Microsoft

If you like Mac vs. PC commercials, now you have all of them on one site. Enjoy!

As we know main sync software on Mac OS X is ITunes. And you’re probably aware of the fact that smartphones based on Windows Mobile (like my Samsung) are not compatible with this sync method. Have no fear! There is great app called SyncMate which will solve all your problems (at least related to syncing). In basic (free) version it syncs calendar and contacts which is really enough for me, but if you’re willing to pay for expert edition you can sync literally everything. Just tested and it’s really working! Love it!

Microsoft developed tool which would help government agencies to retrieve data from computers of suspects. However the idea is good, I can’t stop thinking that it would be greatly abused:( More about Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE) here. I believe more than to pursue really bad criminals it would be used to fight computer piracy.

For about a month I was receiving notification that there is service pack 2 available for my Office 2007 package via Windows Update. So I’ve chosen to install it, but it always returned error when installing. Today I’ve decided that it’s about time to update my Office, so I’ve navigated to MS site and downloaded update manually. Started installation and boom, error again! But then something came to my mind, “wait a minute, I have English version of Vista, but Polish version of Office!”. Of course, it was so simple. I’ve downloaded Polish version of service pack 2 and installation went smoothly. Yeah! But why Windows Update cannot recognize that I’m using Polish version. Is it making decisions only basing on version of OS? Apparently yes, but it’s stupid. Hopefully it would be fixed in Windows 7.

There is a little thunder on the net about add-on for Firefox called Microsoft .Net Framework Assistant 1.0 which was installed automatically via Windows Update. There are voices against as well as the ones which try to defend it. Some people even think that it’s some danger, like malware and stuff. Well, it isn’t. This new add-on will just let Firefox users install software using ClickOnce service, which basically lets you install apps directly from browser and provides you with more security as software is not interfering your operating system. Well this functionality is nice, but I’m still against this practice. Firefox is not MS application and shouldn’t be affected by their updates. If somebody would need ClickOnce he would install it. And very uncool from MS side was that they’ve not informed users about this installation, by at least some message window.

Microsoft announced that his new baby (Windows 7) would be available for public on October 22nd this year. It’s pretty soon. Hopefully there would be not so many issues like with Vista (which was also released pretty quick). As person who was involved in Windows 7 localization process I must say that indeed there was a rush, sometimes too much. But as I saw latest build (newer than RC), system looks fine. To be honest I’m happy that it would be released so fast, because I see a potential in this OS. It has many functions which are suitable for me, but I’m not used to use not finished OS as my working system, that’s why I can’t enjoy it fully now. We will see. And hopefully it would be affordable, but according to rumors on the net my hope is hopeless:P

I’ve recently switched from hosted Exchange account to GMail and had about 100 of contacts in my Outlook data file. Too much to enter manually, but luckily GMail is offering import function using CSV files. Yuppi I’ve said. But it was too soon to celebrate victory. It came out that my Import/Export option in Outlook File menu is grayed (disabled). Have no fear Google is here, I’ve said and started searching. Unfortunately without results. I was mad and still don’t want to enter everything manually, so I’ve left it as is (only few most important contacts on my GMail account).

Because of many reasons I’m using VPN connection when surfing the Web. It’s very good feature for me that I can setup IE7 to be able to connect to my VPN provider before connecting to any web server. But it’s not working good in Internet Explorer 8. When I’ve changed settings to dial default connection and trying to navigate to some page usual dialog about making such connection appears, but:

This is what MS has presented as their vision of 2019. I must say that it’s impressive. I like the idea of everything being wireless. Well, let’s wait and see. What I know now it’s that I definitively want such cool tablet.

As I’ve had problems with setting this up I thought that it would be nice to share a resolution. So, to enable Hyper-V support on Dell Optitplex go to BIOS and set everything as described below:

• Security > Execute Disable (set to On)
• Performance > Virtualization (set to On)
• Performance > VT for Direct I/O Access (set to On)
• Performance > Trusted Execution (set to Off)

Save your changes. Turn the computer off and unplug the power cord for few seconds. I know it sounds stupid, but sometimes just to power off simply doesn’t work.