This option can be very useful if you have a couple of open windows that you want to resize quickly, but if you use a lot of open windows this helpful option can become an annoyance and start to get in the way.

Thankfully there’s an option to turn it off in the Windows Control Panel in the Ease of Access Centre. To get there click on the Start Button and in the ‘search programs and files’ box type Ease of Access Centre.

Now click on ‘make the mouse easier to use’ and tick the option ‘prevent Windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the side of the screen’. To get the Aero snap feature back again just un-tick the box on the Ease of Access Centre page.

The company said on Monday that the Office 15 technical preview was being shared under non-disclosure agreements, with the customers testing early builds and giving Microsoft feedback on their experiences.

“At this early point in our development cycle, I’m not able to share too much about Office 15, but I can tell you Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division,” Microsoft Office development chief PJ Hough said in a blog post. “With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio.”

Hough’s announcement coincided with Microsoft’s publication of the SharePoint 15 technical preview managed object model software development kit (SDK), for those on the technical preview programme.

Microsoft Office 15 is still something of a mystery though, as very little information has been released so far.

Source: ZDNet

The tool is designed for downloading Windows 8 apps that use the Metro interface on tablets and PCs. Unlike Apple’s iTunes App Store, it does not handle mobile apps, as these are distributed for Microsoft OS-based handsets via the Windows Marketplace.

Windows Store, which is expected to arrive alongside the Windows 8 beta in late February, has been designed to put content in front of people rather than making them search for titles, according to Jonathan Wang, a program manager at Microsoft. “On the Store landing page, we will continually feature new and exciting content, changing frequently so that customers come to expect there’s always more to explore within the store. The landing page integrates featured content with navigational content — like categories and lists of featured apps,” Wang wrote in a blog post on Friday.

Source: ZDNet

On Monday, Microsoft used a post on its Building Windows 8 blog to lay out details on ReFS.

“Along with Storage Spaces, ReFS forms the foundation of storage on Windows for the next decade or more,” Microsoft development manager Surendra Verma wrote. “We believe this significantly advances our state of the art for storage… we expect that we will see ReFS as the next massively deployed file system.”

The “staged evolution” of ReFS, beginning with its use as a file server, is the same approach Microsoft has taken with previous file systems.

According to Verma, ReFS has many of the same features and semantics as NTFS, which was introduced in 1993. These include “BitLocker encryption, access-control lists for security, USN journal, change notifications, symbolic links, junction points, mount points, reparse points, volume snapshots, file IDs and OpLocks”. If a file-access API can access an NTFS volume, it will be able to access data stored on ReFS. What has changed is the on-disk storage engine underneath the reused code.

The ReFS engine exclusively uses the so-called B+ tree structure to represent stored information. Verma indicated this will mean a simpler system, with the choice of structure designed to be as scalable as possible. When ReFS is used alongside mirrored Storage Spaces, corruptions will be “automatically and transparently fixed”, Verma added, noting that ReFS also had a ‘salvage’ feature for making sure that non-repairable corruption does not affect the availability of “good data”.

Responding to readers’ questions about the blogpost, Verma also stressed that Windows 7 users would be able to read ReFS-formatted partitions from a Windows 8 Server, either by using a new file system driver or by sharing a folder out from the server. “Note that support for NTFS is going to be present in Windows for the foreseeable future, so you should always be able to access all your NTFS data across versions without any problems,” he added.

Source: ZDNet

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First up, this installation is for testing purposes only. So keep in mind that this is just a standalone environment for developing SharePoint solutions and is not meant to be a full scale production platform.

This installation requires that you use a 64 bit operating system – either Windows 7 or Windows Vista.

I do not want to regurgitate the many blog posts and sites that breeze through the installation of SharePoint Foundation 2010 on Windows 7 or Vista. In fact I found the Microsoft article on installing SharePoint perfectly suitable as long as you know your DOS commands. Check it out for yourself – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869%28office.14%29.aspx.

The Prerequisites

However, before you can even start to install SharePoint Foundation 2010 you must download and install a number of so called prerequisites. You cannot use the built in prerequisite tool because the default installation works only for Windows Server 2008. This means you have no choice but to install the prerequisites manually.

