Vista Can Be Taken Down by an Animated Cursor
In what could be the most embarrassing exploit to impact Windows Vista since its commercial launch in January, security engineers at McAfee's Avert Labs confirmed today - and posted the video to prove - that the operating system can be caused to enter an interminable crash-restart-crash loop, by means of a buffer overflow triggered by nothing more than a malformed animated cursor file.
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30.3.2007 Windows Vista Custom PC Design
Microsoft and Dell recently partnered up to create a super-cool custom PC in celebration of Microsoft releasing Windows Vista to manufacturing earlier this month.
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21.11.2006 How To Make a Custom Vista Disc AIO
odeeee report How To
Make a Custom Vista Disc All In One in our forum.
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26.1.2007 Lessons learned from the Animated Cursor Security Bug
A core tenet of the SDL is to take and incorporate lessons learned when we issue a security update, and there is a great deal to learn from the recent animated cursor bug,
MS07-017, so I want to spend a few minutes to go over some of the things we have learned from this bug.
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28.4.2007 How to: Create custom wallpaper collections in Windows 7
Do you love customizing your Windows desktop? If you do, you'll love this trick!
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28.7.2009 Windows Live Custom Domains - Free Email Hosting
A new service was added to the Windows Live Beta family today - Windows Live Custom Domains. The basic idea is that anyone with a domain can now point their MX record to the Live servers. What that means is that users can have Microsoft's servers hosting their own domain's email accounts for free.
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20.11.2005 Custom PC makers finally get Windows 7 preinstallation kit
On October 12, Microsoft provided system builders with the Windows 7 OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) tools and related documentation they need to preload and customize Windows 7 on multiple new PCs.
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13.10.2009 Over 10 Million Custom XP Downloads Get Chinese Pirates Jail Sentences
Chinese authorities cracked down on a group of four software pirates for offering a custom-built copy of Windows XP, which was downloaded in excess of 10 million times.
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24.8.2009 How to Install Vista Language Packs MUI on all versions of Vista + video tutorial
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, and Vista Business versions of the Microsoft licensing restrictions can only preserve a language!
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23.9.2008 The Vista Built-in Super Administrator Account Has Survived in Vista SP1
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is designed to evolve the RTM version of the latest Windows client from Microsoft, made available in November 2006 to business customers, and in January 2007 to the general consumers.
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15.2.2008 Vista SP1 Is Out, XP SP3 Old News, the Pink Edition of Vista Is In
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is now nothing more than water under the bridge, now that the service pack was released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, shipping to general users on March 18.
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27.3.2008 Tell Hasta la Vista to XP - Time to Upgrade to Vista SP1
Like it or not, this is the right time not only to upgrade to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 but also to tell hasta la vista to Windows XP.
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30.6.2008 Instant Change Vista Product ID with Vista ProductID Changer
In past we have reviewed number of application to recover product key like Product Key Finder, WinGuggle, Windows product Key Finder.
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1.11.2009 Vista SP1 RC1 Flies Past Vista RTM and Windows XP SP2
Despite the fact that Microsoft has expressed its official position regarding testing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 ahead of its finalization, there is simply too much of a hunger for the service pack.
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27.12.2007 Vista SP1 Won't Resolve the 4 GB RAM Limitation of 32-bit Windows Vista
32-bit Windows operating systems, and Windows Vista makes no exception whatsoever to this rule, are limited in terms of the amount of system memory that can be addressed to no more than 4 GB.
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4.1.2008 Vista Loader 2.1.3 - Windows Vista Activator 2008 Support SP1 with No Boot String
Vista Loader is one of the most successful Vista activation crack available to date, second only to physical modify (hardmod) the BIOS to include SLIC table to make BIOS Vista activation-compliant.
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15.5.2008 x64 Vista SP2 JPG Rendering Performance Inferior to x86 Vista SP2's
The JPG rendering process on 64-bit flavors of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is inferior to that on the 32-bit variants of the operating system.
