When you connect a Windows Vista-based or Windows Server 2008-based computer to some USB devices that have multiple USB endpoints, the transmission rate over the USB connection may decrease significantly.

The USB transmission rate partly depends on the number of USB endpoints that are connected to the USB controller. Therefore, for each endpoint that is connected to the USB controller, the USB transmission rate will decrease slightly. However, when this problem occurs, the USB transmission rate decreases significantly more than expected.

Three new Windows Ultimate Extras are finally released. A game called Microsoft Tinker, a Sound Scheme based on the game, and three additional DreamScenes. (more…)

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Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc talks about the iTunes problem (Blue Screen of Death), and mentions how to solve it. (more…)

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a Windows Vista-based computer that has Windows Media Center TV Pack installed.
• The computer has multiple graphics adapters and has multiple monitors connected.
• You play a DVD or a TV program in Windows Media Center.
• You start Windows Media Center in a secondary monitor, or you move it to a secondary monitor while the video is playing.

In this scenario, the video that is displayed on the second monitor may appear garbled. This problem occurs only on computers that have certain graphics hardware installed.

This article contains information about Microsoft Network Monitor 3.2. Network Monitor 3.2 is a protocol analyzer that lets you capture, view, and analyze network data. You can use it to help troubleshoot problems with applications on the network. (more…)

Consider the following scenario:

• You have data that is stored in one of the new Microsoft SQL Server 2008 collations.
• You have an application on a computer that is running one of the following operating systems:
  • Windows XP
  • Windows Server 2003
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows Server 2008

In this scenario, you may experience one of the following symptoms:

Symptom 1

You receive an error message when the following conditions are true:

• The application uses the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver or the SQL OLE DB provider to request a result set.
• The result set contains a column that uses one of the new collations.
• The column is defined as the SQLTEXT type, the SQLBIGCHAR type, or the SQLBIGVARCHAR type.

If the application uses the ODBC driver, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40242

Unable to resolve column level collations system

If the application uses the SQL OLE DB provider, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40234

Unicode conversion failed. Code page of server not on client

Symptom 2

The connection to the new SQL Server 2008 collations is closed, and an error message is logged in the SQL Server Error log file when the following conditions are true:

• The application uses the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver or the SQL OLE DB provider to request a result set.
• The result set contains data of the SQL_VARIANT data type.
• The data is stored in one of the new collations, and the SQL_VARIANT data contains the SQLTEXT type, the SQLBIGCHAR type, or the SQLBIGVARCHAR type.

If the application uses the ODBC driver, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40242

Unable to resolve column level collations system

If the application uses the SQL OLE DB provider, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40234

Unicode conversion failed. Code page of server not on client

Symptom 3

The client application requests an output parameter. If the output parameter uses one of the new collations, the parameter is defined as the SQLBIGCHAR type, the SQLBIGVARCHAR type, or the SQLTEXT type, and an error is returned to the client application.

If the application uses the ODBC driver, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40242

Unable to resolve column level collations system

If the application uses the SQL OLE DB provider, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40234

Unicode conversion failed. Code page of server not on client

Symptom 4

The connection to the new SQL Server 2008 collations is closed, and an error message is logged in the SQL Server Error log file when the following conditions are true:

• The application requests an output parameter.
• The data type of the output parameter is SQL_VARIANT.
• The output parameter uses one of the new collations, and the SQL_VARIANT data contains the SQLCHAR type or the SQLVARCHAR type.

If the application uses the ODBC driver, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40242

Unable to resolve column level collations system

If the application uses the SQL OLE DB provider, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40234

Unicode conversion failed. Code page of server not on client

Symptom 5

The client application connects to a database, and the default collation that the database uses is one of the new collations. In this case, an error is returned to the client application.

If the application uses the ODBC driver, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40205

Unicode conversion failed

If the application uses the SQL OLE DB provider, you receive the following error message:

Msg 40234

Unicode conversion failed. Code page of server not on client

Symptom 6

When you run the USE statement to switch to a database that uses one of the new collations, you receive the error messages that are listed for “Symptom 5.”

Instructions on how to make changes to your Vista sound scheme. Want your computer to startup and play a movie quote? Follow these instructions! (more…)

The government of Brazil has announced a new time zone start date and end date for Brazil for the period of 2007 through 2008. The new time zone information is as follows:

• Daylight saving time starts October 19, 2008 (the third Sunday in October)
• Daylight saving time ends February 15, 2009 (the third Sunday in February)

Windows-based computers will not correctly interpret the time that is related to the transition to daylight saving time. The hotfix that is mentioned in this article addresses this time zone change. This hotfix updates the (GMT-3:00) Brasilia time zone and the (GMT-4:00) Manaus time zone to use the new time zone information for 2008 through 2009.

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