Computer Tips -Tech Info

I got a first look at Windows Desktop Search today (bundled with MSN Search Toolbar?) I was told that it was new on the system and had not been used. The systems owner didn’t know when it was installed and thought it must have been installed when he did a windows update. It looks like […]

This isn’t an earth shattering issue, but as I was looking into some other problems on a Windows XP Pro system, I noticed a HUGE blank space in the Add/Remove programs area of the control panel. It was something like this, there were several entries (10 maybe) and then a huge block of blank space […]

Since there’s some interest…. here is a listing of all posts related to the WMF exploit and Windows 98 that have come out in the last week. http://www.averyjparker.com/2006/01/04/lack-of-working-exploit-does-not-mean-windows-98-is-safe/ http://www.averyjparker.com/2006/01/03/wmf-exploit-vs-windows-98-again/ http://www.averyjparker.com/2006/01/03/wmf-exploit-testing-on-windows-98/ http://www.averyjparker.com/2006/01/02/windows-98-and-the-wmf-exploit/ http://www.averyjparker.com/2006/01/01/version-2-of-the-wmv-exploit-vs-windows-98-se/ http://www.averyjparker.com/2006/01/01/more-wmf-exploit-testing-on-windows-98/ http://www.averyjparker.com/2006/01/01/wmf-exploit-and-windows-98/    Send article as PDF   

It looks like, the Windows patch (or a beta) for the WMF exploit has been leaked online. It sounds as though Steve Gibson got a hold of a copy and has tested it along side the unofficial patch. All seems to go well. He notes that the build date was December 28th. So, they have […]

This is something you should consider if you are looking to abandoned a pre-Winxp operating system in favor of a flavor of XP. The product life cycle. In their infinite wisdom, Microsoft has different support plans for consumer products than “business-products”. As such… arstechnica.com has a post explaining why support for Windows XP Home will […]

Yesterday the hexblog, which is the site of the person that wrote the unofficial patch for the WMF exploit, was offline for bandwidth over use. Several mirror sites popped up to host the patch. Today the site is back up at http://www.hexblog.com/ in a more minimal form. It’s suggested if you can’t reach the page […]

The Sunbelt Blog has picked up on a report of some network printing problems with the unofficial WMF exploit patch installed. The first report was on the fulldisclosure list. It is recommended that the patch be tested before rolling out. The variation of software configurations varies by environment…    Send article as PDF   

I want to try to clarify a point. I’ve spent a couple days trying to get current exploits to work on a Windows 98 SE virtual machine. Not to prove that Windows 98 is safe, but to determine if current exploits affect Windows 98. Yesterday evening there were apocalyptic headlines saying that virus threatens every […]

I didn’t exactly expect a parade staged by Microsoft for the writer of the unofficial patch for this WMF vulnerability, but…. eweek tells us that Microsoft says “beware of unofficial WMF patch” It also mentions that behind the scenes Microsoft officials are furious that the threat has been overblown. Personally, I think they’ve downplayed the […]

The unofficial WMF exploit patch now has multiple locations to download from. They’ve apparently run into some bandwidth problems at the main site. Sunbeltblog has an alternate download location, Sans is hosting a download here (direct download link)    Send article as PDF