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Designers, are you guilty of creating information-overload homepages or building the "unwelcome screen?" The experts are here to save you.

 

Flash is cool, right? And that lovely welcome screen and information-rich homepage your client wanted are just perfect. Or are they? We talked to six top designers and creative directors about their Web design pet peeves. What makes these pros cringe might surprise you.

1. Putting your brilliant design first.

"Whether or not the site is designed elegantly, what really matters to me is whether the navigation is intuitive, and whether the information is organized well. Design, for as much time as we spend on it, if it's all about the visual elements, that can quickly get someone out of that site. I always try to focus on making sure the information makes sense before putting mouse on screen. Plan ahead. Get the answers before laying anything down. Get together with your project manager and design team, and get all the info from the client before start designing. It's also important to get the navigation in front of people to make sure everyone can get that information quickly. Be constantly testing. Only then should you build the beautiful elements, the design of the site, around that. If that's not there the site can be considered a failure. "

— Andres Orrego, associate creative director of Chowder Inc. in New York

2. Going overboard with Flash.

"Flash is certainly a pet peeve. It has its place, for sure, but since the dot.com bust we've come a long way. Today our customers want to be found – they expect to be found – but what does that mean for us? We need to set the stage for search engine optimization, so we need to stay away from Flash. When I see a site overly done, you ask yourself, does it really make sense for you to do that in Flash? No."

— Antonio Navarrete, president and creative director of SilentBlast in Toronto

3. The unwelcoming welcome screen.

"I hate everything about welcome screens. By clicking a link, I've already said that I want to go to visit your site, so there is no need to show me a 'welcome' screen with a quote. In fact, it is almost insulting to call it a 'welcome screen' – I'd almost respect it more if it was called a here-is-an-ad-so-we-can-make-money screen.  As it is, this intermediate screen just delays users from accessing your content and gives them an opportunity to leave before they ever arrive."

- Andrew Cafourek, co-founder and digital lead of A022 Digital in New York

4. The boggling homepage.

"People who are using your site, buying from your site, are not going to stay there or buy from you due to your awesome design. Most homepages are completely overwhelming. There is so much there – people try to communicate everything to everyone, and the real content gets lost. That's a design disaster. It should tell people in three to five seconds who you are and what you do. That's it. We have a design philosophy that we take from architecture: form follows function. When you are building a building, you want right angles and perfectly usable space. If you go to our homepage, you will see cleanliness and simplicity. I say this left and right, and my designers say it left and right: Websites have to breathe."

- Martin Russell, creative director of The Ocean Agency in Chicago

5. Worshipping the fold.

"There's been this maintained notion that everything has to be above a certain pixel dimension, and that everything below that gets lost. I don't think that's where we're at anymore. People do scroll. They like portals. So especially with making BarackObama.com, that was something we stayed away from: We knew people would scroll, and we really wanted to keep more information on the homepage, make it a portal, and allow for more content to be available on the portal page.  I think the key to making it work is making sure you present something and design with the pixel dimension in mind. On another site I did, there's type interacting with an image makes you aware that there's more going on below. Especially when you're on blogs, they become very blah-y, and there's no contrast in post styles. They don't keep a variation that keeps readers interested. Variation in consistency lets you forget the fold."

- Scott Thomas, a.k.a. @SimpleScott

6. Not addressing the user's real need.

"Many companies organize the site around their own internal categories, which is different from what the audience is actually looking for. In other words, they'll build a site around products, because they’re thinking they have to sell the product and the product needs to be front and center.  But when you think about it, you have to reverse it and first ask what need are you solving, and then present the product. I think there's internal anxiety to make sure things get covered as a checklist, versus really stepping back and understanding what the users need. You have to have the perspective of an audience that may not know your brand, and there's very often a complete absence of making people aware of your brand is, and why it’s relevant."

- Sean Ketchem, strategy director of communication of MetaDesign in San Francisco

7. Hiding who you are.

"Transparency on the Web is the hottest and the biggest thing as far as getting people to purchase or relate to your services. Our portfolio page was always No. 1 for the seven years we've been in business. But then we created videos of each one of our employees talking about what they do and why they love it. That page is now No. 1. By far, the people behind the process, behind the product, are extremely important. We've had clients say 'we went with you because we got to kind of meet everybody before we even walked in the door.' The buying process starts with a relationship. That process can start with a video and tell you personally what I do rather than just a photo and a title. Really show them rather than tell them."

