Peter Sheil

Scarce insects duck UK splat test
Insects in the UK are less common than many of us think, a simple test by birdlovers suggests.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3618332.stm

Owls set beetle trap with dung
Owls have been observed using dung as bait to trap beetles for their food, US biologists report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3617006.stm

Alien probe 'best way to find ET'
We may be looking for life in space the wrong way, say scientists. Look for alien spaceprobes rather than radio beacons, they say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3618400.stm

Slack users blamed for virus longevity

Update a-no-no
The three month-old Zafi-B worm was the number one virus in August, indicating that to few users are bothering to update their antivirus software.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/02/virus_life/

WinXP SP2 = security placebo?

Feature richness defeats commonsense
We evaluated the security features of Windows XP SP2 on a test machine, following a clean install of XP Pro with no configuration changes and no third-party software or drivers installed. We installed XP with the NTFS file system, choosing all of the factory defaults, then patched it with each recommended security update including SP-1 (required), before installing SP2.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/02/winxpsp2_security_review/

New Bagle worm drops in and downloads

A new Bagle dropper and downloader, Bagle-AQ, was bulk mailed to numerous internet users yesterday. The malware arrives in email with subject and email body "foto" and attachment called foto.zip that poses as a file containing photographs.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/01/bagle_downloader/

Logica ups profits on falling revenues

Logica managed to increase profits despite seeing revenues fall just over five per cent in the first half of the year.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/02/logicacmg_revenues/
[Since I work for Logica I can only provide information already published]