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Place you can talk about other things not related to autopatcher.
parkd1
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Windows Technical Preview weighs in around 4GB, here's where

Post by parkd1 »

Someone at Microsoft is having a rough evening after it was discovered that the staging site for the Windows technical preview was accidently made available to the public. Because of that post, we have been able to uncover a few details, such as where the download will be posted.

If you bookmark the source link below, based on the staging site, that's where the download will be posted once the page goes live. While the staging page was full of links that went to dead sites or Windows 8.1 content, the URL slug of the download link shows that Microsoft is gearing up to release the preview.

The relevant part of the slug is "evaluate-windows-technical-preview-for-enterprise". More so, if you look at the image below, you can see a small screenshot of the new OS with the virtual desktop icon and the search icon too.

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-tech ... ad-will-be
parkd1
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Microsoft's pitch to the Enterprise for Windows 9 comes into

Post by parkd1 »

On Tuesday of next week, Microsoft will start to talk openly about the next major version of Windows, widely called Windows 9, but they may have another name up their sleeve. For the enterprise, though, Microsoft will be courting them heavily so that they upgrade from Windows 7 to this new generation of Windows.

While the details are still a bit slim, thanks to a website that was put up a bit early, we can see how Microsoft is hoping to push the enterprise into the new era.

The website, which can be seen here, lists the following four reasons for the enterprise to upgrade:

Defend against modern security threats
Elevate employee productivity
Embrace the mobile and cloud era
Enable upgrade without upheaval

For those curious, none of the links on that page go to a working download, for now. But alas, we can see how Microsoft is hoping to convince the enterprise that this build of Windows is worth upgrading to and that Windows 7 is now an aging OS.

It will be a hard fought battle for Microsoft to get massive corporations to upgrade when many of them waited until the last minute to move off of XP.

http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft039 ... into-focus
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Microsoft to launch Windows Insider program for next version

Post by parkd1 »

Next week, Microsoft will be showing off the latest version of Windows and along with that, it looks like the company will be offering an 'insiders' program for those who want to participate in the preview. Thanks to information seen be Neowin, it looks like the program may launch next week, at the earliest.

The description of the program says "Get the latest preview builds as soon as they're available plus access to an easy-to-use feedback app." and the link takes you to insider.microsoft.com, but the link is currently dead.

We do wonder if this feature will be tied into the 'rapid release' information we exclusively reported on earlier this year where Microsoft has made it easy to upgrade builds.

While we do not know if Microsoft will release a preview build next week, the company is preparing to release a technical preview that will be available to the general population.

http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-to ... of-windows
parkd1
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Microsoft is expected to give Windows its new name on Tuesda

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On Tuesday of the upcoming week, Microsoft will begin to show off its next generation operating system, code named Threshold. The OS, which many simply refer to as Windows 9, is said to get a new name but of course, Microsoft is staying quiet on subject.

What will Microsoft call the new OS? Well, that is still unknown but if the company did call it Windows 9, technically, that is an entirely new name as only Windows 8 officially exists. Of course, the idea of simply calling it 'Windows' without a version number has been speculated too.

It is expected that Microsoft will move away from the Windows 8 branding as that OS has not fared well with public opinion. By giving the OS a new name, it will allow them to distance themselves from the woes of the past and start fresh again in the minds of the consumer.

We don't have to wait too much longer as Microsoft's event takes place on Tuesday of the upcoming week. But, if that's too long to wait, we will have a preview posted up on Monday that gives a few new details about the technical preview and what you should expect. Or, you can check many of our scoops of the OS, here.

http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-is ... on-tuesday
parkd1
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Windows technical preview build numbers and everything else

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Microsoft is gearing up to talk about the next big update to its Windows platform this week and will also be announcing the availability of a technical preview that will be widely distributed as well. For those of you who don’t want to wait until tomorrow, we have talked with quite a few folks during our last week in Seattle and have a good idea about what the event will and won’t include.

For starters, we were told that the technical preview build that will be released is build 9841, although, the Technical Preview was updated to 9850 during the last couple of days, so it will likely be one of those two numbers. The build will not have Cortana present.

