windows

Microsoft has agreed to tweak the User Account Control (UAC) system in Windows 7 to avoid an inherent security risk . During the production of Windows 7 , Microsoft decided to change the default UAC so that it no longer asks for confirmation when a ... user adjusts his or her Windows settings. Security experts suggest that these settings include UAC itself, meaning rogue software could turn this protection off completely without the user knowing. Microsoft argued that this was not a true vulnerability because one can only take advantage by getting the victim to run the rogue software; for example ... (view more)

A new analysis claims that over 90% of the Windows security vulnerabilities reported last year were made worse by users logged in with administrative privileges -- an issue Microsoft has been hotly debating recently. BeyondTrust Corp. (BTC), a ... software development company specializing in enterprise rights management, has indicated that the act of giving users administrative rights may leave systems more open to risk. The report issued by BTC was prepared by assessing security vulnerability bulletins released by Microsoft in 2008, and identifying specific "mitigating factors" (those that could ... (view more)

Now that the news of Windows 7 beta is starting to wind down, more details about Microsoft's next operating system are starting to become available. Juicy news on the wire this morning includes word that Windows 7 will ship in several different ... versions, much like its much-maligned predecessor. One of the big complaints against Windows Vista, released to the wider public in 2007, was that it came in too many different packages. The system was confusing for many, particularly those roped into buying Vista Home Basic , a skeletal version of the operating system that offered only a fraction of ... (view more)

With the next big Microsoft operating system already looming in the form of a Windows 7 beta, many home and business users are beginning to look past Windows Vista. However, a controversial new report from Computerworld suggests that the fat lady ... may not have yet belted out her final note. In a recent article, Computerworld columnist Eric Lai suggested that at least two significant segments in the tech population have begun to adopt the maligned 2007 operating system . Lai cites a survey last month by Valve Corporation, which found that more than one-third of gamers playing online are using ... (view more)

Documents unsealed by a federal court in the "Vista Capable" lawsuit reportedly reveal that Microsoft would have to come up with as much as $8.5 billion to settle accounts with customers affected by its 2006 "Vista Capable" marketing debacle. Keith ... Leffler, a University of Washington economist and expert witness for the plaintiffs, estimates that it would cost a minimum of $3.92 billion to as much as $8.52 billion to upgrade the 19.4 million PCs that were sold as Vista Capable to hardware capable of running premium versions of Windows Vista. (Source: computerworld.com ) Leffler said in a ... (view more)

The European Commission has once again attacked Microsoft for bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. The EU (European Union) body recently ruled in principle that such behavior breaches European competition laws. The ruling concludes a year-long ... investigation which is the latest in a series of battles between European regulators and Microsoft. In one case, involving the inclusion of Windows Media Player in Windows, Microsoft was fined a total of $745 million. The European Commission is the executive wing of the European political system: it carries out the laws made by politicians. Its new ... (view more)

Tray Prodder Tray Prodder is a Windows XP shell expansion tool. It allows you to select multiple files in Windows Explorer using checkboxes, instead of having to tediously press CTRL + left to select file after file. Tray Prodder also shows full ... column selection, so you can (for example) highlight files in a folder according to date. http://www.everator.com Ultimate Windows Tweaker Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a freeware Tweak UI Utility for tweaking and optimizing Windows Vista, 32-bit ... (view more)

Process Manager For Windows Ease your control over foreground processes and windows with this brand new version of the popular Process Manager for Windows. With Process Manager For Windows, you can prioritize applications, hide others, and even set ... the transparency of any window! http://processpriority.wiki.sourceforge.net RegDllView RegDllView is a small utility that displays the list of all registered .DLL, .OCX, and .EXE (COM registration). For each registered file, you can view the last date/time that it was registered, and the list of all registration entries (CLSID/ProgID). http://www. ... (view more)

Sandbox Sandbox is a 3D video game design software tool. It's the game design tool based on the Cube 2 engine and allows users to quickly and easily create and edit their own worlds in-game, even cooperatively. It is free, open source, and easy to ... use for kids and adults alike. http://kids.platinumarts.net Windows 7 If you didn't like Windows Vista, you can try Windows 7: Microsoft's next and highly-anticipated operating system. Note that this is a Beta version of Windows 7, meaning that it is the not complete / final version and it still has bugs. This beta version also expires on August ... (view more)

The beta version of Windows 7 has been widely distributed through torrents and other file sharing systems. But now some commentators claim Microsoft deliberately allowed the package to get into the hands of pirates. A beta edition is one which is ... effectively finished: in theory the only changes which would be made before the official release are to solve serious bugs which are found during the beta testing. The beta of Windows 7, the successor to Vista, isn't officially out until later this month (the details will likely be announced at the Consumer Electronics Show which starts on January 7 ... (view more)