Microsoft Support & Discussions

Windows IT Pro In 2002, faced with rampant bugs in Windows XP and a general security malaise across its various product lines, Microsoft did something that was previously unthinkable: It simply stopped developing new software and went back and reassessed its then-current and in-progress products from a security standpoint. ... Source: Win Super Site

If you’re a current Microsoft cloud customer — or even someone just kicking the tires of Microsoft’s hosted cloud bundle — here’s what you need to know about Office 365, which Microsoft launched on June 28. Source: All About Microsoft

Microsoft is launching its Office 365 cloud services offering today in New York City, bringing hosted versions of Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and the Office Web Apps to businesses of all sizes as well as educational institutions and even individuals. CEO Steve Ballmer will host the event, which serves as a major milestone in Microsoft's move to the cloud. ... Source:

The topic of what some customers need from a browser saw a lot of attention in headlines (e.g. Mozilla to enterprise customers: "Drop dead") last week. Both Google employees and Mozilla community members alike (link) explained that to support consumers, their browsers cannot fulfill the needs of large organizations. At Microsoft, we believe that all Windows customers should have a great browsing experience, whether they stay at home, go to school, or work in a large organization with managed IT resources. Because all these groups of Windows customers are important to Microsoft, we want to offer our point of view and describe our approach. Making the Web better for larg…

There’s a report circulating that Microsoft may be among the bidders for Nortel’s war chest of 6,000 telecommunications patents. Source: All About Microsoft

The day before Microsoft’s official unveiling (and general availability kick off) for Office 365, Google went on the offensive with a blog post entitled “365 reasons to consider Google Apps.” Source: All About Microsoft

It’s (not so) crazy Microsoft rumors time again. Today’s single-sourced — but trusted — tip claims that Windows 8 will RTM in April 2012. Source: All About Microsoft

Microsoft has added another Android backer to the list of those signing with Redmond for patent protection: General Dynamics. Source: All About Microsoft

Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows In the latest episode of the Windows Weekly podcast, Leo and I discuss what we previously missed from Steven Sinofsky's D9 appearance, what it's like to use Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" beta, a new Nokia phone that hints at Nokia's first Windows Phone handset, what Skype really means to Microsoft, a SkyDrive makeover, some Apple stuff, and the (supposed) end of the Winklevoss Facebook suit. ... Source: Win Super Site

Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows In this summary of the Windows 8 revelations at D9 earlier this month, I catalog what it is that Steven Sinofsky and Julie Larson-Green really revealed about Windows 8 during the talk. Here for the first time is a rundown of the new information only. ... Source: Win Super Site

Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows I was reminded by a Windows team tweet that today is the 13th anniversary of Windows 98, Microsoft's first major (and very first retail) follow-up to Windows 95. Windows 98 was to Windows 95 as Windows 7 was to Windows Vista in that it simply built on the major changes wrought by its predecessor, offering a superior experience through evolutionary updates. ... Source: Win Super Site

Back in March 2011, there were rumors circulating that Google planned to do away with Google Health, its Microsoft HealthVault competitor. And on June 24, Google admitted that the rumors were right. Source: All About Microsoft

Windows IT Pro Google on Friday confirmed that the US Federal Trade Commission is investigating the online giant for antitrust violations related to its search and advertising business practices. The company pledged to cooperate with the investigation. ... Source: Win Super Site

Velocity 2011: The Performance Impact of Modernizing Internet Explorer Browsers need amazing performance to deliver on the promise of HTML5 applications. Modernizing Internet Explorer 9 has changed what&rsquos possible with Web sites, and dramatically improved the performance of the HTML4 sites consumers use today. To demonstrate the real world performance gains in IE9 at the recent Velocity 2011 conference, we presented our talk on Modernizing Internet Explorer as an interactive HTML4 Web application: View the entire Velocity 2011 presentation, Modernizing Internet Explorer This real world scenario is a great way to experience what&rsquos possible t…

Microsoft’s IE team seems to be hoping to capitalize on Mozilla’s new release/support strategy with Firefox that has little to offer to business users. Source: All About Microsoft

Windows IT Pro An often irreverent look at some of this week's other news, including Nokia's first Windows Phone revealed, Mango heading to developers soon, FTC prepping Google antitrust charges, the return of the Winklevoss twins, a XAML mystery of sorts, Mozilla hates corporations, Apple prepping for Google-lessAn often irreverent look at some of this week's other news, including Nokia's first Windows Phone revealed, Mango he iPhone future, Google preps Skype killer, Yahoo CEO is clueless, and Quake hits 15. ... Source: Win Super Site

The development platform and tools strategy at Microsoft is getting increasingly complex, especially around XAML/Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight. Here’s the latest. Source: All About Microsoft

Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows As with the recent major update to SkyDrive, Microsoft this week updated Hotmail, this time to sport some nice Windows native app-like features based on Outlook. ... Source: Win Super Site

Mixed content on a Web page puts consumers at risk of man-in-the-middle attacks, especially as consumers spend more time browsing from untrusted public networks (like free WiFi in coffee shops and airports). An attacker can view page content that a consumer expected to be delivered securely, and even modify the contents of the page without the consumer knowing it. This happens when Web sites void the security promise of HTTPS by including content delivered by HTTP into their otherwise secure HTTPS pages. IE9 helps you stay secure. When a HTTPS site includes unsecure HTTP content, Internet Explorer 9 blocks the unsecure content to help keep your information safe. One o…

Microsoft is “formally contributing resources” toward porting Node.js to Windows in partnership with Joyent, according to a June 23 blog post on Nodejs.org.The native port to Windows is underway, and requires a “rather large modification of the core structure,” according to the post, authored by Ryan Dahl, the creator of node. The ultimate goal is [...] Source: All About Microsoft

Windows IT Pro Apple is in the news for two separate but related events in which the consumer electronics giant is trying to shore up its lead using legal means rather than superior products. ... Source: Win Super Site

Windows IT Pro Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss this week decided not to appeal a recent federal appeals court ruling to the US Supreme Court, effectively ending their battle with Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg. ... Source: Win Super Site

Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows In the third and concluding part of of my transcript of Steven Sinofsky's D9 appearance earlier this month, I focus on the Q & A with Sinofsky and Julie Larson-Green. ... Source: Win Super Site

Last week, we saw the re-emergence of another new trojan that is disguising itself as Microsoft

While the Internet is an amazing resource in terms of the information you can find and things you can do today, it