China delays rule for Net-screening software

Friendly Computers read that the Chinese government is is delaying the enforcement of internet filtering software. Read below for more details:

 

China has indefinitely delayed enforcement of a requirement that PC makers preinstall Green Dam-Youth Escort software that experts believe would have screened not just Internet pornography but also some online political content.

Green Dam allows users to specify categories of sites to block.

(Credit: University of Michigan)

The reprieve, announced by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, according to reports in The New York Times and the Associated Press, came just one day before the preinstallation rule was to go into effect.

But thus far the reprieve appears temporary: the ministry said the delay will give computer makers more time to comply with the rule, and the government also will continue to equip school and cybercafe computers with the software, according to the New York Times report.

Experts have warned that the Green Dam software poses security risks, and last week, the U.S. Trade Representative protested that Green Dam violates World Trade Organization rules

PC makers had been cagey about their plans to comply with the rule to install the software. Technical and other objections must be weighed against business concerns, and China is a large and growing market. Companies that deal directly with Internet content have been in the hot seat for years, and Google has had to wrestle with new Chinese censorship requirements this month.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10275778-38.html?tag=mncol;title

Microsoft's free security beta fills up

Friendly Computers read that Microsoft has already met their quota on free beta security downloads. Read below to find out more:

Well, that didn't take long.

A day after making available a free beta of its Microsoft Security Essentials software, Microsoft has stopped offering new downloads, saying it has reached the number of participants it was looking for, at least here in the U.S. The software maker had said it was only looking to initially have about 75,000 downloads of the product, formerly code-named Morro.

"Thank you for your interest in joining the Microsoft Security Essentials Beta. We are not accepting additional participants at this time," Microsoft said in a posting on its Web site. "Please check back at later a date for possible additional availability."

Microsoft Security Essentials is the free product that Microsoft promised it would create last year, at the same time the software maker said it was discontinuing its paid Windows Live OneCare product.

The program hits the antivirus basics, including built-in and customizable scan options, a scheduler, automatic definition file updates, a real-time defense shield, and rootkit protection. It's also similar to other free products on the market, such as those from AVG and Antivir.

Download.com's Seth Rosenblatt contributed to this report.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/security/?tag=hdr;snav

Finjan offers free SecureTwitter browser plug-in

 

Most people use social networking sites such as Twitter and Myspace and worry about their account security. Keeping our computers protected is one of the most important things when doing anything online. Friendly Computers found out that there is a new plug in which will scan links and notify you of any potential threats associated with that link for Twitter. Read below for more information:

Finally, there's a tool that can help prevent people from clicking on URLs that appear to come from friends on Twitter and other social media sites but which lead to sites hosting malware.

Web security firm Finjan began offering this week a free browser plug-in dubbed SecureTwitter that warns users when they encounter a malicious URL in Twitter, as well as in Gmail, Blogger, MSN, social networks MySpace and Bebo, news aggregators Digg and Slashdot, and the Google and Yahoo search sites.

SecureTwitter scans the Web pages that the URLs lead to in real time to analyze the code, as opposed to querying a database of blacklisted URLs, as other safe Web browsing services do, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at Finjan, said on Thursday.

Green checkmark icons appear next to URLs that are deemed safe and red "X"s for URLs to sites with code that could be a virus, a Trojan, or other malicious program. Yellow question mark icons appear next to URLs that lead to a page that was not available for scanning by SecureTwitter for some reason.

SecureTwitter appears to be the first safe browsing service that scans URLs within applications and not just in search results or browser address bars.

In a quick test of the service I didn't find any warnings for malicious URLs on the various sites, but it did put a yellow question mark next to URLs that appeared at the top of my Gmail page that linked to legitimate CNN articles, for some reason.

I would love to have SecureTwitter warn me about URLs in Facebook, but Facebook requires people to log in to see profiles on the site, which means the company would need people's passwords to access those pages. Since the other sites do not, Finjan could easily scan the URLs on those sites without needing access to private information like log-in credentials, so that's where the company decided to focus their efforts, Ben-Itzhak said.

The service would have protected followers of venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, whose Twitter feed automatically re-distributed a malicious URL from an un-moderated section of a user-generated news site earlier this week.

It also would protect people against the kind of worm attacks that hit Twitter in April in which people who clicked on the name or image of someone whose account had been compromised by the worm got infected and re-broadcast the malicious message.

And SecureTwitter could protect Twitter users against a clickjacking attack, which also hit the site this year. In these attacks, clicks are basically hijacked and users forced to do things they don't intend to, such as redistribute malicious Twitter updates.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/security/?tag=hdr;snav

Guarding against computer viruses

 

Here at Friendly Computers we post a lot about computer viruses. We sometimes forget that not everyone knows exactly what a computer virus is or how they work. Below is an article that helps explain what computer viruses are and how to protect yourself from them:

It has been about 26 years since the creation of the first computer virus. Today, the number of viruses has increased to over 250,000, and each one has the potential to damage your computer and your business — damage that ranges from bothersome to devastating — and can be very costly.
Companies are hit on average with 113 virus infections every month for every 1,000 PCs they own, according to an ICSA Labs survey.
According to a 2006 FBI report on computer viruses, “dealing with viruses, spyware, PC theft and other computer-related crimes costs U.S. businesses a staggering $67.2 billion a year.” Every business, large or small, needs to protect against computer viruses. If you download files from the Internet or share files with outsiders, you stand a chance of getting a computer virus.
How does a business guard against this threat? First, it’s helpful to understand what a computer virus is. A good definition is offered by Amer Neely in “Virus Protection Rx for Your PC”: A virus is a program that attaches itself to other programs and/or disks and makes copies of itself whenever it can. It is vandalism by computer. Most viruses cause damage, either by design or accident; others merely become a nuisance by putting messages on your screen.
The important thing to remember is that someone wrote the program on purpose. Viruses do not appear out of thin air or by accident. In all cases, you will have to scan your hard disk and all your external disks and remove the culprit.
Viruses attach themselves to other files that are “executable.” This means any file that can be loaded into your computer’s memory and “run.” Files ending in .exe, .com, .sys, .dll and .ovr are some common PC extensions for executable files. Image files (.jpg; .gif) are not good hosts for a virus, since they are not executable. Audio files and video files are other “safe” types. A compressed file, such as .zip, by itself is not dangerous, but it may contain an executable file, which carries a virus. If this file is extracted and run, the virus will infect your system.

