Items tagged with Windows Vista
For those of you who have been clinging to Windows Vista all this time, you have our respect. The same is true of vegetarians. With meatier alternatives out there, we cannot fathom why anyone would want to stick with Vista (or just veggies), but more power to you. However, it might be time to think about a change. As of today, Microsoft has ended any and all support for Vista. This day was a long time coming. Microsoft had already ended mainstream support for Vista several years—April 10, 2012, to be exact. Now five years later, the extended support period expires as well. What that means is no more security patches or hotfixes for the legacy operating system, which is now three generations behind...
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Hardware enthusiasts that read HotHardware surely aren’t running a tired and busted operating system like Windows Vista, right? Besides the fact that the OS was widely panned following its release on January 30th 2007, Windows Vista is a decade-old operating system that is antiquated in today’s modern computing age. However, for those of you that are somehow still clinging to Windows Vista, Microsoft is making it clear that time is nearly up for the operating system. On April 11th, Microsoft is pulling the plug on support for Windows Vista, which means that that the company will end the practices of providing security updates and hotfixes. In addition, Microsoft will no longer provide...
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Blizzard will soon be turning a cold shoulder to users who are still running Windows Vista or Windows XP. Starting sometime later this year, Blizzard said it begin the process of ending support for both legacy operating systems in several of its popular games, including World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo II, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. They're just too old for Blizzard to continue supporting."Microsoft ceased mainstream support for these versions of Windows in 2009 and 2012, respective, but since a decent portion of our audience was still using them at the time, we continued supporting them. However, there have been three major Windows releases since Vista, and at this point, the...
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Gmail is ending support for Chrome browser versions 53 and earlier by the end of the year, Google announced in a blog post. Normally Google would not bother announcing such a thing, but in this case it made an exception because of the impact this could have users who are still clinging to Windows XP and Windows Vista. The last supported version of Chrome on either OS was Chrome 49. "As previously announced in April 2015 and November 2015, these systems are no longer maintained by Microsoft, and we strongly encourage you to migrate to more secure and supported systems," Google said. This announcement does not necessarily mean that Gmail will stop working altogether for staunch holdouts of Windows...
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Firefox users who are still clinging to Windows XP or Windows Vista will soon have reason to consider upgrading to Windows 7 or Windows 10. Mozilla announced in a blog post that it is phasing out support for Microsoft's legacy operating systems in 2017. The phase out period will begin in March of next year when Mozilla moves users on XP and Vista to the Extended Support Release (ESR), a version of Firefox that is not updated as frequently. After that Mozilla will continue providing security updates until September before pulling the plug completely. Users do not need to take any additional action to receive the security updates. In the middle of next year, Mozilla said it will reassess how many...
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Sound the alarm, Google's ending support for its Chrome browser in Windows XP and Windows Vista! You there, on your outdated Mac, quit snickering -- Google's also cutting off support for Mac OS X versions 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion), and 10.8 (Mountain Lion). If you're rocking one of these older OSes, continue using Chrome at your own risk.Chrome will still work and dutifully load up webpages as it shuttles you around the web. However, starting in April of next year, Google will stop issuing security updates and fixes. That in essence puts a big target on your back with a flashing neon sign that reads, "Hey bad guys, look at me, I'm over here!"This is a double whammy for anyone running one...
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It appears that there is still some life left in Window’s 8. Microsoft’s current operating system has been a disappointment for the company since its release. While the OS has seen its percentage of user shares increase it has been unable to outpace Windows Vista during the same time period six years ago. According to web analytics firm Net Applications, the combined user share for Windows 8 and 8.1 is at 13.4 percent of the worlds combined number of desktops and notebooks for the month of August. That is up nine-tenths of a percentage point from July and is the first time since May for it to increase. The increase is also the largest since April which was followed by two months of...
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Microsoft is staying the course with Windows 8, the most drastic change to the Windows ecosystem since the introduction of XP, and though Windows Blue will introduce a few changes (and maybe even bring back the Start button), the touch-friendly design doesn't look like it's going anywhere. That's led to some negative reactions and press -- some of it justified and some of it way overblown -- but for now, Windows 8 is slowly and steadily increasing its share of the desktop OS market. The key word there is "slowly." According to NetMarketShare, Windows 8 increased its share to 3.82 percent in April, up from 3.17 percent a month prior and up from 1.09 percent in November 2012, a month after it launched....
