Tim Greene

The chief of AT&T Mobility can't wait for Windows 8 tablets to hit the market because they'll fuel demand for Windows phones.

"When they come out with Windows 8 in the fourth quarter, I think it will actually add to the value that [Windows Phone] OS brings to the marketplace in that that'll be the first time that you can truly have a similar experience on your PC, on your tablet, on your smartphone from Microsoft," says Ralph de la Vega, speaking at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. "From what I've seen from the previews that I've been given, I think it's going to be exceptionally good."

IT management executives from large corporations worry most about how to manage employee-owned devices safely and securely, according to clients of the Directions on Microsoft analyst firm.

Asked which of five options would have the biggest impact on their systems management over the next three years, 40 percent chose "Invasion of mobile devices like tablets and phones," according to Don Retallack, a vice president at the firm.

When Microsoft launches Windows 8 Release Preview next month the operating system will have improved navigation features for users who like more than one monitor to display all their applications.

The upgrade - the last major tune-up expected before the final version launches sometime this fall - addresses task bars, desktop backgrounds and that no man's land, the common edge shared by adjacent screens, according to the Building Windows 8 blog.

Small and midsize businesses that actually use cloud services see them as a way to boost security and save money, according to a survey sponsored by Microsoft.

The same survey finds similar-size businesses not using cloud services worry they might not be secure enough and that the costs of transitioning to them might be a hurdle.

Microsoft is taking heat from browser competitors Firefox and Chrome for blocking them out of planned Windows 8 devices that will be based on ARM processors.

These low-power machines will run Windows RT, which Microsoft describes as a new member of its Windows operating system family that won't allow installing third-party software.

MIT's Sloan School of Management has embraced virtualized desktops as a way to meet user needs and streamline operations, but the IT staff accepts that finding just the right mix of hardware and software is an ongoing challenge.

Since the school started exploring thin-client virtual desktops in 2009, it has tried PCs, laptops zero-client devices and is considering expanding support to iPads and Android tablets, says Wesley Esser, MIT Sloan's director of information technology consulting and support.

Microsoft offers a range of services such as email and messaging under the banner of Windows Live, but that is about to end, shifting instead to a tight integration with Windows 8 that will drop the Live name and become an invisible part of Windows 8.

In a blog post, Microsoft acknowledges that the current way of offering Windows Live services seems disconnected from the operating system and its applications, but that changes with Windows 8.

Attackers used smaller businesses with less stringent security as gateways to their ultimate targets -- large corporations or governments that hold valuable secrets, according to a Symantec report on Internet security.

In addition, adversaries target lower-level employees because they are more likely to open up malware attachments to emails that compromise their machines and then their networks, according to "Internet Security Threat Report: 2011 Trends," put out by Symantec.

If businesses and consumers stuck to security basics, they could have avoided all cases of Conficker worm infection detected on 1.7 million systems by Microsoft researchers in the last half of 2011.

According to the latest Microsoft Security Intelligence report, all cases of Conficker infection stemmed from just two attack methods: weak or stolen passwords and exploiting software vulnerabilities for which updates existed.

A PR campaign is underway to clean up as many as 300,000 computers infected with DNSChanger viruses that divert victims' traffic to sites that can further exploit the machines and their owners, but it's not clear that goal can be accomplished without drastic measures.

If a machine is infected with DNSChanger, that infection is often accompanied by a rootkit that is very difficult to remove, says Jose Nazario, senior manager of security research at Arbor Networks.

Seems that the threat of identity theft doesn't end, even with death. Identity thieves apply for millions of credit cards per year using personal information of the deceased, a study shows.

The identification data for nearly 2.5 million dead people -- names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers -- are used by criminals to fill out credit card applications each year, according to a study performed by ID Analytics.

Microsoft can perform a type of network access control on Windows RT devices as a way to protect corporate networks from harm these devices might inflict if put to corporate use, making them a cut above iPads and Android tablets in this regard.

The newly announced capability can check the devices for compliance with corporate policies surrounding passwords, encrypting data, antivirus, anti-spyware and auto updates, according to the Building Windows 8 blog. This is similar but less comprehensive than what some NAC schemes do in order to keep devices that don't comply from connecting to networks.