More IT Information

Recently a code was published that allows attackers to disable the Windows Firewall on some XP computers.
The computer has to be running Windows XP and Windows Internet Connection Service (ICS), which is running on any XP computer that is sharing its Internet connection. This of course does not affect networked computers using a router to share the Internet connection, the connection has to be first plugged into that computer then shared with other computers to be vulnerable.
The attack is accomplished by sending a malicious packet to the machine, which will cause ICS to crash. Due to ICS's connection to the Windows Firewall, it also stops working as well.
The good news is that there are many factors that make this less likely to happen. The main factor is that the person doing this must be inside the network. This leaves very few choices over who can do it. The only real way an outsider could perform such an attack would be if you had a wireless network setup that they had gained access to.
Businesses are not likely to be affected by this due to their use of hardware based firewalls or computers dedicated to just that purpose. Households who want to share their Internet connection should be using a NAT Router as well and probably are if they have a wireless network set up. While this flaw is not something one would want on their system, it isn't going to affect 99.9% of users unless there is another method found for exploiting the vulnerability.

Labels: firewall, microsoft, vulnerability, windows, xp

A warning to MySpace users, the site has been compromised to gain login information which is then sent to France.
On MySpace the user account login_home_index_html has a profile page that is specially created to hide genuine MySpace content and display its own, which includes a login page that is used to collect user information. After the user account and password are collected, personal information can be gained from the information users provide on registration. It is unlikely that even the most security conscious users would have noticed the compromised page and would probably have fallen victim to the scam.
If you use the Netcraft toolbar though, you are protected by a warning that displays when entering the site. Also it appears that MySpace has removed the user account, so for now you're safe, but it's still important to know in case you may have visited that user's profile.
Complete information can be read at Netcraft's website.

Labels: internet, myspace, safety

Looking into compression utilities recently for the highest compression level (time was not that important), I decided to share some of my findings. Most of the utilities are only Linux/Unix based.
The most popular of which gzip, gives a compression range from 110% to about 128%. The default compression level of 6 in the benchmarks I've read is not that much worse than the compression level of 9. The compression becomes a lot better with very little time difference for the first 5 levels and begins leveling off at 6 with the levels 7 to 9 being almost the same compression with a large increase in time for each consecutive level.
Another popular utility, bzip2, according to the benchmarks has it's beginning compression level at about 130% and rises to about 155% or 160% at it's highest. The disadvantage is that it is a lot slower than gzip by about 30 or 40 times.
The popular zip utilities found on most computers seem to have a similar compression level as gzip.
Having done my own test on these three utilities on a tar file containing image files as well as XML and XSL documents. The tar contained about 36 files, 22 of which were JPEG images. The best performance for that tar was gzip and zip giving 20 KB more compression than bzip2. All of these were compressed using the highest possible option.
Generally bzip2 compresses files more than gzip, but not always and if you are really looking for the most compression, you probably should compress the file with both and choose the one with the highest level of compression, provided that speed isn't important.
According to the benchmarks 7za and lzma provide the highest compression levels at about 425% to 430% but require 100 to 150 times more time to compress.

Labels: compression, linux, os, OSS, unix

Very important news has been released for anyone using LimeWire file-sharing software.
In Denver, police have recently discovered a computer containing records of about 75 different people. Included were tax records, bank accounts, online bill payment records among other things. These records were apparently obtained from the LimeWire software. The software apparently was exploited to allow every file within a computer to be accessed.
LimeWire users are being asked to ensure that their computer's security is updated and firewalls and antivirus software are being used. For those who share their computer with others, it is also advised to check to see if any file-sharing applications are installed.
The Federal Trade Commission has a site describing the risks associated with file-sharing networks with suggestions on how to protect yourself that anyone using such software should read as well as those with children who use such software.

Labels: internet, limewire, p2p, safety, vulnerability

For those looking for a way to disable Microsoft's WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) check, Haklabs has just released a step by step process.
Along with the steps there are comments by people who have tried it as well as other options. One of which is a file which patches the registry to disable WGA from checking software. The file can also be downloaded here.
Remember changing your registry can be risky, so if you're not sure how to do it, it might be better to not do it.