If you are using Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows Vista Service Pack 2, you must install the following prerequisites:

1. .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
2. Windows PowerShell 2.0
3. Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable

If you are using Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows Vista Service Pack 2, or Windows 7, install the following additional prerequisites:

1. Microsoft FilterPack 2.0. This can be installed by opening a command prompt and typing the following: c:\SharePointFiles\PrerequisiteInstallerFiles\FilterPack\FilterPack.msi.

(To open a C: prompt – Click Start and type command into the search programs and files search box. Right click the Command Prompt at the top of the search result and select Run as administrator.)

2. Microsoft Sync Framework
3. SQL Server Native Client
4. Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405)
5. WCF hotfix (KB971831) for Windows 7
6. ADO.NET Data Service Update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

Required Windows Features

Next enable each of the required Windows Features. The quick way to do this is by copying and running the following command in a Command Prompt window.

start /w pkgmgr /iu:IIS-WebServerRole;IIS-WebServer;IIS-CommonHttpFeatures;^
IIS-StaticContent;IIS-DefaultDocument;IIS-DirectoryBrowsing;IIS-HttpErrors;^
IIS-ApplicationDevelopment;IIS-ASPNET;IIS-NetFxExtensibility;^
IIS-ISAPIExtensions;IIS-ISAPIFilter;IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics;^
IIS-HttpLogging;IIS-LoggingLibraries;IIS-RequestMonitor;IIS-HttpTracing;IIS-CustomLogging;IIS-ManagementScriptingTools;^
IIS-Security;IIS-BasicAuthentication;IIS-WindowsAuthentication;IIS-DigestAuthentication;^
IIS-RequestFiltering;IIS-Performance;IIS-HttpCompressionStatic;IIS-HttpCompressionDynamic;^
IIS-WebServerManagementTools;IIS-ManagementConsole;IIS-IIS6ManagementCompatibility;^
IIS-Metabase;IIS-WMICompatibility;WAS-WindowsActivationService;WAS-ProcessModel;^
WAS-NetFxEnvironment;WAS-ConfigurationAPI;WCF-HTTP-Activation;^
WCF-NonHTTP-Activation

After Running the Code

Once you’ve copied and pasted the above code make sure all prerequisites are met and no critical error is present in your computers event logs.
If you have any problems installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 from here on check that all the required Windows Features are enabled.

The command in the previous step enables all of the required features in the Internet Information Services section of the Windows Features dialog box (which you can access through the Programs section in Control Panel).

The Installation

When all the above downloads are installed download SharePoint Foundation 2010. From the Microsoft website – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=49c79a8a-4612-4e7d-a0b4-3bb429b46595

Place the SharePointFoundation.exe file into a folder on your C drive named SharePointFiles i.e. C:\SharePointFiles

Now you have to extract the SharePointFoundation.exe program files so you can access and amend a single configuration file.

To do this open a C: prompt – Click Start and type command into the search programs and files search box. Right click the Command Prompt at the top of the search result and select Run as administrator.

Here’s where some people have a problem as you are usually dumped at C:\Users\Name and you need to be at C:\. Just type CHDIR.. to move up a rung and CHDIR.. to end up at the C:\ prompt.

Now copy the entry below and paste it immediately after the C:\ prompt.

SharePointFiles\SharePointFoundation /extract:c:\SharePointFiles

This assumes SharePoint Foundation is installed and placed on your C: drive in a folder called SharePointFiles and is named SharePointFoundation.exe, otherwise you need to change paths accordingly.

Once the files are extracted go to the c:\SharePointFiles folder and you will see a list of files.

Open the Files folder and then the first Setup folder and right click on the config.xml file and select Edit. This will open the configuration file in Notepad.

Now add the following setting Id as the last entry before:
</Configuration>

<Setting Id=”AllowWindowsClientInstall” Value=”True”/>

This line of code above gets SharePoint Foundation 2010 to install on a 64 bit edition of Windows.

The entire config.xml file should look something like this:

<Configuration>
<Package Id=”sts”>
<Setting Id=”SETUPTYPE” Value=”CLEAN_INSTALL”/>
</Package>
<DATADIR Value=”%CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\Data”/>
<Logging Type=”verbose” Path=”%temp%” Template=”Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 Setup *.log”/>
<Setting Id=”UsingUIInstallMode” Value=”1″/>
<Setting Id=”SETUP_REBOOT” Value=”Never” />
<Setting Id=”AllowWindowsClientInstall” Value=”True”/>
</Configuration>

Now save and close the Notepad file.