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Windows XP has secured its spot in history as perhaps the most beloved version of Windows ever, and it's certainly a fan favorite to this day. That might be understating things. More than just a fan favorite, Windows XP, for better or worse, is the most used operating on the planet, according to data by Net Applications. The decade old OS can be found on almost half of all PCs with a 48.03 percent share of the OS market. That's down from 69.99 percent in November 2009 -- as far back as Net Applications allows us to look -- and down 50.5 percent in the month of September, but still well ahead of Windows 7, which is now on 34.62 percent of all PCs. Windows XP might be a dead OS walking, but it...
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The NPD Group released a statement today that points toward surprising growth in desktop sales this past February. Historically, desktop sales have trended steadily downwards for the past ten years; notebook shipments first surpassed desktop shipments in 2008. New data suggests the pendulum has oddly swung the other way—desktop unit sales were up 30 percent in February, while desktop-derived revenue grew by 33 percent.Part of what makes the jump odd is that there doesn't seem to be a reason for it. Our first thought was that OEMs like Dell and HP could have slashed prices on their Core 2 Duo desktops to make way for the Core i3/i5 products Intel launched in January, but desktop ASPs were actually...
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A tweak for Windows 7 has been making the rounds of the Internet. It's been labeled the Windows 7 "God Mode," but unlike "God Mode" in a game, it's not so godly after all.The tweak is enabled by creating a new folder and naming it with a certain text string at the end. The string is {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. The reason it's been named GodMode is because it first started circulating with the name GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. In reality, the part before .{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} can be replace by any string. The folder icon that you see after renaming the folder will then appear to be a Control Panel.How does this work? Well, those who delve in the...
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Windows 7 is picking up market share quickly (in IT terms). However, much of that is at the expense of Windows Vista, as XP users are seemingly staying put, according to a (very) recent InfoWorld survey. As tracked by InfoWorld's Windows Pulse service, Windows 7 already has more than 4 percent of the market, and that's after less than a month of general availability after its Oct. 22nd release. However, according to the survey, Windows XP's share hasn't changed during this period. It's still holding at 64 percent. Meanwhile, Vista, after three years, has only 30% of the market, while among new users registering for the InfoWorld Windows Pulse service, 7 is already up to 10 percent. While obviously...
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This week may be as big a week in the company's history as Microsoft has ever had. We know, that's a pretty bold statement, but there is a lot of evidence to back that up. Microsoft has been drowning in negative press and negative vibes for most of Vista's life; it has tried for years to spit-shine the image of its "Wow!-inducing" operating system, and by and large, it has failed. Join us to see the ten greatest features of Windows 7 that should've been in Vista, and learn how those ten features will make your life that much better if you're currently pondering the upgrade. The Top Windows 7 Features That Vista Should Have Had ...
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This week may be as big a week in the company's history as Microsoft has ever had. We know, that's a pretty bold statement, but there's a lot of evidence to back that up. Microsoft has been drowning in negative press and negative vibes for most of Vista's life; it has tried for years to spit-shine the image of its "Wow!-inducing" operating system, and by and large, it has failed. In order to really understand the importance of Windows 7, we've got to go back in time a bit and take the whole of Microsoft's work into account. For those of you old enough to remember Y2K and that underground bunker you built in order to stay safe, you're probably old enough to remember Windows ME. It's almost impossible...
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More than just a setting, XP Mode, which we wrote about earlier, consists of a Virtual PC-based virtual environment and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). This is Microsoft's "solution" for those concerned with possible issues with compatibility with older software. On Thursday, Microsoft announced the software has RTMed and will ship on Oct. 22nd, the same day as Windows 7. Windows 7 XP Mode requires a CPU that is capable of hardware virtualization. You also need to have Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise edition. To check whether a CPU can support hardware virtualization, users can download, install and run either the Intel Processor Identification Utility...
