Glitch hampers Vista family pack option
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Microsoft says it's working to fix a glitch that stopped some customers from taking advantage of offer to get additional licenses for less.
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The latest glitch with its flagship product shows why the company may still have trouble fulfilling its enormous expectations
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Windows XP Service Pack 2 gets a 'hotfix' for VPNs, part of the \
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Some systems are thrust into endless reboots after receiving Vista SP1 updates, according to messages posted to the company's support site.
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Watching "premium content" in Windows Vista requires users to play nice with Microsoft's built-in digital rights controls. In Monkey Bites.
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(InfoWorld) - MicrosoftÂ on Thursday released an update to Windows Vista that will shut down unauthorized versions of the OS that allow users to skip the product's activation system. The move comes asÂ pirated copies of Vista are already making the rounds, mere weeks after the product was released to business customers. The update, which Microsoft has dubbed "frankenbuild," detects tampering of Windows Vista code that would allow users of the OS to work around the product's built-in activation system, which requires users to validate their copy of Vista with a product activation key to use the full version of the product after 30 days. Frankenbuild mixes files from various test and final versions of the software. It will require only systems in which it detects specific tampering to go through a validation check for authenticity, according to a posting on the Windows Genuine Advantage blog. If a version of Vista that has used a workaround to avoid product activation is detected, a user of that software will have 30 days before the OS goes into a reduced functionality mode, Microsoft said. In this mode, all users can do is access their existing files and surf the Web for an hour before having to log back on to the software. The pirating of Windows has been a perennial problem for Microsoft, particularly in developing countries. The company began coming down hard against piracy last year withÂ a widely criticized systemÂ it called Windows Genuine Advantage, which initially required users to validate their copies of Windows if they wanted to use Microsoft's update services. Microsoft took its antipiracy campaign one step further with Vista by building the validation system directly into the OS. This system requires a Windows Vista user to validate the software through a product activation key within 30 days of using the OS to avoid having the software go into reduced functionality mode.
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Apple's iTunes music software is not fully compatible with Vista, Microsoft's newest operating system.
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A glitch on the Microsoft Canada Web site has apparently let slip Microsoft's planned prices for Windows Vista, indicating the Redmond company intends to charge as much as $299 CDN for its top-of-the-line upgrade to Ultimate Edition, and $499 CDN if users wish to purchase the full version.
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Microsoft is revising a program that allows Windows Vista customers to upgrade from a basic version of its OS to one of the premium editions.The program, called Windows Anytime Upgrade, was designed to make it easier for customers to upgrade to a more expensive version of Vista by allowing them to purchase a digital &quot;product key&quot; and download it from the Web.At the time that they purchased their OSes, customers received a DVD containing several versions of Windows Vista, including the premium editions. Downloading the new product key allowed them to unlock a higher-end version from the disc.Microsoft has now decided to stop distributing product keys online, it said on Thursday. Starting Feb. 20, customers who want to upgrade will have to buy a Windows Anytime Upgrade kit from a local retailer, or via postal mail from Microsoft. The kit will include a Vista DVD and a product key for the version they are upgrading to.Microsoft said it was making the change based on feedback from users. The new system means customers won&#39;t have to worry if they lost their original Vista DVD and now want to upgrade.However, it also means that people will now have to visit their local retailer or contact Microsoft via post (an option not available in Japan).The price to upgrade will be the same as it was under the previous system, which was $79, according to Microsoft.&quot;Customers have told us that this change will streamline the Windows Anytime Upgrade experience, and that they would prefer to use the DVD and a standard 25-character product key to perform the upgrade -- rather than the combination of the DVD and digital key,&quot; Microsoft said.More information about Windows Anytime Update can be found on Microsoft&#39;s Web site.
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Color display and photo support can't save oddly designed player.
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A tool has been posted online that can apparently crack Vista's activation process by applying brute force -- and lots of time -- to come up with valid product keys. But the author is now telling users it's wrong to use it.
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The service pack for the newest Microsoft operating system is out and about, though not officially.
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Updates pushed out last week by Microsoft to Windows Vista users to prep PCs for next month's release of Service Pack 1 have crippled some machines, according to messages posted to the company's support site.
