Archive for August, 2005
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005
Stay on top of news, weather, and e-mail with the next step in the evolution in screen savers. With the MSN Screen Saver (Beta), you can display your photos, click news headlines, check the local weather, display your friends photos and blogs from their MSN Spaces, and set up your own RSS news feeds.
With the new MSN Screen Saver (Beta) you can:
· Personalize with background photos and news and weather information from MSN? or any RSS feeds from websites you choose.
· Search the Web and click news headlines directly from the Screen Saver.
· Stay connected with MSN Hotmail, MSN Messenger, and MSN Spaces. Track how many unread Hotmail messages and current Messenger conversations you have, and display blogs and photos from your friends MSN Spaces.
New in this release:
-The Screen Saver no longer requires the MSN Search Toolbar (it’s now an optional install)
-Weather update & zip code issues resolved
-Improved help pages
Requires Microsoft Windows XP/Server 2003/2000 & Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later
Download: MSN Screen Saver Beta
Posted in Live | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005
Microsoft has acquired San Francisco based Teleo, a developer of VoIP, PSTN termination and click to call functionality.
The deal accelerates Microsoft’s VoIP capabilities and sets the stage for a fall showdown in the VoIP over IM space as AOL and Yahoo! ramp to launch their respective services as well.
Teleo’s VoIP products allow for PC to PC calls as well as PC to PSTN (define), or landline calls. It also has a click-to-call feature that can be integrated with Microsoft’s Outlook and Internet Explorer, enabling users to place a call from inside e-mail or even a Web page.
“They were doing a lot of things that we found interesting in terms of helping us accelerate the time frame of us being able to bring new things to market for customers,” Brooke Richardson, lead product manager for MSN, told internetnews.com.
Full article: internetnews.com
Posted in Microsoft | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005
Google is expanding its lucrative Internet advertising network into the print world in a bold attempt to capture traditional ad dollars.
The search king, which makes 99 percent of its revenue from Internet ads, is quietly testing the waters of print advertising sales, according to executives at several companies that have bought the ads. Google recently began buying ad pages in technology magazines, including PC Magazine and Maximum PC, and reselling those pages–cut into quarters or fifths–to small advertisers that already belong to its online ad network, dubbed AdWords.
“We were approached by Google two and a half months ago, telling us that they were starting this print advertising campaign,” Michael Keen, president of Inksite, one of the five advertisers in PC Magazine, said Monday. “Because we had been one of their AdWords advertisers, they thought we would be a good candidate to try their new advertising” effort.
The experiment, as it is described by the companies buying the ads, is Google’s latest foray into display advertising and another big step toward becoming a one-stop shop for ad sales, whether online or offline. The trial also marks the first time the company has ventured offline with any of its products, according to industry watchers.
Read more: ZDNet News
Posted in Google | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005
Have you ever tried to edit your text documents with the tabbed interface? Use NotePad SX!
NotePad SX is a fast, stable, user-friendly, tabbed plain text editor
NotePad SX is not only the great looking replacement and upgrade of standard Windows Notepad, but it gives you an ability to feel the power of plain text editing with many additional abilities.
Try Full Screen mode and forget about what operating system do you use, it layout and limitations.
NotePad SX is freeware.
Download: NotePad SX 1.0
Posted in Utilities | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
A Connecticut man faces up to 10 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to selling illicit copies of Windows source code. William P. Genovese, 28, of Meridan in Connecticut, this week confessed to unlawfully distributing stolen Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 source code over the net, CNN reports. He was caught last year after an unnamed security firm hired by Microsoft and an undercover FBI agent both made sample purchases through a site run by Genovese called illmob.org.
Full story: The Register
Posted in News | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
Oslo, Norway - August 30, 2005
It’s been ten years: Ten years of innovation and ten years of gratitude to Opera users. Today, Opera Software ASA gives back to its community.
At 15:00 CET / 09:00 AM EST today, Opera launches its online party, specifically designed for its large community following. As a sign of gratitude for the community’s continuing support, Opera will give away complimentary registration codes for 24 hours. At the party site, people can also chat with Opera employees (including the CEO and CTO), play games, check out the history of the Opera browser, download music made by employees and send in their greetings. In addition, people can check out what happened at midnight at Opera’s anniversary party….
Beginning in 1995 ago as a research project at the Norwegian telecom incumbent Telenor, Opera today celebrates ten years of browser innovation. Opera Software ASA, headquartered in Oslo, Norway, has consistently provided its users with new ways of browsing and interacting with the Web.
Read more: Opera.com | For one day only, you can get an ad-free version of Opera. Simply e-mail registerme (at) opera.com to obtain a registration code. This offer is valid from 12 a.m. Tuesday, August 30 to 12 a.m. Wednesday, August 31 2005 (PDT).
