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Movie Maker versions 2.1, 2.6, and 6.0 are affected on Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Producer 2003 is also affected by the same bug in Movie Maker but the company has not released a patch for this software yet.

The Movie Maker bug is exploited by opening a malicious .mswmm file. It can received by web download or e-mail attachment. XP shipped with version 2.1 and Vista users have version 6.0 when the operating system (OS) shipped.

The patch does not let a user’s OS automatically open .mswmm files.

The Excel versions that are affected are XP, 2003, and 2007 in Windows. Mac versions 2004 and 2008 are also affected.

The article at PCWorld notes that two security holes present in Internet Explorer are not yet fixed. One of the holes affect Windows 2000 and XP users. No known attacks have been reported but users are advised to be cautious when a site asks him or her to hit the key ‘F1′ on the keyboard.

The second flaw was just announced today. This bug does not need the user to hit F1 or a different key.

Source: PCWorld

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Excel and Movie Maker – Patched

The company is also allowing a free upgrade to 2010 if a user buys a 2007 version starting today. Those who will update later need to download the Office 2010 files from Microsoft’s site or get a DVD which includes fees.

Source: Tech Exclusive

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Office 2010’s Early Release

“This is indicative of the on and off cycle that Microsoft uses. Last month was more OS related, this month they’re patching some applications,” said Andrew Storms of nCircle Network Security.

The two updates are rated as “important”. The vulnerabilities that these two patches fix include a way for attackers to insert malicious code in machines.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD

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March Patch Tuesday

To complete the attack, a user must push F1.

The article at PC World suggests users to log off Windows or close Internet Explorer via Windows Task manager when a site prompts a user to hit F1.

Source: PC World

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New IE Vulnerability Found

Vista RTM will be the first one out of those three, which will not receive support anymore starting April 13.

For the other two OSs, July 13 is the date of their support termination.

Windows Vista RTM users need to use Windows Update to install the latest service pack.

Source: TrustedReviews

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Various Windows Versions Support Loss

The event happened due to the loss of a server according to Microsoft. The company has replaced the lost server within an hour.

The article at latimes.com notes that Twitter users were the first ones who noticed the outage when they tweeted about problems on accessing Windows Live services. Microsoft made a blog post on its Twitter page and said that it would “fully investigate the cause and will take steps to prevent this from happening again.”

Source: Los Angeles Times

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Windows Live Outage

A memory leak happens when Power Manager opens an ALPC which stands for Advanced Local Procedure Call port and closes another port. The operating system should have closed the ALPC. The machine would eventually crash if this happen.

Another problem occurs if a notebook with a Vista, Server 2008, or 7 is put to sleep.

The third issue affects Intel 5 and 3400 Series with either Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate version of Windows 7.

Source: Ars Technica

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Windows 7 Problems

Unlike Microsoft’s decision on Windows XP where it labeled a similar update as high-priority security update, the 7 update is optional and rated as “important.”

The update checks for over 70 “activation exploits” or “cracks.” It include checks for the “RemoveWAT” and “Chew-WGA” cracks that surfaced weeks after the launch of the operating system.

Machines running with cracked copies will begin to display a background colored black according to the article at Computerworld.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD

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Windows 7 Activation Update

It said, “The warning received on some computers using Windows 7 uses firmware information (information about hardware status provided by the PC itself) to determine if battery replacement is needed…The battery notification is new functionality in Windows 7, so the notification itself should not be an indication that customers are having this issue. Windows Vista and Windows XP did not display notifications when it was time to replace the battery.”

Therefore, the operating system is just reporting the battery life accurately.

Source: PC World

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Windows 7 Battery Life