Question:

Hi Tony,

Is there a Windows Vista version of Windows Messenger (SIP Communication)? What version (minimum) of Windows Messenger will run on Windows Vista?

The Windows Vista Business version does not have a Media Center. Can this be added on to it? How?

Ilook forward to a response from you.

Thank you.

Answer:

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Sometimes, an application gives you a generic error that a file or setting is missing or unavailable, but doesn’t give you enough information to identify exactly what it’s trying to open. With this free download from Microsoft, Process Monitor, you can monitor all activity on your computer, including the exact registry keys and files being accessed, and whether or not each access attempt was successful.

Process Monitor replaces FileMon and RegMon (tools made by the SysInternals guys, who are now part of Microsoft) by duplicating the functionality of each. To use it, follow these steps:

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Live Messenger 8.1 is finally out of beta. Hopefully, it won’t crash as often. Don’t forget to close Messenger and Outlook first (it’ll warn you if you don’t), and disable all those unnecessary components!

Interestingly, setup didn’t require a UAC prompt until half-way through setup…

Tip of the hat to Steve Clayton for cluing me in–not sure why Messenger didn’t notify me of the update automatically.

My server has been randomly freezing ever since I upgraded the memory. So, I wanted to run a memory test. For some reason, my bootable copy of Memtest x86+ wasn’t working… probably because it’s scratched from the awful way I stored it.

Anyway, off I went to burn a new bootable ISO. Vista can burn DVDs, but I don’t know of any way to burn a bootable DVD. Of course, the tool I normally use–Roxio (it was on my Dell when I bought it, with Windows XP)–wouldn’t work in Vista. So, I was off to find a new tool to burn bootable CD/DVD images.

I found three free tools that work with Vista:

• DeepBurner. The free version works great. This is the one I ended up using.
• ImgBurn. Another free tool reported to work.
• Magic ISO Maker. A more robust tool for coverting, editing, and burning CD/DVD image files.

If you prefer a different tool, add a comment to let us know why.

I’ve always thought Windows guys should put more time into learning scripting. That’s always been one of the big advantages of UNIX–the platform has had an incredible scripting infrastructure, and UNIX admins always knew how to create scripts to automate their work.

Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and especially Windows Vista have greatly improved scripting. Now, you can do almost anything from the command-line or a script. Windows PowerShell takes those capabilities to the next level. If you’re in IT, I highly recommend reading up on it–you’ll save yourself time in the long run. If you have development or scripting experience, it’ll be that much easier to learn. If you don’t, it’s still very much worth your time.

Download the 32-bit version here, and the 64-bit version here. Also, check out the Windows PowerShell blog.

This isn’t the usual batch of security updates–these improve reliability when transitioning between power states (if you use HD audio, like me–whew), application compatibility (I couldn’t get to the KB article, so I have no more specific information), and some other more minor improvements.

Also, two Ultimate Extras are available for those of us who ponied up for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition:

• Hold Em Poker Game. Haven’t played it, I’m not much of a poker guy.
• BitLocker and EFS Enhancements. BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool (which partitions your drive for BitLocker, making these instructions obsolete), and Secure Online Key Backup, which stores your BitLocker and EFS keys on a Microsoft server in case you lose them. Losing encryption keys means you can’t access your files, so it’s nice that MS is offering to keep a copy for us. In business environments, you can do this internally with the Active Directory.

We’re starting to see more reliable gadgets, so I thought I’d give another quick overview of my favorites (in order shown in the above screenshot):

• Remote Desktop Gadget. Lets you type a hostname and connect using Remote Desktop. I wish it had a drop-list of recently used names.
• Ping Gadget. Gives you an idea of your current network performance by showing ping latency to a host you specify (yahoo.com works if you can’t find a closer host).
• Memory Meter. Shows your current memory utilization, your total memory, and the size of your paging file. Multi Meter (the next gadget) also shows you the memory utilization, so you can get away with just using that and save some space.
• Multi Meter. Shows your processor and memory utilization. There are versions of this for quad, dual, and single-core computers (I have the dual-core). Check out the Gadget Gallery for other options.
• Presto’s Hard Drive Monitor. Shows you the free space on any of your hard disks. View the options to pick the hard disks you view. I liked DriveInfo, too, but Presto’s is a little simpler.
• IPConfig. Shows you your current IP address (you can pick from multiple network adapters). Great if you’re a mobile user, or if you use VPNs a lot.
• Windows Firewall Profile (not shown above). Shows whether your current network profile is public, private, or domain. Good for mobile users who access public networks sometimes.

I also like the Outlook Upcoming Appointments gadget for Outlook 2007.

Download your LifeCam software here.

‘Bout time! Business Desktop Deployment 2007 is ready to download–the real release version 1.0. If you have more than a handful of Windows Vista or Windows XP computers to deploy, you’ll want to download BDD and Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), and follow the guidance in BDD. For more information, read this Vista Deployment Overview.
I was one of the documentation authors, writing the Security and Plan, Build, & Deploy guides.

Better late then never–Microsoft LifeCam software is now available for Windows Vista. Well, it says it’s available, but the Select your operating system list still only shows Windows XP, and it’s still version 1.2.1, so I guess they’re still in the process of posting it. I’m glad to see them showing something available because I bought a couple of these cameras in December specifically because they were made by Microsoft, and I was sure they’d be natively supported by Vista.

LifeChat folks, you’ll have to wait until February.

Update: Microsoft changed the page to say the drivers aren’t yet “availalbe” after all. Well, we’ve only got one week left in January…

Microsoft is offering this free download to allow you to use Office 2007 to save files as a PDF or XPS file. It works with any of the following Office apps:

• Microsoft Office Access 2007
• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
• Microsoft Office Visio 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2007

Thanks for the tip, Namoskar!

XPS files are formatted documents like PDF files, except open source. Windows Vista includes an XPS reader, so you should be able to view it just by double-clicking the file in Explorer.

Unless you have Firefox installed. Then, Windows Vista will try and open it in Firefox, which will prompt you repeatedly asking how to deal with the file.

To view the XPS file, follow these steps:

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Hate your computer to look like everyone else? Dan has released an updated version of the Vista Boot Logo Generator (v1.1). It’s 32-bit only (no 64-bit version available). He calls it a beta.

There’s a new version of Google Earth, the mapping program that’s more fun than a game. It’s a little slow at the moment.

It’s not officially supported on Vista, but I can’t really slap Google’s hand, because Microsoft has lots of software that’s not supported on Vista yet. It does run, though. It’s just a little buggy. On my newer Dell D820 laptop with the NVidia video adapter, graphics are flakey in DirectX mode. OpenGL works, but it’s wicked slow. On my older Vista laptop, there’s no flakiness. The big problem is that textured buildings don’t work in Vista (as shown working correctly in the picture above). 3D buildings show up, but without textures enabled.

Update: Textures are working now. I think the server that provides them was just overburdened for a moment.

Windows XP included several security templates (.inf files that represent a computer’s security configuration), but Windows Vista includes none. Want some? Download and install the Windows Vista Security Guide.

The Windows Vista Security Guide includes several templates:

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