Microsoft Plays Hardball With Windows 7 Versions

When Windows Vista proved too big to fit early netbooks, Microsoft resurrected XP at a lower price to satisfy that market. Microsoft would only sell XP to an OEM if the system was sufficiently underpowered that it couldn't run Vista. Microsoft has already said that all versions of the slimmer Windows 7 should run on netbooks, so what will happen with Windows 7?

Microsoft has been mum on details, but there have been some worrisome rumors that the company might come out with a "Windows 7 Starter for Small Notebook PC" and limit its use to netbooks. (Given that they did it with XP, it's not a stretch to think they'll try it with Windows 7.) Let's go back to the charges leveled against Microsoft by the Department of Justice in the 1990s. In that document, you'll see this claim:

66. Furthermore, Microsoft expends a significant portion of its monopoly power, which could otherwise be spent maximizing price, on imposing burdensome restrictions on its customers [OEMs] — and in inducing them to behave in ways — that augment and prolong that monopoly power.

One of the outcomes of Microsoft's consent decree was that OEM pricing was based on volume; OEMs that have the same sales volumes pay the same price. It was intended to prevent Microsoft from playing favorites -- rewarding or punishing OEMs for other related actions that pleased Microsoft. In this case, Microsoft would be pleased if competing operating systems didn't take over on netbooks. Before Microsoft brought back XP, Linux had a huge market share on netbooks. If Windows 7 is to maintain a hold on the netbook market, Microsoft has to offer OEMs a price that won't kill their budgets.

Microsoft has every right to do crazy things with feature sets in order to segment the market and produce a Windows 7 version they can sell at a low cost. The three-running-application limit in Windows 7 Starter is one such crazy thing. Microsoft crosses the line by attempting to contractually limit OEMs on the hardware that Starter can use. That shouldn't be Microsoft's decision. If Starter is good enough for netbooks then it should be available to OEMs for whatever hardware that can run Windows 7. If Microsoft fears Starter will hurt the reputation of Windows 7, they shouldn't offer it.

Naturally it would be good for Microsoft if they could charge different prices depending on the final cost of the product. That would be too obviously predatory, though, so a hardware-limited Starter is a "subtle" solution they hope will pass anti-monopolistic muster. The use of netbook hardware requirements to set prices and limit the use of Starter sure looks like it's just a diversion for the real issue, which is the threat of other operating systems gaining a foothold on netbooks. Besides all the Linux competitors, arch-enemy Google may be getting Dell to deliver an Android-based netbook, which must have Microsoft concerned.

Microsoft wants to maintain its market-share lead on netbooks without sacrificing profit margins on full-sized PCs. But OEMs should be able to buy any Windows 7 OS for the same volume-defined price and use it on any hardware with no restrictions. Allowing Microsoft to adjust pricing and limit distribution based on target hardware is a page from their old mid-1990s monopoly playbook, this time intended to muscle out OS competitors. If Microsoft does try such a ploy, it should be stopped.

Computer Virus Strikes FBI, U.S. Marshals: Report

In one of his many memorable skits, my favorite comedian, the late George Carlin, lists “Things you don’t want to hear,” and this gem is among them:

“Well, Jim, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t live another 50 to 60 years. However, you will be bleeding constantly from both eyes.”

If you’re a federal law enforcement officials who is charged with protecting the kind of ultra-confidential information that increasingly travels through computer networks, I imagine the equivalent of that bad news for Jim goes something like this:

“A mysterious computer virus has infected your networks and forced both the FBI and U.S. Marshals to shut down.”

Yet that’s pretty much what happened this week, according to Devlin Barrett of the Associated Press.

Officials at the U.S. Marshals reportedly confirmed that they disconnected from Justice Department computers after the virus hit, and the FBI conceded that the agency also was having a problem.

Here’s what FBI spokesman Mike Kortan told Barrett: “We too are evaluating a network issue on our external, unclassified network that’s affecting several government agencies.”

What those agencies are he would not say, according to Barrett.

Yet the incident points to a disturbing phenomenon that deserves some thought. It is the business world, not the U.S. government, that leads the industry when it comes to developing new technology to cut costs, boost communications and increase efficiency, and it’s the private sector that often is ahead of the curve when it comes to detecting cybercriminals’ activity.

Consider: At about 76 percent of all phishing attacks, software represents the largest doorway that cybercriminals such as hackers use to enter computer users’ systems and steal confidential information. And one Cupertino, California-based security, storage and systems management solutions provider – Symantec Corp. – recently reported that it’s seeing malicious code grow at a record pace.

