Microsoft Corp. today announced that "Microsoft^® Casino," which offers one of the most authentic games experiences for the PC, is now available in stores.

"Microsoft Casino" brings the excitement of three premier Las Vegas resorts, The Mirage^®, Bellagio^® and Treasure Island at The Mirage^®, to the PC by accurately reproducing each casino in stunning detail. Realistic graphics and video from the resorts, along with authentic gaming tables, cards, dice and music, add to the Las Vegas ambience.

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Microsoft Corp and News Corp (Australia:NCP.AX - news) (NYSE:NWS - news) are in discussions that may result in the software giant investing more than $1 billion in the media firm's Sky Global Networks Inc unit, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Citing ``people familiar with the situation'', the newspaper said if a definitive deal is reached, Microsoft would emerge with a 3.5 percent stake in Sky Global, which consolidates all of News Corp's global satellite-TV assets and investments.

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A hacker had high-level access to Microsoft Corp.'s computer system for 12 days - not up to five weeks, as the company had first reported - and was monitored the entire time. While the company says it believes no major corporate secrets were stolen, some security experts believe the 12-day period was plenty of time for a hacker to do damage that may not have been detected yet.

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So did they or didn't they? Through Friday Microsoft spokespeople, spinmeisters and execs seem to have been largely unsuccessful in damping down the fires started by the Wall Street Journal's 'Microsoft hacked' story, but by the end of the day some kind of corporate line seemed to be emerging - they didn't get anything, they didn't change anything, and anyway they weren't in there for long.

But the trouble with the 'no story' story is that it doesn't directly address several of the claims made by the WSJ, that it doesn't necessarily guarantee that the hackers weren't in there for longer (and that they're not actually still in there), and that this Redmond corporate line wasn't completely available when the story first broke.

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Our thanks to Rodney for pointing out for you all Windows Update has a new recommended download available.

Download Internet Explorer Error Reporting and contribute to the development of Internet Explorer browser technology. With Error Reporting installed, when an application fault occurs you will now see a new dialog box that gives you the opportunity to report the problem to Microsoft. If an update or workaround is available for the error you have reported, you are directed to the appropriate Web site to download the update or view instructions for the workaround.

System Requirements:
Internet Explorer 5.0
Internet Explorer 5.01
Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer 5.5

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Microsoft acknowledged Friday that hackers had accessed source code to programs in development, but company representatives said the intruders did not see code for existing products.

The admission quells fears hackers might have stolen the source code, or blueprint, for some of Microsoft's most valuable programs, including Office, Windows Me and Windows 2000.

As a criminal investigation under the direction of the FBI progressed, the nature of the attack appeared to be more sophisticated than first suspected, adding fuel to speculations of industrial espionage.

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The judge who ordered Microsoft split in two said he would "think very seriously" about taking himself off the case if an appeals court found his decision was "egregiously wrong."

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who found that Microsoft illegally defended its Windows software monopoly, raised the possibility of removing himself from further proceedings if the appeals court wants more hearings on the breakup.

"It will depend in large measure upon the confidence the Court of Appeals reposes in my earlier decision," Jackson said after a speech to an antitrust seminar. "If I am found to have been egregiously in error, then even if they didn't remove me from the case, I might very well think very seriously of removing myself."

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Microsoft Corp. unveiled a brand-new MSN^®, giving consumers a new home on the Web. The updated MSN includes the new MSN Explorer, which provides the easiest way for consumers to get on the Internet and makes using the Web more simple and personal. Also announced were updates to virtually all the MSN services and new industry relationships that will continue to bring the best of the Web to consumers. MSN has become an easier way for consumers to get online, and it provides a unique Web experience that gives them more from their time online. With more than 210 million unique users per month, MSN is now the preferred choice for consumers.

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I've just posted my review on the brand new 3D graphic card of Guillemot International, the Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra 64Mb. This brand new 3D acceleration card is build around the top-notch GeForce II Ultra chip of Nvidia. Be sure to read the review & the tests results to know how powerful this new card is! Here is a snippet of the review:

Since the release of the TNT Ultra chip, NVIDIA has begun the undisputable reign as the 3D chip manufacturer leader of the world. They grabbed this position with the introduction of the GeForce chip in early 1999 when they created the world first GPU (Graphic Processor Unit), a new concept for 3D video cards. NVIDIA introduced a chip designed only for 3D hard-core gamers to bring them exceptional video quality along with incredible performance. NVIDIA’s goal of designing the GeForce ship was put only on performance and they perfectly reached this goal. When NVIDIA introduced the GeForce chip other competing 3D cards like the Matrox G400 instantly beat them. Then at the beginning of this year NVIDIA unveiled to the world the GeForce II GTS the world first AGP 4x gigatexel 3D accelerator. Now with the GeForce II Ultra they make things better again as like a conventional CPU they increased the internal frequency of the chip and memory so overall speed was enhanced. The card we will test now is probably the most exceptional one we’ve seen yet: the Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra 64MB manufactured by Guillemot is not only one more board that uses a NVIDIA chip. Indeed unlike its competitors (like Creative Labs) who are content in releasing a NVIDIA reference like card, Hercules has really built its 3D card around the NVIDIA chip with the gamer in mind by enhancing hardware design in order to obtain better performance and reliability.

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We have just posted our very comprehensive interview with Brent Bentsen of Microsoft regarding Project 2000. We discuss how Project aids in Windows 2000 deployment, development details of the product, optimizing the SDK, new features they implemented and much, much more! Business users this is a must!

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I've just posted my review on the brand new 3D graphic card of Guillemot International, the Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra 64Mb. This brand new 3D acceleration card is build around the top-notch GeForce II Ultra chip of Nvidia. Be sure to read the review & the tests results to know how powerful this new card is! Here is a snippet of the review:

Since the release of the TNT Ultra chip, NVIDIA has begun the undisputable reign as the 3D chip manufacturer leader of the world. They grabbed this position with the introduction of the GeForce chip in early 1999 when they created the world first GPU (Graphic Processor Unit), a new concept for 3D video cards. NVIDIA introduced a chip designed only for 3D hard-core gamers to bring them exceptional video quality along with incredible performance. NVIDIA’s goal of designing the GeForce ship was put only on performance and they perfectly reached this goal. When NVIDIA introduced the GeForce chip other competing 3D cards like the Matrox G400 instantly beat them. Then at the beginning of this year NVIDIA unveiled to the world the GeForce II GTS the world first AGP 4x gigatexel 3D accelerator. Now with the GeForce II Ultra they make things better again as like a conventional CPU they increased the internal frequency of the chip and memory so overall speed was enhanced. The card we will test now is probably the most exceptional one we’ve seen yet: the Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra 64MB manufactured by Guillemot is not only one more board that uses a NVIDIA chip. Indeed unlike its competitors (like Creative Labs) who are content in releasing a NVIDIA reference like card, Hercules has really built its 3D card around the NVIDIA chip with the gamer in mind by enhancing hardware design in order to obtain better performance and reliability.

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The chief executive officer of chip titan Intel said Friday the U.S. company's long-awaited Pentium 4 microprocessor will be launched in about one month, just ahead of its original year-end target.

"We'll price the Pentium 4 processor precisely as necessary to get it in the volume desktop marketplace," Intel CEO Craig Barrett told reporters here.

"The product will be introduced in about a month, and we are going to ramp it very rapidly next year," he added. Intel has not publicly given a specific date for its Pentium 4 launch, only saying that its target is the second half of the year. The company said it had notified clients of the date, however.

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It may be a Friday, but it's not a winding down day for Microsoft [NASDAQ:MSFT] as at least one of its systems has been hacked by a new Trojan horse application.

Warnings from F-Secure and Sophos, two major anti-virus specialists, have been issued about the Microsoft incident this morning, and IT managers worldwide have been warned to be on the lookout for new variants of the Qaz Trojan horse, one of which apparently attacked a Microsoft development PC earlier in the week.

Jason Holloway, F-Secure's UK general manager, told Newsbytes that unknown hackers apparently gained access to a development computer at Microsoft's headquarters earlier in the week and, using the Qaz Trojan, the hackers were able to download the source code to at least one Microsoft application in development.

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Microsoft has started work on a beta test of the first service pack for Internet Explorer 5.5. The Service Pack 1 release is due before the end of the year and includes a number of fixes and slight improvements over Internet Explorer 5.5.

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Do you remember the Great Browser Wars? Three years ago the Internet's hottest story centered on the combat between Netscape and Microsoft. Back then it was believed that Web browsers would soon replace operating systems, and the battle over who would control the browser market seemed to be a crucial one.

The browser wars were also the Princess Diana of tech media -- whenever a reporter or editor couldn't think of something to write about, he or she would trot out a detailed analysis of the latest shots fired by spunky upstart Netscape or monolithic, deep-pocketed Microsoft.

But then it ended. Microsoft won. Netscape was sold to America Online. And the glory days of easy news stories seemed to be long over -- until this week.

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It's no coincidence Microsoft Corp. launched a revamped Internet service the same day America Online Inc. released its latest online platform.

Since 1995, when Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Network alongside Windows 95, the software giant has been tilting unsuccessfully at the AOL windmill. AOL has remained a step ahead, first with chat and e-mail, then Web content and electronic commerce.

After quickly signing up about 2 million MSN users in 1995 and 1996, Microsoft's growth rate flattened out. Meanwhile, AOL's subscription figures kept climbing, and the company, based in Dulles, Va., now claims 25 million users, compared with MSN's 3.5 million.

