Elasnik Computers

2011-10-18T13:47:00.000+01:00

Windows 7 overtakes XP to become the most widely used OS

Windows 7

Windows 7 has passed Windows XP global usage for the first time since its release in October 2009.

Windows 7 now accounts for 40.21% of all global desktop operating system usage across the world. Windows XP usage slipped to 38.64% in the month of October according to StatCounter. The drop in XP usage has been consistent since Windows 7′s launch but October marks the first time that Windows 7 has passed Windows XP usage, an important milestone for Microsoft after two years of Windows 7 sales.

Windows 7 quickly rose to popularity following positive reaction from early beta copies of the operating system. Released in October 2009, the operating system has received praise from consumers, businesses and the media. In November 2009, Windows 7 managed to surpass Apple’s Snow Leopard market share in just two weeks. In early February 2010 it was revealed that Windows 7 had reached 10% market share in just three months. Windows 7 also passed Vista usage in July 2010, just 10 months after its release.

Windows 7 celebrated its first birthday after selling over 240 million licenses in the first year of sales. Gartner believes that 42% of all PCs worldwide will run Windows 7 by the end of the year. The company’s research also indicates that 94% of new PCs will ship with Windows 7 in 2011. By the end of 2011, nearly 635 million new PCs worldwide are expected to be shipped with Windows 7. Microsoft recently revealed that it has shipped over 450 million licences of Windows 7. The figures are a testament to the popularity of Microsoft’s latest operating system. Despite the impressive stats, Microsoft is pushing ahead towards Windows 8. The company unveiled its “reimagined” Windows 8 last month. The new interface features a Start Screen with identical styling to the company’s Windows Phone software. Microsoft is planning to allow application developers to create Metro style apps that interact with the Start Screen and operating system. Microsoft’s unique approach will also provide rich and easy integration across applications for developers. Microsoft is expected to make Windows 8 available on ARM and Intel based tablets in mid-2012.

Top 5 operating systems from Oct 2009 to Oct 2011 - StatCounter

How to pick the Web browser that's right for you

2011-09-26T12:05:00.000+01:00

The browser displays each web page on screen but you don’t have to stick with the traditional options of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer on a PC or Apple’s Safari for Macs. You can now choose from one of the five main browsers below. Each is a free download, so you could even try them all and see which suits your surfing needs the best.

INTERNET EXPLORER

What is it? Version 9 was created by Microsoft to work with its newest Windows 7 operating system but it will run on the older Vista systems too.

Best for? Newbie PC users, simple surfers, non-technical types.

Is it secure? IE9 alerts you to fake or unsafe websites typed into the address bar while its Tracking Protection service lets you list which sites can monitor your browsing habits.

What’s good? With a simple uncluttered layout and a big Back button – often the most used control – version 9 is the fastest IE yet. Only single pages ever crash, not the whole browser and websites can be opened directly from the Windows taskbar. It copes well with graphic-heavy pages and some sites are specially optimised to look the best through it.

What’s bad? Less customisable than rivals, it has fewer add-ons, which, for example, can link to social networks and websites to automatically feed in information and make regular tasks quicker.

Rating: 4/5

Download Internet Explorer here

SAFARI

What is it? Apple’s default browser on Macs and iPhone and iPad devices, it is available for Windows too.

Best for? Mac security, news junkies, Apple OS X Lion users

Is it secure? Built-in technology prevents pop-ups, hacking and the theft of your personal information. Cookies – small bits of software monitoring your surfing habits – are blocked by default.

What’s good? Thumbnails of your 24 most-visited sites and images of bookmarked pages are handy. A beautifully streamlined Reader mode shows text and pictures without advert clutter while a Reading List saves links to view later. Users of Apple’s latest OS X Lion operating system can automatically open pages from their previous session, get full screen browsing and use multi-touch gesture controls such as pinch and zoom, just like on an iPad or iPhone.

What’s bad? Can be sluggish, not as good as rivals for PC use.

Rating: 4/5 Mac OS X Lion
            3/5 Mac OS X Snow Leopard
            2.5/5 Windows PC

Download Safari here

CHROME

What is it? Created by Google, it works on a PC or Mac and integrates simply with many of their services such as Gmail.

Best for? Searching, speed and simplicity

Is it secure? Clear messaging warns of fake websites while an Incognito mode stops your browsing history being recorded.

What’s good? A minimalist design does away with confusing boxes and buttons. Google Search suggests web addresses as you type them. Web pages can be automatically translated to your default language while Bookmarks and settings will sync with any other computer you use Chrome on.

What’s bad? Potentially the least secure, it’s already been updated to version 11 to fix flaws and tweak features.

Rating: 4/5

Download Chrome here

FIREFOX

What is it? Made for PC, Mac, Android and iPhone by Mozilla.

Best for? Techies, geeks, lovers of customisation

Is it secure? Parental Controls are designed to work alongside the ones in Windows 7 and it will alert you to fake websites from a list updated 48 times a day.

What’s good? Easy to personalise, you can select keywords to give fast access to favoured sites. Groups store similar pages you view often and the Awesome Bar scans your history to suggest websites as you start typing them. This has the most add-ons and extensions of any browser with plenty of timesaving software to download.

What’s bad? Design and functionality can suit PC users better.

Rating: 4/5 PC
            3/5 Mac

Download Firefox 5 here

OPERA

What is it? Versions for PC, Mac, mobile phones and tablets.

Best for? Mobile use and slow connections

Is it secure? Private browsing deletes your history when the tab or window is closed. Coloured labels clearly show how safe a website is.

What’s good? For computers, the Turbo Boost feature speeds up browsing on slow connections but for mobile users, Opera is a must. It provides fast and uncluttered surfing and could save you money, by compressing the amount of data used to show information.

What’s bad? Unfairly perceived as a lesser option but it does have the fewest add-ons available.

Rating: 3.5/5 PC
             4/5 Mac
             5/5 Mobile

Download for your desktop here.
Download for your mobile here.

FINAL WORD
If you want a browser that's easy to use but still has plenty of scope for extras, you can't go wrong with Chrome for a PC or Mac. But if you're using OS X Lion, like the one million people who downloaded it in its first 24 hours on sale, have an extra window open too and go on Safari.

Watch out for fake virus alerts

2011-06-05T15:10:00.001+01:00

Rogue security software, also known as "scareware," is software that appears to be beneficial from a security perspective but provides limited or no security, generates erroneous or misleading alerts, or attempts to lure users into participating in fraudulent transactions.

How does rogue security software get on my computer?

Rogue security software designers create legitimate looking pop-up windows that advertise security update software. These windows might appear on your screen while you surf the web.

The "updates" or "alerts" in the pop-up windows call for you to take some sort of action, such as clicking to install the software, accept recommended updates, or remove unwanted viruses or spyware. When you click, the rogue security software downloads to your computer.

Rogue security software might also appear in the list of search results when you are searching for trustworthy antispyware software, so it is important to protect your computer.

What does rogue security software do?

Rogue security software might report a virus, even though your computer is actually clean. The software might also fail to report viruses when your computer is infected. Inversely, sometimes, when you download rogue security software, it will install a virus or other malicious software on your computer so that the software has something to detect.

Some rogue security software might also:

Lure you into a fraudulent transaction (for example, upgrading to a non-existent paid version of a program).
Use social engineering to steal your personal information.
Install malware that can go undetected as it steals your data.
Launch pop-up windows with false or misleading alerts.
Slow your computer or corrupt files.
Disable Windows updates or disable updates to legitimate antivirus software.
Prevent you from visiting antivirus vendor websites.

Rogue security software might also attempt to spoof the Microsoft security update process. Here's an example of rogue security software that's disguised as a Microsoft alert but that doesn't come from Microsoft.

Example of a warning from a rogue security program known as AntivirusXP.

Here is the legitimate Microsoft Windows Security Center:

Screenshot of legitimate Microsoft Windows Security Center.

To help protect yourself from rogue security software:

Install a firewall and keep it turned on.
Use automatic updating to keep your operating system and software up to date.
Install antivirus and antispyware software and keep it updated.
If your antivirus software does not include antispyware software, you should install a separate antispyware program and keep it updated.
Use caution when you click links in email or on social networking websites.
Use a standard user account instead of an administrator account.
Familiarize yourself with common phishing scams.

