Since my last article I have updated the OS on my cell phone to AKU 3 for Windows Mobile 5.0. This has been a huge productivity increase, since there is no longer a need to have a modem driver, and you can browse the internet and take calls on your cell phone at the same time.

Requirements:

1. A Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6.0 device.
2. Active Sync 4.2 or greater for Windows XP or Windows Mobile Device Center for Windows Vista.

USB Internet Sharing:

1. Open the Internet Sharing application under Programs.
2. In the PC Connection drop down select USB.
3. In the Network Connection drop down select the network connection for your cell phone provider. (i.e. Verizon Wireless)
4. Press Connect in the bottom left.
5. Plug your device in to your computer using a USB cable.
6. You will then see your Status at the top change to Connected.

Bluetooth Internet Sharing:

I am going to assume that you already have your Bluetooth device paired to your computer. If you don’t know how to do this please check the manual for your specific phone.

1. Open the Internet Sharing application under Programs.
2. In the PC Connection drop down select Bluetooth PAN.
3. In the Network Connection drop down select the network connection for your cell phone provider. (i.e. Verizon Wireless)
4. Press Connect in the bottom left.
5. Plug your device in to your computer using a USB cable.
6. Setup a PAN (Personal Area Network) on your computer, again please search the internet or look through your manual on how to do this, because it varies from cell phone to cell phone and Windows XP and Windows Vista.
7. You will then see your Status at the top change to Connected.

This is a great new feature that the Windows Mobile Team has included in the Windows Mobile OS. Not only can you now use your phone while you are browsing the web, but you don’t have to go through the hassle of trying to find a modem driver and then setting up a dial up connection and typing #777 and on and on and … you get the idea. I hope you find this useful, and as always please leave a comment telling me if this works or doesn’t for you.

Tags: Active Sync, Microsoft, Phone, Verizon, Windows Mobile, Windows Mobile Device Center, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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Apple has just released a public beta of its Safari browser for Windows yesterday. And there have been already 6 zero day exploits and many, many crashes for the browser. You can read about them here here here and here. Which makes the following image from the Apple website, borrowed from aviv.raffon.net, all the more funny.

Also Apple has the following to say under the Security tab of their website:

Security

Now you can enjoy worry-free web browsing on any computer. Apple engineers designed Safari to be secure from day one.

For starters, Safari uses robust encryption to ensure that your private information stays that way. When you browse a secure site, Safari displays a lock icon in the upper-right corner of the browser. If you want to know more about the credentials of a secure site, click the lock icon and Safari displays detailed information about the site’s security certificate.

Safari supports SSL versions 2 and 3, as well as Transport Layer Security (TLS), the next generation of Internet security. Safari uses these technologies to provide a secure, encrypted channel that protects all your information from online eavesdroppers. And Safari lets you use standards-based authentication such as Kerberos single sign-on and X.509 personal certificates, or proprietary protocols like NTLMv2 to log in to secure sites.

Safari also supports a variety of proxy protocols — services that help firewalls control what flows in and out of the network — including Automatic Proxy configuration, FTP Proxy, Web Proxy (HTTP), Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS), Streaming Proxy (RTSP), SOCKS Proxy, and Gopher Proxy.

I don’t know about you, but it’s one thing to say that you have designed your browser to be secure from day one, but it’s another to actually prove it. Apple has fallen flat on its face with this release, and I know it is only a beta, but Fire Fox and IE have both been in beta before and haven’t nearly had this many problems.

All that I have to say is when you venture out in to the Windows world Apple, where the market share is at 90% you are not protected by your small margins anymore.

Tags: Apple, Internet Browser, Microsoft, Performance, Safari, Security, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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One of features in Windows that I could not live with out is the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). It is one of the best tools out there for remote viewing of your desktop. I use it at work to keep track of my Windows servers as well as log in to my desktop at home to do programming or check personal e-mail. Remote Desktop is fast, flexible, and doesn’t have the problem of having to do a full screen refresh to see what has changed on your desktop. So in a sense it is smart because it only updates the part of the screen that have refreshed. You don’t even loose screen refresh performance when you login to a machine through RDP and then launch another instance of RDP to remote in to another machine from your already remote machine, I find that very impressive.

I have always been using VNC to monitor my Linux servers from my Windows desktop, I have also always wished there was a way login to my Linux servers the way I login to my Windows servers. Today I found the answer and it is 2X Terminal Server. You can read more about this at the digg link below.

read more | digg story

Tags: Linux, Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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Microsoft has made the full version of Virtual PC 2007 available for download from their web site.

The program is supported on the following servers:

• Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86);
• Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition;
• Windows Vista Business;
• Windows Vista Business 64-bit edition;
• Windows Vista Enterprise;
• Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit edition;
• Windows Vista Ultimate;
• Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition;
• Windows XP Professional Edition ;
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition ;
• Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

That leaves out the Home and Media Center editions of Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well as the Web and Enterprise versions of Windows Server 2003.

It offers the following improvements over previous versions:

• Support for Windows Vista as a host
• Support for Windows Vista as a guest
• Support for Windows Vista 64-bit as a host
• Improved performance compared to Virtual PC 2004
• Hardware-assisted Virtualization (as seen in the picture to the right)

I have been running Virtual PC 2007 since it was released as a released canidate, and I can say I am very happy with the progress Microsoft has made with the product. One thing to not before trying the Hardware-assisted Virtualization is to make sure your computer supports it by checking your processor and getting the latest BIOS update.

Tags: Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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