‘Blackouts’ and missing icons for users of pirated Windows this week

August 27, 2008 · Filed Under Security · Comment 

‘Blackouts’ for users of pirated Windows

Pirated Windows XP professional user beware, remember the nagging balloon that appear everytime you boot up windows? the Windows Genuine Advantage program Microsoft secretly introduce in SP2? Yes, it is back and this time it is meaner.

Starting Wednesday, users with pirated copies of Microsoft Corp’s Windows XP Professional operating system (OS) on machines that are Internet-capable could find their computer displays going black and with no screen icons visible.

There are 8.6 million users of Win XP Pro in Malaysia and about three million are expected to suffer the “blackouts,” according to Microsoft Malaysia.

To continue working, the user would need to reset the machine’s desktop background. Everything will return to normal. But when 60 minutes are up, the black screen will reappear and the user must go through the whole process again. Source: TheStar

Since this WGA feature is new, I doubt there are any cracks available, the only way to go about the system is to purchase a genuine XP Pro serial from Microsoft. How about downgrading your Windows to Home Edition?

For your information, Windows Vista and Windows XP Home Edition are not included in the latest ‘blackout’ experiment.

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Where is the OCR in Microsoft Office 2007

July 17, 2008 · Filed Under Uncategorized · Comment 

Why pay for Omnipage when OCR text scan comes bundled with Microsoft Office 2007? A friend of mine discovered that Microsoft 2007 does not come with OCR or better known as Document and Imaging, which is not quite true, the problem is due to the default installation with Microsoft Office 2007, OCR or Document and Imaging does not installed itself in the default installation.

Hold your horses, you don’t need to uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Office 2007, simple hit the ‘add and remove’ button in Control Panel and select ‘Change’

Where is the OCR in Microsoft Office 2007

Select the ‘add and remove feature’ radio button and select ‘next’

OCR in Microsoft Office 2007

In the following dialog box, select ‘Office Tool’ > ‘Microsoft Office Document Imaging’ > ‘ Scanning, OCR and Indexing Service Filter’ and under the drop down list choose ‘run from computer’ and proceed with the installation.

OCR in Microsoft Office 2007

There you go, now you’ve just enabled Microsoft Office 2007 OCR, and its free. Visit this post on how to use Microsoft Office 2007 OCR text scan.

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Microsoft to reward Live Search shoppers with cash

May 22, 2008 · Filed Under Silicon Valley · Comment 

This just came in and it is rather interesting.

Microsoft said Wednesday it will reward US Live Search shoppers with cash for purchases, essentially trying to buy market share it tried to win with its failed bid to take over Yahoo. Under the Live Search “cashback” programs, shoppers using Microsoft’s Internet search service will have percentages of purchases refunded. Rebate money comes from fees merchants agree to pay Microsoft if Live Search online ads result in sales.


I’m not a SEO expert, not even close and based from my experience with go.com (anyone remembers Go.com? the search engine that rewards you for every search.) I can assure you this rewarding program of Microsoft is bound to fail. This is not a reward program, as much as the name says it, this appears to be a hand-out programme and nothing comes out from a hand-out. On the other hand, some critics appear to be somewhat optimistic about this program.

“I believe it will evolve into something much more dangerous to Google over time,” Enderle told AFP. “Long term, I genuinely believe this will create a price war. Up up to the present moment, Google has been taking swipes at Microsoft. Now, Microsoft can take a swipe at Google.”

Microsoft is bankrupt of ideas; I would suggest other alternatives such as a customizable search like what Google is offering in their Adsense program.

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ReadyBoost Technology in Windows XP SP3, Increase Memory

March 20, 2008 · Filed Under How To and Online Tutorials · Comment 

ReadyBoost Technology in Windows XP SP3

Want to speed up your computer without upgrading your RAM? Microsoft ReadyBoost technology in Windows Vista has the ability to boost your system by utilizing any type of flash memory from SD card to USB Thumbdrive. I was hoping that Windows XP service Pack 3 comes with ReadyBoost technology but I doubt that is going to happen.

ReadyBoost is a great technology when you’re low on RAM, especially when you’re into graphics, multimedia and gaming, it is not as responsive as a RAM but good enough to increase responsiveness and performance to a certain level.

Fear not, eBoostr is here to save the day. eBoostr offers such an easy and relatively cheap solution to the problem of insufficient RAM, that you will have absolutely no need to buy additional memory. All you need to boost your computer performance: is plug in a flash drive, choose it as a device to speed up your computer and set the amount of the memory space to be used.

Highlights

  • Vista’s ReadyBoost benefits on your Windows XP® machine;
  • Smart caches frequently used applications and files for maximum performance speed up;
  • Supports both USB and non-USB removable media devices, as well as additional hard disks;
  • Allows up to 4 devices for simultaneous smart caching;
  • Cache file size of up to 4GB on each device;
  • Compatible with all ReadyBoost® ready devices.

eBoosts 1.1 is such a great application, for a person that is into graphic designing and still stuck in Windows XP, I would say eBoost 1.1 is a good investment, it is just 29 dollars. Don’t go on google for Cracks, Serial or Keygen, it is not worth it, support the author.

Another option besides eBoostr is to reconfigure your Windows Pagefile system, right click on ‘my computer’ properties and the proceed to change your default Pagefile system drive from C: to the one assigned by Windows for your computer, it can be E: or F: depending on the numbers of storage drives you installed in your system.

ReadyBoost Technology in Windows XP SP3, Increase Memory

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