Remember Ultimate Extras from Windows Vista’s era? Well, it seems like some of those Ultimate Extras are going to make a comeback on Windows 7, but this time in the form of free apps. Paul has confirmed that Microsoft is set to release two popular games from Vista Ultimate Extras on Windows 7 via Games for Windows Live. What’s even more exciting is that these two games will be available free of cost and will run on all versions of Windows 7. A specific release date hasn’t been finalized yet. Games for Windows site states it as “coming soon”.

While Windows 7 is already out, it may take days, weeks, or even months for many of us before we get our hands on the final bits. So if you are among those who are not upgrading to Windows 7 immediately but still don’t want to miss out on all the new look and feel that it offers then Seven Transformation Pack is for you! You can give the fresh new look of Windows 7 to your existing Windows XP or Vista based PC by using Seven Transformation Pack 2.0 by WindowsXLive.net.

In the latest version of the ongoing Laptop Hunters Ad series, Matt and Olivia goes on hunting to buy a notebook for under $700. They wander around the store, looking for different notebooks including a Macbook which they needless to say reject, saying ”Mac is just too small”. They finally settled on buying a freaking HP branded notebook (again) for just under $700.

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is another milestone to improve the reliability, compatibility, stability and performance of Windows Vista. SP2 contains all the previously released updates as well as support for new types of hardware and several emerging standards.

As was expected, Microsoft today has released the Service Pack 2 Release Candidate build for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 to general public. Just a few days ago, we posted exclusive screenshots from Windows Vista SP2 RC when it was released to Microsoft Connect testers, MSDN and TechNet subscribers.

Microsoft has released Service Pack 2 RC version of Windows Vista to Microsoft Connect testers, MSDN and TechNet subscribers. The Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista is part of the ongoing process to improve the performance and stability of Windows Vista.

Apple has released a public beta of the upcoming Safari 4 for both Windows and Mac users. Apple has posted a huge list of all the features new to this release. The most prominent of these features is the new “Top Sites” features which works identical to the way how “Most Visited” page works in Google Chrome.

Microsoft has changed the way how Windows handles Gadgets on the desktop. In Windows Vista, Sidebar provided a containing environment which hosted mini-apps built using XML, DHTML and JavaScript. Now starting with Windows 7, Windows Sidebar is no longer required to run gadgets as these mini DHTML based apps can now be placed directly on the desktop without having to have Windows Sidebar running.

We did a comprehensive review of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 when it was released back in August 2008. Not surprisingly, there is no major change since Beta 2. I did some testing of RC1 bits installed on Windows Vista Ultimate (x86) and my own impressions are that IE8 is indeed generally faster than Beta 2.

I have a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate to giveaway. Its hot, ready and I am eager to give it away here on Redmond Pie on this New Year’s Eve. So you must be wondering what you would have to do to enter? Just leave a comment here on this post you are reading and you are in. You can be of any age to enter and yes its open for everyone around the world.

Wouldn’t it be cool to run the most popular and widely used operating system on your beloved iPhone? According to this blog post on the Citrix Community Blogs, Citrix Receiver will soon enable iPhone owners to run millions of Windows applications on their iPhone’s (not natively though).

Windows Laptop Scout is a great tool though. If you’re looking for a new shiny laptop, this is where you should start. It’ll show you 4 options which are

Among lots of other stuff, one of the main focus of Microsoft with Windows 7 has been to give a facelift to the native Windows applications like Paint, Calculator and WordPad which haven’t been updated since Windows 3.x days.

I was searching for DreamScenes over at DeviantART Gallery and found this Aurora wallpaper from OS X Leopard converted into a pretty neat DreamScene for Windows Vista.

Microsoft Update Product Team Blog has a new post announcing the roll out of an infrastructure update to Windows Update agent ( client code ), which will make it possible to install more than 80 updates at the same time.
Over the next couple of months we’ll be rolling out another infrastructure update to the Windows [...]

Google Chrome looks as good on XP as it does on Vista. I like the blue title bar that shows up for Chrome in XP. I had been wondering how to get that theme in Windows Vista as well. If you use the Vista Basic theme, you can use Chrome with the blue theme in [...]

Admit it or not, the UAC does tend to get on our nerves after some time. The rude blacking out to the prompt isn’t a pleasant view.

Before you read further, see the ‘People’ Tile in the Sidebar in the above picture. It shows an AIM contact as well. Although this sort of practical Sidebar Tile or Gadget didn’t make it into Vista, Microsoft still has patented it.This Patent awarded to Microsoft on 7th October is all about the functionality of this [...]

Not many people remember the problems Windows XP had before Service Pack 2. The Blaster and Sasser worms had almost ruined the security record of the OS. On top of that Internet Explorer 6 had security patches almost every week. What’s amazing is that, this is the same OS that people love now. They prefer XP over Vista! XP is hailed to have been the perfect OS. I can only imagine, how people would think like this about Vista too after some time.

Do you have a HP Printer in your home or work environment? The smart guys over at HP has released a photo printing gadget to make it easier for you to take print outs on the fly.