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The Do Not Track (DNT) header is the proposed HTTP header field DNT that requests that a web application disable either its tracking or cross-site user tracking (the ambiguity remains unresolved) of an individual user. The Do Not Track header was originally proposed in 2009 by researchers Christopher Soghoian, Sid Stamm, and Dan Kaminsky. Efforts to standardize Do Not Track by the W3C in the Tracking Preference Expression (DNT) Working Group are currently advanced at Candidate Recommendation status (as of 20 August 2015).

In December 2010, Microsoft announced support for the DNT mechanism in its Internet Explorer 9 web browser. Mozilla's Firefox became the first browser to implement the feature, while Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari, Opera and Google Chrome all later added support.

The header field name is DNT and it currently accepts three values: 1 in case the user does not want to be tracked (opt out), 0 in case the user consents to being tracked (opt in), or null (no header sent) if the user has not expressed a preference. The default behavior required by the standard is not to send the header unless the user enables the setting via their browser or their choice is implied by use of that specific browser.

History

In 2007, several consumer advocacy groups asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to create a Do Not Track list for online advertising. The proposal would have required that online advertisers submit their information to the FTC, which would compile a machine-readable list of the domain names used by those companies to place cookies or otherwise track consumers.

In July 2009, researchers Christopher Soghoian and Sid Stamm created a prototype add-on for the Firefox web browser, implementing support for the Do Not Track header. Stamm was, at the time, a privacy engineer at Mozilla, while Soghoian soon afterward started working at the FTC. One year later, during a U.S. Senate privacy hearing, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz told the Senate Commerce Committee that the commission was exploring the idea of proposing a "do-not-track" list.

In December 2010, the FTC issued a privacy report that called for a "do not track" system that would enable people to avoid having their actions monitored online.

One week later, Microsoft announced that its next browser would include support for Tracking Protection Lists, that block tracking of consumers using blacklists supplied by third parties. In January 2011, Mozilla announced that its Firefox browser would soon provide a Do Not Track solution, via a browser header. Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari, Opera and Google Chrome all later added support for the header approach.

In August 2015 a coalition of privacy groups led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation using W3C's Tracking Preference Expression (DNT) standard proposed that "Do not track" be the goal for advocates to demand of businesses.

Internet Explorer 10 default setting controversy

When using the "Express" settings upon installation, a Do Not Track option is enabled by default for Internet Explorer 10 and Windows 8. Microsoft faced criticism for its decision to enable Do Not Track by default from advertising companies, who say that use of the Do Not Track header should be a choice made by the user and must not be automatically enabled. The companies also said that this decision would violate the Digital Advertising Alliance's agreement with the U.S. government to honor a Do Not Track system, because the coalition said it would only honor such a system if it were not enabled by default by web browsers. A Microsoft spokesperson defended its decision however, stating that users would prefer a web browser that automatically respected their privacy.

On September 7, 2012, Roy Fielding, an author of the Do Not Track standard, submitted a change to the source code of the Apache HTTP Server, which would make the server explicitly ignore any use of the Do Not Track header by users of Internet Explorer 10. Fielding asserted that Microsoft's decision "deliberately violates" the Do Not Track specification because it "does not protect anyone's privacy unless the recipients believe it was set by a real human being, with a real preference for privacy over personalization." The Do Not Track specification did not explicitly mandate that the use of Do Not Track actually be a choice until after the feature was implemented in Internet Explorer 10. Fielding pointed out that Microsoft knew its false signals claiming that users had chosen Do Not Track would be ignored, and that its goal was to effectively give an illusion of privacy while still catering to their own interests. On October 9, 2012, Fielding's patch was commented out, restoring th e previous behavior.

On April 3, 2015, Microsoft announced that as of Windows 10, it would comply with the specification and no longer enable Do Not Track as part of the operating system's "Express" default settings, but that the company will "provide customers with clear information on how to turn this feature on in the browser settings should they wish to do so".

Operation

When a web browser requests content or sends data using HTTP, it can include extra information optionally in one or more items called "headers". Do not track adds a header (DNT: 1), indicating that the user does not want to be tracked. The browser user has no control over whether the request is honoured or not.

