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Why companies can't kick the adware habit

desktop2 Earlier this year, AT&T's Cingular division and Travelocity both pledged not to advertise anymore via adware programs that slip onto PCs and inject ads into a user's browser. Verizon took a stance against computer invaders when it became a sponsor of an antispyware initiative. Yet, in March, ads from all three companies were being distributed through adware.

These businesses, along with Comcast and Vonage, acknowledge that their ads have surfaced in adware, but say they never intended for that to happen. The incidents raise a troubling question: Have advertising networks grown so complicated that sponsoring firms can't control where their ads appear, or are the companies simply not being vigilant enough? Why companies can't kick the adware habit Linked by shanmuga Tuesday, 1st May 2007 2:21AM

Why companies can't kick the adware habit
Road to nasty affiliations is paved with good intentions


April 27, 2007 (PC World) -- Earlier this year, AT&T's Cingular division and Travelocity both pledged not to advertise anymore via adware -- programs that slip onto PCs and inject ads into a user's browser. Verizon took a stance against computer invaders when it became a sponsor of an antispyware initiative. Yet, in March, ads from all three companies were being distributed through adware.

These businesses, along with Comcast and Vonage, acknowledge that their ads have surfaced in adware, but say they never intended for that to happen. The incidents raise a troubling question: Have advertising networks grown so complicated that sponsoring firms can't control where their ads appear, or are the companies simply not being vigilant enough?

Adware's sources

The findings come from research by adware and spyware expert Ben Edelman. Edelman found that PCs with the adware program FullContext installed showed ads for Cingular and Travelocity that appeared to be on the Google Web site -- without the search giant's knowledge. FullContext, according to Edelman, is sometimes installed on a PC without user consent. Security companies McAfee and Symantec identify FullContext as a medium-risk adware program and quarantine it on their customers' PCs. At press time, the FullContext firm had not replied to PC World's e-mail requests for an interview.

Cingular and Travelocity say they prohibit the use of adware by advertisers they hire. Travelocity says that as soon as it found out its ads were showing up in adware, it "immediately suspended and eventually terminated its advertising campaigns with partners who may have been associated with those violations." Cingular says that it took similar action.

According to Edelman, Verizon banner ads were showing up on sites like Google because of a program called DollarRevenue. Once installed on a PC, the DollarRevenue software can inject ads on Web sites in the same way FullContext does. McAfee and Symantec both quarantine DollarRevenue when they find it on users' PCs, calling it a high-risk program.

"Something went wrong," says Jim Smith, a Verizon spokesperson. He says Verizon did business with an advertiser that contracted with another advertiser to distribute the ads. That firm in turn contracted with another advertiser. While Verizon permits redistribution of ads, Smith says, it prohibits the use of adware to show Verizon ads. He says Verizon suspended the advertiser from distributing ads until further review.

Companies' role

There is little doubt the companies highlighted by Edelman have no interest in seeing their ads in adware, experts say. Earlier this year both Cingular and Travelocity agreed to pay fines of $30,000 to $35,000 to settle an investigation by the New York Attorney General's office into their use of DirectRevenue adware. In the settlement, both Cingular and Travelocity promised "to investigate how their online ads are delivered" and to ensure ads were not distributed by adware surreptitiously installed on users' computers.

"We are the victims here," says Joel Frey, a Travelocity spokesperson, explaining that some of the company's partners made deals with adware firms despite Travelocity's policy against the practice.

Some advertising experts say companies shouldn't be absolved of their responsibility to control their online advertising. "They have the power to monitor their own ads, and so they should," says Kevin Heisler, analyst at Jupiter Research. By pleading ignorance, he says, companies risk feeding the nuisance of spyware by supporting its proliferators with ad dollars.

Advertising industry representatives, though, maintain that the connection between adware and online advertisers is complicated. Web advertising relies on a byzantine network of affiliates that pay one another to display ads.

Online advertising is very new, and "obviously there are kinks to be worked out," says Sheryl Draizen, spokesperson for the Interactive Advertising Bureau. But, Draizen adds, for every rogue advertiser there are ten honest ones.

What you can do

Jupiter's Heisler says fed-up consumers should complain loudly to the companies that advertise -- intentionally or unintentionally -- via adware. If advertisers actually enforced a zero-tolerance policy, he says, it would eliminate much of the economic incentive for spreading adware.
http://www.computerworld.com/action...articleId=9018119&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top

 

New York joins the MPAA

p2pnet.net news:- New York City has been recruited as a corporate enforcement agency by Hollywood's MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).

"Flanked by producer Jane Rosenthal and MPAA's Mike Robinson," says Variety, NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday signed legislation that'll turn anyone who camcords a movie into a criminal.

The new law upgrades so-called film piracy, "from a violation with a $250 fine to a misdemeanor that carries up to six months in jail and penalties of up to $5,000," says Associated Press.

The announcement was timed to coincide with 'anti-piracy' advertisements described as public service announcements.

The so-called PSAs, "feature film clips from movies like the animated hit 'Happy Feet' as they might look in illegally recorded copies, emphasizing the poor quality and urging New Yorkers not to buy pirated DVDs on the street," says the story.

"The campaign uses ratings-style icons such as 'RO' for Ripped-Off, 'PS' for Poor Sound, 'SP' for Stupid Purchase, 'OV' for Obstructed View and 'F' for Fake," says Variety.

The MPAA fakes will be on display at bus stops, shown in theatres and aired on local stations, it says, adding:

"Often taped with camcorders in movie theaters, the MPAA estimates that in 2006, New York City theaters were the origin of 43% of camcorder-source pirated DVDs tracked in the United States, and 20% of pirated movies seized globally."

Hollywood would dearly love to see Montreal and other Canadian cities take the same step.

The MPAA is demanding that Canada change its copyright laws to suit Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney, "before a new administration takes over," p2pnet posted recently, and, "one that may not be as cooperative as George W. Bush's".

Because, says Hollywood in an attack spearheaded by Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn, we're IT whejn it comes to illicit underground movie production.

Sony, one of the Big Six movies studios that's on the ram,page, makes wonderful little camcorders such as the world's smallest and lightest high definition consumer camcorder with full HD resolution based on HDV 1080i, as it stated when the camera was released.

