The 10 biggest perks of working in IT

Regardless of what you do for a living, it’s easy to focus on the negatives of the job and let those things bring you down. However, most jobs have certain perks, and IT is no exception. This article discusses some of the benefits I’ve experienced over the years as a result of working in IT.

1: You get to meet lots of people

One of my absolute favorite things about working in IT is that you get to meet so many interesting people. Back in the mid-90s, for example, I worked for a large insurance company with about 1,000 users. I can honestly say that I knew most of those users on a first-name basis. Better still, even though I left the company about 15 years ago, some of the people I met there are still my best friends to this day.

Without a doubt, the greatest benefit that came from getting to know so many people was that I met my wife of 17 years as a direct result of working in IT. She was working in the marketing department at the time, and I met her because she called me to fix her printer.

2: The money can be good

Even though IT will probably never be the way that it was during the dot-com boom, IT does tend to pay better-than-average salaries. Of course, the pay level varies considerably from one company to the next and from one position to the next.

3: It’s easy to move around

One thing I have always noticed about IT is that it is relatively easy to move around. I have known plenty of IT pros who got bored with their position and switched to a different IT specialty with minimal effort. For instance, I have known network administrators who became database administrators and software developers who became network administrators.

4: You have personal freedom

IT pros tend to have a lot of personal freedom. I will be the first to admit that corporate culture can vary considerably from one organization to the next and that some organizations are more permissive than others. Even so, I can’t remember anyone ever making me punch a time clock or stick to a rigid break schedule. Most of the IT jobs I have had have allowed me to set my own hours and even work from home when I wanted to (within reason). Likewise, I have always had total freedom to decorate my office anyway I wanted.

5: You get to help people

Another great thing about working in IT is that you get to help a lot of people. Some people hate IT because they’re usually calling with a problem they want you to solve. Even so, I have always found it gratifying to be able to end the day knowing that I was able to spend it helping people.

6: You get paid to spend time away from the office

This may not apply to everybody, but one thing I have always enjoyed immensely about IT is the travel. The very nature of the job means that you constantly have to learn new things and oftentimes, this means traveling to training classes and technical conferences.

Although I do confess to being a travel junkie, there is also something very cool about being away from the office for a few days without having to burn up any of your vacation time. What’s even better is that technology conferences tend to be held in places where there are plenty of things to see and do after hours.

7: You sometimes face unusual challenges

Few things in life bring me down faster than monotony. While every job has some amount of repetition, IT has the unique advantage of requiring creative solutions to unusual problems. There is definitely something to be said for being challenged once in a while.

8: You have access to cool toys

A definite perk of working in IT is having access to cool toys. Just yesterday, for example, I had to spend several hours in a hospital waiting room, so I got some work done using my Windows 8 tablet. While doing so, several people stopped to ask me where I got the tablet, since Windows 8 won’t be out until sometime next year.

The same basic concept has always held true regardless of the hot technology of the moment. Back in the 90s, I remember using a flatbed scanner to copy pictures for my friends at a time when none of them had ever even heard of a scanner.

9: IT knowledge can be helpful in everyday life

Although perhaps not a job perk, IT knowledge can definitely be helpful in everyday life. For example, there was a time long, long ago when the network cabling standard of choice was coaxial Ethernet. I spent one entire summer pulling coaxial cable and attaching cable ends. At the time, I hated the job. But even though nobody uses coaxial Ethernet anymore, the knowledge I gained installing all that cable came in handy just last week.

My next-door neighbors had some carpet installed. The installer accidentally cut their satellite cable. The cable used by satellite dishes is similar to what was used for Ethernet so long ago. Since I still have my tools, I was able to repair the cable for them, so they didn’t have to wait a week and pay for a service call from the satellite company.

10: The job sometimes comes with special rewards

Earlier, I mentioned that one of the great things about working in IT is that you get to help people. Sometimes, people who you help are so grateful that they provide a special reward. Over the years, I have had clients send me various gifts as a way of saying thank-you for helping them out in a pinch. When I worked for the military, some of the people I helped even thanked me by taking me for joy rides in tanks and helicopters.

Don’t get me wrong — I don’t help people because I expect to get something in return. However, it is always a nice feeling when someone surprises you with a thank-you gift.

Other perks?

What other aspects of your IT job make you happy? Do the good things outweigh the bad?

source: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/the-10-biggest-perks-of-working-in-it/2948?tag=nl.e042

FACEBOOK AUTOMATIC WALL POST VIRUS REMOVAL

Don’t let your family be infected : SHARE!

