Microsoft Safety & Security Center
Computer Security, Digital Privacy, and Online Safety
Avoid tech support phone scams
Neither Microsoft nor our partners make unsolicited phone calls (also known as cold calls) to charge you for computer security or software fixes.
Telephone tech support scams: What you need to know
Cybercriminals often use publicly available phone directories so they might know your name and other personal information when they call you. They might even guess what operating system you’re using.
Once they’ve gained your trust, they might ask for your user name and password or ask you to go to a website to install software that will let them access your computer to fix it. Once you do this, your computer and your personal information is vulnerable.
Do not trust unsolicited calls. Do not provide any personal information.
Will Microsoft ever call me?
There are some cases where Microsoft will work with your Internet service provider and call you to fix a malware-infected computer—such as during the recent cleanup effort begun in our botnet takedown actions. These calls will be made by someone with whom you can verify you already are a customer. You will never receive a legitimate call from Microsoft or our partners to charge you for computer fixes.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
Building Windows 8
An inside look from the Windows engineering team
We wanted to continue our dialog about data storage by talking about the next generation file system being introduced in Windows 8. Today, NTFS is the most widely used, advanced, and feature rich file system in broad use. But when you’re reimagining Windows, as we are for Windows 8, we don’t rest on past successes, and so with Windows 8 we are also introducing a newly engineered file system. ReFS, (which stands for Resilient File System), is built on the foundations of NTFS, so it maintains crucial compatibility while at the same time it has been architected and engineered for a new generation of storage technologies and scenarios. In Windows 8, ReFS will be introduced only as part of Windows Server 8, which is the same approach we have used for each and every file system introduction.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/01/16/building-the-next-generation-file-system-for-windows-refs.aspx
Beta News
By Christopher Budd
I joined the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) in April 2001 and left the company in December 2010. During that time I was involved in security and privacy at Microsoft, culminating in my role handling worldwide crisis communications for security and privacy incidents. I am one of a handful of people who knows what the security world was like at Microsoft before Chairman Bill Gates’ Trustworthy Computing memo on Jan. 15, 2002. I was also part of the growth and transformation that memo brought about over the years.
As Microsoft marks the tenth year anniversary of that memo, it seems a good time to share a former insider’s view of what it really meant and accomplished. As well, I’ll share thoughts on why, in the next 10 years, it’s critical that other technology companies follow Gates’ lead.
Memos from Gates were viewed as rare pronouncements from on high, and that was the case with this memo. In a single movement, Gates enshrined security, privacy and reliability as central, aspirational ideals.
http://betanews.com/2012/01/16/10-years-after-bill-gates-trustworthy-computing-memo-what-it-meant-for-microsoft-and-why-every-tech-company-needs-one/
by certifiedbug on January 4, 2012
in Browser
ie6countdown
10 years ago a browser was born.
Its name was Internet Explorer 6. Now that we’re in 2012, in an era of modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye.
http://www.ie6countdown.com/
BBC News
Meanwhile rival Google has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown on the promotion of its Chrome browser.
It has downgraded Chrome in its search listings after the discovery that a marketing campaign paid bloggers to promote a video about it.
The search giant has distanced itself from the campaign, blaming third-party marketing firm Essence Digital.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16408850
