SECURITY...

• Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification - On April 12, 2005, the Microsoft Security Response Center is planning to release: 5 Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Windows, 1 Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft Office, 1 Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting MSN Messenger and 1 Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft Exchange.
• Warning over fake Windows update - Users are being warned to watch out for a fake Microsoft security update. Circulating as an e-mail the fake message points people at a bogus website that claims to host critical security updates. But anyone downloading from the site will get a virus installed that opens a backdoor into their computer the program's creators can exploit. Security firms and Microsoft urged users to ensure they visit legitimate sites when downloading updates.
• Macromedia Issues Workaround for ColdFusion MX Flaw - Software developer Macromedia late Thursday released a temporary workaround to fix a critical security vulnerability in its flagship ColdFusion MX product. San Francisco-based Macromedia Inc. said the patch affects users of ColdFusion MX 6.1 for JRun4 (Updater 1). ColdFusion 7.0 is not affected. The flaw, which was discovered and reported by the ESP Group LLC, can be exploited by malicious people to disclose some potentially sensitive information, Macromedia said in an online advisory.
• Firefox Patch on the Way for JavaScript Engine Flaw - The Mozilla Foundation plans to release a new version of its flagship Firefox browser as early as this weekend to patch a known JavaScript Engine flaw. The flaw, which puts users at risk of information disclosure attacks, already has been fixed in nightly builds, and volunteers at the foundation said a final release on Firefox 1.0.3 could come as early as Friday evening or a bit later.
• Microsoft hands out antidote to poisoned URLs - In response to a heightened security alert, Microsoft has updated its customer advisories for protecting its server software against DNS cache poisoning attacks. The software giant revised its recommended settings for some Windows Server products late Wednesday, clarifying which default configurations could leave computers open to the DNS poisoning threat.
• Fewer Permissions Are Key to Longhorn Security - Microsoft claims that LUA (Least-Privilege User Account) will make life tougher for hackers and virus writers by limiting access to administrator permissions on Windows systems. But the company has been mum in recent months about its plans for implementing LUA in Longhorn, and it is considering incentives to encourage adoption of LUA (pronounced "loo-ah") by skeptical independent software vendors, including a new logo program for LUA compliance, according to interviews with independent software vendors and industry experts.
• Vulnerability in WINS Allow Remote Code Execution - This exploit can be used to trigger the vulnerability and thus to confirm whether you are vulnerable or not.
• BPO staffers hack bank A/Cs, steal Rs 1.5 cr - Cyber crime has moved to the next level in Pune. Close on the heels of the Webcam Kulkarni scandal, in which a tenant secretly filmed girl students staying in his hostel using hidden cameras, the Pune police have unearthed a major siphoning racket involving former and serving callcentre employees. They allegedly transferred a total of Rs 1.5 crore (US $3.5 lakh) from a multinational bank into their own accounts, opened under fictitious names. The money was used to splurge on luxuries like cars and mobile phones.
• Medical group: Data on 185,000 people was stolen - A California medical group is telling nearly 185,000 current and former patients that their financial and medical records may have been exposed following the theft of computers containing personal data. Given the number of people affected, the theft from the San Jose Medical Group ranks among the largest in the nation. It follows a rash of other breaches that.
• Top twelve spammers revealed - The United States is still the world's largest spam generator, but other countries are catching up fast. Since the start of the year over 35 per cent of the world's spam has come from computers inside the US, according to figures from security specialists Sophos. South Korea is in second place with nearly 25 per cent and the UK is ranked ninth at 1.6 per cent.
• Nine years in slammer for US spammer - A Virginia circuit judge has sentenced a convicted spammer to nine years in jail, the first custodial sentence to be issued to a bulk emailer in the United States. Jaynes was sending out at least 10 million emails a day using 16 broadband lines, grossing between $400,000 and $700,000 a month on expenses of around $50,000 - a handsome profit. Jaynes snared one punter for around every 30,000 emails sent.

OFFTOPIC...

• Life's top 10 greatest inventions - The New Scientist has an interesting article up listing the Top 10 most amazing things to have evolved.

TECHNOLOGY...