To everyone that is facing problem with automatic (nude) video posts on your friend’s walls, the website is installing an extension which takes access to all your websites including Facebook, and is named as
“YOUTUBE EXTENSION”
“YOUTUBE PREMIUM”
In order to stop this auto posting remove this.

Extension, Add-ons

For Firefox

Tools > Addons > Extensions

For Chrome:

Wrench Icon > Tools > Extensions

And Click on REMOVE to Block/Stop Auto-Post addon, INSHALLAH that will resolve the issue.

Provided By MMG.
Muhammad Adeel Ansari, Kashif Siddiqi

Facebook Virus Removal (Remove : Koob Face Worm)

Remove Latest Facebook Virus : Koob Face Worm

NEW FACEBOOK WORM VIRUS

(CNN NEWS)

 

Alright, so I know Facebook is huge now. If anyone here on Sodahead uses it, it looks like there’s some video viruses going around. One is of an Obama sex tape type video and the other one is an optical illusion video (This one is always popping up on my news feed). So if one of your “friends” sends it to you, don’t click on it!

New Facebook Viruses Can now Use your Account to Mass Private

message your friends to click on a link saying “WTF: This AMERICAN guy should be STONED to DEATH for doing this to his GIRLFRIEND: bit.ly/*****” or something like this “Hey, check out this girl, lol, she must be out of her mind for making that video!: bit.ly/hw****” Once You even Accidentally Click on the Provided Link, Infection on your computer will arise, your Documents will be HACKED, your Files Lost, and you will no longer have Privacy on your computer.

Also look out for Wall post on Facebook such as this :

Some even got a youtube like screen that has a caption of “obama sex tape scandal” and when you click the link it requires you to install something to access the video, and once link was clicked, Virus Attacks! and will take total CONTROL over your computer.

“HOW TO REMOVE AND PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER FROM THIS VIRUS?”

(SEE THIS DOWNLOAD LINK )

 

Save time by creating an Excel workbook workspace

If you’re like most of us, you probably work with the same few workbooks every day. You might work with them as a group or separately, but you open these files, individually, most every day and that’s inefficient.

You can save a bit of time by saving the files you use every day as a group as follows:

1. Open all the workbooks you want to save as a group.
2. Click the View tab.
3. Click Save Workspace in the Window group.
4. Enter a name for the group, and click Save.

To open the group (all the workbooks in the group), open the group as you would any other file.

Your workbooks are still separate files. You can open and close them individually, as you normally would. However, Excel also saves a reference to the workbooks as a group now, using the xlw extension. It’s a simple way to reduce a few keystrokes every day.

Taking a glimpse at the future of SkyDrive (from their blog post)

Over at the official Inside Windows Live team blog, Omar Shahine and Mike Torres, Group Program Managers for SkyDrive, recently made a blog post analysing some of the stats of the current competitive environment, outlining what they think are the “winning factors” for a personal cloud service, and what (a bad) situation SkyDrive is currently in. However, buried deep in the blog post we think the SkyDrive team is trying to actually set a stage hinting at what will be coming for SkyDrive. In the table below, we will analyse some of these “winning factors” that Omar and Mike talked about in the blog post, and how these translates to what Microsoft sees in the future of SkyDrive:

Winning Factors
What will this mean for SkyDrive?

Simple & secure
It would sync the files you have to the cloud and other devices. It would be simple enough to use to share files with anyone so you could finally stop emailing attachments. It would also protect your content using industry leading security measures. In short, you could trust it to “just work”.
The current Windows Live Mesh software, and the future Windows 8 SkyDrive sync feature, will allow users to sync files directly to the cloud and share them with others. But of course, the current situation with SkyDrive and “SkyDrive synced storage” for Windows Live Mesh doesn’t exactly make it simple for users. Will this change soon?

In addition, to stop people from emailing attachments, we know that the latest version of Hotmail already allow users to upload their documents and photos directly to SkyDrive, and share them with your email recipients. So nothing really surprising here.

Straightforward and flexible storage limits
It should provide a modest amount of free storage for key scenarios. It should actually make it easy for customers to use this storage – and provide options to purchase more if needed.
This gets a little bit interesting. We previously reported that SkyDrive might soon provide unlimited storage for photos and documents, and 25GB for everything else. I wouldn’t call this “modest amount”, but if true, this would really make SkyDrive one of the best cloud storage provider on the market.