Labels: microsoft, wga, windows

Numly has created yet another service. This time it's called tably.
With tably people can add comments to any web page without having to register for anything. These comments are publicly viewable.
When using the service the only difference between the normal page and the page loaded with tably is a pink tably written vertically in the left corner to post and view comments.
To try it out either go to their website above or type http://tably.com/(and the website you are interested in viewing). An example would be http://tably.com/moreitinfo.blogspot.com or http://tably.com/yahoo.com
If it becomes popular, it could be another way of providing feedback to website owners and other users viewing the site.

Labels: internet, numly, tably

Microsoft has clarified Windows Vista's activations after a lot of different ideas of what the system will be like.
According to a spokesman in the Licensing Department of Microsoft, Vista will not require reactivation unless the hard drive or other pieces of hardware are changed. When talking about the hardware they mention major changes like motherboards needing reactivation, but not CPUs, memory, or graphics cards. Those who do swap hard drives or motherboards can do so up to 10 times before having to contact Microsoft directly to activate the system at Microsoft's discretion. It is advised that people who will change their system a lot keep an image of their system without any drivers to make it easier to change components and machines.

Labels: activation, microsoft, vista, windows

For Microsoft Office users, it is required as of today to validate the authenticity of your Office 2007 before downloading online templets with OGA (Office Genuine Advantage). From January it will be required to authenticate Office before using Office Update.
OGA is created from WGA and hopefully doesn't have similar problems with misidentification of legitimate software. It seems the direction Microsoft is going is to have such features on all versions of their software, from Office to their games.
Not knowing exactly the scope of what this feature will eventually do, I cannot say whether this is a good or bad thing. With the Vista version limiting the number of times you can install the system or authenticate the system on a computer after hardware modifications, if OGA is similar it may not be so good. People's hard drives have problems and they have to reinstall everything, some have such problems that they are reinstalling even more often. The last thing that is needed is to have a problem on your computer and have to buy a new license for Office because you cannot authenticate it again after reinstalling it for example the third time.

Labels: microsoft, office, oga, wga

With all the talk about Vista and how different it is from other Windows versions I've decided to look at how different it is from itself.
Let's start with Vista Home editions. The Vista Home Basic edition's features are listed as: significant advances in security and reliability, Windows Vista Basic user interface, Search and Organize innovations, and Improved networking. The description claims that this edition is for those who want to use their computers for web surfing, talking with friends via email and chat programs and editing documents or creating them at a basic level.
So to summarize this version of Vista is for the average person who uses a computer only for the Internet but has no real interest in computers. Let's say that this is the version for the computer use habits of our grandparents. Those looking for the extra eyecandy and advanced user interface that Vista boasts will not find it here and may notice a huge difference in the systems when seeing the more expensive versions.
Vista Home Premium on the other hand adds: the Windows Aero user interface, Windows Media Center functionality, Windows Tablet PC capability, and the ability to do video authoring and DVD burning. Its description tells us that it is good for those who want to still find information on the Internet and stay connected, but also for working with photos, video, TV programs and music. They also mention this version being good for basic home level accounting tasks (i.e. balancing a checkbook), doing homework, watching films and listening to music or playing games.
So in short the general purpose version of the operating system. Not brilliant for any one task, but will do what tasks the average family needs. This is the version for the shared family computer with no computer "hobbyists" in the house.
Next comes Vista Business. Like Home Premium it features the Windows Aero user interface and Windows Tablet PC capabilities. It also has primary business features (i.e. Domain Join, support for Group Policies, and an Encrypted File System, Fax, and Scan) and it includes some Small Business Resources. It describes itself as helping computers run smoother and more secure while causing less reliance on IT staff. It claims to give IT staff more time to add value to the business that uses this software.
Unfortunately with some of the anti-piracy features, this may not be true if the business updates and changes their system hardware often. Under this situation and considering it could cause problems with having to reauthenticate the system after ever change.
Lastly there is Vista Ultimate. Also featuring the Windows Aero user interface and the capability to use Windows Tablet PCs, but adding Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption and every worldwide interface language. It is described as having all the features of the Home and Enterprise editions of Vista. It is said to combine the features of an operating system focused on business and mobility with digital entertainment features.
This is the version designed with the hardcore gamers in mind along with the people who plan to use the computer primarily for their business. Looking at the hardware requirements of Vista, this system should work quite well for games so long as the operating system itself doesn't hog all of the resources.

