Upgraded Microsoft Security Essentials Released

Recently version 2 of Microsoft's very good anti-virus/malware product was released. This product has been expanded with the following new features:

New Features in 2.0

Here’s all of the new features in the latest release, which make it even more of a must-download:

* Network Traffic Inspection integrates into the network system and monitors the traffic at a low level without slowing down your PC, so it can actually detect threats before they get to your PC.
* Internet Explorer Integration blocks malicious scripts before IE even starts running them—clearly a big security advantage.
* Heuristic Scanning Engine finds malware that hasn’t been previously detected by scanning for certain types of attacks. This provides even more protection than just through virus definitions.


Whitman IT strongly recommends users of Security Essentials 1 and those who are approaching the expiration of their paid software upgrade now!

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx

Can’t find that email message? These three tips can help.

Click here to read the full tip outlines.

In this posting a member of the Outlook product team provides 3 quick ways to quickly find information within your mailbox. Included are tips for the Instant Search, Search Tools ribbon and how to Create a Search Folder for repeated searches.

Now its a great time to highlight how some of these features are accomplished in Outlook 2010 with our impending optional deployment to all Whitman staff and faculty.

Find your lost of stolen phone!

Just found a pretty cool app. Its a backup/antivirus/location app.

Take a look. Its available for all mobile platforms.

https://www.mylookout.com/

Toshiba Announces IPAD Killer

No release date on this yet, but it looks impressive.

Happy 15th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Windows 95! Today marks the public release of Windows 95.

Will it be still nessisary to buy MathType?

In typical Microsoft fashion they have released a MS Office Word/OneNote add-in called Microsoft Mathematics without fanfare. Microsoft Mathematics appears to fill the gap many Whitman faculty are looking to fill in regards to including mathematical equations complete with symbols and graphing in MS Word documents.

PR overview of Microsoft Mathematics:
With the Microsoft Mathematics Add-in for Word and OneNote, you can perform mathematical calculations and plot graphs in your Word documents and OneNote notebooks. The add-in also provides an extensive collection of mathematical symbols and structures to display clearly formatted mathematical expressions. You can also quickly insert commonly used expressions and math structures by using the Equation gallery. The Microsoft Mathematics Add-in can help you with the following tasks:
• Compute standard mathematical functions, such as roots and logarithms
• Compute trigonometric functions, such as sine and cosine
• Find derivatives and integrals, limits, and sums and products of series
• Perform matrix operations, such as inverses, addition, and multiplication
• Perform operations on complex numbers
• Plot 2-D graphs in Cartesian and polar coordinates
• Plot 3-D graphs in Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates
• Solve equations and inequalities
• Calculate statistical functions, such as mode and variance, on lists of numbers
• Factor polynomials or integers
• Simplify or expand algebraic expressions

Whitman Faculty who would like to see the add-in in action can stop by suite 114 for a demo. Anyone looking to test on their own can click here: Direct Download Link, Microsoft Mathematics FAQ. At this time the add-in is only compatible with MS Word 2007/2010 and OneNote 2010.

Free Microsoft Office WebApps!

If you have a Windows Live account, you can take advantage of the Office 2010 WebApps for free. Take a look!

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps/

Glenn

Dell Streak

Dell is going into the PDA/Cell phone business. Take a look at the Dell Streak. Its supposed to be released sometime in July.

Glenn

HTML5 & Video

As we all know the web is constantly evolving. New and innovative websites are being produced daily and they are expanding the boundaries of HTML is several directions. Unfortunately the HTML4 standard has been around for nearly 10 years and web designers want new functionality and techniques, but they held back by the constraints of the HTML4 (and browsers).

The Next Major Version of HTML = HTML5
To give authors more flexibility and interoperability while enabling more interactive and exciting websites and applications, HTML5 introduces a wide range of features including form controls, APIs, multimedia, structure and semantics.

HTML5 + Video
Anyone who has spent some time online in the past couple years understand that video can be embedded into a webpage with little effort. But before HTML5, there was not a standards-based way to do this. Pretty much all the video you’ve ever viewed “on the web” has been delivered through a third-party plug-in like Flash. Luckily the plug-ins can integrate with your browser of choice (most of the time). And that is the issue, there still are platforms that do not support third-party plug-ins and there is no standard way to do it.

HTML5 defines a standard way to embed video into a web page, using the video element. While the video element is not fully supported, we decided to experiment with HTML5. Why? HTML5 helps web publishers like Whitman harness open standards to deliver video content to popular consumer devices, such as the Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

Unfortunately, some organizations attempting to deliver HTML5 video experiences are struggling with knowledge gaps, technical limitations, and additional development costs that can make it prohibitive to deliver HTML5 video experiences in parallel with other approaches. We decided to experiment a bit and find out for ourselves. Here are some uses of the video element and a variety of output formats.

