BinScope Binary Analyzer is tool that is being used by Microsoft teams since early days of SDLC. It analyzes your binaries for a wide variety of security protections with a very straightforward and easy-to-use interface. At Microsoft, developers and testers are required to use this tool in the Verification Phase of the SDL to ensure that they have built their code using the compiler/linker protections required by the Microsoft SDL.

How you use BinScope Binary Analyzer?

The BinScope Binary Analyzer can be downloaded as a standalone tool or as a tool that can be integrated into Visual Studio 2008. By offering these two options, this tool can easily and quickly help you build your code to meet the SDL compiler/linker protections.

The analyzer performs a diverse set of security checks. These checks include:

• /GS flag is being set to detect stack-based buffer overflows
• /SafeSEH flag is being set to enable and ensure safe exception handling
• /NXCOMPAT flag is being set to enforce data execution prevention (NX)
• /DYNAMICBASE flag is being set to enable Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)
• .NET Strong-Named Assemblies are being used to ensure unique key pairs and strong integrity checks are in place
• Known good ATL headers are being used
• Up-to-date compiler and linker versions are being used (minimum Visual Studio 2005 SP2)
• Reports on dangerous constructs that are prohibited/discouraged by the SDL (e.g. read/write shared sections, global function pointers).

Download BinScope Binary Analyzer

Microsoft introduced a new terminology in Windows7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 called BranchCache to reduce traffic load on wide area network called BranchCache. Network enabled with BranchCache cache data in branch and subsequent request to same data is served by cached stored in WAN branch. BranchCache optimizes traffic flow between Windows Server 2008 R2 servers and BranchCache-enabled clients; Windows Server 2008 R2 servers and computers running Windows 7 can be configured as BranchCache clients.

BranchCache operates in one of two modes:

• Distributed Cache: In Distributed Cache mode, BranchCache-enabled clients cache copies of files downloaded from content servers across the WAN and send them directly to other clients when requested. Distributed Cache mode is especially beneficial for branch offices that do not have a local server.
• Hosted Cache: In Hosted Cache mode, a Windows Server 2008 R2 server, known as the Hosted Cache, acts as the host for the cached content. BranchCache-enabled clients cache data that they have requested and downloaded from content servers locally and use the Hosted Cache to retrieve data that is not available from their own local cache. Clients know the identity of the Hosted Cache and retrieve data from the Hosted Cache. For data not available from the Hosted Cache, the client downloads the data from the content server and offers it for caching to the Hosted Cache. Hosted Cache mode is beneficial in organizations that want to audit access to content in the local cache, or larger branch offices that have local servers.

BranchCache Hosted and Distributed cache modes

BranchCache improves the performance of applications that use one of the following protocols:

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). The protocols that Web browsers and many other applications (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer®, Microsoft Windows Media Player®, and more) use.
• Server Message Block (SMB), including signed SMB traffic. SMB is the protocol used for shared folders on Windows networks.
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS). BITS is used to transfer files asynchronously between a client and a server. BITS is the protocol that System Center Configuration manager (SCCM) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) use.

A partnership between Social-storage service Dropio  and Yahoo, Dropio’s application will allow Yahoo Mail users to send attachments up to 100 MB in size. Yahoo Mail users can access the Attach Large Files app from the Applications Box in the lower left-hand corner of their Yahoo! Mail inbox and using the app is simple:

1. Click “Attach Large Files” — this brings you to the drop.io welcome page
2. Next click “Select Files” — add as many files from your computer as you want up to 100MB. You’ll recognize drop.io’s distinct upload interface that displays the queued files, their file size and allows you to cancel any of them either before or during upload.
3. Next click “Upload and Compose Email” – users are brought to a new email, populated with thumbnails and links to view and download the attachments.

When your recipient opens the email, they have the option to click to view and download individual files, or the whole group.

The application allows people to save previously sent groups of attached files that can later be viewed or resent. It also integrates several useful drop.io functions like voicemail and conference calling.

The Attach Large Files app was built entirely on drop.io’s robust and open API. We are excited to see our API continue to be used as a springboard for other platforms to leverage drop.io’s powerful, real-time file sharing, collaboration and conversion engine to help power content sharing in the context of communication platforms.

Digital Cameras comes in all size and shapes. In terms of digital camera size we can divide digital camera in following categories

Compact Digital Cameras

Compact cameras are designed to be small and portable and are particularly suitable for casual and “snapshot” use, thus are also called point-and-shoot camera. Compact cameras less then 20mm thick are called as ultra compact digital cameras. Compact cameras are well suited for casual photographers. Most compact cameras does not have advanced features but they are really easy to use.  Most have a built-in flash usually of low power, sufficient for nearby subjects. Live preview is almost always used to frame the photo. They may have limited motion picture capability. Compacts often have macro capability, but if they have zoom capability the range is usually less than for bridge and DSLR cameras. Generally a contrast-detect autofocus system, using the image data from the live preview feed off the main imager, focuses the lens.

Bridge Cameras

They get their name because
they ‘bridge’ the gap between compact cameras and SLR cameras. These cameras come with some advanced features but compacts the use of a fixed lens and a small sensor. Like compacts, most use live preview to frame the image. Autofocus is achieved using the same contrast-detect mechanism, but many bridge cameras feature a manual focus mode for greater control. The high-end models of this type have comparable resolutions to low and mid-range DSLRs. Many of these cameras can store images in lossless RAW format as an option to JPEG compression. The majority have a built-in flash similar to those found in DSLRs.

Digital Single Lens Reflex Cameras

A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that uses a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera. DSLRs are often preferred by professional still photographers because they allow an accurate preview of framing close to the moment of exposure, and because DSLRs allow the user to choose from a variety of interchangeable lenses. Most DSLRs also have a function that allows accurate preview of depth of field.

Many professionals also prefer DSLRs for their larger sensors compared to most compact digitals. DSLRs have sensors which are generally closer in size to the traditional film formats that many current professionals started out using. These large sensors allow for similar depths of field and picture angle to film formats.

The term DSLR generally refers to cameras that resemble 35 mm format cameras, although some medium format cameras are technically DSLRs.

Now with above list of camera we get a fair idea about which type of digital camera is best suited for our requirements. If you want to take pictures of your kid’s first steps and first trip to the zoo, make sure that you have a digital camera that is easy to use, manageable and can take pictures immediately a DSLR cameras is not suited for this situation.

If you buy an SLR to get stunningly sharp photos, remember that you’ll have to carry it – and its flash accessories, lenses, memory cards, and tripod – along with the diaper bag, lunch, stroller, and toys when you go out.

For non professionals a Bridge is well suited if you are looking for some advanced features and at the same your camera should be compact enough to carry from one place to another.

Automattic acquired spelling checker plug-in maker After the Deadline. After the Deadline’s spelling checker plug-in offers one of the most powerful spelling checking technologies. Automattic would bring spelling checking technology on WordPress hosted blogs.

Now, after a couple of months of rewriting the plug-in and adapting it to WordPress.com’s infrastructure, the technology is already enabled for all 7.5 million English blogs on the hosting platform. The plug-in checks for spelling, grammar and style errors and offers suggestions and explanations on any of them. What sets it apart, though, is that its corrections are on par with, if not better than, those on Microsoft Word.

As the video above shows, you can enable and customize the way After the Deadline analyzes your posts by adjusting the new Proofreading settings in your profile, and then use the new feature by clicking on the icon in the Visual Editor toolbar that has ABC and a green checkmark on it. After the Deadline will analyze your post as you write it and highlight potential errors with an underline (red for spelling, green for grammar, blue for style), similar to grammar and spell checkers in word processing software. Clicking on a highlighted word or phrase will reveal the suggested correction, tell you why it’s suspected to be an error, and allow you to accept or ignore it.

This feature is English-only for now (give us a little time) and available for WordPress.org as a plugin

On September 08, 2009, Microsoft is planning to release five new security bulletins. While the issues affect different versions of Windows differently, Microsoft said none of the issues apply to the final version of Windows 7. Below is a summary.

• Advance Notification Web Page: The full version of the Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for this month can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-sep.mspx.
• Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool: Microsoft will release an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services, and the Download Center.
• Monthly Security Bulletin Webcast: To address customer questions on these bulletins Microsoft will host a Webcast next Wednesday, at 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time (U.S. and Canada). Registration for this event and other details can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/summary.mspx.

