Apple said Tuesday that it will deliver a Mac OS X update “in coming days” that will put its Mac Defender malware headaches to rest.

As noted repeatedly by Ed Bott, Apple has had its head in the sand about its Mac Defender malware issue. In a May 24, knowledge base article Apple said:

A recent phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus. The user is then offered Mac Defender “anti-virus” software to solve the issue.

This “anti-virus” software is malware (i.e. malicious software). Its ultimate goal is to get the user’s credit card information which may be used for fraudulent purposes.

The most common names for this malware are MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity.

In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware.

For now there’s a step by step workaround to manually remove the malware.

What took so long? Apple has historically hung its hat on being a malware free environment. The issue with that positioning is that Apple is a bigger part of the computing landscape. The more market share you have the larger a target you are for hackers.

Here’s the Apple saga:

• Apple continues to tell support reps: do not help with Mac malware
• You have malware on your Mac and you call Apple support … what happens next?
• Apple to support reps: “Do not attempt to remove malware”
• Crying wolf? Apple support forums confirm malware explosion
• An AppleCare support rep talks: Mac malware is “getting worse”
• What a Mac malware attack looks like
• Why malware for Macs is on its way
• Coming soon to a Mac near you: serious malware

Summer isn’t even here yet, but chipmakers AMD and Intel are already gearing up for back-to-school.

After some manufacturing delays, AMD is set to release its Llano processor for mainstream laptops and desktops. I expect them to make it official at the Computex tradeshow in Taiwan next week, but some technology sites in Asia are already reporting details of these new processors. It is probably no coincidence that Intel has just updated its processor list to include Sandy Bridge chips at lower prices, which will compete directly with Llano.

Rather than CPU, AMD uses the term APU, or Accelerated Processor Unit, to describe chips like Llano that include both CPU cores and a graphics processor. It took longer than expected for AMD’s manufacturing partner, GlobalFoundries, to work out the kinks with its 32nm process using new materials (a high-k dielectric and metal gates), so in the interim AMD released low-power C-Series (Ontario) and E-Series (Zacate) APUs manufactured by a different foundry, TSMC, using a more conventional 40nm technology. But the Llano APUs, most of which will be branded as the A-Series, are critical because they are designed for mainstream laptops and desktops, an area where AMD has been relatively strong.

Llano will be available in dual- and quad-core versions, according to a report from DigiTimes. The dual-core desktop processors, the E2-3250 ($70) and A4-3350P ($80), will compete with Pentium-branded processors. The quad-core A6 ($110-130) will compete with the Core i3 dual-core desktop processors and the eight-core A8 ($150-170) will compete with Intel’s mid-range Core i5-2300, which has four cores and four threads. For desktops, AMD will have a different processor, code-named Zambezi, which is a traditional CPU with separate graphics to compete with the higher Core i5-2500 (four cores, four threads)and Core i7-2600 (four cores, eight threads). The first Zambezi chips will reportedly include the quad-core FX-4110 ($220), six-core FX-6110 ($250) and eight-core FX-8130 and 8130P ($290-$320). These will also be manufactured on GlobalFoundries’ 32nm process and will be available later this year.

This is consistent with everything we’ve heard about Llano: core-for-core, the CPU likely won’t match the performance of Intel’s Sandy Bridge. To compensate for this, AMD will offer more physical cores for about the same price. Llano’s on-die Radeon graphics should also offer better 3D graphics performance than Intel’s HD 2000/HD 3000 integrated graphics. At the high-end, AMD doesn’t have graphics advantage since both AMD’s FX Zambezi processor and Intel’s Core i7 will generally be used in high-performance desktops with discrete graphics from AMD or Nvidia. Though these are all desktop processors, the match-ups should be similar on the mobile side except that Intel only offers the HD 3000 graphics n laptops and AMD will not mobile version of Zambezi.

Over the weekend, Intel updated its processor price list to include seven new Sandy Bridge desktop chips most of which compete directly with Llano. In the mid-range, this includes the 3.10GHz dual-core Core i3-2105 ($134) and the 2.90GHz quad-core Core i5-2310 ($177), plus a low-power Core i5. Intel also introduced four Pentium dual-cores ranging from 2.20GHz to 2.90GHz at prices from $64 to $86. These are Intel’s first Pentium-branded chips using the new microarchitecture, but they do not include several features of Sandy Bridge including hyper-threading, Turbo Boost 2.0, and hardware-accelerated HD video encoding and decoding.

[Here's a link to Intel's processor price list PDF, which lists the new chips.]

All of this is setting the stage for a big battle this summer over back-to-school systems. Expect to see a wave of mainstream desktops and laptops using these new processors starting in June.

More coverage of AMD’s Fusion APUs:

• A closer look at laptops with AMD’s Fusion processors
• AMD says Llano processor is now shipping
• CES 2011: AMD’s Fusion APUs arrive in new laptops
• AMD ships first Fusion chips, announces new APUs for laptops, desktops and tablets

During remarks at a developers conference in Japan on May 23, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer referred to the next version of Windows as “Windows 8.” He also said the next generation of Windows systems will be out next year.

