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Balloting on whether Office Open XML (OOXML) should become an international document standard closed at midnight Saturday in Geneva, in an apparently tight vote. The results have not yet been officially announced. In order for the measure to pass, two-thirds of participating countries needed to vote in favor of the issue and less than one-quarter of observer countries in opposition to it. A total of 87 nations' standards bodies will cast votes. Neither the ISO nor Microsoft have issued a statement regarding the balloting results. A few key vote changes ahead of the final tally could push the measure towards approval. In Europe, representatives from Finland, Denmark,…

Pidgin (formerly Gaim) is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, and Zephyr networks. Gaim users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time.Pidgin supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, and typing notification. It also goes beyond that and pro…

avast! 4 is a full-featured antivirus package designed exclusively for home users and non-commercial use. The latest version of avast! antivirus kernel features outstanding detection abilities, together with high performance. You can expect 100% detection of In-the-Wild viruses (viruses already spreading between users) and excellent detection of Trojan horses. The kernel is certified by ICSA; and frequently takes part in the tests of Virus Bulletin magazine, often yielding the VB100 award.The avast! engine also features outstanding unpacking support. It can scan inside the following archives: ARJ, ZIP, MIME (+ all associated formats), MAPI (Outlook pst files), DBX (Outloo…

It may be the quickest $10,000 Charlie Miller ever earned. He took the first of three laptop computers -- and a $10,000 cash prize -- Thursday after breaking into a MacBook Air at the CanSecWest security conference's PWN 2 OWN hacking contest. Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810, and the MacBook as prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could find a way to hack into each of them and read the contents of a file on the system using a previously undisclosed "0day" attack. Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the first day of the contest when contestants were only allowed to attack the computers over the network, but on …

That huge bundle of emails and documents Microsoft produced as part of the Vista-capable lawsuit is full of fascinating information about how the company developed, planned, and launched Vista, but the latest juicy nugget to come out if it suggests that a lot of problems faced by the troubled operating system are actually NVIDIA's fault -- nearly 30% of logged Vista crashes were due to NVIDIA driver problems, according to Microsoft data included in the bundle. That's some 479,326 hung systems, if you're keeping score at home, and it's in first place by a large margin -- Microsoft clocks in at number two at 17.9 percent, and ATI is fourth with 9.3 percent. Now, the chart d…

Microsoft's latest efforts to persuade customers to upgrade to its much-maligned Vista operating system have met with a cool response from users. Historically, Microsoft's first service pack for one of its marquee products – such as Windows – provides the impetus for users to upgrade. As Gartner analyst, Stephen Kleynhans recently noted, customers see SP1 as the sign that the OS has reached maturity and is ready for enteprise deployment. But even the offer of free support for using installing Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and tools to lower implementation cost, the user response has been one of stony indifference. Vista SP1 includes a number of fixes for bugs that h…

Mozilla Corp. Thursday confirmed that it will release the final beta of Firefox 3.0 shortly, and that it expects to deliver the finished browser to users in June. Firefox 3.0 Beta 5 has been code-frozen, said Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's vice president of engineering, and is working its way toward release. "That will be the last beta for Firefox 3.0," he said. Once Beta 5 is out of the way, developers will move to the Release Candidate (RC) stage. Release Candidate 1 (RC1) should be ready sometime in early May, said Schroepfer, assuming Mozilla meets its current schedule. "The release candidates will move a little slower than beta," he continued, noting that the compa…

Apple's teasing commercials that imply its software is safer than Microsoft's may not quite match the facts, according to new research revealed at the Black Hat conference on Thursday. Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology looked at how many times over the past six years the two vendors were able to have a patch available on the day a vulnerability became publicly known, which they call the 0-day patch rate. They analyzed 658 vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft products and 738 affecting Apple. They looked at only high- and medium-risk bugs, according to the classification used by the National Vulnerability Database, said Stefan Frei, one of the…

