OS Tweaks

Fedora Core is an operating system and platform, based on Linux, that is always free for anyone to use, modify and distribute, now and forever. It is developed by a large community of people who strive to provide and maintain the very best in free, open source software and standards. Fedora Core is part of the Fedora Project, sponsored by Red Hat, Inc.

Now available for x86, x86_64 and PPC systems! It has been just over 9 months since Fedora Core 4 was released, and a lot of change and innovation has occurred in the Linux community in that time. A lot of those innovations have found their way into Fedora Core 5 (FC 5).

Fedora Core 5 features some new desktop applications. They include:

• Tomboy, a new ("simple and handy") note-taking tool
  
• F-Spot, which manages digital photographs
  
• Beagle desktop search, which resembles Apple's Sherlock or Google Desktop on PCs and helps users find something in a chat log, an email, or a web page they visited days ago

DOWNLOAD links: Available DVD & CD formats

All mirrors sites:

http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors.html

Some of them:

1. link1
2. link2
3. link3
4. link4
   

The Best Products of 2005 rated by PC WORLD .

All 100 Products.

A very impotant from the big list:

1. Mozilla Firefox web browser
2. Google Gmail Web Email
3. Apple Mac OS X Version 10.4 (Tiger) Operating System
4. Skype (Talk free to anywhere in the world)
5. Zone Labs ZoneAlarm Antivirus Antivirus and Firewall Software
6. Webroot Window Washer 5.5 utility
7. Google search Engine
8. Valve Half-Life 2 PC Game
9. Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 Media Player
10. Qnext Instant Messenger
11. Opera 8 Web Browser
12. Google Desktop Search Desktop Search Tool

** These are not actual raking but are a few among TOP100 tools.

1. Creating an Automated Install of WindowsXP

On the WindowsXP CP, in the SUPPORT\TOOLS directory,
there is a file called DEPLOY.CAB.

1. Extract the programs DEPLOY.CHM (help file) and SETUPMGR.EXE (main program)
2. Run SETUPMGR and answer the prompts.
3. This will create both a unattend.bat and unattend.txt file you can use for automated installs.
4. Note: The batch file might need some minor modification for file locations but it is fairly basic.

2. Creating a Shutdown/Reboot Icon

WindowsXP has a program called SHUTDOWN.EXE which allows you to easily create icons to shutdown or restart your computer.

To create a shutdown shortcut on the desktop:

1. Right click on an open area of the desktop
2. Select New / Shortcut
3. Enter in "shutdown -s -t 00" - no quotes
4. Press the Next button
5. For the name, enter in anything you like. I just use shutdown. Click on the Finish button.

For a reboot, enter "shutdown -r -t 00"

Shutdown [{-l-s-r-a}] [-f] [-m [\\ComputerName]] [-t xx] [-c "message"] [-d[u][p]:xx:yy]

3. Command Line Help Reference

To get a quick help for all the commands you can enter from WindowsXP,
simply create a shortcut:
hh.exe ms-its:C:\WINDOWS\Help\ntcmds.chm::/ntcmds.htm

4. Using the System File Checker

You can run the System File Checker to verify protected system files.

Command line switches are:

sfc [/scannow] [/scanonce] [/scanboot] [/revert] [/purgecache] [/cachesize=x]

• /scannow - Scans all protected system files immediately.
• /scanonce - Scans all protected system files once.
• /scanboot - Scans all protected system files every time the computer is restarted.
• /revert - Returns the scan to its default operation.
• /purgecache - Purges the Windows File Protection file cache and scans all protected system files immediately.
• /cachesize=x - Sets the size, in MB, of the Windows File Protection file cache.

5. Disabling Balloon Tips

To turn off balloon tips in applications that support XP Themes:

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\

3. Create a DWORD value of EnableBalloonTips

4. Give it a value of 0

(REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\

Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"EnableBalloonTips"=dword:00000000 )

MORE OS-TWEAKS TO COME SOOOOON.... COMMENT UR VIEWS & TWEAKS ......

Microsoft Corporation announced the release of the first beta software release of the Microsoft Windows Server code-named "Longhorn".

Windows Server "Longhorn" will provide customers with:

• A rock-solid server foundation that is secure, manageable, responsive, interoperable, and compatible.
• A platform that supports rapid development and delivery of smart and connected applications.
• Agility, to increase operational efficiency and IT effectiveness.
• Policy-based networking, improved branch management and enhanced end user collaboration.

More information on Windows Server "Longhorn" will be available in the coming months. For more information on Longhorn Client, now known as Microsoft Windows Vista, please visit the Microsoft Windows Vista site.

Windows Vista: VISION & PRINCIPLES

• Windows Vista has something for everyone.
• Read about the vision behind Windows Vista.

Windows Vista: A clear breakthrough

Windows Vista: Development Center

Get Microsoft Vista here !

Windows Vista™ (formerly code named Longhorn) Beta 1 for developers and IT professionals has begun. Check this site regularly to find the most up to date information and links to other sites at Microsoft related to Windows Vista.

The first stage of the beta process for Internet Explorer 7 has begun—developer testing! The latest version of the world’s most popular Web browser has been released for technical evaluation, feedback, and testing by software and Web site developers.


The Beta 1 release signals that Internet Explorer 7 has reached an important milestone, with a number of key new features and improvements, and is ready for website and application compatibility testing.

Beta 1 is not intended for broad consumer trial and evaluation but it does offer a preview of some of the benefits that Internet Explorer 7 will offer customers including:

• Dynamic security protection
• Improved design to make everyday tasks easier and faster
• New tools to take you directly to the information you want
• Platform enhancements for developers to improve compatibility and manageability

more Here...

IE7:Beta versions of both Windows Vista (formerly codenamed “Longhorn”) and IE7 for Windows XP are now available. Back in February we committed to releasing betas this summer. I’m sure it surprises some people, but we did what we said we’d do.

The beta versions of Windows Vista and IE7 that have just released should be interesting to developers and IT professionals. For this reason, the beta is available to MSDN subscribers and a pretty small set of pre-enrolled beta test participants. Our goal is to get feedback from this group, do a bunch more work around quality (performance, security, reliability, etc.) and some features (e.g. additional standards support beyond what’s in beta 1, additional functionality around tabs and RSS, etc.), and release Beta 2 much more broadly.

With Beta 1 done, you can expect much more active posting about technical details on the features that are now public. We’ve posted an IE7 Technology Overview, What’s New in Internet Explorer 7 for Developers, and an Anti-Phishing Whitepaper. Based on questions and feedback from the beta, we’ll blog and post more.

Microsoft has said IE 7 is to be above all a security release, with any other enhancements on the back-burner. The browser, code-named Rincon, will be available for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Professional x64.

Gordon Mangione, corporate vice president of Microsoft's security business and technology unit, confirmed that the IE 7 will run in reduced-privilege mode by default, according to a report in industry journal eWeek. The feature is designed to prevent remote attacks via the browser, which have become a major hassle for Microsoft.

"The company is retooling the browser after years of neglect, which was largely due to lack of serious competition for the dominant browser, according to industry analysts."

Mangione confirmed that the browser will change the way files are executed, will include anti-spyware and anti-phishing features and will block cross-domain scripting access, according to the report. He confirmed the browser will support international domain names (IDN), built-in RSS, built-in search with a choice of search providers and new printing capabilities.

Other expected improvements include a better SSL user interface, and integration with Windows AntiSpyware.

Microsoft recently confirmed that IE 7 will include improved support for two key Web standards - Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and PNG graphics. For years, inadequate support for such rendering features has forced Web developers to create two different versions of their sites, one supporting IE and and another for standards-compliant browsers.

• NEW! Browse smarter with tabs - Switch between Web sites within the same Internet Explorer window
• NEW! Find anything - Search the Web any time, anywhere, and easily locate documents, e-mail messages, and more on your PC
• Shop faster - Fill out online forms with one click
• Access MSN services - Get one-click access to Hotmail, MSN Messenger, and MSN Spaces
  

Read the full story on PCMag.com: MSN Brings Tabbed Browsing Early to IE

Tired of playing second fiddle in Web hosting, Microsoft is revamping its server software in an attempt to snatch market share away from the popular Apache-Linux combination. When the software giant releases Longhorn Server in 2007, it will introduce a re-architected edition of its Internet Information Services Web server, said Bob Muglia, senior vice president in charge of Windows Server development.
The changes will make IIS more modular, which will speed up performance for Web applications, he said. "We're componentizing IIS so you can load just the pieces of the Web server that you really need," Muglia said. "In the process of doing that, we'll be super competitive to Apache."

Source: ZDNet