Lenovo won't refund the Windows tax without an NDA

Linux users have always vocally encouraged major hardware vendors to
unbundle the Windows operating system or offer Linux preinstallation.
Although several prominent vendors are beginning to embrace
this concept, they only support it on a limited subset of their
hardware offerings. This means that Linux users often pay for a Windows
license that they never use, and it also means that Linux users are
forever attempting to recoup the "Windows tax."

The cost of the Windows license bundled with OEM computers has long
been a source of ire for Linux enthusiasts who erase unused Windows
installations. The controversy surrounding the so-called Windows tax
flared up again this week following a report that Lenovo has agreed to
reimburse a buyer for an unused Windows preinstallation license, but
only if the individual would sign a nondisclosure agreement.

Czech open source site AbcLinux.cz has published the story
of Kamil Paral, a Lenovo customer who attempted to obtain a
reimbursement for the unused Windows Vista Business license on his new
laptop.

A clause in the Windows end user license agreement (EULA) says that
consumers who do not accept all the terms of the license can return the
software for a full refund. When Paral brought this aspect of the
license to the attention of Lenovo, the company agreed to pay him
roughly $130 for terminating the license.

In order to complete the agreement, however, Lenovo insisted that Paral
sign a nondisclosure agreement that would effectively bar him from
talking about the deal. Paral refused, then took the story to
AbcLinux.cz, which gave him an equivalent amount of money for telling
his story to the world.

Although this case may not be particularly unique, it reflects the
challenges that consumers face when they attempt to terminate an unused
Windows license with the intention of obtaining a refund.

Further reading

• Found via Slashdot

Download Command & Conquer: Red Alert for Free

Gearing up for Labor Day, but maybe you're not sure what game to play
on your day off? Well perhaps you'll want to revisit a true classic, as
Electronic Arts has announced that they're now giving away the original
Command & Conquer: Red Alert as a free download in celebration of the 13th anniversary of the series (and a reminder that Red Alert 3 is totally coming out soon).

While the game is free, the actual process of playing it isn't without a little complication. You can head over to EA's official page
to download both the Allies and Soviets discs (each disc contained the
single-player campaign for its respective faction), but the files are
actual ISO images of the CDs themselves. That means that in order to
play them, you'll either need to burn the ISO images onto a blank disc,
or use a Virtual CD program to load them. The game will run on Windows
XP/98/Me/95, but it's not "officially" compatible with Windows Vista
(although there are certainly ways around that, so don't let that stop you, Vista users.).

As the download site makes abundantly clear, you can also get Red Alert 2
for free if you preorder Red Alert 3, the latest installment in the
series set for release this October. The first Red Alert, of course,
was the initial (and highly influential) spin-off of the original Command & Conquer
that went a long way toward cementing many of the fundamental real-time
strategy mechanics the genre still depends on today. If you've never
played it, it's certainly worth checking out as a free download, so get
cracking. Just try not to shove your fist through your monitor by the
27th time you hear "silos needed" during a single game.

From : http://www.1up.com/

Disk Cleanup in Windows XP

The ‘Disk Cleanup’ menu features ‘Compress Old File’. What are these files and how do they get generated?

After a Disk Cleanup operation, I get this message, “You can use
Disk Cleanup to free up to 1,296 KB of Disk space on (C). Compress Old
files-1264KB and Web Client/Publisher Temporary Files-32KB.”

Why have these files not been cleaned up? Please explain.

Vasant Damle

The disk cleanup tool in windows XP is used to clean up unwanted or
unused files and allows you to increase the free space in the disk.

To open the disk clean up, please Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup.

You will get a prompt to select a Drive. Disk Cleanup will
investigate the drive and display how much space the Disk Cleanup can
free in the selected drive.

The result will also categorise the file space used for different
purposes — such as Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Bin, Temporary
Files, Compressed Old files, Web Client/ Publisher Temporary Files and
others. There is a check box for each of these items. It lists the size
of file space that is recoverable for each category.

