Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Microsoft

400,000 PCs Infected With Fake "Antivirus 2009" 353

Posted by timothy from the please-keep-up-now dept.
nandemoari writes "The second month of Microsoft's campaign against fake security software has resulted in the removal of the rogue "Antivirus 2009" application from almost 400,000 infected PCs. Microsoft claims that December's version of the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) — the free utility included in Windows Update every month — specifically targeted 'Antivirus 2009.' According to Microsoft, MSRT removed the rogue application from over 394,000 PCs in the first nine days after it was released on December 9."

Comment Re:Sad News (Score 1) 195

by 1310nm (#26196527) Attached to: Abit To Close Its Doors Forever On Dec. 31, 2008
Since we're playing the "my anecdote beats yours" game, I have a K8WE Thunder (S2985) in a server that is absolute crap. An Asus board at half the price is more reliable and less buggy than the Tyan. So bad, I had to buy a PCI USB card because the on-board USB won't connect devices on boot, nor with the secondary PCI Express x16 slot work with a 1-lane card with SLI disabled. It also will not allow you to use RAID without enabling it for all the SATA ports, not just the 2 you might want to use for RAID (undocumented "feature").

Comment Re:You could roll your own. (Score 1) 517

by 1310nm (#26145097) Attached to: SoHo NAS With Good Network Throughput?
Remember, though, that FreeNAS is still not stable software. I had trouble with it not remembering settings and a few other things. Great concept, but I can't wait for them to iron out a few wrinkles.

After reading horrible reviews about set-top NAS boxes, I built the client a PC and threw Debian and samba on it. I use Acronis True Image Home on their PCs, and have it set to use no more than 100GB of share storage for backups. It worked great for a while, but then there was a power issue that zapped the power supply and got most of the components in the machine, and now I'm trying to get it all working right again.

In retrospect, if I had it to do all over again, I would have gone with a cheap Dell server with a warranty or something rather than building the machine myself. I believe the extremely cheap components I used were a contributing factor in the failure. Which leads me to another lesson learned: always talk to the customer about their price expectations! Don't always assume they want it as cheap as possible! In my case, I talked the customer out of manually backing up to a USB drive with a few computers into instead using imaging software to make backups to this NAS. Therefore, I assumed they would be shocked at a high sticker for the PC used as a NAS, when comparing it to the cost of a USB drive. Later, they made a comment about cost along the lines of, "Don't worry about how much it's going to cost, let's just get it working." That kind of threw me for a loop.

On the plus side, such a configuration can be used to add value later, and the customer has asked for a light website that would provide their customers with the ability to upload files that are too big for email. The server should be able to handle that small increase in activity just fine.

Keep in mind that most of the small business/home office sites don't have incredibly stable power infrastructure. Make sure that the NAS has a UPS, and a daemon running to monitor it and shut down if necessary. In my case, it's an APC 800VA UPS and the NAS server runs apcupsd.
Microsoft

China Says There's No Antitrust Probe On Microsoft 87

Posted by timothy from the and-by-under-wraps-we-meant-welcome-to-china dept.
natenovs writes "China's intellectual-property rights enforcer said the government isn't probing Microsoft Corp. for breaching antitrust laws, denying yesterday's report by a state-owned newspaper. 'We are not conducting an anti-monopoly investigation against Microsoft and have no plans to do so,' Yin Xintian, a spokesman and legal director at the State Intellectual Property Office, said by telephone today in Beijing. The newspaper's report is 'completely untrue,' the agency said on its Web site."
Graphics

AMD's New Card Supports Linux From the Get-Go 352

Posted by timothy from the no-present-like-the-time dept.
Michael writes "Back in September AMD had announced a new ATI Linux driver as well as opening up their GPU specifications, and today they have taken an additional step to better support the Linux OS. With the just-announced Radeon HD 4850 RV770 they have provided same-day Linux support, and the Linux driver is now shipping alongside the Windows driver on their product CDs. In addition, they are encouraging their AIB partners to showcase Tux on the product packaging as a sign of Linux support. Last but certainly not least, AMD is committed from top-to-bottom product support on Linux and they will be introducing high-end features in their Linux driver such as MultiGPU CrossFire technology. Phoronix has a run-down on AMD's evolutionary leap in Linux support along with information on the open-source support for the RV770 GPU."
Security

1 In 3 Sysadmins Snoop On Colleagues 392

Posted by timothy from the and-they-steal-chips-and-soda dept.
klubar writes "According to a a recent survey, one in three IT staff snoops on colleagues. U.S. information security company Cyber-Ark surveyed 300 senior IT professionals, and found that one-third admitted to secretly snooping, while 47 percent said they had accessed information that was not relevant to their role. Makes you wonder about the other 2 out of 3. Did they lie on the survey or really don't snoop?"
Mars

Evidence Of Glaciers On Mars Suggests Recent Climate Activity 101

Posted by Soulskill from the redhouse-effect-in-action dept.
Last year, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured high-resolution images of the Red Planet which showed many mesas, valleys, and rock debris which appeared to be (geologically speaking) recent formations. A team of scientists from Brown University analyzed the photographs and found evidence that the terrain was carved by large glaciers much more recently than they thought possible. Climate activity on Mars was thought to have quieted over 3 billion years ago, but these glaciers would have been around within the last 10-100 million years. "The finding could have implications for the life-on-Mars argument by strengthening the case for liquid water. Ice can melt two ways: by temperature or by pressure. As currently understood, the Martian climate is dominated by sublimation, the process by which solid substances are transformed directly to vapor. But ice packs can exert such strong pressure at the base to produce liquid water, which makes the thickness of past glaciers on its surface so intriguing."
Sci-Fi

DARPA Working On Arthur C. Clarke Weapon Idea 453

Posted by Soulskill from the good-times-with-molten-metal dept.
holy_calamity writes "DARPA is working on a weapon which is similar to one first described by Arthur C. Clarke in his 1955 novel Earthlight — firing jets of molten metal using strong electromagnetic fields. The Magneto Hydrodynamic Explosive Munition (MAHEM) will function on a smaller scale than Clarke's fictional blaster. DARPA's write-up says it could be 'packaged into a missile, projectile or other platform and delivered close to target for final engagement and kill.' Clarke is also widely credited with suggesting geostationary communications satellites — what other ideas of his will come to pass?"
AMD

AMD's Triple-Core Phenom X3 Processor Launched 234

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hey-your-core-is-missing dept.
MojoKid writes "AMD officially launched their triple-core processor offering today with the introduction of the Phenom X3 8750. When AMD first announced plans to introduce tri-core processors late last year, reaction to the news was mixed. Some felt that AMD was simply planning to pass off partially functional Phenom X4 quad-core processors as triple-core products, making lemonade from lemons if you will. Others thought it was a good way for AMD to increase bottom line profits, getting more usable die from a wafer and mitigating yield loss. This is an age-old strategy in the semiconductor space and after all, the graphics guys have been selling GPUs with non-functional units for years. This full performance review and evaluation of the new AMD Phenom X3 8750 Tri-Core processor shows the CPU scales well in a number of standard application benchmarks, in addition to dropping in at a relatively competitive price point."
Nintendo

Submission + - WhyNo One Can Get A Wii

Submitted by 1310nm
1310nm writes: Can't find a Wii on store shelves? Me either. Matt Brett explains why. Shady behavior by enterprising retail store employees seems to be the culprit.

Slashdot Top Deals

The sooner all the animals are extinct, the sooner we'll find their money. - Ed Bluestone

Close