Microsoft reminded users of Windows Vista beta builds Tuesday that their operating system will expire on May 31. However, those running the free pre-release copies of Vista may be happy to discover they can simply purchase a cheaper Upgrade version of the OS.

The beta builds were provided as part of the company's Customer Preview Program. Microsoft notes that Vista Beta 2, RC1 and RC2 will all expire and can be upgraded to any final edition -- although the Upgrade copy must perform a "clean install." After May 31, customers who continue to use pre-release versions of Windows Vista will only be able to log in for 2-hour sessions to retrieve data.

Continue reading →

The surprise in yesterday's numbers from IDC's Quarterly PC Tracker was not so much the continued rise in global market share for the world's new #1 supplier, Hewlett-Packard. It was that PC market growth grew at an annual rate a full 2.4 points faster than what IDC had predicted, well into the double-digit range at 10.9%.

And despite recent comments from executives from both Intel and AMD, who either nicely or bluntly qualified Windows Vista's consumer launch last January as a wash for their sales numbers, IDC analyst Loren Loverde credited Vista with giving the market a boost - one which he says is likely to keep on producing double-digit growth over the next two years.

Continue reading →

As part of April's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft corrected an issue within Windows Vista that could allow for a variety of attack vectors, along with issuing patches for three other Windows flaws and one in Content Management Server.

The Vista related flaw resides in Windows Client/Server Run-time Subsystem (CSRSS) process, Microsoft said in an advisory. Three separate flaws are fixed by the patch, including a critical code-execution problem and two less serious denial-of-service and privledge escalation risks.

Continue reading →

While actual sales numbers may suggest otherwise, a new study from Harris Interactive seems to suggest that consumers are increasingly deciding to hold off on upgrading to Windows Vista.

The poll was initially taken in December 2006, preceding the software's consumer release. At that time, only 47 percent of respondents were aware of Vista. Of that group, 20 percent said they would upgrade, 31 percent said they would wait, and half were unsure.

Continue reading →

For years, tech enthusiasts have been compiling hotfixes into unofficial service packs for Windows, offering brave users a quick way to update their operating systems before Microsoft finishes its own. But for Vista, Microsoft is warning users not to trust these third-party roll-ups.

In a blog entry posted Tuesday, Vista product manager Nick White specifically mentions one such "Service Pack 1 preview" for Microsoft new operating system. The fact that Microsoft is preparing SP1 for Vista is a given, but the company has remained coy about its potential release date.

Continue reading →

A lady in Washington state who apparently purchased a computer in late 2006 bearing the "Vista Capable" sticker, and who only later discovered it was only capable of running Vista Home Basic, has filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft in her home state, seeking in excess of $5 million.

The lawsuit alleges Microsoft misrepresented the capacity of computers to run all of Vista's purported features, directly citing Acer senior vice president Jim Wong's comments last October that "Premium is the real Vista" as indication that at least one PC maker believed Basic was not the real Vista.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has tweaked the licensing for Windows Vista slightly to allow users of the Enterprise version of its software to use the operating system in non-traditional environments, such as diskless PCs.

The changes were announced at Microsoft's Management Summit 2007, an annual event held for IT management professionals in Redmond. The company says its customers had been requesting the licensing changes so that IT administrators could experiment with new management architectures.

Continue reading →

Microsoft confirmed Sunday that it would not wait until April's "Patch Tuesday" to release a fix correcting a critical flaw in Windows Animated Cursor Handling, which affects most supported versions of the company's operating systems. Instead, an update is coming Tuesday.

The exploit, which results in a crash-restart-crash loop, is triggered by a buffer overflow in an animated cursor file. A similar flaw was discovered in early 2005, but did not apparently affect Windows XP Service Pack 2. The new issue, discovered by McAfee's Avert labs does impact XP SP2 and Windows Vista, as well as Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows Server 2003.

Continue reading →

In what could be the most embarrassing exploit to impact Windows Vista since its commercial launch in January, security engineers at McAfee's Avert Labs confirmed today - and posted the video to prove - that the operating system can be caused to enter an interminable crash-restart-crash loop, by means of a buffer overflow triggered by nothing more than a malformed animated cursor file.

It isn't even a new exploit, as researchers with eEye discovered in January 2005. At that time, Microsoft acknowledged it affected versions of the operating system from the first edition of Windows 98 through to early releases of Windows XP, though it stated at the time XP SP1 was unaffected.

Continue reading →

Apple on Wednesday pushed an update to its Boot Camp dual booting feature, providing support for the 32-bit version of Windows Vista, as well as updated drivers for various hardware included with Intel Macs.

While Windows Vista could be installed on Intel Macs even before the update, some of the drivers provided by Apple for Windows XP would not work with Microsoft's latest operating system.

Continue reading →

AOL on Wednesday released the final version of AIM 6.1, which primarily brings support for Windows Vista, as well as announcing a new beta of AOL Web Mail that integrates AIM. Users will be able to conduct AIM conversations directly from their Web-based AOL Mail interface.

AIM 6.1 has been in beta testing for a number of months and is fully compatible with Vista, which launched at the end of January. Other new features in the update include the ability to send an offline IM or SMS message when a buddy signs off AIM, and new Buddy List docking and color picker options.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is working hard to ensure users of Apple's iPod music player do not experience difficulty when trying to use the device with Windows Vista. Among several patches released for the new operating system was one designed to address iPod issues that have appeared. Users had complained that their iPods were becoming corrupted after using the "Safely Remove Hardware" option to eject the player.

While Apple itself had addressed several of the problems with Vista in the iTunes 7.1 release earlier this month, it warned that the hardware removal issue was a Microsoft problem and advised users not to access the option. Even with the fix, however, 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista still remain incompatible with iTunes.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has launched the appropriately named Windows Vista Additional License program, which will enable customers to save a bit of money if they want to install Windows Vista on multiple computers. Before, users had to purchase a completely new copy of Vista; now, they can just buy a license key online and save 10 percent.

"Remember, not properly activating Windows Vista will lead to it running in reduced functionality mode, so this new program is a handy way to avoid that situation. With it, customers can use their original Windows Vista media for installation and activate each installation using the newly purchased licenses," explained Vista product manager Nick White. The program is now available in the United States and Europe.

Continue reading →

Responding to media reports that initial adoption of Windows Vista has been slow and news that certain government agencies are holding off on upgrading, Microsoft announced Monday that it sold more than 20 million copies of Vista in the first month - double the copies of Windows XP sold in its first month.

The figure includes Vista licenses sold to PC manufacturers, in addition to upgrades and full versions of the new operating system sold via retail outlets. Microsoft says the "strong sales" reflect positive consumer response, and put Vista on track to becoming the quickest-adopted version of Windows.

Continue reading →

Microsoft this week released a minor update for Windows Vista that adds support for Windows Help files, recognized by their .hlp extension. Such help files have been in use since Windows 3.1, and are still found in a number of applications.

"The Windows Help program has not had a major update for many releases and no longer meets Microsoft's standards. Therefore, starting with the release of Windows Vista, the Windows Help program will not ship as a feature of Windows," Microsoft says. Users can download the Windows Help update from FileForum.

Continue reading →