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Saturday the 22nd of May 2010

Welcome to the Helpforce Daily Briefing, on Saturday the 22nd of May 2010

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

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1. Latest Virus Alerts From Sophos
---------------------------------------
Mal/FakeAV-DM on 22 May 2010 10:48:57 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malfakeavdm.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-NGD on 22 May 2010 10:48:57 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentngd.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Banhost-AL on 22 May 2010 10:48:57 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojbanhostal.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Bckdr-RCG on 22 May 2010 10:48:57 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojbckdrrcg.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-BHJ on 22 May 2010 10:48:57 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavbhj.html?_log_from=rss
W32/Autorun-BDD on 22 May 2010 10:48:57 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32autorunbdd.html?_log_from=rss
W32/Kolab-H on 22 May 2010 10:48:57 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32kolabh.html?_log_from=rss
Mal/EncPk-PV on 22 May 2010 03:09:56 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malencpkpv.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-NKD on 22 May 2010 03:09:56 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentnkd.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-BIJ on 22 May 2010 03:09:56 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavbij.html?_log_from=rss

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

-- When Rewriting an App Actually Makes Sense
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/b-9WVwTY3sM/When-Rewriting-an-App-Actually-Makes-Sense)
vlangber writes "Joel Spolsky wrote a famous blog post back in 2000 called 'Things You Should Never Do, Part I,' where he wrote the following: '[T]he single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make: They decided to rewrite the code from scratch.' Here is a story about a software company that decided to rewrite their application from scratch, and their experiences from that process."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Opera Plans Containerized Data Center In Iceland
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Bqm2kn7LSkk/Opera-Plans-Containerized-Data-Center-In-Iceland)
1sockchuck writes "Iceland's supply of renewable power has gained a high-profile international data center customer. Web browser developer Opera Software was announced today as the first customer of the Thor Data Center, which will house Opera's servers in data center containers that can use fresh air cooling, rather than chillers (a strategy also used by Google). The Thor Data Center is located in Hafnarfjorour, to the west of Iceland's ash-spewing volcano. Iceland's data center operators insist their location represents no operational risk from volcanic activity."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Russian Man Aims To Reinvent "Taser" Technology
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/iIXQKs8fUS8/Russian-Man-Aims-To-Reinvent-Taser-Technology)
Lanxon writes "A Russian man is hoping to overhaul the technology within Taser-type weapons — transforming them from single-shot, short-range devices that stun for a few seconds, into more effective long-range, rapid-fire weapons — by modifying the wires and the type of shock they generate, reports Wired. Non-lethal weapon developer Oleg Nemtyshkin's design uses bare wires, rather than the insulated wires favored by Taser and other stun gun makers. These wires weigh only about one sixteenth as much as insulated wire, providing less drag on the darts and improved accuracy. Nemtyshkin demonstrated his bare wire technology with a prototype – 'Legionary" — in 2001. His latest version is the S5, and a video of the weapon in action shows it firing repeatedly — almost as fast as the trigger can be pulled."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Swedish Court Rules ISP Must Reveal OpenBitTorrent Operator's Identity
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/gsIM16x5eFU/Swedish-Court-Rules-ISP-Must-Reveal-OpenBitTorrent-Operators-Identity)
2phar writes "An ISP must hand over the identity of the operator behind OpenBitTorrent, a court in Sweden ruled [Wednesday]. The ISP must now reveal the identity of its customer, operator of probably the world's largest torrent tracker, to Hollywood movie companies or face a hefty fine. 'OpenBitTorrent is used for file sharing, and we suspect that it is the Pirate Bay tracker with a new name. It is added by default on all of the torrent tracker files on Pirate Bay,' Hollywood lawyer Monique Wadsted said in an earlier comment. The ruling covers the customer behind the IP addresses 188.126.64.2 and 188.126.64.3 and/or any other IP addresses in Portlane's entire range (188.126.64.0 – 188.126.95.255) which have been allocated to tracker.openbittorrent.com since August 28, 2009."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- BFG Exiting Graphics Card Market
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/dA5mY6vzqB4/BFG-Exiting-Graphics-Card-Market)
thsoundman writes news that BFG appears to be giving up on the graphics card side of their business. The company's chairman said in a statement:
"After eight years of providing innovative, high-quality graphics cards to the market, we regret to say that this category is no longer profitable for us, although we will continue to evaluate it going forward. We will continue to provide our award-winning power supplies and gaming systems, and are working on a few new products as well. I’d like to stress that we will continue to provide RMA support for our current graphics card warranty holders, as well as for all of our other products such as power supplies, PCs and notebooks."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Most Useful OS For High-School Science Education?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/UT8yl-isQ6o/Most-Useful-OS-For-High-School-Science-Education)
Clayperion writes "I teach at a high school program for gifted students which emphasizes math, science, and technology. Currently we have two computer labs for the students: A new programming lab (all Dell PCs running XP, MS Visual C++, Eclipse, and SolidWorks for programming and CAD) and an old general-purpose lab (all Macs running OS X 10.3, with software ranging from some legacy OS 9 science applications to MathCad). Most of our students eventually pursue graduate degrees in science and engineering, and we would like them to have experience with the tools they will find out in industry. As we look to replace the old machines, there has been a push to switch to PCs with XP so that there is only a single platform to support. There are over 5000 machines on the district's network and the IT department is very small (fewer than 10 people), so the fewer hardware and software differences between the machines, the better. Without opening a flame war as to which one is 'better,' I'd like to know what those of you in the science and engineering fields actually use more in your labs (hardware, OS, software), so that we can decide which platform to support. It will most likely have to be either XP or OS 10.6, with very restricted permissions to students and teachers, as that is the comfort level of IT and administration, but I'll push for whatever would benefit the students the most."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Wine 1.2 Release Candidate Announced
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/QlLE_ny7Duk/Wine-12-Release-Candidate-Announced)
An anonymous reader writes "After evolving over 15 years to get to 1.0, a mere 2 years later and Wine 1.2 is just about here. There have been many many improvements and plenty of new features added. Listing just a few (doing no justice to the complete change set):
many new toolbar icons; support for alpha blending in image lists; much more complete shader assembler; support for Arabic font shaping and joining, and a number of fixes for video rendering; font anti-aliasing configuration through fontconfig; and improved handling of desktop link files. Win64 support is the milestone that marks this release. Please test your favorite applications for problems and regressions and let the Wine team know so fixes can be made before the final release. Find the release candidate here."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- FTC Greenlights Google-AdMob Deal
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/AEqeIDD9sBI/FTC-Greenlights-Google-AdMob-Deal)
coondoggie writes "The Federal Trade Commission today said it closed the investigation of the proposed $750 million Google acquisition of mobile advertising network company AdMob. The FTC said that while the combination of the two leading mobile advertising networks raised serious antitrust issues, the agency's concerns ultimately were overshadowed by recent developments in the market, most notably a move by Apple to launch its own, competing mobile ad network."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Air Force Wants Reusable Fly-Back Rockets
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/xiVE1AXghAE/Air-Force-Wants-Reusable-Fly-Back-Rockets)
FleaPlus writes "The Air Force is initiating a pathfinder program to develop a first-stage rocket booster capable of gliding back to a runway so it can be easily reused. Lockheed Martin has already launched a secretive prototype, and a Cal Poly team has a prototype based on Buzz Aldrin's Starcraft/StarBooster design (video). The Air Force estimates such a booster could cut launch costs by 50% over the current Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, and could also offer a rapid surge/replacement capability if combined with reusable spacecraft like the recently-launched X-37B. Initial test flights are planned for 2013."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Installing Linux On ARM-Based Netbooks?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/udz77cjKzZs/Installing-Linux-On-ARM-Based-Netbooks)
An anonymous reader writes "I am sure that many other Slashdotters have noticed an increase in ARM-based netbooks over the past several months. For example, the Augen E-Go. It is a widely touted theory that it is impossible to install Linux on one of these notebooks, replacing the commonly-installed Windows CE operating system. The sub-$100.00 netbooks carry decent specs, including: 533mhz ARM processor; 128MB DDR RAM; and a 2GB Flash drive, as well as most expected netbook components (USB, Wi-Fi, etc.). I find it hard to believe that a computer with these specs is impossible to hack and install Linux to, but Google searches have been largely unsuccessful in finding proper information. Do any Slashdot readers have experience in installing ARM Linux distros to these cheap netbooks like this? If so, what distros do they recommend?"
(In particular, I wonder if anyone can comment on Ubuntu on ARM.)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- The Go-Anywhere Cyber Cafe In a Shipping Container
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/mNayTYDD540/The-Go-Anywhere-Cyber-Cafe-In-a-Shipping-Container)
