More IT Information

Sophos has just posted a warning about an electronic postcard that is being sent out containing the Trojan Mal/Zapchas-A.
The email's appearance makes one think that it came from a friend and is very similar to any other postcard one might receive asking the users to go the some site to download the postcard. The file is named postcard.exe which should serve as a warning immediately - most e-postcards and e-cards run as a flash animation embedded in the website itself.
Full information and a copy of the actual text of the message can be found here.

Labels: email, microsoft, spam, spyware, trojan, virus, windows

A very thorough comparison of Windows Media Center and Linux Media Center reveals some amazing differences. After watching it I wonder if you can really call it a comparison at all. The features of the Linux Media Center are just phenomenal and leave no comparison to any other product on the market. It isn't just for controlling your TV, but for your entire house, including every device from lights, alarm systems, cameras, mobile phones, stationary phones, other computers, etc. If you're prepared to forget everything you ever thought about media centers this is a video you should watch.

Labels: asterisk, linux, media center, microsoft, os, windows

A warning to all people using or considering Vista.
There appears to be some problems with Windows Genuine Advantage that causes Vista to have to be reactivated after installing or running some applications. In the case of this person it was the game 9Dragons.
After a few minutes of playing the game a window popped up stating that they system had been changed and needed to be reactivated. During the process the system was completely deactivated and if it wasn't reactivated would have stopped working within 3 days. The person now cannot play this game in the future for fear of the same thing happening.
The hope is that this did not use one of the free activations that Windows offers for Vista, but in reality it probably has. Such things like this can cost people a lot of money if Microsoft decides to not allow people to gain more reactivations after using all of their options in such situations. Extorting money from users comes to mind in this case. It could also lead people who had previously bought a legitimate copy of Vista to crack their software to avoid paying more because of faults in WGA. These people could later face further problems if MS decided to go on a piracy 'witchhunt'.

Labels: activation, microsoft, os, vista, wga, windows

The group Paradox has found a way to crack Vista so that pirated copies are now usable.
This morning the torrents were filled with people downloading both Windows Vista and the crack. Vista alone on one torrent had over 750 connections with about 100 seeders and over 650 leachers.
For complete information on how the crack works information can be found here
Of course this is only to share knowledge and I do not encourage anyone to actually pirate software. Knowing how it was done is interesting for everyone though.

Labels: crack, microsoft, os, vista, windows

Dell has recently launched the IdeaStorm Web site where users can give input into their decision-making process. Since Friday's launch 66000 users have suggested that Dell should offer Fedora, OpenSuse and Ubuntu as free pre-install options. Along with this about 40000 users said OpenOffice should also be a pre-install option along with MS Works and Office. Most of the suggestions were that Windows should not be the default option and that Linux and free software should be supplied.
Visit the site to see the results for yourself or contribute your own opinions.

Labels: computer, linux, microsoft, novell, office, openoffice, os, suse, vista, windows

Most computers bought after October 26 are eligible for a free or discounted upgrade to Vista as part of an 'Express Upgrade' plan. With the release of Vista at the end of January, one would think that these customer would have their upgraded copy by now, but many are facing 6 to 8 week waits.
Dell originally claimed to have problems shipping due to customer demand and server problems, but now is saying that it will start shipping at the end of the month on a first come first serve basis and that from that date it could take 6 - 8 weeks.
HP is also saying that the first upgrades will be sent later in the month and shipping notifications are telling customers to expect upgrades in April.
The questions is why the wait. Unofficially, the reason is compatibility. Manufacturers are testing which systems will support it and if there are stable drivers for the system. This seems logical as responsibility for supporting the systems lies in the manufacturer's hands and the amount of bad press that can come out about a company issuing upgrades that don't work on their systems is something these companies don't need.
From a Microsoft standpoint, this could be a good thing, impatient users may get tired of waiting and just buy the upgrade in stores canceling their discounted express upgrade. On the other hand, some users may become upset by this and with their computer's manufacturer causing them to choose a different manufacturer or even consider a completely different OS altogether.

