According to Microsoft, the affected file ‘is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries’.

McAfee responded to the problem by withdrawing the definition update and later releasing a clean one. The security giant also published advice on how to manually fix affected computers. The influx of interested parties trying to look up this advice through McAfee’s forum caused the site to become unavailable for a short time on Wednesday evening.

Source: The Register

McAfee had the following to say on the matter.

McAfee is aware that a number of customers have incurred a false positive error due to this release. Corporations who kept a feature called “Scan Processes on Enable” in McAfee VirusScan Enterprise disabled, as it is by default, were not affected.
Our initial investigation indicates that the error can result in moderate to significant issues on systems running Windows XP Service Pack 3.

The faulty update was quickly removed from all McAfee download servers, preventing any further impact on customers. We are not aware of significant impact on consumers.

We recommend the use of ESET Anti-virus products including NOD32 Anti-virus and the Smart Security Suite. If you are interested in a secure, reliable anti-virus and computer security solution for you business, please feel free to contact us for more information.

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Version 1.4 is the latest inception of the highly popular lightweight cross browser JavaScript framework. The new version features many new additions and speed improvements over 1.3.

jQuery was developed in 2006 by John Resig and since launch has been adopted by many large companies such as Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Digg and many more. The mantra behind jQuery is “write less, do more” With a wide range of easy DOM manipulation calls and user interface effects jQuery is an attractive option for developers looking to make applications more intuitive, user friendly and feature rich.

So whats new in 1.4?

Aside from all the new additions and improvements one of my favourite new functions is .delay(). Delay provides us with the functionality to delay execution of subsequent items in the queue.

For example we can fade out and fade in an element with a second delay.

jQuery not only allows us to delay on effects we can also apply delays to custom queues.

One of many new updates is the addition to pass event data to the function .live(). This gives developers much more flexibility to capture events. From form submission, focus changes, clicks and custom events.

The example below shows how to smooth scroll on all anchor tag elements using live to capture the click event data.

According to BuiltWith.com’s statistics jQuery is running on one in five websites on the internet. Not surprising considering the adaptability of the framework.

14 days of jQuery is still running and you can find more information via the below links.

http://jquery.com/
http://jquery14.com/

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The different versions are as follows:

This info is taken directly from the Microsoft site but I feel it’s not very direct as to how the versions vary. There’s no mention of Microsoft’s ‘ghetto’ copy of Windows 7 called ‘Starter’ which appears to be quite a basic version of 7 which will be pre loaded onto netbooks and possibly even some more powerful smartphones in the future. I have discussed some of the more funky features in previous articles so I’m just going to point out a few things from the above info.

One thing that leaps out straight away is ‘Watch, pause, rewind, and record TV on your PC.’ Although it is possible to do this without any additional software if you have a PC without a PVR (personal video recorder, also known as DVR digital video recorder) you’ll need to get one as TV will not be automatically received by your PC.

‘Run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode’ this feature is going to be more for people who have old programs they’ve been using for years. It will allow you to still run these programs in a compatible environment. So say you have an MP3 player whose software will only work in Windows XP but obviously you still want to use the device, pop your CD in as usual, right click and use the compatibility option for Windows XP, simple.

All in all I’d stick to these simple rules; if you’re a home user go for Windows 7 Home Premium, if you’re a business user go for Windows 7 Professional as you can connect to domains with this version and finally Windows 7 Ultimate if your prepared to spend an extra $20 to be able to encrypt your whole hard drive with Bitlocker – just be advised that if you choose to do this data recovery on that particular drive will be almost impossible. Having worked as a techie for years the amount of people who assumed the differences in Windows XP home edition and Windows XP Professional edition were huge! Having the word ‘Professional’ after the title somehow gave people the impression they were getting much more for their money. It’s bizarre how this single word made people part with an extra £50 without them even knowing the difference in versions, the amount of times I’ve asked why they were buying professional for home use and the usual response was ‘it’s just better’ when in all honesty it’s just networking options and the ability to attach to domains, well in a nutshell.

The above recommended prices are in dollars also so I thought I’d give you a heads up on how much the different versions will cost you here in the UK, all prices include VAT @ 15%. The cheapest I found Windows 7 Home Premium on the web was around £60; £90 will get you a copy of Windows 7 Professional with Windows 7 Ultimate coming in at around £160. Bizarre pricing structure, I’m unsure why ultimate is almost double premium for what in essence encryption software which you can pick up for around £30.

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HomeGroup

“…HomeGroup takes the headache out of sharing files and printers on a home network. Connect two or more PCs running Windows 7, and HomeGroup makes it easy to automatically start sharing your music, pictures, video, and document libraries with others in your home. The new “Share with” menu, meanwhile, provides a speedy way to share individual files. Concerned about privacy? So are we. That’s why HomeGroup is password-protected and puts you in total control. You decide what gets shared—and what stays private. You can also make your files “read only,” so other people can look at (but not touch) your stuff. You can join a HomeGroup in any edition of Windows 7, but you can only create one in Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate…” Once again the ‘ghetto’ copy (Microsoft call it starter) seems to exclude quite a large feature, XP Home and Pro both allowed workgroups to be created but only pro allowed connection to a domain and I’m failing to see why this couldn’t happen again across all versions of Windows 7. Not a bad feature though, you absolutely MUST have IPV6 enabled to make a HomeGroup but sure it’s an improved way to share files. Nothing overly groundbreaking except it works much faster.

Jump Lists

“…Jump lists—new in Windows 7—takes you right to the documents, pictures, songs, or websites you turn to each day. To open a Jump List, just right-click a program icon on the Windows 7 taskbar. (You’ll also find them on the Start menu.) What you see in a Jump List depends entirely on the program. The Jump List for Internet Explorer 8 shows frequently-viewed websites. Windows Media Player 12 lists commonly-played tunes. Your Jump List missing a favourite? You can “pin” whatever files you like there. Jump Lists don’t just show shortcuts to files. Sometimes they also provide quick access to commands for things like composing new e-mail messages or playing music…” Simple idea this but very effective, it’s like having everything you use regular in one place! Kind of like browsing history for you whole computer followed by a quick launch instead of just information.

Windows Live Essentials

“…What is Windows Live Essentials? Simply put, it’s free software that makes a PC running Windows 7 do more great things. Things like e-mail, instant messaging, photo editing, and blogging. Windows Live Essentials is available from the Windows Live website…” I bet a lot of us are using some of this software already it’s just a convenient way to get all of them in one place.

The free download includes: Messenger, Chat instantly with friends and family on your PC or mobile phone. Photo Gallery, Find, fix, and share your photos. Mail, manage multiple e-mail accounts (like Hotmail) in one place. Writer, Compose your blog, add photos and video, then post it on the web. Movie Maker, Turn your photos and videos into great looking movies and slide shows. Family Safety, Manage and monitor online activities so your kids stay safe. Toolbar, Search instantly from any webpage. So they’re pretty self explanatory right? Mostly quite basic but they will give you a good ‘foot in the door’ feel, anyone who’s wanted to get a blog off the ground or make their first photo slide show will find this software perfect.

Windows Search

“…In Windows 7, you can find more things in more places and do it faster. Start typing into the Start menu search box—and you’ll instantly see a list of relevant documents, pictures, music, and e-mail on your PC. Results are now grouped by category and contain highlighted keywords and text snippets to make them easier to scan. Few people store all their files in one place these days. So Windows 7 is also designed to search external hard drives, networked PCs, and libraries. Overwhelmed by your search results? You can instantly narrow them by date, file type, and other useful categories…” it’s a search engine, nothing here to get too excited about, sure its quick and it does narrow the searches well but again it’s something that has been somewhat overlooked in previous versions of windows, Vista’s version was a vast improvement but the search engine in Windows 7 is now actually a feature and not just programmers panicking at the last minute and rustling something up.

