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Google has added new features to its Gmail service during the past couple months that make the Web-based e-mail service more business-friendly and versatile.
Click to continue reading “Three Great New Gmail Add-ons: Offline Gmail and More”
February 26, 2009
February 19, 2009
Gmail sets up multiple inboxes
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Google has unveiled a new Gmail Labs feature that allows users to have more than one inbox in their default Gmail view.
The new feature — called Multiple Inboxes — allows users to have multiple viewing panes open simultaneously without having to open another browser window. The upgrade to the web email software gives users a quick view of important labels as well as of saved searches.
Google software engineer Octavian ‘Vivi’ Costache explained in a company blog post why he used his ‘20 percent time’ to develop the Gmail feature:
“I’m seriously into filters and labels. All the email I get related to Flash goes under my ‘flash’ label, everything about paragliding goes under ‘flying’, and they all skip my inbox because that’s how I like to stay organized. But when new email arrives I have to switch to the ‘flash’ label first, then click on ‘paragliding’, etc. I wanted a way to see it all at once.”
The move could help those who use their Gmail accounts for multiple personal email lists, as well as for work.
This article was originally published on CNET News.com.
February 18, 2009
Microsoft sued over charge to downgrade Vista to XP
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With one major case challenging Microsoft’s Windows marketing practices nearing a make-or-break juncture, another one was filed. A woman sued Microsoft in federal court in Seattle this week claiming that the company abused its monopoly power to force her to pay extra for a downgrade from Windows Vista to its predecessor, Windows XP.
Emma Alvarado bought a laptop from Lenovo on June 20, 2008, with Windows Vista Business preinstalled. She paid Lenovo “an additional $59.25 in order to ‘downgrade’ her operating system to Windows XP Professional.” Alvarado is seeking class-action status. Here’s a copy of her complaint, filed Wednesday: 13-page PDF.
Microsoft had not filed a response to the complaint and a spokesperson could not immediately be reached. [Update, 9:04 a.m.: Spokesman David Bowermaster said via e-mail: "We have not yet been served with this lawsuit, so it would be premature to comment."]
In the complaint, Alvarado’s attorneys allege:
“As the sole licensor of Windows Vista, Microsoft enjoys vast power over OEMs which it has used and continues to use to stifle competition. … Microsoft has used its power to coerce OEMs, internet access providers (”IAPs”) and others into agreeing to restrictive and anti-competitive licensing terms for its Windows XP operating system in order to stifle competition in the market. …
“Consumers have encountered numerous problems using the Vista operating system, and these problems have been widely publicized in various media outlets. As a result, many consumers would prefer to purchase a new computer pre-installed with the Windows XP operating system or at least not pre-installed with the Vista operating system. However, Microsoft has used its market power to take advantage of consumer demand for the Windows XP operating system by requiring consumers to purchase computers pre-installed with the Vista operating system and to pay additional sums to ‘downgrade’ to the Windows XP operating system. …“To date, nearly one in three consumers purchasing a new computer has paid to downgrade the operating system from Vista to Windows XP.”
They allege the company violated:
- the Washington Unfair Business Practices Act, by operating an unlawful trust that limited competition and inflated prices for Vista and XP, and kept PC makers from pre-installing XP;
- the Washington Consumer Protection Act;
- the Washington Business Practices Act.
The plaintiff is seeking treble damages and legal fees, and asking the court to stop Microsoft from engaging in the anti-competitive behavior alleged in the complaint.
The proposed class includes U.S. residents who “purchased a computer with the Windows Vista
operating system for their own use and not for resale at any time during the four years preceding the date of filing of this complaint and paid to downgrade to the Windows XP operating system.”
By the way, is U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman becoming one of the most experienced judges in the country when it comes to the nuances of recent Windows operating systems?
This case is in her court, as is the ongoing Vista Capable class action lawsuit, which is nearing a make-or-break moment. Pechman told the Vista Capable parties on Jan. 22 that she would rule on Microsoft’s motions to dismiss the suit in about 2 1/2 weeks — roughly now.
Credit to the Seattle P-I’s Joe Tartakoff, who first reported the XP downgrade suit.
February 17, 2009
Servers in the home remain scarce
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With its first update to Windows Home Server, Microsoft has fixed a critical bug that threatened to undermine the product’s main utility–securely and reliably backing up computer files.
