The Confickr worm is one of the most notorious malicious computer infections that has affected millions of PCs over the past few years. The worm usually strikes on April 1, April Fools day. It uses a security loophole in the Microsoft OS. It travels from PC to PC even without human involvement. Microsoft has already resolved the issue October last year but if your computer has not been getting updates, you’re highly at risk of being infected. You’ll know when you’re infected when you can’t browse Microsoft sites and other anti-virus vendors such as Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc. or F-Secure Corp, etc.

The Confickr worm is actually a cockroach.

Should you get infected, here’s how to remove the Confickr virus:

1. Have an uninfected PC download one of the anti-Confickr virus tools developed by the Conficker Working Group, a group of people battling the virus. They’re really doing well in this war against cyber crime.

2. Have it emailed to your infected PC.

3. Once you downloaded it, rename the file before running it. This is crucial since the Confickr virus will identify all anti-virus efforts to detect itself by disabling all running programs with “Confickr” in it. Just rename it to something else, like “Conficker” or “Confik” to fool the virus. The virus is stupid like that.

4. Run the tools and purge the damn virus.

5. Point and laugh at the word “Confickr” everytime you see it or read about it.

There. You after these steps, your computer should be Confickr free. Good luck soldier. Godspeed.

Credits to: http://techbuzz.i.ph

Microsoft confirmed on Monday that it is planning to release Windows 7 this year, in time for the holiday shopping season.

“We are tracking well to a Windows 7 holiday,” Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview. Veghte plans to make a similar statement in a speech Monday at Microsoft’s TechEd event in Los Angeles. As recently as January, Veghte was saying publicly that such a release was not a sure thing.

At the event, Microsoft is also announcing it plans to wrap up work on an update to its server operating system–Windows Server 2008 R2–at the same time it finishes Windows 7 on the desktop side. Microsoft issued a release candidate for the server operating system last month, alongside the near-final version of Windows 7.

For months now, Microsoft’s official position has been that Windows 7 would ship by January 2010–the three-year anniversary of Windows Vista’s mainstream launch. However the software maker has been aiming and planning for a 2009 release all along, as we noted last fall.

Computer makers have been indicating privately–and in a few cases publicly–that things have remained on track. But, with memories of Vista’s delays fresh in its mind, Microsoft continued to hedge its bets.

Early feedback from the Windows 7 release candidate, which came out late last month, convinced Microsoft it could commit to a 2009 launch, Veghte said.

Veghte said Microsoft has seen the needed step-function drop in the number of crashes being experienced with the release candidate as opposed to the beta version.

“You know pretty quickly if you’ve got any big gotchas,” he said. “You can get a pretty good sniff pretty quickly.”

Equally important, Veghte said the company has seen the needed level of partner support. He noted that the first couple of companies have gotten Windows 7 logo certification. Among that first group are some graphics chip vendors–a big change from Vista in which limited graphics support was among the many compatibility headaches experienced by early adopters.

Veghte did not provide a specific time for launch or when the code would be finalized. However, he said that typically the ecosystem needs anywhere from nine to 14 weeks from the product being declared final to be ready for launch.

At TechEd, Veghte also plans to show a demo of how Office 2010 will take advantage of some of Windows 7’s features. For example, Office will make use of a feature called “Jump Lists,” which allow users to quickly take action directly from the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. From Outlook’s Jump List, for example, users will be able to start a new message, create a contact, or schedule a meeting with two clicks.

Those that have both products will also be able to drag an Office file from a Jump List directly into an e-mail, a big time-saver.

A technical preview of Office 2010 will kick off in July, with those at TechEd among the first to get to try out the software.

Credits to: http://news.cnet.com

Manny VS Hatton

The much anticipating battle of boxing history just has been finished by just round 2 of TKO by My idol Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao by a strong left punch. The battle took place at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. The pambansang kamao is much stronger than before unlike those previous figths he had. I though it would only take 5 rounds rounds to take him for Hatton. But I’m impressed of his moves and power punch.
I’m sure the Philippines will have a grand parade for People’s Champ when he arrives in the Philippines.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum applauded the Filipino’s performance as “astounding” after his man had competed for only the third time above the super featherweight division.

“This kid improves with every single fight,” Arum said. “He’s doing things he wasn’t doing two or three years ago.

“His defence is now tremendous. His reflexes are tremendous. I have never seen any fighter combine the speed and the explosive power that he does.”

“I told Ricky Hatton not to be discouraged,” Arum added. “There are plenty of people out there for him to fight. Nobody in the world can beat this little Filipino.”

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach agreed.

“Manny’s unbelievable,” he said. “He makes me look good. He’s the best fighter in the world. He’s in his prime right now. He’s on top of his game. Anyone in the world, he can beat.”

Asked about the possibility of a clash with American Floyd Mayweather Jr, who announced earlier on Saturday he would return from retirement to fight Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18, Roach sounded doubtful.

credits: Reuters