In recent weeks, more and more home and small office computers have seen their networks compromised by Internet security attacks that gain traction through the devices that many of us use to make our home-surfing lives more portable: routers. (To try and preempt the attacks, one Fountain Valley, California-based company recently launched a new system that prevents malicious software by detecting whether responses are generated by humans or computers.)

According to Stephen Trilling, vice president of Symantec’s (News - Alert) security technology and response group, the company is seeing attackers shift away from mass distribution of a few threats to micro-distribution of millions of distinct threats.

“Cybercriminals are profiting from creating and distributing customized threats that steal confidential information, particularly bank account credentials and credit card data,” Trilling said. “While the above ground economy suffers, the underground economy has remained consistently steady.”

That recalls some of what TMCnet heard recently from the world’s largest maker of computer networking gear. Officials at Cisco Systems Inc. say that cyber-criminals’ attacks are becoming more targeted and sophisticated.

This latest problem apparently started yesterday morning, for both the Marshals and the FBI. No data was compromised, officials said.

The type of virus that caused the shut-down and its origin are not clear, they said.

“In Thursday’s incident, the Marshals Service shut down its Internet access and some e-mail while staff worked on the problem,” Barrett reports. “The FBI made similar moves to protect its system.”

McAfee Internet Security 2009

At first glance, McAfee Internet Security 2009 appears not much different from last year's offering, a truth that masks some improvements in programming under the hood. In our tests, we found McAfee Internet Security 2009 to be as fast as the much improved Norton Internet Security 2009. What McAfee adds to the competitive landscape is faster malicious software detection. With Active Protection, they're neither talking about hourly signature file updates nor five minute updates like rival Symantec; at McAfee they're talking about instant updates. In terms of features, we found that McAfee has the most tools of any suite we reviewed. In addition to antivirus, antiphishing, antispyware, and a personal firewall, McAfee provides a backup-and-restore feature and several handy utilities. We still have minor issues with McAfee's technical support, although it has improved over last year. For a full protection suite, we were impressed with McAfee Internet Security 2009.

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Klingon Anti-virus Available for Download

They walk the warrior's path and they devour horrible-looking bowlfuls of red worms, but hey, Klingons need malware protection too.

To help Worf and his compatriots in their trek for PC security, anti-virus maker Sophos has translated one of their tools into Klingon. Yes, really. It's now available as a free download from http://www.sophos.com/klingon-anti-virus/.

Sophos' Graham Cluely says the app is a working, translated version of Sophos' Threat Detection Test, which is not the full Sophos antivirus product, but can run an on-demand virus scan alongside your existing antivirus protection. The app (both the translated and English versions) isn't meant to replace AV, but to instead provide an additional scan to see if your current program has missed anything.

In an explanatory post, the company says it was actually asked by a (hot-blooded and prone to violence?) potential customer whether the software could be translated, and that it got help from a member of the Klingon Language Institute named naHQun in creating the translation.

Conficker worm strikes ANZ Bank

"We have detected a known virus affecting some internal desktop services on the ANZ network," a spokesperson for the bank told ZDNet.com.au today, saying that the virus had been contained and there hadn't been any disruption to its business or implications for information security.

The spokesperson did not specify which virus had infected the bank's desktops, but ZDNet.com.au believes it is a variation of the Conficker worm.

Microsoft and Symantec are understood to have been asked to advise on the situation, which was said to have affected no customer facing machines, but Symantec declined to comment and Microsoft had not responded at the time of publication.

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Avast letest Release

Avast offers real time protection, as the great majority of antivirus, also provide protection for e-mails, P2P software, IM programs (msn, yahoo, etc) and protection from viruses while browsing the Internet.

Avast! is very effective cleaning or deleting infected files. Include full integration with Windows Explorer, so allow you to check files from contextual menu.

It is great both for laptops and desktop computers as it does not require a great deal of memory.

Download

Are They Watching You Online?

