Your Daily Computer Security Tips

Hi everyone, I’m back, with important news about updates to your computer.

This past Aug. 12 was Patch Tuesday. Microsoft released a giant security update for Windows, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Office including Word, and Works. A total of 26 bugs were fixed in this release, six of which are considered critical. Two or more of these flaws have already been exploited by the hackers.

Four of the bugs were considered by some researchers to be zero-day flaws, because details of the flaws were circulating on the Internet, and no fix was available prior to Aug. 12. You may also notice one of the updates is a kill-bit. This disables vulnerable ActiveX controls from Hewlett-Packard and Aurigma.

You may need your original Office or Works disk to complete the update, so have it handy before you start. You will have to restart your computer afterwards.

One expected fix that did not appear was a patch for critical flaws in Windows Media Player 11 for Vista. Microsoft said the patch was not ready. Until it is, try to use another media player.

Microsoft will soon update your version of Windows Update (WU) itself, whether you like it or not. You will get it even if you set your PC not to download or install any updates. It is supposed to be faster and provide more information on updates.

Check that you have downloaded and installed the latest updates automatically, or go to the Microsoft Update site right now and do it.

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Ever since that Windows XP Service Pack 3 was released by Microsoft a couple of months ago, I have been advising you not to install it just yet, but to wait until all the bugs and problems were worked out.

Those problems have indeed been largely resolved, and you might as well go ahead and install SP3 now. I installed it on my XP machine with no problems.

But first, back up all your important files. Also, make a Restore Point by clicking Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Click “Create a Restore point”. Call it something like “Before XP SP3”.

Then go to the Microsoft Update site and download and install Service Pack 3. It will take about one hour.

There is an update available, to Firefox 2.0.0.16. Launch your Firefox browser, and click Help, Check for Updates. Or you can upgrade to Firefox 3, at http://www.mozilla.com As for me, I am sticking with Firefox 2 for now. If you do the same, make sure to keep your browser up to date.

Java is a programming language from Sun Microsystems. It is used to create pretty, interactive Web sites. You probably have it on your computer, and do not even realize it.

Go to http://www.java.com and click on “Do I have Java?” to see if you have the latest version, which is 6.0.70.0, also called Version 6 Update 7. If you don’t have it, proceed to download and install this latest version. You can also get the free OpenOffice.org suite of office programs at the same time.

Java does not remove old versions of itself when new ones are installed. So after your installation is complete, click Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. Scroll down to Java, and remove all versions except Java 6 Update 7.

Two days ago I told you about that Windows Update that cut off your Internet connection. Now here are more details. Only users of the ZoneAlarm (ZA) firewall were affected. ZA has published a workaround for this problem, but it might be best to just reinstall the updated version of the firewall. That will solve your problem. Click here and click on ZoneAlarm Basic Firewall:
http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/pressReleases/2008/LossOfInternetAccessIssue.html

Click Save, to save it to your computer. Then on your computer, click the file to run and install it. You do not have to uninstall your old version. Then go back to the Microsoft Update site and reinstall that update, if you had deleted it the other day.

After installing this new ZA version, you will notice the ZoneAlarm SpyBlocker in the upper left of your browser. This is unnecessary if you have other antispyware or spyware blocker programs. To turn it off or remove it, click the little down arrow to the right.

It is unclear whether it was Microsoft or ZoneAlarm who created this latest snafu. It sure would be nice if all these big software companies could work more closely together, and more importantly, test their products and updates more thoroughly before releasing them onto an unsuspecting public.

Yesterday was Patch Tuesday folks, and you know what that means. Yep, it’s time to mosey on over to your favorite Microsoft or Windows Update site, and update your Windows. Or check that you have it set for automatic updates.

Updates for Windows and other Microsoft applications are waiting there for you. One of the bugs fixed is a so-called spoofing bug, which could be exploited to trick you into visiting a malicious Web site. The flaws are rated “important”.

Warning: After you install these updates, you may not be able to browse the Internet. If this happens, click Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs, and delete the updates. Wait a few days for Mother Microsoft to fix the problem.

The problems with that Windows XP Service Pack 3 are supposed to be fixed now. Computers powered by AMD processors were rebooting endlessly, and other users had their Internet or wireless connections deleted. The latter problem appeared to be caused by corrupted Registry keys.

Microsoft blamed the problem on certain security software, but Symantec denied it. Anyway, this flaw was recently fixed, according to Microsoft.

