New – SUPERAntiSpyware Free Online Safe Scan

There are plenty of good anti-malware products, many of them free, but no one anti-malware tool is likely to identify and remove all of the millions of rogue malware that infest the cyber world.

Since today’s malware generally writes itself into multiple parts of the operating system, and in many cases, can hide it’s files, registry entries, running process and services; making the infection virtually invisible.

Regular readers of Tech Thoughts are familiar with this advice: “To ensure maximum safety, it’s important to have layered defenses in the ongoing fight against malware. As part of the mix of security solutions, online scanners offer an extra layer of protection that’s required in the current Internet environment”.

To make this layered defense approach a little easier, SUPERAntiSpyware has just released its free SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan, which the company describes as “a powerful new tool in the fight against the latest and particularly difficult malware infections”.

Nick Skrepetos, founder of SUPERAntiSpyware confirms what most Internet security experts are now aware of “The new breed of infections we are seeing simply block most, if not all, anti-spyware and anti-virus products from running. We have answered the call with our stand alone online “Safe Scan” which will run when other products are blocked.”

I’ve long been a big fan SUPERAntiSpyware, both the free version and the professional version, and now having tested this new offering on three systems, I can now add SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan, to my recommended list.

This new online scanning service will detect, and remove, more than 1,000,000 malware threats, and in my early tests proved to be a speed demon. The average speed to spin through 42 GB was an impressive 17 minutes.

Some of the most difficult to remove destructive malware circulation on the Internet at the moment include, Anti Virus Pro 2010, Windows Police Pro, Virut, Vundo, and Rustock. Trust me, you definitely don’t want to become infected by any one of these brutes. But, if you do, SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan will eradicate them.

There is an interesting twist to this new product. Instead of downloading and installing the free edition of SUPERAntiSpyware, you simply download an executable which, when launched, effectively turns SUPERAntiSpyware into a cloud application. Pretty cool move.

Correction: Earlier today I had mentioned that it was necessary to manually updated the definition database. My apologies for the confusion – the definition database updates automatically. Another very cool move.

Some of the benefits of running SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan on your system include –

It’s fast and easy to use

Will detect malware that some AV solutions cannot detect

Avoids conflicts with existing security software

Acts as a double-check on the accuracy of your onboard AV solutions

System requirements: Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Win 7

Download at: SUPERAntiSpyware

Additional Online scanners that have developed a good reputation for accuracy; be sure to read the Terms of Use or Privacy Statements carefully, and be aware that not all Online scanners will disinfect.

Panda NanoScan

McAfee FreeScan

Symantec Security Check

Panda Security

Trend Micro’s HouseCall

ESET Online Scanner

Kaspersky

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – September 18, 2009

SUPERAntiSpyware Introduces Online Safe Scan: New Free Online Scanning Service Detects and Removes Over 1,000,000 Malware Threats – SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan is absolutely free.

Lifehacker: Get Windows 7 Home Premium for $30 With a College Email Address – If you’re a U.S. college student, or at least having a working .edu email address, you don’t have to pay $120 to upgrade Vista to Windows 7. You can get the Home Premium edition for just $30.

Improve Windows XP’s hard drive performance with disk striping – Some applications need a higher level of performance than a standard installation can generally provide. For example, the process of creating DVDs requires the hard disk to read information at a very high speed. Fortunately, there’s a relatively easy way of insuring that Windows XP’s performance meets your needs.

Temporarily disable User Account Control prompts in Vista – If you want to leave UAC protection in place, but you’re about to perform operations that will generate a lot of UAC prompts, try this trick to temporarily turn the feature off.

Google + reCAPTCHA could raise bar in anti-spam battle – Locked in a cat-and-mouse game with spammers who use bots to defeat anti-fraud mechanisms, Google buys an excellent crowd-sourcing tool and, by default, gets to raise the bar significantly in the fight against bots and spam.

Inside India’s CAPTCHA solving economy – Let’s analyze the shady data processing economy of India, discuss exclusive photos of Indian workers breaking MySpace and Google CAPTCHAs, and take a tour inside the web applications of several Bangladesh based franchises, whose team of almost 1,000 international workers is actively soliciting deals for breaking Craigslist, Gmail, Yahoo, MySpace, YouTube and Facebook’s CAPTCHA, promising to deliver 250k solved CAPTCHAs per day on a “$2 for a 1000 solved CAPTCHAs” rate.