Labels: desktop, microsoft, vista, windows

Microsoft has released Windows Defender which was formerly known as Microsoft AntiSpyware beta.
Windows Defender has improved its ability to detect and remove spyware including the real time monitor. The definition files have also been changed so that they are smaller to allow for faster download times.
Microsoft will offer free support for installation and configuration, definition updates and errors with detection and removal, but only for a limited time after installing the software.
There is one possible disadvantage. While users should not be using pirated copies of Windows or any product, the inclusion of testing for that may not be the best option as we have already seen that it may not be accurate always. Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is a part of Windows Defender and while it will not lock your system if it detects a non-genuine version of Windows, it will run at a lower functionality level. It will show all spyware, but only remove the severe ones from the list on a non-genuine Windows.
Because of WGA having a tendency to sometimes wrongly accuse a system of being non-genuine, I would not recommend getting this software for fear that one day it will stop functioning correctly. I still recommend Ad-Aware for its ease and performance.

Labels: defender, microsoft, spyware, wga, windows

DarkReading has released an article describing ten of the most dangerous things that people do online. They begin by stating that no matter how much training users receive, they still do things that compromise their computer's security such as leaving passwords stuck to their monitor or downloading software for personal use.
The number one risky activity that users do is open email attachments from unknown people. Even with all the publicity about this, users still are doing it. Email attachment are the most likely way of getting viruses or other malicious programs. If you look at any site that lists current security attacks, many of the attacks will be conducted via email, even if only a link to a website from the email. While a recent survey found that 93% of UK office workers knew that such links and attachments could contain viruses, 86% claimed to actually have opened them without knowing about the safety involved and 76% do it regularly. How can such activities be combated when users know the risk but do it anyway. People might as well be playing Russian Roulette with their computers.
Of course second comes the users who install personal software. IM software is a double edged sword in this sense, it is very useful for companies to keep in touch, while at the same time poses a security risk when connected to the outside world. Peer-to-peer file sharing programs are far more risky allowing for viruses to easily enter the system or confidential corporate information to worm its way out of the system. Also with file sharing applications there is the included possibility of pirated software or music entering and being stored on a company system. With the current push to stop pirated items, it could be a legal risk to a company as well.
Thirdly is the disabling or rescheduling of security features. Users turn off firewalls to increase their Internet speed or allow certain files to be sent and received. Many users also tend to reschedule or put off changing their passwords or security patch installation claiming that it keeps them from doing their work and is too much of a hassle.
Similarly there are the people who routinely log onto their computers with administrator accounts for very much the same reason. In this case it's usually the private individuals who have their own companies who claim that they need to log on as admin to run applications and install applications. When you tell them of the huge security risk involved in doing that they just state how they cannot run the applications any other way. Of course showing these people how to set the permissions so that they can does nothing because it took a minute to set up.
The article continues to go into other activities such as viewing emails from unknown users, browsing the Internet for gambling, porn and other such sites, giving out passwords, and many more.
The problem is how to convince users to not do these things. Many of them know of the dangers they just do the actions anyway.

Labels: email, firewall, internet, p2p, safety

Earlier this week Secunia announced that Internet Explorer 7 was affected by an MHTML redirection exploit that was found in IE 6 as early as 2003.
Microsoft has responded by saying that it is an exploit that affects Outlook Express and is not a vulnerability in any version of Internet Explorer.
To this statement Secunia responded by saying that the vulnerability is fully exploitable from Internet Explorer and that IE was the primary and possibly only way of exploiting the vulnerability. Secunia does acknowledge that the actual vulnerability may be in Outlook Express, but still stand behind the alert being for IE stating that it is deceiving to users to not say that IE is vulnerable when that is the application being used to exploit the vulnerability.
For a vulnerability that has been around since 2003, one would think that Microsoft would be more interested in patching the vulnerability rather than bickering over which application is vulnerable and which is at fault. If IE is how the vulnerability is being exploited then IE should be patched to prevent the exploit from working on Outlook Express or Outlook Express should be patched to eliminate the vulnerability. Both applications are at fault. The solution could be made in either place and should be made instead of trying to point the finger at other applications. The average user doesn't care exactly which program is vulnerable, they just want to have a fairly secure computer and not worry about viruses or other malicious activities. When there is a problem it doesn't matter which application it is, what matters is that it is fixed.