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(InfoWorld) - The contentious stealth update that Microsoft delivered to customers this summer blocks 80 patches and fixes from installing after Windows XP is restored using its "repair" feature, researchers said Thursday. Scott Dunn, who first reported the problem in a story posted Thursday morning to the "Windows Secrets" newsletter, said that users who reinstall Windows XP with the repair option cannot retrieve the full set of updates from Windows Update (WU). The problem, he said, has been traced to the so-called "stealth update" to WU which Microsoft has acknowledged sending to users beginning in July. Two weeks ago,Â Dunn broke the story of the background updates,Â which were sent to most non-corporate Windows XP and Vista users. The updates were delivered and installed without prior notification, even when the PC's owner had told the operating system not to download or install updates without notification and permission. The revelation launched a firestorm of protest from users, which in turnÂ prompted Microsoft to defend the practiceÂ as well as say it would think about ways to clarify its update policies. "Two weeks ago we said that the silent update was harmless," said Dunn Thursday. "But now we're saying it is a problem." That problem affects any user who restores Windows XP using the setup CD's "repair" option, sometimes also called an "in-place reinstallation" because it reinstalls the operating system files without disturbing the applications and data already on the disk drive. Because repair is essentially a roll-back to XP's original state, the OS must be updated with all subsequent patches and hotfixes using WU. A system bought soon after Windows XP SP2 was released, for example, would need to download and install about three years' worth of updates. After a repair, XP defaults to the "Automatic" setting for Automatic Updates, which means WU is immediately updated to version 7.0.600.381, the version pushed to PCs by the summer's undercover upgrade, said Dunn. Seven of the DLL (dynamic link library) files that make up 7.0.600.381, however, fail to register themselves with Windows. That, in turn, keeps XP from successfully installing approximately 80 of the most recent patches and fixes. In a normal, non-repair situation, there's no indication of a glitch, since DLLs by the same name have previously been keyed into Windows' registry. "On a repaired copy of XP, however, no such registration has occurred, and failing to register the new DLLs costs Windows Update the ability to install any patches," he said Dunn pointed out workarounds, which included installing an older version of WU over the top of 7.0.600.381. "Windows Secrets" has also posted instructions for creating a batch file that registers the seven DLLs. While the registration failure and the unsuccessful patch installations aren't directly related to the fact that Microsoft didn't disclose the silent WU updates, Dunn sees it as part of a bigger, and disturbing, picture. "It's part of the whole problem with the silent update, and all part of the pattern of Microsoft's sloppiness," he said. "They're keeping us out of the loop. They're not working well with the IT community." If anyone needed proof that stealth updates are a bad idea, Microsoft's defense of the practice notwithstanding, this is it, said Dunn. "IT needs to test updates for this very reason. It's why companies like to download and test updates before they install to the rest of the network," he said. It's not clear how long WU has prevented post-repair updates, but searches through Microsoft's support newsgroups revealed questions about similar behavior as long ago as June. Responses by other users, including some with Most Valued Professional (MVP) designation -- a honorific Microsoft gives to users who make major contributions to the Windows community -- offered advice much like Dunn's. Several of them pointed users to the support document KB916259. The earliest such postings, however, preceded the silent WU update to version 7.0.600.381. When questioned about the discrepancy, Dunn acknowledged the similarities, but in an e-mail said that the two issues were different. He cited several inconsistencies, including an error message called out in the support document that doesn't appear in his test machines. In fact, Microsoft has updated WU twice since late May: the July-August silent update and a visible update rolled out in June. That update was designed to fix aÂ long-standing problem with Automatic UpdatesÂ in which the PCs' CPUs maxed out at 100 percent. Microsoft was not available for comment early Thursday morning. ComputerworldÂ is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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A typo in an official Microsoft e-mail is being blamed for rumors of an imminent Windows Vista service pack.
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The software maker erroneously posts a note on its developer site saying a "release candidate" version of the Vista service pack was being made available. Microsoft does plan one eventually, but it's not imminent.
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Many computer users prefer to install their operating system "clean" by simply using their old Windows disc to verify they own a copy of the software. However, that appears to no longer be possible using an Upgrade version of Windows Vista.