John Lister

In a move surely to upset many users, Microsoft has said it will be ditching support for Windows 7 and 8.1 on most new PCs. Some other PCs will lose support next July, earlier than many expected. The change is to do with the Skylake micro ... architecture for processors released by Intel in August 2015. Many PCs purchased recently will be running Skylake, as will most in the future. Until now, Microsoft had promised to offer extended support for Windows 7 until January 2020 and for Windows 8.1 until January 2023. Extended support means Microsoft continues to fix bugs and issue security updates, ... (view more)

Google has uncovered a major bug in a security software tool that could expose user passwords to hackers. Its the second time in a matter of weeks that Google's found problems with security software . On this occasion the problem is with the ... antivirus package from Trend Micro, specifically a Password Manager feature. This allows users to store passwords securely with a master security code; at the touch of a button, users can then have them the program automatically fill in passwords and logins on websites. According to Google's Tavis Ormandy, the feature is installed by default with ... (view more)

Microsoft has officially dropped support for Windows 8. The move leaves an estimated 30 to 50 million devices needing an upgrade to get security and usability updates. The move, which takes effect with this weeks updates, is potentially confusing as ... Windows 7 is still supported by Microsoft. Additionally, this isn't the usual support timetable that applies to older editions of Windows. Instead, Microsoft is simply dropping support for Windows 8 where users haven't applied the first major batch of updates. Previously that was known as a service pack, but in this case Microsoft chose to ... (view more)

Rumors suggest that Microsoft will allow Windows 10 users a way to access mobile data connections without having to deal directly with mobile carriers. The system would require a special Microsoft SIM card , and could make life easier for people on ... the move. There's no official confirmation Microsoft yet, but the company has already published an app in the Windows 10 store. At the moment the app, simply titled "Cellular Data", appears to be a placeholder while the 'further details' link points back to the main Microsoft website. The app description says it will let customers ... (view more)

Microsoft is to ditch support for all but the latest edition of Internet Explorer. The news coincides with reports that Microsoft's new Edge browser is rapidly falling from favor. The discontinued support Internet Explorer affects versions 8, 9 and ... 10 and will end on Tuesday, January 12, 2016. That will mark the final update for those systems, which will simply consist of an on-screen notification urging user to upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 or Edge. Officially, only Windows 7, 8, and 10 can run Internet Explorer 11, while Edge runs on Windows 10. Unlike some browsers such as Firefox ... (view more)

Two German researchers have revealed that the world's most secure operating system could be Red Star OS. If you've never heard of it, that's probably because it's used only in North Korea. Florian Grunow and Nikalaus Schiess say that the system, ... which was created by the country's government, tracks virtually every file a computer user opens or handles. (Source: ccc.de ) The system is widely used on publicly owned computers. Reports from the country say the very few privately owned computers in North Korea are more likely to run Windows XP. System Uses Open-Source Base ... (view more)

Microsoft claims 200 million devices are now running Windows 10. Independent estimates suggest the figure may be credible, but a variety of factors make it hard to label the number as a clear success or failure. The 200 million figure is said to be ... based on devices connecting to Windows Update. It represents the number of different devices that have connected - and thus shown they are switched on and running the system - at least once over a one-month period. (Source: windows.com ) Independent Estimate Suggests 164 Million While it's impossible to independently verify the statistics, the ... (view more)

A popular antivirus browser extension has been labeled as a security risk by Google. The tool in question is called Web TuneUp and is a browser extension by AVG; in this case, the problem involves Web TuneUp and the Chrome Browser, but the threat ... itself likely includes other browsers as well. Web TuneUp works by validating links that appear on a web browser page, such as on a search engine results list. It then warns the user if a link points to a page that could compromise security. It's arguably overkill, given that Chrome includes similar tools - plus the fact that Google itself ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed it automatically uploads Windows 10 disk encryption keys to its servers. The company says it was a deliberate decision based on weighing up the worst case scenarios. The encryption key in question is not related to logging ... into and running Windows itself. Instead its an encryption of the entire hard drive of the device running Windows 10. This means that if somebody physically steals your computer, they can't make any sense of the data, even if it's been copied to another device (using a disk image backup, for example). Encryption Key Would Help Computer Thieves ... (view more)

Washington state officials have confirmed a software flaw has meant more than 3,000 prisoners have been mistakenly released early. Amazingly, the problem was known about by staff at the Washington State Department of Corrections since 2012, before ... anything was done. State governor Jay Inslee confirmed the figure may be as high was 3,200 and dates back to 2002. He's ordered that all releases be manually checked and approved until a software fix is in place next month. The problem involves a computerized system that tracks prisoner release dates, specifically, those who have been granted ... (view more)