Computer repairs, internet and the world

What now for Yahoo?

Sun, 04 May 2008 09:16:01 +0200

Oh dear, poor Yahoo.

If you are a Yahoo shareholder, then brace yourself to lose quite a
hefty chunk of your investment when US stock markets open on Monday. If
you work for Yahoo and have stock options, you will be smarting as well.

And if you work for Yahoo's legal team, you may want to get ready for a
deluge of lawsuits from enraged shareholders, who have seen a 70% boost
to their investment evaporate. There are not many companies in the world
who can both afford to buy Yahoo and possibly get the approval of
competition watchdogs to do so.

Yahoo's top managers, however, will try to fight back, striking a series
of alliances - including with Google, especially on advertising - to
find new revenue streams.

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Microsoft walks away from Yahoo

Sun, 04 May 2008 09:10:01 +0200

Software giant Microsoft has dropped itsthree-month-old bid to buyinternet firm Yahoo because the two sides cannot agree on an acceptablesale price.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer formally withdrew the offerin a letter to Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang.

Mr Ballmer said Microsoft had raised its original offer from $44.6bnto $47.5bn (£24.1bn) - $33 per share.

But he added that Yahoo had insisted on at least $53bn, or $37 ashare - more than Microsoft was prepared to pay.

The software giant had wanted to do a deal to be able to competewithGoogle, which dominates the lucrative market for internet advertising.

This market was worth $40bn in 2007 and is predicted to double to$80bn by 2010.

'Distraction'

In his letter to Mr Yang, which has been posted on the Microsoftwebsite, Mr Ballmer said: "We continue to believe that our proposedacquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo and the market as a whole.

"Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly$5bn, Yahoo has not moved toward accepting our offer.

"After careful consideration, we believe the economics demandedby Yahoo do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests ofMicrosoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdrawour proposal."

Mr Ballmer also told Yahoo's boss that he would not pursue hisoriginal plan B of launching a hostile takeover battle, because Mr Yangwould "take steps that would make Yahoo undesirable as an acquisitionfor Microsoft".

Mr Ballmer told his own employees that Microsoft could achieve itsgoals without Yahoo, albeit at a slower pace.

Yahoo maintained that Microsoft had offered too little to buy thecompany.

In a statement issued after Microsoft's withdrawal, Yahoochairman Roy Bostock dismissed the unsolicited bid as a "distraction".

Microsoft's shares closed on Friday virtually unchanged at $29.24.Yahoo's shares were $1.85 higher at $28.67 amid expectations of ahigher Microsoft offer.

The BBC's Peter Bowes says analysts believe the breakdown intalks may have an adverse affect on Yahoo shares and generateuncertainty among investors about the company's management.

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Microsoft developing 'senior PC'

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:40:01 +0200

Microsoft developing 'senior PC' By Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter, BBC News
The UK government has committed to endingdigital exclusion

Microsoft UK is developing a "senior PC", whichwill have a simple interface and be aimed at older users.

The PC will come with software that allows users to manageprescriptions as well as simplified tools for everyday use, such asmanaging photos.

The machine, which it is developing in partnership withcharities Age Concern and Help the Aged, is one of several projects thefirm is working on.

The plans were unveiled at a Digital Inclusion conference in London.

Social software

In the UK alone, some 17 million citizens are described as"digitally excluded".

In the United States, Microsoft already offers a number ofso-called senior PCs, in conjunction with HP computers. It is not clearif the UK project is identical to the one in the US.

Other projects Microsoft is working on include an ad-funded PCand one that uses what it describes as a "social software licensingmodel".

In partnership with Milton Keynes council, this machine willcome preloaded with a "digital literacy curriculum" - a step by stepguide to how to get online, be safe and perform simple computer tasks.

Initially it will be given to a thousand households and this will begradually scaled up to 10,000.

Speaking at the National Digital Inclusion Conference in London,Microsoft's head of skills and economic affairs Stephen Uden laid outthe firm's vision for closing the digital divide.

"Reaching most of the final third will mean that we have tothrow out the rule book. We will only solve these issues by takingrisks and trying new things," he said.

"Some of the projects we are working on will work. Others willfail," he said.

No further details were available on the senior PC at this stagealthough it will be ready within a year, said Mr Uden.

Mobile phones

He also said that the problem will not be solved by PC access alone.

"We have to get away form the idea that everyone is going to geta PC. It is simply not easy enough to use or cheap enough foreveryone."

Digital inclusion translates tosocial inclusion
Jim Knight, minister for Schools and Learners

Instead many of the digitally excluded with be reached via mobilephones, digital TV and gaming consoles, he predicted.

Mike Hughes, head of BT's Inclusion Programme, said the firm hadprojects in London, Andover and Dorset where it aims to join together150 community centres.

It too will be handing out internet-ready PCs - 4,500 of them - tospecific community groups.

"Working with the government, local authorities and volunteergroups we aim to reduce the digital divide figure by 10% of the current34%," said Mr Hughes.

Delegates at the Digital Inclusion conference were angry at theslow pace of broadband upgrade and also the fact that, in some cases,BT charges business rates to community-based projects.

Mr Hughes promised to investigate the matter.

Creativity

The government is giving new impetus to the issue of digitalexclusion, recently appointing a Minister for Digital Inclusion andcreating the Home Access taskforce, which will see free PCs given tothe most needy.

Jim Knight, minister for Schools and Learners, said it should be apriority for government.

"Digital inclusion translates to social inclusion," he tolddelegates.

But some delegates urged more creative thinking from government onthe issue.

"There is a perception that if you nail someone... to the chairand teach them world processing the world will be a better place. Itwon't," said Kevin Carey, vice chair of the Royal National Institute ofBlind People.

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Infosec: Malware to grow tenfold in 2008

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:08:01 +0200

Thenumber of online threats will have grown tenfold by the end of 2007,according to researchers at anti-malware firm Kaspersky..

Kasperskyanalysts said at Infosec Europe 2008 that new malicious programsrecorded on the internet, including viruses, worms and Trojans,amounted to 2.2 million in 2007, representing a fourfold increase onthe 535,131 recorded in 2006.

David Emm, senior technologyconsultant at Kaspersky Labs, predicted that the year-end results for2008 will demonstrate a very different trend.

The overall volumeof detected malware reached 354GB in 2007, and many leading antivirusexperts called for urgent measures this huge increase in malware withthe utmost urgency.

"In addition to the quantity, the quality of malicious programs is alsoimproving," said Emm.

"Newand more complex samples such as the notorious Storm worm are emergingthat demonstrate a wide range of hostile behaviour and distributionmethods."

Kaspersky added around 250,000 new signatures to itsantivirus databases in 2007 but, according to its forecast, one millionnew signatures will be added in 2008.

"With the help of newtechnologies it will be possible for a fourfold increase in the numberof new signatures to combat the tenfold increase in the number of newmalicious programs," explained Emm.

"These technologies allowone signature to successfully neutralise dozens or even hundreds ofdifferent types of malicious programs."

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Infosec: Rock Phish threat deepens

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:04:01 +0200

Security firm RSA has warned that thesoftware kit behind half of the world's phishing attacks has beenupgraded..

The RockPhish software has been used in attacks on over 40 European and USfinancial institutions.

Thetool has been very successful, using innovations including unique URLgeneration to defeat blacklists. But Rock Phish has not used malware aspart of its attack until recently.

The fake phishing pages nowinclude a Trojan dubbed Zeus, so that once a victim's financial datahas been harvested the Trojan allows the computer to be controlledremotely.

"The victim is duped into visiting a phishing site," said Uriel Maimonfrom the RSA 24x7 Anti-Fraud Command Center.

"Whetheror not the victim surrenders his/her credentials into the site isirrelevant, as many people click on phishing links but do not fill inmeaningful information.

"However, with this new attack twist the victim will still be infectedwith a Trojan."

Thegroup behind the Rock Phish attacks did not develop the Trojanthemselves, but purchased it for the job in much the same way as alegal software developer.

Zeus is a very flexible and persistentTrojan which can be used to steal data, make the infected machine partof a botnet and even take regular screenshots of a user's activity.

"TheZeus Trojan has many startling capabilities," said Maimon. "As I lookon this blissful union of fraud and crime technologies, I can only envythe criminals who can find such coupling."

The Rock Phish software has become something of a cause célèbre in theIT security industry since it surfaced.

The creators have been described as the Kaiser Söze of the online world,and no-one is sure whether the creator is a single person or a hackinggroup.

RSAis confident that it is a hacking group behind the code, and no-onedisputes that the software has been astonishingly successful.

Hundreds of millions of pounds have been siphoned out of users' bankaccounts over the past four years.

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Experts warn of 'Tornado' hacker tool

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:04:01 +0200

Securityresearchers have discovered a new web-based attack tool which exploitsup to 14 browser vulnerabilities and installs malware on the user'ssystem..

