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It's not your imagination, Skype is installing itself on computers everywhere.

Don't panic. The robot overlords are not about to flip the switch on Skynet. It's not a virus, It's not a hack attack, it's just a nuisance.

As you may recall Microsoft bought Skype recently. Because of this, they have added Skype updates to Windows updates. For computers connected to domains using WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) this means Skype is a new product category.

Microsoft normally allows administrators to choose what product categories they want the system to receive updates for, and then further lets them set which level of priority they want to auto-approve vs manually aprove updates for.

Unfortunately, Microsoft chose to add Skype to the list of products and check it automatically as an approved product category.

There is a Skype 5.9 update that is available in the update services, and this update is meant to only update computers that already have Skype. It seems this update is also considered important enough to fall under approval categories such as "critical" and "security" so it is auto-approved on most systems.

The problem is that for some reason Microsoft has not yet explained, the update is NOT installing to JUST computers already having skype. It's installing to a wide variety of computers. In some cases the whole organization, in other cases just select random machines.

At this point, The only good way to remove it is to uninstall it from control panel at each machine. If you do have to do this, please contact your system admin so they can disable the update or it will simply keep re-installing. Unfortunately, if anyone in your organization actually uses Skype, it may be necessary to leave the update approved.

They are keeping it simple this time with just two traditional editions, and one tablet-only edition.

For traditional X86/x64 computers such as desktop or mobile versions of Intel & AMD based computers, you have two editions:

• Windows 8 which is essentially the successor to Windows 7 Home Premium (or XP Home). Win 8 the cool features windows has to offer minus certain tool and connectivity necessities for most businesses.
• Windows 8 Pro is the successor to Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate (or XP Pro). It will have all the usual bits, plus it will have the domain connectivity (the most important feature), encryption, etc that businesses need.

 

It's a pretty common misconception that OSX is more secure than Windows. The reason for the perception that Mac is more secure is market share. Despite the "mind share" Mac has with the tech media and media at large, the actual market share has never been very large. However it is growing. Virus writers, especially ones looking to steal assets like credit card numbers, are like any other business. They go where the customers are. Several years ago, when he was still at Microsoft, Gates refocused the Windows and other product teams into a security-first mentality. This strengthening of the market leader, and the increase in market share for OSX has led to the inevitable rise of the unthinkable (for fanboys anyway): the OSX virus.

http://blog.intego.com/flashback-mac-trojan-horse-infections-increasing-with-new-variant/

 

A lot of people ask me what I think about relying on the "cloud" for critical business storage.

Maybe it's better to ask these people:

http://torrentfreak.com/feds-please-return-my-personal-files-megaupload-120120/

That's a pretty extreme example of what can happen when you don't control your own data.