Labels: microsoft, vista, windows

A Russian principal is currently on trial and could face 5 years in prison for purchasing computers which turned out to have a pirated version of Windows. The result of this has been Mikhail Gorbachev personally writing a letter to Microsoft asking them to drop charges. This was refused by Microsoft who said it that they "were sure the Russian courts would make a fair decision."
The fair decision that has been made was to arrest the software purchase who more than likely had no certified version of Windows as an option to purchase and was fully confident that he was purchasing a legal version.
In a small ray of hope, Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked that investigators search for the distributors rather than users of pirated software.
In order to escape from the threat of being arrested for piracy many schools in the region and throughout Russia are now considering Linux. Microsoft's decision to stay out of the issue has resulted in the possible loss of an entire country's school computers. It has as well caused waves to further dirty the reputation of Microsoft to give people an impression that Microsoft cares nothing about people and helping (something the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was setup to do), but only about making a profit with their software. When purchasing your next system you may want to consider this and remember that there are other choices.
John Pallatto has also responded to this incident with his opinion.

Labels: linux, microsoft, os, windows

There's a lot of new around of the 'first' flaw in Vista since its official release. The speech recognition feature makes it possible for a website to include audio that features Vista commands to delete files or run programs or any other unprivileged commands such as copy, delete, and shutdown to name a few.
To be accomplished users have to have already configured the speech recognition and have it activated as well as have a live microphone and speakers. For those who are using speech recognition, this seems to be a very probable situation as most people using the feature would want to continue to use it while on the web and so would not have their microphone turned off, but listening for the next command.
From a security point of view, it could cause a security risk if the command is able to run an installer without user intervention or if it is able to email files to someone. Without this ability, it just becomes a major annoyance and risk that can cause people to lose files, have files moved, their system restarted and at a basic level controlled from an outsider. The outsider under a normal situation would have no view of the system and this would all be visible to the user, who may or may not have time to react to the situation.

Labels: internet, microsoft, os, security, vista, vulnerability, windows

Now that Vista is on sale, the prices for Britain and France are posted again on Amazon.
Remember the US price for Vista Ultimate was 379.99 USD (sale price) - 399.00 USD (full price). The full list of prices that were previously listed can be found here for comparison between the countries Amazon.com offers the software.
UK £353.99 (sale price) - £369.99 (full price) - 694.953168 USD (sale price) - 726.364368 USD (full price)
France 606.54 Euro - 786.136494 USD
All of the versions are the English language version and the difference between Germany's price and France's price raises even more concern. Both are in the same currency, the same language, but the price in France is considerably more than the German prices and is actually the most expensive location to buy Vista. With the French government's push toward open source software, it leaves one wondering if it is not a retaliation for their interest in OSS.

Labels: microsoft, os, vista, windows

There's a video on YouTube demonstrating the Mac OS X desktop using the commentary from a Vista presentation on the innovativeness of Vista.
I would not put this as an argument for switching for a Mac or Windows, but it does prove a point with the amount of comments going around about the innovations of Vista and the implications that it cannot be done with another OS.
The 'glass' feature of Vista is the first feature to be displayed in the video with a standard OS X desktop. I will not that this is also supported by the KDE desktop in Linux.
The live preview in Vista is also in OS X including videos currently being played when the mouse is brought over the task bar. The alt+tab idea in Vista of being able to see all the applications as they are running is also shown in OS X. The applications separate so that no application is on top of any other and users can choose the application from there.
The Vista sidebar is also displayed in OS X, but rather than being only a space along the right of the screen, the small applications can be put anywhere the user chooses on the desktop. The prototype that is said to be built by Fox sports displaying sports scores and information is exactly shown on OS X. Linux as well has this feature in KDE and GNOME with the user being able to write their own as well. In Linux it functions exactly as it is shown in the video.
In OS X there is a button near the top of the screen that allows you to type the name of the application you are looking for and it will list all of the applications that match. Vista is described to have this functionality within the Start menu. KDE in Linux has it in the K Menu. In KDE this feature eliminates all of the 'folders' in the menu that do not contain data on your search so you will be able to find the program even easier the next time you want to use it. Searching through documents for specific data in files is also shown in OS X from a content search exactly as is described in the speech. The same feature in Linux is in Beagle or Konqueror.
The description of parental controls in Vista is similar with a built in parental controls that can limit Internet access as well as any other application.
iPhoto within OS X functions like the photo gallery in Vista showing all of the images as thumbnails and allowing the user to change the size of the thumbnails. Searching is possible by date, keyword, and tags. The edit functions are also a part of iPhoto. Many options are possible but only cropping an image is displayed in the video. The feature to later restore the original (at any time after doing the action) is also demonstrated with OS X. The slide show feature is also demonstrated. Throughout the process no moving video is demonstrated although themes are shown. This exact same functionality is available in Linux with the F-Spot picture viewer.
The only innovation in Vista is that it has never been seen before in the Windows OS, but OS X has had these features for at least 3 years and KDE has had all of them since at least KDE 3.4 with some beginning in version 3.1.

