The Official Pattern Release or OPR is Trend Micro's latest compilation of patterns for identified viruses. It is guaranteed to have passed a series of critical tests to ensure that customers get optimum protection from the latest virus threats.

Editors Note: Most people do not need to download the latest definition files, but rather use your anti-virus programs auto updater to get daily updates as soon as they are available. This download is provided here in case you are having trouble with your auto update feature.

Author: Trend Micro
Date: 2009-07-06
Size: 15.1 MB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All

Update your Windows Defender if the automatic update fails.

Installation:
Step 1: Save or run the file
After you click this link, click Run to install the definition file immediately, or click Save to save it to your computer. If you click Save, remember the name of the folder where you save the file.
Step 2: Install the definition update
To install the saved definition update file:

If your computer is running Windows Vista, click Start, click Documents, and then locate the folder where you saved the definition file. Right-click Mpas-fe.exe, click Run as administrator, and then click Run. When you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation, and then wait while the definition files are installed.
If your computer is running any other Windows operating system, you must be logged on as an administrator to install the latest definition file. Browse to the folder where you saved the file, and then double-click Mpas-fe.exe to install the latest definition file.
Note: If you do not have an administrator account on the computer, ask an administrator to log on and install the definitions file for you. For more information on how to manually download the latest definition updates for Windows Defender, see this Knowledge Base article on the Microsoft Help and Support website.

Author: Microsoft Corp.
Date: 2009-07-06
Size: 10.8 MB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All

Kaspersky Anti-Virus combines reactive antivirus and spyware detection methods with the latest proactive technologies to provide your computer with the most effective protection against malicious programs. The product is simple to install and set up, while offering advanced users a range of versatile settings for fine-tuning the program.

Windows 2000/2003/9x/XP
Shareware

Kaspersky Internet Security technological prototype represents a new generation platform for creating applications specifically designated for complex protection of personal computers and workstations. Uniting the substantially improved functional abilities of version 5.0, Kaspersky Lab protection products with the latest technological innovations introduced by the company the Kaspersky Internet Security solution secures the most effective and complete protection of a computer from all sorts of electronic threats - malicious programs, hacker attacs and spam.

Windows (All)
Shareware

By Nick Farrell
Monday, 6 July 2009, 11:44

SOFTWARE GIANT Microsoft has said it wants to hire more students because they don't know what is impossible yet. Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, told EETimes that students are in a great position to solve some problems because they are untainted by any knowledge of what can't be done. He said that students don't know how we have tried to solve problems in the past, have new ideas and can take advantage of the latest technologies available.

Naíve and innocent people think about things in a markedly different way and that gives them the opportunity to do things that people his age would not try. In his day Lotus Notes was bleeding edge and Ozzie is currently trying to direct the development of the company's next-generation software services platform. Students have unbounded amounts of energy and idealistic views of what they can do to change the world. This combined with a facination with technology lets them imagine what they can build, he added.

by Christopher Dawson
July 3rd, 2009 @ 8:11 am

Obviously, this isn’t true. Their underlying architectures are quite a bit different, Gnome looks different than the 7 UI, etc., but to an average 17-year-old, there just wasn’t any meaningful difference between the two operating systems. The other day, I posted a blog titled “Windows 7: Good enough to pay for?”

I described how I’d installed the Windows 7 Release Candidate on my son’s computer for his take on the OS after living with Ubuntu 9.04 (and 8.10 before that) for a few months. It’s summer break, so he basically spends every waking moment when he’s not actually interacting face-to-face with friends on the computer. No better time to have a kid do some serious testing, right? I asked him last night about his initial impressions of Windows 7 and, in typical teenage fashion, as he was bouncing between Meebo windows and browser tabs, he said it was “nice.”

I managed to extract from him that his favorite feature was that he was able to use his Zune with it, something that had never worked terribly well with Ubuntu. Otherwise, he said, “Windows 7 is the same as Ubuntu; there just really isn’t anything different about them.” Of course there isn’t. He lives in a web browser. The underlying OS is irrelevant. He has no need for Office 2007 and I expect his next portable music player will be platform independent.

For some, Windows 7 may, indeed, be good enough to pay for, especially if they are power-users of Windows-only software. For my oldest son, if he gravitates to any machine, it’s to my Mac because it’s so easy for him to create and share video content. For the average student, though, the old Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux debate may finally be dead. For someone who “hated Linux” a year ago to now happily switch between Windows 7 and Ubuntu in a completely transparent way certainly signals an end to that age-old flame war.

by Stephen Shankland
July 6, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

Twitter's dramatic rise has helped ignite an industry to shorten Web addresses to fit within 140-character messages. With the technology, though, comes a new handful of challenges. Among the challenges are reliably connecting people to the Web sites they want to reach, keeping spam and phishing attacks at bay, and maintaining the service into the future.

Joshua Schacter, founder of Yahoo's Delicious site for storing and sharing Web bookmarks and now a Google programmer, summarized the issues in an April rant about short-URL problems. "I feel that shorteners are bad for the ecosystem as a whole," he concluded. Until a remote future arrives when Twitter and the telecommunications industry decide 140-character messages are too short, though, URL-shortening services aren't going to go away.

Fortunately, their potential problems can mitigated through careful use, and newer services such as Bit.ly are being designed expressly to avoid the pitfalls. And even if some service falls by the wayside and stops functioning--well, welcome to the real world, where not all information is preserved. "In the digital age, everything has a certain amount of bitrot," said Paul V. Mockapetris, who invented the Domain Name System (DNS) that serves as the Internet's address book.

URL-shortening services are abundant and becoming more so. They're usually designed with a priority on minimum character length, not easy reading: Is.gd, Bit.ly, Twurl.nl, Tr.im, Sn.im", Cligs, and TinyURL. If you want to see dozens more, Mashable has a long list. And the traffic they handle is large. On a typical day right now, Bit.ly is used to create 5 million to 7 million shortened URLs each day, and it handles 25 million requests to expand them--and the growth rate is at a breakneck 5 percent to 15 percent week over week, the company said.

By Ryan Paul
July 5, 2009 3:30 PM CT

The HTML 5 video element has the potential to liberate streaming Internet video from plugin prison, but a debate over which codec to define in the standard is threatening to derail the effort. Ars takes a close look at the HTML 5 codec controversy and examines the relative strengths and weaknesses of H.264 and Ogg Theora.

The increasingly competitive browser market has at last created an environment in which emerging Web standards can flourish. One of the harbingers of the open Web renaissance is HTML 5, the next major version of the W3C's ubiquitous HTML standard. Although HTML 5 is still in the draft stage, several of its features have already been widely adopted by browsers like Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.

Among the most compelling is the "video" element, which has the potential to free Web video from its plugin prison and make video content a native first-class citizen on the Web—if codec disagreements don't stand in the way. In an article last month, we explored the challenges and opportunities associated with the HTML 5 video element. One of the most significant of these challenges is the lack of consensus around a standard media codec, a contentious issue that has rapidly escalated into a major controversy.

The debate has now stalled without a clear resolution in sight. The HTML 5 working group is split between supporters of Ogg Theora and H.264. Their inability to find a compromise that is acceptable to all stakeholders has compelled HTML 5 spec editor Ian Hickson to "admit defeat" and give up on the effort to define specific codecs and media formats in the standard itself.

Dr.WEB CureIt! is an antivirus and anti-spyware scanning tool that is developed on the Dr.WEB engine which will help you quickly scan and cure, if necessary, a computer without installation of the Dr.WEB Anti-virus. Dr.WEB CureIT! automatically detects the language of the OS it is installed to and sets the scanner interface accordingly (if the local language is not supported, English is enabled). Dr.WEB CureIt! supports the following languages: Russian, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Byelorussian, Czech, English, Estonian, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovakian, Spanish, Ukrainian. Dr.WEB CureIt! contains the most up-to-date add-ons to the Dr.WEB virus bases going up to twice per hour frequency at periods of high malware submissions

Dr.WEB CureIT! detects and removes
￭ Mass-mailing worms
￭ E-mail viruses
￭ Peer-to-peer viruses
￭ Internet worms
￭ File viruses
￭ Trojans
￭ Stealth viruses
￭ Polymorphic viruses
￭ Bodiless viruses
￭ Macro viruses
￭ MS Office viruses
￭ Script viruses
￭ Spyware
￭ Spybots
￭ Password stealers
￭ Keyloggers
￭ Paid Dialers
￭ Adware
￭ Riskware
￭ Hacktools
￭ Backdoors
￭ Joke programs
￭ Malicious scripts
￭ Other malware

