"Microsoft has announced that starting in January 2012 Internet Explorer will, like Chrome, Firefox and Opera, no longer pester you with update notices. Instead Internet Explorer will automatically download and install updates in the background..."

"A month after releasing a temporary workaround to block malware exploiting a Windows kernel vulnerability, Microsoft today issued a patch for all supported releases of Windows aimed at putting an end to attacks based on the Duqu worm."

"Over the weekend Microsoft "retired", that is removed, its Windows Live Gallery, the online repository for, extensions and add-ons for various Windows Live services and products including Windows Vista and Windows 7 Gadgets. Our headline perhaps overstates the situation - Gadgets still exist, you can download them and you can write them. But what has been taken away is the showcase where you could share them and even receive payment for them, i.e. an app store for gadgets.

"We came across an interesting survey from Boston Consulting Group who came across some interesting data. They did a survey asking people in China and USA what operating system one would prefer on its tablet. The results could be described as shocking, since 44 percent of consumers in Chine want Windows on their tablets, while in US some 42 want the same. Apple’s iOS, the ultra-popular and most prolific operating system for tablets is preferred by 34 percent of Chinese customers while in the Apple loving US this number surprisingly drops to 27 percent.

"Microsoft today warned that scammers have taken to the phone lines to dupe Windows users into putting malware on their machines or paying for worthless help.

The ploy isn't new -- security experts have seen it in circulation for at least a year -- but Microsoft was the first to quantify the problem.

According to Microsoft, which sponsored surveys in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland and Canada, 15% of the people polled said they had received unsolicited calls from fraudsters posing as computer support technicians who claimed they were offering PC security checks.

"Microsoft has warned that it will release 16 security bulletins tomorrow, nine involving critical vulnerabilities. In total, it plans to patch 34 vulnerabilities.

Redmond will patch critical vulnerabilities in all supported versions of Windows for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Critical vulnerabilities as bugs "whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action."

"Word on the street is that Windows based tablets which can use ARM processors will be in the shops by the end of 2011. According to Digitimes the lack of system performance will mean that the platform will be mainly used for targeting the tablet PC market. Quoting sources from notebook players, Digitimes said that there are several problems which need to be solved with the idea and most notebook makers are wary about it."

"Software giant and former president of the Intel fanclub Microsoft has said that it has run Windows OS on a 1GHz ARM chip. Earlier this year Redmond announced that they would be working hard to introduce support for the increasingly popular ARM architecture.. X86 does not work well on mobile gadgets because of its high power draws and inefficient cooling.

"New market share data recently released by Net Applications puts XP’s market share at 60.03%, down from 60.89% in the month before. Windows Vista fell from 14.00% to 13.35%, while Windows 7 gained 1.25 points to 17.10%.

If you're running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and you're not ready to upgrade to Windows 7, you should install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), a free update.

Windows XP SP3 includes all previously released updates and a small number of new updates. It won't significantly change the Windows XP experience.