Date: 04/25/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, security

New hardware-supported virtualization provides a tamper-proof space on PCs for security software.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6064609.html

Date: 04/26/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software, browser, virus, antivirus, spyware

     I have a C3500 averatec. It's been crawling lately, and I can't figure out exactly why..
     I've been taking good care of the laptop since I knew there would be no free legitimate way I could reinstall windows XP tablet onto this machine (no CDs came with the laptop, or so I remember.) But nonetheless the laptop is getting a little bit more unbearable everyday:

The computer starts to crawl randomly if I copy and paste something big (such as a photoshop file, lengthy amounts of text, or sometimes even screenshots). Sometimes it recovers, sometimes it doesn't. It used to recover all the time. I can use it normally, but nowadays I seem to be shutting it off by holding down the power button because the laptop becomes very very slow to repond, rather than shutting it off properly.

The laptop usualy starts to crawl after 4~5 hours of use, which consists mainly of firefox, trillian, and ultraedit(text editor). Once in a while I also play a 3D game called RagnarokOnline and use photoshop to draw stuff. Gaming or using photoshop doesn't effect when the laptop gets sluggy - it seems to be kind of random. I didn't install any file sharing programs on the laptop except bittorrent original.

I scanned for spyware and ad-ware using spybot, ad-aware, and I ran hijackthis to make sure no strange browser help objects were installed. Nothing.

I also checked in windows registry to make sure only what was needed was running and made sure nothing else was starting up when windows starts through msconfig. Nothing suspicious there..

I also removed everything but two shortcuts (antivirus and a gamma correction software written by adobe) in the Startup folder in the start menu.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling firefox since at first the computer was freezing up mostly when I was leaving firefox open for long periods of time, but later I realised that it was freezing equally as much when I'd try to use a file browser to look at what files I have in a folder. I tried turning file indexing back on hoping that would help explorer list files faster, but so far I don't feel any difference.

I've spend the past few weekends checking for errors on the hard disk and defragmenting the data on it. Currently 20GB out of the 74.5GB available is empty. Defragging didn't lessen the crashes, and no errors were reported from disk error checking. I used the disk checker and disk defrager that was included with windows XP to do these tasks.

Usually when the laptop crawls, the hard disk light goes blink.. blink.. blink.. and all buttons become unresponsive. The curser usually still moves, but the momement will be jerky. The screen stops responding to clicking, and then once in a while it lets out angry long beeps as if I clicked the desktop 100 times in 2 seconds.

The laptop used to have a overheating problem but now that I open it up once  a season to clean out the innards, the heat problem is almost gone. The laptop still gets burning hot during gaming, so I try not to game for more than 15 minutes at a time.

The laptop is about 10 months old. I dropped a few times and have a corner chipped, but nothing seemed to be wrong with it right after the drops. The specs are kind of like this:

I thought the RAM amount was 512MB, but it shows up as 480MB.. I'm puzzled.
Maybe it was always like this.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/916615.html

Date: 04/26/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, database, security

New security software meant to prevent database administrators from accessing sensitive data stored in databases they manage.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6065127.html

Date: 04/28/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software, linux, microsoft

Big Vole is watching you

MICROSOFT HAS BEEN quietly piloting its Software Genuine Advantage programme in Norway and in Sweden since November.

This week, the scheme has been be extended to the United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

Details of the scheme have been available for some while on this page here, where we found the text of the message you can expect to see on your screen should you be considered a pirate:

"It appears that you could be a victim of software piracy. The copy ofWindows installed on this computer is not considered to be genuine byMicrosoft.

The notification will continue to display until your computer is running genuine Microsoft Windows."

Microsoft says that every time a notification is displayed, the userwill receive detailed information about the specific validationfailure. The information includes steps that can be taken to resolvethe problem.

These don't seem to include, "try Linux instead".

We'll be interested to hear how you get on.. µ

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/917558.html

Date: 04/28/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: software, java, web

I'm currently a Firefox user, but have some people I know attempting to get me to switch back to using IE. (This is getting as ludicrous as the PC/Mac debate.) So I'm currently running an IE7 beta.

Question. I have a toolbar button for Firefox that runs a small Javascript script that will take info from an Amazon.com webpage and feed it into my local library's search engine. (For those of you who wish to see the script, it's javascript:var%20re=/([//-]|is[bs]n=)(/d{7,9}[/dX])/i;if(re.test(location.href)==true){var%20isbn=RegExp.$2;void(win=window.open('http://catalog.clevnet.org'+'/web2/tramp2.exe/do_authority_search/guest?SETTING_KEY=CLEVNET&English&location_group_filter=all&servers=1home&index=&query='+isbn,'LibraryLookup','scrollbars=1,resizable=1,location=1,width=575,height=500'))} ; as long as your library uses the same software program-- which I used to know the name of, but mine have taken it off the software altogether-- it shouldn't require a huge amount of customization.) When I try to create an IE toolbar button (in the links toolbar) with the same script, it first tries to assign it to a search.msn.com page, then to http://javascript.internet.com, then tells me "javascript is not a valid URL protocol."

