Microsoft has given Small Businesses a way to skip Vista altogether.

It has been confirmed in the report in The Register that PC makers will be allowed to offer “downgrade rights” from Vista to Windows XP for an additional six months, until July 31, 2009. Downgrade rights is a way to purchase a new computer that comes with Vista and request to have XP installed instead. Not all manufacturers provide this option so you must ask your current provider. Microsoft has additionally pushed up the release date for Windows 7 to 2010, effectively providing a seamless path that puts Vista out of the picture.

This is good news for Small Businesses, who predominantly use Windows XP for their computers (in fact, Foreverwarm Consulting recommends it). Now you can skip Vista altogether and migrate from XP directly to Windows 7.

Here’s how to quickly add RSS feeds to the Windows Vista Sidebar.

The Windows Vista Sidebar is the bar of little applets that appears on the right of your screen by default. You cannot add a feed directly to the applet, you must subscribe to it using Internet Explorer, or with Firefox using this.

1. Open Internet Explorer and go to the web site of the RSS feed you want to display in your Sidebar. When ready, click on the orange RSS button



2. Select Subscribe to this feed



3. Call this feed something and click Subscribe



4. Now from your Sidebar, click the Tool icon for the RSS feed applet.



5. The feed you just added should show in the list of feeds to display. Simply select it, and click OK.



6. The RSS applet will now display that feed.



Foreverwarm Consulting