Self-protection from malware

Introduction

There are several levels where you can set up protection mechanisms in order to minimize the risk of falling victim to malware. Different protection mechanisms are needed depending on which danger situation we are discussing. One useful way to look at the protection situations is like this:

1. Personal awareness (actions prior to exposure)
2. Protection by software
3. Procedures when infected
   

In this two-part security article we will examine what you as a user can do to yourself against malicious software - the personal awareness protection scheme. These are actions that come into effect even before any security software are involved in any protection attempts.
Personal awareness may be the most important protection instrument to your disposal. And it is even free! However, it does require a particular mind-set in order to function properly.
The clue can be summarized in these three words:

Use common sense!

In the following we shall examine some of the dangers that you may be exposed to, and how common sense, a few simple procedures, and a critical mind-set, can protect you.

Social engineering

Almost all techniques that are used to try to trick you into performing an action that results in an infection of your computer, boil down to social engineering. A person or persons with criminal intent want to persuade you to do something that has a consequence that you did not expect (or want).
The social engineering schemes vary from the ridiculously simple (sending a message with nothing but a link, hoping that recipients will click the link), to the sophisticated (investigating the recipients before contact and designing specially crated personal messages) – and everything in between.
Since the different social engineering schemes are so varied, one cannot make a complete list of how they look. The ambition should rather be for each and every one of us to recognize typical patterns, and thus avoid being tricked.
At the end of article series we will identify some such patterns.

Examples and discussion

Here are some typical scenarios where your increased awareness may protect you from infection attempts.

Links in instant messaging programs

There are a lot of instant messaging (IM) programs in use in the Internet community. These may be used as spreading devices for malware by at least two different techniques:

1. An IM account is compromised and the person who has taken control over the account uses this to send messages to those who are in the owner’s contact list. These messages can be tailor-made and potentially quite convincing and thereby difficult to protect against.
    
2. A computer is infected by malware, which sends instant messages – usually links - to persons in the contact list. These messages will often be easy to spot as they may not be similar to the way you normally communicate with the person who sent you the message.

One message of type 2 may look like the one below received in Windows Live Messenger. Typical is that the message is in English and consist of a short text with a link. Even more common is a message with a link only. The sender’s status often appears as Away when the message is sent (and thereby not able to contact for verification of the message’s validity).
As we shall see later, clicking on such a link may turn out to be quite dangerous.

 Click image to enlarge

In order to protect yourself against this type of attacks, consider the following:

• Does your friend/colleague usually contact you without any introduction?
• Does your friend/colleague usually use the language that the message shows?
• Is the content of the message in line with your friend/colleagues usual behavior?

If the answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, you should not click on the link.
If you suspect that something smells fishy even if the answer is ‘yes’ to all questions, you might still take the extra precaution and verify with the person at the other end that the message is legitimate. This may take some extra seconds, but may turn out to be a smart use of your time.

Obfuscated links in email messages

One of the most used devices for social engineering is the good old email message.
One of the most famous, and successful examples of using email as a social engineering vehicle, happened ten years ago when millions of computer users around the world received an email with the subject ILOVEYOU and a body text with this sentence:

kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me.

The alleged love letter was the attachment LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs.
Vast numbers of people clicked and were subsequently infected with the Loveletter or I-Love-You malware.
The malware spreaders these days are usually a least a bit more sophisticated. A typical social engineering email nowadays might look like this:

Click image to enlarge

Characteristics are:

• a friendly subject line,
• a body text in html format aimed to pick the recipient’s interest,
• a link to a web page – this will often appear to be to a well-known and trusted web site.

Since this email is written in html format, the link that appears as seen in the email text may be completely different from what the link actually leads to when clicking on it. The real link will be displayed in the email client’s status bar at the bottom of the window when you hover the mouse pointer over the email link. As you can see from the image above, clicking the link does not take you to the www.cool.imagelibraryonline.net.woah-imgs/ address, rather to the more suspect-looking www.terribly-dangerous-web.com site.
Here is another example of a typical email designed to try to trick the recipient:

Click image to enlarge

Another social engineering attempt, aimed at users of the social network Facebook. The Facebook community has a huge number of members, and the probability is high that recipients of this email are Facebook members. However, none of the three links in this email (the Sign In button, the http://www.facebook.com/home.php URL and the “here” link do actually link to any Facebook resource.
An important lesson to learn from these examples is that links in messages are dangerous to click on. A more secure way is to copy and paste the text into the browser or tediously type it into the browser.

Manipulating search engine results

Big media events are loved by cyber criminals. They may be used to trigger social engineering schemes like those shown above, and they can be used in at least one totally different manner.
It is a fact that big media events like the swine flu pandemic, the volcano eruption in Iceland, the world’s championship in football and similar, inspire people to use search engines to search for new and updated information about the events.
By registering domain names (Internet names) that are associated with the event in question, and crafting web pages that are specially designed to satisfy search engines’ requirements, malicious web sites/pages may be “seeded” to appear near the top of results from search engines.
The events most suited for search engine manipulation are those that appear suddenly, like disasters. Specially crafted malicious web sites may then be created quickly and not compete with the real stuff about the event. Web sites about well-planned events will have had months to grow and already obtained good search engine results, are more difficult to compete with.
Such a malicious web site will unfortunately not offer particularly useful information about the searched-after event – it will rather only attempt to infect the customer with malicious program code.
You will find more information about manipulating search engines in this security article from last year.

Next part

In the next article in this series we shall examine more closely 

• infected web sites
• characteristics of social engineering attempts
• protection against unknown threats

Infected web sites

There are two different types of infected web sites/pages:

1. Those where the person with malicious intent herself has set up the web server and controls it. This type is normally the easiest ones to spot, even though some are quite clever and may replicate legitimate sites regarding look and feel, and have an address similar to the legitimate site. www.nicefeaturessite.com and www.nicefeatureesite.com look quite similar, but proof-reading will show that an ‘s’ in the former has been substituted by an ‘e’ in the latter.
    
2. Legitimate sites that have malicious elements. This may be because the site has been compromised and malicious elements have been inserted, or because the administrator of the legitimate web site has been tricked to add for example a malicious advertisement or another type of banner.

Recent studies indicate that the most malicious web sites are by far of type 2 above. Some studies show more than 90%.
A full examination of the different techniques used for inserting malicious elements on a web site is beyond the scope of these article. An Internet search will reveal lots of interesting information if you want more in-dept details. Suffice it to say in this context that some techniques used are:

• Cross Site Scripting (XXS),
• PDF files that exploit vulnerabilities in this file format,
• Malicious scripts (Javascripts or Active scripts),
• Malicious flash elements that exploit vulnerabilities in the flash player,
• Invisible IFRAMEs that loads malicious web elements,

Characteristics of social engineering attempts

It is close to impossible that you can be able to protect yourself against well-planned, targeted social engineering attempts. However, there are quite a few characteristics of the more mundane type, which are useful to remember.
Knowing these may save you from becoming a victim to scams of the kind each and every one of us are likely to be exposed to.
After all, few of us will ever experience a targeted attack directed at one person. Only particularly "interesting" persons merit such exceptional effort on an attacker’s side. Most of us are (unfortunately?) not that interesting.
A typical social engineering attack will often consist of some of the following or similar elements:

• Phrases that obviously intend to pick your curiosity.
• A link that turns out to be another one than the one displayed in the message.
• The displayed link is often to a well-known respectable organization.
• A message from an acquaintance of yours that is not in his or hers usual manner.
• A message from a completely unknown person.
• A message from yourself!

Protection against unknown threats

By increasing your awareness the way we have described in this and the previous article, you are better protected against typical, popular and traditional infection attempts.
More importantly, however, is that as a spin-off from your increased awareness, you are better equipped against infection attempts using completely new spreading mechanisms. It is a fact that whenever a new “device” is used for malware spreading, our previous, well-learned protection mechanisms tend to be completely forgotten. This issue has been discussed in several of our security articles the recent years - see for example this article from March this year.
By focusing on awareness rather than relying on previous knowledge and protection by software, you are less inclined to be infected.

Useful resources

Useful information about social engineering trends and examples can be found all over the Internet.
Some recommended resources with general information as well as information about the latest threats are:

• Norman’s Security center: http://www.norman.com/security_center/ (this section of our web)
• SANS’ Storm center: http://isc.sans.org/ 
• Different countries’ CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) web sites and mailing list. (Use a search engine to find your own local CERT.)
• Lots of other security organizations’ web sites and independent blogs.

Source

Self-protection from malware

Introduction

There are several levels where you can set up protection mechanisms in order to minimize the risk of falling victim to malware. Different protection mechanisms are needed depending on which danger situation we are discussing. One useful way to look at the protection situations is like this:

1. Personal awareness (actions prior to exposure)
2. Protection by software
3. Procedures when infected
   

In this two-part security article we will examine what you as a user can do to yourself against malicious software - the personal awareness protection scheme. These are actions that come into effect even before any security software are involved in any protection attempts.
Personal awareness may be the most important protection instrument to your disposal. And it is even free! However, it does require a particular mind-set in order to function properly.
The clue can be summarized in these three words:

Use common sense!

In the following we shall examine some of the dangers that you may be exposed to, and how common sense, a few simple procedures, and a critical mind-set, can protect you.

Social engineering

Almost all techniques that are used to try to trick you into performing an action that results in an infection of your computer, boil down to social engineering. A person or persons with criminal intent want to persuade you to do something that has a consequence that you did not expect (or want).
The social engineering schemes vary from the ridiculously simple (sending a message with nothing but a link, hoping that recipients will click the link), to the sophisticated (investigating the recipients before contact and designing specially crated personal messages) – and everything in between.
Since the different social engineering schemes are so varied, one cannot make a complete list of how they look. The ambition should rather be for each and every one of us to recognize typical patterns, and thus avoid being tricked.
At the end of article series we will identify some such patterns.

Examples and discussion

Here are some typical scenarios where your increased awareness may protect you from infection attempts.

Links in instant messaging programs

There are a lot of instant messaging (IM) programs in use in the Internet community. These may be used as spreading devices for malware by at least two different techniques:

1. An IM account is compromised and the person who has taken control over the account uses this to send messages to those who are in the owner’s contact list. These messages can be tailor-made and potentially quite convincing and thereby difficult to protect against.
    
2. A computer is infected by malware, which sends instant messages – usually links - to persons in the contact list. These messages will often be easy to spot as they may not be similar to the way you normally communicate with the person who sent you the message.

One message of type 2 may look like the one below received in Windows Live Messenger. Typical is that the message is in English and consist of a short text with a link. Even more common is a message with a link only. The sender’s status often appears as Away when the message is sent (and thereby not able to contact for verification of the message’s validity).
As we shall see later, clicking on such a link may turn out to be quite dangerous.

 Click image to enlarge

In order to protect yourself against this type of attacks, consider the following:

• Does your friend/colleague usually contact you without any introduction?
• Does your friend/colleague usually use the language that the message shows?
• Is the content of the message in line with your friend/colleagues usual behavior?

If the answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, you should not click on the link.
If you suspect that something smells fishy even if the answer is ‘yes’ to all questions, you might still take the extra precaution and verify with the person at the other end that the message is legitimate. This may take some extra seconds, but may turn out to be a smart use of your time.

Obfuscated links in email messages

One of the most used devices for social engineering is the good old email message.
One of the most famous, and successful examples of using email as a social engineering vehicle, happened ten years ago when millions of computer users around the world received an email with the subject ILOVEYOU and a body text with this sentence:

kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me.

The alleged love letter was the attachment LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs.
Vast numbers of people clicked and were subsequently infected with the Loveletter or I-Love-You malware.
The malware spreaders these days are usually a least a bit more sophisticated. A typical social engineering email nowadays might look like this:

Click image to enlarge

Characteristics are:

• a friendly subject line,
• a body text in html format aimed to pick the recipient’s interest,
• a link to a web page – this will often appear to be to a well-known and trusted web site.

Since this email is written in html format, the link that appears as seen in the email text may be completely different from what the link actually leads to when clicking on it. The real link will be displayed in the email client’s status bar at the bottom of the window when you hover the mouse pointer over the email link. As you can see from the image above, clicking the link does not take you to the www.cool.imagelibraryonline.net.woah-imgs/ address, rather to the more suspect-looking www.terribly-dangerous-web.com site.
Here is another example of a typical email designed to try to trick the recipient:

Click image to enlarge

Another social engineering attempt, aimed at users of the social network Facebook. The Facebook community has a huge number of members, and the probability is high that recipients of this email are Facebook members. However, none of the three links in this email (the Sign In button, the http://www.facebook.com/home.php URL and the “here” link do actually link to any Facebook resource.
An important lesson to learn from these examples is that links in messages are dangerous to click on. A more secure way is to copy and paste the text into the browser or tediously type it into the browser.

Manipulating search engine results

Big media events are loved by cyber criminals. They may be used to trigger social engineering schemes like those shown above, and they can be used in at least one totally different manner.
It is a fact that big media events like the swine flu pandemic, the volcano eruption in Iceland, the world’s championship in football and similar, inspire people to use search engines to search for new and updated information about the events.
By registering domain names (Internet names) that are associated with the event in question, and crafting web pages that are specially designed to satisfy search engines’ requirements, malicious web sites/pages may be “seeded” to appear near the top of results from search engines.
The events most suited for search engine manipulation are those that appear suddenly, like disasters. Specially crafted malicious web sites may then be created quickly and not compete with the real stuff about the event. Web sites about well-planned events will have had months to grow and already obtained good search engine results, are more difficult to compete with.
Such a malicious web site will unfortunately not offer particularly useful information about the searched-after event – it will rather only attempt to infect the customer with malicious program code.
You will find more information about manipulating search engines in this security article from last year.

Next part

In the next article in this series we shall examine more closely 

• infected web sites
• characteristics of social engineering attempts
• protection against unknown threats

Infected web sites

There are two different types of infected web sites/pages:

1. Those where the person with malicious intent herself has set up the web server and controls it. This type is normally the easiest ones to spot, even though some are quite clever and may replicate legitimate sites regarding look and feel, and have an address similar to the legitimate site. www.nicefeaturessite.com and www.nicefeatureesite.com look quite similar, but proof-reading will show that an ‘s’ in the former has been substituted by an ‘e’ in the latter.
    
2. Legitimate sites that have malicious elements. This may be because the site has been compromised and malicious elements have been inserted, or because the administrator of the legitimate web site has been tricked to add for example a malicious advertisement or another type of banner.

Recent studies indicate that the most malicious web sites are by far of type 2 above. Some studies show more than 90%.
A full examination of the different techniques used for inserting malicious elements on a web site is beyond the scope of these article. An Internet search will reveal lots of interesting information if you want more in-dept details. Suffice it to say in this context that some techniques used are:

• Cross Site Scripting (XXS),
• PDF files that exploit vulnerabilities in this file format,
• Malicious scripts (Javascripts or Active scripts),
• Malicious flash elements that exploit vulnerabilities in the flash player,
• Invisible IFRAMEs that loads malicious web elements,

Characteristics of social engineering attempts

It is close to impossible that you can be able to protect yourself against well-planned, targeted social engineering attempts. However, there are quite a few characteristics of the more mundane type, which are useful to remember.
Knowing these may save you from becoming a victim to scams of the kind each and every one of us are likely to be exposed to.
After all, few of us will ever experience a targeted attack directed at one person. Only particularly "interesting" persons merit such exceptional effort on an attacker’s side. Most of us are (unfortunately?) not that interesting.
A typical social engineering attack will often consist of some of the following or similar elements:

• Phrases that obviously intend to pick your curiosity.
• A link that turns out to be another one than the one displayed in the message.
• The displayed link is often to a well-known respectable organization.
• A message from an acquaintance of yours that is not in his or hers usual manner.
• A message from a completely unknown person.
• A message from yourself!

Protection against unknown threats

By increasing your awareness the way we have described in this and the previous article, you are better protected against typical, popular and traditional infection attempts.
More importantly, however, is that as a spin-off from your increased awareness, you are better equipped against infection attempts using completely new spreading mechanisms. It is a fact that whenever a new “device” is used for malware spreading, our previous, well-learned protection mechanisms tend to be completely forgotten. This issue has been discussed in several of our security articles the recent years - see for example this article from March this year.
By focusing on awareness rather than relying on previous knowledge and protection by software, you are less inclined to be infected.

Useful resources

Useful information about social engineering trends and examples can be found all over the Internet.
Some recommended resources with general information as well as information about the latest threats are:

• Norman’s Security center: http://www.norman.com/security_center/ (this section of our web)
• SANS’ Storm center: http://isc.sans.org/ 
• Different countries’ CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) web sites and mailing list. (Use a search engine to find your own local CERT.)
• Lots of other security organizations’ web sites and independent blogs.

Source

Norman Malware Cleaner 2010

Norman Malware Cleaner is a Norman program utility that may be used to detect and remove specific malicious software (malware).
Note that it should not be used as a substitute for running normal proactive antivirus protection, but rather as a reactive tool to handle systems that are already infected.
By downloading and running the program below it will clean an infected system completely:

• kill running processes that are infected
• remove infections from disk (including ActiveX components and browser helper objects)
• reveal and remove rootkits
• restore correct registry values
• remove references created by malware in hosts file
• remove windows firewall rules for malicious programs

System requirements

• Supported operating systems: Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 and 7.
• Operating systems not supported: Windows 95
• Note! This tool will not work in Windows Safe Mode. Please run Windows in Normal Mode.

In some cases Norman Malware Cleaner may require that you restart the computer to completely remove an infection: 

 Note
To give Norman Malware Cleaner the best working conditions possible, we recommend that you start the computer in Safe mode before running the program.

To do this, tap the F8 key on your keyboard during startup, before Windows starts, and select Safe mode from the menu that appears.

Pressing the F8 key at just the right time may be a little difficult (after the firmware POST process completes, but before Windows displays graphical output). If the F8 method does not work, repeat the procedure, but press the F8 key more quickly, or press it several times.

On some (older) computers, the F8 key method may not work. In these Windows versions you may also configure your computer to start in Safe mode through the System Configuration Utility (msconfig).

Download : Norman Malware Cleaner 2010.08.06

Norman Malware Cleaner 2010

Norman Malware Cleaner is a Norman program utility that may be used to detect and remove specific malicious software (malware).
Note that it should not be used as a substitute for running normal proactive antivirus protection, but rather as a reactive tool to handle systems that are already infected.
By downloading and running the program below it will clean an infected system completely:

• kill running processes that are infected
• remove infections from disk (including ActiveX components and browser helper objects)
• reveal and remove rootkits
• restore correct registry values
• remove references created by malware in hosts file
• remove windows firewall rules for malicious programs

System requirements

• Supported operating systems: Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 and 7.
• Operating systems not supported: Windows 95
• Note! This tool will not work in Windows Safe Mode. Please run Windows in Normal Mode.

In some cases Norman Malware Cleaner may require that you restart the computer to completely remove an infection: 

 Note
To give Norman Malware Cleaner the best working conditions possible, we recommend that you start the computer in Safe mode before running the program.

To do this, tap the F8 key on your keyboard during startup, before Windows starts, and select Safe mode from the menu that appears.

Pressing the F8 key at just the right time may be a little difficult (after the firmware POST process completes, but before Windows displays graphical output). If the F8 method does not work, repeat the procedure, but press the F8 key more quickly, or press it several times.

On some (older) computers, the F8 key method may not work. In these Windows versions you may also configure your computer to start in Safe mode through the System Configuration Utility (msconfig).

Download : Norman Malware Cleaner 2010.08.06

Disk Savvy 2.0.20

 A fast and easy-to-use disk space analyzer utility

DiskSavvy is a free, fast and easy-to-use disk space analyzer utility allowing one to analyze disk usage in one or more disks, directories, network shares and/or NAS storage devices. In addition, DiskSavvy Pro provides advanced, rule-based disk usage analysis capabilities, performance tuning options and the ability to export storage analysis reports to the HTML, Excel CSV and text formats.

DiskSavvy is a straight-forward HDD space analyzer utility that will enable you to analyze your disk usage usage for multiple directories, network shares or NAS storage devices.

DiskSavvy provides multiple disk usage analysis capabilities, built-in file copy, move and delete features and user-defined profiles.
Here are some key features of "Disk Savvy":

· Maximum Number of Files - 100,000
· Maximum Storage Capacity - 1 TB
· Maximum Number of Profiles - 3
· Support for Long File Names
· Support for Unicode File Names
· Support for UNC Network Path Names
· Built-In File Management Operations

Download :

 32 bit      64 bit

Disk Savvy 2.0.20

 A fast and easy-to-use disk space analyzer utility

DiskSavvy is a free, fast and easy-to-use disk space analyzer utility allowing one to analyze disk usage in one or more disks, directories, network shares and/or NAS storage devices. In addition, DiskSavvy Pro provides advanced, rule-based disk usage analysis capabilities, performance tuning options and the ability to export storage analysis reports to the HTML, Excel CSV and text formats.

DiskSavvy is a straight-forward HDD space analyzer utility that will enable you to analyze your disk usage usage for multiple directories, network shares or NAS storage devices.

DiskSavvy provides multiple disk usage analysis capabilities, built-in file copy, move and delete features and user-defined profiles.
Here are some key features of "Disk Savvy":

· Maximum Number of Files - 100,000
· Maximum Storage Capacity - 1 TB
· Maximum Number of Profiles - 3
· Support for Long File Names
· Support for Unicode File Names
· Support for UNC Network Path Names
· Built-In File Management Operations

Download :

 32 bit      64 bit

Mailing List Sender 1.0

What is Mailing List Sender?

The Mailing List Sender is a free program that allows you to send a list of e-mails, one by one, automatically!

This program support POP3 and SMTP protocols and file attachments. Also, you can set the email priority, email from display, SMTP host validation, email address validation, email message timeout, email encode type, send email as HTML or TEXT and more.
This program runs fast, easy to use and totally free.

Download : Mailing List Sender 1.0

 The Mailing List Sender 1.0 is a freeware software and it can be run for free!

Mailing List Sender 1.0

What is Mailing List Sender?

The Mailing List Sender is a free program that allows you to send a list of e-mails, one by one, automatically!

This program support POP3 and SMTP protocols and file attachments. Also, you can set the email priority, email from display, SMTP host validation, email address validation, email message timeout, email encode type, send email as HTML or TEXT and more.
This program runs fast, easy to use and totally free.

Download : Mailing List Sender 1.0

 The Mailing List Sender 1.0 is a freeware software and it can be run for free!

