Microsoft’s boards are flooded with complaints about the issue.

There is a little utility that was coded for older versions of Windows and works perfectly for Windows 7 too. It sits in the Windows system tray and automatically locks the point while you’re typing. I was a bit skeptical, but in my testing it has been flawless. Download it from Google.

The Wired article is disturbing for those of you who are members. For the rest of us, it’s merely confirmation.

It was designed to do this, but when your scripts don’t run it’s not a friendly design. Depending on how you join your domain, this may not be an issue.

If it is, you can enable a registry settings that allows the logon script to run regardless.

Use at your own risk. This is not supported by Microsoft.

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and add a DWORD 32-bit key for EnableLinkedConnections and set its value to 1.

The lawsuit is actually pretty simple. A Canadian company, i4i, patented a customized version of XML. Starting with Office 2007, Word documents started to natively use XML (that’s why the newer files are .docx versus .doc).

As i4i saw it, the XML formatting that Microsoft was using was not a public domain standard. It brought an injunction in Texas that ultimately put Microsoft on their heels: no sales until the case was resolved.

As far as the public is concerned, Microsoft Office and its Word program aren’t going anywhere. The chances of this having any affect on the average user are slim. Office 2010 is about six to eight months away and since it’s the easiest answer, Microsoft will either have to either pay up or persevere in the courts in the short-term.

So, the sky isn’t falling. And even if it did, OpenOffice is a heck of program. At least until someone sues them.

UPDATE 12.24.09
Microsoft lost, believe it or not. Word isn’t going anywhere though. The ruling was in i4i’s favor. Microsoft is being forced to exclude a portion of the code from Word 2003 and 2007 (a patch was already issued a while ago). The end result? If you’re not a stockholder, you won’t likely be affected.

It’s pretty early to make predictions, but as we’ve seen with the Chrome browser and Google Apps, Google’s projects grab business users attention (even though the majority of the applications aren’t suitable for everyday business use).

Cloud Computing in general offers users the idea of simplified systems and web-based collaboration. It’s a new century flavor of the old mainframe server and terminal concept  Of course, Google’s model is far more sophisticated for Chrome, but the idea is still centralization. The only problem with this is bandwidth. Wireless — Wifi and especially 3G — doesn’t allow for the real-time throughput that would be necessary for live applications. And, ironically, mobile users are becoming the ones who need the apps the most.

Our guess is that Windows 7 will retain its marketplace, Google will grab its niche, as it did with Android phones, and Apple’s Snow Leopard will just hum along.

And that’s why we’re pleading to you now: back your stuff up now.

If you don’t have a backup system in place, we have some tips on how to do it on the cheap. The first thing is to figure how much room you need and exactly where you data is. If you’re not sure, you may want to consider buying a good-sized external hard drive that will backup your entire system.

Mac users can use Time Machine for easy data retrieval (as long as you’ve got a newer OS and you’ve purchased a Time Capsule from Apple…or at least initialized an external hard drive). Windows offers many options for the average user, but the built-in backup utility is antiquated. Here are some quick and easy solutions.

Backup Everything
Buy a big USB hard-drive and use the software that it comes with backup everything you have. I just checked with Staples and found a large Maxtor for $120. Using the included software is fairly easy and most users would have plenty of room to spare. Pretty easy, but not cheap.

Backup Online
You pick what you want to backup and let the software handle the rest. This is a safe option since everything is encrypted as it is uploaded, but it’s pretty slow even with a great broadband connection. It may take days to upload your files and getting them all downloaded in case of a system failure will take a long time too (it’s normally quicker to download than upload). For home users, Carbonite and Mozy are our favorites. For business, we like MozyPro despite the higher cost per GB.

Other Options
DVDs and other options have significant drawbacks in capacity, but if you have a small number of critical documents and little in the way of multimedia files, you can use an external USB flash drive or CDs/DVDs to backup. The flash drive option is more simplistic and faster, but you’ll likely want at least a 16GB USB flash drive. On the flash drive side, Kingston has never let us down.

If you’re wondering why, given Google’s dominant web search, the answer is easy: performance. No desktop search tool can index your system without slowing you down. It may not be a massive drag, but it’s there. And when you combine it with antivirus software and other apps, the effect can be quite noticeable.

A number of the major search vendors offer a free desktop client that indexes your drive and allows you to search your email and document content. The content indexing is important. It’s an improvement over older OS-integrated search tool which were designed to just find files.

If you have a significant number of local documents or email, you may want need help finding things. Luckily, Windows 7 and Mac users have integrated search tools that are quite effective (Vista did too albeit in a slightly clunkier form). If you are a PC users, say with Windows XP, and you think you need desktop search software, read on. If you’re a Mac user, Mac’s built-in Spotlight is your best option (unless you really need Google Desktop for Mac’s extra tools).

One thing to note are the security concerns. You may end up with one big searchable database of everything you do, depending on what you index.

Here are some results from our testing:

Exalead one:desktop
After several weeks of use, this tool from the French search engine maker proved quite solid. It’s search results are informative and customizable. It’s also proved to be light enough that you could leave it on without much impact on system resources. If you have a slower system, things could bog down a bit while it’s indexing though. One thing we didn’t like: the results are displayed in your web browser. It was distracting and the lag was mildly annoying.

