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Thursday the 4th of February 2010

Welcome to the Helpforce Daily Briefing, on Thursday the 4th of February 2010

1. Virus Warnings
2. Daily Technology News
3. Latest Shareware and Freeware
4. FAQ for the day
5. Advice of the day

This is a free service provided by Helpforce.com, to unsubscribe please visit http://www.helpforce.com
For free technical support, visit us at http://www.helpforce.com

1. Latest Virus Alerts From Sophos
---------------------------------------
Mal/EncPk-NQ on 4 February 2010 07:50:00 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malencpknq.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MJT on 4 February 2010 07:50:00 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmjt.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Delf-FEJ on 4 February 2010 07:50:00 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojdelffej.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/IFrame-DT on 4 February 2010 07:50:00 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojiframedt.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MJR on 4 February 2010 05:47:45 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmjr.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/DwnLdr-IAY on 4 February 2010 05:47:45 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojdwnldriay.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-ATO on 4 February 2010 05:47:45 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavato.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-ATS on 4 February 2010 05:47:45 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavats.html?_log_from=rss
W32/Autorun-AZG on 4 February 2010 05:47:45 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32autorunazg.html?_log_from=rss
Mal/Behav-010 on 4 February 2010 01:13:59 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malbehav010.html?_log_from=rss

