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Still looking for Free Antivirus? antispware? a protector for your system, the wait might just be over now . Theres good news as Microsoft unveiled its first Free Antivirus ‘Code Name : Morro‘. A Microsoft spokesman said on Wednesday that the world’s biggest software maker is testing an early version of the product with its own employees. Microsoft would “soon” make a trial version, or product beta, available for Download via its website, he added, but declined to provide a specific date.

The impact of this announcement resulted in Symantec shares falling 0.5 percent on Nasdaq and McAfee falling 1.3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, while Microsoft was up 2.1 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was down 0.47 percent.

Investors are closely monitoring the free service, code-named Morro after Brazil’s Morro de Sao Paolo beach, amid concern it could hurt sales of products from Symantec and McAfee, which generate billions of dollars of revenue a year protecting Windows PCs from attacks by hackers.

Three years ago, Microsoft entered that market with Live OneCare, which turned out to be a commercial flop. It announced plans in November to kill that product suite, saying it would launch the free Morro service by the end of 2009. Analysts said they are looking forward to Morro’s beta to see exactly how its features compare to those in products from competitors.

Microsoft has said it will provide protection from several types of malicious software including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans. Officials with Symantec and McAfee have said they do not see Morro as a threat.

“Microsoft’s free product is basically a stripped down version of the OneCare product Microsoft pulled from the shelves. A full Internet security suite is what consumers require today to stay fully protected.”

Symantec Consumer division president Janice Chaffin

Source: Reuters , Times of India

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and BusinesWeek have recently revealed a list of 50 most innovative companies based on a survey done by BCG. BCG sent a questionnaire to top executives all around the world out of which 2700 responded anonymously with their opinion. They were asked to mention companies that consistently offer innovative products, customer experiences, business models, or processes. Those who mentioned their own employers were not considered. Apart from executives’ opinions financial performance of the companies was also gauged to determine the final results. Here are the first 20 finalists of most innovative companies:

[Data from BusinessWeek]

Since there are so many version of every software that sometimes it gets difficult to find a universal reader for all the file formats. The need for such software is even greater for text filled documents. Word Reader has solved this problem as it can be used to read most of the text related documents. Word Reader is an easy-to-use Free Word Reader,You can read MicroSoft Word 2007 (*.DOCX), MicroSoft Word 97-2003(*.DOC), Hyper Text Markup Language (*.Htm,*.Html), Plain Text Format (*.TXT), Rich Text Format (*.RTF). it is a multilingual software, including English, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Japanese and Very user-friendly interface and easy to use. Very quick in read speed and no quality is lost!

System Requirements
Word Reader has been designed to work with Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT4, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista or  Windows 7.

Do keep in mind that it can only read and not edit the document. Its is more like Adobe Reader.  The best thing come at the last and its the fact that the software is free to use.

To Download Word Reader, click here

Microsoft Office 2010 is not officially released but since you can find its Tech Preview version on a lot of torrent sites, geeks have already started testing it.  While testing the Office 2010, a lot of new and interesting features have been identified by the users and i came across one such feature on a tech site and therefore decided to share it with you.

I have personally been using “Print Screen” a lot to capture screen shots of different things. While posting Excel Graphs in blogs or taking out something from net and posting it into my Powerpoint presentation, i had to use the Print Screen option. Office 2010 has made things really simple  by adding a Screen caputuring feature labeled “ScreenShot”. The icon for ScreenShot appears under “Insert” tab in the MS PowerPoint 2010 and MS Excel 2010. Below are the screen shots as taken from DI.

Above is the ScreenShot option in MS Word 2010 while the picture below is the same option in MS Powerpoint 2010.

The screenshot option allows you to capture screenshot of open windows or any portion of your desktop using the typical marquee selection. The drop down menu under the ScreenShot option lets you add new screenshot or view all previous screenshots that you might have taken in the past using the ScreenShot option of Office 2010.

Even though the feature is very minute and it is not something totally new to anyone of us but combining this feature inside Office 2010 will surely make things pretty easy for all of us who extensively use MS Office and will also save our precious time in doing the same task through the print screen application. MS Office 2010 tech preview has been released on torrent sites by some enthusiast and can be found by clicking here.

