With IE9, though, Microsoft is trying to rebuild the browser for the Web that’s to come through new standards such as HTML5 and CSS3, updates to Hypertext Markup Language for describing Web pages and Cascading Style Sheets for formatting.

1^st developer preview of IE9 was launched on March 16, 2010.

The preview is bare bones and doesn’t have much in terms of user interface. Still, it provides a good glimpse into what we can expect from IE9: a complete reboot. It supports HTML5, the new version of the mark-up language that supports more dynamic webpages, video embedding, and geolocation. Microsoft also focused on adhering to web standards. IE9’s Acid3 test — a measure of how well a web browser follows certain web standards — achieves a score of 55/100. Microsoft also shows off its improved compliance with CSS, including rounded corners (if you’ve ever developed for previous version of IE, this is definitely a sore spot). Microsoft also seems intent on being compatible with CSS3, which is currently under development. However, IE9 will not support Windows XP. But it could prove to be a smart move, as it might help push more people to upgrade to Windows 7.

May 5 2010: 2^nd developer preview of IE9 released.

The new preview offers a higher ACID 3 test score, 68 out of 100, and there’s a 117-millisecond improvement in speed according to Webkit.org’s SunSpider benchmark tests. Microsoft didn’t provide exact numbers for context.

Webkit.org's SunSpider Performance Update

Microsoft promised improved performance and graphics support, and the company said it’s been working closely with standards bodies. It submitted 79 new tests to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) responsible for HTML 5 compliance, bringing the total to 183.

The 2^nd release builds on the first Platform Preview, delivering improvements to IE9’s performance, support for standards, and hardware acceleration of HTML5.

Another headline element for IE9 is a new JavaScript engine. When it comes to these engines for running Web-based programs, Chrome has V8, Opera 10.5 has Carakan, Safari has Nitro, and Firefox has the new JaegerMonkey.

Now Internet Explorer has its own new name for a JavaScript Engine: Chakra. One big change in the JavaScript engine is its multicore support. As soon as a Web page is loaded, Chakra assigns a processing core to the task of compiling JavaScript in the background into fast code written in the native language of the computer’s processor.

Microsoft has also updated the test drive site with a new set of developer samples to show what developers can do with GPU-powered HTML5. As part of its commitment to enabling developers to use the Same Markup – the same HTML, CSS, and script – on the web, it has contributed many new tests to the W3C for HTML5, as well as CSS3 Media Queries and DOM. The Developer Tools in this preview include some new features to make finding and fixing markup issues easier.

The IE9 Platform Preview itself is a change, too. Previously, Microsoft delivered a more finished product to the world. Now it’s trying to get feedback at an earlier stage of development. And it’s explicitly seeking comment on a wide range of elements.

The platform preview installs side by side with Internet Explorer 8 so that you can try it without replacing the full IE that comes with Windows. This second release of the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview will install over the first version. There is no need to uninstall the first Preview before installing second.  You’ll also find more information on what’s included in this release of the Platform Preview in the Release Notes, including known and resolved issues.

You can download the 2^nd developer preview from here.

Windows has a set of certain folders which are identified by unique strings referred to as CLSID or Windows Class Identifiers. These folders can be accessed by using the CLSID identifier codes that Windows assigns to each individual folder in the windows Registry. If you know the codes, you can launch these with ease.

In general language , God Mode is a place where you can find all the administrative tools and can configure your system the way you wish too.

Here is the List of all the CLSID:

Administrative Tools.{D20EA4E1-3957-11d2-A40B-0C5020524153} 
All Tasks.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} 
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002b30309d} 
Fonts.{D20EA4E1-3957-11d2-A40B-0C5020524152} 
Computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} 
Documents.{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103} 
History.{ff393560-c2a7-11cf-bff4-444553540000} 
Network Places.{208d2c60-3aea-1069-a2d7-08002b30309d} 
Printers and Faxes.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} 
Programs Folder.{7be9d83c-a729-4d97-b5a7-1b7313c39e0a} 
Recycle Bin.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} 
Start Menu.{48e7caab-b918-4e58-a94d-505519c795dc} 
Scheduled Tasks.{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

But instead of going in for all those things , we have a God mode creator created by My Friend Ritesh for The Windows Club.