Effectiveness

There are no legal or technological requirements for its use, when it's enabled by default on browsers. As such, websites and advertisers may either honor the request, or completely ignore it in cases where it's automatically set. The Digital Advertising Alliance does not require its members to honor automatically set DNT signals. "The Council of Better Business Bureaus and the Direct Marketing Association will not sanction or penalize companies or otherwise enforce with respect to DNT signal that is automatically set in IE10 or any other browser."

There are organizations, such as DataNeutrality, that are involved in setting DNT guidelines for private companies involved in data collection.

Microsoft declares that it is not obeying the DNT header:

"Because there is not yet a common understanding of how to interpret the DNT signal, Microsoft services do not currently respond to browser DNT signals. We continue to work with the online industry to define a common understanding of how to treat DNT signals."

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Kaspersky Internet Security (often abbreviated to KIS) is an internet security suite developed by Kaspersky Lab compatible with Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. KIS offers protection from malware, as well as email spam, phishing and hacking attempts, and data leaks. Kaspersky Lab Diagnostics results are distributed to relevant developers through MIT.

Windows edition

Version 2007 (6.0)

Version 6.0 was the first release of KIS. PC World magazine praised version 6.0's detection of malware. KIS detected 100 percent of threats on a subset of the January 2006 wild-list, a list of prevalent threats. The suite detected almost 100 (99.57%) percent of adware samples. KIS has the ability to scan within compressed or packed files, detecting 83.3 percent of the "hidden" malware. However, version 6.0 was criticized for not completely removing malware by leaving Registry entries and files. PC World also highlighted the suite's false positives â€" eight of 20,000 clean files were incorrectly flagged as malicious â€" and its noticeable impact on computer performance. However, data is cached from each scan, making each subsequent scan faster. The firewall blocked all attacks from inside and outside the computer when tested.

The magazine found the graphical user interface to be awkward to navigate. Features such as parental controls and instant messaging protection, found in competing suites from Symantec and McAfee, were not a part of version 6.0. Both CNET and PC World criticized the suite's relatively high retail price, US$79.95.

KIS 6.0 supports Windows 98 SE, ME, NT Workstation 4.0, 2000 Professional, XP Home Edition, XP Professional, XP Professional x64, and Vista. 50 megabytes of free space, Internet Explorer 5.5, and Windows Installer 2.0 are required. RAM and CPU requirements are dependent on the operating system.

Version 2008 (7.0)

Version 7.0 introduced a redesigned GUI. Components were renamed and reorganized; the Anti-hacker module was renamed to the Firewall, and the Anti-Spy module was integrated with the Privacy Control module. PC World described the new interface as "intuitive" and "great-looking".

Parental controls were introduced, with specific settings for different age categories, such as "child" or "parent". Within age categories are content categories, such as drugs or violence. Users can manually configure profiles. Filtering profiles can be associated with users. Since content is filtered at the network level, the feature will work with any Internet browser. The filter relies on a database of known URLs and can analyse websites in real-time. Attempts to access forbidden URLs are logged, and sites visited are tracked as well, raising privacy issues. Limits on Internet access may be set based on time, and chat rooms along with webmail sites can be manually blocked.

Spam filtering integrates with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and The Bat!. E-mail content is analysed and scored, and e-mail with scores above two specified thresholds are either marked as "!!spam" or "??probably spam". The Mail Dispatcher feature shows subject and sender information for messages, and allows users to avoid downloading blatant spam by selecting which messages to download. The filter self-trains by analyzing incoming and outgoing e-mail not marked as spam, or by analyzing folders only containing spam or valid e-mail. Senders of verified valid e-mail are whitelisted. E-mail can also be whitelisted or blacklisted based on phrases present in the text. E-mail with non-ASCII characters or invisible text can also be blocked. However, version 7.0 had a relatively poor showing, misidentifying 30 percent of valid messages in PC Magazine testing. 30 percent of spam also made to the inbox.

Protection against data leaks was incorporated in this release. The suite warns users when programs attempt to access or send data from certain areas, such as where Internet Explorer stores webform information.

Malware protection was mostly positive in detection and disinfection tests by AV-Test.org. Version 7.0 detected 100 percent of wildlist threats. Using one-month-old signatures and a set of new malware, however, detection fell to 14 percent. Files were scanned at 5.24 megabytes per second. Version 7.0 successfully identified all six actively running rootkits, four of six inactive rootkits, and was only able to remove two of six rootkits. The firewall correctly blocked all attempted outside connections, with a reasonable level of security when left on default settings.

This version drops support for the Windows 98, 2000, and NT. Windows XP Service Pack 2 is required, except in the case of XP Professional x64 edition. Vista is supported as well. RAM and CPU requirements are dependent on the operating system. 75 megabytes of free space, Internet Explorer 5.5, and Windows Installer 2.0.

Version 2009 (8.0)

This version introduces a revised user interface, an application filtering module, an updated anti-virus engine, and a vulnerability scanner. The main window separates settings in four categories, compared to eight in its predecessor. A status bar changes colour (green, yellow, and red) to reflect overall program status and flashes to divert attention when needed. PC Magazine also noted pop-up notifications were kept to a minimum.

Kaspersky claims the core anti-virus engine was revised to increase scan speed. PC Magazine found an initial scan took over two hours, however subsequent scans took two minutes to complete. However, malware detection was relatively low in comparison to other anti-virus applications tested. Out of 650 thousand samples, version 8.0 detected 95.6 percent. The top score was around 99 percent. Using two-week-old signatures, version 8.0 detected 52 percent of viruses in a different set of samples. Kaspersky also blocked about 60 percent of malware based solely on behaviour. The top performers scored 55.3 percent and 80 percent respectively. Version 2009 detected 98.1 percent of adware. However, PC World noted to achieve that kind of performance, users will have to modify program settings. On default settings, KIS allowed Zango to install. To block the installation, users must enable KIS to scan for "other malware".

The Security Analyzer looks for operating system and program patches. It also looks for vulnerable system settings, presenting users with a list of recommended actions to prevent malware from gaining access to a system. However, PC World criticized the amount of computer jargon used and lack of information about how adjust settings appropriately. On the other hand, PC Magazine found the feature straightforward, and often the solution involved downloading and installing an update.

KIS uses a whitelist by Carbon Black to classify trusted and malicious programs. Malicious programs are not allowed to run at all. Unknown programs falling in between the two categories are restricted in the actions they can perform. Its firewall blocked all attacks in PC Magazine testing. Phishing protection was introduced in this release. Testing by PC Magazine found the feature blocked 44 percent of phishing URLs. Internet Explorer 7 blocked 67 percent of the URLs, and Mozilla Firefox blocked 81 percent.

Spam filtering now integrates with Mozilla Thunderbird and scans NNTP traffic. Spam can be automatically diverted to its own folder. When using an unsupported e-mail client to download POP3, IMAP or NNTP mail, Kaspersky will still generate a report of all messages. However, in an unsupported client, there will be no toolbar nor will the program classify any messages as spam in the client itself.

Version 2010 (9.0)

Version 2010 of Kaspersky Internet Security introduced an overhauled user interface and a sandbox for running applications in a virtualized environment. The 9.0.0.736 build of KIS 2010 fully supported the Windows 7 operating system.

Version 2011 (11.0)

The beta version was released for all windows users on 8 June 2010. This version included a new interface, as well as a gadget only available for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users. PC Mag rated this version "very good" (4/5 stars). Its firewall was noted to be very good, but that made up for its only adequate malware detection rates. Two critical fixes have been released by Kaspersky Lab, making the current version 11.0.2.556.

Version 2012 (12.0)

On 1 March 2011, Kaspersky released the first build of version 2012, it came out as beta version and in English, French and Russian version, with more versions due out later. On 7 June 2011 Kaspersky Lab announced the commercial release of Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 in France, Germany, Switzerland. The current version is 12.0.0.374.

Version 2013 (13.0)

The beta version was released for all windows users on 3 March 2012. This version includes an interface which looks (currently, at least) much like Internet Security 2012. There is no Safe Run option, no Proactive Defense, while instead the behavioural monitoring System Watcher seems to be taking greater responsibility for detecting malware and a Safe Banking feature has been added.

The release candidate (build 13.0.1.4088 RC) was released for all windows users on 20 July 2012.

The Final Version was released on 28 August 2012 build 13.0.1.4190

Version 2014 (14.0)

Beta testing started on 12 March 2013. This version introduced a Windows 8 like GUI design. The final version was released on 3 August 2013 build 14.0.0.4651 in India and Russia, then on August 13 in the USA and August 27 in the UK. The 2014 release was frequently characterized as inferior to user expectations, largely due to its removal of a range of granular fine-tuning options in 2013 and earlier, which were used by experienced users; a number of these were added back in the 2015 beta by the time of its technical release (build 463).

