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A man who sent billions of junk emails hawking online college degrees, sexually explicit Web sites and "generic Viagra" must pay more than $5 million in penalties to America Online, a federal judge ruled. Christopher William Smith, of Prior Lake, Minn., was considered one of the world’s worst spammers, operating under the name Rizler. He is now in jail in Minnesota awaiting trial on criminal charges that he violated federal drug laws while operating an online pharmacy. On Tuesday U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton issued a summary judgment against Smith ordering him to pay $5.3 million in damages and $287,000 in legal fees to AOL, which filed a civil suit against Smith under the Can-Spam act.

IMT Labs announced a new relationship with Microsoft that will allow MSN Messenger users to add IMT Labs’ chatbot, named Spleak, to their list of MSN Messenger contacts and start chatting with Spleak immediately. Users will be able to enjoy free and instant access to the extensive and entertaining Spleak character, without having to download or install any applications. Spleak is a 20 year-old virtual girl, born in France and now living in New York. She attends international studies at a university and works in a coffee shop in her spare time. The general idea of Spleak is to provide a human-like chatbot which is able to communicate in a natural language like "real" people–and like any real person, Spleak has a life and a personality. She is available for chat on MSN Messenger every day around the clock, always ready to cheer you up, play a game, read your horoscope, teach you English, deliver the news and weather forecasts, and many, many other things. Her knowledge is close to unlimited–you can ask her almost anything and she will provide an answer.

Microsoft has named a former researcher from rival Yahoo to lead a new unit that taps into the software giant’s research and product development arms. "Live Labs," as the effort is called, will be a coupling of workers from Microsoft Research and MSN, and will be headed by Gary Flake, a top researcher hired away by Microsoft from Yahoo last year.

A next-generation test version of the open-source Samba file-sharing software has been made available, with features emulating Microsoft’s Active Directory ID management software. The popular Samba suite is an implementation of Microsoft’s SMB (Server Message Block)/CIFS (Common Internet File System) protocol that allows other operating systems to emulate or interoperate with Windows for the purposes of sharing files or printing. The new version of the software was released Wednesday in conjunction with a speech on the subject by Australia-based Samba creator Andrew Tridgell at the Linux.conf.au conference in New Zealand.

Netscape on Wednesday released its latest browser, version 8.1, which adds features designed to better protect Web surfers against online scams such as spyware and phishing. Netscape 8.1 offers built-in spyware and adware protection that scans files that Web users try to download as well as those that are sent to them without their interaction, according to a representative for Netscape, a division of Time Warner’s America Online subsidiary. The updated browser will also let consumers run complete memory and disk scans.

Some Firefox users may be wondering why they are using a version of the popular open-source browser that has yet to be released. Mozilla says people who installed the beta versions of Firefox 1.5 and then used the auto-upgrade system to move to the final release automatically got version 1.5.0.1, a minor update scheduled to ship before the end of the month.

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced it would add the source code for its Windows communication protocols to the list of Windows code that it will offer under various Windows source sharing agreements. Microsoft already licenses the bulk of the Windows source code under a variety of licensing agreements. Microsoft has been dinged by the European Commission and U.S. government antitrust regulators for continuing to refuse to provide access to Windows’ communications protocols as stipulated by the courts in both countries.

Microsoft is now referring to the next version of its desktop office suite, code-named "Office 12," as Office 2007. Microsoft watcher Steven Bink is reporting that Microsoft officials used the Office 2007 name at IT Forum. He also points to an Office Online page that uses the same terminology. Microsoft officials have held fast to the company line that Office 12 will ship towards the end of calendar 2006.

With the threat from kernel-mode rootkits on the rise, Microsoft plans to make a significant policy change to block uncertified drivers from loading on x64 versions of Windows Vista. Starting with Windows Vista and Windows Server (Longhorn), kernel-mode software must have a digital signature to load on x64-based computer systems. The decision to block unsigned drivers from loading is a direct attempt to restrict the spread of powerful rootkits that intercept the native API in kernel-mode and directly manipulate Windows data structures.