Guest Post by Lisa Hendrickson, owner of Call That Girl, 15 years experience of supporting client computer issues.

For many months now, I have been in need of an assistant, but just couldn’t make the decision as each week business was still “up and down”. It’s a struggle as an entrepreneur to make that decision.
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A new “stable” version of Google Chrome has been released. Version 4.0 provides all Windows and Linux users access to the new extension gallery that includes more than 1,500 tools.

The Windows version also offers bookmark sync. Its purpose is to synchronize the bookmarks of a users across all of his or her machines. The web browser also has a 42 percent performance boost.

Users can manually update their browser or wait until it arrives in the stable channel which will happen within next week.

Source: The Register

Users will be able to run Microsoft Windows 7 on Apple’s iPad according to Citrix. It will be a virtual process and users would need the company’s Receiver software.

“If your company has XenDesktop or XenApp you will be happy to know you will be able to use your iPad for real work as well,” said the company’s vice president.

“It turns out the 9.7 inch display on the iPad with a 1024×768 screen resolution works great for a full VDI XenDesktop. Windows applications run unmodified and securely in the data center, and even multiple applications at once,” he added.

Source: PCWorld

“.NET Framework Cleanup Utility” is a small, portable and freeware application designed to remove selected versions of the .NET Framework from a computer. It is intended to be used when the install, uninstall, repair or patching of the .NET Framework will not work correctly.
When this cleanup tool is run, it will remove the files, directories, registry keys and Add/Remove Programs entries that make up the .NET Framework.

This application has some nice features such as allowing you to choose which version of .NET Framework you want to remove. It also has a silent/unattended mode which I am sure the Technibble scripters will enjoy. Be sure to read the readme.txt file as it contains some handy usage information plus the download links for the .NET Framework installers.
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The minimum specifications of a computer to be able to run the next Microsoft Office version has been revealed. Here they are:

Processor: Intel Pentium 500 MHz
RAM: 256 MB PC100 SDRAM
Operating System: Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3
Video Card: 64 MB RAM with DirectX 9.0c

The video memory requirement is for Excel and PowerPoint. Those who have machines with multicore processors will run the Office 2010 faster.

Source: Theinquirer.net

The contents of a user’s hard drive can be read if he or she visits a Web 2.0 site according to Jorge Luis Alvarez.

This can be accomplished by clicking on a single link that exploits Internet Explorer and Windows vulnerabilities.

“Every time we reported this to Microsoft, they were fixing just one of the features. Every time they [fixed] it, we managed another way to build the attack again,” Medina said in an interview.

“The things we are reporting are not bugs, they are features. They are needed for many applications to work, so [Microsoft] can’t simply remove or truncate,” he added.

Source: The Register

Microsoft has released updates for Windows 7 and Server 2008.

The patch fix issues such as keyboard shortcuts or function keys, such as mute, may not work correctly.

Also, when a computer was configured to display the logon screen on resume and when it goes to sleep, a black screen is displayed. In this case, the only way to restart the computer is to hold down the power button. The patch has fixed this problem.

Updated versions of System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista, 7, and Server 2008 were also released.

Source: Ars Technica

A story was posted at consumerist.com about a person who received a phone call from someone who is supposed to be from his or her internet service provider.

The person who made the call did not say the receiver’s ISP name. He told the receiver to go to a website and click on an icon that points to a file called “TeamViewer_Setup.exe.”

A Paypal payment option was present in the site. This is supposed to be a subscription for “unlimited tech support” that costs $300/year.

The receiver was playing along with the caller until he or she was told to click on the icon.

Source: Consumerist

There is a common trap that Computer Technicians can fall into. It happens when the Computer Technician goes onsite to the clients location, removes a virus and gets paid. Then, a week later the clients computer is reinfected with a virus and they expect the technician to come over and remove it free of charge.

Now, if the Computer Technician didn’t do their job correctly the first time, then they should go back and fix it for free. However, often the virus is a new infection and is not related to the first one, yet we are still expected to fix it for free.

The way to avoid this issue (assuming you did your job correctly the first time) is by managing the clients expectations and not speaking in absolutes. Let me explain.
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Computerworld ran tests about the speed of web browsers, comparing the latest version of Firefox to other web browsers.

It is slower than Apple’s Safari or Google Chrome when rendering JavaScript but faster than Internet Explorer and Opera.

Computerworld used the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark suite to conduct the tests in a Windows XP with Service Pack 3 operating system. The web browsers were tested three times each and the average speed was determined to conclude the final rankings.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD