Windows XP SP2 is no longer supported after today, which means you will not be able to get support or updates from Microsoft.

We recommend that you upgrade to either Windows XP SP3 or take the plunge in to Windows 7!

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/end-support-windows-xp-sp2-windows-vista-without-service-packs?os=other

Windows Vista without a Service Pack is also no longer supported...not that anyone uses it - right?!

Microsoft has released a new product call Microsoft Security Essentials. It is a free product that protects your pc from viruses, spyware and other malware. It is not intended to replace your current McAfee AV in schools but if you are thinking about buying a new laptop for example, you may want to thank "Popular High Street Retailer" for their kind offer of "A Virus Product for £29.99 a year" and think about installing MSE :)

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Have a look at Microsoft's vision for tablet computing...

http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet

Here is a deal for those of you wanting to run Windows 7 on your home PC, Tesco are offering Home Premium for £49.99

 http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-3928.aspx

A handy little webpage to check how strong the passwords you use are: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx

The page also offers tips on how to create strong passwords and their importance.

I came across the website: British Library "Turning the Pages" the other day http://www.bl.uk/ttp2/ttp1.html

It is an amazing website which has digitized 15 of the Libraries most precious books. What is impressive, is the technology it uses. If you're using Windows Vista and have the "Premium" experience the plug in takes advantage of Direct X9 and all the wizzy graphics stuff. The quality of the images are outstanding and it brings the books to life! If you're unfortunate (or fortunate ) enough not to have Vista then a Silverlight version is available.

With the news that Windows 7 has been Released to Manufacturing (RTM) I thought it'd be best to quickly mention a few important bits of information.

• Windows 7 in the UK will not come with Internet Explorer 8, due to EU regulations. You are advised to download a web browser to a USB drive or obtain a copy on CD before installing Windows 7. The edition without a web browser is called: Windows 7 E.
• As Internet Explorer is not included with Windows 7, upgrades from Windows XP or Vista is not possible and Windows 7 must be a clean install.

Read up more here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/help/installing-e

Volume licence customers will be able to purchase Professional and those with Software Assurance, Enterprise Edition.

If so, ask yourself why?! 

There has been a lot of debate in the press about the future of IE 6. Whilst it is still supported for another year, websites such as You Tube will no longer be supporting the browser on its site, and is encouraging users to upgrade to Firefox, IE or Chrome.

With the news that HTML 5 will be banging on our web browsers door soon, which IE 6 will not be able to render, we are being encouraged to upgrade to the latest and greatest IE 8, Chome 2 or Firefox 3.5.

IE 6 is 2 versions out of date now as had a number of high profile vulnerabilities in the past. It was the default browser shipped with XP which is why experts seem to think its usage is still quite high.

I have no particular preference on Browsers, but just recommend you keep your browser and OS up-to-date with the latest security patches.

Microsoft have released the stand alone files for Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to the Microsoft website.

x32 Download http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a4dd31d5-f907-4406-9012-a5c3199ea2b3&DisplayLang=en
x64 Download http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=656c9d4a-55ec-4972-a0d7-b1a6fedf51a7&DisplayLang=en

An advisory for those running Vista customized using vLite has been posted here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd300591.aspx

We'd expect a release to Microsoft Update in the coming months and will blog about its release nearer the time.

Microsoft have made the announcement that they will be releasing Office 2007 SP2 this month. The update features a number of bug fixes and improvements such as built in save as ODF & PDF formats and better performance and calendaring in Outlook. We have been testing the update for a few months now and have welcomed the ODF publishing features and have found Outlook to be more stable.

We are expecting Microsoft to release IE 8 to Automatic Updates, as High Priority, within the next week. Whilst the update will not automatically install, it will offer you the choice to "Ask Me Later", "Install" or "Don't Install", as you would get when installing IE 7 via Automatic Updates.

If you wish to block IE 8 from installing on your network, the blocker toolkit is available from this URL: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=21687628-5806-4ba6-9e4e-8e224ec6dd8c&displaylang=en

Microsoft have said that IE 8 will appear in WSUS around July 2009.