1 out of 3 users with up-to-date antivirus software are still infected with malware

2011-06-04T12:18:00.001+01:00

research shows that 32% of users with up-to-date antivirus software installed on their computers are actually infected with malware.

The survey was conducted between January 1st and March 31st 2011 with 489,469 users who scanned their computer . While nearly two thirds of users (320,279) had an up-to-date antivirus program installed, some 169,190 users had not. Of even greater concern was that 101,498 (32%) of those with the latest antivirus software were found to be infected with malware.

“Our research shows that traditional antivirus software cannot keep up with cyber criminals. Despite all their efforts, it is often days or even weeks before some suppliers of antivirus programs release a solution to a new threat.”
“We also found that not all programs detect the same threats, so the only way for users to be really sure would be to combine multiple anti-malware programs on their PCs.”

Two key conclusions have been drawn from the findings:

It is not enough to assume a PC is protected just because antivirus software is installed. Users should scan their PC regularly using a different vendor to gain a second opinion.
Although most antivirus programs are able to detect sophisticated threats, not all are able to remove them completely.

Vista Support is Ending!

2011-06-04T10:40:00.000+01:00

Are Macs Completely Safe?

2011-05-25T16:09:00.000+01:00

Mac's are not secure

I repeat, Macs are not secure

Many Mac owners are under the impression that Macs are safe against computer viruses and trojans, they're not! The only reason Macs were secure before is because nobody could be bothered to write any malware for them as not enough people used Macs to make it worth their while. The situation has changed.

If you are a Mac user or know one, DO NOT install Mac Defender (it's a trojan) and also, ignore what Apple has to say as they are deliberately keeping customers in the dark.

2011-05-22T15:17:00.001+01:00

Telephone Computer Scammers are back!

2011-05-04T20:55:00.001+01:00

As things quieted down from round one, they've come back for round two. Be very careful.

Typically these people show you log files from something called an event viewer that displays normal system errors and they say they are viruses - rubbish. DO NOT under any circumstances listen to these people or let them on your computer.

If you are a customer and have already fallen victim to one of these scams and allowed them access to your computer, don't panic, contact us immediately and we'll make sure your computer is secure.

New Spam Email

2011-04-28T20:45:00.002+01:00

We came across an active spam email campaign containing a malware as file attachment, as seen on [Figure 1]. The spam mail informs the recipient that their "Reqest" has been rejected. It requires recipients to check the attachment containing the PDF document for more information.

[Figure 1 – Fake Rejected Request Email]

Distinctive Spam Email Characteristics

The email contains the Subject: Reqest rejected

The email contains the Body:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sirs,
Thank you for your letter!
Unfortunately we can not confirm your request!
More information attached in document below.
Thank you
Best regards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

File Attachment: EX-38463.pdf.zip

The file EX-38463.pdf.zip contains a file EX-38463.pdf.exe which CA detects as Win32/SillyDl.XRH.

If the file EX-38463.pdf.exe was executed, it will connect to hdjfskh.net to download and execute the file pusk.exe which is a variant of Win32/FakeAV.

The downloaded FakeAV is known using different names as it uses a template to construct its product name based on the infected system’s Windows operating system version.

Below is the format it uses, where can be XP, Vista or Win7.

Antispyware 2011
Antivirus 2011
Guardian 2011
Guardian
Defender 2011
Antivirus
Antivirus 2011
Antivirus Pro
Antivirus Pro 2011
Internet Security
Internet Security 2011

[Figure 2 – Fake Windows Security Alert]

[Figure 3 - Fake AV Interface]

[Figure 4 – False System Warning]

[Figure 5 – Fake Registration Window]

[Figure 6 – Fake Warning Message]

[Figure 7 – Fake Browser Message]

Again, we advise users to beware of these kinds of emails, avoid executing attachments coming from unsolicited emails and ensure that your security Products are updated with the latest signatures.

Malware Updates

2011-01-14T12:14:00.000Z

Fake antivirus programs go online

The amount of fake antivirus programs has decreased recently as the real McCoy successfully stems their spread to users’ computers. But the scammers behind these rogue programs have started using the Internet as an alternative. In this scenario the program doesn’t need to be downloaded to a computer; the cybercriminals just have to get the user to visit a specific page, which is a lot easier than bypassing real antivirus protection. Several of these new ‘Internet antivirus programs’ were among the leading malicious programs detected online in December, with two samples making it into our Top 20 at 18th and 20th places.

The screenshot below was generated by Trojan.HTML.Fraud.ct and gives an insight into how these fake antivirus programs work.

Screenshot generated by Trojan.HTML.Fraud.ct

As you can see from the screenshot, the fake antivirus program generates an Internet page that closely resembles the My Computer window in a Windows operating system. The subsequent scenario is already a familiar one: it starts to simulate a scan of the computer and almost immediately claims it has detected malware. If the user agrees to clean up the system, a fake antivirus program is downloaded which then tells the user to purchase a license in order to remove the “malware”.

Request for payment from a fake antivirus program

The majority of computers where this malicious program was detected were located in developed countries: the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany and France, with India most probably making it into the list due to the high number of English-speaking users in that country.

Keep your facebook profile clean

2011-01-06T21:45:00.000Z

Posts on your wall, comments from friends, Inbox messages: sharing's the name, having fun is the game. Well, at least until an infected link or a ton of spam steps in to spoil it.

Using in-the-cloud scanning, BitDefender safego keeps your social networking account safe so that you and your PC don't get into e-trouble. An efficient BitDefender spam repellent also helps keep your message flow free from this kind of blah-blah.

And that's not all. With BitDefender safego you get a privacy rating that tells you whether you're an easy prey on the personal data theft front as well.

http://apps.facebook.com/bd-safego/

What if my computer is infected?

2010-12-07T13:50:00.000Z

Unfortunately, it may happen occasionally that the antivirus installed in your computer with its latest updates is incapable of detecting a new virus, worm or a Trojan. Sadly but true: no antivirus protection software gives you a 100% guarantee of complete security. If your computer does get infected, you need to determine the fact of infection, identify the infected file and send it to the vendor whose product missed the malicious program and failed to protect your computer.

However, users on their own are typically unable to detect that their computer got infected unless aided by antivirus solutions. Many worms and Trojans typically do not reveal their presence in any way. By way of exception, some Trojans do inform the user directly that their computer has been infected – they may encrypt the user’s personal files so as to demand a ransom for the decryption utility. However, a Trojan typically installs itself secretly in the system, often employs special disguising methods and also covertly does its activity. So, the fact of infection can be detected by indirect evidence only.

Symptoms of infection

An increase in the outgoing web traffic is the general indication of an infection; this applies to both individual computers and corporate networks. If no users are working in the Internet in a specific time period (e.g. at night), but the web traffic continues, this could mean that somebody or someone else is active on the system, and most probably that is a malicious activity. In a firewall is configured in the system, attempts by unknown applications to establish Internet connections may be indicative of an infection. Numerous advertisement windows popping up while visiting web-sites may signal that an adware in present in the system. If a computer freezes or crashes frequently, this may be also related to a malware activity. Such malfunctions are more often accounted for by hardware or software malfunctions rather than a virus activity. However, if similar symptoms simultaneously occur on multiple or numerous computers on the network, accompanied by a dramatic increase in the internal traffic, this is very likely caused by a network worm or a backdoor Trojan spreading across the network.

An infection may be also indirectly evidenced by non-computer related symptoms, such as bills for telephone calls that nobody made or SMS messages that nobody sent. Such facts may indicate that a phone Trojan is active in the computer or the cell phone. If unauthorized access has been gained to your personal bank account or your credit card has bee used without your authorization, this may signal that a spyware has intruded into your system.

What to do

The first thing to do is make sure that the antivirus database is up-to-date and scan your computer. If this does not help, antivirus solutions from other vendors may do the job. Many manufacturers of anti-virus solutions offer free versions of their products for trial or one-time scanning – we recommend you to run one of these products on your machine. If it detects a virus or a Trojan, make sure you send a copy of the infected file to the manufacturer of the antivirus solution that failed to detect it. This will help this vendor faster develop protection against this threat and protect other users running this antivirus from getting infected.

