News

Windows Live Mail (Hotmail) users need to urgently change their passwords after thousands of passwords were hacked and posted online, according to reports.

Microsoft is investigating but it appears that accounts had been hacked or had been collected as part of a phishing scheme.

According to news sources the details were posted on October 1 to Pastebin.com, a website commonly used by developers to share code. Although the details have since been removed, the website said it had seen part of the list. PCAnswers advises that any Windows Live/Hotmail users change their passwords and memorable words immediately.

Windows 7 is complete. After previews and beta versions and then the Windows 7 Release Candidate, the Windows 7 team has decided that Windows 7 is ready to release. It is now on MSDN and TechNet, and is already with PC makers.

Windows Technical Beta Program members will be getting their free Windows 7 in the next few days.

This isn't the exact version of Windows 7 Ultimate that you'll get on a new PC, because there are still content deals for Media Center to lock down and it doesn't have the Windows 7 web browser ballot screen that users in Europe are likely to see when they set up a Windows 7 PC (new or upgraded).

PC builders and laptop manufacturers will create their own Device Stage interfaces for some PCs and many more peripherals will have Device Stage interfaces by October. ... read more »

Windows 7, officially slated for early 2010, may well give free upgrades to consumers who purchase a new PC with Vista after July this year. Giving that a six month window until the new OS appears it seems likely that either the very end of this year or January 2010 will be the release date for Windows 7. The news comes after a tech website got hold of Mircosoft's Technical Guarantee Program which suggests free upgrades are likely to be offered to Vista customers come July.

We have touched on the subject of child-safe internet technology a few times in PC Answers, and no doubt we will be doing so again. But I recently discovered a great plugin for Firefox (you can download a standalone browser with teh same functionality too) that manages a whitelist network of websites. As well as being able to see the officially apporve sites, the browser plug-in has some parental controls to allow you to add specific sites.
It's not an alternative to keeping an eye on what your kids do online, but it can certainly help. Download the extension here: http://tinyurl.com/6n2tkf

Open source email client Thunderbird has now reached version 3, grab the beta from www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/#tb3. The new client promises some neat features including tabbed email windows which takes the popular tab feature straight from Firefox, so now it's easier than ever to view multiple emails on screen at once. There's also better integration with the calendar extension Lightning and faster search capabilities to get through thousands of emails in seconds. More subtle tweaks include the ability to search and install Thundbird addons from within the cleint itself rather than going to Mozilla's extensions site first.

You might have noticed over the past couple of weeks that if you conduct a Google search whilst logged into your Google account some additional icons appear next to the search results. These are the icons of Google SearchWiki, a new feature that enables you to make edits to the results page. You can promote a search result to the top of the rankings, delete an unwanted one or add a site you think ought to have appeared. You can also attach notes to individual results. These changes will remain in place so long as you are logged into your account – so next time you do the same Google search, you will see your amendments. Your changes only apply to your account: they don't affect the main Google rankings. ... read more »

Usually people have problems trying to get to particular content on the web, but there are plenty of reasons why you might want to block particular websites too - especially if your kids are using your computer. There are plenty of commercial services for this, but if you are willing to put in a bit of effort, you can enjoy the peace of mind of blocking annoying or unwanted content for free.

SafeSquid is a proxy server that processes your browser's request for websites, checks them against its internal rules and forwards the content on if it is safe. You can of course set the rules however you like. Unlike a lot of free software, this is actually easy to use - but if you have any problems, don't worry we will be covering it in a full PC Answers tutorial soon. ... read more »

Microsoft has finally pulled out of the security market by ditching its OneCare product in favour of a slimmed down free version next summer. The first version of OneCare was woeful, but 2.0 was actually well received. Major strides is useability and performance by the big secuirty companies like Symantec though appear to have killed off OneCare's future, as well as a rise in Mac popularity where additional security suites are not needed.

Codenamed Morro, the new anti-virus tool will be tailored for lower end machines and be compatible with XP, Vista and Windows 7 - in fact it may well become the new secuirty tool found within Windows 7 itself. Let us know your experience of OneCare and what you'd like to see in Windows 7's security center instead.

The culmination of 75 years of meticulaous archaelogical research has ended up as a new 'layer' for Google Earth. 3D designers have re-created more than 6700 buildings from various periods of Rome's ancient past to create the first detailed virtual recreation of the world's original megacity.

You can download Google Earth and take a stroll up the Paletine by following this link

Unsolicited emails, usually those selling goods, can account for anything between 50 to 80% of all emails sent, which causes a big headache for the IT industry, ISPs and of course individuals. Even though the percentage of email that is classed as spam may be nearing some sort of saturation point, or even be in decline (according to messagelabs), the volume of spam mail seems to be rising. But it may not be as lucrative as it once was... ... read more »