Two new worms that effect Microsoft MSN messenger have surfaced. The two worms are called Kelvir.a and Kelvir.b and both of them include links in instant messages which if clicked will download and install a Trojan horse program. MSN messenger is a good target for cracker activity because it’s embedded into Windows, just like Internet Explorer, presumably this was done so that Microsoft could defend potential anti-competitive lawsuits by claiming they can’t remove it because it’s “part of Windows”. The advice is the same though, make sure you are running an up to date anti-virus application, (see here if you want a freebie.) and make sure you have all of Microsoft’s critical updates installed. (Open IE, go to “tools” and select “Windows update”, the only reason anyone with any sense would run IE nowadays). TheInq have more on the Virus issue.

In other MS news, apparently Microsoft have created their own version of Mrs Weasley’s family clock (from the Harry Potter series). This has incensed many Harry Potter fans, some of whom have been suggesting legal action. This brings up something I’ve been thinking about lately, the Star Trek series came up with many ideas that in the fullness of time have come to fruition, like the communicator or voice interaction with computers for a couple of examples. Can a company that actually creates working models of these ideas patent them as their own? Does fiction count as prior art? The idea is a fascinating one, because if it doesn’t count as prior art, should authors start patenting the devices created in their fiction?

Cnet have a very interesting FAQ list on blogging with respect to the workplace. Since there have already been a few cases where employee’s have been sacked for their online activities, this should be of interest to anyone with their own Blog. So folks, if you work, and you blog, you need to read this if you plan to continue both.

This article is funny. The guy goes to great lengths to get a PDF document. It is easy, just download a copy of OpenOffice.org and export as PDF, (OpenOffice.org is a free Open Source office suite for Windows and Linux and performs and looks much like other office suites including a Word processor, spreadsheet, drawing program and presentation software that is compatible with Microsoft Office file formats).

Speaking of OpenOffice.org, they have just released the 2.0 Beta which we will be reviewing shortly.

After beta release and success, Google released today the 1.0 version of Desktop Search. According to the Google Press Release on Desktop 1.0 The new Desktop is greatly enhanced from the original version. It will search the entire text of a pdf document, meta information from images, video and music, support for Firefox, Netscrape Browser, Thunderbird etc. It has the ability to search your visited web pages and even many deleted documents (the text with cached snapshots).

Parents might like Desktops ability to search instant messages. However be forwarned, it takes up 500 megabytes of space. You can find out more and get a copy at http://desktop.google.com.

US Department of Justice crosses border to purchase 50,000 copies of WordPerfect 12 worth 13 million dollars from Canadian based Corel Software.

While I enjoy the irony in the DOJ going Canadian, in fact Corel was taken private by Vector Capital, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. So perhaps I should not chuckle too long.

Corel also aquired Paint Shop Pro last year, one of my favorite programs, so I guess they must be okay.

Blogger Mark Jen, fired from Google for blogging (and no doubt smarter for the experience) has landed a new job. Read all about it over at 99 zeros. I don’t doubt he is grateful to Google for advancing his career.

The European Union has recently rejected proposed patent legislation. Unfortunately, it may now pass when read in Parliment today, according to Reuters.uk. That article reports that Polish representatives in the EU, who previously objected to the proposed bill and thus energized others to voice opposition, is expected to remain silent. Passage of the EU patent legislation would be considered a win for large companies that try to patent all sorts of trivial things, acording to some pundits. Contrary it would be somewhat of a blow to open source as some things otherwise available to them may be foreclosed from use due to patents.