But the software maker still has to find an answer to the bigger problem–many consumers have no idea what a server is and fewer still have any reason to think they would want one in their home.
Microsoft knew it would face this challenge even before Bill Gates announced the product at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show. It even tried to make light of the issue, penning a fake children’s book dubbed “Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?”
Unfortunately, the child’s question is still a prescient one. For many who need to back up their files, network-attached hard drives offer a less costly and intricate answer to installing even a simplified Windows Server. As a result, the product has proved to be a tough sell.
“This is a very difficult product category to be selling,” said Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder. “Consumers, generally speaking, don’t know what a home server is.”
Microsoft insists that its sales, as of June, remained ahead of internal targets, though it won’t give any specifics. Home Server marketing executive Steven VanRoekel told CNET News in January that as of that point, the product’s sales had reached the tens of thousands. It’s not clear whether they have advanced far, if at all, into the next order of magnitude.
IDC is projecting that home servers, including those running Linux, will only add up to 78,000 devices this year. “We have it growing fairly modestly,” said IDC analyst Richard Shim, noting that IDC is forecasting the home server category will only get to 1.1 million devices by 2012.
Microsoft has also failed to get much excitement from within the industry over its approach to home servers. The only big-name U.S. computer maker that uses the operating system is Hewlett-Packard, which sells the MediaSmart server.
Retailers have had a tough time trying to come up with a sales pitch that works in-store. As a result, the product is mostly sold online.
“It’s basically Circuit City and online,” said Forrester’s Gownder. “You are not seeing it on store shelves.”
Select Best Buy stores are also selling HP’s home server, although the No. 1 electronics retailer has not broadly started carrying the product.
Microsoft Senior Product Manager Joel Sider said the company expected it to take time to gain support both in the industry and with consumers, but said the company hopes to see additional makers add Home Server products in the coming year.
“It is a new product category,” he said. “The awareness is growing at a good, steady pace.”
Fixing the data corruption bug was an important step, Sider said. “Certainly it’s great to get that behind us and continue moving on.”
Microsoft’s target group is people with a home network, more than one PC and a lot of music, video, photos, and other files that they want to share. The problem, Gownder said, is that only the techiest of that bunch even know that a server could be the best answer. And even among those, Microsoft hasn’t yet clearly demonstrated why it is better than other options, such as adding an external hard drive or network storage or using an online service.
The selling point of Windows Home Server is supposed to be its ability to do other things, but thus far, there has not been the proverbial “killer app.”
“It solves an interesting problem in the home but its potential remains in the future,” Gownder said. Among the things that Gownder said could boost adoption of Windows Home Server is if it could offer a simpler way to get commercial video, say, from Netflix or the cable company.
On that front, though, devices such as Apple TV and Microsoft’s Xbox seem to have more traction. Others have taken a different approach on the backup front as well, such as Apple, which offers desktop-based backup through Time Machine and cloud-based storage via MobileMe. Microsoft, for its part, also has cloud-based options including Windows Live SkyDrive and Live Mesh.
If Windows Home Server is to stand out, Shim said, Microsoft must make Windows Home Server more like Windows is on the desktop–a place where lots of applications flourish.
“The only reason Windows is so popular and important is there are a ton of people developing for it,” Shim said. Microsoft points out that there are already more than 60 applications made for Windows Home Server, with more in the works.
February 16, 2009
Project Snowblind Worm
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Sophos has posted an article on their blog about a game installer that also includes a worm.
The game is titled Project: Snowblind. It is a multi-player first-person shooter from Eidos. The worm that comes with the installer is vghhost.exe. It is a network worm and also an IRC backdoor Trojan.
It can perform screen captures and log information among other processes. The author of the of the article notes that users should download legitimate freeware games from reputable sites or from the game publisher’s website.
Source: Sophos
February 15, 2009
Security Tips
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Keeping your computer running it's best.
Security Tips
By Windows XP Magazine
Pick a good password
Make up a word and add a number to it. Take two unrelated words and join them with punctuation or throw in some capitals. Or, even better, use the handy WinGuides Random Password Generator, found at:
www.winguides.com/security/password.php.
