Since the Cabir virus, which affects various Symbian-based mobile phones, was created as a proof-of-concept earlier this year a Brazilian programmer has decided to publish the source code for two variants of the virus named Cabir-H and Cabir-I. This has caused a stir since it will no doubt cause more malicious variants of the virus when it falls into the wrong hands.

Patches Anyone?

As yet there have not been any reports of the Cabir virus in the wild, however the question I'm asking myself is why haven't the phone companies or anti-virus companies released patches for the virus?

Surely now would be the ideal opportunity to begin to put in place a system to protect the public, the majority of whom will not be aware of any such virus or the potential harm it could do to their phone.

The only advise we seem to be getting is precautionary, but how many people still open email attachments from people they don't know? Precautionary measures don't work, we've obviously forgotten the lessons we learnt from the PC virus epidemics of the not-so-distant past.

I think the lack of any such support by the phone manufacturers, OS software companies and anti-virus firms is due to no one taking ownership of the problem, which if left unresolved could balloon into a major problem in the very near future.

I'll end with the precautionary advise given so far.

All variants of the Cabir virus spread via bluetooth short-range wireless technology. To be completely safe from the virus all you need to do is turn off your bluetooth connection. This however is obviously counter-productive, so when you want to use your bluetooth connection for a headset or to sync with your PC etc, then you should set your handset to 'hidden' mode, this will make your device hidden from any other device in range.

Currently the Cabir virus has to be installed on the phone, which means the user will have to physically intervene allow the software to install by selecting 'yes' to install option upon receiving the virus, the last piece of advise then is to avoid installing software from unknown sources, especially other bluetooth devices, but more-so from future software containing Trojans based on Cabir and it's variants.

Gadget of the month has surely got to be the new Logitech Media Play Cordless Mouse.

If like me you've moved your CD collection from your CD's to your PC's hard drive you may find this new mouse/remote control a very useful gadget. It's a cross between a computer mouse and stereo remote control.

It features an extended wireless RF range, (not bluetooth or infra red) so you can control your media player from the comfort of your armchair and use it as a conventional optical wireless mouse when using your PC.

It has all the features you'd expect from a top-of-the range mouse, plus all the usual media player buttons you've come to expect, including:

Play, Pause, Forward, Back, up, down, and a Media Player Launch button (Compatible with Windows Media Player and Win Amp). All of which are illuminated on touch.

Just remember not to lose it down the edge of the sofa! otherwise you'll have to navigate Windows(TM) with your excellent keyboard shortcut knowledge ;-)

Logitech MediaPlay Wireless Mouse

Since my last entry concerning the mobile video format 3GP, I've come across a much more useful and professional program that converts 3GP to AVI.

It even converts 3GP to animated GIF although the picture quality is obviously greatly reduced and you lose sound in this format.

3GSauron

3GSauron is freeware and is a stand-alone EXE, so you don't have to install it. The only downside with the software I can see is that you can only convert files one-at-a-time.

I've added a link to the authors site below where you can download it.

http://www.3gsauron.com/

After a recent security flaw surrounding Google's Desktop Search Beta discovered by Scientists at Rice University, how do you make sure Googles fix has been applied to your machine?

After reading Google's Blog it seems all you need to do is check for the Beta release version on the 'About' page since the fix should have been applied automatically. You can find a link to this page from the main Desktop Search home page (You can reach this via right-clicking the icon in your taskbar or via the shortcut on your desktop). The version with the applied fix should be 'Beta 121004'.

PCPlus the UK computing magazine for computing enthusiasts recently launched a mini version of it's popular magazine specially designed for Java-enabled mobile phones.

Having received my 3rd edition of the mini magazine, I felt obliged to shout about it. Since I subscribed three issues ago the service has been improved to include SMS download prompts and much faster loading times (Tested on a Nokia 6600).

It's perfect for those train or tube commuters who wish to while away a few minutes of their journey.

The magazine contains news stories from the industry and reviews of the latest PC hardware.

The service is free and you can view demos and subscribe to the magazine from the link below.

http://www.threeoclock.com