Is there any way to get a toolbar button to run a script under IE? (This would be a showstopper for my going back to IE; I use that button in Firefox at least twenty times a day.)

Thanks.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/622517.html

Date: 04/28/06 (Application Development)    Keywords: software, technology, web

Eager for fresh ideas, the stodgy world of enterprise software is adopting technology and marketing from the consumer Web.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9593_22-6066138.html

Date: 04/28/06 (PHP Community)    Keywords: software

After spending a few months with a WAMP connection on my home machine, I've finally realized that I never set up the mail server. I have no experience with this sort of thing, so I was wondering if there was a way I could set one up without spending any money, compiling software, or downloading a new OS?

(cross-posted to a few different groups)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/php/445655.html

Date: 04/28/06 (Web Development)    Keywords: software

After spending a few months with a WAMP connection on my home machine, I've finally realized that I never set up the mail server. I have no experience with this sort of thing, so I was wondering if there was a way I could set one up without spending any money, compiling software, or downloading a new OS?

(cross-posted to a few different groups)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/webdev/316434.html

Date: 04/29/06 (Security)    Keywords: software

Newly discovered Trojan horse threatens to delete files if victim doesn't pay $10.99 for code to disarm the malicious software.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6066636.html

Date: 04/29/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, security

Security industry vets develop software to block attempts by bad sites to drop malicious code onto your PC as you surf.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6066587.html

Date: 04/28/06 (PHP Development)    Keywords: software

After spending a few months with a WAMP connection on my home machine, I've finally realized that I never set up the mail server. I have no experience with this sort of thing, so I was wondering if there was a way I could set one up without spending any money, compiling software, or downloading a new OS?

(cross-posted to a few different groups)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/php_dev/67667.html

Date: 04/30/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software, virus, antivirus, spyware

I go into the BIOS, set them to defaults, no change.  I then boot into the new HDD and go into disk management, and see this:

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/918594.html

Date: 05/02/06 (Opera Browser)    Keywords: software, browser, html, java

http://www.tomshardware.com/site/intellitxt.html

"What if you can't see it?"
The Intellitxt software only operates on Internet Explorer browsers, version 5 and above, Netscape 7.2 and above, andFirefox .8 and above. So, Mac users and Opera lovers will just have to believe them that it's there!

http://shokuji.info/temp/Toms_Ads.png

What version of Opera are these guys using? I mean, 8.54 gets them just fine; though I wish I couldn't see them.

http://shokuji.info/temp/Toms_Ads2.png

This little plague is the new pop-up. It runs on Javascript and actually slows down the page a bit. Plus it uses mouse overs to pop up this little bastard of a advertisement.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/opera_browser/54022.html

Date: 05/03/06 (Web Technology)    Keywords: software, google

A published report says that the software giant is mulling such a pact to compete against Google.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6067840.html

Date: 05/04/06 (Web Technology)    Keywords: software

Software maker says it is now using its own ad-serving engine for all its U.S. search queries.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6068401.html

Date: 05/04/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, security, microsoft

Microsoft's "Patch Tuesday" will include three security alerts with patches for Windows and the Exchange e-mail server software.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6068647.html

Date: 05/04/06 (Security)    Keywords: mysql, software, database, sql, security

Security patch is designed for the latest versions of MySQL's open-source database software.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6068514.html

Date: 05/05/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: software, crm, web

InfoParc released version 4.54 of absoluteBUSY web CRM software. It includes a new sales module plus new unlimited keyword/tagging, an interesting feature by all counts. Tagging An unlimited, freely defineable set of markers/tags can be applied to companies, contact persons and projects. These markers/tags can be used to specify properties of an object and make it [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/absolutebusy-web-crm-embraces-tagging/

Date: 05/05/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: software, crm

Bill Stevens, Senior Director at Cognos, contends that CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software do not provide proper granularity to enable informed decision making for pharmaceutical industries. At a high level I understand his sentiments as generic CRM and ERP systems are too broad to well address the specific pain-points of pharmaceutical [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/is-crm-erp-software-unsuitable-for-pharmaceutical-industries/

Date: 05/08/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, spyware

Windows XP successor to largely eliminate need to run separate anti-spyware or firewall software, analyst report says.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6069464.html