Technical News from all the source

Sony Launches Walkman MP3 Players

2009-07-31T01:24:00.000-07:00

Sony has launched two new entry-level walkman MP3 players: the slim, video-playing E Series models and the ultra-compact B Series models.

The E Series models are slim at just 9.3mm thick. The E Series sports a two-inch LCD for viewing video files, photos and album art. The Sony E Series Walkman will be available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities, and black or red shells.

Sony E Series Walkman

The E Series models feature FM radio tuners, and Sony claims that each full charge of the battery should allow you to listen to music for around 30 hours, or watch video for around six hours.

Sony B Series Walkman

The new Sony B Series Walkman will be available in 2GB or 4GB capacities. It will be launched in pink, orange, red or black variations and offers, according to Sony, approximately 18 hours of music play back per battery charge.

Jon Barrow, Which? MP3 player expert, said: 'With both the Sony B Series and, slightly more advanced, E Series, Sony has launched two new, and very basic, models into an already crowded market.

Source: which.co.uk

Microsoft Windows vista help

2009-07-23T03:28:00.000-07:00

Since Microsoft had launched its series of Windows Operating Systems for PC’s in line, it had also released various Windows Updates for all the operating systems along with Microsoft help.

Microsoft had launched latest bug fixes through windows updates and latest add no’s for Windows Operating Systems like the Windows installer and internet explorer. The purpose of fixes in Windows Updates was also used to provide end user a better security and enhance the performance of the operating system. Microsoft help feature was available in all the

Microsoft operating systems and also on Microsoft website as online Microsoft help.
Launch of the Windows service pack was also a very good initiative towards building a stable operating system and midterm developmental changes were brought in the Windows operating system. Since Windows vista help provided the user to learn how Windows Updates are being installed. Online Microsoft help was also introduced for installation of Windows Updates and troubleshooting pertaining to windows updates.

There are various security updates released as soon as the security threats are being heard from windows operating system users. These security updates are known as Tuesday patches and are released on second Tuesday of each month. Apart from releasing the security updates to prevent users from the vulnerabilities of the Virus, Trojans and other malicious items Microsoft also releases various security patches as and when needed. Also online Microsoft help is being provided to the users at this time of distress. Online Windows help and online Microsoft help is kept in general very easy for the users to eradicate the malicious programs or the software’s.

Apart from the Windows security updates and Windows service pack there are various updates released for the various Microsoft applications like Microsoft office, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express etc. Microsoft help is available on the user PC to access help related to updates for these applications and online Microsoft help is also available so that the user can be up to date with these security updates from anywhere while being on internet. These updates are integrated in the automatic updates of the Windows operating systems. In order to know more about automatic updates either refers to Microsoft help feature in operating system or online Microsoft help.

After the evolution of Windows Updates, Microsoft has launched various versions of Windows Updates. It started with version 3 i.e: v3 in 1998 for windows 98 and then it came in line with the Windows Operating Systems being either released or enhanced. Followed by v4, v5 and v6. Version 6 was very important as it provided integration for Windows Genuine Advantage which would analyse the Windows Operating System and check the authenticity of the operating system and if it was not genuine then would not provide any future assistance with Windows Updates.

In the Windows Control panel user would always find the option of Windows Updates and set it to automatic thus enhancing the capability of the operating system to perform better and secure the Windows operating system from vulnerabilities.

Source: http://www.articledepot.co.uk/article-304154.htm

Microchip launches new range of 8-bit PIC MCUs

2009-07-17T02:58:00.000-07:00

Bangalore: Microchip, a provider of micro controller and analog semiconductors, has unveiled a new range of 8-bit PIC micro controllers (MCUs) featuring nanoWatt XLP technology, which can enable low sleep currents.

The PIC18F13K22, PIC18LF13K22, PIC18F14K22 and PIC18LF14K22 (PIC18F1XK22) MCUs are available in 20-pin packages and provide 1.8 to 5.5V operation, with up to 16 Kbytes Flash program memory. The devices feature a peripheral set that includes computer support for mTouch capacitive touch sensing, and are well suited for a variety of general-purpose applications. "With their small size and comprehensive feature set, the PIC18F1XK22 devices enable designers to create smaller, lower-power and higher-performing designs, at lower costs," said Steve Drehobl, Vice President of Microchip's Security, Microcontroller and Technology Development Division.

The nanoWatt XLP technology allows the PIC18LF1XK22 MCUs to operate longer using less power, or with fewer battery changes, by enabling sleep current of 34 nA, typical at 1.8V; Timer1 oscillator currents of 800 nA, typical at 1.8v, 32 kHz; and Watchdog Timer currents of 300 nA, typical at 1.8V.

The PIC18F1XK22 MCUs are appropriate for a wide variety of general-purpose applications. Examples include those in the appliances (blenders, refrigerators, dishwashers); consumer electronics (athletic attire, cell phones, phone chargers, electric shavers) and industrial (digital water heaters, security systems).

Transcend Unveils Thermal Sensor Equipped DDR3 Memory Modules

2009-07-15T23:58:00.000-07:00

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend®), a worldwide leader in storage and multimedia products, today released a new line of server-grade DDR3 ECC DIMM and Registered DIMM premium memory modules equipped with thermal sensors. This advanced innovation in thermal monitoring technology can greatly enhance memory reliability, efficiency, and overall system stability, making these new modules perfect for use in dedicated servers as well as workstations.

For high-end systems that constantly process huge amounts of data under non-stop operating conditions, CPU speed regulation and various other techniques to prevent overheating have become increasingly important in hardware design. In order to provide increased performance, Transcend now offers server-grade DDR3 modules that come equipped with an advanced thermal sensor. This allows motherboard chipsets to monitor the exact temperature of each memory module and adjust the memory load accordingly, ensuring the best possible system performance while at the same time protecting the DRAM modules from potentially catastrophic failure and compromised system stability.

Transcend's thermal sensor equipped DDR3 memory modules include ECC DIMMs and Registered DIMM s in both 1333MHz and 1066MHz versions, all of which comply with JEDEC (the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standards. In addition, these modules are built to exacting specifications with the highest quality DRAM chips and components available. Each Transcend memory module undergoes rigorous testing to ensure the best performance possible, and comes with a lifetime warranty and the comprehensive support of Transcend's renowned global service network. Recognized worldwide for reliable quality, outstanding performance, excellent compatibility and stable operation, Transcend memory modules are the preferred choice of performance-conscious system builders and IT professionals.

Source:- http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=19275

Mac HFS+ read-write support for Windows

2009-07-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

Storage utility software vendor Paragon Software Group on Tuesday said it had tweaked its Universal File System Driver technology to support Mac volumes on Windows systems. The driver is in beta release.

The company said its Paragon HFS for Windows beta driver will support read-write functions for Mac OS X volumes; it will not support older Mac Classic volumes. In addition, there is no limits to maximum file/partition sizes (other than the usual Mac and Windows limits).

It is well known that Windows cannot read from and write to HFS+ partitions. This limits the ability to exchange or share files between Windows and Mac OS X file systems? Occasionally, users will rely on the services of FAT partitions which can be read and written to by both Windows and Mac OS X.

FAT partitions have disadvantages and limitations as well (i.e. you can not store/create files greater than 4GB in size). Moreover, what if your data is already stored on Mac-formatted partitions but you don’t have time or tools to migrate to Windows-formatted partition (NTFS) to preserve the integrity of the data?

Paragon HFS for Windows is designed to provide full (read and write) access to HFS+ partitions. It can be installed on all versions of Windows, and eliminates the need to use complex processes on different platforms, thus reducing your incurred costs.

Source:- http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=4229

Windows 7 gets virtual 'XP Mode'

2009-07-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

Microsoft says beta of backward-compatibility add-on available 'soon'

Windows 7: Full coverage

Computerworld - Microsoft Corp. will unveil an add-on to Windows 7 that lets users run applications designed for Windows XP in a virtual machine, the company confirmed Friday -- the first time Microsoft has relied on virtualization to provide backward compatibility.

Dubbed "Windows XP Mode," the add-on creates an XP virtual environment running under Virtual PC, Microsoft's client virtualization technology within Windows 7, said Scott Woodgate, the director of Windows enterprise and virtualization strategy.
In a post to a company blog, Woodgate said the add-on is part of the pitch to convince businesses to migrate to Windows 7. "All you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP Mode," said Woodgate. "The applications will be published to the Windows 7 desktop, and then you can run them directly from Windows 7."

Details of Windows XP Mode (XPM) were first reported Friday afternoon by Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott, two prominent bloggers who are also collaborating on a book, Windows 7 Secrets, due out this fall.

According to Rivera's "Within Windows" blog -- Thurrott published a nearly identical writeup on his "SuperSite for Windows" -- Windows XP Mode will be offered as a free download only to users running Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise, the three top-priced editions of the new operating system.

Windows 7 Enterprise is available only to companies with volume licensing agreements.
Windows XP Mode (XPM) requires processor-based virtualization support and is based on the next-generation Microsoft Virtual PC 7 technology, said Rivera, who also disclosed that Microsoft will include a fully licensed copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) with the add-on. That, in effect, gives Windows 7 users a way to run older applications without having to pay for another operating system license.
Rivera also touted, as had Woodgate, the ability to run Windows XP applications directly from the Windows 7 desktop without having to first open a separate virtual machine window.

"XPM does not require you to run the virtual environment as a separate Windows desktop," Rivera said. "Instead, as you install applications inside the virtual XP environment, they are published to the host (Windows 7) OS as well. That way, users can run Windows XP-based applications, like IE6, alongside Windows 7 applications under a single desktop."

Both Rivera and Thurrott trumpeted XPM as a "huge convenience" for Microsoft's corporate customers, and they predicted that Microsoft will be able to discard older code and technologies from future versions of Windows and instead rely on virtualization to provide backward compatibility.
Thurrott has published a series of screenshots that show XPM's installation and a Windows XP application running within Windows 7.

Although Rivera and Thurrott said that Microsoft would offer XPM when it ships Windows 7, Woodgate promised that a beta of the new add-on would be released "soon" for Windows 7, presumably on or near the launch of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC).
Also on Friday, Microsoft announced it would post Windows 7 Release Candidate for public download on May 5 and make the preview available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers this Thursday, April 30.

Source;- http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9132119/Windows_7_gets_virtual_XP_mode_

Internet Explorer has a few Disadvantages.

2009-07-12T22:05:00.001-07:00

Everyone knows about Internet Explorer and many people know how to use it. However many people like it, they don’t know about what its disadvantages are. This article will try to explain some of these “non-detectable” disadvantages.

1. Speed. Internet Explorer is very slow against its rival, Firefox. Firefox is about two times faster than Internet Explorer. This includes going from web page to web page, starting up the web browser, and downloading files from the web to your computer or laptop. Speed is very important if you like being able to do many things in a short period of time. This could be checking the weather report before traveling. Whatever it is speed is a key factor.

2. Search Bar. Internet Explorer uses Live Search as its search bar that loads up in the top right hand corner. This is run by Microsoft. Many people use Live Search as their default search engine, but more people use Google. If your like me, you don’t use that search engine because you don’t even know its there or because you would rather just go to Google to do all of your searching. If however you use that search engine a lot and would like to change it, click on the arrow facing down. Then click “Find more providers”. After that choose the web search engine you want to search with by click which one you want. Lastly click add provider. It will add it and to use it click the arrow again and select the one you chose.

3. Tabs. If you didn’t already notice, in Internet Explorer the tabs are already out. This takes up a little bit of the screen view and you can do as much with them. When I say this, I mean that there are not as many features. If you right click on an Internet Explorer tab you only get these options: close, close other tabs, refresh, refresh all, new tab. You may think that this is a lot but if you use Firefox for instance you get these: new tab, reload tab, reload all tabs, close other tabs, bookmark this tab, bookmark all tabs, undo close tab, and close tab.

I hope by reading this that you take away something from it. Although you probably didn’t know about these things, I wanted to be able to give you an insight on what they are. I also hope that you will recognize these and make the switch to another web browser. Thanks for reading!

Source:- http://webupon.com/browsers/disadvantages-of-internet-explorer/

Google has muscle for long-term battle with Microsoft Windows

2009-07-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Chrome OS is latest weapon in Google's ongoing 'guerilla war' with Microsoft

Computerworld - As Google Inc. acknowledges that its engineers are working on an operating system for netbooks and PCs, analysts say it's the company in the best position to take on Microsoft Corp. and its vaunted Windows software.

In a blog item posted Tuesday night, Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google, said the company is working to deliver the new Google Chrome OS in the second half of 2010. Noting that Google's engineers are "rethinking what operating systems should be," Pichai said the Chrome OS will be lightweight and open source.

It's a bold move for any company to tread in a market that has so long been stubbornly held in Microsoft's grip. Others have tried and failed to make a noticeable dent in Microsoft's worldwide share of the operating systems market. But Google, which would be considered the Goliath in most industry duels, has the financial muscle, the engineering might and the industry clout to actually put up a fight with an industry powerhouse like Microsoft, analysts said.

"I think they are fighting a guerilla war with Microsoft, with the goal of chipping away and gaining more market share over time. And this is well within their capabilities," said Dan Olds, principal analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "It's also important to remember that Google doesn't need an OS to support its revenue stream. They have lots and lots of revenue from their advertising bread and butter. That means they have staying power and that's critically important in this market. If anyone is going to take on Microsoft successfully, Google has the resources, engineering, and time to do it."

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, said a lot of companies have the technical prowess to build the operating system, but lack the financial muscle needed to go head-to-head with something as entrenched in global enterprises and individual homes as Windows.

Net Applications Inc., which tracks Web site activity, reported that the Windows OS had an 87.75% market share in May.

"Can Google do the deals and get the distribution and the mindshare to compete? Can they put it over the top?" asks Gottheil. "There are very few companies that have what Google has in terms of audience, PR, money and the capability to deal seriously with major vendors. That does distinguish them from other candidates."

