Vista and XP tips
Cursing the cursor flaw
by Andre Lavictoire
Andre Lavictoire 
MS issued a rare, out-of-cycle patch the first week of April for a potentially serious vulnerability now known universally as 'the animated cursor flaw'. Trouble was, the 'fix' knocked out Realtek Audio and/or network services on the systems of many users who installed it, as well as other important applications including a popular German personal income tax prep package.
MS included a 'high priority' fix for the faulty fix in its regular Patch Tuesday release, a few days later.
Vista's carefully-crafted marketing image as the most secure OS of all time endured another slap in the face on Patch Tuesday with the appearance of a 'critical' security update addressing a vulnerability which, potentially, puts millions of users at risk.
Elsewhere... MS last month warned that a virus masquerading as an e-mail offer to try 'IE 7 Beta 2' was circulating widely. Of special concern was the elaborate e-mail itself, which MS said could easily be accepted as genuine, and the fact that the bug it was designed to deliver does not arrive as an attachment. Instead, it's downloaded and installed when an unwary recipient clicks a supplied link.
And MS also (grudgingly) confirmed last month that baddies had found a way to pirate Vista. The OS itself is pretty tight. So, the pirates opted to bypass its product activation process, instead. At press time, MS had not yet announced any fix for that 'vulnerability'.
May 20th 2007 22:02
MS issued a rare, out-of-cycle patch the first week of April for a potentially serious vulnerability now known universally as 'the animated cursor flaw'. Trouble was, the 'fix' knocked out Realtek Audio and/or network services on the systems of many users who installed it, as well as other important applications including a popular German personal income tax prep package.
MS included a 'high priority' fix for the faulty fix in its regular Patch Tuesday release, a few days later.
Vista's carefully-crafted marketing image as the most secure OS of all time endured another slap in the face on Patch Tuesday with the appearance of a 'critical' security update addressing a vulnerability which, potentially, puts millions of users at risk.
Elsewhere... MS last month warned that a virus masquerading as an e-mail offer to try 'IE 7 Beta 2' was circulating widely. Of special concern was the elaborate e-mail itself, which MS said could easily be accepted as genuine, and the fact that the bug it was designed to deliver does not arrive as an attachment. Instead, it's downloaded and installed when an unwary recipient clicks a supplied link.
And MS also (grudgingly) confirmed last month that baddies had found a way to pirate Vista. The OS itself is pretty tight. So, the pirates opted to bypass its product activation process, instead. At press time, MS had not yet announced any fix for that 'vulnerability'.
May 20th 2007 22:02
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