Articles about Microsoft

Having inadvertently revealed details of an unpatched security flaw, Microsoft published an advisory that provides details on a recently detected vulnerability in the SMBv3 (Server Message Block) protocol.  Attackers who exploit the issue successfully "gain the ability to execute code on the target SMB Server or SMB Client" according to Microsoft's disclosure.

Attacks against SMB Servers use a specially crafted packet that is sent to the target. Attacks against SMB Clients are more complicated as it is required to configure a malicious SMBv3 Server and get users to connect to it.

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Microsoft has released a new tool that will please anyone who has been frustrated by the behavior of Visual Studio and its tendency to leave behind old versions of .NET Core SDKs and runtimes after an upgrade.

The company has launched the .NET Core Uninstall Tool for Windows and macOS -- Linux users miss out for the time being -- which enables developers to free up disk space by tidying up the mess of leftover SDKs and runtimes.

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It has been a few weeks since we first had the chance to play around with Windows 10X thanks to Microsoft's emulator and image for the operating system. Now the company has released Microsoft Emulator v1.1.54.0 and the Windows 10X Emulator Image 10.0.19578.0.

There is quite a bit to explore in the new Windows 10X image, including a beta version of the File Manager app. There are also early tastes of the ability to run Win32 software in the operating system on dual-screen devices.

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Patch Tuesday is supposed to be the day Microsoft issues bug-fixing updates for Windows and other software, but this week things were a little different. In addition to the usual patches, the company also inadvertently revealed the existence of a critical vulnerability in the Microsoft Server Message Block 3.1.1 (SMBv3) protocol -- one for which there is currently no patch.

It seems that Microsoft had intended to issue a patch to the vulnerability (CVE-2020-0796) yesterday, and therefore referenced it in the introductory text for the Patch Tuesday release, but then changed its mind -- perhaps because the patch was not ready. Two cybersecurity firms also published brief details of the security flaw, and while Microsoft is still yet to issue a patch, the company has provided details of workarounds.

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Both the NSA and a cybersecurity firm have reminded the tech world of the existence of a remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Server.

Although Microsoft issued a patch for CVE-2020-0688 last month, numerous state-sponsors hacking groups have been spotted exploiting the vulnerability. There was an uptick in exploitation after a technical report of the details of the vulnerability were published by a security researcher.

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A setting within Windows 10 is blocking drivers from loading and causing issues with the associated hardware for some people.

Microsoft has acknowledged that the Memory integrity setting in Windows Security prevents the loading of some drivers. In some instances, the drivers cannot be installed, but even when installation is possible the problem can lead to issues with a range of hardware devices.

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When Microsoft released the KB4535996 update for Windows 10, it was supposed to fix problems with search and printing. But, as has become something of a recurring theme, the update has been causing problems of its own for users.

Myriad reports have come in of issues with sleep, BSoD errors, and a reduction in system performance following the installation of the optional update.

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Microsoft may be making great claims about the speed and security of Edge, but a recent study found that the browser is one of the least private. Douglas J Leith from the School of Computer Science & Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, tested six web browsers to determine how often they phoned home, and what data they were sharing.

He pitted Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Brave Browser, Microsoft Edge and Yandex Browser against each other, and the results were rather damning of Edge. Among the findings was the disturbing fact that all URLs typed into Edge are shared with multiple Microsoft sites, as are unique hardware identifiers, opening up the possibility of history tracking.

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When Google started to warn Microsoft Edge users about potential security issues to encourage them to switch to Chrome, it seemed as though the browser wars were in full effect once again.

But now Google seems to have realized that displaying the warning to users of Chromium-based Edge is, well, a little petty. The company no long displays such warnings -- a move which could remove an obstacle for those who have been sitting on the fence about switching.

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Since switching to the Chromium engine, Microsoft Edge just became a whole lot more interesting -- and development has sped up dramatically.

As well as speeding up Edge, Microsoft has been busy adding new features such as a Potentially Unwanted Apps blocker, support for Chrome extensions and more. One of the latest changes does nothing to add new features, but it is important for anyone concerned with aesthetics; there is now support for Chrome themes to change the look of the browser.

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It is mere days since the last pair of updates to PowerToys for Windows 10, but there was really very little to get excited about. PowerToys 0.15 and 0.15.1 weren't much more than bug-fix releases, but version 0.16 is something to look forward to.

While it's not known quite when this version will be released, Microsoft seems eager to make it available as soon as possible. This time around, there are new additions to excite you. A total of four new tools, including the return of the Image Resizer PowerToy.

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Three-hundred-and-seventy-six in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on the Microsoft Store in the past seven days.

Microsoft plans to turn Cortana into a business-focused tool and will remove Home functionality from the digital assistant in the next versions of Windows 10.

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It’s been a couple of weeks since Microsoft last rolled out a new Windows 10 build to Insiders on the Fast ring.

It can’t be said that latest flight, Build 19577, has been worth the wait as it’s mostly a collection of fixes and improvements, although Microsoft is making diagnostic data changes in Settings, and there's a new icon to get excited about too (or not).

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Vulnerability researchers were able to hijack a series of subdomains belonging to Microsoft after the company was found to be employing poor DNS practices.

Subdomains including mybrowser.microsoft.com and identityhelp.microsoft.com were among ten hijacked by a team of security researchers from Vullnerability. In all, more than 670 Microsoft subdomains were found to be at risk of being taken over.

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Microsoft has announced that its cross-platform automation tool and configuration framework PowerShell 7 is now Generally Available.

Available for Windows, macOS and Linux, PowerShell 7 sees Microsoft moving from .NET Core 2.x to 3.1 which enables greater backwards compatibility with existing Windows PowerShell modules thanks to the resurrection of numerous .NET Framework APIs. The cross-platform nature of PowerShell 7 means that Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, Debian and other Linux distro are embraced.

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