Bonjour, iPhone!

On Wednesday night, following a now-familiar ritual, French consumers lined up outside shops to snap up Apple's sleek iPhone handsets as soon as they hit shelves. Orange, France Telecom's mobile subsidiary, which was tapped by Apple to be the phone's exclusive operator in France, kept its Parisian flagship store open until 2:30 a.m. to handle the traffic.

France Telecom (nyse: FTE - news - people ), which has priced the phones at $589 with a two-year contract and $1,106 without a contract, expects to sell 100,000 by the end of the year and 400,000 to 500,000 by the end of 2008.

The French launch has left iPhone enthusiasts wondering where the sleek handset is likely to pop up next. This fall, Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) announced that the phone, which debuted on June 29 in the U.S., would subsequently arrive in the U.K., Germany and France in October and November. So far, Apple has kept quiet about the phone's next destination, other than noting that it wants to start selling in Asia some time next year.

The lack of news has left fans, analysts and media outlets devising their own theories. With the three largest European markets already taken care of, the rest of the globe appears wide open. (iPhone launches have thus far proceeded country by country, despite the option of partnering with multi-national carriers like Vodafone (nyse: VOD - news - people ).)

How about China? Italy? Portugal? Or even Austria? Apple is mum.

Here are the factors that likely weigh into the decision: The deals Apple is striking with carriers are believed to include provisions for sharing revenue, which are more generously tilted toward Apple than is the norm for handset makers in the mobile industry. The fact that the iPhone has been priced differently in each of the three foreign markets it has entered thus far points up the complexity of the agreements. (The iPhone sells for $399 in the U.S. and $555 in the U.K. In Germany, "locked" versions of the phone that work only on T-Mobile's network are $589; unlocked versions are $1,478.)

That means Apple's first order of business in selling the iPhone abroad is identifying carriers that are willing to meet its terms. The company lacks the close carrier relationships and extensive distribution networks that more established handset makers, such as Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ), have. While it could sell direct to consumers in the 26 countries where it has stores, it still needs to hammer out network agreements. "If Apple is running into any impediments, it's probably on the business side, making deals with operators," says Charles Golvin, a principal analyst with Forrester Research. "As it looks abroad, Apple needs to do much more lengthy negotiations than its peers do."

Next, Apple is also likely to target markets where its brand is particularly popular. "One might imagine they would go after countries where they have found success with the iPod or the Mac," says Golvin. That could favor countries like the Netherlands, which is a strong market for Apple goods. D.P. Venkatesh, chief executive of mPortal, a Washington D.C.-based mobile software manufacturer, thinks Apple may analyze iTunes usage for leads, since iTunes, like most cellphones, is sold by subscription, making it a more relevant business model.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs has said he aims to sell 10 million iPhones worldwide in 2008, a figure equal to 1% of the global mobile phone market. In October, Apple announced it had sold 1.4 million handsets through the end of September.

That aggressive sales goal points to big markets, say, China and India, the world's largest and fastest-growing cellphone markets, respectively. The Chinese market is currently double the size of the U.S., with lots of room to grow. Fewer than half of China's 1.3 billion people currently own a cellphone. Wang Jianzhou, the chief executive of China Mobile Ltd. (nyse: CHL - news - people ), the country's largest mobile phone operator, was quoted earlier this month saying the company was in talks with Apple.

India, on the other hand, boasts a large population with a voracious appetite for mobile devices, but fewer people who can afford the pricey phone. Venkatesh estimates the Indian iPhone market at 25 million people, about 2.2% of the country's population. In a country with an estimated per capita income of $964, and where many phones sell for less than $50, the iPhone would have to go in as a premium product, limiting its sales, says Venkatesh.

"It doesn't seem like a great fit for the Indian market, given the kind of premiums they're trying to charge for the phone itself," says Golvin. But Venkatesh points out that Apple could link up with advertisers and mobile content providers to subsidize the phone's cost.

Australia, Brazil and Russia are also good bets for Apple, as all have enough potential customers to form a solid user base for the iPhone, says Venkatesh. Dubai and the United Arab Emirates could be attractive, given their skyrocketing levels of disposable income, he says. And Hong Kong and Singapore, where the population is considered particularly gadget-savvy, would also be a natural fit.

Now the hurdles. First there's the not-so-small issue of standards. For now, the iPhone works on a kind of technology called GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), which isn't available in the gadget-friendly markets of Japan and South Korea.

AT&T (nyse: T - news - people ), Apple's iPhone partner in the U.S., recently confirmed that Apple will launch a 3G iPhone next year. That change will help: Europe has enthusiastically taken up the 3G standard with about 45 million subscribers as of this spring, according to 3G.co.uk, a Web site that tracks 3G news. The high-speed Internet technology is particularly popular in Italy, Portugal and Sweden. "We'll look at the iPhone when it becomes 3G," says Boris Nemsic, chief executive of Telekom Austria Group, a European telecom company with 11 million mobile customers.

But even 3G still leaves the iPhone an awkward fit into Japan and South Korea.

Then there are those pesky consumer laws. Belgium, Finland and Italy restrict carriers from offering exclusive, or even favored, access to a particular device. Apple has grappled with similar policies in France and Germany. Its solution--an "unlocked" phone that can be used on any mobile network for a hefty premium--has drawn criticism from some consumers.

World domination isn't here yet. But Apple's persistence and marketing muscle mean the sun may never set on the iPhone--some day soon.

Verizon Wireless iPhones? Maybe in 2011

Welcome to the world, Verizon Wireless.

On Thursday, Verizon Wireless announced it would be using LTE (Long Term Evolution) as its fourth-generation wireless technology, aligning it for the first time with AT&T and European carriers.

LTE is a new wireless standard that the global GSM crowd has picked for its evolution beyond the current 3G (third-generation) HSDPA systems.

Up until now, Verizon Wireless has been part of a different crowd, backing technologies based on Qualcomm's CDMA2000 standard.

• Click here for FOXNews.com's Personal Technology Center.

But Verizon Wireless has been feeling pressure from part-owner Vodafone, a major global carrier conglomerate, to fall in line with the more globally popular GSM evolution.

(Verizon Wireless' other owner is, confusingly, the Verizon land-line corporation. The two use the same name and logo, but are different entities.)

This doesn't mean Verizon Wireless is immediately dropping its current CDMA network, or that it's switching to GSM.

Rather, it means that its next network, Europe's next networks and AT&T's network will all be built on the same technology.

When the full LTE rollout comes around — think 2010 or 2011 — there will be a much wider variety of hardware available for Verizon Wireless customers.

For example, Nokia, the world's No. 1 mobile-phone provider, which has always been weak in CDMA, has announced its glee at being able to play with Verizon Wireless in the future.

Combine this with Verizon Wireless' "open network" announcement earlier this week and you'll see a very different mobile landscape in a few years.

I'm assuming T-Mobile will move to LTE, too; it hasn't announced plans, but it's obvious for it because it's GSM-based and has a European parent.

That means that in a few years, people will be able to buy the same devices — and we're not just talking phones — and hook them up to Verizon Wireless's, AT&T's or T-Mobile's networks.

This move puts more pressure on Sprint Nextel, now the only champion of WiMAX as a competing next-generation technology.

And what of that upcoming 700-MHz auction? If Google gets hold of that spectrum and chooses yet another technology, we may still have fervent wireless technology competition (and confusion) in the U.S.

Qualcomm is a loser here, but not as much as you might think.

It has a stranglehold over the Internet protocol in CDMA2000, but it has interests in LTE as well. It's not going anywhere; it's just going to have to compete more aggressively.

Still, this is great news for Verizon Wireless customers and U.S. consumers in general.

With Verizon Wireless, AT&T and European carriers aligned, we're going to see more devices, less expensive devices and more choices of service plans. You'll just have to wait a few years.

Copyright © 2007 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Media Inc. is prohibited.

Google preps online storage service

November 27, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Google Inc. is preparing to take the covers off its own brand of hosted-storage services, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The online storage subscription-based service may be ready for release early next year, according to the report. The service will reportedly include a limited amount of free storage with extra space available for an undisclosed price. Google officials could not be reached for comment this morning.

Increased mobility of end users and the rapid proliferation of stored digital content, including photos, video and music, is driving businesses and home users toward fixed fee-based online storage systems that can meet growing storage needs without relying on spinning and space-constrained hard drives.

Freedom to access personal storage files from any device or PC is another attraction of online storage. Armed with only a Web browser and password, users can quickly upload, share or see their files (which will reside on Google's servers) via a high-speed Internet connection. In particular, students and campuses have lauded the cost-effective data storage option.

Despite its vast resources, Google is a late entrant into the hosted-storage arena, observers noted. Microsoft Corp. in August announced its free 500MB online storage service dubbed Windows Live Skydrive. Another Google rival, Amazon.com, last month guaranteed 99.9% uptime for its year-old S3 online storage offering, while Facebook in September unveiled its open Data Store API program.

Even EMC Corp. has driven a stake into the hosted-storage landscape with its October agreement to buy start-up Berkeley Data Systems Inc. and its popular Mozy online backup business for $76 million.

Google has already started adding extra storage for users of its Gmail Web-based e-mail service, which has been burning up capacity because of large digital files being stored such as photos and attachments.

Apple's iPhone a tougher sell in Europe?

Editor's note: This story initially incorrectly reported the discount that a German iPhone customer could receive by crossing the border and purchasing a unit in France. It's 250 euros.

Apple's learning fairly quickly that Europe is a very different place, especially when it comes to mobile phones.

The iPhone went on sale Wednesday through wireless carrier Orange in France, marking the third European country to carry the phone within its borders. The launch also marked the debut of the third pricing strategy for the iPhone in the three countries: France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone to the U.K.

(Credit: Crave UK)

It appears that at least for a while, the iPhone is going to move more slowly for Apple in Europe. Orange said hopes to sell 100,000 iPhones by the end of 2007, and 400,000 to 500,000 in total by the end of next year, according to several reports Tuesday. Apple wants to sell 10 million iPhones next year in total, after expanding to Asia some time in 2008.

Was Apple blasé about the challenges it faces in Europe? The device's debut in one of the most hotly contested mobile phone markets in the world has been a little chaotic, with last-minute changes to pricing plans that don't appear to have been part of the plan.

Orange, the "exclusive" carrier of the iPhone in France, offers three payment plans. You can purchase an iPhone for 399 euros ($592.78) and sign up for one of the special "Orange for iPhone" plans, which range in price from 49 euros a month to 119 euros a month depending on usage. You can buy an iPhone for 549 euros if you want to use one of Orange's other rate plans. Or, you can buy an iPhone for 649 euros ($964.20) with no plan.

The only company that can sell you an iPhone in France is Orange (Apple doesn't have any stores in France) but it sure as heck isn't going to be the exclusive carrier. French law requires that carriers offer their customers the option of an unlocked phone. That will cost you 100 euros today, but if you're willing to wait six months, you can have it unlocked for free.

So French shoppers who want an unlocked iPhone today will pay the equivalent of $1,112,77, which is actually a significant bargain over what their German neighbors are being asked to pay for a key to other networks. After a legal challenge from rival Vodafone forced its hand, T-Mobile agreed to offer an unlocked iPhone in Germany for the equivalent of $1,478 (at last week's exchange rate).

At least in U.K., Apple's one-phone, one-carrier strategy is still in place. O2 and Apple have yet to release any sales figures, although O2 said it was its "fastest-selling" launch. No matter what, however, any expectations for lines and hoopla similar to what happened stateside on iPhone Day did not materialize in Blighty.

Simply put, Europe is different. Entering the European mobile phone market from the United States is like getting called up to the majors after just a few months in the minors.

One of the many things I've heard from U.S. iPhone owners is that many of them were relatively new to smartphones, especially the idea of getting e-mail and anything more than a real basic stripped-down Web page on their phones. They bought the iPhone because of its user interface, not because it was a data phone, although they quickly grasped what they had at their disposal.

And they didn't care that they'd be locked to AT&T for two years, because two-year wireless contracts are the norm in this country. Maybe that will change in upcoming years following Verizon's announcement earlier this week that it will open up its network, but it will take a long time before all of us are using our phones that way.

Unlocked iPhones are available through official sources in France and Germany, and there's nothing Apple can do about it.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

It seems Apple didn't anticipate the difficulties it would have selling the first generation iPhone to European customers and carriers under the same terms and conditions that AT&T and O2 were willing to accept. That situation could very well change next year, when Apple is expected to unveil a 3G phone that would be much more attractive for both consumers and carriers.

But how could Apple possibly have expected that it would be able to sell locked, exclusive iPhones in Europe going into the launch? A German judge quickly imposed an injunction after Vodafone aired its complaints (which were opportunistic, to be sure). But from that swift action it would appear the law regarding locked cell phones wasn't exactly murky, although the carrier said it would attempt to "clarify" the issues.

Likewise, from the pricing discrepancies, it's hard to imagine that the current situation was part of the original plan. A German citizen living on the French border could cross the old Maginot Line and pick up an unlocked iPhone at a 250 euro discount, and then use it with any German carrier, without having to pay any sort of additional import tax. Perhaps the T-Mobile and Orange "exclusive" deals don't transfer as much revenue to Apple as the company gets from AT&T, which is likely the reason behind the steep premium to be paid for an unlocked iPhone.

As always, we have to remind ourselves that this is very early days for Apple in this market. It has very little experience marketing mobile phones and even less experience negotiating tough deals with carriers, who still rule this industry.

Just look at Apple's early dance partners. AT&T's Stan Sigman told attendees at Macworld earlier this year that he signed an exclusive (and expensive revenue-sharing) deal with Apple to distribute and promote the iPhone without having even seen the device. O2 was so eager to be the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.K. that it allowed Apple to throw in a free subscription to The Cloud--a U.K Wi-Fi hotspot aggregator that offers access to more than 7,000 hot spots--even though that almost guaranteed that iPhone users would do any heavy data action over Wi-Fi and deny O2 a cut of that revenue. Not exactly a bunch of Red Auerbachs, there; Apple must have gotten almost everything it wanted from those two carriers going into the negotiations.

