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Sunday the 7th of February 2010

Welcome to the Helpforce Daily Briefing, on Sunday the 7th 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
6. Internet Advice

This is a free service provided by Helpforce.com, to unsubscribe please visit http://www.helpforce.com
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1. Latest Virus Alerts From Sophos
---------------------------------------
Troj/FakeAV-AUE on 7 February 2010 07:02:48 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavaue.html?_log_from=rss
Mal/Qbot-B on 6 February 2010 21:13:24 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malqbotb.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-AUD on 6 February 2010 21:13:24 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavaud.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MKA on 6 February 2010 15:00:13 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmka.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MKG on 6 February 2010 15:00:13 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmkg.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/ByteVer-H on 6 February 2010 15:00:13 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojbyteverh.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeVir-PZ on 6 February 2010 15:00:13 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakevirpz.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Qakbot-B on 6 February 2010 15:00:13 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojqakbotb.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MJZ on 6 February 2010 05:40:37 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmjz.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Banc-F on 6 February 2010 05:40:37 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojbancf.html?_log_from=rss

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

-- Plasma Jets Could Replace Dental Drills
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/RQmXLx56sfc/Plasma-Jets-Could-Replace-Dental-Drills)
Hugh Pickens writes "The first electric dental drill was patented in 1875; modern drills grind the diseased portions of teeth away at up to 500,000 rpm. But dentists have been seeking less invasive ways of wiping out stubborn, tooth-decaying bacteria. Now Live Science reports that bacteria-killing jets of plasma could soon replace the drills used to treat cavities in our teeth. Researchers recently demonstrated that a small, blowtorch-like device emitting a relatively cool beam of purple plasma could eliminate oral bacteria in cavities, leaving more tooth structure intact than a drill does. To test how well 'cold' plasma jets (about 100F or 38C) sterilize tooth material, researchers took slices of dentin from extracted human molars, doused them with bacteria, and torched them with the plasma jet. An inspection via a scanning electron microscope of the damage done to the germs shows bacterial remnants had holes in their cell walls. When the plasma jet fires, it charges oxygen in the surrounding air, creating highly reactive molecules that can break down the bacteria's defenses. Researchers believe the technique could be available to general dentistry in three to five years."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- 95% of User-Generated Content Is Bogus
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/GgZJdh6oRNM/95-of-User-Generated-Content-Is-Bogus)
coomaria writes "The HoneyGrid scans 40 million Web sites and 10 million emails, so it was bound to find something interesting. Among the things it found was that a staggering 95% of User Generated Content is either malicious in nature or spam." Here is the report's front door; to read the actual report you'll have to give up name, rank, and serial number.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- An Interview With F# Creator Don Syme
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/D-XeMt9P18M/An-Interview-With-F-Creator-Don-Syme)
OCatenac passes along an interview with Don Syme, chief designer of F#, which is Microsoft Research's offering for functional programming on the .Net platform. Like Scala, which we discussed last fall, F# aims at being an optimal blend of functional and object-oriented languages. "[Q] What is the best program you've seen written in F#? [A] I've mentioned the samples from F# for Scientists, which are very compelling... For commercial impact then the uses of F# in the finance industry have been very convincing, but probably nothing beats the uses of F# to implement statistical machine learning algorithms as part of the Bing advertisement delivery machinery. ... We've recently really focused on ensuring that programming in F# is simple and intuitive. For example, I greatly enjoyed working with a high-school student who learned F#. After a few days she was accurately modifying a solar system simulator, despite the fact she'd never programmed before. You really learn a lot by watching a student at that stage."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- 19th-Century Photographer Captured 5,000 Snowflakes
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/oyHIkb75tP0/19th-Century-Photographer-Captured-5000-Snowflakes)
tcd004 writes "Wilson Bentley began photographing snowflakes in 1885, and managed to immortalize more than 5,000 crystals before his death in 1931. Now his images are widely recognized and highly sought after. At the age of 19, 'Snowflake' Bentley jury-rigged a microscope to a bulky bellows camera and took the first-ever photograph of a snowflake. Photography then, particularly microphotography, was much closer to science than art. In a 1910 article published in the journal Technical World, he wrote, 'Here is a gem bestrewn realm of nature possessing the charm of mystery, of the unknown, sure richly to reward the investigator." The video embedded at the link above touches on another long-forgotten piece of history: a sketch of the photographers who captured arial views of assemblages of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from WW-I, carefully choreographed and arranged to form a Liberty Bell, a Stature of Liberty, a US flag... as forgotten as the origin of the WW-I term razzle-dazzle.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Google's Nexus One, a Steal At $49 Unlocked?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Ema-cm2yFf8/Googles-Nexus-One-a-Steal-At-49-Unlocked)
