Computer Tips -Tech Info

It’s always a strange mix between comedy and frustration to see the main media outlets cover a tech news item. I usually wince and brace myself when I see any tv news outlet take on a computer issue and likewise when I read newspapers and non-tech publications take on anything of the sort. It’s kind of like movies that use extremely fake computers. Sometimes I think it’s because they’re trying to simplify things for the average viewer, but I usually find that approach somewhat condescending because I don’t think grown adults should be treated like little kids. Anyway, I digress… the coverage of this WMF exploit has been, well, interesting. There was…

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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 the MSN search toolbar adds tabbed browsing to internet explorer. I’m a bit suspicious of ANY software that the system owner is unsure of how it got to be installed on the system.

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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 perhaps hundreds of “pages” long. I scrolled a bit with the mouse wheel and was not making quick progress, so just grabbed the scroll bar and pulled down to see the next 30-40 entries.

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I’ve just been back at appointments what – 2 days? And already I’ve got a ton of issues to detail. I usually don’t get into details of everything I run into because many times it’s rather tedious issues, memory install, fill in the blank virus removal for the nth time, etc. However I’ve already run across a few unique things that have taken some searching. One is still unresolved (time constraint.) That will get a revisit in the near future.

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Sometime over the last 2 or 3 days trackback pings stopped working for me. I didn’t notice until today. I think the hexblog may have been the first one to choke the queue, but I’ve spent the evening going back and sending trackbacks manually. There’s a manual pinger at http://www.aylwardfamily.com/content/tbping.asp which is tedious for a couple dozen entries, but it does work.

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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/

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f-secure.com has another warning for us about the pending awakening of the sober worm. From reports it’s expected to start looking for sites to download from January 5th into January 6th. There is an extensive list of URL’s to block. This from f-secure.com – if you’re in charge of block lists at a network, this could be a good start to make sure you don’t have any clients pulling a new version from the following sites…

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There are a number of references out today to a December 31st article (on a study by av-test) about how well antivirus products were keeping up with the shifting signatures of the WMF exploits. There was a list of about 12 products that were at 100% detection. Unfortunately, the important point is that the original article was December 31st. I don’t know if there are new variations in the wild, but I DO know that the metasploit module has changed and currently seems to evade detection from Clamav. (Although clamav has caught up to the most recent batch of the exploit.)

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There’s a zdnet article that seems to indicate that Google may be close to releasing a standalone video player. Currently videos.google.com uses a plugin that’s called google video viewer. The above article gives some interesting information and a good bit of speculation. The speculation is that they will release vlc (video lan client) in a modified form to allow pay-per-view video.

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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 been on it since very early on. That’s reassuring. It would be nice if their testing process could be a bit streamlined though.

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