Google Plus is not allowed in all places

Google Plus is not allowed in all places

How to take care of your PC by a software

How to Install Windows Easy Way

How to Install Windows Easy Way

Tips & tricks to keep your PC safe

If you're connected to the internet, your PC is at risk. You might not even know it, but hackers probably have access to the data on your computer if you've been lax with its security. And that's just for starters. They could be reading your emails when you do, viewing your bank passwords when you type them out, and even mount hack attacks on internet servers through your machine — while you remain blissfully clueless.

Thankfully, you don't have to spend "protection money" to ensure that your computer is safe. Free software will do a fine job of keeping your machine safe from the evils of Cyberia.

Get an antivirus

When it comes to antivirus programs, the impression is that paid versions are always better. Not true. Paid anti-viruses have more features —- like sandboxing (to isolate the web browser) or anti-spam (to filter emails) -— but the detection engine for virus scanning and real-time protection is more or less similar across guardian software.

Avira antivirus

Avira is said to have one of the best virus detection engines among all anti-virus programs, and that alone makes it worthy. It is also quite easy to use and does not slow down the system as much as other similar offerings. However, be careful while installing it. Go in for a custom install, and uncheck the box that installs the optional toolbar for browsers.

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)

Over the last couple of years, MSE has bloomed into a solid antivirus with an excellent detection rate. The virus scan is a little slow, but the fact that it is produced by the same company that makes Windows means it is very well integrated into the system. If you are looking for an antivirus that is easy to use and does its job without pestering you, give MSE a try. The only thing it requires from a user is a valid license for Windows.

And a firewall Software firewall will not stop a skilled hacker, but it still plays an important role in securing your PC. A firewall gives you the power to decide which programs or services on your computer can access the internet, and in what way. To that effect, the free version of ZoneAlarm gets our nod as the firewall of choice.

The rules in ZoneAlarm are easy to set and the applications accessing the Internet can be monitored and controlled with just a few clicks. Power users who are looking for advanced tools could try Komodo or Outpost. But for mainstream users, ZoneAlarm gets the job done easily and efficiently.

Now, vaccinate your pen drives Pen drives, often used on different computers, are the primary source of virus infections on home PCs. But of course, you can't stop using a pen drive for that reason. The solution is a digital vaccine.

Panda offers a USB vaccine that disables Autorun — a feature of Windows that is exploited by cyber scammers — and stops viruses. The tool is simple to use: Download it, plug in a pen drive and then select USB Drive Vaccination. This will make the pen drive immune to viruses unless you format it again. At the same time, clicking on 'Vaccinate the computer' will disable Autorun on the machine and make it more resistant to viruses that use USB drives to spread.

Safe practices for PC safety

Don't be click-happy. Download files or click on links shared only by people or websites you know and trust. Most importantly, use common sense while browsing the web. Run an anti-virus scan every day, and before opening archived (winZip or WinRAR) files. Update your antivirus or Windows without delay.

Finally, take care of pesky spies

Even the best antivirus programmes are sometimes unable to detect spyware — tiny programs that get installed on your PC without your permission to collect information about you, and serve you annoying pop-up ads.

To protect yourself from such 'spies' , you might want to consider Malwarebytes Anti-Malware . The free version of this utility lacks real-time protection, but with an antivirus active on your machine, it is not something that should bother you too much. Just scan your computer with Malwarebytes every month or so and you'll be fine.

3 reasons business will like Office 2013

The big news this week is Microsoft's launch of the next-gen Office suite preview. However, I don't believe the new features in Office 2013 are compelling enough to drive massive sales -- at least not immediately.

Instead, Office 2013 will take root over time, thanks to several factors. For example, on April 8, 2014, support ends for Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003, the last version of Office using the old menu structure rather than the new ribbon interface. As more and more companies finally begin to deploy Windows 7, they're looking to update Office as well. Although many companies will switch to the current Office 2010, those on track for Windows 7, or possibly Windows 8, updates next year may go ahead with Office 2013 at the same time.

Microsoft knows that core features alone aren't compelling enough to prompt the move to Office 2013 -- in fact, most companies now intentionally stay a version behind. This is why Microsoft is orchestrating a server-side release of Exchange 2012, SharePoint 2012, and Lync 2012 that will take greater advantage of all of the new collaborative features built into Office 2013, as an inducement for IT to not hang back as usual.

I suspect that 2014 will be the year Office 2013 settles in, as Office 2003 support ends, any initial Office 2013 bugs are addressed, Windows 7 becomes the mainstay version of Windows in business, and the 2012 editions of Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync also gain traction. And I believe that businesses taking the Office 2013 plunge will find several features they will end up liking a lot.

