Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Gregory W Nichols

Stephan Doll

Sri Sai Kameswara Pavan Kumar Kasturi

Vinit Ogale

Kiran Kumar Dowluru

Keshava Prasad Subramanya

Yunan Yuan

Hongliu Zheng

Desmond T Lee

Calin Negreanu

Jen-Lung Chiu

Ryan S Kivett

Mikhail Basilyan

Gabriel J Aul

Miklos Szegedi

Genghis Karimov

Michael V Sliger

Thomas Dee McGuire

Corneliu I Lupu

Shawn Michael Murphy

Rajendra H Vishnumurty

Andre F Vachon

Alan Bennett Auerbach

Vishal Kapoor

Jason J Joyce

Oliver Wallace

Hany Farag

Kinshuman Kinshuman

Daniel C Welch

Some embodiments of the invention provide techniques whereby a user may perform a system reset (e.g., to address system performance and/or reliability degradation, such as which may be caused by unused applications that unnecessarily consume system resources, an attempted un-install of an application that left remnants of the application behind, and/or other causes). In some embodiments, performing a system reset replaces a first instance of an operating system on the system with a new instance of the operating system, and removes any applications installed on the system, without disturbing the user's data.

System reset

An anti-malware program monitors the behavior of a system after a system restore to determine the likelihood of a hidden infection of malicious code still existing after the system restore. The anti-malware program observes the dynamic behavior of the system by monitoring conditions that are likely to signify the possibility of an infection thereby necessitating the need to initiate anti-malware detection. The anti-malware program may observe the restoration history, system settings, malware infection history, to determine the likelihood of an existing hidden infection after a system restore.

Augmenting system restore with malware detection

Some embodiments of the invention provide techniques for performing system reset and/or system restore operations. Some embodiments store a record of any changes performed to a data file stored on a virtual hard disk using differencing virtual disks that are captured over time. To restore the file to the state in which it existed at any particular point in time, embodiments of the invention may allow for rolling back the system to a differencing virtual disk captured at or before that time and setting aside blocks of the differencing virtual disk chain captured after that point. To perform a system reset, the system may be rolled back to the parent virtual hard disk, by setting aside all of the blocks of the differencing virtual disk chain. Some embodiments of the invention provide for separating information on the system into a plurality of entities, and maintaining a separate set of differencing virtual disks for each entity. For example, some embodiments may create an entity may be created for each of the operating system, applications and user data, and maintain differencing virtual disks for each over time.

System reset and system restore

A system and method for generating a triage dump of useful memory data from a computer that encounters an error while executing one or more software programs. The computer system may identify data values within the triage dump that are characteristic of personal data. To protect the privacy of the software user the personal data may be poisoned by overwriting the data values with overwrite values. The overwrite values used to poison the data values may be predetermined, based on the data values themselves, or chosen at random. The triage dump may be sent to an external server to associated with the developer of the one or more software programs for analysis. When overwrite values are dynamically selected, the specific overwrite values used may be sent to the server in connection with a triage dump.

Memory dump with expanded data and user privacy protection

A vertical can be a series of computer-executable instructions that, in response to an incident, collect information regarding that incident and transmit the information for analysis and possible helpful feedback to the user. A general purpose vertical can address types of incidents, such as crashes or hangs, across a variety of applications, while a custom vertical can be written to address application-specific incidents. Verticals can access underlying support mechanisms through an infrastructure, which can also enable applications to request that additional data be collected by the verticals, and set other preferences. Once the data is collected and transmitted, a vertical may receive feedback, that can be a request for additional information or feedback to the user. The feedback to the user can attempt to identify the incident and aid the user in recovering from it and avoiding it in the future.

Method and system for an incidental feedback platform

A method and system for downloading software update data for installing a revised software product on a client computer minimizes the amount of update data to be transmitted over the network by downloading only those files needed to put the client computer in the state for installing the product. In the beginning of the downloading process, the client computer obtains from a setup server an initial setup package that includes a setup program and a list of files required for installing the software product. The setup program running on the client computer then determines whether some current or earlier versions of those files required for installation already exist on the client computer, and compiles a request list of files needed for updating the client computer. The client computer sends the request list to a download server, which maintains a collection of update files and patches. In response to the request list, the download server downloads updating files to the client. Depending of the availability of the requested files or other factors, the downloaded files may or may not be exactly those requested. Using the downloaded files, the setup program updates the existing files to provide the set of installation files on the client computer. The desired revised software product is then installed on the client computer.

Method and system for downloading updates for software installation

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Gregory W Nichols