And yet, "Strangely Sony, which also makes eminently affordable CD and DVD burners, hasn't yet been named by other members of the movie cartel for aiding and abetting pirates," p2pnet noted in a write-up on the camera.

Stay tuned for news of the first camcording New York teenager to be thrown into jail at Hollywood's behest.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
Variety - Mayor signs piracy fine, May 1, 2007
Associated Press - Film Piracy Now a Misdemeanor in NYC, May 1, 2007
change its copyright laws - Hollywood muscles Canada, March 6, 2007
p2pnet - New Sony 'pirate' camcorder, May 18, 2005
http://p2pnet.net/story/12113

 

SpamGrabber For Microsoft Outlook 00-03 3.06
Author: Leon Mayne, Lars Roland
Date: 2007-05-02
Size: 601 Kb
License: Freeware


SpamGrabber is an Outlook Add-in that processes emails and sends spam reports to a configurable email address (such as your SpamCop reporting address). It also has a few other handy functions such as secure message preview, to avoid spammers verifying your email address using image requests, and a function to copy the source of a message to the clipboard so you can copy and paste easily into another application.

Why does it exist?
Outlook makes it very difficult and annoying to acquire the full source of a message, which includes the message headers and body. In order to report spam emails you would normally have to go through several steps and copy and paste twice to get the required information. With SpamGrabber you simply select the email(s) you wish to report and click a button!

Please note that SpamGrabber does not officially support Outlook 2007, although some users have reported success after installing the separate CDO installation and then installing SpamGrabber. The next major release of SpamGrabber will support 2003 & 2007

link to download
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5628.html

 

FreeUndelete 2.0
Author: Recoveronix Ltd.
Date: 2007-05-02
Size: 852 Kb
License: Freeware


FreeUndelete is a freeware data recovery program for deleted files.

In case of accidental deletion of files on a NTFS file system (used by default in Windows XP, 2000 and NT) FreeUndelete is the utility to help.

It is our pleasure to emphasize that FreeUndelete is free. There is no charge, direct or hidden, to download and use a fully functional copy of the program. The program does not install any spyware or adware along with it. It does not populate user's desktop with pop-up ads or forcefully subscribe user to mailing lists.


link to download
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4407.html

 

HD DVD cracks: there's no going back

By Eric Bangeman | Published: May 02, 2007 - 02:22PM CT

When AACS was revealed as the encryption format of choice for HD DVD and Blu-ray, bets were placed on how long it would take for it to be cracked. Since the first HD DVD and Blu-ray discs began shipping, hackers have been hard at work figuring out how to break the encryption; DVD Jon even registered DeAACS.com. We've covered both crackers' efforts and the attempts by the AACS Licensing Authority to keep those cracks from seeping into the public consciousness. Yesterday, all of that came to a head.

A submission on Digg which contained the recently uncovered encryption key for HD DVD discs was removed yesterday by the site's admins after the site was served with a DMCA takedown notice, according to Digg CEO Jay Adelson. Such takedown notices are not uncommon. The AACS LA has issued them far and wide in an attempt to give the crack as low a profile as possible—Boing Boing blogger Cory Doctorow was the recent recipient of just such a notice after students of a class on copyright he was teaching at the University of Southern California posted the key and a link to the infamous Doom9 forum where AACS cracks have been openly discussed.

The futility of the AACS' actions was demonstrated last night when Digg was hit with a barrage of submissions containing the forbidden key. For a few hours, Digg's front page consisted of little more than a succession of links to the hexadecimal HD DVD key. After several hours, Digg cofounder Kevin Rose said that the site had received the message loud and clear, pledging that Digg would no longer kill stories and comments containing the key.

While the shenanigans at Digg were fascinating to watch as they unfolded, in the grand scheme of DRM it serves mostly as a reminder that the Internet holds no secrets. Like it or not for the AACS LA, DVD Forum (which backs HD DVD), and the Blu-ray Disc Association, Pandora's Box is opened wide. Not only is the key out in the open, but perhaps more damagingly to the HD lobby, public awareness of DRM and its cracks has been raised.

How will HD DVD, Blu-ray, and AACS LA respond? We don't know, and chances are that they don't either. Last night and this morning, Ars contacted all of them, along with the MPAA, to ask that very question. We haven't had a single phone call or e-mail returned from any of them.

We're still a long ways off from the easy availability of tools like DeCSS for HD DVD and Blu-ray, plus Blu-ray has a couple of extra layers of protection (ROM Mark and BD+) that have yet to be deployed. Also, both HD formats have an antipiracy weapon in their arsenal that DVD lacks: the ability to revoke device keys, which has already happened to Corel's WinDVD. Unfortunately for both HD DVD and Blu-ray, that looks like it's going to be as effective as a suit of chain mail against a bazooka shell; Doom9 forum member arnezami claims that the hack at the center of the latest maelstrom is irrevocable. Even if arnezami is wrong in his evaluation, the AACS LA's vigilance in trying to keep the existence of HD DVD cracks out of the pubic eye has backfired in a truly spectacular manner.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070502-hd-dvd-cracks-theres-no-going-back.html

 

Water Facts: Bottled or Tap?
Posted by Simeon Margolis, M.D., Ph.D.
on Tue, May 01, 2007, 7:45 pm PDT


Bottled water has become the fastest growing commercial beverage sold in the United States. In 2005, Americans spent nearly $10 billion on bottled water. And now we are seeing ads for bottled water containing several added (and unneeded) vitamins.

This got me thinking about the origin of the oft-cited notion that we need to drink at least eight glasses of water — presumably in eight-ounce glasses — a day. I can understand taking a bottle of water along on a long hike or 20-mile bicycle ride. But it's hard for me to keep a straight face when I see grown adults sucking on bottles of water in the course of ordinary activities.

Do all these water-bottle-toting folks know something we don't about the benefits of guzzling large amounts of H2O? Or is this another trendy accessory to help us feel better about ourselves, not founded on medical fact?

Several years ago, a report from the Institute of Medicine set the record straight about how much water we should be drinking. It didn't state the number of glasses of water we should drink; rather, it recommended a total daily intake of about 91 ounces of water for women and a total of 125 ounces of water for men.

