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A new application allows owners of the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch to run Windows on their portable devices. The catch is that they'll need a Mac computer running an $80 program to do so, though users of previous editions can upgrade for a smaller ... fee. The program in question is the recently released Parallels Desktop version 6. It's virtualization software, which means that users can set their Mac up to act as if it were a PC. This then allows them to install and run a copy of Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, though technically they'll need the appropriate Microsoft license to do so: for ... (view more)

Scareware comprises several classes of scam software with malicious payloads, or of limited or no benefit, that are sold to consumers via certain unethical marketing practices. The selling approach uses social engineering to cause shock, anxiety, or ... the perception of a threat, generally directed at an unsuspecting user. Some forms of spyware and adware also use scareware tactics. Scareware and Fake Antivirus A tactic frequently used by criminals involves convincing users that a virus has infected their computer, then suggesting that they download (and pay for) fake antivirus software to ... (view more)

Facebook users have been urged not to click on a link claiming to offer a "dislike" button. The link scams users to get access to their Facebook account. Dislike Link is Not Endorsed by Facebook There is an official "Like" function on Facebook. It ... allows users to give a virtual 'thumbs up' to comments or news posted by their friends. The function has now been extended so that third-party websites can publish a "Like button" on their sites: when visitors click the button, their Facebook account automatically posts a link to the relevant page. A common use is to allow readers to share a link to ... (view more)

Compared to Windows XP and previous Microsoft operating systems of years previous, one of the major differences of Windows Vista and Windows 7 is the User Account Control , or "UAC" for short. If you've used Windows Vista with UAC enabled (by ... default), then you know how annoying the feature can be. In fact, many users associate the failure of Windows Vista with the ill-functioning UAC simply because they felt it broke functionality and usefulness of the operating system. (Source: zdnet.com ) Recently, however, Microsoft defended its widely-criticized operating system Windows Vista, ... (view more)

Computer users aren't the only ones who need to worry about their privacy and security. A new report from San Francisco-based Lookout Inc., a mobile phone security firm, reveals that smart phone applications may be closely monitoring users and ... relaying that information to others. (Source: yahoo.com ) Personal Data Secretly Transmitted to Third Parties Nearly 300,000 free applications for Apple's iPhone and phones built around Google's Android software were scanned by Lookout, Inc. Results of those scans found that many of those apps were secretly pulling sensitive data off user phones and ... (view more)

Microsoft representatives have promised that the forthcoming Windows 7 Phone system will be based around the way customers use their phones in their everyday lives. But when Microsoft speaks to the marketing world, it tells a different story. Kostas ... Mallios, who oversees Microsoft's Strategy and Business Development unit, recently spoke at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. He spoke about the way in which Windows Phone 7 is designed to be a seamless experience for the user such that everything from social networking to multimedia is linked together smoothly. However, he also ... (view more)

Microsoft yesterday unveiled its March Patch Tuesday offering, and by comparison to recent months it was a relatively calm affair. Only two security bulletins addressing eight vulnerabilities were announced, but they were joined by a warning related ... to a new zero-day Internet Explorer flaw which does not yet have a fix. Both of the bulletins Microsoft released in accordance with its March Patch Tuesday have been designated "important". That's a big step down from this past February's Patch Tuesday , where about one-fifth of the 26 vulnerabilities were considered "critical," Microsoft's ... (view more)

A recently discovered decade-old denial-of-service condition could cause the instantaneous crash of a system and present users with the now-infamous blue screen of death, says a group of researchers. The condition was discovered this week by a ... collection of researchers in Malta, the tiny southern European archipelago in the middle of the Mediterranean. According to Paul Gafa, CTO of 2X Software, if a user launches an application containing the malicious code, they could find their systems crashed. "You can be the least privileged user on the system and still crash it," Gafa said. (Source: ... (view more)

A new phishing scam is out in the wild and is targeting users with online bank accounts. However, unlike thousands of similar phishing campaigns that hope to entice a user into clicking onto malicious link which redirects to a malicious website, ... this new campaign is banking on the fact that users will actually decline the request. How the Phishing Attack Works It all starts when a user receives a 'notice' to their email account. The message then claims that there has been a request issued by the service provider for the user to reset their password. Next comes the hook line: "If you didn't ... (view more)

Security firm Sophos tells PC World that two security measures introduced in Windows Vista and expanded in Windows 7 have had a marked effect on levels of infection on computers. Nevertheless, several online security professionals have reminded ... users of Windows 7 that while the new operating system (OS) offers enhanced security over its predecessors, it's not invulnerable. They note that human vulnerabilities will always leave people at risk to hackers. Two New Security Features Mark Improvements Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) partially randomizes the order in which data is stored ... (view more)