Simply click on the desired button and it will create the Special Folder or “GodMode” shortcuts on your desktop.

You can Download it from here:

This freeware consists 20 most needed shortcuts to programs that we need in daily computer use. Though we have Windows access Panel for the same but some people prefers shortcuts to access them, for those users Handy Shortcuts would be of great use.

With a click it can create the following shortcuts on your Windows desktop:

• Lock WorkStation,
• Switch Account.
• Shutdown,
• Restart,
• Log Off,
• Hibernate,
• Show Desktop,
• Uninstall Programs,
• Device Manager,
• Security Center,
• Windows Defender,
• Windows DVD maker,
• Flip 3D,
• Launch Screen-saver,
• Disable Windows Firewall,
• Enable Windows Firewall,
• Clear Clipboard,
• Connect to Internet,
• Safely Remove Hardware and
• a Master Control Panel.

It has been tested on Windows 7 & Vista, 32-bit & 64-bit.

Download

Ritesh has created many more of such handy tools which you may find very much helpful.Here they go:->

1. Prevent-Disables copy paste on your computer
2. Windows Access Panel-Provides shortcuts to access all services of Windows

If you like this you may also like 99 shortcuts for Windows 7 and Vista

Incoming search terms:

• shortcut creator freeware

Additional information and recommendations should become available over time, too.
This tool should benefit just about everyone, considering that most sites’ visitors are impatient and sites do better when they stick around.  If you notice something odd (or good) about the Site Performance feature, just be sure to let Google know through the Webmaster Tools Forum.

Source: Webpronews

Microsoft Office 2010 provides you powerful new ways to deliver your best work – whether you’re at work or at home, whether you are travelling in a cab or on a flight, whether you are working on a PC, browser or phone. By offering more ways to access your files from virtually anywhere, Office 2010 puts you in control.

As part of Wednesday’s Office 2010 Beta Announcement we announced the availability of the Office Mobile 2010 Beta — today’s post describes some of the exciting work we’ve done related to mobility in more detail.  Specifically, we’ll talk more about the experiences that make Office 2010 the mobile information worker’s best set of productivity tools on the phone.

Basically, there’re two major offerings we provide for mobile information workers to work on their Office documents. Depending primarily on the type of phone you have, you get to choose whichever way works best for you or is available to you. One way is with Microsoft Office Mobile 2010 and another is with Microsoft Office 2010 Mobile Viewers. We’ll discuss both in detail below, but in short….

…If you are using a Windows Phone

l You get both options. If you want to modify your Office documents, you can use Office Mobile 2010 applications providing rich user experience which customers of Microsoft Office client applications are familiar with. If you just want to quickly view the documents, you can use Office 2010 Mobile Viewers which display your documents in mobile IE browser. We will walk you through the different scenarios in upcoming posts so you know which option might work best for you.

…If you are using a phone built on a non-Windows Platform

l You get the Office 2010 Mobile Viewers option only. As previously mentioned, you get to view the Office documents in your mobile browser whether you have smartphones like iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Symbians or non-smartphones.

The Beta for Office Mobile 2010 is available worldwide in Windows Marketplace for Mobile for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones.  To try the Office 2010 Mobile Viewer, you need to have the Office Web Apps installed on your company’s Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and then you can use explorer on your phone to view Office documents on the server (read this Office Web App blog post for more information on how to deploy the Web Apps in the enterprise). 

In future blog posts, we will explore tips and tricks for the different apps and tools Microsoft Office provides to meet the demands of your busy life on-the-go with your mobile device.  In the meantime, enjoy the information below and we hope to hear your feedback soon!

Office Mobile 2010

Use Microsoft Office Mobile 2010 on your Windows phone to get the familiar Microsoft look and feel as well as the services that you’re used to.

Even when you’re on the road, you can view Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office PowerPoint documents sent as email attachments.