About 80 percent of this total water can come from beverages like milk, fruit juices, coffee, tea, and beer, not just from drinking water. The remaining 20 percent can come from soups and the water contained in fruits and vegetables.

Should we be counting water consumption like calories? No. According to the IOM report, thirst is an adequate guide for almost all healthy people for meeting their daily needs. The report set no upper limit on fluid intake, but noted that excessive amounts can be dangerous.

Aggressive advertising by the bottled water industry, urging us to drink more water to ensure good health, may help to maintain the "eight glasses of water a day" myth. Surely these ads partly explain why so many otherwise-sensible people find it necessary to carry a bottle of water while attending business meetings or walking down the street.

OK, perhaps they're thinking that bottled water is better than tap water. But is it really? The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) created the policies regulating the industry and claims that bottled water is subject to more aggressive quality standards than tap water. The IBWA, however, isn't quite an unbiased source of safety information for the industry.

To date, no independent investigation has shown that bottled water passes more safety and health checks than tap water. In fact, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) tested 103 brands of bottled water and concluded there was no assurance that water out of a bottle is cleaner or safer than water from the tap. Another of their conclusions didn't surprise me either: They estimated that 25 percent or more of bottled water is nothing more than tap water.

Given the lack of objective research or evidence to favor bottled water over tap water, the decision on which to drink comes down to an individual choice. However, two things we know for certain: bottled water is more convenient and more expensive than tap water.

The NRDC reported that a five-year supply of bottled water cost over $1,000 compared with $1.65 for the same amount of tap water. Not to mention the environmental impact of the many discarded plastic water bottles that are not recycled.

If you feel the convenience is worth the cost, by all means choose bottled water; but don't feel compelled to drink a lot of it to maintain good health.
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/healthnews/4505/water-facts-bottled-or-tap

 

Police blotter: Can someone else let cops search your PC?

By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: May 2, 2007, 12:29 PM PDT


Police Blotter is a weekly CNET News.com report on the intersection of technology and the law.

What: Homeland Security agents obtained permission from elderly father, who lived in the same house, to search his son's computer for contraband.

When: 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on April 25.

Outcome: By a 2-1 majority, the appeals court ruled the search was permissible because the father had the authority to consent to the search of the computer in his son's bedroom.

What happened, according to court documents:
During an investigation of Regpay, a payment-processing company that has been accused of having ties to child pornography, federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security became interested in a specific subscriber.

The name they obtained from Regpay's records was "Ray Andrus," with a street address in Leawood, Kan. They believed the account was used to access a now-defunct pornographic Web site called SunshineBoys.com. The e-mail address linked to the account was bandrus@kc.rr.com, however, which was associated with the name "Bailey Andrus."

But even after investigating for eight months, agents of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement section still didn't have enough hard evidence to make an arrest or get a search warrant from the judge. So they stopped by the house in Leawood for what's known as a "knock and talk," hoping to get permission for a voluntary search.

Customs agent Cheatham and Leawood police detective Woollen (no last names are given) arrived at the Andrus house at approximately 8:45 a.m. on August 27, 2004. Bailey Andrus, a 91-year old physician, answered the door in his pajamas and explained that his son Ray Andrus lived in the house to care for his aging parents.

Ray Andrus had a separate bedroom with the door ajar, and he was not at home. The father gave permission for the police to search his son's bedroom and any computers in it. Cheatham and Woollen called in a computer forensics expert, who had been waiting outside. He immediately unplugged the computer's hard drive and began browsing the contents using the EnCase forensic software (but did not check in advance to see if the contents were password-protected). Eventually the computer was seized by police.

The technician reported finding indications of child pornography after a few minutes of searching for JPEG files. At some point after this discovery, he halted and Ray Andrus was called at work. He agreed to come home. He was indicted on one count of knowingly and intentionally possessing sexually explicit images of minors in violation of federal law.

Andrus' defense counsel raised a number of objections to the search, centering on the argument that the elder Andrus did not have the legal authority to consent to a police search of his son's room and computer. (The computer was password-protected, but unless the contents are encrypted, such protection can typically be bypassed by plugging the hard drive into a second computer.)


That point is crucial. Normally a search warrant is required for a police search. But the U.S. Supreme Court has said that a third party can give consent--this often arises in husband-wife and roommate cases--for police to conduct a search if that person has joint access to that property, or control for most purposes.

Co-habitation is legally trickier, in other words, than a straightforward case of a bachelor living alone in a leased apartment. In a previous installment of Police Blotter, an appeals court ruled that police could not seize a computer without a warrant when the husband declined but the wife consented.

In the case of U.S. v. Andrus, the district court agreed that questions about the father's ability to consent made it a "close call"--but eventually ruled the results of the search could be used as evidence. Ray Andrus pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 70 months in prison. He did, however, reserve his right to raise the question of his father's consent during the appeal.

By a 2-1 majority, the 10th Circuit agreed with the district court and upheld his prison sentence.

Excerpts from the appeals court's majority opinion:
The inquiry into whether the owner of a highly personal object has indicated a subjective expectation of privacy traditionally focuses on whether the subject suitcase, footlocker or other container is physically locked. Determining whether a computer is "locked," or whether a reasonable officer should know a computer may be locked, presents a challenge distinct from that associated with other types of closed containers.

Courts addressing the issue of third-party consent in the context of computers, therefore, have examined officers' knowledge about password protection as an indication of whether a computer is "locked" in the way a footlocker would be. For example, in Trulock, the 4th Circuit held a live-in girlfriend lacked actual authority to consent to a search of her boyfriend's computer files where the girlfriend told police she and her boyfriend shared the household computer but had separate password-protected files that were inaccessible to the other. The court in that case explained, "Although Conrad had authority to consent to a general search of the computer, her authority did not extend to Trulock's password-protected files.






Andrus' case presents facts that differ somewhat from those in other cases. Andrus' computer was located in a bedroom occupied by the homeowner's 51-year-old son rather than in a true common area. Dr. Andrus, however, had unlimited access to the room. Law enforcement officers did not ask specific questions about Dr. Andrus' use of the computer, but Dr. Andrus said nothing indicating the need for such questions.

