Microsoft Live Mesh is being phased out to become Live Sync. If you decide to update to the newer version, you can only have one installed on a machine at a time. for those that have files online through Mesh, they will be available for 6 months after they officially switch over.

Q: What is happening with Live Mesh?

A: Customers wanted to know why we had two services – Windows Live Sync and Live Mesh beta – with similar features. Responding to feedback, we built the next version of Windows Live Sync on Mesh technology – combining the two into one simple, easy-to-use product that brings you the best of both.

(more…)

It’s been 30 years since Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft. While I’ve had mixed feelings about Ballmer over the years, he has earned a lot of respect for helping Microsoft become what it is today. The car salesman lilke CEO of Microsoft had him speechless at the event when they brought out his family to the stage. I’ve had some mixed feelings about Bill Gates, as well, but have to admit that he does a much better job at the helm than Steve. Oh well, I’m sure we’ll be saying the same about the next successor to the throne at Microsoft. One thing to look forward to for MSFT investors: quarterly and fiscal year end earnings report on Thursday. Windows 7 has been doing extremely well, and I’m sure their earnings should be up.

Sentiment aside, the timing is very interesting. Ballmer has seen criticism of his leadership rise over the past year, despite the turnaround of the flagship Windows business, as Microsoft’s share price has remained stagnant and the company has struggled to keep pace against Google and Apple in the mobile phone business.

Some shareholders would no doubt like to interpret the tribute as a retirement montage, but in the context of the Microsoft rally it was more along the lines of a show of support. Assuming he’s not ultimately forced out, Ballmer said as recently as 2008 that he’s planning to stick around until his last kid goes to college, around 2018.

(more…)

Microsoft has recently issued a security advisory for an issue that affects most systems from Windows XP to Windows 7. They released a Fix It workaround until a patch can be released. Make sure and get your systems patched up to prevent even bigger problems!

To implement the workaround that disables .LNK and .PIF file functionality automatically on a computer that is running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, or Windows Server R2 click the Fix this problem link under Enable workaround. To undo the workaround, click the Fix this problem link under Disable workaround. In either scenario, click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in the Fix it wizard.

(more…)

Dell has been coming out with some of their own software (Dell Dock) to put on PC’s to help their users. While most of the bloatware is crap (ok, all of it is!), the Dell Dock is decent and gets a lot of good press. Again, they have brought out something to make computing easier, or safer anyway. The new browser from Dell, KACE, is based on Firefox, but is designed to be a lot more secure than a base Firefox installation. I’m sure it will save a lot of users from getting an infection. Most of this stuff should be included in basic browsers, anyway. I’m not sure why it would take someone like Dell to release this, while Microsoft and Mozilla haven’t yet released something similar. You do need to input your name and email to download, but it is available for anyone to download. Check it out, and leave your experiences in the comments or in our forums! Edit: It’s a 74MB download for those that are on slow connections, beware!