Labels: IE, microsoft, outlook, vulnerability, windows

Those interested in trying Linux have help in choosing which distribution to choose. The Linux Distribution Chooser is created to help newcomers choose which Linux is best for them. It will not tell you exactly which one to choose but it will give you some rough choices based on your answers to a brief questionaire.
After the short questionaire, a list of distributions is displayed ranked according to recommendations level. Rather than not listing the non-recommended distributions, they are listed with the reason why they may not be suitable so you can make the ultimate choice based on all the information presented.
While this site is lacking in questions during the questionaire, it does ask the essential ones and makes up for that lack completely with the presentation of the results. Linux is about freedom to use your computer the way you want and this site follows that theme by not holding back or hiding any information.

Labels: linux, os

Microsoft last week has promised to work with security providers to allow them to provide security support in Vista.
McAfee has become severely disappointed in Microsoft and stated that Microsoft was issuing 'hollow security promises' after yesterday's teleconference incident. About 15 minutes into the conference using Microsoft's Live Meeting software, Symantec and McAfee were disconnected from the conference and unable to connect again, while about a dozen other companies were unaffected.
The conference was intended to inform the companies of ways Microsoft would allow third-party security providers to work with Vista.
It is curious why McAfee and Symantec, the two companies pressuring for access to Vista's kernel and most vocally claiming that they are unable to support Vista correctly with their security software because of Microsoft's lockdown of the kernel, would both have connection problems while a dozen companies were completely unaffected. It leaves one wondering if it wasn't planned to either prove lack of commitment or as punishment for those complaining. Of course I doubt either company would do that due to the consequences of such an action.
This incident along with the recent vulnerability in Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP could cause companies to question the reliability of Microsoft products and the risk involved in using them. Most companies cannot afford to have their teleconferences with customers fail completely shutting the customer entirely out without it affecting their business greatly and causing a loss of confidence in the products they are providing even if they have nothing to do with the products being used to teleconference. Microsoft has been lucky in that people come back and still feel comfortable using their products after such incidents.

Labels: mcafee, microsoft, security, symantec, vista

Internet Explorer 7 has only been out a few hours and already Secunia has found a vulnerability in the code.
Apparently the vulnerability can allow the disclosure of potentially sensitive information and is the result of a handling error in the redirection of URLs with IE7's mhtml URI handler.
There is a test from secunia to see if your browser is actually effected by this vulnerability based on the Proof of Concept code created by codedreamer. From this site you can also sign up to be informed when a patch is made available to fix the vulnerability as well as a weekly newsletter informing people of newly discovered vulnerabilities.
This doesn't do very good to promote Microsoft's image of being very interested in security and quality. This is the first time I've ever heard of a piece of software being released and within hours already having vulnerabilities discovered especially with such a popular product. This is not a good sign of what is to come.