- Martin Russell, creative director of The Ocean Agency in Chicago

By Christine Lagorio and Eric Markowitz 

http://www.inc.com

Last week, we saw the re-emergence of another new trojan that is disguising itself as Microsoft’s no-cost antimalware program Microsoft Security Essentials. This imposter is known in the technical world of antimalware combat as “Win32/FakePAV”. FakePAV is a rogue that displays messages that imitate Microsoft Security Essentials threat reports in order to entice the user into downloading and paying for a rogue security scanner. The rogue persistently terminates numerous processes such as Windows Registry Editor, Internet Explorer, Windows Restore and other utilities and applications.

This fake software is distributed by a tactic commonly described as a “drive-by download” and shows up as a hotfix.exe or as an mstsc.exe file. Additionally, after the fake Microsoft Security Essentials software reports it cannot clean the claimed malware infection, it offers to install additional antimalware rogues (with names such as AntiSpySafeguard, Major Defense Kit, Peak Protection, Pest Detector and Red Cross). Lastly, this fake program will try to scare you into purchasing a product.

Before we get to the detailed view of how this trojan works, we want the message to be very clear: This software is a fake. Do not be fooled by this scam. This malware can potentially cause consumers and small business owners harm. Microsoft Security Essentials can be downloaded and used at no cost by users running genuine Windows (Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/). So anything mimicking Microsoft Security Essentials but asking for any sort of payment is clearly up to no good.

If you have not already updated your security software please do so. Making sure your security software is up-to-date and has the latest definitions is the best way to prevent infections.

And now onto a detailed look at FakePAV. While different FakePAV distributions have different payloads, here is how the current one imitating Microsoft Security Essentials works:

1. It modifies the system so that it runs when Windows starts

2. When you go to execute something it’s watching for, it opens the alert window claiming the program is infected and blocks it from running.

3. You can expand it out for “additional details”

4. If you click “Clean computer” or “Apply actions”, it simulates an attempt to clean the claimed infection

5. You’ll then get an ‘unable to clean’ alert and be instructed to click ‘Scan Online’

6. Clicking this, a list of antimalware programs appears, including several fake removal tools, and you’d need to click Start Scan

7. Once the simulated scan completes, it will claim a solution was found and list products that can ‘clean’ the system (the listed products are fake removal tools).

8. Clicking ‘Free install’ on one of those downloads will download its installer and start installing

If you believe your machine has become infected, we encourage you to use Microsoft Security Essentials to check your PC for malware and to help remove them from your system. You can also find out how to get virus-related assistance at no charge from Microsoft here: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/support/default.mspx.

For more information on this FakePAV please visit our encyclopedia entry at http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Threat/Encyclopedia/Entry.aspx?Name=Rogue%3aWin32%2fFakePAV. It contains a lot of information that may help answer questions about this rogue.

And remember: Microsoft does not charge for Microsoft Security Essentials. You can find the legitimate version of Microsoft Security Essentials at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials.

 

By Eric Foster, www.windowsteamblog.com

Attacks on the Mac are now significant enough to warrant Apple users investing in an antivirus product, security company Panda Security said as it launched a new product that offers such protection.

Marketing spin to harvest the Apple economy or justified caution? Panda points to the numbers. There are now 5,000 "strains" of malware that target the Mac and the company says it is seeing 500 new Mac-specific samples appearing every month.

In 2009, 34 vulnerabilities were detected in Apple's OS X, which had risen to 175 so far for 2010, with a 20-year total of 170,000 macros "viruses" affecting the platform.

To be clear, such security threats relate only to Apple desktop and laptop computers and not iPads of iPhones, which are only vulnerable if they have been "jailbroken" or if, somehow, a rogue app breaks through the approval process.

Security companies eyeing the affluent Apple users is nothing new and every notable antivirus company now has a Mac product, driven in part by the somewhat larger user base in the US.

Questions remain about the scale of the threat, however.

Relative to Windows, the comparison is no contest. New Windows malware threats outnumber Apple ones by between 100-1 and 500-1 depending on who you ask, and that ignores the vastly greater sophistication they exhibit.

Many of the software vulnerabilities Panda notes were cross-platform browser flaws, and not specific to the Mac. As to the 170,000 macro viruses, while threatening in a general sense, such malware is so obsolete on the PC that vendors don't even bother to count them.

The argument rests on the number of new malware threats now being seen and their complexity. So far, the evidence suggests that while the odd Trojan is now appearing, Mac malware is still a low-key threat.

"We have always held the theory that when Apple reaches a more significant market share, around 15 percent worldwide (which given its current rapid growth will be achieved shortly), hackers will begin to target attacks against this platform," claimed Panda vice president, Ivan Fermon.

"We would even say that today, the Windows operating system is more secure than Mac, simply because Microsoft has been working proactively on security for many years," he added.

There are few reliable figures about Apple's market share and those that do exist tend to relate only to the US and the consumer market. With desktop computers waning in significance, the chances of Apple taking 15 percent of sales seems extremely remote. This scale matters because it is what drives criminal interest.

Given the small but plausible nature of the threat, there is an argument that Apple itself should offer a security program as part of its offering, instead of leaving it up to third parties. It's what Microsoft ended up doing, retro-fitting a firewall to XP and more recently giving away a free antivirus program, Security Essentials.

Ironically, the reason Microsoft avoided doing such a thing in the first place was worry over antitrust probes which would have viewed such a move as anticompetitive. This free-market ethos woefully misunderstood the nature of the threat and the world is still cleaning up the mess today.

For the record, Panda antivirus for Mac offers realtime protection, file scanning and the ability to probe iPhones and iPads to ensure they are not harboring malware even if that malware can't hurt those devices.

Panda also points out that antivirus products on Macs stop Windows malware being passed on (as attachments) to PC users although it seems unlikely many people will want to buy protection for other users who probably have their own security anway.

Mac users interested in Panda Security for Mac can buy a one-year license for the software for £42 (approx $66). This is higher than a Windows user would pay for equivalent protection but that is the case with all Mac software. Development costs are higher for a smaller number of users.

 

By John E Dunn, Techworld.com

via

http://www.pcworld.com

Since the introduction of Apple's popular iPhone, the smartphone market has become increasingly competitive. As a result of this increased competition, the consumer has benefited, with an array of smartphone options available to the general public, each with its own potential advantages and disadvantages over the competition. Three of the more popular smartphones, Apple's iPhone 3GS, RIM's BlackBerry Storm and RIM's BlackBerry Bold each boasts an impressive array of features worthy of consideration.

• Network

RIM's BlackBerry Storm is offered exclusively on the Verizon Wireless Network in the United States. RIM's BlackBerry Bold and Apple's iPhone 3GS are exclusive to AT&T. Choosing one of these three smartphone will largely depend on your preference of carrier and geographic location as each network's coverage varies throughout the United States. Although these exclusivity deals have a specific time frame, it is not uncommon for a carrier to offer a device exclusively for as long as it is available.

• Battery Life

RIM's BlackBerry Bold offers users 4.3 hours of talk time and 10.5 days of standby time. The BlackBerry Storm, by comparison, offers an impressive 5.5 hours of talk time and 15 days of standby. Apple's iPhone 3GS falls somewhere between, offering roughly 5 hours of talk time when using the 3G network and 12.5 days of standby battery life. Both BlackBerry models have user-replaceable batteries, the iPhone does not.

 

• User Interface

The BlackBerry Bold boasts a full QWERTY keyboard and trackball, situated directly below the screen. Apple's iPhone 3GS and BlackBerry Storm each rely on a touchscreen interface for most functions, although the Storm uses actual buttons to place and end a call and the iPhone has a single "home" button. Both the iPhone and Storm allow users a full QWERTY keyboard through the touchscreen interface which actively learns the user's typing habits and adjusts accordingly.

 

• Camera

Apple's iPhone 3GS recently improved upon the original iPhone's passable camera, increasing the megapixel resolution to 3. However, Apple recently included its proprietary "tap to focus" technology, which significantly improves picture quality. BlackBerry Storm's camera has a slightly higher resolution of 3.2 megapixels and utilizes auto-focus and image stabilization technology. BlackBerry Bold is easily the weakest in terms of resolution with only 2 megapixels of resolution.

