Operating systems

Windows 8 will offer a unique approach to logging in by letting you use a photo as your password.

Since traditional passwords and PIN numbers can be hard to remember and use, Microsoft wanted to cook up a different log-in method, especially one that would prove more user-friendly on touchscreen devices.

As detailed in the latest Building Windows 8 Blog, Zach Pace, a program manager on Microsoft's You Centered Experience team, explained how using a photo as your password can make things simple to remember as well as secure. Already available in the Developer Preview, this new method consists … Read more

Juggling passwords for all the Web sites and accounts we use is a neverending challenge, but one that Microsoft hopes to resolve in Windows 8.

Protecting yourself on the Internet typically requires the use of passwords. But that process has never been easy or truly safe. Most people either try to remember too many passwords or simply use the same passwords for all their accounts. Both approaches leave the door open for hackers to access your personal information.

What's needed is a simpler yet still secure approach.

In the latest edition of the Building Windows 8 blog, Dustin Ingalls, … Read more

Windows 8 activity among developers and other early adopters has fallen over the past three months, says a new study from ad network Chitika.

Looking at ad impressions for the Windows 8 Developer Preview on its own network earlier this month, Chitka found that they were measurably lower than ones seen in September.

Specifically, the new data compared impressions during the week of December 4 with those found toward the end of September, shortly after Microsoft launched the Developer Preview to the public. The stats released on September 26 showed a healthy jump in online activity in just a one-week … Read more

Microsoft is launching a new version of its Windows Defender antivirus tool that will run before Windows even boots up.

Making its debut as a publicly available beta, the new Windows Defender is designed to run directly off a CD, DVD, or USB flash drive to scan your PC outside of Windows. As such, its aim is to detect rootkit viruses and other malware that can infect your computer during the boot process.

You first need to install the software on a recordable disc or USB stick. You can then use that disc or device to boot up any PC … Read more

Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread, has officially taken over half of the Android ecosystem, according to new data.

As of yesterday, Gingerbread's many versions were running on 50.6 percent of all the Android devices in the wild, data published on the Android developers page shows. Android 2.2 (Froyo) trailed with 35.3 percent market share. The only other Android version with notable market share--Android 2.1 (Eclair)--captured 9.6 percent of the space during the 14-day period.

Honeycomb's various flavors, which are running on the majority of Android-based tablets, were only able to nab 2.… Read more

A public beta of Windows 8 will launch in late February of next year, says tech news site The Next Web.

Citing "sources close to Microsoft," TNW pointed to February for the beta's debut but said the release date for the final version of Windows 8 remains a mystery, though it's expected to ship next year.

Mary Jo Foley of CNET sister site ZDNet said she's heard that the beta would appear after next month's Consumer Electronics Show, which runs from January 10 to 13, but Foley said she isn't aware of any … Read more

The fate of WebOS will be decided in the next couple weeks.

"We should announce our decision in the next two weeks," HP CEO Meg Whitman told French newspaper Le Figaro in an interview (translation) published today. "This is not an easy decision, because we have a team of 600 people which is in limbo."

Although Whitman didn't indicate whether she's leaning either way in her decision, she did say that HP needs "to have another operating system," seemingly indicating that WebOS could stage a comeback.

HP announced in August that it … Read more

People frustrated by the upgrade and setup process in prior versions of Windows may find a more user-friendly experience in Windows 8.

Ensuring that Windows installs properly across a variety of hardware and software configurations has always been a major challenge, and one that Microsoft has never solved to the satisfaction of all users.

Microsoft has already taken some big steps forward in this respect with Windows 7. Its next version of Windows promises further improvements, as described in the latest edition of the Building Windows 8 blog by Christa St. Pierre from Microsoft's setup and deployment team:

Apple recently issued an update for Thunderbolt-equipped Mac systems that addresses the intermittent black screens some people have been seeing when using Apple's external Thunderbolt display.

The 53.23MB update is for systems running Snow Leopard, and should be available via Software Update (in the Apple menu), but can also be downloaded from the update's Web site.

The update includes new drivers for all supported graphics controllers from Intel, Nvidia, and AMD, but it also includes components of Apple's OpenCL framework that are specific to the AMD graphics chipset, which suggests this issue stems from a poor … Read more