Office Telemetry: This will collect reports from all Office clients and monitor all PCs with Office 2013, sending administrators information about client performance, files used, and customizations applied. There are also tools to collect migration-oriented information on Office 2003, 2007, and 2010 clients. The Office Telemetry Dashboard -- an Excel workbook that connects to a telemetry database -- replaces several tools used with Office 2010, including the Office Migration Planning Manager (OMPM), Office Code Compatibility Inspector (OCCI), and Office Environment Assessment Tool (OEAT).

Click-to-Run: This capability is designed for network-based installations, such as for remote clients. The install streams in the background but lets users access features as they are streamed, rather than wait for the install to complete. Click-to-Run is not new to Office 2013; Office 2010 also supported it for consumer usage, but Microsoft says it has been enhanced to allow large enterprise deployments.

Office-on-Demand: This option provides a single Office application on demand to users when they need it. Maybe you are traveling and are using a business center's PC, or you're using a relative's PC, or your laptop died on the road and you picked up a new one to keep working. In such cases, the Office application is streamed to the PC but is not permanently installed.

These scratch the surface of what you can expect in Office 2013; in fact, Microsoft has not released much detail on all of the enterprise features, so there's definitely more to come. Even with increased competition from open source tools like LibreOffice and mobile apps such as iWork and Quickoffice, I believe Office will remain by far the dominant tool in business. After all, when you think office productivity, you think Microsoft Office, and Office 2013 should only further cement that association in the Windows world, at least.

Google opens up pay-by-bonk Wallet to all credit cards

Google has extended its phone-based wallet into its cloud, allowing it to claim that any credit card can now be used to pay with a bonk of the handset.

The arrangement, announced yesterday in a blog posting with suitable video accompaniment, means a Google-Wallet-enabled phone can make payments using wireless Near Field Communications (NFC) with the balance being deducted from just about any credit or debit card, as long as one is prepared to share those card details with Google.  Here's how Google is attempting to sell its phone-based payment system to the masses, complete with a confusing cloud metaphor:

Google's (mobile) Wallet resides in a blob of secure storage embedded in half a dozen Android handsets, but the web advertising giant has had a hard time getting credit card providers to port their software that controls the NFC radio hardware to run within that secure component. US network operators have an alternative secure element, embedded in the SIM and called ISIS, and banks seem unhappy with handing control over to Google, forcing the company to find an alternative approach.

That alternative is basically issuing every user with a short-term instant-payback credit card from MasterCard. That card is installed in the secure element, and authorises payments with the balance being paid off instantly using one of the cards uploaded to the Google cloud.

The idea is to combine the advantages of both cloud and NFC payments. Cloud payments, being pioneered by PayPal, rely on both the customer and the retailer having reasonable connectivity, and charged batteries. NFC payments can be authenticated without any connectivity, and even with a dead phone battery*, but they do need special apps written specifically for each secure element.

Google's idea is to have one special app, able to authenticate when connectivity and/or power is lacking, then take the payment from the customer's real account when connectivity becomes available.

The idea is sound, and removes one barrier to adoption, but the reluctance of companies to put their vouchers and loyalty cards within sight of Google's analytical engines could be a decisive factor in who gets control over wide-scale adoption of NFC payments. ®

* The NFC component can be powered from the cashier's reader, for example, using an induction coil. That also reduces the range from which a NFC device can be read, massively, enhancing security.

AMD deal brings Android apps to Windows 8

Some Windows 8 laptops and PCs could end up running more Android apps than ones written for Microsoft's software.

Gadgets built around chips made by AMD will come optimised to run the Android apps.

A collaboration between AMD and software firm Bluestacks lets the devices run the 500,000 apps more usually found on Android phones.

By contrast, Microsoft reportedly only has a few thousand apps written specifically for Windows 8 at launch.

The Android apps will be available on Windows 8 devices via AMD's AppZone player. Inside this is code from Bluestacks that acts as a wrapper around the mobile phone programs so they can run on desktops, laptops and tablets.

AMD has made changes to the core code that runs its processors and graphics cards to ensure apps built for the small screens on mobile phones look good and run well on larger displays.

Store war

The deal means future AMD-based gadgets will ship with the AppZone player installed, letting users get at apps such as Fruit Ninja and Flipboard that they know from their phone.

The player also lets users synchronise their apps across both a PC and an Android phone or tablet. AMD has about a 25% share of the market for desktop computers.

As Windows 8 has been developed to work well with portable devices such as tablets, Microsoft has been working to create an ecosystem of apps for the operating system. However, some reports suggest that a month prior to the launch of Windows 8 there are only about 2,000 apps available for it in Microsoft's Windows Store.

Bluestacks' Android-running software also works on Intel-powered devices, including Macs, but typically has to be installed after a gadget has been bought and booted up.

