Microsoft today has made available a new tool for photographers using Windows for their digital photos: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools V1. This application lets you quickly edit the metadata on digital photos you've shot with your camera - including RAW formats.

Microsoft Pro Photo Tools also allows photographers to use geotagging for their photos. Geotagging is the ability to "tag" something with location information - and in the case of photos the location of where your photo was taken. You can quickly add location data from a GPS device or Live Search Maps to a photo's metadata.

Download: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools V1 (x86)

I use Windows Live Photo Gallery to manage all my photos. I'd like to note that changes in any specific photo' s metadata using Microsoft Pro Photo Tools will be reflected of course in Windows Live Photo Gallery - including title and tags.

You'll see here I've added a title, description, and keywords (aka tags) in Microsoft Pro Photo Tools to one of my photos.

In Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can see the title and tags I've added in Microsoft Pro Photo Tools are displayed in the Windows Live Photo Gallery UI (specifically in the Info pane). The metadata is also in the photo's properties as well.

In Windows Live Photo Gallery currently, the UI doesn't call out metadata for geotagging. But by geotagging your photos in Microsoft Pro Photo Tools now - it's in the metadata so in the future, that metadata can easily be called out by any app designed to call out geotagging from photos.

It's great to see us making investments in creating a better experience for photographers using Windows.

For further background on Microsoft Pro Photo Tools - CNET's Stephen Shankland was able to talk with Josh Weisberg, Microsoft's director of digital imaging evangelism, in a really nice in-depth post looking at Microsoft Pro Photo Tools including its origin and its future.  

The data speaks for itself. At the top of the list is Windows Vista 64-bit, while at the bottom is XP SP2. In the middle we have XP RTM, XP SP3, Vista 32-bit RTM and Vista 32-bit SP1 fighting it out.

Read More @ Zdnet Blog

A recent Vista update is causing headaches for users with USB devices.

Microsoft last week re-released a software update intended to provide performance and reliability enhancements for Windows Vista -based and Windows Vista Service Pack 1-based systems. It was one of eight security bulletins and updates the company made available on April 8.

Users who installed the update, however, soon found their USB devices unresponsive, particularly mice and flash drives. Removing and re-installing the programs reportedly did not immediately solve the problem.

Microsoft confirmed the bug, but declined to provide further details.

"We are aware of concerns that a recent Microsoft update may be causing problems with USB devices," according to a Microsoft spokeswoman. "We are investigating the matter and at this time do not have any additional information to share."

"I have a new system that has been working flawlessly til this patch," a user known as SkyKnites wrote on a Google forum last week. His mouse was later restored, but now "I just get this annoying new hardware found and driver install has failed [notice] every time I reboot," he wrote.

A user known as JB also encountered problems. "I have exactly the same problem as described here, i.e. no cordless mouse and keyboard (via USB)," he wrote. "I run Vista x64 Ultimate which is in a dual boot with XP x64, this means (discovered it today) that my restore points gets whipped. Basically, I don't know how to uninstall the update causing the problem."

Microsoft shipped its first Vista security patch in January 2006 for beta testers running the Windows Vista December CTP (Community Technology Preview) and Windows Vista Beta 1, and warned that the operating system was vulnerable to a remote code execution flaw in the Graphics Rendering Engine.

Via [Msvistablog]

As far as design is concerned, size is synonymous to new technology. We can see these affecting parts such as the usual CRT monitors to the now famous LCD monitors. Hard drives have become thinner and memory modules smaller. So with all of the things getting micro bit by bit, you really have to consider the fact that the usual CPU storage can also ride the bandwagon for smaller is better today hoopla.

If you haven’t sent them yet, you will find a lot of new smaller and compact CPU storage design offered in the market. Some are the size of briefcases while others go as far as books. Amazed and awed by them, most people today are emphatic about these newly designed casings since it is really an obvious space saver if you come to think of it. Imagine a wider working space and just the usual LCD monitor, keyboard and mouse and a book-type of a CPU in front of you. Now that is a lot of good working space if you picture it.

The next thing you may have in mind is the matter of upgrading and compatibility. For sure, the parts used for these compact CPU cases have specific designs to which not all parts can accommodate. Normally, this is considered a limitation. But depending on how you use your computer, it is best that you consider the initial specifications prior to purchase so that in the end, you can determine if it is indeed feasible to invest on it or not.

Mother's Day is fast approaching and what better way to show your Mom you care than to enter her in a photo contest!  While I'm still working to get my Mom to join the online community, we have a fun way you all can recognize your own Mom and help her learn how to share all those family photos on her PC with the family and friends! Portraits of Mom is a contest that lets you showcase Mom using Windows Live by either posting her picture to Windows Live Spaces or visiting one of our temporary retail locations to have her photo taken by a professional. Anyone who doesn't work at Microsoft can enter their Mom's photo into the contest for a chance to win awesome prizes.

Visit http://www.portraitsofmom.com/ and use Windows Live Photo Gallery to upload your favorite photo of your Mom. Show off your photo on your Windows Live Space, and tell your Mom she's featured along with all the great Moms on the site. Then get her friends and family to vote for her picture posted on http://www.portraitsofmom.com/. If you don't have Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can download it for free along with the rest of the Windows Live suite at http://get.live.com/.

If your Mom or members of your family are in New York or San Francisco over the next two weeks, take them to visit the Windows Live Portrait Studios, a temporary "photo studio" where they'll be treated to a professional portrait sitting. After a quick stylist make-over, she can include the family, a pet or friends in her personal portrait...and the best part is that it's all for free!  For location details, click here.

If you're in Seattle, bring your Mom to the Woodland Park Zoo on May 10 and 11 and get a free photo taken by our Quick Snaps team.  Just find the Quick Snaps team - who will be wearing lots of Windows gear- and they'll snap a photo of Mom and her family or friends.  She'll get a free copy of the photo on the spot, complete with instructions on how to sign up for a Windows Live ID and participate in the Portraits of Mom photo contest!

So come on, celebrate Mothers Day by showing your Mom some love!

Outlook is designed to help protect your computer from viruses and junk e-mail messages. The following information focuses on the virus protection features in Microsoft Outlook.

Macro security

Outlook itself cannot detect whether a virus is present. Macro viruses are spread through attachments, not the e-mail message itself. Microsoft Office achieves macro virus protection by using the High macro security setting as the default. With the High setting, you can run only digitally signed macros from trusted sources or macros that you created yourself, as long as the installed add-ins and templates are trusted. Unsigned macros are automatically disabled.

Note Signing a macro is similar to getting a legal document notarized by a legal authority or getting your passport stamped by a government official. Electronic certificates are used to sign the macro code. Certificates are issued by a certificate authority, such as a bank, government, or software company, which should be trusted sources. For example, all macros that are pre-installed with Office are signed by the developers who created them using certificates issued by Microsoft that vouch for their authenticity.

If you change the macro security level to the less secure Medium setting, you automatically receive a warning each time you open a document that contains a macro. You can select an option in the Security Warning dialog box about whether to run the macro. Disable Macros is the default button.

Note If the security setting is set to Low, Outlook will not warn you before running a macro. Therefore, all macros are run automatically without your intervention. Because of the potential security risk, Microsoft does not recommend that you use the Low setting.

I have to sketch out the details once again before this Monday for a official presentation. But then what i want to share here with you is my experience of sharing the Microsoft Outlook and providing a computer support assistance.