Auto-Detect Example View Now
Depending on your browser and, you should see either an HTML5 or a Flash Video compatible player/codec. http://whit-webman.ad.syr.edu/whitmanvideo_v2/html5/autodetect.htm

Browser & Platform Example View Now
Depending on your browser and platform, you should see video examples and the appropriate code. http://whit-webman.ad.syr.edu/whitmanvideo_v2/html5/browser.htm

Compatibility (Browser --- Format)
Firefox 3.5+ --- OGG, FLV
Safari (Mac) --- MP4/h.264 Codec, FLV
Safari (iPad, iPhone, iTouch) --- MP4/h.264 Codec
Internet Explorer --- MP4/h.264 Codec, FLV

THE FORMAT WARS HAVE BEGUN!!!

Sights and Sounds from the ISTE Conference

http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/2010/

Blogging at 30,000 Feet

Technology is great, isn't it? I'm sitting at my seat on Delta Airlines flight #$%@ to Denver and writing this blog entry. Yes its inflight Internet and its pretty much standard now on all Delta Flights. In fact, most airlines are offering it now on their domestic flights. The cost for my session was 9.99 for the duration of the flight. My flight is a little over 2 hours, but if it was 5 hours, it would still be the same price. Not bad for a couple hours entertainment. Whats even cooler is the fact the I'm logged onto Ustream.com right now and broadcasting video of myself live. :) 2 people have already emailed me to say that the video and sound is pretty decent quality. WOW... who would of thought. Internet on a plane. I love it. Go here for more info:

http://gogoinflight.com/

Glenn

Windows 7 for $29.99!

Microsoft is offering some great deals on software for students through their student website. Deals include Windows 7 for $29.99 and Office Professional Academic 2010 for $79.99.

Visit Microsoft's student website to prepare for the upcoming school year.

Flash and Mobile Devices

In a recent article, "Flash bursts onto Android", talk of flash being available currently on Android devices and hopefully soon on other major devices, has left Apple standing alone. It has many wondering if Apple's holdout will benefit or destroy their share of the mobile device market. Will upcoming technologies like HTML5 save the day for mobile video and games, and in particular the iPhone. Or will the already widespread flash market continue to dominate as it slowly seeps into the mobile world?

Apple quietly adds anti-malware in Snow Leopard update

Apple quietly adds anti-malware in Snow Leopard update: "The company didn't mention anything about adding an anti-malware update to OS X 10.6.4, which it released on Tuesday, Sophos says."


Can Apple please start being honest with their users? IMO there is no question that their myth of complete security will bite them in the future...a real shame for such and image conscious company. --SR

Droid X announcement from Verizon

This is something I'm really looking forward to. I am sure many people won't like the size but if size isn't a factor for you, I would check it out. I has lots of great features and should have full Flash capability. It also sports an HDMI out. This is something that has never been seen before on a mobile phone as far as I know. The Verizon announcement on the release date of this device is anticipated sometime this week.

Glenn

Apple to Developer, please don't make our devices more useful

Seems that Apple will reject apps for just encroaching on rules, not just breaking them. Too bad this was a application that would have actually be beneficial to users by allowing them sync ability sans cables.

Link to article at Engadget

NPD: Android ousts iPhone OS for second place in US smartphone market

NPD: Android ousts iPhone OS for second place in US smartphone market: "

Having just recently started testing a Droid Incredible I can say this is is not a surprise. The form factory options, OS features and variety of carriers make the Android platform a clear winner over the iPhone. Additionally the upcoming iPhone OS 4 features announced still don't answer many deficiencies with the platform.

To maintain their current advantage and cap this nonsense iPhone hysteria Google needs to advertise more (something the press does for Apple currently) and they need to stop the OS fragmentation (people can buy Android 1.5/1.6/2.0/2.1 devices currently today with a varying level of feature sets).

As a current iPhone 3G user (since its release) I can't wait to ditch the iPhone platform, though I'd really like to hold out for either a device with a 4.3" screen or an Incredible that sports a vertical slide with hidden QWERTY keyboard.
Stuart

Anti-Virus

Is it always necessary to pay for your anti-virus? Will it protect you better then a free service? Well after McAfee's recent vulnerability issues, the answer is no. Free software such as Microsoft Security Essentials and Avira are equally as good. If you pair these with a program such as Malwarebytes, you should be just as secure as if you paid for all the bells and whistles.
As long as you browse smart, you should be good. Just don't go click happy on every ad and contest that pops up.
Don't connect a computer to the internet without some anti-virus installed.

More at CNET

Symantec: 51 Percent Of All Malware Ever Was Detected In 2009

Symantec: 51 Percent Of All Malware Ever Was Detected In 2009: "It is an absolute miracle that I have never had a virus, trojan, or other form of computer bug on this PC. I mean, if we're to believe Symantec, then fully 51 percent of the viruses, trojans, and every other form of computer malware ever was spotted in 2009. That means that from 2008 going back to when Symantic first started keeping track of such things, all of those years only make up 49 percent of the viruses and so forth, while 2009 on its own accounts for 51 percent. That's pure madness.



It's madness, but it's probably not too hard to believe when you try to break things down for even a moment.

These are some amazing statistics, but considering the new ways we've seen exploits take advantage of users its easy to see how its possible. This past year has given us a wider range of software being exploited and exploits taking into consideration a user's privilege to the local PC among other issues. Unfortunately we've not yet seen the light at the end of this tunnel, exploits are becoming more difficult to find as they modify themselves as they spread which makes them harder for anti-virus/anti-malware apps detect them. This is not an excuse for any computer user (Windows or Mac) to ignore the importance of running updated anti-virus/anti-malware detection software.

HTC Incredible phone on Verizon

Wow! Other phones have said they are going to rival the Iphone, but i think this phone might just do it!

New app lets you speak your texts!

For those of you who text/email and drive, take a look at the latest Voice recognition app for your mobile device. It might save you a ticket or even an accident.
I am current testing the Beta version of the Vlingo Software for my Droid and it works very well!

Microsoft Office Free?

Microsoft is planning to offer parts of its office suite for free. Currently you can get office 2010 beta free from Microsoft's website, until its full release later this year. Also available is browser based office software. This is meant to now compete with Google apps currently in place. They have the advantage in keeping compatibility and familiarity.
The next step is to put lite versions of word and excel onto all new computers, office starter. These will be limited uses applications. The hope is that users will upgrade to the full version. Anti-trust anyone? This starter pack will be used in place of the works suite which currently comes on windows pc's.

The iPad and Cloud

Bad news for those who hoped for streaming music on the iPad when it is released Saturday. Sources say that a streaming music service will not be available until the thrid quarter, despite apple buying cloud streaming system LaLa. This will also mean that the focus will be on other services like movies, tv shows, games and books. Talks with studios and labels are still ongoing in order to try to bring streaming music to market faster for the ipad. Restrictions will also be in place on movies due to rights restrictions.

As Rumors Grow of a Verizon iPhone, AT&T Steps Up Their Game

As many iPhone customers continue to criticize AT&T's cellular network regarding performance, The Wall Street Journal reports that AT&T's has recently been attempting to beef up its cellular network. As part of the report, the Journal notes that Apple and AT&T have worked closely on addressing the issues, with Apple even going so far as to tweaking how the iPhone connects to the network in order to reduce load and enhance performance.

Apple has attempted to lighten the load by rejiggered how the devices communicate with AT&T's towers. As a result, the phones now put less of a load on the network for such simple tasks as finding the closest tower or checking for available text messages. This will significantly improve the overall performance and reliability of the AT&T network and iPhone handsets.

"They're well past networking 101, 201 or 301," said Mr. Donovan. Apple, he said, is now "in a Master's class." (The wall Street Journal).

In addition, AT&T has been reportedly sending high-ranking company executives to Apple's campus to personally meet with Steve Jobs to assure him that network issues were being addressed and quickly enhanced before the launch of the iPad this weekend. According to the report, AT&T rolled out a "100-day plan" in mid-December to rapidly improve service in high-density markets such as New York City and San Fransisco, cities that have been the focus of customer complaints.

AT&T's "100-day plan" may be paying off as recent studies have show higher consumer satisfaction regarding the iPhones cellular network. It is also important to note that as rumors of a Verizon iPhone for Fall 2010 continue to circulate, and the iPad nears its launch this weekend, there are additional incentives for the carrier to invest in its infrastructure, and maintain its competitive advantage by being the only U.S. carrier to hold the iPhone.

Windows is safer when not using admin rights

Windows 7 is safer when the admin isn't around: "

Not that we necessarily needed a report to tell us this, but the fewer privileges you afford yourself as a Windows user, the more secure your operating system becomes. The report looks into vulnerabilities disclosed by Microsoft during 2009 and concludes that all 55 reported Microsoft Office issues and 94 percent of the 33 listed for IE could be prevented by simply running a standard user account.

Windows 7 is safer when the admin isn't around originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET | BeyondTrust (PDF)"


This article is a great reinforcement to the structure of SU's computing environment. We do not place restrictions on users without cause, if we could mitigate vulnerabilities without removal of rights we would much rather do so.

It is also important to point out that out dated operating systems like Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (and even Vista) are more vulnerable than Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.

The wait is almost over!

Apple Reportedly Working on New iPhone for Verizon

Verizon Communications shares surged on the news, rising 3.4 percent in after-hours trading, while the shares of AT&T, the current exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the United States, fell 2.2 percent. Apple is apparently developing a CDMA-compatible iPhone model that would work on Verizon's network, the Journal reported, citing people briefed on the matter. An Apple spokeswoman said the company does not comment on rumors and speculation.Verizon also declined to comment.
Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon and Vodafone Group. When asked about the report, an AT&T spokesman said: "We have a great relationship with Apple and we don't comment on the specifics of that relationship."AT&T also repeated previous comments that the iPhone "will be an important device for us for quite some time."Apple has released a new iPhone model every summer for the past three years and is widely expected to do so this summer. But a CDMA-compatible iPhone may come later in the year, the Journal report suggested. Contract manufacturer Pegatron, a unit of Taiwan-based Asustek, is scheduled to start mass producing CDMA iPhones in September, the report said, citing one source. But it was unclear when Apple might start selling that model.
Broadpoint Amtech analyst Brian Marshall said it was "only a matter of time" before the iPhone landed with Verizon. He said Verizon has a better network than AT&T and a larger base of customers. Marshall expects a Verizon iPhone to happen early in 2011.Verizon has roughly 6 million more wireless customers than AT&T. Rumors have been swirling for some time about Apple launching an iPhone with Verizon. AT&T has been the sole U.S. carrier since the iPhone's debut in 2007 and some iPhone users have complained about the quality of the AT&T network." AT&T has known all along that its exclusive relationship with Apple would change into something else some day. From the beginning of its relationship with Apple, AT&T has factored this change into its business and technology planning," a person familiar with AT&T said.

Cloud Computing Gains Momentum but Security and Privacy Issues Persist

The use of cloud computing is growing. On our very own Syracuse Campus we can see its use by the university in SU Mail. Outsourcing our email system is a much easier and cost effective way to manage the number of users of a university such as Syracuse. With its use also come problems, as we have seen with system outages and other various issues.
Despite any problems the Could system may have it is not just education systems that are latching onto the idea, but also governments. At the forefront of cloud systems are Google and Microsoft. One of the largest planned implementations is California and most prevalently, Los Angles.
Some are still unsure of resorting to a cloud system as seen here in an article on California and Cloud.

While cloud will change the way users access and store data, there are always risks in using a system like cloud. Being a remote storage, information is always being moved across the internet. Security in these transmissions is a huge priority as well as scare for users. By outsourcing you are loosing the control over access and storage and must rely on the provider (Google, Microsoft) to ensure integrity. The Cloud model means data could be anywhere around the country or world being stored.
Google has spent a great deal of time researching and developing their security protocols for their could system. For the government side a private cloud can be created, rather then use a public one. Should the system go down or company go bankrupt, where will your files go? Most likely they will be lost. Agencies are trying to ensure that the data is not lost, but courts have found that it is not their fault, as you willingly move the information to a third party.

As cloud computing is still in early stages of life, and has a lot of growing to do. Only time will tell how this evolution spread, and its safety.

Clean XP Antivirus and other fake alert infections with McAfee Stinger

Clean XP Antivirus and other fake alert infections with McAfee Stinger: "

Filed under: Security, Windows

Malware infections are the most common problems I see on my workbench. While there are plenty of different kinds, fake alerts and rogue antivirus programs seem to be the most widespread. They end up on my customers' systems with many different names -- Antivirus XP, Personal Antivirus, Spyware Protect, XP Antivirus -- and they're all major annoyances.

If you've fallen victim to one of these nasty bits of malware, a big repair bill doesn't have to be in your future. There are plenty of great, free, programs you can download to remove fake alert infections. A good one to start with is McAfee Stinger, which they've updated to clean this kind of malware.

Stinger is a free download and doesn't require you to install anything. Save stinger.exe to your desktop, double-click the icon to launch the program, and run a scan. Once it's done, remove any files it detects and reboot your system. That's it! Stinger currently detects and removes more than 1,300 types of malware (including most of the common ones I remove at my day job).

It's a good idea to double-check with another program when you try to clean up an infection like XP Antivirus (or its hundreds of variants). I highly recommend using Malwarebytes -- another free program -- to make sure the malware has been removed.

