I’m currently planning a ‘Christmas Special’ for my ongoing webcast series.  On Tuesday December 13th I’ll be helping people in “Setting up and Configuring a New PC” because Christmas is, traditionally, a good time for the purchasing and giving of high-tech electronics.  Let’s face it, if the three wise men could have delivered unto Jesus an iPad, an all-in-one PC and an Android Smartphone they probably would have done.  But religious flippancies aside this Christmas could be a very interesting time for PC sales because it is the last chance to get a Christmas PC with Windows 7 on board.

The word about Windows 8 is now beginning to get out and setting aside the fact that January will bring a great many new features with the beta, people who are thinking about Windows 8 will have to make up their mind based on what they’ve seen in the current Developer Preview.  The fact remains here that much of what we have seen, the touch OS, the Metro interface and the one app per screen approach isn’t going to change much and some people might decide they simply don’t want to go that way.

Human beings are, after all, resistant to change.  It makes us uncomfortable which is one of the reasons why Microsoft have now had to shove the Ribbon interface into just about everything to get people to use it.  They’ve been steadily doing the same with Metro, there are references of it tracing back to Windows 7 Media Centre for example.

This means that, as word begins to get around about the changes Windows 8 will be bringing, and the worldwide press has covered Windows 8 in some depth both in the newspapers and on television, that the people who have decided that the operating system isn’t for them might be coming to realise that this time next year it’ll be Windows 8 with a new PC or nothing.

This will make this year’s Christmas PC sales period an extremely interesting one to watch as it’s possible that sales will see a jump on what is normally to be expected.  It’s also possible, and Microsoft will probably be hoping for this, that either word about Metro in Windows 8 hasn’t spread far and wide yet, that people simply don’t realise that they have only a limited time to still buy Windows 7, that people will be holding on for the significant changes promised for the beta or any combination of the three.

At the end of the day the sales figures will matter because if they do show a jump it could be something Microsoft will have to take note of and plan for.  Windows is currently locked in a “Star Trek Movies: Curse of the Odd Numbers” cycle with every other product being poorly received.  This is something they desperately need to break if they are to gain traction in the ever-booming touchscreen and tablet markets and, ultimately, if the company’s future is to be saved.

By the time sales figures are released the Windows 8 beta will already be out and feature-locked.  It will be too late by this point for Microsoft to make any significant changes if any are required to address the concerns of potential PC purchasers in 2012.  If we see a significant jump in PC sales this holiday season however, it may already be too late.

What Will Christmas 2011 Bring for Windows 7? was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Yes it’s that time of the year, Christmas day is only a few short days away and if you’re not feeling the festive spirit, what better way is there to get some of that holiday cheer than decorating your desktop?

I decided to make things a little bit easier for you and put together a selection of Christmas flavoured themes for you. So without further ado, here are some gorgeous Christmas themes to get you and your desktop into the festive spirit.

(Don’t forget to check out our other selection of themes)

Twinkle Wish Windows 7 Theme from Microsoft

This first theme comes from Microsoft themselves, a cute animated theme, ideal to get you in the holiday spirit.

Twinkle Wish Windows 7 Theme

Download

Twinkle Wish Windows 7 Wallpapers

Download

Windows 7 Christmas Theme

Windows 7 News Christmas Themepack

Download

Windows 7 News Christmas Theme

Our very own theme designed by one of editors here at Windows 7 News

Windows 7 News Christmas Wallpapers

Download

Christmas Cartoon Theme

Download Here

Windows 7 Christmas Themes was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

In tandem with our sister site Windows 7 News & Tips we are giving away over $9000 this December.  Yes, everyday between Dec 1st and Dec 24th we are giving away prizes worth over $300!!

Entry is free and you can enter as many times as you want.  All you have to do is visit our Christmas Giveaway and start bidding for free on the prizes you want to win.  It’s a reverse auction so the lowest unique bid wins.

Auctions will run from 24 hours each day starting at 8PM PST – keep checking the site for details of the new prizes added daily that you can win!

Start bidding now!!

Also visit ghacks where Martin is also giving away thousands of dollars in prizes!!

We're Giving Away $9K This December!! was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

We had some teething problems with the auction site yesterday that are now resolved and day 2 winners of our $9K Christmas Giveaway have now been notified.  Yesterday we gave away:

• Free utilities and performance software from UNIBLUE - Worth $100!!
• Free Unlimited Online Backup Account from Mozy - Worth $55!!
• More software from UNIBLUE - Worth $30!!
• Free Copy of MediaMonkey Gold - Worth $40!!
• Free copy of RecoverMyFiles - Worth $100!!

Day 3 Christmas Giveaway – $300 in Amazon Vouchers!!

Today in our Christmas Giveaway we are giving away $300 in Amazon vouchers in addition to another copy of  A-Squared Anti-Malware 4.5 worth $40!! To play all you have to do is visit our Christmas Giveaway auction site and start bidding in our reverse auction- all bids are free!  To read more and how to play click here.

Auctions will run from 24 hours each day starting at 8PM PST- keep checking the site each day for details of the new prizes you can win!

Start bidding now!!

Also visit ghacks where Martin is also giving away thousands of dollars in prizes!!

a-Squared Anti-Malware 4.5  - Worth $40!!

a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 provides comprehensive PC protection against trojans, viruses, spyware, adware, worms, bots, keyloggers, rootkits and dialers.

2 cleaning scanners in 1: Anti-Virus + Anti-Spyware

• Not just any scanners, but a combination of two world class products – the a-squared Anti-Spyware, and the Ikarus Anti-Virus engine. Latest tests approve that both are cutting edge in Malware detection
• No doubling of the scan duration as would be the case with two separate scanning programs. Considerable performance improvement is possible thanks to the integration of the two engines on the lowest level
• No double price – two top security products for the price of one.

2 guards against new infections: signature scan + behavior analysis

• When a Malware infection is detected, the scanner puts the found objects under quarantine or deletes them finally
• Anti-Malware holds plenty of advanced options for experts to detect and delete Malware manually. For this purpose the integrated system analysis tool HiJackFree is included, and helps you to have all processes, services, auto-runs, open ports, browser plug-ins, LSPs and host entries under your control
• For tough problems our helpful Malware experts are at your disposal for free. With their help, any infection, no matter how resistant it is, can be purged – guaranteed

Protect your PC and start bidding now! If you don’t win then you can still try a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 free for 30 days!

$9k Christmas Giveaway – Day 3 was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

It’s Christmas time again and all those people who already have Windows 7 on their PCs, or who will be getting a new Windows 7 PC for Christmas will be looking forward to seeing if they get any Windows 7 goodies in their stockings.  Here I thought I’d run through some gifts you can share.

ATI Radeon HD 5850

You can unleash the full power of the new DirectX 11 graphics engine in Windows 7 with the new ATI HD 5850 graphics card.

Okay, so there’s no DirectX 11 games available yet, but that’s never stopped a gamer getting the best hardware before.

Buy it here.

USB Pen Drive Keyring

For people with Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate the new Bitlocker To Go feature allows you to create secure USB pen drives that can be read on any Windows 7 or Vista PC.

This is a great way to carry around sensitive data and files that you may need day to day access to.

Windows Anytime Upgrade

Why not get your friend or family member an upgrade to Windows itself?  Windows Anytime Upgrade could be very useful to people running Windows 7 Starter, unlocking major new features and functionality for them.

Buy it here.

The Windows 7 Power Users Guide

For novice PC users, this is the guide to own on how to get the very best out of Windows 7, with lots of quick tips and easy to follow step by step guides.

Buy it here.

Windows 7 Secrets

For more advanced users, Windows 7 Secrets will tell them everything you need to know about this great OS.

Buy it here.

Microsoft Wireless Media Desktop 100

Our keyboards and mice all get manky after a while.  The new Wireless Media Desktop 100 from Microsoft has won fans around the world and is an excellent accessory for Windows 7.  Buy it here.

The Official Windows Magazine Subscription

Obviously your first point of call for all Windows 7 news and Tips would be Everything-Microsoft.com, but you can also find all sorts of useful articles in the official magazine. 

A subscription to this could be the ultimate final gift for the new Windows 7 PC owner.

Buy it here.

7 Christmas Presents for Windows 7 owners was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Our Christmas Giveaway is now in full swing!  Martin secured some more prizes yesterday and we now have more than $9000 IN PRIZES TO GIVE AWAY! To play all you have to do is visit our Christmas Giveaway auction site and start bidding in our reverse auction- all bids are free!  To read more and how to play click here.

Day 1 Christmas Giveaway Winners

On the first day of the Giveaway we had 3 great prizes totalling $385 available:

• 1 Year Giganews Platinum Account Worth $300: winner ‘marclofs’
• Free Copy of WinRAR Worth $45: winner ‘infrablack’
• Copy of a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5: winner ‘vinods’

We had thousands of entries so it was surprising that the winning bids were all under 25 cents!  I don’t think this will happen again.  Well done to the winners!

Day 2 Christmas Giveaway Prizes

Auctions will run from 24 hours each day starting at 8PM PST

• Free utilities and performance software from UNIBLUE - Worth $100!!
• Free Unlimited Online Backup Account from Mozy - Worth $55!!
• More software from UNIBLUE - Worth $30!!
• Free Copy of MediaMonkey Gold - Worth $40!!
• Free copy of RecoverMyFiles - Worth $100!!

Start bidding now!!

Power Suite From Uniblue – Worth $100!!

The lowest bid in this auction wins THREE great applications worth $100!!

This Power Bundle from Uniblue includes:

• RegistryBooster 2010 Worth $29.99
• DriverScanner 2009 Worth $29.99
• SpeedUpMyPC Worth $29.99

RegistryBooster 2010

RegistryBooster is the easy answer to all your Windows registry problems. This award winning software starts by conducting a deep scan of your registry, checking for file extension errors and other registry conflicts. RegistryBooster will then repair or remove unused, corrupted and harmful files so optimizing your PC’s performance. You can then use regular scans to keep your registry structured and your PC speeding along at peak efficiency. With RegistryBooster you’ll see immediate increases in performance and decreases in system conflicts.

Click here to run a Free Registry scan

DriverScanner 2009

With so many drivers installed on your system you cannot reasonably keep track of which drivers have been updated, which is why you need driver update management software to help out. Driver Scanner is the perfect solution for automatically updating drivers, saving you the hassle of having to identifying all your system’s drivers, then find updates for them using, before then downloading them from the manufacturer’s website. Driver Scanner scans your PC’s drivers and checks them against our comprehensive library of the latest drivers, to give you a full list of all those that need to be updated. With single click simplicity Driver Scanner will then install each update on your PC. But what’s more, Driver Scanner will also backup all your drivers to an external device, meaning that the next time you reinstall your system you can load up all your latest drivers, from one place

Click here to run a Free driver update scan

SpeedUpMyPC 2009

SpeedUpMyPC 2009, Uniblue’s award-winning speed up computer solution, lets you monitor and control all your PC resources with easy, one click instructions. System settings, internet usage, disk clutter, RAM and CPU are all automatically scanned, cleaned and optimized for peak performance. You can also selectively disable or remove unnecessary background and auto-start processes to cut valuable seconds off your startup time.

Click here to run a Free Performance scan

Free Unlimited Online Backup Account from Mozy - Worth $55!!

The winner with the lowest unique bid in this auction will win a FREE Mozy Home Unlimited Backup Account worth $55!

Protect your files now with Mozy who have made online backup possible for everyone with an affordable, secure solution that’s easy to use.

Download and install Mozy to ensure your photos, music, Outlook files and other important documents are safely backed up at a secure, remote location.

Alternatives to MozyHome:

• Burn a new CD or DVD every Sunday night and store it at your brother-in-law’s office.
• Pay $200/year for an online backup service that uses old, mediocre software.
• Buy a $200 external hard drive and hope your office doesn’t burn down.
• Do nothing and don’t worry about backup. (We suggest closing your eyes, plugging your ears and repeating “I’m in my happy place, I’m in my happy place.”)
• Run a cron job of rsync, gzip and mcrypt piped over ssh to your friend’s server over his DSL line.
• Of course, we think MozyHome is the best and easiest solution to the backup problem!

Get MozyHome!

Free Copy of MediaMonkey Gold - Worth $40!!

The winner who has the lowest unique bid in this auction will win a FREE copy of MediaMonkey Gold worth $40!!

MediaMonkey is the best mp3 player on the market and the premium Gold service is even better:

• Organize music and edit tags in your audio library with a powerful, intuitive interface.
• Automatically lookup and tag Album Art and other metadata.
• Manage 50,000+ files in your music collection without bogging down.
• Manage all genres of audio: Rock, Classical, Audiobooks, Comedy, Podcasts, etc.
• Play MP3s and other audio formats, and never again worry about varying volume.
• Record CDs and convert MP3s, M4A, OGG, FLAC and WMA files etc. into other formats.
• Create playlists and let Auto-DJ & Party Mode take care of your party.
• Sync iPhones, iPods, & MP3 players, converting & leveling tracks on-the-fly.

If you want to give MediaMonkey a try, the free version is also excellent.

Try MediaMonkey now!

Free copy of RecoverMyFiles - Worth $100!!

Need file recovery? Or hard drive data recovery software?

Recover deleted files Quickly and Easily!

Recover My Files data recovery software will easily recover deleted files emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin, or lost due to the format or corruption of a hard drive, virus or Trojan infection, unexpected system shutdown or software failure.

“Recover My Files combines simplicity of use with the most powerful file recovery software engine, together with a unique capability of “on-the-fly” data preview while the search is being conducted.”

Recover My Files is fast and easy. No technical or data recovery software skills are required to undelete files. Use Recover My Files to perform hard drive data recovery, or if you are trying to unformat and recover data from floppy disk, zip drive, smart media, compact flash or other removable media. It is easy disk recovery software to undelete files and get data back.

Do not waste time and money on other software wondering if you can recover deleted files.Download and try Recover My Files undelete software free. Scan your drive and view your deleted files. If you can see your deleted files then data recovery is quick and easy.

Try Recover My Files

$9k Christmas Giveaway – Day 2 was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Day 1 of our Christmas Giveaway has begun we’re we are giving away $8000 in prizes in December!! Everyday between Dec 1st and Dec 24th we will be giving away a minimum of $300 in prizes to lucky readers.  Entry is free and you can enter as many times as you want.  All you have to do is visit our Christmas Giveaway and start bidding for free on the prizes you want to win.  It’s a reverse auction so the lowest unique bid wins.

Auctions will run from 24 hours each day starting at 8PM PST – keep checking the site for details of the new prizes added daily that you can win!

Start bidding now!!

Also visit ghacks where Martin is also giving away thousands of dollars in prizes!!

Day 1 Christmas Giveaway Prizes – Auctions end 8PM PST 1/12/09

On the first day of the Giveaway we have 3 great prizes totalling $385 available:

• 1 Year Giganews Platinum Account – Worth $300!!
• Free Copy of WinRAR – Worth $45!!
• Copy of a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 - Worth $40!!

Day 2 Christmas Giveaway Prizes PREVIEW- Auctions end 8PM PST 2/12/09

On the second day of the Giveaway we have 3 great prizes totalling $325 available:

• Free utilities and performance software from UNIBLUE – Worth $100!!
• Free Unlimited Online Backup Account from Mozy – Worth $55!!
• More software from UNIBLUE – Worth $30!!
• Free Copy of MediaMonkey Gold – Worth $40!!
• Free copy of RecoverMyFiles – Worth $100!!

To see all prizes click here

1 Year Giganews Platinum Account – Worth $300!!

The winner with the lowest unique bid will win a FREE Giganews Platinum account worth $300! With a Giganews Platinum account from the leading Usenet Provider you get Unlimited Monthly Bandwidth Allowance, 478 days retention and much more:

• 109,000 Uncensored Newsgroups
• 256-bit SSL Encryption and 50 connections
• 24hr Member Support
• 99%+ Completion rate
• Broadband Download Speeds

Don’t worry if you don’t win as Giganews currently have an amazing 50% off the first two months offer!

Free Copy of WinRAR – Worth $45!!

WinRAR can backup your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.