Gottheil was also quick to note that Google won't steal large chunks of operating system market share from Microsoft anytime soon. Enterprises are too focused on legacy systems and continuity to look for an immediate major change. Microsoft should own that market for quite some time, he added.

Google will first focus on individual users shopping for new netbooks or light-weight PCs that are easy to use and integrated with today's online life.
Michael Silver, an analyst with Gartner Inc., noted that Google has the name brand and clout to have doors opened to them in the industry. And that's going to come in handy because they'll need to convince software makers to write more and more robust applications for Chrome OS.

"Google has already been successful on some fronts, like search, where Microsoft has had problems playing catch-up," Silver said. "Google had really shown Microsoft how to do search. And they have a lot of money and good brand recognition. Certainly, they have a vision that is different and disruptive and innovative, so they certainly have as good a chance as anyone, if not better."

Source:- http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135307/Analysts_Google_has_muscle_for_long_term_battle_with_Microsoft_Windows?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2009-07-09

Facebook for iPhone 3.0 Coming Soon - Preview and Details

2009-07-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

Facebook’s iPhone application is one of the most popular iPhone apps overall - nearly 25% of all iPhone owners use it according to Joe Hewitt, lead engineer for Facebook’s iPhone application. Today, Hewitt shared some more details on the upcoming version 3.0 of the Facebook iPhone application.

What will be coming in the new version?

1. The “new” News Feed
2. Like
3. Events (including the ability to RSVP)
4. Notes
5. Pages
6. Create new photo albums
7. Upload photos to any album
8. Zoom into photos
9. Easier photo tagging
10. Profile Pictures albums
11. A new home screen for easy access to all your stuff, search, and notifications
12. Add your favorite profiles and pages to the home screen
13. Better Notifications (they link to the comments so you can reply)
14. Quickly call or text people right from the Friends page
15. Messages you are typing will be restored if you quit or are interrupted by a phone call

The new home screen will definitely make for a friendlier user experience, especially with the addition of Events, Notes, Pages, and photo albums. The addition of the Pages feature means that brands with Facebook Pages will have increased visibility when users are on the go.
While Hewitt said he didn’t know when the app will be submitted to Apple, it is about “98% done.” However, Push Notifications, which are in high demand, will be included in Version 3.1 later this summer, Hewitt says.

6 Microsoft freebies I actually love to use

2009-07-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

No, Windows won't ever compete with Linux on price. However, since Microsoft do not offer free their RTM Product where Linux offers a lot of great software and services at no charges. Here are some of my six favorites -- feel free to share yours with us in the comments!

1. Windows Live Writer - If you don't blog, Live Writer probably isn't that useful to you. If you do, though, it's hard to find a Windows application that can compete with WLW. It's got loads of great features including plugin support so I can add things like Twitter integration.

2. SysInternals - There are so many useful applications under the SysInternals are known as umbrella - Autoruns, Process Explorer, Desktops, RegMon - the list goes on and on. There's also live.sysinternals.com to provide easy access to them all when I forget my USB Flash Drive. Awesome.

3. Windows Live Sync - At work and at home, I like to sync folders to my network attached storage to keep my data safe. Live Sync does a great job and the web interface is easy to use. I also use it as a DIY Weave for my Google Chrome profiles.

4. Skydrive - One of the best advantages of Microsoft is to provides 25GB of free, online storage? Sounds good to me that i like this and always use this sky drive for further backup and also transfer my data from one place to another.

5. Security Essentials - The newest addition to my list. After about a week with SE, it's well suited to the way my wife and I use our computers. We're careful about where we browse and what we download (the first step in not getting infected), so I'm not looking for a full-blown internet security app. Coupled with Windows' built-in firewall, SE provides a good level of protection and doesn't hog my CPU or RAM. (linked to Softpedia, where you can still download the beta).

6. Windows 7 RC - Since I'll soon be supporting Microsoft's newest OS for retail customers and some of you seem to like reading about it as well. I've been running Windows 7 since last year. A free Windows OS until some time in 2010? Yeah, I'm alright with that.

According to the Windows 7 Performance Microsoft has already been fixed Windows 7 release date on October 22. Wait to till the release.

10 top tips for Windows 7 power users

2009-07-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

All-new tweaks to help you get more from the Windows 7 beta

We've been using Windows 7 for a couple of weeks now, yet it continues to surprise.
Two weeks ago, we kicked off our series of Windows 7 tips and tweaks with an initial 10 Windows 7 tips. And last week, we followed up with a second batch 10 Windows 7 tips, tricks and secrets.
We're still uncovering small tweaks, interesting Registry settings, new programs, and fascinating hidden features that you'll want to explore.
This week we reveal our 10 tips for Windows 7 power users.

1. Automatic PC cleanup

If inexperienced PC users sometimes access your system then you'll know that, well, this can cause problems. Leave them alone for too long and they'll mess up your settings, install dubious programs, delete important files and cause all kinds of havoc.
But Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include a possible solution: PC Safeguard. This lets your less technical users log on, play games, use the browser or chat on an instant messenger, say, just as normal. But when they log off, any settings they've changed are undone, and any files they've saved are deleted. Which means it's much more difficult to mess up your PC.
This isn't a new technology. Microsoft has made its Shared Computer Toolkit (aka Windows SteadyState) freely available for years, and this does exactly the same thing (it's more configurable, too). This is the first time it's been fully integrated with Windows, though, which makes it much easier to use.
To give PC Safeguard a try, go to Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts > Manage another account > Create a new account. Enter an account name, click Create, then click the account, select Set Up PC Safeguard > Turn on PC Safeguard > Apply. Log on as that user, try downloading and installing a program, then restart and log on again to confirm that the software has gone.

2. Search everything

Windows 7 can now try to search the contents of just about any file type, useful if it's not currently finding the data you need. The problem? Searches can be much, much slower. If you'd like to try it anyway, then launch Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View and check "Try to search the content of unknown file types".

3. Find bottlenecks

From what we've seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than Vista, but if your PC seems sluggish then it's now much easier to uncover the bottleneck. Click Start, type RESMON and press [Enter] to launch the Resource Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Network tabs. Windows 7 will immediately show which processes are hogging the most system resources.
The CPU view is particularly useful, and provides something like a more powerful version of Task Manager. If a program has locked up, for example, then right-click its name in the list and select Analyze Process. Windows will then try to tell you why it's hanging - the program might be waiting for another process, perhaps - which could give you the information you need to fix the problem.

4. RSS-powered slideshows

If even international wallpaper isn't enough, then you can always create a theme that creates a desktop slideshow based on images extracted from an RSS feed. This isn't fully implemented in the beta yet, but Long Zheng has created a few sample themes to illustrate how it works. And Jamie Thompson takes this even further, with a theme that always displays the latest BBC news and weather on your desktop.

5. Restore the Quick Launch Toolbar

The new Windows 7 taskbar essentially works like a giant Quick Launch taskbar that can hold all the shortcuts you need, and that's just fine with us. But if for some reason you prefer the old Quick Launch Toolbar then it only takes a moment to restore.
Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars > New Toolbar, type "%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" (less the quotes) into the Folder box and click Select Folder.
Now right-click the taskbar, clear "Lock the taskbar", and you should see the Quick Launch toolbar, probably to the right. Right-click its divider, clear Show Text and Show Title to minimise the space it takes up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and selecting View > Small Icons for the true retro look.

6. Calibrate your screen

The colours you see on your screen will vary depending on your monitor, graphics cards settings, lighting and more, yet most people use the same default Windows colour profile. And that means a digital photo you think looks perfect might appear very poor to everybody else.
Fortunately, Windows 7 now provides a Display Colour Calibration Wizard that helps you properly set up your brightness, contrast and colour settings, and a ClearType tuner to ensure text is crisp and sharp. Click Start, type DCCW and press [Enter] to give it a try.

7. Multi-threaded Robocopies

Anyone who's ever used the excellent command-line robocopy tool will appreciate the new switches introduced with Windows 7. Our favourite, /MT, can improve speed by carrying out multi-threaded copies with the number of threads you specify (you can have up to 128, though that might be going a little too far). Enter robocopy /? at a command line for the full details.

8. Custom power switch

By default Windows 7 displays a plain text "Shut down" button on the Start menu, but it only takes a moment to change this action to something else. If you reboot your PC a few times every day then that might make more sense as a default action: right-click the Start orb, select Properties and set the "Power boot action" to "Restart" to make it happen.

9. Remove "Send Feedback"

Microsoft has released Windows 7 to get feedback from the public, so it's important to take advantage of that. If you don't like something, or have a good idea, then click Send Feedback and tell Microsoft what's on your mind. You really could make a difference.
Once you've done all that then you might want to get rid of the Send Feedback links on your windows, and this is very easy to do. Just launch REGEDIT, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop, set the FeedbackToolEnabled value to zero and restart your PC. (Set it to 3 if you'd like the Send Feedback links back again.)

10. Use Sticky Notes

The Sticky Notes app is both simpler and more useful in Windows 7. Launch StikyNot.exe and you can type notes at the keyboard; right-click a note to change its colour; click the + sign on the note title bar to add another note; and click a note and press [Alt]+[4] to close the note windows (your notes will automatically be saved).

Source:- http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/pc/10-top-tips-for-windows-7-power-users-514319?artc_pg=2

Mozilla looking beyond Firefox 3.5

2009-06-29T23:50:00.000-07:00

Next version is already 20-30 per cent faster

Firefox 3.5 is not even out for general release yet, but Mozilla are already suggesting that the trunk builds of its successor are 20-30 per cent faster and will build on the company's work on video integration.
Video is a central improvement of Firefox 3.5, according to Vice President of Engineering Mike Shaver, who told TechRadar that work was well underway on making the browser even better.
"3.5 is important to keep the momentum going from 3.0," said Shaver.
"It brings some momentous tools to the browser including video and extreme high performance javascript.
"We're going to continue to improve - this isn't a fire and forget thing and you know we have these graphs of our performance and already our trunk builds for the next version are another 20 to 30 percent faster"

Speed is of the essence

Shaver admitted that the focus on speed was perhaps not something that struck a chord with the general public, but reiterated the necessity of making browsers more capable of dealing with complex tasks.
"I think there is speed is an important part of the browser market but in many cases it's what I think of as a hygiene element," asserted Shaver.
"If it's not fast enough then they notice, but beyond that the user is not likely to notice for their current work.
"We are certainly continuing to improve responsiveness and start up time, and the execution speed of Firefox but we also care about speed.
"We'll keep building on that because it is underpinning capability on the web, it's not just about making your Gmail load faster its about things like image manipulation and video."

Video gaims
Firefox 3.5 has a heavy focus on integrating video focus, with the company investing in standardising content on the web.
"We gave a 100k grant to the Wikimedia foundation to improve the Theora codecs and the decoder libraries that we use but also the encoders that are going to produce content so that it can be comparable in quality and comparable in bandwidth to what YouTube uses now for HD.
"So we are in active, and public, I should add, discussions with YouTube in what it would take to get behind open video that way – that would be a landmark thing."

Source:- http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/mozilla-looking-beyond-firefox-3-5-611919

Network scanning secrets revealed

2009-06-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

See your system through the eyes of a hacker

WARNING: Never try anything you read here outside of your local network. Scanning and exploring distant ports or other people's networks is legally questionable, and could land you in very hot water. DON'T DO IT.

While regularly updating your system and having a firewall and antivirus software installed is essential, this isn't always enough to defeat information-gathering tools. Many of the standard tools used by network security professionals (and malicious hackers themselves) are freely available online.
They can easily reveal shocking details about your network, and using one gives you a better idea of both the need to secure yourself and what to secure. With a few mouse clicks, you can interrogate machines for what's running behind each open port, get details of the user's operating systems, and even find details of their network cards.
Here's how to do it, but there's an important caveat: this is only to be done on your own network. Scanning computers on the internet will get you into trouble.

All about Nmap
Nmap is the work of Gordon Lyon, known to the network security community as 'Fyodor'. What Nmap does is both simple and ingenious. It's essentially a port scanner that's designed to list open TCP and UDP ports on a running, networked computer.
Since its initial release in 1997, this simple functionality has been augmented to turn Nmap into a serious network analysis and attack tool. Nmap can find out far more about the target than just which of its ports are open.
By sending special sequences of data packets and analysing the results sent back by the target's TCP/IP 'stack' software, Nmap can detect the operating system running on the remote machine with a high degree of accuracy. It can also tell the make and model of the network adapter, the uptime of Linux machines and even the version of the software that's connected to a specific port.
This makes this program very dangerous in the wrong hands, but it can also be very useful if you're trying to improve your own security by looking at your system through the eyes of a hacker.
Nmap began life on Linux, but we're going to use the Windows version, which has a graphical user interface that makes things a bit easier to negotiate.

Simple scanning
Download the Nmap installation executable and run it. As part of the installation process, the open-source packet-capture software Pcap will be installed. Nmap needs this software to run properly under Windows, so don't be alarmed when you're asked to confirm this.
If you have a previous version installed on your machine, the installation process will uninstall the old one first. Other than this, the whole installation process is a question of simply accepting the licence agreement, then repeatedly hitting 'Next'.
After this is done, you can run Nmap by firing up the Zenmap user interface, which you'll find on the Start menu. Maximise the initial window when it appears.
Let's now perform a basic scan of a machine. If you've not set up your 'hosts' file to map names to IP addresses, enter the IP of a target, otherwise enter its name into the Target input box at the top left of the interface.
In the Profile dropdown menu to the right, select 'Regular Scan' and press the 'Scan' button next to it. The scan takes a few seconds to complete, during which time Nmap's output is piped to the main pane of the user interface.
Launching it on a Linux system with the Apache 2 web server and VNC (remote desktop software) installed reveals almost instantly that port 80 is open for HTTP connections, and that port 5900 is open for remote desktop connections.
If this machine were out unprotected in the wilds of the internet, you could expect to see it being probed at least every few minutes by software with Nmap-like facilities in preparation for an attack.
There are several tabs on the main pane of the Zenmap interface. The Ports/Hosts tab enables you to list and sort the open ports on your network, while the Topology tab gradually draws you a diagram of your network as you scan more hosts. Click on the 'Fisheye' and 'Controls' buttons to zoom in and get a better view of the network layout.