Apple to set up Japan Web warning on problem iPods

TOKYO (AP) -- After prodding from the Japanese government, Apple Inc. will post prominent notices on its website warning some iPod Nano music players in Japan may overheat.
Sixty-one cases of batteries overheating have been reported in first-generation iPod Nano machines sold in 2005 and 2006, according to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Some units were warped by the heat that caused minor burns when people touched them, but no serious injuries or damage have been reported, it said.
A notice for a battery replacement was posted late last year on Apple Japan's website but it requires several clicks before it can be read.
The government, in talks with Apple Japan since last year, pressed the company to correct that, ministry official Seiji Shimagami said Friday.
Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said an easily accessible web page will be set up by early next week that outlines how to get a battery replacement.
Apple will also send e-mails to registered owners, he said in a telephone interview from California. "Safety is the highest priority for Apple," said Neumayr.
Japanese are among the world's biggest fans of Apple products, standing in long lines to snatch up iPhone models and the iPad as soon as they go on sale.
The ministry said 1.8 million first-generation iPod Nano players have been sold in Japan, but it is unclear how many of those have the problem battery.
Neumayr declined to comment on whether Nano players in other parts of the world may be affected by the same problem.
Last month, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs offered free protective cases to buyers of the iPhone 4 to prevent reception problems that occur when people cover a certain spot on the phone with a bare hand.

Apple to set up Japan Web warning on problem iPods

TOKYO (AP) -- After prodding from the Japanese government, Apple Inc. will post prominent notices on its website warning some iPod Nano music players in Japan may overheat.
Sixty-one cases of batteries overheating have been reported in first-generation iPod Nano machines sold in 2005 and 2006, according to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Some units were warped by the heat that caused minor burns when people touched them, but no serious injuries or damage have been reported, it said.
A notice for a battery replacement was posted late last year on Apple Japan's website but it requires several clicks before it can be read.
The government, in talks with Apple Japan since last year, pressed the company to correct that, ministry official Seiji Shimagami said Friday.
Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said an easily accessible web page will be set up by early next week that outlines how to get a battery replacement.
Apple will also send e-mails to registered owners, he said in a telephone interview from California. "Safety is the highest priority for Apple," said Neumayr.
Japanese are among the world's biggest fans of Apple products, standing in long lines to snatch up iPhone models and the iPad as soon as they go on sale.
The ministry said 1.8 million first-generation iPod Nano players have been sold in Japan, but it is unclear how many of those have the problem battery.
Neumayr declined to comment on whether Nano players in other parts of the world may be affected by the same problem.
Last month, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs offered free protective cases to buyers of the iPhone 4 to prevent reception problems that occur when people cover a certain spot on the phone with a bare hand.

Why Does Mark Hurd Get $50 Million Severance When He Lied In His Expense Reports?

In the conference call following the shocking ousting of HP CEO Mark Hurd, it was revealed that the real reason he was forced out (can we just say "fired," please?) was because he filed false expense reports to hide the affair he was having

Here's the description in the NYT:

Michael Holston, executive vice president and general counsel, said during a conference call that the violation [that Hurd was fired for] involved expense reports, though he would not discuss the amount of money involved. Mr. Holston described Mr. Hurd’s relationship with the contractor as “close” and “personal.” The woman, he said, had been hired by the office of the chief executive. He also said the inaccurate expense reports were intended to conceal the personal relationship, adding that it showed “a profound lack of judgment.”

We have also, of course, learned that Mark Hurd will be getting a $50 million severance payout ($12 million in cash, plus stock).  This is on top of the $10 billion of market value that HP shareholders have lost so far as a result of his sudden departure.
Now, last time we checked, filing false expense reports was a form of fraud (and also usually a form of embezzlement, although we don't have enough details to know if that was the case here).  According to HP's general counsel, Hurd filed the fake reports to deceive the company.  Even if he didn't steal any money, therefore, he certainly committed the act of dishonesty that almost every employment contract contains as a condition on which an executive may be fired "for cause."
Generally, things like golden parachutes are dependent on executives not being dismissed for cause, and defrauding your company is certainly "cause."
So, on behalf of HP shareholders, we have a question for HP: Why is Mark Hurd getting a $50 million severance payout if he filed bogus expense reports?  And why was he allowed to "resign."  Why wasn't he fired for cause?
*UPDATE: The NYT provides more details in a new update, suggesting that Hurd said on his expense reports that he was having dinner with someone other than the contractor who later accused him of sexual harassment. This is still deception, obviously, but it's not standard theft-via-expense-reports (unless Hurd would not have been able to charge the expenses to the company had he been honest about who he was having dinner with).
*UPDATE 2: Now the NYT describes the expense report issues as "payments to a friend". That's worse than saying you had dinner with someone you didn't to hide the name of the person you DID have dinner with.

