Microsoft Security Essentials provides protection against computer viruses comparable to other free anti-virus programs. AVG Free has been very popular over the years and has been joined by many of the top security providers including McAfee and Norton who provide free versions of their entries in the field.

McAfee anti-virus users running Windows XP with service pack 3 may have been shocked to see their systems repeatedly rebooting or coming up with the dreaded blue screen yesterday. McAfee engineers identified a new threat and crafted an update released Wednesday afternoon. The new definitions recognized a core Windows system file, svchost.exe, as a threat bringing normal operations to a halt.

Verizon has chosen the Westell 6100F Modem /Router for many customers who may need to swap out their old Fujitsu modems to accommodate upgrades to their DSL service. The unit has confused may customer who have tried to simply swap out their old modem with the Westell 6100F and use it with an existing router. To use it with your existing router you must first disable the 6100's routing features and enable bridge mode.

Westell 6100F Interface

The low cost Intel Atom processor has created a lot of buzz along with a host of compact products from a variety of vendors. Intel's smallest processor boasts the world smallest transistors. It offers very low energy consumption and throws off very little heat compared to Intel's more powerful Core Duo processors.

Palm will release the much anticipated Palm Pre Smartphone on June 6th. Sales to enthusiastic Palm users is expected to be strong despite of the stale economy. The vast improvements to hardware, features and available software is at the heart of the anticipated demand.

Windows 7 is receiving the finishing touches that will allow release to partners in the near future so they can tailor their products to the new operating system according to sources close to Microsoft. Part of this is a feature that will allow the new version of Windows to run in a pre-Vista XP Mode. This capability, however, may be subject to a variety of hardware considerations.

The Conficker Worm is no April Fools joke. It's serious enough for Microsoft to offer $250,000 to anyone tracking down the perpetrator. The worm may already be planted on as many as 12 million systems waiting to to do it's damage until a specified date; in the case of the Conficker that is believed to be tomorrow, April 1st.

Hard Drive upgrades are common for many Windows XP users who are taking advantage of the multitude of multi-media gadgets from digital video recorders to iPods but bought their systems before large inexpensive hard drives became the norm. Currently, you can expect to pay about $90 to $130 for drives ranging in size from 500 GB to 1,000 GB [or 1 Terabyte]. But first you have to determine the type of drive your system can use.

Verizon provides the GT704WG Wireless Modem / Router from Actiontec with your Verizon DSL subscription. It is disappointing that they are still shipping a product with the wireless "G" standard when "N" has been out for some time now and many laptops ship with the newer standard. Other than that it is a versatile gateway with wireless "G" and a 4 port switch that does the job.

Google entered the browser wars in October with the launch of Chrome. Now it seems they may be fighting to get Chrome placed on the desktop. Murad Ahmed makes the claim in a November 20 TimeOnline article titled "Google mulls pre-installing Chrome browser on computers".