Core i5 & i7 Memory Kit Roundup – The release of Intel’s Core i5 and i7 Lynnfield processors and the matching P55 chipset has been followed by a new round of DDR3 memory offerings from memory manufacturers big and small. Find out what’s hot–and why overclockers have several reasons to rejoice.

AMD’s New Quad-Core Chip Priced Below $100 – AMD announced its first quad-core processor priced at less than $100 on Wednesday, lowering the bar for consumers to buy a quad- core PC.

Off Topic:

Researchers develop nanotubes to help circuits repair themselves – Burned-out electronic circuits may soon be able to self-repair tiny cracks or breaks in their circuitry with the help of nanotubes, according to new research.

Forgotten memories not erased, just inaccessible, scientists say – If you’ve ever forgotten something and thought it to be lost forever, don’t despair — it’s still filed away in your brain. You just can’t access it.

See a glow in the night sky? It may have been astronaut urine – If you noticed an unusual glow in the sky last Wednesday, it wasn’t a shooting star — it was astronauts’ urine. The glow was the result of the space shuttle Discovery releasing an unusually large amount of water and urine into outer space.

Is the Web Decaying? – Forget about the ‘real-time’ Web. Perpetually.com looks for content gold in lost Web pages.

Today’s Quote:

“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing”.

– Abraham Lincoln

Today’s Free Downloads:

Kutano: Add-on for Firefox – Kutano reveals tweets and comments about each webpage. Kutano is the #1 tool for discovering and connecting with others on Twitter. …

NetQin Communication Master – A powerful management product for mobile phones, NetQin Communication Master includes features such as Spam SMS blocking, scenario-based call firewall, polite call rejecting and private mode.

ToYcon – When you launch ToYcon, your screen suddenly gains an icon of a cardboard box with a green arrow going into it. Drop an image into this box, and it gets converted into .ico icon format. You can choose where to save the file, and even convert an icon into a .png image file.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – September 17, 2009

10 ways to tweak Windows 7 using the Local Group Policy Editor – You can customize Windows 7 by setting local group policies to control the way the OS looks and acts.

The top 10 Vista sidebar gadgets – Not everyone is a fan of Vista gadgets, but Deb Shinder has a large collection of them that she finds extremely useful. Here are the ones that top her list of favorites.

Major Newspapers Hit by Scareware – The New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer both served fake anti-malware scans to their readers.

Learning from the NY Times Attack Ad – The scareware scam that pushed rogue antivirus software provides a good example of what to watch out for on the Web.

Lifehacker: Maximize Firefox 3.5’s Viewing Area for Your Netbook – Your netbook’s screen is tiny and processor less than mighty, so you want to maximize the web page viewing area without any performance-killing Firefox extensions. Here’s how to consolidate Firefox 3.5’s chrome for your Windows or Linux-based netbook.

Microsoft Tightens USB Flash Drive Security – Microsoft is finally getting serious about USB flash drive security. It recently disabled the AutoRun and AutoPlay features in Windows (all older versions plus Windows 7), meaning users will no longer have directory trees and execution options presented when they pop a flash drive into a PC.

Google Chrome 3 Brings More Speed and Features to the Stable Release: Windows only – Chrome turned one year old just a couple weeks back, and as a belated celebration, the folks at Google have just pushed out a brand new stable release in the form of Google Chrome 3.

Hackers Targeting Web 2.0 Sites at Alarming Rate – Security software vendor Websense claims 95 percent of user-generated comments on blogs and message boards are either spam or contain malicious code.

Kill Your Phone Remotely – Losing a cell phone stinks, but the truth is, it can be replaced. But what about the data that’s on it? The thought of your contacts, photos, and more falling into the wrong hands can be agonizing. The good news is that most of today’s popular smartphones can be erased remotely. We show you how.

Off Topic:

How much like the 1918 flu is H1N1? – The H1N1 “swine flu” story moves fast, because science and communication move so much faster than in 1918.

Hubble’s newest visions of space – The Hubble Space Telescope got back to business this summer after an intensive repair and upgrade mission in May by a crew aboard the space shuttle.

