Microsoft Entries

With the release of Windows Vista Beta 2, I want to announce that we will be naming the version of IE7 in Windows Vista “Internet Explorer 7+”. While all versions of IE7 are built from the same code base, there are some important differences in IE7+, most significantly the addition of Windows Vista-only features like Protected Mode, Parental Controls, and improved Network Diagnostics. These features take advantage of big changes in Windows Vista and weren’t practical to bring downlevel. The IE7+ naming gives us an easy way to refer to this version.

- IE7+ running on Windows Vista: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
- IE7 running on Windows XP: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

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WindowsDevCenter.com have taken a inside look at Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2. It looks a bit like Firefox but it has some nice features that I like to see in Firefox.

Last year, I wrote a preview of IE 7 Beta 1 when Microsoft released Windows Vista Beta 1. Since then, six months have passed and the IE 7 team has released the second beta of IE 7. This IE 7 Beta 2 Preview is the first public beta designed for IT pros and developers, and it especially targets Windows XP SP2 users. IT pros and developers can use this beta preview to test their toolbars and ActiveX controls. But what about end users? In this article, I will update you on the features in IE 7 Beta 2 and what has changed since the last beta preview. Overall, I am happy with the new Beta 2 of IE 7. I have been using it for the past few days and it works quite well (it has crashed on me only once). Give it a spin and see if it works well for you.

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Following a decision to release a standalone version of IE7, browser development at Microsoft has come fast and furious. BetaNews this week sat down with Gary Schare, Director of IE Product Management, to discuss the changes coming in IE7, Firefox's growth, and how Microsoft will bring RSS to the mainstream. When BetaNews last spoke to Schare in late 2004, he explained why Microsoft had no plans to add features like tabbed browsing directly into Internet Explorer or update its CSS support. After much feedback, things changed in early 2005. With a standalone IE7 now feature-complete, Schare delves into the reasoning and gives us a look at what to expect when the browser is released later this year.
Read interview

Microsoft has detailed its forthcoming privacy Latest News about privacy and security Latest News about Security plans, which include enhancements to Internet Explorer 7 and the addition of digital rights management software into applications at the document level. Despite earlier plans not to do a browser update until Longhorn's release in 2006, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates confirmed that code for IE 7 will be available this summer in beta and in full by Christmas. The browser will incorporate antivirus technology from recently acquired Sybari, and enhanced anti-phishing software. "Anti-phishing will definitely be built in to IE 7," said Brendon Lynch, senior privacy strategist at Microsoft.
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A developer on the IE team writes about IE7 tabbed browsing implementation. His role was to re-architect IE to support tabbed browsing. This work began last year and includes building a new frame (top-level window and chrome), sorting out how to host and switch between multiple instances of the browser, and managing communication between the various internal components.
Read the blog posting

Microsoft's Internet Explorer Product Unit Manager Dean Hachamovitch recently confirmed in his weblog that Internet Explorer 7.0 would have tabbed browsing integration, a feature that's also available in Mozilla's Firefox browser. One of the many reasons Firefox has become popular is due to tabbed browsing. It was a different concept that let users open numerous windows in a single parent window. It's useful, it's popular, and it works. But I don't see how this is a major feature in need of promotion. While Hachamovitch didn't intentionally promote it himself, he did confirm it as if this is the next thing in browsers.
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According to a screenshot making its rounds on some forums, Microsoft's answer to Mozilla's Firefox, Internet Explorer 7, might be in its alpha stage. The about IE shows a build of 0719, and another screenshot shows what appears to be tabbed browsing. No mention of a leak yet, but if these screenshots are confirmed to be real, then a leak is definitely inevitable. Read more for screenshots.
See screenshot and comments

People are saying that this is perhaps a fake. A Firefox with some photoshop.

