AN EIGHT-man raiding team from the Optical Media Board (OMB) swooped down on local businesses recently in a bid to weed out illegal software.

A total of 36 establishments were visited by the team including Internet cafes, schools, banks, hospitals, and call centers.

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The surprise inspection netted at least 400 personal computers (PCs) suspected to have unlicensed software.

OMB officials, who were armed with an official letter from OMB Chair Ronald Ricketts, reported that two of the 36 businesses were charged with violating the Optical Media Board Act of 2003.

They are liable to be fined not more than P500,000.00 and jailed for three years.

Only one establishment, GlobalConnecteSolutions, was confirmed to be using legitimate and original software.

OMB team members said the firm was the only one inspected that complied with industry regulations.

Government data shows that from 2007-2009, the rate of software piracy was recorded at flat rate of 69 percent.

Businesses that use and sell pirated and unlicensed software violate the law and are criminally liable with some P1.5 million in charges. They may also be imprisoned for not more than nine years, according to the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.

Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/local-news/2011/09/05/400-computers-netted-fake-software-use-omb-177413

: Two computers and suspected pirated software were seized in a raid conducted by the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry at a shopping complex here.

Its Dedicated Task Force chief Fahmi Kasim said the two computers and two copies of pirated Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate and two copies of Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 seized yesterday were worth a total of RM8,500.

Fahmi said two persons, both in their 20s, had been detained.

He advised computer dealers to stop the illegal practice of selling computers pre-installed with pirated software, adding that it was not only unethical but also cheated consumers who should get original and genuine software.

“Offenders found guilty of contravening the Copyright Act 1987 risk being fined RM2,000 to RM20,000 for each infringing copy of software, or jailed for up to five years, or both,” he said.

The raid was conducted in conjunction with the national anti-piracy campaign Gerak Gempur Cetak Rompak launched by the minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob on May 10 this year. — Bernama

Source:-http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/12/28/nation/7693852&sec=nation

SlimWare Utilities, provider of high-performance computer maintenance solutions, today announced SlimDrivers and DriverUpdate, the industry’s first cloud-based software for updating and maintaining the software that powers communications between an operating system and its computer hardware, commonly called “drivers.” SlimDrivers and DriverUpdate improve PC performance by repairing and updating the drivers between a computer and its printers, scanners, digital cameras, sound cards, video cards, Bluetooth devices and other peripherals.

SlimDrivers is a free application. DriverUpdate is a premium, fully automated upgrade that’s available for $29.97 for a one-year subscription.

Impact on Printers, Scanners and Other PC Hardware Components

Drivers are the software applications that allow an operating system to communicate with the hardware attached to it, such as printers, scanners, modems, digital cameras, sound cards and other peripheral devices. Driver software is like a translator, helping a computer communicate with its hardware and telling the hardware how to work. Like any software, driver programs need to be updated to fix bugs and resolve conflicts that can develop over time. Updating drivers can dramatically improve a PC’s entire system performance, including making the hardware and peripherals function better.

* SlimDrivers detects what devices need to be updated and identifies all the proper executables, helping consumers to find and download the correct drivers for their system.
* DriverUpdate, the premium, fully automated upgrade, goes a step further to actually start the installation process for multiple drivers automatically, allowing consumers to update all their drivers software simultaneously in an easy, sequential process. DriverUpdate provides an easy experience for busy consumers, while SlimDrivers provides a more self-directed experience for tech-savvy IT users.

“Our driver updating software removes the frustration consumers feel from slow-moving or malfunctioning computer hardware,” said Chris Cope, CEO of SlimWare Utilities, Inc. “SlimDrivers and DriverUpdate prevent device errors by providing an overview of a PC’s hardware, flagging for updates and, in the case of DriverUpdate, automatically starting the install process for multiple drivers simultaneously. Because we’re cloud-based, our system provides the most up-to-date driver for your specific system.”

Both products update driver software for all popular computer device brands, including Acer, Brother, Canon, Compaq, Dell, Hewlett Packard, LG, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Sony, and many others.

