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A new report reveals that 250 million Microsoft customer records, spanning 14 years, have been exposed online without password protection. Microsoft has been in the news for, mostly, the wrong reasons recently. There is the Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability that Microsoft hasn't issued a patch for, despite it being actively exploited. That came just days after the U.S. Government issued a critical Windows 10 update now alert concerning the "extraordinarily serious" curveball crypto vulnerability. Now a newly published report, has revealed that 250 million Microsoft customer records, spanning an incredible 14 years in all, have been exposed online in a...

Still using Internet Explorer? Don't. There's another zero-day Microsoft let slip on Friday an advisory detailing an under-attack zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2020-0674) for Internet Explorer. The scripting engine flaw can be exploited to gain remote code execution on a vulnerable machine by way of a specially crafted webpage. The flaw can be mitigated by restricting access to the JavaScript component JScript.dll, and thus far there is no patch available. "Microsoft is aware of this vulnerability and working on a fix," the software giant noted. "Our standard policy is to release security updates on Update Tuesday, the second Tuesday of each...

Deadlines are scary. I know. And Microsoft has thrown Windows 7 users a big one: Update to a more modern operating system by January 15, 2020, or you’ll never receive security updates ever again. Eventually, Microsoft will even start disabling key Windows 7 services—like Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers—throughout the year. I’m being a little lighthearted about this, but Microsoft’s abandonment of Windows 7 is a cause of concern for many. Lifehacker reader Douglas recently wrote in with this question: “I was reading your writeup regarding Windows 7 and I really cannot afford to upgrade at this exact moment. Is...

'Divisive and humiliating' terms are bad as the N-word, uni lecturer argues Labeling super-smart people with terms like nerd, geek, or boffin is hate speech, and should be punishable as such, argues lecturer and Harley-Street psychotherapist Dr Sonja Falck.Likewise wonk, smarty-pants, and know-it-all: these terms are "divisive and humiliating," and the “last taboo,” the University of East London egghead said this week while promoting her new book about brainiacs. Such “anti-IQ” words set society's Einsteins apart, she claimed, with the result that geeks end up “feeling like they’re a misfit and don’t belong.”Calling someone a swot, whizkid, brainbox, smart-arse, or...

'I'm not dead!' insists doomed OS. It will be soon Microsoft unloaded some festive cheer on the last remaining Windows Phone user by apparently extending the life of the doomed platform for another few weeks.Twitter user Longhorn gave a hat-tip to @wenti_man for spotting that the release notes for the very last patch issued to the moribund operating system now show the death rattles extending to 14 January 2020. The support lifecycle pages, however, insist that 10 December remains the end of the road.El Reg, like many others, said our goodbyes to the dusty drawer dwellers last week.The Windows Phone...

Windows struck down at Asda Click & Collect 'Drive Thru' For the latest in The Register's sporadic series of Windows falling over in strange places, we present UK retailer Asda and its borked Click and Collect "Drive Thru" terminal.Snapped by friend of El Reg and bearded rust-botherer Andy Hinks during a misguided attempted to collect six months' worth of groceries, the glorious Blue Screen of Death was beaming its cold light over visitors to the Walmart tentacle's Hollingbury branch in the damp city of Brighton.Because Blade Runner day has now been and gone, and we still can't bark "Enhance" at...

Alongside the announcement of the Surface Duo, Microsoft announced a new version of Windows - Windows 10X - that would power the upcoming dual-screen device. It’s going to look very familiar to Windows 10, but with some tweaks to improve the UI for dual screened devices. Windows 10X is part of Microsoft’s push towards a modular version of Windows 10, so 10X should be regarded as a branch of Windows 10 for dual screened devices, just as there are versions of Windows 10 that branch out to support HoloLens, Surface Hub, and Xbox. This weekend saw reports of a leaked...

Microsoft has released a support bulletin that warns users of a new issue in Windows 10 that could cause Thunderbolt devices to stop working under certain situations.According to the bulletin, this issue is occurring to users running Windows 10, version 1909, 1903, 1809, 1803, or 1709, have Fast Startup enabled, and have multiple devices plugged into a Thunderbolt dock.If these users perform the following steps, it could cause the Thunderbolt devices to no longer work even though they are still listed as operational in Device Manager. You connect the Thunderbolt Dock to the computer. Devices on the Thunderbolt Dock are...

Spices up your life with change to naming conventions Microsoft crossed the streams last night as both the Fast and Slow Rings of the Windows Insider Program synchronised ahead of the final fit and finish of next year's Windows 10.While build 19033 was light on features, as is depressingly the norm with 20H1 these days, that watermark remained absent and, more importantly, the release hit the cautious Slow Ringers as well as the brave folk on the bleeding edge of Fast.And because it wouldn't be Windows without a good few ways of referring to it, 20H1 will also now be...

Users warned not to open email claiming to be from Microsoft concerning a Windows 10 update. Users have been warned not to download a fake Windows 10 update which is actually packed with malware.Security researchers from Trustwave's SpiderLabs have uncovered a new malicious campaign that spoofs an urgent update email from Microsoft to infect user's systems with the Cyborg ransomware.Targeted users first receive an email with either the subject line 'Install Latest Microsoft Windows Update now!' or 'Critical Microsoft Windows Update!' which is already suspicious as Microsoft pushes Windows updates through its operating system and never through emails. Donald Trump...

Absolutely, definitely a complete surprise DYKE-PLUGGING SOFTWARE BORKER Microsoft has done it again.The company released the November 2019 Update to Windows 10 earlier this month and lo and behold, there's a problem.Windows updates have become a running joke since before the legendary Build 1809 debacle which saw the company actively roll back the update. This time, the problem is reasonably fundamental - File Explorer searches are broken in the 1909 build.The more eagle-eyed amongst you will know that one of the few features in this latest update is…. better searching in File Explorer. The idea was that it would gain many of the...

Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade offer still works for many Windows 7 and 8 users. With support for Windows 7 ending in January 2020, Microsoft is encouraging users to upgrade to Windows 10 to keep devices running securely and smoothly. On Microsoft's website, the Windows 10 Home operating system costs $139 to download. However, you don't necessarily have to shell out the cash: A free upgrade offer from Microsoft that technically ended in 2016 still works. When Windows 10 was first released in July 2015, Microsoft offered an unprecedented free upgrade offer for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 users, good...

Windows 7 support lifecycle Microsoft made a commitment to provide 10 years of product support for Windows 7 when it was released on October 22, 2009. When this 10-year period ends, Microsoft will discontinue Windows 7 support so that we can focus our investment on supporting newer technologies and great new experiences. The specific end of support day for Windows 7 will be January 14, 2020. After that, technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC will no longer be available for the product. Microsoft strongly recommends that you move to Windows 10 sometime before...

Each version of Windows 10 adds new features and functionality; occasionally we also remove features and functionality, often because we've added a better option. Below are the details about the features and functionalities that are no longer being developed in Windows 10. For information about features that have been removed, see Features we removed. The features described below are no longer being actively developed, and might be removed in a future update. Some features have been replaced with other features or functionality and some are now available from other sources. The following list is subject to change and might not...

Linux was a 'cancer' but Microsoft is now defending it IBM, Microsoft and the Linux Foundation have partnered with the Open Invention Network (OIN), a company formed to protect Linux from patent threats, to take on "Patent Assertion Entities", also known as patent trolls.Specifically, the group will help fund the Open Source Zone of Unified Patents, an organisation which provides legal services to deter "unsubstantiated or invalid patent assertions".The move had already been flagged at the Open Source Summit in Lyon last month, but the identity of the participating companies was not then known. OIN CEO Keith Bergelt spoke to...

Fourth time in three months when Symantec's antivirus crashes something. For the fourth time in three months, a Symantec security product is crashing user apps, and this time it's the latest Chrome release, v78, which rolled out earlier this week, on Tuesday, October 22.According to reports on Reddit [1, 2] the Google support forums [1, 2], and in comments on the official Google Chrome blog, Symantec Endpoint Protection 14 is crashing Chrome 78 instances with an "Aw, Snap! Something went wrong while displaying this webpage." error, as seen in the screenshot above.Users have been unable to use Chrome 78 at...

It's 2019 and government sites still require Internet Explorer"That's not a browser... THIS IS A BROWSER!" Companies using the Australian Border Force's (ABF) Integrated Cargo System (ICS) are having problems connecting to the portal using Internet Explorer.The issue, which officials attribute to a Windows 10 update on 8 October, has forced some users to roll back the changes in order to connect to the system through the venerable browser.Authorities said: "A change in behaviour of the protocol establishing the security of the connection with ICS is causing authentication failures."An email seen by The Register added that "the ABF have been...

Windows 10 could be better if only Microsoft got rid of its layers of made-men, according to a former Microsoft distinguished engineer. Tired of boring, buggy Windows 10 updates? You can blame them on Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's failure to eliminate the company's legacy of appointing "made-men".

Microsoft has emerged victorious in a dramatic competition for public cloud resources for the U.S. Defense Department, beating out market leader Amazon Web Services, the Pentagon said on Friday. The contract could be worth as much as $10 billion over a decade, according to a statement. Microsoft stock rose as much as 3% in extended trading after the announcement, and Amazon stock dipped less than 1% (Please see full article at the link)

MICROSOFT HAS HAD A MIXED MONTH in terms of market share, as we dive into the murky world of Netmarketshare's figures for September. Windows 10 is the big winner (as you'd hope). In terms of desktop/laptop users, it's now comfortably over the halfway line, with 52.38 per cent of the market (+1.39). With less than four months until it reaches end of life, Windows 7 still remains a major force, though it continues to drop. It now stands at 28.17 (-2.17). Lesser versions of Windows continue to chug along - Windows 8.x now stands at 4.1 per cent (-0.73) of...