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Microsoft Corp's Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Friday the future of the Internet was in making the Net's various Web sites, services and hardware devices work seamlessly together.

Ballmer, on a world tour to promote Microsoft's MNS portal, which is part of its broad .NET strategy for the easy exchange of data across software services, was speaking at an Internet seminar at Saltsjobaden near Stockholm.

``When I teach my handheld device to recognize voice commands I should be teaching my PC to recognize voice command and my mobile phone to recognize voice commands. It should be one set of learning,'' he said, adding he expected sophisticated voice recognition software in some three years.

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Software giant Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday that hackers had broken into the company's computer system, in what a spokesman called ``a deplorable act of industrial espionage.''

Microsoft spokesman Rick Miller declined to comment on what specific areas of the computer network were breached, what the specific goals of the hackers were, or the possible motives. The company had reported the break-in to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and was working with authorities to protect its intellectual property, he told Reuters.

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The operating system battles have been pretty ugly. But recent database rhetoric has escalated the long-running war of words between Microsoft and Oracle.

Trade-show keynote speeches are a sure soapbox for vendors to dis their competitors. But not since the days of OS/2 vs. Windows have barbs been flying as they have recently in the database space. In fact, Microsoft Corp. has called in its lawyers over Oracle Corp.'s recent criticisms of Microsoft's SQL Server performance, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison mentioned casually during a Wednesday night keynote address at Internet World.

"Microsoft's lawyers sent us a letter threatening to sue us," Ellison told the trade-show audience. He said Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) was unhappy with his latest stump speech, in which Ellison said that the only software that runs well on SQL Server running clustered Windows 2000 servers is the Transaction Processing Council's TPC-C benchmark suite. The TPC-C is an industry-standard test that measures transaction-processing-system throughput in terms of orders processed per minute.

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America Online has asked the appellate court hearing the Microsoft case to allow it to file a brief in support of the government.

America Online Inc. was one of several individuals and organizations who requested Wednesday to file amicus, or friend of the court, briefs. Several trade associations who filed with the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had participated as friends of the court during the lower court proceedings.

Executives from AOL, Dulles, Va., testified on behalf of the government and later as hostile witnesses for Microsoft during the trial. In December 1998, in the midst of the trial, AOL bought Netscape, which the Justice Department and 19 states portrayed as the victim in their antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp.. But even after acquiring Netscape, AOL continued its agreement with Microsoft to feature its Internet Explorer browser.

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Our AskAW Helpers have been busy answering your e-mail and we have just posted the most recent questions.  We also have a new page format we hope you all will enjoy.

We have an archive of questions you might want to search through located at: http://www.activewin.com/askaw/archive/index.shtml

We are currently responding to questions in a week or less. Any questions submitted to our Staff after the date on of our last question/answer post will be posted the following week. Anyone sending in a question will receive a follow-up e-mail stating that a response has been posted. If you have a question that you would like answered then just drop us an e-mail at: askaw@activewin.com.

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Byron has been working on what we hope will be a big improvement in our news layout design, but before going ahead and using it straight away - we have decided to get your views on our first draft layout. What we would like you all to do if possible is to check out the new layout page and then e-mail Byron with your views on it, what you like and what you hate etc. We would like your views ASAP as we are working on our news engine in tandem with this design. Please note that the only part we need comments on at the moment is the new news layout - anything else is still a work in progress. Thanks for all your support over the past 2-3 years.

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It's been an awfully long time coming but it seems that Microsoft has finally rustled up the nerve to have a pop at Linux. For years the company has been scared of the operating system that looks likely to seal the company's fate, for the worse naturally, and has responded by doing little more than sending internal e-mails saying how scared they all are. Now though its got its finger out its rear and has come to the table with a blistering, relatively speaking admittedly, attack on the O/S.

In an advertising campaign devised by ad agency McCann Erikson, the company has come up with a splendidly witty retort, given that this is the IT industry it's obviously not that funny, to the bullish Linux brigade. The adverts consist of a number of penguins, based presumably on Tux the Linux mascot, that all have rather deformed, or at least mutated, heads. It's all fairly high level you understand.

Underneath this however Microsoft puts the boot in with the tag line that read, 'An operating system does not just have advantages' followed by the sucker-punch – 'It can mutate unexpectedly. But with Windows 2000, you get all of the services and support from the same vendor. That will save time and real money.' Pretty heavyweight stuff for Microsoft.

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ICQ (I Seek You) Inc. has just released a new public beta version of its well known ICQ software that lets you chat instantly with friends when they are online. Be sure to download it right away by clicking here.

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Microsoft Corp's (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) interactive television unit WebTV agreed to settle charges filed by the regulatory body, which accused the company of false advertising.

