Customers of UK2.net had experienced downtime since October 31. Today, the web host said that they could now send and receive emails normally.

“We apologise to all customers hit by this, we’re moving the emails across as quickly as we can and should be finished by Sunday evening,” said Martin Baker who is the managing director of UK2.

A storage array failure is the cause of the problem according to Baker.

No emails have been lost and the company will copy them from its current storage network to its new one.

Source: The Register

According to a test that was made by Sophos about running Windows 7 on a clean system, the operating system is vulnerable with malware.

Sophos said, “Unfortunately, despite Microsoft’s claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows. The good news is that, of the freshest 10 samples that arrived, 2 would not operate correctly under Windows 7.”

The UAC only blocked one sample.

Chester Wisniewski of Sophos concludes that Windows 7 users still need an anti-virus software for their OS.

Source: The Tech Herald

Over 70 new features are included in the latest version including supports for 64-bit Snow Leopard and Windows variants. For graphic applications including games, users would notice about a 700 percent improvement over Desktop 4.

OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9 Ex with Shader Model 3 are also supported.

Other new features including multi-touch gestures in Windows, “true” multi-monitor support, and a quick access to the Windows application folder.

Source: Ars Technica

Stephen Baker of NDP Group said, “I would call it pretty good, but I wouldn’t call it great.”

“The fact of the matter is that prior to the launch, there were a lot of operating systems out there. When Vista launched, you didn’t see a lot of Windows Millennium PCs. Windows 7 will be more of a long haul,” he added.

The revenue of Windows 7 is only an 82% increase over Vista.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD

The pirated DVDS in India sold for a total of about $100,000 based on 50,000 copies according to a report at The Times of India’s website.

The range of the legal version is Rs.7,500-Rs.15,000 in the international markets but Microsoft tagged its prices 20 percent below it. Therefore, the prices are in the Rs.6,000-Rs.11,000 range.

“Why invest Rs.10,000 when it is available for Rs.250?” asked a student who is pursuing a Master’s course.

A person who runs a software and hardware maintenance company says, “We pay for only the DVD as we are regular customers. A DVD hardly costs Rs.20-40.”

Source: The Times of India

An update has been released for the Mac version of Windows Live Sync which is designed to fix a problem that locked out Snow Leopard users who upgraded from an earlier version of Mac OS X.

The update can be downloaded at sync.live.com. Users need to sign in with their Windows Live ID.

The software is designed to sync files across at least two computers with either a Windows or Mac OS X operating systems. Windows Live Sync used to be called FolderShare.

Source: Ars Technica

Nomadio has released a beta version of a software that it created which lets a laptop with Windows 7 be turned into a hotspot.

Redmond had plans to create this software but it decided to end its production in 2006. Nomadio noticed that Windows 7 have the code present in it.

The CEO explained, “You’re sitting in a coffee shop that charges you for a wireless connection. With Connectify, I can pay for that connection, and still have all my other devices, like my iPhone, connected to the Internet.”

Source: The Register

A scam about pills that make people slim posted using a Twitter direct message has been detected by Sophos.

The text messages include “I lost 25lbs using this ,” “whoa this works. i feel good and look good ,” and “lol it’s amazing. look and feel great with .”

Users who are interested in this offer would fill out a form that includes name, address, phone number, billing information and credit card details. The offer notes that they can try out the pill for free.

Source: Sophos

A notice has been issued by The US Consumer Product Safety Commission about power adapters of Sony VAIO desktops.

The model of the adapter is VGP-AC19V17 which is included in the VGC-LT and VGC-JS2 VAIO Desktop series computers. Docking stations with model numbers VGP-PRBX1 and VGP-PRFE1 are also affected by the recall.

The adaptors “fail over time, posing an electrical shock hazard to consumers,” according to the notice.

An image is included on the article at The Register of where the AC Adapter model is located.

Source: The Register

Beth Jones posted a blog post at Sophos about an odd tweet at Twitter that appears every couple of hours. The tweet includes a link but it changes from time to time although the included text which is “Haha, look at this vid” does not.

When visitors click on the link, they will be redirected to a fake YouTube page that warns them to verify their age using their cell phone since the video may contain inappropriate content.

Jones notes that this may be a way for the scammers to try to sell the users a “long term auto insurance” or other similar scams.

Source: Sophos