Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is expected to take the wraps off Istanbul, the company’s new instant messaging and real-time communications client, in a few weeks. The software giant sent invitations to journalists and other insiders this week for a March 8 event in San Francisco, during which Gates will "unveil Microsoft’s new and revolutionary real-time collaboration offerings."

Microsoft is alerting customers that it will soon start delivering Windows XP Service Pack 2 to all customers using Automatic Update, whether they want it or not. In response to requests from businesses, Microsoft last year released a tool that allowed companies to continue using the automatic update feature but temporarily block the security-oriented update from downloading. However, the grace period comes to an end on April 12. Microsoft has posted a warning on its Web site, alerting people about the impending deadline.

According to the AntiSpyware Beta end-user license agreement (EULA), Microsoft will reimburse direct damages up to $5 for problems associated with the new downloadable tool that wards off spyware, adware and any other "potentially unwanted software."

Internet Security Systems has found a flaw in Trend Micro’s virus scanning software–the third time this month that the security company has picked a hole in an antivirus product. The vulnerability affects Trend Micro’s Antivirus Library, a common set of code used by at least 29 Trend Micro products, according to separate advisories posted on Trend Micro’s Web site on Wednesday and on ISS’ site on Thursday. An attacker could create a program that exploits the security hole, causing the antivirus program to run a virus instead of blocking the malicious program, the companies said.

WinZip Companion for Outlook makes it easy for users of Microsoft Outlook to zip and encrypt attachments to outgoing email messages. Zipping attachments saves transmission time, conserves space in Outlook mailboxes, and saves disk space for both the sender and recipient of the email message.

Dave Winer raises some very interesting concerns about the new Google Toolbar and how it’s changing the Web pages you read and publish. You should read his analysis and then make your opinions heard.

The Mozilla Foundation released on Thursday an update to the Firefox Web browser to fix several vulnerabilities, including one that would allow domain spoofing. The open-source project released Firefox 1.0.1 to fix, among other bugs, a vulnerability in the Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), a standard for handling special character sets in domain names that lets companies register domain names that appear to be the same in different languages.

Customers who find themselves reinstalling Windows XP should be ready for a headache: Microsoft will no longer support activating the product over the Internet for PCs which have Windows pre-installed. Intended to curtail the stealing and selling of certificates of authenticity, the new security measure will start at the end of this month. At first, it will be limited to the Windows XP software preinstalled on systems shipped by the top 20 PC sellers.

Microsoft has publicly apologized and compensated Web directory Startpagina.nl, one of MSN’s main competitors in Holland, after the software giant’s anti-spyware product incorrectly flagged the site as malicious. A Microsoft representative confirmed on Thursday that the Windows AntiSpyware beta prevented people from setting Startpagina as their home page. The representative said this problem has now been fixed in the latest update of the program.

Microsoft has beefed up its Small Business Center, adding a site devoted to security, among other perks. The Small Business Center is a Web site catering to the needs of companies that often have just a handful of employees and a modest amount of information technology. Among the enhancements announced Thursday is the Security Guidance Center, which offers interactive features that explain various aspects of security and licensing. The site also features quizzes and interactive questionnaires.