In addition, we’ve also told you that purchasable storage plans are coming to SkyDrive soon.

Work across any device
It would be built with the understanding that we want to have our content available anywhere, even if we use devices made by different companies with different operating systems. This is how important services like Hotmail and Skype work, and personal cloud storage should be no different.
We’ve previously reported that the SkyDrive team is working on building client apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and of course Windows Phones. In addition to SkyDrive.com, this would make SkyDrive truly cross-browser and cross-platform, allowing you to access your SkyDrive files everywhere on any device.

Cloud-enable the entire PC
While it’s critical to support all types of devices, it’s particularly important to connect the billions of PCs in the world to the cloud. The PC is the most popular smart device and stores most of the world’s personal content. A cloud tailored for this device would provide access to all of your content from anywhere, with no complex setup or configuration.
With the upcoming Windows 8, all your favorite content — Photos, Music, Documents, Contacts, Calendar, Mail, apps and settings — will be synced via SkyDrive (if you choose to) and be able to be accessed anywhere. And best of all, this is built right in to Windows 8, so definitely no “complex setup” is required.

Work with key apps and services to let you organize, collaborate, and share in new ways
It would work seamlessly and automatically with leading email, productivity, or photo apps to let you organize, collaborate, and share content in entirely new ways. It would also connect with the services you already use for sharing so that you could upload once and share the way you want. It would do all of this while supporting the files you use today and keeping you in control of your content.
Microsoft Office 2010 already features SkyDrive integration, allowing you to save, open, share and collaborate on documents stored on the cloud.

With the upcoming SkyDrive APIs as part of Live Connect, any developers building apps – whether it be Windows 8 apps, Windows Phone apps, or web services – will be able to utilize SkyDrive for cloud storage to be used within their apps or websites.

Connects people, content, and devices at scale
In addition to having the right features, the scale of a cloud itself can provide value for customers. Sharing and collaborating is more convenient when more people can connect to a given cloud. Also, people benefit from a cloud that connects content to more apps, and app developers prefer to integrate with clouds that have the most content and connect the most devices.
After Windows 8 gets released in 2012, and if (and that’s a big if) app and web developers start taking advantage of the newly released SkyDrive APIs, Microsoft is hoping that it would push for a wider adoption for its SkyDrive service.

Given the competitive environment SkyDrive is in, and the team’s delayed realisation on the need to continuously improve and innovate the service, could Microsoft achieve the scale that they’re hoping for?

In addition to the “winning factors” Omar and Mike listed, their latest post also specifically points out several feedbacks and requests from consumers which they have heard “loud and clear”. The table below takes a look at these, and provides a quick analysis on what this means for the future of SkyDrive:

Feedbacks from consumers
What will this mean for SkyDrive?

Why are “synced storage” and “My Files” separated? I dream of a day when my docs & files can be together everywhere.
We previously reported that devices integration is coming to SkyDrive, and actually saw a demo at BUILD showing how you can directly access files on your PCs (and other devices?) from SkyDrive.com.

What we haven’t yet seen is the merging of SkyDrive’s storage space with Windows Live Mesh’s “synced storage”. If the SkyDrive team has heard this feedback loud and clear, does that mean it’s coming soon?

How do you move files or folders on SkyDrive?
Based on what we saw at BUILD, the upcoming update for SkyDrive will come with new right-click options, which presumably will make it easier to navigate and perform file operations on files and folders.

Why limit video size to 100MB when you give us 25GB of storage?
Microsoft just recently upgraded the individual file size limit from 50MB to 100MB, but this still pales in comparison to competitive services like Google Docs (10GB) and Dropbox (Unlimited via desktop app, 300MB via website).

Is this a hint that Microsoft will be increasing the individual file size limit again?

We need the ability to share individual files without sharing the entire folder.
The demo we saw at BUILD mentioned “simplified file sharing” is coming soon to the upcoming update for SkyDrive. Does that mean we can now choose to share individual files as well as entire folders too?

Please add check-boxes…so people can quickly [manage] content in batches, whether to delete, download or move the selection.
We’ve previously reported that check-boxes for multiple-file selections will be available in the upcoming SkyDrive update. And this was confirmed during the SkyDrive demo at BUILD.

