How will you be computing in the next 12 months? PC Authority brings you 2005's big technology stories - before they happen.

With the prevalence of Net connections and all the good things a connected society brings such as community, the ability to share ideas and the openness of information, comes the flipside of digital life -- hackers, spyware, viruses and spam.

This year's rampage of phishing scams is "just the tip of the iceberg," according to a message security firm's analysis of 2004 and its predictions for 2005, both released this week.

Spam! spam! spam! spam! . . . if it had not been for Monty Python nobody would ever have thought there was anything funny about it. With almost 50 percent of the world’s email now junk mail, offering everything from unwanted penis extensions to stockmarket tips, spam has become as big a problem as viruses.

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

McAfee puts out its VirusScan 2004 in two versions - boxed or downloaded and managed from the internet. Whatever way you do it, the installation is simplicity itself with no difficult questions to answer or confusing choices to make.

Printer sales in Australia fell 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003 to 390,000 units, and are expected to fall another 13 percent for the full year 2004, IDC said.

Apple Computer's OS X and the open-source BSD operating system provide the "world's safest and most secure" computing platforms, according to London-based security firm mi2g.

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Australia has dropped two places to rank 11 in the World Economic Forum’s 2004-2005 Global Information Technology Report.

Software giant in legal trouble again, this time over sharing data info with competitors.

Game developer GSC has announced that their ambitions debut PC game S.T.A.L.K.E.R has been pushed back to at least May 2005.