To those not following Microsoft’s Windows saga closely, this may seem like a “so what” moment. But Microsoft execs have been studiously avoiding any references to the timing or naming of the next version of Windows to try to keep the specifics of the product as quiet as possible. Microsoft’s top brass has been avoiding calling the next version of Windows “Windows 8″ publicly, preferring instead to call it “Windows Next.” (Internally, a number of  Microsoft job postings and leaked slides have referenced “Windows 8,” however.”

Here’s what Ballmer said today in Tokyo about Windows 8, according to Microsoft’s own transcript:

“We’re obviously hard at work on the next version of Windows. Windows 7 PCs will sell over 350 million units this year. We’ve done a lot in Windows 7 to improve customer satisfaction. We have a brand new user interface. We’ve added touch, and ink, and speech. And yet, as we look forward to the next generation of Windows systems, which will come out next year, there’s a whole lot more coming. As we progress through the year, you ought to expect to hear a lot about Windows 8. Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors.”

Parsing Ballmer’s words further, it’s interesting he called out Windows 8 slates and tablets as two separate form factors. Last year, Microsoft was pushing Windows Embedded Compact as its slate operating system, designed for devices that were more about consumption than creation….

It’s also interesting that Ballmer did not say specifically that “the next generation of Windows systems” due out next year were Windows 8 systems. (There’s been some speculation that Microsoft might deliver ARM-based tablets separately from Windows 8 laptops, PCs and notebooks — with some company watchers predicting that Win8 tablets would ship before the other SKUs, and others predicting they’d ship afterwards. I’ve heard from my contacts that Microsoft is planning to deliver all Windows 8 SKUs simultaneously, however.)

The head of Windows, President Steven Sinofsky, is slated to speak next week at the AllThingsD conference, where many are expecting him to show off an internal build of Windows 8 (whether or not he actually refers to it using the Windows 8 codename).

Microsoft is expected to provide testers with a first tech preview or beta of Windows 8 in mid-September during the company’s developer conference in Anaheim, Calif. The rumored release-to-manufacturing date of Windows 8 is mid-2012, with holiday 2012 retail availability targeted.

Update: OK, believe it or not, the “official” response is Ballmer’s statement isn’t what it seems to be… Sent from a Microsoft spokesman earlier tonight:

““It appears there was a misstatement. We are eagerly awaiting the next generation of Windows 7 hardware that will be available in the coming fiscal year.  To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.”

And, as usual, there are many ways to interpret these remarks. Is the next-generation Windows release nothing but Windows 7 with new paint? Windows 8 not the final name for the next version of Windows? (The final name possibly being something other than Windows 8 is something that I’ve heard from my tipsters…) You be the judge….

I like Ubuntu’s Unity interface, but I wouldn’t use it all the time, and I know many of you don’t like it at all. Like me, you like getting your hands dirty with the operating system and Unity is meant for new Linux users. That’s why for day-in, day-out use I’m now using the Ubuntu Linux-based Mint 11.

Instead of Unity, Mint 11, which is now at the release candidate stage, uses the old Linux Mint desktop layout, mintMenu system, and the same desktop elements featured in previous releases. It also doesn’t use GNOME 3.0. That’s fine by me since I don’t care for GNOME 3 at all, but my reasons for that are a story for another day. Today, I want to tell you why I think Mint 11 is a great desktop Linux for experienced Linux users.

To put Mint 11, Katya, which is based on Ubuntu 11.04, through its paces, I first installed it on one of my main Linux workstations. This is a Dell Inspiron 530S powered by a 2.2-GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor with an 800-MHz front-side bus. This box has 4GBs of RAM, a 500GB SATA (Serial ATA) drive, and an Integrated Intel 3100 GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) chip set.

How well did it work? Well, after a week on it, I also installed the Mint 11 release candidate on my main work laptop. This is a Lenovo ThinkPad R61 with its 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7500 and 2GBs of RAM. In other words, it not only worked well, it had already proved trustworthy enough that I’d switched to using it on a production machine.

I was willing to make this shift so fast for several reasons. First, Mint 11 is fast. Before this, I was running Ubuntu 11.04, openSUSE 11.4, and Mint 10 on these machines, or in the case of the PC, its twin brother. I don’t know what special sauce the Mint team added to Mint 11, all I know is that it’s faster and more responsive than the other Linux distributions I’ve recently used on these machines. As for Windows 7 SP1, please, these machines are barely adequate for today’s version of Windows.

With the GNOME 2.32 interface, Mint looks as good as ever. This desktop, unlike Unity, also makes it easy for me to tinker with the operating system to get it working just the way I want. GNOME 2.32 has some GNOME 3.0 features though that I didn’t like. For example, some GNOME compatible applications have, instead of a permanently displayed right-hand slider for moving up and down a page, they have a slider that only appears when your mouse hovers over a windows right-side interface. I find this more annoying than useful.