Internet Explorer 7.0 won't run just on Windows XP Service Pack 2, according to a new posting on Microsoft's "IE Blog." It also will work on follow-ons to SP2, which include Windows XP Professional x64 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, both of which are due out in the next couple of months. Still no word on whether the updated version of Microsoft's browser will run on older versions of Windows, too (specifically Windows 2000). Microsoft better get the lead out, though; IE's market share dipped below 90 percent for the first time, according to February data from WebSideStory.
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A beta, or test, version of Internet Explorer 7 will debut this summer, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect said in a keynote address at the RSA Conference 2005 here. The company had said that it would not ship a new IE version before the next major update to Windows, code-named Longhorn, arrives next year. In a reversal of policy, Microsoft will ship the next update of Internet Explorer separately from the next version of Windows.
Read more, more and more and even more about it

I sent an email to Dave Massy, chief developer on the Internet Explorer (IE) Team at Microsoft, asking him what Microsoft had in store for the next release of IE. The next major update is expected in 2006 with the release of Longhorn. I put it to him that IE may need to see some major updates and features in order to catch up with more popular (and free) alternative web browsers, like FireFox. His reply, although giving little new away, did sum up the current Microsoft position - the fact that 'it will get better'. Dave offered thought about just what Microsoft can actually do with IE to satisfy consumers and yet keep competitors from filing law suits similar to the Netscape debacle in the 90s.
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This took me quite some time to debug. Once again it made me realize why I hate hate hate Internet Explorer.

If you have a webpage on a HTTPS server with the following iframe code where you leave the src out:
<iframe id="if"></iframe>
and you view the page in Internet Explorer you'll get the following very descriptive warning.

Clicking on the More Info button doesn't give you which items it's referring to, but just a help file.

Mozilla Firefox correctly doesn't produce this error.

Leaving the src attribute out of the iframe is common, when you want to fill the src attribute programmatically.

The solution you ask? Create a blank.html page and then write:
<iframe id="if" src="blank.html"></iframe>
The blank.html only contains <html></html>

Soon, I took the plunge, reinstalled Windows XP, and created a limited user for my day-to-day activities. This was indeed a drastic switch from the administrative privileges I was use to. Even changing the date and time required logging in as administrator. However, using the "Run As" feature, I am able to install most software simply by right-clicking the setup program, choosing "Run As," and typing my password to launch the installation as administrator.

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Syndication feeds are gaining more mainstream support from portals and search engines as Microsoft Corp. ramps up a set of new RSS features. The company's MSN unit is planning to release a beta of a Really Simple Syndication aggregation feature for users of its My MSN personalized home-page service, an MSN spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. The beta was rumored to be ready for release by late Wednesday, according to Weblog postings from MSN officials. But MSN officially declined to provide specifics other than to say it would come out "soon." Meanwhile, MSN Search has started an experimental feature for subscribing to search queries using RSS, MSN confirmed. MSN quietly began testing the service when it released a beta of its search engine in November, but earlier this week a series of bloggers discovered the capability.
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In an interview on news.com, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates described free culture advocates as a "modern-day sort of communists".

Q: In recent years, there's been a lot of people clamoring to reform and restrict intellectual-property rights. It started out with just a few people, but now there are a bunch of advocates saying, "We've got to look at patents, we've got to look at copyrights." What's driving this, and do you think intellectual-property laws need to be reformed?

A: No, I'd say that of the world's economies, there's more that believe in intellectual property today than ever. There are fewer communists in the world today than there were. There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don't think that those incentives should exist.

Read the article
Read Dan Gilmors blog entry
More...

Beware of CoolWebSearch, a program that can change Microsoft Internet Explorer's security settings and wreak havoc on computers.

