Microsoft through the Sysinternals team has released Windows Desktops, which provides Mutiple Desktops within Windows XP and Windows Vista. Sysinternals created quite a few applications and utilities for the Windows Operating System that Microsoft evntually acquired them.

Theres a feature on Lifehacker about a free piece of software called DriveImage XML, that provides backups and images of your Windows Based Hard Drive. The software has four different functions that you can use to backup/image your hard drive:

I was looking for a solution to backup three of my linux machines that I have running this site and many others. After searching for some time, I didn't actually need to go with a company. I found a friend that provided me some space. During this time I did find out some useful information.

Have you ever wanted an easy way to view all of your folders sizes, without have to Right Click and select Properties on each one. This application integrates with Explorer in Windows and provides a column that shows the folders size on disk. This is very useful if you're trying to find where a big file or if you're trying to free up disk space. An excellent download and a must need for System Administrators/Power users.

Microsoft has released an Update to its Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1. This update improves on the interoperability of running "Qualified" Linux Operating Systems as guests or Virtual Machines. With added support for SuSE Enterprise Server 10, Guest and Host time synchronization, SCSI hard disk emulation and more!

The Qualified Linux Operating Systems don't include Debian, Ubuntu or any Unix/BSD OS. :(

The full article ventures into the troublesome problem that will leave you with a de-activated Vista, and the only way to get back to normal would be a call to Microsoft and a new Activation Code. Wasn't Vista going to allow 3 hardware swaps, and then you would be required to re-activate your copy of Vista?

InstantBird is a mutli-protocol Instant Messenger that uses parts of Pidgin and Firefox, it is open source and is available to Windows, Linux and MacOSX.

Instantbird is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client. Using it, you can connect to all your different IM accounts. It uses the Mozilla rendering engine to display IMs, and the Pidgin libpurple to connect to the different networks. Instantbird is a free and open source software. So you are free to use, distribute and modify it. The project is just on its first release, many features are not implemented yet. We hope you will like it and look forward to get your feedback!

Visit the official InstantBird Site

I haven't really heard of many RealPlayer exploits, however this zero day one is a nasty. This is an Internet Explorer exploit only, so if you're using FireFox you're in luck.

A very in-depth article about how Microsoft is planing its new Operating System, an engineer from Microsoft comments and agrees on how bloated Microsoft's current kernel is.

After a fresh re-install I will usually install this application to be able to view all of the images/pictures on my desktop. It's light weight with many features, one of its greatest features is its batch processing. You can resize all of your photos in one folder with a couple of clicks of a button.

Read the full article on Life Hacker

LifeHacker has a review up on their site about a little application called 'mRemote'. This is quite a piece of software and you can tell that the developers have spent some time on it. I have always been an advocate of being more organized and efficient. With mRemote everything that you need is in one screen, and everything that was left out with Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection Client is in mRemote. Tabbed windows, supports RDP, VNC, SSH2 and telnet protocols. There is also a connection manager, so you can setup all your connections and then point and click to connect.

This is a similar application to PC Backup, both are software managed backups which are open sourced and free as in beer. I will be doing a review of this software if time permits, as it does look really good instead of manual rsync backups.

RESTORE 4.0a28-1 (Default branch) - RESTORE is an enterprise network backup and recovery solution for Windows, Novell, Mac OS X (data fork), Unix, and Linux systems. It is scalable to a complete backup solution for multiple workstations, servers, and data centers. It operates over local area networks, wide area networks, and the Internet.

LifeHacker Has a walk through of how to customize Microsoft Windows XP with Tweak UI, with included screen shots.

Customize Windows XP with TweakUI - One of the best tools for fine-tuning Windows XP is the free TweakUI PowerToy utility from Microsoft. TweakUI digs deep into Windows' settings and can customize its behavior dozens of ways, from how many icons appear on the Alt-Tab dialog to Explorer context menu choices to what your program shortcuts look like. TweakUI's been around forever and we've mentioned it here and there throughout the years at Lifehacker, but it's high time we gave it the full walk-through it deserves. After the jump, take a gander at 15 useful adjustments you can make to your XP system with TweakUI.

Thunderbird is a pretty great open sourced mail client that is available on multiple platforms and for free. From the beginning its development has been mostly be shadowed by FireFox. The two core developers of Thunderbird have left Mozilla, which is a big blow to the ongoing development of Thunderbird. Will Thunderbird not longer get as many updates or new features? Will development complete stop? Only time will tell.

Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 due in Q1 '08 - The first service pack for Windows Vista is on its way, and PC Magazine has a preview of an early private beta version. [Digg Main]

Microsoft knows that XP will still be alive on desktops for the next 2-3 years before hardware will be put in place to utilize Vista. Therefore they have made available some of the features within Vista, in a new service pack for XP. At this point, Vista is really buggy and crashes often. I've even reverted back to XP after continued nightmares with Vista. I hope the new service for Vista brings some stability to the operating system that was originally slated to replace XP, but hasn't done so quite yet.

Notepad++ v4.1 released - Notepad++ is a free generic source code editor (and Notepad replacement), which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment.

