Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Windows Defender is a free program that helps you stay productive by protecting your computer against pop-ups, slow performance and security threats caused by spyware and other potentially unwanted software. This is the 64-bit release.

DOWNLOAD:  Windows Defender x64

(The standard, 32-bit version of Windows Defender is also available.)

Microsoft announced the PDC07 in October 2-5, 2007, with a pre-conference happening from Sept. 30-Oct 1st.  Stay tuned to the URL below for more details.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/

Sign up for the next Windows Vista Tips & Tricks Webcast
Tuesday, December 19^th – 10:00am PST

This webcast is the third in the series of Windows Vista Tips & Tricks webcasts that will be running monthly through t he end of the fiscal year and is a repeat of the webcast we presented in October.  If you or your customers were not able to attend the October webcast here is your chance to see a live presentation of Windows Vista Tips & Tricks. This is a great introduction to Windows Vista for the non-technical end-user.

This webcast will give you a first look at:

• Great new features in Windows Vista
• New User Interface
• New search and organize features
• Enhanced security
• Great tips on using Internet Explorer 7
• Easy, practical information on desktop tips that will make you more productive right away.

Join us for this informative and fun webcast on the new Windows Vista operating system.

Sign up now at: www.windowsvistatnt.com

Today’s IT environments are complex, and IT Professionals have to deal with managing and operating diverse environments, while continuing to deliver the levels of availability, performance and stability required to run and support the business. To meet the needs of the busy IT Professional we have created a monthly Live Meeting to help answer your questions in a collaborative environment of technical specialists and your peers.

Join this monthly Live Meeting to learn how System Center provides the knowledge and management tools to help IT professionals gain control of their complex environment, helping IT move from being reactive to a proactive, responsive partner to the business, meeting or exceeding the service levels, and keeping pace with the business. This session will be led by SoCal’s Microsoft’s Management Technology Specialist.

What’s new in System Center Operations Manager 2007?

With this release, Operations Manager will:

• Proactively manage business critical IT services, including distributed applications, the supporting infrastructure and hardware, and end-user service delivery.
• Reduce the complexities of managing your IT environment by providing a monitoring solution that is designed with ease of use in mind.
• Provide a highly reliable infrastructure by leveraging Windows Server and SQL 2005 clustering for high availability and through agents that automatically failover to a secondary management server if connectivity to the primary server is lost.
• Include management packs with prescriptive knowledge developed by the application and OS development teams at Microsoft and verified in production deployments to improve monitoring, troubleshooting, and problem resolution for more than 50 Microsoft applications and Windows Server components.

Registration:

Please RSVP for this event by clicking the links below. Call 1.877.MSEVENT (877.673.8366) or visit http://msevents.microsoft.com/ and search on the Event Code.

December 22, 2006: Event Code: 1032309099

January 19, 2007: Event Code: 1032320009

February 16, 2007: Event Code: 1032320011

March 16, 2007: Event Code: 1032320013

April 20, 2007: Event Code: 1032320015

May 18, 2007: Event Code: 1032320137

June 15, 2007: Event Code: 1032320019

TechNet Webcast: Windows Vista Volume Activation 2.0 (Level 200)
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
11:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time

In this webcast, we cover Volume Activation 2.0, the flexible solution that enables Microsoft Volume Licensing customers to activate products more securely and easily on computers that are running the Windows Vista operating system and Microsoft Windows Server code-named “Longhorn.” We provide a technical overview of the activation options, planning, reporting, and manageability, and we discuss other aspects of Volume Activation 2.0.

Presenter: Thomas Lindeman, Senior Product Manager, Software Protection Platform, Microsoft Corporation

REGISTER:  http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032318044&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Benjamin Gauthey has created two new gadgets posted for download through his web site.

What is Outlook 2007 Mobile Service?

Outlook 2007 Mobile Service is a feature of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 that enables you to send and receive text messages between Office Outlook 2007 and any mobile phone. By setting Outlook 2007 Mobile Service to send SMS reminders for tasks and contacts, and even SMS messages containing your daily calendar right to your mobile phone, you don’t need to worry about missing an important meeting again.

Outlook 2007 Mobile Service gives you the flexibility and freedom to receive vital, time-sensitive information whether you’re out of the office, or in a meeting with a customer. The enhanced connectivity that Outlook 2007 Mobile Service provides will result in higher customer satisfaction, better team communication, and fewer hassles. It provides the communication tools you need to remain up-to-date in today’s rapidly changing workplace.

Outlook 2007 Mobile Service is easy to use, and requires no additional software or hardware other than your regular mobile phone. Outlook 2007 Mobile Service requires that you register with an Outlook 2007 Mobile service provider. Sign up today with available service provider for your region.

