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Microsoft Windows XP is 10 years old today

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:03:00 +0100

Ten years ago Microsoft launched and started selling Windows XP operating system. Windows XP remains the most used operating system today even though we have Vista, Windows 7, Apple and a number of Linux distributions.

According to a study released back in March 2011 by analyst firm Forrester Research almost 60 per cent of systems worldwide run Windows XP operating system. Good news for XP users is that Microsoft will support it until 2014.

Being the most used operating system also means that XP is the primary target for malware developers and new security holes are being discovered on a daily basis.

We should also mention that Windows 95 was released 16 years ago today.

Maybe it's time to update your system to Windows 7? Or if you are tech savvy and not scared of change why not try Ubuntu or some other Linux flavour.

Article Source Microsoft Windows XP is 10 years old today

Windows fails to protect Vista from viruses

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Security tools that work with Windows Vista have failed tests to see if they can detect current viruses.

Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare security tool was one of four products that failed independent tests carried out by the Virus Bulletin.

The security testing group found that Live OneCare missed far more active viruses than any other program tested.

To pass the tests anti-virus tools must spot and stop 100% of the malicious programs used to attack them.

Version 1.5 of Windows Live OneCare was co-launched with Vista and uses the same scanning "engine" as the security tools bundled with the operating system. Typically users pay a yearly subscription to use Live OneCare. (for something that doesn't work??)

While Live OneCare did manage to spot 100% of the macro viruses it was tested against, it missed some wild viruses, polymorphic programs and file infectors.

Live OneCare caught 99.91% of the known active viruses it was tested against. This left it vulnerable to 37 separate malicious programs.

Article Source Windows fails to protect Vista from viruses

Another Windows Vista hole

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft has admitted that speech recognition features in Vista could be hijacked so that a PC tells itself to delete files or folders.

Vista can respond to vocal commands and concern has been raised about malicious audio on websites or sent via e-mail.

In one scenario outlined by users an MP3 file of voice instructions was used to tell the PC to delete documents.

Microsoft said the exploit was "technically possible" but there was no need to worry.

The firm has pointed out that in order for the flaw to be exploited the speech recognition feature would need to be activated and configured and both microphone and speakers would have to be switched on.

"The exploit scenario would involve the speech recognition feature picking up commands through the microphone such as 'copy', 'delete', 'shutdown', etc. and acting on them," a Microsoft security researcher wrote on the team's official blog.

Some Vista users have already tested the exploit and were able to delete files and empty the trash can so that the documents were not retrievable.

Microsoft has said that even if the machine was primed to accept voice commands it would be unlikely the user would not be in the room to hear the file with malicious instructions being played.

The firm also said that voice commands could not be used for privileged functions such as creating a new user or formatting a drive.

"There are also additional barriers that would make an attack difficult including speaker and microphone placement, microphone feedback, and the clarity of the dictation," wrote the Microsoft researcher.

While speech recognition was a feature of Windows XP, in Vista the use has been widened.

"While we are taking the reports seriously and investigating them accordingly I am confident in saying that there is little if any need to worry about the effects of this issue on your new Windows Vista installation," said the researcher.

Article Source Another Windows Vista hole

McAfee will launch Windows Vista Compatible Products in 2007

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

McAfee today announced McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.5 and McAfee AntiSpyware Enterprise 8.5 support for Microsoft Windows Vista, to provide customers with advanced, proactive protection from viruses, worms, spyware, adware, rootkits, hacker attacks and exploits. The updated products go beyond simply offering protection via a database of signatures, using advanced technology that protects systems from both known and unknown threats.

"McAfee is committed to supporting its customers with Windows Vista compatibility," said Rees Johnson, vice president of product management, McAfee, Inc. "The ever-changing threat environment is a real issue for our customers. McAfee VirusScan Enterprise and McAfee AntiSpyware Enterprise provide our business users with a more effective way to minimize risks from security threats."

"We are thrilled with the tremendous support and excitement we are seeing from our partners around the world in support of the business availability launch of the 2007 Office system, Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Vista," said Rob Bernard, general manager, Worldwide ISV Group, Microsoft. "Our partners play a vital role in the early adoption, development and delivery of Microsoft technologies. By working closely with partners like McAfee, we are helping to provide our mutual customers with a high quality product, seamless technology integration, and improved user experiences."

Article Source McAfee will launch Windows Vista Compatible Products in 2007

Windows Vista not secure at all

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Security systems vendor Sophos said there are at least three malware creations that can infect computer systems running on Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system. Two of these malware date back to 2004, said Sophos.

It said the three are internet worms -- Stratio-Zip, Netsky-D and MyDoom-O -- and are capable of executing on Vista. MyDoom and Netsky variants had come into circulation sometime in 2004.

Sophos said Vista's Windows Mail Client is capable of blocking the worms, but systems running third party email clients or permitting web-based mail services like Yahoo are very much vulnerable. Sophos explained that Windows Mail Client can block these mass-mailers as it can detect double extensions.

Microsoft's long-awaited Windows Vista release Thursday for business customers will get more than just the passing attention of network administrators. That's because hackers will be eagerly waiting to do what hackers do best: start some mischief.

The software that took $7 billion, five years, and armies of programmers is now going to be the target of hacker attacks looking to prove a point: that no Microsoft software is secure.

It's also a chance to prove Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who's made some bold security claims, dead wrong on Vista.

The Vista-resistant malware - Stratio-Zip, Netsky-D and MyDoom-O - comprise 39.7 per cent of all malware currently circulating.

Article Source Windows Vista not secure at all

How to prevent XP users from writing to USB drives

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 01:00:00 +0100

USB drives are extremely useful tools, but in some instances it might not be a good idea to allow users to write onto these devices from their PCs.

This is especially true when working with highly confidential data or intellectual property at work. Users of Windows XP with service pack 2 installed can disable writing to USB devices.

So how do I prevent XP users from writing to USB drives?:
Open the Registry Editor : Start>run>regedit>ok

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.

From there right click and create a new key and name it "StorageDevicePolicies". In the window on the right then create a new DWORD value and label it WriteProtect, give it a value of "1" and users can no longer write to USB drives.

To re-enable this option change the value to 0 and users are again allowed to write.

The modifications you made will be in effect after you reboot your PC.

Article Source How to prevent XP users from writing to USB drives

Microsoft Outlook Out Of Office doesn't work

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

If your Out of Office does work internally but not externally then follow the instructions below

If you use the Out Of Office Assistant and turn on the out-of-office reply, the internal senders (on the local network) receive the automatic reply message, but external senders (on the Internet) may not receive the automatic reply.

PROBLEM
By default, the out-of-office reply to Internet recipients is turned off. Many administrators do not allow out-of-office replies to be sent outside the Exchange Server organization, so that unauthorized people do not know when users are out of the office.

RESOLUTION
To turn on out-of-office replies to the Internet, follow these steps:

On the Exchange server, start Exchange System Manager.
Go to Global Settings, and then click Internet Message Formats.
In the Details pane, right-click on your domain name, and then click Properties. The default SMTP domain is "*".

In the Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab, and then click to select the Allow out of office responses check box. This turns on out-of-office responses to the Internet for the selected domain.

This was tested no Windows 2003 server with Exchange SP1 installed
You may need to restart the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine services

Server Tips / submitted by: N Rajsic

keyword:out of office assistant does not reply to external email addresses

Article Source Microsoft Outlook Out Of Office doesn't work

Deleting files from Prefetch Directory in Windows XP

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

WindowsXP has a new feature called Prefetch. Prefetch keeps a shortcut to recently used programs in order to speed the launching time for most frequently used applications.

The only downside to this is that windows will never clear that directory automatically and it can fill up with old and obsolete programs.

To clean Prefetch Folder periodically go to:

Star / Run / Prefetch

Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the files

Delete them

Article Source Deleting files from Prefetch Directory in Windows XP

How to stop the Messenger Service in Windows XP

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

If you have windows XP SP1 or SP2 then the chances are that you Messenger service is already disabled

Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
Click Performance and Maintenance
Click Administrative Tools
Double click Services
Scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
Click the STOP button
Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar Click OK

Article Source How to stop the Messenger Service in Windows XP

Another Windows Vista Delay !

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 01:00:00 +0100

Microsoft will postpone with at least one week the RTM version of Windows Vista. The previous announcement made about the release of Vista corporate edition specified the fourth week of October 2006. Now, as indicated by the Digitimes, it seems that Vista will make its debut most certainly in the second week of November 2006.

Apparently, the Redmond giant informed few of its Taiwanese partners about the new delay of its RTM version of the OS (also known as build number 5824) last week. Due to intense feed-back from beta-testers and hard work from its engineers Microsoft managed to reduce significantly the number of bugs present in the final Release Candidate of Vista, which was launched at the beginning of October. The mentioned sources indicated only 500 bugs still lurking inside Vista RC3’s code, from the impressive 1,450 found in RC2.

But although their number dropped significantly their importance didn’t, so MS had to reschedule Vista’s launch, because an upgraded Windows XP could crash.

Since problems are not over, MS will keep testing the RTM version of its flagship OS until the official day of its release, in November.

Despite the delayed launch of the RTM version, Microsoft assured PC makers that its plan to launch the business-use and home-use Vista OS in November 2006 and January 2007, respectively, remain unchanged, the sources stated.

Microsoft Taiwan said that the release of the business and home versions of Vista is on schedule as planned.

The core issue here is how much we can trust the cited sources and especially Microsoft. It is not unusual in the history of Vista to have lots of delays and another one, so close to the previously mentioned official term and after a lot of positive declarations, would most definitely surprise many people and hurt MS’s credibility

Article Source Another Windows Vista Delay !