February 01, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 to manufacturing in the first half of 2008, and subsequently made the service packs available both as standalone downloads and via Windows Update, Microsoft Update and Automatic Updates. Soon enough, there will be nowhere to hide from the final wave of Vista SP1 and XP SP3 that the Redmond company released through its update infrastructure. This because the software giant is gearing up for the expiration of the last barrier standing in the way of automatic downloads and upgrades to SP1 for Windows Vista and to SP3 for Windows XP, namely the Service Pack Blocker Tool.
“The Service Pack Blocker Tool temporarily prevents the installation of a service pack through Windows Update, typically for one year after general availability of the service pack. We are announcing the upcoming expiration dates for the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Windows Vista SP1: April 28, 2009 – Windows XP SP3: May 19, 2009. After April 28th, Windows Vista SP1 will be delivered via Windows Update. And after May 19th, Windows XP SP3 will also be delivered via Windows Update,” revealed Brandon LeBlanc, Windows Communications Manager on the Windows Client Communications Team. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
December 11, 2008 by
Jason On December 9, Microsoft made available for download the last bouquet of security updates for 2008. the company released no less than eight security bulletins, six of them Critical and two rated as Important. Hot on the heels of the last round of patches for the year hitting Windows Update, the December 2008 Security Release ISO Image went live on the Microsoft Download Center. Via the Security Release ISO Image for the current month, the software giant is providing a single package for all the security updates designed for its Windows client and server operating systems, including Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3.
“As far as vulnerability counts go, this is the largest patch release since Microsoft started the ‘Patch Tuesday’ program back in late 2003. The release contains eight bulletins covering 28 vulnerabilities,” Symantec’s Robert Keith revealed.
“Of those issues, 23 are rated ‘Critical’ and affect Word, Outlook, Internet Explorer, Visual Basic ActiveX controls, GDI, Windows Search, and Excel. All of the ‘Critical’ issues this month require some sort of user interaction, whether visiting a Web page that contains malicious content or viewing a malicious file. The remaining issues affect GDI, Windows Search, SharePoint, and Windows Explorer; they range in importance from ‘Important’ to ‘Moderate.’” Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
December 01, 2008 by
Jason Having taken Windows XP to Service Pack 3 in the first half of this year, Microsoft is continuing the evolution of the operating system. In this context, the Redmond company has made available for download the Media Pack update for the N variants of Windows XP SP3. The Media Pack is available through Windows Update, and is designed to integrate exclusively with the Windows XP Home Edition N SP3 and Windows XP Professional N. The other editions of Windows XP SP3 already contain by default the components delivered by the Media Pack.
“Different software programs and Web sites rely on some Windows files that are not included in Windows XP Home Edition N or in Windows XP Professional N. This update makes sure that these software programs and Web sites work correctly,” Microsoft revealed, informing that XP users would have to first install Windows Media Player and Service Pack 3 in order to be able to integrate the Media Pack.
The N versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista have been born as a necessity for Microsoft to comply with an antitrust decision of the European Union. In this regard, the Redmond company is offering in Europe versions of its Windows clients stripped of Windows Media Player. Read More»
Posted in Windows XP | No Comments »
August 2008 has been synonymous with three separate releases of DirectX for a variety of Windows operating systems. The DirectX refreshes are tailored to Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1, but also to Windows Server 2003.
Microsoft made available for download updated versions of the DirectX Software Development Kit, the DirectX End-User Runtimes, as well as the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer. The first two releases have been re-published on the Microsoft Download Center on August 18, 2008, while the last one is available in the same form as when it went live on August 8.
DirectX End-User Runtimes (August 2008) “provides the DirectX end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. The redistributable license agreement covers the terms under which developers may use the Redistributable. This package is localized into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, and English. [...] The DirectX redist installation includes all the latest and previous released DirectX runtime. This includes the bi-monthly D3DX, XInput, and Managed DirectX components,” Microsoft informed. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 5 Comments »
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