As of February 13, 2014 build 14.0.0.4651(E) was released. Build 14.0.0.4651(I) is the latest (current) version.

Version 2015 (15.0)

In April 2014, a beta version of the 2015 product, build 463, was released, followed by a technical release preview, of the near-complete 2015 product. The first official release of the product was in Bangladesh in June 2014.

Mac edition

Version 14.0

Version 15.0

Controversies regarding security

In March 2015, Bloomberg accused Kaspersky to have close ties to Russian military and intelligence officials. Kaspersky slammed the claims in his blog, calling the coverage "sensationalist" and guilty of "exploiting paranoia" to "increase readership".

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T (named tee /ˈtiː/) is the 20th letter in the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in English language texts.

History

Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets. The sound value of Semitic Taw, Greek alphabet Tαυ (Tau), Old Italic and Latin T has remained fairly constant, representing [t] in each of these; and it has also kept its original basic shape in all of these alphabets.

Use in writing systems

English

In English, ⟨t⟩ usually denotes the voiceless alveolar plosive (International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA: /t/), as in tart, tee, or ties, often with aspiration at the beginnings of words or before stressed vowels.

The digraph ⟨ti⟩ often corresponds to the sound /ʃ/ (a voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant) word-medially when followed by a vowel, as in nation, ratio, negotiation, and Croatia.

The letter ⟨t⟩ corresponds to the affricate /t͡ʃ/ in some words as a result of yod-coalescence (for example, in words ending in "-ture", such as future).

A common digraph is ⟨th⟩, which usually represents a dental fricative, but occasionally represents /t/ (as in Thomas and thyme.)

Other languages

In the orthographies of other languages, ⟨t⟩ is often used for /t/, the voiceless dental plosive /t̪/ or similar sounds.

Other systems

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨t⟩ denotes the voiceless alveolar plosive.

Related characters

Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

• T with diacritics: Ť Å¥ Ṫ ṫ Å¢ Å£ Ṭ á¹­ Æ® ʈ Èš È› á¹° á¹± á¹® ṯ Ƭ Æ­

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

• 𐤕 : Semitic letter Taw, from which the following symbols originally derive
  • Τ τ : Greek letter Tau
    • Ⲧ ⲧ : Coptic letter Taw, which derives from Greek Tau
    • Т т : Cyrillic letter Te, also derived from Tau
    • 𐍄 : Gothic letter tius, which derives from Greek Tau
    • 𐌕 : Old Italic T, which derives from Greek Tau, and is the ancestor of modern Latin T
      • ᛏ : Runic letter teiwaz, which probably derives from old Italic T

Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations

• ™ : Trademark symbol
• ₮ : Mongolian tögrög
• ₸ : Kazakhstani tenge

Computing codes

¹ Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

Other representations

References

External links

• Media related to T at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of T at Wiktionary
• The dictionary definition of t at Wiktionary

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Computers in the classroom include any digital technology used to enhance, supplement, or replace a traditional educational curriculum. As computers have become more accessible, inexpensive, and powerful, the demand for this technology has increased, leading to more frequent use of computer resources within classes, and a decrease in the student-to-computer ratio within schools.

History

Origins

College campuses used computer mainframes in education since the initial days of this technology, and throughout the initial development of computers. The earliest large-scale study of educational computer usage conducted for the National Science Foundation by The American Institute for Research concluded that 13% of the nation's public high schools used computers for instruction, although non-users still outnumbered users at a ratio of 2 to 1. The study also concluded that computers proved to be very popular with students, and that applications run on early models included sports statistic managers, administration tools, and physics simulators.

In 1975, Apple Inc. began donating Apple 1 model computers to schools, and mainframes began to lose their former dominance over academic research. Computer usage continued to grow rapidly throughout this era. In 1977, it was estimated that over 90% of students at Dartmouth College had used computers at some point in their college careers. Walter Koetke, the director of a Lexington, Massachusetts school system commented that, "It's still possible for a student to get through here without using the computer, but he would certainly have to try to do it".

