Archive for March, 2007
Clickless mouse
Not everybody finds using a mouse easy. Some may have problems like carpal tunnel or arthritis. Others may develop repetitive stress problems or simply get fatigued from using the computer all day. ExtremeTech gives a detailed review of some new software called GentleMouse that allows the use of a mouse without having to click. The [...]
Security bug in Vista mail program
The successor in Vista to Outlook Express is called simply “Windows Mail”. Friday, reports started coming out that a security bug had been found in the program that could let attackers run malware applications on PCs running Vista. This only shows that, while security is much heightened in Vista, bugs are still there and no [...]
Vista machines under $1000
It is possible to get a new home computer for under $1000 that can run Vista Home Premium, including the Aero interface. PC Magazine reviews three desktop models. They are all dual-core machines and each comes with 1 GB of RAM. One of the three is actually a Mac. About the Mac, the article says:
Running [...]
Windows security hole in national infrastructure
An article at eWeek reports a security vulnerability with Microsoft applications used in managing such things as dams and oil refineries. The article says:
Researchers on March 21 announced that the systems which control dams, oil refineries, railroads and nuclear power plants have a vulnerability that could be used to cause a denial of service or [...]
Can Vista activation be circumvented?
At Windows Secrets, Brian Livingston has given a method that he says will allow you to use Windows Vista without activation for up to a year or more. Microsoft has not commented officially but a March 20 ComputerWorld article reports a Microsoft team blog entry that denies that Livingston’s procedure works. The article reports:
[...]
Russian Trojan “Gozi” involved in big ID theft ring
ZDNet reports on a recently discovered ID theft ring that is based in Russia and has stolen thousands of identities. Ryan Naraine writes:
Researchers at SecureWorks have stumbled upon what appears to be a massive identity theft ring using state-of-the-art Trojan code to steal confidential data from thousands of infected machines in the U.S.
The Trojan, [...]
Competition for YouTube
Some big new players are getting into the online video game. ZDNet writes:
Three of the Web’s largest Internet portals–AOL, MSN and Yahoo–on Thursday announced that they will distribute video content for a new online joint venture of media conglomerates NBC Universal and News Corp. The new video network, scheduled to debut this summer, will feature [...]
Google adds related phrases to definition searches
One of the available functions on Google is provided by the search term define: used for looking up definitions. Google has now added related phrases to the results, as explained at this link.
Adobe will not make current software Vista compatible
Another reminder that changing over to Vista could cost more than you think is Adobe’s announcement that many of its current product versions will not be updated to run on Vista. It turns out that a lot of the major Adobe programs don’t run properly on Vista and users are going to have to buy [...]
Try a different operating system
Although a large majority of home PC users will probably eventually be using Windows Vista, the more adventuresome might want to consider other operating systems. Virtualization methods have improved to the point where you can rather easily run a number of different virtual machines on one PC or on an Apple Mac. PC World discusses [...]
Google announces Plus Box
There is a new feature in Google searches. The Google announcement says:
We’re very excited to unveil Plus Box, a new search feature that lets you see more information about individual search results. Whenever you see the plus box icon – + – click on it to see the additional rich data expand below the [...]