One Black Tuesday patch coming next week

Microsoft has announced that it’s only going to release one patch this coming Black Tuesday. It’s a “critical” patch for PowerPoint.

Chances are very good it’s  a patch for the 0day hole I described a little over a month ago.

We’re still at MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.

Windows Genuine Advantage becomes Windows Activation Advantage

Ah, the spinmeisters are at it again.

Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft is replacing its “Windows Genuine” terminology with the kinder, gentler “Windows Activation” sobriquet.

Apparently only the name has changed. The rest remains the same.

… and Windows 7 book writers are scrambling…

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor beta

If you have a Windows XP SP2 or SP3 computer, or a Vista computer, and you’re wondering whether it’ll handle Windows 7, this one’s for you.

Microsoft just released the beta version of its Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

The installer (which puts a copy of .NET Framework 2.0 on your XP machine if you don’t have .NET Framework already) works just fine, and teh advisor runs great, even on a 100% pirate copy of Windows XP.

It tells you about potential problems with hardware and with incompatible software. Give it a shot if you’re sitting on a fence about installing th Windows 7 Release Candidate.