Microsoft unveiled enhancements to its Windows Live Local online mapping service, incorporating real-time traffic data, integration with Outlook’s calendaring function and expanded scratch pad features. The company is also expanding the service to cover all of Europe and to offer bird’s-eye views and local search for the United Kingdom and Canada.

Microsoft has been taking action to improve its reportedly low employee morale, unveiling a series of new perks as part of a program dubbed "MyMicrosoft" at an all-employee meeting May 18. This comes on the heels of a Reuters report that 1,000 Microsoft contract workers were forced to take a week off without pay. MyMicrosoft will include a range of incentives focused on an improved work atmosphere, including a management development training program, increased investment in the staff share plan, and a career model framework for all employees.

Microsoft told more than 1,000 contract workers doing software development and testing to take seven business days off without pay to lower costs during this quarter. Earlier this month, Microsoft asked half of the technology vendors it uses for software development to defer seven business days worth of work including this week, to the coming fiscal year starting July 1. The software giant emphasized it was not over budget, but certain divisions needed to pare back some costs in order to stay on budget. Microsoft said these types of cut-backs are a common way for technology companies to manage costs.

A new instant messaging worm installs a rogue Web browser called "Safety Browser" and hijacks the user’s Internet Explorer home page, experts have warned. The worm, dubbed "yhoo32.explr" by FaceTime Security Labs, was found two weeks ago on the Yahoo instant messaging network and was still active as of Friday. The worm drops the "Safety Browser" on the target’s machine. The rogue browser uses the same icon as Microsoft’s IE Web browser and, when opened, takes users to a site that installs spyware on the PC, FaceTime said. "This is the first recorded incidence of malware installing its own Web browser on a PC," the company said in a statement.

In the absence of a patch for a dangerous code execution hole in Microsoft Word, security experts are recommending that Windows users implement software restriction policies to blunt the effects of ongoing zero-day attacks. Just days after anti-virus vendors warned that malicious hackers with links to China and Taiwan were exploiting the vulnerability to launch attacks against select business targets, independent researcher Matthew Murphy says Windows XP users can mitigate the risk by simply using the "Basic User" SRP (software restriction policy).

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eWEEK Labs tested Longhorn Server Builds 5381 and 5384 and were impressed by the way that Microsoft’s forthcoming refresh has progressed, inside and out. Superficially, Longhorn Server expands on the ease-of-configuration strengths of Windows Server 2003. Under the hood, Longhorn Server sports a new TCP/IP stack along with performance and functionality improvements in most of the product’s core server roles. Longhorn Server is slated to ship some time after the release of Vista, the client half of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows refresh. However, it’s expected that many organizations will end up upgrading to Longhorn Server before making a move to Vista.

2X announced the release of 2X ThinClientServer v3, which aims to solve the Windows desktop management hassles by controlling what Windows applications users can run via a small footprint, secure Linux desktop. 2X ThinClientServer deploys a Linux thin client OS with integrated desktop to PCs and thin client devices and allows administrators to centrally control not only the devices and connections, but also what Windows applications a user or group of users can run.

Thieves took sensitive personal information on 26.5 million U.S. veterans, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, after a Veterans Affairs employee improperly brought the material home, the government said Monday. The information involved mainly those veterans who served and have been discharged since 1975, said VA Secretary Jim Nicholson. Data of veterans discharged before 1975 who submitted claims to the agency may have been included. Nicholson said there was no evidence the thieves had used the data for identity theft, and an investigation was continuing.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer doesn’t expect Symantec’s lawsuit to delay Vista, a next version of its Windows operating system. Asked whether the case would have any effect on the Vista launch, Ballmer told Reuters: "I wouldn’t anticipate any, but that will go to the courts now." Ballmer, speaking in Beijing after a news conference, did not elaborate.