Walter Glenn

I picked up a couple of the SanDisk Cruzer 2GB U3 Titanium USB drives today because I found them for $50 each after an instant rebate at Costco. I’ve been needing to upgrade from my old 512 MB drive for some time anyway. The drive itself is beautiful - a brushed silver look with a thumb slide to extend the drive, so no more caps to lose.

Getting it installed on Windows Vista (RTM) was a little tricky, though. For those that don’t know, U3 is a system added onto these drives that lets you install applications (such as email and Web browser) on the drive and then run them from any computer you plug it into - in essence, carrying around your important apps with you. Sounds pretty cool in concept. The drives are formatted in two partitions - one a small partition that Windows sees as a CD-ROM drive and a larger partition that Windows sees as a USB drive.

Unfortunately, Windows Vista does not recognize U3 and cannot install the drivers for the smaller partition. You also cannot remove U3 without first having the drive recognized by Windows. So, I took it over to my Windows XP machine. On Windows XP, the drivers installed just fine. After playing with U3 a bit, I decided there were a few reasons I just didn’t care to have it:

• No Vista support yet.
• It loads up on any machine you insert the drive onto and putting it on a friend’s or coworker’s machine can make them (rightly) feel a little nervous about the extra menus that pop up.
• While the technology is cool, I just really didn’t have the need for it.

Getting rid of it proved tricky, though. You can’t just reformat or repartition the drive. You have to use an uninstall program. The U3 interface has an uninstall feature built in, but it didn’t work for me. When I tried to use it, it just told me there was no drive connected. I downloaded the uninstall program from SanDisk, but it turned out to be the same program and also could not recognize the drive to do the uninstall. Of course, the drive was there and working just fine. The only program that couldn’t see it was the uninstaller.

Seems a lot of people have similar problems getting rid of the U3 software, though, because U3 has created a U3 Uninstall Web site that lets you remove U3 from any drive that has it installed. After telling the site a couple of times that I was really, really sure I didn’t want their amazingly useful software, it finally let me reformat the drive to work as a simple USB drive. One catch, though. Once you remove U3 from your drive, you cannot reinstall it.

When I plugged the drive back in on the Vista machine, Vista recognized it right away.

Now, what I like about the drive itself (and that’s pretty much everything but the U3 software):

• It looks great, as I mentioned.
• It has a retractable key.
• It’s extremely strong - rated to withstand 2,000 lbs of pressure.
• It is blazingly fast.

I plan to use one of them to test out Vista’s new ReadyBoost feature, so when I get around to that, I’ll be sure to post a review of how it does.

Exchange Server 2007 went to RTM last Friday (December 8, 2006). Trial versions are now available at Microsoft’s Exchange site. You can download the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version, but only the 64-bit version is supported for production use (and obviously requires Windows Server 2003 64-bit). The 32-bit version is full-featured, but is only for testing purposes. Enjoy!

Previous versions of Windows let you set the volume levels only for inputs (such as microphones) and outputs (such as speakers and headphones). The new Volume Mixer in Windows Vista lets you set volume levels for each program. While some programs offer the ability to control the program’s volume inside the program’s interface, some don’t. The new Volume Mixer makes it easier to control volume for every program in a single place.

The Volume Mixer shows the currently-running programs that make sound (a program shows up on the mixer the first time the program makes a sound). Simply adjust the volume for each program how you want it. And once you set the volume for a program, Windows remembers the setting.

To get the Volume Mixer, just click the speaker icon in the Notification Area (where the clock is) and then click Mixer at the bottom of the volume slider. Or, just hit Start and type sndvol in the Search box.

Most programs recognize the new User Account Control (UAC) security model in Windows Vista. However, in order for this to work properly, the program must be marked by the developer (or identified by Windows Vista) as an program that requires administrative rights.

You are likely to run into some older programs that aren’t properly marked. So Vista provides a few ways to run a program as an administrator right off the bat.

Run a program as administrator from the Search box
As you probably know, you can use the new Search box in the Windows Vista Start Menu the same way you used the Run command in Windows XP (plus, it does a whole lot more). To run a program as an administrator from the Search box, type the command (such as CMD for the command prompt) and then press Ctrl-Shift-Enter.

Run a program as administrator from the graphical interface
You can also run a program as administrator right from a program icon. Instead of double-clicking the program icon to launch it, right-click the icon and choose Run as Administrator from the shortcut menu.

Set a program to always run as administrator
If you have a program that you run frequently, you can set the program to always run as administrator. To do this, use the following steps:

1. Right-click the program icon and click Properties.
2. On the Property sheet, click the Compatibility tab.
3. Under Privilege Level, select the Run this program as an administrator check box, and then click OK.

Bonus Tip: If you work in the command prompt a lot, right-click the Command Prompt shortcut on your Start menu and click Properties. On the property sheet, click Advanced. In the Advanced Properties dialog box that opens, click Run As Administrator. When you use the shortcut to open the command prompt, UAC will prompt you for administrative priveleges.

With the release of Office Small Business Accounting 2007 around the corner, Microsoft has gone ahead and made Office Accounting Express 2007 a free download - no strings attached. While not as feature-rich as the Professional version, the Express version is an ideal starter for small businesses looking to integrate basic accounting, invoicing, expense-tracking, and even payroll (through the ADP integrated payroll service). It’s also great for people just looking to make the move from the ubiquitous, but beginning-to-show-its-age, QuickBooks.

Four me, there are four big features that the Professional version will offer that the Express version does not:

• Quotes - So you can create a quote for a job and then later convert it to an actual invoice.
• Multiple price levels - So you can charge different customers different prices for the same job.
• Job Costing - So you can track the material and labor cost for each job and see the actual profit you make on every job.
• 1099 Reports - So I can pay my contractors more easily.

If you don’t need these features, then you have a free, powerful, easy-to-use accounting package to play with.

In the next few weeks, I’m planning to move my business accounting to Office Small Business Accounting Professional 2007, but I’ll give the Express version a whirl first and post a full review. In the meantime, the Express site has a Flash demo you can check out or you can just grab a copy for yourself.

For you creative gaming types with some C# skills, Microsoft has just released XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 and the XNA Framework. The development environment is geared toward letting students and hobbyists create games for Windows and the Xbox 360 (though if you want to run your games on the 360, you have to join the XNA Creators Club, which runs about $49 for four months or $99 per year and is available through the Xbox Live Marketplace).

XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 requires Windows XP (no official Vista support yet, though their FAQ says it will install on Vista).

Independent game developers rejoice!

Now somebody get to work and make me an Xbox Live version of Mail Order Monsters.

This is an article I wrote for the Windows XP Expert Zone in September, 2006, but I forgot to post about it when the article appeared. Windows Defender offers top-notch spyware protection for your Windows computer.

I recently wrote a new article on what the Windows Vista SideShow feature is all about. Check it out at the Windows Vista Community site. Hopefully, when the SideShow gadgets actually start appearing on shelves, I’ll be able to do a more in-depth review.

Windows Vista includes the new User Account Control (UAC) security component. Even if you’re not familiar with the name, you’ve seen it in action When Vista pops up a dialog asking you to press Continue when you install a program, change system settings, or whatever other nefarious deed you’re up to.

In previous versions of Windows, when you logged on with an administrator account, your user account was granted a single access token that allowed you extensive rights and privileges throughout the system. The problem with this? Windows XP and earlier didn’t include any kind of checks to make sure that you actually wanted to perform an action that the system was trying to perform. So, it was easier for malicious programs like viruses and spyware to get themselves installed without you knowing about it.

In Windows Vista, when you log on with an administrator account, your user account is assigned two access tokens - a full administrator access token and a standard user access token. The standard access token is used to start the Vista desktop. During normal activities (such as running a program, working with files and folders, or changing innocuous system settings like the desktop background), your user account uses the standard access token.

When you try to perform an administrative task (changing system settings, installing programs, and so on), Windows Vista prompts you to make sure that the action is one you intended to take. If you give it the go ahead, your user account is elevated to administrator access and the action proceeds. This prevents administrative tasks from happening without your knowledge. Throughout Windows Vista, you’ll now see an icon with the Windows Shield applied to commands and user interface elements that require administrative privileges.

As of mid-December 2006, Linksys still does not have a Windows Vista driver posted for the Wireless-G PCI Adapter (WMP54G). The driver also does not ship with the RTM bits for Windows Vista. However, Microsoft has released a driver for the device through their Windows Update service.

This does not make it easy to get connected if this is the only network adapter in your computer, but if you can plug in temporarily using another adapter, rest assured that you can actually download a driver for Linksys’ most popular desktop wireless card. Just go to the Windows Update site, let it scan your computer, and download away.

After much frustration, including trying to get drivers to install directly from the manufacturer of the chipset Linksys uses, the Microsoft drivers were nice to see pop up in the list.