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 WBA competition almost over
WBA competition almost over

Zero1 says ( 30 Dec 2005 ):

 

As many of you who have been following the Microsoft Worlds Best App competition know, the deadline for the event is drawing closer as we speak. The official deadline is the 31st of December, so those of you still working on an application or game you only have a matter of hours remaining!



Worlds Best App



Overall there have been a lot of interesting, fun and useful games and applications submitted,
four of which were submitted by our own mess.be staff members! So without further ado lets take a look at those entries! If you want to post feedback on them or ask questions generally about the activity SDK, there is a forum post. Remeber that launches count for votes for our applications, so if you like a particular activity show your friends.



Shared SearchFirstly, an application made by myself - Shared Search.

Shared Search is a way for you and your contact to perform searches on the same keywords and view the results together. The results of searches are synchronised so you will both see the same results, and clicking on a search result will open it in the Shared Search browse window inside Messenger. Don't want to view the shared page in a small window? Simply click the new window button for it to open in a new window with your contact (as long as they accept!). All searches and shared browsing require both user's permission (a dialog will appear on your contact's screen) to start. This makes sure that you both know what you are searching for before the search begins.




Cartoon MemorySecondly we have Cartoon Memory, created by Timothy.

Cartoon Memory is the classic card game memory with cartoon figures.







Flip It!Thirdly we have Flip It!, created by myself.

Flip it is a game where you must guess if the hidden card is higher or lower than the one shown correctly to gain points, first to ten wins!








memory with numbersLast but not least we have Memory with Numbers, created by Timothy.

Memory with Numbers is the classic memory card game memory with a little twist. If you thought remembering pictures was hard, then prepair yourself for number madness!



 New Trojan stalks Spanish MSN Messenger users
New Trojan stalks Spanish MSN Messenger users

dwergs says ( 30 Dec 2005 ):

 

spanish display picturesPanda Software has warned us about two Trojan horses that are being spread through MSN Messenger and harvest passwords to several Spanish online banking sites.

Nabload.U propagates via a Spanish instant message (usually "esa vaina. http://hometown.[blocked]miralafoto/foto.exe") which appears to be coming from a personal contact. If a user clicks the included link, a second Trojan will be downloaded while two URLs are displayed, linking to a configuration file.

After that the Trojan Banker.BSX opens port 1106 and waits to capture login and password information if the user visits any of 10 different Spanish banking sites. Once the malicious program picks up this information, it forwards this information in an email message. The Trojan application is smart considering it does not capture the key strokes as traditional worms did. In fact, even the virtual keyboards (using electronic signals and optical recognition to recognize keys projected onto a surface) used as a security measure against these sorts of worms are not safe enough as per the information released by Panda.

Banker.BSX is difficult to recognize, as it doesn't display a message or warning that it has reached a computer. Panda says it has tracked the spyware in Chile, Israel, Spain, Peru, and Argentina.

>> Download the free removal utility by Panda here.

>> More info about the high threat Banker.BSX Trojan here.

>> More info about the low threat Nabload.U Trojan here.

[Source: PCWorld]



 Status on the Second WLM Invites Giveaway
Status on the Second WLM Invites Giveaway

dwergs says ( 29 Dec 2005 ):

 

The second round of our WLM invites giveaway is now closed. One hundred ("Christian") Messers participated in this photo contest and I'm still going through all entries. Expect my favorite five to be announced tomorrow!

(I'm sorry for the lack of liveliness here at Mess.be. Offline activities (think: "party" and "NYE") are distracting me.)



 How the worms stole Christmas
How the worms stole Christmas

dwergs says ( 27 Dec 2005 ):

 

msn messenger 8 wormWorms are the grinches of the digital era and can seriously kill the Christmas spirit, as well as your PC. Last week the so-called Santa Claus worm emerged, targeting users of both MSN Messenger as AOL Instant Messenger. The worm, officially dubbed IM.GiftCom.All, makes its victims believe they're being sent a Christmas-themed file by their contacts (often named gift.com) and while it does show an image of Santa Claus when opened, it automatically replicates itself via your contact list and installs a stealth rootkit that captures passwords and message traffic.

A more recent virus claims to be the leaked "MSN Messenger 8 working BETA". Its ignorant makers obviously haven't been visiting Mess.be lately, judging by the anachronic software title. Or have they? Because the feature list on their now defunct website looked suspiciously similar to the "MSN Messenger 8.0 wishlist" posted on our forum back in August.

This virus, which is called Trojan.Virkel.f, still spreads via Messenger and peer-to-peer networks, usually under the filename BETA8WEBINSTALL.EXE. According to Geek Zone, when executed it adds the compromised machine to a botnet, from which the hacker can update it with additional malicious code, to make the PC into a spam zombie or along with others, launch a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on web sites. Virkel.f also shuts down anti-virus and security software, and blocks access to sites that belong to security vendors. Sounds hefty, no? Just never download (Windows Live) Messenger 8.0 setups from other sources than MSN, Microsoft or Mess.be.

[Also thanks for reporting: dotNorma]



 New in Customess: Blue Tone Emoticons
<b>New in Customess</b>: Blue Tone Emoticons

dwergs says ( 25 Dec 2005 ):

 

customess for windows live messenger and msn messengerWhile everyone is opening presents and overeating slash drinking, Christmas is typically a calm and peaceful day for Mess.be. But we have a cool treat for those visitors who decide to check us out today anyway. The state of the art Blue Tone emoticons were designed exclusively for us by Apothix and feature some basic emotions as well as specific characters, including a devil, a pirate, a pimp and, of course, Santa (or at least a christmas-cap-wearing-smiley)! As a special bonus, some notorious Mess.be staff members have been wittily "emoticonized" and added to this pack. You can add all Blue Tone emoticons to MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger quickly and easily with our free CustoMess application!

>> Download CustoMess for MSN & Windows Live Messenger.

UPDATE: Don't forget our other Christmas content!

>> Christmas Display Pictures Special and another 108 Christmas Display Pictures.

>> Bundle of 68 Christmas emoticons and another 38 Christmas Emoticons.

>> Still need to send someone your Christmas greetings? Be original this year and use these talking cards.

And finally, by all means, a Merry Christmess to you all!



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