If like some 40% or so of Internet users you are still using Internet Explorer 6 or 7, now might be a good time to upgrade following news of the publication of some nasty exploit code over the weekend. According to Symantec, which has quickly tested the exploit code that appeared on the Bugtraq list at insecure.org, the code as it stands is not 100% reliable but the security researchers expect that a “fully-functional reliable exploit will be available in the near future”. And that means exploit code that will enable websites to be infected, and any IE6 and 7 users with JavaScript enabled to be compromised. The code, as is and however unreliable, has already been shown to work on IE6 and 7 running under Windows XP SP3, although there are no reports of exploits in the wild as of yet. My hunch is that will all change this week as the bad guys will no doubt be working hard over the weekend to rush out attacks before all the security vendors have updated signatures rolled out. Microsoft will, I imagine, be reactive rather than proactive with a patch only being prioritised after such attacks become widespread. The code posted exploits a vulnerability in CSS handling in Internet Explorer 6 and 7, and Symantec advises IE users to only visit trusted sites and disable JavaScript until a Microsoft fix appears. Some might suggest switching to Firefox, but given the number of flaws reported lately upgrading to IE 8 might be a better idea.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/daveyw/2009/11/22/ie-6-and-7-hit-by-hack-attack-code/

I suggest you try this instead of on-line games:

‘The Norton Online Risk Calculator, unveiled within a microsite to coincide with the launch of Norton 2010, calculates your net worth on the black market by asking a few questions about your personal Internet use.

‘It takes a few minutes to answer the questions, after which you get three results: how much your online assets are worth, how much your online identity would sell for on the black market, and your risk of becoming a victim of identity theft.

‘The main point isn’t to promote software or instill fear, but to spread awareness on cybercrime, said Marian Merritt, Internet security advocate for Symantec.’ -IT World

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy,” it says. “Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications.”

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1 Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow ‘!’ appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as ‘IRQ holder for PCI steering’. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2 Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3 BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer’s display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to ‘yes’ to allow Windows to do this.).

4 Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6 Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7 Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8 Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don’t do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message “Starting Windows” press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn’t work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9 Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

Active Computech Team
Cell : +919030455365
mail : sajid@activecomputech.com

Berkelanjutan dari mencoba beberapa antivirus yang baru, saya mendapatkan sebuah antivirus yang sangat baik. Selain aman dalam proteksi antivirus ini pun mengenal banyak jumlah virus yang beredar.

Patut dicoba untuk anda yang bosan dengan satu antivirus, atau bahkan hilang kepercayaan pada satu antivirus apa salahnya untuk mencoba antivirus ini. Untuk proses nya pun tidak terlalu berat dan update internetnya sangat mudah karena dilengkapi dengan Live Update.

Link Download

Download Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition v10.0.1.1000

A man and a woman have been arrested for allegedly using a “sophisticated and malicious” virus to infect tens of thousands of computers and steal millions of pounds worth of personal information. The virus, known as ZeuS or Zbot Trojan, bypasses security safeguards to record online bank account details, passwords and credit card numbers.

It also copies passwords for social networking sites before causing each computer to forward the data to servers under the control of the hackers. It has emerged in several guises, including a false Facebook page that encouraged users to download a software update The information is potentially worth millions of pounds to organised criminals — either to sell or to use themselves

Police said the virus “posed a threat to the internet globally”. Officers at the Metropolitan Police’s e-crime unit arrested the man and woman, both aged 20, in Manchester at the beginning of the month but the details of the investigation have just been released. Both are British and were found at the same address.

Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie, who heads the unit, said the suspects were the first people in Europe to be arrested in connection with the scam. “This is known internationally as being a very sophisticated and malicious computer program or ‘malware’ that is used for infecting or accessing personal information and in this instance we have 10,000 computers worldwide that have been infected.

“Suspects are harvesting millions of lines of data from infected computers. Obviously the amount of financial harm that could be caused by using that data is huge if fast and timely action had not been taken.

“ZeuS poses a threat to the use of the internet globally and is used by cyber criminals worldwide.”

Computer security experts described the family of ZeuS viruses as the biggest and most sophisticated “banking trojan” in the world, targeting the online banking accounts of millions of people. Experts said that the virus had first emerged in 2007, but that in the past few months it had grown more resilient and sophisticated, able to find ways of avoiding detection by anti-virus software.

Orla Cox, an analyst from Symantec, the web security company, said that ZeuS had spread fast because a “toolkit” was available online that allowed would-be cybercriminals to customise and create their own versions.

“The toolkit makes it very easy for people to steal from online accounts,” she said. “It’s a nice piece of kit for any wannabe internet crime lord. It is easy to find on the web.” She estimated that, in the past year alone, there had been up to 90,000 variations of the ZeuS virus that had infected computers. The e-crime unit is liaising with international colleagues over the arrests and the threat the virus poses.

The man and woman were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the 2006 Fraud Act on November 3. They have been released on bail. Businesses and individuals have reported being attacked around the world as money is secretly transferred from their accounts.

Criminals launder the money through complex banking networks and use the accounts of willing “money mules” to receive the money and withdraw it. Detective Inspector Colin Wetherill of the e-crimes unit added: “The arrests represent a considerable breakthrough in our increasing efforts to combat online criminality.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6922098.ece

Symantec/Norton AntiVirus Updates tanggal 18 Nopember 2009

20091118-020-v5i32 –>> Date: 18 Nov 2009;  Size: 51.9 MB

(untuk Norton versi 2008 ke atas, Norton 360 versi 2 & 3, Symantec EndPoint versi 11 & 12)

Precisava gerar um relatório para a auditoria, com informações detalhadas de todos os computadores e servidores de um determinado grupo, com informações como nome de computador, usuário, memória, versão do agente, último scan, versão da definição de vírus, etc.

Infelizmente não achei nenhum template de report nestes moldes, então resolvi fazer eu mesmo  uma query SQL. Segue abaixo:

use sem7
select sc.computer_name, sc.current_login_user, sc.operation_system,
sc.processor_type, sc.memory, sc.bios_version, sc.ip_addr1_text, sa.agent_version,
dateadd(s,convert(bigint,sa.last_scan_time)/1000,'01-01-1970 00:00:00') as last_scan_time,
p.version as v_definitions, im.name
from sem_agent as sa
inner join
v_sem_computer as sc on sc.computer_id = sa.computer_id
inner join
pattern as p on sa.pattern_idx = p.pattern_idx
inner join
identity_map as im on sa.group_id = im.id
where
sa.group_id in (SELECT id FROM IDENTITY_MAP
where name like '%My Company%')
and sa.deleted=0

Symantec/Norton AntiVirus Updates tanggal 17 Nopember 2009

20091117-020-v5i32 –> Date: 17 Nov 2009

(untuk Norton versi 2008 ke atas, Norton 360 versi 2 & 3, Symantec EndPoint versi 11 & 12)

Think identity theft or fraud can’t happen to you? Think again. Scamming for information is nothing new, but the Web provides a fresh means of fraud. The result: identity theft is a fast-growing, serious offense and it could affect you.

Identity theft tops the list of all fraud complaints received by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Consumers reported fraud losses totaling over $1.2 billion U.S., according to the FTC’s annual Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data report. And that means protecting private information is a top priority for anyone who relies on the Internet for communicating personal or financial data.

How exactly does it work? When a criminal gathers enough personally identifiable information about you, that person can take over your identity to commit a range of crimes for their own personal gain.

A variety of techniques – including old-fashioned thievery and cyber scams – can be used to get past your defenses. According to ID Theft Protect’s website, a leading resource for consumers on identity fraud, identity theft, and data privacy, the five most popular methods of identity fraud and theft are:

1. Application fraud: using stolen or counterfeit documents to open an account in your name.
2. Account ID take-over: using your personal information to take over your bank or credit accounts.
3. Mail non-receipt card fraud: stealing new or replaced bank and credit cards as they are in the process of being mailed to you by your card company.
4. Phishing e-mail fraud: posing as a legitimate institution in order to capture personal or financial information by e-mail.
5. Pharming fraud: redirecting you to a bogus website in order to capture credentials, like your online banking username and password.

While there may not be one foolproof way to protect your private information from these theft attempts, there are precautions you can, and should, be practicing. Below are basic guidelines we have compiled to help you reduce the risk of identity theft, whether you are online or offline.

• Monitor your credit closely. Your credit report contains information about your credit accounts and bill paying history so you can be tipped off when someone is impersonating you. Watch for suspicious signs, like accounts you did not open.
• Keep records of your financial data and transactions. Review your statements regularly for any activity or charges you did not make.
• Install security software (firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware software) and keep it up-to-date as a safety measure against online intrusions.
• Use an updated Web browser to make sure you’re taking advantage of its current safety features. Consider using an alternate browser (like Firefox or Opera) which may lower your risk of malware attacks.
• Be wary of e-mail attachments and links in both e-mail and instant messages. Use caution even when the message appears to come from a safe sender, as identity information in messages can easily be spoofed.
• Store sensitive data securely. Just as you keep sensitive paper documents under lock and key, secure sensitive online information. This can be done through file encryption software.
• Shred documents (both paper and electronic) that contain personal or financial information before discarding them. This prevents dumpster diving and, in the online world, the ability for hackers to bypass information that has not been permanently deleted from your computer.
• Protect your PII. Be cautious about giving out your personally identifiable information (PII) to anyone. Find out why the information is needed, and if it’s absolutely necessary to give out. Be careful about the details you provide about yourself online, such as on social networking sites.
• Stay alert to the latest scams. Awareness and caution are effective methods to counter fraud. Share security tips you learn with friends and family.

There are a number of other online resources with more information on how to protect your identity, as well as actions to take if you think your private information has been compromised. Take a look at the practical tips and resources available at fraud prevention websites, like the U.S. federal government’s OnGuardOnline.gov and the non-profit organization Identity Theft Resource Center.

Symantec’s Backup Exec System Recovery has always been a pretty great product. Allowing admins to snapshot systems to give them a quick restore of OS, Apps and settings as well as dissimilar hardware restores, restore to virtual machines and more has made it a very popular tool This month of Novemeber sees the release of BESR 2010 with new versions and new features, so let’s take a look.

Different Editions

BESR 2010 comes in the following flavours:

• Server Edition: RRP = $795
• Windows Small Business Server Edition: RRP = $495
• Desktop Edition: RRP = $69
• Linux Edition (available December 2009): RRP = $495
• Virtual Edition: RRP = $2495
• Starter Kit: RRP = $3495

An optional add-on is “BESR Management Solution” which allows you to centrally manage BESR jobs across your network. Perhaps surprisingly, this is available to all BESR customers free of charge!

FAQs:

What is the Starter Kit? The Starter Kit includes 5 Server Licences (with Granular Restore) and 10 Desktop Licences)

What is the Virtual Edition? A single Symantec BESR Virtual Edition licence allows you to protect all Windows VM’s on a single physical server. Companies should realise some definite savings here.

What is the Linux Edition? This gives image level backup of Red Hat & SUSE linux systems through a CMD-line interface.

What does it support?:

Symantec BESR 2010 fully supports:

• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows 7
• Exchange 2010
• Hyper-V 2.0
• vSphere 4.0
• XenServer 5.5

Full Windows Support:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, including SP1 and
Server 2008 R2
• Microsoft Windows Essential Business Server 2008
• Windows Small Business Server 2003 and 2008
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family including SP1 and R2
• Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 (SP1)
• Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise
• Windows XP Professional/Home (SP2 or later)
• Windows XP Media Center
• Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional

Full Virtual environment support:

• VMware vSphere 4.0
• VMware ESXi 3.5 and 4.0
• VMware ESX 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0
• VMware Server 1.0 and 2.0
• VMware Workstation 4, 5, and 6
• Microsoft Hyper-V 1.0 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 and later
• Citrix XenServer 4.x and 5.x

Full Linux Environment Support:

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, SP1 and SP2 (x86) 32-bit
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, SP1 and SP2 (x86_64 not ia64) 64-bit
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 (x86) 32-bit
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 (x86_64 not ia64) 64-bit

Note: SUSE Desktop & RedHat Desktop are NOT supported and BESR f Linux is a 32bit app..so it you’ve disables 32bit runtime, it won’t work.

All in all, BESR 2010 is a pretty good bit of kit and will definitely make things easier should there be a disaster with the servers

Symantec has announced version 10 of its DLP product (formerly known as Vontu)  In a press release, Symantec touts DLP 10 as the

Symantec has announced Symantec Data Loss Prevention 10, the industry’s first open data loss prevention (DLP) platform, which aims to give customers more options to find and fix data loss problems. As organizations strive to center their security strategies around information, DLP becomes essential.

Symantec DLP has undergone various changes since they purchased Vontu all geared to making the product stronger and more useful for the security professional.

DLP 10 will “allow companies to apply encryption and enterprise rights management (ERM) based on content and will integrate with additional Symantec products.

One of the products DLP 10 will integrate with Symantec’s Workflow product to help build automatic response and workflows into the product.

DLP 10 will also support 25 languages and add full localization or Japanese, Simplified Chinese and also French.

DLP 10 will release to the public in December

Microsoft’s Data Protection Manager (DPM) is soon to arrive in it’s 2010 incarnation (first half 2010) so this week’s TechEd Conference is revealing a host of new features.

DPM is currently a Windows focused product which, while not surprising, is quite limiting in many corporate IT environments these days. So with 2010, Microsoft have joined together with Seagate and OEM’d their i365 software to extend protection to heterogeneous environments including:

• Linux
• Unix
• Netware
• IBM iSeries
• Oracle
• VMWare

A great list…but you’ll notice no Mac support

This will instantly remove one of the main barriers to DPM adoption in enterprises,as many places have at least a few Linux/Unix servers running in their datacenters.

Microsoft will also be offering online backups via Seagate’s EVault service and datacenters. It includes data compression and data de-duplication to reduce bandwidth hit and has:

“a network of SAS 70 Type II certified, Tier 3 and 4 hosting facilities, WAN optimised backup and recovery, disaster recovery experts and processes, and a 12-year track record protecting data for over 22,000 customers across the globe”

according to Seagate.

What I find strange is that this doesn’t utilise any of Microsoft’s online services…in particular Microsoft Azure. With BPOS offering an online hosted archive, it seems strange that this technology can’t be extended to store other, non email, data too.

Is using eVault just a temporary measure until Azure is fully up and running? I don’t know but I would expect that it’s in the long term plan to fold all this inside Azure…maybe some kind of Seagate purchase will happen?!

I’m also keen to find out if the data compression and de-duplication are offered to customers who choose to back up on-site to local tape, NAS, SAN etc. De-Dupe is one of the big features Symantec are touting for the next release of Backup Exec (14 I guess to keep with superstition); if MS are including that too then it will really steal some thunder!

Thanks to The Register for this…

I’ve been reading Redmond Magazine (formerly MCPMag) ever since I got my first MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional).  Each year, Redmond’s User Awards are voted on by the readers.

This year, Redmond created more categories and had more products to vote on.  However Symantec/Altiris fared worse then last.  Part of me wonders if this was because of how bad Altiris 7 was right out of the gate or because not many have moved to version 7 and version 6 is starting to show it’s age.

Some of the categories that Symantec/Altiris was listed in:

• Best Software Distribution Product:
• System Center Configuration Manager won
• Deployment Solution came in second
• Best Asset Management/Resource Inventory Product:
• SCCM won
• Altiris Service and Asset Management Suite came in 3rd
• Best Licesnse Managemetn Suite:
• SCCM won
• Altiris TMS came in 3rd
• Best Imaging Product
• Symantec Ghost won
• Best Software Packaging Product
• SCCM won
• Package Studio came in 3rd
• Best Remote Troubleshooting Solution:
• SCCM won
• Altiris Client Management Suite came in 2nd
• Best Patch Management Product:
• Nothing Altiris listed which I found interesting
• Best Applicaiton Conflict Testing Tool
• Installshield AdminStudio won
• Package Studio came in 3rd
• Best Antispyware Tool:
• Symantec Antivirus won
• Best Anti-Spyware Tool
• No Symantec products even though SEP has an Anti-Spyware portion

More information can be found on Redmondmag.com

With the constantly changing online world, it’s always helpful when a new survey comes along that give us the latest reading of just what’s going on with online behavior.

Harris Interactive has just conducted its second survey of online users for Norton® Symantec. The survey was taken across 12 countries, including the U.S., five European nations, plus Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan and Brazil. The total number of people taking the 15-minute online survey was very large: nearly 6,500 adults plus ~1,300 kids age 8 to 17. That’s close to double the number of respondents who participated in Harris Interactive’s first such research project conducted in 2007 — and it gives us some very good data to chew on.

The Harris survey, published as the Norton Online Living Report, found that the average number of hours spent online per month for adults was ~89 hours. That’s well more than three full days in a month. But a look at the numbers found in some of the countries surveyed shows dramatically different results:

 China: 141 hours spent online per month on average
 Brazil: 119 hours
 India: 87 hours
 Japan: 85 hours
 United States: 56 hours
 Canada: 46 hours

No doubt, these figures will challenge the perceptions of some who have thought that citizens in the developed world are more “wired” than those in the developing nations. Could it be that there are fewer exciting alternative activities competing for consumers’ time and attention in China or Brazil?

As for kids’ online activities, one very interesting finding from Harris is that American and British youth report being online twice as long as their parents think they’re online:

 U.S. kids report being online 42 hours per month, versus 18 hours their parents estimate they’re spending online.

 U.K. youths report being online 44 hours per month, versus 19 hours their parents estimate.

Clearly, the age-old disconnect between parents’ perception and kids actual behavior is alive and well – and hasn’t changed at all in the Internet age!

What’s more, even with parents’ wildly inaccurate estimate of the time their kids are online, nearly three-fourths of U.S. and Canadian parents believe their children are spending too much time at the computer. So the perception-versus-reality gulf is even more stark.

[The only country where a clear minority of parents feel this way is Japan, at ~30%.]

Basically, when it comes to their children, the Harris survey quantifies what any parent already knows: for the kids, it’s online all the way. Consider these stats that Harris Interactive gleaned from surveying U.S. children:

 American kids have an average of nearly 85 online friends – the highest among all 12 countries surveyed.

 They “out-text” the rest of the world, too – with U.S. kids spending upwards of 10 hours per week texting compared to ~4 hours for kids elsewhere.

And yet … it appears that the kids themselves have an inkling there are healthy limits that should be placed on the “online, all the time” experience. Half of the American youths surveyed agree that “instant messaging and texting make learning to write more difficult.”

Anyone who has frustratingly received e-mail messages from their children in college … with nary a capitalized letter or punctuation mark to be found in them … will surely identify with this last bit!