The UltraTech Zone

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve had an active zero-day in Internet Explorer, but according to Microsoft Security Advisory 972890, that’s what we’re looking at:  a vulnerability in DirectX that allows for unauthenticated, remote execution attacks via Internet Explorer.  In other words, drive-by attacks. This vulnerability impacts ...

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve had an active zero-day in Internet Explorer, but according to Microsoft Security Advisory 972890 , that’s what we’re looking at:  a vulnerability in DirectX that allows for unauthenticated, remote execution attacks...(read more)

I just finished reading an article on Windows Vista from InfoWorld, and it makes several really good points. Windows Vista brings a lot to the table that gets de-emphasized by the masses.  It's funny that when Microsoft releases a product that is primarily a refinement of the previous version (XP vs 2000), there are complaints about having ...

It has been officially available for a couple weeks now, but some of us have been running it for over a month at this point.  Of course, outside of the MSDN and TechNet avenues, the only way to get it was due to a Microsoft mistake. In any event, my home and work systems have seen tremendous benefit from the upgrade to Service Pack 1 for ...

If you're a 64-bit Vista user, that is...  It looks as though the users of Vista x64 can obtain Service Pack 1 via Windows Update. I've already started down the MSDN path for obtaining the Service Pack, but that has presented its own set of issues.  (TechNet is also another option for obtaining the Service Pack for x86 or x64 ...

It's always something.  On Sunday, I was pretty hyped up about the fact that Service Pack 1 for Vista was very near release, but that has been deflated by the realization that Microsoft is going to hold off on actually making the code available March. Mind you, the code is already finalized, but they're concerned that some devices will ...

The month of February should see the release of both Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, according to reports published by ComputerWorld, and I'm looking forward to them both. I have only performed a few brief tests of Windows 2008 so far, but I expect to change that over the next few weeks, once I bring my new virtual ...

I recently read a couple of reports from ComputerWorld regarding the performance of the upcoming service packs for Windows XP and Vista. Windows XP SP3 boasts speed boost, testers claim Vista SP1 no faster than stock OS, says testing expert The outlook seems to be that SP3 for XP will bring statistically significant (or at least noticeable) ...

One of the things that annoys me about Microsoft (and this is true, to some extent, of any large company) is that there are too many times where it seems that one hand is not talking to the other.  Sometimes, it seems like one hand doesn't even know that there's another hand. Some of the most recent examples of this silliness are as ...

Yeah, yeah, it took me long enough.  What can I say?  I finally bit the bullet and installed Vista Ultimate x64 Edition on my laptop.  As I mentioned last month, my Vista upgrade path was not as smooth as I had hoped, since I was going to be forced to perform a clean install, but I must say that the actual installation ...

The issue I speak of relates to how many changes and new features should go into a new release of their software product.  If Microsoft adds lots of new functionality, then customers and analysts conclude that the likelihood of bugs within the new code is high and so they avoid product adoption for months or years or until several service ...

In today's lesson, we learn why pre-planning is very important... So, I try to perform the dreaded in-place upgrade of my XP x64 laptop to Vista Ultimate x64, after doing all the nice things like backing everything up, and ensuring that all apps will be suitable, and what have you.  It's a new laptop, so I'm not worried about clutter or ...

Mark Russinovich has provided another great series of ''Inside Windows'' articles, with his Inside the Vista Kernel postings on TechNet. Part one dealt with: Thread priority and scheduling File-based symbolic links Canceling I/O operations Part two, which is linked above, deals with: Memory management Startup and shutdown Power management ...

My Vista initiation continues, and so far, I don't have much to complain about.  I've done this whole ''new version of Windows'' thing enough times in the past 15 or so years that I know that there's really no point in not spending a week or two getting used to the new functionality before complaining about what I think I lost.  ...

As I mentioned earlier this week, I finally got my hands on my official copies of Vista, so I thought I'd see how well an upgrade would work out. Granted, it's not the 64-bit edition that I wanted to deploy, but it game me a chance to see how well Vista would upgrade over a year-old Windows XP installation.    Well, it took longer ...