View: Opera Virtual Party
Posted in News | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
DesktopBeautifier automatically streams beautiful wallpapers to your desktop. Select the themes that interest you and allow it to work its magic.
Lavish your desktop with images no one else has! DesktopBeautifier downloads the latest hand-picked images unobtrusively in the background. And most importantly… DesktopBeautifier is FREE!
With DesktopBeautifier, you get a fresh new background every day. Images are custom-designed for your system which means that they will always fit your display with no pixelation and will be color-coordinated with your desktop.
Download: DesktopBeautifier 1.0.15 for Windows 2000+
Posted in Desktop | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
As Microsoft readies the next version of its Windows operating system, called Vista, the software giant is building in unprecedented levels of safeguards against video piracy.
For the first time, the Windows operating system will wall off some audio and video processes almost completely from users and outside programmers, in hopes of making them harder for hackers to reach. The company is establishing digital security checks that could even shut off a computer’s connections to some monitors or televisions if antipiracy procedures that stop high-quality video copying aren’t in place.
In short, the company is bending over backward–and investing considerable technological resources–to make sure Hollywood studios are happy with the next version of Windows, which is expected to ship on new PCs by late 2006. Microsoft believes it has to make nice with the entertainment industry if the PC is going to form the center of new digital home networks, which could allow such new features as streaming high-definition movies around the home.
PCs won’t be the only ones with reinforced pirate-proofing. Other new consumer electronics devices will have to play by a similar set of rules in order to play back the studios’ most valuable content, Microsoft executives say. Indeed, assuring studios that content will have extremely strong protection is the only way any device will be able to support the studios’ planned high-definition content, the software company says.
Full article: CNET News.com
Posted in News | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
Microsoft has taken WinFS, an advanced relational file system designed for the Windows operating system, to its first beta.
WinFS effectively glues the database indexing capabilities of Microsoft’s SQL Server database with the computer file system so that users can easily save and search for files, from photos to e-mail to documents and media.
WinFS will help users organize their data and allow applications to auto-organize their data on their behalf. For example, WinFS users will be able to build queries that exploit relationships such as “show me all mail from people I am meeting with this week,” Microsoft said in a note to the press.
Quentin Clark, director of program management for WinFS said in a statement the beta is available today to all MSDN subscribers.
Full article: internetnews.com
Posted in Microsoft | No Comments »
Monday, August 29th, 2005
Microsoft is talking up support for hardware-based security in Windows Vista, though only a sliver of the company’s original plan will make it into the operating system.
Three years ago Microsoft unveiled Palladium, renamed Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) after the original name became tainted with controversy over privacy and fair-use issues and because another company claimed rights to the Palladium name. The technology was to be part of the next Windows release.
NGSCB promised to boost PC security by using hardware and software that would allow parts of a computer to be isolated from malicious code such as viruses and worms. It also would foil attacks that use logging devices by encrypting data as it moves between a PC’s hardware components. NGSCB required significant changes to hardware and software.
In May 2004, following criticism from software makers, Microsoft said it was retooling NGSCB so some of the benefits would be available without the need to recode applications. The company has been silent on the plan since, though it insists NGSCB is not dead. Instead, its delivery is still to be determined, according to Microsoft’s Web site.
Now Microsoft is busy telling hardware and software makers about Secure Startup in Windows Vista, which it says is the “first delivery” on its hardware-based security plan. Vista, previously known by its code name, Longhorn, is the next client release of Windows due on store shelves in time for the next year’s holiday shopping season.
Full article: ZDNet News
Posted in News | No Comments »
Monday, August 29th, 2005
With Screenshot Pilot, you can capture screens in a variety of different ways:
• active window
• active client
• full screen
• screen region
• selected object
• window under cursor
• menu under cursor
• cursor
• background image
The program allows you to derive graphic images from applications and libraries. You can easily send screenshots by e-mail, print them out, save them to Clipboard or your hard drive.
Screenshot Pilot is free
Download: Screenshot Pilot 1.46
Posted in IMAGE/PHOTO Editor | No Comments »
Monday, August 29th, 2005
No one would mistake Microsoft’s server virtualization software team for a smooth operator. The group managed to change its stance on two issues during last week’s Intel Developer Forum (IDF) event, telling customers they’ll have to pay for an update to Virtual Server 2005 and shifting the release date for revamped virtualization software for the “Longhorn” Server operating system.
In the fourth quarter, Redmond will pump out Virtual Server 2005 R2. Customers will have to cough up an undisclosed fee for this upgrade instead of obtaining it as a gratis maintenance release, as once planned. A Microsoft rep bragged that beta testers were wowed by the quicker code - a possible reason for putting out the pay-to-play upgrade.
Full story: The Register
Posted in News | No Comments »
Monday, August 29th, 2005
Miscreants could hide their malicious software on a Windows PC by using overly long registry keys, security experts have warned.
