Friday Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 10:15 PM CEST - Jun,27 2003
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- Latest Sobig variant getting bigger - The latest variant of the
Sobig
virus continued to spread Thursday, underscoring how mass-mailing computer
viruses can still be a nuisance. In the past 24 hours, the virus, known
as Sobig.E, mainly has affected U.S. computer users, according to e-mail
service provider MessageLabs. The company, which filters e-mail messages and
removes viruses and spam for clients, reported 70 percent of the
Sobig.E-infected messages came from the United States. Another 18 percent came
from U.K. sources .Sobig-E normally spreads via emails with randomised subject
lines (such as Re: Documents and Re: Re: Movie) and . zip attachments
containing infectious .scr and .pif files. Like its predecessors, Sobig-E
has a built-in expiry date - in this case 14 July. Click on the infectious
attachments and you catch the pox.
- Group claims Linux advance on Xbox - A group of Xbox security
researchers say
they have found a way to run Linux on the Xbox game console without a
so-called mod chip and will go public with the technique if Microsoft
won't talk to them about releasing an official Linux boot loader. The group,
which has asked not to be named in this article, approached ZDNet Australia
after repeated attempts to contact Microsoft independently failed. The
researchers say they want Microsoft to release a "signed" Linux boot
loader--software that runs when a computer starts up to load and give control
to the operating system--that would allow Xbox users to run the open-source
operating system on the console without installing a chip.
- Expert slams outlandish hacker claims - Security expert Neil
Barrett has poured scorn on research released this week claiming that hackers
are in control of at least three million servers around the world. Intrusion
prevention system vendor Trustcorps said that it had "scientific and
anecdotal" research indicating that
the average
hacker 'owns' between 600 and 800 systems at any time. The company
estimated that there are at least 1,000 hacker groups, with an average of five
hackers per group each owning at least 600 systems. Each hacker will own a
compromised system for six months on average.
- Solar airplane crashes on test flight - The remotely piloted,
one-of-a-kind Helios Prototype crashed off Kauai within the testing area
of the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a news release. The $15 million,
solar-electric, propeller-driven Helios had a wingspan of 247 feet and looked
more like a flying wing than a conventional plane.
- 'Polypill' could slash heart attacks and strokes - The "Polypill"
would contain a cocktail of six existing drugs and should be given to
everybody over the age of 55, the researchers argue.
It could potentially save 200,000 lives every year in the UK alone, they
say. "There's probably no other preventative measure which would have greater
impact on public health in the Western world," says Nicholas Wald, research
leader and an expert in preventative medicine at the Wolfson Institute of
Preventative Medicine, London. "In people who start taking it at 55, about a
third would expect to benefit," he says. "Each of these individuals would gain
about 12 years extra life - that is enormous." In some cases the increase in
longevity might be as much as 20 years, says the proposal.
- Microsoft Office System To Launch in October - Microsoft will
launch its
Office System 2003 suite of products in New York in October, say sources
close to the company.The October date is considerably later than the June
launch that many expected earlier this year. But when Microsoft announced in
April that it was adding an unexpected beta refresh to its Office 2003 lineup,
many expected the final rollout date for the desktop suite and the growing
family of related products would slip to fall. Microsoft officials have
continued to insist that Office 2003 will be a "late summer" deliverable.
- Dell Readies New PDA, Smartphone - Dell has revealed that
the next generation of its Axim handheld will include both Wi-Fi and
triband radios, signaling a new wave of mobile productivity. In addition, an
executive says Dell plans to develop a device based on Microsoft's Smartphone
platform. The next-generation Axim personal digital assistant will allow users
to switch between Wi-Fi networks and CDMA or GSM networks. Due out in 2004,
the device will likely support 802.11g, which offers backward compatibility
with 802.11b and speeds of up to 31Mbps.
- Toshiba Satellite 5205-S705 Notebook Review - With portable PCs
doing so many tasks once reserved for desktops, it was only a matter of time
before a notebook computer doubled as a Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) PC.
First out is the
Toshiba Satellite 5205-S705 ($2,699 direct).
- Intel PAT Enabled 865PE Boards Roundup - No doubt the boards that
we are going to look at today are the best performing 865PE boards around and
these are the boards that consumers should be considering seriously. Among the
candidates are ABIT IS7-G, ASUS P4P800 Deluxe, AOpen AX4SPE Max, Albatron
PX865PE Pro II, EPoX 4PDA2+ and MSI 865PE Neo2.
VR-Zone
takes a close look at the board features, BIOS features, performance and
most importantly their overclockability.
- Iceberq 4 Pro VGA Cooling Kit Review - The Tech Lounge has posted
a review on the Iceberq 4 Pro VGA Cooling Kit.
- Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 USB Bugfixes - USBMan has published
a list of USB Bug Fixes corrected by Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.
- Shuttle AN35N nForce2 Ultra Review - Bar the odd latency issue,
the AN35N
is another solid if unexciting board. The trouble for Shuttle is that most
of the major players have excellent boards already, so a 'lesser known'
manufacturer has to work that much harder to establish themselves amongst the
usual suspects. The AN35N is much like an accountant; it's dependable and a
little boring.
- ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 Pro Review -
The 3D performance of this card was not bad, but it was not the fastest
card tested. In OpenGL it did well, besting its competitor, the MX 440 in
Serious Sam SE, but it also lost to the MX 440 in Jedi Knight II testing. The
Jedi Knight test proves that nVidia definitely has better drivers for some
things, such as Jedi Knight. In Direct X, the AiW 9000 Pro does much better,
beating the MX 440 both in Max Payne and UT2003 by a greater margin, over 18%
in both games and all the tests with those games.
- Samsung LTM295W LCD Monitor Review -
The looks of the Samsung LTM295W deserve recognition themselves, it's
without a doubt a display which is worthy of the many compliments it's
received around here as well as from myself. It's only significant drawback is
of course the price tag, but, to be fair, you get every cents worth!
- NOD32 Antivirus version 2 Review -
NOD32 is a first-class antivirus program with an unprecented 22 100%
awards from Virus Bulletin. The recently released version 2 takes a great
program and makes it even better, eliminating a few quirks the previous
version had. Anybody who cares about the reliability and detection
capabilities of their antivirus software should take a close look at NOD32
before spending money on any other AV software. PC911 has the details.
- PocoMail 3.0 build 1640 -
PocoMail is a
refreshingly different award-winning e-mail application, with a specific
focus: to allow you to take full potential of e-mail, whether you get one or
one hundred messages a day. It will save you time and enable you to do things
with e-mail you never thought possible before. Put simply, PocoMail is an
e-mail tool like no other.
- AntiVir Personal Edition 6.20.11.20 -
The AntiVir Personal Edition
(download) offers
the effective protection against computer viruses for the individual and
private use on a single PC-workstation. In order to make possible an easy
operation, the AntiVir Personal Edition is developed to the essential points.
The private and individual use of the AntiVir Personal Edition is completely
free of charge.
- Microsoft SQL Server Accelerator v1.2 -
The 1.2 version supports SQL Server 2000 Standard and Enterprise editions,
as well as Microsoft Office 2003 and includes the capability to generate a
solution from an XML file. Other additions include separation of the
application generation and deployment processes so that applications can be
put into production faster, and support for the drill-through actions in count
measures which enhances the reporting capabilities of the generated
application.
- MBM-Net v1.1 -
MBM-Net is a
companion program to Motherboard Monitor 5. It allows you to monitor computers
on your network and display information such as CPU temperature, system
temperature, and fan speeds. That way you can see the status of your machines
in one convenient window instead of remote desktop"ing" into each machine and
checking! You can monitor any computer on your home network or over the
internet using MBM-Net! Up to 255 machines are supported.
- Server Monitor Lite 3.3 -
Server
Monitor Lite is an advanced, powerful, and feature rich network server
monitor which monitors your servers and notifies you when a problem occurs.
- SiSoftware Sandra MAX3 -
SiSoftware have released
their newest installment of their popular synthetic benchmarking program,
Sandra MAX3. This new version adds support for AMD Opteron multi-processor
architecture (AMD Athlon 64/Opteron CPUs; AMD 8131, SiS 755/760, VIA K8T400/M
chipsets; AMD 8111, SiS 963/S/L south bridges; NUMA up to 32/64 nodes; ACPI
2.0; SMBus 2.0), Intel Pentium 4 400MHz architecture (Intel P4 2.4-3.2GHz
CPUs; Intel 875P, 865P/PE/G chipsets; ICH5/5R south bridges), Intel Itanium 2
architecture (Intel E8870 chipset; NUMA up to 64 nodes; ACPI 2.0), USB 2.0
HiSpeed USB controllers (enhanced EHCI; USB hubs), and much more!
- CPU Burn-in 1.01 -
CPU Burn-in
v1.01 by Michal Mienik is the ultimate stability testing tool for
overclockers. The program heats up any x86 CPU to the maximum possible
operating temperature that is achievable by using ordinary software. This
allows the user to adjust the CPU speed up to the practical maximum while
still being sure that stability is achieved even under the most stressful
conditions. The program continuously monitors for erroneous calculations and
errors ensuring the CPU does not generate errors during calculations performed
under overclocking conditions.
- Software Mod For Turning Your Radeon 9500 Non-Pro Into A 9700 -
Software Mod For Turning Your Radeon 9500 Non-Pro Into A 9700 guide has
been
updated for combination with the Catalyst 3.5 drivers.
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Updated:11:42 PM CEST Jun,20
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