Of course, Apple has one very powerful negotiating chip: a sweet product. I've been to several conferences and conventions this year about the smartphone industry, and Apple's user interface and design prowess has come up in every single one--the CTIA Wireless conference devoted an entire session to it.

The entire wireless industry is trying to figure out what to do about Apple's iPhone. But Apple has to do a better job figuring out how to navigate the complicated minefield that is the international wireless industry. A strategy that works in this country won't necessarily work in other places; just ask Dell, Disney, or the National Football League.

Google Service Uses Cell Towers to Locate Users

Google launched a location service for mobile users on Wednesday that doesn't rely on GPS.

Google Maps with My Location, currently in beta, locates users who don't have GPS-enabled phones based on their location to nearby cell towers. The result isn't as accurate as GPS (Global Positioning System) but works for people who lack the positioning technology in their phones.

"It helps users speed up search by showing the general neighborhood they're in," said Steve Lee, product manager at Google for the service. Without the location service, users must type in their address or neighborhood in order to find nearby businesses using Google Maps.

Google Maps with My Location will use GPS data to locate the user if the phone has the capability. But even for users of GPS-enabled phones, the cell location service might be useful, Lee said. That's because the cell tower feature works better indoors than GPS, it doesn't drain the phone battery as quickly and can bring up a result quicker, he said.

The service could be useful to a person who might be traveling in an unfamiliar city and looking for restaurants or other businesses. A user pulls up Google Maps and hits the zero key on the phone. A blue dot will appear on the map in the user's location. If the service used GPS in the phone, the blue dot will be solid. If the service used cell towers to determine the location, the blue dot will have a halo around it, indicating that the location isn't precise. The user can then search for nearby businesses.

Google says the cell tower technique will locate the user within about 1000 meters. It doesn't use triangulation, which calculates a user location based on the user's distance to three nearby towers. Instead, it essentially shows the range of the tower that the user's phone is connecting to.

But the accuracy should improve as more people use the service, Lee said. That's because Google is keeping a database of location queries, minus any personal information like individual phone numbers or names. That will allow Google to learn more precise information about the range of each tower, so that it can deliver a more accurate location area to users. The coverage area of cell towers can vary from about a quarter of a mile to several miles based on whether the tower is in an urban or rural area.

For now, Google Maps with My Location doesn't feature any advertising, but it could in the future. "This product makes a lot of sense for advertising," Lee said.

In order to use the service, phone owners must download a free application from Google. The application will work on BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian phones as well as many phones that support Java. A few notable exceptions include the Samsung Blackjack, Moto Q and Palm Treo 700W, which don't support the APIs (application programming interfaces) Google requires to find cell towers, Lee said.

3G iPhone coming in '08, says AT&T

It's not often that someone trumps Steve Jobs with news on upcoming Apple products, but AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall did that on Thursday by saying Apple would announce a 3G version of the iPhone in 2008, according to a Bloomberg report.

Stephenson's comments came at a meeting of the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California. "You'll have it next year," he said. He didn't know how much the phone would cost, saying that Steve Jobs would set the price for the new iPhone.

A 3G network is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology. One of the main benefits of 3G networks over 2G is the faster data speeds. Unlike Wi-Fi networks that require close proximity to connect, 3G networks are also on in areas where cellular service is available.

There are about 200 million people connected to 3G around the world, with Asia and Europe making up the majority of users, according to the GSM Association trade group.

When Apple released the iPhone domestically in June on AT&T's network, the two companies used Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS). The decision to use the slower 2G standard caused complaints among users, but U.S. customers have the option to use Wi-Fi where available.

One of the problems with the 3G chips is that they are "power hogs," commented Steve Jobs during the U.K. iPhone rollout. Jobs said they expect to see better battery consumption later next year.

Apple has set a goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 -- the company sold its one millionth iPhone on September 10, 2007, 74 days after it was introduced.

Vistas work on Virtual Machines

John Kerry would be proud with the buzz Microsoft Vista has created - you don’t know whether to love it, or hate it. Whether to buy it or bury it . Our readers are so smart that only 10% of them are willing to take a chance on it.

Nevertheless, if you wish to install Windows Vista on your Intel powered Mac, you need to spend a lot more money that regular people. Folks at the Parallels, the company that makes an awesome virtualization software of the same name dug into the Microsoft End User License Agreement (EULA) and realized that …

“only certain versions of Vista – Business and Ultimate (and Enterprise for corporate customers) are eligible to be run in a virtual machine. The EULA says that Home Basic and Home Premium CANNOT be run in a virtual machine.”

Now Mac users are used to overpaying for everything, but Windows Vista too! Ultimate costs $399 and the Business Vista is only slightly cheaper at $299. Well, maybe Bill has finally realized that Mac users want top of the line stuff. But seriously, looks like Microsoft is leaving money on the table. For Mac users, well another reason not to think about Vista.

PS: this is true of Parallels Workstation for PC as well.

Mythbusting Linux

Download Squad wrote another excellent article debunking some of the most common myths surrounding Linux. My favorite myth from the list is debunked below:

Linux won’t allow you to watch your favorite video files.

False. Out of the box many Linux distributions have so-so support for common video formats but, did you know there are open source players which can handle almost anything you can throw at them? It’s true. Due to patent restrictions you may have to install them yourself but, fear not, there are great forums for popular Linux distributions and, installing an application under Linux is usually a snap. For Ubuntu or Debian users, check out Automatix, which will help you install a whole host of useful but patent restricted applications and add-ons which make Linux a force to reckon with.

There are several other common Linux myths addressed by the folks over at Download Squad. The article is on the cusp of being dugg — so go check it out and push them over the edge.

Microsoft Internal Emails Show Mac Envy

The bane of Windows was when OS X was launched. And copying OS X into Longhor– err Vista was the sincerest form of flattery. What’s rather hard to understand,at least from a computer enthusiast perspective, is why, with the addition of OS X-like features on Vista, the problem of efficiency comes in when trying to run Spotlight search, “gadgets” and Aero on Vista.

I guess the fact is that Apple IS a hardware company and I would be damned to open up a Mac and know what to do, as compared to opening up a some damned PC and disassembling it to bits.

In any case, this article shows how Microsoft was indeed bowled over with how quick OS X Spotlight was, apart from the many FUNCTIONAL and ATTRACTIVE features there are.

I Love It When The World Goes Crazy Breaking Windows Vista

This is crazy. There are already false claims circulating that Windows Vista has already been hacked; but until now, no one has earned the recognition and these hackers would remain as rumors.

News among different sources are reporting that hackers are working extra hard to gain recognition to be the first one to hack Windows Vista. Fame and financial gains could come to be the guy who put shame to the thousand of hours put on by thousands of engineers who have worked hard to make Windows Vista the most secure application Microsoft has ever launched.

Google’s 2006 Money Shot, $10 billion in revenues

If you are a baseball fan, then you have seen Gary Sheffield swing the bat, you get a feeling that if the bat connects with the ball, then the leather is in for some serious hiding. The non scientific description of such an act is called ‘hitting the covers” off the ball. Well, that’s exactly how one feels about Google’s fiscal performance for the fourth quarter 2006 and for fiscal 2006.

