TweakHound

Computer stuff...

Windows XP

SIW 2008-04-02 is available

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SIW – System Information for Windows is a free tool that gives you detailed system specs.

4/1/2008
* Added “Security” module.
* Added WinPE 2.1 Support.
* Added U3 Support.
* Enhanced “Updates” module. It shows “Installed Updated” and “Missing Updates”. The “Missing Updates” module will connect to windowsupdate.microsoft.com
* Enhanced “Ports” module.
* Added detection of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007. Thanks to Jan Romanowski.
* Fixed “/silent” option.
* Support for new hardware and software.
* Support for the latest Intel and AMD CPUs.
* Updated device database.
* Minor improvements.
* Bugfixes.

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Windows XP Service Pack 3 Overview

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Windows XP Service Pack 3 Overview
Quick Details
Version: 1
Date Published: 4/1/2008
Language: English
Download Size: 428 KB – 1.0 MB*
Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.

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eWEEK Survey: Vista? Gimme XP

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Interesting survey results by eWeek Microsoft Watch. Some selected quotes:

…The XP ecosystem is developed and holds back Vista adoption, with some businesses actually going back to XP from its successor. Many respondents wrote in the survey that their main reason for adopting Vista would be Microsoft’s ending XP support…
…Thirty-seven percent of all businesses—48 percent for those with 10-999 employees—do not plan to “implement” Windows Vista within two years. Thirty-four percent—40 percent for businesses with 1,000 or more employees—are unsure…
…Mac OS X is doing surprising well as primary operating system among businesses between 10 and 99 employees—15 percent!…
…The main driver for Vista adoption isn’t some newfangled feature but that the operating system comes preinstalled on the hardware (34 percent of respondents)…

Vista SP1 vs. XP SP2 – Benchmarked

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ZDnet takes a crack at XP v. Vista. Part 1 & Part 2

So, onto conclusions. Looking at the data there’s only one conclusion that can be drawn – Windows XP SP2 is faster than Windows Vista SP1. End of story. Out of the fifteen tests carried out, XP SP2 beat Vista SP1 in eleven, Vista SP1 beat XP SP2 in two of the tests, and two of the tests resulted in a draw.

But, you didn’t really need yet more proof that XP is faster than Vista, did you???
Also there are alleged performance gains for XP SP3 coming.

Time To Run Windows Update

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Lots of updates available for XP, 2K3, Vista, Office, IE6, IE7, etc…
Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for February 2008

***For those who have installed SP1:
As far as I can tell the 9 updates that actually apply to Vista itself are already included in SP1 (by comparing the dates on the files, and 1 update is actually listed inside SP1).
(No, I am not 100% positive and the SP1 release notes haven’t been updated)
These are:
Windows6.0-KB937287-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB938371-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB942831-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB943055-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB943899-v2-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB946026-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB946041-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB946456-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB947172-x86.msu

AutoRuns for Windows v9.01

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This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.

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