.net framework

Microsoft Patch Tuesday to target Windows, IE

Microsoft is gearing up for another Patch Tuesday.

In its regular series of monthly security fixes, the company tomorrow is launching eight separate bulletins to patch 23 different holes in a small but key range of products. Marked as "critical," two of the bulletins are aimed at stopping hackers from remotely running code in Windows, Internet Explorer, .NET, and Silverlight.

Specifically, these two bulletins are deemed critical for the desktop versions of Windows and should be applied to Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Only one of the bulletins is tagged as critical for Windows Server 2003, … Read more

Quick fix for .NET Framework 4 update glitch

A recent Windows security update failed to install on my Windows 7 laptop. The Windows sign-off indicated the operating system was installing an update before shutting down, but the patch never installed.

The next time I started the machine, I clicked Start > Windows Update to determine which update was failing. The Windows Update warning message offered a link to "get help with the error," but the link led nowhere useful.

I found the remedy described by Microsoft Support's Srinivas R on the Microsoft Answers site: click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features, select Microsoft .… Read more

Turn off alerts for Windows updates you don't want

I usually apply all the Windows updates that Microsoft labels as "Critical" or "Important." However, since Windows patches sometimes cause problems of their own, I often wait a week or more to install those that I determine I don't need right away.

If you have Automatic Updates set to download and install updates automatically, you won't see any Windows Update alerts in the notification area of the taskbar (the area near the clock) or anywhere else. Likewise, if you've disabled Automatic Updates, you won't be prompted to view or download anything, though … Read more

Visual Studio 2010 to come with 'black box'

Updated 9:56 a.m. PDT: Added screen shot and a link to Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010 page.

Airplanes are equipped with recorders that capture both cockpit audio and flight data, so in the event that something goes wrong, investigators can try to determine the source of the problem.

Microsoft is aiming to give software developers the same kind of access. In the next version of its developer tool suite, to be known as Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft plans to include the ability to record the full screens of what testers are seeing, as well as data about their machine. When a test application crashes, the technology will enable developers to see the bug as it occurred.

In an interview last week, Microsoft Developer Division Director Dave Mendlen said the feature is designed to avoid the all-too-frequent conflict that occurs when a software tester finds a bug that the developer says it can't reproduce. Internally, the feature has been called "TiVo for debuggers." … Read more

Researchers say Microsoft's CardSpace vulnerable

Using attacks similar to those used to break .Net PassPort, a group of students at the Ruhr Universitat Bochum in Germany claim to have stolen CardSpace's security tokens from a compromised machine. But Microsoft dismisses the attack, saying an attacker would need a user's help.

CardSpace is included within .NET Framework 3.0 and allows users to create personal information cards that are shared with participating Web sites for authentication. A user creates a CardSpace card for a site and the .NET software then obtains a digitally signed XML token from the site issuer. What the students in … Read more

Times Reader (beta)

Developed in concert with Microsoft, the New York Times Times Reader (still in Beta) is a hybrid RSS feed reader and XPS desktop publishing system that runs as a standalone applet on your desktop. Like RSS, the Times Reader updates itself with the latest content from the New York Times. But going beyond traditional RSS, the Times Reader offers the look and feel of the print version of the Times. That's in part because of the new graphics system within .Net Framework 3.0 architecture available within Windows Vista and downloadable for Windows XP SP2 users.

The Times Reader … Read more