Microsoft made available for download a new release of its free anti-virus/anti-malware program for Windows PCs, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), on April 24.

The MSE 4.0 release is available via the Microsoft Download Center and the MSE Web site. (I learned of its availability from a post on Neowin today.) The latest version runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

The 4.0 version has been in beta since late 2011. As ZDNet sister site TechRepublic reported back in December 2011, Microsoft officials said the 4.0 release would include a streamlined interface; a renamed version of the SpyNet service (now slated to be known as Microsoft Active Protection Services); new automatic remediation functionality; and overall improved performance and detection capabilities.

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Ubuntu a viable choice on HP ProLiant servers.

Canonical and HP announced that the long-term support (LTS) version of Ubuntu 12.04 will be offered, certified and supported on select HP ProLiant Systems ahead of the official launch of the OS.

Canonical noted that HP’s decision marks the first time that Ubuntu will be a supported server OS directly by the manufacturer, where customers can get support without taking the route to Canonical and the Ubuntu community. According to the companies, the partnership will be targeted at hyperscale customers and builds on HP’s project Moonshot, which will be supporting Ubuntu Linux on ARM-based servers.

At this time, Canonical said that Ubuntu will be certified for existing ProLiant server models with the intent to provide immediate qualification of the OS when future servers are introduced. According to the developer, Ubuntu will be added to the HP ProLiant Certification and Support Matrices on HP.com.

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Those of you still holding on to Windows XP have two years to spend with the now-antiquated OS before Microsoft pulls the support plug.

On April 8, 2014, Microsoft will officially end support for Windows XP and Office 2003, the software giant reminded business users in a blog post this week. “If you still have some PCs running Windows XP and Office 2003 in your organization, now would be a good time to start migrating them to Windows 7 and Office 2010,” wrote Microsoft’s Stella Chernyak.

Chernyak warned against waiting for the next Windows and Office update. “Not only is it important for companies to complete deployment before support runs out, but they should also be aware that by upgrading to Windows 7 and Office 2010 today they can gain substantial results today while laying the foundation for future versions of these products,” she wrote.

Chernyak outlined a number of upgrade options in the blog post, including Windows Intune and Office 365.

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Computerworld – India’s IT firms understand software, but not America.

It is the American character not to back down, and to fight for what is right. Our children are taught this from their earliest ages. Even new arrivals, immigrants or people on work visas are quick to grasp this essential truth.

America’s institutions reflect the national character. Our political system encourages sharp and hard contests. Our legal system facilitates a fight, as India’s IT companies are now learning.

Three of India’s largest IT outsourcing firms, Infosys Technologies, Larsen & Toubro InfoTech and Tata Consultancy Services, are involved in lawsuits filed against them by current and former employees.

The lawsuits are a problem for each of the companies. But taken together, the cases are a major threat to the Indian IT industry in America.

India’s IT firms are dependent on American businesses for about half of their revenue. They can’t operate in this country without work visas, such as H-1B and L-1 visas.

Thus the allegations by employees of visa misuse and harassment have broad implications and are attracting federal investigators and congressional oversight.

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A Newegg pre-order listing shows a release date of December 8 for the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet.

ZoomA pre-order listing on Newegg shows that the upcoming Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet is slated to launch on December 8. The device will come packed with Nvidia’s new Tegra 3 SoC clocked at 1.30 GHz, and sport 1 GB of DDR2 memory, 32 GB of storage and a typical pricetag of $499.99 USD.

“Paired for perfection,” states Asus on its tablet-oriented website. “The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the perfect example of what a tablet should be. The innovative design not only seamlessly provides the user with a keyboard, touchpad and expandability options, but also battery life up to 18 hours for all day computing and productivity.”

Strangely enough, the Asus website doesn’t list Newegg as an official pre-order site, but instead lists Amazon, B&H, Best Buy, TigerDirect and even GameStop. That said, Newegg is the only online retailer that’s actually listing a ship date, leading us to wonder if the release date is even valid.

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Tell us what you want from your next motherboard, and you could win a free motherboard from ASRock!
Get your ideas in, because it’s the last day to enter!
Motherboard engineers try to make the hardware that they think will be most attractive to users but despite their best efforts, they aren’t telepathic.

For that reason, ASRock would like to hear from YOU about what you want in your next motherboard?

We’d like for you to tell us what sorts of board features/capabilities are currently important to you and what’s on your wishlist for your next-generation build.

Even if some of the features you want don’t exist yet, we’re sure that ASRock’s engineers would like to hear about what the best of you can dream up.

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I got interested on this. Microsoft have been documenting their troubleshooting but most of us do not know.

Here is one, Troubleshooting Device Driver Problems, written on September 7, 2006. It is good documentation and very easy to follow instructions, they even have screenshot of the windows or process involved which makes it really easy to follow.

Microsoft Windows XP supports thousands of hardware accessories (generally referred to as devices), including printers, digital cameras, and network adapters, that extend what your computer can do. To provide this level of flexibility, Windows XP uses software called a device driver to communicate with the hardware. Every hardware device you connect to your computer has its own device driver. Over time, the manufacturer may update the driver for your device to improve its performance, to improve security, or to correct a problem.

Most of the time, you can connect and use hardware accessories without a problem. Occasionally, however, you might encounter a problem when installing a new piece of hardware, or you might develop a problem after using an accessory that previously worked correctly.

If you have a hardware problem, the problem could be caused either by the hardware or by the device driver. Fortunately, device drivers can be easily upgraded to a newer version, rolled back to an older version, or reinstalled. Therefore, troubleshooting hardware problems often starts by troubleshooting device drivers. To identify a device driver problem, answer the following questions:

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We can confirm that the TFT display with LED back lighting is indeed lowest on overall power consumption. Of course, we’re only talking about the displays in our lab here, not generalizing about the entire display market. With that said, other LED-lit displays are likely lower on power consumption than models with fluorescent lighting. The overall image is colder and may appear bluish, but this can be adjusted in the monitor settings.

We can also confirm that CRTs will require at least twice the power of an LCD display. You could operate three large, modern LCDs with the power consumed by one 19 CRT, and this ratio will probably become 4:1 very soon. If you care about energy savings, you should dispose of your old CRT monitor once you find a good deal on a decent LCD. Even if power isnt your primary concern, consider that LCDs dont get as hot as CRT monitors for the very same reasons. We found that its hardly possible to reduce power consumption by decreasing monitor brightness, but LCD power draw varied significantly as brightness changed. Specifically:

• We could reduce power consumption by up to 65% just by reducing brightness.
• Newer displays will show more significant power savings with reduced brightness.
• Larger displays need more background light, but operating power can still be reduced.
• Even older displays require less power if brightness is reduced.

A 20% brightness reduction might not impact your visual experience very much, but it could reduce the power consumption of your display to a larger extent than typical efforts to reduce system power consumption by using low-power hardware, such as an efficient power supply, green drives, or SSDs.

We recommend checking your display brightness setting. Working with documents and spreadsheets typically doesn’t require more than 250 cd/m, and many people habitually set their monitors with too much brightness. You couldn’t ask for easier (free) power savings. Those looking for a new display should target high contrast ratios, since this allows for decreasing the brightness. Of course, be sure to account for personal preferences, environmental lighting, hardware, and your applications when choosing brightness settings. Power savings shouldn’t have to result in eye strain.

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