A silent update that Microsoft deployed widely in July and August is preventing the “repair” feature of Windows XP from completing successfully.

Ever since the Redmond company’s recent download of new support files for Windows Update, users of XP’s repair function have been unable to install the latest 80 patches from Microsoft.

Repaired installations of XP can’t be updated

The trouble occurs when users reinstall XP’s system files using the repair capability found on genuine XP CD-ROMs. (The feature is not present on “Restore CDs.”) The repair option, which is typically employed when XP for some reason becomes unbootable, rolls many aspects of XP back to a pristine state. It wipes out many updates and patches and sets Internet Explorer back to the version that originally shipped with the operating system. (more…)

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Windows Vista comes with a collection of built in network diagnostics tools from the Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) to the Network and Sharing Center. Essentially Microsoft built Vista to identify problems all on its own, come up with a resolve and then fix the problem. At the basis of the self diagnosis mechanism is the Network Diagnostics Framework, a feature integrated by default into the operating system designed to identify and isolate context sensitive problems and repair them automatically or provide guidance for the end user in troubleshooting common networking issues. And yet, in some scenarios all the mitigations set up by the Redmond company in Vista will fail miserably.

Microsoft confirmed that Windows Vista-based machines can experience a variety of issues when connecting to a wireless network environment. (more…)

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The Safely Remove Hardware mechanism is by no means something new to Windows Vista. In fact the feature has only survived into Vista with little to no enhancements. Essentially, Safely Remove Hardware is an integer part of the Vista model for managing Plug and Play devices, designed to notify the operating system that a certain item will be removed. The feature will make sure that there is no more interaction between Windows Vista and the Plug and Play hardware attached in order to streamline the removal of specific devices without having to shut down the operating system and without leading to loss of data.

“Some Plug and Play devices can be installed or removed while the system is running. For example, USB, IEEE 1394, and PC Card devices can be added to and removed from a fully powered system. When such hardware is added or removed, (more…)

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Are you experiencing erroneous behavior from the desktop of your copy of Windows Vista? Well, this is by no means the end of the world. And the fact of the matter is that Microsoft is indeed looking after its customers. And no, you don’t have to wait for the first service pack for the operating system in order to get a fix. The Redmond company is currently supplying two updates, addressing Vista desktop refreshing issues, for both the 32-bit and the 64-bit editions of the operating system.

Windows Vista has been riddled with various problems from the get go, but the issues only became more and more evident with the growing adoption of the operating system. At the end of Vista’s first 100 days on the market, Microsoft applauded shipping in excess of 60 million licenses of the platform. (more…)

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An evolved version of the Application Verifier is available as a free download courtesy of the Redmond company. As of the first day in September, Microsoft has made available version 3.4 of Application verifier with full support for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. According to the description of the tool, Application Verifier is designed to integrate seamlessly with x86, x64 and IA64 platforms. The tool offers an extra layer for the runtime verification of unmanaged code, on top of the basic application testing associated with the development process. Microsoft in fact boasted that the tool is capable of identifying even the most subtle of programming errors, including problems with heaps, handles and locks.

“Application Verifier is a runtime verification tool for unmanaged code that assists in quickly finding subtle programming errors that can be extremely difficult to identify with normal application testing,” revealed the Microsoft description. (more…)

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The Ajax View JavaScript Instrumentation Proxy is the end result of the work from Microsoft Research. Essentially the tool is designed to act as a HTTP proxy focused on monitoring the performance and behavior of JavaScript applications within Internet Explorer 7, although Ajax View is not limited to just Microsoft’s browser. The Redmond company only recently delivered a public version of Ajax View under an academic and non-commercial use license.

“Ajax View is an HTTP proxy that instruments JavaScript as it’s served to the client based on a set of rules defined by plug-ins. The download includes a plug-in that contains a commented sample instrumentation policy. This design has a couple important effects. [First off] you can customize Ajax View to monitor exactly the JavaScript behavior you’re looking for, whether it’s about performance, or how people navigate through your site. And using Ajax View does not require modification of either the page source or the browser,” explained John Hrvatin, Program Manager, Internet Explorer. (more…)

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