A good-looking spy sips a cocktail after ingeniously breaking into a high-security compound and then casually walks away with some confidential documents. That's what spies do in the movies. In the real world they are more likely to use a keyboard.

Spying is about collecting information. When information was still written on pieces of paper, a spy had to physically go and steal it. These days information is data on computers and networks, so modern spying is often carried out with the help of malware. The cyber spies use trojans and backdoors to infect their targets’ computers, giving them access to the data even from the other side of the world.

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In the real world, you only have to worry about the criminals who live in your city. But in the online world, you have to worry about criminals who could be on the other side of the planet. Online crime is always international because the Internet has no borders.

Today computer viruses and other malicious software are no longer written by hobbyist hackers seeking fame and glory among their peers, but by professional criminals who are making millions with their attacks. These criminals want access to your computer, your Paypal passwords and your credit card numbers.

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Like many of you, we spent hours slogging through HP's overwhelmed order system to get 2 TouchPads. They're giveaways for lucky readers, in appreciation for your loyalty. We really should do more of this.

But HP took more orders than it could fill from its stock of leftover TouchPads -- the product line killed just six weeks after retail sales started. We figured that was the end of our order, but then HP decided to produce one last batch of TouchPads, increasing the likelihood we might still get our two, for you.

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I like reading my spam. Sounds strange? Perhaps it is, but from the perspective of an eCrime investigator, there's often something interesting inside a spam folder.

One day I was going through the spam folder of my inbox and came across an interesting job offer. A company was looking for people who could speak English, had an email box and a PC, could work unsupervised, and had no criminal record.

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Irene's assault on the Eastern Seaboard earlier this week is just the beginning of what is expected to be another heavy season of hurricanes and tropical storms. What happens to your data if raging rains or flooding waters damage your computer? The electronics may be gone but your precious files are likely recoverable.

It’s tempting to turn that water-logged computer back on and see if anything can be saved. Don’t. The disk drives contain contaminants that can destroy the drive and all the data on it. You pose the greatest risk to your valuable data. Here's what you should or should not do instead:

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There are nearly 27.3 million small business in the United States -- the majority farms or sole-proprietorships, which have no payroll employees, according to the US Census Bureau. There are 5.9 million small businesses with payrolls, and 3.62 million employ fewer than five people. Are you one of them?

The continuing economic crisis is causing more small businesses to close and the survivors aren't able to hire at pre-2008 levels. Companies with fewer than 20 employees generated only 38,000 net new jobs in fourth quarter 2010, according to the Small Business Administration (those are the latest stats available). Many small businesses are finding that they can't replace aging computers, phones and other devices or invest in tech that could make them more competitive. Is your business among them?

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Last week the Department of Justice announced the conclusion of its investigation of Google permitting online Canadian pharmacies to place advertisements through AdWords, facilitating the unlawful importation of controlled pharmaceuticals into the United States. Google's large forfeiture -- fully $500 million -- reveals the gravity of the offense, and as part of the settlement, Google affirmatively admits liability.

These admissions and the associated documents confirm what I had long suspected: Not only does Google often ignore its stated "policies", but in fact Google staff affirmatively assist supposed "rule-breakers" when Google finds it profitable to do so.

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Seventh in a series. Two short years ago -- not even that yet -- soon after testing Windows 7 for several months, I came home to find a UPS post-it stuck to my front door with "delivery attempt" on it. I live in a small town, so I drove around looking at the major places I might find the UPS guy. SCORE!!! He was at the bank. There I was standing by the brown truck waiting for him to come back. I must have looked a little creepy -- crazy guy physically shaking in anticipation. I’m not sure what the UPS guy thought as he handed the Windows 7 package to the creepy guy with shaking hands.

Many people do not realize how many geeks actually get overwhelming joy when a piece of software or technology gets released -- something that can or will change the world of computing. Now that is said, let’s go back 10 years.

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Sixth in a series. My Windows XP experiece started in 2003 when I bought my first Laptop. I had delayed jumping on the personal computer bandwagon for years. It was a Dell Inspiron 2500 -- the first and only time I would own a Dell system.

I experienced Windows XP by learning how to install drivers and adding new hardware and dealing with the problems associated with each task. Trust me, there were problems -- like trying to install a new Ethernet adapter driver, having the New Hardware Wizard ask if I was connected to the Internet and for it to fail once I clicked "No". The laptop had no Internet connection. Each time I attempted the driver installation, it would fail at the same place and not just on my system but others.

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The following commentary is a guest post written by BetaNews reader Avatar X. A blogger from Mexico City, he has done software and tech reviews for the last 10 years.

One week ago today, 18 of August of 2011, HP discontinued webOS devices (Pre and TouchPad) and also announced their intention to sell or spin-off their PC business, in order to concentrate in the more lucrative and higher-margin markets of servers, cloud services and enterprise software.

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Fifth in a series. We continue our series about Windows XP's release to manufacturing 10th anniversary with a quick look at codenames for this product and others around it.

This picture is me, sitting in the terrace of the Long-Horn Saloon in Whistler, British Columbia. The photo is also the Windows roadmap. On the right side of the terrace, the slopes are coming down from Whistler Mountain (Whistler = codename for Windows XP).

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In a stunning and unexpected event, Steve Jobs resigned as Apple's chief executive today. The board has named Jobs Chairman and Tim Cook new CEO.

Apple released this letter from Jobs:

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Let's compare the major computer operating systems at the moment. We have Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. We have various Linux distributions, and we have Mac OS X.

Of these, obviously Windows XP has the weakest security, by far, and Windows XP has the biggest marketshare, too. Globally close to half of all computers still run XP.

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Second in a series. I remember my Windows XP experiences like it was just yesterday. I became aware of Windows XP when it was called Whistler back in 2000. There was a technology television show on ZD-TV called "The Screen Savers" with host Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton. During many call-ins, persons would ask, should I upgrade from Windows 98 to ME or 2000. Leo would often suggest that users shouldn't bother since Whistler would be coming out next year.

I wondered what this Whistler was about, so I decided to do some web searching about it and came across Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows. I started following his chronicles with the early betas from early development phases into what became Windows XP with the well-known Luna theme around beta 2.

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It's a sad fact of life than not all video formats are created equal. You can't even be sure a video will play on your computer or portable device by checking its file type, because video files consist of two parts: container (which determines the file type) and codec. Both need to be supported by your media player in order for the video to play.

How can you fix problems with video so it will play on a specific device? The answer lies with Avidemux. It's a simple, yet very powerful, video processing program that you can use to fix problems with movies that need to be resized, re-encoded or have sound-related issues.

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