With the release of SP3, it's time to say goodbye to Windows XP (maybe?)
May 6 th , 2008

It's time to say goodbye to an old friend. Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), due in the second quarter of 2008, will be the final XP service pack, according to Microsoft. XP SP2 shipped over three years ago and the company has since shipped hundreds of hot-fixes for the OS, giving users a painful updating experience, with multiple reboots when there been the need to reinstall Windows XP. SP3 will consolidate all of these fixes into a single package and, surprisingly, add a few new features, including some that--go figure--debuted first in XP's successor, Windows Vista .


Q: What is Service Pack 3?

A: Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is the final Windows XP service pack, a collection of previously-released fixes and product enhancements, as well as a few new features that are unique to this release.


Q: Does SP3 include everything from SP1 and SP2 or do I need to install those first?

A: Though XP SP3 aggregates all of the previously-released XP fixes, Microsoft now says that you will need to install at least SP1 on XP before installing SP3. The company recommends installing SP2 first as well, though that is not required.

Q: What versions of Windows XP will work with SP3?

A: You can apply Service Pack 3 to Windows XP Home Edition, Professional Edition, Tablet PC Edition (any version), or Media Center Edition (any version).


Q: What about Windows XP Professional x64 Edition?

A: SP3 does not apply to the x64 version of Windows XP. Instead, that operating system is updated via service packs aimed at Windows Server 2003. The latest Windows 2003 service pack is SP2.


Q: Windows XP SP2 was released over three years ago. Why the delay on SP3?

A: While Microsoft is an enormous company with over 77,000 employees worldwide and over $50 billion in annual revenues, its organizational structure actually constrains which products are actively developed in some cases. For example, while a large team of developers, product managers, and program managers are involved during the ramp-up to any major OS release, Microsoft then pushes the product into its support organization for follow-up development in the form of hot-fixes, service packs, and so on. Other teams work on out-of-band updates that are typically shipped via the Web and, eventually, a new or existing team is constituted to work on the next major release and the entire process begins anew.

With Windows XP, however, Microsoft was forced to temporarily halt development on XP's successor, Windows Vista, in order to complete XP SP2. That's because this release, though provided to customers for free as a typical service pack, was in fact a major OS upgrade and was developed outside of the company's support structure, a first for any service pack release. After XP SP2 was completed, the people involved with that project moved onto other things, typically Vista or Windows Server 2008.

In the case of Windows XP SP3, Microsoft simply dedicated every available employee it could to completing Windows Vista, which by that time was years behind schedule. So it's only been since the beginning of this year that anyone turned their attention back to XP's next and neglected service pack.

Q: What are these new features I keep hearing about?

A: Windows XP Service Pack 3 will not include any major new features, but it will include four minor new features that improve the system's reliability and security. Contrary to reports, Microsoft has been very up-front about these functional additions for quite some time now.

These new features include:

Network Access Protection compatibility. Announced years ago, this feature allows Windows XP machines to interact with the NAP feature in Windows Server 2008. This functionality is built into the RTM version of Windows Vista as well.

Product Key-less install option. As with Windows Vista, new XP with SP3 installs can proceed without entering a product key during Setup.

Kernel Mode Cryptographics Module. A new kernel module that "encapsulates several different cryptographic algorithms," according to Microsoft.

"Black hole" router detection algorithm. XP gains the ability to ignore network routers that incorrectly drop certain kinds of network packets. This, too, is a feature of Windows Vista.


Q: That's it? Is there anything else?

A: Nothing major. Some features have actually been removed, like the taskbar-based Address Bar option.

Q: Why is Microsoft even bothering to release this update? Isn't everyone moving to Windows Vista?

A: Given the relative security, stability, and reliability of XP with SP2, and the subsequent release of Vista , XP SP3 may seem like a pointless update, but nothing could be further from the truth. Many businesses will roll out new XP-based PCs in the coming years, and as anyone who's had to update an XP SP2 system can tell you, the 100+ updates that Microsoft has shipped since SP2 can be a nightmare to deploy. If you're already running XP and have been regularly updating your systems all along, the release of XP SP3 will be a minor event. But if you have planned XP deployments in the future, look very carefully at this release and consider it the baseline for your next generation of PCs. Or, you could always consider Vista , which will of course be updated with genuine new features far longer than will XP.


Q: When will Microsoft ship XP SP3?

A: Microsoft finalized Windows XP Service Pack 3 on April 21, 2008 and will release it publicly to the Web on April 29, 2008.

Here's the complete Windows XP SP3 release schedule:

RTM (release to manufacturing): April 21
Windows Update (optional update): April 29
Microsoft Download Center: April 29
MSDN/TechNet download: May 2
Windows XP SP3 fulfillment media (CD-based): May 19
Volume license customers download: June 1
Windows Update/Automatic Updates: June 10

Q: So with users now being forced to buy computers with Windows Vista only, what's a person to do if they still need Windows XP?

A: Some vendors Dell, HP, Fujitsu and others, will be selling systems with Vista as required but allow the purchaser to “downgrade” the system to Windows XP.

Dell's option is shown below: (Click here for full article)
Windows Vista ®   Business offers new features designed to help you focus more on what's important – your business. However, some businesses may not be ready to transition away from Windows ®   XP, and Dell can help ease the transition. Below are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions on this topic.

Is there any way to get Windows XP after June 30th?
Customers may continue to get Windows XP Professional by exercising Downgrade Rights that come with Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate licenses. Dell has the ability to exercise “Windows Vista downgrade rights” on your behalf in the factory if your business is still reliant upon Windows XP and you'd prefer to have Windows XP Professional preinstalled on your PCs.

So, what are Windows Vista “Downgrade Rights”?
Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate have what Microsoft calls “Downgrade Rights.” Downgrade Rights means that anyone with a Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate operating system can downgrade to Windows XP Professional provided they have the media for Windows XP Professional. Customers may use one operating system at any single point in time (cannot run both operating systems simultaneously unless an additional license is purchased). For customers who decide to exercise Downgrade Rights on their own, however, please note that Dell will only support the factory-installed operating system. Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Home Premium do not have this option, as they are not capable of downgrading to Windows XP.

EARTH DAY 2008
Tuesday April 22, 2008

As we become more dependent on electronic products thus making life more convenient, the stockpile of used, obsolete products continues to grow. Although used electronics represent less than two percent of the municipal solid waste stream, as we continue to replace old or outdated electronic equipment at our current rate, that percentage will continue to grow.

Computer monitors and older TV picture tubes contain an average of four pounds of lead and require special handling at the end of their lives. In addition to lead, electronics can contain chromium, cadmium, mercury, beryllium, nickel, zinc, and brominated flame retardants. When electronics are not disposed of or recycled properly, these toxic materials can present problems. Extending the life of your electronics or donating your most up-to-date and working electronics can save you money and saves valuable resources. Safely recycling outdated electronics can promote the safe management of hazardous components and supports the recovery and reuse of valuable materials. This site offers

1: Basic Information about reducing electronics waste
2: Frequent Questions and answers about electronic waste
3: Regulations/Standards for handling electronic equipment
4: Publications that offer valuable information about electronic waste
5: Related Links that include resources for recycling and donation programs
http://www.epa.gov/ecycling/index.htm

Do the PC Thing: Donate
Pass It On!
A working computer is a terrible thing to waste. Donating computers to those who need them is a win-win situation for business and the community. Reusing computers benefits communities, helps us use valuable materials wisely, and keeps working PCs out of the trash.

Do the PC Thing for Businesses:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/plugin/pdf/pcthing-bus.pdf

Do the PC Thing for Consumers:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/plugin/pdf/pcthing-con.pdf

Finding a Local Program
Our own MASS DEP agency has a full list of companies offering recycling resources.
http://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/reduce/electron.htm

Earth 911
Earth 911 is a comprehensive communication medium for the environment. Earth 911 has taken environmental hotlines, web sites and other information sources nationwide, and consolidated them into one network. Once you contact the Earth 911 network, you will find community-specific information on eCycling and much more.
http://earth911.org/electronics/

My Green Electronics
Provided by the Consumer Electronics Association, this site is a resource for consumers wishing to purchase green products and/or searching for local opportunities to recycle or donate used electronics.
http://www.mygreenelectronics.org/

Electronic Industries Alliance's Consumer Education Initiative
The Electronic Industries Alliance's eCycling Central Web site helps you find reuse, recycling and donation programs for electronics products in your state.
http://www.eiae.org/

TechSoup
TechSoup has compiled a comprehensive body of information to promote computer recycling and reuse. This site provides resources for those who would like to donate hardware, those who would like to acquire recycled hardware, and refurbishers.
http://www.techsoup.org/resources/index.cfm?action=resource.view_summary&resourcelist_id=144&style=recycle&set=products

Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC)
RBRC can help you recycle portable rechargeable batteries commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras, and remote control toys. Search for collection sites by zip code.
http://www.rbrc.org/call2recycle/dropoff/index.php

April Showers Bring….. Thunder Storms
Get Ready, Electrical Surges are on the Way!

April 15th, 2008
As we move steadily towards spring and summer's increased threat of violent thunderstorms, it's time to talk about protecting your computer equipment from the damage caused by power fluctuations. This primer will help you choose the correct uninterruptible power supply (UPS) device for your system.

There are a number of potential electrical problems to be aware of and protecting your computer equipment against surges, brownouts, over voltages, and blackouts should be your goal.

Power Surges
Power surges are an increase in the voltage that powers electrical equipment. Surges often go unnoticed; often they are quick (1/20th of a second) and absorbed by the power supply of a device. Stronger surges will go through a power supply, damaging any circuits as it moves along the grounding line.

