Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

Here we go again!

Microsoft Word Zero-Day Attack Discovered

Microsoft’s security response team has launched an investigation into reports of a zero-day attack against a previously unknown vulnerability affecting its ever-present Microsoft Word program. The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said it’s aware of ‘very limited attacks’ exploiting the reported Word flaw. If the vulnerability—and attack—is confirmed, the company is likely to issue a pre-patch advisory with workarounds or suggested actions or vulnerable customers. The vulnerability was discovered during an actual live attack by anti-virus vendor Symantec. It affects multiple versions of Microsoft Word and can be used in successful code execution attacks against users of Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP.”

So, we will wait and see how long it take them to create a patch for this. Right now there is none. So, in the meantime, switch over to OpenOffice.org, or don’t use Word!

Here a great “howto” article on how to install network management tools in Ubuntu Linux:

Ubuntu Network Traffic analyzers

Here is what the tutorial covers:

ethstatus
ethstats
potion: an IP Flow Monitor
Darkstat: a network statistics gatherer
Wireshark
EtherApe: a graphical network monitor
bmon: a portable bandwidth monitor
bwbar: show current bandwidth usage
bwm: BandWidth Monitor
bwm-ng: small and simple console-based bandwidth monitor
iftop: does for network usage what top does for CPU usage
ipfm: IP Flow Meter (IPFM), a bandwidth analysis tool
Speedometer: Measure and display the rate of data across a network connection
cbm: Color Bandwidth Meter — displays the current traffic on all network devices
pktstat
ibmonitor: an interactive Linux console application which shows bandwidth consumed and total data transferred on all interfaces
iperf: measure network performance
cptrack: a sniffer which displays information about TCP connections

I know that not everyone is interested in Vista… and some are going to either stay with XP or go to Linux (can’t say I blame you.) However, if you can stomach the heavy handed DRM (Digital Rights Management) and have the hardware for it, here’s the best prices I have seen on OEM copies of Vista!

Newegg Vista Prices

Also, check out what they recommend for hardware requirements:

Windows Vista Hardware Planning Guide

Wow! Imagine a computer chip that is as small as a human white blood cell, and yet has the capacity of 160,000 bits of information! This is the densest chip ever made!

Researchers go molecular in design of a denser chip

“Although the chip is modest in capacity–with 160,000 bits of information–the bits are crammed together so tightly that it is the densest ever made. The achievement points to a possible path toward continuing the exponential growth of computing power even after current silicon chip-making technology hits fundamental limits in 10 to 20 years. The scientists, led by James R. Heath of the California Institute of Technology and J. Fraser Stoddart of the University of California, Los Angeles, will report their findings today in the journal Nature. As far back as 1999, Heath and Stoddart reported on aspects of their work, which included specially designed molecular switches and a novel technique for making ultrathin wires. The new work pulls the components into an integrated circuit.”