The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

24th October 2001 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Murder on the Outlook Express

    Inspector McAfee baffled by vanishing emails

    Outlook Express users who also use McAfee's antivirus software have reported suffering from mysterious cases of disappearing email. An intermittent problem involving the interaction of Windows 2000 or XP with McAfee VirusScan 4.5.1 and Outlook Express 6 means that the index file to existing email folders can become damaged when …

    Security 24 Oct 2001, 07:00

  • Top 10 reasons for LAN downtime

    Survey detects human error

    1 Misconfigured routers: devices installed incorrectly in the first instance 2 Faulty Ethernet cards: poor quality cards that fail soon after installation, but take some time to detect 3 Broadcast storms: caused by legacy applications on legacy servers, which should have been taken out of commission 4 Unwanted protocols: many …

    Data Networking 24 Oct 2001, 07:40

  • Radio shrink Frasier gets toughest patient – Bill Gates

    But will Larry phone in on the night?

    Considering the uncomfortable and dysfunctional perfomance Bill Gates put on for the trial cameras, it surely seems reckless for him to have agreed to appear in Frasier, which we understand is a TV show about, er, a shrink. But like the good conspiracy theorists we are, we've figured out that maybe it's to do with somebody who …

    Bootnotes 24 Oct 2001, 08:05

  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Single Sign-Ons?

    Sun's Passport-killer six months away

    The first fruits of the industry-wide answer to Microsoft's single-sign-on initiative Passport, Liberty, should go live in six months, Sun said yesterday. Sun provided an update on Liberty but didn't announce any new members of the consortium at its "Web Services Summit" (ie, MS PDC spoiler) in Santa Clara, Ca. yesterday. The …

    Music and Media 24 Oct 2001, 08:57

  • NEC, Toshiba moot anti-Hynix, anti-dumping complaints

    Bit rich in the circumstances

    The DRAM market is starting to get nasty. NEC and Toshiba are both deciding whether to make anti-dumping complaints against Korean memory makers - a stance that mirrors one taken by US-based Micron last month. The target is clear: Hynix. Indeed, it's hard not to see all three companies' motivation as an attempt to push the …

    Channel 24 Oct 2001, 09:13

  • Data Protection Act kicks in

    Massive implications for UK business

    The first transitional period for the Data Protection Act (1998) ended yesterday and the second starts this morning - with huge implications for all UK businesses. From today (Wednesday 24 October), any company in the UK will basically have to hand over whatever personal data they possess on someone - whether electronically or …

    Business 24 Oct 2001, 09:29

  • Is this the end for Web bugs and dodgy cookies?

    Quite possibly, yes

    Today (Wednesday 24 October), the second transitional period of the Data Protection Act takes effect in the UK, meaning that companies are required by law to provide all the personal data they store on anyone, if that person requests it. This has far-reaching implications for all UK businesses but more significantly (from our …

    Music and Media 24 Oct 2001, 09:32

  • Micron chairman takes 100% pay cut

    But what about bonuses and stock options?

    Micron chief Steve Appleton has decided he won't get paid until his company is making a profit again. But since he earns over $784,000 - according to the company's Securities & Exchange Commission filings - before bonuses and stock options - which he'll presumably continue to receive - we don't think he'll be too badly off. …

    Channel 24 Oct 2001, 09:55

  • VIA Q3 income dips deeper than analysts forecast

    Sales down too

    VIA has exceeded analyst expections of the extent to which its income would fall during its third quarter. Five market watchers surveyed this week by Bloomberg put the decline at 63 per cent, but when the chipset maker announced its Q3 results this morning, the figure stood at 64.2 per cent. Income before tax for the three …

    Business 24 Oct 2001, 10:39

  • Amazon.com misses Q3 hopes, warns of poor Q4

    Lays most of the blame on 11 September attacks

    Amazon.com has released lower-than-expected third-quarter results and warned it will do the same again next quarter. It remained upbeat however, saying that it has managed to meet its target of reducing operating costs by 20 per cent and good times are still ahead. Revenue was barely changed from a year ago, rising just $1.3 …

    e-Business 24 Oct 2001, 10:51

  • Are ex-Dixons staffers hogging etail?