To clean up, the check box has to be selected for each category.
Some of the categories have View Files button to view the contents.

Only the windows installed drive has all the category of files for clean up. Other drives have only a few categories.

Temporary Internet Files, Downloaded Program Files, Setup Log Files
are some categories listed only in Windows installed drive, say C:

In Windows XP, if there are files that have not been read or
modified for a longer period of time and if the check box “Compress old
files” is selected in Disk Cleanup, the Disk Cleanup starts compressing
these files to reduce the file size they occupy.

The “Options” button in “Compress Old File” Category specifies how many days to wait before non-accessed files are compressed.

By default, this is set to 50 days. Files that are not accessed for
50 days are compressed. These files are not deleted. They can still be
accessed when required.

The size displayed for “Compress old files” is an approximate value.
The compression ratio varies depending upon the type of file.

The “WebClient/Publisher Temporary files” are files maintained by the service as cache of accessed files.

These are kept in the disk to improve performance.

It is also possible to automate the disk cleanup task and schedule it.

More details on this are available at this URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315246

Solution by P. Natarajan

From : http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/

The Escapers release Flux 1.4

prMac.com] London, United Kingdom - The Escapers is proud to
announce the release of Flux 1.4, the latest version of their flagship
web design application. Featuring a revised user interface, and many
tweaks and fixes, Flux 1.4 serves as the foundation for the future of
Flux. Alongside this new release of Flux, a new PDF manual has been
created, which will be updated along with Flux. Flux remains compatible
with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), with Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) strongly
recommended.



Version 1.4 includes many user-requested improvements, bug fixes and UI
enhancements. It also demonstrates The Escapers' commitment to
providing constant improvements and updates to the user base free of
charge. Flux 1.4 now also supports Komodo as an external editor, and
speed improvements.



Javascript support has been improved also, with support for remote
scripts, and inline code in the HTML headers for better support for
using third party services such as E-Junkie.



The Escapers has worked closely with Flux users to mold Flux into the
product they need, and will continue to do so for all future releases.



The Escapers also continues to work towards making Flux the no. 1 web
development tool on the Mac by providing compatibility with leading
edge tools like Yuma, jQuery and Adobe's Spry. The Escapers recognizes
that the incredible pace of development on the web requires very
frequent updates available to all users, and not paid-for revisions
every year or 18 months.



Due to pressure from the US Dollar, Flux is now being marketed for sale
in UK Pounds Sterling, at a new price of £40. New releases and updates
continue to be made available for free to all Flux users. Flux is of
course, still available internationally, and sales have been moved to a
new service for a more convenient way to buy.

The Escapers
Flux 1.4

With
a commitment to providing the highest quality software, The Escapers
was founded in 2007 by two brothers for the purpose of publishing
personal productivity software solutions expressly for the Mac
platform, with a major emphasis on total customer satisfaction.
Copyright (C) 2007-2008 The Escapers. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the
Apple logo, are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S.
and/or other countries.

From : http://prmac.com/

particleIllusion 3.0 for Mac OS X released

wondertouch has announced that new versions for its particleIllusion
line of products are now available for Mac OS X. The updates to the
particleIllusion 3.0 standalone particle effects application (and the
particleIllusion SE cut-down version) provides ways to quickly and
easily create complex effects: explosions, smoke, fire, sparkles,
motion graphics backgrounds, space effects, creatures, and abstract
artistic effects.

New features and enhancements include integrated rendering (in
particleIllusion 3.0 only) and tighter integration with
pIllusionRender, wondertouch’s standalone renderer, which allows for
automatic rendering of HD and other large-format output

The software gains support for Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard'. It also still supports Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4.

The Emitter Library AutoUpdate functions provides an easy way to
check for, download, and install the particleIllusion emitter libraries
that are provided free-of-charge by wondertouch each month.

particleView, wondertouch’s emitter viewer application, features a
new search engine to help users find particle emitters within the vast
particleIllusion library collection which currently numbers over 2500
emitters for particleIllusion 3.0 and over 2000 emitters for
particleIllusion SE.

