Windows Home Server, codename Vail (also referred to as WHS version 2), has been in private testing for a few months, but only now are we learning more about it, thanks to the first leak of the operating system, as first reported by Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet. Windows Home Server Vail Community Technology Preview 4 (CTP4), or build 7360, recently leaked to the Web. Like previous versions of WHS, Vail will come available on new OEM systems, and will also be sold as a standalone software package to system builders. Microsoft released WHS Power Pack 3 three months ago but it's been working on WHS version 2 at the same time.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft still won't talk about Vail officially: "We are not ready to discuss future products but will certainly let you know as soon as more details become available," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. The leaked copy contains the following info:

Windows Home Server - a server operating system with Microsoft, which is targeted at home users (as the name implies - Eng. Home - home) for use in home networks. Windows Server ® Code Name "Vail" is the next generation version of Window Home Server. Vail builds upon both on-premises and cloud technologies to deliver a best-in-class solution for home networks and SOHO. Out of the box, Vail provides simple file sharing, remote access, home computer backup, expandable storage through Drive Extender, and media streaming both inside and outside the home. Vail also contains an application catalog and product-wide extensibility model so that new services such as anti-virus, online sharing, and home automation can be seamlessly and easily added to the solution. Vail will be available pre-installed on systems by OEM partners, and a standalone software package will also be available for those who want to build their own systems.

As expected, Vail is based off of Windows Server 2008 R2, meaning it will only come in a 64-bit flavor. WHS version 1 is based off of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

That said, the leak indicates that there will be Home Standard and Home Premium editions (Microsoft started considering splitting WHS in two back in September 2008. Furthermore, you'll need a 2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, as well as a 120GB/160GB primary hard drive (NTFS is the only supported file system). HomeGroup support is a go and the WHS Console is now simply "Dashboard." The most interesting part is that there is a cleaner add-in model (all pages are now add-ins) that references an online catalog for add-ins hosted by Microsoft (yet to launch, naturally). WHS also apparently now backs itself up.

The rest of the details we still don't know. It's not even clear if Microsoft plans to have Vail ready this year or next (last we heard it was slated for "sometime in 2010"). We'll keep you posted; there's bound to be a beta on the way soon enough, and if that somehow fails to occur, we doubt this will be the only leak.

The bespoke line-of-business application is a common feature of the corporate world, and a thing that has been instrumental in cementing Windows as the corporate desktop OS standard. These applications—I've worked on a few myself—are typically crummy affairs. The foundation of such applications is typically some combination of Visual Basic 6 and obsolete versions of Access and Excel. On top of this mound of [redacted], these apps usually contain one or more third-party components to draw graphs or something, from vendors that have long since gone out of business.

Monday night, Microsoft released a slew of updates for Windows, the majority of which were targeted for the latest versions of the client and server operating systems. None of these are security updates: this wasn't Patch Tuesday and Microsoft is not yet ready to address the 17-year-old Windows flaw. The most important update is just like the first stability and reliability update for the OSes, but smaller: Windows 7 32-bit (1.2MB), Windows 7 64-bit (1.7MB), Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (1.7MB), and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium (2.1MB).

The patch resolves issues that affect some computers that use the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services. Microsoft plans to regularly release Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 stability and reliability updates, and this one builds on those that preceded it, adding the following fixes:

• Keyboard function keys or keyboard shortcuts, such as mute or calculator, may not work correctly
• The notification icon for an application may be moved or lost when the executable application is update
• On a computer that is running Windows 7, you configure the Screen Saver Settings to display the logon screen on resume. Additionally, you configure the computer to go to sleep. However, the computer may not go to sleep after the screen saver starts. Instead, a black screen is displayed. This problem causes the operating system to stop responding. You must restart the computer by holding down the power button.

If you're experiencing the issues described, you can download the updates from the Microsoft Download Center. Otherwise you can just wait till they trickle down via Windows Update—or until Service Pack 1 arrives.

The next update is for an issue that occurs in a very specific scenario: your Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 computer has an NVIDIA USB Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI) chipset, at least 4GB of RAM, and while performing general I/O operations on an external USB device, such as copying data from the computer, either your computer stops responding or the copy operation stops abruptly. The fix is available for Windows 7 32-bit (449KB) and Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (516KB). Microsoft plans on including this update in SP1.

Microsoft also released updated versions of the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 32-bit (104.1MB), Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 64-bit (142.0MB), Windows Server 2008 Itanium (32.2MB), Windows 7 32-bit (28.9MB), Windows 64-bit (93.8MB), Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (93.8MB), and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium (16.3MB). The tool was originally released in September 2009 to resolve certain conditions that could cause installing updates and other software not to work. Typically you do not have to manually run this tool (it is offered automatically through Windows Update to computers that have a condition that the tool could resolve). It runs a one-time scan for inconsistencies that might prevent future servicing operations and usually takes less than 15 minutes (though it has been known to appear as if it's stopped at 60 percent when run from Windows Update).

The Windows NT Backup Restore Utility has also been updated for Windows 7 32-bit (599KB), Windows 7 64-bit (669KB), Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (669KB), and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium (1000KB). The tool was originally released in November 2009 and notably no longer included Removable Storage Manager (RSM), used for restoring backups from tape devices. Microsoft has no plans to include this update in SP1.

A day after releasing an out-of-band security bulletin for a vulnerability in Internet Explorer notably exploited in the recent series of Chinese-based attacks against Google and 30 other tech companies, new flaws have been discovered in Microsoft's browser.

Boston-based research firm Core Security Technologies has outlined a set of vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer that hackers can link together to remotely exploit a Windows PC. None of the vulnerabilities are serious enough to compromise a machine alone, but a hacker could take control of a PC by exploiting all of them at once. "There are three or four ways to conduct this type of attack," Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina, a security consultant with Core, told Reuters, though he admitted he was uncertain whether any hackers had already exploited his findings.

"Microsoft is investigating a responsibly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "We're currently unaware of any attacks trying to use the vulnerability or of customer impact, and believe customers are at reduced risk due to responsible disclosure." 

After the investigation, Microsoft will either provide a security update on Patch Tuesday, or an out-of-cycle update like it did with the last IE flaw (less likely in this case). The Microsoft spokesperson took the opportunity to make the now-familiar recommendations that IE users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 and to enable Automatic Updates.

Medina plans to demonstrate the IE vulnerabilities at the Black Hat security conference in Washington, which begins February 2, but until then he will work with Microsoft to find a way to mitigate the risk. Still, he believes that other related vulnerabilities will crop up even after fixes are found to the ones he unearthed.

The global search market grew a sizeable 46 percent between December 2008 and December 2009, from 89.7 billion to 131.4 billion searches conducted by people age 15 or older from home and work locations. These searches include the top properties where search activity is observed, not only the core search engines. Google of course took first place, but Microsoft managed to see the biggest percentage change, at least when looking at the top five search properties. When you represent the data visually, though, a larger percentage change isn't so formidable: