People are still staying away from Windows 8, according to the latest sales figures. When compared with historical Windows 7 sales, Windows 8 is selling extremely poorly.
To make matters worse for Microsoft, Windows 7’s current growth rate exceeds that of Windows 8. In other words, Windows 7 sales are increasing faster than Windows 8’s. That problem may actually get worse before it gets better – if it ever does get better – as we move closer to the end of support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. Standard advice to anyone upgrading from Windows XP is to go with Windows 7: a solid operating system that will continue to receive support until 2020.
Microsoft is obviously aware that Windows 8 is starting to look like Windows Vista or Windows Me: versions of Windows heavily criticized and properly avoided where possible. And as you might expect, they are starting to look at backtracking on some of the most-despised features of Windows 8. Windows 8.1 brought back the Start button, but without the Start menu, that move was mostly pointless. But the next version of Windows may bring back the Start menu.
Christmas is coming, and along with it, holiday-themed scams, spam and malware. It’s a time for families to come together and celebrate, but it’s also a time to be wary and vigilant.
CERT has provided a handy set of guidelines and tools you can use to avoid being the recipient of one of these unwanted ‘gifts’.
Version 18.0.1284.49 of the Webkit-based (and sadly deficient) Opera web browser improves stability and adds a few new features, including camera/microphone support, the ability to move tabs between windows, custom themes, and custom search engines.
Another stealth release of Firefox happened on November 15. Version 25.0.1 apparently fixes some security vulnerabilities and other bugs. With the total lack of any kind of announcement for this release, and the way the release notes include changes in previous releases, it’s difficult to be certain what’s new in this version. For instance, the version 25.0.1 release notes point to the ‘Known vulnerabilities‘ page, but there’s nothing listed there that’s specific to version 25.0.1. The release notes for 25.0.1 also point to Bugzilla (‘complete list of changes‘), but the list of fixed bugs shows everything for version 25, and nothing specific to version 25.0.1. What a mess.
Hot on the heels of version 31.0.1650.48, the latest version of Google’s web browser fixes multiple memory corruption issues as demonstrated by an exploit privately reported to Google.
The latest version of Flash includes several fixes for bugs and security vulnerabilities. The official announcement lists the bug fixes and other improvements, while the associated security bulletin provides additional technical details.
As usual, Flash in Google Chrome is updated automatically through Chrome’s built-in updater, while Flash in Internet Explorer on Windows 8 is updated via Windows Update.
The latest version of Google’s web browser includes an update to the embedded Flash player (to version 11.9.900.152), and 25 security fixes. The official announcement has the technical details.
It’s the second Tuesday of November, which means it’s time to update all your Windows computers. This month’s announcement lists eight bulletins, affecting Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer.
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