Comprehensive scans
We can use Nmap to discover even more information about the target machine by using some different scan types. Try the 'Intense scan, all TCP ports' scanning option. This takes a few moments to complete, but it scans the entire range of possible TCP port numbers (1 to 65,535), looking for open holes. It also performs operating system identification checks as well as trying to spot the software running behind each open port.
Going back to the Ports/Hosts tab, it now shows not only the two ports we saw a moment ago, but also the names of the applications running on them. In the case of Apache 2, it also displays the version of the software and even the underlying operating system name (Ubuntu, in our case).
Next, click on the Host Details tab. This is an option that often has the power to shock people into installing a proper firewall. Expand the sections to see more detail.
Nmap knows that our machine is running Linux (including the version of the running kernel). It also knows the network card's MAC address, which enables it to look up the manufacturer. Knowing this could give a skilled hacker a means to crash the card.
Interestingly, our copy of Zenmap also found a P2P file-sharing application that was running. It was technically connected to a port, but it was not connected to the Internet at the time of the scan.
The most comprehensive of the default scans that Zenmap has at its disposal is the 'Slow comprehensive scan'. This takes quite a while to complete, but it leaves no stone unturned while looking for even tiny details of the target host. As you scan more targets, these are added to the topology diagram in Zenmap, giving you a unique graphical view of your network.
If you have a network segmented into subnets using a router or switch, try scanning that too. Nmap – with or without the Zenmap front end – is a great tool for explaining to people why they need to ensure that only the ports they actually need should be open on the firewall, and that using old versions of networked software is very dangerous.
For example, older versions of Apache 2 have vulnerabilities that are exploitable directly using a buffer overflow attack. A hacker only needs to know which version of Apache 2 is being used to decide which attack to try, a piece of information that Nmap can work out in a few moments.

Network snooping
'Sniffing' network traffic as it goes by is another important technique used by hackers, and it can be even more revealing. One industry standard tool for network sniffing is Wireshark, which was previously known as Ethereal.
During my past life as a network security consultant, one of my jobs was to assess the internal security of networks for corporate clients. The first thing I'd do would always be to set Ethereal running. I remember one tough assignment where everything seemed very secure indeed. I had nothing much to tell the client in my subsequent presentation and report.
However, towards the end of my time on-site, I suddenly noticed some telnet traffic going by in Ethereal, including the username 'root' and a password. My heart leapt. Linux and Unix users will recognise 'root' as the system administration account – the so-called 'super user'.
Telnet sends usernames and passwords over the network as plain text. A system administrator was logging into a server using this when he should have been using a secure connection. I quickly logged into the server myself using the same account, downloaded the system's password file and began running it through a password cracker.
I soon realised that usernames and passwords were the same on other servers, giving me free range to log in wherever I pleased. At the final presentation, I passed an envelope to each of the rather bored-looking network administration team. It was rather satisfying to watch their faces become ashen as they read the messages inside, which told them their personal, supposedly secure account passwords.
But now, back to business. Download the executable for Wireshark and run it to begin installation. During this process, you'll again be asked if you'd like to install Pcap. This time decline, but also untick the Services box on the same screen that allows users without administrator access to capture traffic. This prevents normal users discovering that Wireshark is installed and using it to snoop on others.
Once installed, run Wireshark. The program uses Pcap to put the network card into 'promiscuous' mode, which means that it will accept packets that aren't meant for it. This is easy in Linux, but the writers of Windows never envisioned that such functionality would ever be needed – hence the need for Pcap.
Capturing traffic
Select 'Interfaces' from the Capture dropdown menu and a box will pop up listing all of the interfaces, including virtual ones. You can select any of these and capture traffic from them, but if you're connected directly to your broadband connection, let's try something that might just shock you.
Locate the WAN interface. It's the one with a public IP address, and its name will be something like 'WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface'. Press the associated 'Start' button, and Wireshark will begin its capture.
Now, go to your mail client and set it to download new messages from your ISP's server. Back in Wireshark, you'll see that data will begin to accumulate. After a moment or so, the traffic will subside. Once this has happened, go to Wireshark's Capture menu and select 'Stop'.
Each captured packet has a time, a source and destination address, an associated protocol and a short description of its content or type. Scroll through the data and look for the entries with information columns starting with the words 'Request: USER' and 'Request: PASS'. You should recognise them as being the username and password you used to log into your ISP's mail server – being sent over the internet in clear text!
If your ISP's email server supports username and password encryption, use it to prevent this happening. If it doesn't, but the ISP's webmail interface uses SSL (the URL begins with 'HTTPS'), then use this instead. SSL is ideal if you're worried about your credentials being sent in plain text and intercepted en route, because the connection and information will be encrypted before it even leaves your web browser.

Source:- http://www.techradar.com/news/networking/network-scanning-secrets-revealed-607211?artc_pg=2

Windows 7 is Coming

2009-06-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

Category: Vista , Windows 7

Windows 7 Preview

Lots of people are interested in taking a look at Microsoft's latest desktop operating system, Windows 7. The beta release of Windows 7 was made available on January 9th and because so many attempted to download it, the site had temporarily crashed.
Windows 7 is being anticipated as more secure than XP and as a newer version of Vista minus the various issues that plagued Vista. The Windows 7 interface is built on the same design as Vista, so it is quite an overhaul from XP. However, there are still some difference between Windows 7 and Vista, some obvious, some not.
One of the first noticeable differences is no Sidebar. Catering to the ever-increasing mobile device and notebook market, Microsoft chose in favor of more desktop space and less clutter. However, you can still add a variety of gadgets such as links to stock quotes or your city's weather, right on the desktop.

User Interface Improvements in Windows 7

One of the first things you'll notice is the enhanced Windows Taskbar. Opened windows are graphically represented on the Taskbar as thumbnail images; put the mouse over a thumbnail and a preview of the full window is displayed.
And in an apparent nod to the popularity of the iPhone, multi-finger use on touch screens is also supported. For example, you can use two fingers to zoom in or out of an image or to scroll through Internet Explorer. Vendors like HP are pushing touch screens in the consumer market, particularly in response to Windows 7's release.
Jump lists have been added to the Start menu. These are lists that append recently opened files or web sites to short-cut menus, to allow a user quick access.
Another change is the ability to arrange windows through drag and drop. Want to maximize a window? Simply drag the window to the top of the desktop. To minimize a window, drag it to the bottom. If you have two windows that you want to view side-by-side, drag one window to the farthest left of the desktop and one to the right. The two windows will "snap" into place in a side-by-side vertical alignment.
Even the enduring MS-Paint application has undergone a change. Paint now incorporates the "ribbon" interface of Microsoft Office 2007 programs.
Arguably the most discussed and eagerly awaited changes are less-frequent popups and system messages with a more efficient User Account Control feature, also known as UAC. UAC was designed to make Vista a more secure operating system, but Vista users were not shy to make their displeasure about the constant onslaught of system messages and warnings whenever a system change was made. In Windows 7, UAC is quieted with the help of two new features. With AppLocker, users can tell Windows which programs are OK to install without prompts. And Action Center keeps messages about system changes in a queue, where the messages can be viewed when a user wants to view them.
It is easier than ever to search for files, folders, and images with the Libraries feature. Searchable objects are indexed and organized into library groupings. A user can initiate a
search across a variety of media: the hard drive, a USB drive or a CD for example.

Windows 7 Under the Hood

Other new features are not as visibly apparent. Microsoft is insistent that Windows 7 will have better driver support than Vista. One of the most common problems that Vista users encountered was that some hardware that worked fine on XP would not work with Vista. Windows 7 has been designed to allow manufacturers to create drivers for their devices easier and keep those drivers more up-to-date and deliverable to the computer user than was the case in Vista. That means that digital cameras, external drives, printers and other peripheral devices should install without incident in Windows 7.
Windows Media has been revamped to work with more consumer electronic devices as well. Users can setup a true, digital multimedia home theatre experience with Windows 7 and Digital Living Alliance (DLA)-compliant electronics. DLA is a standard that a lot of electronic gadgets are now designed with.
BitLocker is a feature that was introduced in Vista. BitLocker encrypts data to protect it. In Windows 7, Bitlocker not only can do encryption on the hard drive, but can encrypt data on removable storage media, too.
Windows 7 testing shows enhanced performance over both XP and Vista. The way the operating system handles memory and processes have been streamlined, and even boot up is noticeably faster than previous versions of Windows. There is a crash-resilience feature that makes it easier for Windows to recover from system crashes and freezes.

Will Windows 7 Take Over the World?

Some pundits are saying that Windows 7 will be everything that Vista should have been. Others are saying it will be the death of Linux. With the rising popularity of netbooks (small laptop computers) Microsoft has been forced to view Linux as more than a minor annoyance. That's because Linux is free, and runs very well -- much better than Vista -- on machines with limited memory and processor power. But Windows 7 has been designed to run lean and mean on netbooks. If Microsoft is able to significantly drop the price of Windows 7 (perhaps under $50) it could make Linux-powered netbooks less attractive.
But even if Microsoft gives Windows 7 away for free, there are still reasons why some will opt for Ubuntu or other Linux variants. One biggie is the application software
. Microsoft Office still costs hundreds of dollars, as do other popular Windows-based applications. Linux offers free office software for word processing, spreadsheets, graphics and just about anything else. Then there's the security angle. Because of its ubiquity, Windows will always be a primary target for virus and spyware creators. And Linux has a reputation for being a more secure platform.
So when can you get Windows 7? Microsoft is not giving a hard date for release as of yet, but the ETA for the final version is late 2009 or early 2010. You can download the Windows 7 Beta version from Microsoft's web site. But Microsoft says the beta download will be yanked sometime "soon", so be sure to take advantage now. Also, the downloaded version is set to "time-bomb" (expire) and won't be usable after July 2009, so get your test driving done before then.

UPDATE: The beta program closed on February 10, 2009. No more downloads, sorry....
I recommend that you read the system requirements before you install, and keep in mind that beta means test. Don't install Windows 7 on a computer that you need for everyday usage, because you may encounter a problem with some hardware or software. Have you tried Windows 7? Post your comments below...

Source: - http://askbobrankin.com/windows_7_is_coming.html

What is a Terabyte?

2009-06-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

A Terabyte in Your Future?

Terabyte hard drive Do you need a terabyte? Remember when you got your last computer? A few gigabytes seemed like scads of storage space. But along came a new operating system, a bunch of MP3 music files, and a bunch of videos. Now that hard drive is creaking under the load. Enter the Terabyte...

One terabyte is a trillion bytes (characters) which is also 1000 gigabytes. Or if you prefer, 1 TB = 1000 GB. So how much storage is that, really? Let's do some comparisons... 1 GB of memory is the equivalent of 500,000 typewritten pages, or about one pickup truck of books. So you could say that a terabyte is a thousand librarians driving Ford F150's stacked with literature.

Or in digital terms... the biggest iPod Classic stores 160GB, or about 40,000 songs. Six of those iPods would hold almost one terabyte, enough space to store a quarter-million songs. If you had a shiny new 1-terabtye hard drive, you could stash 300 feature length films, or 40,000 faxes on it. But you'd need 20 of those 1 TB drives to hold the entire print collection of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Large companies, universities, hospitals, the military, and other institutions that store large amounts of data are probably already gobbling up these bigger, badder hard drives. But do you need a terabyte? Maybe... if you're a serious gamer, or if you deal with multimedia files (music or video) then those gigabytes can fill up pretty fast. If you are a videographer making a documentary, if you design websites, or if you want to digitize your audio/video collection in hi-def, one terabyte might not be enough. And having a few terabytes would be a nice way to back up of all the computers on your home network to a single location. An exernal TB drive will also prove useful for those who upgrade to a new computer every few years. Just copy the contents of your PC or Mac's hard drive to it via USB or Ethernet, and you don't have to worry about leaving your data behind.

I suspect it won't be long before some computer vendors will offer these large capacity terabyte drives as standard. Historically, as data storage media has increased in capacity, operating systems, application software and end-user computing needs have expanded at the same (or faster) rates. And price-wise, it makes sense as well. Hard drives in the 100-200 GB range cost about $.50 per gig. The Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1 Terabyte drive can be found for $329 at TigerDirect, or $.33 per gig.
Since publishing this article in October 2007, prices have fallen! As of January 2009, you can get a terabyte hard drive for around a hundred dollars (US).

If you want that kind of storage volume but don't need to be the first on the block to own one, wait six months for the price to come down, as it will continue to do in most tech products. I'm already looking into replacing my Iomega external backup drive with something bigger, and that Beyond Micro DriveZilla 2-Terabyte External drive looks pretty nice... What would you do with a terabyte?

Source:- http://askbobrankin.com/what_is_a_terabyte.html

Fujitsu to offer Windows 7 upgrades but not for free

2009-06-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

By Martyn Williams
June 22, 2009 04:12 AM ET

Fujitsu will charge for Windows 7 upgrade vouchers when it begins offering them shortly to people that buy a PC ahead of the operating system's Oct. 22 launch.

Many PC vendors will offer the vouchers, in the hope that customers won't put off planned PC purchases until Windows 7 ships. A similar program was offered for Windows Vista, while Apple has also offered free OS upgrades to some of its customers.

Fujitsu said it will launch its program before the end of June, probably this Friday. Microsoft has scheduled a news conference in Tokyo on that day.

The company is one of Japan's biggest PC vendors and also has a sizable business in Europe. Several other PC makers around the world have also confirmed they will take part in the voucher program, including Hewlett-Packard and Taiwan's Acer, Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology, Micro-Star International (MSI), and Shuttle.

