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Presents tips, tricks and shortcuts for operating a software, computer and operating systems. How to reposition the icons in the computer; security options to consider when changing an Internet Protocol (IP) address; Software needed to make iMac and G3 computer to surf the Internet by voice. INSET: Make AppleWorks Database Buttons.

The article reports on the move of the information technology company Microsoft Corp. to release security updates on the Windows Update service. It states that the update protects customers against the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2) protocol vulnerability called KRACK. It mentions that several devices including iPhones, Android phones, and routers require patches to be protected against KRACK.

Presents a comparison between Eudroa Pro 2.0, Pronto Mail 2.01, SuperTCP Suite 96 and Z-Mail 4.0 e-mail computer software. Corporate information on e-mail software manufacturers Qualcomm Incorporated (Inc.), CommTouch Software Inc., Frontier Technologies Corporation (Corp.) and NCD Software Corp.; Installation and configuration of the e-mail software; Thier ability to create and send messages. INSETS: One-stop shopping: Internet access for PCs..., by Dean Andrews.;Report card..

Reviews two voice-over Internet Protocol-capable firewall software. Firewall 1400 from Ingate; SonicWall Pro 2040 from SonicWall.

Discusses Internet Protocol (IP) management for information systems managers. Security features against address duplication of TCP/IP; Difficulty of IP management; Class sizes of address blocks; Features of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP); Disadvantage of Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR). INSET: Internet addresses get outclassed..

The article reports that according to security experts, website and server administrators will face difficulty in analyzing and dealing with all the security risks associated with Heartbleed, one of the most severe security vulnerabilities affecting encrypted SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) communications. Heartbleed became public in April 2014, and it is related to a programming error in a popular SSL/TLS library called OpenSSL, used by operating systems, browsers, and mobile applications.

The article focuses on the use of a software update in addressing the vulnerability of Bitcoin to an attack that could cause destructive impact on virtual currency. It states that the attack involves malicious mining group called selfish miners that verify Bitcoin transactions, says Ittay Eyal, a doctoral fellow of the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University. It adds that the mining power of Bitcoin can be disrupted if 10 percent of miners do not follow its software protocol.

The article offers information on the announcements by Microsoft Corp.'s Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) on the future updates to Microsoft Office that will enhance collaboration and sharing. Microsoft said that it will stop using the Web based distributed authoring and versioning protocol in favor of exchange web services that would bring better compatibility, performance, and reliability. The MacBU reportedly plans to release the Entourage update in late January as a public beta while the final release will come later this year and will be free for all Office 2008 users. The second update will give Mac users the ability to work with the sharepoint products and technologies suite of services and Office Live Workspace.

The article reviews several free or cheap computer software tools for locating Wi-Fi networks including WeFi, Plug and Browse, and WiFi Guardian.

The article reports on Quinn, the remake of Tetris, which is one of the most addictive puzzle games ever created. But while most Tetris knock-offs have tried to muck around with the basic rules of the game, Quinn sticks with the idea that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, this doesn't mean there aren't plenty of nice touches here. Like Tetris, Quinn features geometric shapes that descend from the top of the screen. You have to rotate and position the falling blocks to form complete rows and earn points. If one fail to finish rows, the blocks pile up, leaving one with less room to maneuver. In addition to the graphics included with the game, one can also download new graphics from Härtel's Web site. The graphics range from mild to wild everything from a nighttime cityscape to a spooky gothic theme complete with skull-shaped blocks. One can edit keyboard settings to create one's own control configuration. The game also supports network gaming. One can join or host a game on the local network via Bonjour. But there's no master server, so if one want to start a multiplayer game beyond the network, one will need to know the player's TCP/IP address.