The critical issue in our analysis is whether, under the totality of the circumstances known to Cheatham, Woollen and Kanatzar, these officers could reasonably have believed Dr. Andrus had authority to consent to a search of the computer.

Andrus argues his computer's password protection indicated his computer was "locked" to third parties, a fact the officers would have known had they asked questions of Dr. Andrus prior to searching the computer. Under our case law, however, officers are not obligated to ask questions unless the circumstances are ambiguous. In essence, by suggesting the onus was on the officers to ask about password protection prior to searching the computer, despite the absence of any indication that Dr. Andrus' access to the computer was limited by a password, Andrus necessarily submits there is inherent ambiguity whenever police want to search a household computer and a third party has not affirmatively provided information about his own use of the computer or about password protection. Andrus' argument presupposes, however, that password protection of home computers is so common that a reasonable officer ought to know password protection is likely. Andrus has neither made this argument directly nor proffered any evidence to demonstrate a high incidence of password protection among home computer users.

For the foregoing reasons, this court concludes Dr. Andrus had apparent authority to consent to a search of the computer in Ray Andrus' bedroom. We accordingly affirm the district court's denial of Andrus' motion to suppress.

Excerpts from the dissent by Judge Monroe McKay:
I take issue with the majority's implicit holding that law enforcement may use software deliberately designed to automatically bypass computer password protection based on third-party consent without the need to make a reasonable inquiry regarding the presence of password protection and the third party's access to that password.

The presence of security on Defendant's computer is undisputed. Yet, the majority curiously argues that Defendant's use of password protection is inconsequential because Defendant failed to argue that computer password protection is "commonplace." Of course, the decision provides no guidance on what would constitute sufficient proof of the prevalence of password protection, nor does it explain why the court could not take judicial notice that password protection is a standard feature of operating systems. Despite recognizing the "pervasiveness of computers in American homes," and the fact that the "personal computer is often a repository for private information the computer's owner does not intend to share with others," the majority requires the invocation of magical language in order to give effect to Defendant's subjective intent to exclude others from accessing the computer.

The burden on law enforcement to identify ownership of the computer was minimal. A simple question or two would have sufficed. Prior to the computer search, the agents questioned Dr. Andrus about Ray Andrus' status as a renter and Dr. Andrus' ability to enter his 51-year-old son's bedroom in order to determine Dr. Andrus' ability to consent to a search of the room, but the agents did not inquire whether Dr. Andrus used the computer, and if so, whether he had access to his son's password. At the suppression hearing, the agents testified that they were not immediately aware that Defendant's computer was the only one in the house, and they began to doubt Dr. Andrus' authority to consent when they learned this fact.

Accordingly, in my view, given the case law indicating the importance of computer password protection, the common knowledge about the prevalence of password usage, and the design of EnCase or similar password bypass mechanisms, the Fourth Amendment and the reasonable inquiry rule, mandate that in consent-based, warrantless computer searches, law enforcement personnel inquire or otherwise check for the presence of password protection and, if a password is present, inquire about the consenter's knowledge of that password and joint access to the computer.

link
http://news.com.com/2100-1047_3-6180908.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

 

Drinking Alcohol Shrinks the Brain

May 2, 2007 03:55:46 PM PST
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Yahoo! Health: Addiction News

WEDNESDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- While it might help your heart, drinking even moderately could shrink your brain, U.S. researchers say.

"A small amount of alcohol is beneficial for the heart," noted lead researcher Carol Ann Paul, "but there is a continuous negative correlation between alcohol consumption and total brain volume. It seems that there is not a beneficial effect of even small amounts of alcohol on brain volume."

Paul was scheduled to present her findings at this week's annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, in Boston.

In the study, Paul and colleagues looked at MRI brain scans of 1,839 people ages 34 to 88. The people were classified as non-drinkers, former drinkers, low drinkers (those who drank one to seven drinks per week), moderate drinkers (eight to 14 drinks per week), or high drinkers (more than 14 drinks per week).

The researchers found that the more alcohol people drank on a regular basis, the smaller their brain volume. People who had more than 14 drinks per week had an average 1.6 percent reduction in brain volume compared with people who never drank.

Paul's team found that brain volume decreased 0.25 percent for every increase in drinking category.

Brain shrinkage was slightly greater in female drinkers than in male drinkers and had the biggest impact on women who were in their 70s and were still heavy drinkers, the researchers found.

That's not a surprise, Paul said, because women's bodies tend to react differently to alcohol. "Women are more sensitive to alcohol [than men] and absorb it faster," she said.

Paul stressed that brain volume will decrease naturally throughout the life span. "There is a normal decline in brain volume. Some people seem to be unaffected by it, but some people are not," she said. "Alcohol seems to be accelerating this normal decline."

One expert believes the study shows a clear, negative effect of drinking on the brain.

"This study corroborates a building story about the detrimental effects of alcohol on brain structure and function," said Dr. James Garbutt, a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

According to Garbutt, studies have also shown that alcohol has negative effects on brain functioning and cognition. "However, there haven't been studies that show how brain volume and cognition are related and whether alcohol has any effect," he said.

 

RIAA attacks more US schools

p2pnet.net news:- Ohio University, formerly the worst-hit in the RIAA's attack on senior American Schools under the so-called 'settlement plan', is patting itself on the back.

Where once the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) regularly fired off subpoenas at men, women and children it claimed were "devastating" its owners, the multi-billion-dollar Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG record labels, it's re-invented the scheme to target US university students.

The idea is to try to frighten students, and the public at large, into abandoning the independent music and musician sites and free p2p networks in favour of the low-quality, high-priced cookie-cutter 'product' turned out by the Big 4 and sold on corporate sites, principally Apple's iTunes.

These days, at frequent intervals, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) sends threatening letters in batches to US universities in the hope they, in turn, will act as corporate copyright cops; and, that recipients will be lured into incriminating themselves by agreeing to 'settle' for $3,000 out of court for alleged, and unproven, civil transgressions.

However, to solve its problems with the RIAA, Ohio University has started "monitoring" its network for p2p file sharers, and disabling Net access for computers "found in violation of the new policy".

When the Recording Industry Association of America sent its fourth round of settlement letters to 13 colleges today, "Ohio University is not among them," says the student-run daily The Post.

It goes on to spread the word about universities which are included, namely: Brandeis University (15 letters), Duke University (35), Iowa State University (15), Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT (23), Northern Illinois University (50), Syracuse University (20), Tufts University (15), University of Georgia (19), University of Iowa (25), University of Southern California (50), University of South Florida (50), University of Tennessee (50), and the University of Texas - Austin (35).

Ironically, the RIAA originally zoomed in on OU, lawsuits, if they're filed, would be in federal court, said Pat McGee, managing attorney for the university's Center for Student Legal Services, going on, "Only Athens litigation is handled by the center, which focuses on tenant-landlord disputes, misdemeanors and consumer law".

The RIAA would know it had students at a disadvantage, "when they have to drive two hours to file a motion," the story has him saying. "That's how they roll over people."

Students should pool their resources and hire an attorney instead of settling, he said, and, "If everybody fought it tooth and nail it'd probably tie up the federal court system for ten years."

Are the attacks indeed having the desired (by the Big 4) effect, intimidating people into abandoning free-choice and reasonable pricing in favour of Big 4 rip-offs?

Not according to respondents to a recent p2pnet poll, answered by 1,108 people.

"Have the RIAA sue 'em all lawsuits persuaded you to stop sharing?" - asked one of the questions.

"No!" - declared 94.1% (1,013) of the1,077 responses resoundingly.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
settlement plan - RIAA college settlement plan, February 28, 2007
solve its problems - Ohio University caves in to RIAA, April 26, 2007
The Post - No news is good news, May 2, 2007
pool their resources - Ohio University and the RIAA, March 3, 2007
1,108 people - p2pnet RIAA poll: final results, April 23, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12118

 

Congress in RIAA school attacks,

p2pnet.net news:- US congressmen 'Hollywood' Howard Berman (left) and Lamar Smith have given American universities a May 31 deadline to endorse a survey which amounts to a pledge of allegiance to Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, the members of the Big 4 music cartel.

American universities are already under non-stop siege from the Big 4's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) which is trying to sue students into buying 'product'.

Now, "congress" has, "threatened 20 universities with unspecified repercussions if they fail to provide 'acceptable answers" about what they're doing to stop or inhibit students from illegal downloading and file sharing'," says Variety.

"If we do not receive acceptable answers, Congress will be forced to act," it has Smith, the "ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee," declaring.

A "bipartisan group of members who serve on either judicial or educational committees in the House joined Smith in sending a letter and a survey on Tuesday to 20 schools identified as having the greatest amount of online piracy," says the story. "The survey is an exhaustive questionnaire seeking detailed information about each university's antipiracy efforts."

Questions include:

* Does your institution have an 'acceptable use' policy that includes an unambiguous prohibition against illegal peer-to-peer file trafficking of copyrighted works through the use of campus computer and networking systems?"
* Please describe, in detail, your institution's formal policy or procedure for processing and responding to notices of infringement received.
* Beginning with the 2002-03 academic year and for each school year thereafter, please identify the number of student violations of your institution's acceptable use policies that involved illegal downloading, uploading, or file trafficking of copyrighted material. Please also note the number of works whose copyrights were infringed.

"We are asking these universities to report back to us by May 31," Smith says in Variety. "We want to know exactly what they plan to do to stop illegal downloading on their campuses."

Berman, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and a co-signer of the letter, says, "By answering the survey, universities will be required to examine how they address piracy on their campuses."

Schools named are:

Columbia, Pennsylvania, Boston U, UCLA, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Duke, Rochester Institute of Technology, U of Massachusetts at Boston, Michigan, Ohio U, U of Nebraska at Lincoln, Tennessee, South Carolina, U of Massachusetts at Amherst, Michigan State, Howard, N.C. State and U. of Wisconsin at Madison.

It's interesting to see Ohio is on the Smith/Berman list. Is this a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is up to?

Ohio U recently decided to act for the RIAA instead of students and yesterday, its The Post gleefully reported it wasn't on the latest RIAA (s)hit list

Of equal interest, Brian Rust, spokesperson for University of Wisconsin-Madison says UW will, "participate in the study and provide documentation of the extensive steps taken to dissuade students from copyright infringement," according to the school's Badger Herald.

The University of Wisconsin was one of the universities declining to act as an unpaid RIAA copyright cop, refusing to forward RIAA 'settlement' letters to students.

The "UW-Madison and all of our peer institutions have gone to great lengths to notify people, warn people and post notices via e-mail," the Badger Herald has Rust declaring.

Meanwhile,, "The Recording Industry Associate of America, which is taking legal action against 53 students in the UW System, supported Wednesday's congressional action, says the story. But this endorsement is hardly surprising considering the RIAA started the action in the first place.

"We recognize the many pressing issues facing administrators today, but we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to theft on such a massive scale,' it has RIAA Mitch Bainwol saying fulsomely.

The chances of any particular person being individually targeted by the Big 4 music cartel's RIAA, or any other Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG enforcement outfit, are akin to winning the lottery or being hit by lightning and, "Frankly, we've found that students know that downloading from unauthorized P2P systems is illegal, but the chance of getting caught isn't great enough to discourage them from doing it," admitted RIAA demi-boss Cary Sherman recently.

But what the hell, eh? Sue 'em anyway!

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
non-stop siege - RIAA attacks more US schools, May 1, 2007
Variety - Congress threatens colleges, May 2, 2007
act for the RIAA - Ohio University caves in to RIAA, April 26, 2007
The Post - No news is good news, May 2, 2007
Badger Herald - Congress steps into RIAA feud, May 3, 2007
unpaid RIAA copyright cop - Third school says No! to the RIAA, March 29, 2007
isn't great enough - RIAA Ohio student attacks, March 9, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12121

 

New Nvidia 8800 Ultra to Be Priced Over $800
By ExtremeTech Staff
discuss Discuss this now (4 posts)
Nvidia said Tuesday that its partners would ship the Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra -- "the world's fastest graphics processing unit" -- by May 15.

Nvidia also announced a price for the new cards: at least $829.


For that, users can expect a card with an average frame rate of between 10 percent and 15 percent faster than the Nvidia 800 GTX, the company said. The new cards contain 768 Mbytes of onboard video memory, while the GTS uses 320 Mbytes.

