http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/windows/ en-us Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:38:24 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414553/posts Linux Vendors Need To Get Off the Stick to Compete with Windows http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414553/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:38:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414069/posts Microsoft Word is now scheduled to be prohibited from sale beginning January 11, 2010. That's less than three weeks away. The good news: Microsoft has promised a fix, one which will be rolled out before the deadline arrives. If you don't understand, you might have simply missed this story, or dismissed it as something that Microsoft would ultimately use its considerable clout to have pushed under a legal rug. But it's no joke. In August of this year, a court sided with a small Canadian company called i4i that holds a 1998 patent on the way the XML language is... Yahoo! Tech http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414069/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:45:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410695/posts With all of the back and forth regarding Microsoft and their software and business practices, I thought I might try to inject some information that sheds a different take on them. By the end of 2010, Windows 7 related employment will account for more than 7 million jobs- or 19% of all IT employment- in the global IT industry and at user organizations. This is 1.2 million in hardware companies, nearly 280,000 in software companies, 1.5 million services and channel firms, and 4.2 million in IT using organizations For every dollar of Microsoft revenue from launch in October 2009... Microsft , Into Windows and IDC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410695/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:33:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2403904/posts Just in from our computer tech. Last night/early this morning. MS forced an update patch on all Windows users. We know it affected all running XP. It may have hit Vista and 7 as well. Many users had a forced Windows reboot/restart this morning. Seems the patch is causing havoc in email systems nationwide. Our computer guy normally gets 8-20 trouble calls a day. So far today, it's more than 250. His affiliates across the country report the same. Our internet access is fine (as others seems to be to) but emails are very slow (3 to 5 minutes from... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2403904/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 19:07:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2399391/posts The U.K. security company that started a firestorm after claiming recent Windows security updates caused a widespread "black screen" lock-out of users' PCs has retracted its claims and publicly apologized to Microsoft. "It is clear that our original blog post has been taken out of context and may have caused an inconvenience for Microsoft," Mel Morris, the chief executive of U.K. security firm Prevx, said in an entry on the company's blog Wednesday. "This was never our intention and we have already apologized to Microsoft." Computerworld http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2399391/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 16:14:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2397975/posts Tuesday, December 01, 2009 12:19 PM by MSRCTEAM Reports of Issues with November Security Updates We’ve received questions about public reports that customers might be experiencing system issues with the November Security Updates (which some are referring to “Black Screen” issues). We’ve investigated these reports and found that our November Security Updates are not making changes to the system that these reports say are responsible for these issues. While these reports weren’t brought to us directly, from our research into them, it appears they’re saying that our security updates are making permission changes in the registry to the value for... blogs.technet.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2397975/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 23:03:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2394475/posts Windows 7 passes Mac OS X in market share race Weekend numbers for new OS bigger than for all versions of Mac OS X, says Net Applications Windows 7 passed the 5% market share milestone last weekend, which put it, if only temporarily, above the total market share of all versions of Apple's Mac OS X, a Web measurement firm said today.Last Saturday and Sunday, Windows 7 powered an estimated 5% and 5.14% of all computers that were online those days, according to Internet metrics vendor Net Applications. The two-day average of 5.07% was higher than the 5% of the... ComputerWorld http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2394475/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:32:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393076/posts HP's 3rd quarter results hurt by budget PCs updated 05:30 pm EST, Mon November 23, 2009 HP Q3 2009 shipments up, revenue down HP this afternoon revealed mixed results for its quarter ended in October. The company's net earnings climbed 14 percent year-over-year to $2.4 billion, but its revenue dropped by 8 percent to $30.8 billion in the same time frame. It credits the profit boost to cost-cutting measures but saw its revenue drop across the board in every category, including the Personal Systems Group that handles its common PC business. The division shipped 8 percent more PCs than a... Electronista http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393076/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:30:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382799/posts Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography. Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses — the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it's your reputation that's stolen. Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites. Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on... FOX News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382799/posts#comment Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:33:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2378046/posts Now that we in the northern hemisphere have had some time to digest the Windows 7 hype and settle in for the coming winter, we thought we would get some more hard data regarding Windows 7 security. On October 22nd, we settled in at SophosLabs and loaded a full release copy of Windows 7 on a clean machine. We configured it to follow the system defaults for User Account Control (UAC) and did not load any anti-virus software.We grabbed the next 10 unique samples that arrived in the SophosLabs feed to see how well the newer, more secure version of... SOPHOS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2378046/posts#comment Wed, 4 Nov 2009 05:35:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2369924/posts Windows 7 has spawned a new breed of inexpensive laptops at retailers like Best Buy and Frys. At many stores on Thursday, Best Buy refreshed almost its entire stock of laptops: all running Windows 7 and all sporting new model numbers. Frys--a megastore electronics retailer with locations throughout California, Arizona, and Texas--also refreshed many of its laptops with new Windows 7 models. One of the most inexpensive Windows 7 arrivals is the Gateway model EC1410U. This tiny laptop is distinctly Netbook-like in appearance but uses a more powerful Celeron M ULV 743 processor (1.3GHz, 1MB cache) than the Atom-chip fare... cnet news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2369924/posts#comment Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:44:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2370298/posts Windows 7, the new version of Microsoft Windows and the successor to Windows Vista, is officially released in two days time. On his blog, my good friend Patrick Crozier has asked a possibly not very important question, specifically I've heard of Windows 3.1. I am about to a lot about Windows 7. But I've never heard a peep about Windows 4, 5 or 6. Were they, by any chance, really good versions of Windows that we never got to hear about because the praise for them was drowned out by complaints about 95, 98, 2000, Millenium and Vista? I think... Samizdata