The article presents information about various Internet softwares. The Captain FTP 4.5 from Xnet Communications is a File Transfer Protocol client software it has added universal support for Intel-based Macs. The Interarchy 8 from Stairways Software is a File Transfer Protocol client it has added universal support, as well as support for Automator actions, Dashboard widgets, and WebDAV. The SightSpeed 4.5, from SightSpeed Inc. is a voice-over-IP software it now runs natively on Intel-based Macs and has been optimized for reduced demand on resources. The Spam Cube from Spam Cube an antispam appliance works with up to four computers, blocking unwanted e-mail. The Webstractor 1.6 from Softchaos is a Web-content-capturing application adds Universal support for Intel-based Macs.

Reports on several options that are available for Internet call waiting systems. Actiontec Electronics' 56K Call Waiting Modem; Evaluation of Internet Call Manager developed by InfoInteractive; The use of voice-over Internet Protocol technology by US West's Online Call Alert.

The article reports on why companies allow users of Skype and other consumer-focused peer-to-peer voice-over-IP networks to bring the tools to work. Skype Ltd.'s software offers good voice quality and offers conference calls for free. Skype and other programs such as Microsoft Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger With Voice allow for a combined instant messaging and file-transfer with voice and videoconferencing. Skype has traditionally offered the best voice quality and was the first to offer value-added services to connect the callers to the telephone network.

Evaluates the Longitude 1.0 systems management solution from Heroix Corp. in the U.S. List of remote management protocols used by Longitude; Advantages and disadvantages of Longitude; Cost of Longitude.

The article describes a software developed by Lumeta chief scientist Bill Cheswick which checks for network leaks. Cheswick says he knows how to find leaks and he is inspired the software that will help you find them. What he does seems simple on the face of it. He uses the familiar traceroute function to explore the ends of the network, but his innovation goes beyond just using the traceroute command. working from an inventory of network nodes, he uses spoofed addresses from both inside and outside the network to see where those queries show up. The key is that if a query from one side of the network ends up on the wrong side, there is a network leak. To accomplish this, Lumeta uses a new collection of appliances, called IP Sonar, which are placed in spots both inside and outside the network. The appliances communicate with a server that reports on what they find. To check for leaks, the appliances send traceroute requests to each Internet protocol address on the network and then look for responses. Network leaks show up in one of two ways. Either a test from inside the network would report passing through nodes outside the network, or tests from outside would appear inside the network. The appeal of IP Sonar is that it produces what Cheswick calls a cleaner network.

Focuses on Network Address Translation (NAT), a solution which allows organizations to minimize the number of Internet Protocol addresses they need. Ways in which NAT works; Key requirements of NAT traversal; Test results of NAT Traversal.

Presents information on IPv6, the standard for Internet Protocols (IP). Disadvantage of network address translation (NAT); Factors that will drive the adoption of IPv6 by companies; Header design of IPv6.

Focuses on a reworking of the set of Resource Reservation Protocol designed to provide guaranteed quality of service on Internet Protocol networks that is raising hopes for better application performance. Purpose of proposing the protocol; Protocols that are under development for setting up specific levels of service across local area networks and wide area network; Key to delivering the right levels of service.

Reports that Novell Inc. will be releasing Open Document Management API (ODMA) enabled upgrades to its groupware products. Version 4.1a of GroupWise; Enhancement Pack for conferencing and application development; Upgraded InForms electronic forms software; Version 4.0a of SoftSolutions document manager.

Reports on National Semiconductor Corp.'s use of the Netscape Enterprise server for secure documents based on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Creation of a central mechanism for authenticating users to intranet sites; Storage of employee information; Employee access to corporate white page information.

Reports on the expansion of application programming interface standard at the Open Document Management API. Features allowing user access to multivendor environments; Improvement of interoperability between desktop applications and document management systems. INSET: ODMA extensions..

The article reports on a proposal being pushed by Infiniband-turned-Ethernet switching company Mellanox to compete with other data center switching companies. The proposal involves an Open Ethernet strategy that is built on open source switching, routing and management software and software-defined networking protocols. With this strategy, the company believes that there will be opportunities for innovations on the platform from the open source application development community.

