ABOUT WINDOW’S VISTA

Information About Windows Vista

Windows Vista is the latest release of Microsoft Windows, a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename “Longhorn”. Development was completed on November 8, 2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide to the general public, and was made available for purchase and downloading from Microsoft’s web site. The release of Windows Vista comes more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, making it the longest time span between two releases of Windows versions.

Microsoft’s primary stated objective with Vista, however, has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system. One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors has been their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, then Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide ‘Trustworthy Computing initiative’ which aims to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft claimed that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, significantly delaying its completion.

Hardware requirements

Windows Vista system requirements Vista Capable Vista Premium Ready
Processor 800 MHz 1.0 GHz
Memory 512 MB RAM 1 GB RAM
Graphics card DirectX 9 capable DirectX 9 capable GPU with Hardware Pixel Shader v2.0 and WDDM driver support

Graphics memory N/A 128 MB RAM supports up to 2,756,000 total pixels (e.g. 1920 × 1200) or 512 MB+ for greater resolutions such as 2560×1600[33]

HDD capacity 20 GB 140 GB
HDD free space 15 GB 15 GB
Other drives DVD-ROM DVD-RW

Core technologies

Windows Vista is intended to be a technology-based release, to provide a solid base to include technologies, many of which will be related to how the system functions, and hence not readily visible to the user. An example of this is the restructuring of the architecture of the audio, print, display, and networking subsystems; while the results of this work will be visible to software developers, end-users will only see what appear to be evolutionary changes in the user interface.

Vista includes technologies such as ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive which employ fast flash memory (located on USB drives and hybrid hard disk drives respectively) to improve system performance by caching commonly-used programs and data. This manifests itself in improved battery life on notebook computers as well, since a hybrid drive can be spun down when not in use. Another new technology called SuperFetch utilizes machine learning techniques to analyze usage patterns in order to allow Windows Vista to make decisions about what content should be present in system memory at any given time.

As part of the redesign of the networking architecture, IPv6 has been incorporated into the operating system, and a number of performance improvements have been introduced, such as TCP window scaling. Prior versions of Windows typically needed third-party wireless networking software to work properly; this is no longer the case with Vista, as it includes more comprehensive wireless networking support.

For graphics, Vista introduces a new Windows Display Driver Model, as well as major revisions to Direct3D. The new driver model facilitates the new Desktop Window Manager, which provides the tearing-free desktop and special effects that are the cornerstones of Windows Aero. WDDM’s current version 1.0 is able to offload rudimentary tasks to the GPU, install drivers without requiring a system reboot and seamlessly recover from rare driver errors due to illegal application behavior. The next version is going to require an entirely new generation of GPUs, which nVidia and ATI are working on. Direct3D 10, developed in conjunction with major display driver manufacturers, is a new architecture with more advanced shader support, and allows the graphics processing unit to render more complex scenes without assistance from the CPU. It features improved load balancing between CPU and GPU and also optimizes data transfer between them.[12]

At the core of the operating system, many improvements have been made to the memory manager, process scheduler, heap manager, and I/O scheduler. A Kernel Transaction Manager has been implemented that gives applications the ability to work with the file system and registry using atomic transaction operations.

Business technologies

While much of the focus of Vista’s new capabilities has been on the new user interface, security technologies, and improvements to the core operating system, Microsoft is also adding new deployment and maintenance features.

The WIM image format (Windows IMage) is the cornerstone of Microsoft’s new deployment and packaging system. WIM files, which contain an image of Windows Vista, can be maintained and patched without having to rebuild new images. Windows Images can be delivered via Systems Management Server or Business Desktop Deployment technologies. Images can be customized and configured with applications then deployed to corporate client personal computers using little to no touch by a system administrator. ImageX is the Microsoft tool used to create and customize images.
Windows Deployment Services replaces Remote Installation Services for deploying Vista and prior versions of Windows.

Approximately 700 new Group Policy settings have been added, covering most aspects of the new features in the operating system, as well as significantly expanding the configurability of wireless networks, removable storage devices, and user desktop experience.[15]

Services for UNIX has been renamed “Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications,” and is included with the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Vista. Network File System (NFS) client support is also included.

Multi-lingual User Interface – Unlike previous version of Windows which required language packs to be loaded to provide local language support, Windows Vista Enterprise edition supports the ability to dynamically change languages based on the logged on user’s preference.

Information About Bluetooth Technology

Why is it called Bluetooth™?

The Viking king Harald Bluetooth united Norway and Denmark. He was renowned as a great communicator, skilled at bringing people together to talk to each other – but he would never have guessed that a thousand years later a powerful technology would be named after him!

There are lots of different ways that electronic devices can connect to one another.

For example:
• Component cables
• Electrical wires
• Ethernet cables
• WiFi
• Infrared signals

When you use computers, entertainment systems or telephones, the various pieces and parts of the systems make up a community of electronic devices. These devices communicate with each other using a variety of wires, cables, radio signals and infrared light beams, and an even greater variety of connectors, plugs and protocols.

The art of connecting things is becoming more and more complex every day. In this article, we will look at a method of connecting devices, called Bluetooth that can streamline the process. A Bluetooth connection is wireless and automatic, and it has a number of interesting features that can simplify our daily lives.

How Bluetooth Creates a Connection

Bluetooth takes small-area networking to the next level by removing the need for user intervention and keeping transmission power extremely low to save battery power. Picture this: You’re on your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, standing outside the door to your house. You tell the person on the other end of the line to call you back in five minutes so you can get in the house and put your stuff away. As soon as you walk in the house, the map you received on your cell phone from your car’s Bluetooth-enabled GPS system is automatically sent to your Bluetooth-enabled computer, because your cell phone picked up a Bluetooth signal from your PC and automatically sent the data you designated for transfer. Five minutes later, when your friend calls you back, your Bluetooth-enabled home phone rings instead of your cell phone. The person called the same number, but your home phone picked up the Bluetooth signal from your cell phone and automatically re-routed the call because it realized you were home. And each transmission signal to and from your cell phone consumes just 1 mill watt of power, so your cell phone charge is virtually unaffected by all of this activity.

Bluetooth is essentially a networking standard that works at two levels:

• It provides agreement at the physical level — Bluetooth is a radio-frequency standard.
• It provides agreement at the protocol level, where products have to agree on when bits are sent, how many will be sent at a time, and how the parties in a conversation can be sure that the message received is the same as the message sent
The big draws of Bluetooth are that it is wireless, inexpensive and automatic. There are other ways to get around using wires, including infrared communication. Infrared (IR) refers to light waves of a lower frequency than human eyes can receive and interpret. Infrared is used in most television remote control systems. Infrared communications are fairly reliable and don’t cost very much to build into a device, but there are a couple of drawbacks. First, infrared is a “line of sight” technology. For example, you have to point the remote control at the television or DVD player to make things happen. The second drawback is that infrared is almost always a “one to one” technology. You can send data between your desktop computer and your laptop computer, but not your laptop computer and your PDA at the same time.

These two qualities of infrared are actually advantageous in some regards. Because infrared transmitters and receivers have to be lined up with each other, interference between devices is uncommon. The one-to-one nature of infrared communications is useful in that you can make sure a message goes only to the intended recipient, even in a room full of infrared receivers.

Bluetooth is intended to get around the problems that come with infrared systems. The older Bluetooth 1.0 standard has a maximum transfer speed of 1 megabit per second (Mbps), while Bluetooth 2.0 can manage up to 3 Mbps. Bluetooth 2.0 is backward-compatible with 1.0 devices.

Bluetooth Security
In any wireless networking setup, security is a concern. Devices can easily grab radio waves out of the air, so people who send sensitive information over a wireless connection need to take precautions to make sure those signals aren’t intercepted. Bluetooth technology is no different — it’s wireless and therefore susceptible to spying and remote access, just like WiFi is susceptible if the network isn’t secure. With Bluetooth, though, the automatic nature of the connection, which is a huge benefit in terms of time and effort, is also a benefit to people looking to send you data without your permission.
Bluetooth offers several security modes, and device manufacturers determine which mode to include in a Bluetooth-enabled gadget. In almost all cases, Bluetooth users can establish “trusted devices” that can exchange data without asking permission. When any other device tries to establish a connection to the user’s gadget, the user has to decide to allow it. Service-level security and device-level security work together to protect Bluetooth devices from unauthorized data transmission. Security methods include authorization and identification procedures that limit the use of Bluetooth services to the registered user and require that users make a conscious decision to open a file or accept a data transfer. As long as these measures are enabled on the user’s phone or other device, unauthorized access is unlikely. A user can also simply switch his Bluetooth mode to “non-discoverable” and avoid connecting with other Bluetooth devices entirely. If a user makes use of the Bluetooth network primarily for synching devices at home, this might be a good way to avoid any chance of a security breach while in public.

Still, early cell-phone virus writers have taken advantage of Bluetooth’s automated connection process to send out infected files. However, since most cell phones use a secure Bluetooth connection that requires authorization and authentication before accepting data from an unknown device, the infected file typically doesn’t get very far. When the virus arrives in the user’s cell phone, the user has to agree to open it and then agree to install it. This has, so far, stopped most cell-phone viruses from doing much damage. See How Cell-phone Viruses Work to learn more.

Other problems like “bluejacking,” “bluebugging” and “Car Whisperer” have turned up as Bluetooth-specific security issues. Bluejacking involves Bluetooth users sending a business card (just a text message, really) to other Bluetooth users within a 10-meter (32-foot) radius. If the user doesn’t realize what the message is, he might allow the contact to be added to his address book, and the contact can send him messages that might be automatically opened because they’re coming from a known contact. Bluebugging is more of a problem, because it allows hackers to remotely access a user’s phone and use its features, including placing calls and sending text messages, and the user doesn’t realize it’s happening. The Car Whisperer is a piece of software that allows hackers to send audio to and receive audio from a Bluetooth-enabled car stereo. Like a computer security hole, these vulnerabilities are an inevitable result of technological innovation, and device manufacturers are releasing firmware upgrades that address new problems as they arise.

Frequency Range 2402 – 2480 MHz
Data Rate 1 Mbps
Channel Bandwidth 1 MHz
Range Up to 10 m can be extended further
RF hopping 1600 times/s
Encryption GSM like, device ID and 0/40/64 bit key lengths
TX Output Power 20 dBm Max. (0.1W)

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

C:

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In computing, C is a general-purpose, cross-platform, block structured, procedural, imperative computer programming language developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system.[2]

Although C was designed for implementing system software,[3] it is also widely used for developing application software.

It is widely used on a great many different software platforms and computer architectures, and several popular compilers exist. C has greatly influenced many other popular programming languages, most notably C++, which originally began as an extension to C.
C++:

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C++ (“C Plus Plus”, pronounced /?si??pl?s’pl?s/) is a general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as a middle-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features.[1] It is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled language where compilation creates machine code for a target machine hardware, supports procedural programming, data abstraction, object-oriented programming, and generic programming.

The language was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1979 at Bell Labs as an enhancement to the C programming language and originally named “C with Classes”. It was renamed to C++ in 1983. Enhancements started with the addition of classes, followed by, among other features, virtual functions, operator overloading, multiple inheritance, templates, and exception handling.

The C++ programming language standard was ratified in 1998 as ISO/IEC 14882:1998, the current version of which is the 2003 version, ISO/IEC 14882:2003. A new version of the standard (known informally as C++0x) is being developed.

C++ enjoys wide use in the software industry. Some of its application domains include systems software, device drivers, embedded software, high-performance server and client applications, and entertainment software such as video games. Several groups provide both free and commercial C++ compiler software, including the GNU Project, Microsoft, Intel, Borland and others.

JAVA:

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Java is a programming language originally developed by Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems’ Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of computer architecture.

The original and reference implementation Java compilers, virtual machines, and class libraries were developed by Sun from 1995. As of May 2007, in compliance with the specifications of the Java Community Process, Sun made available most of their Java technologies as free software under the GNU General Public License. Others have also developed alternative implementations of these Sun technologies, such as the GNU Compiler for Java and GNU Classpath.

SCRIPTING:

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ActionScript is a scripting language based on ECMAScript. ActionScript is used primarily for the development of websites and software using the Adobe Flash Player platform (in the form of SWF files embedded into Web pages), but is also used in some database applications (such as Alpha Five), and in basic robotics, as with the Make Controller Kit. Originally developed by Macromedia, the language is now owned by Adobe (which acquired Macromedia in 2005). ActionScript was initially designed for controlling simple 2D vector animations made in Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash). Later versions added functionality allowing for the creation of Web-based games and rich Internet applications with streaming media (such as video and audio).

REASONING PUZZLES

i friends,

Real life IAS i.e. UPSC Exam 1998 Interview Question and there Answer given by Candidates oh sorry IAS Officer now

Q.How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

A.Concrete floors are very hard to crack! (UPSC Topper)

> Q.If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall,how long would it take four

men to build it?

A. No time at all it is already built. (UPSC 23 Rank Opted for IFS)

Q.If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand,what would you have?

A. Very large hands.(Good one) (UPSC 11 Rank Opted for IPS)

Q. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?

A. It is not a problem, since you will never find an

elephant with one hand. (UPSC Rank 14 Opted for IES)

Q. How can a man go eight days without sleep?

A. No Probs , He sleeps at night. (UPSC IAS Rank 98)

Q. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?

A. It will Wet or Sink as simple as that. (UPSC IAS Rank 2)

Q. What looks like half apple ?

A:The other half. (UPSC – IAS Topper )

Q. What can you never eat for breakfast ?

A : Dinner.

Q. What happened when wheel was invented ?

A : It caused a revolution.

Q. Bay of Bengal is in which state?

A  Liquid (UPSC 33Rank )

Q: what is the opposite of Nagpanchmi?

A: Nag did not punch me