http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2370298/posts#comment Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:34:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2370266/posts What is it? Where is it? What's it do? ZoneAlarm Firewall http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2370266/posts#comment Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:58:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2369853/posts Increasing energy demands and concerns about global warming mean that the sun is an important inexhaustible and clean energy source. Dye sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) have proved to be a highly efficient and low-cost option for conversion of sunlight to energy. Ruthenium dye photosensitisers have given the highest power conversion efficiency in the past but they are not very environmentally friendly and supply is limited, explains Eric Diau at the National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Diau and his team took inspiration from nature by developing a dye based on porphyrin - a component of chlorophyll, which gives plants their green... Highlights in Chemical Science http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2369853/posts#comment Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:53:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2369510/posts Yes, Windows 7 didn't even hit the market until Thursday. But that hasn't stopped a fog of myths from enveloping the newest version of the much loved--and much hated--PC operating system from Microsoft. [Slide Show: The Best of What's New in Windows 7.] The software giant hoped that wide exposure to Windows 7 would help smooth its entry. Microsoft let millions of consumers and professionals download test versions of the operating system. And by a wide margin, testers have found the new system to be the best yet from Microsoft. Version 7 is leaner, more useful, and prettier than past... Yahoo! Finance http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2369510/posts#comment Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:42:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2368271/posts My logs show that only a paltry 3.6% of readers have reached Complete Enlightenment. The bad news is that 83.1% of you live a hellish existence and suffer regular torments and agony, much of it self-imposed. How I weep for you! (The remaining 13.3% are in Limbo, including the 2 jokers last month who logged on using a PlayStation 3.) There are many flavors of Linux, but I recommend Ubuntu—one of those trendy African words meaning “warm fuzzy”. Log on to the site to see pictures of multicultural people holding hands and grinning weirdly, just like the photos appearing on... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2368271/posts#comment Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:20:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2367767/posts Some scareware scammers building botnets, too (USA Today can only be linked to) Previous article: New twist on scareware locks up your PC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2367767/posts#comment Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:34:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2367992/posts Computer Weekly, in association with ResearchNow Business, surveyed 500 users to discover which web browser they use at work and at home. Over half of the panellists predicted IE 8+ was the browser that they will be using by the end of 2010, both personally and for their business. Computer Weekly http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2367992/posts#comment Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:54:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367856/posts It looks like bargain-hunting computer geeks will have a field day with the Windows 7 launch, as Microsoft, retailers and PC makers try to drum up extra interest in the new operating system with special packages and promotions. For starters, Best Buy appears to be taking a page from Costco's retail playbook by offering a bulk package of three -- yes, three -- Windows 7 computers for $1,200. The "PC Home Makeover" package includes a desktop computer, laptop and netbook, with an 18.5-inch monitor, a wireless router and free Geek Squad setup. Microsoft is calling the overall Windows 7 price... Tech Flash http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367856/posts#comment Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:32:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2364680/posts PLEASE HELP: I recently suffered a BSOD event on my other computer, which happens to be the one my children use for schoolwork, reports and the like - I had to re-install Windows XP, which solved the problem, but now nothing wants to work (internet, screen laggy and can't access old files). I can see a lot of what I had on the computer before this problem, but cannot access it and cannot connect to the internet at all now... I realize this may be an involved process, but could someone please help? my fertile mind http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2364680/posts#comment Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:12:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2362797/posts An investigative series I've been writing about organized cyber crime gangs stealing millions of dollars from small to mid-sized businesses has generated more than a few responses from business owners who were concerned about how best to protect themselves from this type of fraud. Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2362797/posts#comment Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:16:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2356655/posts Ultra-low prices on portable computers are nothing new, and in fact have increasingly become the norm since the debut of netbooks — small and light ultraportables that are virtually defined by their low cost. However, there are some strong reasons to believe that Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 7 operating system, in addition to new types of Linux-based portables, could help drive profit margins for hardware manufacturers to surprising new bottoms. But is it good for the tech industry for laptops and netbooks alike to sell for fire-sale prices? And can hardware providers build healthy businesses around a new, premium-priced operating system?... gigaom http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2356655/posts#comment Wed, 7 Oct 2009 13:01:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2348012/posts This morning I turned on my computer which started fine and I got this message: STservice.exe unable to find Then I got another pop up saying if Windows finds a solution to the matter it would let me know. I have no clue what this is. Running Windows Vista Home Premium http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2348012/posts#comment Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:50:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2345434/posts Hackers just like the PC more. Regardless of which side you're on (though as a true computing enthusiast, you shouldn't be taking sides), you've heard the arguments back and forth on the which operating system is truly safer – Mac OS X or Windows. It is of the opinion of Charlie Miller, a well known Mac security guru, that even Snow Leopard, the latest version of Mac OS X, isn't as safe as Windows. One key point is that Snow Leopard still doesn't have ASLR, or address space layout randomization, which randomly arranges the position of key data making it... Tom's Hardware http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2345434/posts#comment Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:08:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2341982/posts Snow Leopard lacks security features that are built in to Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, a noted Mac researcher has said. Dubbed ASLR, for address space layout randomisation, the technology randomly assigns data to memory to make it tougher for attackers to determine the location of critical operating system functions, and thus make it harder for them to craft reliable exploits. "Apple didn't change anything," said Charlie Miller, of Baltimore-based Independent Security Evaluators, the co-author of The Mac Hacker's Handbook, and winner of two consecutive "Pwn2own" hacker contests. "It's the exact same ASLR as in Leopard, which means... TechWorld http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2341982/posts#comment Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:59:21 GMT