The Department of Finance will overall its IP network with an architectural redesign and installation of new hardware and software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers at the University of Sydney have developed a new scheduling algorithm designed to reduce data centre energy consumption without disrupting operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NSW Rural Lands Protection Board (RLPB) has splurged $300,000 on sweeping communication and datacentre upgrades, including a state-wide IP network and a fleet of servers with virtualisation software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the issue concerning the computer worm that affected the customers of a company on December 21, 2007 in the U.S. It states that a message appears on their user's Trend Micro OfficeScan program which alerts them concerning the existence of the virus. It shows that the company's security managers has sent electronic mails and telephone notifications to companies and their clients informing them on the virus outbreak. The company has used its incidence-response protocol to determine the worm and was named winllogo.exe. The company's IT managers stress that their utilization of Wireshark, a network protocol analyzer enable them to identify the virus. Also, the program developer Trend Micro Inc. helps the company address the problem.

The article presents the views of the author on how information technology (IT) departments should respond to the threat concerning the early switch of daylight-saving time (DST) in the U.S. He stresses that the application of Network Time Protocol (NTP) by system administrators can help address the synchronization of clocks in computer systems over data networks. It was inferred that compliance of computer programs to time zones and DST rules is significant to prevent failures in applications and systems. The author argues that it conducted an evaluation on all IT servers to ensure that every server was DST compliant. He asserts that the evaluation enables them to install programs that address the security of operating systems.

The article reports on the launched of two upgraded Clariion CX3 midragne storage arrays by EMC Corp. that support both Fibre Channel and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocols in the U.S. EMC brought out monitoring software for the Clariion arrays and models in its Symmetrix and Celerra lines. However, Molex Inc. runs an EMC Fibre Channel array at its headquarters and EMC Clariion CX300i iSCSI storage systems. According to Tom Henson, infrastructure manager at Molex Inc., their company will evaluate new Clariion models for purchase when the Clariion CX700 Fibre Channel system used at its headquarters.

The article focuses on the VoIP technology for Wi-Fi. CounterPath Solutions Inc. has begun testing voice-over-Internet protocol software for handhelds used over Wi-Fi networks. Their chief technology officer, Jason Fischel says that his company is just starting on the project. One of the major problem is that Wi-Fi is unable to hand off calls from one access point to another when users move. This is being given attention to and by June, iBeam users will be able to call from their Outlook or Notes address books.

This article reports on the need for better Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) traffic due to the growing interest in SIP-enabled communications as of October 2005. SIP is a signaling protocol used to establish connectivity between two session end points. Covergence will provide its answer to the SIP security question at Gartner Symposium/ITExpo this week by unveiling Eclipse, a Linux-based appliance that manages the connectivity and performance of SIP services and applications. Acting as both perimeter and internal defense system. Eclipse secures access to SIP applications and SIP-enabled PBXes and phones, making it a natural fit in VoIP security plans. Beyond VoIP, it can apply security policies to SIP traffic, monitor network capacity, and log and record application traffic to comply with industry regulations.

This article presents information on Web application frameworks that complies with the Web protocol's rules as of May 2005. According to the author, when he discussed the proper use of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) verbs POST and GET, the benefits and hazards seemed abstract. Recently, though, two compellingly concrete examples emerged. The first involved a collision between Google's new Web Accelerator and an application called Backpack, which is built with Ruby on Rails, a Web application framework for the Ruby programming language. This was an unfortunate but timely demonstration of what can go wrong when HTTP-based software fails to distinguish between requests that alter resources and requests that do not. The second example involved Coral, an open content distribution network, and underscored what can go right when the rules of the road are respected. The proxying and caching features of HTTP do much more than usually imagined.