WinRar Benefits

• Using WinRAR puts you ahead of the crowd when it comes to compression by consistently making smaller archives than the competition, saving disk space and transmission costs
• WinRAR provides complete support for RAR and ZIP archives and is able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, Z archives
• WinRAR offers a graphic interactive interface utilizing mouse and menus as well as the command line interface
• When you purchase WinRAR license you are buying a license to the complete technology, no need to purchase add-ons to create self-extracting files, it’s all included
• WinRAR is easier to use than many other archivers with the inclusion of a special “Wizard” mode which allows instant access to the basic archiving functions through a simple question and answer procedure. This avoids confusion in the early stages of use
• WinRAR offers you the benefit of industry strength archive encryption using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a key of 128 bits
• WinRAR supports files and archives up to 8,589 billion gigabytes in size. The number of archived files is, for all practical purposes, unlimited
• WinRAR offers the ability to create selfextracting and multivolume archives
• Recovery record and recovery volumes allow to reconstruct even physically damaged archives
• WinRAR features are constantly being developed to keep WinRAR ahead of the pack

a-Squared Anti-Malware 4.5  - Worth $40!!

a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 provides comprehensive PC protection against trojans, viruses, spyware, adware, worms, bots, keyloggers, rootkits and dialers.

2 cleaning scanners in 1: Anti-Virus + Anti-Spyware

• Not just any scanners, but a combination of two world class products – the a-squared Anti-Spyware, and the Ikarus Anti-Virus engine. Latest tests approve that both are cutting edge in Malware detection
• No doubling of the scan duration as would be the case with two separate scanning programs. Considerable performance improvement is possible thanks to the integration of the two engines on the lowest level
• No double price – two top security products for the price of one.

2 guards against new infections: signature scan + behavior analysis

• When a Malware infection is detected, the scanner puts the found objects under quarantine or deletes them finally
• Anti-Malware holds plenty of advanced options for experts to detect and delete Malware manually. For this purpose the integrated system analysis tool HiJackFree is included, and helps you to have all processes, services, auto-runs, open ports, browser plug-ins, LSPs and host entries under your control
• For tough problems our helpful Malware experts are at your disposal for free. With their help, any infection, no matter how resistant it is, can be purged – guaranteed

Protect your PC and start bidding now! If you don’t win then you can still try a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 free for 30 days!

Windows 7 News Christmas Giveway Started – Over $8000 In Prizes To Be Won!!! was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Yesterday I announced our Christmas Giveaway where we have prizes worth over $7k available for readers to win.  Everyday between Dec 1st and Dec 24th we will be giving away a minimum of $300 of hardware and/or software to lucky readers.  To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is visit our Christmas Giveaway site and bid on the prizes you’d like to win.  It’s a reverse auction so the lowest unique bid wins – you can enter as many times as you like for free!

Auctions will run from 24 hours each day starting at 8PM PST – keep checking the site for details of the new prizes you can win!  Start bidding now!!

Day 1 Christmas Giveaway Prizes

On the first day of the Giveaway we have 3 great prizes totalling $385 available:

• 1 Year Giganews Platinum Account – Worth $300!!
• Free Copy of WinRAR – Worth $45!!
• Copy of a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 - Worth $40!!

1 Year Giganews Platinum Account – Worth $300!!

The winner with the lowest unique bid will win a FREE Giganews Platinum account worth $300! With a Giganews Platinum account from the leading Usenet Provider you get Unlimited Monthly Bandwidth Allowance, 478 days retention and much more:

• 109,000 Uncensored Newsgroups
• 256-bit SSL Encryption and 50 connections
• 24hr Member Support
• 99%+ Completion rate
• Broadband Download Speeds

Don’t worry if you don’t win as Giganews currently have an amazing 50% off the first two months offer!

Free Copy of WinRAR – Worth $45!!

WinRAR can backup your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.

WinRar Benefits

• Using WinRAR puts you ahead of the crowd when it comes to compression by consistently making smaller archives than the competition, saving disk space and transmission costs
• WinRAR provides complete support for RAR and ZIP archives and is able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, Z archives
• WinRAR offers a graphic interactive interface utilizing mouse and menus as well as the command line interface
• When you purchase WinRAR license you are buying a license to the complete technology, no need to purchase add-ons to create self-extracting files, it’s all included
• WinRAR is easier to use than many other archivers with the inclusion of a special “Wizard” mode which allows instant access to the basic archiving functions through a simple question and answer procedure. This avoids confusion in the early stages of use
• WinRAR offers you the benefit of industry strength archive encryption using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a key of 128 bits
• WinRAR supports files and archives up to 8,589 billion gigabytes in size. The number of archived files is, for all practical purposes, unlimited
• WinRAR offers the ability to create selfextracting and multivolume archives
• Recovery record and recovery volumes allow to reconstruct even physically damaged archives
• WinRAR features are constantly being developed to keep WinRAR ahead of the pack

a-Squared Anti-Malware 4.5  - Worth $40!!

a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 provides comprehensive PC protection against trojans, viruses, spyware, adware, worms, bots, keyloggers, rootkits and dialers.