With the recent rollout of the Hotmail update, we speculated a few weeks ago that Microsoft might be rolling out an update to its other Windows Live web services, including SkyDrive, very soon. Could Microsoft really transform SkyDrive into a winning product and achieve the scale they’re hoping for? Are we going to see all the improvements and features that we have hoped for? I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the SkyDrive team will bring us.

SkyDrive gets an update: better sharing, file management

A new post on the Inside Windows Live blog today brings us news of some new features for SkyDrive, including file upload and file management changes, expanded “right-click” functionality, HTML5 support for file uploads (meaning drag and drop file uploading for Firefox and Chrome), and support for viewing PDF and RAW files from within SkyDrive.

If you were expecting a full checklist of new features as outlined in last week’s SkyDrive post (and our own analysis of what that post means for the future of SkyDrive), it’s hard not to be at least a little disappointed.  No improvements, or even any mention, of Windows Live Mesh / SkyDrive syncing, no news on expanded free or even paid storage, and no ability to upload by folder (although file upload and file sharing has been enhanced).  Hopefully these will be coming soon, and SkyDrive, like Hotmail, appears to be shipping updates every 2 months or so.

But there are some improvements to get excited about.  The file sharing updates now allow you to set sharing on a per-file basis, allow or disallow file editing by the sharing recipient, and/or require a log-in to view the file.  SkyDrive now allows easy file sharing to Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, too:

However there doesn’t seem to be any kind of sharing management capabilities, so if you want to disable sharing for one person across all your files, you’re going to have to do it file by file, if you can even find all the files you previously shared.

Don’t get us wrong, these new features are great, and will make sharing single files not only possible but easy, provide easy file upload for browsers other than IE, and open up SkyDrive through new APIs for some hopefully interesting 3rd party scenarios.  Will it be enough to get more than 10% of college students using cloud storage to consider SkyDrive?  Somehow, we don’t thing Dropbox is shaking in their boots quite yet, but what do you think?

Next Generation Firewalls: It’s all about tuples

By Michael Kassner
November 28, 2011, 11:23 AM PST

Takeaway: Next-generation firewalls have been around for several years, but garnered little interest. That’s changing as first-generation firewalls aren’t keeping up.

IT professionals responsible for perimeter defenses are frustrated.

Case in point: Internet traffic of all shapes and sizes traverses port 80. Meaning, port 80 must remain open. Bad guys know this. So port 80 becomes their private malware highway. And trucks, full of malcode, drive right past the check point.

There is hope

I’d like to introduce Next Generation FireWalls (NGFW). Firewalls designed to filter packets based on applications. To continue my analogy, the trucks loaded with malcode can’t drive right past the check point, any more.

Other features incorporated in NGFWs:

• Enforce company regulations: NGFWs are able to control user access to websites and online applications as required.
• SSL Proxy: NGFWs are able to decrypt, inspect, and re-establish the encrypted SSL connection. This eliminates encryption as a method of hiding malware.
• IDS/IPS: NGFWs have incorporated deep packet inspection-to the point where stand alone IDS/IPS devices are not required.
• Active-Directory friendly: Many NGFWs are able to authorize application usage based upon individual user profiles or groups.
• Malware filtering: NGFWs provide signature and reputation-based filtering to block malicious applications that have a bad reputation.

Click to enlarge

Vendors

Palo Alto Networks was the first company to offer a NGFW. For information about NGFW requirements per Palo Alto Networks, please check out this white paper (above slide). Barracuda Networks, Juniper Networks, and WatchGuard also offer NGFW solutions.

N-tuple?

Just about every blog post I’ve read about NGFWs mentioned tuples. I had no idea what they were. Hopefully, you do. If not, here’s what I found out.

N-tuple is a collection of attributes. And, in the case of firewalls, these attributes are used to define access requirements. N is a place holder representing the number of attributes in the list. For example, a 5-tuple “firewall allow rule” might include:

• Source IP address
• Source port (typically: any)
• Destination IP address
• Destination port (80 or 443)
• Destination protocol (typically TCP)

So, if the packet being inspected has all of the correct attributes, the firewall will allow it to pass.

Widening the 5-tuple

I thought I was “good to go” after figuring out what a tuple was. Then I read something about “widening the 5-tuple”. Widen a tuple. Does that even make sense?

Let’s see if it does.

As mentioned earlier, a first-generation firewall rule employs a collection of 5 attributes or 5-tuple. That is sufficient to carry out stateful port and protocol inspection, Network Address Translation, and Virtual Private Network technology.

