Intel to go under Complete Restructuring
CEO Paul Otellini
held a companywide
Webcast last week to inform 100,000 Intel employees that a restructuring
and evaluation process was about to take place. No layoffs were
announced. In an effort to overcome its loss of market share amid a
slower-growing overall market, Intel plans to launch its largest product
refresh in years.
"New products based on the Core micro-architecture for power and performance will be launched this summer and refresh the Intel product line in all segments," Otellini said. Intel formally unveiled the new Core Duo processor at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. Acer and Sony have started shipping a few notebooks that feature the dual-core processor, formerly known by its Yonah code name. But Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer, Lenovo and Dell are still waiting to release their Core Duo notebooks, even though they have announced the specifications and pricing.
As you may have gather from previous newsletters, I’m not a big fan of AMD and their line of processors. The company still markets their processors with misleading part numbers that consumers can interpret for the CPU speed. The processors seem to run at a higher temperature which can affect performance and product life.
80% of Home Computers Infected
A recent study funded by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance, found home users mostly unprotected from online threats and largely ignorant of the dangers. Although the study was small, it found that nearly three in five users do not know the difference between a firewall and antivirus software. Desktop firewall software dictates which applications can communicate across the network, while antivirus software detects malicious code that attempts to run on a computer. Two-thirds of the users in the study didn't have a firewall installed, and while 85 percent had installed antivirus software, two-thirds of them had not updated the software in the last week. Eight of 10 users had spyware, the vast majority of them had no idea that their systems had picked up a digital hitchhiker. Spyware can allow unknown intruders steal important personal or financial information from victims' computers, and some allow the attacker to have full control of the systems.
You can perform a variety of on-line security checks by going to the One on One Computer Consultants Home page at: (http://www.1on1cc.com) and clicking on the link to Symantec Security Check. You can perform a Virus Check, Security Check, and/or Trace a Potential Attack on your computer system.
Yahoo sued over alleged pay-per-click fraud
A lawsuit filed this week alleges that Yahoo is charging advertisers for "premium" ads that are displayed on illegal sites that show spyware pop-up ads and typo-squatter sites that appear when a surfer misspells a Web address. The New York Attorney General's Office investigated spyware programs and alleged that Yahoo had placed ads into spyware provided by Intermix and Direct Revenue, the lawsuit notes, although it does not name Intermix and Direct as defendants. Using an example of typo-squatting, the suit said that mistyping Expedia as "expedai.com" displayed a site with ads provided by Yahoo, including an ad for Expedia.
HiJackThis
HijackThis lists the contents of key areas of the
Registry and hard drive-areas that are used by both legitimate
programmers and hijackers. The program is continually updated to detect
and remove new hijacks. It does not target specific programs and URLs,
only the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites. Unless
you're sure about what you're doing, you always should consult with
knowledgeable folks before deleting anything.
Go to: (
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.html
)
SuperFast Shutdown
I do some work with visually impaired people. One
of the obstacles they face with Windows XP is an easy method to shutdown
their computers. With “SuperFast Shutdown” installed, it’s easier for
them to find the desktop icon and safely shutdown their computers.
“SuperFast Shutdown” will lace two icons (SuperFast Shutdown and
SuperFast Reboot) on your desktop. The software is free, but the
manufacturer has the following warning on their web site: Warning:
Superfast Shutdown is extremely powerful! Use at your own risk! Although
it has never been reported, regular usage could possibly cause disk
corruption.
Go to: (
http://www.xp-smoker.com/freeware.html )
Kim Komando
Kim Komando has a
radio program dedicated to computers and their users. Her web site
provides useful information and simple computer tips & tricks for the
average computer user.
Today more than 400 radio stations carry her weekly shows around the
world. Kim also is a syndicated columnist, appearing in over 100
newspapers, including USA Today. She also writes a technology column for
small business on Microsoft's Small Business Web site. In addition, she
publishes four e-mail newsletters that have more than 1.3 million
subscribers, and she is frequently asked to appear on network
television, including CNN.
Go to: (
http://www.komando.com/index.asp )
Missing Manuals
Although the main
purpose of this web site seems to be the sale of manuals not included
with software, it offers some great tips for computer users. Most even
include an audio track that can make it a little easier to understand
the instructions.
Go to: (
http://www.missingmanuals.com/david/tips.html
)
For more computer
Tips & Tricks go to the One on One Computer Consultants Tips Page at:
(
http://www.1on1cc.com/tips.htm )