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The software maker is warning customers that tools designed to prevent automatic installation of service packs are nearing expiration. Microsoft wants users of its Windows operating systems to move to upgraded versions of the software, so it's killing a tool that prevents upgrades from automatically self-installing. "I have some important information for those of you who have installed the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows XP or Windows Vista," wrote Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's in-house Windows blogger, in a Friday post. "The Service Pack Blocker Tool temporarily prevents the installation of a service pack through Windows Update, typically for one year...

For those of you running Vista, and have not set their systems to automatically download updates, I may have some good news for you. Today, my system DLed the SP1 for Vista, (It's large), and after installing and rebooting, many programs that opened/ran sluggishly, now start and perform, the way one would expect they'd run on a less than 1 yr old PC with 2 gigs of RAM.

Excerpt - The tip, incredible. The source, ironclad. Microsoft has apparently told executives at one of the world's largest PC makers not to expect a formal release of Windows Vista SP1 -- the first major set of upgrades and bug fixes to its Vista operating system -- until 2009 at the earliest. That explains why Microsoft was so desperate to correct erroneous reports, spread by a careless team of developers at Microsoft, that a beta version of SP1 would be out last week. Microsoft now says it "currently anticipates" a beta of SP1 later this year. Anticipations, of course, are...

The update for Windows XP makes a long list of programs appear to stop working, including Microsoft's own SQL and Visual Studio .Net Microsoft has published the details of more than 40 programs that have conflicts with the newly released Windows XP SP2. The list includes several widely used Microsoft products including SQL, Visual Studio .Net, and SMS 2003 Server. The list can be found under the heading "Some programs that seem to stop working when you install Windows XP Service Pack 2" on Microsoft's website. XP SP2 has also created problems with Symantec's Antivirus Corporate Edition 8.0, MacAfee's...

The code for release candidate 2 finally looks like a real release candidate. And sure enough, it will help you big-time with security. But what sorts of headaches will the eventual final version mean for IT shops? We'll take it piece by piece. Remember when Microsoft said service packs wouldn't deliver any new functionality? That lasted for about six months back in 1997. Windows XP Service Pack 2 is jammed-packed with both invisible and visible improvements to Windows XP. The biggest boon is that the free update, which will probably ship some time in September, does in fact make Windows...

I hadn’t heard anything via the news today, but the DIS (Department of Information Services) the department responsible for upkeep of the state’s computer systems (Government, Schools, etc.) instructed all schools statewide that all computers, including workstations, servers, etc. MUST be shut down at the end of the school day today (Friday 4/16/2004). This is to apply to ALL computers tied in with the state network. The reason? An unmanageable number of viruses and an attack by hackers (probably allowed in via the email worms infecting the system). The network is suppose to be completely down through 8:00 AM Monday...