Outlook security
The Outlook Security Update stops you opening ‘unsafe’ file types, plus you’ll get a warning if a script tries to read your address book or send emails without permission. Specify which file types can be opened with Attachment Options (www.slovaktech.com/attachmentoptions.htm).
Digital signature
A digital signature proves the identity of the sender and shows that the email hasn’t been tampered with. Get a free digital ID from Thawte (
www.thawte.com/secure-email/personal-email-certificates/index.html) or a trial from VeriSign: in Outlook, choose Tools > Options> Security > Get a Digital ID.
Fix-it Solutions
By Windows XP Magazine
Last known good system
If Windows XP seems to be behaving strangely after you’ve loaded it, restart your PC and press [F8] before Windows XP loads. Choose ‘
Last Known Good Configuration’ to see if this solves the problem.
Hot fixes
For a list of ‘hot fixes’, head over to the
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx? scid=/support/servicepacks/windows/xp/pre-sp1_hotfixes.asp
website.
Copy and paste the links into your browser.
February 14, 2009
Kaspersky denies leaks after SQL hack
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Russian antivirus vendor Kaspersky Labs’s US website was hacked over the weekend, exposing the company’s customer database, but Kaspersky has denied data was compromised and says the vulnerability wasn’t critical.
An unidentified hacker reported over the weekend that he was able to access a complete profile of the company’s databases, revealing its clients’ names, activation codes, list of bugs the company tracks and client email addresses.
The hacker claimed to have hacked Kaspersky Labs’s databases using an SQL injection attack, which exploits a vulnerability in an application’s database layer.
The method has become a popular means to gain information via web-facing applications or as a way to use popular websites to spread malicious software.
Microsoft’s UK website came under a similar attack in 2007 when hackers used an SQL injection to inject HTML code which seemingly defaced its web pages.
The Kaspersky hacker, who published their finding on the Hackersblog.org website, has since said that confidential data would not be released.
“[The] Kaspersky team doesn’t need to worry about us spreading their confidential stuff. Our staff will never save or keep any confidential data. We just point our fingers to big websites with security problems,” they reported.
Kaspersky Labs has admitted that a subsection of its usa.kaspersky.com domain was vulnerable last Saturday when a hacker “attempted an attack on the site”.
“The site was only vulnerable for a very brief period, and upon detection of the vulnerability we immediately took action to roll back the subsection of the site and the vulnerability was eliminated within 30 minutes of detection. The vulnerability wasn’t critical and no data was compromised from the site,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.
This article was originally posted on ZDNet Australia.
Microsoft slaps US$250,000-00 bounty on Conficker worm
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Microsoft announced it has formed a technology industry posse and put a bounty of $US250,000 on the heads of those responsible for a vexing computer worm.
The nasty computer code known as “Conficker” or “Downadup” has been spreading quickly, wriggling into millions of computers worldwide and threatening to commandeer or crash systems.
Microsoft is working with computer security specialists and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to track down whoever unleashed Conficker.
“The best way to defeat potential botnets like Conficker/Downadup is by the security and domain name system communities working together,” said ICANN chief Internet security advisor Greg Rattray.
Microsoft promised to pay 250,000 dollars for information that leads to the capture and conviction of the people that launched the malicious code on the Internet.
“We hope these efforts help to contain the threat posed by Conficker, as well as hold those who illegally launch malware accountable,” said George Stathakopoulos, general manager of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group.
February 10, 2009
Email Alert - New Spam Threat
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You may be aware of the debate going on in this country over the development of a stimulus package to aid in our economic recovery. Unfortunately all of those dedicated spammers out there are using this as an opportunity to defraud the general public. There are now emails circulating that appear to be from the US Internal Revenue Service and promising an “Economic Stimulus Payment”. They are designed to facilitate the theft of your identity. They generally contain links to online forms where you will be asked to submit personal information or they will ask you to reply to the email with sensitive information. They may appear authentic as they include official looking seals however the IRS other US federal agencies never make unsolicited contact with citizens via email.
If you receive one of these messages, delete it immediately. Do not reply to it or click on any links in the body of the message.
February 2, 2009
Right Clicking
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Question: I’m new to computers, and have a question. I have a mouse that came with my computer that I just bought. It has three buttons on it. I only ever use the left-hand button. What are the others used for? –G.K.