gjt writes "I initially posted a piece ragging on the Nexus One. But then a commenter pointed out a problem with my initial logic, and after doing some math I concluded that the $529 unlocked/unsubsidized Google Nexus One gPhone is much cheaper than it appears to be. In fact it's only $49 over two years — and that's unlocked! Google likes to say that the Nexus One represents 'Our new approach to buying a mobile phone.' But it actually seems as though T-Mobile deserves most of the credit by providing a $20/month discount to customers who purchase an unsubsidized phone, a fact that didn't seem to get much attention when T-Mobile created the plan last October."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- International Space Station Cupola Video Released
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/gd5BXFwavF4/International-Space-Station-Cupola-Video-Released)
quaith writes "With the Space Shuttle Endeavour scheduled to launch at 4:39 AM EST on Sunday for a trip to the International Space Station, the European Space Agency has released a video that shows how the modules it's carrying — Node-3 ('Tranquility') and Cupola — are going to get attached. Node-3 is a connecting module. Cupola has six trapezoidal windows and circular roof designed to provide a unique vantage-point for observing Earth. The video animations show how the station's robotic arm will be used initially to put the modules in place as a single unit, and then to detach Cupola from the end of Node-3 and reattach it on the Earth-facing side. With this addition, the ISS will start to look like something that Jules Verne would have wanted to visit."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Studies Find Harm From Cellular and Wi-Fi Signals
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/_uLjVRRoiSw/Studies-Find-Harm-From-Cellular-and-Wi-Fi-Signals)
Over the years we've discussed the possible health risks of cellphone and other microwave radiation: studies from Israel and Sweden indicating a link between cellphone use and cancer, one from England exonerating cell towers as a cause of "microwave radiation sensitivity," and a recent 30-year Swedish study that found no link to cancer. The question won't go away though. Reader Artifice_Eternity writes "I've always tended to dismiss claims of toxicity from cell phone and Wi-Fi signals as reflecting ignorance about microwave radiation. However, this GQ article cites American and European studies going back decades that have found some level of biological harm caused by these signals. Why haven't they gained more attention? Quoting: 'Industry-funded studies seem to reflect the result of corporate strong-arming. Lai reviewed 350 studies and found that about half showed bioeffects from EM radiation emitted by cell phones. But when he took into consideration the funding sources for those 350 studies, the results changed dramatically. Only 25 percent of the studies paid for by the industry showed effects, compared with 75 percent of those studies that were independently funded.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Apple's Change of Heart On Flash
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Yqndj0RsHnI/Apples-Change-of-Heart-On-Flash)
Dotnaught writes "In a blog post, Walter Luh, co-founder of Ansca Mobile and a former employee of both Apple and Adobe, recounts how Apple once promoted Flash on the iPhone then changed its mind because Flash didn't provide the optimal mobile user experience. 'I think that Apple came to the same conclusion I've come to — namely that Flash has its strengths, but not when it comes to creating insanely great mobile experiences,' he writes. Luh's piece ends with a pitch for mobile development using the Corona SDK, a Lua-based programming environment that strives to recapture the simplicity of early versions of Flash."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Web App Scanners Miss Half of Vulnerabilities
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Z_KL1rDf71Q/Web-App-Scanners-Miss-Half-of-Vulnerabilities)
seek3r sends news of a recent test of six web application security scanning products, in which the scanners missed an average of 49% of the vulnerabilities known to be on the test sites. Here is a PDF of the report. The irony is that the test pitted each scanner against the public test files of all the scanners. This reader adds, "Is it any wonder that being PCI compliant is meaningless from a security point of view? You can perform a Web app scan, check the box on your PCI audit, and still have the security posture of Swiss cheese on your Web app!" "NTOSpider found over twice as many vulnerabilities as the average competitor having a 94% accuracy rating, with Hailstorm having the second best rating of 62%, but only after extensive training by an expert. Appscan had the second best 'Point and Shoot' rating of 55% and the rest averaged 39%."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- EU Committee Says No To Bank Data Sharing
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/YfCiqBqlQsk/EU-Committee-Says-No-To-Bank-Data-Sharing)
krupert writes to let us know that the civil liberties committee of the European Parliament has voted to revoke the data-sharing arrangement by which US intelligence agencies have access to EU banking data via the SWIFT system. The US has threatened to withhold cooperation on terrorist intelligence if the bank data deal now in place is canceled, which it will be next week if the full European Parliament votes in line with the committee's recommendation. US intelligence agencies clandestinely tapped the SWIFT interbank clearing data from just after 9/11 until 2006, when the secret arrangement was made public. After that, Belgium-based SWIFT pulled their servers from the US and set up shop in Brussels, and the US had to negotiate with the EU to keep tapping the data.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Game Devs Migrating Toward iPhone, Away From Wii
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/27k5hOoBbq8/Game-Devs-Migrating-Toward-iPhone-Away-From-Wii)