The companies are levying a charge on users because they have to pay Microsoft to include upgrade coupons with PCs. The coupons will cost the PC makers between US$9 and $15 to include with PCs although end-users will likely be charged a higher price, one Taiwanese company said.

The PC industry needs all the help it can get right now.

Global PC shipments dropped by a record amount in the first quarter of this year. Total shipments were 66.5 million units, down 8.1 percent on the same period in 2008, said iSuppli last week. The fall was entirely in the desktop segment, which saw shipments drop 23 percent versus a 10 percent increase in the laptop segment.

Source:--http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9134622&source=CTWNLE_nlt_msft_2009-06-22

Tips for Healthy Computing

2009-06-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

Recent statistics have shown that people spend more time in front of their computer than anything else, including sleeping or watching TV. While this is great from a productivity standpoint (assuming you’re working and not doodling around), it has possible negative health implications. So many people are either misinformed, or uninformed when it comes to healthy computing. Our goal is to help you around that obstacle.

Computing can be taxing on you if you don’t take small precautions. Ailments like carpal tunnel can sneak up on you before you know it. To avoid any negative effects, and to enjoy the best possible computing experience, there are lots of tips just like optimize computer, check regular pc health etc.. follow these very easy four steps:

1. Sit in a comfortable chair that adequately supports your back

A bean bag won’t cut it. You need a chair with solid back support, and arm rests are a big plus. This will keep you comfortable, but more importantly, this will ensure that you don’t experience back pain when operating your computer.

2. Take a twenty minute break every couple of hours

Believe it or not, but staring at a glowing computer screen can be hard on your eyes. Give your eyes a break and make a sandwich, stand by the water cooler, or go for a walk every now and then. This will relieve eye strain, help prevent headaches, and keep you refreshed when you do sit back down.

3. Learn to type properly

Do you remember those typing classes you took in school? Well, whip out the books and give yourself a refresher. Proper typing is the single best way to prevent carpal tunnel. Not only that, but you’ll type a whole lot faster too.

4. Align your monitor so that you are not looking down at it

Even a small decline, over time, will cause a nice neck ache for you to enjoy. Having your monitor eye level, or even slightly raised, will prevent that from happening.

Along with those four rules, a bit of common sense will keep you chugging along happily and without grief. A lifestyle that involves a bit of exercise is also quite helpful and can go a long way. Believe us, there is no better feeling than relaxing at the computer after a good 45 minute workout. You won’t feel guilty about sitting there, and your body is actually in repair mode, meaning you need the rest then. Instead of being sedentary and doing nothing good for your body, you are actually repairing it and building up strength and immunities so you can healthily compute your future days away!

Source:- http://www.wefixcomputererrors.com/four-tips-for-healthy-computing/

Little and Large

2009-06-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

When you hear the phrase “green IT”, you know that the word virtualization will usually appear shortly afterwards. Virtualization provides the ability to consolidate your IT infrastructure from several physical computers (each of which has a basic power overhead) onto virtual computers running on significantly fewer host computers. The increase in power consumption for each virtual computer you run on the host is considerably less than the power overhead for each replaced physical computer.
At this point, you can usually hear the sounds of hardware manufacturers rubbing their hands with glee. This enthusiasm results from the prevalent association that virtualization (and especially consolidation) requires multi-core processing capacity with associated power consumption rates. A good example of this type of hardware would be the recently announced Nehalem-EX processor from Intel. Everything is larger and more numerous on this chip when compared to the previous generation: -

• 8 cores
• 9 times the memory bandwidth
• 16 simultaneous threads
• 24MB of cache
• 2,300,000,000 transistors

If consolidation is the route you want to take and you have multiple physical computers to consolidate, then this processor would certainly be a good choice. But what if you see virtualization as an aid to manageability rather than consolidation and you want to conserve power?

O Fortuna

At the opposite end of the spectrum from Nehalem-EX systems is the diminutive Dell XS11-VX8, better known by its codename of “Fortuna.” If you are having trouble with the scale of this devices, that silvery part with the white label on the back of the server is the 3.5” hard disk. Yet this pocket-sized computer is no toy, but a true, enterprise-ready, 64-bit, hardware virtualization enabled, self-contained server with dual NICs and 2GB RAM that supports IPMI and iSCSI. The processor is the Via Nano, one of the most economical processors on the market with full hardware virtualization support for Hyper-V.

Obumbrata
Microsoft Research is also getting interested in small, power efficient processors. They have built two server clusters that use the low power Intel Atom processors, coupled with Marlowe, an intelligent control system that can place servers into the sleep or hibernate low power states and then wake them up. This dynamic state control enables groups of computers to respond to changes in load very rapidly.

Et Velata
But the really staggering statistic about Fortuna is its power consumption. Lab-verified tests rate these babies at 15 watts on idle and a mere 29 watts at full load. That’s less power than a UPS uses when it’s idle.
Forrest Norrod and Drew Schulke of the Dell Data Center Solutions (DCS) group have explained that their department designed and built Fortuna for a specific customer to minimize Total Cost of Ownership, including power usage. Forrest specifically called out that this is not a general purpose machine.
Yet if Dell offered this machine to the public, they’d sell out in seconds. Would you like to install Windows Home Server on a computer smaller than a paperback that uses only slightly power than an energy efficient light bulb? Egestatem! Do you want to install Small Business Server 2008 with 100 clients? Potestatem! Or do you simply want the coolest, smallest, Dell Server there is? O Fortuna!

Sine Mora
Modern laptops are reasonably power efficient. The latest low power mobile processors have reduced power consumption considerably while extending battery life, with the added bonus of removing the problem of roasting your nether regions if you have to work with a laptop actually in your lap.
The fact is that manufacturers need to get more creative about power usage and start offering workstations and servers with the same power saving features as laptops. If you’re not convinced, try buying a power meter, then arrange your wiring so that you measure all the power that your equipment consumes. You’ll be amazed at how much power your hardware uses, even when you’ve shut your workstation down and switched off your monitors.

Source:- http://blogs.msdn.com/the_power_of_software/archive/2009/06/08/little-and-large.aspx

Windows 7 RTM/GA Final Stage

2009-06-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION
This is Just for clarification, you will probably read/hear the terms GA and RTM from time to time. They stand for General Availability and Release to Manufacturing:

General Availability: 22 October 2009
Release to Manufacturing: End of July

According to Brandon LeBlanc they will complete work on Windows 7 RTM in late July.
Brandon LeBlanc (May 11):

If the telemetry we receive from the Windows 7 RC meets our expectations in terms of quality, then we expect to hit RTM in 3 months or so
So, do you think it is a possibility that Microsoft is already working on SP1 (Service Pack 1)?

I think many people would want Microsoft to focus solely on RTM and not on SP1, but it is indeed a possibility that they already work on SP1.
I’m sure you’ve already seen it, but did you know that they changed the leaked picture of SP1 after it had been released? Pretty curious.

Source:- http://windows7themes.net/windows-7-rtm-ga.html

Microsoft Windows 7 online shopping

2009-06-17T20:30:00.001-07:00

Recently, Microsoft launched their own store and is already selling all of their products online.
They also intend to sell Windows 7 online and it seems that they even featured it on their shop for a short time, but then removed it (maybe due to a contract with BestBuy?).
Anyway, should you want to visit the Microsoft store yourself, here we go:

Currently, they sell the Microsoft Zune, Halo 3, Gears of War and all of their other products.

I’ve setup a site fully dedicated to buying Windows 7, I’ll post any links where you can preorder and buy Windows 7 there.
Good news for everyone who is on a tight budget: Due to a recession and the highly competitive MAC OS X, Microsoft might decide to sell Windows 7 for 10-20% less.
Apple is releasing a new version of MAC OS X “Snow Leopard” shortly before Windows 7 comes out, which means Microsoft might have to face a great loss of market share despite the fact that they made the best Windows ever.

Source:- http://windows7themes.net/microsoft-will-sell-windows-7-through-their-own-shop-system.html

Computer virus attacks 'to peak next Monday'

2009-06-11T02:42:00.000-07:00

Image: Michael Kirkham/Heart
Internet users are being warned to stay vigilant by researchers who believe that next Monday could be the worst day the year for computer attacks.
After analysing information on viruses and internet worms taken from more than 500,000 machines around the world, security experts at PC Tools have pinpointed November 24 as the potential peak of malicious software activity for 2008.
Data from 2007 showed that the high point of action from viruses, worms and other internet-based attacks came three days before America's Thanksgiving holiday, leading them to suggest that the same day could prove the bleakest 24 hours of this year.
The company says the increase in virus activity could be the result of internet shopping in the run-up to Christmas, as millions of users begin going online to purchase gifts for their friends and family.
With the chance for criminals to access financial details, online shoppers make an attractive target for the writers of malware.
The number of people shopping online this Christmas is expected to grow again this year, with internet sales in the UK alone predicted to hit £13.16bn – an increase of 15% over 2007.
More people are expected to use the web for their shopping as a way of finding lower prices to help them beat the credit crunch.
But while security experts are expecting the traditional increase of malware over November and December, they have also warned of another source of potential attacks. Spammers and criminals have attempted to use the popularity of American president-elect Barack Obama as a way to trick users into downloading malware.
A flood of emails purporting to link to a video of Obama's acceptance speech were actually connected to a trojan horse program which would compromise the target's PC. Meanwhile, a separate burst of spam messages contained a file called BarackObama.exe, which, when activated, places a rootkit on the victim's machine and opens it up to hackers around the world.

Source:-- http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/17/malware-trojan-virus-peak

DATA CLASSIFICATION POLICY

2009-06-11T00:29:00.000-07:00

The policy of data classification it that to make database much more reliable and make indexing easy and improve index searching and storage utilization.
Since the Cabinet Office's Data Handling Review, however, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has been given new powers to carry out spot checks and fine offenders; a breach of any of its eight data protection principles is now a criminal offense.

Data Classification Program
Policy
The process of the data classification policy has been only design to support the “need-to know”, so that information will be protected from unauthorized disclosure, use, modification, and deletion. Without the consistent use of this data classification system, the [ORGANIZATION] risks loss of client confidence, internal operational disruption, and excessive costs.

Applicable Information
The Applicable information is only designed for organizations for example, client records, employee records, sensitive information from suppliers, business partners and others must be protected with this data classification policy. No distinctions between the word data, information, knowledge, and wisdom are made for purposes of this policy.

Consistent Protection
Information must be consistently protected throughout its life cycle, from its origination to its destruction. Information must be protected in a manner commensurate with its sensitivity; regardless of where it resides, what form it takes, what technology was used to handle it, or what purpose(s) it serves. Although this document provides overall policy to achieve consistent information protection, users shall be expected to apply and extend these concepts to fit the needs of day-to-day operations.

Classification Labels
Sensitive Information
Information identified by the [ORGANIZATION] as critical and/or restricted is defined as
follows:-
1. Critical Information: Information that must be available for the [ORGANIZATION] to effectively perform its mission and meet legally assigned responsibilities, and for which special precautions are taken to ensure its accuracy, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. This information, if lost, could cause significant financial loss, inconvenience, or delay in performance of the [ORGANIZATION]’s mission.

2. Restricted Information: Information that has limitations placed upon both its access within and disclosure outside the [ORGANIZATION]. Consistent with both State and Federal Privacy Laws, this information falls into two categories:-
a. Restricted Mandatory. Information that has limitations upon its internal access and that may be disclosed only in accordance with an executive order, public law, or other Federal Statute and supporting the [ORGANIZATION]’s policies.
b. Restricted-Discretionary. Information that has limitations upon its internal access and that may be withheld from external disclosure solely in accordance with the [ORGANIZATION]’s policies consistent with the Open Records Act.

Non-Sensitive Information
Non-sensitive information can be classified into two types:
1. Controlled: Non-sensitive information that management has determined to require
limitations or internal access/distribution on a need to know basis; does not include
restricted information.
2. Non-controlled: Information that can be made available to anyone without exception.

Social Networking Policy

2009-06-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

Introduction

We all know Social Policy that each and every social and society run on policy. But here talking about Social Networking Policy to follow the policy where we are staying or working. If where there is no policy or guideline exist, employees should use their professional judgment and take the most prudent action possible. Consult with your manager or supervisor if you are uncertain.

Follow the instructions Below.

Personal blogs should have clear disclaimers that the views expressed by the author in the blog is the author’s alone and do not represent the views of the company. Be clear and write in first person. Make your writing clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of the company.
Information published on your blog(s) should comply with the company’s confidentiality and disclosure of proprietary data policies. This also applies to comments posted on other blogs, forums, and social networking sites.
Be respectful to the company, other employees, customers, partners, and competitors.
Social media activities should not interfere with work commitments. Refer to IT resource usage policies.
Your online presence reflects the company. Be aware that your actions captured via images, posts, or comments can reflect that of our company.
Do not reference or site company clients, partners, or customers without their express consent. In all cases, do not publish any information regarding a client during the engagement.
Respect copyright laws, and reference or cite sources appropriately. Plagiarism applies online as well.
Company logos and trademarks may not be used without written consent.

Source:-- http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/docs/DOC-1257

Activate DreamScene or DeskScapes in MS Windows 7 OS

2009-06-08T02:23:00.000-07:00

No, all of the Windows users know that in Vista Ultimate had a feature called “DreamScenes” that would allow you to select a video as your desktop wallpaper.

Unfortunately Microsoft disabled this feature in the Windows 7 beta.

If you want to activate DreamScene or DeskScapes you can download the following fix from rapidshare.

Enable Windows 7 DreamScene

Run this with admin privileges! Don’t know how to do it?

Activating the hidden admin account

Goto “Start” and enter “cmd” into the search

field.Do not just hit enter. Hold STRG + Shift and hit Enter! That’s the shortcut to run this as an admin.