Computer-aided instruction gained widespread acceptance in schools by the early 1980s. It was during this period that drilling and practice programs were first developed for exclusive classroom use. Schools became divided over which computer manufacturers they were willing to support, with grade schools generally using Apple computers and high schools preferring DOS based machines. Hardware shortages in schools became a major issue, leaving many teachers unable to provide enough computers for students to use. Despite this, by 1989 computer usage shifted from being a relative rarity in American public schools, to being present in nearly every school district.

Modern Era

The early 1990s marked the beginning of modern media technology such as CD-ROMs as well as the development of modern presentation software such as Microsoft Powerpoint. Other computer-based technology including the electronic whiteboard and the laptop computer became widely available to students. In 1990, the Methodist Ladies' College became the first campus to require every student to purchase a laptop. Governments around the world began to take notice of the effectiveness of this policy, and began financial initiatives to significantly increase the use of laptop computers in other colleges as well. In 1996, Bill Clinton made over $2 billion in grants available in the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, a program which challenged schools to make computers available to every student, connected to the outside world, and engaging. This marked a significant increase in the demand for computer technology in many public school systems throughout the globe.

Correlating with the development of modern operating systems like Windows 98 and the continuing support of government funding, the prevalence of educational computer usage boomed during this era. Between 1997 and 1999, the ratio of students to multimedia computers decreased from 21 students per machine to less than 10 students per machine. Colleges began creating specialized classrooms designed to provide students with access to the utilization of the most modern technology available. Classrooms such as the "Classroom 2000" built at Georgia Tech in 1999 which featured computers with audio and video equipment designed to capture detailed recordings of lectures as a replacement for traditional note taking began to become more common. By 2000, the student to computer ratio at some schools in the US decreased to only 5 students per school computer.

As collaborative classroom environments became mainstream, more schools as a whole began to invest in powerful networks and faster Internet connections. By 2010, many school districts implemented or encouraged "1:1 learning programs" which would ensure that all students in grade school would be provided with a personal laptop. Computers have significantly changed traditional teaching methodology into a more "hands-on" approach, with Forbes predicting that, "Instead of parking themselves in a lecture hall for hours, students will work in collaborative spaces, where future doctors, lawyers, business leaders, engineers, journalists and artists learn to integrate their different approaches to problem solving and innovate together." However, despite the significant amount of money that school districts are investing in technology for schools, there has been little proof that the students are in fact benefiting from the implementation. "In a nutshell: schools are spen ding billions on technology, even as they cut budgets and lay off teachers, with little proof that this approach is improving basic learning."[1]

21st Century

Demands

The shift in worldwide computer usage and the need for computer skills in today's workforce have pushed the United States government to create guidelines for educators to ensure that students are prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century. The Core Curriculum Content Standards for education are aimed at preparing students with such skills demanded of those entering the 21st century learning environment as well as the 21st century and work environment.

Changes such as this, along with the changes in the ways that 21st century learners communicate, have impacted the ways that classroom computers are utilized. Currently, teachers are tapping into the enhanced abilities of current classroom computer technology by utilizing various Web 2.0 tools to enhance their instruction. Such tools are also being used to extend classroom communication outside of the campus through online collaborative tools. Centered primarily on collaboration and sharing, Web 2.0 computer applications encourage student self-expression; interaction with peers, and opportunity for authentic learning experiences Through the implementation and integration of Web 2.0 computer technologies into the classroom setting, authentic and meaningful learning experiences are now able to occur in ways that have been previously unimaginable. Currently, the learning that is taking place is not simply about typical concepts or facts as laid out in school curricula. Instead, it is about the process of building connections As a result, the awareness of the importance and the value of communication is becoming instilled into children. Today, with a single laptop, Webcam, projector, and an Internet connection, a teacher can broadcast and begin collaboration with any other classroom. As groups of learners coalesce around shared passions online, they experience something that is difficult to replicate in physical space.

Applications

Classroom computer access to Web 2.0 applications such as online learning communities and interactive educational tools offer a more dynamic learning experience, with direct benefits to students. Web 2.0 technologies that are being utilized within the classroom have made it possible for essential learning to be introduced to students during their elementary levels of education and to be refined through their middle, high school and collegiate experiences. As classroom computer technology is being used for different types of communicationâ€"for presentation, for class interaction, and for collaboration, students are required to be readers and writers, editors and publishers; and must be willing to collaborate and co-create with others, working closely together to learn even more in the process. Web 2.0 Interaction involves not only sharing ideas or information with someone else, but also receiving feedback. The collaboration engages groups of people in not only sending and receivin g feedback but working together for creating, building, and editing, These skills are a necessity for students' futures as they grow and enter the workplace.