These keys are stored in the Windows Registry, a core part of the operating system that stores PC settings. Some antivirus and anti-spyware products scan the registry for malicious programs, but this new weakness allows hackers to hide the presence of their applications, according to security vendor StillSecure.
“It can be used to hide malicious programs on a system that would go undetected by security software or registry scanning tools,” said Mitchell Ashley, chief technology officer at StillSecure, which is based in Louisville, Colorado. Detection and cleanup could be difficult to impossible, according to StillSecure.
The SANS Internet Storm Centre, which tracks Internet threats, on Thursday listed some applications that, according to reports it received, can be tricked by the longer registry keys. The list includes AdAware, Microsoft’s Windows AntiSpyware, HijackThis, Norton SystemWorks 2003 Pro, Microsoft’s Windows Registry Editor and WinDoctor.
Full story: ZDNet Australia
Posted in News | No Comments »
Monday, August 29th, 2005
A new study by ISP network service CacheLogic suggests that file swappers around the world are converging on a new favorite technology, possibly in response to pressure by Hollywood studios.
Last year, British company CacheLogic said BitTorrent–a peer-to-peer technology optimized for downloading large files–was accounting for more than half of all the file-swapping traffic on Internet service provider networks around the world.
A year later, peer-to-peer traffic in general continues to account for the majority of data traffic on ISP networks, usually between 50 percent and 70 percent of the total, the company said. But BitTorrent has been overtaken by usage of eDonkey, a rival with more power to search for content, but with similar speedy download features.
Full article: CNET News.com
Posted in p2p | No Comments »
Sunday, August 28th, 2005
Shutdown Monster is a utility to make your PC turn off at a specified time. You can set a countdown, type in an exact date and time, or even specify a file to check periodically.
Operating System: Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP)
Download: Shutdown Monster 4.0.1View: Homepage | Screenshots
Posted in Tools | No Comments »
Sunday, August 28th, 2005
“You’re showing too much.”
“You can talk…”
Porn publisher Perfect 10 is seeking an injunction against Google to stop the search giant from allegedly displaying copyright images of its models.
Perfect 10, in a filing on Wednesday with the US District Court in Los Angeles, asked the court to immediately halt Google from allegedly copying, displaying and distributing more than 3,000 Perfect 10 photos.
Norm Zada, founder of Perfect 10, said: “Google is directly infringing on our copyrights. They are copying and showing our work on their website. They are also placing ads on these websites that are infringing on our work.”
Perfect 10 first became aware of Google serving up text links to other websites that allegedly carried copyright images of Perfect 10 models back in 2001, Zada said in an interview Thursday. The company then sent notices to Google, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, asking the search giant to discontinue linking to the other sites.
Full story: silicon.com
Posted in News | No Comments »
Sunday, August 28th, 2005
It’s been awhile since Max Levchin’s job forced him to pull an all-nighter.
But the co-founder and former chief technology officer of PayPal has found himself working around the clock lately to launch his new Internet company, Slide. The San Francisco company, which he started last year, is Levchin’s first big plunge into an Internet start-up since cashing in on eBay’s $1.5 billion purchase of PayPal in 2002.
The free service, which the 12-person company plans to open to the Web-surfing public on Monday, CNET News.com has learned, combines aspects of social networking, photo sharing, Web syndication and e-commerce. At the heart of Slide is a downloadable desktop program that indexes all the photos on the user’s hard drive and creates a slide show at the edge of the screen.
Full article: ZDNet News
Posted in News | No Comments »
Sunday, August 28th, 2005
This tool is designed to remove the infections of the following threats:
W32.Zotob.A
W32.Zotob.B
W32.Zotob.C@mm
W32.Zotob.D
W32.Zotob.E
W32.Zotob.F
W32.Zotob.G
W32.Zotob.I
W32.Zotob.J@mm
What the tool does
The Removal Tool does the following:
Terminates the associated processes
Deletes the associated files
Deletes the registry values added by the threat
Restores the Shared Access service to the Microsoft Windows default.
Download: W32.Zotob Removal Tool 1.8.0
Posted in Antivirus | No Comments »
Sunday, August 28th, 2005
ISTANBUL (AFP) - A young Turkish man suspected by the FBI of having corrupted the computer systems of leading banks, technology companies and media organizations worldwide was ordered detained by an Ankara court on suspicion of Internet fraud, a Turkish news agency reported.
The man, identified only as Attila E., was arrested Thursday in the town of Adana, southern Turkey, and stands accused of having created a virus which wrought havoc in 110 countries, the Anatolia agency reported.
His arrest by Turkish police came at the end of a month-long manhunt requested by the FBI, it added.
Full story: Yahoo! News
Posted in News | No Comments »
