Tech News Blog
2.25.2005
Trend Micro Flaw
Secunia released a security bulletin labeled ‘highly critical’ for most Trend Micro applications including the popular PC-cillin family of Internet security programs. Secunia recommends: “Update scan engine to VSAPI 7.510 or later.” If you would like more information on the flaw and Secunia’s version is too bland, CNET also reported on this problem.

Microsoft Releases Security Patch
In a story possibly associated with the item above, Microsoft has released a patch for Windows XP users that repairs a problem with some third-party security software. According to the article in CNET, Microsoft did not specify which third-party software is susceptible, but my money is on the company named in the story above.

Firefox Update Available
Firefox users should visit Mozilla.org for the latest update for your browser, Firefox 1.0.1/. The update addresses security flaws that allow crackers to spoof web sites. The updates are available for Multiple Platforms and if you are using Mozilla, make sure you are using the latest version, 1.7.5/.

Microsoft to Customers: Phone Home
Microsoft will begin phasing-out online activation of new software over the Internet according to CNET. Initially, the change will affect PCs produced by the major computer manufacturers; if you build your own PC (and you should), you will be spared the personal contact temporarily. Seriously, what message is Microsoft sending with this move? Does it seem to you like they don’t trust this whole Internet thing? What’s up with that? Lately I’ve noticed my XP Activation window popup with annoying frequency even though the copy is one of eleven I own and it is registered. Me thinks Microsoft might be getting somewhat paranoid about piracy, but honestly with all the security flaws you might be better off stealing another platform; or use a open source system, most are available free.

Cell Phone Crack is Serious
Cell phones are not usually within the scope of what we cover at Multiple Platforms.com, but the latest crack is a serious flaw and T-Mobile users need to be pro-active regarding this threat. To learn more about this issue, check out the story carried by CNET.

Who Should Get High-Speed Internet?
I have had high-speed Internet for several years and quite honestly take the speed of my broadband connection for granted. At work and school we have a T1 high-speed connection, and I again, I admit to being totally spoiled. I cannot even remember the ‘bad old days’ of dial-up; having said that I honestly believe that I have been charged to much for the privilege, and that furthermore, everyone should have the right to be overcharged for what is fast becoming a necessity. Leaving the matter of cost for another battle, the PBS show NOW takes up the issue of who should decide what access we receive. No surprise here, all is not equal when it comes to broadband availability and the dollar is the KING. Check your local listings for this weeks’ broadcast of NOW on your local PBS affiliate.

Looking for Weekend Festival Fun?
If you live in California or plan to visit there, check out our other web site California Fairs and Festivals.com/. The web site has been completely transformed into a fast-loading, html-conforming, good reference for weekend family fun.

Open Source Updates
Secunia released these bulletins: Mandrake (1, 2), SuSE, and Sun Solaris.

Multiple Platforms Tip of the Day: Learn From The Digital Master
Last weekend, Leo talked about Macs, Windows XP, Linux, TiVo, digital cameras, audio issues, VoIP, and more; I know this because I helped with Leo’s show notes as I occasionally do when The Tech Guy is not recording in the Laporte Lab. You can listen to the Internet stream by going to Leo’s web site and clicking on the KFI logo, or you can listen live in the Los Angeles area on AM640. Leo answers questions on all things digital from 11 am to 2 pm PST on Saturday and Sunday.

What is a Disk Image?
According to Wikipedia, “A disk image is a computer file containing the complete contents and structure of a data storage device. The term has been generalized to cover any such file, whether taken from an actual physical storage device or not.
An ordinary backup only backs up the files it can access. Boot information, and files locked by an operating system or being changed at the time, may not be saved. A disk image contains all these, and faithfully replicates the data, so it is commonly used for backing up disks with operating systems, or bootable CD/DVDs.
The image is saved as a file, which for a full CD or system disk may be quite large (~ 10 MB to several GB). This file can be saved onto a hard drive, CD, DVD or other media, for later use.
Disk images can either be compressed using some type of compression algorithm like LZW, or uncompressed ("raw"). Images of CD-ROMs most often carry the file name extension .iso, referring to the ISO 9660 file system commonly used on such discs. The .iso format is the most common format for Linux distributions and other online images. Other common CD image formats are .nrg (Nero Burning ROM's proprietary format), and .bin/.cue.”

Tech News Blog
2.24.05
Hotmail Users are Hot Under the Collar
Hotmail customers are growing increasingly more frustrated with their email provider as service continues to be disrupted according to a report by CNET. A faulty server is being blamed for the outage, but after several weeks of intermittent service, Hotmail users are beginning to seek remedies for this annoyance. No word from Microsoft as to when the service will be restored to normal. If you would like a Gmail account, check out our podcast: Life in a Multiple Platforms World from February 23, 2005 to learn the details. Just click on the podcast icon below or to subscribe to the feed enter this URL in your podcast software: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Multipleplatforms

Windows XP SP2 Still has 2 Flaws: Reduced Write Speed for DVD and Shorter Battery Life
It light of everything else, this find by the PC World staff is minor unless you burn batches of DVDs or you have an Acer laptop that eats through battery power faster than I eat chocolate-chip cookies. According to PC World, the flaw can reduce Acer laptop battery life by an hour and in some cases that could be as much as 50 percent of your time. The research also uncovered slow downs of up to 40 percent when burning DVDs using InCD4 a popular application shipped with many PCs. PC World reports that Microsoft is working on a patch.

Update for iPod
Apple released iPod 2005-02-22 updater on Tuesday and MacFixIt reports that several readers have experienced conflicts with their iPod post-installation. The article emphasizes only a small number of users have issues; if you have problems after installing the update MacFixIt suggests that you reset your iPod, keep in remind that you will lose anything stored on your iPod. Another suggested fix is to not get your iPod fix; leave it disconnected for 20 hours and then reconnect, and then reset! Still no word on conflicts with the Java fix released by Apple on Tuesday, stay tuned.

Open Source Updates
Secunia announced these updates for open source users: Gentoo and Red Hat.

Multiple Platforms Tip of the Day: Anti-Virus Advice
Apple users that opt for .Mac accounts have anti-virus protection available free from MacAfee and I regularly check my Macs, mostly for peace-of-mind; if you do not have anti-virus protection and feel the need, seriously consider the .Mac option. PC people can use AVG Free Edition from Grisoft and it is free for personal use. I have been using AVG Free and it seems to be providing me with the protection my PCs need. It is also recommended by PC World and Leo Laporte, The Tech Guy on KFI. NOD32 is Leo’s pick for the best commercial anti-virus product with a caveat the company sponsors his show.

What is ISO Image?
Wikipedia has this definition, “An ISO image (as prescribed by ISO standard ISO 9660) is a file that represents a one-to-one copy of a specific computer file system, most widely used for the compact disc medium (i.e. an entire CD or DVD-ROM).
The term "ISO image" or just "ISO" is sometimes used informally to refer to disk images in formats other than ISO 9660.
Many Linux, BSD, or other free operating systems are distributed for download using an ISO image; because it is a one-to-one copy, file permissions and other file system metadata are not lost in the transfer. Also, it is possible to loopback mount the image under many of these systems to access the individual files. The ISO 9660 is specified as read-only; currently you cannot modify the content when mounting an ISO file. The loopback mount gives you read access only. However, there are special tools that will allow you to modify an ISO file.
After downloading, one can burn this image to a CD. If the burned CD includes an operating system that doesn't need to be installed to the hard disk (this is, can be used from the CD), it is called a LiveCD. LiveCDs are bootable. Such an example of these are the Gnoppix, Knoppix, Mepis and Morphix Linux distributions.”

