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Monday the 14th of June 2010

Welcome to the Helpforce Daily Briefing, on Monday the 14th of June 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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For free technical support, visit us at http://www.helpforce.com

1. Latest Virus Alerts From Sophos
---------------------------------------
Troj/Agent-NPR on 14 June 2010 10:36:27 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentnpr.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-NPS on 14 June 2010 10:36:27 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentnps.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-NPT on 14 June 2010 10:36:27 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentnpt.html?_log_from=rss
W32/Palevo-X on 14 June 2010 10:36:27 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32palevox.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/QQPass-APO on 14 June 2010 05:07:16 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojqqpassapo.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Shutdown-L on 14 June 2010 05:07:16 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojshutdownl.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/VB-ERH on 14 June 2010 05:07:16 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojvberh.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Zbot-QK on 13 June 2010 23:43:37 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojzbotqk.html?_log_from=rss
Mal/Agent-AB on 13 June 2010 13:34:48 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malagentab.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-NPO on 13 June 2010 13:34:48 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentnpo.html?_log_from=rss

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

-- Study Says Targeted Ads Gettin' a Lil' Creepy
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/o-oWt4ZDWnA/Study-Says-Targeted-Ads-Gettin-a-Lil-Creepy)
eldavojohn writes "Ever load up a completely random webpage to see an advertisement at the top for products related to what you're reading about? What about the advertisement with binoculars that says your green denim jacket doesn't really go with your eyes? Well, a recent marketing study (PDF) is saying that making a highly visible advertisement content aware is too much for consumers. It seems that to optimize clicks and purchases you should use a highly visible ad or a more diminutive ad that is content aware but not both. For marketers, this report talks about the consumer having this crazy notion of privacy and at some point they start to feel like you're crossing the line."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Apple Censors "Ulysses" App In Time For Bloomsday
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/RGehYzIQ8N0/Apple-Censors-Ulysses-App-In-Time-For-Bloomsday)
Miracle Jones writes "Apple has censored a 'Ulysses' comic book app — just in time for 'Bloomsday' — because of a picture of Buck Mulligan's stately, plump cartoon penis. Not since Amazon removed digital copies of '1984' from people's Kindles while they slept has there been such a hilarious episode in the ongoing slapstick farce 'Let's See What Happens When Corporations Become Publishers.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- $1 Trillion In Minerals Found In Afghanistan
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/lUcjn-Zerho/1-Trillion-In-Minerals-Found-In-Afghanistan)
clustro writes "American geologists working with the Pentagon have discovered deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, gold, and lithium of incredible bounty, amounting to nearly $1 trillion. In fact, the lithium deposits are so vast, an internal Pentagon memo has stated that Afghanistan could become the 'Saudi Arabia of lithium.' The wealth of the deposits completely flattens the current GDP of Afghanistan, estimated at about $12 billion. Mining would completely transform the economy of Afghanistan, which presently is propped up by the opium trade and foreign aid. However, it could take decades for extraction to reach its full potential due to the war, the lack of heavy industry in the country, and a corrupt national government."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- NASA Ends Plan To Put Man Back On Moon
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/UkrgJ52J9vw/NASA-Ends-Plan-To-Put-Man-Back-On-Moon)
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from The Times Online: "NASA has begun to wind down construction of the rockets and spacecraft that were to have taken astronauts back to the Moon — effectively dismantling the US human spaceflight programme despite a congressional ban on its doing so. Legislators have accused President Obama's administration of contriving to slip the termination of the Constellation programme through the back door to avoid a battle on Capitol Hill."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Hong Kong Company Develops Solar-Powered Lightbulb
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/ZpPJsIwV07s/Hong-Kong-Company-Develops-Solar-Powered-Lightbulb)
