There is an application that allows you to add a thumbnail preview in open windows to Windows XP, just like Vista  does. By using Visual Task Tips, you can roll over your mouse over any open windows and you will see a thumbnail of its content.

This is useful when you have many windows open and you want to know what’s in everyone of them.

The program is free and requires no configuration to work. The current version is 3.3

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New version of Realtek HD Audio drivers. This time is 1.95.

If you experience problems with drivers, use Guru 3D Driver Sweeper after you have uninstalled your current drivers to clean the system before installing the new ones. You can do this right in you windows session or in Safe Mode.

Unattended usage:

setup.exe -s -f2<path\LogFile> -z[-rp<path\LogFile>]
example:
setup.exe -s -f2C:\mylog.log -z[-rpC:\RHDSetup.log]

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As i posted before, you can enable visual styles in the recently released Windows XP SP3 by just copying already patched files to System32 folder or by using SP3 UxTheme Patcher.

If you choose to use the latter, there is a new version that fixes some problems with users that are running limited accounts in Windows XP. Download it and apply the patch.

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There is a new version of doPDF. It is a freeware application that install itself as a printer and allows you to create PDF files from any program that supports printing.

Just install it and choose doPDF printer when you need to create a PDF file.

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PortableApps.com just updated it Firefox Portable Editions to include the latest beta of version 3.0 RC2. It is as always a snap to install.

Just run the downloaded file, choose where to install it (or extract it, as it is portable) and you are ready to go. You can even take this extracted files to anywhere you want without the need of the original .paf.exe file.

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About two months ago i made a post about a Preview version of the upcoming Windows Search 4.0. Microsoft just released the final version.

I’ve been using the earlier Preview and it works very well. There aren’t visual changes but the searches are more responsive and the results are displayed faster than before.

It is available for Windows XP as well but i haven’t try it in it because i just reformatted my laptop to install Vista again after making tests with SP3 and Unattended installations.

This final release will update previous installations.

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Apparently, there were some bugs to fix in RC1 because Mozilla released another release candidate of Firefox 3.0.

There is no change log for Firefox 3.0 RC2 or download links for all languages, but i will update this post when they post them.

I will try it later today to see how it works with all my extensions installed.

Update: All languages are available from the Mozilla FTP server. The download link will take you there.

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Microsoft has released a new version of Windows Installer. It is responsible for managing application installation and configuration.

There are many changes implemented in this new version. However, most of them are targeted for software developers or IT management. All users will need to install it to take advantage of the new features.

This versions does not configure the Windows Installer service to run in safe mode. I don’t know why Microsoft does this as it is needed to uninstall programs that use Windows Installer in safe mode. You can enable it in safe mode using VistaTweaker.

You can install it over any version you have because it will update it to 4.5 automatically. Just be sure to download the correct version for your Windows installation.

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