Tag: Windows

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News

Microsoft to kill “Money” by June 30, 2009

By the end of this month, Microsoft Money – the highly regarded personal finance software would stop selling after 18 whole years. Microsoft says that the changing customer patterns and greater functionality of bank and brokerage Web sites drove the decision.

Apparently, some early Microsoft Money users have more than 15 years of financial data stored in the product. Microsoft is working on ways to help users transition to other desktop products if they choose.

Although Microsoft will stop selling the product at the end of June, it plans to support it through January 2011. According to Microsoft, an expired version of Money Plus could be used indefinitely on the computer and configuration currently in place, with the exception of some of the services and features. Microsoft does not guarantee the compatibility with future operating systems and hardware configurations.

Last year, Microsoft stopped selling Money at retail stores, offering it only by Internet download.

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As per Microsoft:

“With banks, brokerage firms and Web sites now providing a range of options for managing personal finances, the consumer need for Microsoft Money Plus has changed. After suspending annual updates of Money Plus in 2008, Microsoft is announcing today that we will no longer offer Microsoft Money Plus for purchase after June 30, 2009.

We would like to thank the many dedicated users who have been enthusiastic supporters of Microsoft Money over the years, as well as our partner financial institutions who helped pioneer a digital vision of financial management.

Microsoft remains committed to helping customers chart a course to financial well-being. The MSN Money Web site will continue to provide personal finance information and advice plus comprehensive market news and quotes. We will continue to evolve and enhance the online MSN offering in the coming months.”

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Products affected include:

  • Microsoft Money Essentials
  • Microsoft Money Plus Deluxe
  • Microsoft Money Plus Premium
  • Microsoft Money Plus Home & Business

Some of Microsoft’s discontinued products in last one year:

  1. Largely discontinued the Encarta encyclopedia
  2. To discontinue Windows OneCare Antivirus (with the arrival of Morro)
  3. Discontinued the sale of Digital Image Suite product (after the release of Windows Vista)

If you have more questions in mind, then please visit the FAQ section on Microsoft Money end of sales.

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News

AVG comes to India with its Free 8.5 Security Software

AVG’s has come to India with its Free 8.5 security software! AVG Technologies have entered the Indian market (home and small business) with their free security solution, challenging Microsoft’s free antivirus Morro, which is scheduled to be launched by the end of 2009.

AVG’s security solutions suite in India includes:

  • AVG Identity Protection
  • AVG Anti-Virus
  • AVG Anti-Virus + Firewall
  • AVG Internet Security

What you get with AVG Free 8.5 Free

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AVG Free 8.5 comes with the following options to provide protection against malware or phishing attacks

  • Antivirus
  • Anti-Spyware
  • LinkScanner

AVG’s anti-virus products are distributed in India by Milestone Interactive Group.

What you don’t get with AVG 8.5 Free

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  • Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware: Protection against viruses, spyware, adware and trojans
  • LinkScanner Active Surf-Shield: Protects in real time against poisoned web pages while you’re surfing
  • LinkScanner Search-Shield: Real-time safety ratings for all search results in Google, Yahoo and MSN/Live search
  • AVG Security Toolbar: Easy access to LinkScanner tools, built-in search capability

Note:

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is for private, non-commercial, single computer use only. The use of AVG Free within any organization or for commercial purposes is prohibited.

Compatibility

This AVG Free 8.5 is compatible with

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  • Windows 7 (RC)
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows XP

About AVG

AVG is focused on providing home and business computer users with the most comprehensive and proactive protection against computer security threats. With more than 80 million active users around the world, the AVG family of security software products is distributed globally through resellers and through the Web and supports all major operating systems and platforms.

Now that AVG has introduced the free version in the Indian market, it plans to announce other commercial products in India soon.

Click here to download AVG Free 8.5.

Share your comments on what you think.

Link: freeAVG

(Source: press release)

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News

Microsoft’s Free Antivirus “Morro” coming soon!

