Google’s Chrome: 7 Reasons Against It September 17, 2008

It’s an election year, and we’re not just talking the Oval Office in the big white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. The battle of the browsers is getting fierce, and Google wants you to sign up for its campaign.

J. R. Raphael, PC World

Seven Chrome-Related Concerns

1. It’s only in its first beta.

This is Chrome’s first test release, so problems are bound to crop up over the coming months. If like most people you rely heavily on Web browsing, you run a risk by putting your online life into the hands of an unproven product. Visits to some plug-in-oriented sites such as logmein.com have generated errors (“This application has failed to start because xpcom.dll was not found…”). Do you want to deal with that kind of uncertainty daily?

2. You won’t have any add-ons.

Add-ons are a huge draw for Firefox fans, and none of these are available in Chrome yet. Google does intend to create an API for such extensions, but for now you’ll have to make do without your AdBlocks, Better Gmails, and BugMeNots–or you’ll have to switch between browsers to use the add-ons you want when you want them.

3. You can’t synchronize.
One big plus of Firefox is its ability to synchronize across multiple computers using Mozilla’s Weave option. This arrangement allows you to keep your home browser, your laptop browser, and your work browser looking identical at all times–and once you get used to that level of synchronization, it’s hard to give up. Chrome doesn’t yet have that capability.

4. You may draw the short stick on standards.

Standards get a little less standard as this new player enters the equation. It’s based on WebKit, the same open-source system that drives Apple’s Safari; but when you look at pages in Chrome compared to pages in Firefox or IE, you’ll notice a difference in text formatting. And since most sites give coding priority to the market leader, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment with Chrome.

5. You’re giving advertisers extra ammo.

Have you seen all the hype about Google’s privacy practices and how much of your data it shares with advertisers? Imagine the potential ammo you’re giving it by using this browser. Google will now have total control over your experience from the time you open Chrome to the time you shut down. In some sense, you might just as well invite DoubleClick to watch over your shoulder while you surf.

6. The dropdown bar is dropped.

The idea of the URL dropdown bar is dropped in Chrome. To compensate, the browser offers “intelligent” features in its Omnibox; but if you like being able to see your recent URLs at the click of a button, you’ll miss the dropdown bar.

7. You lose some history power.

Chrome’s History functions are less versatile than the powerhouse ones built by Firefox. Chrome offers only a simple screen showing your day-by-day history. The ability to sort everything by date, site, or most visited appear to have joined the distaff and spindle on the ash heap.

So there you have it: the good, the bad, and the ambiguous of Google’s first foray into browsing. You’ve heard the hype; now, the decision is yours. Whose campaign will you be joining?

I took this article from www.pcworld.com cause I think this article is really good and everybody have to read it before try to use Chrome.

Google’s Chrome: 7 Reasons for It September 17, 2008

It’s an election year, and we’re not just talking the Oval Office in the big white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. The battle of the browsers is getting fierce, and Google wants you to sign up for its campaign.

J. R. Raphael, PC World

The first beta of Chrome, Google’s long-in-development Internet browser, became available Tuesday afternoon (2 September 2008) for Windows Vista and XP users, with Mac and Linux editions soon to follow. There’s ample reason to be excited about the release, and just as much reason to be wary.

Seven Reasons Chrome Could Be Cool

1. It won’t crash.

Perhaps Chrome’s biggest draw is its multiprocess architecture, which, in a nutshell, protects you from having a bad Web page or application take your browser down. Every tab, window, and plug-in runs in its own environment–so one faulty site won’t affect anything else that you have open. This approach also adds another layer of security by isolating each site and application within a limited environment.

2. It’s really fast.

Again because of the multiprocess foundation, one slow site won’t drag down the rest of your browsing. Instead, you can effortlessly click to another tab or window. With plug-ins, the arrangement works similarly: If you open a site that has a slow-loading Java ad, for example, the Java itself will be isolated and the rest of the page won’t be affected. The program itself opens within seconds of when you click the icon, too–a distinct advantage over some slower-loading alternatives.

3. You barely notice it’s there.

Calling the design of Chrome’s interface streamlined is an understatement. The program barely looks like a program, and the vast majority of your screen space is devoted to the site you’re visiting–with no buttons or logos hogging space. Chrome’s designers say that they wanted people to forget they were even using a browser, and it comes pretty close to achieving that goal.

4. It makes searching simpler.

One of Chrome’s signature features is its Omnibox, an integrated all-purpose bar at the top of the browser. You can type in a URL or a search term–or both–and Chrome takes you to the right place without asking any questions. Omnibox can learn what you like, too–a talent that goes beyond the obvious automatic completion function. Say that you want to use the PCWorld.com search function, for example. Once you’ve visited the site once, Chrome will remember that PCWorld.com has its own search box and will give you the option of using it right from Omnibox. The function thus automates keyword searches.

5. It gives you more control over tabs.

Chrome gives the idea of tabbed browsing new power. You can grab a tab and drag it out into its own individual window. Or you can drag and drop tabs into existing windows to combine them. Chrome also gives you the option of starting up in any tab configuration you want–whether a custom setup or the set of tabs you had open in your previous session. Other browsers require third-party add-ons to provide this capability.

6. It opens new doors on your home page.

Chrome comes with a default dynamic home page. As you use it, the program remembers the sites that you visit most often. The top nine of those appear in snapshots on your home page, along with your most commonly used search engines and bookmarks. There’s no force-feeding here, though: You can override the dynamic home page with any home page you want, just as you can set the default search engine to any service you prefer.

7. It lets you stay incognito.

Like Internet Explorer 8’s recent beta release, Chrome offers a private browsing option–one it calls Incognito. You can open a special type of new window and rest easy knowing nothing you do in it will be logged or saved on your computer. And unlike Internet Explorer’s, Chrome’s Incognito window is isolated from the rest of your browsing experience, so you can have your private window open alongside your regular windows, and each will operate independently.

I took this article from www.pcworld.com cause I think this article is really good and everybody have to read it before try to use Chrome

Adware and spyware September 17, 2008

The previous sections of this topic have been concerned with email, but the Internet provides yet more problems, in the form of adware and spyware on the Web. You may have seen pop-up messages on your browser screen offering services or products. What you may not realise is that if you respond to these messages, extra software may be installed alongside other programs without your knowledge.

Adware

Adware is ‘free’ software that is subsidised by displaying adverts

Adware can do a number of things, including finding out about your online surfing and spending habits and passing that information, without your permission, to a client. It is claimed that this helps to channel appropriate advertisements to your desktop, but you may find the windows that pop up as you use your web browser rather annoying.

Adware is sometimes ‘bundled’ with other software, without the user’s knowledge, or included in the fine print of an End User License Agreement. Adware programs can be very difficult to remove from a user’s computer.

Spyware

Spyware covertly gathers user information and activity without the user’s knowledge.

It is probably more dangerous than adware because it can record your keystrokes, history, passwords, and other confidential and private information. Spyware has been sold as a spouse monitor, child monitor or surveillance tool – or simply as a tool to spy on users in order to gain unauthorised access.

Taken From : The Open University

Viruses, worms and Trojans September 17, 2008

Virus

What is a virus?
A virus is a piece of computer code – a program – that has been written to gain access to files or programs on your computer. The virus may enter your computer via floppy disk, by email or by your Internet connection. It will look at the files on your computer and infect some of them if it can.

What do we mean by ‘infect’?
A virus will attach itself in various ways to a file that already exists on a ‘host’ computer, and when that file is run, the virus activates as well. A computer virus works in a similar way to a biological virus.
Biological virus: an infectious agent of small size and simple composition that can multiply only in living cells of animals, plants or bacteria.
Computer virus: an infectious program of small size that can only multiply in other programs.
(Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2000)
Several computers are shown. A virus, looking like a space invader, arrives at one computer and infects it, corrupting its screen. It replicates and the copies spread to the neighbouring computers and infect them.
When the virus is triggered it releases its payload. The payload part of the virus code can be either destructive or intrusive, or possibly both. Some viruses may just display a message, but others corrupt data and delete files.
Most viruses are programmed to hide on the host computer for a period of time before releasing the payload. If the virus shows itself too quickly, alerting the user to the fact that their computer is infected, it is more likely to be detected and hence less likely to be spread to other computers.

Figure 1 : Screen display of the fear-1823 virus taken from the Sophos virus image gallery, http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/imggallery/virusimg/

Worms

What is the difference between a worm and a virus?
Unlike a virus, a worm does not infect files on a host computer. Instead it adds a file to the computer that is malicious code, and runs it ‘in the background’. A computer has many programs running in this way in order for its system to operate. For instance, when you create a document you can see the text editor, such as Microsoft Word, Notepad or Star Office, but in the background the spell checker or the printer program are working even though you do not see them on the screen.
Worms can spread through any medium that is being used to connect to the Internet, whether it be a modem, broadband, wireless connection, or a local area network at work.
The website of the antivirus software vendor Sophos describes W32/Netsky-R, a worm that was first seen in March 2003. This worm is part of a ‘turf war’ that was being waged at the time of writing between the writers of Netsky and another worm called Bagle.

Trojans

The term Trojan comes from the Greek legend about the fall of the city of Troy. The story goes that, during the seige of the city by the Greeks, a huge, hollow wooden horse was left in front of the gates. The inhabitants thought that it was a peace offering from the Greek army and dragged it into the city. Unknown to them, it was being used to conceal Greek soldiers, who were thus able to use this Trojan horse to enter the city and open the gates for the rest of their army.

Figure 2 : A cartoon showing a computer on whose screen is a picture of a wooden horse.

The Trojan program uses the same tactics to infiltrate a host computer. It purports to be a legitimate program, but in the background it is doing something else. It may be opening a ‘back door’ for a hacker to gain entry, or deleting files, or using a mail program to pass itself on to other computers.

For example, the Happy99 Trojan was very active at the end of 1999 and in 2000-2001. In fact, it is still seen occasionally.

Figure 3 : A screen dump showing a window titled ‘Happy New Year 1999 !!’. The window is black; white dots make a firework pattern.

Happy99 (which is sometimes called Win95/Happy99.Worm, SKA or Win32.SKA.A) arrives as an attachment to an email message. When the recipient opens the file the message ‘Happy New Year 1999!!’ and a fireworks graphic are displayed.

All this sounds quite harmless, but the Trojan is also doing things that the user can’t see. It modifies your computer’s network software so that Happy99 is attached to all outgoing email messages.

Taken From : The Open University

MP3, WMA and OGG September 17, 2008

MP3: Early format for audio portable

MP3 represent audio portable’s format which we can say the most first and is acceptable in market widely. MP3 is an abbreviation of MPEG-1 Layer III ( is not MPEG-3). This audio format have come to standard since 1992 as part of MPEG-1 standard.

Initially, MP3 was developed by Fraunhofer Gesellschaft ( Fhg), representing a famous company from Germany. MP3 is the most popular audio format and widely used for file sharing, and also for usage in stand-alone portable player. Very often people change term “portable audio player” with ” MP3 Player”, though it is possible that “MP3 Player” also support another format, like WMA or OGG.

WMA: Microsoft challange MP3

Windows Media Audio or WMA represent portable audio format developed by Microsoft. Initially, WMA is of course was made to compete with MP3 format. But in its road, WMA format  have to compete with Advanced Audio Coding ( AAC) pioneered by Apple.

WMA format can be played using Windows Media Player in PC or some other player with additional plug-in to play WMA format. Support for WMA format from portable audio player also have more and more. Nowadays, most stand alone “MP3″ player have supported WMA format ( and of course besides MP3 format).

OGG Vorbis: Format for open source lovers

OGG Vorbis represent audio compression format which we can included in category of open source and free of charge from Xiph.org Foundation. Xiph.org have been a non profit organization which have specialization in developing open source tools and multimedia format.

Founder of Xiph.org was Chris Montgomery and also the one who create OGG format. One of the subset of OGG format is Vorbis which compete with MP3 and WMA formats until now. Sometimes people call OGG Vorbis as OGG. But in fact, that was wrong because Vorbis is only a subset of OGG and there are a lot of another subset from OGG, like Theora, Speex, Tremor, etc. Every subset was specific design for certain audio needs.

OGG Vorbis format beginning to develop on September 1998 when FhG announced their plan for asking license fee for MP3 format usage. The stabil version of OGG Vorbis was became available around July 2002 and still developing until now.