Labels: IE, microsoft, vulnerability

The director of the FBI, Robert Mueller has asked for ISPs to track their customers' activities. He argues that terrorists are able to coordinate plans on the Internet as well as violent sexual predators sitting in chat rooms and that ISPs usually delete the information that would help law enforcement identify and catch these criminals before law enforcement can review it. Thankfully he also states that there must be a balance between privacy and law enforcement gaining access.
While I have to agree that it is true that malicious activities can go on anonymously over the Internet, more monitoring and data retention is not the answer for this problem. Maybe it will help for sexual predators sitting in chat rooms, in which case retaining a chat log for for example three months would be helpful in that sense, but that's not the responsibility of ISPs, it's the responsibility of chat providers. As for terrorist activities, this will do nothing to stop such groups communicating with members. An encrypted file using an unpatented encryption algorithm sent to someone can take months if not years to unencrypt depending on the security level of the encryption. In such a situation a terrorist group could send instructions to its members which would be useless to any law enforcement organization which intercepted the file. Banning the use of highly secure encryption is no solution as any sensitive data sent over the Internet should be protected from evesdropping and encryption is the only option.
To date the best option for sexual predators and other criminal activities taking place on the Internet is having organizations which employ people to talk in chat rooms and search for such predators, working with law enforcement once they are in contact with such a person. Groups searching message boards and other forums as well can find and stop such activities. Such groups have been successful and are still successful in stopping such people sometimes before they have ever committed a crime against an innocent person. Education among teens and young adults as well will help prevent them from becoming a victim.
There is nothing that forcing an ISP to retain information can do to help prevent criminal activities. There are too many other options for people to pass information. Also such data retention leaves an abundance of information for malicious groups to steal and use to make a profit. Of course there is also the recent and well-known case of AOL's data being accidently released to the public. It's too risky for privacy and the protection of the public to implement such a requirement.

Labels: FBI, internet, safety

In a letter to the European Commission the group Initiative for Software Choice (ISC) spoke against a the EC's study into the role of open source software in the European economy.
In the letter the ISC states that the OSS model is successful and doesn't need any support to help them become successful and that the report doesn't mention non-OSS as a positive to the market, but rather as something that provides 'headaches' to OSS. The letter further states that other software models have produced some great software and the report is not balanced in this regard.
Yes, there are great software products in OSS and propriety models, but the propriety software does have a tendency to try to prevent OSS from existing in a common market. Propriety software prevents users in some cases from using anything else and some protocols and licensed in such a way to prevent OSS from being able to connect with propriety software.
The letter threatens that actions taken to promote OSS will destroy the propriety market and that innovation is lead by propriety software rather than OSS. The propriety standard creates innovation as it gives developers incentive to create innovative software.
This can be completely refuted when we look at the beginning of the computer software industry and the current OSS trends. The innovations that allowed the computer to become so useful were originally similar to OSS. Also the OSS market has some software which is leading the market on innovation, for example the desktop environment Xgl which is more innovative the Vista's desktop especially that it was developed before Vista's desktop became known.
The ISC's known pro-Microsoft stance and agenda and Microsoft funding leaves one wondering if this isn't Microsoft trying to protect it's own software against the OSS movement which seems to be the biggest competition currently for Microsoft. The recent revelation of MS funding SCO, which has sued Linux over patent issues and is in the process of losing the case also leaves one wondering about any company or organization funded or supported by Microsoft.

Labels: EC, OSS

When you win a free product, you usually don't expect the brand new device to have any malicious software on it, but that seems to be exactly what has happened to 10000 people who have won MP3 players from McDonald's and Coca-Cola in Japan.
The players were shipped with the McDonald's logo and were preloaded with 10 songs and a bonus password stealing Trojan known as QQPass. It isn't exactly known how computers can be infected from the MP3 player but some say all that is required is to plug the thing into a computer.
How can this happen with hardware coming directly from the factory? This is the major question that should be asked. Did no one check the devices for quality before shipping? Was the Trojan in one of the songs or loaded separately? This incident leaves a lot of questions about the legality of the pre-loaded MP3s and where they were obtained as well as the level of quality assurance found at producers of MP3 players.

Labels: mp3, trojan

The long forgotten Generic Graphical Library (GEGL) has been demonstrated and finally it's incorporation in the GIMP may be on the horizon.
GEGL is a generic demand driver image processing system. It will be able to edit all of the common image types as well as more unusual images. The processing of the images will not take place until after it knows the final size and type of output enabling it to know exactly what will happen with the image and optimize your image quite aggressively.
Screenshots of the program can be viewed here.
If you want to find out more you can visit the GEGL website or here.

