In his Sept. 25 lead story, associate editor Stuart Johnston reported that the 32-bit version of Windows Vista provides users with "only 3GB of memory, a limitation that the 64-bit edition doesn't have."

Other 32-bit operating systems have similar memory constraints, but Stuart pointed out that 64-bit versions of Vista can address 8GB to 128GB of RAM, depending on the edition (Home Basic, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate).

Contributing editor Ryan Russell's Sept. 25 column in our paid content reviewed the free Cain & Abel utility. This program is designed to find and reveal all the passwords that are stored on a PC's hard disk, which can be useful to legitimate admins as well as nefarious intruders.

Video file formats can cause a world of headaches, from compression and bandwidth issues to media players that don't support your format or compressor.

Conversion utilities help you solve these problems while making your videos viewable on cell phones, media players, and other devices.

Maybe you've tried uploading your family's home movies to a video-hosting site only to discover that the files exceeded the service's size limits or maxed out your Internet connection's bandwidth. Perhaps your company's training video isn't compatible with all media players. Or it could be that you simply want to watch a video on your iPod as you exercising on the treadmill or taking a plane trip.

In all of these cases and lots more, a video-converter utility can be just the tool you need.

Most such applications support multiple input and output formats, allow you to tweak individual settings within those formats (such as offering a choice of compressor or output dimensions), and let you clip off a designated amount from the beginning and/or end of your videos. (AVS Video Converter is the lone product in this roundup that lacks such video-editing features.)

Some video converters let you apply effects, although the kind of effect and the extent of these features vary. For example, AVS Video Converter lets you crop to adjust aspect ratio. MediaCoder takes the feature prize by including that effect plus controls for brightness, contrast, volume, hue, saturation, denoising, and other functions. With Digital Media Converter, you can adjust only your file's brightness, contrast, and volume.

AVS Video Converter is sold as part of the U.S. $40 AVS Video Tools collection. Other tools included in the package copy files between devices, transfer video from DV and VHS cams, and edit MPEG files without recompressing them. However, I reviewed only the product's video converter.

Like Any Video Converter (see below), AVS Video Converter supports deceptively few output formats. In reality, however, you can edit the settings of each program to get more bang for your conversion buck. In my tests, the utility's output was flawless. On the iPhone output test, AVS even tried looking for an attached phone to upload it to after it was done!

Figure 1. AVS Video Converter's file-conversion options are easy to access via the program's main window.

The program's trimming feature was sluggish in updating previews. It was hard to tell whether the area I marked was going to be included or deleted in the preview.

Any Video Converter comes in freeware and Professional versions. If you don't need to RIP DVDs to disk or work with many different file formats (especially sound-file formats), the freeware version may suit you fine.

The program's interface is straightforward: buttons across the top highlight the major features and file-conversion steps — Add Video, Encode, and Stop. You use the Profile drop-down on the right to choose an output format. The list of options seems short, but you can tweak the settings for each with the controls that appear below them.

In my tests, the MPEG-2 file Any Video Converter created dramatically reduced the size of my test file while maintaining an impressive degree of quality. The MPEG-4 test also succeeded in letting me convert a video for viewing on my phone.

The program's trimming (or "output duration") feature is somewhat limited, forcing you to specify cuts at the level of seconds rather than frames or milliseconds.

Any Video Converter also has a feature for downloading and converting video from YouTube.

MediaCoder is the only video converter in this roundup that is open-source. It's also one of the most thorough and full-featured of the programs I reviewed. The program even manages the difficult task of piling in numerous controls and settings without making the interface too complex or busy.

One drawback of MediaCoder is that the developers like coding a lot more than they like writing documentation. Consequently, there is no manual or help system to guide you. However, the site does provide a link to a "volunteer user guide" written by a third party.

Also, I couldn't find a split-video feature comparable to the ones I found in most of the other programs I tested.

In my MPEG-2 tests, MediaCoder seemed to produce compact results in short order. Unfortunately, Windows Media Player couldn't recognize the codec (compressor-decompressor) that MediaCoder used, so I was unable to view the result. Similarly, my MPEG-4 test wouldn't play in QuickTime and wasn't recognized by iTunes, even though I used MediaCoder's built-in settings.

Digital Media Converter is the least attractive of the programs I used, but it does offer some hand-holding to video-converter neophytes, including a Flash-based tutorial.

In both of my conversion tests, the program stopped the process to tell me I had to download an additional codec, even though I was attempting to use only settings found in its dialog boxes. At least the app offered to download and start the codec's installer for me.

Unlike other video converters, Digital Media Converter demands a lot of free disk space. I was unable to complete my tests because the program wanted me to specify a drive with more space, even though there was nearly 1GB free on my main drive.

One nice difference with this program is that, if you click Settings, the Compatibility tab shows you the viagra propecia celebrex compressors on your system and gives advice on disabling some to prevent conflicts or solve problems. If only other programs provided such useful information!

Digital Media Converter has good documentation, but the program's design needs a little more development.

A couple of products didn't make it into my full review process:

• eRightSoft's Super © consistently crashed on startup. Even before then, I had my doubts about the product, thanks to the overkill of the promotional hype on the vendor's site. I had to wade through three long pages of text extolling the virtues of this free product before I could find the obscure download link.

• Cucusoft's Ultimate Video Converter would hang in limbo each time I asked it to convert a video.

Early indications are that Windows 7 won't be a major upgrade from Vista.

But the real choice isn't between Vista and Windows 7; it's between moving to a 64-bit version of Windows now or later.

The bottom line is that if you're using XP, there's no point in upgrading to 32-bit Vista. It doesn't make sense to upgrade your operating system without upgrading to 64-bit hardware and software in order to get the most out of both. Allow me to explain.

Despite Microsoft's best attempts to keep a lid on the next version of Windows — code-named Windows 7 — details about the new OS's features are slipping out. The early word is that the successor to Vista, which is due to ship in early 2010, won't be much different from Vista Service Pack 1.

To date, Microsoft has said only that the next version of Windows will launch within three years after the consumer release of Vista, which debuted officially in January 2007. A recent report by InternetNews.com pegs Microsoft's current schedule as having the OS ready for PC manufacturers in June 2009, substantially earlier than advertised.

Microsoft executives have kept mum not only about the when of Windows 7 but also the what: specifically, what features will and won't be in the next release. Significantly more information regarding Windows 7 will be available in late October at the company's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) and in early November at its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. Late word is that PDC attendees will receive a pre-beta of Windows 7 on a 160GB external USB hard drive.

Early testers of the new release indicated recently to All About Microsoft blogger Mary Jo Foley that a public beta of Windows 7 is due around mid-December 2008. Microsoft has said it will sign up beta testers via its Connect site.

That would be the right time frame for Microsoft to get the final release to PC makers in time for the 2009 Christmas sales season — a critical mistake Microsoft made with Vista in 2006, say analysts.

Windows 7 emphasizes performance, stability

Testers of early preview releases indicate that Windows 7 will provide viagra propecia buy online greater stability, reliability, and performance than Vista. The most recent of the three prebeta releases reportedly delivered all three of the promised benefits.

One of the three biggest complaints about Vista — or more specifically, the 32-bit version of Vista — is performance. (The other two big Vista problems, application incompatibilities and the lack of device drivers, have been solved over the past year and a half, with a few noteworthy exceptions.)

The 32-bit edition of Vista supports only 3GB of memory, a limitation that the 64-bit edition doesn't have. How much memory can 64-bit Vista address? The range is from 8GB for Vista Home Basic to 128GB for the Ultimate, Enterprise, and Business editions.

All 32-bit operating systems, not just Vista, have greater memory restrictions than their 64-bit versions. At this point, if you're considering buying new systems, you should be looking at setups that use 64-bit hardware and software. After all, what good are all those lightning-fast processor cores if the system runs low on memory to support them?

While there will be a 32-bit edition of Windows 7, the writing is on the wall: the future of desktop computing is 64-bit.

"The 64-bit editions support more than 3GB of RAM, which removes the headroom limit that 32-bit editions have," principal anaylst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group told Windows Secrets.

Some users echo that sentiment.

"I installed a full 64-bit copy of Vista six months after release and it runs great," said a user who goes by the screen name Darkest Daze on one user forum.

"I love my Vista 64. I would never go back to XP," said a posting by another user who goes by the screen name Ike_Skelton.

While there is a 64-bit release of XP, Microsoft plans to end free support for XP on April 14, 2009, although the company will continue to issue critical bug fixes. After that date, you'll have to pay per incident for support from Microsoft.

One big reason why Microsoft should have no problem meeting its shipping deadlines for Windows 7 is that the OS will not be much different from Vista Service Pack 1, which shipped last spring. For instance, screen shots of the latest pre-beta that were briefly posted to the Web last week (until Microsoft's legal department got involved) showed a user interface that is suspiciously like Vista's aero look.

Windows components are moving to the cloud

As part of Microsoft's broad initiative to evolve its product offerings to embrace its emerging software-plus-services vision, some features and programs that had previously been included with the operating system will become Windows Live services, residing in the cloud while remaining tightly integrated with Windows 7, the company confirmed this week.

"Starting with the next release of Windows, Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Windows Contacts, Windows Photo Gallery, and Windows Movie Maker will no longer be available in the Windows operating system," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement e-mailed to Windows Secrets.

Instead, those capabilities will be provided via Windows Live services, the statement continued. Moving those features out of Windows 7 may also help improve performance.

"The whole idea is to have Windows Live be a piece on top of the Windows 7 platform," Kip Kniskern, staff writer for Windows Live enthusiast site LiveSide.net, told Windows Secrets. Beyond that, however, he too views Windows 7 as a relatively minor release.

"I don't think Windows 7 is much more than Vista SP2," Kniskern added. "The code base isn't much different."