Tags: HP, Mark Hurd | Get Alerts for these topics

Why Does Mark Hurd Get $50 Million Severance When He Lied In His Expense Reports?

In the conference call following the shocking ousting of HP CEO Mark Hurd, it was revealed that the real reason he was forced out (can we just say "fired," please?) was because he filed false expense reports to hide the affair he was having

Here's the description in the NYT:

Michael Holston, executive vice president and general counsel, said during a conference call that the violation [that Hurd was fired for] involved expense reports, though he would not discuss the amount of money involved. Mr. Holston described Mr. Hurd’s relationship with the contractor as “close” and “personal.” The woman, he said, had been hired by the office of the chief executive. He also said the inaccurate expense reports were intended to conceal the personal relationship, adding that it showed “a profound lack of judgment.”

We have also, of course, learned that Mark Hurd will be getting a $50 million severance payout ($12 million in cash, plus stock).  This is on top of the $10 billion of market value that HP shareholders have lost so far as a result of his sudden departure.
Now, last time we checked, filing false expense reports was a form of fraud (and also usually a form of embezzlement, although we don't have enough details to know if that was the case here).  According to HP's general counsel, Hurd filed the fake reports to deceive the company.  Even if he didn't steal any money, therefore, he certainly committed the act of dishonesty that almost every employment contract contains as a condition on which an executive may be fired "for cause."
Generally, things like golden parachutes are dependent on executives not being dismissed for cause, and defrauding your company is certainly "cause."
So, on behalf of HP shareholders, we have a question for HP: Why is Mark Hurd getting a $50 million severance payout if he filed bogus expense reports?  And why was he allowed to "resign."  Why wasn't he fired for cause?
*UPDATE: The NYT provides more details in a new update, suggesting that Hurd said on his expense reports that he was having dinner with someone other than the contractor who later accused him of sexual harassment. This is still deception, obviously, but it's not standard theft-via-expense-reports (unless Hurd would not have been able to charge the expenses to the company had he been honest about who he was having dinner with).
*UPDATE 2: Now the NYT describes the expense report issues as "payments to a friend". That's worse than saying you had dinner with someone you didn't to hide the name of the person you DID have dinner with.

Tags: HP, Mark Hurd | Get Alerts for these topics

Google confirms acquisition of 'Superpoke' maker Slide

Google on Friday officially announced it has acquired Slide Inc., confirming rumors circulating earlier in the week. Slide creates entertainment products that tie in with social networks and online communities such as SuperPoke! and its family of related games, Top Fish, and FunSpace.
"For Google, the Web is about people, and we're working to develop open, transparent and interesting (and fun!) ways to allow our users to take full advantage of how technology can bring them closer to friends and family and provide useful information just for them," David Glazer, Engineering Director at Google said Friday.
Though no specific product plans have been announced, Glazer said Slide's team will help make Google's services like Gmail, Docs, Blogger, Picasa, and YouTube more "socially aware."
Slide founder Max Levchin today said "Given our shared vision and values, this is a tremendous opportunity for the two companies to come together to change the way people socialize on the Web."
Financial terms of the acquisition were not discussed by either party.

Google confirms acquisition of 'Superpoke' maker Slide

Google on Friday officially announced it has acquired Slide Inc., confirming rumors circulating earlier in the week. Slide creates entertainment products that tie in with social networks and online communities such as SuperPoke! and its family of related games, Top Fish, and FunSpace.
"For Google, the Web is about people, and we're working to develop open, transparent and interesting (and fun!) ways to allow our users to take full advantage of how technology can bring them closer to friends and family and provide useful information just for them," David Glazer, Engineering Director at Google said Friday.
Though no specific product plans have been announced, Glazer said Slide's team will help make Google's services like Gmail, Docs, Blogger, Picasa, and YouTube more "socially aware."
Slide founder Max Levchin today said "Given our shared vision and values, this is a tremendous opportunity for the two companies to come together to change the way people socialize on the Web."
Financial terms of the acquisition were not discussed by either party.

GPL scores historic court compliance victory

Open sourcers have scored a major victory in a US court over violation of the GPL.
The Software Freedom Conservancy has secured $90,000 in damages for willful infringement of GPLv2, plus nearly $50,000 in costs from Westinghouse Digital Electronics over its illegal distribution of the Unix utility BusyBox. The company has also been ordered to stop shipping product loaded with BusyBox.

