"Apple iPod" Shipped with Virus

First of all, let's clarify a matter: because you may ask "what's with the quotes in the title?" I must explain you one thing. This article is not about one of those popular MP3 players manufactured by the Cupertino-based company, it's actually about a crappy device probably made by some Chinese firm which attempted to lure more consumers by using Apple's logo and product name (some of you may consider that the "d" at the end of iPod looks like an "a" but, what the heck, it's obvious the manufacturers wanted to take advantage of Apple's success on the market). Although it's obviously a trademark infringing case, we're not here to talk about legal disputes but about some security issues recently discovered.

As you know, more and more computer infections attempt to propagate themselves by copying their files on USB removable drives and, once connected to a clean computer, they install and compromise the system. But, what's worse is that some devices which provide USB connectivity are shipped with pre-installed viruses, probably due to the ignorance of the manufacturer or to some errors in the scanning process made before shipping. It happened in the past with digital photo frames and it also happened one week ago with HP's flash drives.

However, it seems like MP3 players are also affected by this issue. And this is the time when we start talking about that fake Apple iPod (which by the way, says it provides 1 GB of storage space) because, according to Michael of Viruslist.com, it has been shipped with a pre-installed virus. Just like usual, the infection was detected once the USB connection was established, the installed Kasperksy Internet Security identifying and blocking the threat.

So, in a era when more and more threats affect the USB-based devices and when such products are shipped with all kinds of accessories, including headsets, connectivity cables, viruses and Trojan horses, antiviruses are simply a must-have...

Windows XP SP3 RTM Build 5512

Windows XP Service Pack 3 RTM is finally available for download. Microsoft released the service pack to manufacturing, at the beginning of this week, on April 21, 2008 and is now making headway towards the general availability of XP SP3. Officially, the final version of XP SP3 is scheduled for delivery starting with the end of this month. However, Windows XP SP3 RTM Build 5512 has been leaked and is already up for grabs, ahead of the release timetable outlined by the Redmond company.
At the start of this week, Chris Keroack, Release Program Manager Windows Sustainability Microsoft, announced the RTM of XP SP3, and pointed to April 29 as the date when end users would be able to access the service pack via both Windows Update and the Download Center. The Redmond company planned to serve the gold bits of Windows XP SP3 starting on May 2 to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, following general availability on April 29. Microsoft cited high demand for Windows Vista SP1 and the need to optimize the available bandwidth, in order to explain why it was not pushing XP SP3 via the MSDN and TechNet delivery channels ahead of WU and the Download Center.

Since that point in time, input from IT professionals and developers, namely the traditional subscribers of MSDN and TechNet, caused Microsoft to make a 180 degree switch. As a direct consequence of that, XP SP3 RTM Build 5512 is being rolled out to MSDN and TechNet subscribers as of April 23. The Redmond company explained that it managed to introduce nothing short of creative solutions together with bandwidth and system partner companies in order to accommodate both the distribution of Windows XP SP3 RTM and Windows Vista SP1 RTM. Microsoft is currently serving the gold bits of the third and final service pack for Windows XP only to a limited pool of customers, but the English version of XP SP3 Build 5512 can also be grabbed by the general public.

HOW-TO: Adobe Photoshop CS2 on Ubuntu - 8 steps!

This HOW-TO covers up the whole process of installing Adobe Photoshop CS2 on a Ubuntu box in a few simple steps. This method has been tested only on Ubuntu, but it should work on any other linux flavor. Any questions or feedback leave them in the comments.

What you need?

• A fresh install of Ubuntu Dapper + all the updates
• A Windows box with a fully installed and activated version of Adobe Photoshop CS2

- Fire up a terminal session and type the next commands;

TIP: Instead of using apt-get, you can install them with the Synaptic Package Manager located in the System/Administration menu

• $ sudo apt-get update
• $ sudo apt-get install wine and then type “yes”
• $ sudo wine /*To create the wine file structure*/
• $ sudo apt-get install recode and then type “yes”

- Then you need to copy all the necessary files from the Windows box;

• Copy the whole Adobe folder from “c:\Program Files\” to “/home/YOURNAME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/”

- Now you need to export the registry keys of the Adone Photoshop CS2;

• In your Windows box, type “regedit” in the command-line and export the whole “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Adobe/” to “adobe.reg”.
• The next step is to copy that file to your Ubuntu box and convert it to the encoding of YOUR system. For example, if your Ubuntu box has as default charset ascii and your Windows box has ucs-2 then “$ recode ucs-2..ascii adobe.reg” would do the trick. After you converted your adobe.reg file, type “$ sudo wine regedit adobe.reg” to import it to wine.
• That’s it! Type “$ sudo wine –winver winxp “[path to Photoshop]/photoshop.exe” or create a launcher and enjoy Adobe Photoshop CS2 on Ubuntu

System Settings for a Gaming Machine

If you are a hardcore gamer then the below tweak is for you. Below are a list of windows services that we recommend you change to the manual setting.


