Windows XP users are unable to install Internet Explorer 9, and now it looks like Windows 7 RTM users won't be able to either, at least once the final version hits the 'Net. When Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 9, Windows 7 users will need to have Service Pack 1 before they can install it, according to the Internet Explorer 9 Beta FAQ for IT Professionals. Microsoft did confirm, however, that IT pros will be able to add IE9 to existing Windows 7 images in order to streamline the deployment process.

The decision is a curious one if we remember the company's insistence that IE9 is not dependent on any future releases of Windows. Microsoft has previously released new Windows versions with new versions of IE (IE6 came with Windows XP, IE7 came with Windows Vista, and IE8 came with Windows 7). Now it appears IE9 will require Windows 7 SP1.

This new tidbit explains why, earlier this week, Microsoft used the The Windows Blog to tell businesses not to wait for the final version of IE9, saying they should move to Windows 7 Enterprise and IE8 now. Microsoft is quite aware that businesses will find it much more of a hassle to deploy a whole service pack in order to install IE9, let alone move from Windows XP and IE6/IE7 straight to Windows 7 SP1 and IE9. In other words, Microsoft doesn't want to give organizations any excuse to avoid moving to Windows 7 and IE8. 

The IE9 public beta, released last week, requires four hotfixes before it can be installed, but the browser's installer takes care of everything for the user. It's not clear whether Microsoft will have the final IE9 installer roll out SP1 to Windows 7 users, but given the company's history, the software will likely spit out an error message and fire up Windows Update for users to get SP1 themselves.

Microsoft has not given a release date for either Windows 7 SP1 or for IE9, though we now know the two will not be far apart. Testers got their first Windows 7 SP1 beta build three months ago, but the final version won't come until the first half of 2011.

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Microsoft Security Essentials has won a lot of praise since its introduction last year. The anti-malware software is unobtrusive and reasonably effective, and its price—free—can't be beat. One fly in the ointment has been the software's licensing terms; MSE is only licensed for home users. Businesses have to look elsewhere for their anti-malware needs.

That's set to change, at least a little, next month. From early October, small businesses—defined here as those with ten PCs or fewer—can use MSE, too. Microsoft claims that enterprise security software is too expensive, complicated, and hard to use for these organizations, hence its decision to expand the reach of MSE.

While it's interesting to see yet another definition of "small business" from Redmond (Small Business Server is good for up to 75 desktops, and the forthcoming cloud-based Small Business Server "Aurora" is for companies with up to 25 users), this is certainly a good move.

Free anti-virus for home users has been around for a long time, but most of the free products include similar restrictions to MSE—if you want to use them on corporate desktops, you have to pay for the privilege. Microsoft's entry into the free anti-virus market was met with mixed reactions by its competitors, with some voicing antitrust concerns even when MSE was a consumer-only product. This foray into the corporate anti-malware market is sure to raise the hackles of the company's competitors once more.

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Check Point, a security company that offers various products to protect consumers and businesses, is imitating the tactics of fake antimalware programs. Over the last few days, ZoneAlarm users have been receiving a warning from their security software that tells them they are not protected against a new piece of malware. The warning is titled a "Global Virus Alert," shows "Your PC may be in danger!" in bright red, and urges the user to "SEE THREAT DETAILS" and "GET PROTECTION." The prompt is very poorly designed: it looks a lot like malware masquerading as an antivirus (in fact, we would say that newer fake antimalware prompts are more believable than ZoneAlarm's warning).

The only thing saving Exhibit A from simply being a prettier Exhibit B is the branding: assuming you know your firewall is from ZoneAlarm, you might guess the prompt is actually legitimate. But why would your firewall issue a virus warning? The strategy is the same used by fake antimalware writers employ: warn users about a threat and suggest they download your solution to fix the problem.

It's really unfortunate that the designers of this prompt did not take the time to think about how their users might interpret it. Real antimalware software should never ever stoop to the level of fake antimalware software; taking marketing advice from malware writers completely undermines the advice tech-savvy users give their friends: ignore these types of messages.

ZoneAlarm's customers are enraged, calling the notification a scare tactic, and many of them have opted to uninstall the software. A thread on the company's forums has now been set as a Sticky, amassing 60 posts and over 27,000 views at the time of this writing.

I got married last summer. One of the great things about being married is that because so many people have done it, you never have to look far for good advice on building a successful marriage. One thing you hear a lot from family and friends is on the subject of sharing, and how bringing your lives together in happiness and harmony is vital, as is retaining your own individuality and vitality.

This, naturally, got me thinking about file and printer sharing... and to this:

Look familiar?

Inside Internet Explorer 9: Redmond gets back in the game: After many months of previews, Internet Explorer 9 beta 1 is being released to the Web today. Faster, more secure, more standard, and all-around better than IE8, the new browser is Microsoft's latest attempt to halt IE's market share slide. The new version brings changes from top to bottom: Ars takes a detailed look at what's in store.

Bing passes Yahoo, now a distant second behind Google: Bing has passed Yahoo in terms of market share, according to the latest data from Nielsen.

Microsoft and Facebook are in talks to further strengthen their search partnership, possibly resulting in Bing gaining access to anonymized data generated by Facebook users to better personalize its search results, according to anonymous sources cited by All Things Digital. Microsoft would be able to use the information from Facebook's Like buttons, which the social giant has managed to have plastered all over the Web.

When a user likes a webpage, their Facebook friends are notified; if this deal goes through, Microsoft would also be able to know which webpages users are appreciating, and would be able to work that into Bing's algorithms (it could be particularly useful for Bing News), instead of just relying on spiders scouring the Internet. With Facebook's 500 million users, such a deal could give it quite a boost over Google, which presumably would be excluded from the data. The sources did point out an important hurdle though: because of Facebook's many privacy issues, the possible expansion of the search relationship would only be able to encompass information which users have already agreed to make public.

The deal works very well with Microsoft's strategy for social networking: partner rather than compete. "Nobody wants another Facebook," Dharmesh Mehta, Windows Live Director of Product Management, recently told Ars. Furthermore, Microsoft's strong relationship with Facebook is a thorn in Google's side, which benefits the two companies since they are both competing more and more with the search giant.

The Microsoft-Facebook partnership has been a roller coaster ride so far which has included a $240 million investment from Microsoft, Live Search powering Facebook, Microsoft winning and then losing ad platform exclusivity for the site, and finally Bing search result integration. 

All Things Digital emphasizes there's no deal yet—the talks could fall apart. Both Microsoft and Facebook declined to comment on the report.

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Microsoft today released the first beta of Internet Explorer 9. Coming after four developer-oriented preview releases, the new browser brings a streamlined user interface and a core that is more standards-compliant—and orders of magnitude faster—than any previous version of Internet Explorer.

With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft is imploring us to "unlock the beauty of the web," and indeed, IE9 is a fast and attractive Web browser. But it has its work cut out if it's going to return the Redmond browser to the unassailable leading position it once had.

SAN FRANCISCO — Ars is on-site here for a Microsoft press event that kicks off at 10:30am PDT (click here to see when the event happens in your time zone). Today's event is all about the launch of the long-awaited Internet Explorer 9 beta.

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