Computer Tips -Tech Info

Not too long ago I had an article about an ISP/telecom executive that floated the idea of charging some BIG web sites to make sure they had a fast connection/delivery to the ISP’s customers. In effect, they would prioritize traffic for the bigger websites that were able to pay for the added benefit. Those that didn’t pay would have slower access by the ISP’s customers. One of the questions I floated at the time is what if someone has a politically unpopular site, and no money, are they dropped into the slow lane/ How slow? Maybe a political candidate…? This has potentially bad implications…

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I ran across ubuntucenter today, which aims to be a web based control panel for any ubuntu based machine, providing file access, etc. Here’s their summary…

Ubuntu Center is a web based interface for accessing all kinds of information that’s being stored on your computer running Ubuntu Breezy, Kubuntu, XUbuntu, or even nUbuntu box. Ubuntu Center accomplishes all of this by integrating PHP software licensed under the GPL license in one giant package suitable for use on a Ubuntu computer. This release adds tons of new features and bug fixes and is suitable for everyday use.

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While I was reading about browser sandboxing coming up in Vista and musing about how easy or difficult it would be to sandbox OTHER 3rd party applications, I found a comment on a ZDNet post that I think I’ll just copy directly (of course, giving credit to the poster…) Of course, with the user seperation under linux, individual users have NO access to other users folders by default. ONLY the administrator can access individual user folders. So, you obviously don’t want to run a web browser as the administrator (root), but you could setup another user account to run your web browser under if you’re particularly concerned about isolating it from NOT just the system files, but YOUR files as well.

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Sans has the story on a security vulnerability involving specifically crafted .cab files affecting a WIDE range of SOPHOS antivirus products (from desktop to server.)

The main result of the vulnerability is arbitrary code execution, which is a bad thing…. PureMessage and MailMonitor users may be more at risk because, of course, it requires scanning of .cab files to be enabled.

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Oracle released 36 patches in mid-April as part of their quarterly patch cycle…. unfortunately, not all of the patches were released. Apparently they hadn’t finished testing and users were advised to look for the updates around the first of May. Well, guess what – they’re not out yet and the word is that they won’t be until May 15th. This is one example of why I think it’s unwise to say that patches will be released on X date on a regular schedule. They should be releasing them as soon as they have the patch tested and ready.

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VuNet has an article today on the coming of Vista and the imminent doom of the smaller security companies. The hardest hit will be anti-spyware and personal firewall vendors they say. It may well be true, it does sound like a different approach to user permissions (limited priviliges by default?) IE7 running in a sandbox, i.e. no permission to touch anything else …. which should cut down on the spread of browser exploits turning machines into spyware infested bots…

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There have been several articles in the last few days breathlessly heralding the news The linux kernel is too buggy… Andrew Morton, the lead maintainer has said in the last week that the 2.6 kernel has gotten a bit out of hand with too many new features and too few fixed bugs. Of course, he’s probably right…. Linux founder Linus Torvalds agrees that a “bugfix only” cycle of kernel development would be a good idea.

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Microsoft hasn’t got a lot of positive free publicity about Vista that I’ve seen. I read about a Gartner Group suggesting that it wouldn’t be available until 2nd quarter 2007. (Which was shortly after Microsoft said they wouldn’t make 4th quarter 2006 if I recall…) I’ve seen a lot of analysts talking about how the really big features they were excited about have been shelved to get it out the door. And, well… of course, I don’t expect a positive, rah-rah Microsoft article from the Register… but they’re reporting on a Yankee Group analysis of the upcoming OS…

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It looks as though there are two critical updates to be had today, one moderate/low (depending on the OS version.) The critical updates are one biggy for Exchange server which is reported to break some functionality with regards to Blackberry -> exchange server integration… This is an obviously important patch to get in since the vulnerability would allow for remote code execution. The other critical patch….

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“We tried scanning and all that happened was the lamp moved back and forth…. Nothing else happened.” That was the description I had and the request to see why the scanner was broken. It hadn’t been long since the Epson scanner had been hooked up to a new XP Pro system. The machine sees quite a bit of public use so we had thought it would be best to divide accounts into Visitor which is an unpriviliged user and another account for the ability to work with software that was not as cooperative in an unpriviliged account.

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