For years, programmers at Microsoft and elsewhere have worked to make it easier for devices like cell phones and personal digital assistants to work instantly and easily with computers.
Now, Microsoft is working to make it a little harder.
The reason: As such devices including Apple Computer's popular iPods become capable of holding more data, some worry people could use them to steal data or unleash virus attacks on business networks.
Microsoft Corp. Wednesday unveiled a new array of keyboard and mice, with some featuring built-in fingerprint readers to make it easier for users to log on to personal computers and Web sites. A keyboard, mouse and stand-alone fingerprint reader were added to Microsoft's hardware lineup, which works with software to verify and switch between users of its Windows operating system, as well as automatically enter the identifications and passwords needed to log onto secure Web pages.
I find it interesting to watch security researchers blast Microsoft for not communicating with them when the researcher(s) report what they believe is a possible vulnerability. I have enjoyed a great relationship with Microsoft when communicating, but to be honest, I don't normally fire email to secure@microsoft.com and actually just email team members.
On Tuesday, Microsoft began notifying customers that it has established new deadlines regarding how long they will be able to block Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) from downloading automatically to their systems.
Hoping to get some work done on a recent train trip to New York, I kicked back, opened my laptop, and clicked on Microsoft Excel. Up popped a prompt asking for the original program disk. Same thing with Word and PowerPoint. Nothing would run.Who the heck travels with their original program disks? I was dead in the water, left with nothing to do but play solitaire.
That evening, I went online from my hotel room and did a quick search for ''alternatives to Microsoft Office" that turned up an interesting option: OpenOffice. And it was free.
Almost three years ago the naval systems arm of major UK defence contractor BAE Systems took the decision to standardise future development on Microsoft Windows. an immediate effect was to commit BAE's joint venture CMS subsidiary, AMS, who specialise in naval Combat Management Systems, to implementing a Windows 2000-based CMS system for the new Type 45 Destroyer.
Windows Media Player 10 was only released on the 2nd September, and already we have seen 4 possible problems.
Microsoft Corp. is facing growing pressure from open-source software across every segment of its business—a competitive threat that could have significant consequences for its financial future going forward, the software maker said in its latest 10-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
Though Microsoft Corp.'s new security update package is all about protecting systems from worms, viruses and spyware, it can't do much about what's already on computers—and that could pose a problem.
The company is warning users of the Windows XP operating system to check for spyware before downloading the free massive security update, called Service Pack 2.
Barry Goff, a group product manager at Microsoft, said some spyware could cause computers to freeze up upon installation of the update.
We evaluated the security features of Windows XP SP2 on a test machine, following a clean install of XP Pro with no configuration changes and no third-party software or drivers installed. We installed XP with the NTFS file system, choosing all of the factory defaults, then patched it with each recommended security update including SP-1 (required), before installing SP2.
