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After watching Microsoft stock fall despite this year's tech rally, Microsoft shareholders sharply questioned Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer during the company's annual meeting yesterday in Bellevue. Investors in general are more skeptical after recent corporate scandals and, after three relatively weak years for Microsoft's stock, there were few cheers from the crowd of 1,250 at Meydenbauer Center. Shareholders did not go so far as to throw out any board members, all of whom were re-elected yesterday, and they approved changes to the stock-option plan that Ballmer proposed in July. But they asked when the company will...

Flaws threaten Microsoft SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp.'s offer this week of cash bounties for informants who help it collar virus-writers reflects more than just an escalation of the war on those who would exploit the dominant power in software. The campaign reveals just how much of a threat to Microsoft's bottom line security flaws now represent. When the Blaster worm hobbled hundreds of thousands of computers around the world in August — only the latest plague to exploit a flaw in Windows operating systems — it also hurt Microsoft's ability to book new contracts with corporate customers. For the first...

Microsoft faces a proposed class-action lawsuit in California based on the claim that market dominance and vulnerability to viruses in its software could lead to "massive, cascading failures" in global computer networks. Get Up to Speed on...Enterprise securityGet the latest headlines andcompany-specific news in ourexpanded GUTS section. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, also claims that Microsoft's security warnings are too complex to be understood by the general public and serve instead to tip off "fast-moving" hackers on how to exploit flaws in its operating system. The suit claims unfair competition and the violation of two California...

A "good" Internet worm and a new malicious mass-mailing computer virus are creating an enormous amount of network traffic, slowing some corporate systems, security experts said Tuesday. The Internet worm--called MSBlast.D, W32.Welchia or W32/Nachi--started compromising computers Monday and has overwhelmed some corporate networks with its aggressive scans for vulnerable hosts. Meanwhile, a new variant of the mass-mailing Sobig virus, called W32/SoBig.F, took off on Tuesday, swamping many companies' mail servers. The double whammy caused problems on some corporate networks but not for the Internet at large. SoBig.F disrupted e-mail systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while the MSBlast variant,...

Why can't I share files or printers over the Internet? For All Applications, All Operating Systems, and All Domains 1. What is happening? In response to the newly announced vulnerability attributed to computers running certain Microsoft Operating Systems, SBC Internet Services has blocked TCP port 135. This port is known to be used by worms and viruses to spread to other computers through the Internet. Blocking this port may affect your ability to use: * Microsoft Outlook to access a Microsoft Exchange server over the Internet. * File sharing over the Internet. * Print sharing over the Internet. This action...

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A worm a day keeps the doctor away - at least for a firefighter in central Thailand. Paisit Chanta, 39, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he has been eating a live worm every day for nearly three decades, and that it's been the secret of his health. His story was featured Tuesday in a major newspaper, Thai Rath. Paisit's unusual habit started when he was fishing in his native village in Nakhon Nayok province, 60 miles northeast of Bangkok. "One day, I was sitting there waiting for a fish to eat my bait for...

Gates blames SoBig on customer updating process DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, known for helping to make the computer a common tool, said Thursday that new breakthroughs in information technology are on the horizon despite the economic difficulties facing the industry. "It's an exciting time to be involved in digital software," Gates said during a speech to the Detroit Economic Club at the Cobo Center. "The same kind of excitement I had when I started Microsoft at age 17 I still have today." Gates envisions that by the end of the decade people no longer will need...

<p>Computer experts have warned of a computer worm that takes advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.</p> <p>The latest problem is called "worm/MiMail.A," also known as W32.Mimail.A@mm.</p> <p>It's a mass-mailing Internet worm that started spreading late Friday afternoon, and according to Central Command, a computer security company, caught many computer systems administrators by surprise.</p>

Hundreds of worms being used in a science experiment aboard the space shuttle Columbia have been found alive in the wreckage, NASA said Wednesday. The worms, known as C. elegans, were found in debris found in Texas several weeks ago. Technicians sorting through the debris at Kennedy Space Center in Florida didn't open the containers of worms and dead moss cells until this week. All seven astronauts were killed when the shuttle disintegrated over Texas on Feb. 1. Columbia contained almost 60 scientific investigations. "To my knowledge, these are the only live experiments that have been located and identified," said...