If an alternative antivirus does not detect any malware, it is recommended that you disconnect your computer from the Internet or a local network, disable Wi-Fi connection and the modem, if any, before you start looking for the infected file(s). Do not use the network unless critically needed. Do not use web payment systems or internet banking services under any circumstances. Avoid referring to any personal or confidential data; do not use any web-based services that require your screen name and password.

How do I find an infected file?

Detecting a virus or Trojan in your computer in some cases may be a complex problem requiring a technical qualification; however, in other cases that may be a pretty straightforward task – this all depends on the degree of the malware complexity and the methods used to hide the malicious code embedded into the system. In the difficult cases when special methods (e.g. rootkit technologies) are employed to disguise and conceal the malicious code in the system, a non-professional may be unable to track down the infected file. This problem may require special utilities or actions, like connecting the hard disk to another computer or booting the system from a CD

Is your computer an informer??

2010-12-07T13:45:00.000Z

Check here now!

http://inprivate.msn.ie/index-en-IE.html

Botched AVG 2011 update might be why your PC won't start today

2010-12-03T14:40:00.000Z

Did you update your free copy of AVG 2011 today, in the hopes of evading a nasty bug? In a set of mildly familiar circumstances, the antivirus company has inadvertently unleashed an even nastier one. Users running 64-bit editions of Windows 7 and AVG 2011 are reporting a STOP error after a mandatory antivirus update this morning, which is keeping some from booting their machines into Windows at all. The buggy update has since been pulled and there are a couple ways to preemptively keep it from happening if you're staring at the message above, but if you've already been stung, you're looking at some quality time without your machine as it gets fixed

Facebook users beware

2010-12-01T20:14:00.001Z

Another Facebook likejacking attempt is being spammed out to fool Facebook users with "5 things girls do before she meets her boyfriend". Instead of presenting a video, the page redirects browsers to a "Like" button hosted on Facebook.

As illustrated above, tens of thousands of people have clicked on the link while they are logged into Facebook already. If you are one of the people who have already attempted to watch the video, please remove the "like" entry from your wall or newsfeed. Also, delete the liked page from your "Likes and Interests" section.

If you are using Facebook, be wary of what you click on. While this one may not be as serious an issue as some of the other Facebook scams we have seen, you probably don't want to provide this plugin developer with more demographic statistics of who falls for phony videos.

Even more interesting information falls out when you investigate a bit deeper. Attempting to access the "HTML source" results in an offer suggesting that you sell your fan pages to a suspicious email address, which is not recommended.

Malware Links in Google Search

2010-11-27T22:43:00.000Z

Recently Google has announced the Beta version of their Encrypted Search Results. Many other Google Products like GMail were already supporting encrypted version, which allowed you to access the service in such a manner that the data was travelling in an encrypted fashion supported by SSL.

This essentially mean that you can access GMail both with http://gmail.com as well as https://gmail.com. Notice the additional “s” in case of latter URL, which allowed the encryption.

But in a recent announcement on Google Blog, Google opened the gates on its flagship product for the encrypted version.

The Use of Encrypted Search in Avoiding Malware Links in Google Search

The obvious advantage of using encrypted version of Google Search is that no intruder will be able to know what you are searching on Google, even if he is able to intercept the data transacted on your computer with the Internet.

However, Neil Rubenking, a security researcher writing at PCMag Blog, has confirmed that Google Encrypted Search also protects you from becoming victim of Malware Links hidden in Google Search Results, a threat popularly known as Link Poisoning or SEO Poisoning.

If you are not sure, let me elaborate that it is a malicious activity by Malware developers, which allows them to get the malware URLs in the Google Search Engine pages. It is done through an active dose of SEO, often balckhat, to quickly climb the attacking websites’ URL in the Search Engine ranking pages.

When an innocent user clicks the URL and reaches the website, a drive-by-download attack is performed on his browser and malicious codes are activated. The malware developers are smart enough to detect that a user has visited the website through a search query. If, however, the visitor is not coming through a search query, the websites suspects that the visitor might be somebody, which knows the details about the website and may be a security researcher. In such a case, the website changes its codes and presents himself a clean website. The same is repeated with the Search Engine spiders to avoid detection of the malware code by the Search Engines.