With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 out the door, Microsoft was largely expected to release Windows XP SP3 last week or this week. It didn't, instead making public a Refresh build of SP3 Release Candidate 2. Microsoft says it "made this release candidate available in order to receive further user feedback prior to the release of Windows XP SP3." But many users are wondering what's taking the company so long, as SP3 is largely a roll-up of existing updates and includes no major new features. The first SP3 RC2 build was released in February, and was slated to be the final release candidate of the service pack. Microsoft says the Refresh is simply "to validate improv…

In a surprise announcement, the BitTorrent and Comcast will partner to address issues of network management and architecture, as well as content distribution. BitTorrent could be described as the bane of the cable industry's existence when it comes to high-speed Internet services. Users of the file-sharing service routinely consume a large percentage of the available bandwidth, and Comcast has throttled some connections. Approximately half of the Internet traffic through its network is BitTorrent transfers, it claims. Talks are ongoing and the two sides say there have already been amenable results. By the end of this year, Comcast will migrate to a capacity manag…

It builds CPUs, chipsets, and now with ATI, it builds graphics processors. So beginning today, AMD is radically reforming its marketing strategy, arguing now that it takes all three components together in harmony for customers to realize value. Between now and April 7, AMD will be releasing its first triple-core processors, announced last September, along with performance upgrades to all three of its quad-core Phenom desktop processors. The success of their release may be completely dependent upon how well the company's new value proposition is received by consumers: What their CPUs may lack in performance against Intel's top-of-the-line, may be compensate…

OpenOffice.org is the open source project through which Sun Microsystems is releasing the technology for the popular StarOffice productivity suite. It is an international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format. It establishes the necessary facilities to make this open source technology available to the developer community.OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. Download: OpenOffice.org 2.4.0 | Mirr…

CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. CCleaner can also clean very quickly, usually taking about ten seconds to run. Added Google Firefox Toolbar history cleaning. Winapp.ini is now embedded in the main EXE. Added ability to override default embedded INI files with: winsys1.ini, winreg1.ini and winapp1.ini. Updated ability to append to default embedded INI files with: winsys2.ini, winreg2.ini and winapp2.ini. Updated system info code to support…

Comodo Firewall Pro is the multi-layered security application that keeps hackers out and personal information in. Built from the ground upwards with your security in mind, this award winning firewall constantly monitors and defends your system from inbound and outbound attacks. Version 3.0 now features a fully fledged Host Intrusion Prevention System to protect your critical operating system files and block viruses and malware before they ever get the chance to install.Comodo Firewall Pro 3 features a friendly graphical user interface; highly granular configuration options; easily understood and informative alerts; wizard-based detection of trusted zones and much…

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is a full-blown anti-malware program that has recently left our labs and can be considered the next step in the detection and removal of malware. We put together a host of new technologies that were especially 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 our impressive technology that is in fact a completely novel way of heuristic scanning and it is our response to the increasingly complex malware threats. And, as we did with our Malwarebytes' RogueRemover we also have added …

There are a lot of users out there who are still stuck on dial-up, so updating to Vista SP1 won't be an easy task for them. Thankfully they can order the Vista SP1 DVD from NewEgg for $5.00. It's a great deal for those with dial-up or those who would like to have a hard copy of the service pack. NewEgg always has very fast shipping and best of all, this offer has free 3 day business shipping. So you'll get it even faster than if you were to order it directly from Microsoft. This DVD is for the Service Pack only and is not a full Windows Vista with SP1 integrated installation media. Source: NewEgg Vista SP1 Deal Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

Mozilla issued its 13th update to alternative browser Firefox 2, fixing six issues, two of which the company called critical. "Some vulnerabilities and weaknesses have been reported in Mozilla Firefox, which can be exploited by malicious people to bypass certain security restrictions, disclose potentially sensitive information, conduct cross-site scripting and phishing attacks, and potentially compromise a user's system," security firm Secunia said of the fixes. According to advisories, some of the problems also affect Thunderbird and SeaMonkey. Of the critical issues, "several" issues were fixed that appeared to be memory corruption issues. Mozilla presumes that ar…

