Opera announced today a new version of their browser dubbed “Barracuda.” The company says that this is the first time they’ve given their browser a code name and they said that future versions will also have code names as well. Unfortunately, all they showed off was this mediocre logo of Barracuda that you see above, but Opera says that the first snapshot build will be available “in the near future, and the full feature set will be revealed some time after that.” Also, they mentioned that “another popular Opera feature will be taken to the next level.”

[Opera Blog]

An anonymous reader asks:

“I have no idea what I did, but I keep getting pop ups that says my computer is infected with viruses and that in order for it to get rid of them, it says I need to buy the full version of this program called “Security Shield”. For some reason it installed on my computer and I get these pop ups as soon as I turn on my computer. I tried to uninstall it but it won’t let me and it also won’t let me do a scan with my normal anti-virus program. How do I get rid of this!”

Malicious anti-virus programs are nothing new and once they get on your PC, it can be hell. I did a little bit of research about this “Security Shield” and it looks like it automatically installs onto your computer through other spyware and such. In order to do anything (like easily remove it), you have to pay up for the full version, which is how they get you. However there’s a couple of things you can try.

I actually just recently heard about this trick: The fake anti-virus program locks you out of certain tasks like running your real anti-virus program by blacklisting certain .exe files, but there are a couple that it allows like “explorer.exe” and “iexplore.exe”. Simply rename your real anti-virus program’s executable to either of these names and you should now be able to run it!

Another option is simply booting into Safe Mode w/ networking (Press F8 during boot process) and then running a virus scan to remove the fake anti-virus program.

For those still using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser (or for those that are giving it a second chance), you’ll be happy to know that the release candidate for IE9 is now available for download on both x86 and x64 system running either Windows 7 or Vista. Download it here and let us know your thoughts!

[IE Blog]

If you’re familiar with the Palm mobile brand, then you undoubtedly know about the webOS mobile operating system for smartphones and tablets. HP (who owns Palm) announced today at their “Think Beyond” webOS event that the mobile operating system is coming to PCs and printers later this year. Sadly, that’s all the details that were given, but we’ll definitely hear more from HP as the days go on.

via [Engadget]

Microsoft has announced today that Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 will be available via Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update. For those of you who are TechNet and MSDN Subscribers, you’ll be able to snatch it on February 16th.

[Windows Blog via Twitter]

According to NetMarketshare.com, Google Chrome has hit a 10% browser market share for the first time ever. Of course, this is at the expense of Firefox and Internet Explorer, which both took a slight hit. They are now at 22.75% and 56.00%, respectively. Safari has been ever so slightly increasing over the past year to gain 6.30% and Opera is keeping a steady share at 2.28%.

via [Maximum PC]

Own a Mac and want to hop on the Office 2011 wagon but not sure if it’ll be worth it? Not a problem. You can now try it free for 30 days before you lay down that $150 (at least). Of course, there are other ways to try it out for free, but that’s certainly at your own disposal.

[Office 2011 Trial]

If you’ve been questioning the different audio formats and asking yourself whether switching to FLAC from MP3 would really make that much of a difference, How-To Geek has put together a detailed guide discussing the differences between the different audio file formats, which hopefully will answer your hankering questions. They talk about PCM, as well as the handful of both lossless and lossy formats and the uses for each of them.

In the end though, it comes down to your situation and whether or not it would be worth it to upgrade audio formats based on your equipment (and obviously your ears). If you’re low on storage space, a lossy format would be best, while a lossless format would be better for someone who has a lot of free space. Check out the complete guide by hitting up the link below.

[How-To Geek]

Image Credit: Patrick Lauke

For a game that’s over two years old and only costs a little over $32 on Amazon, it sure doesn’t make sense why the Mac App Store priced Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at a rough $49.99 (same price when it first released). In any case, it’s nice that Mac users can now get a plethora of video games from some place other than Steam, especially since Steam doesn’t offer CoD4 on Mac just yet.

via [TechCrunch]

While Apple themselves don’t support the uninstallation of the Mac App Store in any way, it’s still possible in case you don’t really care for the new program. Using a free Mac program called AppCleaner, you can easily uninstall the Mac App Store and its associated files. This is a great fix for those Mac users who hate having unused apps and programs laying around taking up precious storage space.

via [OSNews]