Microsoft

After weeks of speculation, Microsoft has confirmed that it will release an emergency patch fix for a critical zero-day flaw in its Internet Explorer web browser. The patch, which applies to attacks targeting Internet Explorer (IE) 6 and IE7, will ... be released later today. Emergency patches are relatively rare for Microsoft, which typically only releases its fixes on the second Tuesday of every month. However, the March Patch Tuesday was a light affair , owing to the fact that the zero-day issue being addressed today had only recently been revealed. Windows XP and Vista Users Vulnerable It's ... (view more)

While Windows 7 might be eating the competition for dinner, as of late Microsoft has not been so lucky in the smartphone market. In fact, the Redmond-based company's share of the pie has dipped considerably as rivals Google, Apple and Research in ... Motion (RIM) sap the popularity of Windows Mobile. According to a recent report from industry analysts ComScore, Windows Mobile's share of the American market dropped an astounding 4 points during the period October 2009 to January 2010. It's a huge dip, with Microsoft's mobile operating system plummeting from 19.7 per cent of the smartphone market ... (view more)

Microsoft appears to have accidentally confirmed that it will release a tablet computer called 'Courier'. The device would be marketed as a rival to Apple's upcoming iPad. Rumors of the Microsoft Courier device go back to last September, when leaked ... documents showed a design for a twin-screen device with no physical keyboard. The concept was of a multi-function design that could: Be held in portrait mode like a book with facing pages Landscape mode with the top screen display and bottom screen touch keyboard Or hinged back on itself and used as a tablet or "slate" PC. At the time, though, it ... (view more)

Opera has reported that downloads of its browser have doubled since the release of the " browser ballot ". In some countries, the numbers of downloads have risen four-fold. The ballot, which will eventually appear to all European Union citizens who ... have Internet Explorer set as their default browser, prompts the user to select from a list of 12 browsers. It came about as a settlement between Microsoft and the EU after investigations into whether the browser being bundled with Windows was anti-competitive. (Source: google.com) As noted earlier this month , Opera's downloads rocketed ... (view more)

A problematic update for the popular BitDefender antivirus software appears to be causing quite a bit of trouble for users running 64-bit versions of Windows. Rather than save users from infection, the update released this past weekend is actually ... labeling important Windows files as malware threats. "We understand your disappointment, we have solved the problem for many of our users already, and we are continuing to work relentlessly to rectify the problem for all users still affected," a BitDefender spokesperson announced Monday. (Source: techradar.com ) Antivirus Update Forces Users To ... (view more)

Despite the rising popularity of smartphones, netbooks, and smaller notebooks, desktop PCs have made a notable resurgence in recent months. According to a recent report, sales of the units were up an impressive 30 per cent in February, with much of ... the credit touting Microsoft's new operating system (OS), Windows 7. Desktop sales for February 2010 climbed 30 per cent in units and 33 per cent in dollars over the same month last year, says a recent report from industry analysts NPD Group. It's the third time in the last four months that revenue for desktop computers was not only up, but ... (view more)

Microsoft has told developers more about its forthcoming Windows Phone 7 operating system. There'll be more tools for application creators to produce apps easily, while the firm has indicated it is aiming the system itself at the consumer rather ... than business market. The details came at MIX10, an annual Microsoft event for developers. While Mix covers all aspects of online technology, mobile systems are becoming a more important part of the event as that market grows. Copy And Paste Gets Cut One revelation that's attracting a lot of attention among developers is that the system itself won't ... (view more)

When Windows Vista failed in 2007, it was the average company's Information Technology department that killed it. Well, not entirely, but IT has in the past proven reticent to move beyond the well-established Windows XP. According to a recent ... report, however, that's finally starting to change. "Over the years, IT has had a real love affair with XP," notes analyst Diane Hagglund of Dimensional Research. She's the author of a recent survey that asked over 900 IT pros what they thought about using Windows XP in the post-Windows 7 era. Most IT Experts Still Wedded to Windows XP Hagglund's study ... (view more)

Steven Sinofsky Microsoft's president of Windows Live division yesterday discussed Microsoft's highly-anticipated Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) at the MIX10 conference in Last Vegas. Building hype was clearly at the top of his agenda, but not escaping ... the presentation was this tidbit: IE9 won't run on Windows XP. "We've built Internet Explorer 9 from the ground up on top of the Windows 7 platform," Sinofsky giddily reported to his Sin City crowd during Internet Explorer general manager Dean Hachamovitch's keynote address. (Source: seattlepi.com ) Internet Explorer 9: New Graphics Engine Sinofsky ... (view more)

Tactics used to make new hard drives more efficient could cause problems for Windows XP users. It may mean any new drive bought after next year could be noticeably slower to use on the operating system. The issue involves the way hard drives are ... broken down into individual sectors. Until now, it has always been standard for hard drive sectors to be 512 bytes in size. However, not all of each sector is used for storing data. Instead, there is a marker to denote the start of the sector: a space used for codes which are used to check if there is any error with the sector and its contents, and a ... (view more)