XP SP3 will soon be available through Automatic Updates, which means you will get it whether you like it or not, if your computer is set to receive automatic updates. There is no urgency to download and install SP3, as long as you keep your Windows otherwise up to date.

To avoid this update, click Start, Control Panel, Automatic Updates. Select the third option, “Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them”. Now when you go to the Update site, click “Custom”. This will allow you to pick and choose which updates you want, and avoid SP3 for now.

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here: = > http://MyPCSecuritySite.com

You may include these Tips in your Web sites and publications provided they remain unchanged and include the above paragraph, with the author’s name and Web site. You can also get a direct URL to this post. Click the title, then copy the URL in the browser address bar.

That recent release of Firefox 3 seems to have earned Mozilla, maker of Firefox, a new Guinness World Record. Mozilla claims over 8 million copies of the new browser were downloaded in a 24 hour period. At first, the release and download got off to a rocky start, when Mozilla’s site was intermittent.

Overall, Firefox now has over 19% of the browser market. Internet Explorer is down to 74%. I seem to recall not that many years ago when IE had 96% or so of the market. This is a much healthier situation.

Don’t rush to download or use Firefox 3. Bugs were found in it when it was barely a few hours old. Others claim that Firefox 3 security is actually weaker than Firefox 2. Mozilla will continue to support Firefox 2 until December, so you can wait a while for the dust to settle, then go for Firefox 3.

Microsoft has come out with a fix for several bugs in that Vista Service Pack 1. One of the repairs fixes the problem in which you cannot run a large application if your computer has been on for a long time.

If you tried to launch Excel 2007 in this situation, for example, you might get the following error message: “EXCEL.EXE is not a valid Win32 application”.

Other bugs supposedly fixed include crashes when launching Apple’s QuickTime media player, and problems playing certain audio and video content.

Vista SP1 was released to the general public in late March. You can get the latest patch by going to the Windows or Microsoft Update site. Or you can wait for the next Patch Tuesday on July 8, when your computer can download it automatically.

Microsoft has announced that it will ship Windows 7, the successor to Vista, in or around January 2010. It also let it be known that Windows 7 will keep the same core architecture as Vista, to minimize conversion problems to the new operating system.

One of the big problems with Vista was its incompatibility with many popular programs.

On another front, Microsoft also said that it will continue security updates and technical support for our beloved Windows XP until April 2014. Most sales of XP will end on June 30, just a few days from now.

XP has evolved into a good, stable o/s. Keep it up to date, do your security scans, system cleanup and defrag, and it will probably last a long time. Maybe even until Windows 7 comes out!

Microsoft has fixed that Bluetooth patch it issued on June 10. It seems that the patch did not completely repair the vulnerability in Windows XP.

If you have Windows XP with SP2 or SP3, go to the Windows or Microsoft Update site now and check for updates.

Microsoft is investigating how the incomplete patch slipped out. They blame it on human error.

Firefox 3 was released on Tuesday, June 17. Mozilla, publisher of Firefox, wanted to set a Guinness World Record for the most downloads in a single day. But things did not go too well, at least at first.

The download Web site was, well, down or working intermittently on Tuesday, while Firefox worked to fix the problem. There is no current record for most downloads in one day. Mozilla is hoping for 5 million, but whatever the number turns out to be will be the new record.

But as the downloads proceeded, new problems surfaced. Firefox 3 was barely a few hours old before a critical vulnerability was found by security company TippingPoint. No details have been released, while Mozilla works on a fix.

Users would have to visit a malicious Web site to be attacked. The flaw is said to affect Firefox 2.0 as well, so be careful where you click, until we get a patch.

In the end, Mozilla claimed the new browser was downloaded more than 8 million times in the first 24 hours. Download requests came from 200 countries. Guinness officials are verifying the numbers, and we will hear more about the results next week.

Firefox will now go head to head with Internet Explorer, the dominant browser. The beta version of IE 8 is out, and is scheduled for general release in August. As for the new Firefox browser, I have said before that you would be wise to wait a while before downloading it, to ensure that the initial bugs and problems have been worked out.

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here: = > http://MyPCSecuritySite.com

You may include these Tips in your Web sites and publications provided they remain unchanged and include the above paragraph, with the author’s name and Web site. You can also get a direct URL to this post. Click the title, then copy the URL in the browser address bar.