Microsoft have created a neat new software package for creating music. It works cleverly by matching music to your vocals! All you need to do is sing (or try :)) into the microphone and Songsmith will do some magic in the background and add music to it. Its great fun for creating jingles or even lullabies!

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/index.html 

Its free for the first 6 hours of use and then £25 for a full copy.

Have you ever done a Windows Update and seen that you have downloaded the latest version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool? If so, you may have wondered how to run the tool? Simply go to Start > Run and type in mrt.exe and the tool will scan your PC for any malicious software. If you don't have it, you can download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AD724AE0-E72D-4F54-9AB3-75B8EB148356&displaylang=en

Check out http://www.dreamspark.com/ for free Microsoft software for Students. Most of the software is developer tools but there are few interesting things such as Windows Server 2008 and free MS IT Academy training.

Here is a handy little gadget if you use the Vista sidebar and OCS. It displays all open communications and makes it easier to manage conversations.

http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=2701d34d-ec6a-48ec-9ce2-a3932345f3a8

Microsoft have updated their Office Website with a new education subsite. It contains how to guides, smart templates and a host of other useful stuff: http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/school/FX102781621033.aspx

Microsoft have released a number of security updates for their Office and Operating System products. Please make sure you visit Microsoft Update and Windows Update to keep your pc's up to date.

Related information: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/bulletins/200808.mspx

For those of you eagerly awaiting the RTM version of Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 virtualization software, Hyper-V, the wait is over! Offered as a Windows Update here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F3AB3D4B-63C8-4424-A738-BADED34D24ED&displaylang=en for the 64bit Server 2008 system.

The download will appear under Optional Components in Windows Update in just under 2 weeks time...

Up until the 30th April, http://www.microsoft-press.co.uk/scripts/bookofthemonth.asp?id=theultimatesteal

According to sources, Vista SP1 will be heading its way to WU and Microsoft Downloads next week.

We have had the RTM version for about a month now and are running it on a few machines. We have encountered a few issues so please make sure you test it thoroughly before deploying!

 There is no news on when it will be added to Automatic Updates.

We are finding that more and more people are upgrading to Office 2007. Whilst this is great, a lot of users still have older versions and a common complaint we hear is "I keep saving Word files as *.docx. - I want to save them by default to *.doc"

To do this, click the Office Button in Microsoft Word and open Word Options. Click the Save option on the left hand bar and change the "Save files in this format:" option to "Word 97-2003 document (*.doc)"

We have decided to move the KLZ related news, information etc to it's own blog at: http://www.clusterweb.org.uk/CS/community/klz

This blog will remain for technology updates, general news etc.

The first service pack for the Microsoft Office suite of products has now been released

Office: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9EC51594-992C-4165-A997-25DA01F388F5&displaylang=en

Visio: http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=DC102486301033&Origin=HH102511011033&CTT=5

Project: http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=DC102486311033&Origin=HH102511011033&CTT=5

And if you use the Office Compatability Pack then you can update that too! http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9A1822C5-49C6-47BD-8BEC-0D68693CA564&displaylang=en&hurl=8D700ECFF53982A1D633F4CBDF143D22&QueryID=HFaCkZvTE&respos=5&rt=2&pid=CD102041601033

All other updates are here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/results.aspx?qu=2007+service+pack+1

Happy days - we have lots of updating to do!!!!!!

The BBC have responded to complaints regarding the recent BBC Panorama Programme...

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2204855/panorama-report-wi-misleading

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/news/2007/11/30/51156.shtml

We received notification today that the anticipated update to Microsoft Exchange (The product we use for the KLZ E-Mail provision) Service Pack 1 has been released. We will be thoroughly testing this update in our development environment before deploying into production. The new update offers increased functionality in OWA and makes administration for EIS a lot easier!

We will announce shortly when this update will be applied.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=44c66ad6-f185-4a1d-a9ab-473c1188954c

A cool feature we have recently found in Outlook 2007 is something called "natural text."

When you are making a meeting request or appointment, in the Start Time or End Time dialog box, enter something like "next friday" or "today + 6 days." Things like "day 25 of next month" also work. Speech marks are not necessary :)