There have also been some desktop application changes. One, which I really approve of, is the switch to LibreOffice in place of OpenOffice for the office suite. Again, the new model office suite was faster than OpenOffice. In addition, LibreOffice does much better with Microsoft Office document compatibility. Most, if not all, of the Linux desktop distributions are switching to LibreOffice. It’s a smart move.

I also like the use of Banshee, which has long been one of my favorite media-players over Rhythmbox. I’m neutral about Mint switching out gThumb for F-Spot as the default photo application.

Since this is Linux, if you don’t like the default applications, you can always replace it. Like the Ubuntu Software Manager it’s based on Mint’s Software Manager makes it mindlessly simple to add new programs. This program does have one default I don’t care for though. When you install a new program, it doesn’t give you a message letting you know when the installation is complete. Instead it simply gives you a momentary 100% installed on the bottom “ongoing action” bar and the application installation page still shows the program as not being installed. You’ll only see that the program has indeed been installed after you refresh the page.

Update May 24, 4:30PM PDT: Apple has now posted a support article on its website: How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware. A note at the top of the article says:

In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware.

How is Apple responding to the flood of customer calls about installations of the Mac Defender malware?

According to multiple tech support insiders, the company has doubled down on its policy of denying any help to affected customers. Meanwhile, despite evidence that a large number of customers have been affected by this issue, Apple has made no public statement and did not respond to two requests for comment.

My sources tell me call volume for Mac Defender-related issues continues to be high. One AppleCare support agent told me last week that 50% of calls in the previous week were related to this issue. A rep in a different location confirmed that number but said volume had dropped this week:

In the first days after Intego identified the issue I would say 50-60% of calls were driven by Mac Defender.

Now still within the 20-25% range….I think Google may be getting a handle on the gamed SEO placements and poisoned links that started the whole fiasco.

So how big is the problem? Apple’s silence makes it impossible to know for sure. However, I’m told that the division that handles Mac support calls receives between 10,000 and 20,000 calls a day. If 25% of those calls are related to this issue, which has been going on for 25 days, the total number of customers affected could be between 60,000 and 125,000, and growing.

One contractor who works for a third party that handles support calls for Apple in North America sent me a confidential document that had been distributed to all personnel at his location. The document contains detailed instructions from “the client” (Apple) that the firm’s employees must follow when dealing with calls from customers asking for help with Mac Defender issues. (I’ve posted a copy of the document at the end of this post.)

The document, which is labeled “Valid as of May 20th 2011 subject to further revisions,” instructs support reps to “Start with an upbeat tone and stay positive.” That’s followed by two blocks that outline the script the agents are expected to follow:

“I am glad that you decided to call in about this issue today. Based on the symptoms you describe it sounds like you may have malware on your computer. I would be more than happy to send you an article about what malware is and is not. Lets [sic] make sure you have all your software up to date.”

“Apple’s [sic] doesn’t recommend or guarantee any specific third part [sic] anti-virus protection over another. However I can suggest several third party virus protection programs that you may want to consider researching to find the best one for your needs.”

At that point the rep is ordered to suggest “at least three or four different programs from anywhere” and direct the customer to the App Store or the Apple Online Store.

In a particularly Orwellian turn of phrase, the anonymous author of the document then notes dryly, “According to the client the point of this is to empower the customers to become more internet and security savvy.”

The end of the document includes a list of “Things you must never do according to the client.” The list of prohibited actions includes all of the steps required to clean a Mac Defender infection:

– You cannot show the customer how to force quit Safari on a Mac Defender call

– You cannot show the customer how to remove from the Login items.

– You cannot show the customer how to stop the process of Mac Defender in their Activity Monitor.

– You cannot refer the customer to ANY forums or discussions [sic] boards for resolution (this includes the Apple.com forums)

The final item on the list contains instructions that prevent support personnel from indirectly helping clients:

– Once you know that the call is about Mac Defender, and then the customer decides to try and ask you general questions to find a loophole (IE: “OK, then how would you uninstall a third party program in general” or “How do I stop programs from starting upon launch”) The point of this is, things that would be considered “general product usage” questions are not allowed to be answered if the customer has already informed you that he potentially has MacDefender and is now asking obvious questions to skirt our policy.

The upshot of this policy is to explicitly prohibit any action that could help customers. For tech support personnel, that’s a bitter pill to swallow.

One rep who contacted me via e-mail describes the current mood among fellow support reps as “horrid,” adding, “We are now under strict orders, of course without distinctly saying it, to help NO ONE with Mac Defender under threat of our jobs … All I heard all day today from other advisors was how Apple doesn’t want to take care of its customers and how this new policy constrained our ability to do our job and directly affects our pay.”

A second rep told me, “The shit has hit the fan.”

You can see a copy of the entire document here: