The Conficker virus has been all over the news and online sites for preparing you for the worst this April Fools Day.  The virus, Conficker, is intended to bury itself deep into the Windows operating system, and then hack in to steal passwords, credit card info, and bank info.  Further, the virus will spread from computer to computer and could ultimately use the computers to send spam, viruses, and spyware to many other computers. 

Why on April Fools?  The virus is said to possibly be in Windows computers right now.  And it’s code is to trigger on April 1st at midnight, connect to other computers, and then scan thousands of websites to get a new set up instructions informing it what to do next.  Pretty dramatic, isn’t it? 

There have been earlier versions of Conficker, but all have been duds compared to the image of the new upcoming version.  Symantec security experts indicated that they are not totally buying this April Fools prank as truthful.  They said this specific time of virus replication could be put out to the public as a prank or possibly to release it earlier or later.  Basically, they feel the timing of this could be all off or not even a valid point at all since it could just be a joke.

Whether a myth or reality, it’s better to be safe than sorry.  You can protect yourself from the Conficker virus by downloading Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool as well as updating your anti-virus software.

Ubuntu 9.04 Beta has been released.  This is the first test release to the public for this version.  The overall goal with this release is to improve speed and include web apps.  Well, one of two isn’t bad.  The speed has been improved dramatically with a now boot speed of 25 seconds.  This cut down the boot speed from 35% of the slower speed of the previous version.  Many people complained that the previous version made their computer slow so this will be a welcome improvement.

In regard to including applications, the mundane process and availability overall hasn’t been improved.  Some incompatibilities with applications still cause roadblocks.  Further, the desktop screen and overall theme is still the old boring brown and orange colors.  You can change the color theme, however, to something more lively.  You can adjust the screen to a more aero or transparent look like in Windows Vista and Apple’s Leopard.

In regard to the rest of the functionality, Open Office is integrated as well as the other free applications.  But, there really haven’t been serious improvements.  So, if you’re on an older Ubuntu, stay on it.  This would have been a total miss of a version if it hadn’t been for the peppier boot and processing time.

Skype is looking to extend its reach to the iPhone.  This is a cool app to have, of course, on your iPhone, but is it worth it?  It will be worth it if you need to call internationally and can bypass paying long distance charges.  However it may or may not be worth it based on the sound quality.

Skype is expected to release an announcement next week regarding the iPhone application.  Skype insiders are saying that they have delayed the release to ensure the sound quality is crystal clear on the iPhone.  This feature will be another great way to not be tied down to your computer all the time.  Skype has typically been used on laptops for voice conversations.  Now, if someone doesn’t have his or her laptop available, they can still queue up Skype on their iPhone for easy talking.  The tech support setup for this should be as easy as the computer setup.

Remember that Skype is still competing for Gtalk which is probably the most widely used computer chat program out there.  However, Gtalk has had tech issues on the iPhone and this could be the perfect opportunity for Skype to take over the Gtalk application.

Spyware, website re-directors, and pop-ups are nuisances.  At their worst, they can take down your computer and corrupt your files.  Now, Internet Explorer 8, the latest Microsoft browsing creation, has been deemed the strongest browser to prevent these malicious spyware instances from being downloaded in your computer.

IE 8 has a new feature called SmartScreen Filter which blocks anti-phishing, a malicious activity to attain your personal information.  The SmartScreen Filter also warns users when they’re about hit a site that is potentially malicious, or has been know to spread viruses.  IE 8, overall, has been composing blacklists of sites, or sites that have caused malicious activity, and from this list will know which sites should be avoided.  Just like anti-virus software, IE 8 will constantly update its blacklist inventory to stay current

Internet Explorer’s version 8 has been rated higher in terms of security than Firefox, Opera, and Safari.  These three other browsers actually are modelling their security features after IE’s SmartScreen Filter.  So, although IE might be a little slower than the other browsers, just note that this slower processing is due to IE taking the time to run security checks to ensure your computer is virus-free.

Is your computer slow?  Or not able to boot into Windows?  Or maybe you hear an awful sound coming from the bottom of your laptop?  Whatever your computer issue is, there is a million dollar question to answer:  Is it worth fixing?

We’ve come up with the below computer issue list that IS worth fixing:

1. Slow computer
2. Bad hard drive
3. Spyware, viruses, pop-ups, or spam
4. E-mail isn’t working
5. Internet is not working
6. Bad laptop screen (laptop is 1-2 years old)

Below is a list including computer issues that ARE NOT worth fixing:

1. Laptop motherboard has failed
2. Bad laptop screen (laptop is 3+ years old)
3. Hardware replacements on a computer that is 4+ years old

In the end, you have to determine how old your computer is and the cost of repair versus the time you have left on your computer.   Further, if you have expensive or hard-to-find software on your computer, the age factor is out of the window (no pun intended) when requiring a computer repair.   You wouldn’t want to replace your computer if you can’t run your precious software on it.  Or paying the extra expense to re-install the software.  Overall, you need to think about the age and investment of your computer, and most importantly, don’t think of your computer as a pet you can and want to keep for years.  You’ll ultimately need to replace it since it will eventually fail.

Netbooks are basically pint-sized laptops that are geared towards portability and Internet browsing.  For instance, the new HP Mini 1000 Mi netbook is a 10.1 inch screen laptop that has a 60GB hard drive.  Its decent pricetag of $435 allows you to have a small, very light laptop with a full-sized keyboard.  This HP netbook, as other netbooks, are good solutions for the home user who just wants to get on the Internet and check e-mail, but has the need to move the laptop around the house.  Or this is a great solution for the road warrior or for restaurants and stores who need a discrete was to ge online or run a simple word or excel file.

The drawbacks.  Netbooks like the HP typically run only on Windows XP or Ubuntu.  It doesn’t have enough power to run on Vista.  The RAM is usually only at 1GB and the applications may be limited from the manufacturer to conserve the laptop’s energy.  For instance, instead of Internet Explorer, Firefox will be loaded.  Open Office will replace Microsoft Office.  Thunderbird will replace Outlook.  This doesn’t mean you cannot install the good, robust software.  It just means that the Netbook was not tested for such to run adequately.

Remember, these netbooks are meant for the Internet, run a few documents, and to check the occasional e-mail.   So, if you’re looking for the casual laptop; need a mobile laptop; or just want a secondary small laptop to kick around, the netbook is the way to go.  Tech support can be tricky though since it is small and might require opening up the whole laptop for hardware replacements, such as replacing the hard drive.

iPhone 2.0 was a big improvement and boom for the mobile phone industry.  iPhone 3.0 will be a little bang in terms of its software upgrade.  It will help the iPhone evolve and compete with other handhelds, but it won’t make such a dent like it’s software update predecessor. 

The biggest update has been the introduction to copy and paste, landscape keyboard, advanced searching, and cool multimedia text messaging.  Finally, Apple allows users to copy and paste text from e-mail or the Internet and paste them to e-mails or IMs.  A very nice feature to save time.  For the landscape keyboard, this allows your fingers to breathe, especially for all of you big thumbed-typers.  For searching, you can search by many different topics, allowing your results to be filtered and spot on. 

The cool factor is being able to take pictures and video and copy/paste them into MMS, multimedia messaging service.  MMS is just like a text message, but includes images, audio, or video.  This will truly allow iPhone users to quickly send across pictures.  Essentially, you can take a picture from your iPhone, copy it, and paste it in a text, or MMS message.  You no longer have to insert or find your attachment.  Just copy and paste the picture right after you take it.  This is very easy in terms of tech support and usage.

It was just reported that 8,000 passwords of Comcast users have been compromised.  Specifically, someone took these passwords and posted them on a document-sharing website, Scribd.  The document of the passwords has soon disappeared as of 1:45PM today, but that doesn’t mean millions of users haven’t downloaded or access the Comcast accounts.

Comcast responded by saying they are contacting the victims here as well as freezing their e-mail accounts until a new password has been set up.  They also noted that the user list is more like 4,000 since there were duplicates on the list.  Further, they are recommending the tainted users to download the McAfee Security Suite, which is a free anti-virus software available to Comcast users.

The scary factor here is that it is suspected that the password list was retrieved by a phishing tactic, where one e-mails a Comcast user for account info.  In return, the person is able to have access to the Comcast account as well as e-mail and credit card info.  We recommend that if you’re a Comcast user to reset your password as well as your other critical passwords.  Although you may have not had your username and password posted on the Internet, it doesn’t mean that your account was not compromised.

Has your Microsoft Office 2007 been acting up?  Does Word quit unexpectedly?  Is Outlook slower than it used to be?

Finding the computer issue for Office quirks might be like finding a diamond in rough.  Slow and hard!  But, the easy route is to run the Microsoft Office diagnostics utility which will specify the exact Office issue and the resolution.  You may run the Office diagnostics by going to: Programs->Microsoft Office Tools->Microsoft Office Diagnostics.

If there isn’t a problem with Office, the diagnostic utility will tell you and might go the extra mile and tell you where to search next.  Keep in mind that application issues, such as Word or Excel glitches, might be due to faulty RAM.  A replacement of RAM will resolve this.  Finding bad RAM may be found by running a MEMTEST, which is a software tool that will determine which RAM module, if any, is bad.

Another easy solution is to reinstall Office.  Or you can look for any available Microsoft updates for Office which may include patches to resolve Office issues.  If you still cannot find the computer fix, you might need to call in reinforcements - call in an onsite technician to take care of it!

We have so many ways to communicate nowadays.  You can pick up your LAN home line; whip out your cell phone; or text from your blackberry.  It can drive someone crazy to wonder what voice mail to pick up where.  Now, Google Voice collaborates all of your phone devices all in one so that if you just go to one voice mail box to pick up all of your messages from different devices.  Pretty cool!  Also, the clarity and videoconferencing ability is supposed to be stellar.  US calls are free and international calls comes with a small fee.

Is Google Voice just like Skype?  A resounding yes!  But, Skype has a big community, and a loyal one, so Google Voice will have to pull away Skype subscribers to make it successful.  The service will be released in a few months, and phone devices for the service has not been publicized yet.  The tech setup and computer service of it should be easy just like Skype.  Time will tell if this Google service will be able to take over the phone carrier world.