Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – September 24, 2009

Trend Micro Gets Top Spot In New Anti-Malware Test – But even the best performing product blocked only 70 percent of malware, NSS says.

Is Your PC Bot-Infested? Here’s How to Tell – Botnets are big, bad, and widespread — but if your system is infected, you can take several simple steps to clean it and stay safe.

New PC, Console Games Coming Soon – It’s a perfect storm for gamers. Sony’s PlayStation 3 recently shed $100 and sales have already rebounded. Microsoft countered with a $100 drop of its own. Nintendo is counting on brand momentum to carry it through the season, and Windows wonks have Intel’s new Core i7 and i5 processors to consider. Now all we need is new games–and they’re on the way. This week I took a look at the latest crop of games coming to a Windows PC or game console near you.

Geek 101: A Graphics Card Primer – Are graphics options confusing? Don’t know how much graphics card you need? Start here.

Hottest Free Security Tools – I’ve got a grab bag of security tools and tips for you this week. First up, the most popular programs in the PC World Downloads library last month: heavy-duty security, strong antivirus protection, and system tools. Go to the file collection linked here to browse the programs and download your own copies. Next, I’ve sleuthed out a few of the most popular recent security how-to’s. Learn which Microsoft updates to download, how to disinfect a bot-ridden PC, and make your own password safe.

Lifehacker – The Beginner’s Guide to Tricking Out Your WordPress Blog – You took the leap and installed WordPress to host your own blog because you want complete control over how it looks and works. Now, it’s time to power it up, lock it down, and make your blog completely yours.

10 things that can go wrong when you upgrade your operating system – Upgrading to a new operating system — whether it’s one personal computer at home or an office full of workstations — can be a stressful experience. You do it to take advantage of new features or to be able to run new applications, but you approach it with trepidation because you know there are always things that can go wrong. In this article, we’ll look at some of those potential problems and explain how you can prevent them or work around them if they do occur.

10 ways to detect computer malware – In the ongoing war against malware threats, you need tools that will baseline your system, detect vulnerabilities, and remove existing malware. Cybercriminals are putting forth every effort to make malware difficult to detect. Successfully, I might add. Ever optimistic, I thought I would have a go at providing information on how to make their job a little tougher.

Off Topic:

Howto: Fix it or Ditch it – Quick Offbeat fixes for Your Car – When your car or truck breaks down and you’re out of cell phone range, miles away from the nearest town, you need to make a call: Temporarily fix your car, or take a hike. Here are 4 examples of quick, off-beat fixes to take care of a stalled, leaking or overheated vehicle.

Kicked off my flight for wearing an eye mask – Michael Winn is the president of a private university, a US Airways frequent flier, and according to at least one flight attendant, an imminent threat to security. Why else would he have kicked Winn off a recent flight from Charlotte to Phoenix?

Drug Raid Turns Into a Loooong Wii Session – When they say the Wii is addictive, they don’t necessarily mean “so addictive that policemen will forget they’re on a drug raid and start playing Wii”, but now we have video proof that this is exactly the case.

Russian Billionaire Installs Anti-Photo Shield on Huge Yacht – Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has a rather curious new addition built in to his latest oversized yacht. Lasers sweep the surroundings and when they detect a CCD, they fire a bolt of light right at the camera to obliterate any photograph.

Today’s Quote:

“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense”.

– Gertrude Stein

Today’s Free Downloads:

Paglo RogueScanner – Anyone with a network has reason to be concerned about intruders. It’s especially a problem for wireless networks, because someone can be across the street from your house, or in the parking lot of your business, and hop onto your network undetected. The free Paglo RogueScanner identifies potential rogues.

InSSIDer – If you have a wireless network, you know the true meaning of frustration. You probably have dead spots where your wireless network doesn’t have a strong enough signal. In an apartment or an office in a shared building, you have problems with competing networks. Trying to troubleshoot wireless networking can be nearly impossible. That’s where InSSIDer comes in.

RunAlyzer – If you’re looking to manually track down spyware, or speed up system startup–and you’re a technically astute user who’s comfortable with Registry settings–then the free RunAlyzer may be just what you need. Run it, and it performs a thorough and sophisticated analysis of all programs and services that run when you start up your computer, and shows you details about each, down to the actual Registry settings that launch or control them. Based on what you find, you can (if you’re technically sophisticated enough) determine whether suspicious programs are running, and you can also speed up startup by stopping unnecessary programs from running.

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