See the example below.

How Encrypted Search Protects Innocent Users from Mlware Links in Google Search

Sine the data transacted is encrypted in nature, the attacking website is not able to understand whether the visitor is coming through a search query or not. This protect him from getting infected.

The Google Encrypted Search Query is presently in BETA mode and lots of things are yet be made public. But if the experiment is true, then it might have wider implications.

Most of the Analytics programs used by websites, depend upon the data provided the the visitor. In the absense of such data, lots of changes might be on cards for these analytics solutions.

Watch out this space for the updates.

Warning over anti-virus software scam

2010-11-16T12:22:00.001Z

Warning over anti-virus software scam

Criminals are tricking worried internet users into buying anti-virus protection that is actually malicious software in disguise.

Investigators fear hacking gangs are pocketing millions of pounds by infiltrating customers' computers and stealing sensitive banking details.

They said criminals pose as legitimate IT companies who cold call victims offering fake security software that can be downloaded for around £30.

The crooks then combine credit card information from the sale with stolen personal information to defraud the customer or commit further crimes.

Sharon Lemon, who is responsible for fighting cyber crime at the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca), said: "In recent cases, we have seen gangs employing 300 to 400 people to run their operations and using call centre-scale set ups to target victims en masse.

"They can also be paying out as much as $150,000 a month (on a pay-per-download basis) to individual webmasters who are unwittingly advertising their fake software - this level of investment from criminals indicates that the returns are much heftier than this."

The warning came at the start of an internet security awareness week organised by GetSafeOnline.org, which is supported by Government bodies, police and private companies.

Report warns of the increased use of SEO Poisoning to spread malware

2010-11-11T10:37:00.001Z

You'll undoubtedly be excited to know that the Internet security firm Websense has recently released its annual Threat Report. Other than trying to scare you into buying every single product the company has ever released, the paper highlights the growing problem of Black Hat, or SEO Poisoning, which (if done right) sends malware-ridden links closer to the top of your Google search results. According to Network World, some 22.4 percent of Google searches performed since June produced malicious URLs (such as fake antivirus sites or malware downloads) as part of the top 100 search results, as opposed to 13.7 percent in the second half of 2009. It seems that the old model of cyber-attacks, involving peer-to-peer virus infection, is becoming increasingly ineffective as anti-virus companies step up their game, causing nogoodniks to rely on search results, websites, and zero-day attacks. That said, there is a silver lining: as Network World goes on to explain, these days you are actually less likely to get malware from "adult content" sites than in previous years. Or should we say, that's good news for your "friend" or "co-worker."

HP Compaq Top Manufacturer Yet Again

2010-10-14T11:44:00.002+01:00

Top 6 Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, Third Quarter 2010 (Units Shipments are in thousands)

Rank	Vendor	3Q10 Shipments	Market Share	3Q09 Shipments	Market Share	3Q10/3Q09 Growth

1	HP	15,766	17.6%	15,799	19.6%	-0.1%
2	Acer Group	11,648	13.0%	10,885	13.5%	7.0%
3	Dell	11,136	12.4%	10,154	12.6%	9.7%
4	Lenovo	9,213	10.3%	6,931	8.6%	32.9%
5	ASUS	4,793	5.3%	3,674	4.5%	30.5%
6	Toshiba	4,659	5.2%	4,066	5.0%	14.6%

	Others	32,456	36.2%	29,284	36.2%	10.8%

	Total	89,683	100.0%	80,793	100.0%	11.0%

Laptop Tech Support Grade 2010

2010-09-14T22:55:00.000+01:00

Brand	Overall Grade 2008	Overall Grade 2009	Phone Grade 2010	Web Grade 2010	Overall Grade 2010
Acer	B+	C-	D	C-	D+

ASUS	N/A	B-	A-	D+	B-
Dell	B	C-	C+	B-	B-
Fujitsu	D+	B-	C+	D+	C
Gateway	B+	B-	C-	D	D+
HP	B+	C-	B	B+	B+
Lenovo	A-	B+	B-	A-	B+
MSI	N/A	C-	B+	F	C
Samsung	N/A	B	B+	D-	C
Sony	A	B+	B+	B-	B

Music Biz Set To “3 Strike” Two-Thirds of Irish Broadband users

2010-07-14T16:34:00.001+01:00

Keeping its promise to Ireland’s largest ISP, Eircom, the music industry has targeted the country’s second largest ISP, Vodafone. According to a new report, Vodafone is in talks with the Irish Recorded Music Association about issuing warnings and eventually disconnecting its file-sharing customers. Since its introduction last month, around 800 Eircom customers have already received their first strike.

