Day after Win 2000 launch, Microsoft issues patches
FEB. 18—If you installed Microsoft Windows 2000 yesterday, you likely received an electronic notice today announcing some fixes.
By Michael Cheek
GCN Staff
FEB. 18If you installed Microsoft Windows 2000 yesterday, you likely received an electronic notice today announcing some fixes.
On the day after Microsoft Corp. launched its new operating system, users who had enabled the Critical Update Notification service when installing the OS received a splash-screen message about the fixes. Four patches are available as free downloads from windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
Some fixes are more critical than others.
On the critical list are three items provided in a single patch:
- A security fix for the Index service. Without it, hackers can view server system logs and data files.[See GCN story at www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/1319-1.html.]
- A Word and Excel Web use fix. This will let users of these Microsoft Office 2000 applications save Hypertext Markup Language pages directly to Web servers.
- A non-Gregorian calendar fix. For systems using non-Gregorian calendars, the patch repairs an error in the way a year is reported, particularly for the Wareki or Taiwan calendar.
- A high-level encryption patch will let users encrypt files at 128 bits, the highest level of encryption available for Win 2000. Without the patch, the OS defaults to 40-bit encryption.
- For users of Zip and Jaz external drives from Iomega Corp. of Roy, Utah, there is a patch that lets the OS recognize the drives. If a Zip or Jaz is attached using the parallel port to a PC running Win 2000, Iomega software may not be able to see it.
- Finally, what Microsoft calls a compatibility update will be needed if a user wants to run any of 48 specific applications under Win 2000. Most of the applications are games, including Doom, Star Wars and Sesame Street titles. The Microsoft FrontPage 98 Web authoring program is among the few nonentertainment programs listed. Interestingly, Microsoft has been touting Win 2000 as appropriate only for use in business environments.
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