It's the first time a US court has awarded an injunction ordering a GPL violator to permanently stop distribution of out-of-compliance GPL'd software.It might not be the last. The action is one of 14 that SFC has filed against the same number of consumer electronics manufactures and retailers for GPL violations, including Best Buy, Samsung Electronics America, and JVC Americas.
Westinghouse was pulled up for copying, modifying, and distributing BusyBox in firmware for its HDTV products and in software intended for use in HDTV without complying with the GPL license.
As part of the settlement, SFC has also secured the right to compel Westinghouse to hand over all unsold products loaded with BusyBox for donation to charity.
The company's costs could have been lower, but the New-York district court hearing the case took a dim view of the fact that Westinghouse's legal team failed to appear for the discovery phase.
Westinghouse is currently in General Assignment, an alternative to bankruptcy under California state law, and declined to defend itself. That means SFC and BusyBox's creator must now apply to Westinghouse's administrators as creditors in order to receive payment — and probably to get their HDTV kit. ®

Source : GPL scores historic court compliance victory

GPL scores historic court compliance victory

Open sourcers have scored a major victory in a US court over violation of the GPL.
The Software Freedom Conservancy has secured $90,000 in damages for willful infringement of GPLv2, plus nearly $50,000 in costs from Westinghouse Digital Electronics over its illegal distribution of the Unix utility BusyBox. The company has also been ordered to stop shipping product loaded with BusyBox.

It's the first time a US court has awarded an injunction ordering a GPL violator to permanently stop distribution of out-of-compliance GPL'd software.It might not be the last. The action is one of 14 that SFC has filed against the same number of consumer electronics manufactures and retailers for GPL violations, including Best Buy, Samsung Electronics America, and JVC Americas.
Westinghouse was pulled up for copying, modifying, and distributing BusyBox in firmware for its HDTV products and in software intended for use in HDTV without complying with the GPL license.
As part of the settlement, SFC has also secured the right to compel Westinghouse to hand over all unsold products loaded with BusyBox for donation to charity.
The company's costs could have been lower, but the New-York district court hearing the case took a dim view of the fact that Westinghouse's legal team failed to appear for the discovery phase.
Westinghouse is currently in General Assignment, an alternative to bankruptcy under California state law, and declined to defend itself. That means SFC and BusyBox's creator must now apply to Westinghouse's administrators as creditors in order to receive payment — and probably to get their HDTV kit. ®

Source : GPL scores historic court compliance victory

Child Control 2010

Computers are the place for children. This is the place where they can sharpen their agility as well as their abilities. They can learn and make new friends. What’s more, the Internet provides information for homework assignments. So far, so good. But they also need to be protected from the computer—for one thing, so that they don’t lose their sense of time and forget to go out and play with their friends once in a while, and for another, because of the dangers lurking on the Web. That’s why responsible parents everywhere install Child Control on every computer that their children use.


Child Control keeps track of the time your kids spend in front of the computer. Once their time is up, the computer automatically shuts down and won’t start up again—something any kid can understand. Our experience has shown that Child Control verdict is accepted without arguments—there is no debate and no discussion. Another way of looking at it: “Child Control gives your kids back time that they are then free to spend in other ways.”

Safety on the Internet
It isn’t always easy to watch your young ones’ every move on the computer—and it’s even harder to follow what they’re doing on the Internet. Child Control can also help you here, by automatically shutting the door on their Internet connection once their allotted time is used up. Parents can easily regulate how many hours a day each child can spend on the Internet, and even specify the precise hours of the day when the gate to the worldwide online community will be available.












Download : Child Control 2010

Child Control 2010

Computers are the place for children. This is the place where they can sharpen their agility as well as their abilities. They can learn and make new friends. What’s more, the Internet provides information for homework assignments. So far, so good. But they also need to be protected from the computer—for one thing, so that they don’t lose their sense of time and forget to go out and play with their friends once in a while, and for another, because of the dangers lurking on the Web. That’s why responsible parents everywhere install Child Control on every computer that their children use.


Child Control keeps track of the time your kids spend in front of the computer. Once their time is up, the computer automatically shuts down and won’t start up again—something any kid can understand. Our experience has shown that Child Control verdict is accepted without arguments—there is no debate and no discussion. Another way of looking at it: “Child Control gives your kids back time that they are then free to spend in other ways.”

Safety on the Internet
It isn’t always easy to watch your young ones’ every move on the computer—and it’s even harder to follow what they’re doing on the Internet. Child Control can also help you here, by automatically shutting the door on their Internet connection once their allotted time is used up. Parents can easily regulate how many hours a day each child can spend on the Internet, and even specify the precise hours of the day when the gate to the worldwide online community will be available.












Download : Child Control 2010