HelpWithWindows Newsletter

01. Microsoft to Unveil Windows Vista Beta 2 at WinHEC

by Arie Slob

Hello Windows users,

According to sources, Microsoft plans to release Windows Vista Beta 2 & Office 2007 to attendees of the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2006, which will be held from May 23-25 in Seattle.

Microsoft plans to deliver Beta 2 of Windows Vista to millions of people. You can register on the Microsoft Beta Experience Web site.

Should you get this beta? When you depend on your computer to get work done, I'd say it is not a good idea to upgrade your operating system to a beta version. If you have the option of adding a 2nd hard drive to your system (or using a separate partition on an existing hard drive), it may be reasonably safe to install and test this beta.

What hardware would you need to run this beta? Any 'modern' CPU (released in the last 3-4 years) would probably work fine. According to Microsoft the minimum memory requirement is 512MB. For the best experience, the graphics processor is a very important component. You'll need a reasonably recent graphics processor, which supports DirectX 9.0, Windows Driver Display Model (WDDM) and Pixel Shader 2.0. You can find a list with current CPU & GPU supported hardware on the Microsoft TechNet Web site. In general, you'll need a minimum of 64MB graphics memory. If you are not sure, check the Web site of the manufacturer of your graphics card to check if they have drivers/support for Windows Vista. Quite a few are already offering Windows Vista (beta) drivers.

We'll have a Windows Vista forum on the WindowsBBS.com support forum open by the time the beta will be publicly available.

02. 03. Microsoft Security

Microsoft Windows Security Bulletin Summary for May, 2006

The security update for May 2006 includes two fixes for Microsoft Windows.

Severity Rating: Critical

Vulnerabilities in Macromedia Flash Player from Adobe Could Allow Remote Code Execution (913433)

Severity Rating: Moderate

Vulnerability in Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator Could Allow Denial of Service (913580)

04. Recent Support BBS Postings

Locked out of a folder on old drive - Windows XP
IE 7 beta removal - Internet Explorer
DVD Region Code Error - General Discussions
Firefox 1.5.0.3 Released! - Netscape and Mozilla

05. Recommended Web sites

Each month we will feature a few Web sites here, ones which sent us the most visitors to our Web site in the previous month. We would encourage you to visit these popular Web sites yourself!

Here are some sites in the Top 15 for April 2006:

InformationWeek - News and information resource for information technology professionals and business managers.
Kellys Korner - Troubleshooting Windows XP pages by MVP Kelly Theriot.
Digital World Forums - PC, G.S.M Cellular Phones, Terrestrial TV (antenna), Satellite, Consoles And Games Forums.

The Top 15 sites are listed on our Web site.

06. Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP

The Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP Version 1.1 update is now available. The new version still offers the same powerful software tools for shared computers in classrooms, school computer labs, libraries, and other public places as the previous version, and also includes software updates that resolve a few known issues.

More information can be found on the Shared Computer Toolkit Home Page.

Download [449 KB - ENG] Upgrade from V1

Download [2.3 MB - ENG] full version

07. Recommend This Newsletter!

Do you enjoy reading this Newsletter? Why not tell your friend(s) about it?

Recommend this Newsletter!

08. Registry Diagnostic Tool for Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2

This download verifies that the current user has the permissions required to install IE7 Beta 2.

This tool requires at least .NET Framework 1.1.

Download [193 KB - ENG]

09. Latest Microsoft & Windows News from around the Internet

Latest Microsoft & Windows News from around the Internet

10. Windows XP Tip: Can only Save Images in Internet Explorer as .BMP Files

When you try to save a graphics file in Internet Explorer, you may be able to save the file only as a .bmp file even if the file is in another format (such as .gif or .jpeg). The file name may also appear as Untitled.

Read Full Article

11. Internet Explorer Add-On Site

To extend your browsing experience, Microsoft introduced the new Add-Ons for Internet Explorer site, which offers hundreds of free add-ons.