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One of the biggest arguments with graphics cards is ATI or NVidia – the 2 leading GPU (graphics processing unit) manufacturers, there’s really not a huge amount in it, there are arguments for both sides. You just have to do a little research into what’s recommended at the time I’ve had ATI 9800 pro then an NVidia 8800GT and now I have an ATI 4890 so not really any bias I just bought the best at the time. The numbers involved can get quite complicated; take these for example Sparkle NVidia GeForce 8400GS 512MB PCI-E @ £22.94 and this one Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB PCI-E 2.0 @ £103.44, both are 512 Megabyte cards so why the huge price difference? Well as I said it’s the numbers game so I’ll try and break it down for you.

There are key things to look for when buying a graphics card:

1) Interface type

2) Clock speed

3) Ramdac clock speed

4) API support

5) Video memory installed

6) Video output

7) Max resolution details

8 ) Max monitors supported

Without getting too complicated I’d say the above would be the best items to compare as I feel they are the most common denominators in all graphics cards.

1) Interface type: all modern computers use PCI-E (peripheral component interconnect express) this is a motherboard level interconnecting port and is much quicker at handling data then the older AGP (accelerated or advanced graphics port) PCI-E 1 = each ‘lane’ can handle 250 megabytes of data, PCI-E 2.0 = 500 megabytes of data and in turn PCI-3 (when its released) claims to be able to shift a whole gigabyte.

2) Clock speed: basically clock speed refers to rate in cycles per second for the frequency of the clock in any synchronous circuit. For example a graphics card that has a clock speed of 200 MHz will be able to perform 200,000,000 cycles per second, this is the aspect most ‘Overclockers’ will look at, pushing to get more cycles per second will increase performance.

3) Ramdac clock speed: this is how quickly the digital to analogue converter pushes the graphics output from the card, this will govern how many refresh rates are supported and at what resolution. So again the higher the number here will determine how quickly the image gets to the screen and in turn how big that image can be.

4) API support: this basically outlines which Direct X support the card will conform too which handles things like video editing, blending, rendering plus other accelerated processing. Direct X is Microsoft’s unification programme for both gaming and multimedia. Direct X 9.0c is still (probably) the most widespread, Direct X 10 is used by a lot of gamers and now that Direct X 11 was released July this year only the most hardened of ‘hardware chasers’ will currently be using it.

5) Video memory installed: this tells you the amount and type of RAM on the card 128MB, 256MB, 512MB all the way up to 2GIG nowadays for amount and the GDDRx (graphics double data rate) refers to version of RAM, stick with the higher the better again.

6) Video output: simple one this it’s the maximum resolution achievable – how many pixels can be displayed.

7) Max resolution details: I’ve included this as it often differs to the above dependant on connection used. VGA (video graphics array) is the most common connection and will give a standard signal whereas DVI (digital visual interface) and HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) can often give not only a crisper picture but also a higher resolution so check the connections you have to achieve the best picture possible.

8 ) Max monitors supported: no prizes for guessing what this means! Lots of designers will use 2, 3 or even 4 monitors I’ve also know gamers to do the same so its handy to know.

So back to my original graphics card comparison here are the specs for both cards:

Sparkle NVidia GeForce 8400GS 512MB PCI-E @ £22. (approx)

Interface type: PCI-E

Clock speed: 450MHz

Ramdac clock speed: 400MHz

API support: OpenGL 2.0, DirectX 10

Video memory installed: 512MB DDR2

Video output: 2048×1536

Max resolution details: VGA/S-Video /DVI-I all formats = 2048×1536

Max monitors supported: 2

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB PCI-E 2.0 @ £103.00 (approx)

Interface type: PCI-E 2.0

Clock speed: 750MHz

Ramdac clock speed: 400MHz

API support: Direct x 10.1

Video memory installed: 512MB GDDR5

Video output: 2560 x 1600

Max resolution details: DVI: 2560 x 1600/VGA: 2048 x 1536

Max monitors supported: 2

So as you can see from the above specs, you see why the ATI card is so much more expensive. It’s defiantly more of a gaming card than just a display adapter; feel I should re-iterate at this point no bias whatsoever has been implemented in the above guide. Find a great range of different cards here

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I’m going to start with a list of technology companies that say they will design, build and I quote “devices that deliver an extraordinary end user experience” – exciting prospect. These companies are: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba – some REAL big hitters! But are they just talking about pre-installing Google OS on existing netbooks and smartphones? After all it is Linux based and Linux as we all know could run on an 8o’s calculator watch. As you can see from the quote though it does suggest specific hardware to run on, this could just be Google branded products though with sponsorship advertising from the above mentioned manufacturers.

I really like how Google have re-vamped the web browser, I like how quick it is, it keeps the last bunch of webpages on a kind of active favourites homepage – in theory you could always have your favourite webpages on a single page! I also like the fact that the search bar is also the URL bar, something that Firefox also boasts but will all these innovations be enough to push an OS? One of the biggest features they’re talking about is a near instant boot up, this is interesting, and a lot of netbooks do carry a small SSD drive but it’s still not near instant, perhaps they are talking to manufacturers of chips to make their OS embedded? This in itself creates a number of potential problems, firmware flashes instead of updates? Sure it’ll be quicker initially but if it is going to be embedded wouldn’t that be a step backwards? I mean, for instance, how many people actually update their BIOS (basic input/output system) regularly on their motherboard? Ok techies do, sure but it does make it a niche market and not a widespread user friendly piece of software.

According to reports Google are currently working on a video player and a jukebox style program to roll on their new OS. Again I think it’s good that they are deciding to develop their own, after all if they use Linux based applications Google Chrome OS would just be a re-branded version of Ubuntu. This also keeps other companies on their toes, iTunes may face fierce competition if Google’s jukebox style program can sync with an iPod and I doubt Google would accept money from media goliaths like NBC to enforce DRM (digital restrictions management) so that users are prevented from recording television shows that they have the legal right to record (allegedly).

There are some supposed leaked screenshots of Google OS which you can take a look at here draw your own conclusions though, some claim them to be real some not so convinced, one thing is for sure though – it free so it’s got to be worth a look.

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So which Anti-Virus program should you choose? There are so many on the market and everyone has their own opinion as to their favourite. Well we’ve found a little known Anti-Virus package called NOD32, a nifty little package that will not constantly pop up asking you a hundred different questions about program access it also doesn’t slow your system to a crawl as some Anti-Virus packages can. It will occasionally pop up if there is something attempting to penetrate your PC but other than that it’s very much a stealthy program. Don’t take our word for it though you can try a 30 day free trial from here:  http://www.eset.com/products/nod32.php

Sadly no Anti-Virus package is 100 percent full proof, occasionally one may slip under the radar so to speak, so what next? If your Anti-Virus fails to remove or quarantine a virus the last thing you want is to have a rogue virus on your system doing heavens knows what so what we’re aiming to do is assist you in removing the tricky ones.

Again I feel that everyone has their own way of dealing with things but hopefully we’ll give you enough of an idea what you can do in this situation. Firstly you should fully update the Anti-Virus package you are using in the hope that the latest definitions file (the file that contains a catalogue of different virus names) contains removal details, do this until the Anti-Virus package your using reports that it is fully up to date then run a full scan. A full scan of your system can take quite a while so it’s best to do it at the end of the day or if you have to leave to office for a couple of hours. If the update still fails to remove the offending virus then more steps need to be taken, next I would find the “System Restore” option.

***CAUTION****

More and more PCs have built in destructive recovery programs where a small portion of the hard-drive is reserved for the operating system (2000, XP, Vista etc) and can be accessed via the start menu, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU USE THE MICROSOFT WINDOWS SYSTEM RECOVERY AND NOT THE MANUFACTURER’S VERSION AS THIS CAN AND WILL FORMAT YOUR SYSTEM. When you’ve located this tick the box that reads ”Turn Off System Restore” as this is a well know place for viruses to attach themselves to. Now you should restart your PC and continually tap “F8” as the system is booting (this means start pressing “F8” as soon as the system starts to power on) if done correctly you will see a menu listing various different options, at the top of which is an option called “Safe Mode” this is a way of loading your operating system with absolutely nothing running in the background so don’t panic when it finally loads as it will look VERY basic. In “Safe Mode” most of the drivers will not be initialized. The next step is to re-run your Anti-Virus package because in this mode it may find the rogue virus that you cannot remove.

