Windows 7

Data from a Czech security firm showed that a big slice of infected PCs fall upon machines on Windows XP.

Last week Avast Software released its report that reveals that Windows XP machines are disproportionally infected with rootkits.

Having a 58% share of all Windows systems used XP accounts for 74% of the rootkit infected PCs, says Avast.

In comparison, Windows 7 machines make up only 12% of infected PCs.

Addressing an audience at the 2011 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC 2011) Monday Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, acknowledged that their Windows Phone 7 platform was a failure.

Ballmer was lauding the company success in other sectors saying that Windows 7 sold 400 million licenses in just two years while Office 2010 sold over 100 million licenses over the same period.

However, talking about Windows Phone 7, Ballmer noted that Microsoft simply hasn't gained any traction:

This week Microsoft released a beta version of a development kit for its Kinect motion sensing device. Now developers will be able to build applications to use the Kinect on PCs running Windows 7. The SDK is currently available only for noncommercial use.

With the SDK developers can access a number of streams from sensors in the Kinect including the depth sensor, color camera sensor and the microphone array.

Developers will also be able to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving in view of the Kinect for the creation of gesture-driven applications.

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.

Apple made a statement that it will not give access to its iCloud services to users of aging Windows XP platform. Apple said that users will need a PC running Windows Vista or Windows 7 to access the cloud computing service.

To access contacts and calendars users are encouraged to have Outlook 2010 or 2007.

Basing on the latest figures on the usage of operating systems it may be said that the bar means half of all PC users will be blocked from accessing iCloud.

A new national customer satisfaction survey revealed that Americans are now more satisfied with Microsoft’s software than ever. The poll conducted by American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a consumer survey started by the University of Michigan, showed that Microsoft accumulated 79 points which is the three-point increase, a 7% gain, over 2009’ results.

According to the stats provided by Microsoft this week Windows 7’s malware infection rate surged by over 30% during the second half of 2010 while the same figure dropped by more than 20% for Windows XP machines.

"Infection rates have jumped [for Windows 7]," admitted Jeff Williams, the principal group program manager with the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC). "We attribute that to the increased presence of malicious software attacks out there."

Quarter sales of Microsoft Windows operating system declined reflecting thus a sharp downturn in personal computer market, which sent Microsoft’s shares down.

Microsoft's shares fell 1.2 percent to $26.37 in after-hours trading following the earnings report on Thursday.

Since its inception 18 months ago Microsoft has sold a record-breaking 350 million licenses for its Windows 7 operating system.

Being the main driver of the company profits PC sales dropped 1% in the first quarter of the year, as reported by a research firm.

MSI provided details of its forthcoming Windows running tablet the WindPad 100W. The device will feature 2GB of DDR 2 memory, a 32GB SSD, a 10.1in, 1024 x 600 screen, 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, one USB port, one SD card slot and one mini HDMI port.

MSI says that the 100W will be based on the "Intel mobile processor", so whether Core 2, Core i or Atom remains to be seem.

The tablet runs Windows 7 Home Premium and measures 274 x 173 x 19mm and weighs 800g. Its battery is good for "over six hours" runtime, MSI claimed.
 

According to the report made by the New York Times this week, CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer is expected to make an announcement of new slate devices next month at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

While Microsoft is boasting a good adoption of its latest operating system Windows 7 saying that the company has sold over 240 million licenses this year, the new research reveals that Windows XP still remains the king with the businesses giving it much preference. The report shows that XP beats Windows 7 by a margin of 7.5 to one.

The report from Forrester titled ‘Updated 2010: Windows 7 Commercial Adoption Outlook’ says that Windows 7 "powers one out of every 10 PCs within North American and European companies." Windows XP, the report says, powers 75%.

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.

ExoPC of Rimouski Quebec, Canada, started taking preorders for its upcoming slate device that runs Windows 7 Home Premium.

While originally preorders were limited to only 1,200 devices, now it is open to everyone. The 32GB version will run you CAD $649 (about $625) while the 64GB is being sold for CAD $749 (about $720). Both models come with up to 160MB/s SanDisk P4 mini-SSDs and a rated battery life of up to four hours.

A new deceptive trick was created by the scammers who develop scareware. The new malicious code called by specialists as Zeven was developed by fraudsters to automatically detect a user's browser before serving up a warning page that poses as the genuine pages generated by IE, Firefox or Chrome. Victims are warned about the putative infection in their systems to lure them into installing a fake anti-virus software package, called Win7 AV. Such warnings are generated from malicious scripts planted on compromised websites.

Microsoft has announced that is launches again Windows 7 Family Packs, which ship with three upgrade licenses for Windows 7 Home Premium for $150.