Routing and Remote Access
Alerter
Application Layer Gateway Service** (only if firewll is not used)
Application Management
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
ClipBook
COM+ System Application
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Help and Support
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service** (only if do you not use the cd-rw xp record suport)
IPSEC Services
Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service
MS Software Shadow Copy Provider
Net Logon
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Network Location Awareness (NLA)
NT LM Security Support Provider
Performance Logs and Alerts
Portable Media Serial Number
QoS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator
Remote Registry
Removable Storage
Server
Smart Card
Smart Card Helper
SSDP Discovery Service
System Restore Service
Telnet
Themes
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Volume Shadow Copy
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
Windows Installer
Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions
Wireless Zero Configuration
WMI Performance Adapter
Fast User Switching Compatibility ** (only if fast user shiching is not used or the machine have one user only)
Protected Storage
Windows Time
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Task Scheduler
Secondary Logon
Print Spooler ** (only if the pc do not have or use a printer)
Indexing Service
Error Reporting Service
Computer Browser
Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

Have Fun!

Disabling Automatic Updates properly

A lot of people already know about Automatic Updates and how to disable them by selecting the appropriate option from within the Automatic Updates tab in My Computer. A lot of you might not realize this, but the Automatic Update service still runs even when you select to disable it here. To turn it off completely and for good do as follows:

1. Go into Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

2. Highlight the service called "Automatic Updates". You will know when you have the correct one because you will see a description about it telling you what it does.

3. Right click once highlighted and click stop to terminate the service.

4. Right click on it again and go to Properties. Half way down the first tab there is "Startup Type:" change this to disabled.

Congratulations! You have now disabled Automatic Updates service. Not only will this make certain the service won't run, but by disabling it properly you are freeing up system resources as they won't be diverted to running a service that you don't use.

Enjoy.

Speed up your Firefox Browser 10x faster

1. Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit enter. Scroll down and look for the following entries: network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading. 2. Alter the entries as follows: Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true" Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true" set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once. 3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it recieves. VOILA! Check out your browser's renewed speed.

Broadband Internet Connection Tweaking

If you are reading this then you are looking to maximize your bandwidth by tweaking your computers registry and other settings. There are a few things you must know and understand prior to optimizing your connection.

• Your goal in tweaking is to get 90% of your ISPs bandwidth caps, but remember that sometimes due to factors beyond your control such as routers, nodes, distance from your CO or congestion etc. you WILL NOT obtain that goal.

• You need to know your ISPs caps in kilobits, for example I have Cox Internet Service and my caps are 3000/256. This information is usually found on your ISPs website.

• You need to download CableNut from here, it is the most comprehensive internet connection tweaking app available.

• You need to know what your maximum anticipated latency is by following the instructions here.

• Once you know what your ISPs caps and your maximum anticipated latency are you just need to input it into the CableNut Live webpage. Our own Moderator here j79zlr made this page and it uses the proper formula for finding all you optimum registry settings.

• You need to make sure your MTU (maximum transmission unit) is set properly since other settings are based on this, to check yours do a TCP/IP Analyzer Test. This will tell you what your current TCP/IP registry settings are. The proper MTU values are as follows, make sure yours is set accordingly: Cable – 1500, Normal DSL – 1500, PPPoE DSL – 1492, XP Native PPPoE DSL – 1480.

If you are using XP's native PPPoE setup and your MTU is not set to 1480 then copy and paste the following and make it a .reg file and merge it into your regstry to correct it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NdisWan\Parameters\Protocols]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NdisWan\Parameters\Protocols\0]

"ProtocolType"=dword:00000800
"PPPProtocolType"=dword:00000021
"ProtocolMTU"=dword:000005c8

• It is important to test your speed properly, the most accurate test is to download a large file from a fast reliable FTP server such as the following two:

OOL FTP TEST

AOL FTP TEST

RoadRunner FTP Test (Tampa FL)

Another fairly reliable test is from Speakeasy, it is a java based test and isn’t as accurate but if you do multiple tests from around the US it will give you a fairly accurate result. Here is a full list of their test sites:

New York City
Chicago
Washington D.C.
San Francisco
Denver
Dallas
Atlanta
Boston
Philadelphia
Los Angeles
Cleveland
Houston
Miami
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Seattle

Make sure you clear your browsers cache prior to each test.