The new Quick Load Library function makes switching between particleIllusion emitter libraries faster and easier.

Registered owners of particleIllusion 3.0 and particleIllusion SE
can download updates free-of-charge from the wondertouch website,
www.wondertouch.com or by contacting info@wondertouch.com.

For more information see the Wondertouch Web site.

Digital Arts Staff

From : http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk

Windows Live Messenger 9: my new best friend

What’s this? Posting at 4am in the morning? Are you kidding me? No. I can’t sleep.

Ahh, a sigh of relief, a breath of fresh air,
freshly ironed underwear, or the first sip of an ice cold beer after a
crap day at work. All these combined make the new, pre-release (even
then, it was leaked - badly) version of Windows Live Messenger a lovely
piece of kit.

For many a year, I’ve been juggling different services - MySpace (at
the time), then Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Ranger Outpost, and
good old fashioned coin-operated email to connect with my friends and
colleagues to collaborate on projects together. This, quite frankly,
was a right royal pain in the butt, as I have a severe memory
deficiency when it comes to remember what I’m doing, my usernames and
passwords, and who I’m supposed to be talking to next.

WLM9 as it shall be known herein, now does pretty much anything I need to get work done. Provided that person(s) are using a version of Windows Live Messenger, then it makes life so much easier.

I can group certain contacts together to separate out my personal
contacts from my work contacts, and collaborate with them independently
or collectively. I can change those people’s sign-in sounds to
something loud and intrusive, so I’ll be able to hear them whilst in
the next room as they sign-in - allowing me to bug them for a group
project code revision I’ve been asking for all last week.

I can send a screenshot or a photo, using a new feature called
PhotoShare, to a friend and it’ll allow them to share things back in a
“full-window” environment, cutting out the need for a full blown
conversation window and using that space more wisely for what we need.

However, if people add me on Messenger and spam me with Viagra,
cheap mobile ringtones and other crap like that, I can completely block
and remove them from my Live ID, contacts and suchlike, whilst
reporting it to Microsoft and letting them know they have a spammer -
all with a (couple of) click of a mouse.

I can appear in two places at once; something we can’t ordinarily
do, but this way we can be at work or at home, in a Starbucks or at the
university library and not be disconnected from the service. This
allows for wherever I am, my contacts can still interact with me and
share their documents and thoughts regardless of whether I’m in a fixed
location or not.

Of course, because I’m a student and most of the time I’m hammered,
I’ll get excited by something as little as a red shiny ball… a bit like
Bush really. The flip side to the student-related work aspects, I like
a bit of shiny-shiny.

“Yeah, check out my MySpace page, along with my favourite songs and movies, and things that other people have created, but I use to express my individualism…“.
Maybe so, but now I can use animated display pictures to really show
the world what I’m thinking or what’s going on in my head. See, there’s
a dancing badger. Point made.

Because the whole application is made with .NET Framework 3, or as I
still call it, “WPF” from back in the Longhorn days, it means the
eye-candy really works well on Vista. Don’t bother bitching about Vista
here - the point is, this new client adds glossy effects, shiny glowing
text and allows you to smoothly extend your conversation windows.

There’s no difference to the webcam feature; still the same old
quality we had before. The sound on the other hand seems to have
improved. On my works laptop, Windows XP Professional, the cracking has
reduced and northern-England accents are easier to understand
(strangely). This may or may not tie in with the removal of the Windows Live Call feature, which no longer appears as part of Messenger.

Voice-over-Messenger for me is more preferable to Skype; the quality
seems about the same and all of my contacts are in Messenger, so
there’s little point in using yet another service.

There have been rumours that Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger 9 interoperability
is round the corner. Maybe so, but there’s nothing working between the
current Google client and the pre-release WLM9 client at the moment.
Tried it and it failed miserably; stuck in a limbo of inviting people
to either service without actually getting anywhere.

Wave 3 of the Windows Live product suite hits private beta next week, but until then, keep your eye on LiveSide as the chances are, those devious little buggers will have something before even “the evil queen of numbers” does.

Amongst
many things, Zack Whittaker is a good-for-nothing, pink-sock wearing,
British student at the University of Kent in Canterbury UK studying
computer science. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations, or send him an email if you have a story you want to share.

From : http://blogs.zdnet.com/

A New Mousetrap

Hopefully, you read my recent column discussing surface computing (see www.CPATechAdvisor.com/go/1934).
For those who haven’t, I’ll attempt to quickly bring you up to speed.

Microsoft Surface is the first commercially available touch-screen type computing
device in a tabletop form factor. Think of it as an iPhone in a bigger (actually,
much bigger) form factor. What is interesting about the release of this device
and the iPhone is that our paradigm is slowly changing … away from the
mouse. Both Microsoft Surface and the Apple iPhone rely on our sense of touch
to not only move and select items and applications, but to also now modify those
applications. An example would be a photograph or map that could previously
be selected using traditional touch screen devices. But if you want to zoom,
flip, enhance, merge, etc., you previously had to get back to the mouse/keyboard
or stylus. The new surface computing devices are beginning to change all that.
I mused in that recent article that perhaps we would see a surface device in
an accounting firm and use this touch/surface computing technology to open and
modify client documents.

Microsoft and Apple have both invested in this “more natural method”
for interacting with our computing devices. The enhancements in the pen and
handwriting technology in Windows Vista are evidence of the advances being made
in this form of input. Many students are now using Tablet and Ultra-mobile PCs
to capture notes electronically, which further saves the step of scanning or
OCR-ing handwritten notes. Speech recognition has seen major enhancements, as
well, which although not appropriate for say a college class does provide yet
another natural way to interact with our computing devices. Physicians and lawyers
have traditionally been the biggest users of dictation, but that dictation required
the interim step of transcription. Speech-enabled computing devices will serve
to eliminate the transcription step.

Every year, the Wall Street Journal hosts an “all things digital”
conference. The conference debuted in 2003 and is affectionately referred to
as ‘D’ plus the number of the conference, so this year’s conference
is D6. Just last night, soon to be ex-Microsoft CSA Bill Gates and current Microsoft
CEO Steve Ballmer shared the stage and talked about the next version of Windows,
now referred to as Windows 7 (keep in mind that I’m writing this column
in May, so when I say just last night, you’ll realize I mean several months
ago).

Obviously, development of this version is progressing. And as with previous
versions of Microsoft’s operating systems, they tend to build upon the
successes of the past and learn from the failures. The reason I mention all
of this background is that during the presentation and discussion of what Windows
7 might look like, there was an interesting demo offered by Julie Larson-Green.
It was interesting for a few reasons: First, Microsoft has been very careful
about talking about the next version of the operating system, and for good reason.
As Microsoft’s Chris Flore noted on the Vista blog, “We know that
when we talk about our plans for the next release of Windows, people take action.
As a result, we can significantly impact our partners and our customers if we
broadly share information that later changes.” Secondly, what was shared
in this demo felt very much like the Surface platform.

Larson-Green proceeded to pull up a brand new application called “Touchable
Paint,” and using all 10 fingers she began to draw freehand. Then, she
brought up a photo gallery. And again, using her fingers, she selected, zoomed,
flipped … well, you get the picture (no pun intended). Anyone vaguely
familiar with Apple’s iPhone or iTouch would be familiar with this functionality.
From there, she moved on to a mapping application that called up information
from Microsoft’s Virtual Earth and allowed her to pan/zoom to a location
on the map (in this case Carlsbad, California). “Search for Starbucks,”
she said. And since there must be thousands of Starbucks, sure enough multiple
push-pins appeared on the map.

After the demo, Bill Gates commented that this new technology referred to
as Windows Multi-Touch is the beginning of an era of computing based on a new
hierarchy of input systems. That may be an understatement, and we most likely
won’t know for sure until we get a look at Windows 7, which isn’t
due out until the latter part of next year (2009).