2. Latest Technology News From Slashdot
-----------------------------------------------

-- USPTO Won't Accept Upside Down Faxes
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/U-YGnqAdfD0/USPTO-Wont-Accept-Upside-Down-Faxes)
bizwriter writes "This may seem like a joke, but it's not. The US Patent and Trademark Office will not accept patent filings faxed in if they arrive upside down. That's right, the home of innovation of the federal government is incapable of rotating an incoming fax file, whether electronically or on paper."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Intel Details Upcoming Gulftown Six-Core Processor
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/CzOMsT7Be40/Intel-Details-Upcoming-Gulftown-Six-Core-Processor)
MojoKid writes "With the International Solid-State Circuits Conference less than a week away, Intel has released additional details on its upcoming hexa-core desktop CPU, next gen mobile, and dual-core Westmere processors. Much of the dual-core data was revealed last month when Intel unveiled their Clarkdale architecture. However, when Intel set its internal goals for what its calling Westmere 6C, the company aimed to boost both core and cache count by 50 percent without increasing the processor's thermal envelope. Westmere 6C (codename Gulftown) is a native six-core chip. Intel has crammed 1.17 billion transistors into a die that's approximately 240mm sq. The new chip carries 12MB up L3 (up from Nehalem's 8MB) and a TDP of 130W at 3.33GHz. In addition, Intel has built in AES encryption instruction decode support as well as a number of improvements to Gulftown's power consumption, especially in idle sleep states."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Code Review of Doom For the iPhone
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/zoAvgs_1JXo/Code-Review-of-emDoomem-For-the-iPhone)
Developer Fabien Sanglard has written a code review for id Software's iPhone port of Doom. It's an interesting look into how the original 1993 game (which he also reviewed to understand its rendering process) was adapted to a modern platform.
"Just like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom was rendering a screenframe pixel per pixel. The only way to do this on iPhone with an acceptable framerate would be to use CoreSurface/CoreSurface.h framework. But it is unfortunately restricted and using it would prevent distribution on the AppStore. The only solution is to use OpenGL, but this comes with a few challenges: Doom was faking 3D with a 2D map. OpenGL needs real 3D vertices. More than 3D vertices, OpenGL needs data to be sent as triangles (among other things because they are easy to rasterize). But Doom sectors were made of arbitrary forms. Doom 1993's perspective was also faked, it was actually closer to an orthogonal projection than a perspective projection. Doom was using VGA palette indexing to perform special effect (red for damage, silver for invulnerable...)."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- UK Government Crowd-Sourcing Censorship
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/1xUIcRgky7I/UK-Government-Crowd-Sourcing-Censorship)
angry tapir writes "The UK public can report 'terrorism-related' Web sites to authorities for removal from the Internet under a new program launched by the British government. The program is a way in which the government is seeking to enforce the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006. These laws make it illegal to have or to share information intended to be useful to terrorists, and ban glorifying terrorism or urging people to commit terrorist acts."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Sony May Charge For PlayStation Network
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/WiTHdOvcaHQ/Sony-May-Charge-For-PlayStation-Network)
In an interview with IGN, Sony's VP of marketing, Peter Dille, responded to a question about the PlayStation Network by saying that the company is considering charging for the service. He said, "It's been our philosophy not to charge for it from launch up until now, but Kaz recently went on the record as saying that's something we're looking at. I can confirm that as well. That's something that we're actively thinking about. What's the best way to approach that if we were to do that? You know, no announcements at this point in time, but it's something we're thinking about." This follows news of a customer survey from last month that listed possibilities for subscription-based PSN features.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Brokers Get Strict Social Networking Rules
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/JhaRzJSA8Fk/Brokers-Get-Strict-Social-Networking-Rules)
eldavojohn writes "If you're a broker or work for a brokerage firm then you better think twice before posting content to Facebook and Twitter. It seems the static parts of the pages like your profile must be approved and fall under the watch of FINRA. But a post to Facebook or a tweet might constitute a 'public appearance' representing your firm. Which means that 'firms must supervise these interactive electronic communications under NASD Rule 3010 in a manner reasonably designed to ensure that they do not violate the content requirements of FINRA's communications rules.' It's days like these I'm glad I don't work on Wall Street or have jury duty."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Game Difficulty As a Virtue
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/_G57DCGrRiI/Game-Difficulty-As-a-Virtue)
The Wii and various mobile gaming platforms have done wonders for the trend toward casual or "easy" games. But the success of a few recent titles, despite their difficulty, has caused some to wonder whether the pendulum has swung too far; whether a little frustration can be seen as a good thing. Quoting:
"The evidence is subtle but compelling. For one example, look to major consumer website GameSpot's Game of the Year for 2009: Atlus' PS3 RPG Demon's Souls, which received widespread critical acclaim – none of which failed to include a mention of the game's steep challenge. GameSpot called it 'ruthlessly, unforgivingly difficult.' Demon's Souls was a sleeper hit, an anomaly in the era of accessibility. One would think the deck was stacked against a game that demanded such vicious persistence, such precise attention – and yet a surge of praise from critics and developers alike praised the game for reintroducing the experience of meaningful challenge, of a game that demanded something from its players rather than looked for ways to hand them things. It wasn't just Demon's Souls that recently flipped the proverbial bird to the 'gaming for everyone' trend. In many ways, the independent development scene can be viewed on the macro level as a harbinger of trends to come, and over the past year and into 2010, many indies have decided to be brutal to their players."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- The Journal of Serendipitous and Unexpected Results
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/v7zq9OuPV8c/The-Journal-of-Serendipitous-and-Unexpected-Results)
SilverTooth writes "Often, when watching a science documentary or reading an article, it seems that the scientists were executing a well-laid out plan that led to their discovery. Anyone familiar with the process of scientific discovery realizes that is a far cry from reality. Scientific discovery is fraught with false starts and blind alleys. As a result, labs accumulate vast amounts of valuable knowledge on what not to do, and what does not work. Trouble is, this knowledge is not shared using the usual method of scientific communication: the peer-reviewed article. It remains within the lab, or at the most shared informally among close colleagues. As it stands, the scientific culture discourages sharing negative results. Byte Size Biology reports on a forthcoming journal whose aim is to change this: the Journal of Serendipitous and Unexpected Results. Hopefully, scientists will be able to better share and learn more from each other's experience and mistakes."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Europe's LHC To Run At Half-Energy Through 2011
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/P7WRpaQPuQ0/Europes-LHC-To-Run-At-Half-Energy-Through-2011)
quaith writes "ScienceInsider reports that Europe's Large Hadron Collider will run at half its maximum energy through 2011 and likely not at all in 2012. The previous plan was to ramp it up to 70% of maximum energy this year. Under the new plan, the LHC will run at 7 trillion electron-volts through 2011. The LHC would then shut down for a year so workers could replace all of its 10,000 interconnects with redesigned ones allowing the LHC to run at its full 14 TeV capacity in 2013. The change raises hopes at the LHC's lower-energy rival, the Tevatron Collider at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, of being extended through 2012 instead of being shut down next year. Fermilab researchers are hoping that their machine might collect enough data to beat the LHC to the discovery of the Higgs boson, a particle key to how physicists explain the origin of mass."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Landmark Ruling Gives Australian ISPs Safe Harbor
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/oI_hgwyGb64/Landmark-Ruling-Gives-Australian-ISPs-Safe-Harbor)
omnibit writes "Today, the Federal Court of Australia handed down its ruling in favor of the country's third largest ISP, iiNet. The case was backed by some of the largest media companies, including 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. They accused iiNet of approving piracy by ignoring thousands of infringement notices. Justice Cowdroy said that the 'mere provision of access to internet is not the means to infringement' and 'copyright infringement occurred as result of use of BitTorrent, not the Internet... iiNet has no control over BitTorrent system and [is] not responsible for BitTorrent system.' Many Internet providers had been concerned that an adverse ruling would have forced themselves to police Internet traffic and comply with the demands of copyright owners without any legislative or judicial oversight."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Giving CubeSats Electric Propulsion
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/b2VtqGDSrXs/Giving-CubeSats-Electric-Propulsion)
eldavojohn writes "Thirteen picosatellites were launched back in June of 2006 with the price coming down dramatically in the years since. But the Rubik's cube sized devices have no mobility, meaning once they're put in orbit, they stay in that orbit. The big problem is that traditional chemical propulsion systems are too large for ten-centimeter sided cubes weighing a kilogram. A new electric propulsion system designed by Paulo Lozano of MIT might change that. "Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Nexus One Update Fixes 3G, Adds Multitouch
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/NlOQRPFDlzk/Nexus-One-Update-Fixes-3G-Adds-Multitouch)
snydeq writes "Google is pushing out an update for the Nexus One that will fix a 3G connectivity problem and add limited support for multitouch. After receiving over 1,500 messages in a support forum from people complaining about trouble connecting to 3G, Google said it has identified the problem and has started delivering the fix. In addition to fixing 3G, the update adds the first applications to support multitouch. While the recent versions of the Android OS include multitouch capability, no phone in the US has supported it."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Dune Remake Could Mean 3D Sandworms
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Nly89j1V-fA/Dune-Remake-Could-Mean-3D-Sandworms)
bowman9991 writes "The new Dune remake is becoming as epic as Frank Herbert's Dune series itself. Now that director Peter Berg has been ousted, new director Pierre Morel has decided to throw out Peter Berg's script entirely, starting afresh with his own ideas and vision. 'We're starting from scratch,' said Morel. 'Peter had an approach which was not mine at all, and we're starting over again.' Morel also reveals that 'It's the kind of movie that has the scope to be 3D.' He's also keen on sticking to the original material and recognises that he must try to delete the images associated with David Lynch's 1984 version of Dune from the public's consciousness."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- The Final Release of Apache HTTP Server 1.3
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/zv4Wq4CNwzg/The-Final-Release-of-Apache-HTTP-Server-13)
Kyle Hamilton writes "The Apache Software Foundation and the Apache HTTP Server Project are pleased to announce the release of version 1.3.42 of the Apache HTTP Server ('Apache'). This release is intended as the final release of version 1.3 of the Apache HTTP Server, which has reached end of life status There will be no more full releases of Apache HTTP Server 1.3. However, critical security updates may be made available."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Huge Phishing Attack On Emissions Trade In Europe
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/2plbJBiOtUo/Huge-Phishing-Attack-On-Emissions-Trade-In-Europe)
bratgitarre writes "A targeted phishing scam on companies trading with greenhouse gas emission certificates in Europe has reaped millions, Der Spiegel reports. By sending phishing e-mails to companies in Australia and New Zealand purporting to be from the German Ministry for Environmental Protection (German article, Google translation) the criminals obtained login credentials for companies owning polluting permissions. They then swiftly sold them to other polluters in various European countries. Damages are probably huge for a single incident, as 'one medium-sized German company alone had lost allowances worth €1.5 million ($2.1 million).' German federal officials, who can trace some of the transactions, claim that out of 2000 certificate sellers, seven responded to the scam."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

