Start 2009 with the best 2008 laptops running Vista

I came across an interesting review of the "2008 most impressive laptops" presented by senior editor Darren Gladstone of authoritative PCWorld site. Other than the Apple MacBook Air, a thing of beauty, practically all of them run, guess what?, Windows Vista. No Windows XP in sight! Gone with the wind, like 2008, which ends today. HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS 2009 for everybody!

SOLUTION: When login password doesn't seem to work

PROBLEM: You can not log back in to your locked computer. This may happen when you a) block your computer in the middle of work using WinKey, the key to the right of CTRL key, and the L key; and b) you have more than one keyboard layout selected. In my particular case I have English (EN), as shown here, French (FR) and Spanish (SP) and depending on the language you are using, apparently Vista automatically switches to that layout. The trick is to make sure, before you type in your password, that you have selected English (EN) or the default language you chose when you installed Vista. Each language has its own keyboard layout and not all keys have the same value. If you know this you will save yourself a big headache.

Winter solstice

There is an infinite supply of energy beneath the beauty of winter, its snowy-white clarity, its darkness and short days and long nights and glacial reality. As the Northern Hemisphere is ready to embrace the unequivocal change of season, amidst the traditional rituals of the Winter Solstice, the Unconquered Sun, let's embrace this newborn period, in which new poems and books and magazine articles will be written, and paintings painted and buildings built... perhaps new friends, and new jobs, all conspire to make of winter a cozier and warmer season. Simply a communion with kin, work, Creator and creation.

Windows Vista SP2 Beta, don't hold your breath

Do you need to get all the cumulative updates for Windows Vista SP1 (yes, SP1 is a prerequisite this time) in one place as SP2? Well, if you need to test something that's definitely bothering you, your company, your IT project, then go ahead and download the Windows Vista SP2 Beta. Microsoft informs that this "SP2 will contain changes focused on addressing reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards." However, I would say, if it's not broken, don't fix it. Wait for the final release. SP1 has been the redeemer of Windows Vista and it works really well. Of course improvements are all welcome.