The version 4.1 is available. In this release not only the interface of Find in files dialog is improved distinctly, but find, replace and find in files dialogs are now 3 in 1.

The version 1.73 of Scintilla include the CMake lexer. And just by chance, I worked a lot with CMake recently at work, so I updated Scintilla from v1.71 to v1.73, and supports the language of CMake. CMakeLists.txt is also available for the source code of Notepad++ (in "src" directory). It's tested only with the generation of VC project file, but not with the generation of MinGW makefile.

3 new plugins are added in this release : SpellChecker, NppExec and QuickText. SpellChecker help you to corect the tipos in your document. You should have aspell instaled to make it work. With NppExec plugin you can execute your commands or saved scripts without leaving Notepad++. It makes you triple your productivity! QuickText is a snippet manager. Once you define all your snippet in you beloved language, type the macro keyword then Ctrl+Enter - I can hear you say "wow".

Another new feature is the clickable URL (http only). It's rather a gadget, but I like it.

v4.1 fixed bugs and added features (from v4.0.2) :

1. Fix the crash issue while saving settings on quit.
2. Fix the crash issue while using the command line with one launched Notepad++ instance.
3. Enhance Find in files feature :
* Improve Find in files user interface (more intuitive).
* The search result (also for find in all opened files) is docked on the bottom of Notepad++.
* Recursive search is optional.
* Search result is collapsable by file.
* User defined keywords for search result.
4. Add tabbing interface in Find dialog : Find/Replace/Find in files
5. Add clickable URL http link feature (double click to trigger).
6. Add cmake language support.
7. Add mark all without launching Find dialog (Ctrl+M).
8. Fix the ROFL (Recent Opened File List) bug : try to open a non-existing file from ROFL, the full file path doesn't be removed from ROFL.
9. Enhance the backup feature : in verbose mode, the file will be backed up in .\nppBackup directory.
10. Update Scintilla component to v1.73

For further information about this project, see :
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/
and the project page :
http://sourceforge.net/projects/notepad-plus/

Don

[SourceForge]

Google says Vista search changes not enough - Google reacts to Microsoft's joint filing with the DOJ, calling for more changes to the way Vista works with third-party search products. Microsoft's changes fall far short of Google's requests.Read More...

[Ars Technica]

Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.5.1 Build 3354 - Spy Sweeper safeguards your identity and restores system performance through fast, smart and powerful anti-spyware protection. Spy Sweeper protects against all types of spyware, including system monitors, Trojan horses, and other threats like CoolWebSearch, Look2Me, and more. Spy Sweeper's advanced removal engine deletes the toughest spyware programs - even removing mutated or "rootkit" spies, some of the nastiest next-generation spyware threats - which are specifically designed to avoid detection and removal. This removal technology saves time and effort by eliminating these vicious threats in one sweep - requiring no need for multiple reboots. As soon as it's installed, Spy Sweeper with AntiVirus offers 360 degrees of protection against spyware and viruses and is now compatible with Windows Vista. Product features include: * Detect and disinfect viruses, spyware, Trojans and worms at the point of infection to keep your PC safe * Your PC can be completely cleaned and disinfected in just a couple of mouse clicks - it's that easy. * Protect your PC and your Internet activities without any cumbersome configuration using Spy Sweeper with AntiVirus software. Read full story...
[NeoWin-Software]

Wow, Hey Bill Gates your OS sucks, please send a Service Pack. K Thx.

DOJ Pushes Microsoft to Produce Vista SP1 Beta in '07 - It's unusual, but confirmation of the availability of Windows Vista's first service pack came Tuesday not from Microsoft Corp., but from the U.S. Department of Justice. Tucked into the government's 27-page joint status settlement report released late Tuesday was evidence that Microsoft will put the beta of Vista SP1 into users' hands before the end of the year. The report also confirmed Windows XP SP3, but did not specify beta or final release dates, although it said some code would be finalized this summer.Microsoft has been loath to talk about either service pack, but has been particularly mum about Windows Vista SP1, a widely-anticipated bug update that some enterprise users are waiting on before deploying the new operating system. As recently as April, when Intel Corp.'s CEO Paul Otellini hinted that Vista SP1 would likely release in October or November, Microsoft refused to confirm any schedule. "We will continue to take customer feedback from programs like the TAP [Technology Adoption Program], and will ultimately determine an official delivery date as the service pack is nearer to completion," a company spokeswoman said at the time. View: Full Story News source: PC World Read full story...

[NeoWin-Main]

No virtualization for home or premium? Is a ploy to take more money back from the consumer to buy the "super-duper-more-expensive" version so that you can do virtualization?

Microsoft ditches about-face on virtualization restrictions at 11th hour - Microsoft this week was about to relent and allow the (legal) virtualization of Windows Vista Home Premium and Home Basic. Then the company pulled the plug on the announcement, but there are signs that a change is still possible.Read More...

[Ars Technica]

Driver Sweeper is a fast tool to remove driver leftovers from your system. It's very important to remove your drivers on a proper way, because driver leftovers can cause problems like stability and startup problems. You can use it if you want to update/remove drivers from your system.

Guru3D Driver Sweeper 0.4.5 - [WArp2Search]