Updates

Adobe has published a security bulletin about security vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player. In all versions up to the recent 10.0.42.34 Flash objects could evade the Sandbox which would allow for unauthorized cross domain requests. The vulnerability is rated critical. The updated version 10.0.45.2 as well of a fixed build of Adobe AIR 1.5.3.1930 is available in the flash download center and the air download center, respectively. Users should apply the update ASAP and administrators in companies should roll the fixed software out soon, too. ...

The Google Chrome stable channel has been updated to 4.0.249.89 for Windows. Security Fixes and rewards: Please see the Chromium security page for more detail. Note that the referenced bugs may be kept private until a majority of our users are up to date with the fix. Congratulations to Timothy D. Morgan on receiving a Chromium Security Reward for bug 32718. Note that Timothy elected to donate the reward to the Haiti relief effort, so Google raised the donation to $1337. ...

February 9th will bring numerous Microsoft Updates, 13 bulletins addressing 26 vulnerabilities. All versions of Windows are affected. Looks like a busy Tuesday is ahead. See Microsoft’s Security Bulletin Advance Notification for February 2010 for additional details.

Valentines Day is coming and people are getting ready with preparation and plans to gift some thing different to their loved ones. In this race how can Windows stay behind? So it has released an official Valentine theme to change you desktop to a festive mood. Here is a screen shot of this theme. You do not need any other modification to install this theme as it is not a third party theme. This theme also includes complete sound pack, to move you with the rhythm. Just download the theme and double click it. ...

After lots of Beta and RC releases, uTorrent, the most popular and lightweight BitTorrent client has now been updated to ver. 2.0 which is the final stable release. The user interface has also improved with a set of new icons. Release Notes: Added UDP tracker support! uTP has been improved significantly 1.8.5, with many bugs fixed and performance improvements. It can be found in the preferences as “Enable bandwidth management” (but don’t worry, you can still control caps!). The setup dialog has been overhauled to make it much easier to use and with a built-in speed test. More presets were added and it automatically scales settings for high-upload connections. A new transfer cap feature has been added to track bandwidth usage, along with graphs to show your usage. Note – The program asks you to install Ask Toolbar which you can ignore during installation. ...

Microsoft Corporation has almost started assembling the final build of Office 2010 aka (MS office 14) RTM version. As per the news leaked on Wzor, Development of OFFICE 2010 software package has come to its last stage.The build is codenamed as Escrow with build number 14.0.4734.1000 According to Wzor, This RTM Escrow Build 14.0.4734.1000 has already been circulated within Corporation and is available to company employees and partners. Few days before, when Build 14.0.4730.1007 was leaked on Torrent network, its EULA (License Agreement) read that its a RTM version but apparently it was just a Pre RTM build. Testers are still working on it and if there no problems, it will move to RTM version. ...

The stable channel has been updated to 4.0.249.78 for Windows, and includes the following features and security fixes (since 3.0): Extensions Bookmark sync Enhanced developer tools HTML5: Notifications, Web Database, Local Storage, WebSockets, Ruby support v8 performance improvements Skia performance improvements Full ACID3 pass, due to re-enabled remote font support (with added defense against bugs in operating system font libraries) HTTP byte range support New security feature: “Strict Transport Security” support Experimental new anti-reflected-XSS feature called “XSS Auditor” Security Fixes: ...

But don’t. Please don’t!… just…. don’t!… Instead, why don’t you apply the out-of-band patch ( MS10-002 ) that Microsoft has just released…?!!! Patching remote-code-execution vulnerabilities is usually “a good idea” to say the least. But, considering that: Microsoft rushed to get this patch out…… ( Thank you Microsoft! ) And that, this patch addresses several Internet Explorer vulnerabilities – of which includes CVE-2010-0249 – the infamous “Aurora attacks” related vulnerability that’s well known to be making the rounds in the wild. ...

Early this afternoon Microsoft released an out-of-band security bulletin patching the vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The fix has been at the top of the news since the vulnerabilities it treats are believed to have led to the compromise of Google and about 30 other companies last week in what has been called the “Aurora” attack. The governments of France and Germany suggested that Internet users switch to a different browser until the vulnerability was fixed. ...

Microsoft has said it will issue an out-of-band patch today for critical vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer that allow remote execution of code. The company said yesterday it would not wait until the February “Patch Tuesday” to fix the vulnerabilities. The much discussed “Aurora” vulnerabilities in IE have been held at least partially responsible for cyber attacks on Google and more then two dozen other major companies. The attacks on Google were aimed at Gmail accounts of dissidents and Google’s source code. The attacks on the other companies were aimed at stealing intellectual property. ...

This Black Tuesday was different as anticipated – Microsoft releases only one security bulletin, but other companies “jumped in” and deliver updates now as well. For the windows operating systems, only one Security Bulletin was released. MS10-001 deals with a vulnerability in the decompression routines of the Embeded OpenType Font Engine. This means that especially in Windows 2000, programs like Internet Explorer, Word or PowerPoint for example which render EOT fonts can put the system at risk when viewing manipulated contents. In newer operating systems the flawed code is used differently so that Microsoft assumes that it isn’t exploitable there. ...

Earlier this evening, Microsoft formally announced a new search app for iPhone on the Bing Community blog. The Bing app is available now from the App Store, complete with voice search. I emphasize the now because the app has a December 16 release date on the 15th. Based on a very quick, cursory look, Bing is a competent iPhone app, tapping into the kind of capabilities expected from the platform. Bing fits nicely into the App Store repertoire. I wouldn’t call the features revolutionary — Apple and Google are there already with advanced mapping and GPS — but the packaging appeals, and Microsoft manages to offer a user experience that is fairly consistent with Bing Web search. ...

It’s the second Tuesday of the month and there are important updates being released. From Microsoft, of course, but also from Adobe. There’s a critical security issue in Adobe Flash Player 10.0.32.18 and earlier. It’s important that organizations deploy these updates before the Christmas holiday reduces IT staffing. Fortunately, this patch cycle is as early as can be landing on the 8th so there’s still time to test and deploy. ...

Three steps to keep Windows fast, stable, and secure. The original 2009 version of this guide recommended FileHippo Update Checker (later renamed AppManager) and the Secunia Online Scanner. Both are gone — FileHippo retired its updater, and Secunia’s consumer tools shut down years ago. Here is what still works. 1. Patch Windows and Microsoft products Turn on automatic updates and verify nothing is pending. Reboot when prompted — pending restarts leave patches half-applied. ...