Following last year’s out-of-court settlement with Ireland’s largest ISP Eircom, in May IRMA – representing EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner – confirmed the pair would start tracking, warning and disconnecting alleged file-sharers.

Using data gathered by Danish company DtecNet, IRMA said it would begin supplying Eircom with suspected infringing IP addresses for a 3 month pilot period. Thus far, Eircom has sent around 800 warnings to its customers.

Part of that out-of-court settlement was a promise from IRMA that it would not leave Eircom at a competitive disadvantage. Clearly, once word spread that Eircom is a ‘bad’ ISP for file-sharers, potential customers would see huge benefit in choosing another ISP. To avoid this eventuality, last month IRMA filed papers against mobile operators O2 and 3 for their apparent non-cooperation.

Not everyone is digging their heels in though. Two other mobile ISPs, Vodafone and Eircom subsidiary Meteor, said they were in “advanced negotiations” with the IRMA to bring the graduated response to their networks.

Today there is further news that IRMA is well on its way to soaking up the majority of the Irish market with its “3 strikes” (technically a 4 strikes) scheme, this time by targeting Eircom arch-rival, Vodafone. Market leader Eircom has been in a price war with No 2 player Vodafone for quite a while now, so any action IRMA takes against the ISP will be warmly welcomed by Eircom. It’s even more convenient for them that Vodafone is playing along nicely.

According to a report in the Irish Times quoting IRMA Chairman and EMI Ireland chief executive Willie Kavanagh, “significant progress” had been made with Vodafone in negotiations to bring file-sharing disconnections to the ISP.

In a statement, Vodafone said that file-sharing represents a “serious issue for the Irish music industry” and that it is looking at introducing “appropriate steps” consistent with “applicable legislation and recent judicial decisions”.

The “judicial decision” refers to April’s ruling from Dublin’s High Court which effectively gave the music industry the go ahead to start warning and disconnecting file-sharers.

Getting Vodafone on board would be a significant success for IRMA. Eircom and Vodafone control almost two-thirds of all Ireland’s fixed broadband connections.

Another ISP, UPC, continues its refusal to introduce disconnections for its customers. Tomorrow it will face the start of action in the Commercial Court brought on by the music industry.

Introducing the New....

2010-07-14T12:14:00.002+01:00

Dell knowingly sold defective computers, misled those needing support

2010-07-02T20:12:00.003+01:00

What happens when capacitors go bad, spewing out their tangerine innards like the ones in the photo above? Components die. In the early to mid naughties there was a rash of failures, the so-called "capacitor plague" that affected many manufacturers thanks to millions of bogus units filled with an electrolyte mixture that was a bit off. However, nobody was quite affected like Dell. The company took a 300 million charge in 2005 to cover costs related to the faulty machines that went out with these components, and now we're getting a better picture of just how bad it was -- and continues to be.

According to recently released documents stemming from a three year-old lawsuit, Dell not only knew about the bogus components but some of its employees were actively told to play dumb, one memo sent to customer service reps telling them to "avoid all language indicating the boards were bad or had issues." Meanwhile, sales teams were still selling funky OptiPlex machines, which during that period had a 97 percent failure rate according to Dell's own study. With that on the minds of shoppers, plus some other recent laptop quality issues, we have to think consumer confidence for Dell must be at an all-time low at the moment.

Customers Beware Of Scam!

2010-06-24T11:58:00.001+01:00

http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/News_+_Research/Press%20Releases/Consumers_warned_about_%27PC_problem%27_scam_calls.html

Elasnik Web Cafe

2010-06-23T12:30:00.004+01:00

Visit Our Web Cafe situated in Market Square in Kinsale
Fast Broadband 24mb
Coffee only €1