Last week a new worm started spreading on the Internet. It's named Santy, and it attempts to deface websites using specific versions of the popular phpBB bulletin board software. Is this just a run-of-the-mill worm causing minor damage to a few thousand websites? Yes. But it's also got something we've never seen before.

"Installing a new operating system is, ideally, like falling in love. There's this great excitement that you just can't seem to get over, and the urge to know all about the object of your affections in the least possible time. And I've fallen in love with Lycoris's Desktop/LX Linux distro." Read the rest of the article here.

The transparent real-time file-level protector - VitalFile for Real-Time Workstation Protection has a new version available for free download. Version 1.1.0.6 now has full system protection including replication of all changed files on a configurable schedule and version-tracking on remote file server. Vaulting allows lock-down of files or directories in an intelligent WORM fashion.

Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga OS4 development team have announced the immediate availability of another update of the Amiga OS 4.0 Developer Pre-release for all registered users. Also in addition to AmigaOne hardware and older BlizzardPPC / CyberstormPPC equipped classic Amigas, new AmigaOS4 supported PPC hardware for classic Amiga 1200 computers has recently been announced.

Firebird V1.5.x is the first release of the Firebird 2 codebase and represents a significant milestone for the developers and the whole Firebird project, but it is not an end in itself. With these release, major development continues toward the next point release on the journey to Firebird V2.0.

There are many ways of installing Debian, this is just how I do it. This guide is dedicated to all the newbies out there, and users with old boxes. Update: Screenshots here.

In early December, Paul Thurrot sat down with Todd, Ryan Burkhardt, and Jon Murchinson to discuss XP SP2 and the virtual team that made it happen. Here is their story.

In the newly released 0.77 of MenuetOS you will find Dosbox, ScummVM and Doom I ports; 3Com and Sis900 ethernet drivers; Improved protection, hd and floppy support. Additionally, 0.78-pre versions were also released.

This article is a sequel to the author's previous work "Keeping FreeBSD Up-To-Date".

Jesse Smith reviews two of the new features of Windows Server 2003 Active Directory 1.1: raising domain functional levels and using saved queries to simplify administrative tasks.

The Linux kernel 2.6.10 was released, full details here.

An Update has been posted on the HawkinsOS web site. It discusses the purpose of the operating system and why it has been delayed.

According to an article at DesktopLinux.com, the first public beta of Opera 8 is available for free download. It adds voice input/output and a host of other niceties. Key new features include improved RSS handling, fit to window or paper width, a start-bar for easy access to the most commonly used functions, and automatic update checks. The beta release supports Windows only, but a general release is scheduled for early 2005.

The cluster, a collection of computers that work together, is an important concept in leveraging computing resources because of its ability to transfer workload from an overloaded system (or node) to another system in the cluster. This article explains how to set up a load-balancing Linux cluster using Knoppix-based LiveCDs.