Microsoft's Desktop Optimization Pack gets Win 8.1 management tools

The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) suite of IT management tools has been updated with support for Windows 8.1 device and application management and Office 2013 virtualization. MDOP 2013 R2, released on Monday, lets IT administrators manage BitLocker in Windows 8.1 using version 2.0 SP1 of Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) and manage Group Policy with version 4.0 SP2 of Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM). The suite's Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) also can be used now with Windows 8.1, a major update to Windows 8 that became available in mid-October. The suite also includes Version 5.0 SP2 of the App-V virtualization tool, which has an Office Deployment Tool for Office 2013 virtualization. App-V is designed to let IT departments store applications on a central server and stream them on demand to multiple user devices. Office 2013 is the most recent version of Microsoft's ubiquitous suite of desktop productivity applications. More support for Windows 8.1 device management is found in version 2.0 of MDOP's User Experience Virtualization (UE-V), which is designed to establish user preferences and settings in a central server so they can be automatically applied to the multiple devices a user employs. With it, applications don't need to be reconfigured manually in each device. UE-V 2.0 now also lets IT administrators control how users apply the settings of Windows Store applications in their various devices. Windows Store apps are those written specifically for Windows 8. MDOP 2013 R2 is available now for download for Volume Licensing, Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet subscribers. Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general download nimbuzz windows mobile skype download tux racer linux rpm red hat download adobe flash player for my pc download large text file reader download best selling books 2011 download blackberry app world uk download facebook password hacker v3 0 download vmware vsphere client 4.1 download windows 7 crack removewat 2 2 5 hazar download flash player for hp ipaq

As sale to Microsoft closes, here's a salute to Nokia most iconic phones

Nokia's shareholders on Tuesday voted to approve Microsoft's acquisition of the company's Nokia's Devices & Services business. The deal marks the end of an era that has produced many iconic phones. Nokia 2110 The Nokia 2110 arrived in 1994 and came with new features such as the ability to send text messages. The Nokia 2110 arrived in 1994, and was arguably the most iconic mobile phone of its era. It certainly provided the DNA for all the candy bar phones that followed, said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight. The hardware cemented the keypad layout, with the "send" and "end" keys easily accessible and buttons to select the soft keys displayed on the screen. The software offered a logical way to navigate through menu options and also introduced new features such as the ability to send text messages, he said. Nokia Communicator 9000 "The Communicator 9000 combines a GSM phone with applications like fax, e-mail, short messaging and Internet access. It also includes the most useful organizer functions; a calendar, an address book and a calculator. The Nokia Communicator 9000 was a phone on the outside and a handheld computer on the inside. All of this is available in a sophisticated, pocket-sized unit," Nokia said when the device was launched in 1996. The device was a brick at 397 grams, but a phone that could be opened to reveal a handheld computer was a big step. "I remember how amazed we all were when we started hearing rumors about a phone 'that opens and has a computer inside it' after Nokia had given a private showing at a VIP event at the Austrian ski resort of Zell am See. It is easy to look at it now and make jokes about its size and weight, but this was one of the first mass-market smartphones," Wood said. The Nokia 7650 was the first Symbian S60-based smartphone. Nokia 7650 The 7650 was launched in 2002 and was the first Symbian Series 60 smartphone from Nokia. It was also the first mainstream handset to feature both a digital camera (with a 0.3-megapixel resolution) and MMS picture messaging, according to Nokia. It set the benchmark for rival smartphone efforts and initiated a long line of Symbian products that at their peak dominated the smartphone market, according to Wood. Nokia N95 The Nokia N95 came with a 5-megapixel camera and GPS. The N95 was the pinnacle of Nokia's smartphone efforts in the pre-Windows Phone era. It was announced in September 2006 under the banner "It's what computers have become." For 550 euros (US$743) users got a phone with a 5-megapixel camera, GPS and a 2.6-inch screen. However, Nokia had become too cocky and like many other companies it underestimated the threat from Apple's iPhone, which was released just a couple of months after the N95 started shipping. "Looking back, the N95 and its successor, the N95 8GB, marked the point that Nokia lost its way. Although Nokia's market share peaked at a staggering 40 percent in the following year, the devices that followed, the N96 and the truly awful N97, were the start of the downward spiral," Wood said. Lumia 1020 The Lumia 1020 and its 41-megapixel sensor have helped increase interest for Windows Phone. Nokia may have lost the smartphone battle, but the company went out with a bang. It's the cheap Lumia 520 that has helped increase sales, but the Lumia 1020 and its 41-megapixel sensor have helped raise the profile of the Lumia family and Windows Phone. "This is probably the phone people will remember as the last iconic product from Nokia before it becomes part of Microsoft. I'd argue it has also contributed to the recent uptick in Nokia's market share, albeit as a 'halo' product that helped sales of cheaper Lumia devices in the range," Wood said. download yahoo messenger on nokia e71 download flash player in blackberry download symantec pgp desktop trial download top spin 4 for pc download angry birds season full version 2012 download 7th heaven season 7 episode guide download angry birds wreck the halls symbian download windows 7 full version for xp download me against myself jay sean download angels and fairies screensaver

