Try Windows 7 in Sinhala; Windows 7 Sinhala LIP Released

Good News for Sri Lankan Windows 7 users. Yesterday (11.11.2010) the Microsoft Language Team released the Sinhala Language Integration Pack for Windows 7 that can be downloaded for free to experience a much more localized or rather a Sinhala like version of Windows 7.

 

 

 

 

 

Windows භාෂා අතුරු මුහුණත් පැකේජය (LIP), Windows හි බෙහෙවින් ම භාවිත වූ ප්‍රදේශවල, අර්ධ ව පරිවර්තිත සංස්කරණයක් ලබා දෙයි. LIP ස්ථාපනය කිරීමෙන් පසු, පෙළ ඇතුල් කරන විශාරද, සංවාද කොටු, මෙනු සහ උදව් හා සහාය යන මාතෘකා LIP භාෂාහි දිස්වනු ඇත. පරිවර්තිත නො වූ පෙළ, Windows 7 හි මූලික භාෂාවෙන් පැවතිය හැකි ය. නිදසුනක් ලෙස ඔබ Windows 7 හි ස්පාඤ්ඤ සංස්කරණයක් මිල දී ගෙන, කැටලෑන් LIP ස්ථාපනය කළ හොත් ඇතැම් පෙළ ස්පාඤ්ඤ භාෂාවෙන් ම පවතිනු ඇත. තනි මූලික භාෂාවක් මත LIP භාෂා එකකට වඩා ස්ථාපනය කළ හැකි ය. සියලු ම Windows 7 සංස්කරණවල Windows LIP ස්ථාපනය කළ හැකි ය.

Windows has two types of Display Languages,

• Language Packs – Where almost the entire Operating System will be displayed in a particular Language. Due to this, only a selected major languages have been selected and only Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise users will be able to get this.
• Language Integration Pack (LIP) – This unlike the Language pack doesn’t require Windows 7 to be Ultimate or Enterprise, but requires the running operating system to contain at-least one Main Language. LIPs only translates words or areas that the user might interact mostly.

The Sinhala LIP is just 2MB – 8MB in size and takes less than 5 minutes to install. After installing the Sinhala LIP it requires the user to Log-off or Restart the PC where in my case it only needed a simple log-off.

At first the usual font (English) settings may look odd, but after navigating through Folders, Settings and Applications a few times you’ll simply get used to it as well as the local language which in our case is Sinhala.

Checkout the screens below to check how it looks after installing the Sinhala LIP. Its pretty cool to use Windows 7 in our own language. As this is a LIP, you wont find each and every word translated. But the majority of the words that we encounter has been translated to our native language. If you want to revert back to your original Display Language, Go to Control Panel, Language Settings, then change back the Display Language to the one you desire.

If you are not a Sinhala User, you can check the Windows LIP website for a complete list of available LIPs that are ready for download. If the LIP for your language is not available at the moment, keep on checking until its released.

Have Fun with your Sinhala version of Windows

Download Sinhala LIP for Windows 7
Language Integration Pack Home*

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

*site needs an update

Facebook Enables Group Chat With Groups

Facebook held a press event at its headquarters few minutes back and made some new announcements to the Media. Among the announcements made by Mark Zuckerberg couple of minutes back, he revealed about a new “Group” feature. Here’s what he had to say,

Today we’re announcing a completely overhauled, brand new version of Groups. It’s a simple way to stay up to date with small groups of your friends and to share things with only them in a private space. The default setting is Closed, which means only members see what’s going on in a group.From this space, you can quickly post photos, make plans and keep up with ongoing conversations. You can also group chat with members who are online right now. You can even use each group as an email list to quickly share things when you’re not on Facebook. The net effect is your whole experience is organized around spaces of the people you care most about.

I’m also excited to share a couple of other new things we’ve been working on that will give you more control and make it easier to stay connected no matter what you’re trying to do.

