Tech News Blog
6.03.05
Three Steps to the Zombie State
The Glieder attack force, a Bagle variant with a three-pronged attack, is a new approach based on old techniques that eventually turns your computer into a zombie as we reported yesterday. PC World is featuring a story on how the crackers grab your Windows computer:
Details on How a Sophisticated Web Attack Works Computer Associates describes how Bagle variant helps to turn PCs into zombies.
PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories

Apple iPod Owners Might Get $50
Credit Owners of iPods purchased before May 2004 could receive a fifty dollar credit from Apple if the settlement is approved by the presiding judge. According to CNET, the credit will settle the legal dispute that was created after many batteries on the early iPods failed to deliver the promised battery life. It appears that you will not be able to use the credit to purchase music from iTunes. Where is the outrage from the recording industry on this settlement? How are they going to remain in business if Apple denies their customers the ability to spend the credit on music?

Apple USB Boot: You Can’t Get There From
Here If you are purchasing an external hard drive for to support your Mac, make sure it has Firewire as an option if you plan to boot from the external drive. One of the problems with OS X is the lack of ability to boot from a USB hard drive. Visit MacWorld to learn more.

Open Source Updates
Secunia has these updates bulletins for the open source world: Debian, Red Hat (1, 2), and Conectiva (1, 2).

Tech News Blog
6.02.05
These Bagles are Biting Back
Bigger, bad, and getting uglier by the hour, the latest variants of the Bagle worm are beginning to take a bite out of security providers sense of well-being. CNET is reporting that Computer Associates has actually classified the latest Bagle like worms under the new moniker of ‘Glieder’ in part because of the different and more harmful behavior of these latest crack attacks. A Trojan named Win32.Mitglieder is downloaded to the PC post-infection that prevents the computer from contacting antivirus providers for updates. The third stage of the attack removes firewall and antivirus protection from the PC and at that point, your computer is controlled by and working for the crackers. To add insult to injury, your PC can then be sold to the highest bidder to be used in this seemingly never ending cycle of annoyances.

The Final Grades Posted
The finals have been graded and the results are posted. No, that is not a message I am sending to the students in my classes; but it is the subject of an article in PC World and the grade we are receiving on the topic of Internet security is bleak as we are getting a big fat ‘F’. The average score was a pathetic 6.7 out of seventeen questions. I think too many of us must have been surfing the net instead of taking notes when the instructor was lecturing on web site privacy policies and the pricing practices of Internet merchandisers. PC World supplies this link for you to take the test.

New Add-in Will Launch Windows in Seconds
PC owners often brag about the quick startup times of their computers, but in reality it is at least a minute or more before you can actually start using applications. Now a new add-in card introduced at an electronics show this week will reduce startup times to seconds, and give a big boost to games and other processor intensive tasks that rely heavily on accessing large files. Source: PC World.

Woody’s Ready
Linux Today has the word on the latest update for Debian GNU/Linux 3.0, AKA Woody. Check out the story and mirror links at Linux Today.

Open Source Updates
Secunia announced the following systems have update or security bulletins available: Red Hat (1, 2), Mandriva (1, 2), Conectiva, Gentoo, Sun Solaris.

Tip of the Day from Multiple Platforms.com: Find Missing iPod/ iTunes
If your iPod or iTunes is not showing up on your PC, Apple has a web page for solutions and suggestions to make that Windows box recognize your iPod. Apple computer users are not immune from this malady and if a missing iPod is making you feel ill, visit this link from Apple for solutions specific to your platform.

What is iTunes?
We talk about it all the time at Multiple Platforms.com and there is a link to download it on the left side of this page, but what is iTunes? Wikipedia has this on that: “iTunes is a media player, written by Apple Computer, for playing and organizing digital music, video files, and purchasing digital music files in the FairPlay digital rights management format. The iTunes Music Store (also sometimes referred to simply as "iTunes" or "iTMS") is the component of iTunes through which users can purchase digital music files from within iTunes.
The player has gained and maintained a reputation as being easy to use, while still allowing users precisely to organize their music (for example, features such as the smart playlist). iTunes is used to fill Apple's popular digital audio player iPod with songs. The program is freely downloadable and is also supplied with Mac OS X as well as Apple's iLife home-application suite.
iTunes is compatible with computers running Mac OS X, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. Previously iTunes supported Mac OS 9, however OS 9 support was dropped with version 3.”

Tech News Blog
6.01.05
Like a Bad Dream That Keeps Returning
Much like that nagging nightmare, three or possible more new variants of the Bagle worm are spreading rapidly across the Internet via email according to PC World. This prolific worm’s progeny could number over 80 since it was first detected in early 2004. Read more about the annoying worm at PC World. CNET also carried a report regarding Bagle and the other worm now circulating, Mytob.

Tech News Snooze
With the exception of the story above, the slow tech news trend continues today, which is good news for all of us tired of battling the war on crackers.

Open Source Updates
Secunia issued these notices for open source users: Conectiva (1, 2), Red Hat, and Trustix.

Tip of the Day from Multiple Platforms.com: Test Drive New Browser
Mozilla announced that the alpha version of Deer Park Alpha 1, the next line of browsers from the open source community, is available for testing purposes. The alpha version should not be used by those currently using Firefox 1.0.x/ and anytime you are using an alpha or beta version, you do not want to be working on vitally important tasks without first backing up all your important documents and folders.

What is an Alpha Version?
Wikipedia provides the following definition: “An alpha version or alpha release usually represents the first feature complete version of a computer program or other product, likely to be unstable but useful for demonstrating internally and to select customers. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, as a technical preview or as an early access. Often, this stage begins when the developers announce a feature freeze on the product, indicating that no more features will be added to this version of the product, only bugs will be removed.
Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet.”

Tech News Blog
5.31.05
When is it Spyware?
According to PC World, prompted by threats of legal action, anti-spyware companies are delisting companies that claim their product is legitimate adware, not to be confused with spyware. To that we say: BALONEY! If it resides on your computer and generates advertisement I really don’t care what name you give it, I don’t want it and want to have the option of removing it. Having said that I can understand the position of anti-spyware makers, particularly those that offer their services to PC people at no charge. The best defense in this case might be a strong offense and that would include a team that includes several anti-spyware applications; make sure you include Microsoft’s Windows AntiSpyware product in that mix.

Portable Pain in the…
First we learned that the heat generated by laptops are harmful to our health and now CNET is reporting that notebooks are also creating pains in other places, including your wrists and neck. Most of those reporting problems have been using their portables for a desktop replacement and the juxtaposition of the keyboard and screen cause the discomforts that in the worst cases require medical attention. Read more about the aches and pains of portability at CNET:
Is your laptop a pain in the neck?
Notebook PCs may be convenient, but they're also an ergonomic nightmare. In addition, more and more people are discovering that the hard way. CNET News.com

Stats for May: Browser Results
The percentages leave little doubt and the visitors today are unlikely to change the top ten results for browsers used in the month of May while visiting Multiple Platforms.com:
61% Microsoft Internet Explorer
13% Firefox
9.2% Safari
5.5% unknown
4.6% NetNewsWire
3.9% Mozilla
1.5% Netscape
0.2% Opera
0.2% Konqueror

Another Reason to Switch from Internet Explorer
As you can see from the above data, Microsoft’s IE remains very popular with visitors to this web site. However, Secunia is reporting yet another flaw in Internet Exploder 6.x and although they grade this threat as ‘not critical’, the solution they suggest will help thwart other more critical attacks. Secunia recommends: “Disable Active Scripting except for trusted sites.”

Open Source Updates
Secunia announced that Mandriva has an update available.