A new "Refresh" version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 was made available Tuesday on Microsoft Update, according to Microsoft representatives. The primary goal of the release is for its developers to validate improvements to the Windows Update procedure, but a couple of minor additions were also included. As with the previous RC2, you need to download and run a small program available from Microsoft Download Center that makes a registry change on your PC in order for the update to be offered. Microsoft does not recommend using this still-beta version for mission-critical computing. The Refresh includes rollups of all previous updates, "as well …

Microsoft will release Windows XP Service Pack 3 during the second half of April, according to a report from a Web site that has correctly predicted recent Windows ship dates. TechARP.com, a Malaysian Web site that nailed Vista SP1's release-to-manufacturing (RTM) date last month as well as its release to Windows Update last week, said that Microsoft will wrap up work on XP's third and final service pack next month. The site pegged RTM for Windows XP SP3 as "second half of April 2008" for seven languages, with a follow-on RTM of the remaining supported languages "approximately 21 days" later. By TechARP's account, Microsoft will first finish work on the Chinese, Eng…

Firefox is an award winning preview of next generation browsing technology from the Mozilla company. Firefox empowers you to accomplish your online activities faster, with a higher degree of safety and more efficiently than any other browser. Built with Tab browsing, popup blocking and a number of other seamless innovations, Firefox stands out ahead. Firefox allows you to customize the browser by using Addons to enhance the browser to your preference. Download: Firefox 2.0.0.13 | All builds (5.8MB, *.exe) View: Release Notes Homepage: Mozilla Firefox Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

A new version of Mozilla's popular Firefox Web browser is ready for download with improved security and memory use as the tiny company takes a stab at Microsoft Corp's dominant Internet Explorer. The program's creators told Reuters on Thursday that the privately-held company's trial version of Firefox 3 browser is ready for the masses to use after months of development. Until now, the company has discouraged average Internet users from moving on from Firefox 2, which was launched in October 2006. "In many ways it (Firefox 3) is much more stable than anything else out there," Mozilla Corp Vice President of Engineering Mike Schroepfer said in an interview. Key r…

Now that Windows Vista service pack 1 has been released, all eyes have shifted to Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s plans for Windows XP service pack 3, the final package of updates for the trusty OS. And, according to at least one source, Microsoft will roll out XP SP3 next Monday. As of Wednesday afternoon Pacific time, the BitTorrent search engine Mininova listed a 568.73 MB Windows XP Professional SP3 5503 file available for download. The file, which had 112 seeds and 417 leeches, had been downloaded 2083 times since it was posted Tuesday, according to the listing. According to the file description notes, Microsoft will release the final version of XP SP3 on March 24, but…

There may be an actual window of opportunity for graphics chip producer NVidia to acquire some x86 CPU design expertise and production prowess. But as In-Stat's Jim McGregor told us, there are reasons why NVidia + Via wouldn't work. There are more than two CPU producers in the known universe, although it's Intel and AMD that tend to dominate any discussion of it. But what could be the world's #3 CPU producer -- a very distant third -- is once again the topic of discussion, as rumors of Via Technologies' possible acquisition by graphics chip producer NVidia were turned up from "simmer" to "high" this morning, by a report from the respected Taiwanese industry daily DigiT…

Recuva is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses. Changes: New Wizard to make recovery easier. New Thumbnails view. Added Scan All Drives feature. Fixed 'Cannot find path' issue. Fixed rare crash during scan in XP/2000. Optimized treeview speed with large numbers of files. Minor UI changes. Downloads: Recuva 1.12.291 | Portable Homepage: Recuva Link: Lunarsoft Fr…

When you try to install Windows Vista SP1 via Windows Update you can get error: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is not available for installation from Windows Update and is not offered by Automatic Updates. To help ensure a positive update experience, Windows Update will temporarily not offer Windows Vista SP1 to systems that have the following device drivers. In some cases, these device drivers are problematic on Windows Vista-based computers when you update to Windows Vista SP1. By installing updated device drivers, you will resolve the issue and enable Windows Update to offer Windows Vista SP1. Here are the drivers that doesn't work well with Vista SP1: Audio dri…