Cards will be available from Asus, BFG, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision, Leadtek, MSI, PNY, Point of View, Sparkle and XFX.


http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2125119,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

 

Microsoft preps seven bulletins for Patch Tuesday
Critical fixes for Windows, Office, Exchange and more
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco → More by this author
Published Thursday 3rd May 2007 20:13 GMT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/03/patch_tuesday_outline/
Next week's Patch Tuesday from Microsoft will include updates fixing a host of critical vulnerabilities in products that include Windows, Office and Exchange.

In all, Microsoft will release seven bulletins. They include:

* Two affecting Windows with the maximum severity rating being critical
* Three affecting Office with the maximum severity rating being critical
* One affecting Exchange with the maximum severity rating being critical
* One affecting CAPICOM and BizTalk with the maximum severity rating being critical.

As usual, Microsoft will also push an updated version of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, according to the company's Security Bulletin Advance Notification site.

Microsoft isn't specifying what vulnerabilities will be fixed, but it's reasonable conjecture that one update will patch a DNS flaw in Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 that has been actively exploited for the past three weeks.

 

DRM crew targets Digg posters

p2pnet.net news:- The Advanced Access Content System folks are extremely upset with Digg users for posting code designed to puncture AACS DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control on HD DVD discs.

HD-DVDs was "absolutely not broken," AACS' Michael Ayers states unequivocally, quoted by the BBC. "There has been a lot of misunderstanding. The key that has been leaked has now been revoked."

But he admitted DVDs with AACS DRM hacked were "now in the clear" and open for copying.

Nonetheless, AACS is looking at "legal and technical tools" to "confront those who published the key," says the BBC.

"They can discuss the pros and cons," it has Ayers saying. "We know some people are critical of the technology.

"But a line is crossed when we start seeing keys being distributed and tools for circumvention. You step outside of the realm of protected free speech then."

However, "a search on Google shows almost 700,000 pages have published the key," says the Beeb.

"We will take whatever action is appropriate," it has Ayers declaring. "We hope the public respects our position and complies with applicable laws.

"This is the first round and will not be the last."

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
posting code - HD DVD crack cracks Digg, May 2, 2007
BBC - DRM group vows to fight bloggers, May 4, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12130

 

Disney Porn Time for 5-year-olds

p2pnet.net news:- New Jersey Comcast customer Paul Dunleavy was, "shocked" to find his five-year-old son glued to the Disney TV channel on Tuesday.

Why? Because instead of Handy Manny, an "educational show" about a Latino repairman and his box of talking tools, the little boy was watching, "two people doing their thing, it was full-on and it was disgusting," theNew York Daily News has Dunleavy, who asked that his son not be named, saying.

Hardcore porn, "wasn't something you'd expect to see on Cinemax, never mind Disney," he said in the story that's quoted, strangely, on Disney's Mickey News.

"Disney's Playhouse features animated shows with content geared toward children ages 3 to 6," says the story, adding:

The boy had turned on the Disney Channel while his mom cleaned another room.

Dunleavy, who only had the Disney Channel added to his cable package a couple weeks ago, received an apology directly from Comcast.

But he said, "My son was extremely upset because he thought he'd done something wrong, and we're hoping what he saw doesn't become an issue for him.

"If he asks about it, we'll have to find a way to discuss it with him.

"But I'm speechless. I try to protect my kids from a lot of things, but I wouldn't have thought Disney would become one of them."

But TV isn't the only way Disney gets at kids. Its Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online kicked off in January

It's, "all part of our age-banded strategy where we are looking to follow the consumer through all their age levels and have something for them at every age," revealed company spokesman Ken Goldstein.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
Mickey News - Tots tune in to Disney Channel, get hardcore pornography instead, May 5, 2007
age-banded strategy - Disney: after your kids. Again, January 8, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12128

 

Hollywood's war on Canada




p2pnet.net news view:- At the beginning of 2007, up to 50% of movies which show up online illegally are Made in Canada, said the Big 6 studios, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, NBC Universal, Disney and Sony, through their MPAA in the US, and CMPDA in Canada.

But this is yet another example of an overblown Hollywood promo for a feature which turns out to be vacuous when you see the whole thing.

The 50% claim heralded the start of an all-out Hollywood attack on Canada, accused of being a haven for criminals who are using camcorders to tape feature movies which then show up online, or as DVD counterfeits.

'Camcorder' is short for the small, easily concealed hand-held video recorders of the type manufactured in the millions by Sony's consumer electronics arm and widely sold through the Windows Marketplace, and Amazon, and elsewhere.

Montreal is named as the hub of this criminal activity and, "They are using Canada because they can have the movie out on the street in the Philippines and China before it even releases there," according to Cineplex Entertainment theatre chain's Ellis Jacob.

Gangsters are behind it all, declares Jacob, a fact which, "endangers our young employees, because they are dealing with hardened criminals, for whom this is more lucrative then selling drugs".

And Bruce Snyder, president of Fox's domestic distribution, has said if Canada doesn't do something to curb its "growing" piracy problem, "Hollywood will".

If Canada was America, where Hollywood and the Bush administration are closer than two peas in a pod, the threat would have weight. But for the moment, anyway, here, it's still bluster, and the statistics Hollywood relies on are proving to be equally lacking in substance.

Dr Michael Geist, Canada research chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on Wednesday to discuss counterfeiting. He focused on the need to obtain more accurate data; and, to separate the counterfeiting issue from copyright reform.

"I argued that the inclusion of issues such as ratification of the WIPO Internet treaties is hampering progress on the serious counterfeiting problems," says Geist on his blog.

And he used the US camcording claims as illustrations stating:

Consider, for example, the issue of camcording in Canadian movie theatres and the allegations that it contributes to DVD piracy. Earlier this year there were reports that Canada was responsible for 50 percent of camcorded movies that later appear on pirated DVDs.

Over the weeks that followed, industry sources began altering that number, with suggestions that the figure was actually 20 percent, 23 percent, 30 percent, or 40 percent. Such a broad range of possibilities suggests that the industry simply does not know. In fact, new reports this morning out of New York indicate that New York City alone is responsible for more than 40 percent of camcorder piracy.

