A good password can mean the difference between identity safety and identity theft. Unfortunately, too many otherwise intelligent people rely on ridiculously weak passwords, the kind that make hackers rub their hands with glee.

If you're not certain about the strength of your password(s), head to Microsoft's password checker. This free tool couldn't be simpler to use: Just type in your password and get an instant strength rating: Weak, Medium, Strong, or Best.

for its own eeeeevil purposes. The page doesn't record what you type, it merely generates a response based on the nature of the input.

So, what kinds of passwords can get you a Strong or Best rating? Here's a clue: The dog's name won't cut it. Neither will "1234" or, heavens, "password." According to the password checker, you should aim for a minimum of 14 characters and include a mix of numbers, symbols, and both uppercase and lowercase letters.

Personally, I'm a fan of taking an easy-to-remember phrase (like, say, "PCWorldRules") and replacing various letters with similar-looking numbers. Thus, my password would be "PCW0r1dRu135." According to the checker, that's a good, Strong password.

What about you? How do you go about crafting bulletproof passwords? Share your methods in the comments.

you can go to : Microsoft's password checker

source : pcworld

Microsoft will collect feedback on the Windows 7 release candidate over the next few months, fixing small issues. The company allowed developers and other testers to begin downloading the release candidate last week.

Windows 7 comes nearly three years after Windows Vista, which took five years for Microsoft to engineer but was regarded by some as underwhelming. Microsoft hasn't said when the final Windows 7 version will be released, although it's rumored to be out before year's end.

Microsoft warned it is not offering technical support for the Windows 7 release candidate, so those who install it are on their own. Users should be familiar with installing an operating system from scratch, formatting a hard drive and backing up data, among other skills, Microsoft advised.

In the Windows 7 release notes, Microsoft warns of several problems that haven't been resolved, including issues with its latest Web browser, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).

Debugging JavaScript with the developer tools in IE8 could throw up a warning that a Web site is not responding, but that warning can be ignored. Also, some Web pages may have misaligned text or missing images. Microsoft recommends clicking on the "compatibility view" button on the address bar as a fix.

Microsoft released the Windows 7 beta in Arabic and Hindi, but those languages have been replaced with French and Spanish in the release candidate. English is available for both versions.

"We needed to ensure certain features were tested for worldwide functionality, and Hindi and Arabic help us test a number of language-related features," Microsoft said.

The Windows 7 release candidate will only work for so long. It is due to expire on June 1, 2010. Three months prior, the release candidate will automatically shut down a person's computer after two hours.

The Window 7 beta expires on Aug. 1, and computers with that version will begin shutting themselves down after two hours beginning July 1.

Microsoft said that Windows Vista users will not need to reinstall their applications after upgrading to the Windows 7 release candidate. The company does, however, recommend backing up data as a precaution. Vista users will have to do a clean install, however, to go from the Windows 7 release candidate to the final version.

Windows XP users should back up their data and do a clean install of the Windows 7 release candidate.

To run the 32-bit version of the release candidate, a computer should have a 1 GHz or faster processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of hard disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 1.0 or higher driver.

For the 64-bit version, Microsoft recommends a 1 GHz or faster processor, 2GB of RAM, 20GB of hard disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.


You can also goto http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx for more information and download

source : PC WORLD

The Bluetooth 3.0 buzz is building. The short-range wireless standard Bluetooth 3.0 will get its official launch on April 21. The developers of the standard, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, have confirmed multiple reports forecasting the release of Bluetooth 3.0 specs. According to the Bluetooth SIG on April 21 it will announce the groups latest Bluetooth standard. At that time the Bluetooth 3.0 specifications will be unveiled.

Here's What We Know About Bluetooth 3.0

The Bluetooth 3.0 standard is expected to deliver even faster short-range wireless speeds (up to 480 Mbit/s), improvements to reduce chances of device disconnections when syncing, and the addition of Generic Alternate MAC/PHY (AMP) technology that will reportedly allow Bluetooth 3.0 devices to transfer data at speed on par with Wi-Fi. Another advancement will allow the Bluetooth wireless frequency to piggyback on the Wi-Fi 802.11 protocol - in affect allowing Bluetooth over Wi-Fi. We'll have to wait until April 21 to find out more.

What's unique about Bluetooth is its low cost and low power consumption, allowing it to be used in devices such as cell phones where cost and power consumption are huge concerns for developers. However, Bluetooth technology has struggled in its efforts to be adopted widely.

