Windows 7 News

17-year-old Microsoft flaw affects Windows 7

twjames — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:30:43 +0000

A flaw that has been present in Microsoft software since 1993, and still affects Windows 7, has been published by a security researcher.

Tavis Ormandy published details of the flaw on the Neohapsis mailing list on Tuesday.

The problem lies in the Virtual DOS Machine, Heise security explained on Wednesday.

“Microsoft isn’t having an easy time of it these days,” said the Heise article. “In addition to the unpatched hole in Internet Explorer, a now published hole in Windows allows users with restricted access to escalate their privileges to system level – and this is believed to be possible on all 32-bit versions of Windows from Windows NT 3.1 up to, and including Windows 7.”

Workarounds include users disabling the MS-DOS subsystem by starting the group policy editor and enabling the “Prevent access to 16-bit applications” option in a sub-menu of the computer configuration tab, according to the Heise article.

via 17-year-old Microsoft flaw affects Windows 7 | ZDNet UK.

Windows 7 SP1 coming in 2011?

twjames — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:14:11 +0000

A new Windows 7 FAQ posting on Microsoft’s website has been getting a lot of online attention this week: Service Pack 1 for the new operating system, it says, will be released “within the first half of calendar year 2011.”

But Microsoft just last week released a beta of Windows 7 SP1. Doesn’t six months from now — at the earliest — seem a little far out for a product that just hit beta?

Many think so. ZDNet’s Mary-Jo Foley wonders whether the FAQ gives a worst-case-scenario release time frame, just to be safe. Given Microsoft’s typical release cycle, it wouldn’t be unlikely for the company to release SP1 by the end of 2010.

Historically, many companies have waited for the first service pack to upgrade to a new operating system. But given that Windows XP is now nine years old, and given that Windows Vista basically bombed in the enterprise market, IT professionals have been more apt to upgrade their systems to Windows 7 before SP1 is released.

But SP1 — whenever it sees the light of day — is expected to be a milestone in the life of Windows 7. Microsoft is likely to see a spike in Windows 7 enterprise licensing after it releases the first service pack.

Microsoft has said SP1 won’t include much in the way of new features. It will include a slew of fixes and security updates that should make Windows 7 more attractive to business.

Are you or is your business waiting for SP1 to use Windows 7? Are you already using the new OS?

Microsoft Outlook makes friends with MySpace

twjames — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:59:28 +0000

If you use both Outlook and MySpace, you are part of an interesting demographic. But you are also in luck.

Microsoft and MySpace said on Wednesday that they are ready with the beta version of a tool that lets Outlook users see their MySpace connections within the e-mail and calendaring program. A new “social connector” feature for Outlook lets users connect to social networks, including MySpace, LinkedIn, and soon Facebook, too.

In a blog posting, Microsoft said the connector for MySpace is now ready.

“MySpace for Outlook enables you to view activity updates for friends and colleagues in the People Pane, synchronize your MySpace contact list to your Outlook contacts, and get one-click access to profiles,” Outlook program manager Michael Affronti said in the blog.

The MySpace connector works with Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, and Outlook 2010. A beta of the connector for LinkedIn was made available last month. The connector for Facebook is due sometime in the first half of this year.

Source

Business users to get Office 2010 on May 12

twjames — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:24:21 +0000

Microsoft is specifying a real date on which business users will be able to get their hands on Office 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010: May 12.

Consumers will have to wait until June to buy the product online and at retail, Microsoft officials said on March 5, via a post to the Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering blog.

Microsoft to begin bi-hourly shutdowns of RC

twjames — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:28:26 +0000

Beginning March 1st, Microsoft is to begin bi-hourly shutdowns of the Release Candidate version of Windows, a process which is set to continue until 1 June.

Up until 1 June these shutdowns will take place, then they will be replaced with a permanent ‘cheapskate’ branding on your computer.

This will come in the form of your wallpaper being removed, in its place the statement: “This copy of Windows is not genuine” will appear.

Clean install

If you have managed to wing your way through the bi-hourly shutdown by saving your work every other hour and waiting for a restart, then you will not be allowed to do any updates or downloads that need Windows validation.

In short, you are going to have to buy a copy of Windows 7 and do a clean install. Or, if you are really desperate to keep Windows 7 on the cheap, Microsoft is allowing a 90-day trial of its Windows 7 Enterprise edition – but this is recommended for IT professionals only.

SP1 for Windows 7 near

twjames — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:28:51 +0000

Rumor has it that Microsoft has had 35 builds since January 11 and March 2 for Service Pack 1 in Windows7. The exact nature of the service pack content is still a mystery, but with that many builds it may mean that there must be many changes that Microsoft would like to see in Windows7. The latest build is 7601.16518.100302-1530, and it is expected to ship in April 2010.

The conventional wisdom of the past has been for organizations to wait for the first service pack to deploy before they obtain a new client OS. For many this used to be a necessity. With the availability now of beta software to test the new product, which was not as broad in the past as it is today, and furthermore, people expected the initial release to be buggy and unstable. But that has changed.

Service Pack1 – Windows 7

The first Service Pack usually would ship somewhere between 9 to 12 months after the initial OS shipment. Typically, the service pack would usually represent an improvement in stability. Today, SP1 does not represent the milestone it used to be. Windows7 has changed the modus operandi of a service pack.

What is expected in Service Pack 1?

At the top will be the patches and bug fixes and security updates that have already been delivered to customers. On top of these patches and bug fixes will be tweaks and fixes, and enhancements based on feedback received by Microsoft from customers. If you are expecting ground-breaking changes or updates here, you’ll be disappointed. It will mostly be under the hood tweaks.

But there is likely to be support for technologies that have materialized in public but not made it into Windows7. USB 3.0 is likely to be at the top of a short list. Enhancements to the Bluetooth
and Wi-Fi stacks may also be added.

over 90 million copies of Windows 7 sold

twjames — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:46:14 +0000

Microsoft has announced that it has sold over 90 million copies of Windows 7 since its launch to manufacturers in July. The operating system, which went on sale to consumers in October, had sold 60 million copies by the end of January.

Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, made the disclosure during a presentation to the Morgan Stanley Media and Telecom Conference on March 2.

Figures from business customers, however, are looking rather less impressive: Mr Klein conceded that the segment has yet to take off, although that can be put down to historically more cautious IT managers in the commercial sector.

The Houses of Parliament has recently decided to update its computers to Windows Vista, because Windows 7 has yet to be fully tested in a “business critical” environment. But Microsoft says that it is seeing more businesses looking to upgrade to Windows 7 than it has previously seen at similar stages in the update cycle.

The arrival of the first service pack for Windows 7 will plug a range of minor bugs and offer a number of improvements, but is likely to be a further spur to businesses. The update is likely to be released sometime this year.