Antitrust authorities are sifting through Microsoft’s final proposal to comply with a European Commission decision, which the software giant submitted near a midnight deadline, a Commission spokesman said on Wednesday. If the proposals fall short, Microsoft will face a fine of up to $5 million daily, which could be imposed before August.

A bunch of new variants of the Bagle virus and Mytob worm are spreading, but they won’t pose a major threat if people take the usual precautions, security companies say. Three new iterations of Bagle, released at one-hour intervals, popped up according to Maksym Schipka, a senior antivirus researcher at MessageLabs. About 70 variants of the mass-mailing computer virus have been reported since it first appeared in January 2004.

Some of the leading RSS search and aggregation services have begun banding together to build a next-generation approach for distributing update notifications to the syndicated feeds that are a core part of most Weblogs and a growing number of news and portal sites. Called FeedMesh, the approach takes the dozens of ping services that exist today a step further by seeking cooperation among aggregators to share updates among themselves.

Cisco Press is publishing a four-color, easy-to-read reference book for everyday users interested in learning home networking. Written in a straightforward fashion, and featuring a visual approach to learning, Home Networking Simplified walks the non-technical user step-by-step from basic Internet connectivity to a truly networked home. Authors Jim Doherty and Neil Anderson make home networking approachable by providing user-friendly features such as full-color illustrations, step-by-step instructions, and, as an added bonus, professional advice from the Geek Squad. The Geek Squad is a company of on-call troubleshooting professionals, and they include tricks, tips, and troubleshooting guidelines throughout Home Networking Simplified. All this provides content in an easy-to-understand and fun format for readers learning home networking.

Most American consumers don’t realize Internet merchants and even traditional retailers sometimes charge different prices to different customers for the same products, according to a new survey. The study, "Open to Exploitation," found nearly two-thirds of adult Internet users believed incorrectly it was illegal to charge different people different prices, a practice retailers call "price customization". More than two-thirds of people surveyed also said they believed online travel sites are required by law to offer the lowest airline prices possible. The study, expected to be released Wednesday by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, is the latest to cast doubt on the notion of sophisticated consumers in the digital age.

Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft rolled out a platform to help governments establish national identity systems. The HP National Identity System is based on Microsoft’s .Net platform. According to a release from the companies, it goes beyond simple secure identification and authentication, giving government ID systems the ability to be used to access e-government services and to conduct secure transactions on behalf of citizens. The HP NIS tool provides citizens with improved secure and intelligent identity documents, according to the companies’ statement.

Several anti-spyware firms, including Aluria, Lavasoft, and PestPatrol, have quietly stopped detecting adware from companies like Claria and WhenU–a process called delisting. Those adware companies have been petitioning anti-spyware firms to delist their software; other companies have resorted to sending cease-and-desist letters that threaten legal action. In most cases it’s difficult for customers to determine whether their anti-spyware tool has delisted anything and, if so, which adware it skips.

Security experts are warning Internet users about a new piece of software that poses as a spyware-removal tool but is actually being used to persuade unsuspecting Internet users to download spyware programs and Trojans. The program, SpywareNo, is installed on Internet users’ computers without warning, can be difficult to remove and may be accompanied by malicious programs that hijack victims’ Web browsers, according to interviews with spyware experts. The company behind the new tool claims that it is the victim of unscrupulous online advertisers who bundle the product with noxious wares. But at least one spyware expert says the new application is just the latest example of so-called "rogue anti-spyware" programs that exploit user naivet

Security experts are warning Internet users about a new piece of software that poses as a spyware-removal tool but is actually being used to persuade unsuspecting Internet users to download spyware programs and Trojans. The program, SpywareNo, is installed on Internet users’ computers without warning, can be difficult to remove and may be accompanied by malicious programs that hijack victims’ Web browsers, according to interviews with spyware experts. The company behind the new tool claims that it is the victim of unscrupulous online advertisers who bundle the product with noxious wares. But at least one spyware expert says the new application is just the latest example of so-called "rogue anti-spyware" programs that exploit user naivet

OnLetterhead integrates directly into Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express and allows you to change your every day, plain text email into fully branded, graphical email. Each design can include your corporate logo and colors, links directly to different parts of your Web site, dynamic areas such as special offers, user pictures, and more.