Solid state drives may be the fast-moving wave of the future in PC storage, but the technology for bigger and better magnetic media keeps on trucking. Only recently, that truck hit something of a pothole: the 4096-byte sector size that will allow advanced format drives to have more usable space (and surpass the current 2TB capacity limit) doesn’t play nice with the world’s most popular OS — Windows XP. While manufacturers like Western Digital have already introduced software that successfully combats the problem, the new drives perform poorly in Win XP without it , and rival manufacturer Seagate told the BBC that even with software tricks, XP users should expect the occasional 5ms delay, or 10% speed reduction, during write times. Is this the end of Windows XP? Hardly . Should you make sure to install the software that comes with your next hard drive

So there’s this tiny unpatched bug in VBScript that lets sneaky websites run malicious code on machines running Internet Explorer on Windows XP . It’s triggered when you try to access the help menu by hitting the F1 key. Whoops. According to a recent Microsoft security advisory: The vulnerability exists in the way that VBScript interacts with Windows Help files when using Internet Explorer. If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user. This means that all someone with ill intentions needs to do is create a website which has a somewhat convincing popup prompt to coax you into hitting F1

If you ever needed a reason to go Linux, here you go. The noise surrounding this patently obscure Windows XP bug / patch fiasco has just reached a fever pitch, and now we’ve got engineers within Redmond scratching their heads, too. As the story goes, Microsoft recently patched a security hole that took care of an antediluvian DOS vulnerability , and in doing so, some users began to see BSODs and endless reboots. Today, we’ve learned that the patch has been yanked, and Microsoft is suggesting that malware is to blame. But here’s the skinny — the patch simply disturbed the malware, which called a specific kernel code that directs your PC to keel over; in other words, any application that calls that same code could theoretically leave your machine in dire straits.

Looks like Patch Tuesday turned into BSOD Tuesday for some Windows XP users — Microsoft’s latest security updates for the venerable OS are causing blue screens and endless reboots for people. That’s the word according to a growing support thread on Microsoft’s site — and making matters just slightly worse / funnier, it’s apparently the patch for that 17-year-old DOS vulnerability that’s causing all the trouble. You win some, you lose some, right? Microsoft’s identified a fix for those with access to an XP install disc and an optical drive, but that leaves most netbook users out in the cold — and considering netbooks are where most of the recent XP action’s been going down lately, we’re hoping a better solution comes down the pike soon.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen what would appear to be an xpPhone dummy in the wild paired with a mocked-up display; that honor would go to a Computex debut earlier this year. What these new shots of ITG’s Windows XP-powered wonder do demonstrate, though, is what a MID-turned-smartphone looks like with a lick of moss green painted around the edges. It’s not really our style, to be honest — and fortunately, it seems that ITG will be offering the production device in white, red, black, or silver (on top of a limitless array of 3G options, display sizes, and operating systems), but heck, we’d be happy taking it in ochre if they’d just promise a reasonably-priced release in the next century. Continue reading ITG xpPhone shown off in green, and yes, you can have a different color ITG xpPhone shown off in green, and yes, you can have a different color originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Last we saw of ViewSonic ’s VCP08 Windows XP phone was just a handful of renders . New images have surfaced of the real deal, physical model, and two things become immediately clear. First off, the company managed to stay true to the initial pictures. Secondly, this thing is huge. So huge it towers over the N97 Mini , which itself isn’t really much smaller than the N97

Windows 7 is out today! Huzzah! But wait; if you’re still rocking Windows XP , you might want to think twice before upgrading. Here are some reasons to stick with an old OS. 1. Updating will be a huge pain You do realize that you can’t just pop in the disc and install the OS, right? Coming from XP, you’re going to need to backup all of your data, format your hard drive, install a clean version of Windows 7, and then start from scratch, reinstalling all of your old programs—and that’s assuming Old Faithful even meets the system requirements. Sounds delightful! 2

Okay, so maybe nothing can really be too easy, but Belkin ’s really stretching things by asserting that you need a dedicated cable to use Windows Easy Transfer, an application bundled with Windows 7 and detailed by yours truly right here . At any rate, you may recall that this very outfit milked the whole upgrade situation in a similar fashion when Vista hit the scene, and now a slightly redesigned version is out to transfer files easily between your existing Vista / XP-based machines and what will become your new Windows 7 system. Of course, this thing’s really only important if you’re buying a new Win7 machine rather than upgrading the rig you already own, and if you’re willing to pay $39.99 to have your hand held through the migration process, you can be our guest on October 23rd. Continue reading Belkin’s refreshed Easy Transfer Cable makes Windows 7 migration a little too easy Filed under: Peripherals , Software Belkin’s refreshed Easy Transfer Cable makes Windows 7 migration a little too easy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Microsoft Download Center, October 22 — add that to your already-busy Windows 7 release party itinerary . That’ll be the quickest and most painless way to enrich your hot new OS with the now finalized code for XP Mode , a virtualized Windows XP environment for those who just can’t let go of their legacy software. The solitary hitch is that you’ll need to have purchased a copy of Windows 7 Professional or higher to get in on the fun, but you already knew that, right? Oh, and you might also want to check that your hardware manufacturer hasn’t disabled virtualization as part of some overzealous security / party-pooping measure. [Via Ars Technica ; Thanks, Eugen] Filed under: Software XP Mode is ready, will be a free download on October 22 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Sinchun got the price right: 2999 Yuan (about $439 US), and the netbook-style specs make a lot of sense for this form factor. Unfortunately, Windows XP does not. Paired up against a stylus-driven 1024 x 600 touchscreen, Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and a variety of smallish SSD options, there’s plenty of room for 7’s touch enhancements to shine on the UMPC-891A — but not enough expanse for them to choke up . Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from slapping it on yourself. The biggest point of caution here is the 2 hour quoted battery life — let’s hope the Archos 9pctablet brings us a truly helpful amount of battery life in the UMPC space