Once you’ve completed all the above steps go back to the SharePointFiles folder and run the setup.exe program to install SharePoint Foundation 2010.

On the Choose the installation you want page, click Standalone to install everything on one developer workstation. After the installation is complete, you are prompted to start the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard.

Once the installation is complete you should see the Central Administration page.

Blank Pages and the Solution

This is the next potential problem, as I got a blank page at this point. Even after a reboot and going to Start/All Programs/Microsoft 2010 SharePoint Products and clicking on SharePoint 2010 Central Administration I still got a blank page.

After some online research I found that this problem is to do with the setup of host names and/or problems with the loopback check.

According to Microsoft there are two methods to work around this blank page issue and you should use one of the following methods – the one that’s most appropriate for your particular set up.

Method 1: Specify host names (The preferred method if NTLM authentication is desired)

To specify the host names that are mapped to the loopback address and can connect to Web sites on your computer, follow these specific steps:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0

Right-click MSV1_0, point to New, and then click Multi-String Value. Type BackConnectionHostNames, and then press ENTER.

Right-click BackConnectionHostNames, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type the host name or the host names for the sites that are on the local computer, and then click OK.

Quit Registry Editor and then restart your PC to see if you can log in to SharePoint Central Administration.

Method 2: Disable the loopback check (less-recommended method)

The second method is to disable the loopback check by setting the DisableLoopbackCheck registry key.

To set the DisableLoopbackCheck registry key, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER.

Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

Quit Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.

If you now get a log in page that will not accept your windows password this last step should help.

First go to User accounts and make sure you have a password set for your Administrators account. If not create one and then restart your PC.

Now run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard again and try to open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

Password not Accepted

If you now get a log in page that will not accept your windows password this last step should help.

First go to User accounts and make sure you have a password set for your Administrators account. If not create one and then restart your PC.

Now run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard again and try to open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

If your password is still not accepted you will need to enable Basic Authentication under the sites section of Internet Information Services (IIS). To do this open Internet Information Services (IIS) and expand the Sites section. If you do not know where to find IIS just copy Internet Information Services and paste it into the Windows Search programs and files box. Click on the resulting link.

In the left hand column of IIS click the arrow to open up Application Pools and the Sites folder. Open the Sites folder and select SharePoint Central Administration and click on Authentication under the IIS Group in the right hand panel. Next on the Authentication screen enable “Basic Authentication” by right clicking and selecting Enabled.

Now restart your PC and see if you can now log in. If not run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard again. And then try to open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

By following all these steps I was finally able to get SharePoint Foundation 2010 set up as a testing server on my 64 bit Windows 7 Professional PC.

The only downside is that I now have to log in every time I start up my computer!

P.S. This whole process with pictures and an even fuller explanation is available as a Free eBook.

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Microsoft said on Wednesday that the Windows 8 reset function would be useful for those decommissioning or recycling PCs, and the refresh function would help people whose PCs are “not working their best” but who do not want to have to back up all their data and reinstall from scratch.

“Today, there are many different approaches and tools to get a PC back to factory condition,” Microsoft program manager Desmond Lee wrote in a blog post, listing manufacturer-provided tools, third-party imaging products, Windows system image backup and a clean reinstallations. “While these tools all provide similar functionalities, they don’t provide a consistent experience from one PC or technique to another,” Lee said.

“As we began planning for Windows 8, we asked ourselves: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you could just push a button and everything is fixed?’” According to Lee’s post, the bootable Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) in Windows 8 will offer the option of erasing and formatting the Windows and personal data hard-drive partitions, and automatically installing a fresh copy of Windows. The PC will then restart with the newly cleansed system.

There will also be an option to “thoroughly” delete data while performing the factory reset. This option will “write random patterns to every sector of the drive, overwriting any existing data visible to the operating system”, Lee said, while conceding that well-resourced people could theoretically still recover data from the drive afterwards.

Source: ZDNet