When surfing the Internet you probably take your anonymity for granted, most of us do.
Tapping phones, listening to confidential conversations,reading others' e-mail messages seems like something that only happens in spy movies to "other" people.
However, you probably don't realize just how much information about yourself has the potential to get transmitted across the Internet every time you go online.
Every computer connected to the Internet has "ports" that allow it to connect. A "port" doesn't mean you have a physical hole or opening in your computer's case or hardware, but it does mean you have openings through which information passes back and forth between your computer and the Internet.
Depending on the type of connection (dial up, LAN, cable, DSL), you may have several openings for potential mischief by hackers, malicious code or viruses.
Computers with dedicated connections rate the most at risk. If someone or something gets into one of these ports and into your computer, they can potentially watch everything
you do and see all the data you enter, including social security numbers and credit card information.
The easiest way to defeat this problem involves using a firewall. Firewalls, simple and inexpensive software available at virtually any office supply or computer store, block the most common ports hackers use to enter your computer.
Firewalls also help you detect and block unauthorized transmission of information from your computer to the Internet. This adds a significant measure of protection if you get infected with a Trojan Horse virus that tries to "phone home" to the hacker with your sensitive information.
If you'd like to test your connection for vulnerability to attack, log on to http://security1.norton.com and run the various diagnostics. I would strongly advise anyone connected to the Internet through DSL or cable to get and use a firewall to protect against unauthorized access.
Infected with "Spyware?"
Previously we talked about unauthorized access to your computer. But a growing problem online with people watching you and your activities involves using programs you willingly place on your computer.
Commonly called "Spyware," this refers to any program that transmits information about you to someone else without you knowing exactly what gets sent. The main purpose of Spyware
involves tracking your surfing habits so advertisers know which targeted ads to send you.
Most Spyware basically comes onto your computer bundled with other software applications, as a standalone program, or as modification to the HTML on a web page.
Regardless of how you get it, you need to understand exactly what information gets transmitted about you so you can decide whether to keep or uninstall the software. Plain
and simple, these Spyware programs can potentially reveal extremely sensitive information about you and your online habits.
If you have concerns about Spyware and whether or not your computer currently carries any, log on to www.lavasoft.de and check out the free PC software that will scan your system for known Spyware.

Do You Know What Adware Is?

Adware is one of many "malwares" or malicious software programs that are unknowingly installed on your computer when you visit online sites and download freebies. When you use share files or visit sites with free downloads of wallpaper, videos, or music, some of these sites will send along adware software with your download. These malwares are a rapidly growing threat to all computer systems. 
Although it is much less a threat to your computer and information than spyware is, what adware will do is cause pop up banners and advertisements to appear on your computer. These advertisements are displayed on your computer no matter what program you might be using. What the people who place this type of nuisance software on you computer say is that adware advertising helps them to recover costs and allows them to offer you those freebies you want.
What you want to do to stop adware from appearing on your computer is to first run an anti-adware program. Run this program on demand regularly. Along with an anti-adware software program run your regular computer virus scan on demand also.
Check the security level on your computer. You security level setting should be at least medium to help protect you from unwanted downloads.
Do not download free files from the internet, period. When downloading any software read the end-user license agreement. Some of these agreements will state that when you download their software you are also agreeing to accept a downloaded spyware that may be placed on your computer at the same time.
Be aware of threats to your computer, and your personal information.

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Do The Media Spread Computer Viruses?

If you believe what you hear in the media, there are an awful lot of viruses going around. No, I'm not talking about the make-you-sick kind of virus, though they get plenty of airtime, too. I'm talking about the kind of virus that enters via your internet connection rather than your nasal passages.
What the mainstream media often don't tell you--at least, in most radio and television newscasts and in the crucial headlines and opening paragraphs of newspaper articles-- is that many of these "viruses" are not viruses at all.
What Computer Viruses Really Are
The main reason the mainstream media always are in alarm over viruses is that they tend to call any malicious computer program a virus. In reality, there are at least eleven distinct types of malicious software, or malware, commonly affecting computers today. The most common of these are worms, Trojans, and spyware.
So, what's the difference between computer viruses and the other types of malware? The difference is that computer viruses are just about the only ones that regularly shut down computers and cause other obvious damage. The most common of the other kinds of malware--worms, Trojans, and spyware--are usually only detectable with a special scan.
The Real Danger of Computer Viruses
If the other types of malware are so unobtrusive that they can only be detected with a special scan, then what's to worry about? For starters, these programs are called malicious for a reason: they are designed to cause some kind of damage, if not to your computer, then to someone else's.
Worms are most famously used to damage, destroy, or disrupt other computer networks than the one on which the host computer is located. For instance, worms have been used by website owners to shut down rival websites by sending overwhelming numbers of requests to the computer that hosts that website. Worms have also been used to send out viruses to other computers, often without infecting the host machine--after all, what would it benefit the worm to shut down its host computer?
Trojans, in turn, are often used to insert worms and other malware on your computer, even if the Trojan itself does no damage.
But even if you don't care what happens to anyone else, you should still be concerned about one kind of malware: spyware, a kind of malware that, true to its name, collects data from your computer and sends it back to a remote host.
Most spyware is only interested in monitoring your internet usage so it can tell other programs, called adware, what advertising to popup on your computer. However, there are criminal spyware programs that steal financial data, or perform a thorough identity theft. Don't think you have personal or financial data on your computer? Some spyware programs contain a keylogger, which is a program that copies whatever you type, usually in order to snatch passwords. Even if you keep no financial information on your computer, if you ever buy anything over the web, the keylogger would allow its owner to buy stuff using the same information you typed in to buy stuff yourself.
Why Blame the Media?
Given the danger of all these different types of malware, isn't it a good thing that the mass media are becoming hysterical about it? And can't they be forgiven the sloppy reporting of calling Trojans, worms, spyware, and other malware "viruses"?
No, no, no.
This is a classic case of bad reporting doing more damage than no reporting at all. In this case, the damage bad reporting has done is to promote a common myth that goes something like this: "The only malicious software is a virus. Viruses damage your computer. Therefore, if my computer is working OK, my computer has no malicious software. I only need to scan my computer for problems when there is a sign of problems."
Thanks to this myth, many people complacently let their antivirus software go months out of date, not wanting to be bothered with scheduling an automatic update. Just as bad, many people don't have any extra software to combat the other types of malware that may not be covered by antivirus software.
In fact, it's not uncommon for people who have found malware on their computers after a scan to say, "but I never had malware on my computer before!" But how would they have known if they had never scanned!
Until the biggest mainstream media--and especially television--start educating the public about the need to have their computers automatically scanned at least daily, the world will continue to have major, drawn-out problems with malware that could have been wiped out as soon as soon as the anti-malware software makers discovered it.
And until that day, the mainstream media will have many more opportunities to run hysterical stories about "viruses," thereby forcing them to sell more newspapers and broadcast to even larger audiences of people who suck at the information trough yet somehow never become full.

