Hello everyone. My art shows are keeping me extremely busy so sorry about not writing more often while I am on the road. Here are some updates on stories we have talked about in the recent past.
Firefox
If you are using Firefox as your browser of choice, make sure you have the most current version. If not, it is possible for someone to steal all your personal data from your computer. How? Well, if some malicious person creates a website with the "Greasemonkey" script running on that site, they can expose the contents of every file on your local hard drive to that site. It is even possible for Greasemonkey to expose the contents of EVERY file on your local hard drive to EVERY site you visit. This means an attacker can quietly send this information anywhere in the world. So go to the Firefox web site and make sure you are running the correct version.
Microsoft and Spyware
Not so long ago, we told you that Microsoft was negotiating to buy a spyware company Claria. Well, the word is out now that the deal has fallen through. However, most people in the know recommend that you do not use Microsoft Anti-Spyware as they changed their software to ignore spyware made by Claria, unless the user overrides their setting. Even though the purchase of Claria is dead, they have not changed their Claria settings.
CounterSpy Ferrets Out Dangerous Spyware
As mentioned here before, I now use Sunbelt Software’s CounterSpy on all our computers. And new reviews by PC World Magazine still show it to be the best anti-spyware software by far. Well their reputation has just gone up another notch as their research department has found a spyware application that steals your personal information from off your computer.
They were analyzing a software called “CoolWebSearch” and found what appears to be a massive identity theft ring hijacking confidential data from millions of infected computers. They found that the software was a spam zombie that was placing callbacks to a remote server. When they visited the remote server, they discovered that it was being used to distribute sensitive personal information from millions of PC users infected by the spyware application.
The sophistication of the operation suggests it's the work of a massive identity theft ring that used keystroke loggers to grab confidential information that could be used to create fake online identities and steal millions of dollars from bank accounts. Sunbelt has contacted the FBI along with several people whose bank account information they found on the remote server.
Besides the obvious dangers, Sunbelt found that the majority of spyware products on the market today would not have found this software on a spyware scan. If you would like to check your computer at once to see if you are infected with “CoolWebSearch,” anti-virus vendor Trend Micro Inc. provides a free online scanning tool that detects and deletes the "CoolWebSearch" application. I suggest you go online and run it.
Blockbuster Video to Raise Prices
As you may remember from my recent review of Blockbuster vs Netflix to find out who had the best DVD rental video service, the only reason I could find to go with Blockbuster was their lower monthly fee. Well that reason is now gone. Blockbuster raised its price from $14.99 per month to $17.99 per month…the same as Netflix. So, if you are thinking of joining one or the other, I strongly recommend Netflix.
Windows 2000 Final Update Needs Fixing
As reported here, Microsoft released their final update rollup for Windows 2000 in June of this year. Well, it turns out they may not quite be done yet. It seems that there are some problems with some of their patches that need to be fixed…again. They are working on them and will release them as they are completed.