Google just reported¹ its fourth quarter 2006 sales of $3.2 billion, and net income of $1.03 billion. The sales for fiscal 2006 are $10.6 billion, and profits for the year came in just over $3 billion. By itself, these numbers don’t mean anything. However, if you put them in context of what Wall Street was expecting, then you understand why Google just took a Sheffield type swing.

For starters, the most optimistic estimate for the 2006 revenues was $7.3 billion, and they just blew past that number. They were supposed to do $10 billion-plus in sales in 2007. Google is in a bit of a hurry. For the fourth quarter 2006, the high end revenue expectation were $2.31 billion. This is a moon shot.

Interesting tidbit from the earnings release:

Other cost of revenues, which is comprised primarily of data center operational expenses, as well as credit card processing charges, increased to $307 million, or 10% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2006, compared to $223 million, or 8% of revenues, in the third quarter.

Free Video Editing Software for Producing Movies & Vlogs

Ferrari fan, Prabhu Krishnamurthy, is on a hunt for some free movie making software. He writes:

We are coming up with a 12 minute movie for culturals. Do you know any good movie making software, that can be downloaded for free?

Our movie will be based on a news channel. So I am looking at a video editor/movie maker software that allows scrolling texts, subtitles and custom animations etc.

You want so many video editing features for free ? Well, it may be possible as here are some good options for editing that don't cost a dime.

But before you read this list, check the CDs that shipped with your handycam - most camera manufacturers like Sony, Canon and Panasonic generally provide a decent video editing software with the camera. OK, back to the list of free video editing software:

Windows Movie Maker - The best video editing tool for Windows that's absolutely free and chances are you already have it installed on your computer as part of XP SP2. Microsoft Movie Maker has all the basic video editing tools plus a good collection of transitions and video effects.

There's an in-built movie titler that lets add you styles to text titles including ticker taps, zoom and even the scroll effect. And if you are feeling lazy, just hit the AutoMovie command to have the entire video produced for you with intervention.

Avid Free DV - Avid Free DV, poor cousin of Avid Xpress Pro, has all the basic video and audio editing features and allow you to put video in two tracks simultaneously. They have an extensive collection of tutorials online to help you get started quickly.

Support both Mac OS and Windows XP platform. Infact, you can even play with keyframes for generating custom moves and transitions. Ships with the Avid Title tool.

JahShaka - An open source video editing software that is currently in Alpha stage but has features found only in expensive video editing software suites.

Works on Mac, Linux and Windows. The interface might take some time for you to get started otherwise the software is definitely the most powerful one out there. And the price is just right. $0. Also does 3D effects which you won't find in other free video editors.

Jumpcut.com - Jumpcut is a web based video editing software and now it's even part of the Yahoo! family. You upload a video or small clips just like importing inside a desktop software.

There are dozens of transitions and special effects. You can import photographs from your Flickr or Facebook account to mix them with the videos. The jumpcut editor is intuitive enough and there is good title support as well. And your movies are published online automatically. Perfect for quick vlogging and video podcasting.

Finally... While the above video editing software should satisfy the needs of most home movie makers, you can probably consider Adobe Premiere Elements or even Muvee AutoProducer for more features and better control over the final output. They have trial version to help you try out the software before actually buying it.

Install Windows XP on Mac

Here are the steps required to install Windows XP on a Mac:

Step 1: Download Mac OS X v10.4.6 (or later) and latest firmware update from Apple Download website.

Step 2: Run the Boot Camp Assistant to create a Macintosh Drivers CD or DVD.

Step 3: Create a new hard-disk partition [minimum size, 5GB] to make room for Windows XP. All the software and data on the original Mac partition stays intact.



Step 4: Insert your Windows XP CD and start the XP installation. Select Partition C: and format the partition using either NTFS or FAT file formats. Though NTFS is more secure than FAT, you won't be able to write or save files to the Windows volume from Mac OS X.

Step 5. Once XP install process is complete, Boot Camp will restart your system in Windows XP automatically. Now is the turn to install Mac Drivers from the Macintosh Drivers CD that you created in Step 2. Restart.

This is an optional step. You can change the Startup Disk preferences page to choose which OS to boot by default. The default OS can also been changed from Windows Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - Startup Disk.Change the Operating system and Restart.

At startup, hold down the option key (alt) to choose between Mac OS X and Windows.

More Resources on Apple Website:

Apple Boot Camp Homepage | Download Boot Camp [Direct Link]

Download Apple Firmware Update | Mac OS X 10.4.6 for Intel update

Source- www.labnol.blogspot.com

Windows Live Messenger for Vista

The final version of Microsoft's new IM (instant message) client, which is optimized for Windows Vista, is now out.

Windows Live Messenger 8.1 offers enhancements that make it more compatible with Vista, which had its widespread consumer release earlier this week.

What's New

Updates in the IM client include new looks for emoticons, contacts and display photos that take advantage of Vista's new and improved user interface, Microsoft said.

Microsoft also added the ability to send an SMS (Short Message Service) to a phone number or add phone numbers for contacts by clicking on a cell-phone icon in the client's main window. Also new is the ability to send a personal message when users want to add a new contact to their contact list.

Windows Live Messenger 8.1 also includes a "roaming identity" feature that allows not only a person's display name to follow users any place they sign into, but also their display picture and personal message.

In addition to new features, the software's final version corrects a problem users were having with beta versions, according to a post on the Inside Windows Live Messenger blog, which is written by members of the team working on the product.

A user with an old version of Adobe Systems' Flash technology on Vista used to crash the Windows Live Messenger 8.1 beta client, wrote Nicole Steinbok, product manager for Windows Live Messenger. However, the final version of the software fixes that.

"I still highly recommend you update your Flash player if you haven't already," Steinbok wrote in the post. "But if not we have put in an extra safety measure [that] disable features that use Flash and provides you a way to upgrade to eliminate the Flash crash."

Windows Live Messenger also is available in eight new languages: Bulgarian, Estonian, Croatian, Latvian, Romanian, Serbian Latin, Thai and Ukrainian.

Yahoo Updating Messenger for Vista

Microsoft rival Yahoo also plans a release of its Yahoo Messenger IM client that is optimized for Vista. Yahoo previewed the IM client at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, and will put out a beta by June, with a version to follow in the third quarter of the year.

Thanks to Elizabeth Montalbano of IDG News Service for the info.

HP Enhancing Vista Experience with New Products

HP today announced Microsoft Windows Vista will be available across its consumer and business product portfolios beginning with the new operating system’s launch Jan. 30. To help ensure customers have the best experience available, HP also has enhanced its award-winning HP Total Care program with Vista-specific services and built-in support tools. The new products and services take advantage of Windows Vista to provide customers new and exciting ways to work, play and enjoy life. HP has worked closely with Microsoft to help ensure that all HP consumer PCs and more than 450 printing and imaging products are Vista-ready. In addition, a broad portfolio of HP products that are Vista Premium-ready is available for both consumers and business customers. “HP has collaborated closely with Microsoft for more than five years to deliver the industry’s broadest and most complete Windows Vista portfolio,” said Shane Robison, executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer, HP. “We’ve devoted more than 150,000 hours of hardware and software testing and development to help ensure our customers are provided the easiest, safest and most satisfying technology experience yet.” HP engineers also have worked intensely to help business customers get the most from the built-in security and reliability advancements of Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft® Office system to ensure that the new offerings smoothly and simply support and integrate into existing business environments with all HP IT infrastructure products. “HP and Microsoft share a common vision to deliver PC experiences for our customers that are easier, safer, more entertaining and better connected than ever before,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer, Microsoft. “As a key Windows Vista development partner, HP has worked extensively with Microsoft to deliver a broad portfolio of innovative consumer and enterprise products and services that take full advantage of the breakthrough capabilities of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system.” HP further improves the Vista experience for consumers All HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario consumer desktops and notebooks are now available with Windows Vista. This includes the all-in-one HP TouchSmart PC and the convertible HP Pavilion tx1000 Entertainment Notebook recently introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (www.hp.com/go/CES2007). In addition, select HP desktop and notebook PCs have the option of Vista Home Premium, as well as an optional HP Pocket Media Drive to make the transition to a Vista-ready PC simpler. As part of HP’s comprehensive customer support offerings, Windows Vista-specific support is now available in North America through HP Total Care, the 24x7 service and support program that backs all HP PCs – in and out of warranty. Additionally, consumers using or upgrading to Windows Vista can receive one-on-one help from experienced, home-technology specialists via the SmartFriend by HP service. This service provides personalized assistance to help save time and frustration when transferring files, photos, system preferences and settings between PCs. For customers wanting extra help with Windows Vista, SmartFriend by HP tech specialists can even connect to their PCs over the Internet. The service is available in either 45-minute sessions for $69.99 or 75-minute sessions for $99.99. HP Total Care Advisor comes installed on new Windows Vista-based HP consumer desktop or notebook PCs. Through a single, interactive “cockpit,” it allows customers to easily find and navigate through key product information, such as serial numbers and warranty details, help and support information, and the status of storage space, connected peripherals and other key system components – all clearly delineated with large icons and simple explanations. To help ensure a PC is performing at its best, HP Total Care Advisor also features HP Update, a system health check that runs automatically to check battery performance, detect adware, malware or other important information, and download relevant software and driver updates along with troubleshooting tips. Beyond PC support, all current and future HP imaging and printing products will support Windows Vista, as do approximately 97 percent of HP’s imaging and printing products shipped over the past five years. Collectively, they will be supported via downloadable drivers on HP’s website in addition to the 280 HP print and scan drivers offered in the Windows Vista operating system. HP eases migration and deployment for business In order for business customers of all sizes to more effectively collaborate and improve productivity, HP supports and customizes Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 across its enterprise hardware, software and services offerings. This includes HP’s business computing portfolio, printing and imaging solutions for business, HP Services offerings, HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers and HP StorageWorks and HP Software products. HP is providing business customers the advanced security, reliability and improved ease of use delivered by Windows Vista by offering nearly all HP Compaq business notebook, desktop and workstation PCs in Windows Vista Premium Ready configurations. In fact, HP was the industry’s first computer manufacturer to receive a Windows Vista Premium logo (for the HP xw9400 Workstation) and also will have Windows Vista shipping on all four HP personal workstation platforms in all available languages in early February. HP also has received the Vista Premium certification for its HP LP3065 and HP LP1965 Flat Panel Monitors. All HP commercial LCD monitors are expected to be Vista-compliant by April 1. Many of the core printing architectures native to Microsoft operating systems were developed through a strong collaboration between HP and Microsoft. For instance, HP provided expertise in the development of Microsoft’s Unidrive printing architecture and provided input on the new XPS document format. HP also worked closely with the 2007 Microsoft Office engineering team to address the common challenges faced when using color in business documents. Improvements to 2007 Office include more color-rich applications that make it quick and easy to add color to business documents as well as improvements to the printing systems to increase customer satisfaction with the color output. Recognized by Microsoft as Worldwide Prime Integrator for its products and technologies, HP Services offers planning, design, implementation and support for Windows Vista and other new Microsoft technologies and has the ability to integrate them into heterogeneous IT environments. In particular, HP Services helps customers optimize existing Windows infrastructures to take advantage of the new capabilities of the Windows 64-bit platform and to exploit new applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 - HP.

McAfee Doubles Down On Security Risk Management

As McAfee's antivirus cash cow becomes commoditised, the security vendor has been giving itself a security risk management makeover. Now channel partners are being encouraged to get up to speed on selling the vendor's more complex products.

McAfee in recent months has been busily acquiring technologies to fill out its security risk management portfolio, which now includes auditing, risk assessment, policy enforcement and data leak prevention offerings. Earlier this month, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor filled a newly created executive position - vice president and chief technology evangelist - to spread the word about the myriad benefits of its security risk management products.

Security risk management is McAfee's overarching approach to selling its entire product portfolio, said Dave Dickison, senior vice president of North American channels. However, since the antivirus market is mature, McAfee wants channel partners to focus on the capabilities of its more complex offerings such as Network Access Control, ePolicy Orchestrator, Foundstone, Preventsys and Data Loss Prevention, he added.

"Our intent is to encourage partners away from selling point products to selling a more comprehensive security solution," Dickison said.

McAfee antivirus partners that don't get on board with the security risk management strategy will likely receive diminished support from the vendor, according to solution providers.

"Partners who focus on antivirus will struggle to stay relevant in the McAfee channel because they're not going to be able to build relationships with customers and up-sell and cross-sell," said one McAfee solution provider, who requested anonymity.

Jim Hindy, chief executive officer of Entre BTG, a Norcross, Ga.-based solution provider that has focused on security risk management products for the past three years, said it makes sense for McAfee to focus channel resources on partners with higher levels of technical expertise.

"Risk management solutions have longer sales cycles, require more technical resources and affect different decision makers -- 'C' level people vs. purchasing people," Hindy said. "I wouldn't say they're squeezing the antivirus guys out but instead are enhancing the partners that are stronger from a technical standpoint."

McAfee earlier this month reorganised its sales resources around three business segments: small/consumer (1 to 100 seats), midmarket (100 to 1,000 seats) and enterprise (1,000 seats and above). McAfee expects to make a "significant investment" in the new midmarket segment, which will create demand for McAfee solutions and help qualify leads that will be passed on to partners, according to Dickison.

"We expect that partners will still be engaged in the antivirus business but will leverage the newly created midmarket team to help qualify leads and ensure quicker time to sales," he said.

Leads currently generated through McAfee's MAX partner portal "are 99 percent useless", so anything McAfee could do to improve this area would be welcome, one solution provider said. "They need to better qualify the leads and provide better information," said the solution provider, who asked not to be named.

Simmering discontent in McAfee's channel partner ranks is one factor that could stall the progress of the vendor's high-end product push. After McAfee made two rounds of channel layoffs in the last six months - including several account managers solution providers are frustrated by the need to constantly form new channel relationships.

"From a channel partner perspective, we have all but blown off McAfee as a stable partner of ours. It's hard for us when we have to continually restart our relationships," said a solution provider, who requested anonymity.

Another McAfee channel partner, who has had six account managers in three years, wasn't surprised by the latest round of channel layoffs. "McAfee can't seem to settle down and create any value for the midmarket security integrator and help us build our business," the partner said, asking not to be identified.

McAfee's channel program, as currently constructed, lacks staff with strong local reputations for channel integrity, channel development and the ability to broker partner interests within its organisation, said yet another McAfee solution provider. The VAR, who's looking to boost his security risk management business because of its healthy services revenue potential, is evaluating other vendors' risk management offerings.

"We're in a stand-pat mode, waiting to see what happens. McAfee is going to have to show me this time before I start doubling down on my bet," the VAR said.

Vista-Compatible Norton Solutions

Symantec has revealed that Norton Internet Security, Norton AntiVirus and Norton Confidential will be Vista-compatible in time for the public release of the Windows Vista Operating System for consumers. Users who purchased Norton Internet Security 2006 and 2007, Norton AntiVirus 2006 and 2007 and Norton Confidential designed for Windows XP operating system are eligible for a free Windows Vista compatibility upgrade, the company stated.

Additionally, the company announced that current subscribers of both Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus are eligible for a technology update. Leveraging technology from the WholeSecurity, acquisition, Symantec Online Network for Advanced Response (SONAR) will enhance malware detection and protect Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus users from today’s volatile and unpredictable online threat landscape, the company added.

According to the company, SONAR is behavioral detection technology that protects against malicious code before standard virus and spyware detection definitions have been created. Such emerging and unknown malicious code can strike in the form of Trojan Horses, worms, mass-mailing viruses, spyware or downloaders. While many products use only a limited set of heuristics, SONAR draws from a range of heterogeneous application behavior data which not only enhances detection but also minimises false positives. For consumers, the result is zero-hour protection from a vast threat spectrum without being bothered with confusing decision-based prompts. SONAR technology provides protection against emerging threats in a way that does not compromise the user experience or require additional system resources. When detections are made through SONAR, no user interaction is required.

Norton AntiVirus 2007 and Norton Internet Security 2007 for Windows Vista and Windows XP are currently available for purchase through the Symantec online store here.

Security flaw in Vista

After what seemed to be a lifetime, Windows Vista finally hit the consumer market. For many, this is the start of a new experience in Windows; but for some, is a race to find vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s new OS.

Evgeny Legerov, founder of the security firm Gleg Ltd. in Moscow has been finding security flaws in web browsers and operating systems for years. “To find a vulnerability, you have to do a lot of hard work,” said Evgeny.

He’s not doing it for a smile or renowned fame; he’s in it for the money. Evgeny claims doing the responsible thing just doesn’t pay the bills, “If you follow what they call responsible disclosure, in most cases all you receive is an ordinary thank you or sometimes nothing at all.”

Gleg Ltd. sells vulnerability research to customers around the world for a minimum of $10,000; but claims their is a huge black market for such data. One example discovered by the Japanese antivirus company, TredMicro, is a case where a hacker on a Romanian Web forum was offering a Vista vulnerability for $50,000. Evgeny says he receives offers like this all the time, and has to reject them despite the financial gain. The price is in direct proportion to the popularity of the software.

In a similar scenario this month, iDefense, a Virginia based subsidiary of the technology company VeriSign, will be offering $8,000 to the first six researchers who uncover holes in Vista, and an additional $4,000 for the code that can be used to take advantage of Vista’s ‘back doors.’

This is obviously a small percentage of what can be made on the black market; but if you want to keep things legal, $8,000 is a fair offer. iDefense, in turn, sells this information to government agencies and corporations to protect their systems.

Microsoft does not endorse such bounty programs, and would rather the research come to them first. Exploiting any Vista weakness to the public could result in hackers abusing the information before a patch can be issued to the public.

“With the underground trading of vulnerabilities, software makers are left playing catch-up to develop updates that will help protect customers,” said Mark Miller, director of the Microsoft Security Response Center.

Vista, not having an antivirus program or support for legacy antivirus software seems like a security flaw to me; but I won’t be up all night trying to hack Microsoft’s most secure operating system in history.

eEye Eyes Share Of Antivirus Market

eEye Digital Security sees opportunity in what it calls the market's growing disenchantment with bloated, ineffective antivirus software from entrenched players.

With its rollout of Blink Professional 3.0 end-point security software on Monday, Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based eEye added antivirus features to complement the product's host-based intrusion prevention system and application firewall.

In a time when attacks are becoming more complex, it might seem odd for a vendor to be touting the addition of antivirus technology. However, eEye CEO Ross Brown said most antivirus engines can't do heuristic analysis, which has allowed virus writers to target the 80 percent market share held by the major antivirus technology players.

As a result, there's an opportunity for smaller security players to bring more effective, lightweight alternatives to the table, according to Brown. "Customers are starting to look for a 'hard reset' on client security, and they're evaluating options from other vendors," he said.

In Blink Professional 3.0, eEye has added sandboxing technology through a partnership with Norwegian security vendor Norman Data Defense, enabling Blink Professional 3.0 to test executable files in a virtual environment before letting them run on the client, Brown said.

Blink Professional 3.0 uses more than 700 rules to detect malware and can pinpoint malicious files masquerading as other file types. The software also can determine if code has been compiled using Borland, the preferred tool for malware writers, Brown said.

So far, the early returns look good for eEye's channel partners. eEye recently closed a $300,000 deal in which Blink Professional 3.0 replaced another antivirus product, and the solution providers attached to the deal received a 25 percent margin, Brown noted.

Blink Professional 3.0, available now, starts at an annual price of $59 per agent.

Apple's 802.11n software

Apple on Tuesday released the software needed to unlock the fast Wi-Fi chips inside almost every one of its new Macs.

At Macworld earlier this month, CEO Steve Jobs revealed that certain Macs were shipped with a fast 802.11n chip inside, but the chip was disabled until the standard was more complete. The company subsequently said it would charge $1.99 to unlock that capability, or Mac users could buy a new 802.11n Airport Extreme Base Station with the needed software.

Both products are now available, because the industry is more comfortable with the current draft of the standard, said David Moody, vice president of worldwide Mac product marketing. The software enabler can be purchased from the Apple Store, and the $179 base station is also available online. It should show up in Apple stores over the next few days, the company said.

Based on Apple's tests, the 802.11n standard should allow connection speeds five times faster than 802.11g networks with twice the range, said Jai Chulani, senior product manager at Apple. The company tested the performance of its notebooks connected to its Airport Extreme base station to come up with those numbers, so results may vary in mixed environments. But as long as you have 802.11n on both sides of the connection, any vendor's products will deliver better results than 802.11g networks because of the MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) antenna technology used by the standard.

Apple's 802.11n upgrade fee provoked a controversy after the company claimed it was required by accounting rules to charge users for the software enabler. Accounting experts later clarified that Apple was forced to surprise users with the charge because it booked all the revenue upfront from sales of the Macs with the 802.11n chips, and because it didn't tell users at the time of purchase that they would need to spend $1.99 to unlock that chip.

he company is getting the software out a little earlier than promised, however. Jobs said at Macworld that the software would ship in February. All Mac notebooks with Intel's Core 2 Duo chip have the 802.11n chip. Mac Pro desktops with the Airport Extreme option and all the iMac models--except for the entry-level iMac with a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo chip--also come with the faster Wi-Fi chip. The enabling software can be used on more than one Mac inside a home network, Moody said.

