Today, Esther is going to show off the Previous Versions. This feature is part of the Shadow Copy feature in Windows Vista. This is a really helpful feature that has saved me numerous times!   It essentially makes incremental back-ups of your work - so if you accidentally delete content, you can find it again and recover it with a single click.  Anyone who has modified a document and clicked "save" instead of "save as" will appreciate Previous Versions!

Video: Windows Vista Demo: Previous Versions

Let me know what you think of this and the other features we've discussed this week (Search and Live Icons) - we'd love your feedback!

Windows Live OneCare 2.5 is now available and I've got some information for both new and existing Windows Live OneCare subscribers regarding the Windows Live OneCare 2.5 release I'd like to share.

Beginning last week (July 1st to be exact) - existing Windows Live OneCare users (paid subscribers) began automatically receiving Windows Live OneCare 2.5. The Windows Live OneCare website also began offering Windows Live OneCare 2.5 for new users as well. If you are a Windows Live OneCare subscriber and have not yet been automatically updated, you can either wait until the update occurs or download the new version from the Windows Live OneCare website.

NOTE:  If you choose not to wait for the automatic update to occur and want to go ahead and "manually" update yourself via downloading the new version off the Windows Live OneCare website - you will need to uninstall the previous version first before Windows Live OneCare 2.5 will install. I had not been automatically upgraded so I chose to install manually on 1 of my PCs but the others were automatically updated soon after.

So what's new with Windows Live OneCare 2.5? As I stated previously, the Windows Live OneCare

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To help celebrate St. Patrick's Today - the Windows Live OneCare Team is kicking off a brand new campaign: Get Green Stay Green.

The Get Green Stay Green campaign is designed to make sure Windows Live OneCare users are staying "green" - meaning their PC Health Status. Here is Amy Barzdukas, Senior Direct here at Microsoft, to talk about Windows Live OneCare and keeping your PC safe. Amy leads the Windows Live OneCare Team.

Video: Microsoft Windows Live OneCare

I use Windows Live OneCare on my 3 personal home PCs - which are connected together in an OneCare Circle (you can have up to 3 PCs in an OneCare Circle). This lets me manage the PC Health for all my personal PCs. If any of my PCs in my OneCare Circle have their PC Health Status change to yellow or red, I can quickly see which PC it is and why. I can then do what is needed to bring that PC back to green. Keeping all my PCs green is very important to me. If any of my PCs slip into

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My business requires me to safeguard the security of certain files. For years I have used Encrypted Magic Folders (EMF) from PC-Magic to encrypt those files, and to hide them from the view of an interloper. I loved it, because files were always encrypted on disk and yet were fully accessible to applications. However, when I upgraded to Vista 64, the new EMF crashed my system so completely that it was unbootable even in safe mode. I tried it twice, recovered twice with some difficulty, and gave up on EMF.

In the meantime I had heard about TrueCrypt, an open-source disk encryption package for Windows and Linux. It’s free! I must admit that after I downloaded it, I needed some time to get my mind around it.

Here are the basics:

• Using the TrueCrypt application you create a large “container” file on your system, larger than you will need to hold your encrypted files. It can be on any read/write disk, even a memory stick, and is initially filled with random data.
• The container file can be copied, moved, deleted, or renamed just like any other file. It’s not fragile.

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This weekend I completed the roll-out of my new HP MediaSmart Server running Windows Home Server.  I ordered the HP MediaSmart Server EX470. I originally had Windows Home Server running on my Dell Dimension E520 but decommissioned it when I created my “Ultimate” PC. I really wanted to try out the experience the average consumer will have in purchasing a Windows Home Server and setting it up in their home. The HP MediaSmart Server seemed like the perfect choice in checking out the Windows Home Server experience.

 

The HP MediaSmart Server EX470 has the following specs:

• Processor - AMD 1.8GHz 64-bit Sempron
• Memory - 512MB DDR
• Interfaces - 4 USB 2.0 Ports, 1 eSATA Port
• Storage - 1 500GB SATA 7200 RPM

Click to continue reading "Rolling out Windows Home Server with a HP MediaSmart Server"

Written by Brandon LeBlanc on December 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on otherSoftware and Media Sharing and HP MediaSmart Server and Backup and HP and Featured News and Windows Home Server and Networking and Windows Vista.