Forty Hours

You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself. - Galileo Galilei

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Three things you need to know


Coming to a cellphone near you - better video quality. -- ST FILE PHOTO

Finds: The new Mozilla Firefox
THE best way to protect your computer against Trojans is to use Mozilla Firefox. No, it is not because Firefox burns away the worms, but most hackers go for Internet Explorer 7 simply because there are more users on this browser.

So for those who just cannot wait to try out Firefox 3, it is here at www. mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html.

Some cool new features include anti-virus integration in the download manager, full page zoom and smarter bookmarking.

Try it out and give your feedback on the new enhancements to the browser to mozilla.com. A word of warning: many of your plug-ins will not work since this is a beta release.

Words: Copyleft
IT IS a play on the word copyright.

While it does not have a legal meaning, copyleft refers to a software licensing scheme, where the original copyright owner can give everyone the right to adapt his work so long as the resulting copies or adaptations are also bound by the same copyleft principle.

Most open source software come under the GNU general public license rules, which is a classic copyleft scheme. You can use the open source software, but you must give back your contributions to the open source community.

It is usually used to modify copyrights for works such as computer software, documents, music and art.

Watch: Mobile TV
EVERYONE knows about 3G and now 3.5G: it lets you surf the Internet on your mobile phone and even watch video clips. So when the word mobile TV starts floating around, it is easy to get confused.

Mobile TV refers to watching TV on your cellphone. Usually, it refers to the use of a digital broadcast technology instead of cellular technologies like 3G.

The main standard used in Singapore is Digital Video Broadcast Handheld (DVB-H) technology. The phone needs to have a receiver chip to receive the TV broadcasts. Several broadcasters here have been testing DVB-H broadcasts and are now applying for licenses. When such broadcasts go commercial, anyone with a phone which has the DVB-H chip will be able to get the mobile TV service.

As DVB makes use of broadcast instead of streaming technologies like 3G, video quality is better and less jerky. The cost is also lower since you do not pay for every kilobyte used.

While DVB-H is for small devices like mobile phones, its cousin DVB-Terrestial (DVB-T) is for viewing on larger screens like the TV Mobile channel on buses. Mediacorp has also launched trials of Channel 5, 8 and Channel News Asia on DVB-T. What this means is that you can actually buy DVB-T USB adapters and stick one into your laptop to watch these channels for free. However, because it is still in beta, you may not get coverage in your area.

Compiled by Oo Gin Lee

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Four fun things to do on Linux


My own Ubuntu desktop, which was put together in less than an hour from a fresh installation of Ubuntu.

In the last instalment of the three-part series, LIM YEE HUNG shows you how to get the most out of Ubuntu

If you are a basic user, you already have all that you need after installing Ubuntu: it comes bundled with software such as OpenOffice, the free alternative to Microsoft Office, and the Mozilla Firefox Web browser, so you can start editing your documents and surfing the web.

But Ubuntu offers much more than that, including thousands of free programs and support for all kinds of media formats such as MP3s, videos, and the like.

Before you proceed on, be warned: fiddling with your Ubuntu system can be highly addictive.

1 Update Ubuntu
To ensure that all the programs in your system stay up to date, go to System, Administration, Update Manager. Click the Check button to check for the newest stuff, and then click Install Updates if there are any. Unfortunately, you can't schedule automatic fixes, but if you try to update weekly, you'll stay abreast with the latest in Linux.

2 Add extra repositories
Repositories are software archives that contain thousands of free downloadable programs, built specifically for Ubuntu.

Because Ubuntu comes with only some of the available repositories enabled by default, you will have to manually add the rest. Go to: System, Administration, Software Sources, and then click all the checkboxes under Ubuntu Software.

3 Go window shopping
Now that you have added all available repositories, it is time for the fun part of using Ubuntu - window-shopping for new, exciting programs from productivity tools to games.

Instead of finding and downloading programs one by one, Ubuntu uses package managers to search, download and install programs from the repositories, streamlining the entire process.

Most package managers, such as the Synaptic Package Manager, have a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI), so you can get the latest programs in a mouse click.

