According to Symantec, spammers are increasingly using templates from social networking sites to make their messages appear legitimate. The company also reports that the volume of Chinese language spam has increased in recent months.

In recent months, Facebook‘s template was the most popular with spammers, followed by Twitter and YouTube. However, the templates appear to be used in rotation for campaigns lasting between 15 and 20 days each.

At the same time, Symantec has reported a growth in spam using the Chinese language. Given the increase in Internet usage in China – whose online population has been the largest in the world for some time – this comes as little surprise. It is also little surprise to find that Chinese language spam uses the same obfuscation techniques as those used in English language spam.

The volume of spam circulating worldwide increased rapidly until a few years ago – but a number of successful attempts at taking down botnets has recently brought this rapid growth to a halt. However, rather than concentrating on quantity, spammers are now looking to improve the ‘quality’ of the spam they send – working harder on making their messages appear legitimate and targeting smaller groups of users.

More details at Symantec‘s blog here and here. An overview of techniques used by spammers to evade detection by spam filters can be found in The Spammers’ Compendium.

Source: Virus Bulletin

Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so you’re free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

Before installing Microsoft Security Essentials, we recommend that you uninstall other antivirus software already running on your PC. Running more than one antivirus program at the same time can potentially cause conflicts that affect PC performance.

*Your PC must run genuine Windows to install Microsoft Security Essentials.

The LibreOffice Start Center

LibreOffice is a comprehensive, professional-quality productivity suite that you can download and install for free. There is a large base of satisfied LibreOffice users worldwide, and it is available in more than 30 languages and for all major operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, Suse, …).

You can download, install and distribute LibreOffice freely, with no fear of copyright infringement.

What’s outstanding about LibreOffice?

LibreOffice is a feature-packed and mature desktop productivity package with some really great advantages:

• It’s free – no worry about license costs or annual fees.
• No language barriers – it’s available in a large number of languages, with more being added continually.
• LGPL public license – you can use it, customize it, hack it and copy it with free user support and developer support from our active worldwide community and our large and experienced developer team.
• LibreOffice is an Open Source community-driven project: development is open to new talent and new ideas, and our software is tested and used daily by a large and devoted user community; you, too, can get involved and influence its future development.

LibreOffice gives you high quality:

• The roots of LibreOffice go back 20 years. This long history means it’s a stable and functional product.
• Thousands of users worldwide regularly take part in beta testing of new LibreOffice versions.
• Because the development process is completely open, LibreOffice has been extensively tested by security experts, giving you security and peace of mind.

LibreOffice is user-friendly:

• You get a simple-to-use yet powerful interface that is easy to personalize – Microsoft Office users will find the switch easy and painless, with a familiar look and feel.
• Compatible with all major competitors’ file formats. You can easily import files from Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and many other formats, and can easily save to Microsoft Office and other formats when needed.
• LibreOffice is supported by a big worldwide community: volunteers help newcomers, and advanced users and developers can collaborate with you to find solutions to complex issues.

What does LibreOffice give you?

Writer is the word processor inside LibreOffice. Use it for everything, from dashing off a quick letter to producing an entire book with tables of contents, embedded illustrations, bibliographies and diagrams. The while-you-type auto-completion, auto-formatting and automatic spelling checking make difficult tasks easy (but are easy to disable if you prefer). Writer is powerful enough to tackle desktop publishing tasks such as creating multi-column newsletters and brochures. The only limit is your imagination.

Calc tames your numbers and helps with difficult decisions when you’re weighing the alternatives. Analyze your data with Calc and then use it to present your final output. Charts and analysis tools help bring transparency to your conclusions. A fully-integrated help system makes easier work of entering complex formulas. Add data from external databases such as SQL or Oracle, then sort and filter them to produce statistical analyses. Use the graphing functions to display large number of 2D and 3D graphics from 13 categories, including line, area, bar, pie, X-Y, and net – with the dozens of variations available, you’re sure to find one that suits your project.

Impress is the fastest and easiest way to create effective multimedia presentations. Stunning animation and sensational special effects help you convince your audience. Create presentations that look even more professional than the standard presentations you commonly see at work. Get your collegues’ and bosses’ attention by creating something a little bit different.

Draw lets you build diagrams and sketches from scratch. A picture is worth a thousand words, so why not try something simple with box and line diagrams? Or else go further and easily build dynamic 3D illustrations and special effects. It’s as simple or as powerful as you want it to be.

Base is the database front-end of the LibreOffice suite. With Base, you can seamlessly integrate your existing database structures into the other components of LibreOffice, or create an interface to use and administer your data as a stand-alone application. You can use imported and linked tables and queries from MySQL, PostgreSQL or Microsoft Access and many other data sources, or design your own with Base, to build powerful front-ends with sophisticated forms, reports and views. Support is built-in or easily addable for a very wide range of database products, notably the standardly-provided HSQL, MySQL, Adabas D, Microsoft Access and PostgreSQL.

Math is a simple equation editor that lets you lay-out and display your mathematical, chemical, electrical or scientific equations quickly in standard written notation. Even the most-complex calculations can be understandable when displayed correctly. E=mc².

LibreOffice also comes configured with a PDF file creator, meaning you can distribute documents that you’re sure can be opened and read by users of almost any computing device or operating system.

We will still be offering free pickup and delivery in the New Castle and Newark Area’s.

Delaware Computer Repair offers a wide variety of services that can be customized to meet your needs. We offer our customers the best value in computer upgrade and repair. In addition to fixing and upgrading personal computers, we also offer on-site, virtual desktop, and phone support for small businesses. At Delaware Computer Repair your convenience is our target; we make in-house visits or, if needed, we will come to you and pick up your computer to bring back to our facility for repairs. We stand behind every computer that we service with a 30 day warranty on all services and a 90 day warranty on all parts. Our goal is to fix your computer right the first time, saving you time and money.

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