Labels: gegl, gimp, image, OSS, processing

For those with visual impairment, Google offers a search engine to help. While Google's Accessible Search appears very similar to the normal Google Search, there is a major difference. The search specifically looks for sites that are more accessible for the blind and visually impaired. It specifically looks at the HTML to find pages that have few visual distractions and will load well with images disabled.
How can a person make a website more accessible is the next question?
One of the first ways is to use style sheets and to avoid using the FONT element. This can enable viewers to better control the appearance of the page to suit their needs while still giving the developer full control over the general way the page looks. For people who have disabled images possible because of using text based browsers or just to help them read the page better, providing a text equivalent to the image is very helpful. This can be presented to viewers using braille, screen readers or people who can read the text.
Also making pages that can be read by people with no mice, small screens, low resolution screens, as well as no screens and only text or voice output will make a page more accessible. Making the content of the page easy to understand and navigate is something many pages lack, but will help the accessibility of a page.
For a complete list of guidelines that can make a page more accessible visit the W3C.

Labels: accessibility, Google, internet, search

A software solution for those who have a tight budget but need to provide computer access to multiple people has been developed for Linux. The Linux Desktop Multiplier has already been used to provide high performance Internet cafes at low costs at major technology conferences such as GroupWise European Summit and GWAVACon.
The Linux Desktop Multiplier allows users of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED 10) to have up to 10 users share one PC. To do so you need to have dual-head graphics cards installed along with all the required keyboards, mice and monitors. It is said that the cost per user can be reduced in this way to about $99 per user.
More information about this can be read here.

Labels: desktop, linux, sled, suse

The European Union version of Vista will see changes in security, document format and the way users choose search engines in IE 7. Also the software will not include a media player or instant messaging software.
The Vista kernel will be open for security vendors to access using APIs. The problem is when will this API be made available for security companies. While this is a good step, it could be released too late for security vendors to implement by the time Vista is released.
While Microsoft has said this, they haven't really made it known exactly how these changes will take place and what the end results will look like. I am a bit worried about what the product will look like as Microsoft could try to send a message with their changes that the product needs to be the way it is unchanged to function properly. I also worry about any extra time required for creating patches and the support issues of having two versions of the same software.

Labels: microsoft, vista, windows

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is not cutting corners on security while still offering laptops to children in developing countries throughout the world. Recently they have invited some of the world's best hackers to help secure the laptop platform before they launch it.
The project is planning on delivering about 100 million laptops in the first year at about $100 each. They want these laptops to be very secure and have already had members of the GNOME community spend two days looking at the laptops and hacking the embedded version of the GNOME desktop. Now they want the best hackers to look at the documentation and play with the machine trying to break into it to help ensure a higher level of security.
The group has said that they cannot afford to get any part of the system wrong. This is because many of the people who are receiving these laptops will have very limited network connectivity at home and school and therefore need to have a secure laptop out of the box.
If this project continues as it is going, it may very will be the first project that actually offers quality low cost products to developing countries. This will provide the children receiving the laptops with computer skills that can enable them to later get jobs in more developed countries in the IT industry as well as giving them the ability to gain an equivalent education to those in more developed nations by having access, even if limited, to other resources on the Internet.

Labels: OLPC, security

UK users have their personal data to worry about.
It was just revealed that thousands of users in the UK have had data stolen from their computers by the Haxdoor Trojan. Recently it was sent out throughout Europe through spam emails in an attachment some of which were named rakningen.zip or rechnung.zip.
The Metropolitan Police have been trying to contact people who may be affected by this by sending out email messages to them, but most of these messages have been ignored.
The Haxdoor Trojan is a backdoor and rootkit that has spying capabilities as well. It is able to hide itself and it's processes, therefor making it difficult to detect without anti-virus tools that use kernel drivers or rootkit detectors. When running it hides itself, but it also either hides the Winlogon.exe process or the Explorer.exe process. This can be very helpful in detecting if your computer is infected. Of course removing it is another issue. Also access to the sites of many anti-virus vendors will be blocked by the Trojan.
Haxdoor steals IMAP passwords, server names and usernames along with Inetcomm server passwords, Outlook passwords, POP passwords, POP server and user names, protected storage passwords, The Bat! passwords and Windows registration information. It can also steal some passwords that are stored in memory. This information will be posted on a server at the website of skynet.info.
Not only does it steal your information, but it also listens on TCP port 16661 for commands that can allow the hacker to download files from your computer or upload them to your computer, view file contents, find files, run files, send emails, show a messagebox, gain full access to the Windows Registry, enable or disable keyloggers, copy to and from the clipboard, move the location of the cursor, disable or enable the keyboard, change file attributes including its location, kill processes, disable drives, change the time, swap mouse buttons, take screenshots of a desktop, play media files, send messages to applications, start services, play a system beep, log off or shutdown Windows, open or close the CD-ROM tray, uninstall the Trojan, and open other ports.
To make matters worse a Haxdoor toolkit is being sold for $2000 on the black market by a Russian hacker called "Corpse" and allows anyone to create their own variant of the Trojan making it even more difficult to stop.