Symantecresearcher Liam O'Murchu said that 'Tornado' is commonly installed on aserver by a single 'administrator', who then offers accounts on theserver to other attackers.

The attackers then inject code intoother web pages to redirect users to the Tornado server, where theexploit and malware installation is conducted.

"Perhaps this is why the code for this pack has stayed private for solong," said O'Murchu.

"Usingthis model, the creators of the pack can sell it to a few trustedcustomers at a higher price, rather than selling it to manyuntrustworthy customers and risking the code being released in theunderground."

Tornado also offers attackers a full set of traffic statistics andoptions for selecting which exploits can be conducted.

The malware features an option to redirect repeat visitors to a phoney'account suspended' page.

Thishelps the tool to evade security researchers who will make repeatedvisits to infected pages in order to study the exploits and malware inuse.

Programs such as Neosploit and MPack offer similarcapabilities to set up servers that can conduct multiple exploitsagainst users.

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Microsoft issues Yahoo a three week deadline

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:18:01 +0200

Having grown tired of chasing the approval of Yahoo directors,Microsoft now has issued the company an ultimatum; agree to its $US44billion buyout offer within three weeks, or Microsoft will take itsoffer directly to shareholders.

On Jan. 31, Microsoft offered to acquire Yahoo for US$44.6 billion, orUS$31 per share, in cash and stock. Yahoo's board rejected the offer,which has since declined in value to US$29.36 per share because of asubstantial drop in Microsoft's share price.

"If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, thataction will have an undesirable impact on the value of your companyfrom our perspective, which will be reflected in the terms of ourproposal," wrote Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer in an openletter sent to Yahoo!'s board on Saturday.

Breaking nearly two months of silence since Yahoo's board rejectedMicrosoft's buyout offer, Ballmer reiterated Microsoft's opinion thatits offer was "generous" and said the company had expected that a dealwould be struck swiftly.

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SCAMs and how to avoid them

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:18:01 +0200

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has warned

Australian investors about emails that enticed them into scams and

get-rich-quick schemes.

Peter Kell, executive director of consumer protection at ASIC, told a

seminar --Financial Literacy: An Australian Priority -- that in the past

few months unlicensed offshore stockbrokers had re-emerged in the

marketplace. “They are cold calling and emailing Australian investors

offering shares,” Kell said.

He also warned that some of these “offshore cold callers” were targeting

people who had low value shares bought a couple of years ago, offering

to swap them for other shares. “Once the investor becomes interested,

the cold caller asks for extra money, sometimes for fees and sometimes

for options to get extra shares to close the detail,” according to an

ASIC statement.

Kell warned that once this extra money was sent offshore it could be

lost forever.

In addition, ASIC was also warning consumers about overpriced start-up

companies and share trading get rich quick schemes. Among its

suggestions, ASIC urged consumers to not be fooled by business-like

websites, or email offers made by strangers.

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Study finds Open Source benefits business

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:14:02 +0200

Open source software makes economic sense.

Floss for economic health. That's the conclusion of a newly released

European Commission study on the impact of Free, Libre, and Open Source

Software (Floss) on the European IT sector.

The EC study, conducted by UNU-Merit, a research institute of the

University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, finds that the use of open

source software adds 263 billion Euros to the European economy and "the

number of employees among firms contributing code to Floss projects is

at least 570,000."

It also says that open source software programmers, nearly half of which

are based in Europe, volunteer least 800 million Euros (roughly US$1

billion US) worth of labour.

The report calls for "correcting current policies and practices that

implicitly or explicitly favor proprietary software" by offering fairer

R&D incentives, supporting standardisation, avoiding vendor lock-in in

education settings, equitable tax treatment for open source

contributors, and encouraging partnerships between businesses and the

open source community.

The report estimates that the Floss-related share of the economy could

reach 4% of European GDP by 2010.

"By providing a skills development environment valued by employers and

retaining a greater share of value addition locally, Floss can encourage

the creation of [businesses] and jobs," the report says.

That's a perspective shared by Richard Gorman, a venture partner at

Silicon Valley VC firm Bay Partners, which invests in open source

companies. "Open source is clearly a major trend and is clearly an

economic stimulus for the economy today," he said. "The reason we like

the open source business model is that it's a way of entering markets

and solving customer problems in a very effective way, both from a

control and an economic perspective."

Some of the report's findings and recommendations may rankle leading

proprietary software makers such as Apple and Microsoft.

One policy recommendation seems particularly applicable to Apple and the

ties between the iPod and iTunes Music Store: "Explore how unbundling

between hardware and software can lead to a more competitive market and

ease forms of innovation that are not favored by vertical integration."

And one of the report's findings is that users of Microsoft Office are

no more productive than users of OpenOffice. "We also investigated the

productivity of the employees in using Microsoft Office and

OpenOffice.org," the report says. "Office suites are widely used and are

a good test bed and representative for a comparison on issues like

effort and time spent in the daily routine of work. Delays in the task

deliveries may have a bigger impact than costs on the organisation's

management. Our findings report no particular delays or lost of time in

the daily work due to the use of OpenOffice.org."

The report, however, stops short of recommending businesses switch to

free applications such as OpenOffice because "employees may perceive

that their work is under-valued using 'cheap' OSS products." It says

organisations should consider that migrating away from proprietary

software might have implications beyond cost.

Microsoft maintains that the total cost of ownership for Windows

software is less than Linux and continues to host dozens of case

studies, white papers, and customer testimonials to that effect on its

Get the Facts website.

But Gorman insists the open source software makes economic sense. "It's

a very good business model for entering large, existing markets and

taking significant share, and creating significant customer and investor

value," he said. "If you're an incumbent competing with a new company

that's an open source company, it's very difficult to adjust or change

your business model to be competitive. Usually by the time they end up

adjusting, it's too late."

Comments

Open source technology

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:02:01 +0200

Senator Kate Lundy hosted a pre-2020 Summit event in Canberra last week

to generate ideas on how open source technology, open standards and open

access to information might transform the way government departments and

the business world operate.

Senator Lundy, a former Shadow Minister for IT, said she'd elected to

focus on open source as the biggest potential game changer across the

portfolios she's involved in.

“I had a look at all the big public policy issues that I think have the

most capability to change the way we do things for the better, and open

source was the standout for me. I’m involved in a lot of different

policy areas ranging from sport and health promotion, right through to

things relating to IT, but this one has the greatest potential because

it’s a different way of solving problems, and it’s a way that I think

can help organisations capitalise on corporate knowledge and share that

knowledge.”

The event brought academics, lawyers and IT industry representatives

together with senior public servants to discuss how open source

technology is being used in government and the private sector, and how

open standards and free access to information can be used to ensure

public access to information.

Several participants at the summit warned that legal reform is needed

around intellectual property law. Senior software developer and open

source community figure Dr Andrew Tridgell warned that innovation in IT

risks being nobbled due to a patent law framework which can't

accommodate similar ideas being developed independently.

"The key issue that needs to be solved is independent invention. IP

doesn't cope with the commonly occurring 'idea whose time has come' -

the patent system considers that a crime," Tridgell said.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor of ANU, Professor Lawrence Cram, warned that

the Australian public is losing access to university research done in

tandem with industry due to a legal framework which is failing to

protect open access to information.

Professor Cram alluded to three separate incidents at ANU which had

raised problems of access to research. He said that in the most recent

case, ANU researchers will lose access to research data they'd developed

with an industry partner which had decided mid-way through the project

to protect it as a trade secret.

"We need to be very careful and very thorough at looking at adverse

consequences of legislation on openness and at the conditions which are

attached to funding regimes," he said.

Cram, the former executive director of the Australian Research Council,

said the disappearance of university research into private hands flies

against the obligation of universities to communicate the findings of

their research to the public, and ensure the public can benefit from

that research.

Cram said that ANU is on track to complete the "very difficult" task of

moving to publish its academic research results in the open commons, to

allow free access to that information.

"This is an excellent outcome for our researchers and the community," he

said.

Senator Lundy said the ideas and proposals raised at the Foundations of

Open Event would be fed into Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 2020 Summit

later this month and to the relevant portfolio holders in the Rudd

government.

Comments

Firms fail to secure wireless networks

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:00:01 +0200

Wireless security vendor AirDefense has released new research which

suggests that even the most cautious organisations are leaving their

networks unprotected.

Tests across 1,000 companies in the San Francisco area – conducted ahead

of this week's RSA Security Conference in the city – exposed widespread

failures in wireless protection, even at financial services firms and

government organisations.

That suggests that many IT leaders are still unaware of the risks posed

by unsecured wireless networks, even after high profile cases of data

theft, such as the theft of credit card details at TJX where 45 million

customers had their details pilfered via the wireless network.

AirDefense found that 22 percent of the wireless access points it tested

were unprotected. A further 30 percent only used Wired Equivalent

Privacy, the weakest form of wireless protection.

In government organisations, an alarming 72 percent of access points

were unencrypted or using WEP; in financial services the figure was 67

percent.

