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Cheers Winoscentral for this one! So you thought Microsoft was only going to be allowing XP access to the new Windows Update site, well think again. As of Nov 9th Microsoft has fired up the new Windows Update beta site (registration required - sorry...) for 2000/ME/98 users allowing them the same kind of access to updates and driver files XP users currently have.

This new layout is terrific and really makes getting files for all of MS's OS's much easier and much better than the current Windows Update Site. Plus, you do not need to have I.E. 6.0 installed to get to the site our source is using 5.5 SP2 and it seems to work fine however getting it to work was a bit of a challenge. It seems our source had to manually remove some files from his PC and then add a REG entry provided by MS in order for it to work but after taking a look at the new layout it looks to me like all his effort paid off.


News source: Winoscentral
Screenshot: 6 screenies of the new layout here

We do not know how un-registered users can access this site, when we find out we will let you know ;)

Here is a list of what is included and some details on each individual file:

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bgswitch.exe - Background Switcher Powertoy
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This powertoy was included with the last beta version of the Powertoys Set. Whenever a user right clicked his desktop and chose properties he could see a new tab which allowed him to enable a "Desktop Slide Show." This would automatically change the Windows Desktop at an interval specified by the user.

This actual realease was ported by me and may or may not work well on all machines. I hope that you have luck with it. If the setup doesn't do anything for you then please let me know so that I can include some fixes in the next release!

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shplayer.exe - Shell Audio Player
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This powertoy has been thrown around on sites ever since the final came out. I would guess that this is the most controversial powertoy that was removed from the final. However, the version that most people have floating around, "SHPlayerInstall.exe" actually came from the very first beta of the Powertoys Set, and was a lot less reliable than the version included here. The version I include is from the last beta version of the Powertoys Set. It also includes the much desired "Show Volume Button" option.

You access the Shell Audio Player by installing the file, right-clicking on the taskbar, choosing toolbars, and enabling the "Audio Player" bar. Then if you wish you can enable the "Volume" button by simply going to the Options menu and choosing "Show Volume Button."

I also created the install for this one. However, in this case if you have tried the actual install file and Shell Audio Player doesn't load, all you have to do is simply browse to the C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32 directory, find the file "shplayer.inf," right click it and choose install.

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iefind.exe - Internet Explorer Find Bar
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This powertoy adds a toolbar to Internet Explorer that is equivalent to the Edit menu's "Find on this page..." (CTRL-F) option.

Though this powertoy was given a lot of negative responses, I included it just in case there was somebody out there who wanted to get their hands on it. Since this version was only included within the first few beta releases of the Powertoys Set, and it was decided that it would not be included early on, I was able to actually use the setup files supplied by MS for this release.

Simply install the file, go to IE, right click on your toolbars and choose the "Find" toolbar. There it is!