The Kelihos botnet, estimated to include about 45,000 machines, is the target of a civil suit filed by Microsoft. The company has been using such suits as a means of shutting down botnets.

Microsoft has begun talking about the improvements you should expect in Win8. Among the features being improved are the user interfaces for connections to Wi-Fi and mobile broadband networks.

Sometimes you just have to be amazed and amused at some of the things that happen when you put people in contact with computers. This article has nine short stories about what can happen when the two meet.

Next month Microsoft is expected to release a public beta of Win8. The new operating system is offering some substantial changes to the interface and hardware.

Anant Agarwal directs MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory but also runs a commercial venture called Tilera. Tilera specializes in adding cores to processors and the current top-of-the-line chip boasts 100 cores.

While some claimed internet users were merely pawns of the tech companies, the numbers are impressive. Millions of people signed anti-SOPA/PIPA petitions, millions more saw Wikipedia’s protest page, and Congress is putting the legislation on hold while they consider a re-write.

The $400 netbook, running Win7 Starter Edition, should probably disappear before Microsoft can successfully promote a $600 Win8 tablet since price has been a key to the netbook’s popularity.

The new OnLive Desktop client for the iPad lets you run a virtual Windows desktop on an Apple device. A free OnLive account provides 2GB of online storage and access to several Microsoft applications.

Apparently, you can tell users the risks but they won’t follow directions. A poll of 100 users at a Sharepoint conference uncovered several unsettling behaviors.

Microsoft will release the final version of Win8 sometime later this year, but the beta version is still available. So, if you don’t want to wait, you can build your own device. This page includes a 2-minute video showing how.