Basic virus protection

Some common symptoms that could indicate your system is “infected” by a virus are:
• Unusual messages or displays on your monitor
• Unusual sounds or music played at random times
• A changed file name
• Missing programs or files
• The creation of unknown programs or files
• Files that become corrupted or suddenly stop working properly
• E-mails sent out to people on your mailing list or contact list without your knowledge
Don’t wait until you have these symptoms to take action. The consequences could be alarming. Here are some basic tips that you can use immediately to start the fight against harmful computer viruses:
• Keep up to date with critical software patches. The most damaging viruses in recent years have all been spread through software vulnerabilities that were patched at least months, and often years, before the virus was unleashed.
• Don’t open attachments that you did not expect to receive, especially if the person has not signed his or her name inside the message — and do not forward them.
• Delete all messages from unknown origins without reading them.
• Buy a virus protection program and keep it up to date. New viruses are detected and created daily and you must continue to update this software. Download the anti-virus update on a weekly basis.
• Use the latest versions of Web browsers. Virus writers are ingenious in a twisted way. They are always coming up with new attacks, oftentimes exploiting weaknesses in commonly used software. Software developers play a cat-and-mouse game, constantly trying to patch the holes with software upgrades and service releases.
• Set your security settings on “medium” or “high” for your e-mail reader and browser.
• Make sure you enforce a rigid backup schedule. If all of the above methods fail you and your data is gone, you must have a backup to save the day.
Keep in mind that these suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to protecting your business from the serious threat of computer viruses. Virus protection should be an integral part of IT planning. Since it can be very complex, it should be handled by knowledgeable, highly trained IT professionals.

Source: http://nhbr.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090619/INDUSTRY06/306199998/-1/INDUSTRY

Fujitsu to Offer Windows 7 Upgrades but Not for Free

 

Many computer manufacturers will be offering upgrade coupons with new computers running Vista so that they can be upgraded when Windows 7 is released. Friendly Computers found out that there will most likely be a charge for the voucher. Read below for all the details:

Fujitsu will charge for Windows 7 upgrade vouchers when it begins offering them shortly to people that buy a PC ahead of the operating system's October 22 launch.

Many PC vendors will offer the vouchers, in the hope that customers won't put off planned PC purchases until Windows 7 ships. A similar program was offered for Windows Vista, while Apple has also offered free OS upgrades to some of its customers.

Fujitsu said it will launch its program before the end of June, probably this Friday. Microsoft has scheduled a news conference in Tokyo on that day.

The company is one of Japan's biggest PC vendors and also has a sizable business in Europe. Several other PC makers around the world have also confirmed they will take part in the voucher program, including Hewlett-Packard and Taiwan's Acer, Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology, Micro-Star International (MSI), and Shuttle.

The companies are levying a charge on users because they have to pay Microsoft to include upgrade coupons with PCs. The coupons will cost the PC makers between US$9 and $15 to include with PCs although end-users will likely be charged a higher price, one Taiwanese company said.

The PC industry needs all the help it can get right now.

Global PC shipments dropped by a record amount in the first quarter of this year. Total shipments were 66.5 million units, down 8.1 percent on the same period in 2008, said iSuppli last week. The fall was entirely in the desktop segment, which saw shipments drop 23 percent versus a 10 percent increase in the laptop segment.

 

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/167087/fujitsu_to_offer_windows_7_upgrades_but_not_for_free.html

Microsoft pushes XP downgrade availability to 2011

Despite numerous attempts to steer people away from Windows XP and toward Windows Vista (and soon Windows 7), Friendly Computers just discovered that Microsoft is once again extending the life of XP by allowing those who purchase a new machine to downgrade to Windows XP until 2011. Read more below…

Following sharp criticism from analysts, Microsoft has quickly backed away from its previous announcement that placed a six-month limit on XP downgrades after the release of Windows 7. Michael Silver of Gartner earlier in the week described the limitation as potentially causing a "real mess," as the software maker typically provides a wider time frame for enterprises to transition between operating systems.

Many business with large-scale XP deployments might not be ready to switch to Windows 7 until late in 2010. Six months of downgrade availability following the October launch window would force the companies to be ready by April.
Silver argues that any systems requiring XP, but acquired after the deadline, would need to be purchased with Vista Ultimate or Vista Business for downgrade rights. To transition directly to Windows 7 the companies would need to purchase additional upgrade licenses.
In response to the criticism, Microsoft has extended the time-frame to 18 months or "until the release of a Windows 7 service pack, whichever is sooner," according to Computerworld. Despite the slight policy adjustment, businesses will be in the same situation if Microsoft manages to slip an SP1 update in the first shortly after the OS launches.

Source: http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/19/xp.downgrades.to.2011/

Four things Windows 7 can learn from Mac OS X

 

The talk about Windows 7 is that it is suppose to be the best Windows operating system yet. Friendly Computers found this article which touches on some improvements Microsoft should make:

Windows 7 is clearly Microsoft's best operating system yet. But it's far from perfect. Here are four ways Microsoft can improve it by "borrowing" features from Mac OS X.

Use Expose for window handling

Windows 7 introduces some nifty new window handling features, such as Aero Peek, but it doesn't go nearly far enough. It should borrow from Mac OS X's Expose, which lets you do things like see all of your open windows neatly displayed with a single keystroke, display open windows as thumbnails, and so on. It's more than just eye candy --- it improves productivity as well.

Replace the Control Panel with System Preferences

The Mac's System Preferences feature is a model of simplicity. It organizes all of the operating system's features into a handful of icons, organized by category, that gives you easy access to customization. The Control Panel is a far messier piece of work. Windows 7 should simplify the way you customize it and use an organizational tool like the Mac OS X's System Preferences in place of the Control Panel.

Ship better built-in applications

Mac OS X ships with some very good applications that would be worth buying on their own right, such as iPhoto, iMovie, and iWeb. Microsoft is moving in the exact opposite direction with Windows 7 --- it's stripping out most applications, so that even Windows Mail won't be part of the operating system any longer. That's the wrong direction. Microsoft should instead beef up the applications that come as part of Windows.

Use Mouse Gestures

Windows 7 will have some touch-enabled features, including rudimentary touchpad gestures. But it should go whole hog and use far more. On my Macbook Air, for example, I can scroll through documents, right-click, go forward and backward in my browser and more without lifting my hands from the touchpad. I'd like to be able to do the same thing in Windows 7.

Source: http://blogs.computerworld.com/four_things_windows_7_can_learn_from_mac_os_x

Windows 7 Will Give Netbooks the Magic Touch

 

Friendly Computers wants you to know that versions Windows 7  will have touch screen capability. This will be a very useful feature for netbooks, which have limited space and screen sizes. Check it out below:

While current netbooks are already rapidly capturing the attention and credit cards of savvy travelers, the addition of multi-touch support in Windows 7 could be the spark that sets off a firestorm of netbook purchases later this year.

Touch is one of the most exciting, yet least discussed features of Windows 7. Although most people associate multi-touch features with Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch products, the idea has existed for years and Microsoft conceptualized multi-touch for the Microsoft Surface tabletop computer as far back as 2001. If you use an iPhone, then you already know how to use multi-touch. If you already own a netbook, you’ll want to hock it on Craigslist when the Windows 7 netbooks featuring multi-touch displays hit the market.

While most computers can benefit from the use of this technology, netbooks are a special case. First of all, their tiny keyboards and touchpads beg for a heavy dose of human-interface assistance. Additionally, the limited real estate afforded by their small screens is an obvious candidate for pinch-style zooming and for scrolling with a simple and intuitive flick of the finger.

The cost of adding capacitive touch-screen functionality to diminutive screens will be much less than with laptop and desktop monitors with their relatively large surfaces. The Touch feature set is only available with Windows 7 Home Premium and higher Windows editions, which adds to the overall cost; however people buy netbooks as much for portability as for price. People purchasing based on size and features and will be willing to spend the extra $100 or so for significantly improved usability

A few touch-screen netbooks already exist, for example Dell’s education-focused Latitude 2100 is available with an optional touch screen. Also on the market are the relatively pricy Gigabyte Touchnote series of tablet-style convertible touch-screen netbooks. While these single-touch computers can be useful for a number of things, to really take advantage of the new Windows 7 features, you’ll need one that can recognize the input from multiple fingers, not just one. Capacitive multi-touch LCD panels are currently being manufactured in quantity, and I expect to see netbooks with them launched on the same day as Windows 7

Some netbooks, like the Lenovo S10, feature a multi-touch trackpad as an upgrade option. This is a great feature, but touching the actual image you’re manipulating is vastly more intuitive on a small device.

Touch-enabled netbooks will likely have massive appeal for business users. Much like the iPhone allowed users to competently navigate non-mobile optimized Web sites on a 3.5-inch display; multi-touch netbooks will enable business users to organically and quickly navigate spreadsheets and word-processing documents on 8.9- to10.2-inch displays. People will be able to zoom in and tap on a cell to modify a formula much more quickly and with less frustration than they can with a shrunken keyboard and touchpad. The laptop can now stay its docking station while the netbook travels comfortably inside a briefcase.

 

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/166726/windows_7_will_give_netbooks_the_magic_touch.html

MySpace slashes head count by 30 percent

 

The social networking giant Myspace has announced that they have cut nearly 500 jobs. Friendly Computers found out more information below:

Amid economic woes, stagnant growth, and a management shakeup, onetime social-networking pioneer MySpace has announced that it has cut its head count by slightly under 30 percent in what the company calls a "return to start-up culture." Well, that's a nice way to put it.

Reports had circulated that MySpace would be laying off nearly half its employees in a move that had delayed its relocation to a bigger office space in the Los Angeles area. With the layoffs, MySpace's full-time U.S. employee roster will be down to 1,000 people--which means somewhere just south of 500 jobs were cut.

MySpace said that the layoffs are evenly distributed across all U.S. divisions of the company. Since MySpace also operates a number of offices overseas, it's not yet clear how they were affected (if at all), and representatives declined comment as to whether international offices would be affected down the road. CNET News has heard rumors that there may be consolidation in some of MySpace's European offices, something that the company did late last year when it merged its Amsterdam and Berlin offices.

"Today the domestic restructure is the only info we can share," a MySpace representative said in a phone call Tuesday.

Owen Van Natta, CEO of the News Corp.-owned social site, said in a release: "Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company. I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on our user and our product."

Van Natta, the former chief operating officer at Facebook, was hired as CEO of MySpace late in April after a short stint at the head of start-up Project Playlist. Former CEO Chris DeWolfe had stepped down earlier that month, reportedly at the behest of Jonathan Miller, the new digital czar at News Corp. Executive shakeups at MySpace had been happening sporadically for nearly a year at that point.

MySpace's new executive lineup gives it solid entertainment street cred: Van Natta was joined by former MTV digital exec Jason Hirschhorn and former AOLer Michael Jones. Late last year, another MTV digital-media executive, Courtney Holt, joined MySpace as the head of its new MySpace Music division.

A source with knowledge of the situation said that senior management was spared Tuesday's cuts.

Launching MySpace Music, which focuses on free streaming music supported by advertising, was a return to the company's roots: once a hub for indie band promotion and community, MySpace had grown massive before Facebook began to catch up to it in international and then U.S. traffic. Partnerships with the likes of Google and a prominent endorsement of the OpenSocial developer initiative didn't help it regain traction as a networking destination.

Holt told CNET News in March that MySpace Music's traffic was "huge." But record label executives--who are partners in the MySpace Music joint venture--reported dissatisfaction with the revenue it was generating.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10265566-36.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

More tips on boosting computer performance

 

Friendly Computers found more tips on how to keep your computer running smooth. Check them out below:

This is going to sound crazy - and it is, but it works. You can get a big performance increase by wiping out your Windows and reinstalling it from scratch.

That's the tip of the week. But for those of us who have tons of applications on our computer and tons of data that we don't want to lose, we can do one or all of the following.

If your computer is slow to start up, then you want to examine what is starting up and remove some of those programs from the startup. For example, many printers put in little applications that check ink levels and scanner settings. You may not even have that printer anymore, yet there is a startup program.

Another thing that happens is that your registry gets bloated. There are some good registry cleaners that will reduce the size of the registry by getting rid of entries in programs or drivers that are no longer part of the system. CCleaner (www.ccleane r. com) is one tool you can use.

You should also clean out your deleted items, both in your recycle bin and in your e-mail's deleted items. This will increase your disk space and decrease the number of files that have to be looked at by the operating system.

It's also a good idea to go through your music, pictures and documents to make sure you only keep what you really want. Are you really going to ever listen to that old album from the '20s? But I digress.

Another way to speed up your computer is by running a "defrag." There's a program under the maintenance or system tools that will defragment your hard drive.

This puts the files in order on the drive to speed the disk access. It makes a difference for program files to be contiguous on the hard drive when they start up.

Also, some smart defragmenters will put the most-often used programs in the middle of the drive, so it takes the read heads less time to go to the beginning of the program. One program you can download is Defraggler (www.defraggler.com).

Finally, as we talked about last week, adding more memory to your system will increase your computer's performance. In some instances, it can increase by 200 percent the speed of your applications. Of course, if you have enough memory now and add more, it won't get you any speed benefits.

For Windows XP and Windows XP Home, you don't need more than three gigabytes. For the new 64-bit Windows XP or 64-bit Windows Vista, the more memory, the better. We recommend 8 gigabytes.

The new Windows 7 is coming out later this year. There are developer editions that are being tested and it looks like an early winner. I will do some digging, but I'm hopeful that it isn't just the next version of Vista.

 

Source: http://www.southtownstar.com/business/harmening/1619864,061409harmeningcol.article

Windows 7 Upgrade Programs Will Start Soon, Vary by Vendor

Some PC retailers will be offering upgrade coupons for Windows 7 soon. They hope that by doing this more people will continue to purchase computers and no wait for the release of Windows 7 in the fall. Friendly Computers thinks you may be able to use this information:

Some PC vendors and sellers will begin a coupon program on June 26 to entitle people who buy premium versions of Microsoft Windows Vista to upgrade to the new Windows 7 operating system when it arrives later this year, but the upgrade offers may not be free. Offers will vary by vendor and retailer.

