If your Windows 7 partition seems to be updating itself after you’ve booted into it, there’s a reason why.

Per ZDNet, as Microsoft marches toward its early April 2013 end of free support deadline for Windows 7, the company is planning to update automatically some of those who still have yet to install the first (and seemingly only) Service Pack for the operating system.

As announced on March 18 via its “Blogging Windows” blog, Microsoft plans to begin rolling out Windows 7 SP1 automatically, via Windows Update to Windows 7 users who still are running the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) version without SP1 installed. This process will begin on March 19.

From the blog post:

“Starting tomorrow, the installation will be fully automatic with no user action required for those who already have Automatic Update enabled. SP1 will be released gradually over the coming weeks to all customers on the RTM version of Windows 7. The service pack will take slightly longer to install compared to other updates. To ensure Service Pack 1 is installed without issue, customers should check for sufficient free disk space and that AC power is present on a laptop. If additional space needs to be created, we recommend using the Disk Cleanup tool to delete some files so that the service pack will install. If the service pack installation is interrupted, it will reattempt to install automatically after the next restart.”

This automatic update will be applied only to Windows 7 consumer PCs that are not managed via other Microsoft management tools like System Center Configuration Manager or Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), the post noted. Some admins have chosen to temporarily block their users from getting SP1 until they’ve tested it to their satisfaction. Those in that category won’t be getting SP1 pushed to them starting tomorrow.

Windows 7 RTM, with no service pack installed, will no longer be supported as of April 9, 2013, according to a February 14 post on the Microsoft Springboard Series blog. Support for specific Windows releases ends 24 months after the release of a new Service Pack, and Windows 7 SP1 was released in February 2011.

Windows 7 SP1 mainstream (free) support continues until January 13, 2015. Extended (paid) support for Windows 7 SP1 is available until January 14, 2020. (Microsoft continues to provide security updates for free during the Extended support phase of a product.)

Microsoft made available last week a Windows 7 hotfix rollup that includes 90 previously released hotfixes.

So, if you’ve been lax with the “Windows Update” feature on your Windows 7 partition, it might just do it for you.

Adium, the open source instant message chat client with support for multiple programs (including AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo! Google Talk, Bonjour, etc.) has been updated to version 1.5.6.

The new version, a 22.8 megabyte download adds the following fixes and changes:
- Fixed a crash on startup on OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

- Fixed a crash when accepting or canceling the certificate verification dialog. (#16280)

- Fixed a crash or hang when trying to use OTR on 32-bits Macs. (#16203)

Adium 1.5.6 is available for free and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later and an Intel-based Mac to run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any comments, let us know.

On Monday, software developer Quark released version 9.5.1 of its QuarkXPress design application. The 768 megabyte update, which can be downloaded here, adds the following changes:
- QuarkXPress 9.5.1 is a free update for QuarkXPress 9 that further improves quality and stability.

- Furthermore you can now embed fonts when creating content for HTML5 based apps with the new App Studio at AppStudio.net

QuarkXPress 9.5.1 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.5.8 later to install and retails for US$799.00 for the full version.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

There might be some editing room hijincks going on right about now…

Per Deadline and iMore, the Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher which was set to make its big screen debut on April 19 has now been delayed. According to a recent report, the film will no longer arrive on April 19 and no new date has been announced yet either. The film’s original release was set to coincide with the date that the late Steve Jobs had founded Apple.

The release date of the Steve Jobs biopic that stars Ashton Kutcher has quietly been postponed. jOBS, which closed the Sundance Film Festival this year, had been set by Five Star Films and its distributor Open Road for April 19. It has moved off that date, and a new date has not been determined. Five Star made a service release deal with Open Road before the festival started, and the film’s backers were eager to release on the month marks the 37th anniversary of Jobs founding Apple.

The reason for the delay appears to be lack of time to prepare the films marketing and create a buzz around the film before its release. As soon as we hear more on a new release date, we will let you know. The movie which stars Ashton Kutcher in the role of Steve Jobs and Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak covers only a small part of the Apple and Jobs story from 1971-2001.

Late Friday, virtualization softare maker VMWare released version 5.0.3 of its Fusion software for the Mac.

Similar to other virtualization software packages, VMWare allows users to run alternate operating systems such as Windows and Linux distributions on Intel-based Macs at native speeds. Other features, such as Unity, allow users to run and minimize Windows applications from the Mac OS X Dock.

The new version, a 206 megabyte download, can be found here and offers the following fixes and changes:
- VMware Fusion 5.0.3 is a maintenance release that resolves some known issues. It is a free upgrade for all VMware Fusion 5 users.

- Added support for Boot Camp partitions on 3TB disk drives.

- Improved the cursor performance for select applications, especially when in Unity mode.

- McAfee AntiVirus Plus updated with Windows 8 support.

- Resolved an issue that could result in blurry graphics under certain circumstances.

- Resolved an issue that resulted in horizontal scrolling being reversed in Unity mode.

- Resolved an issue with displaying Office 2013 applications on some recent Macs.

- Improvements to vSockets.

Fusion 5.0.3 retails for US$49.99 and requires an Intel-based Mac, 2 GB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.6.7 or later (10.7 recommended) and a copy of Windows (if you’ll be installing Windows).

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

VirtualBox, an open source x86 virtualization project available for free has just hit version 4.2.10. The new version, a 109 megabyte download, features the following fixes and changes:
- GUI: fixed keyboard with XQuartz X server (bug #10664).

- Main/Display: fixed a crash with multi-monitors under certain conditions (OS X hosts only).

- Main/Properties: fixed a crash under certain conditions, for example after wakeup from host hibernate (bug #11444).

- Settings: don’t lose the internal network settings if they are not currently active.

- Storage: another incompatibility fix for VHD differencing images with Hyper-V (bug #5990).

- VBoxManage: don’t read beyond the end of the file specified with export –eulafile (bug #11528).

- Linux hosts / guests: Linux 3.9-rc0 compile fixes (bug #11529).

- Linux Additions: fixed two warnings in the shared folders guest kernel module (bug #11390).

- Linux Additions: don’t crash VBoxService if libdbus is not available (bug #8638).

- Windows Additions: fixed upgrading MultiMedia Redirection (MMR) support.

VirtualBox 4.2.10 is available for free and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later and an Intel-based Mac to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback, please let us know.

If you feel like the 15-inch Retina Display MacBook Pro has let you down, you’re not along.

Per 9to5Mac and Law360, since Apple unveiled its first Retina MacBook Pro with the 15.4-inch model in June, there have been a growing number of complaints from customers experiencing issues with the product. By far the most reported problem is one that causes a burn-in or ghosting problem on the device’s display. This has resulted in a support thread boasting over 364,769 views.

Apple presently uses two display suppliers for the device, LG and Samsung, and it wasn’t until months later that many started speculating the source of the issue was with LG. Today, MacBook Pro user Beau Hodges has decided to launch a class-action lawsuit against Apple in a federal court in California alleging MacBook Pro customers have no way of telling which MacBooks have an LG display at the time of purchase. Hodges is apparently seeking unspecified damages for Retina MacBook Pro customers nationwide:

The electronics giant must know about the differences between the two versions because it spent a considerable amount of time testing the products during research and development and has been inundated with complaints from customers about the LG screen’s problems, according to the suit.

“The performance disparity between the LG version and the Samsung version is particularly troubling given that Apple represents the MacBook Pro with retina display as a single, unitary product, described as the highest quality notebook display on the market,” the complaint said. “None of Apple’s advertisements or representations discloses that it produces the computers with display screens that exhibit different levels of performance and quality.”

Many users report Apple replacing their LG displays with a Samsung-made display following the issues, but Apple has yet to confirm the problem publicly and some users with Samsung-made displays continue to experience graphic-related issues. Some reports indicated that Apple might have addressed issues with the Retina MacBook Pro in a minor refresh to the device last month, but many of the major problems still exist according to some consumers.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Never doubt a good firmware update.

Late Thursday, Apple released its MacBook Pro Retina SMC Update 1.1 firmware update for its 15-inch Retina Display MacBook Pro notebook. The update, a 504 kilobyte download, offers the following fixes and changes:
- Resolves a rare issue where users may experience slow frame rates when playing graphics-intensive games.

- Includes bug fixes for Power Nap, wake from sleep and fan control.

The update can be located, snagged and installed via OS X’s Software Update features and requires a 15-inch Retina Display MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the firmware update and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

Hey, an update’s an update.

Late Thursday, Apple released Safari 6.0.3, an update to its web browser. The new version, a 44.8 megabyte download (via MacUpdate), includes the following fixes and new features:
- Contains updated security content. Download included with OS X 10.8.3 Mountain Lion.

- Improves scrolling on facebook.com.

- Improves scrolling while zoomed in on a webpage.

- Improves performance on webpages with plug-in content.

- A fix for an issue that could cause the inaccurate appearance of an alert that bookmarks can’t be changed.

- A fix for an issue that could cause duplicate bookmarks to appear on an iOS device after editing bookmarks with Safari in OS X.

- A fix for an issue that permitted users to access unfiltered search results when searching from google.com when Parental Controls are enabled.

- A fix for an issue that could prevent Safari from restoring the last position on a webpage a user navigated back to.

Safari 6.0.3 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.7 or later to install and run and can also be located and downloaded via Mac OS X’s Software Update feature. If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know.

I think it’s fair to say that you’ve been hankering for this for a while now.

On Wednesday, Apple released version 10.8.3 of its OS X Mountain Lion operating system. The new version, a 540 megabyte download, offers the following fixes and changes:
- The ability to redeem iTunes gift cards in the Mac App Store using your Mac’s built-in camera.

- Boot Camp support for installing Windows 8.

- Boot Camp support for Macs with a 3TB hard drive.

- A fix for an issue that could cause a file URL to quit apps unexpectedly.

- A fix for an issue that may cause Logic Pro to become unresponsive when using certain plug-ins.

- A fix for an issue that may cause audio to stutter on 2011 iMacs.

- Includes Safari 6.0.3.

OS X 10.8.3 requires an Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.8 to install and run, the update itself being attainable by using OS X’s Software Update feature.

If you’ve tried the new operating system and have any feedback whatsoever, please let us know in the comments.