Microsoft

Days after a police raid in Ghana seized dozens of counterfeit versions of their software, Microsoft has once again set their sights on another international software retailer. This time they're pursuing legal action against popular UK electronics ... company Comet, after uncovering the sale of over 94,000 sets of counterfeit Windows CDs. According to Microsoft, Comet produced counterfeit recovery CDs for Windows Vista and Windows XP before shipping them off to be sold in their stores across the UK. David Finn, associate general counsel of worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting at ... (view more)

Microsoft has finally declared Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) dead. Internet Explorer 6 is considered to be one of the most dangerous web browsers to use online because it is easily exploitable and can become easily infected with malware (with can lead ... to identify theft, or worse). Internet Explorer 6 first debuted way back in 2001, the same year Microsoft released its Windows XP operating system (OS). The five years that followed were IE's heyday, with Microsoft's hold on the browser market its strongest ever. Today, statistics reveal that fewer than 1 per cent of American Internet users are ... (view more)

Patch Tuesday for January 2012 was released this week by Microsoft and includes seven updates designed to fix eight Windows security vulnerabilities. One patch in particular fixes a serious Windows Media Player exploit. The flaw could allow a hacker ... to take remote control of a PC running Windows. For those who don't follow Microsoft security news, Patch Tuesday refers to the second Tuesday of every month -- the day on which the Redmond-based firm normally releases a series of software updates intended to fix known problems in its various programs. The majority of patches are usually for ... (view more)

A new app for Apple's iPad will allow users to run Windows applications, including Microsoft Office. The Windows applications are available via OnLive, an online digital media distribution service. The Windows environment and applications don't run ... on the user's own iPad; instead, they are available through streaming services from OnLive's cloud computing platform , which is a form of centralized computing . Though the iPad user doesn't have a physical keyboard and mouse, they are able to use genuine Windows 7 controls specially designed by Microsoft for tablet computers accessing the Windows ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced it will include two single-button options in Windows 8 to help users cope with a serious computer crash. Both will reinstall Windows, including one option that allows users to retain some data. The buttons will be accessible ... within normal Windows operations. But if problems with Windows 8 become serious enough that a user can't get into the operating system, the two new system recovery buttons will also be available in Windows RE (recovery environment). The recovery environment is a standalone menu that PCs can load even when they aren't able to boot the full Windows ... (view more)

Microsoft will soon introduce its own social networking site, according to industry observers. Called 'So.cl' (pronounced "social"), the new service is designed to appeal to US-based college students. So.cl is part of a movement on many US ... university campuses to offer courses that investigate the rapid rise of online social media. It is designed to target a very specific niche market: post-secondary students looking to share research and information across various institutions. Students can create or join "video parties" for face-to-face interaction, or they can decide to share their content ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that 2012 will be its last appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. But the reason remains hotly disputed. The Consumer Electronic Show is one of the biggest events in the global tech calendar, often ... used to unveil new technologies, such as the video cassette recorder, the Nintendo Entertainment System, HDTV, and Blu-ray players. Microsoft first showed the Xbox console at CES in 2001, and in 2008 Bill Gates announced his retirement. For the past 14 years, Microsoft has delivered a keynote address on the first night of the multi-day show, ... (view more)

A federal jury has failed to reach a verdict in the $1 billion case of Novell versus Microsoft. Novel has charged that Microsoft falsely encouraged it to develop WordPerfect, a legacy word processing program, then reneged on its assurances. The ... Utah-based company originally filed suit in 2004. The case has not only dragged on for seven years -- it also brought Bill Gates to the witness stand for two days of testimony. Microsoft Wanted More Market Share Novell claims in the suit that Microsoft tricked Novell into committing vital resources to development of the software it never really wanted ... (view more)

Picking a password that is both memorable and resistant to cracking is a difficult task. It seems easy to forget a random series of letters and numbers, and it's just as easy to guess (or 'crack') memorable passwords, such as your birthplace, your ... dog's name, or your favorite ball club. So it's helpful that Microsoft is expanding password management in Windows 8 by introducing "picture-based account unlocking," which allows PC users to draw circles, lines, and dots in place of text passwords. Drawing Passwords Hard to Guess Microsoft suggests that accessing an account via a ... (view more)

Millions of users now running outdated versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) web browser will soon be forced by Microsoft to use newer versions of its proprietary browser. Older versions of Internet Explorer -- especially IE6, which was the ... default Internet Explorer that was bundled with Windows XP -- are extremely vulnerable to serious security threats and should not be used. Users who accept automatic updates of Windows, including its monthly security patches, will find their copy of Internet Explorer updated to a newer edition. Windows Vista or Windows 7 users will receive the ... (view more)