Malicious apps include a fake version of Skype that surreptitiously sends text messages to premium-rate numbers, racking up charges to the user and revenue for the cybercriminals.

Having a difficult time distributing your malicious smartphone apps? Then why not just create an entire fake app store to peddle your wares?

Barely two years after the release of its highly successful Windows 7, Microsoft has announced the development of its new operating system, code-named Windows 8.

The operating system is designed to run on different electronic platforms, specifically, desktop computers, netbooks, laptops, tablets, home theatre PCs, and servers.

Google’s Chrome OS plans for the new Samsung and Acer Chromebooks received solid support from some of its business and educational partners at Google I/O May 11.

Google officials made their most aggressive push for cloud computing yet here at Google I/O May 11, unveiling notebooks based on its lightweight Chrome operating system. The Chrome OS model urges consumers, businesses and schools to store their content entirely in Google’s cloud of servers, accessing Web applications such as Gmail and Google Docs from the Chrome browser on commodity computers. Google is responsible for the software updates, which Chrome Vice President Sundar Pichai would be providing on a regular basis.

Microsoft Corp. said it shipped more than 2 million copies of the Windows Phone 7 operating system last quarter, as the company tried to reverse sliding smartphone market share.

Customer satisfaction for the product is at 93 percent and brand awareness has jumped 22 points to 66 percent since it was released, Greg Sullivan, a senior product manager at Microsoft, said in an interview, citing internal measures.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, aims to stem market-share declines to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and handsets based on Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Apple sold 16.2 million iPhones in its most recent quarter, which ended Dec. 25. For now, Microsoft is measuring success more in terms of customer feedback than raw sales figures, said Sullivan, who predicted sales will accelerate. He declined to give a forecast.

“Sales are an important measure, but for a new platform we think customer satisfaction and active developer support are more important indicators of how sales will be over the long term,” he said.

There are now 6,500 applications for Windows Phone and 24,000 developers have signed up to build them, Sullivan said.

The shipment figure isn’t all that rosy, said Kevin Burden, an analyst at ABI Research.

“The number shows there’s a lot of competition in this space and Windows Phone 7 is having a hard time being heard over the crowd,” said Burden, who is based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

Market Share

Microsoft’s share of the smartphone operating-system market declined to 2.8 percent in the third quarter, from 7.9 percent a year earlier, according to Gartner Inc. Android’s share increased to 25.5 percent from 3.5 percent, while Apple’s iOS share declined to 16.7 percent from 17.1 percent.

Phones with the new Microsoft software went on sale Oct. 21 in Europe and Nov. 8 in the U.S.

The company plans to ship an update to the software in the next few months that adds features such as cut and paste and the ability to work with the CDMA technology used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp., Sullivan said.

Microsoft rose 44 cents to $28.89 as of 2:26 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares fell 8.4 percent last year.

The company will throw a lot more resources at its mobile efforts and can leverage exclusive features like connectivity to its Xbox online gaming service, Burden said. Still, Microsoft needs to show steady progress soon.

“Can they build on this number? Yeah,” Burden said. “But they need to show an uptick in the first quarter and an uptick on top of that in the second quarter. They have the ability to do some smart things with Windows Phone 7, but as always it comes down to execution.”

Google’s Chrome OS project is almost ready for the masses, according to a report.

Digitimes said today that hardware companies in Asia are putting the finishing touches on smartbooks running Chrome OS, with the intention of shipping them later this month. Acer and Hewlett Packard are expected to launch Chrome OS systems in December, Digitimes said.

One interesting tidbit is that Google reportedly plans on selling a Chrome OS smartbook (an ill-defined term that seems to reflect an improved Netbook) under its own brand, similar to what it tried to do with the Nexus One. CEO Eric Schmidt hinted earlier in the year that such a strategy was in the works, but it’s not clear how Google plans to sell such a smartbook: through carrier partners, direct from its Web site, or at retailers like Best Buy.

In any event, the Chrome OS smartbooks will likely coincide with the arrival of the Chrome OS Web Store, which will help make the smartbooks more attractive with additional apps outside of the stock build. Google has only said that it expects both parts of the Chrome OS strategy to arrive in the “fall,” but most observers have expected the company to get everything out before the official start of the holiday shopping season.

Smartbooks running Chrome OS could arrive this month

With an ever-growing number of distractions that are fighting for your attention throughout the day, it’s more important than ever to be as productive as possible when you’re actually on the job. With that in mind, we’ve dug up the best Windows tricks in our arsenal and talked to some of the best minds in productivity to find 15 tips sure to help you get more work done with your PC in less time.

Minimize all windows (except the one that you’re working on). When your desktop becomes so cluttered that you can’t find anything, this step is a good way to re – gain focus. Grab the title bar of the window you want, and shake your mouse a little. All other windows will vanish into the taskbar. Repeat to undo and restore all of your hidden windows.

Use folders in your e-mail client. Letting your e-mail accumulate in a monolithic inbox makes it nearly impossible for you to find important messages without a la borious hunt, as well as greatly increasing the odds that you’ll forget or simply overlook e-mail that re quires urgent attention. Delete the junk, and file nonactionable e-mail messages into clearly defined folders. Getting into the habit of sorting incoming mail in this way is critical for most users looking to
enhance their productivity.

Microsoft may tout Windows 7′s growth curve, but the truth is that Windows XP rules the desktop, and will do so for many years.

The most recent report shows that Windows XP has more than twice the market share of Windows 7 and Windows Vista combined. Add Mac OS X to Windows Vista and 7 numbers, and XP still far outpaces them. Recent research shows that Windows XP had 61.87% of market share in July, compared to 14.46% for Windows 7, 14.34% for Windows Vista, 2.48% for Mac OS X 10.6, and 1.82% for Mac OS X 10.5. You can see the chart, below.