Windows XP may be dead to some, but Microsoft is quickly realizing it won’t soon be forgotten.

People usually think of antivirus software after the fact, or after they’ve just been attacked with a virus.  When they go searching for the best one, free versions are always at the top of the list- but which ones are the best?  Which ones provide the greatest security while still being free of charge?

Windows 7 is here, but with years of bad Vista memories, does it have what it takes?  Depending on how Windows 7 embraces new-age technologies such as cloud-computing and netbooks, it will determine whether Windows 7 is the future, or more of the same from an antiquated software giant.

Search and software giant Google is seeking out new tech talent down under. They will be running a recruitment week in major Australian cities all this week, looking for the best and brightest to help them bring Google to Australia. The division that is seeking new young software stars is Google Research and Development.

The owner of TeamTaylorMade.com web site, Timothy P Taylor, was ordered to pay back the profits he made from the venture. His web site tricked visitors into installing spyware and adware onto their machines in the guise of free videos and free screen savers. Taylor will be returning $4595.36 USD, a paltry sum compared other recent legal news, like the sentencing of two software pirates.

The Australian Federal Police and Microsoft has teamed up to track predators. Microsoft will be adding a logistics system to the Australian Federal Police’s existing online child protection unit. The system will enhance the efforts of the AFP in tracking crimes against children and their perpetrators, and will help tighten the net for capture.

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank is the only financial institution currently investigating the use of biometrics as a key to account security. It is coming under fire from people who claim the technology behind biometrics is still too new and unrefined to use. Granted biometrics is considered an emerging science, but it has already demonstrated usefulness in other fields, so why not banking?

The University of Adelaide is now planning to use StealthWatch to monitor its network usage. StealthWatch is made by Lancope, and is a departure from the Cisco based tools the university used to use. The investment is costing the university $100,000 AUS for the switch.

In the news this week, British schools have taken a clear stand against Microsoft’s new invasive software models, advising educators not to upgrade to Microsoft Vista or the newest Microsoft Office, Office 2007. The announcement came down this week from the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.

The UK made noise across the Internet this week when it moved to outlaw tools used by hackers. The fear in the software community world wide is that sales of their legitimate software in the UK will suffer if the blocks have tangential effects.

A few days ago, the Internet was abuzz with the news that trusted financial software made by Intuit had a big that was causing it to delete user data. Intuit released a patch to fix the problem, and for a while, all was right in the world of finance.

One fake URL and some detective work later, Adobe and Omniture’s run at customer privacy is at an end. Until the next time they get caught, that is. That’s right, Adobe was busted over the holidays for using a fake URL relay in its CS3 series of applications to gather data on its users.

My colleague James Cornelius came up with 5 reasons to hate Windows Vista. Well, I’m a Vista user myself right now (still on RC1, no RTM goodness for me yet), so here’s my comic response to James’ Vista rant.

The latest browsers from Microsoft and Mozilla, IE7 and Firefox 2.0, promise to protect you from phishing sites trying to steal your data. But a new report shows just how hopeless and unreliable both browsers are at this task. Psst… we’ve found a product that does the job much, much better - and it’s free!

If you thought Jim Allchin meant you could run Vista without anti-virus, he now says we misunderstood him and he should have been clearer. His clear advice is to always use anti-virus and security software, no matter what computer you use.

Mcrosoft’s long awaited follow up to their most successful software besides Windows finally goes RTM. It’s only been three years since the last version, but oh so much is different – both within Office and the suddenly hyper competitive marketplace. Can Office survive the latest threats to its dominance?

The Windows Vista journey is about to reach the end of the beginning, with the official launch date of November 30 announced for the simultaneous launch of Office 2007 and the business version of Windows Vista.

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI contains new features that enable photographers to adjust and correct their images with one-step fixes and enhancements.