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But do a fresh install with SP2 slipstreamed into your WinXP install disk to ensure success.

Upgrades have been nothing but a royal PITA (working link to goatse guy)...

Meh. I'm using gentoo, but I wanted to do a cvs install to get all the latest goodies. It's a pretty easy install. I backed up /usr/X11R6 and /etc/X11 and then followed the directions here, although it really is as easy as:

cd xc
make World
su -c make install

If you want compositing, then enable that in the xorg.conf file.

Maybe they're worried about Pop Goes the GMail, which provides a POP3 interface to a Gmail account. This is a real threat to them because if you use it you don't see any of the ads.

I've written one myself that kicks ass, if I do say so myself. All who have used it agree.

Needs the .NET framework though.

thread on neowin: http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=17 5813 <--should lack spaces
my site: http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/msowul

A friend of a friend would like to know..

Since version 5 of windows update refuses to let anyone with a corporate key download this, does anybody have any legitimate mirrors for SP2?

Also, apparently, neowin reports SP2 accepts those evil keys.

It makes one wonder.. why allow SP2 to install on pirated copies, but refuse to let people update via the windows update site?

In that twisted logic, I suppose you would blame gunshot victims for not wearing a bullet-proof vest or upgrading to the newest models when better armor piercing bullets came out.

Are some admins just lazy who don't do their jobs? Yes. But an admin can't always patch right away.

Remember in most corporate environments, admins can't simply patch a system when a new patch comes out. MS has burned them too many times with bad patches and this problem isn't an issue of the far past. Just last year, MS released a patch that crippled a computer's network connections. They released a fix online for the patch, but if you have no Internet, how do you get it?

Admins have to test them first before rolling it out. In some cases this may take up to six months. If they put in a bad patch, it's their blame not MS.

In some companies, admins have been plaqued with downsizes and more duties. This means for some of them security is just another load they have to tackle with normal admin duties.

I think most admins would not want the 10+ hours it takes to clean up a virus/worm. They don't have much of a choice in many cases.

http://www.neowin.net/ has a whole posting on screenshots, some are okay (although the shots are from people with cheap graphics cards it looks like)

Someone already wrote an app to do that. It's called Pop Goes the Gmail. You can use use it regularily to view your Gmail in a mail app (although the web interface is better), or use it for one-time batch downloads.

You can get it here.

More discussion here.

I bought one of the flat panel iMacs the moment it was announced, about 2.5 years ago, and it still works great. The iMac was an incredible value, had an excellent screen, and a fast CPU. I know that sales have been slowing, and the design has been out there for about 3 years, but it is still has alot of potential, and is definately a good bargain.

On the other hand I can't wait to see the new iMacs (mabey i'll buy one), And 3 years is a long time for a computer design. Unless your talking about a PC where towers have been 'in' for over 10 years.

I would really like to know how this is going to affect the Apple resellers who would have a large inventory of iMacs which they would undoubtably have to lower the price on. And as we have seen, Apple is not always on good terms with its resellers

Link here

Justin does indeed measure his poo, look at his answer to the final question! it is ironic that the OP was surprised by a coder using Vim when he discloses this in the same interview. It never surprises me obvious you have to make something for the mods to get it.

This is old news. What about the other hundreds?!? Including some who've gotten Virtual PC on OS X to run Windows XP and run PearPC with OS X in that?

Neowin
Emaculation

It is nearly impossible to keep modern operating systems updated via modem and there is no simple way to to copy all of the patches etc to CD. You have to run them all individually. I need Windows Update on a CD.

Check out Autopatcher XP from some guys over at Neowin. This is everything you need and more. They have monthly updates including all security patches and a lot of other fixes. They also include a lot of utilities and programs you may find useful. This thing is awesome for that fresh install of XP. It gets you updated to the very latest in just minutes.
Anyway, check it out it's pretty good stuff, you won't be disappointed.

You "can" get more than 2 users in Win XP Pro. First you have to get Service Pack 2 Beta and then follow the tweaks that I found on www.neowin.net and then you can have two working sessions at once. I use this on my PC so that my wife can use her wifi laptop to check her main email account on the desktop pc while I'm still working. Also good for doing CPU intensive stuff from a slower computer because the work in done on the faster one.

The question would be if this will still work once SP2 is finally released...

It sucked badly as it slowed page loads down while it scaned through the page looking for the keywords to highlight.

> People do create them, in fact there are thousands and thousands [themexp.org] of them out there.

Just a friendly warning, but themexp.org is filled with all kinds of lousy spyware. Their frontpage links to a javascript on http://webpdp.gator.com/4/placement/475/, which presumably tries to install GAIN under IE. They also have the audacity to wrap (!) all the themes that they offer in spyware. That's not nice.

Stay clear of this worthless site and get your themes on good sites like Neowin or DeviantART instead.

Seriously, find passion. If this is something you're passionate about, you'll make it work. You'll bring it into existence yourself. A lot of sites, like Slashdot to E2 to Fark to Neowin to Penny Arcade, all came into being because the creators were very passionate and put forth the effort themselves. It was important enough for them to be able to do it themselves and get through the initial lean years themselves.

