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Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest software maker, made an unsolicited $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo! Inc. to challenge Google Inc.’s dominance in Internet search services and advertising.

The $31-a-share bid of cash or Microsoft stock is 62 percent more than Yahoo’s closing price yesterday. Yahoo, which posted a 23 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit this week, had fallen 18 percent in Nasdaq Stock Market trading this year before today. Microsoft fell the most since 2006 as investors expressed disapproval of the deal.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is attempting the biggest-ever technology takeover after failing to compete with Google in a market that may almost double to $80 billion by 2010. Microsoft’s shares have dropped more than 40 percent since Ballmer took over from co-founder Bill Gates in 2000.

“With Microsoft paying a full price for a broken business where there’s not accelerating organic growth, I can’t make that work at all,'’ said Jon Fisher, a Minneapolis-based portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management, which manages $22 billion, including Microsoft shares. “I don’t see what they get out of it. The strategy behind the deal was wrong.'’

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Microsoft late last week released an updated test version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 to about 15,000 beta testers. The update, the third such service pack for the six-year-old operating system is due out in final form in the first half of next year. The company said before its final release it expects to issue a public test version of the service pack, though it did not provide more specificity than at “a later date.”

“We are targeting (the first half of) 2008 for the release of XP SP3,” Microsoft said, “though our timing will always be based on customer feedback as a first priority.”

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SAN FRANCISCO — Hackers have launched a rare and troubling attack on Apple Inc.’s computers.

Apple on Thursday confirmed reports of pornography Web sites where hidden software, once downloaded, could take control of an Apple computer. Apple did not immediately respond to claims that it is the first instance of a Trojan horse attack on Apple’s Macintosh platform.

“We’ve been made aware that a small number of Web sites attempt to trick Mac OS X users to install malicious software on their Macs,” said Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox. “Apple has a great track record for keeping Mac OS X users secure, and as always, we encourage people to install software only from trusted sources.”

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Most of us face the prospect of upgrading our operating systems with a mixture of excitement and dread. True, a new OS brings cool new ways to work. But that doesn’t change the fact that when you install a major version of OS X you’re essentially gutting your Mac and replacing its virtual insides.

Luckily, Apple’s improved the upgrade experience with each new cat, making the process much less daunting. But despite the Installer’s useful guidance, there are things it doesn’t tell you, and places where its help falls short. With that in mind, here’s my guide to making the upgrade process as trouble-free as possible.
What You Need

Before you get started, the two most important things you need are a compatible Mac and a complete backup of all your data. Leopard requires a Mac with an Intel or PowerPC G4 or G5 processor; a DVD drive; built-in FireWire; at least 512MB RAM; and at least 7GB of free hard-disk space. (I recommend at least 1GB RAM and 10 to 15GB of free disk space.)

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A notorious Russian hacker gang is responsible for ongoing attacks using malicious PDF documents, a researcher said Wednesday.

Users can thank the Russian Business Network (RBN), a well-known collective of cybercriminals, for the malware-armed PDF attachments that began appearing in in-boxes Tuesday, said Ken Dunham, director of response for iSight Partners Inc. If the rigged PDFs succeed in infecting the target Windows system, the attack code installs a pair of rootkit files that “sniff and steal financial and other valuable data,” said Dunham via e-mail.

The rogue PDF documents are attached to spammed e-mail and arrive with filenames such as BILL.pdf, YOUR_BILL.pdf, INVOICE.pdf or STATEMET.pdt, said Symantec Corp. in a separate advisory Tuesday. They exploit the “mailto:” protocol vulnerability disclosed more than a month ago by U.K.-based researcher Petko Petkov.

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