You bet!

Big Rock Graphics have been a part of the beta testing of Windows 7 for the past several months, and have to say it’s a vast improvement over Windows Vista, finally.

What has some scratching their heads, and most likely a good number of other beta testers, is why Windows 7 was needed at all. Sure Vista was a bit slow and cumbersome at times, and required some drastic system updates to run well. But couldn’t another service pack fix that? Well… no. Windows Vista problems went right to the core and unless people wanted to download a 3.5Gb update “fix” there was no fixing it without rebuilding it from the inside out. It was the wisest move Microsoft could make really. Both in regards to giving customers the best option and support for their new product, and in regards to trying to recoup some of the financial losses, that Windows Vista inflicted upon Microsoft.

Windows 7 does everything Windows Vista does only better. From handling resources, new bells and whistles such as support for a whole range of new devices such as touch screens, faster boot speed (because we just reboot our systems all day right?) to generally making life easier (or some would say more “interesting”) for system administrators with a whole batch of new tools.

One of the downsides though is driver support. Of course once this is ironed out and developers jump on board it’ll be a short trip for Windows 7 to reach the promised reliability heights.

Also, apologies to our Open Source buddies. While we still support you strongly there will always be a need for MS Windows in the marketplace. In fact I’m now posting this entry from the Ubuntu partition but will soon have to reboot back into the XP partition so some work can be done. If only there was effective support for our Adobe Suite in Ubuntu *sigh*

So stay tuned. We don’t expect much change from the final Windows 7  RC, and we’re hoping some of those changes don’t impact on the performance boosts, but we’ll let you know as soon as it’s up and running.

Web 2.0 sites that enable people to create content are increasingly used to carry out a wide range of attacks, according to a new security study.

Websense’s State of Internet Security” (PDF), released Tuesday, notes that attackers are focusing their attention on interactive Web 2.0 elements. Some 95 percent of user-generated comments on blogs, message boards, and chat rooms are either spam or contain malicious links, the security vendor warned.

“The very aspects of Web 2.0 sites that have made them so revolutionary–the dynamic nature of content on the sites, the ability for anyone to easily create and post content, and the trust that users have for others in their online networks–are the same characteristics that radically raise the potential for abuse,” Websense said in its report.

Web 2.0 sites, the company added, comprise “many” of the most visited sites on the Internet. The top 100 most visited Web properties, tended to be classified as social-networking or search sites. Nearly half, or over 47 percent, of the top 100 Web sites support user-generated content.

Source and full story at: news.cnet.com

Remember folks, you can’t rely solely on your anti-virus and spyware scanners any more if you use “Web 2.0″ enabled websites, you’ll also need to depend upon some good old common sense.

Some basic rules to follow:

• Be aware of what exactly you’re giving permissions to in your browser.
• If you’re required to download a plugin make sure that it comes from a reliable source.
• Double check the web address: Are you sure you’re entering your details into the site you want to? Phishing (login detail theft) is more prevalent than ever and can lead to identity theft. So while the site you’re on looks like your banks, Facebook or your web email is it really the official site? If unsure it’s always best to be paranoid than not. Copy the web address and email their support folk. It’s better than losing your account.
• If you suspect an application is not what it appears to be – go with your gut. First impressions are usually correct.
• If you can’t “block” the application then alarm bells should be ringing.
• … and finally; Don’t believe everything you read. A lot of online “scanners” are not what they appear to be and are in fact malware. If you’re intent on using an online scanner then use an established and trusted online scanning source.

So it’s not as scary out there as some make out but as long as you take a few precautions. Scanners will do their best to keep you safe but they can take awhile to recognise.

Increase your knowledge of what can and can’t happen and your browsing experience will stay healthy and happy.

As you saw last month Big Rock Graphics is a big supporter of Open Source software and application solutions. From standalone solutions such as GIMP to online solutions such as Joomla! and WordPress.

Well this month we continue the trend.

For the artists and photographers out there we have an update to GIMP 2.6.7 and for the office we have Sun Systems Open Office 3.1.1 which will take care of most of your office application needs.

GIMP 2.6.7 (i686 edition)
Open Office 3.1.1 (32bit Win edition)

If you require a different edition you can acquire them from the GIMP and Open Office websites.

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X.

While it may not be professionally recognised most in the industry have at one stage used or heard of GIMP.

Our favourite freeware image editing package has had a long life and just keeps getting better. You can either grab the latest version for Windows, both 32-bit and 64-bit edition, from here or from the GIMP site itself.

Be sure to check out GAP, GIMP Animation Package, while you’re there too.

Download GIMP v2.6.6 (32-bit Windows edition)
Download GIMP v2.6.6 (64-bit Windows edition)