Microsoft representatives said Wednesday that the company will not turn on Windows Defender for unprotected PCs, contrary to what executives said earlier in the week.
Holly Stewart, the senior program manager from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, misspoke, according to representatives, when she said that Microsoft would turn on Windows Defender if a user’s anti-malware subscription lapsed.
It’s great that Microsoft has made Windows 8.1 entirely free to owners of Windows 8, but unfortunately you’re limited to installing the update through the Windows Store -- unless you’re an MSDN subscriber there’s no ISO you can grab to install the operating system how and when you like.
But as enterprising Reddit user redditorfor0seconds has discovered, there is a way of getting your hands on the ISO that only requires you to have a Windows 8 retail or MSDN key (but not an OEM key, apparently). It’s incredibly straightforward too, just follow these simple instructions.
We’re big fans of Nokia’s ultra-affordable Lumia 520 here at Neowin. For the price – as low as $79 off-contract in the U.S. and £99 in the U.K. – very few other devices come close to what it offers.
Evidently, we’re not the only ones to have been won over by the cheap and cheerful Windows Phone. We reported recently that the 520 now represents over 20 percent of all Windows Phones in use around the world, and Microsoft has since shared another little detail that underlines just how popular the device has become.
The TOR Project is advising that people stop using Windows after the discovery of a startling vulnerability in Firefox that undermined the main advantages of the privacy-centered network.
The zero-day vulnerability allowed as-yet-unknown interlopers to use a malicious piece of JavaScript to collect crucial identifying information on computers visiting some websites using The Onion Router (TOR) network.
Researchers at Neohapsis Labs have discovered an ingeniously simple man-in-the-middle attack that can hijack the IPv6 capability of a PC to silently intercept all web traffic on a target network.
Due for full disclosure at the DEF CON 21 conference, the attack's design isn't new - the similar Stateless Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC) principle was demonstrated at Infosec in 2011 - but extends it to Windows 8 segments for the first time.
In the days following Microsoft's $900 million Surface RT write-down, many have been questioning Microsoft's stated plan to remain committed to Windows RT and Surface RT.
Is Microsoft really going to continue to sink resources into an operating system that's different from its core Windows 8 one, especially given that the new devices and services company made only $853 million (revenues, not profits) from its Surface RT and Pro sales through June 30?
Twenty years ago tomorrow, July 27, Microsoft launched Windows NT, as Mark Morowczynski of Microsoft's "Ask Premier Field Engineering blog" reminded me this week.
NT's not ancient history, in spite of its age. The NT "core" is what's inside Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows Phone 8, Windows Azure and the Xbox One.
AMD continues to soldier forward in the PC market, but CEO Rory Read wants the company to get at least 20 percent of its revenue from other sources by the end of this year. Some of this money will come in from next-generation game consoles like the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One. And some of it, according to a report from PC World, will soon be coming from Android tablets and Chromebooks.
I know there are still doubters out there, but from everything I've heard, the rumored Start Button is going to be part of Windows Blue, a k a Windows 8.1.
I've heard from one of my good sources that the Start Button, as well as a new boot-straight-to-desktop option are included in the most recent internal "Milestone Preview" builds of Windows 8.1.
Whether you’re using Windows 7, Windows 8, or an older version of Windows, Windows contains a variety of system utilities that are well-hidden. Some are buried deep in the Start menu, while others can only be accessed via a command.
Most of these tools can be easily launched if you know their names — just open your Start menu or Start screen, search for the name of the program, and press Enter. On Windows 8, you may have to select the Settings category on the search screen first.
