SECURITY...

• [!] Auto download adware carries vicious payload - Security experts issued a warning this morning after detecting infections caused by Searchmeup, the first adware to use the Exploit/LoadImage vulnerability which downloads itself onto computers without the user's permission. Panda Software's PandaLabs warned that the pages from which Searchmeup are downloaded also contain a series of exploits to download other malware onto the computer, such as the Tofger.AT Trojan, which steals banking passwords, Dialer.BB and Dialer.NO, and adware called Adware/TopConvert. Searchmeup affects computers running Windows 2003, XP, 2000, NT, Me and 98, and allows arbitrary code to be run. Microsoft has released a patch to correct this problem, and users are advised to install it immediately. Non-Affected Software:  Microsoft Windows XP SP2.
• No new security updates from Microsoft for March - On 8 March 2005 the Microsoft Security Response Center is planning to release no new security bulletins. Although we do not anticipate any changes, the number of bulletins, products affected, restart information and severities are subject to change until released.
• Security patches issued for RealPlayers - RealNetworks has released patches for its audio-video players in an effort to prevent attacks via buffer overflows.
• Second kid sentenced for Releasing Worm That Attacked Microsoft Web Site -  A second person, a juvenile, has been sentenced in connection with the release of a computer worm in August 2003 that attacked the same vulnerability in computer software as the Blaster worm did.
• Programmer sues author over role in Microsoft history - Tim Paterson, who created the software later known as DOS and sold it to Microsoft, filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against Harold Evans and the publishers of his book, "They Made America."  The lawsuit is over a chapter in Evans' book about Gary Kildall, who founded Digital Research and died in 1994 at age 52. The book claims Paterson's software was simply a "slapdash clone" and "rip-off" of Kildall's CP/M operating system, developed in the 1970s.
• Symantec granted patent for virus scanning technology - The US patent office has granted Symantec is for technology allows just parts of threatened pieces of data to be scanned - such as e-mails - instead of full bodies of data. Older types of industry anti-virus software focus on portions of data portions or scan the full body of data. This has meant that the scanning process was slow or not reliable enough in response to evolving security attacks, such as self-mutating viruses, worms and spyware.

OFFTOPIC...

• Knighthood for Microsoft's Gates - The king of computer software Bill Gates has received an honorary knighthood from the Queen. Mr Gates, 48, the world's wealthiest man, said it was "a great honour" to be recognised for his business skills and for his work on poverty reduction. As an American citizen he cannot use the title "Sir" but will be entitled to put the letters KBE after his name.
• Unusual life forms found in the Atlantic - A strange world of see-through shrimp, crabs and other life forms teems around a newly explored field of thermal vents near the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists report.
• Adidas boots up smart trainer  - Adidas has developed intelligent training shoes which it claims will stop runners feeling down at heel by dynamically adjusting the cushioning it offers to aching feet. The Adidas-1 trainer, which hits the shops this week, is fitted with a microprocessor, sensor and motor.

TECHNOLOGY...

• IDF Spring 2005 coverage - @X-bit Labs | @Hardware Zone | @WindowsForDevices | Day 2: The Yonah Scoop | Intel shows off Mac Mini-like concept PC | Intel Dual-Core Architecture | Intel confirms chipset graphics update | Seagate spec important hardware move | Tech Toys for the boys at IDF | Portable player drive interconnect spec completed
• Microsoft Showcases Robots to Watch Kids - The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection.
• Ntl Upgrade 14th March - Cable Forum have revealed that the speed increases debated about so much over the last few months are about to go ahead from the 14th March, 2005. Ntl now appear to have changed their tune from the earlier reports with regard to the admin charge. The following now appears to be true. Speed increase from 750Kbps to 2Mbps - Free / Speed increase from 1.5Mbps to 3Mbps - Free / Speed increase from 300Kbps to 1Mbps - Free, see Below. Existing 300Kbps customers will be given the option to upgrade to the 1Mbps. But, on doing so the monthly data transfer cap will reduced from 30GB to 3GB! Some customers may therefore prefer staying on the 300Kbps service with a 30GB monthly usage allowance.
• Google's Technology Explored - Internetnews offers a moderately detailed peek at Google's technology.
• MS Loses Key Windows Architect to Google - Mark Lucovsky, a former Microsoft distinguished engineer, has quietly abandoned the Redmond ship for one of Microsoft's archrivals.

HARDWARE... 

• Soundstorm is gone forever? - Hexus has a flashy headline proclaiming that SoundStorm is gone forever. This has been confirmed to them whilst talking about the NVIDIA nForce 4 SLi (P4 Edition).
• Intel Pentium 4 660 and EE 3.73 GHz - BeHardware has posted a review on the Intel Pentium 4 660 and EE 3.73 GHz processors.
• DDR-2 PC-5400 Performance Memory Shootout – OCZ vs. Corsair vs. Kingston - People intending on overclocking their DDR-2 system should probably choose the OCZ memory since like we have already highlighted, it loves every bit of its 2.2V memory voltage and is able to overclock quite a bit higher than the other modules.
• Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000 2x512MB - Benchmarks show, even with the addition of the LEDs and control circuitry, that they retain all the performance and overclockability of Crucial's Ballistix line. Considering how remarkably the regular Ballistix perform, this is no small feat. The ability to overclock to DDR514 speeds and being able to run with low latency timings allows the user a lot of flexibility to configure these modules to their system setup.
• Corsair XPert TWINXP1024-3200XL - The XPert memory modules worked best at 240Mhz Front Side Bus with best stability. These modules are mainly for show, but as most all Corsair memory modules, they always allow for overclocking headroom, and the XPert tapped out at around 245Mhz Front Side Bus, but not as stable.
• Asus P5GDC-V Deluxe 915G Motherboard - The Asus P5GDC-V Deluxe is a unique Intel 915 motherboard from Asus that supports both DDR and DDR2, in addition to having the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 video onboard. This flexibility of technology allows you to use the integrated video and older DDR technology instead of having to upgrade to PCI Express and DDR2 respectively.
• Gigabyte RADEON X700 - Gigabyte RADEON X700 128MB is an excellent competitor to GeForce 6600 in general, it often demonstrates higher performance, the only problem is the AA+AF modes (I guess, programmers from the Canadian company have much to think about).
• Samsung TS-H552 DVD+RW - Samsung DVD±R/RW Drive is a new innovative product which provides powerful data storage. Features include creating personal DVD title : DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, data back-up for DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW, Buffer Under Run Free Technology with EIDE/ATAPI Interface with Ultra DMA 33 mode
• Iiyama ProLite E435S 17" Monitor - I'm not sure how close iiyama really get to 10 ms, but having seen it in action that's almost academic. The E435S is the first budget/mainstream display that I'd feel comfortable telling a friend to buy, and though it comes up short on frills like headphone socket, USB ports and swivel/height adjustment, that doesn't alter the fact that it's a supremely capable performer at a very tempting price.
• The Stylus Photo R1800 printer - The $549 large-format inkjet model offers several outstanding features, including very high resolution and enhanced fade resistance, which make it a good choice for photography buffs or anyone who wants to produce high-quality archival prints. I tested a shipping version of the R1800 and found it capable of producing beautiful color prints from a variety of images.
• Samsung DVD-L300 Portable DVD Player - The Samsung DVD-L300 Portable DVD Player is a great value for both home and portable use. It features a 10-inch LCD screen, Stereo Speakers, Cinema Mode, Dialogue Enhancer and Chapter Preview. The unit is fully-featured for use as a home or travel DVD player

GUIDES... 

• Digital Cables vs. Analog Cables - What's the Difference? - Many of the best video cables on the market today were designed primarily for use in the digital domain; but can a digital cable really perform well as an analog cable? Can an analog cable be used as a digital cable? What's the difference, anyway, between digital and analog cables? They both move electrons, don't they? All of these are interesting questions, and bear some discussion. To begin that discussion, let's first talk about what digital and analog signals are, and how they perform in cables.
• How to enable Windows 98/ME/NT/Mac clients to logon to Windows 2003 based Domains - Most companies have legacy operating system like - Windows 98, that give them backward compatibility for legacy applications. The default settings of Windows 2003 domains prohibit the logon of these clients, to overcome this limitation, a change of behavior is needed.

SOFTWARE...

• Kaspersky Free Cleaner 12.0.0.1 - Utility for cleaning infection by: I-Worm.Zafi.b, I-Worm.Bagle.at,au, Virus.Win32.Implinker.a, Not-a-virus.AdWare.Visiter. If program finds any processes in memory, infected by these viruses, it will try to unhook virus hooks and patch needed processes to stop reinfection or stop them and delete/cure their files on hard drive and delete links to their files from system registry and other startup places.
• Fraps 2.5.3 - 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.
• SQL Server 2005 Express February CTP - Download the Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. Unlike beta releases that receive a much higher level of testing and feature work, CTPs are intended to expose the latest working build to developers.  SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) is the next version of MSDE 2000. It is a free, easy-to-use, lightweight version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005.
• Some betas - 3D Traceroute 2.0.2:21 Preview  | Netscape 8.0 public beta | WinAce 2.6 beta 5 | Avant Browser 10.0 Build 133 | nLite v0.99.8 beta 4
• WinDVD Platinum 6.0 B06.128  - WinDVD Platinum 6 (download) is the ultimate DVD software player, providing you with the finest quality video and audio playback. Watch movies with a theater experience right on your computer or laptop. WinDVD Platinum 5 is loaded with features.
• AnyDVD 4.5.8.1 - SlySoft has updated its AnyDVD software to version 4.5.8.1. This new version adds once more support for a new version of the Sony ARccOS protection as found on "The Forgotten" (UK), "Little Black Book" (UK) or "She hate me" (UK) to the option to remove "Protection based on unreadable Sectors"
• PE builder v3.1.4-beta - A new beta of PE builder is available ~ download.
• Sysinternals tools updated - Process Explorer v9.02 / RootkitRevealer v1.10 / Autoruns v7.0 / PsService v2.13.
• HDDlife 1.2.21 - HDDlife can work in the preventative mode when it checks the health of your hard drives at regular intervals and informs you about the results of these checks in an unobtrusive way. If you get warned about a possible hard drive failure , you will protect yourself against losing your naturally priceless personal data.
• ForceWare 71.90 Win2000/XP WHQL - These drivers are date stamped at the 27th of January 2005 making them the absolute newest set to date. Furthermore these drivers WHQL (Microsoft tested) signed.
• NVIDIA ForceWare 70.84 official beta drivers - NVIDIA has made a beta version of its latest driver, ForceWare 70.84, available on its nZone website.  They claim this new driver will improve performance of both single-card and SLI configs "significantly." The driver contains SLI profiles for over 70 applications, and NVIDIA has published a how-to guide for creating your own SLI profiles.