Windows 7 is all the rage recently, and rightly so. The soon to be released operating system is considered to be what Windows Vista should have been.
However, Microsoft admittedly has done a lot of listening as of late, paying a good deal of attention to users across the board. One of the biggest concerns for Windows 7 isn't whether or not it'll solve Vista's problems, but also whether or not it'll run on existing systems efficiently. Chances are that if you bought or built a computer within the last five years, you'll be ready. If you're running Vista right now, you'll be ready.
If you're not sure though, fear not; Microsoft has released its Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. The small utility can be download and run to check your hardware, drivers and installed software for compatibility. The utility will also check attached devices, so make sure you connect things like printers, scanners, and other accessories you regularly use.
by: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/microsoft-windows-vista-xp,news-31073.html
According to the Windows Experience Blog:
Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor examines a PC’s processor, memory, storage, and graphics capabilities, identifies known compatibility issues with installed software and devices and finally provides guidance on how to resolve those issues if possible. Please also note: as previously stated on the E7 blog, Windows XP users are required to do a clean install of the Windows 7 RC as well as the final product. Only PCs with Windows Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7.
piątek, 8 maja 2009
Windows 7's "XP Mode" Won't Run on Some CPUs
Hoping to use Windows 7's XP Mode on your new laptop? Better check your specs, because many big-name, Intel-powered notebooks including Asus, Dell Studio, HP Pavilion, Sony Vaio, and Toshiba Satellite models may not have what it takes to run Windows 7's XP mode. Featured in the recent Windows 7 release candidate, XP mode allows XP-specific applications to run inside Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7. Microsoft included XP mode to entice business customers to upgrade to Windows 7 even if they're using custom-made programs that run only on XP.
To run XP Mode, your Intel-powered computer must support Intel Virtualization Technology. Problem is, many Intel laptops found on retail shelves aren't packing Intel VT. Affected chips include Intel Celeron, Pentium Dual-Core, Pentium M, and Atom 270 and 280 processors. If you've got a Pentium D, Core, or Core 2 Duo chip you'll need to check your model number because P7350/7450, T1350, T2050/2250, T2300E/2350/2450, T5200/5250/5270/5300/5450/5470/5550/5670/5750/5800/5850/5870/5900 and T6400/6570 do not support VT, according to ZDNet. AMD-powered computers may also find difficulties running XP mode since Sempron processors and some Athlon 64 chips don't support virtualization.
That's a pretty big list of processors that can't support virtualization, so it's no surprise that many laptops will be frozen out of Windows 7's XP mode. However, for the everyday user this may not be as big an issue since XP Mode is targeted at a small segment of the market anyway -- gamers take note that XP mode was not built to support video games.
If you are a part of the XP-specific minority running a custom application or another XP-specific program, you'd better make sure your processor supports virtualization before making the switch to Windows 7.
by: http://www.pcworld.com/article/164437/windows_7s_xp_mode_wont_run_on_some_cpus.html
XFX HD 4890 Black Edition 1GHz available
It looks like XFX managed to get ahead in the Radeon HD 4890 at 1GHz race, as we’ve learned that these cards have entered the mass production.
The first quantity of just fewer than 100 cards was produced last week, and it should be available shortly in the Euro region at €259. The price will depend on the exchange rate and the country. The first batch will be limited to Black Edition-registered users only and after the second batch arrives, it will be available for the global market.
The second batch of more cards is expected in the next two weeks and the card will launch covered with Black edition brand.
Our sources also imply that the Black edition HD 4890 at 1GHz will also feature HAWX DirectX 10.1 game in the box as well as local priority Black Edition support. This might be first 1GHz card available.
by: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13574&Itemid=1
Hackers broke into FAA air traffic control systems
Hackers have broken into the air traffic control mission-support systems of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration several times in recent years, according to an Inspector General report sent to the FAA this week.
In February, hackers compromised an FAA public-facing computer and used it to gain access to personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers, on 48,000 current and former FAA employees, the report said.
Last year, hackers took control of FAA critical network servers and could have shut them down, which would have seriously disrupted the agency's mission-support network, the report said. Hackers took over FAA computers in Alaska, becoming "insiders," according to the report dated Monday.
Then, taking advantage of interconnected networks, hackers later stole an administrator's password in Oklahoma, installed "malicious codes" with the stolen password and compromised the FAA domain controller in the Western Pacific Region, giving them the access to more than 40,000 FAA user IDs, passwords, and other data used to control a portion of the mission-support network, the report said.
And in 2006, a virus spread to the air traffic control (ATC) systems, forcing the FAA to shut down a portion of its systems in Alaska, according to the report.
