Targeted at the traveling business executive who needs his notebook to survive the odd drop or two, keep his data secure at all times, and be able to confidently flaunt it in front of his clients without having to worry about hiding ugly dents and scratches, the HP EliteBook range comprises of six models from both the Professional Series (6930p, 2530p, 2730p, 8530p) and the Workstation Series (8730w, 8530w) for you to choose from.

All six models come loaded to the brim with security-centric features.

It’s still exciting news nonetheless, because what this means is that Malaysians will finally be able to purchase Apple Online Store exclusives such as the uber sexy (PRODUCT) RED iPod Nano, as well as customize Mac systems online (ala Dell) before purchasing them directly from Apple.

To commemorate the opening, Apple will be providing complimentary iPod engraving services with every new purchase from the Online Store, and have also prepared a small number of limited edition t-shirts which will be shipped to early customers.

For more details on the Apple Online Store, visit http://store.apple.com/my or call 1800-80-6419.

Well technically it isn’t actually insurance that they’re selling, but rather an Extended Warranty and All Risks Protection plan.

And when these guys say All Risks, they mean it the protection plan covers any loss due to fire, lightning, flood, burglary with forcible entry, accidents and even armed robbery.

To find out more about the protection plans offered by UCare, visit their official website at www.ucare.com.my or call their customer service hotline at 1-300-80-CARE.

The attackers are most likely using compromised accounts on the websites or launching what’s known as a SQL injection attack, where hackers trick the Web site’s software into inadvertently running malicious commands.

The criminals add a line of JavaScript code onto the hacked sites that redirects victims to one of six servers. These sites, in turn, redirect the visitor to a server in China. That server can launch a variety of attacks, targeting known flaws in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Adobe’s Flash Player and ActiveX, Kaspersky said.

If the victim’s computer hasn’t been patched, the attack code could install a variety of spyware and Trojan horse software, including one program designed to steal World of Warcraft passwords.

Earlier this year, a similar attack compromised more than 1.5 million web pages.

It’s not meant to be punitive, but rather a measure to help the Round Rock, Texas, company save some money as the economy continues on its uncertain path. The request made to employees is also an effort to avoid possible layoffs.

A Dell spokesman confirmed the memo’s existence and said that it was part of a wider program of cost saving that had been instituted.

Dell also temporary freeze on new head count, eliminated contract employees, and offered severance packages to workers to leave voluntarily.

Although computers running Windows Vista are significantly less likely to be infected with attack code than machines running Windows XP, the newer operating system continues to be threatened by Microsoft Corp.’s own ActiveX browser plug-in technology, according to a report from Microsoft.

In the most recent installment of its twice-yearly security intelligence report, Microsoft said that PCs running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) were more than three times as likely to be infected with malware as computers running Windows Vista SP1. Machines powered by the newest XP security update, SP3, meanwhile, were more than twice as likely to be infected.

Vulnerabilities in ActiveX, the Microsoft technology used to create add-ins for Internet Explorer (IE), accounted for eight of the top 10 browser-based attacks against Vista in the first half of 2008. A ninth vulnerability could be exploited via ActiveX.

Actually, all this issue can be minimise or eliminate by educated the users on how to access to the genuine information stored on the internet.

I myself browsing internet very often to search for updates and information but never ever border by those malware and threat.

Check out the first look into Windows 7 now.

Microsoft has killed the Sidebar in Windows 7, but the Gadgets it contained live on. They simply sit wherever you choose to place them on your desktop.

Both the Taskbar and the Start Menu now include Jump Lists — context-sensitive selections of actions relating to a particular application, such as files you’ve used recently or access frequently.

Device Stage is a new feature that gathers all of the information (everything from drivers and applications to manuals) relating to a particular phone, printer or other piece of hardware, and it lets you access it from a single window. But it will show up only if device vendors create an XML document based on a Microsoft template, a document that also must be approved by Microsoft. The good news is that such documents are a lot easier to create than new device drivers, and vendors can stick with the drivers created for Vista.

Windows 7 introduces Libraries, which are virtual folders that provide easy access to related content, regardless of its location on your PC or even on your network. While the operating system will ship with several preset Libraries (Documents, Music, Photos and Video) based on file type, you can create additional Libraries based on criteria you set, such as music genre or photos created on a specific date.

Vista’s famously annoying User Account Control (UAC) becomes less annoying: It now lets you control which potential security risks it alerts you to and which ones it lets slide.

The new Windows Solution Center lets you review notifications about potential system problems at your convenience, rather than when you’re in the middle of doing something else.

The new Federated Search feature collates results from multiple PCs on a network into one list of results.

Windows 7 introduces a slicker interface for choosing, customizing or creating desktop Themes — a feature Microsoft says it will rename “Styles” before Windows 7 ships.

The new Magnifier feature lets you enlarge a part of a screen in Windows 7.

Windows 7 can route music and video from PCs on your home network to streaming devices on the Net.

In the revamped Windows Media Player, a Jump List provides access to recently played content.

Windows 7’s Paint application has adopted Microsoft’s so-called Scenic Ribbon tool-bar interface, as first seen in Office 2007. The ribbon also appears in WordPad.

In Windows 7, the trusty Calculator accessory gets a makeover.

To help you conserve power when using a laptop, Windows 7 provides an improved battery indicator.

Windows Vista’s seach will often indexing files on your system to make their contents available for a quicker search. It is handy but it also causing the system performance.

To disable the indexing:

1. Click on Start and then click Computer.
2. Right click on C: drive.
3. Under General tab, uncheck Index this drive for faster searching.

This is the best way to increase Windows Vista performance without upgrading physical memory (RAM). This tweak only works with system that have at least 1GB of RAM.

I was helping my friend on setup his new desktop with this nice Gigabyte EP45-DS3R.

Upon opening the box, we were presented with the accessories lying on top of the box. These accessories included a user’s manual, a hardware installation guide, a driver CD, stickers, rear I/O shield, four SATA cables, an IDE cable, floppy drive cable, eSATA bracket, IEEE 1394 (Firewire) bracket, eSATA power cable, and a power cable. Everything was packed nicely.

Gigabyte EP45-DS3R is a standard ATX motherboard that supports Socket LGA 775 processors. Gigabyte was one of my favourite motherboard brands but still I like original Intel motherboard.

The Northbridge and Southbridge aren’t connected with any heat pipes. That’s surprising me. I guess this is not for extreme overclocking. So if you into extreme overclocking, this is not the motherboard you should choose.

Gigabyte EP45-DS3R has built-in TPM chip with 2048bits encryption to highest level digital data protection.

It also has two gigabit ethernet LAN. You will find six onboard SATA 3.0GB/s ports. The most impressive was the Gigabyte EP45-DS3R could support up to 16 GB memory.

Gigabyte EP45-DS3R has two PCI-E 2.0 x16 graphic interface with CrossFireX support for ultimate graphics performance.

Gigabyte implements a unique feature called the Dual BIOS technology, which basically means that if one of your BIOSes is corrupt or doesn’t boot up, the motherboard will load up the second BIOS instantly. Most motherboard nowadays should have dual BIOS, it was very useful. I updated the BIOS firmware from version F6 to version F10. It seems that the firmware update help to resolve the Windows Vista resume issue we faced earlier.

After installed the motherboard, it was pretty easy to install the device driver with the CD provided. On the same CD, you could find some cool utility such as EasyTune 6 overclocking utility.

Everything was running very smoothly without any problem so far after 48 hours of non-stop testing.

It reports false or exaggerated system security threats on the computer.

The user is then prompted to pay for a full license of the application in order to remove the threats. Don’t get trick by this malware.