hussain_mkj writes "A Hong Kong-based company, Nokero, has introduced what it claims is the world's first solar powered lightbulb. Nokero is trying to replace traditional kerosene lamps in developing countries with its solar-powered N100 LED lightbulbs. The bulb is about the same size as normal incandescent bulbs, and will shine for two hours when charged for a day. The company claims that the new bulb is five times as bright as a kerosene lamp and uses 1/200th the energy. It will cost $15 for one and $480 for 48."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Ubuntu Replaces F-Spot With Shotwell
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/5fFC3WNzwd8/Ubuntu-Replaces-F-Spot-With-Shotwell)
climenole writes "Finally! The much discussed about F-Spot vs. Shotwell battle is over. The new default image organizer app for Ubuntu Maverick 10.10 is going to be Shotwell. This is a much-needed change; F-Spot was simply not enough. Most of the times when I tried F-Spot, it just keeps crashing on me. Shotwell on the other hand feels a lot more solid and is better integrated with the GNOME desktop. Shotwell is also completely devoid of Mono."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Can Transistors Be Made To Work When They're Off?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/GWE3dmFTIUs/Can-Transistors-Be-Made-To-Work-When-Theyre-Off)
An anonymous reader writes "Engineers at the Belgian research institute IMEC are looking at the use of silicon transistors in the sub-threshold region of their operation as a way of pursuing ultra-low power goals. A chip the engineers are designing for biomedical applications could have blocks designed to operate at 0.2 or 0.3 volts, researchers said, according to EE Times. The threshold voltage is the point at which the transistor nominally switches off. Operating a transistor when it is 'off' would make use of the leakage conduction that is normally seen as wasted energy, according to the article."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- A File-Centric Photo Manager?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/FD73K1vWEDk/A-File-Centric-Photo-Manager)
JeremyDuffy writes "I have a photo project of over 7,000 photos. I want to tag them based on location, time of day, who's in them, etc. Doing this by hand one at a time through the Windows 7 interface in Explorer is practically madness. There has to be a better way. Is there a photo manager that can easily group and manage file tags? And most importantly, something that stores the tag and other data (description etc.) in the file, not just a database? I don't care if the thing has a database, but the data must be in the file so when I upload the files to the Internet, the tags are in place."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- The Truth About the Polygraph, According To the NSA
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/iln_o5dGuCM/The-Truth-About-the-Polygraph-According-To-the-NSA)
An anonymous reader writes "The NSA (the secretive intelligence agency that brought you wholesale warrantless wiretapping) has produced a public relations video about its polygraph screening program titled 'The Truth About the Polygraph.' But is the NSA telling the truth? AntiPolygraph.org provides a critique (video)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Chrome OS To Support "Legacy" PC Apps Through Remote Access
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/aysEeWfSRO8/Chrome-OS-To-Support-Legacy-PC-Apps-Through-Remote-Access)
adeelarshad82 writes "According to a message posted to a public mailing list dedicated to Chrome OS, a new feature is in the works that will grant users access to 'legacy PC applications' through some kind of remote desktop connection process. Google software engineer Gary Kamark, who first spilled the beans on the feature, calls the process 'Chromoting.' The current speculation amongst Chrome enthusiasts is that the Chromoting process is more akin to a VPN/sharing functionality than anything else. In that case, one would have to leave one's Windows-based desktop or laptop system on in order to access apps via a connected Chrome OS computer — which is hardly a technological leap given that numerous applications today offer users an analogous screen-sharing / remote access functionality."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- NASA Aircraft Videos Hayabusa Re-Entry
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/VaKqfnIE_-o/NASA-Aircraft-Videos-Hayabusa-Re-Entry)
astroengine writes "Flying above the Australian Outback, NASA's converted DC-8 jet videoed the violent re-entry of the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft. Flying in front of the disintegrating probe, the mission's sample return capsule can be seen speeding though the atmosphere. According to reports, the capsule landed safely and will be collected by helicopter in the morning." "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait posts about the successful return as well.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- North Korean Flash Games For Export
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/5bxlKK9e_9Y/North-Korean-Flash-Games-For-Export)
