Technical Tidbits

I just received one of my newsletters and it pointed me to an article at InfoWorld disclosing that Microsoft confesses to posting a flawed update. (Imagine that!) Perhaps they’ve been spending too much time courting Jerry Seinfeld?

Anyway, the article’s subheading states:

The admission was the third time in the past two months that Microsoft has had to re-issue a security-related update

The reason I’ve put this in the alerts category is because the security update was marked critical and the re-release is critical.

You can read more about the re-release here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS08-051.mspx

and read the full InfoWorld Article here: Microsoft confesses…

As a side note, the critical update states:

“This security update resolves three privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office PowerPoint and Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted PowerPoint file. An attacker who successfully exploited any of these vulnerabilities could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.”

That made me think about all the Power Point attachments I’ve been getting in my e-mails lately. (Which I don’t open, btw.) Wonder how many of you are being controlled remotely since you’ve opened them?

Sort of makes you wonder……

written by Admin \\ tags: email attachment, flawed update, infoworld, Microsoft, microsoft update, powerpoint, powerpoint viewer, powerpoint vulnerability, pps

In honor of Patch Tuesday, August 12, 2008, ZoneAlarm (Check Point) will be offering ForceField browser security for FREE for only 24-hours!

In Microsoft’s Advance Warning notice that I receive, there will be 7 critical updates and 5 important updates.

Affected software will be: Windows 2000, Windows XP (SP2 and 3), Windows XP Professional - including x64 edition and SP2, Windows Server 2003 (including: SP1 & SP2, x64, and SP1 & SP2 for Itanium-based Systems),  Windows Vista (including: SP1, x64 and x64 SP1), Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems, Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems, Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems, Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (now there’s a surprise! NOT!), Non-Security, High-Priority Updates on MU (*Microsoft Update), WU (*Windows Update), and WSUS (*Windows Server Update Service), Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Media Player 11, Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 Service Pack 2, Microsoft Outlook Express 6 (including SP 1), Windows Mail (Vista), Windows Messenger 4.7, and 5.1. There is also supposed to be critical updates for Access, Excel, and PowerPoint but it’s not clear what versions they are yet.

So, first thing tomorrow morning, head over to ZoneAlarm’s special site here: www.zonealarm.com/patchtuesday and get yourself a copy of ForceField. I think we’re all going to need it!

written by Admin \\ tags: access, Check Point, excel, ForceField, free, free forcefield, Internet Explorer, messenger, Microsoft, microsoft update, OE, Outlook Express, Patch Tuesday, powerpoint, vista, windows mail, Windows Server, windows update, Windows Vista, Windows XP, ZoneAlarm