Apple® today introduced Boot Camp, public beta software that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. Available as a download beginning today, Boot Camp allows users with a Microsoft Windows XP installation disc to install Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac®, and once installation is complete, users can restart their computer to run either Mac OS® X or Windows XP. Boot Camp will be a feature in “Leopard,” Apple’s next major release of Mac OS X, that will be previewed at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in August.
Santa IM worm hits AOL, MSN and Yahoo | CNET News.com
A Santa Claus worm is attempting to trick America Online, Microsoft MSN and Yahoo instant-messaging users into clicking on a file that delivers unwanted software to a victim’s computer.
The IM.GiftCom.All worm attempts to dupe IM users into thinking an acquaintance has sent them a link to a harmless Santa Claus file, according to a security advisory issued Tuesday by IMlogic.
How-To: Stream almost anything using VLC - Engadget - www.engadget.com
How-To: Stream almost anything using VLC
Posted Nov 29, 2005, 2:30 PM ET
by Eliot PhillipsThe VLC media player is an amazing piece of software. In its most basic form it is a lightweight media player that can play almost any audio or video format you throw at it. VLC is also multiplatform in the most extreme sense of the word; it can run on Windows, OSX, Linux and PocketPC / WinCE handhelds
along with other systems. VLC works great as a streaming server and video transcoder too.We used VLC to move Tivo recordings to an iPod before, but today we are going to show you how to stream any type of media file from your computer to another device on your network. We will also demonstrate how to remotely control VLC using any web browser. Using these techniques you could stream video from your office computer to a laptop plugged into the living room TV and control the playlist with your PDA.
ProcessLibrary.com - The online resource for process information!
In the recesses of your computer, 20-30 invisible processes run silently in the background. Some hog system resources, turning your PC into a sluggish computer. Worse yet, other useless processes harbour spyware and Trojans - violating your privacy and giving hackers free reign on your computer. ProcessLibrary.com is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to know the exact purpose of every single process.
Putting Vista in the fast lane | CNET News.com
Putting Vista in the fast lane
Published: August 8, 2005, 4:00 AM PDT
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Microsoft hopes to tackle an age-old problem with the next version of Windows: How to keep PCs running like new.
With Vista, the new client version of Windows due next year, Microsoft is addressing what’s become a sad truth for most people: PCs run more slowly over time.
Vista will automatically de-fragment hard disks, make better use of memory to more quickly load programs, and include a new performance control panel that will identify performance bottlenecks, according to the company.
The goal is to keep PCs running like new long after they’re purchased. “Certainly a year after a user gets a Vista system, if they do the sort of standard things we encourage users to do (install Windows updates, etc.), it should run the same as when they initially got it, said Gabriel Aul, a group program manager in Microsoft’s Windows division.
If your PC is like most, it was at its optimal performance the day you turned it on and has slowed down ever since. It’s not your imagination, either, nor is it the phenomenon that occurs on crowded freeways in which it seems everyone else is going faster.
InformationWeek > FireFox Patches > Firefox 1.0.6 Release Fixes Flaws > July 20, 2005
The Mozilla Foundation late Tuesday updated both its Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail client for the second time in eight days to fix flaws that popped in last week’s refreshes.
Versions 1.0.6 of both Firefox and Thunderbird, said Mozilla, have been patched to “restore API (Application Programming Interface) compatibility for extensions and Web applications “which were unintentionally broken in the editions released last week.
One of the most popular extensions for Thunderbird, Enigmail PGP, which is used to encrypt e-mail, wouldn’t work with the 1.0.5 version, for instance.
This week’s updates should quiet the complaints from the developers of foreign language editions, who were told last week by Mozilla to skip localized versions of 1.0.5, and await Tuesday’s 1.0.6.
Firefox 1.0.6 and Thunderbird 1.0.6 can be downloaded from the Mozilla Web site.
Computer Hygiene - Take Out The Trash!
Computer Hygiene - Take Out The Trash!
By Earl GoochDo you find that your computer exhibits one or more of the following behaviors?