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10.6.2009 Microsoft to Kill the Grace Timer and OEM BIOS Windows Vista Cracks with Vista SP1
With the advent of Windows Vista, cracks also became available being designed to bypass the activation process of the operating system.
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4.12.2007 New Vista OEM Activation Hack - Vista Boot by gkend
Thanks to Steve Jobs for this article on his blog and to our forum members to clecha, Nighthief and fitterphil120 for most of the findings. One again the “Chinese” come up with a new method to trick out the Vista Activation. We have seen Softmode and VistaLoader, however “ Vista Boot by gkend” does promise even more.
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21.5.2007 Windows Vista on Super Nintendo, As Real As Vista on PSP
We're puzzled and confused... How can a console that's at least ten times less powerful than the acclaimed PSP cope with Windows Vista's requirements?
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15.8.2007 Vista RTM vs. Vista SP1 - Office 2007 benchmarking
Enough with benchmarking the OS - let’s see if Office 2007 is any faster on Vista SP1.
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26.2.2008 Microsoft Says Vista SP1 Needs to Speak the Same Language as Vista RTM
Microsoft says that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 needs to speak the same language as the RTM version of the latest Windows client. Otherwise there's no game.
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2.4.2008 Vista SP1 to Cure the Vista RTM Wow Hangover
When Windows Vista was unleashed in January 31, 2008, Microsoft was promising performance, security, innovation, all wrapped up under an umbrella of a Wow user experience.
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11.4.2008 Vista-For-Free coupon with Vista ready PC's
Microsoft and the world's leading PC vendors have reached an agreement to promote the long-awaited Vista OS by offering PC buyers worldwide a free upgrade coupon, as a way of encouraging them to buy a Vista-capable PC as early as possible, according to market sources, citing information leaked from Taiwan-based PC makers.
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11.10.2006 Can Vista SP1 help polish Vista’s tarnished image?
Call it complaining. Call it whining. The end result is the same: Windows Vista’s image is tarnished. And it’s corroding more and more rapidly as the weeks are going on. Thanks to pacpis for this news.
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21.8.2007 Vista SP1 Features the Same Sins as Windows Vista
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 comes with the same sins as Windows Vista. The service pack is not even out the door, and is already putting users at risk.
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16.1.2008 Will Vista SP1 Go Where Vista Never Went? Even with XP SP3 and Windows 7?
Throughout 2007, it became painfully clear to Microsoft that the main competitor for Windows Vista was not Apple's Mac OS X or even the open source Linux operating system but Windows XP, and, in fact, specifically XP SP2.
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1.3.2008 New Vista AutoPatcher - Vista update toolkit Alpha
Vista Update Toolkit Alpha (Windows Vista Updates Downloader) is a FREE program which downloads updates directly from Microsoft. All files are very useful with vLite!
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26.9.2008 Vista SP1 – Microsoft Could Not Have Given Less – Vista SP2 Anyone?
Microsoft had the chance to position the first service pack for Windows Vista as a panacea for the operating system, giving the platform nothing less than a fresh start and another take at the Wow.
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3.10.2007 Vista SP1 Rolling Over for Vista SP2
Vista SP1 did not do the trick for your RTM copy of the operating system? While such a scenario is highly unlikely, Microsoft is getting closer and closer to taking Windows Vista to the next level, again.
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7.12.2008Vista Can Be Taken Down by an Animated Cursor
In what could be the most
embarrassing exploit to impact
Windows Vista since its
commercial launch in January,
security engineers at
McAfee's Avert Labs confirmed
today that the operating
system can be caused to enter
an interminable
crash-restart-crash loop, by
means of a buffer overflow
triggered by nothing more than
a malformed animated cursor
file...
betanews.com -
30.03.2007Vista RTM to include animated wallpapers!
The most recent in a series of
rumors about what was
previously called Desktop
Aurora says that the
long-awaited animated desktop
wallpapers would appear in
Windows Vista's final release
under the name "Motion
Desktop", but Aurora
wouldn't be the only animated
wallpaper to be included with
the operating system, but
there would rather be three
different ones.
While Aurora is obvious, an
animated cherry blossom tree
would also be part of it,
along with another one that's
still unknown as of yet.
The versions of Vista
that will include the new
wallpapers are currently
unknown, along with the
customizability degree for the
user.
jcxp.net -
09.10.2006DeskScapes 2.0 Preview Available
Stardock is pleased to announce that the DeskScapes 2.0 preview version is now available. DeskScapes allows users of Windows Vista to have animated
wallpapers on their desktop. It runs the Stardock created .DREAM format which can contain videos as animated wallpapers or dynamically generated
content.
What makes DeskScapes special is that animated wallpapers can be run that use hardly any system resources (obviously
this will depend on what animated wallpaper is chosen). It integrates seamlessly with the Windows Vista desktop background dialog so picking animated
wallpapers is much the same as picking any other desktop wallpaper.
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13.03.2008Exploit for latest Windows vulnerability already animated
A vulnerability in the way
Windows handles animated
cursors puts users at risk of
being pwnd, and several
nefarious websites are already
trying to exploit the flaw,
according to the SANS Internet
Storm Center.
The
flaw is present on virtually
the entire line of Windows
OSes, including Vista, which
has been held up as Redmond's
poster child for safe
computing. According to
McAfee, Windows users browsing
malicious sites using IE
versions 6 or 7 risk having
arbitrary code run on their
machines. Those using Firefox
are not vulnerable. Microsoft
said in an advisory that it is
investigating reports of the
flaw.
neowin.net -
30.03.2007DeskScapes 2.0 Final Released
Animated wallpaper is now available to all users of Windows Vista as Stardock has released DeskScapes 2.0 today on
www.stardock.com. DeskScapes allows users to display video as well as dynamic content on the
Windows Vista desktop.
DeskScapes 1.0 was released in conjunction with Windows Vista Ultimate, but Stardocks DeskScapes 2.0 adds
support for all versions of Windows Vista. The free edition includes several animated wallpapers to show off what is possible; the premium edition is
priced at $19.95 and supports adding third-party animated wallpaper (hundreds are available) and includes additional premium content.
winbeta.org -
06.05.2008GUI Championship voting: Animated wallpaper
The semi-annual GUI design contest, GUI Championships has begun user voting on the best entries for animated wallpapers. Animated wallpapers are
quite a challenge to design properly. A good one should use little CPU, not be distracting, and still look as good as a static wallpaper. This
year's entries come from around the world and the categories are most original and most usable. View: GUI Championships website View:
Brad's write-up on the entries
Read
full story.....
neowin.net -
25.11.2008Animated wallpapers no longer just for the Vista elite
Animated
wallpapers have been one of the “Extras” that Microsoft has touted as a selling point for customers of its priciest Windows Vista SKU.
But now Stardock is bringing animated wallpapers to the Vista masses.
Stardock, a Gold Certified Microsoft partner, worked with Microsoft on DreamScene — a desktop-display feature that
allows users to make looped, full-motion video their desktop wallpaper (as opposed to using static images only for background wallpaper). After a
number of delays,
Microsoft finally released DreamScene in September 2007.
Stardock helped to create much of the initial
wallpaper content for DreamScene and then went on to release DeskScapes 1.0 for Vista Ultimate users interested in enhancing DreamScene. With
DeskScapes 2.0, Stardock has decided to make animated wallpapers avaialble to users of Vista Business, Home Premium and Ultimate users. The Standard
edition of the product will be available as a free download; an enhanced version with additional features and “premium” content also will
be availbale for $19.95.
neowin.net -
13.11.2007Windows DreamScene coming soon on Ultimate
Windows Vista Ultimate users
began to receive the first set
of "Ultimate Extras". But
arguably the most anticipated
Ultimate Extra was not there
-- Windows DreamScene.
Windows client
director, Jeff Putt has
confirmed that this extra will
not be available in its final
form immediately after launch.
However, a technology preview
may be coming soon for Windows
Vista Ultimate users who want
to give it a try.