But the lessons from TJX have at least been taken on board by retailers.

"Transportation and retail were head and shoulders above the other

industries with proven methods of intrusion prevention in place," said

Richard Rushing, chief security officer, AirDefense.

Comments

Wireless networks growing in popularity

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:54:01 +0200

Companies want network technology tohelp increase productivity, says Gartner.

Growingnumbers of corporations are planning to install wireless networktechnology, according to a Gartner survey.

Some64 per cent of businesses are planning to increase wireless local-areanetwork (WLAN) deployment during the next 12 months, analysts say.

Formost of those planning to take on wireless, the primary motivation is improving the productivity of workers by allowing them constant accessto business system.

Wireless LANs are becoming a standard part of enterprise networks,covering entire facilities, not just meeting rooms, says Gartneranalyst Rachna Ahlawat.

"However,as wireless LANs expand from conference rooms to the whole enterprise,concerns about security and network management are rising," she said.

"We’vegone from thinking of offices as network nodes to considering eachemployee as a node on a wired network. Now, every major physical itemthe company owns is becoming a node on a wireless network."

Comments

Who leeds in computer repairs for laptops.

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:52:15 +0200

Who leeds in computer repairs for laptops.

The socket where you plug the power in can easily break if bashed against something OR DROPPED when the plug is in.

The repair is simple you remove all the laptop screws, screen, component, boards, fragile cables etc (takes an hour or 3)

Then remove the old power post socket from the motherboard - needs a good sized soldering iron to remove.

Buy a replacement socket from China or USA or somewhere else. (Get the right one - there are over 200 different models!!)

Wait for that to be delivered.

Solder the new socket in place - needs a fine iron for this. (By the way that's not a golfing iron)

Check it works - before that make sure there's no loose bits of metal or solder - a short could ruin the motherboard.

Reconnect all the cables, speakers, hard drives etc.

Screw it all back together. (Lose the spare screws you've got left or freak out if you can't find enough).

Easy huh - didn't say it'd be quick though.

Comments

WiFi or wired

Tue, 23 May 2006 19:41:39 +0200

It is really only a choice of cost. There is only the odd chance you will need a wired system now as wireless connections are becoming stronger and more cost effective wireless broadband. The labour cost of wiring alone can be quite high and then there's cable to but and fit and re-decorate after it's all done.

Comments

Faster internet

Mon, 22 May 2006 12:04:02 +0200

Accelerators - an option to broadband

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Using a unique and patented compression technology,ONSPEED increases Dial-up speeds by up to 10 times; Broadband by up to 5 times and Mobile connections (via GPRS/3G) by up to 8 times.

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pop-up blocker, anti-spyware, parental control, email and ftp acceleration, and
for an additional fee complete system anti-virus protection (including emails). More advice for computer internet repairs and faster broadband speed

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broadband basics

Sun, 07 May 2006 06:22:25 +0200

Broadband means being on-line much longer (fact) and therefore your computer needs to be secure from spyware, viruses and trojans but don't buy anymore software yet as most internet providers offer some protection. If you're not sure give us a call.

When you've chosen your supplier make sure you are comfortable with the internet security you have or go here to read our security pages. You will need a good firewall although if you are using automatic updates with a licensed windows system this will give rudimentary protection. We rarely recommend any products but for a good, easy to use and manage firewall use the industry standard firewall ZoneAlarm(R) Internet Security Suite 6. Decide the options that best suit you broadband or dial-up, supplier, wifi or wired.

Read my blogs here or here

Comments

Posh surgery

Fri, 05 May 2006 03:14:21 +0200

What does she need?

Comments

Broadband

Tue, 02 May 2006 04:26:49 +0200

Broadband
- broadband or dial-up
- faster connections
- broadband news

How fast do you want to surf - broadband or dial-up
Broadband is a fast connection to the Internet that’s always on. Broadband network uses a "fatter" broadband cable compared to a conventional telephone network. This means it can send and receive vast amounts of data and information up to 20x faster than a standard dial-up connection.

The cable can carry even more information when you are connected via a 4Mb broadband connection, which is up to twice as fast as BT, AOL and Freeserve connection and up to 60x times faster than a standard dial-up connection.

In simple terms, think of this cable as an empty five lane motorway instead of a single road carriageway with queues!

Comments

Getting started

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:06:46 +0200

I'm goign to keep a column here for anyone interested in computer repairs and maintenance. I have my own website but I'm here just to share problems and help others.

Feel free to join in or chat about anyhthing on this site or on mine.

Just a great sunset

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