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Microsoft reportedly plans Windows 8 upgrades all the way from XP, wants us to just let go of the past
Microsoft has been promising a cheap-and-cheerful upgrade path to Windows 8 for those who buy new PCs. But what about that five-year-old PC in the basement? If the historically well-connected Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet is right, the upgrade path will go further back -- much further. Although upgraders will still want Windows 7 if they need to carry over absolutely everything, tipsters claim that settings can transfer from releases as old as Windows Vista SP1. Those with truly ancient PCs (we're looking at you, corporate customers) can even bring over personal files from an OS as dated as Windows XP SP3. Like we saw last time around, some of the 7-to-8 upgrade rules are a bit Byzantine -- 7 Professional users can't step down to the non-Pro Windows 8 release, for example, and it's equally verboten to change language editions or move from 32- to 64-bit code without a full-scale reinstallation. The extra-long olive branch will be slightly unusual for Microsoft if it's confirmed, but then the company is also trying to move along a user base that in some cases has clung to XP for more than a decade. Redmond is no doubt eager to get rid of our dependency issues.
McAfee patches customers' hearts with subscription extension, reimbursement for PC repairs
McAfee's little issue with a security update that sent Windows XP computers far and wide to a screeching halt was fairly unprecedented as far as anti-virus software goes, and it looks like the company is now taking some considerable steps to make up for the mess it created. Not only is it handing out a free two-year subscription extension to all affected customers, but it will soon be starting a program to reimburse "reasonable expenses" that customers have incurred in repairing their PCs. Complete details on that program aren't available just yet, but it will apparently be starting "within a few days," and will involve submitting a reimbursement request to McAfee. Given the number of users involved, however, we've got to guess that McAfee won't be buying folks new PCs, and chances are it'll take quite a while to get your check in the mail, though we'll just have to wait to see exactly what McAfee has planned.
Botched McAfee update shutting down corporate XP machines worldwide
We can't officially confirm this yet but, We're hearing from all over that a bad McAfee for Windows XP update is causing computers worldwide to shut down. Apparently DAT update 5958 deletes the svchost.exe file, which then triggers a false-positive in McAfee itself and sets off a chain of uncontrolled restarts and loss of networking functionality. Yeah, wild -- Twitter is basically going nuts, and McAfee's support site appears to be down. There are some fixes floating around out there, but it may be too late -- the final tally of borked PCs today may reach into the millions. We've already heard anecdotally that an Intel facility has been affected, as well as Dish Network call centers, and we're sure there are going to be more reports as the day wears on. Update: McAfee just sent us a statement -- they've pulled the update from their corporate download servers, and consumers shouldn't be affected. McAfee is aware that a number of customers have incurred a false positive error due to incorrect malware alerts on Wednesday, April 21. The problem occurs with the 5958 virus definition file (DAT) that was released on April 21 at 2.00 PM GMT+1 (6am Pacific Time). Our initial investigation indicates that the error can result in moderate to significant performance issues on systems running Windows XP Service Pack 3. The faulty update has been removed from McAfee download servers for corporate users, preventing any further impact on those customers. We are not aware of significant impact on consumer customers and believe we have effectively limited such occurrence. McAfee teams are working with the highest priority to support impacted customers and plan to provide an update virus definition file shortly. McAfee apologizes for any inconvenience to our customers Ouch -- that might be the understatement of the year. We've definitely hearing this affects SP2 as well, we'll keep looking for more. Update 2: The anecdotal numbers keep rolling in, and they're not small -- 30,000 machines are knocked out here, 60,000 there. Given that the only fixes right now involve techs spending time with each affected machine individually, things could get seriously messy. We'll keep you updated if you keep us updated, okay? Update 3: Here's an official McAfee fix, although like we said, it requires tech to hit each machine in person. We'll see what the story is for bigger institutions with tens of thousands of seats. Update 4: We're told the official fix only helps those who haven't been hit with the bug yet, so there's obviously still issues to be sorted out. [Thanks, Tyler.] [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Developing...
Virtualized Windows XP coming to Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate users
Color us intrigued. The gang at SuperSite for Windows have revealed what they know about a pretty awesome Windows 7 feature: XP Mode, a virtualized copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3. It'll reportedly be a free download for Professional and Ultimate Edition users, a shame it won't be coming to all versions. Unlike many other Virtual PC options, the environment won't require a separate workspace so you can run the individual apps as you would alongside those native to 7 -- in the example pictured, that's Word 2003 in XP mode next to Word 2007. It all sounds vaguely similar to the XP compatibility mode found in Vista, but if we're understanding this right, XPM should make legacy compatibility much less of a hassle. We haven't heard any reports of it being found in the leaked Release Candidate build, so if you're antsy to get a glimpse now, hit up the read link for a gallery.[Thanks, Axel]
Windows XP SP3 goes to manufacturing, will be released April 29th
It's not nearly as big a deal as Vista SP1, but it looks like Windows XP SP3 will be out in just eight short days -- Microsoft just confirmed that it's been released to manufacturing, and that it'll be in Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center on April 29th. No word on if OEMs and devs got access today like we'd heard, but it shouldn't be long now -- here's hoping that rumored 10 percent speed boost is for real.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Microsoft backports Vista features for new Windows XP SP3 beta
It looks like Vista isn't the only OS Microsoft is working to improve, with the folks at Neosmart now reporting that a beta of Windows XP SP3 Build 3205 has been sent out to a select group of testers. Apparently, it includes more than a thousand patches and hotfixes, some of which have actually been backported from Windows Vista. Those include a new Windows Product Activation mode, which doesn't require you to enter a product key during setup, as well as new a network access protection module that replicates many of the features found in Vista. Other notable additions (to some) include a new Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module and so-called "Black Hole Router" detection, which protects against "rogue routers" attempting to discard data. All this, of course, follows the recent extension of XP sales until June of 2008, so it certainly seems that there's quite a bit of life left in the venerable OS that many are still clinging on to.[Via Slashdot]
