click

Seven accused in $14 million click-hijacking scam

The U.S. Department of Justice said today that it has uncovered a large, sophisticated Internet scam ring that netted $14 million by infecting millions of computers with malware designed to redirect their Web searches to sites that generated ad revenue.

Six people have been arrested in Estonia and a Russian is being sought on charges of wire fraud and computer intrusion, the FBI said. They are accused of infecting about 4 million computers in more than 100 countries--500,000 in the U.S. alone, including NASA--with malware called DNSChanger. The malware altered the Domain Name Server settings on the … Read more

A new auction house, this one for mobile ads

MoPub, a mobile advertising startup founded by former Google and AdMob employees, today is launching a Nasdaq-type exchange where buyers and sellers can bid in real-time for ad space on smartphones and tablets.

The San Francisco-based company, which in July scored $6.5 million in funding, is one of several firms trying to capture the swelling mobile advertising market, which is on track to double this year to $3.3. billion worldwide, according the Gartner research.

CEO and co-founder Jim Payne says that among several players, including Google, MoPub is the first to offer a self-service system--he calls it a &… Read more

Is this the ultimate watch for geeks?

Spotted this one on Twitter courtesy of timepiece aficionado and TechCrunch gadget editor John Biggs, who labeled it The World's Nerdiest Watch. It's actually a line of several Click models that feature "retro-tronic" circuit-board designs complete with DIP and turn switches.

The site Watchismo sells the watches, which range in price from $150 to $170. Here's how Watchismo describes them: … Read more

One-click secure delete

Deleted files aren't completely deleted when you send them to the Recycle Bin. Even when you empty the Recycle Bin, deleted files aren't wiped from the disk. A secure file deletion tool can scrub every trace of a deleted file from your disk drive, but that means more steps and opening another piece of software. We looked at DeleteOnClick, a secure file deletion utility that integrates with context menus in Windows. DeleteOnClick lets you right-click files and delete them securely with a single click. It overwrites files to destroy them on the disk so they can't be … Read more

Context menu customizer

Context menus, often called pop-up menus, keep functionality high and clutter low in operating systems like Windows. RBSoft's Right Click Enhancer bundles five free tools for customizing context menus. My Computer Manager adds nondeleting files or folders to My Computer or the Control Panel, while Right Click Tweaker adds up to 10 entries to context menus. Send To Manager let us add new destinations to the Send To command, and Right Click Shortcuts Creator adds shortcuts to files and folders to context menus. The Right Click Cascading Menu Creator is a little bit more sophisticated than the other tools. … Read more

How to root your Android

In the early days of Android, gaining root access was a complicated process, involving around a dozen steps and patience enough to test even the most serene of ascetic monks. Nowadays, not only do you not need a saffron-colored robe, it's much simpler: There's an app for that.

However, do note that rooting your phone voids your warranty, and the process is risky even in this streamlined form: there is still a chance that you can brick your phone and render it permanently inoperable.

That being said, also note that these are general instructions. There might be device-specific … Read more

How to set up your new MacBook

Because Apple computers are so intuitive, you may be overlooking some simple but helpful settings. A few tweaks to your security settings, dock, Finder, and keyboard are really all it takes to make your MacBook even easier to use than it already is.

If you're a first-time MacBook owner, this how-to will introduce you to your computer's security settings and help you enable a few of your Mac's most useful features.

So before you say, "Hey, there's no right-click on MacBooks?!" walk through the following tips:

Rev up security settings. Go to System Preferences &… Read more

How to change click-renaming speed in the Finder

If you want to rename a file in OS X, you can select it and then do one of several things. The first is to press the Return key and the name will be highlighted for editing, or you can get information on the file and rename it using the Info window. A commonly used alternative to these is to click the name of the highlighted file with the mouse and after a small delay the file's name will be highlighted for editing.

While I have found using the Return key is the fastest way to switch between selected … Read more

MySpace renews ad deal with Google

The News Corp.-owned MySpace, which this year underwent a complete overhaul to swap identities from flagging social network to pop-culture media sharing hub, announced today that it's renewed its advertising deal with Google. The existing $900 million ad contract expired this fall.

This summer, a report surfaced that MySpace had been talking to Microsoft and Yahoo as well as Google regarding the formation of a new contract. Google had been vocally dissatisfied with the existing contract, saying that its ads on social networks simply didn't pay. Meanwhile, MySpace's traffic was plummeting as social-networking users flocked to … Read more

It's all text to us

Personal Web sites, blogs, and wikis have dramatically increased even casual surfers' opportunities to edit text, but the site-based editors often fall short. If you've ever wanted to edit text in a Web site using your own text editor, you need Doctor What's It's All Text. We like this free Firefox add-on; once you set it up, It's All Text will open a selected page's text content in the text editor of your choice, in the format of your choice, and post your changes to the site.

We downloaded and installed It's All Text, … Read more