More good news for Microsoft lovers… Competing with products sold by Symantec and McAfee, the world’s biggest software maker – Microsoft will soon be launching its FREE Antivirus service for personal computers! After Brazil’s Morro de Sao Paolo beach, the free service is code-named as Morro!

Currently, Microsoft is testing the product within the organization with their employees. Once the testing completes, Microsoft plans to make a trial version or maybe a product beta which will be available for the general public from its website.

Morro to take over Microsoft’s Live OneCare?

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Morro is being introduced into the market after Microsoft’s commercial flop – Live OneCare 3 years ago. Microsoft had announced in November that it plans to burry that product suite and is gearing up to make a come back with the free Morro service by the end of 2009. We are still unsure about its exact launch date.

Windows Live OneCare will continue to be sold for Windows XP and Windows Vista at retail through June 30, 2009. Direct sales of OneCare will be gradually phased out when “Morro” becomes available.

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Features

According to Microsoft, Morro will offer basic features like fighting wide range malicious software including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans, making it comparable to low-end consumer products already existing in the market.

It is being said that the launch of the free Antivirus from Microsoft could overthrow sales of Symantec and McAfee products that cost about $40 per year, currently generating billions of dollars a year.

Supported Operating Systems

“Morro” will be available as a stand-alone download and offer malware protection for

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  • Windows XP
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows 7 operating systems.

Microsoft says that when used in conjunction with the ongoing security and privacy enhancements of Windows and Internet Explorer, this new solution will offer consumers a robust, no-cost security solution to help protect against the majority of online threats.

It sure will be very interesting to see how the features of Morro would compare against products from its competitors. Let’s wait and watch!

Share your comments on what you think.

(Source: Microsoft press pass)

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News

Microsoft to Launch Windows 7 on October 22

Software giant Microsoft has finally announced that their latest version of Windows OS- Windows 7 will be available at stores in the US starting October 22, 2009, ahead of all expectations. Microsoft had earlier mentioned that it expected Windows 7 to come out “within three years of Windows Vista.” This would have meant early 2010.

Last month, Microsoft released a nearly final version of Window 7 – Windows 7 Release Candidate and encouraged feedback from the users to test the capabilities of the OS and fix the bugs. The OS was praised for its stability and for avoiding problems that plagued Vista. Microsoft says that Windows 7 will be replacing the much maligned Vista, and will be available in time for the holiday shopping season in October.

Microsoft also says that they will also be offering discounted or rather free upgrades to Windows 7 for people who buy a new Windows Vista PC shortly before Windows 7 arrives. However, we don’t yet know when this upgrade program begins or how much Windows 7 will cost.

Microsoft will be talking more about their international plans for Windows 7 soon.

(Source: MS Windows Blog)

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Tips

3-months FREE Panda Internet Security 2009 for Windows!

Panda Security has recently collaborated with Microsoft’s IT security campaign “Protect Your PC”. In this campaign Panda Security is giving out an exclusive gift for all the Windows users which is a 3-months FREE Panda Internet Security 2009 with no obligations.

Key Features of Panda Internet Security 2009

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  1. Anti-Malware Engine
  2. Advanced Proactive Protection
  3. Personal Firewall
  4. Anti-Phishing Filter
  5. Anti-Banking Trojan Engine [New]
  6. Anti-Rootkit Technology [New]
  7. Anti-Spam Filter [New]
  8. Parental Control
  9. Web Filter [New]
  10. Personal Information Filter [New]
  11. Backup & Restore

That’s not it… the best part about Panda Internet Security is that it can be installed on 3 computers under one license copies.

So, quickly grab this offer before it expires Download Panda Internet Security 2009 for FREE!

Link: Panda Security

[Editor’s Note: This post is submitted by our guest blogger Rayan.

If you, too would like to write for Devils Workshop, please check this. Details about our revenue sharing programs are here.]

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News

Windows 7 and the War of Software Piracy

With the release of Windows 7 RC, cyber-criminals have already started to monger it! There have been reports of illegitimate distributions of Windows 7 RC that have infected the user’s computers with malware. This could lead to potential identity theft, system failures and unrecoverable data loss. Not just that, it also costs the world economy more than 45 billion dollars annually.

Windows 7 has anti-piracy guards that show pop-up boxes to warn people when unauthorized copies of software are spied on computers.

Joe Williams, general manager, Worldwide Genuine Windows at Microsoft, says:

“Ensuring that customers can trust the product they are using is particularly important since pirated software can contain malware and can threaten a user’s personal privacy and information. In fact, in the last few days we’ve seen reports of illegitimate distributions of the release candidate of our latest Windows operating system, Windows 7, being offered in a way that is designed to infect a customer’s PC with malware. This is why it’s so important for customers to get their copies of Windows from a trusted source.”

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Microsoft’s primary goals:

  1. To enable Windows to protect itself by detecting when attempts have been made to tamper with the technology
  2. To improve the experience of activating the product easily and, when necessary, to understand and resolve any issues they might face.

There have been many instances where customers want to buy genuine software (and believed they did!) only to find out later that they were victims of software piracy. Microsoft has been focusing its anti-piracy efforts on protecting customers and partners from the evolving risks of counterfeit software and increasingly sophisticated piracy scams.

(Source: Microsoft)

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News

Windows RC 7 released for general public

A week after bringing out the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, Microsoft has released it to the general public as well.

This not being the final tested version, there are some risks involved in using it. According to Microsoft, people who wish to use this version should have some specific skills.

Users should know how to:

  1. Troubleshoot problems
  2. Burn an ISO image to create a DVD
  3. Install Windows
  4. Back up and restore their PC
  5. Set up a network
  6. Create and use a system recovery disk.
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Since Windows 7 RC is a work in progress, users may encounter technical difficulties. Hence, the users should not install the RC on their primary production machine.

Some serious issues with Windows 7 RC:

There are some serious issues you might face while using Windows 7 RC. Some of these were also occurred with Windows Vista when it was first introduced, like:

  • Some software applications, including antivirus programs, might not install or work correctly
  • Printers and video cards, may not work
  • Access to corporate or home networks may go down
  • Users’ files may get corrupt
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Click here to get the download for Windows 7 RC

Plus, by March 1, 2010, the program will begin shutting itself down every two hours. So those who still have the Windows 7 RC running on their computers will probably want to uninstall it. According to Microsoft, people will have to rebuild their test PCs to replace the operating system with a non-expired version of Windows and reinstall the programs and data, according to Microsoft. Oh boy!!!

Right now, with the complexities of installing the program, I don’t think a non-techie user would quite be interested in “testing” the product. Not me at least!

(Source: Windows 7rc)

[UPDATE]

On October 22, Microsoft will officially launch Windows 7.

The upgrades are most likely to be free for people who buy a new Windows Vista PC shortly before Windows 7 arrives. However, we don’t yet know when this upgrade program begins or how much Windows 7 will cost. Keep reading…

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Reviews

AppRemover: Get rid of the stubborn security software!

Have you been struggling to remove that security software from your machine and it just won’t budge? When you are looking to replace one security program with another, it becomes imperative to un-install the earlier security program before installing the new one, in order to avoid conflicts between two similar applications.

This can be a tricky deal! Completely getting rid of an application off your machine often is a challenge.

This is where AppRemover comes in handy. AppRemover is a FREE application (for personal, non-commercial, use) that completely removes applications and extraneous files left behind on a machine. Now you could thoroughly uninstall security applications such as Anti Virus and Anti Spyware from your computer.

When to use AppRemover?

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Use AppRemover when:

  1. You are replacing one security application with another
  2. Two similar security applications standstill your computer
  3. The built-in uninstall process of the program fails
  4. You have forgotten the application password

It’s easy to use!