Here are the steps to get the new facebook group feature, group chat and the separate email for your group.

1 ) Go to the new Groups Page and Create a Group, Add Your Friends.

2 )  Give your  Group a Name, Add Members and set up Privacy.

3 ) After Creating the Page, you will be redirected to the GroupPage where you can Manage Users, Edit Group Settings, Post Links, Photos, Video etc.

4 ) In your Group page you will also find the “Chat With Group” option. Click on this to start using the “Group Chat”.

5 ) Go to “Edit Group” from your Group Page and you can change group settings plus get your own ‘group email id’.

Remember that whatever you type in your Group Chat Window will be visible to All the Group Members even if a group Member is  offline, he will get the chat notifications when he is back online. This is a great feature by facebook although you have to do some playing with it to understand how this works and what features it offers you. Also with the ‘group email id’ feature I wonder if facebook will provide an email id for the users as well.

For More Info and Follow Up on the Full Facebook Press Conference follow this link.

Live Messenger gets Facebook Chat

               

                     Today(18.08.10) The Windows Live team released the beta 2 of the Windows Live Essentials Wave 4. The beta updates the entire Essentials Suite. Among these is a major and a most awaited feature, which is the Integration of  Facebook Chat to Live Messenger.

According to the Windows Live Team, the initial facebook chat from Windows Live will be available for  US, UK, France, Brazil, Germany, and Russia today and the rest of world will be getting it in the coming days. Not sure if its completely true because I’m living in Sri Lanka yet I am already using this feature.

 

 

To enable Facebook Chat Integration, follow the below steps.

• Download and Install Windows Live Essentials beta 2. 
• Go to your Windows Live Profile Page.
• Add or Edit Facebook Service Settings.
• Make Sure You have selected all the checkboxes, click on “Connect with Facebook”

• Allow Permission for Facebook adding.
• Then you will be able to see your facebook friends on your Windows Live Messenger.

 

For more information on the new beta 2 release follow the Windows Live Team Blogs Review.

Offline Installer for Windows Live Essentials 2011 beta

It made quite  a buzz for  most of the Live Essentials beta users  to see that the Essentials Installer was an online one. Unlike previous betas and versions there were no Offline  Installer(not even a torrent). It was really annoying knowing that each time you want to do something and re-install the Essentials suite, you have to go through the entire Online process which for me  took a huge time  as I’m having a 512kbps line over here.

I was about to install the Essentials 2011 beta again after doing a format. To my surprise i saw this tweet by Ed Bott.

Looking for a full offline installer for Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Beta? I’ve found it: http://bit.ly/bP9oA2

It links to an ZDNet article by Ed Bott on how to get the links for an Offline Installer, which again you should redirect your self to a Windows Live Solution Center Article. The Links on that page aren’t click-able, therefore requires you to manually enter the link on the  Address bar and download. Here are the Links for the Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 beta Offline Installer.

Languages	Code	Link
English	EN	http://g.live.com/1rebeta4_all/en/wlsetup-all.exe
Spanish	ES	http://g.live.com/1rebeta4_all/es/wlsetup-all.exe
French	FR	http://g.live.com/1rebeta4_all/fr/wlsetup-all.exe
Japanese	JA	http://g.live.com/1rebeta4_all/ja/wlsetup-all.exe
Dutch	NL	http://g.live.com/1rebeta4_all/nl/wlsetup-all.exe
Portuguese (Brazil)	PT-BR	http://g.live.com/1rebeta4_all/pt-br/wlsetup-all.exe
Chinese (Simplified)	ZH-ZN	http://g.live.com/1rebeta4_all/zh-cn/wlsetup-all.exe

Credit for Ed Bott for the news

No More Tweets on your Windows Live Profile ?

Its been a while since Windows Live offered many Services that you can integrate with your Windows Live Profile. Among the services were facebook, twitter*, myspace, wordpress, blogger and many more. Basically what this does is you can connect your Live Profile with the ability to aggregate updates from third-party services.

