Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows Mobile upgrade, code-named Magneto, is designed to be a Blackberry killer, said sources familiar with the ambitious plan. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is on track to freeze the Windows Mobile 2005 ROM code in April and provide new technology in Exchange 2003 Server Pack 2 that will push email out to mobile workers who use Pocket PCs and smartphones.

When thinking about hardware for new or replacement Exchange servers, there are several elements you must consider. In this step-by-step guide, Lee Benjamin walks you through a methodology you can use to identify your organization’s specific Exchange hardware needs.

Microsoft has acceded to partners’ requests to provide more reasonable licensing options for MapPoint, a mapping software product now being tweaked by some integrators to create custom logistics applications for enterprises and SMBs that run their own fleets of cars or trucks. Over the past few years, a number of Microsoft partners with logistics knowhow have been building new revenue streams by integrating Microsoft’s mapping software with their own applications and either MapPoint Location Server or outside GPS.

A worm that first disguised itself as an email from computer vendors is now attempting to trick MSN Messenger users into executing malicious files. The Chod.B worm, which was first discovered on April Fools’ Day, spreads via email purportedly from Microsoft and security companies Symantec and Trend Micro. When using the MSN Messenger instant-messaging client as its propagation tool, the virus sends out messages to contacts from the infected user’s address book, warning them that they are about to receive a file. The virus then sends a file designed to infect the recipient’s system.

Microsoft has urged businesses running Windows XP to upgrade their machines to take advantage of added security features, but only a quarter of XP corporate machines have been upgraded to Service Pack 2, according to a new study. In a study of 136,000 corporate PCs, Canadian asset tracking firm AssetMetrix found that more than one-third of the computers were running Windows XP, but only 24 percent had installed the security-oriented Service Pack 2 upgrade. Companies were initially reticent to jump to SP2 when it debuted last year, but the AssetMetrix study found that most companies weren’t blocking SP2 entirely; they just had not upgraded in large numbers.

Advances that transformed how the world communicates are among the top 25 technological breakthroughs of the past quarter century, according to a panel of experts assembled by CNN. Advances in computers, entertainment, and science top the list.

China is playing host to a growing number of phishing scams, according to recent research that found a sharp rise in fraudulent Web sites hosted there. Security professionals in the Chinese National Computer Emergency Response Team, or CNCERT, said that 223 fraudulent Web sites were discovered in China last year, compared with only one reported in 2003.

A new set of highly critical flaws has been discovered in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Outlook programs, according to research company eEye Digital Security. The vulnerabilities allow for remote code execution with no actions from the computer user, eEye said. Although the flaws would not allow self-propagating worms to infiltrate a system, there is the potential of attackers installing backdoor Trojans without a person’s knowledge.

As part of its growing antipiracy program, Microsoft plans to require customers that want to download a local language add-on to Windows to first verify that their copy of the operating system is legitimate. Over the coming months, Microsoft will require all customers wishing to download one of 22 "Language Interface Packs" to first authenticate their copy of Windows.

Microsoft is developing analytical tools to help international law enforcement agencies track and fight cybercrime. Microsoft unveiled the tools development program last week at the kickoff of three days of technical training for Australian law enforcement agencies. The Forensic Computing and Computer Investigations Workshops are designed to help investigators fight crimes such phishing, online child exploitation and money laundering.