Windows XP SP3 rumors to have Vista Features

The soon to be released in 2008 Windows XP SP3 is rumored to have Vista Features. According to NeoSmart Technologies, Windows XP SP3 build 3205, which was released to beta testers on last week, includes four new features among the many hot fixes and patches that have been issued since XP SP2.

Features allegedly said include:
- Network Access Protection (NAP), an enterprise policy enforcement technology that inspects client PCs before they access a corporate network, then updates the machines if necessary or blocks them if they don't meet specified security criteria.

- Kernel module updates containing several encryption algorithms that can be accessed by third-party developers for the in kernel-mode drivers and services.

- A new Windows activation model that doesn't require users to enter a product key.

- New “Black Hole Router” detection - Windows XP SP3 can detect and protect against rogue routers that are discarding data.

TOP 10 Vista Free Downloads to Tweak & Improve Your System

Improve your experience in Windows Vista with PCWizKid's TOP 10 free recommended downloads.

1. MZ Vista Force is a system tweaker.
Use it to accelerate performance, juice your browsing speed, clean up your hard disk, clearout bandwidth-wasting startup programs, and even fine-tune Windows Media Player and Explorer.

Many of the settings here are exceedingly fine-grained. Want to change the speed at which the Start menu search displays? With Mz Vista Force, you can. Download Mz Vista Force.

2. Vista Boot Logo Generator allows you to change it easily your boot screen with one that you created yourself or with a graphic that you find online. You'll have to create or find the image in two sizes: 1024 by 768 pixels, and 800 by 600 pixels. Both must be in .bmp format, at 24-bit color depth. Once you have them this utility replaces your boot screen with them. Download Vista Boot Logo Generator.

3. EasyBCD is a bootloader modification tool for Windows Vista with many advanced options for beginners and power users alike. It gives the user full control over everything that happens during Vista startup and can boot into Ubuntu (Linux), OS X, BSD, etc! Download EasyBCD 1.7

4. TweakUAC One annoyance are the POPUPS which I show how to disable here. Windows Vista has is it's User Account Control (UAC), which nags at you to enter a password or click OK every time you make certain changes or perform certain common actions. You can turn UAC off in Vista if you'd like, but that leaves your system vulnerable. So you might prefer to turn it on at times and off at other times. TweakUAC lets you quickly and easily switch UAC on and off.
Download TweakUAC.

5. Amnesty Generator lets you convert almost any online widget or gadget to a Vista-compatible gadget that you can then run on the Sidebar.
Download Amnesty Generator.

6. vLite lets you remove Vista components that are hard to get rid off. It also lets you tweak Vista in various ways, such as turning Aero on even if your hardware says it can't be run. Once you've switched off components and tweaked the operating system to your heart's content, vLite helps you create a Vista installation DVD containing your new stripped-down operating system. Download vLite

7. Feed Plus. If you use IE 7 and the RSS blog reader built into it, you will like this enhancement from Microsoft. It enables you to read all of your feeds from a single location, instead of having to read one feed at a time. This is especially useful for people like me who subscribe to dozens of feeds. Rather than wasting precious moments clicking from feed to feed, you'll find them all in a single location. Download Feed Plus

8. Vista Battery Saver. If you use a laptop with Vista, then you may want to saves battery life on your Windows Vista PC. It automatically deactivates Windows Aero and the Windows Sidebar when your laptop runs on battery power, which the author claims will extend battery life. You can also have the program automatically turn off Aero or the Sidebar when your batter level drops below a limit that you set. Download Vista Battery Saver

9. CCleaner is one of my favorites which I review here. It combines a system cleaner that removes unused and temporary files from your system and also a fully featured registry cleaner! CCleaner allows Windows to run faster, more efficiently and gives you more hard disk space. Download CCleaner

10. Vista Firewall Control

Protects your applications from undesirable network incoming and outgoing activity, controls applications internet access. Allows you to control personal information leakage via controlling application network traffic. Whenever an application tries to access the Internet, a screen pops up, with the application name, the publisher, and similar information, as well its path and file name. You can enable or disable inbound or outbound connections it tries to make, either permanently, or just this one time.

Download from here.

For an all in one powertoy utility for Windows Vista Tweaking, I recommend TweakVi. Download the free edition, click on the image below


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Microsoft Releases new fixes for VISTA users

Hear the news yet? Microsoft has released another set of fixes this last 2 weeks for Windows Vista users. Since the Beta Service pack 1 release, it seems Microsoft has learnt a few things about patches on Vista and is slowly releasing fixes to ensure the final Service pack doesnt cause too much commotion.

These series of fixes are mostly relating to improving speed and reliability performance and Vista x64 issues with Windows Vista.

You can get the fixes from Microsoft website here

Security Update for Windows Mail for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB941202) A security issue has been identified in Windows Mail that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it.	10/8/2007
Security Update for Windows Mail for Windows Vista (KB941202)	10/8/2007
Security Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB933729) A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it.	10/8/2007
Security Update for Windows Vista (KB933729) A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it.	10/8/2007
BITS Repair Tool for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB940520) The BITS Repair Tool will help you fix a problem caused by the corruption of BITS state files.	10/2/2007
Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB941651) This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista in certain scenarios.	10/1/2007
Update for Windows Vista (KB941651) This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista in certain scenarios.	10/1/2007
Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB941600) This update resolves some reliability issues in the USB core components on the Windows Vista operating system.	10/1/2007
Update for Windows Vista (KB941600) This update resolves some reliability issues in the USB core components on the Windows Vista operating system.	10/1/2007
Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista (KB941229) This update addresses issues with Media Center for Microsoft Vista.	10/1/2007
Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB941229)	10/1/2007
Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB941649) This update resolves some compatibility and reliability issues in Windows Vista. By applying this update, you can achieve better reliability and hardware compatibility in various scenarios.	10/1/2007 10/1/2007
Update for Windows Vista (KB941649) This update resolves some compatibility and reliability issues in Windows Vista. By applying this update, you can achieve better reliability and hardware compatibility in various scenarios.