Today Windows Live SkyDrive leaves the "Beta" tag behind - introducing 5GB of storage for its users and becoming available in 35 new countries and regions. Read the Windows Live SkyDrive launch announcement from their team blog!

On top of being available to users in the United States, United Kingdom, and India, Windows Live SkyDrive is now available in the following 35 countries and regions:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Finland, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey.

With 5GB of storage, you can store quite a bit of your photos, music, Office documents and more. Did I mention that the 5GB of storage is also free?

For those who have been beta testing Windows Live SkyDrive - with today's launch you can expect to see improvements with the backend that help improve performance on top of the increase to 5GB of storage from 1GB previously.

Here on the Windows Experience Blog, I use Windows Live SkyDrive to host the OPML files for my ...

AutoRun starts Windows programs automatically
Every recent version of Windows has features known as AutoPlay and AutoRun. These functions are designed to launch applications automatically from a external device containing the necessary AutoRun information. This is what causes an installer window to pop up when you insert a software disc into your CD or DVD drive, for example, or makes a pop-up menu icon appear in the taskbar tray when you insert a USB flash drive. (In some cases, the action doesn’t occur until you double-click the flash drive icon in Windows Explorer.)

When a disc is inserted or a drive is connected to your system, Windows looks in the root directory of the new disc or drive for a file named autorun.inf. If found, Windows executes the instructions in that file. (more…)

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It looks like the beta version of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista will be released in the next few weeks to obliging volunteers and manufacturers. It’s not going to be on the same scale as the infamous Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, which included some major security upgrades and replaced large chunks of the operating system, but it is still fairly large, at a little over 45Mb, it covers quite a lot of ground and we are assured, will fix a few niggling problems.

What we know so far is that it will include support for a new file format called ExFAT, which is designed for use with flash memory devices. There will also be support for SD Advanced DMA, for faster file transfer and reduced CPU workload. (more…)

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Most drivers have proven to be ok in 64 bit Windows Vista so far. Windows Vista (at least the 64 bit incantation) still lacks the driver maturity of Windows XP, but this is something that will come with time now the official launch was witnessed on January 30th.

My main gripe has been with Nvidia. Of all companines, I would have thought Nvidia would be ahead of the game when it comes to Vista driver support. Sure, they have had beta drivers throughout the Vista CTP relases and RTM release but I would have expected their graphics driver to be much more mature than it is come launch date.

The current Vista 64 bit driver; ForceWare Release 100 - Version 100.59 continues to throw up a version mismatch error when trying to launch the control panel. It worked once when I firt installed the driver, to never be seen again.