Due to a series of unforeseen circumstances, today’s action packed edition of the Free Line will be slightly abbreviated. Rest assured, everything will be right and normal tomorrow. With that said, here we go:

Another day, another horrible virus warning. Yesterday, it was a malware suite that disguises itself as a anti-virus program. Today, it’s Facebook. The “fun” begins the second you log into the service. You are first greeted with an “urgent message” that claims that several of your friends were unable to view your page. To correct the problem, the warning says, all you have to do is install a handy new app called “Error Check System.” When the app is installed, it immediately sends itself to all of your friends. Unlike most pieces of junk, this virus has a backup system. A quick search for “Check Error System” on Google will net you a site that supposedly warns you about the Facebook threat. When clicked, the site brings up a fake virus scan, which attempts to toss two Trojans onto your system. As always, watch what you load and take the proper precautions.

In other news, Microsoft has unveiled the Social Desktop, a system the company hopes will blur the line between the traditional user desktop and the Internet at large. The way that Redmond plans to do this lies within bowels of desktop-based file folders. Normally, these folders can only be shared through a private network or other similar setup. Social Desktop takes away that limitation by assigning each folder its own unique web address. The result is a system that’s closer to a web OS such as Eye OS than Windows Vista. Despite its early promise, it might be awhile before we see the feature on a system near you. According to Microsoft, the Social Desktop is merely a “proof of concept” at this point.

And finally: There’s a new search engine in town, and it’s coming from an unlikely source — The New York Times. Called the NYT Explorer, the new engine only does one thing (that is, search the New York Times), but it does it extraordinarily well. Articles can be searched by keyword, subject, date published, author, and even location. Each search is performed extremely fast and, at least judging by our tests, are extremely accurate. Easy to use and operate, NYT Explorer proves that even the oldest of the “old guard” can embrace change.