A 5-tuple rule set is not sufficient for NGFWs. Next Generation Firewalls need additional attributes such as application type and user identity in order to work as advertised. To understand why, consider the port 80 analogy, one last time.

If it’s discovered that the truck carrying malcode has an illegal license plate, the truck ain’t going anywhere. The same applies to malcode. If its license plate — “application type” attribute — is incorrect, the malcode is blocked from continuing on.

The additional attributes or tuples are “widening the 5-tuple”.

Confession time: I did not find a clear-cut explanation of how tuples relate to firewalls. But, article after article mentioned tuples. So, I jumped in. If my explanation is wrong, I hope firewall and database admins that better understand will bail me out.

Survey says

The Ponomen Institute just completed a survey of NGFWs for SourceFire, Inc. The infographic ( partially shown below) provides several interesting statistics, particularly what is driving interest in NGFWs and the percentage of respondents noticing performance degradation:

Final thoughts

The race toward sophistication between malware and antimalware continues. Stay tuned

Windows Live Service Status page gets an update, now tracking Live ID and Family Safety

As part of the latest SkyDrive update today, as we predicted earlier, the rest of Windows Live web services received an update too, up to Wave 5 M2 (version 16.2). As part of this update, Windows Live Service Status, the website that allow you to keep track of the current status of Windows Live services, received an updated too:

The update means that the service is now located at http://home.live.com/status, different from the previous status.live.com. Besides an URL change, the website itself also received some minor enhancements, now reporting real-time service status of Windows Live Family Safety and Windows Live ID as well. Given that Windows Live ID will become a core part of the upcoming Windows 8, it makes sense that this service needs to be monitored closely and provides the latest status info to its customers.

You can check out the new Windows Live Service Status website now at http://home.live.com/status.

NADRA Launches SMS Service for Pakistan Card Verification

National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) has launched a mobile SMS service in collaboration with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and all operating telecom companies to determine a person’s existence in the beneficiary list for Pakistan Card project to facilitate the rain affected people in checking the status of their requests.

Deputy Chairman NADRA, Tariq Malik, stated this in a statement issued by NADRA.

He said out of 62 total 47 centers of National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) are operational in six districts i.e. Badin, Tando Mohammad Khan, Shaheed Benazirabad Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar and Sanghar whereas other 15 centers on completing its task are now addressing the complaints from genuine beneficiaries, who were unable to get registration for Pakistan Cards.

He pointed out that throughout the process, NADRA ensured strong checks in the software so that only deserving families belonging to provincially notified calamity hit areas could obtain Pakistan Cards.

Tariq Malik informed that NADRA has so far issued 592,651 Pakistan Cards in totality to heads of the rain-affected families in Sindh. 105,455 Pakistan cards in Mirpurkhas, 240,227 in Badin, 79,946 in Tando Mohammad Khan and 156,324 in Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah), 8011 in Tando Allahyar and 2684 in Sanghar have been issued to the heads of the families.

How to Verify Pakistan Card

Simply send CNIC number to 9777. In response, a text message will be sent from NADRA confirming CNIC existence in the beneficiary list.

NADRA, in addition to setting up centers, has also mobilized its mobile resources MRVs (Mobile Registration Vans) to process CNIC free of cost in all affected areas in coordination with the public representatives and district administrators, he added.

He said that NADRA has also issued 77,833 free of cost CNICs so far among the flood/ rain-hit victims.

Pakistan Blocks Thousands of Adult Websites

Pakistani internet service providers have started the process of blocking websites with adult and explicit content, told us multiple sources from the industry.

Earlier this month PTA, telecom regulatory authority of Pakistan, had decided to block the access of those websites in Pakistan that contain adult content.

As we reported earlier, PTA has plans of blocking 150,000 such websites in coming weeks, however, initial list of 1,000 websites has been sent out to all ISPs, mobile operators and international gateways to get them blocked.

ProPakistani has got the said list of 1,000 websites, which we aren’t publishing it here for obvious reasons. But we can tell you that they all are adult websites and few of them are ranked in top 100 Alexa list for Pakistani most visited websites. Local adult websites are also included.

ISPs are given 8-10 days to get the orders implemented. Most of the ISPs, including PTCL, have already blocked these websites, while others are making the necessary preparations for the blockade.

PTA is also planning to devise a way for general users to report adult websites to authority. After through review authority will keep adding such reported websites/URLs to the black list.

Internet Service Providers on other hands aren’t comfortable with the overheard involved in the blocking of websites. They say that blocking high number of websites may result into slow performance by routers and increased latency due to high number of filters over the network.

PTA decided to ban explicit websites after immense pressure from bloggers, hackers and activists. They, along with parents, are certainly rejoicing authority’s decision.

However there are users who are opposing the ban, few of them think that this way PTA will get the axe to cut any website under the cover of explicit material. But sources at head-office of PTA tell us that they will make this process of blocking websites very transparent and visible to everyone, so that no one fears the unlawful use of power.

LHC Orders to Block Facebook: Press Report [Updated]

Pakistan Today has reported that Lahore High Court Justice Sh Azmat Saeed yesterday ordered ministry of telecom and information technology to block Facebook in Pakistan for spreading religious hatred on internet.

This news is not being covered by any other media outlet so far (which is strange and hence isn’t that convincing) plus we don’t have any official confirmation from ministry of information technology or from PTA as of now.
According to Pakistan Today, during hearing a petition requesting a permanent ban on Facebook for hosting competition featuring blasphemous caricatures, LHC ordered the government to make sure that Facebook is blocked in Pakistan and to submit a compliance report by October 6, 2011.
The judge, however, made it clear that no search engine including Google would be blocked, reported the paper.
It maybe recalled that Facebook got banned in Pakistan last year for hosting Draw Mohammad Day and for not removing blasphemous pages from it’s server.
This fresh petition in LHC is filed by Muhammad & Ahmad, a public interest litigation firm, through chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique advocate praying for a permanent ban on access to Facebook for hosting a fresh blasphemous caricature drawing contest world over under a title “2nd Annual Draw Muhammad Day on May 20, 2011″.

Facebook is a social network and users from around the world are free to post anything, however, it content is moderated based on Facebook terms which state:

You will not post content that: is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.

Facebook became controversial and was condemned for not removing Draw Mohammad Day page from it’s server despite it was reported (as abuse) by hundreds of thousands of Muslim users. While on other hands Facebook tends to remove any anti-Jews or Anti-Israel page in only few minutes.

Update:
We just got confirmation from PTA officials that they have not received any such order, at least as of now, for Facebook blockade.

Update 2:
At least three ministry of telecom and information technology officials have confirmed us that ministry hasn’t received any order from Lahore High Court regarding facebook ban.

Update 3:
Rabia Mehmood, a reporter for Express 24/7 claims to have spoken with Azhar Siddique – the guy who has filed the petition – and he says that LHC has ordered to ban only specific URLs/fan pages that contain blasphemous content and not the whole Facebook.

This marks another story of Pakistan Today bouncing badly.

Facebook Tracks You Even After You Log Out

Facebook has always topped the list of privacy invaders since it’s inception, however, a recent revelation has shocked security analysts and internet users alike.

According to information and proofs unveiled recently, Facebook cookies track you even after you logout, to make sure that they maintain a complete list of websites that you may visit even after logging out to build a comprehensive and sophisticated data about user behavior.

To experiment this yourself, create few fake Facebook accounts. After using them for some time, you will find that Facebook will suggest you your real account as a friend. This is a proof that Facebook knows that all accounts are coming from the same browser, even after you are logged out.

So apparently if you don’t want to be tracked then logging out of Facebook isn’t enough, you will need to clear all the browser cookies (relating to Facebook), or maintain a separate browser (other than your primary browser) to use Facebook, or don’t use Facebook at all.

Making it worse, it appears, Facebook isn’t bothered about this flaw. The guy who revealed the bug claims to have reported this to Facebook through their support and press emails, but of no avail. He says that the has all the emails that he has sent to Facebook over past one year regarding the said issue.

Just to mention, this user behavior or user tracking data is of extreme value for marketers and government agencies. They can pay anything for this data to be made available to them.

After going through the track record of Facebook, one might think that Onion’s this report of Facebook’s link with CIA was probably more than just a prank.

Future Vision

via microsoft.com

Coming soon to SkyDrive Wave 5: Unlimited photos and documents storage

testr

Free Windows utilities you should download right now

Everyone who works on a Windows computer has his or her favorite system utilities. But, there are a handful of must-have tools that no Windows user or IT support pro should be without. During this week’s episode of TR Dojo, I give you a list of free Windows utilities that you should download right now.

To keep things simple, I’ve divide the list into five separate categories. And while dozens of applications may fall into each category,

1. Cleaners: CCleaner

Five tips for using Ccleaner to degunk your system
How do I … remove unwanted files with Ccleaner in one click?
Product Spotlight: CCleaner

2. Uninstallers: Revo Uninstaller

Uninstall applications from Windows with Revo Uninstaller
How do I uninstall applications from Windows with Revo Uninstaller?

3. Defragmenters: (UltraDefrag, MyDefrag, Smart Defrag, and Defraggler)

Four free defragmentation tools for power users

4. Remote support tools: CrossLoop

Take control of any Windows PC on the Internet with CrossLoop
Quick and easy remote support with CrossLoop

5. Password recovery and reset utilities: Offline NT Password and Registry Editor

Reset Windows passwords with the Offline NT Password and Registry Editor
Reset lost Windows passwords with Offline Registry Editor
ditor

Free Hosting at Microsoft Office Web Host

Microsoft at Office Live offers free web hosting to small businesses that desire to have a website presence.

So Microsoft Office Live Small Business is for those who are looking to just host their domains which they have purchased for free server space.

For free hosting Microsoft offers up to 500 MB of free data storage and included in the pack are the following addons for free

* Free Web Design
* Free Domain Redirection
* Free Email Accounts
* Free Online Document Storage & Sharing
* Free Support
* Free Contact Manager
* Free Document Manager

Addioionally mroe than 500 MB you are charged with the following rates

* 1 GB $4.95 per month
* 2 GB $8.95 per month
* 5 GB $14.95 per month

Hosting Microsoft at Office Live doesn’t require knowledge of HTML and its easy to understand. So if you think that 500 MB is enough for your site then go with it.
Incoming search terms:

500 mb hosting form microsoft
http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/en-us/

Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion; creates new business division

The rumors were right. Microsoft announced on May 10 that it bought Skype, an Internet communications vendor, for $8.5 billion.

Instead of trying to mash Skype into an existing Microsoft business division, the company has decided to create a new, separate Skype business division, with Skype CEO Tony Bates as the newly minted President. Bates will report directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

In its press release announcing the deal, Microsoft played up the potential synergies between Skype and its own communications offerings, including its Lync VOIP platform, Outlook mail, Messenger instant-messaging, Hotmail Web mail and Xbox Live gaming service.

“Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms,” said the release.

Microsoft offered no timetable or further details as to when and how it will make Skype available as part of any of its existing product offerings.

According to earlier reports, Microsoft was bidding against Google and Facebook for Skype. As my colleague Larry Dignan noted, the $8.5 billion Skype purchase price made for one expensive game of keepaway.

Today’s deal with Skype marks Microsoft’s largest acquisition (dollar-wise) in the history of the company. For the past couple of years, Microsoft execs seemingly had decided that Microsoft’s history of assimilating successfully its big acquisitions (aQuantive, Danger, AdECN, Bungie, etc.) was not so great, resulting in the company shying away from anything but relatively minor, targeted acquisitions

• Xbox 360 Kinect + SkypeTV: There is already a video chat feature on the Kinect but a Skype-login and interface could encourage more people to make this a part of their Xbox experience. Skype is already on some televisions so integration with the Xbox seems to be a good fit.
• Windows 7 OS + Nokia + Skype: This could be quite a powerful combination as more and more smartphones are equipped with front-facing cameras and make use of the 4G network, which means video calls will only become the norm on mobile devices. Plus, it gives the partners an edge against Apple’s proprietary Facetime application. Skype users are also able to send SMS messages from the Web to handsets so this could be a great bonus for future customers with Nokia phones running Windows 7.
• MSN Messenger + Skype: Hopefully, Messenger will be replaced with Skype because IMing on Skype is a breeze but uninstalling Messenger from machines running Windows is a hassle. The combination of Messenger and Skype users will give G-Chat and Google Voice some competition (perhaps to finally roll out to more countries)
• Outlook + Skype: By integrating your Skype contacts with your email address book to make voice and video calls, Microsoft is looking to the beefed up Outlook to better compete with Gmail/G-Chat/Google Voice.
  MS Lync, Xbox Live + Skype: These new groups will expand Skype’s user base, according to the press release.

Last night, AllThingsD reported that Microsoft dealmaker Charles Songhurst was key in helping Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer broker the Skype deal. Interestingly, Songhurst also was credited with helping convince the Microsoft brass to call off the Yahoo acquisition.

Osama Bin Laden death may increase terror attacks (Fake Death, Fake Operation)

Osama Bin Laden death may increase terror attacks
The recent death of Osama Bin Laden may be a psychological victory for America. However those in Al Queda and Hamas may use Osama’s death as a rallying cry against America, the west and Israel. Terror attacks could greatly increase in the coming days, weeks and months. With current Mideast instability in Iran, Iraq, Israel, Gaza and Libya the chances of extreme upheaval with renewed terror attacks directed at Israel and America Al Queda should be expected and prepared for

 

These are the real photos.
If you have not yet heard the president’s speech Osama Bin Laden was killed in a fire-fight. The M-16A2 bullet to the forehead is consistent with the damage of these bullets.
These bullets are designed to tumble and ricochet inside the body after penetration to cause more damage. All military personnel know this fact.

TIME TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT
The photos above are an elaborate hoax. They were done by graphic professionals in 2006 during another hoax. My reason for posting them here is to highlight a serious hoax concerning Obama’s long form birth certificate just released a few days ago in April 2011. But before I give you the link to that post here lets talk about the Osama Bin Laden’s hoax death pictures. How do we know they are a hoax pictures?
First the obvious.
1.) Osama Bin Laden looks like he did nearly ten years ago except for the photo shop eye injuries. He has not aged.
2.) Death even on tanned skin begins to produce a non natural discoloration of the skin in just a few hours.
3.) The eye injury is consistent with a partial eye blow out from an M16-A2 bullet ricochet in the interior of the skull. However usually the eye will close with coagulated blood, not always but usually. Also if you look closely at the eyes you will see straight lined eye slits. This is possible because eyes when blown out will stretch the skin to produce this effect. In this case however the slits are just too straight and the whites of the eye are just too white. If you save the small picture of Obama and blow it up 100 percent, using the PAINT tool of windows then you will clearly see it has been photo shopped.
4.) Lastly is there a stock photo that exists with these features especially the mouth. Yes there is and you will see it just below.

Pakistan Quam ka saath Mazak…..

 

Additional by Search by JREF (MusT Watch…..)

Osama is dead. Now here is some new that may benefit you.

666 THE FINAL WARNINGS

666 Calulator..

WORLD WAR 3

All Unverified SIMs To be Blocked by May 17: PTA

Cellular companies have been asked to block all unverified and un-authorized connections by May 17, 2011 if subscribers don’t register their SIMs on their computerized CNICs, reported Daily Times, citing a statement issued by PTA.

Paper said that PTA has directed cellular mobile operators to take all possible measures for the verifications of SIMS of their subscribers within specified time period through “SIM information System 668”.

In this regards, cellular operators are undergoing a massive campaign to rectify the inaccuracies in the data of mobile users’ antecedents as per instructions of telecom authority.

An awareness campaign through media and text SMSes to the subscribers is planned to be initiated in order to get their SIMs identities corrected through Customer Service Centers (CSC).

PTA had introduced “SIM information System 668” for the verification of mobile SIMs in October 2009. Accordingly, subscriber can send hisCNIC to 668 through SMS and in return he would receive detail of total SIMs against his CNIC along with name of the mobile company. In case there is any discrepancy, the user would visit CSC to get the data corrected.

The customers could also carry out SIM verification for quick proceeding through PTA website.

Now, the campaign has been set to re-launch after Minister of Interior Rahman Malik came in action against cellular operators last week and asked to block all unverified SIMs in 30 days.

PTA ordered all cellular operators to inform their subscribers about the registration of SIMs otherwise If he does not get his SIM cleared it would be blocked by May 17, 2011. “This is part of PTA efforts to block all illegal SIMs and clean the data of mobile users,” PTA statement added.

PTA and cellular phone operators in previous campaign against unnamed and unregistered SIMs and have blocked total 16.3 million unregistered SIMs during phase 1 and phase 2 in the last year.

Previously, PTA introduced “789 SIM Activation System” in February 2009 in order to register and verify subscribers’ identity with NADRA. Thereafter, non-activated SIMs are available in the market because SIMs are activated with Standard Operating Procedures prescribed by authority.

New SIMs are activated through this online verification system from NADRA after identification of legitimate users by asking secret questions such as place of birth etc.
The system had been designed to address security risks and preventing SIM misuse in the country.

There are 3.8 million SIM activation requests have so far been rejected on the basis of incorrect information by operators, the authority stated.