Tech News Blog
2.23.05
Worms, Worms, There Making Us Squirm
It’s looking like the week of the worm and with so many striking at the same time it is hard to sort them all, hang on; here we go:
Assiral Worm: CNET and Sophos are reporting on a new wormed named Assiral that arrives in your email inbox with the phrase “LOV YA” in the subject line; if that sounds familiar it should, the same hook was used in an earlier virus named the Love Bug worm. Needless to say, don’t open the attachment that is enclosed with this email; it has the name: LOVE_LETTER.TXT.exe.
Virus Appears as Email From FBI: CNET is also carrying a report that details a statement from the FBI regarding a rash of phishing attempts using the federal agency as cover for their illegal activities. The message from the scammers claims to be from the FBI’s Internet Fraud Compliant Center and accuses the recipient of accessing “illegal Web sites.” In the article, the FBI stresses the fact that they would not send ‘unsolicited messages’ to private citizens and urges anyone that receives this message to not open the attachment that contains a virus.
Sober Worm Spreading Fast: PC World reports that the Sober worm was discovered in the wild on Monday and the new variant has been named: W32.Sober-K-mm/. The worm is infecting computers rapidly and has already earned a ‘High Risk’ rating according to security experts interviewed by PC World.

Apple Releases a New Security Update
Apple released a security update that addresses issues with Java according to Secunia. The security firm rates the flaw the patch corrects as “highly critical”. Remember to repair disk permissions before and after installing any updates on your Mac. Many experts advise waiting a week before installing updates in the event that bugs exist in the code. The patch was just released on February 22 and there are no user reports, I will keep you posted as usual.

New iPods Introduced, Some Price Cuts
Apple has introduced new members to the iPod family: a 6GB Mini, and two new iPod Photo devices with 30 and 60 gigabyte capacities respectively. The latter models will soon be able to connect directly to a digital camera with an adapter available in March. Apple lowered the price on the 4GB Mini to $199 (USD) and the company will no longer offer the 40GB iPods according to a story carried by CNET.

Open Source Updates
Secunia reports that the following open source systems have updates available: Fedora (1, 2, 3), Debian (1, 2), and SuSE.

Multiple Platforms Tip of the Day: Automatic Updates
You can schedule your Mac to check for updates automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Open Systems Preferences and choose Software Update; if it isn’t already, check the option to Check for updates: and choose the frequency that suits your needs. You can also select the option to download the updates in the background. Windows XP users can set their PC for automatic updates using this path: Start/ Control Panel/ System/ Automatic Updates. I like to use the option: ‘Download the updates for me, but let me choose when to install them’; click on Apply and you are done.

What is Ripping?
According to Wikipedia, “Ripping is the process of copying the audio and/or video data from one media form, such as Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) or Compact Disc (CD), to a hard disk. While the original media is typically digital, the extraction of analog media such as VHS video or vinyl records to a digital format can also be referred to as "ripping" by extension. The copied data, called "rips", are usually encoded in a compressed format such as MP3, WMA or Ogg Vorbis for audio or MPEG-2, MPEG-4 or DivX for video in order to conserve storage space.
For consumers of digital content, there are a number of practical uses for ripping. One is to allow the owners of CDs or DVDs to listen or watch their purchased content in a more flexible way. For example, ripping can allow users to listen to music from a number of different albums without having to change discs and to make customized playlists of the music. Ripping can also be used to allow music to be played on portable digital audio players. Creating a backup of purchased and copyrighted media is legal in some countries, including the United States.
Since the music or video is transferred to a data file, the files can be shared with other computer users over the Internet.”

Tech News Blog
2-22-05
Internet Explorer Alert – 249
Secunia is reporting yet another spoofing flaw in Internet Explorer, this time they have graded the threat ‘less critical’ and it effects Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 on PCs with the SP2 update installed. Secunia recommends, “Do not enter sensitive information in popups after following links from untrusted sources.” The aforementioned recommendation by Secunia should be a ‘no-brainer’, but just in case you are ever tempted to enter sensitive information in a pop-up: DON’T. You should only enter sensitive information to trusted sites (your bank, Amazon.com, the IRS), and then only when you are sure that a secure connection exists. To determine the connection type, look at the address bar displayed by the browser; if it starts with ‘https:’ you are using a secured Internet connection. Your browser will usually display a locked padlock icon when you visit a secured site. A site is not automatically trusted because a it has a secured connection (https) and anyone with a little tech knowledge can establish this connection, so caution is still necessary and it is still up to you to determine the validity of a site you’re visiting. The Multiple Platforms tip of the day on Feb. 7th has recommendations on verifying a web site URL; click here for the how-to.

PowerBooks: Grumpy After Sleep
Some PowerBook users are experiencing scrambled displays after installing 10.3.8, the latest update from Apple. Most often, the display problems occur after waking the notebook from the sleep mode. So, who isn’t grumpy when they first wake up? The only work around reported is to shut down and restart. If you are experiencing these issues, MacFixIt requests you send them an email message, to learn more visit their web site.

Woz Weighs In
Apple’s co-founder, Steve Wozniak has offered to donate $1000 to the defense fund of a Canadian student being sued by Apple for ‘illegally distributing’ beta versions of the company’s new operating system, Tiger 10.4/. According to MacMinute, Woz wishes Apple would “… drop the matter.” The Woz’s wisdom shines through when he continues, “In this age of professional spammers and telemarketers making fortunes, we’re misusing our energies to pursue the types of small time wrongdoers.” Spoken like a man that may have bent a few rules himself on the way to his station in life. Way to go Woz!

Open Source Updates
Secunia reports the following open source systems have updates available: Gentoo, SuSE, and Sun Solaris.

Multiple Platforms Tip of the Day: Check the RAM
If your computer has been lagging lately, you can check the RAM status to insure that all that memory is present and accounted for. Mac-heads can click on the Apple icon in the toolbar and select About This Mac; the amount of RAM functioning will appear in new mini window. Windows XP users can follow this path: Start/ Control Panel/ System. The General tab will list the amount of RAM working in your PC.

What is Overburning?
According to Wikipedia, “Overburning, in computing, is the process of writing past the end of a writable compact disc medium, allowing a small amount of extra data to be written.
At the end of a compact disc, there is often a small margin allowing extra data to be written to the disc. Often in the normal writing process the data stops before this area, but CD burning software can override this boundary to squeeze extra data onto the disc.
Overburning is not just a mere convenience to space-conscious home compact disc writers. If a certain piece of software is slightly over the CD size limit (e.g. requires 651 MB of space on a 650 MB disc), overburning alleviates the need to ship two compact discs, dramatically decreasing the price of distribution.”

Tech News Blog
2.21.05
Spam Blocking to Aggressive
PC World reports that some Verizon customers have not been receiving email messages and the problem appears to be associated with aggressive spam blocking on the part of Verizon. If this issue affects you, check out the article at PC World.

Coming Soon: Disposal Tax
New technology comes with an additional cost, disposal of ‘obsolete’ equipment and with the problem increasing exponentially, elected representatives are introducing legislation to fund disposal of our old PCs. According to a report carried by CNET, we dispose of more than 3,000 tons of electronics equipment daily. The current proposal has been dubbed the National Computer Recycling Act and will require a $10 deposit on every CRT and LCD monitor and any device with a CPU.

Linux World Wrap-up
Somewhat overshadowed by the RSA Security gathering in San Francisco was Linux World held in Boston, MA. PC World has a wrap-up of the event and don’t forget the Linux World Summit taking place in New York on May 25 and 26, 2005. Also on the open source calendar is the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco on August 8 to August 11, 2005.

Open Source Updates
Secunia released these updates for open source users: Gentoo (1, 2, 3), Red Hat (1, 2, 3), and Debian.

Apple Tip of the Day: Find Your Mac’s Serial Number
To find the serial number of your Mac, click on the Apple icon in your toolbar, and select About This Mac. Select the More Info button and the Hardware Overview window will open and the serial number is displayed near the bottom of the list.

PC Tip of the Day: Find System Information
To access information about your Windows XP system follow this path: Start/ Control Panel/ System. The General tab contains information about your PC including the processor speed and the amount of RAM functioning.

What is a Burner?
Wikipedia has this definition, “A CD burner, CD recorder or CD writer is an internal or external writable Compact Disc drive that can be attached to a computer. It lets you write and read files from a computer on to compact disc media, and is standard equipment in most new computers. The burner describes the process of the laser burning the organic dye substrate in the disk, creating a non-reflective pit signifying a bit state.
Most writers can write to both CD-R and CD-RW media, CD-RW being able to be re-written and erased hundreds of times.
Burners can write CDs at multiple speeds. At 1x speed, for example, the CD spins at the same rate as the player reading it, taking 60 minutes to record 60 minutes of data. At 2x it will take half an hour, and so on.”