Google to warn users of 13,000 search terms associated with child porn

Google will display warnings above the search results for 13,000 terms it believes are associated with more explicit child sexual abuse terms, it announced Monday. Microsoft said it will take similar action on its Bing search engine and on Yahoo searches powered by Bing. The two companies are acting at the request of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, although a Google spokesman said the changes will affect searches worldwide, not just in the U.K. The moves were criticized by online rights campaigners, who said the measures were more about preventing damage to the companies' reputations and would not be effective in protecting children. In July, Cameron called on Google and Microsoft, which together cover 95% of the search market in the U.K., to block results for certain searches to make sure that no illegal content or pathways to illegal content were returned. The U.K.'s Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP) provided the search engines with a list of terms it said were unambiguously used by those looking for child abuse images online, Cameron's office said in a news release. When people search Google with a term linked to child abuse, clear warning messages from Google and child safety organizations are displayed explaining the consequences of their actions and pointing them toward expert help, the company said. Google also introduced changes to prevent content such as images and peer-to-peer links to child abuse material from appearing for more than 100,000 unique searches associated with child sexual abuse terms, it said. It also developed and agreed to share a new technology that allows copies of videos of child abuse to be identified and removed, it said The video identification system is similar to Microsoft's PhotoDNA, which associates unique identifiers with still pictures, allowing child abuse images to be identified and removed from online services. Microsoft will help design a new U.K. national image database that will use PhotoDNA identifiers to track and take down images, it said in a news release. Microsoft too will display warning messages when certain search terms are used on its Bing search engine, or for Yahoo searches powered by Bing, it said. Google and Microsoft will collaborate with CEOP, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the U.K. government. The companies, CEOP and IWF will also take part in a joint work program to help prevent sharing of child sexual abuse content via torrents, they said. The goal is to establish a new reporting process to remove peer-to-peer links to child sexual abuse. "These measures will have a significant impact on our ability to tackle child abuse imagery online," said IWF in a statement. CEOP and IWF declined to comment on the matter until after their meeting with Cameron on Monday. download plants vs zombies play online y8 download call me when you are sober download java runtime environment 6.0 download rate my professor oakland university download stream torrent 1.0 build 0077 download uc browser mobile apps download logitech quickcam sphere af download math problem solving software download flash player for firefox 5 download image analys version arcview 3x extension

Microsoft ends Windows 7 retail sales

Microsoft has quietly ended retail sales of Windows 7, according to a notice on its website. The company's policies for shutting off sales to retailers and shipping licenses to OEMS (original equipment manufacturers) are posted on its site, which was recently updated to show that Windows 7's "retail end of sales" date was Oct. 30. The next deadline, marked as "End of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled," will be Oct. 30, 2014, less than a year away. Microsoft's practice, first defined in 2010, is to stop selling an older operating system in retail one year after the launch of its successor, and halt delivery of the previous Windows edition to OEMs two years after a new version launches. The company shipped Windows 8, Windows 7's replacement, in October 2012. As recently as late September, the last time Computerworld cited the online resource, Microsoft had not filled in the deadlines for Windows 7. At the time, Computerworld said that the end-of-October dates were the most likely. A check of Microsoft's own online store showed that the company has pulled Windows 7 from those virtual shelves. In practical terms, the end-of-retail-sales date has been an artificial and largely meaningless deadline, as online retailers have continued to sell packaged copies, sometimes for years, by restocking through distributors which squirreled away older editions. Today, for example, Amazon.com had a plentiful supply of various versions of Windows 7 available to ship, as did technology specialist Newegg.com. The former also listed copies of Windows Vista and even Windows XP for sale through partners. Microsoft also makes a special exception for retail sales, telling customers that between the first and second end-of-sale deadlines they can purchase Windows 7 from computer makers. "When the retail software product reaches its end of sales date, it can still be purchased through OEMs (the company that made your PC) until it reaches the end of sales date for PCs with Windows preinstalled," the company's website stated. The firmer deadline is the second, the one for offering licenses to OEMs. According to Microsoft, it "will continue to allow OEMs to sell PCs preinstalled with the previous version for up to two years after the launch date of the new version" (emphasis added). After that date, Microsoft shuts off the spigot, more or less, although OEMs, especially smaller "white box" builders, can and often do stockpile licenses prior to the cut-off. But officially, the major PC vendors -- like Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo -- will discontinue most Windows 7 PC sales in October 2014, making Windows 8 and its follow-ups, including Windows 8.1, the default. Even then, however, there are ways to circumvent the shut-down. Windows 8 Pro, the more expensive of the two public editions, includes "downgrade" rights that allow PC owners to legally install an older OS. OEMs and system builders can also use downgrade rights to sell a Windows 8- or Windows 8.1-licensed system, but factory-downgrade it to Windows 7 Professional before it ships. Enterprises with volume license agreements are not at risk of losing access to Windows 7, as they are granted downgrade rights as part of those agreements. In other words, while Microsoft may try to stymie Windows 7 sales, the 2009 operating system will long remain a standard. download windows vista ultimate service pack 2 download windows 7 desktop screensaver download descargar el juego plantas vs zombies softonic download 930 club dc schedule download image editor for windows 7 download adobe photoshop elements 9 gratis download im+ pro for blackberry download of software of utorrent

Microsoft to encrypt services, notify users of gov't data requests

Microsoft moved to reassure business and government customers worldwide that it is committed to informing them of legal orders related to their data, and will fight in court any 'gag order' that prevents it from sharing such information with customers. The company also plans to encrypt customers' information moving between its data centers, with plans to complete the project by the end of 2014. The Redmond, Washington, software and Internet services company is responding to concerns in the U.S. and other countries about government surveillance, particularly after revelations by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, that the agency is engaged in dragnet surveillance of email, phone records, and mobile location data of people in the U.S and abroad. The NSA also taps into communications links between Google and Yahoo's data centers worldwide, according to a report. Both Google and Yahoo have announced that they are strengthening encryption on their services. Yahoo said last month it will encrypt all information that moves between its data centers by the end of the first quarter of next year. It announced earlier that it would roll out SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption with a 2048-bit key across its network by Jan. 8. In a blog post late Wednesday, Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel and executive vice president of legal and corporate affairs, wrote that the company shared customers' concerns about government surveillance of the Internet. "That's why we are taking steps to ensure governments use legal process rather than technological brute force to access customer data," he added. Microsoft plans to take new steps to reinforce legal protections for its customers' data, including committing to notifying business and government customers if it receives legal orders related to their data. "Where a gag order attempts to prohibit us from doing this, we will challenge it in court," Smith wrote. "We've done this successfully in the past, and we will continue to do so in the future to preserve our ability to alert customers when governments seek to obtain their data." Microsoft said that except in the most limited circumstances, government agencies could approach business and government customers directly for information or data about one of their employees, just as they did before customers moved to the cloud. "And when those limited circumstances arise, courts should have the opportunity to review the question and issue a decision," it added. The company said it would use best-in-class cryptography, including Perfect Forward Secrecy and 2048-bit key lengths, to encrypt by default customer content moving between Microsoft and customers. "All of our key platform, productivity and communications services will encrypt customer content as it moves between our data centers," Smith wrote. Microsoft is also in talks with other service providers to ensure that data, like email, traveling between service providers is protected. Perfect Forward Secrecy makes it difficult to decrypt data at a later date, even if the secret key is available. download duplicate file finder and remover v7.0 download flash player terbaru for windows 7 download driver san francisco demo pc telecharger download adobe photoshop lightroom 5 download yahoo news unique visitors download check disk utility windows xp download awesome screenshot chrome extension download flash player for lg mobile phones download yahoo messenger for windows 7 ultimate 32 bit download itunes wont on windows 7 64-bit

Microsoft's Patch Tuesday reinforces the value of software upgrades

The latest round of monthly patches from Microsoft illustrates the need for organizations to move from older versions of Microsoft software if they haven't done so already. "The load of the risk is on older software versions," said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer for security firm Qualys, about this round of Microsoft software patches. Overall, Microsoft's Patch Tuesday for December addressed a total of 24 vulnerabilities with 11 security bulletins. The bulletins cover Microsoft Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, Exchange, Office365, Visual Studio, and SharePoint. Microsoft rated five of these bulletins as critical, meaning that the patches they contain should be applied as soon as possible. Perhaps the set of critical patches that should be applied first is MS13-096, which addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft's GDI+ library for parsing TIFF image files. It is already being exploited by attackers. The vulnerability affects mainly older Microsoft software, including Windows Vista, Office 2003, Office 2007 and Office 2010. It is already being used in targeted attacks in the Middle East and Asia. Kandek noted that newer software tends to have fewer vulnerabilities than older software. "The newer software versions just have more security features. Windows 8.1 has more security features that Windows 8 which has more than Windows 7, which has many more than Windows XP," he said. "Even if you are fully patched with Windows XP, you are running more of a risk than with a fully patched Windows 7 installation," Kandek said. As an example, Kandek noted there has another zero-day vulnerability in the Windows XP kernel that this month's patch cycle has not addressed. A zero day vulnerability means that exploits have already been crafted that take advantage of a software flaw. In this case, an attacker can send the user a maliciously crafted PDF file that, when opened, can deposit code in the computer's memory that grants another user administrative access. Microsoft offers a work-around for this problem. Qualys estimated that 15 percent of enterprise users are still running Windows XP. Though the percentage of XP users is rapidly declining, Kandek doubted that everyone will be off the OS by April 2014, when Microsoft will cease issuing security patches for Windows XP. "After April, these machines will be very quickly be easy targets," Kandek said. Another critical set of patches come under the security bulletin MS13-097, which affects Internet Explorer. The bulletin indicated that these vulnerabilities are easy to exploit, such as by using a maliciously crafted webpage. The third critical bulletin, MS13-105 addresses a number of flaws in Outlook Web Access that an attacker could use to gain access to Microsoft Exchange server by tricking the user into opening a documents with embedded malicious code. download utorrent english movies 2011 download facebook messenger for nokia asha 311 download naruto shippuuden dairansen kage bunshin emaki download putty connection manager windows 7 download hindi mobile video songs mp4 download avast internet security 5.1.889 download photoshop cs4 portable full version download playback alice maciel todo poderoso download yahoo messenger chat room software download kasthooriman malayalam movie songs