Word Mobile 2010, Excel Mobile 2010 and PowerPoint Mobile 2010

More at TECHNET

Microsoft has said on numerous occasions that it considers Windows Server 2008 R2 more than just an R2. However, despite this, the latest version of Windows Server is indeed considered only a minor upgrade to Windows Server 2008. Customers that are perfectly happy with Windows Server 2008 in their IT environments do have consistent reasons to upgrade, including new features such as Branch Cache and Direct Access, IIS 7.5 and virtualization improvements. Still, those who are looking for a major new version of Windows Server will have to wait at least until 2012, when the next iteration of the platform is planned for release.

Kyle provided a list with the Windows Server 2008 R2 advanced training content:

“- Windows Server 2008 R2: Building a Seamless Enterprise. This course will focus on the release of Windows 7 and how it has been coded to work succinctly with the features of Server 2008 to create a dynamic and reactive enterprise that can take advantage of the Branch Cache and Direct Access features available.

- Windows Server 2008 R2: Remote Desktop & Remote Apps. Some of the new capabilities in R2 such as Multimedia and DirectX Redirection have improved the landscape for administrators when it comes to RDP connections. This course will delve into some of the details and improvements found in the new release.

- Managing with Windows Server 2008 R2. The interactive controls and tools that were introduced in Server 2008 have been re-geared to give administrators even more leverage when it comes to performing everyday tasks. This course will focus on some of these including improved Identity Management within Active Directory as well as the new Powershell improvements.

- Windows Server 2008 R2: Web Server Improvements. This course will look at the new IIS 7.5 and some of the capabilities that come with it such as improved FTP as well as new management tools like Configuration Editor and Enhanced Auditing.

- Windows Server 2008 R2: Virtualization Enhancements. This course will delve into the areas where R2 has been streamlined and improved in the realm of virtualization. We will look at the enhancements made to Hyper-V in particular with new features such as Live Migration and Dynamic VM storage.”

thanks to Softpedia for the news

“A rollback may (…) occur when the third-party driver Sptd.sys is installed on the computer. This driver is distributed with several applications such as Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%. We recommend that you temporarily uninstall third-party CD/DVD Authoring or Virtualization software that could contain this driver before you upgrade the computer to Windows 7,” Microsoft noted.

In the past, the software giant identified Intel storage drivers as well as the unresponsive Iphlpsvc service as causes that can generate upgrade failures for … (read more)

The Beta release of Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Project 2010, and Microsoft Visio 2010 are now available. To learn more or to download the beta, go to www.microsoft.com/office2010 today. Help us by providing feedback and gain valuable hands-on experience before the release to manufacture later in the first half of the calendar year 2010.

This next wave of business productivity tools have been designed to deliver the best user experience across the PC, mobile phone and browser. By installing today, you can start learning more about the products, we’ll be here with more learning tools asap, enjoy!

Download the Beta Now

Security Compliance Toolkit

Microsoft released new Security Compliance Toolkits today to help Microsoft customers: plan, deploy, and monitor the security baselines of computers running Windows 7 and BitLocker Drive Encryption, plus many other products. You are given a choice of  preconfigured security baselines depending on if your within an enterprise or at home, once selected you apply the settings to your operating system and Microsoft applications. I hope Windows 8 will included this by default!

Security Help included in the Windows 7 version

• Security Guide –This guidance provides you with best practices and information about automated tools to help you plan and deploy your security baseline.
• Security Baseline Settings workbook – A resource that lists the prescribed settings for each of the preconfigured security baselines the guide recommends.
• Security Baseline XML – An XML file that allows customers to consume the data defined in the Security Baseline Settings workbook.
• GPOAccelerator tool – A tool that you can use to create all the GPOs you need to deploy your chosen security configuration.
• INF Files – INF files for Windows 7 and BitLocker.
• Baseline Compliance Management Overview – An overview that includes best practices about how to monitor security baselines for computers running Windows 7.
• DCM Configuration Pack User Guide – A step-by-step prescriptive user guide about how to use the configurations packs in Configuration Manager 2007 R2.
• DCM Configuration Packs – The toolkit includes DCM Configuration Packs for you to use with the DCM feature in Configuration Manager 2007 R2.

Source: eight forums