Microsoft Support & Discussions

By Paul Thurrott This week on What The Tech: Andrew and Paul talk about Microsoft delaying the Xbox update that was supposed to be released today. Why wasn

Users expect to visit any site on the Internet with any browser and enjoy a similar quality experience. We first discussed Internet Explorer

Microsoft is going to allow business users to distribute their internal Windows 8 Metro-style apps using the Windows Store (or circumventing it, if they prefer). Source: All About Microsoft

Microsoft has delivered an Xbox live app for iPhones and iPads on the same day it rolled out its Xbox Companion app for Windows Phones. Source: All About Microsoft

Microsoft may charge business users for Skype video archiving and authentication, but keep the base consumer video service free, according to one high-ranking company executive. Source: All About Microsoft

By Paul Thurrott While the Windows Phone world is all atwitter over the release of the Xbox Companion app, Microsoft has quietly created a new mobile app for iPhone and iPad users, too. It’s called My Xbox LIVE, and, no, it’s not an iOS port of the Xbox Companion app, it’s an iOS version of Windows Phone’s Games hub. Source: Win Super Site

I am attempting to create a sysprepped template of a virtual machine running 2008R2 Data Center in Vsphere 4.1 My unattend file processes correctly, but is producing an unexpected result: When the machine first boots after sysprep I get an error message that Windows has created a temporary paging file, and when I check my Virtual Memory settings I see that I have no paging file. Prior to running sysprep I had the paging file on a dedicated swap volume E: for example... and after running sysprep I see that the volume has disappeared and is no longer connected. Is there any way around this? Is there a way I can set my unattend to specify/prevent changes to the Virtual M…

How difficult or easy will it be to move legacy Windows apps to Windows 8 on ARM? Developers don’t yet know for sure, but theories abound. Source: All About Microsoft

By Paul Thurrott Microsoft yesterday announced some more details about the coming Windows Store for Windows 8. But I’m particularly taken by some of the numbers Microsoft provided at the event and in an associated blog post. Source: Win Super Site

By Paul Thurrott Here’s everything you need to know about the Windows Store, courtesy of last night’s special preview event in San Francisco. Source: Win Super Site

By Paul Thurrott Microsoft this week released a beta version of what appears to be a very useful tool: An offline version of its Windows Defender anti-malware solution. This tool can help final and remove malicious software, much like the version built into Windows. But because it can be installed to CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, it can be run in offline mode, when the Windows OS isn’t running. Source: Win Super Site

The beta of Windows 8 will launch in late February 2012, as will its app store, which initially will include only free apps from developers Microsoft invites. Source: All About Microsoft

By Paul Thurrott Now that smart phones have decent cameras, many people won’t need to carry an additional gadget with them all the time. But we’re also going to want to make sure those memories we record get properly archived, at home on Windows PCs, and in the cloud via connected services. Source: Win Super Site

By Paul Thurrott Carrier IQ is software that’s built into many mobile handsets, usually by a wireless carrier, in order to monitor the device and its network usage and report data back to the operator, silently and without your consent. The technology was outed last week by Trevor Eckhart. Source: Win Super Site

By Paul Thurrott Microsoft’s strategy for Windows Phone is simple enough: Offer consumers a middle ground between the overly consistent but choice-constrained iPhone and the overly-diverse but inconsistent Android platforms. But Verizon Wireless is calling Microsoft’s bluff and exposing a major hole in this strategy: And it says it will drop Windows Phone unless Microsoft picks up the pace and starts taking advantage of the wireless carrier’s key differentiator, the high bandwidth LTE wireless network. Source: Win Super Site