There’s been some wild and panicky stuff in some of the Tech press lately about a potential exploit that could bypass Vista’s security model. It all sounds pretty drastic but please bear in mind that most reports have been pretty sensationalist about it.
A ZDNet blog post contains a bit more ‘measured’ information about it along with responses from one of the guys who reported the exploit.
Microsoft is proceeding with plans to stop selling the Windows XP operating system to retailers and major computer as from June 30th.
Once major manufacturers such as Dell and HP have cleared their stocks of machines loaded with XP, then new machines will only be issued with Vista, and anyone wishing to revert to XP will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and then legally “downgrade” to XP.
Smaller PC makers will be allowed to buys XP for resale through til January 2009. Cut down versions of XP will also remain available for use on machines such as the Asus Eee PC.
The decision comes despite vociferous protests from large numbers of people unhappy with Vista and amid calls for XP to be kept on-line until the release of the next Windows version 7, pencilled in for sometime in 2009.
Last week, Microsoft said it would provide full technical support for Windows XP through 2009, and limited support through 2014.
Microsoft has released its Windows Search 4 to the web, updating its Vista, XP, Server 2003 and Windows Home Server offerings.
Microsoft said that this release followed an earlier preview that was downloaded some 300,000 times and has resulted in a lot of feedback, and as a result, a number of quality improvements.
One improved area is the system’s ability to search across machines. Windows Search 4’s remote discovery service will now let users run data queries between Vista and XP machines, for example.
For now Windows Search 4 is available to download from the Microsoft web site, however, in the future it will be included in the Windows Update service as an option, the firm said.
Microsoft Corp. announced that following the success of Windows on netbooks, the Windows offering is being extended to include nettop devices. Netbooks are commonly referred to as ultralow-cost PCs (ULCPCs) and were originally intended for students and other first-time PC customers in emerging markets. Nettop refers to desktops that are ultralow-cost.
In April, Microsoft announced the worldwide extension of the availability of Windows for this emerging class of devices that are primarily used for e-mail, accessing the Internet and instant messaging, and the company is seeing much demand among industry partners who want to ensure that customers can have the benefits of Windows on both new and existing devices.
Customers are asking for Windows on these devices because the experience is familiar to existing PC users and easy to learn for customers who are new to computing. Customers want to be able to take advantage of the wide range of applications, devices and online experiences supported by Windows today. Microsoft partners also appreciate Windows-based solutions for these computers because they already know how to build and support high-quality systems that are powered by Windows.
Read more…
Software developers are still writing applications for Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Linux in preference to Windows Vista more than 16 months after its worldwide release.
A survey by Evans Data questioned 380 US software developers and found that just eight percent are developing applications for Vista.
Almost half the respondents are focusing development efforts on Windows XP, while more than one in 10 are still writing applications for Windows 2003.
Linux was the preferred development platform for a further nine percent of those questioned.
Read more…
The long-awaited and much-delayed update to Windows XP, Service Pack 3, is giving owners of machines with AMD hardware headaches aplenty it seems.
The problems, which first arose just one day after the push, have been causing lots of noise on Microsoft support sites and angry user blogs.
One user reported, “I just installed Windows XP SP3 and after completing the processes and when the system reboots, the system cannot proceed to load the Windows. It just displays the flash screen of Windows then after it reboots again.”
Read more…
Microsoft will resume two major Windows updates it had stalled due to a conflict it caused with one of its lesser-known software products.
A week ago, Microsoft delayed the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a problem that could lead to data loss when running the XP update in conjunction with its Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System program. It also halted automatic updates to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 because of a similar issue.
The software maker on Tuesday said it is releasing XP Service Pack 3 for Web downloads, and resuming automatic updates to Vista Service Pack 1, after developing a filter that will prevent machines running Dynamics RMS from getting either update.
Read more…
Microsoft Windows XP is without a doubt a great operating system and I can honestly see it being around for quite some time to come. However, the default themes that come with Windows XP look very much out dated and in same ways very boring and unpleasant to look at. After all, Windows XP is almost 7 years old so I guess you have to expect that.
If you’re like me and tired of the same old Windows XP theme that you’ve had for years, then you may have been looking for some themes that can brighten things up a little. To save you the hassle of searching further, I’ve listed three themes below which I think you might like and best of all, they are all completely free and very easy to install.
Royale Blue
Download Here!
Simply Run the installer and then use the Display Properties to change the theme.
Royale Black
Download Here!
1. Unzip the contents to your Desktop and then copy the folder into your themes directory – e.g. c:\windows\resources\themes\
2. Double click the luna.msstyles to start the installation of the theme.
Zune
Download Here!
Similar to the Royale Blue installation, simply run the installer and use the Display Properties to change the theme.
And there you have it! Three extra themes to give WIndows XP a crisp new look.
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.
Read more…
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.
Read more…
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.
The third and final service pack for Windows XP could be available by the end of April, according to a leaked Microsoft schedule.
