Paul Thurrott Windows SuperSite have thrown up their Preview of Microsoft's Windows XP Professional x64 Edition!

On April 9, 2003, Microsoft officially announced that it would support AMD's then-upcoming 64-bit Opteron and Athlon 64 microprocessors with 64-bit native versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The news must have sent shivers down the spines of executives at Microsoft partner Intel, whose 64-bit Itanium product line has languished because of slow performance and incompatibilities with today's existing 32-bit software. For AMD, of course, it was--and still is--a major victory.

Back in May, 2003 we exclusively revealed MSN Messenger 6.0. This time around it's 6.0's bigger brother, 7.0. MSN Messenger is clearly progressing in this early look at 7.0. You now have the ability to sign in as busy/away/offline etc which will please a lot of people. 3 Degrees is finally encorporated into MSN Messenger (something I had been writing about for more than a year). The interface is cleaner, smarter and the features are great! More at NeoWin

Hardware Pacers has posted a review on Microsoft's Picture It! Premium 10. Here's a snip.

For years people wondered why Microsoft did not release any products worth mentioning for digital photography. This industry was reserved for companies such as Adobe, Macromedia and Corel, however in recent months Microsoft decided to increase its presence in this highly competitive field. Thus came Digital Image Suite 10 aimed at professionals, Microsoft Digital Image Pro for intermediate users and Microsoft Picture It! Premium 10 for home users with little experience or knowledge in digital photo editing. Picture It! Premium 10 offers many features with standard Microsoft look and feel to it.

NeoWin reports that Microsoft has released screenshots and photos of their soon to be released Windows XP starter edition. SE is a cut down version of Windows XP, with less features and restrictions placed on its use.

Thanks to Tim @ Majorgeeks.com for the Heads up! Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE. But I made a Service Pack for Windows98 SE users. It contains all Windows98 SE updates from WindowsUpdate site and more.

This tool will help to remove the adware T.V. Media from affected computers. This adware interferes with successful installation of Windows XP Service Pack 2. T.V. Media is bundled with certain advertisement-supported applications such as Speed Blaster and Memory Meter. Users should uninstall these applications before running this tool and before installing Windows XP SP2.

Found this over at Neowin: Today is talk like a pirate day and the crazy folks at Microsoft UK have issued a light-hearted press release having a jab at those who use pirated Microsoft products. Although the press release is a joke, Microsoft recently started an optional Windows Validation process on their download servers. At recent conferences before the release of XPSP2 several Microsoft representatives have hinted at possible PID blocking on other Microsoft applications. In simple terms if you have a pirated version of Windows XP and you install an updated application like Windows Media Player, that application will detect your pirated install and will not install. There are also rumours that Microsoft are cracking down on the pirates themselves. Earlier this week the largest seizure of counterfeit Microsoft software and components took place, worth $80 million. For now the pirates are laughing but it looks like Microsoft are beginning to laugh and I'm sure they'll have the last laugh. Read the whole story at Neowin.
Check the validation process yourself: Windows Media Encoder 9 Series
Read more about the validation process at Microsoft

PlanetNow berichtet: Microsoft hat mit der Einführung einer Windows-Legalitätsüberprüfung für Windows-XP-Downloads im hauseigenen Download Center des Online-Auftritts begonnen. Das zurzeit in der Testphase befindliche System ist erst bei einigen wenigen Downloads und nicht in allen Sprachen eingebaut.

Windows Script is a comprehensive scripting infrastructure for the Microsoft Windows platform. Windows Script provides two script engines, Visual Basic Scripting Edition and Microsoft JScript, which can be embedded into Windows Applications. It also provides an extensive array of supporting technologies that makes it easier for script users to script Windows applications.

This update helps resolve an issue on computers running Windows XP Service Pack 2. Programs that connect to IP addresses in the loopback address range may not work as expected and you may receive an error message indicating you cannot establish a connection.

This non-security critical update helps resolve an issue where a limited number of systems running a BIOS without production support for Intel Pentium 4 and Intel Celeron D processors based on Prescott C-0 stepping can potentially hang on Windows XP Service Pack 2 installation.

Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately.

This update resolves a newly-discovered, privately reported vulnerability. A buffer overrun vulnerability exists in the processing of JPEG image formats that could allow remote code execution on an affected system. The vulnerability is documented in this bulletin in its own section.

Thanks to Tim @ Majorgeeks.com for the Heads up! Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE. But I made a Service Pack for Windows98 SE users. It contains all Windows98 SE updates from WindowsUpdate site and more.

A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Windows and gain complete control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Windows and gain complete control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may need to restart your computer. Note that in Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, this update will appear as Microsoft VGX 833989.

Virtual Server 2005 guest virtual machine environments are optimized for Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows NT Server 4.0, yet users can run a broad range of x86-based operating systems. This evaluation software includes all the features of the final, retail version of Virtual Server 2005, such as SCSI support, 2-node clustering, and an enhanced COM API for improved control.

When you use a Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computer to visit the Microsoft Windows Update Web site, one or both of the following scenarios may occur: You receive an "Internal Server Error" error message or a blank page when you click links on the Windows Update Web site.

HardCoreWare.net have thrown up their latest article that asks the question should I Install Windows XP SP2? Here's a snip.

If you are using Windows XP, there really is no question about whether you should install SP2. The security updates alone make it worthwhile. And there are several other features that have been added, including:

AutoPatcher XP is an installation package designed to get your Windows XP system up to date quick and easily. This update package features a slick looking GUI and and can be customized to install as much or as little as you please!

This add-in enables new capabilities for FrontPage users including the ability to: Easily embed the Windows Media Player 9 Series or 10 Series control into FrontPage web pages and SharePoint sites; Control the look and feel of the media playback experience; Easily convert your media files for efficient network delivery. Publish to a Web or streaming server automatically. All this from within the add-in's wizard without having to write any script!