Anti-spyware company Webroot Software said Tuesday that CoolWebSearch self-installs malicious HTML applications and exploits security flaws in IE. "This has vexed all of us," said Nick Lewis, managing director of Boulder, Colo.-based Webroot. "For consumers, CoolWebSearch is probably one of the most vicious programs in terms of how nasty it is. It completely hijacks the browser so you can't do anything."
Read the article

Perhaps it has to get real bad before it gets good:
- Microsoft Prepares to Dash Malware with "A1"
- Microsoft Readies 'A1' Security Subscription Service
- Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta Due 6th January

For those who remember the browser wars, Microsoft seems to be missing in action from the latest battle. In recent months, upstart browsers such as Firefox and Opera have lured more than 10 million users away from Microsoft's Internet Explorer, largely because of concerns about IE's security problems. Microsoft is busy building and testing a faster, more secure version internally, but executives say it won't be released for at least another year, until the next version of Windows is done in 2006. They say customers can upgrade IE in the meantime with security patches and add-on features available from Microsoft and other companies that "extend" the software.
Read the article

Sometimes things collide:

Microsoft Windows Exec Talks IE Security
With no major updates to Internet Explorer scheduled until Longhorn arrives in 2006, Microsoft has found itself having to evangelize the current merits of IE while competition heats up from newcomers such as Firefox.

Two New IE Vulnerabilities Surface
While this week's headlines have thus far been dominated by news of renewed Web browser development, bug hunters at Secunia have shifted attention back toward the browser's darker side: A seemingly endless stream of security vulnerabilities. Secunia has issued a "moderately critical" advisory for Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Tuesday detailed his company's plan for computer management software and announced a long-awaited Windows update tool. During a keynote speech at the company's IT Forum conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Gates outlined Microsoft's ambitious effort to trim the cost of managing corporate data centers, called the Dynamic Systems Initiative. IT Forum, Microsoft's largest conference in Europe, is expected to draw roughly 4,000 IT professionals.
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And now for something completly different:
From quick tips to WindowsXP, right through to cool tweak, toys and experiments, PCstats has go you covered with over a hundred new Tech Tips!
Beginners Guides: 104 Great Tech Tips for Windows XP

A security company says it has discovered a series of security flaws in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 that would allow a hacker to take over an SP2 machine when the user browses a Web page. Microsoft downplayed the claims by Finjan Software. A security firm says it has found 10 major security flaws in Microsoft'sRelevant Products/Services from Microsoft Windows XP Latest News about Windows XP Service Pack 2. The weaknesses could allow intruders to bypass many of the security measures implemented by the update. A hacker Latest News about hacker could exploit the flaws to execute malicious code on a user's system by luring the user to a specially created Web page, according to Finjan Software, which reported the vulnerability.
Read the story

Microsoft has been quietly briefing select partners on its plans for its forthcoming Office 12 series of desktop productivity and server products. According to Microsoft Watch, Microsoft's internal calendar has Beta 1 penciled in for August 29, 2005 with a second beta lined up for December 5, 2005. Unconfirmed reports point to an array of new Office server products on the horizon. These include server versions of Excel, Visio and potentially InfoPath. The extension of Office System server development has left the rumor mill whirling about potential Web services.

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SANS Internet Storm Center is reporting on a new strain of IE Malware. This one targets bank customers, which in itself is nothing new. But the catch is in the way it does it: it installs a Browser Help Object (BHO) that can capture login information before it is encrypted, and watches for HTTPS (secure) access to URLs of several dozen banking and financial sites in multiple countries.

New scam targets bank customers

Is Microsoft hiring low-cost foreign companies to write its code? According to a paper that was leaked the answer is yes. The paranoid Seattle labor group claimed Microsoft is indeed working on hiring low-cost foreign vendors to its code. Thus American jobs will be lost. While the labor group didn't come flat out and say that. That's the feeling I get from them. I don't completely buy this as Microsoft in the past has hired vendors outside of the US. Confidential agreements between Microsoft and two software companies in India were leaked to a Seattle labor group that's lobbying against overseas technology contracting. Microsoft publicized its partnerships with the companies, Infosys and Satyam, years ago and few new details are revealed by the circa 2001 contracts. They set terms for software work at Microsoft's Redmond campus and at their offices in India, but they do not say how much work is involved. But the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers claims the documents expose Microsoft's intention to hire low-cost foreign vendors to write its software. It gave the documents to several newspapers this week. "These documents clearly show that as a major software vendor they're looking at the highest skilled, highest trained workers to try to move their work abroad," said WashTech organizer Marcus Courtney.
More over at Neowin
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The XUL Grand Coding Challenge 2004 is over and here are some of the samples. To take part in and complete the XUL Grand Coding Challenge you needed to create two samples plus an optional bonus free-style sample with your XUL / XUI / XAML / XML-UI toolkit/player/parser/etc. of choice.