This article discusses how a service layer makes service-oriented architectures (SOA) easier to manage and update. Most companies looking seriously at SOA do so in hopes of making a mishmash of existing hardware and software play together more smoothly. Such companies have much to gain from SOA. But they face a key challenge in that heterogeneous environments bring together a plethora of brands, platforms, protocols, security systems and more, making SOA standardization more difficult to achieve. Even if the chief architect of a company solves the problem by dictating, the Web services policy--the set of requirements for using any given service--must be abstracted from the services themselves in order for the SOA to scale. This is exactly the type of practical concern for which the InfoWorld SOA Executive Forum was created, to be held in San Jose, California, on May 5, 2005 and in New York on May 17, 2005. Eric Pulier, executive chairman of SOA Software, said that if an individual has exposed his or her applications as Web services but the security procedures and other policies are hard-coded into the applications, then every change requires him or her to re-code the applications. That is equivalent to an old-style tightly coupled application-to-application interface. The smart solution is to handle such complexities in a service layer, integral to the SOA. Some companies write this layer themselves, others seek a prepackaged solution such as the one offered by SOA Software. In either case, the service layer knows where each service resides, what it knows, and what it needs. It then acts as a nexus for communication, security and so forth. Upgrading a protocol, then, requires you to change the service layer rather than several applications.

This article provides information on the two collaboration offerings: Linktivity WebDemo 4.0 software for real-time Web conferencing and collaboration, and Weblnteractive 4.0 collaboration software for support and online sales, released by Inter-Tel in December 2004. New features in Linktivity WebDemo include Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) support; 128-bit encryption; authentication through Windows, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or Radius; and improved search and query capabilities. Weblnteractive 4.0 also includes SSL support and 128-bit encryption, an enhanced user interface, and integration application program interfaces.

The article reflects on voice recognition software. I could never convinced myself to make dictation part of my routine working life but with each generation of hardware and with each version of the program, the gap between desire and reality has narrowed. For me, typing remains the most efficient way to produce error-free copy. Because recognition accuracy is such a difficult problem, dictation software has to pay very close attention to me. It has to learn everything it can about my speech pattens, vocabulary and writing style. Perhaps because people imagine that other application domains are not as challenging, other programs pay strikingly little attention that the people do. When I organize my E-mail or conduct research on the Web, I exhibit predictable pattens of behavior. People have long expected but rarely experienced personal productivity software that absorbs those patterns, automated repetitive chores and can be taught to improve its performance. Thin-client rich Internet applications cannot easily collect or exploit interaction data, with open protocols and plenty of bandwidth, anything is possible. Intelligent assistance in its most intimate form will initially be delivered on the desktop and will be closely bound to it.

Reports on developments involving the computer industry in the U.S. as of September 2004. Introduction of the first network gateway e-mail appliance product line called SurfControl RiskFilter by antispam software vendor SurfControl PLC; Launch of Xten Networks Inc.'s eyeBeam, a video softphone based on the Session Initiation Protocol and the H.263 video coder/decoder standard; Availability of 3am Labs Inc.'s products LogMeln, LogMeln Pro and LogMeln Scout, which are designed to improve security and simplify remote access.

This article presents the opinion of the author on issues relating to the Internet. It is not often that the songs of the '80s hair metal bands intersect with information technology management, but our recent foray into setting up an open source Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) server at InfoWorld to deliver mail to the executive team's Treos had me singing a couple of lines from an early '80s Motley Crue hit. After we set up the server, we did in fact have something to show, but we encountered another unexpected problem that did leave us with no simple solution. The Cyrus IMAP server delivered electronic mail to the Treos flawlessly, but new trouble began when Kevin McKean tried to check his new IMAP account using Outlook 2002. His client would successfully log in but was unable to find any new messages. After digging through mailing lists and newsgroups, I made a startling discovery while I was too fast for Outlook. In the end, I was not so sure. Once again, I had entered a maze of open standards issues while trying to accomplish something that seemed ridiculously simple on the surface, which is to get electronic mail with Outlook via IMAP. I Knew McKean was going to want to use Outlook and I also knew that Outlook supported IMAP. so I was not particularly worried.

