HelpWithWindows Newsletter

01. Microsoft Announces Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 Beta's

by Arie Slob

Hello Windows users,

At the end of August Microsoft officially announced its plans for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3).

Windows Vista Service Pack 1

According to Microsoft the beta will be released in a few weeks to an audience of around 10,000 customers and partners. MSDN and TechNet members will gain access to a later milestone of the beta. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes that address specific reliability and performance issues, as well as adding support for new types of hardware. While Microsoft doesn't intend to release new features with SP1, some existing components do gain enhanced functionality in SP1.

SP1 will also include support for some new standards such as

ExFAT - a new file format that will be used in flash memory storage and consumer devices
SD Advanced DMA Support - improves transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization
SSTP - (Secure Sockets Tunnel Protocol) a remote access VPN tunneling protocol that will be part of Microsoft's RRAS (Routing and Remote Access Service) platform

Other improvements promised are:

Network Diagnostics in Windows Vista SP1 will help users with the most common file sharing problems, in addition to basic problems already supported
Disk Defragmenter update lets you control which volumes the disk defragmenter runs on
BitLocker Drive Encryption has been enhanced to not only fully encrypt the entire Windows Vista volume but also any or all additional locally created data volumes

Microsoft expects to deliver SP1 during the first quarter of 2008, but also suggests that the final release date will depend on the feedback from the beta process.

More information can be found in the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper.

Windows XP SP3

According to Microsoft, Windows XP SP3 will be a roll up of all the current hot fixes and patches including security updates, out of band releases and hotfixes. The only new functionality in SP3 will be Network Access Protection, which will require Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft is still only suggesting a release of SP3 in the 1st half of 2008.

02. Microsoft Windows Security Bulletin Summary for September, 2007

Microsoft Windows Security Bulletin Summary for September, 2007

The security update for September 2007 includes one update for Microsoft Windows, and one for MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger.

Severity Rating: Critical

Vulnerability in Microsoft Agent Could Allow Remote Code Execution (938827)

Severity Rating: Important

Vulnerability in MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger could allow Remote Code Execution (942099)

03. 04. Windows Updates

Microsoft issued a number of updates for Windows Vista and Windows XP in the past weeks:

Windows XP

Windows Desktop Search 3.01 for Windows XP
KB935708 - Update to resolve an issue where a USB telephony device installed on a computer running Windows XP is unexpectedly set as the default audio device.

Windows Vista

KB905866 - Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter [September 2007].
KB940520 - Update to fix a problem caused by the corruption of BITS state files.
KB941090 - Update to resolve an issue where messages become stuck in the Outbox and cannot be deleted when using Windows Mail.
KB940646 - Update to resolve an issue where the throughput of a 3G Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) Data Card is reduced on a computer running Windows Vista.
KB940105 - Update to resolve potential Graphics Virtual Address problems that may occur when running Windows Vista.
KB939165 - Update to configure the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program to improve the quality of software information sent to Microsoft.
KB938952 - Update to resolve a display issue that occurs during language pack installation and when accessing the Regional and Language Options control panel.
KB936710 - Update to help resolve a secondary graphic card operability issue when running DirectX 10 applications on multiple graphics cards.
KB936004 - Update to resolve an issue where a USB telephony device (USB telephone, handset, headset and so on) is unexpectedly set as the default audio device on a computer running Windows Vista.
KB930194 - Update to resolve an issue where an attached optical drive utilizing a SiI Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) chip from Silicon Image is not recognized as a recordable drive on a computer running Windows Vista.
KB929547 - Update to resolve an issue where after installing the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) driver, applications and services appear to stop responding for approximately 15 second.

05. Recent Support BBS Postings

UAC blocking software from executing - Windows Vista
Task Manager changed - Windows XP
Wifi Security Question - Networking
Disaster Recovery Planning - General Security
Clicking, dying hard drive - tricks to recover data? - Hardware

06. Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 Standard

Want to test-drive Windows Server 2008? You can download a time-limited release of Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 which will expire on April 7, 2008. Available in English, German and Japanese.

07. 08. Microsoft Exchange Calendar Update Configuration Tool

The Exchange Calendar Update Tool enables administrators to update multiple user mailboxes and adjust calendars and meetings for daylight savings times.

Supported OS: Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista; Windows XP

More Information
Download

09. Latest Microsoft & Windows News from around the Internet

Latest Microsoft & Windows News from around the Internet

10. Keep your Computer free from Viruses, Trojans, Spyware and other Malware

Surfing the Internet these days is a hazardous occupation, but a few simple precautions will keep your computer free from infection in an increasingly hostile environment.

Read Full Article Surfing the Internet these days is a hazardous occupation, but a few simple precautions will keep your computer free from infection in an increasingly hostile environment.

Read Full Article

11. Skype Users Slammed by New Virus

According to F-Secure, the new worm targeting Skype users creates several startup keys for itself in the Windows Registry and even modifies the Windows hosts file to block access to antivirus vendor sites. The new Skype worm also terminates processes belonging to antivirus software and copies itself to removable drives so it can replicate.