Scott Belton

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T08:08:00Z

I would just like to take this opportunity to say hi to everyone at Vista Squad and wish you well for Christmas and the New Year. Thanks go to you all its been a great seeing everyone and chatting at the meetings, I look forward to seeing all of you in the New Year, hopefully with many new faces and if were lucky even some more IT Pro’s....(read more)

Moving Forward

2008-11-24T22:22:00Z

Following on from Gavin’s blog, and looking towards 2009. I believe that Vista Squad is uniquely placed within the user group community due to the fact that we combine both Developers and IT Pros within one group. We have certainly had a great year and had some great meetings covering a great many topics from Windows Vista to Robotics and also to the future developments of Visual Studio so may I pass on my thanks to everyone that has participated. With 2009 in mind I believe Vista Squad is well placed...(read more)

After Hours the Sequel

2008-11-17T23:47:00Z

I’ve just come back from an excellent and well rounded evening, Microsoft After Hours the Sequel hosted at Microsoft’s London Site, were Viral Tarpara http://blogs.technet.com/tarpara , Jamie Burgess http://blogs.technet.com/carpediem and Paul Foster http://wotudo.net , gave a fun filled and action pack talk with demos covering a great many subjects some of which follow:- Live Services The next Xbox experience – avatar based (sort of like the Wii but way better) updates available online from 19 th...(read more)

Microsoft’s WinHEC 2008

2008-11-10T15:43:00Z

If you’re into the latest information on Windows 7 I would highly recommended that you check out the Win HEC website www.microsoft.com/whdc/WinHEC The on demand videos are great, packed full of interesting tech on the latest development’s and Microsoft aims in providing a great new O/S....(read more)

17 New Users

2008-11-05T17:21:00Z

Well I guess this next meeting of Vistasquad is proving to be popular, with 17 new user's all signed up to our website within the last 24 hours. So welcome to you newbie’s, hope you have signed up for the 19th November event, come on don’t by shy, we don't bite. (MUCH!) Sign Up here...(read more)

Microsoft “After hours” – the sequel

2008-11-05T11:47:00Z

This is the 3 rd event that Microsoft have run in their “After Hours” vein, for which I attended both of the previous sessions and would highly recommended going to. There very entertaining and informative, giving a lighter side to the technologies that we get bombarded with 9-5, and showing great ways to enjoy being Geeky away from the work place. Viral Tarpara's http://blogs.technet.com/Tarpara/ Will be leading this event demonstrating some of the following:- Sending photos to family, sharing a...(read more)

WOW! What A time to be a Developer!

2008-10-29T21:32:00Z

I just watched the keynote speech from the PDC 2008, were Ray Ozzie introduces Windows Azure. Again WOW! This seems such an amazing time to be involved in computing whether being a Developer or even an IT Pro. There seems to be so much happening at an every increasing speed that it's blowing my mind just trying to keep pace with all these new technologies. The age of the Geek! Is right now, make the most of it and enjoy! Check out the PDC 2008 web site http://microsoftpdc.com Can't wait to see the...(read more)

VistaSquad Meeting 17 Sep 2008

2008-09-18T12:01:00Z

Well an interesting evening not quite to plan, just like to say a quick thank you to both Ray and Ravi for stepping up and hosting an impromptu Q & A session for this evenings DEV Talk. And at last thanks to Viral Tarpara http://blogs.technet.com/Tarpara , we are all now painfully aware that we fall into the category of Geek. An interesting talk in which Viral described the modern day Geek and how he or she have evolved through the ages into the perceived leaders in the field of IT and all things...(read more)

Engineering Windows 7

2008-08-23T11:33:00Z

New Blog site, maybe worth keeping an eye on for info on the future developments of Microsofts next incarnation. http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/default.aspx...(read more)

Citizens on Patrol

2008-08-20T22:18:00Z

Another great turn out so thanks to everyone that turned up. (& Microsoft for hosting) I hope you all enjoyed both these evenings presentations. What's new in Silverlight Beta 2 (Mike Ormond, Microsoft) Intro to Live Mesh (Paolo Barone, Microsoft) Live Mesh intro Thanks guys, both these presentations were full of useful info and some great questions and interaction from the group as well. I particularly like the idea of Live Mesh and the ability of being able to sync all my important documents...(read more)

Project VistaSquad

2008-07-26T17:11:00Z

Well this might not be one of my best ideas to date but here goes! Over a few pints down my local, chatting with friends, actually listening to them whinnying on about Windows Vista's pros and cons, their main grippes seemed to always fall back on the amount of resources and hardware Windows Vista requires to run and the fact they have to go out and spend their hard earned money on Dual or Quad core machines to feel the full benefits. So project VistaSquad was born, the idea to build a usable pc...(read more)

Windows PE & Microsoft's Malware Removal Starter Kit

2008-07-24T18:48:00Z

I’ve recently been playing with the Windows PE boot environment and found a really good collection of information and free guides from Microsoft. So I thought I would give some of the ideas a go, I have followed the Malware Removal Starter Kit http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/guidance/disasterrecovery/malware/default.mspx This is a great guide and well planned out, helping you build a customized pre boot environment designed to tackle worms, viruses and many forms of malicious spyware. Easily...(read more)

The Fellowship of the Ring Photos

2008-07-21T07:22:00Z

I've just posted the photos for our last meeting held on the 16th July. Apologies for the quality they were taken using a XDA II phone, main camera is still away being fixed after dropping it....(read more)

The Fellowship of The Ring Evening Event

2008-07-17T08:09:00Z

What a great evening two fantastic presentations, and what a fantastic turn out from over 100 sign ups to well over fifty people turning up with a few more IT Pros than normal, (come on guys and girls we really need a good showing way to many developers!) Our biggest and best event so far so thanks from us all and thanks again for your support, hopefully you all had a good evening. The 2 presentations were as follows Mike Taulty from Microsoft on LINQ to XML And Matt McSpirit on What’s New In Windows...(read more)

The Fellowship of the Ring

2008-07-16T11:16:00Z

Wow outstanding over 94 places taken up for tonight’s meeting. Good work all! That’s fantastic I look forward to meeting some new faces as well as seeing the familiar ones. Hopefully we have a few more IT Pro's tonight so we can finally give the Dev. guys a run for their money. Looking forward to it. See you all there! Regards...(read more)