This article reports on the launch of NetProcess service advertising protocol (SAP) management software version 6.0 from IntelliCorp in April 2004. NetProcess aims to smooth the road by automating the monitoring, auditing, and analysis of SAP installs, functions typically handled by consultants. IntelliCorp CEO George D'Auteuil jokingly refers to NetProcess as the magnetic resonance imaging for SAP because, he says, it offers deep diagnostic views into systems' internals without invasive tinkering.

Features the NetWare 6.5 bundled software from Novell. Capabilities of the Nterprise Branch Office property of NetWare 6.5; Importance of the Internet small computer systems interface aspect of NetWare; Information on the process of installing NetWare 6.5.

Focuses on the move of Storagetek to negotiate with a number of telecommunication companies to deliver a complete Internet Protocol disaster-recovery offering called StorageTek Lifeline. Reason behind the move; Advantages of StorageTek Lifeline for companies; Base design of the product.

Criticizes the move of Microsoft Corp. to withdraw a computer software patch for a flaw in Remote Data Protocol in October 2001. Computer operating systems in which the patch are used; Implication of the flaw for information technology management.

Presents an article on information technology (IT) management. Methods used in creating a network diagram of his company's IT infrastructure; Comparison between Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol to authenticate remote virtual private network users; Benefits of using Nessus, a free Internet port-scanning tool.

Reports on the security problems revealed by a Finnish university project in several implementations of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Products affected by the security problems; Possible effects of the security problems; Software products with security problems; Description of LDAP; How the security problems were discovered.

Reports on the support given by Cisco Systems Inc. for the Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6) standard in its Internetwork Operating System router software. Implication of the IPv6 support for Cisco's routers; Outlook of Maria Zeppetella, analyst at Probe Research on IPv6; Reason for the appeal of IPv6 to customers; Cisco routers with IPv6 capabilities.

Focuses on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), a directory standards released by Distributed Management Task Force Inc. Integration of Common Information Model to information technology products; Comments from Bill McCutcheon, a Lotus Notes administrator at Master Builders Inc.; Role of LDAP in the Novell Directory Services of Novell.

Evaluates the ipMux TP/5, a five-port Simple Network Management Protocol-manageable Ethernet Internet Protocol multiplexer, from IMC Networks. Features of the product; Pros and cons; Platforms; Cost.

Offers observation on enterprise directory services based on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), fail-over clustering and Lotus Notes. Rumors regarding LDAP-based Linux directory service; Project of IBM Corp. for fail-over clustering; Release of the OpenMail for Linux by Hewlett-Packard Co.

Provides information on the data encryption enhancement in Intellisync synchronization software for handheld computers from Puma Technology Inc. Licensing of Certicom Corporation's Secure Sockets Layer technology by Puma; Problem of companies in monitoring data coming out of handheld computers.

Focuses on the systems detailed by Hewlett-Packard Co., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Nortel company intended to capitalize on converged telecommunications and Internet Protocol (IP) applications. Aim of the Colonnade computer line of Hewlett-Packard; Features of the ChorusOS 4.0 software of Sun; Estimated shipment of Internet Communications Architecture M10 Communications Systems of Nortel.

Reports on Novell Inc.'s NetWare Link Services Protocol (NLSP), which answers the problem of routing Internet Packet Exchange (IPX) over wide area networks. Failure of the IPX Routing Information Protocol and Service Advertising Protocol as routing protocols for NetWare; Availability of NLSP as a NetWare Loadable Module; Ability to run on NetWare 3.11; Opinions of NetWare users on NLSP.

Discusses the emergence of the Internet Mail Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4), a standards-based technology to make electronic mail easier for the mobile user, as well as the PalmPilot-killer apps built on Microsoft's PalmPC personal digital assistants. Advantages of IMAP4; Benefits for users of IMAP4; Play for PalmPilot; Technical support issues.