 

• Storage

Apple's iPhone 3GS is easily the best option as far as storage, as it is available with up to 32 Gigabytes of storage space for applications, music, movies and more. BlackBerry Storm has 1GB of memory built in, but is packaged with an 8 GB micro SD card and supports up to 16GB. BlackBerry bold also has 1 GB of on board memory and can accept up to 16 GB of micro SD memory.

 By Vincent Healy, www.ehow.com

Today’s an exciting day! We are announcing that more than 240 million licenses of Windows 7 have been sold. Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system in history. As of September, Windows 7 was running on 93% of new consumer PCs and has over 17% global OS market share (according to Net Applications as of October 1st). There is an amazing array of great PCs out on the market today. Six months after launch, 100% (over 18,000) of our OEM partners were selling Windows 7 PCs versus 70% for Windows Vista PCs at a comparable time period.

 

Read More at Microsoft Windows Team Blog

While checking for updates, you receive the following error message: An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer. Error(s) found: Code 80072EE2 or WindowsUpdate_80072efd 0x80072efd

There are some reasons why Windows Update error:

• Applications or processes that interfere with Internet communications
• Resource issues on your computer
• High Internet activity
• Recoverable database errors
• Windows Update Servers may be busy

If you tried exiting Windows Update, waiting 10 to 15 minutes, and then starting Windows Update again, or if you allowed Windows Automatic Updates to install updates during its 24-hour time cycle, and the error message still persists, use the following methods to resolve the issue.

 

• Verify Internet connectivity
• Make sure that Windows Firewall is turned on, and temporarily disable third-party firewalls
• Temporarily disable third-party antivirus software
• Disable software accelerator programs
• Add the Windows Update Web site and the Microsoft Update Web site to the Trusted Sites list
• Make sure that you have the latest Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) update installed

If this method did not work for you, and you are comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, let's continue to the "Advanced troubleshooting" section.

Method A : Remove entries for Windows Update and Microsoft Update from the hosts file

Some programs may modify the hosts file to control DNS name resolution. Sometimes, an entry for the Windows Update Web site or for the Microsoft Update Web site may exist in the hosts file.
To remove entries from the hosts file, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Copy and then paste (or type) the following command in the Run box, and then press ENTER:

   notepad %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

   Note If you are prompted to select a program to open the hosts file, click Notepad, click to select the Always use the selected program option, and then click OK.

3. In Notepad, remove or remark any lines in the hosts file that contain entries for Windows Update so that they are not read when the file is accessed. To do this, put the number sign (#) in front of any line that contains "microsoft" and "update." For example, add the number sign (#) to the beginning of the following entries:
   • # 64.4.21.125 http://update.microsoft.com
   • # 64.4.21.125 http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
   • # http://update.microsoft.com
4. On the File menu, click Save.
5. Exit Notepad.
6. Restart the computer.
   Note If you do not want to restart the computer, you can also flush the DNS resolver cache. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, and then click Run.
   2. Type cmd in the Run box, and then press ENTER.
   3. At the command prompt, type ipconfig /flushdns, and then press ENTER.

Method B: Remove the proxy server entry from the WinHTTP proxy configuration

 

for Windows 7

To remove the proxy server entry from the WinHTTP proxy configuration for Windows 7, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start programs and files box.
2. Right-click cmd.exe in the Programs list, and then click Run as administrator.
   Note If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or click Continue.
3. Type the following command and then press Enter:

   netsh winhttp show proxy

   Note The proxy setting is listed next to Proxy Server. If there is no proxy server, Direct Access <no proxy server> is shown in the Command Prompt window.

4. To remove the listed proxy setting, type the following command and then press Enter:

   netsh winhttp reset proxy

5. Click Start, click All Programs, click Windows Update, and then try to download and install updates again.

 

for Windows Vista

To remove the proxy server entry from the WinHTTP proxy configuration for Windows Vista, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
2. Right-click cmd.exe in the Programs list, and then click Run as administrator.
   Note If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or click Continue.
3. Type the following command and then press Enter:

   netsh winhttp show proxy

   Note The proxy setting is listed next to Proxy Server. If there is no proxy server, Direct Access <no proxy server> is shown in the Command Prompt window.

