June 2008 XP Optional Updates Are Now Available

The June 2008 Windows XP Embedded Optional Updates are now available on the Mobile & Embedded Communications Extranet (ECE) for Microsoft® Windows® XP Embedded Service Pack 2, Feature Pack 2007 and/or Update Rollup 1.0.

For Windows XP Embedded with SP2, Feature Pack 2007 and/or Update Rollup 1.0 installed:

· KB 953400 - Missing security template files have been added as file resources to the Windows Security Configuration Client Engine component.

· KB 953784 - The Test Application Compatibility Macro component is a new macro component that adds all the other technology macro components to an image to assist customers with troubleshooting missing dependencies in their runtime configurations. Adding this component will have a significant footprint impact to the configuration.

The June 2008 Windows XP Embedded Optional Updates are available at the following link on the ECE:
https://ece.partners.extranet.microsoft.com/ece/ProductSupplements/DownloadCenter/Embedded/XPE/XPEMonthlyUpdates/DisOEM-Jun08XPEmbOptUpd.htm

Source- MSDN Blog

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Microsoft offers free Vista-to-XP downgrade help

Microsoft has said it would offer free technical support to small businesses that buy new PCs with Windows Vista in the next three months, its latest attempt to convince users that moving to Vista is a good idea. And if those efforts are for naught, Microsoft will help those users downgrade from Vista to Windows XP, the same maneuver several large computer makers, including Dell and Hewlett-Packard, have used in recent months to continue offering the older operating system to buyers.

The offer, dubbed Windows Vista Small Business Assurance, is available to businesses with fewer than 50 employees or 25 PCs, and it provides free telephone support through the end of October to companies that buy new PCs with Vista Business or Vista Ultimate between now and Sept. 30, according to details posted on the Microsoft Web site. Only businesses buying new hardware can take advantage of the free support; companies upgrading existing computers from, say, Windows XP, don’t qualify.

Source: The full story @ InfoWorld

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release to Automatic Updates

Microsoft is committed to providing quality products to customers.  As part of this commitment, we would like to remind you that Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) will be released to Automatic Updates shortly.  The third service pack to Windows XP includes the previously released updates and hotfixes to Windows XP, creating a new baseline for servicing.  

Optional Actions

If you wish to prevent users from installing Windows XP SP3 through Automatic Updates, Microsoft recommends you take one or more of the following steps:

1. Download and deploy the Windows Service Pack Blocker Kit. The Blocker Toolkit is available in the Microsoft Download Center. 

2. Deploy an update management solution that provides full control over the updates you deploy to computers in your network (Compare Update Management Solutions).  IT Administrators using an update management solution should use their product’s standard features, rather than the Blocker Toolkit, to control SP1 distribution.

Source- MSDN Blog

Microsoft’s XP SP3 Patch Fixes Anti-Virus Glitch

Microsoft issued a hotfix for Windows XP Service Pack 3 last week that it says "could resolve" a Windows registry corruption problem associated with third-party security software. The problem was first discovered just over a month ago, and it notably affected users of Symantec’s Norton Antivirus suite of products.
Some users who installed XP SP3 reported seeing garbled system entries that cluttered the Windows registry. The corruption in the registry led to problems such as lost Internet and wireless connections, along with uninitiated restarts caused by sporadic registry subkeys.
Microsoft provided an explanation for the problem in a Knowledgebase posting on Friday. The issue "occurs when the Fixccs.exe process is called during the Windows XP SP3 installation," the KB article explains. "This process creates some intermediate registry subkeys, and it later deletes these subkeys. In some cases, some antivirus applications may not let the Fixccs.exe process delete these intermediate registry subkeys." When the problem occurs, "certain applications" within Windows, such as "Device Manager and Network Connections" may be unable to function, Redmond added.
 

News Source: ENT News

RDC 6.1 for Windows XP released

We heard a lot of feedback from customers about the need for the Remote Desktop Connection client 6.1 to be made available as a standalone install for Windows XP SP2 to ease deployments of Windows 2008 Terminal Services.