Surges come from utility power systems that have become unstable or unreliable. Power grids often generate surges as they switch between sources to generate power. Local surges can occur when power is suddenly added or taken away from a local area. Good examples are if someone starts up an electrical motor or a fuse blows. In the case of a fuse blowing, for a moment there will be more power available to the rest of a house. This sudden excess power can cause a surge.

Lightning can send a spectacular power surge along any conductive line. This is more than just a standard surge -- no surge suppressor in the world will survive a direct lightning strike. By choosing the right power protection, your surge suppressor will take the hit, ending up melted, but your equipment will stay protected. Don't forget that telephone lines are also highly conductive.

Brownouts
Brownouts are periods of low voltage in utility lines that can cause lights to dim and equipment to fail. Also known as voltage sags, this is the most common power problem, accounting for up to 87% of all power disturbances. Brownouts can also be caused by damaged electrical lines, or equipment that draws massive amounts of power (hair dryers, air conditioners, laser printers).

When line voltages are lowered, electrical equipment pulls more current to compensate and generates more heat in the process. Over time, this can contribute to equipment failure.

Brownouts are often caused when utility companies must reduce their voltage output to deal with high power. Demand for power exceeds the supply of power. Brownouts are also referred to as undervoltages; there is power, just not enough to meet the demand of equipment using it. Brownouts place undue strain on power supplies and other internal components, forcing them to work harder in order to function. Extended brownouts can destroy electrical components and cause data glitches and hardware failure.

Overvoltages (spikes)
Undervoltages are often followed by "spikes," which are also damaging to computer components and data. Voltage variation can be the most damaging power problem to threaten your equipment. All electronic devices expect to receive a steady voltage (120 VAC in North America and 220/240 volts in many other parts of the world) in order to operate correctly. Overvoltages burn out power supplies and other components and can cause massive damage to electronic hardware. Extended overvoltages can even cause fires as electronics "fry" in the extra electricity.

Blackouts
Power failures, also known as blackouts, are the easiest power problem to diagnose. Any temporary, or not so temporary, interruption in the flow of electricity will result in a power failure which can cause hardware damage and data loss.

Blackouts can be caused by many things -- weather, overburdened power grids, or the severing of a power line. Power failures are more than simply inconvenient and annoying. Because most computers use a volatile storage method (writing to memory prior to saving on to a hard-drive), information is lost when power is removed. Data can become corrupted, and some devices can be damaged by the sudden loss of power. Just as overpower occurs with brownouts, when the power comes back, spikes can occur that may cause even more damage.

Line Noise
The term "line noise" refers to random fluctuations -- electrical impulses that are carried along with standard AC current. Turning on the fluorescent lights overhead, a refrigerator, laser printers, working near a radio station, using a power generator, or simply working during a lightning storm can all introduce line noise into computer systems.

Line noise interference can result in many different symptoms depending on the particular situation. Noise can introduce glitches and errors into programs and files. Hard drive components can be damaged. Televisions and computer monitors can display interference as "static" or "snow," and audio systems experience increased distortion levels. Noise suppression is stated as Decibel level (Db) at a specific frequency (KHz or MHz). The higher the Db, the greater the protection.

UPS Sizing
To correctly size the proper UPS for your needs, all you have to do is add up the total power draw of the equipment and select a unit from the UPS technical specification page that can support that load for the amount of time desired.

First, which pieces of equipment need UPS support. Typically, only the CPU and monitor are supported to cut down on power draw to the UPS, but you may wish to include peripheral systems like modems or inkjet printers. Laser printers should never be plugged into a UPS.

List the nameplate wattage ratings for all supported equipment. Manufacturers vary in how they express draw so you may have to convert numbers to determine VA load.

If the power draw is expressed in AMPS multiply by your nominal line voltage (North America = 120, Europe = 230, etc.)

If the power draw is expressed in WATTS , multiply by 1.4 for VA load

Example:

• Computer #1 -
• 230 watt power supply (x 1.4) = 322 VA load
• Monitor #1 - 0.7 amp (x 120) = 84 VA load
  
• Computer #2 -
• 2 amp power supply (x 120) = 240 VA load
  
• Total: 746 VA

Once you have calculated the total VA draw of the equipment, look for a UPS that is rated equal to or higher than the number generated. Do not overload UPS systems! UPS systems that attempt to support excessive loads will pop their circuit breakers and provide no runtime at all.

UPS Runtime
To determine runtime, calculate the total VA required by your equipment and compare against the full- and half-load run times listed for the UPS. Fully loaded, you can expect any UPS to give between 5 and 10 minutes runtime.

The VA rating of a UPS is considered full load. Half load is simply a VA load that is half of that figure. Smaller UPS loads lead to ever longer runtimes. And since most equipment doesn't pull its full VA load all the time, your run times may be significantly longer.

One or Several UPS's?
There are advantages and disadvantages to either approach. You should first determine the proximity of the equipment to the UPS. Running extension cords to power remote equipment will affect warranty and may be against local electrical codes.

Some people feel there is a pricing advantage in purchasing a single, large UPS, but this is becoming less and less the case. Price competition in the 400 - 675 VA range has driven prices down to the point that multiple UPS systems are now within everyone's price range.

MySpace launches new music service!
April 8th, 2008

Social networking site MySpace is launching a new music service backed by three of the world's biggest record companies. Users will be able to listen to songs and watch videos free and buy downloads from the site.

MySpace Music has done a deal with Universal, Sony BMG and Warner. EMI, whose artists include Robbie Williams, Coldplay and KT Tunstall, is not part of the deal though.

The service will make money through music download sales, advertising and sales of concert tickets, artist wallpaper, t-shirts and ringtones.

MySpace users will be able to customize their chosen content into playlists and will be able to buy tracks from the MySpace Music home page, on each of the site's five million artist profile pages or on individual user home pages. It can't get mush easier or more interactive than this – you see the artist, watch the video, listen to the tracks and buy just the ones you want.

According to MySpace, the music will not have copy protection on it which means you should be able to load it onto your MP3 player. The company has not said yet whether ALL the music will be copy protection, or DRM, free. That will most likely be up to the music label or perhaps the individual artists

Launch this year
MySpace CEO and co-founder, Chris DeWolfe, said: "Today represents the beginning of a new chapter in the story of modern music.

"We're proud to announce the marriage of the world's biggest collection of music content to the world's most popular music community."

The move is likely to worry Apple whose iTunes store is the market leader and currently, eight out of 10 songs sold online are purchased through iTunes.

The MySpace entry could mean cheaper downloads as competition heats up. MySpace has a readymade market of more than 100 million users and is likely to be more popular than services like SpiralFrog. www.spiralfrog.com

MySpace Music will be launched later this year.

Here's the current link to MySpace Music where you can listen to music tracks and watch the videos – keep checking the site for changes coming later this year.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music

Free File Hosting Made Simple
April 1st , 2008

Why use MediaFire?

MediaFire is the simplest way to host files and images and share them with others.

MediaFire is a free and unlimited file and image hosting web site with no strings attached. Our goal is to help make the internet a more interesting and media rich place by provide the fastest and most simple to use tool for sharing all kinds of files in almost any way imaginable. Registration is completely optional and every feature of the service is available to you whether you choose to create an account or not. If you choose to, creating an account is easy and free, allowing you to quick and secure access to your saved files from any computer.

Organize Your Files and Images

Create folders, instantly sort, search, move and browse your uploaded files with a fast Ajax powered file system.

Creating folders on MediaFire is easy! You can create an unlimited number of folders and sub folders to store, organize and share your files and images. MediaFire also provides easy to use privacy tools allowing you to keep some files hidden as private and other files downloadable as public. You can even set passwords for your sensitive files allowing you a flexible and adaptable free file hosting system.

Uploading your files couldn't be easier – choose up to 10 files at a time using their simple point and click interface and you're off and running.

Share Your Files and Images

Easily share large files and images by Email, Instant Messenger, and on your web site or MySpace page.

With MediaFire's easy to use sharing tools and embedding links you can share entire folders of files and images by email, instant messenger, or on your MySpace page, blog or forum. Folders also double as image galleries so sharing all your vacation photos or graphic design work in one place just got a whole lot simpler.

MediaFire currently has a file size limit of 100MB because bandwidth for serving downloads is the most expensive part of running a file hosting service.  For example, 200MB files are 2x more expensive to serve to downloaders as 100MB files, 1GB files are 10x more expensive to serve than 100MB files, etc.

By limiting the maximum file size to 100MB, MediaFire can offer features that no other single file hosting service offers for free:

Unlimited disk space
Unlimited bandwidth to serve any files under 100MB
Unlimited downloads of any files under 100MB
Unlimited uploads
No waits, lines, or queues to download files
No daily download limits
No download speed limits
Support for most popular download managers/accelerators
Multiple simultaneous downloads

In Q2 of 2008, MediaFire will be launching a subscription based service that will let you upload much larger files and provide a Flash uploader with additional bells and whistles. Yes – this will be a paid for service. The FREE accounts will be maintained and continue to be advertising supported.

MediaFire was rated one of the Top 100 Undiscoverd WebSites by PC Magazine. To learn more about MediaFire from their FAQ's :

http://support.mediafire.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=view

Windows XP SP3 indicates Microsoft will continue to focus on security.

Some three and half years from the general release of Windows XP Service Pack 2, and with the support of corporate IT managers waning, Microsoft is preparing to release an update to its seven year-old desktop operating system. However, Microsoft has said that Service Pack 3 will once again focus on security, and so those expecting to see features from Windows Vista will be sorely disappointed.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system, and is designed to improve overall system performance and stability. For IT departments, Windows XP SP3 signals a new baseline for standard operating environments (SOE), and so organizations are being encouraged to assess the suitability of this major update by downloading the code from Microsoft's Technet website.

Although not visible to the end user, SP3 does include some functionality updates. These are, however, consigned to updates such as Microsoft Management Console (MMC 3.0), Microsoft's XML parser (MSXML6), and the Microsoft Windows Installer.

In terms of useful networking and security updates, SP3 includes support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) and Network Access Protection (NAP) - one feature that has found its way from Windows Vista. However, interestingly, SP3 does not impose Internet Explorer 7 upon organizations and their users. Instead, SP3 will patch whichever version of Internet Explorer it finds on the target system, for example IE6 or IE7.

Although Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) has already been released to manufacturing, Butler Group has seen little interest in Microsoft's latest Windows desktop operating system, and so predicts that, for the most part, Windows Vista SP1 will remain something of an irrelevancy for most IT managers and their organizations.

One issue worth considering is the supposed shelf-life of Windows XP. With System Builder licenses available only until the end of January 2009 (June 2008 for the retail channel), and with demand for Windows Vista in the enterprise extremely weak, Microsoft is coming under increasing pressure to re-think its Windows lifecycle policy. Indeed, InfoWorld is asking users to register their objections to this forced migration by signing its 'Help Save XP' petition. We spoke of this in an earlier report and the site is still getting plenty of action.

InfoWorld, a popular website for IT professionals, has the following to say on the matter: "Microsoft plans to end most sales of Windows XP on June 30, despite a deep reluctance by many business and individuals about moving to Vista . InfoWorld believes such an expensive, time-consuming shift with problematic benefits should not be forced on Windows users, so we have decided to rally XP users to demand that XP be kept available."

With Windows Vista a year in the market and Windows XP a year or so away from its supposed retirement, Microsoft is in danger of letting its Windows lifecycle policy get out of sync with reality. In the meantime, however, Windows XP SP3 provides Microsoft with yet another opportunity to address real and significant security concerns, and so the company would do well to promote Windows XP SP3 over Windows Vista SP1. However, whether or not the company will adopt this policy remains to be seen.

In related news: Microsoft is lowering the price of consumer versions of Windows Vista.

Microsoft's plans to lower prices on consumer versions of Windows Vista are a clear indication that Vista has not had the expected uptake in the home market. While the company is keen to point out that retail sales are only a small part of total Windows-based revenue, there has always been a correlation between home and business users, which suggests business uptake is similarly disappointing.

For the full story:
http://www.cbronline.com/article_feature.asp?guid=CB9DDCAE-49CE-4131-B594-B0F91EB98EA1

March 10th , 2008

Hot off the heels of Internet Explorer 7 comes the next “end all - be all” internet browser from Microsoft.


Are YOU ready to take the plunge? If so, keep a few things in mind,

1: IE8 is in BETA release – CRASHES ARE GUARANTEED!

2: IE7 and IE8 cannot co-exist. If you install this beta 1 version, IE* becomes your primary browser.

3: There seems to be a compatibility issue between IE8 and the widely used Google and Yahoo toolbars. You will have to forgo these add-ons for the immediate future.

4: Read through the articles I've provided links for at the bottom of this page and make sure you know the implications if you intend to go down this path. I, for one, intend to pass on this initial beta release. We still aren't fully satisfied with IE7 so why mess with this version.

Once we get a later BETA version installed and working on a test machine, I'll revisit this with our personal experience.

So - according to Microsoft, here are some of the New and exciting features:

Activities
Activities are contextual services to quickly access a service from any webpage. Users typically copy and paste from one webpage to another. Internet Explorer 8 Activities make this common pattern easier to do.

Activities typically involve two types of scenarios: "look up" information within a webpage or "send" web content to a web application. For example, a user is interested in a restaurant and wants to see the location of it. This is the form of a "look up" Activity where the user selects the address and views an in-place view of the map using his favorite map service.

An example of a "send" Activity is a user reads an interesting article and wants to blog about a portion of the article. The user can select a portion of the article and uses the blog Activity. This navigates to the user's blog site with the selection already available in the edit field.

Activities are services that the user can install and manage. Users can install them from the Internet Explorer 8 Service Guide or through any website that advertises Activities.

WebSlices

WebSlices is a new feature for websites to connect to their users by subscribing to content directly within a webpage. WebSlices behave just like feeds where clients can subscribe to get updates and notify the user of changes.

Internet Explorer 8 Users can discover WebSlices within a webpage and add them to the Favorites bar, a dedicated row below the Address bar for easy access to links. Internet Explorer 8 subscribes to the webpage, detects changes in the WebSlice, and notifies the user of updates. Users can preview these updates directly from the Favorites bar and click-through to the website to get more information.

Favorites Bar

In Internet Explorer 7, the Links bar provided users with one-click access to their favorite sites. The Links bar has undergone a complete makeover for Internet Explorer 8. It has been renamed the Favorites bar to enable users to associate this bar as a place to put and easily access all their favorite web content such as links, feeds, WebSlices and even Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

A user can easily add a link to the Favorites bar by using the Add to Favorites button and selecting the Add to Favorites Bar option.

Automatic Crash Recovery

Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR) is a feature of Windows ® Internet Explorer ® 8 that can help to prevent the loss of work and productivity in the unlikely event of the browser crashing or hanging. The ACR feature takes advantage of the Loosely-Coupled Internet Explorer feature to provide new crash recovery capabilities, such as tab recovery, which will minimize interruptions to users' browsing sessions.

See Automatic Crash Recovery white paper for more information.

Improved Phishing Filter

Internet Explorer 7 introduced the Phishing Filter, a feature which helps warn users when they visit a Phishing site. Phishing sites spoof a trusted legitimate site, with the goal of stealing the user's personal or financial information. For Internet Explorer 8, we are building on the success of the Phishing Filter with a more comprehensive feature called the "Safety Filter."

For IT administrators, new Group Policy options are available to remove the user-override option and fully block access to known unsafe sites.

Five things you'll love (or hate) about IE8
http://blogs.computerworld.com/five_things_youll_love_or_hate_about_ie8

PC Magazines take and screenshots
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2273696,00.asp

Washington Post Article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/05/AR2008030503239.html

CNet News
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9886854-56.html?tag=newsmap

If you STILL want to experience Internet Explorer 8 after reviewing the articles above, here's the link to all the Internet Explorer 8 BETA downloads
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/readiness/Install.htm

Another Slice of Internet Life
Is this site really necessary?

Well, it was bound to happen. Now there's an online repository for all the email jokes “some” people are so fond of sharing.

You know who I mean - friends, family, co-workers - even people you've never met think nothing of adding you to their joke list.

Here's one response to these types of forwards (yup – you guessed it - this graphic came from a forwarded email)

So What's This All About?
FWDitOn.com states it's a repository for all of the funny emails circulating the Internet.

What Is A Forward?
A FWD is on of those funny/gross/disgusting/interesting/amazing/heart-warming emails we all get in our inboxes (almost) every day. We call these emails "FWD's" (pronounced as "forwards") due to the long list of "FWD: FWD: FW: FWD:" which these emails always seem to have in their subject lines from continuously being forwarded on from person to person

Users of this website can rate the fwd's out of 5 stars. The site records this information to create a list of the best fwd's circulating around the internet.

You don't need to have an account in order to use this website, however, members do get access to some extra features. Thanks but I think I'll pass…

For those of you who would like to review the site and see what it offers and how it works go to:

www.fwditon.com

Now for the rest of us, if anyone out there knows of a site to counteract this sites purpose, please let me know. I'd love to find a way to get my email address removed from junk email lists – perhaps something similar to the governments Do Not Call List would be appropriate.

Now that's a service that would probably be a real money maker!

Pakistan's YouTube Censorship Triggers Worldwide Outage
February 26, 2008

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's deputy director for enforcement sent a memo announcing the ban to major ISPs on Feb. 22. The PTA asked Pakistani ISPs to block access to three IP addresses that are associated with YouTube's site. The ISPs could have used one of several methods to block access to the IP addresses, said Danny McPherson, chief research officer at security provider Arbor Networks.

For a couple of hours on Sunday, access to YouTube worldwide was cut, the result of the Pakistani government's banning YouTube in their country.

Access to YouTube elsewhere was restored after two hours or so, but the question on everyone's minds is, can this happen again?

Why the Ban?
Reports say the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) imposed the ban for two reasons: Controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were posted on YouTube, and the site carried a trailer for a forthcoming film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders portraying Islam as a fascist religion prone to inciting violence against women and homosexuals.

The cartoons caused a furor among Muslims worldwide when they were printed in a Danish newspaper in 2005 -- riots led to at least 50 deaths and attacks on three Danish embassies. Earlier this month, they were reprinted by several Danish newspapers in response to a recently uncovered plot to murder the cartoonist.

The PTA urged Pakistani Internet users to write YouTube requesting the offending materials be removed. It has told Pakistan 's 70-odd Internet service providers that YouTube will be banned until further notice. The PTA's deputy director for enforcement sent memo announcing the ban to major ISPs on Feb. 22.

The Technical Details
The PTA asked Pakistani ISPs to block access to three IP addresses that are associated with YouTube's site.

The ISPs could have used one of several methods to block access to the IP addresses, Danny McPherson, chief research officer at network infrastructure security provider Arbor Networks, as quoted by TechNewsWorld.

They could have deployed access-control lists on all their router interfaces leading to those addresses; route the three IP addresses to a null, the ISP equivalent of a black hole on the network; or basically have all packets that were being sent to or from those three IP addresses automatically discarded by the network.

The second option requires the ISPs to add static routes to every router in their networks. However, the effect of that is to tell the world that traffic to those three IP addresses should be sent to the ISPs instead of to YouTube.

This, in essence, is what happened. The fact that today anyone connected to the Internet could potentially go out and announce reachability for anyone else in the Internet space is a huge problem.

A Complicated Problem
YouTube is working to prevent similar problems recurring. "We are investigating and working with others in the Internet community to prevent this from happening again," states YouTube spokesperson Kathleen Fitzgerald.

Will that work? Probably not.
There's no authoritative source on the Internet for who owns what address space where you could do real-time address changes.

What about the Internet Routing Registry, with which ISPs register Internet addresses? "The problem is that, when your customers get new address spaces, you may not update that," McPherson said. "You don't have automated updates, no one does any filtering, and it's this huge vulnerability."

Part of the problem is that the Border Gateway Protocol, which Internet service providers use BGP to inform each other which IP address goes where, is not robust. BGP works by maintaining a table of IP networks or "prefixes," which designate network reachability among autonomous systems. It makes routing decisions based on path, network policies and rule sets.

BGP was developed in an attempt to prevent anyone from, essentially, hijacking someone else's IP addresses, as happened to YouTube, but it has a lot of holes. Remember, basically the Internet's simply a bunch of loosely connected networks run by different administrators.

What Were They Thinking????
February, 19th 2008

Lately, we've been getting a number of calls (from clients and users here in our office) stating they can't open a file that they are “absolutely positive” is a Microsoft Word document. These users aren't crazy… Yes - it is a Word document they can't open and it's because the document was created in Microsoft Word 2007.

You've got to wonder what goes through Microsoft's programmer's heads when they release a product that is not inherently backwards compatible. Are they trying to tick off the millions of MS Word 2003 users that don't see a need to upgrade to 2007? Perhaps it's just another way to scare consumers into a forced upgrade. What ever the thought process (or lack of) behind this decision, here's a little explanation and a work around to help folks avoid an expensive upgrade.

Microsoft Office 2007 provides a lot of new features and functionality. Here are some tips for dealing with compatibility issues when you upgrade to the latest version of Word.

Understanding and using the new file formats

All the Office 2007 programs use new default file formats based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). The new formats are indicated by an “x” in the file extension. For example:

• Word documents: .docx
• Excel workbooks: .xlsx
• PowerPoint presentations: .pptx

XML is an open standard, and the change makes it easier to move files between different applications. It also makes file sizes smaller than those saved in the old binary formats. However, some users with previous versions of Office may not be able to open files in the new formats.

You can still save files in Office 2007 programs in Office 2003 file formats. Just select Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc) from the Save As Type drop-down list in the Save As dialog box, as shown in Figure A .

Figure A: You can easily save individual files in the old Office 2003 formats .

Changing the default format

If you want to always save files in the old format by default, click the Office button, then the <program name> Options button, and select Save in the left pane. Choose Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc) from the Save Files In This Format drop-down list, as shown in Figure B .

Figure B: You can set the default to always save files in the old Office 2003 format.

When you save a file in the old format that was originally created in the new format, you may get a message advising that some of the formatting and features that are only supported by Office 2007 programs will be lost but at least the majority of Word users will be able to open the document.

Using Office 2007 compatibility mode

Office 2007 programs introduce a new feature called compatibility mode. If you frequently share files with others who haven't upgraded or you need to work on your files on another computer (for example, a laptop) that doesn't have Office 2007 installed, you can ensure that the files you create in Office 2007 don't contain any features that aren't supported by the previous version of the Office program.

If you place your Office 2007 applications in compatibility mode, incompatible features, such as the SmartArt diagramming tool, won't be available to you. Instead, you'll use the diagramming tool from Office 2003 so that the diagrams you create can be edited in the older version of the program.

Compatibility mode is automatically on when you open a file that was saved in the old file formats, when you convert a file from the XML-based format to the older format, or when you configure the program to save to the old format by default. In Word, compatibility mode also kicks in if you create a new document from an old-format template (.dot).

When the Office 2007 program is in compatibility mode, it will be indicated in the document title bar, as shown in Figure C .

Figure C: Office Compatibility Mode is indicated in the title bar of the document.

Some features can be returned to the document if you reopen it in an Office 2007 program; others can't. For a full list of the features that are lost when you work in compatibility mode and which ones can be refreshed, see the article “ Compatibility Mode in the 2007 Office System “ on the Microsoft TechNet site.

Installing the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack

If someone with whom you exchange files is still running an older version of Office and you want to be able to send them files in the new XML formats (for instance, so they can see the formatting features that are unique to Office 2007), they can install the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack.

The Compatibility Pack allows users of Office XP or Office 2003 to open, edit, save and even create files in the new XML-based formats. The pack is available as a free 27.1 MB download from the Microsoft Web site . It can be installed on machines running Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP1, and Windows Server 2003.

It's Almost Time! Windows Vista SP1 is right around the corner…

February 5th, 2008

Microsoft has finally ended the “beta” test on their MS Vista Service Pack 1 and we should expect to see the release candidate available for download over the next few weeks.

Microsoft released the latest pre-release build of SP1 – ‘Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh' to approximately 15,000 beta testers. This group includes corporate customers, consumer enthusiasts, software and hardware vendors, and others. The code is not available for public download yet. You may recall that Microsoft released a publicly available test build of Windows Vista SP1 back in December 2007.

A Microsoft spokesperson said “We are still on schedule to deliver SP1 RTM in Q1 2008. The final release date is based on quality, so we will continue to track customer and partner feedback from the beta program before setting a final date.”

Word on the Microsoft street is the Vista team is aiming to deliver the final SP1 code at the same time as Windows Server 2008 becomes available, which is expected in February (and some time before the big Windows Server 2008/SQL Server 2008/Visual Studio 2008 launch on February 27, 2008).

Microsoft also pushed out this week several new Windows Vista reliability and performance updates via Windows Update, as well as an update to the BitLocker encryption component of Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate that will be a prerequisite for successful installation of SP1.

What will this mean for users?
Hopefully a more stable and robust version of the Vista operating system – here's some of the info Microsoft has decided to share.

First, Windows Vista SP1 will include all previously released updates for Windows Vista. It also will include security, reliability, and performance improvements. These improvements target some of the issues Microsoft has identified as the most common causes of operating system crashes and hangs, giving customers a more reliable experience. These updates also improve performance in key scenarios-for example, when copying files or shutting down the computer.

The following sections describe many of the security, reliability, and performance improvements that will be in Windows Vista SP1.

Security

Security improvements that will be in Windows Vista SP1 include:

• Provides security software vendors a more secure way to communicate with Windows Security Center .
• Includes application programming interfaces (APIs) by which third-party security and malicious software detection applications can work with kernel patch protection on x64 versions of Windows Vista. These APIs help ISVs develop software that extends the functionality of the Windows kernel on x64 computers without disabling or weakening the protection offered by kernel patch protection.
• Improves the security of running RemoteApp programs and desktops by allowing Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) files to be signed. Customers can differentiate user experiences based on publisher identity.
• Adds an Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) to the list of available PRNGs in Windows Vista.
• Enhances BitLocker Drive Encryption (BDE) to offer an additional multifactor authentication method that combines a key protected by the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with a Startup key stored on a USB storage device and a user-generated personal identification number (PIN).

Reliability

Windows Vista SP1 will include improvements that target some of the most common causes of crashes and hangs, giving users a more consistent experience. Many of these improvements will specifically address issues identified from the Windows Error Reporting tool. The following list describes some of the reliability improvements that Windows Vista SP1 will include:

• Improved reliability and compatibility of Windows Vista when used with newer graphics cards in several specific scenarios and configurations.
• Improved reliability when working with external displays on a laptop.
• Improved Windows Vista reliability in networking configuration scenarios.
• Improved reliability of systems that were upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista.
• Increased compatibility with many printer drivers.
• Increased reliability and performance of Windows Vista when entering sleep and resuming from sleep.

Performance

The following list describes some of the performance improvements that Windows Vista SP1 will include:

• Improves the speed of copying and extracting files.
• Improves the time to become active from Hibernate and Resume modes.
• Improves the performance of domain-joined PCs when operating off the domain; in the current release version of Windows Vista, users would experience long delays when opening the File dialog box.
• Improves performance of Windows® Internet Explorer® 7 in Windows Vista, reducing CPU utilization and speeding JavaScript parsing.
• Improves battery life by reducing CPU utilization by not redrawing the screen as frequently, on certain computers.
• Improves the logon experience by removing the occasional 10-second delay between pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL and the password prompt displaying.
• Addresses an issue in the current version of Windows Vista that makes browsing network file shares consume significant bandwidth and not perform as fast as expected.

For the complete list, or perhaps just as much as Microsoft wants us to know today, check out this whitepaper.
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/windows-vista-service-pack-1-beta-whitepaper.aspx

This is going to be a BIG download and only time will tell if the wait will have been worth it.
Remember you can still opt to try and SAVE WINDOWS XP by adding your name to the list on the InfoWorld website.

http://www.savexp.comhttp://reg.itworld.com/servlet/Frs.frs?Context=LOGENTRY&Source=entdesk080102&Source_BC=13&Script=/LP/80276783/reg&

Some Digital Photo Frames Sold at Best Buy During Holidays Found To Contain A Virus!
January 29th, 2008

Do you have one of these cool little gadgets on your desk?

If you bought a 10.4-inch Insignia-branded photo frame with model number NS-DPF-10A from Best Buy during the holidays, then beware: The device may come with a virus that can infect Windows-based computers.

Best Buy has taken all the remaining Insignia-branded frames off its store shelves and has discontinued producing them. According to the Insignia Web site , "this is an older virus which is easily identified and removed by current anti-virus software."

