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Author Topic: Microsoft Warns of a Critical Flaw Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-19-2003 07:57 PM                     From the Associated Press: WASHINGTON (March 19) - Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday warned about a serious flaw in almost every version of its popular Windows software that could allow hackers to seize control of a person's computer when victims read e-mails or visit Web sites. Microsoft assessed the problem's urgency as critical, its highest level, and urged customers to download a free repairing patch immediately from its Web site, www.microsoft.com/security. The company said it was unaware of any reports that hackers already had used the technique to break into computers, but the time between disclosure of a new flaw and such break-ins has become increasingly short. Russ Cooper, a security expert for TruSecure Corp., based in Herndon, Va., predicted that antivirus software will be updated to protect users who might receive infected e-mails and that Web sites with infected pages would be shut down quickly once they are detected. ''I doubt we will see an attack based on this,'' Cooper said. ''It's pretty unlikely any such exploit attempt will get legs.'' The problem involves tricking Windows into processing unsafe code built into a Web page or e-mail message. It was particularly unusual because it affected so many different versions of Windows, from Windows 98 to its latest Windows XP editions. There was some good news. Microsoft said customers using the newest versions of its e-mail software, Outlook Express 6 and Outlook 2002, were protected from hackers trying to exploit the problem using e-mails. Older versions of Outlook would also be safe if customers had manually applied another security patch, which Microsoft released in 2000 after the spread of the damaging ''ILOVEYOU'' virus. Microsoft said customers could manually adjust settings hidden deep within its Internet Explorer browsing software to prevent Windows from processing the dangerous code. Experts, however, said that was not easy to do for many users and that it would cripple convenient functions for many popular Web sites. ********************************************************** The critical patch is available in Microsoft's Windows update. I just installed the patch, and would recommend you do the same.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-19-2003 10:13 PM                     My PC updates itself, good or bad.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-19-2003 10:19 PM                     Sam, it depends if Microsoft did it or some hacker did it.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-19-2003 11:32 PM                     Thats what my Mcafee is for It self updates as well.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-19-2003 11:35 PM                        AHHH NOOOO!! McAfee hasn't had a good anti-virus program since their last command line program. quote: Older versions of Outlook would also be safe if customers had manually applied another security patch, which Microsoft released in 2000 after the spread of the damaging ''ILOVEYOU'' virus. Oh and this goes to show that if people actually keep on top of updates they won't get caught with a critical problem.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-19-2003 11:43 PM                     What do you mean exactly Daryl?  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-19-2003 11:50 PM                        We get a lot of computers in for repair due to McAfee's anti-virus program botching repairs -- corrupting parts of the registry, deleting things it should, etc. It probably causes 50x the number of problems Norton (Symantec) AntiVirus does. But to be fair... installing Norton SystemWorks is the worst thing you can do for your system. Not only is it a resource hog, it causes many problems with the operating system and actually really doesn't do much. As such, I recommend that people only install Norton AntiVirus and not the entire SystemWorks package if they have it.  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-20-2003 12:01 AM                     I admit, when I installed my Mcafee Viruscan Professional I had some issues with installing but I was able to get it going with help from Mcafee. It is a very finicky program to install. From all I can tell I havent had any problems with it killing programs or registry issues. I have used Norton and I was not impressed. I also have heard of folks using multiple virus scan on their systems.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 03-20-2003 03:46 AM                        Are they talking about the same hole as this one? According to this story it only affects Windows 2000, and is only likely to be an issue for servers. I downloaded and installed the patch it linked to, anyway.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 03-20-2003 06:10 AM                        But Norton gives the user a lot of gauges and displays to look at. It makes the computer look more high tech! But I got rid of it after a few days anyway.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-20-2003 09:46 AM                    quote: Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday warned about a serious flaw in almost every version of its popular Windows software Now, THERE's a surprise. We had problems with McAfee in the past, but it seems much more stable now on both our 95 and our XP Pro PCs, as well as our Netware servers. I agree that Norton System Works is horrible. Too many hooks into the OS, and it makes things way unstable. A friend of mine loves it though because he likes to see exactly what's going on "under the hood" for some reason.  |  IP: Logged Don Bruechert Mmmmmmmmm, bird! Posts: 340 From: Manitowoc, WI, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 03-20-2003 11:24 AM                        I've been working with computers for a very long time, and I too will say that McAfee is the most problematic of all the virus software out there. I used Norton for a long time until I found this new one. It is called the AVG Antivirus program and it is available from www.grisoft.com it automatically updates itself, scans incoming and outgoing emails (one way or another) and scans your computer at night if you leave it on, and best of all, it is FREE! I loaded it on 3 computers protected by Norton's and on 2 of them it found viruses and trojans that Norton didn't find. If you try it and like it let me know.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-20-2003 12:53 PM                        Nothing but problems with Norton A/V. Haven't tried McAfee for a long time. The best, least-troublesome anti-virus software I've found is Trend Micro  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-20-2003 01:44 PM                     Does anyone have any comments about the PC-cillin Program? We use it at work, and it seems to be "lame." I always thought McAfee was good, but I will admit it appears to be a resource hog to the max! After reading Daryl's comments I figured out why it seemed necessary for format the drive and start over after about 6 months or so because it was so bogged down. Uninstalling McAfee didn't make any difference, and re-installing the OS over the orginal didn't make it run any better, either.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-20-2003 01:50 PM                        Paul, what issues have you had with PC-Cillin? I've had very good results with it. I use the standalone pc-cillin on my notebook, and here at work we're running OfficeScan. The OfficeScan central admin server takes care of all the updates etc. and pretty much runs itself. Unlike Norton AV, I don't get constant complaints from the programmers here that the AV stuff is hogging resources with Trend like we did with Norton.  |  IP: Logged

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