Robert McMillan

Microsoft has slowly begun shipping automatic updates of Internet Explorer 7 to all users of the English language version of the browser.

Nearly four months after hiring Sony rootkit whistleblower Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Corp. has moved his company's software to its Web site and has released a new Windows system tool that can help fight hackers.

Microsoft Corp. will release six groups of security patches next Tuesday, fixing crtical flaws in its Windows operating system and the company's XML (Extensible Markup Language) parser, Microsoft said Thursday.

Microsoft can register top-level Internet domains. Last week, the company was added to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) list of accredited domain name registrars. This means that Microsoft can now add new top-level domains to the databases used by computers on the Internet.

Novell Inc. investors may be cheering the Linux vendor's historic partnership with Microsoft Corp., but Linux advocates had an entirely different reaction Thursday, expressing concerns that the deal may hint at future patent lawsuits and possibly even violate Linux's software license.

An infected laptop gave hackers access to computer systems at a Harrisburg, Pa., water treatment plant earlier this month.

Hackers have published code that could let an attacker disable the Windows Firewall on certain Windows XP machines.

Beginning early next year, Seagate Technology LLC will begin shipping its first widely available hard drives with built-in encryption.