4. To remove the listed proxy setting, type the following command and then press Enter:

   netsh winhttp reset proxy

5. Click Start, click All Programs, click Windows Update, and then try to download and install updates again.

If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, unfortunately this content is unable to help you any further. For your next steps, you might want to ask someone for help, or you might want to contact Support. To do this, please visit the following Microsoft Web site: Microsoft Support

I hope, this article may helps your problem

 

By Heri Gunawan

www.compu-tech18.blogspot.com

The final version of Windows Live Essentials 2011 is now available to download. The all-in-one bundle of mail client, instant messenger, movie editor, blog editor, and more, runs on Windows Vista and Windows 7—Windows XP users need not apply.

We've already had a detailed look at Messenger and Live Mesh (which at the time was called Live Sync). The positives are much the same now as they were then; Messenger's social integration works well, its Facebook chat is useful, and its tabbed chats extremely welcome, if overdue.

Unfortunately, criticisms leveled at those products in the beta are just as valid in the final version.

Messenger has lost widely-used features like one-way webcam chats, the ability to hide that you have a webcam installed (especially popular among teenagers and children, who might want to use their camera but don't want to advertise that they have one), and the ability to have nicknames. Microsoft claims that the webcam features were ditched as part of the development of HD video calling. I don't doubt that HD video calling works, but I don't have the hardware to use it; nor does anyone on my contact list (though Microsoft's HD webcam does look appealing). As such, it seems a bitter pill to swallow. The distaste is exacerbated by the fact that the new video calling appears to place considerably greater demands on my processor than the old webcam feature, enough to cause noticeable slow-downs.

The loss of nicknames is a result of the social integration. Facebook and LinkedIn, in particular, use real names; the abandonment of nicknames and use of real names within Messenger is a reflection of this. It's a move that has been unpopular with many long-time Messenger users; the ability to create "screen names" is a long-standing feature of instant messaging, and its removal, especially for those not interested in social networking features, is felt to be something of a privacy violation.

The system can be subverted easily enough, of course; there's nothing to compel the use of an accurate and honest first name/last name pair.

Live Mesh is still a confused and confusing mix of peer-to-peer sync, cloud sync, and remote desktop access. Though the cloud storage, now 5GB, is branded "SkyDrive," it still doesn't integrate with the "real" 25GB SkyDrive service. Since that SkyDrive underpins new features like large Hotmail photo galleries and photo integration with Windows Live Photo Gallery, this is disappointing. Perhaps we must wait for Essentials 2012.

Windows Live Photo Gallery has a range of desirable new features. Face recognition and geotagging are both welcome additions (although the geotagging is broken). Also useful is a tool named "Photo Fuse," that can take the best parts of several pictures to construct a composite—to allow creation of group photos where everyone has their eyes open, say. With the 30,000 photos I have in my collection, it is a little sluggish, however, which detracts somewhat from the experience.

Photo Fuse is ideal for those annoying group photos

I was also disappointed to see that the Bing Bar remains an apparently mandatory part of the Windows Live Essentials install process. The Bing Bar may be useful. Honestly, I don't know. Because what I do know is this: it doesn't look right (it doesn't fit in with the styling of Internet Explorer 8, and looks even more out of the place in the Internet Explorer 9 beta), and it makes my browser awfully slow. So slow, in fact, that Internet Explorer 9 warns me about it:

Dear right hand, please meet left hand

Internet Explorer 9 may be in beta, but it offers the diagnostic tools; why couldn't whoever wrote the Bing Bar use them and discover that there is a problem with its performance?

Update: Ah, it turns out that the Bing Bar isn't mandatory after all, it just doesn't get uninstalled with the rest of the suite. When I removed the beta to install the final version, it didn't remove the Bing Bar. If the installer finds the Bing Bar is already installed, it gives no choice but to upgrade it. If, however, it's not installed at all, it is optional as it should be.

The aim of the Windows Live Essentials is to provide value to Windows in a manner that's both decoupled from the operating systems' release schedule, and unlikely to receive antitrust attention. They certainly do that. Not everyone will use every tool (I've never used Movie Maker or Family Safety, for example), but it will be a rare person indeed for whom the suite offers nothing of value. Though some decisions are maddening, the 2011 version is certainly an upgrade on last year's offering.

