Microsoft and Zend Technologies, the creator of the open-source PHP Web development platform, will announce a technical collaboration agreement on Oct. 31 that aims to provide customers running PHP on the Windows Server platform with a better, faster and more reliable experience. While the two companies have been working together for the past six months, they only recently entered into a multiphase, multiyear technical collaboration agreement.

A Texas man says the timestamp of cookies on his Web browser proves he was actually online and not where prosecutors claim he was. After a stormy divorce between Erin McRae and Everett Eugene Russell, a judge granted McRae a protective order requiring her ex-husband to stay away from her residence. Upon being accused of violating that protection order, Russell claimed he was surfing the Web that morning, checking on an IRS income tax return and shopping online at Home Depot’s and Lowe’s Web sites. He made a disk showing the Web sites that he had visited on Feb. 26, 2005, and the cookies on the disk indicated that he was on the IRS Web site at 10:29 am CST. The disk also indicated that Russell was online from 10:29 am to 11 am and again at 1:04 pm. But prosecutors argued that the cookie file could have been altered, and a jury agreed.

Microsoft’s Office Live service is set to go out of beta Nov. 15, and will eventually offer small businesses a chance to buy ads from rival Google and others, according to a Microsoft executive. Office Live is Microsoft’s Web-based service aimed at giving small businesses a Web site as well as providing basic management, worker collaboration, accounting, and customer relationship management capabilities. The service also will be available in beta versions in France, Germany, Japan and the U.K. on Nov. 15.

Microsoft has released the final version of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP, which brings a new user interface, greater online store integration, and improved navigation for larger music libraries. Media Player 11 is also integrated with MTV Network’s URGE music service, giving consumers access to the URGE catalog of more than 110,000 artists and 2 million songs.

Microsoft is preparing 55 legal actions worldwide against sellers on auction sites who are hawking illegal copies of the company’s software. The actions are a mix of lawsuits and criminal complaints, said Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, a Microsoft attorney for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region. Microsoft has or will file 34 actions in Europe including Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company will seek prison terms for high-volume sellers and fines for less flagrant violations, Le Toquin said.

Security researchers on Monday warned of a problem in Internet Explorer 7 that could allow malicious attackers to alter content in a legitimate Web site’s pop-up window. The browser issue could affect users who visit a trusted site by opening a pop-up window in that site that contains malicious code. This is the second IE 7 problem that has been discovered since Microsoft released the browser two weeks ago.

Microsoft is raising the price of its software as it prepares to launch Vista, according to one of the leading PC manufacturers, Acer. According to Jim Wong, senior corporate vice president of the Taiwan-based company, the issue is simply that the basic home edition of Vista, Home Basic, which is available for preorder on Amazon.co.uk for 154.99 pounds ($293), is so basic that users will be forced to move to Vista Home Premium, at 189.99 pounds ($359). A Home Edition of Windows XP is currently available for 165.99 pounds, but has a recommended retail price of 176.99 pounds.

RecordTS is the first remote desktop protocol recording solution available in the market for Windows platforms. It is designed for Windows Servers with Terminal Services enabled or Remote Desktop enabled. RecordTS allows you to record everything your users are doing on your Terminal Servers. You can also record what your administrators are doing on your domain controllers and Exchange servers using the built-in Remote Desktop feature.

A tricky malicious program has become more prevalent in spam, but experts don’t know what its creators plan to do with it. Many vendors are rating the malware–called "Warezov," "Stration," and "Stratio"–as a low risk. But they also say it is tricky to deal with. The malware is a mass-mailing worm that affects machines running Microsoft’s Windows OS.

Microsoft has turned its accounting suite for small businesses into two separate offerings, one of which users can download for free starting Monday. Office Accounting Express 2007, an updated version of Office Small Business Accounting 2006, will be available here for free, said Rajat Taneja, a Microsoft general manager for small business applications and services. Microsoft also will begin offering a slightly higher-end version of the software, Office Accounting Professional 2007, from retailers early next year.