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Archive | March, 2006

McAfee quarantines files incorrectly

By on March 13, 2006 in Microsoft, Security, Technology

From Slashdot: McAfee Anti-Virus Causes Widespread File Damage. AJ Mexico writes, “[Friday] McAfee released an anti-virus update that contained an anomaly in the DAT file that caused many important files to be deleted from affected systems. At my company, tens of thousands of files were deleted from dozens of servers and around 2000 user machines. Affected applications included MS Office, and products from IBM (Rational), GreenHills, MS Office, Ansys, Adobe, Autocad, Hyperion, Win MPM, MS Shared, MapInfo, Macromedia, MySQL, CA, Cold Fusion, ATI, FTP Voyager, Visual Studio, PTC, ADS, FEMAP, STAT, Rational.Apparently the DAT file targeted mostly, if not exclusively, DLLs and EXE files.” An anonymous reader added, “Already, the SANS Internet Storm Center received a number of notes from distressed sysadmins reporting thousands of deleted or quarantined files. McAfee in response released advice to restore the files. Users who configured McAfee to delete files are left with using backups (we all got good backups… or?) or System restore.”

News.com: McAfee update exterminates Excel

SANS Internet Storm Center

Another one bites the dust?

By on March 10, 2006 in Microsoft

Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley notes Vista Sheds Another Anticipated Feature?. “little explanation (so far at least), Microsoft has decided to cut from Windows Vista planned support for the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI).” Isn’t EFI the next generation replacement of BIOS used in the Intel-based MacBooks? I think I’d feel more secure knowing I couldn’t boot Windows on my MacBook…

Diebold gets the boot from Maryland’s elections

By on March 10, 2006 in Security, Technology

Computerworld News reports Maryland House votes to oust Diebold machines. “Maryland’s House of Delegates voted 137-0 to replace the state’s Diebold voting machines, valued at $90 million, until the manufacturer adds the ability to create a paper trail of votes.” Good. Send a clear message to vendors: closed-source, unauditable vote counting is unacceptable.

Patch Tuesday coming with few patches

By on March 10, 2006 in Microsoft, Security

Computerworld News reports Microsoft to issue one critical patch Tuesday. “In its monthly patch release next Tuesday, Microsoft Corp. said it will issue one critical security bulletin concerning the Office suite and one bulletin on Windows that is rated important.”

Later on in the article, they explain, “Microsoft will distribute its updated version of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool via Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services and the Download Center… There will also be one non-security High-Priority Update on Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update Services. There won’t be any non-security High-Priority Updates for Windows coming over Windows Update or Software Update Services.” Well, that certainly clears things up.

Apple attempts to patent RSS in a browser?

By on March 8, 2006 in Apple Macintosh OS X, Technology

Over at Scripting News, Dave Winer notes “Apple is patenting our inventions, again. Oy.”

Software patents are a horrible idea. A patent is a monopoly on an idea. If every original thinker can patent their ideas, no one can be allowed to think. This is nonsense. Apple should be able to copyright their expression of the idea (in this case, some very unoriginal and derivative ideas of displaying XML, in my opinion) so that their work cannot be directly copied, but they cannot be allowed to have exclusive ownership of the *idea* of displaying some variants of XML in a browser. I, for one, do not have the resources to engage in a patent dispute with Apple over my RSS reader. This creates a chilling effect in an industry where all vendors are demanding the Right to Innovate.

OpenOffice.org lagging behind MSOffice?

By on March 7, 2006 in Microsoft, OpenSource

Linux-Watch.com asks: “Is OpenOffice really ten years behind MS Office?” A better question might be if that’s a bad thing. The 2nd edition of “Hacker’s Guide to Word for Windows” printed in 1995 claims to cover WinWord 6. How many more features did we really need? Toolbars that transmogrified into palettes? Menus that went 3-D when the mouse was over them? The words came out the same.

I don’t agree that OpenOffice.org is “ten years behind.” I still can’t get it to run the Melissa virus. But I’m not sure “ten years behind” or even better “ten years on a different path” is a bad thing.

Stealing Your Biometrics

By on March 7, 2006 in Microsoft, Security

InfoWorld: Top News is reporting Researcher hacks Microsoft Fingerprint Reader.

(InfoWorld) – “Never mind worrying about hackers stealing your password. A security researcher with the Finnish military has shown how they could steal your fingerprint, by taking advantage of an omission in Microsoft’s Fingerprint Reader, a PC authentication device that Microsoft has been shipping since September 2004.”

When you lose your password, you can get it reset. When your credit card shows suspicious activity, you can get a new and different one. What happens when your fingerprints are stolen?

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