[via DI]

Seems the internet is getting a bit too opened a place for anything. Even the Microsoft is feeling heat.  Recently, we all saw how Windows 7 was constantly getting leaked to the public, thanks to the Torrent sites and now its Microsoft Office Suite 2010. The technical preview and limited testing version was expected to be released in July, 2009 but somehow, its already available on the torrent sites. Even Office 2010 enthusiasts have already installed it on their machines to get a taste of the new MS Office 2010. Both the 32- and 64-bit editions of the application suite are available for download earlier than planned. Click on the images below to see screenshots of MS Exel 2010, MS Powerpoint 2010 and MS Word 2010

According to a techsite, “It’s not known if the leaked version, build 14.0.4006.1010, is the same that Microsoft will begin delivering to select testers at the start of July. Among the notable changes in Office 2010 are a revamped Outlook e-mail client that will feature the “ribbon” interface, and the simultaneous availability of new, browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. If you are interested in trying the leaked version, a quick look at your favorite torrent site should yield some results – know that this is not exactly considered legal.”

However, if you want to apply for official way to get MS Office 2010 Technical Preview, click here to visit Microsoft website to get registered.

You can download the Microsoft (MS) Office 2010 Technical Preview Torrents from the links listed below

Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview 1 (Beta v14.0.4006.1010) x86 and x64 Leaked Download

Version x64

Version x86

If you still fail to do the search, copy paste the below Keywords in Google and you will get what you are looking for!

ms_office2010_techical_preview_1_x86_en.rar.torrent

and

ms_office2010_techical_preview_1_x64_en.rar.torrent

Themes have always been very important as they enhance the look of your desktop and also give you a chance to show your taste to other who might be looking at your desktop. Windows 7 seven (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is an upcoming version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers. We have earlier written a post on “How to Install Windows 7“  so we decided to write our next post on Free Windows 7 Themes and let our visitors download them here at TechNama. If you like the post and would like to get more posts  like this, don’t forget to follow our RSS feed. Do give us your feedback as well and in case you know of any more free downloadable themes, suggest us a link and we will bring them here for our followers. Click on the image below to download the theme.

Microsoft has added another gaming mouse to their Sidewinder range, with the launch of the Microsoft Sidewinder X3 Gaming Mouse. The Microsoft Sidewinder X3 Gaming Mouse is aimed at entry level gamers, and it features a 2,000 DPI laser sensor that is adjustable to 800 DPI or 400 DPI.

Enter the SideWinder X3. While it does carry the SideWinder gaming brand, it does offer users a different look and feel over the three previous SideWinder mice. For starters, it’s a bit smaller, boasts an ambidextrous design, and carries a side button on the left and right of the mouse. A price tag of $39.99 is also more like it too. (Extremetech)

Specs

• 2.76″ wide, 4.74″ long
• Symmetrical design—suitable for both lefties and righties equally
• 2000dpi laser tracking engine; 500Hz polling rate
• Three on-the-fly dpi switching buttons
• Two side buttons (one on each side)
• Clicky scroll wheel
• Wide glide feet
• Ability to record macros via included software

Confess it that if you are using Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, you often come across a situation where you wish to recover your deleted emails but alas you think its impossible. Don’t worry its not impossible any more, thanks to Mail Cure, a free tool to instantly recover deleted e mail from Outlook and Thunderbird.

It is a small sized software and very simple to use. Unlike other tools, it scans for empty traces in the hard disk block by block to find deleted emails. Once the software has been downloaded, just run the program (it don’t needs installation). The Mail Cure will ask you about the drives, folders or any other files that you want to scan. Just select any folder or file and start the scanning process for deleted emails.

Once the scan starts, it will show a progress bar on the top right side as you can see in the picture below. It will also show you the number of e mails that have been recovered while the scanning process is still in progress. Not only this, you can also preview the e mails that have been recovered while Mail Cure is still scanning the drive and hence save your time if you are looking for any specific e mail. To preview your e mails in right side pane, click the mail on the list window, the mail’s detail information will display on the bottom pane.