The goal of using such computer applications is to increase peer-to-peer interactions through digital means, in order to replicate real-life 21st century communication skills. One such technology that has gained significant recognition within K-12 education is the Weblog. Weblogs, or blogs, are frequently accessed on classroom computers due to their positive effects upon students. These online journals are primarily used to support communication in the form of presentation, and they provide a useful tool for class interaction. Weblogs allow students to present their own findings and discoveries to an authentic audience. Receiving feedback about course work not just from your teacher but from your peers, or possibly from the outside world, can be very empowering to students. In their eyes, having the ability to publish their writing on a blog suddenly transforms them into authors and publishers. Blogs make students are of careful and conscientious writing. Students are no longer wr iting for an audience of one. Instead, their words face an audience of their peers as well as countless others whose primary goal is not only to read, but also to provide commentary, feedback and even to critique and criticize their words. By using classroom computers for such means, students become increasingly more cautious and aware of their grammar, spelling and word-choice knowing that they are the authors of a published piece of writing that will reach a wide audience.

Similarly, Wikis are commonly accessed on classroom computers due to their positive impacts. The collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is increasingly becoming a group effort. The implementations and uses of wikis range from the development of group-based writing projects, to collaborative note taking, to brainstorming. Teachers can set up wikis for groups of students, giving them the opportunity to all join in on equal footing to give feedback, to make suggestions and changes, and to jot down ideas. With a wiki, everyone is an author of the wiki at the same time. Additionally, Wikis afford students the opportunity to express themselves using multiple modalities. Therefore, children who struggle to express themselves through the written word, are now at ease due to ability to insert music, graphics, video, and photo s into their writing. With the help of this technology, students who struggle with language are now able to create multimodal compositions, allowing them to communicate meanings that were once inaccessible or not fully expressed through their printed word. These ongoing collaborative efforts also reinforce the notion of careful, contentious writing. Students' words are no longer for an audience of one, but instead for an audience of countless individuals. The awareness of this global reach reminds students to be cautious with grammar, word choice and style as they know that others will be expanding upon their written ideas.

Because of their versatility, Podcasts are also commonly accessed on classroom computers. These downloadable, portable files allow listeners to subscribe to digitally recorded audio clips and replay them at their own convenience. Similarly, the use of Vodcasts has become almost as common, as they allow for students to view digitally recorded video on classroom computers. Accessing Podcasts and Vodcasts on classroom computers allows for differentiated instruction within the classroom environment. These technologies provide students with the opportunity to learn at their own pace and the freedom to go back whenever possible and as frequently as necessary in order to check their understanding. Podcasts are offering ESL students, and those with learning disabilities, the chance to review lectures at their own pace for increased comprehension. Many ELL and ESL students need additional support with defining commonly used language as well as with the pronunciation of new vocabulary. Othe r students, such as those with special needs have difficulty reading and reviewing complex texts. Accessing Podcasts and Vodcasts on classroom computers can easily provide helpful tools to address these students' needs.

References

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InterNetNews (INN) is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas. It was the first news server with integrated NNTP functionality.

While previous servers processed articles individually or in batches, innd is a single continuously running process that receives articles from the network, files them, and records what remote hosts should receive them. Readers can access articles directly from the disk in the same manner as B News and C News, but an included program, called nnrpd, also serves newsreaders that employ NNTP.

A later improvement was the Cyclical News Filesystem (CNFS), which sequentially stores articles in large on-disk buffers. This method, implemented by Scott Fritchie, greatly increased performance by eliminating the operating system overhead needed to deal with thousands of individual article files.

James Brister's innfeed program was also added to the package. Like innd, innfeed operates continuously to feed articles out to other servers, while the earlier innxmit processed them in batches. This combination allows articles to be received and redistributed with virtually no latency, and has substantially changed the nature of Usenet interaction by reducing the time for messages to be posted, read across the network and answered, from hours or days, to seconds or minutes. A similar earlier program, called nntplink, provided a comparable function, but it was produced independently.

