Recent weeks have seen a series of reports about growth in Internet penetration, in Canada and across the United States.
The latest release from the Pew Internet & American Life project focuses on senior citizens and identifies a 47 percent increase in Internet access in that age group from 2000 to 2004. According to Pew, 22 percent of seniors age 65 or older reported having access to the Internet. By comparison, other age groups include 58 percent of age 50-64, 75 percent of age 30-49, and 77 percent of age 18-29. Internet use only continues to grow.

Microsoft has just released a close-to-final version of the second major update to their Windows XP operating system, which adds new, much-anticipated security tools to the heart and soul of their virtually ubiquitous commercial operating environment.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 — due out some time in the second quarter of 2004 — includes a number of positive changes to key operational security aspects of Internet Explorer (including a configurable pop-up blocker that will now be turned on by default); a much improved Windows Update service that is intended to make it significantly easier for the end user to automatically install critical updates to the operating system to keep viruses, Trojans and worms at bay; and the creation of a Windows Security Center, a new tool that not only simplifies access to security settings in various Windows components, but includes as well a powerful new firewall and one-stop, centralized access to all necessary security components (firewall, antivirus, spyware control, and more) that your computer, and your family, requires to surf the Net safely.
And that’s all just for a start. There’s much more to come.
In an address to the recent RSA Security Conference that was held in San Francisco, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates provided the first public introduction to Windows XP Service Pack 2. To view his informative and quite fascinating address on Windows Media Player video, click on this link.

Encouraged by inexpensive calling plans and concerned about safety, more parents are buying cellphones for their young children.

“I text-message my friends more than I call them,” says Amanda Gerber, 12, who got her own cellphone about a year ago after trying to convince her parents that she needed one. Amanda, a seventh-grade student, says she uses the phone primarily to keep in touch with her parents but also talks to friends.
Amanda’s mother, Lyndsey, says the phone gives her peace of mind in case Amanda needs a ride after school … (or) … “If she’s meeting a friend at the mall, it’s so convenient.”

Read Jeffrey Selingo’s story in the New York Times (registration required).

Updated August 10, 2004: McAfee released the newest version of McAfee Stinger August 9th — protecting you from the latest versions and variants of 45 Trojans and worms, ranging from Bagle, Blaster, Bugbear, and Dumaru to Klez, Lovgate, Mimail, MyDoom, Sircam and Sobig. Click here to be taken to the download page. If you require instructions on how to download and install McAfee Stinger, click on this link. And surf safely.