Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Known spyware on your PC can be detected and removed. This helps reduce negative effects caused by spyware including slow PC performance, annoying pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of your private information. Continuous protection improves Internet browsing safety by guarding over fifty (50) ways spyware can enter your PC.

Download: MS AntiSpyware v1.0.701 Beta
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Source: MSFN

The highly controversial XCP digital rights management (DRM) technology bundled by Sony BMG on 52 of its audio CD albums can be defeated by applying a small piece of tape to the discs, according to analyst firm Gartner.

Applying a piece of opaque tape to the outer edge of the disk renders the data track of the CD unreadable. A computer trying to play the CD will then skip to the music without accessing the bundled DRM technology.

“After more than five years of trying, the recording industry has not yet demonstrated a workable DRM scheme for music CDs,” Gartner concluded in a newly published research note.

The use of a piece of tape will defeat any future DRM system on audio CDs designed to be played on a stand-alone CD player, the analyst said.

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Source: VNUNet

The federal Government is considering funding the mass distribution of set-top boxes at a cost of millions of dollars to speed the switch to digital-only TV broadcasts after a slow take-up by viewers.

The original date of 2008 set by former communications minister Richard Alston to switch off analogue signals and move to 100 per cent digital broadcasts has proved unrealistic.

But current minister Helen Coonan is still keen to make the move sooner rather than later, canvassing the set-top box distribution as part of an overhaul of media rules slated for next year.

Digital TV signals give vastly increased picture and audio quality and also free up spectrum for possible extra channels and interactive applications.

But Australians have proved reluctant to buy the boxes, which retail at $120 or more and which at this stage only offer improved quality and no extra services.

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Source: Australian IT

According to Your Lost, a PC World advert described a notebook as having “Intel Centrino, which means you have a connection to the internet wherever you are”.

The site prints a letter purportedly from the ASA which said it will publish an adjudication which finds against PC World on the 30th of November.

According to this document, all 65 complainants said internet wi-fi connection was only available in places near a wi-fi base station, so “wherever you are” is misleading.

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Source: The Inquirer

Microsoft late Wednesday confirmed a denial-of-service flaw in its implementation of the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) protocol and warned users that a working exploit is already publicly available. Microsoft Corp. countered the public disclosure of the vulnerability with an advisory that clarify the scope of the impact and to provide pre-patch workaround for Windows users.

Microsoft advisory comes a few days after the proof-of-concept exploit code appeared on several security Web sites, including SecuriTeam.com, FrSIRT.com and Virus.org. Microsoft acknowledged the bug affected its Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and Windows XP Service Pack 1 operating systems. “This vulnerability could allow an attacker to levy a denial of service attack of limited duration,” the company’s advisory warned.

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Source: eWeek

Google Web Accelerator is an application that uses the power of Google’s global computer network to make web pages load faster. Google Web Accelerator is easy to use; all you have to do is download and install it, and from then on many web pages will automatically load faster than before.

Download: Google Web Accelerator 0.2.62.80 (Freeware)
View: Google Web Accelerator Homepage

The initial WGA 1.0 program downloaded an ActiveX control to check the authenticity of your Windows software. Since it was an ActiveX control, only Internet Explorer (IE) users could use it.

But the recent growth of Firefox has forced Microsoft to rethink their strategy. Microsoft Genuine Windows Validation process now works in Firefox and other Mozilla browsers. Firefox users can download and install the Windows Genuine Advantage validation Firefox plug-in - WGAPluginInstall.exe available on Microsoft’s website to complete the Windows validation process.

Download: WGA Plugin for Firefox
Source: MSFN

Microsoft Corp. today announced the technical beta release of the new Office system, code-named Office “12″. The technical beta is available only to nominated customers and partners worldwide and is an important step toward general availability scheduled for the second half of 2006.

Microsoft® Office “12″ is designed to help improve information workers’ productivity through a new results-oriented user interface, powerful graphics and diagramming engines, and advanced task and information management tools. In addition, through broader investments in enhancing business intelligence, collaboration and enterprise content management capabilities within Office “12″, there are new solutions to help customers control content, streamline business processes, collaborate across organizational boundaries and make more-informed decisions.

View: Release Notes
Source: MSFN

Ambitious goals or did they bite off too big a challenge when it comes to Windows Vista?

Microsoft is desperate to get the next Windows Operating System out into the hands of consumers by Christmas of 2006 - a year later than their original target.

Now even after Microsoft axed the vast majority of the major new features, the beta dates are slipping further and further away…

As betas go, Beta 1 is usually 67-75% feature complete. Beta 2 is usually 90% complete and from then on until the date a software release is called complete, final, RTM, gold, or one many other such adjectives, it is only usually polishing and bug fixing between those two milestones. Not so with Windows Vista…

Beta 1 was released almost 5 years into its development cycle (by which time most other releases have already hit store shelves) and was called, almost miserably, only 33% feature complete.

For those brave or foolish enough to install it, many a hard drive was corrupted - yet in Beta 1 there were glimpses of just what Microsoft is preparing to release to the world next Christmas.

If you have a high definition screen, prepare to enjoy the eye candy! If you don’t, you can add one to next year’s Christmas gift list - it’s very much worth it. Graphics have been significantly enhanced, but for the most part, not a lot more is visible to the vast majority of those who will use it.
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If you thought the current MSN Messenger 7.5.0311 was the final version of MSN Messenger *ever*, you’re probably wrong. We heard through the grapevine that sometime late November or early December a QFE patch will be tested and released, fixing mainly sign in issues (QFE stands for Quick Fix Engineering, which means upgrading through a small patch instead of a 10mb setup file). This is good news for the unlucky ones recently experiencing sudden connection losses and ongoing log on failures.

Source: Mess with MSN Messenger