The alleged schedule for the release of XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) — obtained from Neowin — shows that manufacturers and volume licence customers will get their hands on the upgrade on 21 April. Other XP users will get access to the pack on 28 April via Microsoft Update, Windows Update and the Download Center Web site.
Anyone who has not installed the service pack will be forced to do so on 10 June by automatic update, according to the roadmap.
XP SP3 is effectively a roll-up of the updates and fixes released by Microsoft since SP2 came out 2004.
Windows XP has been around since 2001, and was replaced at the end of 2006 by Windows Vista. However, Vista has been poorly received by many users, and numerous petitions are currently circulating the Internet, pleading with Microsoft to continue allowing retail sales of XP past its stated cut-off date of mid-2008.
Microsoft will continue to allow XP to be sold on some computers, but only low-cost subnotebooks such as the Asus Eee, which do not have the processing power to handle Vista’s requirements.
Responding to the news of the leaked schedule on Wednesday, Microsoft issued a statement saying: “We expect Windows XP SP3 to be available in 1H 2008, provided it meets our quality bar for release.”
If you’ve ever clicked on a file with an unknown extension before, you would have seen a dialog box asking if you would like to “Use the web service to find the correct program“. Now, I don’t know about you, but personally I find this really annoying! If you’re unsure which one I’m talking about, maybe this image will help:
Everyone I know of simply selects “Select a program from a list of installed programs“. If you select this option, the following dialog box will appear:
So, considering that first dialog box is virtually useless, lets make a small change to our registry which will get rid of it.
Changing the Registry
Open regedit.exe by typing it into the Start menu search or run box. Browse down to the following key (if the key doesn’t exist, create it):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Right click on the key Explorer and select New, and then DWORD Value.
Name: NoInternetOpenWith
Value: 1
What you should have now is something that looks similar to this:
If it all looks correct, exit the Registry Editor and try opening a file with an unknown extension. You should be asked straight away which program you would like to use. You don’t have to restart your computer – the registry edit takes effect immediately.
Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a set of hardware and software technologies that perform additional checks on memory to help prevent malicious code from running on a system. In Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, DEP is enforced by hardware and by software.
The primary benefit of DEP is to help prevent code execution from data pages. Typically, code is not executed from the default heap and the stack. Hardware-enforced DEP detects code that is running from these locations and raises an exception when execution occurs. Software-enforced DEP can help prevent malicious code from taking advantage of exception-handling mechanisms in Windows.
There may come a time when have to disbale DEP either for the purpose of troubleshooting a problem or otherwise. Below I have provided instructions on doing just that.
Disable Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
- Right click on My Computer and Select Properties.
- Click the Advanced tab, and in the Startup and Recovery section, click the Settings button.
- In the System Startup section, click the Edit button.
- Now find the text that says /noexecute=OptIn.
- You need to replace OptIn (which the default) with AlwaysOff.
Be sure to enter this text carefully and exactly as it’s mentioned above. Failure to do so could prevent your computer from booting.
Your boot.ini file should read:/noexecute=AlwaysOff
- Click File and then click Save.
- Click OK to close Startup and Recovery window.
- Click OK to close System Properties windows
- Restart your computer.
This setting does not provide any DEP coverage for any part of the system, regardless of hardware DEP support.
Verifying DEP is Disabled
- Right click on My Computer and select Properties.
- Click the Advanced tab.
- In the Performance section, click the Settings button and then click Data Execution Prevention tab.
- None of the DEP settings should be available. Click OK to close Performance Settings window.
- Click OK to close System Properties window.
DEP is now completely disabled. If you want to enable it again, follow this guide but instead of replacing OptIn with AlwaysOff, replace AlwaysOff with OptIn (the default).
You may or may not know this, but as you install more programs and applications on your computer, some of them automatically place themselves into your computers startup process. MSCONFIG can help you remove these unwanted programs from the startup process and in turn, your computer should start up quicker and generally run alot better as you wont be loading up programs that you don’t really need.
The first thing you need to do is click on the Start button and then click on Run…. Type in MSCONFIG and press Enter (or click OK).
This will bring up another window called the System Configuration Utility, like the one pictured below. Go to the tab on the far right hand side called Startup and click on it.
This will bring up a list of all the programs and applications your computer loads when it starts up. Go through the list and un-tick the ones you don’t want to load with windows. Be careful which ones you un-tick though. Some of them may be required for your computer to run in a stable condition. If you are unsure about any of them, post it below and we will attempt to help you out. Once you have done that, click on Apply and then OK down the bottom. A window will pop up asking you to Restart or Exit Without Restart.
It is generally a good idea to Restart your computer and load the changes straight away. Once your computer has been restarted, you will be presented with a message window like the one below. At the bottom of this window it states Don’t show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows start – tick the box next to this message and click OK.
With any luck, this will hopefully shorten the time it takes for your computer to boot up into Windows and in general, run faster.