Tip of the Day from Multiple Platforms.com: Don’t Forget the Other Search Engines
If you can’t get your web site ranked on Google, it can be hard to attract visitors to your site but that doesn’t mean that the search engine giant is the only game in town; in fact, a recent survey pegged Yahoo’s share of the search queries at only 5 percent less than Google’s. I also like Dogpile.com and recent stories about AskJeeves detail their attempts to gain surfers.

What is Konqueror?
Wikipedia supplies our definition for today: “In computing, Konqueror is part of the K Desktop Environment (KDE), primarily developed for the Linux platform, but also available for some other platforms (including BSD and, recently, Microsoft Windows, although Windows support is very limited). It functions as a file manager, web browser, and file viewer. Like the rest of the "kdebase" package, Konqueror is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The name Konqueror is a play on the names of other browsers: first comes the Navigator, then the Explorer, and finally the Konqueror (and follows the KDE convention of having program names start with the letter K).

Tech News Blog
5.30.05
Tech News Lite
I promised a post today, but the tech news is definitely on the light-side so I am highlighting some important items from the last week, interspersed with some new and some review material.

Even an Eleven Year Old Can Do It
After spending several hours setting up Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 and still not correctly configuring my network connections, I read the following article in MacWorld with envy, awe, and the thought that I should have invested my dollars into Apple’s new server software than this bloated batch of software included in my Microsoft Action Pack; oh-well, read more about the ease of installation at MacWorld.

Reminder: Apple Issues Recall for Laptop Batteries
Apple has issued another recall regarding batteries for their iBook and PowerBook line of computers. According to MacWorld, the computers with serial numbers in the following ranges are the subjects of this recall: “A1061, A1078 and A1079 and serial numbers that begin with HQ441 through HQ507 or 3X446 through 3X510.”

Encryption Tool Update
Last week the tip of the day from Multiple Platforms.com featured encryption advice and I mentioned that using the open source version freeware version from PGP looked somewhat imposing and the May issue of PC World concurs with my observation (I finally caught up on my tech reading this weekend). The article on page 40 of the May issue of PC World recommend Steganos’s Security Suite for encryption and secure deletion. CNET Reviews also has information on this software and includes a setup tutorial.

Open Source Updates
Secunia is busy at work but for the first time in many days, there are no open source updates. Enjoy your reprieve!

Tip of the Day from Multiple Platforms.com: Gmail Accounts For You
As I mentioned last week, Google is replacing every Gmail account I give away with another one and according to a recent recipient you get an allotment of fifty when you initiate your account. If you would like a Gmail account, send an email to: contactus@multipleplatforms.com and include the line ‘I want a Gmail account’ in the subject line. Once you have a Gmail account, you can also customize your Google search page. PC World suggest that you use some of the 1 Gigabyte of storage space that you get with a Google Gmail account for online storage in the May edition. You can use Gmail Drive, a tool from vikso.dk to establish on online filesystem.

What is a Gmail Account?
Originally published 5.23.05
Wikipedia supplies this definition for Gmail: “Gmail is a free web mail service, currently in beta testing, offered by Google, Inc.
For more than a year after Gmail's initial release on March 31, 2004, access to the service was restricted to those who had received an invitation token from an existing account holder.
While Gmail is not entirely open to the general public yet, most Gmail users have many invites to spare, as Google has lately been giving quite a few of these out. Gmail invites are also given away at random through Google's home page.
The service is notable for providing over 2.2 gigabytes of storage space (increased from the original limit of 1.0 gigabyte). This change was announced on April Fool's Day 2005, and was made for the one-year anniversary of Gmail. The announcement was accompanied by a statement that Google would continue to increase storage until they reached the theoretical limit, infinity gigabytes, then give each user one more. All Google will say about this now is that it will keep increasing by the second as long as they have enough space on their servers. Gmail makes intensive use of modern browser features such as JavaScript and keyboard access keys, allowing for a richer user experience, while retaining the benefits of a web application (most importantly, immediate availability of the service on any computer with a supported browser).”