March, 2009 Archive
The release of proof-of-concept exploit code for an unresolved critical bug that allows for remote arbitrary code execution on the latest stable version of Mozilla Firefox has put developers on alert. A fix will be included in the 3.0.8 version of the browser, which is scheduled for release in a few days.
The vulnerability is described on SecurityFocus as a “Boundary Condition Error” and allows an attacker to execute potentially malicious code by calling a malformed XML file from a Web page. Parsing a specially crafted “root” XML tag in an XSL file results in a memory-corruption error.
These drive-by types of attacks have become the weapon of choice for many of today’s malware distributors. Cross-site scripting (XSS) weaknesses are used to inject rogue exploit-serving IFrames into legitimate pages. These exploits target vulnerabilities in popular software such as Adobe Reader, Flash Player, or the browsers themselves. Read More»
Posted in Firefox | No Comments »
Microsoft has refreshed its lineup of DirectX offerings at the start of this week, and the company is by no means shy of focusing the spotlight on the evolution of the graphics technology as Windows 7 is contouring. The software giant is offering fresh Technical Previews of Direct2D, DirectWrite, and DXGI 1.1, but also a new TP release of Windows 7/Direct3D 11. The components are available for download as an integral part of the March 2009 iteration of the DirectX Software Development Kit, which is accompanied by the DirectX End-User Runtimes (March 2009) and the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer. Microsoft delivered the first taste of Windows 7 DirectX 11 through the SDK back in November 2008.
Obviously the releases are aimed at a professional audience. Developers will be able to leverage the latest release of the SDK, combining the DirectX Runtime and additional software designed to permit the building of DirectX compliant solutions. With the March 2009 DirectX update, Microsoft has refreshed the tools and utilities included with the software development kit, but also the code samples, documentation, and the 32-bit and 64-bit runtime debug files. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7 | 2 Comments »
Following the availability of Windows Vista in 2007, Microsoft started allowing users to access free copies of the operating system via the Download Center. Windows Vista Enterprise is just such an example. Even with Windows 7 on the horizon, and with Vista SP1 available for approximately a year, the Redmond company continued to serve the original Vista Enterprise bits. Windows Vista 30-Day Eval VHD now features a new published date on the Microsoft Download Center: March 19, 2009. However, the software giant is mute on details related to a potential update, if any.
Windows Vista 30-Day Eval VHD offers users a pre-configured virtual hard disk image containing the Enterprise SKU of the operating system. The Enterprise edition of Vista is normally served only to businesses, namely Software Assurance customers, via Volume Licensing. This is of course an exception, as it has been so far.
Packaged as a VHD, the copy of Vista is designed to run as a guest operating system in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual machine. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
One of the inconveniences that XP brings is it sometimes takes a lifetime before it fully shuts down. You may be wondering why I still post topics on XP, it is because there are still a lot of people that are still using XP on their computers, and I guess some of them are experiencing the eternal shutdown problem on their XP machines. The main reason for this problem is that one or more application is hanging up to 20 seconds while XP tries to shutdown. To resolve this I have here a simple registry tweak to force Windows XP to shut down more quickly. Before you jump into editing your registry it is highly advisable to first create backup of your registry.
step1: The first thing you need to do is to open your registry editor. Click Start –> Go to RUN and type REGEDIT
step2: Navigate to the following keys HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop
Scroll Down and look for HungAppTimeout and change the default 5000 to 1000 then click OK Read More»
Posted in Windows XP | 1 Comment »
Concomitantly with the general availability of Internet Explorer 8 RTW, Microsoft also released to web the IE8 Language Packs. Fact is that the gold version of IE8 RTW is currently available for download in no less than 25 languages, but the software giant has taken it one step further. In addition to the fully localized languages of IE8, the Redmond company is also offering users worldwide the possibility to translate the graphical user interface of IE7’s successor.
“The Internet Explorer 8 Language Packs install language specific resource files, allowing users to view the user interface (UI) of Internet Explorer 8 in a different supported language,” Microsoft informed. Currently users of the following languages will be able to take advantage of the IE8 RTW Language Packs: Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Hong Kong), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. Read More»
Posted in Internet, Windows Vista | No Comments »
At the end of the past week, Microsoft made available to the public the results of a “browser measuring contest” involving Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.05 and Google Chrome 1.0. What the Redmond company did was to measure the browser load times for the top 25 websites worldwide. In the software company’s own comparison, IE8 managed to come out on top of its rivals, besting the open source Firefox and Chrome which were released in 2008, and not the current 3.1/3.5 version of Firefox or the 2.0 flavor of Chrome. But the real question is does it matter?
