Microsoft Office 2010 ‘almost’ ready to be launched

Microsoft has announced that it is in the final stage of development of its new version of Office family that includes Office 2010, Visio 2010, Sharepoint 2010 and project 2010.
Cnet.com reports that the office suite will be available for Business customers from next month and for non business customers in the month of June. A launch event is scheduled to be hosted by Microsoft on the 12 of May in NY.

PC makers might be authorised to load a starter pack called “office starters” which will have MS word and excel with some features locked. If the users choose to buy the original version they will be given an authorisation code upon purchase which will unlock the features and this way the installation process is made easy.

Also a notable change in the new office package would be the release of the browser based versions of word, Excel and PowerPoint, which will enable business users to share these apps instead of sending them over email. And consumers will get free access as part of Windows Live.

Video editing in powerpoint, and Photo editing option in Word will be some of the added features in the office package. Microsoft informed cnet that more than 7 million people are already using the beta version of office 2010.

Microsoft Office 2010 is designed to cater to different kind of users and it will benefit both business and individual customers with its improved and added features. If the above features prove to be user friendly then customers can be assured of improved “office” experience.

Zbot Trojan uses pdf in taking full control of computer

Zbot trojan is a information stealing Trojan which uses any pdf document and once this trojan is saved inside the computer then that’s it.Its enough for the trojan if the pdf is just opened by the user.Trojan starts executing some malicious code and also can send information to another remote server.It seems this kind of Trojan sends the information to the remote server located in China.

If any pdf is filled with this Trojan and if the user downloads this pdf then you will be prompted to save a file named “Royal_Mail_Delivery_Notice.pdf”.After saving this file original file will also be saved and if you open the pdf then this Trojan starts its execution.

The Zbot trojan creates a subdirectory under %SYSTEM32% with the name “lowsec” and drops the “local.ds” and “user.ds” files. It also drops an executable “sdra64.exe” and modifies the registry entry “%SOFTWARE%\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit” to launch itself during system startup. When it runs, it injects malicious code into the Winlogon.exe instance in memory.

Thus Zbot acts as a back door for some remote computers to get full access of your machine and also it acts as frontgate for many spywares and adwares to get intruded into the machine.

Sony Ericsson Walkman phone with FLAC – Zylo

Sony Ericsson has announced its new launch of two mobile phones to its Walkman series – Zylo and Spiro. Sony Ericsson Zylo is the first mobile with the feature of FLAC audio format, that gives an excellent experience of noise free music, as good as a music player. An advanced version of the walk-man series offered by Sony which has 3G connectivity and dual-band HSPA, with the facilities of Geo-talking and Video conference calling.

This mobile supports the social networks such as You Tube, Facebook and Twitter applications. Zylo is a slider phone preloaded with 3D games. This mobile is offered with 3.2 MP camera. Sony’s Zylo will be launched in three stunning colors:

  • Jazz Black
  • Chacha Silver
  • Swing Pink

The Key Features of this phone is TrackID – Now you can identify the track and the artist just by uploading a snippet. PlayNow Music – This feature allows you to shop 24*7 from a music store.

Physical Specifications

  • Display – 2.6-inch QVGA display
  • Dimension – 103.0 x 52.0 x 16.0 mm
  • Weight – 115gm
  • Battery – Li-Ion
  • Stand-by time – Up to 340 h (2G) and 400 h (3G)
  • Talk time – Up to 4 h (2G) and 3 h 30 min (3G)
  • RSS reader – Yes
  • Internal memory – 260MB, expandable up to 16GB
  • Stereo FM radio – with RDS
  • GPRS – Class 10, EDGE Class 10 and 3G
  • Bluetooth – 2.1 with A2DP

This phone will be available in market by the 3rd quarter of 2010. The price slab is expected to be affordable.