Windows DreamScene enables
users to use looping
high-definition video content
(MPEG, WMV) as an animated
wallpaper. Thanks to the new
3D accelerated desktop in
Windows Vista, the animated
wallpaper uses virtually no
CPU (just a little for
decoding the video).
Microsoft demonstrated
Windows DreamScene yesterday
at the launch event which
showed Windows DreamScene
using an animated wallpaper
created by
Stardock
. The wallpaper they showed
will be available exclusively
at Neowin.net's partner site,
WinCustomize
.com, in February.
More information on
public availability for
Windows Vista Ultimate users
is expected soon.
neowin.net -
30.01.2007Now all Vista users can Dream
Windows Vista Ultimate users are no longer the only ones who can run animated wallpaper on their desktop. Software developer Stardock has released a
free preview of DeskScapes 2.0 which enables all users of Windows Vista to run .DREAM animated wallpapers (there are hundreds of them).
Last year, Microsoft released Windows DreamScene as a Windows Vista Ultimate. Stardock developed some of the animated wallpapres for Windows
DreamScene as well as provided DeskScapes 1.0 which allowed DreamScene to run the new .DREAM animated wallpaper format. DeskScapes allowed for not
just video dreams (which tend to use more CPU) but dynamic dreams as well which use virtually no CPU whatsoever by putting the animation purely on the
video accelerator.
Neowin will have some exclusive .DREAM content coming out this Summer. Stay tuned.
neowin.net -
14.03.2008It's Another Vista TCO Study
Microsoft is flaunting a new Windows Vista total cost of ownership study thatno surprisepresents rosy findings.
Wipro
Technologies and GCR Custom Research produced the report, which findings Microsoft presented in a conference call this afternoon. Microsoft's PR
agency dispatched the wrong dial-in number, causing the meeting to start considerably late. My afternoon was packed, so I snatched a PDF of the
LiveMeeting PowerPoint and moved on to other things. A fuller white paper is now available.
The report focuses on Vista TCO
benefits for mobile PCs. GCR concluded that Vista would reduce mobile PC TCO by $605 annually, or 14 percent, compared to Windows XP.
Reports of this type are always suspect, because they are custom commissioned by vendors. When I was an analyst, I worked on several custom
reports used by companies for internal purposes, meaning to improve the business strategy. External custom reports have an inherent bias because the
client is paying for them for a broader marketing objective.. Would Microsoft promote a commissioned report that found Vista TCO to be less than
Windows XP or, gasp, Linux? The answer is obvious.
winbeta.org -
06.09.2007Debugging a Per-User Installation Error on Windows Vista
Chris Jackson: Yesterday, a friend asked for some assistance debugging an issue with Windows Installer. It was one of those situations where you've
looked at the problem so closely, so many times, that you just needed another set of eyes. (They're close to shipping, so they've been doing nothing
but look at bugs, probably for a while.)
Some background:
What they're doing is a rather interesting use of
Windows Installer. They're using it to drop a setup.exe and then run it. So, they have a custom action of type 0xC02, which is a deferred custom
action, promoted to not use impersonation, which runs as an exe. This custom action spawns another version of itself (with different arguments), and
then the process exits so the installer can complete. The second version of this custom action then wants to uninstall the msi, as well as launch the
setup.exe. So, the msi is just a way to package up the setup.exe.
And, with UAC, it was breaking.
winbeta.org -
25.10.2007Latest MS Update Causing Major Headaches
Broadband
Reports is running a story
regarding the latest MS update
to fix problems with animated
cursors.
"Users in
our Security forum note that
the latest critical Microsoft
Windows update (KB925902) is
causing all kinds of problems.
Most notably, it prevents some
users from loading anti-virus
software, but others say the
update prevented them from
booting entirely. "So far, we
have errors with AVG, Realtec,
F-Secure, a false positive of
a Trojan, a messed up Vaio,
USB problems and Accessories
and Utilities all vanishing
into thin air," says one
security forum regular."
