Most people don’t understand how a computer works. It just does. And when it doesn’t, watch out-the sweetest person can turn into a rabid chimpanzee when e-mail, Facebook and morning news are suddenly stuck in a lifeless box.

Computer trouble feels a lot like car trouble. With so many moving parts, it can be frustrating to pinpoint the cause when something goes wrong. So what’s the best way to keep your car running smoothly? Be careful what you put into it. Buying cheap tires is probably OK-if you don’t mind the howling noise on the freeway or the slight risk that a blowout could send you careening off the road.

The same is true of the software you put in your PC. Counterfeit software comes from people who are copying disks and forging the packaging. And if they’re willing to do that, why would they stick to the high standards of real manufacturers? Why wouldn’t they add code of their own, embed advertisements or even try to log your keystrokes?

“There are many attractive deals on software to be found on the Internet. So many, in fact, consumers need to know how to identify the retailers that are reputable so that they don’t end up with counterfeit versions that can do serious damage to their PC,” said Keith Beeman, general manager, Worldwide Anti-Piracy, Microsoft Corp.

Recently, Microsoft conducted a survey that looked at perceptions and attitudes on computer security and counterfeit and nongenuine software. In the United States, not even half (41 percent) of the 308 participants said they know how to check if a product is pirated or counterfeit.

“Most customers don’t know they’ve purchased counterfeit software. There is a large pool of people who are at risk for unknowingly purchasing counterfeit software that can do serious damage to their PC,” said Beeman.

What consumers don’t realize is that using counterfeit software is asking for trouble. For example, according to Microsoft and research firm IDC, more than half (59 percent) of the key generators and crack tools downloaded from peer-to-peer networks contained either malicious or potentially unwanted software. In an effort to help keep software pirates from victimizing you, here are some of the misconceptions about counterfeit software that were identified in the research:

• I can detect pirated software. It’s not that easy. Pirated software is big business-billions of dollars worldwide-so of course a lot’s been invested in making the packaging look authentic. According to Microsoft, only 60 percent of people can identify counterfeit.

• Using counterfeit software is wrong but it won’t hurt me. Are you willing to bet your photographs, your privacy and your credit rating on that? Globally, 51 percent of respondents said that it is never okay to purchase counterfeit. Despite this, one-third said they have purchased a product they thought might be counterfeit and just over one-quarter purchased a product they knew was counterfeit.

• Software is the same, whether it’s genuine or counterfeit. A copy is not the same as the original-much less a copy that’s been altered. Microsoft and IDC tested hundreds of counterfeit disks from all over the world. More than 40 percent would not install and nearly half contained code that didn’t come from Microsoft. To highlight the danger, according to the Microsoft piracy perceptions study, 97 percent indicated it is important that their computer is secure from viruses and other threats.

• It doesn’t matter whom I buy software from online. Criminal syndicates halfway around the world go to great lengths to sell you pirated software online. The message from Microsoft is to do your homework when shopping online and if you really want to be safe, go to a physical store and buy your software in person.

Microsoft provides free and easy-to-use tools that customers can use to determine if their software is genuine. The How to Tell Web site, www.microsoft.com/howtotell, features pictures of recently seized software and guidance on what consumers should look out for when buying software online.

Software pirates make billions of dollars per year selling fake copies on the Internet. All things being equal, just ask yourself whom you’d rather give your money to-a company that provides jobs for local communities, builds great software and stands behind it or someone who was just smart enough to trick you into buying an illegitimate copy.

Software testing Tutorial Series

In this video from STAREAST 2009, tester and author James Bach talks about the context-driven school of software testing, his latest book, and how both the history of ideas and the discovery of oxygen can be connected to software testing. … “James Bach” “dephlogisticated air” “Joseph Priestley” “context-driven testing” “Antoine Lavoisier” STAREAST “software testing”

www.astmagazine.automatedtestinginstitute.com. This video provides a brief introduction to what you may find in the May 2009 Issue of the Automated Software Testing Magazine. The Automated Software Testing (AST) Magazine is an Automated Testing Institute magazine geared towards IT professionals involved in Software Quality Engineering. This magazine is an excellent source of relevant, up-to-date information from the world of automated software testing. Each issue contains contemporary test …

received ‘Best Paper’ awards at the largest software testing conferences in both the US and Europe in 2002, and gave keynote talks at AsiaSTAR and STAREast in 2003. He is an invited participant in a range of influential forums, including the ISEB / ISTQB software testing certifications. ABSTRACT Over the last decade, we’ve seen huge changes in the ease and ubiquity of our access to information. We have vastly more power at our fingertips, and the technologies that provide that power have …

is a huge problem. These bugs threaten the value of the product. Traditional software development and testing practices would end up producing these kinds of problems and the future might be more dark. One of the ways to tackle that would be by changing the way we do things, agile and rapid software testing approaches can be the ones. Think about it and make the future brighter. … pradeep soundararajan testertested india karnataka missing bangalore government bug value software development …

Delegates talk about what brought them to STAREAST 2009 and what they took back with them from the conference. Join us for the Software Testing Analysis & Review Conference in Anaheim, CA, October 5 – 9, 2009. Visit www.sqe.com for more information.

The “What is test case?” question is a very common interview question in Software Testing field. Taking QA class in a college you might be just fine giving THE definition provided in that course. But, for the purpose of a successful job interview you might come up with a brief discussion, showing the multitude of views and concepts. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers defines test case as “A set of test inputs, execution conditions, and expected results developed for a …

market.cast2009.org – CAST 2009 is the fourth annual Conference of the Association for Software Testing, and is taking place at the Antlers Hilton in Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 13th through the 16th. Those interested in participating can register or learn more by visiting http .

Should an organisation get an Issue tracking system that is also used by the test team to capture defects/bugs? What about association of Bugs : Test Cases : Requirements? Seapine TestTrack Studio www.seapine.com (I have no association with Seapine) My Website www.cyreath.co.uk