One of Microsoft's ambitions with the Windows Live Essentials was for OEMs to preinstall them. This is, in a sense, the perfect outcome for Redmond: such a move leaves them bundled, as if they were built-in, while still sidestepping legal issues. Dell has been bundling versions of the software since 2009, and has duly announced that the 2011 iteration will ship on new systems from later this year. Though I'd blow away most bundled software that OEMs preinstall, the Windows Live Essentials are well worth keeping.

 

By Peter Bright

http://www.arstechnica.com

This month the NPD Group didn't share the specific sales numbers for video game hardware or software, leaving it up to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft to reveal specifics for themselves. So far, only Microsoft has made its numbers public, and sales were very good.

"Xbox 360 enters the holiday season with four consecutive months as the #1 console in the US, with 484,000 units sold during the month, up 37 percent from last September, a stark comparison to the other console platforms," Microsoft stated. It also revealed that Halo: Reach sold 3.3 million units in its first month.

The NPD Group, in its now-truncated report, also praised Microsoft's performance. "Xbox 360 hardware sales were up versus last year, and this month marks the best month of unit sales for the platform yet in 2010, which says a lot considering sales are up 34 percent on a year-to-date basis," NPD analyst Anita Frazier wrote.

Microsoft also had the best-selling accessory with the 1,600-point card sold at retail, although it was pointed out that all three PlayStation Move SKUs made it onto the top ten chart for accessories.

Now that the NPD Group releases such ambiguous and, frankly, unsatisfying reports, the big three can either step up and share their sales or keep them from the press. Microsoft couldn't wait to trumpet its sales, while both Sony and Nintendo kept silent. You can take that a few different ways, but both companies said a lot by choosing to keep their mouths shut.

By Ben Kuchera

http://www.arstechnica.com

Twitter has established itself as a means of broadcasting information to wide group of people all at once. But, for those times where you want to talk more intimately, Twitter also has the ability to send a Direct Message (DM) that is private between the two parties. Well, it's supposed to be private, but the reality is perhaps not as secretive as one might expect.

Every 140-character nugget of wisdom you tweet will be fed to anyone who follows your Twitter account, and is also publicly searchable by default. So, if you tweet "Getting sushi for lunch today, who's in?" your Twitter followers will instantly see the message in their Twitter feed, and anyone else that searches based on keywords like "sushi" or "lunch" might also uncover your tweet.

However, if you want to go out for sushi for lunch with your best friend, and you don't necessarily want the rest of the world to know about, or feel as if they have been invited by proxy to join the party, you probably shouldn't sent the tweet to the whole Twitterverse. Instead, send your friend a DM.

In order to send someone a Direct Message, that person must be following your Twitter account. That way you can't go randomly DM'ing people you don't even know, or who don't want to be burdened with your Twitter spam. As long as the two Twitter accounts follow each other, though, the two parties can communicate back and forth via Twitter DMs that are only viewable by the recipient and don't enter the main Twitter feed.

But, it turns out that doesn't mean DMs are entirely private. While the DMs are ostensibly private, the reality is that any apps that have been approved to access your Twitter account can also see those "private" messages.

There are only two types of account access authorizations: read-only, or read-and-write. In either case, the fact that the app has been granted permission to access the account at all means that all Twitter messages, including DMs are accessible to the app. In the event of read-and-write approval, the app could also delete your messages, or send messages out on your behalf.

Perhaps you should think twice next time before blindly approving some random app to access your Twitter feed. You can find out which apps have access to your Twitter messages by logging in to your account on the Twitter site. Click on Settings, then Connections. The fine print for each entry displays the type of access authorized (read-only or read-and-write), and a link is provided to "Revoke Access" for any that seem shady or unwarranted.

It may be a tad paranoid to worry about whether the admin of a given app is abusing the privilege you have granted and is sifting through your private DMs. But, just to be safe you should exercise some discretion with the apps you grant that authority to, and remember that your DMs may not be as private as you might think.

By Tony Bradley, www.PCWorld.com

Microsoft is launching its new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, this morning. Here's a live feed from the press conference in New York:

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicks the show off. "I've been looking forward to this day for some time," he says. "We really have built with our partners a different kind of phone."

"We focused in on the way real people really want to use their phones on the go. We want to let you get in, out and back to life," he says. "We set out to build a phone that was thoroughly modern."

Ballmer emphasizes that the phone will be personalizable -- "wonderfully mine." It will feature "my pictures, my friends, my activities, my world and my avatar at the end of the day."