The attacks so far have primarily disrupted mission-support functions, but attacks could spread over network connections from those areas to the operational networks where real-time surveillance, communications and flight information is processed, the report warned.
"In our opinion, unless effective action is taken quickly, it is likely to be a matter of when, not if, ATC systems encounter attacks that do serious harm to ATC operations," the report concluded.
An audit of the FAA's air traffic control cybersecurity protection measures finds them lacking and says there have been several breaches by hackers and a virus.
(Credit: U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General)
The breaches were possible because Web applications that support the air traffic control system operations are not properly secured to prevent unauthorized access and network intrusion-detection software is not adequately being used to monitor and detect cyberattacks, the report concluded.
The FAA's increasing use of commercial software and Internet Protocol-based technologies as part of an effort to modernize the air traffic control systems poses a higher security risk to the systems than when they relied primarily on proprietary software, the report said.
"Now, attackers can take advantage of software vulnerabilities in commercial IP products to exploit ATC systems, which is especially worrisome at a time when the Nation is facing increased threats from sophisticated nation-state-sponsored cyber attacks," the report said.
In general, the nation's critical infrastructure is increasingly at risk as previously isolated and closed systems are moved to the Internet and commercial software, like Windows, is used, security experts have said.
The air traffic control system auditors said they discovered more than 760 high-risk vulnerabilities in the Web applications tested, including holes that provided "front-door access" to the systems and could allow attackers to inject malicious code onto FAA user computers. Web applications were not adequately configured and the applications with known vulnerabilities were not patched in a timely manner, auditors found.
Meanwhile, intrusion detection systems (IDS) are deployed at only 11 of hundreds of air traffic control facilities and none of the IDS sensors is installed to monitor operational systems at those sites, the report said. Cyber incidents are not effectively monitored or fixed quickly, the report concluded.
In 2008, more than 870 cyber incident alerts were issued to the organization responsible for air traffic control operations and by the end of the year 17 percent (more than 150 incidents) had not been remediated, "including critical incidents in which hackers may have taken over control" of operations computers, the report said.
The FAA is "identifying and fixing weaknesses," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown told The Wall Street Journal. "We are working on developing security architecture for that whole system."
However, Brown dismissed the notion that hackers could get access to critical air traffic control operational systems.
The audit of the air traffic control systems was requested by the ranking minority members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and its Aviation Subcommittee.
by: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10236028-83.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
In February, hackers compromised an FAA public-facing computer and used it to gain access to personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers, on 48,000 current and former FAA employees, the report said.
Last year, hackers took control of FAA critical network servers and could have shut them down, which would have seriously disrupted the agency's mission-support network, the report said. Hackers took over FAA computers in Alaska, becoming "insiders," according to the report dated Monday.
Then, taking advantage of interconnected networks, hackers later stole an administrator's password in Oklahoma, installed "malicious codes" with the stolen password and compromised the FAA domain controller in the Western Pacific Region, giving them the access to more than 40,000 FAA user IDs, passwords, and other data used to control a portion of the mission-support network, the report said.
And in 2006, a virus spread to the air traffic control (ATC) systems, forcing the FAA to shut down a portion of its systems in Alaska, according to the report.
The attacks so far have primarily disrupted mission-support functions, but attacks could spread over network connections from those areas to the operational networks where real-time surveillance, communications and flight information is processed, the report warned.
"In our opinion, unless effective action is taken quickly, it is likely to be a matter of when, not if, ATC systems encounter attacks that do serious harm to ATC operations," the report concluded.
An audit of the FAA's air traffic control cybersecurity protection measures finds them lacking and says there have been several breaches by hackers and a virus.
(Credit: U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General)
The breaches were possible because Web applications that support the air traffic control system operations are not properly secured to prevent unauthorized access and network intrusion-detection software is not adequately being used to monitor and detect cyberattacks, the report concluded.
The FAA's increasing use of commercial software and Internet Protocol-based technologies as part of an effort to modernize the air traffic control systems poses a higher security risk to the systems than when they relied primarily on proprietary software, the report said.
"Now, attackers can take advantage of software vulnerabilities in commercial IP products to exploit ATC systems, which is especially worrisome at a time when the Nation is facing increased threats from sophisticated nation-state-sponsored cyber attacks," the report said.
In general, the nation's critical infrastructure is increasingly at risk as previously isolated and closed systems are moved to the Internet and commercial software, like Windows, is used, security experts have said.
The air traffic control system auditors said they discovered more than 760 high-risk vulnerabilities in the Web applications tested, including holes that provided "front-door access" to the systems and could allow attackers to inject malicious code onto FAA user computers. Web applications were not adequately configured and the applications with known vulnerabilities were not patched in a timely manner, auditors found.
Meanwhile, intrusion detection systems (IDS) are deployed at only 11 of hundreds of air traffic control facilities and none of the IDS sensors is installed to monitor operational systems at those sites, the report said. Cyber incidents are not effectively monitored or fixed quickly, the report concluded.
In 2008, more than 870 cyber incident alerts were issued to the organization responsible for air traffic control operations and by the end of the year 17 percent (more than 150 incidents) had not been remediated, "including critical incidents in which hackers may have taken over control" of operations computers, the report said.
The FAA is "identifying and fixing weaknesses," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown told The Wall Street Journal. "We are working on developing security architecture for that whole system."
However, Brown dismissed the notion that hackers could get access to critical air traffic control operational systems.
The audit of the air traffic control systems was requested by the ranking minority members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and its Aviation Subcommittee.
by: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10236028-83.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
poniedziałek, 4 maja 2009
Windows 7 System Requirements Finalized
System requirements for Windows 7 aren’t any great mystery, but now we’re getting a much better idea of what it’ll say on the retail box.
Microsoft posted relatively modest system requirements (at least for any computer belonging to a Tom’s Hardware reader) when it released the Windows 7 public beta in January and only slightly modified them for the release of yesterday’s Release Candidate.
The system requirements for the beta at the time called for:
* 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
* 1 GB of system memory
* 16 GB of available disk space
* Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)
The system requirements published yesterday for the official Release Candidate are the following:
* 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
* 1 GB of RAM (32-bit)/2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
* 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit)/20 GB (64-bit)
* DirectX 9 graphics device with Windows Display Driver Model 1.0 or higher driver
The only real changes to the system requirements since January are slightly bumped up ones for the 64-bit version, though we suspect anyone who plans to run the x64 build will have a machine that’s way beyond the minimum (having at least 4 GB of RAM would be a good starting point).
While the system requirements posted yesterday apply to the Release Candidate, Microsoft told ZDNet that they were ‘final’, though it’s unknown if there will be different requirements between different SKUs such as Starter Edition or Ultimate Edition. “The system requirements are final and not SKU-specific,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.
Those who plan to run XP Mode will need at least 2 GB RAM, 15 GB of additional hard drive space and a processor that supports hardware virtualization.
According to early tests, Windows 7 performs better than Windows Vista on the same hardware.
"It's been a long time since we've had a version of Windows that will actually run better [than the previous version] on the hardware that most customers have," Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows product management group, said during a conference call with reporters, quoted by ComputerWorld.
Windows 7 does carry with it slightly heftier system requirements than Vista does, despite it being a better performer. From one generation to the next – and three years later – Windows 7’s system demands does seem positively modest.
For reference, Windows Vista’s system requirements are:
* 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
* 512 MB of RAM (for Home Basic); 1 GB of RAM for all other versions
* 15 GB of available disk space
* Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory (for Home Basic); 128 MB of graphics memory plus WDDM support for all other versions
by: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-system-requirements-hardware-rc,7701.html
Google sued over Android name
Illinois developer Erich Specht, sued Google and some 47 other companies in the Open Handset Alliance for using his trademark.
Specht claims he has the rights to the Android name which denotes Google's version of Linux that adorns their handsets. Specht has registered the trademark in 2000 and two years later, the US Patent and Trademark Office awarded the trademark to Android Data, Specht's company.
According to the USPTO, no application would be granted the exclusive right to use the term data, therefore making "android" that dominant word and the trademark. However Android Data never amounted to anything and was dissolved in 2004.
Specht claims that he was not aware that Android was software and thought it was something to do with mobile hardware. Not surprisingly Google said that the case has no merit and it will defend against it. It would not surprise us, however, if it just gave him some money to go away and not tell us about it.
by: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13486&Itemid=1
Specht claims he has the rights to the Android name which denotes Google's version of Linux that adorns their handsets. Specht has registered the trademark in 2000 and two years later, the US Patent and Trademark Office awarded the trademark to Android Data, Specht's company.
According to the USPTO, no application would be granted the exclusive right to use the term data, therefore making "android" that dominant word and the trademark. However Android Data never amounted to anything and was dissolved in 2004.
Specht claims that he was not aware that Android was software and thought it was something to do with mobile hardware. Not surprisingly Google said that the case has no merit and it will defend against it. It would not surprise us, however, if it just gave him some money to go away and not tell us about it.
by: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13486&Itemid=1
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