Moreover, a closer examination of actual industry data indicates that all of these figures are wildly inflated, with the actual number closer to 3 percent of MPAA released movies.

When combined with the fact that few, if any, Canadian movies are said to be affected and Canadian copyright law already addresses the issue - it is an infringement to camcord a movie and camcording a movie for the purposes of distribution brings with it the prospect of huge fines and jail time - the issue highlights the need to avoid knee-jerk legislative proposals by instead focusing on obtaining independent, reliable data.

Meanwhile, two US politicos are also in on the act, having the effrontery to lecture Canada on "the explosive growth of pirating of movies from [Canadian] theaters through the use of hand-recorders known as 'camcorders'," and offering their 'expert' advice to Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper at the expense of the American taxpayers who elected them.

And US ambassador David Wilkins is on record as saying Canada must strengthen her copyright laws, "to prevent illicit pirating of American music and films".

"There's a lot of pirating that goes on, a lot of counterfeiting of movies and songs" and "it really does cost the Canadian economy a huge amount every year, estimated to be from some 10 to 30 billion (dollars) per year," he states unequivocally. "It's not some effort to protect some high-paid Hollywood star or studio. It's about ensuring that Canadian and American innovators and entrepreneurs are encouraged and protected so they will continue to make North America competitive in the world marketplace."

However, Wilkins' figures are no more reliable than the statistics which supposedly support US piracy claims.

In fact, they come from the same source, Hollywood's MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), which routinely produces unsupported statistics to suit the occasion, and which are then trotted out by the likes of the MPAA's Canadian clone, the CMPDA (Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association), for unquestioned repetition in the Canadian media.

Stay tuned.
http://p2pnet.net/story/12126

 

Proventia Desktop firewall stymies malware

By Roger A. Grimes
May 03, 2007

In the days of overcomplicated security tools, it's satisfying to review a feature-rich product that intentionally keeps it simple. Internet Security Systems (ISS) Proventia Desktop (also known as IBM Proventia Desktop Endpoint Protection) offers a host-based firewall core supplemented by anti-virus, anti-malware, buffer overflow exploit protection, intrusion prevention, and it can function as a Cisco Network Admission Control agent. I was eager to test version 9.0.226.0, released after the IBM buyout of ISS, to see how the product is holding out against the competition.

For more on ISS's mail security product, read our review of Proventia Network Mail Security System MS3004 )

Setup made simple
Installation of Proventia Desktop was simple and quick -- so quick that I almost didn't even know it installed. The only clue was a new status bar icon in the desktop tray. Clicking on the tray icon pulls up the user interface.

The UI has 7 tabs with a handful of configuration options on each. Interface options were clearly labeled, readily understandable in most cases without any additional reading. If you need more help, just click on the Help button provided on each configuration screen. There were a few minor bugs in the interface, but none that I couldn't immediately figure out.

The firewall comes with four defining Protection Levels carried over from the product's BlackICE origins: Paranoid, to block all unsolicited inbound traffic; Nervous, to block most unsolicited inbound traffic; Cautious, to block some unsolicited inbound traffic; and Trusting, which allows all inbound traffic.

The default setting is Nervous. It allows Internet and Windows NetBIOS sharing by default, but disabling each setting is as easy as removing the check mark. You can configure visual and audio indications for blocked traffic as well as get a visual indication when the service is stopped.

All host-based firewalls are subject to unauthorized stops in the firewall service. Typically, this is done accidentally by any user with administrative permissions and privileges or maliciously by a buffer overflow or executed malware program. Proventia Desktop protects itself from both: It prevents unauthorized changes to agent files and service shutdowns, asking for a password before the agent can be reconfigured or disabled. Additionally, the administrator can choose for all network traffic, inbound and outbound, to be blocked if the agent is stopped (i.e. fail secure).

The firewall's exception rules are standard. You can block by port or all ports, IP protocol number (UDP, TCP, etc.), IP address, or traffic direction (inbound, outbound, or both), and you can choose to accept or reject particular traffic. One interesting twist is the ability to set the future duration of the rule by hour, day, month, or forever, which is the default.

You should enable outbound Application Control, which is not turned on by default. You can choose the default behavior -- let it connect, prompt before allowing, prevent connection, or terminate application -- to implement when an unknown or modified application attempts to connect to the network. These same options are used in defining firewall rules, and you may define additional known applications along with the assigned behavior.

To definite an application, you use a path statement or MD5 hash value. Path statements can use system variables and the normal wildcard characters. Many host-based firewalls allow you to block applications, but Proventia Desktop also allows you to terminate the offending program, a setting that could be useful in putting down unauthorized programs and malware.

Unfortunately, over 180 default exceptions are automatically allowed out even when Application Control is enabled. These include many programs that use network services to communicate out, default Windows applications (such as explorer.exe, rdpclip.exe), and various antivirus vendor files.

Direct network connections to these excepted applications can be blocked, but if another process attempts to communicate on the network by using an API hook or call into the same application, that application will be able to use the network through that application regardless of the setting in Application Control. This can be used by malware to bypass the firewall. (Users can examine the default exceptions stored as a comma-delimited file stored in the Proventia home directory.) It would be nice if ISS listed the default exceptions in the GUI and also allowed these exceptions to be easily removed.

Seek and destroy
One of ISS' long-time strengths is intrusion detection and prevention. Proventia Desktop includes a ton of intrusion prevention signatures, including Ping sweep, NetBIOS share enumeration sweep, and TCP probe. Custom IDS signatures can be added though ISS’ OpenSignature functionality. Exceptions to the intrusion detection list may also be added for the computer it is on or other IP addresses, as well as defining which events to ignore and which IP addresses to trust. This comes in handy for known legitimate computers that cause false-positives.
Roger A. Grimes is contributing editor of the InfoWorld Test Center.

Proventia Desktop integrates BitDefender anti-virus and anti-spyware features, and scanning is performed on access or on demand. Instead of using only normal, signature-based analysis, Proventia complements it with executable behavioral inspection, running suspicious code in a limited virtual environment.

By default, scanning is not enabled on all actions except when files are being written to disk -- ISS calls this Behavioral Virus Prevention. Proventia Desktop can also scan e-mail (Outlook, POP, SMTP, and IMAP clients) along with file attachment archives and self-extracting (packed) files, IE plug-in installs, and Microsoft Office documents when opened.