Obviously, Microsoft is rather a new comer to the browser measuring game. Simply because Internet Explorer, while considered by rival browser makers a reference point, never actually needed to compare itself to competitive products, especially from the perspective of the dominant browser on the market. IE continues to account for the lion’s share when it comes down to browser usage share worldwide, but Firefox has made a dent in its dominance that is harder and harder to ignore. And fact is that for the first time in the long life of Internet Explorer, Microsoft has a release that it’s worth comparing, as it is bound to score at least on par with rivals, if not even best them in certain scenarios. Read More»
Posted in Internet | 3 Comments »
Want some very cool Firefox trick? Just enter the codes below on your Firefox address bar and just hit enter.
1. chrome://browser/content/browser.xul – Opens another Firefox inside a tab in the the existing Firefox window.
2. chrome://browser/content/preferences/preferences.xul – Opens the Options dialog box inside the Firefox tab.
3. chrome://browser/content/bookmarks/bookmarksPanel.xul – Opens the “Bookmarks Manager” inside a tab in the Firefox window.
4. chrome://browser/content/history/history-panel.xul – Opens the History Panel in the Firefox tab.
5. chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul?type=extensions – Opens the Extensions window in the current tab.
6. chrome://browser/content/preferences/cookies.xul – Opens the “cookies window” inside a tab in the Firefox window. Read More»
Posted in Firefox | 2 Comments »
Are you tired of waiting for your computer to catch up to your life speed?. While it seems that you are always waiting for your computer to catch up, there are things that you can do to get things back on track and bring back your PC to it’s normal state. Here are 3 very simple steps that can help you optimize your computer.
1. Remove unnecessary programs at at startup. When you start your computer there are lots of programs that loads at the same time. Many programs automatically adds themselves to your startup programs. Keep those startup programs to a minimal amount, you can do this by changing the settings of the programs you do not need at startup. Find the options on your program that say’s “run at startup” or something to that effect and uncheck it. You can also remove some programs by opening “msconfig” (Go to Start -> Run) and going into “startup” tab. Under the startup tab you can see the programs that loads when you boot your computer. Remove all unnecessary programs by unchecking it. This will lower the load your computer needs to sort thru at start up. Read More»
Posted in Computer | No Comments »
If you long for the good old days of XP and still have your install CD, this step-by-step guide will help you revert to Vista’s predecessor.
These days, you have to work to find a new computer that comes with XP installed. Many PC users who upgraded their XP systems to Vista are disappointed with the newer OS’s performance and other problems. In either case, as long as you have an XP installation CD, you can kiss Vista good-bye.
“Downgrading” from Vista to XP is not as difficult as you may think, but it does entail some time-consuming operations. Many online sources claim to offer techniques for reinstalling XP without having to reformat your hard disk. Based on my research, however, deleting the Vista partition and installing XP in its place is arguably the easiest approach. Moreover, this method ensures a clean install that is uncontaminated by Vista leftovers.
Note: In certain cases, you may be able to undo an XP-to-Vista upgrade, even without an XP installation CD, by following the instructions in Microsoft article 933168. The article takes a command-line approach to the XP restoration, and also requires that you have a windows.old folder on your root drive. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 2 Comments »
The Security Compliance Management Toolkit series builds on previous Solution Accelerators to provide you with expanded best practices and additional automation tools to help configure and deploy security settings for the following operating systems and applications: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP Professional SP3, and 2007 Microsoft Office SP1.
After deploying the security settings, you can verify the accuracy of the setting policies and monitor policy changes by applying one or more of 26 Configuration Packs using the desired configuration management (DCM) feature of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1. This series includes the following toolkits:
- Windows Server 2008 Security Compliance Management Toolkit
- Windows Server 2003 Security Compliance Management Toolkit
- Windows Vista Security Compliance Management Toolkit
- Windows XP Security Compliance Management Toolkit
- 2007 Microsoft Office Security Compliance Management Toolkit Read More»
Posted in Computer | No Comments »
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