Listening Tips from a Hostage Negotiation Trainer – “There’s as reason you have two ears and one mouth!” Sound familiar? Sure, a lifetime of being reminded by parents, teachers, business trainers as well as our spouses about the power and importance of listening. But are we really any better at listening?

Today’s Quote:

“It is never too late to give up your prejudices”.

– Henry David Thoreau

Today’s Free Downloads:

Clonezilla Live – Clonezilla Live is a locally bootable implementation of Clonezilla Server Edition, a program based on several Linux utilities, whose raison d’etre is rolling out workstation installations across a network. The authors say they cloned a 5.6GB image to 41 workstations using multi-casting across a network in about 10 minutes. I have no reason to doubt them, so that makes the CSE a handy alternative to pay programs such as Norton Ghost for IT departments.

NetBrute Scanner – Shared folders and open ports are some of the biggest threats to your network. Yet many people who run networks, especially home and small business networks, have no idea whether they have this kind of vulnerability. NetBrute Scanner lets you know, and it does the job very quickly.

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Patrick Swayze’s Death – An Opportunity For Hackers

Dirty Dancing star Patrick Swayze, as most people are now aware, passed away several days ago, and it hasn’t taken long for cyber crooks to use this to advantage. Cybercriminals have jumped on this information, and are already exploiting this sad event.

Searching for news of Swayze’s death has multiple risks attached, including the risk of landing on an infected web site, which can lead to the downloading of “scareware” – fake security software.

Scareware is now recognized, by security experts, as the single most profitable money maker for cybercriminals, with thousands of users falling victim to scareware scams every day.

Cybercriminals are experts at exploiting our natural curiosity surrounding current events, and by focusing on this aspect of social engineering, they are increasingly creating opportunities designed to drop malicious code, including rootkits, password stealers, Trojan horses, spam bots, and of course scareware, on our computers.

If an event is newsworthy, or it’s titillating in any way, you can be sure cybercriminals are exploiting it for their own advantage. A case in point: Serena Williams’ disgraceful behavior at the US Open, is currently been used by cybercriminals to trap victims into downloading rogueware.

I highly recommend that you watch the following YouTube video (courtesy of Sophos), which illustrates just how easy it is for the bad guys to trap unprepared computer users into downloading rogue software.

Save yourself from being victimized by scareware, or other malware, and review the following actions you can take to protect your Internet connected computer system:

• When surfing the web – Stop. Think. Click
• Install an Internet Browser add-on such as WOT (my personal favorite), which provides detailed test results on a site’s safety; protecting you from security threats including spyware, adware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, and online scams.
• Don’t open unknown email attachments
• Don’t run programs of unknown origin
• Disable hidden filename extensions
• Keep all applications (including your operating system) patched
• Turn off your computer or disconnect from the network when not in use
• Disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible
• Disable scripting features in email programs
• Make regular backups of critical data
• Make a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised
• Turn off file and printer sharing on your computer.
• Install a personal firewall on your computer.
• Install anti-virus and anti-spyware software and ensure it is configured to automatically update when you are connected to the Internet.
• Ensure the anti-virus software scans all e-mail attachments.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – September 16, 2009

The 10 most potentially hazardous Smartphones – Based on new research, learn the 10 Smartphones that emit the most radiation, the 10 that emit the least radiation, and a few quick safety tips.

Study: Yes, there is payback from social networking, Web 2.0 – Can a company effectively capture and harness the raw, roaring energy from the millions of blogs, tweets, videos, and other Web 2.0/social networking phenomena surging through our organizations and markets? Even the most optimistic analysts say it will take time before a business case can be made from all this craziness.

Six dirty tricks from enterprise vendors – Enterprise software vendors sometimes play unpleasant games to sell their products. Here are six tricks vendors use against customers.

Seven Free Sites To Track Your Personal Information – The Consumer Reports Money Adviser has compiled a great list of sites that store your personal information and will provide free copies of their reports to you if you ask. The sites give you access to a wide range of your personal information, with links to your free annual credit report, past insurance claims, health history, checking account info, background checks, previous purchase returns, and your rental history.

Windows Bug Enables PC Hijacking, Microsoft Warns – A bug in the Server Message Block (SMB) 2 network file- and print-sharing protocol in Vista, Windows Server 2008, and the RCs of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 could be used to hijack PCs.

