Microsoft has announced plans to offer free anti-virus software to PC users starting next year.

The Redmond, Washington-based software giant said the software, code-named "Morro," will "provide comprehensive protection from malware including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans."

In a statement on Tuesday, Microsoft said Morro would be focused on "core anti-malware protection" and would be available in the second half of 2009.

"This new solution, to be offered at no charge to consumers, will be architected for a smaller footprint that will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs," it said.

Microsoft said it will discontinue sales of its current software security program, Windows Live OneCare, from June 30, 2009.

"Customers around the world have told us that they need............

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ ... htlqrv9czyNtRPeJL1CFr8Jfw

The next version of Apple’s OS X operating system, dubbed “Snow Leopard” is slated to come out next year. When an early build was shown at this year’s WWDC event in June, Apple indicated that it would be available to the public in about a year. However, a new slide from a presentation given by an Apple director indicates it could be sooner, MacRumors reports.

Specifically, Apple’s director of Unix technologies engineering, Jordan Hubbard, put up a slide at the LISA ‘08 conference that showed a..............http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/19/os- ... eth-sooner-than-expected/

Microsoft on Wednesday officially launched New Xbox Experience, a service that combines the company's Xbox 360 gaming console and Xbox Live online network into a platform for streaming Netflix movies, holding chat sessions, sharing photos, and engaging in other digital activities.

"The future of home entertainment is Xbox 360," said Don Mattrick, Microsoft's senior VP for interactive entertainment, in a statement. "It's on-demand, it's high-definition, it's always social, it's all in one place."

For many consumers, the most compelling feature of New Xbox Experience will be the ability to instantly stream HD movies and TV episodes from rental house Netflix. Among the 360 titles available are La Vie En Rose, Flawless, and Heroes.

The Xbox 360 is the only gaming device capable of providing users with a direct link to Netflix.

New Xbox Experience, as the revamp is called, also will feature a revised user interface that, among other things, allows users to cycle through options as they would if they were using Windows Vista's Aero interface. Available games, movies, and TV shows are presented side by side and will be...........

http://www.informationweek.com/news/s ... jhtml?articleID=212100862

For any of you that were not around or had for gotten Fri Nov. 14 mark the anniversary of one of the most tragic loses in sports history and collage football. Marshall University lost 36 players, 5 coaches, 5 athletics staff members, 24 community members in a tragic plane crash after a hard loss to ECU in Greenville, The Herd made their way home to Huntington, they made it as far as Ceredo.





The Crash Site;




View All Photos ; http://media.herald-dispatch.com/mucr ... iew.php?id=606260801&i=13

Joystiq reports that work on Ubisoft's re-imagined Prince of Persia is complete, and the game has been sent off for certification leading up to its scheduled December 2nd launch. They were able to get some hands-on time with the game, and they have nothing but praise for the controls and the combat system. Quoting: ............Read More;

http://games.slashdot.org/games/08/11/15/1738208.shtml

The problem with any system is that, if you suffer virus attack or similar cannot boot your computer, you might not be able to get in to Windows to salvage your important data. Sometimes the ‘safe mode’ will fail to operate and, even with safe mode, you might not be able to connect to another computer on your network, to move the files across to another machine. Indeed, you might end up moving across files with a virus, which isn’t the wisest idea.

With Windows Vista, you can create your own bootable recovery disc. We’re not going to show how to do this here, but it’s possible. The Vista bootable recovery disc will enable you to fix Vista-related problems, so you can get back in to your computer.

However, the Vista recovery disc is both limited and doesn’t ship with any anti-virus or other security tools, which will examine your system and remove problematic files that are preventing your system from starting in the first place.

The Ultimate Boot CD is a collection of free tools put on to a bootable recovery disc, which will enable you to boot in to an operating system outside of your regular Windows, so you can test, scan and remove problematic files.

Note you should always make sure you have the latest Ultimate Boot CD in your collection, as the included security tools will soon be out-of-date and may not be able to fix the issues on your machine. You’ll need a disc burning tool that can burn an ISO image to disc.
Verdict

Collection of free tools that will enable you to create a bootable recovery CD


Download Here http://www.vnunet.com/articles/download/2224907

More; http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/downloads/2224907/ultimate-boot-cd

Since 2002, Epic's Unreal Engine 2 has served as the foundation for America's Army. To take advantage of leap-ahead capabilities afforded by Epic's newest engine, the Army has been developing its next generation version of America's Army on the Unreal Engine 3 since 2005. While the game has no release date yet, a beta is tentatively scheduled for this winter.
By harnessing the power of the Unreal Engine, America's Army produces extraordinarily engaging and realistic environments and experiences. As a result, a wide variety of agencies from the U.S. Navy to national laboratories have...............

http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=57500

In a slightly confusing press release, Microsoft is trumpeting updates to its Games For Windows Live service, several of which the company announced months ago. The release actually says the company "today unveiled significant updates," which I misread as "today made available." So, fool that I am, I clicked over to the service's official website, clicked the Games For Windows - LIVE - Software link, scanned down from "You can enjoy the free service even when you're not playing a game by launching the Games for Windows - LIVE client," and quickly realized a link to download said client was nowhere in site.

Turns out the client isn't available yet, and today's announcement really is just that: An announcement. But not even quite that, either, because half of what it covers is retread. That half involves the interface, which ............

http://www.pcworld.com/article/153855 ... _live_adds_downloads.html

Performance Improvements
The following performance gains are noticed with this release of Catalyst™
FarCry 2 – performance gains of 3 to 10% for Single card mode and 8 to 14% in
Crossfire mode, with some specific configurations showing even greater improvements.
Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and Radeon
HD3xxx products.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky – performance gains of 6 to 18% in single card settings
and 10 to 30% in CrossfireX mode. Performance gains were noticed on all
Radeon HD04xxx and Radeon HD3xxx products.


http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

Attackers bent on shutting down large Web sites — even the operators that run the backbone of the Internet — are arming themselves with what are effectively vast digital fire hoses capable of overwhelming the world’s largest networks, according to a new report on online security.

In these attacks, computer networks are hijacked to form so-called botnets that spray random packets of data in huge streams over the Internet. The deluge of data is meant to bring down Web sites and entire corporate networks. Known as distributed denial of service, or D.D.O.S., attacks, such cyberweapons are now routinely used during political and military conflicts, as in Estonia in 2007 during a political fight with Russia, and in the Georgian-Russian war last summer. Such attacks are also being used in blackmail schemes and political conflicts, as well as for general malicious mischief.

A survey of 70 of the largest Internet operators in North America, South America, Europe and Asia found that ............

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/tec ... ermalink&exprod=permalink