Three Taiwanese PC makers plan to provide a coupon for a free Windows 7 upgrade to anyone who buys a new desktop or laptop PC loaded with Vista Home Premium, Vista Ultimate or Vista Business between June 26 and the time Windows 7 launches globally on Oct. 22, according to executives from the companies. They requested not to be named in this story for fear of harming their business relationship with Microsoft, because the software giant has not yet announced the timing of its Windows Upgrade Option (WUO) program.

PC vendors will have to pay between US$9 and US$15 per PC to include an upgrade coupon with a new computer, said an executive at one Taiwanese PC maker. People will use information on the coupon to download a copy of Windows 7 from a Microsoft Web site once the software is on sale, he said, and Microsoft will also send the holder a copy of the operating system on a disc.

Another executive said the upgrade coupons will be good from June 26 through Jan. 31, 2010 and are meant to encourage people to buy new PCs ahead of the Oct. 22 launch date for Windows 7.

PC makers fear consumers and businesses may put off buying a new desktop or laptop until Windows 7 formally launches in October, causing a downturn for PC sales this summer. The upgrade program is aimed at keeping PC sales steady over the time.

Microsoft has not announced a date for when its Windows Upgrade Option program will begin, said Amelia Agrawal, director of public relations at Microsoft Asia Pacific, in Singapore. However, she pointed out that the upgrade offers will vary by PC manufacturer and retailer.

A Taiwanese executive also said he feared the upgrade program will hurt sales of netbooks because they come with Windows XP instead of Vista. Netbooks are among the hottest sellers this year for PC makers due to their small size, long battery life and low-cost. But XP users will not be offered an upgrade coupon.

Information from the Taiwanese executives matched most of the information in a memo from U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy, leaked last week.

Several companies in Taiwan plan to offer Windows 7 upgrade programs, including Acer, Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology, Micro-Star International (MSI), and Shuttle.

Hewlett-Packard will participate in the Windows Upgrade Option program but won't disclose details until Microsoft formally announces the start date, said Ann Finnie, public relations manager in HP's personal systems group, in an e-mail.

Chinese PC maker Tsinghua Tongfang will not offer upgrade coupons since few of its machines offer eligible versions of Windows Vista, a company representative said. She said she did not know the launch date of the program.

 

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/166563/windows_7_upgrade_programs_will_start_soon_vary_by_vendor.html

Should "Standard User" be the default in Windows 7?

 

Windows 7 user accounts may have a flaw that may run scripts in the background under admin settings. Friendly Computers thinks this may be helpful to you:

It seems clear to me that combining an Admin accounts with Windows 7’s “low nag” User Account Control (UAC) setting is a bad idea. Problem is, Admin accounts and “low nag” UAC settings will be the default for millions of people buying Windows 7-based PCs.

The problem with systems running with these two settings is that it’s possible to use a code-injection vulnerability to silently run code or other applications with administrative privileges behind the user’s back. Even Windows super-guru Mark Russinovich acknowledges that a problem exists:

Several people have observed that it’s possible for third-party software running in a PA account with standard user rights to take advantage of auto-elevation to gain administrative rights. For example, the software can use the WriteProcessMemory API to inject code into Explorer and the CreateRemoteThread API to execute that code, a technique called DLL injection. Since the code is executing in Explorer, which is a Windows executable, it can leverage the COM objects that auto-elevate, like the Copy/Move/Rename/Delete/Link Object, to modify system registry keys or directories and give the software administrative rights. While true, these steps require deliberate intent, aren’t trivial, and therefore are not something we believe legitimate developers would opt for versus fixing their software to run with standard user rights. In fact, we recommend against any application developer taking a dependency on the elevation behavior in the system and that application developers test their software running in standard user mode.

The follow-up observation is that malware could gain administrative rights using the same techniques. Again, this is true, but as I pointed out earlier, malware can compromise the system via prompted elevations as well. From the perspective of malware, Windows 7’s default mode is no more or less secure than the Always Notify mode (”Vista mode”), and malware that assumes administrative rights will still break when run in Windows 7’s default mode.

So, a problem exists, and not only is it something that malware authors could use but we could even see software developers using the trick to make their product less naggy than the competition. The solution is to change default settings, something that most people out there in Computer Land won’t even know is possible.

Another flaw is to assume that just because someone is running Admin account, they would accept all prompts thrown their way anyway. The problem with this is that the current settings allow a behind-the-scenes code injection to stealthily mess around with a system.

It seems to me that Microsoft has backed itself into a corner. It tried to make UAC less naggy, but by doing so introduced some serious vulnerabilities. The only advice it can offer to counter these vulnerabilities is that users should change default settings. Why not just make these more secure settings the default? Because it would break stuff. Like I said, Microsoft is backed into a corner.

My view is that Microsoft should make Standard user the default user on systems. Sure, it would break some stuff, but eventually something has to change because the current situation can’t last forever. It’s clear that Admin accounts are a security vulnerability in the hands of those who don’t understand what it means to be running Admin accounts.

 

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4627

Windows 7: Shaping up quite nicely

 

Friendly Computers found out some more information about the highly anticipated new Windows 7. See what we found out below:

 

It's official: Windows 7 is practically done. The code paths are being frozen as we speak, and the final bits should be arriving on Oct. 22, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Of course, savvy users will have Windows 7 well before that date (think mid-July). The myriad torrent sites will see to it that anyone who wants to will be able to run the RTM (release to manufacturing) bits this summer; whether or not they'll be able to activate them in the absence of an RTM product key is another matter.

In almost every sense, Windows 7 is finished. Whatever happens between now and the RTM a few short weeks from now will be entirely cosmetic -- some tweaked branding here, a bug fix or compatibility shim there. So, given my extensive history with the product, starting with the much-maligned PDC build and running through the latest leaked builds, I thought it time to revisit the OS in light of my nearly seven months of continuous use.

Here, in a nutshell, is what I think of Windows 7:

Usability: Much has changed since build 6801. Back at PDC, Microsoft had still not enabled the the full range of Windows 7 UI revisions. For example, the new Task Bar was MIA, as were many of the Windows 7-specific Aero goodies. And although some clever users were able to work around these limitations -- by hacking the build to allow these still unfinished features to be accessed -- the net result was uneven at best.

Fast-forward to today and the new Task Bar now feels like an old friend. Most of the more glaring kinks have been worked out, and -- as of build 7137, anyway -- it is as reliable and predictable as the old Task Bar. Likewise, the myriad Aero features. In fact, when using these latter builds taken from the Windows 7 RTM branch, it's very easy to forget you're running a pre-release OS. Add to this the fact that the new UI represents a leap forward in usability (even the Mac fanatics are giving it some begruding respect), and it's hard to imagine anyone sticking with Vista once Windows 7 ships.

Compatibility: After some well-documented stumbles with the early pre-beta builds, Microsoft has done a good job of cleaning up Windows 7's compatibility story. Nearly all of my critical tools run reliably on build 7137, and the popularity of the public beta release has prompted many developers to rush any required fixes to market. The result is an end-user landscape that looks a lot more hospitable than the one that Windows Vista walked into nearly three years ago.

Then there is the matter of Virtual Windows XP Mode. I made my opinion clear a few weeks back when I declared it to be a kludge solution. And recent experience has shown just how confusing and frustrating this feature can be. This past weekend I picked up a new PC at Costco with plans to use it as a temporary development system while in the United States (I work overseas normally). The HP system has a quad-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 640GB hard disk. Yet it cannot run Virtual XP Mode due to the software's requirement that the CPU support Intel's VT extensions (which this chip inexplicably does not).

Place the blame where you like -- with Intel for creating too many SKUs with brain-dead feature sets, or with Microsoft for tying its solution to a technology that is far from ubiquitous -- but the fact remains that this otherwise uber-powerful system can't run a simple Virtual PC session. Go figure.

Performance: Windows 7 is faster than Windows Vista ... but not by much. My own testing shows that these latter builds are, at best, 3 to 5 percent faster than Vista SP2 on linear tasks, like the OfficeBench test script. And Windows 7 is still a good 20 to 15 percent slower than Windows XP, although multicore systems help to mitigate this advantage somewhat.

However, Windows 7 defintely feels more responsive than Windows Vista, especially on low-end hardware. I've been running Build 7137 for weeks now on a lowly HP Mini 2140 netbook, and I can say with confidence that it works well. I rarely find myself complaining about the performance of the OS -- this, thanks to improvements in background service behavior and a more intelligent kernel scheduler.

Overall, Windows 7 is shaping up quite nicely. Will it succeed in wooing the masses away from Windows XP? Probably ... eventually. But in the meantime, it allows Microsoft to close the door on the ugly, half-baked Vista era. And as a long-suffering Vista user, I say it can't happen soon enough.

 

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/windows-7-shaping-quite-nicely-617?page=0,1

Browser security and privacy tips

Everyone wants to be safe online. Friendly Computers found these informative tips that may help you stay secure:

Microsoft has made great strides in educating Windows users about the need to keep their systems secure by downloading and installing the most recent updates. (I still recommend that you set Windows' Automatic Updates to download but don't install, as I described in a blog post from last July.)

The irony of the heightened awareness of Windows updates is that malware is less likely to target vulnerabilities in Windows--or other PC operating systems, for that matter. These days, most viruses and Trojans use holes in your browsers, media players, or Web applications to breach your system's security. That's why it's imperative to keep these programs up-to-date, which is a subject I covered in a post from last April.

Google pushes updates to its Chrome browser automatically--without bothering to let you know about it (the current version is 2.0.172.30). You may think I'm a hypocrite for preventing Microsoft from loading its updates automatically and applauding Google for doing the same thing with its browser. Here's the difference: if a Chrome update causes the program to malfunction, I can simply use another browser, but if a Windows update screws up, my entire system's hosed until I fix it.

If you want to use Chrome to browse without leaving any tracks on your system, press Ctrl-Shift-N to open a new browser window in Chrome's incognito mode. The sites you visit subsequently will not appear in your browser history nor will terms you search for stay in your search history. You won't pick up any new cookies, either.

You'll find plenty of add-ons in the Privacy & Security section of the Firefox Add-ons page that give Firefox a similar stealth mode. You can also choose Tools > Clear Private Data to wipe your tracks in Firefox, but this setting erases all your history in the various categories. Chrome's incognito mode lets you retain the history you want and delete the history you don't want.

Google's Chrome browser lets you surf without leaving tracks on your system via its incognito mode.

(Credit: Google)

I've been spending a lot more time browsing with Chrome lately, and not just because of its incognito mode. Chrome seems faster to me than Firefox or Internet Explorer, and I'm getting used to Chrome's streamlined interface. Firefox remains my default browser, however. The one Firefox security add-on I won't browse without is InformAction's NoScript (donationware), which lets you block JavaScript, Flash, and other scripts on a site-by-site and source-by-source basis.

The best way to enhance your privacy while using Firefox is to set the browser to delete cookies each time you close the program. To do so, click Tools > Options > Privacy, select "Always clear my private data when I close Firefox," and click OK.

Check "Always clear my private data when I close Firefox" in the browser's Privacy settings to maintain your Web privacy.

(Credit: Mozilla Foundation)

So what about Internet Explorer? IE 8 is said to be more secure than IE 7, which in turn was said to be more secure than IE 6. Two facts remain: Internet Explorer uses ActiveX, which in my opinion is inherently insecure; and IE 8's security options are way too complicated. What do those slider controls mean, really? (Press Alt, click Tools > Internet Options, and choose either the Security or Privacy tab to see what I mean.)

Bonus tip: Encrypt Gmail
I've been using Gmail as my primary e-mail service for several years, but it wasn't until a couple of months ago that I started encrypting my Gmail correspondences. (In fact, encryption wasn't available in Gmail until a couple of months ago.) To use encryption in Gmail, click Settings in the top-right corner of the main window, scroll to the bottom of the General tab, select "Always use https," and click Save Changes. Note that this setting prevents the iGoogle Gmail widget from working, but that's a small price to pay for the added security.

Web privacy resources
For more information on the privacy options in Google services, visit the Google Privacy Center. Along with an FAQ and overview, you'll find privacy videos and specific privacy options for YouTube, Orkut, Blogger, Docs, and other Google services.

The SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center offers a daily Internet threat level (green, the last time I checked) as well as information on the sources of recent Internet-based attacks and extensive links to other Internet security sources.

For a soup-to-nuts look at browser security, read the United States Computer Emergency Response Team's article Securing Your Web Browser. The information was last updated more than a year ago but remains relevant. Some of US-CERT's browser-setting recommendations are overkill for regular, everyday browsing, so take the advice with the proverbial grain of salt.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-10258993-68.html

10 reasons Vista haters will love Windows 7

Many of the annoyances from Visa have supposedly been corrected in the new Windows 7 operating system. Friendly Computers found this list which explains some of the features that are making this the “Vista Perfected” operating system:

Many of my friends and readers adamantly refused to make the switch to Windows Vista when it came out. Some who bought new machines with Vista installed immediately “downgraded” the OS. A few proclaimed that they would give up XP only when you pried it from their cold, dead hands. But even in the last category, many of them are impressed with what they’ve seen in the Windows 7 beta.

While some tech pundits are saying 7 isn’t really all that different from Vista — and indeed, one of the attractions for Vista users is that 7 can generally use the same drivers and run the same apps as Vista — the consensus among anti-Vista folks I know who’ve tried the 7 beta seems to be that the new operating system is “Vista done right.”

