Vista – XP Downgrade Rights – Hot Microsoft Subject

Sorry I have not been blogging this week. I've had one of "those" weeks. Nothing wrong but a lot more to do than usual.

I can't count the mentions of this I have seen this week. I chose this particular article because it lacks the hysterical tone so many of the others had. Personally; I could not force Vista on any company with which I deal. I downgrade them to XP, period! Evidently a LOT of others feel the same.

Jack

Beware! from BBC NEWS || Hackers target 'legitimate' sites

Hot off my RSS feed. The BBC reports:
More than 10,000 websites have become unwitting hosts of malicious software, say security experts.

Those visiting the hijacked pages risk having keylogging software installed on their PC if it is not protected with the latest patches.

The webpages compromised are all legitimate sites devoted to subjects such as tax, jobs, tourism and cars.

The sites are thought to have been booby-trapped using a malware kit, called MPack, sold commercially online.
[snip]
Security experts say the attack code is "browser aware" and will tune its attack depending on the web browsing software used by a visitor. Attack code is present for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.

The article concludes with "Many anti-virus companies have already updated their security software to defend against the attacks used in this outbreak." Be careful surfing out there!
--MissM

BBC NEWS | Technology | Hackers target 'legitimate' sites

On Computers Radio Show Podcast 06-17-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 06-17-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.

22 Confessions Of A Former Dell Sales Manager

This article on The Consumerist magazine's web site probably would have faded from view without getting all that much attention were it not for the fact that Dell went to some length to have it pulled (unsuccessfully).

There are some tips here for purchasing Dell hardware, especially computers, and for dealing with Dell's notorious offshore support structure.

I thought some of you might want to know.

Jack

The Gregg Zone !!

1) First up, not sure how many of you are Leno fans, but if you have not been to “Leno’s Garage” it is well worth checking out. He has a very large collection, and has a video for most of them. Some are incredibly interesting. Did you know the electric car was in New York just after the turn of the century, complete with charging stations all over the city? Check out Lenos video on the 1909 Baker. Think hybrids are new not so, check out; Lenos 1916 Owens Magnetic. Just a couple of things found here. http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/

2) Speaking of cars and concepts have you heard about the new “Automotive X Prize” not exactly a small reward for doing something cool, more like a super prize for solving a large problem? As in twenty-five million dollars, for a car that meets the standards they are looking for. The average Ford Model T got twenty five miles per gallon of gas; the average car today gets eighteen. So what went wrong, the X prize people are putting their money where their mouth is, trying to fix this problem. This first link is for a New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com, this next link here is for the X Prize site with rules and guide lines. http://www.xprize.org/

3) One of my interests is the effect of changes in our society generated by our ever changing internet; this next series of sites is along that line. It seems YouTube is going to get into politics, I suppose when you think about it they have been having an effect for a long time. This is an article about the project up coming; You Tube is going to formulate a platform using YouTube to present questions in an up coming democratic debate, personally I can’t wait. http://www.iht.com

Microsoft, Mozilla execs respond to Safari on Windows announcement

I think it is fair to say the industry response to Safari for Windows ranges from lukewarm to non-existent.

We'll be talking about it Sunday, but for now, trust me; there is no reason to get excited unless you've installed Safari and gotten hacked.

Jack

10 reasons why the Black Hats have us outgunned

This is realistic and so a bit depressing. However; it's told with just a bit of humor, is relatively short and well written. Well worth your time.

Jack

FBI Unveils Movable Feast with 'Operation Bot Roast' - Security Fix

The Security Fix column at the Washington Post is an excellent column, and today's details an FBI investigation about botnets. The article begins:

The FBI said today it has identified more than 1 million personal
computers that have been infected with computer worms enabling the attackers to control PCs for criminal purposes such as sending spam, spreading spyware and attacking Web sites.

The FBI used details it gleaned from an ongoing investigation called "Operation Bot Roast" to highlight a few recent arrests of individuals accused of running botnets and to raise public awareness about the problem, which the agency called "a growing threat to national security, the national information infrastructure and the economy."

go read the rest of the article and let us know what you think in comments.
--MissM

FBI Unveils Movable Feast with 'Operation Bot Roast' - Security Fix

Larholm.com | Safari for Windows, 0 day exploit in 2 hours

As Aaron poster earlier, Safari browser was announced Monday early, and available for download later in the day. But, it only took 2 hours to find an exploit, as the article below explains.

I downloaded and installed Safari for Windows 2 hours ago, when I started writing this, and I now have a fully functional command execution vulnerability, triggered without user interaction simply by visiting a web site. I will not sell this one to ZDI or iDefense but instead release it here, as I have done lately with a number of 0day vulnerabilities. This place is where you get my latest research [link below or in title]:)

Larholm.com - Me, myself and I � Safari for Windows, 0 day exploit in 2 hours

--MissM
[h/t GeekBrief.tv ]

Quick First Review of the Dell Ubuntu Notebook Computer Inspiron E1505N

"Quick First Review" does not really reveal much. No faults and a happy camper on first impressions. I just thought to post this for those who are curious.

My pal George got his Inspiron 1505N the other day. Much to my frustration, he did not unpack it before reporting to the hospital to have his appendix out. Best wishes, George, but my patience is wearing thin and I'm about to break into your house to try the thing out and satisfy my curiosity. (Just kidding.)