INN is under active development as of 2015. The package is maintained by volunteers, and development is hosted by the Internet Systems Consortium.

Notes

References

External links

• Rich Salz (1992). InterNetNews: Usenet transport for Internet sites.
• Home page for INN

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McAfee VirusScan is an antivirus program created and maintained by Intel Security (formerly known as McAfee, Inc., and Network Associates prior to that). McAfee VirusScan is intended for home and home-office users; McAfee VirusScan Enterprise is intended for corporate environments. It is not available as a standalone package, but is included in McAfee VirusScan Plus (for Windows), VirusScan for Mac, or as part of McAfee Internet Security (for Windows) or McAfee Internet Security for Mac. Additionally, BSkyB and McAfee have produced a "Sky Broadband" branded version of VirusScan, offered free to Sky Digital customers upon broadband modem installation.

Features

The 2010 edition of VirusScan Plus integrates antivirus, firewall and anti-spyware capabilities.

It includes, amongst other things;

• On-access file scanner (McAfee OAS)
• Inbound and outbound firewall protection
• Spyware protection
• Daily definition updates
• McAfee X-Ray rootkit detection
• McAfee SiteAdvisor â€" displays a safety rating for websites based on tests for evidence of spam, malware and phishing
• McAfee SystemGuards â€" monitors a computer for activity that may be caused by virus infection or hacker activity(discontinued: see below)
• In the upgraded release in February 2010 McAfee discontinued SystemGuards in favor of its Active protection (Artemis), which detects suspicious activity in real-time and contacts McAfee labs to determine whether the file is a threat. Artemis was released around August 2008.

VirusScan Enterprise

McAfee also produces an enterprise-level product named VirusScan Enterprise: McAfee has designed this for use on larger networks designed to make management of antivirus software on multiple computers easier. Unlike the home-user edition, the Enterprise edition consists of a client application for networked computers, and a server application, which the system installs updates and configures settings for all client programs. Clients can be controlled using the included ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO), which is a unified console that can control VirusScan and other McAfee products.

VirusScan for Mac

In November 2008 McAfee announced VirusScan for Mac 8.6. (Earlier versions used the name Virex, developed by HJC Software.) The main highlights of VirusScan version 8.6 included:

• Leopard Compatibility: First version compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
• Universal Binary: First universal binary version in the Virex product line. It will run on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Mac computers natively.
• On Access scanning: Features true blocking On Access Scanning. It scans every file being accessed from or written to the machine and blocks infections if any. On Access Scanner can be configured to scan on Read Only, Write only or both. It can also be configured to scan files on network volumes.
• 5301 engine support: The latest McAfee Anti-Virus engine.
• Apple Mail scanning : It will now scan Apple Mail messages for any infections. This feature is available through both On Demand Scanner and On Access Scanner.

Controversies

Poor independent test results

In tests by Virus Bulletin and other independent consumer-organizations, McAfee VirusScan has not fared well, frequently failing to detect some common viruses.

A review of VirusScan 2006 by CNET criticized the product due to "pronounced performance hits in two of our three real-world performance tests" and some users reviewing the same product reported encountering technical problems.

Some older versions of the VirusScan engine use all available CPU cycles.

As of 2009 McAfee virus-scanning products did not handle false positives well, repeatedly removing or quarantining known clean files even after the user restores them.

Customer support criticisms

Reviewers have described customer support for McAfee products as lacking, with support staff slow to respond and unable to answer many questions.

2010 reboot problem

On April 21, 2010, beginning approximately at 2 PM GMT, an erroneous virus definition file update from McAfee affected millions of computers worldwide running Windows XP Service Pack 3. The update resulted in the removal of a Windows system file (svchost.exe) on those machines, causing machines to lose network access and, in some cases, to enter a reboot loop. McAfee rectified this by removing and replacing the faulty DAT file, version 5958, with an emergency DAT file (version 5959) and has posted a fix for the affected machines in its consumer "KnowledgeBase".

2012 update issues

An August 2012 update to McAfee antivirus caused the protection to become turned off and users to lose internet connections. McAfee was criticized for not notifying users promptly of the issues when they learned about it.

Current standing

McAfee, though well-known, continues to have mixed reviews by industry sources, and the company has prepared a 2015 release series to address current market conditions. This repositioning includes voice and facial recognition authentication for cloud-based data security.

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