The Windows Live team announced today that the upcoming Windows Live Hotmail email service will be included with several security enhancements.

“Security remains the number one concern of people who use email and a top priority for all Microsoft development efforts, products, and services – Hotmail included.” said John Scarrow, the Partner Group Program Manager of Windows Live.

Here are a few particular security enhancements they have made:

Account recovery

The new security platform elements that built up around Hotmail now enable you to use your cell phone or other items as proof of account ownership. For example, if you lose your password, or, worse, if your account gets compromised, the system can now send you an account recapture code via SMS to regain access to your account.

Single-use codes

This new security feature is designed to further protect you when you sign in from a public computer, such as those found in internet cafés, airports, and coffee shops.

Full-session SSL

In addition to providing SSL encryption at login for all accounts, the new Hotmail will soon support the option to maintain SSL encryption between you and our servers during your entire Hotmail session.

Trusted senders

Hotmail will help you to visually identify trusted senders in your inbox, particularly banks and other institutions commonly used for phishing scams. We put safety logos next to only those senders that we recognize as legitimate so that you can more easily spot malicious imitators.

For more details about the upcoming Hotmail service can be found in a post in the Windows Team Blog.

Windows 7 Enterprise claimed as the most advanced Windows operating system for business PCs, designed to meet the evolving needs of the users and IT professionals in your organization—both in and out of the office.

With exclusive features and benefits, Windows 7 Enterprise drives lower total cost of ownership by helping your users stay productive anywhere, enhancing security and control, and simplifying PC management across your organization.

Unique Features

The Windows 7 Enterprise operating system (OS) is available to Microsoft Software Assurance customers. With Windows 7 Enterprise, you can take advantage of the following features that are not available in Windows 7 Professional:

• DirectAccess: Give mobile users seamless access to corporate networks without a need to VPN.
• BranchCache: Decrease the time branch office users spend waiting to download files across the network.
• Federated Search: Find information in remote repositories, including SharePoint sites, with a simple user interface.
• BitLocker and BitLocker To Go: Help protect data on PCs and removable drives, with manageability to enforce encryption and backup of recovery keys.
• AppLocker: Specify what software is allowed to run on a user’s PCs through centrally managed but flexible Group Policies.
• Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) optimizations: Improved user experience for VDI with multimon and microphone support, which have the ability to reuse virtual hard drive (VHD) images to boot a physical PC.
• Multilingual user interface: Create a single OS image for deployment to users worldwide.

You can download and get the 90-day trial by following the download button at the bottom page of this link.

Microsoft said on Wednesday that it is ready with an updated test version of the next compute cluster version of Windows Server.

The company released Beta 2 of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2, the version aimed at the kind of computing clusters used in education, the life sciences, finance and other areas. Among the features in the new beta is the ability to use Windows 7-based desktops as nodes within a compute cluster and take advantage of the processing power of graphics chips within a cluster. Microsoft is also adding broader support for Excel with a set of high-performance computing services for Excel 2010.

“It’s an exciting time for high performance computing at Microsoft as we work to put supercomputing power in the hands of those who need it most,” product unit manager Ryan Waite said in a blog posting.

For more details see here.

Windows 7 SP1 has finally leaked and should be available in the usual areas soon for anyone who wants to give it a try.  I have gotten my hands on this build of SP1 and will show off a few shots for your viewing pleasure.

First off, this build is very recent, with a compile date of March 27th.  The full build string is as follows:

6.1.7601.16537.amd64fre.win7.100327-0053

The install process is much of what you would expect from a service pack installer, but one thing I noticed is the installation is MUCH faster than the install process for service packs on Vista was, which is a very welcome change. Some screenshots can be found here.

[Via]

IPWireless is a pioneer in developing and delivering next generation wireless solutions, including silicon, software, and network infrastructure, based on 3GPP, the world’s leading mobile standard. They provide some of the world’s largest mobile network operators, governments, and device vendors with innovative solutions that deliver the performance, reliability, and compelling business economics they require so they can stay ahead of their competition and offer their subscribers the value-added services they demand.

Their 3GPP based mobile broadband network equipment has been deployed in over a dozen networks around the globe including T-Mobile Czech Republic, one of the world’s most successful and largest mobile operator broadband networks. Their mobile broadband network equipment also serves as the underpinnings for some of the largest government agency city- and countywide-communication networks, including New York City’s NYCWiN and SGRITA. IPWireless’ mobile broadband base stations and subscriber terminals provide the speed, reliability and performance necessary to support critical lines of communication between a city and its public safety agencies, such as police, fire, sanitation and anti-terrorism departments, that are necessary for keeping their consitutencies and communities safe not only in the event of an emergency but in day-to-day life.

One of their User Equipment (UE) is P1D modem that has RJ45 and USB connector. This tutorial will try to install the modem on Windows 7 using USB connector. Currently the dialer is only support for Windows XP/2000/2003 and does not support Windows Vista/7 by default. When you run the setup file, if you are using Windows Vista/7, you will be prompted that the existing OS is not supported yet. But we can install it using a simple trick.
You just need to set the ‘setup.exe’ file to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP (SP2 or SP3).

Then re-run the setup file to begin installation the drivers and dialer.
This trick is only applicable on Windows Vista/7 for 32 bit and using USB connector modem. It will not work on Win Vista/7 for 64 bit neither using USB nor RJ45 connector.
The installation should complete without error, you need to reboot the system to make sure that the drivers installed successfully.

After restarting the OS, go to “C:\Program Files\IPWireless Inc\IPWireless PC Software” (where the IPWireless PC Software was installed) and do the same thing with compatibility mode to the ‘uestatus.exe’ file.