What the blogs are saying

The Bluetooth SIG claims Bluetooth 3.0 can wirelessly transfer an entire music library, a complete DVD [or] a vacation's worth of photos, all within seconds, according to the blog the Bluetooth SIG. In addition to pumped-up speed, Bluetooth 3.0 could also feature "Enhanced Power Control," which reduces those annoying headset disconnects caused by putting your phone in your pocket or purse.

There are no details at the moment about Bluetooth 3.0-ready devices, but most Bluetooth watchers expect the Bluetooth SIG to release a list of manufacturers that have products ready to go at the Bluetooth 3.0 launch on April 21.

Bluetooth in the smart phone age

The new Bluetooth standard comes as smart phones are growing way beyond e-mail and voice calling into full-fledged mini-computers. For some time now, cell phone users have turned to Bluetooth for wireless headsets and to sync calendar and contact information. Now that many people are listening to music and watching movies on their mobile devices, Bluetooth needed to get faster to remain an effective solution for wireless syncing.

In the meantime, Bluetooth technology will have to compete with the Wireless USB standard that is going in popularity and influence.

April 1 has come and gone, and the Internet has not disintegrated and no major cyber-attacks were reported. But Conficker still remains a threat. Now don't panic, this doesn't mean cyber-Armageddon could strike at any minute, it just means you need to make sure your computer is fully updated if it isn't already. Feel better? Good, then let's take a look at what's going on.

Why It Ain't Over Yet

The Conficker Working Group -- which is made up of 27 tech companies and agencies including AOL, F-Secure, Facebook, ICANN, Kaspersky, McAffee, Microsoft, Symantec -- says that Conficker, also known as Downup, Downadup, and Kido, is the largest worldwide computer infection since the SQL Slammer in 2003. The CWG estimates anywhere from 3 to 15 million computers are infected worldwide, and says 30 percent of Windows computers across the globe are not updated with the latest patches to protect against Conficker. The virus authors are also still at large and able to communicate with Conficker, although that capability has been significantly reduced.

Problem Spots

As you can see from this map provided by the CWG, Conficker infections in the United States are happening pretty much everywhere you can find an Internet connection. However, despite all that ominous-looking red, only 6 percent of Conficker infections are in North America. The biggest problem areas are actually concentrated in Asia and South America including Vietnam, Brazil, the Philippines, and Indonesia, as well as Algeria.

The hardest hit areas may also have a correlation to the number of unpatched Windows computers since Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America are areas known to have widespread use of pirated Windows software. Since Microsoft automatically blocks illegitimate copies of Windows from receiving critical updates, those computers remain vulnerable to Conficker, thus perpetuating the risk.

What Conficker is Doing

Yesterday, Conficker began its daily exercise of contacting 500 Web sites from a randomly generated list of 50,000 sites. Conficker will continue to do this every day until it receives instructions to do something else. Further instructions could be a simple software update or the infected computers could work as a botnet to commit theft or attack other computer networks. The problem is that while security and IT professionals are working to block Conficker from getting further instructions, they haven't been able to block all Conficker traffic. So some infected machines have gotten through, but luckily further instructions haven't been issued, yet. Conficker's authors may be laying low until publicity surrounding Conficker dies down before contacting their creation.

If Conficker is updated or receives further instructions, that capability could pass between infected machines without further need of a server or Web site, because Conficker uses a peer-to-peer (p2p) protocol to communicate with other infected machines. That's right, Conficker is file-sharing. With p2p, the worm can distribute software updates much faster than if every infected machine had to communicate with a main server.

The Final Countdown?

Does this mean the world could still end? Probably not, and that was never the concern with Conficker despite the doomsday scenarios you may have read. The fact is that most security experts believe that Conficker is just a typical botnet worm that can be used for identity theft or to commit other forms of cybercrime. Conficker is most likely controlled by an organized crime syndicate in Asia, Eastern Europe, or South America, and the group may even rent out Conficker's capabilities if the botnet every becomes active.

Conficker is a threat only if your computer does not have the latest security patches from Microsoft and an up-to-date antivirus program.

source: PCWORLD

The Conficker worm today has begun to phone home for instructions but has done little else. Conficker was programmed to today begin actively visiting 500 out of 50,000 randomly generated web addresses to receive new instructions on how to behave. Conficker has begun to do this, according to security company F-Secure, but so far no doomsday scenarios have emerged.

Among security experts, the consensus seems to be that very little will happen today. This may be in part because of the high amount of publicity Conficker has received, but then again April 1 is not the first time Conficker has been programmed to change the way it operates. Similar trigger dates have already passed with little change, including January 1, according to according to Phil Porras, a program director with SRI International. Security experts at Symantec, the maker of Norton Antivirus, also believe the threat is overblown and says Conficker today will "start taking more steps to protect itself" and "use a communications system that is more difficult for security researchers to interrupt."

