Note that the new “Everyone” setting includes anyone on the Internet viewing your profile, Facebook-enhanced apps and websites, search engines, and Facebook’s RSS feeds. It’s designed in a Twitter-like fashion, allowing you to expose certain pieces of content and information about yourself to public search engines, meaning it’ll pop up when someone searches for you on Google and other search engines.

Anyone can force any content on nearly any site hosted in the U.S. to be taken down or removed from Google’s index, at least for a while, with no ramifications, liability, or traceability by filling out a simple web form or sending an email. An attacker could republish this post on another blog, give it yesterday’s date, and send an email to The Planet claiming that this is infringing their copyright. Within a couple of days, this post would be gone, and I’d have no recourse.

Gartner is giving enterprises five suggestions for their Windows computers. The most important one is "don't skip Windows 7." Gartner says Windows 7 is a release that polishes the architectural changes that came with Windows Vista, and polishing releases should never be skipped. Michael Silver, Research VP of Gartner, explains that organizations which skipped Windows 2000 and waited for XP had some problems, but organizations that adopted Windows 2000 and tried to skip Windows XP in order to wait for Vista had a much harder time. Since XP was a polishing release, according to Gartner, the company believes that Microsoft's most recent polishing release should not be skipped. Gartner analysts also note that "it's nearly inevitable for enterprises to move to Windows 7"

The simplest, most cost-effective answer I know of? Don't use Microsoft Windows when accessing your bank account online. I do not offer this recommendation lightly (and at the end of this column you'll find a link to another column wherein I explain an easy-to-use alternative). ...regardless of the methods used by the bank or the crooks, all of the attacks shared a single, undeniable common denominator: They succeeded because the bad guys were able to plant malicious software that gave them complete control over the victim's Windows computer. ... "I would strongly recommend looking at whatever systems you're using if you're doing electronic banking," the Gazette quotes Bernie Burns, the Arc's executive director. "And if it is a Microsoft system, perhaps looking at something different." Of course, a Mac computer would probably work just as well, but the focus here is on Windows users who may be looking for a cheap way to harden their existing setup to avoid malicious software.

NVIDIA dropped a bombshell today with an announcement that it is freezing development work on future PC chipsets. The GPU maker is blaming this dramatic move on an ongoing legal spat with Intel, but the market realities are there for all to see.