accounts

Apple helps you protect your iTunes Store account

If you have recently purchased one of Apple's mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod), you most likely have set up an iTunes Store account to easily access music, movies, podcasts, and applications. Occasionally users report phishing attacks (e-mails designed to trick people into giving third-party hackers password information) that target iTunes Store accounts. The following article details what to do if your account is compromised and some best practices for keeping it secure in the future.… Read more

Apple helps you protect your iTunes Store account

If you have recently purchased one of Apple's mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod) you most likely have set up an iTunes Store account to easily access music, movies, podcasts, and applications. Occasionally users report phishing attacks (emails designed to trick people into giving third party hackers password information) that target iTunes Store accounts. The following article details what to do if your account is compromised and some best practices for keeping it secure in the future.

The first rule of thumb is to never enter your iTunes Store account information in any website that is not Apple's and … Read more

Tackling missing administrative privileges for all admin accounts

In OS X the first user is by default an administrator account so administrative functions can be run, and adding new administrators is usually as easy as authenticating and checking the appropriate box for the respective user in the Accounts system preferences. We were recently contacted by a reader who found that her system was no longer able to create new administrator accounts and all the previous administrators were now listed as standard users, leaving the root account as the only way to administer the system.… Read more

Dell to restate earnings due to accounting fraud

As a result of the federal investigation of accounting fraud at Dell, the PC maker said Thursday it will take a $100 million charge on its first quarter 2011 earnings.

Dell and the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed on a settlement, which includes the liability payment and a civil injunctive action against the company. It's a result of Dell's violation of federal securities laws related to its accounting practices and a separate investigation into its relationship with Intel. The $100 million payment will establish a reserve as the SEC and Dell work out the final tally of fines … Read more

MobileMe not recognizing your username and password?

Sometimes users are faced with a situation where MobileMe sends an error message regarding usernames and account passwords being invalid. This may even happen to users who do not have MobileMe accounts.… Read more

Feds hampered by incomplete MPAA piracy data

Last summer, not long after the U.S. government began a review of how piracy affects consumers and the nation's economy, the feds went to the major movie studios for help.

Representatives from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress' investigative arm, asked the studios for information about a survey the studios had commissioned (PDF) that concluded piracy and counterfeiting cost the film industry $6.1 billion in 2005.

But the GAO never got all of the information it requested from the Motion Picture Association of America, according to GAO administrators, including Loren Yager, the author of the summary report … Read more

GAO piracy report: A deeper look

Copyright owners are in need of some good researchers.

I've already written a news story about the report on piracy and counterfeiting issued Monday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) that called into question some of the assertions made by copyright owners about the effects of piracy on their businesses.

Because the claims about piracy's effects could influence copyright legislation in the future, it's worth taking a closer look at the GAO's year-long investigation. I also wanted to cover some points I wasn't able to make in the previous story.

First, the GAO … Read more

Feds raise questions about big media's piracy claims

After spending a year studying how piracy and illegal counterfeiting affects the United States, the Government Accountability Office says it still doesn't know for sure.

Congress tasked the GAO in April 2009 with reviewing the efforts to quantify the size and scope of piracy, including the impacts of Web piracy to the film and music industries. In a 32-page report issued Monday, the GAO said most of the published information, anecdotal evidence, and records show that piracy is a drag on the U.S. economy, tax revenue, and in some cases potentially threatens national security and public health. But … Read more

Find the process you want, when you want

If you've ever tried tracking down a process in Windows Task Manager, you know it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Process Explorer makes the job a lot easier. This freeware utility displays running processes in an intuitive tree format that includes not only process names, but also program icons and other data, such as description, image, and processor time.

It also can identify the process for a given application window or look up a process name in Google--a handy way to spot spyware. The latest version, more than three years in the making, introduces several … Read more