Microsoft has been working for a long time now in giving a good and reliable antivirus platform for all users. And when I say “for all users” I mean a free one. Seems that the dream is about to become true today: Microsoft Security Essentials will be release to the public as the free antivirus solution from Microsoft.
Microsoft Security Essentials will be replacing Windows Live OneCare as the security suite for viruses and malware. The suite can be installed in Windows XP, Vista and 7; and seems that already has a good review about the protection you can achieve, by giving you a shield for 97,8% of the existing malware in the web.
On the other side, some of the other reviews this antivirus platform has received so far say that the engine inside it is a little bit slow and intrusive with other applications.
And of course, leaders from other security solutions already are trying to tear this solution down, like McAfee: “will compete against other free solutions by offering limited security functionality”; or Symantec saying it is a “thin defense” and not giving you any type of antispam or identity safeguards.
There has been a lot of reports about Google Chrome OS which Google officially announced they have been working on. Since that time I have been very keen to get my hands on the product and give it a good test.
I came across a very interesting article today about installing Google Chrome OS for Linux machines.
I find it funny how there are a lot of skins for Mac like skins on products, however there doesnt seem to be many people making Windows skins for Mac’s. Anyways, here is a new skin for Windows Live Messenger which makes it look like Apple Mac OS Snow Leopard. This is the first Apple theme plus! skin that works with Windows Live Messenger 9 or 14.
This Snow Leopard 1.0.2 skin for Windows Live Messenger 2009 has already had over 1 million downloads despite being in beta.
Today Google has announced that they have launched Picasa 3.5, a new version of their very popular free photo editing software. This version of Picasa gives the user the ability to add name tags to their photos, using the same facial recognition technology that powers name tags on Picasa Web Albums.
Name tags have been designed to help the user easily organise their photos by what matters most. Picasa identifies similar faces and puts these into an “Unnamed People” album. From there, you can easily add a name tag by clicking “Add a name” and typing the person’s name. After you’ve added name tags to some photos, you can use your tags to do creative things, like quickly find all the photos with the same two people in them, make a face collage with just one click or upload and share people albums with friends.
Additionally, Picasa 3.5 has integrated Google Maps, so it is easy to geotag your photos and then view them according to location. Finally, Google has completely redesigned the import process in which you can now import photos from your camera and upload the photos to Picasa Web Albums in one easy step.
One of the most common problems for customer support agents who take calls from customers with malfunctioning computers is not actually the technical problem, but the person who is complaining about it. The fact is that the person who rings customer support for advice will not be a technical expert and as such it will be difficult to guide them through the process of fixing the problem.
Team Viewer is a new piece of software that allows customer support to cut out the middle man completely. Basically, it allows customer support agents access to a customer’s computer to fix any problem. Not only this, but it’s incredibly easy to use. I tested it using my laptop and an older laptop that I have lying around for such tests like when I reviewed the first ever Warcraft game on WireNinja. I found it really easy to gain access with the installation only taking five minutes. Also, the customer’s computer (i.e. my old laptop) didn’t need to download any software; I just had to accept a small .exe file.
All you need is the users IP address and once you exchange an auto-generated password to allow access to the computer then you’ll have access to their machine via a window half the scale of theirs monitor. It looks just like it does on their end as you can see from the screenshot. Using this screen, you can easily fix a problem with little or no need to consult with the customer.
This program has other applications such as for office workers who need remote access to their computer. However, its main function is for customer support.
Gone are the days when a humble mobile phone and a stand alone PC were all the high profile office worker, self-employed person or whiz-kid had. Now, we all have at least three or four devices ranging from laptops, to cell phones, to smart phones to MP4 players. And the demand for them all to work together has never been higher. This is where syncing come into question. Syncing same-brand and compatible devices may be easy but using generic programs to sync items such as MacBooks and Windows Mobile smart phones that are from two opposing companies is no easy task.
SyncMate, which is mate by Eltima is available at the domain www.syn-mac.com holds the answer to syncing you Macintosh with several smart phones such as Windows mobile and Nokia S-Series phones.
The software is downloaded to your Mac and used to sync organisers, meida, contact info, e-mails and other such useful data. One user, Ann Clifford said:
“I am using SyncMate mainly to synchronize my Todos, my Google calendar and my contacts. SMS Manager Function is very useful too. Oh, almost forgot! The new iTunes synchronization is very cool. It syncs all my music, which is very important to me. SyncMate is a total ActiveSync for Mac replacement.”
The software is available here and I highly recommend it for the power-users with a Mac.
Most people im sure would probably agree that Apple’s iTunes software isnt a lightweight application. I was wanting to put together a great list of free alternatives to iTunes that are actually worth checking out.
Foobar 2000 – A digital music management program for Windows users. It works with Windows 2000,Windows Vists, Windows XP and Windows XP 64 bit edition. To use this program you will need 32 MB of RAM and a display with at least an 800 X 600 resolution. This program is compatible with MP1-4, MPC, AAC, WAV, SND, WMA, Ogg Valis, WavPack, AIFF, CDDA, FIAC/Ogs FLAC and AU. It also supports full Unicode and Replay Gain. Other great features include third party development potential and keyboard shortcut that are fully customizable.
Froddle Pod – Froddle is not as feature rich as iTunes but it provides access to the main features that iPod owners need: It can copy music and videos from and to an iPod which is definitely the main feature that any iTunes alternative should support. The software can also backup and restore all data that is stored on an iPod. Another feature is music normalization for all or selected music on the iPod.
Songbird – Built on the Firefox platform and works with iPods and other media players. In addition to many great features, Songbird has a plenty of add-ons, and because it’s open source, clever programmers will be adding more as time goes on.
YamiPod An interesting iTunes alternative, because you don’t have to install it on your computer at all. Just copy it to your iPod’s hard disk and then you can manage your songs from any computer running Mac OS X, Windows or Linux.
Winamp – Sometimes called the grandfather of Windows music players, Winamp is a full featured music manager, with integrated iPod support and will even play iTunes protected files if QuickTime is installed.
Amarok – A great iTunes alternative for Linux and Unix users. It works with a wide variety of portable music players including: iPod, Creative Zen players, iRiver iFP and T players, Nomad players, generic MTP players and generic USB players. Some of the features that this program has that you are going to love include: album covers, wikipedia integration, last.fm integration, superior visual effects, lyrics support and music tracking capabilities.
Banshee – Linux users are going to enjoy what Banshee has to offer. This free download allows you to do everything that you want to do with your digital music. You can import music, organize music, play it back, share it and rip it on a CD. This is a great program for people who love their music and who want to actively manage it.
Cog – Most people using Mac OSX feel that iTunes is the best option because it was designed for this platform. However, Cog is worth a look for Mac users, because it addresses many of the limitations that iTunes has. It can be used with the following file types: Ogg vorbis, Monkeys Audio, MP3, Wavpack, Apple Lossless, FLAC, Musepack, AAC and WAV/AIFF. Some of the features that make it a worthy alternative to iTunes include: gapless playback, auto updating, preferences, Growl support, global hot keys, seeking, feedback forms, last.fm support, and smart shuffle.
My second Twitter post today – I must have tweet fever or something! This one is however a little more on the serious side – Stocks.
Yes, I suppose we can partially blame them for the recession and be totally jealous of their riches but they need to talk too, right? StockTwits Desktop is a new piece of software that allows people all over the world to talk to one another about stocks. Within the tweets you’ll find the latest gossip, trends and advices about trading.
The programs basically consists of columns of tweets in different categories as well as StockTwit TV which gives you the latest news about the software. For example, they recently teamed up with the trading giant NASDAQ in the Big Apple.
It’s all free and extremely useful to anyone who currently trades or is interested in becoming a stock trader. I used the programs for five minutes and discovered that AIG stocks may be a safe bet for the future and that USD-JPY would not have been a good move.
You can get a feel for the software or download it at their homepage.
Apple is currently offering corporations Mac OS X Server v.10.6 “Snow Leopard” for a free trial.
Mac OS X Server v.10.6 “Snow Leopard” has everything you need to deliver standards-based workgroup and Internet services, providing an ideal solution for education, small businesses, and large enterprises. The amazing features in Snow Leopard Server make it easy to share contacts and calendars, collaborate on projects, access information remotely, create and distribute podcasts, and more.
Snow Leopard Server offers countless behind-the-scenes features, which greatly reduce IT time and effort, improve compatibility in mixed environments, enhance support for iPhone and iPod touch users, and boost the already robust security of Mac OS X Server. With a full 64-bit operating system, Mac OS X Server is designed to maximize the computing potential of today’s Xserve and Mac Pro systems and dramatically increases the total number of simultaneous system processes, threads, and network connections that the server can utilize. Designed to handle the most demanding server operations, Snow Leopard Server is up to twice as fast as its predecessor.
All you need to do to receive your copy is fill out the form located here. You must be a USA citizen however.
Picok stands for Personal Information Cockpit. It’s an open source software package, aimed at enabling users to build their personal information dashboards. The interface is very similar to Netvibes and Pageflakes, in which allows users to loaded their own content into small draggable boxes.
There are a quite few standard portlets shipped with Picok, but since it is an open system, maintainers of picok installations can easily create portlets of their own.
Picok is written in PHP 5, uses the Yahoo User Interface Library and Zend Framework Components and supports MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM Lotus Notes and is ready to be integrated into your corporate intranet, website or community platform as well.
One of the most common problems for customer support agents who take calls from customers with malfunctioning computers is not actually the technical problem, but the person who is complaining about it. The fact is that the person who rings customer support for advice will not be a technical expert and as such it will be difficult to guide them through the process of fixing the problem.
Gone are the days when a humble 
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