microsoft

The Microsoft Windows Updates fiasco now includes several IT administrators after Microsoft reportedly began installing (without user permission) a resource-hogging search application company-wide, despite administrators having systems configured ... not to use the program. It all resulted in slowing several systems to a crawl. Originally, Microsoft tried to refute reports from frustrated bloggers that Enterprise customers were being forced to install the Windows XP desktop search tool whether they wanted it or not. Later that same day Microsoft finally admitted they had screwed up. Bobbie Harder ... (view more)

Last week, Microsoft proudly announced it was the new papa of the web's hippest and most powerful young site, Facebook. Now, even as they battle it out in other spheres, it appears both the Redmond-based company and Waterloo firm Research in Motion ... will be major contributors in shaping Facebook's future. Elsewhere in the tech world, Microsoft and Research in Motion, or RIM, are at each other's throats. Microsoft is currently unveiling its own server-based tool for managing Windows Mobile devices, dubbed "System Center Mobile Device Manager". It should provide direct competition for RIM's ... (view more)

As if social networking site Facebook wasn't already enough of a titan on the web, it's about to become even more powerful. Why? Because the Redmond gods have just injected it with $240 million bucks. That's right, Microsoft recently purchased a ... minority stake in Facebook, which accepted the bid over another from search engine giant Google. The deal with Microsoft will lead to an expansion of social networking services (as if Facebook didn't already have enough), and, sigh, more advertising. For those of you who have yet to dabble in Facebook -- and that number continues to dwindle every day ... (view more)

Forget Operation Barbarossa, Overlord, or any other of those critical events that have shaped modern human history. The new attack to watch is "Operation Cyberstorm," and it's already incurred its first casualties. Launched by the Federal Bureau of ... Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, Cyberstorm has been a two year undercover investigation of software fraud. It recently crushed its first four victims, Mirza Ali, his wife Sameena, Keith Griffin, and William Glushenko, all convicted of ripping off Microsoft. The quadruplet, hailing from California, Oregon, and places unknown ( ... (view more)

Microsoft has withdrawn the last two challenges to a European Union (EU) antitrust order, closing the books on its past legal fights and instead focusing on avoiding future trouble with European regulators. The lengthy, brutal war between Microsoft ... and the European Commission has cost hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. Exhausted, Microsoft has reportedly yielded and pledged to comply with key parts of a 2004 antitrust decision upheld by an appeals court last month. Microsoft dropped a challenge to the 280.5 million euros ($357 million) fine imposed by regulators in July 2006 for not ... (view more)

In my opinion, people don't need any more reason to avoid Windows Vista like the plague, but now APC Magazine is reporting that swapping out a video card or updating a device driver can end up triggering a complete Vista deactivation. What does it ... mean? The results could lead to Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM), until one can obtain a new activation code from Microsoft. A few days after swapping out a video card on a computer running Windows Vista Ultimate the APC author started receiving a Windows Activation prompt telling him he had three days to activate Windows or he'd end up going into ... (view more)

Still pondering which console to buy for the kids (or yourself) this holiday season? Microsoft just made its bid with the official release of the Xbox 360 Arcade, retailing for just $279.99. A couple days ago I reported on Sony's attempt to woo ... gamers to its system by dropping the price of its 40GB PlayStation 3 to $350, and its 80GB edition to $500. That prompted one PC World journalist to suggest that it was about time everyone gave the Blu-ray, WiFi-packing console a chance. But, what does a PC World writer know about console games, anyway? In Microsoft's favor, the Arcade introduces a ... (view more)

While Windows XP continues to thrive and Windows Vista fizzles, Microsoft has been busy redesigning Vista's successor, currently named Windows 7. The new operating system is scheduled for release sometime in 2010. ZDNet is reporting that Microsoft ... has created a stripped-down version of the Windows kernel named 'MinWin' for Windows 7, in attempts to reduce dependencies in Windows that have made the operating system bloated and difficult to maintain and upgrade. Recently, Microsoft was able to create a new separate, usable core. MinWin will be at the heart of future versions of Windows Media ... (view more)

ZDNet is reporting that Windows Vista users have been receiving "out of memory" and other errors when copying and moving data, especially large numbers of files, making it difficult to track down the problem. Windows Vista users running Kaspersky ... Anti-Virus 6 or 7 trying to copy a large number (16,400) of files, or smaller groups of files that in total exceed 16,400 files have received the "out of memory" error. Once the error occurs, a range of other errors can occur such as menus and tabs disappearing, reboots and Blue Screens of Death (BSOD) also occur. The Kaspersky Anti-Virus isn't the ... (view more)

Adding fuel to the fire of the 'reasons not to use Windows Vista' debate, the October security updates issued by Microsoft are wreaking havoc on some unsuspecting Vista users. AeroXperience has reported problems that began occurring when Windows ... Vista users noticed that Windows Update had automatically changed their Automatic Update settings and rebooted their machines automatically with no user intervention or consent, raising more complaints and accusations of Microsoft's use of stealth. How Rafael Rivera, Administrator of AeroXperience explained the malfunction: "Woke up this morning to a ... (view more)