The company is also providing telephone support for any consumers concerned they have one of the infected frames at 1-877-467-4289. (Note: Insignia is a brand name created and owned by Best Buy to create several lines of consumer electronics products for distribution through its stores. This is similar to store brands of other types that consumers typically see in everything from grocery stores to auto parts dealers.)

This isn't the first time a consumer electronics product comes installed with a little something extra that the consumer wasn't counting on. GPS maker TomTom found out the hard way in late 2006 that a batch of its GO 910 units were infected at the factory level with a virus. And even the beloved iPod hasn't been immune , with an incident also in late 2006 where a collection of its 5.5-gigabyte MP3 players sprung up with a virus that was inserted at the manufacturing point. (That virus only infected Windows machines, as well.)

How does this happen? Typically, it's not the work of some nefarious factory employee who wants to sabotage a product line. Instead, the people who work at these manufacturing points are just as susceptible as the rest of us to mistakenly downloading a virus onto their work computers. This virus then replicates itself and ultimately makes its way onto one of the computers that is tasked with setting up the consumer electronics products destined for store shelves.

Both Apple and TomTom stated at the time that they were reviewing their manufacturing processes to prevent this from happening again and issued warnings and advice to consumers, just as Best Buy and Insignia are doing now.

Best Buy has not issued a recall of the photo frames. Since the flaw is (apparently) easy to correct, we don't think a panic is forthcoming -- or necessary - but... let's see what happens.

Insignia's Second Notice To Consumers:
http://www.insignia-products.com/news.aspx?showarticle=14

Computer World Article:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9058638

Save Windows XP! The Clock Is Ticking!
January 22, 2008

Microsoft plans to end most sales of Windows XP on June 30, despite a deep reluctance by many business and individuals about moving to Vista . InfoWorld believes such an expensive, time-consuming shift with problematic benefits should not be forced on Windows users, so they have decided to rally XP users to demand that XP be kept available.

Microsoft will end OEM and shrink-wrapped sales of Windows XP on June 30, 2008 , forcing users to move to Vista . Don't let that happen!

Join the 41,185 people so far who have signed InfoWorld's online petition to demand that Microsoft not stop OEM and shrink wrapped sales of Windows XP as planned on June 30, 2008, but instead keep it available indefinitely.

Millions of us have grown comfortable with XP and don't see a need to change to Vista . It's like having a comfortable apartment that you've enjoyed coming home to for years, only to get an eviction notice. The thought of moving to a new place -- even with the stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and maple cabinets (or is cherry in this year?) -- just doesn't sit right. Maybe it'll be more modern, but it will also cost more and likely not be as good a fit. And you don't have any other reason to move.

That's exactly the conclusion people have come to with Vista . For most of us, there's really no reason to move to it -- yet we don't have a choice. When that strong desire to stick with XP became obvious in spring 2007, major computer makers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard quietly reintroduced new XP-based systems (but just to business customers, so as not to offend Microsoft). Come June 30, however, even that option goes away.

So what to do? Let Microsoft decide where your personal and enterprise software "lives"? Or send a loud and clear message that you don't want to move?

InfoWorld is going for the loud-and-clear option. Sign the petition, and tell Microsoft that you want to keep XP available indefinitely. Not for another six months or a year but indefinitely. Ak your friends and colleagues to join in, too. Just point them to SaveXP.com for a quick link to the petition.

Don't think Microsoft will listen? Consider this: Although Microsoft denies that anything is wrong with Vista or that most people don't want it, the company has already postponed XP's demise by six months. That's a start, but it's just not good enough.

Microsoft doesn't have to admit failure; it can just say it will keep XP available indefinitely due to customer demand. It can take that opportunity to try again with a better Vista , or just move on to the next version that maybe this time we'll all actually want.

There's a precedent for that, too: In many respects, Vista is like the Windows Millennium Edition that was meant to replace Windows 98 in 2000 but caused more trouble than it was worth. At that time, Windows 2000 was promising but didn't support a lot of hardware, so users were stuck between two bad choices. Without admitting Millennium's failure, Microsoft quietly put Windows 98 back on the market until the fixed version of Windows 2000 (SP1) was available. Microsoft needs to do something like that again today.

Make sure your voice is heard by Microsoft. Sign the petition to save XP today and InfoWorld will present it to Microsoft.

http://www.savexp.com

How Companies Can Use Your Personal Data Against You
January 15 th , 2008

When you're stacking up grocery items at the checkout line, you're probably not worried about whether your supermarket chain is compiling a profile of you based on what you buy, and storing that information for its own use. After all, who cares if you buy one brand of tissues over another, or favor name-brand microwave pizzas over store brands?

Supermarket chains care. So does CVS. So much so that they use discount cards (referred to as "membership" or "loyalty" cards) to offer you what seem like great bargains. They use the cards to keep tabs on what you purchase, how often you shop, and what your buying preferences are.

With private companies collecting your personal data like never before, why be concerned? Because the information can hurt you. For Instance…

Loyalty Cards
Supermarkets and pharmacies offer discounts when you sign up for their loyalty cards. But every time you swipe your card, your purchases are recorded for marketing purposes. Stop and Shop now features “Shopping Buddy” which will soon identify you by your loyalty card, present you with a list of items you've purchased in the past and even make recommendations for items you might like based on previous purchases. Sounds like it might be a good thing??? Perhaps not.

The Problem
These buying records are now being sold to life and health insurance companies, who use them to evaluate your rates based on your food and non-prescription drug purchases. You may be buying stuff for a friend or relative, but the database still logs you as the end user. Do you really want your HMO to know your shopping habits?

Self-Defense
If possible, avoid giving your full name when you sign up for a card. Many stores let you sign up anonymously as “Store Customer”. If the person attempting to sign you up says you can't do that, ask to speak to the manager. In many cases these folks are being paid by the number of new customers they sign up. If you can't sign up anonymously perhaps it would be best to refuse the loyalty card altogether.

Lastly – if you're concerned – ask for a copy of their Privacy Policy. I searched Stop and Shops website in vain, never finding their policy but CVS.com has a link to theirs from almost every page. Remember once your personal data has been collected it has a nasty habit of never going away.

Another take on loyalty cards:
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/16389/

In researching this piece, I was asked to report on the E-Z Pass system and the rumors surrounding it. Rumor has it that the E-Z Pass system is tracking how fast you travel between tolls in order to issue speeding tickets.

E-Z Pass was created to help speed traffic flow and decrease congestion at toll booths. The rumor mill is reporting that several states use this technology to issue speeding tickets – if you travel too quickly between tolls on the highway! In effect, you can get a speeding ticket even if you don't get caught speeding. What's more, E-Z Pass records have been turned over to law enforcement to track people's whereabouts and have been subpoenaed in civil lawsuits, including divorces.

Debunking the myth
Although there are many articles and resources talking about this, let's look at it logically.

Speeding ticket's NOT issued be a police officer that actually saw you violating a law are worthless. There have been many attempts to set up systems to monitor speeding vehicles, record the license plate and issue a ticket but the main problem is that an individuals drivers license is personal and there is no way to detect who the actual driver is in order to give the ticket. It's not like a parking ticket that just goes against who ever owns the car.

The system that E-Z Pass is putting into place is strictly for safety purposes at this time. If anyone ever gets one of these so called speeding tickets you can take it to court and plead not guilty. The ticket will be thrown out simply because there is no issuing officer to represent the letter of the law.

Washington Post sticks by RIAA story despite evidence it goofed...

Well, it's late on Monday evening and the Washington Post has yet to correct a story that accused the recording industry of trying to paint law-abiding music fans as criminals.

Marc Fisher, a Post columnist, wrote on Sunday that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) asserted in a legal brief that anyone who copies music from a CD onto their computer is a thief.

The document, filed last month, was part of the RIAA's copyright suit against Jeffrey Howell, an Arizona resident accused of illegal file sharing.

Quoting from the brief, Fisher wrote that the RIAA had argued that MP3 files created from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" and violate the law. If it were true, the move would represent a major shift in strategy by the RIAA, which typically hasn't challenged an individual's right to copy CDs for personal use.

The problem with Fisher's story is that nowhere in the RIAA's brief does the group call someone a criminal for simply copying music to a computer. Throughout the 21-page brief, the recording industry defines what it considers to be illegal behavior and it boils down to this: creating digital recordings from CDs and then uploading them to file-sharing networks.

A sentence on page 15 of the brief clearly spells out the RIAA's position: "Once (Howell) converted plaintiff's recording into the compressed MP3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies distributed by Plaintiff."

The key words there are "shared folder" and it's an important distinction. It means that before the RIAA considers someone a criminal, a person has to at least appear to be distributing music.

The Post story, which followed similar pieces in Ars Technica and Wired.com, has spurred scores of other media outlets to repeat the paper's erroneous assertion. Ironically, even typically anti-RIAA blogs, such as Engadget, Gizmodo and TechDirt have jumped in on the side of the RIAA.

"The Washington Post story is wrong," said Jonathan Lamy, an RIAA spokesman. "As numerous commentators have since discovered after taking the time to read our brief, the record companies did not allege that ripping a lawfully acquired CD to a computer or transferring a copy to an MP3 player is infringement. This case is about the illegal distribution of copyrighted songs on a peer-to-peer network, not making copies of legally acquired music for personal use."

After reading Lamy's statement, Fisher didn't back down. He responded in an e-mail to CNET News.com: "The bottom line is that there is a disconnect between RIAA's publicly stated policy that making a personal copy of a CD is ok and the theory advanced by its lawyers that in fact, transferring music to your computer is an unauthorized act."

