Microsoft Surface Demo
Below is a video of the brand new Microsoft Surface!
Google Code Used In A Malware Scandal
According to a local security analyzer, Google Code has been said to have been used in a Malware scandal.
Google code was simply designed for the sole reason that you could host your online programs, as well as have your code there too. Now these codes then have a link to a codec that enables you to view the program/code or even video. However it has now been found that some of these links are not directing to a download link, but they are being used to steal financial details from the user. The link opens a Trojan Horse on the users PC and enables it to be hacked and thus lose financial information.
Dave Marcus, one man that has helped in finding this left a few comments. He noted that the hackers and scammers are using Google Code as it ranks highly in search engines and thus, there is more of a chance it will get viewed and so on. He specifically said that the people that make this stuff use Google Code to spread the Trojan around even more!
However, Google has acted fast on this and have removed all dangerous malware threats. A speaker for Google made a point that they are doing their best to get rid of this stuff and will continue to do so. They also spoke about the use of new automated machines they are using in order to identify the problems quicker and more efficiently. Work will continue to be done and Google Code will still continue to monitor it all and keep users as safe as possible.
Windows 7 Beta Released
Well news has just come in that Windows 7 Beta has now officially been released. Microsoft now believes their server can handle everything and has put it out for download.
Microsoft announced the news here. The Microsoft team has noted that they are thankful for all the help in releasing it and that you can now officially download the beta version.
For those wanting to know, the original release date was Friday but since they were having some problems with the server not responding and so on; they released it yesterday. Microsoft also recommends you have specific specs on your computer in order to handle Windows 7. I also recommend you take caution as this is only a Beta version and for those that have a very important computer; it is probably worth leaving what you have for now.
Anyway, they recommend that you have 16GB of available disk space and at least 1GB of RAM. You also need a graphics card that has at least 128MB of memory. Some have even noted that you should have a DVD or CD burner in order to run it properly.
Like I said above, this is only a Beta so don’t use it on your most important PC. I would say just use it on a spare PC you have to let it run a little. Also, make sure to report any bugs to Microsoft so the final version comes out as something decent!
Here is a quick preview of Windows 7
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Got A Virus? Read This Now!
Hey guys,
Well my laptop has been absolutely ridiculous for the last month or so I would say. I have even resorted to using my no spec PC at times just to get the internet to go fast. I am on something like a 2mb connection; but my internet was slow. However, I did begin to realize some stuff that I found weird. My internet would work once I had restarted at close to full pace, but then after half an hour or so it would slow down.
So I knew that I had some sort of virus. I disabled my firewalls, checked connections and yet it still stayed at this same speed. So I think looked for options; I first tried AVG. Sure it did one scan, but then it wanted me to update. I went over to avg.com and found that I couldn’t open the page. I always got the below error:
Address Not Found
Firefox can't find the server at ...
The browser could not find the host server for the provided address.
Alright, so I tried to access Norton’s and Kaspersky’s home page, still got that same above error. I also had a problem with Google where everytime I would search, it would take me to a go.google.com page and then redirected me further to some other page.
So today I really looked into it, I couldn’t not use my laptop when I had everything I needed on it. So today I looked up on Google and found a great site which told me where to find what I had to do. For those interested in what the page was you can check it out here. So I followed their instructions but I couldn’t access Microsoft for the backup.
These are the steps I took to avoid that problem:
- Download ComboFix
- Close all windows
- Open ComboFix
- Do the Microsoft update through it
- Restart PC
- Run the ComboFix scan
- Restart again
- Get the ComboFix logfile
- Restart again
- Open Firefox and to my amazement it worked fine!
It took around 30 minutes to do; and after hours and hours of looking around for what to do I was so happy that it worked and my PC is not back to normal and working like new. I strongly recommend anyone who thinks they have a virus, or even knows they have symptoms like my PC did to try this out! It truly does work magnificently and I am very happy to see that I can now use my PC again!
Yahoo Now Shows Ads In IM Services!
Well, being a webmaster I like to stay on the webmaster/online technology niche. This story really caught my eye, reason being is I use it a lot to get in touch with clients. Well, anyone that uses Yahoo Messenger would know they have pretty much always had ads in the buddy search part of the program. But now, they have also begun testing their ad services in the chat windows themselves!
Now one example of these ads is a credit card offer; Mastercard is the main one. It appears just above the text where you are chatting; to be honest it does get a little annoying. Apparently the ads are part of a campaign that was started in August and finishes at the end of this month; December.
From what I have heard, the two main reasons Yahoo has implemented this in their chat service is:
- It is just a test and they want to see whether it does any well.
- As Yahoo Messenger is a free service, they want to make sure it is profitable. No ads means they are just providing free software and get nothing in return; except users of course.
Also, Yahoo has mentioned that there are no public plans released as to what they will do with the results. They commented that they will take care of the results and apply appropriate action dependent on them.
The ads are known to only show once per day per user. The ads disappear as you scroll up the page/continue on with your conversation. Also, the ads are only being shown in Yahoo Messenger 7 and up.
2000 Year Old Computer - Revived
Antikythera mechanism, is a clock type of object that was found more then a hundred years ago amongst an Ancient Greek wreck. It was made of meshed cogs the appeared to be what made the clock work.
The Greeks however had created something well ahead of its time. And somehow all this was lost along the way, through stories it wasn’t mentioned until it was found. Jo Marchant however the author of Decoding the Heavens explains the story of how so many had tried to crack the Antikythera mechanism over the past century; but failed to so. It is a great book about the greed of scientists, the love of it and the all around battle between them.
Michael Wright has created something which you can watch in the above video; it is basically a cover for Jo’s lack of detail on how the Antikythera mechanism works, how the clogs come together and so on. Of course this is not an actual piece of technology found, but it is something created that is extremely similar to those the Ancient Greeks may have used. This explains how each cog fitted together and and demonstrates clear diagrams on how it could have worked. You must watch the video!