Ryan Naraine from ZDNet is lamenting over Microsoft’s strategy of secretly releasing patches without disclosing its corresponding vulnerability. This certainly is an old discussion. However, how frankly Microsoft admits this in a bulletin of a patch, I suppose, is new.

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Symantec has just published their new Internet Security Threat Report. They compared Microsoft, Red Hat, Apple, HP and Sun. And guess what? Microsoft got the best grades! You know, there are many comparable studies and they all find different things depending on who financed them. But this one is interesting.

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You can now download WSUS 3.0 at Microsoft Connect. It looks like the final release of WSUS 3.0 (Windows Server Update Services) is just around the corner. We have been working with Microsoft’s patch management solution since the availability of SUS and were always quite satisfied with it. I never liked its user interface, though.

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I always liked the functionality of WSUS, Microsoft’s patch management tool. However, in my view its web-based user interface is a mess. Recently a colleague told me that WSUS 3.0 will get a “real” user interface, i.e. one with a “normal” graphical user interface. Now, I saw some screenshots of WSUS 3.0 Beta 2 at Windows Connected. I don’t know yet about the new features of WSUS 3.0, but I am already prepared to bid good bye to WSUS 2.0.

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WindowsNetworking.com has an interesting 2-part article about tweaking Windows Update using Registry Keys. The first part covers “Elevation of Privileges”, “Target Groups” and “Assigning a WSUS Server”. The topics of Part 2 are about “Disabling Windows Update”, “Reboot Reminders”, “Applying Missed Updates”, and “Scheduling Installations”. I like the part about the reboot reminders most.

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