September is starting to look like a quiet month for Microsoft's security response team. The software vendor said today that its monthly release of security fixes, expected next Tuesday, will cover only one issue: an unidentified flaw in the Windows operating system.
The bug is rated as critical, meaning that a worm could take advantage of it without user action.
Windows Mobile 5 sports many new features and enhancements making it a very worthwhile upgrade. Perhaps the most important feature that everyone will love- from PDA novices to hardcore PDA devotees, is persistent memory. Your data won't be lost if the battery runs completely dry-- a new concept for Pocket PCs, and an old one for MS Smartphones and some Palm brand PDAs such as the LifeDrive and Treo 650. This memory architecture more closely resembles PCs: RAM is used for running programs and not for storage.
Microsoft is talking up support for hardware-based security in Windows Vista, though only a sliver of the company's original plan will make it into the operating system.
Three years ago Microsoft unveiled Palladium, renamed Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) after the original name became tainted with controversy over privacy and fair-use issues and because another company claimed rights to the Palladium name. The technology was to be part of the next Windows release.
Microsoft—seeking to help prevent ID theft—is among the growing list of software companies that are developing new tools that caution consumers when "phishing" attacks are under way on the Internet.
Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer 7 browser, which is available now only in beta tests, features the new filtering technology. The company is planning to add the technology into a tool bar for older versions of Internet Explorer.
Microsoft, however, apparently did not develop the new feature itself.
When it comes to power management on most electronic devices, things are pretty simple. There's "off," and then there's "on."
But computers, particularly those running Windows, have always been more complicated. On is on, of course. For off, though, Windows XP machines offer several options--including hibernate, stand by and shut down.
MICROSOFT is reaching out to hackers in another bid to beef up its software security.
The company is organising a two-day security seminar called Blue Hat at its corporate headquarters.
The name mingles the colour of Microsoft's logo with a tribute to Black Hat hacker-fests, which have been around for several years.
Tony Chor, Group Program Manager for Microsoft Internet Explorer, will be down in Kuala Lumpur next month for the 5th Hack In The Box Security Conference 2005. From the IEBlog:
We got our Beta 1 release of Windows Vista a few days ago. Needless to say, we were excited to see what Microsoft had in mind with its upcoming, so went straight to the DVD drive and put in the disc. Yes, the new version of Windows ships only on DVD (at least the Beta does).
The first thing you will note when you put in your Vista DVD is that the command line prompt is: ‘Press any key to boot from CD/DVD instead of just CD.’
Microsoft has given more details on an Internet Explorer security bug discovered this week, saying the flaw puts only some systems at risk.
The security hole, reported on Wednesday by the French Security Incident Response Team, involves the Microsoft DDS Library Shape Control file. The Msdds.dll file has to be present on a computer for the machine to be vulnerable to possible compromise by an outside attacker.
The file is put on a computer only with Microsoft's Visual Studio 2002 and certain Office XP installations, according to a Microsoft alert updated on Friday.
MICROSOFT'S DECISION to make its Xbox 360 box available for the Yule season is likely to put pressure on PC OEMs, distributors and dealers attempting to sell full blown Media Centre PCs.
Because the Xbox 360 is so highly specced, and so cheap and cheerful compared to Microsoft Media Centre PCs, many households contemplating buying a PC could switch to the console instead.
