12/05/2008 by swordfish.

Microsoft Corp has launched a new online service in 20 countries which will allow users to watch video clips at the same time as a network of friends and chat via Windows Live Messenger.

The new service called Messenger TV will offer a range of clips on MSN Video including MTV shows and music clips from providers such as Sony BMG.

The firm hopes the ability to watch clips with friends on different computers will create a new social experience and attract users who already spend hours on social networks.

“Online video has exploded in popularity over the last year, but to date it has been something people watch on their own. Messenger TV is set to change all that,” said John Mangelaars, the vice-president, EMEA, of consumer and online for Microsoft. “Watching video online can now be a social experience, as people watch videos together, make comments and share reactions.”

The service will launch in 20 countries including many European countries, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, Canada and Mexico but not the United States.

Source: Yahoo News

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09/05/2008 by swordfish.

Facebook is to add a slew of new safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyber bullies.

At the heart of the changes are efforts to ban convicted sex offenders from the site and finding better ways to verify users’ ages and identities.

The agreement was announced by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in a deal along with other attorneys general around America. “This marks another watershed towards social networking safety,” he said. It will “protect kids from online predators and inappropriate content,” he added.

It comes on the heels of a similar comprehensive agreement that 49 states and Washington, DC, made with MySpace last January.

Source: BBC Technology News

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08/05/2008 by swordfish.

A checksum is used as an error-detecting code to protect a computers BIOS settings stored in the CMOS memory.

Each time a PC is booted this number is recalculated and checked against the stored value. If they do not match, an error message is generated to tell you that the BIOS settings may have been corrupted and as a result some of the BIOS settings may be wrong.

Each brand of BIOS tends to react differently when encountering a checksum error. Some will warn the user and then continue loading the operating system with whatever settings were in the CMOS memory (even if they’ve changed). Other BIOS brands will assume that the settings that were stored in CMOS memory are corrupted and will load default values stored in the BIOS chip “for safety reasons”. The error message resulting from the checksum error will indicate which option your system’s BIOS is running.

If you get a checksum error you should make sure that all the BIOS settings in the system are correct, by rebooting the system, going into BIOS setup and double-checking all the values (hopefully against a recent BIOS settings backup).

The most common cause of checksum errors is a CMOS battery that is losing power. To fix this, just buy a new CMOS battery and replace the failing battery with the new one.

If the BIOS settings have reverted to the default date and time you should fit a new CMOS battery before you change the values (Otherwise, when you next shut down and restart your PC all the BIOS settings will again revert to the default values). Save the changes you make to the BIOS and let the PC reboot. If the battery was the problem the checksum error will not appear and your PC will now boot normally.

Bear in mind that viruses can also affect CMOS settings and can cause a checksum error. Motherboard problems can also affect the values stored in CMOS memory. So its not always the CMOS Battery that causes a checksum error to appear. But battery failure is the most common reason.

FREE PC Help and Advice from QBS PC Help

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08/05/2008 by swordfish.

Almost 500,000 people have been caught out by a booby-trapped media file, says security firm McAfee.

The fake file poses as a music track, short video or movie and has been widely seeded on file-sharing networks to snare victims.

McAfee said the fake media file outbreak was the largest it had seen for about three years.

Those running the fake file get bombarded with pop-up ads and risk compromising the safety of their PC.

The fake file or trojan has been widely distributed on the eDonkey and Limewire file-sharing networks. The file has many names and is written in different languages to trick people into downloading it.

Here are some of the many file names that hope to get you hooked into downloading the malicious file:

• girls aloud st trinnians.mp3
• changing times earth wind .mp3
• heartbroken fast t2 ft jodie.mp3
• meet bambi in kings harem.mp3
• paralyized by you.mp3
• pull over levert.mp3

So watch out if you frequent file sharing networks!

Source: BBC Technology News

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06/05/2008 by swordfish.

Yahoo has penned a deal with McAfee to use its SiteAdvisor software to warn users about potentially dangerous websites.

The new security feature will place a red exclamation mark next to search links McAfee believes are involved with spam, phishing or the spread of malicious software.

SiteAdvisor has been available for some time as a browser plugin, but Yahoo says it has been working for almost a year to integrate the technology into its search results. As part of the integration, sites that are found to be automatically installing malicious code, or attempting to exploit browser vulnerabilities, will be completely dropped from search results.

Source: PC Pro

P.S. The QBS PC Help website has been checked by the McAfee SiteAdvisor and it didn’t find any significant problems!

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02/05/2008 by swordfish.

Following the release of Safari for Windows and Apple’s controversial decision to install it using the iTunes installer, it now seems thatSafari has tripled its market share.

According to Net Applications’ figures, Safari 3.1 took a 0.21% share of the market in its first month, up from the 0.07% of version 3, released a year earlier.

Source: PC Pro

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Posted in Apple, Web Browsers | Print | 1 Comment »