Google deleting dangerous advertisements

Google has removed ads that appear alongside Google search results that re-directed users to malicious sites. Exploit Prevention Labs reported that malware distributors were using advertisements placed via Google's automated AdWords system to infect unsuspecting end-users with spyware designed to capture bank login user names and passwords.

McAfee's SiteAdvisor division found in a December report that 8 percent of sponsored results from top search engines AOL, Ask.com, Google, MSN, and Yahoo can often lead to Web sites that contain spyware and scams. By purchasing ads that appear at the top of search results scammers get the visibility they need to drive traffic to their exploited sites.

Full Story

Apple QuickTime Bug Could Be Days Away

Researchers say hackers could be a few days away from finding the vulnerable code. The bug, which has been rated highly critical by two different security companies, could open up the millions of people who use an iPod to attacks on their desktops and laptops.

The vulnerability is caused by an error in the way Apple QuickTime handles Java. It can be exploited if a user visits a malicious Web site, running a Java-enabled browser. The bug also affects Windows Vista through Internet Explorer 7.

even if a patch comes out before the exploit hits, a large number of users could still be at risk because it takes weeks, months and sometimes even years for uses to get their systems patched.



Full Story

Time Warner extending your broadband coverage

FON and Time Warner Cable announced a new partnership on Monday that will allow that latter company's broadband subscribers to also access the FON WiFi network for free.

Time Warner cable subscribers can also become FON community members and create their own access points through their home or business broadband connections.

These community members essentially serve as Hotspot providers who then share their unused bandwidth via a specialized FON router in exchange for free WiFi access when roaming through any other FON access point.

With nearly 60,000 community members so far in the U.S., FON claims that it is now the largest WiFi network in the United States.

Full Story

Dell offers Windows XP as consumer option

Dell has bowed to pressure from customers and dumped its Vista only policy for consumer PCs by adding Windows XP as an operating option on certain computers. Dell now offers Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional on two Dimension desktops and four Inspiron laptops.

Earlier this month, Dell decided to add Windows XP on systems sold to its small business customers. The new XP option is available only to U.S. customers.

Manufacturers like Dell will be able to pre install Windows XP on new systems until January 31, 2008. Smaller system builders and end users, however, will be able to license Windows XP into early 2009.



Full Story

Windows DNS Server Exploit

The zero-day bug in the Domain Name System (DNS) Server Service in Windows 2000 Server SP4 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 and SP2 was confirmed by Microsoft late on Thursday.

Symantec Corp. warned Saturday that the Metasploit Project had released a public exploit for the vulnerability. "The release of this exploit greatly increases the chance of widespread exploitation of this issue before a patch is made available," warned Symantec. Although Microsoft seems to be all over this vulnerability, a patch is in the works.

If a bot Trojan horse managed to get onto a client via the patched but still attacked animated cursor bug, for example, the botnet controller could use that compromised PC to hijack the local domain controller.

Full Story

Blogger code of conduct proposed

A prominent internet writer and the head of Wikipedia have collaborated on a set of rules designed to bring civility to the world of bloggers, which can appear to be a world of endless conversational battle.

The code calls on bloggers which are people who write and post material in online journals called blogs not to post unacceptable content and delete comments that contain abusive, harassing or threatening content.

The code has already generated controversy on the site's discussion group over issues of censorship and enforceability of the rules.

According to blog indexing company Technorati, there are 74.9 million blogs on the internet.

Full Story

One TB External Hard Drive now available

The new SimpleDrive USB drive provides easy add-on storage and effortless backup and restore capabilities making it painless to manage your personal or professional content using Hitachi's latest 1TB drive to provide a huge external backup solution.

The drive comes preloaded with One-Click backup software so you can protect selected files or the entire content stored on your computer with a single click or automatically if desired.

Combo models with both USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 are due to go on sale in May.

Full Story

Microsoft sued over Vista branding

A lawsuit filed against Micrsoft, alleges that the company advertised systems as "Vista capable," when in fact the systems were not able to run Vista properly.

Microsoft has allowed PC vendors to put stickers on their systems saying that they are "Vista ready," when the system could run only Vista Home Basic. The suit maintains that it was unreasonable of Microsoft to assume that every person to whom it was marketing Vista could understand the system requirements.

Microsoft said it had made extensive efforts to inform buyers about the hardware resources needed to run Vista.

Full Story

Online news readers pay more attention than newspaper readers

Those who favor online news have a greater attention span than print readers, according to a US study that refutes the idea that web surfers jump around and don't read much.

The EyeTrack07 survey by the Poynter Institute, found online readers read 77% of what they chose to read while newspaper readers read an average of 62%. Nearly two thirds of online readers, once they chose a particular item to read, read all of text.

The study found about 75 per cent of print readers were methodical compared to half of online readers.

Full Story