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Saturday the 6th of March 2010

Welcome to the Helpforce Daily Briefing, on Saturday the 6th of March 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
For free technical support, visit us at http://www.helpforce.com

1. Latest Virus Alerts From Sophos
---------------------------------------
Troj/DwnLdr-IBT on 6 March 2010 11:53:31 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojdwnldribt.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-AYU on 6 March 2010 11:53:31 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavayu.html?_log_from=rss
W32/Spybot-PA on 6 March 2010 08:26:29 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32spybotpa.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MQV on 6 March 2010 04:46:21 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmqv.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Imm32Hck-A on 6 March 2010 04:46:21 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojimm32hcka.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/WinTrim-N on 6 March 2010 04:46:21 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojwintrimn.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-AYV on 6 March 2010 00:46:11 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavayv.html?_log_from=rss
Mal/Dropr-B on 5 March 2010 22:18:06 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/maldroprb.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MQU on 5 March 2010 22:18:06 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmqu.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-AYS on 5 March 2010 22:18:06 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavays.html?_log_from=rss

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

-- Sony Patents Game Demos With Feature Erosion
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/w03UHYNh1Us/Sony-Patents-Game-Demos-With-Feature-Erosion)
MojoKid writes "When a game developer releases a demo, it's typically intended to entice players into first trying and then purchasing the full version. This is the stuff of Game Design 101 for most of us, but a crack team of cutting-edge gaming researchers at Sony have applied for a patent based on a novel concept: game demos that become progressively less fun the more you play. Sony refers to this as 'feature erosion.' The idea behind this dubious concept is that gamers will become hooked on a game while it's still in demo, then squawk unhappily as features and abilities they've unlocked begin to disappear. In order to prevent this, the player ponies up for the full version. A demo or program that provides limited functionality or play time is one thing; a game that's purposefully designed to take your progress away, in an admitted attempt to get you to buy once you've been hooked, is something altogether different."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- TiVo Time Warp Judgment Affirmed
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/YI8Jm0KCfOY/TiVo-Time-Warp-Judgment-Affirmed)
zapakh writes "A federal appeals court this week upheld a lower court decision that accused DISH Network and EchoStar of continuing to infringe on TiVo patents.' This is a follow-on to a Slashdot story from October. Despite a 'Herculean effort' by EchoStar in redesigning its DVR software, the ruling agrees with the district court that that was not a major redesign of the software. The patent in question is titled 'Multimedia time warping system.' TiVo is pleased with the ruling."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Could the Tumbleweed Rover Dominate Mars?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/DJaQJgIPdbo/Could-the-Tumbleweed-Rover-Dominate-Mars)
astroengine writes "Mars has been visited by orbiters, landers and rovers, but could the future of Martian exploration be inspired by a wind-blown sphere? NASA and other research institutions have been developing the Mars Tumbleweed rover for the last decade, but with the help of the Planetary Science Institute, the Tumbleweed is now vying for some serious funding to further develop the technologies required. Although the Tumbleweed would be wholly dependent on the prevailing winds on the Martian surface, the lightweight and relatively cheap design could lead the way for a 'swarm' of independent Tumbleweeds to explore vast regions of the planet (video link). In 2003 and 2004, NASA even tested an inflatable Tumbleweed prototype on Greenland and Antarctica — it traversed hundreds of miles with ease, continually relaying location and environmental data."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- YouTube Makes Captioning Available To All
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/PF0w6qYC4eQ/YouTube-Makes-Captioning-Available-To-All)
adeelarshad82 writes "Google's YouTube announced that it has moved its automatic speech-recognition and closed-captioning technology out of beta and has now made it available to the YouTube community at large. Most, if not all, YouTube videos now include a 'CC' button that, if pressed, will automatically generate the closed-captioning technology. The technology processes the audio feed using the speech-recognition technology used in the core voice search feature that has also been built into the Android voice search feature, the GOOG-411 phone search, and other products."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- California Lake's Arsenic Hints At a Shadow Biosphere
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/LBufFJfzm-s/California-Lakes-Arsenic-Hints-At-a-Shadow-Biosphere)
MichaelSmith writes "Scientists think that there might be arsenic-based life in Mono Lake, California. If it's shown to exist, such life could have evolved independently from our own, or it could have forked from ours at a very early stage."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Best WAP For Dense Crowds?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/phki_2B09Wo/Best-WAP-For-Dense-Crowds)
An anonymous reader writes "A local community organization has asked me to help them set up WiFi access for an upcoming event, with some unusual (to me) requirements. All users (up to 500 people) will occupy a relatively small area and more-or-less have line-of-sight to the WAP, so issues like signal strength and wall penetration don't matter. Security also does not matter, as we plan to open this to anyone wanting to connect. Cost always matters, but we realize a $50 Linksys or three won't cut it here.
In the past, I have used Cisco AP1200s for a few dozen users to great satisfaction, but they only handle 50 connections at a time, and practically count as antiques at this point anyway. My research on the matter tells me that 802.11n performs far better in this regard, but I want to support 802.11g as well. I have no objection to using two APs to split those apart (with n limited to 5.8GHz, as per the suggestion of several comments in a recent Ask Slashdot), but physical constraints make it preferable to minimize the total number of APs needed — Ten WRT54s might cost about the same as one Aironet, but I only have three good places to mount these.
I welcome any suggestions and real-world experiences with similar situations, including the ever-popular Ask Slashdot refrain of 'What kind of idiot would do it like that, when you can just do this?' Ideally, I would like to know model numbers and how well they held up under real-world loads comparable to my situation."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- California To Create Public Animal Abuser Registry
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/3DPtvDOeO5w/California-To-Create-Public-Animal-Abuser-Registry)
An anonymous reader writes "California legislators are moving forward with plans to create a public, online, animal abuser registry identical in function to the public sex offender registry. Is this the slippery slope to further government mandated lists and registries?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Law Prevents British Websites From Being Archived
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/cYLVCQCFeHY/Law-Prevents-British-Websites-From-Being-Archived)
Lanxon writes "The law that allows the US Internet Archive to collect and preserve websites does not apply to British archivists. In fact, experts from the Archive and many other archivist institutions argue that the only way the millions of Britain's websites could be legally archived is if British law itself was amended, reports Wired in an investigation published today. Currently, archivists have to seek permission from webmasters of every single site before they are able to take snapshots and retain data."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Bluetooth 4.0 Devices To Make the Scene Later This Year
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/OAdAx7ZnviY/Bluetooth-40-Devices-To-Make-the-Scene-Later-This-Year)
Engadget is reporting that new Bluetooth 4.0 devices could be hitting the scene later this year, and it looks like Bluetooth low energy has been added to the spec. "But don't expect any dramatic changes in battery life for most of your gadgets: while the low energy spec introduces connectivity to a host of lower-power devices that have in the past relied on proprietary technology (such as watches, pedometers, and cats), your traditional Bluetooth devices, such as phones and laptops, will consume roughly the same amount of power. Indeed, the low energy spec is merely throwing smaller devices (with smaller amounts of data to transfer) in to the mix: if you want Trans-Siberian Orchestra to sound as glorious as ever on your wireless headphones, you'll need to push as much data (and hence draw as much power) with version 4 as you would with version 3."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Microsoft "Courier" Pictures
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/OLisAlSWA9Y/Microsoft-Courier-Pictures)
tekgoblin writes to let us know that Gizmodo has some early shots of the new prototype "Courier" booklet (foldable tablet) on the way from Microsoft. "Courier is a real device, and we've heard that it's in the 'late prototype' stage of development. It's not a tablet, it's a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They're connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Valve Announces Portal 2
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/rGlnEEhhMjk/Valve-Announces-emPortal-2em)
eldavojohn writes "Enough rumors, Portal 2 is due out for 2010. Valve also let users know through an announcement on Steam. Game Informer seems to be the de facto provider of Portal 2 information so far. Prepare yourselves for more aperture science! Notice anything funny about the underlined letters in Steam's announcement?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Dr. NakaMats Is the World's Most Prolific Inventor
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/tsKMzGAHDM0/Dr-NakaMats-Is-the-Worlds-Most-Prolific-Inventor)
MMBK writes to share an interesting look at Dr. "NakaMats" Nakamatsu, mastermind behind a world-record 3,000 patents. The 81-year-old scientist has inventions like the "PyonPyon" spring shoes, the karaoke machine, and others. He's also at least partly to blame for things like the digital watch, the floppy disk, and CDs. "Dr. Nakamatsu harbors other ambitions too: in 2007, he took his penchant for political campaigning to a new level, becoming a candidate in the gubernatorial election in Tokyo, and the election for the Upper House. Although he failed to get a seat, Dr. NakaMats has other tricks up his sleeve. In 2005 he was awarded the Ig Nobel prize for Nutrition, for photographing and retrospectively analyzing every meal he has consumed during a period of 34 years (and counting). By the time he dies at the age of 144 (a goal he maintains with an elaborate daily ritual that rejuvenates his body and triggers his creative process), he intends to patent 6,000 inventions."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- New Heat-Reduced Magnetic Solder Could Revolutionize Chip Design
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/j_GAv0Xyv1U/New-Heat-Reduced-Magnetic-Solder-Could-Revolutionize-Chip-Design)
A new heat-reduced soldering technique using magnets may lead to some revolutionary changes in the way chips are manufactured. Details are scant since the inventor seems to be playing it close to the vest for now in hopes of attracting chipmaker interest. "The result is a tin-silver alloy that contains a dispersion of iron particles tens of micrometers in diameter. When a magnetic field is applied to the solders, two things happen. First, the iron particles heat up, locally melting the solder. This localized heating, which works on the same principle as inductive stoves, remains completely contained, keeping the surrounding area cool. And second, the iron particles line up with the direction of the magnetic field, squeezing and pushing the liquid in that direction. This alignment is retained when the solder solidifies, and the well-ordered particles provide mechanical reinforcement that's greater than that afforded by a regular dispersion of particles."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Asus Takes Another Stab at Revolutionizing Netbook Market
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/BhLR4pCzwx8/Asus-Takes-Another-Stab-at-Revolutionizing-Netbook-Market)
Perhaps most well known for their netbook innovations with the Eee PC, Asus is at it again with their latest rollout at CeBIT Germany. The "Waveface Light," a new concept laptop, can be used as a conventional laptop or converted to a tablet by removing the keyboard and opening it to a completely flat position. Sounds like either a stroke of genius or a "small widget broke and now it's worthless" design issue.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Microsoft Sends Flowers To Internet Explorer 6 Funeral
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/-eql9HaFeUQ/Microsoft-Sends-Flowers-To-Internet-Explorer-6-Funeral)
Several readers have written with a fun followup to yesterday's IE6 funeral. Apparently Microsoft, in a rare moment of self-jest, took the time to send flowers, condolences, and a promise to meet at MIX. The card reads: "Thanks for the good times IE6, see you all @ MIX when we show a little piece of IE Heaven. The Internet Explorer Team @ Microsoft."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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

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

-- How do I remove reminants of applications from a re-installed computer?
(http://www.helpforce.com)

Question: I had to reinstall windows xp and now I have a copy on boot up that is no good and would like to uninstall it instead of selecting it every time windows loads. Also, after the install over the old one, programs are not in the start -> program files menu but are on my c:\ drive. Some of these programs are no good and they are not listed for uninstall. How may I clear out these programs without reformatting? Is there a specific program to find system files not needed anymore?

Answer: Hi Mike,As I understand your question you re-installed Windows which left fragments of programs lying around which you no longer want and wish to remove. Please let me know if I've misunderstood.There are indeed several programs to remove the "entrails" of programs.The best of these are McAfee QuickClean 3 and Norton SystemWorks 2003.Unfortunately, both of these programs cost money and are a lot cheeper if you buy them bundled with the Norton/McAfee virus Scanner too, but they do seem to be well worth it.If you are just after a single clean-up of your computer, it is worth downloading the demo of either program just to clean your PC once.The McAfee QuickClean demo is available at: http://www.mcafee.comThe Norton SystemWorks demo is available at: http://www.norton.com.There are a number of free programs for cleaning PC's available but these do seem to be un-trustworthy in some cases.A trip to http://www.download.com might help you to find a 3rd party application for free to solve your problems.Hope this helps!Please feel free to reply to this message if you require further assistance.Regards,-Lawrence Stromski, Helpforce.

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

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

-- 10 Best Websites of the Last Decade(http://netforbeginners.about.com/b/a/258199.htm)

Have you heard of Yelp? Hulu? Flickr? These are some of the websites that have distinguished themselves during these last 10 years. Demonstrating sound website design, as well as exemplary...

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