Labels: linux, Mac, microsoft, os, OS X, vista, windows

The BBC has published reviews from 4 computer users, two using Vista, one on Linux and one Mac OS X.
The first of the Vista reviewers had been using the OS for about 6 months and notes the 'visually stunning' display. Also considered a favorite of this reviewer is Flip 3D which provides a 3D view of all minimized tasks when alt+tab is pressed. He consideres Vista more stable than previous versions of Windows and is impressed by ReadyBoost which allows a USB flash drive to provide cache memory to increase performance.
The second of the reviewers was a software developer who had been using Vista for about a year. He focuses on the system from a software design point of view and considers Windows Presentation Foundation the biggest change between the systems. This allows for the creation of 'stunning' user interfaces and relies on DirectX to provide the features like 3D and animation. He also notes that his hardware all just worked, but acknowledged that it hasn't been everyone's experience. He did mention the cost of upgrading users' current systems as a drawback that may have many users waiting for when they upgrade their computer. Also the added expense of RAM and a graphics card that supports DirectX9. He does recommend 1 GB of RAM instead of the minimum 512 MB and recommends Windows XP users to upgrade as he considers Vista to be a large improvement over XP.
The Linux review lists an advantage of Linux as flexibility and ease of use even for novice users. While it is easy for novice users, it also mentions that experienced users have 'radical powers over their computer' that cannot be found in other OS's. Mentioned is the huge variety of software available that can be easily installed using package managers. The rare occurrence of viruses (and no successful spread of Linux viruses) adds to the lack of security worries in the system according to the review. Some of the desktops provide visual effects that he considers better than Vista and OS X. He does point of a drawback being that some hardware and mainstream games lack official support and as a result can be difficult to install, but points out that many people are willing to help with the issues. The main point listed that sets Linux apart from other systems is the issue of a free software license that encourages people to share the software with friends and encourages programmers to be better allowing others to view and improve their work.
The Mac OS X reviewer had switched to OS X six years ago from Windows and points out the the desktop is cleaner with no reminders and popups or other interruptions. He points out that the hardware and software work very well together and the system requires very little maintenance. His computer is used about 11 hours a day and is restarted every weekend and he cannot remember when any application crashed and has never had the OS crash. Also mentioned is the high security because of the base of the system being Unix and the lack of viruses. Also pointed out is that all of the functions just seem to work and work with Windows users too. He also mentions that he feels that he is in control of his computer rather than the computer controlling him.
I myself would agree with most of the points brought up by the person reviewing Linux but would point out that the lack of viruses does not necessarily equate to higher security. It can if you are referring to Trojans and other malware, but security also has to do with how easy the system is to break into. Provided that someone hasn't opened their system to create a security issue, Linux does tend to be very secure in that sense too though and even systems with unpatched vulnerabilities in the software running on the system can usually avoid problems.

Labels: linux, Mac, microsoft, os, vista, windows

Microsoft is yet again in trouble with the European Commission. This time IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Corel, RealNetworks, Linspire and Opera are the ones making the complaint that Vista will continue practices that have been considered illegal in the EU for almost 3 years.
The chairman of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) agrees that Microsoft has ignored the principles set in the EC's decision from March 2004. The ECIS states that Vista is a step to dominate the Internet and feels that the XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML". XAML is completely dependent on Windows and discriminates against other systems like Linux. OOXML as well works only in Microsoft Office and was not made to 'play' well with other office suites.
The ECIS believes that the result of Microsoft's actions will prevent any real choice for consumers.
On the bright side, earlier issues raised by Symantec and other anti-virus and security software creators have been solved and Symantec and a few other companies have been able to release updates in time for the release of Vista.
Like most companies, Microsoft tries to keep a strong market position, the problem comes that unlike other companies who try to release products that actually are innovative and compete with competitors, Microsoft has a strategy of releasing a not so unique Windows. If Windows were considered stable and secure that may be enough to easily hold their market position ignoring the overpriced issue with Vista. Most people use some version of Windows and it provides them with most of what they want. What it usually fails to provide is security and stability - try leaving a standard Windows system up for 2 months of standard use. Vista adds another feature that people will not like, limitations. With the security features created for Vista, users are more restricted and put in a box that allows them to use their computer how Microsoft thinks they want to use it. There is no thinking outside of the box in Vista. This is not something that will help Microsoft keep users. We are already seeing in the news people and companies saying that Vista will not work for them and they are forced to choose from Linux and Mac.

