By DEBORAH GAGE, San Francisco Chronicle

The Web has become a major source of information about the H1N1 flu virus (more commonly known as swine flu), but the medium is proving to be a double-edged sword.
Hucksters are sending spam and putting up their own Web sites to offer flu treatments. Some bloggers who are tracking H1N1 are speculating that this flu could have been constructed by terrorists as a weapon.

Despite widespread fears of a mass outbreak on the Internet on this week, the Conficker worm proved to be a dud.
But what the Conficker episode did show is the dangerously primitive state of Internet security, several experts said, even as cyberthreats increase.

What was the weather like the day Pearl Harbor was attacked?

Microsoft is giving free software to startups around the world to encourage them to develop products that span the Web, PCs and phones, the company said Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Some of the world's most famous conservationists will gather here this weekend to recruit volunteers and raise money through the Wildlife Conservation Network, which applies the techniques of the venture capital world to save endangered species.

The market for initial public offerings hit a 30-year low last quarter, making it harder for startups to find exits and for venture capitalists to return money to investors, according to a new report.For the first time since 1978, there were no venture-backed IPOs at all in that time period, and the pace has barely picked up since.

SAN FRANCISCO -- By day, Bruce Baikie works at Sun Microsystems as an engineer specializing in telecommunications.On nights and weekends, however, he has a side job -- a small company that he started called Green Wi-Fi, where all the employees, including himself, are volunteers.

A Colorado woman logged on to her computer in April, voted on a CNN poll, shopped for airline tickets and calculated payments for a $25,000 car loan from Wells Fargo.She didn't suspect that a malicious software program was recording every keystroke -- frequent-flier numbers and passwords, her home address and phone number, an online conversation she was having with some friends.

Computer users now can fly through the universe, viewing stars, planets and celestial bodies as an astronomer would, with Tuesday's introduction of the Worldwide Telescope by Microsoft.The virtual service combines images and databases from every major telescope and astronomical organization in the world.

Criminal attacks against major Web sites have grown so common that Internet users have no reliable way to know which sites are safe to visit, no matter how well known those destinations are, security experts say.