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Microsoft's latest operating system is still several months away from store shelves, but a team of Chinese hackers has reportedly found a workaround for the latest iteration of WGA. The hack is similar to cracks we saw with Vista, and uses an OEM BIOS to trick the OS into believing it doesn't need to activate. Microsoft is less than thrilled with the news, but cracks of this sort have appeared in every generation of Windows since WGA was invented, and they've not deterred the company from pushing ahead with the program. Getting an illicit copy of Windows to activate and run permanently might be a bit more trouble than it was in the days of Windows 98, but it's by no means difficult. Ironically,...
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Rumors are flying on the the Internet that the Windows 7 RTM build has been compiled, and that the build number is "7600.16384.090710-1945," which would indicate that it was compiled on July 10th at 7:45 PM. In fact, the site Has Windows 7 RTMed? has put up the message: Yes! Unfortunately, messages are mixed. While many sites are saying that's the correct build, some sites are saying "hold on a second." TechBlog, for example, said: A Microsoft spokesman told me this afternoon that no, a final build has not been declared for Windows 7, and it has not been released to manufacturing. Formally, all Microsoft is saying is that Windows 7 will RTM sometime this month. What do we think? We think that...
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To be honest, we expect Microsoft to announce some sort of Family Pack for Windows 7, much as they did for Windows Vista. To this point, there's been no official announcement, but as retailers prep their sites for the October launch of WIndows 7, they have made a few mistakes. Fadfusion.com on Friday listed something called "W7 Family Pack - Home Prem Upg" on its site for $138.99. According to the site, that's an $11 discount from the $149.99 MSRP. The software will reportedly let users upgrade as many as three PCs in a single household to Windows 7 Home Premium. Other sites reportedly had the same item selling for around the same price, and all had the same part number (GFC-00236) and UPC code...
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Good news, Windows fans/users. If you're in need of a PC now, but don't want to miss out on the Windows 7 train which officially leaves the station on October 22nd, Microsoft is stepping in to help. Today, the software giant announced that starting tomorrow (June 26th), consumers and small businesses that purchase a Vista-enabled PC from a participating computer maker or retailer will qualify for a free or low-cost upgrade to Windows 7.Unfortunately, it's hard to say exactly who those "qualified retailers/vendors" are, but we know for a fact that HP and Sony will be included. We have all ideas that most legitimate places will also abide by these rules--companies like Gateway, Dell, Acer, Asus,...
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Hear ye, hear ye! If you've been tossing around the idea of putting Windows 7 on your rig, you should probably get a move on. The Windows Team has chimed in to remind us all that Windows 7 Beta users will soon be annoyed into upgrading to Windows 7 RC1, while even those on the sidelines best grab the latter soon.Starting on July 1st, Windows 7 Beta copies will begin to reboot every two hours (can you even imagine?) and expire completely on August 1st. The Release Candidate download program will also close on August 15th, leaving just a few months to get your first taste of Microsoft's forthcoming operating system. And trust us, if you're on Vista, you definitely want to get to Win7 pronto....
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Expectations couldn't possibly be higher for Microsoft's next-generation operating system. Amazingly, this will be the first Windows OS that will actually run smoother on current-gen hardware than the prior OS. Indeed, the Release Candidate of Windows 7 that is on the market today runs far smoother on current machines than Vista, and while Vista practically drags netbooks to a crawl, Win7 hums along just fine. That said, it seems that Microsoft is keeping its hopes in check with the impending release. We already know that many businesses will be holding off on the upgrade for some time, and given the current economic situation, we'd guess that many consumers will also hold off for awhile if at...
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One of the biggest limitations to the Starter editions of Windows XP and Windows Vista is being able to run only 3 concurrent applications on a PC at a time (excluding background processes such as anti-virus software, wireless and Bluetooth, and system tools like Explorer and Control Panel). As Windows 7 Starter is going to be available on many netbooks, Microsoft has wisely decided to remove that limitation on its upcoming operating system. Despite that change, there will still be many limitations to the OS: Windows 7 Starter does not include: Aero Glass, meaning you can only use the “Windows Basic” or other opaque themes. It also means you do not get Taskbar Previews or Aero Peek. Personalization...
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