4 Make your Ubuntu look cool
It's a myth that Ubuntu is found wanting when it comes to looks. While the basic configuration does look threadbare, a few smart modifications will get Ubuntu looking as spiffy as Windows and Mac systems. To toggle better visual effects in Ubuntu, such as 'vanishing' windows when minimising and transparency effects, go to: System, Preferences, Appearance. Then, toggle the options from None to Normal or Extra. There are also downloadable programs from the Web that allow you to beautify your Ubuntu desktop, such as the Avant Window Navigator, a snazzy 3-D navigation bar that works like the dock used in the Mac OS. Download it from wiki.awn-project.org, together with instructions on installation.

Miss the Windows Sidebar that Vista provides? Get gDesklets, using the Add/Remove application, by searching for 'gdesklets' in the Accessories category. You can then add widgets to your desktop, such as calendar and clock widgets (Nica'ad as widgets).

You can also explore the myriad options available to modify the appearance of your desktop, such as setting the transparency factor of your taskbar. Because of the flexibility of Ubuntu, you can personalise your desktop to a greater extent than that of Windows or Mac. Have fun!

Lim Yee Hung is a PC enthusiast studying in Britain.

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Thursday, November 15, 2007

PDF files may contain malicious code

Malicious Code - PDF Files may contain Malicious code.

Pause...before you open that pdf attachment, because now, even pdf or portable document format files can contain malicious code.

IT security firm F-Secure last week issued a warning that it has recently seen tens of thousands of such malicious pdf files being spammed via mass e-mail messages.

When such pdf files are viewed on vulnerable machines, those PCs get infected.

According to F-Secure, the malicious file exploits a recently discovered frailty in Adobe Acrobat and Internet Explorer 7 and downloads more vicious programs (malware) from a server in Malaysia.

The aim seems to be to create a network of infected machines to be used as zombie machines to snare other PCs.

The evil e-mail contains subject lines like 'Your credit report' and 'Personal financial statement' and has no content in the main body except for the report.pdf attachment. F-Secure's chief research officer Mikko Hypponen said: 'We are worried about this case, as pdf attachments are typically not filtered at e-mail gateways.

'Executable files are now stripped almost everywhere, but pdf is stripped almost nowhere.'

This vulnerability was made public by a researcher called Petko D. Petko in September in his blog. Adobe acknowledged the chink in the armour as a critical vulnerability via a security bulletin released last month.

This issue affects only users running Adobe Reader or Acrobat versions 8.1 or earlier on a Windows XP or Windows 2003 machine with Internet Explorer 7 installed. Adobe added that the problem can be fixed if users update to Adobe Reader 8.1.1 or Acrobat 8.1.1.

Another IT security firm Fortinet said it saw high activity with this exploit on Oct 27, but added it has recently subsided.

'Since this is a new exploit, there will certainly be more activity on this front, and it is something users should be aware of,' said researcher Derek Manky from Fortinet's Global Threat Research Team.

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Wednesday, November 07, 2007

7 simple ways to safeguard your PC

How to safeguard your PC ? Here are 7 simple way to safeguard your PC.

1. Beware false security
A study by McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance in the US found that, in theory, nearly everyone knows they must keep their computer safe.

Practice tells a different story: a large percentage had expired anti-virus software and disabled firewalls. Less than half had anti-spyware software, and less than half of those who had anti-phishing software had installed it.

2. Watch out for phishing
Phishing scams use fraudulent e-mail messages and websites masquerading as legitimate businesses to lure unsuspecting users into revealing private account or login information.

3. Click carefully
Don't download files sent by strangers or click on hyperlinks from strangers.

4. Buy multi-layered security software
That means get anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware at the very least.

5. Surf safely
Use free tools like the McAfee SiteAdvisor (www.siteadvisor.com) and TrustedSource toolbar (www.trustedsource.org).

Siteadvisor monitors over 10 million websites, which together represent 95 per cent of Internet traffic.

If it senses a risky website, you will be warned before you click to that site.

TrustedSource toolbar checks your Inbox and gives a safety rating on the sender of the e-mail. If you think it is spam, click on a button to report it.

6. Monitor kids online
Social networking sites can be a hotbed for social engineering attacks.

There have been phishing attacks linked to Web 2.0 sites and malicious code has surfaced. Because these sites are rather young, most of them don't have measures to protect their users.

7. Apply common sense
Don't give out your home address and phone number when you register at such sites. Don't re-use an existing one, especially your e-mail password.

Sources: McAfee, Secure Computing

By Oo Gin Lee

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