He took one more shot before signing off: "Rather than suing its customers and slamming reporters, the RIAA might better spend its energies focusing on winning back the trust of an alienated consumer base."

Still, Fisher received little support from respected and independent copyright experts. William Patry, the copyright guru at Google--not exactly known as a lackey for copyright holders--wrote on his blog that the RIAA is being "unfairly maligned" in the Post story.

Patry does, however, caution that recent statements made by the RIAA and included in Fisher's story reflect the group's growing tendency to use language as a means of control.

Fisher quoted Sony BMG's chief of litigation, Jennifer Pariser, who testified recently in court that "when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song."

Patry disagreed.
"This new rhetoric of 'everything anyone does without (RIAA) permission is stealing' is well worth noting and well worth challenging at every occasion," Patry wrote. "It is the rhetoric of copyright as an ancient property right, permitting copyright owners to control all uses as a natural right; the converse is that everyone else is an immoral thief."

Washington Post Article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693_pf.html

See the legal brief here:
http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=atlantic_howell_071207RIAASupplementalBrief

Where's Santa? NORAD Knows!
December 18th , 2007


www.noradsanta.org

Norad has been successfully tracking Santa for 51 years – with 2007 being 52.

First, it may help to know what NORAD stands for. NORAD is an abbreviation for the North American Air Defense Command, which was known as CONAD, or the Continental Air Defense Command, until the late 1950s. In 1958, the United States and Canada joined forces to form NORAD in order to warn and defend the continent more effectively in the case of an attack. The North American Air Defense Command watches the airways for intrusions such as planes or missiles and warns if any unrecognized object should enter protected airways and more recently, waterways as well.

So, why does such an important entity like NORAD track Santa Claus? That also started back in the 1950s and came about because of a simple mistake. In 1955, a Sears store, at the time known as Sears Roebuck and Company, placed Christmas advertising that included a phone number where children could call and reach Santa Claus. The only problem was that the phone number was printed incorrectly.

As excited children began dialing on Christmas Eve, they reached CONAD, instead of Santa. The Colonel in charge recognized what had occurred, and in an act of kindness, had his team check the radar to see where Santa might be. Children were told of his speculated location when they called.

Tracking Santa became a Christmas Eve custom after that. When CONAD became NORAD, the custom was passed along and is still in practice today. Information about Santa is now available in six different languages and children and their families can track Santa by calling or by viewing the NORAD website. The NORAD site also has a countdown that shows exactly how long it will be until Santa leaves the North Pole which includes the days, the hours, the minutes, and even the seconds. Children can learn the very second Santa begins his journey, and track his progress toward their locations.

For those “Grinch' type folks who might be concerned about this use of taxpayer's dollars, remember that much of this effort is simply an exercise in creativity and imagination. In addition, NORAD states that people from both the United States and Canada work voluntarily to help track Santa Claus. If you would like to learn more about this Christmas Eve tradition, or if you would like to follow Santa's progress, please visit the NORAD website for more information.

Last year (2007) 756 volunteers answered 65,355 phone calls between 2 a.m. Christmas Eve and 2 a.m. Christmas Day, reports Major Stacia Reddish, NORAD's Track Santa project officer. NORAD volunteers received calls from every state in the U. S. , with the most callers phoning in from Texas , California and Florida . "All of those poor states with no snow," Major Reddish said.

Between Nov. 17 and Dec. 31, 2007 the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site, www.noradsanta.org, received 907,958,865 hits from 210 countries and territories around the world.

Norad Santa Website:
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.htm

New for 2008 check out the Official Santa Mail website for fun games and much more:
http://www.officialsantamail.com/

From the entire ACTSmart team, Merry Christmas to all and to Santa, good flight!

How to Fully DeGunk Your PC
December 11, 2007

One of the things we hate most on a personal computer is crapware. It slows your PC to a crawl, often causes instability and crashes, eats up valuable resources and screen real estate, and may even border on malware. We spoke about this topic a few months ago and I mentioned CCleaner as a partial solution, but it wasn't the total solution that really scrubbed the computer clean. This time, I'm going to show you thoroughly scrub a PC of crapware, but first I'm going to give a few definitions.

Definition of Crapware
Crapware is software you don't want on your computer. Not everyone will agree on what is and what isn't crapware because a piece of software that one person wants might be something that another person doesn't. Some software will fall in the gray area where people need—or they think they need—certain features of the software but it causes them grief by resulting in system slowdown or instability. Although we can technically define malware, spyware, or adware as crapware because it's software that people definitely don't want, those three typically get put in to the category of malware.

Examples of Crapware
Crapware might come in the form of a bloated driver CD that installs additional junk on top of the required driver. It might be software that came with a router, printer, or broadband service that the typical user unwittingly installs. Or it's the stuff that came preinstalled on the PC you purchased. Oftentimes, you try to install something to play a simple video and it installs a massive music library manager. Or you install a piece of software and you get an extra toolbar added to your Web browser even though you never asked for it.

At the end of the day, it comes down to companies fighting each other for every inch of your screen real estate, monetizing every search and every click, and capturing every glance you make—which turns your computer in to a messy battleground. What every user wants to know is this: How do you get rid of that unwanted crap and take back your PC? The following techniques aren't guaranteed to get rid of every piece of crapware on your Windows (2000, XP, or Vista ) computer, but it is one of the most thorough methods available that a modestly computer literate person should be able to follow.

The two free tools you will need to download are:

Autoruns
Version 8.37

CCleaner
Version 2.03.352

Autoruns is a startup cleaner utility that is similar to the MSCONFIG utility but far more comprehensive and accurate. MSCONFIG shows you only startup and services, and it doesn't check digital signatures—which means anything can hide from it. With Autoruns, nothing can hide and there's no need to use MSCONFIG at all.

After you have downloaded Autoruns from the official Microsoft Web site, you'll need to unzip it. You do not need to install anything, just extract the content anywhere on your computer. Windows XP and Vista have built-in ZIP support, so you can just right-click on the file and hit Extract. Windows 2000 users will need to download a FREE utility like IZArc, which also comes in handy for Windows XP or Vista because it supports a wide range of compressed files. After you extract the files to a folder, simply double-click on the file named autoruns.exe. Vista users will have to elevate UAC privileges when running this application.

Once opened, you'll see the application shown in Figure A.

Figure A

You'll need to enable Verify Code Signatures and Hide Signed Microsoft Entries. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! After checking these two items, hit the F5 key to refresh the scan.

The beauty of Autoruns is that it can verify the authenticity of everything being loaded into Windows through rigorous cryptographic signatures, so it can't be fooled by registry entries masquerading as something legitimate and it will recognize files that have been tampered with. By hiding all of the verified Microsoft entries, you can single out every piece of software that was added to our computer that isn't officially from Microsoft. Autoruns is effectively a spotlight that highlights all the potential crapware on your computer and it makes it easy for you to disable anything you don't want.Take Figure B, for example

Figure B

This is a list of stuff that popped up that wasn't signed as Microsoft code. Some of it may have been legitimate Microsoft code, but I don't need any of this stuff to make Windows run. Even the Adobe stuff is unnecessary, and my Acrobat Reader works fine without it. We can safely uncheck all of these entries and everything will work just fine.

In the unlikely event that any of the stuff on your list is actually needed for a critical application, you can always come back and re-enable certain parts bit by bit. These changes are nondestructive and there are no risky registry changes that need to be made.

Whenever I'm troubleshooting a computer, I disable everything in that list. Chances are, a lot of strange issues will disappear. I generally like to keep everything unchecked. You might want to leave the antivirus stuff checked, but I generally consider that one of the worst forms of crapware (though it may be a necessary evil for most people especially prior to Windows Vista).

Once you clean out the startup with Autoruns, you'll need CCleaner to flush out all the junk files and bad registry entries on the computer. You'll need to download CCleaner from this Web site and install it. Ironically, there is some crapware bundled with CCleaner in the form of a major search engine toolbar. You can choose not to install it, which I recommend. It helps finance this free utility, but at least you can uncheck it and avoid installing it.

Once installed, you'll launch the CCleaner application, shown in Figure C.
 

Next, we have the Issues section, shown above in Figure D.

The Advanced section on the bottom isn't checked by default, but I usually select it. Note that flushing the Menu Order Cache will mean that all your bookmarks and shortcuts will be alphabetically arranged instead of chronologically. Click on Run Cleaner and it will flush all the junk files on your computer. This can easily clear a gigabyte on some computers, and I've seen some systems where I've cleared out 2 gigabytes.

This is a two-step process to clean out the Windows Registry. You first click on Scan For Issues and wait for the results. Then, you click on Fix Selected Issues and it will flush out all those bad entries. Note that it gives you an opportunity to save the changes in an REG file which you can double-click to undo the deletions from the registry.

Figure E shows the optional Tools section. I use this section for uninstalling applications I don't use. I don't use the Startup button because Autoruns does a much better job with that and it makes nondestructive changes you can easily undo.

The Uninstall feature is handy to have, though you can use Windows Control Panel to uninstall applications as well. However, CCleaner's uninstaller does a much nicer job because it can see many more items on a more granular level that you can uninstall.

Once you've performed all the Autoruns and CCleaner tasks, it's time to reboot your computer. Once rebooted, your computer will feel as fresh and fast as the day you first installed Windows. It might even feel better than the day you purchased the PC, which was already preloaded with a ton of crapware.

It isn't uncommon to see computers that use to take three minutes to boot all of a sudden drop to 40 seconds boot time. Many of those strange pauses when you use your computer will disappear. If your computer still takes a long time to boot, remains unstable, and often has pauses, chances are there is a faulty device driver or antivirus program causing the problems.