As a writer and accounting practitioner, I’ve become very used to a
keyboard and mouse for input, but I don’t like to carry on a conversation
using instant messaging. I’d rather pick up the phone and have that conversation.
So I’m wondering if I’ll ever get to that point with PC input devices.
In other words, will I get to the point where I’d rather write on, talk
to and listen to my PC than move a mouse and type on a keyboard?

next

What to do when Windows XP Service Pack 3 won't install

Windows XP Service Pack 3 has been out since April,
but it's only now being widely pushed out onto Australian desktops via
Windows Update, meaning that pretty much everyone is going to have to
deal with it regardless of their geek status. For most people, that
means a hefty download (60MB or more) and the usual delays and reboots
to have a fully-patched PC. But what if the service pack doesn't
install? Read on for our guide to fixing some common SP3 problems.

I've
installed SP3 on several XP machines by now, and haven't had problems
with most of them -- but today I encountered a machine that flat-out
refused to install SP3, even though it had detected that it was
available. That process has ended up with Microsoft Support (and still
isn't resolved), but there's plenty of steps you can take before you're
forced to hit the phones.

Get the basics right

Although SP3 doesn't add much major new functionality (as we've pointed out before),
it is a fairly invasive update, so maximise your chances of getting it
to install right. Reboot your machine, and close down any applications
that launch during startup. Fire up Internet Explorer (Firefox isn't a
good choice in this context). If you haven't previously been through
the oh-so-annoying Windows validation process, you'll need get that out
of the way first by visiting this page and clicking on the 'Validate Windows' button in the top-left corner. Then go to Windows Update and follow the prompts to install SP3.

Troubleshooting steps

Unfortunately, there are plenty of elements that can make SP3 go wrong,
from strange hardware drivers to individual hardware products. If you
encounter a specific error message pointing to a particular product,
try disabling it and attempt a reinstall. If you get a very generic
message (like the one at the top of this article), you'll need to try
some more general steps.

For no obvious reason, Microsoft has produced a troubleshooting guide to installing SP3
as part of its Knowledge Base, but doesn't actually link to it from the
SP3 installation error page. Once you do find it, it proposes five
steps: reboot and try again, try install a downloaded version rather
than the Windows Update version, disable your antivirus software, make
sure Background Intelligent Transfer Service is enabled, and clear the
software distribution folder. You can read the details of each step in the support document, but here's two important points to note which it doesn't mention.

Firstly, if you choose to download the standalone SP3 installation
rather than using Windows Update (step 2 in Microsoft's list), be aware
that it weighs in at 316MB -- a hefty amount if you're on a restricted
download limit and an impossible amount if you use dial-up. Microsoft
does offer an alternative service where you can order SP3 on a CD, but that costs $14.95 for delivery charges. Even nastier, despite that huge price, delivery takes between 2 to 4 weeks.

Secondly, if you do download the full installer or order the CD,
Microsoft telephone support recommends installing it in safe mode,
though this isn't mentioned in the Knowledge Base article. (Access Safe
Mode by holding down the F8 key during booting.)

Contact support

If all that fails, Microsoft is offering free telephone support for XP
SP3 service pack problems until April 2009. Ring on 13 20 58 (for
Australian users); be prepared to wait for a while and repeat
information several times. With that said, the staff I encountered were
courteous, and everyone was aware that SP3 users are entitled to free
support.

From : http://www.lifehacker.com.au/

Microsoft Windows XP now with new antipiracy tools

Microsoft know that they have been losing a bucket load of money
through pirate copies of Windows XP, but the software giant has
launched a new set of antipiracy tools which will help to combat this
problem.

There are so many people running bogus copies of Windows XP Professional, and Microsoft has made changes to the WGA Notifications software. This will now bring XP Pro in line with Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

Those with suspected counterfeit copies of Windows XP Pro will now
have a black desktop at start-up; this will also revert to black after
just one hour. There will also be a permanent notice, which will urge
the user to purchase a legitimate copy.

Source