Archive for February, 2010
Beware fake Microsoft security software
Microsoft is warning about malware masquerading as anti-malware. It is called “Security Essentials 2010″, not to be confused with the real Microsoft Security Essentials. The Microsoft Malware Protection Center gives details.
Five billion cell phones globally
CNET reports another piece of evidence about the trend to mobile platforms:
On a planet with around 6.8 billion people, we’re likely to see 5 billion cell phone subscriptions this year.
Reaching 4.6 billion at the end of 2009, the number of cell phone subscriptions across the globe will hit 5 billion sometime in 2010, according [...]
Another review of tax software
A previous post mentioned a review of tax preparation software. Another review can be seen at CNET’s Webware. This review also finds that the somewhat pricier TurboTax from Intuit is probably the best program overall.
Windows XP just keeps going and going
According to the logs that are kept on several Web sites I run, nearly 60% of the visitors are still using Windows XP. The durability of XP was demonstrated by the news that the Winter Olympics are using Windows XP systems. Ina Fried reports at CNET:
The good news for Microsoft is that all the PCs [...]
What Microsoft didn’t want you to know
What got Microsoft’s hackles up when Cryptome published the document, “Global Criminal Compliance Handbook,” that a previous post reports about? What was it that Redmond didn’t want us to know? It seems that the details of the information that Microsoft collects about us is a touchy subject. In fact, Microsoft may know more about us [...]
Microsoft closes down botnet
I don’t agree with Microsoft’s action in closing down Cryptome (previous post) but I heartily approve of the company’s actions against spammers. The busy legal staff has managed to get a US court order closing a spam botnet. BBC News reports:
Microsoft has won court approval to shut down a global network of computers which [...]
Microsoft takes down whistleblower site to suppress document
Microsoft has more lawyers than you can count and they are always busy. A site called Cryptome has been publishing government documents that the Feds would rather have been kept quiet but the government has never succeeded in stopping the publication. However, Cryptome has crossed an even bigger power-Microsoft-and has paid the price for publishing [...]
USB 3.0 given test in actual practice
The interface of the future for peripherals called USB 3.0 is theoretically supposed to be something like ten times faster than USB 2.0. Sometimes theory and practice don’t gibe, however. Recently, Michael J. Miller at ExtremeTech posted a real-world study of how fast USB 3.0 connections actually are. The results showed USB 3.0 to be [...]
Short takes
Here’s a quick summary of some links that caught my eye recently:
Full Screen Weather Is a Giant, No-Frills Weather MapLifehacker says, “We’ve always liked Weather Underground for its no-nonsense, real-time weather info. Today they’ve released a new service called Full Screen Weather that mashes up Google Maps with weather data for nothing but maps and [...]
The decline of Dell
Dell was once the premier seller of PCs. I bought quite a few for family members. Dell’s pioneering sales model that allowed buyers to configure a system and buy it on the Web was very successful. Dell also had a good reputation for reliability and customer service. But somewhere along the way, Dell lost its [...]
Check out your CPU capabilities
Steve Gibson often comes up with free little utilities that do some useful task. With the trend to 64-bit computing, you might want to see if your CPU can handle 64-bits. Another CPU feature worth checking is to see if the security feature called hardware DEP is supported. Gibson provides a free program called SecurAble [...]
