Switching on PC is too technical for many users

<font size="3">Switching on PC is too technical for many users </font>

The results of a study released this week confirms what the world's BOFHs and sysadmins have known for ages: that users are a dangerous menace who should not be allowed near anything more advanced than a fridge.

A staggering one in seven technologically challenged employees needs help even switching their computers on and off, according to research commissioned by City &amp; Guilds.

The UK vocational awarding body's study of 405 random UK financial directors revealed that, despite the fact that PCs have been around for over thirty years, getting to grips with the devices is totally beyond many British office workers. A fifth were found to struggle to save a document, more than one in five need assistance printing, while a quarter cannot understand a spreadsheet.


City &amp; Guilds pointed out that, apart from greatly reducing...

12-Year-Old Sued for Music Downloading

<font size="3">12-Year-Old Sued for Music Downloading </font>

The music industry has turned its big legal guns on Internet music-swappers — including a 12-year-old New York City girl who thought downloading songs was fun.

Brianna LaHara said she was frightened to learn she was among the hundreds of people sued yesterday by giant music companies in federal courts around the country.

"I got really scared. My stomach is all turning," Brianna said last night at the city Housing Authority apartment where she lives with her mom and her 9-year-old brother.

"I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it. Out of all people, why did they pick me?"

The Recording Industry Association of America (search) — a music-industry lobbying group behind the lawsuits — couldn't answer that question.

"We are taking each individual on a case-by-case basis," said RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss....

Study: Windows Cheaper than Linux

<font size="3">Study: Windows Cheaper than Linux </font>

A Microsoft-commissioned study has found that companies could save up to 28 percent by developing certain programs with Windows instead of Linux, the software company plans to announce on Tuesday.

The study, conducted by Giga Research and paid for by Microsoft, compared the likely costs over four years for a dozen medium-size and large businesses that were developing Web-based portals. Giga examined the costs of creating a portal using Microsoft's Windows operating system and related development tools as compared with those of Linux-based systems using Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) tools.

"The primary conclusion of the study is that Microsoft offers a substantial cost advantage over J2EE/Linux as a development platform for the applications considered," Giga analysts wrote in the report, which is set for release on Tuesday.

Microsoft plans to use...

Warrant seeks N.Y. Times, Google hacker

<font size="3">Warrant seeks N.Y. Times, Google hacker </font>

A nationally known computer hacker is being sought on a federal arrest warrant stemming from a sealed complaint in New York, a federal defender in California said Friday.

Adrian Lamo, 22, has publicly acknowledged involvement in some dramatic computer break-ins at large corporations during the past several years, including The New York Times, Google, Yahoo!, Worldcom and ExciteAtHome.

Lamo had told reporters he would surrender to the FBI on the federal courthouse steps in Sacramento on Friday, but he didn't show up.

Supervising Assistant Federal Defender Mary French confirmed through a colleague that there was a sealed complaint against Lamo from the Southern District of New York, that a federal arrest warrant had been issued, but that her office was not involved in arranging his surrender.

Lamo has acknowledged changing the text of at least...

Exchange 2003 Exam Tested This Week

<font size="3">Exchange 2003 Exam Tested This Week</font>
Microsoft sends newest exam, 70-284, Implementing and and Managing Exchange Server 2003, to beta testing.

Microsoft today began beta tests of its new Exchange exam, 70-284, Implementing and and Managing Exchange Server 2003; candidates can register for the exam via Prometric and Vue testing centers. The testing phase ends Sept. 14. While under beta, the exam is numbered 71-284.

Exam 70-284 counts as an elective toward the Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 versions of the MCSA and MCSE titles, but it's a "prescribed" core exam for all versions of the new messaging specialist titles, MCSA: Messaging and MCSE: Messaging. Under the MCSE: Messaging for Windows 2000 title, the exam counts toward the prescribed path only if taken with 70-285, Designing an Exchange 2003 Organization,...

Payphone deal to take Cloud's hotspot tally to 10,000

<font size="3">Payphone deal to take Cloud's hotspot tally to 10,000</font>

Pub-based Wi-Fi network The Cloud is to expand its chain of 1800-odd hotspots to as many as 10,000, thanks to deal signed with payphone company NWP Spectrum.

The agreement will see The Cloud add Wi-Fi to many of NWP's 7000 payphone installations throughout the UK. That's in addition to the 3000 hotspots The Cloud plans to have in place by the end of the year.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Work will start fitting access points immediately, but the companies did not say when the roll-out process will be complete. According to a spokesman for The Cloud, implementation is being governed by demand, with the busiest sites being 'upgraded' first.

NWP provides payphone services on the High Street, and through partners - it manages London Underground's payphone installations, for example, along with those in the UK's airports,...

Plugging The Holes In Windows

<font size="3">Plugging The Holes In Windows</font>

n recent weeks, anyone running PCs or servers with Microsoft Windows has had to contend with the threat of rampaging worms that might invade their systems if they aren't careful. This week Microsoft revealed that its users had to plug no less than five security holes-one nasty, the others not so-in various versions of its software.

For the world's biggest software company, security issues are turning into the topic that never seems to quiet down. Home users are finding they have to install software patches more frequently than before. For corporate IT managers, the frequent updates mean they have to contend with the logistical challenge of ensuring that hundreds or thousands of Microsoft users are installing the right patches, and then making sure those patches don't interfere with existing software applications.

Of the five vulnerabilities...

Internet Explorer Object Data Remote Execution Vulnerability

<font size="3">IE Object Data Remote Execution Vulnerability</font>

Severity:High (Remote Code Execution)

Systems Affected:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows Server 2003

eEye Digital Security has discovered a security vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer that would allow executable code to run automatically upon rendering malicious HTML.

Dont allow your system to remain vulnerable, this is a very critical hole, and should be patched immediately. As MSBlaster shows, you can't take these kind of holes too lightly.

pHaez has created a site to test if you are open to the hole, and allow you to patch it. you can find it at: Test &amp; Fix Security Hole

View: Test and Fix Hole
Warning the above link...

Microsoft benchmarks step up Linux assault

<font size="3">Microsoft benchmarks step up Linux assault </font>
Company claims Linux on the mainframe lags behind Windows 2003 on Intel systems

Stepping up its campaign against the Linux operating system, Microsoft Corp. on Thursday released file and Web serving benchmark results that, it claims, show that Linux on the mainframe lags behind Windows 2003 on Intel Corp. systems in terms of performance for the money. Microsoft ran the benchmark tests in response to what it believes were IBM's unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of running Linux on its mainframe hardware, according to Microsoft General Manager of Platform Strategy Martin Taylor. "IBM was making some claims and customers were trying to figure some things out and didn't have the facts in front of them," he said.

Taylor, who recently became Microsoft's Linux point man, has promised to focus on facts instead of emotional arguments when...

Small Business Server Gets First Exam

<font size="3">Small Business Server Gets First Exam </font>
Microsoft will shortly be releasing the first exam for people who want to prove their expertise in Small Business Server 2003.

Exam 70-282, Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for a Small- and Medium-Sized Business, is expected to go into beta testing between September 22 and September 28. The live exam will be released in December, according to David Lowe, Product Manager, Business and Product Strategy, Microsoft Learning.

The exam will be accepted as an elective for the Windows Server 2003 MCSE track. Microsoft official training will be offered in course 2395, Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for a Small and Medium-Sized Business.

The objectives list for the exam, available here, encompasses a wide-ranging set of topics, including analysis of the existing environment; design of the solution;...