Internet Explorer update procrastinators look out!

Come January, Microsoft will start forcing users to update from older versions of Internet Explorer. But don’t fret: if you have Automatic Updates enabled in Windows Update, the update will occur seamlessly and worry free.

Microsoft already provides security updates to Internet Explorer through Windows Update. However, under the forced update, legacy browser users will see a full-browser upgrade. This means Windows XP users on Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 will be upgraded to version 8, and Windows Vista users will be upgraded to Internet Explorer 9.

According to Microsoft, a big motivating factor to introduce the forced upgrades is security risks. The latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report indicates that malware is an enormous threat facing computer user as malware often goes after security holes in browsers.

According to Microsoft, forced updates will first be introduced to Windows users in Brazil and Australia because people there use a broad spread of IE6, IE7, and IE8.

According to Reuters, Facebook has launched a new suicide-prevention tool that's meant to give users a direct link to an online chat with counsellors who can help.

Friends are able to report suicidal behaviour by clicking a report option next to any piece of content on the site and choosing suicidal content under the harmful behavior option, Facebook spokesman Frederic Wolens said.

Facebook will then email the user in distress a direct link for a private online chat with a crisis representative from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline as well as the group's phone number.

The new tool gives people who may not be comfortable picking up the phone a direct avenue to seek help.

""This was a natural progression from something we've been working on for a long time," Wolens said.

Users also have the ability to report suicidal behavior by going to the site's Help Center or search for suicide reporting forms. They can also use reporting links around the site.

Worried friends who reported the behavior will also receive a message to say it is being addressed, Wolens said.

Facebook, the most popular Web-based social networking site, has more than 800 million active users worldwide. The Palo Alto, California-based company was co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004.

The new suicide reporting tool will be made available to people who use Facebook in the United States and Canada.

Wolens said that all reporting on the site is done anonymously and so a distressed user will not know who reported the suicidal content.

Facebook is rumoured to be launching mobile advertising services in early 2012 and will be going up against Google and Apple.

According to blog and some media reports, Facebook is considering putting its Sponsored Stories ads, which feature friends' interactions with brands, into the mobile News Feed. According to one blog post, Facebook's new advertising service was originally supposed to arrive earlier this year, but the plan was delayed.

According to a story on Zdnet, Facebook has managed to establish itself as a major advertising supplier because it has a unique offering to businesses that are willing to gamble a little with their marketing dollars. “Advantages include being able to target users with a precision not found in most other forms of advertising. With its quickly growing user base (800 million monthly active users and counting), the company’s social graph is exploding across all demographics, which only further fuels improved ad targeting, performance, and revenue as well.”