If you are already using these services and moreover if you have added twitter to the Service list,you might have noticed that twitter feeds are missing and you cant edit or change twitters Windows Live Settings. For those of you who didn’t had twitter were not even able to add it to the profile.

Yesterday Microsoft claimed that the issue was due to a Change of Policy by Twitter and the Live Team is working on with Twitter to solve the matter. So missing tweets, not able to add twitter ? there’s nothing to worry and nothing we can do about it. Lets hope that the Windows Live team will quickly be able to get the work done with Twitter.

Below is the mail that the existing users of Twitter on Windows Live will get these days.

Dear Windows Live Customer, Thank you for connecting your social networks and other services with Windows Live. We are contacting you because you have added your Twitter feed to Windows Live and we want to notify you of an upcoming change. Beginning June 30, 2010 your tweets will no longer be automatically imported from Twitter and shared out to your Windows Live Messenger friends due to policy changes made by Twitter. We are working hard with Twitter to make this service available again and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. We remain focused on making Hotmail, Messenger, and your PC with Windows great companions to social networks and other services. This change has no impact on your ability to connect Windows Live with our other 75+ other social networks and other service partners, which include Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, and more. Sincerely, The Windows Live Team

Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 beta is here – Download Now.

Click Image To Download.

The waiting is over(almost) for all who have been interested in the New Wave 4, Yesterday(23rd June) the guys from the Windows Live Team Blog confirmed that the Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 beta will be made publicly available to be downloaded on the 24th June.  Though they have not given a time frame on when the download link will go up so its time for F5s and eyes on the blogs. Though the download page is still not up at the time of writing this post, Please check with the image above for downloading as I will update it with the link(s) as soon as its available.

Official WL beta build is : 15.4.2850.0607

Lastest WL Post-Public beta build is : 15.4.2850.0624.

If you want to know what this New Windows Live Essentials is all  about, you might want to take a look at this Intro.

Windows Live Essentials will include Messenger , Mail , Photo Gallery , Movie Maker , Writer , Sync and Family Safety. The new Wave  requires Windows Vista or Windows 7. Sorry XP users, here’s another reason that you might want to upgrade to Windows 7. It’s available in English, French, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, or Spanish. For those who are interested in trying out the new beta, they must make sure that there might be bugs and errors still hidden. So make sure you are ready for them and if you do encounter any trouble or bugs please do give the Windows Live team a feedback so they can work on it.

If you want an in depth guide go check here, where you will find plenty of more facts on each app and service that comes along.

Update #1: Finally after much awaiting the download links are live. Click on the image on top of the post to download.

Update #2: The setup will install the Entire Essentials Suite. Below you can find the Installers from Language and Installation Method specified.

English: Auto – Manual

French: Auto – Manual

Spanish: Auto – Manual

Dutch: Auto – Manual

Portuguese: Auto – Manual

Japanese: Auto – Manual

Chinese (Simplified): Auto – Manual

Auto : Downloads and Installs the entire Essentials suite. No prompt for choices.
Manual : User can select what to install from the list.

links courtesy LiveSide

Windows Live Essentials beta official download page…

Keep yourself Updated with the FIFA 2010 Schedule using Windows Live Calendar

FIFA World Cup 2010 is just around the corner and and I’m one of the die hard fans who doesnt want to miss a single minute of the  matches. Special thanks for BBC for taking the trouble to make a calendar that can be used with Windows Live and many other apps as well. The Calendar is in .ics format which enables multi-app usage. However, here I will show how to use the calendar with the Windows Live Calendar. This is a great way for the soccer fans who are not sure about the times and  for the people who are on the go as you will get a Reminder before each match. Theres nothing much you need to do. Just go through the following steps and your Windows Live Calendar will be fully updated with the match fixtures with a brief info on the broadcasts by BBC for the UK fans and you will be notified 15 minutes(can be changed) just before the match.