This sample was completed in Longhorn v4051 and setup as a project in Visual Studio "Whidbey" (PDC Release). More samples here XAML Counter Sample

Read more at xamlblogs.

Exploits of our time
Just in case you don't know, Internet Explorer and Windows need frequent patching, a software term for kind of fixing things, an awful lot. Secunia said that there is a highly critical problem with IE and Windows, due to a boundary error which can be exploited by others. It warns that the hole affects Windows 95, 98, ME and NT 4.0, as well as 2000 and Windows XP. This is a serious problem and Secunia reckons one way round it is to disable Client for Microsoft Networks for NICs. This is a bit of a problem if you're trying to share files.
See the exploit info

From Neowin.net:
On Monday, Microsoft released some of its code under an open-source license, and posted it on SourceForge, the open-source code repository. To date, Microsoft has made its source code available under a variety of licensing mechanisms, all under its "shared source" umbrella. But until today, the company had not released code under what is commonly considered a true open-source license. Microsoft made available an internally developed product called the Windows Installer XML (WiX) to SourceForge. The code is downloadable here. WiX is a toolset for building Windows installation packages from XML source code. It runs on Windows NT and Windows 2000. "We've been learning from open source about the importance of sharing code with developers," said Jason Matusow, manager of Microsoft's shared source initiative. "We know it's important to have a full-spectrum approach" to licensing software under shared source, he added.
Read more and more.

A funny comment went in the Mozilla source code with bug 238654:

This is not an exciting story: I happened to be browsing aimlessly through case studies and other publications released by Microsoft as a part of their "Get the facts" initiative. At one point, I stumbled upon a Word file I wanted to read - and as soon as I ran it through wvWare, I noticed there is a good deal of amusing change tracking information still recorded within the document. Naturally, publishing documents with "collaboration" data is not unheard of in the corporate world, but the fact Microsoft had became a victim of their own technology, and had failed to run their own tools against these publications makes it more entertaining. On a more serious note, it serves as a good warning it is really difficult to manage this, and that inline filtering tools on SMTP gateways and in web publishing systems may be necessary in some corporate environments.

Fx:
What has been proven is that Microsoft dominatesleads in TPC price/performance benchmarks, owning currently holding the top ten slots.

Read all of the fun strikeouts

According to a report on ComputerWire today, Microsoft is preparing to release some code into the open source community. A member of Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative has told ComputerWire open source code is "coming". Stephen Walli, platform's business development manager, added Microsoft would likely release "non core" code - i.e. code that is not a part of the operating system. Whether this report is accurate on how Microsoft will release such code, it looks promising for developers wanting to gain better access to the inner workings of Microsoft applications. This latest moves comes nearly two months after some Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000 source code leaked to the internet. Since, February Microsoft has been continually reviewing the way it shares source code to customers and this latest news may bring some promising developments in Microsoft's future.
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I just installed Internet Explorer Service Pack 2 which includes popup blocking and a new feature called Add-ons management.

I dont really care about poup blocking since I'm using Mozilla as my default browser. And in IE I already had installed the Google Toolbar which also featured popup blocking. But it's now integrated into IE. The dialog for popup blocking can be seen here.

Web browser add-ons are items you can add to your IE browser to make browsing a little more fun or effective. Common add-ons include extra toolbars, animated mouse pointers, stock tickers, and pop-up ad blockers. The dialog for Add-ons management can be seen here.

