“Microsoft delivered a monster sized patch this month … It’s enough to make your head spin,” wrote Andrew Storms, director of security operations for security firm nCircle, in an email.
Overall, Microsoft issued 12 security updates, covering 57 vulnerabilities, one of the largest sets of security updates the company has ever released.
Update your browser. Ditch Java. Don’t click weird links from even weirder people. Ho-hum. The basic tenets of PC security are burned into the brains of most Web surfers by now. The old malware tricks just don’t work as well anymore.
Surprise! Bad guys are getting creative. (Never underestimate the oh-so-powerful combination of greed, boredom, and cleverness.) Rather than targeting Internet Explorer, now they’re gunning for your virtual machine, your video games, and your Web-connected thermostat.
“The more digital our lives become, the greater the number of potential nontraditional entry points for cybercriminals attempting to steal data and wreak havoc,” says McAfee Labs security strategist Toralv Dirro, who referred us to some of the wild exploits highlighted here. Grab your tinfoil hat, and let’s take a walk down wacky-hack lane.
Microsoft will issue 12 security updates next week, including two for Internet Explorer, that will patch a near-record 57 vulnerabilities in the browser, Windows, Office and the enterprise-critical Exchange Server email software. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Even as the release of Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) looms for Windows 7, enterprises are standardizing on the four-year-old IE8 instead, a developer of browser management software said today. Insider (registration required) Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Microsoft has released tools to block Internet Explorer 10 from automatically reaching corporate PCs running Windows 7, a sign that the new browser will not release for at least several weeks Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Whether you love or hate Internet Explorer, you’ve got to admit that some of its ads are pretty good.
Microsoft’s latest IE ad, dubbed “Child of the 90s,” tries to appeal to people who remember the web browser at its worst.
The video shows snapshots of passing 1990s fads, such as Slap Wraps and Pogs. Meanwhile, a narrator describes how things were different back then. (My favorite line: “Lunch was a puzzle, not a picture,” spoken while stacks of Lunchables arrange themselves for an Instagram-style photo.) Take a look:
Lately I’ve noticed that whenever I play a YouTube video on my PC, it’s jerky. Choppy. Call it what you will—it’s really frustrating.
Semi-expert troubleshooter that I am, I did what I always do when experiencing a problem inside my browser: I tried a different browser. Specifically, I switched out of Chrome and into Internet Explorer.
And what do you know? Silky-smooth YouTube video. Google Chrome, j’accuse!
After a little research into the issue, I discovered a fix—one that worked for me. Your mileage may vary, of course, because each system and situation is different, but it’s definitely worth a try if you’re plagued by the same choppy playback in Chrome. Do this:
Microsoft is close to wrapping up work on Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) on Windows 7, according to a report published Friday.
Citing sources enrolled in an invitation-only IE10 test group, Microsoft-watcher and ZDNet blogger Mary Jo Foley said that the Redmond, Wash.-based developer has told those testers that the more recent build will be the last before the browser is released to the public.
Officially, IE10 on Windows 7 remains in “Release Preview,” a build that debuted Nov. 13, 2012. At the time, Computerworld speculated that a final release would occur before the end of 2012, basing its estimate on the development timetable for IE9. Instead, the browser will apparently launch in 2013.
Friday, Microsoft again declined to comment on IE10’s shipping schedule.
Microsoft is releasing a patch on Monday for older versions of its Internet Explorer browser, deviating from its normal repair schedule due to the seriousness of the problem.
The vulnerability, which is present in IE 6, 7, and 8, is a memory corruption issue. It can be exploited by an attacker via a drive-by download, a term for loading a website with attack code that delivers malware to a victim’s computer if the person merely visits the website.
Microsoft released a quick fix for the issue earlier this month, but did not have a more permanent patch ready when it released its monthly batch of patches last Tuesday. The company will occasionally release an emergency patch if the software vulnerability is considered a high risk.
“While we have still seen only a limited number of customers affected by the issue, the potential exists that more customers could be affected in the future,” wrote Dustin Childs, group manager for the company’s Trustworthy Computing Group, on a company blog on Sunday.
Just a few days after hackers figured out how to run unauthorized desktop apps on Windows RT tablets, a hacker on the XDA Developers forum has posted a download-and-click jailbreak tool for the exploit. The jailbreak utility will allow any user, who wants to take the risk, to temporarily open up their Windows RT tablet to legacy Windows applications, XDA user netham45 claims.
The new temporary jailbreak tool has the potential to solve what some have called Windows RT‘s “desktop as barren wasteland” conceit. Unlike a traditional x86/x64-powered Windows PC, the desktop interface on ARM-based Windows RT tablets can only run a select number of apps such as Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer. Third-party apps are not allowed.
The jailbreak tool also comes a few weeks before Microsoft is set to release Surface Pro, a Windows 8 tablet packed with an Intel Core processor capable of running legacy desktop apps. Microsoft in October released a version of the Surface running Windows RT.
Anyone yearning to put legacy Windows apps on their RT touch tablets, however, should keep in mind this jailbreak method has limitations and risks. PCWorld also has not tested this tool. So if you choose to try it, you are doing so at your own risk including potentially voiding your device’s warranty and opening up your device to malware. The number of apps available to install is also fairly limited right now.
Microsoft will issue an emergency update to patch a vulnerability in Internet Explorer in the next two weeks to fix a flaw criminals have been using for more than a month, researchers said. Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
At one time or another, we install too much stuff. And who can blame us? The Internet is one big playground with lots to install and play with, and we eventually forget that too many installations can slow down and eventually crash our system. One key to a smooth healthy running computer is to keep it as trim as possible, with as little bloatware as possible. Enter Toolbar Cleaner (free) to make that task really easy.
As the name implies, Toolbar Cleaner…well….cleans your system of toolbars. But it actually goes further than that; it also cleans your browsers of other items such as plugins and extensions. It also provides another service, which is to clean up your Windows start-up menu.So don’t think it is a one-trick pony. It is capable of more than you might think.
But one thing at a time. First you need to install the program, which will literally take only a minute due to the installation file weighing in at 1MB. But a word of caution: During the installation process, the app will try to change your browser homepage as well as install something called an “anti-phishing domain advisor” (more on that later). You can easily bypass these by unchecking them before proceeding, but an unalert user with their eye on something else at the time may totally miss it. So concentrate on the installation; otherwise, you will have something else to uninstall later.
When installing Toolbar Cleaner (or any software), be very cautious and make sure that you don’t accidently choose these two options. Unless you really want them, check them before proceeding.
When it is ready to go, fire up Toolbar Cleaner and you will immediately be presented with two tabs. The first tab, called “Browsers”, will show you all he toolbars, extensions and plugins that you have installed. he app supports all the big browsers such as Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer. Simply study the list, decide which toolbars, extensions and plugins you want removed and tick the boxes next to them. Then, making sure the browser is closed first, click “Remove Selected Toolbar(s)” and watch the progress bar methodically remove your choices. Then simply restart the browser and see if they are gone.
An elite hacker group credited last year with having an inexhaustible supply of zero-day vulnerabilities was responsible for digging up and first using the newest unpatched bug in Internet Explorer (IE), a Symantec manager said.
The gang, dubbed “Elderwood” after a source code variable regularly used by the hackers, had been profiled last September by Symantec in a research paper that outlined its strategies as well as its hacking tactics.
Last week, Symantec linked Elderwood to the newest IE zero-day, which researchers said last week was being used to attack Windows PCs whose owners visited the Council on Foreign Relations’ (CSR) website using IE6, IE7, or IE8. CSR is a high-profile foreign policy think-tank.
Symantec based its conclusion on several factors, including similarities in attack code used both in past exploits and the most recent.
A researcher has bypassed Microsoft’s temporary fix for a zero-day Internet Explorer browser vulnerability that hackers have been exploiting for a month. Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
The attackers who recently infected the website of the Council on Foreign Relations with an exploit for an unpatched vulnerability in Internet Explorer, also targeted the website of Capstone Turbine Corporation, a U.S.-based manufacturer of gas microturbines used for power generation, heating and cooling, according to a security researcher. Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
It was a good year for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. According to the latest data from Net Apps, IE gained only slightly in December, but overall it reversed its fortunes from 2011 and recaptured a fair amount of lost market share in 2012.
First, let’s look back at the previous year. Internet Explorer started out 2011 with 58.35 percent of the browser market. By the end of 2011, though, Google’s Chrome browser had eaten a significant chunk of that market share (and a bit from Firefox as well), and Internet Explorer plummeted more than six percentage points to only 51.87 percent market share.
Internet Explorer regained market share in 2012 at the expense of rival browsers.
Much of that drop was function of Microsoft’s decision to draw a proverbial line in the sand with Internet Explorer 9, combined with Microsoft’s campaign to actively sway users to abandon Internet Explorer 6. IE6 dropped from 11.9 percent to 7.33 percent, but because Internet Explorer 9 is not compatible with Windows XP many users that switched from IE 6 were forced to choose between IE8 or one of the alternative browsers—and apparently the alternative browsers won most of the time.
Internet Explorer 8 dropped precipitously as well—from more than 35 percent down to just over 27 percent. However, the growth of IE9 more than made up for IE8’s lost market share. Despite being limited to Windows Vista and Windows 7, IE9 skyrocketed from 0.52 percent to 11.48 percent in 2011.