One feature that will be new in Windows 7 is support for multi-touch displays, which Microsoft's Surface computer pioneered. Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer demonstrated Windows 7's support for that feature at the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference in May.

You have to wonder which Microsoft group is sweating more these days: the people in charge of helping XP users upgrade XP Service Pack 3, or the folks whose job it is to convince PC users to buy Vista. While the latter group has Bill Gates wiggling his tush on their behalf (at the request of Jerry Seinfeld), the SP3 champions in the company appear to be on their own — just like us poor XP users.

It's never easy knowing whom to believe when tech pundits contradict themselves. It's even harder to figure out the best course of action when writers for the same publication appear to be at odds on an important issue.

Since I err on the side of caution, I recommend that XP users wait to upgrade until they have to, or until they can be relatively certain that all (or at least most) of the glitches have been worked out, especially if your PC is running okay.

Now Scott Dunn has provided us with a third perspective on SP3 in this week's Top Story. I'm confident that if you follow Scott's advice on the service pack, you'll do just fine.

Beware of insecure webmail services

Multiple problems plague SP3 adopters

Windows Secrets has been reporting problems with Windows XP's Service Pack 3 almost from the instant the patch collection was first distributed. In fact, so many readers have contacted us with questions or complaints about SP3 — the last major update to Windows XP — that we've synthesized everything you need to know about this update in a single column.

Here are the most glaring SP3-related problems:

• Internet connectivity fails when using black hole routers, which drop packets (see Susan Bradley's May 1 column in our paid content and Microsoft's Knowledge Base article 314825).

• False positives are generated by Norton Internet Security and other security applications (see my May 2 Top Story).

• Device Manager settings go missing, especially in connection with using Norton Antivirus (see Susan Bradley's column in the May 29 newsletter as well as KB 953791).

• Repeated rebooting occurs on machines using an AMD processor (see Susan Bradley's May 22 column and KB 953356).

• You can't install any new updates (see KB 943144).

• Third-party visual styles encounter problems (see the Support Alert Newsletter of June 19).

Making an upgrade decision that works for you

In light of these and other problems, you may wonder whether you ever want SP3 at all, especially given that many of its enhancements focus on networking and IT-level administration. Here's the case for SP3:

Think security: In addition to new features, SP3 — like most service packs — includes numerous security updates that were available individually in the past.

Consider support: If you think you might require Microsoft's assistance to install SP3, you need to add the service pack before April 2009, when the company will end such support. And because overall support for SP2 expires in early 2010, you'll need to have SP3 installed by that date if you want general support for XP.

Be prepared: Before you install SP3, take a few precautions. First and foremost, perform a full system backup. Microsoft has digested all recommended pre-install steps in KB 950717, which also includes troubleshooting information if all does not go well.

How to remove SP3 from your Automatic Updates

If you decide you don't want SP3, Microsoft offers a tool for suppressing the automatic installation of the service pack. The Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit won't prevent you from downloading SP3 manually from the company's site, nor will it stop you from installing the patches from a CD or DVD. All it does is stop the service pack from being installed via Windows' Automatic Updates.

In addition, the Service Pack Blocker postpones the installation for only a year from SP3's release date last April.

Surf over to Microsoft's Service Pack Blocker download page and click the Download button for SPBlockerTools.exe. Click Yes to accept the license agreement and type in the path to the folder where the files will be stored (click the Browse button and navigate to the folder if you want to avoid typing).

Now open the folder containing the extracted files and double-click SPBlockingTool.exe. A command prompt window appears for a few moments and displays the statement "Action successfully completed." Unfortunately, that doesn't tell you very much. The action the message refers to is the addition of a Registry entry instructing Windows Update not to send you SP3. (The same setting on Vista blocks SP1.)

If you want to see the code that is added, do the following:

Step 1. Choose Start, Run. Type regedit and press Enter.

Step 2. In the Registry Editor, navigate in the left pane to this entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ WindowsUpdate

Step 3. With the WindowsUpdate icon selected in the left pane, look in the right pane for a key named DoNotAllowSP.

Even though most of SP3's problems should now be in the past, these precautions can help ensure that you aren't one of the service pack's installation victims.

If you later decide you want Automatic Updates to offer you Service Pack 3, simply select the DoNotAllowSP key and press Delete (or click Edit, Delete).

If you're concerned about editing the Registry (which involves risks of its own), the Service Pack Blocker can also undo the block:

Step 1. Choose Start, Run. Type cmd and press Enter.

Step 2. At the command prompt, either type the path to the SPBlockingTool.exe file, or drag the file into the command prompt window and let Windows do the typing for you.

Step 3. At the end of this command, type a space followed by /U and press Enter.

Once again, you'll see the "Action successfully completed" message and Windows Automatic Update will no longer be blocked from installing the service pack on your system.

The other tool included with the download, SPreg.cmd, is a batch file useful for administrators who want to block the service pack on remote computers; this utility requires that the machine name be specified in the command line.