The new NanoScan from Panda Software is designed to detect on your PC viruses, spyware or Trojans in less than a minute. It is equipped with “Anti-malware Collective Intelligence,” a system developed by Panda Research.

It allows instantaneous transfer of suspicious files and programs to Panda labs where it is analyzed against existing known threats, spyware and Trojan, and added to a list of viruses if not known. NanoScan is currently able to detect 900,000 different viruses, spyware and Trojans. It will help users with anti-viruses other than Panda to detect threats and viruses that their local anti-viruses might have missed. The NanoScan is compatible with Windows Vista 32bit/64 bit, Internet Explorer, and Firefox. This feature can be accessed at http://www.nanoscan.com

The price war between AMD and Intel is beginning to slow. AMD has publicly announced that they won’t be cutting their prices any more after the end of the summer. Intel will continue to reduce prices into the fall, so the best time to buy a new PC will be the end of this year. AMD and Intel declaring a truce is a precursor to Intel and AMD both announcing new processors. Intel will be shrinking its manufacturing process from 65nm to 45nm, which will mean lower power consumption and less heat. Intel and AMD have reached a theoretical 3GHz limit of what can be done with silicone, which is why both companies are upping performance by adding additional cores to their chips.

In order to keep your PC at a fast and efficient level, it needs to be maintained properly for you to get the most out of it with the least amount of problems possible. Here are a few things to do when maintaining your PC.

• Always make sure that your anti-virus software has the latest virus definition. Viruses spread within hours so having your software up to date is extremely essential.
• It always good to reboot your system when your system crashes to clear all the errors out. Failing applications can cause other programs to falter.
• On a weekly basis, you need to run a full system scan with your anti-virus software and clean up your temporary files. This will find any hidden spyware or viruses and will clean up cache and relieve the load on the PC giving it more space to run faster.
• Run Microsoft Windows Updates and install the latest updates. Since there are always new threats out in the internet, Microsoft puts out the latest security patches in order to keep your PC safe from these harmful threats and viruses.
• Depending on the amount of data you have stored on your PC, backing up your data on a weekly basis to an external hard drive, NAS, or memory stick is highly recommended. PCs can sometimes crash with power fluctuation causing the hard drive to falter, thus it always good to have a copy of all your data on an external device as a precaution.
• Delete any unnecessary files and emails permanently from your PC. As available hard drive space decreases your PC will ultimately run slower. It is our experience that Windows begins to run more slowly when available hard drive space drops below 50%. We recommend saving your files to an external device and deleting them from your local hard drive if you are not sure if you will need them any longer.
• Run software updates for the software installed on your PC. Go to the vendor’s site and check for updates. This will make your applications more stable.
• On a monthly basis, it is good to completely power down the PC and dust it. Accumulating dust can cause heavy damage to a PC’s hardware/OS if it isn’t cleaned often.
  
  

A warning to be careful what VoIP provider you choose. Virginia VoIP provider SunRocket has gone out not with a bang, but with a whimper. According to the Associated Press, the company is currently being liquidated by Sherwood Partners of California. Currently they have closed all of their offices, and their network has gone dark. SunRocket caused an uproar when it summarily fired one quarter of its employees on July 3, presumably so they’d be less likely to complain after the 4th of July weekend. Vonage has offered SunRocket customers a deal to sign up with Vonage, in exchange for two months free service. The VoIP market continues to be volatile, with AOL/Time Warner entering the market earlier in the year, then dropping AT&T in favor of Sprint as their phone partner. The situation does seem to be improving as the market corrects itself and pushes out the smaller, weaker competitors. Consider a well-known VoIP provider when you are looking for internet phone service. Founded in 2003, BroadVoice, Inc. is a leading provider of broadband phone services and allows users to make and receive VoIP phone calls using an ordinary touchtone telephone.

RSS is a lightweight XML format which was designed to publish web feeds over the internet in a very efficient way. This feeding technology is called ‘Really Simple Syndication’ or ‘Rich Site Summary’ and mainly used to broadcast news and internet blog feeds.

An RSS document, which is also called RSS feed or channel, mainly contains either a summary of content from an associated website or the full text version of an updated news or information feed. Since most of the Internet browsers have the ability to add RSS feeds, it makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite news or information web sites in a very convenient manner that's easier than checking them manually.

In Internet Explorer 7, you can add RSS - Rich Site Summary feeds to your Favorites easily by clicking ‘subscribe to this feed’ or by clicking the RSS button. You can view the subscribed RSS feeds by going to ‘Feeds’ under Favorites or by pressing Ctrl + J.