My email client is Outlook 2007. I received an email from Feedblitz and noticed something new. There were keywords/tags visible above the From: line. As this notification was for this blog, I recognised them as the tags I had used in those posts.

Upon examining the full headers via the Options dialog, I noticed this extra line:

Keywords: XPM, Software, Anti Virus, Windows 7, firefox, Social Media, Windows XP Mode, SEO, twitter, obama, Affiliate Marketing

Moreover, the Options dialog itself displays the same words but you can see a Categories drop-down. I chose the “Clear all Categories” in the drop-down, and they were erased from the email, even though I later chose not to save changes.
I can’t find an explanation (too many common keywords in the search term) online and have asked a few friends. Going back over earlier emails from Feedblitz, I noticed they too showed these Categories. I recall reading that Microsoft Word Categories become Keywords in Outlook but can’t find the reference. Anyone have any clues?

Popularity: 25% [?]

If you know what Twitter is, you’ll enjoy this video and more at current.com.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Amazon.com Review
Barack Obama’s first book, Dreams from My Father, was a compelling and moving memoir focusing on personal issues of race, identity, and community. With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised i (more…)

Popularity: 17% [?]

Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott have revealed on the Supersite Blog a new Windows 7 application compatibility feature called Windows XP Mode.This has been confirmed on the Windows Team Blog.

Many businesses have not upgraded to Windows Vista, partly because of compatibility concerns for their legacy applications. Windows 7 (Enterprise, Professional and Ultimate editions only) will ship with a licensed copy of Windows XP with SP3. You can install a legacy app within this XP environment.

There is a catch.

Of course, there’s always a catch. Not all CPUs will support this mode. You need hardware-based virtualisation (go and check your CPU specs now). Intel and AMD have CPUs that have this feature but don’t assume all recently purchased CPUs support hardware virtualization.

• Intel: http://www.intel.com/technology/virtualization/
• AMD: http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_15781,00.html

My PC is about six months old and has a Core 2 Quad processor – the Q6600 chip. I checked this Intel page to confirm that I’ll be able to test this feature when I get my hands on it:

• http://ark.intel.com/cpu.aspx?groupId=29765

The next thing to check is for BIOS support on your motherboard. I have an Asus P5K SE/EPU and its user guide mentions Vanderpool support is enabled by default (you can turn it off). Vanderpool was the code name for Intel Virtualization.

Looks like I’m all set. Roll on, Windows 7.

Popularity: 17% [?]

I installed Firefox 3.0.9 because it fixes some security vulnerabilities. Next I got on with my usual snooping, i.e. View Source. Crash! No matter what site I looked at, it crashed. Luckily, someone had posted a solution at Google Groups and it is simple.

The problem lies with the HTML Validator add-on. It has been updated to version 0.8.5.6. Update your copy at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249

Popularity: 15% [?]

A few people are getting sucked into installing MS Antispyware 2009. They go to some site and get a popup offering to install this program. Think about it. Normal websites don’t offer antispyware programs through a popup.

What’s wrong with this program? It contains a virus and the victim actually consents to install it. Sean-Paul Correll has provided an excellent video and a write-up at the PandaLabs Blog about this menace.

What is different about this exploit is the use of hundreds of SEO pages targeting major brands such as Ford and Nissan – search for some specific model or a car part and you will find links (mostly in Poland – .pl) that include dangerous infections as reported by Norton Internet Security.

Targeted Blackhat SEO Attack against Ford Motor Co. from Panda Security on Vimeo.

The following Google search “site:.pl nissan” has a few normal results at the top of the page, but then you get dozens of weird subdomains such as (don’t go there):

• 347.aw.lubomogo.az.pl
• 666.oo.mrfehz.wroclaw.pl
• 872.zw.owncav.warszawa.pl

All of them are marked noarchive, hence you won’t see a Cached link. Most of these are doorway pages to p0rn sites but some also include infectious content.

Popularity: 19% [?]