Labels: internet, trojan

Computer World has recently released an article describing the difficulties of networking multiple systems in Vista.
While the released version is said to fix the difficulties of networking, Computer World has stated that in Vista RC1 support of XP and previous versions of Windows is very poor. Some of the problems faced include computers not showing up in the network or disappearing after being previously there. Also possible is seeing them while using one feature of Vista, but not in a different feature. An example given of that include XP devices not showing up in Vista's Network Map while showing up in Windows Explorer on Vista. Another difficulty is the inability to connect a network printer on an XP computer with Vista.
Microsoft has stated that devices are very slow to show up in XP networks and as such they are also slow on Vista networks. The problem arises from Vista's use of Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD), which isn't supported in previous versions of Windows. A patch should be released by the time Vista ships to solve this problem though.
Another complaint includes the network backup feature of Vista. It allows people to backup their data to another computer within their network, which is a great feature and many would like to do this. Unfortunately, when choosing to backup documents for example, there is not way of choosing which document types to backup. So people who only want their Word documents stored will have their PowerPoint and Excel documents sent as well. This is not only in one specific folder, it's ever file on the entire system. To take another perspective, if you want to backup pictures that you have stored on your drive from say a digital camera, you will be forced to back up the pictures within Vista itself as well.
The interfaces for networking have some problems as well. Multiple links lead to the same place. Specifically described are the links within the Network and Internet Control Panel and how three of the links all lead to the Network and Sharing Center. I presume this is Vista's way of appealing to Linux users by giving them multiple ways of doing the same thing.
The article lists other reasons as well, but I'll let you read them yourself here.
In a nutshell, Microsoft has introduced a lot of very good ideas in Vista, but implemented them poorly and created some hardships for users with items placed illogically around the system in places nowhere near their uses and counterparts.

Labels: microsoft, networking, vista, windows, xp

It has been warned by Gartner that the way volume license users are required to activate Windows Vista will cost more for companies in hardware and staff time requirements than the security benefits.
Previously companies could install Microsoft software using a volume license keys (VLK) which didn't require them to activate each computer the software is installed on. Microsoft's Volume Activation plan requires that each computer be activated either through Microsoft servers or a internal Key Management Service.
The benefit of such a system is that it ensures that the software installed has not been tampered with, but the cost of labour and hardware is higher than that benefit.
Microsoft has to be given credit for doing a lot to prevent their products from being tampered with and pirated. The thing that Microsoft has forgotten in that process is the customers and partners. They have worked on stopping pirated Vista copies, but made more work on the part of the users and who knows how long it will be before someone manages to crack that and pirate it anyway. They have also worked very hard on security itself, but left several security solution providers stating that they will be unable to provide proper security on Vista and users will have to work twice as hard to install a third-party security solution.

Labels: microsoft, vista, windows

Trend Micro has created in it's InterCloud Security Service a new way of testing for botnet activities that could eliminate the ability for botnet activity to hide.
Bots are normally created in a way that protects them from being detected using pattern matching, but InterCloud using behavioural analysis named Behavioural Analysis Security Engine (BASE). This analyses application and network data such as DNS queries, and routing tables to find any activities that could be related to botnets. With this testing the service can find and isolate bots in real-time eliminating their ability to spread or even attack.
Trend Micro is planning on releasing this in the last quarter of this year More information can be found here.

