Category: Computers

Online shopping advice

Before going ahead, check exactly what you are buying, and the details for payment, delivery and cancellation.

  • Look for a padlock icon at the bottom of the computer screen or on the right-hand side of the address bar of your browser to make sure you are using a secure website.
  • Check that the company has a geographical address and landline telephone number and note it down.
  • If the item costs more than £100 consider using a credit card for added protection if the goods are faulty or don’t arrive.
  • Keep copies of all e-mails or other paperwork, such as your confirmation order number and delivery dates.

    • Patching serious hole

    Are you aware that there is a dangerous bug in all versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 that puts computer users at risk? Hackers could exploit a vulnerability using Internet Explorer 7, and possibly other programs, and take over a user’s computer for a variety of nefarious purposes, such as stealing passwords or pumping out spam. Well, Microsoft Corp. issued two serious security fixes in a regular monthly update Tuesday as its most urgent “critical” rating. The other fix, which Microsoft gave the second-highest “important” rating, is for computers running versions of Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003. Hackers could exploit the flaw in Microsoft’s program to redirect Internet traffic from legitimate sites to fake ones.

    Yahoo! mobile search expansion in Asia

    I have just deleted my device out of yahoo mobile since I won’t need it that much anymore anyway, for I switched another chip on my phone. But it was really good service from Yahoo! oneSearch™ on mobile, redefining how you use the phone to get info on the go, find just the answers you need with fewer clicks. Yahoo Inc. will provide mobile search services to nine more cell phone operators in Asia, the new partnerships include mobile operators in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The company already has seven partnerships the region, including in South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. The latest deals bring Yahoo’s total worldwide distribution partnerships to 20 mobile operators in 19 countries. Yahoo’s announcements come the week after larger rival Google Inc. said it is developing a free mobile software package that will be available in the second half of next year. Called “Android,” Google’s mobile software is designed to make it easier to use the Web over cell phones and other mobile gadgets.

    The art of a good password

    password protectWe are leaving ourselves open to identity fraud online because of the passwords we use, says a campaign group. Passwords that are easy to remember often means easy to guess and hard to guess often means hard to remember. Problems include using passwords that are easy to guess and using the same one all the time. So what makes a good password? It’s all about having a difficult word and a good system, say experts. Never use a word that is in the dictionary, says Ken Munro, managing director of SecureTest. Online fraudsters have written programs that can try thousands of different passwords and try every word in the dictionary. You can mix upper and lower case and throw in random symbols, like a dollar sign. A good suggestion is to use a phrase you can easily remember. A good password will mix letters, numbers and punctuation, but the strongest contain non-alphanumeric characters or symbols. The longer a password is the harder it is to crack, not the consecutive keys on the keyboard. QWERTY is a regular on lists of most-popular passwords, just look at your keyboard to find out why. The other essential when it comes to protecting your personal details is also having a good user name. People tend to just use their names, which is leaves them vulnerable.

    Technology roundup

    Key iPhone rivals

    Nokia N95
    Sony Ericsson W960
    LG LGKS20
    HTC Touch
    Palm Centro
    Blackberry Pearl
    Samsung Blackjack
    T-Mobile Sidekick Slide

    Nokia’s answer to the iPhone

    N810The world is getting smaller, the competition is getting stiffer. Nokia’s answer to the iPhone: N810. Nokia’s latest handheld Internet access device browses the Web, runs Flash and has GPS. It’ll sell for $479 when it comes out in November. The downside: it has no cellular modem built in, so you have to use Wi-Fi or reach the Net via a Bluetooth link to your phone, that is, the N810 is a pure Internet-only device, relying only on Wi-Fi and cellular Bluetooth to get online.

    $100 laptop’ production

    ‘$100 laptop’ production begins
    Five years after the concept was first proposed, the so-called $100 laptop is poised to go into mass production with the government of Uruguay being the first country to take concrete actions to provide laptops to all its children and teachers ordering some 100,000 of the machines for schoolchildren aged six to 12, and a 300,000 may be purchased to provide a machine for every child in the country by 2009.

    $100 Laptop’s chief software engineer Chris Blizzard on how the innovative memory and screen save energy.

    Google PR

    I see reent updates with Google PageRank today, or maybe yesterday? The result is positive as the PR is increasing, and what other better things than your website has now higher PR? I have read alot about page ranks of bloggers decreasing on the last update, going back point or two and so reduced. I see mine much better today, I wish it will stay better here and there.

    Yahoo to dethrone Google

    It seems Yahoo is enhancing its Internet search service, a continued effort to dethrone Google as the world’s most popular Internet search engine. Yahoo ranks second. Live, which replaced Microsoft’s MSN search service in 2006, has been mired in distant third place. What are the intuitive features? “Search Assist” software figures out what people are looking for based on words entered in queries and provides suggestions intended to help people pinpoint searches. Ain’t that great. Audio, video and pictures available online are displayed on search result pages along with website links, getting people to the best answer in one search so that Internet users will not suffer from “Web search fatigue,” or frustration caused by not being able to easily find what they want online. All no matter the hurdle when it comes to getting Internet users to break habits or switch loyalties regarding search engines.