The World of Windows

Today Microsoft announced that it has reached a “cooperation agreement” with ValueAct Capital, an investment company that had been a thorn in its side. It was said that ValueAct wanted a seat on Microsoft’s board. Instead, Microsoft and ValueAct have come to a different agreement, in which the president of ValueAct – Mason Morfit – and Microsoft directors will meet to talk over issues relating to the company. Morfit will also be given a chance at joining the board, after the company’s annual shareholder meeting. ValueAct owns 0.8% of Microsoft’s outstanding shares. It’s a hefty investment, one that is large enough for the investor to command the attention of the company’s board. It was said following Microsoft CEO’s Steve Ballmer’s promise to step down within the next 12 months that ValueAct and its pressure on the company was key to his removal. It is not clear if that is the case, or pressure resulting from a massive $900 million Surface writedown, or the ensuing market she...

Negotiations between big tech companies and the government to disclose their cooperation have broken down. Things may change today. In a blog entry by Microsoft General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs Brad Smith , the company explained how negotiations with the government over permission "…to publish sufficient data relating to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders" have faltered. Both Microsoft and Google will proceed with litigation to seek permission from the FISA court . Ever since the public disclosure of the NSA's surveillance programs by former contractor Edward Snowden, Microsoft, Google and many other companies have called on the government to allow them to disclose the extent of their cooperation so that customers and foreign governments can make informed decisions about the trustworthiness of the companies' services. Smith says in the blog that both Microsoft and Google filed suit in June for permiss...

I am a long time Windows user, I've worked on every Windows OS ever since 3.11. When Windows 8 was officially released, I immediately bought it and upgraded my existing 7 Installation. I was prepared for the worst..made a back-up, copied everything to external HDD's, nothing could go wrong, but I was still worried. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised. The upgrade process was extremely smooth, fast and easy. It finished within 30 minutes and after the introduction to Windows 8, I was greeted by the heavily criticized Start Menu. I went to desktop mode to check if all drivers survived the upgrade process and they all did. No driver-problems at all. I noticed that this OS felt smoother and faster than 7. It took me about an hour to figure out all the new stuff and after I had gotten used to everything, I was very happy with my new fully functional OS.   I am starting to believe that I'm one of the few people around who actually have had this experience. There is so much ...

In light of recent events, you have to wonder where your data is really going every time you pull the phone of of your pocket and type your deepest, darkest secrets into it. Even with encrypted connections, a third party could access all the data if they managed to surreptitiously snatch the encryption key. Then there’s the concern that encryption as we know it isn’t as secure as we once thought. A shining beacon of hope that would allow us to reclaim our mobile privacy may be coming as a result of a breakthrough in quantum cryptography. Traditionally, quantum cryptography has been extremely difficult to get working, even in advanced quantum optics labs. To create a secure quantum encryption connection, two systems must be perfectly aligned in the same general vicinity. The two devices can then precisely modulate individual photons to communicate a quantum encryption key. This is not unlike conventional encryption keys, except that (as far as we know) it is impossible to inter...

Microsoft has confirmed that the final build of Windows 8.1 has been released to manufacturing (RTM), ready for the October 18 release of dozens of Windows 8.1-powered laptops, desktops, and tablets. Historically, the RTM is released to OEMs when the operating system is completely finished — for Windows 8.1, though, Microsoft has redefined the phrase to mean “it’s still buggy and unfinished, but we need to give it to our OEMs otherwise we’ll fall behind schedule.” As a result, MSDN and TechNet subscribers — developers, IT admins, and enthusiasts — will not get access to Windows 8.1 until it’s released to consumers. This will come as a deeply worrying shock to developers, who are now hamstrung in their development of apps that take advantage of Windows 8.1′s new features. Writing on Blogging Windows , Microsoft’s Antoine Leblond explains that Windows 8.1 isn’t being released to developers because “times have changed.” He euphemistically goes on to add, “We will continue to work clos...

Step 1 Open the Network & Sharing Center by either clicking on your network icon in the Notification Area and clicking Open Network and Sharing Center (1), typing network in the start search box (2) or through the Control Panel (3). (1) (2) (3) Step 2 Once Network & Sharing Center is open, in the left hand pane, click on Change adapter settings. Step 3 Right click your network adapter and choose Properties (if you get a UAC prompt, accept ). Step 4 In the following window, under “This connection uses the following items”, click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties . Step 5 Under the General tab check the Use the following DNS server addresses radio button, and enter your prefered DNS server address, in the guide we’ll be using Google’s DNS server address which is 8.8.8.8 /8.8.4.4 Make sure that Validate settings upon exit is also checked and hit OK. Windows Network Diagnostics wi...