Google has strengthened its Desktop Search tool so that it cannot be used any longer by hackers who are exploiting an unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer software. Google has made a correction to its Desktop Search service so that it cannot be used any longer in conjunction with the remote attack. Because Microsoft and Google compete for desktop search capabilities, said MacDonald, the negative publicity was not good for Google. But, rather than take a black eye for what fundamentally is a problem with Internet Explorer, Google has fixed the problem directly.

A lawsuit seeking to potentially cover hundreds of thousands of America Online subscribers accuses the Time Warner unit of illegally billing customers by creating secondary accounts for them without their consent. The lawsuit, filed last month in St. Clair County Circuit Court on behalf of 10 AOL customers in six states, claims the company confused and deceived customers about the charges, stalled them from canceling unauthorized accounts and refused to return questioned fees.

Ontrack Data Recovery announced the availability of Ontrack PowerControls 4.0, the newest version of its widely used mailbox recovery tool. This upgraded version helps Microsoft Exchange administrators save time and deliver better recovery performance with more powerful searching and reporting capabilities, and expanded backup format support for CommVault Galaxy and UltraBac Software.

Microsoft announced the general availability of five industry-specific solutions developed in close alliance with selected ISVs (independent software vendors) participating in the Microsoft Industry Builder initiative. The solutions, scheduled to be available Dec. 1, 2005, are designed for businesses that specialize in retail, distribution, process manufacturing, professional services, industrial equipment manufacturing, and field service management. The solutions have been developed for Microsoft Business Solutions–Axapta, now part of Microsoft Dynamics. Additional solutions will be released over the next few months.

Pre-holiday spending and site traffic on the new and improved MSN Shopping in November soared to record levels, Microsoft reported. Early signs that this year’s holiday season could be the most successful ever for MSN Shopping.

A recently discovered vulnerability in Microsoft’s SQL Server 2000 database allows users to mask their log-in names. The vulnerability was discovered by Imperva, a researcher and vendor of data-center security products. The flaw shows up in the use of SQL Profiler in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to audit connections to SQL Server 2000 by using the Audit Login event class.

In an effort to better protect its members from the ever-increasing tide of worms, viruses, spyware, and other security risks, AOL has rolled out a stand-alone application called Safety and Security Center. The tool fills the gaps in Windows with anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall protection. AOL has tapped McAfee to provide the virus scanning engine and firewall, which is designed to protect both dial-up and broadband Internet users.

Many users upgrading the increasingly popular Firefox browser to Version 1.5 will lose features on which they depend to perform daily business tasks. Only users who thoroughly read through the technical "Release Notes" are warned about the potential loss of functionality. Other users only discover that these features are missing after the upgrade. Firefox enables users to add functionality to their browser through the use of "add-ons," also called extensions or plug-ins. They become an integral part of the browser from the user’s perspective and users grow to depend on them. Firefox blocks the installation of an extension if it is incompatible with that version of the browser. From a technical perspective, this compatibility requirement is a good idea, preventing the browser from operating unreliably due to incompatible extensions. From a user perspective, it’s an unpleasant surprise to learn of diminished functionality only after the upgrade.

Microsoft is changing the way its Web browser handles certain controls in an effort to shield itself from liability in an ongoing patent spat with a start-up backed by the University of California. The software giant is notifying Web developers and other partners on Friday that it is changing the way Internet Explorer handles certain Web programs, known as ActiveX controls and Java applets. With the change, Web developers will need to slightly modify their pages or consumers will have to make an extra click to get to some content, such as for a Macromedia Flash-based advertisement.

Striking a blow to Microsoft, the U.S. Patent Office this week reaffirmed a key Web browsing patent that the software maker is accused of infringing. The patent office upheld the validity of a patent held by the University of California and its Eolas Technologies spinoff. In 2003, a jury awarded more than $500 million in damages to the university and Eolas, but an appeals court this year partially upheld Microsoft’s appeal, saying the company should be able to present evidence that similar inventions predated Eolas’ patent application.