Beware latest MyDoom, deleter of files
MyDoom is alive and well, or at least a new strain of it is. A new file-deleting version of the MyDoom e-mail worm, known as MyDoom.F, emerged late last week and has been getting more vicious. The virus is programmed to infect PCs and use them to launch what is called a denial-of-service attack, which aims to cripple select web sites, belonging in this instance to Microsoft and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The attacks, however, did not succeed in bringing the sites down altogether, though access to the RIAA website was a little slow on Wednesday, security firms reported. The RIAA, a lobbying group for the music industry, has been less than popular with computer users since it began suing online music uploaders last year. While MyDoom.F didn’t spread nearly as quickly as the other MyDooms or even Netsky, it is a growing risk because it is a destructive virus, deleting random Microsoft Word and Excel files, photos and movies stored on infected computers. Security firms have advised users not to open any attachments if they are not certain of the sender's identity. The latest outbreak has subject headers such as "Approved," "Your Credit Card" and "You use illegal File Sharing...Your IP was logged."

eBay flirts with failed local auctions again
Online auctioneer eBay will try auction sites geared toward individual cities again, said Chief Executive Meg Whitman this week. In a keynote address at the Goldman Sachs technology conference in Phoenix, Whitman sounded enthusiastic about the prospect of having local sites representing major cities on eBay, though the experiment failed the first time around. Whitman’s speech outlined other future plans as well. The auctioneer will focus its 2004 investments on its PayPal payments business, operations in China, and infrastructure. Whitman did not discuss search engine Google in much detail, though it is considered a rising competitor to eBay because of its advanced search technology and increasing commercial use. eBay has been a major advertiser on Google and other sites using the paid-search model, paying to have links to its site associated with certain search terms.

Trend: Thin is in for computer screens
Stylish flat panels are dominating the computer monitor market, leaving bulkier, more traditional monitors behind. Sales of flat-panel monitors are expected to reach $21 billion this year, according to researcher DisplaySearch. For the first time, they will surpass sales of boxy cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors, researcher IDC says. CRTs have been standard since the ‘80s, but by the decade's end, they may be hard to find. Users tend to prefer flat-panel LCD monitors because they take up less desk space than CRTs and have clearer displays that are less difficult to stare into for hours at a time. The price of flat panels has dropped significantly, thanks to improved technology, so monitors that cost more than $1,000 just a few years ago can be found now at around $400, and even that price is falling. In the past, monitors were almost always sold as part of a new PC package, but flat panels are so popular that they are often bought separately for old computers.