3. Latest Shareware from Planet-Shareware
-----------------------------------------------

4. FAQ of the day from Helpforce
-----------------------------------------------

-- Windows Key + E produces Parameter Incorrect error
(http://www.helpforce.com)

Question: Hello,I have a strange problem with my computer, that seems to puzzle everyone I ask. When I press the Windows Key + E, rather than getting Windows Explorer, I get a little error message "The Parameter is incorrect". There is no title, and there is no information about how and why that error message appears.Any ideas as to whats happening?Thanks very much

Answer: try installing internet explorer ....... latest version, scan for viruses and spyware. also, do a disk cleanup and defragment the pc. if these don't work, run disk checkup with both options checked. Reply Posted on 23/3/2006 Hi, thanks for your email back. I have a number of other suggestions for you - I think I might have tracked the problem down. Id like you to right click on My Computer (on the desktop) and see if there is an explore option in the menu which appears (it will probably be 2nd from the top.) If there is no explore then we have the problem tracked down - when the Winkey and E is pressed it tries to load this shortcut, but if the shortcut does not exist, then thats when the error will occur as there is nothing to load.What I am going to describe below is the steps to take to get the explore back... if this is not the problem, please reply as I have another less likely possible problem it may be and a solution for that too.To get the explore back will require you to edit the Windows registry - as long as you are careful then this will be no problem. I have included a script below to do this, you need to save it to a file called [anything].reg, lets say fix.reg and then run itScript located at http://www.helpforce.com/main/data/winkeyfix.regrun that - if all is correct, you should get the explore option back and then the shortcut will work (although it may require a restart)

5. Advice of the Day from ask-leo
-----------------------------------------------

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