Techie Views

Although most people know what computer viruses are, not everyone knows that some of them target chat software and that the same software is used to propagate the virus further. A case in point is Microsoft’s MSN Messenger which is one of the most popular chat applications on the Internet. Sometimes, while a user is logged on, he or she receives a message from one of his or her contacts and which invites the user to click on a link to see some pictures or view some website. What the user is not aware of is the fact that this message was sent by the virus which has infected the contact’s computer and that if the link is clicked, the infection will also spread on the user’s computer.

If you start receiving these kind of messages it is important that you don’t click on any links. What you need to do is to ask your contact if he or she has sent you any messages with links and if the answer is a ‘No’ you give them the following link:

http://msncleaner.en.malavida.com/d4346-free-download-windows

From, the above link a program called MSNCleaner can be downloaded and once installed it will scan for MSN Messenger related viruses and clean them.

The same guy who in the past hacked the iPhone, is now claiming that he has managed to do the same thing with the Playstation 3. He is saying that he has dumps of the console and that this took him 5 weeks to achieve. At the moment not a lot of details have been released but if you are interested and you are not very technically minded you can read this excellent article on EuroGamer.net:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ps3hacked-article

Recently, I opened Microsoft Word to write a post for TechieViews and the application just hanged on the splash screen. All other applications in the Office suite such as Excel and PowerPoint were still working perfectly, and although Word itself offered me to launch itself in ’safe mode’ and later to ‘fix’ itself, nothing helped. As a matter of fact the problem was with the printer driver which for some reason became corrupted. In fact after removing the printer driver and installing a more recent one, Word started to work again. So, keep in mind this tip as it might save you a lot of frustration if you encounter the same problem.

The German government has warned Internet users to use an alternative browser instead of Internet Explorer because of security reasons. This warning applies to versions 6, 7 and even to the latest version 8. The warning which was issued from the Federal Office for Information Security follows a press release where Microsoft admitted that its browser was the weak link in recent attacks on Google. However, Microsoft dismissed the warning, saying that the risk was relatively low and that IE’s security settings could prevent any serious risks. Nonetheless Microsoft are taking this issue very seriously and as a matter of fact they are already working on a fix, which the software giant promised to release as soon as it is ready (and not wait for the usual Patch Tuesday).

For more information on Microsoft Internet Explorer click here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx

It was recently discovered that both Windows Vista (32 Bit only) and Windows 7 contain what is usually referred to as a virtual Easter egg in the form of a GodMode, which is a collection of all tools found in Windows from one location. You can think of it as one of those tweaking software which normally one would pay to use!

To access this feature one needs to create a new folder called:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

and once that is done all that needs to do be done done is to click on it.

Note: DO NOT try this on Vista 64 Bit! It has been reported that GodMode screws up 64 Bit Vista!

According StatCounter Global Statistics, Firefox 3.5 is currently the world’s most popular web browser. It must be noted that this refers exclusively to version 3.5 of Firefox. If one had to take all versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer, one will find that the latter still has the largest market share .

To check the statistics for yourself or to check the ones for your country click here:

http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-200811-200912-bar

Intel just announced their next generation Atom CPUs for the netbook and low-end notebook/desktop markets. The new Atoms are the following:

- Atom N450 Single-core processor for netbooks, combined with a new low-power chipset: the NM10 Express
- Atom D410 Single-core processor for low-end notebooks/desktops, also combined with the new low-power chipset: the NM10 Express
- Atom D510 Dual-core processor, also for low-end notebooks/desktops, and also combined with a new low-power chipset: the NM10 Express

All Atoms still run at 1.66 GHz (same speed as current Atoms) but they include an integrated graphics chip and memory controller.

For more information on the new Atoms click here: http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/2009/20091221comp_sm.htm

According StatCounter Global Statistics, Windows XP is still the world’s most popular operating system. This is indeed remarkable for an o/s which is 8 years old! On the other hand this is not good news for Microsoft because despite all the hype surrouning Windows 7, their latest o/s still lags behind XP, Vista and MacOS X.

To check the statistics for yourself or to check the ones for your country click here:

http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-monthly-200811-200912-bar

A lot of people still don’t know that Windows 7 ships with a new version of DirectX, which is now in its 11th incarnation. Most probably the reason behind this lack of awarness is the fact that until recently there were no graphic chipsets which took advantage of this latest technology. However, recently ATI released the Radeon™ HD 5700 which is the first GPU which fully supports DirectX 11. On the other hand Nvidia is a bit late this time and will release a new GeForce which supports DirectX 11 in Q1 2010.

For more information on DirectX technology click here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/DirectX-frequently-asked-questions

For more information on DirectX 11 click here: http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-US/aboutGFW/pages/directx.aspx

For more information on the Radeon™ HD 5700 series click here:
http://sites.amd.com/us/underground/products/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5700-series.aspx

Mozilla will soon release a mobile version of the popular Firefox browser and this will initially be available for the Nokia N900. Later on it will be also released for the iPhone, Blackberry, Motorola and for Palm devices. A version is also being planned for Windows Mobile.

For more information on Firefox Mobile click here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile