It is truly the OS that will not die: No matter what you think about Windows XP’s successors, the Little OS That Could has reportedly been given yet another reprieve from the high-tech dustbin. AppleInsider claims that Microsoft has agreed to another extension on sales of Windows XP, at least for Hewlett-Packard, the largest manufacturer of Windows-based PCs in the country. The new extension "assuming the report is accurate" allows sales of XP bundled with new PCs through April 30, 2010, allowing HP an extra nine months of sales.

The news puts all parties — HP, Microsoft, and consumers — in a strange situation, as Microsoft formally retired XP from shrinkwrapped sales long ago (in June 2008). More importantly, on April 14 of this year, Microsoft will end standard technical support for XP, too.

So-called extended support will be offered for XP for five more years (through April 8, 2014), which means the OS will still receive security patches and critical fixes, but the software will no longer receive feature upgrades after April 14, barely a week from now. More critically, customers will not receive any free tech support from Microsoft (though paid plans will still be available) and the company will not honor any warranty claims for XP, either.

Via Yahoo News

Post by tech.yahoo.com

Want to get rid of the mostly useless Windows Defender security tool from your Vista computer? Ha! Microsoft tricked you! You won’t find Defender in the Programs and Features control panel because you can’t uninstall the tool, at least not without serious (and unnecessary) headaches. Deleting the Defender executables can cause your computer to throw out error messages, so actually removing the code from your machine is not advised.

There’s a way to get rid of it that’s just as good as uninstalling it, though. Here’s what to do:

> Make sure you are logged in with an Administrator-level account. Run Windows Defender by launching it through the Start > All Programs menu.

> Click Tools, then click Options.

> The tricky part: Scroll down on this page all the way to the bottom. Here you’ll see a check box that reads "Use Windows Defender." First uncheck "Allow everyone to use Windows Defender" (optional if you are logged in with your regular account) then uncheck "Use Windows Defender." Click Save and you’re done. (See screenshot above for what this looks like.)

> One last step: Reboot and you’ll get a pop-up warning you that Defender is turned off. To disable this pop-up, launch the Security Center Control Panel. Click "Malware protection" to expand it. Under "Spyware and other malware protection"you’ll see "Windows Defender is turned off." Click "Show me my available options" then click "I have an antispyware program that I’ll monitor myself." (Better yet, install an actual antispyware program! You still need protection!)

Post by tech.yahoo.com

Transbar is the tiny little application for those who are looking for an easy way to add some transparency to there windows XP taskbar. This could be used in situations where you have an “extra cool wallpaper” on your desktop and you think the taskbar is stealing away its beauty.

Weighing just 88kb this tool helps you add transparency to your windows XP taskbar with just few clicks. But for our Windows Vista users, this application is not required considering Windows Vista installation already supports the Aero Glass which not only makes your Taskbar semi-transparent but it also blurs the background a bit.

This might not be a tool with loads of features but its ‘tiny little time consuming’ feature gives your taskbar an attractive look.

Download Transbar here.

Windows Live OneCare 2.5 is now available on Microsoft Connect for folks to start testing.So what’s new with Windows Live OneCare 2.5? After installing the Beta myself, I didn’t notice anything different over the non-Beta version. I decided to ping the Windows Live OneCare team to see what we can expect with Windows Live OneCare 2.5. They tell me that the Windows Live OneCare 2.5 release is mainly what they call an "under-the-hood" release. That means that we won’t see any big  new features like the great OneCare Circle introduced in 2.0.  Going forward with the Windows Live OneCare 2.5 Beta – continue to expect the improvements and changes to remain "under-the-hood" and not very noticeable in the UI.

Download from liveside | Via windowsvistablog.org

This Tweaker allows you to tweak Windows Vista in an simple, effective and secure way. With Thoosje Vista Tweaker your OS System runs faster, applications will load quicker and run smoother, plus browsing of your files and the Internet will speed up. you can also tweak your security settings.This program is completely safe and tweaks your Windows Vista system without you having the need of having personal knowledge registry and system settings.

Download links:

http://rapidshare.com/files/92884490/Thoosje-Vistatweaker-Installer.zip.html

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0EJOXC05