Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that it has stopped automatic updates of Vista to Service Pack 1 in the wake of a newly discovered glitch.
The problem, which has also halted the availability of Windows XP Service Pack 3, prevents Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System from working with either operating system update.
“We are temporarily holding any additional automatic distribution of Windows Vista SP1,” Microsoft said in response to an inquiry from CNET News.com. The company said it will continue to make Vista SP1 available for manual download. Microsoft had just started pushing out the Vista service pack last week via automatic updates.
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On Monday, we reported that Microsoft would be releasing Windows XP Service Pack 3 on Monday night, early Tuesday morning. We just received word that Microsoft yesterday said it is delaying the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a newly uncovered glitch.
The software maker said there is a “compatibility issue” between the XP service pack and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System, a retail chain management program for small and midsize businesses.
Microsoft finalised the code for Windows XP SP3 last week and had planned to make it broadly available starting Tuesday.
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For users still unhappy using the Ribbon interface in the Office productivity suite, Microsoft has a new option: search.
On Monday, the company released an Office add-on called Search Commands that lets users type the function they are looking to do. After months of testing it internally, Microsoft is ready to give the public a chance to try it out. But the new tool won’t be found on Microsoft’s main Web site.
It will be available via a new effort, dubbed Office Labs. Spearheaded by Microsoft veteran Chris Pratley, Office Labs is Microsoft’s attempt to test out productivity ideas that may — or may not — be ready for prime time.
Office Labs is not the first time Microsoft has tried to create a sandbox for new ideas. It already has its “Live Labs,” which has served as an incubator for the online services business.
Office Labs is working on about 10 or so ideas, Pratley said, but the remainder are either in the planning stages or only being tested internally.
Software developers claim they have created a tool to bypass Windows Vista’s “annoying” User Account Control (UAC) security feature.
The developers from NeoSmart said on their Web site that the UAC feature was “only there to give the impression of security”.
UAC is a controversial feature of Vista designed to stop users from installing or executing arbitrary code. Many see it as a hindrance to performing everyday tasks, as it requests confirmation from users without administrator rights for many actions where no user confirmation was needed in Vista’s predecessor, Windows XP.
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Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) has already been leaked online before the official release later this week.
Pirate copies of the game have spread on file-sharing network BitTorrent after the first file was uploaded last week, according to gaming blog Kotaku.
The original 6.32GB file is accompanied by a document claiming that the contents are the PAL version of the game for Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
Only modified consoles in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe would be able to run the file.
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Internet provider Internode is ensuring its customers have better access to Asia with a new Point of Presence (PoP) in Tokyo, Japan, which will provide users with a markedly faster and more secure connection to the region.
With the establishment of the new PoP, which was launched last week, Internode customers are experiencing better speed and performance with online resources in Asia.
“We have been going through Asia on the way to North America for a long time, but we’ve never stopped there,†said Internode national sales manager Daryl Knight. “We chose to break out in Japan because we wanted to improve the speed and latency of the service we provide to customers.â€
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The clock is ticking for Telstra customers, as the CDMA mobile network hits its expiration date at midnight tonight.
Customers who have put off switching their service before 12am will find themselves with useless mobiles tonight.
“At midnight AEST, our engineering team will progressively turn off the CDMA network and from that time our CDMA customers won’t be able to send or receive any phone calls, text, or data,” said Telstra country wide director, Gary Goldsworthy.
Mobile calls that take place at midnight will continue until 1am and Telstra assures that all 000 calls commencing before midnight will be allowed to continue until finished.
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Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) will be made available for download from Microsoft’s web site today and will be pushed out to XP users via the Windows Automatic Update in the coming weeks/months. The update includes all patches and fixes released since SP2 in 2004, but does not include Internet Explorer 7.
The update is likely to be deployed quickly in enterprises, as it enables IT departments to ensure client systems are fully patched, without having to roll out a myriad of separate fixes.