If the above steps still fail to remove the virus then there is one last thing to try, write down the name of the virus and then open your internet homepage, or whichever search engine you favour, and type in the name of the virus followed by “Removal Instructions” at this stage if it is a know virus there will be specific programs and or deletion steps advised to be taken, this may involve additional downloads or deletion of certain files in the registry. I cannot stress enough at this point if you are at this stage and you don’t feel confident poking around in the registry of your PC it’s time to give Rapid Web a call because if you delete the wrong items in the registry this could lead to loss of data or worse still it could cause your PC to stop working altogether.

So what if it’s not a virus it’s actually Spyware? Well you can follow the same steps as above the only real difference is the software you use to remove this, we can recommend 2 products for this, again personal choice but very effective, one of which is called Spybot: Search And Destroy – free version available here: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html and the other is Adaware 2007 by Lavasoft which you can get from here: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php again free version. As before just make sure both programs are up to date before using them as these can also take some time to complete.

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Let’s start with how it installs, after all this will be the first step for anyone, if you’re upgrading from Vista the install process can take a while as Windows 7 will change the settings and keep all the user information as is on your system but as with any new OS (operating System) it’s always advised to do a fresh install. I’ve been a techie for quite a number of years now and as with all techies anything that happens REALLY quickly gets us excited, I have quite a mid range PC just now (AMD X2 6000 processor, 4 gig RAM, 4800 series ATI graphics card) nothing particularly punchy, sure it’s not the slowest of PC’s but for the hardware that’s out there at the minute its mid range for sure. From putting the disc into the drive, allowing the CD drive as the first boot device and selecting the type of install I would like to perform it took 20 minutes, that’s right 20 MINUTES! I was astonished, sure it was missing a couple of drivers but only a couple, bearing in mind I installed this months ago when there was little to no drivers available an all round great result so already I’m impressed.

If anyone has used the help system in Windows XP or Vista you’ll know it’s pretty dilute however not so in Windows 7, it advised me that it had problems installing my Creative X-Fi sound card and would I like to use the online support, here we go I thought, a breadcrumb trail that leads nowhere… it proved me wrong! It advised me that I needed to download an additional driver from the creative site and put the web address on-screen for me, I thought ok, it’s better than the last help and support but I know where the homepage is, I clicked on the link anyway just to see where it would lead me. As I clicked the link a download dialog page appeared asking me where I would like to download the driver too, GENIUS! Although I’m not sure I should have got so excited about an enormous company like Microsoft finally getting their help and support system finally working after 2 OS’s and over 10 years of development.

What this does show us though is that Microsoft is finally listening to customers’ feedback about how users would like the software to work with the key responses being “…just make the features included work correctly and quickly…” – sadly something that Vista fell short on, very short.  So next time on the blog we’re going to go through some of the new features of Windows 7 and how they compare to Windows XP and the equivalent Vista features, stay tuned.

Here is our follow on article on the Look and Feel of Windows 7.

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Earlier this week, Google let slip the development of the ‘Caffeine’ algorithms. The new algorithms are designed to ensure new and fresh content (in terms of time-sensitive news and articles) appear at the top of search engines meaning it will soon become even more important that websites keep their content up-to-date where appropriate. Although these changes will have a significant issue for search engine optimisers, many end-users of Google may not notice the difference as Google’s current web interface is not going anywhere, and thus for many, these changes will go unnoticed apart from perhaps the odd more relevant search result.

Bing – Microsoft’s search engine – is soon to become the search engine which powers Yahoo search, and will likely become Google’s only major competitor in both the UK and US search markets. This will make for some ne and interesting challenges for SEO optimising for the new Google and Bing algorithms. However, removing the Yahoo algorithms from the search engine optimisation equation entirely will certainly benefit many websites that already rank well in Google and Bing, or indeed Live Search from which Bing inherited its index and many of its initial search algorithms.

For more information on search engine optimisation in general please see our dedicated SEO services page, or to see how we are doing in ever advanced optimisations see our Live SEO Rankings page which automatically updates to show the latest results for a small selection of our clients’ targeted keywords and their positions in Google, Bing/Live and Yahoo.

Any other questions? Feel free to comment just below or contact us directly.

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