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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

New Windows Vista security holes found

Security researchers have reported late last week that they have found six software bugs in the upcoming Windows Vista operating system. One of the bugs may allow users to enhance other user's privileges without permission allowing control of all of the operations of the computer. This also affects the older versions of Windows.

There are also Internet Explorer 7 bugs which could allow Vista users to become affected by malware simply by navigating to a malicious Web site.

Microsoft said it is closely monitoring the vulnerabilies.

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Thursday, December 21, 2006

More Firefox security holes

Mozilla has released a set of security updates for versions 1.5.x & 2.0.x of its Firefox Web browser and for the Thunderbird e-mail client and SeaMonkey, which includes a chat client and a tool to build Web sites.

Mozilla has labeled most of the updates critical while the security firm Secunia has rated them highly critical.

Mozilla owns only 10 percent of the browser market at most even though that share is growing. As it does, more and more hackers are turning their eyes toward Firefox to search for flaws.

Mozilla Vulnerabilites

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Tuesday, December 19, 2006

IBM, Yahoo launch free enterprise search tool

IBM and Yahoo Inc. have developed a free entry level enterprise search application aimed at companies that haven't tried out enterprise search products because of cost and complexity concerns.

The software is called IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition. It is designed to be simple to install and use and can index up to 500,000 documents from more than 200 file types.

It is designed to comptete with Google's Mini. The Mini is a hardware device loaded with Google search software that starts at $1,995 for 50,000 documents and tops.

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Saturday, December 16, 2006

New Photoshop Beta ready for testing

On December 15th a public beta of Photoshop Creative Suite 3 (CS3) will be made available for download on Adobe Labs. This new Photoshop release is the first version to run natively on Intel based Macintosh computer but the beta release will be compatible with both Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems.

Photoshop is one of the most widely used digital imaging software applications in the world.

The public beta of Photoshop will be made available for download free of charge as long as you have a valid registration and serial number from Photoshop CS2, Adobe Creative Suite 2, Adobe Creative Suite Production Studio, Adobe Design Bundle, Adobe Web Bundle or Adobe Video Bundle.

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Thursday, December 14, 2006

Microsoft getting into VOIP

Microsoft released Office Communications Server 2007 to about 2,500 IT professionals in a private beta. It is the first time Microsoft has offered software for making voice over IP part of integrated communications.

Microsoft may eventually look to provide the entire software infrastructure for VoIP and other communications offerings. For instance, by using Office Communications Server with Microsoft's Exchange Server messaging software and Outlook e-mail client, a user can respond to an e-mail received in Exchange with a VoIP call using Communications Server and Communicator.

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Sunday, December 10, 2006

Microsoft getting into web design/graphics software

Microsoft plans to release its first suite of Web and graphic design software by mid 2007, putting it into competition with graphics king Adobe Systems, makers of such software titles as Photoshop and Illustrator.

The new software suite named Expression Studio, is expected to ship sometime in the second quarter. All four components will sell for a combined price of $599.

The suite will include Expression Web, a web design tool that is the successor to the discontinued FrontPage web design software. Expression Blend, an interactive design tool formerly known as Interactive Designer but with a new user interface. Expression Design, a layout and graphic design tool similar to Adobe Illustrator. And a copy of Visual Studio.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Myspace Attack

MySpace.com is under what one computer security analyst calls an "amazingly virulent" attack caused by a worm that steals login credentials and spreads spam that promotes adware sites.

Close to a third of MySpace users were infected. MySpace.com is estimated to have at least 73 million registered users.

The worm exploits a weakness found around two weeks ago in MySpace and a feature within Apple's QuickTime multimedia player.

The exploit starts with a user who visits a MySpace profile infected with an embedded QuickTime movie. The movie loads JavaScript code that overlays a row of menu options on a MySpace profile with a bogus menu. If an option in the bogus menu is clicked, the user is directed to a fake login page hosted on another server where the person's login details are captured.

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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Vista release getting closer

The new Windows Vista is getting ready to hit the store shelves soon. The consumer version wont be available until January 2007, but corporate customers will be able to start using the latest version of of Microsoft's latest operating system berfore then.

Microsoft says they spent $7 billion on R&D and will spend $500 million on marketing.

Vista will be prettier, easier to use and more secure. Early reviews speak of more eye candy and bells and whistles. Aero, the new graphical user interface, offers more animation and translucent windows. You will need a more powerful computer to run Vista and get the full benefits of its new features.

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