Answer: Ah, yes, the uncharted territory of the alternate mouse buttons. Most Windows computers come with at least two mouse buttons and some come with three. Some even have a scroll wheel that also works as a middle mouse button. I’ll tell you more about the middle button in a minute.
First, let’s look at the right button. In all versions of Windows 95 and beyond (including Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and Vista), the right mouse button has special powers, depending on where you put the mouse cursor on the Windows desktop or screen.
The right mouse button is context-sensitive. That means what it does changes based on what program you are working in, or what part of Windows your mouse cursor is pointing to.
Let’s take that right mouse button out for a test drive. Ready?
DESKTOP
Go to an empty part of your Windows desktop, away from any of your icons, and click the right mouse button (this is called right-clicking to differentiate it from clicking which usually refers to the left mouse button). You’ll see a menu open that lists a variety of tasks:
- The New item is of particular use. If you select New, you can create a new shortcut to a program or data file, or you can create an empty folder to put items in.
- On that same menu, you’ll see Properties. This is a quick way to get to the Display applet in the Control Panel. Normally, to get to this, you’d have to go to the Start menu and choose Settings, then Control Panel, and then double-click on Display. With Properties in this right-click desktop menu, you cut out all those other steps. In the Display Properties window that opens, you can modify your screensaver, adjust your screen resolution, and change your desktop background (also called wallpaper, among other tasks relating to the look and feel of your Windows desktop.
- Have your desktop icons gotten out of control, making it difficult for you to find the one you want when you want it? Right-click the desktop, and select Arrange Icons By and get them into a reasonable order.
TASKBAR
If you right-click on the task bar at the bottom of your screen, a different menu appears. There are some commands on that menu to help you organize the program windows you have open. The Tile … commands will arrange the windows on your screen so that they use equal space. The Properties item allows customization of the taskbar and Start menu. (If you notice that the Properties item here does different things from the Properties item we got when we right-clicked on the desktop, kudos for paying attention, and remember what I said earlier about these right-click menus being context-sensitive.) Play with the different functions in these menus to understand what each one does.
MOVING FILES
One of my favorite right-button mouse tricks is using it with moving files. Go to your desktop and right-click on a file you want to move and hold the button down. Now drag the file with the button still depressed to a folder you want to move it to. Now release the right mouse button. A menu will pop-up that has options such as “move here”, “copy here”, and “create shortcut here”. It beats cutting and pasting copies of files or manually creating shortcuts.
WORD
If you work with Microsoft Word, there are some really great right-click tricks. Try highlighting some text and right-click. There are options to cut, copy, and paste, as well as change font color, type, and size. (Bonus tip: Many Microsoft applications have similar choices when you right-click in them.)
INTERNET EXPLORER
If you browse the web with Internet Explorer, try right-clicking on the web page you’re viewing. There’s an option called Add to Favorites, which is a quick way to save the web page in your Favorites menu.
If you right-click on a hypertext link on a web page, there’s an “open in new window” option. If you choose this, the linked page will open in its own window. This is one of my favorite web tricks because it’s a great way to surf news headlines and open the news stories I want to read into new windows without leaving the headline page.
E-MAIL
In e-mail, right-clicking also works well with Outlook 97/98/2000, and Outlook Express. I’ll leave it up to you to explore those clicks. The secret to all this is to not be afraid of exploring with the right mouse button.
Finally, a quick note on the middle mouse button or the mouse scroll wheel. The scroll wheel, which is located between the right and left mouse buttons on some computer mice, can be used to scroll through windows. To make this happen, ensure the window you want to scroll in is active. If it’s not, click on any part of the window to bring it to the front of the other windows on the screen.
This scroll wheel can also be depressed, so it functions like a third (and middle) button. If you go into your Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel), you’ll find a Mouse selection. Open it with a double left-click. There is normally a tab in that little program that allows you to assign a function to your middle mouse button or scroll wheel. This could be a shortcut to your help menu or a double-click with one middle click, or any number of other quick functions. If this programming option isn’t available, you might have to install the mouse software that came with your mouse.
Because of the tremendous versatility of the right mouse button, there is much, much more that it can do for you in various applications and situations. It never hurts to see what options it offers you and you’re sure to be pleased with the expanded functionality.