Cope noted that DriverUpdate is great for online gamers because manufacturers of graphics and sound cards regularly distribute updates that enhance the performance of their products. SlimDrivers and DriverUpdate give gamers the benefit of automatic installation for the correct, most current graphic and sound card updates.

Cloud-based Product Enhancements

First launched as a public beta at the Black Hat Conference in July, SlimDrivers and DriverUpdate are coming to market now with cloud-based upgrades that improve the product’s ability to identify the best, most compatible driver software for a PC. Using a cloud database gives SlimDrivers and DriverUpdate access in real-time to the most current software driver updates.

With cloud technology, SlimDrivers and DriverUpdate use crowd-sourcing to spider and aggregate millions of devices. In addition, they both implement the latest developments in analysis technology, coordinating checks with the Windows Device Manager, Windows System Manager and Windows Update Online.

SlimDrivers and DriverUpdate Key Attributes:

* Identifies when a driver needs updating and identifies the proper executable for a system.
* DriverUpdate only: starts the driver install automatically for multiple drivers, simultaneously downloading and installing them in correct sequence.
* Provides the best communication and function for sound cards, printers, video, motherboards, Webcams, Bluetooth devices, flip video devices, Smartphones, USB drives, routers, Windows and other peripherals and operating systems.
* Optimizes the interaction between software and hardware, making applications and devices run faster and minimizing system errors, freezes and crashes.
* Updates common software such as Adobe and Java.
* Updates Windows, keeping systems free of security issues caused by out-of-date software.
* Installs missing software for components and updates existing drivers and software.
* Protects a system with back-up and restore features that safeguard data and allow for recovering of previous drivers or settings.

Source:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/slimware-utilities-launches-cloud-based-software-for-updating-computer-drivers-111374049.html

Under the proposed security regime, put forward by the technology giant’s trustworthy computing team, an individual’s internet connection would be “throttled” to prevent the virus spreading to other computers. But security experts today warned that cutting people off from the internet could be a drastic step too far — and that the question of who would issue and verify the “health certificate” was troubling.

Millions of computers around the world running versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system are infected by viruses without their user’s knowledge and used to generate billions of spam emails and attacks against websites, such as that used against a British law company earlier this month.

The infected computers are often marshalled by virus writers into “botnets” which are hired out for criminal use. Microsoft, internet service providers, banks and web companies have fought long but so far unsuccessful battles against botnets. Earlier this year Microsoft took its fight to the US courts after a group of infected computers sent more than 650-million spam emails to its Hotmail accounts. The spread of computer viruses has, however, continued unabated.

The new proposal, Microsoft claimed, is built on the lessons of public health. Scott Charney, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s trustworthy computing team, wrote on the company’s blog: “Just as when an individual who is not vaccinated puts others’ health at risk, computers that are not protected or have been compromised with a bot put others at risk and pose a greater threat to society.”

Ram Herkanaidu, a global researcher at computer security firm Kaspersky Lab, told the Guardian that cutting people off from the internet was a wrongheaded solution. He said: “This would be a bad idea in practice. Just say your machine was infected — if you could not access the internet, how would you be able to update your anti-virus and also apply any software patches required? Technically, though, an ISP could give limited access to a safe area so that they could get the relevant updates but this would be done by individual ISPs themselves.”

Charney countered that “In the physical world, international, national, and local health organisations identify, track and control the spread of disease which can include, where necessary, quarantining people to avoid the infection of others. Simply put, we need to improve and maintain the health of consumer devices connected to the internet in order to avoid greater societal risk.”

Pirate versions of Windows
Many of the infected computers are in the far east in countries such as South Korea and China, where pirated versions of Windows are common, though the US still accounts for a substantial number of machines in botnets.

US and European ISPs have periodically considered blocking virus-infected machines from internet access and diverting users to cleanup pages. But they have shied away from it on the basis that it would be costly, while bringing them little direct benefit, as most infected machines would be on other networks.

Source:http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-10-08-microsoft-infected-computers-should-be-quarantined