A few days ago, cloud-based PC management service Soluto released a study into the habits of 10,848 Windows 8 users, and found that consumers really aren’t running apps all that regularly on the new operating system.
According to Soluto, "on average, a Windows 8 user will launch a Metro app 1.52 times a day. Tablet users launch the most Metro apps at 2.71 times per day".
Microsoft Windows 8 has confused users and disappointed the PC industry. Windows chief Tami Reller all-but-admitted it last week. But, she also foreshadowed that help is on the way in Windows Blue. She confirmed that this Windows 8 update—which has now officially been dubbed Windows 8.1—will be previewed for users this summer and will go live in the fall.
Google Now is arguably the single best feature found in Android Jelly Bean, and soon, it seems, it may be coming to iOS, Windows 8 and Chromebooks everywhere.
With the launch of Windows 8 in late 2012, there has been strong focus on safety, both from Microsoft's own ranks and from external security experts. Recent tests show that Windows 8 lets 15 out of the 100 most common malware samples get through, even though Microsoft's own antivirus software is enabled. This is too risky, says security expert Janus R. Nielsen from MYSecurityCenter. He believes that Windows 8 may be one of the hacker's favourite targets in 2013.
Internet Explorer finished 2012 with its highest market share since August 2011. In spite of a few close calls, Firefox maintained its lead over Chrome, holding on to second place for the full year.
Microsoft's browser was virtually unchanged, up 0.01 points at 54.77 percent. Firefox was down 0.62 points at 19.82 percent, dropping below 20 percent for the second time in three months. Chrome was up 0.8 points to 18.04 percent, its first gain since August. Of the also-rans, Safari was down slightly, dropping 0.09 points to 5.24 percent, and Opera was up 0.04 points to 1.71 percent.
Like every new Windows release, Windows 8 is more secure than the operating systems that came before it. That's due in large part to three major enhancements: An increased emphasis on UEFI Secure Boot optimizations, the extension of the SmartScreen Filter across the operating system, and the default inclusion of a more robust version of Windows Defender, which now protects against all kinds of malware--not just spyware.
This article is a follow-up to my previous 2011 article on Reverse Engineering and Modifying Windows 8 apps. In this article we’ll see how to use innate Windows 8 security attack vectors in such a way that could compromise Windows 8 games revenue stream. We’ll review real-world examples for all Win8 programming languages and frameworks.
November saw Firefox climb back up above 20 percent, Internet Explorer grow further still, and Chrome apparently suffer a surprisingly sharp drop.
Internet Explorer was up 0.63 points at 54.76 percent, its highest level since October 2011. Firefox was up 0.45 points to 20.44 percent, all but erasing the last six month's losses. Chrome, surprisingly, was down a whopping 1.31 points to 17.24 percent, its lowest level since September 2011.
Tami Reller, corporate vice president (and chief financial officer and chief marketing officer) for Windows and Windows Live, announced today that Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses after its first month of retail availability.
Is that number good, bad, or merely mediocre? Probably good, but perhaps not great. Microsoft sold 60 million copies of Windows 7 in the first ten weeks of that operating system's availability, with the Wall Street Journal estimating that 40 million copies were sold in the first month.
VUPEN says in a Twitter post that they have found a way around the security features for both Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10. It is now selling that information to any companies or governments willing to pay lots of money to protect their Windows 8 systems.