2 cleaning scanners in 1: Anti-Virus + Anti-Spyware

• Not just any scanners, but a combination of two world class products – the a-squared Anti-Spyware, and the Ikarus Anti-Virus engine. Latest tests approve that both are cutting edge in Malware detection
• No doubling of the scan duration as would be the case with two separate scanning programs. Considerable performance improvement is possible thanks to the integration of the two engines on the lowest level
• No double price – two top security products for the price of one.

2 guards against new infections: signature scan + behavior analysis

• When a Malware infection is detected, the scanner puts the found objects under quarantine or deletes them finally
• Anti-Malware holds plenty of advanced options for experts to detect and delete Malware manually. For this purpose the integrated system analysis tool HiJackFree is included, and helps you to have all processes, services, auto-runs, open ports, browser plug-ins, LSPs and host entries under your control
• For tough problems our helpful Malware experts are at your disposal for free. With their help, any infection, no matter how resistant it is, can be purged – guaranteed

Protect your PC and start bidding now! If you don’t win then you can still try a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 free for 30 days!

$7K Christmas Giveaway – Day 1 was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Win Over $9K In Free Prizes In Our Christmas Giveaway!!

Update: Our Prize Pot is now over $9k!!

This year we have an amazing Christmas treat for our readers.  Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been working with a select number of partners to create an amazing list of prizes that we will be giving away for free everyday starting Dec 1st and ending on Dec 24th.  In total we will be aiming to give away over $300 each day in prizes – that’s over $8000K total in prizes!

Some of the great offers we already have confirmed are:

• $300 of Free PC Memory from Crucial Memory
• $300 of Software from Uniblue
• 2 x N+ Router and N+ Wireless Adapters from Belkin
• 6 Unlimited Online Backup Accounts From Mozy
• $300 of software from Acronis
• $300 in Amazon vouchers
• $300 in international pre-pay SIMs from MobilityPass
• And many more great offers!!!

How To Play

Everyday we will be giving away one or more prizes worth $300 or more. For each of the prizes there will be a daily reverse auction.   Never heard of a reverse auction?  Well, unlike a normal auction where the highest bid wins in a reverse auction the lowest unique bid wins the given prize!  This makes the competition a lot more fun.

Worked Example of a Reverse Auction:

• four people bid ’1′
• two people bid ’2′
• five people bid ’3′
• two people bid ’4′
• one person bids ’5′
• five people bid ’6′
• one person bids ’7′

In this auction there are two unique bids, 5 & 7, but the person who bid 5 wins because their bid was the lowest unique bid.

It’s free to enter and you can bid as many times as you like each day.   To play all you have to do is go to http://www.everything-microsoft.com/auction and register -it’s that simple!  Register now so that you are ready to start playing in the first auction starting on Tuesday.  Remember to keep checking back to see what prizes are coming up to win.

Also visit ghacks where Martin is also giving away thousands of dollars in prizes!!

Day 1 Christmas Giveaway Prizes – Auctions end 8PM PST 1/12/09

On the first day of the Giveaway we have 3 great prizes totalling $385 available:

• 1 Year Giganews Platinum Account – Worth $300!!
• Free Copy of WinRAR – Worth $45!!
• Copy of a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 - Worth $40!!

Day 2 Christmas Giveaway Prizes – Auctions end 8PM PST 2/12/09

On the second day of the Giveaway we have 3 great prizes totalling $325 available:

• Free utilities and performance software from UNIBLUE - Worth $100!!
• Free Unlimited Online Backup Account from Mozy - Worth $55!!
• More software from UNIBLUE - Worth $30!!
• Free Copy of MediaMonkey Gold - Worth $40!!
• Free copy of RecoverMyFiles - Worth $100!!

Read more about the Christmas Giveaway Day 1 prizes.

If you would like to see your products featured in the giveaway then drop me a line at everton@everything-microsoft.com as we have a couple of days left to fill, and I’ll explain the benefits of taking part.

$9K Christmas Giveaway! was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.