Why do I need Outlook 2007 Mobile Service?

Your busy day probably includes coordinating with customers and colleagues, travelling to client locations, or giving presentations and demonstrations. Managing a hectic schedule is a full-time job. Outlook 2007 Mobile Service helps you stay on track. There’s no need to check in with the office because the office checks in with you!

Reach your contacts, co-workers, and employees instantly:

• Send Short Message Service (SMS) text messages from Office Outlook 2007 to any mobile phone, including your own.
• Receive replies to your sent text messages to your Office Outlook 2007 inbox.
• Forward e-mail as SMS text messages from Office Outlook 2007 to any mobile phone.
• Automatically receive e-mail as SMS text messages to your mobile phone based on the rules you set up.
• Send a single e-mail message to multiple recipients’ phones.

Stay ahead of schedule:

• Automatically receive Office Outlook 2007 reminders as SMS text messages to your mobile phone.
• Send calendar appointments, contacts, or tasks as SMS text messages from Office Outlook 2007 to any mobile phone.
• Automatically receive your daily calendar as an SMS text message to your mobile phone.

Click here to sign-up!
(http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=ES101650331033&CTT=5&Origin=HA101549971033)

Read more here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101549971033.aspx

It’s a bit early in the morning for all of us, but we wanted to be one of the first to tell you that XNA Game Studio Express has been released!

To download the released product for Windows, head over to: http://msdn.com/xna/gse/. You can now also purchase a subscription to the XNA Creators Club from the Xbox Live Marketplace on your Xbox 360 console if you have an active silver or gold Xbox Live subscription.

Before you purchase a subscription to the XNA Creators Club please take the time to go over the PC and Xbox 360 console requirements in the readme. Once you’ve done that here’s how to get it:

1. On the Xbox Live blade, go to "Xbox Live Marketplace"
2. Select "Games" and then "All Game Downloads"
3. Scroll down the list to find the "XNA Creators Club"
4. Here you’ll be able to go under Memberships to purchase a 4-Mo membership for $49.00 or an Annual (12-mo) membership $99.00. The prices used here reflect the subscription rates for the United States and pricing may differ for your local region or country if outside the USA.
5. You’ll also need to download the XNA Game Launcher from the same area. Having done so, you will find a new XNA Game Launcher program on your Games blade under Demos and More.

Once you’re up and running, please refer to the XNA Documentation to get connected to your Xbox 360 and start creating games. If you run into trouble or can’t get connected, please head over to the XNA Game Studio Express forum and ask your questions.

We’d also like to thank all of you for taking the time to download our betas and give us some great feedback. Many decisions that took place on the final product were based on the feedback that we got from you all. Thank you and we hope that you continue to enjoy using XNA Game Studio Express.

Michael Klucher
Program Manager – XNA Game Studio

Xbox.com had a newsflash about the availability of Shadowrun… a much anticipated game from FASA Studios, the division of Microsoft that are also the makers of MechWarrior.

FASA Studio and Microsoft Game Studios are pleased to announce the beta for their upcoming multiplayer team based FPS title, Shadowrun.  Applications are now being accepted!  The beta will begin in December with a limited number of testers and gradually increase in size over time.  While the retail version of Shadowrun will feature cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and Vista, this beta will be for the Xbox 360 only. Instructions for submitting an application for the beta are below.
Ready to apply?

REGISTER:  http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2006/1128-shadowrunbetainvitation.htm

(BTW:  Before you start asking "what’s the beta code?" like a friend of mine did, RTFW.)

Look at this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15607130/

We at Microsoft talked about this in the middle of this year.  A cellphone acting as a person’s mobile computer.  Lower end versions simply connecting to TVs and leveraging Bluetooth keyboards as input devices.

But this is CRAZY:  Thee Samsung MIT (Samsung calls all it’s devices "MITs" for some reason) cellphone does voice & video calls, contains WiMAX networking, x86 CPU, Windows XP Professional, weighs about a pound and contains a fold-out keyboard, 5-inch screen and 30 gigabyte hard drive. Again, just in case you didn’t read that last line, did I mention it runs the full version of Windows XP and also supports the CDMA cellular networking – the same stuff in use by Verizon & Sprint?   (And South Korea & China… did you hear that you European GSM drum beaters?  Not everyone in the world lives in GSM land!)

Bad news:  Not available in the US.  Yet.

Good news:  This phone looks remarkably like the Samsung i600 which was the highest selling Windows Mobile Smartphone for CDMA networks prior to the Motorola Q releasing.  A US release would be undoubtedly predicated on the adoption of WiMAX by cellular vendors.