• PSP Sees Explosive Sales, 1/2 Million Units - Sony has announced that in the first two days of sales, 500,000 PSPs were sold in America. The PSP, which sells for $249, generated $150m for retailers in the first week.
• AMD's dual-core Opteron due this month - AMD will announce at an event on April 21 in New York that the first dual-core Opteron processors are available, months ahead of schedule, sources familiar with the situation said. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker also is expected to announce its dual-core chips for personal computers will go on sale in June.
• Patent litigants target DVRs - Forgent Networks, which has so far garnered more than $100 million dollars in fees on its so-called JPEG patent, is going after the digital video recorder industry. The Austin, Texas-based maker of licensing and scheduling software owns four patents it claims give it the right to collect royalties on computers or similar devices, such as those made by market leader TiVo, that record, store and play back video- and audio-transmitted signals.
• CherryOS Opens Up Code to Doubters - CherryOS, the Mac emulator for Windows that has been dogged by controversy, is to be released as an open-source project on May 1, according to its creator.
• Nero integrates Dolby Digital 5.1 sound into NeroVision Express 3 -  Nero announced today that Dolby Digital 5.1 sound creation has been integrated into NeroVision Express 3, an application of the award-winning Nero 6 software.
• Google Intros Q&A Service - Google today began delivering factual answers for some queries at the top of its results page to save users from having to navigate over to other sites and look for the information.

HARDWARE... 

• Alienware Area-51m 7700 notebook - So, the Area-51m 7700 doesn't represent the freshest design in notebook technology, but sometimes beauty can be more than skin deep. Peeling back the epidermis of the 7700, you'll find the kind of spec that a modern desktop gaming PC wouldn't be ashamed of. Central processing duties are handled by a 3.6GHz Intel Pentium 4, while 1GB of 533MHz DDRII memory is also thrown in for good measure - so far pretty much the same spec as the Rock Xtreme Ti. There's also a pair of matched 60GB 7,200rpm hard disks striped in a RAID 0 array for maximum performance.
• Corsair XPERT TWINXP1024-3200X - For those with windowed cases, wanting high-speed, low-latency memory, regardless of overclocking experience, this is a product for you.
• MSI NX6800GT-T2D256E Geforce 6800GT -  Stats has posted a review of MSI NX6800GT-T2D256E Geforce 6800GT videocard.
• HIS X850 XT IceQ II Dual DVI VIVO 256MB PCIe - The HIS X850 XT IceQ II Dual DVI VIVO 256MB PCIe is yet another high-end ATI-powered card from HIS that costs a premium but delivers a lot of horsepower to your computer.
• Thermaltake Shark Aluminum Gaming Case - Well, there you have it. The negative points are very minor and not worth repeating! The Shark kept our system cool, motherboard temperatures were never more than a couple of degrees above ambient room temperature. The Athlon 64 3500+ in this test system reached a maximum temperature of 35C and the Raided Raptors kept themselves cool in the mid 40's. My SLI'd 6600GT's were also at a record low of 42C.
• Zalman CNPS7700-Cu CPU Cooler - The CNPS7700-Cu is exceptionally well built (the near perfect machined lapped base of the heatsink is proof enough) and installation for the various sockets is a breeze. Performance is impressive for this near passive solution and because of the heatsink's extreme flexibility for all users (Sorry Socket A users!).
• HP Laserjet 4350n Network Laser Printer - In its basic form with or without a network server - the 'n' version reviewed here includes an internal JetDirect card - the printer is a substantial machine following conventional lines. A paper feed tray pulls out from the bottom and takes a full 500-sheet ream. The paper then follows an 'S' print path, to exit onto the machine's top surface.
• Acer AT3201W 32in Widescreen display/TV - Featuring a 16:9 aspect ratio and a High Definition TV (HDTV) ready native resolution of 1,366 x 768, as well as a wealth of connectivity options, the specs on the AT3201W seemed impressive, especially considering the L999 including VAT asking price.

GUIDES... 

• Mikhailtech Basic System Buyer's Guide - April 2005 - Thanks to dropping prices, this month we were able to give our video card a slight boost. We're still recommending a Sapphire Radeon 9600 PRO, however this time around we were able to get the 256MB (vs. 128MB) version. The extra memory helps in certain cache-intensive, high content games (such as World of Warcraft). Having full DX9 and OpenGL 1.5 support as well as 400MHz core and 446MHz memory clocks allows this card to play all the latest titles at least on medium settings. We're only a few dollars shy of a 9800SE (though it's a toss up between getting the 128-bit or 256-bit version) or a vanilla GeForce 6600 (non-GT). Hopefully next month we'll be able to make the switch.
• PCI Express 101 - Viperlair look at PCI express and tell you the advantages and disadvantages over AGP.
• ATI Catalyst 5.3 and 5.4 Performance Analysis - If you find that your favorite game has been added to the Resolved Issues list, you will find yourself updating though unless you upgrade every month for the sake of it, a lot of people will find themselves still sitting comfortable on the 5.2 release in February.
• NGO Comparison: ATI Catalyst 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 - NGO ran each test three times to verify results. And they installed the latest patch for every game and application.
• ATI Catalyst Tweak Guide (updated) - The changes are not major and primarily relate to fixes for several games including KOTOR 2, Splinter Cell:CT, enhanced HDTV support and some minor changes to the ATI Control Center.