Bluestacks is also talking to other PC makers to get its software installed as PCs are put together in a factory.

Microsoft refreshes Bing apps

Microsoft has started rolling out significant set of updates across the recently released Bing apps for Windows 8 platform.

Back in October, Microsoft released a number of Bing apps for the Windows 8 platform, including News, Finance, Weather, Sports, Maps and Travel that were supposedly aimed at providing “immersive vertical experiences”. Six months after, Microsoft has announced a line of updates for the apps. Users can update the apps via Windows store and selecting the updates notifications.

Microsoft has updated each app with a number of new features and improvements. For News, users can now customize the app to keep tabs on specific story categories, topics or news sources. Support for RSS feeds and offline reading has been added.

Facebook Home Hits 500,000 Downloads

Facebook Home recently launched on Android on the 12th of April, and now it looks like the app has hit over 500,000 downloads in the first week since Facebook Home was launched.

This may sound impressive, but Facebook has over 1 billion registered users, and their main Android app has between 100 and 500 million downloads, and their Instagram app hits 1 million downloads in 24 hours when it launched on Android last year.

It looks like Facebook may have some work to do to make Facebook Home as popular as their other apps, it hasn’t had the best reviews so far on Google Play with around 52 percent of the reviews being one star.

If you have downloaded the Facebook Home app for your Android device, leave a comment and let us know what you think of the app, it will be interesting to see if Facebook home becomes more popular over time.

Kaspersky launches PURE 3.0 Total Security special edition pack; Kaspersky Lab

The new version features Safe Money technology, verifying the site authenticity and then automatically launching a secure web browser to offer extra protection from online malware. In addition, Kaspersky PURE 3.0’s Safe Money also includes a new Secure Keyboard feature, which ensures login information isn’t recorded by keylogging software. This mode will activate automatically when someone opens a bank or payment website or inserts a password on any web page.

Kaspersky Lab’s online password vault allows users to store all their login information in a vault, that can be synced across multiple PCs. The Kaspersky Password Manager will generate a password and save it to the cloud.

Kaspersky PURE 3.0 also offers an integrated online backup feature, allowing users to automatically backup their files online via a preliminarily created account on Dropbox service.

With Kaspersky PURE’s parental controls, parents can block access to inappropriate websites by setting Internet usage time limits and preventing valuable information from being shared via Facebook and Twitter, such as addresses or credit card numbers. If a child has his/her own computer, parents can manage and monitor all these Parental Control settings from their own computer via the central management tool.

Kaspersky claims users will also be able to conveniently manage the security of multiple PCs from one, central computer. Kaspersky PURE 3.0 is available for purchase now on Kaspersky Lab’s online store, and Sakri websitewww.sakri.in. Kaspersky PURE 3.0 is available in 1, 3 and 5 user pack. Current Kaspersky PURE and Kaspersky PURE 2.0 customers can upgrade free of charge to Kaspersky PURE 3.0 for the remainder of their existing license period.

Several Microsoft PCs hacked

The world's largest software company said the security intrusion was "similar" to recent ones reported by Apple Inc and Facebook Inc.

The incident, reported on one of the company's public blogs happened "recently", but Microsoft said it chose not to make any statement publicly while it gathered information about the attack.

"This type of cyberattack is no surprise to Microsoft and other companies that must grapple with determined and persistent adversaries," said Matt Thomlinson, general manager of Trustworthy Computing Security at Microsoft, in the company's blog post.

Over the past week or so, both Apple and Facebook said computers used by employees were attacked after visiting a software developer website infected with malicious software.

The attacks come at a time of broader concern about computer security.

Newspaper websites, including those of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, have been infiltrated recently. Earlier this month U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order seeking better protection of the country's critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.

BASIS Outsourcing Award 2013

Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) has started the registration for the BASIS Outsourcing Award 2013.

The registration form is available at outsourcingaward.basis.org.bd will end on February 25.

This year, BASIS will give 100 awards in total. The ogranisation has decided to award one person from each 64 districts of the country with this award. This move is taken to encourage everyone in the country in outsourcing field.

For the first time, female freelancer will also be awarded.

The award has been categorised in four sections ��" outsourcing organisation, individual freelancer, district wise freelancer and female freelancer.

Fifteen awards will be given in outsourcing ogranisation category. In individual freelancer category, there are 18 awards in six different sub-categories: web application development and programming, mobile application development, SEO and online marketing, web design, graphic design, and online blogging and content development.

Three female freelancers or entrepreneurs will be awarded in female freelancer category.

BASIS will announce the name of the award winners at BASIS Softexpo 2013 which will be held on March 6-9 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.

Google street View in Vilnius, Lithuania

A street in Vilnius is seen on a website operated by Google street View in Vilnius, Lithuania . Lithuanian tax authorities said last week they would use the Baltic state's recently launched Google Street View platform to track tax cheats by identifying the real value of property holdings.Photo: AFP

Panda Internet Security 2013

Global Brand Private Limited has unveiled Panda Internet Security 2013 in the local.
Panda Internet Security 2013 is specifically designed to protect users' identity while using social networking sites and other internet services. Its Panda Safe Browser module is particularly useful for users who want to preserve their privacy and security.
Additionally, it can encrypt and password-protect private files and folders to prevent theft of personal, banking and financial data or valuable multimedia content.
Panda Internet Security 2013 also includes Identity Protect, a module that provides anti-phishing protection, data leak prevention, and anti-dialer protection against unauthorised charged calls. It also gives real-time protection against known and unknown threats by harnessing the knowledge and experience of millions of users through Panda's unique cloud-based Collective Intelligence technology.

Intel taking on cable TV with set-top box

Computer chip giant Intel said Tuesday it is making a set-top box for delivering movies and more to televisions in an Internet-based challenge to traditional cable services.
Intel spokesman Jon Carvill told AFP that the California company later this year will "bring an offering to market that brings together live
television, on-demand content, and a new user interface."
Intel media group head Erik Huggers confirmed the long-rumored foray into television during an on-stage interview at an All Things Digital Dive into Media conference in Southern California.
He vowed that Intel's hardware for routing digital entertainment content from the Internet to televisions
would far outshine offerings by cable companies.
The box powered by Intel technology was expected to have camera capabilities that let it "recognize" users to better personalize the service. Such a feature would likely raise concerns about the privacy of users.

Nokia brings Lumia to Bangladesh

Nokia has launched its flagship model Lumia 920 in the Bangladesh.
Nokia introduced Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820, the first devices in Nokia's Windows Phone 8 range, at an event on Tuesday.
Nokia has introduced these two Windows 8 smartphones for Bangladesh market in partnership with Grameenphone.
The Nokia Lumia 920 is the flagship Windows Phone 8 smartphone, including the latest advances in Nokia PureView imaging innovation.
Using advanced floating lens technology, the camera in the Nokia Lumia 920 is able to take five times more light than competing smartphones without using flash, making it possible to capture clearer, brighter pictures and video indoors and at night. It also compensates for hand movement while the photo is being taken.
“Nokia PureView continues to deliver cutting-edge technology to make it possible for a smartphone camera to take the kind of images usually only seen on a standalone SLR camera,” said Radi Ahmed Chowdhury, country manager of Nokia Emerging Asia.
The Nokia Lumia 920 also comes with Nokia City Lens, the latest addition to the Nokia location suite. By pointing the camera at a city street, City Lens overlays information about restaurants, shops, hotels and more on the surfaces of buildings, for the most intuitive way to explore surroundings.
It also comes with Nokia's largest ever battery (2000mAh) and, for the first time, built-in wireless charging for an easy, convenient way to get more out of every day.
The Nokia Lumia 920 is available at Tk 52,500.
On the other hand, the Nokia Lumia 820 is a stylish, mid-range smartphone that delivers high-end performance in a compact package. While the Nokia Lumia 820 has the same unibody look and feel as the high-end Lumia smartphones, it comes with an exchangeable shell design. Exchangeable shells not only make it possible to select from a range of colours, but also to add wireless charging.
It is available at Tk 38,300.
The two Lumia devices are available for Grameenphone customers only for the first one month from yesterday.

How to Export your Facebook calendar to your PC

Make sure you don't miss any important events by exporting your Facebook calendar to either Microsoft Outlook or Apple iCal. Head to your Facebook calendar (located under the "Events" tab on the Facebook navigation bar) and click the settings icon. Click "Export," and then choose either your Facebook birthday list or upcoming events. Your desktop's calendar app should launch immediately, making the process even more streamlined. 

How to Download your entire Facebook history

If you want to browse your entire Facebook profile at once — including every status update you've ever submitted? Facebook makes it easy: Under your Account Settings page, a small link will appear at the very bottom of the options list. Click "Download a copy of your Facebook data" to begin the process of securing your entire archive.

Facebook Tips: How to you Upload photos in high resolution

Sometimes you'll find that a gorgeous photo you wanted to share with your friends appears tiny and blurry after adding it to your social network profile. Remedy this by going into your Facebook albums and, before uploading a photo, click the "High Quality" box. 

Facebook Tips: How to Appear offline to certain friends in facebook

If you want to Appear offline to your certain friends in facebook, you may have to open your Facebook chat window, clicking the settings icon in the upper right corner, and then navigating to "Advanced Settings," now you can customize your chat experience by appearing offline to certain people on your friends list. This tips will be helpful for those of you with chatty acquaintances who like to talk your ear off when you're online.