    New BOL head boy is Kalms disciple

    Online Amazon wannabe BOL.com has appointed ex-Dixons Group marketing manager Tony Prescott as its new MD. Prescott takes over from Alexander Broich, who launcehd the Bertelsmann-owned company in 1999. Prescott joined BOL 18 months ago as games/software director and deputy MD. The appointment means another former Dixons …

    e-Business 24 Oct 2001, 10:53

  • Compaq results – oh dear

    Dire PC business to get Delled up

    Compaq has been hit with a hefty Q3 loss - worse than the market expected, and the market wasn't expecting much - in the first results the company has posted since announcing its takeover by Hewlett-Packard. Compaq says Q4 will be equally bad. The computer giant has posted a net loss of $499 million, compared with a profit of …

    Business 24 Oct 2001, 11:21

  • Fujitsu to can 4,500 workers as losses widen

    Never ending story

    Fujitsu has warned of widening losses this year as it reported declining sales in its key markets that were only partially offset by Japan's rollout of 3G mobile technology. The Japanese-based IT giant reported a consolidated first-half year net loss of 174.7 billion yen ($1,468 million) compared to net income of 17.2 billion …

    Business 24 Oct 2001, 11:24

  • Gates confirms Windows Longhorn for 2003, Blackcomb MIA?

    And the .NET tools situation maybe isn't all it might be...

    Down at the bottom of Bill Gates' keynote to the Professional Developers Conference yesterday lies confirmation that the wheels have come off the Windows rollout wagon. Again. Actually, we all already knew that the Big One, Blackcomb, has been knocked back in the general direction of 2005, and we already knew that the interim XP …

    Software 24 Oct 2001, 11:33

  • New look MSN turns away non-MS lovers

    Updated Brazil site's a pain in the nuts

    MSN's new look pilot site, a move to the look and feel of Windows XP, is suffering a few teething problems - some users can't get on it. Microsoft intends to go live with the design as it launches Windows XP tomorrow, but it's already remade its Brazilian site as we highlighted in yesterday's article. A number of readers wrote …

    Music and Media 24 Oct 2001, 11:53

  • Aussie PC charity founder in court over fraud

    The David to Microsoft's Goliath

    The founder of the Australian charity, PCs for Kids - which has been waging war on Microsoft over its OS licensing system since June - Colin Philip Bayes, has been issued with an arrest warrant after failing to turn up to a court hearing in Victoria, Australia over a fraud-related offence. Melbourne-based news site TheAge.com. …

    Business 24 Oct 2001, 12:12

  • Some nudity, swearing, violence, English accents

    Ever had a Salmon Day?

    Tomorrow The Register launches Salmon Days, a pay-per-view live action video strip, inspired by our beloved Bastard Operator from Hell. We use the word 'inspired' advisedly; we are not trying to reproduce BOFH's weekly columns, but instead will be producing original scripts. The first episode is free. Thereafter we'll be …

    Site News 24 Oct 2001, 12:39

  • Cost of ADSL to fall with DIY install

    But you'll have to hang on until next year

    The price of ADSL is set to fall in the new year if commercial trials for "plug and play" broadband prove successful. BT Wholesale is to start commercial trials in December with the view to launching a full service from January. Not only would the new DIY service cut the price of installation charges, it could also see a cut …

    Telecoms 24 Oct 2001, 14:56

  • Arrow shot through the heart with $159m loss

    'Visibility remains clouded at best' - CEO

    Arrow Electronics, the world's biggest electronics components distie, has reported a Q3 net loss of $159.1 million on sales of $2.2 billion. A year earlier it managed a net income of $101.9 million on sales of $3.3 billion. The loss included special charges of $145.1 million, after tax, for canning more than 1,200 people, …

    Channel 24 Oct 2001, 15:01

  • UK Net pedo jailed for eight years

    Chatroom issues raises ugly head again

    A UK man, inappropriately named Lawrence Horn, has been jailed for eight years after trying to seduce a 14-year-old boy in an Internet chatroom. The 14-year-old was in fact detective Mark Bucci from Philadelphia in the States who was working under the pseudonymn Justin. Mr Horn, 35 from near Ashford in Kent, held numerous …

    Music and Media 24 Oct 2001, 15:10

  • RSA WebID agent can't read Unicode

    Updated Get your patch now

    RSA's Internet authentication product can be bypassed using a combination of Unicode characters which IIS recognises but RSA's security technology fails to decode. RSA's WebID agent is supposed to deny access to a corporate intranet until a user is properly authenticated by a SecurID server. The potentially serious security …

    Security 24 Oct 2001, 15:21

  • Deskstar 75GXP: the pain continues

    Weird noises, fitness tests and class action

    Users returning their faulty hard drives to IBM for repair say they are waiting up to six weeks for a replacement. And the swap-outs leave much to be desired, Reg readers report. John Goss says, after waiting patiently for the drive to return, it now makes a "loud crunching noise when accessing data, as opposed to the nice and …

    Personal 24 Oct 2001, 16:02

  • AMD widens Intel antitrust offensive

    A voyage of discovery

    AMD has filed a suit to release sealed evidence from Intel's dispute with Intertrust to EU antitrust investigators. The request, filed in the Northern California District Court in San Jose, will be heard on November 12. The Integraph dispute was settled two years ago with the judge ruling in Intel's favour. Intel has responded …

    Channel 24 Oct 2001, 23:16