For the past couple of weeks, the rumors have been flying that PC maker Dell is planning to turn back into a private company via a leveraged buyout. Things got even more interesting last week when more rumors indicated that Microsoft was interested in putting in some money to help Dell's buyout efforts.
Windows Live Messenger – formerly MSN Messenger – is set to shut down on March 15, 2013. Microsoft is replacing it with Skype and migrating Windows Live IDs (now known as Microsoft accounts) to Skype.
If you are a Windows Live Messenger user, times are changing. You will need to use the Skype application for chatting – third-party instant messaging clients and old versions of Windows Live Messenger will no longer function.
Microsoft is finally naming a date for its Surface Pro launch today: February 9th. The software giant may have missed its January release date promise, but the Windows 8-powered tablet will be available to purchase next month from retailers in the US and Canada. Microsoft is "taking a phased approach" with Surface Pro availability that may disappoint some international customers. "It will be available initially in the US and Canada with additional markets to follow in the coming weeks and months," says a spokesperson.
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.
The race for virtualization dominance between Microsoft and VMware has become more interesting with VMware's recent release of vSphere 5.1. We obtained vSphere around the same moment as the final release of Windows Server 2012, whose newly included virtual switch and enhanced Hyper-V features were designed to clobber VMware.
But back in the garages of their digital "brickyard", VMware was scheming to one-up the one-ups.
Microsoft will issue an emergency update to patch a vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE) in the next two weeks to fix a flaw criminals have been using for more than a month, researchers said Tuesday.
The company will move on the IE6, IE7 and IE8 bug before the next regularly-scheduled Patch Tuesday because of increasing attacks and proof that temporary workarounds can be circumvented.
Over the weekend, it was reported that a hacker had claimed to discover a way to jailbreak a Windows RT device so that it would run non-Windows Store apps on a Windows RT device via a circumvention method. The method was discovered by clokr on Sunday, and and Microsoft immediately responded it was investigating the claims, which were verified.
Active attacks targeting a critical vulnerability in older versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser have been carried out by an experienced gang of hackers. And over the past four years, the group has penetrated the defenses of Google and dozens of other companies using similar zero-day exploits.
Running traditional desktop apps on Windows RT may be one step closer to reality, thanks to a vulnerability that a hacker claims lets you run any desktop app on the ARM version of Windows.
A hacker called 'clrokr' recently detailed the Windows RT exploit, which requires manipulating a part of Windows RT's system memory that governs whether unsigned apps can run. Clrokr says the exploit was possible thanks to a vulnerability in the Windows kernel that was ported to Windows RT.
A researcher has bypassed Microsoft's temporary fix for a zero-day Internet Explorer browser vulnerability that hackers have been exploiting for a month.
The exploit, developed by Peter Vreugdenhil of the vulnerability analysis company Exodus Intelligence, places pressure on Microsoft to release a permanent fix sooner rather than later. The software maker did not include a permanent patch in its advanced notification of seven security updates set for release next week.
