Archive for March, 2008
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Vista Service Pack 1 is Now Available
Vista SP1 is now in general release, and you can get it by using your Windows Update tool or by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/downloads or http://www.windowsvistablog.com
Microsoft says SP1 will improve Vista’s reliability, security and performance. There are some 300 fixes covering a wide array of bugs and problems. Early reviews are mixed as to [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Updates by Syd Tash
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Another Data Theft to Worry About
A supermarket chain in Portland, Maine, has had its computer network broken into, and customer credit and debit card numbers stolen. The breech occurred at Hannaford Stores, as well as Sweetbay stores in Florida and other independent retailers in the northeastern U.S. that sell Hannaford products. In all, over 200 stores are involved. [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Alerts by Syd Tash
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
How Embarrassing is This?
A few days ago, security company Trend Micro was the victim of a big hack attack. Some pages of its Web site were attacked. The pages were subsequently removed and fixed. This appears to be part of a wider attack that may have affected over 20,000 Web pages.
The attack injects malicious [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Security by Syd Tash
Monday, March 17th, 2008
A Critical Flaw in RealPlayer
The security firm Secunia has found a “highly critical” flaw in RealPlayer, from RealNetworks. RealPlayer is a cross-platform media player. Version 11 for Windows was released last November.
This latest vulnerability is because of those infamous ActiveX controls, so it affects Internet Explorer (IE) users, but not Firefox. Version 11 of RealPlayer [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Security by Syd Tash
Saturday, March 15th, 2008
Is Your Browser Secure? Test It Now
Our browsers play a very important and central role as we wander around the Internet. We read our mail, news and newsletters, sign up for stuff, shop, do our banking, pay bills, etc. through the browser. As we do all this and more, information about us is accumulating in our browser History and [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Security by Syd Tash
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
Here is a New Weapon Against ID Theft
The province of Ontario, Canada has a new simple law that should help prevent identity theft. If a consumer places an alert on his or her credit report or file, lenders must verify the identity of the customer before granting a loan or credit. If they fail to do so, they could face [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in News by Syd Tash
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
On Your Guard Against Phishing? Not Sufficient!
Regular readers of my Tips and articles know my Number One Rule to avoid phishing scams. Never click on a link in an email or on a Web site to go to the site of your bank, broker, utility co., PayPal, eBay, government agency or the like.
If you want to go to such [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Security by Syd Tash
Monday, March 10th, 2008
These Programs May Not Run After Vista SP1
I have been keeping you advised of Vista Service Pack 1 developments. SP1 is due for general release soon. As I mentioned previously, Microsoft has published a list of 11 programs that may not run after you update to SP1, or you may have difficulty.
Check the list here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935796 before you update, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Updates by Syd Tash
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
Should You Buy a Refurbished Computer?
OK, Santa is long gone, and he did not see fit to leave you a shiny new PC. How rude. Oh well, … maybe next year. Now you may be thinking of your options. Should you buy a new computer? Or a refurbished model?
Generally, I do not think buying [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in Featured by Syd Tash
Saturday, March 8th, 2008
Can You Trust Those “Secure” Sites?
I have long cautioned you not to enter sensitive information on a Web site unless it is secure. That is to say, you see the little gold padlock at the top or bottom of your screen, and the site begins with https://… And I always cautioned that even this is not foolproof.
These [...]
