A new search feature on Google lets people quickly get to airline flight information by redirecting to travel sites.

Users can type in two different cities, or airport codes, in the Google search box to bring up two boxes for entering departing and returning flight dates. Below those are links to several travel Web sites including Expedia, Hotwire and Orbitz. Clicking on one of those links leads directly to flight options on that site.
“Google is testing a new search feature for specific flight inquiries between two points,” Google said in an e-mailed statement.

Source: News.com

In less than three weeks, this single zombie received 5 million connection requests from spammers and 18 million spam messages advertising more than 13,000 individual Web sites.

Unlike the zombies of B-movie imagination, which are easily identifiable by their typically gruesome appearance and menacing groans, zombie computers are silent stalkers. People who use the Internet may never know that their computers have been compromised and turned into a conduit for sending millions of pieces of illegal spam or facilitating other illegal activity. More than half of all spam is sent through infected computers, according to industry reports.

To combat the zombie threat, Microsoft today revealed some of the technological and legal maneuvers it has used to unmask the individuals using several zombies to send spam. Microsoft investigators intentionally created a zombie computer, quarantined it to prevent it from actually sending spam messages, then carefully watched it for 20 days while investigators tracked and traced all Internet communications through the infected computer.

The statistics the investigators compiled were staggering. In less than three weeks, this single zombie received 5 million connection requests from spammers and 18 million spam messages advertising more than 13,000 individual Web sites. Evidence gathered in this exercise contributed to a lawsuit that has now identified 13 different spamming operations.
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Microsoft will retire Exchange Server 5.5–along with support for the product–at the end of this year. The company recommends that users upgrade to the latest version.

Microsoft urges customers who are still running Exchange 5.5 to upgrade to Exchange Server 2003, a more secure version of the messaging and collaboration server product. You can find information about upgrading to Exchange Server 2003 here.

Source: PCWorld.com

Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of Microsoft Works Suite 2006, featuring a collection of Microsoft’s home software titles in one package. The Suite includes Microsoft Works 8, Word 2002, Encarta® Encyclopedia Standard 2006, Digital Image Standard 2006, Money 2006 Standard, and Streets & Trips Essentials 2006.

Microsoft Works Suite 2006 is available in stores for about $99.95.

New research released by Consumer Reports WebWatch finds that U.S. Internet users are cutting back on the hours they spend online, shunning e-commerce and refusing to give out personal information as a result of the rising tide of Web-based crimes related to identity theft.

According to the WebWatch report, released Wednesday, 80 percent of all American Web surfers are at least somewhat concerned about the threat of identity theft posed by engaging in online activities.

As a result of those concerns, at least 30 percent of the 1,500 people interviewed for the survey said they have reduced the amount of time they access the Internet.

In addition to going online less frequently, 53 percent of the respondents told WebWatch that fears of ID theft have stopped them from giving out their personal information to Web sites and online marketers, while 25 percent said they are no longer purchasing items from e-commerce sites.

Source: eWeek