Google shuts down Google Labs also removes Google toolbar from Firefox 5.0

Jul 252011
 

Google Vice President, Bill Coughran, has conveyed that it will no longer be continuing with Google labs and a phasing out process has already been started. The news appeared in the company’s official blog and apparently the Google CEO is sticking to his word of “putting more wood before fewer arrows”.

The closing will affect ongoing Google projects on the web and also the development of various Android applications. The projects won’t be closing down completely but many of them will be folded into other larger projects and further research work will stop. Similarly for android applications, the applications won’t become unavailable but further updates won’t be released.

The decision appears to be a consequence of the new management style of Larry Page, Google’s new CEO. Google says that it wants to focus on the upcoming ‘extra opportunities’ rather going into further research hence, the decision. Few years back, before Gmail was launched, Google became infamous for not launching its product completely even though more than 10 million users became member from invite only.

Another shocking decision was made by Google to discontinue its toolbar services from the latest version of Firefox (Firefox 5.0). Google claims that the ‘new browsers’ are capable enough on their own and don’t need the integration of an add-on like the Google toolbar.

The toolbar won’t be coming in the latest version of Firefox as well as all further versions, but will continue to provide services in the older browsers. The decision is sure disappointing but after all, the search engine giant has his own browser ‘Chrome’ to take care of.

For Firefox, Google toolbar was more than just a search bar, it was also used as a bookmarking tool and was useful for generating a site ranking (according to page scores generated by Google). Many users are not upgrading to the latest version because of the missing toolbar and some are even dreaming for a new toolbar from Google to be released for Firefox. Mozilla is now trying to analyse its options and building on replacements.

Warning – Fake Microsoft Security Update making its way into innocent users PC’s

Jun 112011
 

Recently we posted an article warning users about the MAC Defender/ MAC Protector /MAC Guard fake security program which affects innocent MAC users. Once installed this program tends to run a fake virus scan that comes up with a list of non-existent threats and asks the users to pay money to remove these threats.

This time we are back to warn all our readers about a new fake anti-virus attack that affects Microsoft Windows users. This new attack has been designed very carefully to lure innocent users into its trap.

How does this attack work?

The attack posses itself as a Microsoft security update which tricks the user into installing the malicious software by redirecting the innocent user to a website that is an exact replica of Microsoft’s official update webpage. The only difference being that this page only opens in Mozilla Firefox whereas the official Microsoft update webpage opens in Internet Explorer. Not only this, the people behind this attack have exploited the timing of the monthly update patch released by Microsoft (Patch Tuesday) to trick more users into downloading the fake software.

How can I protect myself from this attack?

In case you are taken to the Microsoft update page on Mozilla Firefox please DO NOT install the update. Simply close your browser window as you have been directed right into the tigers jaw. Users need to be more careful about such bogus security alerts which often come up as pop-ups in their browsers. Avoid downloading content that is not from a trusted source.

Lately, we have seen that fake anti-virus attacks are on the rise and the people behind these attacks are going to each and every extent to trick you into believing that you need to download the fake content or pay money in order to remove non-existent threats from your PC. So, all you users out there I would suggest you to be a bit more vigilant.