Microsoft says to be on the lookout for a new Windows worm which spreads by Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and looks for weak passwords. The worm, dubbed Win32/Morto, has already wormed its way into many networks and is becoming a growing problem.

Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) requires a username and a password to login to a computer and Morto simply scans for any systems with RDC enabled and uses commonly used password to break-in. Once in, Morto will disable antivirus, load additional malware and ready your computer to attack others. A trojan could also be planted into your computer to allow the attacker to control your computer for a Botnet style attack.

So far only a few thousand unique computers have reported the new viral worm but its infected computers in over 87 countries. Windows XP is the highest infected OS at 74%, Windows 7 at 14%, Windows 2003 at 8% and Windows 2008 at 2%.

"We've also discovered that Morto attempts to compromise more than just the 'Administrator' account when trying to brute force RDP connections with its simple dictionary attack. Initially it tests the affected machine's Internet connectivity by attempting to connect to IP 74.125.71.104 (this is an IP owned by a legitimate corporation and is otherwise unrelated to the malware). If this attempt is not successful, it then cycles through IP addresses on the affected computer's subnet and attempts to connect to targeted hosts using the following usernames:" said Microsoft in a security blog.

1
actuser
adm
admin
admin2
administrator
aspnet
backup
computer
console
david
guest
john
owner
root
server
sql
support
support_388945a0
sys
test2
test3
user
user1
user5

"Its important to remember that this malware does not exploit a vulnerability in Remote Desktop Protocol, but instead relies on weak passwords. If you haven't already, check if these usernames are being used in your environment and change the associated passwords to ones that are strong.  Even computers that have been cleaned of this threat can be easily reinfected if the passwords are not changed and the computer remains unprotected." Microsoft went on to state.

While we reported earlier this month that Microsoft had reached Milestone 3 8063 Build of Windows 8 but it has never leaked. With the latest leaked Milestone 2 Build 7927 becoming leaked, we have a bit more information about the next generation operating system from Microsoft.

This new build has some new user interfaces, new wallpapers, and a new boot screen. The video below shows some of the features off of the newly leaked build.

Read more...

Crap Cleaner or also now more better known as CCleaner has a new version released that provides support on the latest Internet Browsers such as Firefox 6, Firefox 7 Beta, and Internet Explorer 9.0.2.

CCleaner is one of the most popular freeware tools available for Windows which helps you clean your system of junk and crud that builds up overtime, slowing down your system.

Read more...

Ten years ago today, Microsoft released to manufacturing its Windows XP operating system which could be considered one of their most successful operating systems.

Windows XP marked the first operating system from Microsoft which was built solely on the NT kernel and without DOS. It's previous versions of windows required DOS to operate.

Today, ten years later Windows XP is still running on over 40% of the PC's in the world, mostly in China and third world countries. The end of retail sales of Windows XP ended back in June of 2008 and on October 22nd, 2010 no new PC's would come with Windows XP pre-installed.

Read more...

In what appears to be direct competition to Google Plus Huddle feature, Skype today announced it is buying GroupMe, a group messaging service.

GroupMe allows users to send text messages to several people at one time and by teaming this up with Skype video chat, you essentially have Hangouts like from Google+.

"Skype and GroupMe have a shared vision of creating applications and experiences that are the daily communications choice for a billion people. We will continue to seek the top talent and technology to make that vision a reality," said Tony Bates, Skype's Chief Executive Officer. "The GroupMe team has created an incredibly sticky group messaging experience that works across mobile devices and platforms, making this a perfect addition to the voice, video and text products in the Skype family," added Bates.

Read more...

With this latest release of Google Chrome web browser we see V8 updated to 3.4.12.1 along with some other fixes such as; File Browser actions crashing the browser, browser crashing on login after a kernel crash (*Nix) and the highly reported "Black Regions" on the NBC web site is now corrected.

You can get the full details of changes at SVN revision log or go download the new updated at the Google Chrome web page.

Read more...

Microsoft has reached Milestone 3 (M3) with Windows 8 with its latest <b>build version 8063.0.110804-1922</b> which was compiled on August 4th, 2011. We last spoke about Windows 8 three weeks ago when when Windows 8 Build 8047 surfaced and now with this latest build and according to the versioning, Microsoft is rapidly working on Windows 8.

