Toshiba presents the new Dynabook Satellite T31 laptop. Interestingly, this 15-inch notebook PC comes preloaded with both Windows XP Professionals and Windows Vista operating system, thus allowing you to choose which one you want. Personally, I only recommend Vista if you configure this machine with at least 2GB of RAM. Other features include a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 processor, an Intel GM965 Express chipset, and a WXGA display. No words on pricing and availability.

Do you have XBox 360? One of its greatest feature is the ability to connect to your computer or existing home network. Once connected, you can view picture and music files that are stored on any computer that is running Microsoft Windows Media Connect software. Also, if your PC runs Windows Media Center Edition, you can also watch, pause, replay, and record live TV shows, watch recorded TV shows, and watch home videos. Pretty impressive, huh?

Above all, the first thing you should do to connect your XBox 360 console to your PC is download the XBox 360 connectivity software from Microsoft website. Once installed, follow the next steps below, depend on your Windows version.

Connect XBox 360 to a Windows XP-based computer that is running Windows Media Connect

After you download and run the setup package from the Web site, the installation program will automatically configure and authorize the Xbox 360 console. You can reconnect the Xbox 360 console if you have to, or you can connect an additional Xbox 360 console to a Windows XP-based computer. To do this, follow these steps.

1. On the Xbox 360 console in the Xbox Guide, open the Media section, and then select either Music or Pictures.
2. Select Computers to connect to your Windows-based computer.
3. You are prompted to install the Windows Media Connect software on the Windows XP-based computer. If you have not done so, review the information in the Download connectivity software section. If you have installed the software, select Yes, Continue to continue with the connection.
4. Select the Windows-based computer for the Xbox 360 console to connect to, and then press A to complete the connection.
5. On the Windows XP-based computer, click Start, and then click Control Panel.
6. Click Windows Media Connect or click Sound, Speech, and Audio Devices, and then click Windows Media Connect.
7. Click Devices, and then click to select the Xbox 360 that you are trying to connect.
8. If the Xbox 360 console shows Denied in red, click Allow to authorize the Xbox 360 console.

Connect to a computer that is running Windows XP Media Center Edition

After you download and then run the setup package as described in the “Download connectivity software” section, the installation program will automatically configure the Xbox 360 console. To reconnect the Xbox 360 console if you have to or to connect an additional Xbox 360 console to a Windows XP Media Center Edition-based computer that already has the Windows Media Center Extender software installed, follow these steps:

1. On the Xbox 360 console in the Xbox Guide, open the Media section, and then select Media Center.
2. If you have not installed the required software on the Windows Media Center Edition-based computer, review the information in the Download connectivity software section.
3. Write down the eight-digit setup key. This key will be used on the Windows Media Center Edition-based computer to complete the setup.
4. Open Xbox 360 Setup for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
5. Follow the on-screen prompts. When you are prompted, enter the eight-digit setup key that you obtained in step 3.
6. After the Windows XP Media Center Edition-based computer has contacted and confirmed the setup, the setup will be finished.

Add or remove an Xbox 360 console connection from a Windows Media Center-based computer

After the setup files are downloaded to your computer, you can add or remove another Xbox 360 console to the home network by using the Media Center Extender Manager. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Windows Media Center-based computer, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Media Center, and then click Media Center Extender Manager.
2. On the File menu, click Add New Xbox 360.
3. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation.

Other XBox 360 Tutorial

• How To Connect XBox 360 To Sony PSP

[ Source ] [ Buy XBox 360 Elite ]

WinFS is not built directly on the SQL Server 2005 engine, but does utilize a subset of the same technology, which was then custom tailored for file storage. The idea behind WinFS is to create a sea of data that abolishes the need for the standard file and folder hierarchy. For example, no longer would documents need to be stored in My Documents or images in My Pictures; instead, Windows would simply display the files associated with a particular request on demand.

The first beta release of WinFS was designed to run on Windows XP only, in order to get the broadest developer audience possible. Microsoft wants to see developers start building applications and play with the WinFS storage model. The technology will be tweaked based on how developers respond.

Microsoft plans to offer Windows schemas for storing all sorts of data types, along with synchronization and rich APIs. And those things will likely undergo the most modification as development progresses.

As expected, WinFS Beta 1 will be included in DVDs distributed to attendees at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference next month. Microsoft also confirmed that WinFS will still be in beta when Windows Vista ships in late 2006 and thus will not be built into the operating system. However, because WinFS is scheduled between major Windows releases, the technology will initially be distributed as an add-on – much like the .NET Framework is today.

That means Vista users — and those still running XP — can begin taking advantage of WinFS before the next major update to Windows. A unified data store like WinFS would eventually be an integral part of Windows, but Microsoft feels it is import to deliver the technology as soon as possible.

[ Via Technologist Community ]

It took basically 5 minutes to figure out how to bypass this check. However, Microsoft can change his server part of the check in order to block this.

Updated: Since this page become popular on search engine, I’m now include the procedures to bypass Windows Genuine Advantage check here.

Here’s the procedure as it works (28 July 2005):

1. Block the ActiveX execution.
2. Choose the alternate method and download the GenuineCheck.exe

3. Right-click this executable and go the compatibilty tab.
4. Set the compatibily mode to Windows 2000.

5. Run GenuineCheck.exe.
6. Paste the code returned in the Browser.
7. Your windows would now have been validatest and off you go.

You can download Windows Validation Tool (GenuineCheck.exe) from here.

Update: for new visitors, above trick is no longer work. Please read through the comment below and try suggested bypass steps from others. From now on, I’ll try to mirror all of the recommended files, so incase the original file has lost, you can still download it here. Note that I DIDN’T check the files personally, so make sure you scan it for viruses before you try it.

Mirror File:
Comment #175 – muBlinder v2
Comment #139 – LegitCheckControl.dll-v1.5.526.0-Abr-10-2006.zip (removed, received complain from Microsoft!)
Comment #124 – muBlinder.zip

[ Source ]

If you don’t want to try the new Windows Vista Beta 1 on your system, but you’d like your Windows XP desktop to have a nice-looking Longhorn/Vista theme, here’s something you might want to try. This is something I did on my machine tonight and I like the results, so for those of you who haven’t tried it yet, follow these steps. Note, this is done at your own risk:

1. Download the free tool UXTheme Multi-Patcher, and the theme Longhorn 5203. Note that you can use the tool WindowsBlinds to do this more easily, but it is not free.

2. Make sure to backup your uxtheme.dll file in your \WINDOWS\system32 directory.

3. Run UXTheme Multipatcher and follow the prompts. Your uxtheme.dll file will have its Windows File Protection removed and will be patched to allow custom themes, then you should reboot as required.

4. Extract the contents of the ‘Longhorn 5203′ archive to sit directly under your \WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\ directory.

5. Go to Control Panel>Display and select the Appearance tab. Under the ‘Windows and Buttons’ scroll box, select the new Longhorn theme. Then under ‘Color Scheme’ select one of the variations of the theme which suits you, and click the Apply button to see how it looks on your Desktop.

6. If you want to change the font used select a new font under the ‘Font Size’ box, and to further refine the colors, border sizes etc. used click the Advanced button and go through the options for each screen element.

7. Your icons will not change using the UXTheme Multipatcher method. Also, if you want to use the new wallpaper which comes with the theme, it can be found under the \WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\Longhorn\Wallpapers directory.

[ Read Original Article ]