Bill Lindner

A new, simplified desktop computer aimed at older people unfamiliar with PCs and the Internet has been unveiled. SimplicITy only has 6 buttons that direct users to basic tasks like email and chat. It comes preloaded with 17 video tutorials from ... Valerie Singleton, a television presenter. According to government figures, there are more than 6 million people over the age of 65 who have never used the Internet. SimplicITy produces the specialty PCs in partnership with Wessex Computers and discount-age. It takes users two weeks to receive their made-to-order computers. SimplicITy: No Log-in Screen ... (view more)

Software designed by Microsoft to help law enforcement individuals access encrypted data has been leaked onto the web and available to the public via file-sharing services. The software, which is illegal for unauthorized people to use or download, ... brings together a number of common digital forensics capabilities into an easy-to-use automated tool. The software is known as the Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (or COFEE ) and allows police to easily capture important "live" computer evidence at the scene in cybercrime investigations, without special forensics expertise. (Source: ... (view more)

A recently released security report from Microsoft warns that cyber crooks are digging deeper into computers in order to steal and control data. The Security Intelligence Report reveals that rogue security software ("scareware") was the biggest ... threat during the first half of this year. Worm Activity on the Rise In a recent report, Jeff Williams, Microsoft's Malware Protection Center principal architect noted that rogue security software is no longer the primary tool for hackers and that worm activity, particularly the Conficker and Taterf worm, are on the rise. Scareware usually ... (view more)

Microsoft says that not only will they benefit from sales of its new Windows 7 operating system (OS), but the local economy could benefit from it too. Microsoft hired research firm IDC Corp to conduct a study on the ripple affect of Windows 7 which ... launched on October 22nd this year. Estimates from the IDC study found that American companies could hire 25,000 additional workers through the end of 2010. Sales of Win7 Products Estimated at $110B Microsoft's launch of Windows 7 can affect tech companies that depend on Microsoft's software. Some companies make computer hardware, others produce ... (view more)

According to reports, Britain will spend 200 million British Pound Sterling per year (equivalent to $330M US Dollars, or $627 per minute), in a massive expansion of its surveillance networks. The new funding is intended to give officials access to ... details of every Internet click -- on top of the email and telephone records that are already available -- made by every British citizen. LibDem Home Affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, who describes the amount of money being spent on the increasing surveillance state as 'eye-watering,' claims the increase in money spent on tapping phones and emails is ... (view more)

Windows Vista was perhaps the biggest disappointment in Microsoft's history. So, what did the Redmond-based company do to improve upon their past mistakes, and how is Windows 7 better than Windows Vista? Windows 7: Improving Upon The Past After the ... embarrassing Windows Vista debacle, Microsoft and the computer makers realized that they needed to work together to make some necessary changes. Windows 7 therefore improves upon the fundamental changes that came with Vista, making it faster, easier to use and more intuitive. (Source: cnet.com ) Close Ties with PC Developers In breaking with past ... (view more)

Some cable and telecommunications providers are trying to return to the days of usage-based pricing for Internet connections. AT ... (view more)

A recent survey conducted by online retailer Retrovo reveals that the majority of PC buyers will take a "wait-and-see" approach before buying Windows 7. Microsoft insists that many of the problems plaguing Windows Vista have been fixed with Windows ... 7, but that remains to be seen. Of the 448 respondents polled, 47 per cent of the PC users surveyed plan to read reviews of Windows 7 before upgrading their machines to Microsoft's new operating system. About 12 per cent of respondents plan to definitely upgrade and 38 per cent said they would not. A total of 3 per cent responded that ... (view more)

New malware being used by cyber criminals takes hacking to a whole new level: it hides evidence of a fraud victim's dwindling bank balance by rewriting online bank statements on-the-fly. The hack employs a Trojan horse program installed on a ... victim's machine that alters HTML (hyper text markup language) coding before it's displayed in a user's web browser. The altered HTML code either erases evidence of a money transfer transaction entirely from a bank statement, or it alters the total amount of money balances and transfers. The hack buys cyber criminals more time before a victim finds out he ... (view more)

The U.S. government is considering a plan that would prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from banning actions online that 'hog' bandwidth. The government's proposal would change how Internet providers such as AT ... (view more)