Viruses/Worms News

Microsoft issuing Windows 7 test updates Tuesday

Monday, May 11, 2009

Microsoft announced it will be issuing a series of fake updates for Windows 7 RC beginning Tuesday, when the company will release one real update for a PowerPoint vulnerability.

Last week, the company issued a real update for the RC version of Windows 7, a fix for a bug that can cause applications to fail or prevent them from installing, Microsoft said.

People running Windows 7 RC will have the option of accepting mock updates beginning on Tuesday to "verify our ability to deliver and manage updating of Windows 7 in certain real-life scenarios," according to Microsoft's Windows blog.

The updates do not actually deliver any fixes, but replace existing system files with duplicates.

Not all of the updates will install automatically, so Microsoft is testing a new update notification feature that provides detailed information about available updates that need to be installed manually, the company said.

Windows 7 RC users will be prompted to install this update and provided more information about this feature, which will not install automatically.

One web security firm has already noticed a potential security hole, which is a feature in Windows Explorer used to hide extensions for known file types, which cyberattackers could use to mask malware.
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