Tag Archives: Microsoft

It’s time to update Messenger to Skype!

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When Microsoft purchased Skype it was pretty obvious that Messenger was probably going to either be merged, or disapear. This ancouncment from Microsoft spells then end of messenger.

Hello,

We are retiring the existing Messenger service globally (except for mainland China where Messenger will continue to be available) and bringing the great features of Messenger and Skype together. Update to Skype and sign in using a Microsoft Account (same as your Messenger ID) and all your Messenger contacts will be at your fingertips. You’ll be able to instant message and video chat with them just like before, and also discover new ways of staying in touch with Skype on your mobile and tablet.

Update Now
Yours sincerely,
The Messenger Team

Support for Windows 2000 Ends

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Today is the day that support for Windows 2000 ends, this means that basically no more patches if your still using it, also Microsoft probably don’t give a hoot about you as you haven’t bothered to replace your OS in 10 year. Of course there aren’t many people still using Windows 2000 so this probably wont mean much at all.

If you want to know more see the Microsoft Support Life-cycle Policy FAQ.

How to Reinitialize Windows Offline Files Cache

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Ever had problems with Windows Offline files, e.g. you had some offline files pointing to a server that no longer exists, or it’s just being difficult. The best thing you can do is reset and clear it’s settings.

  1. To do this disable Offline Files in Windows File Explorer
  2. The open regedit
  3. Go tot he Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache
  4. Create a DWORD called FormatDatabase
  5. Set it’s value to 1

How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database

How to Block Wallpaper Changing via Group Policy

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So one of the things that pisses you off if your an admin is people changing the desktop image on computers even though you have set all the options to stop it. Well it turns out that even if you disable access to the settings you can still use a browser to change the image.

The best solution for this is to go into a group policy “User Config\Administrative Templates\Desktop\Active Desktop\Active Desktop Wallpaper” and set it to a non-valid image file. (Something none existent another words)

This should be all that needs to be done, even if the user changes the image next time they logon it’s goon again.

Removing Windows Wallpaper on 2000 and XP machines?

Windows 7 Release Candidate Avalible

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It’s been much easier to get my hands on the Windows 7 Release Candidate, so here are some of the details for those interested in how Windows Vista should have been.

If you are interested in downloading a copy to play with and for application testing then head on over to the Microsoft site. This time it will be available until July so there is plenty of time, there is also no limit on the number of product keys either. The Windows 7 RC expires on the 1st June, 2010.

File information for Windows 7 Release Candidate 32bit:

Size : 2.35GB (2530975744 bytes)
File Name : 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso
MD5 : 8867C133 30F56A93 944BCD46 DCD73590
SHA-1 : 7D1F486C A569EFFF FB719CFB 48355BB7 BF499712
SHA-256 : 9EC4332C 38A61755 94BC08F5 CBF9AEBA C2AB310E 61BB2969 07614AC5 8BE498FC
SHA-512 : 034B624D 59FBF820 989295CB BF6263A2 23E997D2 28C71B80 5414923B 5C0C9D79 0D38E2E0 B869F0C4 41EAF697 A6219312 ED540365 5C968A11 01C4DCA1 2222F430
Size-64 : 00000000 96DBA000
ED2K : 4F05183FB96440457ED07EE4D2249DDA
Download : Download – Microsoft.com

File information for Windows 7 Release Candidate 64bit:

Size : 3.04GB (3270828032 bytes)
File Name : 7100.0.090421-1700_x64fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culxfrer_en_dvd.iso
MD5 : 98341AF3 56551379 66E382C4 FEAA282D
SHA-1 : FC867FE1 AB2E0A97 96F9E4D1 55B44EA6 998F4874
SHA-256 : 1D54A73C 562B3984 F07B7AD3 DB99E250 44602EDB 668536B3 1F4A4E5B 7F6DFBCC
SHA-512 : E6699BA2 56697389 A47137EE C3952190 6E9E998D C00D9A68 DC25A34A BB6615D9 0441FAA0 6F566DC1 1A7C75C2 6A25F20C 10E56261 EA06F052 2C072CF3 3912D83E
Size-64 : 00000000 C2F4E000
ED2K 3AD10D2A90D9D527E171EE16738BA2EE
Download : Download – Microsoft.com

Outlook 2003 Desktop Icon

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When installing Outlook 2003 some people like to have the old Outlook icon on the desktop. Here is how to get the same icon (not a shortcut) on the desktop:

  1. Open the Registry Editor. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
  2. Click Edit | Add Key and add the following key: {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

Windows 7 Beta (Day 2)

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Well after a nights sleep I’ve now got my hands on a Windows 7 Beta Product Key. (So after all I didn’t miss out)

Now come the fun part, since I have a product key now, I can actually download the software as it’s worth my time and bandwidth to do so now. So now again we play the waiting game for the files to download.

Update 1

To get a serial number you will need to go to the Microsoft site.

Here is the file information for Windows 7 Beta 32bit:

Size : 2.44GB
File Name : 7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULFRE_EN_DVD.iso
MD5 : F9DCE6EB D0A63930 B44D8AE8 02B63825
SHA-1 : 60711842 82B2156F F61CDC52 60545C07 8CCA31EE
SHA-256 : F9C3D02C 2E2A1C8B 22E0A77E 0374E36B 7738640E 2334EAEE FAE11F61 5B5B85C0
SHA-512 : B0073216 6FB5DEEE CA315DBF 7F104757 A566D51E 8E70536F E73AE533 3937D07D 56BC57DF B552B385 2363B881 8F0A02E1 818AB033 24120984 B99E834E 23F28AC1
Size-64 : 00000000 9C17A000
ED2K : 536FE89EAC9B27B5061E81F36485C7EF
Direct Download : Download – Microsoft.com

Here is the file information for Windows 7 Beta 64bit:

Size : 3.15GB
File Name : 7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULXFRE_EN_DVD.iso
MD5 : 773FC9CC 60338C61 2AF716A2 A14F177D
SHA-1 : E09FDBC1 CB3A92CF 6CC87204 0FDAF655 53AB62A5
SHA-256 : 4BE7AE27 4E2B3418 4DDEE8D9 5814BA09 908D200D 96DF05D1 E8908C1A 568332A7
SHA-512 : 8C08BBD4 FE196E2A 11E17DE4 2A2DC8B8 5575D34B 961C3854 A6C06E04 E56BFFB0 FA5A988B 953C2950 88668677 83413AE4 A67BFC37 81D6016B 0EBFC2D0 4CAE6C48
Size-64 : 00000000 C9E1A800
ED2K : F9BDCD5339819024C01B498677ED8545
Direct Download : Download – Microsoft.com