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Avast Software has released the fourth update to its Avast 2014 range of products with the unveiling of build number 9.0.2021 for Avast Free Antivirus 2014, Avast Internet Security 2014 and Avast Premier Security 2014. As with the previous few updates, R4 contains no new features, but does include several important security enhancements among other tweaks and optimizations that once again make it essential for existing users. Avast promises tighter security through improved process security, which is guarded by Avast’s self-defense component. Avast R4 also handles conditions for the Guest account better, increasing sensitivity to any incorrect user inputs that migh…

In business perception is everything. Many companies succeed or fail not because their products are great but their brands are perceived to be that way. Apple is a remarkable perception manager. Consider iPhone 5s, which features and benefits fall far behind many competing devices. Rather than innovate, the fruit-logo launches an evocative marketing campaign -- "You're more powerful than you think" -- that makes the smartphone look better. Improved. The ads are compelling because they communicate: Your life will be better, you shall achieve your dreams, by buying iPhone 5s. Meanwhile, competitors like Microsoft truly innovate and take the kind of risks that once defin…

Bromium has just published the results of “Endpoint Protection: Attitudes and Opinions,†a survey of more than 300 information security professionals, focused on end user threats and security. The majority of the respondents believe: Existing security solutions are unable to stop endpoint infections, Anti-virus is unable to stop advanced targeted attacks and End users are their biggest security headache. View the full article

Linux users are not the most sociable bunch. Sure, I am generalizing, but I speak from experience. Not only do I know many socially awkward and inept Linux nerds, but I am one myself. While I do not use operating systems based on the kernel exclusively, I use them often, and understand preferring the company of a computer to other humans. Still, every once in a while, a Linux nerd must communicate with family or friends and what better way to do that than video chat? Skype is one of the best options, although some Linux users refuse to use it since Microsoft acquired it. Me? I could care less who owns it as long as it functions as I expect. Today, Microsoft reaffirms …

Secunia Research classifies vulnerabilities by rating the severity of vulnerabilities from 1: "not critical" to 5: "extremely critical." Going by the PR Heartbleed received, you would be excused for thinking that what we were dealing with here was, indeed, "extremely critical." But it was not, as vulnerabilities go. That rating we use for "remotely exploitable vulnerabilities that can lead to system compromise. Successful exploitation does not normally require any interaction and exploits are in the wild." The Heartbleed vulnerability was in fact only rated as a 3 of 5 by Secunia: "moderately critical", which is typically used for "remotely exploitable Denial of Servi…

Malwarebytes has announced the first full public release of Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit, a powerful tool which protects against many zero-day exploits. It’s now available in three editions. A basic Free version shields some browsers (IE, Chrome, Firefox, Opera), their addons, and Java, on Windows XP or later. A Premium version ($24.95 for 3 PCs, 1 year) also protects PDF readers (Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat, Foxit Reader); Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and some media players (Windows, VLC, QuickTime, Winamp), as well providing the ability to add or remove custom shields. View the full article

Through its ubiquitous "like" buttons on publisher sites across the web, Facebook has long been able to watch the web surfing behavior of its 1.28 billion monthly users. Soon it will begin to use that information for ad targeting on Facebook. Facebook already enables retargeting to users who've previously visited specific websites and apps, which advertisers can turn on by affixing tracking software to their products. Additionally, ads can be retargeted to Facebook users on their desktop screens via FBX, the company's ad exchange, which a plethora of demand-side platforms like Turn and AdRoll are plugged into. But what Facebook is now enabling is far more expa…

The Federal Communications Commission has demanded—and received—the paid peering agreements Netflix signed with Comcast and Verizon, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced today. While Wheeler said the commission has "broad authority," he didn't promise to take any action beyond gathering information. "To be clear, what we are doing right now is collecting information, not regulating," he said. According to Comcast, the FCC has actually had the Comcast-Netflix agreement for months, but it had not previously revealed that fact. Wheeler said he wants to make sure consumers get the Internet service they pay for—something that has not been happening for many Netflix…

After months of complaints by Netflix, the Federal Communications Commission is beginning to look into the streaming quality issues that Netflix subscribers have been seeing on Comcast and Verizon. Netflix has been in a heated and public battle with internet providers over network congestion that's supposedly slowing its service down, with both sides pinning responsibility on the other. "Consumers pay their ISP and they pay content providers like Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon. Then when they don’t get good service they wonder what is going on," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says in a statement. "I have experienced these problems myself and know how exasperating it can be." Th…

A Japanese research team developed a technology to drastically improve the writing speed, power efficiency and cycling capability (product life) of a storage device based on NAND flash memory (SSD). The team is led by Ken Takeuchi, professor at the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering of Chuo University. The development was announced at 2014 IEEE International Memory Workshop (IMW), an international academic conference on semiconductor memory technologies, which took place from May 18 to 21, 2014, in Taipei. The title of the thesis is "NAND Flash Aware Data Management System for High-Speed SSDs by Garba…

Netflix is now paying Comcast for a direct connection to the internet service provider, as it seeks to ensure that Comcast customers experience fewer hiccups when using its video streaming service. And it’s doing much the same with Verizon, another major internet provider. But Google believes this kind of arrangement shouldn’t involve money. The tech giant lets Netflix inside its ISP, Google Fiber, and it doesn’t charge a penny. “We give companies like Netflix and Akamai free access to space and power in our facilities, and they provide their own content servers,†Google Fiber director of engineering Jeffrey Burgan wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. “Since …

It may not come as much of a surprise, but the major US telecom companies have significantly outspent supporters of net neutrality when it comes to lobbying on Capitol Hill. And they seem far more intent on getting their way. Between 2005 and 2013, Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast all mentioned the issue of net neutrality in more lobbying reports than any pro-neutrality companies. The trend is particularly unsettling as debate around net neutrality and the "open internet" rages on during the FCC's comment period on Chairman Tom Wheeler's latest proposal. But the biggest surprise may be the top spender on the list in support of net neutrality. Despite Google having the b…

CCleaner - also known as Crap Cleaner - is a disk cleanup utility that goes beyond the scope of the built in Windows Disk Cleanup tool. Featuring the ability to clean up temporary files, browser history and cache, the Recycle Bin, along with Windows applications that you install. There is also a registry cleaner, uninstall helper, startup manager, System Restore manager and disk wiper. You can choose to have your data cleaned with a single pass or range up to the Gutmann 35 pass data cleaning sequence. There's even a cookie manager and free space wiper. One of the great things about CCleaner is that it automates all of these cleanings so you don't have to hunt down these …

When Vic Gundotra, the head of Google+, suddenly announced his departure from Google today, many were left wondering "why" and what it meant for the future of Google+. He didn't give a reason for leaving, but according to a report from TechCrunch, the likely reason is a major shakeup for Google's social network. In short, Google seems to be backing away from the original Google+ strategy. The report states that Google+ will no longer be considered a product that competes with Facebook and Twitter, and that Google's mission to force Google+ into every product will end. With this downgrade in importance comes a downgrade in resources. TechCrunch claims…

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is a full-blown anti-malware program that has recently left the labs and can be considered the next step in the detection and removal of malware. Malwarebytes Team put together a host of new technologies that were specially designed to quickly detect, deter and destroy any malware that could reside in your computer. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware monitors every process and actually stops malicious processes before they even start. It uses an impressive technology that is in fact a completely novel way of heuristic scanning and it is the teams response to the increasingly complex malware threats. And, as they did with Malwarebytes' RogueRemover w…

Microsoft really wants people to stop using Windows XP. The company launched a new promotion that offers XP users $100 off the purchase of a new PC that costs more than $599 through the Microsoft Store from now until June 15. Buyers will also get 90 days of free support and free data transfer from their old XP-powered PC. Microsoft is ending support for XP, which has been around for more than a decade, in April. That means any security flaws found by attackers after that point won’t be patched, leaving users who are still clinging to their old computers open to attack. View the full article

Notepad++ is a free source code editor (and Notepad replacement), which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment. This project, based on the Scintilla edit component, written in C++ with pure win32 api and STL that ensures the higher execution speed and smaller size of the program. Notepad++ supports the following languages: C, C++, Java, C#, XML, HTML, PHP, javascript, RC resource file, makefile, ASCII art file, doxygen, ini file, batch file, ASP, VB/VBS source files, SQL, Objective-C, CSS, Pascal, Perl, Python and Lua. Download: Notepad++ 6.5.5 Homepage: Notepad++ View the full article

