Diskeeper Corporation has included automated defragmentation functionality into the next iteration of its flagship application, Diskeeper 2007.

The technology, dubbed InvisiTasking, allows system maintenance to run invisibly in the background, and draws on unused system resources in order to perform defragmentation without affecting network performance.

The launch of Diskeeper 2007 represents a new step forward for defragmentation, said Diskeeper product manager Michael Materie, because it allows users to “install it and forget it,” rather than schedule regular defrag sessions.

Microsoft Corp. released Internet Explorer 7 on Wednesday, the first major upgrade to its Web browser since 2001 with new features aimed at preventing online fraud and improving ease of use.

Microsoft’s IE remains the most widely-used software to surf the Web, but the long gap between major releases allowed for the emergence of the company’s most formidable browser competitor since it vanquished the once-dominant Netscape.

Mozilla Firefox, a free open-source browser, has steadily gained users since its introduction in 2004 with features such as an integrated search window to allow users to do a Web query without opening another page, tab browsing to toggle between different sites and a pop-up window blocker.

These features are included in the new Internet Explorer and Microsoft also touted the security improvements to the browser including color-coded warnings in the address bar to indicate whether a Web site can be trusted.

IE 7 is available immediately to Windows XP users and it will eventually serve as the default browser for Microsoft’s much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system, due out to consumers in early 2007.

Source: Reuters

Aladdin has come up with a new way of restricting the data stored on optical discs. It’s ‘XCD’ format has a chip built directly into the disc and which fits into a USB port. So, a user needs to plug the disc into their computer to access a cryptophic key before being able to use the data stored on the disc

Source: Slashdot

Iran’s internet service providers (ISPs) have started reducing the speed of Internet access to homes and cafes based on new government-imposed limits, a move critics said appeared to be part of a clampdown on the media.

An official said last week that ISPs were now “forbidden” by the Telecommunications Ministry from providing Internet connections faster than 128 kilobytes per second (KBps), the official IRNA news agency reported. He did not give a reason.

Source: Reuters

The two least-expensive versions of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista cannot run a virtual machine (VM), such as one on an Intel-based Mac, the company confirmed Tuesday.

According to the Vista EULA (End User Licensing Agreement), Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium — $199 and $239 for a full version, respectively — cannot be used in a virtual machine, software that emulates a PC’s hardware to run a second, or even third or fourth, operating system on a single physical workstation.

“Vista Home Basic and Home Premium are not licensed for use in a virtual machine,” a Microsoft spokesman declared.

Source: InformationWeek

An internet user has been found guilty of what police said was Britain’s first “web-rage” attack.

Paul Gibbons, 47, tracked down John Jones using details obtained online after the pair exchanged insults in an internet chatroom, a court heard.

He travelled 70 miles to Mr Jones’ home in Clacton, Essex, and beat him up with a pickaxe handle in December 2005.

Gibbons, of Southwark, south London, admitted unlawful wounding and will be sentenced on 7 November.

Source: BBC NEWS

McAfee has dismissed Microsoft’s release of information to allow security vendors to build products that will interoperate with Vista.

The security vendor says the information is not fit for purpose.

A statement from McAfee worldwide corporate communications vice president Siobhan MacDermott said:

“We did receive a document from Microsoft yesterday that contained the SDK for Windows Security Centre only. We continue to have questions pertaining to this document and have asked Microsoft for meetings and/or additional clarification about what MS has sent us. To date, we have not had any cooperation from MS and no response on McAfee’s repeated requests to review the information.

Contrary to what it says publicly, Microsoft has not cooperated with the leading security providers. In fact, we have not received anything at all from Microsoft concerning PatchGuard. ” …

Source: The Register

Owners of Creative Zen digital audio players have been expressing their displeasure at a series of new firmware updates that remove the ability of their players to record FM radio broadcasts. Reports of the functionality-killing firmware updates first began surfacing in Creative’s forums towards the end of August; the latest updates to deep-six radio recording are for the Zen MicroPhoto and Zen Vision:M players.

Although Creative has been officially mum on the reason for the reduced functionality, speculation is that the RIAA has been pressuring Creative. However, an RIAA spokesperson told Ars Technica that the group is not behind the recent feature downgrade.

Source: arstechnica

Metasploit, which regularly publishes exploit code for its flagship open-source attack testing platform, has released a new module designed to disguise any browser exploit from detection by signature-based defenses, Symantec warned Tuesday.

HD Moore, Aviv Raff, and someone identified only as “LMH” have created VoMM (for eVade-o-Matic Module), which when applied to any browser exploit code, hides the exploit from static signature-based detection systems.

Source: InformationWeek

Oracle today published the mother of all security patches containing 101 fixes for flaws in its database, application server, E-Business Suite and PeopleSoft and JD Edwards applications.

Almost half - 45 - of the flaws can be can be exploited by a hacker over a network, while at least six errors in the Oracle database http server can be exploited without the hacker requiring any user name or password. A re-assuring 22 database flaws do at least require some form of authentication.

Source: The Register

Apple could roll out two iPhone models early next year, according to several media reports citing patent filings and an analyst’s inside information.

AppleInsider said the company filed for a trademark in a “Southeast Asian country” Sept. 15. Macworld had similar reports.

Source: TechWeb

Microsoft said on Tuesday it would allow anyone to use its specifications for “virtual” drives, which enable one computer to run several operating systems, with the promise never to sue for infringement of its legal rights.

The Microsoft virtualisation software has been available for more than two years, but as computers become more powerful the use of virtualisation is expected to mushroom, the company said at a news conference.

The software permits the easy use of several operating systems on one machine. So, for example, dangerous software could be installed on a virtual machine without affecting the host computer.

The company’s specifications will be made available to anyone who wants to use them under an “Open Specification Promise”, introduced last month.

Source: Reuters