For all the definitions to the values in CableNut read here.

The Windows 2000 White Papers – The official Microsoft papers on how TCP/IP works in Windows 2000 & XP.

Along with properly optimizing your TCP/IP & AFD values there are also a number of other things you can do to help maximize your bandwidth.

• Setting your NIC (Ethernet card) duplex mode properly. Duplex modes are as follows:

Cable Modem – 10mb half duplex*
DSL – ISP dependant
If using a router set it to 100mb full duplex.
*OOL users should set their duplex mode to 100mb full duplex

To set yours do the following:

Open your control panel – select the network icon – right click on your LAN connection and select properties - under the ethernet adapter icon click the button configure - select the advanced tab - in the property box, the property name to be selected varies according to model of ethernet card. Examples are: Network Link Selection, Media Type, Connection Type, Duplex Mode, or any similarly named property which can have Values looking like Auto-Negotiation, or 10BT, or 10BaseT - in the Value box, select a value which either (a) explicitly says half-duplex or semi-duplex, or (b) at least does not say full-duplex [e.g. 10BaseT on its own is OK] – if there is a choice between 10 and 100 with half-duplex, choose the 10. Do not choose 10Base5, 10Base2, or AUI - click OK to exit the Adapter settings - click OK to exit the connection properties.

• Setting your TCP/IP metric setting properly, it should be set to a value of 1. To do so do the following:

Open your control panel – select the network icon – right click on your LAN connection and select properties – highlight Internet Protocol TCP/IP and select properties – advanced – select the IP settings tab – in the interface metric box put the value 1 – ok.

• Speeding up network browsing.

Open regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Delete the key: {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

• Faster webpage tweak by giving priority to DNS lookup.

Copy and paste the following and make it a .reg file and merge it into your regstry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider]

"DnsPriority"=dword:00000001
"HostsPriority"=dword:00000001
"LocalPriority"=dword:00000001
"NetbtPriority"=dword:00000001

• Forward buffer memory tweak, this controls how much RAM TCP/IP uses for storing packet data in the router packet queue.

Copy and paste the following and make it a .reg file and merge it into your regstry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]

"ForwardBufferMemory"=dword:00024a00
"NumForwardPackets"=dword:0000024a
"MaxForwardBufferMemory"=dword:00024a00
"MaxNumForwardPackets"=dword:0000024a

• By default Windows 2K & XP cache everything in the DNS cache service, both correct and faulty DNS lookups. To increase performance by eliminating the caching of faulty DNS lookups, copy and paste the following and make it a .reg file and merge it into your regstry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]

"NegativeCacheTime"=dword:00000000
"NetFailureCacheTime"=dword:00000000
"NegativeSOACacheTime"=dword:00000000

• Internet Explorer important settings:

Open Internet Explorer and select Tools - Internet Options - under the General tab in the Temporary Internet files section select the Settings button.

Select "Every visit to the page" and set the amount of disk space to use: to no more than 80MB. Now select the Connections tab and select LAN Settings make sure EVERYTHING there is unchecked and select OK.

For IE6 ONLY - select the Privacy tab and choose Advanced check the box "Override automatic cookie handling" and for First-party Cookies - Accept, Third-party Cookies - Block and check "Always allow session cookies. Now NO MORE SPYWARE COOKIES.

Another thing to do about once a week if you modem is on 24/7 is to power cycle your modem, just completely disconnect power from it for at least 15 seconds and then power it back on.

Set your temporary internet files to 80mb and delete them regularly.

• DSL users may want to check out the DSL Wiring Guide for possibly increasing your DSL speed.

DSL users also want to make sure they do not have any halogen lights close to their modems or 900mhz or 2.4ghz phones in the same room.

• Always connect your modem via ethernet (Network Interface Card) instead of USB, ethernet is faster and much more stable. Also ALWAYS make sure you have the latest drivers for your NIC from the manufacturer NOT Microsoft, usually the drivers from the manufacturer have advanced settings that help optimize the performance of your NIC that the native Microsoft drivers don't have. If you are using a router always keep your firmware up to date.

