This week: Microsoft forced to reissue four fixes, corporate espionage is the main bugbear, and the latest malware top 10.

Top Tech`s liquidation and the telecoms policy announcement that indicated that a second fixed-line operator would be appointed shortly had everyone talking last week.

Until consumers are clued up about the Internet and what one can realistically expect from it, they`re vulnerable to exploitation by anyone with a bit of skill and the talent for sniffing out a sucker.

The Nasdaq, the delivery on the e-business promise, and the spelling of "fibre optic" all have one thing in common: the Yanks got it all wrong.

This week: The Naked Wife worm is an example of what viruses can do in today`s dastardly new world, putting hackers to work in the slammer, and esoteric hackers target local company.

A couple of positive experiences in the on- and offline worlds have left me enveloped in the warm and fuzzies, convinced that customer satisfaction is definitely getting better.

Last week saw further job losses and profit warnings, although Digicore and Rectron managed to buck this trend locally.

Dell SA has announced the availability of TrueMobile wireless local area networking (LAN) products for its range of Latitude notebooks.

Avaya has acquired several data networking products from US-based Cyber IQ Systems.

Global Technology, in conjunction with Banco Standard Totta de Mozambique, has launched its first Internet banking site in Mozambique.

A sneak peak at what may be the future of the Internet shows that the next stage of the Internet will not be a free lunch - it will be a business buffet.

AITEC and the Linux Professionals Association of SA will host Linux Africa 2001 in Johannesburg from 24 to 26 April. The conference and exhibition will promote the use of Linux and open source software.

This week: UK universities flooded with pornographic e-mails via Hotmail, lack of security hampers e-marketplace acceptance, and an interesting development from McAfee.