CDs are pretty rugged and the error-correction codes they use can handle lots of scratches and dings. If they're that tough, a few fingerprints shouldn't be a problem, right? And will it matter if you handle your precious discs with buttery fingers while you're having a sandwich? If you think it won't, you're wrong. Your CDs will stay healthy but your optical drive could go for a toss. Not only can your 52x drive turn into a 1x model, even the lens can get seriously affected. And that could make all the discs unreadable.
Always keep dirty discs away from your equipment. If you don't feel like cleaning them, don't insert them into the drive. That means you need to keep your discs spic and span, free from fingerprints or any sort of stain. When it comes to cleaning discs, don't be afraid to wash them. To clean a dirty disc, wave it back and forth over a bowl of lukewarm water for a few seconds. Then wipe the disc with a lint-free cloth in a straight motion from the center towards the rim. If the stains are too stubborn to be wiped off, you can even add a drop or two of dish washing liquid into the bowl of water. At the end of it, make sure that the disc is completely dry before you insert it into the drive.
Take special care of your discs if you stay in a humid locality, for instance, near the sea. Discs with a glossy top surface are prone to catching fungus which can eat into the thin metal layer that holds data and render it unreadable.Discs affected with the presence of fungus. If ever, you come across an affected disc, clean it immediately before the fungus turns it into a piece of trash!
Do you know how to hold CDs and DVDs? There are many who are not aware of it or they simply don't care unless the damage is done. First timers and children tend to hold discs like they hold a Frisbee, Don't hold the discs by the rim with your fingers splayed out. The right way to hold them is by putting your thumb against the rim and the middle of the index finger in the center hole. While taking the disk out of the drive, hold it with your finger in the center hole and lift it out.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Blue-eyed babies
The need to archive large amounts of data is a common requirement for organizations and individuals alike as access to data becomes simple and speedy. While organizations have a distinct need for large capacity storage for backup of server as well as client data, such storage requirements are not always justified for casual users. With the increase in broadband penetration as well as significant changes in the entertainment industry, high storage space requirements are slowly going to become mainstream. Optical storage consisted only of CD media in a not so distant past and the use of DVD media is getting common with the decrease in prices of DVD writers and media. This month we were part of another breakthrough in optical storage technology with Sony’s launch of Blu-ray enabled devices in India—an optical storage writer and a notebook featuring Blu-ray technology.
What is Blu-ray?
Blu-ray is the next-generation technology in optical storage after VHS, CD and DVD. The Blu-ray standard was jointly developed by a group of consumer electronics and PC companies called the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), spearheaded by Sony. It is designed for high-density storage of highdefinition video and data. It is currently competing with the HD DVD format for wide adoption as the preferred next generation optical standard.
How Blu-ray works
A Blu-ray drive looks and works in traditionally the same way as any other optical drive. The difference is that Blu-ray drives use a violet-blue laser to read data from an optical drive media rather then the infrared light that is used by CDs and red laser light used by DVD writers. The violet-blue color falls into the higher frequency segment in the visible spectrum of light, thus resulting in a lower wavelength (refer to box). The wavelength of the laser used in Blu-ray drives is 405 nm. To put it into perspective, a CD drive uses an infrared laser operating at a wavelength of 780 nm while a DVD drive uses a red laser operating at a wavelength of 650 nm. So, as we can see, using a light source that has a lower wavelength causes a smaller laser beam. This is advantageous because it can focus better at a point on the media surface from a fixed distance as the wave travels faster and hits the surface before it disperses. Thus the light ray used in a Blu-ray drive is more accurate in pinpointing a particular area on the media surface. As the focusing capability gets finer, media manufacturers can increase the track pitch (refer to box) on the media thus increasing the media’s storage capacity.
Advantages of Blu-ray
Size: The Blu-ray drive comes in a five-and-a quarter inch form factor which is the same as other optical storage devices like CD or DVD. This means that your Blu-ray drive will look and feel the same as any other optical drive. It will seamlessly integrate itself into the drive bay of PC cabinet or even a laptop. A Blu-ray media supports the 12 cm form factor and also has a thickness of 1.2 mm, the same as a CD or DVD media.
Storage capacity: Even though the Blu-ray disc supports the same form factor as a CD or a DVD disc, it supports a whopping capacity of 25 GB on a single layer disk. This means that you can store up to 5 DVDs or 32 CDs worth of data on a single Blu-ray disc.
Copy protection and digital rights management: The movies that are distributed on a DVD media use an encryption system called CSS (Content Scrambling System). This encryption system has been defeated thus allowing users to decode (rip) the contents of a DVD movie. This has been taken a step further in Blu-ray which uses AACS (Advanced Access Content System) which makes use of stronger encryption algorithms like AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). The AACS standard provisions each individual player with a unique set of decryption keys which are used in a broadcast encryption scheme. This approach allows licensors to “revoke” the decryption keys associated with the player. Thus, if a given player’s keys are compromised by an attacker, the licensing authority can simply revoke those keys in future content, making the keys/player useless for decrypting new titles. So you cannot rip the BD content like a DVD content unless the encryption scheme is compromised. Blu-ray discs will also have the capability to add information at a physical level (called ROM-Mark in case of Blu-ray) which makes it difficult to make carbon copies of the media. This helps reduce piracy.
Performance:
With the use of a violet-blue light, the track densities can be increased and more data can be stored in the same form factor of an optical disc. Blu-ray drives perform the read/write operations using Constant Linear Velocity allowing them to sustain a constant throughput rate. This would not result in any artifacts or distortions while watching a Blu-ray movie, for example.
Disadvantages of Blu-ray:
Costs of drive and media: Just like it happens with any new technology, the initial costs are always high. The Blu-ray drive includes two lasers instead of the single laser system used in CD and DVD drives. This is done in order to facilitate backward compatibility with the existing CD and DVD optical media. This increases the production cost due to the use of additional hardware. The production of Blu-ray disc will involve more cost, because the companies will have to add equipment for the cover layer. Also, because the Blu-ray media use a completely different design, their production is not on the lines of a CD or DVD media.
Disc and data reliability: The cover layer of the Blu-ray disc is very thin measuring 0.1 mm compared to the 0.6 mm coating of a CD or DVD media. This makes the Blu-ray discs more prone to damage from scratches and smudges. To overcome this limitation, an extra layer of protective material needs to be added to the Blu-ray disc, which in turn increases the cost of the media.
