Firefox Browser Hitting Maintstream

Firefox according to one report now has 8% of the browser market. .. increasing about 1% per month. If you think about the numbers, that's a LOT!

Read more from ITWorld and smallbizpipeline.com:

Firefox, the open-source browser from The Mozilla Organization, had 8% of the overall browser market as of the end of May, according to data from Web site monitoring firm NetApplications. The browser has gained between 0.5 percent and 1 percent market share each month since last October, while market share for Microsoft's Internet Explorer has fallen. continue

Windows 2000 Final security rollup

Major notice for Windows 2000 users... as you know... or don't ... (you should)... Microsoft is ending Windows 2000 Mainstream support for the product line. It's not as bad as you think but you should be preparing for Windows 2003 Server rollouts and XP Professional.

Read on:

Microsoft offers final Windows 2000 Server rollup
By Margie Semilof, Senior News Writer28 Jun 2005 SearchWin2000.com

Microsoft this week released a final security rollup for Windows 2000 Server, which arrives just one day before the software platform moves from Mainstream into Extended Support.
The update rollup for Windows Server Service Pack 4 does not contain new features;
Having the service pack as a roll up does make life easier, instead of having to install them one by one.

After July 1, Microsoft will continue to support Windows 2000 Server with security updates but will no longer add new features and hotfixes. Customers can receive hotfixes as part of a special paid program offered by Microsoft.

Full article.

Microsoft June 2005 security patches released and minor updates

There were lot of security patches released by Microsoft this month. Here's the current Microsoft bulletin.

Britney Spears and security??

washingtonpost.com

Britney Spears Tops Celebrity Virus Ranking
I absolutely love this story (per Brian Krebs): Panda Software says pop star Britney Spears edged out Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Jennifer Lopez and Michael Jackson as the top e-mail enticement used to trick people into infecting their computers with viruses.

Full article here.

Global cyber attack warnings issued

Canada, Australia Echo U.K. Cyber Attack Warnings (6-20-05)

Just hours after British cyber-security officials issued a highly unusual warning that hackers are launching targeted attacks against U.K. government agencies and high-profile British corporations, their counterparts in Canada and Australia issued similar alerts.

Read the full article from washingtonpost.com.

HP aims for small business with new backup options

HP to offer lower cost, simpler installation server backup tape drives for small businesses. Using USB connectivity, not SCSI connections is the key difference. Take a look at the full article or the intro below.

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Hewlett-Packard says it plans to introduce the first digital audiotape (DAT) USB 2.0 tape drives for servers next month.

The new DAT drives are aimed at the small to midsized business (SMB) market. The drives will have a data transfer rate of 23GB per hour with a 2 to 1 data compression. HP says a 40GB drive will start at $599, while a 72GB drive will cost $749.

On a completely different note

In "honor" of GW's speech tonight about the war in Iraq:

As of today, June 28, 2005, if George W. Bush visited 10 American service member's families a day, every day, that have had soldiers either killed or injured during this war with Iraq, it would take over 4 years. Isn't it enough?

Interested in Gigabit Technology: The Price is Right!

Simple, concise article on the affordability of gigabit technology and the hardware needed to use this faster, once expensive technology.

From smallbusinesscomputing.com. Here's the excellent article.

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Cook Group Technology
http://www.cookgrouptech.com

Firefox about to release 1.0.5

Like IE, Firefox has security vulnerabilities that it discovers and patches. You should currently be running Firefox release 1.0.4. Firefox 1.0.5 is soon to be released.

Advice: Just like you patch your Microsoft products, you need to be diligent about patching all of your client and server software products.

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Cook Group Technology

Dell announces sub $100 Laser printer

Wow! Let's hope HP and other's do the same. Read from smallbizpipeline.com about Dell's new $99 laser printer.

CNET trade-in old tech items to help schools

Interesting idea that's a "win-win". You trade-in your old equipment using CNET's new site http://tradein.cnet.com/, then schoolpop.com sells the stuff, the schools get a cut and so do you. Not a bad idea, we'll see how it goes...

Read the press release for more info.

Of course, if you don't want to deal with all that, you can easily work with Cook Group Technology throughout the year to e-cycle your old equipment.

----Cook Group Technology

Windows SBS 2003 Server - SP1 Info

The folks at smallbusinesscomputing.com have a nice small article about Windows SBS 2003 Server - Service Pack 1 release and install info. Test, test, test.

Real Player - 4 Security Fixes released

Take a look at this brief bulletin from the Washington Post regarding the latest security patches for Real Player.

And here's the information from Real Networks.

Happy patching!

100 Best Products of 2005

Lots of interesting info here from PC World for the Top 100 Best Products of 2005. It's their annual best products of the year. Take a look.