Security researchers report that the number of machines infected by the Downadup worm has skyrocketed from roughly 2.4 million to over 8.9 million in the last four days alone.

Downadup is a malicious worm that uses computer or network resources to make complete copies of itself. And it may also include code or other malware that damages both a computer and network. The worm also goes by the names “Kido” and “Conflicker.”

Once executed, Downadup disables a number of system services, including Windows Automatic Update, Windows Security Center, Windows Defender, and Windows Error Reporting. The worm then connects to a malicious server, where it downloads additional malware to install on the infected computer.

Name :  Worm:W32/Downadup.AL
Detection Names :  Net-Worm.Win32.Kido
Worm:W32/Downadup.AL

Aliases :  Worm:Win32/Conficker (Microsoft)
W32/Conficker.worm.gen (Symantec)
Mal/Conficker (Sophos)

Type: Worm
Category: Malware
Platform: W32

Nothing in cube-farm corporate America seems quite so decadent as having two monitors on your desk.

 Who is this important person who needs to work on two screens at the same time? Must be some kind of bigshot, eh?

Not so, posts the New York Times, which cites research that — on certain text-editing tasks — users were 44 percent faster using two 20-inch monitors instead of a single 18-inch screen. While there are no hard data points in the piece regarding other applications, it’s not tough to see how users in all manner of industries and all types of tasks could benefit from having the extra LCD real estate. Anyone who has to flip back and forth between multiple windows in order to access information rather than keeping it all on the screen simultaneously should be able to get a productivity boost from having an extra display.

The Times’ Farhad Manjoo put multi-monitor work to the test in his own workspace and notes that — no matter what configuration he put them in, and even if he just went to one large monitor instead of two smaller ones — he found his productivity improved significantly. The big benefit? Always being able to have your primary task visible and not covered up by off-topic windows like web pages and IM sessions. Says Fanjoo, “A huge desktop didn’t remove all distractions, but it blunted their force. Now I could keep my e-mail and the Web open on one screen while my Microsoft Word document ran on another. This kept me on task. Even if I did go off to the Web, my document was always visible, beckoning me to come back to work.”

For a total maximum investment of about $500, Manjoo says he’s convinced that the multi-monitor setup is more than worth the investment. Now let’s see what your boss thinks about the idea…

Sign up here

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

To get your own authentic Windows 7 beta COA Key.  You’ll need this key to make sure your copy of Windows 7 doesn’t expire after 30 days.

We’ve had it here at the office for about a month now, testing it on various platforms and all I can say is, it’s a significant improvement over Vista.