Symantec: Google Groups Used to Send Commands to Malware – Symantec researchers have uncovered a Trojan using a private newsgroup within Google Groups as a command and control server. The move follows an attempt to use Twitter as a C&C earlier this year.

The Windows 7 upgrade survival guide – Want to make the Windows 7 upgrade experience as short and painless as possible? Follow these seven suggestions to make the process easier.

Off Topic:

10 tips and tactics for dealing with conflict – A little common sense and preemptive action can defuse conflicts before they get out of hand. These tips will help you manage and resolve touchy situations.

5 ways to stay focused and get your goal – Dan Coughlin is a speaker, consultant, expert in business performance and the author of The Management 500: A High-Octane Formula for Business Success. Dan Coughlin’s 5 Tips for Staying Focused and Getting Your Goal.

Video: Guy Installing Skimmer On ATM – Surveillance video footage shows a man in Brazil installing a skimming device onto a bank ATM, followed by his arrest.

Commodore 64 – A Look Back at a Geek’s First PC.

10 mistakes that rookie IT consultants make – IT consulting is a tough, competitive field, and there are ample opportunities to mishandle the job. Erik Eckel offers some cautionary advice for IT consultants who are just starting out.

Today’s Quote:

“A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Today’s Free Downloads:

TrueCrypt – When you encrypt files on your hard disk, not only do you want to scramble the files, but sometimes you want to prevent others from discovering that the files even exist, a sleight-of-hand known as steganography. Not only does TrueCrypt use strong encryption when it creates encrypted volumes, but it also creates hidden volumes that are indistinguishable from random data.

Windows Movie Maker – With Movie Maker 2, you can create, edit, and share your home movies. You create movies with drag-and-drop commands, and you can edit your footage so you highlight only the best scenes. Then you can share your movie via the Web, e-mail, or CD; you can also save your movie back to the video tape in your camera to play back on a TV or on the camera itself.

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SIW – System Information for Non-Geeks

If you think developing information on your computer’s operating system and hardware is a tough task, you can relax. Guest writer, Rick Robinette, introduces you to a small, free application that makes it easy.

How would you like to know everything about your computer?  You can with SIW – System Information for Windows…

SIW is a small in size utility that is specially designed to audit your PC and display the results in a very comprehensive manner. The results can subsequently be saved to a report file in several different formats (i.e. HTML, CSV, TXT, XML).

SIW can either be installed on your PC or you can download the “standalone version” that can be installed on your flash drive. The “standalone version” is an excellent choice for diagnostic purposes; and troubleshooting other PCs.

The developer of SIW works hard to continually keep SIW  up-to-date with the current changes in hardware & software configurations.  SIW, highly recommended for the everyday user and for those you are in the spirit of helping others on their PCs.

Examples of what SIW will gather about your PC:

Software Inventory: Operating System, Installed Software and Hotfixes, Processes, Services, Users, Open Files, System Uptime, Installed Codecs, Software Licenses (Product Keys / Serial Numbers / CD Key), Secrets (Password Recovery).

Hardware Inventory: Motherboard, Sensors, BIOS, CPU, chipset, PCI/AGP, USB and ISA/PnP Devices, Memory, Video Card, Monitor, Disk Drives, CD/DVD Devices, SCSI Devices, S.M.A.R.T., Ports, Printers.

Network Information: Network Cards, Network Shares, currently active Network Connections, Open Ports.

Network Tools: MAC Address Changer, Neighborhood Scan, Ping, Trace, Statistics

Miscellaneous Tools: Eureka! (Reveal lost passwords hidden behind asterisks), Monitor Test, Shutdown / Restart.

Real-time monitors: CPU, Memory, Page File usage and Network Traffic.

Platform: Microsoft Windows 98 / Me / NT4 / 2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Media Center / Tablet PC / Windows 2003 Server R2 / Vista / Windows Server 2008 / Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2 / WinRE / Bart PE / Winternals ERD Commander

Download at: MajorGeeks

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – September 15, 2009

Turn Vista into Windows 7 for free – Every time Microsoft delivers a new OS it’s possible to get many of the features of a Windows upgrade in the previous version of Windows. Windows 7 is no exception. Here’s a roundup of a few things you can do to make Windows Vista as Windows 7-like as possible, without shelling out for the new OS.

Lifehacker: Use Dropbox for More Than Just File Syncing – Ever since Lifehacker turned me on to Dropbox, it’s become one of the most essential pieces in my daily workflow. Sure it syncs files extremely well, but Dropbox is an excellent tool for so much more.

Disable AutoRun on Windows XP and Vista with a quick registry hack – Don’t let Windows force you to AutoRun CDs or DVDs. Bill Detwiler shows you a registry hack the will disable AutoRun on Windows XP and Vista.

The ultimate guide to scareware protection – Throughout the last two years, scareware (fake security software), quickly emerged as the single most profitable monetization strategy for cybercriminals to take advantage of. Due to the aggressive advertising practices applied by the cybercrime gangs, thousands of users fall victim to the scam on a daily …

Apple plugs 33 Mac OS X security holes, updates Flash on Leopard – Apple today shipped another Mac OS X mega-update with fixes for at least 33 serious security problems affecting Mac OS X users.

Intuit’s reported purchase of Mint: A fine defensive move – Intuit will reportedly acquire Mint.com, squashing any potential threat from a much ballyhooed startup.

Straight to the Spam Folder: Astonishing E-Mails – Pickup lines, business opportunities, mysterious advice – they’re all waiting patiently for you in your junk mail filter.

Quad-Core Power for $500 – The Gateway SX2800-01 is a small-form-factor PC that packs a lot of punch for a little money.

NiftyClicks: Complaints, Web Calculator, Ping.fm, Coupons – From protecting consumers and figuring out how much your Web site is worth, to posting on social media sites and finding rock bottom prices online, Andrew Lock delivers the best Web tools and resources.

Off Topic:

5 Facts About Woodstock The Hippies Don’t Want You to Know – A funny website filled with funny videos, funny pics, articles and a whole bunch of other funny stuff. Cracked.com, celebrating 50 years of humor and blowing other so called funny websites out of the water.

You Can Not Confuse 70,000 with 2,000,000 – Unless you’re a right-winger.

Two Bermuda Triangle Plane Mysteries ‘Solved’ – Two of the so-called Bermuda Triangle’s most mysterious disappearances in the late 1940s may have been solved. Scores of ships and planes are said to have vanished without trace over the decades in a vast triangular area of ocean with imaginary points in Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico.

DIY Rail Gun is Terrifying, Comes with Building Instructions – Have you ever wanted to know how to build your very own rail gun? Today’s your lucky day

Today’s Quote:

“The man who reads nothing at all, is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers”.

–  Thomas Jefferson

Today’s Free Downloads:

SmillaEnlarger – If you’ve ever tried to work with small images, like those generated by camera phones, you know how frustrating it can be to turn them into something printable. Most image editors just can’t seem to manage it. SmillaEnlarger can help: The program takes even tiny icon-sized bitmap files and turns them into usable full-size images.

Secunia PSI – Identify program security leaks and batten down the hatches with this free software.

Belarc Advisor – This super-handy hardware/software enumeration utility will even list your installed software keys.

RunAlyzer – Speed up system startup and search your systems for spyware.

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Stop Being Dirty – Download Free Comodo System Cleaner!

What could be a more powerful free solution, than that old standby CCleaner, which removes unused files, and ensures your privacy by cleaning traces of your online activities? Well, how about Comodo System Cleaner, which will do all that, and much more.

I’m a big fan of Comodo’s products, including their free Firewall and AntiVirus software. So I was expecting big things from Comodo System Cleaner, and I wasn’t disappointed. After considerable testing, I gave this free application a big “thumbs up”.

Fast facts:

Registry Cleaner – Optimizes and repairs your Windows registry by running an in-depth scan to remove, or repair, unnecessary or corrupted registry keys.

Disk Cleaner – This utility lets you quickly clear them all, to free up space and improve performance. Also allows you to schedule regular clean up routines.

Privacy Cleaner – Obliterates your digital paper trail and helps protect you from identity theft by cleaning history, cache, cookies and usage records from Internet browsers, Windows locations, and popular software.

System Settings – With over 50 tweaks in the ‘System Settings’ area alone, you can optimize Windows behavior in a more powerful and intuitive way than ever before.

System Information – Detailed and easily accessible ‘dashboard’ summary of all the hardware and software installed on your computer.

Autorun Manager – Fingertip control over exactly which programs and services start with Windows. Helps improve Windows boot up time, stops unwanted programs from hogging system resources and boosts overall system performance and stability.

File Pending Delete – Provides the ability to delete files that are locked and cannot otherwise be deleted when in Windows ‘User Mode’. Specifying a file with the ‘File Pend Delete’ tool will schedule that file to be deleted immediately after the next system restart.

File Wiper – Allows you to permanently remove confidential or sensitive files from your hard drive. When you ‘delete’ a file in Windows, you are really only removing the reference to that file from the system table. The file itself remains on your drive and could be easily re-opened by data thieves. ‘File Wiper’ ensures that the files you want to delete are comprehensively erased and cannot be recovered.

Free – for both home and business users.

I’m a big fan of “all-in-one” system utilities and I have to admit, I really liked this all-in-one free application, with its simple and effective user interface. I particularly liked the easy access the user interface allows to Windows system settings (even on my Windows 7 machine), which makes tweaking the OS a snap.

As the fast facts point out, this application has a wide range of built in system utilities, which in my view, are perfect for the new, or casual computer user. I should point out however, that the built in registry cleaner, just like all registry cleaners, should be used cautiously.

Here’s why – despite the fact that the registry cleaner has a neat feature; it will restart your machine to test if the registry removal will adversely affect your system, on a test run this module screwed up my game settings.

I’m not blaming the module. It was my own fault, since I did not exercise proper caution. Just shows you – even geeks can be careless! It was not a big deal to recover but……….

What makes this free application even more interesting is; it’s available as a portable program which can easily be run from a USB drive. Great for geeks!

Comodo provides a comparison chart, on their site, which illustrates the differences between their application and the competition, which you may find interesting.

Despite the fact that I’m very impressed with this new offering from Comodo, Ccleaner will remain my “go to” application for routine cleaning. When I need that weekly deep cleaning though, or I need additional system access, I’ll spin up Comodo System Cleaner.

If you’re a casual computer user, Comodo System Cleaner is definitely worth considering as an addition to your system utilities toolbox.

System requirements: Windows XP, Vista, Win 7 and Server 2003

Download at: Download.com

Portable version download at: Download.com

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – September 14, 2009

19 Free Web Services That Keep Saving You Money – You can find lots of freebies on the Web, but these offerings provide useful services–at no cost–that you would otherwise have to pay for every time.

Apple iPhone OS 3.1 Phishing Protection Falling Short, Researchers Say – Security pros say the Apple iPhone OS 3.1’s anti-phishing feature falls short, failing to block sites blocked by the desktop version of the Safari browser.

Apple Demonstrates Ignorance of Mobile Games Market – The iPhone may be a rising star in portable gaming, but is Apple right to dismiss Nintendo and Sony’s broadly successful handhelds as “not so cool”?

Easy Fixes for Six Common Laptop Problems – You don’t need to be MacGyver to fix these problems yourself. Just follow our step-by-step guide. We live and work in a cold, cruel world where our laptops take a lot of abuse. Regardless of how gentle we try to be, it’s inevitable that sooner or later our notebooks will get dropped, spilled on and worse.

How To Easily Install Ubuntu Linux On Any PC – A step-by-step guide to installing Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution. In this walkthrough, Senior Editor Robert Strohmeyer walks you through the steps needed to install Ubuntu–a popular Linux distribution and Windows competitor–on a PC. This fast, simple operating system runs well on limited system resources, boots quickly, and is very easy to operate.

OS upgrade myths and Windows 7 – Many IT organizations are resisting the idea of wide-scale Windows 7 deployments for reasons that are time-honored retreads of traditional points of view. Here’s why you may want to step past those upgrade myths.

Go fast on the Web with IE8 Accelerators – Accelerators do just what their name implies – they accelerate your ability to gain access to the various types of Web-based searches you use every day. You just highlight the text you are interested in, click the Accelerators icon, and off you go.

Lifehacker: Five Best Virtual-Desktop Managers – Long before multiple monitors were popular (or financially feasible), there were virtual desktops—applications that allow you to swap your entire workspace with another for easy compartmentalization of your work. Here’s a look at five of the most popular virtual-desktop managers.

Off Topic:

Top Ten Psychology Videos – Cognitive to clinical to social, the many applications of psychology reveal profound thoughts, human frailties and strengths. These are some of the best results, framed in video players.

Parts-of-the-body language – You can send signals with individual parts of the body as well as in concert. Here’s details of the contributions of each part of the body.

Who Really Makes that Sears Major Appliance? – It is no secret that Sears does not make its own major appliances marketed under the Kenmore name, but rather has them made by major manufacturers. Which manufacturer makes any particular model of stove, refrigerator, washer or dishwasher is a mystery, unless the salesperson is very knowledgeable… or unless you know the secret codes!

BadwareBusters – a community of people working together to fight back against viruses, spyware, and other bad software. Whether you’re seeking assistance, offering your expertise, or simply trying to learn more about badware, it’s easy to get started.

Today’s Quote:

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it”.

– Mark Twain

Today’s Free Downloads:

Miro – The Miro video player can do practically anything: It can download or play streaming video, download and play BitTorrent video, and even set up searches for video from within the player. With this recent update, however, Miro has added several new tools to its kit–most having to do with downloads

Spybot Search & Destroy – Though its name sounds like bad dialog from a 60’s sci-fi flick, Spybot Search & Destroy is a good program to have around for those trying times when you think someone is lurking behind the browser curtain tracking your every Web move. Fire it up and it’ll spot all sorts of tracking cookies and the like, then remove them if you choose to do so.

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Follow the 3 Magic Steps to Internet Security – Stop – Think – Click

Let me begin this article by defining the word “responsibility”, a concept which appears to me, to be losing its place in modern culture.

Definition – a duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task (assigned by someone, or created by one’s own promise or circumstances) that one must fulfill, and which has a consequent penalty for failure.

Virtually every computer user, at both the home user level and at the corporate level, whom I come into contact with, fails to take personal responsibility for their security on the Internet.

After all, the reasoning seems to be, I’ve got ABC anti-virus and ABC anti-spyware. Or, my employer takes care of that. But, as the above definition makes crystal clear, there is a penalty for failure to personally assume the burden of responsibility.

Look, the indisputable facts are:

As an Internet user you are engaged in a battle, yes a battle, against highly sophisticated and highly organized cyber-criminals who are relentless in their pursuit of your money and make no mistake – it’s all about the money; your money.

In the worst case scenario, your identity and your financial security can be severely compromised by these cyber-criminals.

It’s no accident that cyber crime is now a 100+ BILLION dollar industry. Make no mistake, this IS an industry. An industry which incorporates all of the strategic planning, and best practices, required to maximize profit.

Today’s cyber-crooks are smart; very smart. They are not, as many people believe, teenage hackers sitting at their computers playing at hacking.

Looking at recent estimates provided by a large number of Internet security providers, the consensus seems to be that there are over 11,000,000 malware programs currently circulating on the Internet. This is not the work of teenage hackers.

Many Internet security companies report having to deal with up to 20,000 new versions of malware – every single day! Here’s the math; one new malware program every four seconds!

Until a year or so ago, I agreed with the consensus that typical/average Internet users were simply unaware of the potential dangers all of us are forced to deal with while attached to the Internet? I’ve now revised my views.

Being involved in computer security, I am amazed and frankly frustrated, at the lack of personal responsibly exhibited by most typical computer users, and most importantly, the lack of commitment to acquiring the knowledge necessary to ensure personal safety on the Internet. In a word, becoming “educated”.

Users need to stop depending on their security applications alone to ensure their safety. They need to become proactive, which means becoming educated and personally responsible, rather than continuing to be reactive to threats to their safety.

Depending on security applications to provide the ultimate in protection, is an absolute “non-starter”. Security applications do not, and never have had the ability to this, despite the commonly help belief to the contrary. If you’re struggling with the reality of this statement, take a look at “Anti-Malware Solutions Test Results” from Anti-malware Test Lab. You might be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

Enhance your security on the Internet by:

Choosing to become educated on the realities of cyber crime

Taking personal responsibility for your own security

A major step you can take to in prevent yourself from becoming a victim of cyber-criminals is to overcome the instinctive response to just “click” while surfing the Internet.

That instinctive response poses one of the biggest risks to your online safety and security.

Stop – consider where you’re action might lead

Think – consider the consequences to your security

Click – only after making an educated decision to proceed

Consider this from Robert Brault:

“The ultimate folly is to think that something crucial to your welfare is being taken care of for you”.

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