by certifiedbug on September 26, 2008
in Microsoft
September 29, 2008, Washington state’s Attorney General and lawyers from Microsoft’s Internet Safety Enforcement team will announce several lawsuits against aggressive marketeers of scareware who are being charged under Washington’s Computer Spyware Act.
Microsoft and Washington’s AG have worked together before, jointly suing ‘Secure Computer’ for using fake error messages to scare users into buying its Spyware Cleaner software.
Certifiedbug April 20, 2006. Oregon Man Fined $84K for promoting bogus anti-spyware program
by certifiedbug on September 22, 2008
in Microsoft
by certifiedbug on September 18, 2008
in Microsoft
by certifiedbug on September 6, 2008
in Microsoft
Scheduled September bulletin release day, Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC)
Preliminary information, subject to change.
As part of our regularly scheduled bulletin release, we’re currently planning to release:
As we do each month, the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool will be updated.
We are also planning to release high-priority, non-security updates on Windows Update and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) as well as high-priority, non-security updates on Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). For additional information, please see the Other Information section of the Advanced Notification.
As always, we’ll be holding the September edition of the monthly security bulletin webcast on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 11 a.m., Pacific Standard Time. We will review this month’s release and take your questions live on-air with answers from our panel of experts. As a friendly reminder, if you can’t make the live webcast, you can listen to it on-demand as well at the same URL. In addition, we’ll also be posting the text of the questions and answers from each month’s webcast. You can see a full listing of the posted questions and answers on this page.
You can register for the webcast here: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032374633&Culture=en-US
TechNet
by certifiedbug on August 29, 2008
in Microsoft
Deployment of the latest version of WGA Notifications for Windows XP has began, this release includes a couple of significant updates.
Based on user feedback, a return to the Windows Update install prompt as the simplest, fastest way to install and stay up-to-date.
The Team will be focusing on the product edition that is most often stolen, aka pirated, Windows XP Pro.
This release will be offered to Windows XP Pro as well as those using editions based on Pro code such as Tablet and Windows Media Center. The plan is to narrow the offering to Pro in future releases.
With this update to WGA Notifications in Windows XP, we’ve implemented a couple of related features that draw on the notifications experience we designed for Windows Vista SP1. After installing this version of WGA Notifications on a copy of Windows XP that fails the validation, most users will discover on their next logon that their desktop has changed to a plain black background from whatever was there previously
Article and screenshots:
Update to WGA Notifications for Windows XP Professional
by certifiedbug on August 11, 2008
in Microsoft
Scheduled August bulletin release day, Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC)
Preliminary information, subject to change.
As part of our regularly scheduled bulletin release, we’re currently planning to release:
- Seven Microsoft Security Bulletins with maximum severity of Critical, and five with maximum severity of Important. These updates may require a restart and will be detectable using the newly released version of the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer.
As we do each month, we’ll be releasing an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.
And finally, we are planning to release high-priority, non-security updates on Windows Update and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) as well as high-priority, non-security updates on Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). You can get additional information, in the “Other Information” section of the Advanced Notification.
Also, please do register for next week’s TechNet Monthly Security Bulletin webcast. This month’s will be on Wednesday August 13, 2008 at 11 AM Pacific time. We’ll be reviewing the bulletins during the call and then taking your questions live on the air and providing answers to them from our panel of subject matter experts.
You can register for the webcast here:
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032374631&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US
TechNet
by certifiedbug on August 3, 2008
in Microsoft
TechNet Plus Blog
“The following list summarizes the features and improvements in the new UI:”
- The “twitchy” fly-out menu with the strange mouse behavior is gone. RIP.
- The product list is still categorized. This was the most commonly requested organization structure.
- The table of contents has been flattened from three levels to two so finding products will be easier.
- The list of products can be narrowed easily by using the search filter.
- You can find products by using the filtered search or by browsing the table of contents.