Clean XP Antivirus and other fake alert infections with McAfee Stinger originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Macs vs. PCs on Operating System Security [Blockquote]

Macs vs. PCs on Operating System Security [Blockquote]: "

Security expert Charlie Miller on the record-breaking 20 zero day security holes soon to be announced in OS X. [H-Online] More »

Yes, Macs do have security issues and even are susceptible to viruses and malware/spyware. As we see OSX becoming more and more popular with Students it is important that we educate them in protecting themselves just as we do for students who choose to use Windows PCs. -Stuart

Big Brother or the Ultimate in Target Marketing?

(Photo credit: PR via Guardian UK)

Remember the great scene from Minority Report when Tom Cruise is walking through a building and all the advertising is uniquely customized for him? ("John Anderson, you could use a Guinness right about now!") While it seemed unreal at the time, the technology may be coming to billboards near you...not quite yet, but it is in the stages of development! A company in Tokyo has developed the technology that uses facial recognition software to register gender and age, then pulls and displays ads meant for you and also records how long the ad captures your attention. Check it on cnn.com:

Ads that Watch You

A definite way to capture your target market! I can't wait to see this technology sprout up around town! (Oh, and so you can sleep at night, the technology does not capture and store your image...yet!)

Website Content Planning

To add on to Jim's post, I came across this article on Smashing Magazine:

Starting Out Organized: Website Content Planning The Right Way

While you may have the best of intentions to create a website destined for a Webby design award, you'll soon realize that you're never the one driving the boat...the content...and the client are really in charge. To avoid redesigning a site over and over to accommodate numerous changes, it's best to nail down the content/navigation early on, well before design is involved. This article lays out many good tips for the beginning steps of content planning. But as we all know, clients will flip-flop on what they want, which is why it is important to take the process step-by-step. It may be slow and painstaking but it will pay off in the end.

But even with all the preparation there's bound to be numerous changes throughout the life of the website, which is why you should always design your website to be expandable both with content and navigation....because, well....you never know what's coming around the bend!

Wireframing: Worth its weight in gold!

During a web development project, people often rush into design and forget about content, and more importantly, organization of content. I too am guilty of doing this. However, taking a short amount of time to develop a very basic "blueprint" of your page layout can prove to save tons of time in the future.

A wireframe is: "A website wireframe (also "web wire frame", "web wireframe", "web wireframing") is a basic visual guide used in interface design to suggest the structure of a website and relationships between its pages. A webpage wireframe is a similar illustration of the layout of fundamental elements in the interface. Typically, wireframes are completed before any artwork is developed."  - wikipedia

Example:

For all you Google Docs users; pretty cool!

A new tool to bring your Google Docs into Outlook. Check it out...
http://lifehacker.com/5489917/harmony-attaches-and-opens-google-docs-from-outlook

Never work on unsaved attachments in Outlook

Ever have hours worth of work disappear because you forgot to save that Word attachment to your computer before altering it? This can happen and does frequently!

When you open an attachment in Outlook by right clicking the file from an email and choose OPEN, this does not save the file to your computer in the purist sense. It saves it to a temporary location somewhere on the hard drive. Even if you click save while working on the file, then close out of the Application(Word, Excel, etc), the file will most likely be lost forever!
So if you need to work on an attachment from Outlook, always save the attachment first by right clicking on the attachment and choosing SAVE AS. After this is complete, you can double click the file you just saved on the computer and work on it from there.

Glenn

JavaScript Frameworks: Which one???

In today's web development world, there are a plethora of tools/frameworks out there to take advantage of. Since JavaScript has revived itself and become deeply embedded into today's killer web apps, I thought I would take a minute to list and discuss a few popular JS frameworks, and their differences.

• Prototype (http://www.prototypejs.org) - Offers an very extensible library for creating your own JS objects/classes, as well as using a sweet list of functions for Ajax, DOM, JSON, Arrays etc... It is the basis for other frameworks, such as Script.aculo.us and ModalBox.
• MooTools (http://mootools.net) - A lightweight, selective library which accomplishes much of what the Prototype library gives you. Advantage, smaller library size, since you can pick and choose your components.
• Jquery (http://jquery.com) - Similar to the others, but well noted for its DOM and event modification. Jquery is also probably the most widely used library with clients like Dell, Google, Mozilla, etc... It is also sanctioned as Microsoft's platform for ASP.net Ajax and the MVC.

Some frameworks will support use with another, but not all. Tread lightly.

As you can see, all offer similar functionality, but your choice will most likely depend on the type of project you are attacking. I have had to use all three, depending on the client, technology, and existing platforms; so if you already haven't familiarize yourself with what is out there!