- Inexplicable message or warning pop-ups
- Frequent unsolicited reboots
- Your favorite application often crashes
- Applications now start up sluggishly
- Your computer seems to take forever to boot up
- You find new software running which you did not expressly install, and you cannot explain it’s existance
Your computer may simply have become cluttered with software to such a degree that all those programs now fight with each other for resources, or a particular type of software installed (with malicious intent or otherwise) could produce adverse side effects and may even compromise your system’s health and security. Even if your PC does not appear to suffer from any of the symptoms above, chances are over time one or more of these issues will surface.
So where should we look to find the root cause of such problems? In short, we can attribute this abnormal behavior to:
1) Our not being vigilant in monitoring the list of software running (or not running) on our system
2) Not being sufficiently mindful of how the installed software got there and why
Let me explain further. When one purchases a computer (or you inherit that “hand-me-down” from your relative) you will typically find a potpourri of software already installed. Furthermore, you will probably never use 80% of it. In addition, you may find yourself unable to resist the temptation to download and install freeware/shareware from the internet.
All too often we really do not need the programs we download, but refraining from doing so can be difficult due to the software’s enticing promo. And regardless of the utility of these programs, many times we don’t bother to uninstall them, thinking we may find a use for them in the future.
Just recently while browsing through a forum, I saw a post with the following opening line: I just had to reformat the family computer for the second time in three months because of my brother’s blatant ignorance of general computer hygiene. I can assure you that such behavior is commonplace. The various computers in my own home are a prime example. On numerous occasions my two children, who by the way, are old enough to know better, downloaded and installed software which essentially rendered their PCs unusable, thus costing me hours of work to get them back into working condition.
If you take nothing else away from this article, try to embrace the following two thoughts:
- Not being aware of every program installed, and particularly which ones get invoked by default at startup time, could cause your system to become highly unstable, resulting in frequent crashes, loss of data, or possibly even irreparable hardware damage.
- Try at all costs to refrain from installing non-essential software.
While you may very well find an overabundance of non-essential software installed, even more important is the fact that there may NOT be antivirus, firewall, or other security/protection software running. Consider this point CRITICAL. The absence of such software or it being improperly configured can set you up for disaster! In an upcoming article we’ll discuss the various “sleuthing” techniques for determining just what software resides on your computer.
The object of the second point above is to simply use good judgment in deciding which software goes and what stays on your computer. Sure, there’s no harm in keeping reputable software around such as that favorite game or multimedia player, given that you know where it came from and you do at least use it occasionally.
OK, let’s summarize our discussion. Start thinking now about your current software and which programs you consider as really important to you or your family. Remove everything else you can bear to part with. Furthermore, of the types of software you feel you must keep, evaluate it’s “utility”. Some programs you may have obtained and installed, and others were probably just pre-installed on your PC. You may want to consider upgrading existing packages, or particularly in the latter case, other similar software may exist which has a better feature set that can serve you better.
Now go ahead. Take out the trash!
Stay tuned for the next installment coming shortly.
About the Author
Earl Gooch is an engineer who has been involved in the high tech industry for over 23 years, working in various capacities including design of both computer hardware and software, web development, system engineering, customer support, and marketing.
http://www.softwarehelpme.com
Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between
multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its
own display, without special hardware. It’s intended for users
with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its
own monitor(s).Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse
off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of
all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems.
Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop
together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires
a password to unlock them all. Learn more
about how it works.Synergy is open source and released under the
GNU Public License (GPL).System Requirements
Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me (the Windows 95 family)
Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP (the Windows NT family)
Mac OS X 10.2 or higher
Unix
In brief, Microsoft plans to release three critical security patches on Tuesday, 12 July. Two of these affect Windows while one affects Office. News of the upcoming patches came in an advanced bulletin notification issued Thursday which omits any details about the upcoming security fixes.Tuesday will also bring with it non-security but high-priority updates to Microsoft’s patching tools. Microsoft Update, WindowsUpdate, Windows Server Update Services and Software Update Services are all due to get to get a fresh lick of paint. Redmond’s security elves will also push out the latest in a series of monthly updates to Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.