Windows Much Safer After Microsoft Killed Autorun

A safer, more idiot proof autorun.

Autorun is one way for malware to trick a user into installing some nefarious software from removable storage media. An executable could reside on a USB flash drive and, when inserted into a PC, would prompt the user to click the autorun file.

Back in February, Microsoft released an update that curbed autorun behavior for all supported Windows platforms stretching back to Windows XP SP3 to Windows Vista SP2 (Windows 7 already had a "fixed" autorun behavior and Windows XP SP2 was no longer supported through updates).

When comparing stats before and after the Microsoft update, we clearly see that blocking the autorun of removable storage had a significant effect on the infection rate. It may have been a tweak to stop a certain action on the users' part, but it was certainly effective.

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Bill Gates Gladly Admits That He's a Geek, And His Kids Are Still Banned From Apple Products

I wanna be a Bill Gates so freakin' bad...

Those of us familiar with the western world know who is Bill Gates. Our association with him is likely still to Microsoft, but he's doing far different work these days as a philanthropist.

The Daily Mail scored an interview with the world's second richest man, who talked about his family and what consumes his days these days. Just imagine Bill Gates rocking in his chair and singing "I wanna be a billionaire so freakin' bad. Buy all the things I never had. I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine. Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen..."

That Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars hit is something that his three kids use to tease him, but they won't be getting their wish unless they make it themselves. Gates' children Jennifer, 15, Rory, 12, and Phoebe, nine are believed to be getting 'only' $10 million each in inheritance.

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Internet Has Now More Than 2 Billion Users

The Internet's population has just grown past 2 billion people, according to data posted by Internet World Stats.


According to the data set, the Internet had 2,095,006,005 people browsing its pages as of March 31, 2011. 30.2% of the earth's population now has access to the Internet.

Africa is still the continent with the lowest penetration of Internet connections with 11.4% of all people. However, Africa posts the fastest growth and multiplied its Internet users by a factor of 24 between 2000 and 2011. Asia has the largest Internet population with more than 922 million Internet users 44% of all Internet users globally. 45% those users are in China (420 million), which almost matches the total number of Internet users in Europe (476 million).

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Asus Launching Eee PC Netbooks with Ubuntu

Three ASUS Eee PC models now sport Ubuntu 10.10 in addition to the Windows 7 Starter option.

Thursday Canonical sent along a note announcing that its Ubuntu Linux OS (10.10) is now available pre-loaded on three Asus Eee PC models including the 1001PXD, the 1011PX and the 1015PX. More models packing Ubuntu will be made available throughout the year.

"The Eee PC with Ubuntu is ideal for consumers and businesses," the company said. "The hardware is sleek and lightweight and energy efficient while Ubuntu is safe, intuitive and stable. Ubuntu includes a complete office suite making it easy to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations and share them with Microsoft Windows users. A full, rich Internet experience is available with Mozilla Firefox and Adobe Flash pre-installed."

The ASUS 1001PXD, otherwise known as the ASUS Eee PC Seashell, features a 10.1-inch LED backlight WSVGA non-glare screen, Intel's Atom N455 CPU, 1 or 2 GB of DDR3 memory, and a 160 to 320 GB 5,400RPM HDD. The 1011PX sports a meatier dual-core Intel Atom N570 (or N455) CPU and essentially the same specs as the Seashell, but with dual boot capabilities thrown in. The 1015PX supposedly offers notebook performance in a netbook size seemingly using more of the same but with a larger HDD (up to 500 GB).

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Microsoft to Impose Hardware Restrictions for Windows 8 Tablets

Microsoft had a few restrictions in place for manufacturers wishing to produce Windows Phone 7 devices. All devices had to carry a certain level of specs before Microsoft would give manufacturers the WP7 stamp of approval. Now it seems Redmond is also planning on imposing restrictions for Windows 8 tablets, too.

Microsoft has apparently informed hardware partners that restrictions for those planning Windows 8 tablets will be announced in the coming weeks. Manufacturers aren't too keen on the idea that Microsoft will be restricting the types of tablets they can produce, and Acer has been particularly vocal in its objections.

“They’re really controlling the whole thing, the whole process,” Bloomberg quotes Acer CEO J.T. Wang as saying in a Computex interview this week. “They try to set the game rules,” he said, and chip suppliers and PC makers “all feel it’s very troublesome.” 

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