Microsoft Does The Decent Thing

Good news for Windows 98 fans, and for folk who don’t believe in upgrading their software just because companies say it’s the cool thing to do. Microsoft has relented on its decision to abandon updates for Windows 98 and Me this week, saying it will continue to provide limited support for the operating systems until … Read more

It’ll Soon Be Firewall Day

This Thursday, in case you didn’t know, Personal Firewall Day. I was pretty excited about the idea too until I realised there were no parades and opportunities to dress up. Still, it’s a great way of trying to persuade people that having a firewall in place on your computer is no longer a luxury, or … Read more

Another Spamming Record

You’re probably getting bored of spam statistics by now, and I wouldn’t blame you. But here’s another milestone, courtesy of MessageLabs, who monitor this kind of thing: December was a new record, they say, for the ratio of spam to ordinary email. In that month, MessageLabs scanned some 463 million emails and found that 1 … Read more

Bill’s Vision Of Our Home Future

Bill Gates gave his big speech at the 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) yesterday, and there’s been plenty of commentary on it. Here’s a view from WinNetMag’s by Paul Thurrott, that helps explain why the computer is more likely this year to make its way out of the den and into the living room. … Read more

The USB Pen

Not a bad idea this: A pen with a built-in USB drive. PNY Technologies have just launched a line of Executive Attaché ballpoint pens with attached USB 2.0 flash drives that hold up to 512 MB of stuff. The pens look chunky — and very executive-looking, ‘made with -quality materials similar to those of high-end … Read more