Microsoft has sent an e-mail to a select number of its previous beta testers regarding the upcoming release of IE8 beta 1

We are nearing the launch of Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 and we will be making it available for the general public to download and test. IE8 Beta 1 is focused on the developer community, with the goal of gaining valuable feedback to improve Internet Explorer 8 during the development process.

Microsoft on Thursday accidentally released the first service pack (SP1) for Windows Vista to a group of users who were not supposed to receive the update until mid-March.

"Yesterday, a build of SP1 was posted to Windows Update and it was inadvertently made available to a broad group," Microsoft said in a statement.

Vista's SP1 semisecrets (Computerworld)
Microsoft promised changes in Windows Vista; did it follow through?

Microsoft Corp. has been lowering expectations about Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) since before it even confirmed there would be one. Numerous times, company executives and managers have told users and the press that Vista SP1 would not be like Windows XP SP2, the last desktop operating system service pack the company released.

If your are replacing or changing system files like (uxtheme.dll or imageres.dll) in Windows Vista then first you have to take ownership of the file and then grant your username full control of the file.

You can take ownership and get full control of any system file with ease.

Someone did it again!

For those who can't use the custom visual styles in Windows Vista SP1, download and replace these three system files (uxtheme.dll, shsvcs.dll and themeui.dll).

BTW, you can also wait for Vista Visual Master 1.03 to autopatch the theme files. It's coming soon.

If you want to speed up browsing around in Windows Vista explorer, you might think about disabling thumbnail previews in folders.  

How to do it?

Follow me.

In this tutorial, I'll tell about various system files in Windows Vista, which can be hacked using Resource Hacker / Resource Tuner to change the look of Windows dialog boxes, menus, login screen, boot screen and many other things.

Of course, now you guys can use Vista Visual Master to do most of these jobs.

So here we start the tutorial:

The default action for the Power button on the start menu in Windows Vista is Sleep, which isn't necessarily useful for everybody. You can configure this setting easily by using the advanced power settings panel, which is a little tricky to get to normally, but we'll take the shortcut.

Open a command prompt (type cmd into the start menu search bar), and then type in the following:

How often have you opened an Open dialog and wished you could just quickly paste in the path of the file you are already looking at in Windows Explorer?

Well… now you can, in Windows Vista.

 All you have to do is hold down the shift key, and right-click the file.

What is Vista Visual Master?

Vista Visual Master is a free application that will help you to customize your Windows Vista easily.  With a clean and simple interface it brings you an All-in-One set of powerful and neatly classified tools, settings and tweaks.  Now You can change the look of the windows and buttons, change the system icons and hundreds of file icons, reconfigure the boot and logon screen, patch and apply your new themes, and you can customize Windows Vista according to your wishes.