In response to this feedback, we have released the Remote Desktop Connection client (RDC 6.1) for Windows XP SP2 on x86 platforms.

You can download RDC6.1 for Windows XP SP2 from the Microsoft Download Center (KB 952155) for the following languages:

Arabic, Chinese - Simplified, Chinese – Traditional, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese – Portugal, Portuguese – Brazil, Russian, Spanish – Spain, Swedish, Turkish.

We have also released the MUI package for RDC6.1 on Windows XP SP2 from the Microsoft Download Center (KB 952230).

These are some of the supported features of Remote Desktop Client 6.1 for Windows XP SP2:

• Windows Server 2008 & Windows Vista feature support
• TS Web Access support
• TS Easy Print support
• TS Remote Programs support
• TS Gateway support

Please review the complete list of features and details about RDC6.1 for Windows XP SP2 in this Knowledge Base article.

RDC6.1 is now available on the following platforms:

Windows Server 2008

Windows Vista SP1

Windows XP SP3

Windows XP SP2 (KB 952155)

Source- Technet Blog

Microsoft extends support life of XP

MICROSOFT HAS PROMISED to provide support services for its soon-to-be-retired Windows XP until 2014 because too many of its key business users are still running the ageing OS.

This will mean that Vole will be continuing to support the software 13 years after it first appeared on the shelf.

Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte wrote to users this week saying that Vole will provide security patches "and other critical updates" for Windows XP until April, 2014.

The communication admitted that the reason Microsoft had to extend the service of XP was because "people keep their Windows-based PCs for many years".

Until now, Microsoft’s policy has been to kill off any support for an OS a decade after its first release. Windows 2000 is going to be scrapped in 2010.

What is more likely is that many of Microsoft’s enterprise customers have been leaning on the company to extend the time. Most of them do not want to upgrade to the lacklustre Vista and are still shelling out fortunes for XP.

Microsoft has also been offering a downgrade programme from Vista which will need to be serviced

Source- The Inquirer

Windows XP SP3 includes vulnerable Flash Player

Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) ships with an out-of-date version of Adobe’s Flash Player that’s vulnerable to recently-spotted attacks, according to Microsoft’s support documentation. Windows XP SP3 includes Flash Player 9.0.115.0, a version released by Adobe Systems Inc. in December 2007. That version of Flash Player, however, was superseded by version 9.0.124.0 on April 8, nearly two weeks before Microsoft decided SP3 was done by giving it a Release To Manufacturing (RTM) label and sending it out for distribution.
The older version that shipped with XP SP3, however, harbors a bug that hackers have been exploiting since last week; that’s when security researchers, including those at Symantec Corp., reported what they at first thought was a zero-day vulnerability in the most current edition of Flash, 9.0.124.0. A few days later, however, Symantec retracted that claim, and said that only the older 9.0.115.0 was at risk.
Adobe has confirmed that version 9.0.115.0, included with XP SP3, is vulnerable to the ongoing attacks, which have originated from Chinese servers. Users have been attacked after visiting legitimate Web sites that had been hacked using now-common SQL-injection attacks. Users running XP SP3 can determine which version of Flash Player is installed by calling up this Adobe page in their browser. Adobe has recommended that all users update to version 9.0.124.0.
 

Source: ComputerWorld

Another Windows XP SP3 issue surfaces

While many people have found Service Pack 3 to be a painless update for Windows XP, the list of issues experienced by some users continues to grow. One of the most recently reported issues is affecting some users of Windows Home Server (WHS), one of the most recent additions to Microsoft’s operating systems family.
The symptom is that they cannot establish a remote access connection to WHS from a PC with XP SP3, even after (re)adding the server to the list of trusted sites, fuelling more SP3 angst. The problem is said to be that SP3 disables the Terminal Services ActiveX control. Instructions for enabling the control have been posted to Microsoft’s Windows Home Server forums by someone with the username ColinWH.
It seems it may be necessary to edit the registry if Internet Explorer 7 is installed. While old hands may be comfortable with that process, less experienced users may feel the need to call in potentially expensive assistance from one of the growing number of in-home tech support services.
 

Source: IT Wire