Enter the command you can see above: type the command as

net user administrator /active:yes

This will activate the hidden admin account.

Source:-- http://windows7themes.net/enable-dreamscene-or-deskscapes-in-windows-7.html

Windows Users are being forced to use bing

2009-06-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

According to source that Microsoft has tried to force Windows users to use bing, bing is also a search engine developed by Microsoft itself, and it work better than previous search engine known as Google.
It should be our duty or responsibility to choose this since if we use Windows Operating System since this is also derived from Microsoft and will work better than on any platform.
Search Engine Land contacted Microsoft about the bug. Microsoft acknowledged the problem and responded at 2:45 a.m. that the bug is now fixed. End of story, right?
Perhaps. But when you take Microsoft's history into consideration, the force-feeding of Bing almost makes sense. I am not suggesting Microsoft intentionally created this bug to get people hooked on Bing. I am saying there's a correlation between the problem at hand and problems Microsoft have encountered in the past.
Let's look at IE8, for example. When the Windows 7 Release Candidate was updated a month ago, IE8 was automatically pushed as the default browser. This caused competitors Opera and Firefox to raise a battle cry, claiming Microsoft was once again forcing its hand in the browser wars by not giving users a choice. Further governmental investigation was even suggested. But Microsoft shrugged the episode off, and a workaround was quickly discovered.
It's the little chinks in Microsoft's armor that gives the company its overarching bad name. This latest episode is just one scratch of a million that ought to give consumers pause when trusting Microsoft.

Source:- http/microsoft_tries_to_force_you_to_use_bing?source=CWNLE_nlt_msft_2009-06-04

Microsoft Windows Rejected smartbooks

2009-06-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Smartbooks are new class of device and based on ARM chips with the help of these companies like Qualcomm, Freescale and Texas Instruments. There are many different personal Computer makers are working on smartbook designs, which are targeted at the space between smartphones and netbooks.
Microsoft doesn't plan to offer a version of Windows for so-called "smartbooks " leaving the space open to Linux, Google's Android and other operating systems.
Microsoft's mainstream Windows operating systems are designed to run on the x86 instruction set used by Intel, and AMD and won't run on the ARM-based processors used in the new machines. The company has no plans to port a PC version of Windows over to the ARM core, said Steve Guggenheimer, who runs Microsoft's original equipment manufacturer division, in an interview at the Computex trade show in Taipei.
Microsoft does offer a version of Windows Mobile that is compatible with ARM chips but doesn't have plans to develop that for the technically more capable environment of a smartbook, he added.
In declining to do so it won't be following the path of Android, the Google-backed operating system, that first appeared on cell phones and is currently being tweaked to run on first-generation smartbooks. Several companies have shown Android-based smartbooks at Computex.
Guggenheimer was bearish on the potential market for the machines.
"It's hard to create new categories," he said.
Microsoft knows the difficulties well: It has tried several times to popularize tablet PCs with little success.

SOURCE: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9133886

Free Utilities to Speed Up and Tweak Your PC

2009-05-27T04:22:00.000-07:00

You have a good system, but you can always improve a PC's performance.

We've come up with six free utilities that will fix your Registry, power up your Windows Clipboard, record any action taken on your screen and turn it into video, and manage and defrag your hard drive.

BEST BET Advanced SystemCare Free: This download can speed up your system by fixing your Registry, removing spyware and junk files, killing unnecessary programs that run on startup, and more. It even offers a one-click option that automatically finds all problems and fixes them. (This program also installs the Yahoo Toolbar by default, so if you don't want that, uncheck the appropriate box during the installation process.)

Clipboard Help and Spell: Windows' Clipboard is anemic, nearly useless, and brain-dead. Power it up with Clipboard Help and Spell, which keeps a list of the text items you copy to it so that you can retrieve them later. This download also checks spelling, and lets you organize your clips in folders.

Defraggler: Not happy with the defragmentation utility that came with Windows? Neither are we. Defraggler is better than Windows' own defragment utility in several ways. First off, this download scans your disk faster, which anyone with a large hard disk will certainly welcome. In addition, it can defragment individual files instead of your entire hard disk, and it's more entertaining to watch than the built-in utility.

Drive Manager: If you have multiple drives on your PC, including removable USB thumbdrives, various media card readers, CD and DVD drives, and network drives, life is complicated. This simple download cleans things up. It quickly identifies all of your drives, and shows you the type of each. You can also see at a glance the capacity of each, how much of each is used, and other vital information. If you have any SMART-enabled drives, you can peer deeply into them, seeing their temperature, model and serial number, and other details.

Recuva: Have you accidentally deleted a file, removed it from the Recycle Bin, and then realized you actually wanted to keep it? Despair not--this download will do its best to help you recover the file. The app scans your system for files that have been deleted, lists whatever it finds, and shows you the likelihood that you can recover it. Simply select the files you want to recover, and the software does the rest. (Recuva installs the Yahoo Toolbar by default, so if you don't want that, uncheck the appropriate box during the installation process.)

ScreenToaster: If you need to record what happens on your screen for any reason--to show how an application works, for example--try this simple-to-use Web service. Head to the site and press Alt-S, and it records every action you take. Press Alt-S again, and it stops. You can edit what you record, including adding titles and audio. You can then upload your video to the ScreenToaster site or to YouTube, or download it to your PC.

Eight Reasons Your Next Computer Should Be A Mac

2009-05-26T04:15:00.000-07:00

Ready for some real, and practical, Mac advantages? Here are a few reasons to consider making the switch.

Contrary to Microsoft marketing honcho David Webster's snarky recent assertion, Macs aren't "washed with unicorn tears" -- at least as far as I know. However, lots of extremely rational reasons exist to choose a Mac running OS X over a Windows PC. Macs can leave you happier and more productive than you would have been if you'd bought a Windows system, and feeling you got good value for your money even though a Mac is never the cheapest option.

I'm no hidebound advocate for the supremacy of Macs in every instance -- the last two computers I've bought have both been Windows laptops, and I cheerfully and sincerely wrote an article called Eight Reasons Your Next Computer Should be a PC to accompany this one. But when friends toss the eternal "PC or Mac?" question my way, these are the points I bring up in favor of the Mac. They're listed in rough order of their positive impact on your everyday computing experience as I see it.

1. Macs are consistently consistent.

Windows Vista reminds me of the legendarily inexplicable Winchester Mystery House -- a place with endless wings and far-flung rooms connected by twisty staircases and secret passages. And every time Microsoft does a redecorating job (also known as an upgrade), it moves some stuff around for no apparent reason. OS X's logical, minimalist interface simply involves fewer things that must be learned and relearned, and Apple messes less with it in new releases such as Leopard. Bottom line: It's easier to get stuff done.

2. The joy of predictability.

Anyone who's ever suffered the indignity known as a Kernel Panic knows that Macs aren't bulletproof. But logging thousands of hours both on Windows PCs from multiple manufacturers and on Macs has convinced me that the average Mac is meaningfully less flaky than the average PC. In my experience Macs crash less, suffer from fewer inexplicable slowdowns, deal better with tight memory situations, and boot up and shut down quicker and more reliably. I don't pretend to have all the answers why, but it presumably doesn't hurt that Apple is the only company in the business that writes its own operating system and designs its own hardware.

3. Who needs security headaches?

If the Internet's bad guys ever decide to pummel OS X with the same intensity that they've pounded on Windows for years, the free ride for Mac fans may end. But for now, this fact is indisputable: A Mac owner who uses no security software at all runs less risk of being infected by spyware or a virus than a Windows user who obsessively protects his or her PC. In the last week alone, two Windows-using pals have been crippled by attacks; I've never heard even one real-world horror story from a friend about a Mac security meltdown.

4. Crud, or the lack thereof.

Windows is an infinitely better operating system when it isn't smothered by the demoware, adware, and other unwantedware that so many PC manufacturers splay onto the Start menu, the desktop, and the System Tray. Macs are utterly free of such junk, as well as native-to-Windows irritations like word balloons burbling out of the System Tray, Windows Activation, and User Account Control. And while PC manufacturers sometimes fix things about Windows that weren't broken--take the inscrutable Wi-Fi utility that Lenovo bolts onto Windows Vista--Apple wrote OS X in the first place. You can't tamper with your own OS.

5. Details count.

You can buy a perfectly pleasing Windows PC that matches a Mac's CPU speed, RAM, hard-drive space, and other specs for a lot less money. But it won't have an AC adapter with hooks that let you wrap up the cord for travel, or a MagSafe connector that won't get damaged if it's accidentally yanked out of the computer. It won't have an oversized touchpad with multitouch gestures that help you navigate through documents and around the Web. And it will likely be heavier and bulkier than a comparable Mac. Next time I encounter a Microsoft executive tsk-tsking about the onerous "Apple Tax" imposed by a Mac's needless glitz, I'm tempted to ask him what car he drives--and whether he chose the model with the cloth seats and hand-cranked windows, or one with a few creature comforts.

6. Apple is one of the world's best software companies.

Forget about all those Macs, iPods, and iPhones for a moment: Apple's applications are useful, enjoyable, and innovative, from the iLife creativity suite (whose presence on every new Mac is in itself an argument for the platform) to industrial-strength tools such as Final Cut Pro. Most run only on OS X. (The Windows versions of iTunes, Safari, and QuickTime are okay, but Apple does its best work on its own operating system and hardware.)

7. The Apple Store's Genius Bar rocks.

Buy a Mac, and you qualify for free in-person technical support from a patient rep with a deep knowledge of your system. I've had Geniuses do everything from reinstall my OS to replace broken keys on the spot. Microsoft has announced plans to train "Windows Gurus" to provide similar customer care at other retailers; it's worth trying, but there's no way it's going to replicate the Genius Bar experience. There are simply too many PCs from too many companies running too many variations on Windows for any one person to be an expert on everything.

8. Hey, Macs are PCs.

By which I mean that Leopard's Boot Camp feature--and better yet the Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion virtualization utilities--let you run Windows, and Windows applications, on a Mac. (I do it myself on my Macs to use such Windows-only apps as TurboTax Business, as well as Office 2007, which I prefer to Microsoft's Mac version of Office.) I'm listing this last because I ultimately see running Windows on a Mac as a last resort: It's usually not necessary, and it degrades some of the other virtues of the Mac, such as protection from Windows security risks. But when it's valuable, it's really valuable.

source.. [pcworld]

10 Things to Hate About Tech

2009-05-25T05:11:00.000-07:00

Sure, spyware, spam and wireless routers that have the lifespan of a mosquito annoy us all. But what do we really hate about technology? Here's my current top 10 list:

1. People Who Talk on Smartphones 24/7. One would think that I'd be over this by now. No, I'm not. It's 2009, people! You're not cool or special just because you can talk away on your pink BlackBerry Pearl. You're just like everybody else! Now get back in your Hummer, drive home to your McMansion and watch "Real Housewives of Orange County" on your 100-inch HDTV. Thanks.

2. Cloud Computing. I'm mere days away from spontaneously vomiting every time I hear some tech vendor CEO or industry pundit use this overhyped and nebulous phrase (see Wall Street Journal article for more disgust). Saleforce.com is not helping my cause. Its new corporate tagline: The Enterprise Cloud Computing Company.

3. The Hour or So It Takes to Start a PC. Seriously! Seriously? It's ridiculous how long it takes to start or restart a Windows PC these days. Shouldn't we have improved this by now? I hope President Obama targets this as one of the key inefficiencies dragging down the U.S. economy.

4. Moronic High-Tech Product Names. Listen, I know most of the good names have been taken already (see our list of how 10 of the most famous got their iconic names), but there's got to be something better out there than G1, Yatt'it and Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform (thanks to The Pollywog Blog for the ammunition).

5. Twitter. Tweet this: NOBODY REALLY CARES WHAT YOU ARE DOING RIGHT NOW!

6. High-Tech Vendor Press Releases. Too many high-tech PR firms hire entry-level staffers to churn out useless releases that follow the same template: "Type in the date, your company's name and add any combination of these words and/or phrases around your company's product(s) name(s): robust, industry-leading, rich-user experience, nascent, cloud, real-time, first of its kind, flexible, road map, solution, collaboration, mission-critical, green, smart for these tough economic times." Done.

7. Apple. It's so close to jumping the shark that The Fonz is currently warming up his motorcycle and listening to "Happy Days" on his iPod. "Sunday, Monday, Happy Days...."

8. Microsoft Bashing.
Yes, you read that right. MS is like a drug that everyone happily takes -- quite regularly -- but then denies to everyone who'll listen that they actually take their MS Meds. Of course, they gladly tell everyone how much they "hate Microsoft." You love Microsoft. You really, really do.

9. The Laptop Crowd at Starbucks and Panera. Wireless networking technologies have enabled a generation of do-nothings and posers to look busy in coffee shops and restaurants instead of finding themselves all alone in their dark basements.

10. Today's Pandemic of IT Industry Pundits and Blowhards. Thanks to the Internet and pervasive (and free) blogging platforms, everybody and his brother now has the ability to pontificate and unleash ill-formed opinions on Apple, Oracle, Facebook and whatever else in the tech universe that offends their far-superior sensibilities. Get a date, guys. You sound lonely.

How to Avoid Phishing Scams

2009-05-25T01:08:00.000-07:00

The number and sophistication of phishing scams sent out to consumers is continuing to increase dramatically. While online banking and e-commerce is very safe, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. The Anti-Phishing Working Group has compiled a list of recommendations below that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.

Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information
- unless the email is digitally signed, you can't be sure it wasn't forged or 'spoofed'
- phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately
- they typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, date of birth, etc.
- phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, but they can be. Valid messages from your bank or e-commerce company generally are personalized, but always call to check if you are unsure
Don't use the links in an email, instant message, or chat to get to any web page if you suspect the message might not be authentic or you don't know the sender or user's handle
- instead, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web adress in your browser
Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
- you should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone
Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser
- Phishers are now able to 'spoof,' or forge BOTH the "https://" that you normally see when you're on a secure Web server AND a legitimate-looking address. You may even see both in the link of a scam email. Again, make it a habit to enter the address of any banking, shopping, auction, or financial transaction website yourself and not depend on displayed links.
- Phishers may also forge the yellow lock you would normally see near the bottom of your screen on a secure site. The lock has usually been considered as another indicator that you are on a 'safe' site. The lock, when double-clicked, displays the security certificate for the site. If you get any warnings displayed that the address of the site you have displayed does NOT match the certificate, do not continue.
Remember not all scam sites will try to show the "https://" and/or the security lock. Get in the habit of looking at the address line, too. Were you directed to PayPal? Does the address line display something different like "http://www.gotyouscammed.com/paypal/login.htm?" Be aware of where you are going.
Consider installing a Web browser tool bar to help protect you from known fraudulent websites. These toolbars match where you are going with lists of known phisher Web sites and will alert you.
- The newer version of Internet Explorer version 7 includes this tool bar as does FireFox version 2
- EarthLink ScamBlocker is part of a browser toolbar that is free to all Internet users - download at http://www.earthlink.net/earthlinktoolbar
Regularly log into your online accounts
- don't leave it for as long as a month before you check each account
Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card satements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate
- if anything is suspicious or you don't recognize the transaction, contact your bank and all card issuers
Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied
Always report "phishing" or “spoofed” e-mails to the following groups:
- forward the email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org
- forward the email to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov
- forward the email to the "abuse" email address at the company that is being spoofed (e.g. "spoof@ebay.com")
- when forwarding spoofed messages, always include the entire original email with its original header information intact
- notify The Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their website: www.ic3.gov/

For more information, check some of the following sources:

For more information about how to protect yourself, see our Fact Sheet 17a Identity Theft: What to do if It Happens to You at http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm. Read the information and tips put out by the Federal Trade Commission about phishing at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.htm. Read the Department of Justice's recent whitepaper "Special Report on Phishing" at http://www.antiphishing.org/DOJ_Special_Report_On_Phishing_Mar04.pdf

curtsy: www.antiphishing.org

Parallels to offer XP compatibility for Win 7

2009-05-21T04:09:00.000-07:00

Parallels is developing a tool that will allow users to run Windows XP applications on machines running Windows 7.

Last month, Microsoft said that it would include an add-on to Windows 7 that will allows users to run applications designed for Windows XP in a virtual machine. The announcement was noteworthy, because it was the first time Microsoft relied on virtualisation technology to provide backward compatibility.

Meanwhile virtualisation vendor Parallels did not reveal too much detail about its offering, other than to confirm that it is indeed working on a XP/Win 7 virtualisation tool.

"Parallels today invited consumers and businesses to sign-up to beta test a solution that enables users to easily migrate to Windows 7 and run legacy Windows programs side-by-side with Windows 7 applications," said the company in an official statement.

Parallels said the new solution would utilise its high performance adaptive hypervisor, as well as technologies such as Coherence and SmartSelect, "innovations that enable users to seamlessly run differing OSs and their applications side-by-side."

"The solution also integrates Parallels' easy-to-use migration tools, such as Parallels Transporter, allowing users to quickly transfer applications and data from older Windows operating systems such as Windows 2000, XP or Vista to a new Windows 7 machine," the company said.

However, it seems that unlike the Microsoft offering, Parallels version will offer something unique. This is because with the Microsoft option, in order to use XP Mode, the user's computer requires an Intel CPU with Intel VT, or an AMD processor with AMD-V.

The problem with this is that many laptops, especially netbooks etc, do not contain the necessary chips. Intel's Celeron and Atom chips for example do not have the virtualisation technology, and neither does AMD's Sempron line.

"Yes we are working on a product to enable people to run legacy applications on Windows 7," a Parallels spokeswoman told Techworld. "The main thing of interest however is Win 7's XP mode has specific hardware requirements. For example, the hardware has to be based on either Intel VTX or AMD's v technology."

"Netbooks often do not contain that technology," she added. "Our version will not have that limitation."

Windows 7 adds remote streaming tool

2009-05-08T04:21:00.000-07:00

A leaked version of the Windows 7 Release Candidate contains a lot of minor tweaks to previous beta versions of the new operating system, but Microsoft says that it also has a couple of new features. As well as support for a virtual Windows XP environment, a Windows 7 PC will now be able to stream media from your home to any internet-connected Windows 7 PC.

Microsoft highlighted the new capabilities in a 29-page document sent to reviewers after RC code began appearing on file-sharing sites. The document, called 'Windows 7 Product Update - Key Changes Included in the Release Candidate', cites many refinements to existing features, but only the remote media streaming and XP Mode features are specifically identified as new features.

The document concludes with a page about features that were in previous beta versions but have been removed from this one. For example, the RC no longer includes a Bluetooth audio-class driver (vendors of Bluetooth audio devices must now provide their own drivers).

The Windows 7 RC no longer supports the ability to drag and drop folders into Windows 7 Libraries, which you previously could do to create a new library. Since libraries are virtual folders, Microsoft said that it feared users might delete the original folder, supposing that it now existed in the library.

Microsoft also appended a clarification about the Windows Easy Transfer feature for synchronising data between PCs, saying that it would work only on PCs running Windows 7, or the Windows 7 version of Windows Easy Transfer (which has to be installed manually on Vista and XP PCs).

Microsoft's Windows Blog states that the company still expects to release the Windows 7 RC officially to Microsoft Developers Network and TechNet subscribers on April 30, with broader public availability to begin on May 5.

XP Mode in Windows 7 could cause support problems

2009-05-07T04:08:00.000-07:00

A new Microsoft add-on for Windows 7 that will let some users run Windows XP applications in a virtual machine could create support nightmares for IT managers, analysts said last week.

The company had announced last month that the add-on, called Windows XP Mode (XPM), will be available to users of the Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise versions once the new operating system ships later this year. Professional and Ultimate are the two highest-priced versions of Windows 7, while Enterprise is sold only through volume licensing agreements.

Analysts agreed that Microsoft needs to offer the add-on to help persuade users to upgrade to Windows 7, but they also noted that it could cause multiple problems for corporate users.

"This will help the uptake for Windows 7, because it removes one more gotcha, and that's never a bad thing to do," said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft.

Cherry added that Microsoft's decision to use virtualization to provide backward compatibility is a nice "safety net" for users who lack access to Microsoft's Enterprise Desktop Virtualization technology.

Business IT news and reviews

Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner, echoed Cherry's take on what motivated Microsoft to offer XPM, but he added that it broadly expands support requirements.

"You'll have to support two versions of Windows," he said. "Each needs to be secured, antivirused, firewalled and patched. If a company has 10,000 PCs, that's 20,000 instances of Windows."

Silver also noted that the add-on might lead companies to neglect the important task of making sure their applications are compatible with Windows 7.

"This is a great Band-Aid, but companies need to heal their applications," he said. "They'll be doing themselves a disservice if, because of XPM, they're not making sure that all their apps support Windows 7."

Silver added that while Microsoft is effectively extending the life of Windows XP by offering it as a Windows 7 add-on, it hasn't changed its plan to shift the older operating system out of mainstream support and provide only what it calls "extended" support only until mid-April 2014.

"[XPM] will give some a false sense of security," Silver warned. "What happens in 2014, when XP isn't supported anymore? I think companies will be much better off if they make all their applications run on Windows 7."

Windows 7 RC is out for free to public download till June 2010

2009-05-06T03:45:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has today made the Release Candidate version of Windows 7 available to the public.

As part of Microsoft's Customer Review Program, the RC version will be free to download and will be "available at least through June 30, 2009" with no limits on the number of downloads of product keys available.

Microsoft will collect feedback on the Windows 7 release candidate over the next few months, fixing small issues. The company allowed developers and other testers to begin downloading the release candidate last week.

Windows 7 comes nearly three years after Windows Vista, which took five years for Microsoft to engineer but was regarded by some as underwhelming. Microsoft hasn't said when the final Windows 7 version will be released, although it's rumoured to be out before year's end.

Microsoft warned it is not offering technical support for the Windows 7 release candidate, so those who install it are on their own. Users should be familiar with installing an operating system from scratch, formatting a hard drive and backing up data, among other skills, Microsoft advised.

In the Windows 7 release notes, Microsoft warns of several problems that haven't been resolved, including issues with its latest web browser, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).

Debugging JavaScript with the developer tools in IE8 could throw up a warning that a website is not responding, but that warning can be ignored. Also, some web pages may have misaligned text or missing images. Microsoft recommends clicking on the "compatibility view" button on the address bar as a fix.

Microsoft released the Windows 7 beta in Arabic and Hindi, but those languages have been replaced with French and Spanish in the release candidate. English is available for both versions.

"We needed to ensure certain features were tested for worldwide functionality, and Hindi and Arabic help us test a number of language-related features," Microsoft said.

The Windows 7 release candidate will only work for so long. It is due to expire on June 1, 2010. Three months prior, the release candidate will automatically shut down a person's computer after two hours.

The Window 7 beta expires on August 1, and computers with that version will begin shutting themselves down after two hours beginning July 1.

Microsoft said that Windows Vista users will not need to reinstall their applications after upgrading to the Windows 7 release candidate. The company does, however, recommend backing up data as a precaution. Vista users will have to do a clean install, however, to go from the Windows 7 release candidate to the final version.

Windows XP users should back up their data and do a clean install of the Windows 7 release candidate.

To run the 32-bit version of the release candidate, a computer should have a 1GHz or faster processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of hard disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 1.0 or higher driver.

For the 64-bit version, Microsoft recommends a 1GHz or faster processor, 2GB of RAM, 20GB of hard disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.

When Microsoft launched the beta version of its latest operating system in January this year, it revealed it would restrict the preview to the first 2.5 million users, which caused a stampede that brought the company's severs to their knees.

Windows 7 sites crashes with heavy demand

2009-05-04T04:02:00.000-07:00

Subscribers of Microsoft's MSDN and TechNet services struggled to get Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) as heavy demand knocked the download sites offline.

MSDN and TechNet subscribers were supposed to find the 32- and 64-bit editions of Windows 7 RC available for download, but the download pages for the release candidate were inaccessible to many people.

Attempts to reach the MSDN download for Windows 7 RC, for instance, were greeted with the message "Sorry, we were unable to service your request", while the TechNet download page brought up the error "We're sorry! The page you were expecting to see has been removed or is unavailable".

Windows 7 RC is expected to be available for public download next Tuesday, May 5.

Acer to Ship Windows 7 PCs by October 23

2009-05-01T03:08:00.000-07:00

Acer, one of the world's three biggest PC manufacturers, held a press conference in London this afternoon to announce its exciting new Timeline series of notebooks, and upstaged itself by appearing to pre-announce Windows 7.

One of Acer's future products is the Z5600 PC all-in-one running Windows 7, which Acer said would be "one of the key products going into Christmas". Launch date? "It will on the shelves on October 23."

"Have you just given away the launch date for Windows 7?" asked ZD-Net's David Meyer, amid much laughter.

From his seat in the audience, Acer vice president Massimo D'Angelo, in charge of Europe, said it would be on the shelves running Windows 7 "or Windows 7 ready: then we will have the final news."

D'Angelo said Windows 7 was "already available, and seems to run very well" -- albeit that's the RC (release candidate) version. If it isn't actually released by October 23, however, "there will be free upgrade options from Vista. I believe that, like last time, you will only pay the freight cost," he said.

Microsoft has not announced an official release date, and John Curran, the American who runs Microsoft UK's Windows Client Group, told me that Windows 7 will be launched before 1 June 2010, when the free RC beta expires.

"We're on track to deliver within three years of Windows Vista," said Curran. "The final date will be governed by the quality of the build," based on the performance and reliability metrics collected from millions of test PCs.

However, Curran also confirmed that Microsoft was not planning to offer RC2 and RC3 builds for testing. The new RC version, available to programmers today, is therefore the final hurdle before the release of Window 7. It therefore seems a reasonable bet that it will appear before October 23, and that Acer has not given away the launch date. It could, in fact, be out 6-8 weeks before that.

However, Microsoft will be calculating not just when Windows 7 is ready to ship, but how soon PC suppliers will be able to deliver Windows 7 machines to the shops. Since Acer only sells PCs at retail, not directly, Microsoft could well consider its needs before it decides on the final date

Is Windows XP is the Marketing wrap for Windows 7

2009-04-30T03:11:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has finally revealed one of the "secret ingredients" in Windows 7, and it's Windows XP SP3. This only applies to the Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions, and involves downloading the code from Microsoft's web site.

XPM (for Mode) is based on Microsoft's Virtual PC and includes a free copy of XP SP3. It provides a bit more functionality than simply installing your own copy of XP (if you have one that legally allows that) in Virtual PC, VMware or VirtualBox. For example, on the Windows SuperSite, Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott say:

XPM does not require you to run the virtual environment as a separate Windows desktop. Instead, as you install applications inside the virtual XP environment, they are published to the host (Windows 7) OS as well. (With shortcuts placed in the Start Menu.) That way, users can run Windows XP-based applications (like IE 6) alongside Windows 7 applications under a single desktop.

XP apps appear under Virtual PC, as show in the photo above (bigger).

Also, IT departments can "control XPM behavior via standard Microsoft administration and management technologies like Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP)."

XPM is a killer feature for companies, who usually get Enterprise or Ultimate versions, and may have been too poor, too lazy or just too stupid to make sure their in-house applications run under Vista -- or, if they've been unlucky, are using a program from a software house that either refuses to update or has gone bust.

It will also be a big help even where companies don't need XPM. They'll be able to upgrade to the more secure and more capable Windows 7 with the confidence that they have a backwards-compatibility option if they run into an unforeseen snag.

