Latest Windows XP Stories

REDMOND, Wash. -- Computer geeks who were hoping to find a PC featuring Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s brand-new operating system under the tree this December are going to be out of luck.The Redmond software maker said Tuesday that it would delay the consumer release of the new system, dubbed Vista, until January 2007. It's a move analysts said would hurt computer makers and retailers most of all, since they were likely looking forward to a new operating system to boost holiday sales."It's a...

SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. said on Monday it plans to include a free service to help parents control and monitor what their children are doing online in its upcoming Windows Live offering of Web services. The monitoring of children online has become a hot-button subject due to a nationwide string of cases involving adult sexual predators using virtual-communities on the Internet like MySpace.com to meet child victims.Windows Live is part of Microsoft's strategy to consolidate a range of Web...

SEATTLE -- Start with what the much-hyped Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) project code-named Origami is not. It's not a music player designed to take on Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL)'s mega-popular iPod. And it's not a portable version of Microsoft's Xbox videogame console. And it won't - at least not yet - replace your cellular phone or your regular computer.Instead, Origami is the moniker for the first iteration of paperback-sized computers that will run Microsoft's regular Windows XP operating system,...

PARIS -- Microsoft will introduce a search engine better than Google in six months in the United States and Britain followed by Europe, its European president said on Wednesday. "What we're saying is that in six months' time we'll be more relevant in the U.S. market place than Google," said Neil Holloway, Microsoft president for Europe, Middle East and Africa."The quality of our search and the relevance of our search from a solution perspective to the consumer will be more...

LAS VEGAS -- Tick. Tick. Tick. The dreaded waiting period for a computer to boot up is all too familiar. Even the pilot on my flight to Las Vegas this week told passengers they would have to wait for a few minutes - "like how your computer has to boot up at home" - as he restarted the engine before takeoff.But airplanes aside, time-weary consumers who increasingly rely on laptops, PCs and other electronic devices to watch movies or listen to music are demanding immediate...

By Daisuke WakabayashiLAS VEGAS -- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates took the wraps off its next-generation operating system known as Windows Vista on Wednesday, displaying features aimed at positioning the software giant as the entertainment hub for a future of digitally connected homes.Gates also downplayed the threat from Web search leader Google Inc., saying in an interview that Microsoft faced a host of rivals ranging from IBM to Apple to Sony to Nokia in its bid to control the next...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday warned users of its Windows operating system of a "critical" security flaw in its software that could allow attackers to take complete control of a computer.The world's largest software maker issued a patch to fix the problem as part of its monthly security bulletin. The problem mainly affects the Windows operating system and Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser.Computer security experts and Microsoft urged users to download and...

BOSTON -- Microsoft Corp. is releasing preview versions of its new Windows Vista operating system about once a month in an effort to get more customer feedback than usual ahead of next year's launch, the company said on Tuesday. The world's largest software maker also reiterated its plan to launch Vista in the second half of 2006, five years after the release of its current version,     Windows XP.It is the longest gap ever between major launches of Microsoft's core Windows...

SEATTLE -- Retailers are expecting this year's holiday shopping season to be one of the best in recent years for PC sales, but consumers may want to think ahead as Microsoft Corp. prepares to launch a new version of Windows in 2006. Windows Vista, due out in the second half of next year, is the software giant's biggest upgrade since     Windows XP was launched in 2001 and is designed to deliver better graphics, security and search features.Such features, however, may also require...

SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. warned users on Tuesday of a new "critical"-rated flaw in recent versions of Windows that could allow attackers to take control of a system by embedding malicious software code into digital images.Users of Windows XP, Windows Server and an updated version of Windows 2000 were vulnerable to an attack unless they installed a software patch.The flaw affects imaging technology used in Windows that could potentially allow an attacker to take control of a system...