What I'm trying to say is that it's a lot easier to walk away from something that you've had five people working on for two months rather than something you've worked on by yourself for ten months.

Check out Autopatcher.
It's a great utility to keep your Windows boxess up to date. It's a hefty download, but it's braindead simple to use. It's strength is bringing a freshly installed WindowsXP SP1 box up to date, but you can use it on an older install. Assuming of course you have SP1 installed already.
I heard about it on the forums at Neowin. They've done an awesome job of collecting post SP1 updates and critical fixes. They have also included some other useful utilities and programs.

I highly recommend this program to anyone that has to administer WindowsXP, especially if you have to look over more than one box.

Longhorn 4053 Tweak Guide ...

Found this over at Neowin ...

Has anybody actually been able to try this beta to see if there really is AV software included? The screenshots I've seen of a slightly older build (2077) show that it's only recommending you to install AV, not that it already has it.

There will soon be better options, and hopefully moves like HP licensing Apple iTunes technology, as well as other things, will make the online movies/music environment better than ever.

Look at this -- it looks like some kind of pop-up blocking feature right there in Internet Explorer. So does this mean that IE will get this new feature after all?

Windows Security

If you notice Microsoft is now calling Plug Ins "Add Ons". Could this be due to the lawsuit the just lost against Eolas?

And yeah, I'm not looking forward to a possible new IE6 CSS either, that would be like MS Java all over again.

One thing I would like to see in IE is a possibility to have several proxies and IE automaticly selecting the proxy with the lowest latency.

I don't mind eye-candy if it doesn't bog down the system and waste space. Did you see the explorer screenshots? I mean is there any way they could have wasted some more space?!? When I'm browsing my files I usually want to be able to see more than 5 of them at a time!!! I mean look at it, big useless images, 3 different places to click if you want to search, I'm assuming they'll fill up the rest of that filter frame with something but I can't see it not being a waste. Also what the heck does "Add/Remove Programs" have to to with file browsing?!? I'd go on longer but I don't think I'd ever finish, from a usability standpoint they just seem to be getting worse and worse, They've got to figgure out that when someone wants to look at their files they really do want to look at their files! The files seem as if they're the least important in the window. They're never going to catch Apple in usability with junk like this, and when I'm talking Apple I don't just mean OS X, I'm looking back to OS 7 too (I'd go back furthur but don't have experience with pre OS 7), as far as I'm concerned the buggy hulk of Mac OS 7 is FAR more usable than anything M$ has come out with to date and anything is more usable then the file browser shown in that screenshot.

Beware. It's looking like crap at this stage. :-)

A dozen of screenshots, or so...

There might be a lot of "under the surface" changes in Longhorn, making Microsoft think it's worth increasing the major version number. I think parts of the OS will be rewritten to use .NET API's using managed code (i.e. more secure code with better bounds checking, etc). They'll introduce the new file system WinFS that's implemented as a layer on top of NTFS and will make working with the files on a system more like working with a database. Whatever that will mean in practice might be unknown at this point. :-) They might also introduce DRM as part of the OS, which could have all sorts of implications to the user.

So there's a lot of known and unknown features planned, and since I haven't tried a Longhorn Alpha, I don't even know exactly what's in it so far. There are of course all sorts of visual changes, and the PDC build have already revealed dozens of surprise changes like an improved Internet Explorer with for example anti-popup support, a new plugin architecture, and a new download manager, etc.

Since Windows has a lot of software integrated, it's hard to keep track of all changes, especially if you're going to do it in detail, this early. Longhorn isn't even in Beta yet.

There might be a lot of "under the surface" changes in Longhorn, making Microsoft think it's worth increasing the major version number. I think parts of the OS will be rewritten to use .NET API's using managed code (i.e. more secure code with better bounds checking, etc). They'll introduce the new file system WinFS that's implemented as a layer on top of NTFS and will make working with the files on a system more like working with a database. Whatever that will mean in practice might be unknown at this point. :-) They might also introduce DRM as part of the OS, which could have all sorts of implications to the user.

So there's a lot of known and unknown features planned, and since I haven't tried a Longhorn Alpha, I don't even know exactly what's in it so far. There are of course all sorts of visual changes, and the PDC build have already revealed dozens of surprise changes like an improved Internet Explorer with for example anti-popup support, a new plugin architecture, and a new download manager, etc.

Since Windows has a lot of software integrated, it's hard to keep track of all changes, especially if you're going to do it in detail, this early. Longhorn isn't even in Beta yet.

More screenshots can be found here.

The demo of Half Life 2 has apparantly also been leaked. See screenshots here. God only knows what else they downloaded from the computers at Valve and the implecations it will have on them.

The demo of Half Life 2 has apparantly also been leaked. See screenshots here. God only knows what else they downloaded from the computers at Valve and the implecations it will have on them.

You might be right. Other screenshots in that directory. They are apparently from the subsequently leaked beta of the game.

My personal opinion: this sucks. I don't see how anyone can doubt that this kind of criminal intrusion rates a jail sentence of 1-2 years plus a heavy fine.

The act was deliberate, quite clearly illegal, and had a real cost of millions of dollars, plus inconvenience to millions of people.

We at neowin.net ran this story, and got a reply from him (Earth Station 5 developers) yesterday. Note : i can't seem to find this on the Zeropaid site, so if its a repeat they've mailed to all press inquiries- then my appologies.

(from the neowin article)
"Last night, we posted astory which showed evidence that Earthstation 5, a file sharing tool which challenged the RIAA and the MPAA, included malicious code which enabled people to delete files on your computer. This morning, the developers of ESV have replied. An admission of the code is made, but it turns into more of a jab at the devloper of Kazaalite, another p2p file trading tool.

"Random Nut, AKA Shaun Garriok, the Author of Kazaalite, has been a vocal critic of Earthstation5 because of a continual online insult war between himself and some roudy Earthstation5 fans. This has motivated him to be extremely critical of Earthstation5. We at Earthstation5 desire and request criticism at any time in fact we demand it as we believe that is the only way to make software truly superior.

We at Earthstation5 are not perfect, but we acknowledge that Shaun Garriok might be and thank him for helping us root out bugs.

The problem with the Earthstation5 software that Shaun Garriok found truly exists, however the sordid motives he attributes to Earthstation5 are incorrect. The following functions were put into Earthtation5 to allow automatic, remote upgrade of the Earthstation5 software. These functions are:

1) Reload Earthstation5
2) Shutdown Earthstation5
3) Delete a File

All of these functions are necessary to perform when upgrading software.
We have long been admirers of Shaun Garriok's ability to superbly investigate even a fully compiled program. We believe that he is capable of finding ANY sort of trojan, worm, or bug inside a compiled program. We are relieved that all he could find was these remote upgrade functions. He didn't find any bugs that send user data anywhere, no spyware, no adware, nothing in fact that gives away any personal information about the user using Earthstation5.

It is also a fortunate fact that since Earthstation5 protects you from the RIAA lawsuits and hackers by hiding your ip address, the exploit program he wrote can only be used against your own computer which he states in his exploit. If you want to delete files from your own computer, we feel you have the right to do that.

We are glad he found this bug and pointed it out. We completely removed the automatic software upgrade code because as it turns out automatic upgrade is no longer popular as it once was because it gives people an uneasy feeling and rightly so.

Since Shaun Garriok seems to be concerned about everyone's security, and is not on a personal quest for revenge, we would be grateful if he would download the latest Earthstation5, version 1.1.31 (http://download.es5.com/es5_v1.1.31.exe) and verify that we have truly removed the remote update function which his exploit program accessed. We think his dedication to the good of all concerned would motivate him to do this. Anyone else who is concerned can do the same, download the latest Earthstation5 and test the exploit code against it.

Ras

View article : here

the new "Windows"Update V5 (Beta starts soon) has support for Office, Exchange and SQL Server too

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=13414&catego ry=main

If you dont like it here, then go to some crappy windows biased site like neowin.com , go suck Darl's and Gate's Cock you fucking drone !

Wouldn't have anything to do with this announcement would it?

Woops, it's been a long day here's the link. Neowin

You've probably just seen it on other sites since the news has been out for a while now.

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=12345&catego ry=main

--r

List Of SP4 Fixes

I hate to say it, but when I read changelogs for many Linux apps (or the kernel), they simply say "Fixed bug in foo.c". That doesn't tell me a whole lot as an end-user.

Go here for the change log to Windows 2000 Service Pack Four. Some of the changes are quite amusing.

Plus, though it does require the "purchase" of additional products (TGT software's Style XP) you can now skin windows, using pngs no less.

Now THAT was a useless purchase. The folks over at Neowin have a patch (link at the top of the page) to fix your UXTheme.dll file so it works w/ 3rd party themes. Then just drop them into a new directory in your WINDOWS/RESOURCES/THEMES folder.

The patch was not flawed. In fact, it simply started enforcing the default IPSEC security policies.

See: Neowin for the full story.

Actually, there are those using Windows Server 2003 as a desktop. DirectX, theming, and so forth are all supported, and because the operating system over all is faster (particularly when booting), there are people who have written guides for converting Windows Server 2003 for desktop use.

Longhorn won't be based on Windows XP's code; it will be branched from Windows Server 2003's. So it's not as crazy as it sounds. I'd be willing to try it.

This confirms that someone in marketing is involved despite my first impressions of the project:
MSN iLoo Q&As with Tracy Blacher - consumer marketing manager for MSN

I love the logo on this one!:
Article: MSN Crafts Web-Enabled Toilet

You may not even have to have iTunes to access iTunes shares. The protocol is called DAAP but it's basically HTTP 1.1 running on port 3689. This guy is working on breaking down the protocol and pudge (and others, I'm sure) found that you can sniff the URL out of your packets then use something like curl to actually download instead of stream MP3 files.

I think reverse-engineering the MP3 sharing will be cake so the only thing you'd need a real iTunes app for is the DRM'd AAC files. Actually, I think the DRM handling is really done by QuickTime so it may be possible to write applications which can use a QuickTime API for handling DRM tracks.