While self-learning and real-world experience are both great types of education, there is still something to be said for a quality, structured classroom lesson. College is a great place for structured learning, but the costs can be overwhelming. Even though education and self improvement are great investments, no one wants to be buried in student loan debt. If you are interested in learning, the subject of Linux is a great choice. After all, more and more businesses are utilizing Linux-based operating systems, while Android and Chrome OS are increasing in popularity. Luckily, the Linux Foundation has partnered with edX to bring free Linux courses to the masses. "T…

Independent testing group AV-Comparatives has released its 2014 Internet Security Survey. The survey asked 5,845 users from around the world their views on security and reveals that when it comes to antivirus protection Americans like to get it for free whilst Europeans prefer to pay. The four regions covered in the results are Europe, North America, Central/South America, and Asia. Worldwide just over half of users pay for a security solution but only in Europe are paid security products more popular. Free solutions win in North America and Asia and -- by a narrow margin -- in Central/South America. Avast is the product of choice for both mobiles and PCs in most …

We reported earlier this week on how financial organizations are at risk from third parties with compromised security. It seems that the same thing applies to software. The latest review by IT security specialist Secunia shows that third-party programs are responsible for 76 percent of the vulnerabilities discovered in the 50 most popular programs in 2013. Secunia's review looks at the top 50 programs found on private PCs including those approved and maintained by IT departments and on those BYOD devices used with or without permission. Unsurprisingly 66 percent of the top 50 are Microsoft programs, however, they only accounted for 24 percent of the vulnerabilitie…

Let’s face it: Windows 8.1 looks a whole lot different than Windows 7 or Windows XP. I mean, the desktop we all know and love is still there (awesome!) but the Start screen can take some time to get used to. And I thought charms were something that Lucky the Leprechaun served me in a bowl back when I was in elementary school (and occasionally now). If you’re new to Windows 8.1 and look back with fond memories of older versions of Windows, here are five things you can do to make it feel more familiar, or just more like yours. View the full article

Piriform Ltd has released Speccy 1.25, a new version of its free Windows system information tool. The headline new feature in version 1.25 -- also available as a standalone portable build -- is its ability to detect ReadyBoost drives. Version 1.25 also includes a number of networking improvements, better accuracy for disk transfer mode detection and restructured CPU Core data view. The previous release introduced support for USB storage device detection, allowing users to monitor any USB-connected drives including external hard drives and USB flash drives. Version 1.25 extends this support to include detection of USB drives configured for ReadyBoost, which is used to …

It was bad enough that FileZilla offers SourceForge installers loaded with garbage software that could easily be viewed as malicious software. Junkware such as "Hotspot Shield" are still bundled with some installers offered by Filezilla. Now, avast has discovered that malicious versions of FileZilla 3.7.3 and 3.5.3 are being spread. "We have noticed an increased presence of these malware versions of famous open source FTP clients", the firm announces. The fake software is idential except for one point. Any attempt to update the software through the build in update checker will fail. This is most likely to prevent the malware from being overwritten. Avast uncov…

Process Explorer is much like the Task Manager found in Windows but far more comprehensive. Every process can be identified by signature verification. If you don't recognize a running process there is a feature to search for the process online through select search engines. There are options to highlight new objects, deleted objects (processes terminated), services, your running processes, packed images, jobs, relocated DLL files, and .NET processes all in their own customizable colors. Process Explorer is a very useful tool for looking at the running objects on your computer. There is also an option to replace the existing Task Manager with Process Explorer. Download: …

Google has identified a nasty bug in Gmail that may have led to the accidental deletion of some messages in your inbox, as well as incorrectly labeling others as spam. The severity of the bug has caused the search giant to issue an Important Notice which appears at the top of Gmail when some users -- myself included -- log into the webmail service through the web or iOS app. Although the problem has now been fixed, Google suggests you take a look in your Trash and Spam folders. I've just done so now, and there are indeed messages in both that shouldn't be there. View the full article