Secure IT Alert: Potential Microsoft Windows SMB vulnerability discovered

Homeland Secure IT Alert for Thursday, February 17, 2011 I’m posting this verbatim from the WatchGuard security blog… — Yesterday, a gray hat going by the alias Cupidon-3005 posted details about a zero day Windows SMB vulnerability that could potentially allow attackers to gain control of fully patched Windows Server 2003 and XP computers. Microsoft is currently investigating this surprise …

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Microsoft Office alternatives OpenOffice.org & LibreOffice battle it out in a steel cage

Posted today on InfoWorld is an interesting article about two competitors to Microsoft Office. (See “Open office dilemma: OpenOffice.org vs. LibreOffice“) While you have probably heard of OpenOffice.org, or the previous incarnation of it (StarOffice), a new alternative open source office suite is called LibraOffice, and it is being brought to you by the developers OpenOffice.org. Confused? Well, it’s that same …

Oh my… No post today on my blog? What is the world coming to????

For all 3 of you reading this blog… I apologize from the bottom of my heart for not posting something entertaining, witty or even boring today. Wait a tick…  I just posted this, so that means I DID post something. Bah! I can’t even procrastinate correctly, as I was going to do this tomorrow. Off to the George Clinton performance …

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How long will your computer last? It’s all about the MTBF! Or is it?

A common question that computer sales, repair, service and support people hear is, “How long will this computer last me?” The most common answer is, “It depends…” Just what does it depend on? The quality of the product is of the highest importance, but even a very reliable device can have a shortened life if not maintained properly and it …

Secure IT Alert: Adobe releases Acrobat, Coldfusion, Reader, Shockwave and Flash updates #security #adobe

Secure IT Alert for Friday, February 11th, 2011 Adobe has beat out Microsoft for the number of vulnerabilities addressed on Patch Tuesday with the unleashing of a plethora of patches for their Acrobat, Reader, Coldfusion, Shockwave Player and Flash Player. Reader’s updates are considered CRITICAL and there 29 holes that are plugged… Shockwave comes in second with 21 CRITICAL vulnerabilities …

Secure IT Alert: Microsoft Unleashes a Slew of Updates for Windows & Windows Server & IIS FTP

Secure IT Alert for Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 The February 2011 Patch Tuesday was not boring…   Updates include something for everyone.  Basically every current Microsoft Windows OS version was addressed. The big one was the IE Update that fixed four code execution holes in the popular web browser. In addition to fixing thumbnail and font vulnerabilities which mainly affect …

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Safe Browsing from Public Wi-Fi Hotspots is possible with a VPN

WSPA’s Amy Wood (@TVAmy) had a great segment on last night (2011-02-07) in which she had Doug Cone (@nullvariable) a local web/graphics “devsigner” discussing the dangers of using public Wi-Fi. You can find that story here. He demonstrated a tool which allows even the most novice of “hackers” to see a list of others who are using any given open …

Business Printer Repair vs. Printer Replacement

It is Monday morning and you went to print your first batch of papers for the week but that didn’t go so well. Paper has been jammed in the printer, or maybe not even picked up out of the paper tray. What to do? Should you either replace that beast or call a printer repair technician? Replacing the printer is …