Microsoft and Hewlett Packard are helping website developers to fight potential attacks from hackers.

Both computing giants have released web tools to aid developers to discover any flaws in websites that can be attacked by SQL injection viruses which hijack legitimate sites.

Hackers are able to inject a SQL command where usernames and passwords are normally entered, which can be avoided by requiring "strongly typed" usernames.

The companies have discovered that many developers do not write code in this way, leading to a potential compromise.

The next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system will be released in 2010, according to a leading company executive.

A letter, sent by the company's senior vice president Bill Weghte, has reportedly said that Windows 7 would be delivered approximately three years after the January 2007 release of Vista.

The letter entitled An Update on the Windows Roadmap explained that research found that customers "want a more predictable Window's release schedule". There had been a five year gap between Vista and its predecessor Windows XP.

New research has showed that less than 10% of developers are writing applications for Microsoft Vista.

The results of analysts Evans Data's 2008 North American Development Survey found that only eight per cent are working on software for Microsoft's latest operating system, reports vnunet.com.

Nearly 50 per cent of respondents were however developing applications for Windows XP, the old system which Microsoft plans to stop selling at the end of June.

According to the study, 29% of developers said they would still prefer XP in 2009, compared to 24 per cent who will focus on Vista.

Microsoft is testing a new social network which is designed to be used on company intranets.

Computerworld.com reports that the TownSquare application was launched by the company in January and is currently used by over 8,000 Microsoft employees.

TownSquare has a layout similar to that of Facebook and allows companies and employees to display information in a news feed.

Chris Pratley, general manager of Microsoft's Office Labs, told the website that TownSquare grew within the company "by word of mouth" and now around 700 employees "use the social network daily".

Microsoft has launched an agreement with Hewlett Packard to integrate its search engine as standard on new PCs.

All PCs in the US and Canada manufactured by HP from January 2009 will be equipped with Microsoft's Live Search-enabled toolbar as the default internet browser.

The new toolbar will also provide access to tools for HP applications, including its Snapfish technology and customer support service.

Ulf Claesson, vice-president of Worldwide Attach at HP, said the browser is an "outstanding search product".

Microsoft has announced that its Xbox 360 games console has reached ten million unit sales in the US.

The company figures reveal that the machine beat Nintendo's Wii and the Sony Playstation 3 in reaching the landmark sales figure.

When released in November 2005, the Xbox 360 was the first of the latest generation games consoles to be released in the US. The Wii and PS3 were launched a year later.

Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft, said that this year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry.

Microsoft has launched a new service which will allow users of its Messenger service to play videos within chat windows.

The new service called Messenger TV will show content including programs from MTV, Sony BMG, Channel 4 and EMI.

Messenger TV will be launched in 20 countries around the world, including many in Europe, but the service is not available in the US to date.

Microsoft has a new initiative aimed at promoting the use of its Windows operating system in low-cost PC's.

The computing giant plans to offer PC makers significant price cuts on Windows XP licenses but will only be available for computers with low hardware specifications limited to 10.2 inches for screen sizes and hard drives no bigger than 80 GB.

Low-cost PC's have grown in popularity, with the Asus Eee PC equipped with a modified version of the Xandros Linux system.

Microsoft has announced that television shows will be available for its Zune portable media device.

Previously, only music tracks and videos were available for the devices but Microsoft has started releasing a software update that makes popular television shows available for viewing.

A statement from Microsoft says that consumers can choose from more than 800 episodes of shows from companies such as NBC Universal, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon.

Microsoft has released the latest version of its Messenger application for Mac users.

The computer giant describe its Messenger 7 application as an integrated communications client that enables communication within and outside an organization.

A statement on Microsft's Mactopia website says: "Messenger for Mac 7 is a Universal application that is built to run on both PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macs and makes it easy to take advantage of the full power of real-time communications."

Most of Messenger 7's largest improvements cover the realm of corporate communication.