The settlement will prevent the company from making ``deceptive advertising claims about the performance capabilities of the WebTV system'', the FTC said in a statement. It will also require the company to clearly disclose long distance telephone toll charges that some consumers may incur while using the service. The settlement ``will require reimbursement to certain former WebTV Internet service subscribers for long distance charges they incurred in the past''.

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Credit Suisse Group unveiled an Internet partnership deal with Microsoft Corp (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) on Thursday as the U.S. company continues moves aimed at becoming the most popular Web destination in Europe.

Credit Suisse said it had concluded a strategic pan-European partnership with Microsoft in which the Swiss financial group's new investment service will feature on Microsoft's MSN Web portal.

More alliances are expected in coming weeks as Microsoft prepares the launch of the MoneyCentral personal finance channel on MSN in Europe, with Chief Executive Steve Ballmer currently in Switzerland as part of a European tour.

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As people with disabilities continue the struggle to obtain meaningful employment in the face of an enormously high unemployment rate, Microsoft Corp. today announced its latest round of grants as part of a program designed to improve the employment situation for individuals with disabilities. The announcement was made today at the Business Leadership Network national summit in Seattle, a conference of over 400 business and government leaders from across the nation. A total of $250,000 in grants are being awarded to nine innovative organizations across the country that are working in the area of employment for this traditionally overlooked and underutilized segment of workers.

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Microsoft WebTV Networks, Inc. today announced that for $9.95 a month, UltimateTV^® service subscribers will have up to 35 hours of digital video recording (DVR), the ability to pause live TV, interactive television and three hours of Internet access. For an additional five dollars, or a total price of $14.95, subscribers can use their own compatible Internet service provider (ISP) such as the MSN^® network of Internet services. DIRECTV programming is sold separately; package prices vary.

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Fulfilling the long-awaited promise of broadband entertainment direct to the television, ZoomTown.com, the wholly-owned Internet broadband subsidiary of next-generation communications provider Broadwing Inc., together with Intertainer, uniView Technologies Corp. and Microsoft Corp. today announced that ZoomTown.com will market-test a service to provide asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband entertainment directly to consumers' televisions. ZoomTown.com expects to deploy the service to its more than 35,000 subscribers next year following successful completion of the trial.

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Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in the Microsoft(r) virtual machine (Microsoft VM) that originally was discussed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-011. Like the original vulnerability, the new variant could enable a malicious web site operator to read files from the computer of a person who visited his site or read web content from inside an intranet if the malicious site was visited by a computer from within that intranet.

The Microsoft VM is a virtual machine for the Win32(r) operating environment. It runs atop Microsoft Windows(r) 95, 98, Me, Windows NT(r) 4.0, and Windows 2000. It ships as part of each operating system, and also as part of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

The version of the Microsoft VM that ships with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x and Internet Explorer 5.x contains a security vulnerability that could allow a Java applet to operate outside the bounds set by the sandbox. A malicious user could write a Java applet that could read - but not change, delete or add - files from the computer of a person who visited his site or read web content from inside an intranet if the malicious site is visited by a computer from within that intranet..

The vulnerability at issue here is a new variant of the vulnerability originally discussed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-011. The only significant difference between the new and original variants lies in the specific programming technique used to exploit the vulnerability; in other respects, the two are virtually identical. Applying the new patch eliminates both the new and original variants.

Affected Software Versions: Versions of the Microsoft VM are identified by build numbers, which can be determined using the JVIEW tool, as discussed in the FAQ. The following builds of the Microsoft VM are affected: - All builds in the 2000 series. - All builds in the 3000 series.

New versions of the Microsoft VM that include a fix for the vulnerability can be downloaded from the following locations:
- 2000-series builds: A patch specifically for the 2000-series builds will be available shortly. Customers who wish to eliminate the vulnerability can also do so by upgrading to build 3319 at http://www.microsoft.com/java/vm/dl_vm40.htm
- 3000-series: Upgrade to build 3319 or later at http://www.microsoft.com/java/vm/dl_vm40.htm.

Note: 2000-series builds are shipped as part of Internet Explorer 4.x; 3000 series builds are shipped as part of Internet Explorer 5.x. However, customers may upgrade the Microsoft VM on their machines independent of the browser, and the Microsoft VM also ships as part of many other applications, so it is possible for the actual build number to be higher than the one associated with the version of IE that is installed on the machine. In such cases, customers should determine what version of the patch to install based on the build number, not on the version of IE.

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Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: ELBO - news), a leading global specialty retailer of interactive entertainment products, today announced a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT - news), whereby its retail customers will receive rebates up to $400 after they have purchased eligible merchandise and signed up for MSN Internet Access. The promotion, beginning today, expands upon Electronics Boutique's internet arm EBWorld.com and its successful relationship with MSN as the premier video game and PC retailer on Zone.com.

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Microsoft Canada and Navantis Inc. today announced an agreement that will see the companies collaborate on the marketing of Knowledge(at)Work; a new knowledge management tool from Navantis designed specifically to help small businesses easily build and maintain a full-function business intranet. The initiative was announced in conjunction with the Microsoft Big Day Tour small business seminar in Mississauga. Ted Arnott, Parliamentary Assistant to the Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade Al Palladini, delivered the opening address.

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Software giant Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) on Wednesday took the wraps off its refurbished MSN Web service, backing the offering with a $1 billion war chest in its biggest effort yet to topple leading Internet access rival America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news).

The new service, which includes a colourful new Internet browser as well as content updates, is also MSN's first step toward carrying out Microsoft's broad .NET strategy to make it easy to swap data across its software and services

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I've just posted my look at the Microsoft Meet Me Tour... Check it out! "As I walked towards the Meet Me booth, out of the blue I was promptly greeted with a nice Windows Me bag full of brochures and received a nice Windows Me pen (although somebody else I know received about twenty from a different guy, see above)."...

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Anyone who regularly searches the Internet knows the common frustrations. Ask a search engine for one thing, and it often gives you another. Search for breaking news, and you get last month’s headlines or sketchy overviews. Ask for music and video clips, and you have to wade through several screens of links to find what you're after -- if it’s even offered. Try locating a local business or product online, and you must re-type the words of your search each time you enter a new window or Web site.

With the newest version of its popular search engine, MSN Search, released in October 2000, MSN predicts that users will notice richer, more diverse content when hunting for information on the Internet. MSN has upgraded its search functionality to integrate new interpretive search methods and tabs that make it easier and faster to find information in a variety of ways. Also, the search engine puts a wealth of up-to-date news, music and video clips one mouse click away.

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The MSN^® network of Internet services will air the first, exclusive online episode of Music in High Places (MIHP), a yearlong series that will feature top recording artists as they travel to some of the Earth's most cultural and sacred locations. Music lovers can enjoy the adventures and experiences of 12 artists as they make their journey to their destination.

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Today Microsoft Corp. unveiled a brand-new MSN^®, giving consumers a new home on the Web. The updated MSN includes the new MSN Explorer, which provides the easiest way for consumers to get on the Internet and makes using the Web more simple and personal. Also announced were updates to virtually all the MSN services and new industry relationships that will continue to bring the best of the Web to consumers. MSN has become an easier way for consumers to get online, and it provides a unique Web experience that gives them more from their time online. With more than 210 million unique users per month, MSN is now the preferred choice for consumers.

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The MSN^® network of Internet services today announced the most aggressive worldwide marketing campaign since the Windows^® 95 operating system launch. The campaign's objective is to make the MSN network the No. 1 global Internet brand that will achieve the same kind of recognition as Windows and Microsoft^® Office. The $150 million global advertising campaign highlights the ease of use and benefits of MSN's rich Internet services and content and includes television ads that will run in North America, Europe and Asia. The first commercials are scheduled to begin airing Oct. 25, 2000.

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Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the Speech SDK version 5.0. This version of the toolkit includes a redesigned, industry-standard speech application programming interface (SAPI) targeted at developers, the same speech technology that will ship with the next version of Microsoft^® Office next year. Thousands of developers have already received a beta version of the SDK through MSDN^® and at the Microsoft Professional Developer's Conference in July. Today, more than 20 speech engine companies, tools developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) have announced plans to release products for the Windows^® operating system based on Speech API 5.0 (SAPI 5.0) in the near term.

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Byron has been working on what we hope will be a big improvement in our news layout design, but before going ahead and using it straight away - we have decided to get your views on our first draft layout. What we would like you all to do if possible is to check out the new layout page and then e-mail Byron with your views on it, what you like and what you hate etc. We would like your views ASAP as we are working on our news engine in tandem with this design. Please note that the only part we need comments on at the moment is the new news layout - anything else is still a work in progress. Thanks for all your support over the past 2-3 years.

[Submit News]  [Return To Headlines]  [Translate]  [Site News]

Our AskAW Helpers have been busy answering your e-mail and we have just posted the most recent questions.  We also have a new page format we hope you all will enjoy.

We have an archive of questions you might want to search through located at: http://www.activewin.com/askaw/archive/index.shtml

We are currently responding to questions in a week or less. Any questions submitted to our Staff after the date on of our last question/answer post will be posted the following week. Anyone sending in a question will receive a follow-up e-mail stating that a response has been posted. If you have a question that you would like answered then just drop us an e-mail at: askaw@activewin.com.

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As mentioned yesterday, Microsoft released the long awaited Final Release of MSN Explorer 6.0 at 12 Midnight PST. The benefits of MSN Explorer 6 are:

• It's one program that does it all: MSN Explorer is your one-stop shop for using the Web, from browsing and listening to music to e-mail and instant messaging. Just launch MSN Explorer and you're all set!
• It's a new, friendly face for the Web: with one-click access to your favorite Web features!
• Sign-in once and you're done: When you sign in to MSN Explorer, you are automatically connected to MSN features such as MSN Hotmail®, the MSN Messenger service, and MSN Calendar so that you no longer have to retype passwords.
• It's here to help: No need to retype things you've done before with smart technologies such as AutoComplete for Web addresses, e-mail names and passwords. And our search tools take mistyping and even the time of year into account when generating results, to help you hunt less and gather more.
• Low-impact installation: An easy and safe download with a streamlined setup process./font>
• Easy switching: It is easy to convert your Internet Explorer favorites or your contacts from Outlook® Express or America Online when switching to MSN Explorer.
• Guided Tour: An interactive tour of the features in MSN Explorer will help you get up and running quickly.
• Automatic updates: Innovative new automatic update mechanism delivers updates (service improvements and new features) to you. You don't have to worry about searching for new versions!
• Create your own Web site, Photo album or Web community: Integrated MSN® Custom Web Sites service provides an easy way to create your own site on the Web, from photo albums and file cabinets for storing files such as Microsoft Office documents, to full-fledged Web communities.
• Watch or listen while you browse: With MSN Explorer, you can listen to music or watch a video while browsing the Web or using E-mail - without opening up separate programs or windows! Windows Media Player provides leading performance and supports a wide range of formats, including Windows Media and MP3.
• My Radio with favorite presets: You can choose from thousands of radio stations throughout the world to listen to while browsing the Web. You can even compile a list of your favorites for easy playing in the future.
• Personal finance: Keep track of accounts, pay bills online and receive financial advice with award-winning MSN MoneyCentral service.
• Watch or listen while you browse: Online shopping: Research and compare products and purchase online from hundreds of online merchants using integrated MSN eShop service.
• Personal home page: Special MSN.com home page includes a new look, personalized content, Message Center, and one-click personalization
• "My Stuff" bar: New left-hand navigation bar provides one-click access to features important to you. For example, receive local weather, news and events automatically! You can also get a real-time view of stocks you are tracking, without losing your place on the Web!
• Instant access to the people, places and information YOU care about most: You'll see real-time notifications when your buddies are online, send you a message, or when you receive new messages in your hotmail inbox. And then you've got instant, one-click access to them all!
• Instant alerts: Enjoy up-to-the-minute alerts for new e-mail, friends coming online and instant messaging, so you are always aware of important events.
• Best-of-breed E-mail: MSN Explorer provides a fun new look and feel to your free MSN Hotmail® e-mail account. Hotmail provides support for HTML mail and protection against "SPAM" e-mail. MSN Explorer also allows you to "archive" mail to avoid limitations on the size of your inbox and also makes it easier to address messages via the integrated address book.
• Support for multiple users: MSN Explorer supports up to 9 users, each with their own settings such as favorites, e-mail and instant messaging buddies. If you share your computer, MSN Explorer will be great for you!
• Member Center: An integrated page that provides information on your account and allows you to modify your Web settings, such as which content is available on your home page or even delivered to your cellular phone.
• Roaming: Stay connected no matter where you are using e-mail and other features that are available from any PC, as well as Web-enabled devices like cellular phones.

You can download it now by clicking here. Install today and you could be eligible to win a "Wired Home" - a $10,000* technological home renovation!  You'll also get, just for entering, the MSN Explorer sweepstakes gift - $10 off your next purchase of $40 or more at BarnesandNoble.com!

For those of you who are interested in knowing what has changed since the last preview 2. Here is the list:

• Robustness/stability issues throughout MSN Explorer were addressed.
• Error messages were improved with regard to signup and communications features.
• Improvements were made to the upgrade experience for users of previous versions of MSN Internet Access.

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Just an update on the release of MSN Explorer - Microsoft has informed us that the program will be released at 12 midnight PST that's 8am GMT for us in Europe. So it won't be long before you can all get hold of the final release of MSN Explorer.

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We have just posted our very comprehensive interview with Brent Bentsen of Microsoft regarding Project 2000. We discuss how Project aids in Windows 2000 deployment, development details of the product, optimizing the SDK, new features they implemented and much, much more! Business users this is a must!

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At the European Microsoft Exchange and Collaboration Solutions Conference, Microsoft Corp. today announced the Exchange consumer services program that extends the strength of Microsoft^® Exchange 2000 Server for enterprise application service providers into the carrier, Internet service provider (ISP) and portal marketplaces. By providing one platform that offers a range of services -- from simple e-mail functionality with Exchange consumer services to "business-class" productivity and collaboration -- Exchange 2000 represents new and significant business opportunities for providers of Internet services.

The Exchange consumer services program includes the following components:

• Commercial licensing optimized for consumers and small businesses
• Extensions to provisioning features in the Exchange 2000 Server Hosting Pack through companies such as Xevo Corp. and Portal Software Inc.
• Microsoft Commercial Internet System (MCIS) migration and Exchange deployment services for ISPs and carriers from Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) and eQuest Technologies Inc.
• MCIS Migration Kit for existing MCIS 2.5 customers migrating to Exchange 2000

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At the Cartes 2000 trade show, Microsoft Corp. today announced substantial rollouts of multiapplication smart cards based on the Microsoft^® Windows^® for Smart Cards operating system. New Windows Powered Smart Card-based applications and services include a network security and logon service developed for British Telecommunications PLC (BT) by Authentic8 International Inc. and a 500,000 smart card deployment for home cholesterol monitors developed by Lifestream Technologies Inc. in the United States.

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Microsoft Corp. and Eloquent Inc., a leading provider of Web-based rich media business communications solutions, today announced a strategic agreement to develop a comprehensive end-to-end enterprise communications solution for the management and delivery of streaming media. This solution will help address the growing needs of enterprise customers to manage the large volume of streamed Windows Media™ content on their corporate networks.

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In the industry's leading independent caching competition, Microsoftâ Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 (ISA Server), a member of the Microsoft .NET enterprise server family, demonstrated its superior Web-caching performance. The Measurement Factory Inc., of Boulder, Colo., applied the Web Polygraph test to 31 caches from 15 different organizations; ISA Server was rated No. 1 in price/performance and received high honors in throughput (requests per second) and in hit ratio.

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EMI Records has chosen Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows format for downloadable versions of its music. In a deal to be announced Tuesday, the record company will tap RioPort to encode and help distribute the record company's catalog. A RioPort spokesman said EMI's digital downloads will be encoded in the Microsoft Windows Media format. The decision is the second in less than a week from EMI. Last week, EMI Records and the Tornado Group inked a deal to use Tornado groups' DMDS technology, which can operate on Microsoft Windows Media Player, to distribute EMI music in Europe. EMI is in the middle of a downloading trial that began in July with what the company claimed was the biggest digital music release ever. Sony and Universal, two other record companies mulling digital music releases, all use a proprietary software to encode their music.

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Guinness World Records Ltd. today announced the launch of its new GuinnessWorldRecords.com Web site, built on the e-business solution from Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. Microsoft and Intel were selected as the primary technology providers, replacing a Sun Microsystems strategy, with only 90 days to meet the launch deadline. With the cost and flexibility advantages of the Microsoft and Intel solution, that deadline has been met and the site is live today.

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A year on from knocking 5 per cent off Microsoft's price through careless talk about overvalued stock, Steve Ballmer has returned to the fray by describing some companies as "dramatically overvalued." But don't hit the phones - last time he blurted that this included Microsoft, but this time around he left his own company out.

Overall Ballmer thinks the stock market "is now very rational," but he didn't express a view on Microsoft's price. Although last week's results cheered up the analysts a little, Microsoft still needs a more convincing and sustained rise to keep the show properly on the road. Ballmer didn't say who he thought was overvalued, but last week he did make some sour remarks about Sun...

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Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in Microsoft(r) Internet Information Server. The vulnerability could allow a malicious user to "hijack" another user's secure web session, under a very restricted set of circumstances.

IIS supports the use of a Session ID cookie to track the current session identifier for a web session. However, .ASP in IIS does not support the creation of secure Session ID cookies as defined in RFC 2109. As a result, secure and non-secure pages on the same web site use the same Session ID. If a user initiated a session with a secure web page, a Session ID cookie would be generated and sent to the user, protected by SSL. But if the user subsequently visited a non-secure page on the same site, the same Session ID cookie would be exchanged, this time in plaintext. If a malicious user had complete control over the communications channel, he could read the plaintext Session ID cookie and use it to connect to the user's session with the secure page. At that point, he could take any action on the secure page that the user could take.

The conditions under which this vulnerability could be exploited are rather daunting. The malicious user would need to have complete control over the other user's communications with the web site. Even then, the malicious user could not make the initial connection to the secure page - only the legitimate user could do that. The patch eliminates the vulnerability by adding support for secure Session ID cookies in .ASP pages. (Secure cookies already are supported for all other types of cookies, under all other technologies in IIS).

Affected Software Versions: - Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0 - Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0

- Microsoft IIS 4.0:: http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/Release.asp?ReleaseID=25233
- Microsoft IIS 4.0:: http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/Release.asp?ReleaseID=25232

Note: - The IIS 4.0 version of this patch can be installed on Windows NT(r) 4.0 systems running Service Pack 6a, and will be included in Service Pack 7. - The IIS 5.0 version of this patch can be installed on Windows(r) 2000 systems with or without Service Pack 1, and will be included in Service Pack 2.