A new report by Game Developer Research reveals that the number of developers working on games for the iPhone continues to rise, roughly doubling in number from last year. At the same time, the amount of work done on games for Nintendo's Wii dropped significantly:
"Just over 70 percent of developers said they were developing at least one game for PC or Mac (including browser and social games), rising slightly from last year; 41 percent reported working on console games. Within that latter group, Xbox 360 was the most popular system with 69 percent of console developers targeting it, followed by 61 percent for PlayStation 3. While those console figures stayed within a few percent of last year's results, the change in Wii adoption was much more significant: reported developer support for the system dropped from 42 percent to 30 percent of console developers, supporting numerous publishers' claims of a recent softening of the Wii market."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- USPTO To Review Controversial VoIP Patent
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/cnsTBibdJ1Q/USPTO-To-Review-Controversial-VoIP-Patent)
alphadogg writes "The US Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to review a controversial patent issued in 2001 that is claimed to cover much of the technology underlying VoIP. The patent, held by a small company called C2 Communications Technologies, is one of 10 that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been trying to strike down for several years through its Patent Busting Project. On Friday, the patent office granted the EFF's request for a re-examination. The digital civil-liberties organization argued that another applicant had submitted basically some of the same technology to the patent office before C2 did. Patent No. 6,243,373, 'Method and apparatus for implementing a computer network/Internet telephone system,' is credited to David L. Turock as inventor and is owned by C2, previously called Acceris Communications Technologies."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Internet Nominated For 2010 Nobel Peace Prize
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/A2XOKds0NHM/Internet-Nominated-For-2010-Nobel-Peace-Prize)
An anonymous reader writes "It's official. The Internet, which has virtually revolutionized world communication, has been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. 'Organizers said signatories to its petition backing the nomination include 2003 peace laureate and exiled Iranian activist Shirin Ebadi — which would make it a legitimate entry.' The nomination was proposed by the Italian edition of Wired magazine for promoting 'dialogue, debate and consensus through communication' as well as democracy."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Tritium Leak At Vermont Nuclear Plant Grows
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/9mxbl81ivao/Tritium-Leak-At-Vermont-Nuclear-Plant-Grows)
mdsolar writes "The tritium leak into ground water at Vermont Yankee has now tested at 775,000 picocuries per liter, 37 times higher than the federal drinking water standard. 'Despite the much higher reading, an NRC spokeswoman said Thursday there was nothing to fear. "There's not currently, nor is there likely to be, an impact on public health or safety or the environment," the NRC's Diane Screnci said in an interview. She had maintained previously that the Environmental Protection Agency drinking water safety limit of 20,000 picocuries per liter had an abundance of caution built into it. ... The National Academy of Sciences said in 2005 that any exposure to ionizing radiation from an isotope like tritium elevates the risk of cancer, though it also said with small exposures, the risk would be low. ' At what level should the NRC shut down the troubled plant?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Authors' Amazon Awareness
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/FJYB7GJ2nM4/Authors-Amazon-Awareness)
Geoffrey.landis writes "Many book lovers were surprised this week when Amazon.com removed books from the publisher Macmillan from the shelves (later restored), including such popular imprints as St. Martin's, Henry Holt, and the science fiction publisher Tor. But readers shouldn't have been surprised, according to the Author's Guild. The Author's Guild lists a history of earlier instances where Amazon stopped listing a publisher's books in order to pressure them to accept terms, dating back to early in 2008, when Amazon removed the 'buy' buttons for works from the British publisher Bloomsbury, representing such authors as William Boyd, Khaled Hosseini, and J.K. Rowling. In response, the Author's Guild has set up a service called Who Moved My Buy Button to alert authors when their books are removed from Amazon's lists."
Amazon's actions have generated ill-will on the parts of many authors, who — being authors — are only too happy to explain their viewpoints at length. Two such examples are Tobias Buckell's breakdown of why Amazon isn't the righteous defender of low-prices they claim to be and Charlie Stross's round-up of the situation.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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

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

-- My drives are running in MSDOS mode, how can I change this?
(http://www.helpforce.com)

Question: My C: drive and D: drive are running in dos mode and making my computer slow, how do I change it?

Answer: Check for any "Dos-Mode" Cd-Rom drivers being loaded in the Autoexec.bat or config sys.If they are there, REM them out you wont need them.---------------------------------------------Have you formatted your hdd lately? Did you perhaps format with a Dos diskette? (dos 6.22 under?)----------------------------------------------

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

6. Internet Advice
-----------------------------------------------

-- The Top 10 Alternative Search Engines(http://netforbeginners.about.com/b/a/258068.htm)

Alternative search engines are commonly called "niche search engines". These services are designed to search obscure and very specific content niches that you won't easily find on Google or...

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