Unlike VMware Workstation, which does the same thing as XMP, it's free -- and you don't have to pay for two copies of Windows.

The official Windows Team Blog says: "Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7." It therefore looks as though home users who want it will have to buy the Pro version of Windows 7, but home users are clearly not the target market. Microsoft wants them to upgrade or change any software that's incompatible with Windows 7, not keep running it.

It remains to be seen how well XPM runs on netbooks that don't provide hardware assistance for virtualisation. But in any case, netbooks typically have too little processor power and not enough memory to make XPM attractive.

Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC1) will be available for download by MSDN/TechNet subscribers and beta testers on April 30, and by members of the public on May 5.

XP Mode will be available when the RTM (Release To Manufacturing) version.

Google Chrome Browser Gets Updated

2009-04-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

Google has come up with its yet another update with Google Releases new version 1.0.154.159 for Chrome.

This update comes up as the second major update after its first major update in March 09 since its release last year.

The Update came after the security problem, which was made into notice on April 8 by Roi Saltzman of the IBM Rational Application Security Research Group.

According to the latest figures from Chrome holds just over one per cent of the overall browser market, trailing behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer at 67 per cent, Mozilla’s Firefox at 22 per cent and Apple’s Safari at eight per cent.

Google is promoting its new web browser - Google Chrome - on its UK homepage, billing it as 'minimal design with sophisticated technology' to make the web faster, safer, and easier than using Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

Conficker Infections Number In The Millions

2009-04-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

Kaspersky manages to track down 200,000 actual IP addresses for the worm, but the total numer is in the millions

Security company Kaspersky Lab has identified 200,000 unique addresses in Conficker's peer-to-peer network - but the actual number of nodes affected is far higher.

New research by Kaspersky has re-opened the question of whether Conficker was hyped. While the Conficker worm generated an intense amount of public interest, the number of computers infected with the newest variant of the worm seems to be relatively small.

“While analysing Kido [Conficker] network behaviour we’ve been able to develop an application that helped us to get an in depth insight into the peer-to-peer network communications of the malware, which have been used to distribute updates over the last week,” blogged Georg Wicherski, a virus analyst at the security company. “Over a 24 hour observation period, we’ve been able to identify 200,652 unique IPs participating in the network, far less then initial estimated Kido infection counts.”

However, Kaspersky Lab senior antivirus researcher Roel Schouwenberg noted this is just the number of computers the company detected participating in the P2P network. The total number of infected machines is still in the millions, Schouwenberg told eWEEK.

At various points, vendors have put the number as high as 9 million. Efforts by the security community such as The Conficker Working Group seem to have paid off, but the group still puts the current number of unique IPs infected with variants A, B and C at roughly 3.6 million.

Only a fraction of the nodes infected with earlier variants appear to have been updated, according to Wicherski’s blog post. Kaspersky’s analysis also found that the highest concentrations of infected machines are in Brazil, China and the eastern part of the United States, which is reminiscent of similar findings from IBM’s X-Force earlier this month.

The latest iteration of the worm has been tied to a scheme to trick users into downloading rogue anti-virus. There are a number of tools available to help victims remove and detect the malware, as well as a patch for the Microsoft vulnerability targeted by multiple versions of the worm.

curtsy : http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/conficker-infections-number-in-the-millions-678

Spam controls more than 97% of all emails sent

2009-04-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

97% of the email sent counts to the percentage of spam in our inboxes as per the Microsoft security reports. The reports establish that the worldwide share of infected machines was 8.6 for every 1,000 uninfected machines and the UK's contagion rate is 5.7

Microsoft said people should not panic about the high levels of unwanted e-mail.

Cliff Evans, head of security and privacy for Microsoft in the UK, told BBC News:

The good news is that the majority of that never hits your inbox although some will get through.

Ed Gibson, chief cyber security advisor at Microsoft, said

The rise in spam was due to traditional organised crime figures moving away from exploiting software vulnerabilities and "targeting the weak link that is you and me".

A chronology of key proceedings in the account of the Conficker Worm

2009-04-01T03:08:00.000-07:00

A chronology of key proceedings in the account of the Conficker worm that has infected an predictable 15 million computers worldwide:

2008
20 August: The Gimmiv Trojan, which exploited the vulnerability Conficker capitalises on, is first spotted running in a virtual machine on a server in South Korea. Experts speculate this was a a test run prior to it being released in the wild.

29 September: Gimmiv first seen in the wild infecting a PC in Hanoi, Vietnam. Over the next few weeks it manages to infect 200 more machines in 23 nations - most of which were in Malaysia. Mistakes in the way it is coded limit its ability to spread.

23 October: Microsoft issues first impromptu and non-scheduled security patch in 18 months - MS08-067 - to address the vulnerability that Gimmiv exploited. Microsoft recommends that the patch be applied immediately. At this point about 800 million Windows machines are thought to be vulnerable.

26 October: Chinese hackers prepare a toolkit that lets anyone create code to exploit the vulnerability found by Gimmiv's creators. Initially they sell the kit for $37.80 (£26.48) but soon it leaks to the net and they are forced to give it away. The release of the code prompts many to craft malware that can seek out machines with the bug.

21 November: Conficker.A is spotted in the wild. The worm exploits the same vulnerability as Gimmiv with the added twist of being able to infect other computers across a network. It also fixes the bug so other worms trying the same trick are locked out.

22 November: Microsoft releases a strongly worded post recommending that users "immediately" apply the MS08-067 update.

26 November: Machines infected with Conficker.A activate and begin polling a different set of 250 domains daily for further instructions. Around 500,000 machines are thought to be infected with this variant.

1 December: Many infected machines contact trafficconverter.biz for an update file that is not there.

24-27 December: SRI census reveals about 1.5m machines are infected.

29 December: The first variant, Conficker.B, is spotted. Like its predecessor it exploits a vulnerability in the Windows Server service but can also spread via removable drives and weak administrator passwords. It also uses an MIT-developed algorithm to obfuscate its communications. Sheffield hospitals confirm 800 of their computers infected

2009

1 January: Machines infected with Conficker.B start checking in to a different set of 250 domains.

6 January: The UK's MoD suffers its first infections. It takes the department two weeks to clear up the damage.

11 January: Microsoft updates its Malicious Software Removal Tool so that it can find and remove the first variants of the Conficker worm.

20 January: Conficker.B is spotted exploiting the Windows Vista autoplay feature so it can spread via flash drives and memory sticks.
Early February: The numbers of machines infected by Conficker explodes. Many millions are thought to have fallen victim.

12 February: Microsoft announces the creation of the Conficker Cabal - a global group of security professionals who will try to disrupt the workings of the botnet created by infected machines. It also $250,000 as a reward for information about the creators of Conficker.

16 February: Conficker.B++ is spotted for the first time. It's protocol seems to be in direct response to Cabal's efforts to disable Conficker's communications strategy. It no longer needs to contact internet rendezvous points for updates, instead these can be flashed centrally from any internet address.

5 March: Conficker.C turns up. It tries to update all already infected machines with the latest variant. The PCs are organised into peer-to-peer networks and imposes instructions for these machines to check in with a one from a random group of 500 domains pulled from a pool of 50,000 on 1 April.

1 April: Machines infected with Conficker.C are expected to connect to domains for more instructions. About two million machines are thought to be infected with this variant.

Scareware scams trick searchers

2009-03-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

Makers of fake anti-virus software are exploiting search engines to drive people to sites peddling 'scareware'.

Using popular and mis-spelled search terms, the criminals divert people to sites that are seeded with fake warnings about virus infections.

The pop-up warnings claim that a visitor's PC is riddled with malicious programmes and spyware.

Research suggests some criminals are making as much as $10,000 a day from fake security software.

Computer security firm Finjan carried out the research into the techniques sellers of 'scareware' use to get their fake software in front of web users.

"They are misleading people with evidence that their machine is infected with viruses and they are encouraging them to download and buy software that basically does nothing," said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at Finjan.

Studies suggest that 'scareware' is catching on among some hi-tech criminals.

A report by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, released in March 2009, found 9,287 bogus anti-malware programmes in circulation in December 2008 - a rise of 225% since January 2008.
Natasha Richardson, PA
Scareware peddlers exploited the death of actress Natasha Richardson.

"The reason they are making so much money is the new techniques they are using, namely search engine optimisation," he said.

Mr Ben-Itzhak said a campaign to push scareware typically involves two groups of hi-tech criminals. One group compromises webpages and injects them with popular search terms, the other sells the fake security software.

Some seed pages with popular keywords such as "Obama" but others use terms associated with recent events. Some tried to cash in on the death of Natasha Richardson by using words taken from news stories about the actress's death.

Using these popular terms mean the pages appear high up in results when people carry out a keyword search.

Anyone clicking on a booby-trapped page is then instantly re-directed to the site hosting the links to the fake security software.

Once they arrive, visitors are bombarded with pop-ups warning that their PC is infected. To clear up the infection, users are told, they must download and pay for anti-virus software which typically costs about $50 (£34).
Mouse and mousemat, AP
The scareware sellers are exploiting top search terms

Through its research, Finjan got access to the web-based systems that one group of 'scareware' peddlers used to manage their search engine campaigns.

It found that, over a 16-day period, more than 1.8m people were re-directed to the sites pushing the 'scareware'. Of those visiting the sites 7-12% installed the fake software and 1.79% paid $50 for it.

Some of the proceeds from this is handed back to those who inject the search terms into webpages, netting them about $10,800 (£7,467) a day for their work.

Mr Ben-Itzhak said people should be very wary of any pop-up window claiming to find evidence of an infection.

"It's impossible to scan your local disk without installing software," he said.

A spokesman for Google said it tried to combat efforts to trick its indexing system into crediting a page with more popularity than it deserved.

"In cases in which we feel that sites are attempting to manipulate rankings, we make adjustments to counterbalance and also discourage those efforts," said the spokesman in a statement.

"Certain actions such as cloaking - writing text in such a way that it can be seen by search engines but not by users - or setting up pages/links with the sole purpose of fooling search engines may result in removal from our index," he added.

Malware may prove hard to beat

2009-03-19T05:34:00.000-07:00

The Conficker worm will be active again on 1 April, according to an analysis of its most recent variant, Conficker.C, by the net security firm CA.

This malicious piece of software, also known as Downup, Downadup and Kido, spreads among computers running most variants of the Windows operating system and turns them into nodes on a multi-million member "botnet" of zombie computers that can be controlled remotely by the worm's as yet unidentified authors.

Since it first appeared in October 2008 it has apparently infected more than 15 million computers around the internet, though even that number is no more than an educated guess because the worm works very hard to disguise its presence on a PC.

Conficker spreads through a security vulnerability in the Windows Server Service that allows a carefully written program to persuade the attacked computer to run malicious code instead of the Microsoft-written software.

Once installed it turns off Windows Automatic Update and stops you using the Windows Security Centre. It disables a range of internal services that could be used by anti-malware programs, blocks access to a number of anti-virus websites and even resets and deletes system restore points so you can't go back to an uninfected operating system installation.

And at some point it connects to a remote site to download additional malware and register itself as part of the botnet. The analysis of the latest version indicates that this will next happen on April 1st, and the day maybe a bad one because the way it does this has changed in the latest version of the worm, making it significantly harder to stop.

Previous Conficker infections were controlled to some extent because security researchers were able to determine which servers the worm was going to try to contact and block access to them before it did so. But the C variant has a much larger pool of potential domains to choose from, as it selects 500 target servers from a pool of 50,000 while previous versions chose 32 from 250.
As a result the ad hoc group of security researchers who have been working to limit the botnet's use, the Conficker Cabal, will have a much harder time ensuring that infected systems do not make the connection to the remote service that may allow them to be used to send spam e-mail, log user keystrokes or launch denial of service attacks on other computers.

We will have to wait until April to see how effective efforts at controlling Conficker are, but the analysis that has been done to date shows that it is a particularly well-designed program, one that will be hard to beat.

Some Help Full Computer Security Link & Articles

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IBM in talks with Sun Microsoft for Next Big Acquition of its History

2009-03-18T02:32:00.000-07:00

According to a quote a grouping of the two companies would strengthen IBM's heft on the Internet, in software and in finance and telecommunications markets
Though the talks are under way, but people familiar with the matter said a deal might not take place and the discussion could end without a transaction being reached. An IBM spokesman declined to remark on the developments, while a spokesman for Sun didn't return calls requesting comment.

If a deal does go through, which could happen as early as this week, IBM is likely to pay at least $6.5 billion in cash to acquire Sun. That would be a premium of more than 100% over Sun's closing price Tuesday of $4.97, the newspaper reports.

Both companies make computer systems for corporate customers that aren't reliant on Microsoft's Windows software, and their product lines are less dependent than rivals' on Intel's microprocessor technologies. The two companies are also strong supporters of open-source Linux and Java software.

Sun has approached a number of large tech companies in recent times in the hopes of being acquired. Hewlett-Packard declined the offer, said a person briefed on the matter. A spokesman for Dell declined to comment.

The business deal would strengthen IBM's place against competitor H-P. It could be the largest possession in IBM's history, surpassing the possession of Cognos in most recent year, according to the newspaper.

Windows 7 Introduces Modular Features

2009-03-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is all set to come with something new with its new operating system on the block i.e Windows 7. Plans are that Microsoft will introduce modular features in Windows 7 and the step is welcomed by the European Commission's former Microsoft monitoring trustee.

Windows Features allows users to turn off applications such as Media Centre, Media Player and Internet Explorer.

Professor Neil Barrett said this would help promote effective competition.

EU regulators have ended full-time monitoring of Microsoft, which was started to ensure the firm complied with an anti-trust ruling.

Speaking to the BBC, Professor Barrett said it was a welcome move on all fronts.

Microsoft did this off their own bat. From their perspective, making the operating system modular is a good thing.

For competitors, this will allow them to compete on all fronts.

It also benefits European Commission monitoring, as this will give them a clear understanding of what would be needed in the future should other firms fall foul of anti-trust laws.

Microsoft is currently facing an anti-trust filing led by browser maker Opera, and supported by Mozilla, the makers of Firefox, and Google, who last year launched Chrome.

The companies have complained that Microsoft's bundling of Internet Explorer into Windows XP and Vista is anti-competitive.

Time line

In 2004, a legal ruling forced Microsoft to share information about the internal workings of its software with rivals. It was also hit with a 497m euro (£441m) fine for abusing its dominant market position that stopped rivals prospering in the desktop and server software markets.

The ruling forced it to unbundle some of the products included in standard installations of Windows such as Media Player.

The 2004 decision also made Microsoft pass information about its operating systems to rivals so they could improve the way their programs worked with the software.

Microsoft appealed against and lost the court battle to overturn the fine and was then hit with another penalty of 899m euros (£798m) in February 2008 for defying the initial ruling.

Professor Barrett said part of the problem was that the US and EU operate in very different ways.

US firms follow the Harvard school of competition: find a market, dominate that market and then use that domination to beat the competition into submission.

US firms come here, speak the same language (especially in Britain), and think they are working in an identical environment.

They're not, because in Europe, that type business model isn't remotely fair.

Microsoft Joins War Against Online Internet Child Pornography

2009-03-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

Microsoft on Tuesday has joined a coalition formed to curb the soaring flow of child abuse images over the web and which includes a few industry leaders such as Visa, PayPal, and Mastercard.

The new entity, dubbed as “European Financial Coalition”, which include Internet Service Providers (ISPs), police, NGOs, and financial groups, was set up by the European Union, and UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) is the in-charge of the coalition.

In addition to these members, the foundation members also have a couple of law enforcement bodies, including Italian National Postal and Communication Police and Europol.

Citing the gravity of the issue, Jacques Barrot, VP for European Commission, said in a statement, “It is a reality that the rapid growth of the Internet has opened up a serious criminal market for images of child sex abuse”.

Along the same line Mr Barrot quoted the significance of the coalition by saying that the coalition will assist identify and safeguard victims, and above all, it will help “confiscate the profits from these criminal activities”.

Discussing the financial roadmap for the coalition, Mr. Barrot notified that the European Commission would spend as much as 55 million Euros between 2009 and 2013, in a bid to make the web a safer place for children and families.

curtsy: ITPro Protocol

Apple Expected To Announce New Mac Desktops

2009-03-03T03:27:00.000-08:00

Web rumors are speculating that Apple, Inc. will introduce desktop updates for Mac mini, the all-in-one iMac, and the Mac Pro. Intel's Nehalem processor is expected to be added to Apple's Mac Pro. Along with Nvidia graphics, Apple is expected to unveil a "surprise," which could be an iPhone update or an update to Apple TV.

Apple is expected to unveil new Mac desktops soon. Rumors on World of Apple and My Apple Guide swirled over the weekend and continued Monday about updates to the Mac mini, the all-in-one iMac, and the Mac Pro.

Apple is expected to make the announcement of updates at a media event on March 24, similar to the event the Cupertino, Calif.-based company held last October to announce notebooks. Kodawarisan, a Japanese Web site, however, said the new Mac desktops will be announced Tuesday.

While updates for the Mac mini, iMac and Mac Pro were expected at Macworld in January, Apple didn't deliver. An anticipated change for the Mac Pro features Intel Nehalem processors.

Along with new desktops and adding the latest Nvidia graphics cards, Apple is expected to pull a rabbit out of a hat with a "pleasant surprise," sources said.

Hints and Teases

"Given that we haven't seen major updates to these products, it might be time for Apple to do a refresh," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret.

The Mac mini hasn't had an update since 2007, and the iMac was last updated nearly a year ago. Changes to these Macs aren't expected to be significant, but the Mac Pro is expected to include a major architecture change with the inclusion of the Nehalem (Core i7) processors.

Rumors also say there will more than just changes under the hood. A new design for the Mac Pro's aluminum casing is also expected.

While there have been no concrete announcements from Apple, the company also hasn't denied the rumors. In fact, new Apple marketing literature shows "high performance Nvidia graphics" as a feature in the iMac 20- and 24-inch products.

Photo Surfaces

A photo has also surfaced online of a packaged Mac mini. The image, posted by OneMore Thing, shows the retail box of a Mini mac with ports for Ethernet, Mini DVI, Firewire 800, and a display port.

An announcement by Apple at the end of the month makes sense, considering Intel is also launching Nehalem processors at the end of the month.

As if the much-anticipated updates aren't enough, rumors have Apple offering a surprise. While some observers are speculating the surprise is an update to the iPhone, others think it will be an expected Apple TV update. The update might add TV programming from the iTunes Store, HD support, and DVR capabilities.

curtsy: Newsfactor

PC's Loaded with Windows 7 are Slated For June

2009-02-24T06:06:00.000-08:00

Microsoft plans to launch an upgrade program beginning in June that will allow consumers who purchase a Vista PC to upgrade to Windows 7 for free when the new operating system becomes available, according to company documents obtained by a popular tech blog.

Under the program rules, consumers who purchase Vista-based computers from June 28 onward will be eligible for the upgrade, according to documents posted this week on Tech Arp. Vista Home Professional users will have the option to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Professional, Vista Business users will be able to migrate to Windows 7 Professional, and Vista Ultimate users will be able to move to Windows 7 Ultimate.

All upgrades must be complete by April 2010, according to the blog. A Microsoft spokeswoman said Monday that she wasn't immediately able to confirm the information.

Microsoft offered a similar program in 2006 that allowed consumers to upgrade systems from Windows XP to Vista after Vista became available in early 2007. But the program, under which Microsoft and its hardware partners branded certain systems as "Vista Capable," quickly landed the software maker in hot water.

Several consumers sued Microsoft, claiming that the Vista Capable PCs they purchased were anything but. The plaintiffs have argued that their systems were unable to run Vista's defining features, such as its graphics intensive 3-D Aero interface.

Last week, a federal judge rejected a Microsoft motion to dismiss the cases while at the same time declining to award class-action status to the plaintiffs.

Microsoft needs Windows 7, expected to be released in late 2009 or early 2010, to be a hit. Vista, the company's current OS, has failed to catch on with mainstream computer users while businesses have shunned it outright. Many users have complained about Vista's hardware requirements, intrusive security measures, and lack of compatibility with older applications.

Dissatisfaction with Vista has allowed Apple to gain share against Microsoft in the computer operating system market in recent months. Windows' market share in November fell below 90% for the first time in years while Mac OS is now flirting with the 10% mark, according to market watcher Net Applications.

source : informationweek

Facebook and Bebo risk 'infantilising' the human mind

2009-02-24T03:51:00.000-08:00

Social network sites risk infantilising the mid-21st century mind, leaving it characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity, according to a leading neuroscientist.

The startling warning from Lady Greenfield, professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln college, Oxford, and director of the Royal Institution, has led members of the government to admit their work on internet regulation has not extended to broader issues, such as the psychological impact on children.

Greenfield believes ministers have not yet looked at the broad cultural and psychological effect of on-screen friendships via Facebook, Bebo and Twitter.

She told the House of Lords that children's experiences on social networking sites "are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity".

Arguing that social network sites are putting attention span in jeopardy, she said: "If the young brain is exposed from the outset to a world of fast action and reaction, of instant new screen images flashing up with the press of a key, such rapid interchange might accustom the brain to operate over such timescales. Perhaps when in the real world such responses are not immediately forthcoming, we will see such behaviours and call them attention-deficit disorder.

"It might be helpful to investigate whether the near total submersion of our culture in screen technologies over the last decade might in some way be linked to the threefold increase over this period in prescriptions for methylphenidate, the drug prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder."

She also warned against "a much more marked preference for the here-and-now, where the immediacy of an experience trumps any regard for the consequences. After all, whenever you play a computer game, you can always just play it again; everything you do is reversible. The emphasis is on the thrill of the moment, the buzz of rescuing the princess in the game. No care is given for the princess herself, for the content or for any long-term significance, because there is none. This type of activity, a disregard for consequence, can be compared with the thrill of compulsive gambling or compulsive eating.

"The sheer compulsion of reliable and almost immediate reward is being linked to similar chemical systems in the brain that may also play a part in drug addiction. So we should not underestimate the 'pleasure' of interacting with a screen when we puzzle over why it seems so appealing to young people."

Greenfield also warned there was a risk of loss of empathy as children read novels less. "Unlike the game to rescue the princess, where the goal is to feel rewarded, the aim of reading a book is, after all, to find out more about the princess herself."

She said she found it strange we are "enthusiastically embracing" the possible erosion of our identity through social networking sites, since those that use such sites can lose a sense of where they themselves "finish and the outside world begins".

She claimed that sense of identity can be eroded by "fast-paced, instant screen reactions, perhaps the next generation will define themselves by the responses of others".

Social networking sites can provide a "constant reassurance – that you are listened to, recognised, and important". Greenfield continued. This was coupled with a distancing from the stress of face-to-face, real-life conversation, which were "far more perilous … occur in real time, with no opportunity to think up clever or witty responses" and "require a sensitivity to voice tone, body language and perhaps even to pheromones, those sneaky molecules that we release and which others smell subconsciously".

She said she feared "real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these sanitised and easier screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf. Perhaps future generations will recoil with similar horror at the messiness, unpredictability and immediate personal involvement of a three-dimensional, real-time interaction."

The solutions, however, lay less in regulation as in education, culture and society.

Greenfield argued that the appeal of Facebook lay in the fact that "a child confined to the home every evening may find at the keyboard the kind of freedom of interaction and communication that earlier generations took for granted in the three-dimensional world of the street. But even given a choice, screen life can still be more appealing."

She quoted one user saying they had 900 friends, another saying the fact "that you can't see or hear other people makes it easier to reveal yourself in a way that you might not be comfortable with. You become less conscious of the individuals involved [including yourself], less inhibited, less embarrassed and less concerned about how you will be evaluated."

But Greenfield warned: "It is hard to see how living this way on a daily basis will not result in brains, or rather minds, different from those of previous generations. We know that the human brain is exquisitely sensitive to the outside world."

Facebook backtracks after online privacy protest

2009-02-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

Facebook is under unprecedented scrutiny for its policies on retention of personal data after users criticised the site for breaching privacy. After a wave of protests, the world's largest social networking site yesterday announced that it was reversing its recent decision to keep copies of users' messages online, even after they had left the network.

"Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago," the site told users. "Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised."

Until recently, Facebook - the world's most popular social networking site with more than 175 million users - deleted all online traces of a user if they chose to deactivate their account. However, two weeks ago the controversial new policy was introduced, which retained a copy of all messages, actions and updates online, even after people quit the site.

The change led to outrage among Facebook users and privacy campaigners, who began lobbying for the site to revert to its old terms of service. Hours after defending the policy this week, Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, announced yesterday that the site would be reverting to its previous terms.

Lawyers remain concerned, however, about privacy issues affecting users of social networking sites such as Facebook.

"There is a wider issue regarding the complexity of the terms, the fact that very few people read them, and [that] they probably don't understand Facebook has an indefinite right to keep material that gets posted," Frances Anderson, a commercial partner specialising in media and technology, said.

"Even after this change, Facebook still say they are retaining archive material - there is a lack of clarity about what the policy actually is. There is also the problem that if you want to deactivate your account and remove everything, you would have to go in and delete all your data yourself," Anderson added. "It may be that this is too onerous on individual users."

The decision to revert to the old legal terms of use is just the latest negative publicity for Facebook. In 2006 the site was forced to amend plans to provide a news feed updating the activities of shared friends, following concerns that it disproportionately invaded privacy. The news feed, now considered the central selling point of the site, was reintroduced with greater controls.

Last week it was revealed that the site had paid up to $65m (£46m) to settle a court case claiming that Zuckerberg had stolen the idea for Facebook from friends at Harvard University.

Information from previous court documents also showed that the company valued itself at $3.7bn - substantially lower than the $15bn estimated when Microsoft bought a 1.6% stake for $240m in 2007.

News Source: Guardian

Microsoft Live Hotmail Under Threat from Spammers

2009-02-20T00:19:00.002-08:00

Once again the authentication system of Microsoft Live Hotmail has been broken and is exposed to some serious threat from the spammer community as reported by a security company Websense

According to a detailed analysis of the latest hack by Websense, spammers have come up with a new scheme to fool the CAPTCHA:

The process starts in the same way as did previous CAPTCHA-breaking attacks, using bot-controlled zombie PCs under remote control to fill in the main fields - name, password, country - asked for by Hotmail during signup. The CAPTCHA image presented by Hotmail is then uploaded to a remote server for image decoding, before being sent back to the client for the attempt to create the fake account to proceed.

The latest hack comes just months after Microsoft modified the CAPTCHA to beat similar attacks, having suffered several in 2008.

Websense’s analysis of the hack suggests that this process will be successful in one out of every five to 8 attempts, or between 12 and 20 percent of the time — more than enough to offer spammers a healthy return for their efforts.

The CAPTCHA image analysis itself is said to take only 20 to 25 seconds per attempt per machine.

With its CAPTCHA under siege, Microsoft risks spammers creating large numbers of fake accounts to use as spam relays under the wings of Hotmail’s trusted domain name.

The latest attack featured communication between the zombie PC and the remote host using an encrypted channel, which makes detection of such traffic more difficult.

For now, CAPTCHA remains a cat-and-mouse game: Microsoft alters its algorithm, then the spammers do.

“As we’ve seen from previous patterns, spammers just attack whatever system is in place. They are financially motivated to get hold of details, and will increase the sophistication of attacks, in a persistent cycle,” said Carl Leonard, Websense’s European threat research manager.

Making matters worse is the rapid spread of automated tools for breaking CAPTCHA on several service providers, including Google and Yahoo.

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2009-02-20T00:19:00.001-08:00