Last word: Blu-ray drives are the next step in optical storage. Now that the Blu-ray drives are a reality, we will be able to see 1080p high-definition movies on our computer systems. Also, with HD cameras becoming more mainstream, a two-hour movie can be recorded on the Blu-ray medium. This can be used in Blu-ray players and you can view high definition movies on your plasma or LCD TV. We would also like to add that Blu-ray media is not as easily available as a CD or a DVD disc. Also, the cost of the media is Rs 1,000; instead one can buy six DVDs at a total price of Rs 120 to store equal amounts of data. In future when prices of the drives and media plummet and the media becomes mainstream, Blu-ray might be a good storage alternative. Sony VAIO VGN-AR18GP Notebook The Sony VAIO VGN-AR18GP desktop replacement notebook is the first to use the next generation Blu-ray optical drive.
Features: Powered by the dual core Intel Centrino Duo T2600 processor (Yonah) running at 2.16 GHz, it has enough horsepower to play your high-definition movie content. It features 1 GB of DDR2 memory which is pretty much standard for all entertainment desktops. Another striking feature of this laptop is the Nvidia Gforce Go 7600GT graphics card that comes with 256 MB of memory making it a complete gaming system. The 1920x1200 high resolution facilitates playing 1080p HD video. With three USB 2 ports, a mini FireWire and an ExpressCard/54 slot catering for modern peripherals. A media card reader supporting memory stick and SD formats are in the front, and a 0.37- megapixel webcam is hidden in the top bezel of the screen. The HDCP-compliant HDMI output is welcome, and there’s also S-Video in/out and a VGA output. Connectivity options include a 10/100 Ethernet, a 56K modem, Bluetooth and an 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN. We were not so impressed with the audio capability of the speakers built into this notebook. It lacked in quality sound effects like bass, treble; considering it is an entertainment notebook, Sony could have done better. Build quality The first thing that catches your eye when you look at the notebook is its massive size. The size is justified considering its massive 17-inch TFT wide screen. Picture quality on the LCD is crisp and crystal clear. The notebook is black, complemented with a glossy finish. Although this provides for good looks, it is prone to smudges. It weighs a good 3.8 kg, so you will have a good exercise carrying it around. The expansion slots are neatly covered with a series of flaps coated with a metallic finish.
Performance: We were quite impressed with the performance of the VAIO. In our performance tests, the Sisoft Sandra CPU arithmetic benchmark score was at par with that of most high-end notebooks (it recorded scores of 14,732 Dhrystones and 10,864 Whetstones). The heavy duty processor underperformed in the battery mode, which made watching HD movies a impossible task. The filesystem benchmark crossed the 50 MB/s mark—a result of two 5400 rpm drives configured in RAID 0, which was pretty impressive. A record score of 5126 3D Marks ensured top spot in graphics. It meant that we could play Doom 3 at decent framerates, at 1600x1200 resolution with 4x antialiasing enabled. It provided about an hour and 10 minutes of battery life—way too low for watching HD movies.
Verdict: The Sony VAIO VGN-AR18GP retails for Rs 1,99,900. Like most other Sony notebooks, it is priced very high. However, it is future proof and you are left in awe the moment you see a HD movie on it. Sony BWU-100A Blu-ray writer Features The BWU-100A drive supports recording both 50 GB and 25 GB BD-R (write once) and BD-RE (rewritable) discs, as well as 4.7 GB DVD+R/+RW/RAM, 8.5GB DVD+R Dual Layer, and CD-R/-RW discs. Sony bundles the Cyberlink suite along with the drive that can be used to view HD quality movies and a Blu-ray mastering software to write to the Blu-ray writable and rewritable disks. Performance The drive was able to copy 23.3 GB data on a single sided Blu-ray disk in about 47 minutes at 2x speeds. This means that the drive can write at a speed of about 8.44 MBps which is equivalent to that of a 12x DVD writer but slower than recent writers that can write to DVD media at speeds of about 12 MBps. Verdict At a whopping price of Rs 44,300, we feel this writer is not meant for the average user. It instead aimed at studio editors who need lots of storage space for editing HD movies.
Jargon
Wavelength: We all know that light is a form of electromagnetic waves. Like any other wave, light travels in the form of a sine wave. The distance (measured in the direction of propagation) between two points in the same phase in consecutive cycles of a wave is called wavelength.
Track Pitch: The data track of an optical disc is a spiral starting from the center of the disc; The distance (in micro meters) between the two intersection points on the concentric rows starting from the center of the circle is known as track pitch. When the track pitch is reduced, it means that the distance between the concentric rows is lower and that the resulting track is much longer, thus you can store more data.
Lost in modulation
Sony ex-chairman Akio Morita enjoyed listening to his Walkman while playing tennis. Back in 1979, the Walkman player was a hit because it offered both portability and hi-fidelity audio. But the late Mr Morita wouldn’t have enjoyed his music on an airplane. On a flight to Europe in 1978, Dr Amar Bose was trying hard to appreciate the music on his standard issue airline headphone. But the soft notes were overwhelmed by the roar of the engines. And Bose wondered if headphones could actually reduce noise. Back-of-the-envelope calculations on that flight indicated it was possible. That led to Bose Corporation to set up an entire research group dedicated to noise reduction technology. It was only after a whole decade of research that the first Bose Acoustic Noise Cancelling headset was ready.
When products with such technology emerged from research labs and went commercial, prices were prohibitively high. But in recent months prices have steadily fallen. If noise canceling headphones challenge your budget, then consider the more affordable earphones with sound-isolating designs.
Serious music enthusiasts are investing in noise-canceling technology. In fact, the technology is aimed at those who listen to music while traveling. Some airlines have taken note and offer noise-canceling headphones on-board.
Noise canceling technology is available in two forms: Active and Passive. Active noise-canceling headphones are obviously more expensive. Headphones with active noise cancellation have special circuitry that generates a counter signal to cancel surrounding noise. Naturally, these headphones are battery-powered. Light, rechargeable batteries ensure that such headphones are comfortable to wear over extended periods. But it’s the circuitry within the ear piece that deserves all the credit.
Here’s a technical explanation of how active noise cancellation works. Miniature microphones in the headset pick up both ambient sounds as well as music coming through the headphones. It is assumed that most noise occurs at the low frequencies. So the mid- and high-frequency sounds are immediately filtered out of the signal, allowed to pass through, and you hear them.
The circuitry in the headset analyses the low frequencies in real time, and applies a technique called ‘phase inversion.’ A 180 degree inverted signal (see graph) is created. This neutralizes the frequencies, though not entirely, because you do need to listen to low frequencies in the music (bass sounds). And that’s how the noise in the headset cancels itself out. The Bose Quite Comfort series and Sennheiser’s PXC series of headphones employ active noise cancellation. The Bose Quite Comfort 3 headphone (US$ 350) is now smaller and lighter than its predecessors. It uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The kit includes a battery charger, case, 1/4-inch stereo plug adapter, and a five-foot extension cord.
Passive noise cancellation or sound-isolating technology is used in special earphones that have a modified in-ear design. The nozzle on the ear piece goes deep into the ear canal. Effectively this is a ear plug that blocks out ambient sounds, but directs sound from its tiny speaker deep into the ear canal. So you only hear the music. The Shure E series earphones (see picture on the right) have sound isolating designs. Earphones with sound isolating technology can block 70 - 80 percent of ambient sounds. This means you’ll hear only the music while traveling in an aeroplane, and less noise from its engine. But be ready to spend anything between US$ 100 - 550 for these high-tech earphones.
Noise cancellation and sound-isolating headphones cannot block out 100 percent ambient sounds. But they significantly improve the listening experience, especially while commuting. These products are not yet mainstream; for now they are only for enthusiasts.
One Solution, No Confusion
McAfee has been providing security solutions in the country for many years now and its products have pervaded so many desktops, workstations and servers that I really do not need to explain what they are into. But even though you may be aware of the fact that McAfee is the company that “sells anti-virus software” for your desktop or workstation, it does not just stop at that. Kartik Shahani (Director Sales, India & SAARC) explained how the thought process of a company that is totally focused on providing AV solutions has evolved over the years as intrusions have become more sophisticated. Mr Shahani stressed on these changes that have helped make what McAfee is today.
Virus Growth Trend
McAfee: Initially there was an exploratory phase wherein viruses were pure nuisance value. This moved on to create real trouble, usually done by sending mass mails. Now it has taken a serious turn with financial gain as the objective. Anti-phishing, spyware, adware are all made for fi nancial gain. There are more instances of tools like key loggers that try to gain sensitive information. There are many more avenues to attack because of the kind of devices, which have changed. The number of devices connecting to a network has increased. This results in innovative forms of attacks targeted at these devices (access points). Earlier, an attack was effective only when involved some sort of interaction. Today, intrusions do not require any interaction at all. Blended attacks—where a Trojan and bot is combined—have increased steadily. These might not even activate on the PC immediately. This has been the scene on the desktop front. It might gradually take on a similar pattern for the mobile users also.
The Proactive Approach
McAfee: We found that virus attacks were getting faster in terms of its implementation worldwide. The timeline when a vulnerability is exposed, to the point when it is exploited has started shrinking. A signature file could not be generated fast enough if an attack was, say, a 3-minute one. By the time any vendor creates an antidote it will be an hour since the attack and there will probably be ten versions of it. This was when AV was very reactive in nature. The only way to solve this was to block the ‘root’ and this was done with IPS. IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) has become a very general term today but we were the first ones to come up this system. We did that using two companies—Introvert and Entercept. The former came up with IPS technology on the network side. But that was not good enough because attacks like an SQL injection, which will look valid when you go through the network. It was required to have a ‘host-based’ intrusion prevention also and Entercept provided this. Now we have a host-based and a networkbased IPS. IPS actually blocks the vulnerability. We took the IPS technology and moved it into the AV making it proactive. The minute a vulnerability is blocked then any virus variants will not affect the machine. In December 2005, we detected vulnerability for the 32-Gen virus, it was patched and early this year the MyWife virus struck. Machines installed with our IPS-based AV products were the only ones that were not affected. The technology of signatures was also implemented in IPS because it is the fastest way to removing any infections in files that are to be scanned. This cross-pollination of technologies has improved the AV’s throughput.
Enforcing Policies
McAfee: McAfee then acquired a vulnerability management and analysis company called Foundstone. The next thing that we did after making Foundstone our vulnerability management tool, was introduce the McAfee Policy Enforcer (MPE). This is an “end point protection” product. This is meant for users who plug-in to an office network. This is very essential if you have a large number of visitors (working on a contract basis) logging into your network. You cannot allow them to log in if their machines do not comply with the organization’s security policies. But they have to have access to network so that they can do the work the organization has employed them to do. The system is first checked to see if it complies with the requirements of the organization. If it does not, it goes into a “quarantine” mode. Only after it is completely patched up it is allowed out of quarantine.
Simplified Administration
McAfee: SiteAdvisor (protects your browser from spyware and phishing sites) is integrated with the rest of our products. If you have it on a gateway then you - as a corporate - can decide that employees should not access any fi le/site that is assigned as “red”. A system like this can be easily enforced at the gateway with the help of a network-wide policy. The policy template is provided by PreventSys (a risk and compliance management company McAfee acquired recently). This is not domain-based or IP-based, therefore it becomes easier to administer. Let’s take an example of a company that needs to adhere to certain security guidelines in order to achieve an objective. The rules that need to be followed are set by using a ‘compliance template’ – made with policy enforcing and management software like Preventsys or Foundstone. The products are able to audit systems constantly so as to make sure that the desktops continue being compliant to the template that was created. If a user/desktop does not comply to a parameter in the policy, then a report will be generated stating the vulnerability and the reason for the lapse. McAfee is not only looking at detection only. We are looking at providing solutions that have prevention attached to it – IPS does exactly that.
A trusted network solution
McAfee: Cisco has been stressing on the “trusted networks” concept for a while now. It is about NAC (Network Access Control). The problem was that it required recognition on a hardware level. If you had a router from 3Com and a switch from Cisco—it would not work. 3Com router did not support the solution. You needed to have hardware that supported Cisco’s solution for trusted networks. Trusted networks would only work on Catalyst switches over 6500-series. This meant that customers who liked the idea of a trusted network were confronted with a huge expense because of the prospect of a complete hardware upgrade. We came up with a software-only solution called NAC—which is agnostic to whatever switch/router is used in a network. It can be implemented at a fraction of the cost that would otherwise have to be spent in the scenarios mentioned above. You can have a mixed network environment and NAC will still work well along with MPE.
A single product
McAfee: We noticed a lot of customers had one grouse – every time they approached us there would be one more product to buy and install. So if you need an anti-virus you would install an AV and if it was spyware then you would have to install anti-spyware. The list could go on—when would it end? At the end of all this the PC will full of these “anti-solutions”, eating up system resources leaving the user with no space to run other applications. This was a cause for concern. We released Total Protection (in April this year)—one agent which included anti-virus/ malware/spyware/adware/phishing, etc. Total Protection is not a suite of products —it is a single product. It collectively uses 40 percent less resources than all the separate products installed on a system. If you were to buy any McAfee product it would communicate with ePO (ePolicy Orchestrator). Every technology that we procure is pushed into this reporting module. This is better than having different consoles for the gateway, host, signatures, etc. Effectively, you have a single “agent”. This means to keep your system secure all you need to do is download a single “DAT” file to update the firewall, AV, anti-spyware, etc.
Virus Growth Trend
McAfee: Initially there was an exploratory phase wherein viruses were pure nuisance value. This moved on to create real trouble, usually done by sending mass mails. Now it has taken a serious turn with financial gain as the objective. Anti-phishing, spyware, adware are all made for fi nancial gain. There are more instances of tools like key loggers that try to gain sensitive information. There are many more avenues to attack because of the kind of devices, which have changed. The number of devices connecting to a network has increased. This results in innovative forms of attacks targeted at these devices (access points). Earlier, an attack was effective only when involved some sort of interaction. Today, intrusions do not require any interaction at all. Blended attacks—where a Trojan and bot is combined—have increased steadily. These might not even activate on the PC immediately. This has been the scene on the desktop front. It might gradually take on a similar pattern for the mobile users also.
The Proactive Approach
McAfee: We found that virus attacks were getting faster in terms of its implementation worldwide. The timeline when a vulnerability is exposed, to the point when it is exploited has started shrinking. A signature file could not be generated fast enough if an attack was, say, a 3-minute one. By the time any vendor creates an antidote it will be an hour since the attack and there will probably be ten versions of it. This was when AV was very reactive in nature. The only way to solve this was to block the ‘root’ and this was done with IPS. IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) has become a very general term today but we were the first ones to come up this system. We did that using two companies—Introvert and Entercept. The former came up with IPS technology on the network side. But that was not good enough because attacks like an SQL injection, which will look valid when you go through the network. It was required to have a ‘host-based’ intrusion prevention also and Entercept provided this. Now we have a host-based and a networkbased IPS. IPS actually blocks the vulnerability. We took the IPS technology and moved it into the AV making it proactive. The minute a vulnerability is blocked then any virus variants will not affect the machine. In December 2005, we detected vulnerability for the 32-Gen virus, it was patched and early this year the MyWife virus struck. Machines installed with our IPS-based AV products were the only ones that were not affected. The technology of signatures was also implemented in IPS because it is the fastest way to removing any infections in files that are to be scanned. This cross-pollination of technologies has improved the AV’s throughput.
Enforcing Policies
McAfee: McAfee then acquired a vulnerability management and analysis company called Foundstone. The next thing that we did after making Foundstone our vulnerability management tool, was introduce the McAfee Policy Enforcer (MPE). This is an “end point protection” product. This is meant for users who plug-in to an office network. This is very essential if you have a large number of visitors (working on a contract basis) logging into your network. You cannot allow them to log in if their machines do not comply with the organization’s security policies. But they have to have access to network so that they can do the work the organization has employed them to do. The system is first checked to see if it complies with the requirements of the organization. If it does not, it goes into a “quarantine” mode. Only after it is completely patched up it is allowed out of quarantine.
Simplified Administration
McAfee: SiteAdvisor (protects your browser from spyware and phishing sites) is integrated with the rest of our products. If you have it on a gateway then you - as a corporate - can decide that employees should not access any fi le/site that is assigned as “red”. A system like this can be easily enforced at the gateway with the help of a network-wide policy. The policy template is provided by PreventSys (a risk and compliance management company McAfee acquired recently). This is not domain-based or IP-based, therefore it becomes easier to administer. Let’s take an example of a company that needs to adhere to certain security guidelines in order to achieve an objective. The rules that need to be followed are set by using a ‘compliance template’ – made with policy enforcing and management software like Preventsys or Foundstone. The products are able to audit systems constantly so as to make sure that the desktops continue being compliant to the template that was created. If a user/desktop does not comply to a parameter in the policy, then a report will be generated stating the vulnerability and the reason for the lapse. McAfee is not only looking at detection only. We are looking at providing solutions that have prevention attached to it – IPS does exactly that.
A trusted network solution
McAfee: Cisco has been stressing on the “trusted networks” concept for a while now. It is about NAC (Network Access Control). The problem was that it required recognition on a hardware level. If you had a router from 3Com and a switch from Cisco—it would not work. 3Com router did not support the solution. You needed to have hardware that supported Cisco’s solution for trusted networks. Trusted networks would only work on Catalyst switches over 6500-series. This meant that customers who liked the idea of a trusted network were confronted with a huge expense because of the prospect of a complete hardware upgrade. We came up with a software-only solution called NAC—which is agnostic to whatever switch/router is used in a network. It can be implemented at a fraction of the cost that would otherwise have to be spent in the scenarios mentioned above. You can have a mixed network environment and NAC will still work well along with MPE.
A single product
McAfee: We noticed a lot of customers had one grouse – every time they approached us there would be one more product to buy and install. So if you need an anti-virus you would install an AV and if it was spyware then you would have to install anti-spyware. The list could go on—when would it end? At the end of all this the PC will full of these “anti-solutions”, eating up system resources leaving the user with no space to run other applications. This was a cause for concern. We released Total Protection (in April this year)—one agent which included anti-virus/ malware/spyware/adware/phishing, etc. Total Protection is not a suite of products —it is a single product. It collectively uses 40 percent less resources than all the separate products installed on a system. If you were to buy any McAfee product it would communicate with ePO (ePolicy Orchestrator). Every technology that we procure is pushed into this reporting module. This is better than having different consoles for the gateway, host, signatures, etc. Effectively, you have a single “agent”. This means to keep your system secure all you need to do is download a single “DAT” file to update the firewall, AV, anti-spyware, etc.
