IT job seekers would be smart to explore gaining an IT certification with Microsoft, according to the software maker, who says a revamped training catalog addresses emerging technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing as well as foundational high-tech skills.
Microsoft has killed support for its unloved Windows Vista operating system today.
The company announced in February that the service pack-free version of its post-XP, pre-Windows 7 OS would hit end of life support in April.
Microsoft today patched 25 vulnerabilities in Windows, Exchange and Office, including nine marked "critical," the company's highest threat ranking.
But researchers were unanimous in urging users to immediately apply two of the 11 updates, which address major bugs in Windows Media Player and an important video file format, to block drive-by attacks that will quickly spread on the Web.
Since its launch, Internet Explorer 8 has blocked access to over 560 million sites that it determined were serving malware, or about 3 million blocks per day, said Brandon LeBlanc in a blog post on Friday. However, it is unclear how many of those sites were legitimate, duped into serving malware laced ads, sent to them from their ad network.
Microsoft has said that, starting with Office 2010, it will allow computer makers to bundle in a limited version of the product onto new PCs. However Microsoft has shared relatively little about Office Starter 2010, the product that will replace Works at the low-end of Microsoft's productivity lineup.
Over lunch on Wednesday, Chris Capossela, a senior vice president at Microsoft, shared a little more about what users can expect when they open up Office Starter.
Microsoft today said it would deliver 11 security updates next week to patch 25 vulnerabilities in Windows, Office and Exchange. "Big day next Tuesday," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security, of the patch news.
In its monthly advance notification , Microsoft spelled out next week's double-digit Patch Tuesday, which is entirely in line with company's pattern of alternating large- and small-sized updates, said Storms. "This fits with what we expected," he said, "a double-digit bulletin [Patch Tuesday] and double-digit CVEs."
The release of the first Service Pack for Windows 7 in an inevitability. Microsoft has already spoken publicly about Windows 7 SP1, stating that it will be coming but it won't be packed full of changes that can't already be had from Windows Update.
Now the first real glimpse of SP1 is here as an early version of the software package has leaked into the internet's various P2P avenues. The build string of the leaked version is "6.1.7601.16537.amd64fre.win7.100327-0053" which indicates that it's a build from March 27.
I recently expressed a lack of surprise that Internet Explorer 9 will almost certainly not be supported on Windows XP. In Redmond's words, a "modern browser" needs a "modern operating system," and Windows XP doesn't qualify. Much to my surprise (well, not really, I know that XP is still used and, apparently, loved by many), many doubted my characterization of XP as "obsolete," and they questioned my lack of surprise at this decision.
Perhaps you have considered backing up your data to Windows Azure, but wondered what assurance you have that your data will be secure when backed up online?
With the introduction of AES 128-bit encryption for files backed up to Windows Azure, Gladinet has an answer for you: The system encrypts your files before saving them on the Azure servers in their encrypted form.
Microsoft's mystery event is a mystery no more.
A source confirms I was on target with my prediction that the event will herald the introduction of Microsoft's long-awaited new phones for the always-connected crowd. The devices, code-named Pure and Turtle, are both slider phones, each with a touch screen and keyboard, a source told CNET. In the U.S., the devices will run on Verizon Wireless' network and go on sale within the month following the event.