nk497 writes "UK IT charity Computer AID has come up with a clever idea to use shipping containers to house thin-client based, solar-powered cyber cafes, which can be used to bring connectivity to rural communities in Africa. The £20,000 boxes use a single Pentium 4 PC split out using thin client devices to offer computing to 10 people via local wireless access or mobile broadband. The solar power created from a single panel is enough to power the PC, 10 monitors, lighting and also to charge mobile phones. Computer Aid founder Tony Roberts notes: 'The power of this idea is that we can drop that container anywhere in the world, literally in the middle of the Sahara desert.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- How To Go Broke Selling Zero-Day Exploits
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Zf-dmz3VeGc/How-To-Go-Broke-Selling-Zero-Day-Exploits)
Trailrunner7 writes "Despite all of the hand-wringing and moral posturing about the public sale of security vulnerabilities, it turns out that not many people are buying or selling vulns, and the ones who are aren't making much money at it. A new survey of security researchers who sell vulnerabilities either publicly or in private, directed sales found that the vast majority of the flaws sell for less than $5,000. Almost none of them sell for much more than $10,000. At those prices, there's little chance that this is going to turn into the chaotic Wild West marketplace that some people predicted. It's a small, mostly controlled market that isn't making anyone rich."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Valve's Newell Thinks PS3 Needs To Be "Open Like a Mac"
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/1KqFZRLZ9BM/Valves-Newell-Thinks-PS3-Needs-To-Be-Open-Like-a-Mac)
Eraesr writes "Apparently Valve boss Gabe Newell thinks the PS3 needs to be more of an open platform, drawing a comparison to Apple's Mac platform. In an interview with 5BY5.TV, he said he would like to see the PS3 be 'open like a Mac' instead of being 'more closed like a Gamecube.' 'Platform investments, like the Mac, are difficult because you have to be aware of what direction that platform is moving,' Newell said, referring to the firm's recent move onto Macs with its titles and distribution service Steam. 'We need to target platforms that do a better job of looking like where we want to be in a few years.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- NASA Outlines "Flagship" Technology Demonstrations
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/HxBUnzdpyeo/NASA-Outlines-Flagship-Technology-Demonstrations)
FleaPlus writes "As part of its new plans, NASA has outlined the initial series of large-scale 'flagship' technology demonstration (FTD) missions for developing and testing technologies needed for sustainable beyond-Earth exploration, complementing the smaller-scale ETDD missions outlined previously. The first four FTD missions (costing $400M-$1B each, about the cost of the recent Ares I-X suborbital rocket launch) are scheduled to launch between 2014 and 2016, demonstrating advanced in-space propulsion (next-generation ion propulsion and solar arrays), in-space propellant transfer and storage, a lightweight/inflatable mission module at the ISS (which will also test closed-loop life support), and an inflatable aeroshell for aerocapture at Mars. A multi-purpose robotic rendezvous and docking vehicle will also be developed to support these missions."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Ninth Suicide At iPhone Factory
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/tIt8-qHw8VU/Ninth-Suicide-At-iPhone-Factory)
shar303 writes "A ninth employee has jumped to his death at Taiwanese iPhone and iPad manufacturer Foxconn, China's state media reports. The 21-year-old worker was the eighth fatality this year. This raises questions as to whether the shiny finish of the latest gadgets available from mega corporations are tarnished by such information, and whether the mistreatment of workers deserves to be highlighted when considering such firms."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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

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

-- Im getting an error when I open explorer on Win ME
(http://www.helpforce.com)

Question: I'm getting an error every to i open explorerIexplorer has cause an error with user.exe restart windows if problem continuesanyone with an idea why this is happening?Thanks

Answer: Well dave, it seems a common problem for Win ME, however, it doesn't have a lot of solutions.First of all, I've found that installing new video cards under ME (Mostly GeForce) may cause some troubles with user.exe, if you have installed new video cards, or if you have a GeForce video card, uninstall their own drivers and let them run with the ME drivers, or download the latest drivers for them.the second option could be a USB modem, if you have one I'd recomend you to get the latest drivers.Also check all the drivers for all you hardware, and try to download the latest drivers or install the drivers that comewith Windows MEif nothing of this works, downgrade to IE 3.11 or use another web browser such as Netscape, it might work for you.My Last recomendation, Upgrade to winXP or installl Win2k pro, those are very stable O/S Reply Posted on 31/8/2002 Althought the above may work i dont belive that there is any need to downgrade your browser or change your operating system - windows ME is know for its problems however! on the windows cd that you should have got with your computer, if u do a search on it for filename user.exe - if you copy this file into the c:\windows folder this should solve the problem!

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

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