Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Video: Remove all remnants of the Windows Vista SP1 installation files

TechRepublic did a great job of documenting the removal of Windows Vista SP1 installation files. Here is an except from the site: "When you install Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the installation process leaves behind about 800 MBs of original Windows Vista files–in case you later want to remove SP1. Relative to current hard drives, 800 MBs isn’t that much space. But, it’s still enough space to store a couple hundred MP3 files or a few video clips. Personally, I just don’t like useless files taking up space on my drives. In this IT Dojo video, I show you how to remove all those old files using the SP1 Files Removal Tool."

If you want more information, check out my article on this subject.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Security: Personal Firewalls Review Site

Want to know how well your personal firewall might protect you from personal identity from being stolen. Check out this great comparison from matousec.com.

Here is except from their site describing the project: "This project examines personal firewalls, Internet security suites and other similar products for Windows OS that implement process-based security. We call all such products personal firewalls. In our opinion, personal firewalls should prevent spying and data and identity theft. So, we require personal firewalls to include host protection features too. The list of personal firewalls we are aware of is available on the product list page. We know that our terminology may be in conflict with the common understanding of what the firewalls are. To distinguish between personal firewalls and firewalls in the common sense, we call the later packet filters. A typical example of a packet filter is WIPFW. Most of the personal firewalls include a packet filter component. Simple packet filters are not worse than personal firewalls, they are just different kind of software – for different kind of users. This project does not examine stand-alone packet filters."

Last update: 2008-08-01

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Don't get burned by driver-update scams | WindowsSecrets.com

Windows Secrets reports: "Although you can find free tools to help keep Windows and your other software up-to-date, you'll have to pay to get the best tool for scanning your system's drivers and downloading the updates you need."

I have never been a big fan of these driver version update tools, because they never really helped me but some people like them. Although, here is a article that talks about some of the issues with this class of tools and recommends some of the better products that you might want to check out.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Microsoft Office: Liven up your Office Microsoft Documents (w/Templates)

Are you looking for different templates to spice up your Microsoft Office documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, and more.). Check out Microsoft Office's template web site. Below is a brief list of categories available on the site:
  • Agendas
  • Award certificates
  • Brochures
  • Budgets
  • Business cards
  • Calendars
  • Content slides
  • Contracts
  • Databases
  • Design slides
  • Diagrams
  • Envelopes
  • Expense reports
  • and lots more...

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Windows Vista: How to enable the DVD Library in Windows Media Center

Microsoft has posted a knowledge base article on how to enable the DVD Library feature on a Windows Vista based Media Center. This feature is enabled by default in Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. The DVD content is stored on the hard disk, and appears in the My Videos folder.

On Windows Vista-based Media Centers content is displayed in a DVD gallery. However, the DVD Library is not automatically enabled in Windows Media Center on a Windows Vista-based computer. This feature should allow you to play your commercial DVDs from the hard drive.