Earlier today it went around that a leaked version of Office XP SP3 made it online and trust worthy GeekNewz has it up for everyone to enjoy. Go get your update.

"... SP3 is due out in April or May '04, yet build #10.6308.6403 has been touted by some to be the final build of SP3, however, since this cannot be confirmed consider this build to be beta."

Installing this Security Update will invalidate the usernames and passwords stored in Internet Explorer?s protected store. This will require users to re-enter their username and password when they first visit web sites that require authentication. February 9, 2004

Thanks to Creamhackered over at Neowin.net for the Info:

A day of screenshots today here at Neowin. First we had Office 2003 SP1 shots and now a new build of Longhorn. The build (4053) has no main changes from the PDC build (4051) and still sports the "Slate" visual style.

This update contains a change to the behavior of Windows Media Player?s ability to launch URLs in the local computer zone from other zones. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer

Maximum Severity Rating: Critical A security vulnerability exists in the Microsoft ASN.1 Library that could allow code execution on an affected system. The vulnerability is caused by an unchecked buffer in the Microsoft ASN.1 Library, which could result in a buffer overflow.

An attacker who successfully exploited this buffer overflow vulnerability could execute code with system privileges on an affected system. The attacker could then take any action on the system, including installing programs, viewing data, changing data, deleting data, or creating new accounts with full privileges.

Our Bro's at the other bat cave WinOSCentral have snagged Windows 98 SE Service Pack 1.

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Paul Thurrott over at WinInfo has thrown up a look at what you're going to get when Microsoft release service pack 2 for windows XP this year.

In January, Microsoft issued a semi-public beta of its upcoming Service Pack 2 (SP2) release for Windows XP, a major upgrade for XP users that's focused largely on security. The Windows XP SP2 Beta isn't feature-complete--Microsoft tells me it's still fine-tuning the final feature set--but it does provide an interesting look at the direction the company is taking with its so-called "Springboard" security technologies.

A big thanks to my bro Creamhackered over at Neowin.net for the Info:

We've received information about future enhancements for Office 2003. Office 2003 SP1 which is currently planned for release in late May will include fixes/improvements for all applications in the Office 2003 suite with some big enhancements for InfoPath 2003.

Microsoft's new beta version of Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (XP64) provides AMD Athlon 64 and Opteron owners a familiar OS (operating system) for exploring 64-bit computing. While the beta OS is a free download, consumer applications that take advantage of a 64-bit CPU are few and far between. Therefore, if you're an average Athlon jockey, you might want to wait until the dust settles before giving this beta a tryout. If you're curious and adventurous, here's how our test drive went.

This update contains Microsoft XML (MSXML) functionality that will allow applications using MSXML to continue to function correctly after security update 832894, Security Update for Internet Explorer, has been applied.

Xbox365.com reports that Microsoft will soon ship an update to the Xbox Live online game service that adds key communications features, such as the ability to send and receive voice and text messages to foes and teammates during games. And later, the company will reportedly add a voicemail feature.

With this add-in you can permanently remove hidden data and collaboration data, such as change tracking and comments, from Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint files.

When you distribute an Office document electronically, the document might contain information that you do not want to share publicly, such as information you?ve designated as ?hidden? or information that allows you to collaborate on writing and editing the document with others.

This is a cumulative update that includes the functionality of all the previously-released updates for Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 5.5, and Internet Explorer 6.0. Additionally, it eliminates the following three newly-discovered vulnerabilities:

The DirectX® Team is pleased to announce the release of DirectX 9.0 SDK Update (Summer 2004) - Beta 1. This is Microsoft's DirectX 9.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) Update for Summer 2004 (Beta 1) release. Primary areas of concentration for the Summer Update was for the Direct3D Extension Library (D3DX), Graphics Samples, Sample Frame work, tools, documentation and updated developer runtime support. The end-user or retail version of the runtime has not changed (version DirectX 9.0b).

NeoWin send us the following informations: An email was recieved announcing that it will be required for all MSN beta participants to upgrade to the MSN Beta 7. This update is mandatory, and after February 5th, anyone running pre Beta 7 will not be able to sign in to MSN. To check which version of MSN Beta you are running, navigate to the Help & Settings menu on top and select About MSN.

As many readers will be aware, the most recent revision of DX is 9.0b. And the upcoming implementation is likely simply to be called DirectX 9.0c, our greybeard suggests.

Microsoft revealed this week that its first Microsoft Office 2003 service release, due in late spring, will be a major release that includes new security features and major improvements to the two new Office applications, Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2003. In a post-release meeting late last year, the Office team discussed some of these improvements, and although the representatives I spoke with at the time were unwilling to give specific details about the changes, a list of those improvements is slowly becoming available. Read on at WinNetMag

High-end golf gear maker PING Inc., winter sports equipment manufacturer K2 Sports, and Italy?s centuries-old inspective police force Guardia di Finanza don?t have much in common. But all three are among organizations that report cost savings, reduced risk, faster performance and other benefits since transitioning from a Microsoft Windows NT server environment to a Windows Server 2003 system.

In Microsoft Office Word 2003, when you try to print, quit Word, or save a Word document, you may receive an error message.
This problem may occur if you background save a Word document that contains an OLE object. Get more informations about the bug here

Wie Heise berichtet, hat Microsoft einen neuen Patch für Word 2003 zum Download bereitgestellt.
Danach kann beim Speichern im Hintergrund eines Dokuments mit OLE-Objekt das Programm abstürzen; der Fehler kann dabei etwa beim normalen Speichern, Drucken oder Beenden von Word auftreten. Das Update soll aber auch zahlreiche weitere, weniger bedeutende Mängel in Office 2003 beseitigen. Download
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