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Yesterday, Windows Server 2003 service pack 1 (SP1) was released to manufacturing and the 329Mb service pack is available for download from the Microsoft website.
Like Windows XP service pack 2 (SP2), released last August, SP1 is primarily a security patch, providing new functionality to address known security vulnerabilities and to prepare for future security threats [...]

There is no doubt that malicious software (malware) is on the increase. We have learnt how to deal with the ever increasing number of viruses, worms and Trojan horses, but spyware is now a major problem too.
Earlier this month, it was widely reported how a joint investigation by law enforcement agencies in Israel and the [...]

Yesterday, I blogged about a shortcut to hibernate a Windows XP PC (for people who are too lazy to use between 3 and 5 clicks when a double-click will do).
Keni Barwick replied with an alternative to lock the workstation (%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation) and when I said “What about Win+L – oh yes, forgot, two fingers [...]

I can’t find the reference which started me off with this, but a few weeks ago I came across a tip for creating a shortcut to hibernate a Windows XP PC (for people who find that 5 clicks is just too much). How people find these obscure features I’ll never know (I guess its straightforward [...]

Microsoft and the European Commission have finally agreed on the name for the version of Windows XP with Media Player removed – Windows XP N. How dull? I preferred Windows XP Reduced Media Edition (after all, one of the benefits of “regular” XP is its improved multimedia capabilities) but the EU were never [...]

It’s probably well-known by many people, but I just stumbled across Microsoft’s MSN Sandbox. It’s a bit like Google Labs (Google’s “technology playground”), featuring what Microsoft calls “incubation experiments” which may or may not “represent any particular strategy or policy”.
Most of the tools in the MSN Sandbox are well-known – some were even purchased [...]

There is much talk in the IT press about how we can no longer rely on single factor identification (e.g. user name and password) and about how biometric security could be at least part of the answer; but for an alternative take on just how dangerous an over-reliance on biometric security may be, Alistair Dabbs’ [...]

Phishing worries me. In fact, identity theft in general is one of my major concerns (and is the reason I refuse to do any more business with Halifax Bank of Scotland, one of the UK’s largest banks, who will not respond to letters or e-mails requesting that they remove my online access even though I [...]

Over the last few months I’ve been critical of the time its taken for Microsoft to ship an SP2-aware update to their application compatibility toolkit. Last week, one of the consultants from Microsoft UK e-mailed me to let me know that the Microsoft application compatibility toolkit v4.0 is now available for Windows XP (including [...]

I’m yet to be convinced of the business benefits of instant messaging (IM). My current employer doesn’t prohibit IM – in fact it is encouraged – I use Microsoft’s MSN Messenger service, as do many of my colleagues. I suspect the reason we that we haven’t implemented a corporate IM solution is cost.
According to [...]