• Download the World Cup fixtures v1.0 and save the .ics file to your Desktop.
• Go to the Windows Live Calendar webpage.
• Sign In with your Windows Live ID.
• Click on Subscribe, which is located just above the Calendar.
• Select Import from an ICS file and Browse for the .ics file which you downloaded previously.
• Select Import into a new calendar.
• Click Import calendar.
• Click Done.

Now you will see that the Calendar is already updated with the Match Fixtures according to your Time Zone*.  You can even use the Windows Live Mail Desktop Applications Calendar Option too. Each Event will give you a brief summary on the

• Match Name (Teams and Group)
• Venue
• Time
• A Description on BBC s Coverage.
• and you can set a custom time for a reminder.

Official FIFA 2010 Match Schedule

Newest Phishing Attack Hijacks Your Browser Tab

We all use tabs – easier,  faster, safer, legit and what more can we expect form a tab. Well its  time that we need to consider the trustworthiness about  the ‘Tabs’. Here comes the newest threat that targets a ‘Tab’ for phishing and  is something serious thing to look at as this is so simple and you wont even notice this in a busy browsing time and falling into this trap is highly possible.  A new ‘Tab’ is almost always opened by either the user or a current page it-self  with the users attention, most of the time we know that its kind of  safe to use an opened ‘Tab’ as we see no harm in it. So someone figured a method that will test our trust and  sneak into a current loaded tab. Now that’s Scary.

Well, without much briefing lets look at a real-time scenario here.

• I’m running several tabs in my browser which are all opened by me.
• One of the tabs has a site that runs a JavaScript. The code checks on other tab behaviors, waits for a delay and in that delay period if the user doesn’t access a certain tab, the code takes control of the tab and alters it.

• This altering will result in the change of the web page, title, and even the favicon(the small icon on the tab) but it wont change the URL and the normal web page will be running in the background.
• In a real time scenario we may see a facebook/gmail/bank login page where a different page was there before and as we normally don’t check on our URL each time we click on a tab, we may trust it and enter required details

This tab hijacking system targets on user trust. Where after the page was altered and when we quickly browse through the tabs we usually rely on the favicon and the tab title rather than checking the URL which leads us into trust what we  see.

Next time you might want to consider looking at the URL too when you are using your personal details such as logins, credit cards etc.

Download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Trial for Free

Great start-up on a Sunday evening everyone. Today I’m posting on  How you can get a Fully functional Microsoft Office Professional version for free from Microsoft it self. Microsoft is offering the 60 day trial of Office 2010 Pro. just in case you want to have a look, try out and make up your mind for sure if you want  get updated to the Office 2010 when it releases for retail users next month.  Of course if you have already running the Office 2007  you can easily get into the much more enhanced  and feature riched Office 2010 environment, and for previous Office version users, theres no doubt that you will love it and dump that old one.

So if you want to give it a spin it. head to the link given below. Remember that the license will expire in 60 days after you activate it.

If you feel that you need more time to play with it  you can use the Office 2010 beta for free too. As for this, you have the opportunity to have fun till October 2010. As for me, Iv been using the beta since it was released until yesterday and I didnt experience a single bug or any nasty errors.

Some Important info before you download :

• Use Internet Explorer to download.
• Read the instructions and additional information.
• You should Sign In to the Technet Evaluation Center in order to download which requires a hotmail/live account.
• A Microsoft(kind of) “Download Manager” will do the downloading process which can be paused or canceled at any time. The resuming will start from the point it stopped downloading.
• Write down the key. The setup requires you to enter it at the starting of the Installation Process.

Download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 RTM*
Download Microsoft Home and Office 2010 beta*

*RTM is the Final version where as beta is a testing release and therefore may contain bugs and errors.

Today is Windows 7 Day

 

Watch the Windows 7 launch event, live in New York with Steve Ballmer, NOW

The above are taken from

© 2009 Microsoft