Other companies have released notebooks with 802.11n chips, such as Lenovo, Dell and Gateway, but Apple has the technology inside all of its notebooks available now, a company representative said.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is expected to start certifying products based on the 802.11n draft standard relatively soon. A final version of the standard is expected to become available later this year, and current products will likely--but not definitely--only require a software update to comply with the final standard, Chulani said.

Windows Vista generate $10 billion

California’s IT industry is expected to experience a significant financial impact as a result of the launch of the Windows Vista™ operating system. According to a research study recently completed by IDC and commissioned by Microsoft Corp., within the first year of the Windows Vista shipment, California’s IT industry will begin seeing considerable increases in new jobs and revenue. The study’s findings indicate that Windows Vista will provide a foundation for the IT market, with more than 60 percent of total IT employment being related to Windows Vista. In addition, total Windows®-related employment in California is expected to jump by nearly 16,000 jobs.

Windows Vista, together with the 2007 Microsoft® Office system, was made available on Nov. 30 to Volume Licensing customers and will be broadly available on Jan. 30.

“Windows Vista will create additional revenues for Microsoft in California, but will also create even bigger economic ripples throughout the ecosystem that sells products and services in California that run on or work with it,” said John Gantz, chief research officer and senior vice president of IDC. “Windows Vista’s footprint in the state will be wide, as original equipment manufacturers sell PCs that run on it, software companies sell applications that run it, and services and distribution firms deliver, install, support and train on it. We expect that in the first year of Windows Vista shipments, this ecosystem will sell more than $10 billion of Windows Vista-related products and services in California.”

Microsoft partners — companies that sell hardware, write software, provide IT services or serve as IT distribution channels — will also feel the impact of Windows Vista because it will drive substantial revenue and growth for Microsoft-centric companies. According to the study, the release of Windows Vista will help strengthen the more than 30,000 California IT companies that will produce, sell or distribute products and services running on Windows Vista. The study also forecasts that each dollar of Windows Vista-related revenue earned by Microsoft in 2007 will generate more than $19 in revenue for the ecosystem beyond Microsoft.

“Microsoft is proud to bring products to market that help infuse economic growth here in California,” said Sandi Thomas, Southern California District general manager at Microsoft. “This launch is generating economic opportunities in California and across the nation by creating jobs, enabling organizational efficiencies and helping solve business challenges for our customers, partners and the IT industry as a whole.”

Microsoft’s ecosystem is making a sizable investment to prepare for and roll out Windows Vista worldwide, according to the IDC study. Between now and the end of 2007, IDC expects Microsoft partners to invest approximately $1.4 billion in Windows Vista-related products and services.

The complete California IDC study on the economic impact of Windows Vista is available at www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx.

Symantec - Norton Internet Security 2007 review

We recently reviewed McAfee's security suite for 2007, and now it's Norton's turn under the microscope. Unsurprisingly, just like its main rival, Norton 2007 doesn't contain any major additions since last year's version (although it's taken for granted that you're more likely to see the Pope instigate a radical reformation than you are to witness revolution in the Internet security world).

Internet Security 2007 consists of the essentials that keep your computer protected in these virus- and hacker-ridden times; there's an anti-virus program, of course, plus a firewall and some additional online security measures on top of that.

All of this is tied together by the usual user friendly interface, which provides clear menus and highlights any problems with large red exclamation marks (along with a quick fix button to sort them out). There are some impressive touches such as the security inspector, a one-click button which runs a check-list through various security settings, making sure that the configuration of your Web browser or instant messenger program isn't vulnerable to attack.

The anti-virus arm of the suite keeps itself up to date automatically and Symantec produces new definitions every couple of days. We've used the Symantec definitions on a test PC for the last two years solid, and have always found them very thorough and reliable - they've never let anything slip through the net. Anti-spyware routines and rootkit detection are also incorporated.

The firewall is pretty self-explanatory and easily configured. Again, it's provided comprehensive protection for us over a long period of time, blocking many unsolicited connection attempts.

The online security features consist of privacy protection and anti-phishing measures, which guard against fraudulent sites angling for your personal details. A new toolbar is installed in Internet Explorer which warns the user when a site on Symantec's 'dodgy' list is visited. There's also a button to report sites that aren't black-listed, but are suspect in your opinion.

It's all good so far, but the downside of Norton 2007 is that its security coverage ends here; anti-spam and parental control features are missing this year (and the latter might well make dad think twice about his purchase). Also, other features are lacking compared to McAfee, which offers all that Symantec does but with added extras such as an extensive data backup system.

Norton 2007 is undoubtedly a quality protection suite, plus it's user friendly and runs slickly. But when you consider that this year's McAfee offers more for the same money, then we have to give the nod their way this time around.

McAfee - Internet Security Suite 2007 review

Symantec and McAfee will release the year's crop of protection suites.

So it's out with 2006 and in with McAfee's latest Internet Security Suite. The main difference with the 2007 version is that the box is now black instead of bright red. Alright, so we're exaggerating, there are some differences in the program as well, but as is often the case with these annual upgrades, the core components remain the same.

For anyone unfamiliar with the suite, those core elements are the virus protection, personal firewall, anti-spam (and anti-phishing e-mail scams) and privacy modules (which protect your identity online and also offer parental controls for surfing). The virus definitions are updated automatically every couple of days; we've used the McAfee definitions for over a year now and have found them thorough and reliable.

We've found the firewall to be similarly reliable as well. A typical month will see it block hundreds of unsolicited connections by possible trojans and other assorted nastiness. All these basic protective modules haven't changed, excepting the fact that the spyware detection routines have been beefed up for 2007.

The major new addition for this incarnation of Internet Security Suite is the data backup system, which facilitates the archiving and backing up of files. You can set the archiving process to happen automatically at specified intervals, and back up to a network or USB drive, or burn to a CD. These backups are compressed and encrypted, and you can select the folders and/or types of files you want covered.

Systemguard protection has also been added to 2007. This monitors your system and will detect any changes made, looking out specifically for things like Active X installations or modifications made to your startup registry keys which might be spyware-related. It's a useful little extra.

A bonus addition - so the back of the box tells us anyway - is the McAfee site advisor, a plug-in which provides safety ratings for Web sites and search engine results to back up the standard Internet Security Suite parental controls.

Finally, the interface has been given a minor overhaul and is slightly more streamlined than the 2006 version. For some reason, however, McAfee has removed the links from the taskbar icon which allow you to turn off the virus and firewall protection quickly. That's a minor annoyance when you need to temporarily switch them off to install a program.

Another unwelcome and slightly more serious change we came across was the fact that Internet Explorer took a second longer to open after we'd installed the program. Presumably this is caused by some monitoring feature, but Internet Security Suite 2006 didn't suffer from this problem. Okay, it's not a huge delay, but it's slightly annoying.