Seagate plans to stop manufacturing IDE drives by year end
Seagate plans to cease manufacturing IDE hard drives by the end of the year and will focus exclusively on SATA-based products. Seagate is the first major hard drive manufacturer to announce such plans, though others will likely follow suit as SATA continues to sap PATA's market share. According to a report published at Australian-based ITNews last January, SATA now accounts for 66.7 percent of desktop hard drive sales, 44 percent of laptop sales, and an unspecified (but increasing) amount of enterprise storage connectivity.
Not only has SATA overtaken PATA as the interface of choice for hard drive connectivity, but it's become the main interface for primary hard drive connectivity as well—meaning that a majority of OEM system shipments now contain a SATA-based hard drive rather than the older PATA standard. Accomplishing all of this in less than a decade is impressive, particularly when compared to the slow pace at which floppies or the original USB interface have been supplanted by newer technologies. Unlike the slow pace of adoption that characterized other standards, SATA has virtually sprinted across the finish line.
That's not to say support for the 21-year-old PATA standard is going to vanish overnight; 34 percent of global hard drives is still an awful lot of hardware, and quite a few CD/DVD drives still rely on PATA. This means that most motherboard manufacturers will probably keep at least one PATA slot around for awhile longer, similar to how ISA slots were available long after most of us had ditched our old ISA peripherals. Add in the PCI/PCIe-based expansion slot market, and its unlikely that PATA support is going anywhere any time soon—a fact which should reassure anyone who is afraid Seagate's SATA-only policy could leave us all with mountains of PATA drives and no way to access them.
For the moment, Seagate appears to be maintaining price parity across both product lines, with the 400GB, 16MB of cache, 7200.10 Barracuda selling for $99 at Newegg in both IDE and SATA form factors. The Inquirer (via various channel sources) first reported the move, and a Seagate spokesperson told Ars that the report was "probably" true.
Not only has SATA overtaken PATA as the interface of choice for hard drive connectivity, but it's become the main interface for primary hard drive connectivity as well—meaning that a majority of OEM system shipments now contain a SATA-based hard drive rather than the older PATA standard. Accomplishing all of this in less than a decade is impressive, particularly when compared to the slow pace at which floppies or the original USB interface have been supplanted by newer technologies. Unlike the slow pace of adoption that characterized other standards, SATA has virtually sprinted across the finish line.
That's not to say support for the 21-year-old PATA standard is going to vanish overnight; 34 percent of global hard drives is still an awful lot of hardware, and quite a few CD/DVD drives still rely on PATA. This means that most motherboard manufacturers will probably keep at least one PATA slot around for awhile longer, similar to how ISA slots were available long after most of us had ditched our old ISA peripherals. Add in the PCI/PCIe-based expansion slot market, and its unlikely that PATA support is going anywhere any time soon—a fact which should reassure anyone who is afraid Seagate's SATA-only policy could leave us all with mountains of PATA drives and no way to access them.
For the moment, Seagate appears to be maintaining price parity across both product lines, with the 400GB, 16MB of cache, 7200.10 Barracuda selling for $99 at Newegg in both IDE and SATA form factors. The Inquirer (via various channel sources) first reported the move, and a Seagate spokesperson told Ars that the report was "probably" true.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Perform a Windows Vista Suicide by Pressing Just 2 Keys!!!
Windows Vista can be completely killed by pressing a simple combination of just two keys. All you need to crush Microsoft's latest operating system and put the much-applauded Wow at an end is two fingers. This issue has been reported independently of Microsoft, and the Redmond company has failed to issue any official comment at the time of this article. The immediate question which comes to mind is if the problem is a security vulnerability or a simple bug.
Either way, you too can watch Windows Vista die in front of your eyes. To make matters worse, the key
combination is one of the most utilized keyboard shortcuts in Windows. Pressing the Windows key together with "E" will start Computer in Windows Vista. Keeping the two keys pressed will open a large volume of Computer windows. Want to crush Windows Vista? Nothing could be simpler. Just keep the two keys pressed for more than 20 – 30 seconds.
The operating system will begin to behave aberrantly and will continue to open Computer instances flooding the desktop. There is no way to restore Vista to its normal self, outside of a reboot. With Computer windows cascading on your desktop, you will soon find that Task Manager cannot be accessed. The same is valid for additional processes. You will have to restart the operating system in order to restore Vista.
"It took millions of dollars to make Windows Vista secure and stable. While I am happy that Windows Vista is so much stable than Windows XP; there is a bullet proof way to crash WindowsVista. A simple service which loops a thousand times while sending Windows Key + E can be written within ten minutes. Microsoft may have spent millions of dollars for security and stability; it takes two fingers or a simple service to crash Windows Vista down. No matter how bullet proof Windows Vista claims to be, two keys to crash the operating system is a bullet proof approach as well," revealed the author of the crash method on TechTicles.
In its present form, the bug seems to create nothing more than a Denial of Service condition. It remains to be seen if it can be exploited remotely or if it permits code execution. Still, I’d put my money on a bug, rather than on a security vulnerability.
Top 20 Antivirus Rankings
Rigorously tested using 174,770 virus samples, and the settings of each application were tweaked to ensure that they all caught maximum number of viruses
This is the list of the top 20 antivirus applications
01. Kaspersky version 7.0.0.43 beta - 99.23%
02. Kaspersky version 6.0.2.614 - 99.13%
03. Active Virus Shield by AOL version 6.0.0.308 - 99.13%
04. ZoneAlarm with KAV Antivirus version 7.0.337.000 - 99.13%
05. F-Secure 2007 version 7.01.128 - 98.56%
06. BitDefender Professional version 10 - 97.70%
07. BullGuard version 7.0.0.23 - 96.59%
08. Ashampoo version 1.30 - 95.80%
09. eScan version 8.0.671.1 - 94.43%
10. Nod32 version 2.70.32 - 94.00%
11. CyberScrub version 1.0 - 93.27%
12. Avast Professional version 4.7.986 - 92.82%
13. AVG Anti-Malware version 7.5.465 - 92.14%
14. F-Prot version 6.0.6.4 - 91.35%
15. McAfee Enterprise version 8.5.0i+AntiSpyware module - 90.65%
16. Panda 2007 version 2.01.00 - 90.06%
17. Norman version 5.90.37 - 88.47%
18. ArcaVir 2007 - 88.24%
19. McAfee version 11.0.213 - 86.13%
20. Norton Professional 2007 - 86.08%
For more information visit..
http://www.techdo.com/?p=62
This is the list of the top 20 antivirus applications
01. Kaspersky version 7.0.0.43 beta - 99.23%
02. Kaspersky version 6.0.2.614 - 99.13%
03. Active Virus Shield by AOL version 6.0.0.308 - 99.13%
04. ZoneAlarm with KAV Antivirus version 7.0.337.000 - 99.13%
05. F-Secure 2007 version 7.01.128 - 98.56%
06. BitDefender Professional version 10 - 97.70%
07. BullGuard version 7.0.0.23 - 96.59%
08. Ashampoo version 1.30 - 95.80%
09. eScan version 8.0.671.1 - 94.43%
10. Nod32 version 2.70.32 - 94.00%
11. CyberScrub version 1.0 - 93.27%
12. Avast Professional version 4.7.986 - 92.82%
13. AVG Anti-Malware version 7.5.465 - 92.14%
14. F-Prot version 6.0.6.4 - 91.35%
15. McAfee Enterprise version 8.5.0i+AntiSpyware module - 90.65%
16. Panda 2007 version 2.01.00 - 90.06%
17. Norman version 5.90.37 - 88.47%
18. ArcaVir 2007 - 88.24%
19. McAfee version 11.0.213 - 86.13%
20. Norton Professional 2007 - 86.08%
For more information visit..
http://www.techdo.com/?p=62
No Time For This Shirt
Altogether Andrews got tired of spilling hot beverage on self, every time someone asked him the time. With fire in his soul and a song in his heart, he set out to build this incredible machine-an invention to serve one's needs, if there ever was onme. This "Digital Clock T-Shirt" utilises an electro-luminescent panel in front to display the current time. The four AAA batteries that power the unit are cleverly hidden within a companion compartment and are rumoured to last between 12 and 36 hours depending on the flashing mode selected.
www.latestbuy.com.au/digital_clock_tshirt.html
Finding Nemo
In some morbid way, this invention is sure to balance the karma of flushing your pet goldfish down the bowls-the Fish 'n Flush is a fish aquarium embedded into the flush tank of your toilet. Pesky guests are sure to freak out and flee screaming; children might be tempted to go investigate further. PETA is advised that the fish are safe from being sucked down into the sewer system as they reside in a separate compartment that surrounds the actual toilet tank. We would like an option that will showcase desert scorpions within the flush tank; or puppies apparently drowning.
http://www.fishnflush.com/
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Yahoo! Messenger Vulnerabilities
The Problem
A pair of serious vulnerabilities have been reported in Yahoo! Messenger. These could enable a hacker to run malicious code with minimal user intervention if the messaging client is running in the background.
In the first vulnerability, a remote attacker could compromise a machine running a webcam on Yahoo! Messenger by causing a buffer overflow in its Activex component when the user visits a Web page with malicious HTML code. The result is that more data is sent to the RAM than it can handle, causing the program or other services running on the computer to crash, or the execution of harmful code. The second exploit causes a buffer overflow in the file ywcvwr.dll, which is used in the viewer component of the messenger client.
eEye Digital Security, the company that discovered the exploits, gave them its highest risk rating. Secunia, another computer security company, labelled it "extremely critical."
The Solution
Yahoo! has released a patch for the exploits, stating that everyone using their messenger client should download the updated version from http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php. Yahoo!'s description of the exploit can be found at http://messenger.yahoo.com/security_update.php?id=060707
A pair of serious vulnerabilities have been reported in Yahoo! Messenger. These could enable a hacker to run malicious code with minimal user intervention if the messaging client is running in the background.
In the first vulnerability, a remote attacker could compromise a machine running a webcam on Yahoo! Messenger by causing a buffer overflow in its Activex component when the user visits a Web page with malicious HTML code. The result is that more data is sent to the RAM than it can handle, causing the program or other services running on the computer to crash, or the execution of harmful code. The second exploit causes a buffer overflow in the file ywcvwr.dll, which is used in the viewer component of the messenger client.
eEye Digital Security, the company that discovered the exploits, gave them its highest risk rating. Secunia, another computer security company, labelled it "extremely critical."
The Solution
Yahoo! has released a patch for the exploits, stating that everyone using their messenger client should download the updated version from http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php. Yahoo!'s description of the exploit can be found at http://messenger.yahoo.com/security_update.php?id=060707
India Online!
America Online (AOL) is the third-largest portal after Yahoo! and MSN. Last month, AOL officially launched its portal - www.aol.in - in India. India being a big potential market for portals has attracted Microsoft, Yahoo!, and others as well; with a strength of more than 2,000 employees, AOL has had a presence in India since 2002, working on and building new services for AOL's portal.
The AOL India portal has services like e-mail, IM, mobile services, Google-powered search, and channels like Bollywood, Cityguide, International Music, Education, and more. India is the first country to witness AOL's next-generation e-mail services. It will offer users unlimited storage, industry-leading spam protection, and powerful virus protection.
Like the Yahoo! and MSN messengers, "cool" features like offline messaging, sharing of pictures, personalisation, and group messaging will be available in AOL Messenger. What would be different is multi-tab conversations and simultaneous logins through multiple AOL IDs. AOL will also provide video content from various content providers. In mobile mobile services, along with VAS (Value Added Services) downloads; WAP Mail and AOL messenger will be made available.
In the future, more products and services will be made available, we have been told. The content will be made available in regional languages as well. AOL will add more content and channels by collaborating with their other partners, apart from Time Warner.
The AOL India portal has services like e-mail, IM, mobile services, Google-powered search, and channels like Bollywood, Cityguide, International Music, Education, and more. India is the first country to witness AOL's next-generation e-mail services. It will offer users unlimited storage, industry-leading spam protection, and powerful virus protection.
Like the Yahoo! and MSN messengers, "cool" features like offline messaging, sharing of pictures, personalisation, and group messaging will be available in AOL Messenger. What would be different is multi-tab conversations and simultaneous logins through multiple AOL IDs. AOL will also provide video content from various content providers. In mobile mobile services, along with VAS (Value Added Services) downloads; WAP Mail and AOL messenger will be made available.
In the future, more products and services will be made available, we have been told. The content will be made available in regional languages as well. AOL will add more content and channels by collaborating with their other partners, apart from Time Warner.
All About Viruses
Irrespective of hacking, it is very important for one to have an idea about viruses.A computer virus is one of thousands of programs that can invade computer systems (both IBM PC and Macintosh) and perform a variety of functions ranging from annoying (e.g., popping up messages as a joke) to dangerous (e.g., deleting files or destroying your hard disk). Trojan horses or worms are specific types of clandestine programs (loosely categorized as viruses) and can be just as dangerous. For simplicity's sake, future mention of viruses in this document will refer to viruses, trojan horses, and worms taken as a whole.
Classification of computer viruses
There are many types of computer viruses:
Boot sector virusA boot sector virus occupies the boot sector of a floppy disk or hard disk and loads into memory during the boot-up process. Once in memory, it will attempt to infect the boot sector of any floppy disk that is used in the computer system.
Executable load virus
This type of virus attaches itself to executable files and installs itself on the system whenever the executable file is run. Once in memory, it will attempt to infect other program files by attaching itself to them.
Polymorphic virus
A polymorphic virus is a virus that encrypts itself, changing it's 'signature' so that it is difficult to detect by anti-virus software, by using a 'mutation engine' to change the appearance of the virus in an attempt to evade detection and destruction.
Macro viruses
A macro virus is one written in a programming language embedded inside another document, such as a word processor document or spreadsheet document. The software suite most targeted by macro viruses is the Microsoft Office suite of applications, but any application that contains a complex embedded macro language can be used to write such a virus.
Trojan horses
Although technically not a virus, the Trojan horse posses a greater threat to the integrity of your computer system's privacy than any other attack. A Trojan horse must be installed on your machine either by direct access (by a hacker using a floppy, etc.), or installed using the 'executable load' payload method described above. Once installed, the virus begins to log every key press made on the keyboard into a log file, which it then e-mails to the hacker covertly upon you connecting to the internet.
The key log file may contain credit card numbers, personal information, or network or e-mail passwords which often leads to Trojan horses being labelled 'password-sniffers'.
Worms
Worms possess the ability to replicate themselves independently of human interaction, while using polymorphic engines to disguise their movements. They are often designed to read the computer users contact e-mail lists from something like Outlook Express, and then e-mail themselves to every address within that list.
Worms copy themselves from computer to computer rather than from file to file, and because they require no human help to do so, they can spread much more rapidly than regular computer viruses, in extreme cases they can cause e-mail servers to crash with the resulting excessive e-mail traffic that is generated.
Zombies
Zombies may remain dormant on a computer system for an extended period of time. They are normally programmes used by hackers in a coordinated attack on a system, whereby the hacker triggers the Zombie remotely to aid his/her attack on the computer system or network, creating a 'back door' into the system by weakening security devices or programs.
Although Zombies cause no actual damage to a computer system, their presence on the system is unwelcome. Like many other types of virus, they can be received by e-mail or else have to be physically installed onto the targeted system.
Classification of computer viruses
There are many types of computer viruses:
Boot sector virusA boot sector virus occupies the boot sector of a floppy disk or hard disk and loads into memory during the boot-up process. Once in memory, it will attempt to infect the boot sector of any floppy disk that is used in the computer system.
Executable load virus
This type of virus attaches itself to executable files and installs itself on the system whenever the executable file is run. Once in memory, it will attempt to infect other program files by attaching itself to them.
Polymorphic virus
A polymorphic virus is a virus that encrypts itself, changing it's 'signature' so that it is difficult to detect by anti-virus software, by using a 'mutation engine' to change the appearance of the virus in an attempt to evade detection and destruction.
Macro viruses
A macro virus is one written in a programming language embedded inside another document, such as a word processor document or spreadsheet document. The software suite most targeted by macro viruses is the Microsoft Office suite of applications, but any application that contains a complex embedded macro language can be used to write such a virus.
Trojan horses
Although technically not a virus, the Trojan horse posses a greater threat to the integrity of your computer system's privacy than any other attack. A Trojan horse must be installed on your machine either by direct access (by a hacker using a floppy, etc.), or installed using the 'executable load' payload method described above. Once installed, the virus begins to log every key press made on the keyboard into a log file, which it then e-mails to the hacker covertly upon you connecting to the internet.
The key log file may contain credit card numbers, personal information, or network or e-mail passwords which often leads to Trojan horses being labelled 'password-sniffers'.
Worms
Worms possess the ability to replicate themselves independently of human interaction, while using polymorphic engines to disguise their movements. They are often designed to read the computer users contact e-mail lists from something like Outlook Express, and then e-mail themselves to every address within that list.
Worms copy themselves from computer to computer rather than from file to file, and because they require no human help to do so, they can spread much more rapidly than regular computer viruses, in extreme cases they can cause e-mail servers to crash with the resulting excessive e-mail traffic that is generated.
Zombies
Zombies may remain dormant on a computer system for an extended period of time. They are normally programmes used by hackers in a coordinated attack on a system, whereby the hacker triggers the Zombie remotely to aid his/her attack on the computer system or network, creating a 'back door' into the system by weakening security devices or programs.
Although Zombies cause no actual damage to a computer system, their presence on the system is unwelcome. Like many other types of virus, they can be received by e-mail or else have to be physically installed onto the targeted system.
Disable Sending Of Windows Error Reports
When a program crashes, it gives you an error, then asks you to send a error report to Microsoft?which you usually abort or ignore. You can disable the popping up of the option altogether: [Windows] + [Pause/Break], click on the Advanced tab and then on the Error Reporting button. Here, you can click the Disable Error Reporting radio button, or choose the programs you want to exclude from getting the error reporting option. Click on Choose Programs to do this.
A Prettier Volume Control
Few people know that the Volume Control has a hidden, compact-looking profile. You can create a shortcut with the command as ?sndvol32 /s? or by pressing [Ctrl] + [S] with the Windows Volume Control running. Press [Ctrl] + [S] again to revert to the original size.
To open a minimal volume control with only the single slider, you can create a shortcut by first right-clicking at the location you want to add the shortcut, then click New > Shortcut, and type in ?sndvol32 /t?.
To open a minimal volume control with only the single slider, you can create a shortcut by first right-clicking at the location you want to add the shortcut, then click New > Shortcut, and type in ?sndvol32 /t?.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Foot Mouse Frees Your Hands Up
Sick of wasting time switching your hand between your keyboard and your mouse? Well, you've got a couple of feet that aren't being used, don't you? You might as well enlist them in your fight for efficiency.
