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More Windows End-Of-Life News
by Arie Slob
Hello Windows users,
I wrote in last month's Newsletter about the End-Of-Life for Windows 98 / 98SE and Me, and noted that "End-Of-Life (EOL) for these operating systems mean that any vulnerability discovered after this date will go unpatched. Specifically company IT departments should assume that every Windows 9x system in their network will be compromised. This means you'll have to upgrade."
Well, that's already the case now. With the June security update cycle came a message from Microsoft that a security vulnerability first addressed in the April 2006 security bulletin would not be patched for Windows 98 / 98SE and Me. Microsoft writes: "The Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (ME) Windows Explorer architecture is much less robust than the more recent Windows architectures. Due to these fundamental differences, after extensive investigation, Microsoft has found that it is not feasible to make the extensive changes necessary to Windows Explorer on Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (ME) to eliminate the vulnerability. To do so would require reengineer a significant amount of a critical core component of the operating system. After such a reengineering effort, there would be no assurance that applications designed to run on these platforms would continue to operate on the updated system."
If you want to read the full details, check out this Microsoft Security Bulletin (read under Frequently asked questions (FAQ) related to this security update).
This shows that its time people retire their old systems running Windows 98 / 98SE and Me. Again I'd say that if you have these systems connected to a network or Internet, they should be replaced as-soon-as-possible.
Microsoft Reminds of the End of XP SP1 Support
This week, Microsoft send a reminder to its solution providers that it will be ending support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) on October 10, 2006. After this date, customers still running on SP1 will find themselves stranded without any further security updates. SP2 was released on September 17, 2004, so there's no excuse not to run it.
Microsoft Security
Microsoft Windows Security Bulletin Summary for June, 2006
The security update for June 2006 includes six fixes for Microsoft Windows, two for Internet Explorer and one for Windows Media Player.
Severity Rating: Critical
Severity Rating: Important
Severity Rating: Moderate
Recent Support BBS Postings
Bill Gates Announces "Retirement" from Microsoft
 At a news conference June 15th, Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft, announced that effective July 2008 he will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Microsoft announced a two-year transition process to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates' daily responsibilities, and said that after July 2008 Gates would continue to serve as the company's chairman and an advisor on key development projects.
A few Microsoft senior executives are being repositioned in response to Gates's eventual departure. Ray Ozzie will become Microsoft's chief software architect, and Craig Mundie will become the new chief research and strategy officer, both effective immediately.
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Highlights
Windows Vista Beta 2 Review
Earlier this month Microsoft released Windows Vista Beta 2 to the public. Here is the first part of my Beta 2 review, which includes Installation and Configuration and a first look at the Windows Vista User Interface.
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Windows Live TM Messenger 8.0
Windows Live TM Messenger is the next-generation MSN Messenger. It has everything you already love about Messenger and now introduces new ways to connect and share photos and documents effortlessly. As always, it's free to download Messenger and use most of its features.
Supported Operating System: Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista; Windows XP; Windows XP 64-bit
Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (897338)
This update contains the following new language locales for Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2):
Supported Operating System: Windows XP Service Pack 2
Latest Microsoft & Windows News from around the Internet
Microsoft Releases June Malicious Software Removal Tool
Microsoft has updated the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool to help remove specific, prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows 2000.
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