Microsoft Rtm
Microsoft Rtm
Windows 8, Whats coming your way
With more then 1 year since the release of Windows 7, Microsoft is gearing to release the next version of Windows,which is currently called as Windows 8.According to the post by Windows 8 beta the next version of windows is going to be released in around october 2012,exactly 3 years after the release of Windows 7 as stated in the Microsoft TimeFrame,though Russian site Wzor says that the next version of Windows would hit the stores on January 7,2013
A couple of screenshots has been leaked, showing the installation of Windows 8.The copyright statement reads as Copyright Microsoft 2012 confirming that Windows 8 RTM would be released in 2012 and the screenshots also states clearly that the next version of Windows shall be called Windows 8.
In the CES 2011,Microsoft announced that Windows 8 would support ARM chips as well,also which confirms that the next version of windows would continue to support 32 bit chips as well.
According to the latest rumors the latest Windows 8 build compiled is Build 7917,with build string as 6.2.7917.0.winmain_win8m2.110125-1757 and indeed Windows 8 has already reached milestone 2.
According to the information available other builds released in 2011 are-
6.2.7913.0.winmain_win8m2.110114-1745
6.2.7914.0.winmain_win8m2.110118-1605
6.2.7915.0.winmain_win8m2.110119-1806
6.2.7916.0.winmain_win8m2.110121-1715
Here is some information which is available relating to Windows 8
* Microsoft has been working on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service pack 2 since fall of 2010 and is expected to be released in mid 2012.
* Windows 8 might not be the final name of next version of windows,though the Windows server would be definitely called Windows Server 2012 (We would be calling the next version of Windows as Windows 8 until the name is confirmed)
* Microsoft would start working on Windows 8 Milestone 3 from March and Beta version would be available after it. Earlier Microsoft employee leaked the roadmap so going by it we are expecting the first beta in July 2012.
* Microsoft would be releasing 2 beta version of Windows 8,which would be available for testing following which the RC version of Windows 8 would be released.
* Windows 8 would be RTM 3 months after the RC version is released .
At present no further information about Windows 8 is available,we are waiting to see the new GUI that's going to be incorporated in Windows 8.
If you want some good concept wallpapers just do a quick search in Google
About the Author
Ankur Mittal is the administrator of Windows 8 and loves talking about technology.He is writing on various Microsoft products since past 5 years
Would you like the Windows Sidebar RTM?
I got Windows Sidebar in my computer. Not just a copy of vista's sidebar. But the real one. You can download gadgets from microsoft and install it in your sidebar. this is great! very cool! for winXp users!
get it here!: http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=485
No
Microsoft Rtm
Microsoft Announces Windows 7 RTM
Windows 7 Security - 5 Things You Can Do To Secure Xp Mode
After a busy summer, I finally got around to spending some quality time with Windows 7 "XP Mode" beta on the RTM version of Windows 7.
Sophos CTO Richard Jacobs commented on XP Mode's lack of management included in the base operating system on Graham's blog. Today I am going to cover security in XP mode as a user, excluding my comments on management.
During setup XP Mode prompts you to determine what password you would like to apply to the XPMUser account that the Virtual PC instance will run under. It of course offers to store these credentials for you, and recommends this action.
It is very important that you do not use the same password here as you use for administrator or your user account. If you carefully review the help Microsoft warns: "Any application that runs on the host in the context of the user logged on to the host can access the credentials stored for Windows XP Mode."
If you were to have a malware infection or spyware on your host, this makes it more trivial than usual to compromise your system. Be sure to set a separate secure password even if you choose for Virtual PC to remember it out of convenience.
As setup proceeds Microsoft prompts you to enable automatic updating and reminds you of the importance of maintaining your Windows XP machine no different than a real computer.
I was pleased to see this, although there is no mention of installing a real firewall, or anti-virus protection. The SP3 .vhd Microsoft provides is reasonably up to date, and patched through Windows Update in a matter of minutes on my test workstation.
My computer reached the desktop around 5 minutes after beginning the install, quite impressive. The first thing to grab my attention was the Windows XP Security Center warning me to install anti-virus. Excellent. I immediately installed the latest Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows from our support page.
Performance was good, and some applications I have that would not play nicely with Windows 7 installed easily. On initial inspection it appears to be like any other virtual machine of Windows XP, but Microsoft has integrated some convenient functions to make XP Mode more seamless. Some of these, however, may have serious security implications.
XP Mode defaults to mapping all of your host OS drives to the guest.
For the sake of convenience this is nice, however I do not see why I shouldn't just use the integrated cut and paste to move things back and forth, and spare myself the risk of infections passing themselves back to Windows 7 from my Windows XP, which doesn't have nearly as strong a security posture.
In summary, if you choose to install Windows XP Mode consider the following:
- Choose a secure password that is not the same as other host accounts for XPMUser
- Enable automatic updating (Windows Update)
- Install security software the same as any other host on your network
- If possible disable drive auto-mapping under integration features to further isolate the virtual environment
- If browsing in XP Mode be sure to update your Flash player, Acrobat Reader, and other plugins when you update your host OS.
About the Author
This article was written by Chester Wisniewski of Sophos and is reproduced here with their full permission. Sophos provides full data protection services including: security software, encryption software, antivirus, and malware.
Microsoft Rtm