Labels: botnet, internet, security

Earlier this week (Oct. 2-3) some Microsoft Volume License Key (VLK) customers began experiences problems where Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) on their Windows XP systems was incorrectly reporting systems as non-genuine.
At this point it is only an inconvenience and a nuisance, but with Vista incorporating the feature of locking the system when the system is viewed as invalid, what is going to happen if this occurs after the release of Vista? Such an event could lead to companies running Vista servers having their network go down due to the servers ceasing their operations. This is something that can cost thousands, millions or even more lost dollars in revenue and productivity.
Such a feature is good for preventing piracy, but unless the software can be completely sure, without ever having any flaws, that the system is a pirated copy, this feature becomes very dangerous and risky for companies which cannot afford to have their computers down at any time.
This is not the first time this has happened, earlier this year there was a columnist who had something similar happen to his computer.

Labels: microsoft, vista, wga, windows, xp

Microsoft has written off Linux and Open Source as a threat and has almost mocked OSS and Linux.
When asked by ZD Net if they agree that there is more Linux operating systems in business, the MS head of platform strategy stated that it wasn't true and that more and more businesses are moving away from Unix. He goes on to further say that Linux cannot be used as an end-to-end solution but is only useful for very specific situations.
Later there was a question about security in Windows and it was stated that Windows has more vulnerabilities than Linux. This was denied and it was stated that the vulnerabilities are not generally more severe. With the third question about the severity of Microsoft vulnerabilities being fairly severe, the question was left unanswered with the comment being only that Microsoft, Novell, and Red Hat all have to produce updates and that there has been a significant decline in vulnerabilities. Judging by the latest number of critical vulnerabilities for Windows, Internet Explorer, and Office (PowerPoint), I have to disagree completely on this one. August and during the summer months this was completely true, but there seems to be a new wave of vulnerabilities that are being exploited heavily.
Later when asked about Open Source and producing a version of Office for OSS it was stated that Microsoft would not do it in the future because of a commitment to the Windows platform. It was also stated that there are many alternatives on Linux and that it was about 'flexibility and choice'. The success of MS Office for Mac was also mentioned. The final statement regarding Linux and MS Office was 'if people want to run Office then buy Windows. Or a Mac.'
Microsoft in this regard seems to be brushing off Linux and the Open Source community as a viable threat even though there is a movement for people to go to Linux and OSS. They also seem almost childish in the comments about not producing Office for Linux. With Linux becoming easier for the average person to use and looking almost like Windows for the KDE desktop with a lot better features in many regards, it has become a system that wouldn't be very hard for someone to migrate to. Of course there is still a short time required to learn the differences, but there will be one for Vista as well. Also people who cannot afford or don't want to buy such a high end system for Vista can get more eye-candy from Linux on less expensive and powerful hardware.

Labels: linux, microsoft, OSS

It seems last weeks Firefox vulnerability was just a hoax. The speech made at a Toorcon security conference was made as a joke according to one of the speakers.
While this type of joke is the least funny for anyone, it did teach us a lot about Mozilla and security. Mozilla immediately began investigating the 'flaws' when the news was released and is still continuing even after it has been written off as a hoax. Mozilla states that they take security very seriously and their current actions seem to follow that statement.

Labels: firefox, hoax, vulnerability

Today is the announced "Day Against DRM" designed to make people more aware of DRM and why it isn't a good idea.
More information about what DRM is and why it is bad can be found by reading this leaflet.
Also there are two YouTube videos designed to demonstrate DRM. They are called "A Real World DRM" and "Interchangeability".
Those who want to get involved in spreading the word about it can read this text and email it to their friends and family, sign a petition to Bono, print and display this sign, or print and distribute the leaflet mentioned earlier.
And of course tell a friend.

Labels: drm

Firefox has begun to get its share of flaws, following a step behind Internet Explorer. A flaw has been found in Firefox's handling of JavaScript. This affects computers running Windows Mac OS X and Linux.
As it could have been expected, as Firefox gained popularity people would begin trying to find exploits for the system. This should not trouble people that much as people finding ways to exploit software functions can be expected sooner or later in large applications, what should trouble people is the length of time that it takes to patch the flaws. I have hope that it won't take very long for it to be patched. If it does take several weeks, as is common for IE flaws to be patched, I would advise people to begin looking for another browser to use.

Labels: firefox, hoax, vulnerability