We know this is our last chance to squeeze in once final glass o' juice about potential Stevenote announcements before the big to-do goes down, but you know what? We're too giddy with anticipation to dwell on it anymore, and we're guessing you're feeling pretty burned out about the whole thing, too. What with all the rumors and lawsuits and bizarre press requirements flying around, this is probably the most eagerly awaited Stevenote in years, so we figure it's probably best to untangle our heads with something other than flashPod price rumors or "Asteroid" name guesses or predictions about exactly when Steve will flee the scene with his jetpack. So what say we cleanse our palates before Father Steve's sermon with a little snack of leftovers from Wildly Off-Topic Microsoft-Bashing Day?

You're already well aware (although, as Mac users, hopefully not intimately aware) that the spyware problem over there in the Windows camp has gotten well and truly out of control; most Wintels with Internet connections are probably running thirty or forty bits of covert software doing everything from stealing passwords to intercepting credit card numbers to secretly hypnotizing the family pooch to relieve himself in every pair of footwear he encounters. Certainly Microsoft is aware of the crisis-- and has finally deemed the problem big enough that now is a good time for the company to pretend that it actually cares. We've already mentioned how Microsoft bought out an anti-spyware company and planned to release a spyware-purging app completely for free-- at least at first. As far as we know, the company still hasn't decided to charge for updates (though it hasn't ruled out the possibility), but Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta 1 is now available for Windows users to use free of charge.

Overall, the app seems to be getting its fair share of thumbs-up reviews, but faithful viewer Lisa Boucher informed us of an amusing little anomaly described over at Chris Pirillo's blog: apparently on Chris's system, Microsoft AntiSpyware only identified one potentially malignant "Shell Execute Hook"-- and according to the screenshot he's provided as proof (which also suggests that Microsoft's developers could use a quick lesson in the proper usage of apostrophes-- "Window's"?), the offending software was Microsoft AntiSpyware itself. Yes, it seems that Microsoft's new spyware-zapping application labels its very own shell extension as "Unknown" and offers to send it to SpyNet for analysis.

We're not suggesting that actually means anything, mind you, but since Microsoft just bought and renamed software written by a company named GIANT instead of writing its own (or making Windows more impervious to spyware infection in the first place), we like to fantasize that GIANT was originally smart enough to distrust any Microsoft-branded shell hooks and Microsoft just hasn't gotten around to dumbing the application down yet. In any case, we thought it was worth a small off-topic chuckle to help keep your mind from obsessing too completely over Steve's imminent shindig; after all, we're sure there'll be plenty enough to obsess about in a few hours' time.