• Remove any uneeded protocols:

Open your control panel – right click your LAN connection - properties - general tab, uninstall all the protocols there that you do not need. If you are a stand alone pc then all you need Internet Protocol TCP/IP. If you are on a network then you will need them except QoS Packet Scheduler, it is never needed.

Set the Search Screen to the Classic Look

When I first saw the default search pane in Windows XP, my instinct was to return it to its classic look; that puppy had to go. Of course, I later discovered that a doggie door is built into the applet. Click "Change preferences" then "Without an animated screen character." If you'd rather give it a bare-bones "Windows 2000" look and feel, fire up your Registry editor and navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ CabinetState.

You may need to create a new string value labeled "Use Search Asst" and set it to "no".

How to Remove Windows XP's Messenger

Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak.

Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable. For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows. For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it. Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set. NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.

Testing Your System's Security

This is not really a tweak, but simply a list of websites, which offer online system security testing. If you have a firewall, you can see now if it's secure enough.

Remember, hackers always find a way into your system if they want!

http://grc.com/

http://hackerwhacker.com/

http://scan.sygatetech.com/

http://www.testmyfirewall.com/

http://www.auditmypc.com/

http://www.iggyz.com/Test.html

http://online.securityfocus.com/cgi-bin/sfonline/links.pl?cat=43&offset=60

There are more, but I think this will be sufficient at the moment. Happy testing!

Apple iPhone Review

The good: The Apple iPhone has a stunning display, a sleek design, and an innovative multitouch user interface. Its Safari browser makes for a superb Web surfing experience, and it offers easy-to-use apps. As an iPod, it shines.

The bad: The Apple iPhone has variable call quality and lacks some basic features found in many cell phones, including stereo Bluetooth support and 3G compatibility. Integrated memory is stingy for an iPod, and you have to sync the iPhone to manage music content.

The bottom line: Despite some important missing features, a slow data network, and call quality that doesn't always deliver, the Apple iPhone sets a new benchmark for an integrated cell phone and MP3 player.

Windows 7

Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb, then Vienna) is a future version of Microsoft Windows. It is expected to be the successor to Windows Vista. Microsoft has confirmed that the planned development time frame is at least three years, meaning it will be released in 2010 or later. According to technology magazine "Smart Computing In Plain English", work on it began immediately following the release of Windows Vista. On July 20, 2007, it was revealed that the operating system is known internally at Microsoft as version "7". Microsoft has refrained from discussing the details about Windows 7 publicly as they focus on the release and marketing of Windows Vista, though some early details of various core operating system features have emerged at developer conferences such as Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in 2006.

Pigeons - The technology behind Google ;)

As a Google user, you're familiar with the speed and accuracy of a Google search. How exactly does Google manage to find the right results for every query as quickly as it does? The heart of Google's search technology is PigeonRank™, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University.

Building upon the breakthrough work of B. F. Skinner, Page and Brin reasoned that low cost pigeon clusters (PCs) could be used to compute the relative value of web pages faster than human editors or machine-based algorithms. And while Google has dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of our service on a daily basis, PigeonRank continues to provide the basis for all of our web search tools.

Note: This info was posted on Google's Technology page for April Fool's Day

Capture a Screen Shot of your Desktop or the Active Window in Windows

Have you ever pressed the PrtScn (print screen) key on your Windows keyboard and wondered why it was there since it never seemed to do anything? Well, it does do something! It copies an image of your screen onto the "clipboard," ready to paste into any graphics program. These steps show you how to use it along with Windows' standard image editor, Microsoft Paint, to save an image of your screen.

Here's How:

1. Press the Print Screen key on your keyboard. It may be labeled [PrtScn].
2. Open an image editing program, such as Microsoft Paint.
3. Go to the Edit menu and choose Paste.
4. If prompted to enlarge the image, choose Yes.
5. Optional: Use your image editor's crop tool to crop out unnecessary portions of the screen shot.
6. Go to the File Menu and choose Save As.
7. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the image.
8. Type a file name for the image.
9. Select a file type.
10. Click the Save button.