Here’s why I think you’ll see many of the XP diehards happily embracing Windows 7 when it’s released.

 

1: UAC has mellowed out

User Account Control in Vista is like living with an overprotective mother — when you’re 30. It’s constantly popping up to warn you of impending danger, even when you’re just trying to take a look at Device Manager or perform some other innocent task. It hovers over you and nags you constantly: “Are you sure you want to do that?” Like Mom, UAC has our best interests in mind, but it can drive you nuts in the name of “security” — especially when you consider that it doesn’t really define a security boundary. (For more on that, see Mark Russinovich’s TechNet Magazine article “Inside Windows Vista User Account Control.”

Windows 7 doesn’t do away with UAC, but it does give users options regarding its behavior. By reducing the number of unnecessary and redundant UAC dialogs, making the prompts more informative, and providing users with more control over UAC, Windows 7 maintains many of the benefits of the feature without intruding on users’ computing lives so much that they turn the whole thing off in frustration.

2: Explorer is no longer a pane in the behind

In a misguided attempt to alleviate the need for horizontal scrolling, Vista made the left navigation pane in Windows Explorer a constantly moving target. As you move your mouse, it will automatically scroll back and forth. My husband calls this auto-scrolling feature the “whack a mole” phenomenon because of the way the contents of the pane seem to dodge back and forth.

You can avoid the auto-scrolling by dragging the pane to make it wide enough to accommodate the entire tree, but that isn’t a good option on a small screen, such as the one on my compact VAIO notebook.

In Windows 7, the navigation pane stays still, so you no longer risk getting seasick from all the swaying back and forth.

3: Graphics cards coexist peacefully once more

In XP, we could use pretty much whatever graphics cards we wanted for multiple monitors. I had a machine with three cards installed: an NVidia, an ATI, and a Matrox. XP would stretch my desktop across all three monitors attached to those cards. When I upgraded that machine to Vista, I found that I no longer had multiple monitors. Some research revealed that to use multiple graphics cards, they would have to all use the same driver. That meant I couldn’t use cards from different vendors together. I had to shell out a few bucks to get more ATI cards before I could use all my monitors again.

According to reports, Windows 7 has added support for multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors. Now this probably doesn’t mean you can combine ATI and NVIDIA cards in an SLI-configuration, but it sounds as if we can have our multi-vendor multi-monitor setups back.

4: Clutter and bloat are reduced

Vista was perhaps the culmination of Microsoft’s efforts to be all things to all users. Along with the built-in applications we got with XP, Vista added a contacts program, a calendaring program, a photo editing program, and so forth. While some users appreciate all these free applications, many others have been annoyed by the “extras” they don’t need or use. If you’re planning to install Office with Outlook, there’s no need for Contacts and Calendar. And if you have your own favorite and more powerful graphics applications, such as PhotoShop, there’s no need for Photo Gallery. The extras just clutter up your Programs menu and take up space on the hard disk.

With Windows 7, Microsoft has removed a number of the extra programs and now offers them as free downloads from the Windows Live Web site. This way, those who want them can have them, and those who don’t won’t have to deal with removing them.

5: Boot performance is better

Another common complaint about Vista has been the inordinate amount of time it can take to boot up. This might not be an issue for those who leave their systems on all the time, but if you turn off your computer every night, waiting around forever for it to get started in the morning can turn into a major annoyance.

A Microsoft spokesperson indicated that the company’s goal for Windows 7 is a 15-second boot time, whereas three quarters of Vista users report boot times of more than 30 seconds. Although the beta of Win7 may not have achieved that 15-second mark yet for most users, the majority of beta testers I’m hearing from say it’s substantially quicker than Vista on the same hardware. That’s been my personal experience, as well. Since it is still a beta, it’s not unrealistic to hope that continued tweaking will get that time down further before the final release.

6: Notifications can be fine-tuned

In XP and Vista, you can disable the balloon notifications in the system tray, but what if you’d like to continue to get notifications from some applications but not from others? Windows 7 allows you to customize the behavior by simply clicking the little arrow next to the tray and selecting Customize. In the dialog box, choose which icons you want to appear in the tray. For each application, you can select whether you want to display notifications or hide them, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

Windows 7 gives you much more control over those notifications in the system tray.

7: Security messages are consolidated

In Vista, you have several security-related icons in the system tray, and you might have notifications popping up from each one. To make changes to security settings, you may have to open several applications. In Windows 7, all the security messages have been consolidated into one icon. When you click it, you’ll see all messages related to firewall, Windows Defender, Windows Update settings, and so forth, as shown in Figure B.

Figure B

Windows 7 consolidates all security-related messages in one system tray icon.

By clicking the Open Action Center link in the message box, you can make the changes that are recommended or (for example, in the case where you have an antivirus program installed but Windows doesn’t recognize it), you can select the option to turn off messages regarding that application, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

You can make changes or turn off particular security notifications in the Action Center.

8: Side-by-side windows auto-size

Most of the monitors sold today come in a wide aspect ratio that’s better for watching movies, which is also handy for displaying two documents side by side on the screen. With Vista, though, you have to manually size those docs. Windows 7 has a cool new feature by which you can drag windows to each side of the screen and they will automatically size themselves to each take up half the screen when you let go of the cursor.

Even better, if you drag the window back away from the edge, it goes back to the size it was before. How cool is that?

9: Home networking gets simple

For home users without a lot technical know-how, networking has been made simpler in Windows 7. A new feature called HomeGroup allows all Windows 7 computers on a network to share files, printers, and other resources more easily. Thanks to Libraries (collections of certain types of files, such as music, photos, or documents), you can access files anywhere on the HomeGroup network as if they were stored locally, and you can search across the whole HomeGroup.

Windows Media Player in Windows 7 can stream the music and videos on one PC in the network to another, and even play back songs from iTunes libraries on other computers.

Connecting to a wireless network is also easier; now you can click the wi-fi icon in the system tray and select a network from the list, instead of opening up a separate dialog box to make the connection.

10: Taskbar preview really works

In Vista, you can hover over a taskbar button — for Internet Explorer, for example — and see that three instances of IE are open. You see the open pages stacked as shown in Figure D, but they’re so small that it’s difficult to really tell which page is which.

Figure D

The Vista taskbar preview gives you an idea of what your running application windows contain.

In Windows 7, the preview feature has been enhanced so that it becomes an extremely useful function. Now when you hover over a taskbar icon, you get actual previews that are placed side by side and are large enough for you to identify (Figure E).

Figure E

In Windows 7, you can actually tell what’s in each of those preview windows.

And that’s not all. If you’re playing a video in one of the windows, that video plays in the preview window, too. And if you right-click the IE icon in the taskbar, you get a list of your IE history files, as shown in Figure F. You can just click any of those and go immediately to that page.

