Another second Tuesday of the month and another bundle of patches from Microsoft was expected. This time around there’s only one update for Microsoft desktops. Windows Vista goes patch-less this month. MS07-061 is a critical update for Windows XP on the desktop. It’s for both the regular and 64-bit editions. It supersedes MS06-045 and patches a vulnerability that allowed remote code execution when a specially crafted URI was passed. Windows 2000 Professional & Windows Vista are not affected. Several server versions also require the patch. I needed to reboot after [...] Read the rest »
Why People Don’t Trust Microsoft
This is an example of why people don’t trust Microsoft, or at least why I don’t. When I ran windows update it told me I needed to update some components of it and this is the benefits I’d receive: That sounded remarkably like the Windows Update I already had so I clicked for the details: The only thing they were updating was the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool. Granted they had some bad press on the topic but that was because they were hiding the updates and ignoring user settings. [...] Read the rest »
Security Quest #5 – Patch Tuesday
Microsoft released five desktop security patches this month, 4 rated as critical and 1 rated important. All supported desktop OS’s get patched along with Internet Explorer and Outlook Express/Windows Mail. Even Mac users may need a patch. They also released one patch that was only for servers. Bulletin MS07-060 is for Office 2000, Office XP and Office 2004 for Mac users. It’s rated as critical for Office 2000 and important for the others. It patches a vulnerability that could allow remote code execution. Windows 2000 users will need MS07-055 which [...] Read the rest »
Security Quest #1b: Microsoft Patch Tuesday
Another month and another Microsoft Patch Tuesday so there’s another set of patches from Microsoft. This month is relatively mild. The only OS Security update is for the old Windows 2000 SP4, nothing for Windows XP or Vista. The Visual Studio and MSN Messenger updates are only rated as “important”. These should still be installed as the rating indicates an exploit that could have serious repercussions. It just means the exploit can’t be used to spread malware without user action. None of these updates apply to my Windows PCs or [...] Read the rest »
Microsoft Security Updates
Microsoft released nine security updates this past Tuesday. When it came time to run Automatic Update on my Windows XP SP2 virtual machine (running under Parallels) I got 12 updates, so Microsoft pushed more than the security updates. The updates broke down as follows (all links are to the Microsoft Knowledge Base article number listed): Security Update for Media Player 11 (KB936782) Security Update for IE 7 on Windows XP (KB938127) Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (KB928365) Cumulative Security Update for IE7 on Windows XP (KB937143) Security Update [...] Read the rest »
Windows 7 in Three Years
http://news.com.com/Next+version+of+Windows+Call+it+7/2100-1016_3-6197943.html?tag=nefd.lede CNet has a story that Microsoft will be releasing the next version of Windows (known internally as Windows 7) in “roughly three years”. Let’s hold off on the snide comments for now. Read the rest »
Windows Home Server RTM
http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/ Microsoft has released Windows Home Server to manufacturing (RTM). According to the Home Server blog post it should be available in a couple of months. Windows Home Server will only be available through hardware manufacturers. This seems to have the potential to be a really cool product from Microsoft that can serve as a media center and provide backup protection for files. The potential weak link here is the hardware manufacturers that will be designing the hardware. Read the rest »
Microsoft July Patch Tuesday Updates
There’s a couple of updates to last Tuesday’s Microsoft patches that are worth mentioning. First, Microsoft updated MS07-036 to include Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac as a vulnerable application. So if you run Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac you’ll need to patch it. I don’t run the software so can’t say how the patch works. The vulnerability is rated as “Important” for Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac. Also, Slashdot has a posting about people experiencing problems with the .NET updates from last Tuesday. This was bulletin MS07-040. Most problems are [...] Read the rest »
Microsoft Patch Tuesday for July 2007
It’s the second Tuesday of July and that means patches from Microsoft. This month brings six patches, three rated critical, two important, and one moderate. Only five patches are for desktop software and Windows Vista also gets its own unique patch although it’s the one rated moderate. Of these, only the .NET patches and the Vista patch were needed on my PCs. In addition to these security updates I also received a update (through automatic update) related to Intel processors. This was called a “microcode reliability update”. My test PCs [...] Read the rest »
Microsoft Ending Vista Family Discount
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+ending+Vista+family+discount/2100-1016_3-6193894.html?tag=cd.top According to CNet Microsoft is ending its Vista family discount program. This is where purchasers of Vista Ultimate could buy up to two additional copies of Vista Home Premium for $50 each. The program ends June 30th so if you’ve been debating the purchase, decide quickly. Read the rest »