Lastly – If you are nervous about performing any of the steps I've described – DON'T DO IT! Take your computer to an experienced repair technician and let them do this for you. In either case, back up all your critical data before attempting ANY type of repair or system cleanup. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A NEW PC
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
December 4, 2007

With the holidays coming up, way to quickly I might add, perhaps it's time to investigate getting a new PC. Dell is selling its PCs in Staples office supply stores as evidenced by the Staples flyer in this past Sunday's newspaper. The PC lineup includes Dell’s Inspiron 530 desktop PCs and two versions of Inspiron notebooks, as well as supplemental Dell products like all-in-one printers and flat-panel LCD monitors. These are consumer based PC's with limited warranties and most likely off shore technical support. Buying through a retailer also limits the add-ons and bells and whistles available. These systems are pre-configured, cash and carry boxes with no customization is available

Will this help Dell have a strong holiday sales push?
Dell’s deal with Wal-Mart was grand when it was announced, but since the company has given no specific performance figures on how well its retail effort in Wal-Mart has fared, it’s hard to gauge how customers will react to Dell’s brand in Staples. Does Staples even sell many PCs?

Dell systems in Wal-Mart stores reflected an aura of older or overstocked parts assembled into PCs and dumped into Wal-Mart’s parking lot, rather than any specific computer build made for the retailer, and I’m not so sure customers have responded in droves to buy Dells inside those local Wal-Mart stores. Not enough time has gone by, though, so I could be jumping the gun here.

Last month, Wal-Mart started selling a $200 Linux-based machine (the Everex TC2052 gPC) that we spoke of a few months ago. The initial run was around 10,000 units and now Wal-Mart is sold out. Perhaps Linux has found a niche. These PC's don't have what it takes to run Windows Vista, but they have enough power to do pretty much everything that users want from a PC.

Dell’s latest partnership with Staples will put its PCs and products into 1,400 more retail locations, which will instantly give it more exposure to the American buying public. Perhaps that is what Dell is going after here — mass exposure (which generates a certain amount of purchases) instead of strategic, slower partnerships. Dell is expected to strike more retail agreements in the next 12 to 18 months.

Dell is now significantly behind competitor Hewlett-Packard in overall computer system sales, and these retail efforts are considered by many to be a desperate attempt to win back market share. Right now, it’s too early to attribute any success or failure in that effort.

As the seasons roll around so do the quarterly PC sales numbers. It will be a chilly fall for Dell. In the third quarter, the Texas-based PC company shipped 9.8 million PCs. That was an increase of less than 4% over the same period last year, and gave the company 14% of the global market, according to The Wall Street Journal.

By way of contrast, Hewlett-Packard shipped 12.8 million PCs world-wide, enough for 19% of the market and a 33% increase from the year earlier period.
Ouch.....

It would appear that HP is going to report especially strong PC sales when it releases its third quarter earnings. Its shares are already at almost $53, near their 52-week high.

So, Santa... your choices are varied and numerous. Be sure to do your homework before plunking down your hard earned cash. Remember, extended warranties and effective technical support are worth a little extra money.

For Millions of Windows PC's, the Perfect Storm is Gathering
November 27th, 2007

A spectre is haunting the net but, outside of techie circles, nobody seems to be talking about it. The threat it represents to our security and wellbeing may be less dramatic than anything posed by global terrorism, but it has the potential to wreak much more havoc. And so far, nobody has come up with a good idea on how to counter it.

It's called the Storm worm. It first appeared at the beginning of the year, hidden in email attachments with the subject line: '230 dead as storm batters Europe '. The PC of anyone who opened the attachment became infected and was secretly enrolled in an ever-growing network of compromised machines called a 'botnet'. The term 'bot' is a derivation of 'software robot', which is another way of saying that an infected machine effectively becomes the obedient slave of its - illicit - owner. If your PC is compromised in this way then, while you may own the machine, someone else controls it. And they can use it to send spam, to participate in distributed denial-of-service attacks on banks, e-commerce or government websites, or for other 'even more sinister' purposes.

Storm has been spreading steadily since last January, gradually constructing a huge botnet. It affects only computers running Microsoft Windows, but that means that more than 90 per cent of the world's PCs are vulnerable. Nobody knows how big the Storm botnet has become, but reputable security professionals cite estimates of between one million and 50 million computers worldwide.

To date, the botnet has been used only intermittently, which is disquieting: what it means is that someone, somewhere, is quietly building a doomsday machine that can be rented out to the highest bidder, or used for purposes that we cannot yet predict.

Of course, computer worms are an old story, which may explain why the mainstream media has paid relatively little attention to what's been happening.

Old-style worms - the ones with names like Sasser, Slammer and Nimda - were written by vandals or hackers and designed to spread as quickly as possible. Slammer, for example, infected 75,000 computers in 10 minutes, and therefore attracted a lot of attention. The vigour of the onslaught made it easier for anti-virus firms to detect the attack and come up with countermeasures. In that sense, old-style worms were like measles - an infectious disease that shows immediate symptoms.

Storm is different. It spreads quietly, without drawing attention to itself. Symptoms don't appear immediately, and an infected computer can lie dormant for a long time. 'If it were a disease,' says one expert, Bruce Schneier, 'it would be more like syphilis, whose symptoms may be mild or disappear altogether, but which will come back years later and eat your brain.'

Schneier thinks Storm represents 'the future of malware' because of the technical virtuosity of its design. For example, it works rather like an ant colony, with separation of duties. Only a small fraction of infected hosts spread the worm. A much smaller fraction are command-and-control servers; the rest stand by to receive orders. By only allowing a small number of hosts to propagate the virus and act as command-and-control servers, Storm is resilient against attack because even if those hosts shut down, the network remains largely intact and other hosts can take over their duties.

More fiendishly, Storm doesn't have any noticeable performance impact on its hosts. Like a parasite, it needs the host to be intact and healthy for its own survival. This makes it harder to detect, because users and network administrators won't notice any abnormal behavior most of the time.

And instead of having all hosts communicate with a central server or set of servers, Storm uses a peer-to-peer networking protocol for its command-and-control servers. This makes the botnet much harder to disable because there's no centralised control point to be identified and shut down.

It gets worse. Storm's delivery mechanism changes regularly. It began as PDF spam, then morphed into e-cards and YouTube invites. It then started posting blog-comment spam, again trying to trick viewers into clicking infected links. Similarly, the Storm email changes all the time, with new, topical subject lines and text. And last month Storm began attacking anti-spam sites focused on identifying it. It has also attacked the personal website of a malware expert who published an analysis of how it worked.

At the moment, nobody knows who's behind this. Is it a Russian mafia operation? An al-Qaeda scheme? The really creepy thing is that, to date, the controllers of Storm have used it for such relatively trivial purposes. The suspicion is that they are biding their time, waiting for the moment when, say, 100 million naive Windows users have clicked on an infected link and unwittingly added their machines to the botnet. Only then will we know what a perfect storm in cyberspace is like.

Check the links below to read up on the Storm worm.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/10/the_storm_worm_maelstrom_or_te.html

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/10/the_storm_worm.html

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/storm.asp
Snopes is our favorite site for verifying and/or debunking internet & email gossip

http://www.news.com/Storm-Worm-rages-across-the-globe/2100-7349_3-6151414.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070902-storm-worm-adds-millions-of-computers-to-botnet.html

10 Computer Components You Should Replace Rather Than Repair
November 20th, 2007

With all the reports of consumers being ripped off by unscrupulous computer repair people, I thought I'd share a little information to shed some light on repairing vs. replacing aging or failing components.

Any time a computer component stops working, or just becomes unstable — as we all know will happen from time to time — we have to decide whether to replace it, have it repaired, or just get by as is with perhaps a temporary fix. Just getting by will nearly always be the cheapest solution, at least in the short run. Replacement, however, will usually provide a good opportunity to upgrade. In fact, given the rate at which the various technologies behind computer hardware are advancing, unless you replace something a week after you buy it, you may almost be forced to upgrade. The following are a few items which, if replaced (and generally upgraded), can provide excellent benefits, from an enhanced user experience to additional compatibility, greater longevity, and stability for the whole system.

#1: Power Supply
One of the most overlooked pieces of computer hardware is the power supply unit (PSU). Computer enthusiasts often brag about their blazing fast processors, top-of-the- line video cards, and gigs upon gigs of RAM, but rarely about their great PSUs.

The truth is, the power supply is the last thing we should skimp on when choosing components for our system. If a computer's brain is its processor, its heart is the power supply. And having one that is worn out, underpowered, unstable, or just generally cheap can be a major cause of hardware failure.

Every computer's power requirements are different, but a good minimum for a modern PC is 450 watts. Some systems, especially those with multiple high-end video cards or lots of add-on cards and peripherals may require a PSU rated at 800 watts or more. Replacing a failing or inadequate power supply can make a previously unstable system stable.

Aside from supplying enough power, that power must be supplied stably. A common cause of “unexplained” lockups and system crashes is a drop in voltage supplied to the system when under load, caused by a poorly manufactured PSU. The easiest way to find a quality PSU is to stick to the consistently top brands such as Antec, EnerMax, and PC Power & Cooling.

#2: Fans
As computers have gotten more powerful over the last decades, they have also gotten hotter. Gone are the days of a passively cooled Pentium 100; now we have fans on our massive CPU heatsinks, on our monster video cards, and on intake and outtake vents to our computer cases. All of these fans are playing important roles by keeping our computers safely cooled, and we should try to ensure that they continue doing so.

Fans are one of the few parts that when replaced will not usually be replaced with something better. But they deserve mention because:

As one of the few moving parts in our system, they are one of the most likely to actually break. When they break, it's likely to pass unnoticed or not cause much concern.

