10 Online Virus & Malware Scanners

by Sean P. Aune

There’s no substitution for a quality antivirus solution, but how many times were you in a situation that you simply have none at your disposal? In such situation, the best you can do is use something that’s free and fast. We bring you a list of online virus and malware scanners which will do just fine for a quick scan of the system.

Avast - Online version of popular antivirus software Avast will scan individual files of up to 512kb in size.

BitDefender - An online version of the BitDefender software. Will scan your drives, files, and boot sector. Works only with Internet Explorer.

Computer Associates Malware Scanner - Browse your drives for a file you suspect of being malware and upload it for their scanner to check it for you.

Eset - Just simply click their terms of service and scan your entire system for occurrences of malware.

Freedom - Chck all of your storage inside your browser with this tool based on F-Port.

Jotti’s Malware Scan - Uses several scanners at once to scan files that you upload to detect malware that may be hidden.

NanoScan.com - Requires a small download and then accesses a constantly updated database of known threats. Extremely small an fast.

Panda Security - Searches your system for worms, viruses, trojans and more after a small Active X download.

TrendMicro - This service will not only scan for viruses, but also spyware and malware.

VirusTotal.com - Upload a file of up to 10MB in size and let the site run it through over 30 virus engines. If their server is overloaded, they also provide you the option to email the file to them.

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10 Ways Twitter Can Boost Your Social News Profile

by Dan Zarrella

Building popularity on Twitter is about gaining followers, and the most fundamental and important concept to learn about building popularity is the idea that when you follow someone, they'll get an email about it and there's a good chance they'll follow you back. If that doesn't work, try responding with an @ to something they said. If they check their "replies" stream, they'll see it and possibly follow you.

Once you've got that down, the rest is gravy. But you can also use Twitter to build up a bit more authority on social news sites. Below are a few more tricks to get you started:

1) Match Your Usernames and Avatars

Most social news sites allow users to have an avatar associated with their account and they all use usernames. When you setup your Twitter account make the username match your social news username, and use the same avatar as well. This way, when someone who's familiar with your account on another site sees your tweet it will catch his attention.

2) Search Twitter for Twitter Users Mentioning Your Favorite Social Site

Log into your Twitter account, and search for the name of the social site you want to be more popular on in the "Find Folks" box on the right. Go through the results and follow active users who seem to like the same site(s) you do.

3) Search Google for Profiles on Your Favorite Social News Sites Mentioning Twitter

This is similar to the last trick, but this time, go to Google and type in: site:digg.com/users "Twitter" "StumbleUpon" and you'll see a lot of Digg users with Twitter accounts, who have linked to Twitter in their user profile. Follow the link to their Twitter profile, see if they're still active and follow them. The reason you're searching for StumbleUpon as well is that it increases the likelihood that Google will return results where Twitter appears in the About section of a user's profile -- try substituting StumbleUpon for other social networking sites to change your results set. You can try this trick with any social news site.

4) Link to your Twitter Account from All Your Social Profiles

Make sure that a link to your Twitter account appears in every possible social media profile, blog or social network page that you have. If someone you know from a social site is on Twitter, you want them to know and be able to follow you easily.

5) Ask Readers of Your Blog to Follow You

If you have a blog post or other piece of content go popular on a social site, ask readers to follow you on Twitter if they liked what they just read. This will increase your presence on Twitter, which will help increase your profile elsewhere.

6) "Twitter-jack" Active Social News & Twitter Users' Friends

When you find a popular Twitter user who's also using your social sites a lot, go through the list of people they're following and follow them too, look especially close for names and avatars you recognize from those other sites. This can be a recursive process, take hours, and ultimately lead you to a lot of new Twitter friends.

7) Ask Questions

When you ask a question and one of your social media savvy followers responds, his (probably also social media savvy friends) might see him talking to you and come follow you too. This is a more passive version of the Twitter-jack mining technique described above.

8) Don't Just Spam Twitter, Add Value

Of course this should go without saying, but don't ever spam Twitter. If all you do is constantly drop stupid Digg links all day nobody will follow you for very long, so make sure you're actually adding value, not only by tweeting cool links other than your own, but also join the conversation. Congratulate people, answer questions, say hello to new followers, be social.

9) Post the Title with the URL

If you post a URL to Twitter that is too long, they'll shorten it with tinyurl for you. This means that no one can see the source link and get an idea of what the page is before clicking it. Preface any links you share with at least the title of the page, if not a short description as well.

10) Consider Using a Social Media Specific URL Shortener

If you're trying to get more popular on multiple social news sites, the tendency may be to post a link to the story on every social site you want it submitted. This will annoy your friends and followers. Instead, try something like Votrs.com which will not only create a short URL for tweeting long links, but the landing page will also include buttons and badges for easy submission and voting on various social sites of your choosing.

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The easy way to avoid a Wi-Fi virus

It's flu season?for you and your wireless router. A study by Indiana University proves that a virus can quickly spread among unsecured or WEP-encrypted routers in densely populated urban areas. But networks secured by the WPA protocol were impenetrable, and that gives you one more good reason to really secure your network. The study, written by Hao Hu and colleagues, found that malware can easily spread among unprotected (and underprotected) routers whose signals overlap. And this malware can spread faster than any human flu: The majority of infections could happen within the first 24 to 48 hours, affecting 10 percent to 55 percent of routers in an entire metropolitan area within two weeks. Alarmingly, the study points out that malware ... more

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OLPC and Intel part ways

Intel and OLPC agreed to collaborate last July on an Intel-based version of OLPC's XO laptop. While the deal raised quite a few eyebrows at the time, given Intel's criticism of the OLPC and their aggressive piloting of their own Classmate PC, Intel announced today that it had left the OLPC Association. Similarly, it resigned its position on the OLPC Board of Directors.

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Microsoft destroys user data - again!

Will Microsofties ever learn? Without warning the Microsoft Office SP3 update blocks over a dozen common document formats, including many Word, Powerpoint and Excel documents. Install the update and you can't open the files. Why? Because they can! We don't care. We don't have to. What's affected? Powerpoint formats prior to PowerPoint 97. Excel formats prior to Office 2003. Lotus, Quatro and Corel Draw. And the following Word formats: Word 11 saved by Word 12 Word 4.x, 5.x, 6.0, 98, 2001, X and 2004 for Macintosh Word 1.x, 2.x, 6.0, 95, 97, 9, 10 and 11 for Windows Any older formats Trust us. It is for your own good. Microsoft forthrightly explains why in article 938810 buried deep in the... more

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BeeMood: A Blatant Twitter Clone for Italy

BeeMood is just about as straight-up a Twitter clone as you could hope to find, targeting Italy. Users get their own page where they can update their status, reply to others, or see the most recent Tweets BeeMoods from the people they follow. You can also post and receive updates via SMS on your mobile.

The one “original” feature of BeeMood is their map that shows where recent updates are coming from geographically. However, this also really isn’t their idea – it’s a rip of Twittervision, a mashup built using Twitter’s API and Google Maps.

It’s easy to knock so-called “clones” of popular services for having zero originality and what some might argue is a lack of integrity. However, so long as the original site they are copying waits to enter new markets, the strategy seems to be fair game, and one that can result in a profitable exit for founders.

StudiVZ, a German Facebook clone, sold for more than $100 million. The financiers behind StudiVZ, the Samwer Brothers, are also invested in Frazr, a Twitter clone for France and Germany, that appears to be getting decent traction from a quick poke around the site.

For more copycat goodness, check out “Exposed: The 7 Most Blatant Web 2.0 Rip Offs“

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Facebook’s 2008 Resolution: Regulate Developers

Facebook has a new year’s resolution of its own, and it’s regarding the Facebook platform. Users may (or may not) be happy to see the changes if they notice them at all, while developers may see it as the oncoming avalanche of regulated applications. In a very snide manner, Facebook posted its resolution based on the fact that some developers are trying to take advantage of the news feeds update feature. Shouldn’t this be an expected byproduct of the newsfeeds? Or perhaps Facebook still confused about how it would like to use Mini-Feeds…

At any rate, Facebook has put some additional checks on email notifications as well as links installed in Mini-Feed notifications, in an effort to curb the misuse of feeds within Facebook. As a result of developers sending notification emails to users for one application along with another application for a pooled quota effect, Facebook is taking measures to keep developers from using tricks in order to get more users to sign up for applications. Specifically, Facebook has noticed that some developers have begun placing links into Mini-Feeds, notifications and notification emails in order to install additional applications.

Tsk, tsk. Don’t these developers know that Facebook is the only one allowed to use deceptive measures to gain from the activity of its users? Some would even say that Facebook needs to check itself before punishing others for an abuse of power when it comes to feeds, but that’s an entirely different post, best left to the banter-inducing whiles of our very own Rizzn.