From the Add-ons management dialog you can also update the installed Add-ons. You click the Update button and are then informed if there's an update available. If there is you're presented with this dialog.

See all of the pictures. Click on the images to see the larger version.

The European Commission has fined Microsoft a record US $613 million (497.2 million euro) after it found the company abused its "virtual monopoly" with its Windows operating system and broke European antitrust law governing competition. EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said the EU found that Microsoft "has abused its virtual monopoly power over the PC desktop in Europe. This is not a decision we have taken easily or hastily."

Read more and more and more and even more.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at the Windows Error Reporting (WER) system, answer those questions, and provide more information about it for both developers and users. Microsoft created WER to help itself and other developers find and fix the bugs that are inevitable in complex software. Many bugs are caused by simple oversights and are easily fixed. The programmer's bane is a bug that occurs on a customer's system, but not his own. If the programmer can't reproduce the bug, it's very hard to fix. The solution is to obtain a snapshot of the user's system at the time of the crash, but historically this has been difficult to do. Worse yet, customers often don't go to the trouble of reporting a crash; they just sigh and reboot. Programmers can't fix problems they don't know about.
Windows Error Reporting Under the Covers

Win XP Performance Tuneup
Optimize networking, file system, memory performance, freeing up memory, startup/shutdown.

MSJVM Removal Tool
The Microsoft JVM Removal Tool can be used to remove the MS Java Virtual Machine (MS JVM). Use of this tool is the only supported method for removing the MS JVM from a Microsoft operating system.

Transitioning from the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine
Microsoft is committed to helping customers through the transition off the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (MS JVM). Be sure to download Suns JRE.

Registry Edits for Windows XP
Loads of tweaks and tips for Windows XP

This is pure fun and kind of scary at the same time:
Internet Explorer is now just about the most secure browser available, says Microsoft - because so many security holes have been filled. Last week's Internet Explorer patch has made the browser at least as secure, if not more secure, than any other browser, according to Microsoft UK's chief security officer.

Read the article and remember to tell them your opinion.
By the way currently there's 24 unpatched Internet Explorer bugs.

Here's some interestings newsbits about the big bad Microsoft:

Microsoft's (Bumpy) Road to Longhorn
Microsoft's product roadmap for Longhorn has some potholes to navigate tn the coming two years. A new report states that Microsoft is facing a "product gap" over the next two years without a major new release regarding its flagship Windows operating system and Office productivity suite.

Microsoft not ready to battle with Google
Microsoft's latest assault on the Web search business is just getting under way, but already a familiar elephant may be ambling toward the doorway

MyDoom.C Slams Into Microsoft.com
A stripped-down version of the MyDoom worm, a k a Doomjuice, on Monday spread through network backdoor and attacked Microsoft's Web site.

- Microsoft Security Chats
- Open Source Perspective
- Microsoft offers cut-rate Windows

Here's a couple of interesting Microsoft Windows optimizations tips:
- 23 Ways To Speed WinXP Without Defrag
- Windows XP Service Configurations
- Microsoft Building Integration, Management into Longhorn Server
- NetFactorys Top Tweaks for Windows XP

IE Overhaul Part of Windows XP SP2
Microsoft's soon-to-be-released service pack for Windows XP will come with a major security-centric overhaul to the company's flagship Internet Explorer browser, including a new add-on management and crash detection tool and several modifications to the browser's default security settings.

In January 2001, Microsoft reached a settlement agreement resolving a legal dispute with Sun Microsystems concerning the use of the Microsoft Virtual Machine in many of Microsoft's products. As a result, the following products are being phased out and will no longer be available through MSDN Subscriber Downloads or other channels at Microsoft.
Read the posting

- Transitioning from the MSJVM: Info for Developers
- MS JVM Transition FAQ

WinFS Overview - Significant New Storage Innovation for Longhorn
Quentin Clark provides an overview of WinFS, including what benefits it will produce, what it is, and how it's put together. This episode introduces you to WinFS as a basis for more detailed presentations.

Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
This document focuses on the changes in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and its implications for developers. Examples and details are provided for several of the technologies that are experiencing the biggest changes. Future versions of this document will cover all new and changed technologies.

Security researchers in Denmark are warning users to disable "active scripting" in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 Web browser to prevent attackers from targeting and taking remote control of their PCs. The latest vulnerabilities "allow malicious Web sites and viruses to bypass the security zone settings in Internet Explorer."
Read the article

An Introductory Tour of Mozilla's XUL
Developing web applications, but fed up with bending HTML? Too busy to learn .NET? Be cool, use XUL (pronounced "zool").

"Longhorn": Huge Jump From XP
Internet Explorer has a slimmer look now, which reminded us a bit of Apple's Safari. Also like Safari, the version of IE included with the Longhorn preview offers pop-up blocking and a download manager - both firsts for IE. (The tabbed browsing that distinguishes Safari and Mozilla, among other browsers, remains absent, however.)

New IE may burst pop-up bubble

Five new flaws for Microsoft
Microsoft has released five new patches, of which three have been given the company's highest alert rating of critical, for its operating systems and applications.

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 6
Security issues identified in Internet Explorer could allow an attacker to compromise systems with Internet Explorer installed (even if it is not used as the Web browser).

IE 6.05, Pop-Up Ad Blocking to Debut in Windows XP SP2
You won't need to wait for Longhorn in late 2005 to get pop-up ad blocking in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). Microsoft will release IE 6.05 as part of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), which is due in the first half of 2004.

Windows XP Service Pack 2: A Developer's View

I, like so many other's, have struggled with ways to test designs, css, etc. in multiple versions of Internet Explorer. Usually the only solutions were to have multiple OS's installed on multiple partitions, or running some sort of emulation software such as VMWare. While working on a project recently that I realized at the last second would be running in Internet Explorer 5.5, I had an immediate need to test this application in this browser.

Read the article

You can download IE packages from here

Microsoft fired an individual over a post on his blog. Microsoft Security saw the post as being a security violation.
Why you ask: He posted a picture of some Mac G5's standing in Microsoft's shipping and receiving department.

Read the blog entry that got him fired

Read the entry about how he got fired

It seems like the next version of Internet Explorer, the one that's gonna get shipped with the next version of Windows (currently codenames Longhorn), is getting some of the features that we have in Mozilla:
- Add-ons
Small programs that extends IE.
- Blok popups
Why they didn't introduce this before is beyond me.

More info and screenshots

Microsoft Corp. is working on its latest, best shot at the enterprise applications business with a new project to create a single, global code base for its product lines.
Read more

Security experts are blaming known but unpatched vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer for the theft and distribution of the source code for a much anticipated new video game. This is what happens when you have 31 publicly known unpatched vulnerabilities in IE.
Read the whole thing

More trouble for Valve:
- Valve Continues to Leak
- HL2 Leak: What this means for DoD
- Turning The Valve Off: Effects Of The Half-Life 2 Source Theft
- What's Next for Valve and Half-Life 2?

Developers gripe about IE standards inaction
Web developers want to light a fire under Microsoft to get better standards support in the company's Internet Explorer browser, but they can't seem to spark a flame.

Eolas Seeks to Stop Microsoft IE Distribution
Eolas Technologies is now asking the U.S. District Court in Chicago to permanently enjoin Microsoft from distribution of the browser.

Microsoft tweaks Explorer to address ruling
Microsoft on Tuesday released what it called "modest changes" to Windows and Internet Explorer as a result of the patent suit brought against it by Eolas Technologies.

So perhaps it's time to get a real modern browser.