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Beating Adware, The Sneakiest Software

Promoters of adware, software that shows advertising on a user's computer, use some cunning tricks to get you to install their software on your machine. Here's what to look out for.
Adware is, by definition, something reasonable people don't want on their computers. That's why malware can't just come out and ask people to install it. Often, the computer owner is completely unaware of it being installed. But not always.
When adware doesn't want to sneak in through an open window, it will try to trick you into letting it in through the front door. Don't think you could be tricked? Don't be so sure until you've checked out these most common ways people have been tricked into allowing malware to be installed on their machines.
Adware Installation Trick 1: Piggybacking
• How it works: malware may come bundled with a legitimate piece of software the user actually wants, such as a game or emoticon. The malware is merely labeled "companion software," without any indication of what it will do.
• How to fight it: be very suspicious of any software that comes bundled with other software. Don't installed software that comes bundled with other software unless you know everything that the bundled software does. After all, if the bundled program has anything to do with the program you actually want, why couldn't the software developer just get both programs' functionalities into a single piece of software? Software developers are now very sensitive to malware concerns and will provide a lengthy explanation of just why the bundled software is necessary, in the cases when they actually do need to use bundled software.
Adware Installation Trick 2: Bait and Switch
• How it works: since people are getting more and more suspicious of bundled software, the malware's developers may simply label it as valuable software, for instance, a browser plugin that supposedly accelerates web browsing (but in reality only shows ads).
• How to fight it: again, a suspicious mind is useful in avoiding malware. Ask yourself some questions:
o What will this software actually do? Malware often comes with very fuzzy claims attached. Sure, it says it will improve your browsing experience, but how? Often, this improved browsing experience just means a browsing experience with more advertising.
o If the software is so great, why is it being given away free? Most commonly, software is only given out free in two cases: if it's OpenSource (designed by a community of developers and not proprietary--OpenSource software is always clearly labeled as such); or simply a come-on for a fuller-featured version of the software. If neither case is true, there's a real chance the software is financed by adware.
Adware Installation Trick 3: Outright Lying
• How it works: malware may even be labeled as something else entirely, such as a well-known piece of software or a crucial component of the computer operating system.
• How to fight it: this is the trickiest malware of all, and requires extreme caution. You don't want to start deleting any of your program files, much less your system registry entries, unless you're absolutely sure it's malware. Plenty of overzealous parasite hunters have shot their own machines to bits this way. This is one case where you want to be using an anti-spyware program, and preferably a second anti-spyware program to provide a second opinion.
Getting Rid of Adware
Adware is so tricky that trying to uninstall it by yourself could be like a trip into the Matrix. Luckily, there are good anti-spyware programs that tackle adware as well--after all many adware programs are also spyware since they monitor your internet usage.
True, it may feel like adding insult to injury to have to install more software to get rid of software you never meant to install in the first place. But sometimes you just have to fight fire with fire.

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