There will be nine different models available, from LG, Samsung, HTC and Dell. Over 60 mobile operators around the world will offer these in 30 countries. AT&T and T-Mobile are on the list in the U.S.

Ralph De La Vega from AT&T takes the stage. He talks about how AT&T and Microsoft have a long history of working together, and launched some of the first Windows Mobile phones. "We have more smartphone customers than any other U.S. carrier and also the widest choice (of phones)," he says.

Models include:

• LG Quantum. It features a Qwerty keyboard and 16 GB onboard storage. $199.99.
• HTC Surround. This media and gaming device includes a 5 megapixel camera and two Dolby surround sound speakers that slide up. $199.99.
• Samsung Focus. It has "the best looking screen on any Windows phone," says De La Vega. It's also thin. $199.99.

All of the phones have at a 1 GHz processor.

Microsoft Vice President Joe Belfiore is doing a demonstration. He's talking about how Windows Phone 7 has a "smart design" that makes using it "faster and simpler." The phone "anticipates in as many places as possible what you want and need," he says.

The phones have "hubs" for common tasks such as photos or music and video. The home screen is easily customizable.

He shows off a camera. You can easily snap a picture and then upload it to Facebook. Every picture you take can be automatically uploaded the minute you take it, if you want.

Email features a version of Microsoft Outlook that looks similar to what you see on a PC. The Contact list is integrated with a mapping feature. You can get movie times, stock quotes with one click.

The phone features a voice recognition program called TellMe, but it didn't work during the demo.

We're going through some of the hubs now:

• People. It includes a "recent" feature that's like speed dial -- it calls up the information on people you contact most. "You can post something on your wife's Facebook wall" with just a few clicks, he says.
• Pictures. The phone automatically shares albums on Facebook.
• Office. The first thing you see is OneNote, because note-taking on the phone is important. It includes a to-do list. There's SharePoint for server documents shared between co-workers.
• Music and Video. On the left, this hub features access to a Zune library. Right next to that is a history of music and videos you've been listening to and watching. If you have a ZunePass subscription, you can access "millions and millions of tracks just by hitting the search button."
• Games. The Windows phone will be the only one that works with XBox Live. It includes multiplayer gaming features. Electronic Arts is a partner.

One feature that is missing on the phone is copy and paste. It's coming in 2011, Belfiore says.

That's a wrap. We'll have more details and a first look on Windows Phone 7 in a bit -- stay tuned.

By Ed Baig, USA TODAY

Browser security is similar in some respects to the MPG of your car; everyone might say it’s very important but the real value often doesn’t hit home until gas prices jump or budgets are tight.  Similarly, consumers often only realize the importance of having a trusted, secure browser after they have been on the receiving end of some malicious act; at this point the damage may have already been done.

Hence browser developers must be vigilant and work hard to protect customers from attacks.  The work of external organizations such as Online Trust Alliance (OTA) is also important in this effort.  OTA is a non profit that contributes to the safety of products by facilitating collaboration on subjects pertinent to security, promoting practices that enhance product security, and contributing to public policy in online services.  OTA also recognizes work done to improve the security of products.

Internet Explorer 8 is humbled to be recognized as the recipient of 2010 Excellence in Online Trust Award by (OTA) on September 23.  This award represents a strong commitment by Microsoft and Internet Explorer to follow the OTA principles.

The Internet Explorer team has worked hard to create a browser that helps keep you safe online.  The technologies present in IE8 that facilitate a safer browsing experience include:

• SmartScreen Filter which provides industry leading malware and phishing protection
• Features that help prevent online threats such as clickjacking, cross-site script attacks, and domain spoofing
• Helping IE customers manage their privacy through InPrivate Browsing and InPrivate Filtering

The results of this work are self-evident.  Back in July we announced that we had already blocked 1 billion attempts to download malware.  Over the course of IE 9 Beta new security features will be introduced, such as the download reputation notification that warns users about higher risk downloads.

If you’re using an earlier version of Internet Explorer you should download Internet Explorer 9.  With IE9 now in Beta, you can benefit from enhanced security features as well as from an all-round fast experience with our new clean UI that puts the focus on your sites.

 

by James Pratt 

www.windowsteamblog.com