Windows

Over the last few days, some news organizations have been saying that Stuxnet source code is available on the black market, and that clearly therefor there is an impending Internet Armageddon. This is patently silly, on a number of levels, but silly none-the-less. First thing is that I flat-out don’t believe Stuxnet source is available for sale on the black market or anywhere. Remember how often I say that if something sounds too good to be true, it’s not true? Well, the opposite applies too. If something sounds too bad to be true, it’s not true either. We really don’t know who built Stuxnet, or who the intended target was, be we may rest assured that whoever put that much work into it, isn’t selling it, at any price. It’s actually more probable that some no-honor-among-thieves bad guy is scamming fellow bad guys. “Sure, this is Stuxnet source code. Prove otherwise.” ...

The Redmond company today published its announcement for the upcoming November Patch Tuesday. Microsoft wants to release 3 security bulletins which deal with 11 security vulnerabilities within Office and PowerPoint (up to the brand new Office 2011 for Mac) and Forefront Unified Access Gateway. A patch for the just recently detected 0-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer is not in the list. Adobe meanwhile ships an update for the Flash Player to version 10.1.102.64 today and plans one for the Reader and Acrobat next week. The Flash update is available via the Download Center and fixes the“authplay” vulnerability which got public last week. But the company has to deal with a new security vulnerability as well. It’s not yet exploited and it remains currently unknown whether it is exploitable to infect PCs with malware, but Adobe investigates the flaw. On a public security list a so-called Proof-of-Concept (PoC) has been published which just shows a Denial-of-Service attack. ...

Microsoft has announced the launch of the Release Candidate version of Windows 7 Service Pack 1, the last test version prior to its official release. While the service pack, which is shared between Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, comprises a collection of all the latest bug fixes and security patches to have been released since the launch of the operating system, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc has confirmed that Windows 7 users won’t be getting any new features if they choose to install the update. ...

The Russian government is no longer comfortable being dependent on the Windows operating system, and has thus decided to create its own flavor of Linux for internal use. 150 million rubles (€3.55 million or nearly $4.89 million) has been put aside for the project. That’s a huge amount of money to invest into something that isn’t certain (what if Russia gives up and goes back to using Windows 7?). “We will become independent of Windows … but it risks becoming an unthinking implantation of Linux [that was probably supposed to be translated as “implementation”],” Russian deputy and computer expert Ilia Ponomarev told the AFP. Nevertheless, he admitted that it will be difficult to create and implement an operating system secure enough for government use, conceding that “the devil is in the details.” Those details will be hashed out during a December meeting headed by Vice Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. ...

Windows 7 might be selling like hotcakes but that’s only going to make it even harder for Microsoft to top. When asked about the riskiest product bet that the software giant is currently developing, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer answered “the next release of Windows” without so much as a second of hesitation. Unfortunately, his interviewers don’t ask him for an explanation, so we’ll have to speculate as to why he chose Windows and not something else like Windows Phone, Xbox Kinect, or Bing. ...

Today is a very important day for Microsoft: it’s the first day that Windows XP can no longer be bundled on new PCs and it’s also the first anniversary of the release of Windows 7. Either Microsoft planned for these dates to coincide, or we just have a big coincidence on our hands. Due to Vista’s performance issues on cheap netbooks, Microsoft had to extend the Windows XP installation deadline for its OEM partners. Back in 2008, Microsoft told OEMs that October 22, 2010 would be the last day they could sell computers that come with Windows XP. ...

The author of this article seems to think Linux in the desktop is dead, with so many missed opportunities, especially during the failure of Windows Vista, they will never break into the market now that Win 7 is so successful. In some ways I agree, but personally, I never thought Linux even had a chance with the average user on a home system. Being in IT, like most peeps in my field, I have become the “help desk” for family and friends; I really do not think the average user is ready for it. Add in the lack of applications and games that are available, it really did not stand a chance. I design and write software, the development costs these days are huge, and the money peeps want a good ROI to out weigh the risks, developing from scratch or even porting an existing app is just too risky. ...

Windows 7 turns one year old and obviously Microsoft felt the need to once again brag with the performance of its latest operating system. And it can really brag as Windows 7 has sold 240 million licenses to date and is, hands down, the fastest selling OS in history. In September no less than 93% of all consumer PCs come pre-loaded with Windows 7, while on October 1st the OS’ global market share was measured at 17%, putting it on second place behind the immortal Windows XP. ...

Follow up from: Panda security launches Panda Antivirus The number of Mac OS vulnerabilities has quintupled in less than a year. In 2009, 34 vulnerabilities were detected for Mac OS. So far in 2010, this number has risen to 175 vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the platform can also be affected by 170,000 macro viruses for Windows and there are 5,000 classified strains of malware that specifically target Apple systems, according to Panda Security. ...

Do you have a family bulletin board? Leave notes on the refrigerator with to-do’s and reminders? CyberLink YouMemo lets you move all that on to your PC with a digitized pin board optimized for Windows Touch. YouMemo supports multi-touch allowing you to easily resize, rotate, or simply organize notes on your bulletin board. To create a note, simply tap on “Write a Memo” then flick to your preferred notepaper. YouMemo offers 27 different colored textures, 4 writing tools, and 11 different pen colors to choose from. There is also a library of 13 stamps for additional customization. ...