Labels: EC, microsoft, office, os, vista, windows

Desktop Linux's writer Steven Vaughan-Nichols has written about his experience installing both Vista and Linux on one computer.
Apparently dual booting Vista and Linux is not so easy. Vista has a new bootloader ,BCD (Boot Configuration Data), which is independent of the firmware. Also the editor for the boot option, BCDEdit.exe is more hostile for the user than friendly not only for dual booting, but also just for standard editing of the boot options.
A side warning coming from him warns that unless you have a lot of time and don't mind some issues with incompatibility and know exactly what you are doing, upgrading to Vista from a previous version of Windows is not the best option.
After installing Vista on one partition and Linux on the other partition of the hard drive, one problem arises, The system will only boot to Linux as a result of Vista's BCD. The solution, is to add some lines to the bootloader settings (/boot/grub/menu.lst) in Linux.
Adding:
title Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,1) -or whereever the partition that holds Vista is
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
The format of the "hd0,1" section above is that the first hard drive is hd0, the second hd1 and so on. In relation to partitions, which is the number after the comma, the first partition is 0 while the second is 1.
After restarting the system, you should see an option screen to boot to either Linux or Vista.

Labels: linux, microsoft, os, vista, windows

A letter from Bill Gates is inviting people to share 'wow moments' concerning Vista.
A "wow moment" is "when you recognize that your life has changed". The wow moments that Bill Gates list includes is when Intel released the 8080 processor in 1974, the birth of his children, Warren Buffet's donation to the Gates foundation. Vista, Gates considers, will give and has given people these moments.
The website where you can share your wows doesn't work very well with any browser other than IE. Firefox doesn't load the site at all and Opera loads it but doesn't show any wows but will not allow anyone to enter a wow. By preventing other browsers from being able to post anything I assume Microsoft can block the people who may post any negative comments.
For those against the DRM in Vista, DefectiveByDesign.org will be outside the launch of Vista in New York near Times Square to share their "wow moments". Together with BadVista.org they will be distributing leaflets discussing the dangers of the DRM in Vista.
They will be meeting first at Cipriani's on 42nd Street from noon then moving on to the Nokia Theater from 2 pm. People who will be in the area are encouraged to sign up.

Labels: drm, microsoft, vista, windows

ComputerWorld has released an article urging people to wait before switching to Vista.
The first issue listed is that Vista is not complete and isn't predicted to be until the release of the first service pack. There is a lot of hardware and software that is incompatible for the time being. Most of Creative's products have Vista drivers, while 2 are beta versions and three of their older products will not be supported. AMD is warning that drivers for ATI video cards should not be used yet for critical operations or for anything that requires productivity and is currently only a beta version. Security software makers Trend Micro, Panda, CA and Symantec will release updates to their software on Tuesday with the release of Vista. McAfee on the other had has made not indication as to when they will release updates to support Vista. Some of ZoneAlarm's product will have support for Vista within a week. The last issue of why Vista is not complete is that while DirectX 10 is great for games, there are some missing elements of its being able to be used. Video cards are only partially ready to support it and there are no games currently on the market to support it.
Another reason not to rush out and buy, is that it is rather expensive. While Vista Home Basic is cheaper with the upgrade at $99, it requires you to keep your Windows XP CD which may be a problem for people who bought computers with the XP recovery located on a hard drive partition. Also the Home version does not support Windows Media Center, the Aero UI nor does it provide Xbox connectivity.
Also included is the fact that Vista requires a newer computer to be able to fully use Vista. Vista need at a minimum 1 GB of RAM with the best performance coming from 4 GB of RAM.
Because of the structure of the UI in Vista it requires a longer learning time then switching from Windows 2000 to XP did. The options are in different places within Vista. Also the time required to find all the drivers for not so new computers will cut into the time before you can actually use the system.
Another important thing to remember is that XP is not yet obsolete. After updates, patches and years of being in use, XP has become stable and understood by the industry. Microsoft is also committed to supporting XP for another 7 years at least and has a third service pack planned for next year.
ComputerWorld also is encouraging people to switch to a Mac rather than Vista provided they are not interested in PC gaming and don't have applications that they don't want to run without emulating Windows.