Information for Developers about Changes to Internet Explorer:
This section describes changes to Internet Explorer's handling of ActiveX controls and Java applets. Developers who build ActiveX controls, Web developers who use ActiveX and Java Applets on their Web sites, and developers who host the Web Browser OC or MSHTML should consult this documentation to understand how the user experience is changing, and also how to modify their pages to manage the user experience for their content.

This is all happening following the jury verdict in the patent infringement case of Eolas Technologies and the Regents of the University of California v. Microsoft Corporation.

I wanted to remove NetMeeting from my Windows XP machine. So I found this command that should do the trick:
%systemroot%\system32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection NetMtg.Remove 132 msnetmtg.inf

BUT whenever I ran that command all the Netmeetings files were deleted but suddenly reappeared after a few seconds. Damn annoying! It's due to the Windows File Protection feature.

So to really remove Netmeeting from your system do this:
1. Compare the Netmeeting directory with the %systemroot%\ServicePackFiles\i386\ directory and delete the duplicate files in the %systemroot%\ServicePackFiles\i386\ directory.
2. Do this same with the %systemroot%\system32\dllcache\ directory.
3. Now there should't be any backup Netmeeting files for the Windows File Protection feature to restore from.
4. Now do Start -> Run -> %systemroot%\system32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection NetMtg.Remove 132 msnetmtg.inf and Netmeeting is gone.
5. When the Windows File Protection alert pops up press Cancel and then Ok to avoid the Netmeeting files being copied from the Windows XP CD.

Remember it's always a good idea to run a registry cleanup after an uninstall. I love the jv16 PowerTools.

I still haven't found a way to remove the empty microsoft frontpage, MSN Gaming Zone and xerox directories.

Microsoft stops developing / publishing Outlook Express:
Outlook Express just sits where it is," said Dan Leach, lead product manager for Microsoft's information worker product management group. "The technology doesn't go away, but no new work is being done. It is consumer e-mail in an early iteration, and our investment in the consumer space is now focused around Hotmail and MSN. That's where we're putting the emphasis in terms of new investment and new development work.
Read more and more

and BTW Microsoft has laid the blame for half of all Windows crashes on third-party code.

Microsoft will have to reveal more information about its Windows operating system to rivals and change the way it sells its music and video software to settle four-year-old European antitrust allegations, the European Commission said.
- EU Turns Up the Heat on Microsoft
- EU to Force Microsoft to Untie Media Player Software
- Google news

Langa Letter: Ten Ways To Make Windows XP Run Better
Fred Langa offers tips on how to optimize Windows XP for your own work style so you don't have to live with its default settings.

Also read the discussion area associated with the article.

Mozilla News:
Mozilla will Challenge Internet Explorer
Microsoft's recent decision to only provide enhancements to Internet Explorer via Windows upgrades could leave an opening for alternative browsers.

The mozdev spellchecker is now being build by default.

Mozilla Firebird Marketing

Inside Windows-Update
When you connect your computer to Microsofts website windowsupdate.com, you reveal a lot of information about your computer to Microsoft. This article shows bit for bit, which data is transferred to Redmond and what Microsoft could learn from it.

Inside Windows Product Activation
The current public discussion of Windows Product Activation (WPA) is characterized by uncertainty and speculation. In this paper we supply the technical details of WPA - as implemented in Windows XP - that Microsoft should have published long ago.

Inside Internet-based Windows Product Activation
Internet-based product activation of Windows XP involves transmitting an amount of data to the Microsoft activation servers. Is this a threat to the users' privacy?

If you like me never ever used the "Show Related Links" menuitem in the Tools menu of Internet Explorer, why not remove it?

Just delete the registry entry:
{c95fe080-8f5d-11d2-a20b-00aa003c157a}
which is located under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\

Ad Blocking in Mozilla
With Mozilla you can block ads. I use it a lot, and simply love it. When I surf I hardly see any ads due to the blocking capabilities of Mozilla.
Read more about ad blocking

You can get cookperm.txt files from here and here.