We all remember all the different versions of Windows Vista that were available on launch and how confusing it was, and I thought that was set to improve with 7. Only partially so. In Europe we get not only the regular Windows 7 flavers, but also some with a N suffix. What does this N mean?

Well, in 2004 Microsoft was fined almost €500m by the European Commission declaring that because Microsoft were so huge, that bundling Windows Media Player (WMP) in Windows was anti-competitive and thus forced to offer a version that didn’t include it. They could still sell the bundled version so long as the sold the unbundled version too. This resulted in a version of XP being retro-fitted with the N moniker, and subsequently versions of Vista accordingly. Now Windows 7 has hit the shelves and it seems that this is set to continue.

The really ridiculous thing about it is, they cost the exact same price at most retailers. Buy a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium Full and it’ll set up back about 80 quid for the upgrade of 150 for the full package. Decide to by Windows 7 Home Premium N, thats without WMP included, and its 80 for the upgrade and yes, you guessed it, 150 for the full package.

So why would you ever bother buying a copy of 7N then? Well, you wouldn’t. Unless it was confusing and you didn’t realise when you bought it, which some people clearly have done. To add insult to injury it seems that you can’t even install WMP onto an N edition Windows 7, that is at least you couldn’t initially.

Fortunately, and I don’t know how well publicised this MS article is, but now you can, with a specific MS download that allows you to do just that. I can only assume that there was uproar and they decided to turn the steamboat around by releasing the Media Feature Pack for Windows 7 N.

So, if you’re trying to install WMP on a Windows 7 N edition you might like to wander over to the following link.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=31017ed3-166a-4c75-b90c-a6cef9b414c4

So the security team at SpiderLabs have uncovered a security breach affecting cash machines currently running on Windows XP. Basically some malware allows the attacker to gain complete control over the cash machine and extract tracking data, PIN numbers, and to add insult to injury the hard cash as well!

Basically once the machine has been infected, which apparently needs to be done manually suggesting insiders are involved, the attacker can return to the infected machine at any time later and extract the information using a special trigger card, where they can then print out the required information to the built in receipt printer before telling the machine to chuck out some cash.

Ok, so only around 20 or so machines have reportedly been compromised at the moment but I would imagine it’s only a matter of time before this is happening to Windows XP powered machines around the world.

I find it amusing we’re using Windows XP on cash machines anyway, especially considering Microsoft already moved XP from mainstream support to it’s “extended support”  phase in April this year, (although they will still provide security related updates through to 2014). Cash machines should have a dedicated proprietory OS rather than use one of the most targeted platforms for malware. What next, Windows based life support machines?

If you are like me, you almost never delete anything. And, it doesn’t matter how big a hard disk I install into my army of computers (my current main PC has almost 2TB of space although only around 500GB is actually free right now) I still manage to more or less fill it up entirely.

Well I got an email from a tech colleague today who was raving about a tool he had found on one of my work server hard drives while planning the migration of some mailboxes from one Exchange Server to another. I always leave a copy of this program lying around because it is very useful in trying to work out where all the really big stuff is hogging the disk space that you have long forgotten about and probably don’t even need anymore. I was quite surprised he didn’t already know about it as it’s been around for donkey’s years but since he didn’t it got me thinking; I wonder how many other people may have missed it.

So, without further ado, meet “TreeSize Free”, little sibling of the larger (not free) Tree Size Pro from JAM Software. JAM have been writing useful tools since about 1997, but this is probably my favourite. Basically it lets you scan a Windows folder structure in it’s entirity to show you which folders are taking up all the space. Once it finishes you have a complete listing of your whole disk, which you can drill down into to find the culprit files. You can display this space usage in a number of ways, and the program makes it really easy to find then delete stuff you don’t need.

The free version is perfectly suited for these needs and is a self-contained EXE, so no installation required to run it, perfect for keeping on your USB flash stick.

If you’ve not used it before then get over to JAM Software and check it out.

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml