Online services

Microsoft has released a new update for Internet Explorer 9 that aims to patch several outstanding security holes.

Available through Windows Update since Tuesday, the security update is rated critical by Microsoft, which means that people who have Windows Update set to "install updates automatically" will automatically receive it.

Users who haven't enabled that option are advised to install the update manually from Windows Update. IT administrators who support large organizations should also apply the update with whatever patch management software they use in-house.

The update targets eight vulnerabilities in IE9, some of which could let a … Read more

A new Web page that tests browser security has crowned Internet Explorer 9 the most secure among the five major players. The only catch is that the page itself comes from Microsoft.

Dubbed "Your Browser Matters," the new page checks a browser to determine how well it fares against phishing attacks and other types of socially engineered malware. The page then assigns the browser a score based on a scale of 0 to 4.

Looking at the major browsers, Internet Explorer 9 received a perfect 4 out 4, while IE8 earned a 3. The latest versions of Firefox (… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft is aiming to make its Hotmail e-mail service better than ever--and confronting what it admits is a subpar perception of the brand--with a series of new features designed to help users easily clean up their inboxes.

At an event here Monday afternoon, Windows Live corporate vice president Chris Jones explained that Microsoft has long been aware that the Hotmail brand was damaged by a series of issues that affected users' experiences, including storage, spam, performance, and an inability to work properly on most mobile devices.

But those issues peaked in 2006, Jones argued, and since then, Microsoft has … Read more

Windows 8 will offer people the option of logging in with a Windows Live ID, giving them the ability to access the same files and settings across multiple PCs.

Describing the new integration in the latest Building Windows 8 blog post, Katie Frigon, group program manager of Microsoft's You-Centered Experience team, pointed to the obstacles people face today when using more than one computer. Each PC may have its own unique Windows settings and customizations and store different files and documents, creating a challenge when switching from one computer to another.

To remove that challenge, logging in to Windows … Read more

Bing is now trying to direct you toward specific actions with a new search feature appropriately dubbed Action Buttons.

Designed to appear among certain types of search results, the Action Buttons can link you to pages where you can complete a specific task. For example, searching for airline flights may pop up a result for an airline with Action Buttons that you can click on to book a flight, view a flight status, and check in with the airline. Searching for hotel rooms may display different hotels with links to find their locations and reserve a room.

The goal, as … Read more

Windows 8 will come with Windows Live SkyDrive built in, giving people quicker, easier access to their online files.

Tweaking its SkyDrive Web site this week, Microsoft has unveiled a couple of demos to try to show just how Windows 8 and SkyDrive will play together.

Access to SkyDrive will be directly integrated into the new operating system, requiring you to sign up for a Windows Live account if you don't already have one. From there, you'll be able to upload and download your files directly between SkyDrive and Windows. Access to SkyDrive should be even faster and … Read more

Several free Microsoft apps will be hopping aboard Nokia's Symbian phones by the end of the year.

As described in a blog yesterday, Microsoft and Nokia will deliver the apps in the form of free updates sometime during the fourth quarter. The updates will only be available to owners of phones running Symbian Belle, the latest update to the Symbian OS, or to those who upgrade from Symbian Anna to Belle.

The mobile apps and updates scheduled to roll out this year include:

Several of Microsoft's online services suffered an outage last night but are reportedly all back up at this point.

The company's Office 365, Hotmail, SkyDrive, and various Windows Live services were down throughout the world for a period of around three hours. Microsoft acknowledged the outage late yesterday in its Inside Windows Live blog and on its Office 365 Twitter feed and said that it was working to resolve the issue.

After a couple of hours of investigation, the company pinned the cause on a DNS (Domain Name System) issue and said that it was starting to see … Read more

The team at Skype recently published an infographic that shows the vast usage numbers associated with its free calling services.

According to the infographic, based on daily stats gathered in July, Skype usage represents more than 255 billion minutes (or 4.25 billion hours) of calls annually, which is roughly four times more than the service saw in 2008.

Despite the tremendous growth in usage, Skype may have as many detractors as it does proponents. Its services have suffered from a number of hiccups over the last few years, including a serious bout of downtime in December 2010.

For many … Read more