Windows Search 4.0
Believe it or not, Microsoft did OK with this one. It’s odd when “OK” puts a product in the runner-up position. It can suck up your system’s resources even when not indexing, but it’s speedy enough in use. It’s results are decent and its integration is useful for Microsoft Office 2007/2010 users. I contemplated keeping it, but preferred the ability to easily quit out of Exalead. Also, it did not find some text with certain file types (even though it was supposed to have indexed them).

Copernic Desktop Search
A long-time favorite of many, this software is quick to launch and has some strong design features. It’s relatively easy on resources and customizable, however, its indexing results sometimes inexplicably missed certain content. One more drawback, it now displays ads in its results window. Not huge, but creepy. A decent tool if you are mostly concerned with speed and ease of use.

X1 Professional Desktop
A really strong, established product. It worked very well. It’s just hard to part with $50 for desktop search (put that money towards a Windows 7 Upgrade). After buying X1, Yahoo has gone back and forth from a free to a paid model. They seem to be focusing more on enterprise network search products now. It’s a 30-day trial. I mention them because of the strength of the software. If it was free, it would easily be my first choice. Their enterprise search tools may appeal to you if you’re a corporate user.

Google Desktop

It’s results are decent and if you use GMail, it’s integration is absolutely essential. Three problem: it does not fare well when it comes to resource usage, it’s insistent on searching everything and it doesn’t appear to uninstall well. I’ve read reviews where they don’t even mention the performance issue, which is sad. It will slow your system down–sometimes unmercifully–and that’s why it’s last on our list.

Of course, others like the search tool from Ask, didn’t make the cut.

There are four popular browsers that hold the majority of the web browser market: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Opera. Apple’s Safari, the standard browser on Macs, is less common but showing up on more systems due to its bundling with iTunes.

The problem with PCs is that you can switch to another browser, but you will still need Internet Explorer on your system. Some sites will require it and although there are ways to remove it, it’s not easy.

Internet Explorer 8
Good: Faster than 7, more standardized, more secure.
Bad: Slower than others and still a sitting duck for hackers.
This browser is touted as being faster and safer than previous versions. This holds up pretty well, but other than its launch speed, it’s still a mixed bag. Update to 8 if you haven’t for the supposed security benefits.

Firefox 3
Good: Add-ons can be a godsend, themes are useful and its known for its security.
Bad: Can suck up RAM with multiple tabs, slower to launch, add-ons can weigh it down.
My daily browser of choice. Fast enough for daily tasks and more customizable than any other browser. It’s also become quite stable after some earlier glitches.

Google Chrome
Good: Really fast, clean interface and safe.
Bad: Not easy to tweak, pages don’t always render as they should and Google can be creepy.
I think Chrome is a great tool. I just wish that Google’s information usage wasn’t suspect.

Opera 9
Good: Unique features, safe, and well supported.
Bad: Slow on launch and certain functions, page rendering sometimes off.
This is a geek favorite. I use it on my smartphone. Its competition is catching up though, especially Firefox.

What do you do? In general, backing up an email program is fairly easy to do. The hard part is knowing what to backup. Some automatic backup software, like the ones included with external USB hard-drives, can help by automatically selecting what needs to be copied (or simply copying everything on your system). If you’re not sure, here are some ways you can make sure that your email is protected.

Outlook
Outlook stores everything in one file. Finding that file is hard for a novice. Luckily, there is a free add-in from Microsoft that reminds you and then does it for you too. It’s not very beautiful, but it works. On exiting Outlook, it will regularly remind you according to a schedule you set. All you need is a server or an external drive to store it on.

Outlook Express
This one is a bit trickier since Outlook Express stores your mail in arcane, buried folders. Microsoft’s procedure for this is preposterous for the average user. A better solution is the freeware MailStore Home by deepinvent. It does most of the heavy lifting for you. Write yourself a reminder though, because the software doesn’t schedule backups automatically.

Eudora
Though it’s fallen out of favor, we still have some users who couldn’t live without Eudora. This one is relatively easy. You just need to copy the entire Eudora folder to your backup drive. You can even more your program to a new computer this way! Here is the official write-up.

Here are the facts:

1. The infection tries to block security vendors’ sites. A quick and easy test, while not 100% foolproof, is to surf to their site. If it doesn’t come up, jump down to #5 here. If you’re not sure, try F-Secure’s site. They’re on the blocked sites list.
2. Mac OS systems cannot run the virus natively but Parallels and Boot Camp installs can. Users with Windows on their Macs are at risk.
2. Linux PCs and servers…same thing…cannot run it. Neither can your handheld devices.
3. If you have all of your Windows Updates as well as a good, up-to-date antivirus program that is running normally, you are protected. Keep in mind that this virus, like many others, is designed to knock-out your antivirus though. If you can’t get into your AV software or it’s status seems wonky, see step 4.
4. If you’re not sure, scan your system now. An online scanner will not affect your current software and while it may take a while to scan, a second opinion is often useful.
5. Bitdefender has a good free cleanup tool designed just for this virus. Like the online scanners mentioned above, you can use it without harming your current AV.

I don’t think we need to panic come Wednesday, though. Don’t be too alarmed by news articles that lack balanced information. If you’d like more information, CNET has a good article. Don’t Google it too much though, because searching for Conficker seems to lead users to the very sites they should be avoiding.