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Editorial

I was recently asked what I thought of the new Windows Operating System due for release toward the end of this year. My answer was "not much". I really have not reviewed Windows Vista at all, other than the new Internet Explorer 7 that will come bundled with it. My reason for examining IE7 (beta) was to see the effect on current websites using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for layout and menus. It was pleasing to find that IE7 has fixed many bugs and introduced a few new ones, but to be fair, it's only Beta at this stage.

Windows Vista further improves your security as did Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, although Service Pack 2 also caused problems with some legacy software.

I really don't know when Windows Vista will be released, it keeps slipping back. The latest I heard was a November 2006 release. Once it is released I suggest waiting to see how it beds in with "new computer sales". You will upgrade to Vista eventually, but why be the first, unless you have a good reason.

It is my intention to upgrade to Vista once available, however the installation will be on a spare computer.

You can read about Windows Vista at the Windows Vista Home Page. I also found the following article at ExtremeTech.

Bruce Beresford, Manager & Editor

In this Issue:

• Featured Site - Blush Design & Graphics
• Virus Watch
• 'Click' suit costs Google $123m
• $1bn bush net to rival Telstra
• Copyright makes web a turn-off
• Nigerians stung over scams
• Quotes of the day

Featured Site  

Blush Design & Graphics

As a young, growing business Blush Design endeavours to provide our clients with fresh ideas and creative concepts for all your Design, Print, Web Design and Sign Writing needs.

Our competitive prices and fast high quality results have guaranteed customer satisfaction and launched us into the market with spectacular results.

Whether you run a corporate business or work from home, we know how important your business image is to both you and your clients.

Blush Design can create a look for your business to suit your needs, whether you are wanting to refresh your corporate image, or even if you are launching a new business and want to grab the attention of all those prospective clients...

From logo design through to print, installation or delivery, we have it all covered!

Let us use our Fresh Ideas & Creative Concepts to help grow your business too...

Visit the Blush Design & Graphics website...

Virus Watch  

Latest Threats - from Symantec

19-03-06 Trojan.Ourxin

19-03-06 Trojan.Remojin

'Click' suit costs Google $123m  

GOOGLE has agreed to pay up to $US90 million to settle a class action lawsuit over advertising fraud by outside parties on its site.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by Lane's Gifts earlier this year in an Arkansas state court and is designed to settle all outstanding claims against Google for fraud committed using its pay-per-click ad system back to 2002, it said.

The $90 million would involve legal fees and credits - rather than any cash payments - to all advertisers who apply to be part of the class settlement, once the judge certifies the agreement, Google spokesman Steve Langdon said.

The case covers all advertisers using Google's pay-per-click advertising system back to February 2002 through to the date the judge certifies the case. The final settlement hearing is expected to take place in coming weeks.

Around 97 per cent of Google's revenue comes from pay-per-click ads, which critics say can be vulnerable to fraud.

Bearish analysts have harped on the threat of click fraud as the single greatest risk to Google's advertising-dependent business model, although the company has downplayed the risk, saying only a small percentage of search ads are fraudulent. Reuters.

$1bn bush net to rival Telstra  

THE federal Government has flagged plans to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a new regional telecommunications network in an effort to break its impasse with Telstra.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan yesterday outlined a bold plan to use a $1.1 billion regional broadband fund to help build a wholesale network in the bush which would compete with Telstra.

The plan represents a major win for National Party politicians, who have been pushing for such a strategy for the past year.

The Government and Telstra have been in conflict over a range of issues including the price of access to the telco's copper wires, the building of a new fibre-optic broadband network, and guaranteed levels of service to the bush.

"I am considering setting aside a large part of the funding to stimulate the development of a competitive wholesale access network in regional Australia that will provide a broad basis for ongoing infrastructure-based competition in regional Australia," Senator Coonan told the Australian Telecommunications Users Group annual conference in Sydney.The Australian >>> more

Copyright makes web a turn-off  

SCHOOLS have warned they will have to turn off the internet if a move by the nation's copyright collection society forces them to pay a fee every time a teacher instructs students to browse a website.

Teachers said students in rural areas would bear the brunt of cuts if the Copyright Agency was successful in adding internet browsing charges to the $31 million in photocopying fees it rakes in from schools.

The agency calculates the total due by randomly sampling schools each year for materials they copy, and extrapolating the results.

The battle between the schools and the agency will go to the Federal Court over its attempts to make schools pay for asking students to use the web.

Negotiations between the Ministerial Council on Education Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, representing the schools, and the agency have broken down over plans to change the scheme to include a question in the survey on whether teachers direct students to use the internet.

"If it turned out we'd have to pay them, we'd turn the internet off in schools," the council's national copyright director Delia Browne said. The Australian >>> more

Nigerians stung over scams  

DUTCH police have arrested 12 Nigerians in connection with an internet scam that tricked people into investing in non-existent schemes.

The Nigerians were detained on suspicion of committing fraud or involvement in fraud in the scheme, which earned them a total $US2 million ($2.7 million).

They were arrested Tuesday after raids on premises in Amsterdam and the central city of Zaandam, during which police seized €25,000 ($45,000) in cash, computers and fake travel documents.

Most of the victims of the scam were US citizens. Four of the men detained were arrested on the request of US authorities, who co-operated on the investigation.

The gang sent some 100,000 emails to potential victims, police said.

Computer users across the world are regularly bombarded by emails from Nigerian crooks seeking to trick them into handing over bank details or making advance payments on non-existent money-making schemes.

Experts say the so-called "419" fraudsters - named after the relevant section in Nigeria's criminal code - steal hundreds of millions of dollars every year from unsuspecting targets. Agence France-Presse AustralianIT.

Quotes of the Day  

Everyone rises to their level of incompetence. Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988), "The Peter Principle"

There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad. Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989)

I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true. Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)

Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance. William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Brought to you by The Quotations Page

Have any questions relating to the internet or your computer? Let me know and I will research an answer and use this for future entries in our newsletter. Pass on your questions via the Enquiry Form on our Web-Site or send me an email.

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