Author: Doctor Web, Ltd.
Date: 2009-07-02
Size: 14 MB
License: Shareware
Requires: Win All

Lunascape5 Genesis is the World’s First Triple Engine Browser, the World’s Faster Browser, and is easily customized to your liking. Some of the newest and most interesting features include:

Since Lunascape 2.0, both Internet Explorer’s Trident and Firefox’s Gecko have been included in our browser. With Lunascape5 Genesis, Safari’s and Chrome’s WebKit are now also included. Switch between rendering engines to avoid browser specific issues with certain web sites and optimize for speed as you see fit.
Crash Protection Functionality

Lunascape is introducing better crash protection. In this new version of Lunascape, you do not need to terminate your browser in the case of a crash. You only need to close the defective tab. Lunascape displays the possible causes in a dialog window, which you can close when you’re ready to continue browsing.
Mouse Gestures

Lunascape offers you a useful feature to improve your browsing navigation. Just by clicking and moving your mouse you can execute common commands such as page forward and backward, close or refresh actions. All without using toolbars or the keyboard.
Tab Browsing

Tab browsing allows you to have multiple pages open in the same window, easily accessible in different tabs. This way, you can switch quickly and naturally between the pages you are viewing without opening any additional windows. Lunascape can open up to 100 tabs!
RSS News and Blog Info

Want to subscribe to a RSS feed? Just drag-and-drop an RSS feed into your Favorites (Bookmarks) and Lunascape will automatically provide you the last news and blog events as they appear. Similar to an electrical bulletin board, RSS feeds display constant news updates while you are using Lunascape. Easily register new RSS feeds with only few clicks and get your favorite news live.
Fully Customizable with Skins

Lunascape is one of the first browsers to be fully customizable. Our high quality Skins can be installed very quickly and easily. When installing a new Skin, only the appearance of the browser will change, the speed and features remain exactly the same. Lunascape Skins
Lunascape Skins
Abundant Plug-ins

Plug-ins permit expansion of the functionalities and features of Lunascape. Lunascape supports both IE and Lunascape made plugins. New plug-ins are added frequently. Plugin Center
Plugin Center
Podcast

As well as RSS feeds, you can subscribe to podcasts and Lunascape brings you the latest updates in real time.
Form Auto-Saver

Frustrated because you lost everything you have written in a webmail or a blog after clicking the wrong button by mistake or closing your page? Lunascape Auto-saver memorizes what you have entered and automatically repopulates forms as you use them.
Security Management

In order to protect you against phishing, viruses and spyware, you can deactivate Java and ActiveX scripts while downloading. Scripts can unfortunately also delete critical information such as encrypted login passwords, address bar history, and personal data. With Lunascape, it is easy to configure your security setup as you see fit.
Popup News

Lunascape provides a new way to keep an eye on important information in real time., Popup News will display the last updates from RSS feeds, Favorites or Ticker information in a pop-up window on a frequency you can set. Popup News will keep you informed even when Lunascape is minimized in the task tray.
Multi-Search Bar

Lunascape provides a useful tool for your Internet search. Enter words in the Search Bar, select the search engine you want to use in a pull-down list and get your results without type any URL. You can also add your own favorite search engine easily if it is not already listed.
Smart Favorites
Favorites in Lunascape is automatically optimized to your web browsing stats and presents the most visited web sites at the top for you to find them more easily. You can always turn this function off if you prefer good old Favorites.

Author: Lunascape Co., Ltd.
Date: 2009-07-02
Size: 8.41 MB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win 2K/03/XP/Vista

LockHunter is a free tool to delete files blocked by something you do not know. LockHunter is useful for fighting against malware, and other programs that are blocking files without a reason. Unlike other similar tools it deletes files into the recycle bin so you may restore them if deleted by mistake.

Windows 7/2000/2003/Vista/XP
Freeware
Uninstaller - Yes
Latest Changes
- 64 bit support added

Inkscape is an open source SVG editor with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, Visio, etc. Supported SVG features include basic shapes, paths, text, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, node editing, svg-to-png export, grouping, and more. Its main motivation is to provide the Open Source community with a fully XML, SVG, and CSS2 compliant SVG drawing tool.

Windows 2000/2003/9x/XP
Open Source

July 2, 2009 11:55 PM ET

IDG News Service - In the story "Ask.com bets on semantic search, targeting special audiences," posted on Thursday, the last name of Ask Networks President Scott Garell was misspelled.

The story has been corrected on the wire and the paragraphs 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 and 16 now read: Scott Garell, president of Ask Networks, views things from a different perspective, pointing out that Ask.com's queries are growing. The search engine handled 486 million U.S. queries in May 2008 and 555 million in May of this year, according to comScore. "In a very tough and competitive market, we're holding our own," he said in an interview.

Garell also points out that Ask.com and the other sites that make up the Ask Network, like Dictionary.com, are collectively the sixth-largest Web property in the U.S., ahead of powerhouses like eBay, Facebook, Wikipedia and Amazon, according to comScore. Garell is particularly encouraged by Ask.com's advances in semantic search and in its attempts to attract specific audiences like NASCAR fans to the search engine. "People don't talk in keywords," Garell said.

According to Garell, that perception persists, although after the dot-com bubble burst, Ask Jeeves abandoned the consumer search market for several years to focus on enterprise search, before reversing course in 2003. Garell thinks Ask.com can pursue this "audience-centric" strategy with eight to 10 vertical markets per year, having seen that it's an effective and interesting approach to promoting and growing usage of the search engine.

By Sylvie Barak
Thursday, 2 July 2009, 16:42

RUMOUR HAS IT the next version of Nvidia's Ion platform will pack a much stronger performance punch and come with twice the number of shaders. The first we heard of the plan was at Nvidia's analyst day a few weeks back, when the Green Goblin mentioned it would be releasing two more versions of the modified GeForce 9400M processor it calls Ion, although it stingily neglected to give out either dates or specifications.

Our sources expect products based around Ion 2 to be available before the end of the year, however. New details have tipped up on the tech news site Fudzilla, claiming that the green machine's second generation integrated graphics platform will come complete with a die shrink and twice the shaders of its contemporary. Since the Ion 1 currently boasts 16 shaders, that means the Ion 2 will have 32 shaders, for all of you who forgot your calculators today.

The increase in shaders is apparently aimed at upping the system's 3D rendering capabilities, although why this would be so essential on a netbook or dirt-cheap notebook is a bit beyond us. But the die shrink should mean that the platform's current low power draw remains unchanged, and it probably also means it will be cheaper to produce, although it seems highly unlikely that price cut will filter down to consumers.

When the INQ asked graphics analyst Jon Peddie about the speculative specs, he heaved a heavy sigh and told us ""We are for better or worse trapped in the mantra of Moore's law," adding "We have to do more, make better, faster, and less expensive machines and components under the guise that if you build it they will come." How very fatalistic. Elaborating, Peddie explained "someone will see the new capabilities and say, 'Hey, I can use that to...' and then we get new exciting software developments. It's an act of faith, not a consumer demand."

by Marguerite Reardon
July 2, 2009 2:25 PM PDT

Net neutrality advocates got a boost of support Wednesday from the Obama administration when it released grant guidelines for spending the government's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package.

Companies winning grants to help build new broadband infrastructure will have to follow the Federal Communications Commission's Internet Policy statement, which prohibits companies from deliberately blocking or slowing Internet traffic on their networks.

Proponents of that concept, Net neutrality, have been pushing the government to pass laws or set stricter requirements to ensure that consumers get access to content they want and that competitors are not run out of business by network operators. The phone companies and cable operators have opposed such legislation, a sentiment that seemed to be shared by the Republican-controlled FCC under the previous presidential administration.

But now that Democrats are in charge, Net neutrality advocates have been looking for indications of how the new FCC led by recently sworn-in Chairman Julius Genachowski will handle the issue. It is still too early to know whether Democrats will push for new laws. But it's becoming more clear that protecting access on the Internet is an important issue to many. Consumer and advocacy groups, such as Public Knowledge and Free Press, applauded the decision to make Net neutrality a condition of the grants.