Tips:

1. Hold the Alt key down while pressing Print Screen to capture only the active window.
2. Generally the GIF format works best when saving screen shots of application windows. The JPEG format usually makes screen shots (especially those with text) blurry, blotchy and discolored.
3. The Windows " clipboard" is a term used to describe the temporary storage space in memory where an item is placed when you copy or cut. When you paste, the item is transferred to the program you're working in. If you copy something else, the old item is replaced with the new. You can't navigate to or manipulate the clipboard directly; it's only used for copy and paste operations.
4. If you have windows Vista, you can capture screen shots much more easily using the Snipping Tool included with Vista.

How'to install Mac OSX 10.4.6 on a PC [Dual Boot]

There are only two ways to install OS X 10.4.6 legally on your Windows computer:

1. Become an Apple developer
2. You can also buy an Intel Mac (I would recommend the Mac book Pro), install Windows XP on it using Apple’s Boot Camp and remove OS X completely, so that you have a legally bought osx86 license. This method isn’t confirmed and some most people say it’s illegal because the EULA says that you aren’t allowed to install OS X on non-Apple hardware.

This means that for most people it is ILLEGAL to install osx on their computer. If you aren’t an Apple developer, leave page site now. This site is in no way liable or responsible for the actions of its visitors.

You need:

1. A pre-patched OS X 10.4.6 install image
2. An empty dvd recordable (+R or –R, NO Rewritable!)
3. At least 6 GB free space.
4. Spfdisk

Which you can get here....

http://spfdisk.sourceforge.net/Spf2K3rE.exe

5. Acronis Disk Director Suite

The guide:

1. Get an pre-patched OS X 10.4.6 install image.

2. Burn the image to an empty dvd recordable (+R or –R)

>> Use your favorite burn program for this (I recommend Nero Burning Rom or Alcohol 120%)

3. Create at least 6GB unallocated space on your hard disk using Partition Magic:

>> Start partition Magic
>> Click on ‘Resize/Move Partition
>> Move the slider to make the partition smaller and hit OK
>> Click on ‘Apply’
>> Close Partition Magic

4. Click ‘START > Run…’ and type ‘diskpart’ (without quotes)

3. Type in (press enter after you typed in a line):

list disk
select disk [the number of your disk
create partition primary id=af

5. Close the command window.

6. Make sure you have a bootable disk with fdisk (I recommend spfdisk), so that you can change your active partition if it goes wrong! Also: After this step you can’t use your computer for up to 1 hour!

>> To install spfdisk just insert a formatted diskette and open the exe file

SPFDISK Download :

http://spfdisk.sourceforge.net/Spf2K3rE.exe

7. Click ‘START > Run…’ and type ‘diskpart’ (without quotes)

8. Type in (press enter after you typed in a line):

list disk
select disk [the number of your disk]
list partition
select partition [the number of your osx partition]
set active

9. Insert the OS X install disk and reboot your computer, follow the installation steps on your screen.

10. Boot into Windows.

11. Install Acronis Disk Director Suite, install the OS selector.

12. Start OS selector, configure (follow on screen steps) it and restart your computer.

13. After the last reboot you should see a nice dual boot menu and should be able to boot OS X.

Info:

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

More info:

http://www.osx86project.org/

Microsoft Amnesty Bin for iPods

Now, normally we love Microsoft and all, but we’re pretty cross with our favourite software company. We have a good reason to be cross, too! Apparently, Microsoft has installed iPod Amnesty Bins outside the Zune Head Quaters. I’m sorry Microsoft, but THAT is pretty forking lame!

The thing we’re amused by is that the poor folks at Zune HQ could only find eight seven people who dropped their iPods in Ballmer’s bins.

Besides, the people over at Microsoft still can’t name their products!

DSL in Kazakhstan costs $3355 per month !!!!

Welcome to your weekly dose of WTF. This week, we’re focusing on an ArsTechnica story that reveals just how ridiculously expensive Internet access is in Kazakhstan. State-owned Kazakhtelecom offers unlimited dialup access for the cheap rate of $111 a month. An unlimited 1.5Mbps DSL connection will cost you $3355 a month (not including the modem charges) while a sweet 6Mbps cable connection will set you back by $22032 a month.

These numbers come from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. As if the high prices were not enough, the government has filters and restrictions in place to block anything it doesn’t like. For example, it shut down borat.kz so that Sacha Baron Cohen would not bad-mouth Kazakhstan from a .kz domain.

New from Linspire: Freespire 2.0 Linux

The guys behind the Linspire Linux offering have released a new Linux OS based on Ubuntu 7.04 and features support for proprietary codecs such as MP3 and Windows Media and offers superior 3D graphic card and WiFi support. It also includes proprietary software such as Java, Flash, and Adobe Acrobat. And it’s available as a free download from the Freespire website.

