will complete its rollout of super-fast broadband ahead of schedule, making the service available to each of the 13m homes passed by its network this spring.

The group, which is expected to report its first annual profit on Wednesday, will announce on Monday that its super-fast service now passes 10m of the UK’s 26m homes and that its entire network will be plugged in several months ahead of the original mid-2012 deadline.

Virgin Media, which is the UK’s only cable company and was formed through rounds of mergers between loss-making predecessors, is forecast by at least two banks to report a small net profit. Analysts forecast an average of £3.988m in revenues for the year, with BNP Paribas saying this could produce a £72m profit, and JP Morgan Cazenove estimating £60m.

BT Group and Virgin Media are engaged in a broadband arms race which will see download speeds double for many households in the coming year. In a separate project, Virgin will over the next 18 months double its customers’ download speeds, with the fastest going from 50Mbps to 120Mbps from the summer. BT will move its 40Mbps customers to 80Mbps. The higher speeds ensure several members of a household can simultaneously watch internet TV, play online games, or use smartphones, tablets and computers.

The UK is outside the world’s 30 fastest for internet connections, according to speed testing company Ookla, but Virgin Media says its work will push the country into the top 20, ahead of the US, Japan, France and Germany.

Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said: “Soon half the country will be able to get superfast 100Mbps broadband from us. Reaching today’s milestone puts us ahead of schedule as we help propel the UK up the global broadband rankings.”

The TV and telecoms group could add 13,000 customers in its fourth quarter, according to JP Morgan Cazenove, bringing its total subscribers to 4.8m. The total, which takes into account those leaving the network, could include 30,000 more broadband subscribers. In its last quarter, BT added 146,000 broadband subscribers.

BT and Virgin Media are racing towards higher speeds in the hope that consumers will leave Talk Talk and BSkyB, which will struggle to match their service. BT and Virgin are the only two operators that own fibre cables.

Sky and Talk Talk have spent millions unbundling BT’s copper network, installing their own equipment in telephone exchanges, but the higher speeds cannot be delivered over copper.

According to analyst Robin Bienenstock at broker Sanford Bernstein: “This leaves the unbundlers (but in particular BSkyB as TalkTalk is the clear discounter in the market) in the unenviable position of having to choose between selling product that is margin dilutive or resisting its sale and seeing their premium quality status diluted.”

Sky is already considering renting fibre from BT, and has begun a trial on the former national monopoly’s network which could form the basis of a high speed broadband offer to its customers.

Figures from Gartner reveal that total Q4 UK PC shipments fell 19.6 per cent annually to 2.95 million. Market leader HP suffered a sales slump of 27 per cent, and its 618,000 unit shipments gave it a 21 per cent share of the market.

Second-placed Dell saw its quarterly shipments fall 32.2 per cent on the corresponding period last year to 408,000, giving the Texan firm 13.8 per cent of the market. Despite a 5.4 per cent Q4 decline in units shipped, third-placed Toshiba has seen its market share jump from 8.5 to 10 per cent in the past year.

Apple, in fourth, was the quarter’s only big winner, with shipments growing 17.2 per cent to 267,000. The Mac maker’s market share has swelled from 6.2 to 9.1 per cent over the past 12 months.

Fifth-placed Acer’s annus horribilis came to a suitably nightmarish end. The Taiwanese firm’s quarterly shipments plummeted 62.4 per cent to 230,000. Its market share was cut by more than half in 2011, falling from 16.7 to 7.8 per cent.

The market’s smaller players had more joy in Q4, with shipments for everyone outside the leading quintet growing 5.8 per cent to more than 1.1 million. The percentage of the market held by non-top-five manufacturers has risen more than nine points to 38.3 per cent during the past year.

Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, told ChannelWeb that the hard-disk drive supply issues could potentially lead to inventory shortages, resulting in PC price rises in 2012. This, in turn, could slow corporate refresh cycles, he predicted.

“There is nothing that is really helping the PC industry move forward at the moment – everything is stacked against it,” he added.

Atwal claimed that many enterprises might look at a variety of client compute platforms beyond traditional desktops.

“Organisations are re-evaluating their device portfolio and are trying to understand better where PCs are most valuable within their organisations, and how they can supplement them with other devices or, in some cases, replace them,” he said.

“[This is] not necessarily [just about] getting smartphones in and looking to tablets, but also thin clients; [they are asking] ‘what is the best way to do the applications?’ ‘Do we really necessarily need a full-fat client?’”

The UK’s decline exceeded that of the other major western European markets, with French Q4 shipments falling 11.8 per cent year on year, and the German market contracting by 8.2 per cent. The PC markets in the troubled southern European economies of Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain shrank by more than 30 per cent in Q4, according to Gartner

Samsung’s patent deals are being looked into by the European Commission.

Competition regulators are investigating whether the firm used some of its intellectual property rights to “distort competition in European mobile device markets”.

The commission says it wants to know if Samsung has failed to live up to a commitment to license key technologies to rivals.

The action comes as the company is involved in patent battles with Apple.

A spokesman for Samsung said it did not have a statement to make on the case at this time.