That’s not too much of a surprise as this is built for the developers and not the consumer (that’s coming later, early next year), but expect to see hints of the assistant uncovered by those willing to dig deep into the resource files. Obviously, it would be quite easy to switch builds before the launch but this particular release has been fairly widely distributed internally and it’s the most stable release of the latest builds.

The Start menu, notification center, and windowed modern apps should all be present as developers need the latter two features to start creating products for the new OS and the Start menu was already announced. The notification center and windowed apps features will be key as Microsoft will also be courting high-profile developers at this event as well to get them building apps that tie into these features.

Seeing that the event is in San Francisco, you can likely guess which companies Microsoft is hoping to entice to develop for the updated platform, as many top tier social networks reside in that city. Additionally, with the new features come new APIs and old APIs will be broken which needs to be clearly communicated to these companies as well.

Windows as a Service will play a big part of the next installment of Windows. Mary Jo Foley got the tip a few weeks back and we are hearing nearly the same thing. To add a bit of color to it, certain features in Windows 9 are compartmentalized (Cortana, Notification center, and possibly the Start menu too) which makes it easy for Microsoft to push out updates to these components without doing any major surgery across the entire OS. A simple analogy will be what Microsoft did with Windows Phone by de-integrating the hubs so that they were easier to update without needing to update the entire OS.

What won’t be present in the technical preview? Cortana, IE 12 and any dramatic visual changes. Cortana will not be in this build because the infrastructure to support the increased volume of users is not yet in place for all of the additional queries. IE 12 is still a bit under cover too and may not be mature enough for the public to get their hands on it yet.

For those of you hoping for large visual changes, there are only small tweaks at this stage. Those updates won’t come until closer to the final release as getting developers the content they need to build proper apps is first on the agenda. Remember, this is for developers and the enterprise, there will be a consumer preview as well.

Over the weekend, Microsoft accidently made public its technical preview download pages which you can read about here. While it has been said for some time that the build may not be public until early October, which is the end of the week, these pages did look ready to go. The links were not all working but the styling appeared to be complete.

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-tech ... ed-to-know
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Windows 9: Telemetry data will be near real-time

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Tomorrow, Microsoft will finally crack open the door, officially, to let outsiders in on some of the details about the next version of Windows. Of course, if you have been reading Neowin, you will know that we have already spelled out many of the new features for the technical preview. More so, we have previously talked about the surveys that will be included in the technical preview and now we are learning more about the telemetry system that Microsoft will be using.

Microsoft will be using a new system, codenamed 'Asimov', that will provide a near real-time view of what is happening on users' machines. Before you freak out and think Microsoft is watching all of your mouse clicks, our knowledge of the system indicates that the data is obscured and aggregated, but affords Microsoft new insights into user interactions with the OS. Mary Jo Foley, who uncovered the codename, says that the system was originally built by the Xbox Team.

The idea is quite simple: gather as much data as possible to make sure that the user experience is exactly like Microsoft has envisioned. With more telemetry data, it will help the team behind the OS make sure that updates, features, and every other aspect are all working correctly and if not, they will have high-quality data to troubleshoot the issue.

We don't know how much Microsoft will publicly talk about the data that it receives but the surveys we noted previously will play a part in the overall picture. Additionally, those who are going to download the technical preview are likely to be 'power users' who will utilize the platform in unique scenarios that Microsoft hopes will identify any odd bug ahead of the final release.

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-9-te ... -real-time
DesertJerry
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Windows 10

Post by DesertJerry »

Name changed to Windows 10 - read about the technical preview - downloaded the ISO (32/64 as required) - comments at download site indicate the download can only be used to upgrade from Win7 or 8 - no indications a new install as opposed to an upgrade would be possible.