On a related note, we’re glad to see Scoble’s Facebook account reactivated, but we’re still waiting to hear from Facebook its plans on dealing with the likes of Plaxo’s upcoming tool (other than blocking its users). Based on Facebook’s new year’s resolution, we’d expect even more regulation to ensue. Can Plaxo work around this, and push on for an open web according to an entity other than Facebook?

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Secret Crush: First Serious Facebook Hack?

Apparently, one of those annoying “who do you like” Facebook applications called Secret Crush actually downloads and installs spyware on your computer. The application appears no different from other similar ones: it appears in your profile, saying that someone has a “secret crush” on you. Eager to find out who the secret admirer is, you install it, and instead of some lovin’, you get the infamous Zango spyware. Not nice.

The scam was discovered by security gateway vendor Fortinet, who claim that the threat is quite serious, since about 3 percent of Facebook’s users have already installed the adware-infested program. Although the users themselves have found out that Secret Crush is a scam a while ago, not everyone is in on the news, and users are probably still installing the app as we speak.

No wonder, because after a bit of research we’ve found out that several applications called “Secret Crush” or “Secret Crushes” are listed in the Facebook apps directory, and several of them have been marked by users as spyware. Some reports also claim that the application doesn’t install adware, but instead charges your cell phone for receiving SMS horoscope messages. It’s not quite clear what application does what here, but we suggest that you refrain from installing anything “secret” or “crush” related until the situation is clearer.

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Loss of the Giant: Nathan Stoll Leaves Google

Google has successfully cajoled many smart techies to join their camp in the past, but lately they’re also losing some of their best and brightest. This time it’s Nathan Stoll, product manager of Google News, who has written about the experience of leaving the big G on his personal blog.

“I feel like I’m breaking up with Google”, says Nathan, yelping “Can we still be friends?” Don’t feel too sad for him, though; as he himself admits, leaving Google doesn’t exactly leave you penniless on the street; more likely you’ll be hired by some other market leader for a hefty salary. Other than “tackling new endeavors”, it’s hard to determine any actual reasons for Nathan’s departure; we wish him luck in the future.

Monster is a Beast, Acquires Affinity Labs

By: Kristen Nicole

Monster Worldwide has acquired Affinity Labs for the purpose of bringing in more vocation-based vertical social networks under its umbrella. Affinity Labs is a developer company that creates community sites specific to various vocations, such as Policemen, Nurses, and artists.

Founded by Cristopher Michel, Affinity Labs already had a strategic alliance with Monster, according to Paid Content. Monster had been selling advertising to the company, and Monster users had direct access to Affinity’s services. And Affinity Labs CEO has a long-standing relationship with Monster in addition to the existing relationship through Affinity Labs, as Michel sold a social networking site, Military.com, that he’d founded earlier.

As niche social networks continue to show their promise as pools of targeted data, and other networks like Facebook are being plundered by various brands, like Path101, for advertising and leveraging purposes, Monster isn’t one to be left in the cold. This is a definite push for more market share in terms of direct advertising purposes, as well as the offering of a more comprehensive online resource for those developing their careers around a particular vocation.

It seems to be working for Monster, and other industries, like banking, are hoping that a cultivated social network will help them gain direct access to a larger user base as well. With the other developments around social networking as it specifically ties into careers and job hunts, such as Jobster, more integrated features are being utilized for a shift in concepts that surround the task of searching for a job. It seems that Monster is also taking this into consideration, so we’ll see in what ways Monster will develop and integrate its new acquisition.

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Facebook App Fatigue? Cleanup Profiles

By: Kristen Nicole

There are very few people I know on Facebook that have more applications on their profiles than us here at Mashable, and our avid friends throughout the over-zealous tech blogging industry. So this new application I’m about to share with you will be far more useful to you than it will be for myself. It’s called the Clean Profile application (insert superhero entrant music here). It lets you view other users’ profiles without all the applications junking up the page.

So for those of you that would like to visit your friends’ profile pages and actually see the link for sending them a message, or their regular wall (not the super wall), Clean Profile is the app for you. Ironically, you’ll only be able to use it directly from a user’s profile if they’ve added the application. This means that a link will appear below their user photo, giving you the option of viewing their clean profile. If their profile looks anything like mine, good luck finding that link in the first place.

But don’t let this ironic twist of fate get you down. If you add the application, you can visit anyone’s clean profile if you access it through the application (as opposed to directly visiting your friend’s profile). So for all my friends that are planning on visiting my Facebook profile, you may wanna swing by Clean Profile first.

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New Year’s Tech Resolutions

By: Erick Schonfeld

Okay, I know, I’m late with these, but coming up with New Year’s resolutions is tough. And isn’t there a one-week grace period anyway? Rather than do predictions, I thought I’d offer up some resolutions—things I’d like to see happen this year. These aren’t my resolutions. These are resolutions that tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook should adopt, IMHO. (And, no, they are not capable of coming up with their own resolutions. Someone has to do this for them). If you have better resolutions to suggest for these or any other company, please add them to comments.

Apple—Learn to Let Go. Don’t repeat the mistakes of history. Open up a little bit. You are helping to bring the phone and other mobile devices into the digital age. Other people and companies want to be a part of that too. Make it easy for them to build apps on top of the iPhone and your other products. (You’ve indicated that you are working on this, but we are still waiting to see the results). Command and control got you this far, but in a world where every device is connected, a bunker mentality will limit your growth.

Facebook—Stop Being a Party Hog. Release my friends and leave Scobie alone. You want everyone to create applications for Facebook, but when it comes to letting people take data out of Facebook you are not so generous. Find a way to let members take their social graph (their list of friends and social connections) with them to other Websites. If you are serious about becoming the social operating system of the Web, you need to let people party the way they want to, and where they want to (even if that is not on Facebook). Embrace this change. You’ll still be popular. The alternative is to battle a growing user backlash (and startups looking for workarounds).

Google—Go Beyond PageRank. The main way you sort search results, PageRank, is more than a decade old. It is the basis of the entire search economy. But it is also starting to be gamed in ways that threaten to dilute the value of your search results. People are buying and selling links on Web pages with the express intent of manipulating search results. You can fight this, and you are, but maybe it is time to start shifting to other ways to rank search results. There are other sources of authority on the Web besides links, aren’t there? (Don’t ask me what they are—you are the one with all the genius employees).

Amazon—Open Up The Kindle. Your Kindle Reader is a big step forward in terms of gaining mainstream acceptance for electronic books. But what is great about the Kindle is the service, not the device. It is your 90,000-and-growing titles in e-book format, seamless wireless downloading, and back-end billing linked to existing Amazon accounts that makes the Kindle worth replicating. Put out a reference design and let other companies make sleeker electronic readers that tie into the Amazon store. The design of the device itself is clunky. Stick to what you know, and let other companies build the hardware.

Microsoft—Get Serious About Webtop Apps. Productivity apps are moving to the Web, and while that threatens your Office franchise, you need to get in front of this trend now before it gains much traction. You are inching towards this with your recent Office Live Workspace beta, but you still need to get past your Barbarians at the Gate mindset. While Google, Adobe, and others try to figure out how to bring their Web-based word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation software offline, you are already did that a long time ago with Office. Now you are integrating Office apps with Office Live, but you are trying to force people to use the offline apps as their default environment. Keep that as an option, but let people create documents and spreadsheets online as well without the need to ever launch Office on their desktop.

Yahoo— Use The Traffic, Luke. I don’t know what to tell you guys (and gals). You are losing more executives than Google, Jerry Yang’s first 100 days were uneventful, and still nobody knows what your strategy is supposed to be. Your biggest asset is that you still attract more traffic than any other site in the U.S. (although Google is gaining on you). For the most part, you like to slosh that traffic around Yahoo, but you’ve shown signs that you are willing to turn that hose towards other worthy Websites, even if they have no pre-existing deals with you. Find more ways to spread that traffic and to get other Websites to return the love. Then use that natural traffic network to lure other Websites into your advertising network. Focus on dominating the growing behavioral ad-targeting market instead of trying to beat Google head-to-head on contextual and search ads.

eBay—Sell Skype. Come on, you know you want to. It was a bad fit from the start.

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Google Presentations Introduces Embedded Slide Shows

Source: TechCrunch

Google Docs just added some cool new features to its Web-based Presentation software: slide shows that you can embed anywhere on the Web. Check it out below:

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Microsoft will always be a 'copycat'

Just a day after video-sharing site Veoh added a TV tab with shows from Hulu and CBS, Microsoft did the same thing with the launch of a new MSN Video Guide. (This is really just a new user interface to showcase this content). It too has a TV tab with full-length episodes from Hulu (Fox and NBC Universal shows), as well as CBS. Similar to Veoh, the read more