quote:

Originally posted by Jack:

I use both FireFox and IE. IE on this site, because FireFox will not remember what is 'new since last visit'

That's curious............The NSLV feature works fine for me in Firefox.

I won't bore anyone with details this time ("Deja' vu all over again"), but this week's Microsoft Update contained a bunch (5-7, depending on one's config) of security patches. Further, a new flaw, which affects all of IE6, IE7, and IE8 beta, has been unearthed. This one is fortunately complicated to exploit (meaning that pimply-faced nerd in Romania will take almost an hour to find it); anyway, once again from my soapbox: Make sure you have "Automatic Updates" active.

Critical (meaning Bad Things could happen otherwise) updates for Firefox; the update feature in the browser will download and install them.

Oh yeah - Internet Explorer has a vulnerability for which MS has issued an emergency patch. No big deal - not more than 1,500,000 users have had malware installed as a result of the flaw...

Rusty,
Why would I have [ACE Mega CoDecS Pack] on my computer? I read some about it but don't have a clue what it is?!?!?!?!?!?! You ever heard of it?
Tere
Was just looking at pics of go kart races at raccoon mountain. Had a good laugh.

CoDecs are extensions for COding and DECoding sound and video (and a few other things).

The Ace Mega CoDecS is one of the more widely-known no- or low-cost packages (Many individual CoDecs cost $10-$25 - and many require payment to use with Windows Media Player 10 (but not with WMP9). The downside is the space it occupies. Unless you're tight on HDD space, keep it.

Here's a list of the CoDecs included in ACE. Most are useless to the casual PC user.

Apple did a OS system update, critical they claimed, now I have some of the Microsoft problems with things complaining or not working or quitting.

Generally the Mac does not have any surprises and usually just works. It does limit you at times and coming from Windows I do use Parallels and run windows for a few applications.

It is bothersome if Apple wants to degrade to a MS stability position.

This too shall pass.....

Tom

Seagate Drives - Failure Issues:

NOTE: THIS IS POSTED AS PRELIMINARY INFO! The offered firmware patch is still not useable; flashing has caused more failures. Seagate has pulled the patches temporarily.

Seagate has admitted a firmware glitch which has caused premature failure of Barracuda 7200.11 (Standard Series), Barracuda ES.2 (SATA Enterprise Series), and DiamondMax 22 drives, affecting drives in the 160 GB to 1 TB ranges. I had one failure with about 30 hours, but nothing was lost because it was in a RAID 5 array.

This may affect drives as old as 3 years.

Go here to identify the drives in your system and obtain patched firmware.

Firmware is the internal set of electronic instructions in motherboads and peripherals.

The topic of a browser making malware alerts (since disclosed to be an error) came up in another thread, I though I'd post this tutorial for cleaning one's peecee.

My suggestions for immunizing (yeah, right) a PC from most hackers appears at the top of this thread.

Make no mistake about it: A PC can be hacked. The typical time for an unprotected PC to be infected with some kind of malware once it signs on to the web is:

I'm not going to answer that - I'd like to see posts from forum members with their estimates (hint: I've mentioned it before).

Well, no one's come forward - the answer is: 8 seconds

Anyway, Micro$oft announced there will be four patches, 2 critical, released next Tuesday. No details...

BTW, the Windows 7 (Successor to Vista) Beta is out, and the geeksites give it generally favorable reviews. Drivers for legacy peripherals is still a major gripe.

Big changes to WinXP support!

In 10 weeks (April 14), M$ will change XPs' status to "Extended Support" from its current "Mainstream Support".

Actually, this will have little effect on typical users, as security patches will still be issued, but other enhancements, except to corporate (Translation: "Paying") subscribers, will cease.

XP is mature enough now for there to be few updates that fix fudamental glitches.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:

XP is mature enough now for there to be few updates that fix fudamental glitches.

Dang shame that by the time the paying customers get a decent product from MS, it goes obsolete.

Windows 7 continues to look very promising. The latent issue will be support for older peripherals (video cards, sound cards, printers, scanners, cameras, etc.) Fortunately, although not to be fully suppoerted, XP will be around a long time, as most users won't dump perfectly good peripherals for a glitzier operating system.

Valentine Virii

From the website The Register (and others, as well):

"Surfers and sysadmins need to be wary of email with such gooey subject lines as "Deeply in love with you", "I Knew I Loved You" and "I Love Being In Love With You". The body text of the malicious emails varies, but generally includes a heart-shaped graphic followed by a link to a website offering up Windows malware in the guise of loved-up applications."

The common thing here is the malicious link. But of course, Barthmobile Forum members know never to click on a link embedded in email, even if it's from someone they know, because the sender might not take the same precautions members do.

Not to scare anyone, but to reinforce the need for defensive measures, the respected Kaspersky Labs, maker of excellent antivirus and other protective software, has been hacked.