Labels: Mac, microsoft, vista, windows

For those who updated their Windows in January, the security updates contained Internet Explorer 7.
Those who clicked on the security update and ran the recommended automatic update, downloaded IE 7 which in many cases has caused crashes and some to be completely cut off from the Internet. They had no way of knowing before that they would be installing IE 7. Those installing from the custom option are told of the included browser upgrade and can opt out of installing it.
For those who have installed IE 7 against their will, removing it is as easy as going to Add or Remove Programs and selecting Windows Internet Explorer 7 to Remove. This will remove IE 7 and revert back to IE 6.
While the fix is easy to do, the irritation of having to do it is a lot greater and the distrust those people who have inadvertently installed IE 7 will now have in the Windows Update may cause people to either be very careful in the future with updating their system or to stop updating for fear of problems occurring with the update, which is definitely not the best option for users.
Updates are not the place to issue application upgrades even if they are considered (by its creator) to be more secure than the previous one. Any upgrades should be optional and require user input before beginning. The number of computers crashing while attempting to run IE 7 is an example of why.

Labels: IE, microsoft, security, update, windows

If you do a price comparison of Windows Vista worldwide, you will notice a huge difference in prices.
To do the best comparison, I used Amazon to keep it within one retailer. Below are the prices of Windows Vista Ultimate for different countries with the cost in USD (current estimates)
US - 379.99 USD (sale price) - 399.00 USD
Germany/Austria - EUR 549.00 - 711.3942 USD
Canada - 499 Canadian Dollar - 424.57245 USD
Japan - 46,100 yen - 379.361422 USD
Currently both the UK and France are not offering Vista Ultimate on pre-order. Amazon's UK site was asked by Microsoft to stop offering the pre-order. Comparisons done by others though lists the UK price as about £157 (310.05 USD) more than the US price. I will list the actual comparison when Amazon begins offering it again.
The question that arises here is why does the software cost so much more for some countries. I can understand a slight difference because of translation costs or different taxes. But taking Germany as an example about $310 is a large difference. Also translation costs can be ruled out as Japan has a similar price to the US while translating English to Japanese is more complicated than English to German. Canada seems to have a fair increase and can be assumed to be associated with tariffs. It seems that some countries are being ripped off in the pricing paying nearly double for the same software. Those countries seem to fall inside of Europe so far although Australia has reported a higher price as well also several hundred USD higher.

Labels: microsoft, vista, windows

For those who don't want to spend money to upgrade to Vista yet, PC World has listed some applications that will make your XP look and work more like Vista.
Many of the applications are free while one costs about $20. The applications let you reskin your XP to look like anything from your interests to something similar to the Aero Glass feature in Vista. Other applications provide advanced searching abilities and a Vista-like Start menu - one with more features than Vista even with shortcut keys and and many add-ons. Also included is an application to provide a miniature preview of the application from the taskbar.
Of the programs listed on PC World I would recommend the Desktop Sidebar for it's ability to quickly access many applications, its calendar and calculator. The best feature of the application is the ability to add different add-ons to it for such things as weather, news, and an email checker.
I'd also recommend the Visual Task Tips which shows a preview of an application from the taskbar that can be resized by scrolling the mouse.
There is also another site recommending more applications to make XP look like Vista that provides good descriptions of the applications and options.

Labels: microsoft, vista, windows, xp

APC Magazine has released an article talking about the ten reasons not to buy Vista.
Those reasons include the fact that is isn't necessary as XP does everything Vista does and any of the advanced features for games, don't have any games written yet to take advantage of them. The cost is also a reason and the fact that in Australia the cost is considerably higher than the US. The hardware upgrade requirements are mentioned along with the lack of support for many drivers including Creative's EAX for 3-D sound as well as many software applications having problems in Vista including the Firefox browser. Most importantly is the fact that it is a target of many virus and malware creators looking to exploit the OS.

Labels: microsoft, vista, windows

Along with Novell's Vista and Linux comparison, earlier this week Linus Torvalds made statements at the opening of linux.conf.au in Australia about Vista being 'over-hyped'.
Linus doesn't see Vista as something completely new and although Vista's interface may look completely different, the fundamentals of the Windows OS haven't changed much. He also sees Vista as a possible advantage for Linux. As a result of the high system requirements for Vista, he thinks users will use Linux as an option on machines that would not run Vista as Linux will run very well on most modern computers.
This being said he still doesn't expect a large growth this year in the number of Linux users. The number of people used to using other operating systems are very large and they are not really interested in learning another OS. He does believe Linux has many opportunities in the embedded market though.
While Novell's site pushes the advantages of Linux (especially SLED) over Vista, Linus talks about the areas where the Linux community needs to focus to get more users and in many ways provides a strategy for the year for the OSS and Linux software communities.

Labels: Linus, linux, microsoft, novell, os, sled, Torvalds, vista, windows