Jack

Four Critical Fixes Coming for Windows, IE, Mail

eweek writes:
Microsoft will send out six security bulletins, four of them for problems rated "critical," the company's highest severity rating, on Patch Tuesday, June 12. All four of the most serious vulnerabilities, in Windows and in IE, can lead to systems getting hijacked.

Three of the critical problems are in Windows; one is in Internet Explorer, one is in Outlook Express and Windows Mail, and there is one "important" fix for Visio. Also, a moderate bug has been found in Windows.

Four Critical Fixes Coming for Windows, IE, Mail
--MissM

Safari for Windows

I don't know if this belongs in the "heck" freezes over category, but Apple has released its Safari browser for Windows.

Any takers?

Vista not playing well with IPv6

This has been known for a while, but not widely because it is far from being a problem for everyone. I'm not actually sure how many folks it affects at all. I post this because if you know about it you might be able to solve some otherwise baffling network problems.

Jack

Mac vs. PC cost analysis: How does it all add up?

The "math" in this Computer World article is suspect, in my opinion.

I'd buy a Mac in a heartbeat if I had that sort of money. But I'd run Linux on it. If I left the Mac OS X on it, I'd have to purchase a LOT of software to meet all my needs. There just isn't a lot of freeware or free/open source software (FOSS) for the Mac and the proprietary stuff I would have to purchse is expensive. That's where the big difference lies for me. With the PC and Windows, I can use FOSS to fill out my software needs. With Linux, all my needs are met with FOSS. But with the Mac OS X, I would have to buy a lot of additional software.

Even with all that, this is an interesting comparison. Just don't trust other people's numbers too far.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 06-10-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 06-10-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

The Gregg Zone !!

1) First up this week I have just run across a computer thing that has me concerned. They are called web beacons, and I’m hoping to generate some discussion on the radio show Sunday about them. I use some yahoo services and when I ran across articles talking about these web beacons I started asking questions, and not liking the answers, at least so far. You might want to “opt out” on these if you yahoo.

http://www.rense.com

http://antivirus.about.com

2) Next up, how about alchemy. This is an interesting site, to read about alchemy, mostly PDF files; it was interesting to me to read the papers originally written a very long time ago. Translated into language of our time, I have to wonder would some one vocalize such concepts, with the limited vocabulary of those days. It would be necessary to express complex ideas in terms of that day. While I’m sure we do a very good job with verbatim translation of the words. I’m not so sure we do well with the innuendo’s and slang of the time, it is difficult enough for me to follow today’s vernacular when there are regional, national, racial, terms and phrases that elude me entirely. For instance I was captivated for a while reading the “Golden chain of Homer” the parallels kept popping into my brain. How would someone of that time describe concepts of modern science? Somehow even if the subject was expressed well for the language of the day, and contained great detail, I fear the translators would favor views that supported their beliefs, they did not have the equipment to run an experiment, therefore they must have meant something else. Anyway if you have ever wondered about alchemy this might be worth checking out. http://www.hermetics.org

3) Just for fun have you ever played at the “Where’s George” site they will track a bill what ever denomination you want, if you get a stamped bill you can see where it has been, or at least where it was recorded by some one like me, I usually go there and write a short note, where I got it. I got one the other day here in Alaska, on the site I found it was last recorded in Vancouver Washington. Where someone had went out on the town with Drake, Larson, and Kristi, to “spend a lot of where’s George bills” it traveled 1,534 miles in 77 days 6 hours and 38 minutes, or 20 miles a day. I can keep a log of various bills. I was doing this when I was in Las Vegas, and found it interesting. http://www.wheresgeorge.com

Symantec tests bot-killer

Here is what seems like a good idea. It's NOT ANTI-VIRUS. It's software that examines the behavior of executables and deals with them if it thinks they're bot controlling software.

It's a free and open beta if you want to give it a shot.

Jack

Anatomy of the Linux kernel

Ever wonder how an operating system kernel works? Just what it does and how it does it? How about the Linux kernel in particular?

This page at the IBM Developer Works site will tell you a lot, in language anyone can understand, without being "dumbed down". Quite an accomplishment, that. It's not a tremendously long read. Just one extended page, and it has some diagrams that will help you understand things.

I recommend this one highly.
Jack

Kaspersky, Grisoft, F-Secure fail VB100 security test

I post this mostly for those who are running AVG, which is Grisoft's anti-virus. It might be time for a change.

Jack

courant.com | Amero Granted New Trial

I had mentioned this travesty of justice before, and this week was supposed to be sentencing, which could have been up to 40 years. As a result of a state police forensics examination AFTER the guilty verdict, the judge ruled that a new trial was in order. I've posted the highlights of an article pointed to by the Sunbelt Blog.

NEW LONDON -- A Superior Court judge Wednesday granted a new trial for Julie Amero, 40, a Norwich substitute teacher whose faulty computer spewed pornographic images in her seventh grade classroom. [snip]

But today, Smith [the prosecuting attorney] said state would take no position on Dow's motion for a new trial, making it unlikely she will be tried again. Smith also acknowledged that erroneous information about the computer was presented during trial.

--MissM

courant.com | Amero Granted New Trial