I have personally
installed this on two Vista
machines and one of them
failed to boot after the patch
was installed. Unfortuntely
patches that are often pushed
out too quickly to fix
critical flaws cause adverse
issues on certain
configurations as we have
witnessed in the past. Watch
out for Microsoft rectifying
this with an update to the
patch. Until then do not
install the update if it's
causing issues to your machine
and report these directly to
Microsoft support.
neowin.net -
05.04.2007Dream.WinCustomize.Com Launched!
As reported
earlier,
Microsoft has made a preview
of its animated wallpaper
Ultimate Extra, Windows
DreamScene available.
Today, Neowin.net partner
site,
WinCustomize
.com, has launched the
officially sanctioned Windows
DreamScene community,
Dream.WinCus
tomize.com in which users
of Windows DreamScene can
download additional animated
wallpapers (right now) that
are in the new .Dream format
that has been designed with
animated wallpapers in
mind.
Artists can
also create and submit their
own animated wallpapers to
Dream.WinCustomize.com. The
site's new preview system
allows users to see animated
wallpapers in a preview before
downloading as well.
neowin.net -
14.02.2007Google Rolls Out Custom Search Engine for Businesses
Google on Tuesday plans to
make its Custom Search Engine
available to business users.
Custom
Search Engine Business
Edition offers the same
Web site search technology
present in Google's free
Custom Search Engine, except
with no ads.
Google's custom search
allows the creator or
administrator to limit queries
to a certain set of documents,
such as those on one (or more)
Web sites. The service, free
and supported by ads for
consumers, costs businesses
anywhere from $100 per year to
$15,000 per year or more at
Web sites that field lots of
queries.
Custom
Search Engine Business Edition
also includes an XML
application programming
interface (API) for
customizing search result
presentation, technical
support, and the ability to
display search results under
the company's own logo rather
than Google's familiar red,
yellow, blue, and green...
winbeta.org -
17.07.2007Desktop Security: Create Custom Login Experiences With Credential Providers For Windows Vista
Credential providers in
Windows Vista allow you to
customize the logon experience
and integrate the
authentication methods that
best meet your organization's
needs. With this article,
learn how to write your own...
msdn.microsoft.com -
27.01.2007Unreal Engine 3 Licensed to Create 3D Animated Series
Studio 2.0, the original programming, digital production arm of the Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG), has begun production on 23 new short form
series projects for broadband and wireless; one of the animated series will be based on the śChadamť character introduced as a character icon for the
popular rock band The Used. A press release states:
An action-horror-adventure story filled with self-discovery, Chadam will
come to full 3D animated life via the magic of the Unreal Engine 3, the leading technology and development framework that powers cutting-edge games
such as Gears of War and BioShock on todays popular platforms, including PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Internet series will serve as an
incubator for future expansion of the Chadam universe, from additional online episodes to television, film, videogames and more.
winbeta.org -
14.09.2007AOL to Offer Free Custom
E-Mail Domains
Following in the footsteps of
Microsoft and Google, AOL said
Wednesday that it would begin
providing a custom e-mail
domain services for its
customers beginning in
September. Like its
competitors, AOL My eAddress
would be provided at no
charge...
betanews.com -
09.08.2006AOL to Launch Custom Domain
Service
AOL has plans to offer a
custom domain service,
BetaNews has learned. The
offering, called AOL
MYeAddress, will begin as a
beta test later Thursday, with
an official launch coming this
summer...
betanews.com -
19.05.2006Microsoft's Domain Service
Goes 'Live'
Microsoft said late Tuesday
that its Custom Domains
service had officially
launched, making it the third
Windows Live project to come
out of beta. The service
allows a customer to use a
custom domain name with
Windows Live Mail and Hotmail...
betanews.com -
28.06.2006Microsoft to Fix Critical Vista Flaw Early
Microsoft confirmed Sunday
that it would not wait until
April's "Patch
Tuesday" to release a fix
correcting a critical flaw in
Windows Animated Cursor
Handling, which affects most
supported versions of the
company's operating systems.
Instead, an update is coming
Tuesday...
betanews.com -
02.04.2007
