Cool Price Monitoring Site - Poppik

Just got a invitation code from a friend for Poppik.com. This web site helps you monitor product prices, simply enter a product detail url, select a few options then provide your email address. It'll then email you when the price changes. Pretty cool huh?

The invitation code is g7b5HqNhYU8yK08X.

How to backup your outlook accounts

To backup your outlook account settings, fire up regedit.exe (start > run > type in regedit).

Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles

Under profile, you should see your Outlook profile name, from there, just right click and export.

This should work on Windows Vista, XP with Office 2003 and 2008.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RTM

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 Server 2008 was also released to manufacturing today and will be available for purchase to new customers on March 1. Microsoft Volume Licensing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance coverage or an Enterprise Agreement will be able to download the server software toward the end of February as part of the joint Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 “Heroes Happen Here” launch event.

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.


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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 coming next week

Microsoft has scheduled Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for release to manufacturer (RTM) on Monday, February 4, 2008. That's just 3 days away! The OEMs will also receive Windows Vista Service Pack 1 during that week.
Microsoft will be deploying Service Pack 1 in two "waves". Wave 0, which is the one released on February 4, will only include five languages - English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. The second wave, Wave 1, is scheduled for release 1-2 weeks later, and will cover all 36 basic languages, including Chinese.

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Report: Microsoft To Release Vista SP1 On Monday

Windows Vista SP1 Final Next Week Ve3d.com
Reports: Vista SP1 gold bits on track for next week ZDNet Blogs
Microsoft says Vista adoption is about 2% in enterprise Computer Business Review

First Windows Vista Upgrade Available to Public

Reversing its initial decision to keep the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 release candidate restricted to private testers, Microsoft has made the near-complete upgrade available for download to the general public.

Although still not a final version of Vista SP1, the latest release is said to be on track with the estimated first quarter release date for the first service pack update for Windows Vista.

This is the first significant enhancement to Microsoft's latest desktop operating system, which was released in January of 2007, meaning that Vista's early adopters have had to wait almost a year for a refresh. Those holding on for the final release of SP1 will have to wait even longer. ZDNet Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley says that her sources put the final release date sometime in February.

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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh Public Availability Program

Install Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate through Windows Update
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh is available to Beta testers through Windows Update. Experience the WU installation path for Windows Vista SP1 by following these simple steps and give us your feedback to improve our quality.

Before You Install
You must uninstall any previous versions of Windows Vista SP1 before installing Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh
To uninstall previous version of Windows Vista SP

1. Open the Programs and Features control panel and select View installed updates. In the Microsoft Windows section, right-click Service Pack for Windows (936330) and select Uninstall.
2. Your system will now uninstall the previous version of Windows Vista SP1 Beta and may reboot multiple times.
3. Please wait one hour after uninstalling a previous version of Windows Vista SP1 before installing Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh. The installer service needs to clean up and complete the uninstall prior to installing the RC. Failing to do this can result in installation errors when installing the RC version.

• Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh is pre-release software and will change before the final release. Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh is for individuals, organizations, and technical enthusiasts who are comfortable evaluating pre-release software and is provided for testing purposes only. Microsoft does not recommend installing this software on primary or mission critical systems. Microsoft recommends that you have a backup of your data prior to installing any pre-release software.
• Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh is time-limited software.
  Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh will no longer operate after June 30, 2008 and should be uninstalled prior to that date. After installation your desktop will show the text “Evaluation Copy”. This does not mean that your system is no longer genuine but that you have installed a test version of software which is time-limited. The “Evaluation Copy” text will appear on your desktop after the second reboot after installing the service pack. Likewise, the “Evaluation Copy” text will remain on your desktop during the first reboot after uninstall the service pack, but will disappear after the next reboot.
• If you install Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh it is strongly recommended that you install the final version of Windows Vista SP1 when it is released. To do this, you will be required to uninstall this RC version of Windows Vista SP1.
• Assisted support (phone, email and online chat) is not available from Microsoft Help and Support for this RC release of Windows Vista SP1. Self-help and peer support is available through the Windows Vista SP1 forum.
• You must have a genuine copy of Windows Vista installed prior to installing Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh.

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Microsoft releases another Vista SP1 refresh to 15,000 testers

Microsoft made availble to testers on January 9 yet another refresh of Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 Release Candidate (RC) test build.

Microsoft’s statement:

“Today, Microsoft released the latest pre-release build of SP1 – ‘Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh’ — to approximately 15,000 beta testers. This group includes corporate customers, consumer enthusiasts, software and hardware vendors, and others. The code is not available for public download.

“We are still on schedule to deliver SP1 RTM in Q1 CY08. The final release date is based on quality, so we will continue to track customer and partner feedback from the beta program before setting a final date.”

Microsoft released a publicly available test build of Windows Vista SP1 in December 2007.
Word on the Microsoft street is the Vista team is aiming to deliver the final SP1 code at the same time as Windows Server 2008 becomes available, which is expected in February (and some time before the big Windows Server 2008/SQL Server 2008/Visual Studio 2008 launch on February 27, 2008).

Microsoft also pushed out this week several new Windows Vista reliability and performance updates via Windows Update, as well as an update to the BitLocker encryption component of Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate that will be a prerequisite for SP1.
How’s Vista SP1 looking, you 15,000 chosen testers?


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