlier this month, Dell had reinstituted Windows XP as an option on small business computers, citing the need for more time to transition to Windows Vista. Now, following overwhelming demand expressed through Dell's IdeaStorm Web site, Dell is bringing back Windows XP for several consumer desktop and notebook PCs.

Dell today revealed that it will restore the option to use Windows XP on some of its home systems, marking a potentially damaging blow to Microsoft's hopes for the newer Windows Vista. The Dimension E520 and E521 as well as virtually all of the company's Inspiron notebooks can immediately be custom-ordered with XP in Home or Professional editions, giving cautious buyers the opportunity to use the earlier OS. The change in policy was the result of user feedback, Dell claims. While a popular request through the company's IdeaStorm website, the choice was substantially outnumbered by requests for pre-installed Linux, US-based...

Computer makers have been told they'll no longer be able to get Windows XP OEM by the end of this year, despite consumer resistance to Vista and its compatibility problems.By early 2008, Microsoft's contracts with computer makers will require companies to only sell Vista-loaded machines. "The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January," said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. "At that point, they'll have no choice." Despite Microsoft's relentless promotion of Vista, manufacturers are still seeing plenty of demand from customers for systems preloaded with XP, especially in the finicky SOHO market. In a recent post...

If you were looking for any glimpse into the mind of Microsoft, this is it: The company has completely abandoned Windows XP, and it has absolutely no plans to ever ship an XP SP3. My guess is that Microsoft will do what it did with the final Windows 2000 Service Pack: Claim years later that it's no longer needed and just ship a final security patch roll-up. This is the worst kiss-off to any Microsoft product I've ever seen, and you'd think the company would show a little more respect to its best-selling OS of all time. But the reality...