HelpWithWindows Newsletter

01. Microsoft Announces first Vista Ultimate Extra's at CES 2007

by Arie Slob

Hello Windows users, When Microsoft first announced the Windows Vista product versions, Windows Vista Ultimate was not only touted as the "has all" version of Vista, but Microsoft also made it clear that it would keep delivering new software to Vista Ultimate under the banner of "Ultimate Extra's".

Until just a few days ago, no details had been released of what was going to be included as 'Extra's' for Vista Ultimate.

But last Sunday during Bill Gate's opening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show 2007 in Las Vegas, Microsoft showed the first Ultimate Extra's it has planned for release on January 30th when Vista Ultimate will be publicly available.

Justin Hutchinson, Microsoft group product manager showed off Windows DreamScene [video - 33 sec] which will enable you to select a video for your desktop background the same way you select a stationary picture. You can choose one of the looping videos that are included by Microsoft, or use a video from a company that produces content for DreamScene. But you can of course use your own video as a background [more info].

Earlier that weekend, Microsoft had shown off some of the other Ultimate Extra's it intends to make available, to invited guests (bloggers, Windows Community Members and Microsoft MVP's) at a Windows Vista Lab held in Las Vegas (which I attended). These included a poker game called Hold 'Em, and BitLocker Secure Online Key Backup which will let Vista Ultimate users safely store a backup copy of their BitLocker recovery password and Encrypting File System (EFS) recovery certificates in their digital locker on the Microsoft Windows Marketplace website.

Justin Hutchinson also showed off another Ultimate Extra at CES called GroupShot [video - 68 sec], but Microsoft made it clear in the Vista Lab that this Ultimate is still in development, and that no date has been set for its release, nor that the product shown off by Justin Hutchinson represented the final product.

02. Microsoft Security

Microsoft Windows Security Bulletin Summary for January, 2007

The security update for January 2007 includes one fix for Internet Explorer.

Severity Rating: Critical

Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language Could Allow Remote Code Execution (929969)

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04. Recent Support BBS Postings

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05. 2007 time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems

Starting in the spring of 2007, daylight saving time (DST) start and end dates for the United States will transition to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. DST dates in the United States will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November).

Get 2007 time zone updates

06. Try the new Office free for 60 days

Check out the 2007 Microsoft Office system free for 60 days. Check out the enhanced and intuitive interface that will help you get more out of the office programs.

Get the Trial

07. Latest Microsoft & Windows News from around the Internet

Latest Microsoft & Windows News from around the Internet

08. Windows XP: Prevent Writing to USB Storage Devices

Many system administrators have had some sleepless nights over this: it is too easy for users to connect a device (USB-key or MP3 player) to the USB port of a computer, and copy things off the system. This is an obvious security risk. This has been addressed in Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.

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