- You can now search on part of a product name, e.g. “2007,” or on the name of an edition, e.g. “Ultimate.”
- If a file contains more than one product edition, the names of the editions are listed in plain view.
- File downloading, key related tasks, and product information are provided on the same page so you will no longer have to navigate from one page where you search for a product to another where you download files and claim keys. And if you encounter an error on the site, you’ll no longer be taken to a separate error page.
- File downloading, key related tasks, and relevant information are now displayed in a single row so you’ll no longer have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find product keys.
- Download sizes are displayed prominently so you can see how big the file is before you initiate the download.
- You can now sort product files by the date they were updated, or by their availability based on your subscription level.
- The site will “remember” your last settings for media type, e.g. “DVD,” and architecture, e.g. “x86.” If no files match your settings, the site will automatically suggest less-restrictive settings.
by certifiedbug on August 1, 2008
in Microsoft
A press release from Microsoft states:
REDMOND, Wash. — July 28, 2008 — At the ninth annual Microsoft Research Faculty Summit today, leaders from Microsoft Research outlined their vision for how Microsoft Corp. and academics can collaborate on research projects to develop technological breakthroughs that will define computing and scientific research in the years ahead.
Speaking to more than 400 faculty members from leading research institutions worldwide, Tony Hey, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s External Research Division, emphasized the role his group plays not only in supporting specific collaborative research projects, but also in improving the process of research and its role in the innovation ecosystem, including developing and supporting efforts in open access, open tools, open technology and interoperability. Toward that end, Hey announced a set of free software tools aimed at allowing researchers to seamlessly publish, preserve and share data throughout the entire scholarly communication life cycle. He also discussed collaborative initiatives intended to unlock the potential of multicore computing.
The following tools are freely available now:
- Add-ins. The Article Authoring Add-in for Word 2007 enables metadata to be captured at the authoring stage to preserve document structure and semantic information throughout the publishing process, which is essential for enabling search, discovery and analysis in subsequent stages of the life cycle. The Creative Commons Add-in for Office 2007 allows authors to embed Creative Commons licenses directly into an Office document (Word, Excel or PowerPoint) by linking to the Creative Commons site via a Web service.
- The Microsoft e-Journal Service. This offering provides a hosted, full-service solution that facilitates easy self-publishing of online-only journals to facilitate the availability of conference proceedings and small and medium-sized journals.
- Research Output Repository Platform. This platform helps capture and leverage semantic relationships among academic objects — such as papers, lectures, presentations and video — to greatly facilitate access to these items in exciting new ways.
- The Research Information Centre. In close partnership with the British Library, this collaborative workspace will be hosted via Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and will allow researchers to collaborate throughout the entire research project workflow, from seeking research funding to searching and collecting information, as well as managing data, papers and other research objects throughout the research process.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/jul08/07-28SoftwareToolsPR.mspx
by certifiedbug on July 31, 2008
in Microsoft
Previous Certifiedbug: The Microsoft MVP Program, how it works
Toby Richards, General Manager for Community Support Services and the MVP Program at Microsoft, is interviewed by Ken Levy discussing the current state of the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professionals) community and the roadmap for the MVP program and MVP summit.
Toby took over this role in early 2008, and he is responsible for programs that identify, award and enable community influencers around the world, creating deeper relationships and richer feedback opportunities that improve Microsoft products and services. Also discussed in the interview is online support strategies and how MVPs help users and developers who are not MVPs. For more information, go to the MVP Program Web site.
Interview
by certifiedbug on July 21, 2008
in Microsoft
Am I hearing some of you say, “finally!” 
Power Pack 1 includes several new features and fixes,
- x64 support for home computers running Windows Vista
- Home Server Shared Folder backup
- Improved remote access experience
- Improvements to power consumption and performance
- Localised products for Japan and China
Windows Home Server Release Documentation
Power Pack 1 also delivers a fix for the data corruption bug.
We Got Served
Windows Home Server Team Blog