And you are ready to run the dialer to connect to a local partner of IPWireless network in your country.

If you successfully connected to the network operator, the modem dialer will be minimized in a tray icon on the bottom right taskbar.

You just upgraded your Windows version to the newest Windows 7 and want to install Huawei E220 USB 3G/HSDPA Modem to access internet? If you use Slackware 12, Centos 5.4 or Fedora 12, click the link to follow the tutorials.
It is very easy to do it. As we know that Windows is the most used and familiar operating system around the planet. Just plug the modem into a USB port, it will automatically detect the device. For the driver, it will be installed automatically when you install the dialer of the modem.

In Windows XP, it will run the Autorun file of the modem to install the dialer and drivers several seconds after we plug the modem into a USB port. In Windows 7, we need to manually run the Autorun file by exploring to the storage inside the modem. The installation process should appear.

Click Next and just accept the default for the installation process. The installation should completely finish.

Now it is the time to run the dialer. There should be a ‘Mobile Partner’ icon in your Desktop. Double-click that icon to run the dialer.

As you can see above, there is no Profile Name already configured. We need to create and configure the profile first. This profile must match to your account with your cellular operator. I use Indosat M2 Broom in Jakarta for example.

To create a profile name, click menu Tools > Options > Profile Management. In the Profile Management section, click New button to create a new profile.

You can create multiple profiles here depends on which provider you want to connect to. Click Save to save the profile.

Now it is the time to dial the modem to connect to access internet through you provider. If authenticated, everything is done.

By default the Administrator account (the super user) is disabled on Windows 7 and you have to create a general account (with Administrator privilege) during installation. It will make your system is not harmful this way.

However, sometime you need to edit a file located in ‘C’ drive or system files and it would not be done if you are not using Administrator account. So how to enable the Administrator account on Windows 7? Here are the steps by step:

Click Start menu (bottom-left Windows logo) and then ‘Control Panel’.

Then click System and Security > Administrative Tools

On the ‘Administrative Tools’ window, double click ‘Local Security Policy’

On the ‘Local Security Policy’ window, expand the ‘Local Policies’ and click on ‘Security Options’.

On this window you can see whether the Administrator account is disabled or enabled.

You need to create a password for the Administrator account to have the account able to log in to the system.

(Taken from Computerworld.com)

Microsoft late on Monday denied that it has finished Windows 7, quashing rumors that the company was about to declare “release to manufacturing,” or RTM.

“We are close, but have not yet signed off on Windows 7,” said company spokesman Brandon LeBlanc on the Windows blog Monday night. “As previously stated, we expect Windows 7 to RTM in the 2nd half of July.”

LeBlanc echoed a comment made by Bill Veghte, Microsoft’s senior vice president for Windows business, in a presentation at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) earlier today. Although Veghte did not reference last week’s reports that claimed RTM was imminent, he did say that Windows 7 would wrap up in the last two weeks of this month.

LeBlanc cautioned users against downloading in-progress builds that have leaked to file-sharing sites. “There are many bogus copies of Windows 7 floating around the Internet. More often than not, they contain a rather nice malware payload,” he said. In May, people who downloaded pirated copies of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) just hours before Microsoft released the preview reported that the build wasinfected with a Trojan horse.

LeBlanc also provided a few details, albeit at times vague, about when users will get their hands on Windows 7 after Microsoft does declare the code finished.

TechNet and MSDN (Microsoft Developers Network) subscribers, who in the past have gotten RTM builds almost immediately, will be able to download Windows 7 from their respective services “a few weeks after we announce RTM,” LeBlanc said.

The delay may prompt resistance. When Microsoft initially withheld Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) from TechNet and MSDN subscribers in early 2008, they rebelled, calling the decision “boneheaded” and “the lamest since Microsoft Bob,” the latter a reference to a ridiculed interface that debuted in 1995.

As Veghte noted Monday morning at WPC, Sept. 1 is the date when Windows 7 will be available to volume licensing customers. All others, including consumers and businesses without a licensing plan, will have to wait until the Oct. 22 launch date, excepting any trafficking at file-sharing sites.

In an aside, LeBlanc repeated a warning Microsoft first issued in early April, that users running Windows 7 RC must do a “custom” installwhen, or if, they move to the final product. “Note that ‘in-place’ (or direct) upgrades from the Windows 7 RC to RTM will not be supported,” LeBlanc said. “You will be required to do a Custom installation (aka ‘clean install’).

A custom, or clean, install requires users to back up or transfer data and settings to an external drive or flash drive, install Windows 7 RTM — which effectively overwrites the hard drive — then restore their data, recreate settings throughout Windows and reinstall all applications.

It’s unclear whether users will be able to sidestep the custom install and instead do an in-place by modifying the “cversion.ini” file, as they were able to do when they upgraded from beta to RC.

According to LeBlanc, Microsoft will break the news of reaching RTM, whenever that is, by posting to the Windows blog. “When Windows 7 hits RTM, it will be announced here,” he promised.

Here are some screenshots of Windows 7 build 7057 (RC1) installed on my own Compaq Presario Laptop. Luckily all hardwares are detected out of the box so I did not need to install any hardware drivers one by one like in Windows XP or even Vista.

The appearances are like Vista actually but there are some improvements in the performance, much faster in loading applications, IE 8 Final Release browser by default, interesting new logon/shutdown background and many others. It also natively supports for Quicktime .mov, DivX and XVid movie files.

Lets take a look at the screenshots below.

Thanks to the Windows 7 development team for making it damn cool