Figure F

 

Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=536

McAfee's new family shield

Friendly Computers found out that McAfee will be introducing McAfee Family Protection, which offers many new features designed to keep you and your family safe online from more then just viruses. Read below:

On the heels of Symantec's OnlineFamily.Norton released earlier this year, security stalwart McAfee jumps into the family protection game with a new home-oriented protection program. Called McAfee Family Protection, the program offers many familiar tools to parents in the hopes of fostering conversation while protecting children from harm.

McAfee Family Protection protects children based on multiple levels of technology.

(Credit: McAfee)

McAfee Family Protection offers blocking, monitoring, and parental notifications for most computer-based activities. The program allows for up to 10 users on three different machines, utilizing several layers of algorithms to monitor behavior. Parents can outright block or merely monitor Web sites, social-networking behavior, and instant messaging including Facebook IM and multi-protocol chat clients, according to Javed Hasan, vice president of McAfee Product Management.

In addition to blanket blocks for subject matter and specific Web site blocks, parents can customize rules so that they can block all of YouTube, or just YouTube videos that have specific tags. Web sites protected by secure protocol, https, can also be blocked. They can also set up roadblocks that prevent specific applications from opening, such as peer-to-peer clients or media players, and parents can receive brief SMS notifications alongside more detailed e-mail reports.

The program also can restrict computer usage based on cumulative time used or by time of day. It uses a server-based clock, so tampering with the local system-based clock shouldn't affect this feature.

McAfee says that Family Protection uses about 20 MB of RAM when idle and can run on systems with as little as 128 MB of RAM. It's available as a 30-day trial, after which a three-computer license costs $39.99.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/security/?tag=hdr;snav

Report: Social networking up 83 percent for U.S.

Almost everyone is a member of some type of social networking site. Their popularity has been growing ever since they came onto the scene. Which sites are gaining popularity while other sites’ membership declines? Friendly Computers thinks this may be of interest to you:

The explosion in social networking may be even greater than imagined. The time that people in the U.S. spend on social network sites is up 83 percent from a year ago, according to a report from market researcher Nielsen Online.

Facebook enjoys the top spot among social networks, with people having spent a total of 13.9 billion minutes on the service in April of this year, 700 percent more than in April 2008, Nielsen said. Minutes spent on Twitter soared a whopping 3,712 percent to almost 300 million, versus around 7.8 million from the same month a year ago.

Former top dog MySpace watched its usage drop nearly one-third to around 4.9 billion minutes, from 7.2 billion in April 2008. MySpace still scored the number one spot for online video among the top 10, thanks to its users streaming more than 120 million videos from the site for April of this year.

"We have seen some major growth in Facebook during the past year, and a subsequent decline in MySpace," Jon Gibs, Nielsen's vice president for online media and agency insights, said in a statement. "Twitter has come on the scene in an explosive way perhaps changing the outlook for the entire space."

But the report also offered a cautionary note: the social networking user can be fickle, quickly bouncing from one service to another. "Remember Friendster? Remember when MySpace was an unbeatable force? Neither Facebook nor Twitter are immune," said Gibs. "Consumers have shown that they are willing to pick up their networks and move them to another platform, seemingly at a moment's notice."

Despite its growth and popularity, Twitter may be especially vulnerable to users who don't stick around. Another Nielsen report from April found that 60 percent of Twitter users--dubbed Twitter Quitters by the media--abandon their tweets after only one month of use. Only about 30 percent of users on MySpace and Facebook jump ship.

Nielsen Online, part of the Nielsen Company, measures consumer use of online and mobile services and other related media.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10255626-93.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

Virtualize Your Internet Connection with BufferZone

This cool software allows you to put up a new kind of virtual “wall” which will help separate your computer and internet connection to help you stay safe online. Friendly Computers found this information and it may be useful to you:

BufferZone from Trustware brings virtualization to your internet connection helping prevent trojans, bots and other malware from getting on your computer. Even with a couple of small issues, it is an interesting take on how to protect your computer and your family while online.

I got to take BufferZone for an evaluation run over the last several weeks. Like the other software I try, I put it through the paces in the real-world computer lab of the family PC in the living room.  BufferZone Pro creates a virtual space that anything written, modified or downloaded while on the internet is saved to. In a Windows-world, your registry, your “My Documents” and the rest of the computer is buffered from the internet. It runs on Windows XP and Vista. The $39.95 annual subscription will license the software for up to 3 PCs. If you want to kick the tires for a month, you can download a free trial.

After installation, you add programs that you want to run in BufferZone. Once installed, the icon on the desktop changes to show that it will run in the virtual space. Should you want to not run in the virtual zone, you can right-click and run in the normal, non-virtualized mode.

Even on my less-than-new family PC, there was a slight slowdown but in general the only way we really knew BufferZone was running was the thin red outline that surrounds any app running in virtual space - including anything that is launched by the apps you’ve selected for BufferZone. We loaded both Firefox and Internet Explorer in the zone and I cut the kids loose.

With Firefox, we found that the forward and back buttons never worked while virtualized in BufferZone. IE did not have this problem, so the kids ran IE as the default. I checked the logs and saw that it did prevent suspicious activity and prevented access to confidential files.

We also found the need to regularly set up a clearing of the virtual zone so that updates to Firefox or Firefox plugins and security patches for Internet Explorer could be installed.You will need to occasionally run your protected apps outside the BufferZone to allow the installs, then after clearing the virtual space, the updated applications will install into the virtual environment.

My oldest child did struggle a bit with downloading a file for school (from the school server) into (the virtual) “My Documents” but when opening OpenOffice, not seeing the file in (the real) “My Documents” - so there is a bit of a learning curve for moving between the virtual and real spaces on your computer - for the less patient among us, this could be a frustrating experience.

Overall, it was a good piece of software. I like the thought of virtualizing my internet connectivity as a means of helping protect my computer instead of relying on software that has to be updated after the threat is found, analyzed and neutralized. Also, on an older PC, I don’t have the overhead of running an entire OS in a virtual space for the same purpose.

Wired: easy install and set up, protects up to 3 computers with a virtual space.

Tired: Firefox forward/back buttons don’t work in BufferZone; learning curve to move between the virtual and real storage on the PC.

 

Source: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/06/bufferzone/

Why your next phone will have Swype's keyboard

Hate having to tap for each letter on your phone? New technology has developed a keyboard that you just have to swipe your finger across and it guesses what you are trying to write. Friendly Computers thinks you may find this cool too…

Keyboard technology may not seem as exciting as faster microprocessors, massive displays, or ever-decreasing form factors, but in many ways it's just as important to computing. Seattle-based Swype is trying to leave its mark on the evolution of user input by making "pecking" at keys obsolete.