  1. Download the file
  2. Double click on the AppRemover icon
  3. AppRemover will uninstall any detected antivirus and antispyware applications on your computer

Operating Systems it supports:

  • Windows 2000
  • Windows 2003
  • Windows XP (32 / 64 bit)
  • Windows Vista (32 / 64 bit)
  • Windows 2008
  • Windows 7 beta

Click here to download AppRemover.

If you have more questions in mind, click here

(Source: AppRemover)

(Image Credits: AppRemover)

Categories
News

Free Windows 7 for a year!

Microsoft Corp will let users use Windows 7 Release Candidate for free. Next week you could download Windows 7 and use it till 2010. This is significantly longer than the timeframe it had set for Windows Vista’s candidate releases that remained fully functional for some eight months only.

The general public can download Windows 7 starting May 5, 2009 that will not expire until June 1, 2010. MSDN and TechNet subscribers however were slated for the download on April 30. Apparently, Microsoft’s download sites for both services were overloaded.

Free Windows 7 for over a year? But why?

We don’t know yet. Microsoft hasn’t explained why. Well may be it is a marketing strategy or a genuine attempt to get users feedback.

I am quite exited about the release. Let’s just wait and watch!

(Source: Windows blog)

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News

Microsoft XP in less than $15

Well, well, don’t jump over! While the news is still reported to be a leak, it also has some ifs and buts!

The exact news (leak) is that Microsoft has dropped the price of Windows XP for Netbooks to under $15 per license, which is almost one third of the price of a Windows Vista license that Microsoft typically charges the manufacturers of normal laptop makers when they bundle it with their products.

What is Netbook?

As you may already know, Netbooks are the small portable laptops, designed mostly for accessing only the Internet and remote web-based applications. If you wish to read more about Netbooks, then I will suggest you to visit this page on our all time favorite resource center wikipedia, but only after you read this post completely.

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Some Trends

  • Netbooks worldwide are picking up fast from mere 1% market share of the total laptop market in July to an alarming 19% month-on-month market share of laptops in December 2008. [Source: Pricegrabber report]
  • According to an estimate, almost thirty times more netbooks were sold in 2008 than in 2007 (400,000). [Source: eetimes]
  • For 2009, it is estimated that netbook sales will grow 189% to 21.5 million. [Source: eetimes]

All in all, netbook market seems to be the next big fish in this era of economic slowdown, no wonder all the biggies are pulling up their socks to get the big pie.

Here is a quick summary of what is happening in the market:

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  • ASUS has allocated engineers to develop netbook based on Google’s Android platform.[Source: Bloomberg]
  • Microsoft attributed its significant declines in Windows revenues last year largely to strong sales of netbooks that undercut its normally much more profitable business. [Source: electronista]
  • Microsoft has already confirmed that it will be providing a version of Windows 7 specifically designed for netbooks. [Source: CNET UK]
  • Dell and HP, the two biggest PC makers, both released a “Mini” series (the Inspiron Mini and HP Mini) in the netbooks market last year.
  • 70% of the total Netbook sales have been in Europe. [Source: UMPC]

So what do we expect?

  • A price war at a B2B level will definitely be transferred down to the consumer level. So expect a further slash in the netbooks prices in the US and Europe.
  • With 3G services being launched in India, the netbooks sales are poised to pick up fast in the Indian market too.

What is in it for me?

Well I would like to see Microsoft extending its price cut policy to off-the-shelf windows licenses for notebooks and PCs in the Indian market. Does anyone have the exact figures of the pirated OS market in India? I am sure no one would like to go for a pirated Windows if they could get a genuine one for Rs. 500. Microsoft could sure earn heavy bucks if they get into a price cut and volume sales game in India.

Anyone from Microsoft board room reading this??? 🙂

(Source: Electronista)

(Image Credit: Digital Tech News)