The Microsoft Build Developer Conference is only about a month away and its expected that Microsoft will be showcasing the first "Public" beta OR CTP build of Windows 8. Sources close to Microsoft suggest that it will be a beta instead of a CTP (Community Tech Preview).

Read more...

After more than two weeks of the initial Google+ iOS release which only offered app support on iPhones, Google has updated its app to now support the iPad. The latest version of Google+ for iOS, 1.0.2.1966 is now available in the Apple App Store and requires iOS 4.0 or later to be installed.

Features for the Google+ iOS App include the ability to use "Google+ Huddle" to quickly message everyone in your circle to keep them in the loop of whats happening. You can also +1 your favorite streams and keep track of them all within the app. There still isn't support for the Hangouts feature which would allow you to have a video-chat with multiple friends, but perhaps in the future we may see this added to Google+ iOS 2.0 :)

Read more...

Firefox 8 is built on Gecko 8.0 and Mozilla plans to ship the final version of the browser by the end of 2011. Mozilla is heavily working on creating a smaller memory footprint for Firefox 8 and in addition to lower memory usage it's also getting other performance enhancements under the hood.

Based on the latest nightly build of Firefox 8 32-bit, the new browser is already around 10-15% faster than Firefox 5 with session restoring, JavaScript execution, 3D rendering, and start-up. If your system is capable, the 64-bit version of Firefox 8 can give you an additional 5-10% performance gain.

Read more...

Google announced today of a new feature released in Chrome 13 which allows loading of web sites instantly from your search results. The new feature dubbed "Instant Pages" works by preloading the first web site in your search results, betting on that the first result is the one which you will more likely visit.

The only downside is the inability to select more than the first search result from being preloaded. I would love to see the functionality to select possibly up to five of the top results to be pre-loaded.

Read more...

Miguel Hanson, a computer programmer has developed a computer program which will serve as the minister in his wedding to his fiancee Diana Wesley.

The whole idea came from the fact that their friend, a minster, would be unable to service the wedding - so the couple created their own minster.

At the wedding ceremony, the couple will stand in front of a 30-inch computer monitor and speakers which will speak the entire ceremony in a robotic voice after the computer greets the guests.

Read more...

The latest version of Skype has been released today, Skype for Windows 5.5. The new version provides better integration into Facebook which is just in time since Google+ already had video chat integration from day one of its release.

Skype 5.5 provides new and updated emotions, a new login system, improved video calling reliability, and a number of bugs have been resolved.

The major improvement to the Skype software is the Facebook integration. Now, when you connect to Facebook and your friends are online you can chat with them directly from Skype. In addition you can view and update your Skype Mood Message and Facebook status and even view comments or 'like' posts from your Facebook wall, directly from Skype Home. You can now also set specific notification settings for your Facebook friends, which is a new update since the Skype 5.5 Beta.

Read more...

BitDefender 2012 Security Suite has been released today with a lot of new innovative features. The entire suite has been overhauled with a new interface design and better social networking protection.

One new feature is Autopilot mode which makes the software able to intelligently make decisions on your behalf without any input from the user. No more popups and no more alerts to deal with - it's like a set it and forget it style approach. Importantly, users can still easily access the dashboard to make their own in-depth decisions should they wish to do so.

Read more...

Parallels, a virtualization company, has released the Parallels Desktop 6 edition for Mac Enterprise which offers running Windows and Mac applications side-by-side on a Mac without ever rebooting your system.

"As Macs become increasingly more prevalent in the workplace, there is a growing need for Mac users to run essential Windows applications that are critical to their business", said Laura DiDio, Principal of research firm Information Technology Intelligence Consulting. "This influx of Macs has traditionally been a major pain point for IT departments as they have had to maintain crucial Windows-based business applications. Savvy businesses are addressing this issue by deploying desktop virtualization solutions that allow them to easily manage their Windows and Mac environments."

Read more...

Nearly a quarter of all photos taken with a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera are taken in the highest quality format, RAW. RAW images are images taken directly from your digital camera and have not been altered or compressed in any way. The only downside to taking RAW photos (other than its large size) has been the fact that Windows Explorer is unable to display them without additional codecs from your camera makers web site - until now.

Microsoft today has released the Microsoft Camera Codec Pack which works with Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011 to bring your RAW photos to life. The new Camera Codec support more than 120 DSLR cameras and not just in Photo Gallery but in Windows Explorer too!

Read more...