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Driver compatibility and support is probably the biggest problem associated with Windows Me. In the past month several vendors have come up with drivers - for example, Creative has released Live!Ware 3.0 and drivers for users with a Sound Blaster sound card. Those with a Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1, X-Gamer 5.1, MP3+ 5.1, and Digital Entertainment 5.1 do not need this, as the CD already contains the latest software.

Microsoft doesn't take the view that it didn't come up with the goods in time; the company says that Windows Me is designed for the home user, and has even better driver support than Windows 98 for items likely to be used in a home environment. A spoekswoman added that Windows Me's driver collection is not necessarily a superset of Windows 98.

But there are clearly plenty of people out there with hardware that wasn't supported from day one, and who still want to run Windows Me. So either the vendors screwed up by not using the two months they had before Windows Me hit the shelves, or Microsoft did not prepare the vendors enough. But if you haven't got your fix yet, you can keep trying to look for drivers at sites like WinDrivers.com, or go to Microsoft's driver support page here. Some progress had also been made on bugfixes and workarounds.

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Iolo has just released a new build 3.5f of its awesome System Mechanic pack of utilities to fix more Windows Me issues. In this release, NetBooster incorrect Windows Me detection has been fixed as well as two major registry issues while the Eraser tool has been slightly enhanced. You can download this update for free by using the build-in WebUpdate feature of your software. If you prefer you can download the whole pack by clicking here.

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I've just posted my in-depth review of Microsoft Project 2000, the project management software solution from Microsoft. Here is a snippet of it:

Microsoft has released a few months after its new Office 2000 software suite, a new version of its brand new project management software. This new version was long awaited since the previous one was released in 1998. When Microsoft Corp. first introduced in 1990 Microsoft Project 1.0 for Windows, the software was one of the first of its race. Since then this kind of project management software has grown relatively fast and is now used by almost every person responsible who is in charge of a project in the computers and services business sectors. Microsoft Project 2000 is the sixth release of Project and is aimed to conquer even more users than the already existing 3 million. The basis of Microsoft Project 2000 is to provide workers management software that is easy to use and flexible to plan and track the evolution of their collaborative projects.

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I've just updated my review of PowerQuest Second Chance 2.07 that is now compliant with Windows Me. Here is a snippet of it:

Have you ever installed a software update that failed, erase a system file or get a virus that accidentally crashed your system? If so, you know that restoring to a healthy working system is painful and can be a chase just to find the origin of the failure and that is just the beginning of the problem. If you aren’t yet a Windows Me user, PowerQuest has got a software solution for you named Second Chance 2.0. As its name indicates, Second Chance 2 will give you a second chance to restore a working PC environment.

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We have just posted Microsoft's latest update for the Windows 2000 Hardware Compatibility List. This text format list has all the different hardware by type and manufacturer that works on the Windows 2000 platform. It's a must have! 2.2 MB!

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Adobe, the well known maker of PhotoShop has just released the new version of its web site designing software. To learn what's new in this release 5, be sure to read our review! Here is a snippet of the review:

In January 1999 Adobe bought CyberStudio their website design solution software named GoLive. This new buy brought to Adobe the control of the graphic chain from A to Z as they now offer a software solution for each need. Since they have bought this software they first adapted it to Windows with the fourth release, as it was originally Mac only software. Adobe now unveils its new release 5 of GoLive that comes with several new enhancements. The aim of Adobe is clear with this release: they want to have a high-end web design software able to compete with Macromedia DreamWeaver 3.0.

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Are you on the look out for a new burning software to burn in all piece of mind your CDR? If so be sure to take a look at our just posted review on the most complete burning software out on the market: Nero 5. Here is a snippet of the review:

WSKA software sent us the latest release 5 of one of the most powerful burning software of the world for review. You’ll probably wonder why this software is called Nero? In fact long ago when the Roman Empire was dominating Europe, a mad Emperor called Nero decided to put fire to Rome just for its viewing pleasure. So this burning software is called that as it’s aimed to put fire to your CD when you burn them. This new release is intended for power users due to its relative complexity and comes with several enhancements.

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We have just posted Microsoft's latest list of critical patches for the Windows 2000 Operating System. This updated list also designates which prior patches are included in Service Pack 1. Check it out!

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Our AskAW Helpers have been busy answering your e-mail and we have just posted the most recent questions.

We have an archive of questions you might want to search through located at: http://www.activewin.com/askaw/archive/index.shtml

We seem to be back on track and are just about a week or so behind from when you send in you requests.  Anyone sending in a question will receive a follow-up e-mail stating that a response has been posted. If you have a question that you would like answered then just drop us an e-mail at: askaw@activewin.com.

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