SOFTWARE...

• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition RTM: First Impressions - Installing XP Professional x64 Edition went very smoothly, and is exactly how you would install 32-bit Windows XP when booting off the CD. Note, you can't install any Windows x64 operating system from within 32-bit Windows (although it will run through 64-bit Windows).
• Skinning Windows x64: WindowBlinds 4.51 Review - Stardock's WindowBlinds is an alternative approach to skinning Windows. Instead of using the Windows XP Visual Style engine, they use their own. The immediate advantage of this is updating Windows won't get rid of your skins. The WindowBlinds skinning engine also turns out to use less resources then the built-in Windows XP one, and runs faster. Among the many changes in WindowBlinds 4.51, is full support for Windows x64.
• Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB891793) - This update (download patch 32-bit / 64-bit) contains the latest Microsoft Storport storage driver. Microsoft recommends that customers use the latest version of the driver, as several Storport-related issues have been fixed since the release of Windows Server 2003
• Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows XP - Free Download - download
• Real Alternative 1.35 - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install the official RealPlayer.
• Fraps 2.5.5 (shw) - Fraps (download) is designed as a generic tool for DirectX and OpenGL games. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as: Benchmarking Software, Screen Capture Software and Realtime Video Capture Software.
• SKYPE 1.2.0.41 - Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users – not to share files this time, but to talk for free with your friends.
• Miranda IM 0.4 - Miranda IM is a multi protocol instant messenger client for Windows. It is designed to be resource efficient and easy to use. It uses very little memory, requires no installation and can easily be carried around on a single floppy disc.
• MSN Messenger 7.0 final - Get the final version now - download. With the release of version 7 comes new features such as animated Winks (derived from 3 Degrees, a Nudge feature to wake your contacts up and the ability to show your contacts what music you're currently playing.
• Maxthon (MyIE2) v1.2.2 - Maxthon (MyIE2) (download combo / standard) is a powerful web browser with a highly customizable interface. It is based on the Internet Explorer engine (your most likely current web browser) which means that what works in IE, works the same in Maxthon but with many additional efficient features. This new version fixes a potential security flaw.
• DVD-S550 to V.38 firmware - Yamaha has updated the firmware for their DVD-S550 standalone DVD and DivX player. The latest version is V.38 and fixes a bug in the OSB menu.
• NGO ATI Optimized Driver v2.4 - The NGO ATI Optimized Driver is a tweaked version of the ATI Catalyst driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with a better performance and better image quality.The Driver has support for all Radeon cards. (even Mobility and FireGL cards)
• DNA-ATI 3.8.5.3 (Catalyst 5.3) - These are modified/hacked ATI Catalyst drivers, use them at your own risk. The drivers have been optimized with two things in mind, better Image Quality and more/stable frames per second when compared to the Beta Catalyst drivers from ATI
• DNA-Force 1.1.7590 (NVIDIA ForceWare) - These drivers are modified Forceware drivers, meaning they are NOT supported or endorsed by nVidia, or any 3rd party OEM manufacturers. They are not covered by any warranty or guarantee, and you install them at your own risk. Currently these drivers are for all GeForce based desktop cards.
• ForceWare 76.44 WHQL - The good news is that it is a WHQL approved driver (Microsoft tested and verified & Dated 30th of March 2005). The bad news is that it's only for GeForce series 6. This driver has an included modified.inf file (courtesy of laptopvideo2go) for non-GeForce series 6 users. The driver can also be found on Station-Drivers and Tweakrus.com
• Forceware 76.50 & 76.81 Win2000/XP - Another ForceWare driver set leaked, this time from the German site ComputerBase. Opposed to the yesterday released 77.44 ForceWare drivers these however are not WHQL certified. The .inf file obvisouly has been modified to give it support to the most GeForce graphics cards out there.  In related news, there's also Forceware 71.86 driver (found at the Dell site) and modded to be installable on most cards.