Searchers find live worms in shuttle wreckage Wednesday April 30, 2003 By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Hundreds of worms being used in a science experiment aboard the space shuttle Columbia have been found alive in the wreckage, NASA said Wednesday. The worms, known as C. elegans, were found in debris found in Texas several weeks ago. Technicians sorting through the debris at Kennedy Space Center in Florida didn't open the containers of worms and dead moss cells until this week. All seven astronauts were killed when the shuttle disintegrated over Texas on Feb. 1. Columbia...

Worms contaminated by radioactivity from the Chernobyl nuclear accident have started having sex with each other instead of on their own. According to Ukrainian scientists, they may have changed their sexual behaviour to increase their chances of survival. It is one of the first pieces of direct evidence on how wildlife is affected by radioactive pollution.Although there is a wealth of evidence on the impact of ionising radiation on humans, its effects on wildlife are poorly understood. In the past the International Commission on Radiological Protection, which recommends radiation safety limits, has set no limits to protect wildlife, assuming...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. As fishermen try their luck on opening day of trout season tomorrow, they can expect at least one thing: more. That is how Dan Tredinnick, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, characterized this year's season. Tredinnick said the commission has stocked about 4 million trout throughout the state this year, 200,000 more than last year. Seventy streams were added to the stock list, including Poe Creek and White Deer Creek in Centre County. "With the level of stocking that has taken place, I fully expect there will be a...

Mumbai, April 4: BEWARE, if you are an Anti-war activist and are trying to join any world peace movement via the Internet. Your computer server runs the risk of being infected by a virus. Since the March 20 outbreak of the US-Iraq war, at least 40 computer viruses and worms have made their presence felt on the Net. These are mainly e-mail viruses with catchy subject lines like: ‘Say No To War’, or John Lenon-inspired: ‘Give Peace A Chance’. However, while most of these viruses (which pretend to offer war-related info) are considered ‘low threat perception’, three worms have been...

The Great WormsThis essay examines the characteristics, activities and survival of dragons in Middle Earth. Dragons were also called Urulóki ('fire serpents'), great worms, and fire-drakes. They were created by the Darklord Melkor, in the First Age. The first such creature was Glaurung, referred to as the 'father of dragons' (QS C18, p.181). He grew to be great in malice and power and committed much depredation and destruction against the lands and armies of the Darklord's foes. Though we cannot assume that all dragons shared the same characteristics as their monstrous forefather, the best survivng details pertain to Glaurung.CharacteristicsNearly a...

Scientists have manipulated hundreds of genes to create roundworms that are sleek and trim -- a feat that could someday lead to new obesity treatments for people. Harvard biologist Gary Ruvkun used a promising new technique to identify about 400 genes in the roundworm's genetic code related to fat production and storage. His team then deactivated, or turned off, about 300 of the genes in experiments, and now "the worms are thin and happy," Ruvkun said. When they knocked out the activity of the remaining 100 genes, worms grew fatter. "If someone told me we'd be using this kind of...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. ARKADELPHIA, Ark. (AP) — As Arkansas wrestles with the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, residents of at least one county have another pest to combat: worms. Jerry Clemons, Clark County's cooperative extension service agent, said army worms were spreading throughout the county and wreaking havoc on hay crops. ``They'll eat it to the ground down to nothing, and then they will move on,'' Clemons said. Army worms, which are about a quarter inch in size, are the caterpillar stage of the noctuid moth. Because of the worm's fast reproductive cycle, it can...

Thieves have dug up and stolen thousands of worms from a Scottish recycling plant.The European dendrobaena worms stolen from Campbeltown Waste Watchers in Argyll turn rubbish into fertiliser.The worms also make excellent fishing bait.A haul of 50,000 would be worth £5,000 to anglers, the Daily Record reports.The worms usually spend three years filtering waste at the plant before they're sold to fishing shops.General manager Clive Good said: "The thieves are a determined bunch - we have high fences and gates with a 12ft fall at the other side."We've reached a point where we can't continue outside. We've halted production and...