Updates

Avira TechBlog: Today is a busy day for those who want to keep their computers secure: Many updates are available, from Adobes Flash Player over Apples Mac OS X operating system to the Firefox web browser. There is a security vulnerability in Flash player which became public as a zero day vulnerability a week ago. It has been attacked in a limited fashion. Now Adobe released this security update which users can download from the website of the company. As this security vulnerability already gets actively exploited, users and administrators should apply the update immediately. ...

Over the past week or two, we have been keeping track of the various releases of Firefox 4 including RC1 and RC2, counting down to the official release tomorrow, the 22nd of March. Though it is officially being released tomorrow, it has been made available for download today at the Mozilla FTP servers. This is the third release of a browser version after Chrome 10 stable and Internet Explorer 9 RTM in recent weeks. ...

The latest Chrome Dev Channel release comes with a new Chrome logo that’s more plain and boring, but looks better as a desktop icon. Even if not many people will switch to a different browser just because they don’t like the new logo, Chrome lost some of its magic by switching to a visual identity that’s no longer vibrant and picturesque. Here’s the new Chrome icon: … and the old Chrome icon: ...

Google Operation System: After Google released Chrome, Google Toolbar’s development slowed down. That’s because Google Toolbar is no longer the primary vehicle for adding browser features and Google mostly focused on improving Chrome. Google Toolbar 8 is a completely new version of Google’s add-on that was available as part of Google Labs. “Google Toolbar 8 is actually built and runs on top of the Google Chrome Frame platform. This means that Toolbar 8 will run more like a web app in that it can be customized and updated much more frequently and easily. It also means that Google Chrome Frame is installed at the time of Toolbar 8 installation,” explains Google. ...

isc.sans.edu: Microsoft released version 9 of its Internet Explorer web browser. You can download IE 9 from windows.microsoft.com. Microsoft also set up a domain dedicated to the new browser: www.beautyoftheweb.com. Unfortunately, that site isn’t hosted under the microsoft.com domain, nor does it have an SSL certificate to confirm that it belongs to Microsoft. Using this site to distribute the browser goes against the advice of downloading software only from known vendor websites. Copycat malicious sites claiming to distribute IE 9 will probably appear shortly, if they aren’t around yet. ...

Pinguy OS an out-of-the-box working operating system for everyone, not just geeks.This OS is for people that have never used Linux before or for people that just want an out-of-the-box working OS without doing all the tweaks and enhancements that everyone seems to do when installing a fresh copy of Ubuntu or other Linux based Distro’s. Read Full Story here: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/pinguy-os-11-04-pre-alpha.html

Avira TechBlog: Well, actually we expect some more updates as some security vulnerabilities have been revealed at the Pwn2Own contest during the CanSecWest security conference. Google is the first and pushes out version 10.0.648.133 – which fixes one security vulnerability within WebKit (the base of the Blackberry, Chrome and Safari webbrowsers). As usual, the update is spread via the built-in automatic update mechanism. Users can make sure to use the latest version by clicking on the tool symbol and choosing the “About Chrome” menu entry. ...

cross-posted on the Official Google Blog Just three weeks ago, we kicked off the Year of the Rabbit with a speedy Chrome beta. Today, we’re excited to bring these speed improvements and more to everyone using Chrome. With today’s stable release, even your most complex web apps will run more quickly and responsively in the browser. (For the curious, this boost corresponds to a 66% improvement in JavaScript performance on the V8 benchmark suite.) We realize that speed isn’t just about pure brawn in the browser—it’s also about saving time with simple interfaces. Chrome’s new settings interface will help you get to the right settings quickly so you don’t have to dig endlessly to find a way to import your bookmarks or change your browser’s homepage. We’ve added a search box that shows you the settings you’re looking for, as you type. On top of that, you can also copy and paste a direct link into Chrome’s address bar to jump to a specific settings page. (No more long, frustrating phone conversations with your dad on where to find that specific setting in the browser!) Here’s the new settings interface in action: ...

labnol.org wrote: If you are a fan of Firefox, you may want to get this one. The first RC (Release Candidate) of Firefox web browser is now available for download at ftp.mozilla.org. If you have trouble accessing the above link, use this direct link to download the Firefox 4 RC1 installer for Windows. The Mac version of Firefox 4 RC1 is here while the Linux version is here. This Mozilla page has a list of all news features that are part of Firefox 4 beta, including the compact start button, and am not sure if much has changed in the latest RC. ...

The Chrome OS Beta channel has been updated to R10 release 0.10.156.46 including the new Chrome 10 Beta, new trackpad and several stability and functional improvements over the previous release. This release contains the following security fixes: Scratchpad application security vulnerability fix In addition to all Chrome 10 new features (see Chrome 10 blogpost), there are several Chrome OS great improvements including: 3G modem activation fixes 3G connection to the carrier fixes Wi-Fi connectivity/Out of the Box fixes New trackpad and sensitivity setting adjusted Auto update engine and debugging improvements Power optimizations GTalk video/chat optimizations Audio CPU utilization improvements Improved on screen indicators: brightness, network status, update icon There is one known issue: ...