Also, fans are cheap and easy to replace. It generally takes about 10 dollars, 15 minutes, and a screwdriver to install a new one, so there's really no good excuse for not doing so.

#3: Surge Protector / UPS
This is another item that keeps our computers safe and should not be neglected. A surge protector can be a stand-alone power strip, but one is also built into virtually every uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The surge protector guards our devices against spikes in energy that occur in our circuits at the home or office, usually due to lightning or the powering up of high-powered devices, such as hair dryers or refrigerators. Repairing a surge protector would be difficult and expensive at best; replacement is almost always the best option.

It can be tricky to know when it's time to replace a surge protector, because the component inside that diverts excess power from surges to the ground simply wears out with repeated use. However, there is often no interruption of power or other indication that it's done. You may still have juice but not be protected. The cheapest protectors may wear out after fewer than 10 small surges, while the better ones can last through hundreds. The safest thing to do is to get higher quality protectors but still replace them occasionally.

#4: Video Card
The video card is one of the most important elements in the performance of your system and overall user experience. Even though it is also one of the priciest components, there are two good reasons to replace it should your old one bite the dust.

First, video cards are one of the components that are being improved upon seemingly every day. Just like with CPUs, a video card that's two years old simply isn't as fast as a current one and won't have the newest features (such as support for DirectX 10).

Also, the video card is the number one hardware stopgap as we migrate to Vista . Manufacturers just aren't providing new Vista-compatible drivers for lots of their old video cards. This means that many of us will have to replace our video cards whether they are broken or not, if we plan to switch to Vista .

#5: Flash Media Reader
All kinds of devices use flash cards these days: cameras, MP3 players, even cell phones. These small devices let us take our data anywhere easily. Since it seems as if every device uses a different format of flash media, most of us have all-in-one type card readers. If the reader breaks or gets lost (which seems to happen a lot), there are two excellent reasons for upgrading to a newer model instead of trying to repair the old one.

First, many old card readers are USB 1.1. The newer ones use USB 2.0 instead, which is 40 times faster. This is more than enough reason to replace an old reader, even if it's not broken.

In addition, new formats are constantly coming out for flash cards, and when they do, you need a new reader to use them. For example, Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) and xD from Fujifilm are not supported by older readers.

#6: CD/DVD Drives
Considering that it has moving, spinning parts, the average CD/DVD drive is actually fairly robust. Because of that, however, many people are still using old read-only (or CD RW) drives instead of amazingly cheap (and handy) DVD writers. If you're still using an old drive and it finally gives up the ghost, you'll probably be glad it did when you replace it with a DVD/CD RW combo drive for less than 50 dollars.

#7: Hard Drives
The computer component we all least want to fail is the hard drive. It's easier to cope with the loss of the much more expensive processor or video card as long as we still have our precious data, so your first instinct is to try to repair it. But if you've been practicing good backup habits, you can actually come out of the situation better off when you replace the old drive with something bigger and faster.

The “giant” 100-GB hard drive of a few years ago is no longer so large. Today, you can get 750 GB for less than 200 bucks. In addition to being much, much larger, newer hard drives will generally be Serial ATA II (SATA II), which has a maximum data transfer rate of about 300 MB/s as opposed to SATA I's 150 MB/s and the older Parallel ATA (PATA) rate of 133 MB/s. SATA II is fairly new, so many motherboards don't support it. But even if yours doesn't, the SATA II drives generally have a jumper that can put them in SATA I mode.

TIP: Right now, most SATA II hard drives ship with this limiting jumper in place by default, so if your board does support SATA II, be sure to change the jumper before you install the drive.

#8: Monitor
With the exception of servers, a computer isn't much good without a monitor. Monitors rarely make it all the way to the stage of completely not working, because we replace them when they start to fade. If you replace a monitor that's more than a few years old, the new one will likely not much resemble the old.

Any reluctance you may have had to switch from the giant 50-pound cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor to a slim and featherweight liquid crystal display (LCD) should be gone by now. The gap in performance in terms of color rendering and refresh rates between CRTs and LCDs is very small. Unless you're a graphics designer who needs a multi-thousand dollar large screen CRT, the benefits of size, weight, power consumption, and less eye fatigue that LCDs enjoy will far outweigh any small performance advantages of a CRT. With the exception of the extremely high and extremely low end markets, it's quite hard to find a new CRT monitor anyway.

If you were already using an LCD that's a few years old, when you replace it you'll enjoy those leaps in performance that the LCDs have made in the last few years.

#9: Keyboard
Since so many of us spend hours every day banging away at them, it's important to have a keyboard that's comfortable and efficient. And since we use them so much and often so brutally, it's no wonder they break often. Keys come off, get stuck, or just get really dirty. When these things happen, you should usually go ahead and replace the keyboard rather than live with the hassle.

Today's keyboards have new, handy features. Some have built in user-defined macro keys for often-repeated commands; some can fold up for easy transportability; some have built-in ports so they can double as USB hubs. There is a keyboard with some unique feature to suit nearly anyone's needs.

#10: Motherboard and Processor
Replacing the motherboard is always the most involved upgrade. Since it usually means “starting over” with a clean installation of the operating system, lots of people are reluctant to change to a newer board even when the old one gives up the ghost, preferring instead to replace it with the exact same model, thus avoiding having to wipe the OS. However, since a motherboard upgrade is the most involved, it also can give the widest range of benefits.

First and foremost, replacing the motherboard usually gives us the chance to upgrade to the latest processor technology. Today, you can get the benefits of a dual or even quad CPU setup with only one processor, thanks to multi-core technology, in which more than one processing core is placed on a single wafer. In a multitasking or multithreaded environment, this effectively increases your computer's performance by a factor of two or four.

Additionally, upgrading the motherboard gives you access to new technologies for other components. PATA and SATA I hard drives (and optical drives) can be upgraded to SATA II. AGP video cards can be upgraded to PCI-E. USB 1.1 ports become USB 2.0. The list goes on for virtually every component and to complete this major upgrade you'll need to replace the power supply and quite possibly the tower case itself. Sometimes, even though it can be a pain, starting over can be the best choice and the best bang for the buck.

Article source TechRepublic/TechTips

Speed up Web Surfing with OpenDNS
November 6th, 2007

OpenDNS is the cutting-edge Internet service by a San Francisco-based company. Simply put, with OpenDNS you are no longer tied to using your ISP's slow and much overworked DNS servers.

What the heck is DNS?
Whenever you access a website your computer first contacts a domain name server (DNS) to find out what server IP address is paired with that particular domain name. By default without any configuration your computer automatically uses DNS servers provided by your ISP which are commonly overused and slow. You can experience anywhere from 50 milliseconds to a second or more when dealing with slow DNS's before your computer can interact with the actual website.

Enter OpenDNS
By configuring your computer to use the domain name servers at OpenDNS you can benefit from more reliable and faster DNS servers and queries. But it doesn't stop there – Block the bad sites and whitelist the good.

Phishing Protection

OpenDNS operates PhishTank.com, the world's most trusted source of phishing data. They integrate that data into an intelligence feed on their DNS servers to keep everyone on your network safe from phony sites trying to steal personal information.

Domain Blocking

You want to secure your network and have control over what resolves. OpenDNS gives you that control by providing the tools to block any website or DNS zone on the Internet, all through an easy-to-use interface.

Adult Site Blocking

Safeguard your kids, protect your students, or limit your corporate liability by blocking adult websites. The OpenDNS adult site blocking solution can be deployed in minutes and provides granular levels of blocking. Did I mention it's completely free?

Web Proxy Blocking
Prevent people on your network from bypassing the access restrictions you put in place. Blocking Web proxies helps ensure your network remains secure.

Domain Whitelisting
They also provide a (growing) list of Web content filtering categories to block, but sometimes there is a domain you want to make sure is never blocked, even if it's listed in a feed. Have the final say with the Domain Whitelisting feature.

Got stats? Statistics
Understand your Web traffic with intutive stats about your network's DNS. This is your data, and now you can view it like never before. And of course, if you don't want stats, they won't collect any DNS data from you, at all.

To the end user, the OpenDNS service is truly transparent. You won't really notice that you're using it with the exception of the speed and security improvements. It does nothing to hinder your browsing habits.

Okay so now that I've got your attention you're probably wondering how you too can start browsing with OpenDNS. It's rather simple, all you need to do is tell your computer (or router if you're on a network) to use the OpenDNS servers whose IP's can be found on their website. Fortunately, for those folks with no idea where to start, they offer comprehensive guides to setting it all up. Choose the brand and model router you own and follow the simple instructions.

What to do?
The best thing to do is sign up for an OPENDNS account. It's absolutely FREE so make a positive move towards a faster, safer and more secure internet for your home, family or business.

https://www.opendns.com/start

If you want to weigh in on this article, check out David's Blog

auctionPAL
Selling Your Stuff Online Just Got A Little Easier.
October 30, 2007

If you've ever tried to sell anything on Ebay or any other auction site, you've probably found that its simple to sign up but that's where the “easy” stuff ends.

You have to take and upload good photos, write compelling descriptions, choose the correct bidding information, figure out the shipping costs and then if you item is bid on and won, you need to collect payment, package the item and ship it by whatever means to the winning bidder. Whew… that's a lot of work.

Did You Know?
Waltham,MA. based auctionPAL, reports that 54% of all items listed on eBay never receive a single bid?

Now, how about a service that does all that and more, saving you from all the work? auctionPAL just might be the answer to your auction nightmares. They even have a price calculator – just type in the item you want to sell on auction and auctionPAL will calculate what you can expect to get for it.

So, How Does auctionPAL Work?
Here's what you do to get started:

1: auction