MGR IT

Adobe have released security updates for Adobe Reader 9.3 and Adobe Acrobat 8.2 for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX.  These security updates fix several bugs that could potentially result in your computer being attacked and allowing criminals to access your personal or business information.  I certainly recommend installing the update.

If you have automatic updates turned on in Adobe Reader or Acrobat you should be prompted next time you run those products to update with the security patch.  If you are not prompted, then I would suggest first attempting the update by selecting Help – Check for Updates from the menu and if that does not work, downloading the update manually from the Adobe web site.

The rise of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and the new kid on the block, Google Buzz, has huge implications for privacy for those who use them. 

Some suggest that no-one cares about privacy any more and while that may be an exaggeration, there is certainly a trend in that direction.  It is certainly not a trend that I personally subscribe to and I wonder whether those keen to put their lives online have really thought through what they are doing.

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Google is going to begin phasing out support for the Internet Explorer 6 browser as of the 1st of March.  Google Docs and Google Sites will not support “older browsers” after that date, which means anything before Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3.0, Chrome 4.0 and Safari 3.0.  Presumably other Google services will follow suit.

For anyone who keeps their systems up to date, this will have no impact, as Internet Explorer 6 is old (and seriously flawed) technology.  However, there are plenty of unpatched systems out there still using IE6 – over 10% according to the w3schools browser statistics site.

If yours is one of those systems, then you should make the switch now, either by upgrading to Internet Explorer 8, or by changing to another browser, such as Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

The “Ute-gate” affair* that is currently dominating Australian politics is obviously interesting from a political point of view, but it also raises issues around the reliability of e-mail evidence. 

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Estimates for the proportion of e-mail that is actually spam range from 80-95%. Whatever the exact figure, it is obviously very high. Efforts to produce technological solutions to the problem are ongoing, but there is no magic bullet just around the corner.

Here, then, is a brief rundown of spam avoidance methods that are available now to minimise the problem as far as possible.

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Every now and then some piece of malware (virus, worm, trojan, etc.) is regarded as noteworthy enough to break out of the confines of the IT media and makes news in the mainstream media.  The latest of these is the Conficker worm.  There has been a lot said about this worm and the dire effects it could have on April 1st, but anyone taking common sense precautions has nothing to fear.

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It was “Patch Tuesday” this week for Microsoft and this month saw some noteworthy fixes released, two of which are rated Important and one Critical.

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There have been some alarming statistics released by Secunia, a Danish vulnerability intelligence provider, in recent days.  According to figures culled from Secunia’s Personal Software Inspector system, used by 20,000 people worldwide, less than 2% of Windows are fully patched against known security vulnerabilities in the various programs installed.

Given the problems that malware (viruses, trojans, worms, spyware) cause and the detrimental effect that these vulnerabilities have on system performance and uptime, that is a very disappointing and worrying figure.  It’s no wonder that Google has warned of a malware epidemic. 

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Microsoft have announced that they will be discontinuing their OneCare security software (anti-virus, anti-malware, etc.) and replacing it with a new free offering next year, codenamed Morro.

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