The latest flaws in Acrobat reader have been annoying at best, and very dangerous to your network at worst.

A few weeks back a security researcher claimed that he found a flaw that was in just about every version of Acrobat Reader that would allow him to take control of a PC.

Petko Petkov, a U.K.-based researcher who found the flaw claimed in a blog posting two weeks ago:

“Adobe Acrobat/Reader PDF documents can be used to compromise your Windows box - Completely!!! Invisibly and unwillingly!!! All it takes is to open a PDF document or stumble across a page that embeds one.”

Adobe finally awoke from their slumber and confirmed the bug. Their fix is amusing. Since the flaw exploits the use of the mailto: url link, they walk you through instructions on how to remove / disable the mailto link!

So that means you no longer can click on an email link and have it launch your email. I think I don’t want to completely break my browser while they take their time finding a fix.

I have a better idea. Get rid of Acrobat off your network, and use a third party reader like foxit (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/)

From Microsoft

The Internet is a vast place–and not every site is friendly. How do you help protect yourself online? With Windows Internet Explorer 7. Already, the Internet Explorer 7 Phishing Filter prevents nearly one million visits per week to known dangerous websites. In just a few clicks, see how the latest version of the world’s most popular web browser can help you be safer online.

• Download it now (it’s free!)

• Take a tour of Internet Explorer 7

• Why should you upgrade from earlier versions?

Already have Internet Explorer 7?

• See how to navigate the web more safely

• Learn easy keyboard shortcuts

• Personalize it with add-ons

From APC Mag

Quote:

I’ve been running Vista Media Center (VMC) on two machines for a while now, and so far I have to say that the experience has been pretty good, but not all smooth sailing. Just like XP MCE 2005, VMC is very dependent on the capabilities of the hardware platform, the setup of the operating system and any third-party software which has been installed.

So, I decided to put together a piece detailing the problems I encountered and how I got around them – what worked and what didn’t.

Read the entire article here

 

From nVidia via ActiveWin

Release Highlights:

• Beta driver for GeForce 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs.
• Added product support for the following NVIDIA Motherboard GPUs:
  • GeForce 7150 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
  • GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
  • GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 620i
  • GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
  • GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 610i
• Improved compatibility for Half-Life 2: Episode 2.
• Added NVIDIA SLI profiles for Portal, Clive Barker’s Jericho, SEGA Rally Revo, NHL 08, and European Street Racing.
• Several game and application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.

• NVIDIA ForceWare Release 163.75 BETA (Windows Vista 64-bit)
• NVIDIA ForceWare Release 163.75 BETA (Windows XP 32-bit)
• NVIDIA ForceWare Release 163.75 BETA (Windows XP 64-bit)

 

• Vista Codec Package v4.5.1 Final
  All your codecs in one package. Includes improved FLV1 playback, updated ffdshow, improved filetype recognition for WMP11 and more.
  (tags: Codec Software Video Audio )
• Vista SP1 Preview
  This author suggests you give up Vista and instead move to GNU/Linux where hardware and software apparently work much better. Yea. Give it a try folks. I’ll be here when you return…
  (tags: Linux FUD )

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