Dell added two new laptops in their Inspiron z family called Dell Inspiron 14z and 15z. Both of these will join Inspiron 11z. According to Dell, the "Z" designation for these new systems indicates, "thinner, lighter bodies, and long-lasting power-sipping batteries."

Both of these laptops are powered by Intel’s ultra-low voltage processors, they get outstanding battery life, with the 6-cell battery typically lasting around 8 hours when you’re operating in "airplane” mode.

Both of these laptops are fully featured laptops despite of their small size, including built-in DVD burners, webcams, wireless networking and cinematic 16:9 HD displays standard. They can be upgraded with up to 8GB of memory, and up to 500GB hard drives. The Inspiron 14z weighs about 4.4 lbs. with a 4-cell battery, while the 15z tips the scales at around 5.07 lbs, again with a 4-cell battery, and both offer two color choices, Black or Cherry Red.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is the newest version of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, a Solution Accelerator for operating system and application deployment. MDT 2010 supports deployment of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in addition to deployment of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Overview

Deploy Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with the newly released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010. MDT is the recommended process and toolset for automating desktop and server deployment. MDT provides you with the following benefits:

• Unified tools and processes required for desktop and server deployment in a common deployment console and collection of guidance.
• Reduced deployment time and standardized desktop and server images, along with improved security and ongoing configuration management.
• Fully automated Zero Touch Installation deployments by leveraging System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Release Candidate and Windows deployment tools. For those without a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 infrastructure, MDT leverages Windows deployment tools for Lite Touch Installation deployments.

What’s New in MDT 2010

Improvements to the newest version of MDT allow you to:

• Access deployment shares from anywhere on the network and replicate files and settings across organizational boundaries or sites.
• Organize and manage drivers, operating systems, applications, packages, and task sequences with an improved UI.
• Automate UI functionality using the Windows PowerShell command line interface.

Choosing the Right Version

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is offered in two versions to support Solution Accelerator component installation on x64 or x86 hosts. Select the version that corresponds with your host hardware type. Both versions of MDT 2010 support deployment of x86 and x64 Windows operating systems.

Download Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010

Downloading and saving all the images that are featured as daily Bing wallpapers are downloadable via a simple right click and the Save Background As option, provided that you manage to hit a non-Silverlight spot on the page. Downloading all Bing wallpapers is not an easy job because Bing wallpapers are geography based means Bing USA would be having a different wallpaper as compare to Bing India.

Bing Wallpaper Downloader automate Bing wallpaper download procedure. The tool can be set to start along with Windows, to automatically download the refreshed Bing wallpapers of the day, and to serve the new content directly to the desktop.

Bing Wallpaper Downloader is an easy-to-use tool that allows you to download all Bing wallpaper images to your computer and change your desktop background with these images on a regular basis automatically. In the first-time run, it will download the past Bing wallpaper images. From then on, it will regularly check for new images and download them automatically. Also, Bing Wallpaper Downloader can change your computer desktop background with the downloaded images in slideshow mode.

Bing Wallpaper Downloader Features

• Automatically download new wallpaper images of all Bing worldwide sites.
• Download all the past Bing wallpaper images
• Wallpaper Slideshow – change your desktop wallpaper with downloaded images on a regular basis.
• Thumbnail previews of wallpaper images in slideshow loop
• Include all images or the latest few images in slideshow loop
• Set slideshow time interval
• Play slideshow in shuffle mode
• Support 3 desktop wallpaper styles: Streth, Tile, Center
• Automatically launch program when you log on Windows
• Use a system tray icon to save your taskbar space

People say friends can’t be bought but this is not the case with social networking website. An Australian online marketing company is selling friends and fans to Facebook users. Facebook is an extremely effective marketing tool.The simple fact is that with a large following on Facebook, you have an instant and targeted group of people you can contact and promote whatever it is you want to promote.The only problem is that it can be extremely difficult to achieve such a following, which is where we come in. The company offers packages for Facebook, the world’s number one social networking site, that start at 1,000 friends up to 10,000 friends at costs ranging from $177 to $1,167.

Basically usoical sends welcomes message or friends request from the client. If they decide to go ahead and add that person as a friend or a fan then they will; if not, then they won’t.

Facebook is now the world’s fourth-most visited website. The company, which counts venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Accel Partners, Microsoft Corp and Russian Internet investment firm Digital Sky Technologies among its investors, has more than 250 million registered users.