linzeal writes: "Despite it being pretty-much closed off to the world, North Korea is the next boom place for IT and tech outsourcing, PC World has reported. Flash games are being developed there for outside publishers, largely thanks to the home-grown talent. Does this mean that the the cartoon company that makes The Simpsons might use North Korea as well? Well it looks like they already have started."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- A Battle of Wits On the Net's Effect On the Mind
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/4cy3Y6sMG08/A-Battle-of-Wits-On-the-Nets-Effect-On-the-Mind)
An anonymous reader writes "There's a fascinating duel going on between two Harvard-associated authors, Steven Pinker and Nicholas Carr, on the topic of the Net's influence on the mind. In a New York Times op-ed, Pinker criticizes Carr's argument, as laid out in his new book The Shallows, that our use of the Net is encouraging us to become distracted, superficial thinkers. The Net and other digital technologies 'are the only things that will keep us smart,' writes Pinker. In a response on his blog, Carr tears apart Pinker's argument, claiming that Pinker's examples should actually make us even more worried about the possible 'ill effects' the Net is having on our minds. Carr concludes, 'We're training ourselves, through repetition, to be facile skimmers, scanners, and message-processors — important skills, to be sure — but, perpetually distracted and interrupted, we're not training ourselves in the quieter, more attentive modes of thought: contemplation, reflection, introspection, deep reading, and so forth.' Behind the debate is the deeper controversy over whether the human brain is fundamentally adaptable ('neuroplasticity') or genetically locked into patterns of behavior ('evolutionary psychology')."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Lenovo Trying Face Recognition For Logins On New Laptops
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/KDagp__wAvE/Lenovo-Trying-Face-Recognition-For-Logins-On-New-Laptops)
judgecorp writes "Lenovo's new IdeaPads will be using face recognition as a way to replace passwords for users logging onto the laptops. 'Lenovo's VeriFace combines the Windows login and file encryption to password-protect individual files. It identifies users by matching unique features of their faces to photographs taken by the 1.3-megapixel webcam built into the laptop. When Windows users start up their PCs, a camera window pops up in the login frame. The user then just has to adjust their position so their face appears in the window, and VeriFace logs them in automatically.' That could be good, but is the technology really ready for mass market devices? HP ran into trouble when its face recognition software had trouble recognizing people with darker skin."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- China Drops In Domain Registrations From #2 To #4
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/jvz-mAowepk/China-Drops-In-Domain-Registrations-From-2-To-4)
darthcamaro writes "A year ago, it looked like the .cn country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for China was growing so fast that it would displace .com. In 2010 that's no longer the case, as .cn has dropped from being the number two global domain by registrations to number four. And yes, .com is still number one. According to VeriSign, the top 10 list of TLDs in the first quarter was: .com, .de, .net, .cn, .uk, .org, .info, .nl, .eu and .ru. So why did .cn decline? Spammers. 'Many of these are low-priced promotional names that have now come up for renewal at a higher price,' said Pat Kane, vice president of naming services at VeriSign. 'The .cn registration decline was also based on the CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) registry's implementation of the real names directive from the Chinese government primarily around verifiable "whois" data.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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

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

-- I keep getting hits on different ports on my computer
(http://www.helpforce.com)

Question: I recently installed a firewall on my computer and ad-aware. I am connected to the internet through a dsl cable. since installing the firewall and have noticed hundreds of hits on numerous ports on my computer. The most hits are on 1616, 137,139, & 80. my question is this, is this just background noise or actual hack attempts? These hits are continuous averaging 100+ per hour. Is there a downloadable program out there to trace these events, or is there anything else i can do to protect myself from being hacked.

Answer: What firewall do you use? Try one (e.g. zonealarm) which monitors which programs are using which ports and then asks whether or not they should be allowed. This will stop spyware or trojans. Apart from that, I would suggest keeping your IP address a secret. If you use IRC try to get a VLine or mode +x if the network supports that.

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

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