Yes, Windows 7 will be available in time for the holiday season. The Windows team announced today on the Windows Blog that Windows 7 will be in stores beginning October 22nd. Also check out the post to learn more about the Windows 7 Upgrade Option...

The Microsoft Security Essentials Beta is now available for download . You’ll get protection against viruses and spyware, including Trojans, worms and other malicious software. And best of all, there are no costs or annoying subscriptions to keep track...

If you are a Web developer or administrator, improving your website’s relevance in search results is a big deal, and to aid in that endeavor, Microsoft is offering the IIS Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Toolkit Beta . The IIS SEO Toolkit includes the...

Here’s a very handy new online service that could get you out of some jams, or just save you time fixing other people’s problems: The recently-launched Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services . With one click, Microsoft can detect problems on your...

This short video on TechNet Edge highlights some of the new backup features that arrive with the RC version of Windows Server 2008 R2 including: The ability to backup System State as a separate job as well as the ability to do incremental System...

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008 R2 Release Candidate is now available for public download. The R2 is the latest upgrade to VMM 2008 and enables consolidation of physical servers, rapid provisioning of new virtual machines and unified...

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has released a new guide: SharePoint Online—Evaluating Software-plus-Services . If you are considering an online solution for your organization’s collaboration services, this new guide presents a clear comparison...

This bulletin summary lists security bulletins released for June 2009. More to come, Mitch Subscribe to the TechNet Flash newsletter Follow us on Twitter

Microsoft in the second half of 2009 will offer a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2008 R2. Sign up now to receive an email notification of the availability of the CTP and, while you are there, check out the new features planned for the...

If you haven’t given Windows Internet Explorer 8 a whirl yet, now would be great time. With its Browser for the Better program, Microsoft is donating eight meals to Feeding America for every download of IE8. Help accelerate an end to hunger in this country...

TechNet Flash US readers are being offered an incredible end-of-fiscal-year deal on a TechNet Plus Direct subscription. Get 12 months for just $249 (that’s an unbeatable $100 off the reg. $349 price) through July 3, 2009. Visit http://technet.microsoft...

Check out the newly launched Microsoft Exchange Server Training Portal for training resources around both Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2007. Find a new suite of Exchange Server 2010 training resources designed to clearly differentiate technology...

The results of AV-Comparatives’ Anti-Virus Comparative test show that Microsoft’s anti-virus offering is one of the best for proactive detection. In the independent test, which measured 16 anti-virus vendors, Microsoft anti-virus received one of only...

The Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway is a e secure Web gateway solution that helps protect employees from threats on the Web with enterprise-class anti-malware scanning and blocking, URL filtering (new in Forefront TMG Beta 3), web proxy...

You can now download the new Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack and get an extensive set of monitoring, including synthetic transactions to effectively monitor Exchange 2007 and report on performance, availability, and reliability of its server roles...

The Bing Community Search Blog announced that potentially explicit images and video content will now be coming from a separate single domain, explicit.bing.net. This is invisible to the user, but allows for filtering of that content by domain which makes...

Download this comparison chart that shows the features that IT pros care about across the three latest versions of the client operating system. This handy charted categorizes the features around file organization and search, remote access, security and...

Take advantage of this offer while it lasts. Microsoft Press is offering Programming for Unified Communications with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 for free until June 24, 2009. The step-by-step programming scenarios show you how to...

This Solution Accelerator includes the following components: Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios Assessment v1.1 (a guide) Windows Optimized Desktop Scenario Selection Tool v1.1 The new version of this Solution Accelerator updates both the...

Now available via the Downloads Center, the Windows Server Hyper-V Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 supports monitoring of Windows Server Hyper-V systems. This includes monitoring coverage of Hyper-V host servers, including critical...

Just a reminder that the Windows 7 Beta trial is winding down fast. The trail period ends July 1, 2009, at which time your beta will start to reboot every 2 hours and expire completely on August 1, 2009. There is still time to get the Windows 7 RC download...

It’s not an enterprise app but, hey, it’s summer and that AC at home could be spiking your energy costs more than you think. Microsoft Startup Business Accelerator group has brought out a free online beta application called Hohm, which gives you personalized...

Heading toward general availability on October 22, Microsoft today revealed some great news in the pricing for Windows 7; the most popular retail product, the Home Premium Upgrade, will be reduced by approximately 10% (depending on the market), compared...

Whether you're just getting started with enterprise search or need the scale to support the most demanding search challenges, the Microsoft Enterprise Search site has put together a great comparison table outlining the three enterprise search products...

Windows 7 is coming on October 22, 2009 and you can pre-order Windows 7 today at the Microsoft Store . You'll get it for at least half off and that translates into $49.99 for the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and $99.99 for the Windows 7 Professional...