Once the scanning process is complete, you can easily export the recovered e mail either in txt or eml format. The eml format is widely used to import emails in Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and other desktop email programs.

One last but not the least feature of Mail Cure is that you can sort the emails by different ways such as sender, date, or subject. You can also search for any text in the emails by clicking Find button. So i hope now your problems are solved and you don’t have to worry if you accidentally deleted your important emails as Mail Cure can always recover them for you.

Click here to Download Mail Cure for Free

Microsoft SharedView is an online collaboration and desktop sharing software application. It can be used to share screen or used for group chats and sharing documents with maximum 15 users at a time in real time. The project was initially codenamed Tahiti. The application is very simple and yet very effective for those who need to collaborate on some  file or document while being physically away from each other. The application is free to download and only requires Microsoft Live Id for the session administrator to initiate the session. The participants of the session will be sent a message through e-mail, Instant Message or through phone.

gHacks gave a very good example of how a typical session works on Microsoft SharedView,

A typical work scenario would look like the following. One user starts the Microsoft SharedView software and creates a new session after logging in with a Windows Live ID. An auto-generated email can be dispatched to invite users to join the session.

The session starter selects an application to share, for example a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The shared document will be displayed brighter in this case than the parts of the desktop that are not shared. It is furthermore possible to post additional files that every user can access. Lastly it is possible to preview the desktop how users who join would see it.

Not only this, the SharedView also allow to track changes on the document so you don’t need to worry if multiple people are busy modifying same document of MS Word. The changes to the document can be only made after the session adminstrator allow the users to modify the document.  You can even monitor the movement of individual cursors.  Since so much is offered for free, we have to be patient with a fact that site is open for advertisements from Microsoft.

Microsoft SharedView can be installed on Windows XP Service Pack 2,Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later besides Windows Vista. According to a forum posting on Microsoft, SharedView can not be installed on the Windows 7. However, there are always some one who will find a way out as you can find on a blog post here with a big disclaimer.

Click here to Download Microsoft SharedView if it appeals to you.  To find detail guide on How to Use Microsoft SharedView click here. If you are have used it, do share with us your experience of using it.

Can Windows 7 Survive the Pirates Assault?

Beware of the hackers, Microsoft has warned the latest users of Windows 7 R.C…Look out for Malware Infected Fake Windows 7 Release Client, it is illegitimately distributed. So make sure you are getting the right software.

“It’s so important for customers to get their copies of Windows from a trusted source. In the last few days we’ve seen reports of illegitimate distributions of the release candidate of our latest Windows operating system, Windows 7, being offered in a way that is designed to infect a customer’s PC with malware” Joe Williams, GM Worldwide Genuine Windows at Microsoft.

Microsoft is making Windows 7 Release Candidate available as it puts finishing touches to the operating system that will replace Windows Vista. as its next operating syste. The developers has touted anti-piracy protections it built into Windows 7 to thwart the spread of illegal copies of the operating system. Mr. William further added,

“With Windows Vista, we made significant strides in reducing the threat pirated copies posed to customers, our partners and Microsoft software, and we anticipate we’ll do even better with Windows 7″.

Dawn News reports, that Microsoft consider software piracy as a pervasive problem that costs the world economy more than 45 billion dollars annually and exposes users to risks of identity theft, system crashes, and data loss.

It is estimated 33% of the windows based operating systems have piracy issues, which is a big amount, considering 90% of the computers have windows operating system. Anyways, Technama seriously recommends all its viewers to stay vigilant and make sure they are getting the original software.

Source: Microsoft, Reuters,

The Windows 7 Pre Release Candidate is finally here and you can now install it. The installation process is simple as we can see a lot of people have already installed it on their systems. The Windows 7 RC provides you a chance to see what’s coming up in the new Windows and also helps Microsoft to make the final fixes in the product before its commercial release. Do follow the three step process as outlined by Microsoft to install it.

Before installing Windows 7 RC, please remember the following points:

1) Install on a Test PC

2) Create a backup seprately

3) Keep your Restoration Disk at Hand

4) Update your Anti Virus System

5) Keep an active internet connection

You need the following to install the Windows 7 RC:

• A blank DVD
• A PC with a DVD burner
• A PC for testing that meets these minimum system requirements (specific to Windows 7 RC and subject to change in the final version of Windows 7):
  • 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • 1 GB RAM (32-bit) / 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
  • 16 GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)
  • DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Three Step Microsoft Installation Guide

Step 1: Get the Download
1.Visit the Windows 7 RC download page.
2.Choose your language.
3.Choose a 32-bit or 64-bit version of the RC. To see if your computer can run a 64-bit version of Windows, in Performance Information and Tools (Start>Control Panel>Performance Information and Tools) click View and print details and then look under 64-bit capable.
4.Get a Windows 7 RC product key. (You can use the RC for 30 days without a product key, then you’ll need it for activation.)
5.Download the Windows 7 RC.

Step 2: How to Create an Installation DVD

The RC download is an ISO file, which you’ll need to burn onto a blank disc before you can install it. To do that, you’ll need to use software designed for burning ISO files.

In addition to commercial ISO burning software, there are free programs such as ISOBuster and Active ISO Burner. To find ISO Buster, click here or Tucows and search for “ISO,” “DVD,” and “burn”. Follow the instructions that came with your program to create a Windows 7 RC installation disc.

Update on Burning DVD/CD for Windows 7: I monitor the site search items and i realized that some of TN visitors are looking for some easy ways to Burn the DVD so here is another way to get around with it. First of all remember the fact that you will need to burn the ISO files on a DVD as its a must to do step for Windows 7 RC installation. Get a blank DVD and download the freely available software called ImgBurn (click here to download ImgBurn).  Once that is done Insert the Disk into the your drive and launch the ImgBurn software and through the software burn the ISO image file to the blank disk in your drive. This results in a disk/DVD that can be used just like any other installation CD/DVD. The disk can be labelled Windows 7 RC Installation Cd/DVD. Now go ahead and start following the next steps . In case any further questions, please feel free to drop your comments.

Step 3: Install the Windows 7 RC

You’ll need to do a “clean installation.” That means you can’t upgrade an existing PC to Windows 7 RC. So if you’re using an existing PC and want to keep the information on it, you’ll need to back it up before you start.

1.Turn on your computer, insert the Windows 7 RC installation disc you created in step 2 into the computer’s DVD or CD drive, and then do one of the following:

* If you want to replace your computer’s existing operating system with the Windows 7 RC, and you don’t need to adjust your disk partitions, go to step 2.

* If your computer doesn’t have an operating system installed, or you want to install the RC on another disk partition, restart your computer with the installation disc inserted in your CD or DVD drive. If you’re asked to press a key to boot from DVD or CD, press any key. If the Install Windows page appears, go to step 2.

If the Install Windows page doesn’t appear and you’re not asked to press a key to start from DVD or CD, you might have to specify that your computer uses its DVD or CD drive as the startup device. See Start Windows from a CD or DVD. After you select your DVD or CD drive as the startup device, restart your computer, and then start Windows from the installation DVD or CD as previously described.

2. On the Install Windows page, follow the instructions, and then click Install now.

3. On the Get important updates for installation page, we recommend getting the latest updates to help ensure a successful installation and protect your computer against security threats. You need an Internet connection to get updates.

4. On the Please read the license terms page, if you accept the license terms, click I accept the license terms. (You must accept to continue the installation.)

5. On the Which type of installation do you want? page, click Custom.

6. On the Where do you want to install Windows? page, do one of the following:

* If you don’t want to specify a specific partition to install Windows on, or create partitions on your hard disk, click Next to begin the installation.

* If you already have another existing partition with enough free space and want to install the Windows 7 RC on that partition to create a multiboot configuration, select the partition you want to use, and then click Next to begin the installation. (Be sure to install the RC on a different partition from where your current version of Windows is installed.)

* If you want to create, extend, delete, or format a partition, click Drive options (advanced), click the option you want, and then follow the instructions. Click Next to begin the installation. (If the Drive options (advanced) option is disabled, you need to start your computer using the installation disc.)
7. Follow the instructions.

Update: According to Microsoft there are some Malware infected Microsoft Windows 7 version on the internet so kindly refrain from getting infected. Read TechNama story on the Malware infected Windows 7

Update2: Now you can also install Windows 7 from USB.

I have found a much easier way to install Windows 7 from a USB Flash drive. Unlike other methods where you have to write complicated commands, this method can be completed even by those who have very little computer background.

The whole process takes only two steps, run UNetbootin, load the Windows 7 ISO file, and finally restart your computer.

Before you begin, you will require the following:

* USB Flash Drive (4GB minimum)
* Windows 7 ISO Image file
* UNetbootin

Now insert the USB drive, run UNetbootin, and select Disk Image as ISO. Browse your local drive for Windows 7 ISO that you downloaded and click Open. Now Select Type as USB and choose the drive. Once done, it will look like a bit similar to the screenshot shown below.

Click OK and it will begin extracting all installation files to the USB drive. The whole process will take some time(10-15 minutes), so have patience.
Once the installation is complete, reboot your computer. Now while your system is starting up press the appropriate button(usually F1, F2, F12, ESC, Backspace, or Escape) to bring up Bios Boot Menu. Change the startup order to boot USB by default, usually you will have to press F6 to move the selected USB device on top. Once done, save changes and restart the system.

[via Addictive Tips]

To Download Windows 7 Wallpapers Click here

To Download Windows 7 Themes Click here

Microsoft was getting cold feat in the social networking arena but it seems they are finally trying to make their presence felt with their new web application Microsoft Vine. Microsoft Vine (not Wine) has launched its beta version in Seattle to test the robustness of their new product.

Microsoft Vine is more like an enhanced and highly localized version of twitter with message and alert system mainly targeted at emergency situations. MS Vine offers a dashboard that helps you keep yourself updated about your locality or any other area of your choice.

On its Map, you will get pointers sharing with you latest news and media information about that specific area. You can also get updates about your Vine contacts in the area through the Vine unique alert system, messaging or through Facebook and Twitter updates.

With MS Vine, you can also create your own groups of friends, family, class mates and of your teams. You can send and receive quick alerts to them through MS Vine. Not only this, you can also share reports with them from your area that you just came across. For example, a major Cyclone is moving towards your way and you saw came to know about it, you can send a quick alert to all your friends. As soon as they read it, you can then send them a detail report to compliment your initial alert. The Dashboard of all your contacts will keep getting updated with the information shared between any group. You can also share your current location and check out your friends current location on the maps.

The Microsoft has made this application for inclusive social network, where you can communicate through all other social networks as well as through your cellphone, fixed line phone and even your special need devices. The purpose of Microsoft is to extent the service to anyone with any means of communication.

Now whats next when this product is finally out in the public after its beta testing? Microsoft has itself answered this question in Microsoft Factsheet,

Over time, the network will provide advanced capabilities to help individuals, communities and organizations work together to fundamentally improve quality of life and be better prepared for any disaster. Grounded in the tools people use today, Microsoft is working to deliver a new generation of software and services that will enable society to self-organize effectively toward a broad range of goals. We call this concept “societal networking.”

The system requirements for MS Vine beta are following:

• Operating system: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32-bit edition only), Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions)
• Processor: 1 GHz or higher Memory: 1 GB of RAM or higher for Windows Vista, 512 MB for Windows XP.
• Hard disk space: 100 MB for Vine and 500 MB for the Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 with Service Pack 1
• Resolution: Minimum 1024×768
• Internet connection: Broadband Internet access is required (provided separately); charges may apply
• Browser: Internet Explorer 6 or later, Firefox 3.0 or later
• Graphics or video card: A graphic card with Microsoft DirectX 9 and 128 MB of graphic memory is recommended

In the end, the product is expected to be Free of Charge.

Click below to View:

Product Demo for MS Vine

Microsoft Factsheet for MS Vine

Microsoft Vine Official Website