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IT Weekly Roundup, Dec. 17

From the business wires this week: anti-spyware solutions, Power over Ethernet media converters, and updated virtual machine software.

Spyware. The word was set in stone this month with its inclusion into the official lexicon of the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, along with the words Benjamin, supersize and jihadist. Its recognition comes as spyware and other forms of malware are increasingly spreading their irritating and sometimes crippling effects across the Web, pushing it to the top of security concerns for businesses and ordinary users.

Fend off spyware, viruses and other malware going around with a host of security products now on the market this winter. From InterMute, Inc. comes two products: CWShredder 2.12 gets rid of nasty polymorphic browser hijackers like HomeSearch and CoolWebSearch, and is available as a standalone or as part of InterMute’s SpySubtract anti-spyware. The newest offering among these software products is SpySubtract Rx, a Web-based ASP service that lets corporate and consumer PC users scan and remove spyware. http://www.intermute.com

Allume Internet Cleanup 4.0

Internet Cleanup 4.0 blocks banner ads and pop-ups.

Allume Systems, Inc. announced the availability of a free update of its anti-spyware program, Internet Cleanup 4.0. The new update now supports Mozilla’s FireFox Web browser in addition to Internet Explorer, AOL, MSN and Netscape. Also from Allume is SpamCatcher 4.0, which boasts better Microsoft Outlook Express support and improved anti-phishing capability and e-mail filtering. The anti-spam software retails for $29.99. http://www.allume.com.

For enterprise-class networks, Spy Sweeper Enterprise 2.0 from Webroot Software offers a more substantial solution featuring a spyware threat database to detect and remove more than 42,000 strains of spyware. The new version has improved scalability, load balancing and bandwidth conservation, and supports Microsoft SQL Server. http://www.webroot.com

Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Ltd. also added spyware to its list of naughty Internet threats with spyware protection now integrated into its eSafe product suite of programs that defend against viruses, worms, exploits and spam. To secure against more immediate threats, Aladdin’s eToken Simple Sign-On (SSO) solution enables users to securely log onto their company networks by plugging in their eToken USB smart cards and entering a single password. eToken SSO allows administrators to fully manage users, from deploying and revoking access to resetting and recovering passwords and eToken credentials. http://www.ealaddin.com

Vexira Antivirus was given the upgrade treatment across all of its product lines to incorporate a new architecture that includes a spam signature database. Current Central Command customers can get the update for free for their Microsoft Windows desktop and server environments, or any of the other server platforms Vexira supports. http://www.centralcommand.com

Sleepycat Software released Berkeley DB XML 2.0, which features support for XQuery 1.0, an emerging standard for XML data access. The open source, native XML database now also has support for XPath 2.0 and PHP API, as well as control over storage granularity of documents and XML document streaming into database. http://www.sleepycat.com

Transition Networks announced new additions to its product line of Power over Ethernet (PoE) media converters, which operate in two modes: IEEE 802.3af compliant and Legacy. The four new product lines are available in both AC and DC power and support either 10- or 100-Base copper-to-fiber devices. Prices start from $450 for 10Mbps PoE converters and $695 for 100Mbps converters. http://www.transition.com

Speaking of Ethernet, Systimax Solutions launched a 10-Gigabit Ethernet UTP cabling solution that complies with IEEE 802.3an task force guidelines. Systimax GigaSPEED X10D features GigaSPEED 91 Series cabling in plenum, non-plenum and low-smoke zero-halogen versions. http://www.systimax.com

VMware VirtualCenter 1.2

VMware VirtualCenter 1.2 features expanded support for configuration and migration of virtual machines.

VMware, Inc. unveiled the latest versions of several of its virtual infrastructure enterprise products. ESX Server 2.5 can now run virtual machines on diskless servers and blades by booting directly from a SAN, as well as be able to enable native SAN access from within virtual machines. VirtualCenter 1.2 supports ESX Server 2.5 and ESX Server SAN transparency, and allows users to export virtual machine performance stats in HTML and Excel formats. It also includes an updated version of Virtual Infrastructure SDK 1.2. Pricing for ESX Server 2.5 starts at $3,750 for a two-CPU machine; VirtualCenter 1.2 starts at $5,000. http://www.vmware.com

About the Author

Dan Hong is the associate Web editor of MCPmag.com, CertCities.com, TCPmag.com, Redmondmag.com and RCPmag.com.

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