Instead of having to find and press on-screen keys one by one, Swype simply has users slide (or swipe) their fingers across the screen. Its algorithm does its best to figure out what you were trying to write, then fills it in for you. With a growing number of handsets shipping without a physical keyboard, this software could boost typing productivity and data usage by mobile phone users. Best of all, it doesn't have to replace the existing keyboard paradigm, meaning users can still peck if they like.

However, one big hurdle in the race to get Swype on every new handset is competition from all sides. Big companies like Apple, Palm, Google and RIM have invested in their own software-based keyboard solutions, while some competitors have working versions that accomplish what is effectively the same thing. Those companies also have their own patents and algorithms that help the software figure out what word you were really trying to type in. Swype's creators think they have found the sweet spot of having a product that's ready for mass market now, and that can evolve with its users over time.

Touch and go
Swype's technology was originally envisioned as a way to improve text input for disabled users. Those with limited dexterity are able to use Swype's system more easily than a traditional on-screen keyboard. It's also set up to support gesture tracking using Web cams, and with pointing devices like infrared remote controls, meaning it can be used on most hardware built within the last 10 years.

Swype's co-creator Cliff Kushler concocted it as an out-of-retirement project, and a follow-up to his previous co-invention T9--the text prediction algorithm that can be found in more than three billion mobile phones. Swype is trying to go beyond that though; following mobile phones the company has set its sights on tablet PCs, in-store kiosks, gaming devices and even televisions. Basically anything without a physical keyboard.

While Swype made its public debut at the TechCrunch50 conference back in September of 2008, it won't be showing up in consumer devices until close to the end of this year. And of those devices, Swype is trying to hone its focus on mobile phones first.

For the past eight months the company been beta testing Swype to a group of less than 100 users on Windows Mobile devices. It's also being readied for Symbian and Google's Android, the latter of which recently launched it's own on-screen keyboard solution in a system software update. It even runs on Microsoft's Surface. Swype CEO Mike McSherry and team, who I met with in their Seattle office last week, have been pushing at OEMs to be the default soft-keyboard in every future handset they ship. Swype's current iteration can be installed on-top of the existing keyboard that ships with Windows Mobile, but the big idea is to get it on the phone before the end users get their hands on it.

While the design for Swype is still being fine-tuned, McSherry says that each carrier and OEM wants to re-skin it to match the brand. For example, T-Mobile could give the keyboard a pink hue to match its branding, and add special function keys that get to carrier-specific services. McSherry says that Swype's design allows for a greater customization without damaging the underlying user technique or reliability since the gesture zone for each letter will remain the same.

Swype's reference design has undergone multiple revisions, the latest of which adds a help guide that gives users tips on how to use it. This could prove useful as McSherry says Kushler has hidden all sorts of "Easter egg" gestures inside of Swype, including ones that let you draw symbols that get transcribed into complete words such as "circle," "infinity", and "arrow." Similar to Palm's Graffiti handwriting recognition software, this gives users shortcuts that can speed up the process of typing out complete words on top of Swype's letter-to-letter input method.

An evolving dictionary and skill set
What may be just as neat as Swype's process of text entry are the company's plans to build a rich database of user-generated words that periodically gets updated to all Swype users. This will let the software more easily guess misspelled words, or offer auto completion suggestions. It also cuts down on users having to teach their devices words with awkward spellings.

To do this, the company is adding top trending brands, movies and TV shows both from consumer indexes as well as Web sources like Twitter. However, the company is being careful about adding too many words, which can slow down the utility of its suggestion and autocorrect features. "Over-indexing on names is an issue," says Aaron Sheedy, Swype's SVP of business development. "Potentially it's a 65,000 word dictionary So maybe we're killing off 'pontiferous,' the 64,999th word to make room for something that will be used more. We want it to be a better use case scenario."

Besides Twitter, the company has also tapped some of its beta testers by using a logging system that sends user-created words and phrases back to Swype so they can be added in a global dictionary. This, however, isn't something that's slated to make it to the final product. "There are privacy concerns with that [system]," explains Sheedy. He says that while that may work for some common words, you get into a gray area with things like user names, passwords, and URLs.

Privacy concerns aside, during the beta test, this logging has shown Swype certain user metrics that give the team confidence that Swype has staying power. "It measures words per minute accuracy and tracks usability," says McSherry. "Quantitatively users are doing over 40 words per minute ... we can increase their WPM accuracy too. Within the first hour people are doing 30 WPM. Some people do 40, some even do 50."

And accuracy is a big deal. McSherry says that with a typing system like this even 90 percent doesn't cut it. "That means one out of every ten words you type is wrong, and you have to go back and correct it," he says. "We're shooting for 95 to 97 percent or more."

McSherry says he doesn't expect users to learn some of the more complex gestures that have been built into Swype, but that those who take the time to learn them can increase their speed even more, especially younger users. "You come up with T9 and text messaging and [kids] invented a new vernacular to evolve the technological opportunities ... It is an amazing way to watch a 13 year old grab [Swype] and start flying with it off the bat."

Competition and IP control
While the future looks bright for Swype, critics have claimed the company's fundamental technology is quite similar to that of past competitors.

One of those is ShapeWriter (formerly SHARK), a technology from IBM that made waves in late-2004 with many of the same promises. It too lets users write out words without picking up their finger (or stylus), and type in excess of 60 WPM. Up until mid-2008 the use of the technology had remained fairly low-profile, but then in short succession it was released as a download for Google's Android, then on the iPhone and Windows Mobile. Like Swype, though, it still has not shipped as the default keyboard solution on a consumer handset.

There's also Dasur, a company that's got a solution for Windows Mobile devices that includes a slide-based typing feature, text prediction, and control over words in its dictionary. It's the only one of the bunch that's actually charging for the technology so far, with a $40 per device licensing fee.

Swype also faces competition from Nuance Communications, which has its own T9 successor called xT9. This solution has both an on-screen keyboard that users can peck at, along with a handwriting recognition area where they can write in text and have it converted into characters or entire words. This may be different from Swype and ShapeWriter's solutions, but it's got the marketing force of T9 behind it--a predictive system that billions of users are familiar with.

What may end up being the decider in the race to be the top gesture-based onscreen keyboard are patents. All three companies have various patents that refer to gesture-based on-screen typing. Swype holds five of its own, along with some dozen held by Kushler. The earliest of those was filed back in 2001. In comparison, ShapeWriter has three, including two that focus specifically on shorthand gesture-based shortcuts, and Dasur has one issued in mid-2007 that's nebulously described with "a user input mechanism is provided that allows a user to enter words as gestures on a virtual keyboard presented on the display device."

McSherry would not go into specifics on Swype's intellectual property strategy, but believes that between the patents--including the algorithm that includes prediction, and its differentiation from the others, that it can more than hold its own.

Swype will be rolling out a larger beta test later this year. In the meantime the company has a sign-up page to be notified when it's available for public download. To fill that in you'll need a normal keyboard though.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10252728-76.html?tag=mncol