For current McAfee subscribers, the question is: are the added features worth the upgrade fee? And the answer is probably "No." There's nothing too pressing to upgrade for here, unless you would benefit from the new automatic archiving and backup module. The beefed up Systemguard and spyware protection certainly won't hurt, either, and families will benefit from the site advisor when it comes to making surfing safer.

Internet Security Suite 2007 comes thoroughly recommended for first-time buyers, though; it's an excellent suite with a full range of protection, privacy and PC maintenance features.

review Adobe - Photoshop Elements 5

Before we get to the good stuff, a small moan. Photoshop Elements 5 joins the growing army of programs that insist on jumping in and doing things you've not asked them to do.

In this instance, your reviewer uses a flash drive to transfer documents between machines. When said flash drive is inserted into the test machine with Photoshop Elements 5 on it, a window jumps up calculating how many image files are contained upon it, offering to help you catalogue them. And while this is a feature that's very useful to some, when added to the raft of other windows that seem to want to open when you plug a flash drive into a standard PC, it's a right royal irritation.

Photoshop Elements 5 is, however, brilliant.
We may as well start with the Organizer function, being as we've been mean to it so far. It's one of the most intuitive, helpful and friendly methods by which to organise images that we've seen to date. You can categorise and arrange your pictures by date, time and content, and these are represented by visual stacks. You can even - and we loved this - highlight on a map where you took the image, and then browse your image collection via a map of the globe.

The original search of your hard drive to find such images takes a little while (although it's faster than it was when we first met such a feature), and you can specify specific folders you want the program to hunt through. But whichever you choose, at the end of the process you'll have your images held together in one place. A neat feature is that the program can automatically correct red eye in the images it finds, although this is an optional tick box and it does take some time.

Once pictures are sorted, it's onto the QuickFix functions. Again, this is a breeze, with a lot of tools on screen at once but arranged in a way so as not to be overbearing. A series of sliders allow you to manually adjust key features of each image, and there are auto fix tools at a single click of the mouse. The program keeps the original image intact until you are entirely happy with the changes you've made, which is in line with the respectful nature of it.

If you need more advanced tools, then a click on the Full Edit tab exposes you to the full bevy of options the program offers. Even these, though, are well implemented and not too troublesome to follow. Working with layers - a nightmare in some image editors - is really quite easy, and there are simple tools to help you to correct the distortion of a camera, for instance. Granted, it's never going to put up a fight against the main Photoshop package, but it's not supposed to, as reflected by its modest price tag, a fraction of what you'd pay for Photoshop CS2.

Finally, when it comes to sharing your work, in addition to the standard file output options you've come to expect, the Web choices are great. Web photo galleries are very easy to create and are a useful way to share your images.

Windows Software

Here’s some windows software I’ve used or evaluated. Be sure to check out the sub-pages (on the right) for additional software.

FileZilla FTP Client and Server

Visit FileZilla Website
The client and server are two separate programs. I run them on my laptop.
Read about the install here.

Comments and Observations

1. I had problems connecting from my Mac (using fetch). I had configured the Windows firewall to allow the FTP port. When the connection went to passive mode the OS X firewall would reject the connection.

   I tried to limit the ports FileZilla would use but this didn’t seem to work as FileZilla didn’t seem to stay withing that port range.

   Finally I added the FileZilla server program to the Windows Firewall exclusions in addition to the FTP port and this cleared the problem.

2. I use the FTP server to synchronize directories. When doing the first synchronization (first run after files were copied to the server) the Fetch client would run through long lists of files already up to date on the server. These are simple date checks, no data copies. The Fetch client would report that the server dropped the connection. The server log would show it dropped the connection due to inactivity. I disabled the inactivity timeout. I was 2 minutes which is about how long the check would run before dropping. The server is only used by me and the laptop shuts down when not in use so I’m not worried about inactive connections using resources.

Firefox Web Browser

Visit Firefox Website
I use Firefox as my primary browser on OS X, Windows and Linux.
Installation of version 2 on Windows XP and OS X is covered here.

Internet Explorer 7

Visit Website

I write about the installation here.

The installation log is available at this link: IE7InstallLog

Clicking on "New" to create a new Doc in Google docs and then trying to change the title results in a message "This website is using a scripted window to ask you for information. If you trust this website , click here to allow scripted windows." I clicked there and my only choice was to temporarily allow, which I did. I then clicked the Title again and changed it.

In Google Docs, when clicking a star on the main page to deselect it for a document causes IE 7 to clock for about a minute until it returns a error message “Unable to connect to server, please try again”. Any other Google Docs windows/tabs also lose the connection to the server. A refresh won’t connect. Have to close the window and re-open it. Using Firefox on the same PC, with the same docs, and at the same time works fine.

When IE 7 is being shutdown and multiple tabs are open there is a prompt that asks if you want to re-open the same tabs the next time IE is opened. This prompt can be turned off.

IE 7 is not my primary browser, even on Windows. But if I’m going to run IE it might as well be the latest version which is IE 7.

Free Windows Anti-Virus Software

I avoided the "Must Have" label for this one but it was tough. If you don’t like your current AV software or are about to spend money on some you should look here first. Avast Personal Edition is free (for home/non-commercial use) and is complete anti-virus software that does well in independent tests. I use it on all my Windows machines and recommend it whenever I can. When I was looking for AV software a couple years ago Avast came to my attention because it had scored 100% in Virus Bulletin testing and had gotten good reviews elsewhere. The clincher was that it was free for me to use.

You need to register to get a license key which is then good for 14 months. I’ve used the product for over two years and re-registering wasn’t a problem. They sell a full line of AV products so I assume they consider this a marketing expense. I give them credit and my thanks for making such a full featured product available for free.

They do offer a "Professional Version" for sale but the free version is not at all nagware or a severely limited product. A comparison with the Professional version is here. I’ve never run into a "You need the pro version for this, buy it now" type message when using Avast. The only mention is a "Buy Professional" menu selection. The online help does mention Professional only features but they aren’t identified as pro only which can be confusing.

Features includes:

• Resident scanner for for checking files and programs as they are accessed
• On-Demand scans of hard drives, network drives and removable media
• Resident scanners for E-Mail (Outlook, Outlook Express and others). Instant messaging, P2P, Network shield (protects against internet worms) and Web browsing.
• Scans inside .zip and other compressed files.
• You can’t schedule scans but there’s an anti-virus screen saver that will scan when the screen saver is activated.
• Virus definitions and program updates are downloaded automatically.
• Scans can be run a boot-time. They use the term "schedule" but this really means "set to run at next boot".
• A virus recovery database is available. This collects information about your files (when your PC is inactive) on the theory this information may help repair an infected file.
• There’s logging and most other features you’d expect to find in a commercial product.
• Skinnable interface

The best thing I can say about this is that it works without being noticed. There’s no impact on performance which isn’t something I could say with Symantec when I used that. I don’t typically run into viruses but Avast successfully detected the Eicar test virus and then aborted the connection with the web page. It also correctly identified it as a test virus and not a real virus.

Check out Avast before spending money for AV on your home PC. Just because Symantec (or something else) comes with you PC doesn’t make it the best, just willing to pay your PC vendor the most for the privilege.

Links:
Avast (Alwil Software) Web Site: http://www.avast.com
Avast Personal Edition Page: http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html