Furthermore, it support Linspire’s CNR service that “provides free one-click access to thousands of open source applications, as well as options for legally licensed DVD playback software, Sun’s StarOffice, Parallels Workstation, Win4Lin, CodeWeaver’s Crossover Office, TransGaming’s Cedega, commercial games and many more.”

Err…Windows XP SP3 leaked

Download Squad is reporting that this build of Windows XP SP3, which is neither the final build, nor any beta version, is extremely popular on the torrent sites. We, however, do not recommend you to download this. It’s Microsoft software in testing stage, and it’s not even beta yet!

But, wait, wasn’t Windows XP SP3 out when The Wow started Now?

And, oh by the way, the Met Department has warned us of mysterious chairs falling from - you know where - in Redmond, WA. So watch out for those!

Office 2008 for Mac delayed

Sorry Macboys. You’ll have to wait a bit longer for your beloved platform to get the newest version of Microsoft’s Office software. The software will be launched only in mid-January 2008 after it’s released to manufacturing in December.

Apparently, the delay is due to a “perfect storm” of factors that hampered the development process. At least that’s what the head of the Mac Business Unit, Craig Eisler is saying. But the good news is that Office 2008 will support many features that Office 2007 for Windows has and will use the same Open XML format for ease of compatibility between both platforms.

Windows XP does have a Back-up utility!!!

Insert your Windows XP disc into your PC. Click exit if your installation screen comes up. Now go too your CD drive in *My Computer*. Right-click and select open. Choose VALUE ADD\MSFT\NT BACK-UP FILE. In the *files of type* drop down list be sure that *select all files* is on. Click on the NTBACK-UP.msi file and click okay. Click the finish button and now go over too the start button\ALL PROGRAMS\ACCESSORIES\SYSTEM TOOLS\ and there it is now.. BACK-UP FILES...Great little tool that Microsoft never should have hidden.

Windows Shortcuts

Run Commands:

compmgmt.msc - Computer management
devmgmt.msc - Device manager
diskmgmt.msc - Disk management
dfrg.msc - Disk defrag
eventvwr.msc - Event viewer
fsmgmt.msc - Shared folders
gpedit.msc - Group policies
lusrmgr.msc - Local users and groups
perfmon.msc - Performance monitor
rsop.msc - Resultant set of policies
secpol.msc - Local security settings
services.msc - Various Services
msconfig - System Configuration Utility
regedit - Registry Editor
msinfo32 - System Information
sysedit - System Edit
win.ini - windows loading information(also system.ini)
winver - Shows current version of windows
mailto: - Opens default email client
command - Opens command prompt
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Windows XP Shortcuts:

ALT+- (ALT+hyphen) Displays the Multiple Document Interface (MDI) child window's System menu ALT+ENTER View properties for the selected item ALT+ESC Cycle through items in the order they were opened ALT+F4 Close the active item, or quit the active program ALT+SPACEBAR Display the System menu for the active window ALT+TAB Switch between open items ALT+Underlined letter Display the corresponding menu BACKSPACE View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer CTRL+A Select all CTRL+B Bold CTRL+C Copy CTRL+I Italics CTRL+O Open an item CTRL+U Underline CTRL+V Paste CTRL+X Cut CTRL+Z Undo CTRL+F4 Close the active document CTRL while dragging Copy selected item CTRL+SHIFT while dragging Create shortcut to selected iteM CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word CTRL+LEFT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word CTRL+DOWN ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph CTRL+UP ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph SHIFT+DELETE Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin ESC Cancel the current task F1 Displays Help F2 Rename selected item F3 Search for a file or folder F4 Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer F5 Refresh the active window F6 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop F10 Activate the menu bar in the active program SHIFT+F10 Display the shortcut menu for the selected item CTRL+ESC Display the Start menu SHIFT+CTRL+ESC Launches Task Manager SHIFT when you insert a CD Prevent the CD from automatically playing WIN Display or hide the Start menu WIN+BREAK Display the System Properties dialog box WIN+D Minimizes all Windows and shows the Desktop WIN+E Open Windows Explorer WIN+F Search for a file or folder WIN+F+CTRL Search for computers WIN+L Locks the desktop WIN+M Minimize or restore all windows WIN+R Open the Run dialog box WIN+TAB Switch between open items

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