Personally, I would prefer a new install to its own partition - multiboot 7,8, and 10 - so far, not looking good. Have not yet checked Microsoft forum to see what else changed: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... stp?auth=1
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Re: Unofficial Windows XP Service Pack 4 Available for Downl

Post by DesertJerry »

SP4 RC is ready for downloading and testing: http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10321
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Whatacrock
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Microsoft Launches Patch to Remove Botched Updates

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Microsoft Launches Patch to Remove Botched Updates

It’s a well-known fact that some of the updates released by Microsoft as part of every Patch Tuesday rollout actually cause more harm than good on a number of PCs, so the company then has to look into every report and develop a fix for its fix.
This was the case with a patch KB3005628 for Windows 8, 8.1, Server 2012, and Server 2012 R2, which, although it might seem to bring new out-of-band improvements for these platforms, does nothing more than to remove some botched bulletins released by Microsoft in August.

Two months ago, as part of Patch Tuesday, the software giant released KB2966827 and KB2966828 to address some issues in multiple .NET Framework versions, including 2, 3, 3.5, and 3.5.1.

Soon after that, however, it emerged that both these patches were actually causing more problems on computers deploying them, so Microsoft decided to develop a fix that would actually remove all their files.
More of a “Fix it” solution
As Woody Leonhard of InfoWorld writes, this new release is more of a “Fix it” tool and less of a fully featured patch because it does nothing more than to remove the buggy bulletins.

Here’s the full description of the patch, as provided by Microsoft:

“This update resolves an issue that prevents the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 feature from becoming enabled after security update 2966827 or 2966828 (described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS14-046) is installed for the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5. This update applies to Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, and Windows 8.”

“Update 3005628 removes security update 2966827 or 2966828 from any system that does not have the .Net Framework 3.5 feature content installed on Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, or Windows 8. After the release of update 3005628, security updates 2966827 and 2966828 will be offered only to applicable systems that have the .Net Framework 3.5 feature enabled.”
Just another out-of-band patch
Another odd thing about today’s bulletin is its release date, as Microsoft preferred not to wait until the upcoming Patch Tuesday cycle taking place next week and roll it out right now.

This is indeed surprising despite all reports pointing to problems caused by the botched updates, but it could also be a sign that Microsoft is actually working on a completely new schedule that would bring security fixes on the second Tuesday of each month and fixes for its botched updates on the first of next month.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsof ... 1430.shtml
"Now if you Sons of B*@ches got anything else to say, NOW'S THE F@#%ING TIME!!"
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Microsoft Prepares Critical Security Updates

Post by Whatacrock »

Microsoft Prepares Critical Security Updates for Internet Explorer



The Redmond giant announced on Thursday that there are nine security bulletins available for this month’s Patch Tuesday, the one for Internet Explorer receiving a critical severity rating and vulnerability impact.
Administrators at IT shops, big and small, have been notified that this month they should be prepared to apply a new set of fixes that address remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer versions 6 through 11, running on different editions of Windows.
Internet Explorer is not the only product patched against remote code execution
The bulletin bundling all the patches for the web browser has been labeled as "critical" for the security of the product, the default recommendation in this case being to apply the changes as soon as they become available through the Windows Update mechanism.

The RCE type of security flaw allows an attacker to run arbitrary code on the affected machine without having direct access to it. This would enable malicious actors to execute malicious commands on the target system, benefiting from the same privileges as the user account under which the application is running.

Other products affected by RCE security glitches are .NET Framework and Windows operating system, from Server editions 2003, 2008 and 2012 to Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1. RT versions of Windows (RT and RT 8.1) are also included in a security bundle.

The bulletin for Microsoft Office and related services also warns of remote code execution possibilities, but it is marked as “important,” a lower severity level.
System administrators should be prepared to restart machines
The current notification is just a heads-up of what’s to come on Tuesday, October 14, when the actual updates will be pushed to clients all over the world.

It is intended for system administrators, to allow them to review the programs that are affected and make the necessary preparations in advance, for smoothly applying the modifications when they become available.

In some cases, a restart of the machine is required for the patch to be integrated, and this is not always possible if the new code is received without previous notification.

Microsoft makes available a set of tools that could help administrators with applying the updates. As such, they can use Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) to scan local and remote machines for security updates that have not been applied, as well as for poor configurations that could compromise the integrity of the system.

Utilities are also provided for distributing the updates, as well as for an easier verification process of the updates with the installed applications.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsof ... 1628.shtml
"Now if you Sons of B*@ches got anything else to say, NOW'S THE F@#%ING TIME!!"
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