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The past couple of weeks, a new malicious and particularly virulent worm known as Downadup, also more popularly known as Conficker has started to infect millions of PCs. In fact by some estimates, it has infected over 10 million PCs worldwide. As with many threats proper prevention can greatly reduce or eliminate your problem

Social Media such as Blogs, Micro-blogs, Wikis, and Social Networks are not only helping many people communicate and connect, but are also powerful tools for business as well. They can be used to promote your products and services, engage customers in meaningful conversations, network and develop new relationships, or simply to distribute information about your business online

April fool’s day came and went, but so far the much feared attack from Conflicker never materialized, leaving security researchers to ponder what’s next for the notorious Internet worm . Although it didn’t release any detectable malicious payload, the arrival of April 1 did trigger a change in its behavior, with experts finding a finding a changed domain generation algorithm that opens up unfettered communication to 500 of the 50,000 potential newly generated domains. The latest variant, Conficker C , now has the ability to contact its command and control centers for further instructions while circumventing interference from the security community, which up until now had been able to block communication with its parent domains.

Never before have startup entrepreneurs and small business owners had access to so much marketing advice and tools as we have today on the Web.  There are hundreds of free or near free tools out there that you can use: from sites that help you create your own logos , print your own business cards , set up your own website , even make your own marketing swag . There are literally hundreds of even more sites that in turn give advice on how to use these tools to market your business more effectively such as Inc Magazine , Entrepreneur Magazine , and Fast Company . Its easy to use your PC and Internet to help you grow your business—so get started today!

PC World posts a nice overview of the highly infectious Conflicker Worm. The Worm is dangerous as it uses several methods of attack.

Janet Attard of The Business Know-How Blog posts 18 tips for small businesses considering outsourcing. She offers insight on how to get the best possible results from outsourced work

Microsoft announced that is has granted system builders a “flexible” delivery date of Windows XP licenses to customers beyond the official phase-out deadline of January 31, 2009. PC vendors still have to purchase licenses before that date, but can now choose to take delivery of those licenses through May 30, 2009

Lately, we have been hearing about how quickly the Conficker Worm is spreading. News sources have pegged the number of infections in the neighborhood of 3.5 million computers.