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The Internet is rife with malicious people and software, and protecting yourself is no easy feat. Fortunately there's A-squared Free + Online Armor Personal Firewall Bundle, a comprehensive suite of utilities that goes a long way toward keeping your computer secure.

Upon installation, the program takes users through a Safety Check Wizard that scans the user's computer for any existing threats. The application's interface is sleek and intuitive, with a menu that gives users access to its major features. Users can view programs that are running, programs that run automatically on start-up, any installed keylogging programs, and more. … Read more

After tangling with Google Books over copyright issues, France is hoping to create its own version of the book-scanning service.

Frederic Mitterrand, France's culture minister, announced Tuesday that his country is planning a new French-based online portal to offer its citizens scanned versions of Gallic books and other documents.

The service would initially tap into an existing database called Gallica, which is run by the country's national library and currently is home to under a million documents. But Mitterrand aims to build the online collection by striking deals with French publishers in order to incorporate their books and … Read more

Bar code apps are all the rage these days, and with good reason: with one quick pass of your iPhone's camera, you can get all kinds of information about a product.

Joining the ranks of RedLaser, Pic2shop, and SnapTell, the aptly named Barcode Reader helps you compare prices, which is great for those times when you're out shopping and want to know if you can score a better deal online.

Using Barcode Reader couldn't be simpler: just tap "scan," then point your iPhone at the bar code for nearly any product. In mere seconds, it … Read more

Rom Houben has been trapped in a series of worst nightmares, including trying for 23 years to alert those around him that he was not in a coma. A new report suggests he's not alone in his experience.

In 1983, Belgian engineering student and martial arts enthusiast Houben, then 20, was in a car accident that was thought to have left him in a vegetative state. Doctors relied on the widely-used Glasgow Coma Scale, assessing his eyes, verbal, and motor responses. What they failed to notice was that Houben was actually conscious--but completely paralyzed.

"I screamed, but there … Read more

Spyware Doctor with Antivirus 7 offers users a superb collection of malware prevention and removal tools, but its infamously strict trial restrictions makes it difficult to evaluate. With quick scanning and multiple tools for stopping malware before it infects your computer, the paid version is a solid spyware remover. This version differs from Spyware Doctor in that it offers antivirus protection, as well as anti-malware.

Installing the program annoyingly requires you to reboot the computer, but as soon as Windows finishes loading, the program will start scanning for malware. Impressively, the scan took only about 5 minutes, which is much … Read more

Correction: Although this review was written for Spyware Doctor version 8, a typo misstated the version number as version 7. That has since been corrected.

Spyware Doctor 8 offers users a superb collection of malware prevention and removal tools, but its infamously strict trial restrictions makes it difficult to evaluate. With quick scanning and multiple tools for stopping malware before it infects your computer, the paid version is a solid spyware remover.

Installing the program annoyingly requires you to reboot the computer, but as soon as Windows finishes loading, the program will start scanning for malware. Impressively, the scan took … Read more

Cisco Systems said Tuesday it plans to buy privately held Web-based security software company ScanSafe for about $183 million.

The all-cash deal, which also includes retention-based incentives, is expected to close in Cisco's fiscal second quarter, which ends in January 2010.

ScanSafe is a cloud-based software service that allows customers to license the application on demand. Cloud-based services help customers save on costs, because they don't have to buy licenses to software and manage the software applications themselves.

The ScanSafe technology will help Cisco expand on capabilities it added when it bought IronPort in 2007, the company said. … Read more

Do you have a "jailbroken" iPhone? Ever since the iPhone first came on the scene, there has been a large group of users who believe Apple tries too hard to control what works and what doesn't on the iPhone. The minute a new iPhone firmware update is released from Apple, a whole slew of people search for ways to unlock the device, letting them download apps that have never had to go through the App store acceptance process. This means that apps that would have otherwise never seen the light of day can be used on an … Read more

When my eating starts getting out of control, I usually fire up the Lose It app to keep tabs on my calories for a few days.

Of course, it's a hassle to have to manually enter the foods I eat. Enter FoodScanner, a new app that scans package bar codes for quick and easy calorie logging.

Does it work? It does. Is it just as cool as it sounds? It is. Will it earn a spot in one of Apple's "There's an app for that" commercials? Almost certainly. It's just that slick.

To use … Read more