As open source surges, Microsoft admits Linux threat

As open source surges, Microsoft admits Linux threat: "An IDC study predicts that open source software will grow at a 22.4 percent rate to reach $8.1 billion by 2013, says eWEEK. Meanwhile, in an SEC filing, Microsoft has added Linux vendors Canonical and Red Hat to its list of as rivals,"

Optimizing Vista for SSD disk drives

I learned most of the lessons in this article the hard way. Vista is designed to elegantly use a (relatively) slow hard drive. A solid-state drive (SSD) will rapidly deteriorate in performance without carefully tweaking Vista. So, here's a good tutorial on how to maximize SSD performance for the long-term under Vista. Enjoy!

18 cool things Windows 7 does that Vista doesn't | News | TechRadar UK

"From Windows 3.1 to Windows Vista, the Windows operating system has taken many giant leaps. And while Vista received a lukewarm reception from some users, Windows 7 is likely to be remembered for addressing those criticisms."

Some of these FEATHERS I have found on my own, but others are very cool. I think once people play with Windows 7 they are going to like it very much! I do

AlaskaJoe

Porn collection put people off upgrading to Firefox 3 | PC Pro blog

"Mozilla’s Security team has disclosed a very interesting piece of research which suggests people refused to upgrade to the latest version of Firefox because they were afraid the browser would expose their, ahem, private collection of websites."

So this was part of what whet into version 3.5

AlaskaJoe

Pirate Bay Taken Down for Just Three Hours

Hack In The Box :: Keeping Knowledge Free: "A mere three hours after it went offline the site reappeared from a different location, but because of technical issues at the new ISP a full comeback took almost a day. The site is back online and the tracker is expected to follow soon."

Cybercrooks increasingly target small business accounts

"In an alert to its members earlier this month, NACHA -- the Electronics Payments Association said that attackers are increasingly stealing onine banking credentials, such as user names and paswords, from small businesses by using keystroke logging tools and other malware. The cybercriminals are using the stolen credentials to 'raid' and 'take over' corporate accounts and initiate the unauthorized transfer of funds over electronic payment networks."

This article talks about what the bad guys can do with the information they get when a Trojan gets on your computer.

Last week Earl talked about the 2 stage security he had to go through to log into his Bank of America account. This article is talks about why a lot of financial businesses are changing their security.

AlaskaJoe

The Bumper List of Windows 7 Secrets

This is a blog entry from a gentleman named Tim Sneath. If you've been looking for a list of Windows 7 Secrets, this looks quite good to me.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 08-23-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 08-23-09. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that's 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

New: Dell PowerEdge T105 AMD Dual-Core 2.3GHz Server for $299 + $25 s&h
Dell Small Business has the Dell PowerEdge T105 Athlon 64 X2 2.3GHz Server for $299 plus $25 for shipping. features an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4450B 2.3GHz dual-core processor, 2GB RAM, two 250GB hard drives (500GB total), Serial ATA DVD-ROM drive, and Gigabit Ethernet. An operating system is not included.

New: Dell Inspiron 546 AMD Quad Core 2.4GHz Desktop PC for $429 + free shipping in Piano Black (no monitor) for $429 with free shipping. Features include an AMD Phenom X4 9750 2.4GHz quad-core processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA hard drive, DVD burner, and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

: Refurbished Acer Aspire AMD Dual Core 2.6GHz Desktop PC from $280 + $2 s&h
TigerDirect.com offers the factory-refurbished Acer Aspire X1200-U1510A Athlon X2 2.6GHz Desktop PC, model no. PT.SAR0X.002, for $299.97. Pay via PayPal for $20 cash back, dropping it to $279.99 (You'll get the $20 back in your PayPal account within 6 to 8 weeks.) With $1.99 for shipping, Athlon X2 5000+ 2.6GHz dual-core processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, dual layer DVD burner with DVD-RAM support, memory card reader, HDMI port, and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. A 90-day Acer warranty applies.


Asus ASUS EEE PC 900-BK039XAsus Eee PC 900 16G 8.9inch C-M 900MHz/ 512MB/1GB/ 16GB/ No ODD/ XP Home Notebook Computer (Black) Refurbished item 90 days ASUS direct warranty Read More
Price $159.00Shipping - free ground-1pc only

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) Starting off with my usual environmental link, I decided to use this one, but it comes with a warning. I was looking through my descriptive word list trying to find a way to introduce this without turning everyone off. Depressing, alarming, scary, came to mind I settled on referring to it as a reality check. A reasonable explanation of how and why we as a species, at least as we know ourselves, will most likely die out in the next 30-50 years, I am being optimistic they say 2025. They are in my opinion exactly right, to quote Pogo we have met the enemy, and he is us. http://www.newscientist.com
2) Trying to lighten things up a little, I ran across this and was very impressed as it would solve one of my lifelong frustrations. Have you ever noticed when you pour a cup of coffee you are lucky to get two maybe three sips at the perfect temperature. When you first pour it is to hot, if you are lucky after two or three to hot sips, come those two or three perfect ones. That is providing what ever you are doing does not distract you for say 10 min. and now it is to cold, so you add some more of the to hot trying to guess the correct amount to add, then start all over again. This disruption to your sanity has been solved check out what I would like to get for Christmas, hint, hint. http://gizmodo.com
3) Here is another new item hitting the market soon, or at least I hope it does as I would like one, well at least that adventurous side of me would like one. The practical side might win out in the end, but I would sure like to try one. Anyway think unicycle, Segway, blender. I think you get the idea, very cool link here complete with video. http://gizmodo.com
4) I have to admit it when it comes to sitting at the computer surfing the net it is always the videos that catch my eye, and since I like science and tech this link is a natural the best science visualization videos of the year. The link says categories energy and tech, I as yet have not had time to investigate to see if there are more categories at the site, but I will be back http://www.wired.com

5) For my geek offering this week a story I ran across about the advancement of roll-up displays. This was not a new idea to me I had seen speculation about the concept quite awhile ago, but then I also saw articles about the space elevator. Looks like there may have been a breakthrough on this one. http://news.cnet.com