New Microsoft Support Policy Does Not Include NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is not covered under the new extended support policy announced by Microsoft. Support for NT 4.0 will cease at the end of this year. Still running NT 4.0 on your servers? Time to move forward!

Microsoft Extending Product Support - Again

Yesterday Microsoft announced that it is extending mainstream support of its current and future products by at least an additional 2 years. This means that products will be supported for at least 10 years from the time they are released. The reason for the change is to insure that businesses have plenty of time to plan migrations to new products. Of course for some companies even 10 years might not be enough!

The policy change means that a business or developer product (not personal or hardware) will be covered under mainstream support for 5 years from its release date or 2 years after the release of its replacement, whichever is longer.

This is good news at a time where security updates are critical to keeping business networks safe. Microsoft should be commended for listening and acting upon customer concerns.

SBC Union Workers On Strike

The CAW Union has started a 4 day strike against SBC which is expected to end on Tuesday. SBC has implemented a contigency plan with management and other temporary workers trying to fill the void. For most of us here in Connecticut this strike could affect our phone service and for many could affect their Internet access. At this point there does not appear to be any major service issues with either. If you do have a problem you can call the normal service numbers. Expect that delays may occur in new installations. If you are scheduled for a new installation you may want to call SBC to find out the status.

Did I mention I switched my home phone service to cable Monday? It's great!

Microsoft May Security Update Released (MS04-015)

Microsoft released the May Security Update on the 11th. The MS04-015 update consists of one Important fix. The fix is for Win XP and Win 2003 machines only. It has to do with the Windows internal help system. The user must take several steps in order for the issue to be triggered.

The Important designation is below the Critical designation. Critical issues should be resolved immediately as potential serious consequences exist. Important issues should be resolved in a timely manner as a less potential serious threat exists.

More information can be found here.

Teenager Admits To Being Sasser Author

The teenager arrested Friday has admitted to being the author of all 4 known variants of the Sasser virus that caused Internet havoc last week. He also admitted to creating several variants of the Netsky virus as well.

How did he get caught? Fancy technical work? No. Someone turned him in. Maybe the $250,000 reward Microsoft put up worked.