The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks computers running Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Conflicker, Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom—and helps remove any infection found. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed.

Microsoft releases a new version of the tool on the second Tuesday of every month, and as needed to respond to security incidents. This is by no means meant to be your primary Anti-virus solution, but can be used as a supplement.

Normally this program will run once a month when Microsoft updates Windows on the second Tuesday fo the month, but you can run it whenever you want.

Here’s how.

1. Right click an empty space on your Desktop and choose.

2.Type MRT in the location field for Malicious Removal Tool. Click Next.

3. Name your your shortcut.

4.  Now just double click its icon to start the tool, and click Next

5.  Here’s your chance to choose a type of scan, I recommend the full scan but you can use your own judgement.

6. If you have any infections they will be listed below.

7. You can also click View detailed results of the scan and it will show what files it scanned for.

8. Then just click Finish to exit the program.

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Do you like the new Vista start menu and its ability to do instant search but aren’t ready to switch to Vista. Well I found a cool program called ViStart from Lee-Soft that gives you a Vista like start Menu with instant search.

ViStart is a perfect start menu replacement for Windows XP. ViStart will now index all personal files and program files and give *ACTUAL instant results* that’s 4 times faster then the real Vista start menu.

They also offer  ViOrb, a start button replacement for Windows XP. In the same way ViStart is a start menu replacement. It will give the start button a Vista look and feel.

From this.

To this.

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Just when you thought you finally started to get the upper hand on spam in your inbox the insidious spammers have come with a new twist. Calendar Spam, unwanted meeting requests that popup in your calendar. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, O-boy it will. Here’s what happens.

Calendar spam arrives like all other spam, as an unwanted e-mail. But the problem is it also shows up as a meeting request in your calendar. That means at the time specified in the spam message, time on your calendar will be blocked off, triggering an annoying reminder at the appointed hour.

Your spam filter may still catch it and move it to the junk mail folders. but ignoring calendar spam doesn’t make it go away. Because of the way Microsoft Outlook and Google calendars work, unanswered calendar spam will usually find its way into your calendar.

To stop Microsoft Outlook from automatically accepting meeting requests follow the steps below.

1. In Outlook click Tools > options.
2. Calendar options.
3. Resource scheduling.
4. Remove the check mark next to Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellations.
5. Click Ok 3 times and your set.

Outlook Express users don’t need to worry because Express doesn’t have a calendar.

To Fix Gmail

1. In Gmail’s calendar go Settings > General tab.
2. In the  “Automatically add invitations to my calendar”, Put a ? in No, only show invitations to which I have responded
3. Click save.

As much as my Yahoo mail account is a spam magnet I haven’t had that problem yet.
if anyone has drop me a comment and we’ll try and get it fixed.

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Microsoft’s Baseline Security Advisor is is free download from Microsoft that will scan your computer for vulnerabilities and identifying common security misconfigurations in your operating system and present you with a detailed report for what if anything it finds and how to fix it. It will also scan computers across your network.

Here are a few of the areas it checks.

• Incomplete Updates
• Administrators accounts
• Windows Firewall
• Local Account Password Test
• Automatic Updates
• File System
• Guest Accounts
• Restrict Anonymous access
• Autologon
• Password Expiration

It’s simple to setup and run. After installing just click Scan a computer.

The next screen lets you choose which computer to scan if you have more than 1 on a network and the options you want to include. Using the default is fine.

The scan will take a few minutes then you will be presented with the results. The Red, Orange, Blue and Green shields will give you an idea of the severity of any problems.

Click on the Blue test for more info and how to fix any issues it finds.

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Looks like there’s a bug in the ointment.

In the last few days, we have uncovered a compatibility issue between Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) and both Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). In order to make sure customers have the best possible experience, we have decided to delay releasing Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to the web.

To help protect customers, we plan to put filtering in place shortly to prevent Windows Update from offering both service packs to systems running Microsoft Dynamics RMS. Once filtering is in place, we expect to release Windows XP SP3 to the web.

We are also testing a fix, and will make it available once that process is complete. Once they have installed the fix, Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers should be able to run both service packs.

Until then, we advise Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers to not install either service pack. Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers running Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1 should contact Microsoft Customer Support Services for additional information.

It is still available as a download to TechNet subscribers though, and here’s a link I found on their update servers, So if you don’t want to wait for it to be pushed to you Get it here.

Home users should be ok to install it. Its only business running RMS systems that will have problems.

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From Microsoft:
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released to manufacturing today and will start being available to customers in March, starting with Microsoft Volume Licensing customers. Windows Vista SP1 includes quality improvements that help enhance reliability, security and performance. SP1 also includes changes focused on improving the performance of Windows Vista in areas that impact the customer experience the most.  For instance, with SP1, copying or moving files around your PC, your home network or your corporate network should now be much faster — up to 50% faster in some scenarios (according to our internal tests).  In addition, on many kinds of hardware, resuming a Windows Vista-based PC from sleep is faster on Service Pack 1.

Here’s the timing for SP1 availability for current Windows Vista users:

In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update (in English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese) and to the download center on microsoft.com.  Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1.  If Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1.  Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download center will allow anyone who wants to install SP1 to do so.

In mid-April, we will begin delivering Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista customers who have chosen to have updates downloaded automatically.  That said, any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically.  As updates for these drivers become available, they will be installed automatically by Windows Update, which will unblock these systems from getting Service Pack 1.  The result is that more and more systems will automatically get SP1, but only when we are confident they will have a good experience.
The remaining languages will RTM in April.

If you have problems and want to uninstall it just use the Add and Remove Programs utility from the Control panel. Happy computing.

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Pick it up for free here

There are files from all kinds of sources that we want to store and manage. Files are created by our digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store, manage, retrieve and view files. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to regularly get copies of files from another location to add to primary location; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping track of whether the locations are synchronized in their heads. Other users may use two or more applications to provide this functionality.

Now there is an easier way. SyncToy, a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows, is an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without additional complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another case. Unlike other applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.(from Microsoft)

The following features were added to this release of SyncToy:

Dynamic Drive Letter Assignment: Drive letter reassignment will now be detected and updated in the folder pair definition.

True Folder Sync: Folder creates, renames and deletes are now synchronized for all SyncToy actions.

Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.

Filtering Based on File Attributes: The ability to exclude files based on one or more file attributes (Read-Only, System, Hidden).

Unattended Folder Pair Execution: Addressed issues related to running scheduled folder pairs while logged off.

Folder Pairs With Shared Endpoints: Ability for folder pairs associated with the same or different instances of SyncToy to share end-points.

Command line enhancements: Added the ability to manage folder pairs via the command line interface.

The SyncToy engine has been rearchitected to provide scalability and the ability to add significant enhancements in future releases.

Sync engine is also more robust insomuch that many single, file level errors are skipped without affecting the entire sync operation.

Sync Encrypted Files: Sync of Encrypted files works when local folder and files are encrypted, which addresses the common scenario involving sync between local, encrypted laptop PC folder and remote, unencrypted desktop PC folder.

64-Bit compatibility

Folder pair rename

Sub-folder Exclusion Enhancements: Descendents creates under excluded sub-folders are automatically excluded.

Folder Pair Metadata Moved: Folder pair metadata removed from MyDocuments to resolve any issues with server-based folder pair re-direction setup.

Removed combine and subscribe actions.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Vista; Windows XP

Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0
1GHz Intel P3 processor or equivalent
256MB RAM, 512MB RAM recommended
20MB free disk space

(from Microsoft)

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How to track your error report

Depending on the source of the error, Windows XP might display the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis (MOCA) Web site after you submit an error report. In most cases, MOCA will show you a detailed description of the type of error that you experienced. Depending on the specific error, it might even suggest a way to prevent it from happening in the future. For example, if you experience an error while using Microsoft Office XP and choose to send the error report, MOCA will analyze it. If MOCA determines that the error was caused by a problem that was resolved with Office XP Service Pack 2, MOCA will provide a link to the Office Update Web site.

How it works

If you experience a blue screen crash event, or Stop error, while using Microsoft Windows XP, you can upload the error report to our site for analysis.

What to expect

Microsoft actively analyzes all error reports and prioritizes them based on the number of customers affected by the Stop error covered in the error report. We will try to determine the cause of the Stop error you submit, categorize it according to the type of issue encountered, and send you relevant information when such information is identified. You can check the status of your error report for 180 days after the date it was originally reported. However, because error reports do not always contain enough information to positively identify the source of the issue, we might need to collect a number of similar error reports from other customers before a pattern is discovered, or follow up with you further to gather additional information. Furthermore, some error reports might require additional resources (such as a hardware debugger or a live debugger session) before a solution can be found. Although we might not be able to provide a solution for your particular Stop error, all information submitted is used to further improve the quality and reliability of Windows.

Requirements

To view analysis information or to track your error report, you must be running Internet Explorer 5 or greater, Netscape version 6 or greater, Opera version 7 or greater or Mozilla version 1.3 or greater. To download the latest version of Internet Explorer, visit the Microsoft Web site. To get a Passport, visit the Microsoft Passport Web site.

The Microsoft Online Crash Analysis Web service requires that both JavaScript and cookies are enabled in your browser in order to retain and display your customer data while navigating through the site. JavaScript is used to create dynamic content on the Web pages. All cookies used by the MOCA service are memory cookies and expire when you navigate away from the MOCA site or close your browser. This information is used by our service to retain your preferences while using the site. No personal information is written to your hard drive or shared outside of our service.

Microsoft Passport or a Windows Live ID also requires JavaScript support and cookies. To find out more about the Microsoft Passport service and requirements, visit the Microsoft Passport Web site.

(From the MS website)

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The Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool analyzes information about your network connectivity to help you troubleshoot network-related problems with your computer.
To diagnose network connectivity status, the Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool analyzes the following tests:

1. IP configuration test.
2. Default gateway test.
3. Winsock test.
4. DNS test.
5. Firewall test.
6. Internet connectivity validation test.

How to obtain the Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
Network Diagnostic Tool (KB914440):

How to run the Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool
You can use the Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool to test network connectivity and to determine whether your network-related programs and services are working correctly. To start the tool, use one of the following methods:

1. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, click Diagnose Connection Problems on the Tools menu.
2. Click Start, click Run, type %windir%\network diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe, and then click OK.
3. Run Guided Help for Microsoft Knowledge Base article 326155. For more information about how to download Guided Help for Microsoft Knowledge Base article 326155, click the proceeding article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

(Source Microsoft.com)

Note: You have to use Internet Explorer to download the Templates.

If you enjoy football check out the Schedules section for The NCAA and NFL football schedules. Enjoy.