Although you cannot define the types of archive files or packed files to be, you can define how "deep" the scanner should look, such as the number of files or how many bytes per archive it should examine, the amount of time to spend scanning per archive, and how many nesting levels deep it should go).

When malware is noted, the system takes one of five actions (correctly called reactions in Proventia Desktop): Clean, Prompt, Delete, Quarantine, or Report. I especially like the multiple levels of reaction that can be defined for various entry points.

By default, anti-virus and anti-spyware signatures are checked and updated every hour. Updates come from centrally located update servers on the local network or from ISS's Web-located servers if the network update servers are unavailable.

Mixed feelings about buffer overflow protection
Proventia Desktop's Buffer Overflow Exploit Protection feature is not turned on by default, which I found unfortunate. Even when enabled, it only initially protects a limited set of common applications, including AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger; VPN clients; Netscape; and Microsoft Office, IE, Exchange, and ISA and SQL Server. Thankfully, you may include additional applications using folder path or filename, or exclude other applications by filename.

The feature does exactly what its name says: exploitation protection, not buffer overflow protection. Proventia Desktop does not attempt to prevent buffer overflows from occurring in the first place; it leaves that to Windows Data Execution Protection or no-execution enabled CPUs. Instead, Proventia Desktop monitors potentially malicious system calls originating from memory areas that are likely to have resulted from a buffer overflow.

Proventia's limited buffer overflow protection is questionable in my book because it allows the buffer overflow to occur and it doesn't protect all applications. But it did successfully stop many of the most popular buffer overflows from causing further damage, including Blaster and Slammer. I wouldn't buy Proventia Desktop for the buffer overflow

Click for larger view.
protection alone, but it's a nice add-on.

Logging is slightly above average. Events are listed by intrusion name or intruder IP address and are color coded to summarize criticality, and admins may customize the criticality and colors. Each event can be right-clicked to block or allow future traffic from the involved traffic origination point (see Figure 2 at right).

Involved remote host IP addresses can be converted to their DNS or NetBIOS host names with a feature ISS calls Back Tracing. All connection information and packet data can be logged to a file -- a great feature not included with many host-based firewalls. Management Console Reporting can be integrated with ISS' SiteProtector, a central management and reporting console.

A capable firewall
I put Desktop Proventia through its paces in a small test lab and also out on the road when connecting my laptop to several public networks over a period of two weeks. It performed well: All attack types and unknown probes were logged as expected. Proventia Desktop also stopped most tested worms and viruses, but a few new rootkits and programs archived with uncommon packers were not recognized (they were not recognized by other popular anti-virus programs as well). I was pleasantly surprised at the minimum performance hit.

Overall, ISS offers a capable host-based firewall with some additional functionality not included in other stand-alone firewall products. I especially liked its simple, clean interface. Make sure that you understand what Proventia Desktop can and can't do, especially concerning the default outbound exceptions and its buffer overflow exploit protection limitations.
Roger A. Grimes is contributing editor of the InfoWorld Test Center.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/03/18TCproventia_1.html

 

The Most Important Open-Source Apps of All Time
May 04, 2007 - 6:51 AM - by Digital Dave
Some of these are truly brilliant applications, Apache being one of my favorites listed.

eWEEK Labs names the applications that have changed open-source technologies from corporate curiosities to integral enterprise tools.

eweek.com
http://www.eweek.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=25947&a=206265&po=9,00.asp?p=y

 

Windows 98 Revolutions Pack 7
Author: tihiy
Date: 2007-05-04
Size: 4.6 Mb
License: Freeware


Windows 98 Revolutions Pack - Add XP styles effects to 98SE only! such as xp toolbar icons startbutton and boot logo plus much much more.

Here are some key features of "Windows 98 Revolutions Pack":

· It REALLY FIXES KB891711 vulnerability (this link leads to separate fix; it isn't required for RP2.2 and higher)
· It ENABLES 32-bit icons. Can't you feel difference between 2000 and XP? This update isn't for you.
· It ENABLES 32-bit icons. Isn't that enough?! No?! Just look in screenshot section.
· It REPLACES idiotic 9x Ctrl-Alt-Del dialog with powerful Resource management utility which really helps to save system stability
· For those of you who can't live witout 4)... It still here! It can sit there by default... Just press "Other tasks" - and you're king!
· It makes Windows look&feel more modern. You don't believe? Ah, you're boring.
· It's absolutely freeware!!! Don't give your money to Bill because of XP looking cool.
· O... I've forget about Fade Effect, Align to Grid, Lock Taskbar, Transparent Labels features? Ah, well... Goto "Display" - "Effects"
· Ah, forgot about ME. Really, M$ forgot about this half-demon.
· Answer this question yourself.

Editors note: From the author:
Windows 98 Revolutions Real/Virtual hard drives are dead. Source code is lost. Several pieces i hope to find in my Windows 2000 RP project code fork external backup, but i highly doubt if i'll do this. Furthermore, all features that were planned for an RP update and all features i was privately developing for Windows 98 Revolutions is gone, too.


link
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Windows_98_Revolutions_Pack_d4643.html

 

GPARTED LIVE CD..........GParted is an industrial-strength package for creating, destroying, resizing, moving, checking and copying partitions, and the filesystems on them. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganizing disk usage, copying data residing on hard disks and mirroring one partition with another (disk imaging). The power and simplicity of GParted on a biz-card size LiveCD. The CD aims to be fast, small in size (~50mb), and use minimal resources to get that disk partitioned the way you want it. GParted LiveCD uses Xorg, the lightweight Fluxbox window manager, and the latest 2.6 Linux Kernel.....

(free).....GO THERE!
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

 

STARTUP DELAYER..........Speed up your computer's startup process! When Windows loads its Startup file, it attempts to load every program in there at the same time. Therefore if you have quite a lot of programs starting when Windows starts, each program will try and grab CPU time so that it can load. If each program tries to do this at the same time, you soon notice the slow down that occurs, due to your CPU trying to help all the programs to load, and your hard disk accessing multiple files. Startup Delayer allows you to setup how many seconds after Windows has started, to load each program.....

(free).....GO THERE!
http://www.r2.com.au/