Asus’ newest netbook will be equipped with Windows 7 instead of Vista according to an article at geek.com.

It has 2 GB of RAM which is twice the normal size of a netbook. Its hard drive is 250 GB and it comes with a Z520 processor. The graphic chipset is GMA 500.

One negative thing about this netbook is that unlike other Asus Eee PCs which have a minimum of 9.5 hours of battery life, this model only has 8 hours.

Japan will be the first country that will get this model while US customers can get it at a later date.

Source: Geek.com

A total of six patches was released yesterday by Microsoft for Windows operating systems. Three of the updates are rated as ‘critical’. One of the critical patches is designed to fix several vulnerabilities in the Windows kernel. This applies to all versions of Windows except Windows 7.

One of the other critical update fixes a vulnerability in the WSDAPI which stands for Web Services on Devices Application Programming Interface. Only Vista and Windows Server 2003 are affected by this patch.

A couple of updates are designed to fix bugs in Word and Office. Mac and PC users need this update if they have Microsoft Office.

Source: The Register

A fix has been released for the synching problem between Windows 7 and iPhone that occurs on Intel P55 motherboards.

It affects 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Both iTunes 9 and Windows detect the iPhone but it refuse to sync.

Microsoft has not made a comment about the issue.

Users can upgrade their BIOS and chipset drivers to fix the problem. They could also use compatibility mode in Windows when they set it to Vista SP2.

Source: Macnn.com

Exchange Server 2007 will no longer be supported on the latest Windows Server. The company’s decision may force users to upgrade to the 2010 version of Exchange Server.

Today, at Berlin Germany, Microsoft delivered Exchange Server in a conference. This version has a universal inbox and an improved productivity of 20 percent as well as 70 percent of “cost savings”.

“If we cannot meet our mandate of using the same OS for all servers and a standard collaborative mail server architecture from Microsoft, then we will have to look at other offerings,” wrote Derek who is a customer of Exchange 2007.

Source: Channel Register

First is the Action Center which can be configured for security reasons as well as administrative task options. Second is the updated User Account Control (UAC). It was introduced first in Vista.

Next is the AppLocker which prevents some users access on certain applications. Biometric Security is next on the list.

Another feature that was introduced in Vista and updated for 7 is BitLocker. The sixth feature in the list is PowerShell v2.

Lastly, a feature that allows secure connection called DirectAccess.

Source: Techtree

The last version, 3.5.4 was released on October 27.

The main bug quashed is the GIF decoder in Firefox for the Windows systems. “We’re seeing lots of crashes in the GIF decoder,” noted Joe Drew of Mozilla. The role of GIF decoder is to parse .gif image files embedded in web pages.

“This bug was actually caused by bug 514776 which removed the check for null mImageFrame,” said a Firefox programmer.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD

Customers of UK2.net had experienced downtime since October 31. Today, the web host said that they could now send and receive emails normally.

“We apologise to all customers hit by this, we’re moving the emails across as quickly as we can and should be finished by Sunday evening,” said Martin Baker who is the managing director of UK2.

A storage array failure is the cause of the problem according to Baker.

No emails have been lost and the company will copy them from its current storage network to its new one.

Source: The Register

According to a test that was made by Sophos about running Windows 7 on a clean system, the operating system is vulnerable with malware.

Sophos said, “Unfortunately, despite Microsoft’s claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows. The good news is that, of the freshest 10 samples that arrived, 2 would not operate correctly under Windows 7.”

The UAC only blocked one sample.

Chester Wisniewski of Sophos concludes that Windows 7 users still need an anti-virus software for their OS.

Source: The Tech Herald

The fifth version of Parallels’ x86 virtualization software called Desktop 5 is more faster than any other Win-on-Mac software.

Over 70 new features are included in the latest version including supports for 64-bit Snow Leopard and Windows variants. For graphic applications including games, users would notice about a 700 percent improvement over Desktop 4.

OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9 Ex with Shader Model 3 are also supported.

Other new features including multi-touch gestures in Windows, “true” multi-monitor support, and a quick access to the Windows application folder.

Source: Ars Technica

Windows 7 sold more than three times compared to Vista’s launch according to a retail marketing research.

Stephen Baker of NDP Group said, “I would call it pretty good, but I wouldn’t call it great.”

“The fact of the matter is that prior to the launch, there were a lot of operating systems out there. When Vista launched, you didn’t see a lot of Windows Millennium PCs. Windows 7 will be more of a long haul,” he added.

The revenue of Windows 7 is only an 82% increase over Vista.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD