Web applications are catching on, and in a few years, you may not install anything on your pc but a browser. More of the interesting news is about web app’s every month. 
With Comcast offering 50 MB download speeds in Visalia soon, the web connection will be almost as fast as your local LAN.  Cloud computing is on the horizon. Consider coming to the Lunch Bytes seminar on Cloud Computing Oct 14th at the Chamber.
 
Windows 7 will be out Oct. 22^nd. Be prepared for a lot of hype. We have been using it and are impressed. I suggest planning to upgrade sometime next year. Make sure you get the right hardware now with any new PC purchases. It must support hyper-v to use XP Mode.
Be careful of going down to the local computer store to get a Windows 7 computer for business – it will be 64 bit, probably home or home media edition, which is not meant for an office network.
XP mode http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/
2009/10/01/coming-soon-final-release-of-windows-xp-mode.aspx
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/
2009/08/04/windows-xp-mode-rc-now-available.aspx
Using windows seven http://channel9.msdn.com/windows/using
 
Acronis Workstation imaging software free for Maxtor and Seagate hard drives.
www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1022295/one-hdd-utilities-free
 
A stripped down Microsoft Office 2010 will be a free online app, as part of windows live.
www.office2010themovie.com Office 2010 preview videos.
https://microsoft.crgevents.com/Office2010TheMovie/Content/Home.aspx Beta signup.
 
Google Wave – another web collaboration and rich content tool. Not out yet, but getting a lot of attention. It is intended to replace email and IM as a communication and collaboration tool. http://wave.google.com/help/wave/closed.html
http://lifehacker.com/5373339/top-10-web-collaboration-tools-that-arent-google-wave
www.zoho.com is yet another set of online collaboration tools. Powerful, but not free.
 
Dropbox is a great way to share large files, or just keep things handy from anywhere you can get to the internet. 2GB Free Storage Space across platforms with version control.  Web interface to get files.  www.getdropbox.com/
Now there is a Dropbox app for the iphone. http://lifehacker.com/5370537/
We also like http://drop.io (mentioned last month), which requires no signup.
 
Maniac Time runs in the background and tracks time you are actually working on your computer, and in what application. Free. www.manictime.com
More time tracking tools http://lifehacker.com/5362829/five-best-time tracking-applications   Freckle web based time tracking: http://letsfreckle.com
 
Free online screen recorder allows you to create a recording of what you are doing on your computer, and even put an audio track with it. It then can be downloaded as a flash file, or posted online. www.screentoaster.com
We also like and use Camtasia, although it is not free. www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
http://aviary.com also includes online editing tools, including myna, an audio editor, and phoenix, a photo editor.
 
More free online photo editing tools http://mobaphoto.mobatek.net/en/
 
www.PDFtoWord.com is a free web site that converts PDF files to word documents. Simple, quick, and effective.
 
Work Desks of the famous and productive http://lifehacker.com/5367129/ Check out the David Allen video showing how he organizes his workspace: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9ULWQ_tnM8
 
Microsoft today launched WebsiteSpark, a program designed to help Web development and design companies for three years with no up-front cost. www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark
 
Which browser is best? 
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/06/
microsoft-ie8-beats-firefox-and-chrome-in-7-out-of-10-areas.ars   
Chrome plug in for IE8: Speed up JavaScript in IE8 nearly 10 times faster using Google's Chrome Frame plug-in and support standards IE cannot handle, such as HTML 5.
http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe
Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) has proven to be the most effective at blocking malware, according to a disputed recent study by NSS Labs. 
www.infopackets.com/news/business/microsoft/2009/
20090323_questionable_study_praises_ie8_malware_protection.htm
Most performance Problems with IE8 we have seen are caused by upgrading without removing incompatible plug-ins prior to the upgrade. Be careful to uninstall any toolbars and add-ins to Internet Explorer, the reinstall the IE8 compatible version. Mapped drives which are no longer valid can also cause searches to hang – remove the drive in Windows Explorer or Disk Manager.
 
Another antivirus comparison: ESET and Kaspersky are topping the charts
http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/06/
av-comparatives-may-2009-report-three-winners.ars
 
Zsoft uninstaller can monitor changes made during a software install, and undo them if something goes wrong.   www.zsoft.dk/index/software_details/4 
 

  
 I will be presenting a series of talks at the Visalia chamber. The next one is on Cloud Computing Oct 14^h (Wednesday) at Noon. Cost is $10 and pays for lunch.
For more information: www.toriangroup.com/events
Security
Windows updates will be out Sept 13^th this month. We will send a separate email if there are any problems with the updates.
 
Consider getting set up on social networking sites, even if you don’t use it, just to protect yourself from someone else pretending to be you online. 
Keep in mind that people sharing things on their sites such as MySpace and Facebook may not be very careful about where the content comes from, and may inadvertently post infected files.
 
Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Digg, and LiveJournal (among others) are all guilty of "leaking" personally identifiable information (PII) to partners. http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/09/
which-user-clicked-on-viagra-ads-ask-myspace-and-facebook.ars
 
RIM (Blackberry) security issue with web sites using SSL . Update your blackberry. www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=
displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB19552
 
Mozilla has ended support for version 2 of the Firefox browser. If you haven't upgraded already, get version 3.5.3  www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ie.html
 
Fix for Microsoft SMB flaw. This is not a big problem for most people with firewalls. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975497
 
Spam IRS email "Notice of Underreported  Income." These messages may contain a link or attachment. If users click on this link or open the attachment, they may be infected with malicious code, including the Zeus Trojan.

Tim Torian
Torian, Group, Inc.
http://www.toriangroup.com