News: Mobiles linked to disturbed sleep

Using a mobile phone before going to bed could stop you getting a decent night's sleep, research suggests.

The study, funded by mobile phone companies, suggests radiation from the handset can cause insomnia, headaches and confusion.

It may also cut our amount of deep sleep - interfering with the body's ability to refresh itself.

The study was carried out by Sweden's Karolinska Institute and Wayne State University in the US.

Funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, the scientists studied 35 men and 36 women aged between 18 and 45.

Some were exposed to radiation equivalent to that received when using a mobile phone, others were placed in the same conditions, but given only "sham" exposure.

Those exposed to radiation took longer to enter the first of the deeper stages of sleep, and spent less time in the deepest one.

The scientists concluded: "The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals components of sleep believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are adversely affected."

Researcher Professor Bengt Arnetz said: "The study strongly suggests that mobile phone use is associated with specific changes in the areas of the brain responsible for activating and coordinating the stress system."

Another theory is that radiation may disrupt production of the hormone melatonin, which controls the body's internal rhythms.

Electrosensitivity

About half the people in the study believed themselves to be "electrosensitive", reporting symptoms such as headaches and impaired cognitive function from mobile phone use.

But they proved to be unable to tell if they had been exposed to the radiation in the test.

Alasdair Philips is director of Powerwatch, which researches the effects of electromagnetic fields on health.

He said: "The evidence is getting stronger that we should treat these things in a precautionary way.

"This research suggests that if you need to make a phone call in the evening it is much better to use a land line, and don't have your mobile by your bedside table."

Mike Dolan, executive director of the Mobile Operators Association, said the study was inconsistent with other research.

He said: "It is really one small piece in a very large scientific jigsaw. It is a very small effect, one researcher likened it to less than the effect you would see from a cup of coffee."

Last September a major six-year study by the UK Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme (MTHRP) concluded that mobile phone use posed no short-term risk to the brain.

However, the researchers said they could not rule out the possibility that long-term use may raise the risk of cancer.

News: Facebook faces privacy questions

Facebook says it does not use information from deactivated accounts
Facebook is to be quizzed about its data protection policies by the Information Commissioner's Office.

The investigation follows a complaint by a user of the social network who was unable to fully delete their profile even after terminating their account.

Currently, personal information remains on Facebook's servers even after a user deactivates an account.

Facebook has said it believes its policy is in "full compliance with UK data protection law".

"We take the concerns of the ICO [Information Commissioner's Office] and our user's privacy very seriously and are committed to working with the ICO to maintain a trusted environment for all Facebook users and ensure compliance with UK law," said a statement from the site.

Protecting principle

At present, Facebook users who wish to remove their profile from the site are given the opportunity to deactivate their account.

Currently, personal information remains on Facebook's servers even after a user deactivates an account.

Facebook has said it believes its policy is in "full compliance with UK data protection law".

"We take the concerns of the ICO [Information Commissioner's Office] and our user's privacy very seriously and are committed to working with the ICO to maintain a trusted environment for all Facebook users and ensure compliance with UK law," said a statement from the site.

At present, Facebook users who wish to remove their profile from the site are given the opportunity to deactivate their account.



But once deactivated the information, though no longer accessible, remains on Facebook's computers.

This is useful if you might reactivate your account later, but not the same as full deletion.

Users who wish to completely delete their information must, according to the automated response from Facebook's Customer Service, ¿log in and delete all profile content".

For some users that can be a very laborious process and that concerns the ICO.

"One of the things that we're concerned about is that if the onus is entirely on the individual to delete their data," Dave Evans, Senior Data Protection Practice Manager at the ICO told BBC Radio 4's iPM programme.

"An individual who has deactivated their account might not find themselves motivated enough to delete information that's about them maybe on their wall or other people's site."

The over-riding data protection principle motivating the ICO is that organisations should only hold information as long as necessary.

Facebook maintains it is in compliance with all data protection legislation and says it does not use information from deactivated accounts.

Network problem

Mr Evans said that he believed that Facebook were committed to being seen to do as much as possible to safeguard people's privacy.

"We've agreed with Facebook to discuss with them issues around what they do with my information if I wish to deactivate my account".

In addition, he said that the ICO would look at Facebook's privacy policy, the rights to data the company asserts and the privacy implications of applications embedded in Facebook.

Although Facebook and many other social networks are based outside of the UK, Mr Evans believes that UK law could still apply.

"They are established in the UK for UK legislation to cover their activities."

He said it was the clarity of information users receive on signing up with social networking sites that is the central concern of the ICO.

"One of the things that we'll be working with the sites to achieve is to get better quality information to users to make it absolutely clear to people what exactly will happen to their information once it's posted."

Restore Task Manager, Regedit and Folder Options Disabled by Virus

Let's face it. All of us have been infected by virus before. Even if you have anti-virus installed, you can still be infected by a new or custom virus that is not recognized by your anti-virus. Sometimes after removing the virus completely from our system, you'll face new problems such as you can no longer bring up Windows Task Manager from CTRL+ALT+DEL. You get the error message saying "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator"....

You think that it's easy to fix this problem by going to Registry Editor but you can't! You get the error message "Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator".

Folder Options and even Show Hidden Files & Folder is disabled! How frustrating! Don't worry, here's how to restore your Windows Task Manager, Registry Editor, Folder Options and Show hidden files & folders.

This problem is most commonly caused by a virus called "Brontok". Brontok virus will make some changes to the system restrictions in order to hide itself from easy detection and also from easy cleaning.

Here's a free tool called Remove Restrictions Tool (RRT) which is able to re-enables all what the virus had previously disabled, and gives you back the control over your own computer.


Remove Restrictions Tool is able to re-enable:
- Registry Tools (regedit)
- Ctrl+Alt+Del
- Folder Options
- Show Hidden Files

Small and easy to use. Make sure you boot in to Safe Mode to use Remove Restrictions Tool (RRT). Just click on the buttons and it'll do it's job.




Click Here to download