Helmers Blog

Thanks go to Lukas Beeler who Tweeted about his download progress of Office 2010 Beta! If you didn’t read the title : Office Profesional Plus 2010 Beta is available for download for TechNet and MSDN Subscribers!

Michael Pietroforte of 4Sysops just tweeted that Microsoft Security Essentials is available for download!

For all you guys/girls that didn’t know : You can use/download Microsoft Security Essentials for FREE!

A quote from the MSE website :

 

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.

Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

 

I’ve been participating in the MSE Beta program and I can tell you that it’s really a neat AV product! Just go here and click the download button. You can manually select the operating system or language by clicking the Locales and languages link just below the Download Now button. Note : The Windows XP version is only available as a 32-bit download. If you want to use the 64-bit version you need Windows Vista or Windows 7.

There will be local versions for the following locales/languages : Australia, Austria, Belgium (Dutch & French), Brazil, Canada (English & French), China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland (German & French) and Taiwan.

Microsoft Security Essentials Direct Download Links Download 64-bit Windows Vista and Windows 7 version Download 32-bit Windows Vista and Windows 7 version Download 32-bit Windows XP version

Tonight somewhere around 19:00 CET Windows 7 became available for download at TechNet and MSDN. Too bad the servers are overloaded right now and my maximum download speed lays around 100 KB/sec. So tomorrow morning the download will probably be finished!

Earlier this evening I attended the Dutch Windows First Wave Community Kick-Off at Microsoft NL HQ. It was a really great event and I met a lot of intersting new people (too bad I didn’t have a chat with Pieter who commented on my blog that he would like to drink a beer with me . Pieter if you read this..you can make it up with me on the next event. If I understood Wouter correctly there will be an follow up event somewhere in the next few months.

At the end of the event we even received a great Windows 7 Fleece coat. Too bad all the big sizes were not available when we left, so I received a Medium size coat. Thanks to Tony Krijnen (who also received a XL coat) I now have a XL coat for myself…and M size for my wife (who is really happy with her coat). Later on I will post a picture of the coat…hehe…just to make you guys jealous!

So, enough about tonights kick-off…they only thing you probably want are the download links to the Windows 7 bits!

Download Windows 7 via TechNet Download Windows 7 via MSDN

UPDATE : At the moment the TechNet/MSDN downloads are very slow. @RutgerSmit (thanks rutger!) mentioned the Top Downloads link at TechNet/MSDN to me so you can download at high speed!

Download Windows 7 at High Speed from TechNet (via Akamai) Download Windows 7 at High Speed from MSDN (via Akamai)

……before the Windows 7 download will become available through your TechNet Plus and MSDN Subscription.

I’m kinda curious if the servers will be overloaded again, just like the release of the first beta back in January. When the links become available I’ll update the /windows7/downloads section so everything is up to date again.

It can be a coincidence, but tomorrow evening I’ll be at Microsoft NL HQ for a meeting about Windows 7 and so I’m really hoping that the servers won’t die before I’ll be back at home and have been able to generate a key and download the bits from TechNet.

Hmm…just a few minutes ago I blogged that the Windows 7 RC is available for download, but it seems that the whole world is trying to download the Release Candidate..the page is not available anymore….