Vista

Microsoft reported that its February security update for Windows XP and Vista has reduced the AutoRun abusing malware infection rates by as much as 82%.

In February Microsoft offered optional update to XP and Vista users, later it was changed to automatically download and install. The update was meant to disable AutoRun.

On Windows 7 system Microsoft changed AutoRun’s behavior to block automatic execution of files on a USB drive.

A new report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) revealed that customer satisfaction with Windows 7 operating system is at or near all-time highs.

The ACSI is an economic indicator based on customer evaluations of the quality of goods and services bought in the U.S. Founded at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, the Index is updated quarterly and factors in scores from more than 225 companies in 45 industries, and from government agencies.

According to a report from Net Applications the market share of Windows 7 is increasingly growing while Mac OS X is experiencing stagnation. Since it was released in October last year Windows 7 has been steadily progressing and this July it passed Windows Vista to become the number two operating system in the world.

The report unveils that Mac OS X market is not growing with a slight drop as Windows 7 fuels a PC-buying surge.

Meantime, the top operating system which is adored most by users remains Windows XP which will turn 9 years in October 25.

Craig Barth, Devil Mountain's chief technology officer, cited new figures which reveal that in many cases Windows 7 consumes 90% of PCs’ memory leading thus to slow performance.

The new metrics from the company's community-based Exo.performance.network (XPnet) show that on average 86% of Windows 7 machines in the XPnet pool are regularly consuming 90-95% of their available RAM which results in that the systems are forced to turn to disk-based virtual memory to handle tasks.

 As the complete version of Windows 7 has already been launched into the mass production and the number of those shifting from their previous Microsoft operation systems is gradually (but not so rapidly) growing we decided to once again focus on comparison of the two products that have created much buzz in the tech community: Vista that has been too criticized to date and Windows 7 that is too extolled and applauded now.

In an interview to PCR, a British trade publication, Microsoft's partner group manager Simon Aldous made a statement that could be understood as if the software giant has plagiarized the interface for its Windows 7 from that of Mac OS X.

Answering the question given by PCR whether Windows 7 is really a much more agile operating system, in terms of the specific uses it can be molded to, Aldous said:

 As Microsoft is about to launch its biggest product in a decade on Thursday analysts and PC makers are speculating over the benefits from a refresh of hardware lines next year. Many industry players believe new software will help boost sales in the IT sector as customers will be more inclined to purchase updated machines.

While some experts say Windows 7 may have a short-term impact on PC sales to consumers businesses have a cautious mood preferring to look to 2010 while abstaining from purchase for a time and keeping to an observer position.