The inquiry centres on Frand commitments – a promise by industry players to license innovations that are essential to an industry standard on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

This means that the owner cannot discriminate who gets to use its invention and that its fee cannot be excessive.

The commission notes that in 1998 Samsung offered an “irrevocable commitment” to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to respect Frand terms.

But the regulator says that: “In 2011, Samsung sought injunctive relief in various member states against competing mobile device makers based on alleged infringements of certain of its patent rights which it has declared essential to implement European telephony standards.”

Lost lawsuits

The South Korean firm has made more than a dozen patent claims against Apple in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy relating to 3G-essential technologies.

So far the courts have ruled against Samsung in the cases – in part because it was felt that the firm had failed to live up to its Frand commitments.

However, patent consultant Florian Mueller, who has blogged about the various cases, notes that: “The European Commission can’t wait until Samsung finally wins a ruling based on such a patent and enforces it, potentially causing irreparable harm.”

A spokesman for the European Commission confirmed that it had instigated the proceedings. He said that the commission had not received an official complaint from Apple or any other company about the matter.

Counter-attacks

Samsung has also been on the receiving end of patent and design-rights litigation.

Some analysts view its lawsuits as a response to Apple’s legal attack.

The iPad-maker succeeded in having two of its competitors’ tablets banned from sale in Germany last year forcing a redesign.

The ruling against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was upheld by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court today.

Experts say the commission’s intervention is likely to further complicate matters.

“It is really difficult for Samsung to have the commission wading in when none of its competitors have made a complaint,” said Vicki Salmon, a member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

“At a time when there is a lot of litigation between companies it doesn’t help to be on the receiving end of an official inquiry.”

Before his trip, Leigh Van Bryan wrote that he was going to “destroy America”.

He insisted he was referring to simply having a good time – but was sent home.

Trade association Abta told the BBC that the case highlighted that holidaymakers should never do anything to raise “concern or suspicion in any way”.

The US Department for Homeland Security picked up Mr Bryan’s messages ahead of his holiday in Los Angeles.

The 26-year-old bar manager wrote a message to a friend on the micro-blogging service, saying: “Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America.”

He told the Sun newspaper that he and his friend Emily Bunting were apprehended on arrival at Los Angeles International Airport before being sent home.

“The Homeland Security agents were treating me like some kind of terrorist,” Mr Bryan said.

“I kept saying they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet.”

No joke

Abta, which represents travel companies in the UK, said holidaymakers need to learn to be ultra-cautious when it comes to talking about forthcoming trips, particularly after 9/11.

“In the past we have seen holidaymakers stopped at airport security for ‘joking’ that they have a bomb in their bag, thoroughly questioned and ending up missing their flights, demonstrating that airport security staff do not have a sense of humour when it comes to potential risk.”

In another tweet, Mr Bryan made reference to comedy show Family Guy saying that he would be in LA in three weeks, annoying people “and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up”.

Mr Bryan told the newspaper that he was questioned for five hours about his Twitter messages.

‘Tweeter account’

After the interview, Homeland Security’s reported: “Mr Bryan confirmed that he had posted on his Tweeter website account that he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe.

“Also on his tweeter account Mr Bryan posted he was coming to destroy America.”

Paul Chambers was fined after posting a message about Robin Hood Airport

The US Customs and Border Protection agency said in a statement that it tried to maintain a balance between “securing our borders while facilitating the high volume of legitimate trade and travel that crosses our borders every day”.

It added: “We strive to achieve that balance and show the world that the United States is a welcoming nation.”

Mr Bryan is not the only person to suffer from a misjudged tweet. In January 2010, Paul Chambers tweeted that he would blow snow-affected Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster “sky high!” if it was not reopened in time for him to see his girlfriend.

He was fined £385 plus £2,600 in costs – a sum which actor Stephen Fry offered to pay on Mr Chambers’ behalf.

The 500th episode will see the family moving to an isolated house and finding themselves living next to Assange.

Fox said Assange, currently under house arrest while he appeals his extradition to Sweden over alleged sex offences – which he denies, recorded his lines from the UK.

The new episode will be broadcast in the US on 19 February.

The Simpsons’ executive producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weeklythat series creator Matt Groening heard a rumour that Assange was interested in guest-starring on the series.

“We asked our casting director Bonnie Pietila – who had been able to unearth Thomas Pynchon and got Tony Blair to do the show – to find Mr Assange. And she did,” Jean said.

Jean added the show’s creative team realised Assange was “controversial” but they avoided delving into “the legal situation that he’s in”.

“We wanted to make sure it was satirical, and he was willing to do that,” he said.

Last year’s guests included 24 star Kiefer Sutherland, chef Gordon Ramsey and Glee’s Jane Lynch.

The McAfee-backed cyberdefence survey deemed China, Brazil and Mexico as being among the least able to defend themselves against emerging attacks.

The rank is based on leading experts’ perception of a nation’s defences.

The report concluded that greater sharing of information globally is necessary to keep ahead of threats.

It also suggests giving more power to law enforcement to fight cross-border crime.

The UK, with a grading of four out of five, ranks favourably in the survey – along with the USA, Germany, Spain and France.

‘Subjective view’

The rankings are based on the perceived quality of a country’s cyber-readiness – the ability to cope with a range of threats and attacks.

“The subjectiveness of the report is its biggest strength,” explained Raj Samani, McAfee’s chief technology officer.

“What it does is give the perception of cyber-readiness by those individuals who kind of understand and work in cyber security on a day-in, day-out basis.”

Countries ranked for cyber-readiness
Country	Rating
SOURCE: MCAFEE
(None)
Finland, Israel, Sweden
Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK, USA
Australia, Austria, Canada, Japan
China, Italy, Poland, Russia
Brazil, India, Romania
Mexico
(None)

A good score depends on having basic measures like adequate firewalls and antivirus protection, and more complex matters including well-informed governance and education.

Sweden, Finland and Israel all impressed the report’s experts – despite the fact that the latter receives reportedly over 1,000 cyber attacks every minute.

Isaac Ben-Israel, senior security advisor to Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is quoted in the report as saying: “The hacktivist group Anonymous carries out lots of attacks but they don’t cause much damage. The real threat is from states and major crime organisations.”

He added that the country has set up a cyber-taskforce responsible for assessing threats to key infrastructure such power production and water supplies.

‘Enhancing co-operation’

At the other end of the security scale, Mexico ranked as least prepared to cope with the cyber threat – a situation which is blamed on the country’s authorities needing to overwhelmingly focus on the country’s gang and drugs problems.

China is regarded by some Western observers as an aggressor in cyberspace.

But one expert Peiran Wang said the country was itself vulnerable because it lacked a joined up strategy.

Mexico’s drug problems means available resource is put into real world policing – and not on cybercrime

“The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of State Security and even the military are involved and they don’t communicate well,” said Peiran Wang, a visiting scholar at Brussels’ Free University.

In the UK, the report praised a £650m investment programme in cyber security.

However, the Home Office’s plans were criticised by information security expert Peter Sommer.

“A great deal depends on co-operation from the private sector, which controls about 80% of the critical national infrastructure.

“Over half of the new funding will go to the ‘secret vote’, the intelligence agencies, where value for money will be difficult to investigate. I would have preferred more emphasis on public education – helping potential victims help themselves.”

Cybercrime fighters

Among the report’s conclusions is the recommendation that greater efforts be made to improve cross-border law enforcement.

“Cybercriminals route their connection through multiple different countries,” said Mr Samani.

“If criminals are particularly clever, they go through countries where they know there isn’t any co-operation.”

In the UK, millions has been pledged by foreign secretary William Hague to fight cyber issues

“The bad guys share information – we need to do the same as well.”

Dr Joss Wright from the Oxford Internet Institute welcomed the report’s findings. However, he had serious doubts over the feasibility of its suggestions.

“They’re recommendations that people have been saying for maybe 10 years,” he told the BBC.

“I would love to see good information sharing – but when you’re talking about national security, there’s a culture of not sharing.

“They’re not suddenly going to change 70, 100, 1000 years of military thinking.”

• Method 1: Check whether you exceed limits
• Method 2: Make sure only one instance of Excel is active
• Method 3: Close all applications
• Method 4: Test Excel in safe mode
• Method 5: Turn off the preview pane in Windows Explorer (Windows 7 only)
• Method 6: Save as an Excel workbook file if you use relative names
• Method 7: Change defined names to reference cells directly

Back to the top

Method 1: Check whether you exceed limits

Click here to show information on how to check Excel 2010 limits.

Back to the top

Method 2: Make sure only one instance of Excel is active

Click here to show information on how to check if only one instance of Excel is active.

Back to the top

Method 3: Close all applications

Click here to show information on how to close all applications.

Back to the top

Method 4: Test Excel in safe mode

Click here to show information on how to start Excel in safe mode.

Back to the top

Method 5: Turn off the preview pane in Windows Explorer (Windows 7 only)

Click here to show information on how to turn off the preview pane.

Back to the top

Method 6: Save as an Excel workbook file if you use relative names

Click here to show information.

Back to the top

Method 7: Change defined names to reference cells directly

Click here to show information.

Users have been unable to access data since the file-sharing service was raided.

The warning was made in a letter filed by the US Attorney’s Office, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Megaupload’s lawyer Ira Rothken told the agency that at least 50 million users had data which could be deleted.

Mr Rothken said that freezing of Megaupload’s funds meant it was unable to pay those who were storing its data.

In the letter prosecutors said that the data which might be deleted was being held by the storage companies Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group.

Neither they nor the US Attorney’s Office have responded to emails from the BBC.

Mr Rothken told the agency that he was “cautiously optimistic” that a deal could be done to save the data from being wiped.

He said that the data would be needed by the defence.

Legitimate data

Megaupload was shut down on 19 January.

It had about 150 million registered users, making it one of the most popular file-sharing services in the world.

US authorities are seeking to extradite founder Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, and three other defendants from New Zealand to the US.

Prosecutors have accused it of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue.

But a number of users have said that they have been unable to access legitimately uploaded material as a result of the legal action.

After the shutdown one user tweeted, “I’m vehemently against copyright infringement: the files I lost were created & owned by me for my job.”