Why less is more in the Windows 8 Modern UI
My Why I love Windows 8 piece last week generated a lot of comments and a good balance of pro and anti opinion. Thanks for taking the time to air your views. I received one particular comment concerning choice and that got me thinking that it was a subject which deserved a closer look.
In the past Windows has imposed relatively few restrictions on its users. You want to launch a program? You can click the desktop icon, select it from the start menu, select an icon from the task bar, use a gadget or track down the folder where it's stored and run it from there. You can even call up a command line if you want. It's your choice. As is installing a third-party menu system or an Apple-style widget bar, the permutations are endless.
BadNews for Google Play users
Downloading apps from Google Play may get you some unexpected extra software. Mobile security specialist Lookout has uncovered a piece of code called BadNews which poses as an advertising network in order to push malware out to infected devices. By using the ad network as a front it bypasses the checks that prevent malware from getting on to the store.
The BadNews code was found in 32 apps across four different developer accounts. Google has now removed the apps and suspended the accounts but it’s estimated that these apps have already been downloaded several million times. About half of the identified apps are in Russian and the payload is designed to commit premium rate fraud in Russia and neighbouring countries.
Apple loses out to premium Android tablets
UK polling company YouGov has released the results of its latest Quarterly Tablet Tracker for the first three months of 2013. It shows that consumers now see Android tablets as equal in quality to the iPad and as a result their makers are eating into Apple's share of the premium market.
Although it still has the largest slice of the UK's tablet market, Apple has seen its share drop by 10 percent in the past 12 months. Despite the launch of the iPad Mini and 4th generation iPad, Apple now has 63 percent of the market compared to 73 percent this time last year.
Samsung is accused of posting fake HTC product reviews
The Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission is investigating allegations that Samsung representatives posted fake reviews of rival HTC’s products online. Allegations of dirty dealing come from whistle-blowing site taiwansamsungleaks.org, which posted documents it claims are from a third-party marketing agency employed by Samsung.
The documents reveal a raft of allegedly fake posts on popular Taiwanese gadget websites, prompting the leaks site to describe Samsung’s tactics as "evil". The company is accused of hiring students to post negative comments about HTC smartphones.
Why I love Windows 8
Fourth in a series. It seems to be fashionable at the moment to be negative about Windows 8. People like to whine about how the Modern UI gets in the way and how the rest of it is just Windows 7 with some of the furniture rearranged. Some analysts are even blaming Windows 8 for poor PC sales.
Well, I’m sorry Windows 8 deniers, you’re wrong. I’ve used every major version of Windows since 3.1, I’ve been using Windows 8 since the Developer Preview versions and I think it’s Microsoft’s best effort yet.
Symantec highlights 58 percent increase in mobile attacks
Security giant Symantec’s 18th annual Internet Security Threat Report is out today and reveals that cyber criminals are increasingly scouring the Web for personal details in order to target their attacks. Armed with your information they can exploit security gaps in social networks and other sites to infect your system or steal your details.
It’s not just your PC that’s at risk either; the report shows an alarming 58 percent increase in attacks on mobile devices with just under a third of these aimed at stealing data without the user’s knowledge. Android is the most targeted mobile platform as its open source nature makes it easier to hide malware in apps. The securer-than-thou smugness of Apple users receives a blow too as the report notes more than 600,000 Mac systems were infected by a single attack last April.
Bing searches throw up more malware sites than Google
We all know that search engine results can sometimes serve up malware, but if you’re using Bing you’re five times more likely to get malicious links than if you’re using Google.
In an 18-month study, independent German lab AV-Test discovered that all search engines sometimes serve up Trojans and other malware amongst their results despite the search providers' best efforts to prevent it.
Is it time to trust Microsoft with your PC security?
Ever since viruses started to hit the headlines back in the 1980s, security for PCs has been big business. Products like Norton and McAfee have grown to household name status, and made their original developers very rich men on the back of it.
This is mainly because Windows wasn’t built with security in mind and was adopted in such huge numbers that it made a tempting target. Until recently that is. With Security Essentials built into Windows 8 and active by default, and available free for users of older systems, the boys at Redmond have suddenly started to take security seriously.
Ian's Bio
Ian spent almost 20 years working with computers before he discovered that writing about them was easier than fixing them. Since then he's written for a number of computer magazines and is a former editor of PC Utilities. Follow him on Mastodon
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