It also brings extra security in the form of support for Network Access Protection (NAP), a technology introduced in Vista. NAP is a policy enforcement mechanism to ensure systems comply with security requirements.
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Seagate Technology has announced that it is the first hard drive manufacturer worldwide to have shipped 1 billion hard drives – a number not only staggering in size but also emblematic of the massive amount of digital content being created in the home, hand, office, car and dozens of other markets.
Consider this: the 1 billion hard drives Seagate has delivered equates to approximately 79 million terabytes, able to store 158 billion hours of digital video or 1.2 trillion hours of your favorite music – and Seagate hard drives and storage solutions enable people to create, share, enjoy and protect more digital content every day.
As further testimony to its market leadership and the central role storage solutions play in the digital world today, Seagate projects that although it took 29 years to reach the 1 billion milestone, the company will ship its next billion in less than five years. Also, by the time its nearest competitor reaches 1 billion drives shipped, Seagate will already be close to shipping its second billion.
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Microsoft on Wednesday kicked off automatic distribution of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the first major update to the year-and-a-half-old operating system.
The company finalised the Vista update in February but held off until now pushing it directly to individuals.
This Microsoft has started sending it to Vista users who have the automatic update feature turned on. However, Microsoft cautioned that not everyone will get SP1 immediately.
“While Microsoft is beginning automatic distribution today, it’s important to note that customers might not see the update download right away since Microsoft is distributing the service pack in phases to ensure a seamless download experience,” Microsoft said in a statement.
Vista SP1 was made available for download to customers last month. Service Pack 1 doesn’t add much in the way of new features. It is more so a collection of changes designed to fix bugs and improve performance, as well as address competitive concerns raised by Google over Vista’s desktop search system. Microsoft also changed how its anti-piracy mechanism works.
A 36-year-old Sydney man has been arrested by Australian Federal Police for his alleged involvement in an international music piracy ring.
The man was allegedly involved in connection with the manufacture and international distribution of CDs on a commercial scale.
The AFP seized thousands of pirated CDs and album covers during searches conducted at businesses and residences across Sydney after eleven search warrants were executed today and yesterday.
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Security researchers have discovered a new web-based attack tool which exploits up to 14 browser vulnerabilities and installs malware on the user’s system.
Symantec researcher Liam O’Murchu said that ‘Tornado’ is commonly installed on a server by a single ‘administrator’, who then offers accounts on the server to other attackers.
The attackers then inject code into other web pages to redirect users to the Tornado server, where the exploit and malware installation is conducted.
“Perhaps this is why the code for this pack has stayed private for so long,” said O’Murchu.
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Microsoft yesterday released the final Windows XP Service Pack to computer builders and volume licensing customers.
“Today we are happy to announce that Windows XP Service Pack 3 has released to manufacturing (RTM),” wrote Chris Keroack, the service pack’s release manager, in a message posted to a TechNet support forum. “Windows XP SP3 bits are now working their way through our manufacturing channels to be available to OEM and Enterprise customers.”
Some of the biggest additions to Windows XP SP3 include a range of features backported from Windows Vista, such as black hole router detection, Network Access Protection, and Windows Imaging Component. A full summary of the SP3 features and changes can be found at Microsoft’s XP SP3 download centre.
Existing XP Pro and Home users will have to wait until April 29 to be able to download the service pack directly from Microsoft Download Center while TechNet and MSDN subscribers will have to wait another month until they can download it, according to Keroack.
Google’s report on the first quarter of 2008 shows an unexpectedly strong start to the year for the search giant.
The company logged US$1.31 billion in profit between January and March on total income of US$5.19 billion.
The US$5.19 billion in revenues marks a 42 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007, and a seven percent rise on the last quarter of 2007.
The majority of Google’s income came from its own properties. Sites owned by Google accounted for US$3.4 billion, making up 66 percent of the company’s total revenues.
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