New Windows security hole called 'extremely critical'

UPDATE: microsoft has released a patch for the vulnerability described below. Find it here.


URGENT: December 31, 2005: a 'severe' security flaw has recently been discovered in Microsoft's Windows operating system. Microsoft has not yet released a patch. According to the Washington Post,

"A previously unknown flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system is leaving computer users vulnerable to spyware, viruses and other programs that could overtake their machines and has sent the company scrambling to come up with a fix.

"Microsoft said in a statement yesterday that it is investigating the vulnerability and plans to issue a software patch to fix the problem. The company could not say how soon that patch would be available."

Find out more in this Washington Post article from December 30, 2005, and a similar article in PC World.

URLs from 12/27/05

Here is a link for a tutorial to install the Sony Cybershot driver (to allow mounting of camera on desktop):
Also, to check to see if the machine has not been assigned a drive letter, do the following:
1. Right click "My Computer."
2. Select "Manage."
3. Click on "Drive Management."
4. Look in the local drive list and see if it is showing up and has a drive letter. If it is showing up but has no letter assigned to it, right click it and select "assign drive letter."

Uninstalling Norton 2004

Problems importing CDs into iTunes

Worst computer related ideas of 2005:
New security ID law
CNet's Top 10 Worst Ideas
PC Magazine's 10 Worst Products
And let's not forget Sony's disastrous CD encryption scheme

Aspi corrupt in Windows XP

Earthlink SMTP Server #1
Earthlink SMTP Server #2

URLs from 12/20/05

Happy Holidays from the Help Desk!

Quicktime to fix the Mac OS 9 Classic Mode Quicktime:
If the computer will boot in OS 9 and has a broadband connection. I would boot into OS 9 and run the software update control panel. If that does not work I would try downloading Quicktime from this URL.

If this does not work send us an email: helpradio-AT-wmub.org -- Guy Moore

Mac OS X 10.3.9, the following message comes up when booting

"The volume for 'Serial Port Monitor' cannot be found"

The Serial Port Monitor is part of the Palm desktop in Classic mode. Probably is coming from Classic mode that is starting when booting. Try turning classic off using classic System Preference and make it so that it does not start when you boot. If that makes the problem go away when you boot then we know it is coming from classic mode. If you are not using the Palm software I would just remove it. Here is the URL for removing the Palm software.

Finding help via user groups

Users groups are great to help you with your computer. Here are some in WMUB's listening area:

1. Cincinnati PC users
2. Dayton MicroComputer Association
3. AppleSiders

URLs from 12/13/05

Christmas Lights display in Mason (now inactive)

BandwidthSpeedTest and InternetFrog.com speed test

Firewall information for OS X

Users groups are great to help you with your computer. Here are some in our area:

1. Cincinnati PC users
2. Dayton MicroComputer Association
3. AppleSiders

Spyware error message concerning DSO Exploit (from Bryan Powell):

What is DSO Exploit?
If you use Spybot Search and Destroy or another spyware removal tool, it may find an item called DSO Exploit. This exploit is a bug in Internet Explorer that under certain circumstances would allow untrusted software to run on the computer. In other words, its a hole in Internet Explorer that hackers could use to gain access to your system.

However, if you are running the latest version of Internet Explorer and have all your Windows Updates installed, the bug has been patched and is not a threat to your computer system. Even though Spybot may still show it as a threat.

How do I Remove DSO Exploit?

If you have the latest Internet Explorer version and all your Windows Updates, you can safely ignore the DSO Exploit as a potential problem when Spybot Search and Destroy or other spyware removal tools discover it. However if you would rather fix the exploit so it does not show up again, follow these steps to edit your Windows Registry. Please be careful however, incorrect changes to the Windows Registry can cause Windows to not boot.

1) Make a note of the location of the exploit shown in Spybot, something similar to:

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1614895754-73586283-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\0\1004!=W=3

2) Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and Press Enter to open the Windows Registry Editor

3) Find the location of the exploit above in the registry by clicking on the pluses(+) next to each title

4) After opening the Zones section and clicking on '0' look to the right window, under 'name' is the key '1004' and the type is REG_SZ simply right click and delete this REG_SZ value.Then right click and create new>DWORD Value, name it 1004, then right click on that and goto modify, give it the Hex Value of 3, Click ok.

If there is only a DWORD Value for the key (in this case 1004), then double click on the key and change the HEX value to 3 and click Ok.

5) Close the Registry Editor and Reboot your computer

6) The DSO Exploit should now be removed and it should no longer appear in the Spybot Search and Destroy log as a problem.

URLs from 12/6/05

Dapsol dialer

Review of eight different anti-spyware products

Computer certification glossary

Grape iMac (and finding out how it is configured)

Memory for Old Grape iMac

Installing RAM in old Grape iMac- select which speed model you have

Anthony.zip -- Virus Mass mailing worm - w32.beagle.cq