Microsoft

New iPad owners beware -- if you recently purchased an Apple iPad and are running Microsoft's Windows operating system on it, then take note: scammers are now trying to trick users into downloading a supposed iTunes update that is laced with ... malware. According to a recent report from security firm BitDefender, emails have recently been found in the inboxes of iPad owners under the subject line "iPad Software Update". The message offers those gullible enough to click a link to a web page where they're confronted with what appears to be a very legitimate iTunes update. (Source: cnet.com ) ... (view more)

As part of its ongoing battle with Google for the Cloud computing crown, Microsoft is bringing a version of its Office suite to Facebook, as well as 'Docs.com'. It appears to be a way of promoting the online edition of Office 2010, which includes MS ... Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. (Source: latimes.com ) The Facebook app will simply be known as Docs; a somewhat cheeky title given that's also the name of Google's free spreadsheet application. Microsoft's new tool will be a specially adapted version of Office 2010 designed to work within the social networking system. The idea appears to be to offer ... (view more)

The relationship that Microsoft shares with their Windows XP operating system can be likened to the same kind of relationship shared between Dr. Frankenstein and his monster: what began as a beautiful creation must now be destroyed at all costs. ... While a tad extreme, this is essentially the message that Microsoft is sending out to the world after announcing that the next version of the free Windows Live Essentials software will not run on XP. In a recent blog post, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of the Windows Live Experience Chris Jones confirmed the news, although web-based versions of ... (view more)

McAfee is facing a major backlash in sales this morning after a buggy security update left many customers' computers effectively unusable. Worst still, some analysts are predicting that an automated solution may not be possible. As we reported ... yesterday , the problem is the result of a recent McAfee antivirus update gone awry, which then caused the antivirus program to identify legitimate Windows files as being virus infected. The end result was that the legitimate Windows files were sent to a quarantine, resulting in thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of crashes PCs. The problem ... (view more)

A recent security update from antivirus company McAfee has resulted in an estimated "hundreds of thousands" of crashed Windows XP computers. The issue appears to be widespread, causing PCs to crash, freeze, or be stuck in and endless reboot loop, ... thereby rendering the PCs completely unusable. The impact of the malicious update thus far has been staggering. According to the University of Michigan's medical school, almost 1/4 of its PCs (8,000 of 25,000) crashed after the update was applied. The Lexington, Kentucky police force reported shortly afterwards that it had been forced to ... (view more)

Microsoft, like competitor Apple before it, has become embroiled in a scandal over the treatment of its foreign workers. But it's arguably more embarrassing, as the details continue to emerge via third-party investigation. When stories broke about ... labor violations among staff working overseas on Apple products, the negative publicity was tempered by the fact that it was Apple's own program which uncovered the abuses. That's not the case with the Microsoft allegations, however. The claims come in a report by the National Labor Committee, an independent pressure group which aims to uncover and ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that it will no longer provide support for the first retail version of Windows Vista, which was released to manufacturers (RTM). The move is intended to force early adopters of Windows Vista to upgrade their systems using at ... least Vista Service Pack 1 or 2. Microsoft made the announcement on Vista RTM Tuesday. According to a spokesperson for the Redmond-based firm, "Today, Windows Vista RTM has reached end of support... End of support means that customers can no longer receive support benefits from Microsoft and will need to upgrade to a supported service pack (Windows ... (view more)

Microsoft is wasting little time in developing the successor to their recently released Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) browser. Many believe that Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) will be a much improved browser. IE9: New HTML5 and Improved Java Engine Changes ... discussed thus far for IE9 include: the addition of Hyper Text Markup Language version 5 (HTML5), and support for a faster, new JavaScript engine called "Chakra". According to Internet Explorer GM Dean Hachamovitch, IE9 will improve HTML5 applications by taking advantage of PC hardware through Vista and Windows 7. With IE9, Microsoft is looking to ... (view more)

Less than two weeks after Microsoft patched a significant zero-day flaw in its Internet Explorer web browser, it's come to light that a Java vulnerability in the software company's Windows operating system (OS) could compromise PCs if they visit a ... particular web page infected with malicious code. Thus far, two researchers working for different security companies have reported on the matter. Late last week, Tavis Ormandy, an engineer for Google, covered the issue in the Full Discloser email list while Ruben Satamarta, an engineer at Wintercore, discussed the issue on his company's web site. ... (view more)

It's been a long time coming. Thanks to a recently leaked build of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), rumors circulating around the Internet suggest that the update's beta version could be available in the next month or two. It appears a few different ... builds have made their way online. The first, reviewed by tech blog GeekSmack, features a compile date of March 27th, suggesting that the build is fairly new and intended to show off how SP1 is looking at the moment. Windows 7 Service Pack 1: Highlights Critics have thus far marveled at a number of things: for one, SP1's installation speed. ... (view more)