This foot mouse allows you to free your right hand up from mousing around by controlling the cursor via your right foot. Your left foot then controls the buttons, letting you use your computer with all four limbs simultaneously. Sure, it'll take getting used to, but think about the advantages you'll have in gaming when you've got both hands free to use the keyboard.
Gaming Now Officially a Disease!
The shrinks at The American Medical Association are moving to officially recognize “Internet/video gaming addiction” as a disorder. What this means is that lawyers will, in the future, attempt to blame “gory video games” for crimes ranging from eve-teasing to mass murder, and use the medically – recognized disorder to bolster their defences. The pharmaceutical companies must be smacking their lips right now, what with a new product line and another set of different colored pills to pump into unsuspecting bodies.
When it comes to complaints, the online multiplayer game EverQuest tops the charts, with relatives of gamers complaining that playing that game is far too addictive to be safe among teenagers. Some people are even referring to it as “EverCrack” … Disgruntled spouses of EverQuest players have actually set up a group to voice their experiences! The description of their group says, “EverQuest Widows is a forum for partners, family and friends of people who play EverQuest compulsively. We turn to each other because it’s no fun talking to the back of someone’s head while they’re retrieving their corpse or ‘telling’ with their guild-mates as you speak.” In paranoid America, there have been centres set up to “treat” gamers with video game addiction. Sites like On-Line Gamers Anonymous (www.olganonboard.org) are solely dedicated to providing help to gamers who cannot prioritise their daily responsibilities vis-à-vis their game playing needs.
However, Sony Online Entertainment, the company behind EverQuest, denies any wrongdoing, stating: “I guess our standpoint is the same as all kinds of products-you have to be responsible in using it. You don’t see disclaimers when you get in a car saying ‘Don’t run over people.’ People have to exhibit their own good sense, and if they have kids, they need to pay attention to what they’re doing.”
What is still baffling us is: is it possible to become completely dependent on a game? And if so, exactly what are the symptoms of sudden video game withdrawl?
What can we say… gamers will be gamers, Americans will be Americans, and shrinks will be shrinks. That’s about it.
When it comes to complaints, the online multiplayer game EverQuest tops the charts, with relatives of gamers complaining that playing that game is far too addictive to be safe among teenagers. Some people are even referring to it as “EverCrack” … Disgruntled spouses of EverQuest players have actually set up a group to voice their experiences! The description of their group says, “EverQuest Widows is a forum for partners, family and friends of people who play EverQuest compulsively. We turn to each other because it’s no fun talking to the back of someone’s head while they’re retrieving their corpse or ‘telling’ with their guild-mates as you speak.” In paranoid America, there have been centres set up to “treat” gamers with video game addiction. Sites like On-Line Gamers Anonymous (www.olganonboard.org) are solely dedicated to providing help to gamers who cannot prioritise their daily responsibilities vis-à-vis their game playing needs.
However, Sony Online Entertainment, the company behind EverQuest, denies any wrongdoing, stating: “I guess our standpoint is the same as all kinds of products-you have to be responsible in using it. You don’t see disclaimers when you get in a car saying ‘Don’t run over people.’ People have to exhibit their own good sense, and if they have kids, they need to pay attention to what they’re doing.”
What is still baffling us is: is it possible to become completely dependent on a game? And if so, exactly what are the symptoms of sudden video game withdrawl?
What can we say… gamers will be gamers, Americans will be Americans, and shrinks will be shrinks. That’s about it.
Lilliputians On Vista DVDs
A Spanish blogger, Kwisatz, was supposedly the first to spot a photograph of three faces embedded in the hologram on new Vista DVDs. What's special about the photograph is that it's only a square millimetre in area, making it too small to see without magnification. The picture shows three guys standing together, smiling at the camera.
Following the announcement, conspiracy pundits immediately went into overdrive, proclaiming it an Easter egg. Some state they have inside information that Microsoft is running an internal enquiry regarding how the image got there, which meant that this wasn't known until now, and wasn't approved, and some heads are going to roll.
Unfortuntely, all the excitement was put to rest when Microsoft's Nick White posted about it on the Vista team's blog - "Conspiracy theorists will be disappointed, the photo is only one of multiple images contained in the hologram design, all of whose inclusion serves to make it more difficult to replicate a Windows Vista DVD."
The three lucky men in the photo, said White, are members of Microsoft's anti - piracy team who had worked on the holograms for the Vista OS. There are other images too in the hologram, some of them belonging to art masterpieces in the public domain, added White.
Following the announcement, conspiracy pundits immediately went into overdrive, proclaiming it an Easter egg. Some state they have inside information that Microsoft is running an internal enquiry regarding how the image got there, which meant that this wasn't known until now, and wasn't approved, and some heads are going to roll.
Unfortuntely, all the excitement was put to rest when Microsoft's Nick White posted about it on the Vista team's blog - "Conspiracy theorists will be disappointed, the photo is only one of multiple images contained in the hologram design, all of whose inclusion serves to make it more difficult to replicate a Windows Vista DVD."
The three lucky men in the photo, said White, are members of Microsoft's anti - piracy team who had worked on the holograms for the Vista OS. There are other images too in the hologram, some of them belonging to art masterpieces in the public domain, added White.
Spam Queen
We all have relatives who couldn't care a damn about computers. Some amongst us also have relatives who discovered computers and the Internet, like them, and now seem addicted! Imagine how irritating it can be when your uncle or aunt starts sending you forwards you read two years ago! We look upon with pity at the plight of Princes Henry and William when we discovered that the Queen, aged 81 when this was written, has taken to the Internet with full gusto, and regularly bombards the inboxes of the young princes along with the rest of her immediate family.
In true blue - blooded fashion, the Queen dictates her e-mails instead of writing them. Having said that, the monarch is pretty tech - savvy: she owns a mobile phone and an iPod. Just last year she made her annual Christmas Day message avaliable for the first time as a podcast. We just hope, for the princes' sake, that she lightens up on those forwards...
An aside: it's "Queen's English," meaning her own. So does she use spell check?
In true blue - blooded fashion, the Queen dictates her e-mails instead of writing them. Having said that, the monarch is pretty tech - savvy: she owns a mobile phone and an iPod. Just last year she made her annual Christmas Day message avaliable for the first time as a podcast. We just hope, for the princes' sake, that she lightens up on those forwards...
An aside: it's "Queen's English," meaning her own. So does she use spell check?
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