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Archive for March 28th, 2009

Conficker Unlikely To Trigger Doomsday on April 1

April Fool’s Day is just around the corner. Will malware make a fool of millions of computer users, or is the release date of the next version of the menacing Conficker worm just a red herring? And if so, what is really in store for computer security this spring?”It’s quite possible that Conficker will not do anything significant on April 1,” said Graham Cluley, a senior security consultant at Sophos. “The truth is that Conficker is not set to activate a specific payload on that date. Rather, on April 1 Conficker will begin to attempt to contact the 50,000-a-day potential call-home Web servers from which it may receive updates.”

Indeed, Cluley said it’s just as likely that Conficker will do something on March 28, or April 2, or April 14 as it will on April 1. He called the emphasis by some media outlets on April 1 “really unfortunate.”

Click here to read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.

March 28th, 2009

Microsoft’s New Ad Says Apple’s Mac Costs Too Much

With the Jerry Seinfeld era behind it, Microsoft is moving ahead with a new Windows advertising strategy that aims at Apple’s Achilles’ heel: Higher prices. The commercial appears to be the first in a series called Laptop Hunters, and it puts Microsoft on the offense instead of the defense.Microsoft’s just-released Windows commercial taps into the price-conscious, recession-driven consumer mind-set by following a woman on a mission to find a laptop that’s fast and has a comfortable keyboard and a 17-inch screen — for $1,000 or less.

In the ad, the voice-over says Microsoft told Lauren, a redhead with glasses, that if she could find a computer that met her demands, she could keep it. In other words, Microsoft would buy it for her. With that, she becomes a laptop hunter.

Click here to read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.

20 comments March 28th, 2009