Remember to patch up! Windows XP Service Pack 3 official download link from MS servers available now!

Microsoft develops updates, fixes, and other improvements that address issues reported by the company’s customers and partners. To make it easier for customers to get these updates and enhancements, Microsoft periodically combines them into a single package, and makes that package available for all Windows customers.

You can grab them on public WIndows Update servers

Download:

Windows XP Service Pack 3
more download links

An updated version and quite the easiest-to-use photo resizer just hit the market.Now it’s got image carving capabilities.

Despite its light footprint, this wasplike (300kB) freeware tool does a hefty bi: resize by percentage, longest side, shortest side, width, height, fit in frame, or by specifying file size in kilobytes. Batch processing of files in all subfolders, generating custom reports (e.g. htlm fragments for galleries), sharpening and more. Usable as a droplet or from Explorer’s context menu. It’s definitely a good sidekick when loading up the gargantuan Photoshop CS4 is overkill. Continue Reading »
Review: Picture Resizer 3

So I guess this is what you call teaching an old dog new tricks. A couple of days ago Microsoft released a new update for Windows Vista that adds additional wireless support and functionality to the operating system through a “feature pack”.

Specifically it adds support for Bluetooth 2.1, a new “Unified Pairing” interface as well as “Windows Connect Now” updates and can only be installed on Vista SP1. Continue Reading »
Microsoft releases first Windows Vista Feature Pack

With both Windows XP and Windows Vista being available concomitantly on the market, Microsoft is doing nothing more than inviting the consumers to compare the two operating systems.

The Redmond company inherently claimed Vista’s superiority over XP, but the latest Windows client failed to deliver on the Wow promise. Microsoft’s efforts failed to convince consumers beyond the shadow of a doubt that XP is no contest for Windows Vista, but perhaps the company has not been using the right tools. Continue Reading »
The Lost Comparison: Windows Vista vs. Windows XP

In the context of Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista RTM was easy to ignore throughout, but with the introduction of Service Pack 1, the equation of the latest Windows client has evolved.

SP1 represents not only a maturity milestone for Windows Vista, but also a stage in the life of the operating system that will catalyze a boost in uptake. But at the same time, the rapidly approaching cut-off date for the availability of Windows XP and the increasing focus of the OEM market on XP’s successor mean that consumers will find it increasingly hard to avoid Windows Vista. Continue Reading »
The Art of Blocking and Dodging Vista SP1

When Windows Vista was unleashed in January 31, 2008, Microsoft was promising performance, security, innovation, all wrapped up under an umbrella of a Wow user experience.

Instead Vista got a mixed reception, and a barrage of criticism over how bloated it was, over hardware resources consumption, over hardware and software incompatibility issues, over poor support, over the nagging User Account Control, etc. Everything that didn’t tic to perfection in Vista was dissected and thrown to the dogs. And Vista made it easy… Microsoft’s own customers’ satisfaction studies for Vista indicates that potential buyers failed to warm up to the latest Windows client. The same is not valid for end users. Continue Reading »
Vista SP1 to Cure the Vista RTM Wow Hangover

Software licensing is often hard to understand. But that’s no excuse for so-called Windows experts to deliberately publish sensational stories that turn the facts upside-down.

I’m talking about the fuss that Scott Dunn and Brian Livingston kicked up in yesterday’s version of the Windows Secrets newsletter, in which Dunn breathlessly proclaimed the existence of an “upgrade hack” in Windows Vista that “allows end users to purchase the ‘upgrade edition’ and install it on any PC — with no need to purchase the more expensive ‘full edition.’” Continue Reading »
A Cute Vista License Loophole

The fact that Microsoft has relaxed its antipiracy mechanism built into Windows Vista concomitantly with the release of Service Pack 1 failed to stop hackers from providing a crack for the latest version of Windows Genuine Advantage Validation.

Various reports point out that Genuine Advantage Validation and Notifications versions 1.7.69.1 (1.7.0069.1) and 1.7.69.2 released in March 2008, following the March 18 availability of Windows Vista SP1 through Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center, have been cracked. Continue Reading »
WGA for Vista SP1 Already Cracked!