As I have browsed this site and others like it, I have often seen comments like "The only way to secure a Windows box is to not connect it to the Internet!" and "How can you stand to use Windows when you have to run tons of apps such as spyware removers and spend hours trying to keep it secure?" Some people have even gone as far as to say that it is literally impossible to secure Windows. Well, I'm here to tell you that not only is it possible, it's actually quite trivial! It requires very little effort and you can do it without running a buttload of security apps and without spending a dime.

This article will show you how to benchmark operating system performance using MySQL on these OSes so you can find out for yourself if you're missing out. While this may not necessarily be indicative of overall system performance or overall database application performance, it will tell you specifically how well MySQL performs on your platform.

For over six years I have been hunting for a Linux distro that would allow me to replace my Windows installation. I've tried many versions of RedHat and Mandrake, and more recently, Gnoppix, Kanotix, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Knoppix. In my evaluations, I would start with high hopes that the latest and greatest distro would install smoothly, support my hardware, and create a genuinely usable system, but none of them really worked--until now. I recently came across the first distro that satisfied all my requirements: Ubuntu.

BitRock InstallBuilder is a multiplatform installation tool that supports Linux, Windows, Solaris and, soon, OSX. Free, fully functional licenses for open source projects. The new version added Solaris support. You can also rate the app here.

The first in a series of articles about Mono. This article explains how to install Mono and shows how to compile your first Cross Platform application.

Microsoft made available build 1289-RC1 of Windows XP Pro for AMD x86-64 computers. The download page notes a date of September 2004, but in reality this new version was released just a few days ago.

Aqua Data Studio 4.0, the popular multi-platform DB front-end, is released and it's adding many new features. Aqua Data Studio is free for personal usage. In other interesting multi-platform commercial releases, Lost Marble recently released Moho 5.0.7 (screenshot, running under my Novell Linux).

Today we feature a mini-interview with Alexander Grechishkin, CEO of Lismore Software Systems, Ltd. The company came to spotlight recently after their release of their x86 emulator for Mac OS X, Guest PC. We also include three screenshots of the application.

Microsoft is on track to release the first full test version of the next major Windows release by the end of June, a Microsoft executive told CNET News.com on Monday. Also, Microsoft this week will reaffirm its promise to have Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 finished by the end of the quarter and its intent to have "Avalon" and "Indigo" subsystems available for Windows XP and Server 2003 in the near future.

One of the main reasons for the Firefox browser's successful seizure of market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the desire to escape the inundation of PC-slowing spyware. However, spyware experts indicate that with its increased popularity, Firefox itself will become a target for spyware creators, who are already poking at the open source browser alternative. Elsewhere, a new security hole found affecting most browsers except IE.

Samba 3.0.10 has been ported to SkyOS today. All configuration is done through a plugin in the System Manager, making configuration very simple, with just a few mouse clicks.

In the Linux environment, Rational Purify provides a comprehensive solution for finding errors and memory leaks. This article features a simple C program and a more complex C++ program that gives you a good idea of how you can successfully integrate Purify into your Linux development environment with very little effort.

The famous Java IDE, Intellij IDEA, will provide free licenses for active open source projects.

The Dot reports: "Trolltech, maker of the Qt toolkit which forms the basis for KDE, announced today that the Qt version for Microsoft Windows will be available under the GPL in addition to its current commercial license offerings for that platform. This change will take place with the release of Qt 4. The Qt version for Linux has been available under a similar dual licensing scheme for several years already. The availability of a GPL'ed Qt for Microsoft Windows will make it much easier to distribute KDE applications that run on the Microsoft Windows platform."