We’ve spoken about Rootkits before, they’re nasty little pieces of malware that can open up your PC to hackers, but are also really difficult to detect and eliminate because they hide inside legitimate applications and files. McAfee, the antivirus people have come up with a new Rootkit removal tool, called Rootkit Detective. It’s still in its prerelease beta version but it seems stable enough and compared with other Rootkit removal tools we’ve tried, it’s blindingly fast. Although it didn’t find any infections on our office PCs it did flag up a few files, belonging to uninstalled applications, that shouldn’t be there, so it’s definitely worth a try, especially if you have any concerns about the security of your PC.
We’ve all seen those nifty little multi card readers that plug into your PC’s USB port, well, here’s the granddaddy of them all. Not only does it read all of the usual SD, MMC, XD, CF cards, Memory Stick, USB pen drives, you can stuff a whole 2.5 or 3.5 inch SATA hard drive into a slot on the top and read and write data. The SATA HDD Multi Function Dock works with PCs and Macs and costs around £40. We’re not aware of any UK distributors just yet but knowing the speed at which these things take off it shouldn’t be too long, so keep your eyes on Amazon and the usual gadget sites.
First there was the USB turntable, then the PC cassette deck, now we have, you guessed it, USB VCR. Anyone who has a collection of old VHS tapes will know that time is running out and if you want to save those precious home movies and recordings you had better get your skates on because VCRs are disappearing fast, and in five years there may not be anything to play those tapes on. The USB VCR Converter from Firebox comes with everything you need to replay your tapes, download them to the PC and convert them to the file format of your choice (iPod, PSP, DVD etc.). It goes on sale next month for just under £150.00. For those of you that still have a working VCR don’t forget the Boot Camp articles, which show you how to make DVDs from VCR tapes.
It’s okay, Bill Gates hasn’t bought NASA, at least not just yet, but Microsoft is giving away a free virtual tour of space with a new web-based application called Worldwide Telescope. Be warned, you’ll need a reasonably quick PC, preferably with a dual-core CPU, and ideally running Vista, though it will still plod along under XP. The images are stunning and based on actual ground and spaced based telescopes, you can zoom in on astronomical features, explore the solar system and warp across the Milky Way. Okay, so it’s a bit like Google Sky, but there’s a bit more depth to it, better controls and it looks like it could become a very useful educational tool.
Like car manufacturers PC maker’s boastings used to be all about price and performance but the times they are a-changing and market leader Dell is now talking up the future energy efficiency of its products. Dell is aiming for a 25 percent reduction in power consumption on its desktop and laptop machines by 2010 – compared with today’s models – and leading the way will be a new range of ultra small machines, previewed recently at a Los Angeles environmental conference. According to CNET News the tiny PC uses a new mini ITX form factor motherboard, codenamed Eklo, which results in a system unit box that is around 80 percent smaller than current desktops and uses 70 percent less energy.
We’ve spoken about Rootkits before, they’re nasty little pieces of malware that can open up your PC to hackers, but are also really difficult to detect and eliminate because they hide inside legitimate applications and files. McAfee, the antivirus people have come up with a new Rootkit removal tool, called Rootkit Detective. It’s still in its prerelease beta version but it seems stable enough and compared with other Rootkit removal tools we’ve tried, it’s blindingly fast. Although it didn’t find any infections on our office PCs it did flag up a few files, belonging to uninstalled applications, that shouldn’t be there, so it’s definitely worth a try, especially if you have any concerns about the security of your PC.