Technology companies and experts across the globe have been working together to halt the spread of Conficker, disrupt its communications and uncover who created the worm. Microsoft has even issued a $250,000 bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Conficker's authors. Despite the security sector's best efforts, very little is known about the origins of Conficker or its purpose. Nevertheless, some breakthroughs have been achieved. On March 30, Security experts with the Honeynet Project discovered a flaw in Conficker that makes it much easier to detect infection. IBM researcher Mark Yayson also believes he has discovered a way to "detect and interrupt the program's activities," according to The New York Times.

Since the Conficker worm was discovered in October 2008, the malware has only received programming updates from its author and worked to infect other computers. Conficker is believed to have infected 10 million computers worldwide mostly in Asia, Europe and South America. According to IBM, only 6 percent of North American computers have been infected.

While today may be a non-event, Conficker could be used to create harm in the future. Possiblities include a massive botnet, which would give Conficker's authors control over millions of computers worldwide. The botnet could then be used to attack corporate or government networks, commit identity theft, or deliver massive amounts of spam. Security experts warn that all Windows users must make sure their operating system and antivirus programs are up to date with the latest patches and virus protections. So far, Windows is the only operating system known to be vulnerable to Conficker.

source: PCWORLD

Whether OpenOffice 3.0 is right for you comes down to this decision: can you live without the latest features in Microsoft Office 2007?

OpenOffice.org is a powerful productivity suite - including tools for word processing, spreadsheets, slideshows and more - with one major additional feature: it's free. It works for Windows, Mac and Linux systems.


Most of the tools you need for productivity are included in OpenOffice.org 3.0, minus an email client. There's Writer, a powerful word processor; Calc for spreadsheets; Impress for slideshows; Draw for basic drawing and graphics; and Base to serve as - you guessed it - a database.

OpenOffice.org 3.0: major improvements

OpenOffice.org 3.0 OpenOffice 3 is a major upgrade over the previous version, with plenty of new features, native OS support, and all the tools most people would need to get their work done. You begin in a splash screen called the Start Center, with new icons for the different applications you can select (you can't start the individual apps from the Applications folder). You can share data between apps, and run more than one module at the same time.

OpenOffice 3.0 is fast. The Writer application zips along, formatting a 200-page novel at lightning speed - like we were using a basic txt editor.

Calc, the spreadsheet program, also runs fast. OpenOffice.org - which is a collaborative effort from developers who donate their time - does not post the minimum processing speed to run the apps, and says that only 256MB RAM is required. However, we'd recommend you have at least a gig of RAM.

There's another major change in the latest version of the software: OpenOffice.org 3.0 supports the OpenDocument 2.1 (ODF) standard, a popular format that's used around the world, especially by government agencies. Speaking of format support: Writer supports Microsoft Word files, so you can open them and then save them in Word format or as ODF.

However, if you want to save a document in Word format, you must continually choose "Save as" because the program does not natively support Word. In fact, the Save menu is dimmed when you open a Word file. This forces you to make a decision about whether you should start using ODF, a format that is still not supported by Microsoft Word.

OpenOffice.org 3.0: each program updated

So what has changed in each app? For starters, Writer now supports editing notes that run along the side of the screen - something like Word's comment bubbles. These can be formatted with a different color for each editor, which facilitates group editing of documents; but it's a far cry from the extensive comment bubbles, markup, and reviewing pane options in Word 2008, which allow you to track all changes, see the original document and various other views, and highlight changes.

Writer has a new zoom slider on the status bar and a way to view multiple pages on the screen at once. If you're a former Office user switching to OpenOffice.org 3.0, you may be annoyed to find that you can't hover your mouse over the status bar to see what the features will do - and there's no pop-up help system. However, there is extensive documentation and loyal users willing to provide forum support, however.

Calc now includes a Solver wizard that helps you optimise the calculations within cells on a spreadsheet. It works okay, but it's no deal-closer - no one buys a spreadsheet program for a calculation solver. OpenOffice.org 3.0 enhances the chart functionality in Calc, supporting regression equations and correlation coefficients. Most importantly, a pie chart we made in Calc - from a home budget spreadsheet, which includes 24 workbooks, thousands of calculations, and extensive data sets - rendered quickly.

We also like the new workbook-sharing feature: you can click an option to share your data, a co-worker can make changes, and then you can integrate those changes back into the original document. This feature, which is available in Excel, was sorely lacking in previous versions of OpenOffice. Calc also supports up to 1,024 columns in a spreadsheet as opposed to only 256 in the previous version.

Impress, the slideshow program, can now perform a few extra tricks. You can import a table from Calc and edit it directly - it's no longer just a static image. Our favourite addition, though, is multi-monitor support.

Draw has only a few enhancements, including a way to crop images by just grabbing handles and moving them.

Unfortunately, even with these new features, there's still a lot missing compared to Office 2007. Most critical: the latest Microsoft suite uses elements for documents, charts, tables, and other sections of your document that allow you to quickly format your pages. They are amazingly helpful - a bit like templates, but for individual sections of your document.

When using OpenOffice.org 3.0, we also really missed Microsoft Office's snazzy notebook view, noteflags, annotated audio clips you can export to an iPod, multi-page printing, enhanced auto correction features, and advanced document security. OpenOffice.org also doesn't provide any email or calendaring apps, which is not a major gripe - there are plenty of open source options available.

System requirements

Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher)/XP/Server 2003/Vista; 256MB RAM (512MB RAM recommended); 650 MB available disk space for a default install (including a JRE) via download, after installation and deletion of temporary installation files, OpenOffice.org will use approximately 440MB disk space; 1024x768 or higher resolution with at least 256 colours. Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher; Intel Processor; 512 MB RAM; 400 MB available disk space; 1024 x 768 or higher resolution with 16.7 Million colours

Verdict

The decision here is not whether OpenOffice.org 3 is worth the download--the program is free - but whether you really need to buy Microsoft Office 2007. Ultimately, Office 2007 is the superior product. You'll get extensive call-in support, few crashes, and the latest and most advanced features. On the other hand, OpenOffice.org 3.0 is one of those 80-20 products. It will do what 80 percent of what most of people need it to do. It's speedy, feature-rich, and does what it says it will do very well. And if that's all you really need (and if you can live without the latest Office features), it's definitely worth the effort.

Here are our picks for no-cost ways to protect your PC, including Avast Home Edition, SpywareBlaster, and more.
Your PC is under attack on all fronts.

These eight free downloads and services will help you beat back the bad guys with antivirus and antispyware programs, personal firewalls, and even a program that can detect whether your Web site is under attack.

BEST BET Avast Home Edition: The big names in security software charge you big bucks for big suites full of big, bloated software. It scans your system for malware and kills what it finds, and gives you seven different types of "shields" to keep you safe from harm, such as one for protecting you from dangers that might be lurking on Web sites (such as drive-by downloads), one for guarding against peer-to-peer attacks, another that stops instant messaging threats, and so on. And it does all that, amazingly enough, without taking up much RAM or system resources.

a-Squared HiJackFree: Spyware is notorious for evading even the most rigorous cleaners, which is why you need more than one antispyware utility on your PC. HiJackFree is a great download to use in concert with your main antispyware program for extra protection. Rather than offering a live shield, it checks your system for spyware and then eradicates it. For the geeky, it offers a lot more as well, such as tools for viewing what programs are using your TCP ports, and for examining programs that run on startup.

Attack Trace: Worried that the bad guys are targeting your Web site? This free service checks to see if your site is under attack.

Comodo EasyVPN Home: This download allows you to create secure peer-to-peer networks over the Internet for sharing information, chatting, and so on. Everything is encrypted, so no one else will be able to snoop on what you're doing.

EULAlyzer: Hidden in some end-user license agreements (EULAs) are indicators that the software may be spyware, or that it might invade your privacy in other ways. This downloadable analyzer examines EULAs and warns you about dangers.

Online Armor Personal Firewall: This is the best personal firewall you've never heard of. It provides solid protection, but unobtrusively. Lots of firewalls bug you constantly when you first install them, asking about any program that wants to access the Internet. This software starts out by allowing known safe applications to access the Web and bothers you only about the programs it's unsure about. It also has a clever "Safer mode" that will allow certain apps to run with stripped-down privileges.

SpywareBlaster: With this downloadable antispyware utility, you can make sure you don't get infected in the first place rather than scanning for and killing spyware after it hits your machine. It works differently from most competitors by restricting the actions that potentially dangerous Web sites can perform when you visit them. It also protects against dangerous ActiveX controls, and keeps tracking cookies off your PC.

SuperAntiSpyware: Here's an excellent antispyware tool that does a thorough job of scanning your system for dangers, and then whacks any it finds. This download scans not just your files and memory, but also your Registry. It doesn't offer real-time protection, though.

source: www.pcworld.com