Microsoft Security Essentials 4.0

Many antivirus vendors announce each new version with great fanfare; not Microsoft. Microsoft Security Essentials 4.0 (free) released so quietly that I almost missed it. In truth, Microsoft doesn't refer to the version number at all, just to "the latest version of Microsoft Security Essentials." There isn't a lot that's new here, and my test results were about the same as before, so perhaps downplaying the new version makes sense.

This product is a straight-up antivirus, not a feature-stuffed suite wannabe. Its main window shows current security status, with a button to resolve any problems. Another button launches an on-demand scan. That's it!

Saved by Windows Defender Offline
Microsoft Security Essentials installed successfully on ten of my twelve malware-infested test systems. Ransomware on one test system made launching normal Windows impossible, and Microsoft Security Essentials won't install in Safe Mode. On the advice of Microsoft Tech Support I downloaded the bootable Windows Defender Offline. A full scan with this tool solved the problem and allowed me to complete the installation.

On another test system, Microsoft Security Essentials refused to update or scan because it claimed the system was not running a valid copy of Windows. In truth, the Windows installation was fine, but malware fooled the antivirus into thinking otherwise. Tech support advised reinstalling Windows, an entirely inappropriate course given that Microsoft's own validation tools report a genuine installation.

I ran a full scan using Windows Defender Offline, but it didn't solve the problem. On this particular system the malware bamboozled Microsoft Security Essentials.

Mediocre Malware Cleanup
On the malware-infested systems where Microsoft Security Essentials installed and ran correctly, a full scan took hours. Scanning my standard clean test system took 72 minutes, about twice the average. And despite these lengthy scans, the cleanup wasn't very thorough.

Microsoft Security Essentials detected 63 percent of the threats, lower than any product tested with the current or previous set of malware samples. It left behind executable files for more than half of those it did detect, and several of them were still running after their alleged removal. Its overall score of 4.3 points for malware cleanup is the lowest of any current product.

40 percent detection of rootkit samples is also a new low. However, Microsoft thoroughly cleaned up all the rootkits it did find, scoring 4.0 points. Quite a few products tested with the previous malware collection scored lower, despite higher detection rates. Even so, I wouldn't rely on Microsoft to clean up a malware-infested system.

For an explanation of the testing and scoring process, see How We Test Malware Removal.

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Jobs report: The stall has arrived

Friday?s jobs report for April was even more disappointing than March. This is bad news for millions of Americans.

The economy has stalled.

Skip to next paragraph Robert Reich

Robert is chancellor?s professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Clinton. Time Magazine?named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written 13 books, including ?The Work of Nations,? his latest best-seller ?Aftershock: The Next Economy and America?s Future," and a new?e-book, ?Beyond Outrage.??He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.

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Friday?s jobs report for April was even more disappointing than March. Employers added only 115,000 new jobs, down from March?s number (the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the March number upward to 154,000, but that?s still abysmal relative to what?s needed). We need well over 250,000 new jobs per month in order to begin to whittle down the vast number of jobs lost in the Great Recession. At least 125,000 new jobs are necessary each month just to keep up with an expanding population of working-age people.

With only 115,000 jobs in April, the hole is getting even deeper.

Most observers pay attention to the official rate of unemployment, which edged down to 8.1 percent in April from 8.2 percent in March. That may sound like progress, but it?s not. The unemployment rate dropped because more people dropped out of the labor force, too discouraged to look for work. The household survey, from which the rate is calculated, counts as ?unemployed? only people who are actively looking for work. If you stop looking because the job scene looks hopeless for you, you?re no longer counted.

In the winter months ? December, January, and February ? hiring had seemed to pick up, averaging over 250,000 new jobs per month. Then the mini-surge stopped. The simplest explanation is that the mild winter across much of the United States gave an unusual boost to hiring then, leading to a correction by the spring.

Most of the job gains in April were in lower-wage industries ? retail stores, restaurants, and temporary-help. That means average wages continue to drop, adjusted for inflation ? continuing their long-term decline. Most of the new jobs that have been added to the U.S. economy during this recovery have paid less than the jobs that were lost during the downturn.

What does all this mean? Together with other recent data showing slower economic growth during the first quarter of this year, it?s safe to say the economy has stalled.

This is bad news for millions of Americans.

It?s also bad news for Obama and the Democrats. Voters don?t pay much attention to the economy in an election year until after Labor Day, so it?s not necessarily a huge help to Romney and the Republicans. But it?s a bad political omen nonetheless.?

No?set of policies between now and Election Day are likely to expand the economy. To the contrary, government at all levels continues to contract, acting as a fiscal drag when government needs to be doing the exact reverse ? boosting the economy through additional spending. In 2013, when spending major cuts are scheduled, we?ll fall off a fiscal cliff.

Obama needs to push back loudly and clearly, saying he won?t support additional spending cuts until the economy is showing clear signs of improvement.

But widening inequality is the underlying culprit here. As long as almost all the gains from economic growth continue to go to the top, the vast middle class doesn?t have the purchasing power to boost the economy on its own. And rich Americans spend a much smaller portion of their incomes than does the vast middle class. Their marginal satisfaction from additional spending falls off. The second yacht isn?t nearly as much fun as the first.

Get it? We?ve still got a terrible cyclical problem ? we can?t get out of the gravitational pull of the Great Recession.

Yet?the underlying problem is structural, and it?s been growing for decades. The structural problem of stagnant or declining real incomes for most people, and soaring income and wealth at the top, was masked during the boom years when the middle class could turn their homes into piggy banks and extract home-equity loans or refinance. But the mask came off in 2008 as home values plummeted.

There?s no way to put the mask back on. We?ve got to face the truth. Obama and the Democrats have to explain to the American people why inequality isn?t just unfair; it?s also economically unsustainable.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. This post originally ran on www.robertreich.org.

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Obama makes case for re-election at first official campaign rally (CNN)

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Pair vs. Pair: Pair The App Is Getting Sued By Pair Networks, The Hosting Company

It was less than a week ago that Tenthbit, the developers of the buzzy, new social-networking-app-for-couples (or other partners) Pair, picked up a $4.2 million seed round, money the founders said would be used to expand its mobile development and design teams. Now it looks like some of those funds might also need to go to legal bills. Tenthbit is getting sued by pair Networks, a hosting and domain registration company based in Pittsburgh, for trademark infringement. Tenthbit, meanwhile, has also sued pair Networks, to prevent the other suit from going ahead. Pair Networks is asking for an injunction on Pair the app, as well as "other relief as this Court deems appropriate." Tenthbit argues the two do not compete directly, and would therefore not result in any brand confusion.

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Die Guillotine: German Artists Who Planned To Kill Sheep Sell Controversial Project For $2.3 Million

Associated Press

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Happy Birthday, Adele!

21. It's the number most often associated with Adele, due to her best-selling album, one of the most popular in the history of the universe.

But let's all focus on 24 today instead, shall we? That's because it's the new age of this incredible artist. That's right... it's her birthday!

The singer's 2011 was easily one of the best years ever for a musician, and she kicked off her 2012 in impressive fashion, as well, returning from throat surgery to simply dominate the Grammys. Just watch this rendition of "Rolling in the Deep." Wow.

Adele is now one of the Most Influential People in the World.

And she's only 24! Just barely, to boot! Send in your birthday wishes now.

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All Furniture Should Double as Optical Illusions [Beautiful]

Who doesn't love things with a twist? Mystery novels. Sweetbreads. Soylent Green. All very great. Charles Kalpakian's Cin?tisme wall shelves are no exception, which, at first glance, appear to be nothing more than wall panels with an isometric 3D design. More »

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'American Idol' Results: Who Didn't Make the Top Four?

American Idol is nearing the end, which means another emotional elimination as the competition hurtles toward its May 23 finale. After Thursday night's results show, the season is officially down to four hopeful contestants.

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CERN scientists explain what would happen if you put your hand in the LHC's beam (video)

Sure, concerns about the Large Hadron Collider creating a world-destroying black hole may have been more or less put to rest, but there's still plenty of pressing questions that remain unanswered. Like, what would happen if you put your hand in the beam? The folks from Sixty Symbols recently asked some physicists that very question and got some rather puzzled responses, so they went straight to CERN itself to get a definitive answer. You can see that in full after the break, but the short version is that it's something like the force of a moving aircraft carrier concentrated down to a laser-like one-millimeter-wide beam (accompanied by a wider beam of particles that would irradiate your entire body). Bad news. As they're quick to point out, though, actually getting anywhere near the beam is virtually impossible.

Continue reading CERN scientists explain what would happen if you put your hand in the LHC's beam (video)

CERN scientists explain what would happen if you put your hand in the LHC's beam (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 May 2012 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enter DIRECTV CINEMA's MTV Movie Awards Sweepstakes!

The 2012 MTV Movie Awards are just around the corner, and with it are countless must-see battles between your favorite blockbusters of the year: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," "The Hunger Games," "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," and that's only scratching the surface. It's never too early to start [...]

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Sorting Out the Image Format Jumble

Have you ever wondered what the differences are among the scores of digital image formats out there? Some of the more common ones we see are GIF and JPEG but what does it all mean, and why are there so many? Plus, how do you know which one to use for the Web, and how can you take advantage of the different feature sets each one offers? Read on.

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